Talk:Clan Fraser

Starting up

This article will have content tonight. Please do not delete again. I simply add small bits at a time to make sure that things run as smoothly as possible. Thank you for your cooperation. Canaen 04:20, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Frasers

I've noticed two other users suddenly start contributing to this article, most recently CambridgeBayWeather (and I notice your last name, as well). Be you Frasers? I inquire out of pure curiosity. It'd be nice to know whom else is editing an article I thought wouldn't get attention from anyone but myself. Canaen 02:07, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes I am. My father was from Aberdeen. Are you a Fraser as well? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 02:39, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Indeed. My Grandmother Sime came from Dundee (relatives of the name still live there), and though I haven't gotten records past the 19th century, I've reason to suspect the family was forced to come into the city during the Clearances. Canaen 02:53, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Structure of the two Clan Articles

I've been reading on Southern California's [phttp://www.fraserclan-cal.net/ Clan Fraser Association site], and their webmaster seems to be very much of the opinion that Clan Fraser chifly refers to Clan Fraser of Lovat, and that the lowland Frasers of Saltoun have never really been a clan, particularly because Alexander Fraser of Philorth, Seventeenth Lord Saltoun stressed this. And the Lady Saltoun, apparently, wasn't made Chief of the whole Clan Fraser until 1984. Should we structure the article differently? IE, making the Lovat primary bit (as they have the most interesting/well-recorded history), with the Philorths having mention and another page? OR maybe this page being fairly limited, and much greater effore going into either specific page; Lovat and Philorth? Something Else?Canaen 00:36, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

I would say that this should be a general article about Fraser with a seperate Lovat and Philorth. The way I read the 17th Lords introduction is that this section "(meaning the Frasers of Philorth never belonged to the Highland Clan Fraser)" is correct but not that he is saying the Frasers of Philorth are not a clan, just not the Highland Clan Fraser. I would further suggest that as you are the main contributor to both articles that you do what you think is the best. Having looked at the history of the two pages I see that other than a few spelling and formatting you are the only real editor of the actual material. So go ahead. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:30, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Very well. Thank you for your thoughts! Canaen 05:06, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Somewhat late but Cam is essentially correct. All Lyon did, and indeed all Lyon has the power to do, is recognise the chief of the name and undifferenced arms (not Clan) which is certainly Lady Saltoun as the heir in law of the elder brother holding that name. As to Clans, the Court of Session held in Maclean of Ardgour v. Maclean that Lyon has no jurisdiction to entertain a substantive declarator of chiefship of a Highland clan, or of chieftainship of a branch of a clan. [...] The question of chiefship of a Highland clan, or chieftainship of a branch of a clan, is not in itself, in my opinion, a matter which involves any interest which the law can recognise. So I see no issue with 'Clan Fraser' and 'Clan Fraser of Lovat' both being Fraser clans with differen 'Chiefs'. Alci12 18:23, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd never heard about that case; you wouldn't happen to have an online source of it, would you? This could prove quite useful to me in some personal matters. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 06:41, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

JesseChisholm (talk) 17:57, 21 March 2011 (UTC) Did you ever get this link? http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/lyondocs.htm#Maclean%20of%20Ardgour

Aye, he must have, see Canaen's edit of 3 February 2007. The MacLean of Ardgour causa has recently been discussed, see Talk:Akins#MacLean of Ardgour vs. MacLean clarified. Yours ever, Czar Brodie (talk) 14:25, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

Scoto-Norman issue

Frasers are not Norman. We can approach this in a number of ways. Firstly, Lovat. The Lovats are a Gaelic, Highland Clan, and have nothing to do with the Normans. That means the majority of Frasers. The Philorths are lowlanders, yes. However, they are not Norman. Normans were Germanic; going back far enough to get to the continent, the early Frasers came from Celtic Gauls, still living around Anjou. Whether or not they came up with William (which is entirely indiscernable) they were not Norman. If you were to argue that they were Norman by association, then go ahead and put the Scoto-Norman Category on a new article, the Frasers of Philorth, not using the word Clan. Scoto-Norman Clan in itself is an oxymoron; if the Scots adapted Norman culture, they did not associate with Clans; they simply had families, and didn't follow the Clan system. I'm rather tired, and will resume this at a later date if need be. Canaen 11:20, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't hold any particular brief for the material on the Scoto-Norman clans article. It's material that someone else had added into what was definitely the wrong place on wikipedia. I moved it to a less wrong place, because I thought it was at least worth the discussion, and keeping unitl anything that could be factored out of it could be moved to other appropriate places.

But that said, it is historical fact that there were some foreign warlords who were planted into Highland areas in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as the Clan system was becoming established; and who became clan leaders for the individuals living in those areas at that time.

You can tell me whether that's plausible or not; but IMO it is certainly more plausible than an entire tribal family structure moving from Celtic Gaul to highland Scotland. The leader and his immediate family, quite possibly; but an entire clan of people, surely not.

Finally, insisting on anyone being Angevins rather than Normans in this context seems like quibbling of the first order. Surely not a distinction many people would have drawn in either 12th century England or Scotland. -- Jheald 17:45, 27 February 2006 (UTC).

My main qualm about the labelling of this page is that it includes Clan Fraser of Lovat. Yes, the Philorths (Saltouns; lowlanders) could be considered a Scoto-Norman clan family, but the Lovats Gaelicised themselves upon acquiring lands in the highlands. When a seperate Philorth article is created, I will add the Scoto-Norman clan cat tag to it. Canaen 01:59, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I've reconsidered this. The Philorths were never a Gaelicised Clan; Scoto-Norman family would be much more accurate. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 06:29, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Simon Fraser (general)

The link for Simon Fraser born 1726 seems to go to a different General Simon Fraser. -- Beardo 19:23, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Yea, I've fixed that now. The one born 1726 is now at General Simon Fraser of Lovat. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 03:03, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Lord Lovat

There are two numberings - it seems the clan uses a different system to the actual legal peerage. This ought to be explained, I think. -- Beardo 19:23, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, there's a lot of confusion over the numbering. Basically, when people do use numbering in general speach, they refer to Lovat as the 18th Lord Lovat. But most Peerage researchers refer to him as the 16th Lord Lovat. There're a lot of issues to it, which I don't really want to get into just now. But if you're real curious, let me know, or you can try to look it up yourself, though I haven't found much online about it. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 03:02, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Jacobite Risings section structure.

Twice now, someone's altered the section structure of the Jacobite risings.

Currently, it's like this:

Jacobite Risings

Dundee

Fifteen

Forty-Five

Culloden

Aftermath

But an anonymous IP keeps putting Culloden directly under the main section header. This is a small issue, but Culloden was the climax of the Forty-Five, and it makes sense that our section on it should be a part of the Forty-Five section. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 03:08, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Reviews

Automated Peer Review

The following suggestions were generated by a semi-automatic javascript program, and might not be applicable for the article in question.

• Per Wikipedia:Context and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates), months and days of the week generally should not be linked. Years, decades, and centuries can be linked if they provide context for the article.^[?]
• See if possible if there is a free use image that can go on the top right corner of this article.^[?]
• There may be an applicable infobox for this article. For example, see Template:Infobox Biography, Template:Infobox School, or Template:Infobox City.^[?] (Note that there might not be an applicable infobox; remember that these suggestions are not generated manually)
• As per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates), dates shouldn't use ^th; for example, instead of using January 30^th was a great day, use January 30 was a great day.^[?]
• Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings), headings generally do not start with articles ('the', 'a(n)'). For example, if there was a section called ==The Biography==, it should be changed to ==Biography==.^[?]
• Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings), headings generally should not repeat the title of the article. For example, if the article was Ferdinand Magellan, instead of using the heading ==Magellan's journey==, use ==Journey==.^[?]
• Per Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings), avoid using special characters (ex: &+{}[]) in headings.
• Per WP:WIAFA, this article's table of contents (ToC) may be too long- consider shrinking it down by merging short sections or using a proper system of daughter pages as per Wikipedia:Summary style.^[?]
• There are a few occurrences of weasel words in this article- please observe WP:AWT. Certain phrases should specify exactly who supports, considers, believes, etc., such a view.
  • allege
  • might be weasel words, and should be provided with proper citations (if they already do, or are not weasel terms, please strike this comment).^[?]
• Watch for redundancies that make the article too wordy instead of being crisp and concise. (You may wish to try Tony1's redundancy exercises.)
  • Vague terms of size often are unnecessary and redundant - “some”, “a variety/number/majority of”, “several”, “a few”, “many”, “any”, and “all”. For example, “All pigs are pink, so we thought of a number of ways to turn them green.”
• As done in WP:FOOTNOTE, footnotes usually are located right after a punctuation mark (as recommended by the CMS, but not mandatory), such that there is no space in between. For example, the sun is larger than the moon [2]. is usually written as the sun is larger than the moon.[2]^[?]
• Please ensure that the article has gone through a thorough copyediting so that it exemplifies some of Wikipedia's best work. See also User:Tony1/How to satisfy Criterion 1a.^[?]

You may wish to browse through User:AndyZ/Suggestions for further ideas. Thanks, File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 07:51, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Ben MacDui's Review

The following was posted on my talk page. I've copied it here so as to compile various reviews of the article, and so I can turn it into a checklist. A great thanks goes to Ben Macdui for such a detailed and specific review. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 23:54, 7 March 2007 (UTC) Great article - you've done a lot of work on it.

• I had a quick look and amended the headings. WP:MOS is quite clear that unless they are a proper noun all but the first word should be lower case. Don't know why and I think it looks weird but there you go.
• Also, the <ref> mark should be placed without a space after the text. I've fixed a few and there are probably more.
• WP:CITE provides guidelines for the refs. They suggest e.g. Grant, Neil (1987) Scottish Clans and Tartans. New York. Crescent Books. There appears to be a bit of leeway on this and I doubt the form you use would be a big problem for a GA, although I suspect it would for FA.
• Ref 17's format is dodgy btw and there are stray quotes in 4, 18,19, 20 etc.
• It's all a bit footery but I don't make the rules. I am not an historian but the article is without question GA standard in my view. Whether its approaching FA I don't know, but a weakness is the lack of references more than the content I would have thought. (For example Origins is un-referenced, as is the poem composed at Auldearn (just noticed it's spelled wrongly in the article).
• For FA status just about every fact should have a ref.
• You should use the <ref name=> tag so that JR Harper is not displayed umpteen times. (See e.g. Mingulay for examples).
• I will come back and have another gander at the content asap. In the meantime the only things I noticed are that the Lead paras need attention and that Keith is in Moray not East Lothian - and the sentences there seem to be mixed up. User:AndyZ's amazing auto peer review is a great help on this sort of thing if you can get it to work.
• A few more notes: 1253 'A copy of this charter may be found here'. Not sure why but I think this should be a footnote or a 'See also', not in the main text. It's possibly a matter of taste but there are too many red links for my liking.
• Clan wars: how were they 'Prevented from battle by the Earl of Argyll'? 'Robert was also a faithful friend of Mary' - redundant sentence? Black Aurther Forbes - sp?
• I know who Bonnie Dundee is but not all readers will and a brief phrase of introduction would be useful.
• 'The infamous Simon the Fox was also chief.' Why also?
• 'the Lovat estates were transferred, by entail' I don't know what this means, and I think it should be explained or have a link to somewhere that does this.
• 'When Simon the Pater's descendants first acquired the Lovat lands of the Ard' - who is he? Aird?
• 'There is, of course, some cross-over of opinions, Frasers tend to respect each other as fellow Frasers, regardless of where they come from.' Although this too is my experience its the sort of remark that is likely to get a {fact} tag.
• Distinguished Frasers - if you are sure they are all descendants of Clan Fraser, as opposed to their inferior Lowland cousins I think you should say so. (If they are not so descended they should be removed).
• Also, whilst I enjoyed the list I suspect that WP:MOS doesn't like lists.

Well you did ask! Ben MacDui (Talk) 15:53, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

To do list

• Lists need to be converter to prose. Really, Really, Really.
• Article needs to be Copyedited. WP:1FAPQ
• Resolve factual accuracy.

Simon Fraser of Oliver

In the "New Homes" section, the first sentence has a link to Simon Fraser (d. 1306), mentioning his marriage. The second sentence mentions an event in 1253. I'm used to a history section being chronological. Since I have doubts that someone married before 1253 lived to 1306 (and was executed, rather than dying of old age), could someone else take a look at this? Are the sentences in the wrong order? Or is it possible that the link in the first sentence is wrong? It appears per this that there were two Simon Frasers of Oliver (one of "Oliver Castle", one of "Oliver and Neidpath"), and that makes it plausible that the first sentence really refers to the first of the two, rather than the second. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 19:58, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

A large part of the problem here is that there have been a great number of "Simon Fraser"s. The Olive & Neidpath Simon is that which died in 1306. Unless we can figure out the given name of the Bissett heiress, it'll be impossible pretty much to figure out who married her from those Baronage Press links. Maybe the idea got corrupted from Sir Simon Fraser of Brotherton, third son of Andrew Fraser, Sheriff of Stirling, but I've yet to come across a source that spells out everything neatly. And that's saying something. Most of those early Simons get mixed together in the folk tales. User:Canaen/ClanFraserLineage is my attempt at clarifying the lineage, which I do believe to be pretty spiffy (besides the template problems at the bottom).

Perhaps the link should just be removed? It's awful hard to clarify it all, and the further in you get, the more confusing it gets. The best I could get outta the "Frasers of that Ilk" page is that the lands were granted by King Alexander to the eldest Simon Fraser of Olivercastle, and they passed down to his grandson, Simon Fraser of Oliver & Neidpath. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 06:48, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Origin of clan

Going by Black's "Surnames of Scotland", the alleged French origin of the clan is dubious. The strawberries on their arms is an example of "canting heraldry", i.e. objects on the arms derived from the name rather than vice versa. PatGallacher 01:37, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Some of the earlier stuff in the section about origins looks extremely hoary and should be hacked out. PatGallacher 01:39, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

It may be, it may not be. What's known is that Frasers were in the lowlands in the 1100s, and they knew they were from France. They were in the Highlands in the 1200s, if not earlier, and they still knew they were from France. Or at least the chiefs, and other their close followers. Of course native Gaels interbred and joined, but that's not the point. Every Clan has dubious origins. That's just one of the things that happens.

Wikipedia's job is not to decide fact or fiction, but to report on what other, reliable, sources say is right or wrong. Everyone, yes, everyone, notes a connection with France in the origins of the clan. So we do here, as well, because that's what every reliable source says.

If you'd like to provide sources to your claims of dubious clan origins, and fit them neatly into the article alongside the other theories, that's just fine. Otherwise, that big fat banner on top is doing no good. Please do elaborate as to what Black says in his book (ie, why the he considers the French origins dubious, and what he offers as an alternative). I've not had the pleasure of reading it. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 03:27, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Factual Accuracy

I think the factual accuracy of this article is actually pretty good. In fact it is a well written and well sourced article. Excellent! Psycotics1454

Pat, please explain, with sources, your argument as to why the accuracy of the whole of the Clan Fraser article is disputed. We have mentioned Black's book, even though it be a minor, minor, minor, anomaly. What more is there to mention? Your very thinking the article should say other things is not enough. Sources, Sources, Sources. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 18:30, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Black's book is an important reference work, its comments should not be dismissed out of hand. Also, this isn't just a minor point about the name, it has implications of the origin of the clan. Also, even if they are of French origin, some of the stuff in this article about the early history seems highly implausible, and would be to most people with some knowledge of Scottish history, e.g. that they came as far back as Charlemagne, or that they are connected with a Gaulish tribe. PatGallacher 18:54, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

What does Black give for the origin of the Fraser surname? - unsigned comment by User:Celtus

That may be, but Wikipedia's place is not to decide the right or wrong in things like this. We simply report on it. If a great change takes place in the common understanding of the origins of the Clan Fraser, Wikipedia should change accordingly. However, this is not the case as of yet. Black's theories should be mentioned, but he is in a relatively small minority, they should not dominate the section. As for history in general, what do you expect after 1200 years? It's what we've got to work with. If you find a reliable source which relates to us how all of these connections are absolute horse shit, we should probably mention that. Otherwise, they are in the common knowledge for those interested in the Clan Fraser, and we've found reliable sources reporting them. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 22:47, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

While we're on it, Amazon.com is a great genealogical resource. However, it is better suited to articles such as Fraser which seek to document the surname itself, rather than a Clan. Clan websites are more appropriate here, as we're not just talking about a name, we're talking about a clan. File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 22:47, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Large changes

It would be incredibly helpful if anyone who is about to re-write a whole section, or make any other major change, would discuss it here first. The article is getting ever-closer to FA, and it's time to be careful. Thanks, File:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn File:Icons-flag-scotland.png 22:40, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Castle Fraser

Should Castle Fraser be mentioned in the list of castles? Also, I have a few photos of Castle Fraser here if they are useful put a request on my talk page and I'll upload them. Karora 10:41, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Fraser Heraldry

I can provide images of the basic Arms of Lord Lovat and the Lady Saltoun for inclusion in the article if they are of any interest. There are no copyright issues because I have put them together. --Heraldic 09:04, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Sounds good.--Celtus (talk) 09:13, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

For what they are worth;

• 
  The Arms of Fraser of Lovat
• 
  The Arms of Lady Saltoun as Head of the Name & Arms of Fraser
• 
  The Lady Saltoun's personal Arms

The blazons were taken from the two volumes of the Scottish Ordinary amongst many others.--Heraldic 10:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Nice job! Feel free to add them. Lovat's Arms will go well with this article --> Frasers of Lovat.--Celtus (talk) 10:14, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

In Popular Culture

Has anyone considered adding a section about the Frasers in popular culture, referencing the series of books by Diana Gabaldon that are centered around a family a Frasers during the time of the Risings and afterward up through colonization in America and the American Revolutionary war. Simon (the Fox) is featured in some of the earlier books of the series as a supporting character. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.102.58.120 (talk) 21:58, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Lords

Where does the Lord of Lords Etan Fraser come into the picture? Should it be a candidate for removal?Heraldic (talk) 17:02, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

La Dictionnaire De La Noblesse

Anjou county hypothesis

La Dictionnaire De La Noblesse, Vol 6, published in the 1700's states on page 683 (and forgive my rough translation):"The House of Frezel has not only established itself in France with distinction, but has become even more famous in Scotland, where it has gained renown in the United Kingdom over the last 500 years." Later, on page 684, it states: "The name de Frezel has also changed over the centuries in Scotland into Frazer, due to different pronounciations of language;" And finally, and perhaps most interesting of all, also on page 684, it says Rene Frezel (who was the first recorded Frezel, circa 1030) had a son: "Simon, who went to Scotland, where he established himself and left an illustrious and numerous posterity". It would seem to me that this is a major source of evidence that the Frasers came from a family of French Knights in Anjou, and that all Frasers have a common ancestor in Simon Frezel. Link to document:http://books.google.fr/books?id=Qh8VAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false --Jesspiper (talk) 01:28, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Ajou (village of Normandy) hypothesis, not Anjou (village of Rhône-Alpes and county of the Pays de Loire)

The fact the Frezels, as far as it is the original spelling of the surname, could come from the village Anjou in Isère, Rhône-Alpes (as it is written here http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rwfurtaw&id=I96678 ), in the south-est of France seems to be irrelevant. The fact the Frezels could originate from the county of Anjou is also dubious. Geographically and historically, the first statement does not make sense and the second one is poor documented. There were no people from the far region of Rhône-Alpes in the army of William the Conqueror and this region was not in the cultural area of Normandy. In one word, there were very little connections between the Channel civilisation and Rhone river civilisation at the time of the Norman Duchy. Concerning the county of Anjou hypothesis, we can find in the Dictionnaire de la noblesse (link above), it could be true only if the ancestors of Fraser arrived in Scotland at the time of the Platagenêt in the 12th century. If they were already in Scotland before, it means they would have been among the followers of William the Conqueror who participated to the battle of Hastings or came to Scotland just after it, like many others. Were there knights from Anjou at that time ? I do not think so. Moreover Frezel is not an attested surname in Rhône-Alpes and in Anjou until recently, but in Normandy, look here : http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=Frezel&image.x=0&image.y=0 and here http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?numero=0233113&periode=3. The Furtaw source says John Fraser was born in Normandy, but the father Oliver was born in Anjou, Isère, look here http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rwfurtaw&id=I96678. It is a non sense, why would have a Rhone Alpe man immigrate to Normandy in the Middle Ages and taken a Northern French name Frezel ??? Concerning the link with the county of Anjou, The Dictionnaire De La Noblesse mentions the very first known Frezel of Anjou in 1030, later as the source above http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rwfurtaw&id=I96678 mentions an Oliver Fraser in 1020, strange thing. Frezel is not a name from Anjou too. I think the Frezel from Touraine and the Fraser from Scotland could have rather a common ancester in Normandy. I think Anjou is certainly a misspelling for Ajou, today in Eure departement in Normandy, where the name Frezel is clearly attested until today. Phonetically [a] before a consonnant becomes very often a nasal vowel in Norman, so [ã]. Concerning the location we know that many barons and knignts who established in Great-Britain originated from villages in the pays d'Ouche in Normandy like Ajou, f. e. the Ferrers (Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire, etc.) Nortmannus (talk) 23:00, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

In addition, I can give the names of families who have (had) ancesters, probably in pays d'Ouche and other traditional pays bordering it : Richard Barre from la Barre-en-Ouche (pays d'Ouche), John de Berney, from Bernay, Eure (limit of the pays d'Ouche); Levett, Livet, etc. family from Jonquerets-de-Livet (pays d'Ouche), Baron Botreaux'name from les Bottereaux (pays d'Ouche), Beaumont from Beaumont-le-Roger (limit of the pays d'Ouche), Cantelupe from one of the Canteloup, Canteleu in Normandy (which one ?). Pays d'Ouche was little populated and it is probable that the families were more or less related to each other or knew each other. They prepared the arrival of other one (friends or family) in Great-Britain.Nortmannus (talk) 10:47, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Interesting theories. Some points to note in favour of the County of Anjou: According to the Dictionary of Nobility, the name Frezel evolved into Frezeau over the course of 300-400 years. When "Frezeau" is entered into the following website which you provided: ( http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=Frezeau&submit=Valider&client=cdip ) Maine et Loire is given. In other words, Anjou. Also according to the Dictionary of Nobility, Simon Frezel was the second son of Rene I, and therefore would have been unable to inheret the lands of Frezeliere. It stands to reason that Simon would have gone off to stake his own claim of land somewhere, like Scotland; it's all he could do as an alternative to serving his older brother or joining the Church. This was a very common situation for second sons. Simon's father (Rene I) was alive in 1030, and Simon's older brother (Rene II) was alive in 1084. This puts Simon Frezel in the perfect spot time-wise and family-wise to participate in the events of or surrounding 1066. It also explains how every single Clan Chief of Clan Fraser has been named Simon, right up to the current one. Finally, please Google this dirt road in what was Northern Anjou; I'm curious to know why/how it was named as such: La Frezelière, 53200 Loigné-sur-Mayenne, Mayenne, Pays de la Loire, France. It all matches up and makes sense. Quite the puzzle, but all the pieces seem to fit. It appears that the history and origins of Clan Fraser begin on, or near, that dirt road in Anjou... --209.17.153.243 (talk) 19:03, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, yours is interesting too. Generally, the -ière place-names are late medieval creations based on family names that appeared in the 12th-13th century. La Frezelière means "place of the family Frezel" and is located in the former County of Maine, a county disputed between the dukes of Normandy and the counts of Anjou. Your theory seems to be better supported. Regards.Nortmannus (talk) 10:35, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

I appreciate your stating that my theory is the greater supported; you clearly have detailed knowledge of the subject/area and your input has helped me establish my theory all the more. Furthermore, it takes intellectual honesty and courage to say what you did, so you deserve recognition for that. I am of Clan Fraser of Lovat myself, but also happen to speak French and studied history in university, so it was combining all those traits that I was able to put together the above theory. Your discussions helped solidify it for me, so thank you. Jesse Fraser --209.17.153.243 (talk) 20:07, 15 October 2014 (UTC)

The two Clan Frasers

The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, according to their official website recognizes both a chief of Clan Fraser and a chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat. The Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia like wise recognizes them as separate clans. The Clan Fraser is the Lowland clan and the Clan Fraser of Lovat is the Highland clan. Currently the Clan Fraser article is entirely about the Highland clan. We did once have an article for the Lovat branch but it just contained duplicated info from the Clan Fraser article and so was re-directed. What I am proposing to do, as per the official sources, is transfer the info currently in the Clan Fraser article to the Clan Fraser of Lovat article and then re-write the Clan Fraser article with info about the Lowland clan.QuintusPetillius (talk) 11:44, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Clan Fraser. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201953/http://www.clanchiefs.org/p/chiefs.html to http://www.clanchiefs.org/p/chiefs.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 18:50, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

Scottish Lowlands

Perhaps it's not best to describe the clan as being from the Scottish Lowlands, a region with imprecise boudaries. The Britannica article on the subject says: "Lowlands, also called Scottish Lowlands, cultural and historical region of Scotland, comprising the portion of the country southeast of a line drawn from Dumbarton to Stonehaven; northwest of the line are the Highlands." Using that definition, places referred to in the Wikipedia article such as Fraserburgh are on the Highland-side of the line.     ←   ZScarpia   14:13, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

Maybe we could change to both Scottish Lowlands and Highlands. I think it might have been originally stated as Scottish Lowlands to distinguish the clan from the predominantly Highland Clan Fraser of Lovat.QuintusPetillius (talk) 10:33, 10 October 2020 (UTC)

A couple of clan/family maps: [1][2]. Roughly, the Frasers seem to have been based on the area around Fraserburgh and the Frasers of Lovat on the area around Inverness, at either end of the southern side of the Moray Firth.     ←   ZScarpia   23:17, 14 October 2020 (UTC)