Clan Cumming

Clan Story

The Cumming Legacy

Clan Cumming, historically the powerful House of Comyn, descends from a Norman family from Comines in France; Robert de Comyn was made Earl of Northumberland after the Conquest, and his descendant Richard Comyn was invited to Scotland by David I. By the thirteenth century the Comyns had become one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, holding the earldoms of Menteith, Angus and Buchan along with the lordship of Badenoch, and pressing their own claim to the Scottish throne. Their power collapsed after John 'the Red' Comyn was killed by Robert the Bruce in 1306, a rivalry that culminated in the Comyns' defeat at Bannockburn and the forfeiture of their estates. The Comyns of Altyre carried the family forward as its chiefly line, later becoming Gordon-Cumming through nineteenth-century marriage. The clan's traditional Gaelic war cry warns that 'as long as there is a stick in the woods, there won't be deceit from Clan Cumming.' The current chief is Sir Alexander Penrose Gordon-Cumming of Altyre.

The clan's historic seat is associated with Altyre House, Forres, Moray (historic: Lochindorb Castle).