| This article is about Simon Fraser of Lovat, also know as "The Old Fox". You may be looking for his son, Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat, or Simon Fraser of Balnain. |
Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was the father of Brian Fraser and grandfather of Jamie Fraser. Jamie, at the behest of Charles Stuart, meets with Simon to negotiate sending troops to support the Stuart rebellion.
Personal History[]
Simon Fraser, the Old Fox, was the 11th Lord Lovat and a real historical figure. He is known as a traitor and deceiver who always acted out of self interest, but he picked the wrong side in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and was executed as a traitor, becoming the last man in Britain to be publicly beheaded.
Events of the Novels[]
Dragonfly in Amber[]
In 1745, Jamie and Claire arrive at Castle Beaufort to ask Lord Lovat to commit his clan to the Jacobite cause. Lord Lovat consults his seer, Maisri, to help come to a decision, but she refuses to tell him what she can see of the future and he throws her out into the hallway.
Jamie speaks hastily to Lord Lovat and he shows him who's boss by having three men hold Jamie down while Young Simon punches him in the stomach. Lord Lovat spends two weeks with Jamie questioning him about Charles Stuart's cause. He then asks Jamie to swear an oath of loyalty to him. When Jamie refuses, Lord Lovat threatens harm to Claire if he doesn't. Jamie tells Lord Lovat that no man would dare harm Claire because she is a white lady like Dame Aliset. Lord Lovat is shocked into silence and Jamie throws his false teeth on the fire.
Lord Lovat continues to prevaricate about committing to the Jacobite cause and is at odds with his son, Young Simon, who is itching to go. Claire diagnoses Lord Lovat as suffering from prostatitis. Lord Lovat seizes upon Claire's diagnosis of prostatitis as a way of remaining non-committal with regards to the Jacobite rebellion. He sends his son, Young Simon with men from Clan Fraser to join Charles Stuart, along with a letter explaining that he is too ill to attend himself and a gift of a gold and sterling picnic set.
Lord Lovat tells Charles Stuart that he is sending him 200 men, but he sends only 170 from Beauly and surreptitiously includes Jamie's 30 Lallybroch men in his regiment without Jamie's knowledge. If Charles Stuart wins then Lord Lovat can claim Lallybroch as his land because he raised men from the estate to answer Charles Stuart's call.
In 1747, Simon is beheaded on Tower Hill after being tried for treason.
Personality[]
Jamie described him as a terrible auld monster.[1]
Physical Appearance[]
Claire describes him as a squat-bodied elderly man with shoulders nearly as broad as Jamie's. He held his back like a ramrod, with gray hair, and wore false teeth.[1] At the time that Claire met Lord Lovat he was in his seventies.[2]
Relationships[]
- Davina Porter was one of the maids at Castle Downie who in 1691 bore Simon's illegitimate son Brian Fraser.[1]
- Lady Amelia was the widow of the 10th Lord Lovat who was a distant relation, who Simon snatched from her bed in the middle of the night and married her on the spot, thus securing for himself the title of 11th Lord Lovat and chief of Clan Fraser, as well as the estates that accompanied the position. Lady Amelia's family were so enraged that Simon was charged, tried and sentenced to death, the marriage was annulled and he was stripped of his titles.[1]
- Margaret Grant was the Grant o' Grant's daughter whom Simon married in 1716. Together they had a son named Young Simon in 1726. They had four more children: Alexander (Alistair) Fraser, Georgina Fraser, Janet Fraser, and Sibylla Fraser. Margaret died in childbirth in 1729.[1]
- Primrose Campbell was a woman whom Simon married through trickery. He wrote to Primrose telling her that her mother has fallen sick and gave her the address of the house her mother was in. Primrose arrived to find not her mother, but Simon Fraser himself, and then discovered that she was in a brothel. Simon had so compromised her reputation that she was forced to marry him. In 1736 their son Archibald Fraser was born.[1]
- Kate McBryan was a woman who bore Simon's illegitimate son Alexander Fraser.
Name[]
- Simon comes from Σιμων (Simon), the New Testament Greek form of the Hebrew name שִׁמְעוֹן (Shim'on) which meant "he has heard".[3]
- Fraser may be derived from Fredarius, Fresel or Freseau. The earliest recorded versions of the name, from the 12th century, are de Fresel, de Friselle and de Freseliere, which appear to be Norman.[4] Another suggestion is that the Frasers were a tribe in Roman Gaul, whose badge was a strawberry plant.[5]
- Lovat is a habitational name from Beauly in Inverness-shire, so named from Gaelic lobh 'rot', 'putrefy' + the locative suffix -aid.[6]
Trivia[]
TV Series[]
Clive Russell portrays Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat in the Outlander (TV series)
Appearances[]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 40
- ↑ Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 41
- ↑ Behind the Name: Simon – accessed 17 June 2016.
- ↑ House of Names: Fraser – accessed 19 May 2015
- ↑ Way, George and Squire, Romily. Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. Pages 142 - 143.
- ↑ The Dictionary of American Family Names by Patrick Hanks via Mooseroots.com. Accessed 17 June 2016.