At an unknown date the clan journeyed from the Hebrides to the Scottish mainland where the chiefs established their home at Glen Noe, in Ardchattan Parish, on the east side of Loch Etive.

According to tradition, they had held the land at Glen Noe for centuries, although subject to a feudal tenure converted to money rent in later years.

The most frequently repeated story ties the MacIntyres to Somerled, who lived in the 12th century and who has been described as "one of the greatest warrior kings born to the Gaels of Alba (Scotland).

The story of how, after being initially rebuffed by that island magnate, Somerled would ultimately succeed through the stealth of one of his kinsmen, is recorded in the history of MacDonald of Sleat.

On entering the open seas the tallow was washed away by the action of the waves and the king's ship began rapidly taking on water.

[12] One line of Somerled's MacDonald descendants would become known as Kings and Lords of the Isles and over several centuries would contend with the Scottish monarchy for control of a large portion of northwestern Scotland.

In this version the clan's founder, sometimes identified as son of one of the Lords of the Isles, cuts off his thumb in order to plug a leak in his sinking vessel.

[15] The story of how the clan made its way to the mainland and settled along the shore of Loch Etive in the vicinity of Ben Cruachan is again shrouded in myth and magic.

[Note 2] Many accounts relate that at some point in the 13th century the MacIntyres became foresters to the Lords of Lorne, a hereditary post in which they continued as the territory subsequently passed from the MacDougalls to the control of the Stewarts and finally to the Campbells.

While presumably owning the property outright originally, it is generally agreed that at some, uncertain date, they acquired a feudal obligation to the Campbells of Breadalbane.

Tradition identifies this as a snowball supplied at midsummer and a white calf surrendered but then killed and shared by landlord and tenant as a token of mutual esteem.

At the time of the English Civil War in Scotland the forces of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, had sacked Inveraray and marched north to the area of Glen Noe.

[26] It is said that the MacIntyre chief at the time of the Jacobite rising of 1745, James (born c. 1727), would have joined the clans rallying to Prince Charles Edward Stuart but was dissuaded from doing so by his wife, who was a Campbell, and his neighbors.

[27] At some unknown date the symbolic snowball and calf tokens owed to the Campbells were commuted to payment of money rent which increased over the years.

James, the poet-chief, (1727–1799) is best remembered for a biting satire he composed in Gaelic in response to Samuel Johnson, the English encyclopedist, who had made derogatory comments about the Scots in his famous trip to the Hebrides.

In the Jacobite rising of 1745 which attempted to return the House of Stuart to the throne of Scotland and England, Duncan fought on the Hanoverian side and composed a humorous song after losing his borrowed sword at the battle of Falkirk in January 1746.

[40] Following that uprising, however, he composed a best selling poem attacking the portion of the Act of Proscription outlawing the wearing of highland dress and was briefly imprisoned.

[27],[Note 6] When the ban against the wearing of the kilt was repealed, he celebrated with another poem, entitled Orain na Briogas or "Song of the Breeches.

[44] In 1859, a monument to the memory of Duncan Ban MacIntyre (described in contemporary press accounts as "in the druid style of architecture") was erected near Dalmally at the head of Loch Awe.

Other family names associated with the clan include Glenoe, MacCoiseam, Tyrie (also Tyree), MacTear, MacTeer, McAntara and McEntire.