Gilbert de Fraser, I

The earliest known Scottish Fraser was Gilbert de Fraser, who lived near the Borders in 1109.

Put together from "history of the Frasers" by Alexander Mackenzie published Inverness 1896. The first record is of the name Frizale in the Roll of Battle Abbey, among the supporters of Willwim the Comqueror in 1066. The name is then variously recorded as Frisel, Frseil, Frasel or Fraser till the 14th Century when Fraser was accepted as the correct name. The chief influx of Norman Settlers in Scotland came during the reign of David 1, and the Frasers became a race of importance. In 1174 William the Lion, King of Scotland, returned from imprisonment in England with sons and Nobles, including Frasers, from the south. The first Fraser settlements were in East Lothian, in the 12th and 13th centuries they spread to Tweeddale and later to Aberdeen, Kincardine and Inverness shires. (Inverness Shire then and for a long time after comprised the more modern counties of Inverness Shire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness.