THE LORDS OF THE ISLES AND CLAN DONALD IN LOCHABER The ultimate ancestor of Clan Donald and the Lords of the Isles was SOMERLED, who is first noticed in 1153, described as ‘regulus’ or sub-king of Argyll, in rebellion against Malcolm IV, King of Scotland. He made peace with King Malcolm in 1160, and by this time had already extended his power enormously—after 1158 he ruled over the all the islands and much of the west coast of Scotland, from Lewis to Man. In 1164, he again rose against King Malcolm IV and attacked the mainland with a large force of men and galleys, landing at Renfrew but being killed in battle very shortly afterwards. He left three sons—from one of these, Dugald, descended the Macdougalls, while another, Ranald, was the progenitor of the Macdonalds. RANALD inherited Kintyre and Islay and all the islands south of Ardnamurchan (though not the Isle of Man). Unlike his warrior father, he is remembered mostly for peaceful works; he restored the abbey church on Iona and founded the Cistercian Abbey of Saddell in Kintyre. He is also said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome, and died in around 1207, remembered as a thoroughly saintly man. Ranald’s son DONALD I, from whom the Macdonalds take their name, was a more warlike man and in 1211-12, he and his brother Ruairi of Garmoran raided Ireland, plundering Derry and Innisowen. A quarrelsome man, Donald is said to have killed his uncle and his brother-in-law in family quarrels, and then to have killed a royal envoy called Sir William Rollock, sent by King Alexander II of Scotland to make Donald acknowledge royal authority. In fact, at this time, the overlord of the Isles was the King of Norway, not the King of Scotland, and Donald had already visited Norway to obtain recognition of his possession of the isles. Like his father, Donald I is said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome, to atone for his sins, and he died in Skipness around 1249-50. His eldest son ANGUS MOR inherited his lands. In the early 1260s, disputes over the sovereignty of the western isles led the King of Norway, Haakon IV, to bring a naval expedition against Alexander III of Scotland. Like his father, Angus Mor acknowledged the King of Norway as his overlord, formally surrendering his lands to the King at Gigha and being granted them back again in return for his allegiance. Haakon then sent him with his galleys raiding up Loch Long to Arrochar, after which they hauled the ships overland to Loch Lomond to plunder the area round about. King Haakon’s Norwegian forces were defeated by those of Alexander III of Scotland at the Battle of Largs on 2 October 1263, and the King of Norway returned home, dying soon afterwards. His successor, King Magnus VI, by the Treaty of Perth of 1266, relinquished authority over the isles to the King of Scotland. Alexander III granted amnesty to the lords who had fought against him under Norway, and Angus Mor was confirmed in the possession of his lands. Angus Mor died on Islay in 1294 or 1295. His eldest son ALEXANDER I seems to have spent most of his time fighting with his Macdougall relatives concerning the possession of Lismore, which appears to have been a disputed part of a marriage settlement in which Alexander married a Macdougall woman, possibly the daughter or sister of the Macdougall chief (another Alexander). At this time, King Edward I of England was claiming supreme authority over Scotland and Alexander I plainly recognised this authority, as he appealed to King Edward against the Macdougalls, going over the head of the King of Scotland, John Balliol to do this. Alexander I died in around 1299, probably killed in battle against the Macdougalls. He was succeeded by his younger brother ANGUS OG who supported King Robert I (Bruce) in his fight for Scottish independence, and who may have been present with his Macdonald followers at the Scottish victory over the army of Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. He was rewarded by Bruce with confirmation of his lands and the award of new ones, so that on his death in around 1318, Angus Og was in possession of Islay, Mull, Jura, Coll, Tiree, Colonsay, Morvern, Ardnamurchan and Glencoe, together with a sizeable portion of the Lordship of Lochaber, confiscated from the Comyns, Bruce’s enemies. Angus Og gave lands in Glencoe to his illegitimate son IAIN FRAOCH, whose descendants were the MACDONALDS OF GLENCOE. The bulk of his posessions passed to his legitimate son John. JOHN I was the first of the family to adopt the title Dominus Insularum or Lord of the Isles, which he used in a letter to Edward III of England in 1336. His lands were confirmed to him by King David II of Scotland in 1343, and he consolidated the power of Clan Donald over the other descendants of Somerled. This process was assisted by his two marriages, 1337 and 1350. His first wife was Amie, sister of Ruairi of Garmoran, on whose death in 1346 she inherited all his lands, comprising Garmoran, the Uists, Barra, Eigg, Rum and the portion of Lochaber that was not already in Macdonald hands. These lands were then joined with the territories of John I, her husband, so that most of Lochaber was now under Clan Donald overlordship. With Amie, John I had a son called RANALD, to whom her lands passed, and from whom the MACDONALDS OF CLANRANALD and the MACDONELLS OF GLENGARRY are descended. John’s second wife was Margaret, daughter of Robert Stewart, (later King Robert II of Scotland) and, when John I died in around 1387, it was Donald, the eldest son of this marriage who succeeded as Lord of the Isles. Besides Donald, John I had two other sons: JOHN MOR, from whom descended the MACDONALDS OF DUNYVAIG and the EARLS OF ANTRIM in Ireland; and ALASDAIR CARRACH from whom descend the MACDONALDS OF KEPPOCH. Under DONALD II, the Lords of the Isles exercised authority not only over their own Clan Donald kinsmen, but also over major clans like the Macleans and MacLeods, as well as lesser ones. Charters by Donald I to his brother-in-law Lachlan Maclean of Duart, in 1390 and his nephew Hector Maclean in 1409 are known through later crown confirmations; but the most remarkable surviving original charter of John I is the only specimen of a charter of the Lord of the Isles in Gaelic, granting lands in Islay to Brian Vicar Mackay in 1408. Donalds marriage to Mary, a daughter of Euphemia, countess of Ross in her own right, gave him a claim to the important Earldom of Ross, which he pressed energetically, but in this he was opposed by the Scottish royal family, who did not want to see so major an Earldom pass into the hands of a lord who was already felt to be too powerful for comfort. This dispute over the Ross claim led to armed conflict and the fierce Battle of Harlaw, near Aberdeen in 1411 between the forces of Donald I and government forces led by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar. Known as ‘Reid Harlaw’ because of the number of dead and the amount of blood shed, this battle was, despite its ferocity, indecisive—Donald II retreated back to the Isles, but Mar had lost so many men that any kind of pursuit or final reckoning was impossible. Donald II died around 1420-25. The Earldom remained in the Crown’s possession, but Donald II’s son and successor ALEXANDER II (whose seal appears below) called himself ‘Master of the Earldom of Ross’ nonetheless. This Lord of the Isles was one of the highland chiefs arrested when King James I of Scotland came to Inverness in 1428, but he managed to escape, gathered his forces, and faced a royal army at the Battle of Lochaber in 1429, where he seems to have given himself up without a fight, and was then imprisoned in Tantallon Castle. In his absence, his cousins Donald Balloch and Alasdair Carrach carried on the fight, and defeated a royal army at the First Battle of Inverlochy in 1431, after which terms were made and Alexander II released. After this, he seems to have had good relations with the King, and shortly before the death of James I, he was issuing charters as Earl of Ross, suggesting that his claim was recognised by the Crown. Alexander II died in 1449. Besides his heir as Lord of the Isles, John, he had two sons—Celestine of Lochalsh and HUGH, from whom descend the MACDONALDS OF SLEAT. His successor, JOHN II, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, was less of A success than his father. He became involved in a conspiracy with the dispossessed Earl of Douglas which resulted in the notorious Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish with England (1461-2), by which John II and Douglas agreed to divide Scotland between them and hold it as vassals of Edward IV of England. Three years later, after John had sacked Inverness, a truce between the Scots and English left him free to make his peace with King James IIIs government. When the truce with England was converted to a peace in 1474, the terms of the treaty of Westminster–Ardtornish were revealed and John II was forfeited by the Crown. However, in return for renouncing the Earldom of Ross, as well as Kintyre and Knapdale, he was pardoned, reinstated in his remaining lands in 1476 and created a lord of parliament. His troubles did not end there; his only son, Angus rebelled against him father, supported by prominent leaders of Clan Donald, and only reconciled to him after a savage sea battle at Bloody Bay off Mull. John II was finally forfeited in 1493, after a further rebellion led by his nephew Alexander, and the last Lord of the Isles died as a royal pensioner in Dundee in 1503.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 02:50:03 +0000
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