Page_13n_MacDonald

Scotland in the 13^th Century, excepting the independence of the lordship, was geographically much the same as it is today, having been enlarged by treaty and by conquest since Malcolm III had defeated and slain MacBeth. But there were less than 500,000 inhabitants, of whom fewer than 200,000 were Highlanders. Although the population of the Highlands fluctuated significantly due to the attrition of war, forfeitures and clearances, it was never more than 250,000. These facts must be remembered when the accomplishments of Cineal ua Dhomhnuil are discussed. To field an army of 10,000 clansmen and vassals, as Somhairle did at Renfrew in 1164, and Domhnuil ar Ile, 3^rd of The Isles, did against the King of Scots at Harlaw in 1411, was truly amazing, in that it represented approximately ten percent of the population of their dominions. Oengus Ogh, 6th Lord of The Isles, is also said to have commanded a force of 10,000 men at Bannockburn in 1314, where twenty-one clans supported the cause of Bruce, while four or five clans fought for the English.

Somhairle’s great-grandson, Oengus Mhór, 4^th of The Isles, held state as independent Prince of The Isles. No clan had as much influence on early Highland history as did the MhiccDhomhnuil, kings of The Isles and of Man and earls of Ross, controlling most of the Highlands. At one time the power of the Clan rivaled and even threatened to eclipse that of the Scottish King and, in the 13^th Century, they became reestablished in Ireland as well, by marriage and by having gone as gallóglaigh to aid Irish lords resisting the Normans. It is even told that Domhnuil ar Ile was offered the throne of the Irish at Tara after the death of their last high king, Ruairidh ÓConor, in 1198. But Dhomhnuil, who was to succeed his father, Ranald, in 1207, declined.

After three generations of successful leadership, wise diplomacy and repeated victories over their enemies, The lordship of The Isles reached its highest attainment under it’s namesake Domhnuil, 3^rd of The Isles. By this time however, the growing power and independence of the Clan was causing serious concern to the kings of Scots, as well as attracting attention from other monarchs, since the lords of The Isles had legitimate claims to the throne of Scotland. But even without this consideration, the MhiccDhomhnuil usually applied as much pressure on the western border of Scotland as the English did on the south. The relationship between The Isles and Norway gave further strength to The Isles. But the critical factors, as far as the kings of Scots were concerned, were that the Scottish crown would never be secure as long as the fierce MhiccDhomhnuil, MhiccH’Aedh and MhiccWilliam contended for it or supported Celtic claimants to it. Furthermore, Scotland could not expand, and their kings could not reasonably expect to increase their power or holdings, in any other direction than to the west.

In 1179, William The Lion, and his brother, Earl David, took another Scottish army into Ross, building new castles at Redcastle on the north shore of Beauly Firth and at Dunskeath, at the mouth of Cromarty Firth. Donald MhicWilliam, Lord of Galloway, came to the aid of the MhiccH’Aedh of Moray in 1181 "with a numerous armed host." This was not MhicWilliam’s first incursion into Scotland. Apparently the MhiccWilliam spent considerable time in the north in support of their Gaelic brethren, with the "mandate of certain powerful men of the kingdom," as they resisted Norman evictions of Gaelic landholders, while pressing their own claim to the throne. Their usual route between Galloway and Moray would probably have been through the territory of their ally, Domhnuil ar Ile, and up the Great Glen from Inverlochy.

Grave Slab of Murchard MacPhee Chief of the Duffies

But apparently William the Lion (or his ministers) found the weakness in the MhiccWilliam of Galloway. It was the ambition of Donald’s younger brother Roland. Although the evidence is scant because of the destruction of the archives of Scotland in 1296, Roland, already titled "Lord of Galloway" when he killed his brother, was evidently subverted by the king. In December, 1186. Adam MhicWilliam, one of Donald’s sons called "Uthlagus Regis" (the king’s outlaw), with sixty men, was caught by Earl Malcolm of Atholl in Coupar Abbey and slain there, in spite of having claimed sanctuary. Finally, in 1187, a force of some 3,000 Sasunnaich under Roland, "Lord of Galloway," in spite of dissension in their ranks, caught Donald MhicWilliam at Strathgarve west of Dingwall, killed him and took his head to the king, it would seem in fulfillment of his bargain.

Along with his uncle Dugal mac Somhairle, and probably due to increasing pressure from the Scottish crown, Domhnuil made a voyage to Norway "whereby his own rights and the peculiar rights he had for the Isles by Olaf the Red’s daughter were confirmed by King Magnus." He returned with "many of the ancient Danes of the Isles," namely the MacDuffies (mac Afi - MacFie, MacPhee, or Mehaffey in Galloway), and settled them in Colonsay and Oronsay as his vassals. The arms of these loyal friends of the lordship are the sword above a galley. The tomb slab shown here of Murchard of Colonsay, chief of Clan MacPhee who died in 1539, shows the Claymore and Highland galley.

Domhnuil and his brother Ruairidh inherited the warlike and predatory attributes of Somhairle and their Norse ancestors, an example of which occurred in 1211 when the two brothers, in alliance with their cousin, Thomas MhicWilliam of Galloway, raided ÓDonnell territory in Donegal in Ireland with seventy-six galleys. Domhnuil, Ruairidh and Thomas looted the town of Derry and the region of Innisowen. The next year Ruairidh and Thomas raided the same area again, this time pillaging the churches, for which sin Ruairidh later made retribution. Meanwhile, Thomas’ cousin, Gorrie MhicWilliam, landed in Caithness and "trod underfoot everything he encountered and plagued many parts of the kingdom of Scotland." The crown forces were under the command of Crown Prince Alexander, soon to be Alexander II, and assisted by Brabantine mercenaries sent by King John of England. They scattered Gorrie’s army, but he escaped, avoiding a pitched battle"laying ambushes for it (the Scottish army) wherever he could by night or day, and driving off booty from the lord king’s land." A year later, however, Gorrie was betrayed by traitors within his own ranks and given into the custody of Walter Comyn, now Earl of Buchan and the King’s Justiciar in the north. Comyn set out to take his captive to the king, but when he "learned the king’s will, which was that he did not want to see him alive, they beheaded Guthred, dragged him along by the feet and hung him up," thus ending the last serious threat from the MhiccWilliam in the north.

Domhnuil married the daughter of his great uncle, Gillie mac Somhairle, who had been fostered to the MacAedh, but some years later quarreled with him, killing Gillie’s son, Callum Alin, and inciting the MacNeils of Lennox to expel Gillie from Kintyre. Gillie eventually made his way to Ireland, perhaps in company with the Bissets of Moray, his mother’s family, after they were forfeited, "where some of his offspring remain to this day." It is contended by some sources that Domhnuil made a second marriage to a daughter of Walter the Steward, although this is doubtful due to the dispute of Ruairidh with Walter over Arran and Bute. At any rate, Domhnuil had two sons by marriage, Oengus and Alasdair, and a natural son, Murchad. It is said that later, Domhnuil and Dugal quarrelled over the Isle of Mull, finally resulting in Domhnuil being forced to kill Dugal.

Alexander II, King of Scots

On December 6, 1214, William the Lion was succeeded by sixteen year old Alexander II, who was to prove to be more able and ambitious than his predecessor. His "elevation" was according to Celtic tradition. While the queen, two bishops and the Chancellor, Walter Stewart, stayed with the remains of his father; seven earls; Fife, Strathearn, Atholl, Angus, Menteith, Buchan and Dunbar; led by the Bishop of St Andrews; all Normans; had taken Alexander II to Scone where he was "elevated" as king. Three days of festivities followed and, on the fourth, King William the Lion’s body was met on the bridge of Perth by the new king and conveyed to Arbroath for burial. Thus, the Scots had a new king before their old king was in his grave, symbolizing the continuity of "the king’s peace."

Although the chiefs of the MhiccDhomhnuil were often the greatest threat to the crown, leading as many as twenty clans; other western sovereigns opposed Scotland as well. The kings of Man had long asserted their independence, occasionally curbed by the kings of Norway, who had their own ambitions. Thomas and Gorrie were succeeded by another great independent Gaelic mormaer, Alan MhicWilliam, oldest son of Ronald and Lord of Galloway from 1200. Alan’s "caput" was at Kirkcudbright and he was as fierce as his predecessors.

Alexander’s accession to the throne brought fresh revolts by the MhiccH’Aedh and MhiccWilliam earls of Moray and Galloway, who had not given up their dream of restoring Celtic rule in Alba. A contemporary complained "More recent kings of Scots profess themselves to be rather Frenchmen, both in race and in manners, language and culture; and after reducing the Scots to utter servitude, they admit only Frenchmen to their friendship and service." But partially due to the replacement of Gaelic landholders by Normans, they no longer had the strength in the Lowlands to counter Norman hegemony. When Kenneth MhicH’Aedh of Moray, supported by Donald Bán MhicWilliam, revolted on June 15, 1215, in spite of having joined forces, they were quickly defeated by a Norman lord, "Ferchar Mac an T’sacairt" (Farquhar son of the consecrated), progenitor of the MhiccTaggart. He beheaded them and presented his trophies to the king, being rewarded with a knighthood and later an earldom. The same day, on the field of Runnymede, below the walls of Windsor, John "Lackland" of England signed the Magna Carta. Perhaps the MhiccH’Aedh defeat was because Alan MhicWilliam of Galloway was at Runnymede at the time in support of King John.

Unlike his father, Roland of Galloway, Alan gave little support to the kings of Scots, whom he rightfully considered the greatest threat to his security because of his family’s claims to the Scottish throne. He was Alexander II’s cousin and constable but rarely visited the court. Rather, he had good relations with the lords of The Isles; with the kings of England, to whom he was related through his grandmother; with various Irish lords and with the MhiccH’Aedh earls of Moray. He possessed broad lands in Galloway, but since these lands, unlike the lordship of The Isles, were accessible from north and south; instead of building castles, he maintained a great army and a fleet of 150 galleys.

In addition, Alan’s brother Thomas married the heiress of Atholl and succeeded to that great earldom in 1209. Alan’s sister, Ada, married Walter Bisset, a vassal of Moray, the same family from whom Somhairle mac Gillebruide was said to have taken a hand-fast bride, the mother of his son Gillie or Gilliespoc. Alan also held large estates in the Glens of Antrim in Ireland and helped his cousin, Henry III, to put down the rebellion of Hugh de Lacy there. The relationship between Cineal ua Dhomhnuil and the MhiccWilliam and MhiccH’Aedh was close and abiding.

The support to their cause rendered by Domhnuil and Ruairidh (who apparently gave sanctuary to the MhiccH’Aedh in Ugadale) caused Alexander II to reconsider the question of Norwegian sovereignty in Kintyre and the Isles. He sent his envoy, Sir William Rollock, to demand that Domhnuil should repudiate the King of Norway and acknowledge the sovereignty of the Scottish crown. Domhnuil’s reply was similar to that given by Somhairle to Walter Fitz Alan:

". . . that his predecessors had their right to the Isles from the Crown of Norway, which was renewed by the present king thereof and that he held the Isles of his Majesty of Norway before he renounced his claim to his Majesty of Scotland."

Rollock argued that the King of Scots could (and would) grant the superiority of The Isles to whomever he pleased; whereupon Domhnuil retorted that, in fact, Olaf the Red, from whom Domhnuil had The Isles, had taken them by conquest, and therefore technically he owed allegiance to neither the King of Norway nor the King of Scots. No compromise seemed possible and, at dawn the next day, Domhnuil, according to Sasunnaich sources, "being advised by wicked councilors," attacked Sir William and killed he and most of his men.

Barons of both countries were asserting their power over weak kings, while they played one against the other. But this was not to last long. First, Alexander invaded Northumbria, laying siege to Norham, an English crown castle located on the Scottish border at a strategic position on the River Tweed. The siege continued for forty days until, on October 22, 1215, the Northumbrian barons did homage to the Scottish King. Even though many English barons supported Alexander, by November, only Carlisle, of all his English possessions, remained in his hands. By January 4, 1216, King John was at York and soon took Berwick, Haddington, Dunbar and Roxburgh. John swore he would "make the fox cub enter his lair!" But, within weeks, "the red-headed lad" had launched a counter-raid into Cumberland. And when John died on October 19, 1216, even Prince Louis of France was in England with an army seeking to wrest away the English crown.

In retaliation for Domhnuil’s assassination of Rollock and because he coveted their possessions, in 1220, Alexander II mounted a naval expedition against Gilliecolum’s son Somhairle, grandson of the 1^st Lord of The Isles, in Argyll. Among those summoned by the king to this "slogad," were the lords of Moray, at least one of whom, Donald mac Neil, was fined the next year for having refused to answer the call. This campaign, intended to extend Scotland’s authority into the Highlands, failed because of a violent storm. The next year, The King of Scots assembled another army, this time from Lothian and Galloway, and conquered Argyll with a land campaign. A charter dated 1240 concerns lands at the south end of Loch Awe and shows that royal authority extended to the boundaries of Lorne. Alexander expelled Somhairle from Cowal, Knapdale and Kintyre and Ruairidh from Arran and Bute; replacing several MhiccDomhnuil clan chieftains with his own Norman and Saxon followers, as he had done in Moray.

These included, not only his steward, Walter Fitz Alan, but also a certain knight of Strathclyde descent, one "Culen Cambeul," (wry-mouthed whelp) who married the heiress of Duncan mac Duibhne, the Irish chieftain of Loch Awe, and built Innis Chonaill Castle on an island in the loch. Somhairle was forced to flee to The Isles, where he died. Thus began the long history of conflict between Cineal ua Dhomhnuil and Cineal ua Duibhne (The Campbells), descendants of this Norman lackey whose progeny were thereafter invariably supporters of the crown, especially if the controversy held hope of the Campbells acquiring MhiccDomhnuil land. The wars between the lords of The Isles and the kings of Scots had begun.

Following his campaign in the west, Alexander II released Olaf of Lewis who, after a pilgrimage to the shrine of St James of Compostela, settled his differences with Ragnvald, marrying his sister-in-law Lavon "daughter of a certain noble of Kintyre." No sooner had the newlyweds become situated in Lewis than Olaf’s nephew, the Bishop of The Isles, pronounced the marriage null and void on the grounds of consanguinity (since Olaf had previously been married to Lavon’s cousin). Olaf agreeably repudiated Lavon and married Christina, daughter of Ferchar MacanT’sacairt. This insult so incensed Ragnvald’s wife that she sent a message in her husband’s name to their son Godfrey in Skye, ordering him to seize the Isle of Lewis and put Olaf to death. Godfrey attempted to follow his instructions, invading Lewis and causing great devastation. But Olaf and the Sheriff of Lewis, Paul Balkison, escaped to Ross where they gathered a warband and planned their revenge. Sailing to Skye, they hid "in the remote places" until they received word that Godfrey had arrived with a small escort at the island village of St Columba. Olaf’s men dragged their galleys overland to this loch, attacked the island and captured Godfrey who, against Olaf’s wishes, was blinded and mutilated by Sheriff Balkison.

Olaf took hostages in Skye, gathered a fleet of thirty-two galleys and sailed to Man, where he forced Ragnvald to come to terms. The brothers agreed to divide the northern Hebrides, although Ragnvald was to retain the title of king. No sooner had Olaf returned to his new possessions than Ragnvald sought help in 1230 from Domhnuil of The Isles and Alan MhicWilliam of Galloway to regain what he had just lost. Alan sailed, with his brother Thomas, to Man and The Isles in support of Domhnuil and Ragnvald, causing a substantial Norse fleet to withdraw. But the Manxmen supported Olaf and Ragnvald was eventually deposed and drowned by his brother Olaf.

Since he left only three daughters married to English barons, the Galwegians reverted to the Brehon laws of tanistry and made his illegitimate son their chief, on the theory that anyone would be better than a Norman. Alan’s younger brother Thomas had predeceased him in 1231 but Alan’s natural son, also named Thomas, with aid from wild Irish gallóglaigh, again revolted against Alexander, pillaging and burning the territories of the crown’s nearby supporters.

It was only with the help of Ferchar MacanT’sacairt (Farquhar Macantagart), the Earl of Ross, and of Alexander’s own Highlanders that the king was able to put down this rising in 1235. When Alexander and an army entered Galloway, Thomas and his followers ambushed them while they were pitching camp. But the Earl of Ross, trailing behind the main body, took them in the rear and routed them. Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, was put in charge of the prisoners. Thomas MhicWilliam and his lieutenant were taken to Edinburgh and brutally drawn and quartered, even though Thomas’ grandfather had been the king’s first cousin. The Irish gallóglaigh, probably including many Domhnallaich, were each beheaded by the citizens of Glasgow.

Alexander was determined to remove the fangs of this rebellious family and so, ignoring a petition of the men of Galloway for a unified succession, he divided Galloway among the husbands of the MhiccWilliam daughters, de Quincy, Balliol and de Fortibus, while John Comyn of Badenoch was made justiciar, thus diluting the potential for revolt. But the Earl of Atholl left one legitimate son, Patrick, and a natuaral son, Alan; while another Thomas MhicWilliam, probably the grandson of Alan of Galloway, was growing to manhood in Ireland.

The Hebrides were in turmoil as a result of Alexander’s interference in the Olafsson feud and his invasion of the lordship of The Isles. King Haakon IV, "The Old," Haakonsson of Norway, hearing of the situation from Olaf who had gone to Bergen in 1248 seeking assistance, decided to reassert his authority in the Western Isles. He also was told that "the kings of the Hebrides who were of Somhairle’s race were very unfaithful to him," probably because of the submission of some of the conquered chiefs to Alexander II. Haakon therefore fitted out an expedition of twelve ships commanded by Ospak Haakon (Gillespic), who was a son of Dugal mac Somhairle and who had gone to make his fortune at the Norwegian court. Haakon intended to make Ospak "overlord" of Somhairle’s old territories in the Isles. Ospak had earned a reputation as a marauder, having plundered Iona in 1209, for which he had been severely reprimanded by the bishops of Norway.

It was probably at about this time that Domhnuil, 3^rd of The Isles, threatened by both the Scots and the Norse, began to build "Dun Naibhig" (Fort of the Little Warships). Some sources improbably render this as Dun Naomhaig or Fort of the Consecrated, mistranslated as Fort of the Coble [Ferry]. Another local authority, Duncan Johnston, renders it as Dun Aonghais Bhig or House of Angus, abreviated as Dunaobhaig). This "secret harbor" on Lag a Bhuillean Bay on the southern coast of Islay guarded the southern approaches to the lordship of the Isles and was the principal port for their war-fleet. For the next 300 years, until the introduction of naval artillery in the 16^th Century, no successful attack on the lordship’s anchored fleet was ever recorded. The sea gate through which the naibhig were hauled up on wooden rollers for maintenance or repair can still be seen.

Ospak Haakon sailed to the Sound of Islay where he was met by his brothers, Duncan of Lorne and Dugal Scrag, together with Gilliecolum mac Somhairle’s son Somhairle and "a great company." The Islemen invited the Norsemen to a feast, at which much strong drink was offered, but the Norse suspected treachery and "each side gathered their company together, for neither side trusted the other." During the night, the Norse attacked the Islemen, killing Somhairle and taking Dugal Scrag prisoner. Duncan of Lorne was more fortunate since he had spent the night aboard Ospak’s galley. Ospak, not a party to the sneak attack, managed to spirit Duncan away and to take Dugal under his own protection.

Perhaps at the instigation of Ruairidh mac Somhairle, who wished to regain his possessions lost to the Stewarts, Ospak gathered eighty ships, sailed around the Mull of Kintyre and attacked the island of Bute. The Norse sagas tell us "The Scots sat there in a castle and a certain Steward was over the Scots. The Norse attacked the castle, but the Scots defended it, pouring down boiling pitch. The Norse hewed the wall with axes because it was soft . . .," under cover of their shields and took it in three days, slaying the Stewart commander. However, Ospak was wounded in the siege and died a few days later in Kintyre. King Haakon accomplished little by this expedition. Having lost his "overlord" designate and hearing of the approach of Alan of Galloway’s fleet, Haakon reinstated Olaf. Upon the death of Duncan mac Dugal, he appointed Duncan’s son, Eoin (John) of Lorne, as overlord of the Hebrides from Lewis to Man and sent him west "as quickly as possible to be ruler over The Isles until King Haakon made another plan for them."

Alexander III was born September 4, 1241 at Roxburgh. His mother was Marie de Courci, daughter of the Earl of Ulster and kinswoman of Henry of England. In 1242, Thomas MhicWilliam’s only son Patrick died, when on the night after a tournament, his lodging at Haddington was burned down, according to the "Melrose Chronicle," to conceal his having been murdered in bed. Another source claims that Walter Bisset, his uncle by marriage, had been bested in the tournament by Patrick and was the murderer. Others claimed that John Bisset, Walter’s blood nephew, did the deed, even though no witnesses or evidence were brought forward by any of the accusers. However, Patrick was the heir to the earldom of Atholl and "The Lanercost Chronicle" says that he was murdered "because he was expected to become great lord of a certain inheritance which descended to him and although he had been warned on that day by a letter from the wife of his murderer."

The clear implication is that the warning came from his aunt, Thomas of Galloway’s sister and Walter Bisset’s wife, Ada, although the warning could also have been from one of his cousins, Alexander Comyn’s wife Isabel, or John de Balliol’s wife Dervorguilla, just as easily. The motive apparently was the Galloway and Atholl inheritance.

The other contenders for the inheritance, Patrick, Earl of Dunbar and Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith pressed the king to take action. When he did not, two young Comyns, Alexander of Buchan and John of Badenoch, attacked Bisset lands while Walter Bisset cowered in Coull Castle in Aberdeenshire. After some posturing by both sides, Walter appealed to the king’s mercy and judgement of outlawry and abjuration of the realm was pronounced upon he and the other Bissets at Edinburgh on November 26, 1242. Obviously, the Comyns were powerful enough to compel the King of Scots to punish an offense against their family, although it is just as possible that the accusations were untrue, that the Comyns were the malefactors and that the Bissets were merely scapegoats. If Patrick’s lodging was burned down with him in it, how did the letter from his aunt survive? If it did not survive the fire, how was it public knowledge?

By 1243, Walter Bisset was in the service of Henry III, having discredited Alexander II by describing Scottish negotiations with France. He took more revenge against Alexander for his exile when Henry seized and was fortifying "Dun Abhartaidh" (Fortress of the Feasting or Festivals - Dun Avertie) in 1248. Bisset, who had acquired lands in Ireland from the de Courci earls of Ulster, including Rathlin Island just across the North Channel from Kintyre, was commissioned by Henry to buy stores in Ireland for the purpose. In 1246, upon de Fortibus’ death without heirs in Galloway, his inheritance passed to de Quincy and Balliol, bringing on another rebellion of the Gaelic MhiccWilliam clansmen. But apparently Walter Bisset was not alienated from his wife’s family in Galloway. It is not known if Walter incited the attack but, when his nephew, Alan of Galloway, natural son of Walter’s brother-in-law Thomas, stormed Dun Abhartaidh in 1248, Walter went back with him to Galloway, where he witnessed a royal charter on January 13, 1249. Obviously, his nephew did not condemn him as a traitor to the MhiccWilliam and there is substantial evidence that the influence of the Comyns was reduced from this date and that the alliance between Henry III, Haakon and John of Lorne was exposed. Haakon had given Lorne, who was also a Scottish baron, more authority than had been concentrated in one Norse jarl since Thorfinn The Mighty. Roger de Quincy was besieged in his castle and was lucky to escape with his life. The king reinstated him but, when he died in 1265, his lands were in turn divided among co-heiresses, leaving the Balliols the largest single landowners in Galloway.

Alexander II wanted very badly to acquire the Hebrides. Beginning in 1244, when he offered to purchase them "for refined silver," he had sent one delegation after another to Norway seeking to acquire Haakon’s possessions there. Having no success in negotiations, and in spite of his own poor health, in 1249, the King of Scots decided to seize The Isles by force. He gathered a large army and proclaimed that he would not desist until he had "set his standard on the cliffs of Thurso, and had reduced under himself all the provinces which the Norwegian monarch possessed to the westward of the Solunder sea." He then sailed to Kintyre and invited John of Lorne to meet him under truce. Alexander demanded that John renounce his allegiance to Haakon and surrender Cairnburgh Castle in Treshnish, as well as three other fortresses, in exchange for "a much larger dominion in Scotland" and the king’s friendship. But John fled to Lewis, refusing to break his oath.

The King of Scots began a pursuit of John of Lorne and got as far as the Isle of Kerrera off Oban where he fell ill in Gylen Castle and died. It is told by the seannachaidh of the South Isles that in Kerrera the fey king had a dream in which the ghosts of King Olaf, King Magnus and Saint Columba came to him, and asked him if he meant to make way in the Southern Isles. The king replied that "of a surety he meant to lay the Isles under him." The dream men told him to turn back. When he awoke, Alexander told of the dream but refused to heed it. So the story goes that, aided by the curse of their ghost kings, another king of the Scots died attempting to conquer the lordship of The Isles.

Upon Alexander’s death, the expedition of the Scots was abandoned, with only the lordship of Lorne to show for their efforts. John of Lorne seized the opportunity to take the Isle of Man for himself, but Domhnuil and Ruairidh and their forces expelled him. John’s lands in Lorne were put into the trust of a royal baille and he had no recourse but to go to Norway where he made a career as a mercenary captain for King Haakon. But during Ruairidh’s absence in Man, the Stuarts repossessed the Isle of Bute.

This was the last campaign of Domhnuil ar Ile. He resigned the chiefship to his eldest son Oengus Mhór and, at this time, his second son, Alasdair, founded Cineal Alasdair n’Ceann Tir (MacAlister of Loup). Most authorities agree that Domhnuil then embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome where he is said to have had "his rights of the Pope for all the lands he possessed in Argyll, Kintyre, and the rest of the continent." On Domhnuil’s return, he became a large benefactor to the monasteries of Saddell and Iona. He is also said to have joined the brotherhood of Paisley, as his father had done. After the MacSuibhnes lost Sween Castle and their lands in Knapdale to Alexander II and the Comyn earls of Mentieth in c.1235, Domhnuil made them hereditary constables of Skipness Castle in Kintyre, where the progenitor of Cineal ua Dhomhnuil died around 1250. Domhnuil ar Ile was buried at Iona, his title as Lord of The Isles confirmed by both the Pope and the King of Norway, independent of Scotland.

It was recorded that Oengus Mhór was "of amiable disposition." He established his summer residence at beautiful Killinallan (Cille nan Ailean - Church of the Green Meadow), east of the sands of Loch Gruinart in northern Islay, still known as "Traigh Bhail Oenghuis" (Strand of the village of Angus). The fields to the east of Killinallan are called "An Airidh mhicc Dhomhnuil" (The shieling or grazing of the descendants of World Mighty) and the remains of his cattle "rath" are nearby.

Alexander III, King of Scots

Alexander III, last King of Scots by blood, if not by inclination, was only eight years old when he took the throne according to Celtic tradition. The ceremony used was probably abbreviated, with members of the court hurrying from Argyll to Scone for the occasion. There was a delay while it was debated whether or not the king should first be knighted. Alan Durward, "Justiciar de Scotia" (king’s justice), perhaps sought to knight the king himself, thus staking a claim to be regent, but, at the urging of Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, who is said to have remarked that "a land without a king lay in as much perplexity as a vessel in the midst of the waves of the ocean without oarsmen or helmsman," the proposal was rejected. There was a crown, sceptre and sword and Alexander III was inaugurated "in the ancestral manner on July 13, made king by the magnates, placed on the paternal throne and honoured by all as lawful heir." The earls, led by Fife and Strathearn, took him to a cross in the abbey graveyard where they placed him on a stone throne, the "Lia Faill." The earls cast their cloaks before the throne, the Bishop of St Andrews vested the king in his robe and consecrated him, while The "Albannic Duan," the genealogy of the Scottish kings, was recited for the last time by a Highlander on bended knee. During the young king’s minority, the Isles were undisturbed by the Scots as Walter Comyn; Alexander Stewart, 4^th High Steward and co-regent; Robert de Ros, Lord of Wark and one of King Henry’s representatives at the Scottish court; John de Balliol; as well as other courtiers; maneuvered for power.

Alan Durward and the Earl of Dunbar carried out a "coup d’etat" in August, 1255, seizing the young king and Edinburgh Castle while their competitors were absent. By September 20, with the assistance of Henry of England, the Comyns and their supporters had been swept from office. One of these was a Baron Maxwell, progenitor of this writer’s mother’s family. Maccus’ Well, a pool in the River Tweed by Kelso is said to be the origin of the name. Maccus had been a Norse chief who is believed to have lived in the reign of David I.

Walter Comyn returned the favor October 29, 1257, seizing Alexander at Kinross and, shortly afterward, taking the king’s seal from the Dean of Dunkeld, who held it for his bishop, the chancellor. The government broke up in confusion, but the Comyn party can not be said to have controlled the king’s actions, even though Henry was preoccupied with his own troubles in England. By May of 1258 a compromise was reached between the two factions who were both now represented on the Council. Upon the death of de Quincy in 1264, Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, in addition to his already great power, was made Sheriff of Wigtownshire and of Dingwall. At about the same time he also acquired the title of Constable as well as Justiciar of Scotland. William Comyn of Kilbride became Sheriff of Ayr. Another beneficiary was Maxwell who was a Comyn supporter. He was named Chamberlain of Galloway and, by 1264, also held two sheriffships.

Sheriffs were important officials in Sasunnach Scotland, drawn from a cross section of the first and second ranks of the aristocracy. They held both civil and criminal courts; presided over inquests; collected and transmitted taxes, fines and forfeitures; called out and led the "slogad," while they were held accountable and reported to the king on them, all with regularity and thoroughness. Although they usually employed deputies, the sheriffs themselves were active in all the important areas of the king’s business. They had authority over the constables of the king’s castles in their jurisdiction; over the "thanes" (farmers) for their leaseholds; and over the "mairs" (bailiffs) and "brieves" (judges) in their territories.

John Dunmore, another Comyn supporter, served as ambassador to Henry III in May of 1259. He asked for the overdue dowry of Alexander’s queen, Margaret, and agreement to a Scottish coronation, as well as abandonment of Henry’s support for the King of Man. By 1260, documents suggest that Alexander III was in full control of the government. Queen Margaret was pregnant and relations with Henry were good. It appears that the High Steward and others with adjacent holdings found it a propitious time to call the king’s attention to opportunities in the west.

Ferchar MacanT’sacairt, Earl of Ross, and Cormac Macmaghan, in the king’s name, made a furious raid on Skye in 1261 and treated the MhiccDomhnuil, MhiccLeod and other inhabitants with extreme cruelty. The complaint taken to Bergen by Ruairidh mac Somhairle stated that Ross had burned down a town and churches and slain very many peasants. The Scots had taken the little children and laid them on their spear-points and shook their spears until they brought the children down to their hands, and so threw them away dead. Ruairidh also claimed that Alexander intended to "lay under himself all the Hebrides."

In 1262, Alexander sent another delegation to King Haakon of Norway, seeking the return of the Western Isles to Scottish control, but this time the offer was accompanied by the threat that what he could not buy he could take by force. Haakon, unimpressed and irritable at what had transpired in Skye the previous year, referred him to the treaty executed by Magnus Barelegs and Malcolm Canmore and bluntly refused to sell the Norwegian territories in the Hebrides. Henry III had to intercede for Alexander’s ambassadors who had been detained at the Norwegian court.

Haakon was compelled to respond to the Scottish king’s threat and, on July 11, 1263, sailed with a large fleet of about 150 ships to the Hebrides "to avenge the warfare that the Scots had made in his dominions." Anchoring off Kerrera, he was joined by Ruairidh’s two sons, Dugal and Allan, as well as Magnus, King of Man. But liking Norse claims of overlordship no more than Scottish ones, neither John of Lorne nor Oengus Mhór attended the "slogad." For one thing, Oengus’ young son, Alasdair, named to honor the king, may have been at the Scottish court and at risk if Oengus supported Haakon. There is no record of how this occurred. He may have been fostered to the king or someone else at the Scottish court. Sasunnach sources claim that the Earl of Mar, commanding two hundred "serjeants" and part of the fleet which had been gathered to invade Man, attacked the Isles in 1264, after Haakon’s campaign was over, and that Oengus Mhór submitted to the King of Scots, giving his "young heir" as hostage then, and that this submission was the basis of Scottish claims of sovereignty over the lordship of the Isles. But whatever little Alasdair’s status at the time, Haakon did send a fleet of fifty galleys to plunder the lands of Islay if Oengus did not submit.

John of Lorne appeared before the Norse king at Gigha and claimed that he could not support Haakon (even though he was Haakon’s son) because of a prior oath to Alexander, from whom he held larger dominions. John "bade Haakon dispose of the dominions he had given him." Haakon, deferring to his son and hoping at least to secure the Lord of Lorne’s neutrality, left John in possession of his lands for the time being and "bade him go in peace, wherever he wished, and gave him many good gifts . . ."

Oengus Mhór of the Isles, on the other hand, having been convinced by Haakon’s raids that his choice was perhaps between chancing his son’s murder or submitting his people to certain destruction, sent a message by Dugal mac Ruairidh that he was ready to submit. Haakon gave Oengus until noon the next day to surrender and he did so, quickly sailing across the Sound of Jura from Dun Naibhig to Gigha. Oengus was fined or taxed a thousand cows for his rebellion, but retained his possessions. Cineal Ruairidh, on the other hand, took advantage of their favor with the Norse king. To the obvious displeasure of the High Steward of Scotland, Dugal mac Ruairidh seized Dun Abhartaidh when the Scots surrendered it to the Norwegians, while Ruairidh himself seized Rothesay Castle in Bute before leading a Norse raid deep into Stewart country in Argyll.

Return To Main Menu

Next Page

Sound of Gigha, Kintyre

The Fields of Loch Gorm, Rhinns of Islay

Caisteal Géillean (Castle of the Jaws - Gylen Castle), Isle of Kerrera, Argyll

Completely destroyed by the Campbells in 1647, so that not a single stone of the fortifications remains.

Site of Dun Abhartaidh (Fort of Festivals - Dunaverty), Mull of Kintyre

Rubh á Mhail (Tribute Point) Northern approaches to the Sound of Islay

Safe anchorage for as many as 150 of the lordship's galleys over a period of more than 300 years.

Dun Naibhig (Fort of the Little Warships) guarding Lag á Bhuillean (Bay of Revenge - Lagavulin), Ile (Islay)

Rebuilt more than once since 1229.

Forfar Merkat Cross, Angus

Another rising had broken out in Moray in 1228, when Thomas of Thirlestane, Lord of Abertarff, was killed, part of Inverness burned and some royal possessions plundered by Gilliescop, the natural son of Domhnuil, his sons, and a certain Roderick, who "appeared in the furthest limits of Scotland," perhaps coming up the Great Glen from Cineal ua Dhomhnuil territory in retaliation for Alexander’s seisure of Cowal, Arran and Bute. Some authorities say Roderick was a MhicH’Aedh, while others suggest he may have been Ruairidh mac Ranald. This confusion could be due to Gilliescop having been fostered to the MhiccH’Aedh. The rising broadened until, in 1229, Gilliescop was killed and the revolt brutally suppressed by a royal army commanded by William Comyn, Earl of Buchan. Demonstrating the fiendish cruelty for which his family became known, Comyn ordered the barbarous murder of an infant girl "of the race of mac William," probably either Gilliescop’s or Roderick’s daughter and the last of the line, in Forfar marketplace. Her brains were dashed out against the stone pillar of the market cross. Thus was the pacification of the north completed. Comyn’s son, Walter, was shortly thereafter made Lord of Badenoch. Walter Bisset was awarded the title and lands of Lord of Aboyne, including Coull Castle in Aberdeenshire, in 1233. He married Alan of Galloway’s sister, Ada. Having left no legitimate son and heir, the men of Galloway were without a leader after Alan’s death in 1234.

One of many "Remote Places" in this wild and beautiful setting.

Shiant's Sea Cave, Isle of Lewis

Carlisle Castle Keep, Cumbria. All that is left of the original 12th Century Construction

Norham Castle, Tweedsdale

Blair Atholl Castle, Seat of the earls of Atholl

The contentious MhiccH’Aedh, with their relative, the expansionist Harald Maddadson, Earl of Orkney, were still active in the north as well. All these leaders’ talents were about to be tested since, after England lost Normandy to France in 1204, the Norman kings of England and Scotland turned their attention to the Celtic Highlands and Ireland in an obvious attempt to recoup their losses and find new fees for their liegemen.

Frith-Bhaile Sheildag (Seahorse Village), Torridon, Ross

Castle of The Lords of The Isles that protected their fleet for more than four hundred years.

Dun Naibhig (Fortress Of The Little Warships), Islay. Looking toward the Isle of Texa.

(The Power Of The Descendants Of World Mighty)