Duncan was now the only member of his family who retained any power in the Sudereys; but nothing is known of his subsequent history except that he founded the priory of Ardchattan, in Lorn. He was succeeded by his son Ewen, who appears to have remained more faithful to the Norwegian kings than his predecessors had shown themselves; for, when solicited by Alexander II. to join him in an attempt he meditated to obtain possession of the Western Isles, Ewen resisted all the promises and entreaties of the king, and on this occasion preserved inviolate his allegiance to Haco. Alexander, it is well known, died in Kerreray (1249), when about to commence an attack upon the Isles, and was succeeded by his son Alexander III. When the latter had attained majority, he resolved to renew the attempt which his father had begun, and with this view excited the Earl of Ross, whose possessions extended along the mainland opposite to the Northern Isles, to commence hostilities against them. The earl willingly engaged in the enterprise, and having landed in Skye, ravaged the country, burned churches and villages, and put to death numbers of the inhabitants without distinction of age or sex. Haco soon appeared with a Norwegian force, and was joined by most of the Highland chiefs. But Ewen having altered his views, excused himself from taking any part against the force sent by the Scottish king; and the unfortunate termination of Haco’s expedition justified the prudence of this timely change. In the year 1263 the Norwegians were completely defeated by the Scots at the battle of Largs; and the Isles were, in consequence of this event, finally ceded to the kings of Scotland. This event, however, rather increased than diminished the power of Ewen, who profited by his seasonable defection from the Norwegians, and was favoured by the government to which that defection had been useful. But he died without any male issue to succeed him, leaving only two daughters, one of whom married the Norwegian king of Man, and the other, Alexander of the Isles, a descendant of Reginald.
The conquest and partition of Argyle by Alexander II., and the subsequent annexation of the Western Islands to the kingdom of Scotland, under the reign of his successor, annihilated the power of the race of Conn as an independent tribe; and, from the failure of the male descendants of Dugall in the person of Ewen, had the effect of dividing the clan into three distinct branches, the heads of which held their lands of the crown. These were the clan Ruari or Rory, the clan Donald, and the clan Dugall, so called from three sons of Ranald or Reginald, the son of Somerled by Ragnhildis, daughter of Olave.
Of this Ranald or Reginald, but little comparatively is known. According to the Highland custom of gavel, Somerled’s property was divided amongst all his sons; and in this division the portion which fell to the share of Reginald appears to have consisted of the island of Islay, with Kintyre, and part of Lorn on the mainland. Contemporary with Reginald there was a Norwegian king of Man and the Isles, who, being called by the same name, is liable to be confounded with the head of the Siol Conn. Reginald, after the death of his brother Dugall, was designated as Lord, and sometimes even as King, of the Isles;[138] and he had likewise the title of Lord of Argyle and Kintyre, in which last capacity he granted certain lands to an abbey that had been founded by himself at Saddel in Kintyre. But these titles did not descend to his children. He was succeeded by his eldest son Roderick,[139] who, on the conquest of Argyle, agreed to hold his lands of Rory, or the crown, and afterwards was commonly styled Lord of Kintyre. In this Roderick the blood of the Norwegian rovers seems to have revived in all its pristine purity. Preferring “the good old way, the simple plan” to more peaceful and honest pursuits, he became one of the most noted pirates of his day, and the annals of the period are filled with accounts of his predatory expeditions. But his sons, Dugall and Allan, had the grace not to follow the vocation of their father, for which they do not seem to have evinced any predilection. Dugall having given important aid to Haco in his expedition against the Western Isles, obtained in consequence a considerable increase of territory, and died without descendants. Allan succeeded to the possessions of this branch of the race of Conn, and, upon the annexation of the Isles to the crown of Scotland, transferred his allegiance to Alexander III., along with the other chiefs of the Hebrides.[140]
Allan left one son, Roderick, of whom almost nothing is known, except that he was not considered as legitimate by the feudal law, and in consequence was succeeded in his lordship of Garmoran by his daughter Christina. Yet the custom or law of the Highlands, according to which his legitimacy could ‘moult no feather,’ had still sufficient force amongst the people to induce the daughter to legalise her father’s possession of the lands by a formal resignation and reconveyance; a circumstance which shows how deeply it had taken root in the habits and the opinions of the people. Roderick, however, incurred the penalty of forfeiture during the reign of Robert Bruce, “probably,” as Mr Skene thinks, “from some connection with the Soulis conspiracy of 1320;” but his lands were restored to his son Ranald by David II. Ranald, however, did not long enjoy his extensive possessions. Holding of the Earl of Ross some lands in North Argyle, he unhappily became embroiled with that powerful chief, and a bitter feud, engendered by proximity, arose between them. In that age the spirit of hostility seldom remained long inactive. In 1346, David II. having summoned the barons of Scotland to meet him at Perth, Ranald, like the others, obeyed the call, and having made his appearance, attended by a considerable body of men, took up his quarters at the monastery of Elcho, a few miles distant from the Fair City. To the Earl of Ross, who was also with the army, this seemed a favourable opportunity for revenging himself on his enemy; and accordingly having surprised and entered the monastery in the middle of the night, he slew Ranald and seven of his followers. By the death of Ranald, the male descendants of Roderick became extinct; and John of the Isles, the chief of the Clan Donald, who had married Amy, the only sister of Ranald, now claimed the succession to that principality.
THE MACDONALDS OR CLAN DONALD.
Badge.—Heath.
The Clan Donald derive their origin from a son of Reginald, who appears to have inherited South Kintyre, and the island of Islay; but little is known of their history until the annexation of the Isles to the crown in the year 1266. According to Highland tradition, Donald made a pilgrimage to Rome to do penance, and obtain absolution for the various enormities of his former life; and, on his return, evinced his gratitude and piety by making grants of land to the monastery of Saddel, and other religious houses in Scotland. He was succeeded by his son, Angus Mor, who, on the arrival of Haco with his fleet, immediately joined the Norwegian king, and assisted him during the whole of the expedition; yet, when a treaty of peace was afterwards concluded between the kings of Norway and Scotland, he does not appear to have suffered in consequence of the part which he took in that enterprise. In the year 1284 he appeared at the convention, by which the Maid of Norway was declared heiress of the crown, and obtained as the price of his support on that occasion a grant of Ardnamurchan, a part of the earldom of Garmoran,[141] and the confirmation of his father’s and grandfather’s grants to the monastery of Saddel. Angus left two sons, Alexander and Angus Og (i.e., the younger). Alexander, by a marriage with one of the daughters of Ewen of Ergadia, acquired a considerable addition to his possessions; but having joined the Lord of Lorn in his opposition to the claims of Robert Bruce, he became involved in the ruin of that chief; and being obliged to surrender to the king, he was imprisoned in Dundonald Castle, where he died. His whole possessions were forfeited, and given to his brother, Angus Og, who, having attached himself to the party of Bruce, and remained faithful in the hour of adversity, now received the reward of his fidelity and devotion. Angus assisted in the attack upon Carrick, when the king recovered “his father’s hall;” and he was present at Bannockburn, where, at the head of his clan, he formed the reserve, and did battle “stalwart and stout,” on that never-to-be-forgotten day. Bruce, having at length reaped the reward of all his toils and dangers, and secured the independence of Scotland, was not unmindful of those who had participated in the struggle thus victoriously consummated. Accordingly, he bestowed upon Angus the lordship of Lochaber, which had belonged to the Comyns, together with the lands of Durrour and Glencoe, and the islands of Mull, Tyree, &c., which had formed part of the possessions of the family of Lorn. Prudence might have restrained the royal bounty. The family of the Isles were already too powerful for subjects; but the king, secure of the attachment and fidelity of Angus, contented himself with making the permission to erect a castle or fort at Tarbet in Kintyre, a condition of the grants which he had made. This distinguished chief died early in the fourteenth century, leaving two sons, John his successor, and John Og, the ancestor of the Macdonalds of Glencoe.