| John (Macdonald) Macdonald Lord of the Isles was a prominent member of a Scottish Clan. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland |
Preceded by Angus Macdonald |
Lord of the Isles Chief of MacDonald |
Succeeded by Donald Macdonald |
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Alternate Scottish names: Ian macAonghais MacDhòmhnaill, Eoin MacDomhnaill. His name, Iain in Scottish, is sometimes seen as Iain, Lord of the Isles, "good John of Islay" owing to his kindness to the Church.
The following reference to John is translated from the Macvurich MS. The Macvurichs were a family of the bards and genealogists for Clanranald.
This John lived long, and made donations to Icolumkill; he covered the chapel of Eorsay-Elan, the chapel of Finlagam, and the chapel of the Isle of Tsuibhne, and gave the proper furniture for the service of God, upholding the clergy and monks; he built or repaired the church of the Holy Cross immediately before his death. He died at his own castle of Ardtorinish, many priests and monks took the sacrament at his funeral, and they embalmed the body of this dear man, and brought it to Icolumkill; the abbot, monks, and vicar, came as they ought to meet the King of Fiongal, and out of great respect to his memory mourned eight days and eight nights over it, and laid it in the same grave with his father in the church of Oran.
John (Macdonald) was born the son of Angus Óg (MacDonald) and Agnes O'Cahan, or Áine Ní Chatháin, daughter of Guy O'Cathan of Ulster. [1] It is sometimes, in web sources, stated he was born at Finlaggen castle, at Eilean Mór on Loch Finlaggan, Islay. This is probable. Aonghus Óg Mac Domhnaill was an Islay-based nobleman who had benefited from king Robert I of Scotland's attacks on the MacDougall (Mac Dhùghaill) rulers of Argyll and their Comyn allies, and had been given Ardnamurchan, Lochaber, Duror and Glencoe, turning the MacDonalds from the Hebridean "poor relations" into the most powerful kindred of the north-western seaboard.
His father had supported King Robert at Bannockburn by leading the Highlanders at the battle and had been rewarded with Isla and Kintyre, the islands of Mull, Jura, Coll, and Tiree, and the districts of Glencoe, Morven, and Lochaber, all significant in MacDonald history. Angus died at Finlaggan castle in 1330 and John Randolph, Regent for David II, refused to allow title to John. It is likely that this event gave cause for John to side with Edward Balliol and Balliol granted him titles on 12 September 1335.[1] This led to an alliance with the English. On the return of David II., from France, John was forfeit the lands of Gigha, Isla, Jura, and Colonsay.
In 1336, he styled himself Dominus Insularum, "Lord of the Isles"; because this is the first ever recorded instance of the title in use, modern historians count John as the first of the later medieval Lords of the Isles, although this rather broad Latin style corresponds roughly with the older Gaelic title Rí Innse Gall ("King of the Isles"), in use since the Viking Age, and for instance, the even more similar Latin title dominus de Inchegal ("Lord of the Hebrides"), applied to Raghnall Mac Somhairle in the mid-12th century.
In 1346, when David II. looked to invade England, he sought support from John hence pardoning him and returning his lands.
In 1356 John appears next fighting at the head of a strong body of Highlanders under the French banner at Poitiers. [1] The Scots contingent sustained great losses, and the Lord of the Isles was taken prisoner. He was captive of the English until December 1357 when allowed to return home.
In 1360 he was appointed Constable of Edinburgh Castle and in 1364 he occupied the high office of Seneschall or High Steward of the King's Household. [1] During the imprisonment of the King a heavy burdden fell on the Highlands and John refused to pay his tax. After years of open and successful defiance, the High Steward prevailed upon the Lord of the Isles to meet the King at Inverness, where, in 1369, an instrument of allegiance was drawn up, and John submitted himself to the pleasure of the King. John was required to provide hostages to the King.
After the accession of Robert II. in 1371, owing to the close connection by marriage with the reigning family the relations between, the Crown and the Lord of the Isles were friendly. One of the first acts of Robert was to confirm to John the lands of Moidart, Arisaig, Morar, Knoydart, Uist, Barra, Rum, Eigg, and Harris. He subsequently received several other charters of lands on the Mainland and in the Islands.
He died, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, at Ardtornish Castle in 1387, and was buried in lona.
He first married Amy (sometimes seen as Euphemia) MacRuari, daughter of Roderick MacRuari of Garmoran, his third cousin, for which union they are said to have obtained a papal dispensation.[2]
Amy was a 14th-century Scottish noblewoman who was the sister of Raghnall mac Ruaidhri, Lord of Garmoran. After her marriage had produced three sons, the ambitious John of Islay divorced her in order to re-marry and cement his links with the House of Stewart. She then retired to her estates in the Highlands and Islands, and completed various ecclesiastical and other building projects.
Amie was a direct descendant of Somhairle mac Gille-Brighde (better known as Somerled), through her great-grandfather Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill, the founder of Mac Ruaidhri kindred. John of Islay was also a descendant of Somerled via his father and thus a distant relative of Amie. By marrying this heiress to the Mac Ruaidhri lands he eventually controlled significant stretches of the western seaboard of Scotland from Morvern to Loch Hourn and the whole of the Hebrides save for Skye. The marriage took place in the 1330s, probably in 1337.
John is said to have obtained a papal dispensation for the divorce, which took place in 1350, just four years after Amie's inheritance. The Lord of the Isles now received Knapdale and Kintyre as a dowry but in return his sons by Amie were to be passed over in the succession in favour of any children by the marriage with Margaret. As part of the contract he divorced Amy and changed the line of succession. Amy retained all her holdings to the Garmoran estates which would pass to her second born son, Roderick.
Children by wife Amy:
John of Isla married, secondly, Margaret, after 14 June 1350, Princess Margaret Stewart, daughter of Robert II of Scotland and Elizabeth Mure. The marriage was clearly politically driven.
Children by wife Princess Margaret he had: [3]
John's family by the first wife having been cut of from the succession to the lordship of the Isles, John was succeeded by Donald, second son to Margaret.[4]
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MacDonald Arms |
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Categories: Lord of the Isles | Finlaggan Castle | Ardtornish Castle | Scots in French Service | Battle of Poitiers | Scotland Project Managed Clan Profiles | Clan MacDonald
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