John (Macdonald) Macdonald Lord of the Isles (abt. 1318 - 1387)

Born about 1318 in Finlaggan Castle, Isle of Islay, Argyll, Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1387 at about age 69 in Ardtornish Castle, Morvern, Argyll, Scotland

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John (Macdonald) Macdonald Lord of the Isles was a prominent member of a Scottish Clan. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

John (Macdonald) Macdonald Lord of the Isles is a member of Clan MacDonald.

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.

Family

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:

1. John, married Ellen, daughter of Gillespic Campbell, afterwards wife of Duncan, Earl of Lennox, and died v.p.. They had a son Angus who is mentioned as one of the hostages given to King David in pledge of the fidelity of the Lord of the Isles in 1369. John predeceased his father, and his son Angus does not appear to have left issue.

2. Reginald or Ranald, First Chief of Clan Ranald, d. 1386, married a daughter of Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. Reginald handed over his right of succession, of his father, to his half-brother Donald, eldest son of the second marriage. He would succeed his mother in the lands of Garmoran. These included Moidart, Arisaig, Morar, Knoydart, Eigg, Rum, Uist, and Harris, all held to the Lord of the Isles. His father confirmed him in these lands by charter dated 1372, and added the lands of Sunart and Letterlochette, Ardgour, Hawlaste, and sixtymark lands in Lochaber, all to be held of the Lord of the Isles and his heirs. This charter was afterwards confirmed by Robert II. in the same year. Reginald died at Castletirrim, his principal residence, in 1386, and was buried in lona. He is said to have married a daughter of Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, but dates render this impossible, and his wife has not been ascertained. He did have five sons although the mothers may not have been the same.

3. Godfrey, Lord of Uist, founder of the Clan Godfrey (Siol Ghorraidh). He received, as his portion, the lands of North Uist. In 1389 he granted a charter of lands in North Uist to the Monastery of Inchaffray, in which he styles himself Lord of Uist.

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]

4. Donald, his successor in the Lordship of the Isles.

5. John Mor, founder of the family of Dunnyveg. Seen as Iain Mor Tainisteir. He received from his father a grant of 120-mark lands in Kintyre and 60-mark lands in Isla. His family became known as the Clann Iain Mhoir of Dunnyveg and the Glens, and in more modern times as the Macdonalds of Isla, or Clan Donald South. John Mor was assassinated in 1427. He married Margery Bisset, daughter of Sir Hugh Bisset, and heiress of the Seven Glens of Antrim, with issue.

6. Angus, who left no issue.

7. Alexander, known as Alastair Carrach, founder of the family of Keppoch.

8. Hugh, who got a Charter of the Thanage of Glentilt, and whose descendants, according to Skene, became Maclntoshes.

9. Marcus, from whom are descended the Macdonalds of Cnocancluith, in Tyrone (Ireland).

10. Mary, married to Lachlan Maclean of Duart. They were married before May 1367, when they had a dispensation legalising their union.

11. Elizabeth, married to Angus Dubh Mackay of Strathnaver.

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]

MacDonald Arms

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots Peerage (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904-1914); in 9 Volumes; Vol 5 for Lord of the Isles Vol 5, Page 37
2. ↑ J. R. N. (James Robert Nicolson) MacPhail, Highland Papers (Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society, 1914), Volume 1, pages 73 & 81 "History of the MacDonalds."
3. ↑ Balfour Paul, Scots Peerage, Vol 5, Page 40
4. ↑ Macdonald, Rev. A. and Macdonald Rev. A. (1904). The Clan Donald: Volume 3. Inverness, Scotland. Northern Counties Publishing Company Ltd. Pages 181-2

See Also:

• Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots Peerage (David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1904-1914); in 9 Volumes; Vol 5 for Lord of the Isles

• History of the ancient province of Ross (The County Palatine of Scotland) from the earliest times to the present time; volume= Vol. I; Robert Bain;1899; on archive.org

• Macdonald, Rev. A. and Macdonald Rev. A. (1896). The Clan Donald: Volume 1. Inverness, Scotland. Northern Counties Publishing Company Ltd. pp. 103-129.

• Macdonald, Rev. A. and Macdonald Rev. A. (1904). The Clan Donald: Volume 3. Inverness, Scotland. Northern Counties Publishing Company Ltd., p. 182.

• The Carved Stones of Islay - Part II History. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2014, from The Carved Stones of Islay

Links and additional reading

• Clan Donald vol 2 p 189-192

• Clan Donald vol 3 p 180-181

• The Carved Stones of Islay - Part 2 History

• Balfour Paul, Sir James. The Scots peerage; founded on Wood's edition of Sir Robert Douglas's peerage of Scotland Volume 1, Pages 15-16

• Cumberland Family cites, among others, Michael Ashley, The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens (New York : Carroll & Graf, 1999), p 420.

• My Family Clans cites: Ronald William, The Lords of The Isles The Clan Donald and the early Kingdom of the Scots (Isle of Colonsay, Argyll PA61 7YR: House of Lochar, 1984); Kathleen MacPhee, Somerled Hammer of the Norse (Glasgow: Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd, 2004).

• Iain Macdonald, Lord of the Isles on thepeerage.com
• Angus Macdonald and Archibald Macdonald, The Clan Donald (Inverness, The Northern Counties Publishing Company, ltd., 1896), "The Good John of Isla" Pages 103-129

• Wikipedia: Aonghus Óg Mac Domhnaill or Angus Og

• Wikipedia: John of Islay (or John MacDonald)

• Wikipedia: Amie MacRuari