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The MACDONALDS of ISLA and KINTYRE, called
the Clan IAN VOR, whose chiefs were usually styled lords of Dunyveg (from their castle in
Isla) and the Glens, were descended from John Mor, second son of "the good John of
Isla," and of Lady Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II. From his brother
Donald, Lord of the Isles, he received large grants of land in Isla and Kintyre, and his
marriage with Marjory Bisset, heiress of the district of the Glens in Antrim, he acquired
possessions in Ulster. He was murdered before 1427 by an individual named James Campbell,
who is said to have received a commission from King James I. to apprehend him, but that he
exceeded his powers by putting him to death. His eldest son was the famous Donald Balloch.
From Ranald Bane, a younger brother of Donald Balloch, sprang the Clanranaldbane of Largie
in Kintyre.
Donald Balloch's grandson, John,
surnamed Cathanach, or warlike, was at the head of the clan Ian Vor, when the lordship of
the Isles was finally forfeited by James IV. in 1493. In that year he was among the
chiefs, formerly vassals of the Lord of the Isles, who made their submission to the king,
when he proceeded in person to the West Highlands. On this occasion he and the other
chiefs were knighted.
Alexander of Isla was with Sir Donald of Lochalsh when, in
1518, he proceeded against the father-in-law of the former, MacIan of Ardnamurchan, who
was defeated and slain, with two of his sons, at a place called Craiganairgid, or the
Silver Craig in Morvern. The death of Sir Donald soon after brought the rebellion to a
close. In 1529 Alexander of Isla and his followers were again in insurrection, and being
joined by the Macleans, they made descents upon Roseneath, Craignish, and other lands of
the Campbells, which they ravaged with fire and sword. Alexander of Isla being considered
the prime mover of the rebellion, the king resolved in 1531 to proceed against him in
person, on which, hastening to Stirling, under a safeguard and protection, he submitted,
and received a new grant, during the king's pleasure, of certain lands in the South Isles
and Kintyre, and a remission to himself and his followers for all crimes committed by them
during the late rebellion.
In 1543, on the second escape of Donald Dudh, grandson of
John, last lord of the Isles, and the regent Arran's opposing the views of the English
faction, James Macdonald of Isla, son and successor to Alexander, was the only insular
chief who supported the regent. In the following year his lands of Kintyre were ravaged by
the Earl of Lennox, the head of the English party.
After the death of Donald Dubh, the islanders chose for
their leader James Macdonald of Isla, who married Lady Agnes Campbell, the Earl of
Argyll's sister, and though the most powerful of the Island chiefs, he relinquished his
pretensions to the lordship of the Isles, being the last that assumed that title.
A dispute between the Macleans and the clan Ian Vor,
relative to the right of occupancy of certain crown lands in Isla, led to a long and
bloody feud between these tribes, in which both suffered severely. In 1562 the matter was
brought before the privy council, when it was decided that James Macdonald of Isla was
really the crown tenant, and as Maclean refused to become his vassal, in 1565 the rival
chiefs were compelled to find sureties, each to the amount of œ10,000, that they
would abstain from mutual hostilities.
James having been killed while helping to defend his family
estates in Ulster, Ireland, his eldest son , Angus Macdonald, succeeded to Isla and
Kintyre, and in his time the feud with the Macleans was renewed, details of which will be
found in the former part of this work. In 1579, upon information of mutual hostilities
committed by their followers, the king and council commanded Lauchlan Maclean of Dowart
and Angus Macdonald of Dunyveg or Isla, to subscribe assurances of indemnity to each
other, under the pain of treason, and the quarrel was, for the time, patched up by the
marriage of Macdonald with Maclean's sister. In 1585, however, the feud came to a height,
and after involving nearly the whole of the island clans on one side or the other, and
causing its disastrous consequences to be felt throughout the whole extent of the
Hebrides, by the mutual ravages of the contending parties, government interfered, and
measures were at last adopted for reducing to obedience the turbulent chiefs, who had
caused so much bloodshed and distress in the Isles.
James Macdonald, son of Angus Macdonald of Dunyveg, had
remained in Edinburgh for four years as a hostage for his father, and early in 1596 he
received a license to visit him, in the hope that he might be prevailed upon to submit to
the laws, that the peace of the Isles might be secured. He sent his son, who was soon
afterwards knighted, back to court to make known to the privy council, in his father's
name and his own, that they would fulfil whatever conditions should be prescribed to them
by his majesty. At this time Angus made over to his son all his estates, reserving only a
proper maintenance for himself and his wife during their lives. When Sir William Stewart
arrived at Kintyre, and held a court there, the chief of Isla and his followers hastened
to make their personal submission to the king's representative, and early in the following
year he went to Edinburgh, when he undertook to find security for the arrears of his crown
rents, to remove his clan and dependers from Kintyre and the Rinns of Isla, and to deliver
his castle of Dunyveg to any person sent by the king to receive it.
Angus Macdonald having failed to fulfil these conditions,
his son, Sir James, was in 1598 sent to him from court, to induce him to comply with them.
His resignation of his estates in favour of his son was not recognised by the privy
council, as they had already been forfeited to the crown; but Sir James, on his arrival,
took possession of them, and even attempted to burn his father and mother in their house
of Askomull in Kintyre. Angus Macdonald, after having been taken prisoner, severely
scorched, was carried to Smerbie in Kintyre, and confined there in irons for several
months. Sir James, now in command of his clan, conducted himself with such violence, that
in June 1598 a proclamation for another royal expedition to Kintyre was issued. He,
however, contrived to procure from the king a letter approving of his proceedings in
Kintyre, and particularly of his apprehension of his father; and the expedition, after
being delayed for some time, was finally abandoned.
In August of the following year, with the view of being
reconciled to government, Sir James appeared in presence of the king's comptroller at
Falkland, and made certain proposals for establishing the royal authority in Kintyre and
Isla; but the influence of Argyll, who took the part of Angus Macdonald, Sir James's
father, and the Campbells, having been used against their being carried into effect, the
arrangement came to nothing, and Sir James and his clan were driven into irremediable
opposition to the government, which ended in their ruin.
Sir James, finding that it was the object of Argyll to
obtain from himself the king's lands in Kintyre, made an attempt in 1606 to escape from
the castle in Edinburgh, where he was imprisoned; but being unsuccessful, was put in
irons. In the following year a charter was granted to Argyll of the lands in North and
South Kintyre, and in the Isle of Jura, which had been forfeited by Angus Macdonald, and
thus did the legal right to the lands of Kintyre pass from a tribe which had held them for
many hundred years.
Angus Macdonald and his clan immediately took up arms, and
his son, Sir James, after many fruitless applications to the privy council, to be set at
liberty, and writing both to the king and the Duke of Lennox, made another attempt to
escape from the castle of Edinburgh, but having hurt his ankle by leaping from the wall
whilst encumbered with his fetters, he was retaken near the West Port of that city, and
consigned to his former dungeon. Details of the subsequent transactions in this rebellion
will be found in the former part of this work.
After the fall of Argyll, who had turned Roman Catholic,
and had also fled to Spain, where he is said to have entered into some very suspicious
dealings with his former antagonist, Sir James Macdonald, who was living there in exile,
the latter was, in 1620, with Ranald of Keppoch, recalled from exile by King James. On
their arrival in London, Sir James received a pension of 1000 merks sterling, while
Keppoch got one of 200 merks. His majesty also wrote to the Scottish privy council in
their favour, and granted them remissions for all their offences. Sir James, however,
never again visited Scotland, and died at London in 1626, without issue. The clan Ian Vor
from this period may be said to have been totally suppressed. Their lands were taken
possession of by the Campbells, and the most valuable portion of the property of the ducal
house of Argyll consists of what had formerly belonged to the Macdonalds of Isla and
Kintyre.
Last MacDonalds of Isla
By Charles Fraser-Mackintosh (1895) (pdf) |
