Clan Donald traces its descent from Dòmhnall Mac Raghnuill whose father Ranald or Reganeld was styled "King of the Isles" and "Lord of Argyll and Kintyre" and grandfather was Somerled, King of the Hebrides.
Specifically,
I am from the branch known as the McDonnells of Antrim, in County Antrim in
Northern Ireland. You see, I have deep roots in the whole of Scottish
history. The MacDonnells of Antrim are descended from John Mor MacDonald chief
of the MacDonald of Dunnyveg, John Mor MacDonald was the second son of Good John of Islay, 6th chief of Clan Donald and six generations descendant from the
founder of the clan. This birth was through John of Islay's second
marriage to Princess Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II. Hence why the MacDonald's ended up on the Jacobite side of the whole threat to
the English crown when the Tudors of Henry the VIII's line had no more children
and the Stewarts took over but then they were removed by William of Orange in
1688 when the Protestants kicked out Catholic King James in the Glorious
Revolution. James or Jacobus would lead revolts from Scotland as would
his son Charles, Scotland would lose its independence in the ensuing
years.
John Mor
MacDonald married Margery Byset daughter of the Mac Eoin Bissett Lord of the Glens of Antrim. They would take on the title Lord of
Antrim from the Bissets even though that was not given. It would turn out
John Mor would be murdered in Edinburgh in 1427 by James Campbell
continuing a feud that continues between the two clans, possibly even until
today.
John
Mor MacDonald is my 20th Great Grandfather as it would turn out, and like
probably hundreds of thousands, I am a direct descendant of the founder of
the clan. As the Jacobites gathered their forces in 1688, the second son
of of the nobility of the Clan McDonnell, a young man named Bryan McDonnell was
commissioned at Lieutenant of the Jacobite army, to fulfill the loyalty of the
clan to the Stewart king James II, this despite that they were protestant.
James was open to al religions or so the history states. In 1691, James II left
his army to go to Europe to secure support and left Lord Tyrconnell in charge
of the Williamite War in Ireland, and he distrusted protestants in his army
despite Clan loyalty and purged them all including my ancestor Bryan, who
not being the family heir, decided it would be a good time to leave for
America. He purchased 693 acres from William Penn & moved to
Delaware in 1691 with his family. He was then known as "McDonald the
immigrant."
So my
ancestors have been in America for a very long time, oddly, as far as can be
determined, none of my ancestors ever married another Irish person.....
Everywhere I
went, I was surrounded by my Clan history.
The Urquhart
Castle on Loch Ness was sacked by the Clan in 1513 and just about everything
was carted off. It was retaken in 1517 by the Clan Grant and then sacked
again by my clan in 1545 when even more was taken. The Grants blew up the
castle in 1690 so the Jacobites would not use it in the Uprising of the
period.
Now it just gives a nice view to look for monsters
We went to
Skye, which we would learn must be the most crowded place on Earth in the
summer and was still nuts. The weather is also nuts out there.
Rain, fog, wind, cold, .....seeing the sky in Skye, a lucky break.
It is also
home of the ancestral and spiritual center of the Clan Donald out at the ruins of Castle
Armadale.
The view from the castle
The MacLeod's (Leod which means "Ugly" in old
Norse, the son's of Ugly, is a rather interesting name). and the
MacDonald's have had a rather odd and UGLY history. Let us review a few
of them.
Until the Lordship of the Isles was forfeited to King James
IV of Scotland in 1493, both MacLeod branches were loyal to MacDonald Lord of
the Isles, and kinsmen from both families fought side-by-side at the Battle of
Bannockburn in 1314 for the Bruce cause; the Battle of Harlaw (1411) for the
Chief of Clan Donald; and at the Battle of Bloody Bay in 1481 for John of
Islay. After the loss of the Lord of the Isles’ title and lands, however,
Scotland fell into a period of crisis and anarchy and the two major family
branches — the MacLeods of Dunvegan and MacDonalds of Sleat — became locked in
a violent feud that would last for over a century.
The enmity was bitter, the
fighting barbaric, and both clans committed terrible atrocities towards each
other’s kinsmen in a bid to regain and extend their powers over the Island. The
fighting laid waste to farmland and the collateral damage to communities was
high with reports of the civilian population being reduced to eating horses,
pets “and other filthie beasts".
In addition to the battle sites
during the Wars of the One-Eyed Woman,
there are many places on Skye which mark the historical hostilities between
these two vying clans. One such place is Trumpan Church, now a ruin, on the
Waternish Peninsula.
In 1577, after a MacLeod raiding
party landed on Eigg, the island’s population of MacDonalds fled to a cave in
the south of the island. With a view to flushing them out, the MacLeods blocked
the cave entrance with heather and vegetation and set it alight. Instead of
becoming prisoners, however, all 395 MacDonalds were suffocated to death.
Enraged by the slaughter, the following year, the MacDonalds of neighboring
Uist landed eight birlinn war galleys at Ardmore Bay. While the MacLeods were
all gathered inside nearby Trumpan church for their Sunday worship, the
marauding MacDonalds barred the doors and set alight to the church, killing all
but one – a young girl. The girl apparently managed to escape through a window,
run the 10 miles to Dunvegan Castle and raise the alarm. Unfortunately for the
MacDonald party, a low tide had grounded their escape vessels, leaving time for
the MacLeods to catch them. A battle ensued, during which MacLeod raised the
fairy flag and slaughtered his enemies to every man. The bodies of the fallen
MacDonalds were lined up behind a turf dyke which was collapsed over the top of
them. This bloody moment in history is widely known as the Battle of the
Spoiling Dyke.
Iain Ciar and his wife were a particularly infamous couple. He was described as
a “tyrannical and bloodthirsty despot” who was not only hated by his enemy but
also his own clansmen. His wife apparently had her two daughters buried alive
in the castle dungeons for trying to escape the clan.
Alasdair Crotach, Alexander the
Humpbacked, 8th chief
“The Crotach” is lauded as the MacLeods’ greatest chief. Said to have been
mutilated by a strike with a MacDonald battle axe during the Battle of Bloody
Bay off Mull, this belligerent warlord who was feared by many had an aesthetic
side to his nature. He embraced culture: he positively encouraged dancing,
poetry and music. He formed a piping college on Skye and installed the
MacCrimmons as pipers to the MacLeod chiefs, a relationship that still lasts
today. He built the castle’s Fairy Tower and entertained King James V to a
mountain feast on Healabhal Beag, one of the MacLeod’s tables overlooking
Orbost. ‘The Crotach’ spent the latter part of his final years living as a monk
on Harris and died there in 1547.
The strange but true
In 1739, Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan (The Wicked) and Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat and others were accused of being involved in the kidnapping of 96 of their kinsmen, men, women and children with a view to selling them into slavery at £3 per head. The plot was led by Waternish tacksman Sir Norman Macleod of Berneray who managed to herd his victims onto a ship bound for the Americas. A storm wrecked the vessel off the coast of Northern Ireland and the reluctant passengers were all rescued. They escaped justice.
He also locked his first wife in the dungeon of Dunvegan to starve slowly to death, lost the ancestral lands of Harris due to excessive spending, never visited Skye, and was a generally all around bad dude.
John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th chief, this man was featured on the introductory video of the castle, had a prominent painting and was a classically trained actor and looked like an outstanding citizen. His picture is everywhere....but the truth, maybe is not so great.
I had thought MacLeod was a cool dude, but then I read about him. He was just like the rest of the elites and not unlike his ancestor Norman, anything for profit mentality. In 2000, John MacLeod attempted to sell-off the Black Cuillin for £10million in order, he said, to restore the dilapidated roof of Dunvegan Castle. At the same time, he also put forward plans to build a 60-80 bedroom hotel and leisure complex near the village. The intended sale of Scotland’s most iconic mountain range caused public outrage and fuelled a heated debate about Scotland’s ownership. When the plans fell through and the Cuillin taken off the market, MacLeod was forced back to the table for funding ideas. A subsequent bid to the National Lottery for £25 million with a promise to hand over the Cuillin and Dunvegan Castle to the public also failed. Further controversy followed his death in 2007 when he left £15million in his will. Pleading poverty? Hope his death was painful.
The Black Cuillins would be like selling Yellowstone to a mining concern or Exxon. Would he have let go the famous Fairy Pools where his kin may have gotten the famous battle flag? Stunning mountains, the best in the whole UK.
There were birds (and other creatures) on Skye and the son did shine.
 |
| Common ringed plover |
 |
| Eurasian Curlew, a lifer |
 |
| Gray heron |
 |
| Greylag goose |
 |
| Highland cattle |
 |
| hooded crow |
 |
| rock pipit |
 |
| Northern wheatear |
 |
| Old Man of Storr, owned by the MacLeods is an over popular hike |
We finally moved on
First Glenfinnan, another MacDonald site, better known as
the site of the Bridge scene in Harry Potter and everyone came to see the steam
train go over it
Inadvertently on the MacDonald tour as the monument to the Jacobites and the clan is on the other side of the road
Again, MacDonald land. In 1692, the MacDonalds took in a patrol of Loyalist forces from the king during a terrible snowstorm. Twelve days later, violating the code of the Highlands, the men, led by a Campbell, massacred somewhere over thirty men and women with children in their sleep, and forced the rest into the Highlands in a blizzard, most and unknown number died. This even shocked the nation, but after a parliamentary investigation, nothing happened. There have been coverups for centuries.
 |
| Lesser redpoll, a lifer, recent split from the common redpoll, British birding thinks there is 5 species of redpolls, there is probably just one, but here we say three |
 |
| I needed a pub after all of this Clannish stuff, some serious pints |
I was overwhelmed. I even thought, do I contact the
Clan Chief for the Irish arm of the clan?
The Clan chief is the Right and Honourable Randall Alexander
St. John McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim even looks a bit like me., well maybe. LOL
Do I buy a kilt with the colors? Do I keep up the feud with the MacLeods and Campbells? Do I join the MacDonald Society USA? What to do...but maybe history IS bunk. Even for me, I had way too much, and it was all surprisingly thrust upon me due to poor choices for places to go birding. maybe it was my genes dragging me here, I do not know. It made me want to go home. There was too much here for me, and the damp clouds did NOT help and we had some sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment