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It is difficult in a short sketch to outline the historyofvariousbranchesof the clan Donald, the families of whichareintricatelyinterwoven.Somerled, Regulus of the Isles, from whom theclantracetheir descent,expelled the Norsemen from the Western Isles inthe12thcentury. He waskilled at Renfrew in 1164 when his army didbattlewithMalcolm IV, and wassucceeded by his son Reginald, Lord oftheIsles,from whom are descendedthe Clans MacDonald and MacRurie.
(c.1113-c.1164)
Somerled, Lord of the Isles Somerled was born around 1113 in Morven,Argyleshire. He was thesonofGillebride Mac Gille Adomnan and a Vikingwoman. Although thereissomecontention on his ancestry, his father wasapparently either oftheRoyalline of Dalriada, Gall Gael (which isCruithni or Pict)orboth.Somerled's name means 'summer wanderer', a nameusedbyhiscontemporaries to describe the Vikings. For Somerled, it wasanamethatprophecized his life -and the combination of bloodlines,atleastinSomerled's case, proved itself powerful, as he laterforgedapermanentspot for himself in the history of the Isles andScotland.
Sometime in Somerled's early youth, the Lochlans and theFingalls(Clansortribes) expelled Somerled's family from their home. TheytookrefugeinIreland, where Gillebride managed to persuade the Colla(anIrishtribe) toassist him in the recovery of his possessions orholdings.Alarge force ofapproximately 500 men accompanied the familyhome.Themission was afailure, however, and his father either died inthebattleor soonafterwards.
Somerled lived for a while in the caves of his homeland,fishingandhuntingfor his survival. Slowly he grew into manhoodandbecame,according to theaccounts; 'A well tempered man, in bodyshapely,of afair and piercing eye,of middle stature and quickdiscernment.'Duringthis period of his lifeseveral things happened inquick successionwhichmade Somerled a man ofstature.
In one story, Somerled put himself at the head of theinhabitantsofMorvenand attacked the Norwegians. He was successful, andrecoveredhisfamily'slands at the same time. He then was master ofMorven,Lochaberand northernArgyle. Soon after this he conquered thesouthernportionsand pronouncedhimself Thane or Regulus of Argyle. Thishappenedat aboutthe same time asDavid the First's war with theNorwegians, whichtookplace in 1135, soSomerled may have received theselands in a grantfromthe King.
His newfound power greatly increased his standing, but italsodrewtheattention of his neighbors, the Vikings in the Isles (theIsleofSkye,the Isle of Man and that general area). Somerled, however,stilldidnothave the force required to take on the Olaf the Red, theVikingLordofthe Isles. Instead he chose to woo his enemy for thehandofhisdaughter, Ragnhild. Eventually he succeeded (some saybytrickery)inobtaining Olaf's daughter's hand and the twoweremarriedinapproximately 1140.
For the next fourteen years Somerled and Ragnhild livedinrelativepeaceand started raising a family. Raginald gave himthreesons,Dugall,Reginald, and Angus. These sons joined his son byapreviousmarriage,Gillecallum.
In 1154, Olaf (Olave in some stories) was murdered byhisnephewswhoquickly took control of the northern half of the KingdomoftheIsles.Olaf's son, Godfred (or Godfrey) heard of the eventsandreturnedfromNorway, quickly regaining possession of the entireKingdom.ButGodfreywas a tyrant, and the Islemen soon revoltedagainsthisleadership. Someof the chieftans of the Isles appealed toSomerledforhelp. He joinedthem and defeated Godfrey, in the processtakingthesouthern half of theKingdom for himself. About two yearslaterGodfreyand Somerled againwent to war, this time Somerled was usingnewshipswith a rudder andGodfrey was defeated again. Somerled became KingoftheIsles in about1156.
At about the same time, Somerled was also campaigning in Scotlandtoasmalldegree and this in combination with his new title as KingoftheIsles drewthe attention of its King. King Malcolm IV ofScotlandwasconcerned overSomerled's growing power and dispatched an armytoArgyle.In 1160, after abattle the two Kings reached an understandingandtherewas again peace.This peace was short lived however, as inlate1163,after being continuallyinsulted by Malcolm and hisministers,Somerledled an army againstScotland.
The King of the Isles sailed up the Clyde with 164 galleysand15,000troopsto Greenock. He landed at the Bay of St. Lawrenceandmarched onRenfrew.There are two popular stories about what occurredinScotland.In oneversion, a bribed nephew murdered Somerled and thearmyof theIslesdispersed and went home. In the other version of thestory,battlewasjoined between the Scots and the men of the Isles andSomerledwaskilled.His son Gillecallum, his heir, also died during thebattle.Nowwithout aleader, the army from the Isles dispersed and wenthome.Ineither caseSomerled died in Scotland in very early 1164.
Somerled is generally credited with breaking the power of theVikingsintheIsles as his descendants remained Kings of the Islesforcenturiesafter hisdeath. One of Somerled's grandsons, a Donald,isalsoconsidered theancestor of the Clan Donald, for his sons werethefirstto carry the nameMacDonald.
A UNIQUE and important place in Scottish history, andparticularlyinthehistory of the Hebrides and the southwestern Highlands,isoccupiedbythe great figure of Somerled of the Isles.'Somerledi,'orsummersailors, is said to have been the term appliedtotheNorwegianadventurers, whose raids upon the coasts of thiscountrywereusuallymade during the pleasanter months of the year; but sofarashistory isconcerned the name is that of the great island lordwhoreignedas anindependent prince of the West and the Isles throughoutthemiddleof thetwelfth century. It is generally asserted intheHighlandgenealogies ofto-day that Somerled was a Celtic chief bywhoseeffortsthe Norsemen hadbeen driven from the mainland of Scotland,and whohadwrested theislands of the west from the Norwegian Olaf, KingofMan,before settinghimself up as King of the Isles and Lord of Argyll;butthefacts ofhistory make it appear more likely that he washimselfaNorseman, and weknow his wife was Effrica daughter of Olaf ofMan.Whenthe High Steward,settled at Renfrew for the purpose by DavidI.ofScotland, began todrive back the Norse invaders who werethenthrustingtheir settlementsinto the higher reaches of the Firth ofClyde,his chiefopponent wasthis Somerled of the Isles. The climax ofthestrugglebetween them wasreached in 1164, when Somerled landed agreatforce onthe shores ofRenfrewshire, and fought a pitched battle withtheforces ofthe HighSteward near the headquarters of the latter atRenfrewitself. Inthatbattle Somerled fell, along with Gillecolane, hisson byhisfirstmarriage, and it seems possible that the BarochanCross,withitsinteresting and appropriate sculptures, still standing nearthesceneofthe battle, forms a memorial of the event.
Somerled, Rex Insularum, Thane of Argyll, Righ Innesegall,LordoftheKingdom of Man and the Isles (In 1135 he helped DavidI[ofScotland]expel the Norse from [the isles of] Arran and Bute)4.
b. ~1113 Morven, Argyll, Scotland
m. <1140 Ragnhildis, daughter of Olave the Red, Norse King ofManandtheIsles
d. 1164 Renfrew, Scotland, in battle with King MalcolmIVofScotland(murdered by nephew Maurice MacNeill1 ). Somerledisthelegendarybuilder of Castle Tioram.2
(sons, Dugall, Ranald, and Angus)
The historical founder of the Family of the IsleswasSomerled,RexInsularum, for whom some writers have claimed aNorwegianorigin,butalthough the name is Norse all other circumstancespoint toadifferentconclusion. The traditions of the ClanDonaldinvariablyrepresent thathe descended from the ancient Pictishdivision ofthe Gael,and the earlyhistory of the Clan Cholla , thedesignation of theClanprior to thetime of Donald, penetrates into farantiquity.Traditiontakes us back tothe celebrated Irish King, Conn-CeudChathach,or Conn ofa HundredFights, the hundredth 'Ard Righ,' or supremeKing ofIreland.Conn'scourt was at Tara and he died in 157 A.D. TheScottishpoetEwenMacLachlan refers to this early royal ancestor of theraceofSomerled.
'Before the pomp advanced in kingly grace I see thestemofConn'svictorious race, Whose sires of old the Westernsceptreswayed,Which allthe Isles and Albion's half obeyed.'
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1 _UID B4515E301769B04B99AE48BF8E7501399974
1 REFN M4865
Thomas
Schäfer
