ISLES, LORDS OF TilE. The lords of the Isles are famous in poetry and romance, but no proper historieql account of them has yet been written, and it is difficult to dis criminate between truth and fable in the various notices which have been preserved. The western islands of Scotland, or Hebrides, as they were afterwards called, originally a portion of the domains of the Scots and Picts, were afterwards subdued by the Nor wegians.. When Scotland became consolidated into one monarchy-, its kings endeavored to wrest the islands from the Norsemen; and during the contest which ensued, the various chiefs sometimes professed allegiance to the king of Scotland, and sometimes to the king of Norway, or their own more immediate superior, who ruled in Man. The Scottish supremacy was finally established by the victory of Largs, in the reign of Alex ander III., and the final cession of the islands by Magnus, son of Haco, king of Norway, made in the year 1266. By that treaty, all the islands of the Scottish seas, except those of Orkney and Zetlaud, were surrendered to Scotland. Man was conquered by the English during the wars of the succession, but the other islands remained subject to the Scottish sovereigns. The first name which generally appears in the lists of the lords of the Isles, as distinct from the kings of Man, is Somerled; and the great chiefs who after wards held the islands and portions of the mainland near them, claimed descent from this powerful lord. He appears prominently in Scottish history in the middle of the 12th c., during the reigns of David' I., and his grandson and successor, Malcolm IV. How he acquired his great authority is not precisely known. Even the race to which he belonged is uncertain; probably, like most of his subjects, he was of mixed descent, Norwegian and Celtic. His sister was married to Malcolm Mac-Heth, the head of the great Celtic family of Murray, who has been confounded by most Scottish writers with the impostor Wimund, and whose true history has been explained by Mr. E. W. Robert son in his Scotland under her Early Kings. In the year 1164 Somerled landed on the coast of Renfrew, at the head of his subjects of Argyle and the Isles, and was defeated and slain. His dominions seem to have been divided among his three sons—Dngal, Angus, and Reginald or Ronald. The, descendants of Dugal became lords of Argyle and Lorne; and those of Reginald, lords of the Idles. Reginald is said to have been suc ceeded by Donald, and Donald by Angus Mor, who was the father of Angus Og. We know from Barbour that Angus of the Isles, "lord and leader of Kintyre," gave his fealty to Bruce when most hardly pressed at the beginning of his reign, receiving him into his castle of Dunaverty, and that he afterwards fought under the great king at Ban nockburn. ' This chief is the hero of The Lord of the Iles, but his name, as Scott tells us, "has been euplonice grata', exchanged for that of Ronald." John of the Isles, son of Angus. married, first, his cousin, Amy of the Isles, and secondly, Margaret, daughter of king Robert II.; and among his descendants by these marriages are said to be the McDonalds of Sleat, Keppoch. Glengarry, and Clanranald. During the troubled and disastrous reign of David II., John of the Isles was able to maintain himself in a state of practical independence of the Scottish crown. He was atlast, however, obliged to sub mit. He met David at Inverness in 1369, and gave hostages for his fidelity. His suc cessor was Donald, his eldest son by Margaret of Scotland, and the most powerful of all the Island lords. He set the kings of Scotland at defiance, and made treaties as an independent sovereign with the kings of England. He married Margaret, daughter of Euphemia. countess of Ross. Margaret's brother. Alexander, earl of Ross, by his marriage with the daughter of the regent Allainy, left an only child, who became a nun.
Donald claimed the earldom in his wife's right; and when this claim was refused by the regent, he prepared to maintain it by force, Taking possession of Ross, he marched at the head of a large army from Inverness, through Murray and Strathbogie, entered the Garioch, and threatened to destroy the burgh of Aberdeen. At Harlaw (q.v.), near Inverury, he was encountered on St. James's eve, 1411, by a Lowland army much inferior in number, commanded by Alexander Stewart, earl of Mar. The action was fiercely contested, and, though not decisive in itself the lord of the Isles retreated, and all the advantages of the combat remained with Mar. This engagement, famous in history and song, probably saved the Lowlands of Scotland from Celtic supremacy. Donald was soon afterwards obliged to surrender the earldom of Ross, and to submit to the regent. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander. This lord, like other great Scot tish nobles, was seized and imprisoned by James I., who was determined to allow no rule in Scotland except his own. When restored to liberty, he again broke out into insurrection, but his army was routed; and in order to obtain pardon, he appeared at the altar of the church of Holyrood, and kneeling half-clothed before the king, pre sented his sword, and implored forgiveness. After a short imprisonment he was again pardoned. Upon his mother's death, he assumed the style of earl of Ross, and seems to have been in possession of the earldom. He was succeeded as earl of Ross and lord of the Isles by John, his eldest son. John, like his predecessors, acted as if he were an independent sovereign rather than a vassal of the king of Scots. He entered into a con federacy with the earls of Douglas and Crawford, the one, the most powerful nobleman in the s. the other, in the center of Scotland ;•and had they acted together with prompt ness and determination, the house of Stewart might have ceased to reign. In Oct., 1461, at his castle of Artornish, on the coast of Argyle, he granted a commission to his kins man Ronald, and Duncan, archdeacon of the Isles; to enter into a treaty with Edward IV. of England. By that treaty, which was concluded in the following year, he agreed to become liegeman to Edward, and to assist him in conquering Scotland. He was attainted more than once, and finally was obliged to resign the earldom of Ross, which was annexed to the crown. This took place July 10, 1476, and John was at the same time created lord of the Isles. He is said to have died in 1498. After his decease, the title of lord of the Isles was assumed by Donald the bastard, son of Angus of the Isles, an illegitimate son of John, lord of the Isles; and several chiels were attainted in 1503 and 1505 for supporting his claims. In July, 1545, another Donald, styling himself earl of Ross and lord of the Isles, presiding in a sort of Highland parliament, granted com mission to the bishop elect of the Isles and another person to enter into a treaty with the earl of Lennox, then acting for Henry VIII. of England. This document is given by Mr. 'I'ytler, the historian of Scotland, who remarks that " it is a diplomatic curiosity, not one of the Highland chieftains, eighteen in number, being able to write his name." In a paper addressed by the Highland commissioners to the privy council of England, they speak of their constituents as "the auld enemies to the realm of Scotland," the very name by which the Scottish parliament was wont to speak of the English. Various persons, claiming to be descendants of John, earl of Ross, assumed the style of lord of the Isles; but the title does not appear to have been recognized after his decease, except as annexed to the crown. The eldest son of the Scottish sovereign has generally used the style of lord of the Isles, along with his other titles.