The Highlanders of Scotland by William Skene

Author:William Skene [Skene, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw
Publisher: Christ To The World
Published: 2013-03-19T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

The Gallgael – (continued)

NOTWITHSTANDING the ill success of the two attempts which the Macdonalds had made to set up one of their race as lord of the Isles, they remained determined not to give up all prospect of having a chief of their own race without a farther struggle. The effects of the last insurrections had indeed so completely depressed and crushed them for the time, that they appear to have been, during the remainder of the reign of James V., in no condition to attempt such an enterprise; and it was in consequence not till the regency of Mary of Guise, that an apparently favourable opportunity offered itself for the purpose. The race of Celestine, John’s immediate younger brother, being now extinct, they turned their thoughts towards Donald Du, the son of Angus Og, in whose favour the first attempt had been made shortly after the death of the last lord of the Isles; and they now determined to make a final effort to place him in possession of the inheritance which they conceived to have been unjustly wrested from him. Donald Du had been carried off, when still a minor, on the successful siege of Kerneburgh, by Sir Andrew Wood, and had been detained in captivity ever since in Inchconnel; but a sudden and unexpected attack upon his castle by the Macdonalds of Glenco effected his liberation, and he had no sooner arrived in the Isles than he was declared lord, and received the submission of the chiefs of the different branches of the Macdonalds and the other Island lords. In this insurrection, Donald Du was supported by the earl of Lennox, who was at that time in the English interest; and as long as Lennox continued in league with him, he remained in possession of the Isles; but that earl having soon after made his peace with the king, and disbanded his followers, Donald Du went to Ireland for the purpose of raising forces to support his occupancy of the territories of the Isles, but having been attacked with fever, he died at Drogheda, on his way to Dublin, and with him ended the direct line of the earls of Ross and lords of the Isles, and all hopes of a descendant of Somerled again reigning over the Isles. Thus ended the last effort made by the Macdonalds to regain their former state and power, and from this period they have remained divided and broken up into various branches, whose numerical strength is rendered unavailing by their mutual jealousy and want of union.

Upon the forfeiture of the lords of the Isles, and failure of their subsequent attempts to retrieve their affairs, the various clans occupying the extensive territories which had owned their sway, were found in one or other of three situations: of one class were a number of clans which became dependent upon the Macdonalds, but were not of the same origin, and these clans, with thee exception of the Macleods, Maclanes, and others, opposed

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