HOME
*



picture info

MacDougall
Clan MacDougall is a Highland Scottish clan, historically based in and around Argyll. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in Scotland, issuing new grants of coats of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, recognizes under Scottish law the Chief of Clan MacDougall. The MacDougall chiefs share a common ancestry with the chiefs of Clan Donald in descent from Somerled of the 12th century (and thus further of the Viking-born Norse-Gael dynasty of House of Ivar). In the 13th century the Clan MacDougall whose chiefs were the original Lords of Argyll and later Lords of Lorne was the most powerful clan in the Western Highlands. During the Wars of Scottish Independence the MacDougalls sided with the Clan Comyn whose chiefs rivaled Robert the Bruce for the Scottish Crown and this resulted in clan battles between the MacDougalls and Bruce. This marked the MacDougall's fall from power and led to the rise of the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dunstaffnage Castle
Dunstaffnage Castle ( gd, Caisteal Dhùn Stadhainis) is a partially ruined castle in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. It lies NNE of Oban, situated on a platform of conglomerate rock on a promontory at the south-west of the entrance to Loch Etive, and is surrounded on three sides by the sea. The castle and the nearby chapel ruin have been a Historic Scotland property since 1958. Both are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The castle dates back to the 13th century, making it one of Scotland's oldest stone castles, in a local group which includes Castle Sween and Castle Tioram. Guarding a strategic location, it was built by the MacDougall lords of Lorn, and has been held since the 15th century by the Clan Campbell. To this day there is a hereditary Captain of Dunstaffnage, although they no longer reside at the castle. Dunstaffnage is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland, and is open to the public, although the 16th century gatehouse is retained as the private property of t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dunollie Castle
Dunollie Castle ( Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Dhùn Ollaigh) is a small ruined castle located on a hill north of the town of Oban, on the west coast of Scotland in Argyll. The site enjoys views over towards the island of Kerrera and a view of the town, harbour, and outlying isles. The castle is open to the public as part of the Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds. History There was a fortification on this high promontory in the Early Middle Ages, when Dunollie was the royal centre of the Cenél Loairn within the kingdom of Dál Riata. The Irish annals record that "Dun Ollaigh" was attacked or burned down three times, in 686, 698, and in 701. It was subsequently rebuilt in 714 by Selbach mac Ferchair (died 730), the King of Dál Riata credited with destroying the site in 701. Excavations in the 1970s suggest that this early fortification was abandoned some time in the 10th century. The area around Dunollie subsequently became part of the semi-independent Kingdom of the Isles ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Dubgall Mac Somairle
Dubgall mac Somairle (died 1175) was an apparent King of the Isles. He was a son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte and Ragnhildr Óláfsdóttir. Dubgall was a leading figure of Clann Somairle, and the eponymous ancestor of Clann Dubgaill. Dubgall's career is obscure, and little is certain of his life. In 1155 or 1156, Dubgall was produced as a candidate to the kingship of the Isles, then-possessed by his maternal uncle, Guðrøðr Óláfsson. Later that year, Somairle defeated Guðrøðr, and the kingdom was divided between them. Two years later, Somairle again defeated Guðrøðr, and assumed control over the entirety of the realm. Whilst is possible that Dubgall was the nominal King of the Isles, it is apparent that his father possessed the real power. Dubgall's father died in an invasion of Scotland in 1164. At least one of Somairle's sons was slain in this defeat, and it is unknown if Dubgall was present. Whilst it is possible that Dubgall retained a degree of royal authori ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Clan Bruce
Clan Bruce ( gd, Brùs) is a Lowlands Scottish clan. It was a Royal House in the 14th century, producing two kings of Scotland (Robert the Bruce and David II of Scotland), and a disputed High King of Ireland, Edward Bruce. Origins The surname '' Bruce'' comes from the Flemish ''de Bruce'', derived from the lands now called Bruges in Belgium. Maurits Gysseling, ''Toponymisch woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226)'', Brussel 1960, p. 195. For other the surname comes from the French ''de Brus'' or ''de Bruis'', derived from the lands now called ''Brix'', Normandy, France. There is no evidence to support a claim that a member of the family, 'Robert de Brix', served under William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England. This notion is now believed to have originated in unreliable lists, derived from the later Middle Ages, of people who supposedly fought at the Battle of Hastings. Both the English and Scots lines ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Lord Of Lorne
''For the Child ballad, see The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward.'' Lord of Lorne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that has been created twice. ;First Creation The title was first created for Robert Stewart of Durisdeer (died 1403), son of John Stewart of Innermeath (died 1421). Robert's mother was Isabel MacDougall, daughter of John Gallda MacDougall, Lord of Lorne (died 1371×1377). The MacDougalls, formerly exiled from their Argyll lands in the reign of Robert I, King of Scotland (died 1329), had been restored to their Lorne lands in the reign of David II, King of Scotland. The close association between John Gallda and David meant that the former was out of favour in the succeeding Stewart regime under Robert II, King of Scotland (died 1390). When John Gallda died without a male heir his two legitimate daughters, including Isabel, were subsequently married off to the sons of John Stewart of Innermeath. Robert Stewart, 1st Lord of Lorne was succeeded by his oldest s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Somerled
Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the Kingdom of Argyll and the Isles. Little is certain of Somerled's origins, although he may have been born in northern Ireland and appears to have belonged to a Norse–Gaelic family of some prominence. His father, GilleBride, of royal Irish ancestry, appears to have conducted a marriage alliance with Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, son of Alexander I of Scotland, and claimant to the Scottish throne. During a period of alliance with David I of Scotland, Somerled married Ragnhild, daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of Man and the Isles in 1140. In 1153, Olaf of Man died and was succeeded by his son, Godred. But Godred Olafsson was a very unpopular ruler. Somerled was asked by Thorfinn Ottarson, a Manx chief, to allow Somerled's son, Dug ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Argyll
Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of on Great Britain. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom and dukedom, the Dukedom of Argyll. It borders Inverness-shire to the north, Perthshire and Dunbartonshire to the east, and—separated by the Firth of Clyde—neighbours Renfrewshire and Ayrshire to the south-east, and Buteshire to the south. Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was an administrative county with a county council. Its area corresponds with most of the modern council area of Argyll and Bute, excluding the Isle of Bute and the Helensburgh area, but including the Morvern and Ardnamurchan areas of the Highland council area. There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain then P ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Clan Campbell
Clan Campbell ( gd, Na Caimbeulaich ) is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans. The Clan Campbell lands are in Argyll and within their lands lies Ben Cruachan. The chief of the clan became the Earl and later Duke of Argyll. History Origins In traditional genealogies of the Clan Campbell, the clan's origins are placed amongst the ancient Britons of Strathclyde; the earliest Campbell in written records is Gillespie who is recorded in 1263. Early grants to Gillespie and his relations were almost all in east-central Scotland, but the family's connection with Argyll came some generations before, when a Campbell married the heiress of the O'Duines and she brought with her the Lordship of Loch Awe. Because of this the early clan name was ''Clan O' Duine'' and this was later supplanted by the style ''Clann Diarmaid''. This name came from a fancied connection to ''Diarmid the Boar'', a great hero from early Celtic m ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Clann Somhairle
Clann Somhairle, sometimes anglicised as Clan Sorley, refers to those Scottish and Irish dynasties descending from the famous Norse-Gaelic leader Somerled, King of Mann and the Isles, son of Gillabrigte (†1164) and ancestor of Clann Domhnaill. Primarily they are the Clan Donald, formerly known as the Lord of the Isles, and the mainland Clan MacDougall, and all their numerous branches. Clan Macruari are their lost sept. Origins The origin of Somerled, from whom the clan derives, is obscure. Only the name of his father is directly attested in early records. He was later portrayed as having Gaelic ancestry, with late pedigrees from the 14th and 15th century tracing him from legendary Colla Uais and hence from Conn of the Hundred Battles, and some versions apparently including the legendary founder of the Scottish state of Dál Riata, Fergus Mór. Historians have distrusted this derivation, though in the 1960s, David Sellar defended a Gaelic derivation. More recently, h ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Clan Donald
Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants of coats of arms, and serving as the judge of the Court of the Lord Lyon, recognises under Scottish law the ''High Chief of Clan Donald''. Historically the chiefs of the Clan Donald held the title of Lord of the Isles until 1493 and two of those chiefs also held the title of Earl of Ross until 1476. There are also numerous branches to the Clan Donald and several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan MacAlister. There are also notable historic branches of Clan Donald without chiefs so-recognised, these are: the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg, Clan MacDonald ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lord Of Argyll
The sovereign or feudal lordship of Argyle was the holding of the senior branch of descendants of Somerled (''Somhairle''), this branch becoming soon known as Clan MacDougall Construction of the Lordship of Argyll-Lorne essentially started with Donnchadh mac Dubhgaill, son of Dubgall mac Somairle. During Donnchadh's time the great feuds that had been causing war on the western seaboard of Scotland since Somhairle mac Gille Bhrighde were coming to an end. Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill, son of Ragnall mac Somairle, King of the Isles and Lord of Argyll, was at peace with Raghnall mac Gofraidh, King of Mann, and had become friendly with Ailean mac Lachlainn, Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland. In this context, Alexander II, the King of Scotland, led expeditions into Argyll in 1221 and 1222, expeditions which led to Donnchadh being recognised or appointed to the Lordship of Lorne. Donnchadh remained a strong supporter of the Scottish crown against the interests of Ruaidhri mac ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]