The sovereign or feudal lordship of Argyle was the holding of the senior branch of descendants of

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 ...

(''Somhairle''), this branch becoming soon known as

Clan 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 ...

Construction of the Lordship of Argyll-Lorne essentially started with Donnchadh mac Dubhgaill, son of

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 ...

. 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 Ragnall is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 102, increasing to 146 at the 2011 census. It is located on the A57 road one mile west of the River Trent. The parish churc ...

King of the Isles The Kingdom of the Isles consisted of the Isle of Man, the Hebrides and the islands of the Firth of Clyde from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The islands were known to the Norse as the , or "Southern Isles" as distinct from the or Nort ...

and Lord of Argyll, was at peace with

Raghnall mac Gofraidh ''Ragnall'', ''Raghnall'', ''Raonall'', and ''Raonull'' are masculine personal names or given names in several Gaelic languages. ''Ragnall'' occurs in Old Irish, and Middle Irish/ Middle Gaelic. It is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse '' Røgnv ...

King of Mann The King of Mann () was the title taken between 1237 and 1504 by the various rulers, both sovereign and suzerain, over the Kingdom of Mann – the Isle of Man which is located in the Irish Sea, at the centre of the British Isles. Since 1504, th ...

, and had become friendly with Ailean mac Lachlainn,

Lord of Galloway The lords of Galloway consisted of a dynasty of heirs who were lords (or kings) and ladies who ruled over Galloway in southwest Scotland, mainly during the High Middle Ages. Many regions of Scotland, including Galloway and Moray, periodically ...

and

Constable of Scotland The Lord High Constable is a hereditary, now ceremonial, office of Scotland. In the order of precedence of Scotland, the office traditionally ranks above all titles except those of the Royal Family.p60-61, Bruce, Alistair, Keepers of the King ...

. In this context, Alexander II, the

King of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

, 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 Raghnaill and Amhlaibh Dubh. These expeditions into Argyll appear to have given Donnchadh domination of the kindreds of all Argyll in place of Ruaídhrí. Around 1225, Donnchadh ''de Argadia'' ("of Argyll") appeared in a charter of

Maol Domhnaich, Earl of Lennox Mormaer Maol Domhnaich (sometimes anglicized as ''Maldoven'') was the son of Mormaer Ailín II, and ruled Lennox 1217–1250. Like his predecessor Ailín II, he showed absolutely no interest in extending an inviting hand to oncoming French or E ...

(d. 1250) made to

Paisley Abbey Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, based on a for ...

; this appearance is notable because it is the first attestation of the locative family name "of Argyll", the name that Donnchadh and his descendants would use to identify themselves among the higher nobility of Scotland. In 1229, the Manx king, Ragnvald Godredsson, was killed. Fear of Galwegian or Scottish royal intervention led the Manxmen to appeal to the Norwegian crown. The Norwegian expedition, led by

Óspakr-Hákon Óspakr (died 1230), also known as Hákon, was a King of the Isles. He seems to have been a son of Dubgall mac Somairle, King of the Isles, and therefore a member of the Meic Dubgaill branch of the Meic Somairle kindred. Óspakr spent a considerab ...

, probably Donnchadh's brother, ravished

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north ...

and in 1230 attacked the Stewart controlled

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent isl ...

. This expedition was unsuccessful and led to Uspak's death. Donnchadh remained firmly in possession of his Argyll lordship.Sellar, "Hebridean Sea Kings", p. 201; Woolf, "Age of the Sea-Kings", pp. 107-8. The ''Mormaerdom'' or ''Kingdom of Argyll'' was also a lordship in High Medieval Scotland.

Mormaers of Argyll

* Somhairle mac Gillebride (?? - 1164) *

(1164 - 1207) *

Domhnall mac Raghnaill Domhnall mac Raghnaill was a Hebridean noble in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He is the eponymous progenitor of Clan Donald (''Clann Dhòmhnaill'', "Children of Donald"). For this reason some traditions accumulated around him in the l ...

(1207 - ??)

Stewart lords of Lorne

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 o ...

Campbell lords of Lorne

* The Campbell

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

s of

Lochawe Loch Awe (Scottish Gaelic: ''Loch Obha'') is a large body of freshwater in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe or Lochawe. There are islands within the loch such ...

inherited the lordship of Lorne via their foremother, Isabel Stewart, daughter of the 2nd Lord of Lorne. The Campbells received the titles Earl and then

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerful ...

References

{{Reflist People associated with Argyll and Bute Clan MacDougall