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or Ranald, a son of John, Lord of the Isles, by Amy MacRory. Ranald obtained, as we have seen, from his father the lordship of Garmoran, which he held as vassal of his brother Godfrey, and these were the same territories which the Clan Ranald possessed, as appears from the Parliamentary Records in 1587, when mention is made of the 'Clan Ranald of Knoydart, Moydart, and Glengarry.' There has, however, arisen considerable doubt which of the various families descended from Ranald anciently possessed the chiefship, and without entering in this place into an argument of any great length on the subject, we shall state shortly the conclusions to which we have been led after a rigid examination of that question.

"That the present family styling themselves of Clanranald' were not the ancient chiefs there can be no doubt, as it is now a matter of evidence that they are descended from a bastard son of a second son of the old family of Moydart, who assumed the title of Captain of Clanranald in 1531, and as long as the descendants of the elder brother remain, they can have no claim by right of blood. The point we are to examine is, who was the chief previous to that assumption?

"Ranald had five sons, of whom three only left issue, viz., Donald, from whom descended the family of Knoydart and Glengarry, Allan, the ancestor of the family of Moydart, and Angus, from whom came the family of Moror. That the descendants of Angus were the youngest branch, and could have no claim to the chiefship, has never been disputed, and the question accordingly lies between the descendants of Donald and Allan. The seniority of Donald, however, is distinctly proved by the fact that on the extinction of the family of Moror, the family of Moydart succeeded legally to that property; consequently by the law of Scotland they must have been descended from a younger son than the family of Knoydart and Glengarry, and it follows of necessity that the latter family must have been that of the chief.

"Donald had three sons, John, Alaster, and Angus. On the forfeiture of Alexander Macgorry of Garmoran in 1427, that part of Lochaber possessed by him was granted to the Earl of Marr, while all those lands held of him by the Clan Ranald remained in the Crown, and consequently the Chief of Clan Ranald must have held them as Crown vassal.* Accordingly we find John, the eldest son of Donald, holding his lands of the Crown, as appears from a gift of the non-entries of Knoydart to Cameron since the decease of Umqbl John MacRanald,† and this sufficiently indicates his position at the head of the clan, as, if he had not been chief, he would have held his lands of the Moydart family. John appears by another charter to have died in 1467, and in 1476 the lands of Garmoran were included in a Crown charter to John, Lord of the Isles.

*Not only did the Chief of Clan Ranald hold these lands of the Crown, as he had previously held them of Alexander MacGorry, but it actually appears that the Lord of the Isles was his vassal in some of them, for Alexander, Lord of the Isles, grants a charter to the ancestor of the Macneils, dated in 1427, of the Island of Barra, and of the lands of Boysdale in the Island of Uist, both of which islands are included in Reginald's charter, and one of which was, as we have seen, certainly held in chief of the Crown by the heir of the first marriage.

+ That this John MacRanald was John, the eldest son of Donald, appears from two facts; first, his lands adjoin those of Alaster, the second son, and are separated by them from those of the other branches of the clan. Second, on the failure of his descendants, the descendants of Alaster succceded to them.

The Lords of the Isles had invariably manifested the most inveterate hostility to the rival family of Garmoran and their supporters. On the acquisition of Lochaber by Alexander, Lord of the Isles, after his release from prison, this animosity displayed itself in the proscription of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, MacMartins of Letterfinlay, and others who were always faithful adherents of the patriarchal chief of the clan. The same animosity was now directed against the Chief of Clan Ranald; his lands of Knoydart appear to have been given to Lochiel, the lands of South Moror, Arisaig, and many of the isles, were bestowed on Hugh of Slait, the brother of the Lord of the Isles, and in this way the principal branch of the Clan Ranald was reduced to a state of depression from which it did not soon recover. To this proscription there was but one exception, viz., the family of Moydart, who alone retained their possessions, and, in consequence, on the forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles, they did not hesitate to avail themselves of their situation, and place themselves at the head of the clan, a proceeding to which the representative of the ancient chiefs was not in a situation to offer any resistance. This was principally effected by John, surnamed Mudortach, a bastard son of the brother of the Laird of Moydart; but the character of the usurpation is sufficiently marked by the title of Captain of Clan Ranald, which alone he assumed, and which his descendants retained until the latter part of the last century, when the Highland title of Captain of Clan Ranald was most improperly converted into the feudal one of Macdonald of Clan Ranald. At the forfeiture of the Lords of the Isles, the family of Knoydart and Glengarry consisted of two branches termed respectively of Knoydart' and of Glengarry,' of which the former was the senior; and while the senior branch never recovered from the depressed state to which they had been reduced, the latter obtained a great accession of territory, and rose at once to considerable power by a fortunate marriage with the heiress of the Macdonalds of Lochalsh. During the existence of the senior branch, the latter acknowledged its head as their chief, but on their extinction, which occurred soon after the usurpation by the family of Moydart, the Glengarry branch succeeded to their possessions, and as representing Donald, the eldest son of Ranald, the founder of the clan, loudly asserted their right to the chiefship, which they have ever since maintained.

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"As the Moydart family were unwilling to resign the position which they had acquired, this produced a division of the clan into two factions, but the right of the descendants of Donald is strongly evinced by the above fact of the junior branch acknowledging a chief during the existence of the senior, and only maintaining their right to that station on its extinction, and by the acknowledgment of the chiefship of the Glengarry. family constantly made by the Macdonalds of Keppoch and other branches of the clan, who had invariably followed the patriarchal chiefs in preference to the rival family of the Lords of the Isles.

"These few facts, which are necessarily given but very concisely, are, however, sufficient to warrant us in concluding that Donald, the progenitor of the family of Glengarry, was Ranald's eldest son; that from John, Donald's eldest son, proceeded the senior branch of this family, who were chiefs of Clan Ranald; that they were from circumstanees, but principally in consequence of the grant of Garmoran to the Lord of the Isles, so completely reduced that the oldest cadet, as usual in such cases, obtained the

actual chiefship, with the title of captain, while on the extinction of this branch, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the family of Glengarry, descended from Alaster, Donald's second son, became the legal representatives of Ranald, the common ancestor of the clan, and consequently possessed that right of blood to the chiefship of which no usurpation, however successful, could deprive them. The family of Glengarry have since then not only claimed the chiefship of the Clan Ranald, but likewise that of the whole Clan Donald, as undoubted representative of Donald, the common ancestor of the clan; and when the services rendered by the family to the house of Stuart were rewarded by a peerage from Charles II., Glengarry indicated his rights by assuming the title of Lord Macdonell and Arross, which, on the failure of male heirs of his body, did not descend to his successors, although his lands formed in consequence the barony of Macdonell."*

Reginald married a daughter of Walter Stewart, Earl of Athol, brother of King Robert II., and by her had issue

1. Donald, immediate progenitor of the family of Glengarry.

2. Allan, first of the family of Clanranald, of whom hereafter.

3. John, known among the Highlanders as "Iain Dall," or Blind John, who possessed lands in the Island of Eigg, and from whom the Macdonalds of Bornish descended.

4. Angus. 5. Dugall. 6. A daughter, Mora.

He is said to have died, a very old man, in 1419, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,

IX. DONALD MACRANALD, second of the line of Glengarry. Little or nothing is known of him, which may be accounted for by the fact stated by Gregory, namely, that on the death of Ranald, "his children, then young, were dispossessed by their uncle Godfrey, who assumed the title of Lord of Uist (which, with Garmoran, he actually possessed), but never questioned the claims of Donald to the Lordship of the Isles."+ On the execution and forfeiture of Alexander, the son and successor of Godfrey, in 1427 at Inverness, the lands of Glengarry reverted to the Crown, and were held as a Royal forest, or appanage of Inverlochy Castle-then a Royal residence. At the same time the Macdonalds of Glengarry were Crown tenants, and they ultimately succeeded in obtaining a Crown charter to the lands of which they were dispossessed by their feudal superior, Godfrey of Garmoran.

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Donald married, first, Laleve, daughter of Macivor, and by her had

one son,

1. John, his successor.

He married, secondly, "a daughter of Macimmie" (Lovat), by whom he had

2. Alastair; and 3, Angus Og.‡

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

X. JOHN MACDONALD, third of Glengarry, who married a daughter of Macleod of Lewis, with issue—a son,

XI. ALASTAIR MACDONALD, fourth of Glengarry, from whom the family take their Gaelic patronymic of "Mac'ic Alastair," and who is the first of the family of Glengarry whose name is found in the public records, Highlanders of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 96-106.

+ Highlands and Isles, p. 31.

MS. of 1450, printed in the Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis.

and that only as the grandfather of his grandson mentioned in a commission of Lieutenancy by the Crown in favour of Colin, Earl of Argyll, making him "Locum tenentum omnium insularum tam australium quam borealium," and of certain lands-among others, "Alterius MOROR quam Alester Makcane MAKALESTER habet," dated 8th of March 1516;* that is, Alastair, son of John, son of Alastair, the last named being our present subject. The Moror here named is North Moror. On the 26th of Febru ary 1517, he appears in an action in the Court of Session as "Alexander Jhone MACALISTERIS sone in GLENGARRY. He is repeatedly mentioned later, as we shall see further on.

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He married the only daughter of Maclean of Duart, by whom he had issue

1. John, his heir.

2. John "Odhar," who settled in Lochcarron, and of whom the Clann Ian Uidhir of that district, Strathglass, and elsewhere in the North, some of whom have changed their names to MacNairs. Most of the Strathglass Macdonalds emigrated to Canada, mainly to Nova-Scotia.

3. Eneas, of whom the well-known family of Sithean.

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

XII. JOHN MACDONALD, fifth of Glengarry, who married a daughter of Cameron of Lochiel, with issue-one son, who succeeded as

XIII ALEXANDER MACDONALD, sixth of Glengarry, whom we find mentioned as "Allastyr Mac Ean Vic Allyster of Morvern and Glengarrie," in a bond of manrent to Colin, Earl of Argyll, the King's Lieutenant at the time over the district in which Glengarry's property lay, dated 5th of February 1519, with a Notarial Instrument thereon dated 8th of August in the same year. Under date of 30th March 1538, there is recorded in the Register of the Privy Council, vol. 26, No. 426, a letter under the Privy Seal to "Alexander Mackane MacAlester of Glengarry," of the Slysmoyne of Glengarry and Moror, "wyt all malis, fermes, proffitis, and dewteis of ye saide lands wyt yare pertinents of all yeris and terms bigane yat ye samin hes been in our soverane lordis handis or his predecessoris by resoune of nonentres sen ye deceis of John MacAlastir fader to ye saide Alexander, or his predecessoris." On the 6th of March in the same year he has a charter under the Great Seal in favour of "Alexandor Mackane MacAlister et Margarete Ylis ejus spouse" in liferent; "et Angusio MacAlister eorum filio et heredi apparenti" in fee, and his heirs male, of the lands of Glengarry and Moror, with the Castle, Fortalice, and Manor of Strome, half of Lochalsh, Lochbroom, &c., &c., proceeding on the resignation of Alexander and Margaret of Lochalsh. In the controversy which took place between Glengarry and Clanranald regarding the Chiefship of the Clan, the champion of the latter made strong aspersions on the character of this lady, whom he erroneously described as, and confused with, a daughter of Celestine of Lochalsh. For the charge there is no real foundation; and she was a grandaughter of Celestine, a daughter of his son and successor, Alexander, and sister and co heiress of Sir Donald Gallda of Lochalsh, who died without issue in 1518, when she succeeded as eldest daughter of Sir Alexander, and co-heiress of his only son, Sir Donald Gallda, to one-half of his estates. These she carried to her hus

* Reg. Sec. Sig., Lib. 5, fo. 102.

+ Acts Dom. Con., Lib. 12, fol. 2 b.

band, Alexander of Glengarry, and secured for him, in consequence, a position of great influence and power.

On the 26th of February 1515, Grant of Freuchy obtained a decreet against Sir Donald Gallda of Lochalsh, Chisholm of Comar, Alexander John Ranaldson's son in Glengarry, Donald Mac Angus More in Achadrom, and others, "for the wrongous and violent spoliation and takand of the fortalice of Urquhart, frae the said John the Grant, and for £2000 as the value thereof."

He married, as already stated, Margaret de Insulis and Lochalsh, co-heiress of Sir Donald (Gallda) Macdonald of Lochalsh, and, according to some authorities, lineal representative and heiress to the forfeited Earldom of Ross, with issue-an only son, who succeeded,

XIV. ÆNEAS MACDONALD, seventh of Glengarry. He has a charter under the Great Seal * confirming " Honorabili viro Angusio Mac Alester filio ac heredi apparenti quondam Alexandri Mackane de Glengarie suisque heredibus masculis de corpore, &c., omnes et singulas terras de Glengarie, necnon terras Drynathane insulam de Sleichmeine duodecim mercatus terrarum antiqui extentus de Morare duodecim mercatus terrarum antiqui extentus de Locheache, viz., Inchnarine, Andenarra, Sallachie, &c., &c.— quatour mercatus terrarum de Lochcarron"-&c., &c., which had been apprised from him by John Grant of Freuchy, dated 19th July 1574. Complaint was made to the Privy Council by the widow of Robert Guidlett, a mariner in Kinghorn, that her " spous being at the fischeing the last yeir in the North Ilis, at the loch callit Lochstrone, within the dominion of Anguss McAlexander of Glengarry, wes in the hinderend of harvist last bipast crewallie set upoun and slane be- Panter and utheris his complices," all of whom were within the dominions of Angus, and were his tenants. Angus was ordained of his own consent to affix and hold courts as often as need be within his bounds and dominions, and put the "committaris of the said cryme to the knawledge of ane assyiss of the merchandis and marynaris that first sall happin to arrive at Lochstrone or Lochcarron at the next fischeing," and he is to minister justice upon them, if found culpable or innocent, conform to the laws of the realm. The Commission is dated " At Holyrood-house, 16th July 1574," and is given at length, pp. 100-101 Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis.

Æneas married Janet, only daughter of Sir Hector Maclean of Duart, with issue-an only son,

1. Donald, his heir.

He married, secondly, Margaret Macleod, daughter of Roderick Macleod, "King's Baron of Herries," with issue

2. Margaret, who married one of the Cuthberts of Castlehill, Inverness, and became the progenitrix of the famous Colbert, Charles, Marques of Seignelay, Minister of Lewis XIV. of France,*

He married, thirdly, Mary, daughter of Kenneth-Na-Cuirc, Xth Baron of Kintail, with issue, a daughter, Erizabeth, who married John "Roy" Mackenzie, IVth of Gairloch, with issue. Mary, his third wife, survived Angus, and married, as her second husband, Chisholm of Comar.

He was succeeded by his only son,

(To be Continued.)

Reg. Sec. Sig., Lib. ii., fo. 62 b.

* Parliamentary Warrant for the Bore Brieve of Charles, Marques Seignelay, 1686.

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