John MacDonald, 13th Earl of Ross, Last Lord of the Isles

John of Islay (or John MacDonald) (1434–1503) was a late medieval Scottish magnate. He was Earl of Ross and the 4th Lord of the Isles as well as being Mac Domhnaill, chief of Clan Donald. John would however prove to be the last of the Lords of the Isles, overmighty subjects of the Stewart Kings of Scotland and virtual kings in their own right in the Western Isles. His struggle for power with King James III of Scotland ended in humiliation, following which his illegitimate son Angus Og rebelled against his rule. In a bitter civil war, John's fleet of galleys met those of Angus sometime in the early 1480s off the coast of Mull at the Battle of Bloody Bay, in which John's cause was defeated. After Bloody Bay he became an inconsequential figure; and Angus continued to dominate the affairs of Clan Donald up until his murder in 1490. In 1493 James IV brought the Lordship of the Isles to an end. John died unlamented in 1503, having witnessed the almost complete destruction of his family inheritance.

Family

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTTISH%20NOBILITY%20LATER.htm#Ale...

Earl Alexander & his wife had one child:

1. JOHN Macdonald ([1435][54]-1498, bur Paisley Abbey). He succeeded his father as Lord of the Isles, Earl of Ross. He carried out piratical raids on the islands of Orkney[55]. He entered the service of Edward IV King of England in 1461, maintained his independence until 1475 when he was summoned for treason, found guilty in absentia. His estates were forfeited and the Earldom of Ross annexed to the crown[56]. He was pardoned and created Lord of the Isles 15 Jul 1476. He rebelled again and was compelled to surrender his lands and dignities to the crown in [1493][57].

m (separated 1464) ELIZABETH Livingston, daughter of JAMES Livingston Lord Livingston of Callendar & his wife Marian --- (-before 1506). In 1464 the Pope issued a commission, following her petition, confirming her husband's desertion. She was received by the Queen of Scots into her household[58].

Lord John had two illegitimate children by an unknown mistress[59]:

• a) ANGUS (-1490). He attempted to retain control of the Isles against James IV King of Scotland. m MARY [Margaret] of Argyll, daughter of COLIN Earl of Argyll & his wife Isabel Stewart of Lorne. Angus & his wife had one child ….
• b) JOHN (-before 1498).

Footnotes:

• [54] CP XI 151 based on his sasine in 1456.
• [55] CP XI 152.
• [56] CP XI 152.
• [57] CP VII 77.
• [58] CP XI 153 footnote d.

Comments: CP Volume 11 was published 1949, with date of death and place of burial in error. He died close to 3 February 1503 at Dundee, and was probably buried at Scone. See “Acts of the Lords of the Isles” (1986).

Notes

Series 4 > Acts of the lords of the Isles, 1336-1493 (1986) (405) Page 311. < link>

… The former lord of the Isles became a pensioner at the court of James IV, and payments for him and his servants, including his man ‘Erysche Robert’, are recorded from 1494 (TA, i, 233, 235, 266, 308; ii, 49, 51, etc.; ER, x, 534, 567, 589; xi, 123); he even seems to have been permitted to visit the Isles and Lochaber in 1502 (TA, ii, 301, 344) while his grandson Donald was in rebellion. When the king was at Dundee in January 1502/3 John appears to have taken ill and died, for payments are recorded for him on lojanuary ‘liand seik in Dunde’ (ibid., ii, 354), and on 5 Feb. 1503 payment was remitted to Dundee for ‘Johne of Ilis furthbringing and berying and to lous his gere’ (ibid., ii, 357). One tradition that after giving up his lands he lived in the monastery of Paisley for two years before his death (S, 50-51) seems to be unconfirmed, and a statement that he died in 1498 (Clan Donald, i, 282; SP, v, 47) was published long after these extracts from the public records were in print, and has often been repeated.

Series 4 > Acts of the lords of the Isles, 1336-1493 (1986) (405) Page 312. <link>

Of his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter ofjames Livingston younger of Callander (later Lord Livingston), chamberlain of Scotland, there is both documentary evidence (CPL, xi, 671; nos.59, A27, A30) and chronicle reference (Asloan MS., i, 224-5, 235; C, 163 and S, 35 makejohn’s mother
a Livingston, instead of his wife). In January 1463/4. a petition by Elizabeth is recorded asking the Pope to admonish John for ejecting her from his lands, and living with another woman, and alleging that she had been imprisoned by him and was in fear of being poisoned (CPL, xi, 671); she had fled to the Scottish court, and for services to the king’s father, himself and his queen received rewards from James Hi (HP, iv, 206-9; nos. A19, A27, A30). John protested that he was willing to receive her and treat her with marital affection (no. 110), but she was taken under the Pope’s protection, and the bishops of Brechin and Orkney were instructed to decree ‘what is canonical’ anent a separation or divorce, n March 1477/8 (B21).

Elizabeth [Livingston] was dead by 1 Jan. 1505/6, and the lands and lordships of Ross and Ardmannach were granted to others (RMS, ii, 2905; RSS, i, 1473, 1633). It has been assumed that there were no surviving children, but Elizabeth stated that she had borne children to John (CPL, xi, 671); in January 1505/6 ‘Elizabeth Ylis dochter to umquhil Johne lord Ills’ had lands in Islay granted to her for one year (RSS, i, 1420).

References

• The peerage of Scotland: containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, ... collected from the public records, and ancient chartularies of this nation, ... Illustrated with copper-plates. By Robert Douglas, Esq;. Douglas, Robert, Sir, 1694-1770. Page 361-363. <link> “X. JOHN, earl of Ross, and lord of the Isles, who was certainly one of the greatest and most powerful men in the kingdom, and behaved like a dutiful and loyal subject, ex∣cepting his engagement with the earl of Dou∣glas, as long as king James II. lived, with whom he appeared to be in great favour. …”
• The Scots Peerage, Vol. I, edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, (1904) p. 335. <Archive.Org>
• Cokayne, G. E. (1949). Geoffrey H. White (ed.). The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times (Rickerton to Sisonby). Vol. 11 (2nd ed.). London: The St Catherine Press Vol. XI, p. 151-153. <Page 151>
• The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, by George Edward Cokayne, Vol. XI, p. 152, notes.
• “Acts of the Lords of the Isles, 1336-1493.” Jean Munro, Robert William Munro, Scottish History Society, 1986. <GoogleBooks>
• ”Highland papers.” by MacPhail, J. R. N. (James Robert Nicolson), 1858-1933 (Publication date 1914). Page 51.

<Archive.Org> it may be mentioned incidentally that the tomb of Robert ll is not at Paisley, but at Scone.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Islay,_Earl_of_Ross
• Cochran-Yu, David Kyle (2016) A keystone of contention: the Earldom of Ross, 1215-1517. PhD thesis. Download from https://theses.gla.ac.uk/7242/
  • (page 179) The Auchinleck Chronicle indicates that by September 1449 Earl John had married Elizabeth Livingstone, daughter of James Livingstone, the king’s chamberlain. 2. Auchinleck Chronicle, 172 (f. 122r) also page 43-44. <Archive.Org>
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auchinleck_chronicle The Auchinleck Chronicle, titled in its original manuscript form as Ane Schort Memoriale of the Scottis Corniklis for Addicioun, is a brief history of Scotland during the reign of James II (1437–1460). It was written in Scots at an unknown date and is preserved only in the Asloan Manuscript of the early sixteenth century.
• From Greenan Castle Ownership of Greenan in the following three centuries is unclear but in 1475 it was in the hands of John, Earl of Ross and so-called Lord of the Isles. He granted the lands to his esquire, John Davidson, who managed to retain them despite James IV taking control of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493. A record from 1510 lists the owner of Greenan as Thomas Davidson, Sr.
• http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index1704.htm#LIVI...
• http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p2218.htm#... (has errors)
• https://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getpe... (has errors)
• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 18 2017, 22:26:36 UTC shows born at Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland