Allan MacDonald, 9th Chief of Clanranald

Allan MacDonald, 9th of Clanranald

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ormiclate Castle

The original house at Ormiclate is said to have been commenced by Allan, 9th of Clanranald but that he died, in 1593, before its compietion. A fragment of this old house stili remains. Allan, 14th of Clanranald, who fell at Sheriffmuir in 1715, lived in this house prior to his short exile in France after the Jacobite Rising of 1689-90 and when he and his new wife returned to Scotland in 1695, she did not consider the house suitable to her tastes and comfort to which she had been used on the Continent.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16th century[edit] Ranald Bane, like his father, was tried in the presence of the king and executed for an unrecorded crime.[11] He died in 1509 at Perth and was succeeded by his eldest son, Dougall. Due to his cruelty towards his own clansfolk, Dougall was assassinated in 1520 by members of his clan and his sons were excluded from the succession of the chiefship. On his death the leadership of the clan transferred to his uncle, Alexander, son of Allan, 4th of Clanranald. Alexander, 7th of Clanranald lead the clan until his death, sometime before 1530.[6] With the exclusion of Dougalls heirs, Ranald Gallda, son of Allan, 4th of Clanranald, became the nearest male heir to the chiefship.[16]

The seal of John Moidartach (from 1572).[17] John Moidartach, 8th of Clanranald, on the death of his father, possessed Moidart, Arasaig and Castle Tioram. In 1540 he was apprehended by James V and placed in prison. Lord Lovat and the Frasers supported Ranald Gallda and the charters which had previously been held by John were revoked and granted to Ranald Gallda as heir of his father Allan. When John Moidartach was finally released from prison Ranald Gallda was forced to flee from Clanranald lands and took refuge with Lord Lovat. The Macdonalds of Clanranald then took the offensive and supported by the MacDonalds of Keppoch and Camerons raided into Fraser lands. They overran Lovat's lands of Stratherrick and Abertarf and the Grant's lands of Urquhart and Glenmoriston, taking Castle Urquhart. The whole district was plundered and the invaders planned to permanently occupy the newly won territories before they were forced to retreat with the arrival of the Earl of Huntly, Lovat, Grant and Ranald Gallda. As the Clanranald supporters of John Moidartach had fled from the scene, Ranald Gallda again occupied Moidart.[18] John Moidartach's Clanranald supporters overtook Huntly and his followers near Kinlochlochy where the Battle of the Shirts was fought on 15 July 1544.[18] Lovat, the Master of Lovat and Ranald Gallda were slain and almost all of their followers as well. As as result of the victory, John Moidartach's hold of the Clanranald chiefship was maintained.[18] John Moidartach died in 1584 and was buried at Howmore, South Uist. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Allan.[6] In 1588, Allan, 9th of Clanranald quarrelled with Alexander Macdonald of Keppoch and killed his Keppoch's brother. Allan was never pardoned for the murder and never received any charters from the crown for his lands, yet he possessed them undisturbed for the duration of his life. Allan married a daughter of Alasdair Crotach and his ill treatment of her was the cause of violent feuds between the Macdonalds of Clanranald and the Macleods. Allan's eldest son died before him.[19] Allan died in 1593 and was buried at Islandfinnan. On his death he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Angus. Angus, 10th of Clanranald was killed shortly after his succession to the chiefship, and was succeeded by his brother, Donald.[6]

A 16th-century engraving of a Highland galley or birlinn. The Macdonalds of Clanranald utilised such vessels in their constant warring with other nearby Hebridean clans, such as the Macleans. Donald, 11th of Clanranald married the daughter of Angus Macdonald of Dunnyveg and the Glens.[6] His father-in-law's clan was then actively warring with the Macleans of Duart and their chief Lachlan Mor Maclean of Duart. The Macdonalds of Clanranald would have welcomed such an alliance as some years before, Lachlan Mor at the head of his clan and 100 mercenaries hired from the Spanish Armada had ravaged the islands of Rum and Eigg. Working in co-operation with each other, the two Macdonald chiefs invaded Coll, Mull and Tiree, laying waste to the islands, and Donald returned to Castle Tioram with his galleys full of spoil. Lachlan Mor was at first unable to retaliate, but his time soon came.[20] In the summer of 1594, Donald Gorm Mor Macdonald of Sleat and Ruariri Mor Macleod of Harris and Dunvegan each sailed for Ulster at the head of 500 men each. They force was intended to support Hugh O'Donnell who was besieging Enniskillen Castle. Later in 1595 another expedition of Hebredians was made to support the Irish rebels against the forces of Elizabeth I. Donald Gorm Mor of Sleat raised a fighting force of 4,000 men and sailed to Ulster in a fleet of 50 galleys and 70 supply ships. The fleet was however blown off cource and was attacked off Rathlin Island by 3 English frigates. 13 Macdonald galleys were sunk and another 12 or 13 were destroyed or captured off Copeland Island, at the entrance to Belfast Lough. The same year, and likely as part of this operation, Donald and John Og MacIain of Ardnamurchan sailed for Ulster at the head of 2,000 men. The fleet of galleys sheltered for the night off the Sound of Mull, possibly at Calve Island near Tobermory. That night the Lachlan Mor, at the head of 1,200 men surprised the Macdonalds and killed 350 of them in the ensuring battle. Donald, and several other Macdonald chieftains were captured by the Macleans.[21] In 1601, the Macdonalds of Clanranald joined the MacDonnels of Glengarry in their constant warring with the Mackenzies of Kintail, ravaging and laying waste to the Kintail area. While the Macdonald fighting force was in the Kintail area, trouble was brewing in South Uist as Murdoch MacNeil of Barra had taken possession of the lands of Boisdale under the pretext that they belonged to the MacNeils of Barra. Donald led his fighting force down South Uist and fought the MacNeils at North Boisdale, killing most of them.[22] The surviving MacNeils fled to the remoter islands of the Barra Isles, where Murdoch was finally slain by the Macdonalds of Clanranald.[20] Donald, like other Highland chiefs was in debt to the Scottish crown and other chiefs, and he was one of the chiefs who met with the kings' commishioners on Mull agreeing to give security for the king's rents; submit themselves to the laws of the realm.[22] Donald was knighted at Holyrood by James VI, in 1617. He died at Castle Tioram in 1618 and was succeeded by his son, John.[6]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Macdonald_of_Clanranald