
All welcome and encouraged to collaborate - please go ahead and edit and add: it's going to rely on the Mackay managers helping - over years - so not a one person job :-)
Background
Historian Angus Mackay in his Book of Mackay (1906) compares two different genealogies of the early chiefs of the Clan Mackay. The first is by Sir Robert Gordon, a 17th-century historian and the second by Alexander Mackay of Blackcastle, an 18th- to 19th-century historian who had access to the charters and historical documents of the Mackay chief's family... [He] concludes that the one given in Alexander Mackay's Blackcastle Manuscript is by far the most accurate.
The Blackcastle MS claims that Iye Mackay, 1st chief of the Clan Mackay, who was born in about 1210, was a descendant of Malcolm MacHeth, 1st Earl of Ross who died in about 1168. Malcolm MacHeth, Earl of Ross may well have been related to the early rulers or Mormaers of Moray. According to Angus Mackay, sometime in the 1160s, the MacHeths and their supporters after conflict with king Malcolm IV of Scotland fled northwards over the hills of Ross into Strathnaver, where they were welcomed by the Norse Harald Maddadsson, Mormaer of Caithness who was then an enemy of the king. In 1215 the MacHeths along with the MacWilliams retaliated against the king but were defeated by Fearchar, Earl of Ross and the grandson of Malcolm MacHeth, Kenneth MacHeth was killed. According to Angus Mackay it is possible that from this Kenneth MacHeth the Stathnaver Mackays are descended, and that Iye Mackay, 1st chief of Clan Mackay may well have been his son or nephew. According to the Blackcastle MS Iye Mackay's son was Iye Mor Mackay, 2nd chief of Clan Mackay who married a daughter of Walter, Bishop of Caithness in 1263.
Wars of Scottish Independence According to Major-General Stewart, the Mackays were amongst the clans who supported Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Later in the 14th century, in 1370, chief Iye Mackay, 4th of Strathnaver and his son were murdered at Dingwall Castle by Nicholas Sutherland, 1st of Duffus, head of one of the junior branches of Clan Sutherland. Much bloodshed followed, including a retaliatory raid on Dornoch in 1372. The cathedral was once again set on fire and many Sutherland men were hanged in the town square. After this, the feud quietened down as both sides were called away to fight against the English.
15th century and clan conflicts In 1403, the Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach was fought between Clan Mackay and Clan MacLeod of Lewis: Chief Angus Mackay, 6th of Strathnaver had married the sister of the MacLeod of Lewis. MacLeod found that his sister had been mistreated and he decided to spoil Strathnaver and Brae-Chat in Sutherland but in the ensuing battle MacLeod was killed.
In 1411, Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles challenged the Stewart royal family for the Earldom of Ross. Chief Angus Du Mackay, 7th of Strathnaver joined the Stewart Confederacy and the Battle of Dingwall took place in which Donald of the Isles defeated Mackay and imprisoned him on one of his castles on the coast. However, after the battle, Donald made peace with Angus and gave him in marriage his sister, Elizabeth. She was a granddaughter of Robert II of Scotland, indicating how important the Clan Mackay had become.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Mackay
Key Profiles
- Iye Mackay, 1st chief of the Clan Mackay
- Iye Mor Mackay, 2nd chief of Clan Mackay
- Iye Mackay, 4th of Strathnaver
- Angus Mackay, 6th of Strathnaver
- Angus Du Mackay, 7th of Strathnaver
- Neil "Bass" Mackay, 8th of Strathnaver
- Angus Roy Mackay, 9th of Strathnaver
- Iye Roy Mackay, 10th of Strathnaver
- John Mackay, 11th of Strathnaver or Donald Mackay, 11th of Strathnaver
- Iye Du MacKay, 12th of Strathnaver See The Scoury Mackays
- Huistean Du Mackay, 13th of Strathnaver
- Donald Mackay, 1st Lord Reay, 14th of Strathnaver
- John Mackay, 2nd Lord Reay
- George Mackay, 3rd Lord Reay
- Eric Mackay, 9th Lord Reay
- Æneas Mackay, a Baron of the Netherlands, Vice President of the Council of State and holder of the Cross of the Order of the Netherlands, became 10th Lord Reay
- Donald James MacKay, 11th Lord Reay, Baron Reay of Durness
- Æneas Simon Mackay, 15th Lord Reay, Baron Mackay van Ophemert and Zennewijnen, of the Netherlands, Baronet of Strathnaver
Interesting Mackay Profiles
- General Hugh Mackay of Scourie was made Commander-in-Chief in Scotland by William, Prince of Orange.
- Captain William Mackay
Resources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Mackay
- Full text of "The book of Mackay" by Angus Mackay
- History of the house and clan of Mackay by Mackay, Robert, 1766-1847
- Slaves and Highlanders site: Highland Scots - Inverness & area:Mackay (McCay) Macdonald