Alasdair Mòr - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alasdair Mòr Mac Dòmhnaill (Anglicised: Alexander Mor, son of Donald) was a younger son of Dòmhnall mac Raghnaill

Domhnall mac Raghnaill

Domhnall mac Raghnaill was a Hebridean noble in the late 12th- and early 13th-century. He is the eponymous progenitor of Clan Donald . For this reason some traditions accumulated around him in the Later Middle Ages and Early Modern period...

—the eponymous ancestor of Clan Donald

Clan Donald

Clan Donald is one of the largest Scottish clans. There are numerous branches to the clan. Several of these have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms; these are: Clan Macdonald of Sleat, Clan Macdonald of Clanranald, Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, Clan MacDonald of Keppoch, and Clan...

. He first appears on record in 1253, when it is recorded as witnessing a charter by his brother, Aonghas Mór a Íle

Aonghas Mór

Aonghas Mór , also known as Aonghas a Íle and Aonghas mac Domhnaill , was the son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill, eponymous progenitor of Clan Donald.Aonghas Mór has been called "the first MacDonald" by one historian, namely...

, to the Paisley Abbey

Paisley Abbey

Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...

. According to the 19th century Clan Donald historians Angus and Archibald Macdonald, Alasdair Mòr must have been a prominent man as he is the only recorded brother of the Aonghas Mór a Íle. He is recorded in the Annals of Connacht

Annals of Connacht

The Annals of Connacht, covering the years 1224 to 1544, are drawn from a manuscript compiled in the 15th and 16th centuries by at least three scribes, all believed to be members of the Clan Ó Duibhgeannáin....

, in the year 1299, as being a man noted for being a "generous and bounteous man". In that year he was slain in a conflict with Alasdair of Argyll

Alexander of Argyll

Alexander of Argyll or Alexander of Lorne, also known as Alexander MacDougall , was a Scottish magnate from the late 13th and early 14th century, and was chief of Clan MacDougall. Alexander was the son of Ewen MacDougall, Lord of Argyll...

and the MacDougalls

Clan MacDougall

Clan MacDougall is a Highland Scottish clan consisting of the descendants of Dubgall mac Somairle, son of Somerled, who ruled Lorne and the Isle of Mull in Argyll in the 13th century...

. According to the traditional shanachies, Alasdair Mòr married Amie Ergadia and had at least five sons: Dòmhnall

Domhnall mac Alasdair

Dòmhnall mac Alasdair was the eldest son of Alasdair Mòr Mac Dòmhnaill, the eponymous ancestor of Clan MacAlister....

, Gòraidh, Donnchadh, Eoin and Eachann. Alasdair Mòr was succeeded in the representation of his clan

Scottish clan

Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...

by Dòmhnall. Today he is considered to be the eponymous ancestor of Clan MacAlister

Clan MacAlister

Clan MacAlister is a Scottish Clan and a branch of Clan Donald. The clan is the earliest branch to have split off from Clan Donald, claiming descent from Alasdair Mòr, son of Domhnall founder of Clan Donald. From Alasdair Mòr the clans takes its surname MacAlister; this surname is an Anglicisation...

See also