John of Islay, Lord of the Isles - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John of Islay (died 1386) was the Lord of the Isles

Lord of the Isles

The designation Lord of the Isles is today a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It emerged from a series of hybrid Viking/Gaelic rulers of the west coast and islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages, who wielded sea-power with fleets of...

(1336–1386) and chief 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...

. In 1336, he styled himself Dominus Insularum, "Lord of the Isles"; because this is the first ever recorded instance of the title in use, modern historians count John as the first of the later medieval Lords of the Isles, although this rather broad Latin style corresponds roughly with the older Gaelic title Rí
Rí
Rí, or very commonly ríg , is an ancient Gaelic word meaning "King". It is used in historical texts referring to the Irish and Scottish kings and those of similar rank. While the modern Irish word is exactly the same, in modern Scottish it is Rìgh, apparently derived from the genitive. The word...

Innse Gall ("King of the Isles"), in use since the Viking Age, and for instance, the even more similar Latin title dominus de Inchegal ("Lord of the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...

"), applied to Raghnall Mac Somhairle

Raghnall mac Somhairle

Ragnall mac Somairle, or Ragnall son of Somairle, was a late 12th century and possibly early 13th century magnate, seated on the western seaboard of Scotland. He was likely a younger son of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll and his wife, Ragnhildr, daughter of Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of...

in the mid-12th century. In fact John is actually styled Rí Innsi Gall or King of the Isles shortly after his death in a contemporary entry in the Irish Annals of Ulster

Annals of Ulster

The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...

Biography

John was the son of Aonghas Óg, an Islay

Islay

-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...

-based nobleman who had benefited from king Robert I of Scotland

Robert I of Scotland

Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...

's attacks on the MacDougall

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...

(Mac Dhùghaill) rulers of Argyll

Argyll

Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...

and their Comyn allies, and had been given Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan is a peninsula in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length.-Geography:...

, Lochaber

Lochaber

District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...

, Duror and Glencoe

Glen Coe

Glen Coe is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated...

, turning the MacDonalds from the Hebridean "poor relations" into the most powerful kindred of the north-western seaboard. The loyalty of Aonghas to Robert, however, did not mean that John's loyalty to Robert's son and successor David II

David II of Scotland

David II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...

would follow suit. After Edward Balliol

Edward Balliol

Edward Balliol was a claimant to the Scottish throne . With English help, he briefly ruled the country from 1332 to 1336.-Life:...

's coup against the Bruce regime in 1333, Edward attempted to court John. In 1336, Edward confirmed the territories which the Islay lords had acquired in the days of Robert I; and additionally, Edward awarded John the lands of Kintyre

Kintyre

Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert in the north...

, Knapdale

Knapdale

Knapdale forms a rural district of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, adjoining Kintyre to the south, and divided from the rest of Argyll to the north by the Crinan Canal. It includes two parishes, North Knapdale and South Knapdale....

, Gigha

Gigha

The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...

, Colonsay

Colonsay

Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...

, Mull

Isle of Mull

The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....

, Skye

Skye

Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...

, Lewis

Lewis

Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....

, and Morvern

Morvern

Morvern is a peninsula in south west Lochaber, on the west coast of Scotland. The name is derived from the Gaelic A' Mhorbhairne . The highest point is the summit of the Corbett Creach Bheinn which reaches in elevation....

, held by magnates still loyal to the Bruces. John, however, never provided Edward with real assistance. Although Balliol's deposition by the supporters of David meant that the grants made to John void, John's pre-1336 possessions were in fact confirmed by King David in 1343. Moreover, in 1346, John inherited the great Lordship of Garmoran through his marriage to Amie mac Ruari after the death of her brother Raghnall Mac Ruairidh. This meant that John's dominions now included all of the Hebrides except Skye, and all of the western seaboard from Morvern to Loch Hourn

Loch Hourn

Loch Hourn is a sea loch to the north of Knoydart, on the west coast of Scotland.-Geography:Loch Hourn runs inland from the Sound of Sleat, opposite the island of Skye, for 22 km to the head of the loch at Kinloch Hourn...

.

John continued to build his power based by allying himself with Robert II of Scotland

Robert II of Scotland

Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...

, another west highland magnate who was the designated heir of King David. After David went into English custody in 1346, Robert acted as the de facto ruler of Scotland north of the river Forth

River Forth

The River Forth , long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some west of Stirling...

. In 1350, John was given Robert's daughter Margaret Stewart in marriage, and received Knapdale and Kintyre as dowry. However, Robert was the senior partner, and John had to divorce his first wife Amie; his sons Godfrey, John and Ranald by Amie were to be passed over in the succession in favour of any children by the marriage with Margaret. After the capture of the king and death of John Randolph

John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray

John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray was an important figure in the reign of David II of Scotland, and was for a time joint Regent of Scotland.-Family:...

at the Battle of Neville's Cross

Battle of Neville's Cross

The Battle of Neville's Cross took place to the west of Durham, England on 17 October 1346.-Background:In 1346, England was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with France. In order to divert his enemy Philip VI of France appealed to David II of Scotland to attack the English from the north in...

in 1346, John and Robert worked together taking control of the huge earldom of Moray

Earl of Moray

The title Earl of Moray has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland.Prior to the formal establishment of the peerage, Earl of Moray, numerous individuals ruled the kingdom of Moray or Mormaer of Moray until 1130 when the kingdom was destroyed by David I of Scotland.-History of the...

, bringing MacDonald power into Lochaber

Lochaber

and Stewart power into Badenoch

Badenoch

Badenoch is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber...

.

David returned to Scotland in 1357, and resented these incursions into an earldom which David regarded as within his rights of disposal; the terms of the original grant of Moray to Thomas Randolph in 1312 stipulated that the earldom would revert to the crown upon lack of issue. By 1368, King David had decided that an aggressive policy was needed in the north. In 1369, he marched to Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

, where John submitted to his authority. John's submission, though, was followed swiftly by David's death on February 22, 1371. David was succeeded by John's close ally Robert. David had wished either to retain control of the earldom or to grant the earldom to either John or George Dunbar, the sons of Isabella Randolph, sister of the last earl. However, King Robert made sure that Badenoch remained within his own control and that John kept Lochaber. When the earldom was granted to John Dunbar by a parliament held at Scone

Scone, Scotland

Scone is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The medieval village of Scone, which grew up around the monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield...

in early 1372, the grant consisted only of the lowland part around Inverness. Robert also ensured that John's control of the Mac Ruairidh inheritance was legally recognized by charter, and in 1376 issued charters confirming John's control of Colonsay, Kintrye and Knapdale, and granted Lochaber to John and his Stewart wife together.

Soon after 1376, John's heir Domhnall

Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles

Donald, or properly, Dómhnall Íle , was the son and successor of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and chief of Clan Donald. The Lordship of the Isles was based in and around the Scottish west-coast island of Islay, but under Domhnall's father had come to include many of the other islands off the...

may have been the de facto ruler. John lived until 1386, when he died at Ardtornish Castle

Ardtornish Castle

Ardtornish Castle is situated in the grounds of the Ardtornish estate in Morvern, on the west coast of Scotland. It stands at the seaward end of a promontory which extends in a southerly direction into the Sound of Mull, approximately a mile south-east of the village of Lochaline, Highland...

in Morvern. He was buried in Iona

Iona

Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...

. John's power had been built on both the loosening of royal authority in north-western Scotland after the First War of Scottish Independence

First War of Scottish Independence

The First War of Scottish Independence lasted from the invasion by England in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328...

and, more importantly, through allying with the right people at the right time. The success of John was so great that his successors could maintain a distance from the crown that outlived the weak monarchy of the 14th century.

John was also a great cultural and religious patron. Although the Bishop of the Isles

Bishop of the Isles

The Bishop of the Isles or Bishop of Sodor was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Sodor, one of Scotland's thirteen medieval bishoprics. The bishopric, encompasing both the Hebrides and Mann, probably traces its origins as an ecclesiastical unity to the careers of Olaf, King of the Isles,...

, based at Snizort on Skye, was outside his control and to some extent acted as a political rival, John did control Iona, the spiritual homeland of Scottish Christianity. The monastic establishment of Iona was run with John's approval by the MacKinnon

Clan MacKinnon

Clan Mackinnon or Clan Fingon is a Highland Scottish clan associated with the islands of Mull and Skye, in the Inner Hebrides.Popular tradition gives the clan a Dalriadic Gaelic origin. The 19th century historian W. F. Skene named the clan as one of the seven clans of Siol Alpin - who according to...

(Mac Fhionnghuin) kindred. John also founded an Augustinian priory

Oronsay Priory

Oronsay Priory was an Augustinian monastic community on the island of Oronsay, Inner Hebrides. It was in existence by 1353, perhaps founded by John of Islay, Lord of the Isles. It was dedicated to St Columba, and perhaps was a continuation or a re-activation of an older establishment...

at Oronsay

Oronsay, Inner Hebrides

Oronsay , also sometimes spelt and pronounced Oransay by the local community, is a small tidal island south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of just over two square miles....

, an act unique in the period.

Biography

Further reading