3. Donald and the Bruce
THE MacNauchtans lost their kingly patron in March of 1286. All Scotland mourned when Alexander in came to his death: riding on a stormy night to join his Queen, his horse stumbled on a narrow, precipitous road and fell with his rider over a cliff. The Golden Age had ended. No male heir was left to succeed to the throne, and Edward I of England seized the opportunity to interfere and set up a puppet King.
Edward decided to support: the Norman John de Balliol of Galloway. For various natural reasons the MacNauchtans joined the MacDougalls of Lorne and other powerful families in upholding the cause of Balliol, not because they welcomed domination by Edward I, but on account of alliances and clan loyalties.
Unwilling to be an obedient puppet, Balliol was dethroned in 1296, and Edward I assumed the role of conqueror of Scotland. In the succeeding struggle for power, the ambitions young Robert Bruce in 1306 stabbed to death the Red John Comyn in Greyfriars church in Dumfries, and had himself crowned King of Scotland. Although fighting for national independence, Bruce was regarded as a murderer at the time, and was excommunicated by the Pope in Rome. He had to use his small forces valiantly to avoid capture.
In the autumn of 1306, Bruce fought an unequal battle at Dalrce in Argyll with John MacDougall, Lord of Lorne, who was assisted by Donald MacNauchtan, grandson of Gilchrist, constable of Fraoch Eilean Castle. We read in Burke’s History of the Commoners:
"John Barbour, in his story of The Bruce, tells of Donald’s admiration for the King because of the latter’s prowess in slaying, single-handed, the three brothers MacIndrosser. Donald later became an adherent of Bruce, and so did his son, Duncan. [Both are said to have fought with Bruce at Bannockburn.] The latter accompanied the good Sir James Douglas on his mission to the Holy Land with the heart of Bruce, and after Douglas was slain by the Moors in Spain, Duncan brought back Bruce’s heart."
Barbour’s chronicle, dated 1375, provides a vivid account of Bruce’s adventures, and of the manner in which he won the admiration of Donald MacNauchtan. We read in the ancient Scots language that John of Lorne had sworn to avenge the killing of the Red John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. With a thousand men he attacked Bruce’s fugitive force in a wild spot between a loch and the shoulder of a mountain near Dalree. The King’s men fought bravely, but the good Sir James Douglas was wounded, and his men fell back slowly. Finally, as Bruce checked the retreat, three brothers Maclndrosser tried to slay him in a narrow pass. One caught his horse’s bridle; Bruce hewed off an arm at the shoulder. Another seized him by a leg, but Bruce spurred his horse forward. The third leaped on Bruce’s horse behind him; Bruce dragged him forward and killed him. Lastly he slew the second, who had sprung forward and clutched a stirrup.
The account of Donald MacNauchtan’s praise of Bruce’s bravery to his leader, John of Lorne, may be rendered from the ancient Scots into more understandable English thus:
When they of Lorne had seen the King
All by himself achieve this thing:
Defend himself thus manfully,
Among them not a man so hardy
As durst assail him more in fight,
So dreaded they his doughty might.
Then up spoke Baron MacNauchtan
Who all the time great heed had given
Unto the bravery of the King,
Whose praises now he fain would sing.
And to the Lord of Lorne said he:
"Most surely now you well may see
A warrior in the strongest prime
That you have seen in all your time.
For yon knight, by his doughty mood,
And in the strength of his manhood,
Has felled within a little space
Three men, the mightiest of their race;
Astonished all our party so
That after him dare no man go;
And turns so oft his horse’s head
It seems of us he has no dread."
Then ‘gan the Lord of Lorne to say:
"My faith! It seems you like his way,
That he thus slays our company."
"Sir," said he, "as our Lord sees me,
Saving your presence, ‘tis not so!
But whether he be friend or foe
Deserves the prize of chivalry,
Men should speak of him loyally.
And certainly, in all my time,
I’ve never heard, in song nor rhyme,
Tell of a man of high renown
Who mighty foes hath thus struck down."
Thus spake they of the King’s affray
As Bruce his troop did draw away
And to a place of safety led,
Where in their faith they’d nothing dread.
And they of Lorne again are gone,
Mourning the loss that they have borne.
Bruce and a few comrades soon afterward took refuge for a while on the nearby island of Rathlin off the coast of Antrim in northeastern Ireland, until the death of Edward I and the succession of his much weaker son, Edward II, encouraged Bruce to return to Scotland and renew the struggle. Many who had opposed him before were with him low, as renewed hopes for independence burned brightly.
Although Donald MacNauchtan and his kinsmen early espoused truce’s cause, it was not early enough to escape forfeiture of some of their lands in Argyll. They may or may not have got them back. The MacNauchts in Galloway, who also opposed Bruce for a while after the murder of the Red John Comyn, were it is said declared forfeited by sir James Douglas. Their lands appear to have been restored to them.
Donald MacNauchtan is supposed to have fought in the decisive battle of Bannockburn on Sunday and Monday, June 23 and 24, 1314, but evidence is lacking. Edward II had led into Scotland one of the finest armies ever assembled up to that rime under an English monarch, three times as large as Bruce’s defending force, composed of spearmen from Lothian and Angus, Highlanders from Argyll, warriors from the Western Isles, archers from Galloway and Carrick, and 500 horsemen.
King Robert took his position in the Torwood, a short distance southwest of Stirling Castle, behind the marshy ground of the Bannockburn in which pits had been dug. The invaders appeared on Sunday afternoon with embroidered banners waving and the armor of the knights glinting in the sun. English trumpets sounded a challenge, to be answered by the shrill defiance of bagpipes, used that day, according to tradition, for the first time in battle.
Before the English set out to vanquish the Scots with their mail-clad cavalry, a diversion occurred. The knight De Bohun rode forward alone to challenge Bruce to single combat; without fear Bruce rode forward on a small horse, armed only with a battle-axe. De Bohun rushed at him with lance in place. Bruce evaded the thrust and split De Bohun’s skull with his axe.
Then the battle was on; at the end of an afternoon of heavy fighting no decision had been reached. The outnumbered Scots may have felt apprehensive that night, but on learning the English were even more worried they resolved to continue the battle. When the enemy horsemen charged next morning, Edward Bruce’s spearmen coolly awaited them, kneeling on the ground with spears planted. The horses impaled themselves on the spears, and floundering away, fell into the pits and the mire of the Bannockburn. Riders were slain. Scottish bowmen shot their tormenting arrows, and Bruce charged with the men of Argyll, Carrick, and the Isles. Douglas, Randolph, and Walter Fitzalan (Steward of Scotland and progenitor of the Stewarts) threw their forces into the combat.
Then a body of tatterdemalion camp-followers bearing the banners of Scotland appeared with wild shouts from the rear. The sight was too much for the English, who fled. Edward II escaped to Dunbar, and found a small boat to take him back to England.
The part Donald MacNauchtan may have played and his probable death at Bannockburn are discussed in the Crawford MSS. reposing in the National Library at Edinburgh, and printed in the Highland Papers (Scottish History Society Publications, 2nd series, No. 5, pp. 105 ff.)
Referring to Donald, Crawford elaborates his theme:
How far the tradition may be depended on that this gallant man was killed at the battle of Bannockburn I cannot say but this much is certain, that after that there is no mention of him in the history of that time, and considering his activity and zeal for King Robert before, that it’s scarce to be doubted but he should have been found with the Heroes his firm trends and cotemporaries, prosecuting the glorious victory obtained there or in pressing the English as the Scots then did to a very eminent and remarkable degree. It’s at least a presumption that he has not survived that glorious day for the liberty and honour of Scotland that he is not found getting a charter from the Crown of lands after that time as the other great men did and with whom he had an equall if not a greater degree of merit, who are then very nobly rewarded by their bountieful and diserning Soveraign.
King Robert continued to harry England, but his life of exposure and hardship presently made him a victim of leprosy, "the dread of the Middle Ages," in the years that should have brought him to his prime. He had been excommunicated for stabbing to death the Red John Comyn, and he wished to end his life at peace with the Church. He had some time before planned an expedition to the Holy Land, and his emissary had prevailed upon Pope John to remove the ban of excommunication.
As he lay dying in his palace at Cardross he charged Douglas to carry his heart in battle against the infidels. After his death on July 7, 1329 Sir James Douglas and thirty knights set out for Palestine by way of Spain to carry out the mission. We have already been informed by Burke’s "History of the Commoners" that Donald’s son Duncan was one of the party that brought back the heart of Bruce after Douglas had been slain in a fight with Moors in Spain. The statement may be true although it has no confirmation elsewhere.
According to William Anderson in The Scottish Nation (Vol. in, p. 54), Duncan "was a steady and loyal subject of King David n [successor to Robert I] who, as a reward for his fidelity, conferred on his son Alexander lands in the Island of Lewis, a portion of the forfeited possessions of John of the Isles, which the chiefs of the Clan MacNauchtan held for a time. The ruins of their castle of MacNauchtan are still pointed out on that island."
There is a story in the MacNauchtan effort to take possession of the lands in Lewis that is rather more tragic than the comfortable account of possession of the old castle implies. We shall come to it in a moment. Alexander was a young man when the charter to lands in Lewis was granted him in 1346. Four years later he married Cristina, eldest daughter of Dougal Campbell of Craignish and his wife, "a daughter of the MacNauchtans," and a first cousin of the bridegroom. With his marriage accomplished, it appears that Alexander MacNauchtan set out by sea to claim and explore his lands in Lewis. He did not realize his danger, inherent in the fact that another chief had rights to other lands in Lewis and coveted the whole island.
In his authoritative History of the Outer Hebrides W. I. Mackenzie clears up the story and suggests the dismal outcome of Alexander’s expedition to the Island of Lewis:
That Torquil (son of Leod, the progenitor of the MacLeods) did not inherit the whole of the island appears to be probable, for according to another tradition his grandson, also named Torquil, acquired sole possession by running down in the Minch the birlin [barge] of the Chief of the Mac-Nauchtans, who was drowned, and whose lands in Lewis Torquil thereupon seized. . . . There is reason to believe . . . that the MacNauchtans never had a footing in Lewis. Tradition supports the view that the old castle of Stornoway was built by the MacNicols before the days of the MacLeods.
Alexander MacNauchtan died in 1351, one year after his marriage. Ten years afterward Cristina of Craignish sold her widow’s portion of the barony to Colin, son of Gillaspic Campbell of Lochow.
This marriage to Cristina must have been Alexander’s second, as the charter of 1346 enumerated his three sons: Duncan, Gilchrist, and John. n his history of the Clan MacNauchtan, Crawford names as the succeeding chief another Alexander, and it is reasonable to surmise that since the direct heir, Duncan, was a young boy at the time of his father’s death in 1351, the chiefship passed to an older man of the clan. We can never be sure about the fortunes of the three fatherless boys because we cannot find another trace of information about them.
At any rate, we know considerable of interest about the Alexander MacNauchtan who according to Crawford succeeded as chief, because of his interesting marriage, on which various writers have remarked at some length. The story has been told with the use of Latin words here and there, and if it is to be understood now it needs a bit of clarifying.
A contemporary of Alexander to whom he doubtless was well known was the son of Walter Fitzalan, Steward of Scotland, and Marjory Bruce. He was relatively old and weary from his amatory and warlike exploits when he was crowned at Scone in 1371 as King Robert II; his reign ended with his death in 1390. We must judge his romantic adventures according to the standards of the Middle Ages and not those of today. In quoting from Crawford. I take the liberty of revising his punctuation:
This Alexander Macnaughtan, the head of the familie of the tribe of the Macnaughtans, married [a] daughter of Duncan Cairdeney of that Ilk, an antient family in the county of Pearthshire, sister to Robert, Bisop of Dunkeld, who was preferred to that See — as the learned Dr. Alexander Milne, the Abbot of Cambuskenneth and the first President of the Session says in his history of the Bisops of Dunkeld — per favorem Regis erga sororem, and was the lady the King Robert the zd calls "dillecta nostra Mariota de Cairdeney," by whom he had three sons, to whom by distinct charters he gave lands that are still extant in the Publick Archives. By this lady the Laird of Macnaughtan had issue: Duncan, his successor, and a second son, Donald.... [Mariota, it may be pointed out, was the old Latin form of the modem feminine name Marion, which will be used here].
This tells us Dr. Milne wrote that Marion Cardeny’s brother Robert became Bishop of Dunkeld by favor of Robert II, prevailed upon by Marion, who bore the future King three sons. Subsequently Marion married Alexander MacNauchtan. Two sons bore his name; one of them, Donald, was born before wedlock. The other was Duncan, who as legitimate heir succeeded his father as chief. Donald was a promising boy; later we shall see how his uncle, the Bishop, trained him in the Church and fostered his progress so that he in his turn became Bishop of Dunkeld.
Although Crawford says categorically that Alexander MacNauchtan married Marion, there has been a disposition to infer that she may have been only a passing fancy with him, though her son Donald had his surname; that his wife and the mother of Duncan may have been another woman. These inferences appear in this footnote in the Highland Papers:
"Whoever may have been the wife of Alexander MacNaughtan, and the mother of his son Duncan, it is to be noted that Donald MacNaughtan, who was nephew ex sorore to Bishop Robert de Cardeny, is described (Calendar of Papal Registers, Vol. vin, pp. 368 and 628) as
the son of an unmarried nobleman and an unmarried woman.’"
Though Robert II may have regarded Marion as "dillecta," he was martial to others as well. Andrew Lang relates at p. 274 in Vol. I of his History of Scotland:
"In point of fact, Robert II had lived with, and had children by, Elizabeth More, or Mure, of Rowallan, before their marriage. Robert and Elizabeth were also within the degrees of propinquity [cousins] forbidden by the Church, and Elizabeth as a child had been contracted in marriage with Hugh Gifford, aged nine. A Papal dispensation, however, permitted the marriage (1349), though Robert had also been the favored lover of Isabel Boutillier, herself in the third and fourth degrees of affinity to Elizabeth. A provision in the dispensation legitimated the multitude of children of both sexes’ … Robert II, after the death of Elizabeth Mure, had a second wife, Eupheme Ross, whose children were of undeniable legitimacy."
The Stewarts of the royal line were ever great lovers, who mitigated the sorrows of unfortunate reigns by the satisfactions of increasing numerously the population of Scotland. So irresistible were the Stewarts to bewitching, ambitious gentlewomen, whose sons born under the rose had fine prospects of coming into titles and estates, and so numerous were these clover widows (to coin a term for them), that honest lairds and even nobles were pleased as a matter of course to take them in marriage when they chose to settle down. For an account of King Robert’s saddened later years, read Scott’s Fair Maid of Perth. The undying loyalty of the Stewarts to the Church was repaid in part by the legitimation of the fruits of their informal alliances. So it all seemed very regular, for the time.
We return to Donald. His uncle, the Bishop of Dunkeld, took a great deal of interest in the boy, who had "a spirit and genius to learning," and educated him for service in the Church. Donald entered holy orders, became parson of Weem, and also held the prebends of Logy in Dunblane, and Invernochty in Aberdeen. While Dean of Dunkeld, he made supplication to Rome in 1420 to continue in that office in spite of defect of birth, and to hold other dignities. The copy of his successful petition was found in the Vatican archives when material there was opened by Pius XI to Miss A. I. Cameron, Litt. D., for historical studies. Donald’s story is found in Vol. xxin, 3d series, of the Scottish History Society Publications.
It was Donald’s pleasure to endow the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Dunkeld, and with a feeling for beauty he placed stained glass with his own hands in the adjacent window. This we learn from Rentale Dunkeldensis, p. 34, published by the History Society in 1915. Craw-ford tells of his final achievement:
"Beeing a person of learning, reputation, and integrity he was elected Bisop of Dunkeld on his uncle’s death the 17th of January 1436; here he sat for near about three years till his death in the year 1439." Donald MacNauchtan, Bishop of Dunkeld, died while on his way to Rome for confirmation in his office.
Alexander MacNauchtan’s son Duncan fell heir to the patrimony) in the time of James I, who was crowned in 1424. So says Crawford. He could hardly have been born later than the period of 1350-60, and the next chief in Crawford’s list — Gilbert — did not attract notice until in 1473 he received a charter for Dunderave from Colin Campbell, first Earl of Argyll. Duncan may have lived until 1440 or thereabout. How may we account for the hiatus between his death and the accession of Gilbert MacNauchtan in 1473?
Before we seek the answer to this question we shall do well to scan briefly the background of MacNauchtan family life and fortunes, in this general period. Lord Archibald Campbell published in 1884 his "Records of Argyll", packed with traditions as authentic as any we may hope to find. He gathered and edited accounts supplied by those who knew best the lore of Argyll, and published them without considering whether ‘they showed the Campbells in a favorable light or not.
These stories reveal why the MacNauchtan chiefs gave up Fraoch Eilean, and how they came to establish themselves in the castle they built on a small triangular peninsula on the Dubh Loch at the lower end of Glenshira.
The MacNauchtans did not agree well with the other clans about Loch Awe, a narrative by George Clarke relates, so they had left that countryside and built a new castle on the Dark Loch, a short distance above Loch Fyne and not far from Inveraray. Thereafter Glenshira became the center of their activities.
At the extreme upper end of the glen is a conical knoll, embosomed in the hills, which always was green earlier in the spring than the adjacent lands. It was called by ancients "the fairy dwelling" because it was presumed the fairies must have loved it for its verdure and chosen it for their home. The Gaelic word descriptive of the fairies’ choice evolved into shira. Rising above the green knoll is Ben-an-tean, the fairy mountain, and near it is a level plain or strath that was called "the fairy strath." So Glenshira, the abode of MacNauchtans, is the glen or valley beloved by the people who lived there in the supposition that its knoll, mountain, and strath were so endowed with charm that the fairies lingered there.
Whether the MacNauchtan chiefs lived in Dubhloch Castle more or less than a century we cannot learn. Somewhere near the middle of the fifteenth century misfortune overtook them. Merchants hawking linen brought a plague into the glen; a number of persons died, among them several occupants of the castle. The place has been called "the Bank of Graves."
Miss Isabel Smith contributed to the "Records of Argyll" an account of one of the last survivors of the castle, a girl of eighteen, who was in effect the head of the clan, with no nearer relation than a second cousin. "While this lady lay dying of plague, a proclamation was made by the King concerning the chieftainship, or seigniority of lands in Scotland. Argyll set out on horseback for Holyrood, ‘never drawing bridle until he got to the Palace,’ to put in his claim for the suzerainty of Glenshira and Loch Fyne.
"These are amongst the first f Crown 1 charter-lands in Argyllshire; and when a child I used to hear them spoken of by many of the servants (who used to hold a conclave in the nursery) with contempt as ‘parchment lands’ to which the Argylls had no right"
We may have in the tradition of the young girl of Dubhloch, related in Records of Argyll, the key to a lost chapter in MacNauchtan history. For a quarter-century or so before 1473 the clan may have had no chief, and the family may have been reduced by ill-fortune or the plague. The young girl may have been a daughter of a victim of the plague, and a granddaughter of Duncan, the last chief of record. On her death and because of the temporary weakness of the clan, the first Earl of Argyll found his opportunity to respond to the King’s proclamation with a demand for suzerainty over the MacNauchtan estates. Here probably is the answer to the question as to how the MacNauchtans lost their Crown charter status and became vassals of the Campbells.
Of this we are certain: when Gilbert MacNauchtan received his charter for Dunderave in 1473 it was from Colin Campbell, first Earl of Argyll, as his overlord. The King evidently had granted the Earl’s demand for suzerainty.
As for the castle of Dubhloch, it was never inhabited again after the deaths from the plague and subsequently was torn down. Chief seat of heads of the clan before misfortune fell, it may have been the home of Alexander and his wife Marion Cardeny. Fraoch Eilean, the first castle, may have been lost to the clan at or about the time the earlier Alexander was slain in the Minch by Torquil in 1351. That disaster evidently had broken the direct line of descent. After the plague, the next chief established himself at Dunderave, on the nearby promontory overlooking Loch Fyne.
We may speculate without hope of certainty, but we may be sure the MacNauchtan history of those days had far more drama and even tragedy than we can possibly learn. The clan in Argyll revived and regained strength, but it was destined thereafter to remain under the Campbell thumb until the finishing stroke fell.
Let us analyze the possible significance of a charter of 1375. "John of Prestwych, the son and heir of the deceased Mariot Garrachel, sold to Colin Cambel, the son and heir of Gillaspic of Lochaw, certain lands in Upper Lochaw, in which Duncan MacNachtane, Lord of that Ilk, died vest and seised." (Robertson’s Index of Charters, p. 149.) This Duncan likely was "the steady and loyal subject of David II," whose son Alexander lost his life in trying to claim lands in Lewis given him by Crown charter.
Reference to lands in Upper Lochaw, formerly owned by Duncan MacNauchtan, rings a bell in the mind. Fraoch Eilean was in Upper Loch Awe, and the appurtenant lands must have bordered the waters of the loch. Could Mariot Garrachel have been Duncan’s widow, and could her son John of Prestwych have sold Fraoch Eilean to Colin Campbell?