This is where I celebrate a little of my cultural background.
Scottish culture & history played a major role in the development of Canadian culture, especially in the Maritime Provinces - Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. I've assembled some information about my own ancestral background and the Scottish culture - both in Scotland and in "new" Scotland.
Brief background of Clan Donald
In 1098 Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, led an expedition to recreate the old Norse power that had once been paramount from Shetland to Dublin. In the peace which he made with Edgar, King of Scots, he acquired possession of all the islands of the west round which he could sail a ship with its rudder in position. Magnus ordered his men to drag a ship across the isthmus of Kintyre while he sat at the helm, and so added this mainland province to his realm. But fifty years later, the Scots of Argyll under Somerled evicted the Norsemen, and in 1156 they defeated Godfrey, King of Man and the western Isles in a sea battle. In 1164 King Somerled conducted an expedition of the Gaels of Ireland and the west against Malcom IV, the Anglo-Norman King of Scots, but he was defeated and killed.
He was succeeded by his eldest son Dougall as a virtually independent sovereign in the west. But Dougall's mother, daughter of Olaf, King of Man, also gave birth to a younger son Ranald, and this was the father of Donald, progenitor of the great Clan Donald. Ranald himself inherited a kingdom, for although his father was almost certainly a Gael despite his Norse nickname, these territories still belonged to the Norwegian crown, and the Norse practice of dividing a patrimony among the sons was followed.
The
MacDonald's of Clan Ranald take their name from Ranald, the son of John
of Islay, 1st Lord
of
the Isles and Amy Macruari. Ranald was the obvious heir to chiefship of
Clan Donald but
when
the succession occurred it was Donald, Ranald's younger half-brother who
became
chief.
Ranald however did receive the territories of Moydart, Lochaber and Arisaig.
The
next chief was Alan, eldest of Ranald's five sons. Alan is the founder
of the Glengarry
MacDonald's.
During the 1400's there were long running feuds between the various branches
of
Clan
Donald. These culminated in 1544 with the battle of Blar-na-leine. The
battle was between the supporters
of Ranald, son of the fifth chief and his cousin John of Moidart who opposed
him. On Ranald's
side were the Frasers of Lovat and siding with John were the MacDonnells
of Keppoch and
the Clan Cameron. In the end the Frasers were defeated and John of Moidart
became the chief of
Clan Ranald.
Another remarkable chief succeeded to Clan Ranald in 1687. This was Alan who, after only three years as chief, led his Clan at Killicrankie in support of King James VII. He was forced into exile in France where he served in the French army for a short time. In September of 1715 he was one of the first to join the Jacobite cause. He was created Lord Clanranald by the grateful James VII.
The Clan Ranald was also well represented in the '45 rebellion for which the chief was forced into exile once more in France. He was allowed to return in 1754. The chiefly line died out in 1944 at which time the chiefship passed to the descendants of Alexander MacDonald of Boisdale, a younger brother of the seventeenth chief.
The present chief of the clan MacDonald, Godfrey, 8th Baron MacDonald, still resides on Skye, at Ostaig House. He and his wife, Lady Claire, a leading food expert and cookery writer, run a hotel not far from Armadale Castle, which is now the clan MacDonald centre.
Sir Ian Bosville MacDonald of Sleat, the 25th chief of Sleat, is head of his branch of the clan, and lives at Thorpe Hall, Driffield, Yorkshire.
 |
 |
