The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

88 THE HIGHLANDERS [part i
In the meantime the earls of Ross had been ^radualU^
establishing themselves in that power and influence which had
formerly been possessed by the chiefs of Moray, and the defeat
of the last attempt of the inhabitants of that district to place
the descendant of their ancient earls in possession of his in-
heritance, as well as one of the rival race of Mac Williams,
upon the throne by Ferehard, Earl of Ross, in the year 121 5,
completely established their power. At this time the Western
Isles were in possession of the Norwegians ; the line of the
ancient earls of Atholl had shortly before become extinct, and
consequently there was not any one to dispute the supremacy
which the earls of Ross now assumed in the north of Scotland.
But a considerable change took place in the Highlands, upon
the cession of the Isles by the Norwegians to the
the Isles. king of Scotlaud in the year 1 ^ 266, as that event
A.D 1266.
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was the means 01 bringmg one 01 the most powerlul
clans in the Highlands under subjection to the king ; besides
the earldom of Ross, the only other territory in which the
descendants of the ancient Maormors remained in full and
undisturbed possession of the power and dignity which their
ancestors held, w^as the district of Dala or Argyll, the male
line of the ancient Maormors or earls having universally failed
in all the other Highland districts. Their several dignities
and power had passed into the hands of Norman barons, and
their dependent tribes had separated into a number of small
and independent clans, who, besides having to oppose the
tyranny and encroachments of these barons, were at constant
feud with each other, either for the nominal title of chief, or
for some other cause. Such a state of matters was peculiarly
favourable for the introduction of Saxon laws and of Saxon
domination into the country, and as a natural consequence,
the resistance to these novelties, which in other circumstances
would have been general among the Gael, now fell entirely
upon the single great chief who still possessed any considerable
power in the Highlands, and who was thus- driven into constant
opposition to the government. The cession of the Isles thus
brought the powerful clan of the Macdonalds into the field,
and their having so lately enjoyed a state of regal independence,
with but a nominal submission to the king of Norway,