The book Arran; - Cook Clan

20 THE BOOK OF ARRAN
a claim to Bute, and probably to Arran as well, in virtue of
a marriage with the heiress of the slaughtered Angus (1210).^
The intruding Rudri, son of Reginald, was thus expelled.
Trouble of this sort implied a good deal : it is clear the Scots
had fixed their grasp upon the islands. Hakon had reason
to be annoyed. His western empire was crumbling away.
' The Kings of the Southern Isles, those who were come of
Sumarled's stock, were very unfaithful to King Hakon.' ^
It was one of these, Ospak, a son of Dugall, having chosen
or been forced to choose Norway as his home rather than
Scotland, who was in 1230 dispatched with a fleet to bring
his brothers to their senses and restore the shaken dominion
of Norway. There was little resistance among the isles, and
Ospak's fleet had grown to eighty ships when it rounded the
Mull of Kintyre and swept up to invest Bute, where the Scots
' sat in castles ' and the stone fortress at the Burg (Rothesay)
took three days of hard fighting to capture. Many inroads
upon Kintyre suggest that the Scots had established them-
selves there also, but nothing is said of Arran, probably not,
so far, definitely occupied. Ospak died of sickness, and after
wintering at Man the host again raided Kintyre, losing many
men, and so fared north to receive the thanks of Hakon for
their exploits. Presently Alexander was trying to strike a
bargain with Hakon over the islands, offering money, but
Hakon stiffly refused all such offers. Then Alexander
collected a fleet to take what could not be bought, but died
on its progress in Oban Bay (1249), which brought the expedition
summarily to an end.
The task was thus bequeathed to his son, the third
Alexander, who made no secret of his intention to carry it
through, and so roused and alarmed Hakon to an effort
which was to be final in a fashion not by him intended (1263).
Afl Norway was levied for men, and, for the last time, a host,
noble both in size and equipment, took the road west-over-
1 Gregory, p. 19. 2 ,%ja of Hakon Hakonsson.