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MACDONALD OF THE ISLES AND SLEAT.
Badge: Fraoch (Common Heath).
IHE period assigned at which Somerled first became powerful as Thane of Argle is 1135,
"
when he married Effrica. daughter of Olave the Swarthy, King of Man and the Isles,
thus adding to hie possessions by the heritage of the latter. He was slain at Renfrew
when invading Scotland in 1164, and left four sons : First, Dougal, from whom descended
the Lords of Lorn, whose line ended in heiresses, married to ancestors of
Argyle and Breadalbane ; but a male line is still continued, says Robertson, in the
MacDougal, designed of Dunolly ; second, Angus, whose daughter married the High
Steward; third Olave ; and fourth, Reginald, from whom came all the families of
the surname of Mac Donald.
The descendant of Angus who sheltered Bruce in Dunavertie in 1306 was Donald,
Lcrd of the Isles, who entered into a treaty with P.ichard II. on the footing of a
sovereign prince ; and after marrying the Countess of Ross, took up arms to establish
his right to the Earldom, but was slain at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, when HOO men were slain,
many of them high in rank.
He was succeeded by his son Alexander, Lord of the Isles, who was defeated by James I. at Loch-
abei in 1429. and in despair had to sue for his mercy before the High Altar at Holyrood. His son
John, eleventh Earl of Ross, succeeded him as Lord of the Isles but ; entering into a treasonable
treaty with the King of England in 1462, was branded as a traitor, and deprived of the Earldom of
Ross. Dying without issue he was succeeded by his brother.
Donald, great-grandson of the latter, styled himself Lord of the Isles, but was refused recognition
as such by James V., who besieged him in hisCastle of Eilondonan, on the ramparts of which he was
shot dead by an arrow in 1537. His eldest son, Donald of the Isles, was restored to Sleat by Queen Mary,
to whom he adhered in 1567, and after much hard fighting with the MacLeans, died in 15S5, and was
succeeded by Ids nephew. The latter, Donald MacDonald of Sleat, was created a Baronet by Charles
I. in 1625. He adhered to the King in all his troubles, and died in 1643. By his wife, " Fair Janet
MacKenzie" of Kintail, he left a son, Sir James MacDonald of Sleat, who joined Montrose in 1044,
and fought at Worcester in 1651.
In 1688 the House of Sleat was burned by the troops of William.
Sir Donald MacDonald, fourth Baronet of Sleat, fought for King James in 1715 and \v;ia
attainted. He died three years after Sheriffmuir. On the death of his son in 1720, unmarried, the
Baronetcy reverted to his uncle, James, designed of Oronsay, whose son Alexander succeeded him at
his death in 1723. Sir Alexander was twice married, the second time to Margaret, daughter of the
ninth Earl of Eglinton, in "
1739. She became mother of three distinguished MacDonalds, namely,
Sir James, the Marcellus of the Western Isles ; Sir Alexander, created Lortl MacDonald in 1776 ; and
Sir Archibald MacDonald, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer of England." Flora Mac-
Donald, when assisting to conceal Prince Charles in Skye, confided in Lady Margaret MacDonald,
and obtained her assistance. Sir Alexander died at Rome in 1766 in his twenty-fifth year.
Hia son Alexander was raised to the Peerage in 1776 as Lord MacDonald of Sleat (in the county
of Antrim) ; and his descendant to this hour, called by the Highlanders AJacDhonailt nan Eiltau, or
"MacDonald of the Isles," unquestionably represents the ancient Lords of the Isles.
Their fighting force was set at only 700 men in 1745.
The first Lord died in 1795, and was the father of Alexander and Godfrey, the second and third
Barons ; the last named assumed the additional surname of Bosville, and died in 1>33, when he was
succeeded by his son Godfrey, fourth Baron, who died in 1863, leaving Somerled, fifth Baron, who
died in 1874, and Ronald, the present Lord,