Scottish Clans - Clan MacDonald

SCOTTISH CLANS - MACDONALD of the Isles


MOTTO MACDONALD of the ISLES BY SEA AND LAND	CLAN TARTAN MACDONALD CLAN COLOURS

The MacDonalds of Sleat are the descendants of Hugh, the third son of Alexander, 3rd Lord of the Isles. Because of attempts to reclaim the MacDonald mainland possessions, the Lordship was forfeited in the 1400s and Hugh obtained a charter to retain his own lands. His son John inherited these. John had five sons and these MacDonalds threw the clan into a period of great disruption. One, Black Archibald, is described as having a soul as dark as his complexion. With two of his half-brothers he conspired to murder the eldest half-brother whom he had strangled. He invited another brother, Donald Hearach, to dinner to see his newly-built gallery. During the meal he stabbed Donald in the back. In the violent reprisals Black Archibald seemed the only brother to survive, till Donald and Ranald Grumach, his nephews, murdered him. Donald became Clan Chief in 1518.

In 1608 after almost a century of feuding, including MacDonald battles with the MacKenzies and the MacLeans in attempts to reclaim lost property of the house of Sleat, all the relevant chiefs were called to meet Lord Ochiltree, the King’s representative, to discuss the royal intentions for the governing of the Isles. The chiefs did not agree with the King’s plans and found themselves in prison. Donald was incarcerated in Blackness Castle. His release was granted when he at last submitted to the King. He died in 1616 and his nephew, Sir Donald MacLeod, succeeded him and became the first Baronet of Sleat.

From this period the family was loyal to the crown and nearly all of the clans attached to the Lord of the Isles transferred their affections to the Royal Stuarts. Because Sir Alexander MacDonald took no part in the 1745 rising the Sleat possessions remained secure.

The Macdonalds originally occupied Dunscaith and Knock Castles, and while they moved to Duntulm Castle in the late 17th century they still looked after the farm and gardens at Armadale, and it was here that Flora MacDonald was married in 1750. In the late 18th century the first Lord MacDonalds returned to build a mansion house at Armadale, part of which remains to this day.