of September, 1605, Kenneth receives a commission to act for the
King against Neil MacNeill of Barra, the Captain of Clanranald,
and several other Highland and Island chiefs, who had "of late
amassed together a force and company of the barbarous and rebellious
thieves and limmers of the Isles," and with them entered the Lewis,
"assailed the camp of his Majesty's good subjects," and "committed
barbarous and detestable murders and slaughters upon them."
Mackenzie is in consequence commissioned to convocate the lieges
in arms and to pursue these offenders with fire and sword by sea
or land, "take and slay them," or present them to their Lordships
for justice, with power also to the said Kenneth to pass to the
Lewis for thc relief of the subjects "distressed and grieved" by
the said rebellious "lymmairis," or of prisoners in their hands,
and to procure their liberty by "force or policy, as he may best
have it." He is also ordered to charge the lieges within the shires
of Inverness and Nairn, burgh and landward, to rise and assist him
in the execution of his office, whenever he requires them, "by his
precepts and proclamations." This was the beginning of Kenneth's
second conquest of the Lewis.
Mackenzie is, on the 2nd of June, 1607, appointed by the Privy Council,
along with the Bishop of Ross, a commissioner to the Presbyteries
of Tam and Ardmeanach, and on the 14th of July following, he is
summoned before their Lordships to report his diligence in that
matter, under pain of rebellion. Kenneth does not appear, and he
is denounced a rebel. On the 30th of July he takes the oath of
allegiance, along with the Earl of Wyntoun and James Bishop of
Orkney, in terms of a Royal letter issued on the 2nd of June preceding
imposing a special oath acknowledging the Royal Supremacy in Church
and state on all Scotsmen holding any civic or ecclesiastical office.
He receives another commission on the 1st of September, 1607.
Understanding that "Neil Macleod and others, the rebellious thieves
and limmers of the Isles, have of late surprised and taken the
Castle of Stornoway in the Lewis, and other houses and biggings,
pertaining to the gentlemen portioners of the Lewis, and have
demolished and cast down some of the said houses, and keep others
of them as houses of war, victualled and fortified with men
and armour, and in the meantime commit barbarous and detestable
insolencies and cruelties upon so many of the poor inhabitants of
that country as gave their obedience to his Majesty," the Lords
give commission to Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail to convocate
the lieges in arms pass to the Lewis, and pursue the said Neil
Macleod with fire and sword, using all kinds of "warlike engines"
for recovering the houses, and having power to keep trysts and
intercommune with the inhabitants of the Isles. This commission
is to continue in force for six months.
Mackenzie is one of the Highland chiefs to whom missive letters
are ordered to be sent on the 23rd of June, 1608, to attend his
Majesty's service under Lord Ochiltree, at Troternish, in the Isle
of Skye, on the 20th of August following, on which occasion the
soldiers must "furnish themselves with powder and bullets out of
their own pay, and not out of the King's charges." It is ordered
at a meeting of the Privy Council held on the 6th of February,
1609, that he, along with Simon Lord Lovat, Grant of Grant, the
Earl of Caithness, Ross of Balnagown, John Mackenzie of Gairloch,
and others, be charged to appear personally before their Lordships
on the 25th of March following, to come under such order as shall
be prescribed to them touching the finding of surety and caution for
the quietness and obedience of their bounds, and that no fugitive
and disobedient Islesmen shall be reset or supplied within the
same, under pain of rebellion and horning. He appears, with some
of the others, before the Council on the 28th of March, and gives
the necessary bond, but the amount in his case is not named. On
the 7th of April, however, it appears that he and Grant become
personally bound for each other, in L4000 each, that those for
whom they are answerable shall keep the King's peace and that they
will not reset or favour any fugitives from the Isles. Kenneth
becomes similarly bound in L3000 for John Mackenzie of Gairloch
and Donald Neilsoun Macleod of Assynt.
He was one of the eight Lesser Barons who constituted the Lords
of the Articles in the Scottish Parliament which met for the first
time on the 17th of June, 1609.
The Privy Council, on the 22nd of the same month, committed to
the Earl of Glencairn and Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail the charge
of conveying Hector Maclean of Duart from the Castle of Dumbarton
to Edinburgh and bringing him before their Lordships, "for order
to be taken with him anent the affairs of the Isles, and they
became bound in L20,000 to produce him on the first Council day
after the end of that year's Parliament. On the 28th of the same
month they enter formally into a bond to this amount that Maclean
will appear on the first Thursday of November, he, in turn, binding
himself and his heirs for their relief. On the 22nd of February,
1610, the bond is renewed for Maclean's appearance on the first
Council day after that date. He appears on the 28th of June
following, and Mackenzie and the Earl of Glencairn are released
from their cautionary obligations.
On the 30th of June, 1609, Kenneth and Sir George become cautioners
for Donald Gorm Macdonald of Sleat to the amount of L10,000 that he
will appear before the Lords Commissioners on the 2nd of February next,
to come under their orders, and Kenneth is charged to keep Donald
Gorm's brother's son, "who is now in his hands," until Macdonald
presents himself before the Lords Commissioners. On the 22nd of
February, 1610, this caution is repeated for Donald's appearance on
the 8th of March. He appears and Mackenzie is finally relieved of the
bond on the 28th of June following.
On the 5th of July, 1609, Mackenzie and Sir John Home of Coldenknowes,
undertake, under a penalty of ten thousand merks, that George
Earl of Caithness, shall make a free, peaceable, and sure passage
to all his Majesty's lawful subjects through his country of Caithness,
in their passage to and from Orkney.
At a meeting of the Council held on the 20th of February, 1610,
a commission is granted to Simon Lord Lovat, Kenneth Mackenzie
of Kintail, John Mackenzie of Gairloch, Hugh Mackay of Farr, and
Roderick Mackenzie of Redcastle, to apprehend Allan Mac Donald
Duibh Mhic Rory of Culnacnock, in Troternish, Isle of Skye, and
several others, including "Murdo Mac Gillechallum, brother of
Gillecallum Raasay, Laird of Raasay, Gillecallum Mac Rory Mhic
Leoid, in Lewis, Norman Mac Ghillechallum Mhoir, there, and Rory Mac
Ghillechallum Mhoir, his brother," all of whom "remain unrelaxed
from a horning of 18th January last, raised against them by
Christian, Nighean Ian Leith, relict of Donald Mac Alastair Roy,
in Dibaig," Murdo, his son, his other kin and friends, tenant and
servants, "for not finding caution to answer before the justice
for the stealing of forty cows and oxen, with all the insight and
plenishing of the said late Donald Mac Alastair's house in Dibaig,
worth œ1000, and for murdering the said Donald," his tenant, and
servants. The Commissioners are to convocate the lieges in arms
for apprehending the said rebels, and to enter them, when taken,
before the justice to be suitably punished for their crimes.
Another commission is issued in favour of Simon Lord Lovat, Kenneth
Mackenzie of Kintail, Donald Gorm Macdonald of Sleat, and Donald
Mac Allan Mhic Ian of Eilean Tirrim, Captain of Clanranald, against
John Mac Allan Mac Ranald, who is described as "having this long
time been a murderer, common thief, and masterful oppressor" of
the King's subjects.
Although Kenneth had been raised to the Peerage on the 19th of
November, 1609, by the title of Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, he is
not so designated in the Privy Council Records until the 31st of
May, 1610, when the patent of his creation is read and received by
their Lordships, and he is thereupon acknowledged to be a free
baron in all time coming. He is one of the Highland chiefs charged
and made answerable for good rule in the North on the 28th of
June of that year and to find caution within fifteen days, under
pain of rebellion, not to reset within their bounds any notorious
thieves, rievers, fugitives, and rebels, for theft and murder, under
a further penalty, in Mackenzie's case, of five thousand merks.
At a meeting of the Privy Council held on the 19th of July, 1610,
the following commission was issued in Kenneth's favour as justiciary
of the Lewis, against Neil Macleod:
Forasmuch as a number of the chieftains and principal men of
the Isles and continent next adjacent are come in and presented
themselves before the Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council, and
have given satisfaction unto the said Lords anent their obedience
and conformity in time coming, so as that now there is no part of
the Isles rebellious and disobedient but the Lewis, which being
possessed and inhabited by a number of thieves, murderers, and
an infamous byke of lawless and insolent limmers under the charge
and command of the traitor Neil Macleod, who has usurped upon him
the authority and possession of the Lewis, and they, concurring
altogether in a rebellious society, do commit many murders,
slaughters, riefs, and villianies, not only among themselves but
upon his Majesty's peaceable and good subjects who resorted among
them in their trade of fishing, and by their barbarous and savage
behaviour against his Majesty's good subjects they have made the
trade of fishing in the Lewis, which was most profitable for the
whole country, to become always unprofitable, to the great hurt
of the commonweal. And the Lords of Secret Council finding it a
discredit to the country that such a parcel of ground, possessed
by a number of miserable caitiffs, shall be suffered to continue
rebellious, whereas the whole remanent Isles are become peaceable
and obedient, and the said Lords understand the good affection of
Kenneth, Lord Kintail and his willing disposition to undergo all
pains and trouble in his Majesty's service. Therefore the said
Lords has made and constituted, and by the tenour hereof makes and
constitutes, the said Kenneth Lord Kintail, his Majesty's justice
and commissioner over the whole boundaries of the Lewis, to the
effect under-written, with full power, commission, and authority
to him to convocate his Majesty's lieges in arms, to levy and take
up men of war, to appoint captains and commanders over them, and
with them to pass to the Lewis, and there, with tire and sword, and
all kind of hostility, to search, seek, hunt, follow, and pursue
the said Neil, his accomplices, assistants, and partakers, by sea
and land, wherever they may be apprehended, and to mell, confiscate,
and intromit with their goods and gear, and to dispone thereupon
at their pleasure, and to keep such of their persons as shall
be taken in sure firmance till justice he ministered upon them,
conform to the laws of this realm, courts of justiciary within the
said bounds to sit, begin, affix, hold, and continue suits to be
made called "absentis to amerchiat," trespasses to punish, all and
sundry persons inhabitants of the Lewis suspected and delayed of
murder, slaughter, fire-raising, theft, and reset of theft, and
other capital crimes, to search, seek, take, apprehend, commit to
prison, and to enter them upon panel by dittay to accuse them, and
to put them to the knowledge of an assize, and as they shall happen
to be found culpable or innocent of the said crimes, or any of
them, to cause justice be administered upon them conform to the
laws of this realm assize needful to this effect, each person
under the pain of forty pounds, to summon, warn, chase, and cause
be sworn, clerks, serjeants, dempsters, and all other officers and
members of court needful, to make, create, substitute and ordain,
for whom he shall be held to answer with power likewise to our
said justice, for the better execution of this commission to take
the lymphads, galleys, birlinns, and boats, in the next adjacent
Isles, and in the Lewis, for the furtherance of them in their
service, the said justice being always answerable to the owners
of the said lymphads, galleys, birlinns, and bouts for redelivery
of the same at the finishing of his Majesty's service with
power likewise to the said justice and persons assisting him in
the execution of this commission to bear, wear, and use hagbutis,
pistols, and petards. And if in pursuit of this commission there
shall happen slaughter, mutilation fire-raising, or any other
inconvenience, to follow, the said Lords decern and declare that the
same shall not be imputed as crime or offence to the said justice
nor persons assisting him in the execution of this Commission,
nor that they, nor none of them, shall not be called nor accused
therefore criminally nor civilly by any manner of way in time
coming; exonerating them of all pain, crime, and danger, that
they may incur therethrough for ever. And generally all and sundry
other things to do, exercise, and use, which for execution of this
commission are requisite and necessary, firm, and stable, holding
and for to hold all and whatsoever things shall be lawfully done
herein. And that letters of publication be directed hereupon
charging all his Majesty's lieges within the whole boundaries of
the North Isles of this Kingdom and within the bounds of the said
Lord's own lands, heritages, possessions, offices, and baillies,
excepting always the persons of the name of Fraser, Ross, and
Munro, their tenants and servants, to reverance. acknowledge, and
obey, rise, concur, pass forward, fortify, and assist the said
Kenneth, Lord Kintail, in all things tending to the execution of
his commission, and to convene in arms with him at such times,
days, and places, as he shall please appoint, as they and each one
of them will answer upon their obedience at their highest peril.
This commission for the space of two years after the date hereof,
without revocation, to endure.
Soon after this, Neil apprehended a crew of English pirates who
had been carrying on their nefarious traffic among the fishermen
from the South and other places who frequented the prolific fishing
banks, by which, then as now, the island was surrounded. This
meritorious public service secured some consideration for him
at Court, as appears from the following letter addressed to Lord
Kintail under date of 29th August, 1610 -
After our very hearty commendations to your good Lordship: Whereas
Neil Macleod in the Lewis has of late done some good service to his
Majesty and the country by the taking and apprehension of certain
English pirates upon the coast of the Lewis, common enemies to
all lawful traffic, whereby he has merited his Majesty's grace and
pardon in some measure to be shown unto him, and he having made
promise and condition for delivery of the pirates and their ships
to such persons as shall be directed by us to receive them we
have thereupon given an assurance to him to come here to us and
to remain at his pleasure until Whitsunday next, that some good
course may be taken for settling him in quietness; and in this
meantime we have promised that all hostility and persuit of him
and his followers shall rest and cease until the said term, and
also that we shall deal and trouble with your Lordship for some
reasonable ease and condition to be given to him and his followers,
all tenants to your Lordship of the lands and possessions claimed
by them. And, we being careful that our word and promise made
and given hereupon shall be effectual and valid we have therefore
thought meet to acquaint your Lordship therewith, requesting your
Lordship to forbear all persuit, trouble, and invasion of the said
Neil and his followers until the said term, and that your Lordship
will take some such course with them as upon reasonable conditions
they may be received and acknowledged by your Lordship as tenants
of those lands claimed by them. Wherein looking to find your
Lordship conformable, we commit you to God.
Neil does not then appear to have gone to Edinburgh, but he gave
up the pirate, the captain, and ten of her crew to Patrick Grieve,
a burgess of Burntisland, who, on the 10th of September, received
a commission "to sail with a hired ship" to the Lewis for that
purpose. On the 10th of October, Macleod writes to the Council
acknowledging receipt, "from this bearer, Patrick Grieve," of
their Lordships' order upon him to deliver up the pirate and all
her belongings.
On the 19th of July, the same day on which the Commission against
Neil Macleod was granted to Lord Kintail, the Council "being
careful that the present peace and quietness in the Isles shall be
fostered, kept, and entertained, and all such occasions removed
and taken away whereby any new disorder, trouble, or misrule may
be reinstated within the same, has therefore thought meet that
Rory Macleod, son to the late Torquil Dubh Macleod, who has been
this long time in the keeping of Donald Gorm of Sleat, and (Torquil)
Macleod, another of the said late Torquil's sons, who has been
this long time in keeping of Rory Macleod of Harris, shall be
delivered to Kenneth Lord Kintail, to be kept by him until the
said Lord take order with them for their obedience." Charges
are thereupon made upon the chiefs of Sleat and Harris "to bring,
present, and deliver" Torquil Dubh's two sons, "in their keeping,"
to the Mackenzie chief, to be kept by him until such order is
taken for their good behaviour. They are to be delivered within
thirty days, under the usual pains of rebellion and horning.
He is one of the Commissioners of the Peace appointed by the King
on the 6th of November, in 1610, in terms of a newly-passed Act of
Parliament, for Inverness-shire (including Ross) and Cromarty, his
colleagues from among the clan for these counties being Roderick
Mackenzie of Redcastle, Roderick Mackenzie of Coigeach, and John
Mackenzie of Gairloch. He was at the same time appointed in a
similar capacity for Elgin, Forres, and Nairn.
Mackenzie had for some time kept Tormod Macleod, the lawful brother
of Torquil Dubh, a prisoner, but he now released him, correctly
premising that on his appearance in the Lewis all the islanders
would rise in his favour. In the meantime, early in 1600, Murdoch
Dubh was taken by the Fife Adventurers to St Andrews, and there
put to death; but at his execution he revealed, in his confession,
the designs of Mackenzie, who was in consequence apprehended and
committed to Edinburgh Castle, from which, however, he contrived to
escape without trial, through his influence with the Lord Chancellor.
There is an entry in the Records of the Privy Council under date
of 15th August, 1599, which shows that Kintail must at an earlier
date have been confined in Edinburgh Castle, for some previous
offence, for "it having pleased the King to suffer Kenneth Mackenzie
of Kintail to repair furth of the Castle of Edinburgh for four
or five miles, when he shall think expedient, for repose, health,
and recreation" on caution being given by himself as principal,
and Robert Lord Seton as surety, that he shall re-enter the Castle
every night, under pain of ten thousand merks. The bond is signed
on the same date, and is deleted by warrant signed by the King,
and the Treasurer, on the 25th of September following.
After various battles had been fought between the brothers, the
Adventurers returned in strong force to the island, armed with a
commission of fire and sword, and all the Government power at their
back, against Tormod. The fight between the combatants continued
with varied success and failure on either side; the Adventurers
again relinquished their settlement, and returned to Fife to bewail
their losses, having solemnly promised never again to return to
the Island or molest Mackenzie and his friends.
Kintail now, in virtue of Torquil Cononach's resignation in his
favour, obtained a gift, under the Great Seal, of the Lewis for
himself through the influence of the Lord Chancellor. This he
had, however, ultimately to resign into the hands of the King, and
his Majesty, in 1608, vested these rights in the persons of Lord
Balmerino, Sir George Hay, and Sir James Spence, of Wormistoun, who
undertook the colonisation of the island. For this purpose they
made great preparations, and, assisted by the neighbouring tribes,
invaded the Lewis for the double purpose of planting a colony in
it and of subduing and apprehending Neil Macleod, who now alone
defended it. Mackenzie dispatched his brother Roderick, and
Alexander Mackenzie of Coul, with a party of followers numbering
400, ostensibly to aid the colonists now acting under the King's
commission to whom he promised active friendship. At the same
time he despatched a vessel from Ross loaded with provisions, but
privately sent word to Neil Macleod to intercept her on the way,
so that the settlers, being disappointed of their supply of the
provisions to which they trusted for maintenance, should be
obliged to abandon the island for want of the necessaries of
life. Matters turned out exactly as Kintail anticipated. Sir
George Hay and Sir James Spence (Lord Balmerino having meanwhile
been convicted of high treason, and forfeited) abandoned the Lewis,
leaving a party behind them to hold the garrison, and intending
to send a fresh supply of men and provisions back to the island on
their arrival in Fife. But Neil Macleod and his followers took and
burnt the fort, apprehended its defenders, and sent them safely
to their homes "on giving their oath that they would never come
on that pretence again, which they never did." Finding this, the
Adventurers gave up all hope of establishing themselves in the
island, and sold their acquired rights therein, as also their share
of the forfeited districts of Troternish and Waternish in Skye,
to Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail, who at the same time obtained a
grant from the King of Balmerino's forfeited share of the Lewis,
thus finally acquiring what he had so long and so anxiously
desired. In addition to a fixed sum of money, Mackenzie granted
the Adventurers "a lease of the woods of Letterewe, where there
was an iron mine, which they wrought by English miners, casting
guns and other implements till their fuel was exhausted and their
lease expired." The King confirmed this agreement, and "to encourage
Kintail and his brother Roderick in their work of civilizing the
people of the Lewis," he elevated the former to the peerage as
Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, on the 19th of November, 1609, at the
same time conferring the honour of knighthood on his brother,
Roderick Mor Mackenzie of Coigeach.