troubles and bestowed great charges and expenses for reducing of
the Islands of this Kingdom and continent next adjacent to his
Majesty's obedience, and for establishing of religion, peace,
justice, order, and government, within the same, in the which his
Majesty by the force and power of his royal authority has had such
a happy and good success as almost the whole chieftains of clans
and headsmen of the Isles are come in and in all dutiful submission
doth acknowledge his Majesty's obedience, so that now there
is no part of the Isles rebellious but the Lewis - the chieftains
whereof, as from time to time they raise up in credit, power, and
friendship among the barbarous inhabitants thereof, have been
apprehended and by course of justice have suffered their deserved
punishment, and at last the traitor Neil, who was last ringleader
of that rebellious society, being apprehended and executed to the
death, whereby it was presumed that in him all further trouble,
misery, and unquietness in the Lewis should have ceased and rested;
notwithstanding it is of truth that Malcolm Macleod, son to Rory
Macleod, sometime of the Lewis, has embraced that rebellious and
treasonable course wherein his treacherous predecessors miserably
perished, and having associated himself with the persons following
- Rory and Donald Macleod, sons to the said umquhile Neil, and
William and Rory Macleod, brothers to the said Malcolm, Donald Mac
Ian Duibh-the Brieve, Murdo Mac Angus Mhic-an-t-Sagairt, Donald
Mac Angus Mhic-an-t-Sagairt his brother, Gillecallum Caogach
Mac-an-t-Sagairt, John Dubh Mac Angus Mac Gillemichell, Murdo Mac
Torquil Blair, Norman Mac Torquil Blair, John Roy Mac Torquil Blair,
Donald Mac Neil Mac Finlay, Gillecallum Mac Allan Mac Finlay, and
Donald Mac Dhomhuill Mac Gillechallum - who were all actors in the
first rebellion moved and raised in the Lewis against the gentlemen
venturers who were directed by his Majesty there, and did prosecute
that rebellion against them with fire and sword and all kinds of
hostility, for the which and for other thievish and treasonable
crimes committed by them they and every one of them were upon the
second day of February, 1612, orderly denounced rebels and put to
the horn - they have now combined and banded themselves in a most
treacherous, disloyal, and pernicious course and resolution to
maintain a public rebellion in the Lewis, and to oppose themselves
with their whole power and strength against all and whatsoever
courses shall be further taken by his Majesy's direction for
repressing of their insolence; whereby is not only all intercourse
and trade which by his Majesty's good subjects in the Lowlands
would be entertained amongst them, made frustrate and void, but
the preparative of this rebellion in consequence and example is
most dangerous, and if the same be not substantially repressed,
may give further boldness to others who are not yet well settled
in a perfect obedience, to break loose. Accordingly, as it is "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 whereas the said Lords, for repressing of the
insolence of the whole of the rebellious thieves and limmers of
the Lewis and reducing them to his Majesty's obedience, passed
and expede a commission - to Roderick Mackenzie of Coigeach, Tutor
of Kintail, Mr Colin Mackenzie of Killin, Murdo Mackenzie, their
brother, Alexander Mackenzie of Coul, and Kenneth Mackenzie of
Davochmaluag, for reducing of the limmers of the Lewis to obedience,"
which commission "is now expired, and the said thieves, taking
new courage and breath thereupon, are become more insolent than
formerly they were, and have lately made a very open insurrection
and committed slaughter and bloodshed within the said bounds, in
contempt of God and disregard of his Majesty's laws"; therefore
his Majesty and the Lords of Council, understanding of the "good
affection" of the said persons, now reconstitute them commissioners
for the reduction of the said rebels, with full power and authority,
etc. (as in previous commissions granted them) and, "for the
better execution of this commission, to take the lymphads, galleys,
birlinns, and boats in the Lewis and in the next adjacent Isles
for the furtherance of his Majesty's service, - the said justices
being always answerable to the owners of the said lymphads, galleys,
birlinns, and boats for delivery of the same at the finishing
of his Majesty's said service." Proclamation was to be made at
Inverness and other places charging the lieges within the bounds
of the North Isles and within the lands of Colin, Lord of Kintail
(except those of the name of Fraser, Ross, and Munro, their tenants
and servants), to assist the said commissioners in the execution
of their duty.
By a commission dated the same day, Sir Roderick, along with Simon
Lord Lovat, and Urquhart of Cromarty, is appointed, for the trial
in the Burgh of Inverness of all resetters within thc Sheriffdom
of the county of any traitors in the Isles, the commission to last
for one year.
In 1618, along with Grant of Grant, he assisted the Mackintosh
against the Marquis of Huntly. On the 18th of June, 1622, he
is one of the chiefs named in a commission against the Camerons,
among the others being Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Sir Roderick
Macleod, XIII. of Harris, Grant of Grant, Sir John Campbell of
Calder, John Grant of Glenmoriston, Patrick Grant of Ballindalloch,
and John Macdonald, Captain of Clanranald. [See Mackenzie's "History
of the Camerons," p. 86.]
At the death of Kenneth, Lord Kintail, the estates were very heavily
burdened in consequence of the wars with Glengarry and various
family difficulties and debts. His lordship, in these circumstances,
acted very prudently, as we have seen, in appointing his brother,
Sir Roderick Mackenzie I. of Coigeach - in whose judgment he placed
the utmost confidence - Tutor to his son and successor, Lord Colin.
Knowing the state of affairs - the financial and numberless other
difficulties which stared him in the face, at the same time that
the family were still much involved with the affairs of the Lewis,
and other broils on the mainland - Sir Roderick hesitated to accept
the great responsibilities of the position, but, to quote one of
the family manuscripts, "all others refusing to take the charge he
set resolutely to the work. The first thing he did was to assault
the rebels in the Lewis, which he did so suddenly, after his
brother's death, and so unexpectedly to them, that what the Fife
Adventurers had spent many years and much treasure in without success,
he, in a few months, accomplished; for having by his youngest
brother Alexander, chased Neil, the chief commander of all the
rest, from the Isle, pursued him to Glasgow, where, apprehending
him, he delivered him to the Council, who executed him immediately.
He returned to the Lewis, banished those whose deportment he most
doubted, and settled the rest as peaceable tenants to his nephew;
which success he had, with the more facility, because he had the
only title of succession to it by his wife, and they looked on
him as their just master. From thence he invaded Glengarry, who
was again re-collecting his forces; but at his coming they dissipated
and fled. He pursued Glengarry to Blairy in Moray, where he took
him; but willing to have his nephew's estate settled with conventional
right rather than legal, he took Low-countrymen as sureties for
Glengarry's peaceable deportment, and then contracted with him for
the reversion of the former wadsets which Colin of Kintail had
acquired of him, and for a ratification and new disposition of all
his lands, formerly sold to Colin, and paid him thirty thousand
merks in money for this, and gave him a title to Lagganachindrom,
which, till then, he possessed by force, so that Glengarry did
ever acknowledge it as a favour to be overcome by such enemies,
who over disobligements did deal both justly and generously. Rory
employed himself therefore in settling his pupil's estate, which
he did to that advantage that ere his minority passed he freed
his estate, leaving him master of an opulent fortune and of great
superiorities, for be acquired the superiority of Troternish with
the heritable Stewartry of the Isle of Skye, to his pupil, the
superiority of Raasay and some other Isles. At this time, Macleod,
partly by law and partly by force, had possessed himself of Sleat
and Troternish, a great part of Macdonald's estate. Rory, now
knighted by King James, owned Macdonald's cause as an injured
neighbour, and by the same method that Macleod possessed himself
of Sleat and Troternish he recovered both from him, marrying the
heir thereof Sir Donald Macdonald, to his niece, sister to Lord
Colin, and caused him to take the lands of Troternish holden of
his pupil. Shortly after that he took the management of Maclean's
estate, and recovered it from the Earl of Argyll, who had fixed a
number of debts and pretences on it, so by his means all the Isles
were composed and accorded in their debates and settled in their
estates, whence a full peace amongst them, Macneill of Barra
excepted, who had been an hereditary outlaw. Him, by commission,
Sir Rory reduced, took him in his fort of Kisemull, and carried
him prisoner to Edinburgh, where he procured his remission. The
King gifted his estate to Sir Rory, who restored it to Macneill
for a sum not exceeding his expenses, and holding it of himself in
feu. This Sir Rory, as he was beneficial to all his relations,
establishing them in free and secure fortunes, purchased considerable
lands to himself in Ross and Moray, besides the patrimony left him
by his father, the lands of Coigeach and others, which, in lieu
of the Lewis, were given him by his brother. His death was regretted
as a public calamity, which was in September, 1626, in the 48th year
of his age. To Sir Rory succeeded Sir John Mackenzie of Tarbat; and
to him Sir George Mackenzie, of whom to write might be more honour to
him than of safety to the writer as matters now stand."
[The Applecross Mackenzie MS.]
We shall now draw to some extent on the family manuscripts.
The narrative in this form will add considerable interest to the
information already given under this head from official sources.
Sir Roderick was a most determined man, and extremely fertile
in such schemes as might enable him to gain any object he had in
view. One of his plans, connected with Mackenzie's possession
of the Lewis, in its barbarous and cruel details, almost equalled
the Raid of Cillechriost. Neil Macleod, accompanied by his nephews,
Malcolm, William, and Roderick, the three sons of Roderick Og; the
four sons of Torquil Blair; and thirty of their more determined
and desperate followers, retired, when Kintail obtained possession
of the whole of the Lewis, to the impregnable rock of Berrissay,
at the back of the island, to which Neil, as a precautionary measure,
had been for years previously sending food and other necessaries
as a provision for future necessity. Here they held out for three
years, where they were a source of great annoyance to the Tutor
and his followers. On a little rock opposite Berrissay, Neil, by
a well-directed shot killed one of the Tutor's followers named Donald
MacDhonnchaidh Mhic Ian Ghlais, and wounded another called Tearlach
MacDhomh'uill Roy Mhic Fhionnlaidh Ghlais. This exasperated
their leader so much that, all other means having failed to oust
Neil from his impregnable position, the Tutor conceived the inhuman
scheme of gathering together all the wives and children of the
men who were on Berrissay, and all those in the island who were in
any way related to them by blood or marriage, and, having placed
them on a rock exposed only during low water, so near Berrissay
that Neil and his companions could see and hear them, Sir Roderick
and his men avowed that they would leave them - innocent, helpless
women and children - on the rock to be overwhelmed and drowned on
the return of the tide, if Neil and his companions did not at once
surrender the rock. Macleod knew, by stern experience, that even
to the carrying out such a fiendish crime, the promise of the Tutor,
once given, was as good as his bond. It is due to the greater
humanity of Neil that the terrible position of the helpless women
and children and their companions appalled him so much that he
decided immediately upon yielding up the rock on condition that
he and his followers should be allowed to leave the Lewis with
their lives. It cannot be doubted that but for Macleod's more
merciful conduct the ferocious act would have been committed
by Sir Roderick and his followers; and we have to thank the less
barbarous instincts of their opponents for saving the clan Mackenzie
from the commission of a crime which would have secured to its
perpetrators the execration of posterity.
After Neil had left the rock he proceeded privately, during the
night, to his cousin Sir Roderick Mor Macleod, XIII. of Harris.
The Tutor learning this caused Macleod to be charged, under pain
of treason and forfeiture, to deliver him up to the Council.
Realising the danger of his position, Macleod prevailed upon Neil
and his son Donald to accompany him to Edinburgh, and to seek
forgiveness from the King; and under pretence of this he delivered
them both up on arriving in the city, where Neil, in April, 1613,
was at once executed and his son afterwards banished out of the
kingdom. This treacherous conduct on the part of Macleod of Harris
cannot be excused, but it was a fair return for a similar act of
treachery of which Neil had been guilty against another some little
time before.
When on Berrissay, he met with the captain of a pirate, with whom
he entered into a mutual bond by which they were to help each
other, both being outlaws. The captain agreed to defend the rock
from the seaward side while Neil made his incursions on shore.
They promised faithfully to live and die together, and to make the
agreement more secure, it was arranged that the stranger should
marry Neil's aunt, a daughter of Torquil Blair. The day fixed
for the marriage having arrived, and Neil and his adherents having
discovered that the captain had several articles of value aboard
his vessel, he, when the master of the pirate was naturally off
his guard, treacherously seized the ship, and sent the captain and
crew prisoners to Edinburgh, expecting that in this way he might
secure pardon for himself in addition to possession of all the stores
on board. By order of the Council the sailors were all hanged
at Leith. Much of the silver and gold taken from the vessel Neil
carried to Harris, where probably it helped to tempt Macleod, as
it previously tempted himself to break faith with Neil. The official
account of these incidents has been already given at pages 194-95.
Sir Robert Gordon writing about this period but referring to 1477,
says - "From the ruins of the family of Clandonald, and some of the
neighbouring Highlanders, and also by their own virtue, the surname of
the Clankenzie, from small beginnings, began to flourish in these
bounds; and by the friendship and favour of the house of Sutherland,
chiefly of Earl John, fifth of that name, Earl of Sutherland (whose
Chamberlains they were, in receiving the rents of the Earldom of
Ross to his use) their estate afterwards came to great height,
yea above divers of their more ancient neighbours. The chief and
head of the family at this day is Colin Mackenzie, Lord of Kintail,
now created Earl of Seaforth." [Gordon's "Earldom of Sutherland,"
p. 77.] If the family was so powerful in 1477, what must its
position have been under Lord Colin? The Earl of Cromarty says
that "This Colin was a noble person of virtuous endowments, beloved
of all good men, especially his Prince. He acquired and settled
the right of the superiority of Moidart and Arisaig, the Captain
of Clandonald's lands, which his father, Lord Kenneth, formerly
claimed right to but lived not to accomplish it. Thus, all the
Highlands and Islands from Ardnamurchan to Strathnaver were either
Mackenzie's property, or under his vassalage, some few excepted,
and all about him were tied to his family by very strict bonds of
friendship or vassalage, which, as it did beget respect from many
it be got envy in others, especially his equals."
It is difficult to discover any substantial aid which the Mackenzies
ever received from the Earls of Sutherland of the kind stated by
Sir Robert Gordon. We have carefully perused the whole of the
work from which the above quotation is made, and are unable to
discover a single instance prior to 1477, where the Sutherlands
were of any service whatever to the family of Kintail; and the
assumption is only another instance of that quality of partiality
to his own family," so characteristic of Sir Robert, and for which
even the publishers of his work deemed it necessary to apologise
in the Advertisement prefaced to his "History of the Earldom of
Sutherland." They "regret the hostile feelings which he expresses
concerning others who were equally entitled to complain of aggression
on the part of those whom he defends," but "strict fidelity to the
letter of the manuscript" would not allow them to omit "the instances
in which this disposition appears." After Mackenzie's signal victory
over the Macdonalds at Blar-na-Pairc, and Hector Roy's prowess at
Drumchait, the Earl of Sutherland began to think that the family
of Mackenzie, rapidly growing in power and influence, might be of
some service in the prosecution of his own plans and in extending
his power, and he accordingly entered into the bond of manrent
with him already noticed. It has been seen that, for a long time
after, the advantages of this arrangement were entirely on the side
of the Sutherlands, as at the battle of Brora and other places
previously mentioned. The appointment of Kintail as Deputy-
Chamberlain of the Earldom of Ross was due to and in acknowledgment
of these signal and repeated services, and the obligations and
advantages of the office were found to be reciprocal. The first
and only instance in which the Earl's connection with Mackenzie is
likely to have been of service in the field is on the occasion when,
in 1605, he sent "six score" men to support him against Glengarry,
and these, it has been seen, had fled before they saw the enemy.
So much for the favour and friendship of the House of Sutherland
and its results before and after 1477.
Lord Colin became involved in legal questions with the Earl of Argyll
about the superiority of Moidart and Arisaig, and thus spent most
of the great fortune accumulated for him by his uncle the Tutor;
but he was ultimately successful against Argyll. He was frequently
at the Court of James VI., with whom he was a great favourite,
and in 1623 he was raised to the peerage by the title of Earl
of Seaforth, and Viscount Fortrose. From his influence at Court
he was of great service to his followers and friends; while he
exerted himself powerfully and steadily against those who became
his enemies from jealousy of his good fortune and high position.
He imposed high entries and rents upon his Kintail and West Coast
tenants, which they considered a most "grievous imposition." In
Lord Kenneth's time and that of his predecessors, the people had
their lands at very low rates. After the wars with Glengarry the
inhabitants of the West Coast properties devoted themselves more
steadily to the improvement of their stock and lands, and accumulated
considerable means. The Tutor, discovering this, took advantage
of their prosperity and imposed a heavy entry or grassum on their
tacks payable every five years. "I shall give you one instance
thereof. The tack of land called Muchd in Letterfearn, as I was
told by Farquhar Mac Ian Oig, who paid the first entry out of it to
the Tutor, paid of yearly duty before but 40 merks Scots, a cow
and some meal, which cow and meal was usually converted to 20
merks but the Tutor imposed 1000 merks of entry upon it for a
five years' tack. This made the rent very little for four years
of the tack, but very great and considerable for the first year.
The same method proportionately was taken with the rest of the
lands, and continued so during the Tutor's and Colin's time, but
Earl George, being involved in great troubles, contracted so much
debt that he could not pay his annual rents yearly and support his
own state, but was forced to delay his annual rents to the year of
their entry, and he divided the entry upon the five years with the
people's consent and approbation, so that the said land of Muchd
fell to pay 280 merks yearly and no entry." From this account,
taken from the contemporary Ardintoul Manuscript, it appears that
the system of charging rent on the tenant's own improvements is an
injustice of considerable antiquity.
Colin "lived most of his time at Chanonry in great state and very
magnificently. He annually imported his wines from the Continent,
and kept a store for his wines, beers, and other liquors, from which
he replenished his fleet on his voyages round the West Coast and
the Lewis, when he made a circular voyage every year or at least
every two years round his own estates. I have heard John Beggrie,
who then served Earl Colin, give an account of his voyages after
the bere seed was sown at Allan (where his father and grandfather
had a great mains, which was called Mackenzie's girnel or granary),
took a Journey to the Highlands, taking with him not only his
domestic servants but several young gentlemen of his kin, and
stayed several days at Killin, whither he called all his people
of Strathconan, Strathbran, Strathgarve, and Brae Ross, and did
keep courts upon them and saw all things rectified. From thence
he went to Inverewe, where all his Lochbroom tenants and others
waited upon him, and got all their complaints heard and rectified.
It is scarcely credible what allowance was made for his table of
Scotch and French wines during these trips amongst his people.
From Inverewe he sailed to the Lewis, with what might be called
a small navy, having as many boats, if not more loaded with
liquors, especially wines and English beer, as he had under men.
He remained in the Lewis for several days, until he settled all
the controversies arising among the people in his absence, and
setting his land. From thence he went to Sleat in the Isle of Skye,
to Sir Donald Macdonald, who was married to his sister Janet, and
from that he was invited to Harris, to Macleod's house, who was
married to his sister Sybilla. While he tarried in these places
the lairds, the gentlemen of the Isles, and the inhabitants came
to pay their respects to him, including Maclean, Clanranald,
Raasay, Mackinnon, and other great chiefs. They then convoyed him
to Islandonain. I have heard my grandfather, Mr Farquhar MacRa
(then Constable of the Castle), say that the Earl never came to
his house with less than 300 and sometimes 500 men. The Constable
was bound to furnish them victuals for the first two meals, till
my Lord's officers were acquainted to bring in his own customs.
There they consumed the remains of the wine and other liquors. When
all these lairds and gentlemen took their leave of him, he called
the principal men of Kintail, Lochalsh, and Lochcarron together,
who accompanied him to his forest of Monar, where they had a great
and most solemn hunting day, and from Monar he would return to
Chanonry about the latter end of July." [Ardintoul MS.]