It was about the year 470 when the sons of Erc, Fergus and his
brothers went from Ireland to Scotland. Fergus was king of Dál Riada
in the north-eastern corner of Ireland. We are not to understand that
the main Irish migration to Scotland took place at that time. There
are no data to show when the earliest Irish settlements were made in
Argyleshire and the adjoining islands, but we have seen that, at the
close of the third century, when Constantius Chlorus commanded the
Roman power in Britain, the Britons were already "accustomed" to Irish
enemies. If the Irish were then strong enough to raid the Roman
frontier, they were probably in possession of the Cantire peninsula.
The crossing over of the Sons of Erc means that these princes
established their rule over the Irish settlements in that region. It
is a common mistake of histories to suppose that Fergus, when he
became king on the other side, established there a new dynasty.
Editors of the Irish annals, taking this for granted, actually
undertake to tell us that certain men whom the annals style kings of
Dál Riada were kings of the Scottish Dál Riada, and certain others who
are also entitled kings of Dál Riada, were kings of the Irish Dál
Riada. Here again the genealogies supplement the annals and show
clearly that all these kings belonged to one undivided dynasty. Dál
Riada in Ireland and the Irish settlers in Scotland were ruled by the
same kings from the time of Fergus macEirc until the Norsemen occupied
Cantire and the neighbouring islands, and thus cut off the Irish
territory of these kings from the Scottish territory in which the
kings of Dál Riada had become resident. When this separation took
place, the title "king of Dál Riada" was abandoned. The last king who
bears that title in the Irish annals is Donn Coirci, who died in 792;
and in 794 the same annals record "the devastation of all the islands
of Britain by the heathens."
The account of the Irish migration given by the Venerable Bede has
often been repeated. It is true in so far as it indicates that the
migration did not begin under the Sons of Erc. In other respects it is
a fictitious legend. "In process of time," writes Bede, "besides the
Britons and Picts, Britain received a third nation, the Scots, who,
migrating from Ireland under their leader Reuda, either by fair means
or by force of arms, secured to themselves those settlements among the
Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander they
are to this day called Dalreudini; for in their language _dal_
signifies a part.
"Ireland," he goes on to say, "in breadth and for wholesomeness and
serenity of climate far surpasses Britain; for the snow scarcely ever
lies there above three days; no man makes hay in the summer for
winter's provision or builds stables for his beasts of burden. No
reptiles are found there and no snake can live there; for, though
often carried thither out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near
the shore, and the scent of the air reaches them, they die. On the
contrary, almost all things in the island are good against poison. In
short, we have known that when some persons have been bitten by
serpents, the scrapings of leaves of books that were brought out of
Ireland, being put into water and given to them to drink, have
immediately expelled the spreading poison and assuaged the swelling."
(We see that when people in Britain in those days wanted something
that came from Ireland, the first thing and the sure thing was a
book.) "The island," he continues, "abounds in milk and honey; nor is
there any want of vines, fish or fowl; and it is remarkable for deer
and goats." (But vines were not cultivated in Ireland, and if Bede
supposed they were, it must have been because wine was abundant, as an
article of continental trade imported in exchange for Irish products.)
"It is properly," he adds, "the country of the Scots, who migrating
from thence, as has been said, added a third nation in Britain to the
Britons and the Picts. There is a very large gulf of the sea [he
refers to the Firth of Clyde] which formerly divided the nation of the
Picts from the Britons. It runs from the west very far into the land,
where to this day stands the strong city of the Britons called
Alcluith [Dumbarton]. The Scots arriving on the north side of this
bay, settled themselves there."
Bede gives no date for this event, but relates it before the invasion
of Britain by Julius Cæsar (B.C. 54). No Irish leader Reuda headed an
Irish migration to Scotland. The Irish genealogists tell us that Dál
Riada takes its name from Cairbre Riada, an ancestor of Fergus and
nine generations (_i.e._ about three centuries) earlier than Fergus;
and they agree with the annals in saying that the first of Cairbre
Riada's line who settled in Scotland were Fergus and his brethren.
In 563, Conall, great-grandson of Fergus, granted the island of Iona
to St. Columba. Conall was succeeded in the kingship by Aedán, with
whom St. Columba lived on most friendly terms. It was in Aedán's
reign, in 575, that the relations between his kingdom and the kingdom
of Ireland were decided at the assembly of Druim Ceata, St. Columba
being present. A great deal of fanciful comment has been made on this
decision. One writer after another assures us that St. Columba secured
a declaration of independence for the kingdom beyond the sea. The sole
ancient authority on the subject is the commentary on Dallán's Eulogy
of St. Columba. It says nothing about independence, nor does it
suggest that the independence of the Irish kingdom in Scotland was
ever called in question. The problem that demanded adjudication was
this: the old territory of Dál Riada in Ireland had become attached to
two independent jurisdictions. Being part of Ireland, it was subject
to the suzerain claims of the kings of Ireland. But its kings, as we
have seen, were kings also of a realm beyond the sea over which the
Irish monarch had no authority. A conflict of rights and claims was
possible. The decision at Druim Ceata, pronounced by a lawyer of
celebrity and accepted by the assembly, was in the nature of a
compromise: Dál Riada was to serve the Irish monarch with its land
forces, and to serve the king who reigned in Scotland with its sea
forces. Obviously it is the services of the Irish territory that are
the subject of this judgment. It would be absurd to lay down that the
Irish colony in Scotland was to serve the king of Ireland with land
forces and not with ships.
Scottish writers look upon the Life of St. Columba by Adamnanus as the
oldest native document of Scottish history. It was written about the
year 692. If I am not mistaken, we have a document about twenty years
older, written in Scotland, probably in Iona, and now preserved in the
preface to the genealogy of the Scottish kings in the Books of Lecan
and Ballymote. At the time when it was written, the realm of the Scots
in Scotland did not extend beyond Argyleshire and the adjacent
islands. That was about the year 670. Northwards of Argyleshire, the
Picts held sway. On the eastern side, the Pictish territory extended
southward to the Firth of Forth. From the Firth of Forth to the Tweed,
along the eastern coast, the country now comprised in the Lothians and
Berwickshire was occupied by the Angles under the king of Northumbria.
The south-western portion was held by the Britons, who, in Bede's
time, half a century later, possessed the strong fortress of Dumbarton
on the Clyde. The frontier between the Britons and the Angles was
probably no certain line. In the south-western corner, in Galloway,
there was an isolated Pictish population. The borders separating these
four nations, Scots, Picts, Angles, and Britons, speaking four
distinct languages, were a land of constant war.
St. Columba, we are told by his biographer, warned the king of Dál
Riada to refrain from making war in Ireland on the king of Ireland,
and foretold that, if this warning were disregarded, disaster would
befall the line of Aedán. Adamnanus goes on to say that this prophecy
was fulfilled many years after St. Columba's death. This was written
by Adamnanus about fifty years after the event to which he alludes,
which was therefore within the memory of many who read his words.
Domhnall Breac, king of Dál Riada, he relates, invaded the realm of
the king of Ireland. And now, he says, the fulfilment of the warning
is visible in the miserable condition to which the kings of Dál Riada
are reduced, humiliated by their triumphant enemies.
He refers to the events connected with the battle of Moira in 637. The
king of Ireland at the time was Domhnall son of Aedh, that is, son of
the king who presided over the Assembly of Druim Ceata. Taking
advantage of a quarrel between the Irish monarch and a prince of the
north-eastern Picts of Ireland, the Scottish king, as we may call him,
put himself at the head of a combination of the north-eastern province
and took the field in Ireland. The battle between the two Domhnalls
took place at Moira, near Lisburn, and the king of Ireland was
victorious. Here we have an instance of the method of contemporary
Irish chroniclers. To the chronicler's mind, everybody knew everything
that was to be known about this battle and its circumstances, and his
record of the event is a mere memorandum in two words. But what were
the disastrous results, which, on the testimony of Adamnanus, were
notorious when he wrote, _i.e._ about the year 690? The Irish kingdom
in Scotland seems as strong as ever, and is on the eve of a great
increase of its power and territory. Once more, as in the instance of
the judgment of Druim Ceata, the reference must be particularly to the
old Irish kingdom of Dál Riada, which drops into obscurity in the
Irish records about that time, possibly becoming tributary either to
the neighbouring Picts or to the Northern Ui Néill, whose territory
had then extended to the banks of the Bann.
Bede, writing about forty years after Adamnanus wrote, tells about
certain things that happened in the lifetime of both, and shows how
great an expansion was made by the Irish kingdom of Scotland in the
meantime. In the year 684, he relates, his own sovereign, "Egfrid,
king of the Northumbrians, sending Beorht, his general, with an army
into Ireland, miserably wasted that harmless nation, which had always
been most friendly to the English." This statement shows that the
power of the Northumbrian Angles extended at the time to the Irish
Sea. "In their hostile rage," says Bede, "they spared not even the
churches or monasteries." The contemporary Irish chronicler says
briefly: "The English devastate the plain of Bregia and many churches
in the month of June." Bede continues: "Those islanders, to the utmost
of their power repelled force with force, and imploring the assistance
of the Divine mercy prayed long and fervently for vengeance; and,
though such as curse cannot possess the kingdom of God, it is believed
that those who were justly cursed on account of their impiety did soon
suffer the penalty of their guilt from the avenging hand of God; for
the very next year, that king, rashly leading his army to ravage the
province of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends and
particularly of Cuthbert of blessed memory who had been lately
ordained bishop, the enemy made show as if they fled, and the king was
drawn into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and slain, with the
greatest part of his forces, on the 20th of May." The Irish chronicle
says: "On the 20th of May, on Saturday, the battle of Dún Nechtain was
fought, in which Ecgferth, king of the English, was slain together
with a great multitude of his soldiers."
Bede, writing forty-six years later, says that from the time of this
overthrow the power of the Northumbrian Angles began to decline, and
the Picts recovered some of their territory which had been in the
possession of the Angles, as well as some which had been taken from
them by the Scots. The ancient territory of Northumbria extended to
the Firth of Forth. Skene identifies the scene of the battle with a
narrow pass in the Sidlaw Hills, north of the Firth of Tay. The
territory which the Picts recovered from the Angles must have been
between these two firths, corresponding to the modern Fifeshire; and
this is apparent from a further statement by Bede. Among the English
fugitives from the lost territory, he says, was Bishop Trumwine, who
had been made bishop over the English settlers, and who withdrew along
with his people who were in the monastery of Abercorn. Abercorn is
near the Forth Bridge, about ten miles west of Edinburgh. If the
Anglian bishop and his people were forced to abandon this place, it is
clear that the recovered Pictish territory reached the Firth of Forth
on the opposite side, the north side. But, writing forty-six years
after these events, Bede calls the Firth of Forth "the arm of the sea
which parts the lands of the Angles and the Scots," not the lands of
the Angles and the Picts. Consequently, within those forty-six years,
the Scots, who a little earlier appear to have held little or nothing
of the mainland outside of Argyleshire, must have extended their power
eastward into Fifeshire, occupying that district from which the Picts
had expelled the encroaching Angles.
The Britons of south-western Scotland appear to have been hard pressed
by this eastward expansion of the Scots and by the Angles of
Northumbria, and modern Welsh historians trace an extensive southward
migration of Britons through Cumberland and Lancashire into Wales.
These migratory Britons, headed by the sons of Cunedda, became
thenceforward the dominant people in Wales. They completely displaced
the power of the Irish settlers in North Wales, and the descendants of
the Irish in South Wales became subordinate to them. About this time,
too, many of the displaced Britons took service in Ireland under Irish
kings. In 682, a victory was won near Antrim, we are not told by whom,
over a combination of Britons and Ulster Picts. In 697, the district
of Dundalk was devastated by Britons in alliance with the Ulidians. In
702, Írgalach, king of Bregia, was killed on Ireland's Eye by a party
of raiding Britons. In 703, the Ulidians defeated a body of Britons
near Newry. In 709, Britons are found fighting in the service of a
king of Leinster. In 711 and again in 717, forces of Britons were
defeated by Dál Riada. These events all occur within a period of
thirty years, about the year 700, and after this time the British
incursions are no longer heard of. The movements of the Britons thus
chronicled correspond in time with the eastward and perhaps southward
expansion of the Scots from Argyle.
Some of the Venerable Bede's pupils must have lived to witness the
first appearance of the swarming fleets of heathen Norsemen, towards
the close of the eighth century. Within a few decades, the Norsemen
held possession of nearly all the islands of Scotland. They also
settled on the mainland in Caithness, Argyle, Cunningham and
Galloway--at what dates does not appear to be recorded. By thus
infesting the entire coast of Scotland, they weakened the power of the
Picts in the North and the Angles in the South-east. That there is no
sign of any concurrent weakening of the Scots may be taken as proof
that the Scots by this time, the early part of the ninth century, had
a firm grip of the interior. It may well have been, indeed, that their
displacement from Argyle and the islands--their sole possessions in
Scotland in the seventh century--may have strengthened the hand of
Cinaedh, son of Ailpín (called "Kenneth MacAlpin" in English
writings). As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so are the sons of
them that have been beaten out. Cinaedh died in 858 after a reign of
sixteen years, during which he overthrew the kingdom of the Picts and
became ruler of the main part of the country afterwards called
Scotland. In recording the death of Cinaedh the Annals of Ulster style
him "king of the Picts," meaning that he had brought the Picts under
his authority. According to later histories he also obtained the
submission of the Britons and Angles of southern Scotland; they
certainly ceased to have any considerable power after his time. The
Britons held out in their fortress at Dumbarton until 870, when, after
a siege of four months, the place was taken by Olaf and Imar, the
joint-reigning Norse kings of Dublin. These kings, with a fleet of 200
ships, returned next year to Dublin, "bringing a great spoil of men,
Angles and Britons and Picts, in captivity." The Northumbrian kingdom,
even south of the Tweed, was crumbling away. In 867, the Norsemen
occupied York and defeated the Angles who came against them; and in
876, Halfdene, a Norse commander, parcelled out the remnant of
Northumbria among his followers, who settled upon the lands, says the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and thenceforth set about ploughing and tilling
them. In the same year, 876, Rolf the Ganger, of the line of the Norse
earls of the Orkneys, took possession of Normandy.
Here it is well to consider the various fortunes of the Norsemen in
different countries. About this period, they became masters of a large
part of Russia. In France, they were able to wrest the northern
seaboard, between Flanders and Brittany, from the powerful Frankish
kings. Over England they effected a gradual conquest, which was only
checked, not overcome by the stout resistance of Athelstan and Alfred.
In 1013, the year before the battle of Clontarf, all England submitted
to Sveinn, king of Denmark. The Normans mastered southern Italy and
Sicily. But the Celtic countries, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and
Brittany, though particularly exposed to conquest by a people who were
then undisputed rulers of the seas on every side, yielded them only a
small fraction of their mainland territories. The resistance of
Scotland is especially noteworthy. From Norway and Denmark, Scotland
was then two days' sail. All the islands and forelands of Scotland
were occupied by the Norsemen--the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the
Hebrides, Arran and Bute, Caithness, and the peninsulas of Argyle and
Galloway; as well as the Isle of Man. But the recently established
Scottish monarchy checked all further attempts at conquest, and
ultimately recovered the whole country, both mainland and islands.
Another noteworthy fact about this new kingdom was its adoption of a
polity quite distinct from that of the older established Britons and
Irish in their own countries. In Ireland, the population ranged itself
around local places of assembly, according to the traditional habit
and convenience of coming together; and the chiefs who presided over
these local assemblies took the rank and title of kings. Each of these
assemblies was a court of law as well as a court of state. For modern
convenience, there are about 150 places in Ireland in which courts of
quarter sessions are held. In ancient Ireland, in the ninth century,
there were a little more than 100 courts, and the president of each
was a king. Everywhere, there was a strong sentiment of local autonomy
and the strongest and most ambitious of the superior kings could only
maintain a limited degree of centralised power. Probably the Celts
came into Ireland in small separate bodies, each colony having its own
government, and so no tradition of centralisation ever grew up. In
Scotland, on the contrary, from the fifth century onward there was but
one kingdom of the Scots, and this one kingdom effected a gradual
conquest of the whole country. Thus the Irish system of petty states
was not transplanted to Scotland. The highest magnates under the
Scottish monarchy bore the title of _mór-mhaor_, "great steward,"
which in later times was regarded as the equivalent of "earl." This
title is mentioned in the Annals of Ulster under the year 918 and in
such a way as to show that it was then a recognised and customary
dignity among the oversea Scots. In that year, just 1,000 years ago,
Raghnall or "Reginald," founder and king of the Norse colony of
Waterford, carried his forces into Britain, finding a small part of
Ireland large enough for him. On the banks of the Tyne, in
Northumbria, he was met by the army of the Scots--the place indicates
how far the power of the Scots at that time extended. An indecisive
battle took place, in which, says the annalist, the Scots "lost
neither king nor _mór-mhaor_."
That the conquest of the mainland was followed by a very extensive
Gaelic colonisation is evident from the abundance of Gaelic
place-names in almost every part of Scotland. They are least numerous
in the old Anglian territory of the Lothians and Berwickshire, and
from this it is evident that the Anglian population was left for the
most part undisturbed. The surname Scott indicates that, among their
Anglian neighbours, the great border sept that bore the name was
recognised to be of Irish origin. Even in Galloway, a region of Picts
and Britons and Norsemen, the Gaelic language became prevalent and the
Gaelic people abundant--for in the twelfth century the population of
Galloway was known to the Irish and also to the Norsemen as
Gall-Ghaedhil, _i.e._, "Norse-Irish." Though Alan, the Norse earl of
Galloway, set himself up as an independent sovereign about the year
1200 and formed an alliance with the English under King John, his
language was Irish, for he gave his daughter a name that bespeaks an
Irish-speaking household--Dearbhorgaill. The Irish annals call him
"king of the Gall-Ghaedhil."
The Scots opposed a successful resistance to William the Conqueror and
his successors, whenever they attempted a conquest. To the Conqueror
they were especially obnoxious, for Maol Choluim Ceannmhór ('Malcolm
Canmore') took under his protection the refugee royal family of
England, the Athelings. In 1067, Malcolm married a princess of this
line, Margaret, grand-daughter of the Saxon king Edmund--St. Margaret
of Scotland, for she was canonised after her death. This queen
exercised great influence over her husband, and brought about a
partial feudalisation of the Gaelic system in Scotland. From her time
onward, the small Anglian population not merely acquired a favourable
status but gradually took on the appearance of being the most
considerable element in the kingdom. Various causes contributed to
this end. The Northumbrian dialect of English, now chiefly represented
by the Lowland Scotch dialect, became the most convenient medium of
intercourse not only with England but also with the Norsemen and the
people of the Low Countries. To this day Lowland Scotch bears a close
resemblance to Dutch and Flemish, and we have it on the ancient
testimony of the Norsemen themselves that they were able to hold
speech with the Angles, each people using their own language. In
consequence, the Anglian dialect of Scotland spread westward across
the Lowlands and northward along the coast of the North Sea. There is,
however, one little fact which shows us how effectively Margaret's
influence operated against the Gaelic tradition of the Scottish court
and its outlook. Before her time, the kings of the Dál Riada line
bore Irish names. Only two names that are not Irish are found in their
list--Constantine and Gregory, the names of a celebrated Emperor and a
celebrated Pope. The names of the six sons of Malcolm and Margaret
were: Edward, Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, and David; of their
two daughters, Maud and Mary--not one of them Gaelic; and with the
exception of Malcolm's immediate successor, Domhnall, and another
Malcolm, no king of the Scots after his time bore a Gaelic name.
Malcolm's kingdom, though it did not extend over the Norse settlements
in the north and west of Scotland, included a territory roughly
corresponding to Cumberland and Northumberland in the north of
England.
A frequent effect of the feudal law of succession by primogeniture was
the breach of succession owing to the failure of heirs in the male
line. Under the Irish (and also Welsh) law of succession, by election
from a family group, this difficulty was avoided. After Malcolm's
death in 1093, his brother, Domhnall Bán, secured the kingship and, we
are told, expelled all the foreigners who had come to Scotland under
the protection of Malcolm and Margaret. In effect, the reign of
Domhnall represents a brief Gaelic reaction against the new-come
feudalism. In 1097, Domhnall was overthrown by Malcolm's eldest
surviving son Edgar, with the assistance of the English, and
thenceforward the feudal system took hold and the Irish kingdom may be
said to have come to an end. Nevertheless, the Irish tradition was
not wholly abandoned. The last of the Dalriadic kings was Alexander
III who reigned from 1249 until 1285. In his reign, all the Norse
possessions formerly subject to the suzerainty of the kings of Norway,
comprising the Orkney and Shetland islands, Caithness, the Hebrides
and Argyleshire, became subject to the kingdom of Scotland. The
failure of the direct line, upon Alexander's death without male heir,
brought about the wars of the Scottish succession, terminated by the
battle of Bannockburn in 1314. An interesting account has been
preserved of the coronation ceremony as exemplified at the accession
of this last king of the direct Irish line in Scotland, Alexander III.
"The ceremony was performed by the bishop of St. Andrews, who girded
the king with a military belt. He then explained in Latin, and
afterwards in Gaelic, the laws and oaths relating to the king....
After the ceremony was performed, a Highlander"--we may understand
that he was the official _seanchaidh_--"repeated on his knees before
the throne, in his own language, the genealogy of Alexander and his
ancestors, up to the first king of Scotland." Gaelic, therefore,
continued to be the language of the Scottish court, of king, bishop,
and courtier, until 1285, when the direct line of Fergus son of Erc
became extinct.
Having endeavoured to trace the principal phases in the history of an
Irish kingdom which, established in Argyle and the western islands of
Scotland, became gradually more and more alienated from the mother
country, let us now glance through the history of another kingdom, a
foreign kingdom established in the same forelands and islands, a realm
which became gaelicised as the Scots kingdom became feudalised and
anglicised, and which drew closer and closer to Ireland, so as to
bring a decisive element into the affairs of this nation during a
critical period in its history.
I have already shown how, while the Scots were becoming masters of the
mainland in northern Britain, the Norsemen took possession of the old
Dalriadic territory of Argyle and the islands. On the mainland, the
Norsemen also occupied Cunningham in Ayrshire, Galloway to the north
of the Solway Firth, and Caithness in the far north. In the Gaelic of
Scotland, both Galloway and Caithness are named Gallaibh, _i.e._ the
Foreigners' territory, and the Irish name of the Hebrides after they
passed into Norse hands is Innse Gall, "the Foreigners' islands."
We have no records to show the precise date at which these colonies
were established, but in view of the Norse supremacy on the seas from
the close of the eighth century, their establishment is not likely to
have been later than the foundation of the first Norse colony on the
Irish mainland, namely, the colony of Dublin, in 841. The year after
this, 842, Cinaedh, the future conqueror of the Picts and Britons and
Angles, became king of the Scots.
The first clearly defined authority found among these Norse
settlements is that of the Orkney earls, dating from before 880.
Before that time, a mixed Norse and Gaelic population, called
Gall-Ghaedhil, is seen taking part in the Norse wars in Ireland, some
on the Norse and some on the Irish side, as may be seen from the
annals of the years 856 and 857. These people doubtless came from
Scotland, perhaps also from the Isle of Man, also occupied by the
Norsemen. Their language was broken Irish, as may be judged from the
words of an Irish tract which, in praising the accurate utterance of a
speaker, says "it is not the _giog-gog_ of a Gall-Ghaedheal." But they
must also have used the Norse language.
About the year 880, Harold the Fair, king of Norway, came over and
established the supremacy of Norway over the settlements in the
Orkneys, the Hebrides, Argyle and the Isle of Man.
A century later, in 980, we find the Hebrides used as a recruiting
ground by the Norse king of Dublin. In that year Mael Sechnaill, king
of Ireland, won the battle of Tara against "the Foreigners of Dublin
and the Islands." After this defeat, Olaf, king of Dublin, laid down
his kingship and retired into religious life in Iona, where he died
not long later. The incident shows that the Norse islanders had by
this time accepted Christianity, and that Iona, which they had
barbarously ravaged again and again, had regained among them the
religious prestige that it held before among the people of Ireland and
Scotland.
About this time, the Danes, who first appear on our coasts in
hostility to the Norwegians, established a kingdom of the Hebrides,
under Godred, son of Harold. Godred invaded Dál Riada in Ulster in
989, and was killed there. His son Rögnvald became king of the
Hebrides and died in 1005. With his death, the Danish kingdom in the
islands appears to cease.
In 1014, the chief magnate of the Hebrides was Earl Gilli. He held
aloof from the great muster of Norsemen from many regions that came to
Clontarf to win the sovereignty of Ireland for Earl Sigurd of the
Orkneys. From 1041 till 1064, the Hebrides appear subject to the
Orkney earl Thorfinn. During this time, the islands supplied forces to
Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, for an invasion of England. After
this time, there are indications that the predominance of the Orkney
earls was replaced in the Hebrides by that of the kings of the Isle of
Man. Later on, the kings of Man are seen to occupy a middle position
of authority between the kings of Norway and the local rulers of the
Hebrides. In the title of the bishops of Sodor and Man, the name Sodor
is an abbreviation for Sudreyar, "the southern isles," this being the
ordinary Norse name for the Hebrides, in contradistinction to the
northern isles of Orkney and Shetland.
In 1098, Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, came with a fleet and
re-established the somewhat shaky Norwegian sovereignty over the
Orkneys, the Hebrides, Cantire, and the Isle of Man. Four years later,
in 1102, he again visited these dominions and was received without
opposition. The following year, 1103, king Magnus landed in eastern
Ulster and was cut off and slain.
In 1134, a young Hebridean named Gilla Críst, claiming to be a son of
Magnus, became king of Norway under the name of Harald Gilli. About
this time, the most prominent magnate in the Hebrides was named
Holdbodi, who lived in the island of Tiree. The Norse documents
dealing with these times and with the succeeding century never suggest
that the masters of the Hebrides use any language but Norse, though
some of them bear Gaelic names; and the same documents apply the name
Scots to the mainlanders only, never to the people of the islands.
In 1157, we find the first mention of a ruler named Sumarlidi, who
dwelt on the mainland of Argyleshire. In Irish he is called
Somhairlidh, and in recording his death in 1164, the Annals of
Tighernach entitle him "king of the Hebrides and Cantire." Fordun's
Chronicle calls him "king of Argyle." Sumarlidi was in fact the
founder of a new Norse kingdom of the Hebrides and Argyle, which
lasted from his time, about 1150, until 1499, when the last king of
his line was captured by the king of Scotland and hanged, along with
his son and grandsons, on the Boroughmuir at Edinburgh. Sumarlidi was
killed in 1164, in an attempt to invade the mainland south of the
Clyde.
This Sumarlidi was the ancestor of the families of MacDomhnaill
(MacDonnell, MacDonald), Mac Dubhghaill (MacDugall, MacDowell, etc.),
and Mac Ruaidhri (MacRory). More than two centuries after his time,
when many of his descendants had settled in Ireland, a pedigree was
forthcoming to trace his descent from one of the Three Collas who
overthrew the ancient kingdom of Ulster in the fourth century. In
Scotland, his descendants seem to have been provided with another
pedigree, which established their descent from Fergus, son of Erc, who
founded the Irish kingdom in Scotland. Ultimately a blend of the two
pedigrees found acceptance, and no doubt there are many MacDonnells
and MacDugalds and MacRorys who believe in it. Apart from its other
weak points, this genealogy of the race of Sumarlidi is too short by
about nine generations or three centuries.
Scottish writers in general show a remarkable shyness in dealing with
this kingdom of Argyle and the Hebrides, and the highest title they
are accustomed to accord to its rulers is that of "Lords of the
Isles." In contemporary Norwegian and Irish records, the title is
always "king."
Internal dissensions in Norway left the Hebrides practically
independent for half a century after the rise of Sumarlidi. In 1210,
when these dissensions were composed, the kings of the Hebrides and
the Isle of Man made haste to Norway and renewed their fealty to King
Ingi. On the death of this king without heir in 1217, and the renewal
of the disorders of Norway, the Hebrides again fell away from their
allegiance. In 1224, Hakon, of doubtful paternity, was accepted as
king of Norway. At this time Alan of Galloway threatened to extend his
dominion over the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. King Hakon found a
Hebridean adventurer named Ospak, who had long lived in Norway and had
taken part in the wars of the factions. He appointed this Ospak king
over the Hebrides. For greater prestige he re-named Ospak after
himself, Hakon, and sent him with a small fleet in 1230 to bring the
Hebrides under his authority. After a partial success, Ospak fell sick
and died. Fresh troubles breaking out in Norway prevented Hakon from
following up his Hebridean policy and encouraged the king of Scotland,
Alexander II, to aim at the recovery or annexation of the islands. To
this end, in 1242, Alexander sent an embassy to Norway offering to buy
out the Norwegian claims. This proposal was rejected by Hakon. It was
afterwards renewed and again rejected.
In the meantime, Alexander, stronger by land than by sea, made war on
the Hebridean kings for the possession of Argyle, Arran, and Bute, and
appears to have gained a strong foothold in those parts. In 1248 a
dispute arose between two of Sumarlidi's descendants over the
kingship. Both went to Norway to seek a decision from King Hakon.
Hakon disliked decisions, and was content to keep the claimants for a
year in Norway. Next year Alexander of Scotland renewed his efforts.
He sent a third offer of purchase to Hakon and at the same time made
open preparations for conquest. He also endeavoured to win over Jon,
king of the Hebrides, from his allegiance to Norway. Jon held out, and
in the midst of the preparations for invasion, Alexander died (1249).
He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, already spoken of in this
lecture, last of the Dalriadic kings in the direct line. When that
interesting coronation ceremony in Latin and Gaelic was performed,
Alexander III was only nine years of age. During his minority, the
connection between Norway and the Hebrides was maintained. In 1252,
Archbishop Sorli of Drontheim in Norway, being then at Rome, assisted
in the consecration of a bishop named Rikard for the Hebrides. In
1253, Jon and Dubhghall, joint kings of the Hebrides, went again to
Norway to assist king Hakon in a war against Denmark.
In 1261, Alexander III, having come of age, took up his father's
policy of annexing the Norse dominions adjoining Scotland, and sent a
fresh embassy to Norway. Failing to make terms, he began next year the
invasion of the islands. He reoccupied Bute and Cantire, and sent a
marauding expedition under the Earl of Ross into the island of Skye.
King Jon of the Hebrides wrote informing Hakon of what was going on,
and from the sequel we may judge that he held out no hope of being
able to resist Alexander. Hakon called together his council, some of
whom proposed to relinquish the islands to Scotland, but the king
ordered that an expedition at full strength should be raised next
year. It was always the next opportunity with King Hakon. Next year,
1263, he spent the time until the end of July in making ready. In the
meantime, King Jon made terms for himself with Alexander and
transferred his allegiance to Scotland. Hakon made a slow progress
with his fleet through the islands and reoccupied part of Cantire and
also Arran and Bute. Alexander, relying on the approach of winter,
re-opened negotiations and kept them going till the arrival of the
equinoctial gales. On October 1, Hakon's fleet was partly scattered by
a violent storm. Some ships were driven on the coast of Ayrshire. Here
a trifling encounter took place with the Scottish forces. It has been
magnified in Scottish histories into the battle of Largs, in which, we
are told, 16,000 Norwegians were slain.
The misadventures of his fleet and the defection of Jon convinced
Hakon that he could only hold the Hebrides by main force, and he
decided to return to Norway and come again next year with a still
stronger expedition. When he reached the Orkneys, he fell sick and
died.
In the meantime, he had received an embassy from the Irish offering
him the kingdom of Ireland on condition of expelling the English
power. I propose to deal with this occurrence in a later lecture.
With the death of Hakon in 1263 the Norwegian sovereignty over the
Hebrides and Argyle came to an end; and in 1265 his son Magnus made a
formal cession of the territory to Alexander.
During all this time, the chief power in the Hebrides belonged to the
MacDubhghaill line, the sons and grandsons of Dubhghall son of
Sumarlidi. In the wars of the Scottish succession, these kings
supported the side of John Balliol and the English. Their kinsfolk,
the MacDomhnaill and MacRuaidhri chiefs took the side of Robert Bruce.
After Bruce's triumph at Bannockburn in 1314, MacDomhnaill became king
of Argyle and MacRuaidhri became king of the islands. These two kings
joined Edward Bruce in Ireland and along with him fell fighting in the
battle of Fochairt in 1318.
In 1387, Domhnall of Isla, head of the MacDomhnaill line, became king
of the Hebrides, and through his mother inherited also the great
earldom of Ross on the mainland, his power becoming thus a menace to
the kingdom of Scotland. The regent Albany sought by legal chicane to
deprive him of Ross. Domhnall took up arms and engaged the regent's
army in the bloody battle of Harlaw near Aberdeen in 1411. The battle
was not decisive in the military sense, but Domhnall succeeded in
keeping the earldom of Ross.
His brother Eoin Mór, about the year 1400, by marriage with the
heiress of Biset, lord of the Glens in Ireland, came into possession
of that lordship, extending from the Giants' Causeway to a line a
little south of Larne. In 1431, James I of Scotland sent an army into
Argyle. This army was defeated in the battle of Inverlochy by Domhnall
Ballach, son of Eoin and at that time king of Argyle and the Islands.
In 1462, Eoin son of Domhnall entered into a secret treaty to assist
Edward IV of England in the conquest of Scotland. This pact was
discovered by James III of Scotland in 1475. An expedition was
prepared against Eoin by land and sea, but he obtained peace by a
timely submission and by relinquishing the lordships of Ross, Knapdale
and Cantire. In 1493, Eoin again became obnoxious. He was attainted
in the Scottish parliament and his feudatories were forced to swear
direct allegiance to the Scottish crown. James IV made a new grant of
Cantire to a son of Eoin Mór, named Eoin Cathanach from his having
been fostered by O'Catháin in Ulster. The Scottish king came in person
to Cantire in 1499 and placed a garrison in the castle of Dunaverty
which he had reserved to the crown. James had only put out to sea from
Dunaverty when, still in his sight, Eoin Cathanach attacked and
captured the castle and hanged the governor from the wall. This time
there was no forgiveness. Before the year was out, Eoin Cathanach and
his aged father, the king of the Hebrides, fell into the hands of
Giolla Easpuig, the new earl of Argyle, head of the house of Campbell
which the Scottish kings aggrandised as a check on the power of the
MacDonnells. The captives were handed over to King James. The sequel
is recorded by a contemporary Irish chronicler in the Annals of
Ulster:
"A sad deed was done in this year (1499) by the king of Scotland,
James Stewart. Eoin MacDomhnaill, king of the Foreigners' Isles, and
Eoin Cathanach his son, and Raghnall the Red and Domhnall the
Freckled, sons of Eoin Cathanach, were executed on one gallows the
month before Lammas."
So ended the kingdom of the Hebrides, which the line of Sumarlidi had
held for three centuries and a half.
Another son of Eoin Cathanach escaped, and retained the lordship of
the Glens. This was Alasdair Carrach, father of the celebrated
Somhairle Buidhe and ancestor of the Earls of Antrim. A grand-daughter
of Alasdair Carrach was the Inghean Dubh, mother of Aodh Ruadh
O'Domhnaill.