Raghnall Mac Ruaidhrí

Clann Ruaidhrí

Raghnall was an illegitimate son of Ruaidhrí Mac Ruaidhrí (died 1318?), grandson of the eponymous ancestor of Clann Ruaidhrí. The identity of Raghnall's mother is unknown. Raghnall's father controlled a provincial lordship which encompassed the mainland territories of Moidart, Arisaig, Morar, and Knoydart; and the island territories of Rhum, Eigg, Barra, St Kilda, and Uist. This dominion, like the great lordships of Annandale and Galloway, was comparable to the kingdom's thirteen earldoms. There is reason to suspect that the rights to the family's territories were contested after Ruaidhrí's death. In fact, Ruaidhrí himself was illegitimate, and only gained formal control of the lordship after his legitimate half-sister, Cairistíona (fl. 1290–1318), resigned her rights to him at some point during the reign of Robert I, King of Scotland (died 1329).

Raghnall's father appears to be identical to the Clann Ruaidhrí dynast, styled "King of the Hebrides", who lost his life in the service of the Bruce campaign in Ireland in 1318. At the time, Raghnall may well have been under age, and it is apparent that Cairistíona and her confederates again attempted to seize control of the inheritance. Although she is recorded to have resigned her claimed rights to a certain Artúr Caimbéal at some point after Ruaidhrí's death, it is clear that Raghnall succeeded in securing the region, and was regarded as the chief of Clann Ruaidhrí by most of his kin.

In 1325, a certain "Roderici de Ylay" suffered the forfeiture of his possessions by Robert I. Although this record could refer to a member of Clann Ruaidhrí, and evidence the contrast of relations between Clann Ruaidhrí and the Scottish Crown in the 1320s and 1330s, another possibility is that the individual actually refers to a member of Clann Domhnaill. If this indeed refers to a member of the former family, the man in question may well have been Raghnall himself. If so, it is conceivable that his forfeiture is related to Cairistíona's attempt to alienate the Clann Ruaidhrí estate from her nephew and transfer it into the clutches of the Caimbéalaigh kindred. Alternately, the forfeiture could have been ratified in response to undesirable Clann Ruaidhrí expansion into certain neighbouring regions, such as the former territories of the disinherited Clann Dubhghaill.

Although Cairistíona's resignation charter to Artúr is undated, it could date to just before the forfeiture. The list of witnesses who attested this grant is remarkable, and may reveal that the charter had royal approval. The witnesses include: John Menteith, Domhnall Caimbéal, Alasdair Mac Neachdainn, Eóghan Mac Íomhair, Donnchadh Caimbéal (son of Tomás Caimbéal), Niall Mac Giolla Eáin, and (the latter's brother) Domhnall Mac Giolla Eáin. These men all seem to have been close adherents of Robert I against Clann Dubhghaill, and all represented families of power along the western seaboard. An alliance of such men may well have been an intimidating prospect to the Clann Ruaidhrí leadership. In fact, the forfeiture could have been personally reinforced by Robert I, as the king seems to have travelled to Tarbert Castle—a royal stronghold in Kintyre—within the same year.

Career

Unlike the First War of Scottish Independence, in which Clann Ruaidhrí participated, Raghnall and his family are not known to have taken part in the second war (from 1332–41). In fact, Raghnall certainly appears on record by 1337, when he aided his third cousin, Eóin Mac Domhnaill, Lord of the Isles (died c. 1387), in the latter's efforts to receive a papal dispensation to marry Raghnall's sister, Áine (fl. 1318–1350), in 1337. At the time, Raghnall and Eóin were apparently supporters of Edward Balliol (died 1364), a claimant to the Scottish throne who held power in the realm from 1332 to 1336. By June 1343, however, both Raghnall and Eóin were reconciled with Edward's rival, the reigning son of Robert I, David II, King of Scotland (died 1371), and Raghnall himself was confirmed in the Clann Ruaidhrí lordship by the king.

At about this time, Raghnall received the rights to Kintail from William III, Earl of Ross (died 1372), a transaction which was confirmed by the king that July. There is reason to suspect that the king's recognition of this grant may have been intended as a regional counterbalance of sorts, since he also diverted the rights to Skye from Eóin to William III. It is also possible that Clann Ruaidhrí power had expanded into the coastal region of Kintail at some point after the death of William III's father in 1333, during a period when William III may have been either a minor or exiled from the country. Whatever the case, the earl seems to have had little choice but to relinquish his rights to Kintail to Raghnall.

Bitterness between these two magnates appears to be evidenced in dramatic fashion by the assassination of Raghnall and several of his followers at the hands of the earl and his adherents. Raghnall's murder unfolded at Elcho Priory in October 1346, and is attested by numerous sources, such as the fifteenth-century Scotichronicon, the fifteenth-century Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, the fifteenth-century Liber Pluscardensis, and the seventeenth-century Sleat History. At the time of his demise, Raghnall had been obeying the king's muster at Perth, in preparation for the Scots' imminent invasion of England. Following the deed, William III deserted the royal host, and fled to the safety of his domain. What is known of William III's comital career reveals that it was local, rather than national issues, that laid behind his recorded actions. The murder of Raghnall and the earl's desertion—a flight which likely left his king with a substantially smaller fighting-force—is one such example. Although William III was later to pay dearly for this act of disloyalty, the episode itself evidences the earl's determination to deal with the threat of encroachment of Clann Ruaidhrí power into what he regarded as his own domain. Despite this dramatic removal of William III's main rival, the most immediate beneficiary of the killing was Eóin, the chief of Clann Domhnaill, a man who was also William III's brother-in-law.

Following Raghnall's death, control of the Clann Ruaidhrí estate passed to Eóin by right of his wife. Although Áine appears to have been either dead or divorced from Eóin by 1350, the Clann Ruaidhrí territories evidently remained in Eóin's possession after his subsequent marriage to Margaret, daughter of Robert Stewart, Steward of Scotland (died 1390). David himself died in 1371, and was succeeded by his uncle, Robert Stewart (as Robert II). In 1372, the recently-crowned king confirmed Eóin's rights to the former Clann Ruaidhrí territories. The year after that, Robert II confirmed Eóin's grant of these lands to Raghnall Mac Domhnaill (died 1386)—Eóin and Áine's eldest surviving son—a man apparently named after Raghnall himself.

Raghnall seems to have had a brother, Eóghan, who received a grant to the thanage of Glen Tilt from the Steward. The transaction appears to date to before 1346, at about the time members of Clann Ruaidhrí were operating as gallowglasses in Ireland. This could in turn indicate that the Steward was using the kindred in a military capacity to extend his own power eastwards into Atholl, where he appears to have also made use of connections with Clann Donnchaidh. If certain fifteenth-century pedigrees are two be believed, Raghnall had at least one illegitimate son, and his descendants continued to act as leaders of Clann Ruaidhrí.