lords
Applecross and the Lordship of the Isles
Who were the Lords of the Isles?
The Lords of the Isles ruled the Western Isles and much of the west coast of Scotland in the middle ages, reaching the height of their power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They were descended from Somerled (c1126-64), a warrior, half Viking himself, who seized control of the southern Hebrides and Argyll from the Norse in the 12th century. The Norse, originally Viking settlers, had ruled the Western Isles for over two hundred years but Somerled’s victories meant the re-establishment of a Celtic culture and the re-establishment of Gaelic as the main language. Somerled and his successors were originally called Kings. ‘Ri Innse Gall’ was the title they were given, meaning in Gaelic ‘King of the Foreigners Isles’, that is Kings of the islands formerly held by the Vikings. Until 1266 when Norway gave the Western Isles to Scotland, Somerled’s successors owed split allegiance, to Norway for their island possessions and to the King of Scots for their mainland possessions, but were in fact able to remain a virtually independent kingdom. The Lordship of the Isles had a tense relationship with the Scottish crown and eventually became too much of a threat when it was discovered in 1493 that John, the last Lord of the Isles, had actually negotiated the Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish (1462) with Edward IV of England, proposing to divide Scotland between himself, the Earl of Douglas and England. The Lordship’s lands were declared forfeit to the King of Scots, James IV. Although the Scottish king had defeated the Lordship he had put nothing in its place. Three great clans, the MacDonalds, the MacDougalls and the MacRuaries, were descended from the Lords of the Isles, and they, as well as many smaller clans who had been subordinate to the Lordship, fought jealously for their own rights and power, and the area was a source of great trouble for centuries to come. Repeated attempts were made to revive the Lordship in the following centuries, and the period of the Lordship was looked back upon as a golden age of Gaelic rule and culture. In 1549 Dean Donald Munro described how the great council of the Lordship used to meet at Finlaggan on Islay – ‘ In thair time thair was great peace and welth in the Iles throw the ministration of Justice.’
The title Lord of the Isles is now in fact held by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales.
How did this affect Applecross?
From the early 1200s Applecross was part of the earldom of Ross which covered a huge swathe of land stretching from the east to the west coast. In the fifteenth century the earldom, and therefore Applecross, came into the hands of the Lord of the Isles. The earls of Ross were descended from Farquhar MacTaggart, who, it is believed, was probably the ‘lay abbot’ of Applecross. The earldom subsequently passed by marriage to the Leslie family, and in 1402 when Alexander Leslie Earl of Ross died, his only surviving child was an infant daughter, Euphemia. This led to a dispute over who should hold the earldom, between Donald Lord of the Isles, who was married to Alexander’s sister, and Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife, Duke of Albany, and at that time the most powerful man in the kingdom.
The result was the Battle of Harlaw in 1411 when Donald led a huge army through Ross and into Aberdeenshire where he met an army under the Earl of Mar. The battle became known as Red Harlaw due to the bloodiness of the fight. A force from Applecross was probably present as it is known that the inhabitants of Ross supported Donald, and the main chronicler of the battle reports that he was accompanied by ‘his men of Ross.’ One of the casualties was Gilpatrick ‘Ruadh’, said to have been an abbot, descended from the O’Beolan Earls of Ross. ‘Ruadh’ is the Gaelic word for Red, leading local historians to surmise that he may have been the famous Red Priest of Applecross, well known in local oral tradition, who is said to have been the last of his line in Applecross and whose daughter is said to have conveyed the lands of Applecross out of the family when she married. This Gilpatrick ‘Ruadh’ did have a daughter who had children by Alexander Lord of the Isles, lending credence to the idea that he was the Red Priest of Applecross. However, the source that tells us about Gilpatrick ‘Ruadh’ goes on to say that he was the abbot of Carlebay in Lewis and held lands there and in Lochbroom – no mention of Applecross, so the identification must remain uncertain.
Gilpatrick ‘Ruadh’ was one of four men of the Lordship’s army who went out in front of the line and fought in single combat with four of Mar’s army. The result of this combat was a draw with two victories apiece. Gilpatrick was one of the slain. The Battle itself ended in a similarly inconclusive fashion with the chroniclers of both sides claiming a victory. However Donald did win control of Ross - ‘after the battle MacDonald returned to the Isles, no opposition being made to him all his lifetime in Ross’ according to the MacDonald historian. His son Alexander was subsequently recognised by the king as Earl of Ross, and based himself in Easter Ross, holding the Council of the Lordship in and around Inverness and Dingwall, where all his surviving charters were issued.
With the forfeiture of the Lord of the Isles, Ross, including Applecross, belonged to the Crown, and there are records of crown grants of the church revenues of Applecross to various people starting in 1515 with the presentation of the chaplainry of Applecross to Sir Alexander MacLeod recorded in the Register of the Privy Seal.
Alan Gillies 2007