John of Islay or John MacDonald (b. 1434 - d. 1503), was Earl of Ross and the fourth-and last-Lord of the Isles. Events January 6 - Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor. ... Events March 2 - Battle of Grandson. ... 1493 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events May 30, Battle of Lipany in the Hussite Wars Jan van Eyck paints the wedding of Giovanni Arnoflini The Honorable Passing of Arms at the bridge of Obrigo The Portuguese reach Cape Bojador in Western Sahara. ... 1503 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: ) is the fourth largest city in Scotland with a population of 143,090. ... Scone is a large village, a mile north of Perth, Scotland. ... Location Paisley Abbey is sited on the East bank of the river Cart in the center of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire. ... Alexander of Islay or Alexander MacDonald (died 1449; Scottish Gaelic: ) was a medieval Scottish nobleman, who succeeded his father Domhnall of Islay as Lord of the Isles (1423-49) and rose to the rank of Earl of Ross (1437-49). ... Aonghas Óg (died 1490) was a 15th century Scottish nobleman. ... James IV (March 17, 1473-September 9, 1513) - King of Scots from 1488 to 1513. ... Domhnall Dubh († 1545), or Donald the Black, was a Scottish nobleman. ... ---- Events and Trends Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa Spanish arrive in present-day Gulf of Mexico External links 1500-1524 Events 1500-1509 Events Categories: 1500s ... Aonghas Óg (died 1490) was a 15th century Scottish nobleman. ... The Donald Clan Crest. ... Alexander of Islay or Alexander MacDonald (died 1449; Scottish Gaelic: ) was a medieval Scottish nobleman, who succeeded his father Domhnall of Islay as Lord of the Isles (1423-49) and rose to the rank of Earl of Ross (1437-49). ... Events May 30, Battle of Lipany in the Hussite Wars Jan van Eyck paints the wedding of Giovanni Arnoflini The Honorable Passing of Arms at the bridge of Obrigo The Portuguese reach Cape Bojador in Western Sahara. ... 1503 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The title Earl of Ross has existed in both Scotland and Ireland, although it is most commonly associated with the former. ... MacDonald, Lord of the Isles The designation Lord of the Isles (Scottish Gaelic: ), now a Scottish title of nobility, emerged from a series of hybrid Viking/Gaelic rulers of the west coast and islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages, who wielded sea-power with fleets of galleys. ...

John was born to Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, and Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Seton the lord of Gordon and Huntly. He succeeded to his father's lordship in 1449 while a still a minor. Alexander of Islay or Alexander MacDonald (died 1449; Scottish Gaelic: ) was a medieval Scottish nobleman, who succeeded his father Domhnall of Islay as Lord of the Isles (1423-49) and rose to the rank of Earl of Ross (1437-49). ... Huntly may refer to: Huntly, New Zealand Huntly, Scotland This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Events January 6 - Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor. ...

Marriage and Land

It is difficult to know what to make of John of the Isles, the man who was destined to preside over the ruin of a great inheritance. He appears to have had an odd assortment of qualities, sometimes assertive and arrogant, other times weak and submissive. Hugh Macdonald, the seventeenth century historian of Clan Donald, says that he was; a meek, modest man...and a scholar more fit to be a churchman than to command so many irregular tribes of people"

Yet his wife, Elizabeth Livingstone, was to accuse him of trying to murder her while she was pregnant-hardly the action of a meek and modest man. He started his rule as a lion and ended as a sheep, having in the process alienated almost everyone, including the closest members of his family.

Early in his life he was forced to marry a woman he did not love for a promise that was never kept. John's marriage to Elizabeth had been determined by the usual calculations of profit and position, as were those of other important people of the time. There was one important difference with the alliance of John and Elizabeth: he came from a great landed family, she did not. Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir James Livingstone, a powerful politician during the minority of James II, but in a conservative, land-based society, a figure of no lasting significance. John, with a large and hungry following at his heels, rich as he was, always needed more land. Sir James' power was purely personal, and his daughter would not normally have been considered as a suitable match for the Lord of the Isles. It seems he was persuaded to marry her after certain unspecified promises from the king. After Livingstone fell from power in the early 1450s James refused to honour these promises. Instead of growing to love or at least respect Elizabeth, John came to loath her. James II of Scotland (October 16, 1430 – August 3, 1460) was king of Scotland from 1437 to 1460. ...

Soon after his disgrace Sir James took refuge with his son-in-law. John at once rose in revolt, taking the royal castles of Inverness, Urquhart and Ruthven, perhaps less to show his support for the Livingstones than to remind the king of his broken word. Inverness Castle Inverness Castle Inverness Castle Today Inverness Castle sits on a cliff overlooking the River Ness, in Inverness, Scotland. ... Clan Urquhart Crest: Meane weil speak weil and doe weil Urquhart is a Highland Scottish clan. ... Clan Ruthven Crest: Deid schaw Clan Ruthven is a Lowland Scottish clan. ...

Treaties and Allies

This revolt of the Lord of the Isles came at a dangerous time for the king, who was involved in a serious dispute with the eighth Earl of Douglas, the most powerful noble in southern Scotland. We can probably date to this time the famous bond between Ross and Douglas, men who were hardly natural allies. There is absolutely no evidence that Ross, Douglas or the earl of Crawford, the other party to the bond, planned to depose the king, though this has not prevented some historians from making such a claim. If this had been the intention James would presumably taken much more direct action, rather than simply invite Douglas to Stirling in February 1452 to discuss the matter, and Douglas would hardly have put himself in the power of the king, even with a safe conduct. As it was James tried to persuade the earl to break the bond and, when he refused, murdered him in a fit of royal anger. If the bond had been so treasonable, the arrest and trial of Douglas would have served his ends much more effectively than this crude crime of passion. The title of Earl of Douglas was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for the senior, or Black line of the great Douglas family. ... Broad St at the heart of Stirlings Old Town area called Top of the Town by locals on a rare snowy day Stirling Castle (Southwest aspect) The main courtyard inside Stirling Castle. ...

John showed little concern for the fate of his ally, especially as James effectively turned a blind eye to the occupation of the northern castles. His relations with the crown continued to improve and he did nothing to prevent the final destruction of the house of Douglas in 1455, even obtaining title to some of their border estates. The sudden and unexpected death of James in 1460 brought an early change of direction. Soon after the accession of James III, John received a proposal that was to lead to his eventual ruin. James III of Scotland (1451/ 1452 – June 11, 1488), son of James II and Mary of Gueldres, created Duke of Rothesay at birth, king of Scotland from 1460 to 1488. ...

Ardtornish and Westminster

So far John had done rather well. He had defied the king and survived. He extended his power and influence from Inverness to the English border. Had he died at this point he might be well remembered in the annals of Clan Donald. But he now took a fatal step, the consequences of which were to betray the essential weakness of his character. In England the Yorkists under Edward IV had chased the Lancastrian Henry VI from the country. Henry took refuge in Scotland, where he was well-received. Edward at once sent the exiled earl of Douglas, the brother of the man murdered at Stirling, on a diplomatic mission to the Isles. At his court in the castle of Ardtornish John agreed to send his plenipotentiaries to London. This was a dangerous move, for while John's predecessors had contacts with the English, they had never committed themselves too far. Moreover, the English had never made any real attempt to assist the Lordship when it was in difficulties with the crown of Scotland. It should have been perfectly clear that Edward was trying to create a diversion. Sadly for the Lord of the Isles, it was not. Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470–1471. ... Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21/22, 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 (though with a Regent until 1437) and then from 1470 to 1471, and King of France from 1422 to 1453. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ...

In February 1462 John's representatives concluded an agreement once referred to as the Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish, that envisaged nothing less than the conquest and partition of Scotland. John agreed to pay homage to Edward in return for his help in obtaining all of Scotland north of the Forth. The treaty is a remarkably vague document considering the risks John was prepared to take. It says absolutely nothing about the nature, scale and timing of English support. But for Edward it was a brilliant diplomatic coup. He achieved maximum results at minimum expense, laying out only as much bait as necessary to create a political disturbance in northern Scotland.

Even before the agreement was concluded the Islemen took to arms, advancing eastwards under the command of Angus Og, John's illegitimate son. Once again Inverness was captured and the people of the north instructed to deny the authority of James III. Beyond this we know nothing from the sparse contemporary sources, not even how this rebellion was brought under control. It most certainly had the effect Edward desired; for the Scottish government, faced with rebellion in the north, and fearful of attack in the south, droped the politically embarrassing Lancastrian connection. John, presumably now aware how worthless the Westminster agreement truly was, backed down, declaring his siezure of the Inverness customs had been illegal. No further action was taken against him-for the present. Aonghas Óg (died 1490) was a 15th century Scottish nobleman. ...

Angus Óg and Bloody Bay

In the mid 1470s Edward, preparing for a war with France, and anxious for good relations with Scotland, finally revealed the full terms of the Westminster treaty. John was summoned before parliament to answer for his treasons, and when he failed to appear was declared forfeit. With no allies, either at home or abroad, John had little choice but to make his peace with the king in the summer of 1476. Considering the full extent of his treason, far greater than that which had destroyed the Border Douglases, he was treated with comparative leniency. He lost the earldom of Ross-outwith the Isle of Skye-as well as Knapdale and Kintyre, but retained control of the Hebrides. The designation of Lord of the Isles, moreover, was from this point forward to be granted by the crown, rather than self-assumed. Looking towards Quiraing, Skye. ... Knapdale shown within Argyll Knapdale is a rural area of Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands, adjoining Kintyre to the south, and divided from the rest of Argyll to the north by the Crinan Canal. ... Kintyre shown within Argyll Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland in the south-west of Argyll. ... The Hebrides The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, and in geological terms are composed of the oldest rocks in the British Isles. ...

But John had lost much more than land: he lost prestige and standing among his own kin. The Lordship had always depended on territorial expansion to give life to its warrior values; but now that it was contracting all of the latent tensions came forth, finding expression in the person of Angus Óg. Angus, according to Hugh Macdonald, ejected John both from the leadership of the clan and from his own home, forcing him to seek shelter under an old boat. Afterwards John managed to gain some support. His fleet of galleys met those of Angus sometime in the early 1480s-we cannot be more precise than that-off the coast of Mull to the north-west of the present town of Tobermory, an area ever afterwards to be known as Bloody Bay. The Battle of Bloody Bay was a complete victory for Angus, who continued to dominate the affairs of Clan Donald up to his murder in 1490. Tobermory with 700 people, the largest settlement on Mull, is home to the only whisky distillery on the island. ... Tobermory is the name of several towns. ...

Twilight

What happened to John after Bloody Bay is uncertain; but he seems to have slipped quietly into temporary and obscure retirement. With the death of Angus he came back out of the shadows, but he appears to have been firmly under the tutelage of his nephew, Alexander of Lochalsh. Alexander tried to re-establish control over the earldom of Ross, but was soundly defeated by the Mackenzies, a leading local family, at the Battle of Park. In 1493 James IV, tiring of John's obvious incapacity to control disorder among his kin, finally brought the Lordship of the Isles to an end. John was taken to the Lowlands, a silent, pathetic figure, destined to live out what was left of his life as a pensioner of the king, finally drifting out of history, apparently unlamented even by his own kin. Most of the standard histories of Clan Donald even manage to get the date and place of his death wrong: he died not in Paisley in 1498 but Dundee in 1503. There is also some uncertainty over the place of his burial. At his own request, he is said to have been laid to rest in the tomb of Robert II, his royal ancestor; but Robert was buried at Scone not Paisley, where the tomb of Robert III is located. Paisley is: the name of several towns, including Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (the original Paisley) Paisley, Florida, United States Paisley, Oregon, United States the name of a textile pattern or motif, often referred to as Paisley (design). ... Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: ) is the fourth largest city in Scotland with a population of 143,090. ... Robert II (March 2, 1316 – April 19, 1390), king of Scotland, called the Steward, a title that gave the name to the House of Stewart (or Stuart). ... Scone is a large village, a mile north of Perth, Scotland. ... Robert III (circa 1340 – April 4, 1406), king of Scotland (reigned 1390 - 1406), the eldest son of King Robert II by his mistress, Elizabeth Mure, became legitimised with the formal marriage of his parents about 1349. ...

In 1540 James V in suppressing further disorders in the west finally reserved the title Lord of the Isles to the crown, where it remains to the present day. James V (April 10, 1512 – December 14, 1542) was king of Scotland (September 9, 1513 – December 14, 1542). ...

References

• Bannerman, J., The Lordship of the Isles, in Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, ed. J. M. Brown, 1977
• Cannon,John ; Hargreaves, Anne. The Kings & Queens of Britain, (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 0-19-860956-6
• Dunbar, J., The Lordship of the Isles, in The Middle Ages in the Highlands, Inverness Field Club, 1981.
• Grant, A., Scotland's 'Celtic Fringe' in the Late Middle Ages: the Macdonald Lords of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland, in The British Isles, 1100-1500, ed. A. Grant and R. R. Davies.
• Gregory, D., The Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland, reprint 1975.
• MacDonald, C. M., The History of Argyll, 1950
• Macdonald, Hugh, History of the Macdonalds, in Highland Papers I, 1914.
• Munro, J., The Earldom of Ross and the Lordship of the Isles, in J. R. Baldwin ed. Firthlands of Ross and Sutherland, 1986.

	Lords of the Isles, 1336-1493 Eion I a Íle (John I) • Dómhnall a Íle (Donald) • Alasdair a Íle (Alexander) • Eion II a Íle (John II)
something	See also Aonghas Óg • Dómhnall Dubh