Mac Dougall History

Dugald, one of the sons of Somerled amongst whom his kingdom was divided, was chosen King of Isles in 1156. His descendants for several generations used the designation "of Argyll"(de Ergadia), later modified to "of Lorn", and finally abandoned in favour of the patronymic name Mac Dougall. The family possessions included Lorn and Benderloch on the mainland, and Mull, Lismore, Coll and Tiree; their castles wee Dunstaffnage and Dunollie, and great island fortresses like Cairnburg in the Treshnish group and Dunchonnel in the Garvellachs, all sea-based and calling for a sizable fleet of "birlings"or galleys to link them together and keep their garrisons supplied.
The family held their island territory from the King of Norway until it was ceded to Scotland in 1266, and for the forty years which followed they held the leading position there. As they were of the same stock as the Mac Donalds, there was some rivalry between the two. The Mac Dougalls supported John Balliol as king, and later acted for Edward I in the Western Isles; Alexander of Argyll had married a Comyn, and after the murder of her nephew by Bruce at Dumfries in 1306, he and his son became the hunted king's bitterest foes. How nearly they came to capturing him was recalled by the traditional "brooch of Lorn"which he is supposed to have left in their hands while making his escape; but in the later campaign in Argyll John of Lorn was defeated at the pass of Brander, Dunstaffnage was taken, and organized Mac Dougall opposition came to an end.

After King Robert's death some of their forfeited estates were restored to the Mac Dougalls. In 1354 another John of Lorn arranged with John of the Isles (his Mac Donald cousin) to give up any claim to the islands of Mull, Tiree and part of Jura, receiving Coll and certain other lands with the right to build eight vessels of twelve and sixteen oars each. John had no sons, and his lands passed with heiresses to two Stewart brothers and then to the Earls of Argyll. But the Mac Dougalls came into some of their own territory again in 1451, when the Stewart lord of Lorn made a grant to "John Macalan of Lorn called Mc Cowle"of lands round Oban Bay, in Kerrera and extending down the coast at least as far as Loch Melfort. Some events which followed, including the murder of the Stewart incomer, may be connected with intrigues by the Lord of the Isles with the King of England, or with discontent within the clan. By the 16th century Mac Dougall of Dunollie was acknowledging Argyll as his superior, and accepting office as Bailie of Lorn under him; and the family's old rights in the offshore islands of Seil, Luing, Torsay and Shuna were recognised.
The Mac Dougalls were royalists, and suffered for it in the civil wars. In 1647 the chief and his young son took arms for King Charles with 500 of their kindred, friends and tenants; Dunollie was besieged, and Gylen castle on Kerrera sacked. Many Mac Dougalls died in the massacre after the capitulation of Dunaverty in Kintyre, but the young chief was spared and lived to recover his lands at the Restoration. In 1715 Dunollie held out under the laird's Mac Donald wife, while he was "out"with the Jacobite army at Sheriffmuir. The estate was forfeited to Argyll, and he went abroad for some time, but his infant son was brought up by a loyal clansman in Dumbarton. According to Sir Walter Scott, the young man planned to join Prince Charles in 1745, but was dissuaded just in time by Argyll and had his "little estate"returned to him.
The story of the Mac Dougalls, wrote Sir Walter, "affords a very rare if not a unique instance of a family of such unlimited power, and so distinguished during the middle ages, surviving the decay of their grandeur, and flourishing in a private station.'