The first recorded arrival of the Gallowglass
was in 1259. Prince Aedh O’Connor of Connaught, son of King Feidhlim
married a princess, daughter of Dubhgall MacRory King of the Hebrides.
As part of her dowry she brought with her a force of 160 Gallowglasses.
They came for the most part from Inse Ghall (The Hebrides) and were
Gaelic speaking Scots with Vikings. Because of their Viking blood they
earned the name from the words gall (foreign) and óglaigh (a
warrior). The Scots themselves were Irish, mainly the Dal Riada from
North Ireland who had traveled to Western Scotland and Hebrides.
| They earned their reputation the hard way, and were
the biggest reason the chiefs Ui Neill slowed the English advance
northward from the Pale several hundred years. Many of them got
grants of land from the Irish chiefs and went on to found some of
the most respected septs of the Ireland. The best known of there
are: MacSúibhne (MacSweeney), MacDomhnaill (MacDonnell),
MacSíothaigh (MacSheehy), MacDubhgaill (MacDougall), MacCaba
(MacCabe) and MacRuari (MacRory). Lesser known Gallowglass families
include MacAulay, MacSorley, MacNeill, MacGreal, MacAnGhearr (Short/
Shortt / McGirr), MacAnGallóglaigh (MacGallogly / English),
MacClean (MacAlean / MacLean / MacClane), MacAilín (MacCawell
/ Campbell / MacCampbell / Allen / MacEllin), MacAlister (MacEllistrum
/ MacAllister / MacAlistrum), MacAlexander, Agnew (O’Gnimh / O’Gnimha
/ O’Gnive) and MacPhaidín (MacFadden). |
The Clann Dubhghaill
or MacDougals (Mac Dubhghaill) descend from Dubhghaill, King of the
Hebrides and Lord of Lorn (North Argyle) who was the son of the great
Somerled and brother of Reginald
(or Ranald), ancestor of the Clann Dhomnuill, or MacDonalds. Lorn
was held by Dubhghaill under the Scottish crown, while the Hebridian
islands under his control were held of the King of Norway. Dunollie
Castle in Oban Bay was the principal stronghold of the MacDougal chiefs,
whose power declined after their defeat at the hands of King Robert
I the Bruce in the Pass of Brander in 1309. The MacDougals were related
by marriage to the Bruce’s rivals, the Cummins, and thus backed them
during the period leading up to the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. As
a result, the MacDougals were forfeited and lost their vast island territories,
although they were later restored to the mainland Lordship of Lorn by
King David II (after their seventh chief married a granddaughter of
Robert I). Eventually the MacDougalls lost the lordship of Lorn, which
(like many other old Scottish Dignities) passed almost inevitably to
the covetous House of Stewart. The family further suffered as a result
of their support for the Jacobite cause during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. Nevertheless, based upon their proverbial connection with
Lorn, the family has ever been known, both officially and informally,
as the MacDougalls of Lorn.
The Scots had likewise, at an early period, their kerns and galloglasses;
and in Shakespeare's Macbeth is mentioned -- "the merciless MacDonald
from the Western Isles (or Hebrides), with his kerns and gallowglasses."
Dalriada, The MacDonnells
of the Hebrides landing in Antrim and Derry early 13th century.
The clan would eventually split from Muircertach
of the Leather Cloaks into two affiliated entities, the "MacNeill"
of Bara, and the "McNeill" of Gigha/Colonsay, under Torquil MacNeil
in 1427. While both assumed their own Crests and Tartans, for centuries
the McNeill of Gigha/Colonsay bore allegiance to the Chieftains of Barra
. After 1493 the two branches of MacNeils took opposite sides in the
long running feud between the MacDonalds of Islay and the MacLeans of
Duart, Barra MacNeils sided with the MacLeans while the Gigha MacNeils
fought on the side of the Clan Donald.
In 1493, following the forfeiture of the Lords of the Isles, a feud
erupted between the Clan MacLean of Duart and the Clan MacDonald of
Islay and Kintyre. The MacNeill's of Bara sided with the MacLean's [for
whom they had been hereditary pipers and harpists] while the McNeills
of Gigha/Colonsay allied themselves with the MacDonalds.
In one of the earliest references to their appearance the Annals of
the Four Masters, records the death of a Scottish galloglass captain
"MacNeill", who was killed fighting for the O'Rourke's. The O'Rourkes's
owned vast landholdings and were the dominant clan in what was later
to be County Leitrim. In the Gaelic divisions which preceded the seventeenth
century, most of Leitrim, along with Cavan, was part of the kingdom
of Bréifne. Leitrim became known as Bréifne O’Rourke,
while Cavan was Bréifne O’Reilly. The O’Rourkes ruled the territory
for more than 700 years until the final dispossessions of the seventeenth
century. A number of the sept (branch of a clan) remained in the North
West of Ireland and became established in Hi Fiachrach, which at one
time encompassed what is now Mayo and Sligo in Connaught. The McGrails
were described in Milesian Families as being of the "Hy-Brune" tribe.
Some sources claim that the McGrail Clan is of Dalriadan origin, and
specifically from the line of King Dalriadan Fergus Mor MacEarca. This
King was banished from Ireland along with 350 chiftains, in 327 AD.
In the 17th and 18th Century, the McNeill's sent 58 families from the
Western Isles of Scotland to Ireland, and they originally settled in
Antrim and Derry. This was a time of great social upheaval and religious
turmoil in Scotland, where the native Catholic population was being
forced to convert to the "new" church. Those who resisted were either
banished, hanged, or burned alive. Many of the MacNeills, however, remained
true to their Faith, owing in part, to the strength of their Chieftains
and the might of their arms in the Hebrides and Western Isles.
A branch of the Dumbartonshire MacAulays came to the Glens of Antrim
with the MacDonnells in the early sixteenth century and these are the
ancestors of most of the MacAuleys in Co. Antrim. In the mid-nineteenth
century MacAuley was the most common name in the barony of Lower Glenarm
and was also very common in Carey.
This Donegal name is from MacColl, Gaelic Mac Colla, the name of a gallowglass
family introduced there from Argyllshire in the sixteenth century. Colla
was a Gaelic personal name and Colla Uais, a semi-legendary Irish king
of the fourth century, is claimed as the great ancestor of the MacDonalds.
The MacCalls or MacColls, long settled in Argyllshire, were of the race
of Clan Donald but in practice followed the Stewarts of Appin. Although
of no connection with the Ulster MacCalls or MacCauls, there has been
some intermingling of the two names (MacCall).
Some notable Chieftains of Bara include Neil MacNeill (5th chief) who
led the Clan in helping defeat the Norse at the Battle of Largs in 1293.
His son, fought with Robert the Bruce. In the 1600's the15th chief,
Rauri MacNeill ("Rauri the Turbulent") , was a skilled seaman and notorious
pirate, who used Castle Kisimul as his base of operation and stronghold.
He was imprisoned in Edinburgh in 1610 after being deposed by his nephew
and replaced by his son. The MacNeill Clan fought on the side of the
Jacobites in 1715, and were led by Roderich Dhu (18th chief). Later,
in the aftermath of the second rebellion, the English would invade Bara
in their hunt for Charles Edward Stewart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"),
and the reigning MacNeill arrested and held for a yeare in London.