It was the great age of the work songs and of the classical bagpipe music in Gaelic history. Some of the poetry and prose was contained in three 17th-century manuscripts. The first two were the Black Book of Clanranald and the Red Book of Clanranald, written by members of the MacMhuirich family, who were latterly hereditary bards to the MacDonalds of Clanranald. In a Gaelic MS. of 1450, containing genealogies of several Highland families, and published with an English translation in The Transactions of the Iona Club, an ancestor of the Macleans is also mentioned as Gilleoin, son of Macrath (Gilleain me Icrait). This helps to confirm the tradition mentioned below, that the Macraes, Mackenzies, and Macleans were of the same ancestry, but it is not easy to make anything satisfactory out of those old genealogies. In a genealogy of the Mackenzies contained in The Black Book of Clanranald, we find it stated that Gilleoin of the Aird, from whom the old Earls Gillanders of Ross and the Mackenzies of Kintail are traced, was the son of Macrath (McRrath).
The MacDonalds of Clan Ranald are descended from Ranald, son of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles. John of Islay inherited lands between the Great Glen and the Outer Hebrides through his marriage to Amie MacRuari, the heiress to the great Lordship of Garmoran. Ranald was therefore the heir to the Chief of Clan Donald. However the succesion did not pass to him but to his younger half brother Domhnall whose mother was Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II of Scotland. In 1373 Ranald received a charter confirmed to him by his father John. The charter was for the greater part of the MacRuari inheritance including the districts of Moidart, Arisaig and Lochaber. Ranald had five sons. The eldest was called Alan who succeeded as Chief of the Clan Ranald branch and Clan Donald itself. Alan's brother Donald succeeded as Chief of Clan MacDonnell of Glengarry. The Glengarry clan claims descent from Donald, one of the five sons of Ranald, the founder of Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald who himself was a son of King Somerled. The principal families descended from the house of Glengarry were the McDonnells of Barrisdale, in Knoydart, Greenfield, and Lundie.
Like the Clan MacDougall, the MacDonalds trace their ancestry to King Somerled of the Isles. The MacDougalls descend from Somerled's eldest son Dugall. The clan takes its name from Dougall, a son of Somerled, who, after his father's death in 1164, held most of Argyll and also the islands of Mull, Lismore, Jura, Tiree, Coll and many others.
King Somerled's second son was called Ranald who was the the founder of the Clan MacDonald of Clan Ranald branch. Ranald had a son called Donald who was the founder of what would become the main Clan Donald. Somerled was killed fighting King Malcolm IV of Scotland in 1164. Clan MacDonald or Donald is one of the oldest, one of the largest and probably the most famous of all Highland Scottish clans. The clan's Celtic history dates back beyond the 6th century AD to the great clans of the country which is now known as Ireland. These ancient MacDonald ancestors are regarded as the heads of the ancient race of 'Conn' and the lineal Kings of Dalriadic Scotland. The clan takes its name 'Donald' from the first name of the 1st Lord of the Isles who was the grandson of King Somerled who lived until 1269. Donald's son was the original 'Mac' which means 'son of'. It was Donald's great grandson, Angus Og who was the 6th Lord of the Isles who sheltered King Robert the Bruce. In recognition of Clan Donalds support King Robert the Bruce proclaimed that Clan Donald would always occupy the honored position on the right wing of the Scottish army. In 1380 the Clan MacLean, Clan MacLeod and Clan MacKinnon were together all defeated in battle by Donald Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, who vindicated his right as Lord of the Isles.
The CLANRANALD MACDONALDS of GARMORAN are descended from Ranald, younger son of John, first Lord of the Isles, by his first wife, Amy, heiress of the MacRorys or Macruaries of Garmoran. In 1373 he received a grant of the North Isles, Garmoran, and other lands, to be held of John, Lord of the Isles, and his heirs. His descendants comprehended the families of Moydart, Morar, Knoydart, and Glengarry, and came in time to form the most numerous tribe of the Clandonald, Alexander Macruari of Moydart, chief of the Clanranald, was one of the principal chiefs seized by James I, at Inverness in 1427, and soon after beheaded. Alan MacRanald as he was known died in his Castle Tioram in 1419. He was succeeded by his son Roderick who was a staunch supporter of MacDonald Lord of the Isles. Roderick died in 1481 and was succeeded by his son who like his grandfather was also called Allen. Alan was a capable and warlike chief. He led raids into Lochabar and Badenoch in 1491 which culminated in the capture of Inverness Castle.
The great-grandson of Ranald, named Allan Macruari, who became chief of the Clanranald in 1481, was one of the principal supporters of Angus, the young Lord of the Isles, at the battle of Bloody Bay, and he likewise followed Alexander of Lochalsh, nephew of the Lord of the Isles, in his invasion of Ross and Cromarty in 1491, when he received a large portion of the booty taken on the occasion. Raid on Ross-shire 1491, Ewen Cameron XIII Chief of Clan Cameron and a large body of Camerons, joined by Alexander MacDonald of Lochalsh, Clan Ranald of Garmoran and Lochaber and the Chattan Confederation - who they must have made peace with on a raid into the county of Ross-shire. During the raid they clashed with the Clan MacKenzie of Kintail. They then advanced from Lochaber to Badennoch where they were even joined by the Clan MacKintosh. They then proceeded to Inverness where they stormed Inverness Castle and MacKintosh placed a garrison in it. The Lords of Lochalsh appear at this time to have had strong claims upon the Camerons to follow them in the field. They were superiors under the Lord of the Isles of the lands of Lochiel in Lochaber, in addition to the claims of a close marriage alliance (Ewen married a daughter of Celestine of Lochalsh). This would serve to explain the quite unusual mutual participation under a common banner between the Camerons and Mackintoshes in this raid.