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Somerled MacGillebride MacGilladamnan, was the historic founder of Clann Domhnaill and as the heads of the ancient race of Conn, and the lineal heirs of the kings of the Dalriadic Scots. Somerled's defeat of the Norse King of Man in 1156 gained independence for southwestern Scotland that survived for over four centuries. A local tradition in Skye tells that the Islesmen held a council at which they decided to offer Somerled the chiefship, to be his and his descendants forever.
Somerled, Rex Insularum, took his place as a leader of men, from whom descended a race of Kings, a dynasty distinguished in the stormy history of the Middle Ages, who ranked themselves before the Scottish Kings. This Sumarliði or Somerled, the celebrated ruler of Argyle, who is also mentioned in the Orkney Saga, and in the saga of King Hacon Haconsson as the founder of his dynasty, is styled king or " petty king" only in this Chronicle and the Irish annals. The sagas do not mention his father, but from a genealogy, preserved it would seem among his descendants, the Mac Donalds, and printed in Johnstone’s Antiquitates Celto-Norinannicæ, p. 152, we learn that he was son of Gilbrigid, and grandson of Gil-Adomnan.a Skene (Highlanders in Scotland, V. ii. p. 40, 41) informs us, from two curious old Gaelic MSS., that Gil-Adoninan was driven out from his possessions in Scotland by the violence of the Lochians and Fingalls (i.e., the Norwegians), and took refuge in Ireland, and that Gillebridd, as it would appear, made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal lands, which, however, was at last effected by Somerled, who " put himself at the head of the inhabitants of Morven, and by a series of rapid attacks succeeded, after considerable struggle, in expelling the Norwegians, and making himself master of the whole of Morven, Lochaber, and north Argyle," to which he soon afterwards added the southern district of Argyle. Perhaps we may be able to carry the genealogy still farther up than to Gil-Adomnan.
In the Annals of the Four Masters it is stated that "Somerled, son of Gilbrigid, king of Innsie Gall " (i.e., the Sudreys), died in 1083. It seems evident from the repetition of the personal names that this Somerled was the father of Gil-Adomnan, and that, being originally and properly Lord of Argyle, he had also acquired some of the adjacent isles, as Jura, Mull, etc., enough to procure him the title of Insular king. We might even be inclined to think that Gil-Adomnan, being, as we presume, his son, was expelled his dominions by Gødred of Man, not, as Mr. Skene suggests, by Magnus of Norway, who already found Godred and Lagman fully established in the Isles. Indeed the chief family possessions of Gødred, being as demonstrated above, the island of Isla, which is next to Jura and Argyle, we may guess that not only in the earlier years of Gødred, before he conquered Man, but even in the times of their respective ancestors, there existed constant feuds between both families, such as generally used to rage among neigh-bouring clans in those days, and that the expulsion of Gil-Adoninan to Ireland was only a continuation of ancient conflicts. The Norwegian name of Somerled, which appears twice in the dynasty, indicates some connection with Norwegian families, and that the powerful Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson, the father of Thorfinn the Mighty, had really a son his first-born, named Somerled, while the husband of his great granddaughter, the Sudreyan earl, is called " Gille " (i.e., Gilbrigid, Gilchrist, Gil-Adomnan, Domnansson, or another similar name). It is rather likely that Somerled the elder was a descendant of the Håkons, Canmores, Magnus I, and Dublin and Cearbhall of Ossory. Earl " Gille " by the great granddaughter of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson, as well as that of one of Earl Sigurd’s sons Brusee or Thorfinn, was derived from the same common ancestor such as Bruce. It is even probable that Somerled of the Isles, who seems to have been born about 1020, was immediately named after the Orkneyan earl who died about that time.
Somerled's successors, who eventually emerged as the Lords of the Isles, were nominally under the sovereignty of Norway until the late thirteenth century. However, they were Gaelic in language and culture rather than Norse. As with any successful kindred, the MacSorleys formed new lineages. Within a century of Somerled's death, the MacDougalls, named for Dugald son of Somerled, ruled in Lorne and Mull. Two kindreds traced their descent to Ranald son of Somerled, the MacRuaris of Garmoran, from Ruari son of Ranald, and the MacDonalds of Islay, from Angus Mor son of Donald son of Ranald.
In 1156, Donald, the son of Malcolm, endeavoured to renew the contest, but he was captured in Galloway, and sent to share his father’s imprisonment. the captivity of his son bowed the spirit of the fat Tier, and he came to terms with Malcolm IV the Maiden., by whom lie was lil)el-ated in 1157. His name appears amongst the signatures in the chartulary of Dunfermline, where, with the leading nobles of the country, he was no doubt in attendance at the court of his youthful sovereign.
The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger son of the same potentate sprang the Lords of Lorne, who took the patronymic of Macdougall. John Macdonald of Islay, who died about 1386, was the first to adopt the title of Lord of the Isles. He was one of the most potent of the island princes, and was married to a daughter of the Earl of Strathearn afterwards Robert II. Flis son, Donald of the Isles, was memorable for his rebellion in support of his claim to the earldom of Ross, in which, however, he was unsuccessful.
Alexander, son of Donald, resumed the hereditary warfare against the Scottish crown; and in 1462 a treaty was concluded between Alexander~ son and successor John and Edward IV. of England, by whicl John, his son John, and his cousin Donald Balloch, becami bound to assist King Edward and James, earl of Douglas, in subduing the kingdom of Scotland. The alliance seems to have led to no active operations. In the reign of James V. another John of Islay resumed the title of Lord of the Isles, but was compelled to surrender the dignity. The glory of the lordship of the islesthe insular sovereigntyhad departed. From the time of Bruce the Campbells had been gaining the ascendancy in Argyll. The Macleans, Macnaughtons, Maclachlans, Lamonts, and other ancient races had sunk before this favored family. The lordship of Lorne was wrested from the Macdougalls by Robert Bruce, and their extensive possessions, with Dunstaffnage Castle, bestowed on the kings relative, Stewart, and his descendants, afterwards lords of Lorne.
The Macdonalds of Sleat, the direct representatives of Somerled, though driven from Islay and deprived of supreme power by James V., still kept a sort of insular state in Skye. There were also the Macdonalds of Clanranald and Glengarry (descendants of Somerled), with the powerful houses of Macleod of Dunvegan and Macleod of Harris, MacNeill of Barra and Maclean of Mull. Sanguinary feuds continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries among these rival clans and their dependent tribes, and the turbulent spirit was not subdued till a comparatively recent period. James VI. made an abortive endeavour to colonize Lewis. William III. and Queen Anne attempted to subsidize the chiefs in order to preserve tranquillity, but the wars of Montrose and Dundee, and the Jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745, showed how futile were all such efforts.
It was not till 1748, when a decisive blow was struck at the power of the chiefs by the abolition of heritable jurisdictions, and the appointment of sheriffs in the different districts, that the arts of peace and social improvement made way in these remote regions. The change was great, and at first not unmixed with evil. A new system of management and high rents were imposed, in consequence of which numbers of the tacksmen, or large tenants, emigrated to North America. The exodus continued for many years. Sheep-farming on a large scale was next introduced, and the crofters were thrust into villages or barren corners of the land. The result was that, despite the numbers who entered the army or emigrated to Canada, the standard of civilization sank lower, and the population multiplied in the islands.