IONA ABBEY & CLAN DONALD
IAN ROSS MACDONNELL
  • PURPOSE OF SITE
  • 1.] ABBEY: KINGS/LORDS ENDOW-FINANCE & SUPERINTEND-BUILD.
    • 2) "THE McDONALD" ABBEY HEIRS: Feudal tenure -"Functional Reciprosity".
    • 3) ABBEY "COLLAPSED, IMPOVERISHED": Heirs enforce "Conditionality of Endowment". *MACDONALDS raise Cathedral.
  • 1.] OVERVIEW - PAMPHLET
    • (2.) Charts of Kings/Lords of Isles & Iona
    • (3.) Summary of book's findings.
  • BOOK "CLAN DONALD & IONA ABBEY" - FULL CONTENTS LISTED HERE
    • INTRODUCTION
    • 1. Somerled
    • 2. Reginald
    • 3. Rauri
    • 4. Donald - Clan Founder
    • 5. Eirinn, Birthplace of Somereld and Clan Donald.
    • 6. Most Ancient Graveyard in all Scotland
    • EPILOGUE: Purgatory->Indulgences-> Reformation
  • 1.] IONA INTERPRETATION FAULTS
    • (2.) Main issue is with 5th and 8th Earls of Argyll
  • 1.] ST ORAN'S CEMETERY
    • (2.) Teampeall Odhrain. Tumulus Regum Insularum - Tomb of the King of the Isles
    • (3) Secondary burial - "tradition of the country"
  • 1.] KINGS & LORDS OF THE ISLES - GRAVESLAB ATTRIBUTION
    • [2] BURIAL INTERPRETATION, BODY PARTS, MONUMENT LOCATIONS and ATTRIBUTIONS >
      • a. "FULL NOBLE BODY" - "Good John" eviscerated?
    • [3] Other notable Clan Donald inscibed monuments
  • ANGUS OG's GRAVESLAB No. 150 - SAVIOR OF "THE BRUCE"
  • 1.] ECCLESIASTICAL MACALLISTER NOBLEMEN
    • (2.) Their descent from Alaxandair OG (complete Attachment) >
      • Chart A. From Alaxandair OG, k.1299, Undeposed Chief
      • Chart B. Alaster MOR (is NOT their ancestor)
      • Chart C. Abbots of Iona and Saddell
  • 1.] "HAND OF ST COLUMBA" BODY PART RELIQUARY
    • (2.) Golden Chalice, Plunder of Iona - Macleans of Duart & Glengarry
  • 1.] CATHEDRAL OF THE ISLES RAISED BY LORDS OF ISLES
    • (2.) Plaque for Clan Donald's Cathedral of the Isles.
  • 1.] ARGYLL EARLS STRIP, DESTROY AND PLUNDER IONA
    • (2.) 8th Duke of Argyll "Recrudescence of Romanism" >
      • 3. 19th century looting
  • 20th CENTURY IONA ABBEY RESTORATION
  • IONA COMMUNITY
  • HISTORIC SCOTLAND IONA INTERPRETATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE
  • CLAN DONALD SERVICE, MICHAEL CHAPEL
  • 1.] THE BOOK'S DEVELOPMENT & AUTHOR
    • (2.) SUMMARY of book's findings
    • (3.) Comments about book
  • 1.] BIBLIOGRAPHY
    • [2]. FILES OF MINE - LINKS
    • RANALDUS
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • MAPS
  • WEB SITES
  • CONTACT - BUY BOOK
  • BLOG
    • FREDERICK JOHN GRICE; ANZAC-100
  • GLOSSARY
  • Clan Donald Society Genealogy
I have deliberately avoided mentioning the “Clan  Campbell” wherever I can because the  issues canvassed  involve personal decisions  and actions of two past Earls, and them alone (stripping, destruction, looting, loss of records, etc). I don’t, and no one should,  impugn the entire Clan Campbell, of any period, and all the headship (if that needs to be said  at all).  I’m not laying this at  the feet of every Campbell clansmen who ever lived. And neither am I running  with the hare and hunting with the hounds.  All, or most, clans have some episodes  which they’d rather forget concerning a particular past Chief, or two.  And it must (again, and continue to) be widely and loudly acknowledged  that many Campbell clansmen and women have made significant, valuable contributions towards Iona’s rebirth from the mid 19th century’s Iona Club, The Cathedral  Trust, the Iona Community and other varied and important ways right to the  present.   

The chapter of the book, Earls and Dukes of Argyll and Iona Abbey, is  about explaining in a transparent manner, a fuller  history of Iona Abbey from 1493 by more of the known facts and dispersing the  political smoke clouding the issue. The fire has gone out, but it continues to  glow brightly, and warmly, in this locality. Winston Churchill :   “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” Some  localised heat may possibly be regenerated.  Churchill also said :- “Courage is  what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down  and listen.” 

 I have  also made it clear that the chapter is much less a criticism of the 8th Duke,  than a statement on other’s ‘hagiographic gloss’ on him and their thinness of cause and affect.   

The 8th Duke  said he listened to what Tennyson called “the two voices - a disposition to accept all received opinions with great reserve”.  (Memoirs; I; p.167).   A sit-down service for Clan Donald and Clan Campbell in Iona Abbey Church is something I have always thought would be cathartic.   Maybe in 2013, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Iona  Community. Or better still, 2014, the 700th Anniversary of Bannockburn where we  fought side by side for the freedom, the independence  of Scotland with Angus Og’s mother  being the daughter of Sir Colin Campbell of  Lochow. And, the mother of the very last Clan Donald Lord of The Isles, Donald  Dhu, was the daughter of the Earl of Argyll (there are more examples).  The two clans are on very good terms today, all around the globe, and it could  be organised.
 
If there is any place in the world where goodwill can be experienced it is on sacred Icolmkill, especially with the Iona Community  and their “quiet peacemaking in our neighbourhoods and  families”. 




Picture
Picture
Picture
IAN  R.  MACDONNELL,   MELBOURNE,  AUSTRALIA -  DEC 2012.     ©    International rights reserved : Moral, Economic, Attribution.                                                                                                                                                          
HOME                                                 CONTACT                                                   YOUTUBE -CLAN DONALD SERVICE , IONA

Picture
Picture