THE CONCOCTED 1308 ‘DEPOSITION’ OF CHIEF ALAXANDAIR OG.
STATEMENT :
Alaxandair OG's branch :- "Undoubtedly in the light of primogeniture they were the senior family of the line of Somerled”. "Were" is the operative word and it is simply so because:-
(A) Alaxandair Og was killed in 1299;
(B) His brother, Angus Og the tanist, became Chief.
It is that straightforward and perfectly normal. Any other version “is the most extraordinary collation of historical untruths." "There is nothing to distinguish between the two brothers” [Lamont, Dr. W. D. (1981), "Alexander of Islay, Son of Angus Mór", The Scottish Historical Review 60 (170, part 2): 160–169, JSTOR 25529420]
“MacDomhnaill Gallόglach, Clann Alasdair”
(Dr. K. Simms)
STATEMENT :
- The Clan Chief, Alaxandair Og de Hyle, son of Angus Mor, son of Donald was killed in 1299.
- The story of his deposition in 1308 was a later political fabrication and is untrue.
- The disparaging statement “deposed 1308” has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt to be a complete falsehood and a revival of an ancient political concoction of no current import.
Alaxandair OG's branch :- "Undoubtedly in the light of primogeniture they were the senior family of the line of Somerled”. "Were" is the operative word and it is simply so because:-
(A) Alaxandair Og was killed in 1299;
(B) His brother, Angus Og the tanist, became Chief.
It is that straightforward and perfectly normal. Any other version “is the most extraordinary collation of historical untruths." "There is nothing to distinguish between the two brothers” [Lamont, Dr. W. D. (1981), "Alexander of Islay, Son of Angus Mór", The Scottish Historical Review 60 (170, part 2): 160–169, JSTOR 25529420]
- “Unfortunately, neither the original ‘CLAN DONALD 1896 - 1904’, although a most useful quarry, nor D J Macdonald of Castleton’s more recent ‘Clan Donald’, can be relied on.” [MacDonald and MacRuari Pedigrees in MS 1467, West Highland Notes & Queries, (1986), WDH Sellar Esq.]
- “Although married (Alaxandair Og) to Alexander MacDougall’s daughter, he was bitterly opposed to the Lord of Argyll who was a loyal adherent of Balliol and Comyns”. Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow; DLitt FBA, FRSE, Honorary FSA Scot. Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, and arguably the most prominent Scottish medievalist of the last century. Barrow, GWS; “Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, Edinburgh; p.57 ; 1965; 4th Ed, 2005.
- “The identity of Alexander MacDonald [k.1299 Ireland] has been disputed, but there can be little doubt that this was the Lord of Islay, son of Angus Mor, and leader of his kindred.” WDH Sellar (now Lord Lyon) : Hebridean Sea-Kings in “ALBA : Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages”. Ed. EJ Cowan and R A McDonald. 2000. p 213.
- “The McAlisters of Loup in Kintyre also descended from Alexander the younger [Alaxandair Og] rather than, as has been previously assumed, from his uncle is certainly correct.” (Dr. K Nicholls; World of the Galloglass 1200-1600; p.98; 2007.)
Hopefully the "Clan MacAllisters of Loup", etc, who read and discuss what is said here will consider abandoning the mistakes, confusion and injustice of the past century and discontinue what amounts to the perpetuation of the corrupt historicity, that’s been in effect on their own true founder:-
Alaxandair OG, k.1299.
HIS SONS, IN BOTH IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
“MacDomhnaill Gallόglach, Clann Alasdair”
(Dr. K. Simms)
alaxandair_og_pedigree_chart.pdf | |
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Video :- Tyrone & Armagh MacDhomnaill Galloglaigh - Heriditary “Ard constapla coicidh Uladh”, High Constable, of Ulster to "The O'Neill"; c.1300-1600. See Tullahogue, the O'Neill king's crowning site and some weapons, including :- a 16th Century Axe Head from the Blackwater R., Clonteevy, Tyrone, near Macdonnell territory, as expressed about them, c1600, the “Galloglass under the Blackwater”. They were the only Galloglaigh dynasty in Tyrone and Armagh - and for three centuries. It has been classed (Museum, Belfast) and mentioned, as similar to the axe depicted in the O’Neill inauguration c1600 map - with the Macdonnell Constable, Emann Og, holding it high (UJA, VOL 60: Antiquities from the River Blackwater (III) -Iron Axe Heads; 2001). It is made from a single folded piece of iron with silver foil decoration of “Celtic” designs. It’s obviously an axe for a high status leader, used as an authority symbol and ceremonially, but also it’s a recognised fighting weapon style. A rare style and quite significantly, mainly only found within miles of the areas that Macdomnaill Galloglaigh owned and occupied – ref. UJA above). The blade is 30cm long (replica in large photo above and in video).
SUMMARY.
There is little awareness of the historical significance and relevance of the Macdonnell Galloglass - “Second only to the MacDonalds in their importance as galloglaigh were the MacSweenys”[1]. All the main Galloglaigh dynasties were descended from the Norse-Gaelic aristocracy of Argyll and the Isles and yet their story has been called “a forgotten chapter in West Highland history” (Galloglass; Marsden). Most are the seed of Somerled, in particular the Clann Domhnaill.
The Clan Donnell Galloglaigh began the quest to extricate Ireland from Norman invasion from the middle of the 13th century and were the “decisive military component in the Gaelic Irish resurgence and the cutting edge of resistance to Tudor reconquest two centuries later”[2]. It can be worn as a badge of honour that Sir Henry Bagenal in 1592 blamed the Galloglaigh for being “the firebrand and nurse of rebellion”.
The propagandist “view of Ireland as essentially a land of war in which peace occasionally and fitfully breaks out - is in large measure a [“distorted”] caricature : there was scarcely a society in medieval Europe in which “endemic warfare” was not a feature”. [3] The truth about Ireland’s customs, culture, society, history in general has suffered great distortion at the impartial hands of the victors over nearly a whole millennium. The English will have you believe they themselves smell like [Tudor] roses – a grand delusion. To give just one example is the thirty-two year War of the Roses (1455-1487). Dr. Geoffrey Keating, 1861, has put it more succinctly and vividly [4]. An extract, minus the "sordid inclination" of the dung beetle :- "Dr Keating's Preface : Thus the above-mentioned authors proceed when they write of this kingdom: what was worthy or commendable in the Irish nobility and gentry, they pass over. They take no notice of their piety, learning, and courage, of their charitable disposition to build churches and religious houses, or of the great privileges and endowments they conferred and settled upon them: they omit to speak of the protection and encouragement they gave to then historiographers, and to other men of learning, to whom their liberality was so abounding, that they not only relieved the indigency of those who made their applications to them, but made public invitations to find an opportunity to bestow gratifications upon persons of merit and desert. They forget to mention their virtues and commendable actions; but, in their accounts of this kingdom, these authors dwell upon the manners of the lower and baser sort of people, relate idle and fabulous stories, invented on purpose to amuse the vulgar and ignorant, and pass overall that might be said with justice, to the honour of the nobility and gentry of this nation."(1861).
[NB: This is no different to what has happened to the history of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. As relayed to me recently by an eminent academic in Scotland :- "The Lordship and its culture have been poorly served by historians in Scotland [acknowledged by Historic Scotland], also the history of Gaelic Scotland generally." Another Dr. of history relayed to me that this is one backdrop to the recurring attempts by some for the "dehibernisation of the history of the Western Isles". That all this is certainly not romantic imagination, is evidenced by Clan Chief, Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll stating on TV (New York Times, 24 Apr 2001.) :- "He provoked another uproar, this time among Scottish nationalists in 1995, when in a television documentary he pronounced himself ''very satisfied with the result'' of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, when British Redcoats crushed the ''Forty-Five'' Jacobite uprising and drove Bonnie Prince Charlie, the young pretender, into exile. ''The battle,'' the duke said, put an end ''to all this Highland nonsense and dragged the clans into a comparatively modern world", "ending what he called ''400 years of barbarism.'']
The 'nobilis' Macdonnell (and MacSheehy) Chiefs led their influential military forces in at least three potential overthrows of centuries of English domination. On one hand, allianced to the gaelicised Anglo-Irish Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare (Silken Thomas 1534-35) and of Desmond, Munster (James & Gerald 1569-71, 1579-83) and thirdly to the Gaelic Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone (1602). All would–be Kings of Ireland, but none of them emulated The Bruce at Bannockburn.
The Clan Donald of Scotland and Ireland soldiered on, many times side by side, from the Bruce campaign (10 battles, 1315-18) right through scores of battles to Flodden 1513, the Nine Years War (12 battles to 1602), the devastating Civil Wars of The Three Kingdoms, (33 battles 1641-52), the Inglorious Revolution, (13 battles, 1689-91), Culloden 1746; United Irishmen (20 battles, Irish Catholic and Scots-Irish Protestants as allies, 1798- 1804); The Fenian Rising 1867, The Easter Rising 1916….and finally the Irish War of Independence 1920-21 which at last saw Ireland throw off English domination. A momentous, continuous battle for freedom that lasted from 1166 to 1916…….750 years (1000 years counting the Viking wars for the previous three centuries!).
That, is staying power; that, is determination; that, is justice, and something any country is right to be proud of (more so than even America’s Independence from Britain) and the Macdonnell Galloglaigh with their descendant soldiers, played a historic and often key role in this epic saga for 500 years.
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[1] Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland 1565-1603; Gerard A Hayes-McCoy; 1937; p30
[2] Galloglass; Marsden. Back Cover.
[3] Military History of Ireland; Ed .T. Bartlett (Dublin Uni) and K Jeffery (Uni. of Ulster, Jordanstown); 1966. Cambridge Uni Press. Chapter 1 “An Irish Military Tradition?”, by the Editors; p.6.
[4] A General history of Ireland (1861). G Keating. "Dr. Keating's Preface"; XV.
There is little awareness of the historical significance and relevance of the Macdonnell Galloglass - “Second only to the MacDonalds in their importance as galloglaigh were the MacSweenys”[1]. All the main Galloglaigh dynasties were descended from the Norse-Gaelic aristocracy of Argyll and the Isles and yet their story has been called “a forgotten chapter in West Highland history” (Galloglass; Marsden). Most are the seed of Somerled, in particular the Clann Domhnaill.
The Clan Donnell Galloglaigh began the quest to extricate Ireland from Norman invasion from the middle of the 13th century and were the “decisive military component in the Gaelic Irish resurgence and the cutting edge of resistance to Tudor reconquest two centuries later”[2]. It can be worn as a badge of honour that Sir Henry Bagenal in 1592 blamed the Galloglaigh for being “the firebrand and nurse of rebellion”.
The propagandist “view of Ireland as essentially a land of war in which peace occasionally and fitfully breaks out - is in large measure a [“distorted”] caricature : there was scarcely a society in medieval Europe in which “endemic warfare” was not a feature”. [3] The truth about Ireland’s customs, culture, society, history in general has suffered great distortion at the impartial hands of the victors over nearly a whole millennium. The English will have you believe they themselves smell like [Tudor] roses – a grand delusion. To give just one example is the thirty-two year War of the Roses (1455-1487). Dr. Geoffrey Keating, 1861, has put it more succinctly and vividly [4]. An extract, minus the "sordid inclination" of the dung beetle :- "Dr Keating's Preface : Thus the above-mentioned authors proceed when they write of this kingdom: what was worthy or commendable in the Irish nobility and gentry, they pass over. They take no notice of their piety, learning, and courage, of their charitable disposition to build churches and religious houses, or of the great privileges and endowments they conferred and settled upon them: they omit to speak of the protection and encouragement they gave to then historiographers, and to other men of learning, to whom their liberality was so abounding, that they not only relieved the indigency of those who made their applications to them, but made public invitations to find an opportunity to bestow gratifications upon persons of merit and desert. They forget to mention their virtues and commendable actions; but, in their accounts of this kingdom, these authors dwell upon the manners of the lower and baser sort of people, relate idle and fabulous stories, invented on purpose to amuse the vulgar and ignorant, and pass overall that might be said with justice, to the honour of the nobility and gentry of this nation."(1861).
[NB: This is no different to what has happened to the history of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. As relayed to me recently by an eminent academic in Scotland :- "The Lordship and its culture have been poorly served by historians in Scotland [acknowledged by Historic Scotland], also the history of Gaelic Scotland generally." Another Dr. of history relayed to me that this is one backdrop to the recurring attempts by some for the "dehibernisation of the history of the Western Isles". That all this is certainly not romantic imagination, is evidenced by Clan Chief, Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll stating on TV (New York Times, 24 Apr 2001.) :- "He provoked another uproar, this time among Scottish nationalists in 1995, when in a television documentary he pronounced himself ''very satisfied with the result'' of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, when British Redcoats crushed the ''Forty-Five'' Jacobite uprising and drove Bonnie Prince Charlie, the young pretender, into exile. ''The battle,'' the duke said, put an end ''to all this Highland nonsense and dragged the clans into a comparatively modern world", "ending what he called ''400 years of barbarism.'']
The 'nobilis' Macdonnell (and MacSheehy) Chiefs led their influential military forces in at least three potential overthrows of centuries of English domination. On one hand, allianced to the gaelicised Anglo-Irish Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare (Silken Thomas 1534-35) and of Desmond, Munster (James & Gerald 1569-71, 1579-83) and thirdly to the Gaelic Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone (1602). All would–be Kings of Ireland, but none of them emulated The Bruce at Bannockburn.
The Clan Donald of Scotland and Ireland soldiered on, many times side by side, from the Bruce campaign (10 battles, 1315-18) right through scores of battles to Flodden 1513, the Nine Years War (12 battles to 1602), the devastating Civil Wars of The Three Kingdoms, (33 battles 1641-52), the Inglorious Revolution, (13 battles, 1689-91), Culloden 1746; United Irishmen (20 battles, Irish Catholic and Scots-Irish Protestants as allies, 1798- 1804); The Fenian Rising 1867, The Easter Rising 1916….and finally the Irish War of Independence 1920-21 which at last saw Ireland throw off English domination. A momentous, continuous battle for freedom that lasted from 1166 to 1916…….750 years (1000 years counting the Viking wars for the previous three centuries!).
That, is staying power; that, is determination; that, is justice, and something any country is right to be proud of (more so than even America’s Independence from Britain) and the Macdonnell Galloglaigh with their descendant soldiers, played a historic and often key role in this epic saga for 500 years.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland 1565-1603; Gerard A Hayes-McCoy; 1937; p30
[2] Galloglass; Marsden. Back Cover.
[3] Military History of Ireland; Ed .T. Bartlett (Dublin Uni) and K Jeffery (Uni. of Ulster, Jordanstown); 1966. Cambridge Uni Press. Chapter 1 “An Irish Military Tradition?”, by the Editors; p.6.
[4] A General history of Ireland (1861). G Keating. "Dr. Keating's Preface"; XV.