Rí Innsi Gall, Rí Fionnghall, Ceannas nan Gàidheal: Sovereignty and rhetoric in the late Medieval Hebrides

Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies

Volumn 43, Issue , 2002, Pages 25-47

  McLeod, Wilson ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 60949908007     PISSN: 13530089     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. The Annals of Loch Cé [ALC], edited by William M. Hennessy, 2 vols (London, 1871);
2. The Annals of Tigernach [AT], edited by Whitley Stokes (Felinfach, 1993)
3. The Annals of Ulster [AU], edited by Scan Mac Airt and Gearold Mac Niocaill (Dublin. 1983) (for the period 431-1131);
4. Annala Uladh: Annals of Ulster [AU], edited by William M. Hennessy and Bartholomew MacCarthy, 4 vols (Dublin, 1887-1901) (for the period 115-1-1588);
5. Islandske Annaler indtil 1578 [Icelandic Annals], edited by Gustav Storm (Christiania [Oslo], 1888);
6. The Chronicle of Melrose [Chronicle of Melrose], edited by A. O. Anderson and M. 0. Anderson (London, 1936);
7. Reliquiae Celticae: Texts, Papers, and Studies in Gaelic Literature and Philology Left by the Late Rev. Alexander Cameron, LL.D., edited by Alexander MacBain and John Kennedy, 2 vols (Inverness, 1894), II, 156.
8. See VV. D. H. Sellar, 'The Origins and Ancestry of Somerled', Scottish Historical Review, 45 (1966), 123-42.
9. Icelandic Annals, version C, p. 131 (s.a. 1248) (relating the death of Arailt mac Amhlaíbh) (quoted in Early Sources of Scottish History, A.D. 500-1286, edited by Alan Orr Anderson, 2 vols (repr. Stamford, 1990), II, 551).
10. See W. D. H. Sellar, 'Hebridean Sea-Kings: The Successors of Somerled, 1164-1316', in Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, edited by E. J. Cowan and R. Andrew McDonald (East Linton, 2000), pp. 187-218 (pp. 191-93).
11. Sellar, 'Hebridean Sea-Kings', pp. 191-93;
12. Registrum Magni Sigillii Regum Scotorum: The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1424-1513, edited by James Balfour Paul, 11 vols (Edinburgh, 1882-1914), II, no. 3170.
13. Donald J. MacDonald, Clan Donald (Loanhead, 1978), p. 35.
14. Note that this seal does not survive and is known only by virtue of a fifteenth-century description of it. See R. Andrew McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard, c 1100-c 1336 (East Linton, 1997), p. 75.
15. 'Fuaras aisgidh gun iarraidh' ('I have received a present I sought not'), §3 (published in Aithdioghluim Dána: A Miscellany of Irish Bardic Poetry, edited by Lambert McKenna, 2 vols, Irish Texts Society, 37 and 40 (Dublin, 1939-40), poem 29).
16. Osborn Bergin, 'IGT V. Metrical Faults', Érin, 17 (1955), 259-93 (p. 269).
17. and MacDonald, Clan Donald, p. 35.
18. The entry in AFM s.a. 1083 is problematic, giving Somerled's death 81 years too early, and the form of its style should not be given much evidentiary weight. See Woolf, 'Gofraid mac Fergusa and the Annals of the Four Masters'.
19. Historians have disagreed about the identity of this 'Mac Somairle'. Compare McDonald, Kingdom of the Isles, p. 94
20. arguing for Donnchadh mac Dubhghaill mhic Somhairle, with Seán Duffy, 'The Bruce Brothers and the Irish Sea World, 1306-29', CMCS, 21 (Summer 1991), 55-87 (p. 68)
21. arguing for Domhnall mac Raghnaill mhic Somhairle, and Sellar, 'Hebridean Sea-Kings', p. 201, arguing for Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill mhic Somhairle.
22. John Bannerman, 'The Lordship of the Isles: Historical Background', in Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture in the West Highlands, edited by K. A. Steer and John Bannerman (Edinburgh, 1977), pp. 201-13 (p. 202);
23. and McDonald, Kingdom of the Isles, p. 71.
24. Reliquiae Celticae, edited by MacBain and Kennedy, II, 156.
25. Registrum Monasterii de Passelet, edited by Cosmo Innes (Edinburgh, 1832), pp. 125-26;
26. see Acts of the Lords of the Isles, edited by Munro and Munro, p. 280.
27. See 'History of the MacDonalds', in Highland Papers, edited by J. R. N. MacPhail, I, Scottish History Society Publications, second scries, 5 (Edinburgh, 1914), pp. 6-72 (p. 20).
28. See John Bahnerman, 'The Scots Language and the Kin-Based Society', in Gaelic and Scots in Harmony: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Languages of Scotland, edited by Derick S. Thomson (Glasgow, [1990]), pp. 1-19 (pp. 6-7).
29. John MacInnes, 'Gaelic Poetry and Historical Tradition', in The Middle Ages in the Highlands, edited by Loraine Maclean (Inverness, 1981), pp. 142-61 (p. 146).
30. Katharine Simms, From Kings to Warlords: The Changing Political Structure of Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (Woodbridge, 1987), p. 38.
31. AFM s.aa. 1268 (Dubhghall mac Ruaidhrí); 1318 (Mac Ruaidhrí); 1365 (Somhairle mac Eoin Duibh Mhic Domhnaill); 1387 (Eoin mac Aonghais Mhóir Mhic Domhnaill). The application of the title to Somhairle mac Eoin Duibh, along with the designation 'ardconsubal Cuigidh Uladh' ('high constable of the Fifth of Ulster') is puzzling given the pre-eminent status at this time of Somhairle's cousin Eoin mac Aonghais Mhóir of Islay. Note that the version given in AU s.a. 1365 is quite different ('consdabla Coicidh Uladh [. . . agus] adbur righ Innsi-Gall' (constable of the Fifth of Ulster [. . . and] the making of a king of the Hebrides'). The two genealogies are: Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1337 (H.3.18), p. 785 (written 1634);
32. See Kenneth Nicholls, 'Notes on the Genealogy of Clann Eoin Mhóir', West Highland Notes and Queries, second series, no. 8 (1991), 11-24 (pp. 12-13);
33. Paul Walsh, 'Scots Clann Domhnaill in Ireland', in Irish Chiefs and Leaders, edited by Colm Ó Lochlainn (Dublin, 1960), pp. 82-103 (pp. 88-91).
34. See Nicholls, 'Notes on the Genealogy of Clann Eoin Mhóir', p. 13.
35. MacInnes, 'Gaelic Poetry and Historical Tradition', p. 147.
36. See Wilson McLeod, 'Galldachd, Gàidhealtachd, Garbhchriochan', Scottish Gaelic Studies, 19 (1999), 1-20.
37. See idem., 'Anshocair nam Fionnghall: Ainmeachadh agus Ath-Ainmeachadh Gàidhealtachd na h-Albann', in Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 2000, edited by Colm Ó Baoill and Nancy R. McGuire (Aberdeen, 2002), pp. 13-23.
38. Caithreim Cellachain Caisil: The Victorious Career of Cellachan of Cashel, or The Wars Between the Irishmen and the Norsemen in the Middle of the 10th Century, edited by Alexander Bugge (Christiania [Oslo], 1905), section 42, §17a-b (text available on the Internet at http://wvw.ucc.ie/celt/online/ G100030/).
39. 'Genealogy of the MacRas', in Highland Papers, edited by MacPhail, I, 198-239 (p. 216).
40. W. J. Watson, 'An Unpublished Poem to Angus MacDonald of Dun Naomhaig', An Gaidheal, 19 (1923), 36-39 (§§ la, 8a, 9a, and 20c). In addition to the basic 'rígh Fionnghall', the combination form 'airdrí Fionnghall' ('high king of the fair foreigners'), the plural form 'ríoghruidh Fionnghall', and the amplified form 'rígh fuinn Fionnghall' ('king of the land of the fair foreigners') are also used in this poem.
41. See McLeod, 'Anshocair nam Fionnghall'.
42. Acts of the Lords of the Isles, edited by Munro and Munro, pp. 21-22 (document 16).
43. See Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture, edited by Steer and Bannerman, pp. 125-27;
44. A. MacDonald and A. MacDonald, The MacDonald Collection of Gaelic Poetry (Inverness, 1911), p. 6;
45. and W. J. Watson, 'Moladh Clann Cholla', An DeoGréine, 11 (1916), 54;
46. Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 Q 10, 29r c line 18 (Mac Domhnaill genealogy in 'An Leabhar Donn', written c. 1432-41);
47. See also Martin MacGregor, 'Genealogies of the Clans: Contributions to the Study of MS 1467', Innes Review, 51 (2000), 131-46 (pp. 136-37).
48. See John MacKechnie, 'Treaty Between Argyll and O'Donneir, SGS, 7 (1953), 94-102.
49. Steven G. Ellis, 'The Collapse of the Gaelic World, 1450-1650", Irish Historical Studies, 31 (1999), 449-69 (p. 475). The spelling Gaedheal, although pleasingly antiquarian in appearance following the Irish spelling reforms of the mid-twentieth century, fails to reflect the fact that this spelling (as opposed to the earlier Gaoidheal or Gaodhal) is never used in the pertinent sources.
50. 'Triath na nGaoidheal Giolla-easbuig' ('Giolla Easbuig is Lord of the Gaels'), published in W. J. Watson, 'Unpublished Gaelic Poetry - IV., V.', SGS, 3 (1931), 139-59 (pp. 143-51).
51. The poem is published in W. J. Watson, 'Classical Gaelic Poetry of Panegyric in Scotland', reprinted and supplemented from Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 29 (1914-19), 217-22.
52. See MacKechnie, 'Treaty Between Argyll and O'Donnell'.
53. 'Mór an bróinsgél bás f Dhuibhne' ('Great the woe-tale the death of Duibhne's descendant') (anonymous, 1631), §4a (published in W. J. Watson, 'Marbhnadh Dhonnchaidh Duibh', An DeoGréine, 12 (1916-17), 132-34 and 149-51).
54. 'Do Dhomhnall Gorm Òg Mac Domhnaill Shlèite' (published in Bàrdachd Ghàidhlig, edited by Watson, lines 5942-6019 (lines 6011-13)
55. and in Òrain Iain Luim: The Songs of John MacDonald, Bard of Keppoch, edited by Annie M. MacKenzie, SGT, 8 (Edinburgh, 1965), lines 104-81 (lines 173-75, §24).
56. The phrase 'IarIa Ìle' also appears in §12h of Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh's lament for Sir Tormod Mac Leòid of Berneray (d. 1705) beginning 'Gur e an naidheachd so fhuair mi / A dh'fhuadaich mo chiall uam' ('The message I have received has driven my reason from me'), published in Órain is Luinneagan le Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh / Gaelic Songs of Mary MacLeod, edited by J. Carmichael Watson, SGT, 9 (Edinburgh, 1934), lines 609-720 (line 704). Sir Tormod's mother was a Mac Domhnaill.
57. See, for example, Michelle O Riordan, The Gaelic Mind and the Collapse of the Gaelic World (Cork, 1990);
58. Marc Caball, Poets and Politics: Continuity and Reaction in Irish Poetry, 1558-1625 (Cork, 1998).
59. See Wilson McLeod, 'The Rhetorical Geography of the Late Medieval Irish Chronicles', CMCS, 40 (Winter 2000), 57-68.
60. 'Mo-chean do-chonnarc a réir' ('Welcome to him I saw last night') (Cathal Mac Mhuirich, before 1643), §24a, published in Angus Matheson, 'Poems from a Manuscript of Cathal Mac Muireadhaigh' [II], Éigse, 11 (1964), 1-17 (pp. 1-6);
61. 'A chinn Diarmaid Uí Chairbre' ('O head of Diarmaid Ó Cairbre') (Dean of Knoydart [Eoin Mac Mhuirich], c. 1490), §§ 4a and 5a
62. The term flaith Íle (prince of Islay) is used for Sir Séamas (mac Aonghais) Mac Domhnaill of Knockrinsay (d. 1626) in the anonymous poem beginning 'Ionmholta an t-óglach nach diongnadh', §17d, published in Pól Breathnach, 'Interpretanda', Irisleabhar Muighe Nuadhad, 30 (1931), 37-46 (poem 4, pp. 43-46).
63. 'Fhuaras mac mar an t-athair' ('I have found a son like the father') (anonymous, c. 1500(?)), §6d, published in Scottish Verse from the Book of the Dean, edited by Watson, poem 13 (line 992);