Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill

Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill
Born	c. Late 1100s
Died	1247 (?) Ballyshannon (?)
Cause of death	Battle (?)
Other names	Ruairi, son of Ranald
Title	Lord of Kintyre Ruler of Garmoran (?)
Term	fl. 1214-?1247
Successor	Dubhghall
Spouse(s)	Unknown
Children	Dubhghall, Ailean

Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill was a 13th-century Scottish magnate. The son of Raghnall, son of Somerled, he appears to have spent his career fighting in both Ireland and in Scotland. It has been argued that he became hostile to both the Scottish and English crowns, fighting the Scottish crown in the MacWilliam revolts and dying against the English at the Battle of Ballyshannon in 1247.

Biography

Origins

Hugh MacDonald of Sleat's 17th-century History of the Macdonalds reported a tradition that Ruaidhri's father Raghnall was married to a daughter or sister of the early 14th-century hero Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray. Sellar suggests that his mother may have been a daughter of William fitz Duncan, on the basis that there is a possibility the tradition had confused a later and famous Earl of Moray with an earlier one.^[1]

His father Raghnall, carrying the legacy of his own father Somerled, was a powerful Argyll and Hebridean magnate who, depending on context, bore the titles "King of the Isles", "Lord of Argyll and Kintyre", and "lord of the Hebrides (Inchegal).^[2] His father's legacy was such that he became the ancestor figure of both the Clan Ruaidhri and the Clan Donald.^[2]

Sketch of his known career

Ruaidhri's heartland appears to have lain initially in Kintyre, as he bore the title "Lord of Kintyre" (dominus de Kyntire).^[2]

Ruaídhrí appears on record for the first time when, in 1214, he accompanied Tomás Mac Uchtraigh, son of Lochlann of Galloway, on a raid upon the Irish city of Derry:

Tomás mac Uchtraigh & Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill plundered Daire completely and took the treasures of the Community of Daire and of the North of Ireland besides from out the midst of the church of the Monastery.^[3]

In 1212, Tomás had raided Derry with a fleet with seventy-six ships, and it is probable that Ruaídhrí was the unnamed "son of Raghnall" who had accompanied Tomás then.^[4]

For the rest of Ruaidhri's life, there is little unambiguous evidence of his activities.^[5] R. Andrew McDonald argued that Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill was the 'Roderick' who fought in the MacWilliam rebellion against King Alexander II of Scotland between 1223 and 1230, a suggestion Alex Woolf called "attractive".^[6]

Alex Woolf suggested further that Ruaidhri's motivations stemmed from Ruaidhri's hostility to Scottish support for Óláfr, son of Goðrøðr Óláfsson; Ruaidhri may have been allied through marriage to Goðrøðr Óláfsson's other son, Óláfr's half-brother and rival Rögnvaldr, king of Mann; more to the point, Óláfr appears to have repudiated Ruaidhri's kinswoman for a daughter of Ferchar, Earl of Ross, all while King Alexander II was promoting the power of Donnchadh mac Dubhghaill in the west-coast of Scotland, Ruaidhri's base.^[7]

Death and legacy

Assuming he survived the final defeat of the MacWilliams in 1230, the remainder of Ruaidhri's life is obscure. However, reporting the year 1247, the Annals of Loch Cé related that:

Mac Somhairle, king of Airer-Gaeidhel, and the nobles of the Cenel-Conaill besides, were slain.^[8]

Woolf has argued that Ruaidhri was the Mac Somhairle who died in this battle, fighting the English at Ballyshannon.^[9] Sellar also thought, for other reasons, that the "dead man at Ballyshannon" was Ruaidhri.^[10] McDonald believed that it referred to Donnchadh mac Dubhghaill, while Duffy suggested Domhnall mac Raghnaill.^[11]

Ruaidhri's son Dubhghall continued his father's legacy, hostile to the Scottish crown while fighting the English in Ireland, notably killing Jordan d'Exeter off Connaught in 1258.^[12] Ruaidhri's ancestors held Garmoran and much of the north-west Scottish coast until the early 14th century, when the MacRuaidhri heiress Amie married Eoin of Islay, who took Amie's lands and became the first MacDonald Lord of the Isles.^[13]

Notes

References

v t e Rulers of the Kingdom of the Isles Uí Ímair Gofraidh Ímar Amlaíb Conung Amlaíb mac Gofraid^ Amlaíb Cuarán Maccus mac Arailt Gofraid mac Arailt Ragnall mac Gofraid Amlaíb mac Sitriuc Echmarcach mac Ragnaill^ Gofraid mac Sitriuc and Fingal mac Gofraid Earls of Orkney, vassals of the Kings of Norway etc. Ketill Flatnose^ Gilli Sigurd the Stout Håkon Eiriksson Thorfinn the Mighty Magnus Barelegs Sigurd Magnusson Óspakr Ögmundsson Uí Ceinnselaig and Uí Briain Murchad mac Diarmata Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó Domnall mac Taidc Ua Briain Crovan dynasty Godred Crovan Lagmann Godredsson Olaf Godredsson Godred the Black Somerled Crovan dynasty - Mann and the North Isles Rögnvaldr Óláfsson (fl. 1164) Ragnvald Godredsson Olaf the Black Gofraid Donn** Harald Olafsson Rögnvaldr Óláfsson (d. 1249) Harald Godredsson Magnus Olafsson Clann Somhairle, Clan Macruari and Clan MacDougall - South Isles Dubgall mac Somairle Ragnall mac Somairle Donnchadh mac Dubhghaill Dubgall "Screech" Somairle mac Dubgaill Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill Eóghan of Argyll Dubhghall mac Ruaidhri ^ Speculative ** North Isles only

Persondata
Name	Ruaidhri Mac Raghnaill
Alternative names
Short description	Military
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death	Ballyshannon (?)