History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name by Alexander Mackenzie
page 120 of 768 (15%)
page 120 of 768 (15%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
district, had assisted the Macdonalds; the latter probably because
Munro, who joined neither party, was suspected secretly of favouring Lochalsh. So many excesses were committed at this time by the Mackenzies that the Earl of Huntly, Lieutenant of the North, was compelled, notwithstanding their services in repelling the invasion of the Macdonalds, to proceed against them as oppressors of the lieges. [Gregory, p.57. Kilravock Writs, p.170, and Acts of Council.] A blacksmith, known as Glaishean Gow or "Gobha," one of Lovat's people, in whose father's house Agnes Fraser, Mackenzie's wife, was fostered, hearing of the advance of the Macdonalds to the Mackenzie territory, started with a few followers in the direction of Conan, but arrived too late to take part in the fight. They were, however, in time to meet those few who managed to ford or swim the river, and killed every one of them so that they found an opportunity "to do more service than if they had been at the battle." This insurrection cost the Macdonalds the Lordship of the Isles, as others had previously cost them the Earldom of Ross. In a Parliament held in Edinburgh in 1493, the possessions of the Lord of the Isles were declared forfeited to the Crown. In the following January the aged Earl appeared before King James IV., and made a voluntary surrender of everything, after which he remained for several years in the King's household as a Court pensioner. By Act of the Lords of Council in 1492 Alexander Urquhart, Sheriff of Cromarty, had obtained restitution for himself and his tenants for the depredations committed by Macdonald and his followers. According to the Kilravock Papers, p.162, the spoil amounted to 600 cows and oxen, each worth 13s 4d, 80 horses, each worth 26s |
|