addition to the friendly feelings of the other chiefs towards young
Kintail, fostered by these family alliances, Huntly was not at all
popular with his own followers, or with the Highlanders generally.
He had incurred such odium for having some time before executed the
Laird of Mackintosh, contrary to his solemn pledge, that it required
little excuse on the part of the exasperated kindred tribes to
counteract his plans, and on the slightest pretext to refuse to
follow him. He was therefore obliged to retire from the West
without effecting any substantial service; was ultimately disgraced;
committed to Edinburgh Castle; compelled to renounce the Earldom of
Moray and all his other possessions in the north; and sentenced to
banishment in France for five years.

On the 13th of December 1545, at Dingwall, the Earl of Sutherland
entered into a bond of manrent with John Mackenzie of Kintail for
mutual defence against all enemies, reserving only their allegiance
to their youthful Queen, Mary Stuart. [Sir Robert Gordon, p. 112.]
Two years later the Earl of Arran sent the fiery cross over the
nation calling upon all between the ages of sixteen and sixty to
meet him at Musselburgh for the protection of the infant Queen.
Mackenzie of Kintail, then between sixty and seventy years of age,
when he might fairly consider himself exempt from further military
service, duly appeared with all the followers he could muster,
prudently leaving Kenneth, his only son, at home and when
remonstrated with for taking part in such a perilous journey at
his time of life, especially as he was far past the stipulated
age for active service, the old chief patriotically remarked that
one of his age could not possibly die more decorously than in the
defence of his country. In the same year (1547) he fought bravely,
at the head of his clan, with all the enthusiasm and gallantry of