The Stewarts of Appin descend from Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, son of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland. Sir John's younger son, James Stewart, was killed in 1333 at the Battle of Halidon Hill. His grandson married the heiress of the Lord of Lorne (chief of Clan MacDougall). He was the first Stewart Lord of Lorne. The Stewarts of Appin supported the royalist cause during the Civil War of the 17th century and also supported the deposed Stuart monarchs during the Jacobite rising of 1715 and Jacobite rising of 1745.