page_title: Aonghus Mór
section_title: Kin-strife under the regime of John Balliol
hierarchical_section_title: Aonghus Mór / A Scottish subject / Kin-strife under the regime of John Balliol
caption_attribution_description: English: Seal of John, King of Scotland (died 1314).
context_page_description: mor
  Aonghus Mór mac Domhnaill was a leading figure in the thirteenth-century kingdoms of the Isles and Scotland. He was a son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill, the eponym of Clann Domhnaill, a branch of Clann Somhairle. Aonghus Mór appears to have succeeded his father in the mid part of the thirteenth century. At the time, the rulers of the Isles were fiercely independent of the Scottish Crown, and owed nominal allegiance to the distant Norwegian Crown. Aonghus Mór's first certain appearance in the historical record seems to evince his involvement in aiding native Irish kindreds against the consolidation of Anglo-Irish authority in the north-west Ireland. Such cooperation could have been undertaken in the context of overseas kindreds like Clann Domhnaill constructing Irish alliances to gain assistance against Scottish encroachment.
  Scottish aggression against the Isles seems to have precipitated the Norwegian Crown's campaign against the Scots in 1263. Like other leading members of Clann Somhairle, Aonghus Mór supported the Norwegian cause against Alexander III, King of Scotland.
context_section_description: By the death of Alexander III, the Clann Domhnaill holdings seem to have included Kintyre, Islay, southern Jura, and seemingly Colonsay and Oronsay. Whilst Aonghus Mór is regularly described with a patronymic referring to his father, Aonghus Mór's sons tend to be accorded the territorial designation "of Islay". In 1292, the English Crown granted Aonghus Mór and Alasdair Óg safe conduct to travel and trade between Scotland and Ireland. 1292 is also the year in which a violent feud between Clann Domhnaill and Clann Dubhghaill is first attested. The infighting appears to have stemmed from Alasdair Óg's marriage to an apparent member of Clann Dubhghaill, and seems to have concerned this woman's territorial claims. Although Aonghus Mór, Alasdair Óg, and Alasdair Mac Dubhghaill, swore to Edward I, King of England that they would postpone the feud, and pledged to uphold the peace in the "isles and outlying territories", the bitter internecine struggle continued throughout the 1290s.
  In February 1293, at the first parliament of John, King of Scotland, three new sheriffdoms were erected in the western reaches of the realm. In the north-west, William II, Earl of Ross was made Sheriff of Skye, with a jurisdiction that appears to correspond to the territories formerly held by the Crovan dynasty before 1266. In the central-west, Alasdair Mac Dubhghaill was made Sheriff of Lorn, with a jurisdiction over much of Argyll. In the south-west, James Stewart, Steward of Scotland was made Sheriff of Kintyre. The creation of these divisions dramatically evidences the steady consolidation of royal authority in the west in since 1266. Remarkably, representatives of Clann Domhnaill failed to attend the king's inaugural parliament. Days later, Alasdair Mac Dubhghaill—the Scottish Crown's leading representative in the west—was commanded to bring Aonghus Mór and two other regional landholders to do homage before the king by Easter. Although it is unknown if Aonghus Mór obeyed the summons, the pledge by the barons of Argyll—to rise up against him in the event of his infidelity—may date to about this time. Whatever the case, it is apparent that by the 1290s the Scottish Crown demanded and expected unquestioned loyalty from Clann Somhairle.
  Aonghus Mór seems to have died in about 1293. According to Hebridean tradition preserved by the eighteenth-century Book of Clanranald and the Sleat History, he died on Islay, with the latter source locating his burial on Iona. Alasdair Óg's undated renewal of Aonghus Mór's charter concerning the church of St Ciarán seems to be evidence that the later had been succeeded by the date of its issue. Certainly, Alasdair Óg appears to have succeeded Aonghus Mór by the mid 1290s.
caption: The seal of John, King of Scotland,[201] a monarch closely connected with Aonghus Mór's neighbouring rival, Alasdair Mac Dubhghaill.
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