page_title: Clann Ruaidhrí
section_title: Raghnall Mac Ruaidhrí, and Cairistíona Nic Ruaidhrí
hierarchical_section_title: Clann Ruaidhrí / Kingdom of Scotland / Raghnall Mac Ruaidhrí, and Cairistíona Nic Ruaidhrí
caption_attribution_description: English: Coat of arms of "Le conte de Ros" as it appears in the fourteenth-century Balliol Roll.
context_page_description: Clann Ruaidhrí was a leading medieval clan in the Hebrides and the western seaboard of Scotland. The eponymous ancestor of the family was Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill, a principal member of Clann Somhairle in the thirteenth century. Members of Clann Ruaidhrí were factors in both the histories of the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Scotland in the thirteenth- and fourteenth centuries. The family appears to have held power in Kintyre in the thirteenth century. By the fourteenth century, the family controlled an extensive provincial lordship stretching along north-western Scottish coast and into the Hebrides. As a leading force in the Kingdom of the Isles, the family fiercely opposed Scottish authority. With the collapse of Norwegian hegemony in the region, the family nimbly integrated itself into the Kingdom of Scotland.
  Members of Clann Ruaidhrí distinguished themselves in the First War of Scottish Independence, opposing adherents of both the English and Scottish Crowns. Like other branches of Clann Somhairle, Clann Ruaidhrí was a noted exporter of gallowglass warriors into Ireland. The mid fourteenth century saw the diminishment of the family in both Scotland and Ireland.
context_section_description: Although Ruaidhrí seems to have ensured the continuation of his kindred by formally coming to terms with Robert I and campaigning in Ireland with the latter's brother, there is evidence indicating that the Clann Ruaidhrí inheritance was contested by Cairistíona after his demise. Ruaidhrí was survived by a daughter, Áine, and an illegitimate son, Raghnall. The latter may well have been under age at the time of Ruaidhrí's death, and it is apparent that Cairistíona and her confederates attempted to seize control of the inheritance. Although Cairistíona is recorded to have resigned her claimed rights to a certain Artúr Caimbéal after Ruaidhrí's death, it is clear that Raghnall eventually succeeded in securing the region, and was regarded as the chief of Clann Ruaidhrí by most of his kin.
  In 1325, a certain "Roderici de Ylay" suffered the forfeiture of his possessions by Robert I. It is possible that this record refers to a member of Clann Ruaidhrí, and that it demonstrates the contrast of relations between Clann Ruaidhrí and the Scottish Crown in the 1320s and 1330s. If correct, the man in question may be identical to Raghnall himself, which could indicate that his forfeiture was related to Cairistíona's attempt to alienate the Clann Ruaidhrí estate from him and transfer it into the clutches of the Caimbéalaigh kindred (the Campbells). Another possibility is that the forfeiture was instead ratified in response to undesirable Clann Ruaidhrí expansion into certain neighbouring regions, such as the former territories of the disinherited Clann Dubhghaill.
  Although Cairistíona's resignation charter to Artúr is undated, it could date to just before the forfeiture. The list of witnesses who attested this grant is remarkable, and may reveal that the charter had royal approval. These men all seem to have been close adherents of Robert I against Clann Dubhghaill, and all represented families of power along the western seaboard. An alliance of such men may well have been an intimidating prospect to the Clann Ruaidhrí leadership. In fact, the forfeiture could have been personally reinforced by Robert I, as the king seems to have travelled to Tarbert Castle—a royal stronghold in Kintyre—within the same year.
  Unlike the First War of Scottish Independence, in which Clann Ruaidhrí participated, Raghnall and his family are not known to have taken part in the second war (from 1332–41). In fact, Raghnall certainly appears on record by 1337, when he aided his third cousin, Eóin Mac Domhnaill I, Lord of the Isles, in the latter's efforts to receive a papal dispensation to marry Raghnall's sister, Áine, in 1337. At the time, Raghnall and Eóin were apparently supporters of Edward Balliol, a claimant to the Scottish throne who held power in the realm from 1332 to 1336. By June 1343, however, both Raghnall and Eóin were reconciled with Edward's rival, the reigning son of Robert I, David II, King of Scotland, and Raghnall himself was confirmed in the Clann Ruaidhrí lordship by the king.
  At about this time, Raghnall received the rights to Kintail from William III, Earl of Ross, a transaction which was confirmed by the king that July. There is reason to suspect that the king's recognition of this grant may have been intended as a regional counterbalance of sorts, since he also diverted the rights to Skye from Eóin to William III. It is also possible that Clann Ruaidhrí power had expanded into the coastal region of Kintail at some point after the death of William III's father in 1333, during a period when William III may have been either a minor or exiled from the country. Whatever the case, the earl seems to have had little choice but to relinquish his rights to Kintail to Raghnall.
  Bitterness between these two magnates appears to be evidenced in dramatic fashion by the assassination of Raghnall and several of his followers at the hands of the earl and his adherents. Raghnall's murder, at Elcho Priory in October 1346, is attested by several non-contemporaneous sources. At the time of his demise, Raghnall had been obeying the king's muster at Perth, in 
caption: The arms of the Earl of Ross depicted in Balliol Roll.[204]
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