page_title: Aonghus Mór
section_title: Incorporation within Alexander III's realm
hierarchical_section_title: Aonghus Mór / A Scottish subject / Incorporation within Alexander III's realm
caption_attribution_description: English: A sixteenth-century depiction of the parliament of Edward I, King of England, as depicted by the Wriothesley Garter Book. The seated figure is Alexander III, King of Scotland.
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: In the wake of the Norwegian withdrawal, and the violent extension of Scottish royal authority into the Isles, Aonghus Mór had no choice but to submit to the Scots. He was forced to hand over his son—seemingly Alasdair Óg, his eldest son and heir—who was consequently held at Ayr as a hostage of the Scottish Crown for Aonghus Mór's good behaviour. The fact that his son was accompanied by a nurse suggests that he was merely a young child at the time. In his submission, Aonghus Mór formally acknowledged that he would suffer disinheritance if his loyalty to the Scottish Crown was called into question again, whilst the other barons of Argyll swore to rise against him in the name of the king if such an eventuality came to pass.
  Western magnates such as those of Clann Somhairle were rarely present at the Scottish royal court, although on certain occasions they participated in important affairs of state. For instance, in 1284, Aonghus Mór attended a government council at Scone which acknowledged Alexander III's granddaughter, Margaret, as the king's rightful heir. The inclusion of Aonghus Mór and three of his Clann Somhairle kinsmen—Alasdair Mac Dubhghaill and Ailéan—further illustrates the kindred's incorporation within the Scottish realm.
caption: An imaginative sixteenth-century illustration of Alexander III, King of Scotland, attending the parliament of his English counterpart, as depicted by the Wriothesley Garter Book.[165]
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