Ancestral Trails 2016 » John MACDONALD (± 1435-1498)

Persoonlijke gegevens John MACDONALD 

• Hij is geboren rond 1435 in Ross, Morayshire, Scotland.
• Titel: 11th Earl of Ross
• Titel: Created 1st Lord of the Isles - 10 Jul 1476
• (Alternative Name) : John of Islay.
• Hij is overleden in het jaar 1498 in Dundee, Angus, Scotland.
• Een kind van Alexander MACDONALD en Elizabeth SETON

Gezin van John MACDONALD

(1) Hij heeft/had een relatie met UNKNOWN.

Kind(eren):

1. John MACDONALD  < 1476-< 1498
2. Angus MACDONALD  1469-1490
3. Margaret MACDONALD  

(2) Hij is getrouwd met Elizabeth LIVINGSTONE.

Zij zijn getrouwd voor 1464.

Kind(eren):

1. Daughter of ISLAY  ± 1460-???? 

Notities over John MACDONALD

John of Islay (or John MacDonald) (1434-1503) was a late medieval Scottish magnate. He was Earl of Ross and the 4th Lord of the Isles as well as being Mac Domhnaill, chief of Clan Donald. John would however prove to be the last of the Lords of the Isles, overmighty subjects of the Stewart Kings of Scotland and virtual kings in their own right in the Western Isles. His struggle for power with King James III of Scotland ended in humiliation, following which his illegitimate son Angus Óg rebelled against his rule. In a bitter civil war, John's fleet of galleys met those of Angus sometime in the early 1480s off the coast of Mull at the Battle of Bloody Bay, in which John's cause was defeated. After Bloody Bay he became an inconsequential figure; and Angus continued to dominate the affairs of Clan Donald up until his murder in 1490. In 1493 James IV brought the Lordship of the Isles to an end. John died unlamented in 1503, having witnessed the almost complete destruction of his family inheritance.

John was born to Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, and Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Seton the lord of Gordon and Huntly. He succeeded to his father's territories in 1449 while a still a minor.

Marriage and Land
Early in his life he was forced to marry a woman he did not love for a promise that was never kept. John's marriage to Elizabeth Livingstone had been determined by the usual calculations of profit and position, as were those of other important people of the time. There was one important difference with the alliance of John and Elizabeth: he came from a great landed family, she did not. Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir James Livingstone, a powerful politician during the minority of James II, but in a conservative, land-based society, a figure of no lasting significance. John, with a large and hungry following at his heels, rich as he was, always needed more land. Sir James' power was purely personal, and his daughter would not normally have been considered as a suitable match for the Lord of the Isles. It seems he was persuaded to marry her after certain unspecified promises from the king. After Livingstone fell from power in the early 1450s James refused to honour these promises. Instead of growing to love or at least respect Elizabeth, John came to loathe her.

Rebellion against the King
Soon after his disgrace Sir James took refuge with his son-in-law. John at once rose in revolt, taking the royal castles of Inverness, Urquhart and Ruthven, perhaps less to show his support for the Livingstones than to remind the king of his broken word.

Treaties and Allies
This revolt of the Lord of the Isles came at a dangerous time for the king, who was involved in a serious dispute with the eighth Earl of Douglas, the most powerful noble in southern Scotland. We can probably date to this time the famous bond between Ross and Douglas, men who were hardly natural allies. There is absolutely no evidence that Ross, Douglas or the Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford, the other party to the bond, planned to depose the king, though this has not prevented some historians from making such a claim. If this had been the intention James would presumably have taken much more direct action, rather than simply invite Douglas to Stirling in February 1452 to discuss the matter, and Douglas would hardly have put himself in the power of the king, even with a safe conduct. As it was James tried to persuade the earl to break the bond and, when he refused, murdered him in a fit of royal anger. If the bond had been so treasonable, the arrest and trial of Douglas would have served his ends much more effectively than this crude crime of passion.

John showed little concern for the fate of his ally, especially as James effectively turned a blind eye to the occupation of the northern castles. His relations with the crown continued to improve and he did nothing to prevent the final destruction of the house of Douglas in 1455, even obtaining title to some of their border estates. The sudden and unexpected death of James in 1460 brought an early change of direction. Soon after the accession of James III, John received a proposal that was to lead to his eventual ruin.

So far John had done rather well. He had defied the king and survived. He extended his power and influence from Inverness to the English border. Had he died at this point he might be well remembered in the annals of Clan Donald. But he now took a fatal step, the consequences of which were to betray the essential weakness of his character. In England the Yorkists under Edward IV had chased the Lancastrian Henry VI from the country. Henry took refuge in Scotland, where he was well received. Edward at once sent the exiled earl of Douglas, the brother of the man murdered at Stirling, on a diplomatic mission to the Isles. At his court in the castle of Ardtornish John agreed to send his plenipotentiaries to London. This was a dangerous move, for while John's predecessors had contacts with the English, they had never committed themselves too far. Moreover, the English had never made any real attempt to assist the Lordship when it was in difficulties with the crown of Scotland. It should have been perfectly clear that Edward was trying to create a diversion. Sadly for the Lord of the Isles, it was not.

In February 1462 John's representatives concluded an agreement once referred to as the Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish, that envisaged nothing less than the conquest and partition of Scotland. John agreed to pay homage to Edward in return for his help in obtaining all of Scotland north of the Forth. The treaty is a remarkably vague document considering the risks John was prepared to take. It says absolutely nothing about the nature, scale and timing of English support. But for Edward it was a brilliant diplomatic coup. He achieved maximum results at minimum expense, laying out only as much bait as necessary to create a political disturbance in northern Scotland.

Even before the agreement was concluded the Islemen took to arms, advancing eastwards under the command of Angus Og, John's illegitimate son. Once again Inverness was captured and the people of the north instructed to deny the authority of James III. Beyond this we know nothing from the sparse contemporary sources, not even how this rebellion was brought under control. It most certainly had the effect Edward desired; for the Scottish government, faced with rebellion in the north, and fearful of attack in the south, dropped the politically embarrassing Lancastrian connection. John, presumably now aware how worthless the Westminster agreement truly was, backed down, declaring his seizure of the Inverness customs had been illegal. No further action was taken against him-for the present.SOURCE: Wikipedia

John Macdonald, 11th Earl of Ross was born circa 1435. He was the son of Alexander Macdonald, 10th Earl of Ross and Elizabeth Seton. He married Elizabeth Livingston, daughter of James Livingston, 1st Lord Livingston and Marian de Berwick, before 1464. He died in 1498 at Dundee, Angus, Scotland.

He held the office of Warden of the Marches between 1449 and 1460. He succeeded to the title of 11th Earl of Ross on 8 May 1449. In 1461 he negotiated a treaty with England as if he were an independent sovereign. On 1 December 1475 his life and lands were forfeited by the Scottish Parliament, after he launched an attack on Arran, Bute, Inverness and Nairn, in an alliance with King Edward IV of England. He was created 1st Lord of the Isles [Scotland] on 10 July 1476.
SOURCE: www.thepeerage.com

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