When it comes to giving your brain a work-out, there
is nothing like trying to follow the threads of a Scottish feud, and the
internal feud of Clan Mackay is a doozy.
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| Mackay Clansman |
Let’s begin with Phase One of the feud. The trouble began in 1426 when Angus Du
Mackay (1365-1433) was the seventh chief of the Clan Mackay of Strathnaver, the valley (strath) of the River Naver on
the northern coast of Scotland. The
Strathnaver area was home to the Mackays in that era. [Note to members of Clan Bain: Not this
Mackay, but his cousin Neil was our ancestor. More to come below.]
Now, in 1426 Angus Du, with his son
Neil, decided to invade Caithness to avenge himself on his hated enemy, the
Sutherlands, who had killed his grandfather, the clan chief, at Dingwall Castle
in 1370. Angus Du got as far as
Harpsdale, which is south and east of Halkirk, at which point the locals gave
battle.
Sir Robert Gordon (1580 -1656), the author of the Genealogical History of the Earldom of
Sutherland, later recorded that “there was great slaughter on either side.”[i]
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| Bass Rock, Firth of Forth |
Though
there was no clear victor, King James I got wind of the fight and rode north
from Edinburgh to Inverness, where Angus Du submitted himself, offering his son
Neil as a hostage. Neil was promptly
imprisoned on Bass Island from which he got his nickname, Neil Vass (a phonetic
variation, sometimes spelled Wesse).
At this
point, we reach Phase Two. Angus Du Mackay
had three cousins—the brothers Thomas Mackay, Morgan Mackay, and Neil Neilson
Mackay II, the latter of whom is ancestor to Clan Bain. In 1427, Thomas Mackay got himself into
serious trouble when he killed Mowat of Freswick in Tain, Ross-shire.
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| Old St. Duthus Chapel, Tain |
A. J.
Lawrence, author of The Clan Bain, explains it well, saying that Thomas,
“held
vast possessions, including the lands of Creich, etc., which he obtained from
his cousin, Angus Du—probably to get and ensure his support; about 1427, he
fell upon Mowat of Freswick for having betyrayed him, and pursued him into the
Chapel of St Duthus, to which he set fire, killing Mowat. Killing was one
thing, in those days, but burning a consecrated Chapel could not be
ignored. Thomas was outlawed and his lands promised to whomever [sic] should capture him. It so
happened that his brothers, Morgan and Neil, had married daughters of Angus
Moray of Cubin, a retainer of the hated Suthlerlands; and Angus [Moray],
instigated by the Sutherlands, induced them to help him betray their brother, who
was captured and beheaded.” (p. 35).[ii]
See.
I told you it was complicated.
Okay, so Angus’s son, Neil Vass,
is locked up on Bass Rock, one nephew has been executed, and the other two have
taken up with his mortal enemy, the Sutherlands. But the chief still had one more champion, his
illegitimate son, John Aberigh Mackay, who began to advise his aging father. Morgan and Neil, along with Sutherland and
their father-in-law Moray (pronounced Murray),
desired to wrest the remaining lands of Angus Du from his hands.
Angus Du sent word that he would resign all
of his property to them except for Kintail, which was in Strathnaver, but this
was not good enough for Morgan and Neil.
With the full support of the earl of Sutherland, the two brothers pressed
forward against John Aberigh, who promised his 68-year-old father that he would
retain the lands or die trying.
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| Site of the Battle of Drumnacoub |
The two armies met at a place called
Drumnacoub, which was two miles from Tongue, a coastal village where Angus Du
resided. One historian gives this
account of the battle and its aftermath:
“There ensued a
cruel and sharp conflict, valiantly fought a long time, with great slaughter,
so that, in the end, there remained but few alive on either side. Neil Mackay,
Morgan Mackay, and their father-in-law (Angus Murray), were there slain. John
Aberigh, having lost all his men, was left for dead on the field, and was
afterwards recovered; yet he was mutilated all the rest of his days [apparently
having lost an arm]. Angus Dow Mackay, being brought thither to view the place
of the conflict, and searching for the dead corpses of his cousins, Morgan and
Neil, was there killed with the shot of an arrow, by a Sutherland man, that was
lurking in a bush hard by, after his fellows had been slain. This John Aberigh
was afterwards so hardly pursued by the Earl of Sutherland, that he was constrained,
for the safety of his life, to flee into the Isles.”[iii]
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| Bass Rock with Castle by Andrew Spratt |
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| Site of Sandside Chase |
Soon they were joined in fight by the larger
army of Caithness men. At Sandside, a violent conflict got underway. John Aberigh’s men were able to corner
Sutherland’s troops below Sandside House near the bay, driving many of them
into the sea. “Around the ancient fort
of Cnoc Stangar between Sandside House and the sea, where the fight was
fiercest, the bones of the slain may yet be dug out of the sandy soil. This conflict is known as Ruaig Handside, [or]
Sandside Chase.”[iv]
Afterwards, many of the clansmen sought to
have John Aberigh made chief, but John conceded the leadership of the Mackays
to Neil Vass, the legitimate heir. Neil,
in turn, bestowed on John lands in Strathnaver, though apparently over time,
those lands eventually passed to the Sutherlands.
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| Loch Gairloch |
Meanwhile, what about the sons of Neil
Neilson Mackay II and Morgan Mackay, the brothers of the executed Thomas
Mackay? In 1430, three years before his
death at Drumnacoub, Neil Neilson had received Thomas’s former lands in Gairloch
in Ross.
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| Olrig (top center) |
However, after Drumnacoub, the
tension between Neil’s widow and son, on the one side, and the family of Angus
Du, on the other, was so severe that, in 1435, Neil Neilson’s widow could no
longer stand the strain and was removed to Olrig in Caithness by her son, John. A. J. Lawrence, Bain genealogist, stated that
“they received a friendly welcome due to the knowledge that their troubles had
been inspired by the Sutherlands.”
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| "Et Marte et Arte" means "By Strength and Skill" (Tile available on CafePress.com) |
At this point, John took the name John Bane
(“the Fair”) Mackay to distinguish him from other John Mackays, perhaps
including John Aberigh Mackay, the illegitimate son and defender of Angus Du. John eventually dropped the name Mackay, and the
original spelling, Bane, was
standardized to Bain in 1616.[v] The Bains of Caithness and Ross are descended
from this individual.
The Bain motto, Et Marte et Arte (By Strength and Skill), well expresses what it took for the descendants of John Bain Mackay to survive and thrive after their new beginning in 1435.
[ii] The Clan Bain and Associated Families. Inverness:
Highland Printers, 1966.
[iii] “Conflict
of the Clans: The Conflict of Druimnacour.” http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/conflict/Druimnacour.html
[iv]
Mackay, Angus. The Book of Mackay. Edinburgh, 1906. Available on Google Books; Mackay, Gary. “The
Correct History of the Clan Mackay.” 9 May 1999. http://www.robertmackayclan.com/mclinks/gary1.html
