Aonghus Mór mac Domhnaill (died 1293) 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 of 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. However, the fact that Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway had to force Aonghus Mór's submission, suggests that his support was rendered somewhat grudgingly. Nevertheless, the Norwegian campaign was ultimately a failure, and the Islesmen were compelled to submit to the Scots after a retaliatory campaign the following year. As for Aonghus Mór, he was forced to hand over his son, likely Alasdair Óg, as a hostage of the Scottish Crown. By 1266, the Isles were officially annexed by the Scots.
In the decades that followed, Aonghus Mór and his Clann Somhairle kinsmen integrated themselves into the Scottish realm. For example, Aonghus Mór was one of three members of the kindred to attend an important government council at Scone in which Alexander III's granddaughter, Margaret, was recognised as the king's rightful heir. Following Alexander III's unexpected death two years later, Aonghus Mór and Alasdair Óg were signatories of the Turnberry Band, a pact between several Scottish and Anglo-Irish magnates. One aspect of this bond may have concerned the continued resistance to Anglo-Irish domination in north-west Ireland. This could indicate that Aonghus Mór was made a party to the pact as a means of limiting his kindred's support of the native opponents of the Anglo-Irish. Whatever the case, Aonghus Mór died in about 1293, and was succeeded by Alasdair Óg as Lord of Islay. Aonghus Mór was married to a member of the Caimbéalaigh kindred. Besides Alasdair Óg, Aonghus Mór had two sons, Aonghus Óg and Eóin Sprangach. He also had a daughter who married Domhnall Óg Ó Domhnaill, King of Tír Chonaill, and another who married Hugh Bisset.
Clann Domhnaill
Aonghus Mór was a son of Domhnall mac Raghnaill,Holton (2017) p. viii fig. 2; Petre, JS (2014) p. 268 tab.; McDonald (2007) p. 27 tab. 2; Fisher (2005) p. 86 fig. 5.2; Raven (2005b) fig. 13; Brown, M (2004) p. 77 tab. 4.1; Sellar (2000) p. 194 tab. ii; Roberts (1999) p. 99 fig. 5.2; McDonald (1997) p. 257 genealogical tree i; Munro; Munro (1986) p. 279 tab. 1. eponym of Clann Domhnaill.Holton (2017) p. 26; Coira (2012) p. 58; Duffy (2007) p. 16; Raven (2005b) fig. 13; Duffy (2002) p. 56. As such, Aonghus Mór can be regarded as the first .Coira (2012) pp. 10, 58; Sellar (2000) p. 207. Clann Domhnaill was the junior-most of three main branches of Clann Somhairle. The other two branches were Clann Dubhghaill and Clann Ruaidhrí, respectively descended from (Domhnall's uncle) Dubhghall mac Somhairle and (Domhnall's elder brother) Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill.Holton (2017) pp. 126–127; Beuermann (2010) p. 108 n. 28; McDonald (2006) p. 77; McDonald (2004) pp. 180–181. According to oral tradition dating to the eighteenth century,McDonnell (2005) p. 140; Sellar (2000) p. 207. Aonghus Mór was fostered by the eponymous ancestor of Clann Duibhshíthe.Sellar (2000) p. 207. The date of Domhnall's death and Aonghus Mór's succession is unknown, although the latter was certainly representing the family by 1260s, seemingly indicating that the former was dead or retired by this time.McDonald (2006) p. 77; McDonald (2004) p. 181; McDonald (1997) p. 96.
Aonghus Mór was married to a member of the Caimbéalaigh kindred (the Campbells).McDonald (2004) p. 188; Campbell of Airds (2000) p. 51; Roberts (1999) p. 131. According to early modern tradition preserved by the seventeenth-century Sleat History, she was a daughter of Cailéan Mór Caimbéal, a leading member of the Caimbéalaigh, and the mother of Aonghus Mór's younger son, Aonghus Óg.McDonald (2004) p. 188; Campbell of Airds (2000) p. 51; Macphail (1914) p. 17. Like his Clann Somhairle kinsman, Eóghan Mac Dubhghaill, Aonghus Mór evidently named his first-born son, Alasdair Óg, after Alexander III, King of Scotland.Stringer (2005) p. 55; McDonald (2004) p. 186; McDonald (1997) pp. 140–141. The kindred's adoption of this royal name appears to be indicative of the spread of Scottish influence into Isles,Holton (2017) p. 140; McDonald (2004) pp. 186–187; McDonald (1997) pp. 109, 140–141. and could be evidence of the family's attempt to align itself closer to the Scottish Crown.McDonald (2004) p. 186; McDonald (1997) pp. 109, 140–141; Cowan, EJ (1990) p. 119.
A daughter of Aonghus Mór married Domhnall Óg Ó Domhnaill, King of Tír Chonaill.Duffy (2013) p. 132; Duffy (2007) pp. 1, 16; Sellar (2000) p. 194 tab. ii; Simms (2000a) p. 122; Duffy (1993) p. 127 n. 63; Walsh (1938) p. 377. Another married Hugh Bisset.Murray (2002) pp. 222–223 tab., 226; Bain (1887) pp. 232 § 1272, 233 § 1276. Alasdair Óg was the progenitor of several prominent Clann Domhnaill gallowglass families in Ireland,Nicholls (2007) pp. 97–98; Nicholls (2005). the eponymous ancestor of the Clann Alasdair branch of Clann Domhnaill,Murray (2002) p. 221. and probably of the like-named Kintyre branch of Clann Domhnaill.Sellar (2016) p. 104; Nicholls (2007) p. 98; Campbell of Airds (2000) p. 61. Another son, Eóin Sprangach, was the ancestor of the Ardnamurchan branch of Clann Domhnaill.Petre, J (2015) p. 602 fig. 2; Petre, JS (2014) p. 268 tab.; Addyman; Oram (2012); Coira (2012) pp. 76 tab. 3.3, 334 n. 71; Caldwell, D (2008) pp. 49, 52, 70; Roberts (1999) p. 99 fig. 5.2. There is evidence to suggest that Aonghus Mór may have had yet another son, named Domhnall. Although various historical records and chronicle-accounts concerning the period make note of this man, with some of these sources styling him "of Islay",Lamont (1981) pp. 160–169. the precise identity of this individual is uncertain.Sellar (2016) p. 104; Lamont (1981) pp. 160–169.
A seventeenth-century pedigree of the Ó Gnímh bardic kindred of Ulster traces its descent from a son of Aonghus Mór named Gofraidh.Ó Cuív (1984) p. 59. The familial origins of this kindred are uncertain. Whilst it is possible that the family is a branch of Clann Domhnaill, there is also reason to suspect that a genealogical connection between the families was concocted.Ó Cuív (1984).
According to the seventeenth-century Macintosh History, an ancestor of Clann Mhic an Tóisigh named Fearchar married a daughter of Aonghus Óg named "". The fact that Fearchar is supposed to have died in 1274, however, suggests that this source has conflated Aonghus Óg and Aonghus Mór.Cathcart (2006) p. 14, 14 n. 32; Clark (1900) p. 164. . Alexander Mackintosh Shaw (1880) confirms the father of Moran to be Aonghus Mór; "Ferquhard's intercourse with the fair Mora of Isla was at first of an unauthorised character, and that, this being discovered, the lover fled to avoid the wrath of the powerful father. He took refuge in Ireland, but before he had been there long he was recalled, and on his return made Mora his wife."
Early career
Attestations of uncertain date
Unlike some of his Clann Somhairle kinsmen, there is little known of Aonghus Mór's career. Details of his father's life are even more obscure. One source that may cast light upon the latter—and potentially concern Aonghus Mór himself—is the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century Chronicle of Mann. According to this source, an aged chieftain named "" was held in high esteem by Haraldr Óláfsson, King of Mann and the Isles, but after the latter's unexpected death, and the subsequent assassination of his brother Rǫgnvaldr Óláfsson, the kingship was seized by their rival kinsman Haraldr Guðrøðarson (reigned 1249–1250), who in turn had Dofnaldus and his infant son imprisoned. The episode concerning Dofnaldus concludes with him and his son successfully escaping their captors through divine intervention, and the compiler of the chronicle stating that the recorded events were provided in person by the chieftain in question.Woolf (2007) p. 78; Anderson (1922) pp. 566–567; Munch; Goss (1874) pp. 102–105. There is reason to suspect that Dofnaldus and his infant son are identical to Domhnall and possibly Aonghus Mór himself. Haraldr Óláfsson certainly associated himself with the Hebrides throughout his reign, a fact which could in turn indicate that the chieftains whom he had held in highest esteem were indeed Hebrideans.Woolf (2007) p. 78.
There are several charters that may have bearing upon Aonghus Mór's early career. At some point he issued several undated charters to the monastery of Paisley. One of these was a payment and promise of protection to the monks of this religious house, not unlike an earlier grant by his paternal grandfather, Raghnall mac Somhairle.Holton (2017) pp. 143–144; Boardman (2007) p. 95 n. 3; McDonald (1997) pp. 129, 220; MacDonald; MacDonald (1896) p. 487; Registrum Monasterii de Passelet (1832) p. 127; Document 3/31/2 (n.d.). Aonghus Mór's other charter concerned his grant of the church of St Ciarán in Kintyre to the monastery.Holton (2017) p. 144; Boardman (2007) p. 95 n. 3; Butter (2007a) p. 134; Butter (2007b) p. 245; McDonald (2004) p. 196; McDonald (1997) pp. 84, 109, 129, 149; Maclean-Bristol (1995) p. 168; Duffy (1993) p. 251 n. 35; Cowan, EJ (1990) p. 119; Munro; Munro (1986) pp. 87 § 58, 280 n. 4; Cowan, IB (1967) p. 100; Duncan; Brown (1956–1957) p. 200; MacDonald; MacDonald (1896) pp. 487–488; Origines Parochiales Scotiae (1854) p. 13; Howson (1841) p. 81; Registrum Monasterii de Passelet (1832) pp. 127–128; Document 3/31/3 (n.d.). This particular charter refers to both a king and prince named Alexander. Although these two can be understood to refer to Alexander II and his son and successor, Alexander III—an identification that would date the endowment to 1241×1249—another possibility is that the names instead refer to the latter and his like-named son, Alexander. If this latter identification is indeed correct, the charter would instead date to 1264×1284. The grant itself stresses that the transaction was made "for the welfare of my lord Alexander, illustrious king of Scots" (""), a declaration that may be evidence that Aonghus Mór was attempting to align himself with the Scottish Crown.Holton (2017) p. 144; McDonald (2004) p. 196; McDonald (1997) pp. 109, 149; Duffy (1993) p. 251 n. 35; Cowan, EJ (1990) p. 119; MacDonald; MacDonald (1896) pp. 487–488; Origines Parochiales Scotiae (1854) p. 13; Registrum Monasterii de Passelet (1832) pp. 127–128; Document 3/31/3 (n.d.).
Involvement in Irish affairs