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| The MacDougalls descend from Dougall, the eldest son of Somerled, King of the Isles. Dougall styled himself “King of the South Isles and Lord of Lorne”. After 1164 Dougall held Argyll and Lorne with Mull, Lismore, Kerrera, Tiree and Coll. His son Duncan and his grandson Ewan, built a number of castles in strategic positions including Dunstaffnage, Dunollie, Duntrune and Dunchonnel. Duncan MacDougall of Argyll was mentioned in records of 1244 so by this time the name had established into a clan.
The third MacDougall Chief was Eoghan of Argyll, King in the Hebrides and Lord of Lorne. Eoghan’s son Alexander married a daughter of the Red Comyn who was slain by Robert the Bruce at Dumfries, with the result that the MacDougalls became bitter enemies of Bruce. However, the 6th Chief married Bruce’s, granddaughter when they recovered the Lordship of Lorne. Later when war broke out again in the time of Bruce’s son, the clan took the side of John Baliol, who overran the country. Baliol was defeated though and as a result, the clan again lost a good deal of their land, which from then on, passed more and more into the hands of the Campbells. In 1715 the Macdougalls supported the Jacobite cause after which the Chief’s lands were forfeited. His son Alexander took no part in the Rising of l745 and his lands were subsequently restored to him. The ruins of Dunollie Castle still belong to the present Chief. The family has in its possession a plaid brooch belonging to Robert the Bruce, called the Brooch of Lorne. It is held by the present Chief in a mansion house behind Dunollie Castle, which is today the seat of the clan. |