Alexander Mackenzie (clan chief)

Alexander Mackenzie (died between 1477 and 1488), known as “Ionraic” (or “the Upright”), traditionally counted as 6th of Kintail, was the first chief of the Clan Mackenzie of whom indisputable contemporary documentary evidence survives. During his long life, he greatly expanded his clan’s territories and influence.

Early life

According to the traditional clan genealogy, Mackenzie was the son of Murdoch Mackenzie (5th of Kintail) and Finguala, daughter of Malcolm Macleod of Harris.

He was apparently among the Western barons summoned to Inverness in 1427 to meet King James, who promptly seized them on arrival, executing some and imprisoning others. The king sent Mackenzie, then a mere youth, to the High School at Perth, regarded at that time as the principal literary seminary in Scotland. According to traditional histories of the clan Macrae, he was prevailed upon to return from school in order to deal with three illegitimate uncles, who were disturbing his tenants in Kinlochewe.

Downfall of the Lord of the Isles

In the long-running conflict between the Lord of the Isles and the Scottish crown, Mackenzie chose the side of the latter. Following the failure of John of Islay’s treacherous treaty with Edward IV of England in 1462, Mackenzie was rewarded by a charter in his favour, dated 7th January 1463, confirming him in his lands of Kintail, with a further grant of the "5 merk lands of Killin, the lands of Garve, and the 2 merk lands of Coryvulzie, with the three merk lands of Kinlochluichart, and 2 merk lands of Ach-na-Clerich [Achnaclerach] , the 2 merk lands of Garbat, the merk lands of Delintan, and the 4 merk lands of Tarvie, all lying within the shire and Earldom of Ross, to be holden of the said John and his successors, Earls of Ross."

Mackenzie later played a significant part in the negotiations between John of Islay and James III that led to the former’s surrender of the Earldom of Ross in 1476, and was again rewarded with some of the lands renounced by the Earl of Ross, viz., Strathconan, Strathbraan, and Strathgarve; and after this the Barons of Kintail held all their lands quite independently of any superior but the Crown.

At some date (the estimates vary between 1466 and 1491) either before or after the surrender of the Earldom, Mackenzie’s son Kenneth led the Mackenzies to victory over a force of Macdonalds at the Battle of Blar-na-Pairc. This battle may be regarded as a seal upon the rise of the Mackenzies at the expense of their former Macdonald overlords.

Earldom of Ross

The Earl of Sutherland had been on friendly terms with Mackenzie, and appointed him as his deputy in the management of the Earldom of Ross, which devolved on him after the forfeiture. On one occasion, the Earl of Sutherland being in the south at Court, the Strathnaver men and the men of the Braes of Caithness took advantage of his absence and invaded Sutherland. An account of their conduct soon spread abroad, and reached the ears of the Chief of Kintail, who at once with a party of six hundred men, passed into Sutherland, where, the Earl's followers having joined him, he defeated the invaders, killed a large number of them, forced the remainder to sue for peace, and compelled them to give substantial securityfor their peaceful behaviour in future.

The Earl of Cromartie said::“…as his prudent management in the Earldom of Ross showed him to be a man of good natural parts, so it very much contributed to the advancement of the interest of his family by the acquisition of the lands he thereby made; nor was he less commendable for the quiet and peace he kept among his Highlanders, putting the laws punctually in execution against all delinquents."

Other clan disputes

Mackenzie also involved himself in the affairs of his neighbours. According to the Earl of Cromartie, he intervened to assist Allan Macdonald of Moidart (with whom he had previously been at loggerheads) against Allan’s brother, who had usurped some of the Moydart estates, and there are also traditional accounts of his involvement in about 1452 in the Battle of Bealach nam Broig between a western force of MacIvers, Maclennans, Macaulays and Macleays against a force of Frasers, Munroes of Foulis and Dingwalls of Kildun.

Family, death and posterity

Alexander was the first of the family who lived on the island in Loch Kinellan, near Strathpeffer, while at the same time he had Brahan as a mains or farm, both of which his successors for a time held from the King at a yearly rent, until they were later feued.

Alexander’s marriages have been the subject of genealogical controversy but it appears that he married, first, Anna, daughter of John Macdougall of
Dunollie, and, secondly, Margaret, daughter of Macdonald of Morar (a cadet of Clanranald). By his first wife, he had Kenneth, his heir and successor, and Duncan, progenitor of the Mackenzies of Hilton. By his second wife, he had Hector Roy (or “Eachainn Ruadh”), from whom are descended the Mackenzies of Gairloch, and a daughter who married Allan Macleod, Hector Roy’s predecessor in Gairloch.

He is also said to have had a natural son (or, in some sources, a brother), Dugal, who became a priest and was Superior of Beauly Priory, which he repaired about 1478, and in which he is buried.

Alexander died between 1477 and 1488 at Kinellan [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "Mackenzie family of Kintail"] , having attained a great old age.

References

This article includes text from Alexander Mackenzie’s "History of the Mackenzies" (Inverness, 1894), a work that is no longer in copyright.