Aonghas Óg

Aonghas Óg (died 1490) was a 15th-century Scottish nobleman. He was the bastard son of Eoin MacDomhnaill, Earl of Ross and last officially recognized Lord of the Isles. Aonghas became a rebel against both his father and against the Scottish crown, both of which he successfully defeated before being murdered by his Irish musician. He is not to be confused with his namesake, Aonghas Óg, Lord of Islay, father of John of Islay, the first Lord of the Isles.

After the discovery in 1476 of Eoin's secret treaty with Edward IV of England by King James III, King James stripped Eoin of his earldom, as well as the sheriffdoms of Nairn and Inverness, and the lordships of Kintyre and Knapdale, but confirmed Eoin with the remainder of his lands and the title Lord of the Isles. It appears that Aonghas, as Eoin's heir, was not prepared to accept this settlement. Aonghas campaigned to regain Ross and the other lost dominions. At first he may have been supported by his father, but this did not last.

Eoin, his prestige in tatters, was driven from Islay by his son. Eoin managed to gather support among the MacGill'Eain ("MacLean") kindred of Duart, the MacLeoid kindred of Lewis and Harris, and MacNeill kindred of Barra, as well as the Scottish crown and John Stewart, Earl of Atholl; but Aonghas had the important support of Domhnall Ballach and the rest of the MacDomhnaill kindred. A great sea battle took place near Tobermory, the Battle of the Bloody Bay, probably in the year 1481, in which Aonghas defeated the galleys of his father's west highland allies. In the same year, another battle took place at Lagabraad, in which Aonghas defeated a royal army led by the earl of Atholl. According to Hugh MacDonald's "History of the MacDonalds", 517 of Atholl's men were slain. Aonghas followed up his victory by retaking control of Dingwall Castle and Easter Ross.

Aonghas had benefitted from political distractions in the south. By 1483 those distractions were over, and the earl of Atholl and earl of Huntly were able to bring their presence to bear on the north, forcing Aonghas to retreat back to the west. However, the great magnate rebellion of 1488 gave Aonghas another chance to move east and Aonghas was able to seize control of Inverness. However, in 1490 Aonghas had his throat cut while sleeping. The murderer was his Irish harpist, Art O'Carby, who carried out the act for reasons which remain unclear. Following Aonghas' death, the crown launched a new campaign and Aonghas' son Domhnall Dubh was captured by Cailean I, Earl of Argyll.

References

* MacDougall, Norman, "Achilles' Heel? The Earldom of Ross, the Lordship of the Isles, and the Stewart Kings, 1449-1507", in Edward J. Cowan & R. Andrew McDonald (eds.), "Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era", (Edinburgh, 2000), pp. 248-75
*Oram, Richard, "The Lordship of the Isles, 1336-1545", in Donald Omand (ed.) "The Argyll Book", (Edinburgh, 2005), pp. 123-39