John MacDonald, 11th Earl of Ross

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John MacDonald (* 1435; † 1498 in Dundee ), 11th Earl of Ross , Lord of the Isles , was a Scottish nobleman .

Life

His father was Alexander MacDonald, 10th Earl of Ross , his mother was Elisabeth, daughter of Alexander Seton. With the death of his father on May 8, 1449, he took over his inheritance at the age of 14 and thus also took on the titles of Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles .

In cooperation with the Earls of Douglas and Crawford he operated a fragmentation of the kingdom to increase his own power. With a large troop he marched to Inverness in 1452 , took the castle there and then Urquhart Castle ; on his way south through Moray he burned Ruthven Castle and defeated an army led by the Earl of Huntly that had been sent to stop him. His conquests were withdrawn from him in 1454, but the following year he received the lands at Abertarff, Stratherrich and Grenane in Ayrshire and Urquhart Castle for an annual lease of £ 100. In 1457, James II even named him one of the Warden of the Marches .

The Scottish campaign against England in 1460, which ended with the sudden death of James II, caused a disaffected John and his 3,000 soldiers to return north. Again he turned to the Douglas family; he and the outlaw James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas , signed a treaty with Edward IV in 1461 , which (with English support) provided for a division of Scotland between the two Earls. His relatives, above all his son Angus and his nephew Alexander of Lochalsh, then mobilized their troops and occupied the northern areas of Scotland (are called Arran, Bute, Inverness and Nairn); the promised English support did not materialize because the Wars of the Roses had begun .

In the years that followed, John was summoned to Parliament several times to be questioned about this rebellion and his actions as an independent monarch. However, he never appeared; therefore, on December 1, 1475, all titles, dignities and possessions were revoked and he himself was declared outlawed. Thereupon he appeared voluntarily in front of Parliament; his information must have been so convincing that on July 1, 1476, his ostracism was lifted, he was reinstated in the title of "Lord of the Isles" and most of his lands were returned to him.

In the following years John lived without further claims, but was viewed with suspicion by the government because of the power of the "Lord of the Isles". In 1494 he voluntarily gave up the rule and lived at the Scottish royal court for the rest of his life. After his death, like his ancestor Robert II , he was buried in Paisley Abbey .

John was once married, but the dates of his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of James Livingston, Lord Livingston of Callendar and Great Chamberlain of Scotland are inconsistent. The marriage remained childless. His illegitimate descendants, sons Angus and John and daughter Margaret, were recognized by him around 1485.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ fmg.ac names "Halyburton" as a surname.
  2. ↑ Paul, 1909 names the wedding date “before February 8, 1476”, while fmg.ac writes “already dissolved by papal decree in 1464”.
predecessor Office successor
Alexander MacDonald Earl of Ross
1449-1475 		Title fallen to the crown
personal data
SURNAME John MacDonald, 11th Earl of Ross
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH 1435
DATE OF DEATH 1498
Place of death Dundee