Historical account of the Macdonnells of Antrim

THE LORDS OF ISLA AND THE ANTRIM GLENS.
25
who was then generally believed to have died of starvation in his prison at Pontefract, suddenly
made his appearance in the Isles, disguised as a poor traveller. He was at once recognised by
Margery Byset, who had met the king on his second visit to Ireland, only a short time prior to her
marriage. This recognition was recorded by contemporary Scottish chroniclers, but principally, and
earlier than all others, by Andrew Winton, the prior of Loch Leven. The following is his account : —
" Bot in the Out-Ilys (11) of Scotland than
There was travelland a pure man ;
A lordis dochter of Ireland,
Of the Bissatis there dwelland,
Wes weddyt wyth a gentleman —
The Lord of the Ilys bruither than.
In Ireland before quhen schee had bene,
And the King Richard thar had sene; (12)
Quhen in the Ilys schee saw this man,
Schee let that she weel kend hym than,
Till her maistere soon schee past
And lauld thar till hym all sa fast
That hee wes that King of Yngland
That she before saw in Irland,
When hee wes tharin before,
As schee drew than to memore. "
(11) The Out-Ilys. — The Out-Isles were so called to
distinguish them from Bute, Arran, and the Cumbraes,
that lay within the line of the Scottish coasts. All others
lying out in the channel, or in the Atlantic, west and
north-west of the Cantire and the northern coasts, were
called the Out-Isles. Thomas Knox, a bishop of the
Isles, who succeeded his father, Andrew Knox, when the
latter was translated to Raphoe, has left an interesting
account of his diocese, drawn up in the year 1626. " The
Diocie of the Hebrid Ilandis," he says, "is devydit into
the West and North Ilandis The West Ilandis lyand
betwix Cumray in mouth of Clyd till the Row of Ardma-
rochie (Rue or Point of Ardnamurchan), as thay pass the
Muill of Kintyre, extend tham selfis neir thrie hunderelh
myles in the ocean, and ar devydit in these of the South
and of the Northe syde of Kintyre." Those on the south
side of Cantire are the Cumbraes, Bute, and Arran. The
islands on the north side of Cantire the bishop states to
be Gigha, Jura, Isla, Colonsay, Mull, Icolmkill, Coll,
and Tiree The North Islands lying between Ardna-
murchan Point and Rona are Muck, Rum, Cana, Egg,
Sky, Uist, Harris, Lewis, and Barra. (Collectanea de
Rebus Albanicis, p. 122.) These islands are divided
also into north and south, the dividing line being Ard-
namurchan Point. "The headland of Ardnamurcban is
not only the most noted in the parish, but on the whole
line of coast betwixt Cape Wrath and the Mull of Cantire,
being the westernmost part of the mainland of Britain.
From the era of Somerled to the reign of James VI., it
constituted a geographical boundary between the Western
Isles, which were denominated Northern and Southern,
according to their position in respect to this promontory."
(New Statistical Account of Argyleshire, p. 130) These
islands lie scattered opposite the western coast of Scot-
land, which they shelter (rom the fury of the Atlantic,
and are supposed to have been, at some remote period,
parts and parcels of the main land. They are nearly 200
in number, but the very small islands are passed over
without note, and, if referred to, are casually mentioned
only in connexion with some of larger size adjoining ihem.
The latter amount to 160, of which abcut one-fourth are
inhabited in the summer season. In the last century
there were houses on 96 of the islands, but at the present
time human habitations could not be found on perhaps
more than 60 of them. These islands constitute 31
modern parishes, and are politically connected with the
counties of Renfrew, Argyle, Ross, and Inverness. See
James Macdonald's Hebrides, pp. 8 — II.
(12) Had sene. — Richard II. visited Ireland twice dur-
ing his unhappy reign; first in 1394, and secondly in 1399.
On the first occasion he mentioned in a letter from Dub-
lin that the people of this country might then be divided
into three classes — "The wilde Irishe, or enemies, the
Irish rebels, and the English subjects " He received a
show of submission from a great number of Irish chiefs,
upon whom he forced the honour of knighthood after the
English fashion, and who submitted to the infliction with
a very bad grace, protesting that they had already
been so honoured according to the custom of their own
country. The king's act on this occasion, which was
intended to have an anglicising effect upon the re-
cipients, utterly failed in its object, and no sooner
had Richard sailed from the Irish shore than his knights
were all in arms against the English yoke. On the
occasion of his second visit, in 1399, Art MacMor-
rough, the representative of the ancient line of Leinster
kings, was actively engaged in rebellious courses, and
Richard swore by St. Edward that he must have
MacMorrough dead or alive ! But he did not then
know that his own fate had been sealed in England,
or that the wars of York and Lancaster had actually
begun!