Series 5 > Campbell Letters 1559-1583

56
CLAN CAMPBELL LETTERS
Colin was complaining to Argyll about raiding by the MacGregors, who
‘wes woynt to be bot servantis vnder your Lordship and me’ (3).1 The
full feud probably did not begin until 1562 when the MacGregors forcibly
occupied lands at Ardeonaig on Loch Tay held by the MacTarlichs,
dependants of the fifth earl.This was followed in December by a series of
brutal murders of Campbells and their allies (6, 7, 12).2 The raiding and
fighting were intense in the first six months of 1563. They diminished
when Gregor led his kinsmen to northern Ireland to fight as redshanks
for Sorley Boy MacDonald (20, 22-6). The MacGregors’ return from
Ireland restarted the feud. It was only under the external pressure of the
Chase-about Raid that a negotiated settlement was achieved.This brought
a reversion to the old military partnership between the Campbells and
the MacGregors. The earl of Argyll immediately employed MacGregor
troops to help fight for the rebel cause.3
The feud then flared up once again, drawing in even more participants,
including the earl of Atholl. Curiously, no letters survive from the flurry
of activity in 1569 which culminated in the capture on 1 August of
Gregor himself. Although the commission to try the MacGregor chief
was obtained within a week, the trial was delayed for eight months.4 On
7 April 1570 near Balloch Castle, Gregor was tried and sentenced to
Overall responsibility for the activities of the MacGregors was always a point of
contention between Argyll and Grey Colin. In 1554, the fourth earl of Argyll had
sold to Grey Colin the superiority of the MacGregor territory of Glen Strae along
with the ward and marriage of the young Gregor MacGregor of Glenstrae, 26 Apr.
1554: GDI 12/2/81/5-6; GDI 12/75/19-20; RMS, iv, 944. As was standard Campbell
practice, the earl transferred the MacGregor bonds of manrent to Grey Colin at the
same time, mentioned in 7. The question of whether the MacGregors were the
‘servants’ of Grey Colin or of Argyll or of both of them remained a sensitive issue
right through until the final setdement.
The escheat of Gregor MacGregor was granted to Grey Colin, 14Jan. 1563, RSS, v,
1,1194.
As Argyll cynically explained to Grey Cohn, these military activities would serve to
wear out the MacGregors (41).
The commission which appointed as justiciars Lawrence Mercer of Meiklelour
(Katherine’s brother-in-law); Alexander Abercromby of Murthlie; Alexander Blair
of Balthyok; Peter Hay ofMegginch (Katherine’s servitor), was dated 6 Aug. 1569,
GDI 12/1/847. For an extended discussion of the reasons for the delay, see
MacGregor/MacGregors’, 371-6. On 29 Mar. 1570, in his capacity as justice-general,
Argyll signed letters permitting Grey Colin to execute Gregor: GDI 12/1/182. On
the same day Grey Colin made a bond declaring that, if he executed Gregor, he
would give the ward and non-entry of Glenstrae to Gregor’s wife, Marion, and
their baby son Alastair: GD112/l/182a.