MacDonald
Modern Dress Crest
Gaelic Name: MacDhomhnuill
Motto: Per mare per terras (By sea and by land)
Badge: Heather Lands: The Western Isles
Origin of Name: Gaelic, Domhnull (World ruler)
Historic Seat: Finlaggan Castle, Islay
When King Somerled was killed fighting Malcolm IV in 1164, he was succeeded by his son Dougall. From Dougall would come the Clan MacDougall and from Dougall’s son Ranald came a grandson Donald, progenitor of the mighty Clan Donald. In 1424, James I returned from English imprisonment to begin his Scottish reign with a sweep of executions, imprisonments and punishment for all who had not supported him. In 1427 he summoned the powerful of the Highlands to a parliament in Inverness. In place of his father Donald, Alasdair MacDonald and his mother the Countess of Ross went to Inverness and were immediately imprisoned.