Alastair Carragh MacDonald (Alexander the Strong) (d. c.1440) was a son of John of Islay, Lord of the Isles and Margaret Stewart, daughter of King Robert II of Scotland and Elizabeth Mure. [1] He is the eponymous ancestor of Clan MacDonald of Keppoch.
John of Islay was the Lord of the Isles (1336–1386) and chief of Clan Donald. In 1336, he styled himself Dominus Insularum, "Lord of the Isles"; because this is the first ever recorded instance of the title in use, modern historians count John as the first of the later medieval Lords of the Isles, although this rather broad Latin style corresponds roughly with the older Gaelic title Rí Innse Gall, in use since the Viking Age, and for instance, the even more similar Latin title dominus de Inchegal, applied to Raghnall Mac Somhairle in the mid-12th century. In fact John is actually styled Rí Innsi Gall or King of the Isles shortly after his death in a contemporary entry in the Irish Annals of Ulster.
Robert II reigned as King of Scots from 1371 to his death as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce by his first wife Isabella of Mar.
Elizabeth Mure was mistress and then wife of Robert, High Steward of Scotland, and Guardian of Scotland, who later became King Robert II of Scotland.
He fought alongside his brother, Donald of the Isles, at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, supporting Donald's claim to the Earldom of Ross. For his involvement in the 1431 insurrection of Donald Balloch and the Battle of Inverlochy, Alistair had a large portion of his lands confiscated, with those lands transferred to the Malcolm Beg Mackintosh, Chief of Clan MacKintosh.
The Battle of Harlaw was a Scottish clan battle fought on 24 July 1411 just north of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. It was one of a series of battles fought during the Middle Ages between the barons of northeast Scotland against those from the west coast.
The Battle of Inverlochy (1431) was fought after Alexander of Islay, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, had been imprisoned by King James I. A force of Highlanders led by Donald Balloch, Alexander's cousin, defeated Royalist forces led by the Earls of Mar and Caithness at Inverlochy, near present-day Fort William. Over 1000 men were supposedly killed, among them the Earl of Caithness. Balloch then went on to ravage the country of Clan Cameron and Clan Chattan, who had been loyal to the king during the rebellion. King James himself soon after led an army into the Highlands, and the rebel forces disintegrated.
