The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

212 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
heiresses of Ewen de Ergadia, the last of the male descendants
of Dugall, the son of Somerled ; but he unfortunatel}- joined
John, the lord of Lorn, in his opposition to the accession of
Robert the Bruce, and in consequence became a sharer in the
ruin of that great chief After the defeat of the lord of Lorn at
Lochow, and the subsequent siege of Dunstaffnage, king Robert
proceeded
to crush Alexander of the Isles also. And for this
purpose he crossed over the Isthmus of Tarbet and besieged
Alexander in Castle Swen, his usual residence. The lord of the
Isles was as little able to hold out against the power of the
Bruce as the lord of Lorn had been, and he was accordingly
obliged to surrender to the king, who immediately imprisoned
him in Dundonald Castle, where he died. His whole possessions
were forfeited and given to his brother Angus Og, who, fortun-
ately for himself and for his clan, had adopted a different line
of politics, having followed the part}- of the Bruce from the
very beginning.
After the disastrous defeat at Methven, and the subsequent
skirmish of the lord of Lorn at T)'ndrum, where the Bruce
was obliged to fl\', he was received by Angus in his castle of
Dunaverty, and there protected until he was obliged to take
refuge in the small island of Rachlin. From this period Angus
attached himself to his part}-, and took a share in all his sub-
sequent enterprises. He assisted in the attack upon Carrick,
when " the Bruce wan his father's hall," and was also present
at the battle of Bannockburn, where Bruce at length reaped the
reward of all his former toils and dangers, on which occasion
Aneus with his clan seem to have formed the reserve.
'to'
" Ye ferd bataile ye noble king
Tuk till his awne governyng.
And had in till his company
Ye men of Carrik halely,
A lid ojf Ar^/iile, ajtd of Kentyre,
And off ye Isles, quharof lues syr
Anoiis of Isle, and but all ya.
He of ye plane land had alsua
Off armyt men a mekyl rout.
His bataile stalwart wes and stout." ^
^ Barbour.