The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

238 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
the issue of Godfrey in the person of his son Alexander, unquestionabh'
devolved on the feudal representative of Reginald, the
youngest son of that marriage.
Of the descent of the clan Ranald, there is no doubt what-
ever, nor has it ever been disputed, that they derive their
origin from this Reginald or Ranald, a son of John, lord of the
Isles, b\- Amy Mac Ror\\ Ranald obtained, as we have seen,
from his father the lordship of Garmoran, which he held as
vassal of his brother Godfrev, and these were the same terri-
tories which the clan Ranald possessed, as appears from the
parliamentary records in 1587, when mention is made of the
" Clan Ranald of Knoydart, Mo}'dart, and Glengarry." There
has, however,
arisen considerable doubt which of the various
families descended from Ranald anciently possessed the chief-
ship, and without entering in this place into an argument of
any great length on the subject, we shall state shortly the
conclusions to which we have been led after a rigid examination
of that question.
That the present family styling themselves "of Clanranald''
v\-ere not the ancient chiefs there can be no doubt, as it is
now a matter of evidence that the)' are descended from a
bastard son of a second son of the old family of Moydart,
who assumed the title of captain of Clanranald in 1531, and
as long as the descendants of the elder brother remain they
can have no claim by right of blood. The point we are to
examine is, who was the chief previous to that assumption ?
Ranald had five sons, of whom three only left issue, viz. :
Donald, from whom descended the family of Knoydart and
Glengarry ; .Allan, the ancestor of the famil}' of ^loydart ; and
Angus, from whom came the famih- of Moror. That the
descendants of Angus were the \-oungest branch, and could
have no claim to the chiefship, has never been disputed, and
the question accordingly lies between the descendants of Donald
and of Allan. The seniority of Donald, however, is distinctly
proved by the fact, that on the extinction of the family of
]\Ioror, the famih' of Moydart succeeded legalh- to that pro-
perty ; consequently by the law of Scotland the\' must have
been descended from a \'ounger son than the family of Kno}'dart
and Glengarry, and it follows of necessit}' that the latter famil}'