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- In 1475-6 John, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles, the then chief of Clan Donald, was declared forfeit for making an independant treaty with the English and invading the King of Scots' lands, among other misdeeds. The Campbell Earl of Argyll was given a commission of fire and sword against him for failing to appear to answer the charges, but the matter was settled by negotiation and not long afterwards John of the Isles' son and heir, Angus Og MacDonald, was married to Earl Colin's daughter Isobella Campbell.
In 1481 a Clan Donald historian shows John of the Isles granting Knapdale to Earl Colin of Argyll, but in fact these lands were forfeit and were granted to the Earl by the King. John was in flight from his son in Islay at the time and no doubt made the grant to the Earl out of disdain for Angus Og to whom John's followers had turned out of disgust for his own mismanagement of the Lordship.
When the Earl of Argyll was granted Knapdale in 1481, and was put in charge of the royal lands in Kintyre, he left the MacDonalds of Largie in charge of their own lands in Kintyre, as they are to this day. The Earl made MacAllister, a local leader of Clan Donald, Constable of the strategic royal Castle of Tarbert, a post that family held for three hundred years until, the castle becoming redundant in the 18th century, they sold out and moved to Glasgow to make a living. Tarbert commands the pass from Kintyre to mainland Argyll. These actions were not those of an arch-enemy but were made and kept in trust.
When Angus Og, Lord of the Isles, was killed at Inverness by his Irish harper, his Campbell Lady Isobella is said to have returned to her father's castle of Innis Chonnel on Lochawe. Her son was born after his father's death and, by royal decree, grew up confined to the island of Innis Chonnel. His Campbell grandfather died when he was about three. He is said to have escaped as a boy of about 16 and later attempted unsuccessfully to claim the Lordship of the Isles.
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