while the possessions of the MacRuarie family, which he had inherited through his first wife, were to be secured to the first family as the price of their acquiescence. Accordingly, in the first year of his reign, King Robert confirms to John, Lord of the Isles, the territory on the mainland and the Isles which had belonged to Alan, son of Roderic, and in the following year confirms a grant by the Lord of the Isles of these possessions to his son Reginald, the youngest of the three brothers, who appears to have agreed to the arrangement, the eldest son, John, having predeceased his father, and the second, Godfrey, having apparently refused to surrender his rights; and a few years later charters are granted to the Lord of the Isles and to the heirs of his marriage with Margaret, the king’s daughter, of the island of Colonsay with its pertinents, and the lands of Lochaber, Kintyre, and one half of Knapdale. On the death of the Lord of the Isles in 1380, Reginald fulfilled his engagement by causing Donald to be recognised as Lord of the Isles, and having him inaugurated by the usual Celtic solemnities as such; while Godfrey appears to have for a time maintained his right to his mother’s inheritance, which, however, was soon extinguished by the failure of heirs-male. Donald thus appears to have entered peaceably into possession of the lordship of the Isles, and his marriage with Margaret, daughter of Walter Lesly, earl of Ross, added a claim to that earldom on the death of her brother Alexander, earl of Ross, who left an only daughter who became a nun. This claim being contested by the Regent Duke of Albany, who had obtained a renunciation from the nun, led to the great battle of Harlaw, where the whole force of the Western Highlands and Isles, as well as those of the earldom, was pitted against the Government; and though the issue of the battle was doubtful, the Lord of the Isles maintained his possession of the earldom, and his title as Earl of Ross was eventually admitted, and he was succeeded in 1420 by his son Alexander, as Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles. The position of the Lords of the Isles, as virtually independent rulers of nearly the whole of the Highlands with the Isles, was now so powerful, that their authority and that of the Crown came into constant collision, and it is necessary, for our purpose, that the leading incidents should be shortly stated. On the accession of James the First in 1424, he appears to have strengthened his party against the family of the Regent Albany by confirming the widow of the Lord of the Isles, and her son Alexander, in the earldom of Ross; and the latter, as Lord of the Isles and Master of the earldom of Ross, sat upon the jury which condemned Murdoch, Duke of Albany, and his father-in-law, the Earl of Lennox, to death; but after his object was attained, this vigorous monarch seemed to feel the necessity of bringing the Highlands more under his control. The mode by