The imprisonment of the earl of Ross and his mother led to an insurrection in the west, when the Highlanders under Donald Balloch, a cousin of the earl, defeated the royal troops, under the earls of Mar and Caithness, at Inverlochy in Lochaber in 1431, when the former was killed; but on the appearance of the king himself with additional forces, Donald Balloch fled to Ireland, and the other chiefs made their submission. In consequence of this insurrection, the king appears to have seen the policy of setting the earl of Ross at liberty and attaching him to his service by conferring upon him the important office of Justiciar of Scotland north of the Forth, an office which he held during the minority of James the Second. He appears, however, to have entered into a league with the earls of Douglas and Crawford, in 1455, for the dethronement of that monarch, but died in 1449 before any overt attempt had been made to carry it into effect. Alexander, earl of Ross, like his grandfather, seems to have formed one potent alliance with the Lowland nobility by his marriage with Elizabeth Seton, daughter of Alexander, Lord of Gordon and Huntly, while he had—either before or after—added to his possessions by marriage with daughters of Highland chiefs. By his countess Elizabeth he had John, who succeeded him as Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles. By the daughter of Giollapadraig, the last of the lay abbots of Applecross, and known to tradition as the Red Priest, with whom he obtained the lands of Lochalsh, Lochcarron, and others, he had a son Hugh, to whom he gave the lands of Sleat in Skye; and by a daughter of _Mac Dubhshithe_ or Macphee, of Lochaber, he had Celestine or Gilleaspic, to whom he gave the lands of Lochalsh. During the reign of James the Second, John, earl of Ross, was occasionally at variance with the Crown, and at other times on good terms with the king, and under his influence was married to the daughter of Sir James Livingston; but soon after that king’s death, he entered into a league with the earl of Douglas and King Edward the Fourth of England for the conquest and partition of Scotland, in 1462, and immediately raised the standard of revolt. Having assembled a large force, he made himself master of the castle of Inverness, and proclaimed himself supreme over the sheriffdoms of Inverness and Nairn, which then embraced the whole of the north of Scotland over which he placed his natural son Angus as lieutenant. In consequence of this act, and of the treaty with England coming to light, he was summoned at his castle of Dingwall to appear before a Parliament in Edinburgh to answer to various charges of treason, and failing to attend, sentence of forfeiture was pronounced against him in 1475. In order to carry this sentence into effect, an expedition consisting both of a fleet and land force was sent against him under the command of the earls of Crawford and Atholl, and this led