!BIOGRAPHY: Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, Baronet, THE BARONAGE
OF SCOTLAND, Edinburgh, 1798, p. 377.
XIII. Donald, second son of the said Alexander, who did not long survive
his brother, but was murdered soon thereafter at Kingsburrow in
Troterness, and having no children, was succeeded by his brother,
Tormod.
!BIOGRAPHY: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon, MACLEOD CHIEFS OF HARRIS AND
DUNVEGAN, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1969, pp. 18-19. Alick
Morrison, THE CHIEFS OF CLAN MACLEOD, East Kilbride, Scotland, 1986.
Donald, the immediate younger brother of William, 9th Chief, and Mary''s
uncle, returned home in 1556. It is very possible that his return was
brought about by the Earl of Argyle (4th Earl), who was at that time
working hard to obtain the wardship of Mary, by purchase, from the Earl
of Huntly. Possibly the Earl of Argyll entered into some legal
transaction with Donald, similar to the one which his successor, the 5th
Earl of Argyll, subsequently made with Norman, Donald''s younger brother,
by which Mary resigned her rights to the chiefship and Dunvegan for
bestowal afterwards on her uncle, the rightful heir-male. However that
may have been, when Donald appeared in the MacLeod country, Iain a''Chuil
Bhain, as indicated in the BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT, denuded himself of
the official position which he had held in the clan for the previous five
years, and a meeting of the clan was convened at Lynedale to discuss the
''rights of the different candidates to the Chiefship of the MacLeods''. The
BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT does not state who they all were, but,
undoubtedly, Donald was one of them. [The BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT says
that the claims of Mary and her ''young Campbell husband'' were turned
down. It may be pointed out that at the date of the Lynedale meeting
Mary was not married to a Campbell, nor for many years thereafter.]
Confused and contradictory traditions regarding the discussion at
Lynedale on Donald''s claims to the chiefship have come down to us, but it
is not suggested by any of them that his claims as the rightful heir-male
were not recognized by the clansmen. What actually seems to have taken
place was that Donald, as the immediate younger brother of the last
Chief, was accepted by the assembled clansmen as their Chief, and Iain
Dubh, the second son of Iain a''Chuil Bhain, was deputed by the meeting to
go to Kingsburgh, where Donald and his supporters were patiently
waiting for news from Lynedale, to announce to him that he had been
elected Chief, and therefore was invited to Lynedale for his inauguration
on the following day. [One traditional account has it that it was decided
at Lynedale to leave Iain a''Chuil Bhain in the position he held in the clan,
but that, on his death, the MacLeod estates were to revert to Donald or
his heir (Nicolson: HISTORY OF SKYE, pp. 63-64).] There are two
Traditional accounts of what followed. One is that Iain Dubh, who had
made up his mind to get the chiefship for himself, treacherously
murdered Donald at Kingsburgh. The other is that he persuaded Donald to
accompany him back to Lynedale for next day''s inauguration, and that
during the night he murdered him in his tent while sound asleep. For this
foul deed, the clan outlawed Iain Dubh. Donald''s murder took place in
March 1557. It is said that he was married twice, but left no surviving
issue.