EARLS OF ROSS AND LORDS OF THE ISLES. 69 



Harris. In the charters of David II. relating to the 

 Hebrides, there is no mention of this island. In the list 

 of charters by Robert II., the island of Heryce or Herce 

 appears, which has also been taken to represent Harris. 

 In his Index to Missing Charters, Robertson transcribes 

 this name as Heryte, Hert, and Hyrte, and applies it to 

 Hirta, or St. Kilda, which is probably correct, as it is known 

 that St. Kilda belonged to the Macruaries. 



The inferential proofs are strong that Harris passed, as a 

 portion of Lewis, to the Earl of Ross, and that the former 

 became disjoined from the latter, only when Tormod, son 

 of Leod, inherited it as part of his patrimony. There is no 

 proof that the southern part of Lewis, i.e. the modern 

 Harris, ever belonged to the Macruaries, except as tempo- 

 rary lessees of the Earl of Ross. 



We get a passing glimpse of the doings of the 

 Macruaries towards the end of the thirteenth century. 

 Allan MacRuari attended the Scottish Parliament which 

 in 1284 settled the Crown on the Maid of Norway, daughter 

 of Erik King of Norway, and of Margaret, daughter of 

 Alexander III. of Scotland. Soon afterwards (1285-86), 

 Allan committed an act of piracy on a Spanish ship with 

 a valuable cargo, which was driven ashore on the Outer 

 Hebrides. The captain appealed to King Alexander for 

 justice, with what result we are not informed. 



The death of the Maid of Norway, and the subsequent 

 squabbles between the rival claimants to the throne of 

 Scotland, were events to which the chiefs of the Hebrides 

 were not indifferent. During the interregnum, we find 

 Edward I. of England, in pursuance of his scheme for 

 annexing Scotland to the English Crown, directing his atten- 

 tion to the Isles. In 1290, he commissioned the Bishop 

 of Durham to receive the men of the Isles to his " peace," 

 in other words, to detach them from the national cause. 

 The commission appears to have been successful in the 

 South Isles, for in 1 292, Alexander of Argyll (de Ergadid),* 



* Supposed to be a son of Ewen of Lome, though Skene contradicts that 

 theory. 



