EARLS OF ROSS AND LORDS OF THE ISLES. 75 



hands of the Earl of Ross, until the reign of David It., 

 there is no record of the doings of Leod of Lewis or his im- 

 mediate successors. The heads, both of the Siol Torquil 

 and the Siol Tormod, being vassals of the Earls of Ross, 

 their history is necessarily merged in that of their overlords. 

 Torquil, son of Leod, who succeeded his father in the 

 possession of Lewis, married Dorothea, a daughter of 

 his Superior, William Earl of Ross, and died during the 

 reign of Robert Bruce. His daughter, Finguala, married 

 Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail. Thus the Macleods of 

 Lewis were closely connected by marriage with two of the 

 most notable families in the Highlands. During the reign of 

 Bruce, the lords of the Outer Hebrides remained faithful to 

 the Crown, until Ruari Mac Allan,* about 1325, for some 

 unexplained reason, fomented a conspiracy, which resulted 

 in the forfeiture of the whole of his possessions. They 

 were, however, afterwards restored by Edward Baliol to 

 Ruari's son, Ranald. 



The death of the wise and gallant Bruce in 1329 was the 

 signal for a series of disasters to Scottish arms, Scottish 

 prestige, and Scottish liberties, which culminated in the 

 successful re-assertion of England's claim to the Superiority 

 of her high-spirited neighbour. The humiliating defeat of 

 a large Scottish army by a handful of English adventurers 

 at Dupplin Moor placed the Crown of Scotland on the head 

 of Edward Baliol, a brave son of a timorous father. The 

 not less humiliating fiasco of Halidon Hill where Hugh 

 O'Beolan Earl of Ross was killedt virtually left Edward 

 III. of England the Dictator of Scotland. Baliol had been 

 forced into the arms of England by the bad faith of Sir 

 Archibald Douglas and other Scottish nobles, and the 

 English King was only too thankful to have the oppor- 

 tunity of reviving the old claims of his country to the 

 over-lordship of the sister kingdom. After Halidon Hill, 



* Robertson states in his Early Kings that the forfeited chief was Allan 

 MacRuari, but this appears to be an inaccurate transposition of names. 



t He wore the supposed shirt of St. Duthac as a talisman. It, however, 

 proved ineffective ! 



