Somhairle Buíodh MacDonnell (Scottish Gaelic: Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill), also spelt as MacDonald (c. 1505 – 1590), was Gaelic chief, the son of Alexander Carragh MacDonnell, 5th of Dunnyveg, of Dunyvaig Castle, lord of Islay and Cantire, and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan, both in Scotland. MacDonnell is best known for establishing the MacDonnell clan in Antrim, Ireland, and resisting the campaign of Shane O'Neill and the English crown to expel the clan from Ireland. Sorley Boy's connection to other Irish Roman Catholic lords was complicated, but also culturally and familiarly strong: for example, he married Mary O'Neill, the daughter of Conn O'Neill. He is also known in English as Somerled and Somerled of the yellow hair. Clan MacDonnell The MacDonnells of Antrim were a sept of the powerful Clan Donald of the royal Clann Somhairle, (see Lords of the Isles), that the English crown had attempted to cultivate since the early 14th century in its efforts to influence the course of politics in Scotland. At the end of that century an ancestor of Sorley's, John Mór Tanister, had married Margaret Bisset, of the lordship on the Antrim coast known as the Glynns or Glens, which union would eventually lay the basis for Sorley Boy's claim to the lordship of that territory in Ireland. MacDonnell migration to the Glynns and Rathlin Island increased in the early 16th century (by way of swift galleys propelled by oar and sail), after the clan had rejected overtures from an increasingly powerful James IV, King of Scotland. However, the last known lord of the Mac Eoin Bissetts, a supporter of the O'Neills, was slain in battle in 1522, and it is only after this that the MacDonnells somehow emerge as claimants to the lordship. The precise circumstances of this transfer or encroachment have been lost to history, but the English authorities, themselves preparing to claim overlordship in Ulster and the rest of Ireland, still recognised the Bissetts as the lords of the Glynns as late as 1515. The English feared the formation of a fifth column, with the Ulster clans of O'Neill and O'Donnell, which might lay the foundation of a Bruce-style invasion of Ireland, and the clan did spread into the adjacent territories of Clandeboy and the Route.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Overview

Somhairle Buíodh MacDonnell (Scottish Gaelic: Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill), also spelt as MacDonald (c. 1505 – 1590), was Gaelic chief, the son of Alexander Carragh MacDonnell, 5th of Dunnyveg, of Dunyvaig Castle, lord of Islay and Cantire, and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan, both in Scotland. MacDonnell is best known for establishing the MacDonnell clan in Antrim, Ireland, and resisting the campaign of Shane O'Neill and the English crown to expel the clan from Ireland. Sorley Boy's connection to other Irish Roman Catholic lords was complicated, but also culturally and familiarly strong: for example, he married Mary O'Neill, the daughter of Conn O'Neill. He is also known in English as Somerled and Somerled of the yellow hair. Clan MacDonnell The MacDonnells of Antrim were a sept of the powerful Clan Donald of the royal Clann Somhairle, (see Lords of the Isles), that the English crown had attempted to cultivate since the early 14th century in its efforts to influence the course of politics in Scotland. At the end of that century an ancestor of Sorley's, John Mór Tanister, had married Margaret Bisset, of the lordship on the Antrim coast known as the Glynns or Glens, which union would eventually lay the basis for Sorley Boy's claim to the lordship of that territory in Ireland. MacDonnell migration to the Glynns and Rathlin Island increased in the early 16th century (by way of swift galleys propelled by oar and sail), after the clan had rejected overtures from an increasingly powerful James IV, King of Scotland. However, the last known lord of the Mac Eoin Bissetts, a supporter of the O'Neills, was slain in battle in 1522, and it is only after this that the MacDonnells somehow emerge as claimants to the lordship. The precise circumstances of this transfer or encroachment have been lost to history, but the English authorities, themselves preparing to claim overlordship in Ulster and the rest of Ireland, still recognised the Bissetts as the lords of the Glynns as late as 1515. The English feared the formation of a fifth column, with the Ulster clans of O'Neill and O'Donnell, which might lay the foundation of a Bruce-style invasion of Ireland, and the clan did spread into the adjacent territories of Clandeboy and the Route.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Somhairle Buíodh MacDonnell (Scottish Gaelic: Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill), also spelt as MacDonald (c. 1505 – 1590), was Gaelic chief, the son of Alexander Carragh MacDonnell, 5th of Dunnyveg, of Dunyvaig Castle, lord of Islay and Cantire, and Catherine, daughter of the Lord of Ardnamurchan, both in Scotland. MacDonnell is best known for establishing the MacDonnell clan in Antrim, Ireland, and resisting the campaign of Shane O'Neill and the English crown to expel the clan from Ireland. Sorley Boy's connection to other Irish Roman Catholic lords was complicated, but also culturally and familiarly strong: for example, he married Mary O'Neill, the daughter of Conn O'Neill. He is also known in English as Somerled and Somerled of the yellow hair.