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Redheadkelly: Text replacement - "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles ( -1449)" to "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles (-1449)"

2025-08-16T19:43:38Z

Text replacement - "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles ( -1449)" to "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles (-1449)"

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{{Scottish document
|document_title=NMS, H.MCR 39;Red Book of Clanranald
|document_type=Book
|language=
|document_date=
|description=Red Book of Clanranald, written in Gaelic by the MacVurichs, bards of Clanranald in the 17th and 18th centuries, containing poems and the traditional genealogy and history of the Macdonalds.
|transcription=Clann oile ag al''us''dair .i. huisdiun • inghean ghille pádraig ríaigh [''sic''] mhic ruaighrí mic an aba uaine mic iarrla rois dona rosach''aibh'' a shloinneadh ⁊ trían leoghuis a bhetha ⁊ fearuinn oile ar tír mór ⁊ is é do marbhadh sna rannuibh gallolach [''sic''] an gcuide''cht'' mic domnuill .i. domhnall a hile oir cethrar do chuadar amach as an arm roimh chuide''cht''a no phártuigh dó [''sic''] tslúagh do chaidh leó .i. tormód m''a''c leoid ⁊ torcuill a bhrathair • lochluinn mach [''sic''] giolla mhaoil giolla pádruig mac ruaighri do marbhadh giolla padruig mac ruaighri ⁊ lochluinn m''a''c giolla maoil ⁊ tainic tormód ⁊ torcuill as an rúaig slán.{{sfn|Black Nov 2019|pp=[https://www.1467manuscript.co.uk/GreenAbbottBlack%20BLACKforWEB.pdf#page=1 1]}}
|font=Insular
|text_reader=
|translation=From the translation published by the University College, Cork's CELT project, we get:
<blockquote>Alexander had other children, viz., Hugh, by a daughter of Gilpatrick Roy, son of Rory, son of the Green Abbot, son of the Earl of Ross, whose surname was of the Rosses. He had for patrimony the third part of Lewis, and other lands upon the mainland. It is he that was killed in the parts of Garioch when along with Mac Donald, viz., Donald of Isla. For there were four that went out of the army before any part of the main force went with them, viz., Norman Macleod and Torquill his brother, Lochluinn mac Gillemhaoil and Gilpatrick mac Rory. Gilpatrick mac Rory and Lochluinn mac Gillemhaoil were killed, but Norman and Torquill escaped safe from the pursuit.{{sfn|Cameron|Macbain|Kennedy|1894|pp=[https://research.ucc.ie/celt/document/T402566#pb.213 213]}}</blockquote>

Ronald Black translates this as follows:
<blockquote>Alexander had other children, namely Hugh, [by] the daughter of Gille Pádraig Ruadh, son of Ruairi, son of the Green Abbot, son of the earl of Ross. His pedigree was from the men of Ross, and he had a third of Lewis and other properties on the mainland for his livelihood. And he was slain in the Garioch(?) in the retinue of MacDonald, namely Donald of Islay, for four men got separated from the army leading a detachment or party of the host which accompanied them, namely Norman MacLeod and Torquil his brother, Lachlan MacMillan and Gille Pádraig son of Ruairi. Gille Pádraig son of Ruairi and Lachlan MacMillan were slain, while Norman and Torquil survived the attack unscathed.{{sfn|Black Nov 2019|pp=[https://www.1467manuscript.co.uk/GreenAbbottBlack%20BLACKforWEB.pdf#page=1-2 1-2]}}</blockquote>
|google_translate=
|library_title=
|library_id=H.MCR 39
|library_collection=
|repository=National Museum of Scotland
|url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/book/16546
|nls_title=
|nls_id=
|nls_collection=
|nls_url=
|order_original=
|publication=Reliquiae Celticae (vol. 2)
|copyright=
|source_level=Primary
|related_documents=Source:Scottish document NMS, H.MCR 40
|related_topic=Source:Proceedings (Saint Maelrubha)
|name=
|place=
|notes=This is a partial transcription of the section of the book most relevant to Ross research. It pertains to [[Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles (-1449)|Alexander, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles]]. This section was referenced by [[William Reeves (bishop)|William Reeves]] in his paper [[Source:Proceedings (Saint Maelrubha)|Saint Maelrubha]]. Reeves used the genealogy set forth in this passage to draw a loose connection between the {{Mac earls|full}} and [[St. Maelrubha's monastery at Aporcrosan]]. Further analysis of the documents Reeves referenced to draw this conclusion casts doubt on its validity.

As for the manuscript itself, we have from the [[Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]] in 1855:
<blockquote>From the evidence collected by the Highland Society in 1805, with reference to the authenticity of Ossian's Poems, [[William Forbes Skene|Mr Skene]] shewed that a small MS, termed sometimes the “Red Book,” and sometimes the little book of Clanranald, was given by MacVurich of South Uist, the last of the hereditary [[Seanchaí|Senachies]] of Clan ranald, to Macpherson, the so called translator of Ossian. MacVurich, in his declaration, says it was called the Red Book, was made of paper, and was given to James Macpherson; that he had others written on parchment, and that both were in the old Gaelic character, and like a Bible.{{sfn|Skene|1855|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-nWI6PuqG8cC&pg=PA89 89]}}</blockquote>

It was speculated in the late 1970s, though, that this 'little book', that was also being called the 'Red Book', was not actually the 'Red Book'. It was more likely that the Red Book known to Gaelic tradition was actually an earlier version of the Little Book.{{sfn|Black|1979|p=[https://highcouncilofclandonald.com/magazine/in-search-of-the-red-book-of-clanranald-by-ronald-i-black-cataloguer-of-gaelic-manuscripts-in-the-national-library-of-scotland 43]}}

This appears to have become the accepted attitude. In an article written in 2006, we see, “As to their names, the 'Red Book' is really a misnomer. Gaelic tradition in South Uist associated a 'Red Book of MacMhuirich' with the famous poetic family, and people have assumed that the surviving MS was the 'Red Book' because some of its contents sound a bit like the reputed contents of the 'Red Book' of tradition. But it is not red, nor is it as grand as the title suggests. Its central text, the Clanranald History, contains evidence for copying from another, perhaps more imposing MS; and this may have been the 'real' Red Book; but the whole idea of a 'Red Book of Clanranald' may be a fiction.”{{sfn|Gillies|2006}}

Nonetheless, the book in possession of the National Museum of Scotland is still referred to as the 'Red Book of Clanranald'.
|full_citation={{cite web |title=Book | website=National Museums Scotland | url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/book/16546 | access-date=30 Apr 2024}}
|full_citation_text=cite web {{!}} title=Book {{!}} website=National Museums Scotland {{!}} url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/book/16546 {{!}}access-date=30 Apr 2024
|bibliography=* {{Black articles full|article=Green Abbot}}
* {{cite journal |last=Black |first= Ronald I. |author-link=Ronald and Máire Black |title=In Search of the Red Book of Clanranald | journal=Clan Donald Magazine |volume=8 |via=The Highland Council of Clan Donald | date=1979 }}
* {{Book of Clanranald full}}
* {{cite web |last=Gillies |first=William |title=The Red Book and Black Book of Clanranald |year=2006 |website=The University of Edinburgh |url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/celtic-scottish-studies/research/internal-projects/clanranald }}
* {{cite book | last=Skene |first=W. F. |author-link=William Forbes Skene | title=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |title-link=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (vol. 1) |chapter=The Leahber Dearg, or Red Book of Clanranald | publisher=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland | volume= 1 | year=1855 }}
|sort=
}}

Source:Scottish document NMS, H.MCR 39 - Revision history

Redheadkelly: 1 revision imported

Redheadkelly: Text replacement - "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles ( -1449)" to "Alexander Macdonald, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles (-1449)"