The Rough Bounds

Following raids by Vikings, the Rough Bounds became part of the Kingdom of the Isles, a Norwegian dependency. In the late 11th century, however, Malcolm III of Scotland made a written agreement with Magnus Barelegs, the Norwegian king, which moved the border to the coast; the area thus became Scottish. In the early 12th century, Somerled, a Norse-Gael of uncertain origin, came into possession of the Rough Bounds and Lorn; no reliable record explains how this happened, but by the 1140s, David I of Scotland's control of the region had been eroded. In the middle of the century, Somerled launched a coup in the Kingdom of the Isles, which resulted in that kingdom joining his other possessions,…

Following the 1266 Treaty of Perth, Garmoran became a Scottish crown dependency - the Lordship of Garmoran. At the turn of the century, William I had created the position of Sheriff of Inverness, to be responsible for the Scottish highlands, which theoretically now extended to Garmoran. Most of the remainder of the Kingdom of the Isles had become the Lordship of the Isles, ruled by the MacDonalds (another group of Somerled's descendants). The Lordship of Garmoran remained under the rule of the MacRory, and their descendants - the Siol Gorrie and Clan Ranald. However, violent disputes between the latter two groups lead, in 1427, to king James I executing the leader of the Siol Gorrie, and…