Online Book Reader

Home Category

History Of The Mackenzies [96]

By Root 8218 0
and on the 14th of July following, he is summoned before their Lordships to report his diligence in that matter, under pain of rebellion. Kenneth does not appear, and he is denounced a rebel. On the 30th of July he takes the oath of allegiance, along with the Earl of Wyntoun and James Bishop of Orkney, in terms of a Royal letter issued on the 2nd of June preceding imposing a special oath acknowledging the Royal Supremacy in Church and state on all Scotsmen holding any civic or ecclesiastical office.

He receives another commission on the 1st of September, 1607.

Understanding that "Neil Macleod and others, the rebellious thieves and limmers of the Isles, have of late surprised and taken the Castle of Stornoway in the Lewis, and other houses and biggings, pertaining to the gentlemen portioners of the Lewis, and have demolished and cast down some of the said houses, and keep others of them as houses of war, victualled and fortified with men and armour, and in the meantime commit barbarous and detestable insolencies and cruelties upon so many of the poor inhabitants of that country as gave their obedience to his Majesty," the Lords give commission to Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail to convocate the lieges in arms pass to the Lewis, and pursue the said Neil Macleod with fire and sword, using all kinds of "warlike engines" for recovering the houses, and having power to keep trysts and intercommune with the inhabitants of the Isles. This commission is to continue in force for six months.

Mackenzie is one of the Highland chiefs to whom missive letters are ordered to be sent on the 23rd of June, 1608, to attend his Majesty's service under Lord Ochiltree, at Troternish, in the Isle of Skye, on the 20th of August following, on which occasion the soldiers must "furnish themselves with powder and bullets out of their own pay, and not out of the King's charges." It is ordered at a meeting of the Privy Council held on the 6th of February, 1609, that he, along with Simon Lord Lovat, Grant of Grant, the Earl of Caithness, Ross of Balnagown, John Mackenzie of Gairloch, and others, be charged to appear personally before their Lordships on the 25th of March following, to come under such order as shall be prescribed to them touching the finding of surety and caution for the quietness and obedience of their bounds, and that no fugitive and disobedient Islesmen shall be reset or supplied within the same, under pain of rebellion and horning. He appears, with some of the others, before the Council on the 28th of March, and gives the necessary bond, but the amount in his case is not named. On the 7th of April, however, it appears that he and Grant become personally bound for each other, in ?000 each, that those for whom they are answerable shall keep the King's peace and that they will not reset or favour any fugitives from the Isles. Kenneth becomes similarly bound in ?000 for John Mackenzie of Gairloch and Donald Neilsoun Macleod of Assynt.

He was one of the eight Lesser Barons who constituted the Lords of the Articles in the Scottish Parliament which met for the first time on the 17th of June, 1609.

The Privy Council, on the 22nd of the same month, committed to the Earl of Glencairn and Kenneth Mackenzie of Kintail the charge of conveying Hector Maclean of Duart from the Castle of Dumbarton to Edinburgh and bringing him before their Lordships, "for order to be taken with him anent the affairs of the Isles, and they became bound in ?0,000 to produce him on the first Council day after the end of that year's Parliament. On the 28th of the same month they enter formally into a bond to this amount that Maclean will appear on the first Thursday of November, he, in turn, binding himself and his heirs for their relief. On the 22nd of February, 1610, the bond is renewed for Maclean's appearance on the first Council day after that date. He appears on the 28th of June following, and Mackenzie and the Earl of Glencairn are released from their cautionary obligations. On the 30th of June, 1609,
Return Main Page Previous Page Next Page

®Online Book Reader