Amy of Garmoran

Amy of Garmoran also known as Amie MacRuari and Euphemia was a 14th-century Scottish noblewoman who was the sister of Raghnall mac Ruaidhri, Lord of Garmoran and the spouse of John of Islay.^[1][2] After her marriage had produced three sons, the ambitious John of Islay divorced her in order to remarry and cement his links with the House of Stewart. She then retired to her estates in the Highlands and Islands, and completed various ecclesiastical and other building projects. Her son Ranald was the progenitor of Clanranald.

Amie was a direct descendant of Somhairle mac Gille-Brighde (better known as Somerled), through her great-grandfather Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill, the founder of Mac Ruaidhri kindred.

Ruaidhri's son Ailean mac Ruaidhri possessed the "North Isles" of the Uists, and Benbecula. He is known to have attended Parliament in 1285 when the succession of Margaret, Maid of Norway was debated and to have added Barra to his lands in 1309.^[3][4] His illegitimate son Ruaidhri mac Ailein was Amie's father.^{[5][Note 1]}

When her distant cousin Alexander of Argyll's support of the opponents of King Robert the Bruce led to the forfeiture of his lands, they were distributed between Aonghas Óg of Islay and Ruaidhri mac Ailein. The latter received much of Lorne and parts of Lochaber and, through his sister Christina, Garmoran and the North Isles, including the Small Isles of Rùm and Eigg.^{[3][Note 2]} Bruce was however careful to ensure his interests in the west were protected and Dunstaffnage Castle was given not to Ruari, now styled the "High Chief of Lorn" but to a royal constable, Arthur Campbell. Towards the close of the Bruce's reign, c. 1325, Ruaidhri mac Ailean was dispossessed for engaging in plots perceived to be against his king's interests.^[8] Amie and Ruaidhri also had a brother called Ailean (Alan), about whom little is known.^[9]

Edward Balliol may have restored these lands to Ruari's son and Amie's brother, Raghnall mac Ruaidhri, a state of affairs confirmed by David II c. 1344, who formally granted him Garmoran and the North Isles, although Lorn was retained by the crown and Lochaber in its entirety given to John of Islay, son of Aonghas Óg. Shortly thereafter, in October 1346, Raghnall was assassinated at Elcho Nunnery near Perth, as the result of a quarrel with Uilleam III, Earl of Ross. Raghnall was the "last chieftain of the MacRuaris"^[10] and Amie was his sole heir.^[11][12][13]

John of Islay was also a descendant of Somerled via his father and thus a distant relative of Amie. By marrying this heiress to the Mac Ruaidhri lands he eventually controlled significant stretches of the western seaboard of Scotland from Morvern to Loch Hourn and the whole of the Hebrides save for Skye.^[13] The marriage took place in the 1330s,^[10] probably in 1337.^[14] From 1336 onwards John began to style himself Dominus Insularum—"Lord of the Isles", a title that implied a connection to the earlier Kings of Mann and the Isles and by extension a degree of independence from the Scottish crown.^{[10][13][15][Note 3]}

However, his ambitions were by no means quenched. He continued to build his power base by allying himself with Robert the High Steward of Scotland and the designated heir of King David.^[8] The marriage had by now produced three sons: John, Godfrey, Ranald,^[16] but John and Robert made an arrangement by which John divorced Amie and married Robert's daughter, Margaret Stewart. John is said to have obtained a papal dispensation for the divorce, which took place in 1350, just four years after Amie's inheritance.^[4][13] The Lord of the Isles now received Knapdale and Kintyre as a dowry but in return his sons by Amie were to be passed over in the succession in favour of any children by the marriage with Margaret.^[13][16]

The "unvarying tradition" of the Gàidhealtachd recorded in the late 19th century was that Amie had given her husband no grounds for divorce and lived alone on her own estates until her death.^[16] The divorce annulled John of Islay's rights to her lands, although he managed to procure a royal charter to them in which her name is not even mentioned.^[17][18]

Amie era evidentemente de carácter piadoso y construyó un oratorio llamado Teampull Mhecael en el extremo sureste de Grimsay , y reconstruyó el Teampul Chalumchille en Benbecula y la Iglesia de la Trinidad de North Uist . ^{[ 4 ] [ 19 ]} MacGibbon y Ross también atribuyen a Amie la construcción de la torre del Castillo de Borve , situado al suroeste de la isla de Benbecula, y fecharon la obra entre 1344 y 1363. ^{[ 20 ]} También se dice que amplió el Castillo Tioram en Moidart . ^{[ 16 ] [ 21 ]}

Juan de Islay cumplió su acuerdo con Roberto, ahora rey sucesor de David, y sus hijos con Margarita heredaron su título y la mayor parte de sus tierras. Sin embargo, el hijo de Amie, Ranald, quien solicitó con éxito la devolución de gran parte de las tierras de Mac Ruaidhri, incluyendo Garmoran y las Islas del Norte, se convirtió en el progenitor del Clan Macdonald de Clanranald y del Clan MacDonell de Glengarry . ^{[ 1 ] [ 17 ] [ 22 ] [ Nota 4 ]} Ranald actuó como tutor de su medio hermano menor Domhnall y fue descrito como "viejo en el gobierno de las Islas" a la muerte de su padre en el Castillo de Ardtornish en 1386. ^{[ 17 ] [ 18 ]} Puede que haya muerto en el mismo año, pero se desconoce la fecha de la muerte de su madre.

Los descendientes del hijo mayor de Godfrey, Amie y John, que ostentaba el título de Señor de Uist, eran conocidos como Siol Gorrie . En 1427, Alexander MacGorrie de Garmoran (también llamado Mac Ruaidhri), quien posiblemente fuera hijo de Godrey, figura como líder de 2000 hombres. Poco después, fue encarcelado en Inverness y ejecutado por sedición por el rey Jacobo I. ^{[ 23 ]}

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