General Notes

REFN: 2077AN
into print in a family history of the Stewarts of Appin. (6) The Appin his
tory combined the local oral traditions evidenced by McCrombie's tale wi
th the
authority' of manuscript accounts of the Stewarts of Appin and the MacLare
ns of Ardvech. The editors of the history also had recourse to the print
ed documentary sources then available for late medieval Scotland. The resu
lt was a rousing, but still apparently fabulous, account which explained t
he origins of Stewart lordship in Appin in the fifteenth century. Agreei
ng with MacCombie, the Appin history asserted that the progenitor of the S
tewarts of Appin was Dougall, an illegitimate son of John Stewart, lo
rd of Lorn. The tale narrated how, late in life, John Stewart (also kno
wn to tradition as John Mourach or Leper John) decided to marry Dougall
's mother, a daughter of the MacLaren lord of Ardvech (near Lochearnhead
), and retrospectively legitimise their son so that he might succeed to t
he lordship of Lorn. On the morning of the wedding, as John's bride-to-
be and his son approached Dunstaffnage Castle with a MacLaren escort, bann
ers flying and pipes playing, the Lord of Lorn received a fatal wound fr
om an assassin, Allan McDougal. John was made of stern stuff, however, a
nd if there is any substance to his byname he may have been long prepar
ed for his own death and long inured to physical suffering. In a melodrama
tic conclusion to the tale the old lord, his life ebbing away, ground thro
ugh the marriage ceremony in order to secure the lordship for his son. Aft
er John's death, the Appin history resentfully records the sweeping asi
De of Dougall's rights by the naked political and military power of his ad
versaries, notably Colin Campbell, earl of Argyll and his uncle Colin Camp
bell of Clenorchy, who were married to Dougall's legitimate sisters.' (7)
At first sight the Stewart tale seems an obvious invention, the wish fulfi
llment of a family whose illegitimate ancestor was rightly debarred from s
ucceeding to his father's lands and title. Manuscript histories associat
ed with Clan Campbell, such as the Black Book of Taymouth, proviDe a far m
ore prosaic and bland account of the circumstances behind Earl Colin's acq
uisition of Lorn. The earl's right, we are told, rested squarely on his ma
rriage to Isabel Stewart, one of three daughters and co-heiresses of Jo
hn Stewart, the last Stewart lord of Lorn who was…
6. J. and D. Stewart, The Stewarts of Appin (Edinburgh 1880). The tale w
as obviously considerably older, for its outlines can be discerned In a ma
nuscript associated with Clan Campbell dating from 1756. Argyll Records, 9
-10.
7. Stewart and Stewart, Stewarts of Appin, 73-96. The account also includ
es four stanzas of a Gaelic poem apparently commemorating the march of Dou
gall and his mother from Loch Earn to Dunstaffnage. It may be significa
nt that John's by- name is found only in Campbell sources. Argyll Recor
ds 9.
John Stewart, Lord Lorn, MP 1445, 1449, seen 20 Jun 1452, dspm 20 Dec 146
3; m. N. [Magna Charta Sureties]
John Steward was murdered on 20 Dec 1463 at Dunstaffnage, Argyll, Scotland
----------------
John Stewart, 2nd Lord of Lorn; called "Muireach" ("The Lepe"); married 1
st ?; allegedly married 2nd on his deathbed (a marriage not recognise
d) a daughter of the MacLaren chieftain of Ardveich and in any case was su
rprised and mortally wounded by som of the Clan Dougall led by the 10th Ch
ief's wild son Black Alan MacDougall (against whom an Act of Parliament w
as afterwards passed) and died of wounds in his Castle of Dunstaffna
ge 20 Dec 1463. [Burke's Peerage]
REFN: P2547