Clan Sweeney - MacSweens of Scotland

MacSweens of Scotland

In the 13th century the MacSweens controlled lands across central Argyll, extending as far north as Loch Awe and as far south as Loch Fyne. Their principal seats included Lochranza Castle on the Isle of Arran, Skipness Castle and Castle Sween at Knapdale, which may be Scotland's oldest surviving stone-built castle.

The MacSweens held this lordship of Knapdale and lands in Kintyre until 1262. That year Dugall MacSween granted to the Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith the lands of Skipnish (Skipness), Killislate (South Kanpdale) and other lands in the parish of Kilcalmonell in Kintyre. Following this the Earl granted several churches in Knapdale to the monastery of Kilwinning, showing that he now had control of both North and South Knapdale. Also in the same year Alexander III of Scotland granted Lochranza Castle to Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith.

In 1263 Haakon IV of Norway sailed down the western coast of Scotland with an invasion fleet from Norway. With the arrival of the royal fleet Norse control in the Western Isles and Argyll was re-established, and the Norwegian king's force was strengthened by Islesmen. Among those pressed into his service were the disposed MacSweens of Knapdale, under Murchadh MacSween. The MacSweens seemed to have been of doubtful loyalty as they were forced to also surrender hostages to guarantee their support. Haakon had 'given' Arran to Murchadh, but ultimately, the Norwegian invasion was defeated at what is known today as the Battle of Largs.

The Earl of Menteith still controlled Knapdale in 1293, and in 1301 Knapdale was being held by his successor, Sir John Stewart (Sir John Menteith). It was then that John MacSween approached Edward I of England, asserting that one of the king's enemies, Sir John Menteith, had deprived MacSween of his inheritance. Between 1301 and 1310, John MacSween was in the service of the English in the hope of keeping alive his family's claim against the Menteiths.

During the Great Cause, which led to the First War of Scottish Independence, the MacSweens were supporters of the powerful MacDougall Lords of Lorne who supported John Balliol as patriots, as long as John was king of Scotland. After the murder of John Comyn, the nephew of Balliol, by Bruce in 1306, the First War of Scottish Independence became at one and the same time a civil war. The Balliol and Comyn parties taking the side of the English in opposition to Bruce, crowned Robert I of Scotland on March 25, 1306.

This was an era of constantly shifting alliances, and in 1301 John MacSween was in alliance with Angus Og against the MacDougalls of Lorne. In 1307 the MacDougalls were the bitterest of Robert the Bruce's enemies, and the man in command of the rebellion against Bruce was Sir John Menteith, who had previously removed the MacSweens from Knapdale.

By 1310, when Bruce had most of Argyll and the North Channel in his favour, the English encouraged John MacDougall, the ousted Lord of Lorne, to raise a fleet in 1311, based on the eastern coast of Ireland. MacDougall was aided in part by the MacSweens, including John and his brothers Toirdelbach and Murdoch. It was around this time in 1310, that Edward II of England granted John and his brothers their family's ancestral lands of Knapdale, provided they could recover it from Sir John Menteith. It is possible, therefore, that this event could have been the "tryst of a fleet against Castle Sween", recorded in the Book of the Dean of Lismore, which tells of the failed attempt by John MacSween to recapture Castle Sween. With the failure to recapture their lands in Scotland, the MacSweens were forced to permanently leave for Ireland.

A contingent of the MacSweens eventually re-established themselves at Donegal as Gallowglass mercenary soldiers and became the progenitors of Clan Sweeney. Some of those who stayed on in Scotland formed into the Clan MacQueen, a branch of whom later joined the powerful Chattan Confederation. Other MacSweens who remained in Scotland became known as the MacEwens of Otter, whose line became extinct in the 17th century.