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Subject: [McCALL] Re:MacDowalls and Kennedys
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2001 14:03:22 EST

Hi All,
Interesting that Ron should mention the MacDowalls and possible connection to
the McCalls. I have been reading a biography of Robert the Bruce, and I ran
across some interesting info there. Seems that Dougald MacDowall of Carrick
in Galloway was allied to King Edward and was instrumental in ambushing and
defeating Bruce's younger brothers, Thomas and Alexander, in Galloway on 9
Feb. 1307. Thomas and Alexander were wounded, taken alive to Carlisle where
they were hanged, drawn, and beheaded and their heads placed on spikes about
the gates of the town. This precipitated such rage in Bruce that it
contributed greatly to his future successes against the MacDowalls and led to
their downfall. Bruce, with but 60 men, defeated MacDowall and his 200 men
on a narrow path in Galloway. Then Bruce, along with his brother Edward and
his friend Douglas, with 300 ragged men defeated Pembroke with 1500 English
knights at Glen Trool in Galloway, and thus began Bruce's incredible conquest
of all of Scotland, including victories over his arch-enemies, the MacDowalls
of Galloway, the MacDougalls of Lorne, the Earl of Ross, and the numerous
Comyn supporters of the Earl of Buchan. In 1307 he shattered the MacDowalls
with fire and sword and offered John of Lorne a temporary truce, which he
gratefully accepted, only to be soundly defeated later by Bruce at the Pass
of Brander in Argyll. In 1308, Dugall MacDowall, who had gathered together
the shattered remnants of his clan, joined forces with an English contingent
and attempted to oppose Edward Bruce at a crossing of the River Dee. Edward,
with inferior numbers, launched an attack so furious that the English broke
and fled. MacDowall, with difficulty, escaped to England where he was
granted a manor by Edward II and appointed Governor of Dumfries. In 1313, on
the verge of starvation, MacDowall surrendered Dumfries to Bruce, but Bruce
allowed him to go free in the hope that as head of the great MacDowall clan
in Galloway he would end their persistent disaffection by accepting the
actuality of Bruce's kingship. In this Bruce was disappointed, for whatever
Dougald may have promised when he surrendered, no sooner was he out of range
than he once more threw in his lot with the English. So after his final
victory, the good King Robert rewarded those who had supported him from his
earliest years by bestowing on them the lands forfeited by a small group of
irreconcilables: the Earl of Atholl, John Balliol, John Comyn of Badenoch,
John Comyn Earl of Buchan, John MacDougall, and Dugald MacDowall. From these
estates he was able to make munificent grants to his two outstanding
lieutenants, Thomas Randolph and James Douglas. Galloway became Douglas
territory, the MacDowall name changed to Kennedy, and the great clan
MacDowall was no more.

Were the McCalls part of the MacDowall clan? Most books on Scottish Heraldry
claim that the McColls/McCalls were part of the Clan MacDonald, a clan which
supported and fought for Bruce. Were the McColls then different from the
McCalls? And where exactly is Ailsa? Is it in Galloway?

Listening to the storm rage in southeast Alabama,
Jerri

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