Alasdair Mòr

Who is Alasdair Mòr?

Alasdair Mòr Mac Dòmhnaill was a younger son of Dòmhnall mac Raghnaill—the eponymous ancestor of Clan Donald. He first appears on record in 1253, when it is recorded as witnessing a charter by his brother, Aonghas Mór a Íle, to the Paisley Abbey. According to the 19th century Clan Donald historians Angus and Archibald Macdonald, Alasdair Mòr must have been a prominent man as he is the only recorded brother of the Aonghas Mór a Íle. He is recorded in the Annals of Connacht, in the year 1299, as being a man noted for being a "generous and bounteous man". In that year he was slain in a conflict with Alasdair of Argyll and the MacDougalls. According to the traditional shanachies, Alasdair Mòr married Amie Ergadia and had at least five sons: Dòmhnall, Gòraidh, Donnchadh, Eoin and Eachann. Alasdair Mòr was succeeded in the representation of his clan by Dòmhnall. Today he is considered to be the eponymous ancestor of Clan MacAlister.