THE END 5th Earl of Argyll

1561

8th Earl of Argyll

1661

WHO DESTROYED IONA ABBEY?1. 1561 : Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll (c. 1537–1573)

Suppressing “Idolatori and all monumentis thairof”.“Bombarded with cannon”. His ‘army’ was bigger than that of England and France.

2. 1642 : Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl and 1st Marquess of Argyll (1607–1661).Effective ruler of Scotland; Leader of “Committee of Estates”.

“Leader in Council and in Field for The Reformed Religion”;Overthrew “some of the finest monuments of the monastery and the altars”;

“dispersed” the valuable, irreplaceable library.“I set the Crown on the King’s Head, He Hastens me to a better Crown than his own” (!)

A S A D , S Y M B O L I C I M A G E O F T H E E N T W I N E D FAT E O F C L A N D O N A L D A N D I O N A 1 6 t h – 1 7 t h C e n t u r i e s .

T H E I R V A N Q U I N S H E D S E A K I N G D O M A N D D I O C E S E O F T H E I S L E S .

“The Cathedral at Iona” - mid 1815, by ‘the masterly” William Daniell, Royal Academician, 1769 -1837

NOTE : IF THE LORDSHIP OF THE ISLES WAS NOT FORFEITED AND COLLAPSED 1493, THEN THE REFORMATION WOULD HAVE SEEN ALL THE ABBEY’S ASSETS RETURNED EFFECTIVELY TO UNDER CLAN DONALD’S HEADSHIP CONTROL - Act of Convention of Estates, 1561-74.

(Local MacLeans only as vassals: factor, bailiff, agent.)

THAT IS, RIGHTLY AND JUSTLY TO THOSE WHO FOUNDED, BUILT AND ENDOWED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE AND CONTINUED FOR 300 YEARS – THE CLAN DONALD CHIEFS.

NOT TO INTERLOPERS AND USURPERS……“MOLESTING THE CONVENT” - 1508, James IV. and “VIOLENLY INTRUDING IN POSSESSION OF IONA” - 1635, Charles I.

(MacLean JP, History of Clan MacLean; pps.325 and 329; 1899)