This book represents the first ever overview of both Manx and Hebridean dynasties that dominated Man and the Isles from the late eleventh to the mid-thirteenth centuries.

This study explores the history of the western seaboard of Scotland in a formative but often neglected era: the central middle ages, from the mightly Somerled to his descendant John MacDonald, the first Lord of the Isles (c. 1336). Drawing on a variety of sources, this very readable narrative deals with three major and closely interrelated themes