glencoe06 Clan MacDonald The Year is ... 1500 The descendants of Angus Og and Iain Fraoch were the MacDonals of Glencoe, who, taking their name from Iain Fraoch, were also know as the Maclains of Glencoe. The year 1500 ushered in a turbulent time for the MacDonalds of Glencoe. In 1493, James IV abolished the Lordship of the Isles which, having been so powerful in the 14th and 15th centuries, had come to threaten the power of the Scottish kings. The years that followed, described in Gaelic as Linn nan Creach or the 'Age of Plunder', were marked by warfare between the clans as they battled for land and titles. The MacDonals of Glencoe had no charter or legal title to their lands and held them le coir a' chlaidheimh - 'by the sword'. Throughout the 1500s, the MacDonalds fought to try to restore the Lordship of the Isles. In the 17th century the MacDonalds were involved in the Civil Wars and in support of the Stewart kings. The incentives and rewards were usually plunder in the form of cattle, 'lifted' from lands often far away in the Eastern Highlands and then, by tradition, spirited away in Coire Gabhail, the 'Lost Valley' in Glencoe. The raising and grazing of cattle was the main source of livelihood for the people of Glencoe. A small number of sheep were kept for their wool, milk and meat. Land was cultivated for barley and oats, but dairy produce was the staple of their diet and also used to pay rents. The people lived in houses of stone, turf and wattle, with a thatch of turf with straw, grass and bracken, and sometimes heather over it.