Ormond Castle (6)
King William the Lion died in 1214 and was succeeded by Alexander II.  The next MacWilliam brother now tried his hand.  Domnall Bán mac Domnaill, in company with Cináed, the chief of the MacHeths, and an unnamed Irish prince, launched an invasion from Ireland in 1215.  It quickly failed, crushed by Ferchar mac in tSagairt, the future Mormaer of Ross, who killed the leaders and sent their heads to King Alexander.

The failure of the 1215 invasion and the death of Domnall Bán in no way ended the efforts of the MacWilliams to prosecute their claims to Moray and to the throne of Scotland.  Gille Escoib (or Gillescop) Meic Uilleim and his sons were actively in rebellion in the 1220s.  Gille Escoib's descent is nowhere recorded, and while he may have been a son of Domnall / Donald MacWilliam, he was more probably given his dates, a grandson.  Gille Escoib's rebellion took place between 1223 and 1229 (sources vary) and probably ended in betrayal and execution.

The last remaining MacWilliam, an infant daughter of Gille Escoib or one of his sons, was put to death in 1229 or 1230.  &quot;The same Mac-William's daughter, who had not long left her mother's womb, innocent as she was, was put to death, in the burgh of Forfar, in view of the market place, after a proclamation by the public crier.  Her head was struck against the column of the market cross, and her brains dashed out.&quot;

In most cases throughout Scottish history, the decline or disappearance of one family led to the rise of another.  By the time of Gille Escoib's revolt, the MacWilliams had concentrated their families and forces in the strongly defensible region between the Cairngorms and the Grey Mountains. With the defeat of Escoib's revolt, this region became Badenoch and was handed to the Comyn family, who thus became Lords of Badenoch.  This together with the marriage of William Comyn to Marjorie, the heiress of Fergus, the last Celtic Earl of Buchan, gave the Comyns a strong powerbase in northern Scotland, well removed from the increasingly dangerous border with England.
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