Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí

Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí
The names of Ailéan and his brother, Dubhghall, as they appear on folio 122v of AM 45 fol (Codex Frisianus): "Aleinn broðir Dvggals konvngs". The excerpt notes the brothers' kinship and styles Dubhghall a king.
Spouse(s)	Isabella
Issue Lachlann, Ruaidhrí, and Cairistíona
Noble family	Clann Ruaidhrí (Clann Somhairle)
Father	Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill
Died	×1296

Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí (died ×1296) was a leading figure in the thirteenth-century kingdoms of the Isles and the Scotland. He was a son of Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill, and thus a member of the Clann Ruaidhrí branch of Clann Somhairle. Ailéan was a brother of Dubhghall mac Ruaidhrí, King of Argyll and the Isles, a significant figure who held power in the mid thirteenth century. At the time, the rulers of the Isles were fiercely independent of the Scottish Crown, and owed nominal allegiance to the distant Norwegian Crown. In 1259, Dubhghall's daughter married the son of King of Connacht, and Ailéan is recorded to have commanded the woman's of one hundred and sixty gallowglass warriors.

When the Scottish Crown encroached into Isles in the 1260s, Dubhghall and Ailéan were noted supporters of the Norwegian cause. Both men played a prominent role in the Norwegian campaign against the Scots in 1263. Following the collapse of the operation and further pressure, the Norwegians agreed to hand the Isles over to the Scots. Although Dubhghall is last attested resisting the Scots later that decade, Ailéan and most of his Clann Somhairle kinsman integrated themselves into the Scottish realm. The record of his part in the ruthless suppression of a Manx revolt in 1275, and his participation in a parliamentary council concerning the inheritance of Scottish throne in 1284, both evidence the incorporation of Clann Somhairle into the kingdom.

Ailéan and his brother, Dubhghall (died 1268), were sons of Ruaidhrí mac Raghnaill, Lord of Kintyre (died 1247?). The latter was the eponym of Clann Ruaidhrí, a branch of the Clann Somhairle kindred. In the second decade of the thirteenth-century, Ruaidhrí is known to have conducted military operations in Ireland with Thomas fitz Roland, Earl of Atholl (died 1231), younger brother of Alan fitz Roland, Lord of Galloway (died 1234). The close relations between these families could account for Ailéan's name.