Donnchadh MacRath, also known as Duncan MacRae of Inverinate and Donnchadh nam Pìos, was a Scottish Gaelic poet and the compiler of the Fernaig manuscript which he committed to paper using an English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-influenced system of orthography

Orthography

The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...

.

Origins

He was the son and heir of Alexander Macrae of Inverinate

Inverinate

Inverinate is a small village on the north shore of Loch Duich in Kyle, Lochalsh, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.-History:A prominent branch of the Clan Macrae were based for several centuries at Inverinate...

, who served as Chamberlain of Kintail

Kintail

Kintail is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It consists of the mountains to the north of Glen Shiel and the A87 road between the heads of Loch Duich and Loch Cluanie; its boundaries, other than Glen Shiel, are generally taken to be the valleys of Strath Croe and Gleann...

 to the third Earl of Seaforth

Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth

Kenneth Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Seaforth was a Highland clan chief and Scottish nobleman, who adhered faithfully to Charles II through his tribulations...

, by his first wife, Margaret, the daughter of Murdoch Mackenzie of Redcastle

Redcastle

Redcastle , historically known as Edirdovar and Ederdour, is a mediaeval castle in Killearnan on the Black Isle, northern Scotland. It is so named from the colour of the stone of which it is built...

. The Macraes of Inverinate were an old and well-established family, long associated with the Mackenzies

Clan MacKenzie

Clan Mackenzie is a Highland Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire.-Origins:The Mackenzies, a powerful clan of Celtic stock, were not among the clans that originated from Norman ancestry. Descendants of the long defunct royal Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, they...

 and the castle at Eilean Donan

Eilean Donan

Eilean Donan is a small island in Loch Duich in the western Highlands of Scotland. It is connected to the mainland by a footbridge and lies about half a mile from the village of Dornie. Eilean Donan is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617...

. Donnchadh was, by traditional reckoning, 9th of Inverinate.

Reputation

Donnchadh himself was the author of many of the poems compiled by him. The poems suggest Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 and Episcopalian

Scottish Episcopal Church

The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....

 sympathies, but are tempered always with a spirit of toleration. The oral tradition contained many tales of his ingenuity in practical matters and Professor Mackinnon in The Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness (Volume XI) provided this assessment of him:

"...undoubtedly Duncan Macrae, the engineer and mechanician, the ardent ecclesiastic, the keen though liberal-minded politician, the religious poet, and collector of the literature of his countrymen, is as different from the popular conception of a Highland Chief

Scottish clan chief

The Scottish Gaelic word clann means children. In early times, and possibly even today, clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the Scottish clan. From its perceived founder a clan takes its name. The clan chief is the representative of this founder, and...

 of the Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

 as can well be conceived."

He also appears in a catalogue of heroes from Kintail

Kintail

Kintail is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It consists of the mountains to the north of Glen Shiel and the A87 road between the heads of Loch Duich and Loch Cluanie; its boundaries, other than Glen Shiel, are generally taken to be the valleys of Strath Croe and Gleann...

 in Time and Sgurr Urain, a poem by Sorley MacLean

Sorley MacLean

Sorley MacLean was one of the most significant Scottish poets of the 20th century.-Early life:He was born at Osgaig on the island of Raasay on 26 October 1911, where Scottish Gaelic was the first language. He attended the University of Edinburgh and was an avid shinty player playing for the...

:

And Duncan of the Silver Cups

in high-wooded Inverinate.

Death

Donnchadh died some time between 1693 and 1704. Many local traditions grew up around his death by drowning in the river Chonaig, near Dorusduain: it is said that he was returning from a visit to the Chisholm

Clan Chisholm

Clan Chisholm is a Scottish clan. The clan had its origin outside Scotland. The first Chisholm to appear in the records of Scotland was Alexander de Chesholme, who witnessed a charter in 1248/49.-Origins of the Clan:...

 to purchase the lands of Affric

Glen Affric

right|300px|thumb|Glen AffricGlen Affric is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some to the west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin .It used to be part of the lands of the Clan...

, and that the deeds to Affric were lost in the incident (conveniently or inconveniently, depending on one's point of view).

Family and posterity

Donnchadh married Janet, daughter of Alexander Macleod of Raasay

Raasay

Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is most famous for being the birthplace of the poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish literary renaissance...

, who (with her sister) was served heir to the Raasay estates in 1688, following the death of her brother, Ian Garbh Macleod. However, the co-heiresses resigned their rights to their cousin, another Alexander Macleod, in 1692. A satirical West Coast ditty entitled Cailleach Liath Rasaidh (the greyhaired old woman of Raasay) is said to have been inspired by local chagrin over the surrender.

Donnchadh and Janet had at least three sons and two daughters, including Donnchadh's heir Farquhar, who died in 1711.