Duncan Campbell, 1st Lord Campbell (Classical Gaelic

Classical Gaelic

Classical Gaelic is the term used in Scotland for the shared literary form that was in use in Scotland and Ireland 13th to the 18th century. The language is that of Early Modern Irish...

 Donnchadh mac Cailein, and also called Donnchadh na-Adh (Duncan the fortunate) of Loch Awe

Loch Awe

Loch Awe is a large body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe, or Lochawe. There are islands within the loch such as Innis Chonnell and Inishail.- The loch :It is the third largest freshwater loch in Scotland with...

, (died 1453), was an important figure in Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 affairs in the first half of the fifteenth century and Justiciar of Argyll. He was head of the Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically one of the largest, most powerful and most successful of the Highland clans, their lands were in Argyll and the chief of the clan became the Earl and later Duke of Argyll.-Origins:...

 for 40 years.

Family

Duncan's date of birth is not known. He was the son of Colin Campbell of Lochawe Lord of Argyll

Argyll

Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...

 (called Colin Iongantach 'Wonderful', and 'Colin The Good Knight'), and Mariota, daughter of John Campbell, heiress to the lands of Ardscotnish and Glen Orchy

Glen Orchy

Glen Orchy is a long glen in Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It runs south-westerly from the Bridge of Orchy to Inverlochy following the River Orchy...

. Colin obtained a dispensation by 13 January 1366 permitting the marriage of Mariota to his son John. He evidently changed his plans and married Mariota himself as in 1372 he obtained a second dispensation, this allowing Colin and Mariota to remarry, after a separation, having already married although within the prohibited degrees of kinship.

Duncan may not have been their eldest son: a brother named John Annam, John the Weak, is said to have been passed over. Duncan was seemingly the chosen heir by 6 February 1393 when he was granted the lands of Menstrie

Menstrie

Menstrie is a village in the county of Clackmannanshire in Scotland, UK. It is about 5 miles east-north-east of Stirling...

 by his father. On Colin's death, some time before 19 January 1414, Duncan became head of the Campbells

Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically one of the largest, most powerful and most successful of the Highland clans, their lands were in Argyll and the chief of the clan became the Earl and later Duke of Argyll.-Origins:...

 of Loch Awe

Loch Awe

Loch Awe is a large body of water in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It has also given its name to a village on its banks, variously known as Loch Awe, or Lochawe. There are islands within the loch such as Innis Chonnell and Inishail.- The loch :It is the third largest freshwater loch in Scotland with...

.

Family ties

Duncan was twice married, first to Marjorie (d. before August 1432), daughter of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, secondly to Margaret Stewart of Ardgowan (d. after August 1442).

Duncan's closeness to the Albany Stewarts led to King James I of Scotland

James I of Scotland

James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...

 viewing him with some suspicion, and James sent Duncan south as a hostage in England. The documentary record calls him Campbell of Argyll, and gives his share of the liability for the king's ransom as 1500 merks, more than any other hostage save one. In time Duncan and the king were somewhat reconciled and following James's assassination Duncan was among the supporters of Queen Dowager Joan

Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland

Joan Beaufort was the Queen Consort of Scotland from 1424 to 1437 as the spouse of King James I of Scotland. During part of the minority of her son James II , she served as the Regent of Scotland....

.

"The fortunate"

During the minority of King James II

James II of Scotland

James II reigned as King of Scots from 1437 to his death.He was the son of James I, King of Scots, and Joan Beaufort...

, Duncan professed support and loyalty to the regency, while constantly expanding his power in Argyll, often at the expense of the Crown. He was nevertheless knighted before March 1440 and created a Lord of Parliament

Lord of Parliament

A Lord of Parliament was the lowest rank of nobility automatically entitled to attend sessions of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland. Post-Union, it is a member of the lowest rank of the Peerage of Scotland, ranking below a viscount...

 as Lord Campbell of Lochawe by James II in 1445.

Death

He died between February 1453 and 21 May 1454, and was buried in a magnificent sculptured tomb in the collegiate church

Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 at Kilmun

Kilmun

Kilmun is a linear settlement on the north shore of the Holy Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It runs between the head of the loch and connects with the village of Strone at Strone Point, where the loch joins the Firth of Clyde....

 which he and Margaret Stewart had founded in 1442.

His second son by his wife Margaret, Colin, was the founder of the Campbell of Glenorchy and Breadalbane

Breadalbane, Scotland

Breadalbane —from Scottish Gaelic Bràghad Albainn, "the upper part of Alba"—is a region of the southern/central Scottish Highlands in Atholl. The Breadalbane hydro-electric power scheme lies within the region.Clan Campbell has a Breadalbane branch...

 line. His other sons by his second marriage, Archibald, Duncan, and Neil, created the Campbell septs of Otter, Kilmichael and Ormidale, respectively.

His grandson Colin

Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll

Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll was a Scottish nobleman.-Biography:He was the son of Gillespic Campbell, Master of Campbell and Elizabeth Somerville. Elizabeth Somerville was the daughter of John Somerville, 3rd Lord Somerville and Helen Hepburn...

, son of his only child by his first wife, Gillespic (Archibald) (d. 1440), succeeded him as Chief of the Clan Campbell and continued Duncan's efforts to increase their power.