"Finlaggan sits on two small islands in Loch Finlaggan, which itself is on the island of Islay on Scotland's west coast. It is a landscape that later tradition associated with the MacDonald Lords of the Isles-leaders who controlled the Hebrides and held power across Argyll and the earldom of Ross. In Gaelic they were known as 'Ri Innse Gall' ('King of the Isles'), and historians have often described the lordship as a serious political force that, at times, rivalled the Stewart monarchy."
"Written by archaeologist David Caldwell-who directed the project on behalf of National Museums Scotland-the volume presents evidence that Finlaggan served as the ceremonial, administrative, and judicial heart of the Lordship of the Isles, a quasi-independent power in the 14th and 15th centuries."
"It also reports the remains of a previously unknown and unnamed royal castle dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, suggesting the site's importance stretched further back into the medieval period than previously recognised."
A major archaeological project conducted between 1989 and 1998, followed by nearly 30 years of analysis, produced comprehensive excavation records and material evidence from Finlaggan. The islands in Loch Finlaggan functioned as the ceremonial, administrative, and judicial centre of the Lordship of the Isles, a quasi-independent medieval polity active in the 14th and 15th centuries. Archaeological remains include a previously unknown royal castle dating to the 12th and 13th centuries, indicating importance predating the later medieval lordship. Documentary evidence for Finlaggan is sparse, so material culture and structural remains provide primary insight into its political role.
Read at Medievalists.net
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