Niall MacNeill, 5th of Barra 25th Chief

• Preferred Name: Niall MacNeill, 5th of Barra 25th Chief^[1]
  
• Gender: M
  
• Clan Name: with note: Description: 25th Chief of Clan MacNeil
  
• Birth: ABT 1220
  
• MilitaryService: Battle of Largs - Niall fought with King Alexander III when King Haakon's army was defeated at the1263 in Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland at LATI: N5.7833 LONG: E4.85
  
• Death: ABT 1270
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: Prince of the Norse Council of the Isles
  
• http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility: 5th of Barra
  
• FSID: G7WS-5FJ
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  XXV. NIALL, Chief of the Clan.
  Upon the death of Olave, King of Norway, he was succeeded successively by his three sons~ Harald, Reginald and Magnus. With the succession of Magnus, 1252, during Niall's Chiefship, comes the first mention of the Council of the Isles, composed of the Hebridean Chiefs, exercising their right of naming the successor to the throne of the King of the Isles, to which honour Magnus was elected and later confirmed by his Superior the King of Norway. In later of these councils the Chiefs of the Macneils were described as "Island Princes."
  
  For years the Hebrides had been a thorn in the flesh of Alexander II, of Scotland, and Alexander III likewise coveted them. Both had parleyed with the Kings of Norway, but without result. In 1262, William, Earl of Ross, devastated Skye, in all probability with the aid of Alexander, and in the following year Hakon of Norway fitted out an expedition and sailed for Lewis. Crossing over to Skye he was reinforced by Magnus and sailed to the south where he met the Scots at Largs, on the Firth of Clyde. Here the great battle took place at which the Norse occupation was brought to an end.
  
  The old Statistical Account of Barra, in speaking of the Norse occupation, says: "But after the Battle of Largs, the power of the Danes began everywhere to decline; and such of them as remained here after the Ebudae (Hebrides) were restored to the King of Scotland, were expelled or massacred by the natives. In one of the adjacent islands, there is a collection of human bones, where it is said the last of the Danes were murdered."
  
  The Vikings and the Norsemen had come and gone and many of the great influences which they had exerted over the people were slowly to perish; their language died out, though they left racial characteristics that in certain districts are visible to this day; but above all things they left their record of daring and physical prowess the equal of which the world has seldom seen.
  
  It was about this time that Niall died and was succeeded by his son, XXVI - NIALL OG

1. Title: History of Clan MacNeill
   Publication: Name: https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G004601.pdf;