Ruari Mòr MacNeil of Barra

Ruari Mòr MacNeil (fl. 1560s–1590s), known as Ruaraidh an Tartair—'Rory the Turbulent'—was a pirate chieftain who operated from Kisimul Castle, a small island fortress in Castlebay on the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides. He raided merchant shipping the length of the west coast and as far as the Irish Sea, targeting English vessels in particular with an enthusiasm that became a matter of legend. His most celebrated piece of self-mythologisation was the instruction he gave to have a herald ascend Kisimul's tower each evening and blow his horn to announce that Ruairi Mòr had dined—after which the kings and princes of the earth might at last eat. The expression became one of the most quoted examples of Highland chiefly hauteur in all of Scottish tradition.

His capture required deception rather than force: according to the most common account, Mackenzie sailed to Kisimul disguised as a wine merchant, plied Ruari with drink until he passed out, and carried the unconscious chief to Edinburgh in chains. At trial, Ruari's plea—that he had attacked only English ships to avenge the unjust execution of Mary Queen of Scots—flattered King James VI enough to spare his life, though the MacNeil lands were temporarily forfeited before being leased back to the clan.

On Barra itself, Ruari Mòr was remembered as a hero who brought wealth to the island and defended his people; his story has been treated in Hidden Scotland, the Historic Environment Scotland history of Kisimul Castle, and the academic study 'Scotland's Pirate Havens: Piracy in the Western Isles and Orkneys, 1590–1724' (Stanford, EIU Historia, 2014). John Gow (already in the dataset) is Orkney's contribution to the tradition; Ruari Mòr is Barra's.