Tradition gave Somerled a Gaelic descent in the male line, as the medieval seanchaidhean (Gaelic historians) traced his lineage through a long line of ancestors back to the High Kings of Ireland, namely Colla Uais and Conn of the Hundred Battles. Thus Clan Donald claimed to be both "Clann Cholla" and "Siol Chuinn" ("Children of Colla" and "Seed of Conn"). Possibly the oldest piece of poetry attributed to the MacDonalds is a "brosnachadh" (an incitement to battle) which was said to have been written in 1411, on the day of the Battle of Harlaw. The first lines of the poem begin "A Chlanna Cuinn cuimhnichibh / Cruas an àm na h-iorghaile," ("Ye children of Conn remember hardihood in the time of battle"). A later poem made to John of Islay (1434–1503), last of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles, proclaims "Ceannas Ghàidheal do Chlainn Cholla, còir fhògradh," ("The Headship of the Gael to the family of Colla, it is right to proclaim it"), giving MacDonald's genealogy back to Colla Uais.