A History of the Scottish Highlands

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STERLING AND FRANCINE CLA1UC ART INSTITUTE L1BRART i-

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PROSPECTUS.

A HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS,

HIGHLAND CLANS, AND HIGHLAND REGIMENTS;

ON THE BASIS OF BROWNE'S " HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND CLANS," BUT ENTIRELY RE-MODELLED AND TO A LARGE EXTENT RE-WRITTEK.

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE GAELIC LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

WRITTEN FOR THE WORK,

BY THE EEV. THOMAS MACLAUCHLAN, U.D., F.S.A.S.,

One of the Editors of the " Dean of Lismore's Book," Author of

" The Early Scottish Church," &c.

AND AN ESSAY ON HIGHLAND SCENEEY,

BY THE LATE PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON.

EDITED BY JOHN S 'KEITIE, E.S.A.S.

During the last thirty years, the patriotic labours of the various Scottish book-clubs, —The Abbotsford, The Bannatyne, The Iona, The Maitland, The Spalding Clubs— the works of the various eminent Scottish antiquaries and historians, not to mention many valuable papers and pamphlets, have not only subjected everything connected with the history of the Highlands to an unsparing and searching criticism, but have also brought to light many new facts, and opened up formerly unthought-of tracks of

inquiry. Such a flood of light has thus been thrown on all matters connected with the Highlands, that the publishers feel Browne's History of the Highlands and Clans,— the work on which this publication is to a certain extent based,—has fallen behind the age, and that, to keep pace with the advanced state of historical research, a new work

is demanded. Therefore, In preparing the work now presented to the public, it has been found necessary to make such extensive alterations and additions, that the

publishers feel justified in calling it a NEW work. — — —

The work is divided into three sections:

I. The General History of the Highlands, including Eeligion, Literature, and Antiquities.

II. The History of the Highland Clans.

III. The History of the Highland Regiments.

Part I. The General History of the Highlands. The whole of this part has been thoroughly revised, re-modelled, and to a great extent re-written. All the introductory chapters relating to the Primitive History of the Highlands, are new, and in them are treated the much contro- verted questions as to the Picts and Scots, their race and language—the early RACES OF KINGS, all points connected with the early SOCIAL and political condition of the Highlanders, their original religion and the SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. The most recent investigations bearing on the Antiquities of the Highlands, the Ancient Manners and Customs of the people, their peculiar dress, their social and political RELATIONS, their superstitions, and other interesting antiquarian matters, have been taken advantage of. As to the rest of this portion of the work, while whatever had no connection with Highland history has been expunged, much new matter has been added in order to make the general narrative complete and authentic. When, at a later period of their history, the Highlanders become a potent element in the settlement of many great disputes, it has been sought to make the reader understand clearly the part they thus took in the stirring and momentous transactions of the times. As examples of these we need only mention here the civil WARS in which Montrose so often led on the Highland army to victory: the Revolution disputes, culminating in '15 Killiecrankie : the unfortunate insurrections of and '45, which, but for the romantic enthusiasm of the Highlanders, would never have been even commenced. In writing these chapters ample use has been made of the various club-publications above referred to, the latest of which, The Book of Deer, issued by the Spalding Club, edited by Dr. Stuart, has proved of great service in throwing light on the EARLY social and political condition of the Highlands, as well as on the state and constitution of the early Scottish Church. Among modern Scottish historians and antiquarians whose labours have been taken advantage of in this part of the work, we may mention the names of George Chalmers, W. F. Skene, Joseph Robertson, Daniel Wilson, Mr. Gregory, John Hill Burton, E. W. Robertson, James Logan, Cosmo

Innes, George Grub, Dr. Maclauchlan, and Colonel Forbes-Leslie : this last gentleman has been kind enough to place at our disposal some of the cuts which adorn his valuable work, The Early Races of Scotland. Besides these, books and documents, ancient and modern, too numerous to detail here, have been consulted. To the Gaelic Language and Literature, which, in the old work, possibly from lack of material, were treated in rather a summary manner, a prominent place has been given. Since the publication of The Dean of Lismore's Book, and other works on this interesting subject, there can be no complaint of lack of material; and so much importance do the publishers attach to the literature of the Highlands, that they have entered into an arrangement with the Rev. Thomas Maclauchlan, LL.D., F.S.A.S one of the editors of The Dean of Lismore's Book, and one of the most eminent living ——

Gaelic scholars—to write an entirely new account of this subject, into which will be introduced copious examples of genuine old Gaelic Poetry. In the course of the work will be given the late Professor Wilson's celebrated Essay on Highland Scenery, of which the copyright belongs to the publishers.

Part II. The History of the Highland Clans. In any history of the Highlands, an account of the Clans ought to occupy a place

of the first importance, and in the present work, the GREATER part of the second

volume is devoted to this part of the subject. Every point of interest connected with this peculiar social system has been noticed:—the ORIGIN OF the CLAN- SYSTEM, the relation of the chief to the general body of the clan, the various CLAN- dignities and offices and the duties which belonged to each, the peculiar customs

to which the system gave rise, the difference between clanship and the FEUDAL

SYSTEM, and the influence it had on the progress of the Highlands and on the rest of Scotland. In short, no pains have been spared to enable the reader to form a clear idea

of all the ' outs and ins' of this primitive system of social government.

After this introductory matter, a detailed account is given of EACH separate clan which has any claim to be considered Highland. The origin of each Clan,

as far as possible, has been traced back to its founder, and its claim to be considered

purely Gaelic discussed; its history is traced through all its branches and offshoots

down to the present day; the part it took in the various clan strifes, in the disputes

between the Highlands and Lowlands, and in the general wars of Scotland, is set forth. Every link in the genealogical chain has been carefully traced, and those chiefs and other members of a clan who took a more prominent part in the affairs of the time, have their lives given in considerable detail. Appended to the account of each clanare

its armorial bearings, a description of its clan-tartan, the name of its badge, its

peculiar war-cry or SLOGAN, its estimated strength, and its principal seat. In

addition to the authorities above referred to, the works of Smibert, Logan, Stewart, and others, as well as the separate histories of those clans that are fortunate enough to

have such, this division of the work is greatly indebted to the original researches of the late Mr. Anderson, author of the Scottish Nation, whose examination of many ANCIENT manuscripts and family records brought to light many facts connected with the history of the Highland clans, never before made public.

Part III. History of the Highland Regiments.

The history of these regiments is to a great extent the history of Britain's BATTLES for more than a century past; and the great military glory which our country has acquired, has been owing, in no small degree, to their unsurpassed bravery, perfect discipline, and high morale. In the part of the work devoted to tlm

subject, it has been sought faithfully to record not only the noble services rendered

to its country in past times by each regiment in every engagement in which it took part, but also the brave deeds performed by many individual Highland soldiers.

With regard to the later history of the Highland regiments, it has been sought to render this complete and perfectly reliable by applying, for direct information, to the

Colonel of each existing regiment ; and in every case the publishers have met

vith the greatest courtesy and willingness to lend all assistance. In addition to this, of course, every accessible published work on the subject has been consulted, including the host of books called forth by the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.

From the above statements it will be seen that in no other single publication is it possible to obtain such vaeied and valuable information on all points of interest connected with the Scottish Highlands—their History, their Antiquities, their Clans, their Literature, their Military Annals. No pains have been spared to make the work accurate, exhaustive, interesting, and consistent with the MOST recent investigations.

Illustrations.

Besides clau-tartans, the work will be richly embellished -with autographs, seals, armorial bearings, objects of antiquarian interest, and many views and portraits on wood and steel, all taken from original or other authentic sources, and executed in the first style of art. The publishers have spared no pains to obtain original and genuine portraits, and to have them faithfully and beautifully reproduced; and they owe their sincere thanks to those noblemen and gentlemen connected with the Highlands who have allowed them access to their valuable family collections, in order to obtain copies of such original portraits as were required for the work. Many of these portraits have never before been engraved. The publishers would especially mention here the valuable miniature portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Highland costume, which has been in possession of the Lochiel family for generations, and which has been kindly placed at their disposal by the present representative of the family, Donald Cameron, Esq., M.P. for Inverness-shire. It has the merit of being a faithful likeness, and will be engraved by Holl of London. Many of the views, illustrative both of the events narrated in the history and of the rich and romantic Highland scenery, are from photographs and drawings taken specially for the work. Others, consisting chiefly of views of towns and fortresses taken at or near the time of the events they are intended to illustrate, are copied from the rare and valuable work of John Slezer, entitled Theatrum Scotice, published at the end of the 17th century. The facts that Slezer was a military engineer, and that he was appointed by government to survey the chief towns and strongholds of Scotland, are sufficient guarantees of the faithfulness of these views. CONDITIONS.

This work will be published in Twenty-five parts, price Two Shillings each, size super-imperial 8vo.

It will also be issued in Eight Divisions, rich cloth, price 7s. 6d. each. It will form, when completed, Two handsome Volumes, with Thirty specimens of authentic Clan-Tartans, beautifully executed in colour, and Twenty other page plates, including Map of Clan Territories, besides about Two Hundred illustrative wood engravings.

A. FULLARTON & Co., STEAD'S PLACE, LTCITH WALK, EDINBURGH; AND 18 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON.

STUART.

ARGYLE CAMPBELL,

It - MACLEAN.

VMKS PTUIAKT

.. ii I nil. rmi n i" London fcEdiiitfurdi FORBES.

— —

PART FIRST.

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

CHAPTER I. express the main features of the character of the people, still it requires a close acquaint- 55 446*. B.C. a.tv ance with this interesting race, both histori- cally and by personal intercourse, to form an Highlands defined—Ancient Scotland—Roman Trans- adequate notion of their character in all its actions — Agricola — Caledonians — Contest at Loch Ore—Galgacus—Mons Grampius— Battle—Agricola aspects. superseded — Lollius Urbicus — Antonine's Wall To speak roughly, nearly the whole of the Ulpius Marcellus—Severus—Constantius Chlorus Picts—Scots —Attacots—Attack Koraan Provinces country north of a line connecting the heads of Romans abandon Britain—Influence of Romans — the estuaries of the Clyde, Forth, and 'fay, Roman Remains—Roads—Camps—Ardoch. may be included under the designation of the

As it is generally acknowledged that the physi- Highlands, and, in fact, popularly is so. In- cal character of a country influences in a great deed, at the time at which the northern half degree the moral and physical character of its of Scotland—the ancient and proper Caledonia inhahitants, and thus to a certain extent deter- —emerges from its pristine gloom, and for the mines their history, it may not be deemed out first time glimmers in the light of history, the of place to define here the application of the line indicated by the forts of Agricola, and term Highlands, so far as Scotland is con- afterwards by the wall of Antonine, marked cerned, and briefly to describe the general the southern boundary of the region which was physical aspect of that part of our native land. then, and for centuries afterwards, regarded by

If it hold good at all that there subsists a re- the Eomans, and also, probably, by the south- lation between a people and the country which ern Britons, as occupying the same position in they have inhabited for centuries, the follow- relation to the rest of the country as the High- ing history will show that this is peculiarly lands proper, did at a subsequent period. In the case with the Scottish Highlanders. course of time the events which fall to be re- Most of those who have thought of the corded in the following pages gradually altered

r matter at all, have doubtless formed to them- this easily perceived boundar} , so that for cen- selves a general notion of the northern half of turies before the present day, a much more in- Scotland as a tricate but still distinct line has marked the limits of what is now strictly and correctly re- " Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, garded as the Highlands of Scotland. Land of the mountain and the flood," The definition of this territory which best and of its inhabitants as a brawny, rugged, in- suits the purposes of history, and in all re- domitable, impulsive race, steadfast in their spects most nearly accords with those of poli- friendship and loyalty, and relentless but gen- tical and social geography, is one which makes erous in their enmity. Although the popular it commensurate with the country or locations and poetic notion of the country is on the whole of the ancient Highland clans. This definition correct, and although the above epithets may assigns to the Highlands all the continental L —

2 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. territory north of the Moray frith, and all the or flanking plain, do not exhibit the physical territory, "both insular and continental, west- features which are strictly Highland. ward of an easily traceable line from that frith A district so extensive can be but faintly to the frith of Clyde. The line commences at pictured in a general and rapid description. the mouth of the river Nairn : thence, with Mountains, chiefly covered with heath or ling, the exception of a slight north-eastward or out- but occasionally, on the one hand, displaying ward curve, the central point of which is on the sides and summits of naked rock, and on the river Spey, it runs due south-east till it strikes other, exhibiting a dress of verdure, everywhere the river Dee at Tullach, nearly on the third rise, at short intervals, in chains, ridges, groups, degree of longitude west of Greenwich ; it then and even solitary heights. Their forms are of runs generally south till it falls upon West- every variety, from the precipitous and pinna- water, or the southern large head-water of the cled acclivity, to the broad-based and round-

North Esk ; thence, over a long stretch, it runs backed ascent ; but, in general, are sharp in almost due south-west, and with scarcely a de- outline, and wild or savagely grand in feature. viation, till it falls upon the Clyde at Ardmore Both elongated ridges, and chains or series of in the parish of Cardross ; and now onward to short parallel ridges, have a prevailing direc- the Atlantic ocean, it moves along the frith of tion from north-east to south-west, and send Clyde, keeping near to the continent, and ex- up summits from 1,000 to upwards of 4,000 cluding none of the Clyde islands except the feet above the level of the sea. Glens, valleys, comparatively unimportant Cumbraes. All and expanses of lowland stretch in all direc- the Scottish territory west and north-west of tions among the mountains, and abound in this line is properly the Highlands. Yet both voluminous streams, and large elongated lakes for the convenience of topographical descrip- of picturesque appearance,—nearly all the in- tion, and because, altogether down to the middle land lakes extending in stripes either north- of the 13th century, and partially down to the eastward and south-westward, or eastward and middle of the 16th, the Highlands and the westward. Along the whole west coast, at re- Western Islands were politically and histori- markably brief intervals, arms of the sea, long, cally distinct regions, the latter are usually narrow, and sometimes exceedingly rugged in viewed apart under the name of the Hebrides. outline, run north-eastward or south-eastward The mainland Highlands, or the Highlands into the interior, and assist the inland fresh after the Hebrides are deducted, extend in ex- water lakes in cleaving it into sections. The treme length from Duncansby Head, or John rivers of the region are chiefly impetuous tor- o' Groat's on the north, to the Mull of Kintyre rents, careering for a while along mountain- on the south, about 250 miles ; but over a dis- gorges, and afterwards either expanding them- tance of 90 miles at the northern end, they have selves into beautiful lakes and flowing athwart an average breadth of only about 45 miles, delightful meadows, or ploughing long narrow over a distance of 50 or 55 miles at the southern valleys, green and ornate with grasses, trefoils, end, they consist mainly of the Clyde islands, daisies, ranunculi, and a profuse variety of and the very narrow peninsula of Kintyre, other herbage and flowers. Native woods, and even at their broadest part, from the principally of pine and birch, and occasionally eastern base of the Grampians to Ardna- clumps and expanses of plantation, climb the niurchan Point on the west, they do not ex- acclivities of the gentler heights, or crowd down tend to more than 120 miles. The district upon the vallej', and embosom the inland lakes. comprehends the whole of the counties of On the east side, along the coast to the Moray Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, Inver- frith, and towards the frontier in the counties ness, and Argyle, large parts of Nairn, Perth, of Nairn, Elgin, and Perth, gentle slopes and Dumbarton, and Bute, and considerable por- broad belts of lowland, fertile in soil and fa- tions of Elgin, Banff, Aberdeen, Forfar, and vourable in position, are carpeted with agricul- Stirling. Considerable parts of this district, tural luxuriance, and thickly dotted with human however, such as Caithness-shire, the island dwellings, and successfully vie with the south if Bute, and some large tracts of moor or valley of Scotland in towns and population, and in EOMAN TRANSACTIONS.

the pursuit and display of wealth. But almost Such are the main features of the Highlands everywhere else, except in the fairyland of of Scotland at the present day, and, to a con- Loch Fyne, and the southern shore of Loch siderable extent, the description might have ap- Etive, the Highlands are sequestered,—sinless plied to the country at the time of the Eoman of a town, —a semi-wilderness, where a square invasion. Still, in the graphic words of Stuart, 2 mile is a more convenient unit of measurement " To form an idea of the general aspect of Scot- than an acre. land, as it was some eighteen hundred years j A district characterized hy such features as ago, we must, in imagination, restore to its now we have named necessarily exhibits, within varied surface the almost unbroken gloom of very circumscribed limits, varieties of scenery the primeval forest; her waving mantle of som- of the most opposite descriptions ; enabling the bre hue, within which the genius loci may be admirer of nature to pass abruptly from dwell- supposed to have brooded over the seclusion and ing on the loveliness of an extensive marine the poverty of ' ancient Caledon.' In a bird's- or champaign landscape into the deep solitude eye view, if such a thought may be indulged, of an ancient forest, or the dark craggy fast- the greatest part of the country presented, in nesses of an alpine ravine ; or from lingering all probability, the appearance of one continu- amid the quiet grassy meadows of a pastoral ous wood ; a mass of cheerless verdure resting strath or valley, watered by its softly-flowing on bill and dale—the sameness of its dark ex- stream, to the open heathy mountain-side, tent broken only where some lake or green- whence ' alps o'er alps arise,' whose summits clad morass met the view, or where the higher are often shrouded with mists and almost per- mountains lifted their summits above the line ennial snows, and their overhanging precipices of vegetation. In some districts, considerable furrowed by foaming cataracts. Lakes and tracks of open moorland might, doubtless, be long arms of the sea, either fringed with woods seen clad in the indigenous heather of the or surrounded with rocky barren shores, now North; while, in others, occasional spiots of pas- studded with islands, and anon extending their ture-land would here and there appear ;—but, silvery arms into distant receding mountains, on the. whole, these must have formed a strik- are met in every district ; while the extreme ing contrast to the wide expanse of the pre- steepness, ruggedness, and sterility of many of vailing forest." the mountain-chains impart to them as impos- As the present work is concerned only with ing and magnificent characters as are to be seen the Highlands of Scotland, it would of course in the much higher and more inaccessible ele- be out of place to give any minute account of vations of Switzerland. No wonder, then, that the transactions of the Eomans in the other this 'land of mountain and of flood' should parts of the island. Suffice it to say that from have given birth to the song of the bard, and the time, B.C. 55, when Julius Crcsar first land- afforded material for the theme of the sage, in ed on the coast of South Britain, until a.d. 78, all ages ; and that its inhabitants should be when, under the Emperor Tespasian, Cnaeus tinctured with deep romantic feelings, at once Julius Agricola assumed the command in Great tender, melancholy, and wild ; and that the Britain, the greater part of midland and recollection of their own picturesque native south England had been brought under the dwellings should haunt them to their latest sway of the Eomans. This able commander hours. Neither, amid such profusion and di- set himself with vigour and earnestness to con- versity of all that is beautiful and sublime in firm the conquests which had been already nature, can the unqualified admiration of made, to reduce the rest of the country to sub- strangers, from every part of Europe, of the jection, to conciliate the Britons by mild mea- scenery of the Highlands fail of being easily sures, and to attach them to the Eoman power accounted for ; nor can any hesitate in re- by introducing among them Eoman manners, commending them to visit the more remote literature, luxuries, and dress. or unknown solitudes. 1 Agricola was appointed to the command in Britain in the year 78 a.d., but appears not 1 We are indebted for great part of this description to Fiillarton's Gazetteer of Scotland. - Caledonia Romana. p. 11. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. to have entered Scotland till his third cam- mand of a military leader. Some writers, on paign in the year 80. He employed himself the authority of Ptolemy of Alexandria, but in the years 80, 81, and 82, in subduing the chiefly on that of the pseudo-Richard of Ciren- country south of the friths of Forth and Clyde, cester, 3 give a list of the various tribes which, —the Bodotria and Glotta of Tacitus,—erect during the Roman period, inhabited North ing, in 81, a series of forts between these two Britain, and define the locality which each estuaries. Having accomplished this, Agricola occupied with as much exactness as they might made preparations for his next campaign,which do a modern English county. " There was he was to open beyond the friths in the sum- one thing," says Tacitus, " which gave us an mer of 83, be in the meantime having heard advantage over these powerful nations, that that the Caledonians—as Tacitus calls the they never consulted together for the advantage people north of the Forth —had formed a con- of the whole. It was rare that even two or federacy to resist the invader. three of them united against the common These Caledonians appear to have been enemy." Their whole means of subsistence divided into a number of tribes or clans, consisted in the milk and flesh of their flocks having little or no political connection, and and the produce of the chase. They lived in almost constantly at war among themselves. a state almost approaching to nudity; but It was only when a foreign foe threatened their whether from necessity or from choice cannot much-prized freedom that a sense of danger be satisfactorily determined. Dio represents forced them to unite for a time under the com- the Caledonians as being naked, but Herodian

Fig. 1. Sculptured Stone in the Church of Meigle. Fig. 2. From a Sculptured Stone found at St. Andrews.

speaks of them as wearing a partial covering. they have enclosed a very large circuit with

They appear, at all events, if the stone dug up felled trees, they build within it houses for

at Blackness in the year 1868 (see p. 11), be 3 The Dc Sila Britannicc "professed to be a manu- taken as an authority, to have gone naked into script of the fourteenth century, written by a monk named Richard of Cirencester, made up by him from battle. Their towns, which were few, consisted certain fragments left by a Roman General. The per- of huts covered with turf or skins, and for son who stepped forth as the lucky discoverer of so precious a relic was Charles Julius Bertram, English better security they were erected in the centre Professor in the Royal Marine Academy at Copen- of some wood or morass. " What the Britons hagen. His revelation was accepted without hesi- tation, and revolutionized the existing notions about call a town, says Cassar, " is a tract of the geography of Roman Britain. After all, the hoax woody country, surrounded by a vallum and was not absolutely useless; it stimulated'inquiry, and, in itself, what it professed to lay down ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle on authority, were the guesses and theories of a learned and acute for, against the incursions of an enemy; when man."— Burton's History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 13. —;

THE CALEDONIANS.

4 themselves, and hovels for their cattle." Not- Britain existed at the period in question seems withstanding, perhaps owing to the scantiness to exclude such a supposition. We have no of their covering, which left their bodies ex- certain information from any contemporary, posed to the rigour of a cold and variable cli- and conjecture is therefore groundless. Later mate, the Caledonians were a remarkably hardy fable-loving historians and chroniclers, indeed, race, capable of enduring fatigue, cold, and give lists of Kings of Scotland—or, rather, of hunger to an extent which their descendants Pictland—extending back for centuries before of the present day could not encounter without the Christian era, but these by general consent risk of life. They were decidedly a warlike are now banished to the realm of myths. It people, and are said, like the heroes of more is probable, as we have already said, that the ancient times, to have been addicted to rob- Caledonians were divided into a number of bery. The weapons of their warfare consisted independent tribes, and that each tribe was of small spears, long broadswords, and hand presided over by a chief, but how he obtained daggers ; and they defended their bodies in his supremacy it is impossible to say. We have combat by a small target or shield,—all much one instance, at least, of a number of tribes of the same form and construction as those uniting under one leader, viz., at the battle of afterwards used by their posterity in more mo- Mons Grampius, when the Caledonians were dern tunes. It would appear from the stone commanded by a chief or leader called by Ta- above referred to that the shields of the citus, Galgacus, " inter plures duces virtute et Caledonians were oblong, with a boss in the genere prajstans." 5 " The earliest bond of centre, and their swords short and pointed, union may probably be traced to the time not long and blunt, as represented by Ta- when they united under one common leader to citus. The use of cavalry appears not to resist or assail the Roman legionaries ; and out have been so well understood among the Cale- of the Dux or Toshach elected for the occasion, donians as among the more southern tribes like Galgacus, and exercising a paramount but in battle they often made use of cars, or though temporary authority, arose the Ardrigh chariots, which were drawn by small, swift, or supreme king, after some popular or ambi- and spirited horses ; and it is conjectured tious chieftain had prolonged his power by suc- that, like those used by the southern Brit- cessful wars, or procured his election to this ons, they had iron scythes projecting from prominent station for life." 6 the axle. It is impossible to say what form Whatever may have been the relation of the of government obtained among these warlike members of the different tribes, and the relation tribes. When history is silent, historians of the tribes to each other, it is certain, from the should either maintain a cautious reserve or general tone of the works of Tacitus and other be sparing in their conjectures ; but analogy Roman historians in which those early inhabit- may supply materials for well-grounded specu- ants of the Scottish Highlands are mentioned, lations, and it may therefore be asserted, with- that they offered a far more formidable resist- out any great stretch of imagination, that, like ance to the Roman arms than had hitherto been most of the other uncivilized tribes we read of done by any other of the British tribes. in history, the Northern Britons or Caledonians In personal stature, the natives of Caledonia, were under the government of a leader or chief like those of other parts of Britain, appear to to whom they yielded a certain degree of obedi- have excelled their Roman invaders, and from ence. Dio, indeed, insinuates that the govern- Tacitus we learn that those with whom his

ments of these tribes were democratic ; but he father-in-law came into contact were distin- should have been aware that it is only when guished by ruddy locks and lusty limbs. It bodies of men assume, in an advanced state of is also certain that for the sake of ornament, civilization, a compact and united form that de- or for the purpose of making their appearance mocracy can prevail ; and the state of barbar- more terrible in war, they resorted to the bar- ism in which he says the inhabitants of North 5 Tacitus, Agricola, xxix. 6 IC. W. Kobertson's Scotland under Iier Early 4 Da Bello Gallico, ii. 17. Kings, vol. i. p. 31. —

GENEEAL history oe the highlands. barous practice of tattooing their bodies. -In- antiquarians assert that it must have been not deed it may be taken as a proof of their never far from Queensferry. The fleet, Tacitus tells s having to any great extent come under the us, now acting, -for the first time, in concert power and influence of Eome and Eoman cus- with the land-forces, proceeded in sight of the toms, that they retained this practice for long army, forming a magnificent spectacle, and after the other Britons had abandoned it, and adding terror to the war. It frequently hap- on this account, in all probability, afterwards pened that in the same camp were seen the acquired the name of Picts. infantry and cavalry intermixed with the The people whom Agricola encountered in marines, all indulging their joy, full of their Scotland cannot have been otherwise than adventures, and magnifying the history of their tolerable proficients in the common branches exploits; the soldier describing, in the usual style of military ostentation, the forests which of art ; how else can we suppose them to have been supplied with all that materiel of war he had passed, the mountains which he climbed, with which they are said to have appeared be- and the barbarians whom he put to the rout; fore him 1 Indolent and uninformed as were while the sailor had his storms and tempests, the bulk of the people, they must have had the wonders of the deep, and the spirit with among them artificers both in wood and in which he conquered winds and waves. iron, not unskilled in their respective trades The offensive operations of the sixth cam- able to construct the body of a car—to provide paign were commenced by the Caledonian Britons, who, from the higher country, made a furious attack upon the trans-Forthan fortifications, which so alarmed some of Agri-

cola's officers, who were afraid of being cut off from a retreat, that they advised their general to recross the Forth without delay; but Agri- cola resisted this advice, and made preparations for the attack which he expected would soon be made upon his army. As Agricola had received information that the enemy intended

to fall upon him from various quarters, he divided his army into three bodies and continued his march. Some antiquarians have attempted to trace the route taken by each British War-Chariot. division, founding their elaborate theories on for it axles of great strength—above all, able the very slender remains of what they sup- to construct the wheels and arm them with pose to have been Eoman fortifications and those sharp-edged instruments that were des- encampments. As it would serve no good tined to cut down whatever opposed their purpose to encumber our pages with these an- course. 7 tiquarian conjectures, detailed accounts of Agricola, in the summer of 83, after having which will be found in Chalmers, Stuart, Eoy, obtained information as to the nature of the and others, we shall only say that, with con-

country and the aspect of its inhabitants from siderable plausibility, it is supposed that the exploring parties and prisoners, transported Ms Ninth Legion encamped on the north side of army across the Frith of Forth to the shores Loch Ore, about two miles south of Loch Leven

of Fife by means of his fleet, and marched in Kinross-shire. Another legion, it is said, along the coast eastwards, keeping the fleet in encamped near Dunearn Hill, about a mile sight. It cannot with certainty be ascertained distant from Burntisland, near which hill are

at what part of the Forth this transportation still to be seen remains of a strength called of the forces took place, although some bold Atjricolds camp. At all events the divisions

7 Stuart's Caledonia Ramana, pp 36. 8 Agricola xxv. CONTESTS AT LOCH OEE AND MONS GKAMFTUS. do not seem to have been, very far apart, as well merited the distinction thus bestowed. will be seen from the following episode. Freparatory to the struggle they were about to The enemy having watched the proceedings engage in, they sent their wives and children of the Eoman army made the necessary pre- into places of safety, and, in solemn assemblies parations for attack, and during the night in which public sacrifices were offered up, rati- made a furious assault on the Ninth Legion fied the confederacy into which they had en- at Loch Ore. They had acted with such tered against their common enemy. caution that they were actually at the very Having strengthened his army with some camp before Agricola was aware of their move- British auxiliaries from the south, Agricola ments; but with great presence of mind he marched through Fife in the summer of 84, despatched a body of his Eghtest troops to making for a spot called by Tacitus Mons turn their flank and attack the assailants in the Grampius; sending at the same time his fleet rear. After an obstinate engagement, main- round the eastern coast, to support him in his tained with varied success in the very gates of operations, and to distract the attention of the the camp, the Britons were at length repulsed Caledonians. Various conjectures have been by the superior skill of the Eoman veterans. broached as to the exact line of Agricola's This battle was so far decisive, that Agricola march and the exact position of the Mons did not find much difficulty afterwards in sub- Grampius. The most plausible of these is duing the surrounding country, and, having that of General Boy,9 who supposes that finished his campaign, he passed the winter of the march of Agricola was regulated by the 83 in Fife; being supplied with provisions course of the Devon; that he turned to the from his fleet in the Forth, and keeping up a right from Glendevon through the opening of constant correspondence with his garrisons on the Ochil hills, along the course of the rivulet the southern side. which runs along Gleneagles ; leaving the braes

By this victory, according to Tacitus, so of Ogilvie on his left, and passing between complete and glorious, the Eoman army was Blackford and Auchterarder towards the Gram- inspired with confidence to such a degree, that pian hills, which he saw at a distance before they now pronounced themselves invincible, liim as he debouched from the Ochils. By an and desired to penetrate to the extremity of easy march he reached the moor of Ardoch, the island. from which he descried the Caledonian army, The Caledonians now began to perceive to the number of 30,000 men, encamped the danger of their situation from the prox- on the declivity of the hill which begins imity of such a powerful enemy, and a to rise from the north-western border of the sense of this danger impelled them to lay moor of Ardoch. Agricola took his station aside the feuds and jealousies which had at the great camp which adjoins the fort divided and distracted their tribes, to consult of Ardoch on the northward. If the Eoman together for their mutual safety and protection, camp at Ardoch does mark the spot where the and to combine their scattered strength into a disastrous engagement about to be noticed took united and energetic mass. The proud spirit place between these brave and determined of independence which had hitherto kept the Caledonians and the invincible Eoman legions,

Caledonian tribes apart, now made them co- it is highly probable that Agricola drew out alesce in support of their liberties, which were his army on the neighbouring moor, having a threatened with utter annihilation. In this large ditch or trench of considerable length in eventful crisis, they looked around them for a front, the Caledonian host under Galgacus leader or chief under whom they might fight being already disposed in battle array on the the battle of freedom, and save their country heights beyond. The Eoman army is sup- from the dangers which threatened it. A chief, posed to have numbered about 20,000 or named Galgacus by Tacitus, was pitched upon 30,000, the auxiliary infantry, in number to act as generalissimo of the Caledonian army; about 8,000^ occupying the centre, the wings and, from the praises bestowed upon him by that historian, this warrior appears to have 9 Military Antiquities. 1 Tac. Agricola xxxv GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

consisting of 3,000 horse. The legions were engagement. The Batavians rushed to the stationed in the rear, at the head of the en- attack with impetuous fury; they redoubled trenchments, as a body of reserve to support then- blows, and with the bosses of their the ranks, if necessary, hut otherwise to remain shields bruised the enemy in the face, and, inactive, that a victory, obtained without the having overpowered all resistance on the plain, effusion of Roman blood, might be of higher began to force their way up the ascent of the value. Previous to the commencement of this hill in regular order of battle. Incited by interesting fight, according to " the fashion of their example, the other cohorts advanced with historical literature at that time," a speech is a spirit of emulation, and cut then way with put into the mouth of each general by the his- terrible slaughter. Eager in pursuit of victory, torian Tacitus. " How much more valuable they pressed forward with determined fury, would it have been to us had Tacitus deigned leaving behind them numbers wounded, but to tell us something about the tongue in which not slain, and others not so much as hurt. the leader of the barbarians spoke, or even his The Roman cavalry, in the mean time, name, and the name of the place where he was forced to give ground. The Caledonians, fought, as the natives uttered it ! Yet, for the in their armed chariots, rushed at full speed great interests of its day, the speech of Gal- into the thick of the battle, where the infantry gacus was far removed from a mere feat of idle were engaged. Their first impression struck pedantry. It was a noble rebuke on the em- a general terror, but their career was soon pire and the Roman people, who, false to the checked by the inequalities of the ground, and high destiny assigned to them by Virgil, of the close embodied ranks of the Romans. protecting the oppressed and striking down the Nothing could less resemble an engagement of oppressors, had become the common scourge the cavalry. Pent up in narrow places, the of all mankind, The profligate ambition, the barbarians crowded upon each other, and were perfidy, the absorbing pride, the egotism, and driven or dragged along by their own horses. the cruelty of the dominant people —how A scene of confusion followed. Chariots with- could all be so aptly set forth as in the words out a guide, and horses without a rider, broke of a barbarian chief, ruling over the free people from the ranks in wfld disorder, and flying who were to be the next victims." 2 every way, as fear and consternation urged, The narrative of the battle we give mainly they overwhelmed their own files, and trampled in the words of the Roman commander's son-in- down all who came in their way. law, Tacitus, who no doubt had the story from Meanwhile the Britons, who had hitherto Agricola's own mouth. 3 The battle began, kept their post on the hills, looking down with and at first was maintained at a distance. contempt on the scanty numbers of the Roman The Britons wanted neither skill nor resolu- army, began to quit their station. Descending tion. With their long swords, and targets of slowly, they hoped, by wheeling round the small dimension, they had the address to elude field of battle, to attack the victors in the rear. the missive weapons of the Romans, and at To counteract their design, Agricola ordered the same time to discharge a thick volley of four squadrons of horse, which he had kept as their own. To bring the conflict to a speedy a body of reserve, to advance to the charge. decision, Agricola ordered three Batavian and The Britons poured down with impetuosity, two Tungrian cohorts to charge the enemy and retired with equal precipitation. At the sword in hand. To this mode of attack those same time, the cavalry, by the directions of the troops had been long accustomed, but to the general, wheeled round from the wings, and

Britons it was every way disadvantageous. fell with great slaughter on the rear of the Their small targets afforded no protection, and enemy, who now perceived that their own their unwieldy swords, not sharpened to a stratagem was turned against themselves. point, could do but little execution in a close The field presented a dreadful spectacle of carnage and destruction. The Britons fled; 5 Burton's Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p. 9. the Romans pursued; they wounded, gashed, 3 Tao. Agricola xxxvi, &c. We adopt Murphy's translation in the main, here and elsewhere. and mangled the runaways; they seized their AGEICOLA SUPERSEDED.

prisoners, and, to be ready for others, butchered of discovery to the northward. The enterprise them on the spot. Despair and horror ap- appears to have been successfully accomplished peared in various shapes; in one part of the by the Boman navy, which proceeded coast-

field the Caledonians, sword in hand, fled in wise as far as the Orkneys, whence it sailed

crowds from a handful of Romans ; in other by the "Western Islands and the British Chan-

places, without a weapon left, the}7" faced every nel ad Portum Trutulensern, Bichborough in

danger, and rushed on certain death. Swords Kent, returning to the point from which it

and bucklers, mangled lim bs and dead bodies, started. This is the first voyage on record covered the plain. The field was red with that determined Britain to be an island. blood. The vanquished Britons had their The Emperor Domitian now resolved to moments of returning courage, and gave proofs supersede Agricola in his command in North of virtue and of brave despair. They fled to Britain; and he was accordingly recalled in the woods, and, rallying their scattered num- the year 85, under the pretence of promoting bers, surrounded such of the Bomans as pur- Mm to the government of Syria, but in reality sued with too much eagerness. out of envy on account of the glory which he Night coming on, the Bomans, weary of had obtained by the success of his arms. He slaughter, desisted from the pursuit. Ten died on the 23d of August, 93, some say, from thousand of the Caledonians fell in this en- poison, while others attribute his death to the gagement: on the part of the Bomans, the effects of chagrin at the unfeeling treatment number of slain did not exceed three hundred of Domitian. His countrymen lamented his and forty. death, and Tacitus, his son-in-law, preserved The Boman army, elate with success, and the memory of his actions and his worth in enriched with plunder, passed the night in the history of his life. exultation. The Britons, on the other hand, During the remainder of Domitian's reign, wandered about, uncertain which way to turn, and that of Hadrian his successor, North Britain helpless and disconsolate. The mingled cries appears to have enjoyed tranquillity; an infer- of men and women filled the air with lamen- ence which may be fairly drawn from the tations. Some assisted to carry off the silence of the Boman historians. Yet as wounded; others called for the assistance of Hadrian in the year 121 built a wall between such as escaped unhurt; numbers abandoned the Solway and the Tyne, some writers have their habitations, or, in their frenzy, set supposed that the Bomans had been driven them on fire. They fled to obscure retreats, by the Caledonians out of North Britain, in and, in the moment of choice, deserted them; the reign of that Emperor. But if such was they held consultations, and, having inflamed the case, how did Lollius Urbicus, the Boman their hopes, changed their minds in despair; general, about nineteen years after Hadrian's they beheld the pledges of tender affection, wall was erected, penetrate without opposition and burst into tears ; they viewed them again, to Agricola's forts between the Clyde and the and grew fierce with resentment. It is a fact Forth? May we not rather suppose that the well authenticated, that some laid violent wall of Hadrian was built for the purpose of hands upon their wives and children, deter- preventing incursions into the south by the mined with savage compassion to end their tribes which inhabited the country between misery. that wall and the Friths? But, be this as it

After obtaining hostages from the Horestians, may, little is known of the history of North who in all probability inhabited what is now Britain from the time of Agricola's recall till the county of Fife, Agricola garrisoned the the year 138, when Antoninus Pius assumed stations on the isthmus and elsewhere, re- the imperial purple. That good and sagacious crossed the Forth, and took up his winter- emperor was distinguished by the care which quarters in the north of England, about the he took in selecting the fittest officers for the

Tyne and Solway. In the meantime he gave government of the Boman provinces ; and his orders to the fleet, then lying probably in the choice, for that of Britain, fell on Lollius Frith of Forth or Tay, to proceed on a voyage Urbicus. —

10 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The positive infomiation concerning the of a regular Eoman province, which, on the transactions of this general in North Britain worthless authority of the pseudo-Richard, was is as meagre as could possibly he, the only named Vespasiana. All this may have been clearly ascertained fact in connection with his the case, and the remains 6 of Eoman stations command "being that he built a wall between found throughout the wide tract just men- the Eorth and Clyde, very nearly on a line tioned give some plausibility to the conjecture; " with the forts established by Agricola. The but there is only the most slender grounds for meagreness of all ancient record," says Burton, 4 connecting them with any northern expedition " of the achievements of Lollius Urbicus is of Lollius Urbicus. At all events we may worthy of emphatic mention and recollection, very safely conclude, from the general tone of because his name has got into the ordinary the records which remain of his and of subse

abridged histories which speak of it, and of ' his quent expeditions, as well as from the fact that campaign in the north' as well-known events, they found it necessary to divide the Lowlands of which people naturally expect fuller informa- from the Highlands by a fortified wall, that tion elsewhere. The usual sources for reference the Eomans considered the Caledonians of

regarding him will however be found utterly their time very troublesome, and found it ex dumb." The story commonly given is that he ceedingly difficult if not impossible to bring proceeded north as far as the Moray Frith, them under their otherwise universal yoke. throwing the extensive country between Forth It may not be out of place to give here and Clyde and the Moray Frith into the form some account of the wall of Antonine. The

Map and Profile of Antonine's Wall. wall or rampart extended from Camden on twenty feet thick. Along the whole extent of the Forth, two miles west from Blackness, and the wall there was a vast ditch or praderdura about the same distance east from Bo'ness, to on the outward or north side, which was gene- West Kilpatrick on the Clyde. The date, rally twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, and which may be depended on, assigned to the which, there is reason to believe, might be 6 building of the wall is between 138 and 140 filled with water when occasion required.

a. D. Taking the length of this wall from Kilpatrick on the Clyde to Caeridden or 5 Wilson says that beyond the Forth and Clyde nearly the sole traces of the presence of the Romans Carriden on the Forth, its extent would be are a few earthworks, with one or two exceptions, of 39,726 Eoman paces, which exactly agrees doubtful import, and some chance discoveries of pot- tery and coins, mostly ascribable, it may be presumed, with the modern measurement of 36 English to the fruitless northern expedition of Agricola, after miles and 620 yards. This rampart, which the victory of Mons Grampius, or to the still more ineffectual one of his successor, Severus. Prehistoric was of earth, and rested on a stone foundation, Annals, p. 365. was upwards of twenty feet high and four and 6 On the estate of Callender, to the east of Falkirk, distinct remains of this trench are still to be seen, in good preservation, n.easuring a few hundred yards in 4 Scotland, vol. i. p. 29. length and about 12 feet in depth. ANTONINE'S WALL. 11

This ditch and rampart were strengthened at From inscriptions on some of the foundation both ends, and throughout its whole extent, by stones, which have been dug up, it appears that about twenty forts, three being at each extrem- the Second legion, with detachments from the ity, and the remainder placed between at the sixth and twentieth legions and some auxili- distance of about two English miles from one aries, executed these vast military works, another; and it is highly probable that these equally creditable to their skill and persever- stations were designedly placed on the previous ance. Dunglas near the western extremity, fortifications of Agricola. The following, going and Blackness near the eastern extremity of from east to west, are the names and sites of the rampart, afforded the Eomans commodious some of the stations which have been iden- harbours for their shipping, as also did Cram- tified : —Eough Castle, Castlecary, Westerwood, ond, about five miles west from Edinburgh. Bunhill, Auchindinny, Kirkintilloch, Bemulie, This wall is called in the popular language of East KilpatTick, Castlehill, Duntocher, West the country Grime's or Graham's Dyke. 7 In Kilpatrick. It will be seen that to a certain ex- 1868 a large oblong slab, in first-rate preserva- tent they are on the bine of the Edinburgh and tion, was dug up at Bo'ness, in the parish of Glasgow railway, and throughout nearly its Kinneil (Bede's Peanfahel, " the head of the whole length that of the Forth and Clyde canal. wall"), containing an inscription as distinct as

Its necessary appendage, a military road, ran be- it was on the day when it came from a Eoman hind the rampart from end to end, for the use chisel. We give here a cut of this remarkable

of the troops and for keeping up the usual stone, which is now in the Scottish Antiqua- communication between the stations or forts. rian Museum.

Stone from Antonine's Wall. (Copied and engraved specially for the present work.)

We have no distinct mention of the Caledo- The irrepressible Highlanders again broke nians again until the reign of Commodus, out about the year 207, and this time the when, about the year 183, these troublesome Emperor Severus himself, notwithstanding his barbarians appear to have broken through the bad health and old age, came from Rome to " northern wall, slain the general in command Britain, determined apparently to stamp out" of the Roman forces, and pillaged the lowland the rebellion. On hearing of his arrival the country beyond. They were, however, driven tribes sent deputies to liim to negotiate for back by Ulpius Marcellus, who succeeded by peace, but the emperor, who was of a warlike prudent management in maintaining peace for disposition, and fond of military glory, declined a number of years. In the beginning of the to entertain any proposals. reign of Severus, however, the Caledonians After making the necessary preparations. again broke out, but were kept in check by 7 There are several other earthworks in England, Virius Lupus, who appears to have bribed according to Chalmers (Caledonia) and Taylor (Words and Places), which go under the appellation of Grime's rather than beaten the barbarians into con- Dyke or Grime's Ditch. Grime in Cornish is said to formity. signify strong; in Gaelic, war, battle. 12 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Severus began his march to the north in the till the reign of the emperor Constantiua year 208. He traversed the whole of North Chlorus, who came to Britain in the year 306, Britain, from the Avail of Antoninus to the very to repel the Caledonians and other Picts. s extremity of the island, with an immense army. Their incursions were repelled by the Roman The Caledonians avoided coming to a general legions under Constantius, and they remained engagement with him, but kept up an incesr quiet till about the year 345, when they again

sant and harassing warfare on all sides. . He, entered the territories of the provincial Brit- however, brought them to sue for peace ; but ons j but they were compelled, it is said, again the honours of this campaign were dearly to retreat by Constans, son of Constantine the earned, for fifty thousand of the Eomans fell a Great. prey to the attacks of the Caledonians, to Although these successive inroads had been fatigue, and to the severity of the climate. always repelled by the superior power and dis- The Caledonians soon disregarded the treaty cipline of the Romans, the Caledonians of the which they had entered into with Severus, fourth century no longer regarded them in the which conduct so irritated him that he gave formidable light in which they had been orders to renew the war, and to spare neither viewed by their ancestors, and their genius for age nor sex; but his son, Caracalla, to whom war improving every time they came in hostile the execution of these orders was intrusted, contact with their enemies, they meditated was more intent in plotting against his father the design of expelling the intruders altogether and brother than in executing the revengeful from the soil of North Britain. The wars mandate of the dying emperor, whose demise which the Romans had to sustain against the took place at York on the 4th February, 211, Persians in the East, and against the Germans in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and in the on the frontiers of Gaul, favoured the plan of third r ear of his administration in Britain. 3 the Caledonians ; and having formed a treaty

It is in connection with this invasion that with the Scots, whose name is mentioned for we first hear of the Meats or Mreatae, who are the first time in history in this connection by mentioned by Dion Cassius, or rather his epi- Animianus Marcellinus, they, in conjunction tomiser Xiphiline, and who are supposed by with their new allies, about the year 360 in- some to have inhabited the country between vaded the Roman territories and committed the two walls, while others think it more many depredations. Julian, who commanded likely that they were a part of the Caledonians, the Roman army on the Rhine, despatched and inhabited the district between the Gram- Eupicinus, an able military commander, to de- pians and the wall of Antonine. We shall fend the province against the Scots and Picts, not, however, enter into this question here, but but he was recalled before he had done much endeavour, as briefly as possible, to record all to repel them. that is known of the remaining transactions of The Picts—who on this occasion are men- the Eomans in the north of Scotland, reserving tioned by Ammianus Marcellinus 9 as being di- other matters for the next chapter. vided into two nations, the Dicaledonos and It was not consistent with the policy by Veduriones—and Scots, being joined by the which Caracalla was actuated, to continue a Attacots, " a warlike race of men," and the war with the Caledonians ; for the scene of his Saxons, numbers of whom appear at this early ambition lay in Rome, to which he made hasty period to have settled in Britain, made another preparations to depart on the death of his father. attack on the Roman provinces in the year He therefore entered into a treaty with the Cale- donians by which he gave up the territories sur- 8 The first writer who mentions the Picts is Eumen- iuSj the orator, who was a Professor at Autun, and who, rendered by them to his father, and abandoned in a panegyric pronounced by him in the year 297, the forts erected by him in their fastnesses. mentions the Picts along with the Irish, and again, in in a panegyric pronounced by him on Constans, The whole country north of the wall of Anto- 308, speaks of the Caledonians and other Picts. This is nine appears in fact to have been given up to one of the passages mainly relied on by those who the undisputed possession of the Caledonians, consider the Caledonians and Picts to have been tho same people. a and we hear of no more incursions by them Aim. Mar., xxvii., 8. THE EOMANS ABANDON BBITATN. 13

364, on the accession of Valentinian. These of a future kingdom ; and that they gave them appear to have made their way as far south as a training in arms such as the Caledonians

London, and it required all the valour and could never have obtained, had they not been skill of Theodosius the Elder, father of the em- brought into collision with the best-trained peror of that name, who was sent to Britain in soldiers of the world in their time. the year 367, to repel this aggression, and to We have in what precedes mainly followed repair the great ravages committed by the bar- only one thread in the very intricate web barians. The next outbreak occurred about formed by the early history of the Highlands, the year 398, when the Eicts and Scots again which, to a certain extent at this period, is the broke loose and ravaged the provinces, being history of Scotland; but, as will have been repelled by a legion sent over by the great seen, there are various other threads which Stilicho, in answer to the petition of the help- join in from time to time, and which, after less provincials for assistance. giving a short account of the traces of the Eo-

In the beginning of the fifth century the man invasion still existing in the Highlands, enervated Eomanized Britons again appear to Ave shall endeavour to catch up and follow out have been subjected to the tender mercies of as far as possible. their wicked northern neighbours ; and in re- It is not necessary in a history of the High- ply to their cry for help, Honorius, in 416, sent lands of Scotland, as we have defined that term, over to their relief a single legion, which drove that much space should be given to an ac-

back the intruders. The Eomans, as is well count of Eoman remains ; for, as we have al- known, engrossed by overwhelming troubles ready said, these Italian invaders appear never nearer home, finally abandoned Britain about to have obtained anything like a firm footing the year 446, advising the inhabitants, who in that rugged district, or made any definite or were suffering from the ravages of the Eicts characteristic impression on its inhabitants. and Scotc, to protect themselves by retiring " The vestiges whence it is inferred that the behind and keeping in repair the wall of Se- Empire for a time had so far established itself verus. in Scotland as to bring the natives over to the

Such is a brief account of the transactions of habits of peaceful citizens, belong almost ex- the Eomans in Britain so far as these were con- clusively to the country south of Antonine's nected with the Highlands of Scotland. That wall, between the Forth and Clyde. Coins energetic and insatiable people doubtless left and weapons have been found farther north, their mark on the country and its inhabitants but scarcely any vestige of regular settlement. south of the Forth and Clyde, as the many None of the pieces of Eoman sculpture found Eoman remains which exist there at the pres. in Scotland belong to the districts north of the ent day testify. The British provincials, in- wall. It is almost more significant still, that deed, appear in the end to have been utterly of the very considerable number of Scottish enervated, and, in the worst sense, Eoman- Eoman inscriptions in the various collections, ized, so that they became an easy prey to their only one was found north of the wall, and that

Saxon helpers. It is quite evident, however, in the strongly-fortified station of Ardoch, that the inhabitants of Caledonia proper, the where it commemorated that it was dedicated district beyond the wall of Antonine, were to to the memory of a certain Ammonius Damio- 1 a very slight extent, if at all, influenced by the nis. On the other hand, it is in that unsub- Eoman invasion. Whether it was from the dued district that the memorials of Eoman con- nature of the people, or from the nature of the quest chiefly abound." 2 country which they inhabited, or from both The whole of Britain was intersected by Eo- combined, they appear to have been equally man ways, and as, wherever a Eoman army impervious to Eoman force and Eoman cul- went, it was preceded by pioneers who cleared ture. The best services that their enemies and made a durable road to facilitate its march, rendered to the Caledonians or Eicts were that there can be no doubt that the north of Scot- they forced them to unite against the common 1 Wilson's Prehist. Annals. foe thus contributing towards the foundation - Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 74. : —

H GENEBAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

land was to a considerable extent intersected generally treated with respect. The line of by highways during the invasion of Agricola, these camps reaches as far as the counties of Lollius Urbicus, and Severus. One road at Aberdeen and Inverness, the most important least can be traced as far north as Aberdeen- of them, however, being found in Strathallan,

shire, and is popularly known in some districts Strathearn, and Strathmore. Besides the most as the Lang Causeioay. This road appears to important of these camps, that at Ardoch, have issued from the wall of Antonine, passed traces of many others have been found. There through Camelon, the Eonian port on the Car- was one on the river Earn, about six miles east ron, and pushing straight forward, according to of Ardoch, which would command the middle

the Eoman custom, across the Canon, it pur- part of Strathearn lying between the Ochil

sued its course in a general north-east direction hills on the south and the river Almond on

through Stirling, Eerth, by Ardoch, through the north. Another important station is sup- Forfar and Kincardine, to about Stonehaven. posed to have been established near Callander, It would appear that there are traces of Eo- where, on a tongue of land formed by the junc- man roads even farther north. Between the tion of the rivers Strathgartney and Strathyre, rivers Don and Urie in Aberdeenshire, on the the two sources of the Teith, aTe seen the em- eastern side of Bennachee, there exists an an- bankments referred to by Scott 3 as cient road known in the country by the name

. . . . " The mouldering lines of the Maiden Causeioay, a name by which Where Rome, the empress of the world, of the some Eoman roads in the north of Eng- Of yore her eagle wings unfurled." 4 land are distinguished. This proceeds from

Bennachee whereon there is said to have been Another camp is placed at Dalgenross, near a hill-fort, more than the distance of a mile the confluence of the Euchel and the Earn,

into the woods of Fitodrie, when it disappears which, with Bochastle, would command the

it is paved with stones, and is about fourteen western district of Strathearn. Another im-

feet wide. Still farther north, from Forres to portant station was the East Findoch, at the

the ford of Cromdale on the Spey, there has south side of the Almond ; it guarded the only been long known a road of very ancient con- practicable passage through the mountains struction, pointing to Cromdale, where the northward, to an extent of thirty miles from Eomans may have forded the Spey. Various east to west. The Eoman camp here was placed traces of very ancient roads are still to be seen on a high ground, defended by water on two

by Corgarf and through Braemar : the tradition sides, and by a morass with a steep bank on of the people in Strathdee and Braemar, sup- the other two sides. It was about one hundred ports the idea that there are remains of Eoman and eighty paces long, and eighty broad, and roads which traverse the country between the was surrounded by a strong earthen wall nearly

Don and the Dee. Certain it is, that there are twelve feet thick, part of which still remains.

obvious traces of ancient roads which cross the The trenehes are still entire, and in some places wild districts between Strathdon and Strath- six feet deep. dee, though it is impossible to ascertain when On the eastern side of Strathearn, and be-

or by whom these ancient roads were con- tween it and the Forth, are the remains of Eo-

structed, in such directions, throughout such a man posts ; and at Ardargie a Eoman camp

country. was established with the design, it is supposed,

Along these roads there were without doubt of guarding the passage through the Ochil hills, many camps and stations, as it is well known by the valley of May water. Another camp that the Eomans never halted even for a single at Gleneagles secured the passage of the same night, without entrenching themselves behind hills through Glendevon. With the design of secure fortifications. There are many remains guarding the narrow, but useful passage from of what are supposed to have been Eoman

camps still pointed out in various places north 3 Lady of the Lake. 4 According to Burton, however, these are by some of the line occupied by Antonine's wall. These geologists set down as a geological phenomenon. are well known even to the peasantry, and are Hist, of Scot. i. 75. EOMAN EEMAINS—ARDOCH. 15 the middle Highlands, westward through Glen- out a more particular notice of the well-known lyon to Argyle, the Eomans fixed a post at camp at Ardoch. Ardoch village, in Perth- Fortingal, about sixteen miles north-west from shire, lies on the east side of Knaigwater, ten the station at East-Findoch. miles north from Stirling, and is about two A different line of posts became necessary miles from the Greenloaning station of the to secure Angus and the Mearns. At Coupar Caledonian railway, the site of the camp be- Angus, on the east side of the Isla, about seven ing a little distance to the north-west of the miles east from Inchtuthel, stood a Eoman village. As this station guarded the principal earnp, of a square form, of twenty acres within inlet into the interior of Caledonia, the Eomans the ramparts. This camp commanded the pas- were particularly anxious to fortify so advan- sage down Strathmore, between the Siedlaw tageous a position. " The situation of it," says bills on the south-east, and the Isla on the the writer of the Old Statistical Account of north-west. On Campmoor, little more than Muthill, " gave it many advantages ; being on a mile south from Coupar Angus, appear the re- the north-west side of a deep moss that runs mains of another Eoman fort. The great camp a long way eastward. On the west side, it is of Battledyke stood about eighteen miles north- partly defended by the steep bank of the water east from Coupar Angus, being obviously placed of Knaik ; which bank rises perpendicularly there to guard the passage from the Highlands between forty and fifty feet. The north and

through Glen Esk and Glen Prosen. About east sides were most exposed ; and there we eleven and a-half miles north-east of the camp find very particular care was taken to secure at Battledykes was another Eoman camp, the them. The ground on the east is pretty regu- remains of which may still be traced near the lar, and descends by a gentle slope from the

mansion-house of Keithock. This camp is lines of fortification, which, on that side, con-

known by the name of Wardikes. The coun- sists of five rows of ditches, perfectly entire, try below the Siedlaw hills, on the north side and running parallel to one another. These of the estuary of Tay, was guarded by a Eoman altogether are about fifty-five yards in breadth camp near Invergowrie, which had a communi- On the north side, there is an equal number of cation on the north-east with the camp at lines and ditches, but twenty yards broader Harefaulds. This camp, which was about two than the former. On the west, besides the

hundred yards square, and fortified with a high steep precipices above mentioned, it was de-

rampart and a spacious ditch, stood about two fended by at least two ditches. One is still

miles west from Dundee. visible ; the others have probably been filled Traces of a number of others have been up, in making the great military road from found, but we need not go farther into detail. Stirling to the north. The side of thw camp, This account of the Eoman transactions in lying to the southward, exhibits to the anti- Scotland would, however, be incomplete with- quary a less pleasing prospect. Here the pea- sant's rugged hand has laid in ruins a great

part of the lines ; so that it may be with pro-

priety said, in the words of a Latin poet, ' Jam seges est, ubi Troja fuit.' The area of the

camp is an oblong of 140 yards, by 125 within the lines. The general's quarter rises above

the level of the camp, but is not in the centre.

It is a regular square, each side being exactly

twenty yards. At present it exhibits evident marks of having been enclosed with a stone wall, and contains the foundation of a house, ten yards by seven." There are two other encampments adjoining, having a communication with one another, and containing about 130

Roman Camp at Ardoch as it appeared in 1755. acres of ground. A subterranean passage is

[Stuart's Caledonia Romania. ] — —

16 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

said to have extended from the pratorium from the south of Britain ? Was the whole of under the hed of the Knaik. Not far north of Scotland, in the time of Agricola, occupied by this station, on the way to Crieff, may he traced one people, or by a mixed race, or by various three temporary Eoman camps of different sizes. races? Were the Picts and Caledonians the

Portions of the ramparts of these camps still same people ? What is the meaning and origin exist. A mile west of Aidoch, an immense of Pict, and was Caledonia a native appellation? cairn lately existed, 182 feet long, 45 broad at What were the localities of the Northern and the base, and 30 feet in sloping height. A Southern Picts ? Who were the Scots ? What human skeleton, 7 feet long, in a stone coffin, was the nature of the union of the Scots and ° was found in it. Picts under Kenneth MacAlpin ? The notices of the early inhabitants of the Highlands in the contemporary Eoman historians are so few, the information given so meagre and indefinite, and the ecclesiastical II. CHAPTEE historians of a later time are so full of miracle,

myth, and hearsay, and so little to be depended Inhabitants Writers Aristotle Taci- Early —Eoman — — on, that it appears to us almost impossible, with tus—Dion Cassius—Caledonians and Mseatse — Eu- menius— Picts—DicaledonesandVecturiones— Clau- the materials at present within the historian's dian—Inferences—Ecclesiastical Chroniclers—Their reach, to arrive at anything like a satisfactory value—Gildas—Adamnan—Northern and Southern answer Picts—Columba's "Interpreter"— Bede's Account to the above questions. The impression of Picts — Pictish Language— Peanfahel—Northern left after reading much that has been written and Southern Picts—Welsh Triads—Irish Annals Evidence from Language—Cymric and Gaelic Theo- on various sides, is one of dissatisfaction and ries Inver and Aba— Inues's Theory—Conclusion. bewilderment,—dissatisfaction with the far- fetched and irrelevant arguments frequently The preceding chapter has been occupied almost adduced, and the unreliable authorities quoted, entirely with an account of the transactions of and bewilderment amid the dust-cloud of words the Eomans in the north of Scotland, and it is with which any one who enters this debatable now our duty to go back and narrate what is land is sure to be enveloped. "It is scarcely known of the internal history of the Highlands necessary to observe, that there are few points during the time of the Eomans. In doing so we of ethnology on which historians and antiqua- are brought face to face with certain much agi- ries have been more at variance with each tated questions which have for centuries engaged other, than respecting the real race of those the attention of antiquaries, and in the discus- inhabitants of a portion of Caledonia popularly sion of which many bulky tomes have been known by the designation of Picts. The diffi- written and incredible acrimony displayed. culty arising from tliis discrepancy of opinion

To enter with anything like minuteness into is increased by the scanty and unsatisfactory this discussion would occupy more space than nature of the materials now available to those can be devoted to the entire history, and, more- who wish to form an independent judgment. over, would be out of place in a popular work No connected specimen of the Pictish language like the present, and distasteful to most of its has been preserved ; nor has any ancient au- readers. The following are some —of the much- thor who knew them from personal observa- discussed questions referred to : "Who were tion, stated in direct terms that they approxi- the original inhabitants of Caledonia 1 To what mated to one adjoining tribe more than another. race did they belong—were they Gothic or They are indeed associated with the Scots or Celtic? and if Celtic, were they Cymric or Gae- Irish as joint plunderers of the colonial Bri- lic ? When did they enter Scotland, and whence tons ; and the expression of Gildas that they did they come—from the opposite continent, or differed in some degree from the Scots in their customs, might seem to imply that they did 5 For more minute descriptions of this camp, as well as for further details concerning the Roman transac- bear an analogy to that nation in certain re- Scotland, consult Hoy's Military Antiquities, tions in spects. Of course, where there is such a lack Gough's Camden (under Strathearn), Stuart's Cale- donia R&mana, Burton's History of Scotland. of direct evidence, there is more scope for con- :

EAELY INHABITANTS. 17 jectuie; and the Picts are pronounced by dif- Scotland. The term Caledonians is supposed ferent investigators of their history to have by some authorities to have been derived from been Germans, Scandinavians, Welsh, Gael, or a native word signifying " men of the woods," something distinct from all the four. The ad- or the inhabitants of the woody country ; this,

vocates of the German hypothesis rest chiefty however, is mere conjecture. on Tacitus's description of their physical con- The nest writer who gives any definite information. Dr. Jamieson, assuming that the formation as to the inhabitants of Caledonia is present Lowland Scotch dialect was derived Dion Cassius, who flourished in the early part from them, sets them down as Scandinavians; of the 3d century, and who wrote a history of Bishop Lloyd and Camden conceive them to Rome which has come down to us in a very have been of Celtic race, probably related to imperfect state. Of the latter part, containing

' the Britons ; Chalmers, the author of Caledo- an account of Britain, we possess only an epi- nia,' regards them as nothing more than a tome made by Xiphilinus, an ecclesiastic of tribe of Cambrians or Welsh; while Skene, the 11th century, and which of course is very one of the latest authors on the subject, thinks meagre in its details. The following are the he has proved that they were the ancestors of particulars given by this writer concerning the the present race of Scottish Highlanders." 13 early inhabitants of north Britain. " Of the The earliest known name applied to Britain Britons the two most ample nations are the is found in a treatise on the World ascribed to Caledonians and the Ma?atae; for the names of

Aristotle, in which the larger island is called the rest refer for the most part to these. The Albinn, and Ireland referred to as lerne; and Mseatae inhabit very near the wall 8 which it is worthy of notice that at the present day divides the island into two parts; the Caledo- the former is the name applied to Scotland by nians are after these. Each of them inhabit the Highlanders, who call themselves the Gael mountains, very rugged and wanting water,

Albinnich. The first author, however, who and also desert fields, full of marshes: they gives us any information about the early in- have neither castles nor cities, nor dwell in habitants of the north part of Scotland is any: they live on milk and by hunting, and Tacitus, who, in his Life of Agricola, devotes maintain themselves by the fruits of the trees a few lines, in a parenthetical way, to charac- for fishes, of which there is a very great and terising each of the great divisions of the numberless quantity, they never taste: they people who, in the time of that general, in- dwell naked in tents and without shoes : they habited Britain. Tacitus tells us that in his use wives in common, and whatever is born to time the inhabitants of Britain differed in the them they bring up. In the popular state habit and make of their bodies, and from the they are governed, as for the most part : they

ruddy locks and large limbs of the Caledonians rob on the highway most willingly : they war he inferred that they were of German origin. 7 in chariots: horses they have, small and fleet; This glimpse is clear enough, but tantalizing their infantry, also, are as well most swift at in its meagreness and generality. What does running, as most brave in pitched battle. Tacitus mean by German—does he use it in Their arms are a shield and a short spear, in the same sense as we do at the present day? the upper part whereof is an apple of brass,

Does he mean by Caledonia the whole of the that, while it is shaken, it may terrify the country north of the Forth and Clyde, or does enemies with the sound: they have likewise it apply only to that district—Fife, Forfar, the daggers. They are able to bear hunger, cold,

east of Perth, &c.—with the inhabitants of and all afflictions ; for they merge themselves which his father-in-law came in contact? We in marshes, and there remain manjr days, hav-

find Ptolemy the geographer, who flourished ing only their head out of water : and in woods about the middle of the 2d century a. d., men- are nourished by the bark and roots of trees. tioning the Caledonians as one of the many But a certain kind of food they prepare for all

tribes which in his time inhabited the north of occasions, of which if they take as much as ' the

G Garnett's Philological Essays, p. 196. 7 Agricola xi. 8 The wall of Autoniue. —

IS GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. size' of a single bean, they are in nowise ever After this no further mention is made of the wont to hunger or thirst." 9 Caledonians by any Roman writer, but towards Erom this we learn that in the 3d century the end of the 4th century Ammianus Mareel- there were two divisions of the inhabitants of linus, in his account of the Roman transactions the Highlands, known to the Romans as the in Britain, speaks of the Picts in conjunction Caledonians and Mseats or Masatae, the latter with the Saxons, Scots, and Attacots harassing very probably inhabiting the southern part of the provincial Britons about the year 364. that territory, next to the wall of Antonine, Further on he informs us that at this time the and the former the district to the north of this. Picts were divided into two tribes or nations, As to whether these were Latinized forms of the Dicaledones and Vecturiones, remarking, native names, or names imposed by the Ro- at the same time, that " the Attacots were a mans themselves, we have no means of judg- warlike race of men, and the Scots a people ing. The best writers on this subject think much given to wandering, and in the habit of that the Caledonians and Masats were two ravaging or laying waste the districts into divisions of the same people, both living to the which they came." 1 north of the Forth and Clyde, although Innes, 1 Claudian the poet, writing, about 397, in and one or two minor writers, are of opinion praise of Honorius, mentions, among other ac- that the Mteats were provincial Britons who tions of Theodosius, the grandfather of that inhabited the country between the wall of emperor, his having subdued the Picts, who Hadrian and that of Antonine, known as the were fitly so named, 5 and makes various other province of Valentia. However, with Skene,2 references to this people and the Scots, which Mr. Joseph Robertson, and other able authori- show that these two in combination were

ties, we are inclined to think that the evidence troubling the Roman provincials not a little.

is in favour of their being the inhabitants of Such are most of the scanty details given by the southern portion of Caledonia proper. the only contemporary historians who take any 3 Herodian, who wrote about a. d. 240, notice of the inhabitants of North Britain ; and

tells us that the Caledonians were in the habit the unprejudiced reader will see that the foun- of marking or painting their bodies with figures dation thus afforded upon which to construct of animals, and that they wore no clothes in any elaborate theory is so narrow that every order that these figures might be preserved and such theory must resemble a pyramid standing

exhibited. on its apex, liable at the slightest touch to The next reference made by a Roman writer topple over and be shattered to pieces. It ap- to the inhabitants of Caledonia we find in a pears to us that all the conclusions which it is panegyric pronounced in his presence on the safe to draw from the few facts stated by the Emperor Constant'ius Chlorus, by Eumenius, a contemporary Roman historians are, that at the professor of rhetoric at Augustodunum (Autun) commencement of the Christian era Caledonia in Gaul, in the year 296 or 297, who speaks of proper, or the Highlands, was inhabited by a the Britons, in the time of Caesar, having been people or peoples apparently considerable in attacked by the half-naked Picts and Irish. number, and who in all probability had been To what people the orator meant to apply the settled there for a considerable time, part of term Picts, around which there has clustered whom at least were known to the Romans by so much acrimonious disputation, we learn from the name of Caledonians. That these Cale- another oration pronounced by him on the same 4 " Scotti per diversa vagantes, multa popula- before his son Constantine, in the emperor, bantur." Am. Mar. xxvii. 8.

year 309, in which, recording the actions of s " Nee falso nomine Pictos Constantius, he speaks of the woods and Kdomuit." " Venit et extremis legio preetenta Britannis marshes of the Caledonians and other Picts. Quce Scoto dat frana truci, ferroque notatas Perlegit exaugues Seoto moriente figuras."— '' Dio L. 76, c. 12, as quoted in Ritson's Annals, Debetto Getico, v. -116.

p. 11. Thus rendered by Ritson : 1 Critical Essay, cli. ii. The legion came, o'er distant Britains placed, - Highlanders. Which bridles the tierce Scot, and bloodless figures 3 Boole iii. With iron marked, views in the dying Pict. — "

EARLY INHABITANTS. 19

donians, tliose of tliem at any rate with, whom are all agreed as to this, that the Caledonians Agricola came in contact in the first century, and Picts were the same people. 8 were red or fair haired and large limbed, from "We learn further from our authorities, that

which Tacitus inferred that they were of Ger- towards the end of the fourth century the in- man extraction. In the beginning of the third habitants of Caledonia were known to the century there were at least two divisions of the Romans under the names of Dicaledones and

inhabitants of Caledonia,—the Caledonians and Vecturiones, it being conjectured that these Maeats,—the former inhabiting the country to correspond to the Caledonians and Maeats of the north of the Grampians, and the latter, in Dio, and the Northern and Southern Picts of a all probability, that to the south, and south- later period. The connection of the latter east of these mountains. They appear to have part of the word Di-caledones with Caledonii is been in many respects in a condition little re- evident, although the significance of the first moved from that of savages, although they syllable is doubtful,—some authorities conjec- must have made wonderful attainments in the turing that it is the Gaelic word du, meaning manufacture of implements of war. '•' genuine." It appears at all events to be es- In the latter part of the third century we tablished that during the early history of the found the Highlanders spoken of under a new Highlands, whatever other divisions may have name, Picti, which the Eoman historians at existed among the inhabitants, those dwelling least, undoubtedly understood to be the Latin to the north and those dwelling to the south 7 word meaning ' painted,' and which all the of the Grampians were two separate confeder- best modern writers believe to have been im- acies, and were known by distinct names. posed by the Romans themselves, from the fact Another not unimportant fact to be learned that the indomitable Caledonians had retained from the Roman historians in relation to the the custom of self-painting after all the Roman- Picts or Caledonians is, that about the middle ized Britons had given it up. There is the of the 4th century they were assisted by the strongest probability that the Caledonians Attacots, Saxons, and Scots. As to who the spoken of as Picts by Eumenius were the same Attacots were it is now impossible to conjec- as the Caledonians of Tacitus, or that the ture with anything like certainty, there being no Caledonians and Picts were the same people sufficient reason for believing that they were under different names. The immediate cause allied to the Irish Scots. It is well enough for this change of name we have no means of known who the Saxons were, but how they ascertaining. It is in every way improbable came at this early period to be acting in concert that the Picts were a new people, who had with the Picts it is difficult to say. It is pos- come in upon the Caledonians, and supplanted sible that numbers of them may have effected them some time after Agricola's invasion. The a settlement, even at this early period, in North

Romans were constantly coming into contact Britain, although it is more likely that they with the Caledonians from the time of Agri- were roving adventurers, who had left their cola till they abandoned Britain entirely, and homes, from choice or on compulsion, to try had such a supplantation taken place, it cer- their fortune in Britain. They were probably tainly could not have been done quietly, and the first droppings of the abundant shower without the cognizance of the Romans. But that overwhelmed South Britain a century we find no mention in any contemporary his- later. The Romans at this period had an offi- torian of any such commotion, and we know cer with the title of "Comes litoris Saxonici that the inhabitants of the Highlands never per Britanniani ;" and Claudian, in his praises ceased to harass the British provincials, show- of Stilicho, introduces Britain, saying ing that they were not much taken up with " Illius effectum cvjris, ne bella timerem internal disturbance. any Indeed, writers who Scotica, De Pictitm tremerem, ne littore toto adopt the most diverse opinions on other Prospieerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis. points in connection with the Pictish question

8 The only important exception is Ritson, whose 7 The namegiven by the Irish Annalists to the Picts arguments, like those of Ms opponent Pinkerton, con- is Cruithne, said by some to mean "variegated." sist mostly of virulent language and vehement assertion. 20 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

It is interesting to notice that this 9 is the as an evidence of their German origin. There first mention made of the Scots in connection is no reason to doubt that those with whom with what is now Scotland ; but whether there Agricola came in contact were of this make and were settlements of them at this time among complexion, which, at the present day, are the Picts, or whether they had come over from generally held to be indicative of a Teutonic

Ireland for the purpose of assisting the latter origin ; whereas the true Celt is popularly be- to harass the Eomans, it is difficult to say. lieved to be of a small make and dark com- Probably, as was the case with the Saxons, plexion. x It may have been, that in Agricola's these were the harbingers of the great migra- time the part of the country into which he tion that reached its culmination about a cen- penetrated was occupied by considerable num- tury and a half later. They appear, from what bers of Teutons, who had effected a settlement Ammianus says, to have been at this time a either by force, or by favour of the prior in- set of destructive vagabonds. We shall have habitants. The statement of Tacitus, however, more to say about them further on. those who uphold the Celtic theory endeavour Erom the general tone of these contemporary to explain away. Eoman historians we learn that, whether Celtic We may safely say then, that with regard to or Gothic, these Picts or Caledonians were a all the most important points that have ex- hardy, indomitable, determined race, with a cited the curiosity of modern enquirers, the strong love of liberty and of the country in only contemporary historians to whom we can which they dwelt, and a resolution never to be appeal, leave us almost entirely in the dark. subject to the greedy Roman. Comparatively The writers, next in order of importance to few and barbarous as they were, they caused whom an appeal is made as witnesses in this the Eomans far more trouble than all the rest perplexing case, are the ecclesiastical chroni-

of Britain together ; to conquer the latter and clers, the chief of whom are Gildas, Adamnan,

Bomanize it appears to have been compara- Bede, Nennius. "Much of the error into tively smooth work, but the ItaHans acknow- which former writers have been led, has arisen ledged the Highlanders invincible by building from an improper use of these authors ; they walls and other fortifications, and maintaining should be consulted exclusively as contempor- extra garrisons to protect the provincials from ary historians—whatever they assert as exist- their fierce and wasting inroads. Whether the ing or occurring in their own time, or shortly present Highlanders are the descendants of before it, we may receive as true ; but when these or not, they certainly possess many we consider the perverted learning of that of their qualities. period, and the little information which they

It will have bepn seen that the Eoman his- appear to have possessed of the traditions of torians give us almost no clue to what we now the people around them, we ought to reject deem of most interest and importance, the their fables or fanciful origins as altogether un- place of the early inhabitants among the fami- deserving of credit." 2 Though this dictum lies of men, the time and manner of their may perhaps be too sweeping, still any one who arrival, the language they spoke, and their examines the authors referred to for himself, internal history generally. Of course the re- must admit that it is in the main 'just. It is cords of contemporaries stand in the first place well known that these writers exercise little or of importance as evidences, and although we no discrimination in the composition of their have other sources, historical, linguistic, and narratives, that tradition, mbacle, and observed antiquarian, which shed a little light upon the fact are placed side by side, as all equally worthy subject, these, for various reasons, must be used of belief. Even Bede, the most reliable and with great caution. The only statement ap- 1 It is a curious fact that these latter are, among the proaching to anything like a hint as to the peasantry of Scotland, the distinctive characteristics of the Picts or Pechts, who, however, it is not unlikely, origin of the Caledonians is that of Tacitus, may be popularly confounded with the Brownies, referring to their ruddy locks and large limbs especially as, in Perthshire at any rate, they are said always to have done their work while others were asleep. 9 2 In Amm. Mar. Skene's Highlanders, vol i. p. 2. PICTS. 21

cautious of these early chroniclers, lived as long protecting wall with hooked weapons, slaughter- after some of the events of which he professes ing them without mercy. Some writers infer to give an account, as ¥e of the present day do from this narrative that, during the Eoman oc- after the time of the Crusades ; almost his sole cupation, no permanent settlement of Scots had authority being tradition or hearsay. More- been effected in present Scotland, but that the over, the knowledge which these writers had Scots who assisted the Picts came over from of the distinction between the various races of their native Scotland (Ireland) for that pur- mankind was so very hazy, the terms they use pose; he tells us that the Scots came from the are to us so comparatively unintelligible, and north-west, and the Picts from the north 7

(i the information they do contain on the points North-west " here, however, would applv in dispute so brief, vague, and parenthetical, quite as well to Argyle as to Ireland. that their value as authorities is reduced almost The writer next in chronological order from to a TninimiTm whom we derive, any information of conse- Whoever was the author of the work De quence concerning the Picts is Adamnan, a Excidio Britannia, one of the latest and most member of the early Irish Church, who was acute writers 3 on ethnology has shown that he born in the county of Donegal about the is almost totally unworthy of credit, the sources year 625, elected abbot of Iona in 679, and of his information being exceedingly suspicious, who died in the year 704. Adamnan wrote and his statements proved to be false by com- a life of his great predecessor St. Columba, parison with trustworthy contemporary Eoman in which is contained much information con- historians. There is every reason to believe cerning that great missionary's labours among 4 that the so-called Gildas—for by Mr. "Wright the Northern Picts ; and although he narrates he has been reduced to a nominis umbra— many stories which are palpably incredible, lived and wrote about the middle of the 6th cen- still the book contains much which may tury a.d., so that, had he used ordinary dili- with confidence be accepted as fact. In con- gence and discrimination, he might have been of nection with the questions under consideration, considerable assistance in enabling us to solve we learn that, in the time of Columba and the perplexing mystery of the Pietish question. Adamnan, there were—as formerly, in the time But indeed we have no right to look for much of the Eoman writers—two divisions of the liistory in the work of Gildas, as it professes Picts, known in the 7th century and afterwards to be merely a complaint " on the general deas the Northern and Southern Picts. Adam- struction of every thing that is good, and the nan informs us that Coluniba's mission was to general growth of evil throughout the land ;" the Northern Picts alone,—the southern divi- it is his purpose, he says, " to relate the deeds sion having been converted by St. Xinian in of an indolent and slothful race, rather than the 5th century. There has been much dispu- the exploits of those who have been valiant in tation as to the precise district inhabited by the field." 3 So far as the origin and early each of these two divisions of the Picts,—some history of the Picts is concerned, Gildas is of maintaining that the southern division occupied almost no value whatever, the only time he the country to the south of the Forth and Clyde, mentions the Picts being incidentally to notice while the Northern Picts occupied the whole an invasion they had made into the Eoman district to the north of these estuaries. The provinces. 6 If we can trust him, the Picts best authorities, however, are of opinion that and their allies, the Scots, must have been both divisions dwelt to the north of Antonine's very fierce enemies to deal with They went wall, and were divided from each other by the about, he tells us, almost entirely destitute of Grampians. clothes, having their faces covered with bushy What more immediately concerns our pres-

hair, and were in the habit of dragging the ent purpose is a passage in Adamnan's work in poor enervated Britons from the top of their which he speaks of Columba preaching to the Picts through an interpreter. Now Columba " h. 0. Pike, The English "iid their Origin, ch. i. 1 BiorfrajMa Britannica Literaria, voL i. ! 6 Gildas, 1. Id., 19. 22 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. was an Irish Scot, whose native tongue was The next and most important authority of

Gaelic, and it is from this argued that the Picts this class on this qucestio vexata is the Vener- to whom he preached must have spoken a differ- able Bede, who, considering the age in which he ent language, or at least dialect, and belonged lived, exercised so much caution and discrimina- to a different race or tribe from the saint him- tion, that he deserves to be listened to with re- 8 self. Mr. Skene, who ably advocates the spect. Bede was born about 673. He was Gaelic origin of the Picts, perceiving this diffi- educated in the Monastery of Wearmouth, culty, endeavours to explain away the force of whence he removed to Jarrow, where he was the passage by making it mean that Columba ordained deacon in his nineteenth year, and " interpreted or explained the word of God, priest in his thirtieth, and where he spent the that is, the Bible, which, being written in rest of his days, dying in 735. He wrote many

Latin, would doubtless require to be interpreted wrorks, but the most important is the Historia to them." The passage as quoted by Skene is, Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, the materials " Verbo Dei per interpretorem recepto." Gar- for which he obtained chiefly from native nett, however, one of the most competent and chronicles and biographies, records and public candid writers on this question in its philologi- documents, and oral and written communica- cal aspect, and who maintains, with the great- tions from contemporaries. est clearness and ability, the Cymric origin of We shall transcribe most of the passage in the Picts, looks at the passage in a different which Bede speaks of the ancient inhabitants light. The entire passage, he says, 9 as it of Britain; so that our readers may be able to stands in Colganus, is as follows : —" Alio in judge for themselves of the nature and value tempore quo sanctus Columba in Pictorum of the testimony borne by this venerable au- provincia per aliquot demorabatur dies, quidam thor. It must, however, be kept in mind that cum tota plebeius familia, verbum vitce per in- Bede does not pretend to give any but the ec- terpretorem, Saneto prcedicante vivo, audiens clesiastical history of the English nation, every-

credidit, credensque baptizatus est." 1 "Here thing else being subsidiary to this.

it will be observed," continues Garnett, "Adam- " This island at present, following the num-

nan does not say, ' verbuin Dei,' which might ber of the books in which the Divine law was have been construed to mean the Scripture, written, contains five nations, the English,

but ' verbum vitce, Saneto prcedicante viro,' Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its

which, can hardly mean anything but ' the own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime

word of life, as it was preached by the Saint.'" study of Divine truth. The Latin tongue is, Certainly, we think, the unprejudiced reader by the stud}' of the Scriptures, become common

must admit that, sp far as this point is con- to all the rest. At first this island had no

cerned, Mr. Garnett has the best of it. Al- other inhabitants but the Britons, from whom

though at that time the Gaelic and Cymric it derived its name, and who coming over into dialects may have had much more in common Britain, as is reported, from Armorica, pos- than they have at the present day, nevertheless sessed themselves of the southern parts thereof.

it appears to be beyond a doubt that the differ- When they, beginning at the south, had made ence between the two was so great that a Gael themselves master of the greatest part of the would be unintelligible to a speaker of Cymric. 2 island, it happened, that the nation of the

B ente the work, is Pictish, at any rate not Irish, so Highlanders, vol. i. p. 72.

11 that be inferred from this. Since much Garnett's Philological Essays, p. 199. nothing can

1 of the first part of this book was written, Mr. Skene Adam. ap. Colganwm, 1. ii. c. 32. the theory, founded partly on four - On the subject in question the recently published has advanced new Pictish words he has managed to discover, that Book of Deer cannot be said to afford us any informa- the language of the Picts was neither pure Gaelic tion. It gives a short account of the landing of Columba and a companion at Aherdour in the north nor Cymric, 'but a sort of low Gaelic dialect par- largely of Welsh forms.' This theory is not of Aberdeenshire, and the founding of a monastery at taking was distinctly put forth Dr. Maclauchlan Deer. But although the entries are in Gaelic, they do new, but by some years ago in his able and learned work, The not tell us what language Columba spoke, nor whether Early Scottish Church, 29 : if true, it would cer- ' Bede the Pict,' the mormaer of Buchan, understood p. the demands which anv him without an interpreter. The name of the saint tainly satisfy a great many of hypothesis on the subject must do. —Drostan—whom Columba left behind him to prose- BEDE ON THE PICTS. Tl

Picts coming into the ocean from Scythia, as Germania of Tacitus, may be taken to mean

is reported, in a few tall ships, were driven the northern countries of Europe generally.

by the winds beyond the shores of Britain This is substantially the same statement as that and arrived oif Ireland, on the northern of the author of the Historia Britonum, com- coasts, where, rinding the nation of the Scots, monly called Nennius, who lived in the 9th they requested to be allowed to settle among century, and who informs us that the Picts them, but could not succeed in obtaining coming to Scotland about 300 B.C., occupied their request. The Scots answered, that the Orkney Islands, whence issuing, they the island could not contain them both; laid waste many regions, and seized those

' but we can give you good advice,' said they, on the left-hand side, i. e. the north of

' what to do ; we know there is another island, Britain, where they still remained in the writer's not far from ours, to the eastward, which we time, keeping possession of a third part of often see at a distance, when the days are clear. Britain. 3 If you will repair thither, you may be able to Supposing that Bede's report was quite in obtain settlements ; or if they should oppose accordance with truth, still it gives us but you, you may make use of us as auxiliaries.' small help in coming to a conclusion as to the The Picts accordingly sailing over into Britain, place of these Picts among the families of men. began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for It. is certain that by far the greater part of the Britons were possessed of the southern. Europe had at one time a Celtic population who Now the Picts having no wives, and asking preceded, but ultimately gave way to another them of the Scots, they would not consent to wave of emigrants from the east. Now, if we grant them upon any other terms, than that knew the date at which this so-called migra- when any difficulty should arise, they should tion of the Picts took place it might be of con- rather choose themselves a king from the fe- siderable assistance to us ; but as we cannot male royal race than from the male ; which now find out whether these emigrants pro- custom, as is well known, has been observed ceeded from a Celtic or a Teutonic stock, the among the Picts to this day. In process of statement of Bede, even if reliable, helps us time, Britain, besides the Britons and the Picts, not at all towards a solution of the question received a third nation, the Scots, who, deas to the race of the Picts. Lanes 4 remarks parting out of Ireland under their leader Beuda, very justly on this point—" Now, supposing either by fair means, or by force of arms, se- that there were any good ground for the opin- cured to themselves those settlements among ion of these two writers, which they themselves the Picts which they still possess. From the give only as a conjecture or hearsay, and that name of their commander, they are to this day we had any certainty of the Caledonians, or called Dalreudins ; for in their language Dal Picts, having had their origin from the more signifies a part It is properly the northern parts of the European continent, it country of the Scots, who, migrating from were an useless, as well as an endless discus- thence, as has been said, added a third nation sion, to examine in particular from which of in Britain to the Britons and the Picts. There all the northern nations of the continent the is a very large gulf of the sea, which formerly first colony came to Caledonia ; because that divided the nation of the Picts from the Bri- these nations of the north were almost in per-

tons ; which gulf runs from the west very far petual motion, and changing habitations, as into the land, where, to this day, stands the Strabo remarks ; and he assigns for it two rea-

strong city of the Britons, called Alcluith. sons : the one, because of the barrenness of the

The Scots arriving on the north side of this soil, they tilled not the ground, and built habi- 2 bay, settled themselves there." tations only for a day ; the other, because be- Here then Bede informs us that in his time ing often overpowered by their neighbours, the common report was that the Picts came they were forced to remove. Another reason into Scotland from Scythia, which, like the why it is impossible to know from which of

s Nennius 12, Vatican MS.

Bede's Ecclcs. IlisL, Book I.e. i. * Critical Essay on Scotland, :o\. i. p. 63. ;

2-t GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

those nations the northern parts of Britain, five distinct tribes or congregations of people (supposing they came from thence) were at in Britain, each converted to Christianity, and

first peopled, is because we have but very lame each having the gospel preached in its own accounts of these northern nations from the tongue. Supposing that the Picts and Scots, Greek or Roman writers, (from whom alone we or Picts and Britons, or Picts and English did

can look for any thing certain in those early speak exactly the same tongue, it is not at all times) especially of those of Scandia, to the likely that Bede, in the present case, would north of the Baltic sea, as the same Strabo ob- have classed them together as both being one serves. Besides, it appears that Caledonia was nation. Moreover, suppose we allow that Bede peopled long before the inhabitants of these did mean that each of these nations spoke a northern parts of the continent were men- language quite distinct from all the others, then tioned, or even known by the most ancient his statement cuts equally at the Gothic and writers we have ; and perhaps before the first Celtic theory. The conclusion we are forced nations mentioned by them were settled in to is, that from this passage nothing can be those parts." gained to help us out of our difficulty.

There is, however, another statement made There is a statement at the end of the by Bede in the passage quoted, upon which, passage quoted to which we would draw the as it refers to his own time, much more reli- reader's attention, as being Bede's way, and no ance can be placed ; it is, that in his time doubt the universal way in his time, of ac-

Britain contained five nations, each having its counting for a peculiar law which appears to own peculiar dialect, viz., the English, Britons, have regulated the succession to the Pictish Scots, Picts, and Latins. We know that the throne, and which ultimately, according to

English spoke in the main Saxon ; the Britons, some, was the means of placing on that throne

i. e., the inhabitants of Wales, Cumbria, &c, a Scottish monarch ; thus accounting to some

Welsh ; the Scots, Gaelic ; the Latins, we sup- extent for the sudden disappearance and ap- Dose, being the Romanized Britons and eccle- parent destruction of the Pictish people and

siastics. What language then did the Picts language.

speak 1 As we know that Bede never travelled, We shall here refer to one other passage he must have got his information from an in- in the same historian, which has perhaps formant or by hearsay, which circumstance given rise to greater and more acrimonious

rather detracts from its value. But supposing contention than any other point in connec-

we take the passage literally as it stands, we tion with this wordy discussion. The only learn that in Bede's time there were five dis- word that has come down to us, which, with tinct peoples or nations, whose names he gives, the exception of the names of the Pictish

sharing among them the island. He does not kings, we can be sure is a remnant of the Pic- say there were five distinct tongues, which tish language, is the name said by Bede to would have been quite a different statement have been given to the eastern termination of he speaks of them not so much in respect of the wall of Antonine. Bede, 6 in speaking of their language as in respect of their being the the turf wall built by the Britons of Valentia

separate items which composed the inhabitants in the beginning of the 5th century, says, " it of Britain. In his time they were all quite begins at about two miles distance from the distinct, in a measure independent of and at monastery of Abercorn on the west, at a place enmity with each other. He does not classify called in the Pictish language Peanfahel, but them in respect of the race to which they bein the English tongue Penneltum." This state- longed, but with reference to the particular ment of Bede's is straightforward and clear districts which they inhabited, and perhaps enough, and has never been disputed by any with regard to the time and means of their writer on any one of the three sides of the conversion to Christianity, each having been question. Nevertheless it has been used by the converted at a different time and by a different advocates respectively of the Gothic, Gaelic, and

saint. The substance then of what he says

5 appears to be, that there were in his time Book i., c. 12. PEANTAHEL "—XOBTH AXD SOUTH PICTS. 25

Cymric origin of the Picts, as an undoubted mind as Garnett, and appear to regard this proof of the correctness of each of these theo- tantalizing word as affording no support to

ries. Pinkerton, whose dishonesty and acri- either side. Burton 1 cannot admit that any- moniousness are well known, and must detract thing has been made out of this leading to a considerably from the force of his arguments, historical conclusion.

claims it as being entirely Gothic or Teutonic. We may safely conclude, then, that this so "The Pictish word," he says, 6 "is broad Go- called Pictish word, or, indeed, any informa- thic; Paena 'to extend,' Hire; and Valid, a tion which we find in Bede, affords us no key to

broad sound of veal, the Gothic for ' wall,' or the perplexing question of the origin and race

of the Latin vallum, contracted vol ; hence it of the Picts.

2 means ' the extent or end of the wall.' " This We learn, however, one fact from Bede

statement of Pinkerton s may be dismissed as wliich is so far satisfactory, viz., that in his too far-fetched and awkward to merit much time there were two divisions of the Picts, consideration, and we may safely regard the known as the Northern and Southern Picts, word as capable of satisfactory explanation only which were separated from each other by steep in Celtic. Innes, who upholds the British, and rugged mountains. On reading the pas- 7 i. e. the Cymric, origin of the Picts, says, sage in Bede, one very naturally supposes that " we nowhere find a clearer proof of the Pictish the steep and rugged mountains must be the language being the same as the British [Welsh], Grampians, to which the expression applies

than in Bede, where he cells us that Penuahel more aptly than to any other mountain-chain in Pictish signifies the head of the wall, which in Scotland. Even this, however, has been

is just the signification that the same two made matter of dispute, it being contended by words Pen and Uahel have in the British." some that the locality of the Southern Picts In this opinion Chalmers and other advocates was in the south-west and south of Scotland, of the Cymric theory coincide. Mr. Gar- where some writers set up a powerful Pictish nett, who essentially agrees with Innes and kingdom. Mr. Grub, 3 however, has clearly Charmers as to the Cymric origin of the Picts. shown that the locality of the Southern Picts lays little stress upon this word as furnisliing was to the north of the Forth and Clyde, and an argument in support of his theory. " Al- to the south of the Grampians. " The mistake most the only Pictish word given us by an an- formerly so common in regard to the country cient writer is the well-known Pen vol (or as of the Southern Picts converted by St. Xinian, it appears in the oldest MSS. of Bede (Peann was in part owing to the situation of Candida fahel), the name given by the Picts to the Casa. It was supposed that his see must havo Wall's End, or eastern termination of the been in the country of those whom he eon-

Vallum of Antoninus. It is scarcely necessary verted." He clearly proves that it was not so

to say the first part of the word is decidedly in reality, and that there was nothing so un- usual in the situation as to justify the conclu- Cymric ; pen, head, being contrary to all Gaelic analogy. The latter half might be plausibly sion which was drawn from it. " It was, no claimed as the Gaelic fal; gwall being the doubt, the case that the teachers by whom the more common termination in Welsh for a chief Celtic and Teutonic nations were con- wall or rampart. Fal, however, does occur in verted generally fixed their seat among those Welsh in the sense of indosure, a signification whom they instructed in the faith. But there " not very remote. s was no necessity for this, especially when the The two most recent and able supporters 9 residence of the teacher was in the neighbour- of the Gaelic theory are of much the same hood of his converts. St. Ooluniba was pri- mate of all the churches of the Xorthern Picts.

6 but he did not permanently reside that Inquiry into the Hist, of Scot., vol. i. p. 357, ed. among 1814. nation. St. Ninian had ready access to his 7 Crit. Essay, vol. i. p. 75. Garnett's Phil. Essays, p. 198.

9 1 Robertson's Scotland under her Ear!;/ Kinr/s, vol. Hist, of Scot., vol. i. p. 1S7. ii. p. 380. Forbes-Leslie's Early Races of Scotland, - Book iii. ch. 4. vol. i. p 35. 3 Eccl. Hist, of Sot. 26 GENERAL HTSTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Pictish converts, and could govern them as Alban,' plainly alluding to the Dalriads, who easily from his White Church on the Solway, were an Irish colony, and who have been ac- as Columba could instruct and rule the North- knowledged by all to have been a Gaelic race. ern Picts from his monastery in Iona." 4 It will be observed from these passages that Other authorities appealed to by the uphold- the Welsh Triads, certainly the oldest and ers of each of the Celtic theories are the Welsh most unexceptionable authority on the subject, traditions, the Irish Annals, the Chronicles apply the same term of Gwyddyl to the Picts of the Piets and Scots, and various legend- and to the Dalriads, and consequently they ary documents of more or less value and must have been of the same race, and the authenticity. As these are of no greater au- Picts a Gaelic people. Farther, the Welsh thority than the writers with whom we have word ' Gwyddyl,' by which they distinguish been dealing, and as the partisans of each that race, has been declared by all the best au- theory claim the various passages as either thorities to be exactly synonymous with the confirming, or, at any rate, not contradicting word Gael, the name by which the Highlanders their views, we shall not further trouble the have at all times been distinguished, and the

' reader with specimens of the manner in Welsh words Gwyddyl Ffichti ' cannot be which they are dealt with. There is one interpreted to mean any tiling else than ' The " passage, however, in the Welsh Triads, which Gaelic Picts,' or ' Pictish Gael.' the advocates of the Gaelic lrypothesis claim The following is the substance of the infor- as strongly confirmatory of their theory. After mation given by the Irish writers as to the referring to the coming in of the Cymry, the origin, race, and early history of the Picts. 5 Britons, etc., the Triads go on to say, "Three The greater part of it is, of course, mere tradi- tribes came, under protection, into the Island tion, accumulating as it grew older, and height- of Britain, and by the consent and permission ened by the imagination of the writers them- of the nation of the Cymry, without weapon, selves. 7 The Picts were called by the Irish without assault. The first was the tribe of the writers CruitJmidh, which O'Brien considers to

Caledonians in the north. The second was be the same as Britneigh, or Britons ; but ac- the Gwyddelian Race, which are now in Alban cording to others the name was derived from (Scotland). The third were the men of Gale- Cruthen, who founded the kingdom of the Picts din, who came into the Isle of Wight. Three in North Britain, in the first century ; others usurping tribes came into the Island of Britain derive the name from Cruit, a harp, hence Cruit- and never derjarted out of it. The first were neach, the Irish for Pict, also signifies a harper, the Coranied, who came from the land of Pwyl. as they are said to have been celebrated harp-

The second were the Gwyddelian Efichti, who ers. The ancient Britons are mentioned by came into Alban over the sea of Llychlyn (Den- Cajsar, and other Roman writers, to have mark). The third were the Saxons." " The painted their bodies of a blue colour, with the Triads," says Skene 6 in connection with this, juice of a plant called woad, hence the painted " appear distinctly to have been written pre- Britons were called by the Romans Pitfi. The vious to the Scottish conquest in the ninth cen- Picts or Cruthneans, according to the Psalter tury, and they mention among the three usurp- of Cashel, and other ancient annals, came from ing tribes of Britain the ' Gwyddyl Ffichti,' Thrace, in the reign of the Milesian monarch and add immediately afterwards, ' and these Heremon, nearly a thousand years before the Gwyddyl Ffichti are in Alban, along the shore Christian era, and landed at Inver Slainge, of the sea of Llychlyn.' In another place, now the Bay of Wexford, under two chief among the treacherous tribes of Britain, the commanders named Gud and Cathluan, but same Triads mention the ' Gwyddyl coch o'r not being permitted to settle in Ireland, they

Werddon a ddaethant in Alban,' that is ' the sailed to Albain, or that part of North Britain, Red Gwyddyl from Ireland, who camo into now Scotland, their chiefs having been kindly

7 * Eccl. Hist, of Scot., vol. i. p. 17. We are indebted for most of the following account 5 Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 155. to Connellan's A nnaU of the Four Masters, p. 367 6 Highlanders of Scotland, vol. i. p. 60. (note). EVIDENCE FROM LANGUAGE. supplied with wives of Irish, birth. The midst of peoples who are admitted on all hands

Cruthneans became possessed of North Brit- to have little or none of the Celtic element in ain, and founded there the kingdom of the them. s So that an unprejudiced judge must Picts. A colony of the Cruthneans, or admit that the fact of Cymric and Gaelic words Picts, from North Britain, settled in Ulster being found in certain districts of the north of in early times, and are often mentioned from Scotland argues only that at one time people the first to the ninth century; they resided speaking these dialects must have dwelt in chiefly in Dalaradia and Tir Eogain, or parts these districts. It affords no proof by itself of Down, Antrim, and Derry, and became that the people whom we first meet with in mixed by intermarriages with the old Irish of these districts are the people who spoke these the Irian race, and were ruled over by their dialects, and who imposed these names ; nor in-

own princes and chiefs; and some of those i deed, if we could be sure that the people whom

Picts, settled in in the first inhabitants the also Connaught, county ; we meet with as also spoke of Roscommon. According to the Irish writ- dialect to which such names belong, does it j ers, the Picts, in their first progress to Ireland prove that they were the imposers of these |

from Thrace, settled a colony in Gaul, and the ! names, that the dialect was their native and ori- tribes called Pictones and Pictavi, in that ginal tongue, and that they had not acquired it i country, were descended from them, and they either as conquerors or conquered. Nor can it gave name to Pictavia, or the city of Poictiers. be adduced as a proof of sameness of race, that and the province of Poitou; and from these the present inhabitants of any particular dis-

Picts were descended the Yendeans of France. trict speak the same language as those who in- The Caledonians, or first inhabitants of Scot- habited that district 1800 years ago or less. land, are considered to have been the same as " He who trusts to language, and especially to the Picts, and mixed with Cimbrians or Britons, written language, alone, as an index to race, and some of the Milesian Scots from Ireland. must be prepared to maintain that the Gallic The advocates of the various theories, appa- nation emigrated from the seven bills of Rome, rently aware of how little can be made of the and that the Franks came with them ; that the meagre and suspicious information afforded by Romans extirpated the Celts and Iberians of these early histories and chronicles, have lat- Spain, and that the Goths and Moors spoke terly made language the principal battle-ground nearly the same language as the Romans ; that on which to fight out this endless and profit- the Negroes of the United States and Jamaica less strife. Most of them take for granted were exported from England when in their in- that if the language spoken by any people can fancy. So would Philology, if left to herself, be found out, a sure indication is afforded of interpret phenomena, of which we know, from the race to which that people belonged; and other sources of information, that the causes that the topography of a country must neces- are totally different." 9 "The clearest proof sarily have been imposed by the earliest inha- that a mountain or river has a Celtic name, bitants of whom we have record; and that, if only shows that at some time or other Celts so, the limits of their territory must have been had been there; it does not tell us when they co-extensive with the limits of such topography. were there. Names, as the experience of the

This, however, is going too far. All the length world amply shows, live after the people who to which we are permitted in fairness to go, bestowed them hove long disappeared, and that M1 when we find in any district or country an through successive races of occupants. abundance of names of natural objects, as The materials which have been wrought up rivers and mountains, which can with certainty into a linguistic argument by the upholders of be traced to any particular language, is, that each of the three Pictish theories, Gothic, at one time or other, a race of people speaking Gaelic, and Cymric, are chiefly a list of Pictish this language must have passed over and dwelt s See Taylor's Words and Places, ch. is. 9 for some time in that particular district or Pike's English and their Origin, ell. ii., which contains some shrewd and valuable remarks on the country. We find Celtic names of rivers and subject of language.

1 mountains scattered all over Europe, in the Burton, vol. i. p. 192. 28 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. kings which., we believe, may be depended on were actually Celts, and not of Teutonic race, as authentic, and the topography of the country is proved to a demonstration by the names of to the east and south-east of the Grampians, their kings; of whom a list, undoubtedly gen- together with the single so-called Pictish word uine from the fifth century downwards, was Peanfahel, which we have already considered. published by Innes, from a manuscript in the The theorists differ as much in their interpre- Colbertine library. Some of those appellations tation of the significance of what remains of are, as far as we know at present, confined to

the Pictish language, as we have seen they do the Pictish sovereigns ; but others are well- in their interpretation of any references to the known Welsh and Gaelic names. They differ, subject in dispute in ancient chronicles. The however, slightly in their forms, from their names of the kings, and the names of places Cymric equivalents ; and more decidedly so have been traced by the disputants to Gothic, from the Gaelic ones ; and, as far as they go, Gaelic and Cymric roots. As an amusing lead to the supposition that those who bore specimen of the ingenuity displayed in this them spoke a language bearing a remote ana- hunt after roots, we give below a small table logy to the Irish with its cognates, but a pretty from Burton, comparing the different etymo- close one to the Welsh. logies of names of kings given by Pinkerton, " In the list furnished by Innes the names

2 Chalmers, and Jamieson. Maelcon, Elpin, Taran (i.e. thunder), Uvea

It is, however, generally admitted at the (Owen), Bargoit, are those of personages well present day, that so far as language is con- known in British history or tradition. Wrgust, cerned, the Gothic theory has not the remotest which appears as Fergus in the Irish annals, is chance ; that names of places and of kings are the Welsh Gwrgust. Talorg, Talorgan, evi- most satisfactorily and straightforwardly ex- dently contain the British word Tdl, forehead, plained by Cymric roots. As the Gothic a common element in proper names ; ex. gr. or Teutonic theory cannot stand the test Talhaiarn, Iron Forehead ; Taliesiri, splendid of modern criticism, we shall content our- forehead, &c. Talewrgain would signify in selves with giving specimens of the manner Welsh golden or splendid front. Three kings in which the linguistic, or, more strictly, are represented as sons of Wid, in the Irish topographical argument is used by the advo- annals of Foit or Foith. In Welsh ortho- cates of the Cymric and Gaelic hypotheses graphy it would be Gwydd, wild ; a common respectively. name in Brittany at the present day, under the The CjTuric argument is clearly, ably, and form of Gwez. The names Drust, Drostan, succinctly stated by Mr. Garnett in his essay Wrad, Necton (in Bede Naitan), closely re- on "The Eelation of the Pict and Gael;" he, semble the Welsh Trwst, Trwstan, Gwriad, however, it must be remembered, looked at Nwython. It will be sufficient to compare the the whole question mainly in its philological entire list with the Irish or Highland gene- aspect. In stating the argument we shall use alogies, to be convinced that there must have chiefly his own words. 3 " That the Picts been a material distinction between the two

Chalmers for Celtic, Pinkerton for Gothic, Jamieson, " Teutonic Etymo

Probably the British Drust, a common Pikish name, is Su. Goth, trocst, dristig. Germ.. name Trwst, which also Persian, and signifies sin- clrcist. Alcm. gidrosl, during.

signifies din. cents. . . The Persians were the old Syth.Ee or Goths, from whom the rest sprung.

Brudi or Brudw, which is pro- Brudi is the real Gothic name; Island. , Biiddi cmiuebat. vercl:

Bridei nounced Bridw or Bout is the wounded (Bott breida, to extend ; and Sueo- Bradw, is in the ictus Wachter). Goth, e, law; 2. one who ex- British treacherous. tends the. law. who publishes it.

For other instances see Burton's Scotland, i. p. 196.

3 Garnett's Phil. Essays, pp. 197, 198. "

EVIDENCE FEOM LANGUAGE.

branches. Most of the Pictish names are tried to get rid of it by contending that aber is totally unknown in Irish or Highland history, essentially a Gaelic word, being compounded and the few that are equivalent, such as Angus of ath, ford, and bior, water. Garnett thinks and Fergus, generally differ in form. The Irish this explanation utterly gratuitous, and observes annalists have rather obscured the matter, hy that the term may be much more satisfactorily transforming those names according to their accounted for by a different process. " There

5 national system of orthography ; but it is re- are," he observes, " three words in Welsh de- markable that a list in the 'Book of Bally- noting a meeting of waters —aber, cynver, and mote,' partly given by Lynch in his ' Cam- ynver,—respectively compounded of the par- brensis Eversus,' agrees closely with limes, ticles a, denoting juxtaposition, ayn (Lat. con), even preserving the initial w or u where the and yn, with the root ber, flowing, preserved

Gaelic would require /. The philological in- in the Breton verb beri, to flow, and all virtu- ferences to be deduced from this document may ally equivalent to our word confluence. Inver

be thus briefly summed up : — 1. The names of is the only term known in any Gaelic dialect, the Pictish kings are not Gaelic, the majority either as an appellative or in proper names ; of them being totally unknown both in the and not a single local appellation with the pre- Irish and Highland dialects, while the few fix aber occurs either in Ireland or the He which have Gaelic equivalents decidedly differ brides, or on the west coast of Scotland. In- from them in form. Cineod (Kenneth) and deed, the fact that inver was substituted for it

Domhu all or Donnel, appear to be the only ex- after the Gaelic occupation of the Pictish terri-

ceptions. 2. Some of them cannot be identi- tories, is decisive evidence on the point ; for,

fied as Welsh ; but the greater number are if aber was a term familiar to the Gael, why

either identical with or resemble known Cym- should they change it ? " 6 ric names ; or approach more nearly to Welsh In Scotland," says Isaac Taylor, who up- in structure and orthography than to any other holds the Cymric hypothesis, "the invers and

known language. 3. There appears neverthe- abers are distributed in a curious and instruc- less to have been a distinction, amounting, at tive manner. If we draw a line across the map

all events, to a difference in dialect. The Pict- from a point a little south of Inverary, to one ish names beginning with w would in Welsh a little north of Aberdeen, we shall find that have gw, as Gwrgust for Wrgust, and so of the (with very few exceptions) the invers lie to the

rest. There may have been other differences north west of the line, and the abers to the

sufficient to justify Bede's statement that the south-east of it. This line nearly coincides with Pictish language was distinct from the British, the present southern limit of the Gaelic tongue,

which it might very well be without any im- and probably also with the ancient division be-

peachment of its claim to be reckoned as closely tween the Picts and Scots. Hence we may con-

cognate." | clude that the Picts, a people belonging to the We have already referred to the use made of Cymric branch of the Celtic stock, and whose the Pictish word Peannfahel, preserved by language has now ceased to be anywhere verna- Bede, and to the phrase in Adamnan concerning cular, occupied the central and eastern districts

Corumba's preaching by means of an interpreter. of Scotland, as far as the Grampians ; while

It is contended by the upholders of the Cymric the Gadhelic Scots have retained their language, theory that the ancient topographical appella- and have given their name to the whole coun- tions of the Pictish territory can in general try. The local names prove, moreover, that in only be explained by the Cymric dialects, one Scotland the Cymry did not encroach on the strong point being the number of local names Gael, but the Gael on the Cymry. The in- beginning with the Welsh prefix aber, which, trusive names are invers, which invaded the according to Chalmers, was in several instances land of the abers. Thus on the shore of eth subsequently changed by the Gael into inver. Frith of Forth we find a few invers among the Skene,4 who felt the force of this argument, abers. The Welsh word uchel, high, may also

5 Phil. Essaii' p. 20f>. 4 Highlanders. Words and Places, p. 246. 30 GENERAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

be adduced to prove the Cymric affinities of Garnett and Taylor, is supported by such the Picts. This word does not exist in either names as Innes, Chalmers, Eitson, Whittaker, the Erse or the Gaelic languages, and yet it ap- Grub, and others. pears in the name of the Ochil Hills, in Perth- Pinkerton, it is well known, is the great and shire. Again, the Erse tally, a town, occurs unscrupulous upholder of the Gothic origin of

; in 2,000 names in Ireland and, on the other the Picts ; while . the Gaelic theory has for its hand, is entirely ahsent in Wales and Brittany. supporters such writers, of undoubted ability In Scotland this most characteristic test-word is and acuteness, as Skene, E. W. Eobertson, found frequently in the inver district, while it Forbes-Leslie, &c. Burton s is of opinion that never appears among the abers. The evidence the Highlanders of the present day are the of these names makes it impossible to deny true representatives of the Dalriadic Scots of that the Celts of the Scottish Lowlands must the West. have belonged to the Cymric branch of the We shall, as we have done in the case of the Celtic stock." other side, allow the upholders of the Gaelic We infer from what Mr. Taylor says, that hypothesis to state for themselves the Gaelic he is of opinion that at one time the language topographical argument. We shall use the of the whole of the north of Scotland was words of Colonel Forbes-Leslie, who, in his Cymric, but that the district in which the invaluable work on the " Early Eaces of Scot- Scots obtained a settlement afterwards under- land," 9 says, "The Celtic words Inver and went a change of topography. But it is ad- Aber have nearly the same meaning ; and the mitted on all hands that the Scottish Dalriada relative position in which they occur in names comprehended no more than the modern Ar- of places has been employed as if it were a suf- gyleshire, extending no farther north than ficient argument for defining the presence or

Loch Leven and Loch Linnlie ; and that the preponderance of the British or Gaelic Celts in

Irish Scots had little influence on the people or certain districts. In this way Aber, prefixed their language to the north-west of the Gram- to names of places, has been urged as adequate pians. Indeed, Skene 7 maintains that this dis- proof that the Picts of Caledonia were Celts of trict, in which he places the Northern Picts, the British branch. The value of these and was never subjected to the Scots, and that it some other words requires examination. In- was only the Southern Picts who latterly came ver is to be found in names of places in Wales. under their sway. Yet we find that the abers It may possibly be a British word. It cer- here are few and far between, or, indeed, any tainly is a Gaelic one. Aber, although un- indications of Cymric possession such as we doubtedly British, is also Gaelic—compounded find in the southern district. Is it possible of the two words Ath and Bior—and signifying that the Northern and Southern Picts were re- the same as Inver, viz., the confluence of two presentatives of the two great divisions of the streams, or the entrance to a river. If the Celts,—the former claiming a Gaelic origin, word Aber had been unknown to the Gaelic and the latter a Cymric ? Perhaps after all scholars of modern days, its former existence in the Welsh Triads may in course of time be of that language might have been presumed from some help in the solution of this dark prob- the ancient names of places in the districts of lem, as, according to them, there was more Caledonia, where it occurs most frequently, than one Celtic settlement in Scotland before being generally Gaelic and not British. the migration of the Scots. The passages "Beyond the limits of Caledonia on the south above quoted are, to all appearance, much of the Forth and Clyde, but within the boun- more favourable to the Gaelic than to the dary of modern Scotland, the word Inver,

Cymric hypothesis, and have been made much generally pronounced Inner, is of common oc- of by Skene and other supporters of that side currence, and bears witness to a Gaelic nomen- of the question. clature. Thus, Inner or Inverkip, in the county

The Cymric origin of the Picts, besides of Eenfrew ; Innerwell, in the county of Wig-

8 Scotland, vol i. p. 207.

7 '> Highlanders. Vol. i. p. 26. —;

EVIDEXCE FEOM LANGUAGE—IXYEE AND ABEE. 31

ton ; Innerwick, in the county of Haddington teers, names commencing with Bal and Ard are

Lnnerleithen, in the county of Peebles ; Inver- not numerous. But in fact such names are leith and Inveresk, in the county of Edin- extremely common. In the lowlands of Aber- burgh, derive their names from their situation deenshire—that is, in the portion of one county, in regard to the rivers Kip, Leithen, Esk, &c. and in the part of Caledonia farthest removed

&c. from the settlements of the intrusive Gaels, viz., " From the Moray Frith to the Forth, in the the Scots from Ireland—registers of land show eastern counties of Caledonia, the prefix Inver upwards of fifty places the names of which com or Aber is used incuscrinrinately in contiguous mence with Bal, and forty which commence places. At the confluence of lesser streams with Ard. In the Pietish territory, from the with the river Dee, in Aberdeenshire, we Moray Frith to the Forth, I soon collected up- find Lnverey, Abergeldie, Invercauld, Inver- wards of four hundred names of places begin- canny, Aberdeen. Yet in those counties ning with Bal, and upwards of one hundred viz., Aberdeen, Kincardine, Forfar, Perth, and with Ard; and the number might easily be Fife, in 'which were situated the capitals, doubled." and which were the richest provinces of the Mr. E. W. Eobertson, one of the latest and southern Picts — the number of names of ablest upholders of this theory, thinks 1 there places beginning with Inver is three times as is scarcely sufficient evidence to justify any numerous as those commencing with Aber very decided conclusion as to the pre-existence there being, in a list taken from land-regis- of a Cymric population; and that, whilst it ters, which do not go farther back than the would be unquestionably erroneous to ascribe middle of the sixteenth eentwy, seventy-eight a Cymric origin to the Picts, the existence of with Liver to twenty-four with Aber. It a Celtic element akin to the Cymri, amongst may, however, be admitted that, although the population of Alban before the arrival of

Aber is Gaelic, its use is far more general by the Gwijddel Fflchti, must remain to a certain

Celts of the British tribes ; and that the pre- extent an open question. dominance of Inver in the districts north of Of all a priori theories that have hitherto the Spey, and the intermixture of places the been advanced as to how Scotland was likely names of which commence with Inver or Aber, to have been at first peopled, that of Father not unfrequently used in records of nearly the Innes, the first writer who investigated the same date for the same place in the country ly- subject thoroughly and critically, appears to ing between the Moray and the Solway Friths, us to be the most plausible and natural, al- is, to a certain extent, evidence of a British though even it is beset with many difficulties. element of population extending into Caledonia, It appears to him more natural and probable The Britons, in earlier times, may have been that the Caledonian Britons, or Picts, were of pressing on to the north by gradual intrusion, the same origin as the Britons of the south; ami were probably afterwards increased hx that as these came in originally from the near- bodies of exiles escaping from the severity of est coast of Gaul, as they multiplied in the Eoman bondage and the punishment of unsuc- island, they advanced to the north and settled cessful revolt. there, carrying with them the customs and " That names of places containing the words language of the South Britons. 2 Bal, from Bail, a place or residence, and Ard, We have thus endeavoured to lay before a height or rising ground, are so common in the reader, as fully as space permits, and as Ireland, and comparatively rare, so it is alleged, clearhr and unprejudicedly as possible, the in Caledonia, has also been used as an argu- materials at present existing by means of ment to prove that the language of the Picts which to form an opinion on the Pietish ques- and other Caledonians of the southern and tion, and the arguments pro and con, mainly eastern districts was British, not Gaelic. But in their own words, urged by the partisans of the foundation of the argument has been as- the different theories. It appears to us that sumed, and is easily disproved. It is true that

1 of large towns and places that appear in gazet- Vol. ii. p. Essay on Scotland, vol. i. p. 70. —

32 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the data within reach are far too scanty to reader to form for himself a fair idea of the justify any one in coming to a settled conclu- present state of the Pictish question, and indi- sion, and that we must wait for more light cated the sources whence more information hefore we can be justified in finally making up may be derived, should any one wish to pur- our minds on this perplexing subject. l sue the subject farther. In the words of the At the present day we find that nearly the latest and greatest Scottish historian " this whole of the territory said to have been ori- brief survey of the great Pictish controversy ginally occupied by the Picts, is inhabited, leaves nothing but a melancholy record of and has been for centuries, by a population wasted labour and defeated ambition. It has which in appearance is far more Teutonic than been more fruitless than a polemical or a politi- Celtic, and which undoubtedly speaks a broad cal dispute, for these leave behind them, either Teutonic dialect. 2 And even in the district for good or evil, their marks upon the conduct where the Gaelic language has been triumphant and character of the populations among whom

for ages, it is acknowledged even by the most they have raged; while here a vast outlay of

devoted partisans of the Gaelic theory, that learning, ingenuity, enthusiasm, and, it must among the population there is a very consider- be added, temper, have left no visible monu- able intermixture of the Teutonic element. ment but a pile of forbidding volumes, in Burton thinks, from a general view of the which should any one who has not studied the whole question, that the proportion of the Teu- matter fundamentally expect to find instructive tonic race that came into the use of the Gaelic, information, he will assuredly be led into a was much greater than the proportion of the tangled maze of unintelligible pedantry, from Gaelic that came into the use of the Teutonic which he will come forth with no impression or Saxon, and that this may account for the but a nightmare feeling of hopeless struggle contrasts of physical appearance to be seen in with difficulties." 3 the Highlands. We certainly have not exhausted the statement of the question, have not stated fully and com- UHAPTEE III. pletely all the points in dispute ; nor do we pretend to have given with fulness all the arguments pro 4. d. 446—843. and con on the various sides. We have, how- Early History—Scottish Settlement—Origin of Scots will ordinary ever, given as much as enable any —Dalriada— Conversion of Picts—Druidism— ("'t. Columba — Iona — Spread of Christianity — Brude and his Successors—Dun-Nechtan—Pictish Wars 1 have already referred to the Gaelo- We (p. 22) Ungus— Contests -Norsemen — Union of Picts and Cymric theory broached by Dr. Maelauchlan in his Scots — Scoto - Irish or Dalriads — Lorn, Fergus, Church, and recently adopted by Dr Early Scottish Angus and their Successors — Aidan—Contest at Speaking of the distribution of the topo- Skene. Degsastan — Donal Breac — Wars with Irish and graphical nomenclature in the Highlands, Dr. Mae- Picts—Conal II. and Successors—Ferchar Fada lauchlan says it indicates one of two things; "either Selvach and Duncha Beg—Eocha III. unites Dal- race overpowered the other in the east, that the one riada—Muredach—Contests with Picts— Aodh-fin and superinduced a new nomenclature over the old — F.ocha IV. or Achains—Alpiu—Kenneth—Union throughout the country, that we have in fact two — of Picts ami Scots—Dalriadic Government—Tanist names, the Gaelic under- successive strata of Celtic —Brehon— Laws— Fosterage— Lists of Kings. lying the British, which is by no means impossible; or, what is more likely, that the Pictish people were a people lying midway between the Gael and the As we have already said, the materials for the Cymri—more Gaelic than the Cymri, and more Cymric internal history of the Highlands during the than the Gael. This is precisely the character of the Eoman occupation are of the scantiest, nearly old Pictish topography ; it is a mixture of Gaelic and

Cymric ; and if the language of the people was like all that can he recorded being the struggles of their topography, it too was a language neither Gaelic the northern tribes with the Eoman invaders, nor Cymric, but occupying a middle space between them, indicating the identity of the races at some dis- and the incursions of the former and their tant period, although they afterwards became rivals allies into the territories of the Eomanized for the possession of the land. " This we think on the whole the most satisfactory theory yet propounded. Britons. Doubtless many events as worthy of 2 We would infer from the recently published Book of record as these, an account of which has been Dear, that down at least to the time of David II., the

inhabitants were still a Gaelic speaking population ; all the entries in that book as to land are in that language. Burton, 200. SETTLEMENT OF THE SCOTS IN SCOTLAND. 33

preserved, were during this period being ford us lists of Pictish kings or princes, a transacted in the northern part of Scotland, chronological table of whom, from Drust down- and we have seen that many additions, from wards, will be found at the end of this chap- various quarters, must have loeen made to the ter. The Pictish chronicle contains the names population. However, there are no records of thirty-six others who are said to have extant which enable us to form any distinct reigned before Drust, but these are generally notion of the nature of these events, and his- regarded as almost entirely spurious. tory cannot be manufactured. Before proceeding farther with the Pictish

After the departure of the Komans, the pro- history, it may be proper to give a brief ac- vincial Britons of the south of Scotland were count of the settlement of the Irish Scots or completely at the mercy of the Picts as well Dalriads, as they are frequently called, in the as the Saxons, who had been invited over by Pictish territory. the South Britons to assist them against the The time of the settlement of the Scots in northern barbarians. These Saxons, we know, present Scotland was for long a subject of dis- very soon entered into alliance with those putation, the early Scottish historians, from a whom they came to repel, and between them false and unscrupulous patriotism, having the Britons south of the friths were eventually pushed it back for many centuries before its driven into the West, where for centuries they actual occurrence. This dispute is now, how- appear to have maintained an independent ever, fairly set at rest, there being no founda- kingdom under the name of Strathclyde, until tion for believing that the Scots found their ultimately they were incorporated with the way from Ireland to Scotland earlier than a cen- Scots. 4 tury or two before the birth of Christ. As we Although both the external and internal have already seen, we find the first mention of history of the Highlands during this period is the Scots in Ammianus Marcellinus about the much better known than in the case of the year 360 a.d. ; and their name occurs in the

Boman period, still the materials are exceed- same connection frequently afterwards, during ingly scanty. Scottish historians, from Fordun the Boman occupation of Scotland. Burton and Boece downwards, made it their business is of opinion that the migration did not take to fill up from their own imaginations what is place at any particular time or under any par- wanting, so that, until the simple-minded but ticular leader, but that it was gradual, that the acute Innes put it in its true light, the early Scots " oozed " out of Ireland upon the western liistory of Scotland was a mass of fable. coast of Scotland. Undoubtedly the two most momentous It belongs to the history of Ireland to trace events of this period are the firm settlement in the origin and fix the race of the Scots, to Argyle of a colony of Scots from Ireland and settle the time of their coming into Ireland, some of the neighbouring isles in 503, 5 and and discover whence they came. Some sup- the conversion of the Northern Picts to Chris- pose that they migrated originally from Britain tianity by Columba about 563. to Ireland, while Innes and others bring them At the time of the Boman abandonment of either from Scandinavia or Spain, and connect Britain the Picts were under the sway of a them with the Scyths, asserting that Scot is a king or chieftain named Drust, son of Erp, mere corruption of Scyth, anddating the settle- concerning whom the only record remaining is, ment at about the commencement of the Chris- that he lived a hundred years and fought a tian era. The Irish traditions connect them hundred battles. In fact, little is known with with a certain Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, and certainty of the Pictish history for upwards of date their coming to Ireland upwards of 1,000 T one hundred years after the departure of the years B.C. E. W. Bobertson and others con-

Bomans, although some ancient chronicles af- sider them to have been Irish Picts or Cruithne. "Wherever the Scots came from and to what- 4 See Innes's Essay, vol. i. ever race they belong, whether Teutonic or 5 This is the date commonly given, although Mr. R W. Robertson makes it 502 on the authority of Tighernach, while O'Donovan (Annals of the Four 'Vol. i. p. 212. ' Masters, vol. i. p. 160) makes it 506. Early Kinr/s, vol. i. p. ,

34 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Celtic, they certainly appear not to have been called Drumalban. They consisted of foui the first settlers in Ireland, and at the time at tribes,—the genus or Cinel Lorn, descended authentic history Lorn, the elder of the three which they first appear in from brothers ; occupied a district in Ireland corresponding to the Cinel Gabran and Cinel Comgall, de- Connaught, Leinster, and part of Munster. scended from two sons of Domangart, son of

They were also one of the most powerful of the Fergus, the second of the brothers ; and the Irish tribes, seeing that for many centuries Cinel Angus, descended from the third brother, Ireland was, after them, called Scotia or Scot- Angus. The Cinel Comgall inhabited the dis- land. It is usually said that a particular corner trict formerly called Comgall, now corrupted in the north-east of Ireland, about 30 miles in into Cowall. The Cinel Gabran inhabited what extent, corresponding to the modern county of was called the Airgiallas, or the district of Ar- Antrim, was the kingdom of the particular band gyle proper, and Kintyre. The Cinel Angus of Scots who migrated to Scotland ; and that inhabited the islands of Islay and Jura, and it received its name, Dal-Riada ('the portion of the Cinel Lorn, the district of Lorn. Beyond Riada'), from Carbre-Riada, a leader of the this, on the north, the districts between Lorn

Scots who conquered this particular part, pre- and the promontory of Ardnamurchan, i.e., viously inhabited by Cruithne or Irish Picts. the island of Mull, the district of Morven, Robertson, s however, considers all this fable Ardgower, and probably part of Lochaber, and the kingdom of Dalriada as mythical, seem to have formed a sort of debatable ground, Tighernach and the early Irish annalists neveT the population of which was Pictish, while the applying the name to any other locality than Scots had settlements among them. In the

British Dalriada. At all events, this particu- centre of the possessions of the Cinel Gabran, lar district was spoken of by the later chroni- at the head of the well-sheltered loch of Crinan clers under the name of Dalriada, there being lies the great Moss of Crinan, with the river 9 thus a Dalriada both in Scotland and Ireland. Add flowing through it. In the centre of the At the time of the migration of the Scots from moss, and on the side of the river, rises an

Ireland to Scotland, they were to all intents isolated rocky hill called Dunadd, the top of and purposes a Celtic race, speaking Trish Gae- which is strongly fortified. This was the lic, and had already been converted to Chris- capital of Dalriada, and many a stone obelisk tianity. in the moss around it bears silent testimony to The account of the Scottish migration usu- the contests of which it was the centre. The ally given is, that in the year 503 a.d., 1 a new picturesque position of Dunolly Castle, on a colony of Dalriads or Dalriaclic Scots, under rock at the entrance of the equally sheltered the leadership of Fergus son of Ere, a descend- bay of Oban, afforded another fortified sum- ant of Carbre-Riada, along with his brothers mit, which was the chief stronghold of the Lorn and Angus, left Ireland and settled on tribe of Lorn. Of Dunstaffnage, as a royal the western coast of Argyle and the adjacent seat, history knows nothing." 2 islands. " The territories which constituted It would appear that Lorn and Fergus at the petty kingdoms of Dalriada can be pretty first reigned jointly, the latter becoming sole well defined. They were bounded on the monarch on the decease of the former. The south by the Frith of Clyde, and they were succession appears not to have been confined separated on the east from the Pictish king- to any particular line, and a disputed succes- dom by the ridge of the great mountain chain sion not unfrequently involved the Scots in

8 civil war. Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 305. 9 At this time, and up at least to the 1 lth century, There is no portion of history so obscure or present Scotland was known as Albania, Alban, or so perplexing as that of the Scoto-Irish kings, Alba, the term Scotland or Scotia being generally applied to Ireland, unless where there is some quali- and their tribes, from their first settlement, in fying term, as Nova. Burton thinks it not safe to the year 503, to their accession to the Pictish consider that the word Scot must mean a native of present Scotland, when the period dealt with is ear- throne in 843. Unfortunately no contem- lier than the middle of the 12th century. 1 Skene in his Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. ex., makes the date to be about 495 or 498. '- Skene's Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. cxiii. ; ;

RELIGION OF THE PICTS. 35

poraneous written records appear ever to have union of the various tribes was ratified by

existed of that dark period of our annals, and solemn rites and sacrifices, and the latter, that the efforts which the Scotch and Irish anti- Columbia's efforts at conversion were strenuously quaries have made to extricate the truth from opposed by the diabolical arts and incantations

the mass of contradictions in which it lies of the Magi. It appears from Adamnan that buried, have rather been displays of national fountains were particularly objects of venera-

prejudice than calm researches by reasonable tion ; the superstitious awe with which many inquirers. The annals, however, of Tigernach, fountains and wells are regarded at the present and of Ulster, along with the brief chronicles clay, being doubtless a remnant of the ancient and historical documents first brought to light Pictish religion. Trees, rivers, and lakes, as by the industrious Innes, in his Critical Essay, well as the heavenly bodies, appear also to have have thrown some glimpses of light on a sub- been objects of religious regard, and not a few ject which had long remained in almost total of the customs which exist in Scotland at the darkness. 3 present day have been inherited from our Pict- The next authentic event of importance that ish ancestors. Such are many of the rites

falls to be recorded in connection with the performed on Hallowe'en, Beltane, Midsummer,

history of the Highlands, is the conversion of &c, and many every-day superstitions still the Northern Picts to Christianity, about the prevalent in the country districts of Scotland.

year 563. The Southern Picts, i. e. those " Druidism is said to have acknowledged a living to the south and east of the Grampians, Supreme Being, whose name was synonymous were converted by St. Ninian (360—432) about with the Eastern Baal, and if so, was visibly the beginning of the 5th century; but the represented by the sun; and such remnants of Northern Picts, until the date above-men- the ancient worship as are still traceable in the tioned, continued Pagans. That there were language of the people, would indicate its having

no Christians among them till that time ap- been a species of sun-worship. To this day pears very improbable, considering their close the four leading points of the compass bear, in neighbourhood and constant intercourse with the terms which designate them among the the Southern Picts and the Scots of Dalriada Gael, marks of this. The east is ear, like the but there can be no doubt that the court and Latin oriens, from the Gaelic eiridh, 'to rise;' the great bulk of the people adhered to their the west is iar, 'after,' used also as a preposi- tuath ancient superstitions. tion ; the south is deas, and the north The religion of the Picts before their con- and it is in the use of these terms that

version is supposed by the majority of writers the reverence for the solar luminary chiefly on this subject to have been that which pre- appears. Deas, 'the south,' is in all circum- vailed hi the rest of Britain and in Celtic Gaul, stances right ; it is the right hand, which is Druidism. The incredulous Burton, however, easily intelligible, from the relation of that 4 east- if we may judge from his History of Scotland, hand to the south when the face looks expressive of whatever is other- as well as from an article of his in the Edin- ward ; and it is burgh Eeview, seems to believe that the whole wise right, Deas also means complete, trim, system of Druidism has been elaborated by the ready; whatever is deas, or southerly, is just imaginations of modern historians. That the as it should be. Tuath, ' north,' is the very Picts previous to their conversion had a religion, opposite. Tuathaisd is a 'stupid fellow;' and a religion with what may be called priests Tuathail is 'wrong' in every sense: south and deiseal and religious services, cannot be doubted, if we north, then, as expressed in the words language, the may trust Tacitus and Adamnan, the biographer and tuathail, are, in the Gaelic of Columba; the former of whom tells us that, representatives of right and wrong. Thus previous to the battle of the Grampians, the everything that is to move prosperously among

many of the Celts, must move sunwise : a boat 3 More recently the invaluable labours of E. "W. turn sunwise ; a man or woman Robertson, Burton, Forbes- Leslie, Joseph Robertson, going to sea must Grub, Skene, and Maclauchlan, have been the means of immediately after marriage, must make a turn putting the history of this period on its proper footing. 4 sunwise. There are relics of fire-worship too; Vol. i. eh. vi. — ;

3G GENEEAL HISTOEY OK THE HIGHLANDS. certain days are named from fire -lighting; fire in the neighbourhood was extinguished in

Beallteine, or ' the first day of summer,' and order that they might be lighted anew from paimhtheine, 'the first day of winter,'—the this sacred source." 7 former supposed to mean the fire of Baal or Many of the antiquities which are scattered Bel, the latter closing the saimhre, or summer over the north of Scotland, such as stone circles, period of the year, and bringing in the geamhre, monoliths, sculptured stones, rocking stones, or winter period, are sufficient evidence of this. &c, are very generally supposed to have been There are places in Scotland where within the connected with religion. From the resem- memory of living men the teine eigin, or ' forced blance of the circles especially, to those which exist in Britain and in France, it has tire,' was lighted once every year by the rubbing South of two pieces of wood together, while every been supposed that one religion prevailed over

Stonehenge.—Copied by permission from Col. Forbes-Leslie's Early Races of Scotland. these countries. As Druidism is so commonly whether a private individual or a public man, believed to have prevailed among the Ficts as disobey their decrees, then they exclude him well as among the other inhabitants of Britain, from the sacrifices. All these Druids have we shall here give a very brief account of that one chief, who enjoys the highest authority 8 system, chiefly as we find it given in Caesar. amongst them. When he dies, he is succeeded

The following is the account given by Caesar of by the member of the order who is most pro- the character and functions of the Druids: minent amongst the others, if there be any

" They attend to divine worship, perform pub- such single individual; if, however, there are lic and private sacrifices, and expound matters several men equally distinguished, the successoi of religion. A great number of youths are is elected by the Druids. Sometimes they gathered round them for the sake of education, even go to war about this supremacy. and they enjoy the highest honour in that "The Druids take no part in warfare; nor nation; for nearly all public and private do they pay taxes like the rest of the people quarrels come under their jurisdiction; and they are exempt from military service, and when any crime has been committed, when a from all public burdens. Attracted by such murder has been perpetrated, when a contro- rewards, many come to be instructed by their versy arises about a legacy, or about land- own choice, while others are sent by their marks, they are the judges too. They fix re- parents. They are reported to learn in the wards and punishments; and should any one, school a great number of verses, so that some

remain there twenty years. They think it an 7 Dr. MaolaucWan's Early Scottish Church, pp. 32, 33. unhallowed tiling to commit their lore to writ- 8 Druid is said to be derived from a word meaning ' oak,' common to many of the Indo-European tongues. ing, though in the other public and private PBTJIDISM.

affairs of life they frequently make use of the toe. Hence the oak woods were the first places

Greek alphabet. . . . Beyond all tilings, of their devotion ; and the offices of their reli- they are desirous to inspire a belief that men's gion were there performed without any covering souls do not perish, hut transmigrate after but the broad canopy of heaven. The part death from one individual to another; and appropriated for worship was inclosed in a besides, they hold discourses about the stars, circle, within which was placed a pillar of about the size of the world and of various stone set up under an oak, and sacrifices were countries, about the nature of things, and about offered thereon. The pillars which mark the the power and might of the immortal gods." sites of these places of worship are still to be

Among the objects of druidical veneration seen; and so great is the superstitious venera- the oak is said to have been particularly dis- tion paid by the country people to these sacred tinguished; for the Druids imagined that there stones, as they are considered, that few persons was a supernatural virtue in the wood, in the have ventured to remove them. leaves, in the fruit, and above all in the mistle- Besides the immunities before-mentioned en-

JL .lL-^-

Circle of Callernish in Lewis. —Copied by permission from Col. Forbes-Leslie's Early Races of Scotland. joyed by the Druids, they also possessed both Grub 9 believes that " the love of God and of civil and criminal jurisdiction, they decided all his brethren was to him a sufficient motive for controversies among states as well as among entering on the great work to which he was private persons ; and whoever refused to sub- called. His immediate objects were the in- mit to their awards was exposed to the most struction of the subjects of Conal, king of the severe penalties. The sentence of excommuni- British Scots, and the conversion of their cation was pronounced against him ; he was de- neighbours the heathen Picts of the 5~orth." barred all intercourse with his fellow-citizens In the year when ; 563, Columba was 42 years his company was universally shunned as proof age, he arrived among his kindred on the fane and dangerous ; he was refused the pro- shores of Argyle, and immediately set himseli tection of law ; and death itself became an to fix on a suitable site for a monaster}' which acceptable relief from the misery and infamy he meant to erect, from which were to issue to which he was exposed. forth the apostolic missionaries destined to St. Columba was born in the county of assist him in the work of conversion, and in

Donegal, in Ireland, in the year 521, and was which also the youth set apart for the office of connected both on his father's and mother's the holy ministry were to be educated. St. side with the Irish royal family. He was care- Columba espied a solitary isle lying apart from fully educated for the priesthood, and, after hav- the rest of the Hebridean group, near the ing finished Ins ecclesiastical studies, founded south-west angle of Mull, then known by the monasteries in various parts of Ireland. The simple name I, whose etymology is doubtful, year of his departure from Ireland is, on good afterwards changed by Bede into Hy, latin- authority, ascertained to have been 563, and it ized by the monks into Iova or Iona, and is generally said that he fled to save his life, again honoured with the name of I-columb-cil, which was in jeopardy on account of a feud

s in which his relations were involved. Mr. Eccles. ITist., vol. i. p. 49. 38 GENEBAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

the island of St. Colnmba of the church. This now," says Bede, " neither sought, nor loved, island, Conal, who was then king of the anything of this world,"—true traits in the Christian Scots of Argyle, presented to Co- missionary character. For two years did they lumba, in order that he might erect thereon a labour with their own hands erecting huts and monastery for the residence of himself and Ms building a church of logs and reeds. " The disciples. No better station could have been monastery of Iona, like those previously founded selected than this islet during such barbarous by Columba in Ireland, was not a retreat for times. solitaries whose chief object was to work out

In pursuance of his plan, St. Columba their own salvation ; it was a great school of settled with twelve disciples in Hy. " They Christian education, and was specially designed

Ruins on Iona.

to prepare and send forth a body of clergy of bringing over the whole nation to the wor- trained to the task* of preaching the Gospel ship of the true God would be more easily

among the heathen.'' 1 Having established his accomplished, he first began with the king, missionary institution, and having occupied and by great patience and perseverance suc- himself for some time in the instruction of his ceeded in converting him. countrymen the Scots of Argyle, the pious The first Gaelic entry in the Book of Deer Columba set out on his apostolic tour among lets us see the great missionary on one of his the Picts, probably in the year 565. At this tours, and describes the founding of an im- time Bridei or Brude, whose reign extended portant mission-station which became the centre from 536 to 586, the son of Mailcon, a power- of instruction for all the surrounding country. ful and influential prince, reigned over the The following is the translation given of the

Northern Picts, and appears also to have had Gaelic original : —" Columcille, and Drostan dominion over those of the south. Judging son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from Hi, as God

well that if he could succeed in converting had shown to them, unto Abbordoboir, and Brude, who, when Columba visited him was Bede the Pict was mormaer of Buchan before

staying at one of his residences on the banks them, and it was he that gave them that town of the Ness, the arduous task he had undertaken in freedom for ever from mormaer and toisech. They came after that to the other town, and

1 Grub's Ecc. /list., vol. i. p. 51. it was pleasing to Columcille because it was SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 39

full of God's grace, and he asked of the mor- habitants of Alba. As was the case in Buchan,

niaer, to wit Bede, that he should give it to he appears to have gone from district to dis-

him ; and he did not give it, and a son of his trict along with his missionary companions, took an illness after [or in consequence of] seen the work of conversion fairly begun, refusing the clerics, and he was nearly dead planted a monastery in a suitable place, and

[lit. he was dead but if it were a little]. After left one or more of his disciples as resident this the mormaer went to entreat the clerics missionaries to pursue the work of conversion that they should make prayer for the son, and keep Christianity alive in the district. 2

that health should come to him ; and he gave Columba soon had the happiness of seeing iu offering to them from Cloch in tiprat to the blessings of Christianity diffusing them- Clock pette meic Garnait. They made the selves among a people who had hitherto sat prayer, and health came to him. After that in the darkness of paganism. Attended by his Columcille gave to Drostan that town, and disciples he traversed the whole of the Pictish

blessed it, and left as (his) word, ' Whosoever territories, spreading everywhere the light of

should come against it, let him not be many- faith by instructing the people in the truths of yeared [or] victorious.' Drostan's tears came the Gospel. To keep up a succession of the on parting from Columcille. Said Columcille, teachers of religion, he established, as we have " ' Let Dear be its name henceforward.' seen, monasteries in every district, and from The Abbordoboir here spoken of is Aberdour these issued, for many ages, men of apostolic on the north coast of Aberdeenshire, and Dear earnestness, who watered and tended the good

probably occupied the site of what is now Old seed planted by Columba, and carried it to the

Deer, about twelve miles inland from Aber- remotest parts of the north of Scotland and its

dour. There is every reason for believing in islands, so that, in a generation or two after the substantial truth of the narrative. The Columba, Christianity became the universal two saints, probably from the banks of the religion. These monasteries or cells were long Mess, came to Aberdour and "tarried there for subject to the Abbey of Iona, and the system a time and founded a monastery on the land of church government which proceeded from which had been granted them. In later times that centre was in many respects peculiar, and the parish church of Aberdour was dedicated has given rise to much controversy between

to St. Drostan." One would almost be inclined presbyterians and episcopalians. to suppose, from the manner in which the St. Columba died on the 9th of June, 597, missionaries were apparently received, that after a glorious and well-spent life, thirty-four of years of which he had devoted to the instruc- Christianity had been heard there before ; possibly Bede the Pictish mormaer had been tion of the nation he had converted. His in- converted at the court of King Bra.de, and had fluence was very great with the neighbouring invited Columba to pay him a visit in Buchan princes, and they often applied to him for ad- and plant the gospel among the inhabitants. vice, and submitted to him their differences,

Possibly St. Ninian, the apostle of the southern which he frequently settled by his authority. Picts, may, during his mission among them, His memory was long held in reverence by the have penetrated as far north as Buchan. Scots and Caledonians. On the side of the choir of the old parish Conal, the fifth king of the Scots in Argyle, church of Turriff, a few miles west of Deer, the kinsman of St. Columba, and under whose was found painted the figure of St. Nmian, auspices he entered on the work of conver which was probably as old as the 16th cen- sion, and to whom it is said he was indebted

tury. At all events, Columba and his com- for Hy, died in 571. His successor Aidan panion appear to have been made most welcome went over to Iona in 574, and was there in Buchan, and were afforded every facility for ordained and inaugurated by the Abbot ac- prosecuting their sacred work. The above cording to the ceremonial of the liber vitreus, record doubtless gives us a fair notion of " Book Deer, Preface. Further details concern- Colnmba's mode of procedure in prosecuting of ing the early Scottish church will be given at the enn his self-imposed task of converting the in- of this volume. 40 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the cover of which is supposed to have been town of Forfar, did Egfrid and his Saxons fall encrusted with crystal. before Brude and his exasperated Picts. This To return to the history of the Picts, we was a sad blow to the Northumbrian power; have already observed that little is known of yet the Northumbrians, in 699, under Berht, Pictish history for more than a hundred years an able leader, again ventured to try their after the Roman abdication; and even up to strength with the Picts, when they were once the union of the Picts and Scots, the materials more defeated by Brude, the son of Dereli, for the history of both are about as scarce as who had recently mounted the Pictish throne. they could possibly be, consisting mostly of The wars between the Picts and Northum- meagre chronicles containing the names of brians were succeeded by various contests for kings, the dates of their accession and death, power among the Pictish princes, which gave and occasionally the names of battles and of rise to a civil war. Ungus, honoured by the the contending nations. Scotland during this Irish Annalists with the title of great, and period appears to have been the scene of un- Elpin, at the head of their respective partisans, ceasing war between the Scots, Picts, Britons tried their strength at Monaerib, supposed by of Strathclyde, English, and Danes, the two some to be Moncrieff in Strathearn, in the first being continually at strife not only with year 727, when the latter was defeated: and each other but among themselves. We shall the conflict was renewed at Duncrei (Crieff,, endeavour to give, as clearly and as faithfully when victory declared a second time against

as possible, the main reliable facts in the his- Elpin, who was obliged to flee from the hostil- tory of the Scots and Picts until the union of ity of Ungus. Nechtan next tried his strength these two nations. with Ungus, in 728, at a place called Mona- The reign of Brude was distinguished by curna by the Annalists—possibly Moncur hi many warlike exploits, but above all, as we the Carse of Gowrie—but he was defeated, and have seen, by his conversion and that of his many of his followers perished. Talorgan, the people to Christianity, which indeed formed son of Congus, was defeated by Brude, the son his greatest glory. His chief contests were of Ungus, in 730, and in the same year the with the Scoto-Irish or Dalriads, whom he de- Picts appear to have entered into a treaty of feated in 557, and slew Gauran their king. peace with the English nation. Brude died hi 586, and for several ages his suc- The victorious Ungus commenced hostilities cessors carried on a petty system of warfare, against the Dalriads, or Scoto-Irish, in the partly foreign and partly domestic. Passing year 736, and appears to have got the better over a domestic conflict, at Lindores in 621, of the latter. The Scots were again worsted under Kenneth, son of Luthrin, we must notice in another battle in 740 by Ungus, who in the the important battle of Dun-Nechtan, fought same year repulsed an attack of the Northum- in 685, between the Picts under Brude, the son brians under Eadbert. In the year 750 he of Bili,1 and the Saxons, under the Northum- defeated the Britons of the Cumbrian kingdom brian Egfrid. The Saxon king, it is said, greedy in the battle of Cato or Cath-O, in which his of conquest, attacked the Picts without provoca- brother Talorgan was killed. Ungus, who ap- tion, and against the advice of his court. Cross- pears to have been a powerful and able mon- ing the EorthfromLothian,heenteredStrathearn arch, but whom Bede 2 characterizes as having and penetrated through the defiles of the Pictish conducted himself " with bloody wickedness, kingdom, leaving fire and desolation in his train. a tyrant and an executioner," died about 760. His career was stopt at Dun-Nechtan, the hill A doubtful victory was gained by Ciniod, or of Nechtan, a hill in the parish of Dunnichen, Kenneth, the Pictish king, over Aodh-fin, the about the centre of Forfarshire ; and by a Scottish king, in 767. Constantine, having neighbouring lake, long known by the name of overcome Conall, the son of Tarla, in 789, Neehtan's mere, a short distance east from the succeeded him in the throne. 3

2 1 c. 24. There is some confusion here ; Dr. Machtuchlan Book V. 3 places this conflict in the reign of Brude son of Derile, See the Ulster Annals, where an account is given who, according to our list, did not succeed till 699. of all these conflicts. NORSEMEN—SCOTO-IRISH.

Up to this period the Norsemen from Scan- vanced age derives some support from then- dinavia, or the Vikingr, i. e. men of the voes speedy demise after they had laid the founda- or bays, as they were termed, had confined tions of their settlements, and of a new dynasty their ravages to the Baltic; but, in the year of lungs destined to rule over the kingdom of 787 they for the first time appeared on the Scotland. Angus was the first who died, east coast of England. Some years afterwards leaving a son, Muredach, who succeeded him they found their way to the Caledonian shores, in the small government of Ha. After the and in 795 made their first attack on Iona, death of Lorn the eldest brother, Fergus, th..' which frequently afterwards, along with the last survivor, became sole monarch of the rest of the Hebrides, suffered grievously from Scoto-Irish; but he did not long enjoy the their ravages. In 839 the Vikingr entered sovereignty, for he died in 506. the Pictish territories. A murderous conflict Fergus was succeeded by his son Domangart, ensued between them and the Picts under Uen or Dongardus, who died in 511, after a short their king, in which both he and his only but troubled reign of about five years. His brother Bran, as well as many of the Pictish two sons Comgal and Gabhran or Gauran, suc- chiefs, fell. This event, no doubt, hastened cessively enjoyed his authority. Comgal had the downfall of the Pictish monarchy; and as a peaceful reign of four and twenty years, dur- the Picts were unable to resist the arms of ing which he extended his settlements. He Kenneth, the Scottish king, he carried into left a son named Conal, but Gauran his brother, execution, in the year 843, a project he had notwithstanding, ascended the throne in the long entertained, of uniting the Scots and year 535 without opposition. Gauran reigned Picts, and placing both crowns on his head. two and twenty years, and, as we have already That anything like a total extermination of the observed, was slain in a battle with the Picts

Picts took place is now generally discredited, under Bridei their king. although doubtless there was great slaughter Conal, the son of Comgal, then succeeded both of princes and people. Skene 4 asserts in 557, and closed a reign of fourteen years in indeed that it was only the Southern Picts 571. It was during his reign that Columba's who became subject to Kenneth, the Northern mission to the Picts took place. A civil war Picts remaining for long afterwards indepen- ensued between Aodhan or Aidan, the son of dent of, but sometimes in alliance with, the Gauran, and Duncha or Duncan, the son of

Scots. This is substantially the opinion of Conal, for the vacant crown, the claim to which Mr. E. "W. Robertson, 5 who says, " the modern was decided on the bloody field of Loro or Loco shires of Perth, Eife, Stirling, and Dumbarton, in Kintyre in 575, where Duncha was slain. with the greater part of the county of Argyle, Aidaii, the son of Gauran, had been formally may be said to have formed the actual Scottish inaugurated by St. Columba in Iona, in 574. kingdom to which Kenneth succeeded." The In the time of Aidan there were frequent wars Picts were recognised as a distinct people even between the Dabiads and the English Saxons. in the tenth century, but before the twelfth Many battles were fought in which the Scots they lost their characteristic nominal distinc- were generally defeated, the principal being tion by being amalgamated with the Scots, that of Degsastan or Dalston near Carlisle, in their conquerors. GO 3, in which nearly the whole of the Scottish The Scoto-Irish after their arrival in Argyle army was defeated. The wars with the Saxons did not long continue under the separate autho- weakened the power of the Dabiads very con- rity of the three brothers, Lorn, Fergus, and siderably, and it was not till after a long period Angus. They were said to have been very far of time that they again ventured to meet the advanced in life before leaving Ireland, and Saxons in the field. the Irish chroniclers assert that St. Patrick During a short season of repose, Aidan, at- gave them his benediction before his death, in tended by St. Columba, went to the celebrated the year 493. The statement as to their ad- council of Drum-keat in Ulster, in the year

J 590. In this council he claimed the princi- Highlanders, vol. i p. 65. 5 Early Kings, vol. i. p. 39. pality of Dalriada, the land of his fathers, and ;

4 2 GENEBAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

obtained an exemption from doing homage to during the year 638. He ended Ms days at the kings of Ireland, which his ancestors, it Straith-cairmaic or Strathcarron, possibly in the would appear, had been accustomed to pay. neighbourhood of Falkirk, by the sword of Aidan died in 605 or 608, at the advanced age Hoan or Owen, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd, of eighty, and was buried in the church of in the year 642. His son Cathasuidh fell by Kil-keran, the ruins of which are still to be the same hand M 649. seen in the midst of Campbelton. Conal II., the grandson of Conal I., who Aidan was succeeded in the throne by his was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, next son Eocha-bui, or the " yellow," who reigned six- ruled over the tribes of Cantyre and Argyle; teen years. He carried on war with the Cruithne but Dungal, of the race of Lorn, having ob- of Ulster. After him came his brother Kenneth- tained the government of the tribe of Lorn, Cear, or the " left-handed," who was followed questioned the right of Conal. He did not, by Ferchar, son of Eogan, of the race of Lorn. however, carry his pretensions far, for Conal Donal, surnamed breac or freckled, the son died, in undisturbed possession of Ms domin- of Eocha'-bui, of the race of Gauran, succeeded ions, in 652, after a reign of ten years. To Ferchar about 637. He was a warlike prince Donal-duin, or the brown, son of Conal,- who and had, distinguished himself in the wars reigned thirteen years, succeeded Maolduin, his against the Cruithne of Ireland. Congal-Claon, brother, in 665. The family feuds which had the son of Scanlan, the king of the Cruithne long existed between the Fergusian races of in Ulster, having slain Suibne-Mean, a power- Comgal and Tauran, existed in their bitterest ful king of Ireland, was attacked by Domnal state durMg the reign of MaolduM. Doman- II., supreme king of Ireland, who succeeded gart, the son of Donal-breac, was murdered in Suibne, and was defeated in the battle of 672, and Conal, the son of Maolduin, was as- Duncetheren, in 629. Congal sought refuge sassinated in 675.

in Cantyre, and having persuaded Donal-breac, Ferchar-fada, or the tall, apparently of the the kinsman of Domnal, to join Mm in a war race of Lorn, and either the son or grandson of against the latter, they invaded Ireland with a Ferchar, who died in 637, seized the reins of heterogeneous mass of Scoto-Irish, Picts, Brit- government upon the death of Maolduin. On ons, and Saxons, commanded by Donal and the death of Ferchar, in 702, the sceptre passed his brothers. Cealach, the son of Maelcomh, again to the Fergusian race in the person of the nephew of the reigning king, and as tanist Eocha'-rineval, remarkable for Ms Eoman nose,

or heir-apparent, the leader of Ms army, at- the son of Domangart. The reign of this tacked Donal-breac in the plain of Magh Eath prince was short and unfortunate. His scep- or Moyra in Down, in 637, and completely de- tre was seized by Ainbheealach, the son of feated him after an obstinate and bloody en- Ferchar-fada, who succeeded Eocha' in 705. gagement. Congal, the murderer of his sov- He was of an excellent disposition, but after ereign, met Ms merited fate, and Donal-breac reigning one year, was detMoned by his was obliged to secure Ms own and Ms army's brother, Selvach, and obliged, in 706, to take safety by a speedy return to Cantyre. St. Co- refuge m Ireland. Selvach attacked the lumba had always endeavoured to preserve an Britons of Strathcluyd, and gamed two succes- amicable understanding between the Cruithne sive victories over them, the one at Longecoleth of Ulster and the Scoto-Irish, and his injunc- m 710, and the other at the rock of Mionuirc tions were, that they should live in constant in 716. At the end of twelve years, Ainbheeal- peace; but Donal disregarded the wise advice ach returned from Ireland, to regain a sceptre of the saint, and paid dearly for so doing. He which his brother had by his cruelties shown was not more successful M an enterprise against Mmself unworthy to wield, but he perished in the Picts, having been defeated by them in the the battle cf Finglein, perhaps Glen Fyne at battle of GIMne Mairison, Glenmairison, or the head of Loch Fyne, in 719. Selvach met a Glenmoreson, probably in West Lothian/' more formidable rival M Duncha-beg, who was descended from Fergus, by the line of Congal

6 Skene's Chron. of Picts and Scots, p. cxv. he assumed the government of Cantyre and DALEIADIC KINGS. 43

Argail, and confined Selvach to his family the Picts on this occasion, and pursued the

settlement of Lorn. These two princes ap- flying Scots. In this pursuit Muredach is pear to have been fairly matched in disposi- supposed to have perished, after a reign of

tion and valour, and both exerted themselves three }-ears. for the destruction of one another, thus bring- Eogban or Ewan, the son of Muredach, took ing many miseries upon their tribes. In an up the fallen succession in 73C, and died in attempt which they made to invade the ter- 739, in which year the Dalriadic sceptre was ritories of each other in 719 by means of cur- assumed by Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' LIT., raehs, a naval combat ensued off Airdeanesbi, and grandson of Eocha'-rineval, descended (probably Axdaness on the coast of Argyle,) in from the Fergusian race of Gauran. In 740

which Selvach was overcome by Duncha ; but he measured his strength with the celebrated Selvach was not subdued. The death of Ungus; but victory declared for neither, and Duncha in 721 put an end to his designs; but during the remainder of Ungus' reign, he did Eocha' III., the son of Eocha'-Tineval, the suc- not attempt to renew hostilities. After the cessor of Duncha, being as bent on the over- death of Ungus, in 761, Aodh-fin declared war throw of Selvach as his predecessor, continued against the Picts, whose territories he entered the war. The rival chiefs met at Irroisfoichne from Upper Lorn, penetrating through the in 727, where a battle was fought, which pro- passes of Glenorehy and Breadalbane. In 767 duced nothing but irritation and distress. he reached Forte viot, the Pictish capital in This lamentable state of things was put an end Strathearn, where he fought a doubtful battle to by the death of Selvach in 729. This with Ciniod the Pictish king. Aodh-fin died event enabled Eocha to assume the govern- in 769, after a splendid reign of thirty years." ment of Lorn, and thus the Dalriadan kingdom Fergus II., son of Aodh-fin, succeeded to which had been alternately ruled by chiefs of the sceptre on the demise of his father, and the houses of Fergus and Lorn became again died after an unimportant reign of three years united under Eocha. He died in 733, after a Selvach II., the son of Eogan, assumed the reign of thirteen years, during nine of which government in 772. His reign, which lasted he ruled over Cantyre and Argyle, and four twenty-four years, presents nothing very re- over all the Dalriadic tribes. markable in history. Eocha was succeeded in the kingdom by A new sovereign of a different lineage, now Muredach, the son of Ainbhceallach, of the mounted the throne of the Scots in 796, in the race of Lorn. His reign was short and unfor- person of Eocha or Auchy, the son of Aodh-fin tunate. In revenge for an act of perfidy committed by Dungal, the son of Selvach, who 7 Dr. Skene, in Lis preface to tie CLronieles of tlie had carried off Forai or Torai, the daughter of Hots and Sects, endeavours to prove, by very plausible reasoning, and by comparison of various lists of I trade, and the niece of Ungus, the great Pictish kings, that for a century previous to the accession of king, the latter, in the year 736, led his army Kenneth to tbe Pictish throne, Dalriada was under subjection to tbe Anglian monarchy, and was ruled from Strathearn, through the passes of the by Pictish sovereigns. In an able paper, however, mountains into Lorn, which he wasted with read recently by Dr. Archibald Smith before tbe Anti- quarian Society of Scotland, he shows that Argylesbire fire arid sword. He seized Dunad, in Mid-Lorn, was invaded but not subdued by Ungus, king of the and burned Creie, another fortress in the Eoss Picts, in 736 and 741. Dr. Smith supported his conclusion by reference to passages in the annals of Tiger- of Mull, taking Dungal and Feradach, the two nach, of Ulster, and the Albanic Duau, which seemed sons of Selvach, prisoners. Muredach went in to him to give an intelligible and continuous account succession in Dalriada, but afforded no coun- pursuit of his enemy, and having overtaken of regal tenance to the theory of Pinkerton of tbe entire eon- him at Knock Cairpre, at Calatros, on the shores quest of the Scots in Britain by Ungus, nor to the Dr. Skene has come to, viz., the complete of the Linne, G a battle ensued, in which the conclusion supremacy of the Picts in the Scottish Dalriada, and Scots were repulsed with great slaughter. the extinction of Dalriada as a Scottish nation from 741 to the era of a new Scottish kingdom Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, commanded the vear founded by Kenneth Maealpin in the year 843. On the contrary, he was convinced that Aodh-lionn was the restorer of its full liberty to the crushed section of 11 Dr. Reeves supposes this to be Cuirass in Perth- Lorn, and that he was. at the close of his career, tbe shire. Maclaiichlan. — independent ruler of Dalriada as a Scottish nation. H GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. of the Gauran race. Eocha' IV. is known also the two countries were prepared for a fusion by the latinized appellation of Achaius. The whenever a proper opportunity offered, but story of the alliance "between Achaius and that this was on account of a matrimonial alli- Charlemagne has been shown to be a fable; ance between the two royal houses cannot with 9 although it is by no means improbable that he certainty be ascertained. As we have said entered into an important treaty with the already, it is extremely improbable that Ken- Picts, by marrying Urgusia, the daughter of neth gained his supremacy by extermination.

Urguis, an alliance which, it is said, enabled The Picts certainly appear to have suffered his grandson Kenneth afterwards to claim and severe defeat, but the likelihood is that after acquire the Pictish sceptre, in right of Urgusia Kenneth succeeded to the throne, a gradual his grandmother. Eocha died in 826, after a fusion of the two people took place, so that in happy and prosperous reign of thirty years. course of time they became essentially one, He was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Sel- speaking one language, obeying the same laws, vach II., of the race of Lorn, being the last of and following the same manners and customs. that powerful family who swayed the Dalri- If we knew for certain to what race the Picts adic sceptre. After a feeble but stormy reign belonged, and what language they spoke, it of seven years, he died in 833. might help us not a little to understand the

Alpin, the last of the Scoto-Irish kings, and nature and extent of the amalgamation ; but as the son of Eocha TV. and of Urgusia, now we know so little about these, and as the mounted the throne. He was killed in 836, chroniclers, in speaking of this event, are so near the site of Laicht castle, on the ridge enigmatical and meagre, we are left almost en- which separates Kyle from Galloway. The tirely to conjecture. We are certain, at any fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the rate, that from some cause or other, the kings Picts, when asserting his right to the Pictish of the Dalriadic Scots, about the middle of the throne, has long been exploded. 9 th century, obtained supremacy over at least In 836 Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded the Southern Picts, who from that time forward his father. He was a prince of a warlike dis- ceased to be a separate nation. J position, and of great vigour of mind and body. 9 He avenged the death of his father by frequent See Skene's preface to Chronicle of Picts and Scott, p. xcviii. et seq. , for some curious and ingenious spe- inroads among the people dwelling to the culation on this point. 1 We shall take the liberty of quoting here an ex- south of the Clyde ; but the great glory of liis tract from an able and ingenious paper read by Dr. reign consists in his achievements against the Skene before the Soc. of Ant., in June 1861, and Picts, which secured for him and his posterity quoted in Dr. Gordon's Scoticlironicon, p. 83. It will help, we think, to throw a little light on this the Pictish sceptre. The Pictish power had, dark subject, and assist the reader somewhat to under- previous to the period of Kenneth's accession, stand the nature and extent of the so-called Scottish conquest. " The next legend which bears upon the been gTeatly enfeebled by the inroads of the history of St. Andrews is that of St. Adrian, at 4th Danish Vikingr; but it was not till after the March. The best edition of this legend is in the Aber- deen Breviary, and it is as follows:—Adrian was a na- death of Uven, the Pictish king, in after 839, tive of Hungary, and after preaching there for some a distracted reign of three years, that Kenneth time, was seized with a desire to preach to other people; and having gathered together a company, he set made any serious attempt to seize the Pictish out ' ad orientales Scotia partes que tunc a Pictis oc- diadem. On the accession of Wred, Kenneth, eupabantur,' i.e., 'to the eastern parts of Scotland, which were then occupied by the Picts,' and landed in accordance with the principle of succession — there with 6,606 confessors, clergy, and people, among said by Bede to have prevailed among the whom were Glodianus, Gayus, Miuanus, Scobrandus, and others, chief priests. These men, with their Picts, claimed the Pictish throne in right of bishop, Adrian, 'deleto regno Pictorum, i.e., ' the Pictish Urgusia, his grandmother; Wred died in 842, kingdom being destroyed,'—did many signs, but afterwards desired to have a residence on and after an arduous struggle, Kenneth wrested the Isle of May. The Danes, who then devastated the whole of Britain, the sceptre from Ered,his successor, in 843, after came to the Island, and there slew them. Their mar- he had reigned over the Scots seven years. tyrdom is said to have taken place in the year 875 It will be observed that they are here said to have 8 thinks Burton there can be no doubt that settled in the east part of Scotland, opposite the Isle of May, that is in Fife, while the Picts still occupied it; that the Pictish kingdom is then said to have been 8 Scotland, i. vol. p. 329. destroyed; and that their martyrdom took place in 875, —' —'

The history of the Seoto-Ixish kings affords mitigated these disorders; for the claim to rule few materials either amusing or instructive: not being regulated by any fixed law of hered- but it was impossible, from the connexion be- itary succession, but depending upon the tween that history and the events that will capricious will of the tribe, rivals were not follow in detail, to pass it over in silence. found wanting to dispute the rights so con- The Scoto-Irish tribes appear to have adopted ferred. There was always, both in Ireland and much the same form of government as existed in Argyle, an heir presumptive to the Crown in Ireland at the time of their departure from chosen, under the name of tanist, who com- that kingdom : the sovereignty of which, though manded the army during the life of the reign- nominally under one head, was in reality a ing sovereign, and who succeeded to him after pentarchjj, which allowed four provincial kings his demise. Budgets, and committees of sup- to dispute the monarchy of the fifth This ply, and taxes, were wholly unknown in those system was the prolific source of anarchy, times among the Scots, and the monarch was assassinations, and civil wars. The Dalriads obliged to support his dignity by voluntary were constantly kept in a state of intestine contributions of clothes, cattle, furniture, and commotion and mutual hostility by the preten- other necessaries. . sions of their rival chiefs, or princes of the There is reason to believe that tradition sup- three races, who contended with the common plied the place of written records for many sovereign for pre-eminence or exemption. The ages after the extinction of the Druidical super- (Uighe-tanaiste, or law of tanistry. which ap- stition. Hence among the Scots, traditionary pears to have been generally followed as in usages and local customs long supplied the Ireland, as well in the succession of kings as place of positive or written laws. It is a mis- in that of chieftains, rather increased than take to suppose, as some writers have done, thirty years after the Scottish conquest under Kenneth main cause of the overthrow of the Pictish kingdom, M'Alpin. Their arrival was therefore almost coinci- a century and a half later, this very cause. It says dent with the Scottish conquest; and the large num- 'Dens enim eos pro merito suse malitije alienos ac ber said to have come, not the modest twenty-one who otiosos haareditate dignatus est facere, quia illi non arrived with Eegulus, but 6,606 confessors, clergy, and solum Deum, missanx, ac prseceptnm spreverunt sed et people, shows that the traditionary history was really in jure aequalitatis aliis aequi pariter noluerunt.' I.e., one of an invasion, and leads to the suspicion at once ' For God, on account of their wickedness, deemed that it was in reality a part of the Scottish occupation them worthy to be made hereditary strangers and of the Pictish kingdom. This suspicion is much idlers; because they contemned not only God, the mass, strengthened by two corroborative circumstances: 1st, and the precept (of the Church), but besides refused the year 875, when they are said to have been slain by to be regarded as on the same equality with others the Danes, falls in the reign of Constantine, the son of They were overthrown, not only because they despised Kenneth Macalpin, in his fourteenth year, and in this ' Deum missam et pneceptum,' but because they would year the Pictish chronicle records a battle between the not tolerate the other party. And this great griev- Danes and the Scots, and adds, that after it, ' occasi vance was removed, when St. Andrews appears at the sunt Scotti in Coaehcoehlum,' which seems to refer to head of the Scottish Church in a solemn Concordat this very slaughter. 2d. Hector Boeee preserves a with the king Constantine, when, as the Pictish different tradition regarding their origin. He says Chronicle tells us, ' Constantinus Eex et Cellachus ' Son desunt qui scribant sanetissimos Christi mar- Episcopus leges disciplinasque fidei atque jura ecclesi- tyros Hungaros fuisse. Alii ex Seotis Anglisque gre- arum evangeliorum que pariter cum Scottis devoverunt garie collccios'— i.e., ' Some write that the most holy custodiri.' I.e., ' King Constantine and Bishop Kel- martyrs of Christ were Hungarians. Others (say) lach vowed to preserve the laws and discipline of the that they were collected from the Scots and English. faith and the rights of the churches and gospels,

There was therefore a tradition that the clergy slain equally with the Scots. ' Observe the parallel language were not Hungarians, but a body composed of Scotti of the two passages. In the one, the ' Picti in jure and AnglL But Hadrian was a bishop; he landed in tequalitatis aliis,' that is, the Scottish clergy, 'aequi the east of Fife, within the parochia of S. Eegulus, and pariter noluerunt,' and in the other the King and the he is placed at the head of some of the lists of bish- Bishop of St. Andrews ' vowed to preserve the laws ops of St. Andrews as first bishop. It was there- and discipline of the faith' 'pariter cum Scottis,' the fore the Church of St. Andrews that then consisted of thing the Picts would not do. It seems plain, there- clergy collected from among the Scotti and the Augli. fore, that the ecclesiastical element entered largely into The Angli probably represented the Church of Acca, the Scottish conquest; and a main cause and feature and the Scotti those brought in by Adrian. The real of it was a determination on the part of the Scottish signification of this occupation of St. Andrews by clergy to recover the benefices they had been deprived Scottish clergy will be apparent when we recollect of. The exact coincidence of this great clerical inva- that the Columban clergy, who had formerly pos- sion of the parochia of St. Andrews by ecclesiastics, sessed the chief ecclesiastical seats among the Picts, said by one tradition to have been Scots, and the sub- had been expelled in 717, and Anglic clergy intro- sequent position of St Andrews as the head of the duced—the cause of quarrel being the difference of Scottish Church, points strongly to this as the tme their usages. Sow, the Pictish chronicle states as the historic basis of the legend of S. Adrian." 4G GENEBAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

that the law consisted in the mere will of the the practice alluded to. But this practice was

Brehon or judge. The office of Breitheamhuin not peculiar to the Druids ; for all nations, in or Brehon was hereditary, and it is quite the early stages of society, have followed a natural to infer, that under such a system of similar custom. The Tings of the Scandina- jurisprudence, the dictum of the judge might vians, which consisted of circular enclosures of not always comport with what was understood stone, without any covering, and within which to he the common law or practice; but from both the judicial and legislative powers were

thence, to argue that the will of the judge was exercised, afford a striking instance of this. to be regarded as the law itself, is absurd, and According to Pliny, 4 even the Eoman Senate

contrary to every idea of justice. As the prin- first met in the open air, and the sittings of ciple of the rude jurisprudence of the Celtic the Court of the Areopagus, at Athens, were so

tribes had for its object the reparation, rather held. The present custom of holding courts of than the prevention of crim es, almost every crime, justice in halls is not of very remote antiquity even of the blackest kind, was commuted by in Scotland, and among the Scoto-Irish, the a mulct or payment. Tacitus observes in allu- baron bailie long continued to dispense justice sion to this practice, that it was " a temper to the baron's vassals from a mootliill or emi- wholesome to the commonwealth, that homi- nence, which was generally on the bank of a cide and lighter transgressions were settled by river, and near to a religious edifice. the payment of horses or cattle, part to the Of the various customs and peculiarities king or community, part to him or his friends which distinguished the ancient Irish, as well who had been wronged." The law of Scotland as the Scoto-Irish, none has given rise to long recognised this system of compensation. greater speculation than that of fosterage; The fine was termed, under the Brehon law, which consisted in the mutual exchange, by eric, which not only signifies a reparation, but different families, of their children for the pur- also a fine, a ransom, a forfeit. Among the pose of being nursed and bred. Even the son

Albanian Scots it was called cro, a term pre- of the chief was so entrusted during pupilarity served in the Regiam Majestatern, which has with an inferior member of the clan. An ade- a whole chapter showing " the cro of ilk man, quate reward was either given or accepted in 2 how mikil it is." This law of reparation, every case, and the lower orders, to whom the according to O'Connor, was first promulgated trust was committed, regarded it as an honour in Ireland, in the year 164. s According to rather than a service. " Five hundred kyne the Regiam Majestatern, the cro of a villain and better," says Campion, " were sometimes was sixteen cows; of an earl's son or thane, one given by the Irish to procure the nursing of a hundred; of an earl, one hundred and forty; great man's child." A firm and indissoluble and that of the king of Scots, one thousand attachment always took place among foster- cows, or three thousand oras, that is to say, brothers, and it continues in consequence to be three oras for every cow. a saying among Highlanders, that " affectionate

Besides a share of the fines imposed, the to a man is a friend, but a foster-brother is as Brehon or judge obtained a piece of arable the life-blood of his heart." Camden observes, land for his support. When he administered that no love in the world is comparable by justice, he used to sit sometimes on the top of many degrees to that of foster-brethren in Ire- 5 a hillock or heap of stones, sometimes on turf, land. The close connexion which the practice and sometimes even on the middle of a bridge, of fosterage created between families, while it surrounded by the suitors, who, of course, frequently prevented civil feuds, often led to pleaded their own cause. We have already them. But the strong attachment thus created seen that, under the system of the Druids, the was not confined to foster-brothers, it also offices of religion, the instruction of youth, and extended to their parents. Spenser relates oi the administration of the laws, were conducted the foster-mother to Murrough O'Brien, that, in the open air; and hence the prevalence of at his execution, she sucked the blood from his

4 Lib. viii. c. 45. 2 J Lib. iv c. xxiv. O'Connor's Dissert •' Holland's Camden, Ireland, p. 1 1 1>. LIST OF PICTISH KINGS. head, and bathed her face and breast with it, the Highlanders not hitherto mentioned. We saying that it was too precious to fall to the shall conclude this chapter by giving lists of earth. the Pictish and Scoto-Irish Kings, which are

It is unnecessary, at this stage of our labours, generally regarded as authentic. A great many to enter upon the subject of clanship ; we other names are given by the ancient chroniclers

mean to reserve our observations thereon till previous to the points at which the following we come to the history of the clans, when we lists commence, but as these are considered as shall also notice some peculiarities or traits of totally untrustworthy, we shall omit them.

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS, CHIEFLY ACCORDING TO THE PICTISH CHRONICLE.

Date Date of Duration of Series. NAMES AND FILIATIONS. of Accession. Reigns. Death.

1 Drust, the son of Erp, ..... 451 2 Talorc, the son of Aniel, 451 4 years. 455 3 Necton Morbet, the son of Erp, 455 25 ... 480

4 Drest Gurthinmoch, 480 30 ... 510

5 Galanau Etelich, or Galanan Ereleuh. 510 12 ... 522 6 Dadrest, .... 522 1 ... 523 7 Drest, the son of Girora, 523 1 ... 524 Drest, the son of Wdrest, with the former, 524 5 529 Drest, the son of Girom, alone, 529 5 "] 534

8 Gartnach, the son of Girom, . . 534 7 541 ''' 9 Gealtraim, or Cailtraim, the son of Girom, 541 1 542

10 Talorg, the son of Muircholaich, 542 11 ... 553

11 Drest, the son of Munait, 553 1 ... 554

12 Galam, with Aleph, 554 1 ... 555

Galam, with Bridei, 555 1 ... 556

13 Bridei, the son of Mailcon, 556 30 ... 586

14 Gartnaich, the son of Domelch, or Donald, 586 11 ... 597

15 Nectu, or Neohtan, the nephew of Verb, 597 20 ... 617

16 Cineooh, or Kenneth, the sou of Luthrin, 617 19 ... 636

17 Garnard, the son of Wid, 636 4 ... 640

18 Bridei, the son of Wid, 640 5 ... 645

19 Talorc, their brother, . 645 12 ... 657

20 Talloroan, the son of Enf ret, . 657 4 ... 661 6.i 21 Gartnait, the son of Donnel. . 661 ... 667 22 Drest, his brother, 667 7 674 23 Bridei, the son of Bili, 674 21 '.'.'. 695

24 Tauan, the son of Entifidich, . 695 4 ... 699

25 Bridei, the son of Dereli, 699 11 ... 710

26 Nechton, the son of Dereli, 710 15 ... 725

27 Drest, and Elpin, 725 5 ... 730

28 Ungd"S, or Onnust, the son of Urguist, 730 31 ... 761

29 Bridei, the son of Wirguist, 761 2 ... 763

30 Ciniooh, or Kenneth, the son of Wredech, 763 12 ... 775

31 Elpin, the son of Wroid, 775 3i ... 779 5" 32 Drest, the son of Talorgan, 779 ... 784 33 Talorgan, the son of Ungus or Angus, 784 n ... 7S6

l 5" 34 Canaul, the son of Tarla, 786 .,, 791

35 Constantine, the son of Urguist, 791 30 ... 821

36 Ungus, the son of Urguist, S21 12 ... 833

Drest, the son of Constantine, and Talorgan, th e son of ( 37 833 ... 836 Wthoil, .... 3 38 Uuen, or Uven, the son of Ungus, 836 3 ... 839

39 Wrad, the son of Bargoit, 839 3 ... 842

40 Bred, or Biuddi, S42 1 ... 843 , . — )

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTO-IRISH KINGS, FROM THE YEAR 503 TO 843.

Date Date of Duration of Series. NAMES AND FILIATIONS. of Accession. Reigns. Death.

A. D. Years. A.D. 1 Fekgds, the son of Ere. .... 503 3 506 2 Domangart. the son of Fergus. 506 5 511 3 Comqal, the son of Domangart, 511 24 535 4 Gavran, the son of Domangart. 535 22 557 D Conal, the son of Comgal, 557 14 571 6 Aidan, the son of Gavran, 571 34 605 7 EoACHA'-Bui, the son of Aidan, 605 16 621 S KENNETH-Cear, the son of Eoacha'-Bui, 621 i 621

9 Ferchak, the son of Eogan, the first of the race of 1 621 16 637 Lorn, .... 10 Donal-Breac, the son of Eoacha'-Bui, . 637 5 642 11 Conal II., the grandson of Conal I. 642 10 652 t

12 Dungal reigned some years with Conal, i

13 DoNAL-Duin, the son of Conal, . 652 13 665

14 MAOL-Duin, the son of Conal, . 665 16 6S1 15 FERCHAR-Fada, the grandson of Ferchar 1., 681 21 702 16 EoACHA'-Rinevel, the son of Domangart, and th e grand- 702 3 705 son of Donal-hreac, . 17 Ainbhcealach, the son of Ferchar-fada, 705 1 706 son Ferchar-fada, over Lorn") I 18 Selvach, the of reigned from 706 to 729, .... 19 Duncha Beg reigned over Cantyre and Argaill till 720, 1 706 27 733

20 Eocha' III., the son of Eoacha'-rinevel, over Cantyre / and Argaill, from 720 to 729; and also over Lorn from 729 to 733, .... 21 Muredach, the son of Ainbhcealach, . 733 3 736 22 Eogan, the son of Muredach, 736 3 739 23 AoDH-Fiu, the son of Eoacha' III. 739 30 769 24 Fergus, the son of Aodh-fin, 769 3 772 25 Selvach II., the son of Eogan. 772 24 796 26 EoACHA'-Annuine IV., the son of Aodh-fin, 796 30 826 27 Dungal. the son of Selvach II., 826 7 833 2S Alpin, the son of Eoacha'-Annuine IV. 833 3 S36 29 Kenneth, the son of Alpin, 836 7 843

It is riglit to mention that the Albanic Duan Clyde, towards the present border, and north- omits the names between Ainbhcealach and wards beyond Inverness, and the fierce con- " Dungal (17—27), most of which, however, are tests that took place with the hardy Norse- " contained in the St. Andrews' list. men of Scandinavia and Denmark, who during this period continued not only to pour down upon the coasts and islands of Scotland, but to sway the destinies of the whole of Eu- GHAPTEE IV. rope. During this time the history of the

A. D. 843—1107. Highlands is still to a great extent the history of Scotland, and it was not till about the 12th The Norse Invasions— Kenneth—Constantine — Aodh —Grig and Eocha—Donald IV. —Constantine III. century that the Highlanders became, strictly —Danes— Battle of Brunanburg— Malcolm I. —In- speaking, a peculiar people, confined to the dulph—Dnff—Culen—Kenneth III.— Battle of Lun- territory whose boundaries were indicated in carty— Malcolm II. —Danes — Duncan — Thorfinn, Jarl of Orkney—Macbeth— Battle with Siwanl— Lu- the first chapter, having for their neighbours lach—Malcolm III. (Ceanmore)—Queen Margaret on the east and south a population of undoubt- Effect of Norwegian Conquest—Donal-bane—Edgar —Norsemen — Influx of Anglo-Saxons— Isolation of edly Teutonic origin. The Norse invasions not Highlands—Table of Kings. only kept Scotland in continual commotion at For about two centuries after the union of the the time, but must have exercised an impor- two kingdoms, the principal facts to be re- tant influence on its whole history, and contri- corded are the extension of the Scottish do- buted a new and vigorous element to its popu- minion southwards beyond the Forth and lation. These Vikingr. about the end of the ; ;

KENNETH—CONSTANTINE. 10

9th. century, became so powerful as to be able necessary to protect him and his people from

to establish a separate and independent king- insult. Eagnor Lodbrog (i. e., Pbagnor of the dom in Orkney and the Western Islands, which Shaggy Bones,) with his fierce Danes infested proved formidable not only to the Icing of the country round the Tay on the one side, and Scotland, but also to the powerful king of the Strathclyde Britons on the other, wasted Norway. " It is difficult to give them dis- the adjoin ing territories, and burnt Dunblane. tinctness without risk of error, and it is even Yet Kenneth overcame these embarrassments, hard to decide how far the mark left by these and made frequent incursions into the Saxon visitors is, on the one hand, the brand of the territories in Lothian, and caused his foes to devastating conqueror; or, on the other hand, tremble. After a brilliant and successful reign, the planting among the people then inhabiting Kenneth died at Forteviot, the Pictish. capital, Scotland of a high-conditioned race—a race 7 miles S.W. of Perth, on the 6th of February, uniting freedom and honesty in spirit with a 859, after a reign of twenty-three years. Ken- strong and healthy physical organization. It neth, it is said, removed the famous stone was in the north that the inroad preserved its which now sustains the coronation chair at most distinctive character, probably from its Westminster Abbey, from the ancient seat of weight, as most completely overwhelming the the Scottish monarchy in Argyle, to Scone. original population, whatever they might be Kenneth (but according to some Constantine, and though, in the histories, the king of Scots the Pictish king, in 820), built a church at appears to rule the northern end of Britain, the Dunkeld, to which, in 850, he removed the territory beyond Inverness and Fort-William relics of St. Columba from Iona, which at this had aggregated in some way round a local time was frequently subjected to the ravages magnate, who afterwards appears as a Maormor. of the Norsemen. He is celebrated also as a He was not a viceroy of the king of Norway: legislator, but no authentic traces of his laws and if he was in any way at the order of the now appear, the Macalpine laws attributed King of Scotland, he was not an obedient subor- to the son of Alpin being clearly apocryphal. dinate." 6 The sceptre was assumed by Donald III., Up to the time of Maebeda or Macbeth, the son of Alpin. He died in the year 863, after principle of hereditary succession to the throne, a short reign of four years. It is said he re- from father to son, appears not to have been stored the laws of Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha recognised; the only principle, except force, III. They were probably similar to the an- which seems to have been acted upon being cient Brehon laws of Ireland. that of collateral succession, brother succeeding Constantine, the son of Kenneth, succeeded to brother, and nephew to uncle. After the his uncle Donald, and soon found himself in- time of Macbeth, however, the hereditary volved in a dreadful conflict with the Danish principle appears to have come into full force, pirates. Having, after a contest which lasted to have been recognised as that by which alone half a century, established themselves in Ire- succession to the throne was to be regulated. land, and obtained secure possession of Dublin, The consolidation of the Scottish and Pict- the Vikingr directed their views towards the ish power under one supreme chief, enabled western coasts of Scotland, which they laid these nations not only to repel foreign aggres- waste. These ravages were afterwards ex- sion, but afterwards to enlarge their territories tended to the whole of the eastern coast, and beyond the Forth, which had hitherto formed, particularly to the shores of the Frith of Forth for many ages, the Pictish boundary on the but although the invaders were often repulsed, south. they never ceased to Tenew their attacks. In Although the power of the tribes to the the year 881, Constantine, in repelling an at- north of the Forth was greatly augmented by tack of the pirates, was slain at a place called

the union which had taken place, yet all the Merdo-fatha, or Werdo, probably the present genius and warlike energy of Kenneth were Perth, according to Maclauchlan. AocLh. or Hugh, the fair-haired, succeeded

6 brother Constantine. His reign was un- Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 354. his ;

50 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

fortunate, short, and troublesome. Grig, who Chieftains ; and the fourth by Reginald himself,

was Maormor, or chief, of the country between as a reserve. The Scots, with Constantine at the Dee and the Spey, having become a com- their head, made a furious attack on the first petitor for the crown, Aodh endeavoured to three divisions, which they forced to retire. put him down, but did not succeed; and having Reginald's reserve not being available to turn been wounded in a battle fought at Strath- the scale of victory against the Scots, the Danes allan, (or possibly Strathdon,) he was carried retreated during the night, and embarked on to Inverurie, where he died, after lingering two board their fleet. months, having held the sceptre only one year. After this defeat of the Danes, Constantine Grig now assumed the crown, and, either to enjoyed many years' repose. A long grudge secure his possession, or from some other had existed between him and iEthelstane, son motive, he associated with him in the govern- of Edward, the elder, which at last came to an ment Eocha, son of Ku, the British king of open rupture. Having formed an alliance with Strathclyde, and the grandson, by a daughter, several princes, and particularly with Anlof. of Kenneth Macalpin. After a reign of eleven king of Dublin as well as of Northumberland, years, both Eocha and Grig were forced to ab- and son-in-law of Constantine, the latter col- dicate, and gave way to lected a large fleet in the year 937, with which Donald IV., who succeeded them in S93. he entered the Humber. The hope of plunder During his reign the kingdom was infested by had attracted many of the Vikingr to Constan- the piratical incursions of the Danes. Al- tine's standard, and the sceptre of iEthelstanc- though they were defeated by Donald in a seemed now to tremble in his hand. But that bloody action at Collin, said to be on the Tay, monarch was fully prepared for the dangers near Scone, they returned under Ivar O'lvar, with which he was threatened, and resolved to from Ireland, in the year 904, but were gallantly meet his enemies in battle. After a long, repulsed, and their leader killed in a threat- bloody, and obstinate contest at Brunanburg, ened attack on Forteviot, by Donald, who un- near the southern shore of the Humber, victory fortunately also perished, after a reign of eleven declared for IEthelstane. Prodigies of valour years. In his reign the kings of present Scot- were displayed on both sides, especially by

land are no longer called reges Pictorum by the Turketel, the Chancellor of England ; by Anlof, Irish Annalists, but Hi Alban, or kings of and by the son of Constantine, who lost his

Alban ; and in the Pictish Chronicle Pictavia life. The confederates, after sustaining a heavy gives place to Albania. loss, sought for safety in their ships. This,

Constantine III. , the son of Aodh, a prince and after misfortunes, possibly disgusted Con- of a warlike and enterprising character, next stantine with the vanities of this world, for, followed. He had to sustain, during an un- in the fortieth year of his reign, he put into usually long reign, the repeated attacks of the practice a resolution which he had formed of Danes. In one invasion they plundered Dun- resigning his crown and embracing a monastic keld, and in 908, they attempted to obtain the life. He became Abbot of the Monastery of grand object of their designs, the possession of St. Andrews in 943, and thus ended a long Forteviot in Strathearn, the Pictish capital and chequered, but vigorous, and, on the whole, but in this design they were again defeated, successful reign in a cloister, like Charles V. and forced to abandon the country. The Danes Towards the end of this reign the term Scot- remained quiet for a few years, but in 918 their land was applied to this kingdom by the fleet entered the Clyde, from Ireland, under Saxons, a term which before had been given the command of Reginald, where they were by them to Ireland. Constantine died in 952. attacked by the Scots in conjunction with the Malcolm I., the son of Donald IV., obtained

Northern Saxons, whom the ties of common the abdicated throne. He was a prince of safety had now united for mutual defence. great abilities and prudence, and Edmund of

Reginald is said to have drawn up his Danes England courted his alliance by ceding Cum- in four divisions ; the first headed by Godfrey bria, then consisting of Cumberland and part

O'lvar ; the second by Earls ; the third by of Westmoreland, to him, in the year 945, on ;

CONTESTS WITH DANES. 51

condition that lie would defend that northern his kingdom. During his reign the Danes county, and become the ally of Edmund. Ed- meditated an attack upon Forteviot, or Dun- red, the brother and successor of Edmund, ac- keld, for the purposes of plunder, and, with cordingly applied for, and obtained the aid of this view, they sailed up the Tay with a nu- Malcolm against Anlaf, king of Northumber- merous fleet. Kenneth does not appear to land, whose country, according to the barbarous have been fully prepared, being probably not

practice of the times, he wasted, and carried aware of the intentions of the enemy ; but col-

off the people with then- cattle. Malcolm, lecting as many of his chiefs and their followers after putting down an insurrection of the as the spur of the occasion would allow, he Moray-men under Cellach, their Maormor, or met the Danes at Luncarty, in the vicinity of chief, whom he slew, was sometime thereafter Perth. Malcolm, the Tanist, prince of Cum- slain, as is supposed, at Ulurn or Auldearn in berland, it is said, commanded the right wing Moray, by one of these men, in revenge for of the Scottish army; Duncan, the Maormor the death of his chief. of Athole, had the charge of the left: and Indulph, the son of Constantine III., suc- Kenneth, the king, commanded the centre. ceeded the murdered monarch in the year 953. The Danes with their battle-axes made dread- He sustained many severe confli cts with the ful havoc, and compelled the Scottish army Danes, and ultimately lost his life in 961, after to give way; but the latter was rallied hy a reign of eight years, in a successful action the famous Hay, the traditional ancestor of with these pirates, on the moor which lies to the Kinnoul family, and finally repulsed the the westward of Cullen. Danes, who, as usual, fled to their ships. Bur- Duff, the son of Malcolm I., now mounted ton thinks the battle of Luncarty " a recent the throne ; but Culen, the son of Indulf, laid invention." claim to the sceptre which his father had The defeat of the Danes enabled Kenneth wielded. The parties met at Drum Crup (pro- to turn his attention to the domestic concerns bably Crieff), and, after a doubtful struggle, of his kingdom. He appears to have directed in which Doncha, the Abbot of Dunkeld, and his thoughts to bring about a complete change

Dubdou, the Maormor of Athole, the partisans in the mode of succession to the crown, in or- of Culen, lost their lives, victory declared for der to perpetuate in and confine the crown to Duff. But this triumph was of short duration, his own descendants. This alteration could for Duff was afterwards obliged to retreat from not be well accomplished as long as Malcolm, Forteviot into the north, and was assassinated the son of Duff, the Tanist of the kingdom, at Forres in the year 965, after a brief and un- and prince of Cumberland, stood in the way; happy reign of four years and a half. and, accordingly, it has been said that Kenneth Culen, the son of Indulf, succeeded, as a was the cause of the untimely death of prince matter of course, to the crown of Duff, which Malcolm, who is stated to have been poisoned. he stained by his vices. He and his brother It is said that Kenneth got an act passed, Eocha were slain in Lothian, in an action with that in future the son, or nearest male heir, of the Britons of Strathclyde in 970, after an in- the king, should always succeed to the throne glorious reign of four years and a half. Dur- and that in case that son or heir were not of ing his reign Edinburgh was captured from age at the time of the king's demise, that a the English, this being the first known step person of rank should be chosen Regent of the in the progress of the gradual extension of the kingdom, until the minor attained his four- Scottish kingdom between the Forth and the teenth year, when he should assume the reins 7 Tweed. of government; but whether such a law was Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., and brother really passed on the moot-hill of Scone or not, of Duff, succeeded Culen the same year. He of which we have no evidence, certain it is waged a successful war against the Britons of that two other princes succeeded to the crown Strathclyde, and annexed their territories to before Malcolm the son of Kenneth. Ken-

neth, after a reign of twenty-four years, was, it

7 Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 76. is said, in 994 assassinated at Fettercairn by r>2 GENEKAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

8 Finella, the wife of the Maormor of the his daughter ; but this was no singular trait in Mearns, and the daughter of Cunechat, the the character of a Vikingr, who plundered Maormor of Angus, in revenge for having put friends and foes with equal pleasure. The her only son to death. It has been thought scene of Sigurd's operations was chosen by that till this time the Maormorship of Angus his brother northmen for making a descent, was in some measure independent of the Scot- which they effected near Speyniouth. They tish crown, never having thoroughly yielded carried fire and sword through Moray, and to its supremacy, that the death of the young laid siege to the fortress of Nairn, one of chief took place in course of an effort on the the strongest in the north. The Danes were part of Kenneth for its reduction, and that forced to raise the siege for a time, by Mal- Kenneth himself was on a visit to the quarter colm, who encamped his army in a plain near at the time of his death, for exacting the usual Kilflos or Kinloss. In this position he was royal privileges of cam and cuairt, or a certain attacked by the invaders, and, after a severe tax and certain provision for the king and his action, was forced to retreat, after being seri- followers when on a journey, due by the chiefs ously wounded. or landholders of the kingdom. 9 Malcolm, in 1010, marched north with his Constantine IV., son of Culen, succeeded; army, and encamped at Mortlach. The Danes but his right was disputed by Kenneth, the advanced to meet the Scots, and a dreadful

Grim, i. e. strong, son of Duff. The dis- and fierce conflict ensued, the result of which

pute was decided at Eathveramon, i. e. the was long dubious. At length the northmen castle at the mouth of the Almond, near gave way and victory declared for Malcolm.

Perth, where Constantine lost his life in the Had the Danes succeeded they would in all year 995. probability have obtained as permanent a foot-

Kenneth IV., the son of Duff, now obtained ing in North Britain as they did in England ; the sceptre which he had coveted ; but he was but the Scottish kings were determined, at all disturbed in the possession thereof by Malcolm, hazards, never to suffer them to pollute the soil the son of Kenneth III., heir presumptive to of Scotland by allowing them even the smallest the crown. Malcolm took the held in 1003, settlement in their dominions. In gratitude and decided his claim to the crown in a bloody to God for his victory, Malcolm endowed a battle at Monivaird, in Strathearn, in which religious house at Mortlach, with its church Kenneth, after a noble resistance, received a erected near the scene of action. Maclauchlan, mortal wound. however, maintains that this church was Malcolm II. now ascended the vacant throne, planted by Malcolm Ceanmore. but was not destined to enjoy repose. At the Many other conflicts are narrated with mi- very beginning of his reign he was defeated at nute detail by the later chroniclers as having Durham by the army of the Earl of Northum- taken place between Malcolm and the Danes, berland, under his son Uchtred, who ordered but it is very doubtful how far these are wor- a selection of good-looking Scotch heads to he thy of credit. That Malcolm had enough to stuck on the walls of Durham. do to prevent the Danes from overrunning The Danes, who had now obtained a firm Scotland and subduing the inhabitants can footing in England, directed their attention in readily be believed ; but as we have few au- an especial manner to Scotland, which they were thentic particulars concerning the conflicts in. hopes of subduing. Sigurd, the Earl of which took place, it would serve no purpose Orkney, carried on a harassing and predatory to give the imaginary details invented by com- warfare on the shores of the Moray Frith, paratively recent historians. which he continued even after a matrimonial Some time after this Malcolm was engaged alliance he formed with Malcolm, by marrying in a war with the Northumbrians, and, having led his army, in 1018, to Carham, near Werk, 8 According to Skene, Finella is a corruption of Finuelc or Finole Cunchar, Earl of Angus. —Skene's on the southern bank of the Tweed, where he Annals of the Picts and Scots, p. cxliv. was met by Uchtred, the Earl of Northumber- 9 Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church, p. 306. took place, which was Robertson's Scot, under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. 88. land, a desperate battle MALCOLM—DUNCAN. 53

contested with, great valour on both sides. 1 cohn is justly entitled to this praise, he by no The success was doubtful on either side, though means came up to the standard of perfection Uchtred claimed a victory; hut he did not assigned him by fiction. In his reign Scot-

long enjoy the fruits of it, as he was soon land appears to have reached its present bound- thereafter assassinated when on his road to ary on the south, the Tweed, and Strathclyde pay obeisance to the great Canute. Endulf, was incorporated with the rest of the kingdom. the brother and successor of Uchtred, justly Malcolm was the first who was called Rex dreading the power of the Scots, was induced Scotice, and might justly claim to be so desig-

to cede Lothian to Malcolm for ever, who, on nated, seeing that he was the first to hold this occasion, gave oblations to the churches sway over nearly the whole of present Scot- and gifts to the clergy, and they in return land,—the only portions where his authority transmitted his name to posterity. He was appears to have been seriously disputed being designed, par excellence, by the Latin chroni- those in which the Danes had established clers, rex victoriosissimus ; by St. Berchan, the themselves. Forranach or destroyer. Duncan, son of Bethoc or Beatrice, daughter The last struggle with which Malcolm was of Malcolm II., succeeded his grandfather in threatened, was with, the celebrated Canute, the year 1033. " In the extreme north, do- who, for some cause or other not properly ex- minions more extensive than any Jarl of the Orkneys had hitherto acquired, were plained, entered Scotland in the year 1031 ; united but these powerful parties appear not to have under the rule of Thorfinn, Sigurd's son, whose come to action. Canute's expedition appears, character and appearance have been thus de-

: — from what followed, to have been fitted out to scribed ' He was stout and strong, but very compel Malcolm to do homage for Cumber- ugly, severe and cruel, but a very clever man.' land, for it is certain that Malcolm engaged to The extensive districts then dependant upon fulfil the conditions on which his predecessors the Moray Maormors were in the possession of had held that country, and that Canute there- the celebrated Macbeth." 2 Duncan, in 1033, after returned to England. desiring to extend his dominions southwards, But the reign of Malcolm was not only dis- attacked Durham, but was forced to retire tinguished by foreign wars, but by civil con- with considerable loss. His principal strug- tests between rival chiefs. Finlegh, the Maor- gles, however, were with his powerful kins- mor of Boss, and the father of Macbeth, was man, Thorfinn, whose success was so great that assassinated in 1020, and about twelve years he extended his conquests as far as the Tay. thereafter, Maolbride, the Maormor of Moray, " His men spread over the whole conquered grandfather of Lulach, was, in revenge for country," says the Orlmeyinga Saga, 3 " and Finlegh's murder, burnt within his castle, with burnt every hamlet and farm, so that not a cot fifty of his men. remained. Every man that they found they

At length, after a splendid reign of thirty slew ; but the old men and women fled to the years, Malcolm slept with his fathers, and his deserts and woods, and filled the country with body was transferred to Iona, and interred lamentation. Some were driven before the with due solemnity among the remains of his Norwegians and made slaves. After this Earl predecessors. By some authorities he is said Thorfinn returned to his ships, subjugating the to have been assassinated at Glammis. country everywhere in his progress," Duncan's

Malcolm was undoubtedly a prince of great last battle, in which he was defeated, was in acquirements. He made many changes and the neighbourhood of Burghead, near the some improvements in the internal policy of his Moray Frith ; and shortly after this, on the kingdom, and in him religion always found a 14th August, 1040, he was assassinated in guardian and protector. But although Mal- Bothgowanan,—which, in Gaelic, is said to mean " the smith's hut,"—by his kinsman the 1 The last we hear of any king or ruler of Strath- clyde was one that fought on Malcolm's side in this battle ; and presently afterwards the attenuated state 2 is found, without auy conflict, absorbed in the Scots Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. p. 113. J king's dominions. —Burton, vol. i. p. 367. As quoted by Skene, Highlanders, vol. i. p. 11:?. 54 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Maornior Macbeda or Macbeth. Duncan had ing to Skene (Chronicles), it was in August, reigned only five years when he was assassi- 1057. nated by Macbeth, leaving two infant sons, Macbeth was unquestionably a man of Malcolm and Donal, by a sister of Siward, the great vigour, and well fitted to govern in the

Earl of Northumberland. The former fled to age in which he lived ; and had it not been Cumberland, and the latter took refuge in the for the indelible character bestowed upon him Hebrides, on the death of their father. by Shakespere (who probably followed the Macbeth, " snorting with the indigested chronicle of Holinshed), his character might fumes of the blood of his sovereign," imme- have stood well with posterity. " The deeds diately seized the gory sceptre. As several which raised Macbeth and his wife to power fictions have been propagated concerning the were not in appearance much worse than others history and genealogy of Macbeth, we may of their day done for similar ends. However

mention that, according to the most authentic he may have gained his power, he exercised it authorities, he was by birth Thane of Eoss, and with good repute, according to the reports by his marriage with the Lady Gruoch,—who nearest to his time." 4 Macbeth, " in a manner had a claim to the throne, as granddaughter of sacred to splendid infamy," is the first Icing of Kenneth,—became also Thane of Moray, dur- Scotland whose name appears in the ecclesias- ing the minority of Lulacli, the infant son of tical records as a benefactor of the church, and,

that lady, by her former marriage with Gilcom- it would appear, the first who offered his ser- gain, the Maormor or Thane of Moray. Lady vices to the Bishop of Borne. According to Gruoch was the daughter of Boedhe, son of the records of St. Andrews, he made a gift of

Kenneth IV. ; and thus Macbeth united in his certain lands to the monastery of Lochleven, own person many powerful interests which en- and certainly sent money to the poor of Borne,

abled him to take quiet possession of the if, indeed, he did not himself make a pilgrim- throne of the murdered sovereign. He, of age to the holy city. course, found no difficulty in getting himself After the reign of Macbeth, the former irre- inaugurated at Scone, under the protection of gular and confusing mode of succession ceased, the clans of Moray and Eoss, and the aid of and the hereditary principle was adopted and those who favoured the pretensions of the de- acted upon. scendants of Kenneth IV. Lulach, the great-grandson of Kenneth IV., Various attempts were made on the part of being supported by the powerful influence of the partisans of Malcolm, son of Duncan, to his own family, and that of the deceased dispossess Macbeth of the throne. The most monarch, ascended the throne at the age of

formidable was that of Siward, the powerful twenty-five or twenty-six ; but his reign lasted Earl of Northumberland, and the relation of only a few months, he having fallen in battle Malcolm, who, at the instigation or command at Essie, in Strathbogie, in defending his crown of Edward the Confessor, led a numerous army against Malcolm. The body of Lulach was in- into Scotland in the year 1054. They marched terred along with that of Macbeth, in Iona, the as far north as Divnsinnan, where they were met common sepulchre, for many centuries, of tho by Macbeth, who commanded his troops in Scottish kings. person. A furious battle ensued, but Macbeth Malcolm ITT., better known in history by fled from the field after many displays of cour- the name of Malcolm Ceanmore, or great head, age. The Scots lost 3,000 men, and the Sax- vindicated his claim to the vacant throne, and ons 1,500, including Osbert, the son of Siward. was crowned at Scone, 25th April, 1057. His

Macbeth retired to his fastnesses in the north, first care was to recompense those who had and Siward returned to Northumberland; but assisted him in obtaining the sovereignty,

Malcolm continued the war till the death of and it is said that he created new titles of

Macbeth, who was slain by Macduff, Thane of honour, by substituting earls for thanes ; but Fife, in revenge for the cruelties he had in- this has been disputed, and there are really no flicted on his family, at Lumphanan, in Aber-

4 deenshire, in the year 1056, although, accord- Burton's Scotland, vol. i. p. 372. MALCOLM—POPULATION. 55 data from which a certain conclusion can be chiefs, who had had the original right to pos- drawn. sess them. These chiefs appear to have been In the year 1059 Malcolm paid a visit to independent of the Scottish sovereign, and to Edward the Confessor, during whose reign he have caused him no small amount of trouble- lived on amicable terms with the English ; but A considerable part of Malcolm's reign was after the death of that monarch he made a spent in endeavouring to bring them into sub- hostile incursion into Northumberland, and jection, and before his death he had the satis- wasted the country.- He even violated the faction of seeing the whole of Scotland, with peace of St. Cuthbert in Holy Island. perhaps the exception of Orkney, acknowledg- "William, Duke of Normandy, having over- ing him as sole monarch. The Norwegian come Harold in the battle of Hastings, on the conquest appears to have effected a most im- 14th October, 1066, Edgar .ZEtheling saw no portant change in the character of the popu- hopes of obtaining the crown, and left Eng- lation and language of the eastern lowlands of land along with his mother and sisters, and the north of Scotland. The original po- sought refuge in Scotland. Malcolm, on hear- pulation must in some way have given way ing of the distress of the illustrious strangers, to a Norwegian one, and, whatever may left his royal palace at Dunfermline to meet have been the original language, we find them, and invited them to Dunfermline, where after this one of a decidedly Teutonic char- they were hospitably entertained. Margaret, acter prevailing in this district, probably in- one of Edgar's sisters, was a princess of great troduced along with the Norse population. " virtues and accomplishments ; and she at once In the more mountainous and Highland dis- won the heart of Malcolm. tricts, however, we are warranted in conclud- The offer of his hand was accepted, and their ing that the effect must have been very differ- nuptials were celebrated with great solemnity ent, and that the possession of the country by and splendour. This queen was a blessing to the Norwegians for thirty years could have ex- the king and to the nation, and appears to ercised as little permanent influence on the have well merited the appellation of Saint. population itself, as we are assured by the Saga

There are few females in history who can be it did upon the race of their chiefs. compared with Queen Margaret. " Previously to this conquest the northern

It is quite unnecessary, and apart from the Gaelic race possessed the whole of the north of object of the present work, to enter into any Scotland, from the western to the eastern sea, details of the wars between Malcolm and Wil- and the general change produced by the con- liam the Conqueror, and William Eufus. Suf- quest must have been, that the Gael were for fice it to say that both Malcolm and his eldest the first time confined within those limits which son Edward were slain in a battle on the Alne, they have never since exceeded, and that the on the 13th November, 1093, after a reign of eastern districts became inhabited by that thirty-six years. Queen Margaret, who was on Gothic race, who have also ever since possessed her death-bed when this catastrophe occurred, them." 5 died shortly after she received the intelligence On the demise of Malcolm, Donal-bane Iris with great composure and resignation to the brother assumed the government ; but Duncan, will of God. Malcolm had six sons, viz., Ed- the son of Malcolm, who had lived many years ward, who was killed along with his father, in England, and held a high military rank un- Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, and Da- der William Eufus, invaded Scotland with a vid, and two daughters, Maud, who was mar- large army of English and Normans, and forced ried to Henry I. of England, and Mary, who Donal to retire for safety to the Hebrides. married Eustache, Count of Boulogne. Of the Duncan, whom some writers suppose to have sons, Edgar, Alexander, and David, successively been a bastard, and others a legitimate son of came to the crown. Malcolm by a former wife, enjojr ed the crown Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, died in 1064, and only six months, having been assassinated by his extensive possessions in Scotland did not

s revert to his descendants, but to the native Skene's Highlanders, vol. i. p. 123. 5G GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Maolpeder, the Maormor of the Mearns, at Gallgael, " a horde of pirates, plundering on

Menteith, at the instigation, it is believed, their owti account, and under their own leaders,

of Donal. Duncan left, by his wife Ethreda, when they were not following the banner of daughter of Gospatriok, a son, "William, some- any of the greater sea-kings, whose fleets were times surnamed Fitz-Duncan. powerful enough to sweep the western seas, and Donal-bane again seized the sceptre, but exact tribute from the lesser island chieftains." 6 he survived Duncan only two years. Edgar Edgar died in 1107, and was succeeded by his

iEtheling having assembled an army in Eng- brother Alexander, whom . he enjoined to be- land, entered Scotland, and made Donal pri- stow upon his younger brother David the dis- soner in an action which took place in Septem- trict of Cumbria. ber 1097. He was imprisoned by orders of We have now arrived at an era in our his- Edgar, and died at Eoscobie in Forfarshire, tory, when the line of demarcation between the after having been deprived of his eyesight, ac- inhabitants of the Lowlands and Highlands of cording to the usual practice of the age. The Scotland begins to appear, and when, by the series of the pure Scoto-Irish longs may be said influx of a Gothic race into the former, the

to have ended with Donal-bane. language of that part of North Britain is com- The reign of Edgar, who appears to have pletely revolutionized, when a new dynasty or been of a gentle and peaceful disposition, is race of sovereigns ascends the throne, and when almost devoid of incident, the principal events a great change takes places in the laws and being the marriage of his sister Matilda to the constitution of the kingdom. English Henry, and the wasting and conquest Although the Anglo-Saxon colonization of of the Western Islands by Magnus Olaveson the Lowlands of Scotland does not come exactly and his Norwegians. This last event had but within the design of the present work; yet, as little effect on Scotland proper, as these Islands forming an important feature in the history of at that time can hardly be said to have belonged the Lowlands of Scotland, as contradistin-

to it. These Norsemen appear to have settled guished from the Highlands, a slight notice of

it may not be uninteresting. Shortly after the Eoman abdication of North Britain in the year 446, which was soon succeeded by the final departure of the Eomans from the British shores, the Saxons, a people of Gothic origin, established themselves upon

the Tweed, and afterwards extended their settlements to the Frith of Forth, and to the banks of the Solway and the Clyde. About the beginning of the sixth century the Dalriads, as we have seen, landed in Kintyre and Ar- gyle from the opposite coast of Ireland, and colonized these districts, whence, in the course of little more than two centuries, they overspread the Highlands and western islands, which their descendants have ever since continued to possess. Towards the end of the eighth century, a fresh colony of Scots from Ireland settled in Galloway among the Britons and Saxons, and having overspread the whole of that country, were afterwards joined by de- Seal of Edgar. tachments of the Scots of Kintyre and Argyle, among and mixed with the native inhabitants, in connection with, whom they peopled that and thus to have formed a population, spoken the of by the Irish Annalists under name of Early Kings, vol. i. p. 1 60. :

CHANGES IN POPULATION" AND LANGUAGE. 57 peninsula. Besides these three races, who Anglo-Normans, to whom he distributed lands, made permanent settlements in Scotland, the on which they and their followers settled. Scandinavians colonized the Orkney and Shet- Many of the illustrious fa mili es in Scotland land islands, and also established themselves originated from this source. on the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland, and Malcolm Ceanmore had, before his accession in the eastern part of the country north of the to the throne, resided for some time in Eng- Firth of Tay. land as a fugitive, under the protection of Ed- But notwithstanding these early settlements ward the Confessor, where he acquired a know- of the Gothic race, the era of the Saxon colon- ledge of the Saxon language ; which language, ization of the Lowlands of Scotland is, with after his marriage with the princess Margaret, more propriety, placed in the reign of Malcolm became that of the Scottish court. This cir- Ceamnore, who, hy his marriage with a Saxon cumstance made that language fashionable princess, and the protection he gave to the among the Scottish nobility, in consequence of Anglo-Saxon fugitives who sought an asy- which and of the Anglo-Saxon colonization un- lum in his dominions from the persecutions of der David I., the Gaelic language was altogether William the Conqueror and his Normans, laid superseded in the Lowlands of Scotland in the foundations of those great changes which little more than two centuries after the death took place in the reigns of his successors. of Malcolm. A topographical line of demar- Malcolm, in his warlike incursions into North- cation was then fixed as the boundary between umberland and Durham, carried off immense the two languages, which has ever since been numbers of young men and women, who were kept up, and presents one of the most singular to be seen in the reign of David I. in almost phenomena ever observed in the history of every village and house in Scotland. The philology.

Gaelic population were quite averse to the set- The change of the seat of government by tlement of these strangers among them, and it Kenneth, on ascending the Pictish throne, to is said that the extravagant mode of living in- Abernethy, also followed by the removal of troduced by the Saxon followers of Queen the marble chair, the emblem of sovereignty, Margaret, was one of the reasons which led to from Dunstaffhage to Scone, appears to have their expulsion from Scotland, in the reign of occasioned no detriment to the Gaelic popula-

Donal-bane, who rendered himself popular with tion of the Highlands ; but when Malcolm his people by this unfriendly act. Ceanmore transferred his court, about the year This expulsion was, however, soon rendered 1066, to Dunfermline,—which also became, in nugatory, for on the accession of Edgar, the place of Iona, the sepulchre of the Scottish first sovereign of the Scoto-Saxon dynasty, kings,—the rays of royal bounty, which had many distinguished Saxon famili es with their hitherto diffused their protecting and benign in- followers settled in Scotland, to the heads of fluence over the inhabitants of the Highlands, which families the king made grants of land of were withdrawn, and left them a prey to an- considerable extent. Pew of these foreigners archy and poverty. " The people," says Gen- appear to have come into Scotland during the eral David Stewart, " now beyond the reach of reign of Alexander I., the brother and suc- the laws, became turbulent and fierce, revenging cessor of Edgar ; but vast numbers of Anglo- in person those wrongs for which the adminis- Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings, estab- trators of the laws were too distant and too lished themselves in Scotland in the reign of feeble to afford redress. Thence arose the

David I. That prince had received his educa- institution of chiefs, who naturally became the tion at the court of Henry I., and had married judges and arbiters in the quarrels of their Maud or Matilda, the only child of Waltheof, clansmen and followers, and who were sur- Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, by rounded by men devoted to the defence of Judith, niece to William the Conqueror on the their rights, their property, and then- power mother's side. This lady had many vassals, and accordingly the chiefs established within and when David came to the throne, in the their own territories a jurisdiction almost year 1124, he was followed by a thousand wholly independent of their liege lord." 58 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The connection which Malcolm and his suc- court, in submitting to Saxon innovations. cessors maintained with England, estranged Previous to this the history of the Highlands

still farther the Highlanders from the dominion has been, to a very great extent, the history of

of the sovereign and the laws ; and their his- Scotland, and even for a considerable time after tory, after the population of the Lowlands had this, Scotia was applied strictly to the country merged into and adopted the language of the north of the Forth and Clyde, the district south Anglo-Saxons, presents, with the exception of of that being known by various other names. the wars between rival clans which will he no- During and after Edgar's time, the whole of ticed afterwards, nothing remarkable till their the country north of the Tweed became more

first appearance on the military theatre of our and more a counterpart of England, with its

national history in the campaigns of Montrose, thanes, its earls, and its sheriffs ; and even the

Dundee, and others. Highland rnaormors assumed the title of earl,

On the accession of Alexander I., then, in deference to the new customs. The High-

Scotland was divided between the Celt and landers, however, it is well known, for cen- the Saxon, or more strictly speaking, Teuton, turies warred against these Saxon innovations,

pretty much as it is at the present day, the becoming more and more a peculiar people,

Gaelic population having become gradually being, up till the end of the last century, a confined very nearly to the limits indicated in perpetual thorn in the flesh of their Saxon

the first chapter. They never appear, at least rulers and their Saxon fellow-subjects. They until quite recently, to have taken kindly to have a history of their own, which we deem Teutonic customs and the Teutonic tongue, and worthy of narration. 1 resented much the defection of their king in

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTTISH KINGS, FROM 843 TO 1097, ADJUSTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES.

1 Date of Duration of NAMES OF THE KINGS. Death. Accession. Reign.

A.D. Years. A.D. Kenneth Macalpine over the Scots and Picts, 843 16 859 DoNAL MACALPIN, 859 4 863 Oonstantine II., son of Kenneth, 863 18 8S1 Aodh, or Hugh, the son of Kenneth, 881 1 882 Eocha, or Achy, or Grig, jointly, 882 11 893 Donal IV., the son of Constantine, 893 11 904 Constantine III., the son of Aodh, 904 40 944* Malcolm I., son of Donal IV., 944 9 953 Indulf, the son of Constantine III., 953 8 961 Duf, the son of Malcolm I., 961 H 965 Culen, the son of Indulf, 965 4* 970 Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., 970 24 994 Constantine IV., son of Culen, 994 li 995 Kenneth IV., son of Duf, 995 8 1003 Malcolm II., son of Kenneth III., 1003 30 1033 Duncan, grandson of Malcolm II., 1033 6 1039 Macbeth, son of Finlegh, 1039 17 1056 Lulach, son of Gruoch and Gilcomgain, 1056 4i 1057 Malcolm III., Ceanmore, son of Duncan, 1057 36* 1093 Donald Bane, son of Duncan, 1093 I 1094 Duncan II., son of Malcolm III., 1094 i 1094 Donald Bane again, 1094 3 1097 Edgar, son of Malcolm III., 1097 9 1106

1 Since the above was written, the Book of Deer has been published ; what further information is to be * gained from it will be found at the end of this volume. Abdicated ; died 952. — —

IXSUBBECTIOXS IX THE HIGHLANDS. 59

ancient Moravienses. Never till then was CHAPTEE V. the power of the Moray chiefs thoroughly broken, and only then were the inhabitants i.D. 1107—1111. proscribed, and many of them expelled. The Murrays, afterwards so powerful, found their KLNCS OF SCOTLAND DURING THE PERIOD :

Alexander I.. 1107—1124. Kohert Bruce. 1306—1329. way to the south, carrying with them the name David L, 1124—1153. David n., 1329—1332. their Malcolm IV., 1153—1165. Edward Baliol. 1332—1341. of ancient country, and some of the present William the Lion. 1165—1214. Dai id II. 1341—1370. restored, tribes of Sutherland, as well as of Inverness- Alexander II., 1214—1249. Robert II. (Stewart), 1370— Alexander HI., 1249—1285. 1390. shire, who, there is reason to believe, belonged to Regency. 12S6—1290. Robert in.. 1390—1406. Interresmim. 1290—1292. James I., 1406—1436. the Scoto-Pictish inhabitants of Moray, removed John BalinL 1292—1306. their dwellings to those portions of the countrv

Alexander I. —David I. —Insurrections in Highlands which they have occupied ever since. The Somerled— Moravmen and Malcolm IV.— William race of Mac Heth may appear among the Mac The Lion—Disturbances in the Highlands—Ross- Heths or Aoidhs, the shire—Orkney—Alexander II. —Argyle—Caithness Mac Maekays of Suther- —Alexander III. —Disturbances in Ross—Expedi- land, nor is this rendered less probable by the tion of Haco—Battle of Largs—Robert Brnce—Ex- Morganaich or sons Morgan, the pedition into Lorn—Subdues Western Isles—Isles of ancient revolt under David II. and again submit—Contest name of the Maekays, appearing in the Book between the Monroes and Clan Chattan—The Clan of Deer as owning Chattan and the Camerons—Battle on Xorth Inch possessions and power in Wolf of Badenoch—His son Alexander Stewart Buchan in the 10th or 11th century. - Disturbances in Sutherland—Lord of the Isles in- The next enterprise of any note vades Scotland—Battle of Harlaw. was undertaken by Somerled, thane of Argyle and the

The reign of Alexander I. was disturbed, about Isles, against the authority of Malcolm TV., the year 1116, by an attempt made by the who, after various conflicts, was repulsed, men of Moray and Heme to surprise the king though not subdued, by Gilchrist, Earl of An- while enjoying himself at his favourite resi- gus. A peace, concluded with this powerful dence at LnvergowTie, on the north bank of chieftain in 1153, was considered of such im- the Tay, not far from its mouth The king, portance as to form an epoch in the dating of however, showed himself more than a match Scottish charters. A still more formidable infor his enemies, as he not only defeated their surrection broke out among the Moraynien, immediate purpose, but, pursuing them with his under Gildominick, on account of an attempt, army across the Moray Frith, chastised them on the part of the Government, to intrude the so effectually as to keep them quiet for the re- Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the mainder of his reign, which ended by his Lowlands, upon their Celtic customs, and the death, in April, 1124. In 1130, six years settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among them. after the accession of King David I. to the These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring

Scottish throne, while he was in England, the counties ; and so regardless were they of the Moravmen again rose against the semi- Saxon royal authority, that they actually hanged the king, but were defeated at Strickathrow, in heralds who were sent to summon them to lay Forfarshire, by Edward the Constable, son of down their arms. Malcolm despatched the Siward Beorn, Angus the Earl of Mora}T being gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army to subdue left among the dead, Malcolm his brother es- them, but he was defeated, and forced to ie- caping to carry on the conflict. In 1134 cross the Grampians. David himself took the field against these This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was natu- Highlanders, and, with the assistance of the rally of an indolent disposition. About the barons of Northumberland, headed by Walter year 1160 he marched north with a powerful L'Espec, completely subdued the Moravmen, army, and found the enemy on the moor of confiscated the whole district, and bestowed it ITrquhart, near the Spey, ready to give him upon knights in whose fidelity he could place battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen confidence, some of these being Normans. in the king's army reconnoitred the enemy; This was manifestly, according to Dr. Mac- lauchlan, the period of the dispersion of the '- Maclauchlan's Early Scottish Church, pp. 346-7. —

60 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

but they found theni so well prepared for ac- last attempt upon the Icing's authority, Hav- tion, and so flushed with, their late success, ing collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland,

that they considered the issue of a battle he landed, in 1164, near Renfrew ; but he was rather doubtful. On this account, the com- defeated by the brave inhabitants and the manders advised the king to enter into a nego- king's troops in a decisive battle, in which he tiation with the rebels, and to promise, that in and his son Gillecolum were slain. the event of a submission their lives would he The reign of William the Lion, who suc- spared. The offer was accepted, and the king ceeded his brother in 1165, was marked by kept his word. According to Fordun, 7 the king, many disturbances in the Highlands. The by the advice of his nobles, ordained that every Gaelic population could not endure the new family in Moray which had been engaged in settlers whom the Saxon colonization had intro-

the rebellion should, within a limited time, reduced among them, and every opportunity was move out of Moray to other parts of the king- taken to vex and annoy them. An open insur- dom, where lands would be assigned to them, rection broke out in Ross-shire, headed by Don- and that their places should be supplied with ald Bane, known also as MacWilliam, which people from other parts of the kingdom. For obliged William, in the year 1181, to march the performance of this order, they gave hos- into the north, where he built the two castles tages, it is said, s and at the time appointed of Eddirton and Dunscath to keep the people in

transplanted themselves, some into the north- check. He restored quiet for a few years ; but, ern, but the greater number into the southern in 1187, Donald Bane again renewed his pre- counties. Chalmers considers this removal of tensions to the crown, and raised the standard the Moraymen as " an egregious improba- of revolt in the north. He took possession of bility," because " the dispossessing of a whole Ross, and wasted Moray. William lost no people is so difficult an operation, that the re- time in leading an army against him. While cital of it cannot be believed without strong the king lay at Inverness with his army, a evidence;" 9 it is very probable that only the party of 3,000 faithful men, under the com- ringleaders and their families were trans- mand of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway, ported. The older historians say that the and future Constable of Scotland, fell in with Moraymen were almost totally cut off in an Donald Bane and his army upon the Mam- obstinate battle, and strangers brought into garvy moor, on the borders of Moray. A con- 1 their place. flict ensued in which Donald and five hundred About this time Somerled, the ambitious and of his followers were killed. Roland carried powerful lord of the Isles, made another and a the head of Donald to William, " as a savage sign of returning quiet." After this compara- 7 viii. eh. 6. Book tive quietness prevailed in the north till the 8 Shaw's Hist, of Moray, new ed., pp. 259-60. 9 Harold, the powerful Caledonia, vol. i. p. 627. year 1196, when Earl of 1 " Whilst the lowlands and the coast of Moray, Orkney and Caithness, disturbed its peace. which had already been partitioned out among the followers of David, would have presented compara- William dispersed the insurgents at once ; but tively few obstacles to such a project, it is hardly pos- they again appeared the following year near sible to conceive how it could ever have been success- Torphin, fully put into execution amidst the wild and inaccessible Inverness, under the command of the mountains of the interior. It appears, therefore, most son of Harold. The rebels were again, over- reasonable to conclude, that Malcolm only carried out powered. The king seized Harold, and obliged the policy pursued by his grandfather ever since the first forfeiture of the earldom; and that any changes him to deliver up his son, Torphin, as an hos- that may have been brought about in the population tage. Harold was allowed to retain the north- of this part of Scotland—and which scarcely extended below the class of the lesser Duchasach, or small pro- ern part of Caithness, but the king gave the prietors—are not to be attributed to one sweeping and southern part of it, called Sutherland, to Hugh compulsatory measure, but to the grants of David and his successors ; which must have had the effect of either Fresldn, the progenitor of the Earls of Suther- reducing the earlier proprietary to a dependant posi- land. Harold died in 1206; but as he had tion, or of driving into the remoter Highlands all who were inclined to contest the authority of the sovereign, often rebelled, his son suffered a cruel and dispute the validity of the royal ordinances which or to lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh, reduced them to the condition of subordinates."

Robertson's Early Kings, vol. i. n. 361. where he had been confined. ;

U1STUEBANCES IN MOEAY AND CAITHNESS. 61

During the year 1211 a new insurrection estate, wliich was afterwards restored to him on

broke out in Eoss, headed by Guthred or God- payment of a heavy fine. The Earl is said to frey, the son of Donald Bane or MacWilliam, have been murdered by his own servants in the as he was called. Great depredations were year 1231, and in order to prevent discovery,

committed by the insurgents, who were chiefly they laid his body into his bed and set fire to freebooters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and the house. Lochaber. Eor a long time they baffled the In 1228 the country of Moray became the king's troops ; and although the king built two theatre of a new insurrection, headed by a Eoss- forts to keep them in check, and took many shire freebooter, named Gillespoc M'Scolane. prisoners, they maintained for a considerable He committed great devastations by burning period a desultory and predatory warfare. Guth- some wooden castles in Moray, and spoilin g red even forced one of the garrisons to capitu- the crown lands. He even attacked and set late, burnt castle being betrayed and the ; but fire to Inverness. A large army of horse and by his followers into the hands of William foot, under the command of John Comyn, Earl Earl the Justiciary of Coniyn, of Buchan, Scot- of Buchan, Justiciary of Scotland, was, in 1 229, land, he was executed in the year 1212. sent against this daring rebel, who was cap- Shortly after the accession of Alexander II. tured, with his two sons, and their heads sent in 1214, the peace of the north was attempted to the king. to be disturbed by Donald MacWilliam, who The lords of Argyle usually paid homage to made an inroad from Ireland into Moray ; but the king of Norway for some of the Hebrides lie was repulsed by the tribes of that country, which belonged to that monarch, but Ewen, led by M'Intagart, the Earl of Eoss. In 1222, on succeeding Ms father Duncan of Argyle in notwithstanding the formidable obstacles which 1248, refused his homage to the Scottish king, presented themselves from the nature of the who wished to possess the whole of the Western country, Alexander carried an army into Ar- Isles. Though Ewen was perfectly loyal, and gyle, for the purpose of enforcing the homage indeed was one of the most honourable men of of the western chiefs. His presence so alarmed his time, Alexander marched an army against the men of Argyle, that they immediately made him to enforce obedience, but his Majesty died their submission. Several of the chiefs fled on his journey in Kerrera, a small island near

for safety, and to punish them, the king distri- the coast of Argyle opposite Oban, on July 8, buted their lands among his officers and their 1249, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the followers. After this invasion Argyle was thirty-fifth of his reign. brought under the direct jurisdiction of the According to the custom of the times, his Scottish king, although the descendants of the son, Alexander III., then a boy only in his race of Sonierled, Lord of the Isles, still con- eighth year, was seated on the royal chair, or tinued to be the chief magnates. sacred stone of Scone, which was placed before During the same year a tumult took place in the cross that stood within the burying-ground. Caithness, on account of the severity with Immediately before his inauguration, the bishop which the tithes were exacted by Adam, the of St. Andrews girded him with the sword of bishop, who, with his adviser, Serlo, was mur- state, and explained to him, first in Latin and dered by the bonders. The king, who was at aiterwards in Norman French, the nature of the time at Jedburgh, hearing of this murder, the compact he and his subjects were about to immediately hastened to the north with a mili- enter into. The crown, after the king had tary force, and inflicted the punishment of death been seated, was placed on his head, and the upon the principal actors in this tragedy, who sceptre put into his hand. He was then covered amounted, it is said, to four hundred persons with the royal mantle, and received the homage and that their race might become extinct, their of the nobles on their knees, who, in token of children were emasculated, a practice very com- submission, threw their robes beneath his feet. mon in these barbarous times. The Earl of On this occasion, agreeably to ancient practice, Caithness, vho was supposed to have been privy a Gaelic sennachy, or bard, clothed in a red to the murder, was deprived of half of his mantle, and venerable for his great age and — ,;;

62 GENERAL HTSTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

son at Balnagown, took him prisoner, and

detained liim as a hostage till their captain ?C6 Teq> should be released. The Monroes and the Dingwalls immediately took up arms, and having pursued the insurgents, overtook them at a place called Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferran- donald and Loch Broom, where a bloody con-

flict ensued. " The Clan Iver, Clan-Talvich, and Clan-Laiwe," says Sir Robert Gordon, " wer almost uterlie extinguished and slain." The Monroes and Dingwalls lost a great many men. Dingwall of Kildun, and seven score of the surname of Dingwall, were killed. No less than eleven Monroes of the house of Foulis,

who were to succeed one after another, fell, so that the succession of Foulis opened to an infant then lying in his cradle. The Earl's son was rescued, and to requite the service performed, he made various grants of lands to the Monroes and Dingwalls. 3 In 1263, Haco, the aged king of Norway,

sailed with a large and powerful fleet, deter- Alexander III. —From Pinkerton's Scottish Gallery. mined to enforce acknowledgment of his hoary locks, approached the king, and in a claims as superior of the Western Islands on bended and reverential attitude, recited, from their chiefs, as well as upon the king of Scot- memory, in his native language, the genealogy land. Sailing southwards among the islands, of all the Scottish kings, deducing the descent one chief after another acknowledged his su- of the youthful monarch from Gathetus, the premacy, and helped to swell his force, the fabulous founder of the nation. 2 The reign of only honourable exception being the standi this prince was distinguished by the entire sub- Ewen of Argyle. Meantime Haco brought jugation of the western islands to the power his fleet to anchor in the Frith of Clyde, be- of the Scottish crown. The Scandinavian set- tween Arran and the Ayrshire coast, his men tlers were allowed to leave the islands, if in- committing ravages on the neighbouring coun- clined, and such of them as remained were try, as, indeed, they appear to have done dur- bound to observe the Scottish laws. ing the whole of his progress. Negotiations Shortly after the accession of Alexander III. entered into between Haco and Alexander III. an insurrection broke out against the Earl of came to nothing, and as winter was approach- Ross, of some of the people of that province. ing, and his fleet had suffered much from

The Earl apprehended their leader or captain, several severe storms which caught it, the for- whom he imprisoned at Dingwall. In revenge, mer was fain to make his way homewards. A the Highlanders seized upon the Earl's second number of his men, however, contrived to effect a landing near Largs, where they were met 2 Almost the same ceremonial of inauguration was a miscellaneous Scottish host, consisting observed at the coronation of Macdonald, king of the by of Isles. Martin says, that "there was a big stone of cavalry and country people, and finally com- seven feet square, in which there was a deep impres- pletely routed. The date of this skirmish, sion made to receive the feet of Mack-Donald, for he was crowned king of the Isles standing in this stone which is known as the battle of Largs, is Oc- and swore that he would continue his vassals in the tober 2d, 1263. Haco died in the end of the possession of their lands, and do exact justice to all his subjects ; and then his father's sword was put into same year in Orkney, and in 1266 Magnus his hands. The bishop of Argyle and seven priests TV., his successor, ceded the whole of the anointed him king, in presence of all the heads of the tribes in the isles and continent, and were his vassals 3 at which time the orator rehearsed a catalogue of his Sir R. Gordon's History of the Earldom of Suther- ancestors." Western Islands, p. 241. land, p. 36. BEUCE'S EXPEDITIONS INTO LORN AND THE ISLES. 63

Scottish Islands held by Norway, except Ork- from the silence of history that they were less ney and Shetland, the Scottish king paying a alive than their southern countrymen to the small annual rent. Those of the islesmen who honour and glory of their country, or that had proved unfaithful to the Scottish king they did not contribute to secure its indepen- were most severely and cruelly punished. dence. General Stewart says that eighteen No event of any importance appears to have Highland chiefs4 fought under Bobert Bruce at occurred in the Highlands till the time of King Bannockburn; and as these chiefs would be ac- Robert Bruce, who was attacked, after his defeat companied by their vassals, it is fair to suppose at Methven, by Macdougall of Lorn, and de- that Highland prowess lent its powerful aid to feated in Strathfillan. But Bruce was deter- obtain that memorable victory which secured mined that Macdougall should not long enjoy Scotland from the dominion of a foreign Lis petty triumph. Having been joined by his yoke. able partisan, Sir James Douglas, he entered the After Bobert Bruce had asserted the inde- territory of Lorn. On arriving at the narrow pendence of his country by the decisive battle pass of Ben Cruachan, beween Loch Awe and of Bannockburn, the whole kingdom, with the Loch Etive, Bruce was informed that Mac- exception of some of the western islands, under dougall had laid an ambuscade for him. Bruce John of Argyle, the ally of England, submitted divided his army into two parts. One of these to his authority. He, therefore, undertook an divisions, consisting entirely of archers who expedition against those isles, in which he was were lightly armed, was placed under the com- accompanied by Walter, the hereditary high- mand of Douglas, who was directed to make a steward of Scotland, his son-in-law, who, by circuit round the mountain, and to attack the his marriage with Marjory, King Bobert's Highlanders in the rear. As soon as Douglas daughter, laid the foundation of the Stewart had gained possession of the ground above the dynasty. To avoid the necessity of doubling Highlanders, Bruce entered the pass, and, as the Mull of Kintyre, which was a dangerous soon as he had advanced into its narrow gorge, attempt for the small vessels then in use, he was attacked by the men of Lorn, who, from Robert sailed up Loch-Fyne to Tarbert with his the surrounding heights, hurled down stones fleet, which he dragged across the narrow isth- upon him accompanied with loud shouts. mus between the lochs of East and West Tar- They then commenced a closer attack, but, bert, by means of a slide of smooth planks of being instantly assailed in the rear by Douglas's trees laid parallel to each other. It had long division, and assaulted by the king with great been a superstitious belief amongst the inha- fury in front, they were thrown into complete bitants of the Western Islands, that they disorder, and defeated with great slaughter. should never be subdued till their invaders

Macdougall, who was, during the action, on sailed across this neck of land, and it is board a small vessel in Loch Etive, waiting the said that Robert was thereby partly induced result, took refuge in his castle of Dunstafi'nage. to follow the course he did to impress upon the After ravaging the territory of Lorn, and giving minds of the islanders a conviction that the it up to indiscriminate plunder, Bruce laid siege time of their subjugation had arrived. The to the castle, which, after a slight resistance, islanders were quickly subdued, and John of was surrendered by the lord of Lorn, who Lorn, who, for his services to Edward of Eng- swore homage to the king ; but John, the son land, had been invested with the title of Ad- of the chief, refused to submit, and took refuge miral of the Western fleet of England, was in England. captured and imprisoned first in Dumbarton During the civil wars among the competi- 4 The chiefs at Bannockburn were Mackay, Mackin- tors for the Scottish crown, and those under tosh, Macpherson, Cameron, Sinclair, Campbell, "Wallace and Bruce for the independence of Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson, Grant, Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgvegor, Mnnro, Mac- Scotland, the Highlanders scarcely ever appear kenzie, and Macquarrie. After the lapse of live as participators in those stirring scenes which hundred years since the battle of Bannockburn was fought, it is truly astonishing to find such a number developed the resources, and called forth the of direct descendants who are now in existence, and chivalry of Scotland ; but we are not to infer still possessed of their paternal estates. G4 GENEEAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

castle, and after-wards in the castle of Loch wards to those who should slay or capture then Leven, where he died. brother chiefs. The writer says that this dia The feeble and effeminate reign of David II. bolical plan, by implanting the seeds of dis- was disturbed by another revolt by the Lord union and war amongst the chiefs, succeeded ; of the Isles, who was backed in his attempt to and that they gradually destroyed one another,

throw off his dependence by a great number of a statement, to say the least of it, highly im-

the Highland chiefs. David, with "an un- probable. Certain it is, however, that it was wonted energy of character, commanded the in this reign that the practice of paying manrent attendance of the steward, with the prelates began, when the powerful wished for followers, and barons of the realm, and surrounded by and the weak wanted protection, a circumstance this formidable body of vassals and retainers, which shows that the government was too proceeded against the rebels in person. The weak to afford protection to the oppressed, or expedition was completely successful. The to quell the disputes of rival clans. s rebel prince, John of the Isles, with a numer- In the year 1333, John Monroe, the tutor ous train of those wild Highland chieftains of Foulis, in travelling homeward, on his jour- who followed his banner, and had supported ney from Edinburgh to Eoss, stopped on a him in his attempt to throw off his dependence, meadow in Stratherdale that he and his ser- met the king at Inverness, and submitted to vants might get some repose. While they his authority. He engaged in the most solemn were asleep, the owner of the meadow cut off manner, for himself and his vassals, that they the tails of their horses. Being resolved to should yield themselves faithful and obedient wipe off this insult, he immediately, on his subjects to David, their liege lord ; and not return home to Eoss, summoned his whole only give due and prompt obedience to the kinsmen and followers, and, after inform- min isters and officers of the king in suit and ing them how he had been used, craved their service, as well as in the payment of taxes and aid to revenge the injury. The clan, of public burdens, but that they would coerce and course, complied ; and, having selected 350 put down all others, of whatever rank or de- of the best and ablest men among them, gree, who dared to raise themselves in opposi- he returned to Stratherdale, which he wasted tion to the royal authority, and would compel and spoiled ; killed some of the inhabitants, them either to submit, or would pursue and and carried off their cattle. In passing by the banish them from their territories : for the ful- isle of Moy, on bis return home, Macintosh, filment of which obligation the Lord of the the chief of the clan Chattan, being urged by Isles not only gave his own oath, under the some person who bore Monroe a grudge, sent penalty of forfeiting his whole principality if a message to him demanding a share of the it was broken, but offered the high-steward, his spoil. This was customary among the High- father-in-law, as his security, and delivered his landers when a party drove cattle which had lawful son, Donald, his grandson, Angus, and been so taken through a gentleman's land, and his natural son, also named Donald, as hostages the part so exacted was called a Staoig Rathaid, for the strict performance of the articles of the or Staoig Creieh, that is, a Eoad Collop. Mon- 5 treaty." The deed by which John of the roe, not being disposed to quarrel, offered Mac- Isles bound himself to the performance of these intosh a reasonable share, but this he was stipulations is dated 15th November, 1309. 6 advised not to accept, and demanded the half

To enable him the better to succeed in re- of the booty. Monroe refused to comply with ducing the inhabitants of the Highlands and such an unreasonable demand, and proceeded islands to the obedience of the laws, it is stated on his journey. Macintosh, determined to en- by an old historian, 7 that David used artifice force compliance, immediately collected his by dividing the chiefs, and promising high re- clansmen, and went in pursuit of Monroe, whom he overtook at Clach-na-Haire, near In- 6 Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 185. Robert- son's Parliamentary Records, p. 115. 6 Vide the Deed printed in the Appendix to Tytler's 8 This is the date assigned by Sir Robert Gordon, History, vol. ii. but Shaw makes it more than a century later, viz., in 7 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 380. 1454. — ;

FEUD BETWEEN THE CLAN CHATTAN AND THE CAMERONS. 65

verness. As soon as Monroe saw Macintosh merons, who were so tardy in the payment of approaching, he sent home five of his men to their rents that Macintosh was frequently Ferrindonald with the cattle, and prepared for obliged to levy them by force by carrying off action. But Macintosh paid dearly for his ra- his tenants' cattle. The Camerons were so pacity and rashness, for he and the greater part irritated at having their cattle poinded and of his men were killed in the conflict. Several taken away, that they resolved to make repri-

of the Monroes also were slain, and John Mon- sals, preparatory to which they marched into roe himself was left for dead in the field of Badenoch to the number of about 400 men, hattle, and might have died if the predecessor under the command of Charles Macgilony. of Lord Lovat had not carried him to his house As soon as Macintosh became acquainted in the neighbourhood, where he was cured of with this movement he called his clan and his wounds. One of his hands was so muti- friends, the Macphersons and Davidsons, to- lated, that he lost the use of it the remainder gether. His force was superior to that of the of his life, on which account he was afterwards Camerons, but a dispute arose among the chiefs called John Bac-laimh, or Ciotach. 9 which almost proved fatal to them. To Mac- Besides the feuds of the clans in the reign of intosh, as captain of the clan Chattan, the

David II., the Highlands appear to have been command of the centre of the army was as- disturbed by a formidable insurrection against signed with the consent of all parties; but a the government, for, in a parliament which difference took place between Cluny and In- was held at Scone, in the year 1366, a resolu- vernahavon, each claiming the command of the tion was entered into to seize the rebels in Ar- right whig. Cluny demanded it as the chief gyle, Athole, Badenoch, Lochaber, and Boss, of the ancient clan Chattan, of which the Da- and all others who had risen up against the vidsons of Invernahavon were only a branch royal authority, and to compel them to submit but Invernahavon contended that to him, as to the laws. The chief leaders in this commo- the oldest branch, the command of the right tion (of which the bare mention in the parlia- wing belonged, according to the custom of the mentary record is the only account which has clans. The Camerons came up during this reached us,) were the Earl of Boss, Hugh de quarrel about precedency, on which Macin-

Ross, John of the Isles, John of Lorn, and tosh, as. umpire, decided against the claim of

John de Haye, who were all summoned to at- Cluny. This was a most imprudent award, as tend the parliament and give in their submis- the Macphersons exceeded both the Macin- sion, but they all refused to do so in the most toshes and Davidsons in numbers, and they decided manner; and as the government was were, besides, in the country of the Macpher- too weak to compel them, they were suffered sons. These last were so offended at the deci- to remain independent. sion of Macintosh that they withdrew from

In the year 1386, a feud having taken place the field, and became, for a time, spectators of between the clan Chattan and the Camerons, a the action. The battle soon commenced, and battle took place in which a great number of was fought with great obstinacy. Many of the the clan Chattan were killed, and the Camerons Macintoshes, and almost all. the Davidsons, were nearly cut off to a man. The occasion of were cut off by the superior number of the Ca- the quarrel was as follows. The lands of Macin- tan, or Macphersons, to acquaint him that " tlie Icing" 1 tosh in Lochaber, were possessed by the Ca- was to pay him a visit. Macpherson, or MaeGillichat- tan, as he was named, in honour of the founder of the 9 family Gilliehattan* Mor, having an only child, a Sir E. Gordon, p. 47.— Shaw, p. 264. 1 daughter, who, he dreaded, might attract According to that eminent antiquary, the Rev. an incon- royal notice, offered Donald Macintosh, non-juring episcopal clergyman, venient degree of her in marriage to Macintosh along with his lands, the station in his historical illustrations of his Collections of Gaelic and of chief of the clan Chattan. Macintosh Proverbs, published in 1785, the ancestor of Macin- the accepted the offer, and was received as chief of the lady's clan. tosh became head of the clan Chattan in this way. * " A votary or servant of St. Kattan," a most popular During these contests for the Scottish crown, which Scottish saint, we have tints i, meaning a " vo- succeeded the death of King Alexander III., and fa- tary of Columba," and of which another form is Malcolm voured the pretensions of the of Isles, King the the or Molcalm, the prefix Mol being corrupted into Mai, latter " styling himself King," had, in 1291, sent his signifying the same as Gilly. Thus G'illii-Bhia is the nephew Angus Macintosh of Macintosh to Dougall etymon of Culdce, signifying ''servant of God," Gilli- Dall (Blind) MaeGillichattan, chief of the clan Chat- christ means "servant of Christ." ; '

66 GENEEAL histoky of the highlands. merons. The Macphersons seeing their friends usual sagacity, remarks that, "for a whole and neighbours almost overpowered, could no race to submit to the ordeal of battle would im- longer restrain themselves, and friendship got ply the very highest devotion to those rules of the better of their -wounded pride. They, chivalry which were an extravagant fashion in therefore, at this perilous crisis, rushed in all the countries under the Norman influence, upon the Camerons, who, from exhaustion and but were utterly unknown to the Highlanders, the loss they had sustained, were easily de- who submitted when they must submit, and feated. The few that uscaped, with their retaliated when they could. That such an ad- leader, were pursued from Invernahavon, the justment could be effected among them is about place of battle, three miles above Euthven, to as incredible as a story about a parliamentary

Badenoch. Charles Macgilony was killed on a debate in Persia, or a jury trial in Timbuctoo."4 hill in Glenbenchir, which was long called The beautiful and perfectly level meadow on 2 Torr-Thearlaich, i. a., Charles'-hill. the banks of the Tay at Perth, known as the In the opinion of Shaw this quarrel about North Inch, was fixed on, and the Monday precedency was the origin of the celebrated ju- before Michaelmas was the day appointed for dicial conflict, which took place on the North the combat. According to Sir Eobert Gordon,

Inch of Perth, before Eobert III., his queen, who is followed by Sir Eobert Douglas and

Annabella Drunmiond, and the Scottish no- Mr. Mackintosh, it was agreed that no weapon bility, and some foreigners of distinction, in but the broad sword was to be employed, but the year 1396, and of which a variety of ac- Wyntoun, who lived about the time, adds counts have been given by our ancient histor- bows, battle-axes, and daggers. ians. The parties to this combat were the "All thai entrit in Barrens, Macphersons, properly the clan Chattan, and With Bow and Axe, Knyf and Swerd, the Davidsons of Invernahavon, called in the To deal aniang them thair last Werd. Gaelic Clann-Dhaibhidh. The Davidsons were The numbers on each side have been variously not, as some writers have supposed, a separate reported. By mistaking the word triceni, used clan, but a branch of the clan Chattan. These b3r Boece and Buchanan, for treceni, some rival tribes had for a long period kept up a writers have multiplied them to 300. Bower, deadly enmity with one another, wliich was the continuator of Fordun and Wyntoun, how-

difficult to be restrained ; but after the award ever, mentions expressly 60 in all, or 30 on by Macintosh against the Macphersons, that either side. enmity broke out into open strife, and for ten On the appointed da)r the combatants made years the Macphersons and the Davidsons car- their appearance on the North Inch of Perth, ried on a war of extermination, and kept the to decide, in presence of the king, his queen, country in an uproar. and a large concourse of the nobility, their re- To put an end to these disorders, it is said spective claims to superiority. Barriers had that Eobert III. sent Dunbar, Earl of Moray, been erected on the ground to prevent the and Lindsay of Glenesk, afterwards Earl of spectators from encroaching, and the king and Crawford, two of the leading men of the king- his party took their stations upon a platform dom, to endeavour to effect an amicable ar- from which they could easily view the combat. rangement between the contending pa7 ties At length the warriors, armed with sword and but having failed in their attempt, they pro- target, bows and arrows, short knives and posed that the differences should be decided in battle-axes, advanced within the barriers, and open combat before the king. Tytler 3 is of eyed one another with looks of deadly revenge. opinion that, the notions of the Norman knights When about to engage, a circumstance occurred having by this time become familiar to the which postponed the battle, and had well-nigh

fierce mountaineers, they adopted the singular prevented it altogether. According to some idea of deciding their quarrel by a combat of accounts, one of the Macphersons fell sick; 30 against 30. Burton, however, with his but Bower says, that when the troops had been

2 Shaw's History of Moray, pp. 260, 261. 3 Vol. iii. [>p- 76, 77. 4 Vol. in. p. 72. "

BATTLE OF THE NOKTH INCH. 67 marshalled, one of the Macphersons, panic- After the crooked armourer had killed his struek, slipped through the crowd, plunged man, as already related from Bower, it is said into the Tay and swam across, and, though that he either sat down or drew aside, which pursued by thousands, effected his escape. being observed by the leader of Cluny's band, Sir Kobert Gordon merely observes, that, " at he asked his reason for thus stopping; on " their entrie into the feild, the clan Chattan which Wynd said, Because I have fulfilled lacked one of their number, who wes privilie my bargain, and earned my wages."—" The " stolne away, not willing to be pertaker of so man," exclaimed the other, who keeps no deir a bargane." A man being now wanting reckoning of his good deeds, without reckoning on one side, a pause ensued, and a proposal shall be repaid," an observation which tempted was made that one of the Davidsons should the armourer to earn, in the multiplied deaths retire, that the number on both sides might be of his opponents, a sum exceeding by as many equal, but they refused. As the combat could times the original stipulation. This speech of not proceed from this inequality of numbers, the leader has been formed into the Gaelic the king was about to break up the assembly, when a diminutive and crooked, but fierce " Am fear nach amntadh rium man, named Henry Wynd, a burgher of Perth, Cha chimntainn ris, better known to readers of Scott as Hal o' the which Macintosh thus renders, Wynd, and an armourer by trade, sprung with- that reckons not with in the barriers, and, as lelated by Bower, thus "The man me I will not reckon with him." addressed the assembly: "Here am I. Will any one fee me to engage with these hirelings Victory at last declared for the Macphersons, in this stage play? For half a mark will I try but not until 29 of the Davidsons had fallen the game, provided, if I escape alive, I have prostrate in the arms of death. Nineteen of my board of one of you so long as I live. Cluny's men also bit the dust, and the remain-

Greater love, as it is said, hath no man than ing 11, with the exception of Henry Wynd, this, that a man lay down his life for his who by his excellence as a swordsman had friends. What, then, shall be my reward, mainly contributed to gain the day, were all who stake my life for the foes of the common- grievously wounded. The survivor of the wealth and realm?" This demand of Goto clan Davidson escaped unhurt. Mackintosh Crom, " Crooked Smith," as Henry was fami- following Buchanan, relates that this man, liarly styled, adds Bower, was granted by the after all his companions had fallen, threw him- king and nobles. A murderous conflict now self into the Tay, and making the opposite began. The armourer, bending his bow, and bank, escaped ; but this is most likely a new ver- sending the first arrow among the opposite sion of Bower's account of the affrighted cham- party, killed one of them. After showers of pion before the commencement of the action. arrows had been discharged on both sides, the The leader of the clan Kay or Davidsons is combatants, with fury in their looks, and recalled by Bower Schea-beg, and by Wyntoun. venge in their hearts, rushed upon one another, Scha-Ferqvharis son, Boece calls Mm Strat- and a terrific scene ensued, which appalled the berge. Who Christ i- Mac-Iain, or Christi-Jon-

heart of many a valorous knight who witnessed sun was genealogically, we are not informed ; the bloody tragedy. The violent thrusts of but one thing is pretty clear, that he, not the daggers, and the tremendous gashes in- Schea-beg, or Shaw Oig, —for these are obvi- flicted by the two-handed swords and battle- ously one and the same,—commanded the clan axes, hastened the work of butchery and death. Chattan, or " Clann-a-Chait." e Both the prin- " Heads were cloven asunder, limbs were cipals seem to have been absent, or spectators lopped from the trunk. The meadow was merely of the battle ; and as few of the lead- soon flooded with blood, and covered with ing men of the clan, it is believed, were parties dead and wounded men." 5

6 For a more thorough discussion of this fight, see s Tales uf a Grandfather, vol. li. the account of the Clan Mackintosh in Vol. 11. GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

in the combat, the savage policy of the govern- bishop of St. Andrews, in the church of the

ment, which, it is said, had taken this method Black Friars, in Perth. He was first received to rid itself of the chief men of the clan, by at the door, and afterwards before the high making them destroy one another, was com- altar, in presence of the king (Eobert III. his pletely defeated. This affair seems to have brother,) and many of the nobility, on condi-

produced a good effect, as the Highlanders re- tion that he should make full satisfaction to mained quiet for a considerable time thereafter. the bishop of Moray, and obtain absolution The disorders in the Highlands occasioned from the pope. 6 by the feuds of the clans were, about the period The Lord of Badenoch had a natural son, in question, greatly augmented by Alexander named Alexander Stewart, afterwards Earl of of Badenoch, fourth son of Eobert II., whom Mar, who inherited the vices of his father.

he had constituted Lieutenant or governor from Bent upon spoliation and bloodshed, and re- the limits of Moray to the Eentland Frith. solved to imitate his father's barbarous exploits, This person, from the ferocity of his disposi- he collected, in 1 392, a vast number of caterans, Uon, obtained the appropriate appellation of armed only with the sword and target, and " the Wolf of liadenoch." Avaricious as well with these he descended from the range of hills which divides the county of Aberdeen and Forfar, devastated the country, and murdered the inhabitants indiscriminately. A force was instantly collected by Sir Walter Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David Lind say of Glenesk, to oppose him, and although inferior in numbers, they attacked Stewart and his party of freebooters at Gasklune, near the water of Ila. A desperate conflict took place, which was of short duration. The caterans fought with determined bravery, and soon over-

powered their assailants. The sheriff, his brother, Wat of Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony, the lairds of Cairncross, Forfar, and Guthry, Effigy of "the Wolf of Badenoch "in Dunkekl Cathedral. and 60 of their followers, were slain. Sir as cruel, the Wolf seized upon the lands of Patrick Gray and Sir David Lindsay were Alexander Barr. bishop of Moray, and as lie severely wounded, and escaped with diffieulty. persisted in keeping violent possession of them, Winton has preserved an anecdote illustrative he was excommunicated. The sentence of ex- of the fierceness of the Highlanders. Lindsay communication not only proved unavailing, but had run one of them, a strong and brawny tended to exasperate the Lord of Badenoch to man, through the body with a spear, and such a degree of fury that, in the month of brought him to the earth ; but although in the May, 1 390, he descended from his heights and agonies of death, he writhed himself up, and burnt the town of Forres, with the choir of the with the spear sticking in his body, struck church and the manse of the archdeacon. And Lindsay a desperate blow with his sword, which in June following, he burnt the town of Elgin, cut him through the stirrup and boot into the the church of Saint Giles, the hospital of Mai- bone, on which he instantly fell and expired. 7 son-Dieu, and the cathedral, with eighteen Mcolas, Earl of Sutherland, had a feud with houses of the canons and chaplains in the Y-Mackay of Far, in Strathnaver, chief of the college of Elgin. He also plundered these Clanwig-worgm, and his son Donald Mackay. churches of their sacred utensils and vestments, in which many lives were lost, and great de- which he carried off. For this horrible sacri- predations committed on both sides. In crdcr lege the Lord of Badenoch was prosecuted, and r > Shaw's Moray, 31 -4-15. obliged to make due reparation. Upon making pp. — Wiuton, vol. ii. p. 3C3.— Keith's Catalogue, p. S3. his submission he was absolved by Walter Trail, 7 Winton, vol. ii. p. 369. DISTURBANCES IX SUTHERLAND—EAELDOM OF EOSS. 69

to put an end to this difference, the Earl pro- (Alexander Murray of Cubin,) with a number posed a meeting of the parties at Dingwall, to of stout and resolute men, to assist the Mac- he held in presence of the Eord of the Isles, kays. They followed Macleod with great haste, his father-in-law, and some of the neighbouring and overtook him at Tittim-Turwigh, upon the gentry, the friends of the two famdies. The marches between Eoss and Sutherland. The meeting having been agreed to, the parties met pursuing party at first attempted to recover the at the appointed time, in the year 1395, and goods and cattle which had been carried off, took up their residence in the castle of Ding- but tlds being opposed by Macleod and his wall in apartments allotted for them. A dis- men, a desperate conflict ensued, in which cussion then took place between the Earl and great valour was displayed on both sides. It Mackay, regarding the points in controversy, " was long, furious, cruel, and doubtful," says in which high and reproachful words were ex- Sir Eobert Gordon, and was " rather desperate changed, which so incensed the Earl, that he than resolute." At last the Lewismen, with killed Mackay and his son with lus own hands. their commander, Malcolm Macleod, nick- Having with some difficulty effected his escape named Odealm Beg M'Bowen, were slain, and from the followers and servants of the Mac- the goods and cattle were recovered. One kays, he immediately returned home and pre- man alone of Macleod's party, who was sorely pared for defence, but the Mackays were too wounded, escaped to bring home the sorrowful weak to take revenge. The matter was in news to the Lewis, which he had scarcely de- some degree reconciled between Eobert, the livered when he expired 9 successor of Nicolas, and Angus Mackay, the These feuds were followed by a formidable in- eldest son of Donald. s surrection, or more correctly, invasion, in 1411, Some years after this event a serious conflict by Donald, Lord of the Isles, of such a serious took place between the inhabitants of Suther- nature as to threaten a dismemberment of the land and Strathnaver, and Malcolm Macleod kingdom of Scotland. The male succession to of the Lewis, which arose out of the following the earldom of Eoss having become extinct, circumstances. Angus Mackay above men- the honours of the peerage devolved upon a tioned, had married a sister of Malcolm Mac- female, Euphemia Eoss, wife of Sir Walter leod, by whom he had two sons, Angus Lesley. Of this marriage there were two chd- Dow, and Eoriegald. On the death of Angus, dren, Alexander, afterwards Earl of Eoss, and Houcheon Dow Mackay, a younger brother, be- Margaret, afterwards married to the Lord of the came tutor to his nephews, and entered upon Isles. Earl Alexander married a daughter of the management of their lands. Malcolm Mac- the Duke of Albany. Euphemia, Countess of leod, understanding that his sister, the widow Eoss, was the only issue of this marriage, but of Angus, was ill treated by Houcheon Dow, becoming a nun she resigned the earldom of went on a visit to her, accompanied by a num- Ross in favour of her uncle John Stewart, Earl ber of the choicest men of his country, with the of Buchan. The Lord of the Isles conceiving determination of vindicating her cause either that the countess, by renouncing the world, by entreaty or by force. He appears not to had forfeited her title and estate, and, more- have succeeded in his object, for he returned over, that she had no right to dispose thereof, homeward greatly discontented, and in revenge claimed both in right of Margaret his wife. laid waste Strathnaver and a great part of the The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, at Breachat in Sutherland, and carried off booty whose instigation the countess had made the along with him. As soon as Houcheon Dow renunciation, of course refused to sustain the and his brother Xeill Mackay learnt this in- claim of the prince of the islands. The Lord telligence, they acquainted Eobert, Earl of of the Isles having formed an alliance with Sutherland, between whom and Angus Mackay England, whence he was to be supplied a reconciliation had been effected, who imme- with a fleet far superior to the Scottish, at diately despatched Alexander Xe-Slirem-Gorme the head of an armv of 10,000 men, fullv

•Sir Robert Gordon's History, p. 60. Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 6], 62. 70 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

equipped and armed after the fashion of the Angus, the Earl drew up the main strength of islands with hows and arrows, pole-axes, knives, his army in the rear, including the Murrays, and swords, in 1411 hurst like a torrent upon the Straitons, the Maules, the Irvings, the the earldom, and carried everything before him. Lesleys, the Lovels, the Stirlings, headed by He, however, received a temporary check at their respective chiefs. The Earl then placed Dingwall, where he was attacked with great himself at the head of this body. At the head impetuosity by Angus Dubh Mackay of Earr, of the Islesmen and Highlanders was the Lord

or Black Angus, as he was called ; but Angus of the Isles, subordinate to whom were Mac- was taken prisoner, and his brother Eoderic intosh and Maclean and other Highland chiefs, Gald and many of his men were lulled. all bearing the most deadly hatred to their Flushed with the progress he had made, Saxon foes, and panting for revenge- Donald now resolved to carry into execution On a signal being given, the Highlanders a threat he had often made to burn the town and Islesmen, setting up those terrific shouts of Aberdeen. For this purpose he ordered his and yells which they were accustomed to raise army to assemble at Inverness, and summoned on entering into battle, rushed forward upon

all the men capable of bearing arms in the their opponents ; but they were received with Boyne and the Enzie, to join his standard on great firmness and bravery by the knights, his way south. This order being complied who, with their spears levelled, and battle-axes with, the Lord of the Isles marched through raised, cut down many of their impetuous but Moray without opposition. He committed badly armed adversaries. After the Low- great excesses in Strathbogie and in the dis- landers had recovered themselves from the trict of Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of shock which the furious onset of the High- Mar. The inhabitants of Aberdeen were in landers had produced, Sir James Scrymgeour, dreadful alarm at the near approach of this at the head of the knights and bannerets who marauder and his fierce hordes; but their fears fought under him, cut his way through the were allayed by the speedy appearance of a thick columns of the Islesmen, carrying death well-equipped army, commanded by the Earl everywhere around him; but the slaughter of of Mar, who bore a high military character, hundreds by this brave party did not intimi- assisted by many brave knights and gentlemen date the Highlanders, who kept pouring in by in Angus and the Mearns. Among these were thousands to supply the place of those who Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir had fallen. Surrounded on all sides, no alterna- James Scrymgeour, constable of Dundee and tive remained for Sir James and his valorous hereditary standard-bearer of Scotland, Sir companions but victory or death, and the latter

William de Abernethy of Salton, nephew to was their lot. The constable of Dundee was the Duke of Albany, Sir Bobert Maule of Paii- amongst the first who suffered, and his fall so en- mure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, and Sir couraged the Highlanders, that seizing and stab- Bobert Melville. The Earl was also joined by bing the horses, they thus unhorsed their riders, Sir Bobert Davidson, the Provost of Aberdeen, whom they despatched with their daggers. In and a party of the burgesses. the meantime the Earl of Mar, who had pene- Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched by trated with his main army into the very heart Inverury, and descried the Highlanders sta- of the enemy, kept up the unequal contest tioned at the village of Harlaw, on the water of with great bravery, and, although he lost dur-

Ury,near its junction with the Don. Mar soon ing the action almost the whole of his army, saw that he had to contend with tremendous he continued the fatal struggle with a handful odds ; but although his forces were, it is said, of men till nightfall. The disastrous result only a tenth of those opposed to him, he of this battle was one of the greatest mis- resolved, from the confidence he had in his fortunes which had ever happened to the steel-clad knights, to risk a battle. Having numerous respectable families in Angus and placed a small but select body of knights and the Mearns. Many of these families lost men-at-arms in front, under the command of not only their head, but every male in the the constable of Dundee and the sheriff of house. Lesley of Balquhain is said to have — ; — ——

BATTLE OF HAKLAW. 71

fallen with six of liis sons. Besides Kir James therefore allowed to retire without molestation, Scrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy the sheriff and to recruit his exhausted strength. 2 of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy, As soon as the news of the disaster at Hai- Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Eohert Maule of Pan- law reached the ears of the Duke of Albany, mure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir Wil- then regent of Scotland, he set about collecting liam Abernethy of Salton, Sir Alexander Strai- an army, with which he marched in person to ten of Laui'iston, James Lovel, and Alexander the north in autumn, with a determination to Stirling, and Sir Eohert Davidson, Provost of bring the Lord of the Isles to obedience. Hav- Aberdeen, with 500 men-at-arms, including ing taken possession of the castle of Dingwall, the principal gentry of Buchan, and the greater lie appointed a governor, and from thence pro- part of the burgesses of Aberdeen who fol- ceeded to recover the whole of Boss, Donald lowed their Provost, were among the slain. retreated before him, and took up his winter- The Highlanders left 900 men dead on the quarters 'in the islands. Hostilities were re-

field of battle, including the chiefs Maclean newed next summer, but the contest was not and Mackintosh. This memorable battle was long or doubtful—notwithstanding some little fought on the eve of the feast of St. James the advantages obtained by the King of the Isles Apostle, July 25th, 1411. It was the final for he was compelled to give up his claim to contest for supremacy between the Celt and the earldom of Eoss, to become a vassal to the

the Teuton, and appears to have made at the Scottish crown, and to deliver hostages to se- time an inconceivably deep impression on the cure his future good behaviour. A treaty to national mind. For more than a hundred this effect was entered into at Pilgilbe or Pol-

years, it is said, the battle of Harlaw continued gillip, the modern Loch-Gilp, in Argyle. to be fought over again by schoolboys in their play. "It fixed itself in the music and the

' poetry of Scotland ; a march, called the Battle of Harlaw,' continued to be a popular air down CHAPTEE VI. to the time of Drummond of Hawthornden, A. D. 1424-1512. and a spirited ballad, on the same event, is

still repeated in our age, describing the meeting KINGS OF SCOTLAND : of the armies, and the deaths of the chiefs, in no ignoble strain." 1 Mar and the few brave companions in arms James I.—State of Country—Policy of the King to the night on who survived the battle, passed the Highland Chiefs—Lord of the Isles—Disturbances in the field; when morning dawned, they found Sutherland—Barbarity of a Bobber—James's High- land Expedition—Disturbances in Caithness—In- Isles had retreated during that the Lord of the surrection in the West under Donald Balloon—Lord the night, by Inverury and the hill of Benochy. of the Isles invades Sutherland—Allan of Lorn Machinations of Edward IV. with Island Chiefs was impossible, and he was To pursue him Rebellion of Earl of Eoss—Lord of the Isles sub- mits— Disturbances in Eoss and Sutherland—Wise Policy of James IV. —Visits Highlands—Feuds in 1 Tytler, vol. iii. p. 177. The ballad of the Battle Sutherland— Highlanders at Flodden. concludes thus:

On the return of James I., in 1424, from his There was not. sin' King Kenneth's days, Sic strange intestine cruel strife captivity in England, he found Scotland, and In Scotlande seen, as ilk man says. Where monie likelie lost their life; Whilk made divorce tween man and wife, 3 " So ended one of Scotland's most memorable bat- And monie children fatherless, tles. The contest between the Lowlanders and Don- Whilk in this realm has been full rife; ald's host was a contest between foes, of whom their Lord help these lands ! our wrangs redress ! contemporaries would have said that their ever being in harmony with each other, or having a feeling of In July, on Saint James his evin. common interests and common nationality, was not four-and-twenty dismal day, That within the range of rational expectations Twelve hundred, ten score, and eleven It will be difficult to ma-ke those not familiar with the Of years sin' Christ, the soothe to say ; tone of feeling in Lowland Scotland at that time be- Men will remember, as they may, lieve that the defeat of Donald of the Isles was felt as When thus the veritie they knaw And monie a ane will mourne for aye a more memorable deliverance even than that of Ban- The brim battle of the Harlaw. nockburn."—Burton, vol. iii. pp. 101, 102. 72 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

particularly the Highlands, in a state of the hated the Saxon and the Norman race, and most fearful insubordination. Rapine, rob- offered a mortal opposition to the settlement of bery, and an utter contempt of the laws pre- all intruders within a country which they con vailed to an alarming extent, which required sidered their own. They exercised the same all the energy of a wise and prudent prince, authority over the various clans or septs of like James, to repress. When these excesses which they were the chosen heads or leaders,

were first reported to James, by one of his which the baron possessed over his vassals

nobles, on entering the kingdom, he thus ex- and military followers ; and the dreadful dis-

pressed himself : —" Let God but grant me life, putes and collisions which perpetually occurred and there shall not be a spot in my dominions between these distinct ranks of potentates, where the key shall not keep the castle, and were accompanied by spoliations, ravages, im- the furze-bush the cow, though I myself should prisonments, and murders, which had at last

lead the life of a dog to accomplish it." 3 "At become so frequent and so far extended, that this period, the condition of the Highlands, so the whole country be}r ond the Grampian range

far as is discoverable from the few authentic was likely to be cut off, by these abuses, from documents which have reached our times, ap- all regular communication with the more pacific pears to have been in the highest degree rude parts of the kingdom." 5 and uncivilized. There existed a singular com- Having, by a firm and salutary, but perhaps bination of Celtic and of feudal manners. severe, course of policy, restored the empire of Powerful chiefs, of Norman name and Norman the laws in the Lowlands, and. obtained the blood, had penetrated into the remotest dis- enactment of new statutes for the future wel-

tricts, and ruled over multitudes of vassals and fare and prosperity of the kingdom, James

serfs, whose strange and uncouth appellatives next turned his attention to his Highland do- proclaim their difference of race in the most minions, which, as we have seen, were in a de- convincing mariner. 4 The tenure of lands by plorable state of insubordination, that made charter and seisin, the feudal services due by both property and life insecure. The king the vassal to his lord, the bands of friendship determined to visit in person the disturbed or of manrent which indissolubly united certain districts, and by punishing the refractory chiefs, chiefs aud nobles to each other, the baronial put an end to those tumults and enormities

courts, and the complicated official pomp of which, had, during his minority, triumphed

feudal life, were all to be found in full strength over the laws. James, in the year 1427, ar- and operation in the northern coimties ; but rived at Inverness, attended by his parliament, the dependence of the barons, who had taken and immediately summoned the principal chiefs up their residence in these wild districts, upon there to appear before him. From whatever the king, and their allegiance and subordina- motives—whether from hopes of effecting a tion to the laws, were less intimate and influ- reconciliation by a ready compliance with the ential than in the Lowland divisions of the mandate of the king, or from a dread, in case country ; and as they experienced less protec- of refusal, of the fate of the powerful barons tion, we have already seen, that in great public of the south who had fallen victims to James's emergencies, when the captivity of the sover- severity—the order of the king was obeyed, and eign, or the payment of his ransom, called for the chiefs repaired to Inverness. No sooner, the imposition of a tax upon property through- however, had they entered the hall where the out the kingdom, these great northern chiefs parliament was sitting, than they were by thought themselves at liberty to resist the col- order of the king arrested, ironed, and im- lection within their mountainous principalities. prisoned in different apartments, and debarred " Besides such Scoto-Norman barons, how- all communication with each other, or with ever, there were to be found in the Highlands their followers. It has been supposed that and Isles, those fierce aboriginal chiefs, who these chiefs may have been entrapped by some fair promises on the part of James, and the joy 3 ForJun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 511. 4 MS. Adv. Lib. Coll. Diplom. a Macfarlane, vol. 5 i. p. 245.—MS. Cart. Moray, 263. Tytlcr, vol. iii. pp. 250, 251. VIGOROUS POLICY OF JAMES I. 73

for the murder of Jolm of the Isles ; and Alex- ander Macreiny and John Macarthur, who were beheaded. Alexander of the Isles and Angus Dubh, after a short confinement, were both

pardoned ; but the latter was obliged to deliver up, as a hostage for his good behaviour, his son Neill, who was confined on the Bass rock, and, from that circumstance, was afterwards named Xeill-Wasse-Mackay. 7 Besides these, many others who were kept in prison in different parts of the kingdom, were afterwards condemned and executed. The Toyal clemency, which had been extended so graciously to the Lord of the Isles, met with

an ungrateful return ; for shortly after the king "had returned to his lowland dominions, Alex- ander collected a force of ten thousand men in Ross and the Isles, and with this formidable

body laid waste the country ; plundered and devastated the crown lands, against which his vengeance was chiefly directed, and razed the royal burgh of Inverness to the ground. On

James I. hearing of these distressing events, James, with a rapidity rarely equalled, collected a force, the which, according to Fordim, lie manifested at extent of which has not been ascertained, and seeing these turbulent and haughty spirits marched with great speed into Lochaber, where caught in the toils which he had prepared for he found the eneiny, who, from the celerity of them, favours this conjecture. The number of his movements, was taken almost by surprise. chiefs seized on this occasion is stated to have Alexander prepared for battle ; but, before its amounted to about foriy ; but the names of commencement, he had the misfortune to wit- the principal ones only have been preserved. ness the desertion of the clan Chattan, and These were Alaster or Alexander Macdonald, the clan Cameron, who, to a man, went over

Lord of the Isles ; Angus Dubh Mackay, with to the royal standard. The king, thereupon, liis four sons, who could bring into the field attacked Alexander's army, which he com-

4,000 fighting men ; Kenneth More and his pletely routed, and the latter sought safety in son-in-law, Angus of Moray, and Maemathan, flight.

who could muster 2,000 men ; Alexander Mac- Reduced to the utmost distress, and seeing reiny of Garmoran and John Macarthur, each of the impossibility of evading the active vigi- whom could bring into the field 1,000 followers. lance of Ms pursuers, who hunted him from Besides these were John Ross, James Campbell, place to place, this haughty lord, who con- and "William Lesley. The Countess of Ross, sidered him self on a par with kings, resolved the mother of Alexander, the Lord of the Isles, to throw himself entirely on the mercy of the and heiress of Sir Walter Lesley, was also king, by an act of the most abject submission. apprehended and imprisoned at the same time. 6 Having arrived in Edinburgh, to which he had

The king now determined to inflict summary travelled in the most private manner, the hum- vengeance upon his captives. Those who were bled chief suddenly presented himself before most conspicuous for their crimes were imme- the king, on Easter-Sunday, in the church of diately executed; among whom were James Holyrood, when he and his queen, surrounded Campbell, who was tried, convicted, and hanged by the nobles of the court, were employed in

6 7 Fordnu a Heanie, vol. iv. pp. 1283—4. Sir R. Gov

their devotions before the high altar. The promised to aid them in getting peaceable pos- extraordinary appearance of the fallen prince session of such lauds in Strathnaver as they denoted the inward workings of his troubled claimed. This, he showed them, might be

mind. "Without bonnet, arms, or ornament easily accomplished, with little or no resistance, of any kind, his legs and arms quite bare, his as Neill Mackay, son of Angus Dubh, from body covered with only a plaid, and holding whom the chief opposition might have been a naked sword in his hand by the point, he fell expected, was then a prisoner in the Bass, and down on Ms knees before the king, imploring Angus Dubh, the father, was unable, from mercy and forgiveness, and, in token of his un- age and infirmit}^ to defend his pretensions. reserved submission, offered the hilt of his Angus Murray also promised to request the sword to his majesty. At the solicitation of assistance of the Earl of Sutherland. As these

the queen and nobles, James spared his life, two brothers pretended a right to the posses- but committed hiin immediately to Tantallan sions of Angus Dubh in Strathnaver, they were

castle, under the charge of "William Earl of easily allured by these promises ; they imme- Angus, his nephew. This took place in the diately apprehended their brother Thomas at year 1429. The Countess of Ross was kept in Spaniziedaill in Sutherland, and delivered him close confinement in the ancient monastery of up to Murray, by whom he was presented to Inchcolm, on the small island of that name, in the king. Macneill was immediately executed the Frith of Forth. 8 The king, however, re- at Inverness, and Angus Murray obtained, in lented, and released the Lord of the Isles and terms of the royal proclamation, a grant of the his mother, after about a year's imprisonment. lands of Palrossie and Spaniziedaill from the About this period happened another of those king. The lands of Creigh fell into the hands bloody frays, which destroyed the internal of the Lord of the Isles, as superior, by the peace of the Highlands, and brought ruin and death and felony of Macneill. 9 desolation upon many families. Thomas Mac- In pursuance of his promise, Murray gave his

neill, son of Neill Mackay, who was engaged daughters in marriage respectively to Neill and in the battle of Tuttum Turwigh, possessed the Morgan Macneill, and with the consent and lands of Creigh, Spaniziedaill, and Palrossie, in approbation of Robert Earl of Sutherland, he Sutherland. Having conceived some displea- invaded Strathnaver with a party of Suther- sure at Mowat, the laird of Freshwick, the land men, to take possession of the lands of latter, with his party, in order to avoid his ven- Angus Dubh Mackay. Angus immediately geance, took refuge in the chapel of St. Duffus, collected his men, and gave the command of near the town of Tain, as a sanctuary. Thither them to John Aberigh, his natural son, as he they were followed by Thomas, who not only was unable to lead them in person. Both par- slew Mowat and his people, but also burnt the ties met about two miles from Toung, at a place

chapel to the ground. This outrage upon recalled Drum-ne-Coub ; but, before they came ligion and humanity exasperated the king, to blows, Angus Dubh Mackay sent a message who immediately ordered a proclamation to bo to Neill and Morgan, his cousins-german, offer- issued, denouncing Thomas Macneill as a rebel, ing to surrender them all his lands and posses- and promising his lands and possessions as a sions in Strathnaver, if they would allow him reward to any one that would kill or appre- to retain Keantayle. This fair offer was, how- hend him. Angus Murray, son of Alexander ever, rejected, and an appeal was therefore Murray of Cubin, immediately set about the immediately made to arms. A desperate con-

apprehension of Thomas Macneill. To accom- flict then took place, in which many were

plish his purpose, he held a secret conference killed on both sides ; among whom were with Morgan and Neill Macneill, the brothers Angus Murray and his two sons-in-law, Neill of Thomas, at which he offered, provided and Morgan Macneill. John Aberigh, though they would assist him in apprehending their he gained the victory, was severely wounded, brother, his two daughters in marriage, and and lost one of his arms. After the battle

8 11 Fordun, vol. iv. p. 1286. Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 6J, G5. POLICY OF JAMES I.—HIGHLAND FEUDS. 75

Angus Dubh Mackay was carried, at his own dition exists ; but it is said that the king pro-

request, to the field, to search for the bodies ceeded to Dunstaffnage castle, to punish those of his slain cousins, but he was killed by an chiefs who had joined in Donald Balloch's in-

arrow from a Sutherland man who lay con- surrection ; that, on his arrival there, numbers cealed in a bush hard by. of these came to him and made their submis-

James I. made many salutary regulations for sion, throwing the whole odium of the rebel- putting an end to the disorders consequent lion upon the leader, whose authority, they upon the lawless state of the Highlands, and alleged, they were afraid to resist; and that, the oppressed looked up to him for protection. by their means, three hundred thieves were ap- The following remarkable case will give some prehended and put to death. idea of the extraordinary barbarity in which For several years after this expedition the

the spoliators indulged : —A notorious thief, Highlands appear to have been tranquil ; but, named Donald Eoss, who had made himself on the liberation of Neill Mackay from his rich with plunder, carried off two cows from a confinement on the Bass, in the year 1437, poor woman. This woman having expressed a fresh disturbances began. This restless chief

determination not to wear shoes again till she had scarcely been released, when he entered had made a complaint to the king in person, Caithness, and spoiled the country. He was " the robber exclaimed, It is false : I'll have met at a place called Sandsett ; but the people you shod before you reach the court ;" and who came to oppose his progress were defeated, thereupon, with a brutality scarcely paralleled, and many of them were slain. This conflict was

the cruel monster took two horse shoes, and called Euaig Hanset ; that is, the flight, or fixed them on her feet with nails driven into chase at Sandsett. the flesh. The victim of this savage act, as About the same time a quarrel took place be- soon as she was able to travel, went to the tween the Keiths and some others of the inhab- king and related to him the whole circum- itants of Caithness. As the Keiths could not stances of her case, which so exasperated him, depend upon their own forces, they sought the that he immediately sent a warrant to the aid of Angus Mackay, son of Neill last men- sheriff of the county, where Eoss resided, for his tioned, who had recently died. Angus agreed

immediate apprehension ; which being effected, to join the Keiths; and accordingly, accom- he and a number of his associates were sent panied by his brother, John Eoy, and a chief- under an escort to Perth, where the court was tain named Iain-Mor-Mac-Iain-Eiabhaich, with then held. Eoss was tried and condemned, he a company of men, he went into Caithness, and his friends being treated in the same man- and, joining the Keiths, invaded that part of

ner as he had treated the poor woman ; and Caithness hostile to the Keiths. The people before his execution a linen shirt, on which of Caithness lost not a moment in assembling was painted a representation of his crime, was together, and met the Strathnaver men and the thrown over him, in which dress he was paraded Keiths at a place called Elare-Tannie. Here a through the streets of the town, afterwards sanguinary contest took place; but victory de-

dragged at a horse's tail, and hanged on a gal- clared for the Keiths, whose success, it is said, lows. 1 was chiefly owing to the prowess of Iain-Mor- The commotions in Strathnaver, and other Mac-Iain-Eiabhaich, whose name was, in con- parts of the Highlands, induced the king to sequence, long famous in that and the adjoin- make another expedition into that part of his ing country. 2

dominions ; previous to which he summoned a After the defeat of James, Earl of Douglas, Parliament at Perth, which was held on the who had renounced his allegiance to James II., 15th of October, 1431, in which a land-tax, or at Arkinholme, in 1454, he retired into Ar- " zelde," was laid upon the whole lands of the gyleshire, where he was received by the Earl kingdom, to defray the expenses of the under- of Eoss, with whom, and the Lord of the Isles, taking. No contemporary record of this expe- he entered into an alliance. The ocean prince,

] 2 Fordun a GooJal, vol. ii. p. 5] 0. Sir R. Gordon, p. 09. 76 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. having a powerful fleet of 500 galleys at islanders, along with a company of men from his command, immediately assembled his Ross, to Strathfleet in Sutherland to lay waste vassals, to the amount of 5,000 fighting men, the country, and thus wipe off the disgrace of and, having embarked them in his navy, his late defeat. On hearing of this fresh in- gave the command of the whole to Donald vasion, the Earl of Sutherland despatched his

Balloch, Lord of Isla, his near kinsman, a chief brother Robert with a sufficient force to attack who, besides his possessions in Scotland, had the Clandonald. They met on the sands of great power in the north of Ireland. This Strathfleet, and, after a fierce and bloody strug- potent chief, whose hereditary antipathy to gle, the islanders and their allies were over- the Scottish throne was as keen as that of his thrown with great slaughter. Many perished relation, entered cheerfully into the views of in the course of their flight. This was the last Douglas. With the force under his command hostile irruption of the Clandonald into Suther- he desolated the western coast of Scotland land, as all the disputes between the Lord of from Innerkip to Bute, the Cumbrays and the the Isles and the Sutherland family were after- formidable as he both matrimonial alliance. Island of Arran ; yet was wards accommodated by a in men and ships, the loss was not so consider- The vigorous administration of James II., able as might have been expected, from the which checked and controlled the haughty prudent precautions taken by the king to re- and turbulent spirit of his nobles, was also pel the invaders. The summary of the damage felt in the Highlands, where his power, sustained is thus related in a contemporary if not always acknowledged, was neverthe- chronicle : —" There was slain of good men fif- less dreaded; but upon the death of that teen; of women, two or three; of children, wise prince in 1460, and the accession of his three or four. The plunder included five or infant son to the crown, the princes of the six hundred horse, ten thousand oxen and kine, north again abandoned themselves to their and more than a thousand sheep and goats. lawless courses. The first who showed the At the same time, they burnt down several example was Allan of Lorn of the Wood, as mansions in Innerkip around the church; har- he was called, a nephew of Donald Balloch by ried all Arran ; stormed and levelled with the his sister. Coveting the estate of his elder

ground the castle of Brodick ; and wasted, with brother, Ker of Lorn, Allan imprisoned him fire and sword, the islands of the Cumbrays. in a dungeon in the island of Kerrera, with the

They also levied tribute upon Bute ; carrying view of starving him to death that he might away a hundred bolls of malt, a hundred marts, the more easily acquire the unjust possession 3 and a hundred marks of silver." he desired ; but Ker was liberated, and his pro- While Donald Balloch was engaged in this perty restored to him by the Earl of Argyle, to expedition, the Lord of the Isles, with his whom he was nearly related, and who suddenly kinsmen and followers to the number of five or attacked Allan with a fleet of galleys, defeated six hundred, made an incursion into Suther- him, burnt his fleet, and slew the greater part land, and encamped before the castle of Skibo. of his men. This act, so justifiable in itself, What his object was has not been ascertained; roused the revengeful passions of the island but, as a measure of precaution, the Earl of chiefs, who issued from their ocean retreats and Sutherland sent Neill Murray, son of Angus committed the most dreadful excesses. 4 Murray, who was slain at Drum-na-Coub, to After the decisive battle of Touton, Henry watch his motions. The Lord of the Isles im- VI. and his Queen retired to Scotlaud to watch mediately began to commit depreciations, where- the first favourable opportunity of seizing the upon he was attacked by Murray, and com- sceptre from the house of York. Edward IV., pelled to retreat into Ross with the loss of one anticipating the danger that might arise to his of his captains, named Donald Dubh-na-Soirn, crown by an alliance between his rival, the and fifty of his men. Exasperated at this de- exiled monarch, and the king of Scotland, defeat, Macdonald sent another party of his termined to counteract the effects of such a

3 4 Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 55. A uchinJeck Chronicle, pp. 5S, 59. INTEIGUES OF EDWAED IV.—EAEL OF EOSS EEBELS. 77

connection by a stroke of policy. Aware of I guished the inroads of the princes of the Scot- first seized the disaffected disposition of some of the j islands. He the castle of Inver- tish nobles, and northern and island chiefs, he ness at the head of a small party, being ad- immediately entered into a negotiation with mitted unawares by the governor, who did not John, Earl of Eoss, and Donald Balloch, to suspect his hostile intentions. He then col- detach them from their allegiance. On the 1 9th lected a considerable army, and proclaimed of October, 1461, the Earl of Eoss, Donald himself king of the Hebrides. With his army Balloch, and his son John de Isle, held a coun- he entered the country of Athole, denounced cil of their vassals and dependants at Astornish, the authority of the king, and commanded all at which it was agreed to send ambassadors to taxes to be paid to him ; and, after committing England to treat with Edward. On the arrival the most dreadful excesses, he stormed the of these ambassadors a negotiation was entered castle of Blair, dragged the Earl and Countess into between them and the Earl of Douglas, of Athole from the chapel of St. Bridget, and and John Douglas of Balveny, his brother, both carried them off to Isla as prisoners. It is re- of whom had been obliged to leave Scotland lated that the Earl of Eoss thrice attempted to for their treasons in the previous reign. These set fire to the holy pile, but in vain. He lost two brothers, who were animated by a spirit of many of his war-galleys, in a storm of thunder hatred and revenge against the family of their and lightning, in which the rich booty he had late sovereign James II., warmly entered into taken was consigned to the deep. Prepara- the views of Edward, whose subjects they had tions were immediately made by the regents become ; and they concluded a treaty with the of the kingdom for punishing this rebellious northern ambassadors which assumed as its chief ; but these became unnecessary, for, basis nothing less than the entire conquest of touched with remorse, he collected the remains

Scotland. Among other conditions, it was sti- of his plunder, and stripped to his shirt and pulated that, upon payment of a specified drawers, and barefooted, he, along with his sum of money to himself, his son, and ally, the principal followers, in the same forlorn and de-

Lord of the Isles should become for ever the jected condition, went to the chapel of St. vassal of England, and should assist Edward Bridget which they had lately desecrated, and and his successors in the wars in Ireland and there performed a penance before the altar. elsewhere. And, in the event of the entire The Earl and Countess of Athole were there- subjugation of Scotland by the Earls of Eoss upon voluntarily released from confinement, and Douglas, the whole of the kingdom on the and the Earl of Eoss was afterwards assassi- north of the Frith of Forth was to be divided nated in the castle of Inverness, by an Irish equally between these Earls and Donald Bal- harper who bore him a grudge. loch, and the estates which formerly belonged Although at this period an account of Ork- to Douglas between the Frith of Forth and the ney and Shetland does not properly belong to borders were to be restored to him. This sin- a history of the Highlands, as these islands had gular treaty is dated London, 18th February, for long been the property of the king of Nor- 1462. 5 way, and had a population almost purely Teu- Pending this negotiation, the Earl of Angus, tonic, with a language, manners, and customs at that time one of the most powerful of the widely differing from those of the Highlanders

Scottish nobles, having, by the promise of an proper ; still it will not be out of place to men- English dukedom from the exiled Henry, en- tion here, that these islands were finally made gaged to assist in restoring him to his crown over to Scotland in 1469, as security for the and dominions, the Earl of Eoss, before the dowry of Margaret of Norway, the wife of plan had been organized, in order to counteract James III. the attempt, broke out into open rebellion, The successor of the Lord of the Isles—who which was characterized by all those circum- was generally more like an independent sov- stances of barbarous cruelty which distin-

c FeiTcrius, p. 383. — Lesley dc Rebus Gesiis Scuto- 6 Rotuli Scoliai, vol. ii. p. 407. urn, p. 300. ,

78 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

ereign than a subject of the Scottish, king—not Highlanders ; and if, from the weakness of the being disposed to tender the allegiance which clan, the minority of the cliief, or any other his father had violated, the king, in the month cause, the clay of deadly reckoning was de- of May, 1476, assembled a large army on the layed, the feeling which prompted revenge was north of the Forth, and a fleet on the west never dormant, and the earliest opportunity coast, for the purpose of making a simultaneous was embraced of vindicating the honour of the attack upon him by sea and land. Seeing no clan. Angus Mackay, son of the famous Neill hopes of making effectual resistance against of the Bass, having been killed at Tarbert by such a powerful force as that sent against him, a Eoss, his son, John Eiabhaich Mackay, ap- he tendered his submission to the king on cer- plied to John Earl of Sutherland, on whom he tain conditions, and resigned the earldom of depended, to assist him in revenging his father's Eoss, and the lands of Kintyre and Knapdale, death. The Earl promised his aid, and accord- into his majesty's hands. By this act he was ingly sent his uncle, Eobert Sutherland, with restored to the king's favour, who forgave him a company of chosen men, to assist John Mac- all his offences, and " infeft him of new " in the kay. With this force, and such men as John lordship of the Isles and the other lands which Mackay and his relation Uilleam-Dubh-Mac- he did not renounce. The Earl of Athole, who Iain-Abaraich, son of John Aberigh who fought commanded the royal army, was rewarded for at Drum-na-Coub, cordd collect, they invaded

this service by a grant of the lands and forest Strath-oy-kell, carrying fire and sword in their of ClunyJ course, and laying waste many lands belonging After the Lord of the Isles had thus resigned to the Bosses. As soon as the Laird of Balna- the earldom of Eoss into the king's hands, that gown, the chief of the Bosses, heard of this

province was perpetually molested by incur- attack, he collected all his forces, and attacked sions from the islanders, who now considered Eobert Sutherland and John Eiabhaich Mac-

it a fit theatre for the exercise of their preda- kay, at a place called Aldv-charrish. A long

tory exploits. Gillespie, cousin of the Lord and obstinate battle took place ; but the death of the Isles, at the head of a large body of the of Balnagown and seventeen of the principal islanders, invaded the higher part of Eoss and landed gentlemen of Eoss decided the combat committed great devastation. The inhabitants, for the people of Eoss, being deprived of their or as many as the shortness of the time would leader, were thrown into confusion, and utterly permit, amongst whom the Clankenzie were put to flight, with great slaughter. chiefly distinguished, speedily assembled, and The fruit of this victory was a large quantity met the islanders on the banks of the Connan, of booty, which the victors divided the same

where a sharp conflict took place. The Clan- day ; but the avarice of the men of Assynt, in- kenzie fought with great valour, and pressed duced them to instigate John Mackay to resolve the enemy so hard that Gillespie Macdonald to commit one of the most perfidious and dia- was overthrown, and the greater part of his bolical acts ever perpetrated by men who had men were slain or drowned in the river, about fought on the same side. The design of the two miles from Braile, thence called Blar-na- Assynt men was, to cut off Eobert Sutherland Pairc. The predecessor of the Laird of Brodie, and his whole party, and possess themselves of who happened to be with the chief of the Mac- their share of the spoil, before the Earl of kenzies at the time, fought with great courage. Sutherland could learn the result of the battle, For a considerable time the district of Suther- that he might be led to suppose that his uncle

land had remained tranquil, but on the 1 1th and his men had all fallen in the action with

of July, 1487, it again became the scene of a the Bosses. When this plan was divulged to bloody encounter between the Mackays and the Uilleam-Dubh-Mac-Iain-Abaraich, he was hor-

Bosses. To revenge the death of a relation, or rified at it, and immediately sent notice to

to wipe away the stigma of a defeat, were con- Eobert Sutherland of it, that he might be upon sidered sacred and paramount duties by the his guard. Eobert assembled his men upon receipt of this extraordinary intelligence, told

7 Lesley's Hist., j>. 41.—Sir R. Gordon, p. 77. them of the base intentions of John Mackay, PEUDENT POLICY OF JAMES IV. 79 and put them in order, to be prepared for the a baron of the most extensive power in those threatened attack ; but on John Biabhaich northern districts—he appears to have been in Mackay perceiving that Eobert and his party habits of constant and regular communication were prepared to meet him, he slunk off, —rewarding them by presents, in the shape and went home to Strathnaver. 8 either of money or of grants of land, and se- The lawless state of society in the Highlands, curing their services in reducing to obedience which followed as a consequence from the re- such of their fellow chieftains as proved contu- moval of the seat of government to the Low- macious, or actually rose in rebellion." 9 lands, though it often engaged the attention of But James carried his views further. Bightly the Scottish sovereigns, never had proper re- judging how much the personal presence of medies applied to mend it. At one time the the sovereign would be valued by his distant aid of force was called in, and when that was subjects, and the good effects which would re- found ineffectual, the vicious principle of di- sult therefrom, he resolved to visit different viding the chiefs, that they might the more parts of his northern dominions. Accordingly, effectually weaken and destroy one another, in the year 1490, accompanied by his court, he was adopted. Both plans, as might be sup- rode twice from Perth across the chain of posed, proved abortive. If the government mountains which extends across the country had, by conciliatory measures, and by a profu- from the border of the Mearns to the head of sion of favours, suitable to the spirit of the Loch Rannoch, which chain is known by the times, secured the attachment of the heads of name of the "Mount." Again, in 1493, he the clans, the supremacy of the laws might twice visited the Highlands, and went as far have been vindicated, and the sovereign might as Dunstaffhage and Mengarry, in Ardnamur- have calculated upon the support of powerful chan. In the following year he visited the and trustworthy auxiliaries in his domestic isles no less than three times. His first voy- struggles against the encroachments of the age to the islands, which took place in April nobles. Such ideas appear never to have once and May, was conducted with great state. He entered the minds of the kings, but it was re- was attended by a vast suite, many of whom served for James IV., who succeeded to the fitted out vessels at their own expense. The throne in 1488, to make the experiment. " To grandeur which surrounded the king impressed attach to his interest the principal chiefs of the islanders with a high idea of his wealth these provinces, to overawe and subdue the and power ; and his condescension and famili- petty princes who affected independence, to arity with all classes of his subjects, acquired carry into their territories, hitherto too exclu- for him a popularity which added strength to sively governed by their own capricious or his throne. During these marine excursions tyrannical institutions, the same system of a the youthful monarch indulged his passion for severe, but regular and rapid, administration of sailing and hunting, and thereby relieved the civil and criminal justice, which had been tediousness of business by the recreation of established in his Lowland dominions, was the agreeable and innocent pleasures. laudable object of the king; and for this pur- The only opposition which James met with pose he succeeded, with that energy and activ- during these excursions was from the restless ity which remarkably distinguished him, in Lord of the Isles, who had the temerity to put opening up an intercourse with many of the the king at defiance, notwithstanding the re- leading men in the northern counties. With peated and signal marks of the royal favour the captain of the Clanchattan, Duncan Mack- he had experienced. But James was not to be intosh ; with Ewan, the son of Alan, captain trifled with, for he summoned the island prince " of the Clancameron ; with Campbell of Glen- to stand his trial for " treason in Kintyre ; urqhay ; the Macgilleouns of Duart and Loch- and in a parliament held in Edinburgh shortly buy; Mackane of Ardnamurchan ; the lairds of after the king's return from the north, " Sir

Mackenzie and Grant ; and the Earl of Huntley, John of the Isles," as he is named in the trea-

9 " Sir R. Gordon, pp. 78, 70. Tytler, vol. iv. pp- 367, 363. —

80 GEXEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. surer's accounts, was stripped of his power, and which Sir James Dunbar's security extended, his possessions were forfeited to the crown. was called in question by Sir James, who ob- One of those personal petty feuds which were tained a decree before the lords of council and so prevalent in the Highlands, occurred about session, in February, 1512, setting aside the this time. Alexander Sutherland of Dilred, right of Y-Eoy-Mackay, and ordaining the Earl being unable or unwilling to repay a sum of of Sutherland, as superior of the lands, to re- money he had borrowed from Sir James Dun- ceive Sir James Dunbar as his vassal. bar of Cumnock, the latter took legal measures A lamentable instance of the ferocity of to secure his debt by appraising part of Dilred's these times is afforded in the case of one of lands. This proceeding vexed the laird of the Earls of Sutherland, who upon some pro- Dilred exceedingly, and he took an umbrage at vocation slew two of his nephews. This earl, the Dunbars, who had recently settled in who was named John, had a natural brother, Sutherland, " grudgeing, as it were," saj's Sir Thomas Moir, who had two sons, Eobert E. Gordon, " that a stranger should brawe Sutherland and the Keith, so called on account (brave) him at his owne doors." Happening of his being brought up by a person of that to meet Alexander Dunbar, brother of Sir name. The young men had often annoyed the James, who had lately married Lady Margaret Earl, and on one occasion they entered his Baillie, Countess Dowager of Sutherland, high castle of Dimrobin to brave him to his face, an words passed between them, a combat ensued, act which so provoked the Earl, that he in- and, after a long contest, Alexander Dunbar was stantly killed Eobert in the house. The Keith, killed. Sir James Dunbar thereupon went to after receiving several wounds, made his es- Edinburgh, and laid the matter before King cape, but he was overtaken and slain at the

James IV., who was so exasperated at the Clayside, near Dunrobin, which from that cir- conduct of Alexander Sutherland, that he cumstance was afterwards called Ailein-Cheith, immediately proclaimed him a rebel, sent mes- or the bush of the Keith. sengers everywhere in search of him, and pro- In 1513 a troop of Highlanders helped to mised his lands to any person that would swell the Scotch army on the ever-memorable apprehend him. After some search he was and disastrous field of Flodden, but from their apprehended with ten of his followers by his peculiar mode of fighting, so different from uncle, Y-Eoy-Mackay, brother of John Eeawigh that of the Lowlanders, appear to have been Mackay already mentioned, who sent him to more a hindrance than a help. the king. Dilred was tried, condemned, and executed, and his lands declared forfeited. Eor this service, Y-Eoy-Mackay obtained from the king a grant of the lands of Armdall, Far, CHAFTEE VII. Golspietour, Einnald, Kilcolrnkill, and Dilred,

a. i>. 1516— 1588. which formerly belonged to Alexander Suther- land, as was noted in Mackay's infeftment, ' .SCOTLAND: dated in 1449. 1 "Avarice," says Sir E. Gor-

don, " is a strange vyce, which respects neither

blood nor freindship. This is the first infeft- Doings in Sutherland—Battle of Torrau-Dubh—Feud between the Keiths and the clan Gun—John Mac- ment that any of the familie of Macky had kay and Murray of Aberscors—Alexander Suther- from the king, so far as I can perceave by the land, the bastard, claims the Earldom—Contests between John Mackay and the Master of Sutherland records of this kingdom ; and they wer untill —Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—Dissensions tliis tyme possessors onlie of ther lands in among the clan Chattan—Hector Macintosh elected Captain—His doings Disturbances in Sutherland Strathnaver, not careing much for any charters — —Feuds between the Clanranald and Lord Lovat or infeftments, as most pairts of the High- The ' Field of Shirts'— Earl of Huntly's Expedition landers have alwise done." — Commotions in Sutherland—Earl of Huntly and the Clanranald—The Queen Eegent visits the High- The grant of the king as to the lands over lands—Commotions in Sutherland—Queen Mary's Expedition against Huntly—Earl and Countess of Sutherland poisoned— Earl of Caithness' treatment 1 Sir R. Gordon, p. 80. rfthe young Earl of Sutherland- -Quarrel between ;

BATTLE OF TOBEAX-DUBH. 81

tlie Monroes and clan Kenzie—Doings of the Earl bimself upon the generosity of his nephews, of Caithness—Unruly state of the North—The elan requesting that they would merely allow him a Chattan—Reconciliation of the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—The Earl of Sutherland and the clan small maintenance to keep him from poverty Gun—Disastrous Feud between the Macdonalds and during the remainder of his life ; but these un- llacleans—Disputes between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness—Reconciliation between Mackay and natural relatives, regardless of mercy and the the Earl of Sutherland. ties of blood, ordered Xeill to be beheaded in

In tlie year 1516, Adam Earl of Sutherland, their presence by the hands of Claff-na-Gep, in anticipation of threatened dangers in the his own foster brother. 2 north, entered into bonds of friendship and In the year 1517, advantage was taken by alliance with the Earl of Caithness for mutual John Mackay of the absence of the Earl of protection and support. The tetter to secure Sutherland, who had gone to Edinburgh to the goodwill and assistance of the Earl of transact some business connected 'with his Caithness, Earl Adam made a grant of some estates, to invade the province of Sutherland, lands upon the east side of the -water of Ully and to burn and spoil every thing which oame but the Earl of Caithness, although he kept in his way. He "was assisted in this lawless possession of the lands, joined the foes of his enterprise by two races of people dwelling in ally and friend. The Earl of Sutherland, how- Sutherland, called the Siol-Phaill, and the Siol- ever, would have found a more trustworthy Thomais, and by Xeil-Mac-Iain-Mac-Angus of supporter in the person of Y-Boy-Mackay, who Assynt, and his brother John Mor-Mac-Iain, had come under a written obligation to serve with some of their countrymen. As soon as

Mm the same year ; but Mackay died, and a the Countess of Sutherland, who had remained contest immediately ensued in Strathnaver, beat home, heard of this invasion, she prevailed tween John and Donald Mackay his "bastard upon Alexander Sutherland, her bastard bro- sons, and Neill-Xaverigh Mackay, brother of ther, to oppose Mackay. Assisted chiefly by Y-Eoy, to obtain possession of his lands. John John Murray of Aberscors, and Uilleam Mae- took possession of all the lands belonging to Sheumais-Mhic-Chruner, chief of the clan Gun his father in Strathnaver ; but his uncle jSTeill in Sutherland, Alexander convened hastily the laid claim to them, and applied to the Earl of inhabitants of the country and went in search Caithness for assistance to recover them. The of the enemy. He met John Mackay and his Earl, after many entreaties, put a force under brother Donald, at a place called Torran-Dubh the command of jSTeill and his two sons, with or Cnocan-Dubh, near Eogart in Strathfleet. which thej' entered Strathnaver, and obtaining Macka}7^ force was prodigious, for he had as- an accession of strength in that country, they sembled not only the whole strength of Strath- dispossessed John Mackay, who immediately naver, Durines, Edderachillis, and Assynt, with went to the clan Chattan and clan Kenzie, to the Siol-Phaill and Soil-Tkomais ; but also all crave their aid and support, leaving his brother the disorderly and idle men of the "whole dio-

Donald Mackay to defend himself in Strath- cese of Caithness, with all such as he could naver as he best could. Donald not having a entice to join him from the west and north- sufficient force to meet his uncle and cousins in west isles, to accompany him in his expedition, open combat, had recourse to a stratagem which buoyed up with the hopes of plunder. But succeeded entirely to his mind. With his the people of Sutherland were nowise dismayed little band he, under cloud of night, surprised at the appearance of this formidable host, and his opponents at Delreavigh in Strathnaver, made preparations for an attack. A desperate and slew both his cousins and the greater struggle commenced, and after a long contest, part of their men, and thus utterly destroyed Mackay's vanguard was driven back upon the the issue of NeilL John Mackay, on hearing position occupied by himself. Mackay having of this, immediately joined his brother, and rallied the retreating party, selected a number drove out of Strathnaver all persons who had of the best and ablest men he could find, and favoured the pretensions of his uncle jSTeill- having placed the remainder of his army under Xaverigh. This unfortunate old man, after be-

2 ing abandoned by the Earl of Caithness, threw .Sir Robert Gordon, p. 90. ;;

82 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the command of his brother Donald, to act as chapel at the appointed time. As soon as they a reserve in case of necessity, he made a furious arrived, they entered the chapel and prostrated

attack upon the Sutherland men, who received themselves in prayer before the altar. While the enemy with great coolness and intrepidity. employed in this devotional act, the laird of The chiefs on both sides encouraged their men Inverugie and Aikregell arrived with twelve to fight for the honour of their clans, and in horses, and two men on each horse. After consequence the fight was severe and bloody dismounting, the whole of this party rushed but in the end the Sutherland men, after great into the chapel armed, and attacked the Crunei slaughter, and after prodigies of valour had been and his party unawares. The Clan Gun, how displayed by both parties, obtained the victory. ever, defended themselves with great intrepid-

Mackay's party was almost entirely cut off, ity, and although the whole twelve were slain, and Mackay himself escaped with difficulty. many of the Keiths were also killed. For The victors next turned their attention to the nearly two centuries the blood of the slain was reserve under the command of Donald Mackay to be seen on the walls of the chapel, which it but Donald dreading the fate of his brother, had stained. James Gun, one of the sons of the fled along with his party, which immediately Cruner, being absent, immediately on hearing dispersed. They were, however, closely pur- of his father's death, retired with his family sued by John Murray and Uilleam Mac-Sheu- into Sutherland, where he settled, and where mais, till the darkness of the night prevented his son William Mac-Sheumais, or Mac-James the pursuit. In this battle, two hundred of otherwise William Cattigh, was born. the Strathnaver men, thirty-two of the Siol- As John Mackay imputed his defeat at Phaill, and fifteen of the Siol-Thomais, besides Torran-Dubh mainly to John Murray of Aber- many of the Assynt men, and their commander, scors, he Tesolved to take the first convenient Niall-Mac-Iain-Mac-Aonghais, a valiant chief- opportunity of revenging himself, and wiping tain, were slain. John Mor-Mac-Iain, the off the disgrace of his discomfiture. He, there- brother of this chief, escaped with his life after fore, not being in a condition himself to under- receiving many wounds. Of the Sutherland take an expedition, employed two brothers, men, thirty-eight only were slain. Sir Eobert William and Donald, his kinsmen, chieftains Gordon says that this "was the greatest conflict of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with a company that hitherto hes been foughtin between the of men, to attack Murray. The latter having inhabitants of these cuntreyes, or within the mustered his forces, the parties met at a place diocy of Catteynes, to our knowlege." 3 called Loch-Salchie, not far from the Torran- Shortly after the battle of Torran-Dubh, Dubh, where a sharp skirmish took place, in Uilleam Mac-Sheumais, called Cattigh, chief of which Murray proved victorious. The two the clan Gun, killed George Keith of Aikregell Strathnaver chieftains and the greater part with his son and twelve of their followers, at of their men were slain, and the remainder Drummoy, in Sutherland, as they were travel- were put to flight. The principal person who ling from Inverugie to Caithness. This act fell on Murray's side was his brother John- was committed by Mac-Sheumais to revenge Eoy, whose loss he deeply deplored. the slaughter of his grandfather (the Cruner,) Exasperated at this second disaster, John who had been slain by the Keiths, under the Mackay sent John Croy and Donald, two of following circumstances. A long feud had ex- his nephews, sons of Angus Mackay, who was isted between the Keiths and the clan Gun, to killed at Morinsh in Eoss, at the head of a reconcile which, a meeting was appointed at number of chosen men, to plunder and burn the chapel of St. Tayr in Caithness, near the town of Pitfonr, in Strathfleet, which be-

Girnigoe, of twelve horsemen on each side. longed to John Murray ; but they were equally The Cruner, then chief of the clan Gun, with unsuccessful, for John Croy Mackay and some some of his sons and his principal kinsmen, of his men were slain by the Murrays, and to the number of twelve in all, came to the Donald was taken prisoner. In consequence of these repeated reverses, John Mackay sub-

3 Sir E. Gordon, p. 92. mitted himself to the Earl of Sutherland on ALEXANDEK SUTHEKLAND THE BASTARD. ft.",

his return from Edinburgh, and granted him the third of that name, Earl of Sutherland, his bond of service, in the year 1518. But, and as he pretended that the Earl and his notwithstanding this submission, Mackay after- mother had entered into a contract of marriage, wards tampered with Alexander Sutherland, he laid claim, on the death of the Earl, to the the bastard, and having gained his favour by title and estates, as a legitimate descendant of giving his sister to Sutherland in marriage, he Earl John, his father. By the entreaties of prevailed upon him to rise against the Earl of Adam Gordon, Lord of Aboyne, who had mar- Sutherland. All these commotions in the ried Lady Elizabeth, the sister and sole heiress north happened during the minority of King of Earl John, Alexander Sutherland judicially James V., when, as Sir R Gordon says, " everie renounced his claim in presence of the sheriff man thought to escape unpunished, and cheiflie of Inverness, on the 25th of July, 1509. He these who were remotest from the seat of jus- now repented of what he had done, and, being tice." 4 instigated by the Earl of Caithness and John This Alexander Sutherland was son of John, Mackay, mortal foes to the house of Suther-

Old Dunrobin Castle. land, he renewed his pretensions. Earl Adam, absence of the earl, who was in Strathbogie, perceiving that he might incur some danger attacked Dunrobin castle, the chief strength of in making an appeal to arms, particularly as the earl, which he took. In this siege he was the clans and tribes of the country, with many chiefly supported by Alexander Terrell of the of whom Alexander had become very popular, Doill, who, in consequence of taking arms were broken into factions and much divided against the earl, his superior, lost all his lands, on the question betwixt the two, endeavoured and was afterwards apprehended and executed. to win him over by offering him many favour- As soon as the earl heard of the insurrection, able conditions, again to renounce his claims, he despatched Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy, but in vain. He maintained the legitimacy with a body of men, into Sutherland to assist of his descent, and alleged that the renuncia- John Murray of Aberscors, who was already at tion he had granted at Inverness had been the head of a force to support the earl. They obtained from him contrary to his inclination, immediately besieged Dunrobin, which sur- and against the advice of his best friends. rendered. Alexander had retired to Strath- Having collected a considerable force, he, in naver, but he again returned into Sutherland with a fresh body of men, and laid waste the

4 Sir R. Gordon, p. 93. country. After putting to death several of his 84 GENERAL HISTORY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

own kinsmen who had joined the earl, he de- and talent. The restless chief John Mackay, scended farther into the country, towards the still smarting under his misfortunes, and thirst- parishes of Loth and Clyne. Meeting with ing for revenge, thought the present a favour-

little or no opposition, the bastard grew care- able opportunity for retrieving his losses.

less, and being observed wandering along the With a considerable force, therefore, he in-, Sutherland coast, flushed with success and re- vaded Sutherland, and entered the parish of gardless of danger, the earl formed the design Creigh, which he intended to ravage, but the of cutting him entirely off. With this view, Master of Sutherland hastened thither, attacked he directed Alexander Lesley of Kinninuvy, Mackay, and forced him to retreat into Strath- John Murray, and John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay, naver with some loss. Mackay then assembled one of the Siol-Thomais, to hover on Suther- a large body of his countrymen and invaded land's outskirts, and to keep skirmishing with the Breachat. He was again defeated by him till he, the earl, should collect a sufficient Alexander Gordon at the Grinds after a keen force with which to attack him. Having col- skirmish. Hitherto Mackay had been allowed lected a considerable body of resolute men, the to hold the lands of Grinds, and some other earl attacked the bastard at a place called Ald- possessions in the west part of Sutherland, but Quhillin, by East Clentredaill, near the sea the Master of Sutherland now dispossessed him side. A warm contest ensued, in which Alex- of all these as a punishment for his recent con- ander Sutherland was taken prisoner, and the duct. Still dreading a renewal of Mackay's most of his men were slain, including John visits, the Master of Sutherland resolved to re- Bane, one of his principal supporters, who fell taliate, by invading Strathnaver in return, and by the hands of John Scorrigh-Mac-Finlay. thereby showing Mackay what he might in After the battle Sutherland was immediately future expect if he persevered in continuing hie beheaded by Alexander Lesley on the spot, and visits to Sutherland. Accordingly, he collected his head sent to Dunrobin on a spear, which a body of stout and resolute men, and entered was placed upon the top of the great tower, Strathnaver, wdiich he pillaged and burnt, and,

" which shews us " (as Sir Robert Gordon, fol- having collected a large quantity of booty, re- lowing the superstition of his times, curiously turned into Sutherland. In entering Strath- observes), " that whatsoever by fate is allotted, naver, the Master of Sutherland had taken the though sometymes forshewed, can never be road to Strathully, passing through Mackay's avoyded. For the witches had told Alexander bounds in the hope of falling in with and ap- the bastard that Ms head should be the highest prehending him, but Mackay was absent on a

that ever wes of the Southerlands ; which he creach excursion into Sutherland. In return- did foolishlye interpret that some day he should ing, however, through the Diric Moor and the be Earl of Southerland, and in honor above Breachat, Alexander Gordon received intelli- all his predicessors. Thus the divell and his gence that Mackay with a company of men ministers, the witches, deceaving still such as was in the town of Lairg, with a quantity of trust in them, will either find or frame predic- cattle he had collected in Sutherland, on his tions for everie action or event, which doeth way home to Strathnaver. He lost no time in ever fall out contrarie to ther expectations ; a attacking Mackay, and such was the celerity of kynd of people to all men unfaithfull, to hopers his motions, that his attack was as sudden as deceatful, and in all cuntries allwise forbidden, unexpected. Mackay made the best resistance allwise reteaned and manteaned." 5 he could, but was put to the rout, and many The Earl of Sutherland being now far ad- of his men were killed. He himself made his vanced in life, retired for the most part to escape with great difficulty, and saved his life Strathbogy and Aboyne, to spend the remainder by swimming to the island of Eilean-Minric, of his days amongst his friends, and intrusted near Lairg, where he lay concealed during the the charge of the country to Alexander Gordon, rest of the day. All the cattle which Mackay his eldest son, a young man of great intrepidity had carried away were rescued and carried back into Sutherland. The following day Mackay

6 Sir R. Gordon, pp 96, 97. left the island, returned home to his country, DISSENSION AMONG THE CLAN CHATTAN. 85 and again submitted himself to the Master and companions, and the temptation of ruling the his father, the Earl, to whom he a second time clan, murdered the good chief. Afraid to face gave his bond of service and manrent in the the well-disposed part of the clan, to whom the year 1522. 6 chief was beloved, Malcolmeson, along with As the Earl of Caithness had always taken his followers, took refuge in the island in the a side against the Sutherland family in these loch of Rothiemurchus ; but the enraged clan different -quarrels, the Earl of Sutherland followed them to their hiding places and de- brought an action before the Lords of Council spatched them. and Session against the Earl of Caithness, to As the son of the deceased chief was of ten- recover back from him the lands of Strathully, der age, and unable to govern the clan, with on the ground, that the Earl of Caithness had common consent they made choice of Hector not fulfilled the condition on which the lands Macintosh, a bastard brother of the late chief, were granted to him, viz., to assist the Earl of to act as captain till his nephew should arrive Sutherland against his enemies. There were at manhood. In the meantime the Earl of other minor points of dispute between the earls, Moray, who was uncle to young Macintosh, to get all which determined they both repaired the former chief having been married to the to Edinburgh. Instead, however, of abiding earl's sister, took away his nephew and placed the issue of a trial at law before the judges, him under the care of his friends for the bene- both parties, by the advice of mutual friends, fit of his education, and to bring him up vir- referred the decision of all the points in dis- tuously. Hector Macintosh was greatly in- pute on either side to Gavin Dunbar, 7 bishop censed at the removal of the child, and used of Aberdeen, who pronounced his award at every effort to get possession of him but meet- Edinburgh, on the 11th March, 1524, his ing with a refusal he became outrageous, and judgment appearing to have satisfied both laid so many plans for accomplishing his ob- parties, as the earls lived in peace with one ject, that his intentions became suspected, a3 another ever after. it was thought he could not wish so ardently The year 1526 was signalized by a great for the custody of the child without some bad dissension among the clan Chattan. The design. Baffled in every attempt, Hector, as- chief and head of that clan was Lauchlan sisted by his brother William, collected a body Macintosh of Dunnachtan, " a verrie honest of followers, and invaded the Earl of Moray's and wyse gentleman," says Bishop Lesley, " an lands. They overthrew the fort of Dykes, and barroun of gude rent, quha keipit hes hole ken, besieged the castle of Tarnoway, the country friendes and tennentis in honest and guid surrounding which they plundered, burnt the rewll;" 8 and according to Sir Robert Gordon, houses of the inhabitants, and slew a number " a man of great possessions, and of such ex- of men, women, and children. Raising the cellencies of witt and judgement, that with siege of Tarnoway, Hector and his men then great commendation he did conteyn all his entered the country of the Ogilvies and laid followers within the limits of ther dueties." 9 siege to the castle of Pettens, which belonged The strictness with which this worthy chief to the Laird of Durnens, one of the families curbed the lawless and turbulent dispositions of of the Ogilvies, and which, after some resist- his clan raised up many enemies, who, as ance, surrendered. No less than twent\'-four Bishop Lesley says, were " impacient of versi- gentlemen of the name of Ogilvie were mas- ons living." At the head of this restless party sacred on this occasion. After this event the was James Malcolmeson, a near kinsman of Macintoshes and the party of banditti they had the chief, who, instigated by his worthless collected, roamed over the whole of the adjoining country, carrying terror and dismay into

6 Sir K. Gordon, p. 97. every bosom, and plundering, burning, and 7 It was this excellent Bishop who built, at his own destroying everything within their reach. To expense, the beautiful bridge of seven arches on the Dee, near Aberdeen. The Episcopal arras cut on repress disorders which called so loudly for some of the stones are almost as entire as when redress, King James V., by the advice of Ms chiselled bv the hands of the sculptor. 8 Hist, of Scotland, p. 137 n P. 99. council, granted a commission to the Earl of 86 GENERAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Moray to take measures accordingly. Having that nobleman, he began to molest the inhabi- a considerable force put under Ms command, tants of Sutherland. In 1542 he attacked the the earl went in pursuit of Macintosh and his village of Knockartol, which he burnt ; and party, and having surprised them, he took at the same time he plundered Strathbroray. upwards of 300 of them 1 and hanged them, To oppose his farther progress, Sir Hugh Ken- along with William Macintosh, the brother nedy collected as many of the inhabitants of of Hector. A singular instance of the fidelity Sutherland as the shortness of the time would of the Highlanders to their chiefs is afforded permit, and, being accompanied by Gilbert in the present case, where, out of such a Gordon of Gartay, John Murray of Aberscors, vast number as suffered, not one would Iris son Hutcheon Murray, and Mac-Mhic- reveal the secret of Hector Macintosh's retreat, Sheurnais of Killiernan, he attacked Mackay although promised their lives for the discovery. quite unawares near Alfr-Na-Beth. Notwith- " Ther faith wes so true to ther captane, that standing this unexpected attack, Mackay's men they culd not be persuaded, either by fair met their assailants with great firmness, but meanes, or by any terror of death, to break the the Strathnaver men were ultimately obliged same or to betray their master." 2 to retreat with the loss of their booty and a Seeing no hopes of escaping the royal ven- great number of slain, amongst whom was geance but by a ready submission, Hector Mac- John Mackean-Mac-Angus, chief of Slioehd- intosh, by advice of Alexander Dunbar, Dean Mliic-Iain-Mhic-Hutcheon, in Edderachillis. of Moray, tendered his obedience to the king, Though closely pressed by Gilbert Gordon and which was accepted, and he was received into Hutcheon Murray, Donald Mackay made good the royal favour. He did not, however, long his retreat into Strathnaver. survive, for he was assassinated in St. Andrews By no means disheartened at his defeat, and by one James Spence, who was in consequence anxious to blot out the stain which it had beheaded. After the death of Hector, the thrown upon him, he soon returned into Suth- clan Chattan remained tranquil during the re- erland with a fresh force, and encamped near maining years of the minority of the young Skibo. Hutcheon Murray collected some Suth- chief, who, according to Bishop Lesley, " wes erland men, and with them he attacked Mac- sua well brocht up by the meenes of the Erie of kay, and kept him in check till an additional Murray and the Laird of Phindlater in vertue, force which he expected should arrive. Ae honestie, and civile policye, that after he had soon as Mackay saw this new body of men ap- received the governement of his cuntrey, he proaching, with which he was quite unable to was a mirrour of vertue to all the hieland cap- contend, he retreated suddenly into his own tanis in Scotland." 3 But the young chieftain's country, leaving several of his men dead on the

" honestie and civile policye " not suiting the field. This affair was called the skirmish of ideas of those who had concurred in the mur- Loch-Buy. This mode of annoyance, whicli der of his father, a conspiracy was formed continued for some time, was put an end to by against him by some of his nearest kinsmen to the apprehension of Donald Mackay, who, deprive him of his life, which unfortunately being brought before the Earls of Huntly and took effect. Sutherland, was, by their command, committed The Highlands now enjoyed repose for some a close prisoner to the castle of Foulis, where years. John Mackay died in 1529, and was he remained a considerable time in captivity. succeeded by his brother Donald, who remained At last, by means of Donald Mac-Iain-Mhoir, quiet during the life of Adam Earl of Suther- a Strathnaver man, he effected his escape, and, land, to whom his brother had twice granted returning home, reconciled himself with the his bond of service. But, upon the death of Earl of Sutherland, to whom he gave his bond of service and manrent, on the 8th of April, 1 This is the number given by Bishop Lesley, whose 1549. account must be preferred to that of Sir R. Gordon, who states it at upwards of 200, as the Bishop lived During the reign of James V. some respect about a century before Sir Robert. paid in the Highlands to the laws ; but 2 was Sir E. Gordon, p. 100. 5 Hist, p. 138. the divisions which fell out amongst the no- CLANBANALD AND LOED LOVAT—FIELD OF SHIETS. 87 bility, the unquiet state of the nation during hensions, he declined, and they returned home the minority of the infant queen, and the wars by Badenoch. This was a fatal error on the with England, relaxed the springs of govern- part of Lovat, for, as soon as he arrived at ment, and the consequence was that the usual Letterfinlay, he was informed that the Clan- scenes of turbulence and oppression soon dis- ranald were at hand, in full march, to intercept played themselves in the Highlands, accom- him. To secure an important pass, he de- panied with all those circumstances of ferocity spatched Iain-Cleireach, one of his principal which rendered them so revolting to humanity. officers, with 50 men ; but, from some cause The Clanranald was particularly active in these or other, Iain-Cleireach did not accomplish his lawless proceedings. This clan bore great en- object ; and, as soon as Lovat came to the north mity to Hugh, Lord Lovat ; and because Ban- end of Loch Lochy, he perceived the Clanran- aid, son of Donald Glass of Moidart, was sis- ald descending the hill from the west, to the ter's son of Lovat, they conceived a prejudice number of about 500, divided into seven com- against him, dispossessed him of his lands, and panies. Lovat was thus placed in a position put John Macranald, his cousin, in possession in which he could neither refuse nor avoid of the estate. Lovat took up the cause of his battle. The day (3d July) being extremely nephew, and restored him to the possession of hot, Lovat's men, who amounted to about 300, his property; but the restless clan dispossessed stript to the shirts, from which circumstance

Eanald again, and laid waste part of Lovat's the battle was called Blar-Nan-Leine, i.e., the lands in Glenelg. These disorders did not Field of Shirts. A sort of skirmish at first escape the notice of the Earl of Arran, the took place, first with bows and arrows, which governor of the kingdom, who, by advice of lasted a considerable time, until both sides had his council, granted a special commission to expended their shafts. The combatants then the Earl of Huntly, making him lieutenant- drew their swords, and rushed in true High- general of all the Highlands, and of Orkney land fashion on each other, with fierce and and Zetland. He also appointed the Earl of deadly intent. The slaughter was tremendous, Argyle lieutenant of Argyle and the Isles. and few escaped on either side. Lord Lovat, The Earl of Huntly lost no time in raising a with 300 of the surname of Fraser, and other large army in the north, with which he marched, followers, were left dead on the field. Lovat's in May, 1544, attended by the Macintoshes, eldest son, a youth of great accomplishments, Grants, and Erasers, against the clan Cameron who had received his education in France, and the clan Eanald, and the people of Moy- whence he had lately arrived, was mortally lart and Knoydart, whose principal captains wounded, and taken prisoner. He died within were Ewen Allenson, Eonald M'Coneilglas, and three days. Great as was the loss on the side of John Moydart. These had wasted and plun- the Frasers, that on the opposite side was com- dered the whole country of Urquhart and Glen- paratively still greater. According to a tradi- morriston, belonging to the Laird of Grant, and tion handed down, only four of the Frasers and the country of Abertarf, Strathglass, and others, ten of the Clanranald remained alive. The the property of Lord Lovat. They had also darkness of the night alone put an end to the taken absolute possession of these different combat. This was an unfortunate blow to the territories as their own properties, which they clan Fraser, which, tradition says, would have intended to possess and enjoy in all time com- been almost entirely annihilated but for the ing. But, by the mediation of the Earl of Ar- happy circumstance that the wives of eighty gyle, they immediately dislodged themselves of the Frasers who were slain were pregnant at upon the Earl of Huntly's appearance, and re- the time, and were each of them afterwards tired to their own territories in the west. delivered of a male child. 4 In returning to his own country, Lovat was As soon as intelligence of this disaster was accompanied by the Grants and Macintoshes brought to the Earl of Huntly, he again re- as far as Gloy, afterwards called the Nine-Mile- Water, and they even offered to escort him 4 Lesley, p. 184.—Sir R. Gordon, pp. 109, 110.— home in case of danger ; but, having no appre- Shaw's Moray, pp. 265, 266. 88 GENEKAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. turned with an army, entered Lochaber, wliich to attack him, but receiving notice of theii he laid waste, and apprehended many of the intentions, he collected the little company he leading men of the hostile tribes, whom he put had about him, and went out of church reso- to death. lutely to meet them. Alarmed at seeing him The great power conferred on the Earl of and his party approach, the people immediately Huntly, as lieutenant-general in the north of dispersed and returned every man to Ms own Scotland, and the promptitude and severity house. But William Murray, son of Caen with wliich he put down the insurrections of Murray, one of the family of Pulrossie, indig- some of the chiefs alluded to, raised up many nant at the affront offered to Alexander Gor- enemies against him. As he in company with don, shortly afterwards killed John Suther- the Earl of Sutherland was about to proceed land upon the Nether Green of Dunrobin, in to France for the purpose of conveying the revenge for wMch murder William Murray queen regent to that country, in the year 1550, was Mmself thereafter slain by the Laird of a conspiracy was formed against him, at the Clyne. head of which was Macintosh, chief of the The Mackays also took advantage of the clan Chattan. This conspiracy being discov- Earl of Sutherland's absence, to plunder and ered to the earl, he ordered Macintosh to lay waste the country. Y-Mackay, son ol be immediately apprehended and brought to Donald, assembled the Strathnaver men and Strathbogie, where he was beheaded in the entered Sutherland, but Alexander Gordon month of August of that year. His lands forced Mm back into Strathnaver, and not were also forfeited at the same time. This content with acting on the defensive, he en- summary proceeding excited the sympathy and tered Mackay's country, which he wasted, and roused the indignation of the friends of the carried off a large booty in goods and cattle, deceased chief, particularly of the Earl of Cas- in the year 1551. Mackay, in his turn, re- silis. A commotion was about to ensue, but taliated, and this system of mutual aggression matters were adjusted for a time, by the pru- and spoliation continued for several years. 5 dence of the queen regent, who recalled the During the absence of the Earl of Huntly in act of forfeiture and restored Macintosh's heir France, John of Moydart, cliief of the Clan- to all his father's lands. But the clan Chattan ranald, returned from the isles and recom- were determined to avail themselves of the menced Ms usual course of rapine. The queen first favourable opportunity of being revenged regent, on her return from France, being in- upon the earl, which they, therefore, anxiously vested with full authority, sent the Earl of looked for. As Lauchlan Macintosh, a near Huntly on an expedition to the north, for the kinsman of the chief, was suspected of having purpose of apprehending Clanranald and put- betrayed Ms chief to the earl, the clan entered ting an end to Ms outrages. The earl having his castle of Pettie by stealth, slew him, and mustered a considerable force, chiefly High- banished all his dependants from the country landers of the clan Chattan, passed into Moy- of the clan. dart and ELnoydart, but his operations were About the same time the province of Suther- paralyzed by disputes in his camp. The cMef land again became the scene of some commo- and Ms men having abandoned their own tions. The earl having occasion to leave home, country, the earl proposed to pursue them in intrusted the government of the country to their retreats among the fastnesses of the

Alexander Gordon, his brother, who ruled it HigMands; but Ms principal officers, who with great justice and severity; but the people, were cMefiy from the Lowlands, unaccustomed disliking the restraints put upon them by to such a mode of warfare m such a country, Alexander, created a tumult, and placed John demurred; and as the earl was afraid to en- Sutherland, son of Alexander Sutherland, the trust himself with the clan Chattan, who bastard, at their head. Seizing the favourable owed him a deep grudge on account of the opportunity, as it appeared to them, when execution of their last chief, he abandoned the Alexander Gordon was attending divine service in the church at Golspikirktoun, they proceeded 5 Sir E. Gordon, p. 133. QUEEN KEGENT VISITS THE HIGHLANDS. 89

enterprise and returned to the low country. but he refused to appear. Whereupon the Sir Bobert Gordon says that the failure of the queen granted a commission to the Earl of expedition was owing to a tumult raised in Sutherland, to bring Mackay to justice. The the earl's camp hy the clan Chattan, who earl accordingly entered Strathnaver with a returned home; hut we are rather disposed to great force, sacking and spoiling every thing consider Bishop Lesley's account, which we in his way, and possessing himself of all the have followed, as the more correct. 6 principal positions to prevent Mackay's escape. The failure of this expedition gave great Mackay, however, avoided the earl, and as he offence to the queen, who, instigated it is sup- declined to fight, the earl laid siege to the posed by Huntly's enemies, attributed it to castle of Borwe, the principal strength in negligence on his part. The consequence was, Strathnaver, scarcely two miles distant from that the earl was committed a prisoner to the Far, which he took after a short siege, and castle of Edinburgh in the month of October, hanged Buaridh- Mac- Iain -Mhoir, the com-

where he remained till the month of March mander. This fort the earl completely demo- following. He was compelled to renounce the lished. earldom of Moray and the lordship of Aber- While the Earl of Sutherland was engaged nethy, with his tacks and possessions in Orkney in the siege, Mackay entered Sutherland se- and Zetland, and the tacks of the lands of the cretly, and burnt the church of Loth. He earldom of Mar and of the lordship of Strath- thereafter went to the village of Emockartol, die, of which he was bailie and steward, and where he met Mackenzie and his eountrjTnen he was moreover condemned to a banishment in Strathbroray. A slight skirmish took place of five years in France. But as he was about between them; but Mackay and his men fled to leave the kingdom, the queen, taking a after he had lost Angus-Mackeanvoir, one of more favourable view of his conduct, recalled his commanders, and several of his followers. the sentence of banishment, and restored him Mackenzie was thereupon appointed by the earl to the office of chancellor, of which he had to protect Sutherland from the incursions of been deprived; and to make this act of leniency Mackay during his stay in Strathnaver. Hav- somewhat palatable to the earl's enemies, the ing been defeated again by Mackenzie, and queen exacted a heavy pecuniary fine from the seeing no chance of escape, Mackay surren- earl. dered himself, and was carried south, and com- The great disorders which prevailed in the mitted a prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh, Highlands at this time, induced the queen- in which he remained a considerable time. regent to undertake a journey thither in order During the queen's stay in the north many to punish these breaches of the law, and to notorious delinquents were brought to trial, repress existing tumults. She accordingly condemned and executed. arrived at Inverness in the month of July, During Mackay's detention in Edinburgh,

1555, where she was met by John, Earl of John Mor-Mackay, who took charge of Iris Sutherland, and George, Earl of Caithness. kinsman's estate, seizing the opportunity of the Although the latter nobleman was requested Earl of Sutherland's absence in the south of to bring his countrymen along with him to the Scotland, entered Sutherland at the head of a court, ho neglected or declined to do so, and determined body of Strathnaver men, and he was therefore committed to prison at Inver- spoiled and wasted the east corner of that pro- ness, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, successively, vince, and burnt the chapel of St. Ninian. and he was not restored to liberty till he paid Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the Clan-Gun, a considerable sum of money. Y-Mackay of the Laird of Chyne, the Terrell of the Doill, Ear was also summoned to appear before the and James Mac-William, having collected a queen at Inverness, to answer for his spolia- body of Sutherland men, pursued the Strath- tions committed in the country of Sutherland naver men, whom they overtook at the foot of during the absence of Earl John in France; the hill called Ben-Moir, in Berridell. Here they laid an ambush for them, and having, by

6 Lesley, p. 251. favour of a fog, passed their sentinels, they ;

90 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

unexpectedly surprised Maekay's men, and brother, the Earl of Murray, proceeded, in 1562, attacked them with great fury. The Strath- northwards, backed by a small army, and on naver men made an obstinate resistance, hut fincling the earl fractious, laid siege to the castle were at length overpowered. Many of them of Inverness, which was taken, and the governor were killed, and others drowned in the water hanged. The queen's army and the followers of Garwary. Mackay himself escaped with of Huntly met at the hill of Corrichie, about

great difficulty. This was one of the severest sixteen miles west of Aberdeen, when the lat- defeats the Strathnaver men ever experienced, ter were defeated, the earl himself being found except at the battle of Knoken-dow-Eeywird. among the slain. It was on this occasion that On the release of Mackay from his confine- Mary is said to have wished herself a man to ment in the castle of Edinburgh, he was em- be able to ride forth " in jack and knap- ployed in the wars upon the borders, against skull." This expedition was the means of the English, in which he acquitted himself effectually breaking the influence of this power- courageously ; and on his return to Strathnaver ful northern family. he submitted himself to the Earl of Suther- George, Earl of Caithness, who had long land, with whom he lived in peace during the borne a mortal hatred to John, Earl of Suther- remainder of the earl's life. But Mackay inland, now projected a scheme for cutting him curred the just displeasure of the tribe of off, as well as his countess, who was big with Slaight-ean-Voir by the committal of two crimes child, and their only son, Alexander Gordon of the deepest dye. Having imbibed a violent the earl and countess were accordingly both affection for the wife of Tormaid-Mac-Iain- poisoned at Helmsdale, while at supper, by Mhoir, the chieftain of that tribe, he, in order Isobel Sinclair, wife of Gilbert Gordon of Gar- to accomplish his object, slew the chief, after tay, and sister of William Sinclair of Dura- which he violated his wife, by whom he had a baith, instigated, it is said, by the earl ; but son called Donald Balloch Mackay. The in- their son, Alexander, made a very narrow sulted clan flew to arms ; but they were de- escape, not having returned in time from a feated at Durines, by the murderer and adul- hunting excursion to join his father and mother terer, after a sharp skirmish. Three of the at supper. On Alexander's return the earl had principal men of the tribe who had given become fully aware of the danger of his situ- themselves up, trusting to Maekay's clemency, ation, and he was thus prevented by his father were beheaded. 7 from participating in any part of the supper In the early part of the reign of the unfor- which remained, and after taking an affection- tunate Queen Mury, during the period of the ate and parting farewell, and recommending Eeformation in Scotland, the house of Huntly him to the protection of God and of his dearest had acquired such an influence in the north friends, he sent him to Dunrobin the same and north-east of Scotland, the old Maormorate night without his supper. The earl and his of Moray, as to be looked upon with suspicion lady were carried next morning to Dunrobin, by the government of the day. Moreover the where they died within five days thereafter, in Lords of the Congregation regarded the earl the month of July, 1567, and were buried in with no friendly feebng as the great leader of the cathedral church at Dornoch. Pretending the Eoman Catholic party in the country, and to cover himself from the imputation of being it was therefore resolved that Mary should concerned in this murder, the Earl of Caith- make a royal progress northwards, apparently ness punished some of the earl's most faithful for the purpose of seeing what was the real servants under the colour of avenging his death; state of matters, and, if possible, try to overawe but the deceased earl's friends being determined the earl, and remind him that he was only a to obtain justice, apprehended Isobel Sinclair, subject. The queen, who, although Huntly and sent her to Edinburgh to stand her trial, was the Catholic leader, appears to have entered where, after being tried and condemned, she into the expedition heartily; and her bastard died on the day appointed for her execution. During all the time of her illness sne vented

' Sir It. Gordon, p. 136. the most dreadful imprecations upon her cousin, CONDUCT OF THE EARL OF CAITHNESS. '.)1 the earl, who had induced her to commit the The Earl of Caithness having succeeded ill horrid act. Had this woman succeeded in his wishes in obtaining possession of the Earl cutting off the earl's son, her own eldest son, of Sutherland, entered the earl's country, and John Gordon, hut for the extraordinary circum- took possession of Dunrobin castle, in which stances of his death, to he noticed, would have he fixed his residence. He also brought the succeeded to the earldom, as he was the nest Earl of Sutherland along with him, but he male heir. This youth happening to he in the treated him meanly, and he burnt all the papers house when his mother had prepared the poison, belonging to the house of Sutherland he could became extremely thirsty, and called for a lay his hands on. Cruel and avaricious, he, drink. One of his mother's servants, not aware under the pretence of vindicating the law, for of the preparation, presented to the youth a imaginary crimes expelled many of the ancient portion of the liquid into which the poison families in Sutherland from the country, put had been infused, which he drank. This oc- many of the inhabitants to death, disabled casioned his death within two days, a circum- those he banished, in their persons, by new stance which, together with the appearances of and unheard-of modes of torture, and stripped the body after death, gave a clue to the dis- them of all their wealth. To be suspected of covery of his mother's guilt. 8 favouring the house of Sutherland, and to be Taking advantage of the calamity which had wealthy, were deemed capital crimes by this befallen the house of Sutherland, and the oppressor. minority of the young earl, now only fifteen As the Earl of Sutherland did not live on years of age, Y-Mackay of Far, who had friendly terms with his wife on account of her formed an alliance with the Earl of Caithness, licentious connexion with Mackay, and as there in 1567 invaded the country of Sutherland, appeared no chance of any issue, the Earl of wasted the barony of Skibo, entered the town Caithness formed the base design of cutting off of Dornoch, and, upon the pretence of a quar- the Earl of Sutherland, and marrying William rel with the Murrays, by whom it was chiefly Sinclair, his second son, to Lady Margaret inhabited, set fire to it, in which outrage he was Gordon, the eldest sister of the Earl of Suther- assisted by the Laird of Duffus. These mea- land, whom he had also gotten into his hands, sures were only preliminary to a design which with the view of making William earl of the Earl of Caithness had formed to get the Earl Sutherland. The better to conceal his inten- of Sutherland into his hands, but he had the cun- tions the Earl of Caithness made a journey ning to conceal his intentions in the meantime, south to Edinburgh, and gave the necessary and to instigate Mackay to act as he wished, instructions to those in his confidence to without appearing to be in any way concerned. despatch the Earl of Sutherland ; but some of In pursuance of his design upon Alexander, his trusty friends having received private intel- the young Earl of Sutherland, the Earl of Caith- ligence of the designs of the Earl of Caithness ness prevailed upon Eobert Stuart, bishop of from some persons who were privy thereto, Caithness, to write a letter to the governor of they instantly set about measures for defeating the castle of Skibo, in which the Earl of them by getting possession of the Earl of Sutherland resided, to deliver up the castle to Sutherland's person. Accordingly, under cloud him ; a request with which the governor com- of night, they came quietly to the burn of plied. Having taken possession of the castle, Golspie, in the vicinity of Dunrobin, where, the earl carried off the young man into Caith- concealing themselves to prevent discovery, ness, and although only fifteen years of age, he they sent Alexander Gordon of Sidderay to the got him married to Lady Barbara Sinclair, his castle, disguised as a pedlar, for the purpose of daughter, then aged thirty-two years. Y-Mac- warning the Earl of Sutherland of the danger kay was the paramour of this lady, and for of his situation, and devising means of escape. continuing the connexion with him she was Being made acquainted with the design upon afterwards divorced by her husband. his life, and the plans of his friends for rescu- ing him, the earl, early the following morning,

8 Sir K. Gordon, p. 1 17. proposed to the residents in the castle, under 02 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. whose charge he was, to accompany him on a both sides. It was then delivered up to the small excursion in the neighbourhood. This clan Kenzie under the act of pacification. 1 proposal seemed so reasonable in itself, that, No attempt was made by the Earl of Suther- although he was perpetually watched by the land, during his minority, to recover his pos- Earl of Caithness' servants, and his liberty sessions from the Earl of Caithness. In the greatly restrained, they at once agreed ; and, meantime the latter, disappointed and enraged going out, the earl being aware of the ambush at the escape of his destined prey, vexed and laid by his friends, led his keepers directly into annoyed still farther the partisans of the the snare before they were aware of danger. Sutherland family. In particular, he directed

The earl's friends thereupon rushed from their bis vengeance against the Murrays, and made hiding-place, and seizing him, conveyed him William Sutherland of Evelick, brother to the safely out of the country of Sutherland to Laird of Duffus, apprehend John Croy-Murray, Strathbogie. This took place in 1569. As under the pretence of bringing him to justice. soon as the Earl of Caithness's retainers heard This proceeding roused the indignation of of the escape of Earl Alexander, they collected Hugh Murray of Aberscors, who assembled his a party of men favourable to their interests, friends, and made several incursions upon the and went in hot pursuit of him as far as Port- lands of Evelick, Pronsies, and Riercher. They ne-Coulter ; but they found that the earl and also laid waste several villages belonging to the 9 his friends had just crossed the ferry. Laird of Duffus, from which they carried off Shortly after this affair a quarrel ensued some booty, and apprehending a gentleman between the Monroes and the clan Kenzie, two of the Sutherlands, they detained him as an very powerful Ross-shire clans. Lesley, the hostage for the safety of John Croy-Murray. celebrated bishop of Ross, had made over to Upon this the Laird of Duffus collected all his his cousin, the Laird of Balquhain, the right kinsmen and friends, together with the Siol- and title of the castle of the Canonry of Ross, Phaill at Skibo, and proceeded to the town of together with the castle lands. Notwithstand- Dornoch, with the intention of burning it. ing this grant, the Regent Murray had given But the inhabitants, aided by the Murrays, the custody of this castle to Andrew Monroe went out to meet the enemy, whom they of Milntown ; and to make Lesley bear with courageously attacked and overthrew, and pur- the loss, the Regent promised him some of the sued to the gates of Skibo. Besides killing lands of the Barony of Fintry in Buchan, but several of Duffus' men they made some prison- on condition that he should cede to Monroe the ers, whom they exchanged for John Croy- castle and castle lands of the Canonry ; but the Murray. This affair was called the skirmish untimely and unexpected death of the Regent of Torran-Roy. interrupted this arrangement, and Andrew The Laird of Duffus, who was father-in-law Monroe did not, of course, obtain the title to to the Earl of Caithness, and supported him the castle and castle lands as he expected. in all his plans, immediately sent notice of this Yet Monroe had the address to obtain permis- disaster to the earl, who without delay sent sion from the Earl of Lennox during his his eldest son, John, Master of Caithness, with regency, and afterwards from the Earl of Mar, a large party of countrymen and friends, in- his successor in that office, to get possession of cluding Y-Mackay and his countrymen, to the castle. The clan Kenzie grudging to see attack the Murrays in Dornoch. They be- Monroe in possession, and being desirous to sieged the town and castle, which were both get hold of the castle themselves, purchased manfully defended by the Murrays and their

Lesley's right, and, by virtue thereof, demanded friends ; but the Master of Caithness, favoured delivery of the castle. Monroe refused to by the darkness of the night, set fire to the accede to this demand, on^which the clan laid cathedral, the steeple of which, however, was

siege to the castle ; but Monroe defended it for preserved. After the town had been reduced, three years at the expense of many lives on the Master of Caithness attacked the castle

9 1 Sir R. Gordon, p. 154. Sir R. Gordon, p. 155. DOINGS OF MACKAY AND THE EAEL OF CAITHNESS. 93

and the steeple of the church, into which a pany him to Strathbogie. Mackay then en-

body of men had thrown themselves, "both of tered into an engagement with the Earl ol which held out for the space of a week, and Huntly and the Earl of Sutherland, to assist would probably have resisted much longer, but the latter against the Earl of Caithness, in con- for the interference of mutual friends of the sideration of which, and on payment of £300 parties, by whose mediation the Murrays sur- Scots, he obtained from the Earl of Huntly the rendered the castle and the steeple of the heritable right and title of the lands of Strath-

church ; and, as hostages for the due perform- naver ; but Mackay, influenced by Barbara ance of other conditions, they delivered up Sinclair, the wife of the Earl of Sutherland, Thomas Murray, son of Houcheon Murray of with whom he now publicly cohabited, broke Aberscors, Houcheon Murray, son of Alex- his engagement, and continued to oppress the ander Mac-Sii-Angus, and John Murray, son earl's followers and dependents. of Thomas Murray, the brother of John Mur- From some circumstances which have not ray of Aberscors. But the Earl of Caithness transpired, the Earl of Caithness became sus- refused to ratify the treaty which his son had picious of his son John, the Master of Caith- entered into with the Murrays, and afterwards ness, as having, in connection with Mackay, a basely beheaded the three hostages. These design upon his life. To put an end to the occurrences took place in the year 1570. 2 earl's suspicion, Mackay advised John to go to The Murrays and the other friends of the Girnigo (Castle Sinclair), and to submit him- Sutherland family, no longer able to protect self to his father's pleasure, a request with

themselves from the vengeance of the Earl of which the Master complied ; but, after arriving Caithness, dispersed themselves into different at Girnigo, he was, while conversing with his countries, there to wait for more favourable father, arrested by a party of armed men, who, times, when they might return to their native upon a secret signal being given by the earl, soil without danger. The Murrays went to had rushed in at the chamber door. He was

Strathbogie, where Earl Alexander then re- instantly fettered and thrust into prison within sided. Hugh Gordon of Drummoy retired to the castle, where, after a miserable captivity Orkney, where he married a lady named Ursla of seven years, he died, a prey to famine and

Tulloch ; but he frequently visited his friends vermin. in Sutherland, in spite of many snares laid Mackay, who had accompanied the Master to for him by the Earl of Caithness, while secretly Girnigo, and who in all probability would have going and returning tlirough Caithness. Hugh shared the same fate, escaped and returned Gordon's brothers took refuge with the Mur- home to Strathnaver, where he died, within rays at Strathbogie. John Gray of Skibo and four months thereafter, of grief and remorse his son Gilbert retired to St. Andrews, where for the many bad actions of his life. During their friend Eobert, bishop of Caithness, then the minority of his son Houcheon, John Mor- resided, and Mae-Mhie-Sheumais of Strathully Mackay, the cousin, and John Beg-Mackay, went to Glengarry. the bastard son of Y-Mackay, took charge of

As the alliance of such a powerful and war- the estate ; but John Mor-Mackay was speedily like chief as Mackay would have been of great removed from his charge by the Earl of Caith- importance to the Sutherland interest, an ness, who, considering him as a favourer of the attempt was made to detach him from the Earl of Sutherland, caused him to be appre- Earl of Caithness. The plan appears to have hended and carried into Caithness, where he originated with Hugh Murray of Aberscors, was detained in prison till his death. During who made repeated visits to Strathbogie, to this time John Bobson, the chief of the clan consult with the Earl of Sutherland and his Gun in Caithness and Strathnaver, became a friends on this subject, and afterwards went dependent on the Earl of Sutherland, and acted into Strathnaver and held a conference with as his factor in collecting the rents and duties Mackay, whom he prevailed upon to aecom- of the bishop's lands within Caithness which belonged to the earl. This connexion was

2 Sir R. Gordon, p. 15.5. exceedingly disagreeable to the Earl of Caith- ;

94 GEWEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. ness, who in consequence took a grudge at followers. " This Neill," says Sir E. Gordon, John Eohson, and, to gratify his spleen, he " heir mentioned, wes a good captain, bold, instigated Houcheon Mackay to lay waste the craftie, of a verie good witt, and quick resolu- lands of the clan Gun, in the Brea-Moir, in tion." Caithness, without the knowledge of John After the death of John Beg-Mackay, and Beg-Mackay, his brother. As the clan Gun William Mac-Iain-Mac-Eob, a most deadly and had always been friendly to the family of inveterate feud followed, between the clan Gun Mackay, John Beg-Mackay was greatly exas- and the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, but no recital perated at the conduct of the earl in enticing of the details has been handed down to us. the young chief to commit such an outrage " The long, the many, the horrible encounters," but he had it not in his power to make any observes Sir E. Gordon " which happened be- reparation to the injured clan. John Eobson, tween these two trybes, with the bloodshed, the chief, however, assisted by Alexander Earl and infinit spoills committed in every pairt of of Sutherland, invaded Strathnaver and made the diocy of Catteynes by them and their asso- ample retaliation. Meeting the Strathnaver ciats, are of so disordered and troublesome men at a place called Creach-Drumi-Doun, he memorie, that, what with their asperous names, attacked and defeated them, killing several of together with the confusion of place, tymes, them, and chiefly those who had accompanied and persons, would yet be (no doubt) a warr Houcheon Mackay in his expedition to the to the reader to overlook them; and therefor, Brea-Moir. He then carried off a large quan- to favor myne oune paines, and his who shoidd tity of booty, which he divided among the clan get little profite or delight thereby, I doe pass Gun of Strathully, who had suffered by Hou- them over." 4 cheon Mackay's invasion. 3 The clan Chattan, about this time, must The Earl of Caithness, having resolved to have been harassing the surrounding districts avenge himself on John Beg-Mackay for the to a terrible extent, and causing the govern- displeasure shown by him at the conduct of ment considerable trouble, as in 1583 we find Houcheon Mackay, and also on the clan Gun, a mandate addressed by King James " to our prevailed upon NeiU-Mac-Iain-Mae-William, shirreffs of Kincardin, Abirdene, Banf, Elgen, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, and James Fores, Name, and Invemyss; and to our Mae-Bory, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Mhoir, to derrest bruthir, James, Erie of Murray, our attack them. Accordingly, in the month of lieutenant generale in the north partis of our September, 1579, these two chiefs, with their realme, and to our louittis consingis Erie [ ] followers, entered Balnekill in Durines during of Sutkirland; John Erie of Cathnes," &c, the night-time, and slew John Beg-Mackay &c, commanding them that inasmuch as John and William Mac-Iain-Mac-Eob, the brother M'Kinlay, Thomas Mackinlay, Donald Glass, of John Eobson, and some of their people. &c, " throcht assistance and fortifying of all The friends of the deceased were not in a con- the kin of Clanquhattane duelland within dition to retaliate, but they kept up the spirit Baienach, Fetty, Brauchly, Strathnarne, and of revenge so customary in those times, and other parts thereabout, com mitts daily fire- only waited a favourable opportunity to gratify raising, slaughter, murder, heirschippis, and it. This did not occur till several years there- wasting of the cuntre," to the harm of the true after. In the year 1587, James Mac-Eory, lieges, these sheriffs and others shall fall upon " a fyne gentleman and a good commander," the " said Clanquhattane, and invade them to according to Sir Eobert Gordon, was assassi- their utter destruction by slaughter, burning, nated by Donald Balloch-Mackay, the brother drowning, and other ways; and leave na crea- of John Beg-Mackay ; and two years there- ture living of that clan, except priests, women, after John Mackay, the son of John Beg, and bairns." The "women and bairns" they attacked Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, whom were ordered to take to " some parts of the sea he wounded severely, and cut off some of his nearest land, quhair ships salbe forsene on our

3 4 Sir R. Gordon, p. 173. History, p. 174. PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE CLAN GUN. 95 expenses, to sail with them furth of our realme, To enable him to implement his engagement a and land with them in Jesland, Zesland, or resolution was entered into to send two com-

Norway; because it were inhumanity to put panies of men against those of the clan Gun hands in the "blood of women and bairns." who dwelt in Caithness and Strathnaver, and Had this mandate for "stamping out" this to surround them in such a way as to prevent troublesome clan been carried out it would escape. The Earl of Caithness, notwithstand- certainly have been an effectual cure for many ing, sent private notice to the clan of the of the disturbances in the Highlands; but we preparations making against them by Angus cannot find any record as to what practical Sutherland of Mellary, in Berriedale; but the result followed the issue of this cruel decree. 6 clan were distrustful of the earl, as they had

Tti the year 1585 a quarrel took place be- already received secret intelligence that he had tween Neill Houcheonson, and Donald Neilson, assembled his people together for the purpose the Laird of Assynt, who had married Houcheon of attacking them.

Mackay's sister. The cause of Donald Neilson As soon as the Earl of Sutherland could get" was espoused by Houcheon Mackay, and the his men collected he proceeded to march to the clan Gun, who came with an army out of territories of the clan Gun; but meeting by Caithness and Strathnaver, to besiege Neill chance, on his way, with a party of Strath- Houcheonson in the isle of Assynt. Neill, naver men, under the command of William who was commander of Assynt, and a follower Mackay, brother of Houcheon Mackay, carrying of the Earl of Sutherland, sent immediate off the cattle of James Mac-Eory, a vassal of notice to the earl of Mackay's movements, on his own, from Coireceann Loch in the Diri- receiving which the earl, assembling a body of Meanigh, he rescued and brought back his men, despatched them to Assynt to raise the vassal's cattle. After this the earl's party pur- siege; but Mackay did not wait for their sued William Mackay and the Strathnaver coming, and retreated into Strathnaver. As men during the whole day, and Trilled one of the Earl of Caithness had sent some of his the principal men of the clan Gun in Strath- people to assist Mackay, who was the Earl of naver, called Angus-Roy, with several others Sutherland's vassal, the latter resolved to of Mackay's company. This affair was called punish both, and accordingly made preparations Latha-Toni-Eraoich, that is, the day of the for entering Strathnaver and Caithness with heather bush. At the end of the pursuit, and an army. But some mutual friends of the towards evening, the pursued party found parties interfered to prevent the effusion of themselves on the borders of Caithness, where blood, by prevailing on the two earls to meet they found the clan Gun assembled in conse- at Elgin, in the presence of the Earl of Huntly quence of the rising of the Caithness people and other friends, and get their differences who had taken away their cattle. adjusted. A meeting was accordingly held, at Tliis accidental meeting of the Strathnaver which the earls were reconciled. The whole men and the clan Gun was the means, probably, blame of the troubles and commotions which of saving both from destruction. They imme- had recently disturbed the peace of Sutherland diately entered into an alliance to stand by and Caithness, was thrown upon the clan Gun, one another, and to live or die together. Next who were alleged to have been the chief insti- morning they found themselves placed between gators, and as their restless disposition might two powerful bodies of their enemies. On the give rise to new disorders, it was agreed, at one side was the Earl of Sutherland's party at said meeting, to cut them off, and particularly no great distance, reposing themselves from that part of the tribe which dwelt in Caith- the fatigues of the preceding day, and on the ness, which was chiefly dreaded, for which other were seen advancing the Caithness men, purpose the Earl of Caithness bound himself conducted by Henry Sinclair, brother to the to deliver up to the Earl of Sutherland, certain laird of Dun, and cousin to the Earl of Caith- individuals of the clan living in Caithness. ness. A council of war was immediately held to consult how to act in this emergency, when

5 St* Spalding Club Miscellany, vol. ii. p. S3. it was resolved to attack the Caithness men 96 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

first, as they were far inferior in numbers, maintained and harboured by Mackay. The

which was done by tlie clan Gun and their Earl of Sutherland, on account of the recent allies, who had the advantage of the hill, with defeat of the Caithness men, undertook to great resolution. The former foolishly expended attack the clan first. He accordingly directed their arrows while at a distance from their two bodies to march with all haste against the opponents; but the clan Gun having hus- clan, one of which was commanded by James banded their shot till they came in close con- Mac-Eory and jSTeill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, tact with the enemy, did great execution. chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, who were The Caithness men were completely over- now under the protection of the Earl of Suther- thrown, after leaving 140 of their party, with land; and the other by Williani Sutherland their captain, Henry Sinclair, dead on the field Johnson, George Gordon in Marie, and Wil- of battle. Had not the darkness of the night liam Murray in Kinnald, brother of Hugh favoured their flight, they would have all been Murray of Aberscors. Houcheon Mackay, destroyed. Henry Sinclair was Mackay's seeing no hopes of maintaining the clan Gun uncle, and not being aware that he had been any longer without danger to himself, dis- in the engagement till he recognised his body charged them from his country, whereupon among the slain, Mackay felt extremely grieved they made preparations for seeking an asylum at the unexpected death of his relative. This in the western isles But, on their journey skirmish took place at Aldgown, in the year thither, they were met near Loch Broom, at a 1586. The Sutherland men having lost sight place called Leckmelme, by James Mac-Rory of Mackay and his party among the hills, and Neill Mac-Iain-Mac-William, where, after a immediately before the conflict, returned into sharp skirmish, they were overthrown, and their own country with the booty they had the greater part of them killed. Their com- recovered, and were not aware of the defeat of mander, George Mac-Iain-Mac-Eob, brother of the Caithness men till some time after that John Mac-Iain-Mac-Eob, who was hanged by event. the Earl of Caithness, was severely wounded, The Earl of Caithness afterwards confessed and was taken prisoner after an unsuccessful that he had no intention of attacking the clan attempt to escape by swimming across a loch

Gun at the time in question ; but that his close by. After being carried to Dunrobin policy was to have allowed them to be closely castle, and presented to the Earl of Sutherland, pressed and pursued by the Sutherland men, George Gun was sent by him to the Earl of and then to have relieved them from the im- Caithness, who, though extremely grieved at minent danger they would thereby be placed the misfortune which had happened to the clan in, so that they might consider that it was to Gun, dissembled his vexation, and received the him they owed their safety, and thus lay them prisoner as if he approved of the Earl of under fresh obligations to him. But the Sutherland's proceedings against him and his deceitful part he acted proved very disastrous unfortunate people. After a short confine- to his people, and the result so exasperated ment, George Gun was released from his cap- him against the clan Gun, that he hanged tivity by the Earl of Caithness, at the entreaty John Mac-Iain-Mac-Eob, chieftain of the clan of the Earl of Sutherland, not from any favour Gun, in Caithness, whom he had kept captive to the prisoner himself, or to the earl, whom for some time. the Earl of Caithness hated mortally, but with The result of all these proceedings was another the design of making Gun an instrument of meeting between the Earls of Sutherland and annoyance to some of the Earl of Sutherland's Caithness at the hill of Bingrime in Suther- neighbours. But the Earl of Caithness was land, which was brought about by the media- disappointed in his object, for George Gun, tion of Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, after his enlargement from prison, always re- who was sent into the north by his nephew, mained faithful to the Earl of Sutherland. 6 the Earl of Huntly, for that purpose. Here About this time a violent feud arose in the again a new confederacy was formed against the clan Gun in Caithness, who were now " tiiv R. Gordon, p. 185. — ,

FEUD BETWEEN" THE MACDONALDS AND MACLEANS.

western isles between Angus Maedonald of of Sir Lauchlan Maclean in Mull. His two Kintyre, and Sir Lauchlan Maclean of Duart, brothers refused to accompany him, and they in Mull, whose sister Angus had married, acted rightly; for, the day after Angus arrived which ended in the almost total destruction of at Duart, he and all his party were perfidiously the clan Donald and clan Lean. The circum- arrested by Sir Lauchlan Maclean. Reginald stances which led to this unfortunate dissen- Mac-Coll, the cousin of Angus, alone escaped.

sion were these : The Rhinns of Islay at this time belonged to Donald Gorm Maedonald of Slate, when the clan Donald, but they had given the pos- going on a visit from Slate to his cousin, Angus session of them to the clan Lean for personal Maedonald of Kintyre, was forced "by contrary services. Sir Lauchlan, thinking the present winds to land with his party in the island of a favourable opportunity for acquiring an abso- Jura, which belonged partly to Sir Lauchlan lute right to this property, offered to release Maclean, and partly to Angus Maedonald. Angus Maedonald, provided he would renounce

The part of the island where Maedonald of his right and title to the Rhinns ; and, in case Slate landed belonged to Sir Lauchlan Maclean. of refusal, he threatened to make him end his No sooner had Maedonald and his company days in captivity. Angus, being thus in some landed, than, by an unlucky coincidence, Mae- degree compelled, agreed to the proposed terms donald Tearreagh and Houcheon Macgillespic, but, before obtaining his liberty, he was forced two of the clan Donald who had lately quarrelled to give James Maedonald, his eldest son, and with Donald Gorm, arrived at the same time Reginald Mac-James, his brother, as hostages,

with a party of men ; and, understanding that until the deed of conveyance should be deliv- Donald Gorm was in the island, they secretly ered to Sir Lauchlan. took away, by night, a number of cattle be- It was not, however, the intention of Angus longing to the clan Lean, and immediately put Maedonald to implement this engagement, if

to sea. Their object in doing so was to make he could accomplish the liberation of his son the clan Lean believe that Donald Gorm and and brother. His cousin had suffered a griev- his party had carried off the cattle, in the hope ous injury at the hands of Sir Lauchlan Mac- that the Macleans would attack Donald Gorm, lean without any just cause of offence, and he and they were not disappointed. As soon as himself had, when on a friendly mission, been the lifting of the cattle had been discovered, detained most unjustly as a prisoner, and com- Sir Lauchlan Maclean assembled his whole pelled to promise to surrender into Sir Lauch- forces, and, under the impression that Donald lan's hands, by a regular deed, a part of his Gorm and his party had committed the spoli- property. Under these circumstances, his ation, he attacked them suddenly and unawares, resolution to break the unfair engagement he

during the night, at a place in the island called had come under is not to be wondered at. To Inverchuockwriek, and slew about sixty of the accomplish his object he had recourse to a clan Donald. Donald Gorm, having previously stratagem in which he succeeded, as will be

gone on board his vessel to pass the night, for- shown in the sequel. tunately escaped. After Maclean had obtained delivery of the When Angus Maedonald heard of this " un- two hostages, he made a voyage to Islay to get toward event," he visited Donald Gorm in the engagement completed. He left behind, Skye for the purpose of consulting with him in the castle of Duart, Reginald Mac-James, on the means of obtaining reparation for the one of the hostages, whom he put in fetters, loss of his men. On his return homeward to and took the other to accompany him on his Kintyre, he landed in the Isle of Mull, and, voyage. Having arrived in the isle of Islay, contrary to the advice of Coll Mac-James and he encamped at Eilean-Gorm, a ruinous castle Reginald Mac-James, his two brothers, and of upon the Rhinns of Islay, which castle had Reginald Mac-Coll, his cousin, who wished been lately in the possession of the clan Lean. him to send a messenger to announce the re- Angus Maedonald was residing at the time at sult of his meeting with Donald Gorm, went the house of Mulindry or Midlindhrea, a com- to the castle of Duart, the principal residence fortable and well-furnished residence belonging 98 GENERAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

to liim on the island, and to which he invited night, his design being to seize Maclean and Sir Lauchlan, under the pretence of affording his party. At the usual hour for going to him better accommodation, and providing him repose, Maclean and his people were lodged in with better provisions than he could obtain in a long-house, which stood by itself, at some lus camp ; but Sir Lauchlan, having his sus- distance from the other houses. During the picions, declined to accept the invitation. whole clay Maclean had always kept James " There wes," says Sir Eobert Gordon, " so Macdonald, the hostage, within his reach, as a little trust on either syd, that they did not now sort of protection to him in case of an attack, meit in friendship or aniitie, bot vpon ther and at going to bed he took him along with owne guard, or rather by messingers, one from him. About an hour after Maclean and his another. And true it is (sayeth John Colwin, people had retired, Angus assembled his men in his manuscript) that the islanders are, of to the number of 300 or 400, and made them nature, verie suspicious ; full of invention surround the house in which Maclean and his against ther nighbours, by whatsoever way company lay. Then, going himself to the they may get them destroyed. Eesyds this, door, he called upon Maclean, and told him they are bent and eager in taking revenge, that that he had come to give him his reposing neither have they regaird to persone, tyme, drink, which he had forgotten to offer him aige, nor cause ; and ar generallie so addicted before going to bed. Maclean answered that that way (as lykwise are the most pairt of all he did not wish to drink at that time ; but

Highlanders), that therein they surpasse all Macdonald insisted that he should rise and other people whatsoever." receive the drink, it being, he said, his will

Sir Lauchlan, however, was thrown off his that he should do so. The peremptory tone of guard by fair promises, and agreed to pay Macdonald made Maclean at once apprehen- Macdonald a visit, and accordingly proceeded sive of the danger of his situation, and imme- to Mulindry, accompanied by James Macdon- diately getting up and placing the boy between ald, his own nephew, and the son of Angus, his shoulders, prepared to preserve his life as and 86 of Iris kinsmen and servants. Maclean long as he could with the boy, or to sell it as and his party, on their arrival, were received dearly as possible. As soon as the door was by Macdonald with much apparent kindness, forced open, James Macdonald, seeing his and were sumptuously entertained during the father with a naked sword in his hand and a whole day. In the meantime, Macdonald sent number of his men armed in the same manner, notice to all his friends and well-wishers in the cried aloud for mercy to Maclean, his uncle, island, to come to his house at nine o'clock at which being granted, Sir Lauchlan was iimnn- FEUD BETWEEX THE MACDOXALDS AXD MACLEAN'S. 99 diately removed to a secret chamber, where he not being able to procure shipping fur Islay, remained till nest morning. After Maclean and was obliged to return home. The Earl of had surrendered, Angus Macdonald announced Argyle had then recourse to negotiation with to those within the house, that if they would Macdonald, and, after considerable trouble, he

come without their lives would be spared : prevailed on him to release Sir Lauchlan on but he excepted Macdonald Terreagh and certain strict conditions, but not until Regi- another individual whom he named. The nald Mac-James, the brother of Angus, had whole, with the exception of these two, hav- been delivered up, and the earl, for perform- ing complied, the house was immediately set ance of the conditions agreed upon, had given on fire, and consumed along with Macdonald his own son, and the son of Macleod of Harris, Terreagh and his companion. The former was as hostages. But Maclean, quite regardless of one of the clan Donald of the "Western Islands, the safety of the hostages, and in open viola- and not only had assisted the clan Lean tion of the engagements he had come under, against his own tribe, but was also the origin- on hearing that Angus Macdonald had gone

all visit to the clan of the glens ator, as we have seen, of these disturbances ; on a Donald in and the latter was a near kinsman to Maclean, Ireland, invaded Isla, which he laid waste, and one of the oldest of the clan, and celebrated pursued those who had assisted in his capture. for his wisdom and prowess. This affair took On his return from Ireland, Angus Macdon- place in the month of July, 1586. ald made great preparations for inflicting a When the intelligence of the seizure of Sir just chastisement upon Maclean. Collecting Lauchlan Maclean reached the Isle of Mull, a large body of men, and much shipping, he Allan Maclean, who was the nearest kinsman invaded Mull and Tiree, carrying havoc and to Maclean, whose children were then very destruction along with him, and destroying young, bethought himself of an expedient to every human being and every domestic animal, obtain the possessions of Sir Lauchlan. In of whatever kind. While Macdonald was conjunction with his friends, Allan caused a committing these ravages in Mull and Tiree, false report to be spread in the island of Islay. Maclean, instead of opposing him, invaded that the friends of Maclean had kill ed Reginald Kintyre, where he took ample retaliation by Mac-James, the remaining hostage at Duart wasting and burning a great part of that coun- in Mull, by means of which he hoped that try. In this manner did these hostile clans Angus Macdonald would be moved to kill Sir continue, for a considerable period, mutually

Lauchlan, and thereby enable him (Allan) to to vex and destroy one another, till they were supply his place. But although this device almost exterminated, root and branch. did not succeed, it proved very disastrous to In order to strengthen his own poweT and Sir Lauchlan's friends and followers, who were to weaken that of his antagonist, Sir Lauchlan beheaded in pairs by Coll Mac-James, the Maclean attempted to detach John Mac-Iain, brother of Angus Macdonald. of Ardnamurchan, from Angus Macdonald and The friends of Sir Lauchlan seeing no hopes his party. Mac-Iain had formerly been an of his release, applied to the Earl of Argyle to unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Maclean's assist them in a contemplated attempt to rescue mother, and Sir Hector now gave bim an him out of the hands of Angus Macdonald invitation to visit him in Mull, promising, at ; but the earl, perceiving the utter hopelessness the same time, to give bim his mother in mar- of such an attempt with such forces as he and riage. Mac-Iain accepted the invitation, and they could command, advised them to com- on his arrival in Mull, Maclean prevailed on plain to King James "VT. against Angus Mac- Ms mother to marry Mac-Iain, and the nuptials donald, for the seizure and detention of their were accordingly celebrated at Torloisk in chief. The king immediately directed that Mull. Xo persuasion, however, could induce Macdonald should be summoned by a herald- Mac-Iain to join against his own tribe, towards at-arms to deliver up Sir Lauchlan into the which, notwithstanding his matrimonial alli-

hands of the Earl of Argyle ; but the herald ance, he entertained the strongest affection was interrupted in the performance of his duty, Chagrined at the unexpected refusal of Mac- 100 GENEEAL HTSTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Iain, Sir LaucMan resolved to punish, his request. The Earl of Sutherland having been refractory guest by one of those gross infringe- made aware of his rival's pretensions, and of ments of the laws of hospitality which so often the reception which he had met with from the marked the hostility of rival clans. During Earl of Huntly, immediately notified to Huntly the dead hour of the night he caused the door that he would never restore the superiority of Mac-Iain's bedchamber to be forced open, either to him or to the Earl of Caithness, as dragged him from Ms bed, and from the arms the bargain he had made with him had been of his wife, and put him in close confinement, long finally concluded. The Earl of Huntly after killing eighteen of his followers. After was much offended at this notice, but he and

r suffering a year's captivitj , he was released and the Earl of Sutherland were soon reconciled exchanged for Maclean's son, and the other through the mediation of Sir Patrick Gordon hostages in Macdonald's possession. of Auchindun. The dissensions between these two tribes Disappointed in Ms views of obtaining the having attracted the attention of government, superiority in question, the Earl of Caithness the rival chiefs were induced, partly by com- seized the first opportunity, which presented mand of the king, and partly by persuasions itself, of quarrelling with the Earl of Suther- and fair promises, to come to Edinburgh in the land, and he now thought that a suitable occa- year 1592, for the purpose of having their sion had occurred. George Gordon, a bastard differences reconciled. On their arrival they son of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, having offered were committed prisoners to the castle of Edin- many indigMties to the Earl of Caithness, the burgh, but were soon released and allowed to Earl, Mstead of complaiMng to the Earl of return home on payment of a small pecuniary Sutherland, in whose service this George Gordon fine, "and a shamfull remission," says Sir Eo- was, craved satisfaction and redress from the bert Gordon, "granted to either of them." 7 Earl of Huntly. Huntly very properly desired In the year 1587, the flames of discord, the Earl of Caithness to lay Ms complaint which had lain dormant for a short time, burst before the Earl of Sutherland ; but this he forth between the rival houses of Sutherland declined to do, disdaining to seek redress from and Caithness. In the year 1583, Alexander, Earl Alexander. Encouraged, probably, by the Earl of Sutherland, obtained from the Earl of refusal of the Earl of Huntly to interfere, and Huntly a grant of the superiority of Strath- the stubbornness of the Earl of Caithness to naver, and of the heritable sheriffship of ask redress from his master, George Gordon, Sutherland and Strathnaver, which last was who resided in the town of Marie in Strathully, granted in lieu of the lordship of Abojnae. on the borders of Caithness, not satisfied with This grant was confirmed by his Majesty in the MdigMties which he had formerly shown a charter under the great seal, by which to the Earl of Caithness, cut off the tails of the Sutherland and Strathnaver were disjoined earl's horses as they were passing the river of and dismembered from the sheriffdom of Helmsdale under the care of his servants, on Inverness. As the strength and influence of their journey from Caithness to Edinburgh, the Earl of Sutherland were greatly increased and M derision desired the earl's servants to by the power and authority with which the show Mm what he had done. superiority of Strathnaver invested him, the TMs George Gordon, it would appear, led a

Earl of Caithness used the most urgent entreat- very irregular and wicked course of life, and ies with the Earl of Huntly, who was his shortly after the occurrence we have just related, brother-in-law, to recall the gift of the superi- a circumstance happened wMch induced theEarl ority which he had granted to the Earl of of Caithness to take redress at his own hands. Sutherland, and confer the same on him. The George Gordon had incurred the displeasure of Earl of Huntly gave no decided answer to this the Earl of Sutherland by an uMawful con- application, although he seemed rather to listen nexion with his wife's sister, and as he had no with a favourable ear to his brother-in-law's hopes of regaining the earl's favour but by renouncMg tliis impure intercourse, he sent

7 History, p. 192. Patrick Gordon, his brother, to the Earl of EAKLS OF CAITHNESS AND SUTHERLAND. mi

Caithness to endeavour to effect a reconciliation to break up their camp on the river side and with him, as he could no longer rely upon the to remove among the rocks above the village protection of his master, the Earl of Suther- of Easter Helmsdale. Mackay and his coun- land. The Earl of Caithness, who felt an trymen were encamped on the river of Marie, inward satisfaction at hearing of the displea- and in order to detach him from the Earl of sure of the Earl of Sutherland with George Caithness, Macintosh crossed that river and Gordon, dissembled Ms feelings, and pretended had a private conference with him. After to listen with great favour to the request of reminding him of the friendship which had so Patrick Gordon, in order to throw George long subsisted between his ancestors and the Gordon off his guard, while he was in reality Sutherland family, Macintosh endeavoured to meditating his destruction. The ruse succeeded impress upon his mind the danger he incurred so effectuality, that although Gordon received by taking up arms against his own superior the timeous notice, from some friends, of the Earl of Sutherland, and entreated him, for his intentions of the earl to attack him, he reposed own sake, to join the earl; but Mackay remained in false security upon the promises held out to inflexible. him, and made no provision for his personal By the mediation of mutual friends, the two safety. But he was soon undeceived by the earls agreed to a temporary truce on the 9th appearance of the earl and a body of men, of March, 1587, and thus the effusion of human who, in February, 1587, entering Marie under blood was stopped for a short time. As the silence of the night, surrounded his house Mackay was the vassal of the Earl of Suther- and required him to surrender, which he refused land, the latter refused to comprehend him in to do. Having cut his way through his enemies the truce, and insisted upon an unconditional and thrown himself into the river of Helms- submission, but Mackay obstinately refused to dale, which he attempted to swim across, he do so, and returned home to his own countay, was slain by a shower of arrows. highly chagrined that the Earl of Caithness, The Earl of Sutherland, though he disliked for whom he had put his life and estate in the conduct of George Gordon, was highly in- jeopardy, should have acceded to the Earl of censed at his death, and made great prepara- Sutherland's request to exclude him from the tions to punish the Earl of Caithness for his benefit of the truce. Before the two earls attack upon Gordon. The Earl of Caithness separated they came to a mutual understand-

in his turn assembled his whole forces, and, ing to reduce Mackay to obedience ; and that being joined by Mackay and the Strathnaver he might not suspect their design, they agreed men, together with John, the Master of Orkney, to meet at Edinburgh for the purpose of con- and the Earl of Carrick, brother of Patrick, certing the necessary measures together. Ac- Earl of Orkney, and some of his countrymen, cordingly, they held a meeting at the appointed marched to Helmsdale to meet the Earl of place in the year 1588, and came to the reso- Sutherland. As soon as the latter heard of the lution to attack Mackay; and to prevent advance of the Earl of Caithness, he also pro- Mackay from receiving any intelligence of ceeded towards Helmsdale, accompanied by their design, both parties swore to keep the Mackintosh, Roderick Mackenzie of Bedcastle, same secret; but the Earl of Caithness, re- Hector Monroe of Contaligh, and Neill Hou- gardless of his oath, immediately sent notice to cheonson, with the men of Assynt. On his Mackay of the intended attack, for the purpose

arrival at the river of Helmsdale, the Earl of of enabling him to meet it. Instead, however, Sutherland found the enemy encamped on the of following the Earl of Caithness's advice, opposite side. Neither party seemed inclined Mackay, justly dreading his hollow friendship, to come to a general engagement, but contented made haste, by the advice of Macintosli and themselves with daily skirmishes, annoying the Laird of Foulis, to reconcile himself to the each other with guns and arrows from the Earl of Sutherland, his superior, by an im- opposite banks of the river. The Sutherland mediate submission. For this purpose he and

men, who were very expert archers, annoyed the earl first met at Inverness, and after con- the Caithness men so much, as to force them ferring together they made another appoint- —

102 GENEEA1 HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

raent to meet at Elgin, where a perfect and During the time when these depredations (inal reconciliation took place in tlie month of were being committed, the Earl of Caithness

November, 1588. shut himself up in the castle of Girnigo ; but on learning the disasters which had befallen

his country, he desired a cessation of hostilities and a conference with the Earl of Sutherland. GHAPTEE VIII. As the castle of Girnigo was strongly fortified,

a. d. 1/.8S—1601. and as the Earl of Caithness had made preparations for enduring a long siege, the Earl of king OK Scotland:—James VI., 15137—1603. Sutherland complied with his request. Both Continued strife between the Earls of Sutherland and earls ultimately agreed to refer all their differ- Caithness—Short Reconciliation—Strife renewed Fresh Reconciliation—Quarrel between Clan Gun ences and disputes to the arbitration of friends, and other tribes—The Earl of Huntly, the Clan and the Earl of Huntly was chosen by mutual Chattan, and others—Death of the " Bonny" Earl of Murray—Consequent excitement—Strife between consent to act as umpire or oversman, in the Huntly and the Clan Chattan—Huntly attainted event of a difference of opinion. A second and treated as a rebel—Argyle sent against him Battle of Glenlivet—Journey of James VI. to the truce was in this way entered into until the North—Tumults in Ross—Feud between the Mac- decision of the arbiters, when all differences leans and Macdonalds—Defeat of the Macleans— Dis- s pute between the Earls of Sutherland and Caithness were to cease. Feud between Macdonald of Slate and Macleod of — Notwithstanding this engagement, however, Harris—Reconciliation. the Earl of Caithness soon gave fresh provoca- The truce between the Earls of Caithness tion, for before the truce had expired he sent and Sutherland having now expired, the latter, a party of his men to Diri-Chatt in Sutherland, accompanied by Mackay, Macintosh, the Laird under the command of Kenneth Buy, and his of Foulis, the Laird of Assynt, and Gille-Calum, brother Farquhar Buy, chieftains of the Siol-

Laird of Easay, entered Caithness with all his Mhic-Iniheair in Caithness, and chief advisers forces in the beginning of 1588. In taking of the Earl of Caithness in his bad actions, and this step he was warranted by a commission his instruments in oppressing the poor people which he had obtained at court, through the of Caithness. The Earl of Sutherland lost no influence of Chancellor Maitland, against the time in revenging himself for the depredations Earl of Caithness for killing George Gordon. committed. At Whitsunday, in the year 1589, The people of Caithness, alarmed at the great he sent 300 men into Caithness, with Alexan- force of the earl, fled in all directions on his der Gordon of Kilcalmekill at their head. approach, and he never halted till he reached They penetrated as far as Girnigo, laying the the strong fort of Girnigo, where he pitched country waste everywhere around them, and his camp for twelve days. He then penetrated striking terror into the hearts of the inhabit- as far as Duncansby, killing several of the ants, many of whom, including some of the country people on his route, and collecting an SiohMhic-Imheair, they killed. After spend- immense quantity of cattle and goods, so large, ing their fury the party returned to Sutherland indeed, as to exceed all that had been seen toge- with a large booty, and without the loss of a ther in that country for many years. This inva- single man. sion had such an effect upon the people of Caith- To retaliate upon the Earl of Sutherland for ness, that every race, clan, tribe, and family this inroad, James Sinclair of Markle, brother there, vied with one another in offering pledges of the Earl of Caithness, collected an army to the Earl of Sutherland to keep the peace in of 3,000 men, with which he marched into all time comin g. The town of Wick was also StrathuLly, in the month of June, 1589. As pillaged and burnt, but the church was pre- the Earl of Sutherland had been apprehen- served. In the church was found the heart of sive of an attack, he had placed a range of the Earl of Caithness's father in a case of lead, sentinels along the borders of Sutherland, to which was opened by John Mac-Gille-Calum of give notice of the approach of the enemy. Of Easay, and the ashes of the heart were thrown

r by him to the winds. s Sir U. Gordon, o. l. <7. ;

STRIFE BETWEEN THE EARLS OF CAITHNESS AND SUTHERLAND. 103

these, four were stationed in the village of ing the arrival of his enemy. The Earl of Liribell, which the Caithness men entered in Huntly, having been made acquainted with the the middle of the clay unknown to the sentinels, warlike preparations of the two hostile earls, who, instead of keeping an outlook, were at sent, without delay, his uncle, Sir Patrick the time carelessly enjoying themselves within Gordon of Auchindun, to mediate between the watch-house. On perceiving the Caithness them, and he luckily arrived at the Earl of men about entering the house, they shut them- Sutherland's head-quarters, at the very instant selves up within it ; but the house "being set his army was on its march to meet the Earl on fire, three of them perished, and the fourth, of Caithness. By the friendly interference of rushing through the flames, escaped with great Sir Patrick, the parties were prevailed upon to difficulty, and announced to his countrymen desist from their hostile intentions, and to the arrival of the enemy. From Strathully, agree to hold an amicable meeting at Elgin, in Sinclair passed forward with his army to a presence of the Earl of Huntly, to whom they place called Crissalligh, on the height of Strath- also agreed to refer all their differences. A broray, and began to drive away some cattle meeting accordingly took place in the month towards Caithness. As the Earl of Sutherland of November, 1589, at which all disputes were had not yet had sufficient time to collect a suf- settled, and in order that the reconciliation ficient force to oppose Sinclair, he sent in the might be lasting, and that no recourse might meantime Houcheon Mackay, who happened again be had to arms, the two earls subscribed to be at Dunrobin with 500 or 600 men, to a deed, by which they appointed Huntly and keep Sinclair in check until a greater force his successors hereditary judges, and arbitra- should be assembled. With this body, which tors of all disputes or differences, that might was hastily drawn together on the spur of the thenceforth arise between these two houses. occasion, Mackay advanced with amazing celer- This reconciliation, however, as it did not ity, and such was the rapidity of his move- obliterate the rancour which existed between ments, that he most unexpectedly came up the people of these different districts, was but with Sinclair not far from Crissalligh, when of short duration. The frequent depredations his army was ranging about without order or committed by the vassals and retainers of the military discipline. On coming up, Mackay earls upon the property of one another, led to an found John Gordon of Kilcalmekill at the exchange of letters and messages between them head of a small party skirmishing with the about the means to be used for repressing these Caithness men, a circumstance which made disorders. During this correspondence the Earl him instantly resolve, though so far inferior in of Sutherland became unwell, and, being con- numbers, to attack Sinclair. Crossing there- fined to his bed, the Earl of Caithness, in Octo- tore the water, which was between him and ber, 1590, wrote him a kind letter, which he had the enemy, Mackay and his men rushed upon scarcely despatched when he most unaccount- the army of Sinclair, which they defeated after ably entered Sutherland with a hostile force a long and warm contest. The Caithness men but he only remained one night in that country, retreated with the loss of their booty and part in consequence of receiving intelligence of a of their baggage, and were closely pursued by meditated attack upon his camp by John Gor- a body of men commanded by John Murray, don of Kilcalmekill, and Neill Mac-Iain-Mac- nicknamed the merchant, to a distance of 16 William. A considerable number of the Suth- miles. 9 erland men having collected together, they re- This defeat, however, did not satisfy the solved to pursue the Caithness men, who had Earl of Sutherland, who, having now assembled carried off a large quantity of cattle; but, on au army, entered Caithness with the intention coming nearly up with them, an unfortunate of laying it waste. The earl advanced as far difference arose between the Murrays and the as Corrichoigh, and the Earl of Caithness con- Gordons, each contending for the command of vened his forces at Spittle, where he lay wait- the vanguard. The Murrays rested their claim upon their former good services to the house

Sir K Gordon, p. !!>!>. of Sutherland ; but the Gordons refusing to ;

104 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. admit it, all the Murrays, with the exception them effectually, the Earl of Huntly and of "William Murray, brother of the Laird of others once more attempted an arrangement, Palrossie, and John Murray, the merchant, and having prevailed upon the parties to meet withdrew, and took a station on a hill hard at Strathbogie, a final agreement was entered by to witness the combat. This unexpected into in the month of March, 1591, by which event seemed to paralyze the Gordons at first they agreed to bury all bygone differences in but seeing the Caithness men driving the oblivion, and to live on terms of amity in all cattle away before them, and thinking that if time thereafter. they did not attack them they would be accused This fresh reconciliation of the two earls was of cowardice, Patrick Gordon of Gartay, John the means of restoring quiet in their districts Gordon of Embo, and John Gordon of Eil- for a considerable time, which was partially calmekill, after some consultation, resolved to interrupted in the year 1594, by a quarrel attack the retiring foe without loss of time, between the clan Gun and some of the other and without waiting for the coming up of the petty tribes. Donald Mae-William-Mac-Hen- Strathnaver men, who were hourly expected ric, A lister Mac-Iain-Mae-Eorie, and others of This was a bold and desperate attempt, as the the clan Gun entered Caithness and attacked Gordons were only as one to twelve in point Farquhar Buy, one of the captains of the tribe of numbers, but they could not brook the idea of Siol-MMc-Lmheair, and William Sutherland, of being branded as cowards. "With such alias "William Abaraich, the chief favourite of numerical inferiority, and with the sun and the Earl of Caithness, and the principal plotter wind in their faces to boot, the Sutherland against the life of George Gordon, whose death men advanced upon and resolutely attacked has been already noticed After a warm skir- the Caithness men near Clyne. In the van of mish, Farquhar Buy, and "William Abaraich, the Caithness army were placed about 1,500 and some of their followers, were slain. To re- archers, a considerable number of whom were venge this outrage, the Earl of Caithness sent from the "Western Isles, under the command of the same year his brother, James Sinclair of Donald Balloch Mackay of Scourie, who Murkle, with a party of men, against the clan poured a thick shower of arrows upon the men Gun in Strathie, in Strathnaver, who killed of Sutherland as they advanced, the latter, in seven of that tribe. George Mac-Iain-Mac- return, giving their opponents a similar recep- Eob, the chief, and Donald Mac-"Williara-Mac- tion. The combat raged with great fury for a Henric narrowly escaped with their lives.

considerable time between these two parties : For the sake of continuity, we have deferred thrice were the Caithness archers driven back noticing those transactions in the north in upon their rear, which was in consequence which George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, was thrown into great disorder, and thrice did more immediately concerned, and which led to they return to the conflict, cheered on and several bloody conflicts. encouraged by their leader ; but, though supe- The earl, who was a favourite at court, and rior in numbers, they could not withstand the personally liked by James VI. , finding himself firmness and intrepidity of the Sutherland in danger from the prevailing faction, retired men, who forced them to retire from the field to his possessions in the north, for the purpose of battle on the approach of night, and to of improving his estates and enjoying domestic abandon the cattle which had been carried off. quiet. One of his first measures was to erect The loss in killed and wounded was about a castle at Euthven, in Badenoch, in the neigh- equal on both sides ; but, with the exception bourhood of his hunting forests. This gave of Nicolas Sutherland, brother of the Laird of great offence to Macintosh, the chief of the clan Forse, and Angus Mac-Angus-Termat, both Chattan, and his people, as they considered belonging to the Caithness party, and John that the object of its erection was to overawe Murray, the merchant, on the Sutherland side, the clan. Being the earl's vassals and tenants, there were no principal persons killed they were bound to certain services, among Yain as the efforts of the common friends of which the furnishing of materials for the build- the rival earls had hitherto been to reconcde ing formed a chief part ; but, instead of assist- EAEL OF HUNTLY AGAINST THE CLAN CHATTAN AND OTHERS. 105

ing the earl's people, they at fiist indirectly mand of these earls, he assembled his followers, and in an underhand manner endeavoured to and, entering Badenoch, summoned his vassals prevent the workmen from going on with their to appear before him, and deliver up the operations, and afterwards positively refused tutor and his abettors, but none of them came. to furnish the necessaries required for the He then proclaimed and denounced them rebels, building. This act of disobedience was the and obtained a royal commission to invade and cause of much trouble, which was increased by a apprehend them. To consult on the best quarrel in the year 1590, between the Gordons means of defending themselves, the Earls of and the Grants, the occasion of which was as Murray and Athole, the D unbars, the clan follows. John Grant, the tutor of Ballen- Chattan, the Grants, and the laird of Cadeli, dalloch, having withheld the rents due to the and others of their party met at Eorres. In widow, and endeavoured otherwise to injure the midst of their deliberations Huntly, who her, James Gordon, her nephew, eldest son of had received early intelligence of the meeting, Alexander Gordon of Lismore, along with some and had, in consequence, assembled his forces, of his friends, went to Ballendalloch to obtain unexpectedly made his appearance in the justice for her. On their arrival, differences neighbourhood of Forres. This sudden advance were accommodated so far that the tutor paid of Huntly struck terror into the minds of the

up all arrears due to the lady, except a trifle, persons assembled, and the meeting instantly which he insisted, on some ground or other, on broke up in great confusion. The whole party, retaining. This led to some altercation, in with the exception of the Earl of Murray, left which the servants of both parties took a share, the town in great haste, and fled to Tarnoway; and latterly came to blows ; but they were the Earl of Huntly, not aware that Murray separated, and James Gordon returned home. had remained behind, marching directly to Judging from what had taken place, that his Tarnoway in pursuit of the fugitives. On aunt's interests would in future be better arriving within sight of the castle into which attended to if under the protection of a hus- the flying party had thrown themselves, the band, he persuaded the brother of Sir Thomas earl sent John Gordon, brother of Sir Thomas Gordon of Cluny to marry her, which he did. Gordon of Cluny, with a small body of men to

This act so incensed the tutor of Ballendalloch, reconnoitre ; but approaching too near without that he at once showed his displeasure by due caution, he was shot by one of the Earl of killing, at the instigation of the laird of Grant, Murray's servants. As Huntly found the castle one of John Gordon's servants. For this the well fortified, and as the rebels evacuated it tutor, and such of the Grants as should harbour and fled to the mountains, leaving a sufficient or assist him, were declared outlaws and rebels, force to protect it, he disbanded his men on and a commission was granted to the Earl of November 24, 1590, and returned home, Huntly to apprehend and bring them to justice, whence he proceeded to Edinburgh. in virtue of which, he besieged the house of Shortly after his arrival the Earl of Bothwell,

Ballendalloch, and took it by force, on the who had a design upon the life of Chancellor

2d November, 1590 : but the tutor effected Maitland, made an attack upon the palace of his escape. Sir John Campbell of Cadell, a Holyroodhouse under cloud of night, with the despicable tool of the Chancellor Maitland, view of seizing Maitland ; but, having failed who had plotted the destruction of the earl in his object, he was forced to flee to the north and the laird of Grant, now joined in the to avoid the vengeance of the king. The Earl conspiracy against him, and stirred up the clan of Huntly, who had been lately reconciled to Chattan, and Macintosh their chief, to aid Maitland, and the Duke of Lennox, were sent in the Grants. They also persuaded the Earls of pursuit of Bothwell, but he escaped. Under- Athol and Murray to assist them against the standing afterwards that he was harboured by Earl of Huntly. the Earl of Murray at Donnibristle, the chan- As soon as Huntly ascertained that the cellor, having procured a commission against Grants and clan Chattan, who were his own him from the king in favour of Huntly, again vassals, had put themselves under the com- sent him, accompanied by forty gentlemen, to —

106 GENERAL HISTORY OE THE HIGHLANDS. attack the Earl of Murray. When tlie party had to the Earl of Huntly. The spirit of discon- arrived near Donnibristle, the Earl of Huntly tent became so violent that Captain John sent Captain John Gordon, of Buckie, "brother Gordon, who had been left at Inverkei thing of Gordon of Gight, with a summons to the Earl for the recovery of his wounds, but who had of Murray, requiring him to surrender himself been afterwards taken prisoner by the Earl of

prisoner ; hut instead of complying, one of the Murray's friends and carried to Edinburgh, earl's servants levelled a piece at the hearer of was tried before a jury, and, contrary to law the despatch, and 'wounded him mortally. and justice, condemned and executed for having Huntly, therefore, after giving orders to take assisted the Earl of Huntly acting under a royal the Earl of Murray alive if possible, forcibly commission. The recklessness and severity of entered the house ; but Sir Thomas Gordon, this act were still more atrocious, as Captain recollecting the fate of his brother at Tamoway, Gordon's wounds were incurable, and he was and Gordon of Gight, who saw his brother fast hastening to his grave. John Gordon of lying mortally wounded before his eyes, entirely Buckie, who was master of the king's house- disregarded the injunction; and following the hold, was obliged to flee from Edinburgh, and earl, who had fled among the rocks on the made a narrow escape with his life. adjoining sea-shore, slew him. It was this Earl As for the Earl of Huntly, he was summoned, of Murray who was known as the "bonny" at the instance of the Lord of St. Colme, brother earl, and, according to some historians, had of the deceased Earl of Murray, to stand trial. impressed the heart of Anne of Denmark, and He accordingly appeared at Edinburgh, and excited the jealousy of her royal spouse. This offered to abide the result of a trial by his at least was the popular notion of his time : peers, and in the meantime was committed a prisoner to the castle of Blackness on the 12th " He was a braw gallant, of March, 1591, till the peers should assemble And he played at the gluve ; to try him. On giving sufficient surety, how- And the bonny Earl of Murray, ever, that he would appear and stand trial on Oh ! he was the queen's love." receiving six clays' notice to that effect, he was

According to one account the house was set released by the king on the 20th day of the on fire, and Murray was discovered, when same month. endeavouring to escape, by a spark which fell The clan Chattan, who had never submitted on his helmet, and slain by Gordon of Buckie, without reluctance to the Earl of Huntly, con- saying to the latter, who had wounded him in sidered the present aspect of affairs as peculiarly the face, " You have spilt a better face than favourable to the design they entertained of your awin." shaking off the yoke altogether, and being The Earl of Huntly immediately despatched countenanced and assisted by the Grants, and John Gordon of Buckie to Edinburgh, to lay other friends of the Earl of Murray, made no a statement of the affair before the king and secret of their intentions. At first the earl the chancellor. The death of the Earl of sent Allan Macdonald-Dubh, the chief of the Murray would have passed quietly over, as an clan Cameron, with his tribe, to attack the event of ordinary occurrence in those trouble- clan Chattan in Badenoch, and to keep them some times ; but, as he was one of the heads in due order and subjection. The Camerons, of the Protestant party, the Presbyterian though warmly opposed, succeeded in defeat- ministers gave the matter a religious turn by ing the clan Chattan, who lost 50 of their denouncing the Catholic Earl of Huntly as a men after a sharp skirmish. The earl next murderer, who wished to advance the interests despatched Macronald, with some of the of his church by imbruing his hands in the Lochaber men, against the Grants in Strath- blood of his Protestant countrymen. The spey, whom he attacked, killed 18 of them, effect of the ministers' denunciations was a and laid waste the lands of Ballendalloch. tumult among the people in Edinburgh and After the clan Chattan had recovered from other parts of the kingdom, which obliged the their defeat, they invaded Strathdee and king to cancel the commission he had granted Glenmuck in November 1592. To punish EAEL OF HUNTLY ATTAINTED. 107

this aggression, the Earl of Huntly collected entreated the king to send the Earl of Argyle, his forces and entered Pettie, then in posses- a youth of nineteen years of age, in the pay of sion of the clan Chattan as a fief from the Queen Elizabeth, with an army against the Earls of Murray, and laid waste all the lands Catholic earls. The king, still yielding to of the clan Chattan there, killed many of necessity, complied, and Argyle, having col- them, and carried off a large quantity of cattle, lected a force of about 12,000 men, entered which he divided among his army. But in Badenoch and laid siege to the castle of Buth- returning from Pettie after disbanding his ven, on the 27th of September, 1594. He was army, he received the unwelcome intelligence accompanied in this expedition by the Earl of that William Macintosh, son of Lauchlan Mac- Athole, Sir Lauchlan Maclean with some of his intosh, the chief, with 800 of the clan Chattan, islanders, the chief of the Macintoshes, the had invaded the lands of Auchindun and Cab- Laird of Grant, the clan Gregor, Macneil of berogh. The earl, after desiring the small Barra, with all their friends and dependents, party which remained with him to follow him together with the whole of the Campbells, and as speedily as possible, immediately set off at a variety of others animated by a thirst for full speed, accompanied by Sir Patrick Gordon plunder or malice towards the Gordons. The of Auchindun and 36 horsemen, in quest of castle of Euthven was so well defended by the Macintosh and his party. Overtaking them clan Pherson, who were the Earl of Huntly's before they had left the bounds of Cabberogh, vassals, that Argyle was obliged to give up the upon the top of a hill called Stapliegate, he siege. He then marched through Strathspey, attacked them with his small party, and, after and encamped at Drummin, upon the river a warm skirmish, defeated them, lulling about Avon, on the 2d of October, whence he issued 10 of their men, and wounding William Mac- orders to Lord Forbes, the Frasers, the Dun- intosh and others. bars, the clan Kenzie, the Irvings, the Ogil- The Earl of Huntly, after thus subduing his vies, the Leslies, and other tribes and clans enemies in the north, now found himself placed in the north, to join Ins standard with all con- under ban by the government on account venient speed. of an alleged conspiracy between him and the The earls, against whom this expedition was Earls of Angus and Errol and the crown of directed, were by no means dismayed. They Spain, to overturn the State and the Church. knew that although the king was constrained The king and his councillors seemed to be by popular clamour to levy war upon them, he

satisfied of the innocence of the earls ; but the was in secret friendly to them ; and they were, ministers, who considered the reformed religion moreover, aware that the army of Argyle, in Scotland in danger while these Catholic who was a youth of no military experience, peers were protected and favoured, importuned was a raw and undisciplined militia, and com- his majesty to punish them. The king, yield- posed, in a great measure, of Catholics, who ing to necessity and to the intrigues of Queen could not be expected to feel very warmly for Elizabeth, forfeited their titles, intending to the Protestant interest, to support which the restore them when a proper opportunity expedition was professedly undertaken. The occurred ; and, to silence the clamours of the seeds of disaffection, besides, had been already ministers, convoked a parliament, which was sown in Argyle's camp by the corruption of the held in the end of May, 1594. As few of the Grants and Campbell of Lochnell. peers attended, the ministers, having the com- On hearing of Argyle's approach, the Earl missioners of the burghs on their side, carried of Errol immediately collected a select body of everything their own way, and the consequence about 100 horsemen, being gentlemen, on was, that the three earls were attainted without whose courage and fidelity he could rely, and

trial, and their arms were torn in presence of with these he joined the Earl of Huntly at the parliament, according to the custom in Strathbogie. The forces of Huntly, after this

such cases. junction, amounted, it is said, to nearly 1,500 Having so far succeeded, the ministers, men, almost altogether horsemen, and with this

instigated by the Queen of England, now bodj7 he advanced to Carnborrow, where the 108 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. two earls and their chief followers made a Campbell of Auchinbreck. This vanguard solemn vow to conquer or die. Marching from consisted of 4,000 men, one-half of whom thence, Huntly's army arrived at Auchindun carried muskets. The rear of the army, con- on the same day that Argyle's army reached sisting of about 6,000 men, was commanded Drummin. At Auchindun, Huntly received by Argyle himself. The Earl of Huntly's van- intelligence that Argyle was on the eve of guard was composed of 300 gentlemen, led by descending from the mountains to the lowlands, the Earl of Errol, Sir Patrick Gordon of which induced him, on the following day, Auchindun, the laird of Gight, the laird of to send Captain Thomas Carr and a party of Bonnitoun, and Captain, afterwards Sir Thomas horsemen to reconnoitre the enemy, while he Carr. The earl himself followed with the himself advanced with his main axmj. The remainder of his forces, having the laird of reconnoitring party soon fell in, accidentally, Cluny upon his right hand and the laird of with Argyle's scouts, whom they chased, and Abergeldy upon his left. Three pieces of field some of whom they killed. This occurrence, ordnance under the direction of Captain Andrew which was looked upon as a prognostic of Gray, afterwards colonel of the English and victory, so encouraged Huntly and his men, Scots who served in Bohemia, were placed in that he resolved to attack the army of Argyle front of the vanguard. Before advancing, the before he should he joined by Lord Forbes, Earl of Huntly harangued his little army to and the forces which were waiting for his encourage them to fight manfully; he told appearance in the lowlands. Argyle had now them that they had no alternative before them passed Glenlivet, and had reached the banks but victory or death—that they were now to of a small brook named Altchonlachan. combat, not for their own lives only, but also On the other hand, the Earl of Argyle had for the very existence of their families, which no idea that the Earls of Huntly and Errol would be utterly extinguished if they fell a inferior to would attack him with such an force ; prey their enemies. and he was, therefore, astonished at seeing them The position which Argyle occupied on the approach so near him as they did. Apprehen- declivity of the hill gave him a decided advan- sive that his numerical superiority in foot would tage over his assailants, who, from the nature be counterbalanced by Huntly's cavalry, he of their force, were greatly hampered by the held a council of war, which advised Argyle to mossy nature of the ground at the foot of the wait till the king, who had promised to appear hill, interspersed by pits from which turf had with a force, should arrive, or, at all events, been dug. But, notwithstanding these obstacles, till he should be joined by the Frasers and Huntly advanced up the hill with a slow and Mackenzies from the north, and the Irvings, steady pace. It had been arranged between Forbeses, and Leslies from the lowlands with him and Campbell of Lochnell, who had pro- their horse. This opinion, which was con- mised to go over to Huntly as soon as the battle sidered judicious by the most experienced of had commenced, that, before charging Argyle

Argyle's army, was however disregarded by with his cavalry, Huntly should fire his artil- him, and he determined to wait the attack of lery at the yellow standard. Campbell bore a the enemy ; and to encourage his men he mortal enmity at Argyle, as he had murdered pointed out to them the small number of those his brother, Campbell of Calder, m 1592; and they had to combat with, and the spoils they as he was Argyle's nearest heir, he probably might expect after victory. He disposed his had directed the firing at the yellow standard army on the declivity of a hill, betwixt Glen- in the hope of cutting off the earl. Unfor- livet and Glenrinnes, in two parallel divisions. tunately for himself, however, Campbell was The right wing, consisting of the Macleans and shot dead at the first fire of the cannon, and

Macintoshes, was commanded by Sir Lauchlan upon his fall all his men fled from the field. Maclean and Macintosh—the left, composed Macneill of Barra was also slain at the same of the Grants, Macneills, and Macgregors, by time.

Grant of Gartinbeg ; and the centre, consisting The Highlanders, who had never before of the Campbells, &c, was commanded by seen field pieces, were thrown into disorder BATTLE OF GLENLIVET. 109 by tlie cannonade, which being perceived by treated with his men as soon as the action Huntly, be charged tbe enemy, and rushing in began, by which act the centre and the left among tbem "with his horsemen, increased the wing of Argyle's army were completely broken. confusion. The Earl of Errol was directed to On the side of Argyle 500 men were killed attack the right wing of Argyle's army, com- besides Macneill of Barra, and Lochnell manded by Maclean, but as it occupied a very and Auchinbreck, the two cousins of Argyle. steep part of the hill, and as Errol was greatly The Earl of Huntly's loss was comparatively annoyed by thick volleys of shot from above, trifling. About 14 gentlemen were slain, in- he was compelled to make a detour, leaving cluding Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchindun, the enemy on his left. But Gordon of Auch- and the Laird of Gight ; and the Earl of Errol indun, disdaining such a prudent course, gal- and a considerable number of persons were loped up the hill with a party of his own fol- wounded. At the conclusion of the battle the lowers, and charged Maclean with great im- conquerors returned thanks to God on the

petuosity ; but Auchindun's rashness cost him field for the victory they had achieved. This his life. The fall of Auchindun so exasperated battle is called by some writers the battle of his followers that they set no bounds to their Glenlivet, and by others the battle of Altchon- fury; but Maclean received their repeated lachan. Among the trophies found on the

assaults with firmness, and manoeuvred his field was the ensign belonging to the Earl of troops so well as to succeed in cutting off the Argyle, which was carried with other spoils to Earl of Errol, and placing him between his Strathbogie, and placed upon the top of the own body and that of Argyle, by whose joint great tower. So certain had Argyle been of forces he was completely surrounded. At this success in his enterprise, that he had made out

important crisis, when no hopes of retreat a paper apportioning the lands of the Gordons, remained, and when Errol and his men were the Hays, and all who were suspected to favour in danger of being cut to pieces, the Earl of them, among the chief officers of his army. Huntly, very fortunately, came up to his assist- This document was found among the baggage ance and relieved him from his embarrass- which he left behind him on the field of battle. 1 ment. The battle was now renewed and con- Although Ajgyle certainly calculated upon tinued for two hours, during which both parties being joined by the king, it seems doubtful if fought with great bravery, "the one," says Sir James ever entertained such an intention, for Eobert Gordon, " for glorie, the other for he stopped at Dundee, from which he did not

necessitie." In the heat of the action the Earl stir till he heard of the result of the battle of of Huntly had a horse shot under him, and was Glenlivet. Instigated by the ministers and

in imminent danger of his life ; but another other enemies of the Earl of Huntly, who horse was immediately procured for him. Af- became now more exasperated than ever at the ter a hard contest the main body of Argyle's unexpected failure of Argyle's expedition, the army began to give way, and retreated towards king proceeded north to Strathbogie, and in

the rivulet of Altchonlachan ; but Maclean his route he permitted, most unwillingly, the

still kept the field, and continued to support house of Craig in Angus, belonging to Sir the falling fortune of the day. At length, John Ogilvie, son of Lord Ogilvie, that of finding the contest hopeless, and after losing Bagaes in Angus, the property of Sir Walter many of his men, he retired in good order with Lindsay, the house of Culsalmond in Garioch,

the small company that still remained about appertaining to the Laird of Newton-Gordon, him. Huntly pursued the retiring foe beyond the house of Slaines in Buchan, belonging to the water of Altchonlachan, when he was the Earl of Errol, and the castle of Strathbogie, prevented from following them farther by the to be razed to the ground, under the pretext steepness of the hills, so unfavourable to the that priests and Jesuits had been harboured in operations of cavalry. The success of Huntly them. In the meantime the Earl of Huntly was mainly owing to the treachery of Lochnell, of John Grant of Gartinbeg, of Huntly's and one 1 Sir li. Gordon, pp. 226, 227, 228, 229.—Shaw's vassals, who, in terms of a concerted plan, re- Moray, pp. 266, 267, 268. ;

no GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS and his friends retired into Sutherland, where In the following year the ambition and they remained six weeks with Earl Alexander avarice of Sir Lauchlan Maclean, of whom and on the king's departure to Strathbogie, notice has been already taken, brought Mm to Huntly returned, leaving his eldest son George, an untimely end, having been slain in Islay by

Lord Gordon, in Sutherland with his aunt, till Sir James Macdonakl, his nephew, eldest son the return of more peaceable times. of Angus Macdonald of Kintyre. Sir Lauch- The king left the Duke of Lennox to act as lan had long had an eye upon the possessions his lieutenant in the north, with whom the of the clan Konald in Islay ; but having failed two earls held a meeting at Aberdeen, and as in extorting a conveyance thereof from Angus their temporary absence from the kingdom Macdonald in the way before alluded to, he might allay the spirit of -violence and discon- endeavoured, by his credit at court and by tent, which was particularly annoying to his bribery or other means, to obtain a grant of majesty, they agreed to leave the kingdom these lands from the crown in 1595. At this during the king's pleasure. After spending period Angus Macdonald had become infirm sixteen months in travelling through Germany from age, and his son, Sir James Macdonald, and Flanders, Huntly was recalled, and on his was too young to make any effectual resistance return he, as well as the Earls of Angus and to the newly acquired claims of his covetous Errol, were restored to their former honours uncle. After obtaining the gift, Sir Lauchlan and estates by the parliament, held at Edin- collected his people and friends, and invaded burgh in November 1597, and in testimony of Isky, for the purpose of taking possession of his regard for Huntly, the king, two years the lands which belonged to the clan Donald. thereafter, created him a marquis. This signal Sir James Macdonald, on hearing of his uncle's mark of the royal favour had such an influence landing, collected his friends, and landed in upon the clan Chattan, the clan Kenzie, the Islay to dispossess Sir Lauchlan of the property. Grants, Forbeses, Leslies, and other hostile To prevent the effusion of blood, some common elans and tribes, that they at once submitted friends of the parties interposed, and endea- themselves to the marquis. voured to bring about an adjustment of their The warlike operations in the north seem, differences. They prevailed upon Sir James for a time, to have drawn off the attention of to agree to resign the half of the island to his lie the clans from their own feuds ; but in the uncle during the life of the latter, provided year 1597 a tumult occurred at Loggiewreid in would acknowledge that he held the same for Eoss, which had almost put that province and personal service to the clan Donald in the same the adjoining country into a flame. The quar- manner as Maclean's progenitors had always rel began between John Mac-Gille-Calum, held the Ehinns of Islay ; and he moreover brother of Gille-Calum, Laird of Easay, and offered to submit the question to any impartial Alexander Bane, brother of Duncan Bane of friends Maclean might choose, under this Tulloch, in Eoss. The Monroes took the side reasonable condition, that in case they should of the Banes, and the Mackenzies aided John not agree, his Majesty should decide. But Mac-Gille-Calum. In this tumult John Mac- Maclean, contrary to the advice of his best Gille-Calum and John Mac-Murthow-Mac- friends, would listen to no proposals short of William, a gentleman of the clan Kenzie, and an absolute surrender of the whole of the island. three persons of that surname, were killed on Sir James therefore resolved to vindicate his the one side, and on the other were slain John right by an appeal to arms, though his force Monroe of Culcraigie, his brother Houcheon was far inferior to that of Sir Lauchlan. Monroe, and John Monroe Eobertson. This A desperate struggle took place, in which great occurrence renewed the ancient animosity be- valour was displayed on both sides. Sir tween the clan Kenzie and the Monroes, and Lauchlan was killed fighting at the head of both parties began to assemble their friends his men, who were at length compelled to boats vessels. Besides for the purpose of attacking one another ; but retreat to their and their differences were in some measure happily their chief, the Macleans left 80 of their prin- reconciled by the mediation of common friends. cipal men and 200 common soldiers dead on ;

STE1EE BETWEEN EAELS OF SUTHEELAND AND CAITHNESS. Ill the Held of battle. Lauchlan Barroch-Maclean, or Strathnaver. As soon as Mackay was son of Sir Lauehlan, was dangerously wounded, informed of his intentions, he sent a message but escaped. Sir James Macdonald was also to the Earl of Caithness, intimating to him that so severely wounded that he never fully recov- he would not permit him to enter either of ered from his wounds. About 30 of the clan these countries, or to cross the marches. The Donald were killed and about 60 wounded. Earl of Caithness returned a haughty answer Sir Lauchlan, according to Sir Eobert Gordon, but he did not carry his threat of invasion into had consulted a witch before he undertook this execution on account of the arrival of the Earl journey into Islay, who advised him, in the of Sutherland from the Continent. As the first place, not to land upon the island on a Earl of Caithness still continued to threaten

Thursday ; secondly, that he should not drink an invasion, the Earl of Sutherland collected

of the water of a well near Groynard ; and his forces, in the month of July 1601, to op- lastly, she told him that one Maclean should pose him. Mackay, with his countrymen, be slain at Groynard. " The first he trans- soon joined the Earl of Sutherland at Lagan- gressed unwillingly," sa}rs Sir Eobert, " being Gaincamhd in Dirichat, where he was soon driven into the island of Ha by a tempest also joined by the Monroes under Eobert upon a Thursday ; the second he transgressed Monroe of Contaligh, and the laird of Assynt negligentlie, haveing drank of that water befor with his countrymen. he wes awair ; and so he wes killed ther at While the Earl of Sutherland's force was Groinard, as wes foretold him, hot doubtfullie. thus assembling, the Earl of Caithness ad- Thus endeth all these that doe trust in such vanced towards Sutherland with his arm)'. kynd of responces, or doe hunt after them !" 2 The two armies encamped at the distance of On hearing of Maclean's death and the defeat about three miles asunder, near the bill of of his men, the king became so highly incensed Bengrime. In expectation of a battle on the against the clan Donald that, finding he had a morning after their encampment, the Suther- right to dispose of their possessions both in land men took up a position in a plain which Kintyre and Islay, he made a grant of them to lay between the two armies, called Leathad the Earl of Argyle and the Campbells. This Eeidh, than which a more convenient station gave rise to a number of bloody conflicts be- could not have been selected. But the corn- tween the Campbells and the clan Donald in modiousness of the plain was not the only the years 1614, -15, and -16, which ended in reason for making the selection. There had the ruin of the latter. been long a prophetic tradition in these coun- The rival houses of Sutherland and Caith- tries that a battle was to be fought on this ness had now lived on friendly terms for some ground between the inhabitants of Sutherland, years. After spending about eighteen months assisted by the Strathnaver men, and the men at court, and attending a convention of the of Caithness; that although the Sutherland estates at Edinburgh in July, 1598, John, sixth men were to be victorious their loss would be Earl of Sutherland, went to the Continent, great, and that the loss of the Strathnaver where he remained till the month of September, men should even be greater, but that the 1600. The Earl of Caithness, deeming the Caithness men should be so completely over- absence of the Earl of Sutherland a fit oppor- thrown that they should not be able, for a con- tunity for carrying into effect some designs siderable length of time, to recover the blow against him, caused William Mackay to obtain which they were to receive. This superstitious leave from his brother Houcheon Mackay to idea made such an impression upon the minds hunt in the policy of Durines belonging to the of the men of Sutherland that it was with Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness great difficulty they could be restrained from thereupon assembled all his vassals and de- immediately attacking their enemies. pendents, and, under the pretence of hunting, The Earl of Caithness, daunted by this cir- made demonstrations for entering Sutherland cumstance, and being diffident of the fidelity of some of his people, whom he had used with

• History, p. 238. great cruelty, sent messengers to the Earl of 112 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Sutherland expressing his regret at what had with his army into Caithness, Earl George happened, stating that he was provoked to his would not hinder him; but he suggested to present measures "by the insolence of Mackay, him the propriety of appointing some gentle- who had repeatedly dared him to the attack, men on both sides to see the respective armies and that, if the Earl of Sutherland would pass dissolved. The Earl of Sutherland acceded to over the affair, he would permit him and his this proposal, and sent George Gray of Cuttle, army to advance twice as far into Caithness as eldest son of Gilbert Gray of Sordell, with a he had marched into Sutherland. The Earl of company of resolute men into Caithness to see Sutherland, on receipt of this offer, called a the army of the Earl of Caithness broken up. council of his friends to deliberate upon it. The Earl of Caithness, in his turn, despatched Mackay and some others advised the earl to Alexander Bane, chief of the Caithness Banes, decline the proposal, and attack the Earl of who witnessed the dismissal of the Earl of Caithness; while others of the earl's advisers Sutherland's army. 3 thought it neither fit nor reasonahle to risk so About the period in question, great commo- many lives when such ample satisfaction was tions took place in the north-west isles, in con- offered. A sort of middle course was, there- sequence of a quarrel between Donald Gorm fore, adopted by giving the Earl of Caithness Macdonald of Slate, and Sir Roderick Macleod an opportunity to escape if he inclined. The of Harris, arising out of the following circum- messengers were accordingly sent hack with stances. Donald Gorm Macdonald, who had this answer, that if the Earl of Caithness and married the sister of Sir Roderick, instigated his army would remain where they lay till hj jealousy, had conceived displeasure at her sunrise next morning they might he assured of and put her away. Having complained to an attack. her brother of the treatment thus received, Sir "When this answer was delivered in the Earl Roderick sent a message to Macdonald requir- of Caithness' camp, his men got so alarmed ing hini to take back his wife. Instead of that the earl, with great difficulty, prevented complying with this request, Macdonald brought them from running away immediately. He an action of divorce against her, and having remained on the field all night watching them obtained decree therein, married the sister of in person, encouraging them to remain, and Kenneth Mackenzie, lord of Kintail. Sir making great promises to them if they stood Roderick, who considered himself disgraced firm. But his entreaties were quite unavailing, and his family dishonoured by such proceed- for as soon as the morning dawned, on per- ings, assembled all his countrymen and his ceiving the approach of the Earl of Sutherland's tribe, the Siol-Thormaid, without delay, and army, they fled from the field in the utmost invaded with fire and sword the lands of Mac- confusion, jostling and overthrowing one an- donald in the isle of Skye, to which he laid other in their flight, and leaving their whole claim as his own. Macdonald retaliated by baggage behind them. The Earl of Sutherland landing in Harris with his forces, which he resolved to pursue the flying enemy; but, laid waste, and after killing some of the inha- before proceeding on the pursuit, his army col- bitants retired with a large booty in cattle. lected a quantity of stones which they accu- To make amends for this loss, Sir Roderick in- mulated into a heap to commemorate the flight vaded Uist, which belonged to Macdonald, and of the Caithness men, which heap was called despatched his cousin, Donald Glas Macleod,

Carn-Teiche, that is, the Flight Cairn. with 40 men, into the interior, to lay the Not wishing to encounter the Earl of Suther- island waste, and to carry off a quantity of land under the adverse circumstances which goods and cattle, which the inhabitants had had occurred, the Earl of Caithness, after placed within the precincts of the church of entering his own territories, sent a message to Killtrynard as a sanctuary. This exploit his pursuer to the effect that having complied turned out to be very serious, as Donald with his request in withdrawing his army, he Macleod and his party were most unexpect- hoped hostile proceedings would cease, and

3 that if the Earl of Sutherland should advance Sir Robert Gordon, p. 243. —

FEUD BETWEEN THE COLQUHOTJNS A1STD MACGEEGOES. 113

edly attacked in the act of carrying off their oners he had taken at Benquhillin ; but prey, by John Mac-Iain-Mkic-Sheiunais, a kins- although these parties never again showed any man of Macdonald, at the head of a body of open hostility, they brought several actions at 12 men who had remained in the island, by law against each other, the one claiming from whom Donald Macleod and the greater part of the other certain parts of his possessions. his men were cut to pieces, and the booty rescued. Sir Roderick, thinking that the force which had attacked his cousin was much greater than it was, retired from the island, CHAPTER IX. intending to return on a future day with a i. D. 1602—1613. greater force to revenge Iris loss.

This odious system of warfare continued till James VI., 1567—1603. the hostile parties had almost exterminated one

another; and to such extremities were they re- Feud between the Colquhouns and Maegregors—Hac- duced by the ruin and desolation which fol- gvegors outlawed—Execution of their Chief—Quar- rel between the clan Kenzie and Glengarry— Alister lowed, that they were compelled to eat horses, Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir beheaded—Lawless proceedings dogs, cats, and other animals, to preserve a in Sutherland—Deadly quarrel iu Dornoch—Meeting between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland miserable existence. To put an end, if possible, Feud between the Hurrays and some of the Siol- at once to this destructive contest, Macdonald Thomais—Dissension in Horay among the Dunbars —Quarrel between the Earl of Caithness and the collected all his remaining forces, with the chief of the Mackays—Commotions in Lewis among determination of striking a decisive blow at the Hacleods—Invasion of Lewis by Fife adventurers Compelled to abandon it—Lord Kintail obtains his opponent; and accordingly, in the year — possession of Lewis—Expulsion of Neill Hacleod 1G01, he entered Sir Eoderiek's territories with Quarrel between the Laird of Kasay and Hackenzie of Gairloeh—Disturbances in Caithness Tumults the design of bringing him to battle. Sir Ro- — in Caithness on the apprehension of Arthur Smith, derick was then in Argyle, soliciting aid and a false coiner—Earl of Caithness prosecutes Donald Hackay and others —Dissensions among the clan advice from the Earl of Argyle against the Cameron. clan Donald ; but on hearing of the approach of Macdonald, Alexander Macleod, brother of In the early part of the year 160S the west of Sir Roderick, resolved to try the result of a Scotland was thrown into a state of great dis- battle. Assembling, therefore, all the inhabi- order, in consequence of the renewal of some tants of his brother's lands, together with the old quarrels between Colquhoun of Euss, the whole tribe of the Siol-Thormaid, and some of chief of that surname, and Alexander Macgre- the Siol-Thorquill, he encamped close by the gor, chief of the clan Gregor. To put an end hill of Benquhillln, in Skye, resolved to give to these dissensions, Alexander Macgregor left battle to the clan Donald next morning. Ac- Rannoch, accompanied by about 200 of his cordingly, on the arrival of morning, an obsti- kinsmen and friends, entered Lennox, and took nate and deadly fight took place, which lasted up his quarters on the confines of Luss's terri- the whole day, each side contending with the tory, where he expected, by the mediation of utmost valour for victory ; but at length the his friends, to bring matters to an amicable clan Donald overthrew their opponents. Alex- adjustment. As the laird of Luss was sus- ander Macleod was wounded and taken pri- picious of Macgregor's real intentions, he soner, along with jSTeill-Mac-Alastair-Ruaidh, assembled all his vassals, with the Buchanans and 30 others of the choicest men of the and others, to the number of 300 horse and Siol-Thormaid. Iain-Mac-Thormaid and Thor- 500 foot, designing, if the result of the maid-Mac-Thormaid, two near kinsmen of Sir meeting should not turn out according to his

Roderick, and several others, were slain. expectations and wishes, to cut off Macgregor After this affair, a reconciliation took place and his party. But Macgregor, anticipating between Macdonald and Sir Roderick, at the Colquhon's intention, was upon his guard, and, solicitation of old Angus Macdonald of Kintyre, by his precautions, defeated the design upon the laird of Coll, and other friends, when Mac- him. A conference was held for the purpose donald delivered up to Sir Roderick the pris- of terminating all differences, but the meeting 114 GENERAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

broke up without any adjustment : Macgregor ishing all persons who had kept up any com- then proceeded homewards. The laird of munication with them, and the fines so levied Luss, in pursuance of his plan, immediately were given by the king to the Earl of Argyle, followed Macgregor with great haste through as a recompense for his services against the Glenfreon, in the expectation of coining upon unfortunate Macgregors. him unawares, and defeating him; hut Mac- Alexander Macgregor, the chief, after suffer- gregor, who was on the alert, observed, in due ing many vicissitudes of fortune, at last sur- time, the approach of his pursuers, and made rendered himself to the Earl of Argyle, on con- his preparations accordingly. He divided his dition that he should grant him a safe conduct company into two parts, the largest of which into England to King James, that he might he kept under his own command, and placed lay before his majesty a true state of the whole the other part under the command of John affair from the commencement, and crave the Macgregor, his brother, whom he despatched royal mercy; and as a security for his return to by a circuitous route, for the purpose of Scotland, he debvered up to Argyle thirty of his attacking Luss's party in the rear, when they choicest men as hostages. But no sooner had should least expect to be assailed. This stra- Macgregor arrived at Berwick on his way to Lon- tagem succeeded, and the result was, that after don, than he was basely arrested, brought back a keen contest, Luss's party was completely by the earl to Edinburgh, and, by his influence, overthrown, with the loss of 200 men, besides executed along with the thirty hostages. Argyle several gentlemen and burgesses of the town hoped, by these means, ultimately to annihilate

of Dumbarton. It is remarkable that of the the whole clan ; but in this cruel design he Macgregors, John, the brother of Alexander, was quite disappointed, for the clan speedily and another person, were the only killed, though increased, and became almost as powerful as some of the party were wounded. before. 4 The laird of Luss and his friends sent early While the Highland borders were thus dis- notice of their disaster to the liing, and by turbed by the warfare between the Macgregors misrepresenting the whole affair to him, and and the Colquhouns, a commotion happened in exhibiting to his majesty eleven score bloody the interior of the Highlands, in consequence shirts, belonging to those of their party who of a quarrel between the clan Kenzie and the were slain, the king grew exceedingly incensed laird of Glengany, who, according to Sir Robert at the clan Gregor, who had no person about Gordon, was " unexpert and unskilfull in the the king to plead their cause, proclaimed them lawes of the realme." From his want of know- rebels, and interdicted all the lieges from har- ledge of the law, the clan Kenzie are said by bouring or having, any communication with the same writer to have " easalie intrapped them. The Earl of Argyle, with the Camp- him within the compas thereof," certainly by bells, was afterwards sent against the proscribed no means a difficult matter in those lawless

clan, and hunted them through the country. times ; they then procured a warrant for citing About 60 of the clan made a brave stand at him to appear before the justiciary court at Bentoik against a party of 200 chosen men Edinburgh, which they took good care should belonging to the clan Cameron, clan Nab, and not be served upon him personally. Either not clan Ronald, under the command of Robert knowing of these legal proceedings, or neglect- Campbell, son of the laird of Glenorchy, when ing the summons, Glengarry did not appear at Duncan Aberigh, one of the chieftains of the Edinburgh on the day appointed, but went clan Gregor, and bis son Duncan, and seven about revenging the slaughter of two of his gentlemen of Campbell's party were killed. kinsmen, whom the clan Kenzie had killed But although they made a brave resistance, and after the summons for Glengarry's appearance killed many of their pursuers, the Macgregors, had been issued. The consequence was that after many skirmishes and great losses, were at Glengarry and some of his followers were out-

last overcome. Commissions were thereafter Through the interest of the Earl of sent through the kingdom, for fining those who

had harboured any of the clan, and for pun- Sir E. Gordon, p. 247. ALISTEE MAC-UILLEAM-MHOIK BEHEADED. 115

Dunfermline, lord chancellor of Scotland, they seized Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir, and carried Kenneth Mackenzie, afterwards created Lord him off prisoner to the Earl of Caithness, who Kintail, obtained a commission against Glen- caused him to be beheaded in his own presence, garry and his people, which occasioned great the following day. The fidelity of this unfor- trouble and much slaughter. Being assisted tunate man to Mackay, his master, during the by many followers from the neighbouring disputes between the Earls of Sutherland and country, Mackenzie, by virtue of his commis- Caithness, was the cause for which he suffered. sion, invaded Glengarry's territories, which he Mackay, resolved upon getting the earl mercilessly wasted and destroyed with fire and punished, entered a legal prosecution against sword. On his return, Mackenzie besieged him at Edinburgh, but by the mediation of the the castle of Strome, which ultimately sur- Marquis of Huntly the suit was quashed. 6 rendered to him. To assist Mackenzie in this In July, 1605, a murder was committed in expedition, the Earl of Sutherland, in token of Strathnaver, by Kobert Gray of Hopsdale or the ancient friendship which had subsisted Ospisdell, the victim being Angus Mac-Ken- between his family and the Mackenzies, sent neth-Mac-Alister, one of the Siol-Mhurchaidh- 240 well equipped and able men, under the Rhiabhaich. The circumstances leading to command of John Gordon of Embo. Mac- this will illustrate the utterly lawless and kenzie again returned into Glengarry, where insecure state of the Highlands at this time. he had a skirmish with a party commanded by John Gray of Skibo held the lands of Ardinsh Glengarry's eldest son, in which the latter and under John, the fifth of that name, Earl of 60 of his followers were slain. The Mackenzies Sutherland, as superior, which lands the grand- also suffered some loss on this occasion. At father of Angus Mac-Kenneth had in possession last, after much trouble and bloodshed on both from John Mackay, son of T-Eoy-Mackay. sides, an agreement was entered into, by which who, before the time of this Earl John, pos- Glengarry renounced in favour of Kenneth sessed some lands in Breachat. When John Mackenzie, the castle of Strome and the adja- Gray obtained the grant of Ardinsh from John cent lands. 5 the fifth, he allowed Kenneth Mac-Alister, the In the year 1605, the peace of the northern father of Angus Mac-Kenneth, to retain posses-

Highlands was somewhat disturbed by one sion thereof, which he continued to do till of those atrocious occurrences so common at about the year 1573. About this period a that time. The chief of the Mackays had a variance arose between John Gray and Hugh servant named Alastair-Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir. Murray of Aberscors, in consequence of some This man having some business to transact in law-suits which they carried on against one

Caithness, went there without the least appre- another ; but they were reconciled by Alex- hension of danger, as the Earls of Sutherland ander, Earl of Sutherland, who became bound and Caithness had settled all their differences. to pay a sum of money to John Gray, for Hugh No sooner, however, did the latter hear of Murray, who was in the meantime to get Mac-Uilleam-Mhoir's arrival in Caithness, than possession of the lands of Ardinsh in security. he sent Henry Sinclair, his bastard brother, As John Gray still retained the property and with a party of men to kill him. Mac-Uilleam- kept Kenneth Mac-Alister in the possession Mhoir, being a bold and resolute man, was not thereof at the old rent, the Murrays took openly attacked by Sinclair ; but on entering umbrage at him, and prevailed upon the Earl the house where the former had taken up his of Sutherland to grant a conveyance of the residence, Sinclair and his party pretended wadset or mortgage over Ardinsh in favour of that they had come on a friendly visit to him Angus Murray, formerly bailie of Dornoch. In to enjoy themselves in his company. Not the meantime, Kenneth Mac-Alister died, leav- suspecting their hostile intentions, Alister ing his son, Angus Mac-Kenneth, in possession. invited them to sit down and drink with him; Angus Munay having acquired the mortgage, but scarcely had they taken their seats when now endeavoured to raise the rent of Ardinsh,

Sir R. Gordon, p. 248. Sir It. Gordon, p. 253. ;

116 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. but Angus Mac-Kenneth refusing to pay more Almost the whole of the inhabitants of Dornoch than his father had paid, was dispossessed, and turned out on this occasion, and went to Strath- the lands were let to William Mac-Iain-Mac- ully. During their absence a quarrel ensued Kenneth, cousin of Angus Mac-Kenneth. This in the town between one John Macphaill and proceeding so exasperated Angus that he mur- three brothers of the name of Pope, in which

dered his cousin William Mac-Kenneth, his one of the latter was killed ; the circumstances wife, and two sons, under cloud of night, and leading to and attending which quarrel were so determined was he that no other person these : —In the year 1585, William Pope, a should possess the lands but himself, that he native of Eoss, settled in Sutherland, and killed no less than nine other persons, who had being a man of good education, was appointed successively endeavoured to occupy them. No schoolmaster in Dornoch, and afterwards be- others being disposed to occupy Ardinsh at the came its resident minister. He also received risk of their lives, and Angus Murray getting another clerical appointment in Caithness, by wearied of his possession, resigned his right to means of which, and of his other Hving, he Gilbert Gray of Skibo, on the death of John became, in course of time, wealthy. This Gray, his father. Gilbert thereafter conveyed good success induced two younger brothers, the property to Eobert Gray of Ospisdell, his Charles and Thomas, to leave their native second son ; but Eobert, being disinclined to country and settle in Sutherland. Thomas allow Angus Mac-Kenneth, who had again was soon made chancellor of Caithness and obtained possession, to continue tenant, be minister of Eogart. Charles became a notary

dispossessed him, and let the land to one Einlay public and a messenger-at-arms ; and having, Logan, but this new tenant was murdered by by his good conduct and agreeable conversa- Mac-Kenneth in the year 1604. Mac-Kenneth tion, ingratiated himself with the Earl of

then fled into Strathnaver with a party com- Sutherland, was appointed to the office of posed of persons of desperate and reckless pas- sheriff-clerk of Sutherland. The brothers soon sions like himself, with the intention of annoy- acquired considerable wealth, which they laid ing Eobert Gray by their incursions. Gray out in the purchase of houses in the town of having ascertained that they were in the parish Dornoch, where the}1, chiefly resided. Many cf Creigh, he immediately attacked them and of the inhabitants of the town envied their killed Murdo Mac-Kenneth, the brother of acquisitions, and took every occasion to insult Angus, who made a narrow escape, and again them as intruders, who had a design, as they retired into Strathnaver. Angus again re- supposed, to drive the ancient inhabitants of turned into Sutherland in May 1605, and, in the place from their possessions. On the the absence of Eobert Gray, burnt his stable, occasion in question William and Thomas with some of his cattle, at Ospisdell. Gray Pope, along with other ministers, had held a then obtained a warrant against Mac-Kenneth, meeting at Dornoch on church affairs, on and having procured the assistance of a body dissolving which they went to breakfast at of men from John Earl of Sutherland, entered an inn. While at breakfast, John Macphaill Strathnaver and attacked Mac-Kenneth at the entered the house, and demanded some liquor Cruffs of Hoip, and slew him. 7 from the mistress of the inn, but she refused The Earl of Caithness, disliking the unquiet to give him any, as she knew him to be a state in which he had for some time been forced troublesome and quarrelsome person. Mac- to remain, made another attempt, in the month phaill, irritated at the refusal, spoke harshly of July, 1607, to hunt in Bengrime, without to the woman, and the ministers having made asking permission from the Earl of Sutherland some excuse for her, Macphaill vented his abuse but he was prevented from accomplishing his upon them. Being threatened by Thomas purpose by the sudden appearance in Strathully Pope, for his insolence, he pushed an arrow of the latter, attended by his friend Mackay, with a barbed head, which he held in his hand, and a considerable body of their countrymen. into one of Pope's arms. The parties then separated, but the two Popes being observed

» Sir R. Gordon, p. 254 walking in the churchyard in the evening, with DEADLY QUAEEEL IN DOENOCH. 117

Dornoch, showing the Cathedral and the remaining tower of the old Castle. their swords girt about tliem, by Macphaill, Monroes, the clan Chattan, and other friends, who looked upon their so arming themselves which so displeased the Earl of Caithness, who as a threat, he immediately made the circum- was grieved to see his rival so honourably stance known to Houcheon Macphaill, his attended, that he could never afterwards be nephew, and one "William Murray, all of whom induced to meet again with the Earl of Suther- entered the churchyard and assailed the two land or any of his family. brothers with the most vituperative abuse. During the year 1G08 a quarrel occurred in Charles Pope, learning the danger his brothers Sutherland between Iver Mac-Donald-Mae- were in, immediately hastened to the spot, Alister, one of the Siol-Thomais, and Alex- where he found the two parties engaged. ander Murray in Auchindough. Iver and his Charles attacked Murray, whom he wounded eldest son, John, meeting one day with Alex- in the face, whereupon Murray instantly killed ander Murray and his son, Thomas, an alterca- him. William and Thomas were grievously tion took place on some questions in dispute. wounded by Macphaill and his nephew, and From words they proceeded to blows, and the left for dead, but they ultimately recovered. result was that John, the son of Iver, and Macphaill and his nephew fled to Holland, Alexander Murray were killed. Iver then fled where they ended their days. After this oc- into Strathnaver, whither he was followed by currence, the surviving brothers left Sutherland Thomas Murray, accompanied by a party of 24 and went back into their own country. It is men, to revenge the death of his father. Iver, only by recording such comparatively unim- however, avoided them, and having assembled portant incidents as this, apparently somewhat some friends, he attacked Murray unawares, at

beneath the dignity . of history, that a know- the hill of Binchlibrig, and compelled him to ledge of the real state of the Highlands at this flee, after taking five of his men prisoners, time can be conveyed. whom he released after a captivity of five days. By the mediation of the Marquis of Huntly, As the chief of the Mackays protected Iver, the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland again George Murray of Pulrossie took up the quarrel,

met at Elgin with their mutual friends, and and annoyed Iver and his party ; but the once more adjusted their differences. On this matter was compromised by Mackay, who paid occasion the Earl of Sutherland was accom- a sum of money to Pulrossie and Thomas panied by large parties of the Gordons, the Murray, as a reparation for divers losses they Frasers, the Dunbars, the clan Kenzie, the had sustained at Iver's hands during Ms out- J18 GENEBAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. lawry. This compromise was the more readily Alexander Dunbar being, at the time of his entered into by Pulrossie, as the Earl of Suth- leath, a rebel to the king, having been de- erland was rather favourable to Iver, and was nounced at the horn for a civil cause. By by no means displeased at him for the injuries negotiation, however, this deadly feud was he did to Prdrossie, who had not acted duti- stayed, and a sort of reconciliation effected by fully towards him. Besides having lost his the friendly mediation of the Earl of Dunferm- own son in the quarrel, who was killed by line, then Lord Chancellor of Scotland. 9 Thomas Murray, Iver was unjustly dealt with In the year 1610 the Earl of Caithness and in being made the sole object of persecution. 8 Houcheon Mackay, chief of the Mackays, had A civil dissension occurred about this time a difference in consequence of the protection in Moray among the Dunbars, which nearly given by the latter to a gentleman named John

proved fatal to that family. To understand Sutherland, the son of Mackay's sister. Suth- the origin of this dispute it is necessary to state erland lived in Berridale, under the Earl of

the circumstances which led to it, and to go Caithness, but he was so molested by the earl

back to the period when Patrick Dunbar, that he lost all patience, and went about sheriff of Moray, and tutor and uncle of Alex- avenging the injuries he had sustained. The ander Dunbar of Westfield, was killed, along earl, therefore, cited liim to appear at Edin- with the Earl of Murray, at Donnibristle. burgh to answer to certain charges made against

Alexander did not enjoy his inheritance long, him ; but not obeying the summons, he was having died at Dunkeld, shortly after the death denounced and proclaimed a rebel to the king. of his uncle, under circumstances which led to Eeduced, in consequence, to great extremities, a suspicion that he had been poisoned. As he and seeing no remedy by which he could re- died without leaving any issue, he was suc- trieve himself, he became an outlaw, wasted ceeded by Alexander Dunbar, son of the above- and destroyed the earl's countiy, and carried mentioned Patrick, by a sister of Eobert Dunbar off herds of cattle, which he transported into of Burgy. This Alexander was a young man of Strathnaver, the country of his kinsman. The great promise, and was directed in all his pro- earl thereupon sent a party of the Siol-Mhic- ceedings by his uncle Eobert Dunbar of Burgy. Imheair to attack him, and, after a long search, Patrick Dunbar of Blery and Kilbuyack and his they found him encamped near the water of family, imagining that Eobert Dunbar, to whom Shin in Sutherland. He, however, was aware they bore a grudge, was giving advice to his of their approach before they perceived him, nephew to their prejudice, conceived a deadly and, taking advantage of this circumstance, enmity at both, and seized every occasion to attacked them in the act of crossing the water. annoy the sheriff of Moray and his uncle. An They were in consequence defeated, leaving accidental meeting having taken place between several of their party dead on the field. Eobert Dunbar, brother of Alexander, and This disaster exasperated the earl, who re- William Dunbar, son of Blery, high words solved to prosecute Mackay and his son, Do- were exchanged, and a scuffle ensued, in which nald Mackay, for giving succour and protec- William Dunbar received considerable injury tion within their country to John Sutherland, in his person. Patrick Dunbar and his sons an outlaw. Accordingly, he served both .of were so incensed at this occurrence that they them with a notice to appear before the Privy took up arms and attacked their chief, Alex- Council to answer to the charges he had pre- ander Dunbar, sheriff of Moray, in the town of ferred against them. Mackay at once obeyed Forres, where he was shot dead by Eobert the summons, and went to Edinburgh, where Dunbar, son of Blery. John Dunbar, sheriff he met Sir Eobert Gordon, who had come from of Moray, who succeeded his brother Alexander, England for the express purpose of assisting and his brother, Eobert Dunbar of Burgy, en- Mackay on the present occasion. The earl, deavoured to bring the murderers of his brother who had grown tired of the troubles which

tr. justice ; but they failed in consequence of John Sutherland had occasioned in his country,

8 Sir U. Gordon 259. :1 Sir R. Gordon, 2G1. , p. p. —

COMMOTIONS IN LEWIS AMONG THE MACLEODS 113 was induced, by the entreaties of friends, to Ire, eldest son of Macleod, and 200 men, settle matters on the following conditions : perished in a great tempest. Torquill Con- That he should forgive John Sutherland all naldagh, above mentioned, was the fruit of the past injuries, and restore him to his former adulterous connexion between Macleod's second possessions ; that John Sutherland and his wife and the Breve, at least Macleod would brother Donald should be delivered, the one never acknowledge him as his son. This Tor- after the other, into the hands of the earl, to quill being now of age, and having married a

be kept prisoners for a certain time ; and that sister of Glengarry, took up arms against Mac- Donald Mac-Thorn ais-Mhoir, one of the Sliochd- leod, his reputed father, to vindicate his sup- Iain-Abaraich, and a follower of John Suther- posed rights as Macleod's son, being assisted land in his depredations, should be also deliv- by Tormaid, Ougigh, and Murthow, three of ered up to the earl to be dealt with as to hirn the bastard sons of Macleod. The old man should seem meet ; all of which stipulations was apprehended and detained four years in were complied with. The earl hanged Donald captivity, when he was released on condition Mac-Thomais as soon as he was delivered up. that he should acknowledge Torquill Con- John Sutherland was kept a prisoner at Girnigo naldagh as his lawful son. Tormaid Ougigh about twelve months, during which time Don- having been slain by Donald Macleod, his ald Mackay made several visits to Earl George brother, another natural son of old Macleod, for the purpose of getting him released, in which Torquill Connaldagh, assisted by Murthow he at last succeeded, besides procuring a dis- Macleod, his reputed bastard brother, took charge to Donald Sutherland, who, in his turn, Donald prisoner and carried him to Cogigh, should have surrendered himself as prisoner on but he escaped and fled to his father in the release of Ms brother John, but upon the Lewis, who was highly offended at Torquill for condition that he and his father, Houcheon seizing his son Donald. Macleod then caused Mackay, should pass the next following Christ- Donald to apprehend Murthow, and having mas with the earl at Girnigo. Mackay and delivered him to his father, he was imprisoned his brother William, accordingly, spent their in the castle of Stornoway. As soon as Christmas at Girnigo, but Donald Mackay was Torquill heard of this occurrence, he went to prevented by business from attending. The Stornoway and attacked the fort, which ha design of the Earl of Caithness in thus favour- took, after a short siege, and released Murthow. ing Mackay, was to separate him from the He then apprehended Eoderick Macleod, interests of the Earl of Sutherland, but he was killed a number of his men, and carried off all unsuccessful the charters and other title-deeds of Lewis, Some years before the events we have just which he gave in custody to the Mackenzies. related, a commotion took place in Lewis, Torquill had a son named John Macleod, who occasioned by the pretensions of Torquill was in the service of the Marquis of Huntly ; he Connaldagh of the Cogigh to the possessions now sent for him, and on his arrival committed of Roderick Macleod of Lewis, his reputed to him the charge of the castle of Stornoway in father. Eoderick had first married Barbara which old Macleod was imprisoned. John Stuart, daughter of Lord Methven, by whom Macleod being now master of Lewis, and he had a son named Torquill-Ire, who, on arriv- acknowledged superior thereof, proceeded to ing at manhood, gave proofs of a warlike expel Borie-Og and Donald, two of Eoderick disposition. Upon the death of Barbara Stuart, Macleod's bastard sons, from the island ; but Macleod married a daughter of Mackenzie, Eorie-Og attacked him in Stornoway, and after lord of Kintail, whom he afterwards divorced killing hirn, released Eoderick Macleod, his for adultery with the Breve of Lewis, a sort father, who possessed the island in peace during of judge among the islanders, to whose autho- the remainder of his life. Torquill Connaldagh, rity they submitted themselves. Macleod next by the assistance of the clan Kenzie, got married a daughter of Maclean, by whom he Donald Macleod into his possession, and exe- had two sons, Torquill Dubh and Tormaid. cuted him at Dingwall. In sailing from Lewis to Skye, Torquill- Upon the death of Eoderick Macleod, his 120 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Stornoway Castle. —From a photograph taken specially for this work. son Torquill Dubh succeeded him in Lewis. against his life, which, by the assistance of the Taking a grudge at Borie-Og, his hrother, Breve, they were enabled to carry out success- he apprehended him, and sent him to Mac- fully. The Breve, by stratagem, managed to lean to he detained in prison; hut he escaped obtain possession of Torquill Dubh and some out of Maclean's hands, and afterwards per- of his friends, and deliver them to the lord of ished in a snow-storm. As Torquill Dubh Kintail, who ordered them to be beheaded, excluded Torquill Connaldagh from the which they accordingly were in July, 1597. succession of Lewis, as a bastard, the clan Some gentlemen belonging to Fife, hearing Kenzie formed a design to purchase and conquer of these disturbances in Lewis, obtained from Lewis, which they calculated on accomplish- the king, in 1598, a gift of the island, their ing on account of the simplicity of Torquill professed object being to civilize the inhabit- Connaldagh, who had now no friend to advise ants, their real design, however, being, by with, and from the' dissensions which unfor- means of a colony, to supplant the inhabitants, tunately existed among the race of the Siol- and drive them from the island. A body of Torquill. This scheme, moreover, received the soldiers and artificers of all sorts were sent, aid of a matrimonial alliance between Torquill with every thing necessary for a plantation, Connaldagh and the clan, by a marriage between into Lewis, where, on their arrival, they began his eldest daughter and Roderick Mackenzie, to erect houses in a convenient situation, and the lord of Kintail' s brother. The clan did not soon completed a small but neat town, in which avow their design openly, but they advanced they took up their quarters. The new settlers their enterprise under the pretence of assisting were, however, much annoyed in their opera- Torquill Connaldagh, who was a descendant of tions by Neill and Murthow Macleod, the only the Kintail family, and they ultimately suc- sons of Roderick Macleod who remained in ceeded in destroying the family of Macleod of the island. The speculation proved ruinous Lewis, together with his tribe, the Siol-Torquill, to many of the adventurers, who, in conse- and by the ruin of that family and some neigh- quence of the disasters they met with, lost bouring clans, this ambitious clan made them- their estates, and were in the end obliged to selves complete masters of Lewis and other quit the island. places. As Torquill Dubh was the chief In the meantime, Neill Macleod quarrelled obstacle in their way, they formed a conspiracy with his brother Murthow, for harbouring and THE FIFE ADVENTUBEES IN LEWIS. 121 maintaining the Breve and suck of his tribe as They then attempted to apprehend 1dm by a were still alive, who had been the chief instru- stratagem, but only succeeded in bringing dis- ments in the murder of Torquill Dubh. Weill aster upon themselves. Upon hearing of this, thereupon apprehended his brother, and some the lord of Kintail thought the time was now of the clan Mhic-Ghille-Mhoir, all of whom he suitable for liim to stir, and accordingly he killed, reserving his brother only alive. When sent Tormaid Macleod into Lews, as he had the Fife speculators were informed that Neill intended, promising him all the assistance in had taken Murthow, his brother, prisoner, they his power if he would attack the Fife settlers. sent him a message offering to give him a share As soon as Tormaid arrived in the island, of the island, and to assist him in revenging his brother Neill and all the natives assembled the death of Torquill Dubh, provided he would and acknowledged him as their lord and master. deliver Murthow into their hands. Neill He immediately attacked the camp of the ad- agreed to this proposal, and having gone there- venturers, which he forced, burnt the fort, after to Edinburgh, he received a pardon from killed the greater part of their men, took the the king for all his past offences. commanders prisoners, whom he released, after These proceedings frustrated for a time the a captivity of eight months, on their solemn designs of the Mackenzies upon the island, and promise not to return again to the island, and the lord of Kintail almost despaired of obtain- on their giving a pledge that they should obtain ing possession by any means. As the new a pardon from the king for Tormaid and his settlers now stood in his way, he resolved to followers for all past offences. After Tormaid desist from persecuting the Siol-Torquill, and had thus obtained possession of the island,

to cross the former in their undertakings, by John Mac-Donald-Mac-Houcheon apprehended all the means in his power. He vhad for some Torquill Connaldagh, and carried rrim into time kept Tormaid Macleod, the lawful brother Lewis to his brother, Tormaid Macleod. Tor-

of Torquill Dubh, a prisoner ; but he now re- maid inflicted no punishment upon Connal- leased him, thinking that upon his appearance dagh, but merely required from him delivery in the Lewis all the islanders would rise in his of the title-deeds of Lewis, and the other

favour ; and he was not deceived in his expec- papers which he had carried off when he appre- tations, for, as Sir Eobert Gordon observes, hended his father Eoderick Macleod. Con-

" all these islanders, (and lykwayes the Hie- naldagh informed him that he had it not in his landers,) are, by nature, most bent and prone power to give them up, as he had delivered

to adventure themselves, their lyffs, and all them to the clan Kenzie, in whose possession

they have, for their masters and lords, yea they still were. Knowing this to be the fact, beyond all other people." 1 In the meantime Tormaid released Torquill Connaldagh, and Murthow Macleod was carried to St. Andrews, allowed him to leave the island, contrary to and there executed. Having at his execution the advice of all his followers and friends, who revealed the designs of the lord of Kintail, were for inflicting the punishment of death the latter was committed, by order of the upon Torquill, as he had been the occasion of

king, to the castle of Edinburgh, from which, all the miseries and troubles which had befallen

however, he contrived to escape "without trial, them.

by means, as is supposed, of the then Lord- The Breve of Lewis soon met with a just Chancellor of Scotland. punishment for the crime he had committed in On receiving pardon Neill Macleod returned betraying and murdering his master, Torquill

into Lewis with the Fife adventurers ; but he Dubh Macleod. The Breve and some of his had not been long in the island when he quar- relations had taken refuge in the country of relled with them on account of an injury he had Assynt. John Mac-Donald-Mac-Houcheon, received from Sir James Spence of Wormistoun. accompanied by four persons, having accident- He therefore abandoned them, and watched a ally entered the house where the Breve and favourable opportunity for attacking them. six of his kindred lodged, found themselves unexpectedly in the same room with them.

1 History, p. 271. Being of opposite factions, a fight immediately Q 122 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS

ensued, in the course of which the Breve and possession, and as all of them had declined in his party fled out of the house, but were pur- their circumstances in this luckless speculation, sued by John and his men, and the Breve and and as they were continually annoyed by Nedl five of his friends killed. Macleod, they finally abandoned the island,

Although the Fife settlers had engaged not and returned to Fife to bewail their loss. to return again into Lewis, they neverthe- Lord Kintail, now no longer disguising his less made preparations for invading it, having intentions, obtained, through means of the obtained the king's commission against Tor- Lord Chancellor, a gift of Lewis, under the maid MacLeod and his tribe, the Siol-Torquill. great seal, for his own use, in virtue of the old They were aided in this expedition by forces right which Torquill Connaldagh had long from all the neighbouring counties, and par- before resigned in Iris favour. Some of the ticularly by the Earl of Sutherland, who sent adventurers having complained to the king of a party of men under the command of "William this proceeding, his majesty became highly Mac-Mhic-Sheumais, chief of the clan Gun displeased at Kintail, and made him resign his in Sutherland, to assist in subduing Tormaid right into his majesty's hands by means of Macleod. As soon as they had effected a land- Lord Balmerino, then Secretary of Scotland, ing in the island with all their forces, they sent and Lord President of the session ; which right a message to Macleod, acquainting him that if his majesty now (1608) vested in the persons he would surrender himself to them, in name of Lord Balmerino, Sir George Hay, afterwards of the king, they would transport him safely to Chancellor of Scotland, and Sir James Spence

London, where his majesty then was ; and of Wormistoun. Balmerino, on being con- that, upon his arrival there, they would not victed of high treason in 1609, lost his share, only obtain his pardon, but also allow him to but Hay and Spence undertook the coloniza- deal with the lung in behalf of his friends, and tion of Lewis, and accordingly made great for the means of supporting himself. Macleod, preparations for accomplishing their purpose. afraid to risk his fortune against the numerous Being assisted by most of the neighbouring forces brought against him, agreed to the terms countries, they invaded Lewis for the double proposed, contrary to the advice of his brother object of planting a colony, and of subduing Neill, who refused to yield. Tormaid was and apprehending Neill Macleod, who now thereupon sent to London, where he took care alone defended the island. to give the king full information concerning all On this occasion Lord Kintail played a

the circumstances of his case ; he showed his double part, for while he sent Roderick Mac- majesty that Lewis was his just inheritance, kenzie, his brother, with a party of men openly and that his majesty had been deceived by the to assist the new colonists who acted under Fife adventurers in making him believe that the king's commission,—promising them at the the island was at his disposal, which act of same time his friendship, and sending them a deception had occasioned much trouble and a vessel from Ross with a supply of provisions,— great loss of blood. He concluded by implor- he privately sent notice to Neill Macleod ing his majesty to do him justice by restoring to intercept the vessel on her way; so that the him to his rights. Understanding that Mac- settlers, being disappointed in the provisions leod's representations were favourably received to which they trusted, might abandon the by his majesty, the adventurers used all their island for want. The case turned out exactly Kintad anticipated, as Sir George influence at court to thwart him ; and as some as Lord of them were the king's own domestic servants, Hay and Sir James Spence abandoned the they at last succeeded so far as to get him to be island, leaving a party of men behind to keep sent home to Scotland a prisoner in 1605. the fort, and disbanded their forces, returning He remained a captive at Edinburgh till the into Fife, intending to have sent a fresh sup- month of March, 1615, when the king granted ply of men, with provisions, into the island. him permission to pass into Holland, to Maurice, But Neill Macleod having, with the assistance Prince of Orange, where he ended his days. of his nephew, Malcolm Macleod, son of Ro- The settlers soon grew wearied of their new derick Og, burnt the fort, and apprehended KEILL MACLEOD EXPELLED FEOM LEWIS. 123

the men who were left behind in the island, cil. Sir Eoderick obeyed the charge, and Neill, whom he sent safely home, the Eife gentlemen with his eldest son Donald, were presented to abandoned every idea of again taking possession the privy council at Edinburgh, where Neill of the island, and sold their right to Lord Kin- was executed in April 1613. His son Donald

tail. He likewise obtained from the king a was banished from the kingdom of Scotland, grant of the share of the island forfeited by and immediately went to England, where he Balmerino, and thus at length acquired what remained three years with Sir Eobert Gordon, he had so long and anxiously desired. 2 tutor of Sutherland, and from England he Lord Kintail lost no time in taking posses- afterwards went to Holland, where he died. sion of the island,—and all the inhabitants, After the death of Neill Macleod, Eoderick shortly after his landing, with the exception and William, the sons of Eoderick Og, were of Keill Macleod and a few others, submitted apprehended by Eoderick Mackenzie, tutor of to him. ISTeill, along with his nephews, Mal- Kintail, and executed. Malcolm Macleod, his colm, William, and Eoderick, the three sons third son, who was kept a prisoner by Eoder- of Eoderick Og, the four sons of Torquill Blair, ick Mackenzie, escaped, and having associated and thirty others, retired to an impregnable himself with the clan Donald in Islay and rock in the sea called Berrissay, on the west of Kintyre during their quarrel with the Camp- Lewis, into which Neill had been accustomed, bells in 1615-16, he annoyed the clan Kenzie for some years, to send provisions and other with frequent incursions. Malcolm, thereafter, necessary articles to serve him in case of neces- went to Flanders and Spain, where he remained

shYy. Neill lived on this rock for three years, with Sir James Macdonald. Before going to Lord Kintail in the meantime dying in 1611. Spain, he returned from Flanders into Lewis As Macleod could not be attacked in his im- in 1616, where he killed two gentlemen pregnable position, and as his proximity was a of the clan Kenzie. He returned from Spain

source of annoyance, the clan Kenzie fell on in 1620, and the last that is heard of him is the following expedient to get quit of him. in 1626, when commissions of fire and sword They gathered together the wives and children were granted to Lord Kintail against " Mal- of those that were in Berrissay, and also all per- colm Macquari Macleod." 3 sons in the island related to them by consan- From the occurrences in Lewis, we now guinity or affinity, and having placed them on direct the attention of our readers to some pro- a rock in the sea, so near Berrissay that they ceedings in the isle of Easay, which ended in could be heard and seen by Neill and his bloodshed. The quarrel lay between Gille- party, the clan Kenzie vowed that they would Chalum, laird of the island, and Murdo Mac- suffer the sea to overwhelm them, on the kenzie of Gairloch, and the occasion was as return of the flood-tide, if Neill did not in- follows. The lands of Gairloch originally be- stantly surrender the fort. This appalling longed to the clan Mhic-Ghille-Chalurn, the spectacle had such an effect upon Macleod and predecessors of the laird of Easay; and when

his companions, that they immediately yielded the Mackenzies began to prosper and to rise, up the rock and left Lewis. one of them obtained the third part of these Neill Macleod then retired into Harris, where lands in mortgage or wadset from the clan he remained concealed for a time; but not Mhic-Ghille-Chalum. In process of time the being able to avoid discovery any longer, he clan Kenzie, by some means or other, unknown gave himself up to Sir Eoderick Macleod of to the proprietor of Gairloch, obtained a right Harris, and entreated him to carry him into to the whole of these lands, but they did not

England to the king, a request with which Sir claim possession of the whole till the death Roderick promised to comply. In proceeding of Torquill Dubh Macleod of Lewis, whom on his journey, however, along with Macleod, the laird of Easay and his tribe followed as he was charged at Glasgow, under pain of their superior. But upon the death of Torquill treason, to deliver up Neill to the privy coun- Dubh, the laird of Gairloch took possession of

2 Gordon, p. 274; Gregory's Western Highlands, 3 Gregory, p 33 7. 12-1 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the whole of the lands of Gairloch in virtue of servant to the Earl of Caithness. This man his pretended right, and chased the clan Mhic- had done many injuries to the people of Caith-

Ghille-Chalum from the lands with fire and ness by command of the earl ; and the mere dis- sword. The clan retaliated in their turn by pleasure of Earl George at any of his people, invading the laird of Gairloch, plundering his was considered by WilHani Mac -Angus as lands and committing slaughters. In a skir- sufficient authority for him to steal and take mish which took place in the year 1610, in away their goods and cattle. William got so which lives were lost on both sides, the laird accustomed to this kind of service, that he of Gairloch apprehended John Mac-Alain-Mac- began also to steal the cattle and horses of the Eory, one of the principal men of the clan; earl, his master, and, after collecting a large but being desirous to get hold also of John booty in this way, he took his leave. The Holmoeh-Mac-Eory, anotheT of the chiefs, he earl was extremely enraged at his quondam sent his son Murdo the following year along servant for so acting; but, as William Mac- with Alexander Bane, the son and heir of Angus was hi possession of a warrant in writing Bane of Tulloch in Eoss, and some others, to under the earl's own hand, authorizing him to search for and pursue John Holmoch; and as act as he had done towards the people of he understood that John Holmoch was in Skye, Caithness, the earl was afraid to adopt any he hired a ship to carry his son and party proceedings against him, or against those who thither; but instead of going to Skye, they protected and harboured him, before the Frivy unfortunately, from some unknown cause, Council, lest he might produce the warrant landed in Easay. which he held from the earl. The confidence On their arrival in Easay in August 1G11, which the earl had reposed in him served, Gille-Chalum, laird of Easay, with some of his however, still more to excite the earl's indig- followers, went on board, and unexpectedly nation. found Murdo Mackenzie in the vessel. After As William Mac-Angus continued his depre- consulting with his men, he resolved to take dations in other quarters, he was apprehended Mackenzie prisoner, in security for his cousin, in the town of Tain, on a charge of cattle- John Mac-Alain-Mac-Eory, whom the laird of stealing; but he was released by the Monroes, Gairloch detained in captivity. The party who gave security to the magistrates of the then attempted to seize Mackenzie, but he and town for his appearance when required, upon his party resisting, a keen conflict took place due notice being given that he was wanted for

on board, which continued a considerable time. trial. On attempting to escape he was re- At last, Murdo Mackenzie, Alexander Bane, delivered to the provost and bailies of Tain, by and the whole of their party, with the excep- whom he was given up to the Earl of Caith- tion of three, were slain. These three fought ness, who put him in fetters, and imprisoned manfully, killing the laird of Easay and the him within Castle Sinclair (1612). He soon whole men who accompanied him on board, again contrived to escape, and fled into Strath- and wounding several persons that remained in naver, the Earl of Caithness sending his son, the two boats. Finding themselves seriously William, Lord Berridale, in pursuit of him. wounded, they took advantage of a favourable Missing the fugitive, he, in revenge, appre- wind, and sailed away from the island, but hended a servant of Mackay, called Angus expired on the voyage homewards. From this Henriach, without any authority from his time the Mackenzies appear to have uninter- majesty, and carried him to Castle Sinclair, ruptedly held possession of Gairloch. 4 where he was put into fetters and closely im- About the time this occurrence took place, prisoned on the pretence that he had assisted the peace of the north was almost again dis- William Mac-Angus in effecting his escape. turbed in consequence of the conduct of William When this occurrence took place, Donald Mac-Angus-Boy, one of the clan Gun, who, Mackay, son of Houcheon Mackay, the chief, though born in Strathnaver, had become a was at Dunrobin castle, and he, on hearing of the apprehension and imprisonment of his

4 Sir Robert Gordon, p. 278. father's servant, could scarcely be made to APPEEHENSIOrT OF AETHUE SMITH, A FALSE COINEE. 125

believe the fact on account of the friend- into Sutherland, where being apprehended in ship which had been contracted between his the year 1599, they were sent by the Countess father and the earl the preceding Christmas. of Sutherland to the king, who ordered them to

But being made sensible thereof, and of the bs imprisoned in Edinburgh for trial. They cruel usage which the servant had received, he were both accordingly tried and condemned, prevailed on his father to summon the earl and and having confessed to crimes even of a deeper bis son to answer to the charge of having ap- dye, Smith's accomplice was burnt at the place prehended and imprisoned Angus Henriach, a of execution. Smith himself was reserved for free subject of the king, without a commission. farther trial. By devising a lock of rare and The earl was also charged to present his pris- curious workmanship, which took the fancy of oner before the privy council at Edinburgh in the king, he ultimately obtained his release the month of June next following, which he and entered into the service of the Earl of accordingly did ; and Angus being tried before Caithness. His workshop was under the rock the lords and declared innocent, was delivered of Castle Sinclair, in a quiet retired place over to Sir Eobert Gordon, who then acted for called the Cote, and to which there was a Maekay. 5 secret passage from the earl's bedchamber. During the same year (1612) another event No person was admitted to Smith's workshop occurred in the north, which created consider- but the earl ; and the circumstance of his able uproar and discord in the northern High- being often heard working during the night, lands. A person of the name of Arthur Smith, raised suspicions that some secret work was who resided in Banff, had counterfeited the going on which could not bear the light of coin of the realm, in consequence of which he, day. The mystery was at last disolosed by an and a man who had assisted him, fled from Banff inundation of counterfeit coin in Caithness,

Castles Sinclair and Girnigo. — From a photograph taken specially for this work.

Orkney, Sutherland, and Eoss, which was first Smith, and bring him to Edinburgh, but he detected by Sir Eobert Gordon, brother to the was so much occupied with other concerns Earl of Sutherland, when in Scotland, in the that he intrusted the commission to Donald year 1611, and he, on his return to England, Maekay, his nephew, and to John Gordon, made the king acquainted therewith. A com- younger of Embo, whose name was jointly mission was granted to Sir Eobert to apprehend inserted in the commission along with that of Sir Eobert. Accordingly, Maekay and Gordon,

5 Sir R. Gordon, p. 2S1. accompanied by Adam Gordon Georgeson John, ;

126 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS

Gordon in Broray, and some other Sutherland resisting the king's commission, attacking the men, went, in May, 1612, to Strathnaver, and commissioners, and apprehending Angus Henri- assembling some of the inhabitants, they ach, without a commission, which was declared marched into Caithness nest morning, and treason by the laws. The Earl of Caithness entered the town of Thurso, where Smith then endeavoured to make the Privy Council believe resided. that the affair at Thurso arose out of a pre- After remaining about three hours in the meditated design against him, and that Sir town, the party went to Smith's house and Eobert Gordon's intention in obtaining a com- apprehended him. On searching his house mission against Arthur Smith was, under the they found a quantity of spurious gold and cloak of its authority, to find means to slay

silver coin. Donald Mackay caused Smith him and his brethren ; and that, in pursuance to be put on horseback, and then rode off of his plan, Sir Eobert had, a little before the with him out of the town. To prevent any skirmish in Thurso, caused the earl to be tumult among the inhabitants, Gordon remained denounced and proclaimed as a rebel to the

behind with some of his men to show them, if king, and had lain in wait to kill him ; Sir necessary, his Majesty's commission for appre- Eobert, however,, showed the utter ground- hending Smith. Scarcely, however, had Mac- lessness of these charges to the Lords of the kay left the town, when the town-bell was Council. rung and all the inhabitants assembled. There On the day appointed for appearance, the were present in Thurso at the time, John Sin- parties met at Edinburgh, attended by their clair of Stirkage, son of the Earl of Caithness's respective friends. The Earl of Caithness and brother, James Sinclair, brother of the laird of his son, Lord Berridale, were accompanied by Dun, James Sinclair of Dyrren, and other the Lord Gray, the laird of Eoslin, the laird friends, on a visit to Lady Berridale. When of Cowdenknowes, a son of the sister of the information was brought them of the appre- Earl of Caithness, and the lairds of Murkle and hension of Smith, Sinclair of Stirkage, trans- Greenland, brothers of the earl, along with a ported with rage, swore that he would not large retinue of subordinate attendants. Sir allow any man, no matter whose commission Eobert Gordon and Donald Mackay were he held, to carry away his uncle's servant in attended by the Earl of Winton and his his uncle's absence. A furious onset was made brother, the Earl of Eglinton, with all their upon Gordon, but his men withstood it bravely, followers, the Earl of Linlithgow, with and after a warm contest, the inhabitants were the Livingstones, Lord Elphinston, with his defeated with some loss, and obliged to retire friends, Lord Forbes, with his friends, the to the centre of the, town. Donald Mackay Drummonds, Sir John Stuart, captain of Dum- hearing of the tumult, returned to the town to barton, and bastard son of the Duke of Lennox aid Gordon, but the affair was over before he Lord Balfour, the laird of Lairg Mackay in arrived, Sinclair of Stirkage having been killed. Galloway ; the laird of Foulis, with the Mon- To prevent the possibility of the escape or roes, the laird of Duffus, some of the Gor- rescue of Smith, he was killed by the Strath- dons, as Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the naver men as soon as they heard of the tumult Earl of Sutherland, Cluny, Lesmoir, Buckie, in the town. Knokespock, with other gentlemen of respecta- The Earl of Caithness resolved to prosecute bility. The absence of the Earl of Sutherland Donald Mackay, John Gordon, younger of and Houcheon Mackay mortified the Earl of Embo, with their followers, for the slaughter Caithness, who could not conceal his displea- of Sinclair of Stirkage, and the mutilation of sure at being so much overmatched in the James Sinclair, brother of the laird of Dun, respectability and number of attendants by and summoned them, accordingly, to appear at seconds and children, as he was pleased to call Edinburgh. On the other hand, Sir Eobert his adversaries. Gordon and Donald Mackay prosecuted the According to the usual practice on such Earl of Caithness and his son, Lord Berridale, occasions, the parties were accompanied by with several other of their countrymen, for their respective friends, from their lodgings, to DISSENSIONS AMONG THE CLAN CAMERON. 127

the Louse where the council was sitting ; but matter, but made the parties subscribe a new few were admitted within. The council spent deed of submission, under which they gave three days in hearing the parties and deliberat- authority to the Marquis of Huntly, by whose

ing upon the matters brought before them, but friendly offices the differences between the two they came to no conclusion, and adjourned houses had formerly been so often adjusted, to

their proceedings till the king's pleasure should act in the matter by endeavouring to bring be known. In the meantime the parties, at about a fresh reconciliation. As the marquis the entreaty of the Lords of the Council, was the cousin- gernian of the Earl of Suther- entered into recognizances to keep the peace, land, and brother-in-law of the Earl of Caith- in time coming, towards each other, which ness, who had married his sister, the council extended not only to their kinsmen, but also thought him the most Ukely person to be to their friends and dependants. intrusted with such an important negotiation. The king, after fully considering the state of The marquis, however, finding the parties affairs between the rival parties, arid judging obstinate, and determined not to yield a single that if the law were allowed to take its course point of their respective claims and pretensions, the peace of the northern countries might be declined to act farther in the matter, and remit- disturbed by the earls and their numerous fol- ted the whole affair back to the Privy Council. lowers, proposed to the Lords of the Privy During the year 1613 the peace of Loch- Council to endeavour to prevail upon them to aber was disturbed by dissensions among the submit their differences to the arbitration of clan Cameron. The Earl of Argyle, reviv- mutual friends. Accordingly, after a good ing an old claim acquired in the reign of deal of entreaty and reasoning, the parties James V., by Colin, the third earl, endea- were persuaded to agree to the proposed mea- voured to obtain possession of the lands of sure. A deed of submission was then sub- Lochiel, mainly to weaken the influence of his scribed by the Earl of Caithness and William, rival the Marquis of Huntly, to whose party Lord Berridale, on the one part, and by Sir the clan Cameron were attached. Legal pro- Eobert Gordon and Donald Mackay on the ceedings were instituted by the earl against other part, taking burden on them for the Earl Allan Cameron of Lochiel, who, hastening to of Sutherland and Mackay. The arbiters ap- Edinburgh, was there advised by Argyle to pointed by Sir Eobert Gordon were the Earl of submit the matter to arbiters. The decision Kinghorn, the Master of Elphinston, the Earl was in favour of the earl, from whom Lochiel of Haddington, afterwards Lord Privy Seal of consented to hold his lands as a vassal. This, Scotland, and Sir Alexander Drummond of of course, highly incensed the Marquis of Meidhop. The Archbisbop of Glasgow, Sir Huntly, wbo resolved to endeavour to effect John Preston, Lord President of the Council, the ruin of his quondam, vassal by fomenting Lord Blantyre, and Sir William Oliphant, dissensions among the clan Cameron, inducing Lord Advocate, were named by the Earl of the Camerons of Erracht, Kinlochiel, and Glen- Caithness. The Earl of Dunfermline, Lord- nevis to become his immediate vassals in those Chancellor of Scotland, was chosen oversman lands which Lochiel had hitherto held from and umpire by both parties. As the arbiters the family of Huntly. Lochiel, failing to in- had then no time to hear the parties, or to duce his kinsmen to renew their allegiance to enter upon the consideration of the matters him, again went to Edinburgh to consult his submitted to them, they appointed them to re- lawyers as to the course which he ought to pur- turn to Edinburgh in the month of May, 1613. sue. While there, he heard of a conspiracy \>y At the appointed time, the Earl of Caith- the opposite faction against his life, which ness and bis brother, Sir John Sinclair of induced him to hasten home, sending word Greenland, came to Edinburgh, Sir Robert privately to his friends—the Camerons of Gordon arriving at the same time from Eng- Callart, Strone, Letterfinlay, and others—to land. The arbiters, however, wbo were all meet him on the day appointed for the assem- members of the Privy Council, being much bling of his opponents, near the spot where occupied with state affairs, did not go into the the latter were to meet. —

128 GENEEAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS

On arriving at the appointed rendezvous, satisfaction for his supposed injuries, he would Loohiel placed in ambush all his followers hut take redress at his own hands. The earl six, with whom he advanced towards his ene- thought that he would succeed, by such a mies, informing them that he wished to have threat, in moving the council to decide in his a conference with them. The hostile faction, favour, for he was well aware that he was thinking this a favourable opportunity for unable to carry it into execution. To give

accomplishing their design, pursued the chief, some appearance of an intention to enforce it, who, when he had led them fairly into the he, in the month of October, 1613, while the midst of his ambushed followers, gave the Earl of Sutherland, his brothers and nephews, signal for their slaughter. Twenty of their were absent from the country, made a demon- principal men were Id lied, and eight taken stration of invading Sutherland or Strathnaver, prisoners, Lochiel allowing the rest to escape. by collecting his forces at a particular point, Lochiel and his followers were by the Privy and bringing thither some pieces of ordnance Council outlawed, and a commission of fire and from Castle Sinclair. The Earl of Sutherland, sword granted to the Marquis of Huntly and having arrived in Sutherland while the Earl of the Gordons, for their pursuit and apprehen- Caithness was thus employed, immediately sion. The division of the clan Cameron which assembled some of his countrymen, and, along supported Lochiel continued for several years with his brother Sir Alexander, went to the in a state of outlawry, but, through the influ- marches between Sutherland and Caithness, ence of the Earl of Argyle, appears not to have near the height of Strathully, where they suffered extremely. 6 waited the approach of the Earl of Caithness. Here they were joined by Mackay, who had given notice of the Earl of Caithness's movements to the lairds of Eoulis, Balnagown, and CHAPTEE X. Assynt, the sheriff of Cromarty, and the tutor of Kintail, all of whom prepared themselves to 1613—1623. a.d. assist the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of

king of great Britain :—James I., 1603— 1G25. Caithness, however, by advice of his brother, Sir John Sinclair, returned home and dis- Continued animosity between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland—The latter imprisoned as a sus- banded his force. pected Catholic Formidable Rebellion ill the South — To prevent the Earl of Caithness from at- Hebrides—Suppressed by the Earl of Argyle—Fresh intrigues of the Earl of Caithness—His oppressions tempting any farther interference with the —Burning of the corn at Sanset— Legal proceedings Privy Council, either in the way of intrigue or against the Guns—Agreement between the Earl of Caithness, Sir Bobert Gordon, and Lord Forbes intimidation, Sir Eobert Gordon obtained a Lord Berridale imprisoned—Conditions of release remission and pardon from the king, in the Put in possession of the family Estates—Alliance between the Earl of Caithness and Sir Donald Mac- month of December, 1613, to his nephew, kay—Sir Robert Gordon protects the clan Gun Donald Mackay, John Gordon, younger of Mackay's attempts against the Clan—Mackay and Emho, John Gordon in Eroray, Adam Gordon Sir Robert Gordon reconciled—Quarrel between the Earl of Enzie and the clan Chattan—Slaughter of Georgeson, and their accomplices, for the Thomas Lindsay—Hostile preparations against the slaughter of John Sinclair of Stirkage at Earl of Caithness—Expedition into Caithness Flight of the Earl—Reduction and pacification of Thurso. However, Sir Gideon Murray, Deputy Caithness. Treasurer for Scotland, contrived to prevent the As the Privy Council showed no inclination to pardon passing through the seals till the begin- decide the questions submitted to them by the ning of the year 1616. Earl of Caithness and his adversaries, the earl The Earl of Caithness, being thus baffled in sent his brother, Sir John Sinclair of Green- his designs against the Earl of Sutherland and land, to Edinburgh, to complain of the delay his friends, fell upon a device which never which had taken place, and desired him to failed to succeed in times of religious intoler-

throw o it hints, that if the earl did not obtain ance and persecution. Unfortunately for mankind and for the interests of Christianity, the

e Gregory's Western Highlands, p. 342. principles of religious toleration, involving the FORMIDABLE REBELLION IN THE SOUTH HEBRIDES. 129 inalienable right of every man to worship God his affairs in the north, his majesty granted a according to the dictates of his conscience, have warrant for his liberation till the month of been till of late but little understood, and at August following. On the expiration of the the period in question, and for upwards of one time, he returned to his confinement at St. hundred and sixty years thereafter, the statute Andrews, from which he was removed, on book of Scotland was disgraced by penal enact- his own application, to the abbey of Holyrood ments against the Catholics, almost unparalleled house, where he remained till the month of for their sanguinary atrocity. By an act of the March, 1615, when he obtained leave to go first parliament of James VI., any Catholic home, " having," says Sir Robert Gordon, " in who assisted at the offices of his religion was, some measure satisfied the church concerning

" for the first fault," that is, for following the his religion." dictates of his conscience, to suffer confiscation The Earl of Caithness, thus again defeated of all his goods, movable and immovable, in his views, tried, as a dernier resort, to dis- personal and real ; for the second, banishment; join the families of Sutherland and Mackay.

and death for the third fault ! But the law Sometimes he attempted to prevail upon the was not confined to overt acts only—the mere Marquis of Huntly to persuade the Earl of suspicion of being a Catholic placed the sus- Sutherland and his brothers to come to an pected person out of the pale and protection of arrangement altogether independent of Mac- the law ; for if, on being warned by the bish- kay; and at other times he endeavoured to ops and ministers, he did not recant and give persuade Mackay, by holding out certain in- confession of his faith according to the ap- ducements to him, to compromise their differ- proved form, he was excommunicated, and ences without including the Earl of Suther- declared infamous and incapable to sit or stand land in the arrangement; but he completely in judgment, pursue or bear office. 7 failed in these attempts. 3 Under this last-mentioned law the Earl of In 1614-15 a formidable rebellion broke out Caithness now sought to gratify his vengeance in the South Hebrides, arising from the efforts against the Earl of Sutherland. Having repre- made by the clan Donald of Islay to retain that sented to the Archbishop of St. Andrews and island in their possession. The castle of Duny- the clergy of Scotland that the Earl of Suther- veg in Islay, which, for three years previous to land was at heart a Catholic, he prevailed upon 1614, had been in possession of the Bishopof the the bishops—with little difficulty, it is sup- Isles, having been taken by Angus Oig, younger posed—to acquaint the king thereof. His brother of Sir James Macdonald of Islay, from majesty thereupon issued a warrant against Ranald Oig, who had surprised it, the former the Earl of Sutherland, who was in conse- refused to restore it to the bishop. The Privy quence apprehended and imprisoned at St. Council took the matter in hand, and, having Andrews. The earl applied to the bishops for accepted from John Campbell of Calder an a month's delay, till the 15th February, 1614, offer of a feu-duty or perpetual rent for Islay, promising that before that time he would they prevailed on him to accept a commission either give the church satisfaction or surrender against Angus Oig and his followers. The himself; but his application was refused by clan Donald, who viewed with suspicion the the high commission of Scotland. Sir Alex- growing power of the Campbells, looked upon ander Gordon, the brother of the earl, being this project with much dislike, and treated then in Edinburgh, immediately gave notice to certain hostages left by the bishop with great his brother, Sir Robert Gordon, who was at severity. Even the bishop remonstrated against the time in London, of the proceedings against making " the name of Campbell greater in the their brother, the earl. Sir Robert having Isles than they are already," thinking it neither applied to his majesty for the release of the good nor profitable to his majesty, " to root earl for a time, that he might make up his out one pestiferous clan, and plant in another

mind on the subject of religion, and look after little better." The remonstrance of the bishop

7 8 Act James VI., Pari. 3, Cap. 45. Sir R. Gordon, p. 299. ;

130 GENERAL HISTORY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

and an offer made to put matters right by Sir of a Ross-shire man, named George Graham of James Macdonald, who was then imprisoned Eryne, prevailed on Angus Oig to release the in Edinburgh castle, were alike unheeded, and bishop's hostages, and deliver up to Graham Campbell of Calder received his commission of the castle, in behalf of the chancellor. Graham Lieutenandry against Angus Oig Macdonald, re-delivered the castle to Angus, to be held by Coll Mac-Gillespic, and the other rebels of Islay. him as the regular constable, until he should A free pardon was offered to all who were not receive further order from the chancellor, and at concerned in the taking of the castle, and a the same time assured Angus of the chancel-

remission to Angus Oig, provided he gave up lor's countenance and protection, enjoining him

the castle, the hostages, and two associates of to resist all efforts on the part of Campbell or his own rank. his friends to eject him. These injunctions While Campbell was collecting his forces, Graham's dupes too readily followed. " There and certain auxiliary troops from Ireland can be no doubt whatever that the chancellor were preparing to embark, the chancellor of was the author of this notable plan to procure Scotland, the Earl of Dunfermline, by means the liberation of the hostages, and at the same

Dunyveg Castle, Islay. — From a drawni time to deprive the clan Donald of the benefit the 6th, Campbell landed on Islay with 200 of the pardon promised to them on this account. men, his force being augmented next day by There are grounds for a suspicion that the 140 more. Several of the rebels, alarmed, de- chancellor Mmself desired to obtain Islay serted Angus, and were pardoned on condition although it is probable that he wished to avoid of helping the besiegers. Ronald Mac-James, the odium attendant on the more violent mea- uncle of Angus Oig, surrendered a fort on the sures required to render such an acquisition island of Lochgorme which he commanded, on available. He, therefore, contrived so as to the 21st, and along with his son received a leave the punishment of the clan Donald to conditional assurance of his majesty's favour. the Campbells, who were already sufficiently Operations were commenced against Dunyveg obnoxious to the western clans, whilst he him- on February 1st, and shortly after Angus had self had the credit of procuring the liberation an interview with the lieutenant, during which of the hostages." the latter showed that Angus had been deceived Campbell of Calder and Sir Oliver Lambert, by Graham, upon which he promised to sur- commander of the Irish forces, did not effect a render. On returning to the castle, however, junction till the 5th of January, t 615, and on he refused to implement his promise, being iD- CAPTUEE OF DUNYVEG CASTLE. 131 stlgated to hold out apparently by Coll Mac- followers of Ms family to assist him. In the Gillespic. After being again battered for some beginning of July, Angus Oig and a number of time, Angus and some of his followers at last his followers were tried and condemned, and surrendered unconditionally, Coll Mac-Gillespic executed immediately after. contriving to make his escape. Campbell took Various disheartening reports were now cir- possession of the castle on the 3d February, culated as to the disaffection of Donald Gorme dispersed the forces of the rebels, and put to of Sleat, captain of the clan Kanald, Euari

death a number of those who had deserted the Macleod of Harris, and others ; and that Hector siege; Angus himself was reserved for exami- Maclean of Dowart, if not actually engaged hi

nation by the Privy Council. In the course of the rebellion, had announced, that if he was

the examination it came out clearly that the desired to proceed against the clan Donald, he Earl of Argyle was the original promoter of the would not be very earnest in the service. The seizure of the castle, his purpose apparently militia of Ayr, Eenfrew, Dumbarton, Bute, being to ruin the clan Donald by urging them and Inverness were called out, and a commis-

to rebellion ; but this charge, as well as that sion was granted to the Marquis of Hamilton igainst the Earl of Dunfermline, appears to to keep the clan Donald out of Arran. have been smothered. The Privy Council had some time before During the early part of the year 1615, Coll this urged the king to send down the Earl of Mac-Gillespic and others of the clan Donald Argyle from England—to which he had fled who had escaped, infested the western coasts, from liis numerous creditors—to act as lieu- and committed many acts of piracy, being- tenant in suppressing the insurrection. After joined about the month of May by Sir James many delays, Argyle, to whom full powers had Macdonald, who had escaped from Edinburgh been given to act as lieutenant, at length castle, where he had been lying for a long mustered his forces at Duntroon on Loch time under sentence of death. Sir James and Crinan early in September. He issued a pro-

liis followers, now numbering several hundreds, clamation of pardon to all rebels who were after laying in a good supply of provisions, willing to submit, and by means of spies ex- sailed towards Islay. The Privy Council were amined Macdonald's camp, which had been not slow in taking steps to repress the rebel- pitched on the west coast of Kintyre, the num- lion, although various circumstances occurred ber of the rebels being ascertained to be about to thwart their intentions. Calder engaged to 1,000 men. Argyle set himself so promptly keep the castle of Dunyveg against the rebels, and vigorously to crush the rebels, that Sir and instructions were given to the various James Macdonald, who had been followed to western gentlemen friendly to the government Islay by the former, finding it impossible either to defend the western coasts and islands. to resist the Lieutenant's forces, or to escape

Large rewards were offered for the principal with his galleys to the north isles, desired from rebels. All the forces were enjoined to be the earl a truce of four days, promising at the at their appointed stations by the 6th of July, end of |hat time to surrender. Argyle would furnished with forty days' provisions, and with not accede to this request except on condition a sufficient number of boats, to enable them to of Sir James giving up the two forts which he act by sea, if necessary. held ; this Sir James urged Coll Mac-Gillespic Sir James Macdonald, about the end of to do, but he refused, although he sent secretly June, landing on Islay, managed by stratagem to Argyle a message that he was willing to to obtain possession of Dunyveg Castle, him- comply with the earl's request. Argyle im- self and his followers appearing to have con- mediately sent a force against Sir James to ducted themselves with great moderation. surprise him, who, being warned of this by the Dividing his force, which numbered about 400, natives, managed to make his escape to an into two bodies, with one of which he himself island called Inchdaholl, on the coast of Ire- intended to proceed to Jura, the other, under land, and never again returned to the Hebrides. Coll Mac-Gillespic, was destined for Kintyre, Next day, Mac-Gillespic surrendered the two for the purpose of encouraging the ancient forts and his prisoners, upon assurance of his 132 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. own life and the lives of a few of his followers, tend that he had left Caithness to avoid any at the same time treacherously apprehending solicitations from the Earl of Caithness to and delivering to Argyle, Maefie of Colonsay, injure the inhabitants of Strathnaver. To one of the principal rebel leaders, and eighteen cover their designs they caused a report to be others. This conduct soon had many imita- spread that William Mac-Kenneth was to leave tors, including Maefie himself. Caithness because he would not obey the orders Having delivered the forts in Tslay to Camp- of the earl to execute some designs against Sir bell of Calder, and having executed a number Robert Gordon, the tutor of Sutherland, and of the leading rebels, Argyle proceeded to Mackay, and when this false rumour had Kintyre, and crushed out all remaining seeds of been sufficiently spread, Mac-Kenneth, and insurrection there. Many of the principal his brother John, and their dependants, fled rebels, notwithstanding a diligent search, into Strathnaver and solicited the favour and effected their escape, many of them to Ireland, protection of Mackay. The latter received

Sir James Macdonald being sent to Spain by them kindly ; but as William and his party 3ome Jesuits in Galway. The escape of so had been long addicted to robbery and theft, many of the principal rebels seems to have he strongly advised them to abstain from such given the Council great dissatisfaction. Argyle practices in all time coming ; and that they carried on operations till the middle of Decem- might not afterwards plead necessity as an ber 1615, refusing to dismiss the hired soldiers excuse for continuing their depredations, he in the beginning of November, as he was allotted them some lands to dwell on. After ordered by the Council to do. He was com- staying a month or two in Strathnaver, during pelled to disburse the pay, amounting to which time they stole some cattle and horses upwards of .£7,000, for the extra month and a out of Caithness, William received a private half out of his own pocket. visit by night from Kenneth Buidhe, his " Thus," to use the words of our authority father, who had been sent by the Earl of Caith- for the above details, 9 "terminated the last ness for the purpose of executing a contem- struggle of the once powerful clan Donald of plated depredation in Sutherland. Mackay Islay and Kintyre, to retain, from the grasp of was then in Sutherland on a visit to his uncle. the Campbells, these ancient possessions of Sir Eobert Gordon, which being known to their tribe.". William Mac-Kenneth, he resolved to enter Ever since the death of John Sinclair at Sutherland with his party, and carry off into

Thurso, the Earl of Caithness used every means Caithness all the booty they could collect. in his power to induce such of his country- Being observed in the glen of Loth by some of men as were daring enough, to show their the clan Gun, collecting cattle and horses, they prowess and dexterity, by making incursions were immediately apprehended, with the ex- into Sutherland or Strathnaver, for the pur- ception of Iain-Garbh-Mac-Chonald-Mac-Mhur- pose of annoying the vassals and depend- chidh-Mhoir, who, being a very resolute man, ants of the Earl of Sutherland and his ally. refused to surrender, and was in consequence Mackay. Amongst others he often communi- killed. The prisoners were delivered to Sir cated on this subject with William Kenneth- Robert Gordon at Dornoch, who committed son, whose father, Kenneth Buidhe, had always William and his brother John to the castle of been the principal instrument in the hands Dornoch for trial. In the meantime two of of Earl George in oppressing the people of the principal men of Mac-Kenneth's party his own country. For the furtherance of his were tried, convicted, and executed, and the plans he at last prevailed upon William, who remainder were allowed to return home on already stood rebel to the king in a criminal giving surety to keep the peace. This occur cause, to go into voluntary banishment into rence took place in the month of January Strathnaver, and put himself under the pro- 1G16. tection of Mackay, to whom he was to pre- The Earl of Caithness now finished his restless career of iniquity by the perpetration of a

- Oregory's Western Highlands, p. 319, el seq crime which, tnough trivial in its crnsequences, MACHINATIONS OF THE EAEL OF CAITHNESS. 133 was of so highly a penal nature in itself as to and having left no issue, Lord Forbes took pos- bring liis own life into jeopardy. As the cir- session of his lands of Dunray and Dumbaith. cumstances which led to the burning of the Disajjpointed in his plans to acquire Sinclair's corn of William Innes, a servant of Lord Forbes property, the Earl of Caithness seized every at Sanset in Caithness, and the discovery of opportunity of annoying Lord Forbes in his the Earl of Caithness as instigator, are some- possessions, by oppressing his tenants and what curious, it is thought that a recital of servants, in every possible way, under the pre- them may not he here out of place. tence of discharging his duty as sheriff, to Among other persons who had suffered at which office he had been appointed by the Earl the hands of the earl was his own kinsman, of Huntly, on occasion of his marriage with William Sinclair of Dumbaith. After annoy- Huntly's sister. Complaints were made from ing him in a variety of ways, the earl insti- time to time against the earl, on account of gated his bastard brother, Henry Sinclair, and these proceedings, to the Privy Council of Kenneth Buidhe, to destroy and lay waste part Scotland, which, in some measure, afforded of Dumbaith's lands, who, unable to resist, and redress ; but to protect his tenants more effectu- being in dread of personal risk, locked himself ally, Lord Forbes took up a temporary resi- up in his house at Dunray, which they besieged. dence in Caithness, relying upon the aid of the William Sinclair immediately applied to John, house of Sutherland in case of need. Earl of Sutherland, for assistance, who sent As the Earl of Caithness was aware that any his friend Mackay with a party to rescue Sin- direct attack on Lord Forbes would be properly clair from his perilous situation. Mackay suc- resented, and as any enterprise undertaken by ceeded, and carried Sinclair along with Mm his own people would be laid to his charge, into Sutherland, where he remained for a time, however cautious he might be in dealing with but he afterwards went to reside in Moray, them, he fixed on the clan Gun as the fittest where he died. Although thus cruelly perse- instruments for effecting his designs against cuted and forced to become an exile from his Lord Forbes. Besides being the most resolute country by the Earl of Caithness, no entreaties men in Caithness, always ready to undertake could induce him to apply for redress, choosing any desperate action, they depended more upon rather to suffer himself than to see his relative the Earl of Sutherland and Mackay, from punished. William Sinclair was succeeded by whom they held some lands, than upon the his grandson, George Sinclair, who married a Earl of Caithness ; a circumstance which the sister of Lord Forbes. By the persuasion of latter supposed, should the contemplated out-

Iris wife, who was a mere tool in the hands rages of the clan Gun ever become matter of of the Earl of Caithness, George Sinclair was inquiry, might throw the suspicion upon the induced to execute a deed of entail, by which, two former as the silent instigators. Accord failing of heirs male of his own body, he left ingly, the earl opened a negotiation with Jolin the whole of his lands to the earl. When the Gun, chief of the clan Gun in Caithness, and earl had obtained this deed he began to devise with his brother, Alexander Gun, whose father means to make away with Sinclair, and ac- he had hanged in the year 1586. In conse- tually persuaded Sinclair's wife to assist him quence of an invitation, the two brothers, along in this nefarious design Having obtained with Alexander Gun, their cousin-german, re notice of this conspiracy against his life, Sin- paired to Castle Sinclair, where they met the clair left Caithness and took up his residence earl. The earl did not at first divulge his with his brother-in-law, Lord Forbes, who plans to all the party; hut taking Alexander received him with great kindness and hospi- Gun, the cousin, aside, he pointed out to him tality, and reprobated very strongly the wicked the injury he alleged he had sustained, in con- conduct of his sister. Sinclair now recalled sequence of Lord Forbes having obtained a the entail in favour of the Earl of Caithness, footing in Caithness,—that he could no longer and made a new deed by which he conveyed submit to the mdignity shown him by a stran- his whole estate to Lord Forbes. George Sin- ger,—that he had made choice of him (Gun) to clair died soon after the execution of the deed. undertake a piece of service for him, on per- 134 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

forming which he would reward him most two accomplices, set fire to all the

amply ; and to secure compliance, the earl de- wMch were in the barn-yard, belonging to sired him to rememher the many favours he had William Innes, and which were in consequence already received from him, and how well he consumed. TMs affair occurred in the month had treated him, promising, at the same time, to of November, 1615. The Earl of Caithness show Mm even greater kindness in time coming. immediately spread a report through the whole Alexander thereupon promised to serve the earl, country that Mackay's tenants had committed

though at the hazard of his life ; hut upon being- this outrage, but the deception was of short interrogated by the earl whether he would duration. undertake to burn the corn of Sanset, belong- It may be here noticed that John, sixth Earl ing to William Lines, a servant of Lord Forbes, of Sutherland, died in September, 1615, and Gun, who had never imagined that he was to was succeeded by his eldest son, John, a boy be employed in such an ignoble affair, expressed six years old, to whom Sir Eobert Gordon, Ms the greatest astonishment at the proposal, and uncle, was appointed tutor. refused, in the most peremptory and indignant Sir Eobert Gordon, having arrived in the

its north of Scotland, manner, to undertake execution ; yet, to from England, in the month satisfy the earl, he told him that he would, at of December following, resolved to probe the his command, undertake to assassinate William matter to the bottom, not merely on account Innes, —an action which he considered less of Ms nephew, Mackay, whose men were sus- criminal and dishonourable, and more becom- pected, but to satisfy Lord Forbes, who was ing a gentleman, than burning a quantity of now on friendly terms with the house of Suth-

corn ! Finding him obdurate, the earl enjoined erland ; but the discovery of the perpetrators him to secrecy. soon became an easy task, in consequence of a The earl next applied to the two brothers, quarrel among the clan Gun themselves, the John and Alexander, with whom he did not members of which upbraided one another as find it so difficult to treat. They at first hesi- the authors of the M'e-raising. Alexander Gun, tated with some firmness in undertaking the the cousin of Alexander Gun, the real criminal, business on which the earl was so intent ; and thereupon fled from Caithness, and sent some they pleaded an excuse, by saying, that as of Ms friends to Sir Eobert Gordon and Donald justice was then more strictly executed in Mackay with these proposals : —that if they Scotland than formerly, they could not expect would receive Mm into favour, and secure him to escape, as they had no place of safety to re- from danger, he would confess the whole cir- treat to after the crime was committed; as a cumstances, and reveal the authors of the con- proof of which they instanced the cases of the flagration, and that he would declare the whole clan Donald and the clan Gregor, two races of before the Privy Council if required. On people much more powerful than the clan Gun, receiving this proposal, Sir Eobert Gordon who had been brought to the brink of ruin, and appointed Alexander Gun to meet him pri- almost annihilated, under the authority of the vately at Hebnsdale, in the house of Sir Alex- laws. The earl replied, that as soon as they ander Gordon, brother of Sir Eobert. A meet- should perform the service for him he would ing was accordingly held at the place appointed, send them to the western isles, to some of his at wMch Sir Eobert and Ms friends agreed to acquaintances and friends, with whom they do everytMng in their power to preserve Gun's might remain till Lord Forbes and he were life ; and Mackay promised, moreover, to give reconciled, when he would obtain their pardon Mm a possession in Strathie, where his father ; that in the meantime he would profess, in had formerly lived. public, to be their enemy, but that he would be When the Earl of Caithness heard of Alex- their friend secretly, and permit them to fre- ander Gun's flight into Sutherland he became quent Caithness without danger. Alexander greatly alarmed lest Alexander should reveal the

Gun, overcome at last by the entreaties of the affair of Sanset ; and anticipating such a result, earl, reluctantly consented to Ms request, and the earl gave out everywhere that Sir Eobert going into Sanset, in the dead of night, with Gordon, Mackay, and Sir Alexander Gordon. BURNING OF THE COKN AT SANSET. 135

had hired some of the clan Gun to accuse consequences which would follow if the prose-

him of having burnt William Innes's corn. cution of the Guns was persevered in.

But this artifice was of no avail, for as soon as At the time appointed for the trial of the Lord Forbes received notice from Sir Robert Guns, Sir Bobert Gordon, Mackay, and Lord Gordon of the circumstances related by Alex- Forbes, with all his friends, went to Edin- ander Gun, he immediately cited John Gun burgh, and upon their arrival they entreated and his brother Alexander, and their accom- the council to prevent a remission in favour of plices, to appear for trial at Edinburgh, on the the Earl of Caithness from passing the signet

2d April, 1616, to answer to the charge of until the affair in hand was tried ; a request

burning the corn at Sanset ; and he also sum- with which the council complied. The Earl

moned the Earl of Caithness, as sheriff of that of Caithness did not appear ; but he sent his

county, to deliver them up for trial. John son, Lord Berridale, to Edinburgh, along with Gun, thinking that the best course he could John Gun and all those persons who had been

pursue under present circumstances was to fol- summoned by Lord Forbes, with the exception low the example of his cousin, Alexander, sent of Alexander Gun and his two accomplices. a message to Sir Alexander Gordon, desiring He alleged as his reason for not sending them an interview with him, which being granted, that they were not his men, being Mackay's they met at Navidale. John Gun then offered own tenants, and dwelling in Dilred, the pro- to reveal everything he knew concerning the perty of Mackay, which was held by him off

fire, on condition that his life should be spared; the Earl of Sutherland, who, he alleged, was but Sir Alexander observed that he could come bound to present the three persons alluded to. under no engagement, as he was uncertain how But the lords of the council would not admit the king and the council might view such a of this excuse, and again required Lord Berri-

proceeding ; but he promised, that as John bad dale and his father to present the three culprits not been an actor in the business, but a witness before the court on the 10th June following, only to the arrangement between his brother because, although they had possessions in Dil- and the Earl of Caithness, he would do what red, they had also lands from the Earl of Caith-

he could to save him , if he went to Edinburgh ness on which they usually resided. Besides, in compliance with the summons. the deed was committed in Caithness, of which In this state of matters, the Earl of Caith- the earl was sheriff, on which account also he ness wrote to the Marquis of Huntly, accusing was bound to apprehend them. Lord Berri- Sir Bobert Gordon and Mackay of a design to dale, whose character was quite the reverse of bring him within the Teach of the law of trea- that of his father, apprehensive of the conse- son, and to injure the honour of his house by quences of a trial, now offered satisfaction in slandering him with the burning of the corn at his father's name to Lord Forbes if he would

Sanset. The other party told the marquis that stop the prosecution ; but his lordship refused they could not refuse to assist Lord Forbes in to do anything without the previous advice and finding out the persons who had burned the corn consent of Sir Bobert Gordon and Mackay, who, at Sanset, but that they had never imagined upon being consulted, caused articles of agree- that the earl would have acted so base a part ment to be drawn up, which were presented as to become an accomplice in such a crimin al to Lord Berridale by neutral persons for his act ; and farther, that as Mackay's men were acceptance. He, however, considering the con- challenged with the deed, the}' certainly were ditions sought to be imposed upon his father entitled at least to clear Mackay's people from too hard, rejected them. the charge by endeavouring to find out the male- In consequence of the refusal of Lord Berri- factors,—in all which they considered they had dale to accede to the terms proposed, John Gun done the earl no wrong. The Marquis of was apprehended by one of the magistrates of Huntly did not fail to write the Earl of Caith- Edinburgh, on the application of Lord Forbes, ness the answer he had received from Sir Bo- and committed a prisoner to the jail of that bert Gordon and Mackay, which grieved him city. Gun thereupon requested to see Sir exceedingly, as he was too well aware of the Bobert Gordon and Mackay, whom he entreated —

136 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. to use their influence to procure him his which was afterwards recorded hi the books of liberty, promising to declare everything he council and session, were as follows : —That knew of the business for which he was all civil actions between the parties should be prosecuted before the lords of the council. settled by the mediation of common friends, Sir Eobert Gordon and Mackay then deliber- that the Earl of Caithness and his son should ated with Lord Forbes and Lord Elphinston pay to Lord Forbes and Mackay the sum of on the subject, and they all four promised 20,000 merks Scots money,—that all quarrels faithfully to Gun to do everything in their and criminal actions should be mutually for- power to save him, and that they would given, and particularly, that the Earl of Caith- thenceforth maintain and defend him and his ness and all his friends should forgive and cousin', Alexander Gun, against the Earl of remit the slaughter at Thurso —that the Earl Caithness or any person, as long as they of Caithness and his son should renounce for

had reason and equity on their side ; besides themselves and their heirs all jurisdiction,

which, Mackay promised him a liferent lease criminal or civil, within Sutherland or Strath- of the lands in Strathie to compensate for his naver, and any other jurisdiction which they possessions in Caithness, of which he would, should thereafter happen to acquire over any of course, be deprived by the earl for revealing lands lying within the diocese of Caithness the latter's connexion with the fire-raising at then pertaining, or which should afterwards Sanset. John Gun was accordingly examined belong, to the Earl of Sutherland, or his heirs, the following day by the lords of the council, —that the Earl of Caithness should deliver when he confessed that the Earl of Caithness Alexander Gun and his accomplices to Lord made his brother, Alexander Gun, burn the Forbes,—that the earl, his son, and their heirs, corn of Sanset, and that the affair had been should never thenceforth contend with the proposed and discussed in his presence. Alex- Earl of Sutherland for precedency in parlia- ander Gun, the cousin, was examined also at ment or priority of place,—that the Earl of the same time, and stated the same circum- Caithness and his son, their friends and tenants, stances precisely as John Gun had done. should keep the peace in time coming, under After examination, John and Alexander were the penalty of great sums of money, and should again committed to prison. never molest nor trouble the tenants of the As neither the Earl of Caithness nor his son, Earl of Sutherland and Lord Forbes,—that Lord Berridale, complied with the commands the Earl of Caithness, his son, or their friends, of the council to deliver up Alexander Gun and should not receive nor harbour any fugitives his accomplices in the month of June, they from Sutherland or Strathnaver,—and that

were both outlawed and denounced rebels ; and there should be good friendship and amity

were summoned and charged by Lord Forbes to kept amongst them in all time to come. appear personally at Edinburgh in the month In consequence of this agreement, the two of July immediately following, to answer to the sons of Kenneth Buy, William and John be- charge of causing the corn of Sanset to be burnt. fore-mentioned, were delivered to Lord Berri- This fixed determination on the part of Lord dale, who gave security for their keeping the

Forbes to bring the earl and his son to trial peace; and John Gun and Alexander his had the effect of altering their tone, and they cousin were released, and delivered to Lord now earnestly entreated him and Mackay to Forbes and Mackay, who gave surety to the

agree to a reconciliation on any terms ; but lords of the council to present them for trial they declined to enter into any arrangement whenever required; and as the Earl of Caith- until they had consulted Sir Eobert Gordon. ness had deprived them of their possessions in After obtaining Sir Eobert's consent, and a Caithness on account of the discovery they had written statement of the conditions which he made, Mackay, who had lately been knighted required from the Earl of Caithness in behalf of by the king, gave them lands in Strathnaver

his nephew, the Earl of Sutherland, the parties as he had promised. Matters being thus set- entered into a final agreement in the month of tled, Lord Berridale presented himself be- July, 1016. The principal heads of the contract, fore the court at Edinburgh to abide his LOED BEBEIDALE IMPRISONED. 137 trial; but no person of course appearing against As the king understood that Lord Berridale him, the trial was postponed. ' The Earl of was supposed to be innocent of the crime with Caithness, however, failing to appear, the diet which he and his father stood charged, and as against him was continued till the 28tli of he could not, without a verdict against Berri- August following. dale, proceed against the family of Caithness Although the king was well pleased, on ac- by forfeiture, in consequence of his lordship count of the peace which such an adjustment having been infeft many years before in his would produce in his northern dominions, with father's estate, his majesty, on the earnest the agreement which had been entered into, entreaty of the then bishop of Eoss, Sir Eobert and the proceedings which followed thereon, Gordon, and Sir James Spence of Wormistoun, all of which were made known to him by tbe was pleased to remit and forgive the crime on Privy Council; yet, as the passing over such the following conditions:—1st. That the Earl a flagrant act as wilful fire-raising, without of Caithness and his son should give satisfac- punishment, might prove pernicious, he wrote tion to their creditors, who were constantly a letter to the Privy Council of Scotland, annoying Ms majesty with clamours against commanding them to prosecute, with all sever- the earl, and craving justice at his hands. 2d. ity, those who were guilty of, or accessory to, That the Earl of Caithness, with consent of the crime. Lord Berridale was thereupon Lord Berridale, should freely renounce and apprehended on suspicion, and committed a resign perpetually, into the hands of his ma- prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh ; and his jesty, the heritable sheriffship and justiciary of father, perceiving the determination of the Caithness. 3d. That the Earl of Caithness king to prosecute the authors of the fire, again should deliver the three criminals who had declined to appear for trial on the appointed burnt the corn, that public justice might be day, on which account he was again outlawed, satisfied upon them, as a terror and example and declared a rebel as the guilty author. to others. 4th. That the Earl of Caithness, In this extremity Lord Berridale had recourse with consent of Lord Berridale, should give to Sir Eobert Gordon, then resident at court, and resign in perpetuum to the bishop of for his aid. He wrote him a letter, entreating Caithness, the house of Strabister, with as

him that, as all controversies were now settled, many of the feu lands of that bishopric as he would, in place of an enemy become a faithful should amount to the yearly value of two friend,—that for his own part, he, Lord Berri- thousand merks Scots money, for the purpose dale, had been always innocent of the jars and of augmenting the income of the bishop, which dissensions which had happened between the was at that time small in consequence of the two famili es,—that he was also innocent of the greater part of his lands being in the hands of crime of which he was charged,—and that he the earl. Commissioners were sent down wished his majesty to be informed by Sir Eo- from London to Caithness in October 1616, to bert of these circumstances, hoping that he see that these conditions were complied with. would order him to be released from confine- The second and last conditions were imme- ment. Sir Eobert answered, that he had long- diately implemented; and as the earl and his desired a perfect agreement between the houses son promised to give satisfaction to their of Sutherland and Caithness, which he would creditors, and to do everything in their power endeavour to maintain during Iris administra- to apprehend the burners of the corn, the lat- tion in Sutherland, — that he would intercede ter was released from the castle of Edinburgh, with the long in behalf of his lordship to the and directions were given for drawing up a utmost of his power,—that all disputes being remission and pardon to the Earl of Caithness. now at an end, he would be his faithful friend, Lord Berridale, however, had scarcely been —that he had a very different opinion of his released from the castle, when he was again disposition from that he entertained of his imprisoned within the jail of Edinburgh, at

father, the earl ; and he concluded by entreat- the instance of Sir James Home of Cowden- ing him to be careful to preserve the friendship knowes, his cousin german, who had become which had been now commenced between them. surety for liim and Ms father to their creditors 138 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. for large sums of money. The earl himself expected that the earl would give him and his narrowly escaped the fate of his son and retired countrymen some possessions in Caithness. to Caithness, hut his creditors had sufficient But the chief ground of discontent on the part interest to prevent his remission from passing of Sir Donald Mackay was an action brought till they should he satisfied. With consent of against him and Lord Forbes before the court the creditors the council of Scotland gave him of session, to recover a contract entered into a personal protection, from time to time, to between the last Earl of Sutherland and Mac- enable h im to come to Edinburgh for the pur- kay, in the year 1613, relative to their marches pose of settling with them, but he made no and other matters of controversy, which being arrangement, and returned privately into Caith- considered by Mackay as prejudicial to him, ness before the expiration of the supersedere he had endeavoured to get destroyed through which had been granted him, leaving his son the agency of some persons about Lord Forbes, to suffer all the miseries of a prison. After into whose keeping the deed had been intrusted. enduring a captivity of five years, Lord Berri- After brooding over these subjects of discon- dale was released from prison by the good tent for some years, Mackay, in the year 1618, offices of the Earl of Enzie, and put, for behoof suddenly resolved to break with the house of of himself, and his own and his father's credi- Sutherland, and to form an alliance with the tors, in possession of the family estates from Earl of Caithness, who had long borne a mortal which his father was driven by Sir Robert enmity at that family. Accordingly, Mackay Gordon acting under a royal warrant, a just sent John Sutherland, his cousin-german, into punishment for the many enormities of a long Caithness to request a private conference with and misspent life. 1 the earl in any part of Caithness he might Desperate as the fortunes of the Earl of appoint. This offer was too tempting to be Caithness were even previous to the disposal rejected by the earl, who expected, by a recon- of his estates, he most unexpectedly found an ciliation with Sir Donald Mackay, to turn the ally in Sir Donald Mackay, who had taken same to his own personal gratification and offence at Sir Robert Gordon, and who, being a advantage. In the first place, he hoped to man of quick resolution and of an inconstant revenge himself upon the clan Gun, who were disposition, determined to forsake the house of his principal enemies, and upon Sir Donald Sutherland, and to ingratiate himself with the himself, by detaching him from his superior, Earl of Caithness. He alleged various causes the Earl of Sutherland, and from the friendship of discontent as a reason for his conduct, one of his uncles, who had always supported him of the chief being connected with pecuniary in all his difficulties. In the second place, he considerations ; for 'having, as he alleged, expected that, by alienating Mackay from the burdened his estates with debts incurred for duty and affection he owed the house of Suther- some years past in following the house of land, that he would weaken his power and Sutherland, he thought that, in time coming, he influence. And lastly, he trusted that Mackay might, by procuring the favour of the Earl of would not only be prevailed upon to discharge Caithness, turn the same to his own advantage his own part, but would also persuade Lord and that of his countrymen. Moreover, as he Forbes to discharge his share of the sum of had been induced to his own prejudice to grant 20,000 merks Scots, which he and his son, certain life-rent tacks of the lands of Strathie Lord Berridale, had become bound to pay them, and Dilred to John and Alexander Gun, and on account of the burning at Sanset. others of the clan Gun for revealing the affair The Earl of Caithness having at once agreed of Sanset, he thought that by joining the Earl to Mackay's proposal, a meeting was held by of Caithness, these might be destroyed, by appointment in the neighbourhood of Dunray, which means he would get back his lands in the parish of Reay, in Caithness. The which he meant to convey to his brother, John parties met in the night-time, accompanied each

Mackay, as a portion ; and he, moreover, by three men only. After much discussion, and various conferences, which were continued for

1 Sir R, Gordon, p. 329, et seq. two or three days, they resolved to destroy the ALLIANCE OF THE EAEL OF CAITHNESS WITH SIE DONALD MACKAY. 130

clan Gun, and particularly John Gun, and others of the clan, he would adhere to them no Alexander his cousin. To please the earl, longer. Sir Eobert Gordon returned a verbal Mackay undertook to despatch these last, as answer by Angus Mackay, that when Sir they were obnoxious to him, on account of the Donald came in person to Dunrobin to clear part they had taken against him, in revealing himself, as in duty he was bound to do, he

the burning at Sanset. They persuaded them- would then accept of Ms excuse, and not till selves that the house of Sutherland -would then. And he at the same time wrote a letter defend the clan, as they were bound to do to Sir Donald, to the effect that for Ms own by their promise, and that that house would (Sir Eobert's) part, he did not much regard be thus drawn into some snare. To confirm Mackay's secret journey to Caithness, and Ms their friendship, the earl and Mackay arranged reconciliation with Earl George, without his

that John Mackay, the only brother of Sir knowledge or the advice of Lord Forbes ; and Donald, should marry a niece of the earl, a that, however unfavourable the world might

daughter of James Sinclair of Murkle, who construe it, he would endeavour to colour it in was a mortal enemy of all the clan Gun. Hav- the best way he could, for Mackay's own ing thus planned the line of conduct they were credit. He desired Mackay to consider that a to follow, they parted, after swearing to con- man's reputation was exceedingly tender, and

tinue in perpetual friendship. that if it were once blemished, though wrong-

Notwithstanding the private way in which fully, there would still some blot remain, be-

the meeting was held, accounts of it immedi- cause the greater part of the world would

ately spread through the kingdom ; and every always Mchne to speak the worst ; that what- person wondered at the motives which could ever had been arranged in that journey, between induce Sir Donald Mackay to take such a step him and the Earl of Caithness, beneficial to so unadvisedly, without the knowledge of Ms Mackay and not prejudicial to the house of uncles, Sir Eobert and Sir Alexander Gordon, Sutherland, he should be always ready to assist or of Lord Forbes. The clan Gun receiving him therein, although concluded without Ms secret intelligence of the design upon them, consent. As to the clan Gun, he could not from different friendly quarters, retired into with honesty or credit abandon them, and par- Sutherland. The clan were astonished at Mac- ticularly John and Ms cousin Alexander, until kay's conduct, as he had promised, at Edin- tried and found guilty, as he had promised burgh, in presence of Lords Forbes and Elph- faitlifully to be their friend, for revealing the ingston and Sir Eobert Gordon, in the year affair of Sanset ; that he had made them this 1616, to be a perpetual friend to them, and promise at the earnest desire and entreaty of chiefly to John Gun and to his cousin Alex- Sir Donald himself ; that the house of Suther- ander. land did always esteem their truth and con-

After Mackay returned from Caithness, he stancy to be their greatest jewel ; and seeing sent his cousin-german, Angus Mackay of Big- that he and his brother, Sir Alexander, were

house, to Sutherland, to acquaint his uncles, almost the only branches of it then of age or who had received notice of the meeting, that man's estate, they would endeavour to prove his object in meeting the Earl of Caithness was true and constant wheresoever they did possess

for his own personal benefit, and that nothing friendsliip ; and that neither the house of had been done to their prejudice. Angus Sutherland, nor any greater house whereof Mackay met Sir Eobert Gordon at Dunrobin, they had the honour to be descended, should to whom he delivered his kinsman's message, have the least occasion to be ashamed of them

which, he said, he hoped Sir Eobert would in that respect ; that if Sir Donald had quar- take in good part, adding that Sir Donald relled or challenged the clan Gun, before going would show, in presence of both his uncles, that into Caithness and Ms arrangement with Ear] the clan had failed in duty fidelity the clan might have been suspected Gun and to George, ; Mm and the house of Sutherland, smce they had but he saw no reason to forsake them until

revealed the burning ; and therefore, that if his they were found guilty of some great offence. uncles would not forsake John Gun, and some Sir Eobert Gordon, therefore, acting as tutor 140 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

for Iiis nephew, took the clan Gun under his tunity to quarrel with the house of Suther- immediate protection, with the exception of land, endeavoured to pick a quarrel with Sir Alexander Gun, the burner of the corn, and Alexander Gordon about some sheilings which Ms accomplices. John Gun thereupon de- he alleged the latter's servants had erected manded a trial before his friends, that they beyond the marches between Torrish, in Strath- might hear what Sir Donald had to lay to his ully, and the lands of Berridale. The dispute, charge. John and his kinsmen were acquitted, however, came to nothing. and declared innocent of any offence, either "When Sir Eobert Gordon heard of these against the house of Sutherland or Mackay, occurrences in the north, he returned home since the fact of the burning. from Edinburgh, where he had been for some

Sir Donald Mackay, dissatisfied with this time ; and, on his return, he visited the Marquis result, went to Edinburgh for the purpose of of Huntly at Strathbogie, who advised him to obtaining a commission against the clan Gun be on Ms guard, as he had received notice from from the council, for old crimes committed by the Earl of Caithness that Sir Donald meant them before his majesty had left Scotland for to create some disturbances in Sutherland.

England ; but he was successfully opposed in The object the earl had in view, in acquaint- this by Sir Eobert Gordon, who wrote a letter ing the marquis with Mackay's intentions, was to the Lord-Chancellor and to the Earl of to screen himself from any imputation of being

Melrose, afterwards Earl of Haddington and concerned in Mackay's plans, although he fa- Lord Privy Seal, showing that the object of voured them in secret. As soon as Sir Eobert Sir Donald, in asking such a commission, was Gordon was informed of Mackay's intentions he

to break the king's peace, and to breed fresh hastened to Sutherland ; but before his arrival troubles in Caithness. Disappointed in this there, Sir Donald had entered Strathully with attempt, Sir Donald returned home to Strath- a body of men, in quest of Alexander Gun, the naver, and, in the month of April, 1618, he burner, against whom he had obtained letters

went to Braill, in Caithness, where he met the of caption. He expected that if he could find earl, with whom he continued three nights. Gun in Strathully, where the clan of that On this occasion they agreed to despatch Alex- name cMefiy dwelt, they, and particularly ander Gun, the burner of the corn, lest Lord John Gun, would protect Alexander, and that Forbes should request the earl to deliver him in consequence he would ensnare John Gun

up ; and they hoped that, in consequence of and his tribe, and bring them within the reach such an occurrence, the tribe might be ensnared. of the law, for having resisted the king's

P>efore parting, the earl delivered to Mackay authority ; but Mackay was disappointed in some old writs of cettain lands in Strathnaver his expectations, for Alexander Gun escaped, and other places within the diocese of Caith- and none of the clan Gun made the least ness, which belonged to Sir Donald's prede- movement, not knowing how Sir Eobert Gor-

cessors ; by means of which the earl thought don was affected towards Alexander Gun. he would put Sir Donald by the ears with his In entering Strathully, without acquainting uncles, expecting him to bring an action against his uncles of his intention, Sir Donald had the Earl of Sutherland, for the warrandice of acted improperly, and contrary to his duty, as

Strathnaver, and thus free himself from the the vassal of the house of Sutherland : but, not superiority of the Earl of Sutherland. satisfied with this trespass, he went to Badin- Shortly after this meeting was held, Sir loch, and there apprehended William M'Corkill, Donald entered Sutherland privately, for the one of the clan Gun, and carried him along

purpose of capturing John Gun ; but, after with him towards Strathnaver, on the ground lurking two nights in Golspie, watching Gun, that he had favoured the escape of Alexander without effect, he was discovered by Adam Gun; but M'Corkill escaped while his keepers Gordon of Kilcalmkill, a trusty dependant of were asleep, and went to Dunrobin, where he the house of Sutherland, and thereupon re- met Sir Alexander Gordon, to whom he related turned to his country. In the meantime the the circumstance. Earl of Caithness, who sought every oppor- Hearing that Sir Eobert Gordon was upon MACKAY AND SIR EOBERT GOEDON RECONCILED. 141

his journey to Sutherland, Mackay left Badiii- arrangement; but as they were vassals of the loeh in haste, and went privately to the parish house of Sutherland, Sir Eobert would not of Culmaly, taking up his residence in Golspie- allow Mackay to treat for them.

tour with John Gordon, younger of Embo, till In the month of November, 1618, a disturb- he should learn in what manner Sir Eobert ance took place in consequence of a quarrel would act towards him. Mackay, perceiving between George, Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, that his presence in Golspietour was likely to and Sir Lauchlan Macintosh, cMef of the clan lead to a tumult among the people, sent Ms Chattan, which arose out of the following cir-

men home to Strathnaver, and went himself cumstances : —When the earl went Mto Loch- the following day, taking only one man along aber, in the year 1613, in pursuit of the clan with him, to Dunrobin castle, where he met Cameron, he requested Macintosh to accom- Sir Eobert Gordon, who received Mm kindly pany him, both on account of his bemg the according to his usual manner; and after Sir vassal of the Marqms of Huntly, the earl's Eobert had opened his mind very freely to father, and also on account of the ancient Mm on the bad course he was pursuing, he enmity which had always existed between the began to talk to him about a reconciliation clan Chattan and clan Cameron, in consequence with John Gun; but Sir Donald would not of the latter keepmg forcible possession of cer- hear of any accommodation, and after staying a tain lands belonging to the former in Lochaber. few days at Dunrobin, returned home to Ms To Mduce Macintosh to jom him, the earl own country. promised to dispossess the clan Cameron of Sir Donald Mackay, perceiving the danger the lands belonging to Macintosh, and to in wMch he had placed himself, and seeing restore him to the possession of them ; but, by that he could put no reliance on the hollow advice of the laird of Grant, his father-in-law, and Mconstant friendship of the Earl of Caith- who was an enemy of the house of Huntly, he ness, became desirous of a reconciliation with declined to accompany the earl M his expedi- Ms uncles, and with tMs view he offered tion. The earl was greatly displeased at Mac- to refer all matters in dispute to the arbitra- intosh's refusal, which afterwards led to some ment of friends, and to make such satisfaction disputes between them. A few years after the for his offences as they might enjoin. As Sir date of this expedition—in wMch the earl sub- Eobert Gordon still had a kindly feeling dued the clan Cameron, and took their cMef towards Mackay, and as the state M which the prisoner, whom he imprisoned at Inverness in affairs of the house of Sutherland stood during the year 1614—Macintosh obtained a commis- the minority of his nephew, the earl, could not sion against Macronald, younger of Moidart. uonveMently admit of following out hostile and his brother, Donald Glass, for laying waste measures against Mackay, Sir Eobert embraced his lands M Lochaber; and, having collected his offer. The parties, therefore, met at Tain, all Ms friends, he entered Lochaber for the and matters being discussed M presence of Sir purpose of apprehending -them, but, bemg un- Alexander Gordon of Navidale, George Monroe successful in Ms attempt, he returned home. of Milntoun, and John Monroe of Leamlair, As Macintosh conceived that he had a right to they adjudged that Sir Donald should send the services of all Ms clan, some of whom Angus Mackay of Bighouse, and three gentle- were tenants and dependants of the Marquis men of the Slaight-ean-Aberigh, to Dunrobin, of Huntly, he ordered these to follow him, and there to remain prisoners duiMg Sir Eobert's compelled such of them as were refractory to pleasure, as a punishment for apprehending accompany Mm Mto Lochaber. This proceed- William M'Corkill at Badinloch. After set- Mg gave offence to the Earl of Enzie, who tling some other matters of little moment, the summoned MacMtosh before the lords of the parties agreed to hold another meeting for Erivy Council for having, as he asserted, ex- adjusting all remairung questions, at ElgM, in ceeded his comm ission. He, moreover, got the month of June of the following year, 1619. MacMtosh's commission recalled, and obtained Sir Donald wished to include Gordon of Embo a new commission m his own favour from the and others of his friends in Sutherland in this lords of the council, under wMch he invaded 142 GENERAL H1ST0KY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Lochaber, and expelled Macronald and his to assist Macintosh in opposing the execution brother Donald from that country. of his warrant, he wrote to Sir Robert Gordon, As Macintosh held certain lands from the tutor of Sutherland, to meet him at Culloden earl and his father for services to be done, on the 5th of November, 1618, being the day which the earl alleged had not been performed fixed by liim for enforcing his decree. On by Macintosh agreeably to the tenor of his receipt of tins letter, Sir Robert Gordon left titles, the earl brought an action against Mac- Sutherland for Bog-a-Gight, where the Marquis intosh in the year 1618 for evicting these of Huntly and his son then were, and on his lands, on the ground of his not having imple- way paid a visit to Macintosh with the view mented the conditions on which he held them. of bringing about a compromise; but Macintosh, And, as the earl had a right to the tithes of who was a young man of a headstrong disposi- Culloden, which belonged to Macintosh, he tion, refused to listen to any proposals, and served him, at the same time, with an inhibition, rode post-haste to Edinburgh, from which ho prohibiting him to dispose of these tithes. As went privately into England. the time for tithing drew near, Macintosh, by In the meantime, the Earl of Enzie having advice of the clan Kenzie and the Grants, collected his friends, to the number of 1,100 circulated a report that he intended to oppose horsemen well appointed and armed, and the earl in any attempt he might make to take 600 Highlanders on foot, came to Inver- possession of the tithes of Culloden in kind, ness with this force on the day appointed, because such a practice had never before been and, after consulting his principal officers, in use, and that he would try the issue of an marched forwards towards Culloden. When action of spuilzie, if brought against him. he arrived within view of the castle, the earl Although the earl was much incensed at such sent Sir Robert Gordon to Duncan Macintosh, a threat on the part of his own vassal, yet, who, with his brother, commanded the house, being a privy counsellor, and desirous of to inform him that, in consequence of his showing a good example in keeping the peace, nephew's extraordinary boasting, he had come he abstained from enforcing his right; but, thither to put his majesty's laws in execution, having formerly obtained a decree against Mac- and to carry off the corn which of right be- intosh for the value of the tithes of the pre- longed to him. To this message Duncan receding years, he sent two messengers-at-arms plied, that he did not mean to prevent the earl to poind and distrain the corns upon the from taking away what belonged to him, but ground under that warrant. The messengers that, in case of attack, he would defend the were, however, resisted by Macintosh's servants, castle which had been committed to his charge. and forced to desist from the execution of then Sir Robert, on his return, begged the earl to duty. The earl, in consequence, pursued Mac- send Lord Lovat, who had some influence with intosh and his servants before the Privy Duncan Macintosh, to endeavour to prevail on Council, and got them denounced and pro- him to surrender the castle. At the desire of claimed rebels to the king. He, thereupon, the earl, Lord Lovat accordingly went to the collected a number of his particular friends house of Culloden, accompanied by Sir Robert with the design of carrying his decree into Gordon and George Monroe of Milntoun, and, execution, by distraining the crop at Culloden after some entreaty, Macintosh agreed to sur- and carrying it to Inverness. Macintosh pre- render at discretion; a party thereupon took pared himself to resist, by fortifying the house possession of the house, and sent the keys to of Culloden and laying in a large quantity of the earl. He was, however, so well pleased ammunition; and having collected all the corn with the conduct of Macintosh, that he sent within shot of the castle and committed the back the keys to him, and as neither the clan charge of it to his two uncles, Duncan and Chattan, the Grants, nor the clan Kenzie, Lauchlan, he waited for the approach of the appeared to oppose him, he disbanded his earL As the earl was fully aware of Mac- party and returned home to Bog-a-Gight. intosh's preparations, and that the clan Chattan, He did not even carry off the corn, but gave the Grants, and the clan Kenzie, had promised it to Macintosh's grandmother, who enjoyed SLAUGHTER OF THOMAS LINDSAY. 143

the life-rent of the lands of Culloclen as her length of time between the two great rival jointure. families of Sutherland-and Caithness, and the As the Earl of Enzie had other claims against warfare which these occasioned, sowed the Sir Lauehlan Macintosh, he cited him before seeds of a deep-rooted hostility, which extended

the lords of council and session, but failing to its baneful influence among all their followers, appear, he was again denounced rebel, and dependants, and friends, and retarded their outlawed for his disobedience. Sir Lauehlan, advancement. The most trivial offences were who was then in England at court, informed often magnified into the greatest crimes, and the king of the earl's proceedings, which he bodies of men, animated by the deadliest

described as harsh and illegal, and, to counteract hatred, were instantly congregated to avenge the effect which such a statement might have imaginary wrongs. It would be almost an upon the mind of his majesty, the earl posted endless task to relate the many disputes and to London and laid before him a true statement differences which occurred during the seven- of matters. The consequence was, that Sir teenth century in these distracted districts; Lauehlan was sent home to Scotland and com- but as a short account of the principal events

mitted to the castle of Edinburgh, until he is necessary in a work of this nature, we again should give the earl full satisfaction. This proceed agreeably to our plan. step appears to have brought him to reason, The resignation which the Earl of Caithness and induced him to apply, through the media- was compelled to make of part of the feu lands tion of some friends, for a reconciliation with of the bishopric of Caithness, into the hands of the earl, which took place accordingly, at the bishop, as before related, was a measure Edinburgh, in the year 1619. Sir Lauehlan, which preyed upon his mind, naturally restless however, became bound to pay a large sum of and vindictive, and in consequence he con- money to the earl, part of which the latter tinually annoyed the bishop's servants and afterwards remitted. The laird of Grant, by tenants. His hatred was more especially whose advice Macintosh had acted in opposing directed against Robert Monroe of Aldie, com- the earl, also submitted to the latter; but the missary of Caithness, who always acted as

I reconciliation was more nominal than real, chamberlain to the bishop, and factor in the for the earl was afterwards obliged to protect diocese, whom he took every opportunity to the chief of the clan Cameron against them, molest. The earl had a domestic servant, and this circumstance gave rise to many dis- James Sinclair of Dyren, who had possessed sensions between them and the earl, which part of the lands which he had been compelled ended only with the lives of Macintosh and to resign, and which were now tenanted by the laird of Grant, who both died in the year Thomas Lindsay, brother-uterine of Robert 1622, when the ward of part of Macintosh's Monroe, the commissary. This James Sinclair,

lands fell to the earl, as his superior, during at the instigation of the earl, quarrelled with the minority of his son. The Earl of Seaforth Thomas Lindsay, who was passing at the time and his clan, who had also favoured the de- near the earl's house in Thurso, and, after signs of Macintosh, were in like manner recon- changing some hard words, Sinclair inflicted a ciled, at the same time, to the Earl of Enzie, deadly wound upon him, of which he shortly at Aberdeen, through the mediation of the thereafter died. Sinclair immediately fled to Earl of Dunfermline, the Chancellor of Scot- Edinburgh, and thence to London, to meet land, whose daughter the Earl of Seaforth had Sir Andrew Sinclair, who was transacting married. 2 some business for the king of Denmark there,

In no part of the Highlands did the spirit that he might intercede with the king for a

of faction operate so powerfully, or reign with pardon ; but his majesty refused to grant it, greater virulence, than in Sutherland and and Sinclair, for better security, went to Den- Caithness and the adjacent country. The mark along with Sir Andrew. jealousies and strifes which existed for such a As Robert Monroe did not consider his person safe in Caithness under such circumstances,

B Sir Eoliert Gordon, p. 35G, et seq. he retired into Sutherland for a time. He then 144 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. pursued James Sinclair and his master, the sion to speak to Lord Berridale, who was still Earl of Caithness, for the slaughter of his a prisoner for debt in the jail of Edinburgh, brother, Thomas Lindsay ; hut, not appearing respecting the contemplated measures against for trial on the day appointed, they were "both the earl, his father. As Sir Eobert was still outlawed, and denounced rebels. Hearing that very unwilling to enter upon such an enter- Sinclair was in London, Monroe hastened prise, he advised his lordship to undertake thither, and in his own name and that of the the business, by engaging in which he might bishop of Caithness, laid a complaint before his not only get himself relieved of the claims majesty against the earl and his servant. His against him, save his country from the dangers majesty thereupon wrote to the Lords of the which threatened it, but also keep possession of

Privy Council of Scotland, desiring them to his castles ; and that as his father had treated adopt the most speedy and rigorous measures him in the most unnatural manner, by suffering to suppress the oppressions of the earl, that his him to remain so long in prison without taking subjects in the north who were well affected any steps to obtain his liberation, he would be might live in safety and peace ; and to enable justified, in the eyes of the world, in accepting them the more effectually to punish the earl, the offer now made. Being encouraged by his majesty ordered them to keep back the Lord Gordon, Earl of Enzie, to whom Si: remission that had been granted for the affair Eobert Gordon's proposal had been communi- at Sanset, which had not yet been delivered to cated, to embrace the offer, Lord Berridale him. His majesty also directed the Privy offered to undertake the service without any

Council, with all secrecy and speed, to give a charge to his majesty, and that . he would, commission to Sir Eobert Gordon to apprehend before being liberated, give security to his the earl, or force him to leave the kingdom, and creditors, either to return to prison after In, to take possession of all his castles for his had executed the commission, or satisfy them majesty's behoof; that he should also compel for their claims against him. The Privy Coun- the landed proprietors of Caithness to find cil embraced at once Lord Berridale's proposal, surety, not only for keeping the king's peace but, although the Earl of Enzie offered himself in time coming, but also for their personal as surety for his lordship's return to prison after appearance at Edinburgh twice every year, as the service was over, the creditors refused to the West Islanders were bound to do, to consent to his liberation, and thus the matter answer to such complaints as might be made dropped. Sir Eobert Gordon was again urged against them. The letter containing these in- by the council to accept the commission, and structions is dated from Windsor, 25th May, to make the matter more palatable to him, they 1621. granted the commission to him and the Earl

The Privy Council, on receipt of this letter, of Enzie jointly, both of whom accepted it. communicated the same to Sir Eobert Gordon, As the council, however, had no command from

who was then in Edinburgh ; but he excused the king to supply the commissioners with himself from accepting the commission offered shipping and warlike stores, they delayed pro- him, lest his acceptance might be construed as ceedings till they should receive instructions proceeding from spleen and malice against the from his majesty touching that point. Earl of Caithness. This answer, however, did When the Earl of Caithness was informed of not satisfy the Privy _ Council, which insisted the proceedings contemplated against him, and that he should accept the commission ; he that Sir Eobert Gordon had been employed by a eventually did so, but on condition that the commission from his majesty to act in the mat- council should furnish him with shipping and ter, he wrote to the Lords of the Privy Council, the munitions of war, and all other necessaries asserting that he was innocent of the death of to force the earl to yield, in case he should Thomas Lindsay ; that his reason for not ap- fortify either Castle Sinclair or Ackergill, and pearing at Edinburgh to abide Iris trial for that withstand a siege. crime, was not that he had been in any shape While the Privy Council were deliberating privy to the slaughter, but for fear of his on this matter, Sir Eobert Gordon took occa- creditors, who, he was afraid, would apprehend LOED BEEEIDALE AND HIS CEEDITOES. 145

and imprison him ; and promising, that if his his best friends in Caithness. Lord Berridale, majesty would grant him a protection and safe- thereupon, left Caithness and took up his conduct, he would find security to abide trial residence with Lord Gordon, who wrote to his for the slaughter of Thomas Lindsay. On friends at Court to obtain a new commission

receipt of this letter, the lords of the council against the earl. As the king was daily troubled promised him a protection, and in the month with complaints against the earl by his creditors, of August, his brother, James Sinclair of he readily consented to such a request, and he Murkle, and Sir John Sinclair of Greenland, accordingly wrote a letter to the Lords of the became sureties for bis appearance at Edin- Privy Council of Scotland, in the month of burgh, at the time prescribed for his appear- December 1622, desiring them to issue a com- ance to stand trial. Thus the execution of the mission to Lord Gordon to proceed against the commission was in the meantime delayed. earl. The execution of the commission was, Notwithstanding the refusal of Lord Berri- however, postponed in consequence of a message dale's creditors to consent to his Liberation, to Lord Gordon to attend the Court and pro- Lord Gordon afterwards did all in his power ceed to France on some affairs of state, where to accomplish it, and ultimately succeeded in he accordingly went in the year 1623. On obtaining this consent, by giving his own the departure of his lordship, the earl made personal security either to satisfy the creditors, an application to the Lords of the Council for or deliver up Lord Berridale into their hands. a new protection, promising to appear at Edin- TTia lordship was accordingly released from burgh on the 10th of August of this year, and prison, and returned to Caithness in the year to satisfy his creditors. This turned out to be 1621, after a confinement of five years. As a mere pretence to obtain delay, for although his final enlargement from jail depended upon the council granted the protection, as required, his obtaining the means of paying his creditors, upon the most urgent solicitations, the earl and as his father, the earl, staid at home con- failed to appear on the day appointed. This suming the rents of his estates, in rioting and breach of his engagement incensed his majesty licentiousness, without paying any part either and the council the more against him, and made of the principal or interest of his debts, and them more determined than ever to Teduce him without feeling the least uneasiness at his son's to obedience. He was again denounced and confinement, Lord Berridale, immediately on proclaimed rebel, and a new commission was his return, assisted by his friends, attempted granted to Sir Eobert Gordon to proceed against to apprehend his father, so as to get the family him and his abettors with fire and sword. In estates into his own possession ; but without this commission there were conjoined with Sir success. Eobert, his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, In the meantime the earl's creditors, wearied Sir Donald Mackay, his nephew, and James out with the delay which had taken place Sinclair of Murkle, but on this condition, that in liquidating their debts, gTew exceedingly Sir Eobert should act as chief commissioner, clamorous, and some of them took a journey to and that nothing should be done by the other Caithness in the month of April, 1622, to commissioners in the service they were employed endeavour to effect a settlement with the earl in, without his advice and consent. personally. All, however, that they obtained The Earl of Caithness seeing now no longer were fair words, and a promise from the earl any chance of evading the authority of the that he would speedily follow them to Edin- laws, prepared to meet the gathering storm by burgh, and satisfy them of all demands ; but fortifying his castles and strongholds. Pro- he failed to perform his promise. About this clamations were issued interdicting all persons time, a sort of reconciliation appears to have from having any communication with the earl, taken place between the earl and his son, Lord and letters of concurrence were given to Sir

Berridale ; but it was of short duration. On Eobert in name of his majesty, charging and this new disagreement breaking out, the earl commanding the inhabitants of Eoss, Suther- lost the favour and friendship not only of his land, Strathnaver, Caithness, and Orkney, to brothers, James and Sir John, but also that of assist him in the execution of his majesty's 146 GENEEAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

commission ; a ship well furnished with muni- was nearly at hand, and the king's ship could tions of war, was sent to the coast of Caithness not be detained upon the coast idle. Unless, to prevent the earl's escape by sea, and to therefore, the earl at once submitted himself furnish Sir Eohert with ordnance for battering unconditionally to the king's mercy, Sir Eobert the earl's castles in case he should withstand threatened to proceed against him and his a siege. supporters immediately. The earl had been Sir Eobert Gordon having arrived in Suther- hitherto so successful in his different schemes land in the month of August, 1623, was to avoid the ends of justice that such an answer immediately joined by Lord Berridale for the was by no means expected, and the firmness purpose of consulting on the plan of operations displayed in it served greatly to shake his to be adopted ; but, before fixing on any par- courage. ticular plan, it was concerted that Lord Berri- Upon receipt of the intelligence from Lord dale should first proceed to Caithness to learn Berridale, Sir Eobert Gordon made prepara- what resolution his father had come to, and to tions for entering Caithness without delay; ascertain how the inhabitants of that country and, as a precautionary measure, he took stood affected towards the earl. He was also pledges from such of the tribes and families in to notify to Sir Eobert the arrival of the ship Caithness as he suspected were favourable to of war on the coast. A day was, at the same the earl. Before all his forces had time to time, fixed for the inhabitants of the adjoin- assemble, Sir Eobert received notice tliat the ing districts to meet Sir Eobert Gordon in war ship had arrived upon the Caithness coast, Strathully, upon the borders between Suther- and that the earl was meditating an escape be- land and Caithness. Lord Berridale was not yond the seas. Unwilling to withdraw men long in Caithness when he sent notice to Sir from the adjoining provinces during the harvest Eobert acquainting him that his father, the season, and considering the Sutherland forces earl, had resolved to stand out to the last quite sufficient for his purpose, he sent couriers extremity, and that he had fortified the strong into Eoss, Strathnaver, Assynt, and Orkney, castle of Ackergill, which he had supplied with desiring the people who had been engaged to men, ammunition, and provisions, and upon accompany the expedition to remain at home holding out which he placed his last and only till farther notice ; and, having assembled all hope. He advised Sir Eobert to bring with the inhabitants of Sutherland, he picked out him into Caithness as many men as he could the most active and resolute men among them,

muster, as many of the inhabitants stood still whom he caused to be well supplied with war-

well affected to the earl. like weapons, and other necessaries, for the The Earl of Caithness, in the meantime, expedition. Having thus equipped his army, justly apprehensive of the consequences which Sir Eobert, accompanied by his brother, Sir might ensue if unsuccessful in his opposition, Alexander Gordon, and the principal gentle- despatched a messenger to Sir Eobert Gordon, men of Sutherland, marched, on the 3d of proposing that some gentlemen should be September, 1623, from Dunrobin to Killiernan authorized to negotiate between them, for the in Strathully, the place of rendezvous previ- purpose of bringing matters to an amicable ously appointed. Here Sir Eobert divided his iccomniodation. Sir Eobert, who perceived forces into companies, over each of which he the drift of this message, which was solely to placed a commander. The following morning obtain delay, returned for answer that he was he passed the river Helmsdale, and arranged

exceedingly sorry that the earl bad refused the his army in the following order : —Half-a-mile benefit of his last protection for clearing away in advance of the main body he placed a com-

the imputations laid to his charge ; and that pany of the clan Gun, whose duty it was to he clearly perceived that the earl's object in search the fields as they advanced for the pur- proposing a negotiation was solely to waste pose of discovering any ambuscades which time, and to weary out the commissioners might be laid in their way, and to clear away and army by delays, which he, for his own any obstruction to the regular advance of the part, would not submit to, because the harvest main body. The right wing of the army was REDUCTION AND PACIFICATIOISr OF CAITHNESS. 147

led "by John Murray of Aberscors, Hugh Gor- two in" advance of the army till they reached don of Ballellon, and Adam Gordon of Kil- Castle Sinclair. calnikill. The left 'wing was commanded by No sooner did Sir Robert arrive before Castle John Gordon, younger of Emtio, Robert Gray Sinclair, which was a very strong place, and of Ospisdale, and Alexander Sutherland of the principal residence of the Earl of Caith-

Kilphidder. And Sir Robert Gordon himself, ness, than it surrendered, the keys being de- his brother Sir Alexander, the laird of Pul- livered up to him as representing his majesty. rossie, and William Mac-Mhic-Sheumais of The army encamped before the castle two Killiernan, led the centre. The two wings nights, during which time the officers took up were always kept a short distance in advance their quarters within the castle, which was of the centre, from which they were to guarded by Sutherland men. receive support when required. In this man- From Castle Sinclair Sir Robert marched to ner the army advanced towards Berridale, and the castle of Ackergill, another strong place, they observed the same order of marching dur- which also surrendered on the first summons, ing all the time they remained in Caithness. and the keys of which were delivered in like As soon as Lord Berridale heard of Sir manner to him. The army next marched in

Robert Gordon's advance, he and James Sin- battle array to the castle of Kease, the last resi- clair of Murkle, one of the commissioners, and dence of the earl, which was also given up with- some other gentlemen, went forward in haste out resistance. The Countess of Caithness had to meet him. The parties accordingly met previously removed to another residence not far among the mountains above Cayen, about three distant, where she was visited by Sir Robert miles from Berridale. Sir Robert continued Gordon, who was her cousin-gernian. The his march till he arrived at Brea-Na-Henglish countess entreated him, with great earnestness, in Berridale, where at night he encamped. to get her husband again restored to favour, Here they were informed that the ship of war, seeing he had made no resistance to him. Sir after casting anchor before Castle Sinclair, had Robert promised to do what he could if the gone from thence to Scrabster road, and that earl would follow his advice ; but he did not the Earl of Caithness had abandoned the expect that matters could be accommodated so country, and sailed by night into one of the speedily as she expected, from the pecidiar Orkney Islands, with the intention of going situation in which the earl then stood. thence into Norway or Denmark. Erom Brea- From Kease Sir Robert Gordon returned Na-Henglish the army advanced to Lathron, with his army to Castle Sinclair, where, accord- where they encamped. Here James Sinclair ing to the directions he had received from the of Murkle, sheriff of Caithness, Sir "William Privy Council, he delivered the keys of all Sinclair of May, the laird of Ratter, the laird these castles and forts to Lord Berridale, to be of Eorse, and several other gentlemen of Caith- kept by him for his majesty's use, for which he ness, waited upon Sir Robert Gordon and should be answerable to the lords of the coun- tendered their submission and obedience to his cil until the farther pleasure of his majesty majesty, offering, at the same time, every should be known. assistance they could afford in forwarding the The army then returned to Wick in the same objects of the expedition. Sir Robert received marching order which had been observed since them kindly, and promised to acquaint his its first entry into Caithness, at which place majesty with their submission ; but he dis- the. commissioners consulted together, and trusted some of them, and he gave orders that framed a set of instructions to Lord Berridale none of the Caithness people should be allowed for governing Caithness peaceably in time com- to enter his camp after sunset. At Lathron, ing, conformably to the laws of the kingdom, Sir Robert was joined by about 300 of the and for preventing the Earl of Caithness from Caithness men, consisting of the Cadels and again disturbing the country, should he venture others who had favoured Lord Berridale. to return after the departure of the army. At These men were commanded by James Sinclair, Wick Sir Robert Gordon was joined by Sir fiar of Murkle, and were kept always a mile or Donald Mackay, who had collected together — — —

1.48 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

the choicest men of Strathnaver ; but, as the and, upon the death of Sir Lauchlan their object of the expedition had been accomplished, chief, who died a short time before Whitsun- Sir Donald, after receiving Sir Eobert's thanks, day, 1624, they resolved either to recover the returned to Strathnaver. Sir Bobert having possessions of which they had been deprived, brought this expedition to a successful termina- or to lay them waste. While Sir Lauchlan tion, led back his men into Sutherland, and, lived, the clan were awed by his authority and after a stay of three months, went to England, prevented from such an attempt, but no such carrying with him a letter from the Privy impediment now standing in their way, and as Council of Scotland to the king, giving an their chief, who was a mere child, could run account of the expedition, and of its happy no risk by the enterprise, they considered the results. 3 present a favourable opportunity for carrying their plan into execution. Accordingly, a gathering of the clan, to the number of about 200 gentlemen and 300 ser- CHAPTER XI. vants, took place about Whitsunday, 1624.

a. D. 1624—1636. This party was commanded by three uncles of the late chief. 4 " They keeped the feilds,"

BRITISH SOVEREIGNS I — sayo Spalding, " in their Highland weid upon James VI., 1603—1625. Charles I., 1625—1619. foot with swords, bowes, arrowes, targets, hag-

Insurrection of the clan Chattan against the Earl of buttis, pistollis, and other Highland armour; Murray—Dispute between the laird of Dunns and and first began to rob and spoulzie the earle's Gordon, younger of Embo—Sir Donald Mackay's machinations—Feud among the Grants—Dispute tennents, who laboured their possessions, of between the lairds of Frendraught and Hothiemay their haill goods, geir, insight, plenishing, Quarrel between Frendraught and the laird of Pit- caple—Calamitous and fatal fire at Frendraught horse, nolt, sheep, corns, and cattell, and left House—Inquiry as to the cause of the fire— Escape them nothing that they could gett within their of James Grant—Apprehension of Grant of Ballin- dalloch—And of Thomas Grant—Dispute between bounds ; syne fell in sorning throw out Murray, the Earl of Sutherland and Lord Lorn—Depreda- Strathawick, TJrquhart, Eoss, Sutherland, Brae tions committed upon Frendraught— Marquis of Huntly accused therewith—The Marquis and Let- of Marr, and diverse other parts, takeing their terfourie committed Liberated— Death and char- — meat and food per force wher they could not acter of the Marquis. gett it willingly, frae freinds alseweill as frae

The troubles in Sutherland and Caithness had their faes; yet still keeped themselves from been scarcely allayed, when a formidable in- shedeing of innocent blood. Thus they lived surrection broke out on the part of the clan as outlawes, oppressing the countrie, (besydes Chattan against the Earl of Murray, which the casting of the earle's lands waist), and occasioned considerable uproar and confusion openly avowed they had tane this course to gett in the Highlands. The clan Chattan had for thir own possessions again, or then hold the

a very long period been the faithful friends country walking." ' and followers of the Earls of Murray, who, When this rising took place, the Earl of on that account, had allotted them many Murray obtained from Monteith and Balquhid- valuable lands in recompense for their ser- der about 300 armed men, and placing himself vices in Pettie and Strathearn. The clan had, at their head he marched through Moray to In- iu particular, been very active in revenging verness. The earl took up his residence in upon the Marquis of Huntly the death of the castle with the Earl of Enzie, his brother- James, Earl of Murray, who was killed at in-law, eldest son of the Marquis of Huntly, Donnibristle; but his son and successor being and after the party had passed one night at reconciled to the family of Huntly, and need- Inverness, he despatched them in quest of the longer, as aid ing no he thought, the of the 4 Spalding says that the party were commanded by clan, dispossessed them of the lands which his Lauchlan Macintosh, alias Lauchlan Og, uncle of the young chief, and Lauchlan Macintosh or Lauchlan predecessors had bestowed upon them. This Angus-son, eldest son of Angus Macintosh, alias harsh proceeding occasioned great irritation, Angus William, son of Auld Tirlie. Mcmorialls oj the Trublcs in Scotland and im Enrjland, A. D. 1624 3 Sir Robert Gordon, p. 366, et scq. 1645. INSURRECTION OF THE CLAN CHATTAN QUELLED. 149 clan Cliattan, but whether from fear of meet- justice courts at Elgin, where " some slight ing them, or because they could not find them, louns, followers of the clan Chattan," were certain it is that the Monteith and Bakruhidder tried and executed, but all the principals con- men returned without effecting anything, after cerned were pardoned. putting the earl to great expense. The earl, As the account which Spalding gives of the therefore, sent them back to their respective appearance of the accused, and of the base countries, and went himself to Elgin, where he conduct of the principal men of the clan raised another body of men to suppress the Chattan, in informing against their friends and clan Chattan, who were equally unsuccessful in benefactors, is both curious and graphic, it is finding the latter out. here inserted: "Then presently was brought These ineffectual attempts against the clan in befor the barr; and in the honest men's served to make them more bold and dar- faces, the clan Chattan who had gotten supply, ing in their outrages; and as the earl now saw verified what they had gotten, and the honest that no force which he could himself bring men confounded and dasht, knew not what to into the field was sufficient to overawe these answer, was forced to come in the earle's will, marauders, King James, at his earnest solici- whilk was not for their weill : others compeared tation, granted him a commission, appointing and willingly confessed, trusting to gett more him his lieutenant in the Highlands, and giv- favour at the earle's hands, but they came little ing him authority to proceed capitally against speid: and lastly, some stood out and denyed the offenders. On his return the earl pro- all, who was reserved to the triall of an assyse. claimed the commission he had obtained from The principall malefactors stood up in judg- his majesty, and issued letters of intercom- ment, and declared what they had gotten, muning against the clan Chattan, prohibiting whether meat, money, cloathing, gun, ball, all persons from harbouring, supplying, or en- powder, lead, sword, dirk, and the like com- tertaining them, in any manner of way, under modities, and alse instructed the assyse in ilk certain severe pains and penalties. Although particular, what they had gotten frae the per- the Marquis of Huntly was the earl's father-in- sons pannalled; an uncouth form of probation, law, he felt somewhat indignant at the appoint- wher the principall malefactor proves against ment, as he conceived that he or his son had the receiptor for his own pardon, and honest the best title to be appointed to the lieutenancy men, perhaps neither of the clan Chattan's of the north ; but he concealed his displeasure. kyne nor blood, punished for their good will, After the Earl of Murray had issued the ignorant of the laws, and rather receipting notices, prohibiting all persons from communi- them more for their evil nor their good. cating with, or assisting the clan Chattan, their Nevertheless thir innocent men, under collour kindred and friends, who had privately proof justice, part and part as they came in, were mised them aid, before they broke out, began soundly fyned in great soumes as their estates to grow cold, and declined to assist them, as might bear, and some above their estate was they were apprehensive of losing their estates, fyned, and every one warded within the tolbuith many of them being wealthy. The earl per- of Elgine, while the least myte was payed of 5 ceiving this, opened a communication with such as was persued in anno 1624." some of the principal persons of the clan, to Some idea of the unequal administration of induce them to submit to his authority, who, the laws at this time may be formed, when it seeing no hopes of making any longer an effec- is considered that the enormous fines imposed tual resistance, readily acquiesced, and, by the in the present instance, went into the pockets intercession of friends, made then' peace with of the chief judge, the Earl of Murray himself, the earl, on condition that they should inform as similar mulcts had previously gone into him of the names of such persons as had given those of the Earl of Argyle, in his crusade them protection, after the publication of his against the unfortunate clan Gregor! This letters of interdiction. Having thus quelled legal robbery, however, does not appear to have this formidable insurrection without bloodshed,

5 the earl, by virtue of his commission, held Memorials, vol. i. p. 8. 150. GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. enriched the houses of Argyle and Murray, for of Duffus and his brother, James, but he could Sir Eobert Gordon observes, that " these fynes never fall in with either of them, as they did not much advantage either of these two remained in Moray, and, when they appeared earles." The Earl of Murray, no doubt, think- in Sutherland, they were always accompanied ing such a mode of raising money an easy and by some friends, so that Gordon was prevented profitable speculation, afterwards obtained an from attacking them. Frequent disappoint- enlargement of his commission from Charles I., ments in this way only whetted his appetite not only against the clan Chattan, but also for revenge; and meeting, when on horseback, against all other offenders within several adja- one day, between Sidderay and Skibo, with cent shires ; but the commission was afterwards John Sutherland of Clyne, third brother of annulled by his majesty, not so much on the laird of Duffus, who was also on horseback, account of the abuses and injustice which he determined to make the laird of Clyne suffer might have been perpetrated under it, but for the delinquencies of his elder brother. because, as Sir Eobert Gordon observes, "it Eaising, therefore, a cudgel which he held in grieved divers of his majesty's best affected his hand, he inflicted several blows upon John subjects, and chieflie the Marquis of Huntlie, Sutherland, who, as soon as he recovered him- unto whose predicessors onlie the office of self from the surprise and confusion into which livetennendrie in the north of Scotland had such an unexpected attack had thrown him, bein granted by former kings, for these many drew his sword. Gordon, in his turn, un- ages." sheathed his, and a warm combat ensued, There seems reason, however, for supposing between the parties and two friends who ac- that the recall of the commission was hastened companied them. After they had fought a by complaints to the king, on the part of the while, Gordon wounded Sutherland in the oppressed; for the earl had no sooner obtained head and in one of his hands, and otherwise its renewal, than he held a court against the injured him, but he spared his life, although burgh of Inverness, John Grant of Glenmoris- completely in his power. ton, and others who had refused to acknowledge Duffus immediately cited John Gordon to their connexion with the clan Chattan, or to appear before the Privy Council, to answer for pay him the heavy fines which he had imposed this breach of the peace, and, at the same upon them. The town of Inverness endea- time, summoned before the council some of the voured to get quit of the earl's extortions, on Earl of Sutherland's friends and dependants, the ground that the inhabitants were innocent for an alleged conspiracy against himself and

of the crimes laid to their charge ; but the earl his friends. Duffus, with his two brothers frustrated their application to the Privy Coun- and Gordon, came to Edinburgh on the day- 6 cil. The provost, Duncan Forbes, was then appointed, and, the parties being heard, Gordon sent to the king, and Grant of Glenmoriston was declared guilty of a riot, and was there- took a journey to London, at the same time, upon committed to prison. This result gave on his own account; but their endeavours great satisfaction to Duffus and his brothers, proved ineffectual, and they had no alternative who now calculated on nothing less than the but to submit to the earl's exactions. 7 utter ruin of Gordon; as they had, by means The quarrel between the laird of Duffus and of Sir Donald Mackay, obtained a Strathnaver John Gordon, younger of Embo, which had man, named William Mack-Allen (one of the lain dormant for some time, burst forth again, Siol-Thomais), who had been a servant of in the year 1625, and proved nearly fatal to Gordon's, to become a witness against him, both parties. Gordon had long watched an and to prove every thing that Duffus was opportunity to revenge the wrong which he pleased to allege against Gordon. conceived had been done him by the laird In this state of matters, Sir Eobert Gordon returned from London to Edinburgh, where he 6 Founder of the house of Culloden, and great- grandfather of the celebrated Lord President Forbes. found Duffus in high spirits, exulting at his 7 Vide the petition of Provost Forbes to the king, success, and young Embo in prison. Sir "in the name of the inhabitants" of Inverness; printed among the Culloden Papers, No. 5, p. 4. Eobert applied to Duffus, hoping to bring ;

SIE DONALD MACKAY'S MACHINATIONS. 151

about a reconciliation by the intervention of kay and his brother, John Mackay of Dirlet, friends, but Duffus refused to hear of any had obtained a commission from the lords of

arrangement ; and the more reasonable the the " Privy Council for the purpose of appre- conditions were, which Sir Robert proposed, hending him and bringing him before the the more unreasonable and obstinate did he council for some supposed crimes. Mackay

become ; his object being to get the lords to could have easily apprehended Angus Roy Gun award him great sums of money at the expense on different occasions, but having become one of Gordon, in satisfaction for the wrong done of his regiment, he allowed the commission, as his brother. Sir Robert, however, finally suc- far as he was concerned, to remain a dead letter. ceeded, by the assistance of the Earl of Enzie, Sometime after his enlistment, Angus Roy who was then at Edinburgh, in getting the Gun made a journey into Sutherland, a circum- prosecution against the Earl of Sutherland's stance which afforded Mackay an opportunity friends quashed, in obtaining the liberation of of putting into execution the scheme he had John Gordon, and in getting his fine mitigated formed, and which showed that he was no to one hundred pounds Scots, payable to the mean adept in the arts of cunning and dissimu- king only ; reserving, however, civil action to lation. His plan was this : —He wrote, in the John Sutherland of Clyne against Gordon, first place, private letters to the laird of Duffus, before the Lords of Session. 8 and to his brother, John Sutherland of Clyne, Sir Donald Mackay, always restless, and to apprehend Angus Roy Gun under the com- desirous of gratifying his enmity at the house mission he had obtained ; and at the same of Sutherland, endeavoured to embroil it with time, sent the commission itself to the laird of the laird of Duffus in the following way. Duffus as his authority for so doing. He next Having formed a resolution to leave the king- wrote a letter to Alexander Gordon, the Earl dom, Sir Donald applied for, and obtained, a of Sutherland's uncle, who, in the absence of license from the king to raise a regiment in the his brother, Sir Robert, governed Sutherland, north, to assist Count Mansfield in his campaign entreating him, as Angus Roy Gun was then in in Germany. He, accordingly, collected, in a Sutherland, to send him to him to Cromarty, as few months, about 3,000 men from different he was his hired soldier. Ignorant of Mackay's parts of Scotland, the greater part of whom he design, and desirous of serving him, Sir Alex- embarked at Cromarty in the month of October ander sent two of his men to bring Gun to

1626 ; but, on account of bad health, he was Sir Alexander ; but on their return they were obliged to delay his own departure till the met by John Sutherland of Clyne and a party following year, when he joined the king of of sixteen men, who seized Gun ; and to pre- Sweden with his regiment, in consequence of vent a rescue, the laird of Duffus sent his a peace having been concluded between the brother, James Sutherland, Alexander Murray, King of Denmark and the Emperor of Ger- heir-apparent of Aberscors, and William Neill- many. 9 Among others whom Mackay had son, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich, with engaged to accompany him to Germany, was a 300 men to protect his brother John. At the person named Angus Roy Gun, against whom, same time, as he anticipated an attack from Sir a short time previous to his enlistment, Mac- Alexander Gordon, he sent messengers to his supporters in Ross, Strathnaver, Caithness, and 8 Sir R. Gordon, p. 397, et seq. other places for assistance. 9 A considerable number of gentlemen, chiefly from Kos9, Sutherland, and Caithness, joined Mackay, some When Sir Alexander Gordon heard of the of whom rose to high rank in the army of Gustavns assembling of such a body of the Earl of Adolphus. Among these were Robert Monroe of

Foulis, and his brother, Hector ; Thomas Mackenzie, Sutherland's vassals without his knowledge,

brother of the Earl of Seaforth ; John Monroe of Obis- he made inquiry to ascertain the cause ; and dell, and his brother Robert ; John Monroe of Assynt, and others of that surname; Hugh Ross of Priesthill

David Ross and Nicolas Ross, sons of Alexander Ross John Gun Rob-son ; John Sinclair, bastard son of the

of Invereharron ; Hugh Gordon, son of Adam Gordon earl of Caithness ; Francis Sinclair, son of James Sin-

of Culkour ; John Gordon, son of John Gordon of clair of Murkle ; John Innes, son of William Innes of

Garty ; Adam Gordon and John Gordon, sons of Sanset ; John Gun, son of William Gun in Golspie-

Adam Gordon George-son ; Ive Mackay, 'William, son Kirktown ; and George Gun, son of Alexander Gun

of Donald Mackay of Scourie ; William Gun, son of Rob-son. 152 GENERAL HISTOKY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

being informed of Gun's capture, he collected was effected between Sir Robert and Sir Alex- 18 men who were near at hand, and hastened ander Gordon, and the laird of Clyne, who with them from Dunrobin towards Clyne. On was, in consequence, soon thereafter liberated arriving at the bridge of Broray, he found from prison. 1 James Sutherland, with his brother John, and The year 1628 was marked by the breaking their whole party drawn up in battle array at out of an old and deadly feud among the the east end of the bridge. He, thereupon, sent Grants, which had been transmitted from father a person to the Sutherlands to know the cause to son for several generations, in consequence of such an assemblage, and the reason why they of the murder of John Grant of Ballindalloch, had taken Gun from his servants. As the about the middle of the sixteenth century, by Sutherlands refused to exhibit their authority, John Roy Grant of Carron, the natural son of Sir Alexander made demonstrations for passing John Grant of Glenmoriston, at the instigation the bridge, but he was met by a shower of of the laird of Grant, the chief of the tribe, shot and arrows which wounded two of his who had conceived a grudge against his kinsmen. After exchanging shots for some time, man. Some years before the period first men- Sir Alexander was joined by a considerable tioned, James Grant, one of the Carron family, body of his countrymen, by whose aid, not- happening to be at a fair in the town of Elgin, withstanding the resistance he met with, he observed one of the Grants of the Ballindalloch was enabled to cross the bridge. The Suther- family eagerly pursuing his (James's) brother, lands were forced to retreat, and as they saw Thomas Grant, whom he knocked down in the no chance of opposing, with success, the power street and wounded openly before his eyes. of the house of Sutherland, they, after some The assailant was in his turn attacked by James hours' consultation, delivered up Angus Roy Grant, who killed him upon the spot and im- Gun to Sir Alexander Sutherland, who sent mediately decamped. Ballindalloch then cited Mm immediately to Mackay, then at Cromarty. James Grant to stand trial for the slaughter of As such an example of insubordination his kinsman, but, as he did not appear on the among the Earl of Sutherland's vassals might, day appointed, he was outlawed. The laird of if overlooked, lead others to follow a similar Grant made many attempts to reconcile the course, Sir Alexander caused the laird of Duffus parties, but in vain, as Ballindalloch was ob- and his brother of Clyne, with their accom- stinate and would listen to no proposals. plices, to be cited to appear at Edinburgh on Nothing less than the blood of James Grant the 16th of November following, to answer would satisfy Ballindalloch. before the Privy Council for their misdemean- This resolution on the part of Ballindalloch ours. The laird of Duffus, however, died in almost drove James Grant to despair, and see-

the month of October, but the laird of Clyne ing his life every moment in jeopardy, and de- appeared at Edinburgh at the time appointed, prived of any hope of effecting a compromise, and produced before the Privy Council the he put himself at the head of a party of bri- letter he had received from Mackay, as his gands, whom he collected from all parts of the authority for acting as he had done. Sir Alex- Highlands. These freebooters made no dis- ander Gordon also produced the letter sent to tinction between friends and foes, but attacked

him by Sir Donald, who was thereby convicted all persons of whatever description, and wasted of having been the intentional originator of the and despoiled their property. James Grant of

difference ; but as the lords of council thought Dalnebo, one of the family of Ballindalloch,

that the laird of Clyne had exceeded the fell a victim to their fury, and many of the bounds of his commission, he was imprisoned kinsmen of that family suffered greatly from in the jail of Edinburgh, wherein he was the depredations committed by Grant and his ordered to remain until he should give satisfac- associates. The Earl of Murray, under the tion to the other party, and present some of renewed and extended commission which he his men who had failed to appear though sum- had obtained from King Charles, made various moned. By the mediation, however, of James

1 Sutherland, tutor of Duffus, a reconciliation Sir K, Gordon, p. 401, et se<). FEUD AMONG THE GBANTS. 153

attempts to put an end to these lawless pro- from James Grant, in a skirmi sh that passed ceedings, but to no purpose; the failure of betwixt them. Thus wee doe sie that the these attempts serving only to harden James judgements of God are inscrutable, and that, Grant and his party, who continued their de- in his own tyme, he punisheth blood by blood." 2 predations. As John Grant of Carron, nephew The Earl of Murray, when he heard of this of James Grant, was supposed to maintain and occurrence, instead of taking measures against assist his uncle secretly, a suspicion for which Ballindalloch for his outrage against the laws, there seems to have been no foundation, John which he was fully entitled to do by virtue Grant of Ballindalloch sought for an oppor- of the commission he held, took part with tunity of revenging himself upon Carron, who Ballindalloch against the friends of Carron. was a promising young man. Carron having He not only represented Ballindalloch's case one day left his house, along with one Alex- favourably at court, but also obtained an in- ander Grant and seven or eight other persons, demnity for him for some years, that he might to cut down some timber in the woods of not be molested. The countenance thus given Abernethy, Ballindalloch thought the occa- by his majesty's lieutenant to the murderer of sion favourable for putting his design into their kinsmen, exasperated James and Alexan- execution. Having collected and armed sixteen der Grant in the highest degree against Ballin- of his friends, he went to the forest where dalloch and his supporters, whom they contin- Carron was, and under the pretence of search- ually annoyed with their incursions, laying ing for James Grant and some of his associates, waste their lands and possessions, and cutting against whom he had a commission, attacked off their people. To such an extent was this Carron, who fought manfully in defence of his system of lawless warfare carried, that Ballin- life, but being overpowered, was killed by dalloch was forced to flee from the north of

Ballindalloch. Before Carron fell, however, Scotland, and live for the most part in he and Alexander Grant had slain several of Edinburgh, to avoid the dangers with which Ballindalloch's friends, among whom were he was surrounded. But James Grant's des- Thomas Grant of Davey, and Lauchlan Mac- perate career was checked by a party of the intosh of Eockinoyr. Alexander Grant after- clan Chattan, who unexpectedly attacked him wards annoyed Ballindalloch, killing several of at Auchnachyle, in Strathdoun, under cloud of his men, and assisted James Grant to lay waste night, in the latter end of December, 1630, Ballindalloch's lands. " Give me leave heir," when he was taken prisoner after receiving says Sir E. Gordon, " to remark the provi- eleven wounds, and after four of his party were dence and secrait judgement of the Almightie killed. He was sent by his captors to Edin- God, who now hath mett Carron with the burgh for trial before the lords of the council, same measure that his forefather, John Eoy and was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, Grant of Carron, did serve the ancestor of from which he escaped in the manner to be Ballendallogh; for upon the same day of the afterwards noticed. moneth that John Eoy Grant did kill the great About the time that James Grant was deso- grandfather of Ballendallogh (being the eleventh lating the district of the Highlands, to which day of September), the verie same day of this his operations were confined, another part of month wes Carron slain by this John Grant of the country was convulsed by a dispute, end- Ballendallogh many yeirs thereafter. And, being tragically, which occurred between James sides,as that John Eoy Grant of Carron was left- Crichton of Frendret, or Frendraught, and handed, so is this John Grant of Ballendallogh William Gordon of Eothiemay, whose lands left-handed also; and moreover, it is to be ob- lay adjacent to each other. Part of Gordon's served that Ballendallogh, at the killing of this lands which marched with those of Crichton Carron, had upon him the same coa1>of-armour, were purchased by the latter; but a dispute or maillie-coat, which John Eoy Grant had upon having occurred about the right to the salmon him at the slaughter of the great-grandfather fishings belonging to these lands, an irrecon- of this Ballendallogh, which maillie-coat Bal- lendallogh had, a little before this tyme, taken - Ilistortj, p. 416. ;

154 GENEEAL H1ST0ET OF THE HIGHLANDS.

cilable difference arose between them, which no three days thereafter. George Gordon, brother mediation of friends could reconcile, although of Gordon of Lesmoir, received a shot in the the matter in dispute was of little moment. thigh, and died in consequence ten days after The parties having had recourse to the law to the skirmish. These were the only deaths settle their respective claims, Crichton pre- which occurred, although several of the com- vailed, and succeeded in getting Gordon de- batants on both sides were wounded. John nounced rebel. He had previously treated Meldrum, who fought on Frendraught's side, Eothiemay very harshly, who, stung by the was the only person severely wounded. severity of his opponent, and by the victory he The Marquis of Huntly was highly displeased

had obtained over him, would listen to no pro- at Frendraught for having, in such a trifling posals of peace, nor follow the advice of his matter, proceeded to extremities against his best friends. Determined to set the law at kinsman, a chief baron of his surname, whose defiance, he collected a number of loose and life had been thus sacrificed in a petty quarrel.

disorderly characters, and annoyed Frendraught, The displeasure of the marquis was still farther who, in consequence, applied for and obtained heightened, when he was informed that Fren- a commission from the Privy Council for appre- draught had joined the Earl of Murray, and had hending Eothiemay and his associates. In the claimed his protection and assistance ; but the execution of this task he was assisted by Sir marquis was obliged to repress his indignation. George Ogilvy of Banff, George Gordon, John Gordon of Eothiemay, eldest son of the brother-german of Sir James Gordon of Les- deceased laird, resolved to avenge the death moir, and the uncle of Frendraught, James of his father, and having collected a party of Leslie, second son of Leslie of Pitcaple, John men, he associated himself with James Grant Meldrum of Eeidhill, and others. Accom- and other freebooters, for the purpose of laying panied by these gentlemen, Crichton left his waste Frendraught's lands, and oppressing him house of Frendraught on the 1st of January, in every possible way. Frendraught, who was 1630, for the house of Eothiemay, with a reso- in the south of Scotland when this combination lution either to apprehend Gordon, his anta- against him was formed, no sooner heard of it gonist, or to set him at defiance by affronting than he posted to England, and, having laid a him. He was incited the more to follow this statement of the case before the king, his ma- course, as young Eothiemay, at the head of a jesty remitted the matter to the Privy Council of party, had come a short time before to the very Scotland, desiring them to use their best endea- doors of Frendraught, and had braved him to vours for settling the peace of the northern his face. When Eothiemay heard of the ad- parts of the kingdom. A commission was vance of Frendraught, he left his house, accom- thereupon granted by the lords of the council panied by his eldest son, John Gordon, and to Frendraught and others, for the purpose of about eight men on horseback armed with guns apprehending John Gordon and his associates ; and lances, and a party of men on foot with but, as the commissioners were not able to muskets, and crossing the river Deveron, went execute the task imposed upon them, the lords forward to meet Frendraught and his party. of the council sent Sir Eobert Gordon, tutor A sharp conflict immediately took place, in of Sutherland, who had just returned from which Eothiemay's horse was killed under him England, and Sir "William Seaton of Killes- but he fought manfully for some time on foot, muir, to the north, with a new commission until the whole of his party, with the excep- against the rebels. As it seemed to be en- tion of his son, were forced to retire. The son, tirely out of the power of the Earl of Murray notwithstanding, continued to support his to quell the disturbances in the north, the father against fearful odds, but was at last two commissioners received particular instruc- obliged to save himself by flight, leaving bis tions to attempt, with the aid of the Marquis father lying on the field covered with wounds, of Huntly, to get matters settled amicably, and and supposed to be dead. He, however, was the opposing parties reconciled. The lords of found still alive after the conflict was over, and the council, at the same time, wrote a letter to being carried home to his house, died within the Marquis of Huntly to the same effect. " ;,;

DISPUTE .BETWEEN FEENDEAUGHT AND PITCAPLE. 155

Sir Eobert Gordon and Sir William Seaton Frendraught fulfilled these conditions most accordingly left Edinburgh, on their way north, willingly, and the parties shook hands together in the beginning of May, 1630. The latter in the orchard of Strathbogie, in token of a stopped at Aberdeen for the purpose of con- hearty and sincere reconciliation. 4 sulting with some gentlemen of that county, The laird of Frendraught had scarcely been as to the best mode of proceeding against the reconciled to Eothiemay, when he got into rebels ; and the former went to Strathbogie to another dispute with the laird of Pitcaple, the advise with the Marquis of Huntly. occasion of which was as follows : —John Mel- On Sir Eobert's arrival at Strathbogie, he drum of Eeidhill had assisted Frendraught in found that the marquis had gone to Aberdeen his quarrel with old Eothiemay, and had to attend the funeral of the laird of Drum. received a wound in the skirmish in which the By a singular coincidence, James Grant and latter lost his life, for which injury Fren- Alexander Grant descended the very day of draught had allowed him some compensation Sir Eobert's arrival from the mountains, at but, conceiving that his services had not been the head of a party of 200 Highlanders, well fairly requited, he began to abuse Frendraught, armed, with a resolution to burn and lay and threatened to compel him to give him a waste Frendraught's lands. As soon as Sir greater recompense than he had yet received. Eobert became aware of this circumstance, As Frendraught refused to comply with his he went in great haste to Eothiemay house, demands, Meldrum entered the park of Fren- where he found John Gordon and his associates draught privately in the night-time, and carried in arms, ready to set out to join the Grants. away two horses belonging to his pretended By persuasion and entreaties Sir Eobert, as- debtor. Frendraught thereupon prosecuted sisted by his nephew the Earl of Sutherland, Meldrum for theft, but he declined to appear and his brother, Sir Alexander Gordon, who in court, and was consequently declared rebel. were then at Frendraught on a visit to the Frendraught then obtained a commission from lady of that place, who was a sister of the earl, the Privy Council to apprehend Meldrum, prevailed not only upon John Gordon and his who took refuge with John Leslie of Pitcaple, friends to desist, but also upon James Grant whose sister he had married. Under the com- and his companions-in-arms, to disperse. mission which he had procured, Frendraught On the return of the Marquis of Huntly to went in quest of Meldrum, on the 27th of Strathbogie, Eothiemay and Frendraught were September, 1630. He proceeded to Pitcaple's both induced to meet them in presence of the lands, on which he knew Meldrum then lived, marquis, Sir Eobert Gordon, and Sir William where he met James Leslie, second son of the Seaton, who, after much entreaty, prevailed laird of Pitcaple, who had been with him at upon them to reconcile their differences, and the skirmish of Eothiemay. Leslie then began submit all matters in dispute to their arbitra- to expostulate with him in behalf of Meldrum ment. A decree-arbitral was accordingly pro- his brother-in-law, who, on account of the aid nounced, by which the arbiters adjudged that he had given him in his dispute with Eothie- the laird of Eothiemay and the children of may, took Leslie's remonstrances in good part George Gordon should mutually remit their but Eobert Crichton of Conland, 5 a kinsman father's slaughter, and, in satisfaction thereof, of Frendraught, grew so warm at Leslie's free- they decerned that the laird of Frendraught dom that from high words they proceeded to should pay a certain sum of money to the laird blows. Conland, then, drawing a pistol from of Eothiemay, for relief of the debts which he his belt, wounded Leslie in the arm, who was had contracted during the disturbances between thereupon carried home, apparently in a dying the two families, 3 and that he should pay some state. money to the children of George Gordon. This affair was the signal for a confederacy among the Leslies, the greater part of whom

:! Spalding says that Frendraught was " ordained to 4 pay to the lady, relict of Rothiemay, and the bairns, Sir R. Gordon, p. 416, c.t seq. Spalding, p. 14. 8 liftie thousand merks, in composition of the slaughter. Sir R. Gordon (p. 419) spells this Couland and P. 14. Ooudland. 156 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

took up arms against Frendraught, who, a few At the meeting with the marquis, Pitcapit days after the occurrence, viz., on the 5th of complained heavily of the injury his son had

October, first went to the Marquis of Hmitly, sustained, and avowed, rather rashly, that he and afterwards to the Earl of Murray, to express would revenge himself before he returned home, the regret he felt at what had taken place, and and that, at all events, he would listen to no to beg their kindly interference to bring matters proposals for a reconciliation till it should be to an amicable accommodation. The Earl of ascertained whether his son would survive the Murray, for some reason or other, declined to wound he had received. The marquis insisted interfere; but the marquis undertook to mediate that Erendraught had done him no wrong, and between the parties. Accordingly, he sent for endeavoured to dissuade him from putting his the laird of Pitcaple to come to the Bog of threat into execution ; but Pitcaple was so dis-

Gight to confer with him ; hut, before setting pleased at the marquis for thus expressing out, he mounted and equipped about 30 horse- himself, that he suddenly mounted his horse men, in consequence of information he had and set off, leaving Frendranght behind him. received that Frendrausht was at the Bog. The marquis, afraid of the consequences, de-

Frendraught House, with the ruins of the old Castle in front. — From a photograph taken for this work. tained Frendraught two days with him in the Gordon, a servant of the viscount, and his Bog of Gight, and, hearing that the Leslies page, English Will, as he was called, also slept had assembled, and lay hi wait for Frendraught in the same chamber. The laird of Rothiemay, watching his return home, the marquis sent his with some servants, were put into an upper son, John, Viscount of Aboyne, and the laird chamber immediately above that in which the of Rothiemay along with him, to protect and viscount slept ; and in another apartment, defend him if necessary. They arrived at directly over the latter, were laid George Frendraught without interruption, and being Chalmer of Noth, Captain Rollock, one of solicited to remain all night, they yielded, and, Frendraught's party, and George Gordon, an- after partaking of a hearty supper, went to bed other of the viscount's servants. About in the apartments provided for them. midnight the whole of the tower almost

The sleeping apartment of the viscount was instantaneously took fire, and so suddenly and in the old tower of Frendraught, leading off furiously did the flames consume the edifice, from the hall. Immediately below this apart- that the viscount, the laird of Rothiemay, nient was a vault, in the bottom of which was English Will, Colonel Ivat, one of Aboyne's a round hole of considerable depth. Robert friends, and two other persons, perished in LUEN1NG OF FEENDEAUGHT HOUSE. 157

the flames. Eobert Gordon, called Sutherland ascertain, if possible, how the fire had origin- Gordon, from having heen horn in that county, ated. After a minute inspection, they came to who lay in the viscount's chamher, escaped the deliberate opinion, which they communi- from the flames, as did George Chalmer and cated in writing to the council, that the fire

Captain Eollock, who were in the third floor; could not have been accidental, and that it and it is said that Lord Aboyne might have must have been occasioned either by some saved himself also, had he not, instead of going means from without, or raised intentionally out of doors, which he refused to do, run sud- within the vaults or chambers of the tower. 7 denly up stairs to Eothiemay's chamber for the The matter, however, was not allowed to purpose of awakening him. While so engaged, rest here, but underwent thorough investigation the stair-case and ceiling of Bothieniay's apart- by the Privy Council in Edinburgh, the result ment hastily took fire, and, being prevented being that John Meldruni, above mentioned, from descending by the flames, which filled the was brought to trial and condemned to death stair-case, they ran from window to window of by the Justiciary Court, in August, 1633, as the apartment piteously and unavailingly ex- having been the perpetrator of the fiend- claiming for help. ish deed. "We give below an extract from The news of this calamitous event spread the " dittay " or indictment against Meldrum, speedily throughout the kingdom, and the fate showing the manner in which it was thought of the unfortunate sufferers was deeply deplored. he accomplished his devilish task. 8 The Many conjectures were formed as to the cause catastrophe roused such intense and wide- of the conflagration. Some persons laid the spread excitement among all classes of people blame on Frendraught without the least reason; at the time, that the grief and horror which for, besides the improbability of the thing, was felt found an outlet in verse. 9 Frendraught himself was a considerable loser, 7 Spalding, p. 24. having lost not only a large quantity of silver 8 "Johne Meldrum haifing convocat to himsellf plate and coin, but also the title deeds of his certane brokin men, all fugitiues and rebellis, his complices and associate's, upone the audit day of property and other necessary papers, which October, the yeir of God jai vie and threttie yeiris were all consumed. The greater number, how- under silence and clud of nicht, betwix twelff hours at nycht and twa eftir mydnycht, come to the place of ever, suspected the Leslies and their adherents, Frendraucht, and supponeing and certanely persuad- who were then so enraged at Frendraught that ing himselff that the said James Creichtoun of Fren- ilrauchtweslyingwithin the tourof Frendraucht, qukilk they threatened to burn the house of Fren- was the only strenth and strongest pairt of the said draught, and had even entered into a negotia- place, the said Johne Meldrum, with his saidis complices, in maist tresonabill and feirfull maner, haifing tion to that effect with James Grant the rebel, brocht with thame ane hudge quantitie of powder, who was Pitcaple's cousin -german, for his pik, brumstone, flax, and uther combustabill matter assistance. 6 provydit be thame for the purpois, pat and convoyit the samyn in and throw the slittis and stones of the The Marquis of Huntly, who suspected volt of the said grit tour of Frendraucht, Weill knaw- said Johne Frendraught to be the author of the fire, after- in and foirseine be the Meldrum, quha with his complices at that instant tyme fyret the wards went to Edinburgh and laid a statement samyn pik, powder, brumstone, flax, and uther com- of the case before the Privy Council, who, bustable matter above writtin, at dyuerse places of the said volt; quhilk being sua fyret and kindlet, did thereupon, issued a commission to the bishops violentlie flie to ane hoill in the heid of the said volt of Aberdeen and Moray, Lord Ogilvie, Lord and tak vent thairat, the whilk hoill of the said volt and vent thairof being perfytlie knawin to the said Carnegie, and Colonel Bruce, to investigate John Meldrum, be rcasone he had remained in hous- the circumstances which led to the catastrophe. hald with the said laird of Frendraucht, as his douie- full servand, within the said hous and place of Fren- The commissioners accordingly went to Fren- draucht for ane lang tyme of befoir, and knew and was draught on April 13th, 1631, where they were pre vie to all the secreitis of the said house. And the said volt being sua fyret, the haill tour and houssis met by Lords Gordon, Ogilvie, and Deskford, quhairof immediately thaireftir, being foure hous high!, and several barons and gentlemen, along with in les space than ane hour tuik fyre in the deid hour of the night, and was in maist tresonabill, horrible, whom they examined the burnt tower and and lamentable maner brunt, blawin up, aud con- vaults below, with the adjoining premises, to sumed"— Spalding's Memorialls, Appendix, vol. i. p. 390. ;1 A ballad is still sung in the district around ' Sir R. Gordon, p. 241. —Spalding, p. 13, et seq. Frendraught, which, says Motherwell, "has a high ———— , ;

158 GENERAL HISTORY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

During James Grant's confinement within purpose. His wife was taken into custody bj the castle of Edinburgh, the north was com- order of the Marquis of Huntly, but after paratively quiet. On the night of the 15th undergoing an examination, in which she October, 1632, he, however, effected his escape admitted nothing which could in the least from the castle by descending on the west side degree criminate her, she was set at liberty. 9 by means of ropes furnished to him by his James Grant did not remain long in Ireland, wife or son, and fled to Ireland. Proclama- but returned again to the north, where he con- tions were immediately posted throughout the cealed himself for some time, only occasionally whole kingdom, offering large sums for his skulking here and there in such a private man- apprehension, either dead or alive, but to no ner, that his enemies were not aware of his presence. By degrees he grew bolder, and at degree of poetic merit, and probably was written last appeared openly in Strathdoun and on at the time by an eye-witness of the event which it records." We give a few verses from the version in Speyside. His wife, who was far advanced in Motherwell's Minstrelsy, as quoted in the Appendix pregnancy, had taken a small house in Carron. to Spalding, vol. i. p. 409. belonging to the heirs of her husband's nephew, " The eighteenth of October, A dismal tale to hear, in which she meant to reside till her accouche- How good Lord John and Rothiemay ment, and in which she was occasionally visited Was both burnt in the fire. by her husband. Ballindalloch hearing of this, They had not long cast off their cloaths, And were but now asleep hired a person named Patrick Macgregor, an When the weary smoke began to rise, Likewise the scorching heat. outlaw, to apprehend James Grant. This em- ployment was considered by Macgregor and ' waken, waken, Rothiemay, waken, brother dear, his party a piece of acceptable service, as they And turn you to our Saviour, There is strong treason here.' expected, in the event of Grant's apprehension, to obtain pardon for then- offences from the He did him to the wire-window As fast— as he could gang lords of the council. Macgregor, therefore, at Says ' Wae to the hands put in the stancheons, For out we'll never win.' the head of a party of men, lay in wait for — James Grant near Carron, and, on observing Cried ' Mercy, mercy, Lady Frendraught, Will ye not sink with sin ? him enter his wife's house at night, along with For first your husband killed my father, And now you burn his son.' his bastard son and another man, they im-

then out spoke her, Lady Frendraught, mediately surrounded the house and attempted And loudly did she cry to force an entry. Grant perceiving his danger, ' It were great pity for good Lord John, But none for Rothiemay. acted with great coolness and determination. But the keys are casten in the deep draw well, Having fastened the door as firmly as he could, Ye cannot get away.' he and his two companions went to two win- While he stood in this dreadful plight, Most piteous to be seen, dows, from which they discharged a volley of There called out his servant Gordon, their assailants, all shrunk As he had frantic been. arrows upon who back, none would venture near the door "' and loup, loup, my dear master, loup and come to me; except Macgregor himself, who came boldly I'll catch you in my arms two, force it ; One foot I will not flee.' forward and endeavoured to but he paid dearly for his rashness, for Grant, imme- ' But I cannot loup, I cannot come, 1 cannot win to thee; My head's fast in the wire-window, ' wae be to you, George Gordon, My feet burning from me. An ill death may you die, there, ' Take here the rings from my white fingers, So safe and sound as you stand That are so long and small, And my Lord bereaved from me.' And give them to my Lady fair, ' I bade him loup, I bade him come, Where she sits in her hall. I bade him loup to me,

' So I cannot loup, I cannot come, I'd catch him in my arms two, I cannot loup to thee A foot I should not flee.' My earthly part is all consumed, ' And aft she cried, Ohon ! alas, alas, My spirit but speaks to thee.' A sair heart's ill to win I wan a sair heart when I married him, Wringing her hands, tearing her hair, " His Lady she was seen, And the day it's well return'd again.' And thus addressed his servant Gordon Where he stood on the green. Spalding, vol. i. p. 29. IMPRISONMENT OE GRANT OE BALLINDALLOCH. 159

diately laying hold of a musket, shot him should, by another attempt, get his other arm through both his thighs, when he instantly out of M'Grimmon's grasp. The morning of fell to the ground, and soon after expired. Sunday, the 28th of December, was fixed upon In the confusion which this occurrence occa- for putting the stratagem into execution. The sioned among Macgregor's party, Grant and his plan succeeded, and as soon as Ballindalloch two associates escaped. found his arms at liberty, he suddenly sprung Shortly after this event, on the night of to his feet and made for the door of the kiln. Sunday, December 7th, 1634, James Grant Leslie immediately followed him, pretending apprehended his cousin, John Grant of Ballin- to catch him, and as M'Grimmon was hard dalloch, by stratagem. After remaining a few upon his heels, Leslie purposely stumbled in days at Culquholy, Ballindalloch was blind- his way and brought M'Grimmon down to the folded and taken to Thomas Grant's house at ground. This stratagem enabled Ballindalloch Dandeis, about three miles from Elgin, on the to get a-head of his pursuers, and although high road between that town and the Spey. M'Grimmon sounded the alarm, and the pur- James Grant ordered him to be watched strictly, suit was continued by Robert Grant and a whether sleeping or waking, by two strong party of James Grant's followers, Ballindalloch men on each side of him. Ballindalloch com- succeeded in reaching the village of Urquhart plained of foul play, but James Grant excused in safety, accompanied by Leonard Leslie. himself for acting as he had done for two Sometime after his escape, Ballindalloch reasons; 1st, Because Bal lin dalloch had failed applied for and obtained a warrant for the to perform a promise he had made to obtain apprehension of Thomas Grant, and others, for a remission for him before the preceding Lam- harbouring James Grant. Thomas Grant, and

mas ; and, '2dly, That he had entered into a some of his accomplices, were accordingly seized treaty with the clan Gregor to deprive him of and sent to Edinburgh, where they were tried his life. and convicted. Grant was hanged, and others

Ballindalloch was kept in durance vile for were banished from Scotland for life. twenty days in a kiln near Thomas Grant's After Ballindalloch's escape, James Grant house, suffering the greatest privations, without kept remarkably quiet, as many persons lay in

fire, light, or bed-clothes, in the dead of winter, wait for him ; but hearing that Thomas Grant, and without knowing where he was. He was brother of Patrick Grant of Colquhoche, and closely watched night and day by Leonard a friend of Ballindalloch, had received a sum Leslie, son-in-law of Robert Grant, brother of of money from the Earl of Moray, as an James Grant, and a strong athletic man, named encouragement to seek out and slay James M'Grimmon, who would not allow him to leave Grant, the latter resolved to murder Thomas the kiln for a moment even to perform the Grant, and thus relieve himself of one enemy necessities of nature. On Christmas, James at least. He therefore went to Thomas's house, Grant and his party having gone on some but not finding him at home, he killed sixteen excursion, leaving Leslie and M'Grimmon be- of his cattle ; and afterwards learning that hind them, Ballindalloch, worn out by fatigue, Thomas Grant was sleeping at the house of a and almost perishing from cold and hunger, friend hard by, he entered that house and addressed Leslie in a low tone of voice, lament found Thomas Grant and a bastard brother of ing his miserable situation, and imploring him his, both in bed. Having forced them out of to aid him in effecting his escape, and promis- bed, he took them outside of the house and ing, in the event of success, to reward him put them immediately to death. A few days handsomely. Leslie, tempted by the offer, after the commission of this crime, Grant and acceded to Ballindalloch's request, and made four of his associates went to the lands of him acquainted with the place of his confine- Strathbogie, and entered the house 'of the com- ment. It was then arranged that Ballindalloch, mon executioner, craving some food, without under the pretence of stretching his arms, being aware of the profession of the host whose should disengage the arm which Leslie held, hospitality they solicited. The executioner, and that, having so disentangled that arm, ho disbking the appearance of Grant and his I6C GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. companions, went to James Gordon, the bailie majority in 1630 and entering upon the man- of Stratlibogie, and informed him that there agement of his own affairs, found the hostility were some suspicious looking persons in his of the enemy of his family either neutralised or

house. Judging that these could be none other rendered no longer dangerous ; but, in the year but Grant and his comrades, Gordon immedi- 1633 he found himself involved in a quarrel ately collected some well-armed horsemen and with Lord Lorn, eldest son of the Earl of foot, and surrounded the house in which Grant Argyle, who had managed the affairs of his was ; but he successfully resisted all their family during his father's banishment from attempts to enter the house, and killed two Scotland. This dispute arose out of the fol- servants of the Marquis of Huntly. After lowing circumstances. keeping them at bay for a considerable time, In consequence of a quarrel between Lord Grant and his brother, Eobert, effected their Berridale, who now acted as sole administrator escape from the house, but a bastard son of of his father's estates, and William Mac-Iver, James Grant, John Forbes, an intimate associ- chieftain of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair, in Caith- ate, and another person, were taken prisoners, ness, the former removed the latter from the and carried to Edinburgh, where they were lands and possessions he held of him in Caith- executed, along with a notorious thief, named ness. Mac-Iver thereupon retired into Argyle, Gille-Eoy-Mac-Gregor. This occurrence took and assuming the surname of Campbell, as place in the year 1636. The laird of .Grant being originally an Argyle man, sought the had, during the previous year, been ordered favour and protection of Lord Lorn. The by the council to apprehend James Grant, or latter endeavoured, by writing to the Earl of to make him leave the kingdom ; and they Sutherland, Berridale himself, and others, to had obliged him to find caution and surety, in bring about a reconciliation between Mac-Iver terms of the general bond 1 appointed by law and Berridale, but to no purpose. Seeing no to be taken from all the heads of clans, and from hopes of an accommodation, Mac-Iver collected all governors of provinces in the kingdom, but a party of rebels and outlaws, to the number of chiefly in the west and north of Scotland ; but about 20, and made an incursion into Caith- the laird could neither perform the one nor the ness, where, during the space of four or five other. 2 years, he did great injury, carrying off con- By the judicious management of the affairs siderable spoil, which he conveyed through of the house of Sutherland by Sir Eobert the heights of Strathnaver and Sutherland. Gordon, his nephew, the earl, on reaching his To put an end to Mac-Iver's depredations, Lord Berridale at first brought a legal prosecu-

1 The "Common Band" or "General Band," was tion against him, and having got him de- popular Act the name given in speech to an of the nounced rebel, sent out parties of his country- Scottish Parliament of the year 1587, which was passed for with the view of maintaining good order, both on the men to ensnare him ; but he escaped a long Borders and in the Highlands and Isles. The plan time, and always retired in safety with his on which this Act chiefly proceeded was, "To make either into the isles or into Argyle. it imperative on all landlords, bailies, and chiefs of booty, clans, to find sureties to a large amount, proportioned Lord Lorn, however, publicly disowned Mac- to their wealth and the number of their vassals or proceedings. In his incursions, Mac- clansmen, for the peaceable and orderly behaviour of Iver's those under them. It was provided, that, if a supe- Iver was powerfully assisted by an islander of rior, after having found the required sureties, should the name of Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle, who fail to make immediate reparation of any injuries committed by persons for whom he was bound to had married his daughter, and who was well answer, the injured party might proceed at law against acquainted with all the passes leading into the sureties for the amount of the damage sustained. Besides being compelled, in such cases, to reimburse Caithness. his sureties, the superior was to incur a heavy fine to At last Mac-Iver and his son were appre- the Crown. This important statute likewise contained many useful provisions for facilitating the administra- hended by Lord Berridale, and hanged, and tion of justice in these rude districts."—Spalding's the race of the Siol-Mhic-Imheair was almost Memorialls, vol. i. p. 3, (note). Oregon's Western Highlands, p. 237. extinguished ; but Gille-Calum-Mac-Shomhairle 2 Continuation of the History of the Earls of Suther- having associated with himself several of the land, by Gilbert Gordon of Sallagh, annexed to Sir E. Isles Argyle, and some out- Gordon's work, p. 460. Spalding, p. 63. men of the and EXECUTION OF EWEN AIED AND ACCOMPLICES. 161 laws of the clan. Mhic-Iain-Dhivinn, who were where Ewen Aird and bis accomplices were dependants of Lord Lorn, continued his incur- tried before a jury, convicted, and executed at sions into Caithness. Having divided his com- Dornoch, with the exception of two young pany into two parties, one of which, headed by boys, who were dismissed. Gille-Calum himself, went to the higher parts The Privy Council not only approved of of Eoss and Sutherland, there to remain till what the Earl of Sutherland had done, but joined "by their companions. The other party also sent a commission to him, the Earl went through the lowlands of Eoss, under the of Seaforth, Hutcheon Eoss, and some other pretence of going to the Lammas fair, then held gentlemen in Eoss and Sutherland, against the at Tain, and thence proceeded to Sutherland to clan Mhic-Iain-Dhu inn, in case they should meet the rest of their associates, under the pre- again make any incursion into Eoss and Suth tence of visiting certain kinsmen they said erland. they had in Strathully and Strathnaver. This Lord Lorn being at this time justiciary of the last-mentioned body consisted of 16 or 20 per- Isles, had obtained an act of the Privy Council sons, most of whom were of the clan Mhic-Iain- in his favour, by which it was decreed that any Dhuinn. They were under the command of malefactor, being an islander, upon being appre- one Ewen Aird ; and as they passed the town hended in any part of the kingdom, should be of Tain, on their way to Sutherland, they stole sent to Lord Lorn, or to his deputies, to be some horses, which they sold in Sutherland, judged ; and that to this effect he should have without being in the least suspected of the deputies in 'every part of the kingdom. As theft. soon as his lordship heard of the trial and exe- The owners of the stolen horses soon came cution of the men at Dornoch, who were of the into Sutherland in quest of them, and claimed clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, his dependants and them from the persons to whom they had been followers, he took the matter highly amiss, and sold. The Earl of Sutherland, on proof being repaired to Edinburgh, where he made a com- given of the property, restored the horses to plaint to the lords of the council against the the true owners, and sent some men in quest of Earl of Sutherland, for having, as he main-

Ewen Aird, who was still in Strathully. Ewen tained, apprehended the king's free subjects was apprehended and brought to Dunrobin. without a commission, and for causing them to The Earl of Sutherland ordained him to repay be executed, although they had not been appre- the monies which Ewen and his companions hended within his own jurisdiction. The had received for the horses, the only punish- lords of the council having heard this com- ment he said he would inflict on them, be- plaint, Lord Lorn obtained letters to charge cause they were strangers. Ewen assented the Earl of Sutherland and Hutcheon Eoss to the earl's request, and remained as a hostage to answer to the complaint at Edinburgh beat Dunrobin until his companions should send fore the lords of the Privy Council, and, more- money to relieve him ; but as soon as his asso- over, obtained a suspension of the earl's com- ciates heard of his detention, they, instead of mission against the clan Mhic-Iain-Dhuinn, on sending money for his release, fled to Gille- becoming bound, in the meantime, as surety for Calum-Mac-Shomhairle and his party, leaving their obedience to the laws. their captain a prisoner at Dunrobin. In their Sir Eobert Gordon happening to arrive at retreat they destroyed some houses in the high Edinburgh from England, shortly after Lord parts of Sutherland, and on entering Eoss Lorn's visit to Edinburgh, in the year 1634, they laid waste some lands belonging to learned the object of his mission, and the suc-

Hutcheon Eoss of Auchincloigh. These out- cess which had attended it. He, therefore, rages occasioned an immediate assemblage of being an eye-witness of every thing which had the inhabitants of that part of the country, taken place at Dornoch respecting the trial, who pursued the marauders and took them condemnation, and execution of Lord Lorn's prisoners. On the prisoners being sent to the dependents, informed the lords of the council

Earl of Sutherland, he assembled the principal of all the proceedings, which proceeding on his gentlemen of Eoss and Sutherland at Dornoch, part had the effect of preventing Lord Lorn 1G2 GENEEAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS. from going on with Lis prosecution against the ciously, comforted them as far as words could, Earl of Sutherland. He, however, proceeded and promised to see justice done. to summon Hutcheon Boss; hut the earl, Sir After the king's departure from Scotland, Eohert Gordon, Lord Eeay, and all the gentle- the marchioness and Lady Aboyne, both of men who were present at the trial at Dornoch, whom still remained in Edinburgh, determining signed and sent a letter to the lords of the to see his majesty's promise implemented, pre- council, giving a detail of the whole circum- vailed upon the Privy Council to bring John stances of the case, and along with this letter Meldrum of Eeidhill to trial, the result being he sent a copy of the proceedings, attested by as recorded above. A domestic servant of the sheriff clerk of Sutherland, to he laid Frendraught named Tosh, who was suspected before the council on the day appointed for of having been concerned in the fire, was after- Eoss's appearance. After the matter had been wards put to the torture, for the purpose of fully debated in council, the conduct of the extorting a confession of guilt from him ; but he Earl of Sutherland and Hutcheon Eoss was confessed nothing, and was therefore liberated approved of, and the commission to the earl of from prison. Sutherland again renewed, and Lord Lorn was The condemnation and execution of Mel- taken bound, that, in time coming, the counties drum, in place of abating, appear to have of Sutherland and Eoss should be kept harm- increased the odium of Frendraught's enemies. less from the clan Mnic-lain-Dhuinn. The The Highlanders of his neighbourhood, as well council, moreover, decided, that, as the Earl as the Gordons, considering his property to be of Sutherland had the rights of regality and fair game, made frequent incursions upon his sheriffship within himself, and as he was ap- lands, and carried off cattle and goods. In pointed to administer justice within his own 1633 and 1634 Adam Gordon of Strathdoun, bounds, therefore he was not obliged to send with a few of his friends and some outlaws, criminals, though islanders, to Lord Lorn or to made incursions upon Frendraught's lands, his deputies. This decision had the effect of wasted them, and endeavoured to carry off a relieving Sutherland and Eoss from farther quantity of goods and cattle. Frendraught, incursions on the part of Lord Lorn's followers. 3 however, heading some of his tenants, pursued The disaster at Frendraught had made an them, secured the booty, and cajstured some of impression upon the mind of the Marquis of the party, whom he hanged. Huntly, which nothing could efface, and he On another occasion, about 600 High- could never be persuaded that the fire had not landers, belonging to the clan Gregor, clan originated with the proprietor of the mansion Cameron, and other tribes, appeared near himself. He made .many unsuccessful attempts Frendraught, and openly declared that they to discover the incendiaries, and on the arrival had come to join Adam Gordon of Park, John of King Charles at Edinburgh, in the year Gordon of Invermarkie, and the other friends 1633, the niarcjuis made preparations for paying of the late Gordon of Eothiemay, for the pur- a personal visit to the king, for the purpose of pose of revenging his death. When Fren- imploring him to order an investigation into draught heard of the irruption of this body, he all the circumstances attending the fire, so as immediately collected about 200 foot, and 140 to lead to a discovery of the criminals. Fall- horsemen, and went in quest of these in- ing sick, however, on his journey, and unable truders; but being scattered through the coun- to proceed to Edinburgh, he sent forward Ms try, they could make no resistance, and every marchioness, who was accompanied by Lady man provided for his own safety by flight.

Aboyne and other females of rank, all clothed To put an end to these annoyances, Fren- in deep mourning, to lay a statement of the draught got these marauders declared outlaws, case before his majesty, and to solicit the and the lords of the Privy Council wrote to royal interference. The king received the the Marquis of Huntly, desiring liim to repress marchioness and her attendants most gra- the disorders of those of his surname, and failing his doing so, that they would consider

3 Gordon of Sallagh's Continuation, \i. 464, et seq. him the author of them. The marquis returned DEPEEDATIONS COMMITTED UPON FEENDEAUGHT. 1G3

an answer to this conimunication, stating, that their depredations to Frendraught and his as the aggressors were neither his tenants nor tenants, but extended them to the property ol servants, he could in no shape he answerahle the ministers who lived upon Frendraught's for them,—that he had neither countenanced lands. In this course of life, they were joined nor incited them, and that he had no warrant by some of the young men of the principal to pursue or prosecute them. families of the Gordons in Strathbogie, to the The refusal of the marquis to obey the number of 40 horsemen, and 60 foot, and orders of the Privy Council, emboldened the to encourage them in their designs against denounced party to renew their acts of spolia- Frendraught, the lady of Eothiemay gave them tion and robbery. They no longer confined the castle of Eothiemay, which they fortified.

First Marquis and Marchioness of Huntly. Copied by permission of His tirace the Duke of Richmond, from the Orisrinals at Gordon Castle. and from which they made daily sallies upon marquis, in the beginning ot the following Frendraught's possessions; burned his corn, year, to appear before them to answer for laid waste his lands, and killed some of his these oppressions. He accordingly went to people. Frendraught opposed them for some Edinburgh in the month of February, 1635,

time; but being satisfied that such proceedings where he was commanded to remain till the taking place almost under the very eyes of the matter should be investigated. The heads of Marquis of Huntly, must necessarily be done the families whose sons had joined the outlaws with his concurrence he went to Edinburgh, also appeared, and, after examination, Letter- and entered a complaint against the marqius fourie, Park, Tilliangus, Terrisoule, Inver- to the Privy Council. During Frendraught's markie, Tulloch, Ardlogy, and several other absence, his tenants were expelled by the persons of the surname of Gordon, were com- Gordons from their possessions, without oppo- mitted to prison, until their sons, who had sition. 4 engaged in the combination against Fren- When the king heard of these lawless pro- draught, should be presented before the council. ceedings, and of the refusal of the marquis to The prisoners, who denied being accessory interfere, he ordered the lords of the Privy thereto, then petitioned to be set at liberty, a Council to adopt measures for suppressing request which was complied with on condition them; preparatory to which they cited the that they should either produce the rebels, as the pillagers were called, or make them leave

4 the kingdom. The marquis, although nothing fxordou'a Continuation, p. 475. Spalding, vol.

. 47, el seq. i coidd be proved against him, was obliged to 164 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

find caution that all persons of the surname Frendraught, and with having instigated him of Gordon within his bounds should keep and his associates to commit all the depreda-

the peace ; and that he should he answerable tions which had taken place. The king, therein all time coming for any damage which upon, sent a commission to Scotland, appoint- should befall the laird of Erendraught, or his ing a select number of the lords of the Privy lands, by whatever violent means; and also Council to examine into the affair. that he should present the rebels at Edinburgh, As Adam Gordon had charged James Gordon that justice might be satisfied, or make them of Letterfourie, with having employed him and leave the kingdom. his associates, in name of the marquis, against The Marquis of Huntly, thereupon, returned the laird of Frendraught, Letterfourie was cited

to the north, and the rebels hearing of the to appear at Edinburgh for trial. On being obligation he had come under, immediately confronted with Adam Gordon, he denied dispersed themselves. The greater part of everything laid to his charge, but, notwith- them fled into Elanders, and about twelve of standing this denial, he was committed, a them were apprehended by the marquis, and prisoner to the jail of Edinburgh. The mar- sent by him to Edinburgh. John Gordon, quis himself, who had also appeared at Edin-

who lived at Woodhead of Eothiemay, and burgh on the appointed clay, January 15th, another, were executed. Of the remaining 1636, was likewise confronted with Adam two, James Gordon, son of George Gordon in Gordon before the committee of the Privy

Auchterless, and William Eoss, son of John Council ; but although he denied Adam's ac- Eoss of Ballivet, the former was acquitted by cusation, and " cleared himself with great dex- the jury, and the latter was imprisoned in the teritie, beyond admiration," as Gordon of Sal- jail of Edinburgh for future trial, having been lagh observes, he was, "upon presumption," a ringleader of the party. In apprehending committed a close prisoner to the castle of these twelve persons, James Gordon, son of Edinburgh. Adam Gordon of Strathdoun, was killed, and When his majesty was made acquainted with to show the Privy Council how diligent the these circumstances by the commissioners, and marquis had been in fulfilling his obligation, that there was no proof to establish the charge his head was sent to Edinburgh along with against the marquis, both the marquis and the prisoners. Gordon of Letterfourie were released by his The activity with which the marquis pursued command, on giving security for indemnify- the oppressors of Frendraught, brought him ing the laird of Frendraught for any damage afterwards into some trouble. Adam Gordon, he might sustain in time coming, from the one of the principal ringleaders of the confed- Gordons and their accomplices. Having so eracy, and second son of Sir Adam Gordon of far succeeded in annoying the marquis, Adam the Park, thinking it " hard to be baneishit Gordon, after collecting a body of men, by out of his native country, resoluit to cum home" leave of the Privy Council, went along with and throw himself on the king's mercy. For them to Germany, where he became a captain this purpose he made a private communication in the regiment of Colonel George Leslie. To to the Archbishop of St. Andrews, then chan- terminate the unhappy differences between the cellor of Scotland, in which he offered to sub- marquis and Frendraught, the king enjoined mit himself to the king's pleasure, promis- Sir Eobert Gordon, who was related to both, ing, that if his majesty would grant him a —the marquis being his cousin-german, and pardon, he would reveal the author of the re- chief of that family, and Frendraught the

bellion. The archbishop, eager, it would ap- husband of his niece,—to endeavour to bring pear, to fulfil the ends of justice, readily about a reconciliation between them. Sir entered into Gordon's views, and sent a spe- Eobert, accordingly, on his return to Scotland, cial messenger to London to the lung, who prevailed upon the parties to enter into a sub- at once granted Adam a pardon. On receiving mission, by which they agreed to refer all the pardon, Gordon accused the Marquis of questions and differences between them to the

Huntly as the author of the conspiracy against arbitrament of friends ; but before the submis- ; —

DEATH AND CHAEACTEE OF THE MAKQUIS OE HUNTLY. 165 sion was brought to a final conclusion, the dable class of opponents among the turbulent marquis expired at Dundee on the 13th nobility, who were grieved to see a man who June, (15th according to Gordon), 1636, at had not imitated their venality and rapacity, the age of seventy-four, while returning to not only retain his predominance in the north, the north from Edinburgh. He was in- but also receive especial marks of his sovereign's terred in the family vault at Elgin, on the regard. But skilful and intriguing as they thirtieth day of August following, " having," were in all the dark and sinister ways of an says Spalding, " above his chist a rich mort- age distinguished for its base and wicked cloath of black velvet, wherein was wrought practices, their machinations were frustrated two whyte crosses. He had torchlights in by the discernment and honesty of George great number carried be freinds and gentlemen Gordon, the first Marquis of Huntly. the marques' son, called Adam, was at his head, the earle of Murray on the right spaik, the earle of Seaforth on the left spaik, the earle of Sutherland on the third spaik, and Sir CHAPTEE XII. Robert Gordon on the fourth spaik. Besyds a.d. 1636—(September) 1644. thir nobles, many barrons and gentlemen was there, haveing above three hundred lighted sovereign :—Charles I., 1625—1649. torches at the lifting. He is carried to the Charles I. attempts to introduce Episcopacy into Scot- east port, doun the wynd to the south kirk land—Meets with opposition —Preparations for war stile of the colledge kirk, in at the south kirk —Doings in the North—Earl of Montrose— Mont- rose at Aberdeen— Arrests the Marquis of Huntly door, buried in his isle with and own much Covenanters of the North meet at Turriff—The " murning and lamentation. The like forme of " Trott of Turray —Movements of the Gordons Viscount Aboyne lands at Aberdeen— " Eaid of burriall, with torch light, was not sein heir thir " Stonehaven — Battle at the Bridge of Dee— Pacifi- many dayes befor." 5 cation of Berwick — War again — Earl of Argyle endeavours to secure the West Highlands—Harsh The marquis was a remarkable man for the proceedings against the Earl of Airly—Montrose age in which he lived, and there are no char- goes over to the king—Marquis of Huntly rises in the North—Montrose enters Scotland in disguise acters in that eventful period of Scottish his- Landing of Irish forces in the West Highlands tory so well entitled to veneration and esteem. Meeting of Montrose and Alexander Macdonald Atholemen join Montrose—Montrose advances into A lover of justice, he never attempted to Strathearn—Battle of Tippermuir. aggrandize his vast possessions at the expense of his less powerful neighbours ; a kind and Hitherto the history of the Highlands has humane superior and landlord, he exercised a been confined chiefly to the feuds and con- lenient sway over his numerous vassals and flicts of the clans, the details of which, though tenants, who repaid his kindness by sincere interesting to their descendants, cannot be sup- attachment to his person and family. En- posed to afford the same gratification to readers dowed with great strength of mind, invincible at large. We now enter upon a more impor- courage, and consummate prudence, he sur- tant era, when the Highlanders begin to play mounted the numerous difficulties with which a much more prominent part in the theatre of he was surrounded, and lived to see the many our national history, and to give a foretaste of factions which had conspired against him dis- that military prowess for which they after- comfited and dissolved. While his constant wards became so highly distinguished. and undeviating attachment to the religion of In entering upon the details of the military his forefathers, raised up many enemies against achievements of the Highlanders during the him among the professors of the reformed doc- period of the civil wars, it is quite unnecessary trines, by whose cabals he was at one time and foreign to our purpose to trouble the obliged to leave the kingdom, his great power reader with a history of the rash, unconstitu- and influence were assailed by another formi- tional, and ill-fated attempt of Charles I. to

introduce Episcopacy into Scotland ; nor, for the to detail minutely 5 same reason, is it requisite Spalding, vol. i. p. 50, et seq. Gordon's Contin- vMimi, p. 476, et seq. the proceedings of the authors of the Covenant. 166 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Suffice it to say, that in consequence of the submission to the conditions of the proclama- inflexible determination of Charles to force tion, and the covenanting leaders answered it English Episcopacy upon the people of Scot- by a formal protest, in which they gave sixteen land, the great majority of the nation declared reasons, showing that to comply with the de- their determination " by the great name of the mands of the king would be to betray the cause Lord their God," to defend their religion against of God, and to act against the dictates of con- what they considered to be errors and corrup- science. tions. Notwithstanding, however, the most In consequence of the opposition made to positive demonstrations on the part of the the proclamation, it was generally expected people to resist, Charles, acting by the advice that the king would have recalled the order for of a privy council of Scotsmen established hi the meeting of the assembly at Glasgow ; but England, exclusively devoted to the affairs of no prohibition having been issued, that assem- Scotland, and instigated by Archbishop Laud, bly, which consisted, besides the clergy, of one resolved to suppress the Covenant by open force. lay-elder and four lay-assessors from every pres-

In order to gain time for the necessary prepara- bytery, met at the time appointed, viz., in the tions, he sent the Marquis of Hamilton, as his month of November, 1638. After the assembly commissioner, to Scotland, who was instructed had spent a week in violent debates, the com- to promise " that the practice of the liturgy and missioner, in terms of his instructions, declared

the canons should never be pressed in any other it dissolved ; but, encouraged by the accession than a fair and legal way, and that the high of the Earl of Argyle, who placed himself at commission should be so rectified as never to the head of the Covenanters, the members de- impugn the laws, or to be a just grievance to clined to disperse at the mere mandate of the loyal subjects," and that the king would pardon sovereign, and passed a resolution that, in those who had lately taken an illegal covenant, spiritual matters, the kirk was independent of on their immediately renouncing it, and giving the civil power, and that the dissolution by up the bond to the commissioners. the commissioner was illegal and void. After When the Covenanters heard of Hamilton's spending three weeks in revising the ecclesi- approach, they appointed a national fast to be astical regulations introduced into Scotland held, to beg the blessing of God upon the lurk, since the accession of James to the crown of and on the 10th of June, 1638, the marquis England, the assembly condemned the liturgy, was received at Leith, and proceeded to the ordinal, book of canons, and court of high capital through an assemblage of about 60,000 commission, and, assuming all the powers of Covenanters, and 500 ministers. The spirit legislation, abolished episcopacy, and excom- and temper of such a vast assemblage over- municated the bishops themselves, and the awed the marquis, and he therefore concealed ministers who supported them. Charles de- his instructions. After making two. successive clared their proceedings null ; but the people journeys to London to communicate the alarm- received them with great joy, and testified ing state of affairs, and to receive fresh instruc- their approbation by a national thanksgiving. tions, he, on his second return, issued a pro- Both parties had for some time been prepar- clamation, discharging " the service book, the ing for war, and they now hastened on their book of canons, and the high commission court, plans. In consequence of an order from the dispensing with the five articles of Perth, dis- supreme committee of the Covenanters in Edin- pensing the entrants into the ministry from burgh, every man capable of bearing arms was taking the oath of supremacy and of canonical called out and trained. Experienced Scottish obedience, commanding all persons to lay aside officers, who had spent the greater part of their the new Covenant, and take that which had lives in military service in Sweden and Ger- been published by the king's father in 1589, many, returned to Scotland to place themselves and summoning a free assembly of the kirk to at the head of their countrymen, and the Scot- meet it. the month of November, and a parlia- tish merchants in Holland supplied them with ment in the month of May, the following year." arms and ammunition. The king advanced as Matters had, however, proceeded too far for far as York with an army, the Scottish bishops DOINGS IN THE NORTH. 1G7 making liim believe that the news of his ap- The Marquis of Huntly assembled his forces proach would induce the Covenanters to submit first at Turriff, and afterwards at Kintore, themselves to his pleasure ; hut he was disap- whence he marched upon Aberdeen, which he pointed,—for instead of submitting themselves, took possession of in name of the king. The they were the first to commence hostilities. niarquis being informed shortly after his arrival About the 19th of March, 1639, General Les- in Aberdeen, that a meeting of Covenanters, lie, the covenanting general, with a few men, who resided within his district, was to be held surprised, and without difficulty, occupied the at Turriff on the 14th of February, resolved to castle of Edinburgh, and about the same time disperse them. He therefore wrote letters to the Earl of Traquair surrendered Dalkeith his chief dependents, requiring them to meet house. Dumbarton castle, like that of Edin- him at Turriff the same day, and bring with burgh, was taken by stratagem, the governor, them no arms but swords and "sehottis" or named Stewart, being intercepted on a Sunday pistols. One of these letters fell into the hands as he returned from church, and made to of the Earl of Montrose, one of the chief cove- change clothes with another gentleman and nanting lords, who determined at all hazards give the pass-word, by which means the Cove- to protect the meeting of his friends, the Cove- nanters easily obtained possession. The king, nanters. In pursuance of this resolution, he on arriving at Durham, despatched the Marquis collected, with great alacrity, some of his best of Hamilton with a fleet of forty ships, having friends in Angus, and with his own and their on board 6,000 troops, to the Erith of Eorth dependents, to the number of about 800 men, ; but as both sides of the Erith were well forti- he crossed the range of hills called the Grange- fied at different points, and covered with troops, bean, between Angus and Aberdeenshire, and he was unable to effect a landing. 6 took possession of Turriff on the morning of In the meantime, the Marquis of Huntly the 14th of February. When Huntly's party raised the royal standard in the north, and as arrived during the course of the day, they were the Earl of Sutherland, accompanied by Lord surprised at seeing the little churchyard of the

Reay, John, Master of Berridale and others, village filled with armed men ; and they were had been very busy in Inverness and Elgin, still more surprised to observe them levelling persuading the inhabitants to subscribe the their hagbuts at them across the walls of the Covenant, the marquis wrote Mm confidentially, churchyard. Net knowing how to act in the blaming him for his past conduct, and advising absence of the marquis, they retired to a place him to declare for the king ; but the earl called the Broad Ford of Towie, about two informed him in reply, that it was against the miles south from the village, when they were bishops and their innovations, and not against soon joined by Huntly and his suite. After the king, that he had so acted. The earl then, some consultation, the marquis, after parading in his turn, advised the marquis to join the his men in order of battle along the north-west Covenanters, by doing which, he said he would side of the village, in sight of Montrose, not only confer honour on himself, but much dispersed his party, which amounted to 2,000 good on his native country; that in any private men, without offering to attack Montrose, on question in which Huntly was personally inter- the pretence that his commission of lieu- ested he would assist, but that in the present tenancy only authorised Mm to act on the affair he would not aid him. The earl there- defensive. 7 upon joined the Earl of Seaforth, the Master of James Graham, Earl, and afterwards first Berridale, Lord Lovat, Lord Reay, the laird of Marquis of Montrose, who played so pro- Balnagown, the Rosses, the Monroes, the laird minent a part in the history of the troublous of Grant, Macintosh, the laird of Innes, the times on wMch we are entering, was descended sheriff of Mora}', the baron of Kilravoek, the from a family wMch can be traced back to the laird of Altire, the tutor of Duffus, and the beginning of the 12th century. His ancestor, otherCovenanters on the north of the riverSpey. the Earl of Montrose, fell at Flodden, and Ms

Gordon's Scote Affairs, vol. Spalding, vol. i. p. 137 168 GENEEAL HISTOEY OE THE HIGHLANDS.

grandfather became viceroy of Scotland after other reason be giuen for it, but only this that James VI. ascended the throne of England. followeth. He did not seeme to affect state, He himself was born in 1612, his mother being nor to claime reuerence, nor to keepe a dis- Lady Margaret Euthven, eldest daughter of tance with gentlemen that ware not his domes-

"William, first Earl of Gowrie. He succeeded tickes ; but rather in a noble yet courteouse to the estates and title in 1626, on the death way he seemed to slight those vanisheing of his father, and three years after, married smockes of greatnes, affecting rather the reall Magdalene Carnegie, daughter of Lord Car- possession of mens heartes then the frothie

negie of Kinnaird. He pursued his studies at and outward showe of reuerence ; and therefor St. Andrews University and Kinnaird Castle was all reuerence thrust vpon him, because all till he was about twenty years of age, when did loue him, therfor all did honour him and he went to the Continent and studied at the reuerence him, yea, haueing once acquired there academies of Erance and Italy, returning an heartes, they ware readie not only to honour accomplished gentleman and a soldier. On him, but to quarrell with any that would not his return he was, for some reason, coldly honour him, and would not spare there for- received by Charles I., and it is supposed by tounes, nor there derrest blood about there some that it was mainly out of chagrin on this heartes, to the end he might be honoured, account that he joined the Covenanters. "What- because they saue that he tooke the right ever may have been his motive for joining course to obtaine honour. He had fund furth them, he was certainly an important and the right way to be reuerenced, and thereby powerful accession to their ranks, although, as was approued that propheticke maxime which will be seen, his adherence to them was but of hath never failed, nor neuer shall faille, short duration. being pronounced by the Fontaine of treuth

Montrose is thus portrayed by his contempo- ( He that exalteth himselfe shall be humbled) ; rary, Fatrick Gordon of Euthven, author of for his winneing behauiour and courteous Britands Distemper. " It cannot be denied caryago got him more respect then those to but he was ane accomplished gentleman of whom they ware bound both by the law of many excellent partes ; a bodie not tall, but nature and by good reason to hawe giuen it to. comely and well compossed in all his linia- Nor could any other reason be giuen for it, mentes ; his complexion meerly whitee, with but only there to much keepeing of distance, flaxin haire ; of a stayed, graue, and solide and caryeing themselfes in a more statlye and looke, and yet his eyes sparkling and full of reserued way, without putteing a difference lyfe ; of speach slowe, but wittie and full of betuixt a free borne gentleman and a seruille sence ; a presence graitfull, courtly, and so or base mynded slaue. winneing vpon the beholder, as it seemed to " This much I thought good by the way to

claime reuerence without seweing for it ; for signifie ; for the best and most waliant generall he was so affable, so courteous, so bening, as that euer lead ane armie if he mistake the dis- seemed verely to scorne ostentation and the position of the nation whom he commandes, keeping of state, and therefor he quicklie made and will not descend a litle till he meete with a conquesse of the heartes of all his followers, the genious of his shouldiours, on whose fol- so as whan he list he could haue lead them in loweing his grandour and the success of his in- a chaine to haue followed him with cheare- terpryses chiefely dependeth, stryueing through fullnes in all his interpryses ; and I am cer- a high soireing and over winneing ambition to tanely perswaded, that this his gratious, hu- drawe them to his byas with awe and not mane, and courteous fredome of behauiour, with lowe, that leader, I say, shall neuer pre- being certanely acceptable befor God as well as waill against his enemies with ane armie of the men, was it that wanne him so much renovne, Scotes nation." and inabled liim cheifly, in the loue of his Montrose had, about this time, received a followers, to goe through so great interprysses, commission from the Tables—as the boards of ivheirrn his equall had failled, altho they representatives, chosen respectively by the no- exceeded him fame in power, nor can any bility, county gentry, clergy, and inhabitants of ;

EARL OF MONTROSE AT ABERDEEN. 169

the burghs, were called—to raise a body of and familie, had ane ribbin when he was troops for the service of the Covenanters, and he dwelling in the toun, of ane reid flesh cullor,

now proceeded to embody them with extraordi- which they wore in their hatts, and called it nary promptitude. Within one month, he col- 77(6 Royall Ribbin, as a signe of their love and lected a force of about 3,000 horse and foot, loj'alltie to the king. In despyte and derision from the counties of Fife, Forfar, and Perth, thereof this blew ribbin was worne, and called and put them into a complete state of military the Covenanters' Ribbin, be the hail souldiers discipline. Being joined by the forces under of the army, and would not hear of the royall 8 General Leslie, he marched upon Aberdeen, ribbin ; such was their pryde and malice." which he entered, without opposition, on the At Aberdeen Montrose was joined the same 30th of March, the Marquis of Huntly having day by Lord Fraser, the Master of Forbes, the abandoned the town on his approach. Some laird of Dalgettie, the tutor of Pitsligo, the idea of the well-appointed state of this army Earl Marshal's men in Buchan, with several may be formed from the curious description of other gentlemen and their tenants, dependants, Spalding, who says, that " upon the morne, and servants, to the number of 2,000, an addi- being Saturday, they came in order of battell, tion which augmented Montrose's army to 9,000 weiil armed, both on horse and foot, ilk horsemen. Leaving the Earl of Kinghorn with man having five shot at the least, with ane 1,500 men to keep possession of Aberdeen, carabine in his hand, two pistols by his sydes, Montrose marched the same day towards Kin- and other two at his saddell toir ; the pikemen tore, where he encamped that night. Halting in their ranks, with pike and sword ; the all Sunday, he proceeded on the Monday to In- musketiers in their ranks, with musket, musket- verury, where he again pitched his camp. The staffe, bandelier, sword, powder, ball, and Marquis of Huntly grew alarmed at this sudden match ; ilk company, both on horse and foot, and unexpected movement, and thought it now had their captains, lieutenants, ensignes, Ser- time to treat with such a formidable foe for his jeants, and other officers and commanders, all personal safety. He, therefore, despatched for the most part in buff coats, and in goodly Robert Gordon of Straloch and Doctor Gordon, order. They had five colours or ensignes, an Aberdeen physician, to Montrose's camp, to whereof the Earl of Montrose had one, have- request an interview. The marquis proposed

' ing this motto : For Religion, the Cove- to meet him on a moor near Blackhall, about nant, and the Codnteie ;' the Earle of Maris- two miles from the camp, with 11 attendants chall had one, the Earle of Kinghorne had each, with no arms but a single sword at their one, and the town of Dundie had two. They side. After consulting with Field Marshal had trumpeters to ilk company of horsemen, Leslie and the other officers, Montrose agreed and drummers to ilk company of footmen to meet the marquis, on Thursday the 4th of they had their meat, drink, and other provi- April, at the place mentioned. The parties sion, bag and baggage, carryed with them, accordingly met. Among the eleven who all done be advyse of his excellence Felt Mar- attended the marquis were his son James, schall Leslie, whose councell Generall Montrose Lord Aboyne, and the Lord Oliphant. Lords followed in this busieness. Now, in seemly Elcho and Cowper were of the party who at- order and good array, this army came forward, tended Montrose. After the usual salutation and entered the burgh of Aberdein, about ten they both alighted and entered into conversa- hours in the morning, at the Over Kirkgate tion; but, coming to no understanding, they

Port, syne came doun throw the Broadgate, adjourned the conference til] the following throw the Castlegate, out at the Justice Port morning, when the marquis signed a paper to the Queen's Links directly. Here it is to obliging himself to maintain the king's author- be notted that few or none of this hail army ity, " the liberty of church and state, religion wanted ane blew ribbin hung about his craig, and laws." He promised at the same time to doun under his left arme, which they called do his best to make his friends, tenants, and the Covenanters' Ribbin. But the Lord Gor-

8 don, and some other of the marquess' bairnes Troubles, vol. i. pp. 107, 108. 170 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. servants subscribe the Covenant. 9 The mar- tion. The marquis, seeing that his commission quis, after this arrangement, went to Strath- was altogether unavailable, immediately wrote bogie, and Montrose returned with his army to out, in presence of the meeting, a resignation of

Aberdeen, the following day. it, and a letter of recommendation as proposed, The marquis had not been many days at and, in their presence, delivered the same to the Strathbogie, when he received a notice from laird of Cluny, who was to set off the following Montrose to repair to Aberdeen with his two morning with them to the king. It would sons, Lord Gordon and Viscount Aboyne, appear that Montrose was not sincere in mak- for the ostensible purpose of assisting the ing this demand upon the marquis, and that committee in their deliberations as to the his object was, by calculating on a refusal, to settlement of the disturbances in the north. 1 make that the ground for arresting him; for On Hnntly receiving an assurance from Mon- the marquis had scarcely returned to his lodg- trose and the other covenanting leaders that ings to pass the night, when an armed guard no attempt should be made to detain himself was placed round the house, to prevent him and his sons as prisoners, he complied with from returning home, as he intended to do, the Montrose's invitation, and repairing to Aber- following morning. deen, he took up his quarters in the laird of When the marquis rose, next morning, he Pitfoddel's house. was surprised at receiving a message from The arrest of the marquis, which followed, the covenanting general, desiring his attend- has been attributed, not without reason, to the ance at the house of the Earl Marshal; and

intrigues of the Frasers and the Forbeses, who he was still farther surprised, when, on bore a mortal antipathy to the house of Huntly, going out, along with his two sons, to the and who were desirous to see the " Cock of the appointed place of meeting, he found his North," as the powerful head of that house was lodging beset with sentinels. The marquis popularly called, humbled. 2 But, be these con- was received by Montrose with the usual jectures as they may, on the morning after the morning salutation, after which, he proceeded marquis's arrival at Aberdeen, viz., on the 11th to demand from him a contribution for liqui- April, a council of the principal officers of dating a loan of 200,000 merks, which the

Montrose's army was held, at which it was Covenanters had borrowed from Sir Willian determined to arrest the marquis and Lord Dick, a rich merchant of Edinburgh. To this Gordon, his eldest son, and carry them to unexpected demand the rnarquis replied, that Edinburgh. It was not, however, judged ad- he was not obliged to pay any part thereof, not visable to act upon this resolution irarnediately, having been concerned in the borrowing, and and to do away with any appearance of treach- of course, declined to comply. Montrose then ery, Montrose ard his friends invited the mar- requested him to take steps to apprehend James quis and his two sons to supper the following Grant and John Dugar, and their accomplices, evening. During the entertainment the most who had given considerable annoyance to the

friendly civilities were passed on both sides, Covenanters in the Highlands. Huntly ob- and, after the party had become somewhat jected, that, having now no commission, he merry, Montrose and his friends hinted to the could not act, and that, although he had, marquis the expediency, in the present posture James Grant had already obtained a remission

of affairs, of resigning his commission of lieu- from the king ; and as for John Dugar, he would

tenancy. They also proposed that he should concur, if required, with the other neighbouring write a letter to the king along with the resig- proprietors in an attempt to apprehend him. nation of his commission, in favour of the The earl, finally, as the Covenant, he said, ad-

Covenanters, as good and loyal subjects ; and mitted of no standing hatred or feud, required that he should despatch the laird of Cluny, the the marquis to reconcile himself to Crichton, following morning, with the letter and resigna- the laird of Frendraught, but this the marquis positively refused to do. Finding, as he no 9 Spalding, vol. i. pp. 157, 160. doubt expected, the marquis quite resolute in 1 Gordon of Kothiemay, vol. ii. p. 235. 2 resist these the Id., vol. ii. p. 235. his determination to demands, MOXTEOSE AEEESTS THE MAEQUIS OF HUNTLY. 171 earl suddenly changed his tone, and thus ad- may tacke my heade from my shoulders, but dressed the marquis, apparently in the most not my heart from my soveraigne." 4 friendly terras, " My lord, seeing we are all Some time after the departure of Montrose's now friends, will you go south to Edinburgh army to the south, the Covenanters of the north with us?" Iluntly answered that he would appointed a committee meeting to be held at not—that he was not prepared for such a Turriff, upon "Wednesday, 24th April, con- journey, and that he was just going to set off sisting of the Earls Marshal and Seaforth, for Stratlibogie. " Your lordship," rejoined Lord Fraser. the Master of Forbes, and some Montrose, " will do well to go with us." The of their kindred and friends. All persons marquis now pereei""ing Montrose's design, within the diocese, who had not subscribed the accosted him thus, " My lord, I came here to Covenant, were required to attend this meeting this town upon assurance that I should come for the purpose of signing it, and failing com- and go at my own pleasure, without molesta- pliance, their property was to be given up tion or inquietude; and now I see why my to indiscriminate plunder. As neither Lord lodging was guarded, and that ye mean to take Aboyne, the laird of Banff, nor any of their me to Edinburgh, whether I will or not. This friends and kinsmen, had subscribed the Cov- conduct, on your part, seems to me to he enant, nor meant to do so, they resolved to neither fair nor honourahle." He added, " My protect themselves from the threatened attack. lord, give me back the bond which I gave you A preliminary meeting of the heads of the at Inverury, and you shall have an answer." northern Covenanters was held on the 22d of Montrose thereupon delivered the bond to the April, at Monymusk, where they learned of marquis. Huntly then inquired at the earl, the rising of Lord Aboyne and his friends. " Whether he would take bim to the south as This intelligence induced them to postpone a captive, or willin gly of his own mind?" the meeting at Turriff till the 26 th of April, " Make your choice," said Montrose. " Then," by whi"h day they expected to be joined by observed the marquis, " I will not go as a cap- several gentlemen from Caithness, Sutherland, tive, but as a volunteer." The marquis there- Eoss, Moray, and other quarters. At another upon immediately returned to his lodging, and meeting, however, on the 24th of April, they despatched a messenger after the laird of postponed the proposed meeting at Turriff, Cluny, to stop him on his journey." 2 sine die, and adjourned to Aberdeen; but as It was the intention of Montrose to take no notice had been sent of the postponement both the marquis and his sons to Edinburgh, to the different covenanting districts in the but Viscount Aboyne, at the desire of some of north, about 1,500 men assembled at the place his friends, was released, and allowed to return of meeting on the 26 th of April, and were to Strathbogie. On arriving at Edinburgh, quite astonished to find that the chiefs were the marquis and his son, Lord Gordon, were absent. Upon an explanation taking place, commi tted close prisoners to the castle of the meeting was adjourned till the 20th of May.

Edinburgh, and the Tables "appointed five Lord Aboyne had not been idle during this guardians to attend upon him and his son interval, having collected about 2,000 horse night and day, upon his own expenses, that and foot from the Highlands and Lowlands, none should come in nor out but by their with which force he had narrowly watched sight." 3 On being solicited to sign the Cov- the movements of the Covenanters. Hearing, enant, Huntly issued a manifesto characterized however, of the adjournment of the Turriff by magnanimity and the most steadfast loyalty, meeting, his lordship, at the entreaty of his concluding with the following words:—"For friends, broke up his army, and went by sea to my oune part, I am in your power; and re- England to meet the king, to inform him of solved not to leave that foul title of traitor as the precarious state of affairs in the north. ane inheritance upon my posteritye. Yow Many of his followers, such as the lairds of Gight, Haddo, Udney, Newton, Pitmedden,

= Spalding, vol. i. p. 3 Ibid. 4 p. 177. Gordon of Rothiemay, ii. 240. Spalding, i. 179. 172 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Foveran, Tippertie, Harthill, and others, who men's houses in the neighbourhood. The house had subscribed the Covenant, regretted his of Durris, belonging to John Forbes of Leslie, departure; but as they had gone too far to a great Covenanter, received a visit from them. recede, they resolved to continue their forces " There was," says Spalding, " little plenishing in the field, and held a meeting on the 7th of left unconveyed away before their comeing. May at Auchterless, to concert a plan of They gott good bear and ale, broke up girnells, operations. and buke bannocks at good fyres, and drank

A body of the Covenanters, to the number merrily upon the laird's best drink : syne of about 2,000, having assembled at Turriff as carried away with them alse meikle victual early as the 13th of May, the Gordons resolved as they could beir, which they could not gett instantly to attack them, before they should eaten and destroyed ; and syne removed from be joined by other forces, which were expected that to Echt, Skene, Monymusk, and other to arrive before the 20th. Taking along with houses pertaining to the name of Forbes, all them four brass field-pieces from Strathbogie, great Covenanters." 6 the Gordons, to the number of about 800 horse Two days after their arrival at Aberdeen, and foot, commenced their march on the 13th the Gordons sent to Dunnottar, for the purpose of May, at ten o'clock at night, and reached of ascertaining the sentiments of the Earl Turriff next morning by day-break, by a road Marshal, in relation to their proceedings, and unknown to the sentinels of the covenanting whether they might reckon on his friendship. army. As soon as they approached the town, The earl, however,, intimated that he could say the commander of the Gordons ordered the nothing in relation to the affair, and that he trumpets to be sounded and the drums to be would require eight days to advise with his beat, the noise of which was the first indication friends. This answer was considered quite the Covenanters had of their arrival. Being unsatisfactory, and the chiefs of the army were thus surprised, the latter had no time to make at a loss how to act. Eobert Gordon of Stra- any preparations for defending themselves. loch, and James Burnet of Craigmylle, a They made, indeed, a short resistance, but were brother of the laird of Leys, proposed to enter soon dispersed by the fire from the field-pieces, into a negotiation with the Earl Marshal, but leaving behind them the lairds of Echt and Sir George Ogilvie of Banff would not listen Skene, and a few others, who were taken to such a proceeding, and, addressing Straloch, " prisoners. The loss on either side, in killed he said, Go, if you will go ; but pr'ythee, let and wounded, was very trifling. This skirmish it be as quarter-master, to inform the earl that is called by the writers of the period, " the we are coming." Straloch, however, went not Trott of Turray." 5 in the character of a quarter-master, but as a

The successful issue of this trifling affair had mediator in behalf of his chief. The earl said a powerful effect on the minds of the victors, he had no intention to take up arms, without who forthwith marched on Aberdeen, which an order from the Tables ; that, if the Gordons they entered on the 15th of May. They would disperse, he would give them early expelled the Covenanters from the town, and notice to re-assemble, if necessary, for their were there joined by a body of men from the own defence, but that if they should attack Braes of Mar under the command of Donald him, he would certainly defend himself. Farquharson of Tulliegarmouth, and the laird The army was accordingly disbanded on the of Abergeldie, and by another party headed by 21st of May, and the barons went to Aberdeen, James Grant, so long an outlaw, to the num- there to spend a few days. The depredations ber of about 500 men. These men quartered of the Highlanders, who had come down to themselves very freely upon the inhabitants, the lowlands in quest of plunder, upon the particularly on those who had declared for the properties of the Covenanters, were thereafter Covenant, and they plundered many gentle- carried on to such an extent, that the latter complained to the Earl Marshal, who immediately

5 Turray is the old name of Turriff. —Gordon of c Rothiemay, vol. ii. p. 254. Gordon of Sallagh, p. 101. Spalding, vol. i. D. 188. VISCOUNT ABOYNE LANDS AT ABEKDEEN. 173 assembled a body of men out of Angus and receive some forces from him, and with these the Mearns, with which he entered Aberdeen forces to go to Aberdeen, to possess and re- on the 23d of May, causing the barons to cover that town. The Marquis of Hamilton, make a precipitate retreat. Two days there- lying at anchor in Forth, gave them no supply after the earl was joined by Montrose, at the of men, but sent them five ships to Aberdeen, head of 4,000 men, an addition which, with and the marquis himself retired with his fleet other accessions, made the whole force assem- and men to the Holy Island, hard by Berwick, bled at Aberdeen exceed 6,000. to reinforce the king's army there against the Meanwhile a large body of northern Cove- Scots at Dunslaw." 7 On his voyage to nanters, under the command of the Earl of Aberdeen, Aboyne's ships fell in with two Seaforth, was approaching from the districts vessels, one of which contained the lairds of beyond the Spey; but the Gordons having Banff, Foveran, Newton, Crummie, and others, crossed the Spey for the purpose of opposing who had fled on the approach of Montrose to their advance, an agreement was entered into Gight; and the other had on board some between both parties that, on the Gordons re- citizens of Aberdeen, and several mini sters tiring across the Spey, Seaforth and his men who had refused to sign the Covenant, all of should also retire homewards. whom the viscount persuaded to return home After spending five days in Aberdeen, Mon- along with him. trose marched his army to Udney, thence On the 6th of June, Lord Aboyne, accom- to Kellie, the seat of the laird of Haddo, and panied by the Earls of Glencairn and Tulli- afterwards to Gight, the residence of Sir bardine, the lairds of Drum, Banff, Fedderet, Eobert Gordon, to which he laid siege. But Foveran, and Newton, and their followers, intelligence of the arrival of Viscount Aboyne with Colonel Gun and several English officers, in the bay of Aberdeen, deranged his plans. landed in Aberdeen without opposition. Imme- Being quite uncertain of Aboyne's strength, diately on coming ashore, Aboyne issued a pro-

and fearing that his retreat might be cut off, clamation which was read at the cross of Aber-

Montrose quickly raised the siege and returned deen, prohibiting all his majesty's loyal subjects to Aberdeen. Although Lord Aboyne still from paying any rents, duties, or other debts to remained on board his vessel, and could easily the Covenanters, and requiring them to pay have been prevented from landing, Montrose one-half of such sums to the king, and to most unaccountably abandoned the town, and retain the other for themselves. Those persons retired into the Mearns. who had been forced to subscribe the Cove- Viscount Aboyne had been most graciously nant against their will, were, on repentance, to received by the king, and had ingratiated him- be forgiven, and every person was required to self so much with the monarch, as to obtain take an oath of allegiance to his majesty. the commission of lieutenancy which his father This bold step inspired the royalists with held. The king appears to have entertained confidence, and in a short space of time a con- good hopes from his endeavours to support the siderable force rallied round the royal standard. royal cause in the north of Scotland, and be- Lewis Gordon, third son of the Marquis of fore taking leave he gave the viscount a letter Huntly, a youth of extraordinary courage, on addressed to the Marquis of Hamilton, request- hearing of his brother's arrival, collected his ing him to afford his lordship all the assistance father's friends and tenants, to the number of in his power. Erom whatever cause, all the about 1,000 horse and foot, and with these he aid afforded by the Marquis was limited to a entered Aberdeen on the 7th of June. These " few officers and four field-pieces : The king,'' were succeeded by 100 horse, sent in by the says Gordon of Sallagh, " coming to Berwick, laird of Drum, and by considerable forces led and business growing to a height, the armies by James Grant and Donald Farquharson. of England and Scotland lying near one another, Many of the Covenanters also joined the his majesty sent the Viscount of Aboyne and viscount, so that his force ultimately amounted Colonel Gun (who was then returned out of

7 Germany) to the Marquis of Hamilton, to Continuation, j>. 402. 174 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. to several thousand men. Spalding 8 gives Although Aboyne was quite aware of the a sad, though, somewhat ludicrous account position of the Earl Marshal, instead of endea- of the way in which Earquharson's " hie- vouring to outflank him by making a detour to land men " conducted themselves while in the right, he, by Colonel Gun's advice, crossed Aberdeen. He says, " Thir saulless lounis the Meagre hill next morning, directly in the plunderit meit, drink, and scheip quhair ever face of his opponent, who lay with his forces they cam. Thay oppressit the Oldtoun, and at the bottom of the hill. As Aboyne de- brocht in out of the countrie honest menis scended the hill, the Earl Marshal opened a scheip, and sold at the cross of Old Abirdein heavy fire upon him, which threw his men into to sic as wold by, ane scheip upone foot for complete disorder. The Highlanders, unaccus- aue groat. The poor men that aucht thame tomed to the fire of cannon, were the first to follouit in and coft bak thair awin scheip retreat, and in a short time the whole army

r agane, sic as wes left unslayne for thair meit." gave waj . Aboyne thereupon returned to

On the 10th of June the viscount left Aber- Aberdeen with some horsemen, leaving the deen, and advanced upon Kintore with an rest of the army to follow ; but the High- army of about 2,000 horse and foot, to which landers took a homeward course, carrying along he received daily accessions. The inhabitants with them a large quantity of booty, which of the latter place were compelled by him to they gathered on then' retreat. The disastrous subscribe the oath of allegiance, and notwith- issue of " the Eaid of Stonehaven," as this standing their compliance, " the troops," says affair has been called, has been attributed, with Spalding, " plundered meat and drink, and considerable plausibility, to treachery on the made good fires: and, where they wanted part of Colonel Gun, to whom, on account of peats, broke down beds and boards in honest his great experience, Aboyne had intrusted the men's houses to be fires, and fed their horses command of the army. 2 with corn and straw that day and night." 9 On his arrival at Aberdeen, Aboyne held s

Next morning the army made a raid upon council of war, at which it was determined to Hall Forrest, a seat of the Earl Marshal, and send some persons into the Mearns to collect the house of Muchells, belonging to Lord the scattered remains of his army, for, with the

Fraser ; but Aboyne, hearing of a rising in the exception of about 180 horsemen and a few foot south, returned to Aberdeen. soldiers, the whole of the fine army which he

As delay woidd be dangerous to his cause in had led from Aberdeen had disappeared ; but the present conjuncture, he crossed the Dee on although the army again mustered at Leggets- the 14th of June, his army amounting alto- den to the number of 4,000, they were pre- gether probably to about 3,000 horse and foot, 1 vented from recrossing the Dee and joining with the intention of occupying Stonehaven, his lordship by the Marshal and Montrose, and of issuing afresh the king's proclamation who advanced towards the bridge of Dee with at the market cross of that burgh. He pro- all their forces. Aboyne, hearing of their ap- ceeded as far as Muchollis, or Muchalls, the seat proach, resolved to dispute with them the of Sir Thomas Burnet of Leyes, a Covenanter, passage of the Dee, and, as a precautionary where he encamped that night. On hearing of measure, blocked up the entrance to the bridge his approach, the Earl Marshal and Montrose of Dee from the south by a thick wall of turf, posted themselves, with 1,200 men, and some beside which he placed 100 musketeers upon pieces of ordnance which they had drawn from the bridge, under the command of Lieutenant- Dunnottar castle, on the direct road which Colonel Johnstone, to annoy the assailants from Aboyne had to pass, and waited his approach. the small turrets on its 'sides. The viscount

was warmly seconded in his views by the citi- whose dread of 8 zens of Aberdeen, another hos- Spalding, vol. i. p. 205. 9 Troubles, vol. i. p. 206. tile visit from the Covenanters induced them to 1 Spalding, vol. i. p. 207. —Gordon of Kotliiemay. vol. ii. p. 26S. —Gordon of Ruthven, in his abridg- ment of Britane's Distemper (Spald. Club ed.), p. 206, - Spalding, vol. i. p. 208. Gordon of Rothiemay, makes the number 5,000. vol. ii. p. 272. Britane's Distemper, p. 2-1. BATTLE AT THE BRIDGE OF DEE. 175 afford him every assistance in their power, and opponent into the snare set for him, imme- it is recorded that the women and children diately sent back the greater part of his horse, even occupied themselves in carrying provi- under the command of Captain Middleton, with sions to the army during the contest. instructions to renew the attack upon the The army of Montrose consisted of ahout bridge with redoubled energy. This officer lost 2,000 foot and 300 horse, and a large train of no time in obeying these orders, and Lieutenant- artillery. The forces which Lord Aboyne colonel Johnstone having been wounded in the had collected on the spur of the occasion outset by a stone torn from the bridge by a shot, were not numerous, but he was superior in was forced to abandon its defence, and he and cavalry. His ordnance consisted only of four his party retired precipitately to Aberdeen. pieces of brass cannon. Montrose arrived at "When Aboyne saw the colours of the Cove- the bridge of Dee on the 18th of June, and, nanters flying on the bridge of Dee, he fled with without a moment's delay, commenced a furious great haste towards Strathbogie, after releasing cannonade upon the works which had been the lairds of Purie Ogilvy and Purie Fodder- thrown up at the south end, and which he inghame, whom he had taken prisoners, and kept up during the whole day without produc- carried with him from Aberdeen. The loss on ing any material effect. Lieutenant-colonel either side during the conflict on the bridge

Johnstone defended the bridge with deter- was trifling. The only person of note who fell mined bravery, and his musketeers kept up a on Aboyne's side was Seaton of Pitmedden, a galling and well-directed fire upon their assail- brave cavalier, who was killed by a cannon ants. Both parties reposed during the short shot while riding along the river side with twilight, and as soon as morning dawned Mon- Lord Aboyne. On that of the Covenanters trose renewed his attack upon the bridge, with was slain another valiant gentleman, a brother an ardour which seemed to have received a of Ramsay of Balmain. About 14 persons of fresh impulse from the unavailing efforts of inferior note were lulled on each side, including the preceding day ; but all his attempts were some burgesses of Aberdeen, and several were vain. Seeing no hopes of carrying the bridge wounded. in the teeth of the force opposed to him, he had Montrose, reaching the north bank of the recourse to a stratagem, by which he succeeded Dee, proceeded immediately to Aberdeen, in withdrawing a part of Aboyne's forces from which he entered without opposition. So ex- the defence of the bridge. That force had, asperated were Montrose's followers at the indeed, been considerably impaired before the repeated instances of devotedness shown by renewal of the attack, in consequence of a party the inhabitants to the royal cause, that they

fire of 50 musketeers having gone to Aberdeen to proposed to raze the town and set it on ; escort thither the body of a citizen named John but they were hindered from carrying their Forbes, who had been killed the preceding design into execution by the firmness of Mon- day ; to which circumstance Spalding attri- trose. The Covenanters, however, treated the butes the loss of the bridge ; but whether the inhabitants very harshly, and imprisoned many absence of this party had such an effect upon who were suspected of having been concerned the fortune of the day is by no means clear. in opposing their passage across the Dee ; but The covenanting general, after battering unsuc- an end was put to these proceedings in conse- cessfully the defences of the bridge, ordered quence of intelligence being brought on the fol- a party of horsemen to proceed up the river lowing day (June 20th) of the treaty of paci- some distance, and to make a demonstration as fication which had been entered into between if they intended to cross. Aboyne was com- the king and Ms subjects at Berwick, upon the pletely deceived by this manoeuvre, and sent 1 8th of that month. On receipt of this news, the whole of his horsemen from the bridge Montrose s,ent a despatch to the Earl of Sea- to dispute the passage of the river with those forth, who was stationed with his army on the of Montrose, leaving Lieutenant-colonel John- Spey, intimating the pacification, and desiring stone and his 50 musketeers alone to protect him to disband his army, with which order he the bridge. Montrose having thus drawn his instantly complied. 176 GENEBAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

The articles of pacification were preceded by a convert of Montrose, who from that time

a declaration on trie part of trie king, in which, determined to desert his associates in arms, he stated, that although he could not conde- and to place himself under the royal standard. scend to ratify and approve of the acts of the The immediate strengthening of the forts of Ber- Glasgow General Assembly, yet, notwithstand- wick and Carlisle, and the provisioning of the ing the many disorders which had of late been castle of Edinburgh, were probably the sugges- committed, he not only confirmed and made tions of Montrose, who would, of course, be good whatsoever his commissioner had granted intrusted with the secret of his majesty's de- and promised, but he also declared that all mat- signs. The Covenanters, on the other hand, ters ecclesiastical should be determined by the although making a show of disbanding their assembhes of the kirk, and matters civil by army at Dunse, in reabty kept a considerable the parliament and other inferior judicatories force on foot, which they quartered in different estabbshed by law. To settle, therefore, " the parts of the country, to be in readiness for the general distractions " of the kingdom, his ma- field on a short notice. The suspicious conduct jesty ordered that a free general assembly of the king certainly justified this precaution. should be held at Edinburgh on the 6th August The general assembly met on the day fixed following, at which he declared his intention, upon, but, instead of attending in person as he " God willing, to be personally present;" and proposed, Charles appointed the Earl of Tra- he moreover ordered a parhament to meet at quair to act as his commissioner. After abobsh- Edinburgh on the 20th of the same month, for ing the articles of Perth, the book of canons, the ratifying the proceedings of the general assem- liturgy, the high commission and episcopacy, bly, and settling such other matters as might and ratifying the late Covenant, the assembly conduce to the peace and good of the kingdom was dissolved on the 30th of August, and

of Scotland. By the articles of pacification, it another general assembly was appointed to be was, inter alia, provided that the forces in held at Aberdeen on the 28th of July of the fol- Scotland should be disbanded within forty- lowing year, 1640. The parliament met next

eight hours after the publication of the de- day, viz., on the last day of August, and as there claration, and that all the royal castles, forts, were no bishops to represent the third estate, and warlike stores of every description, should fourteen minor barons were elected in their be delivered up to his majesty after the said stead. His majesty's commissioner protested pubbcation, as soon as he should send to against the vote and against farther proceedings

receive them. Under the seventh and last till the king's mind should be known, and the article of the treaty, the Marquis of Huntly commissioner immediately sent off a letter ap- and his son, Lord Gordon, and some others prising him of the occurrence. "Without wait- who had been detained prisoners in the castle ing for the king's answer, the parliament was of Edinburgh by the Covenanters, were set at proceeding with a variety of bills for securing liberty. the bberty of the subject and restraining the

It has been generally supposed that neither royal prerogative, when it was unexpectedly party had any sincere intention to observe the and suddenly prorogued, by an order from the

conditions of the treaty. Certain it is, that the king, till the 2d of June in the following year.

ink with which it was written was scarcely dry If Charles had not ab-eady made up his mind before its violation was contemplated. On the for war with his Scottish subjects, the conduct one hand, the king, before removing his army of the parbament which he had just prorogued from the neighbourhood of Berwick, required determined him again to have recourse to arms the heads of the Covenanters to attend him there, in vindication of his prerogative. He endea-

obviously with the object of gaining them over voured, at first, to enlist the sympathies of the

to his side ; but, with the exception of three bulk of the EngHsh nation in his cause, but

commoners and three lords, Montrose, Lou- without effect ; and his repeated appeals to his don, and Lothian, they refused to obey. It EngHsh people, setting forth the rectitude of was at this conference that Charles, who ap- his intentions and the justice of his cause, parently had great persuasive powers, made being answered by men who questioned the THREATENED WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 17?

one and denied the other, rather injured than In 16 26 he was made a privy councillor, and Krved him. The people of England were not in 1634 appointed one of the extraordinary then in a mood to embark in a crusade against lords of session. In 1638, at the General the civil and religious liberties of the north; Assembly of Glasgow, he openly went over to and they had too much experience of the arbi- the side of the Covenanters, and from that time trary spirit of the king to imagine that their was recognised as their political head. Argyle, own liberties would be better secured by ex- in executing the task intrusted to him by the tinguishing the flame which burned in the committee, appears to have been actuated more breasts of the sturdy and enthusiastic Cove- by feelings of private revenge than by an nanters. honest desire to carry out the spirit of his But notwithstanding the many discouraging commission. The ostensible reason for his circumstances which surrounded him, Charles undertaking this charge was his thorough ac- displayed a firmness of resolution to coerce the quaintance with the Highlands and the High- rebellious Scots by every means within his landers, and his ability to command the ser- reach. The spring and part of the summer of vices of a large following of his own. " But the 1640 were spent by both parties in military cheefe cause," according to Gordon of Rothie- preparations. Eield-Marshal Sir Alexander may,4 "though least mentioned, was Argylle, Leslie of Balgony, an old and experienced his spleene that he carryed upon the accompt officer who had been in foreign service, was of former disobleedgments betwixt his family appointed generalissimo of the Scots army by and some of the Highland clans: therefore he the war committee. When mustered by the was glade now to gett so faire a colour of general at Choicelee, it amounted to about revenge upon the publieke score, which he did 22,000 foot and 2,500 horse. A council of not lett slippe. Another reasone he had war was held at Dunse at which it was deter- besyde; it was his designe to swallow upp mined to invade England. Montrose, to whose Badzenoch and Lochaber, and some landes command a division of the army, consisting of belonging to the Mackdonalds, a numerous

2,000 foot and 500 horse, was intrusted, was trybe, but haters of, and aeqwally hated by absent when this meeting was held; but, Argylle." He had some hold on these two although his sentiments had, by this time, districts, as, in 1639, he had become security undergone a complete change, seeing on his for some of Huntly's debts to the latter's return no chance of preventing the resolution creditors. Argyle managed to seduce from of the council, he dissembled his feelings and their allegiance to Huntly the clan Cameron openly approved of the plan. There seems to in Lochaber, who bore a strong resentment be no doubt that in following this course he against their proper chief on account of some intended, on the first favourable opportunity, supposed injury done to the clan by the former to declare for the king, and carry off such part marquis. Although they had little relish for of the army as should be inclined to follow the Covenant, still to gratify their revenge, him, which he reckoned at a third of the they joined themselves to Argyle. A tribe whole. 3 of the Macdonalds who inhabited Lochaber, The Earl of Argyle was commissioned by the Macranalds of Keppoch, who remained the Committee of Estates to secure the west faithful to Huntly, met with very different and central Highlands. This, the eighth treatment at the hands of Argyle, who devas- Earl and first Marquis of Argyle, had suc- tated their district and burnt down their chief's ceeded to the title only in 1638, although dwelling at Keppoch. he had enjoyed the estates for many years During this same summer (July 1640), before that, as his father had been living in Argyle, who had raised an army of about 5,000 Spain, an outlaw. He was born in 1598, men, made a devastating raid into the district and strictly educated in the protestant faith as of Forfarshire belonging to the Earl of Airly. established in Scotland at the Reformation. He made first for Airly castle, about five

3 4 VVishart's Memoirs, Edin. 1819, p. 24. Scots Affairs, iii. 163. 178 GENEBAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS. miles north of Meigle, which, in the absence thought Argyle must have made some mistake, of the earl in England, was held by his son as he found it no more than a simple unfortified Lord Ogilvie, who had recently maintained it country house, occupied only by a sick gentle- against Montrose. When Argyle came up, woman and some servants. The sergeant re- Ogilvie saw that resistance was hopeless, and abandoned the castle to the tender mercy of the enemy. Argyle without scruple razed the place to the ground, and is said to have shown himself so " extremely earnest" in the work of demolition " that he was seen taking a hammer in his hande and knocking down the hewed work of the doors and windows till he did sweat for heat at his work." 5 Argyle's men carried off all they could from the house and the surrounding district, and rendered useless what they were compelled to leave behind. From Airly, Argyle proceeded to a seat belonging to Lord Ogilvie, Forthar in Glenisla, the " bonnie house o' Airly," of the well-known song. Here he behaved in a manner for which it would be difficult for his warmest supporters to find the shadow of an excuse, even taking into consideration the roughness of the times.

The place is said by Gordon to have been " no strength," so that there is still less excuse for his conduct. He treated Forthar in the same way that he did Airly, and although Lady First Marquis of Argyle. Ogilvie, who at the time was close on her confinement, asked Argyle to stay proceedings turned and told this to Argyle, who waxed until she gave birth to her infant, he without wroth and told him it was his duty simply to scruple expelled her from the house, and pro- obey orders, commanding him at the same time ceeded with his work of destruction. Not to return and " deface and spoil the house." only so, however, but " the Lady Drum, Dame After the sergeant had received his orders, Marian Douglas, who lived at that time in Argyle was observed to turn round and repeat Kelly, hearing tell what extremity her grand- to himself the Latin political maxim Abscin- child, the Lady Ogilvy, was reduced to, did dantur qui nos pertmbant, " a maxime which send a commission to Argyle, to whom the said many thought that he practised accurately, Lady Drum was a kinswoman, requesting that, which he did upon the account of the proverb

with his license, she might admit into her own consequential thereunto, and which is the rea- house, her grandchild, the Lady Ogilvy, who son of the former, which Argyle was remarked at that time was near her delivery; but Argyle likewise to have often hi his mouth as a choice would give no license. This occasioned the aphorism, and well observed by statesmen, Lady Drum for to fetch the Lady Ogilvie to Quod 17107^1 non mordent." her house of Kelly, and for to keep her there Argyle next proceeded against the Earl of upon all hazard that might follow." Athole, who, with about 1,200 followers, was At the same time Argyle " was not forgetful lying in Breadalbane, ready to meet him. to remember old quarrels to Sir John Ogilvie Argyle, whose army was about five times the

of Craigie." He sent a sergeant to Ogilvie's size of Athole's, instead of giving fight, man-

hoiiao to warn him to leave it, but the sergeant aged by stratagem to capture Athole and some of his friends, whom he sent to the Committee

5 GorJon of Rothiemay, iii. 165. of Estates at Edinburgh. MONTEOSE GOES OVER TO THE KING. n\>

Argyle, after having thus gratified his private and he, thereupon, went to his own castle, revenge and made a show of quieting the where he remained for some time, ruminating Highlands, returned to the lowlands. 6 on the course he should pursue for the relief On the 20th of August General Leslie crossed of the king. The king, while in Scotland at the Tweed with his army, the van of which this time, conferred honours upon several of was led by Montrose on foot. This task, the covenanting leaders, apparently for the though performed with readiness and with purpose of conciliation, Argyle being raised to every appearance of good will, was not volun- the dignity of a marquis. tarily undertaken, but had been devolved upon Although Charles complied with the de-

Montrose by lot ; none of the principal officers mands of his Scottish subjects, and heaped daring to take the lead of their own accord in many favours and distinctions upon the heads such a dangerous enterprise. There can be of the leading Covenanters, they were by no no doubt that Montrose was insincere in his means satisfied, and entered fully into the professions, and that those who suspected him hostile views of their brethren in the south, were right in thinking that in his heart he with whom they made common cause. Having was turned Eoyalist, 7 a supposition which his resolved to send an army into England to join correspondence with the king and his subse- the forces of the parliament, which had come quent conduct fully justify. to an open rupture with the sovereign, they Although the proper time had not arrived attempted to gain over Montrose to their side for throwing off the mask, Montrose im- by offering him the post of lieutenant-general of mediately on his return to Scotland, after their army, and promising to accede to any the close of this campaign, began to concert demands he might make; but he rejected all measures for counteracting the designs of the their offers; and, as an important crisis was at

Covenanters ; but his plans were embarrassed by hand, he hastened to England in the early part some of his associates disclosing to the Cove- of the. year 1643, in company with Lord nanters the existence of an association which Ogilvie, to lay the state of affairs before the Montrose had formed at Cumbernauld for sup- king, and to offer him his advice and service porting the royal authority. A great outcry in such an emergency. Charles, however, was raised against Montrose in consequence, either from a want of confidence in the judg- but his influence was so great that the heads ment of Montrose, who, to the rashness and of the Covenanters were afraid to show any impetuosity of youth, added, as he was led to severity towards him. On subsequently dis- believe, a desire of gratifying his personal covering, however, that the king had written feelings and vanity, or overcome by the calcu- him letters which were intercepted and forcibly lating but fatal policy of the Marquis of Ham- taken from the messenger, a servant of the ilton, who deprecated a fresh war between Earl of Traquair, they apprehended him, along the king and his Scottish subjects, declined to with Lord Napier of Merchiston, and Sir follow the advice of Montrose, who had offered George Stirling of Keith, his relatives and in- to raise an army immediately in Scotland to timate friends, and imprisoned them in the support him. castle of Edinburgh. On the meeting of the A convention of estates called by the Cove- parliament at Edinburgh in July, 1641, which nanters, without any authority from the king, was attended by the king in person, Montrose met at Edinburgh on the 22d of June, 1643, demanded to be tried before them, but his appli- and he soon perceived from the character and cation was rejected by the Covenanters, who proceedings of this assembly, the great majority obtained an order from the parliament prohib- of which were Covenanters, the mistake he had iting hira from going into the king's presence. committed in rejecting the advice of Montrose, After the king had returned to England, Mon- and he now resolved, thenceforth, to be guided trose and his fellow-prisoners were liberated, in his plans for subduing Scotland by the opinion of that nobleman. Accordingly, at a 6 See Gordon of Bothiemay, iii. 163 et seq. Spal- meeting held at Oxford, between the king and ding, i. 290. 7 Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 70. Montrose, in the month of December, 1643, 180 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. when the Soots army was about entering to avoid being surprised by the Covenanters, England, it was agreed that -the Earl of An- large bodies of whom were hovering about in trim, an Irish nobleman of great power and all directions. influence, who then lived at Oxford, should be To aid the views of Montrose, the king had sent to Ireland to raise auxiliaries with whom appointed the Marquis of Huntly, on whose he should make a descent on the west parts —of fidelity he could rely, his lieutenant-general Scotland in the month of April following ; in the north of Scotland. He, on hearing that the Marquis of Newcastle, who commanded of the capture of Dumfries by Montrose, the royal forces in the north of England, should immediately collected a considerable body of furnish Montrose with a party of horse, with horse and foot, consisting of Highlanders and which he should enter the south of Scotland, lowlanders, at Kincardine-O'Neil, with the

—that au application should be made to the intention of crossing the Cairn-a-Mount ; but King of Denmark for some troops of German being disappointed in not being joined by horse; and that a quantity of arms should be some forces from Perthshire, Angus, and the transported into Scotland from abroad. 8 Mearns, which he expected, he altered his steps, Instructions having been given to the Earl and proceeded towards Aberdeen, which he of Antrim to raise the Irish levy, and Sir took. Thence he despatched parties of his •James Cochran having been despatched to the troojDS through the counties of Aberdeen and continent as ambassador for the king, to procure Banff, which brought in quantities of horses foreign aid, Montrose left Oxford on his way and arms for the use of his army. One to Scotland, taking York and Durham in his party, consisting of 120 horse and 300 foot, route. Near the latter city he had an inter- commanded by the young laird of Drum and view with the Marquis of Newcastle for the his brother, young Gicht, Colonel Nathaniel purpose of obtaining a sufficient party of horse Gordon and Colonel Donald Farqnharson and to escort him into Scotland, but all he could others, proceeded to the town of Montrose, procure was about 100 horse, badly appointed, which they took, killed one of the bailies, made with two small brass field pieces. 9 The Mar- the provost prisoner, and threw some cannon quis sent orders to the Icing's officers, and to into the sea as they could not carry them away. the captains of the militia in Cumberland and But, on hearing that the Earl of Kinghorn was Westmoreland, to afford Montrose such assist- advancing upon them with the forces of Angus, ance as they could, and he was in consequence they made a speedy retreat, leaving thirty of joined on his way to Carlisle by 800 foot and their foot behind them prisoners. To protect three troops of horse, of Cumberland and themselves against the army of the Marquis of Northumberland militia. With this small Huntly, the inhabitants of Moray, on the north force, and about 200 horse, consisting of noble- of the Spey, raised a regiment of foot and men and gentlemen who had served as officers three companies of horse, which were quartered in Germany, Erance, or England, Montrose in the town of Elgin. entered Scotland on the 13th of April, 1644. When the convention heard of Huntly's He had not, however, proceeded far, when a movements, they appointed the Marquis of revolt broke out among the English soldiers, Argyle to raise an army to quell this insurrec- who immediately returned to England. In tion. He, accordingly, assembled at Perth spite of this discouragement, Montrose pro- a force of 5,000 foot and 800 horse out of ceeded on with his small party of horse Fife, Angus, Mearns, Argyle, and Perthshire, towards Dumfries, which surrendered to him with which he advanced on Aberdeen. Huntly, without opposition. After waiting there a few hearing of his approach, fled from Aberdeen

clays, hi expectation of hearing some tidings and retired to the town of Banff, where, on respecting the Earl of Antrim's movements, the day of his arrival, he disbanded his army. without receiving any, he retired to Carlisle, The marquis himself thereafter retired to Strathnaver, and took up his residence with » Wisliart. the' master of Reay. Argyle, after taking 9 The Dnehess of Newcastle says, in the memoirs of iier husband, that the number was 210. possession of Aberdeen, proceeded northward ;

MONTROSE ENTERS SCOTLAND IN DISGUISE. 181

and took the castles of Gicht and Kellie, made and one Sibbald, to accompany him. Dis- the lairds of Gicht and Haddo prisoners and guised as a groom, and riding upon a lean, sent them to Edinburgh, the latter being, along worn-out horse, and leading another in his with one Captain Logan, afterwards beheaded. 1 hand, Montrose passed for Sibbald's servant, We now return to Montrose, who, after an in which condition and capacity he proceeded ineffectual attempt to obtain an accession of to the borders. The party had not proceeded force from the army of Prince Rupert, Count far when an occurrence took place, which Palatine of the Rhine, determined on again considerably disconcerted them. Meeting with entering Scotland with his little band. But a Scottish soldier, who had served under the being desirous to learn the exact situation of Marquis of Newcastle in England, he, after affairs there, before putting this resolution into passing Rollock and Sibbald, went up to the effect, he" sent Lord Ogilvie and Sir William marquis, and accosted him by his name. Mon-

Rollock into Scotland, in disguise, for that trose told him that he was quite mistaken ; but purpose. They returned in about fourteen the soldier being positive, and judging that the days, and brought a spiritless and melancholy marquis was concerned in some important affair, account of the state of matters in the north, replied, with a countenance which betokened where they found all the passes, towns, a kind heart, " Do not I know my lord Mar- and forts,, in possession of the Covenanters, quis of Montrose well enough ? But go your and where no man dared to speak in favour way, and God be with you." 2 When Montrose of the king. This intelligence was received saw that he coidd not preserve an incognito with dismay by Montrose's followers, who now from the penetrating eye of the soldier, he gave began to think of the best means of securing him some money and dismissed him. their own safety. In this unpleasant conjunc- This occurrence excited alarm in the mind ture of affairs, Montrose called them together of Montrose, and made him accelerate his to consult on the line of conduct they should journey. Within four days he arrived at the pursue. Some advised him to return to Ox- house of Tullibelton, among the hills near the ford and inform his majesty of the hopeless Tay, which belonged to Patrick Graham ol state of his affairs in Scotland, while others Inehbrakie, his cousin, and a royalist. N-i gave an opinion that he should resign his com- situation was better fitted for concocting hts mission, and go abroad till a more favourable plans, and for communicating with those clans opportunity occurred of serving the king and the gentry of the adjoining lowlands who but the chivalroits and undaunted spirit of stood well affected to the king, It formed, m Montrose disdained to follow either of these fact, a centre, or point d'appui to the royalists courses, and he resolved upon the desperate of the Highlands and the adjoining lowlands, expedient of venturing into the very heart of from which a pretty regular conrmunicatiun Scotland, with only one or two companions, in could be kept up, without any of those dangers the hope of being able to rally round his per- which would have arisen in the lowlands. son a force sufficient to support the declining Eor some days Montrose did not venture to interests of his sovereign. appear among the people in the neighbourhood,

Having communicated this intention pri- nor did he consider himself safe even in Tulli- vately to Lord Ogilvie, he put under his charge belton house, but passed the night in an obscure the few gentlemen who had remained faithful cottage, and in the day-time wandered alone to him, that he might conduct them to the among the neighbouring mountains, ruminating long ; and having accompanied them to a dis- over the strange peculiarity of his situation, and tance, he withdrew from them clandestinely, waiting the return of his fellow-travellers, whom leaving his servants, horses, and baggage behind he had despatched to collect intelligence on the him, and returned to Carlisle. Having pre- state of the kingdom. These messengers came pared himself for his journey, Jie selected Sir back to him after some days' absence, bringing William Rollock, a gentleman of tried honour, with them the most cheerless accounts of the

1 2 Gordon of Sallagh, p. 519. Wishart, p. 6-t ;

182 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. situation of the country, and of the persecu- him to farther exertions in continuing his tions which the royalists suffered at the hands march, in the hope of meeting Montrose. of the Covenanters. Among other distressing As Macdonald was perfectly ignorant of pieces of intelligence, they communicated to Montrose's movements, and thought it likely

Montrose the premature and unsuccessful at- that he might be still at Carlisle, waiting till tempt of the Marquis of Huntly in favour of he should hear of Macdonald's arrival, he sent the royal cause, and of his retreat to Strath- letters to him by the hands of a confidential naver to avoid the fury of his enemies. These friend, who resided in the neighbourhood of accounts greatly affected Montrose, "who "was Inchbrakie's house. This gentleman, who grieved to find that the Gordons, "who were knew nothing of Montrose's return to Scotland, stern royalists, should be exposed, "by the aban- having luckily communicated to Mr. Graham donment of their chief, to the revenge of their the secret of being intrusted with letters to his enemies ; "but he consoled himself with the kinsman, Montrose, Graham offered to see them reflection, that as soon as he should be enabled safely delivered to Montrose, though he should to unfurl the royal standard, the tide of fortune ride to Carlisle himself. The gentleman in would turn. question then delivered the letters to Graham, While cogitating on the course he should and Montrose having received them, wrote an pursue in this conjuncture, a report reached answer as if from Carlisle, in which he requested him from some shepherds on the hills that a Macdonald to keep up his spirits, that he would body of Irish troops had landed in the West, soon be joined by a seasonable reinforcement and was advancing through the Highlands. and a general at their head, and he ordered Montrose at once concluded that these were him with all expedition to march down into the auxiliaries whom the Earl of Antrim had Athole. In fixing on Athole as the place of undertaken to send him four months before, his rendezvous, Montrose is said to have been and such they proved to be. This force, which actuated by an implicit reliance on the fidelity amounted to 1,500 men, was under the com- and loyalty of the Athole-men, and by a high mand of Alexander Macdonald, son of Coll opinion of their courage. They lay, besides, Mac-Gillespic Macdonald of Iona, who had under many obligations to himself, and he cal- been greatly persecuted by the family of Argyle. culated that he had only to appear among Macdonald had arrived early in July, 1644, them to command their services in the cause of among the Hebrides, and had landed and taken their sovereign. the castles of Meigray and Kinloch Alan. He When Macdonald received these instructions, had then disembarked his forces in Knoydart, he marched towards Athole ; but in passing where he expected to, be joined by the Marquis through Badenoch he was threatened with an of Huntly and the Earl of Seaforth. As he attack by the Earls of Sutherland and Seaforth, advanced into the interior, he despatched the at the head of some of their people, and by the fiery cross for the purpose of summoning the Erasers, Grants, Eosses, and Monroes, and

clans to his standard ; but, although the cross other inhabitants of Moray, who had assembled was carried through a large extent of country, at the top of Strathspey; but Macdonald very even to Aberdeen, he was joined at first only cautiously avoided them, and hastened into by the clan Donald, under the captain of clan Athole. On arriving in Athole, Macdonald Eanald, and the laird of Glengary. The Mar- was coldly received by the people of that as quis of Argyle collected an army to oppose well as the surrounding country, who doubted the progress of Macdonald, and, to cut off whether he had any authority from the king his retreat to Ireland, he sent some ships of and besides, they hesitated to place themselves war to Loch Eishord, where Macdonald's fleet- under the command of a person of neither lay, which captured or destroyed them. This noble nor ancient lineage, and whom they con- loss, while it frustrated an intention Macdonald sidered an upstart. This indecision might entertained of returning to Ireland, in conse- have proved fatal to Macdonald, who was quence of the disappointment he had met with closely pressed in his rear by the army of in not being joined by the clans, stimulated Argyle, had not these untoward deliberations THE ATHOLE-MEN JOIN MONTROSE, 183

been instantly put an end to by the arrival of as if these two qualifications were of them- ! Montrose at Blair, where Macdonald had fixed selves sufficient, without any known vice, to his head-quarters. Montrose had travelled put a man completely beyond the pale of virtue. seventy miles on foot, in a Highland dress, It seems, indeed, to have been a general belief accompanied by Patrick Graham, his cousin, at the time that this primitive and sequestered as his guide. 3 His appearance was hailed by people, as they were avowedly out of the sav- his countrymen with every demonstration of ing circle of the Covenant, were also out of the joy, and they immediately made him a spon- limits of both law and religion, and therefore taneous offer of their services. hopelessly and utterly given up to all sorts of Accordingly, on the following day, the wickedness. Not only were murder and rob- Athole-nien, to the number of about 800, con- bery among the list of offences which they sisting chiefly of the Stewarts and Eobertsons, were accused of daily committing, but there put themselves under arms and flocked to the even seems to have been a popular idea that

standard of Montrose. Thus, in little more sorcery was a prevailing crime amongst them. than twenty-four hours, Montrose saw himself They were also charged with a general inclina- at the head of a force of upwards of 2,000 men, tion to popery, an offence which, from the animated by an enthusiastic attachment to bis alarms and superstitions of the time, had now person and to the cause which he had espoused. come, in general phraseology, to signify a con-

The extraordinary contrast between his present densation of all others. Along with this hor- commanding position, and the situation in rible notion of the mountaineers, there was not which he was placed a few daj^s before, as a associated the slightest idea of their ardent and

forlorn wanderer among the mountains, pro- chivalrous character ; nor was there any general duced a powerful effect upon the daring and sensation of terror for the power which they chivalrous spirit of Montrose, who looked for- undoubtedly possessed of annoying the peace- ward to the success of his enterprise with the ful inhabitants, and thwarting the policy of eagerness of a man who considered the destinies the Low country, no considerable body of of his sovereign as altogether depending upon Highlanders having been there seen in arms his individual exertions. Impressed with the for several generations. necessity of acting with promptitude, he did In pursuance of his determination, Montrose

not hesitate long as to the course he should put his small army in motion the same day to- pursue. He might have immediately gone in wards Strathearn, in passing through which, he quest of Argyle, who had followed the army of expected to be joined by some of the inhabitants Macdonald, with slow and cautious steps, and of that and the adjoining country. At the by one of those sudden movements which no same time he sent forward a messenger with a man knew better how to execute with advan- friendly notice to the Menzieses of his inten- tage, surprised and defeated his adversary; tion to pass through their country, but instead but such a plan did not accord with the designs of talcing this in good part they maltreated the of Montrose, who resolved to open the cam- messenger and harassed the rear of his army. paign at once in the lowlands, and thus give This unprovoked attack so exasperated Mon-

confidence to the friends and supporters of trose, that he ordered his men, when passing the king. by Weem castle, which belonged to the clan The general opinion which the Lowlanders Menzies, to plunder and lay waste their lands, of this period entertained regarding their up- and to burn their houses, an order which was land neighbours was not very respectful. A literally obeyed. He expected that this exam- covenanting wit, in a poem which he wrote ple of summary vengeance would serve as a against the bishops only a few years before, useful lesson to 6 iter others, who might be dis- says of one whose extraction was from the posed to imitate the conduct of the Menzieses, other side of the Grampians, from following a similar course. Notwith- " A bishop and a Highlandman, how can'st thou standing the time spent in making these repri- " honest be ? sals, Montrose passed the Tay with a part of

3 Wishart, p. 69. his forces the same evening, and the remainder —

IM GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. followed very early the next morning. He As the day was too far advanced to proceed had, at the special request of the Athole-men to Perth, Montrose ordered his men to bivouac themselves, placed them under the command during the night about three miles from of his kinsman, Patrick Graham of InchbraMe, Buchanty, and began his march by dawn of and he now sent him forward with a select day. As soon as Lord Elcho, the commander party to reconnoitre. Inchbrakie soon returned of the covenanting army, heard of Montrose's with information that he had observed a partjr approach, he left Perth and drew up his army of armed men stationed upon the hill of on Tippermuir, a plain of some extent between Buchanty. On inquiry, Montrose ascertained four and five miles west from the town. Re- that this body was commanded by Lord Eal- serving to himself the command of the right pont, eldest son of the Earl of Menteith, and wing, he committed the charge of the left to by Sir John Drummond, son of the Earl of Sir James Scott, an able and skilful officer, Perth, both of whom were his relations. The who had served with great honour in the force in question, which consisted of about 500 Venetian army ; and to the Earl of Tullibar- men, was on its way to Perth to join the other dine he intrusted the command of the centre. covenanting troops who were stationed there. The horse were divided and placed on each Montrose immediately marched up to this wing with the view of surrounding the army body, with the intention, if he could not pre- of Montrose, should he venture to attack them vail on them to join him, of attacking them, in their position. As soon as Montrose per- but before he had approached sufficiently near, ceived the enemy thus drawn up in battle Lord Kilpont, who had ascertained that Mon- array, he made the necessary dispositions for trose commanded, sent some of his principal attacking them. To counteract as much as officers to him to ascertain what his object was possible the danger arising to such a small in thus advancing. Montrose having explained body of men, unprotected by cavalry, from the his views and stated that he acted by the king's extended line of the Covenanters, Montrose authority, and having entreated them to return endeavoured to make his line as extensive as to their allegiance, they and the whole of their possible with safety, by limiting his files to party immediately joined him. This new ac- three men deep. As the Irish had neither cession augmented Montrose's army to about swords nor pikes to oppose the cavalry, they 3,000 men. were stationed in the centre of the line, and Montrose now learned from his new allies the Highlanders, who were provided with that the Covenanters had assembled their forces swords and Lochaber axes, were placed on the in great numbers at Perth, and that the}^ lay wings, as better fitted to resist the attacks of there waiting for his approach. The cove- the cavalry. Some of the Highlanders were, nanting army, in fact, was more than double however, quite destitute of arms of every de- that of Montrose, amounting to about 6,000 scription, and it is related on the authority of foot and 700 horse, to which were attached an eye-witness that Montrose, seeing their help- four pieces of artillery. Montrose, on the less condition, thus quaintly addressed them : " other hand, had not a single horseman, and It is true you have no arms ; your enemies, but three horses, two of which were for his however, have plenty. My advice, therefore, is, own use, and the other for that of Sir William that as there happens to be a great abundance Pollock, and besides he had no artillery. Yet of stones upon this moor, every man should with such a decided disparity, Montrose re- provide himself, in the first place, with as solved to march directly to Perth and attack stout a stone as he can well manage, rush the enemy. He appears to have been influenced up to the first Covenanter he meets, beat out in this resolution by the consideration of the his brains, take his sword, and then, I be- proximity of Argyle with his army, and lieve, he will be at no loss how to proceed."* the danger in which he would be placed by This advice, as will be seen, was really acted

being hemmed in by two hostile armies : he upon. As Montrose was almost destitute of could expect to avoid such an embarrassment

only by risking an immediate engagement. 4 Gentleman's Mag., vol. xvi. p. 153. BATTLE OF TIPPEEMUIE. 185 powder, lie ordered the Irish forces to husband the fate of the day, for the Covenanters, many their fire till they should come close to the of whom were undisciplined, seeing the unex- enemy, and after a simultaneous discharge pected defeat of Lord Drummond's party, be- from the three ranks, (the front rank kneel- came quite dispirited, and began to show ing,) to assail the enemy thereafter as they best symptoms which indicated a disposition for could. To oppose the left wing of the Cove- immediate flight. The confusion into which nanters, commanded by Sir James Scott, Mon- the main body had been thrown by the retreat trose took upon himself the command of his of the advanced party, and the indecision which own right, placing Lord Kilpont at the head seemed now to prevail in the Covenanters' army of the left, and Macdonald, his major-general, in consequence of that reverse, were observed over the centre. by the watchful eye of Montrose, who saw that During the progress of these arrangements, the favourable moment for striking a decisive Montrose despatched an accomplished young blow had arrived. He therefore gave orders to nobleman, named Drummond, eldest son of his men to advance, who, immediately setting Lord Maderty, with a message to the chiefs of up a loud shout, rushed forward at a quick pace the Covenanters' army, entreating them to lay towards the enemy. They were met by a ran- down their arms and return to their duty and dom discharge from some cannon which the obedience to their sovereign. Instead, how- Covenanters had placed in front of their army, ever, of returning any answer to this message, but which did little or no execution. When they seized the messenger, and sent him to sufficiently near, Montrose's musketeers halted, Perth under an escort, with an intimation that, and, as ordered, poured a volley into the main on obtaining a victory over his master, they rank of the Covenanters, which immediately would execute him. Indeed, the probability of gave way. The cavalry of the Covenanters, a defeat seems never for a moment to have thereupon, issued from their stations and at- entered into the imaginations of the Covenant- tacked the royalists, who, in their turn, de- ers, and they had been assured by Frederick fended themselves with singular intrepidity. Carmichael, a minister who had preached to While the armed Highlanders made ample use them the same day, being Sunday, 1st Septem- of their Locfiaber axes and swords, the Irish ber, " that if ever God spoke truth out of his steadily opposed the attacks of the horse with mouth, he promised them, in the name of God, the butt ends of their muskets ; but the most a certain victory that day." 5 effective annoyance which the cavalry met with There being no hopes, therefore, of an accom- appears to have proceeded from the unarmed modation, both armies, after advancing towards Highlanders, who having supplied themselves each other, remained motionless for a short with a quantity of stones, as suggested by time, as if unwilling to begin the attack ; but Montrose, discharged them with well-directed this state of matters was speedily put an end to aim at the horses and their riders. The result by the advance of a select skirmishing party was, that after a short struggle, the cavalry were under the command of Lord Drummond, sent obliged to make a precipitate retreat. While out from the main body of the covenanting this contest was going on, another part of army, for the double purpose of distracting the Montrose's army was engaged with the right attention of Montrose, and inducing his troops wing of the covenanting army, under Sir James to leave their ranks, and thus create confusion Scott, but although this body made a longer and among them ; but Montrose kept his men in more determined resistance, and galled the party check, and contented himself with sending out opposed to them by an incessant fire of mus- a few of his men to oppose them. Lord Drum- ketry, they were at last overpowered by the mond, whom Baillie appears to have suspected Athole-men, who rushed upon them with then" of treachery, and his party were routed at the broad-swords, and cut down and wounded a first onset, and fled back upon the main body considerable number. The rout of the Cove- in great disorder. This trivial affair decided nanters now became general. The horsemen saved themselves by the fleetness of their

5 Wishart, p. 77. horses; but during the pursuit, which was kept 2 A —

186 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. up to a distance of six or seven miles, many known that that army was composed of raw hundreds of foot were killed, and a consider- and undisciplined men, and that the Covenant- able number made prisoners, 6 some of whom ers had still large bodies of well-trained troops afterwards served in Montrose's army. The in the field. loss on the side of Montrose appears to have been Thus disappointed in his hopes, and under- very tri flin g. By this victory, and the subse- standing that the Marquis of Argyle was fast quent capture of Perth, which he entered the approaching with a large army, Montrose same day, Montrose was enabled to equip his crossed the Tay on the 4th of September, di- army with all those warlike necessaries of recting his course towards Coupar-Angus, and which it had been so remarkably destitute in encamped at night in the open fields near Col- the morning, and of which the Covenanters lace. His object in proceeding northward was left him an abundant supply. 7 to endeavour to raise some of the loyal clans, and thus to put himself in a sufficiently strong condition to meet Argyle. Montrose had given orders to the army to march early next morn- CHAPTEE XIII. ing, but by break of day, and before the drums

a. D. 1644 (September)—1645 (February). had beat, he was alarmed by an uproar in the camp. Perceiving his men running to their British sovereign:—Charles I., 1625—1649. arms in a state of fury and rage, Montrose, ap- Montrose crosses the Tay to Collace—Marches through prehensive that the Highlanders and Irish had Angus and Mearns— Battle of Aberdeen— Supine- quarrelled, immediately rushed in ness of the Gordons— Movements of Argyle—Mon- among the trose retreats through Badenoch—Second march of thickest of the crowd to pacify them, but to his Montrose to the north— Battle of Fyvie—Montrose great grief and dismay, he ascertained that retreats to Strathbogie—Secession from his camp the Montrose enters and wastes Breadalbane and Argyle confusion had arisen from the assassination of —Marches to Lochness—Argyle enters Loehaber his valued friend Lord Kilpont. He had fall- Battle of Inverlochy. en a victim to the blind fury of James Stewart Montrose now entertained confident expecta- of Ardvoirlich, with whom he had slept the tions that many of the royalists of the sur- same night, and who had long enjoyed his con- rounding country who had hitherto kept aloof fidence and friendship. According to Wishart, would join him; but after remaining three days wishing to ingratiate himself with the Cove- at Perth, to give them an opportunity of rally- nanters, he formed a design to assassinate Mon- his ing round standard, he had the mortifica- trose or his major-general, Macdonald ; and tion to find that, with the exception of endeavoured to entice Kilpont to concur in his Lords Dupplin and.Spynie, and a few gentle- wicked project. He, therefore, on the night in men from the Carse of Gowrie, who came to question, slept with his lordship, and having him, his anticipations were not to be realized. prevailed upon him to rise and take a walk in

The spirits of the royalists had been too much the fields before daylight, on the pretence of re- subdued by the severities of the Covenanters freshing themselves, he there disclosed his hor- for them all at once to risk their lives and for- rid purpose, and entreated his lordship to con- tunes on the issue of what they had long concur therein. Lord Kilpont rejected the base sidered a hopeless cause; and although Mon- proposal with horror and indignation, which so trose had succeeded in dispersing one army alarmed Stewart that, afraid lest his lordship with a greatly inferior force, yet it was well might discover the matter, he suddenly drew his dirk and mortally wounded Kilpont. 6 There is a great discrepancy between contemporary Stewart, thereupon, fled, and thereafter joined writers as to the number killed. Wishart states it at 2,000; Spalding, at 1,300, and 800 prisoners; though the Marquis of Argyle, who gave him a com- he says that some reckoned the number at 1,500 mission in his army. 8 killed. Gordon of Sallagh mentions only 300. Gor- don of Euthven, in Britane's Distemper, gives the 8 "Wishart, p. 84. — Stewart's descendant, the late number at 2,000 killed and 1,000 prisoners. Baillie Robert Stewart of Ardvoirlich, gives an account of says (vol. ii. p. 233, ed. 1841) that no quarter was the above incident, founded on a " constant tradition given, not a taken. and prisoner was in the family," tending to show that his ancestor was 7 Britane's Distemper, p. 73. not so much a man of base and treacherous character, ;

M02TTE0SE MABCHES THEOUGH AXGUS AND MEABXS. 187

Montrose now marched upon Dundee, which 1,500 foot and 44 horse, to hasten his march refused to surrender. Not wishing to waste and attack them before Argyle should come up. his time upon the hazardous issue of a siege On arriving near the bridge of Dee, he found

with a hostile army in his rear, Montrose pro- it strongly fortified and guarded by a consider- ceeded through Angus and the Mearns, and in able force. He did not attempt to force a pas- the course of his route was joined by the Earl sage, but, directing his course to the west, along

of Airly, his two sons, Sir Thomas and Sir the river, crossed it at a ford at the Mills of David Ogilvie, and a considerable number of Drum, and encamped at Crathas that night their friends and vassals, and some gentlemen (Wednesday, 11th September). The Cove- from the Mearns and Aberdeenshire. This was nanters, the same day, drew up their army at a seasonable addition to Montrose's force, which the Two Mile Cross, a short distance from

had been greatly weakened by the absence of Aberdeen, where they remained till Thursday some of the Highlanders who had gone home night, when they retired into the town. On to deposit their spoils, and b}r the departure of the same night, Montrose marched down Dee- Lord Kilpont's retainers, who had gone to Mon side, and took possession of the ground which teith with his corpse. the Covenanters had just left. 9 After the battle of Tippermuir, Lord Elcho On the following morning, viz., Friday, 13th had retired, with his regiment and some fugi- September, about eleven o'clock, the Covenant- tives, to Aberdeen, where he found Lord ers marched out of Aberdeen to meet Montrose, Burleigh and other commissioners from the who, on their approach, despatched a drummer convention of estates. As soon as they heard to beat a parley, and sent a commissioner of the approach of Montrose, Burleigh, who along with him bearing a letter to the pro- acted as chief commissioner, immediately as- vost and bailies of Aberdeen, commanding and sembled the Eorbeses, the Frasers, and the charging them to surrender the town, promis- other friends of the covenanting interest, and ing that no more harm should be done to it did everything in his power to gain over to his " otherwise, if they would disobey, that then side as many persons as he could from those he desired them to remove old aged men, districts where Montrose expected assistance. women, and children out of the way, and to In this way Burleigh increased his force to stand to their own peril." Immediately on 2,500 foot and 500 horse, but some of these, receipt of this letter, the provost called a meet- consisting of Gordons, and others who were ing of the council, which was attended by Lord obliged to take up arms, could not be relied Burleigh, and, after a short consultation, an upon. answer was sent along with the commissioner When Montrose heard of these preparations, declining to surrender the town. On their he resolved, notwithstanding the disparity of return the drummer was killed by the Cove- force, his own army now amounting only to nanters, at a place called Justice Mills ; which violation of the law of nations so exasperated as of "violent passions and singular temper." James Montrose, that he gave orders to his men not Stewart, it is said, was so irritated at the Irish, for com- to spare of the might fall mitting some excesses on lands belonging to him, that any enemy who into he challenged their commander, Macdonald, to single their hands. His anger at this occurrence is combat. By advice of Kilpont, Montrose arrested both, strongly depicted by Spalding, who says, that and brought abont a seeming conciliation. When encamped at Collace, Montrose gave an entertain- " he grew mad, and became furious and im- ment to his officers, on returning from which Ardvoir- patient." lich, "heated with drink, began to blame Kilpont for the part he had taken in preventing his obtaining re- As soon as Montrose received notice of the dress, and reflecting against Montrose for not allowing refusal of the magistrates to surrender the town, him what he considered proper reparation. Kilpont, of course, defended the conduct of himself and his he made the necessary dispositions for attack- relative, Montrose, till their argument came to high ing the enemy. From his paucity of cavalry, words, and finally, from the state they were both in, by an easy transition, to blows, when Ardvoirlich, with he was obliged to extend his line, as he had his dirk, struck Kilpont dead on the spot." He fled, done at Tippermuir, to prevent the enemy leaving his eldest son, Henry, mortally wounded at Tippermuir, on his death-bed. — Introd. to Legend of Montrose. 9 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 405. ;

GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. from surrounding or outflanking him with sulted together as to the best mode of renewing their horse, and on each of his wings he posted the attack ; and, being of opinion that the suc- his small body of horsemen along with select cess of Montrose's cavalry was owing chiefly to parties of musketeers and archers. To James the expert musketeers, with whom they were Hay and Sir Nathaniel Gordon he gave the interlined, they resolved to imitate the same command of the right wing, committing the plan, by mixing among them a select body of charge of the left to Sir William Eollock, all foot, and renewing the charge a third time, men of tried bravery and experience. with redoubled energy. But this scheme,

The Covenanters began the battle by a can- which might have proved fatal to Montrose, if nonade from their field-pieces, and, from their tried, was frustrated by a resolution he came comm anding position, gave considerable annoy- to, of making an instant and simultaneous ance to the royal forces, who were very defi- attack upon the enemy. Perceiving their cient in artillery. After the firing had been horse still in great confusion, and a consider- kept up for some time, Lord Lewis Gordon, able way apart from their main body, he deter- third son of the Marquis of Huntly, a young mined upon attacking them with his foot before man of a very ardent disposition, and of a vio- they should get time to rally ; and galloping lent and changeable temper, who commanded up to his men, who had been greatly galled by the left wing of the Covenanters, having ob- the enemies' cannon, he told them that there tained possession of some level ground where was no good to be expected by the two armies his horse could act, made a demonstration to keeping at such a distance—that in this way attack Montrose's right wing ; which being ob- there was no means of distinguishing the served by Montrose, he immediately ordered strong from the weak, nor the coward from Sir William Eollock, with his party of horse, the brave man, but that if they would once from the left wing to the assistance of the right. make a home charge upon these timorous and These united wings, which consisted of only effeminate striplings, as he called Burleigh's 44 horse, not only repulsed the attack of a horse, they would never stand their attack. body of 300, but threw them into complete " Come on, then," said he, " my brave fellow- disorder, and forced them to retreat upon the soldiers, fall down upon them with your swords main body, leaving many dead and wounded and muskets, drive them before you, and make on the field. Montrose restrained these brave them suffer the punishment due to their perfidy cavaliers from pursuing the body they had and rebellion." 1 These words were no sooner routed, anticipating that their services might uttered, than Montrose's men rushed forward be soon required at the other wing ; and he at a quick pace and fell upon the enemy, sword was not mistaken, fpr no sooner did the cove- in hand. The Covenanters were paralyzed nanting general perceive the retreat of Lord by the suddenness and impetuosity of the Lewis Gordon than he ordered an attack to be attack, and, turning their backs, fled in the made upon the left wing of Montrose's army utmost trepidation and confusion, towards but Montrose, with a celerity almost unex- Aberdeen. The slaughter was tremendous, as ampled, moved his whole cavalry from the the victors spared no man. The road leading right to the left wing, which, falling upon the from the field of battle to Aberdeen was strewed flank of their assailants sword in hand-, forced with the dead and the dying ; the streets of them to fly, with great slaughter. In this Aberdeen were covered with the bodies, and affair Montrose's horse took Forbes of Craigie- stained with the blood of its inhabitants. var and Forbes of Boyndlie prisoners. " The lieutenant followed the chase into Aber- The unsuccessful attacks on the wings of deen, his men hewing and cutting down all Montrose's army had in no shape affected the manner of men they could overtake, within the future fortune of the day, as both armies kept town, upon the streets, or in the houses, and their ground, and were equally animated with round about the town, as our men were fleeing, nopes of ultimate success. Vexed, but by no with broad swords, but (i. e. without) mercy means intimidated by their second defeat, the gentlemen who composed Burleigh's horse con- 1 Wisbart, p. 89. ;;

BATTLE AND SACK OF ABERDEEN. 189 or renieid. Their cruel Irish, seeing a man in which capacity he afterwards distinguished 4 •well clad, would first tyr (strip) him, and save himself. his clothes unspoiled, syne kill the man." 2 Hoping that the news of the victory he had

In fine, according to this writer, who was an obtained would create a strong feeling in his eye-witness, the town of Aberdeen, which, but favour among the Gordons, some of whom had a few years before, had suffered for its loyalty, actually fought against him, under the com- was now, by the same general who had then mand of Lord Lewis Gordon, Montrose sent a oppressed it, delivered up by him to be indis- part of his army towards Kintore and Inver- criminately plundered by his Irish forces, for ury, the following day, to encourage the people having espoused the same cause which he him- of the surrounding country to declare for him self had supported. For four days did these but he was sadly disappointed in his expecta- men indulge in the most dreadful excesses, tions. The fact is, that ever since the appoint- "and nothing," continues Spalding, was "heard ment of Montrose as lieutenant-general of the but pitiful howling, crying, weeping, mourning, kingdom, —an appointment which trenched through all the streets." Yet Guthry says upon the authority of the Marquis of Huntly as that Montrose " shewed great mercy, both lieutenant of the north,—the latter had become pardoning the people and protecting then' quite lukewarm in the cause of his sovereign goods." 3 and, although he was aware of the intentions

It is singular, that although the battle con- of his son, Lord Lewis, to join the Covenanters, tinued for four hours without any determ in ate he quietly allowed him to do so without re- result, Montrose lost very few men, a circum- monstrance. But, besides being thus, in some stance the more extraordinary as the cannon of measure, superseded by Montrose, the marquis the Covenanters were placed upon advantageous was actuated by personal hostility to him on ground, whilst those of Montrose were rendered account of the treatment he had formerly

quite ineffective by being situated in a position received from him ; and it appears to have been from which they could not be brought to bear partly to gratify his spleen that he remained a upon the enemy. An anecdote, characteristic passive observer of a struggle which involved of the bravery of the Irish, and of their cool- the very existence of the monarchy itself. ness in enduring the privations of war, has Whatever may have been Huntly's reasons for been preserved. During the cannonade on the not supporting Montrose, his apathy and in- side of the Covenanters, an Irishman had his difference had a deadening influence upon his leg shot away by a cannon ball, but which numerous retainers, who had no idea of taking kept still attached to the stnmp by means of the field but at the command of their chief. a small bit of skin, or flesh. His comrades-in- As Montrose "saw no possibility of opposing arms being affected with his disaster, this brave the powerful and well-appointed army of Ar- man, without betraying any symptoms of pain, gyle, which was advancing upon him with thus cheerfully addressed them : —" This, my slow and cautious steps, disappointed as he had companions, is the fate of war, and what none been of the aid which he had calculated upon, of us ought to. grudge : go on, and behave as he resolved to march into the Highlands, and

becomes you ; and, as for me, I am certain my there collect such of the clans as were favour- lord, the marquis, will make me a trooper, as ably disposed to the royal cause. Leaving I am now disabled for the foot service." Then, Aberdeen, therefore, on the 16th of September, taking a knife from his pocket, he deliberately with the remainder of his forces, he joined the

opened it, and cut asunder the skin which camp at Kintore, whence he despatched Sir retained the leg, without betraying the least William Bollock to Oxford to inform the king

emotion, and delivered it to one of his com- of the events of the campaign, and of his panions for interment. As soon as this cour- present situation, and to solicit him to send ageous mar. was able to mount a horse, his supplies. wish to become a trooper was complied with, We must now advert to the progress of

8 4 Spalding, vol. Memo Wishart, p. 91. ;

190 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Argyle's army, the slow movements of which of Montrose, but, strange to tell, he made no form an unfavourable contrast with the rapid preparations to follow him, and spent two or marches of Montrose's army. On the 4th of three days in Aberdeen doing absolutely September, four days after the battle of Tip- nothing. After spending this time in inglori permuir, Argyle, who had been pursuing the ous supineness, Aigyle put his army in motion Irish forces under Macdonald, had arrived with in the direction of Kintore. Montrose, on his Highlanders at Stirling, where, on the hearing of his approach, concealed his cannon following day, he was joined by the Earl of in a bog, and leaving behind him some of his Lothian and his regiment, which had shortly heavy baggage, made towards the Spey with before been brought over from Ireland. After the intention of crossing it. On arriving at raising some men in Stirlingshire, he marched the river, he encamped near the old castle of to Perth upon the 10th, where he was joined Eothiemurchus ; but finding that the boats used by some Fife men, and Lord Bargenny's and in passing the river had been removed to the Sir Frederick Hamilton's regiments of horse, north side of the river, and that a large armed which had been recalled from Newcastle for force from the country on the north of the that purpose. With this increased force, which Spey had assembled on the opposite bank to now consisted of about 3,000 foot and two oppose his passage, Montrose marched his regular cavalry regiments, besides ten troops army into the forest of Abernethy. Argyle of horse, Argyle left Perth on the 14th of only proceeded at first as far as Strathbogie September for the north, and in his route but instead of pursuing Montrose, he allowed was joined by the Earl Marshal, Lords Gor- his troops to waste their time in plundering don, Fraser, and Crichton, and other Covenant- the properties and laying waste the lands of ers. He arrived at Aberdeen upon the 19th the Gordons in Strathbogie and the Enzie, of September, where he issued a proclamation, under the very eyes of Lord Gordon and Lord declaring the Marquis of Montrose and his Lewis Gordon, neither of whom appears to have followers traitors to religion and to their king endeavoured to avert such a calamity. Spald- and country, and offering a reward of 20,000 ing says that it was " a wonderful unnaturalitie pounds Scots, to any person who should bring in the Lord Gordon to suffer his father's lands in Montrose dead or alive. 6 Spalding laments and friends in his own sight to be thus wreckt with great pathos and feeling the severe hard- and destroyed in his father's absence;" but ships to which the citizens of Aberdeen had Lord Gordon likely had it not in his power to been subjected by these frequent visitations of stay these proceedings, which, if not done at hostile annies, and alluding to the present oc- the instigation, may have received the appro- cupancy of the town by Argyle, he observes bation of his violent and headstrong younger that " this multitude of people lived upon free brother, who had joined the Covenanters' stand- quarters, a new grief to both towns, whereof ard. On the 27th of September, Argyle mus- there was quartered on poor old Aberdeen tered his forces at the Bog of Gicht, when they Argyle's own three regiments. The soldiers were found to amount to about 4,000 men; but had their baggage carried, and craved nothing although the army of Montrose did not amount but house-room and fire. But ilk captain, to much more than a third of that number, with twelve gentlemen, had free quarters, (so and was within twenty miles' distance, he did long as the town had meat and drink,) for two not venture to attack him. After remaining a ordinaries, but the third ordinary they furnished few days in Abernethy forest, Montrose passed themselves out of their own baggage and pro- through the forest of Bothiemurchus, and follow- visions, having store of meal, molt and sheep, ing the course of the Spey, marched through carried with them. But, the first night, they Badenoch to Athole, which he reached on 1st drank out all the stale ale in Aberdeen, and October. lived upon wort thereafter." 6 "When Argyle heard of the departure of Argyle was now within half a day's march Montrose from the forest of Abernethy, he made a feint of following him. He accord-

6 6 SpaldiDg, vol. ii. p. 414. Idem. ingly set his army in motion along Spey-side, MOXTEOSE EETEEATS TO STEATHBOGIE. 191

and crossing the river himself 'with a few horse, armed. With the exception of Lord Gordon, marched up some distance along the north who brought three troops of horse, and Captain hank, and recrossed, when he ordered his troops Alexander Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal, to halt. He then proceeded to Eorres to at- who appeared with one troop at the appointed tend a committee meeting of Covenanters to place, no attention was paid to the order of the concert a plan of operations in the north, at committee by the people, who had not yet which the Earl of Sutherland, Lord Lovat, the recovered from their fears, and their recent

sheriff of Moray, the lairds of Balnagown, sufferings were still too fresh in their minds to Innes and Pluscardine, and many others were induce them again to expose themselves to the present. From Forres Argyle went to Inver- vengeance of Montrose and his Irish troops. ness, and after giving some instructions to Sir After refreshing his army for a few days in Mungo Camphell of Lawers, and the laird of Angus, Montrose prepared to cross the Gram- Buchanan, the commanders of the regiments pians, and march to Strathbogie to make stationed there, he returned to his array, which another attempt to raise the Gordons ; but, he marched through Badenoch in pursuit of before setting out on his march, he released Montrose. From Athole Montrose sent Mae- Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie, donald with a party of 500 men to the "Western on their parole, upon condition that Craigievar Highlands, to invite the laird of Maclean, the should procure the liberation of the young laird captain of clan Banald, and others to join him. of Drum and his brother from the jail of Edin- Marching down to Dunkeld, Montrose him self burgh, failing which, Craigievar and Boynd- proceeded rapidly through Angus towards lie were both to deliver themselves up to him Brechin and Montrose. 7 as prisoners before the 1st of November. This Although some delay had been occasioned act of generosity on the part of Montrose was in Montrose's movements hy his illness for a greatly admired, more particularly as Craigievar few days in Badenoch, this was fully compen- was one of the heads of the Covenanters, and sated for by the tardy motions of Argyle, who, had great influence among them. In pursu- on entering Badenoch, found that his vigilant ance of his design, Montrose marched through antagonist was several days' march a-head of the Mearns, and upon Thursday, the 17th of him. This intelligence, however, did not in- October, crossed the Dee at the Mills of Drum, duce him in the least to accelerate his march. with his whole army. In his progress north, Hearing, when passing through Badenoch, that contrary to his former forbearing policy, he Montrose had been joined by some of the in- laid waste the lands of some of the leading habitants of that country, Argj-le, according to Covenanters, burnt their houses, and plundered Spalding, " left nothing of that country un- their effects. He arrived at Strathbogie on the

; destroyed, no not one four footed beast " and 19th of October, where he remained till the

Athole shared a similar fate. 27th, without being able to induce any con- At the time Montrose entered Angus, a com- siderable number of the Gordons to join him. mittee of the estates, consisting of the Earl It was not from want of inclination that they Marshal and other barons, was sitting in Aber- refused to do so, but they were unwilling deen, who, on hearing of his approach, issued to incur the displeasure of their chief, who on the 10th of October a printed order, to which they knew was personally opposed to Mon- the Earl Marshal's name was attached, ordain- trose, and who felt indignant at seeing a man ing, under pain of being severely fined, all who had formerly espoused the cause of the persons, of whatever age, sex, or condition, Covenanters preferred before him. Had Mon- having horses of the value of forty pounds trose been accompanied by any of the Marquis Scots or upwards, to send them to the bridge of Huntly's sons, they might have had influence of Dee, which was appointed as the place of enough to have induced some of the Gordons rendezvous, on the 14th of October, by ten to declare for him ; but the situation of the

o'clock, a. ji., with riders fully equipped and marquis's three sons was at this time very pecu-

liar. The eldest son, Lord Gordon, a young

7 Guthry, p. 231. man " of singular worth and accomplishments." 192 GENERAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. was with Argyle, his uncle by the mother's " willing to wound," is " yet still afraid to side ; the Earl of Aboyne, the second son, was strike." But although this questionable poliey shut up in the castle of Carlisle, then in a state of Argyle was by no means calculated to raise of siege ; and Lord Lewis Gordon, the third his military fame, it had the effect of throwing son, had, as we have seen, joined the Cove- Montrose, in the present case, off his guard, nanters, and fought in their ranks. and had well-nigh proved fatal to him. The In this situation of matters, Montrose left rapid march of Argyle on Kintore and Inverury, Strathbogie on the day last mentioned, and in fact, was effected without Montrose's know- took up a position in the forest of Fyvie, ledge, for the spies he had employed concealed where he despatched some of his troops, who the matter from him, and while he imagined took possession of the castles of Fyvie and that Argyle was still on the other side of the Tollie Barclay, in which he found a good sup- Grampians, he suddenly appeared within a very ply of provisions, which was of great service to few miles of Montrose's camp, on the 28th of his army. During his stay at Strathbogie, October. Montrose kept a strict outlook for the enemy, The unexpected arrival of Argyle's army did and scarcely passed a night without scouring not disconcert Montrose. His foot, which the neighbouring country to the distance of amounted to 1,500 men, were little more than several miles with parties of light foot, who the half of those under Argyle, while he had only attacked straggling parties of the Covenanters, about 50 horse to oppose 1,200. Yet, with and brought in prisoners from time to time, this immense disparity, he resolved to await the without sustaining any loss. These petty attack of the enemy, judging it inexpedient, enterprises, while they alarmed their enemies, from the want of cavalry, to become the assail- gave an extraordinary degree of confidence to ant by descending into the plain where Argyle's Montrose's men, who were ready to undertake army was encamped. On a rugged eminence any service, however difficult or dangerous, if behind the castle of Fyvie, on the uneven he only commanded them to perform it. sides of which several ditches had been cut When Montrose crossed the Dee, Argyle and dikes built to serve as farm fences, Mon- was several days' march behind him. The trose drew up his little but intrepid host ; but latter, however, reached Aberdeen on the 24th before he had marked out the positions to be of October, and proceeded the following morn- occupied by his divisions, he had the misfor- ing towards Kintore, which he reached the tune to witness the desertion of a small body same night. Next morning he marched for- of the Gordons, who had joined him at Strath- ward to Inverury, where he halted at night. bogie. They, however, did not join Argyle, Here he was joined by the Earl of Lothian's but contented themselves with withdrawing regiment, which increased his force to about altogether from the scene of the ensuing action.

2,500 foot, and 1,200 horse. In his progress It is probable that they came to the determina- through the comities of Angus, Kincardine, tion of retiring, not from cowardice, but from Aberdeen, and Banff, he received no accession disinclination to appear in the field against of strength, from the dread which the name Lord Lewis Gordon, who held a high com- and actions of Montrose had infused into the mand in Argyle's army. The secession of the minds of the inhabitants of these counties. Gordons, though in reality a circumstance of The sudden movements of Argyle from Aber- trifling importance in itself, (for had they re- deen to Kintore, and from Kintore to Inverury, mained, they would have fought unwillingly, form a remarkable contrast with the slowness and consequently might net have had sufficient of his former motions. He had followed Mon- resolution to maintain the position which would trose through a long and circuitous route, the have been assigned them,) had a disheartening greater part of which still bore recent traces of influence upon the spirits of Montrose's men, his footsteps, and instead of showing any dispo- and accordingly they found themselves unable sition to overtake his flying foe, seemed rather to resist the first shock of Argyle's numerous inclined to keep that respectful distance from forces, who, charging them with great impetuo- him so congenial to the mind of one who, sity, drove them up the eminence, of a consider- ;

BATTLE OF FYVIE, 193 able part of which Argyle's army got possession. duty as to wait till he should see the fit mo- In this critical conjuncture, when terror and de- ment for ordering the attack. Argyle remained spair seemed about to obtain the mastery over till the evening without attempting anything hearts to which fear had hitherto been a farther, and then retired to a distance of about stranger, Montrose displayed a coolness and three miles across the Spey; his men passed presence of mind equal to the dangers which the night under arms. The only person of surrounded bim. Animating them by his pre- note killed in these skirmishes was Captain sence, and by the example which he showed in Keith, brother of the Earl Marshal. risking his person in the hottest of the fight, Kext day Argyle resolved to attack Mon- he roused their courage by putting them fur- trose, with the view of driving him from his ther in mind of the victories they had achieved, position. He was induced to come to this de- and how greatly superior they were in bravery termination from a report, too well founded, to the enemy opposed to them. After this which had reached him, that Montrose's army emphatic appeal to their feelings, Montrose was almost destitute of ammunition ;—indeed, turned to Colonel O'Kean, a young Irish gentle- he had compelled the inhabitants of all the man, highly respected by the former for his sui'rounding districts to deliver up every article bravery, and desired hi m, with an air of the of pewter in their possession for the purpose most perfect sang froid, to go down with such of being converted into ammunition ; but this men as were readiest, and to drive these fel- precarious supply appears soon to have been lows (meaning Argyle's men), out of the ditcher, exhausted. 8 On arriving at the bottom of that they might be no more troubled with the hill, he changed his resolution, not judg- them. O'Kean quickly obeyed the mandate, ing it safe, from the experience of the pre- and though the party in the ditches was ceding day, to hazard an attack. Montrose, greatly superior to the body he led, and was, on the other hand, agreeably to his original moreover, supported by some horse, he drove plan, kept his ground, as he did not deem it them away, and captured several bags of advisable to expose his men to the enemy's cav- powder which they left behind them in their alry by descending from the eminence. With hurry to escape. This was a valuable acquisi- the exception of some trifling skirmishes be- tion, as Montrose's men had spent already al- tween the advanced posts, the main body of most the whole of their ammunition. both armies remained quiescent during the "While O'Kean was executing this brilliant whole day. Argyle again retired in the even- affair, Montrose observed five troops of horse, ing to the ground he had occupied the pre- under the Earl of Lothian, preparing to attack ceding night, whence he returned the following his 50 horse, who were posted a little way up day, part of which was spent in the same man- the eminence, with a small wood in their rear. ner as the former ; but long before the day had H3, therefore, without a moment's delay, or- expired he led off his army, "upon fair day dered a party of musketeers to their aid, who, light," says Spalding, " to a considerable dis- having interlined themselves with the 50 horse, tance, leaving Montrose to effect his escape un- kept up such a galling fire upon Lothian's molested." troopers, that before they had advanced half Montrose, thus left to follow any course he way across a field which lay between them and pleased, marched off after nightfall towards Montrose's horse, they were obliged to wheel Strathbogie, plundering Turriff and Eothiemay about and gallop off. house in his route. He selected Strathbogie as Montrose's men became so elated with their the place of his retreat on account of the rugged- success that they could scarcely be restrained ness of the country and of the numerous dikes from leaving their ground and making a gen- with which it was intersected, which would eral attack upon the whole of Argyle's army prevent the operations of Argyle's cavalry, and but although Montrose did not approve of this where he intended to remain till joined by design, he disguised his opinion, and seemed Macdonald, whom he daily expected from the rather to concur in the views of his men, telling

however, to 8 them, be so far mindful of their ^Yishart, p. 100. 194 GENEBAL H1ST0EY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

Highlands with a reinforcement. When Ar- This distressing occurrence induced Montrose gyle heard of Montrose's departure on the fol- to postpone his march for a time, as he was lowing morning, heing the last day of October, quite certain that the deserters would commu- he forthwith proceeded after him with his nicate his plans to Argyle. Ordering, there- army, thinking to bring him to action in the fore, back the baggage he had sent off, he open country, and encamped at Tullochbeg on resumed his former position, in which he the 2d of November, where he drew out his remained four days, as if he there intended to army in battle array. He endeavoured to bring take up his winter quarters. Montrose to a general engagement, and, in In the meantime Montrose had the mortifi- order to draw him from a favourable position cation to witness the defection of almost the he was preparing to occupy, Argyle sent out a whole of his officers, who were very numerous,

skirmishing party of his Highlanders ; but they for, with the exception of the Irish and High- were soon repulsed, and Montrose took posses- landers, they outnumbered the privates from sion of the ground he had selected. the Lowlands. The bad example which had Baffled in all his attempts to overcome Mon- been set by Sibbald, the intimate friend of trose by force of arms, Argyle, whose talents Montrose, and the insidious promises of pre- were more fitted for the intrigues of the cabinet ferment held out to them by Argyle, induced than the tactics of the field, had now recourse some, whose loyalty was questionable, to adopt to negotiation, with the view of effecting the this course ; but the idea of the privations to ruin of his antagonist. Eor this purpose he which they would be exposed in traversing, proposed a cessation of arms, and that he and during winter, among frost and snow, the Montrose should hold a conference, previous to dreary and dangerous regions of the Highlands, which arrangements should be entered into for shook the constancy of others, who, in different their mutual security. Montrose knew Argyle circumstances, would have willingly exposed too well to place any reliance upon his word, their lives for their sovereign. Bad health, and as he had no doubt that Argyle would take inability to undergo the fatigue of long and advantage, during the proposed cessation, to constant marches—these and other excuses tamper with his men and endeavour to with- were made to Montrose as the reasons for crav- draw them from their allegiance, he called a ing a discharge from a service which had now council of war, and proposed to retire without become more hazardous than ever. Montrose delay to the Highlands. The council at once made no remonstrance, but with looks of high approved of this suggestion, whereupon Mon- disdain which betrayed the inward workings trose resolved to march next night as far as of a proud and unsubdued mind, indignant at

Badenoch ; and that his army might be able to being thus abandoned at such a dangerous accomplish such a long journey within the time crisis, readily complied with the request of

fixed, he immediately sent off all his heavy bag- every man who asked permission to retire. The gage under a guard, and ordered his men to Earl of Airly, now sixty years of age and in keep themselves prepared as if to fight a battle precarious health, and his two sons, Sir Thomas the next day. 9 Scarcely, however, had the and Sir David Ogilvie, out of all the Low- carriages and heavy baggage been despatched, landers, alone remained faithful to Montrose, when an event took place which greatly dis- and could, on no account, be prevailed upon to concerted Montrose. This was nothing less abandon him. Among others who left Mon- than the desertion of his friend Colonel Sib- trose on this occasion, was Sir Nathaniel Gor- bald and some of his officers, who went over don, who, it is said, went over to Argyle's camp to the enemy. They were accompanied by Sir in consequence of a concerted plan between William Forbes of Craigievar, who, having been him and Montrose, for the purpose of detaching

unable to fulfil the condition on which he was Lewis Gordon from the cause of the Covenant- to obtain his ultimate liberation, had returned ers, a conjecture which seems to have originated two or three days before to Montrose's camp. in the subsequent conduct of Sir Nathaniel and Lord Lewis, who joined Montrose the

'> Wishart, p. 102. following year. 1 MONTROSE MARCHES UPON BBEADALBANE AND ARGYLE. If). )

Montrose, now abandoned by all his Low- severities towards those who were suspected of land friends, prepared for Ms march, prepara- favouring the cause of the king. The signal tory to which he sent off his baggage as failure, however, of Argyle's expedition, and capital, quite changed, as formerly ; and after lighting some fires for the his return to the we purpose of deceiving the enemy, took his have seen, the aspect of affairs, and many of departure on the evening of the 6th of Novem- those who had been most sanguine in their ber, and arrived about break of day at Balveny. calculations regarding the result of the struggle, After remaining a few days there to refresh his began now to waver and to doubt. men, he proceeded through Badenoch, and While Argyle was passing his time in Edin- descended by rapid marches into Athole, where burgh, Montrose was meditating a terrible he was joined by Macdonald and John Muid- blow at Argyle himself to revenge the cruelties artach, the captain of the Clanranald, the latter he had exercised upon the royalists, and to give of whom brought 500 of his men along with confidence to the clans in Argyle's neighbour- him. He was also reinforced by some small hood. These had been hitherto prevented from parties from the neighbouring Highlands, whom joining Montrose's standard from a dread of Macdonald had induced to follow him. Argyle, who having always a body of 5,000 or In the meantime Argyle, after giving orders 6,000 Highlanders at command, had kept them to his Highlanders to return home, went him- in such complete subjection that they dared not, self to Edinburgh, where he " got but small without the risk of absolute ruin, espouse the thanks for his service against Montrose." 1 cause of their sovereign. The idea of curbing Although the Committee of Estates, out of the power of a haughty and domineering chief deference, approved of his conduct, which some whose word was a law to the inhabitants of of his flatterers considered deserving of praise an extensive district, ready to obey his cruel because he "had shed no blood;" 2 yet the mandates at all times, and the spirit of revenge, majority had formed a very different estimate the predominating characteristic of the clans, of his character, during a campaign which had smoothed the difficulties which presented been fruitful neither of glory nor victory. themselves in invading a country made almost

Confident of success, the heads of the Cove- inaccessible by nature, and rendered still more nanters looked upon the first efforts of Mon- unapproachable by the severities of winter. trose in the light of a desperate and forlorn The determination of Montrose having thus attempt, rashly and inconsiderately undertaken, met with a willing response in the breasts of and which they expected would be speedily his men, he lost no time in putting them in put down ; but the results of the battles of motion. Dividing his army into two parts, Tippermuir, Aberdeen, and Eyvie, gave a new he himself marched with the main body, con- direction to their thoughts, and the royalists, sisting of the Irish and the Athole-men, to hitherto contemned, began now to be dreaded Loch Tay, whence he proceeded through and respected. In allusion to the present Breadalbane. The other body, composed of

" posture of affairs," it is observed by Guthry, the clan Donald and other Highlanders, he that " many who had formerly been violent, despatched by a different route, with instruc- began to talk moderately of business, and what tions to meet him at an assigned spot on the was most taken notice of, was the lukewarm- borders of Argyle. The country through which ness of many amongst the ministry, who now both divisions passed, being chiefly in posses- in their preaching had begun to abate much of sion of Argyle's kinsmen or dependants, was their former zeal." 3 The early success of Mon- laid waste, particularly the lands of Campbell trose had indeed caused some misgivings in of Glenorchy. the minds of the Covenanters ; but as they all When Argyle heard of the ravages com- hoped that Argyle would change the tide of war, mitted by Montrose's army on the lands of his they showed no disposition to relax in their kinsmen, he hastened home from Edinburgh to his castle at Inverary, and gave orders for

2 the assembling of his clan, either to repel any Spalding, vol. ii. p. 287. Guthry, p. 134. a Memoirs, pp. 134—5. attack that might be made on his own country, ;

190 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS. or to protect his friends from future aggression. from several contemporary authors that the

It is by no means certain that he anticipated slaughter must have been immense. 6 In fact, an invasion from Montrose, particularly at such before the end of January, the face of a single a season of the year, and he seemed to imagine male inhabitant was not to be seen throughout himself so secure from attack, owing to the the. whole extent of Argyle and Lorn, the intricacy of the passes leading into Arg3de, that whole population having been either driven although a mere handful of men could have out of these districts, or taken refuge in dens effectually opposed an army much larger than and caves known only to themselves. that of Montrose, he took no precautions to Having thus retaliated upon Argyle and his guard them. So important indeed did he people in a tenfold degree the miseries which himself consider these passes to be, that he he had occasioned in Lochaber and the adjoin- had frequently declared that he would rather ing countries, Montrose left Argyle and Lorn, forfeit a hundred thousand crowns, than that passing through Glencoe and Lochaber on his an enemy should know the passes by which an way to Lochness. On his march eastwards he armed force could penetrate into Argyle. 4 was joined by the laird of Abergeldie, the Far- While thus reposing in fancied security in quharsons of the Braes of Mar, and by a party his impregnable stronghold, and issuing his of the Gordons. The object of Montrose, by mandates for levying his forces, some shepherds this movement, was to seize Inverness, which arrived in great terror from the hills, and brought was then protected by only two regiments, in him the alarming intelligence that the enemy, the expectation that its capture would operate whom he had imagined were about a hundred as a stimulus to the northern clans, who had miles distant, were within two miles of his not yet declared themselves. This resolution own dwelling. Terrified at the unexpected was by no means altered on reaching the head appearance of Montrose, whose vengeance he of Lochness, where he learned that the Earl of justly dreaded, he had barely self-possession Seaforth was advancing to meet him. with an left to concert measures for his own personal army of 5,000 horse and foot, which he re- safety, by taking refuge on board a fishing solved to encounter, it being composed, with boat in Loch Fyne, in which he sought his the exception of two regular regiments, of raw way to the Lowlands, leaving his people and and undisciplined levies. country exposed to the merciless will of an While proceeding, however, through Aber- enemy thirsting for revenge. The inhabitants tarf, a person arrived in great haste at Kilcum- of Argyle beiug thus abandoned by their min, the present fort Augustus, who brought chief, made no attempt to oppose Montrose, him the surprising intelligence that Argyle had who, the more effectually to carry his plan for entered Lochaber with an army of 3,000 men pillaging and ravaging the country into execu- that he was burning and laying waste the tion, divided his army into three parties, under country, and that Iris head-quarters were at the the respective orders of the captain of clan old castle of Inverlochy. After Argyle had Ranald, Macdonald, and himself. For up- effected his escape from Inverary, he had gone wards of six weeks, viz., from the 13th of to Dumbarton, where he remained till Mon-

December, 1644, till nearly the end of Janu- trose's departure from his territory. While ary following, these different bodies traversed there, a body of covenanting troops who had the whole country without molestation, burn- served in England, arrived under the command ing, wasting, and destroying every tiling which of Major-general Baillie, for the purpose of came within their reach. Nor were the people assisting Argyle in expelling Montrose from themselves spared, for although it is men- Ms bounds ; but on learning that Montrose tioned by one writer that Montrose " shed had left Argyle, and was marching through no Hood in regard that all the people Glencoe and Lochaber, General Baillie deter- (following their lord's laudable example) deli- mined to lead his army in an easterly direction vered themselves by flight also," 6 it is evident

6 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 442; Wishart, p. 108—Red

4 1 Wishart, p. 107. Guthry, p. 13«. Boole of Clanranald. MONTROSE MARCHES TO INVERLOCHY. 197

through the Lowlands, with the intention of vantages to be derived from such an extra-

intercepting Montrose, should he attempt a ordinary exploit, more than counterbalanced,

descent. At the same time it was arranged in his mind, the risks to be encountered. between Baillie and Argyle that the latter, The distance between the place where Mon- who had now recovered from his panic in con- trose received the news of Argyle's arrival and

sequence of Montrose's departure, should re- Inverlochy is about thirty miles ; but this dis- turn to Argyle and collect his men from their tance was considerably increased by the devious

hiding-places and retreats. As it was not im- track which Montrose followed. Marching probable, however, that Montrose might renew along the small river Tarf in a southerly direc-

his visit, the Committee of Estates allowed tion, he crossed the hills of Lairie Thierard, Baillie to place 1,100 of his soldiers at the passed through Glenroy, and after traversing the disposal of Argyle, who, as soon as he was range of mountains between the Olen and Ben able to muster his men, was to follow Mon- Nevis, he arrived in Glennevis before Argyle

trose's rear, yet so as to avoid an engagement, had the least notice of his approach. Before

till Baillie, who, on hearing of Argyle's advance setting out on his march, Montrose had taken into Lochaber, was to march suddenly across the wise precaution of placing guards upon the the Grampians, should attack Montrose in common road leading to Inverlochy, to prevent front. To assist ln'm in levying and organiz- intelligence of his movements being carried to ing his clan, Argyle called over Campbell of Argyle, and he had killed such of Argyle's Auchinbreck, his kinsman, from Ireland, who scouts as he had fallen in with in the course of had considerable reputation as a military com- his march. This fatiguing and unexampled mander. In terms of bis instructions, there- journey had been performed in little more than

fore, Argyle had entered Lochaber, and had a night and a day, and when, in the course of advanced as far as Inverlochy, when, as we the evening, Montrose's men arrived in Glen- have seen, the news of his arrival was brought nevis, they found themselves so weary and to Montrose. exhausted that they could not venture to attack

Montrose was at first almost disinclined, the enemy. They therefore lay under arms all from the well-known reputation of Argyle, to night, and refreshed themselves as they best

credit this intelligence, but being fully assured could till next morning. As the night was

of its correctness from the apparent sincerity of uncommonly clear, it being moonlight, the ad- his informer, he lost not a moment in making vanced posts of both armies kept up a small

up his mind as to the course he should pursue. fire of musketry, which led to no result. He might have instantly marched back upon In the meantime Argyle, after committing

Argyle by the route he had just followed ; but his army to the charge of his cousin, Campbell as the latter would thus get due notice of his of Auchinbreck, with his customary prudence, approach, and prepare himself for the threat- went, during the night, on board a boat in the ened danger, Montrose resolved upon a differ- loch, excusing himself for this apparent pusil- ent plan. The design he conceived could lanimous act by alleging his incapacity to enter only have originated in the mind of such a the field of battle in consequence of some con- bold and enterprising commander as Mon- tusions he had received by a fall two or three

trose, before whose daring genius difficulties weeks before ; but his enemies averred that hitherto deemed insurmountable at once disap- cowardice was the real motive which induced peared. The idea of carrying an army over him to take refuge in his galley, from which dangerous and precipitous mountains, whose he witnessed the defeat and destruction of his wild and frowning aspect seemed to forbid the army. This somewhat suspicious action of approach of human footsteps, and in the middle Argyle—and it was not the only time he proof winter, too, when the formidable perils of vided for his personal safety in a similar man-

the journey were greatly increased by the snow, ner—is accounted for in the following 1 iron- ( however chimerical it might have seemed to ical) way by the author of Britane's Distemper

other men, appeared quite practicable to Mon- (p. 100) :- trose, whose sanguine anticipations of the ad- " In this confusion, the commanders of there ;

198 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

armie liglites wpon this resolution, not to hazart line. The right wing consisted of a regiment

the niarquisse owne persone ; for it seems not of Irish, under the command of Macdonald,

possible that Ardgylle himselfe, being a noble- his major-general ; the centre was composed of man of such eminent qualitie, a man of so deepe the Athole-men, the Stuarts of Appin, the Mac- and profund judgement, one that knew so weell donalds of Glencoe, and other Highlanders, what belongeth to the office of a generall, that severally under the command of Clanranald,

any basse motion of feare, I say, could make M'Lean, and Glengary ; and the left wing con- him so wnsensible of the poynt of honour as is sisted of some Irish, at the head of whom was the generally reported. Nether will I, for my owne brave Colonel O'Kean. A body of Irish was pairt, belieue it ; but I am confident that those placed behind the main body as a reserve, under barrones of his kinred, wha ware captanes the command of Colonel James M'Donald, alias and commanderes of the armie, feareing the O'Neill. The general of Argyle's army formed euent of this battelle, for diuers reasones ; and it in a similar manner. The Lowland forces one was, that Allan M'Collduie, ane old fox, were equally divided, and formed the wings, and who was thought to be a seer, had told between which the Highlanders were placed. them that there should be a battell lost there Upon a rising ground, behind this line, General by them that came first to seike battell ; this Campbell drew up a reserve of Highlanders, was one cause of there importunitie with him and placed a field-piece. Within the house of that he should not come to battell that day Inverlochy, which was only about a pistol-shot for they sawe that of necessitie they most feght, from the place where the army was formed, he and woidd not hazart there cheife persone, planted a body of 40 or 50 men to protect the urgeing him by force to reteire to his galay, place, and to annoy Montrose's men with dis- which lay hard by, and committe the tryall of charges of musketry. 7 The account given by the day to them ; he, it is to be thought, with Gordon of Sallagh, that Argyle had transported great difficultie yeelding to there request, the half of his army over the water at Inver- leaues his cusine, the laird of Auchinbreike, a lochy, under the command of Aucliinbreck, most walorous and braue gentleman, to the and that Montrose defeated this division, while generall commande of the armie, and takes with Argyle was prevented from relieving it with himselfe only sir James Eollocke, his brother the other division, from the intervening of in lawe, sir Jhone TVachope of Nithrie, Mr. " an arm of the sea, that was interjected betwixt

Mungo Law, a preacher. It is reported those them and him," 8 is probably erroneous, for the two last was send from Edinburgh with him circumstance is not mentioned by any other to beare witnesse of the expulsion of those writer of the period, and it is well known, that rebelles, for so they ware still pleased to terme Argyle abandoned his army, and witnessed its the Eoyalistes." destruction from his galley, — circumstances

It would appear that it was not until the which Gordon altogether overlooks. morning of the battle that Argyle's men were It was at sunrise, on Sunday, the 2d of aware that it was the army of Montrose that February, 1645, that Montrose, after having was so near them, as they considered it quite formed his army in battle array, gave orders to impossible that he should have been able to his men to advance upon the enemy. The left bring his forces across the mountains ; they wing of Montrose's army, under the command of imagined that the body before them consisted O'Kean, was the first to commence the attack, of some of the inhabitants of the country, who by charging the enemy's right. This was imme- had collected to defend their properties. But diately followed by a furious assault upon the they were undeceived when, in the dawn of the centre and left wing of Argyle's army, by morning, the warlike sound of Montrose's Montrose's right wing and centre. Argyle's trumpets, resounding through the glen where right wing not being able to resist the attack they lay, and reverberating from the adjoining of Montrose's left, turned about and fled, which hills, broke upon their ears. This served as the signal to both armies to prepare for battle. 7 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 4-14. 8 Montrose drew out his army in an extended Continuation, p. 522. BATTLE OF LNVEKLOCHY. 199 circumstance had such a discouraging effect on in the pursuit. The greater part, however, the remainder of Argyle's troops, that after fled towards the hills in the direction of Argyle, discharging their muskets, the whole of them, and were pursued by Montrose's men, to the dis- including the reserve, took to their heels. The tance of about eight miles. As no resistance rout now became general. An attempt was was made by the defeated party in their flight, made by a body of about 200 of the fugitives, the carnage was very great, being reckoned at to throw themselves into the castle of Inver- 1,500 men. Many more would have been cut Montrose's horse pre- off had it not been for the humanity of Mon- lochy, but a party of j vented them. Some of the flying enemy trose, who did every thing in his power to save directed their course along the side of Loch- I the unresisting enemy from the fury of his men,

Eil, but all these were either killed or drowned I who were not disposed to give quarter to the

Inverlochy Castle. —From 11'CuIloch's celebrated picture in the Edinburgh National Gallery.

unfortunate Campbells. Having taken the few da}'s after the battle, of a wound he

castle, Montrose not only treated the officers, received in the thigh. Montrose regretted the who were from the Lowlands, with kindness, death of this steadfast friend and worthy man, but gave them their liberty on parole. with feelings of real sorrow, and caused his Among the principal persons who fell on body to be interred in Athole with due solem- Argyle's side, were the commander, Campbell nity. 9 Montrose imniediatety after the battle of Auchinbreck, Campbell of Lochnell, the sent a messenger to the king with a letter,

brother, Colin giving account of it, at the conclusion eldest son of Lochnell, and his ; an of M'Dougall of Eara and his eldest son; Major which he exultingly says to Charles, " Give me

Menzies, brother to the laird, (or Prior as he I leave, after I have reduced this country, and called) Achattens Parbreck the conquered from to Beersheba, to say to was of ; and | Dan provost of the church of Kilmun. The loss your Majesty, as David's general to his master, | trifling. thyself, lest this on the side of Montrose was extremely | Come thou country be called The number of wounded is indeed not stated, by my name." When the king received this but he had only three privates killed. He letter, the royal and parliamentary commis- however, a severe loss in sustained, Sir Thomas 9 — Spalding, vol. ii. p. H5. "Wishart, p. Ill, et Ogilvie, son of the Earl of Airly, who died a seq.—Guthry, p. 140. —

200 GENEEAL histoey of the highlands.

sioners were sitting at ITxbridge negotiating .wished," and that " upon his honour, not more 2 the terms of a peace ; but Charles, induced by than thirty of Argyle's men had been killed;" the letter, imprudently broke off the negotia- but as the disaster was well known, this device tion, a circumstance which led to his ruin. only misled the weak and ignorant. Had Montrose at this juncture descended into the

Lowlands, it is not improbable that his presence might have given a favourable turn to the state CHAFTEB XIV. of matters in the south, where the king's affairs were in the most precarious situation; but a.i>. February—September, 1645. such a design does not seem to have accorded

British sovereign :—Charles I., 1025—16-19. with his views of prolonging the contest in the Highlands, which were more suitable Montrose marches to Inverness and Elgin, wasting than the lands of the Covenanters—Enters and plunders the Lowlands to his plan of operations, and to Banff- -Deputation from Aberdeen—Death of Donald the nature of his forces. Farquharson—Montrose imposes a tax of £10,000 on Aberdeen—Enters and burns Stonehaven—De- Accordingly, after allowing his men to re- feats Hurry's horse at Fettercairn — Marches to fresh themselves a few days at Inverlochy, Brechin and Dunkeld—Storms and captures Dundee —Montrose's retreat from Dundee—Movements of Montrose returned across the mountains of General Baillie Battle of Auldearn Montrose's — — Lochaber into Badenoch, " with displayed after-movements— Battle of Alford—General Baillie and the Committee of Estates retreat to Stirling banner." Marching down the south side of Montrose marches to Aberdeen Montrose marches — the Spey, he crossed that river at Balchastel, south—Is joined by more Highlanders—Threatens Perth—Retreats to Dunkeld—Again moves south and entered Moray without opposition. He Baillie by the men of Fife Montrose at — joined — proceeded by rapid strides towards the town Alloa—Maclean burns Castle Campbell—Montrose goes towards Stirling—DilFerences among the Cove- of Inverness, which he intended to take pos- of Kilsyth Montrose enters Glas- nanters—Battle — session of; but, on arriving in the neighbour- gow—Submission of the nobility and the western counties—Submission of Edinburgh—Montrose ap- hood, he found it garrisoned by the laird of pointed Lieutenant-governor of Scotland—Deser- Lawers' and Buchanan's regiments. As he did tion of Highlanders— Battle of Philipkaugh. not wish to consume his time in a siege, he When the disastrous news of the battle of immediately altered his course and inarched in Inverlochy reached Edinburgh, the Estates the direction of Elgin, issuing, as he went along, were thrown into a state of great alarm. They a proclamation in the king's name, calling had, no doubt, begun to fear, before that event, upon all males, from 16 to 60 years of age, to and, of course, to respect the prowess of Mon- join liim immediately, armed as they best trose, but they never could have been made to could, on foot or on horse, and that under believe that, within the space of a few days, pain of fire and sword, as rebels to the king. a well-appointed army, composed in part of In consequence of this threat Montrose was veteran troops, would have been utterly defeated joined by some of the Moray-men, including by a force so vastly inferior in point of num- the laird of Grant and 200 of his followers; bers, and beset with difficulties and dangers to and, to show an example of severity, he which the army of Argyle was not exposed. plundered the houses and laid waste the estates Nor were the fears of the Estates much allayed of many of the principal gentlemen of the dis- by the appearance of Argyle, who arrived at trict, carrying off, at the same time, a largo Edinburgh to give them an account of the quantity of cattle and effects, and destroying affair, " having his left arm tied up in a scarf, the boats and nets which they fell in with on 1 3 as if he had been at bones-breaking." It is the Spey. true that Lord Balmerino made a speech before Whilst Montrose was thus laying waste part the assembly of the Estates, in which he of Moray, a committee of the Estates, consist- affirmed, that the great loss reported to be ing of the Earl of Seaforth, the laird of Innes, sustained at Inverlochy " was but the inven- Sir Eobert Gordon, the land of Pluscardine, tion of the malignants, who spake as they and others, was sitting at Elgin; these, on

1 Guthry, p. 141. - Idem. ' Spalding, vol. ii. p. 447. "

ELGIN DESERTED AND BASELY USED. 201 hearing of his proceedings, prohibited the occurred, he showed the bent of his inclination holding of the fair which was kept there by declaring for the king. annually on Fasten's eve, and to which On talcing possession of Elgin, Montrose many merchants and others in the north gave orders to bring all the ferry-boats on the resorted, lest the property brought there for Spey to the north side of the river, and he sale might fall a prey to Montrose's army. stationed sentinels at all the fords up and They, at the same time, sent Sir Eobert Gor- down, to watch any movements which might don, Mackenzie of Pluscardine, and Tunes of be made by the enemies' forces in the south. Luthers, to treat with Montrose, in name of Montrose, thereupon, held a council of war, the gentry of Moray, most of whom were then at which it was determined to cross the Spey, assembled in Elgin ; but he refused to enter march into the counties of Banff and Aberdeen, into any negotiation, offering, at the same time, by the aid of Lord Gordon, raise the friends to accept of the services of such as would join and retainers of the Marquis of Huntly, him and obey him as the king's lieutenant. 4 and thence proceed into the Mearns, where Before this answer had been communicated to another accession of forces was expected. Ac- the gentry at Elgin, they had all fled from the cordingly, Montrose left Elgin on the 4th of town in consequence of hearing that Montrose March with the main body of his army, towards was advancing upon them with rapidity. The the Bog of Gicht, accompanied by the Earl of laird of Innes, along with some of his friends, Seaforth, Sir Robert Gordon, the lairds of retired to the castle of Spynie, possessed by Grant, Pluscardine, Findrassie, and several his eldest son, which was well fortified and pro- other gentlemen who " had come in to him vided with every necessary for undergoing a at Elgin. To punish the Earl of Findlater, siege. The laird of Duffus went into Suther- who had refused to join him, Montrose sent land. As soon as the inhabitants of the town the Farquharsons of Braemar before him, across saw the committee preparing to leave it, most the Spey, who plundered, without mercy, the of them also resolved to depart, which they town of Cullen, belonging to the earl. did, carrying along with them their principal After crossing the Spey, Montrose, either effects. Some went to Inverness, and others apprehensive that depredations would be com- into Ross, but the greater part went to the mitted upon the properties of his Moray castle of Spynie, where they sought and ob- friends who accompanied him, by the two tained refuge. regiments which garrisoned Inverness, and the Apprehensive that Montrose might follow Covenanters of that district, or having received up the dreadful example he had shown, by notice to that effect, he allowed the Earl of burning the town, a proposal was made to, and Seaforth, the laird of Grant, and the other accepted by him, to pay four thousand merks Moray gentlemen, to return home to defend to save the town from destruction; but, on their estates ; but before allowing them to de- entering it, which he did on the 19th of Feb- part, he made them take a solemn oath of ruary, his men, and particularly the laird of allegiance to the king, and promise that they Grant's party, were so disappointed in their should never henceforth take up arms against hopes of plunder, in consequence of the inhab- his majesty or his loyal subjects. At the same itants having carried away the best of their time, he made them come under an engage- effects, that they destroyed every article of ment to join him with all their forces as soon furniture which was left. as they cordd do so. The Earl of Seaforth, Montrose was joined, on his arrival at however, disregarded his oath, and again joined Elgin, by Lord Gordon, the eldest son of the the ranks of the Covenanters. In a letter Marquis of Huntly, with some of his friends which he wrote to the committee of Estates at and vassals. This young nobleman had been Aberdeen, he stated that he had yielded to long kept in a state of durance by Argyle, his Montrose through fear only, and he avowed uncle, contrary to his own wishes, and now, that he would abide by " the good cause to

when an opportunity had for the first time his death." 5

4 5 Gordon's Continuation, p. 522. Spalding, vol. ii. p. 301. 2 c 202 GENEKAL HISTOBY OF THE HIGHLANDS

On Montrose's arrival at Stratkbogie, or They further represented, that such was the

Gordon castle, Lord Graham, his eldest son, a terror of the inhabitants at the idea c f another most promising youth of sixteen, became un- visit from his Irish troops, that all the men well, and died after a few clays' illness. The and women, on hearing of his approach, had loss of a son who had followed him in his made preparations for abandoning the town, campaigns, and shared with him the dangers and that they would certainly leave it if they of the field, was a subject of deep regret to did not get an assurance from the marquis of Montrose. "While Montrose was occupied at safety and protection. Montrose heard the the death-bed of his son, Lord Gordon was commissioners patiently, expressed his regret busily employed among the Gordons, out of at the calamities which had befallen their town, whom he speedily raised a force of about 500 and bade them not be afraid, as he would take foot, and 160 horse. care that none of his foot, or Irish, soldiers forces, With this accession to his Montrose should come within eight miles of Aberdeen ; left Strathbogie and marched towards Banff, and that if he himself should enter the town, on his route to the south. In passing by the he would support himself at his own expense. house of Cullen, in Boyne, the seat of the Earl The commissioners returned to Aberdeen, and of Eindlater, who had fled to Edinburgh, and related the successful issue of their journey, to left the charge of the house to the countess, a the great joy of all the inhabitants. 6 party of Montrose's men entered the house, Whilst Montrose lay at Turriff, Sir Nathaniel which they plundered of all its valuable con- Gordon, with some troopers, went to Aberdeen, tents. They then proceeded to set the house which he entered on Sunday, the 9th of March, on fire, but the countess entreated Montrose on which day there had been " no sermon in to order his men to desist, and promised that either of the Aberdeens," as the ministers had if her husband did not come to Montrose fled the town. The keys of the churches, gates, and give him satisfaction within fifteen days, and jail were delivered to hinr by the magis- she would pay him 20,000 merks, of which trates. The following morning Sir Nathaniel sum she instantly paid down 5,000. Montrose was joined by 100 Irish dragoons. After re- complied with her request, and also spared leasing some prisoners, he went to Torry, and the lands, although the earl was " a great took, after a slight resistance, 1,800 muskets, Covenanter." Montrose's men next laid waste pikes, and other arms, which had been left in the lands in the Boyne, burnt the houses, charge of a troop of horse. Besides receiving- and plundered the minister of the place of all orders to watch the town, Sir Nathaniel was his goods and effects, including his books. instructed to send out scouts as far as Cowie The laird of Boyne. shut himself up in his to watch the enemy, who were daily expected stronghold, the Crag, where he was out of from the south. When reconnoitring, a skir- danger ; but he had the misfortune to see his mish took place at the bridge of Dee, in which lands laid waste and destroyed. Montrose Captain Keith's troop was routed. Finding then went to Banff, which he gave up to indis- the country quite clear, and no appearance of criminate plunder. His troops did not leave a the covenanting forces, Gordon returned back vestige of moveable property in the town, and to the army, which had advanced to Fren- they even stripped to the skin every man they draught. No attempt was made upon the met with in the streets. Thej also burned two house of Frendraught, which was kept by the or three houses of little value, but not a drop young viscount in absence of his father, who of blood was shed. was then at Muchallis with his godson, Lord

From Banff Montrose proceeded to Turriff, Fraser ; but Montrose destroyed 60 ploughs where a deputation from the town council of of land belonging to Frendraught within the Aberdeen waited upon him, to represent the parishes of Forgue, Inverkeithnie, and Drum- many miseries which the loyal city had suf- blade, and the house of the minister of Forgue, fered from its frequent occupation by hostile with all the other houses, and buildings, and armies since the first outbreaking of the unfor- 6 tunate troubles which molested the kingdom. Spalding, vol. ii. p. 45'2. ACCESSIONS TO MONTBOSE FKOM ABEEDEEN. 203

their contents. Nothing, in fact, was spared. other foot regiments. On receiving this intelli- AH the cattle, horses, sheep, and other do- gence, Hurry put himself at the head of 16C

mestic animals, were carried off, and the whole horse and foot, taken from the regular regi- of Frendraught's lands were left a dreary and ments, and some troopers and musketeers, and uninhahitable waste. rode off to Aberdeen in great haste, where he From Pennyburn, Montrose despatched, on arrived on the 15th of March, at 8 o'clock in the the 10th of March, a letter to the authorities of evening. Having posted sentinels at the gates Aberdeen, commanding them to issue an order to prevent any of Montrose's party from escap- that all men, of whatever description, between ing, he entered the town at an hour when they the age of sixteen and sixty, should meet him were all carelessly enjoying themselves in their

equipped in their best arms, and such of them lodgings, quite unapprehensive of such a visit. as had horses, mounted on the best of them, on The noise in the streets, occasioned by the the 15th of March, at his camp at Inverury, un- tramping of the horses, was the first indication

der the pain of fire and sword. In consequence they had of the presence of the enemy, but it of this mandate he was joined by a considerable was then too late for them to defend themselves. number of horse and foot. On the 12th of Donald Farquharson was lolled in the street, " March, Montrose arrived at Kintore, and took opposite the guard-house ; a brave gentle- up his own quarters in the house of John man," says Spalding, " and one of the noblest Cheyne, the minister of the place, whence he captains amongst all the Highlanders of Scot- issued an order commanding each parish within land, and the king's man for life and death." the presbytery of Aberdeen, (with the excep- The enemy stripped him of a rich dress he had tion of the town of Aberdeen,) to send to him put on the same day, and left his body lying two commissioners, who were required to bring naked in the street. A few other gentlemen along with them a complete roll of the whole were killed, and some taken prisoners, but

heritors, feuars, and liferenters of each parish. the greater part escaped. Hurry left the town

His object, in requiring such a list, was to next day, and, on his return to Baillie's camp, ascertain the number of men capable of serving, entered the town of Montrose, and earned off and also the names of those who should refuse Lord Graham, Montrose's second son, a boy of to join him. Commissioners were accordingly fourteen years of age, then at school, who, sent from the parishes, and the consequence was, along with his teacher, was sent to Edinburgh, that Montrose was joined daily by many men and committed to the castle. who would not otherwise have assisted him, but The gentlemen who had escaped from Aber- who were now alarmed for the safety of their deen returned to Montrose, who was greatly properties. While at Kintore, an occurrence offended at them for their carelessness. The took place which vexed Montrose exceedingly. magistrates of Aberdeen, alarmed lest Montrose To reconnoitre and watch the motions of the should inflict summary vengeance upon the enemy, Montrose had, on the 12th of March, town, as being implicated in the attack upon sent Sir Nathaniel Gordon, along with Donald the cavaliers, sent two commissioners to Kin- Farquharson, Captain Mortimer, and other tore to assure him that they were in no way con- well-mounted cavaliers, to the number of about cerned in that affair. Although he heard them 80, to Aberdeen. This party, receiving no with great patience, he gave them no satisfac- enemy in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, tion as to his intentions, and they returned to utterly neglected to place any sentinels at the Aberdeen without being able to obtain any gates of the town, and spent their time at promise from him to spare the town. Montrose their lodgings in entertainments and amuse- contented himself with making the merchants ments. This careless conduct did not pass furnish him with cloth, and gold and silver- unobserved by some of the Covenanters in the lace, to the amount of £10,000 Scots, for the

town, who, it is said, sent notice thereof to use of his army, which he held the magistrates Major-general Hurry, the second in command bound to pay, by a tax upon the inhabitants. under General Baillie, who was then lying at the " Thus," says Spalding, " cross upon cross North Water Brido-e with Lord Balcarras's and upon Aberdeen." 204 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS.

When Sir Nathaniel Gordon and the re- Stonehaven, and took up his residence in the mainder of his party returned to Kintore, house of James Clerk, the pi ivost of the town. Montrose despatched, on the same day (March Here learning that the Covenanters in the 16th), a body of 1,000 horse and foot, the latter north were troubling Lord Gordon's lands, he consisting of Irish, to Aberdeen, under the com- despatched 500 of Gordon's foot to defend mand of Macdonald, his major-general. Many Strathbogie and his other possessions; but he of the inhabitants, alarmed at the approach of still retained Lord Gordon himself with his this party, and still having the fear of the Irish troopers. before their eyes, were preparing to leave the On the day after his arrival at Stonehaven, town; but Macdonald relieved their apprehen- Montrose wrote a letter to the Earl Marshal, sions by assuring them that the Irish, who who, along with sixteen ministers, and some amounted to 700, should not enter the town; other persons of distinction, had shut himself he accordingly stationed them at the Bridge up in his castle of Dunottar. The bearer of of Dee and the Two Mile Cross, he and his the letter was not, however, suffered to enter troopers alone entering the town. With the within the gate, and was sent back, at the exception of the houses of one or two " remark- instigation probably of the earl's lady and able Covenanters," which were plundered, Mac- the ministers who were with him, without donald showed the utmost respect for private an answer. Montrose then endeavoured, by property, a cireumstance which obtained for means of George Keith, the Earl Marshal's him the esteem of the inhabitants, who had brother, to persuade the latter to declare for seldom experienced such kind treatment before. the king, but he refused, in consequence of Having discharged the last duties to the which Montrose resolved to inflict summary brave Farquharson and his companions, Mac- vengeance upon him, by burning and laying donald left Aberdeen, on March 18th, to join waste his lands and those of his retainers in Montrose at Durris; but he had not proceeded the neighbourhood. Acting upon this deter- far when complaints were brought to him that mination, he, on the 21st of March, set fire to some of his Irish troops, who had lagged the houses adjoining the castle of Dunottar, behind, had entered the town, and were plun- and burnt the grain which was stacked in the dering it. Macdonald, therefore, returned barn-yards. Even the house of the minister immediately to the town, and drove, says did not escape. He next set fire to the town Spalding, " all these rascals with sore skins of Stonehaven, sparing only the house of the out of the town before him." 7 provost, in which he resided; plundered a ship Before leaving Kintore, the Earl of Airly which lay in the harbour, and then set her was attacked by a fever, in consequence of on fire, along with all the fishing boats. The which, Montrose sent him to Lethintie, the lands and houses of Cowie shared the same residence of the earl's son-in-law, under a guard hard fate. Whilst the work of destruction of 300 men; but he was afterwards removed was going on, it is said that the inhabitants to Strathbogie for greater security. On ar- appeared before the castle of Dunottar, and, riving, March 17th, at Durris, in Kincardine- setting up cries of pity, implored the earl to shire, where he was joined by Macdonald, save them from ruin, but they received no Montrose burnt the house and offices to the answer to their supplications, and the earl wit- ground, set fire to the grain, and swept away nessed from his stronghold the total destruction all the cattle, horses, and sheep. He also of the properties of his tenants and dependents wasted such of the lands of Eintry as belonged without making any effort to stop it. After to Forbes of Craigievar, to punish him for the he had effected the destruction of the barony breach of his parole; treating in the same way of Dunottar, Montrose set fire to the lands of the house and grain belonging to Abercrombie, Fetteresso, one-fourth part of which was burnt the minister of Fintry, who was " a main up, together with the whole corn in the yards.

Covenanter." On the 19th, Montrose entered A beautiful deer park was also burnt, and its alarmed inmates were all taken and killed, as

' Vol. ii. p. 457. well as all the cattle in the barony. Montrose HUEEY'S HOESE DEFEATED AT FETTEECAIEN. '205

Dunottar Castle in the 17th century. —From tflezer's Theatrum Scotice (1693). uext proceeded to Drumlaithie and Urie, be- hand, immediately attacked the small body of longing to John Forbes of Leslie, a leading horse opposed to him; but he was soon un- Covenanter, where he committed similar depre- deceived by the sudden appearance of the dations. foot, and forced to retreat with precipitation. Montrose, on the following day, advanced Though his men were greatly alarmed, Hurry, to Fettercairn, where he quartered his foot who was a brave officer, having placed himself soldiers, sending out quarter-masters through in the rear, managed to retreat across the the country, and about the town of Montrose, North Esk with very little loss. to provide quarters for some troopers; but, as After this affair Montrose allowed his men these troopers were proceeding on their journey, to refresh themselves for a few days, and, on they were alarmed by the sudden appearance the 25th of March, put his army in motion in of some of Major-general Hurry's troops, who the direction of Brechin. On hearing of his had concealed themselves within the plantation approach, the inhabitants of the town concealed of Halkerton. These, suddenly issuing from their effects in the castle, and in the steeples the wood, set up a loud shout, on hearing of churches, and fled. Montrose's troops, which the troopers immediately turned to the although they found out the secreted goods, right about and went back to the camp. This were so enraged at the conduct of the inhab- party turned out to be a body of 600 horse, itants that they plundered the town, and burnt under the command of Hurry himself, who had about sixty houses. left the head-quarters of General Baillie, at From Brechin, Montrose proceeded through Brechin, for the purpose of reconnoitring Mon- Angus, with the intention either of fighting trose's movements. In order to deceive Hurry, Baillie, or of marching onwards to the south. who kept advancing with his 600 horse, Mon- His whole force, at this time, did not exceed trose placed his horse, which amounted only 3,000 men, and, on reaching Kirriemuir, his to 200, and which he took care to line with some cavalry was greatly diminished by his having expert musqueteers, in a prominent situation, been obliged to send away about 160 horse- and concealed his foot in an adjoining valley. men to Strathbogie, under Lord Gordon and This ruse had the desired effect, for Hurry his brother Lewis, to defend their father's pos- imasniiing that there were no other forces at sessions against the Covenanters. Montro.se ;;

206 GENEBAL H1STOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS. proceeded with his army along the foot of the meet him at Brechin, Montrose himself, at the Grampians, in the direction of Dunkeld, where head of about 150 horse, and 600 expert mus- he intended to cross the Tay in the sight of keteers,9 left Dunkeld on April 3d about mid- General Baillie, who commanded an army night, and marched with such extraordinary greatly superior in numbers ; hut, although expedition that he arrived at Dundee Law at Montrose frequently offered him battle, Baillie, 10 o'clock in the morning, where he encamped. contrary, it is said, to the advice of Hurry, as Montrose then sent a trumpeter into the town often declined it. On arriving at the water of with a summons requiring a surrender, promis- Isla, the two armies, separated by that stream, ing that, in the event of compliance, he would remained motionless for several days, as if un- protect the lives and properties of the inhabit- determined how to act. At length Montrose ants, but threatening, in case of refusal, to set sent a trumpeter to Baillie offering him battle fire to the town and put the inhabitants to and as the water could not be safely passed by the sword. Instead of returning an answer to his army if opposed, Montrose proposed to al- this demand, the town's people put the mes- low Baillie to pass it unmolested, on condition senger into prison. This insult was keenly that he would give him his word of honour felt by Montrose, who immediately gave orders that he would fight without delay; but Baillie to his troops to storm the town in three differ- answered that he would attend to his own ent places at once, and to fulfil the threat business himself, and that he would fight when which he had held out in case of resistance. he himself thought proper. The conduct of The inhabitants, in the mean time, made such Baillie throughout seems altogether extraordi- preparations for defence as the shortness of the nary, but it is alleged that he had no power to time allowed, but, although they fought brave- act for himself, being subject to the directions ly, they could not resist the impetuosity of of a council of war, composed of the Earls Montrose's troops, who, impelled by a spirit of of Crawford and Cassilis, Lords Balmerino, revenge, and a thirst for plunder, which Dun- Kirkcudbright, and others. 8 dee, then one of the largest and most opulent As Montrose could not attempt to cross the towns in Scotland, offered them considerable water of Isla without cavalry, in opposition to opportunities of gratifying, forced the inhabit- a force so greatly superior, he led his army off ants from the stations they occupied, and in the direction of the Grampians, and marched turned the cannon which they had planted in upon Dunkeld, of which he took possession. the streets against themselves. The contest Baillie being fully aware of his intention to however, continued in various quarters of the cross the Tay, immediately withdrew to Perth town for several hours, during which the town for the purpose of opposing Montrose's passage was set on fire in different places. The whole but, if Montrose really entertained such an in- of that quarter of the town called the Bonnet tention after he had sent away the Gordon Hill fell a prey to the flames, and the entire troopers, he abandoned it after reaching Dun- town would have certainly shared the same keld, and resolved to retrace his steps north- fate had not Montrose's men chiefly occupied wards. Being anxious, however, to signalize themselves in plundering the houses and filling liimself by some important achievement before themselves with the contents of the wine cel- he returned to the north, and to give confi- lars. The sack of the town continued till the dence to the royalists, he determined to sur- evening, and the inhabitants were subjected to prise Dundee, a town which had rendered every excess which an infuriated and victorious

itself particularly obnoxious to him for the re- soldiery, maddened by intoxication, could in-

sistance made by the inhabitants after the flict. battle of Tippermuir. Having sent off the This melancholy state of tilings was, how- weaker part of his troops, and those who were ever, fortunately put an end to by intelligence lightly armed, with his heavy baggage, along having been brought to Montrose, who had the bottom of the hills with instructions to viewed the storming of the town from the

8 a Spalding, vol. ii. p. 4G2. Montrose Bcdivivtis, p. 61. ;

MONTROSE'S RETEEAT FROM DUNDEE. 207

neighbouring height of Dundee Law, that ignominious flight, which would be rendered General Baillie was marching in great haste still more disgraceful by abandoning their down the Carse of Gowrie, towards Dundee, unfortunate fellow-warriors to the mercy of a with 3,000 foot and 800 horse. On receiving revengeful foe. this news from his scouts, Montrose gave im- Montrose, however, disapproved of both mediate orders to his troops to evacuate Dun- these plans. He considered the first as unbe- dee, but so intent were they upon their booty, coming the generosity of men who had fought

that it was with, the utmost difficulty they so often side by side ; and the second he could be prevailed upon to leave the town, thought extremely rash and imprudent. He, and, before the last of them could be induced therefore, resolved to steer a middle course,

to retire, some of the enemy's troops were and, refusing to abandon his brave companions within gun-shot of them. The sudden appear- in arms in the hour of danger, gave orders ance of Baillie's army was quite unlooked-for, as for an immediate retreat, in the direction Montrose had been made to believe, from the of Arbroath. This, however, was a mere

reports of his scouts, that it had crossed the manoeuvre to deceive the enemy, as Montrose Tay, and was proceeding to the Forth, when, intended, after nightfall, to march towards the in fact, only a very small part, which had been Grampians. In order to make his retreat more mistaken by the scouts for the entire army of secure, Montrose despatched 400 of his foot, Baillie, had passed. and gave them orders to march as quickly as In this critical conjuncture, Montrose held possible, without breaking their ranks. These a council of war, to consult how to act under were followed by 200 of his most expert the perilous circumstances in which he was musketeers, and Montrose himself closed the now placed. The council was divided between rear with his horse in open rank, so as to two opinions. Some of them advised Mon- admit the musketeers to interline them, in case trose to consult his personal safety, by rid- of an attack. It was about six o'clock in the ing off to the north with his horse, leaving evening when Montrose began his retreat, at the foot to their fate, as they considered it which hour the last of Baillie's foot had reached utterly impossible for him to carry them off in Dundee. their present state, fatigued, and worn out as Scarcely had Montrose begun to move, when they were by a march of 24 miles during the intelligence was received by Baillie, from some preceding night, and rendered almost incapable prisoners he had taken, of Montrose's inten- of resisting the enemy, from the debauch they tions, which was now confirmed by ocular had indulged in during the day. Besides, they proof. A proposal, it is said, was then made would require to march 20 or even 30 miles, by Hurry, to follow Montrose with the whole

before they could reckon themselves secure army, and attack him, but Baillie rejected it from the attacks of their pursuers, a journey and the better, as he thought, to secure Mon- which it was deemed impossible to perform, trose, and prevent his escape, he divided his

without being previously allowed some hours army into two parts, one of which he sent off repose. In this way, and in no other, urged in the direction of the Grampians, to prevent

the advocates of this view, might he expect Montrose from entering the Highlands ; and to retrieve matters, as he could, by his presence the other followed directly in the rear of among his friends in the north, raise new Montrose. He thus expected to be able to

forces ; but that, if he himself was cut off, the cut off Montrose entirely, and to encourage king's affairs would be utterly ruined. The his men to the pursuit, he offered a reward other part of the council gave quite an opposite of 20,000 crowns to any one who should bring opinion, by declaring that, as the cause for him Montrose's head. Baillie's cavalry soon which they had fought so gloriously was now came wp with Montrose's rear, but they were so irretrievably lost, they should remain in their well received by the musketeers, who brought position, and await the issue of an attack, down some of them, that they became very judging it more honourable to die fighting in cautious in their approaches. The darkness of defence of their king, than to seek safetv in an the night soon put an end to the pursuit, and ;

208 GENEEAL HISTOEY OF THE HIGHLANDS

Montrose continued unmolested his march to This memorable retreat is certainly one of Arbroath, in the neighbourhood of which he the most extraordinary events which occurred arrived about midnight. His troops had now during the whole of Montrose's campaigns. marched upwards of 40 miles, 17 of which It is not surprising, that some of the most they had performed in a few hours, in the experienced officers in Britain, and in France face of a large army, and had passed two nights and Germany, considered it the most splendid 2 and a day without sleep ; but as their safety of all Montrose's achievements.

might be endangered by allowing them to Being now secure from all danger in the repose till daylight, Montrose entreated them fastnesses of the Grampians, Montrose allowed to proceed on their march. Though almost his men to refresh themselves for some days. exhausted with incessant fatigue, and over- Whilst enjoying this necessary relaxation from

powered with drowsiness, they readily obeyed the fatigues of the field, intelligence was brought the order of their general; and, after a short to Montrose that a division of the covenanting halt, proceeded on their route in a northwesterly army, under Hurry, was in full march on Aber- direction. They arrived at the South Esk deen, with an intention of proceeding into early in the morning, which they crossed, at Moray. Judging that an attack upon the pos- sunrise, near Carriston Castle. sessions of the Gordons would be one of Hurry's Montrose now sent notice to the party which objects, Montrose despatched Lord Gordon with he had despatched from Dunkeld to Brechin, Ms horse to the north, for the purpose of assist- with his baggage, to join him, but they had, ing his friends in case of attack. on hearing of his retreat, already taken refuge It was not in the nature of Montrose to re- among the neighbouring hills. Baillie, who main inactive for any length of time, and an had passed the night at Forfar, now considered occurrence, of which he had received notice, that he had Montrose completely in his power had lately taken place, which determined him but, to his utter amazement, not a trace of to return a second time to Dunkeld. This was Montrose was to be seen next morning. Little the escape of Viscount Aboyne, and some other did he imagine that Montrose had passed noblemen and gentlemen, from Carlisle, who, close by him during the night, and eluded he was informed, were on their way north to

Iris grasp. Chagrined at this unexpected dis- join him. Apprehensive that they might be appointment, Baillie, without waiting for his interrupted by Baillie's troops, he resolved to

foot, galloped off at full speed to overtake make a diversion in their favour, and, by draw- Montrose, and, with such celerity did he travel, ing off the attention of Baillie, enable them th6 that he was close upon Montrose before the more effectually to elude observation. Leaving, latter received notice of his approach. The therefore, Macdonald, with about 200 men, to whole of Montrose's men, with the exception beat up the enemy in the neighbourhood of of a few sentinels, were now stretched upon Coupar-Angus, Montrose proceeded, with the the ground, in a state of profound repose, and, remainder of his forces, consisting only of 500 so firmly did sleep hold their exhausted frames foot and 50 hoTse, to Dunkeld, whence he

in its grasp, that it was with the utmost diffi- marched to Crieff, which is about 17 miles culty that they could be aroused from their west from Perth. It was not until he had ar- slumbers, or made sensible of their danger. rived at the latter town that Baillie, who, after

The sentinels, it is said, had even to prick his pursuit of Montrose, had returned to Perth some of them with their swords, before they with his army, heard of this movement. As could be awakened, 1 and when at length the Baillie was sufficiently aware of the weakness sleepers were aroused they effected a retreat, of Montrose's force, and as he was sure that, after some skirmishing, to the foot of the with such a great disparity, Montrose would Grampians, about three miles distant from their not risk a general engagement, he endeavoured camp, and retired, thereafter, through Glenesk to surprise him, in the hope either of cutting into the interior without further molestation. him off entirely, or crippling him so effectually

2 1 Montrose Redivivus, p. 65. Wishart, p. 127.

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