LAND TENURE IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS SUBSEQUENT TO THE SIXTEENTH
CENTURY.
[Sidenote: Changes in tenure of land.]
If the position of the clans was, as we have seen, greatly affected by
the statutes passed towards the end of the sixteenth century, the
following century witnessed the commencement of a process of change
which no less affected the position of the members of the clan as
regarded their tenure of the land, which was influenced partly by
positive enactments of the Legislature, partly by the increased efficacy
of the law of the land, which ignored all Celtic usages inconsistent
with its principles, and regarded all persons possessing a feudal title
as absolute proprietors of the land, and all occupants of the land who
could not show a right derived from the proprietor as simply yearly
tenants, and partly by changes which took place in the profitable
employment of the land.
[Sidenote: Abolition of Calps.]
The first relation which was assailed was that of the position of the
native-men and subordinate septs to the chief, and in 1617 a statute was
passed which proceeded on the narrative, that ‘his Majestie’s lieges
have sustained great hurt and skayth these many years bygone by the
chiefs of clans within the Highlands and Isles of this kingdom, by the
unlawful taking from them their children and executors after their
decease under the name of Caulpes of their best aucht whether it be on
mare, horse, or cow, alleging their predecessors to have been in
possession thereof for maintaining and defending of them against their
enemies and evil willars of old and ordained that in no time coming none
of his Highness’s lieges presume nor take on hand to intromit with nor
uplift the said Caulpis within any part of this kingdom.’[501] In the
same Parliament a statute was passed for the protection of the ‘forests
within the realm in which deer are kept, and which are altogether wasted
and decayed by sheallings, pasturing of horses, mares, cattle, oxen, and
other bestial cutting of woods within the bounds of the said forests
shooting and slaying of deer and wild fowls with hagbuttis and with dogs
in forbidden time.’[502]
[Sidenote: Size of townships.]
The land occupied by the members of the clan was divided into townships
or farms, each township consisting of a certain portion of arable land,
meadow, green pasture, and muirland. They were of various sizes, and
occupied the lower part of the country, extending in the straths or
valleys from the stream, and from the shore of the sea, and the arms of
the sea or lochs, to the ridge of the hill behind. A stone fence, called
the head-dyke, or an imaginary line answering to it ran along the brae
or slope, and separated the arable, meadow-ground, and pasture of the
milch cows from the muirland or hill pasture, where the horses,
yeld-cattle, and sheep of the farm ranged. The arable land of the
township which lay within the head-dyke was usually divided into infield
and outfield. In the former the steading, or town as it was called, was
situated, and it was kept in tillage, on which all the manure was laid.
The outfield consisted of such plots at the bottom of the valleys as
were level enough and free of wood or stones to be ploughed, and were
kept in corn and lea alternately, the cattle being folded upon them for
manure called tathing. The meadows were patches among the fields, too
wet, woody, or stony, to be ploughed, and kept under scythe and sickle
for a scanty supply of hay; while the faces of the braes, roots of the
hills, woody or stony wastes at the bottom, with a small plot near the
house, termed the door-land, for baiting horses, were kept as pasture
for cattle in summer and sheep in winter; while the sheep and horses
were pastured during summer on the muirland or hill pasture, which lay
immediately above the head-dyke, and contiguous to the green
pasture-grounds.
[Sidenote: Occupation of townships.]
These farms or townships were occupied in three different ways. They
were either possessed by the tacksmen or goodmen themselves, in which
case they kept on them a number of cottars, to each of whom they gave a
house, grass for a cow or two, and as much ground as would sow about a
boll of oats; or they were possessed by sub-tenants, to whom the
tacksmen sub-let the whole or a part of the farm, or else they were held
direct from the proprietor in joint tenancy by a number of tenants.
These tenants and sub-tenants formed a sort of village community, having
their houses together, holding the arable land in runrig, which was
divided annually by lot among them, and the pasture land in common, each
tenant being entitled to pasture a certain number of cattle, sheep, and
horses, in proportion to his share of the arable land, which was termed
his souming and rouming. In most cases the land was held on what was
called a steelbow tenure, when the stock on the farm was the property of
the landlord or tacksman, and was let along with the land, and at the
end of the lease the tenant or sub-tenant had to return an equal amount
of stock or pay the difference. In the Western Isles there was also a
kind of tenancy called half-foot, where the possessor of the farm
furnished the land and seed-corn, and the other party cultivated the
land, the produce being divided.
[Sidenote: Average size of township in Central Highlands.]
In the central Highlands the average township consisted of about 90
acres within the head-dyke, of which 20 acres were infield, 15 acres
outfield, 10 acres meadow, 35 acres green pasture, and 10 acres woody
waste; and the muirland beyond the head-dyke 250 acres. The smaller
township contained within the head-dyke 5 acres infield, 4 acres
outfield, 2½ acres meadow, 20 acres green pasture, 2½ acres waste, and
beyond the head-dyke 75 acres of muirland or hill pasture.
[Sidenote: Township in the Islands.]
In the Islands the township usually consisted of what was called a penny
land, but occasionally of the halfpenny land, termed Leffen
(_Lethphein_). These penny lands, however, were of different sizes. Thus
of three penny lands on the south side of Loch Scriden, in the island of
Mull, one consisted of 64 acres of infield arable land, 16 of outfield
arable, 19 of green pasture, and 497 of hill pasture; another contained
106 acres of infield arable land, 44 acres of outfield arable, 19 acres
of green pasture, and 704 of hill pasture and the third consisted of 68
acres of infield arable land, 27 of outfield arable, 29 of green
pasture, and 872 of hill pasture. This latter township was occupied by
eight tenants, each pasturing twelve cows, with their followers.[503]
[Sidenote: Highland deer-forests.]
The great mountain ranges and the groups of larger hills either formed
deer-forests or lay waste, and within their bounds were shealings or
summer pasture attached to farms, when the contiguous muir was not
sufficient for hill stock in summer, and here the cows were brought in
summer and kept for six or seven weeks.[504] The peat-mosses furnished
the tenants of the farms with their fuel.
The principal deer-forests were to be found in the two great mountain
ranges of the Mounth, which extended across the island from the eastern
to the western sea, and Drumalban, or the backbone of Scotland, which
divided the eastern from the western waters. These forests existed from
time immemorial. Thus we find that in 1630 the earldom of Atholl was
granted by Charles I. to John, earl of Atholl, with the free forest of
Bynzecromby, and all the other free forests of the earldom, the office
of forester, and the privileges of the same; and in the Acts of
Parliament a statute regarding a forest in the latter range in 1662,
when Parliament ratifies a charter granted by King James the Sixth in
1617, constituting the Campbells of Glenurchay heritable foresters and
keepers of the forests and woods of Mamlorne, Berinakansauche _alias_
Bendaskerlie, Finglenbeg and Finglenmor; and in order to protect the
forest more effectually they have power to escheat or forfeit all
horses, mares, kyne, sheep, goats, swine, and other cattle and bestials
that shall be found in any time coming feeding within the said woods and
forests, or any part of the bounds thereof.[505]
In the year 1695 a statute was passed to abolish the system of holding
land in runrig,[506] but it was so expressed as to apply only to cases
of joint proprietary of the runrig lands, and not to that of a joint
tenancy, as was the case in these Highland townships.
[Sidenote: Causes affecting the population in the eighteenth century.]
In the following century the social position of the Gaelic population in
the Highlands and Islands became affected by several causes. These were
in the main the introduction of sheep-farming and emigration of the
people from various districts; the increased manufacture of kelp; the
extension of the culture of the potato, and the system of crofting. When
the cessation of these causes, which had kept the Highlands distinct
from the rest of the country, brought all classes into contact with a
different and more advanced state of society, and the old feudal
relations of superior and dependant gradually passed into those of
proprietor and tenant, the natural consequence was, from the conversion
of services and the different estimate of the relative value of land and
people, that the rents were everywhere raised; and this gave rise to the
extensive emigration of those who were unwilling to submit to or could
not find a place in the new system. Then followed the more profitable
occupation of the hill pasture under sheep stock, and the introduction
of sheep-farming. The farms held by the tacksmen were very generally
converted into sheep-farms, and new ones were created, as opportunity
offered, by throwing the townships occupied by the joint tenants into
larger farms, and adding extensive ranges of hill pasture to them. So
far as the latter was concerned, the placing under sheep of extensive
ranges of hill country which had previously either lain waste or been
occupied as deer-forests, had no effect upon the population; but it
became necessary to remove the small tenants, in order to convert their
holdings into wintering for the sheep, and this led to a large portion
of the population being dispossessed.[507] The emigration of the people
which had been created by these causes was checked by the American war,
but recommenced to even a greater extent after the peace, and continued
till the passing of the Emigration Act in 1803. As this emigration had
generally consisted of entire families, and many of the tacksmen were
accompanied by their dependants, and thus, as the large farms were
introduced on the one hand, the dispossessed population emigrated on the
other, there was nothing in the change of policy, whether it was
desirable in itself or not, which was not in accordance with the
principles of social economy, so far as population is concerned. It is
estimated that of those who were dispossessed from the sheep-farming,
two-thirds emigrated in the beginning of the present century. Various
circumstances led, however, to a check being then given to emigration,
one principal cause of which was the new source of wealth to the
proprietors, and of employment to the population of those districts
bordered by the sea and of the Islands, which arose from the increased
manufacture of kelp. This manufacture was first introduced so far back
as the year 1734, but did not rise into notice till the American war,
when kelp reached the remunerating price of £8 per ton. After the
termination of that war the price fell, owing to competition in barilla
and potash, and kelp was manufactured to but a limited extent till the
present century, when it again rose into importance, and had reached in
1806 an average price of £16 per ton, and in 1808, 1809, and 1810 the
enormous price of £22 per ton. The increased profits arising from this
manufacture caused a great demand for labour, and created a powerful
interest in all classes engaged in it to encourage population. At the
same time, as it only afforded employment during two months in summer,
and, from its being a great object to bring a large quantity as quickly
as possible to market, demanded a large amount of labour at one season
of the year only, an additional resource was found in the potato,
introduced in 1743, but cultivated to a limited extent till this period,
when its culture extended as rapidly as the manufacture of kelp had
increased, until it became the principal means of subsistence of a large
portion of the population.
[Sidenote: Townships in the Inner Hebrides in 1850.]
The increase of the population, and the extension of the culture of the
potato which accompanied it, may be illustrated from the statistics of
one parish in Skye. The population of this parish in 1801 was 2555. In
1841 it had increased to 3625. In 1801 the produce of the parish
consisted of 1600 bolls of oats and bere, and of 5000 barrels of
potatoes. In 1841,1618 bolls of grain and 32,000 barrels of potatoes.
Thus, while the population showed an increase of 1070, the produce of
the cereal crops had undergone little change during the forty years
preceding 1841; but the cultivation of the potato had increased sixfold,
and consequently furnished the sole additional production to meet the
requirements of the additional population.
The crofting system was first introduced by the arable portion of the
small farms or townships previously held in common and cultivated in
runrig, being permanently divided among the joint-tenants in separate
crofts, the pasture remaining in common. This, though an improvement
with reference to the cultivation of the farm, was unfortunately not
accompanied by any practical guarantee against subdividing, by the
security of leases, or by the encouragement and attention which the
crofters required. The previous system, where the arable land was held
in joint-tenancy, though necessarily implying a low state of
agriculture, yet afforded some guarantees in the joint-interest created
by it against subdivision; but when the employment afforded by the
manufacture of kelp became the principal dependence of all classes, and
the cultivation of the land of secondary importance, the comparative
independence of the tenants on each other, which resulted from the
possession of separate crofts, afforded fatal facilities for subdivision
and sub-letting, which were carried to a great extent. This result was
likewise increased by separate lotting on the part of the proprietors or
of those in the management of their estates. The Fencible regiments had
been raised, in many cases, on a promise to give lots or possessions to
the recruits, and, when disbanded, these promises had to be redeemed. A
system of general and indiscriminate lotting was introduced and carried
on, by which separate lots were provided for the population as they
pressed still more upon the land, while the employment afforded by the
kelp and the increased culture of the potato provided a resource for
their occupants. The tendency of all this was greatly to increase the
cottar class, who were sub-tenants under the tacksmen and small tenants,
their labour being usually taken in place of rent, in return for the
lots they held; but with a limited potato-culture and no extraordinary
demand for labour, this class had hitherto not been very numerous. Other
circumstances still further tended to add to this class of the
community. The British Fishery Society had established in 1788 the
fishing villages of Tobermory, Ullapool, Stein, and others, with a view
of prosecuting a permanent fishing trade; and proprietors had followed
their example in setting similar communities on the sea-coast as a
resource for the dispossessed population. Small lots, generally about
two acres, were given to the proposed fishermen, but these villages
failed in the main from various causes, and formed a refuge for the
dispossessed population of neighbouring properties, till they furnished
examples of the poorest class of lotters or cottars. The extension of
the large farms and the removal of the former occupants of the land
unaccompanied by emigration—the Highland clearing in the proper sense of
the term—necessarily added to the numbers of the same class, and any
subsequent enforced emigration was too often of a character which not
only did nothing to reduce the numbers of this class, but rather tended
to aggravate the evil, as the families it removed were generally of the
better class of small tenantry able to provide some part of the cost of
transit, while the land they occupied was at the same time withdrawn
from cultivation, and those of its occupants who did not emigrate were
necessarily thrown upon the cottar population.
Such was the position of the population, when the manufacture of kelp,
after proving a source of wealth and employment, ceased to be so
remunerative after the repeal of the salt-duty in 1817, and was finally
prostrated under the competition produced by the reduction of the duty
on barilla. The people had become to a great extent dependent on the
potato for a considerable portion of the year, and the employment
afforded by the kelp supplied the period between the consumption of the
potato crop of one year and that of the succeeding crop. All classes
appear to have forgotten that the profits of the kelp manufacture were
not the legitimate produce of the land, on which they could depend as
proprietors and tenants, but that they were in fact engaged in a
manufacture subject to the fluctuations of trade arising from the state
of the market, and might be placed in the same position as a
manufacturing population during one of the periodical stagnations of
trade. The sudden withdrawal of this resource left the main part of the
Highland population in a similar situation, except that they had become
rooted to the soil and confirmed in habits which unfitted them to meet
the crisis. A considerable portion of the population disclosed the
appearance of a parasite class, pressing largely upon the means of
subsistence and the resources of others, and the cottars having lost the
resource of the kelp became exposed to an annual destitution during the
period which intervened between the consumption of the produce of each
potato crop, until the partial failure of that crop in the years
1836-37, and the more extensive destruction of it in 1847 and three
succeeding years, reduced a large portion of the population to a state
of absolute destitution for the time, and brought their social position
prominently under the notice of all classes of the community.
The statistics of the same parish in Skye will afford a fair
illustration of their position during the failure of the potato crop.
The parish consisted then of 4826 acres of arable land, 4339 of green
pasture, and 37,305 of hill pasture. There were four large farms
containing about 1200 acres of arable land, and on these farms there
were twenty-five families of cottars. The remaining 3676 acres of arable
land were distributed among thirty-seven townships held by 334 families
of crofters; and upon these 334 families of crofters there was a
parasite population of 300 families of cottars. The particulars of two
of these townships will show still more clearly the state of the
population at this time. One, consisting of 205 acres, was held by nine
tenants, whose families amounted to forty-three persons. Of these 205
acres, 42 were under cultivation, the usual produce of which was
sixty-one bolls. They had twenty-four cows, sixteen sheep, and six
horses, and the total rent paid by them was £84, and upon this farm
there were besides ten families of cottars, giving a population of
eighty-six souls on a farm paying only £84 of rent. Another township
contained 161 acres, and was held by four families of croft tenants.
There were only 22 acres under cultivation, yielding on an average
thirty-two bolls. They had eight cows, twenty-one sheep, and four
horses, and paid £55 of rent, and on this farm were seven families of
cottars. In another parish in the same island, a township paying £68 of
rent was held by twenty-two families of crofter tenants, while there
were located in the township no fewer than twenty-five families of
cottars, giving a population of 250 souls dependent on the produce of
the ground for subsistence.[508]
[Sidenote: Existing townships in the Outer Hebrides.]
It might, however, be expected that the features of the older state of
the occupants of the soil would be longer preserved in the Outer
Hebrides where there was less intercourse with the mainland, and an
account of the present state of some of the townships in the Long Island
has been kindly communicated for this work by Mr. Alexander Carmichael,
a gentleman who has been long resident among them, and is intimately
acquainted with their condition, which will furnish an appropriate
conclusion to this chapter.
‘Old systems are tenacious. They linger long among a rural people, and
in remote places. Of these is the land system of runrig (_Mor Earann_),
which characterises more or less the land system of some of the Western
Isles (Innsi-Gall). The Outer Hebrides are called the Long Island
(_Eileann Fada_, _Innis Fada_). They are a series of islands 119 miles
in length, and varying from half-a-mile to twenty miles in breadth. This
kite-like chain of 40 inhabited and upwards of 150 uninhabited islands
contains a population of 40,000. Much of the land is held by extensive
tacksmen on leases (_Fir-Baile_), and, there being no intermediate
tenantry, the rest of the land is occupied by small tenants at will
without leases. These number 4500, the majority of whom fish as well as
farm.
‘The country is divided into townlands of various extent. The arable
land (Fearann grainsich) occupied by the small tenants of these
townlands is worked in three ways—as crofts wholly, as crofts and runrig
combined, and as runrig wholly. In Lewis and Harris the arable land is
wholly divided into crofts; in Uist and Barra the arable land is
divided, in part into crofts, and in part worked in runrig; while in the
townlands of Hosta, Caolas Paipil, and the island of Heisgeir in North
Uist, the arable land is worked exclusively upon the runrig system of
share and share alike. The grazing ground of the tenants of each
townland throughout the Long Island is held in common (in Lewis called
_Comhpairt_).
‘The soil varies from pure sand to pure moss. Along the Atlantic there
is a wide plain of sandy soil called _Machair_. This merges into a
mixture of sand and moss (_Breacthalamh_, or mottled soil), which again
merges into the pure moss (_Mointeach_) towards the Minch. As the soil
is dry and sandy, if the summer is dry the crop is light. On the other
hand, if the summer is moist the crop is heavy and good. In order that
all may have an equal chance, the _Machair_ belonging to them is equally
divided among the tenants of the township. Obviously the man who is
restricted to his croft has fewer advantages than the man who, together
with his croft, has his share of the _Machair_, and still fewer
advantages than the man who has, rig for rig with his neighbours, the
run of the various soils of his townland, which gives name to the
system. Consequently, a wet or a dry season affects the tenant of the
croft system more than the tenant of the combined system, and the tenant
of the combined system more than the tenant of the runrig system.
‘The townland of Hosta is occupied by four, Caolas Paipil by six, and
the island of Heisgeir by twelve tenants. Towards the end of autumn,
when harvest is over, and the fruits of the year have been gathered in,
the constable (_Constabal_, _Foirfeadeach_) calls a meeting of the
tenants of the townland for Nabachd (preferably _Nabuidheachd_,
neighbourliness). They meet, and having decided upon the portion of land
(_Leob_, _Clar_) to be put under green crop next year, they divide it
into shares according to the number of tenants in the place, and the
number of shares in the soil they respectively possess. Thereupon they
cast lots (_Crannachuradh_, _Cur chrann_, _Tilgeadh chrann_,
_Crannadh_), and the share which falls to a tenant he retains for three
years. A third of the land under cultivation is thus divided every year.
Accordingly, the whole cultivated land of the townland undergoes
redivision every three years. Should a man get a bad share he is allowed
to choose his share in the next division. The tenants divide the land
into shares of uniform size. For this purpose they use a rod several
yards long, and they observe as much accuracy in measuring their land as
a draper in measuring his cloth. In marking the boundary between shares,
a turf (_Torc_) is dug up and turned over along the line of demarcation.
The ‘torc’ is then cut along the middle, and half is taken by the tenant
on one side and half by the tenant on the other side, in ploughing the
subsequent furrow; similar care being afterwards exercised in cutting
the corn along the furrow. The tenant’s portion of the runrig is termed
Cianag and his proportion of the grazing for every pound he pays
Coir-sgoraidh.
‘There are no fences round the fields. The crop being thus exposed to
injury from the cattle grazing along the side, the people leave a
protecting rig on the margin of the crop. This rig is divided
transversely into shares, in order to subject all the tenants to equal
risk. The rig is called indiscriminately _Iomair ionailt_ browsing rig,
_Iomair a chruidh_ the cattle rig, and _Iomaire comachaidh_ the
promiscuous rig. The arrangement is named _Comachadh_, promiscuous.
Occasionally and for limited bits of ground, the people till, sow, and
reap in common, and divide the produce into shares (_Rainn_,
_Ranntaichean_) and draw lots. This too is called _Comachadh_,
promiscuous. The system was not uncommon in the past, though now nearly
obsolete.
‘In making their own land arrangements for the year, the tenants set
apart a piece of ground towards the support of their poor. This ground
is called _Cianag nam bochd_, the _Cianag_ of the poor, and _Talamh nam
bochd_, the ground of the poor. Farm produce given to the poor who go
about when the crop is being secured is termed _Feigh_, _Faigh_, or
_Faoigh_. The produce for which the suppliant travels denotes the nature
of the _Faoigh_ or aid, as _Faoigh cloimh_ wool-aid, _Faoigh arair_
corn-aid, or _Faoigh buntata_ potato-aid.
‘In reclaiming moorland (_Mointeach_, _Sliahb_, _Riasg_), the tenants
divide the ground into narrow strips of five feet wide or thereby. These
strips, called lazy-beds (_Feann-agan_, from _Feann_ to scarify), the
tenants allot among themselves according to their shares or crofts. The
people mutually encourage one another to plant as much of this ground as
possible. In this manner much waste land is reclaimed and enhanced in
value, and ground hitherto the home of the stonechat, grouse, snipe, and
sundew, is made to yield luxuriant crops of potatoes, corn, hay, and
grass. Not unfrequently, however, these land-reclamations are wrested
without acknowledgment from those who made them.
‘The sheep, cattle, and horses of the townland (_Spreidh a bhaile_)
graze together, the species being separate. A tenant can only keep stock
conformably to his share in the soil. He is, however, at liberty to
regulate the proportions of the different kinds, provided that his total
stock does not exceed his total grazing rights. He may keep a larger
number of one species and a corresponding smaller number of another. Or
he can keep a greater number of the young and a corresponding less
number of the old of the same species, or the reverse. About
Whitsuntide, when the young braird appears, the people remove their
sheep and cattle to the grazing ground behind the arable land
(_Gearruidh_, _Culcinn_, _Sliabh_, or _Beinn_). This is called clearing
the townland, and is variously termed in various districts—_Reiteach a
bhaile_, _Glanadh a bhaile_, _Fuadach_, _Cartadh_, _Cusgaradh_,
_Cursgaradh_, _Usgaradh_, and _Ursgaradh_. The tenants bring forward
their stock (_Leibhidh_), and a souming (_Sumachadh_) is made. The
_Leibhidh_ is the amount of the tenant’s stock, the _Sumachadh_ the
number he is entitled to graze in common with his neighbours. Should the
tenant have a croft, he is probably able to graze some extra stock
thereon, though this is demurred to by his neighbours. Each penny
(_Peighinn_) of arable land has grazing rights of so many soums.
Neither, however, is the extent of land in the “penny” nor the number of
animals in the soum uniformly the same. The soum (_Sum_, _Suim_)
consists of a cow with her progeny (_Bo le h-al_).[509] Conformably to
the code of one district this includes only the cow and her calf, and
according to the Gaelic distich the calf becomes a stirk at All-Hallows—
_La Samhna theirear gamhna ris na laoigh,
La ‘Illeain theirear aidhean riu na dheigh_.
At Hallowmas the calf is called a stirk aye,
At Saint John’s the stirk becomes a quey.
‘In another district the soum (_Bo le h-al_) means the cow and her three
immediate descendants—the calf, the one-year-old stirk, and the
two-year-old quey.
‘In a third district the soum or _Bo le h-al_ comprehends five animals,
viz., the cow, her calf, her one-year-old stirk, her two-year-old quey,
and her three-year-old heifer. When the calf has attained four years of
age it is ousted from the soum and classed with the cows.
‘The people conform to their code in equalising their stock. Different
species of animals are placed against one another, and the same species
at different ages. This is called _Coilpeachadh_, equalising. The
grazing equivalents of a cow are eight calves, four one-year-old stirks,
two two-year-old queys, one three-year-old heifer, and one stirk, eight
sheep, twelve hoggs,[510] sixteen lambs, or, sixteen geese. The grazing
equivalents of the horse are eight foals, four one-year-old fillies, two
two-year-old fillies, one three-year-old, and one one-year-old filly, or
two cows. The horse is deemed to have arrived at grazing maturity at
four years of age. Three one-year-old hoggs are considered equal in
grazing to two sheep, and one two-year-old hogg is deemed equal to one
sheep. The cow is entitled to her calf. Should a tenant have two cows
without calves, the cows are entitled to get one one-year-old stirk or
its equivalent along with them. And, should he have four cows without
calves, the cows claim two one-year-old queys, or their equivalents.
‘If the stock, or soum, of a tenant be complete, it is termed _Leibhidh
slan_ and _Sumachadh slan_, that is, whole _Leibhidh_ and whole soum,
and _Fiar slan_, or whole grass. The animals which go to complete the
stock or soum are called _Slanuich_, _Slanuichean_, completers. Should
the stock or soum be incomplete, it is _Leibhidh briste_, broken stock;
_Sumachadh briste_, broken soum, or _Fiar briste_, _Bristiar_, broken
grass. The odd animals beyond the complete stock or soum are _Bristich_,
_Bristichean_, or _Beacha briste_, broken beasts.
‘In the event of a tenant having an overstock (_Barr leibhe_), or an
oversoum (_Barr-suma_, _Barr-suime_), he must provide for it
independently. He may buy grazing from a neighbour in his own or
contiguous townland who has an understock (_Gior-leibhe_), or an
undersoum (_Gior-suime_), or the community may allow the overstock to
remain on the grass till he can dispose of it. If the latter, payment of
the grazing of the extra animals is exacted according to their code. The
amount is paid over to the fund of the community, which is used for the
common good towards buying fresh stock, bulls, tups, or for some such
purpose.
‘The souming is amended at Lammas (_Lunastain_), after the first markets
are held, and re-amended at Hallowtide, after the last markets are over,
when the final and winter arrangements are made.
‘In Lewis and Harris the crofters keep stock according to every pound of
rent they pay. This system is termed _Cosgarradh_, evidently
_Coir-sgoraidh_, the right of grazing.
‘There being no fences to protect the fields, during summer and autumn
the herds are placed at night in enclosures to secure them against
trespassing on the crop. The enclosure for horses is called _Marclan_,
_Comhlong_; for cattle, _Buaile_, _Cuithe_; for sheep, _Cro_, _Fang_,
_Faing_; for goats, _Mainnir_, _Cro_; and for calfs and lambs, _Cotan_.
‘Lest any of these should break loose and damage the corn, two men watch
the folds together at night. This duty is called _Cuartachadh_ rounding
the folds, and devolves upon two of the tenants in rotation. Should the
watchers become remiss towards the dawn, when the herds begin to move,
some of the animals may break through the enclosure and cause loss. If
so, the two tenants are held liable, and are required to make reparation
(_Dioladh_). The damage is appraised by the constable, who is sworn to
do justice, and in this capacity is termed _Foirfeidach_, the just one,
or _Measaiche_, the valuator. The constable’s valuation is held final,
unless he should be interested, when the eldest tenant takes his place.
‘The crofters have a code of regulations, for which, if broken,
reparation is made. Should a crofter’s horse break loose, or his fowls
stray, and so destroy a neighbour’s corn, the injury is valued and the
amount paid into the common fund. All fines and reparations (_Cain_,
_Dioladh_) are paid over to this fund, or used for the common good. The
crofter paying the fine does not lose all interest therein, nor does the
crofter to whom reparation is made derive the exclusive benefit
therefrom. This reparation is exacted by the farm constable in his
official capacity as representing the crofters of the farm as a
body.[511]
‘Having finished their tillage, the people go early in June to the
hill-grazing with their flocks. This is a busy day in the townland. The
people are up and in commotion like bees about to swarm. The different
families bring their herds together and drive them away. The sheep lead,
the cattle go next, the younger preceding, and the horses follow. The
men carry burdens of sticks, heather, ropes, spades, and other things
needed to repair their summer huts (_Sgitheil_, _Bothain_). The women
carry bedding, meal, dairy and cooking utensils. Round below their
waists is a thick woollen cord or leathern strap (_Crios-fheile_,
kilt-band), underneath which their skirts are drawn up to enable them to
walk easily over the moors. Barefooted, bareheaded, comely boys and
girls, with gaunt sagacious dogs, flit hither and thither, keeping the
herds together as best they can, and every now and then having a
neck-and-neck race with some perverse animal trying to run away home.
There is much noise. Men—several at a time—give directions and scold.
Women knit their stockings, sing their songs, talk and walk as free and
erect as if there were no burdens on their backs nor on their hearts,
nor sin nor sorrow in this world of ours, so far as they are concerned.
Above this din rise the voices of the various animals being thus
unwillingly driven from their homes. Sheep bleet for their lambs, lambs
for their mothers; cows low for their calves, and calves low for their
dams; mares neigh for their foals, and foals reply as they lightly trip
round about, little thinking of coming work and hard fare. All who meet
on the way bless the trial, as this removing is called. They wish it
good luck and prosperity, and a good flitting day, and, having invoked
the care of Israel’s Shepherd on man and beast, they pass on.
‘When the grazing-ground has been reached and the burdens are laid down,
the huts are repaired outwardly and inwardly, the fires are rekindled,
and food is prepared. The people bring forward their stock, every man’s
stock separately, and, as they are being driven into the enclosure, the
constable and another man at either side of the gateway see that only
the proper souming has been brought to the grazing. This precaution
over, the cattle are turned out to graze.
‘Having seen to their cattle and sorted their shealings, the people
repair to their removing feast (_Feisd na h-imrig_ or shealing feast,
_Feisd na h-airidh_). The feast is simple enough, the chief thing being
a cheese, which every housewife is careful to provide for the occasion
from last year’s produce. The cheese is shared among neighbours and
friends, as they wish themselves and cattle luck and prosperity.
(‘_Laoigh bhailgionn boirionn air gach fireach
Piseach crodh na h-airidh_.)
‘Every head is uncovered, every knee is bowed, as they dedicate
themselves and their flocks to the care of Israel’s Shepherd.
‘In Barra, South Uist, and Benbecula, the Roman Catholic faith
predominates; here, in their touching dedicatory old hymn, the people
invoke with the aid of the Trinity, that of the angel with the cornered
shield and flaming sword, Saint Michael, the patron saint of their
horses; of Saint Columba the holy, the guardian over their cattle, and
of the golden-haired Virgin Shepherdess, and Mother of the Lamb without
spot or blemish.
‘In North Uist, Harris, and Lewis, the Protestant faith entirely
prevails, and the people confine their invocation to,
‘The Shepherd that keeps Israel,
He slumbereth not nor sleepeth.
(‘_Feuch air Fear Coimhead Israeil,
Codal cha’n aom no suain_.)
As the people sing their dedication, their voices resound from their
shealings, here literally in the wilderness, and as the music floats on
the air, and echoes among the rocks, hills, and glens, and is wafted
over fresh-water lakes and sea-lochs, the effect is very striking.
‘The walls of the shealings in which the people live are of turf, the
roof of sticks covered with divots. There are usually two shealings
together; the larger the dwelling, the smaller the dairy. This style of
hut (Sgithiol) is called _Airidh_ or shealing, and _Both cheap_, or
_Bothan cheap_, turf bothy; to distinguish it from the _Both cloiche_ or
_Bothan cloiche_, stone bothy. This is entirely constructed of stone,
the roof tapering to a cone more or less pointed. The apex of the cone
roof is probably finished off with a flag, through the centre of which
there is a hole like that through an upper millstone, the opening for
the egress of smoke and the ingress of light. There is a low doorway
with a removable door, seldom used, made of wicker-work, wattles,
heather, or bent. In the walls of the hut, two, three, or four feet from
the floor, are recesses for the various utensils in use by the people,
while in the bosom of the thick wall low down near the ground are the
dormitories wherein the people sleep. The entrance to these dormitories,
slightly raised above the floor, is a small hole, barely capable of
admitting a person to creep through. This sleeping-place is called
_Crupa_, from _Crupadh_, to crouch. It was a special feature in the
architecture of the former houses of St. Kilda, the houses themselves
being called _Crupa_ from this characteristic. These beehive houses are
still the shealings of the Lewis people. Invariably two or three strong
healthy girls share the same shealing. Here they remain making butter
and cheese till the corn is ripe for shearing, when they and their
cattle return home. The people enjoy this life at the hill pasturage,
and many of the best lyric songs in their language are in praise of the
loved summer shealing.
‘A tenant is liable for his own rent only. Formerly the rent was paid in
four different ways. The first part was paid in money, the second in
meal, the third in butter and cheese (_Annlann_), and the fourth part in
cattle fit for selling or killing (_Crodh creic_, _Creiche_, _no
Seiche_). In Uist, where kelp (_Ceilp_) is made, the kelp is placed to
the credit for rent of the tenants who make it. There was also a system
of labour. The people gave so many days’ work, the days being divided in
certain proportions between the four seasons of the year. When the land
was held direct from the proprietor the labour was called _Morlanachd_,
occasionally _Borlanachd_. Probably this term is from _Mur_ a fortress
and _Lann_ an enclosure. This system of labour may have had its origin
in return for the shelter the enclosed fortress of the chief afforded
the people in time of danger. When the land was held under the tacksman
or middleman, and indirectly from the proprietor, the labour was called
_Cairiste_, from _Caithris_, unrest, a word sufficiently indicative of
the mode of its exaction.
‘The shepherd, cattle-herd, and march-keeper (_Coimheadaidh_,
_Criochaire_, _Fear coimhid_) are paid in kind, invariably in seaweed,
land, and grazing. This mode of payment is called _Fairthadh_. The term
is also applied to corn, meal, or potatoes, given to men-servants in
payment of wages, and also to bits of extra tillage granted by their
neighbours to help poor tenants. In parts of Lewis the term is applied
to the ground set apart for the poor.
‘The shepherd, as his name implies, tends the sheep, the cattle-herd the
cattle, and the march-keeper, grass-keeper, or watcher, watches the open
marches of the townland to prevent trespass. Having no interest in the
matter, the march-keeper is often sent out from the people to call out
the lots. The watcher may also be required to act as perchman
(_Peursair_, or shoreherd, _Buachaille cladaich_). His duty is to erect
a pole, on the top of which is a bundle of seaweed (Gaelic, _Topan
todhair_) to indicate that the seaware is on the shore. When the people
see the raised sign they hasten to the shore with their horses and
carts, and creels, to land the spoils of the sea to put life in the land
(_an tabhartas todhair a chuireas beatha an talamh,—an tabhartas todhair
chuireas cobhair an uir_,—the seaweed offering that feeds the land). No
tenant is permitted to take seaweed till his neighbours have time to
arrive. Occasionally the sea-weed is divided into pennies, and lots
drawn for the different shares, as for land.
‘The people adhere to their traditional code, and if this be
transgressed in any part reparation is exacted. If a tenant, through
carelessness, allows his horse to go loose, he is amerced in a fine
(_Cain_). The fine is exacted where no damage results. The shepherd,
cattle-herd, and watcher are subject to the same rigorous exactions if
they allow injury to the crop.
‘The proprietor is represented on the estate by a factor (_Bailidh_). In
Lewis the factor is called Chamberlain. The factor is represented by a
_Maor_ in every district, and the _Maor_ by a constable in every
townland. The factor communicates with his _Maors_, the _Maors_ with
their constables, who communicate with the tenants of their townlands.
The people, however, are allowed to apply their own customs
(_Cleachdna_) in working their land, and their own regulations
(_Riaghailt_) in managing their stock. The _Cleachdadh_ is their
unwritten law, the _Riaghailt_ their unwritten regulations; and to these
they are attached as the result of experience and the wisdom of their
fathers. The _Cleachdadh_ and _Riaghailt_ differ in different parishes,
and occasionally in different districts of the same parish. The closer
the runrig system is followed, the more are these customs and
regulations observed. The more intelligent tenants regret a departure
from them. The people defer to the wishes of the many as against the
wisdom of the few, and obey the decision of the majority.
‘When required by the proprietor or the people, the constable convenes a
meeting of the tenants. If the constable presides, the meeting is
_Nabac_; if the _Maor_ presides, the council is the more important,
_Mod_ or moot. Perhaps the people have met to confer about making or
repairing a district road (_Utraid_), the digging or deepening of a
ditch, or trench (_Dig_), the planting or repairing with bent (_Muran_)
the drifting sandbanks of their _Machair_, or the buying or selling of a
bull. The man who presides explains the business, and makes a motion. If
the people assent, the matter is decided; if not, discussion ensues.
Some of the people speak well. They reason forcibly, illustrate
fittingly, and show complete mastery over their native Gaelic, which
with them is plastic, copious, and expressive. Everything calculated to
mar neighbourliness is discountenanced. Reasoning, they say, shall
obtain hearing, and sooner or later victory; but the most contemptible
of contemptible things are doggedliness and vulgar abuse (_Ghiobh
comhdach buaidh agus luath no mall eisdeachd, ach diubhaidh dubh an
domhain, coinealachd agus graisgealachd_). Nevertheless, personalities
occur, offensive allusions and remarks are made, even the proprietor’s
representative in the second or third degree removed being not always
treated with immunity, though always with respect. When contention is
imminent, the people of the townland, and possibly of other townlands,
come to hear. The council meet on a knoll at the house of the _Maor_ or
the constable. The subject is decided by votes. Those who approve go
sunwise to the south and to the right of the official presiding; while
those who disapprove go sunwise to the north and to the left of the
representative. These directions are symbolic—the one being propitious,
the other unpropitious. Should the votes be equal, lots are drawn three
times—the two times carrying against the one time. If a man holds out
against his neighbours, perhaps faithful amongst the faithless, he is
reproached as _aon an aghaidh pobuill_, one against people, and is
derisively addressed as _Fiacill gaibhre_, goat-tooth.
‘Highlanders are essentially monarchical in their economic institutions
and social tendencies. In this they say they but follow the example or
instincts of the lower animals, all of which follow their chief. The
leader of the herd or flock is called _Ceannard_, _Ceann-iuil_, but more
frequently _Snaodaire_. The leader of the horses is _Ceannmarc_,
_Ceannmharc_, _Marccheann_; of the cattle, _Ceannabha_, _Ceannabhoin_,
_Boinecheann_; _ceannnith_; of the sheep, _Ceannciora_, _Cioracheann_;
of the goats, _Ceannabhoc_, _Ceann-gaibhre_, _Ceannaghabhar_,
_Gabhar-cheann_; of the swine, _Ceann-cula_, _Cula-cheann_,
_Speile-cheann_; of the deer, _Ceanna-ghreigh_, _Grecheann_; of birds,
_Ceann-ianlainn_, _Iala-cheann_, _Iolcheann_; and of the fish,
_Ceann-snaoth_. _Ceann-snaoth_ is particularly applied to the salmon, as
_Ceann snaoth an eisg_, the leader of the fish, which is also called
_Righ nan iasg_, the king of the fish. The eagle is called _Righ nan
ian_, the king of the birds, and _Righ na h-ealtain_, king of the bird
universe. The eagle is also termed _Firein_, true bird, _an t-ian_, the
bird par excellence. _Firein_ is a symbolic name applied to a Christian.
‘The leader of the herd is the first to rise and the last to lie down,
and even when asleep would seem to be awake. A male is not necessarily
the leader. Among cattle this position is often assumed by a cow.
‘_An te is urranta dhe’n chrodh
Is i ghiobh a bhuaidh_.
‘The ablest of the cows
Achieving victory.
But whether male or female the leader is the least despotic animal in
the herd, the most contemptible being invariably the most despotic.
‘The houses of the tenants form a cluster (_Gnigne_, _Grigne_,
_Griogsa_, _Creaga_, _Carigean_). In parts of Lewis the houses are in
straight line called _Straid_, street, occasionally from one to three
miles in length. They are placed in a suitable part of the townland, and
those of the tenants of the runrig system are warm, good, and
comfortable. These tenants carry on their farming operations
simultaneously, and not without friendly and wholesome rivalry, the
enterprise of one stimulating the zeal of another.
‘Not the least pleasing feature in this semi-family system is the
assistance rendered by his neighbours to a tenant whose work has fallen
behind through accident, sickness, death, or other unavoidable cause.
When death occurs in a family, all the other families of the townland
cease working till the dead is buried—_gu’n cuirear uir fo uir_—till
earth is placed under earth.
‘Compassion for the poor, consideration towards the distressed, and
respect for the dead, are characteristic traits of these people. This is
inculcated in their sayings—
‘_Comhnadh ris_ a bhochd, cobhair ris a bhas, agus baigh ris a bhron,
tri nithe ris nach do ghabh duine glic aithreachas riabh.
‘Succour to the poor, aid to the dead (in burying), and sympathy with
the distressed, are three things which a wise man never regretted.
‘Their modes of dividing the land and of equalising their stock may seem
primitive and complex to modern views, but they are not so to the people
themselves, who apply these amicably, accurately, and skilfully. The
division of the land is made with care and justice. This is the interest
of all, no one knowing which place may fall to himself, for his
neighbour’s share this year may become his own three years hence.
Portioning the stock according to the grazing rights of individual
tenants, and equalising (_Coilpeachadh_) the stock so portioned, are
evidently the result of accurate observation.
‘Whatever be the imperfections, according to modern notions, of this
very old semi-family system of runrig husbandry, those tenants who have
least departed from it are the most comfortable in North Uist, and,
accordingly, in the Outer Hebrides.’
It will probably surprise many to find that a state of society such as
is above described should still exist in some of the townships of the
Outer Hebrides. It is not many years since similar communities were to
be found in the other islands and on the mainland. Their customs and
regulations are obviously pervaded by the spirit of the old tribal
communities, as exhibited in the Brehon Laws, and still possess, in more
or less degree, some of its characteristic features.
These farm communities, as they may be called, holding the arable land
in runrig, and the pasture land in common, are fast disappearing under
the influence of modern agricultural improvement, and it is well that
this record of the older system, with its characteristic features still
existing in some of the Highland townships, should be preserved ere it
passes away for ever.
-----
Footnote 313:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, pp. 66, 71.
Footnote 314:
Robertson’s _Index_, p. 124, No. 25.
Footnote 315:
_Chartulary of Moray_, p. 34.
Footnote 316:
_The Thanes of Cawdor_, p. 3.
Footnote 317:
_Ib_. p. 56.
Footnote 318:
_Record of Returns for Elgin_, Nos. 25, 178.
Footnote 319:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 47.
Footnote 320:
Shaw’s _Moray_, p. 227.
Footnote 321:
_Chartulary of Moray_, pp. 83, 342.
Footnote 322:
_Chartulary of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 55.
Footnote 323:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, vol. ii. p. 130, 132.
Footnote 324:
_Ib_. p. 363.
Footnote 325:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, vol. ii. p. 216.
Footnote 326:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 21.
Footnote 327:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, 52, 183.
Footnote 328:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, vol. i. p. 286.
Footnote 329:
_Exchequer Rolls_, i. pp. 11, 551.
Footnote 330:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, i. 250.
Footnote 331:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, 24. 19, 43, 117.
Footnote 332:
_Ib_. 224. 14.
Footnote 333:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, i. 571.
Footnote 334:
_Chartulary of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 360. These services consisted
mainly of the obligation on the tenants to cut the proprietor’s corn.
They continued to be exacted from the small tenants in many parts of
the north-eastern Lowlands, under the name of Bonnach or Bonnage, till
late in the eighteenth century. Each tenant had to give three days’
labour annually, which were called his Bondage days.—_Stat. Acc._,
1433, vi. 146.
Footnote 335:
_Ib_. vol. i. pp. 12, 15.
Footnote 336:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. clxxxi. 442.
Footnote 337:
_Rotuli Scotiæ_, vol. i. p. 10. _Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 12.
Footnote 338:
Robertson’s _Index_, pp. 17, 18.
Footnote 339:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 586.
Footnote 340:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 68, No. 229.
Footnote 341:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, vol. iii. p. 362.
Footnote 342:
Robertson’s _Index_, p. 117, No. 72.
Footnote 343:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 585. In later allusions to Fettercairn
and Kincardine in these Rolls they are always spoken of as convertible
names for the same Thanage.
Footnote 344:
Robertson’s _Index_.
Footnote 345:
_Stat. Account_ (1791), vol. xvii. p. 387.
Footnote 346:
_Misc. of Spalding Club_, vol. v. p. 209.
Footnote 347:
Robertson’s _Index_, p. 32.
Footnote 348:
See _ante_, vol. ii. p. 343.
Footnote 349:
_Chartulary of St. Andrews_, pp. 229, 234, 238, 240.
Footnote 350:
_Charters of Rostenoth._
Footnote 351:
_Ant. Aberd. and Banff_, vol. iv. p. 711.
Footnote 352:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 588.
Footnote 353:
_Retours for Forfar_, Nos. 377, 507.
Footnote 354:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 171; _Retours for Forfar_, 116.
Footnote 355:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, pp. 32, 72.
Footnote 356:
_Retours for Forfar_, 536.
Footnote 357:
Robertson’s _Index_, pp. 18, 23.
Footnote 358:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 44.
Footnote 359:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 43.
Footnote 360:
_Chart. of Arbroath_, pp. 4, 67.
Footnote 361:
_Ib_. pp. 163, 325. _Hist. MSS. Rep._ II. p. 166.
Footnote 362:
_Chart. of Arbroath_, pp. 38, 39.
Footnote 363:
_Exchequer Rolls_, i. p. 10.
Footnote 364:
_Ib_. pp. 8, 50.
Footnote 365:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 124.
Footnote 366:
_Chart. of Arbroath_, pp. 204, 330.
Footnote 367:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 589.
Footnote 368:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 88.
Footnote 369:
_Retours for Forfar_, Nos. 424, 449.
Footnote 370:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 128; _Retours, Fife_, 1370.
Footnote 371:
_Chart. of May_, p. 2; Robertson’s _Index_, p. 25.
Footnote 372:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 117; _Retours, Fife_, 131.
Footnote 373:
On the shore of the Firth, near North Queensferry, was probably a
thanage of Fordell, as in 1451 we find a grant to the monastery of
Dunfermline by John, Thane de Fordell, and Alexander Thain, his son;
but from the late date it is possible that this may have been a proper
name.—_Chart. of Dunfermline_, p. 326.
Footnote 374:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 16; Robertson’s _Index_, 28; _Retours,
Kinross_, 2.
Footnote 375:
_Exchequer Rolls_, i. pp. 18, 534.
Footnote 376:
_Chart. of Inchaffray_, p. 24; _Retours, Perth_, 305.
Footnote 377:
_Chart. of Inchaffray_, s. 15, 16, 28.
Footnote 378:
_Third Report of MS. Commission_, 406; _Retours, Perth_, 954.
Footnote 379:
_Chart. of Inchaffray_, p. 20; _Retours, Perth_, 140, 471, 729.
Footnote 380:
Crinan, the founder of the house, is termed in the Chronicles abbot of
Dunkeld, and by Fordun Abthanus de Dull. There was no such title as
abthanus, but the abthanrie of Dull appears in the Crown from the
earliest period.
Footnote 381:
_Liber de Scon_, p. 41.
Footnote 382:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 348.
Footnote 383:
_Chartulary of St. Andrews_, pp. 245, 295.
Footnote 384:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, 74; Robertson’s _Index_, 57.
Footnote 385:
These charters are, or were, in the Atholl charter-chest, but are not
noticed by Mr. W. Fraser in his account of the Atholl charters in the
_Seventh Report of the Hist. MSS. Commission_, p. 703.
Footnote 386:
Mr. Innes, in his _Legal Antiquities_, p. 80, where a short notice of
the thanage is given, inadvertently confounds the M‘Intoshes of Tiriny
in Atholl with the M‘Intoshes of Monzievaird in Stratherne.
Footnote 387:
_Liber de Scon_, pp. 21, 36.
Footnote 388:
_Scotichronicon_, B. vi. c. 36. Donald Bane is improperly made by the
peerage-writers father of Madach, first earl of Atholl, and progenitor
of these earls; but there is no real authority for this; and the claim
of Cumyn to the crown of Scotland, through his grand-daughter, shows
that he left no male descendants, and that there were no subsequent
earls of Gowry adds probability to the fact.
Footnote 389:
_Liber de Scon_, pp. 6, 41, 45, 46, 95.
Footnote 390:
_Chart. of Arbroath_, p. 27.
Footnote 391:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, pp. 137, 172.
Footnote 392:
_Liber de Scon_, pp. 112, 113.
Footnote 393:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. pp. 3, 17, 18; _Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 166.
Footnote 394:
_Chartulary of Cambuskenneth_, pp. 250, 199; _Chart. of Glasgow_, p.
9.
Footnote 395:
_Chartulary of Cambuskenneth_, p. 108; _Chart. of Holyrood_, p. 51;
Robertson’s _Index_, 38; _Chart. of Glasgow_, p. 120.
Footnote 396:
_National MSS._, vol. i.
Footnote 397:
Toscheoderach Barbarum nomen, priscis Scotis et Hybernis usitatum pro
serjando vel serviente Curiæ, qui literas citationes mandat
executioni. Quod officium dicitur vulgo, ane Mair of Fee.—_Reg. Maj._,
p. 13.
Footnote 398:
Train’s _History of the Isle of Man_, vol. ii. p. 209.
Footnote 399:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 58.
Footnote 400:
_Ant. Ab. and Banff_, vol. iv. p. 453.
Footnote 401:
_Retours, Elgin_, 25. Officium marisfeodi terrarum comitatus de
Murray, viz., Thanagie de Murray.
Footnote 402:
_Ant. of Ab. and Banff_, vol. iv. p. 476.
Footnote 403:
_Chartulary of Aberdeen_, pp. 4, 6, 88, 428. _Ant. of Ab. and Banff_,
vol. iii. p. 428.
Footnote 404:
_Reg. Nigrum de Aberbrothoc_, p. 128.
Footnote 405:
_Retours for Kincardine_, No. 19.
Footnote 406:
The peerage-writers make Madach, earl of Atholl, son of Donald Bane,
which, as we have stated, is disproved by the claim of the Cumyns,
through female descent from him, to the throne. The _Orkneyinga Saga_
names him Melcolm or Melmare.
Footnote 407:
The line of these earls is very incorrectly given by the
peerage-writers. They give the two sisters an elder anonymous sister,
whom they marry to Alan Durward, who is mentioned in the _Chartulary
of Arbroath_ (p. 76) as earl of Atholl in 1235; but as Thomas of
Galloway died in 1231, leaving Isabella a widow, and her son succeeded
in 1242, it is obvious that Alan held the earldom either as husband of
the widow or guardian of the son. Then by misdating a charter by which
John de Strathbolgie, earl of Atholl, and Ada, countess of Atholl,
confirm the donation of the lands of Invervach made to the monks of
Cupar by David de Hastings, earl of Atholl, father of Ada, in 1283 in
place of 1254, which is the date given by Sir James Balfour, by whom
alone a note of this charter has been preserved, they confound David
de Strathbolgie, earl of Atholl, who died in a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land in 1269, with his grandfather, David de Hastings, earl of Atholl,
and his son John, earl of Atholl, with his grandfather, John earl of
Atholl, the husband of Ada.
Footnote 408:
See Riddell’s _Remarks on Scotch Peerage Law_, p. 149, for an account
of this dispute.
Footnote 409:
_The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill_, pp. 171, 211.
Footnote 410:
‘Benedict XII. Dispen. Joanni quondam Engussii de Isle Sodoren. et
Amiæ quondam Roderici de Insulis ... 1337.’
Footnote 411:
_Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 489.
Footnote 412:
Et domino Comiti Rossiæ, Lachlano M‘Gillane, Torkell M‘Nell, Tarlano
M‘Archir et Duncano Persoun de mandato domini regis ut patet per
literas suas subsigneto ostensas super computum sub periculo
computancium. Et eidem comiti pro panno laneo, pro capucio tunica
caligis et pellibus rubeis pro juppone liiij lb iiij s. 14th July
1438.—_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. v. p. 33.
Footnote 413:
In the Appendix will be found a translation of part of the Red Book of
Clanranald, containing the traditionary history of the Lords of the
Isles; and Mr. Gregory’s History of the West Highlands and Isles of
Scotland may be referred to for the above sketches.
Footnote 414:
_Reg. Mag. Sig._, lib. xxx. No. 552.
Footnote 415:
_Reg. Sec. Sig._, vol. xiii. fol. 17.
Footnote 416:
_Ib._ vol. xvi. p. 1.
Footnote 417:
MacNeill Charters.
Footnote 418:
Argyll Charters.
Footnote 419:
Protocol Book of Gavin Hamilton.
Footnote 420:
Poltalloch Charters.
Footnote 421:
Letterfinlay Charters, _Orig. Par._, vol. ii. p. 61.
Footnote 422:
_Acts of Parliament_, v. 114.
Footnote 423:
_Chart. of Lennox_, p. 49. Totum officium quod dicitur Tosheagor de
Levenax.
Footnote 424:
_Record of Retours_, Kirkcudbright, No. 30. Robertson’s _Index_, 146.
25.
Footnote 425:
Fordun’s _Chronicle_, Book v.
Footnote 426:
_Scotichronicon_, ii. p. 252.
Footnote 427:
Wyntoun, vol. ii. p. 141 (ed. 1872).
Footnote 428:
Skene, _De Verborum Significatione_, _voce_ Clan Macduff.
Footnote 429:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 551.
Footnote 430:
_Ib_. p. 746.
Footnote 431:
_Historical Documents of Scotland_, edited by J. Stevenson, vol. i. p.
415.
Footnote 432:
_Chart. of Moray_, p. 12.
Footnote 433:
Fordun, _Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 38.
Footnote 434:
_Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 420.
Footnote 435:
Wyntoun’s _Chronicle_, vol. iii. p. 58.
Footnote 436:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 579.
Footnote 437:
Wyntoun’s _Chronicle_, ed. 1879, vol. iii. p. 63.
Footnote 438:
_Scotichronicon_, vol. ii. p. 420.
Footnote 439:
See Skene, _De Verborum Sig_., voce _Duellum_.
Footnote 440:
_Book of Pluscarden_, vol. i. p. 330.
Footnote 441:
_Chart. of Moray_, p. 382.
Footnote 442:
MacIntosh Charters.
Footnote 443:
_Reg. Mag. Sig_., lib. xiii. No. 96.
Footnote 444:
Hector Boece terms them the Clan Quhete, substituting simply _t_ for
_l_. His translators Bellenden, Leslie, and Buchanan, all have Clan
Chattan.
Footnote 445:
Just as Saint Caimhghin of Glendalough became Saint Kevin, so
Caimhghilla became Kevil. Bower uses _k_ for _c_ and _quh_ for _ch_.
Footnote 446:
_Miscellany of the Spalding Club_, vol. iv. p. 26.
Footnote 447:
_Hist. of Moray_, p. 67. This Shaw was believed to be the first of the
Shaws of Rothiemurchus, but the earlier part of the pedigree of this
family is quite fictitious, for he is made to be the son of Gilchrist,
son of John, who was in fact his opponent. He is said by Shaw to have
died in 1405, but the traditionary dates connected with the Clan
Chattan history are quite unreliable.
Footnote 448:
These genealogies are printed in the Appendix.
Footnote 449:
Tribus hæ sunt consanguinei parum in dominiis habentes, sed unum caput
progeniei tanquam principem sequentes cum suis affinibus et
subditis.—J. Major, _Scot. Hist._, lib. vi. f. 132.
Footnote 450:
_Black Book of Taymouth_, pp. 185, 200. Many others of the same
description will be found in this book.
Footnote 451:
_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 206.
Footnote 452:
_Black Book of Taymouth_, p. 179.
Footnote 453:
_Black Book of Taymouth_, p. 223.
Footnote 454:
_National MSS. of Scotland_, vol. ii. No. 84.
Footnote 455:
_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 20.
Footnote 456:
_Letters from a gentleman in the North of Scotland in 1726_, vol. ii.
p. 1. A few unnecessary expressions have been omitted.
Footnote 457:
The history of the clans from the forfeiture of the Lords of the Isles
in 1492 to the year 1625 is given with great accuracy and detail in
Mr. Gregory’s _History of the West Highlands and Isles of Scotland_.
Footnote 458:
In 1566 the Privy Council issued a proclamation ‘that none presume
to molest the Highlanders resorting to markets in the
Lowlands.’—_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 151.
Footnote 459:
Article on the Culloden Papers in the _Quarterly Review_ for January
1826, written by Sir Walter Scott.
Footnote 460:
_Acts of Parl._, vol. iii. p. 462.
Footnote 461:
Thus it was only after the temporary break-up of the Clan Chattan and
Clan Cameron in 1429 that we find captains of these clans appearing;
and when Hector MacIntosh, bastard son of Ferquhard MacIntosh, who
died in 1574, led the clan for a time, he is termed in 1529 Captain of
Clan Chattan. The first Captain of Clanranald was Ian Mudortach, the
bastard son of a second son; and the only time that this title appears
in connection with the Clan Hustain, or Macdonalds of Sleat, is when
it was led by an uncle of the chief, then in minority, who appears as
Captain of the Clan Hustain.
Footnote 462:
As in the Clan Chattan, where the Clan Vuireach, or old Clan Chattan,
seldom recognised the authority of the captain; and in the Clanranald,
where the MacDonells of Glengarry held aloof.
Footnote 463:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. iv. p. 71.
Footnote 464:
_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 27.
Footnote 465:
This syllable _Gal_ must not be confounded, as is often done, with
_Gall_, a stranger; whence the names _Fingall_ and _Dubhgall_, white
and black foreigners, were applied to the Norwegians and Danes.
Footnote 466:
_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, pp. 26, 27.
Footnote 467:
The genealogy of the Clan Dubhgal in the Book of Ballimote has the
mistake of making Dubhgal the son of Ragnall son of Somairle, in place
of making him, as he was, son of Somairle and brother of Ragnall; and
the same mistake occurs in the MS. of 1467.
Footnote 468:
The genealogies contained in these MSS. will be found thus grouped in
the Appendix, No. VIII.
Footnote 469:
President Forbes, in his Memorial states that the Campbells were in
Gaelic, Clan Guin or O’Duine.
Footnote 470:
Charter ‘Duncanus filius Ferchar et Laumannus filius Malcolmi nepos
ejusdem Duncani’ to the monastery of Paisley, of the lands of Kilmor
inter 1230 et 1246.—_Chartulary of Paisley_, p. 132; confirmed by
Angus, son of Duncan, in 1270.
Footnote 471:
_Chart. of St. Andrews_, p. 117.
Footnote 472:
_Chart. of Moray_, p. 87.
Footnote 473:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. iv. p. 138.
Footnote 474:
Manuscript Hist. of the Grants.
Footnote 475:
Buchanan of Auchmar’s Inquiry.
Footnote 476:
MS. Hist. of M‘Kenzies.
Footnote 477:
MS. Hist. of M‘Intoshes.
Footnote 478:
MS. Histories of the family. See also Campbell’s _West Highland
Tales_, vol. iii. p. 87. Mr. Campbell, however, erroneously translates
the name of Duimhn as Brown. The word has no connection whatever with
the Gaelic Donn, which signifies brown.
Footnote 479:
_Chartulary of Melrose_, vol. i. p. 172.
Footnote 480:
The first account has been printed by Mr. W. Fraser in his _Earls of
Cromartie_, vol. ii. p. 462. The second account was printed some years
ago.
Footnote 481:
Peregrinus et Hybernus nobilis ex familia Geraldinorum, qui proximo
anno ab Hybernia pulsus apud Regem benigne acceptus, huiusque in curia
permansit, et in præfato prælio strenue pugnavit. De quo supra in
prælio ad Largos, qui postea se fortiter contra Insulanos gessit, et
ibi inter eos in præsidium relictus.
Footnote 482:
Alexander Dei gracia rex Scottorum omnibus probis hominibus tocius
terre sue clericis et laicis salutem. Sciant presentis et futuri me
pro fideli servicio michi navato per Colinum Hybernum, tam in bello
quam in pace, ideo dedisse et hac presenti carta mea concessisse dicto
Colino et ejus successoribus, totas terras de Kintaile; Tenendas de
nobis et successoribus nostris in liberam baroniam cum guardia:
Reddendo servicium forinsecum et fidelitatem. Testibus Andrea episcopo
Moraviensi, Waltero Stewart, Henrico de Balioth, camerario, Arnoldo de
Campania, Thoma Hostiario, vicecomite de Invernes. Apud Kincardine,
ix. die Januarii anno regni domini regis xvi.
Footnote 483:
Robertson’s _Index_, p. 100.
Footnote 484:
Two other charters, said to be granted by David II. in 1360 and Robert
III. in 1380, are equally suspicious.
Footnote 485:
Notwithstanding of this, it has found a defender in Mr. W. Fraser,
who, in his _Earls of Cromartie_, not only maintains the genuineness
of both documents, but declares the Irish MS. of 1467, containing the
earlier genealogy, to be ‘quite fabulous.’ As Mr. Fraser never saw the
MS. in question, and probably does not include among his requirements
a knowledge of Irish MSS., his opinion is not entitled to much weight.
The MS. does not, however, stand alone.
Footnote 486:
In 1638 a history of the two Geraldine families—viz., the Earls of
Desmond and Kildare—was compiled by a Dr. Russell, which may have
attracted the Earl to this family, but there is no trace in it of
Colin Fitzgerald.
Footnote 487:
_Earls of Cromartie_, vol. ii. p. 509.
Footnote 488:
Douglas’s _Baronage_, p. 375. _Chronicle of Man_, ed. Munch, pp. 19,
25. An inscription upon an Irish meather or wooden drinking-cup
preserved at Dunvegan has been supposed to indicate this descent from
the kings of Mann. The inscription, says Sir Walter Scott, in the
notes to the _Lord of the Isles_, p. 312, may run thus at length:—‘Ufo
Johannis Mich Magni principis de Hr Manæ Vich Liahia Magryneil et
sperat Domino Ihesu dari clementiam illorum opera. Fecit Anno Domini
993, Onili Oim;’ which may run in English, ‘Ufo, the son of John the
son of Magnus, Prince of Man, the grandson of Liahia Macgryneil,
trusts in the Lord Jesus that their works will obtain mercy. Oneil
Oimi made this in the year of God nine hundred and ninety-three.’
The true reading is as follows:—‘Katharina Nigryneill uxor Johannis
Meguigir principis de Fermanac me fieri fecit Anno Domini 1493. Oculi
omnium in te sperant Domine et tu das escam illorum in tempore
opportuno.’ That is, ‘Katharine MacRannal, wife of John Macguire, Lord
of Fermanagh, caused me to be made in the year of our Lord 1493. The
eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them food in due
season.’
Footnote 489:
See Genealogy of M‘Leans in Appendix, No. VIII.
Footnote 490:
_Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis_, p. 291.
Footnote 491:
_Chart. of Aberdeen_, vol. i. pp. 12, 15; _Chart. of Moray_, p. 21.
Footnote 492:
_Chart. of Aberdeen_, vol. i. p. 136.
Footnote 493:
_Chart. of Moray_, p. 419; _Spalding Miscellany_, ii. 252.
Footnote 494:
The district of Glenchatt in Birse, and the burn of Chattie, may have
some connection with the name of Clanchattan.
Footnote 495:
_Exchequer Rolls_, vol. i. p. 24.
Footnote 496:
In a History of the Drummonds, compiled in 1861, the first Alwyn,
there called Malise, is made a son of Ferchad, Earl of Stratherne, and
marries Ada, daughter of David, earl of Huntingdon.
This spurious descent of the earls of Lennox from the Northumbrian
Archill was questioned by Lord Hailes, and rightly rejected by Mr.
Robertson in his _Scotland under her Early Kings_, and by Mr. Cosmo
Innes, but has again been revived by Mr. W. Fraser in his book of _The
Lennox_, who is unable to produce any further authority for it than
that it must have been received from the Laird of Macfarlane, because
it appears in Douglas’s _Peerage_, to which that distinguished
antiquary contributed some of the materials, and that the old earls of
Lennox are called by the Gaelic bards ‘Siol Arkyll,’ that is,
descendants of Arkill, but in both instances he is mistaken, for
Douglas took his statement from Crawford, and it is not true that the
old earls were ever called by the Gaelic bards ‘Siol Arkyll,’ and Mr.
Fraser gives no authority for the statement.
Footnote 497:
Item si calumpniatus vocaverit warentum aliquem in Ergadia que
pertinet ad Scociam tunc veniat at Comitem Atholie vel ad Abbatem de
Glendochard et ipsi mittent cum eo homines suos qui testentur super
dictam attestam.—_Acts of Parliament_, vol. i. p. 372.
Footnote 498:
The Dean makes Gregor son of John son of Malcolm son of Duncan Beg son
of Duncan a Sruthlee (that is, of Stirling) son of Gillafaelan son of
Aodh Urchaidh son of Kenneth son of Alpin.—_Dean of Lismore’s Book_,
p. 161; and Gaelic portion, p. 127. See also poems, p. 141.
Footnote 499:
Douglas’s _Baronage_, pp. 497, 498.
Footnote 500:
In the main the author has seen little reason to alter the
distribution of the clans in an earlier work, _The Highlanders of
Scotland_, published in 1837, to which the reader is referred for
their detailed history.
Footnote 501:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. iv. p. 548.
Footnote 502:
_Ib_. p. 547.
Footnote 503:
This account is taken mainly from Marshall’s _Agriculture of the
Central Highlands_, and from private information.
Footnote 504:
This is very similar to the custom in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps,
where the summer pasture is termed an Alp and the bothies
_Sennerhütte_.
Footnote 505:
_Acts of Parliament_, vol. vii. p. 438.
Footnote 506:
_Ib_. vol. ix. p. 421.
Footnote 507:
The old servile condition of the small tenants, by which they were
attached to the soil, and could not be severed from it, which is
usually regarded as an oppressive custom, would probably have been
valued at this time as a privilege.
Footnote 508:
The preceding sketch has been mainly taken from the reports of the
Board for the Relief of Highland Destitution in the years 1847-1850
(Third Report for 1848, p. 24; Second Report for 1850, p. 40). The
author filled the office of Secretary to the Board, which necessarily
brought the state of the population under his notice, and these
reports were compiled by himself.
Footnote 509:
Bo le h-al, cow and her progeny. A cow is said to be entitled to her
calf for a year and a day.
Footnote 510:
A name applied in the Highlands to one-year-old sheep.
Footnote 511:
The constable of the townland is sometimes termed _am Maor beg_, the
little or sub-Maor. Maor is a frequent name of an office-holder, as
_Maor gruinnd_, ground-officer; _Maor fearainn_, land-steward; _Maor
ceilp_, kelp-officer; _Maor cladaich_, shore-officer; _Maor coille_,
forester.
APPENDIX.
I.
TRANSLATION of a part of the BOOK OF CLANRANALD, containing the
Legendary History of the Lords of the Isles, as given by the Macvurichs,
hereditary Sennachies of the Clan.
The children of Eochaidh Duibhlein, son of Cairbre Lithfeachar, son of
Cormac, were three sons, who were called the three Collas,—Colla Uais,
Colla Da crioch, and Colla Meann; their baptismal names were Caireall,
Aodh, and Muireadhach, as says the poet—
Caireall, the first name of Colla Uais;
Aodh, of Colla Meann of great vigour;
Muireadhach, of Colla Da chrioch;
They were imposed on them after rebelling.
Colla Uais, son of Eochaidh Duibhlein, assumed the sovereignty of Erinn
in the year of the age of Christ 322; and he was four years in the
sovereignty of Erinn when Muireadhach Tireach opposed him with a
powerful army, and gave battle to the three Collas, and expelled them to
Alban, where they obtained extensive lands, for Oileach, daughter of the
king of Alban, was their mother. In the time when Cormac Finn was in the
sovereignty over Alban, 362 (326), they spent some time in Alban, until
a war broke out between Muireadhach Tireach, king of Erinn and the
Ulltaibh, viz., the Clanna Rughruidhe; and he invited the sons of his
father’s brother, that is, the three Collas, to Erinn to assist him
against the Clanna Rughruidhe and the adjoining districts. They
responded to the king of Erinn, and waged a fierce war against the
Clanna Rughruidhe; and Feargus Foga, king of Uladh, and his three sons,
fell by them; and they took possession of the province of Uladh, and of
the Oilltrian of the province of Connacht, and many other possessions
which were inherited by their race in succession from the kings of
Erinn.
As to Colla Uais, after he had terminated that war he returned back to
Alban, and left all those possessions to his brothers; and having spent
fifteen years there he went on a free visit to Erinn, and died at
Teamhair of the kings, Anno Domini 335.
Colla Uais had four good sons, namely, Eochuidh and Fiachra Tort, and
Fearadhach and Maine. All the Clann Domhnuill in Alban and in Erinn are
of the race of Eochuidh. The Turtruighe and Fir Luirg are of the race of
Fiachraidh Tort. The Fir Li and Fir Lacha are of the race of Fearadhach.
The race of Main is not known to us.
A goodly race, descended from Colla Da chrioch, flourished in Erinn,
namely Maguire, chief over the country of Fermanagh; Mac Mahon, chief
over the country of Monaghan; O’Hanlon, and O’Kelly, and many others.
I have seen nothing written of the race of Colla Meann, except such holy
men of them as went into the Church. Many of the holy people of Alban
and Erinn were descended from the three Collas.
Here is the direct line of descent from Colla Uais. Eochaidh was
begotten of Colla Uais; Carran was begotten of Eochaidh; Earc was
begotten of Carran; Maine was begotten of Earc; Fearghus was begotten of
Maine; Gothfruigh was begotten of Fearghus; Niallghus was begotten of
Gothfruigh. [The genealogy of Macdomhnuill of Clann cheallaigh:
Flannagan, son of Tadhg, son of Fearmara, son of Tadhg, son of Lochlann,
son of Art, son of Fianacht, son of Domhnall, from whom are the Clann
Domhnaill of Clann Ceallaidh, son of Colgan, son of Ceallach, son of
Tuathal, son of Maolduin, son of Tuadan, son of Tuathal, son of
Daimhinn, son of Cairbre, son of Dom Airgid, son of Niallghus.] Suibhne
was begotten of Niallghus; Mearghach was begotten of Suibhne; Solomh was
begotten of Mearghach; Giolla Oghamhnan was begotten of Solomh. It is
from this Giolla Oghamhnan descended the Clann Domhnaill of Ros Laogh,
from a brother of Giolla Bride, son of Giolla Oghamhnan; and it was
Giolla Oghamhnan that erected Mainistir-na-Sgrine, in Tir Iarach, in the
county of Sligo, in the province of Connacht, and his name is there.
(And be it known to you that the constant title borne by the clann of
this tribe, from Ragnall, son of Somairli, up to Colla Uais, was O’Colla
and Toisech of Eargaoidheal.) Giolla Bride, son of Gille Oghamhnan, son
of, and from him, the Toisechs of Earargaoidheal (Argyll), having been
among his kindred in Erinn, that is, from the Clann Colla, which are the
Manchuidh and Mathdamnaidh, viz., the tribes of Macguire and Macmahon,
it happened that this tribe held a meeting and conference in Fermanagh,
on the estate of Macguire, and among the matters to be transacted was
that Giollabride should get some estate of his own country, since he had
been in banishment from his inheritance, by the power of the Lochlannach
and Fionngallach (Norwegians). When Giollabride saw a large host of
young robust people in the assembly, and that they were favourable to
himself, the favour he asked of his friends was, that so many persons as
the adjacent fort in the place could hold should be allowed to go to
Alban with him, in the hope that he might obtain possession of his own
inheritance and portion of it.
Giolla Bride proceeded with that party to Alban, where they landed. They
made frequent onsets and attacks on their enemies during this time of
trouble, for their enemies were powerful and numerous at that time. All
the islands from Manann (Mann) to Arca (Orkneys), and all the Oirir
(border land) from Dun Breatan (Dumbarton) to Cata (Caithness) in the
north, were in the possession of the Lochlannach; and such of the
Gaedhal of those lands as remained were protecting themselves in the
woods and mountains; and at the end of that time Giolla Bride had a good
son, who had come to maturity and renown.
It happened that the small party who were followers of Giolla Bride and
Somairli (Somerled) were in the mountains and woods of Ardgobbar
(Ardgour) and of the Morbhairne (Morvern), and they were surprised there
by a large force of Lochlannach and Fionnghallach. All the soldiers and
plundering parties which Somerled had, gathered round him, and he
arranged them front and rear. Somerled put them in battle order, and
made a great display of them to his enemies. He marched them three times
before them in one company, so that they supposed there were three
companies there. After that he attacked them, and they were defeated by
Somerled and his party, and he did not halt in the pursuit till he drove
them northward across the river Sheil, and a part escaped with their
king to the Isles; and he did not cease from that work till he cleared
the western side of Alban of the Lochlannach, except the Islands of the
Fionnlochlann (Norwegians), called Innsigall; and he gained victory over
his enemies in every field of battle. He spent part of his time in war
and part in peace, until he marched with an army to the vicinity of
Glaschu (Glasgow), when he was slain by his page, who took his head to
the king, in the year of our Lord 1180 (1164). His own people assert
that it was not to make war against the king that he went on that
expedition, but to obtain peace, for he did more in subduing the king’s
enemies than any war he waged against him.
Somerled had a good family, viz., Dubhghal and Raghnall, and the Gall
mac Sgillin, this man being so named from whom are descended the Clann
Gall in the Glens. Bethog, daughter of Somerled, was a religious woman
and a Black Nun. It is she that erected Teampall Chairinis, or the
Church of Cairinis, in Uibhist (Uist). Dubhgal, son of Somerled, took
the chiefship of Eargaoidheal and Ladharna (Argyll and Lorn). Raghnall
and his race went to Innsigall and Ceanntire, where his posterity
succeeded him.
Ragnall, king of Innsigall, and Oirirgaoidheal (the Isles and Argyll),
was the most distinguished of the Gall or Gaoidheal for prosperity, sway
of generosity, and feats of arms. Three monasteries were erected by him,
viz., a monastery of Black Monks (Benedictines) in I (Iona), in honour
of God and Columcille; a monastery of Black Nuns in the same place, and
a monastery of Grey Friars at Saghadul (Saddle in Kintyre), and it is he
also who founded the monastic order of Molaise.
Be it known to you that Ragnall with his force was the greatest power
which King Alexander had against the King of Lochlann at the time he
took the Islands from the Lochlannach, and after having received a cross
from Jerusalem, partaken of the Body of Christ, and received unction, he
died, and was buried at Reilic Oghran in I (Iona) in the year of our
Lord 1207. And it was some time after this that Ragnall, son of
Gofraidh, king of the Fionngall (Norwegians), was treacherously killed
by Amhlamh, son of Gofraidh, in the year of our Lord 1229. From this
forth the rightful inheritance of Innsigall came to Ragnall, and his
race after him, for the daughter of Amhlamh Dearg, son of Gofraidh, was
the mother of Ragnall, son of Somerled. This daughter of Amhlamh was the
lawful heir of her father and of her two brothers, viz. Ragnall and
Amhlamh Dubh.
Messages came from Teamhair (Tara in Ireland) that Domhnall, son of
Ragnall, should take the government of Innsigall and of the greater part
of the Gaoidheal. He had good children, viz. Aonghus Mor, the heir, and
Alasdair, from whom descended the Clann Domhnaill Renna, Mac William of
the province of Connaught, and the Clann t-Sidhigh (Sheehy) of Munster,
who are sprung from Siothach an Dornan, son of Eachuin, son of Alasdair.
Aonghus Mor, son of Domhnall, son of Ragnall, took the place of his
father, and it was in his time that the war of the Baliols and the
Bruces broke out. The tribe of Dubhgal, son of Somerled, took the side
of the Baliols, and the race of Ragnal, son of Somerled, the side of
Robert Bruce, and all the garrisons from Inbhear Feothfar (Dingwall) in
the Ross to the Mull of Kintyre were in the possession of MacDubhgal
during that time, while the tribe of Ragnall were under the yoke of
their enemies.
Aonghus Mor had good children, viz. Aonghus Og, the heir, and Eoin, from
whom sprang the Clann Eoin of Ardnamurchan, and Alasdair, from whom
descended the Clann Alasdair; and Aonghus na Conluighe, from whom are
sprung the Clann Donchaidh and Robertsons; and much may be written about
this Aonghus Mor which is not here. He died in Ile (Isla) in the year of
our Lord 1234 (1294).
Aonghus Og, son of Aonghus Mor, son of Domhnall, son of Ragnall, son of
Somerled, the noble and renowned high chief of Innsigall. He married the
daughter of Cuinnbhuighe O’Cathan. She was the mother of Eoin, son of
Aonghus, and it is with her came the unusual retinue from Erinn, viz.
four-and-twenty sons of clan families, from whom sprang four-and-twenty
families in Alban. Aonghus had another son, viz. Eoin Og an Fhraoich,
from whom descended the Clann Eoin of Glencomhan (Glencoe), who are
called the Clann Domhnall an Fhraoich (of the heather). This Aonghus Og
died in Ile (Isla), and his body was interred in I (Iona) in the year of
our Lord 1306 (1326).
Eoin, son of Aonghus Og, succeeded his father in the chief government of
Innsigall. He had good children, viz. three sons by Anna, daughter of
Ruadhri, son of Ailin, high chief of Lagarna (Lorn), and one daughter
Mairi, and that Mairi was the wedded wife of Eachduinn MacGiolla Eoin
(Hector MacLean), Lord of Dubhard (Duart), and Lochlan was his brother,
and she was interred with the Lord of Coll in I (Iona), in the church of
the Black Nuns.
The eldest sons of Eoin were Ragnall, Gothfruigh and Aonghus; however he
did not marry the mother of these men from the altar, but came to the
resolution of marrying her at the time of her death, for she was a
sufficient wife for him; but his advisers opposed him regarding it, for
it appeared to them that he could get a suitable match if an heir was
made from his first progeny, although he was young and vigorous.
Therefore he made a provision for his son Ragnall, and that was all the
land which extended from Cillchuimin in Obuirthairbh (Abertarff) to the
river Sheil, and from the river Sheil to the Belleith in the north, Eig
and Rum, and the two Uibhists (North and South Uist). And after that he
proceeded to the mouth of the river of Glascu, and had threescore
long-ships with him, and he married Margaret, the daughter of Robert
Stuart, whom we call King of Alban, but the real person was Robert, Earl
of Fife, that is the brother-german of old Robert Fearingiora, that is
the king, and he was governor of Alban. And she bore to Eoin three good
sons, viz. Domhnall of Ile, the heir, and Eoin Mor the Tanist, and
Alasdair Carrach, the third son. Eoin had another son, viz. Marcos, from
whom descended the Clann Domhnall of Cnoic-an-chluith in Tir Eoghain
(Tirone in Ireland). This Eoin enjoyed a long life. It is he that made
donations to Icolumcille in his own time, and it is he also that covered
the chapel of Elan Eorsag and the chapel of Elan Finlagan, and the
chapel of Elan Suibhne (island in Loch Sween), with all their
appropriate instruments for order and mass and the service of God, for
the better upholding of the monks and priests this lord kept in his
company; and it is he that erected the monastery of the Holy Cross a
long time before his death; and he died in his own castle of Ardtorinis,
while monks and priests were over his body, he having received the body
of Christ and having been anointed, his fair body was brought to
Icolumcille, and the abbot and the monks and vicars came to meet him, as
it was the custom to meet the body of the king of Fionnghall, and his
service and waking were honourably performed during eight days and eight
nights, and he was laid in the same grave with his father in Teampal
Oghrain in the year of our Lord 1380.
Ragnall, the son of Eoin, was High Steward over Innsigall at the time of
his father’s death, being in advanced age and ruling over them. On the
death of his father he called a meeting of the nobles of Innsigall and
of his brethren at one place, and he gave the sceptre to his brother at
Cill Donan in Egg, and he was nominated MacDonald and Domhnall of Ile
(Isla) contrary to the opinion of the men of Innsigall. A man of
augmenting churches and monasteries was this Ragnall, son of Eoin, son
of Aonghus Og, from whom the name of Clann Raghnall has been applied to
his race. He bestowed a Tirunga (unciata) of land in Uibhisd (Uist) on
the monastery of I (Iona) for ever, in honour of God and of Columcille.
He was governor of the whole of the Northern Oirir (Coastland) and of
the Isles, until he died in the year of the age of Christ 1386, in his
own manor of Caislen Tirim, having left a family of five sons.
We shall now treat of Domhnall a hile (Donald of Isla), son of Eoin, son
of Aonghus Oig, the brother of Ragnall, how he took the lordship with
the consent of his brethren and the nobles of Innsigall, all other
persons being obedient to him, and he married Mairi, daughter of the
Earl of Ros, and it is through her that the earldom of Ros came to the
Clan Domhnall. He was styled Earl of Ros and MacDomhnall, and High Chief
of Innsigall. There are many exploits and deeds written of him in other
places. He fought the battle of Gairfech (Garrioch or Harlaw) against
Duke Murdoch in defence of his own right and of the earldom of Ros, and
on the return of King James the First from the captivity of the King of
Sagsan (England), Domhnall of Ile obtained the king’s goodwill and
confirmation of Ros and the rest of his inheritance, and Duke Murdoch
and his two sons were beheaded.
He (Domhnuill) was an entertainer of clerics and priests and monks in
his companionship, and he gave lands in Mull and in Isla to the
monastery of I, and every immunity which the monastery of I had from his
ancestors before him; and he made a covering of gold and silver for the
relic of the hand of Coluimcille, and he himself took the brotherhood of
the order, having left a lawful and suitable heir in the government of
Innsigall and of Ros, viz. Alasdair son of Domhnaill. He afterwards died
in Isla, and his full noble body was interred on the south side of
Tempall Oghran.
Alasdair, his son, succeeded his father in the earldom of Ros and
lordship of Innsigall. He married Margaret Livingston, daughter of the
Earl of Lithcu; she was mother of Eoin, who was called Eoin of Ile or
Isla, son of Alasdair of Ile, son of Domhnall of Ile.
Aonghus Og, son of Eoin, who was called the heir of Eoin, married the
daughter of Mac Cailin (Earl of Argyll), and a disagreement arose
between him and his father about the division of his territory and land,
in consequence of which a war broke out between the chiefs of Innsigall
and the tribe of MacDomhnaill, the tribe having joined Aonghus, and the
chiefs having joined Eoin. And the affair having been thus carried on,
Eoin went to Mac Cailin and gave him all that lay between Abhuinn Fhada
(the river Add) and Altna Sionnach at Braigh Chinntire (that is, the
lands of Knapdale), for going with him before the king to complain of
his son. Shortly afterwards this Aonghus Og had a large entertainment
with the men of the north side at Inbhearnis, when he was murdered by
Mac ICairbre, his own harper, who cut his throat with a long knife.
His father lived a year after him, and all the territories submitted to
him, but, however, he restored many of them to the king.
The daughter of Mac Cailin, the wife of Aonghus, was pregnant at the
time he was killed; and she was kept in custody until she was confined,
and she bore a son, and Domhnall was given as a name to him, and he was
kept in custody until he arrived at the age of thirty years, when the
men of Gleann Comhan (Glencoe) brought him out by a Fenian exploit. On
his coming out of custody he came to Innsigall, and the nobles of
Innsigall rallied round him.
During the time that Domhnall Dubh had been in custody there was a great
struggle among the Gaoidheal for power, so that Mac Ceaain of
Ardnamurchan almost destroyed the race of Eoin Mor, son of Eoin of Ile
and of Ceanntire. Eoin Cathanach, son of Eoin, son of Domnall Balloch,
son of Eoin Mor, son of Eoin, son of Aongus Og, Lord of the race of Eoin
Mor, and Eoin Mor, son of Eoin Cathanach, and Eoin Og, son of Eoin
Cathanach, and Domhnall Balloch, son of Eoin Cathanach, were
treacherously taken prisoners by MacCeain on the island of Fionnlagan in
Ile; and he conveyed them to Duneidin, and a gallows was erected for
them at that place which is called Baramuir (Boroughmuir), and they were
executed, and their bodies buried in the church of Saint Francis, which
is called Teampal Nua (New church) at this time. There were none left of
the children of Eoin Cathanach but Alasdair, son of Eoin Cathanach, and
Aongus Ileach, who were hiding in the Glens in Erinn. And it is related
of MacCeaain that he expended much wealth of gold and silver in making
axes for the purpose of cutting down the woods of the Glens, in the hope
he might be able to banish Alasdair, son of Eoin Cathanach, out of the
Glens and out of the world. It happened at length that MacCeaain and
Alasdair made an agreement and a marriage-contract with each other.
Alasdair married his daughter, and she bore a good family to him.
In a similar manner a misfortune came over the Clann Domhnall of the
north side, for after the death of Eoin of Ile, Earl of Ros, and the
killing of Aongus, Alasdair, son of Giollaeaspuig, son of Alasdair of
Ile, took possession of the earldom of Ros and of the northern Oirir
entirely, and married the daughter of Morbhair Moireagh (Earl of Moray).
However, some of the men of the northern side came, when the Clann
Choinnidh (Mackenzies) and others rose up in opposition to Alasdair, and
fought the battle of Blar, which they call Blar na Pairce.
Alasdair had no men left but such as he had of the men of Ros. Alasdair
came to the coast after that to seek for a force in Innsigall, and he
embarked in a long-ship to the southern Oirir to see if he could find a
few remaining of the race of Eoin Mor. Mac Ceaain observed him, and
followed him on his track to Oransay of Colonsay, and entered the house
upon him, where Alasdair, son of Gilleaspuig, was killed by Mac Ceaain
and by Alasdair, son of Eoin Cathanach.
This matter remained so for a space of time, until Domhnall Gallda, son
of Alasdair, son of Gilleaspuig, came of age; and he came from the
Galltachd (the Lowlands) by the direction of Morbhar Moireagh (the Earl
of Moray), until he came to Innsigall; and he brought Macleod of Leoghas
with him, and a good number of the nobles of Innsigall. They went out on
Rudha-Ardnamurchan (the Point of Ardnamurchan), and there they met
Alasdair, son of Eoin Cathanach, and he and Domhnall, son of Alasdair,
made a compact and agreement with each other; and they together attacked
Mac Ceaain at a place called Creagan Airgid, and he and his three sons
and many of his people were slain there.
Domhnall Gallda was nominated Mac Domhnall of this side of Ruga
Ardnamurchan (the Point of Ardnamurchan), and the men of Innsigall
submitted to him; but he did not live after that but seven or eight
weeks. He died at Cearnaborg in Mull, leaving no family or heir; but
three sisters he had, viz. the three daughters of Alasdair, son of
Gilleaspuig. A settlement was made on those daughters in the northern
Oirir, but they gave up Ros. Alasdair, son of Gilleaspuig, had a natural
son, of whose descendants there is some account, viz. Eoin Cam, son of
Alasdair, from whom are sprung the men of Achuidh na Cothaichean in the
Braighe, and Domhnall Gorm, son of Raghnall, son of Alasdair Dubh, son
of Eoin Cam.
With regard to Domhnall Dubh, son of Aongus, son of Eoin of Ile, son of
Alasdair of Ile, son of Domhnall of Ile, son of Eoin of Ile, son of
Aongus Og, viz. the lineal lawful heir of Innsigall and of Ros, on his
release from confinement he came to Innsigall, and the men of Innsigall
gathered about him; and he and the Earl of Leamnachd (Lennox) made an
agreement to raise a large army for the purpose of his getting into
possession of his own property; and a ship came to them from England to
Caol Muile (Sound of Mull), with money to help them in the war. The
money was given to MacGilleoin of Dubhard (MacLean of Duart) to divide
among the leaders of the army; they did not get as much as they desired,
and therefore the army broke up. When the Earl of Leamhnachd heard that
he dispersed his own army, and made an agreement with the king.
Macdomhnaill then proceeded to Erinn to request a force to carry on the
war, and on his way to Baile Atha Cliath (Dublin) he died at
Droichead-Ath (Drogheda) of a fever of five nights, without leaving a
son or daughter as his offspring.
O’Henna made this on Eoin of Ile:—
The sovereignty of the Gael to the Clann Colla,
It is right to proclaim it;
They were again in the same battalions,
The heroes of Fodla (a name of Ireland).
The sovereignty of Erinn and of Alban
Of the sunny lands
Was possessed by the sanguinary sharp-bladed tribes,
The fighting champions.
The government of the entire tribes was obtained
By Eoin of Ile.
Alasdair, the lord of hospitality, obtained
The profit of kings.
Domhnall, Eoin, and two Aonghus’,
Who were hospitable and joyful,
Four that gained tribute from kings,
And to whom the Gael submitted.
Domhnall and Raghnall to kings
Never did give;
Somairle, who was not deceived by flattery,
The chief of heroes.
Four from Somairle of the blue eyes
Up to Suibhne;
Four whose dignity was not obscure,
It is right to remember them.
Six from Suibhne before mentioned
To king Colla;
Wine they had on the banks of the Banna
In angular cups.
Were I to enumerate all those connected with him
Of the nobles of the Gael,
I might give every generation up to Adam,
Such as no other man has attained.
This is a sketch of the genealogies of the Gael,
As I have promised;
This tribe with whom no comparison should be made,
And to whom sovereignty was due.
Age of our Lord 1473, the year that Giollaespuig, son of Alasdair of
Ile, died, and his body was interred at Rosmhaircni, viz. the brother of
Eoin of Ile, and the father of Alasdair, son of Giollaespuig, was killed
by Mac Ceaain in Orbhansaigh Colbhansaigh (Oransay of Colonsay); and the
daughter of Mac Duibhsithe of Lochaber was the mother of this
Giollaespuig, son of Alasdair of Ile.
Age of the Lord 1437. In this year the King of Alban, viz. King James
the First, was treacherously killed in the town of Pheart (Perth) by his
father’s brother, viz. Morbhair Athfall (Earl of Athole).
In the same year died Aonghus, bishop of Innsigall, son of Domhnall of
Ile, son of Eoin, son of Aonghus Og. His noble fair body was buried,
with his crozier and his episcopal habit, in the transept on the south
side of the great choir, which he selected for himself while alive.
Domhnall of Ile had another son, a monk, and it was in his time that
Baile-an-Mhanuidh in Uibhisd (Uist) was given to the church, anno Domini
1440.
In this year died Mairi Leisli Banmorbhair (Countess) of Ros, and Lady
of Innsigall, viz. the wife of Domhnall of Ile.
I have given you an account of everything you require to know of the
descendants of the Clanns of the Collas and Clann Domhnall to the death
of Domhnall Dubh at Drochead Atha, viz. the direct line who possessed
Innsigall, Ros, and the Garbhchriochan (rough bounds) of Alban. This
Domhnall was the son of Aonghus (that was killed at Inbhernis by his own
harper Mac IChairbre), son of Eoin of Ile, son of Alasdair, son of
Domhnall of Ile, son of Eoin of Ile, son of Aonghus Og, and I know not
which of his kindred or friends is his lawful heir. Except these five
sons of Eoin, son of Aonghus Og, whom I set down to you, viz. Raghnall
and Gothfraigh, the two sons of the daughter of Mac Dubhgaill of Lagairn
(Lorn), and Domhnall, and Eoin Mor, and Alasdair Carrach, the three sons
of Mairgred Sdiuord, daughter of the Earl of Fife, and governor of the
King of Alban.
The race of Raghnall, Lord of Clann Raghnaill, viz. the House of Oilen
Tirim, and the Lord of Gleann Garadh (Glengarry).
Gothfruith left no offspring, except a few poor people who are in North
Uibhisd.
The offspring of Domhnall of Ile, the eldest son of Mairgred Stiubhord,
was Alasdair of Ile, Earl of Ros and Morbhair of the Islands. This
Alasdair married Mairgred Livisdon, daughter of the Earl of Lithcu, to
whom she bore Eoin the Earl. Alasdair had other children, viz. Huisdinn,
by a daughter of Giolla Phadraig Riaigh, son of Ruaighri, son of the
Green Abbot, son of the Earl of Ros, whose surname was of the Rosses. He
had for patrimony the third part of Lewis, and other lands upon the
mainland. It is he that was killed in the parts of Gallolach (Garrioch)
when along with Mac Domhnall, viz. Domhnall of Ile. For there were four
that went out of the army before any part of the main force went with
them, viz. Tormord Macleoid and Torcuill his brother, Lochluinn mac
Gillemhaoil and Giolla Padraig mac Ruaighri. Giolla Padraig mac Ruaighri
and Lochluinn mac Giollamhaoil were killed, but Tormoid and Torcuill
escaped safe from the pursuit.
It was this Huisdinn, son of Alasdair, that plundered Orcain (Orkney),
and William Macleoid of Heradh (Harris), and the youth of Innsigall were
along with him in that expedition. Huisdinn caused Domhnall Gallach, son
of Huisdinn, to marry the daughter of Cruner Gall (the Coroner of
Caithness), and she was of the Gunns. Huisdinn had other good children,
viz. Domhnall Herach, son of Huisdinn, and the daughter of Macleoid of
Heradh was his mother; and Eoin, son of Huisdinn, and the daughter of
Mac Cean of Ardnamurchan was his mother; but that Eoin left no issue,
and Giollaespuig, son of Huisdinn, possessed the lordship, and other
sons who are not mentioned here. Domhnall Gruamach, son of Domhnall
Gallach, and Domhnall Gorm, son of Domhnall Gruamach, and Catriana,
daughter of Alasdair, son of Ailin, Lord of Clann Raghnaill, was his
mother, whose descendants still possess the lordship.
Giollaespuig, son of Alasdair of Ile, whose mother was daughter of Mac
Duibhsithe of Lochabar, and Alasdair, son of Giollaespuig, who obtained
possession of the earldom of Ros, and Domhnall, his son, died without
issue.
Eoin Mor, son of Eoin, son of Aonghus Og, the Tanist to Mac Domhnall,
married Mairi Bised, and it was with her the seven Tuaths of the Glens
came into the possession of the Clann Domhnall.
Alasdair Carrach, the third son, married the daughter of Morbbair
Leamhna (the Earl of Lennox), but she bore no children to him. Aonghus,
son of Alasdair, whose mother was a daughter of Mac Dubhshibhe, but she
was not married to him. Alasdair, son of Aonghus, from whom are
descended the race of Alasdair, son of Aonghus, in the Braes of
Lochabar.
There you have the descendants of these four sons of Eoin, son of
Aonghus Og.
II.
BAILE SUTHAIN SITH EAMHNA.
An Irish poem relating to the Kingdom of the Isles, copied from a
fragment (paper) of an Irish MS. written _circa_ A.D. 1600, in the
possession of W. M. Hennessy, Esq., collated with a copy contained in
the Book of Fermoy (R. I. Academy), transcribed about A.D. 1457.
II.
TRANSLATION
BY W. M. HENNESSY, Esq.
I.
Baile suthain sioth Eamhna,
Cruthaidh an chrioch a ttarla,
Raith chaomh os cionn gach diongna
’Nab iomdha craobh fhionn abhla.
I.
A perpetual place is Sith-Eamhna,
Beauteous the territory in which it is found
A fair Rath above every fort,
In which fair apple-trees are plenty.
II.
Eamhoin abhlach as uire,
Teamhoir na tteaghlach mbuaidhe,
Tearc dun na cnoc as caoimhe,
Na mbrot naoidhe (naeighi) n-ur n-uaine.
II.
Eamhain of the apples, the freshest,
The Tara of the victorious households,
Few the duns and hills more fair,
In their young, fresh, green garments.
III.
Eamhuin raith aoibhin ionnfhuar (fhinnfhuar),
Raith as faoilidh fa fhionndan,
Geabhuidh rod go ro seandun,
Bo bheannur og ar ioman.
III.
Emhain, the delightful, cool Rath,
The Rath to which fair art is welcome;
The road to the old fort will
A young-horned cow a-driving take.
IV.
Iomhda an Eamhoin fhinn fhear uir
D’fhearaibh ar a sil saor shuil,
Marcach eich duinn go dioghair
Tre dhreich siodhain ccuir (cuir) ccraobhuir (craebair).
IV.
In bright Emhain of the fresh grass,
Many the men on whom a noble eye looks;
Many the vehement rider of a brown steed
Approaching in peace through the branchy woods.
V.
Iomhda an (ind) Eamhoin (Emain) na n-innbhear (indmher),
Ris nar dhealaigh a doinnfleadh,
Guirt ar na nar a bhfagmar (an fhamur),
Dharbhar ghlan chuirp an choimdeadh (choimghedh).
V.
Many in Emhain of the estuaries
(From which their deep floods have not departed)
The fields tilled in harvest
With clear corn of the Lord’s body.
VI.
Suairc bfhairche fhir an dumha (fir in duma),
Atibh na tairthe meala,
Dul go sidh (cu sid) bhlaith an (in) bhrogha.
Dola go (cu) raith mhin meadha.
VI.
Joyous the estate of the man of the _dumha_
Which has drunk the showers of honey;
To go to the sweet _sidh_ of the Brug
Is to go to the smooth Bath of mead.
VII.
Eamhain (Em̄) abhlach na n-iobhar
Sleamhain barrdhath a bileadh,
Baile nua san (fan) dubh droighean,
Nar hoilead lugh ua an fhilead.
VII.
The appley Emhain of the yews,
Smooth, top-coloured are its trees;
A new place under the black thorn,
In which was nursed Lugh, descendant of the
poet.[512]
VIII.
Eamhain (Em̄) na nabhall ccumhra (cumra),
Teamhair (Temair) Mhanann gan (cin) mheabhla,
As iad (assiat) cuaine saor (saer) Sadhbha,
Abhla craobh (craebh) n-uaine n-Eamhna.
VIII.
Emhain of the juicy apples,
The Tara of Manann, without disgrace;
The noble progeny of Sabia
Are the apples of the green branch of Emhain.
IX.
Tusa (tussa) mac Sadhbha saoire,
As (is) tu an slat (intshlat) abhla as (ar) aille,
Ca dia do bhru na boinne
Do roine ria thu a taidhe.
IX.
Thou, the son of noble Sabia,
Thou the most beauteous apple rod;
What God from Bru of the Boyne
Created thee with her in secret?
X.
A Raghnuill, a ri an (in) diongna,
Ra dhruim (druim) dha (da) thi ar ti tearla (herrla)
Do gheabhae (ghebha) a meic saoir Sadhbha,
Labhra on leic a ttaoibh (ttaeibh) Theamhra.
X.
O Raghnall, king of the fortress,[513]
If thou comest with the object of seeking it,
Thou wilt obtain, O son of noble Sabia,
A sound from the flag by the side of Tara.[514]
XI.
Da madh leat sloigh fhear (bfher) bhfuinigh (fhuinidh).
O bhoinn go mbean (cu mben) re tibhir.
Mo dheit ar mhil ’sar mheadair (megair)
Eamhain mheic Lir mheic Mhidhr.
XI.
If thine were the hosts of the men of the
setting (the west),
From Boyne till it touches the Tiber,
Greater to thee for joy and pleasure,
Were the Emhain of the son of Lir, son of
Midir.[515]
XII.
A mheic Gofraidh chaoimh (chaeimh) cruthaig,
Nar lo traigh (traid) re taoibh (taeibh) tacair (tacoir),
Ni miadh (miad) leath (lat) e (he) ot athair,
Macathach (mac ath) retre ad rathaigh (rathoigh).
XII.
O son of the fair, shapely Goffraidh,
That withdrawest not a foot in battle;
It beseems not, on thy father’s account,
That any man in thy time should be thy surety.