A.D. 1107-1411.
KINGS OF SCOTLAND DURING THE PERIOD:--
Alexander I., 1107-1124.
David I., 1124-1153.
Malcolm IV., 1153-1165.
William the Lion, 1165-1214.
Alexander II., 1214-1249.
Alexander III., 1249-1285.
Regency, 1286-1290.
Interregnum, 1290-1292.
John Baliol, 1292-1306.
Robert Bruce, 1306-1329.
David II., 1329-1332.
Edward Baliol, 1332-1341.
David II. restored, 1341-1370.
Robert II. (Stewart), 1370-1390.
Robert III. 1390-1406.
James I., 1406-1436.
Alexander I.--David I.--Insurrections in Highlands--Somerled
--Moraymen and Malcolm IV.--William The Lion--Disturbances in the
Highlands--Ross-shire--Orkney--Alexander II.--Argyle--Caithness
--Alexander III.--Disturbances in Ross--Expedition of Haco--Battle
of Largs--Robert Bruce--Expedition into Lorn--Subdues Western Isles
--Isles revolt under David II. and again submit--Contest between
the Monroes and Clan Chattan--The Clan Chattan and the Camerons
--Battle on North Inch--Wolf of Badenoch--His son Alexander Stewart
--Disturbances in Sutherland--Lord of the Isles invades Scotland
--Battle of Harlaw.
The reign of Alexander I. was disturbed, about the year 1116, by
an attempt made by the men of Moray and Merne to surprise the king
while enjoying himself at his favourite residence at Invergowrie,
on the north bank of the Tay, not far from its mouth. The king,
however, showed himself more than a match for his enemies, as he
not only defeated their immediate purpose, but, pursuing them with
his army across the Moray Frith, chastised them so effectually as
to keep them quiet for the remainder of his reign, which ended by
his death, in April, 1124. In 1130, six years after the accession of
King David I. to the Scottish throne, while he was in England, the
Moraymen again rose against the semi-Saxon king, but were defeated at
Strickathrow, in Forfarshire, by Edward the Constable, son of Siward
Beorn, Angus the Earl of Moray being left among the dead, Malcolm
his brother escaping to carry on the conflict. In 1134 David himself
took the field against these Highlanders, and, with the assistance of
the barons of Northumberland, headed by Walter L’Espec, completely
subdued the Moraymen, confiscated the whole district, and bestowed
it upon knights in whose fidelity he could place confidence, some of
these being Normans.
This was manifestly, according to Dr. Maclauchlan, the period of
the dispersion of the ancient Moravienses. Never till then was the
power of the Moray chiefs thoroughly broken, and only then were the
inhabitants proscribed, and many of them expelled. The Murrays,
afterwards so powerful, found their way to the south, carrying with
them the name of their ancient country, and some of the present
tribes of Sutherland, as well as of Inverness-shire, who, there is
reason to believe, belonged to the Scoto-Pictish inhabitants of
Moray, removed their dwellings to those portions of the country which
they have occupied ever since. The race of Mac Heth may appear among
the Mac Heths or Mac Aoidhs, _the Mackays_ of Sutherland, nor is this
rendered less probable by the Morganaich or _sons of Morgan_, the
ancient name of the Mackays, appearing in the Book of Deer as owning
possessions and power in Buchan in the 10th or 11th century.[121]
The next enterprise of any note was undertaken by Somerled, thane
of Argyle and the Isles, against the authority of Malcolm IV.,
who, after various conflicts, was repulsed, though not subdued, by
Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. A peace, concluded with this powerful
chieftain in 1153, was considered of such importance as to form an
epoch in the dating of Scottish charters. A still more formidable
insurrection broke out among the Moraymen, under Gildominick, on
account of an attempt, on the part of the Government, to intrude the
Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the Lowlands, upon their
Celtic customs, and the settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among
them. These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring counties; and
so regardless were they of the royal authority, that they actually
hanged the heralds who were sent to summon them to lay down their
arms. Malcolm despatched the gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army
to subdue them, but he was defeated, and forced to re-cross the
Grampians.
This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was naturally of an indolent
disposition. About the year 1160 he marched north with a powerful
army, and found the enemy on the moor of Urquhart, near the Spey,
ready to give him battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen in
the king’s army reconnoitred the enemy; but they found them so
well prepared for action, and so flushed with their late success,
that they considered the issue of a battle rather doubtful. On this
account, the commanders advised the king to enter into a negotiation
with the rebels, and to promise, that in the event of a submission
their lives would be spared. The offer was accepted, and the king
kept his word. According to Fordun,[122] the king, by the advice
of his nobles, ordained that every family in Moray which had been
engaged in the rebellion should, within a limited time, remove out of
Moray to other parts of the kingdom, where lands would be assigned to
them, and that their places should be supplied with people from other
parts of the kingdom. For the performance of this order, they gave
hostages, it is said,[123] and at the time appointed transplanted
themselves, some into the northern, but the greater number into the
southern counties. Chalmers considers this removal of the Moray men
as “an egregious improbability,” because “the dispossessing of a
whole people is so difficult an operation, that the recital of it
cannot be believed without strong evidence;”[124] it is very probable
that only the ringleaders and their families were transported. The
older historians say that the Moraymen were almost totally cut off in
an obstinate battle, and strangers brought into their place.[125]
About this time Somerled, the ambitious and powerful lord of the
Isles, made another and a last attempt upon the king’s authority,
Having collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland, he landed, in
1164, near Renfrew; but he was defeated by the brave inhabitants
and the king’s troops in a decisive battle, in which he and his son
Gillecolum were slain.
The reign of William the Lion, who succeeded his brother in 1165, was
marked by many disturbances in the Highlands. The Gaelic population
could not endure the new settlers whom the Saxon colonization had
introduced among them, and every opportunity was taken to vex and
annoy them. An open insurrection broke out in Ross-shire, headed by
Donald Bane, known also as MacWilliam, which obliged William, in the
year 1181, to march into the north, where he built the two castles
of Eddirton and Dunscath to keep the people in check. He restored
quiet for a few years; but, in 1187, Donald Bane again renewed his
pretensions to the crown, and raised the standard of revolt in
the north. He took possession of Ross, and wasted Moray. William
lost no time in leading an army against him. While the king lay at
Inverness with his army, a party of 3,000 faithful men, under the
command of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway, and future Constable
of Scotland, fell in with Donald Bane and his army upon the Mamgarvy
moor, on the borders of Moray. A conflict ensued in which Donald
and five hundred of his followers were killed. Roland carried the
head of Donald to William, “as a savage sign of returning quiet.”
After this comparative quietness prevailed in the north till the
year 1196, when Harold, the powerful Earl of Orkney and Caithness,
disturbed its peace. William dispersed the insurgents at once;
but they again appeared the following year near Inverness, under
the command of Torphin, the son of Harold. The rebels were again
overpowered. The king seized Harold, and obliged him to deliver up
his son, Torphin, as an hostage. Harold was allowed to retain the
northern part of Caithness, but the king gave the southern part of
it, called Sutherland, to Hugh Freskin, the progenitor of the Earls
of Sutherland. Harold died in 1206; but as he had often rebelled, his
son suffered a cruel and lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh,
where he had been confined.
During the year 1211 a new insurrection broke out in Ross, headed
by Guthred or Godfrey, the son of Donald Bane or MacWilliam, as he
was called. Great depredations were committed by the insurgents, who
were chiefly freebooters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and Lochaber.
For a long time they baffled the king’s troops; and although the
king built two forts to keep them in check, and took many prisoners,
they maintained for a considerable period a desultory and predatory
warfare. Guthred even forced one of the garrisons to capitulate, and
burnt the castle; but being betrayed by his followers into the hands
of William Comyn, Earl of Buchan, the Justiciary of Scotland, he was
executed in the year 1212.
Shortly after the accession of Alexander II. in 1214, the peace
of the north was attempted to be disturbed by Donald MacWilliam,
who made an inroad from Ireland into Moray; but he was repulsed by
the tribes of that country, led by M’Intagart, the Earl of Ross.
In 1222, notwithstanding the formidable obstacles which presented
themselves from the nature of the country, Alexander carried an
army into Argyle, for the purpose of enforcing the homage of the
western chiefs. His presence so alarmed the men of Argyle, that they
immediately made their submission. Several of the chiefs fled for
safety, and to punish them, the king distributed their lands among
his officers and their followers. After this invasion Argyle was
brought under the direct jurisdiction of the Scottish king, although
the descendants of the race of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, still
continued to be the chief magnates.
During the same year a tumult took place in Caithness, on account of
the severity with which the tithes were exacted by Adam, the bishop,
who, with his adviser, Serlo, was murdered by the bonders. The king,
who was at the time at Jedburgh, hearing of this murder, immediately
hastened to the north with a military force, and inflicted the
punishment of death upon the principal actors in this tragedy, who
amounted, it is said, to four hundred persons; and that their race
might become extinct, their children were emasculated, a practice
very common in these barbarous times. The Earl of Caithness, who
was supposed to have been privy to the murder, was deprived of half
of his estate, which was afterwards restored to him on payment of
a heavy fine. The Earl is said to have been murdered by his own
servants in the year 1231, and in order to prevent discovery, they
laid his body into his bed and set fire to the house.
In 1228 the country of Moray became the theatre of a new
insurrection, headed by a Ross-shire freebooter, named Gillespoc
M’Scolane. He committed great devastations by burning some wooden
castles in Moray, and spoiling the crown lands. He even attacked and
set fire to Inverness. A large army of horse and foot, under the
command of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, Justiciary of Scotland, was,
in 1229, sent against this daring rebel, who was captured, with his
two sons, and their heads sent to the king.
The lords of Argyle usually paid homage to the king of Norway for
some of the Hebrides which belonged to that monarch, but Ewen,
on succeeding his father Duncan of Argyle in 1248, refused his
homage to the Scottish king, who wished to possess the whole of
the Western Isles. Though Ewen was perfectly loyal, and indeed was
one of the most honourable men of his time, Alexander marched an
army against him to enforce obedience, but his Majesty died on his
journey in Kerrera, a small island near the coast of Argyle opposite
Oban, on July 8, 1249, in the fifty-first year of his age, and the
thirty-fifth of his reign.
According to the custom of the times, his son, Alexander III., then a
boy only in his eighth year, was seated on the royal chair, or sacred
stone of Scone, which was placed before the cross that stood within
the burying-ground. Immediately before his inauguration, the bishop
of St. Andrews girded him with the sword of state, and explained
to him, first in Latin and afterwards in Norman French, the nature
of the compact he and his subjects were about to enter into. The
crown, after the king had been seated, was placed on his head, and
the sceptre put into his hand. He was then covered with the royal
mantle, and received the homage of the nobles on their knees, who,
in token of submission, threw their robes beneath his feet. On this
occasion, agreeably to ancient practice, a Gaelic sennachy, or bard,
clothed in a red mantle, and venerable for his great age and hoary
locks, approached the king, and in a bended and reverential attitude,
recited, from memory, in his native language, the genealogy of all
the Scottish kings, deducing the descent of the youthful monarch from
Gathetus, the fabulous founder of the nation.[126] The reign of this
prince was distinguished by the entire subjugation of the western
islands to the power of the Scottish crown. The Scandinavian settlers
were allowed to leave the islands, if inclined, and such of them as
remained were bound to observe the Scottish laws.
[Illustration: Alexander III.--From Pinkerton’s Scottish Gallery.]
Shortly after the accession of Alexander III., an insurrection broke
out against the Earl of Ross, of some of the people of that province.
The Earl apprehended their leader or captain, whom he imprisoned at
Dingwall. In revenge, the Highlanders seized upon the Earl’s second
son at Balnagown, took him prisoner, and detained him as a hostage
till their captain should be released. The Monroes and the Dingwalls
immediately took up arms, and having pursued the insurgents, overtook
them at a place called Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferrandonald
and Loch Broom, where a bloody conflict ensued. “The Clan Iver,
Clan-Talvich, and Clan-Laiwe,” says Sir Robert Gordon, “wer almost
uterlie extinguished and slain.” The Monroes and Dingwalls lost a
great many men. Dingwall of Kildun, and seven score of the surname
of Dingwall, were killed. No less than eleven Monroes of the house
of Foulis, who were to succeed one after another, fell, so that the
succession of Foulis opened to an infant then lying in his cradle.
The Earl’s son was rescued, and to requite the service performed, he
made various grants of lands to the Monroes and Dingwalls.[127]
In 1263, Haco, the aged king of Norway, sailed with a large and
powerful fleet, determined to enforce acknowledgment of his claims
as superior of the Western Islands on their chiefs, as well as upon
the king of Scotland. Sailing southwards among the islands, one chief
after another acknowledged his supremacy, and helped to swell his
force, the only honourable exception being the stanch Ewen of Argyle.
Meantime Haco brought his fleet to anchor in the Frith of Clyde,
between Arran and the Ayrshire coast, his men committing ravages on
the neighbouring country, as, indeed, they appear to have done during
the whole of his progress. Negotiations entered into between Haco and
Alexander III. came to nothing, and as winter was approaching, and
his fleet had suffered much from several severe storms which caught
it, the former was fain to make his way homewards. A number of his
men, however, contrived to effect a landing near Largs, where they
were met by a miscellaneous Scottish host, consisting of cavalry
and country people, and finally completely routed. The date of this
skirmish, which is known as the battle of Largs, is October 2d, 1263.
Haco died in the end of the same year in Orkney, and in 1266 Magnus
IV., his successor, ceded the whole of the Scottish Islands held by
Norway, except Orkney and Shetland, the Scottish king paying a small
annual rent. Those of the islesmen who had proved unfaithful to the
Scottish king were most severely and cruelly punished.
No event of any importance appears to have occurred in the
Highlands till the time of King Robert Bruce, who was attacked,
after his defeat at Methven, by Macdougall of Lorn, and defeated
in Strathfillan. But Bruce was determined that Macdougall should
not long enjoy his petty triumph. Having been joined by his able
partisan, Sir James Douglas, he entered the territory of Lorn. On
arriving at the narrow pass of Ben Cruachan, beween Loch Awe and Loch
Etive, Bruce was informed that Macdougall had laid an ambuscade for
him. Bruce divided his army into two parts. One of these divisions,
consisting entirely of archers who were lightly armed, was placed
under the command of Douglas, who was directed to make a circuit
round the mountain, and to attack the Highlanders in the rear.
As soon as Douglas had gained possession of the ground above the
Highlanders, Bruce entered the pass, and, as soon as he had advanced
into its narrow gorge, he was attacked by the men of Lorn, who, from
the surrounding heights, hurled down stones upon him accompanied
with loud shouts. They then commenced a closer attack, but, being
instantly assailed in the rear by Douglas’s division, and assaulted
by the king with great fury in front, they were thrown into complete
disorder, and defeated with great slaughter. Macdougall, who was,
during the action, on board a small vessel in Loch Etive, waiting the
result, took refuge in his castle of Dunstaffnage. After ravaging
the territory of Lorn, and giving it up to indiscriminate plunder,
Bruce laid siege to the castle, which, after a slight resistance, was
surrendered by the lord of Lorn, who swore homage to the king; but
John, the son of the chief, refused to submit, and took refuge in
England.
During the civil wars among the competitors for the Scottish
crown, and those under Wallace and Bruce for the independence of
Scotland, the Highlanders scarcely ever appear as participators in
those stirring scenes which developed the resources, and called
forth the chivalry of Scotland; but we are not to infer from the
silence of history that they were less alive than their southern
countrymen to the honour and glory of their country, or that they
did not contribute to secure its independence. General Stewart
says that eighteen Highland chiefs[128] fought under Robert Bruce
at Bannockburn; and as these chiefs would be accompanied by their
vassals, it is fair to suppose that Highland prowess lent its
powerful aid to obtain that memorable victory which secured Scotland
from the dominion of a foreign yoke.
After Robert Bruce had asserted the independence of his country by
the decisive battle of Bannockburn, the whole kingdom, with the
exception of some of the western islands, under John of Argyle, the
ally of England, submitted to his authority. He, therefore, undertook
an expedition against those isles, in which he was accompanied by
Walter, the hereditary high-steward of Scotland, his son-in-law,
who, by his marriage with Marjory, King Robert’s daughter, laid the
foundation of the Stewart dynasty. To avoid the necessity of doubling
the Mull of Kintyre, which was a dangerous attempt for the small
vessels then in use, Robert sailed up Loch-Fyne to Tarbert with his
fleet, which he dragged across the narrow isthmus between the lochs
of East and West Tarbert, by means of a slide of smooth planks of
trees laid parallel to each other. It had long been a superstitious
belief amongst the inhabitants of the Western Islands, that they
should never be subdued till their invaders sailed across this neck
of land, and it is said that Robert was thereby partly induced to
follow the course he did to impress upon the minds of the islanders
a conviction that the time of their subjugation had arrived. The
islanders were quickly subdued, and John of Lorn, who, for his
services to Edward of England, had been invested with the title of
Admiral of the Western fleet of England, was captured and imprisoned
first in Dumbarton castle, and afterwards in the castle of Loch
Leven, where he died.
The feeble and effeminate reign of David II. was disturbed by another
revolt by the Lord of the Isles, who was backed in his attempt
to throw off his dependence by a great number of the Highland
chiefs. David, with “an unwonted energy of character, commanded the
attendance of the steward, with the prelates and barons of the realm,
and surrounded by this formidable body of vassals and retainers,
proceeded against the rebels in person. The expedition was completely
successful. The rebel prince, John of the Isles, with a numerous
train of those wild Highland chieftains who followed his banner, and
had supported him in his attempt to throw off his dependence, met
the king at Inverness, and submitted to his authority. He engaged
in the most solemn manner, for himself and his vassals, that they
should yield themselves faithful and obedient subjects to David,
their liege lord; and not only give due and prompt obedience to the
ministers and officers of the king in suit and service, as well as
in the payment of taxes and public burdens, but that they would
coerce and put down all others, of whatever rank or degree, who
dared to raise themselves in opposition to the royal authority, and
would compel them either to submit, or would pursue and banish them
from their territories: for the fulfilment of which obligation the
Lord of the Isles not only gave his own oath, under the penalty of
forfeiting his whole principality if it was broken, but offered the
high-steward, his father-in-law, as his security, and delivered
his lawful son, Donald, his grandson, Angus, and his natural son,
also named Donald, as hostages for the strict performance of the
articles of the treaty.”[129] The deed by which John of the Isles
bound himself to the performance of these stipulations is dated 15th
November, 1369.[130]
To enable him the better to succeed in reducing the inhabitants of
the Highlands and islands to the obedience of the laws, it is stated
by an old historian,[131] that David used artifice by dividing the
chiefs, and promising high rewards to those who should slay or
capture their brother chiefs. The writer says that this diabolical
plan, by implanting the seeds of disunion and war amongst the
chiefs, succeeded; and that they gradually destroyed one another,
a statement, to say the least of it, highly improbable. Certain it
is, however, that it was in this reign that the practice of paying
_manrent_ began, when the powerful wished for followers, and the weak
wanted protection, a circumstance which shows that the government
was too weak to afford protection to the oppressed, or to quell the
disputes of rival clans.
In the year 1333,[132] John Monroe, the tutor of Foulis, in
travelling homeward, on his journey from Edinburgh to Ross, stopped
on a meadow in Stratherdale that he and his servants might get some
repose. While they were asleep, the owner of the meadow cut off the
tails of their horses. Being resolved to wipe off this insult, he
immediately, on his return home to Ross, summoned his whole kinsmen
and followers, and, after informing them how he had been used, craved
their aid to revenge the injury. The clan, of course, complied;
and, having selected 350 of the best and ablest men among them, he
returned to Stratherdale, which he wasted and spoiled; killed some of
the inhabitants, and carried off their cattle. In passing by the isle
of Moy, on his return home, Macintosh, the chief of the clan Chattan,
being urged by some person who bore Monroe a grudge, sent a message
to him demanding a share of the spoil. This was customary among the
Highlanders when a party drove cattle which had been so taken through
a gentleman’s land, and the part so exacted was called a _Staoig
Rathaid_, or _Staoig Creich_, that is, a Road Collop. Monroe, not
being disposed to quarrel, offered Macintosh a reasonable share,
but this he was advised not to accept, and demanded the half of the
booty. Monroe refused to comply with such an unreasonable demand,
and proceeded on his journey. Macintosh, determined to enforce
compliance, immediately collected his clansmen, and went in pursuit
of Monroe, whom he overtook at Clach-na-Haire, near Inverness. As
soon as Monroe saw Macintosh approaching, he sent home five of his
men to Ferrindonald with the cattle, and prepared for action. But
Macintosh paid dearly for his rapacity and rashness, for he and the
greater part of his men were killed in the conflict. Several of the
Monroes also were slain, and John Monroe himself was left for dead in
the field of battle, and might have died if the predecessor of Lord
Lovat had not carried him to his house in the neighbourhood, where he
was cured of his wounds. One of his hands was so mutilated, that he
lost the use of it the remainder of his life, on which account he was
afterwards called John Bac-laimh, or Ciotach.[133]
Besides the feuds of the clans in the reign of David II., the
Highlands appear to have been disturbed by a formidable insurrection
against the government, for, in a parliament which was held at Scone,
in the year 1366, a resolution was entered into to seize the rebels
in Argyle, Athole, Badenoch, Lochaber, and Ross, and all others who
had risen up against the royal authority, and to compel them to
submit to the laws. The chief leaders in this commotion (of which
the bare mention in the parliamentary record is the only account
which has reached us,) were the Earl of Ross, Hugh de Ross, John of
the Isles, John of Lorn, and John de Haye, who were all summoned to
attend the parliament and give in their submission, but they all
refused to do so in the most decided manner; and as the government
was too weak to compel them, they were suffered to remain independent.
In the year 1386, a feud having taken place between the clan Chattan
and the Camerons, a battle took place in which a great number of
the clan Chattan were killed, and the Camerons were nearly cut off
to a man. The occasion of the quarrel was as follows. The lands of
Macintosh[134] in Lochaber, were possessed by the Camerons, who were
so tardy in the payment of their rents that Macintosh was frequently
obliged to levy them by force by carrying off his tenants’ cattle.
The Camerons were so irritated at having their cattle poinded and
taken away, that they resolved to make reprisals, preparatory to
which they marched into Badenoch to the number of about 400 men,
under the command of Charles Macgilony. As soon as Macintosh became
acquainted with this movement he called his clan and friends, the
Macphersons and Davidsons, together. His force was superior to
that of the Camerons, but a dispute arose among the chiefs which
almost proved fatal to them. To Macintosh, as captain of the clan
Chattan, the command of the centre of the army was assigned with
the consent of all parties; but a difference took place between
Cluny and Invernahavon, each claiming the command of the right wing.
Cluny demanded it as the chief of the ancient clan Chattan, of which
the Davidsons of Invernahavon were only a branch; but Invernahavon
contended that to him, as the oldest branch, the command of the right
wing belonged, according to the custom of the clans. The Camerons
came up during this quarrel about precedency, on which Macintosh,
as umpire, decided against the claim of Cluny. This was a most
imprudent award, as the Macphersons exceeded both the Macintoshes
and Davidsons in numbers, and they were, besides, in the country
of the Macphersons. These last were so offended at the decision of
Macintosh that they withdrew from the field, and became, for a time,
spectators of the action. The battle soon commenced, and was fought
with great obstinacy. Many of the Macintoshes, and almost all the
Davidsons, were cut off by the superior number of the Camerons. The
Macphersons seeing their friends and neighbours almost overpowered,
could no longer restrain themselves, and friendship got the better
of their wounded pride. They, therefore, at this perilous crisis,
rushed in upon the Camerons, who, from exhaustion and the loss they
had sustained, were easily defeated. The few that escaped, with their
leader, were pursued from Invernahavon, the place of battle, three
miles above Ruthven, to Badenoch. Charles Macgilony was killed on a
hill in Glenbenchir, which was long called Torr-Thearlaich, _i.e._,
Charles’-hill.[136]
In the opinion of Shaw this quarrel about precedency was the origin
of the celebrated judicial conflict, which took place on the North
Inch of Perth, before Robert III., his queen, Annabella Drummond, and
the Scottish nobility, and some foreigners of distinction, in the
year 1396, and of which a variety of accounts have been given by our
ancient historians. The parties to this combat were the Macphersons,
properly the clan Chattan, and the Davidsons of Invernahavon, called
in the Gaelic _Clann-Dhaibhidh_. The Davidsons were not, as some
writers have supposed, a separate clan, but a branch of the clan
Chattan. These rival tribes had for a long period kept up a deadly
enmity with one another, which was difficult to be restrained; but
after the award by Macintosh against the Macphersons, that enmity
broke out into open strife, and for ten years the Macphersons and the
Davidsons carried on a war of extermination, and kept the country in
an uproar.
To put an end to these disorders, it is said that Robert III. sent
Dunbar, Earl of Moray, and Lindsay of Glenesk, afterwards Earl of
Crawford, two of the leading men of the kingdom, to endeavour to
effect an amicable arrangement between the contending parties; but
having failed in their attempt, they proposed that the differences
should be decided in open combat before the king. Tytler[137] is of
opinion that, the notions of the Norman knights having by this time
become familiar to the fierce mountaineers, they adopted the singular
idea of deciding their quarrel by a combat of 30 against 30. Burton,
however, with his usual sagacity, remarks that, “for a whole race to
submit to the ordeal of battle would imply the very highest devotion
to those rules of chivalry which were an extravagant fashion in all
the countries under the Norman influence, but were utterly unknown to
the Highlanders, who submitted when they must submit, and retaliated
when they could. That such an adjustment could be effected among
them is about as incredible as a story about a parliamentary debate
in Persia, or a jury trial in Timbuctoo.”[138] The beautiful and
perfectly level meadow on the banks of the Tay at Perth, known as the
North Inch, was fixed on, and the Monday before Michaelmas was the
day appointed for the combat. According to Sir Robert Gordon, who is
followed by Sir Robert Douglas and Mr. Mackintosh, it was agreed that
no weapon but the broad sword was to be employed, but Wyntoun, who
lived about the time, adds bows, battle-axes, and daggers.
“All thai entrit in Barreris,
With Bow and Axe, Knyf and Swerd,
To deal amang them thair last Werd.”
The numbers on each side have been variously reported. By mistaking
the word _triceni_, used by Boece and Buchanan, for _treceni_, some
writers have multiplied them to 300. Bower, the continuator of Fordun
and Wyntoun, however, mentions expressly 60 in all, or 30 on either
side.
On the appointed day the combatants made their appearance on the
North Inch of Perth, to decide, in presence of the king, his queen,
and a large concourse of the nobility, their respective claims to
superiority. Barriers had been erected on the ground to prevent the
spectators from encroaching, and the king and his party took their
stations upon a platform from which they could easily view the
combat. At length the warriors, armed with sword and target, bows and
arrows, short knives and battle-axes, advanced within the barriers,
and eyed one another with looks of deadly revenge. When about to
engage, a circumstance occurred which postponed the battle, and had
well-nigh prevented it altogether. According to some accounts, one
of the Macphersons fell sick; but Bower says, that when the troops
had been marshalled, one of the Macphersons, panic-struck, slipped
through the crowd, plunged into the Tay and swam across, and, though
pursued by thousands, effected his escape. Sir Robert Gordon merely
observes, that, “at their entrie into the feild, the clan Chattan
lacked one of their number, who wes privilie stolne away, not willing
to be pertaker of so deir a bargane.” A man being now wanting on
one side, a pause ensued, and a proposal was made that one of the
Davidsons should retire, that the number on both sides might be
equal, but they refused. As the combat could not proceed from this
inequality of numbers, the king was about to break up the assembly,
when a diminutive and crooked, but fierce man, named Henry Wynd, a
burgher of Perth, better known to readers of Scott as Hal o’ the
Wynd, and an armourer by trade, sprung within the barriers, and,
as related by Bower, thus addressed the assembly: “Here am I. Will
any one fee me to engage with these hirelings in this stage play?
For half a mark will I try the game, provided, if I escape alive,
I have my board of one of you so long as I live. Greater love, as
it is said, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends. What, then, shall be my reward, who stake my life for
the foes of the commonwealth and realm?” This demand of _Gow Crom_,
“Crooked Smith,” as Henry was familiarly styled, adds Bower, was
granted by the king and nobles. A murderous conflict now began. The
armourer, bending his bow, and sending the first arrow among the
opposite party, killed one of them. After showers of arrows had been
discharged on both sides, the combatants, with fury in their looks,
and revenge in their hearts, rushed upon one another, and a terrific
scene ensued, which appalled the heart of many a valorous knight who
witnessed the bloody tragedy. The violent thrusts of the daggers,
and the tremendous gashes inflicted by the two-handed swords and
battle-axes, hastened the work of butchery and death. “Heads were
cloven asunder, limbs were lopped from the trunk. The meadow was soon
flooded with blood, and covered with dead and wounded men.”[139]
After the crooked armourer had killed his man, as already related
from Bower, it is said that he either sat down or drew aside, which
being observed by the leader of Cluny’s band, he asked his reason
for thus stopping; on which Wynd said, “Because I have fulfilled my
bargain, and earned my wages.”--“The man,” exclaimed the other, “who
keeps no reckoning of his good deeds, without reckoning shall be
repaid,” an observation which tempted the armourer to earn, in the
multiplied deaths of his opponents, a sum exceeding by as many times
the original stipulation. This speech of the leader has been formed
into the Gaelic adage,
“_Am fear nach cunntadh rium_
_Cha chunntainn ris_,”
which Macintosh thus renders,
“The man that reckons not with me
I will not reckon with him.”
Victory at last declared for the Macphersons, but not until 29 of
the Davidsons had fallen prostrate in the arms of death. Nineteen
of Cluny’s men also bit the dust, and the remaining 11, with the
exception of Henry Wynd, who by his excellence as a swordsman had
mainly contributed to gain the day, were all grievously wounded. The
survivor of the clan Davidson escaped unhurt. Mackintosh following
Buchanan, relates that this man, after all his companions had fallen,
threw himself into the Tay, and making the opposite bank, escaped;
but this is most likely a new version of Bower’s account of the
affrighted champion before the commencement of the action.
The leader of the clan Kay or Davidsons is called by Bower
_Schea-beg_, and by Wyntoun, _Scha-Ferquharis son_, Boece calls
him _Strat-berge_. Who _Christi-Mac-Iain_, or _Christi-Jonson_ was
genealogically, we are not informed; but one thing is pretty clear,
that he, not _Schea-beg_, or _Shaw Oig_,--for these are obviously one
and the same,--commanded the clan Chattan, or “_Clann-a-Chait_.”[140]
Both the principals seem to have been absent, or spectators merely
of the battle; and as few of the leading men of the clan, it is
believed, were parties in the combat, the savage policy of the
government, which, it is said, had taken this method to rid itself
of the chief men of the clan, by making them destroy one another,
was completely defeated. This affair seems to have produced a good
effect, as the Highlanders remained quiet for a considerable time
thereafter.
[Illustration: Effigy of “the Wolf of Badenoch” in Dunkeld Cathedral.]
The disorders in the Highlands occasioned by the feuds of the clans
were, about the period in question, greatly augmented by Alexander
of Badenoch, fourth son of Robert II., whom he had constituted
Lieutenant or governor from the limits of Moray to the Pentland
Frith. This person, from the ferocity of his disposition, obtained
the appropriate appellation of “the Wolf of Badenoch.” Avaricious
as well as cruel, the Wolf seized upon the lands of Alexander Barr,
bishop of Moray, and as he persisted in keeping violent possession of
them, he was excommunicated. The sentence of excommunication not only
proved unavailing, but tended to exasperate the Lord of Badenoch to
such a degree of fury that, in the month of May, 1390, he descended
from his heights and burnt the town of Forres, with the choir of the
church and the manse of the archdeacon. And in June following, he
burnt the town of Elgin, the church of Saint Giles, the hospital of
Maison-Dieu, and the cathedral, with eighteen houses of the canons
and chaplains in the college of Elgin. He also plundered these
churches of their sacred utensils and vestments, which he carried
off. For this horrible sacrilege the Lord of Badenoch was prosecuted,
and obliged to make due reparation. Upon making his submission he was
absolved by Walter Trail, bishop of St. Andrews, in the church of
the Black Friars, in Perth. He was first received at the door, and
afterwards before the high altar, in presence of the king (Robert
III. his brother,) and many of the nobility, on condition that he
should make full satisfaction to the bishop of Moray, and obtain
absolution from the pope.[141]
The Lord of Badenoch had a natural son, named Alexander Stewart,
afterwards Earl of Mar, who inherited the vices of his father.
Bent upon spoliation and bloodshed, and resolved to imitate his
father’s barbarous exploits, he collected, in 1392, a vast number
of caterans, armed only with the sword and target, and with these
he descended from the range of hills which divides the county of
Aberdeen and Forfar, devastated the country, and murdered the
inhabitants indiscriminately. A force was instantly collected by Sir
Walter Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David
Lindsay of Glenesk, to oppose him, and although inferior in numbers,
they attacked Stewart and his party of freebooters at Gasklune,
near the water of Ila. A desperate conflict took place, which was
of short duration. The caterans fought with determined bravery, and
soon overpowered their assailants. The sheriff, his brother, Wat of
Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony, the lairds of Cairncross, Forfar,
and Guthry, and 60 of their followers, were slain. Sir Patrick
Gray and Sir David Lindsay were severely wounded, and escaped with
difficulty. Winton has preserved an anecdote illustrative of the
fierceness of the Highlanders. Lindsay had run one of them, a strong
and brawny man, through the body with a spear, and brought him to the
earth; but although in the agonies of death, he writhed himself up,
and with the spear sticking in his body, struck Lindsay a desperate
blow with his sword, which cut him through the stirrup and boot into
the bone, on which he instantly fell and expired.[142]
Nicolas, Earl of Sutherland, had a feud with Y-Mackay of Far, in
Strathnaver, chief of the Clan-wig-worgm, and his son Donald Mackay,
in which many lives were lost, and great depredations committed
on both sides. In order to put an end to this difference, the
Earl proposed a meeting of the parties at Dingwall, to be held in
presence of the Lord of the Isles, his father-in-law, and some of the
neighbouring gentry, the friends of the two families. The meeting
having been agreed to, the parties met at the appointed time, in the
year 1395, and took up their residence in the castle of Dingwall in
apartments allotted for them. A discussion then took place between
the Earl and Mackay, regarding the points in controversy, in which
high and reproachful words were exchanged, which so incensed the
Earl, that he killed Mackay and his son with his own hands. Having
with some difficulty effected his escape from the followers and
servants of the Mackays, he immediately returned home and prepared
for defence, but the Mackays were too weak to take revenge. The
matter was in some degree reconciled between Robert, the successor of
Nicolas, and Angus Mackay, the eldest son of Donald.[143]
Some years after this event a serious conflict took place between
the inhabitants of Sutherland and Strathnaver, and Malcolm Macleod
of the Lewis, which arose out of the following circumstances. Angus
Mackay above mentioned, had married a sister of Malcolm Macleod,
by whom he had two sons, Angus Dow, and Roriegald. On the death of
Angus, Houcheon Dow Mackay, a younger brother, became tutor to his
nephews, and entered upon the management of their lands. Malcolm
Macleod, understanding that his sister, the widow of Angus, was ill
treated by Houcheon Dow, went on a visit to her, accompanied by a
number of the choicest men of his country, with the determination of
vindicating her cause either by entreaty or by force. He appears not
to have succeeded in his object, for he returned homeward greatly
discontented, and in revenge laid waste Strathnaver and a great part
of the Breachat in Sutherland, and carried off booty along with him.
As soon as Houcheon Dow and his brother Neill Mackay learnt this
intelligence, they acquainted Robert, Earl of Sutherland, between
whom and Angus Mackay a reconciliation had been effected, who
immediately despatched Alexander Ne-Shrem-Gorme (Alexander Murray
of Cubin,) with a number of stout and resolute men, to assist the
Mackays. They followed Macleod with great haste, and overtook him at
Tittim-Turwigh, upon the marches between Ross and Sutherland. The
pursuing party at first attempted to recover the goods and cattle
which had been carried off, but this being opposed by Macleod and his
men, a desperate conflict ensued, in which great valour was displayed
on both sides. It “was long, furious, cruel, and doubtful,” says Sir
Robert Gordon, and was “rather desperate than resolute.” At last the
Lewismen, with their commander, Malcolm Macleod, nick-named Gilealm
Beg M’Bowen, were slain, and the goods and cattle were recovered.
One man alone of Macleod’s party, who was sorely wounded, escaped to
bring home the sorrowful news to the Lewis, which he had scarcely
delivered when he expired.[144]
These feuds were followed by a formidable insurrection, or more
correctly, invasion, in 1411, by Donald, Lord of the Isles, of such
a serious nature as to threaten a dismemberment of the kingdom
of Scotland. The male succession to the earldom of Ross having
become extinct, the honours of the peerage devolved upon a female,
Euphemia Ross, wife of Sir Walter Lesley. Of this marriage there
were two children, Alexander, afterwards Earl of Ross, and Margaret,
afterwards married to the Lord of the Isles. Earl Alexander married
a daughter of the Duke of Albany. Euphemia, Countess of Ross, was
the only issue of this marriage, but becoming a nun she resigned the
earldom of Ross in favour of her uncle John Stewart, Earl of Buchan.
The Lord of the Isles conceiving that the countess, by renouncing
the world, had forfeited her title and estate, and, moreover, that
she had no right to dispose thereof, claimed both in right of
Margaret his wife. The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, at whose
instigation the countess had made the renunciation, of course refused
to sustain the claim of the prince of the islands. The Lord of the
Isles having formed an alliance with England, whence he was to be
supplied with a fleet far superior to the Scottish, at the head of an
army of 10,000 men, fully equipped and armed after the fashion of
the islands with bows and arrows, pole-axes, knives, and swords, in
1411 burst like a torrent upon the earldom, and carried everything
before him. He, however, received a temporary check at Dingwall,
where he was attacked with great impetuosity by Angus Dubh Mackay of
Farr, or Black Angus, as he was called; but Angus was taken prisoner,
and his brother Roderic Gald and many of his men were killed.
Flushed with the progress he had made, Donald now resolved to
carry into execution a threat he had often made to burn the town
of Aberdeen. For this purpose he ordered his army to assemble at
Inverness, and summoned all the men capable of bearing arms in the
Boyne and the Enzie, to join his standard on his way south. This
order being complied with, the Lord of the Isles marched through
Moray without opposition. He committed great excesses in Strathbogie
and in the district of Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of Mar.
The inhabitants of Aberdeen were in dreadful alarm at the near
approach of this marauder and his fierce hordes; but their fears were
allayed by the speedy appearance of a well-equipped army, commanded
by the Earl of Mar, who bore a high military character, assisted by
many brave knights and gentlemen in Angus and the Mearns. Among these
were Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir James Scrymgeour,
constable of Dundee and hereditary standard-bearer of Scotland,
Sir William de Abernethy of Salton, nephew to the Duke of Albany,
Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, and Sir
Robert Melville. The Earl was also joined by Sir Robert Davidson, the
Provost of Aberdeen, and a party of the burgesses.
Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched by Inverury, and descried the
Highlanders stationed at the village of Harlaw, on the water of Ury,
near its junction with the Don. Mar soon saw that he had to contend
with tremendous odds; but although his forces were, it is said, only
a tenth of those opposed to him, he resolved, from the confidence
he had in his steel-clad knights, to risk a battle. Having placed a
small but select body of knights and men-at-arms in front, under the
command of the constable of Dundee and the sheriff of Angus, the
Earl drew up the main strength of his army in the rear, including
the Murrays, the Straitons, the Maules, the Irvings, the Lesleys,
the Lovels, the Stirlings, headed by their respective chiefs. The
Earl then placed himself at the head of this body. At the head of
the Islesmen and Highlanders was the Lord of the Isles, subordinate
to whom were Macintosh and Maclean and other Highland chiefs, all
bearing the most deadly hatred to their Saxon foes, and panting for
revenge.
On a signal being given, the Highlanders and Islesmen, setting up
those terrific shouts and yells which they were accustomed to raise
on entering into battle, rushed forward upon their opponents; but
they were received with great firmness and bravery by the knights,
who, with their spears levelled, and battle-axes raised, cut down
many of their impetuous but badly armed adversaries. After the
Lowlanders had recovered themselves from the shock which the furious
onset of the Highlanders had produced, Sir James Scrymgeour, at the
head of the knights and bannerets who fought under him, cut his way
through the thick columns of the Islesmen, carrying death everywhere
around him; but the slaughter of hundreds by this brave party did
not intimidate the Highlanders, who kept pouring in by thousands to
supply the place of those who had fallen. Surrounded on all sides,
no alternative remained for Sir James and his valorous companions
but victory or death, and the latter was their lot. The constable of
Dundee was amongst the first who suffered, and his fall so encouraged
the Highlanders, that seizing and stabbing the horses, they thus
unhorsed their riders, whom they despatched with their daggers. In
the meantime the Earl of Mar, who had penetrated with his main army
into the very heart of the enemy, kept up the unequal contest with
great bravery, and, although he lost during the action almost the
whole of his army, he continued the fatal struggle with a handful
of men till nightfall. The disastrous result of this battle was one
of the greatest misfortunes which had ever happened to the numerous
respectable families in Angus and the Mearns. Many of these families
lost not only their head, but every male in the house. Lesley of
Balquhain is said to have fallen with six of his sons. Besides Sir
James Scrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy the sheriff of Angus, with
his eldest son George Ogilvy, Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule
of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir William Abernethy
of Salton, Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston, James Lovel, and
Alexander Stirling, and Sir Robert Davidson, Provost of Aberdeen,
with 500 men-at-arms, including the principal gentry of Buchan, and
the greater part of the burgesses of Aberdeen who followed their
Provost, were among the slain. The Highlanders left 900 men dead on
the field of battle, including the chiefs Maclean and Mackintosh.
This memorable battle was fought on the eve of the feast of St. James
the Apostle, July 25th, 1411. It was the final contest for supremacy
between the Celt and the Teuton, and appears to have made at the time
an inconceivably deep impression on the national mind. For more than
a hundred years, it is said, the battle of Harlaw continued to be
fought over again by schoolboys in their play. “It fixed itself in
the music and the poetry of Scotland; a march, called the ‘Battle of
Harlaw,’ continued to be a popular air down to the time of Drummond
of Hawthornden, and a spirited ballad, on the same event, is still
repeated in our age, describing the meeting of the armies, and the
deaths of the chiefs, in no ignoble strain.”[145]
Mar and the few brave companions in arms who survived the battle,
passed the night on the field; when morning dawned, they found that
the Lord of the Isles had retreated during the night, by Inverury
and the hill of Benochy. To pursue him was impossible, and he was
therefore allowed to retire without molestation, and to recruit his
exhausted strength.[146]
As soon as the news of the disaster at Harlaw reached the ears of
the Duke of Albany, then regent of Scotland, he set about collecting
an army, with which he marched in person to the north in autumn,
with a determination to bring the Lord of the Isles to obedience.
Having taken possession of the castle of Dingwall, he appointed a
governor, and from thence proceeded to recover the whole of Ross.
Donald retreated before him, and took up his winter-quarters in the
islands. Hostilities were renewed next summer, but the contest was
not long or doubtful--notwithstanding some little advantages obtained
by the King of the Isles--for he was compelled to give up his claim
to the earldom of Ross, to become a vassal to the Scottish crown, and
to deliver hostages to secure his future good behaviour. A treaty to
this effect was entered into at Pilgilbe or Polgillip, the modern
Loch-Gilp, in Argyle.
FOOTNOTES:
[121] Maclauchlan’s _Early Scottish Church_, pp. 346-7.
[122] Book viii. ch. 6.
[123] Shaw’s _Hist. of Moray_, new ed., pp. 259-60.
[124] _Caledonia_, vol. i. p. 627.
[125] “Whilst the lowlands and the coast of Moray, which had already
been partitioned out among the followers of David, would have
presented comparatively few obstacles to such a project, it is hardly
possible to conceive how it could ever have been successfully put
into execution amidst the wild and inaccessible mountains of the
interior. It appears, therefore, most reasonable to conclude, that
Malcolm only carried out the policy pursued by his grandfather ever
since the first forfeiture of the earldom; and that any changes
that may have been brought about in the population of this part of
Scotland--and which scarcely extended below the class of the lesser
_Duchasach_, or small proprietors--are not to be attributed to one
sweeping and compulsatory measure, but to the grants of David and
his successors; which must have had the effect of either reducing
the earlier proprietary to a dependant position, or of driving into
the remoter Highlands all who were inclined to contest the authority
of the sovereign, or to dispute the validity of the royal ordinances
which reduced them to the condition of subordinates.”--Robertson’s
_Early Kings_, vol. i. p. 361.
[126] Almost the same ceremonial of inauguration was observed at
the coronation of Macdonald, king of the Isles. Martin says, that
“there was a big stone of seven feet square, in which there was a
deep impression made to receive the feet of Mack-Donald, for he was
crowned king of the Isles standing in this stone; and swore that he
would continue his vassals in the possession of their lands, and do
exact justice to all his subjects; and then his father’s sword was
put into his hands. The bishop of Argyle and seven priests anointed
him king, in presence of all the heads of the tribes in the isles and
continent, and were his vassals; at which time the orator rehearsed
a catalogue of his ancestors.”--_Western Islands_, p. 241.
[127] Sir R. Gordon’s _History of the Earldom of Sutherland_, p. 36.
[128] The chiefs at Bannockburn were Mackay, Mackintosh, Macpherson,
Cameron, Sinclair, Campbell, Menzies, Maclean, Sutherland, Robertson,
Grant, Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mackenzie, and
Macquarrie. After the lapse of five hundred years since the battle of
Bannockburn was fought, it is truly astonishing to find such a number
of direct descendants who are now in existence, and still possessed
of their paternal estates.
[129] Tytler’s _Hist. of Scotland_, vol. ii. p. 185. Robertson’s
_Parliamentary Records_, p. 115.
[130] Vide the Deed printed in the Appendix to Tytler’s _History_,
vol. ii.
[131] Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 380.
[132] This is the date assigned by Sir Robert Gordon, but Shaw makes
it more than a century later, viz., in 1454.
[133] Sir R. Gordon, p. 47.--Shaw, p. 264.
[134] According to that eminent antiquary, the Rev. Donald Macintosh,
non-juring episcopal clergyman, in his historical illustrations of
his Collections of Gaelic Proverbs, published in 1785, the ancestor
of Macintosh became head of the clan Chattan in this way. During
these contests for the Scottish crown, which succeeded the death of
King Alexander III., and favoured the pretensions of the King of
the Isles, the latter styling himself “King,” had, in 1291, sent
his nephew Angus Macintosh of Macintosh to Dougall Dall (Blind)
MacGillichattan, chief of the clan Chattan, or Macphersons, to
acquaint him that “_the king_” was to pay him a visit. Macpherson,
or MacGillichattan, as he was named, in honour of the founder of the
family Gillichattan[135] Mor, having an only child, a daughter, who,
he dreaded, might attract an inconvenient degree of royal notice,
offered her in marriage to Macintosh along with his lands, and the
station of the chief of the clan Chattan. Macintosh accepted the
offer, and was received as chief of the lady’s clan.
[135] “A votary or servant of St. Kattan,” a most popular Scottish
saint, we have thus _Gillichallum_, meaning a “votary of Columba,”
and of which another form is _Malcolm_ or _Molcalm_, the prefix
_Mol_ being corrupted into Mal, signifying the same as _Gilly_.
Thus _Gilly-Dhia_ is the etymon of _Culdee_, signifying “servant of
God,”--_Gilli-christ_ means “servant of Christ.”
[136] Shaw’s _History of Moray_, pp. 260, 261.
[137] Vol. iii. pp 76, 77.
[138] Vol. iii. p. 72.
[139] _Tales of a Grandfather_, vol. ii.
[140] For a more thorough discussion of this fight, see the account
of the Clan Mackintosh in Vol. II.
[141] Shaw’s _Moray_, pp. 314-15.--Winton, vol. ii. p. 363.--Keith’s
_Catalogue_, p. 83.
[142] Winton, vol. ii. p. 369.
[143] Sir Robert Gordon’s _History_, p. 60.
[144] Sir Robert Gordon, pp. 61, 62.
[145] Tytler, vol. iii. p. 177. The ballad of the Battle concludes
thus:--
There was not, sin’ King Kenneth’s days,
Sic strange intestine cruel strife
In Scotlande seen, as ilk man says,
Where monie likelie lost their life;
Whilk made divorce tween man and wife,
And monie children fatherless,
Whilk in this realm has been full rife;
Lord help these lands! our wrangs redress!
In July, on Saint James his evin,
That four-and-twenty dismal day,
Twelve hundred, ten score, and eleven
Of years sin’ Christ, the soothe to say;
Men will remember, as they may,
When thus the veritie they knaw;
And monie a ane will mourne for aye
The brim battle of the Harlaw.
[146] “So ended one of Scotland’s most memorable battles. The contest
between the Lowlanders and Donald’s host was a contest between foes,
of whom their contemporaries would have said that their ever being
in harmony with each other, or having a feeling of common interests
and common nationality, was not within the range of rational
expectations.... It will be difficult to make those not familiar
with the tone of feeling in Lowland Scotland at that time believe
that the defeat of Donald of the Isles was felt as a more memorable
deliverance even than that of Bannockburn.”--Burton, vol. iii. pp.
101, 102.