Scotland Timeline

Founding Peoples

Picts, northern and Southern
Very little known
Language lost –Pit, assumed some form of Celtic

Brittons

84 AD Mons Grapius

127 AD Hadrian's Wall

432AD Patrick
Cemented Christianity, Literacy
Ended slavery in Ireland

500AD Irish, DalRiada
Celts, Warrior elite, artisans,
Cattle economy, Pasturalists
Belief systems, indestructible soul and universe
Bards, Druids, Brethons
Literate , strong oral tradition
Myth, Tain
Fosterage
Derbfine
Role of kings

563 AD Columba
As political as spiritual

664 Synod at Whitby

679 predominance of Angles in south Scotland ends
Struggles between Picts, Britons, DalRiadans

781 bloodlines so intermixed, hard to tell Pict from Gael

794AD Norse Raiders, settlers

843 AD Kenneth MacAlpine
7 districts run by Mormaers, stewards under Celtic law
land held by clans, elected rulers

1014-Clontarf, Ireland

1040 MacBeth

1057 -1093 Malcolm Canmor
Margaret
Cultural shift Norman French Feudalism,
Earldoms re-organized into Sheriffdoms,
Royal burghs established where Kings writ ran
Offices granted to Normans
Re-alignment of Church
Norman French replaces Gaelic at court

1093-1094, 1094-1097Donald Ban

1097 -1107 DuncanII

1098 Magnus Barelegs Edgar cedes western isles to Norway

1124 David I
1000 Norman Adventureers

1130 Rise of Somerled
Cultural shift as well as military
Somerled allied through marriage to MacHeths, Earl Harald Maddadsson of Orkney. Similar links by Fergus of Gallway

1130 1st MacHeth rebellion

1153 2nd MacHeth rebellion, Somerled involved

1156 Somerled defeats Godred of Man
MacHeths defeated

1158 All of Ancient Dalriada, Barra to Lewis, Isle of Mann and much of southern isles kingdom, ruled by Somerled based from Islay

1159 War between Somerled, and Malcolm IV MacHeths released

1160 Gallway encircled by feudal fiefs

1164 Death of Somerled
Holdings divided between sons
Isle of Mann reverts to Norway

1212-1215 Fearchar Mac an tSacairt defeats last MacHeth (with Irish support) uprising. Becomes Eral of Ross.

1228 Norse punative raids on Somerled's unfaithful sons

1249 Hakon sends Ewan MacSomhairle (GgS)to hold Man against the King of Scots, loses mainland holdings, until 1255

1263 Battle of Largs

1290 End of Canmor Dynasty

1296 War of Independence

1297 Stirling Bridge

1306 Bruce murders Comyn

1314 Bannockburn

1320 Declaration of Arbroath
Claim celtic roots, King subject to people
Bruce issues charters to chiefs, not clans
Bruce rewards MacDonalds, Campbells and Stewarts

1330-1380 John of Islay First Lord of the Isles

Lordship

Council of Isles described by Donald Munro,Dean of Isles 1549
4 Royal Princes of Clan Donald;
Clan Ranald, MacIain, Donald of Kintyre,Alasdair Locharber
4 Nobles:
MacLean Duart, MacLean Lochbuie, MacLeod Harris, MacLeod Lewis
4 Thanes
Kinnon, MacNeil Barra, MacNeil Giga
4 Freeholders, from:
MacQuarries,MacKay Rinns,MacNichol Portree,MacEachern Killalan,MacKay Ugdale,
MacGillvary Mull, MacMillan Knapdale
Abbot of Iona
Bishop of Isles.

Bardic Arts
Offices:
MacKinnons, stewards of weights and measures
MacDuffie, record keeper
MacEachern, swordsmith
Beatons Physicians (incl. trepanation,herbs)
MacSenach Harpist
Morrisons Lawyers
MacMhuirich Poet

1381 Donald 2nd Lord

1406 (24) -1437 reign of James I, the Stewarts

1411 Harlaw

1427 50 leading highlanders arrested by James,
some executed, other escaped, or released
Alexader 3rd Lord burns Inverness, defeated by Kings forces throws himself on Kings mercy, lands re-instated (not Ross) made Justicar of The North

1433 (2) Earldom of Ross confirmed by JamesII

1461 Treaty of Westminster

1474 James discovers Treaty of Westminster
John 4th Lord, throws himself on Kings mercy
Created Baron of Banrent, Peer of Parliament
Lands returned (exc. Skye, Kintyre returned by 1481)

1480 Angus Og rebellion, sacking Inverness, raiding Ross

1482 Bloody Bay

1487 Angus Og killed, Alexander of Lochalsh takes over Lordship

1491 Alexander invades Ross

1493 Forfeiture of Lordship (no formal records exist)
Vassals confirmed in their holdings

1498- Charters withdrawn

1500 Lieutenancy of Isles given Campbell of Argyll
Gordon of Huntly
MacKenzie of Kintail,
Letters of Fire and Sword

1501 - 1506 Donald Dubh rebellion

1513 Flodden

1513 Donald of Lochalsh rebellion
Donald dies 1520

1529-31 Alexander of Isla rebellion
1539 Donald Gorm rebellion
Donald dies

1540 James V takes fleet of 12 ships to Isles
captures all leading men, some released after arranging hostages
Some not released until after James’s death

1543 -1545 Donald Dubh rebellion
Reconciled to King

1554 Argyl and Huntly empowered to exterminate CalnRanald,
Clan Donald of Sleat and MacLeods of Lewis –Failure

1560 Reformation arrives in Scotland

1590 First reference to kilts

1598 Chiefs ordered to produce Charters
William Sacheverell, “there appeared in all their actions a certain generous air of freedom and contempt for those trifles, luxury, and ambition, which we so servilely creep after. They bound their appetites by their necessities and their happiness consists not in having much, but in coveting little”

1599- Fife Adventurers, with kings cousin Lennox

1600 (approx.) Mini-Ice Age
Black houses, socks and bonnets

1603 Union of Crowns

1605 Lowland adventures return to Lewis, fail

1607- Flight of the Earls, Ireland

1609- Statues of Iona
Leading highland chiefs kidnapped, released after agreeing to following:
Banning handfasting
Establishment of Inns
Everyman must earn living,size of Chiefs household restricted
Restriction on wine imports
No guns, even for hunting, birlinns and galleys restricted in size and number
Permanent residence for Chiefs
Bards banned
Inheritance (60 cattle or more) dependent on learning to read and write English
Chiefs and leading men required to appear at court annually
Chiefs responsible for actions of clansmen
Statutes fostered Clan system, and loyalty to Stewart cause End of Bardic Schools, decline of Harp, rise of folk songs Bagpipe, and fiddle, Ossianic ballads move into vernacular

1615- Last rebellion of Lord of the Isles

1644 English Civil War
Montrose and Alaistair Mac Colla
Highland troops

1653-58 Cromwell Lord Protector

1678 Highland Host
“Never did 6000 thieving ruffians with uncouth weapons make so harmless a march in a civilized country”

1689 Killicrankie - Jacobite uprising

1692 Glencoe

1707 Act of Union

1715 2nd Jacobite uprising

1745 Last Jacobite uprising

1746 Culloden Highland Dress Act

1758 Ticonderoga
Highland regiments raised
Preserved Clan structure, among males
provided income to Chief
creation of Highland games, military Piping

1767 Bible translated into Gaelic

1782 Repeal of Dress Act

1792 Bliadhna nan Caorach
In excess of 6,000 sheep driven south, not one lost
5 men arrested, charged, convicted, and released

1815 End of Napoleonic Wars

1818 Walter Scott publishes Robroy

1822 Royal visit George IV
Clan tartan invented



The Lordship of the Isles

Popular histories of Scotland make scant reference, if any, to the Lordship of the Isles. The areas of the Lordship, the western highlands and Hebrides, were home to most of the ancestors of Nova Scotia’s highland settlers, and the cradle of the Gaelic culture that’s legacy lives with us still.

As you know, the inhabitants of Scotland, at the time of Christ, were Picts. The Picts were Celts, most likely Gaelic speakers, and some of their tribe was based in Ireland and Gaul. Around 500ad, Scotis, members of the Irish kingdom of Dalriada established themselves along the south west coast of Scotland (Kintyre, Lorn, Appin, Morvern, and the Islands of Jura, Islay). Much of their early success was thanks to the work of Calum Cille, Saint Columba. It is not clear if Columba converted the Pictish King Brude, but Columba did impress Brude, who gave consent to the establishment of Columba’s monastery at Iona, a sacred Pictish Island. Whether they came as invited guests, or unwelcome invaders, for three hundred years they mixed with the Picts. A very popular method of cementing positive relations with threatening tribes, was marriage, and the royal house of Dalriada frequently passed into Pictish control, and as the centuries passed it becomes harder to tell Pict from Scot.

The close of the eighth Century brought the dawn of the Viking Age to Scotland and Ireland. Early raids were followed by colonization. Neither the raids, nor the colonization were organized at a “national” level, but rather appear to be spontaneous actions of Viking chiefs, seeking to establish their own dominions, put space between themselves and their enemies, or royal authority in Norway. Norse force fell heavily on the northern Picts. In 843 Kenneth MacAlpine, of mixed royal lineage became king of a united Alba (Dalriada, and Pictish kingdoms). The Norse grip on the outer Hebrides, Caithness and Sutherland increased, and the mixing of Norse and Gael increased, just as with the Picts and Scots.

MacAlpine’s Scotland was divided into seven districts, each under the control of a “Mormaer”, or Great Steward. The stewards managed their counties under celtic law, a mixture of Irish and Pictish laws. Under Celtic law every office was an elected position, although positions were usually held within certain family groups. Land was held by the clan, or tribe. Sections were allotted for chiefs, and their civil service, individual clan members, some for the benefit of the infirmed, and the rest held in common. Extensive tracts of Irish law survive, much of it concerning the payment of debts. A man could institute a hunger strike to apply pressure on a debtor to pay up, and compel the debtor to fast until the debt had been settled, thru payment or arbitration. Arbitration could recognize that the repayment of debt could be injurious to the debtor. Irish law also assumed that debt should die with the debtor. There were also laws governing care of the sick, and a form of “ worker compensation” unequaled in modern times. The Laws relied on the Brehon judges, and a deep sense of personal honour as the means of enforcement.

The last days of Celtic Scotland began with the arrival of Malcolm Canmor and an army of Northumbrians commanded by their Earl Siward the Stout. Malcolm was the son of Duncan I. When King of Scotland, Duncan had initiated two campaigns simultaneously, one, commanded by his nephew Moddan against the Earl of Orkney on Scotland’s northern border, the other led by himself against the Northumbrians. Both Duncan and Moddan were defeated, with heavy loss. Scotland’s enemy’s swept over the borders raiding and pillaging. MacBeth, Duncan’s cousin, and Mormaer of Scotland’s largest province Moray, dispatched Duncan and was elected king in his stead. For thirteen years MacBeth ruled Scotland in relative peace and prosperity. One of Duncan’s sons, Malcolm Canmor was taken to the court of Edward the Confessor in England. Although Edward was an Anglo-Saxon, he had been raised in Normandy, acquiring Norman French concepts, which he brought to England. Not surprisingly, the son of a king, Malcolm preferred the Norman customs (which would recognize Malcolm as King of Scotland) to the Celtic electoral system (that left him a refugee in England) Either out of friendship, or his Norman sense of right and wrong, Edward supported Malcolm’s return to Scotland. It would take four years of fighting, the death of MacBeth, and his successor Lulach, before Malcolm’s army compelled Scotland to accept him as king.

Malcolm introduced Norman concepts into Scottish government, replacing the Mormaers with feudal offices, celtic law and language at court for Norman French. Malcolm had been accompanied by friends from the South, Malcolm’s son, the future David I was also raised in England, and when he came to claim the crown, he was accompanied by nearly 1,000 Norman adventurers. The preference that David showed them, over the native Scottish Nobles must have rankled.

While there were several attempts by Celtic Scotland to retake the throne after Malcolm’s death, Malcolm’s sons retained the crown.

Aside from the introduction feudalism, the creation of a Highland/Lowland linguistic and cultural split, the Canmor dynasty’s legacy was that the Scottish crown looked almost exclusively to the south, in nearly constant warring.

In the 11th century Norwegian King Magnus Barelegs flexed his muscles over the Norse of Scotland, and increased his holdings over Gaelic areas. Malcolm Canmor, obsessed with a planned invasion of England did not want trouble from Magnus and agreed to give him all the Islands in the west, in exchange for a truce. The truce was good enough for Malcolm, but it wasn’t real, and the Gaels of the west suffered from constant raiding by the Norse, either from the Earls of Orkney or Kings of Man.

This was indeed the low ebb for Gaelic Scotland. Unwelcome in the east, and unsupported in the west their power declined. The Noble houses of Dalriada became fugitives in their own land, when they weren’t ejected entirely.

In 1130, the tide changed with the rise of the warrior Somerled. Descended from a Noble line of Dalriada, and Norse blood, the history of Somerled reads like the myths of the Irish militia, the Fennians, for Somerled rise led to a revival of Gaelic laws and control throughout the Hebrides and western Isles. Of mixed Norse/Gaelic parentage, Somerled was the greatest real-life Gaelic hero yet. Using a combination of boldness, stratagem, and technological innovation, by 1158, Somerled had recaptured all of ancient Dalriada, and the Kingdom of Man (the Isles of Man, and the Outer Hebrides, from Barra to Lewis) for the Gaels, declaring himself Rex Insularum. In 1159 Malcolm IV, smarting from the latest Gaelic civil war, the MacEath rebellion, became concerned about the growing Gaelic power in the west and sent an army against Somerled. The two armies fought all day until nightfall. At the dawn both had retired. In the treaty that ended hostilities, the Gaelic rebels, Malcolm and Donald MacEath were released by the King and their lands returned to them. The special status of Somerled’s kingdom is hinted at by charters issued by the Scottish court dated “on the next Christmas after the reconciliation of the King and Somerled”.

The peace lasted briefly, and in 1164 King Malcolm notified Somerled that he did not object to Somerled’s Island holdings, but demanded the “restoration ” of Argyle and Kintyre. Somerled’s response, in the Hugh MacDonald Clan history reads: “That when his forefathers were disposed from them by the invasion of the Danes, they had no assistance to defend or recover them from the Scottish king, and that he had the right of them from the Danes, but however he would render assistance to the king in any other affairs and would prove as loyal as any of his friends, but as long as he breathed he would not condescend to resign any of his rights which he possessed to any; and that he was resolved to lose or keep all”. Clearly Somerled did not think he owed the King of Scotland anything. He would offer friendship to the king, or, if the king wished, war. Somerled took 160 galleys up the Clyde, heading for the Royal army at Renfrew, where he entered into negotiations with emissaries of the Kings. That night a spy murdered Somerled and one of his sons. Somerled was buried on Iona with the kings of Scotland. The Isle of Man returned to the possession of the King of Norway, all of Somerled’s other holdings were split among his remaining three sons.

Through various factors, within three generations the bulk of Somerled’s holdings were the property of Donald of Islay, whose great grandson John of Islay would first claim the title, Dominus Insularum, Lord of the Isles in 1354.

Over time, the Lordship fluctuated in shape and size, generally expanding, to include Antrim in Ireland, the Isle of Sky, and more holdings in the western highlands Throughout its history the Lordship maintained an uneasy relationship with the Kings of Scotland, frequently breaking out into open war.

The Lordship was the cultural continuum of MacBeth’s Gaelic Scotland, as opposed to the Kings Norman feudal Scotland. In the Lordship the democratic inspiration of the old Irish laws was revived, supported by the legacy of the Norse councils, or “things”, and officials were again elected. The Lords and their “vassals” were woven together in the braids of Gaelic culture, rival ambitions were tempered through marriage, and the bonds of friendship and loyalty forged through the institution of fosterage. The social web was strengthened even further by MacDonald’s approach to granting of lands. Rather than granting large contiguous tracts of land to their vassals, the Lords granted numerous small parcels among their own holdings.

For administration purposes, the Lords established a Council of the Isles, divided into four grades, each with four representatives. Along with the Bishop of the Isles, and the Abbot of Iona were four great men of the royal blood of Clan Donald; MacDonald of Dunivaig, Clanranald, MacDonald of Keppoch and MacIan of Ardnamurchen: four Nobles; MacLeans of Duart and Lochbuie, MacLeods of Lewis and Harris: four thanes; MacKinnon, MacQuarrrie, and MacNeils of Barra and Gigha: and four freeholders; MacKays of the Rinns and Ugdale, MacNichol of Portree, MacEachern of Killelan, MacGillevray in Mull, and MacMillan of Knapdale. Beyond the council, all territories of the Lordship were served by Brehons. The Lords and other Nobles of the Lordship supported the arts, commissioning carvers and smiths, employing harpists, pipers, historians, bards, physicians and lawyers. Much of the Lordships history coincided with the Classic period in Irish literature, and shenachies and Bards often received training in Ireland. The stone carvings within the areas of the Lordship are quite distinct, and many have been preserved at Iona, showing Nobles of the period in mail, quilted coats, armed with spear and sword and shields inscribed with heraldic crests.

Among other prominent families of the Lordship, the MacKinnon’s, were Stewards of Weights and Measures, The MacDuffies were the official Record Keepers, The MacEacherns were swordsmiths, the Beatons were physicians and Morrisons were lawyers.

We know clearly enough, that Somerled regarded his possessions as his by right, but what of his progeny? In 1263, King Hakon collected his war galleys in Norway, sailing south gathering tribute and ships through the Orkneys and Hebrides, demanding military services of Siol Somerled. Ewan of Lorne, most of whose holdings were on the mainland surrendered his islands, and himself to Hakon, rather than fight the Scottish, as did Angus of Islay. Others of Siol Somerled were obliged to serve Hakon, with various degrees of enthusiasm, but appear to have avoided action at the decisive Battle of Largs. Alexander III, King of Scotland offered the island princes amnesty, choosing either exile or acknowledgement of Scottish superiority.

During the Scottish Wars of Independence one of Somerled’s great-grandsons, Angus of Islay supported Bruce, and was rewarded with many of the lands of his cousin Ewen of Lorne, who had opposed him.

John of Islay, 1st Lord of the Isles, was in constant friendly contact with Edward III of England, although, he and his nobles fought for the King of France at Poictiers, where John was captured by the English. Possibly it was due to his friendship with the King that he was released to collect his own ransom. David II of Scotland appointed John of Islay Constable of Edinburgh Castle, a feudal office. John had helped to arrange the ransom to free David from English captivity, yet he later revolted over the taxes to pay it, and David’s lavish living. In 1369 the King’s Steward convinced John to swear submission to the King. John surrendered hostages to the King, including his son, Donald. Over the next several years the king returned all of John’s lands, and provided additional grants to him. Donald was released (1371) and attended the University of Oxford. Donald, and his brothers visited the English court several times, and were received as Celtic Princes.

After John if Islay’s death, Donald became the 2nd Lord Of the Isles. Although related to the King through marriage, Donald showed no fondness for the crown, or forgiveness for his previous imprisonment. In 1411 marched an army toward Aberdeen, to press his feudal claim, through marriage, to the extensive Earldom of Ross. Gathering strength in the west, he met increasing opposition in the east, from Gaelic clans, apparently unimpressed with his feudal claim, and the Burgers of Aberdeen, equally unimpressed. Following a day of slaughter at Harlaw, both armies returned home, Donald retaining all his previous estates.

In 1428 James 1st, held a parliament at Inverness, and arrested fifty highland nobles in attendance, several were executed. Alexander, 3rd Lord of the Isles, was among those arrested. He escaped and rebelled, culminating in a victory over the royal Army at Inverlochy, in 1431. Alexander chose this moment to throw himself on the Kings mercy, which he received, along with the feudal office of Justiciar of the North, his claim to Ross ignored. This he would receive from James II.

Marriage, as a tool of diplomacy, and acquisition, had served the Lordship well, but when his in-laws fell out with the King, John 4th Lord of the Isles found himself in conflict with the Scottish crown. In 1461 he came into an agreement with the King of England, and other Scottish noble houses, to divide Scotland between them. When the King dispatched the Earl of Douglas, John’s fellow conspirator, John made up with King.

In 1474 when Scotland and England were in negotiations, The King found out about the 1461 agreement. John was summoned to parliament, which he avoided. The Parliament found him guilty, ordered his execution, and confiscation of all his lands. John, like his father before him, threw himself on the Kings mercy, voluntarily surrendering Ross, Knapdale and Kintyre. The King allowed him to retain all his other holdings, including the Isle of Sky, formerly regarded as part of the Earldom of Ross. Further, the King appointed John 4th Lord of the Isles, Baron of Banrent, and a Peer of Parliament, and over the next several years John of the Isles received back some of his lands in Kintyre. But the appellation, Lord of the Isles, was now a feudal title, not theirs by right. This arrangement was unacceptable for John’s son Angus Og and many of his nobles. Angus Og and his followers were soon at war with his father and the King. Angus Og was a skilled warrior, like his ancestor Somerled whose rights he demanded. And like Somerled, he too was murdered. John’s nephew, Alexander of Lochalsh succeeded Angus as Captain. He too invaded Ross, his force smashed by the MacKenzies.

In 1498 John 4th Lord of the Isles, was again in forfeit, and again he threw himself on the Kings mercy. The King extended leniency on the 4th Lord, but not the Lordship. Immediately after the forfeiture, James IV sailed through the Isles of the Lordship with war galleys equipped with canons. No opposition was offered. He granted to the vassals of the Lordship the lands they had held from it.

For the next hundred years, the Western Isles and Highlands would occasionally rise behind princes of Clan Donald to re-establish the Lordship. But increasingly the “vassals” looked to their own advancement. Support for the arts was continued by the Noble houses of the former Lordship, but this was curtailed by the Statutes of Iona, that forbid the employment of Bards, and required a lowland education in English for nobles to receive their inheritance, among various other “disarmament” clauses. The process of assimilating the highland leadership, to lowland values would bear fruit during the infamous Clearances.

Tragically, no effort was ever made by the Scottish crown to create anything like the Council of the Isles, or any government services at all, instead the King established cannoned Castles at key junctures of trade routes. Campbell of Argyl, and MacKenzie of Kintail served instead of courts, with the inevitable result of chaos and anarchy, the Age of Pillages, which would not end until Culloden Moor.

Historians seem only to eager to make the Lordship then author of its own misfortune. They seem offended by the Lord’s contempt for Royal Authority. It is interesting, that most of those conflicts were based on feudal claims of the Lords. The decision of the Lordship to press these claims, in areas where there was no local support, was clearly a mistake.

But within the Lordship, hundreds of years passed in peace and prosperity, arts flourished and learning pursued. Its cultural legacy is with us still, in the Gaelic music and song of Cape Breton Island and the Hebrides.