The book Arran; - Cook Clan

CHAPTER VI
ARRAN IN POLITICS
An-an in the 'Troubles'—stray glimpses of its life—feud and foray
purchases at Ayr— terror of the MacDonalds—strategic importance
for Scotland and Ireland—a refuge and a prison—crime in Arran
the Hamiltons become hereditary Justiciars—deforcing the King's
messenger at Brodick—the story of Patrick Hamilton—the M'Alisters
again—the Commonwealth; foray by the Campbells—Cromwell's
garrison in Arran—the Duchess Anne—Arran men in the Forty-five.
The century and a quarter which hes between the Reformation
of 1560 and the Revolution in 1688 was a time big with
events—with domestic ' troubles,' religious and constitutional
change, civil war and partisan oppression ; the time
of the Protestant development, the struggle between Presbyterianism
and Episcopacy, that between King and Covenant,
and the resistance of the Covenanters under Charles ii., ending
with a forcible change of dynasty and succession, when
William of Orange ousted the last of the male Stewarts to
hold the throne. No part of the country but would feel the
throb of such movements, yet the record, as it affects the
people of Arran, has little that is direct or personal. Nothing
individual can be said, for example, of their ecclesiastical
sympathies ;
we can only infer that they followed the lead
of their superiors ; and the Hamiltons, Montgomerys, and
Stewarts entered the fold of Protestantism, no doubt, like
others, bringing their flocks of tenantry with them. We
have no knowledge of sufferers under the Covenant in
88
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