A history of the Highlands and of the Highland clans : with an ...

CHAPTER VIII.
State of the Highlands at the Accession of James I.—Disturbances in Caithness— Battle
of Harpisdell— Arrival of tlie King at Inverness—Suminims the Chiefs to appear
—their Seizure imd Fate— Uevdt of Alexander, Prince of the Isles— Rapid Movement
of tlie King—Alexander surrenders himself and is imprisoned— Insurrection of Donald
Balkich—Murder of Muwat of Frcshwick by Thomas Macneill—his Apprehension
and Execution— Battle of Drum-ne-Coub—Lawless State of the Highlands— Instance
of Sluicking Barbarity— Apprehension and Execution of Donald Ross, the Perpetrator
—Another Expedition by James I. to the Highlands—Commotions in Caithness
Battles at Sandsel and at Blare Tannii-— Insurrection of the Lord of tJie Isles—Combat
on the Sands of Strathfleet—Conduct of Allan of Lorn of the Wood— Alliance between
liie Lord of the Isles and other Chiefs and Edward IV. of England—Singular Treaty
— Rebellion and Excesses of the Earl of Ross—his Submission and Assassination
Battle between the Clandonatd and Clankenzie—Combat between tlie Mackays and
the Rosses—Perfidious Attempt of the Blackays— Plan of James IV. to restore Good
Government in the Highlands— Repeated Visits to the Highlands and Islands— Feud
between Alexander Sutherland of Dilred, and Sir James Dunbar— Alexander Dun
bar killed by Alexander Sutherland— Execution of Dilred—The earl of Sutherland
kills one nephew and wounds another.
On tlie return of James I. from his captivity in England, he found
Scotland, and particularly the Highlands, in a state of the most fearful
insubordination. Rapine, robbery, and an utter contempt of the laws
prevailed to an alarming extent, which required all the energy of a wise
and prudent prince, like James, to repress. When these excesses were
first reported to James, by one of his nobles, on entering the kingdom,
he tlms expressed himself:— " Let God but grant me life, and there
shall not be a spot in my dominions where the key shall not keep the
castle, and the forze-bush the cow, though I myself should lead the life
of a dog to accomplish it."* The following correct and well-drawn
sketch of the state of the Highlands, in the reign of James I., is thus
given by Mr Tytler:— "At this period, the condition of the Highlands,
so far as is discoverable from the few authentic documents which have
reached our times, appears to have been in the highest degree rude and
imcivilized. There existed a singular combination of Celtic and of
feudal manners. Powerful chiefs, of Norman name and Norman blood,
had penetrated into the remotest districts, and ruled over multitudes of
vassals and serfs, whose strange and uncouth appellatives proclaim their
difference of race in the most convincing manner.f The tenure of lands
by charter and seisin, the feudal services due by the vassal to his lord,
* Fordun a Gnodal, vol. ii. 511.
i M.S. Adv. I.iti. Coll. Diplnm. a Ma.-larlane, vol. i. aifl.—MS. Cart. Moray, 2(a
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