More on Makars' Court - Edinburgh Museums

The Makars
There follows brief biographical details on the writers, setting the quotations in context. The
words inscribed on the stones are underlined. Details of sponsors are given for those writers
commemorated since 1998.
John Barbour (c.1320-1395)
Clerk and auditor to the Exchequer of King Robert II, Barbour, "the father of Scottish
literature", is best-known for his epic poem, The Bruce. Written in 1375, it is the earliestsurviving
major poem written in Scots and deals with the Wars of Independence, and the
Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 -
A! Fredome is a noble thing,
Fredome mays man to haiff liking,
Fredome all solace to man griffis,
He levys at es that frely levys.
Lachlan Mor MacMhuirich (c1370-1438)
A Chlanna Cuinn cuimhnichibh
Cruas an àm na h-iorghaile
(Translation: O Children of Conn, remember
Hardihood in time of battle.)
[from the first verse of his poem the "Harlaw Brosnachadh” (Incitement to Battle) written in
Scots Gaelic, 1411]
Lachlan Mór MacMhuirich was a member of Scotland's longest lived bardic dynasty, the
MacMhuirich's. The MacMhuirichs (later anglicised to "Currie") served for over 700 years as
professional poets to the Lords of the Isles and later to the MacDonalds of Clanranald among
other prominent Highland clans and families. The Red Book of Clanranald, one of Gaelic
Scotland’s literary treasures, was penned by successive generations of the MacMhuirich
family.
Lachlan Mór MacMhuirich’s, Harlaw Brosnachadh, or "Incitement to Battle" was delivered
by MacMhuirich on the eve of the Battle of Red Harlaw on July 24, 1411 to inspire the army
of the Lord of the Isles to victory in the following day's battle. This battle, one of the fiercest
ever fought on Scottish soil, was occasioned by the claim of Donald, Lord of the Isles, to the
earldom of Ross: a claim vigorously contested by the Earl of Mar, whose uncle the Duke of
Albany, brother of the late Robert III, was ruling as regent for the imprisoned James I.
The poem begins "Children of Conn, remember hardihood in time of battle” - addressing
Clan Donald with reference to their putative descent from Conn of the Hundred Battles, a
heroic king of Irish tradition.
Sponsored by the Clan Currie Society, Inc.