Of all periods in Scottish history, there can be none, which
has ever captured the hearts and minds of the people of many lands who consider themselves
Scottish, so much as the Jacobite era. But what exactly is it and who were the people who
became its main players? I originally set out to write this as one article, but thinking
about the issues and events, it seems to be more appropriate to separate events into two
sections, the background and events leading to Glencoe and then the events thereafter.
More romantic nonsense and half-truths have been written about this short space
of history than of virtually all the rest of recorded Scottish history combined. Why?
Probably because more people believe that the events occurring during this short period of
time directly affected the fate of their own families more than any other. While there is
certainly some truth in such a claim for many, for the majority, the supposed effect is
far fetched and imagination and supposition vastly outweighs reality.
So when was the Jacobite era and why was it so named?
The occupants of the thrones of England, Ireland, Scotland and
Wales have been the subject of much debate, theory and supposition over the
past 1,000 or so years, since Alfred burnt his cakes and in so doing beat
the Vikings to unify England and Alpin did something similar to largely
unify Scotland. The two neighbours lived very uncomfortably with each other
for the first five hundred years of the last millennium and at varying
times, the larger of the two, England wreaked havoc on the Scots and on the
two other Celtic nations, those of Ireland and Wales. However throughout
this entire period, the blood of the ruling families of each flowed through
the veins of each of the others, by virtue of peace treaties, war pacts and
dynastic unions. For example, the fact that they were brothers-in-law didn't
seem to stop James IV of Scotland leading the disastrous invasion of Henry
VIII’s England, which led to the almost total destruction of the Scottish
aristocracy on the field of Flodden. From time to time outsiders played a
key role in what happened on these tiny islands of ours and almost certainly
the most regular interferer was the Crown of France, almost permanently at
war with it’s cousin England and hence in alliance with Scotland.
This all changed quite dramatically when in 1603, the Virgin Queen of England,
Elizabeth I died without an heir of her own body. That she had an heir, there was no
doubt. She had them in bucket loads. Her father may not have produced any legitimate
grandchildren but his two sisters, the Queen of Scotland and Queen of France who later
became Duchess of Suffolk, produced heirs and lots of them. Henry VIII preferred his
younger sister, Mary Duchess of Suffolk and for a while, Elizabeth had favoured her family
as her heirs. However when she died, it was to a Scotsman that England turned and James VI
of Scotland became I of England as well.
James was unusual in that no warrior, he was a skilled diplomat and preferred
the power of the pen, to that of the sword. In addition, having been left a very poor
country by his mother, Mary, the ill-fated Queen of Scots, he inherited what to him must
have seemed like the Fort Knox gold reserves, the wealth of England. So overcome was
James, that it is said he knighted virtually every gentleman who crossed his path between
Edinburgh and London. James was infamous for at least three things. Firstly he was mean
and probably helped originate the reputation of Scots as canny or just downright
tight-fisted, a reputation we do not deserve. Secondly, although the father of many
children, he was homosexual, very vain and fell under the spell of one Villager, whom he
later created Duke of Buckingham. Thirdly and most disastrously, like all Stewart kings,
he believed he had been appointed by God and was only answerable to him, the notion of
"the Divine Right of Kings", which was to cost his second son Charles both his
crown and his head. James bred these notions into his family and it was these which began
to cause the seeds to be sown which eighty-five later would have such a dramatic effect on
his family.
James had fathered two sons before he inherited the English
throne. Henry Frederick was bright, athletic and everything a Duke of
Rothesay and future Prince of Wales should be. His younger brother Charles
was quieter and not groomed for any matter if importance. When disaster
struck in 1612 and Henry Frederick died, young Charles was catapulted into a
role he never expected, that of heir apparent. He developed from the sickly
child who could hardly walk without sticks into a quite determined young man
and at his side, was the Duke of Buckingham. With Buckingham’s murder in
1628, Charles lost his strongest ally and aid and the next ingredient for
the forthcoming troubles began to step forward into the limelight, the young
Queen Henrietta Maria. A daughter of the King of France, she was Roman
Catholic and while her husband never abandoned the Protestant faith, she
kindled in her younger son James, feeling which would also return to haunt
the dynasty. Charles was also dominated by another major influence in his
life, his sister Elizabeth. This relationship was also to have a major
effect on the future of the dynasty.
1612 not only saw Charles catapulted into the leading role, replacing the older
brother he idolised, but it saw his beautiful sister Elizabeth leave and cross Europe to
marry Frederick V, Elector Palatine and subsequently for a short while King of Bohemia.
They had a large family but two of their children are significant for this tale. Prince
Rupert of the Rhine was not only a beautiful young man, but as nephew to Charles I, played
a romantic lead in what became known as the English Civil War. A very brave though foolish
cavalry officer, he led the Royalist cavalry at several of the great set-piece battles of
the Civil Wars. It was however his sister Sophia who was to be the far more important
player.
Frederick and Elizabeth had been "elected" King and Queen of Bohemia
but within the space of one year were dethroned. After a dozen years of effectively
wandering the royal courts of Europe as political exiles, Frederick saddened the already
sad Elizabeth by dying and she then spent most of the rest of her life at the Court in The
Hague, where her niece Princess Mary ruled. Elizabeth of Bohemia has been consigned to
history as the rather sad figure evoked by the title "The Winter Queen", on
account of the fact that like the snow of Winter, her throne in Bohemia melted away with
the first warm rays of rebellion.
However I digress. As I said, Elizabeth, newly widowed, retired
to the comfort of the Court at the Hague, where as I said her niece,
Princess Mary, daughter of Charles I, was "Queen" as consort to
the Prince of Orange, William of Holland. Meanwhile, without the security of
their father’s throne, Frederick and Elizabeth’s family had to find
their own way in life. (This situation was almost exactly repeated by their
descendants, the Greek Royal Family after the coup which saw H.R.H. Prince
Philip of Greece and Denmark be almost made to wander the world like an
orphan before being transformed by his uncle into Lieutenant Mountbatten
before his marriage to H.M. the Queen). Elizabeth’s daughter Sophia did
the only thing a stateless Princess could do, which was to make a good
marriage and she found herself the wife of the Elector of Hanover, a minor
but nevertheless ruling, German Prince. I have never read whether Sophia
ever visited her mother in The Hague, but you can be certain that she wrote
and therefore there would have been family talk in each of the two Courts,
in Holland and Hanover. The other thing they had in common, apart from being
grandchildren of James VI and I, they were both Protestant Royal Families
and Protestant branches of the House of Stewart, which by now was married
into most of the Royal Houses of Europe.
Back in this Island, we saw James VI and I die in 1625 to be
replaced by the LAST Scottish king, Charles I, born at Dunfermline in 1600.
We all know that Charles was beheaded in 1649 and was replaced in name by
his eldest son Charles II who replaced him in fact on the Restoration of the
Monarchy in 1660. Charles fathered many sons, but sadly none by his wife.
His eldest son, born while he was in exile in Holland and France during the
Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell, was John Stewart, afterwards 1st
Duke of Monmouth. His father’s favourite son, he was also to play a key,
but tragic role in the events to follow.
This tragedy really moves into full swing in 1685. Charles II has
ruled this island of ours for 25 years. He has numerous bastard sons,
especially his favourite, Monmouth but no legitimate heirs by his Portuguese
wife, Catherine of Braganza. His heir is his brother James, Duke of York who
gave rise to that wonderful nursery rhyme, "The Grand Old Duke of
York". James had upset his parents by marrying a servant. Certainly she
was no ordinary servant, but Anne Hyde’s father plain Edward Hyde as he
then was, had been Charles I’s Secretary at the time of the Civil Wars.
Later knighted, Sir Edward Hyde was also a leader of the pro-Royal faction
in Parliament just before the outbreak of the first Civil war in 1642. Sir
Edward was later appointed Lord Chancellor, ennobled and became 1st
Earl of Clarendon, but neither Sir Edward nor Queen Henrietta Maria approved
of the 1660 marriage between the two, but then she was eight months
pregnant!! The marriage was however very strong and Protestant. It produced
two daughters, Princess Mary born in 1662 and Princess Anne born in 1665.
However sadly the marriage was to end with Anne’s death and in 1669 James
caused consternation by declaring that he had become a Roman Catholic, not
really surprising when you consider that his mother was French. James made
matters worse when the following year he married the Italian princess, Mary
Beatrice of Modena, but at least there were no children!!!
So we reach 1685. Protestant Charles II is heaving his last sigh
and breathing his last breath in London. He had numerous bastard sons
including the adult Monmouth in Holland but no lawful ones. His heir was his
brother James, now a Roman Catholic, married to a Roman Catholic and with
two Protestant daughters, Mary married to her first cousin, the Protestant
William Prince of Orange, son of James’ sister Mary and Anne recently
married to Prince George, younger brother of the equally Protestant King of
Denmark. Also in the wings was the third branch of the family important for
this story. James’ first cousin Sophia of Bohemia was of course also
married to another staunch Protestant, the Elector of Hanover and their son
George born in 1660 was in the same age group as his cousins Mary, Anne and
William.
Charles II died and his brother James, Duke of York and his
Italian wife were proclaimed King James VII and II and Queen Mary Beatrice.
A group of Protestant lords and other fools thought they could oust James
and put Monmouth in his place. This failed but in July 1685, Monmouth
invaded England, landing in the West Country and called on all England (it
was assumed Scotland would just do as it was told) to rally to him.
Unfortunately for him, the Army remained loyal to James and under the
command of the likes of John Churchill, later 1st Duke of
Marlborough, he defeated Monmouth’s army comprising a few well-trained
professional soldiers and mercenaries but mainly hundreds of poorly armed
farm servants. The "Bloody Assizes" presided over by Lord Chief
Justice, Lord Jeffries, painted into the history of England, one of it’s
most infamous chapters, with hundreds of innocent men, women and children
either executed or shipped off as slaves to the American colonies, depicted
by Errol Flynn in that great black and white classic "Captain
Blood".
Everyone lived a relatively tense lifestyle for almost three
years and then drama, Queen Mary Beatrice was pregnant. This is the first
great myth to be debunked. Prince James Francis Edward Stewart, Prince of
Wales and afterwards known to history as "The Old Pretender" was
born on 10th June 1688 in London. He was not a Scot and his
father was not a Scot. His grandfather Charles I was a Scot (but only
just!). The second myth to be debunked is the story surrounding his birth.
Hanoverian publicists for almost three centuries referred to him as
"The Baby in the Warming Pan". Being born after his parents had
been married for eighteen years, suspicion was inflamed among the people and
it was suggested that the Queen had miscarried and a servant woman’s child
had been smuggled in to replace the dead child, in a warming pan. The only
problem with this idea is what happens at Royal births. Even until
relatively recently, when a Queen or Princess of the Blood Royal went into
labour, the birth of the child was attended by around 20 people who were
either actually present in the room or in an ante chamber through which
anyone would have to pass. A live baby could not have been smuggled in to
replace a dead one without someone realising what had happened. It also
ignores the fact that after fleeing into exile, Queen Mary Beatrice had at
least one more child, a daughter.
What is certain is that in October 1688, the British establishment had had
enough of Roman Catholic James and the same men who three years earlier had so cruelly
defeated his nephew Monmouth, now welcomed his daughter Mary and son-in-law (and nephew)
William, Prince of Orange who landed on 5th November. James and his family fled
with their supporters to France. Mary Beatrice took the infant James away from Whitehall
on 9th December, disguising herself as a Laundress and the child as a bundle of
washing. The Jacobite era had begun. Jacobite of course just means "of Jacobus"
meaning "of James".
William and Mary meant well but Mary, who was by far the more popular of the
two died in 1694. William was no benign Monarch but the Protestants accepted him because
he accepted the rule of Parliament, which his uncle/father-in-law had not. William however
thought Scotland was only good for providing his armies with fresh men to fight the French
in the Low Countries. He allowed himself to be advised by such ambitious men as the
Viscount, later Earl of Stair and Earl of Breadalbane. He was merciless towards the
Jacobites who rose against him in 1689 and whom he decided to make an example of in
1691/2.
Now for the third, fourth and fifth myths, the Massacre of
Glencoe. That there was brutal cruelty and a breach of every kind of rule
about Highland hospitality is not in any doubt. That it was the settling of
an ancient score by the Campbell's against their sworn enemies the
Macdonald's is total fiction. The real culprit for the events of late
1691/early 1692 is an "honour" shared by uncle and nephew. In
London, William III decided to use a soldier’s style of brutal example to
reel in the rebel Highlanders. In Paris, James II was too preoccupied with
his mistresses and other vices. William had issued an Offer of Pardon and
Immunity to all Highland Chiefs taking an oath of allegiance to him by 1st
January 1692, William being in Flanders at the time. James too so long to
decide to permit the Chiefs to relinquish their oaths to him that his
messenger Duncan Menzies of Fornooth only arrived back in Edinburgh on 21st
December. That only one chief hadn't’t been able to hear the permission
and make his oath within ten days is a miracle. Historians rarely blame
James for what happened, they should.
That MacIain of Glencoe was some sort of bandit is not entirely
true. That he was hated by the Campbells is definitely not true. One
Campbell hated him. Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, also known as Iain Glas
and later as 1st Earl of Breadalbane, was power mad and very
jealous. He was jealous of the power his cousin, the Duke of Argyll, Chief
of Clan Campbell wielded, both at court and in his homelands. On word
reaching Argyll that William intended to land, Argyll seized Glasgow and the
West of Scotland and declared for William. At the same time his friends like
the Earl of Sutherland also acted, in his case seizing Inverness and
declaring for William. Breadalbane was outmanoeuvred by his cousin again. He
wanted to become the top Campbell dog in the kennel. He also intrigued and
became very close to a cunning and ambitious lawyer, Sir John Dalrymple,
Master of Stair. Stair’s father had returned from exile with William and
was created a Viscount. His son wanted more and in 1691 became sole
Secretary of State for Scotland, which made him the most powerful man in
Scotland, and at his side was Breadalbane. Breadalbane was also jealous of
the lands his cousin Argyll controlled and he started eyeing up the lands of
others. He wanted to expand his sphere of influence within the western part
of Scotland, north of his cousin Argyll’s lands and this meant Northwest
Perthshire and south west Inverness-shire as well as that fringe of
Argyllshire not fully controlled by the Duke.
There were already several Lairds, Chiefs and Chieftains
prominent in that area. The grandest was of course the Great Lochiel, Chief
of Clan Cameron. From his base in Achnacarry, he ruled much of what today
forms Lochaber District and such was the threat of his strength and power,
that the London based Government was to rebuild and garrison the old fort at
Maryburgh, now known as Fort William, among a number of other forts in that
pat of the western Highlands. Another man of influence though little land
was MacGregor of Glengyle. The problem here though was that MacGregor’s
wife Margaret was Breadalbane’s own first cousin, sister of the next key
player, Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon. History has painted Margaret
Campbell of Glenlyon not as one of those nasty dastardly Campbells, but as
the heroic mother of a heroic son. Yes Rob Roy MacGregor was more Campbell
than anything else and through his mother claimed close ties of blood to the
two great Campbells, the Earl of Breadalbane and the Duke of Argyll. He was
to hide behind his Campbell cousin’s veil of protection many times during
his adult life, when the going got too tough and he was a wanted man.
A third man of influence in the area was Margaret Campbell’s
brother, Captain Robert Campbell, 5th Laird of Glenlyon. A poor
pale remnant of the man he had once been, drinking and gambling as well as
unwise investments, had seen him dissipate his inheritance as a major
Chieftain within Clan Campbell and more and more he began to rely on the
financial handouts of his "generous" cousin Breadalbane. Never
could he have envisaged the effects both on him and his clan, when the
"pay-back" came!
The fourth character of major importance here was Alasdair
MacDonald, 12th of Glencoe. Known to history as "Red Alasdair" or
MacIain, he was the Chieftain of a little, but fiercely proud part of that
formerly great Clan MacDonald, Lords of the Isles, who had watched as piece
by piece, through Royal intrigue and mistaken judgement, it had been pushed
back to the mere fringes of it’s former "realms". The main
beneficiaries of the MacDonald fall from grace had been, the Campbell Earls
of Argyll!
Back to 1692. William of Orange wanted men for his armies and he
couldn’t risk the Catholic elements in Highland Scotland rising to support
his father-in-law’s still active claim for Restoration to the British
throne. Although both the Scots and English Parliaments strongly supported
William, he wanted something to act as a show of force. Stair and
Breadalbane saw this as their chance to strike and gain favour. I have
mentioned the Oath and Pardon, which accompanied it. Stair wanted to make an
example of someone, regardless of whether the oath was taken by all clans or
not. MacIain provided him with his victim. Having failed, through a
combination of wrong information and bad advice to take the oath on time,
MacIain was sitting like a dead duck in the water, waiting to be shot down.
Stair and Breadalbane were ready to strike. It is believed that Breadalbane
put the idea of the Massacre into Stair’s head. Breadalbane was desperate
to prove his loyalty since rumours had said, probably correctly, that he had
been flirting with The Jacobite cause. Certainly he had entered into talks
with the Jacobite chiefs after the failed Risings of 1689.
The first piece of treachery came with the choice of Commander.
In December 1645 and June 1646 and again in 1655, the MacDonalds of Glencoe
had participated in raids on Breadalbane, raids which both offended the
pride and pocket of the Campbell of Glenorchy. However the 1655 raids also
took place in Glenlyon. Iain Glas had waited a long time for revenge. What
better way than to organise the slaughter of MacIain and his brood. That
Glenlyon was a willing participant is highly unlikely. Glenlyon may have had
no love of the Glencoe MacDonalds, but he was closely related to them. The
fact that Breadalbane was equally closely related seems to have weighed
little with him. Breadalbane’s father, Sir John Campbell, 10th
Laird of Glenorchy had a sister Jean. She is probably the central figure in
this entire story, or rather her marital habits are!
Jean Campbell of Glenorchy was both unlucky in her choice of
husband and through those choices, the central figure, as I have said. Her
first husband quite naturally came from within her Campbell family. She
married Archibald Campbell, Heir to Glenlyon and that marriage produced the
ill-fated Captain Robert Campbell, 5th
of Glenlyon and his heroic sister, Margaret MacGregor of Glengyle, thus also
making her Rob Roy’s maternal grandmother. Archibald died in 1640 so she
moved on to husband number two, Patrick Roy MacGregor of Roro and this took
her slap bang into the middle of the Clan her daughter was subsequently also
to marry into. She didn’t wait long until she was widowed again but still
had time for another husband and this time it was Duncan Stewart of Appin,
another family which was to play a leading role in the Jacobite saga to
follow as anyone who has read Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson will know.
I know that was a work of fiction, but the alliances and many of the people
referred to did live, but under another identity. Jean Campbell, aunt to
Breadalbane, mother of Glenlyon and grandmother of Rob Roy, managed to bear
15 children between her first two husbands but still had time to provide
Duncan Stewart, 3rd Laird of Appin with one as well. Their
daughter married yet another Campbell, a Campbell of Lochnell and a daughter
of that union, Sarah Campbell of Lochnell married Alasdair Og, second son of
MacIain of Glencoe. Thus by virtue of her multiple marriages and off-spring,
Jean Campbell of Glenorchy made Sarah MacDonald of Glencoe the first cousin
once removed of Breadalbane, the niece of Glenlyon and the first cousin of
Rob Roy. Confused? You should be!
IT is quite clear that at the time Glenlyon led his two Companies
of men into Glencoe, he didn’t know what was to happen. In December 1691
and January 1692, Breadalbane and Stair wrote via General Sir Thomas
Livingstone and Colonel John Hill to Lowland officers Lieutenant-Colonel
James Hamilton and Major Robert Duncanson of Fassokie, clearly stating that
he wanted the MacDonalds of Glencoe wiped out. Hamilton and Duncanson
planned the Massacre. There is no doubt that Breadalbane suggested Glenlyon
as the fall guy and given his financial dependence on Breadalbane, Glenlyon
had the impossible choice of breaching the Highland code of Hospitality by
killing MacIain and his people, including potentially his own niece Sarah,
or disobeying a military order and at the same time betraying his duty of
allegiance to his cousin and financial backer, Breadalbane. He only received
the orders on the 13th February 1692, the day of the Massacre,
issued the day before by Duncanson. We all know what decision he took and it
ruined both the rest of his life and his clan’s name in Scottish history.
The unanswered question remains, why were so few murdered and so many
escaped? Was it perhaps that neither Glenlyon nor the few Highlanders within
his command could really stomach their orders and turned a blind eye to many
MacDonalds escaping.
The last myth to be debunked in part one of this tale is the Campbells doing
the slaughter. It is recorded that out of 135 men thought to be present and participating
in the slaughter, there were 15 Campbells including Glenlyon and the other Campbell
officers, hardly a majority or even a large minority. Maybe one day an old document will
be discovered in some long abandoned attic somewhere in the Highlands and the
recollections of someone present, written all those years ago will come to reveal the real
heroes and villains. Until then all we can do is speculate but we must leave the myths and
false claims to Hollywood.
Bibliography: A Pageant of History published 1970 by William
Collins and Son, Glasgow' Glencoe published 1966 by John Prebble, Rob Roy MacGregor
published 1982 by W.H. Murray, Dynasty: the Royal House of Stewart published 1990 by The
Royal Galleries of Scotland
© Mark Sutherland-Fisher some
parts Scottish History Online 2001
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