THE HISTORY OF THE AREA

The Wars of Independence

In the 1290's, after the deaths of Alexander III and his successor, the infant Margaret (the maid of Norway), the kingdom was plunged into the uncertainty of a disputed succession. Under the arbitration of Edward I of England, the claims of John Balliol were upheld, but Edward had begun to act as though he were overlord of Scotland and Balliol was just his vassal. This drove the Scots to make an alliance with Edward's French enemies. Edward had marched into Scotland in 1296, defeated the Scottish army in a rout at Dunbar, and forced King John to abdicate. Amongst the many Scottish nobles captured at Dunbar had been William Earl of Ross, who was sent as a prisoner to the Tower of London. He was soon released, having sworn his loyalty to King Edward, and returned to his lands in the north.

In 1306, the vacant throne was seized by Robert Bruce. Earl William had both given oaths of loyalty to King Edward and was a close ally and kinsman of Robert's greatest enemies, the Comyns - he was married to the sister of Alexander Comyn, earl of Buchan - and so found himself one of the new king's opponents. After defeat in battle at Methven near Perth in 1307 King Robert sent most of his family, including his wife, daughter and two of his brothers, under the protection of the earl of Atholl, northwards for safety. It is believed that they were intending to seek refuge in Orkney, but pursuers were always close on their heels and at Tain they were cornered and took refuge in the sanctuary of St Duthac. Earl William, more mindful of his loyalty to King Edward and the Comyns, than of the privileges of the church of Tain, had them dragged out and sent under escort to King Edward. The fate of the prisoners is well known: the women were imprisoned in iron cages in various parts of the country, while Atholl was hanged, his head afterwards being stuck on a pike and his body burned on the orders of the ageing and increasingly vindictive Edward.

It was not until the autumn of 1307 that Robert was able to set his revenge in motion, capturing the Comyn-held castles of Inverlochy and Urquhart, and burning Inverness and Nairn. Earl William's nerve broke as he approached and he speedily made a truce. Robert, though, further consolidated his position in the early months of 1308, crossing into the Black Isle and seizing Tarradale Castle, which forced Earl William and his son, Hugh, to retreat to their own stronghold near Tain. In the west of the earldom, too, William was coming under attack from one of his own vassals who had joined with Robert in an effort to improve his own position at the expense of the earl. Under such pressure the earl decided that discretion was the better part of valour and on 31st October 1308 he surrendered to Robert at Auldearn near Nairn.

However, Robert needed the earl to fully establish his control in the north and pardoned him for all that he had done, restoring his lands to him and adding moreover the royal castle and burgh of Dingwall, plus land on the north side of the Dornoch Firth at Creich. From these new lands, William provided £20 annually for the support of six chaplains at the church of Tain, which was already recognised as a pilgrimage centre and the chief church of Easter Ross. These chaplains were to say perpetual masses for the souls of King Alexander III and for the executed earl of Atholl. Considering the enormity of his crime, the earl of Ross had escaped lightly.

Earl William died in 1323 and was succeeded by his elder son, Hugh, who was an especial favourite of King Robert's. Until the death of the king in 1329 Hugh was showered with gifts of land and offices which made him one of the richest men in the kingdom and, after the earl of Moray, the most powerful nobleman in the north. Earl Hugh, however, did not enjoy his high position, for in 1333 he joined the Scottish army and marched south to the relief of Berwick, which was besieged by Edward III of England. Despite the fact that he was wearing the shirt of St Duthac which was supposed to protect its wearer from all injury, he perished in the bloody rout of Halidon Hill outside the town. St Duthac obviously enjoyed an international reputation by that time for, when the earl's body was recognised, the victorious English considerately returned the relic to its shrine.

Hugh's son, William, was to be the last of the descendants of Ferchar MacTaggart to hold the earldom of Ross. He had no legitimate sons and this deficiency of heirs was seized on by King David II. Although William had brothers whom the king could have allowed to succeed to the earldom, any request for this was refused and it was insisted that the lands and title descend to Ross's daughter. The earl was then forced to marry the girl off to Walter Leslie, one of David's most loyal henchmen. When William died in 1372, therefore, although the headship of the Ross kindred passed to his younger brother, who was the ancestor of the Rosses of Balnagown, the earldom itself passed to Walter in right of his wife. Walter passed on a substantial inheritance to his son, Alexander. This made him one of the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom and Robert Stewart Duke of Albany, younger brother of King Robert III, made sure that it was his daughter that Alexander married. But the young earl died suddenly in 1402, leaving only a daughter, Euphemia, to succeed to the title, and ominous clouds gathered over the future of the earldom.

Her grandfather, Duke Robert, immediately took her into his ward, but there were others with an interest in the fate of the earldom. Donald, Lord of the Isles, had married Earl Alexander's sister, Mary Leslie, who was Euphemia's nearest heir. His cause seemed entirely lost in 1415 when Euphemia resigned her lands to her uncle the earl of Buchan and became a nun. But Donald persevered with his claims and referred to himself in his charters as Lord of the Isles and of the earldom of Ross. He died in 1423 and his son, Alexander MacDonald, continued to advance his claims to the earldom and, thirteen years after the death of his father, was granted the coveted title. It remained with his family, however, for only thirty-nine years, for his son, John, rebelled against James III and had the earldom confiscated in 1475 as punishment for his treason. Despite the repeated efforts of the Lords of the Isles to regain their earldom, it remained in royal hands thereafter.

THE STORY OF GLENMORANGIE MALT WHISKY DISTILLING Introduction Chronology of Distilling The Early Days of Distilling Illicit Whisky Distilling STORIES AROUND THE DISTILLERY Introduction The Ancient Burgh The Immortal Walter Scott The White Lady GLENMORANGIE DISTILLERY Introduction Early Days at Glenmorangie Enmeshed in the local rural framework A comfortable little backwater Maltbarns into makeshift barracks New owners and the Roaring Twenties A return to older ways Progress has some advantages THE HISTORY OF THE AREA Introduction Earliest Times The Dark Ages Ross in the Middle Ages The Wars of Independence The Church of St Duthac at Tain The Reformation/Ross of Morangie

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