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Knoydart – the northern edge of the 'Rough Bounds' is one of the most evocative names in Scotland. This text offers a history of Knoydart from the earliest times to the present day. A remote and desolate peninsula, its name derives from Viking settlers who only reckoned it worth three ouncelands – compared to five for the island of Eigg. Its warlike but impoverished inhabitants caused endless problems for their neighbours during the 17th century before becoming notorious in the 18th century under the leadership of Coll of Barrisdale. His protection racket has bequeathed the word 'blackmail' to the English language and he was notorious across Scotland. For the Jacobites, as well, Knoydart...
Heroism, gunpowder and treachery in the Royal Navy. The first in an extraordinary series of naval adventures 1662: After Matthew Quinton sunk the first ship he was given to command, he is surprised when the King gives him captaincy of H.M.S. Jupiter with orders to stamp out a Scottish rebellion. This time Quinton is determined to prove his worth. In a country of divided loyalties, Charles II needs someone he can trust, and – with an elder brother deep in the King’s confidence – Matthew is one of the few eligible candidates. But now Quinton must face an unruly crew, suspicions of murder, stirrings of conspiracy and the angry seas. Will treason be found in Scotland... or is it lurking cl...
Warfare between the clans of the Highlands in the late Middle Ages determined the course of history in this region of Scotland, and Chris Peers’ gripping account of it – and of the rivalry between the strongest clans – gives the reader a deep insight into this bloody, turbulent phase in the development of the far north of the British Isles. The battles he describes, all of them fought between the 1430s and the 1540s, were flash points in the long struggle for dominance between the leading clans of the region. The battles are reconstructed in vivid detail. The first, Druim n Coub, was fought in 1433 between the Mackays and the Sutherlands. Then came Bloody Bay, a sea fight between rival...
This in-depth history of medieval Scottish warfare highlights the rivalries between the Norse warlords and the early Scottish kings. Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Scotland’s northern and western highlands underwent a turbulent period of significant wars. The Highlands and islands were controlled by the kings of Norway or by Norse or Norse-Celtic warlords, who not only resisted Scottish royal authority but on occasion seemed likely to overthrow it. In The Highland Battles, Chris Peers provides a coherent and vivid account of the campaigns and battles that shaped Scotland. The narrative is structured around a number of battles—Skitten Moor, Torfness, Tankerness, Renfrew, Mam Garvia, Clairdon and Dalrigh—which illustrate phases of the conflict and reveal the strategies and tactics of the rival chieftains. Peers explores the international background to many of these conflicts which had consequences for Scotland’s relations with England, Ireland and continental Europe. He also considers to what extent the fighting methods of the time survived into the post-medieval period.
Amde Maingard was a young Mauritian studying in London in 1939 who volunteered for the British Army. After a frustrating spell in the infantry, Maingard joining the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and later had a successful career as a leader and peace keeper in France and later Mauritius. Maingard returned to Mauritius and was instrumental in developing the islands tourism and hotel industry. Founder and first Chairman of Air Mauritius, he became one of his countrys most successful postwar businessmen before illness cut short his ambition and he died in 1981 at the age of 62.
Raymond Flower brings the enchanting history of the secluded Italian region Chianti to vivid life. Using meticulous research, Flower presents the engrossing tales of the Etruscans, the Romans, the Lombards, the factions of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines and explores the rise of the communes and the struggles between the Empire and the Papacy. In the late Middle Ages, Chianti was the scene of decisive battles, and many of its medieval buildings were destroyed in the Aragonese invasions of the 15th century. Flower is himself a wine grower, and this dazzling story evokes the beauty of the vintage, which has been a part of the region since Etruscan times.
This is the first book ever to be written on the collective history of the little group of islands between Ardnamurchan and Skye. As some of the best known Hebridean islands, Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck have a long and varied history, but are also amongst the least documented. Rum was the playground of the Macruari kings of the Northern Hebrides; Eigg was the island meeting point where their descendants conceded primacy to the Islay Macdonalds, while Muck and Canna were the property of Iona, spiritual nerve centre of the west. With reference to both the extensive material remains on the islands and rare original source material, this book is a dynamic and wideranging account of the Small Isles and their history.
Examines the union of England and Scotland by weaving the navy into a political narrative of events between the regal union in 1603 and the parliamentary union in 1707.This book examines the union of England and Scotland by weaving the navy into a political narrative of events between the regal union in 1603 and the parliamentary union in 1707. For most of the century the Scottish crown had no separate naval force which made the Stuart monarchs' navy, seen by them as a personal not a state force, unusual in being an institution which had a relationship with both kingdoms. This did not necessarily make the navy a shared organisation, as it continued to be financed from and based in England an...
The Highlander has never enjoyed a good press, and has been usually characterised as peripheral and barbaric in comparison to his Lowland neighbour, more inclined to fighting than serving God. In Clerics and Clansmen Iain MacDonald examines how the medieval Church in Gaelic Scotland, often regarded as isolated and irrelevant, continued to function in the face of poverty, periodic warfare, and the formidable powers of the clan chiefs. Focusing upon the diocese of Argyll, the study analyses the life of the bishopric, before broadening to consider the parochial clergy – in particular origins, celibacy, education, and pastoral care. Far from being superficial, it reveals a Church deeply embedded within its host society while remaining plugged into the mainstream of Latin Christendom.
Storm clouds always gather over the story of the Highland Clearances. The eviction of the Highlanders from the glens and straths of the Highlands and Islands of the north of Scotland still causes great historical dispute more than a century after the events. The Highland Clearances also generated a great deal of contemporary controversy and documentation. The record comes in diverse forms and with radically different provenances, offering excellent material for exercises in historical analysis and selection. Debating the Highland Clearances introduces the Highland Clearances as a classic historical problem. Eric Richards reviews the historical debate and examines the methods and sources employed by the combatants past and present. The debates among historians, novelists, politicians and economists are no less passionate today and raise major questions about interpretation and the appropriate frame of reference for the noisy and continuing public debate about the Highland Clearances. This book prese