History - Scotland - page 910

moured to be her lover), before he himself was murdered, probably by Mary's new lover
and third-husband-to-be, the earl of Bothwell.
The Scots had had enough; Mary's enemies
- an alliance of powerful nobles - finally con-
fronted her at Carberry Hill, east of Edinburgh,
and Mary was forced to abdicate in 1567 and
thrown into prison at Castle Leven. She man-
aged to escape, and met her enemies in battle
at Langside but was forced to flee to England
after being defeated. There, she was im-
prisoned for 19 years by Queen Elizabeth I be-
fore finally being executed in 1587.
Her son James VI (r 1567-1625) had meanwhile been crowned at Stirling, and a series
of regents ruled in his place. In England, Elizabeth died childless, and the English, desper-
ate for a male monarch, soon turned their attention north. James VI of Scotland became
James I of England and moved his court to London. His plan to politically unite the two
countries, however, failed. For the most part, the Stewarts (Stuarts) ignored Scotland from
then on.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser is the clas-
sic biography of Scotland's ill-starred queen, dig-
ging deep behind the myths to discover the real wo-
man caught up in the labyrinthine politics of the
period.

THE LORDS OF THE ISLES

In medieval times, when overland travel through the Scottish Highlands was slow, difficult and dangerous, the sea
lochs, firths (estuaries), kyles (narrow sea channels) and sounds of the west coast were the motorways of their
time. Cut off from the rest of Scotland, but united by these sea roads, the west coast and islands were a world -
and a kingdom - unto themselves.

Descended from the legendary Somerled (a half-Gaelic, half-Norse warrior of the 12th century), the chiefs of
Clan Donald claimed sovereignty over this watery kingdom. It was John Macdonald of Islay who first styled him-
self Dominus Insularum (Lord of the Isles) in 1353. He and his descendants ruled their vast territory from their
headquarters at Finlaggan in Islay, backed up by fleets of swift birlinns and nyvaigs (Hebridean galleys), an intim-
ate knowledge of the sea routes of the west and a network of coastal castles, which included Skipness, Dunstaffn-
age, Duart, Stalker, Dunvegan and Kisimul.

Clan Donald held sway over the isles, often in defiance of the Scottish kings, from 1350 to 1493. At its greatest
extent, in the second half of the 15th century, the Lordship of the Isles included all the islands on the west coast of
Scotland, the west-coast mainland from Kintyre to Ross-shire, and the Antrim coast of northern Ireland. But in a
greedy grab for territory, Clan Donald finally pushed its luck too far. John MacDonald made a secret pact with the
English king Edward IV to divide Scotland between them. When this treason was discovered 30 years later, the
Lordship was forfeited to King James IV of Scotland, and the title has remained in possession of the Scottish, and
later British, royal family ever since. Lord of the Isles is one of the many titles held today by Prince Charles, heir
to the British throne.