BATTLE OF EPIPHANY – 1156 CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

BATTLE OF THE EPIPHANY

6 January 1156: Somerled defeats the Norse at the Battle of Epiphany (probably off Islay) and subsequently becomes King of the Isles, leader of a Gaelic state centred on Finlaggan on Islay.

Somerled (a.k.a. Sumarlidhi Höld) was born in about 1113 (sources differ) and either in Morvern or in northern Ireland (ditto). His father was Gillebride Mac Gille Adomnan, a descendant of a noble Gaelic family who were probably an offshoot of the House of Alpin at the time Kenneth I ( Carruthers ancestor)  combined Dalriada with Pictavia.

Somerled’s mother was of Norse descent.

Somerled’s grandfather, Gilledomman of the Isles, had been defeated by the Norse and exiled to Ireland. When he was a child, Somerled’s more immediate family was also expelled from their home and sent to Ireland. His father Gillebride raised an army of 500 and returned to Morvern to regain their lands; but was beaten off and killed.

Much of Somerled’s youth was spent on the margins of life in his native land. But some time around 1135 he became the leader of a rebellion against the Norse control. He successfully cleared Morvern, Lochaber and the northern part of Argyll from Norse influence and became known as Thane of Argyll: possibly with the formal endorsement of David I of Scotland who would have been grateful to see the Norse tide turned back in at least one part of Scotland.

In 1140, Somerled extended his area of influence by marrying Ragnhild, daughter of Olaf the Red (Olaf I The Red Godredson), the Norse King of Man, whose territory included the Hebrides. They had three sons, Dughall, Ragnald, and Aonghus. Somerled also had one son by a previous marriage: Gillecallum. Shortly afterwards Somerled helped suppress an uprising against Olaf the Red.

In 1143 Olaf the Red was murdered by the sons of his brother Harold but was succeeded as King of Man by his son (and Somerled’s brother in law) Ochraidh Godred II the Black Olafson, or Godfrey the Black. Godfrey ruled with a heavy hand, and was deeply unpopular. In 1155 there was an uprising against Godfrey, and this time Somerled backed it.

 His involvement proved decisive. Using a fleet of galleys fitted with rudders, the latest in naval technology, he defeated Godfrey at the Battle of Epiphany (probably off Islay) on 5-6 January 1156 and declared himself Ri Innse Gall or King of the Isles. What Somerled had achieved was to introduce a “third force” into the long-standing conflict between the Kings of Scotland and the Kings of Norway over the ownership of the Hebrides. While the title Ri Innse Gall dated back centuries before Olaf the Red, all its holders up to Godfrey the Black owed allegiance to the King of Norway. In contrast, Somerled’s Kingdom of the Isles was not a subservient kingdom to the Kingdom of Norway, it was a separate kingdom, independent of both Norway and Scotland.

The Battle of Epiphany was a naval battle fought on 5–6 January or 12 January 1156, between the Norse Godred Olafsson (Godred the Black), King of the Isles and the Norse-Gaelic Somhairle MacGillebride (Somerled), King of Cinn Tìre (Kintyre), Argyll and Lorne, off the coast of Islay, Scotland.

Background

Olafr Godredsson, King of the Isles, was murdered on 29 June 1153 by his nephews and his son Godred became king in his place. After ascending to the throne, Godred ruled with a heavy hand, which upset some of his chiefs. Somerled who had married Raghnailt, the daughter of Olafr, was approached by a number of men headed by Thornfinn Ottarsson. Somerled agreed to their plan to overthrow Godred and replace him with Somerled’s son Dubgall mac Somairle. He began preparations and began construction of 80 ships modelled on the Norse longship, known as birlinns and nyvaigs (the latter being the first ship to have a stern rudder directly in the rear of the vessel). Somerled having recognised the importance of dominating the sea, with which the Norse had successfully conquered the Isles.

Battle

Thornfinn and Dubgall were sailing around the Isles seeking fealty for the latter as the next king. Godred became aware of their treachery and he sailed his fleet to attack.

The fleets of Godred and Somerled met off Islay, to the north at Rubh’ a’ Mhaoil, on the night of the Epiphany on 5–6 January or 12 January 1156, and a fierce battle continued through into the next day. A stalemate occurred between the two fleets and Godred and Somerled initiated talks. The contemporary evidence for the location of the battle is slight and some authors have suggested the battle took place to the west of Islay, although Marsden (2008) favours the narrow Sound of Islay.

Aftermath

After discussions and agreement, Godred ceded the isles to the south of Ardnamurchan (Mull, Jura and Islay) to Somerled, while keeping the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Isle of Man. The Chronicle of Mann and the Sudreys lamented that “thus was the Kingdom of the Isles ruined”. – Wikipedia

The newly powerful Somerled was seen as a serious threat by King Malcolm IV of Scotland, and in 1160 the two met in indecisive battle in Argyll. After an uneasy peace, conflict was resumed in early 1164. Somerled landed an army of 15,000 men from 164 galleys at Greenock. He intended to capture Renfrew, but somewhere near Inchinnan (close to the site of today’s Glasgow Airport), Somerled was intercepted by forces under Walter Fitzalan, High Steward of Scotland. Somerled betrayed and killed, allegedly by a nephew in the pay of Malcolm IV. His army returned to their galleys and departed without engaging in a full scale battle. Accounts differ as to whether Somerled was buried on Iona or at Saddell Abbey.

Somerled is credited with breaking the stranglehold of the Norse on western Scotland and the Isles. There is a certain irony in this as he was himself Norse on his mother’s side (and possibly in part on his father’s side according to DNA studies); and he had married into the family of Olaf the Red. The independent kingdom he had briefly created was not to outlive him, but Somerled had changed things for good.

After his death, Somerled’s Kingdom of the Isles was divided amongst his three sons from his marriage to Ragnhild. The descendants of Aonghus went on to form the Clan McRuari or McRory; the descendants of Dughall went on to form the Clan MacDougall; and the descendants of Ragnald’s son Donald Mor McRanald would become the Clan Donald, who went on to found the Lordship of the Isles. Widespread DNA studies suggest that as many as 500,000 people living today are descended from Somerled: this is a number only bettered by Genghis Khan who, again according to DNA studies, is estimated to be the ancestor of 16 million people alive toda

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THE REGULATORS – 1764-1771- CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

THE REGULATORS

NORTH CAROLINA – USA

Regulators of North Carolina, (1764–71), in American colonial history, vigilance society dedicated to fighting exorbitant legal fees and the corruption of appointed officials in the frontier counties of North Carolina.

The Regulators were off the boat Scottish Highlanders and Lowlanders who had been sent to America after the Jacobite battle at Culloden.   Strong warriors who fought for what they thought was right.

Deep-seated economic and social differences had produced a distinct east-west sectionalism in North Carolina. The colonial government was dominated by the eastern areas, and even county governments were controlled by the royal governor through his power to appoint local officers. Backcountry (western) people who suffered from excessive taxes, dishonest officials, and exorbitant fees also became bitter about multiple office holdings. The regional struggle would come to a head during the administration of Royal Governor William Tryon. Tryon had angered colonists throughout North Carolina by preventing the colonial assembly from sending a delegation to the Stamp Act Congress (1765), and his attempts to enforce the Navigation Acts aroused passions further.

In the backcountry, Herman Husband, a Quaker farmer and pamphleteer, emerged as the chief spokesperson of the oppressed Piedmont farmers. Husband suggested measures for relief, but his Quaker faith prevented him from advocating violence as a recourse. Tryon manifested no sympathy for Husband’s cause and sought only to suppress the disturbance, which had by that time organized itself as the Regulators, “for regulating public grievances and abuses of power.” The Regulators agreed to pay no more taxes until satisfied that they were in accordance with the law and to pay no fees in excess of what the law allowed. They punished public officials and interfered with the courts.

Tryon quickly took steps to quash the rebellion. In the spring of 1768 the local militia was called out, but many militiamen sympathized with the Regulators’ cause, and only a few would serve. The only means found to quiet the disturbance was an alleged promise from the governor that if the Regulators would petition him for redress and return to their homes, he would see that justice was done. In his reply to their petition, however, Tryon denied that he had made any such promise, and by September 1768 he had at his command a military force of more than 1,100 men, about one-fourth of whom were officers. The Regulators assembled an opposing force of some 3,700 volunteers, but they were not prepared to contend with the trained, well-armed militia and again submitted without bloodshed. Husband and several leaders of the movement were arrested but soon released.

In 1769 Husband and John Pryor, a prominent Regulator, were elected to the colonial assembly as county representatives. The influence of the Regulators in the assembly was minimal, however, and the concerns of the western farmers continued to be unaddressed. When the superior court met at Hillsborough in September 1770, the Regulators became desperate. They directed their ire at Crown Attorney Edmund Fanning, Tryon’s close friend and a man widely perceived to be the embodiment of political corruption in North Carolina. The Regulators disrupted the court proceedings, beat Fanning, drove him from the town, and ransacked his residence. These riotous proceedings provoked Tryon to launch a second military expedition, and on May 16, 1771, with a force of about 1,000 men and officers, he met about twice that number of Regulators at Alamance, near modern-day Burlington. There, after two hours of fighting, the ammunition of the Regulators was exhausted and they were routed. Tryon reported that 9 militiamen had been killed and 61 wounded, while estimates of Regulator casualties remained a matter of speculation. About 15 Regulators were taken prisoner, and, of these, 7 were executed.

After the Battle of Alamance, many frontiersmen fled to Tennessee, but the legacy of bitterness induced the remaining Regulators to continue their own futile agitation for five more years. This insurrection was in no sense a beginning of the American Revolution. On the contrary, most of the colonial militia who fought for Tryon at Alamance would join the patriot cause, and the majority of the Regulators who remained in North Carolina were loyalists.

JOHN SPENCER BASSETT

John Spencer Bassett (1867-1928), professor of history at Trinity College (later Duke University), wrote extensively about North Carolina history, including the Regulation movement, about which he published a lengthy article in the 1894 American Historical Association Report. The Regulators were a large group of North Carolina colonists who opposed the taxation and fee system imposed by colonial officials in the late 1760s. This political argument led to a battle between the colonial militia and the Regulators in 1771. Following this battle, a few Regulators were hanged and the majority pardoned, bringing the movement to an end.

Prior to Bassett’s investigation, North Carolina historians had seen in North Carolina’s War of Regulation the beginning of the American Revolution in the colony, in part spurred by the religious beliefs of backcountry settlers. John Spencer Bassett argues in his frequently cited text that North Carolina’s Regulation movement was not a revolution and that it was only slightly tied to the unrest in other parts of the North American colonies. Bassett’s view is that the Regulators did not wish to change the form or principle of their government, but simply wanted to make the colony’s political process more equal. They wanted better economic conditions for everyone, instead of a system that benefited the colonial officials. Bassett interprets the events of the late 1760s in Orange and surrounding counties as “a peasants’ rising, a popular upheaval” .

Bassett notes that this upheaval was not religious in nature, but rather was opposed by four of the five leading denominations in the area. Indeed, Presbyterians were instrumental in helping raise troops to fight the Regulators, and a portion of Baptists excommunicated those who had taken part in the unrest. Bassett also downplays the role played by Herman Husband, the Quaker pamphleteer who is often identified as one of the movement’s leaders. To Bassett, Husband was a moderate, simply attempting to bring the various sides together, but because of his prominence as a writer and a correspondent of Benjamin Franklin, government officials continually identified him as a leader of the disgruntled faction. Bassett’s analysis of the Regulators’ uprising remains the predominant understanding of these events, although today Herman Husband is still generally recognized as a leader of the Regulators.

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THE BATTLE OF ARFDERYDD – CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

 

THE BATTLE OF ARFDERYDD

AND   GWYN AP NUDD

 

In my waking dream spears pierce the night sky opening onto another night filled with rainbows and blinding stars. Battle cries ascend from black fog. In a stained glass window I glimpse a man with a hunched back in a green and mossy gown departing from a picture into darkness. From these images I derive my research on Gwyn ap Nudd and the Old North should begin with the Battle of Arfderydd. This is an account of my initial findings and thoughts to date.

The Battle of Arfderydd haunts Britain’s consciousness as one of three of the most futile Dark Age battles. It took place in 573 and was fought between Brythonic rulers of the Old North; Gwenddolau ap Ceidio and his cousins Gwrgi and Peredur ap Eliffer. All were descendants of Coel Hen. Thus it epitomises the internecine strife that prevented northern rulers from putting up a successful resistance to the Angles of Northumbria.

The Triads of Ancient Britain tell us it was fought over a lark’s nest. This probably refers to Caerlaverock (‘Lark’s Fort’) on the site of which still stands a stunning medieval castle. It is generally believed the Battle of Arfderydd took place on the plain between Liddel Water and Carwinley Burn. It is possible the motte and bailey named Liddel Strength was the location of Gwenddolau’s fort. After Gwenddolau was killed, his war-band retreated to the fort and held out for ‘a fortnight and a month’ before their defences fell and they too were slain and (according to a local tradition) buried near Upper Moat.

In ‘The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir’ Gwyn states his presence at Gwenddolau’s death:

‘I was there when Gwenddolau was slain,
Ceidio’s son, a pillar of poetry,
When ravens croaked on gore.’

That Gwenddolau adhered to a pre-Christian mythos featuring Gwyn as a god who gathered the souls of the dead to Annwn is hinted at by certain lines in the Triads. Gwenddolau is referred to as one of three ‘Bull Protectors’ of Britain. Gwyn himself is referred to as a ‘Bull of battle’. Contrary to popular belief, Celts and not Vikings wore helmets affixed with bull horns. The bull was viewed as a sacred animal and its qualities were attributed to war leaders and psychopomps. It is also of interest ‘Gwyn’ and ‘Gwen’ both mean ‘white’ or ‘blessed’.

Gwenddolau is also said to own a pair of birds who wear a ‘yoke of gold’ and devour two corpses of the Britons for dinner and two for supper. If the latter is an oblique reference to funerary practices whereby bodies are left on stone slabs for their flesh to be consumed by carrion birds this shows Gwenddolau and his people were not performing Christian burials. The northern Britons may have believed Gwyn’s presence as a gatherer of souls was signalled by the approach of corpse-eating birds (or dogs or wolves). Gwenddolau’s birds may have had a permanent position in this role.

Another striking passage which may read as a portrayal of Gwyn’s presence at the Battle of Arfderydd with the spirits of Annwn can be found in The Life of St Kentigern. Here, Lailoken (Myrddin Wyllt) tells the saint of a vision which drove him to madness in Coed Celyddon (the Caledonian Forest):

‘In that fight the sky began to split above me and I heard a tremendous din, a voice from the sky saying to me ‘Lailocen, Lailocen, because you alone are responsible for the blood of all these dead men, you alone will bear the punishment for the misdeeds of all. For you will be given over to the angels of Satan, and until the day of your death you will have communion with the creatures of the wood. But when I directed my gaze towards the voice I heard, I saw a brightness too great for human senses to endure (my italics).

I saw, too, numberless martial battalions in the heaven, like flashing lightning, holding in their hands fiery lances and glittering spears which they shook most fiercely at me. So I was torn out of myself and an evil spirit seized me and assigned me to the wild things of the woods, as you see.’

It seems possible the introduction of the voice of God and angels of Satan are a Christian cover for the appearance of Gwyn and the spirits of Annwn. Gwyn’s earlier name Vindonnus ‘clear light, white’ links him to the unendurable brightness. As a god of thresholds; between the worlds and life and death, experiences of his presence take place on the edge of human sense. Hence Lailoken / Myrddin’s transition from ‘sanity’ to ‘madness.’

The battalions in the sky look more like warriors than angels. The notion that the spirits of Annwn include deified ancestors arriving to take their fallen kindred fits with their numinous apparel. These spirits are frequently demonised by Christian writers. That an ‘evil spirit’ (ie. a spirit of Annwn) tears Lailoken / Myrddin ‘out of himself’ and assigns him to the wildwood is a significant factor in his flight and later recovery.

 

In the saga poetry of The Black Book of Carmarthen and The Red Book of Hergest we witness Myrddin’s transformation from a golden-torqued warrior of Gwenddolau’s court into a poet who prophecies against war. Myrddin shares harrowing depictions of ‘the blood-shed of battle’ and his guilt about the deaths of Gwendydd’s children. Whether he is literally responsible for killing them or feels responsible is uncertain.

‘Now Gwendydd loves me not and does not greet me…
I have killed her son and daughter.
Death has taken everyone, why does it not call me?
For after Gwenddolau no lord honours me.’

He mourns Gwenddolau’s death:

‘I have seen Gwenddolau, a glorious prince,
Gathering booty from every border;
Beneath the brown earth now he is still,
Chief of the kings of the North, greatest in generosity.’

Myrddin also speaks of his flight from ‘Rhydderch Hael, defender of the Faith’. Rhydderch was ruler of Alt Clut and renowned for championing Christianity and his patronage of St Kentigern. Myrddin’s words have led some scholars to believe Arfderydd was fought between Pagan (Gwenddolau) and Christian (Rhydderch) forces. After Gwenddolau’s death Rhydderch rises to greater power, forming an alliance with Urien Rheged, Gwallog ap Llenog and Mercant Bwlc against the Angles at Lindisfarne.

During this period Myrddin retreats to Celyddon, keeping the company of wild creatures such as wolves, a piglet and a favoured apple tree. He states he has wandered ‘ten and twenty years’ with ‘madness and madmen’ ‘gan willeith a gwyllon.’ Myrddin’s epithet ‘gwyllt’ means ‘mad’ or ‘wild.’ ‘Gwyllon’ can refer to ‘madmen’, ‘wildmen’ or to ‘spirits’ or ‘shades.’ They may be equated with the ‘seven score men’ who fought at Arfderydd then lapsed into madness in Celyddon and perished. These gwyllon are ancestral presences; spirits of Annwn.

Myrddin’s capacity to see the spirits of Annwn may result from his vision of the brightness beyond endurance. Whilst initially it tips him over the edge, it confirms the existence of Gwyn and his spirits and an afterlife. This provides him with the strength to live through suffering; ‘Snow up to my hips among the wolves of the forest, / Icicles in my hair’ until his ‘threefold’ death. Myrddin says ‘After enduring sickness and grief in the Forest of Celyddon / May I be a blissful man with the Lord of Hosts.’ (In ‘The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir’ Gwyn is referred to as ‘Lord of Hosts’.)

Associations between Gwyn and healing processes that take place in the wild also appear in a fourteenth century Latin manuscript called Speculum Christiani: ‘Some stupid people also stupidly go to the door holding fire and iron in the hands when someone has inflicted illness, and call to the king of the Benevolent Ones and his queen, who are evil spirits, saying ‘Gwyn ap Nudd who are far in the forests for the love of your mate allow us to come home.’

Myrddin’s vision also grants him the power of prophetic poetry. It is noteworthy that this former warrior uses poetry to give voice to the horror of warfare and to warn against future bloodshed. A critical attitude toward war differentiates the saga poems from earlier heroic poetry. We might recall similarities between Myrddin’s ‘Death has taken everyone, why does it not call me?’ and Gwyn’s ‘I have been where the warriors of Britain were slain / I live on; they are dead’. Both are laments.

Unfortunately, the northern British stories of Gwyn ap Nudd and Myrddin Wyllt and the deep, wild wisdom they contain are little known in contrast to the courtly Christian tales of King Arthur, Merlin and his knights. For a medieval aristocracy later bent on Crusades; ‘One King, One God, One Law’ there was no room for a northern wild man and his words against war or the ruler of an otherworld and ancestral presences immanent in the wild places of this-world. Perhaps this can be changed…

***

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POEMS FOR THE LAND AND MYTHS FOR THE OLD GODS OF BRITAIN

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SOURCES

Blake, William The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (Anchor Books, 1988)
Breeze, Andrew “The Name and Battle of Arfderydd, near Carlisle,” Journal of Literary Onomastics: Volume 2: Issue 1, Article 1. (2012)
Evans, J. Gwengobryn The Black Book of Carmarthen (Lightning Source UK Lmtd, 1907)
Heron (transl.) ‘Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir’ https://barddos.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/gwyn-ap-nudd-and-gwyddno-garanhir/
Hunt, August The Arthur of History: A Reinterpretation of the Evidence (August Hunt, 2012)
Pennar, Meirion (transl.) The Black Book of Carmarthen (Llanerch Enterprises, 1989)
Rudiger, Angelika H. ‘Gwyn ap Nudd: Transfigurations of a character on the way from medieval literature to neo-pagan beliefs’ in Gramarye, Issue 2 (University of Chichester, Winter 2012)
Skene, William F. The Four Ancient Books of Wales (Forgotten Books 2007)
Thomas, Neil ‘The Celtic Wild Man Tradition and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini: Madness or Contemptus Mundi?’ in Arthuriana Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring 2000)
Tolstoy, Nikolai The Quest for Merlin (Sceptre, 1985)

BATTLE OF FALKIRK MUIR-CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

BATTLE OF FALKIRK MUIR

 

17 January 1746: A large Jacobite army defeats government forces at the Battle of Falkirk Muir. Charles Edward Stuart, increasingly drunk since Derby, fails to take advantage. Amongst the casualties on the Government side is Sir Robert Munro.

 

The Battle of Falkirk Muir (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr na h-Eaglaise Brice), also known as the Battle of Falkirk took place on 17 January 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745. While a Jacobite victory, lack of co-ordination meant they failed to take advantage of their success and it had little impact on the campaign.

 

In early January, the Jacobite army besieged Stirling Castle but made little progress and on 13 January, government forces under Henry Hawley advanced north from Edinburgh to relieve it. He arrived at Falkirk on 15 January and the Jacobites attacked late in the afternoon of 17 January, taking Hawley by surprise.

 

Fought in failing light and heavy snow, Hawley’s left wing was routed but his right held firm and for a while both sides believed they had been defeated. As a result of this confusion, the Jacobites failed to follow up, leading to bitter disputes over responsibility for failure and allowing the government troops to regroup in Edinburgh, where Cumberland took over command from Hawley. When he resumed the advance on 30 January, the Jacobites abandoned the siege and withdrew to Inverness, before the rebellion ended at the Battle of Culloden in April.

 

The battlefield has been inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.

 

 

Background

Although the invasion of England had few tangible benefits, reaching Derby and returning to Scotland was a considerable military achievement. This brought in new recruits, while in late November, John Drummond arrived from France with weapons, money and 150 Irish and Scots regulars. In early January, Jacobite morale and numbers were at their peak, with 8,000 to 9,000 effectives. Success at Inverurie on 23 December gave the Jacobites temporary control of the North-East, which they now attempted to extend to the Central Lowlands. Their objective was Stirling Castle, one of the strongest fortifications in Scotland and a position of major strategic importance that controlled access between the Highlands and the Lowlands.

 

 

Split into two columns, the main army left Glasgow on 4 January for Stirling, where they would rendezvous with Drummond’s troops. Lord George Murray and the first column marched on Falkirk, then turned north towards Stirling, leaving a cavalry detachment under Lord Elcho at Linlithgow to patrol the Edinburgh road.

 

The second passed through Kilsyth, en route to Bannockburn, where Prince Charles established his headquarters at Bannockburn House, owned by the Jacobite Sir Hugh Paterson. Although the town of Stirling quickly surrendered, the castle was a far greater challenge, with strong defences and a garrison of 600 to 700 troops, under William Blakeney, an experienced and determined Irish veteran. Siege operations began on 8 January but for a number of reasons, progress was slow.

 

On 13 January, Henry Hawley, government commander in Scotland, ordered his deputy Major General John Huske and 4,000 men to advance on Stirling, while he followed with another 3,000. They reached Falkirk on 15 January and made camp just outside the town; Murray withdrew to Plean Muir, southeast of Bannockburn, where he was joined by Charles and O’ Sullivan, with all the troops that could be spared from the siege.[

 

 

Battle

Lord George Murray, Jacobite commander at Falkirk

Deficiencies in leadership on both sides would have a significant impact on the battle. Hawley had commanded dragoons at Sheriffmuir in 1715 and overestimated the vulnerability of Highlanders to cavalry, while seriously underestimating their fighting qualities and numbers. The Jacobite senior command was divided between Charles and his exile advisors on the one hand and the Scots on the other, with several of Charles’ aides openly stating Murray was a traitor.

 

When Hawley failed to attack on 16 January, Murray, Charles and O’Sullivan agreed to take the offensive on the morning of the 17th. Some of Drummond’s regulars marched towards Stirling to distract the government scouts, while Murray’s Highlanders took up position on the high ground to the south, above the camp. They were helped by Hawley’s

                                                                                    Lord George Murray, Jacobite commander at Falkirk

 

 

assumption they would not dare attack him and his location a mile away at Callendar House. According to an aide, they ‘beat to Arms’ at 12:00, then stood down and it was not until 14:30 Hawley realised the seriousness of the situation. The weather suddenly changed and it began raining and snowing heavily, with a strong wind blowing directly into the faces of Hawley’s troops.

 

The government army moved south on Maggie Wood’s Loan past the Bantaskin House and up the slope of the Falkirk ridge. Despite their earlier failure at Prestonpans, the dragoons led the way, an order their commander Francis Ligonier allegedly viewed as ‘the most extraordinary ever given.’ Their horses churned the track into a morass, slowing the infantry, while the guns in the rear became stuck and could not be freed in time to take part in the battle. The rain also affected the infantry’s black powder cartridges; it was later estimated one out of every four muskets misfired.

 

Schematic map of the battle between South Bantaskine House

 

 

 

The dragoons halted on the far side of the rise, with a bog to their left while the infantry deployed to their right (see Map). The front line consisted of the dragoons, then six battalions of veteran infantry; a second line with five more infantry battalions, [b] then Howard’s regiment and 1,000 men of the Argyll Militia behind. The inexperienced Glasgow militia were not considered front-line troops and deployed several hundred yards behind the dragoons on the left. Opposing them was a first line composed of the Highland regiments, Lowland units behind, then a small number of cavalry and 150 regulars from the French Irish Brigade in the rear. Murray dismounted and marched with the MacDonalds on the extreme right, opposite the dragoons; crucially, he ensured they remained in line and ordered his front rank not to fire until he gave the word.

 

Murray later declared the position selected meant ‘the Highland army had all the advantages nature or art could give them.’ However, it was undermined by poor co-ordination and Drummond, who was appointed to command the Jacobite left, was absent when the battle began. He arrived soon after but this meant it lacked a senior commander at the start of action and while Murray urged Charles to name an alternative, he failed to do so.

 

Just after 16:00, Ligonier and his three regiments of dragoons attacked the MacDonalds, who waited until they came within pistol range, then fired a single volley. As at Prestonpans, they fled in disorder; restricted by the bog to their left, Cobham’s regiment went north while the other two rode over the infantry forming to their rear. In a few minutes, the entire left-wing was swept away; all that remained for the Jacobites to achieve an overwhelming victory was to envelop Hawley’s right. However, the MacDonalds and entire front line charged down the hill and began sacking the government camp, while the sloping terrain and lack of visibility left Murray unable to ascertain who was where. Three battalions under Huske and Cholmondeley held their positions, shielded by the ravine to their front and repulsed attacks by the Jacobite left. These fled in their turn and according to O’Sullivan, many did not stop until they reached Stirling ‘where they gave out we lost the day’.

 

 

The darkness, continuing storm and general confusion on both sides ended the battle; Hawley initially withdrew to Falkirk, but most of his army was spread out on the road to Linlithgow, and they eventually returned to Edinburgh, where they re-formed. Captain Archibald Cunningham, commander of the government artillery, abandoned his guns and used the transport horses to escape. When Huske’s men retreated, they dragged some of the guns with them but most were left behind and Cunningham later committed suicide. Ligonier, who left his sickbed in Edinburgh to take command, died shortly afterwards while the severity of the weather is demonstrated by the fact Cholmondeley suffered from severe exposure.

 

As in most battles of the period, many casualties occurred in the pursuit, a pattern repeated at Culloden in April but with the roles reversed. It is generally accepted the Jacobites lost 50 dead and 80 wounded, mostly on their left, while the government forces lost around 70 dead, plus another 200-300 wounded or missing. The dead included twenty officers, including Sir Robert              Plaque at the site of the battle                                                                                                                 

 

 Munro and his younger brother Duncan, who were  killed in the pursuit and later buried in St Modan’s, Falkirk                                                                                                                                                                       

 

Aftermath

While a Jacobite success, Falkirk has been described as a ‘hollow’ victory, since poor command and co-ordination deprived them of the last opportunity to decisively defeat their opponents. One factor was confusion over the result; from their position on the left, Charles and O’Sullivan initially thought they had been defeated. Murray publicly blamed Drummond for arriving late and not supporting his success on the right, while Drummond blamed Murray for the failure of the three MacDonald regiments to press home their attack. Murray also accused O’Sullivan of cowardice, although Sheridan’s official account credited him with rallying “part of the left wing”. Amid these recriminations, Charles returned to Bannockburn, where he fell ill, leaving Murray and the Highlanders at Falkirk.

 

On 29 January, Cumberland arrived in Edinburgh and assumed command. A number of soldiers were later executed for desertion; Hawley’s poor leadership materially assisted the Jacobites but unlike Sir John Cope, he never faced a court-martial. The writer Horace Walpole (1717-1792) argued he was ‘fifty times more culpable, since Cope miscarried by incapacity, Hawley by insolence and carelessness.’

The exiles failed to appreciate that while the military obligations of clan society allowed the chiefs to provide large numbers of men at short notice, the obligation assumed warfare was short-term and rarely took place in the winter. After a successful battle like Prestonpans, many went home to secure their loot and the clan chiefs could not prevent a similar flood of ‘desertions’ after Falkirk. When Cumberland resumed his advance on 30 January, Charles asked Murray to prepare a battle plan but was told the army was in no state to fight. This destroyed the last remnants of trust between the two parties; on 1 February 1746, the siege of Stirling was abandoned and the Jacobites withdrew to Inverness.

 

 

 

 

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CLAN CARRUTHERS- THE BATTLE OF LARGS

THE BATTLE OF LARGS AND THE SCOTLANDS THISTLE

In 1263 The Scots Defeat the Norwegian army at the Battle of Largs

 

On the night of 1 October, during a bout of stormy weather, several Norwegian vessels were driven aground on the Ayrshire coast, near present-day Largs.

 

On 2 October, while the Norwegians were salvaging their vessels, the main Scottish army arrived on the scene. Composed of infantry and cavalry, the Scottish force was commanded by Alexander of Dundonald, Steward of Scotland.

 

The Norwegians were gathered in two groups: the larger main force on the beach and a small contingent atop a nearby mound. The advance of the Scots threatened to divide the Norwegian forces, so the contingent on the mound ran to rejoin their comrades on the beach below. Seeing them running from the mound, the Norwegians on the beach believed they were retreating, and fled back towards the ships.

 

There was fierce fighting on the beach, and the Scots took up a position on the mound formerly held by the Norwegians.

 

Late in the day, after several hours of skirmishing, the Norwegians recaptured the mound. The Scots withdrew from the scene and the Norwegians reboarded their ships. They returned the next morning to collect their dead.

 

With the weather deteriorating, Haakon’s fleet sailed to Orkney to overwinter.

 

 

THE STORY OF THE THISTLE

 

The prickly purple thistle was adopted as the Emblem of Scotland during the rein of Alexander III (1249 -1286). Legend has it that an Army of King Haakon of Norway, intent on conquering the Scots landed at the Coast of Largs at night to surprise the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to move more stealthily under the cover of darkness the Norsemen removed their footwear.

As they drew near to the Scots it wasn’t the only thing hiding under the cover of darkness. For one of Haakon’s men unfortunately stood on one of these spiny little defenders and shrieked out in pain, alerting the Clansmen of the advancing Norsemen. Needless to say the Scots who won the day

 

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