SCOTLAND HISTORY

Clan MacDonald's Greatest Defeat: The Battle of Harlaw 1411 by John Sadler

Publisher's Synopsis
On July 24, 1411, the battle of "Reid" Harlaw was fought in Scotland between Lowland and Highland forces, who were led by Donald, Lord of the Isles and defeated in the encounter. Sadler's description of the violent battle involves the context of wars between England and Scotland, feudal history, the house of Stewart, and the Earl of Mar, who led the Lowlanders and their massacre of 1000 Highland soldiers. An appendix details the battlefield today. Sadler is a retired lawyer.

Clan Donald by Donald J. MacDonald

Publisher's Synopsis
Based on the three volumes also entitled Clan Donald, first published between 1896 and 1904 by Rev. Drs. Archibald Macdonald of Kiltarlity and Angus Macdonald of Killearnan, Clan Donald covers a period of six hundred years, from the foundation of the Lordship of the Isles until 1746, when the clans ceased to exist as separate organized entities. Clan Donald is not the history of one clan, but of several important clans that descend from the old Kingdom of Macdonald. Each of these clans played its part in the history of Scotland until the final disaster of Culloden. Beginning with Somerled, and culminating in an overview of how the Celtic and Roman Churches were influenced by Clan Donald, this book is an all-encompassing reference book of interest not only to members of the Clan, but also to students of the Western Highlands and Isles. Chapters include "Angus Mor (1249-1300)," "John of Islay (1330-1386)," "The Macdonalds of Dunnyveg and the Glens," "The MacDonalds of Keppoch," and "After the Lordship." Illustrations of the arms of clans, photographs of the Scottish landscape, and genealogical charts, maps, and plans make Clan Donald an invaluable guide to what the high chief of Clan Donald calls "an exceedingly complex" history, "certainly not a history to be absorbed readily at a first reading."

Colkitto!: A Celebration of Clan Donald of Colonsay (1570-1647) by Kevin Byrne

Publisher's Synopsis
Colla Ciotach (1570-1647) is remembered as a hero in the poetic and oral tradition of the West Highlands, but historians have since eroded his reputation. This biography examines his heroic nature, particularly in July 1647, when he was the last of the Royalist leaders to remain in the field.

Great Feud: The Campbells and the Macdonalds by Oliver Thomson

Publisher's Synopsis
The famous clans of Campbell and MacDonald began their feud after 1296, when the Campbell chief was brutally killed. Though the two families stood together at Bannockburn they soon clashed again and became sworn and deadly enemies for 450 years. There were numerous cullings and clashes inflicted by both sides, in both Scotland and Northern Ireland." "Yet despite the mutual antipathy both families continued to grow, to scatter over the world and to produce a number of talented, energetic descendants including two British prime ministers (Campbell Bannerman and Ramsay Macdonald) and the first Canadian prime minister." "The second half of the book charts this more peaceful period after 1746 when members of both clans spread rapidly around the world: transported as criminals, evicted in clearances, or simply seeking their fortune in peace or war. We follow the families in the American and Napoleonic wars, to India, the West Indies and Australasia. We meet politicians, poets, terrorists, sportsmen and women, entrepreneurs, world speed record holders and a mistress introduced to Kennedy by Sinatra." "The Great Feud, with its mix of historical fact and legendary high-jinx, will appeal to Campbells and MacDonalds the world over, and to anyone interested in history's most infamous 'neighbours from hell'.

Ulster and the Isles in the Fifteenth Century: The Lordship of the Clann Domhnaill of Antrim by Simon Kingston

Publisher's Synopsis
"This book is a study of Gaelic lordships on the margins of the emerging nation states of the later middle ages. The author examines the fluctuating fortunes of the Clann Domhnaill and their neighbours in the fifteenth century. He focuses on the Clann Eoin Mhoir branch which established itself in Antrim while maintaining its role in the affairs of the Western Isles." By contrast to their famous and well-documented sixteenth-century successors, the earls of Antrim, the leaders of Clann Eoin Mhoir in the 1400s often seem shrouded in obscurity. However, using sources from both sides of the North Irish Sea, it is possible to sketch and outline of the evolution of the clan's lordship. Kingston explores the considerable flow of people, influence, and power from the western islands of Scotland to northeastern Ireland over the period from the defeat of Scots by defenders of the English lordship of Ireland in 1318 at Faughart, and the 1390s when the Mac Domhnaill of Antrim, Clann Eoin Mhóir, had transformed from retained warriors or seasonal mercenaries into locals.