Alba Historical

  James IV., 1488-1513 The first thing to be done after the affair of Sauchieburn was to find out what had become of the King, and, when his death was made sure of, an inquiry was set on foot as to the cause of it. The offices of state were transferred to the party in power, and an act of amnesty was passed, to take in all persons who had taken part with the late King in the struggle which the nobles pleased to call the late rebellion. Two ineffectual risings to avenge the murder of the King were made by the Lords  Lennox  and  Forbes , and three years later, to pacify the clamours of the people, a reward of one hundred marks was offered for the discovery of the actual murderers. Just at this time Henry the Seventh of England had his hands too busy at home to allow of his making open war upon Scotland, but he carried  [Pg 80] on secret schemes with  Angus ,  Ramsay , and others for the capture of the King. James, on the other hand, upheld that  Pe...

 The Battle of Flodden King James was determined to invade England.  Though the cause was not popular, the King was, and a large army was soon mustered. The King himself led the host across the Border, and encamped on the  Till , but, as he would not take the advice of  Angus  and others who  knew more of border fighting than he did, he mismanaged the whole affair.  He idled away the time till his own army began to disperse and the English had time to gather; then he let them cross the river unopposed, and finally left his strong position on the hill to meet them hand to hand in the plain.  The result was an utter defeat, and the King, who was more eager to display his own valour than to act the part of the general in command, was slain in the thickest of the fight.  Twelve earls and thirteen barons fell round him, and every noble house in Scotland left some of its name on the fatal field of  Flodden  Sept. 9, 1513.  ...

 King James III  (10 July 1451/May 1452 – 11 June 1488) During the first part of this reign,  Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews , had the chief part in the government. He died in 1466, and on his death the  Boyds  got hold of the King and of the chief power. These  Boyds  were originally simple lairds, but they strengthened themselves by bonds with more powerful families, won the King's favour and finally got possession of his person, by making him come with them, partly by persuasion, partly by force, from  Stirling  to  Edinburgh . They then obtained  [Pg 76] an act of the Estates declaring that this step had been taken with the full consent and good pleasure of the King. The  Lord Boyd  was appointed guardian of his person and of the royal strongholds, his son  Thomas  was created  Earl of Arran , and with the earldom the King's sister  Mary  was given him in marriage. For many years the rent of th...

  THE COVENANTING MINISTER OF THE BARONY. One of the four central prominent preachers around whom traditions of the Covenanters are clustered was the minister of the Barony parish of Glasgow. Cameron, Cargill, Peden, and Renwick uttered no uncertain sound at that crisis of Scotland's history. Whilst Peden barely escaped a bloody death, the other three were called upon to lay down their lives for the cause, Cargill and Renwick on the scaffold, and Cameron on the battlefield. Donald Cargill had no other charge than the Barony; and by his brave unflinching testimony during the darkest hour, not only served his own day and generation, but it is to him and such as he, that his fellow-citizens of Glasgow and of Scotland owe their civil and religious liberty. Cargill was born about 1610, of a respected family in the parish of Rattray. Schooled at Aberdeen and St Andrews College, he was called to be minister of the Barony parish of Glasgow. Upon the 26th May following, the day appointed to...

 The Auld Alliance Part 1 On July 12, 1503, King James IV of Scotland wrote to his new ally and future father-in-law, Henry VII of England. The English king, reflecting on the grandly named Treaty of Perpetual Peace concluded between Scotland and England the previous year, had demanded that James IV repudiate the Franco-Scottish alliance. In his reply, the Scottish king courteously informed Henry VII that, though he had at that time no intention of renewing the Franco Scottish alliance, nevertheless 'we and our predecessors have always been accustomed to it'. James was exaggerating, but not by much. At the outset of the 16th century, the 'Auld Alliance' had already endured for more than two centuries and would last for a further 60 years. Why should an alliance between Scotland, a small kingdom on the northwestern fringes of Europe, and France, a major European power, endure for so long? And why should many modern Scots, and some French, still regard the "Auld Alli...

 BATTLE OF HARLAW. Famed in ballad, the Battle of Harlaw was the first great conflict between Lowland and 'Highland' Scotland. The battle itself was over the ownership of the Earldom of Ross, claimed for the Highlands by Donald, second Lord of the Isles. Opposing him was the Lowland Stewart dynasty under the Duke of Albany. Armed conflict was the only option as King James I, who might have been able to arbitrate, was being held captive in England. Donald, who regarded himself as an independent ruler, had English help. He was probably also supported by the captive Scottish king, who was increasingly dismayed at the waywardness of his Stewart relatives. Although Donald's real purpose was to secure the eastern lands of the Earldom of Ross, he seems to have planned to pillage Aberdeen and th surrounding area as a means of weakening the Stewart earls. The power and prestige of the Lord of the Isles at that time was shown by the size of Donald's army at Harlaw - perhaps as ma...

SONGS ACROSS TIME Inchcolm Abbey, where the Antiphoner (a musical manuscript) originated. Scotland's Inchcolm Antiphoner is one of the most important yet neglected manuscripts in the history of early European music. It contains the only definitive remnants of the music of the Celtic Church, which was responsible for Christianising large areas of Europe. And it includes music probably composed in the 7th century, whose melodies are as unique as the organisation and practices of this ancient Church. The manuscript also shows that from an early date, Scotland's music has had a distinctive identity. It was written down, probably in the 13th century, on the island of Inchcolm, which lies in the Firth of Forth and can be clearly seen from Edinburgh. The music, known as plainchant, is the unaccompanied vocal music of the early Church, and it formed part of the soundtrack of the arrival of Christianity in Scotland. Plainchant was sung tirelessly by monks as a means of providing their d...