The Irish invasion

One of the least talked about events of the Stuart era is the Irish invasion of 1644, a repetition of the ancient Dalriada excursion. To succour King Charles during the civil war struggles and at the request of the Duke of Montrose, the giant, left handed Alastair McColla McDonald landed in the West of Scotland with 2000 Antrim warriors at his back. His natural enemies were the Campbells of Argyll and he immediately set about killing as many as he could. Montrose and he terrorised the North West and took Aberdeen before Alastair went back to collect more supporters. The new army set about the Campbells and their Covenanter friends again, leaving 3000 dead at Kilsyth. Having killed those he could and taken such booty as was available, the Antrim men went home, leaving Montrose to deal with the backlash. This is the background to the ‘Massacre at Glencoe’ and, the Covenanters and Kilsyth being Lowland, the unforgiving attitude of what might be called the Britannic forces at Culloden. (It was James I and VI who promoted the idea of Britannia.)
There’s no doubt a heroic tale could be written of Alastair McDonald and his attempt to re-establish his clans dominance of the Western Highlands but what did it do for the Scottish economy? Romance feeds the soul but trade buys the whisky and the growth of Glasgow and Scotland’s other ports is overshadowed by romantic tales of the Highlanders, promoted by Sir Walter Scott, from Edinburgh!
In some ways that shows the power of storytelling and societies willingness to accept romantic fiction rather than cold fact. I was once referred to a man considered to be an expert in Scottish history but who admitted his knowledge was all based on the novels of Nigel Tranter.
The Stuarts