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Hello everyone,

After several months of skulking around and doing research, I've finally found something to write a timeline about. It's a place and time period that I haven't seen much written about here; late medieval Scotland. The title translates to "Kings of the Isles"; this timeline will be an attempt to have them keep their influence in the highlands for a bit longer.

Also, I'm trying to use the Gaelic names of chiefs and clans as much as possible, inspired by the use of authentic Byzantine and Muslim names in Rdffigueria's excellent First Crusade timeline "And all the Nations shall gather to it". Sit back, relax, and and enjoy. Signing off.


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RÍGH NAN EILAN: THE LORDS OF THE ISLES

Part one: Background


Scotland at the turn of the 15th century was a land stained with blood. The king of Scotland, Robert III, died in 1506, just days after his 12-year-old son James Stewart was captured at sea by the English. James would spend 18 years in custody, during which time his uncle Robert, the Duke of Albany would rule Scotland in his stead, most likely murdering James' brother David in order to sieze the throne for himself [1]. Robert focused more on securing political power for himself and his son in Edinburgh than on securing his rule in the highlands, and so for the period of his regency powerful clan chiefs were kings of their domains in all but name.

Most notable of these was Dómhnall of Islay, chief of Clan Dómhnall, ruler of the Western Isles. Clan Dómhnall had been the mightiest family in the northwest of Scotland for generations, ruling not only the Outer Islands but also large tracts of the Scottish Highlands as well. In 1411, Dómhnall and his clan allies, pursuing a claim to the Earldom of Ross [2] against the Duke of Albany, invaded it. With a force nearly 10,000 strong Dómhnall was easily able to capture Dingwall Castle and sack the city of Inverness. But, he was stopped just outside Inverurie by the Earl of Mar [3] and his clan allies. The two forces fought the bloody battle of Harlaw, a chaotic brawl so disorganized that it took several hours for Mar's forces to realize that their enemies had escaped in the night, leaving them the masters of the field. Dómhnall, having technically lost the battle and probably wishing to avoid further casualties, signed a peace treaty with Mar that relinquished his claim to the earldom of Ross. But this was only a temporary setback to Clan Dómhnall, as James I was finally freed from English captivity in 1424, which would the the undoing of the Albany Stewarts and their claim to Ross.

James had realized long ago that the only reason he was still imprisoned by the English was that the treacherous Robert Stewart, the Duke of Albany and king regent of Scotland, wanted to stay regent and keep James a prisoner of the English. So, once he had built up enough allies in Scotland to return and be crowned king in his own right, he set his sights on the treacherous Albany Stewarts. by 1425 he had completely destroyed them (leaving several of their heads rolling on the ground), therefore leaving clan Donald's claim to Ross as the last one standing. Alas, Dómhnall would not live to regain control of Ross; he died in 1423 leaving his son Alasdair chief of Clan Dómhnall. With the addition of the Earldom of Ross, Clan Dómhnall controlled almost as much land in Scotland as the king of Scotland did; and the king of Scotland knew it. After considering military action against clan Dómhnall, the king of Scotland decided on a safter (if more treacherous) plan to curb their influence in the Highlands.

In 1428, James invited the Highland chiefs to a sitting of Parliament in Inverness. Upon their arrival, James had them all arrested. Three of them were executed on the spot, and the rest thrown in prison, including Alasdair and his mother [4]. James would eventually free Alasdair, his mother, and the rest of the Highland cheifs, trusting that their brief stay in his cells would make them more receptive to his authority in the highlands. This proved to be a mistake.

Alasdair, upon being freed from captivity, was not pacified as James intended, but incensed. Gathering a large army of clansmen, he marched up the Great Glen in open rebellion against the king. The MacDómhnall's were joined on this campaign by the forces of clans Mhic an Tòisich (MacKintosh) and Cameron, historic allies of clan Dómhnall. Numbering upwards of 10,000 men, the force was unable to carry out an extended campaign due to its nonexistent supply lines, but still succeeded in putting the city of Inverness to the torch for the second time in as many generations. King James, furious, marched an army up from the South to try and stop the clansmen from retreating back through the great glen to their homes in the Western Highlands. Thus, was the stage set for the battle of Glenfinnan [5].

Alasdair, through some miracle, managed to march the entire length of the great glen (nearly 80 miles) in less than a week, reaching the tip of Loch Linnhe around the 23rd of June, 1429. James's army, marching south from Badenoch, spotted them and pursued them an additional 20 miles along the length of Loch Eil [6], until Alasdair's army halted, seemingly exhausted after its forced march from Inverness. It was there that James raised his banner, thinking that he might cause some elements of Alasdair's forces to desert or even turn their arms against Alasdair himself [7]. At first, it seemed to work; the hastily drawn up lines that the clansmen were arrayed in broke. James gave the order to pursue, not knowing he was marching his army directly into a trap.

James had played directly into the hands of Clan Dómhnall. Alasdair and his chiefs knew the terrain of the west highlands like the backs of their own hands, and had managed to tempt James into battle in exactly the place least suited for his force. Glenfinnan was narrow with a small stream running through its bottom; marshy ground surrounded on two sides by mountains [8]. James' found himself trapped in by hills, unable to use the size of his army to his advantage. Easily a third of his army was bottled behind the other two thirds, unable to fight. The clansmen re-drew their lines and smashed into the forces of the king, screaming their war cries. Despite their hunger and exhaustion, the beleaguered clansmen started beating back the forces of the king. Their numbers slowly whittling down in the face of the meat grinder of the lines of the enemy, James ordered a retreat up the glen as night began to fall. The subduing of Clan Dómhnall would have to wait another day.

Exact casualty figures are unknown, but James' force is estimated to have lost between a fifth and a third of its strength, against the loss of less than 1,000 Alasdair MacDómhnall's men. One of those lost on the Clan Dómhnall side, unfortunately was the great Donald Dubh Cameron, who lead a highland charge down the steep sides of the glen into James' unprotected left flank [9]. Despite the loss of this important ally, Clan Dómhnall had demonstrated conclusively that they and the other highland clans could still effectively challenge the kings of Scotland in the field...


[1]: OTL.

[2]: OTL. His claim to the title came through his wife, Mariota, Countess of Ross.

[3]: Also OTL. Also, this guy is the illegitimate son of the Duke of Albany, yes, that duke of Albany, and he also died in this battle OTL, and still will ITLL.

[4]: Also OTL.

[5]: Called the Battle of Lochaber in OTL. Here, Alasdair is smart, and James is not, which leads to the battle taking place a couple dozen miles away from...well, we don't know exactly where it happened exactly, but it was somewhere in Lochaber.

[6]: Initial contact was near modern-day Fort William ITL and could have in OTL (we just don't know). Fort William won't be founded in OTL for another 200 or so years. ITTL, it might not be founded at all for reasons.

[7]: Our POD! IOTL, this worked, and half the Camerons (and all of the MacKintoshes) started fighting for James. ITTL, Alasdair comes up with a battle plan on the way from Inverness that's promising enough that the other clan leaders don't desert.

[8]: Like Robert the Bruce before him and Montrose after him, Alasdair defeats a much larger army by trapping it in a narrow glen where it can't use its numbers to its advantage. Yes, the force that he just curbstomped ITTL beat him solidly into the ground IOTL, but Scottish history is full of clever leaders who manage to defeat numerically superior foes with clever tactics. Why can't Alasdair MacDómhnall be one of them?

[9]: A potentially significant figure ITTL; didn't know what to do with him so I killed him off here so he won't cause butterflies. Yes, the tune about him still ends up getting written; he's a war hero now, after all. :)

Hope this was okay! Update two is coming soon, one hopes!

-Wash
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