Henry grinned as he saw Margaret and Edmund walk together in the yard of Newcastle, with his wife Madeleine smiling and talking with them. Whatever Madeleine had said must have done the trick, as his oldest sister and younger brother were truly getting to know each after not seeing each other for over fifteen years. The only person missing was Mary, but she had duties in Denmark, and he would have to arrange another meeting so that she would be able to come.
But as of now, Henry had a private dialogue with his brother-in-law King James. The progress had to move on and while he enjoyed the festivities between the English and Scottish parties, Henry had to focus his mind on state matters again. And with the King of Scotland in the same presence chamber, there would be much to talk about between them.
“I must congratulate you, Your Grace. You have two sons to carry on the Stewart name and one healthy daughter,” Henry began.
“And I must extend my congratulations to you as well,” King James replied back in English, with his distinct Scottish brogue. “You already have two sons to carry on your family’s hold on the English crown. God has blessed you very much.”
“Indeed, Your Grace. Now, I hope that my next child with my queen will be a girl, as England needs to have princesses as well as princes.”
“Very true, King Henry. I have three daughters myself besides Christina. Even though they were not of legitimate birth, I still love them as any father would.”
Henry nodded, for in his mind, no one could blame a king for having mistresses. “As we are both kings and busy men, I believe we should move on to business.”
“Please, King Henry,” King James urged.
“I have heard many reports of men loyal to Lord Bothwell, the commander of your fleet, has been making raids on Northumberland. Why is that, Your Grace?”
King James shook his head. “I would not know of any seaborn marauders making raids on English lands.”
“Of course,” Henry accepted. “However, a soldier reporting to Lord Northumberland was sure that he saw the Bothwell banner on one of the ships as they stole £100 worth of cattle and sheep from his lands.”
“That amount of money, I am sure, is a loss that Lord Northumberland can afford. He is the most powerful lord in Northern England, is he not?”
“At the same time, he is charged with the defense of the border between our countries, and I would be remiss if I ignored his complaints.”
“As I said, King Henry, I know nothing of seaborn marauders raiding Lord Northumberland’s domains. If anything, I have ordered that my lords do nothing to antagonize your kingdom, as I have much to gain from peace with you, so long as you do not go to war with France.”
“Do you believe that you will renew the Auld Alliance?” Henry asked with concern.
“I have no reason to, as our nations are at peace despite the occasional troublemakers. Rest assured, my lords will not disobey my orders, despite their personal feelings.”
Henry was intrigued. “What do you mean by that, King James?”
King James sighed. “There are those who are concerned with your Irish campaign and how quickly you overran that island. I trust that you are aware that the Scottish people have close bonds with the Irish?” Henry nodded. “There are those such as in the Highlands and along the western coast of my kingdom that are concerned, especially since Ulster is now completely controlled by your troops and is within striking distance of lands belong to clans like the MacDonalds.”
Henry was frankly concerned about the clans in Ireland and in Scotland, for they behaved like the same nobles that led England to over thirty years of civil war in that they held loyalty only to their clan leader and not their sovereign lord and king. “I trust that you can keep the clans under control.”
“If I am to be honest with you, King Henry, there is only so much that I can do regarding the clans in especially the Highlands. The Romans failed to conquer them, my predecessors were not entirely successful in bringing them under control, and it was Highlanders who ultimately showed to your predecessors that you could not subjugate Scotland as long as the Highlands remained untouched.”
Henry crossed his arms. “If that is the case, King James, should any of your clans behave out of line and causes trouble with my troops, will you come to their defense?”
“I am their king, and I therefore have a responsibility to protect them.” Henry stiffened. “But as I ordered them to keep the peace, if one of them went on an unauthorized expedition against England, I will not do anything because why would I exert effort on behalf of those who disobeyed my commands?”
Henry was not entirely satisfied with his brother-in-law’s response, but it would have to do. “I am glad that we have an understanding.”
Later, Henry saw Edmund, Madeleine, and Margaret playing cards along with Edmund’s friends, Anthony Browne and Anthony Denny. As he approached them, both Anthonys bowed in reverence to their king while his siblings and sister-in-law simply stood up.
“What are you playing?” Henry asked as he sat down to join them.
“Pope Julius, my king,” Madeleine answered.
“But where is the money?” Henry knew that it was a gambling game.
“We are wagering on what gifts we can give each other instead, Harry,” Margaret answered. “So far, Edmund will get a Scottish dagger from me, Madeleine will give me a necklace from Paris, and Master Denny here will receive a favor from Ned, the favor being that he will talk to St. John’s College and allow him entry.”
Henry liked what they were wagering. “In that case, I will put forward my own wager.” He turned to both Anthony Denny and Anthony Browne. “Gentlemen, if the both of you can outplay me, I shall grant you knighthoods.”
Denny and Browne dipped their heads. “Thank you, Your Grace.”
Henry then turned to Madeleine. “Madeleine, will you join the hunt tomorrow? Ellie will also come.”
Madeleine’s face brightened up, as did Edmund’s. “If it is Your Grace’s pleasure.”
“It is. Excellent. You can come also, Meg, but please ask your husband first.”
Margaret nodded. “I shall be delighted, Harry,” before they finished shuffling the cards and they played.
Boats from the western coast of Scotland approached their mark slowly and quietly. All of the daylight is veiled by the growing darkness, as dusk was upon them. One of the rowers began making too much noise while pulling on his oar.
Lord MacDonald turned around and hissed at the rower. “Quiet! We do not those English shites to find out we’re coming.” The rower, as well as the others in the nearby boats, nodded in understanding. They were nearing a very dangerous part of the English-occupied lands and they needed to maintain stealth if they wanted to succeed in their mission.
Alexander Carragh MacDonald, 5th Lord of Dunnyveg, had heard of this Antrim relatives’ call for help when the English overran Ulster, with their king himself leading the charge. As they all carried the same blood and were descended from John of Islay, son of Angus MacDonald, the Highlander hero at Bannockburn, Alexander had to go help them. However, King James got wind of his relatives’ call for help as well and forbid them from committing an unsanctioned attack on the English garrison in Ireland. Naturally, the Highlanders and those along the western coast of Scotland protested, as increased English presence in Ireland would naturally threaten their territories, but they could do nothing.
At last, his Antrim relatives sent a representative to Islay, in which they saw his back had been brutalized by English whips. Lord MacDonald hesitated to go against the orders of King James, but in the face of growing anger amongst the clan and realizing that his position as the clan leader if he continued to do nothing, he assembled one hundred volunteers and rowed across the sea towards the coast of Ulster.
Once they assembled with their Antrim relatives at Dunluce Castle, the main fortress of the MacDonalds, Lord Alexander was able to gather a total of two hundred and fifty men. They decided that their destination would be Carra Castle, home of Conn O’Neill, formerly king and now Baron O’Neill of Tyrone. His uncle was killed by the English king’s troops and to the Gaelic lords in Ulster, he was a coward since he submitted to England too easily. It certainly did not help that the Archbishop of Armagh essentially forced him to submit on pain of excommunication, meaning that the Irish church was on the side of England.
All of the clansmen judged that the O’Neills were weak, as the only reason why they remained in power and in control of their lands was because of the English garrison at Carra Castle. If they could take charge of that castle, they could then move on the O’Neill lands. Also, this would send a message to the rest of the English garrisons in Ireland that it would take more than a few years of sieges for them to truly defeat Gaelic valor. Lord MacDonald, along with his clan, identified themselves with Gaelic tradition anyways rather than as subjects of Scotland.
Satisfied that they were not detected, they landed their boats about a mile away from Carra Castle. Ensuring that their boats were hidden, Lord MacDonald’s men sneaked all the way to the gates, which were surprisingly open.
“Arrogant bastards,” one of the clansmen scoffed. “They think they won and that no one is going to fight them.”
“Save that talk, Angus. We have yet to begin fighting,” Lord MacDonald said to him.
“Look!” another clansman pointed. They saw an English soldier walk outside of the gate and pulling down his pants to relive himself. That clansman did not wait and a few others followed him as they ran towards that soldier.
“Wait!” Lord MacDonald tried to call them back in vain. Instead, he could only watch as that clansman pulled out his knife and threw it at the soldier’s neck, killing him instantly. Groaning, he had to support his kin. “Charge! Charge!”
As they charged through the gate, they found only six other English soldiers inside and they were quickly overcome. The MacDonald clansmen got them all on their knees while they found the rest of the castle emptied.
“Where is your lord? Your captain?” Lord MacDonald mustered his best English.
“Lord O’Neill and Sir Thomas are at Dundalk,” one of them answered. “They are meeting with Lord Kildare.”
Lord MacDonald cursed in Gaelic, for they had missed their chance to cause major damage at the first time. Not willing to take prisoners, he told his clansmen to cut their prisoners’ throats and he watched as they bled to death on the castle yard. “Burn everything here!” he commanded.
After taking the castle’s livestock and anything of value, the MacDonald clansmen burned everything else. As they left, Carra Castle went up in smoke and Lord MacDonald swore that the fire could be seen for miles around against the darkness of the night. However, they failed to do the first strike against their English enemies and their Irish collaborators, and he knew that it would not be so easy the next time.
With their plunder, they rowed back to Dunluce Castle, anticipating a response.
It's quite fascinating but yet very dark, the history associated with Clan Donald and its many branches, with one being the victim of the infamous Glen Coe massacre.