The History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye

Alexander Cameron

• Publisher: Left of Brain Books
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781396321016
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia scozzese

Historic battles, conflict over the throne, questionable romances, and epic poetry.

It's a dive into the thrilling history of the Misty Isle, from its original inhabitants and their battles with the Norsemen, passing through the domination of Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald, to the isle's recent history.

"Many of the interesting traditions of the island were fast passing into oblivion."

Historian Alexander Cameron explains why he wrote this book. He gives insightful recount of magnificent incidents of heroism through the history of the isle, and shocking ones of treachery, kidnapping, and murder.

Cameron's history is so detailed and descriptive that he takes you back in time to live among the people of Skye through the ages, understand their language, feel their struggles, analyze their politics and economics, and gain insight on their everyday-lives.

"The warrior threat, the infant's plain,

The mother's screams were heard in vain;

The vengeful chief maintains his fires,

Till in the vault a tribe expires!

The bones that screw that cavern's gloom

Too well attest their dismal doom"

CHAPTER I.

The Isle of Skye is the largest of the Western Isles, or Hebrides. It is about fifty-four miles in length, and from three to thirty-five miles in breadth, the superficial extent being about seven hundred square miles.

Skye appears at some remote period to have been exposed to violent internal convulsions, which up-heaved its steep and rugged mountains, and by breaking up the land, formed the many lochs which intersect it. The sea coast is generally high and rocky, rising into magnificent cliffs, which display the most picturesque forms, and afford a valuable index of the interior geological structure of the island. Its outline at a distance is grand and imposing, and though the landscape in the interior is for the most part bare, yet amongst its bare and rugged hills there are spots which, for wild romantic grandeur, are unsurpassed in Scotland. The general character of the surface of the island is hilly, and it is specially adapted and principally occupied for pastoral purposes, but along the coast and in some of the valleys there are fertile tracts of land, well suited for agricultural purposes, and some of which are in a good state of cultivation.

The population of Skye at the last census was 19,750, and its present annual rental is £34,917 8s 9d stg. It is divided into seven parishes, viz.,—Kilmuir, Portree, Snizort, Durinish, Bracadale, Strath, and Sleat, which embrace the smaller inhabited islands of Scalpay, Raasay, and Rona on the east coast, and Soa on the south, with several uninhabited islands, used for pasturage.

The derivation of the name of the island—Skye in English, and Eilean Sgiathanach in Gaelic—is somewhat obscure, but that it is so called from its winged formation (sgiath in Gaelic signifying wing) is most probable. There exists considerable diversity of opinion among authors on this subject, and it may be interesting to notice a few of these opinions. Dean Munro is perhaps the earliest Scotch writer that refers to the point. In his “Description of the Western Isles,” through which he travelled in 1549, he writes:— “This iyle is callit by the Erishe Ellan Skyane, that is to say, in English, the Wingitt Ile, be reason it has maney wyngs and ponts lyand furth frae it, through the devyding of the loches.” George Buchanan adopts the same opinion. He writes:— “Insula priscorum Scotorum sermone Skianacha hoc est, alata, vocatur quod promontorio inter quœ mare se infundit velut alœ se obtendent Usus tamen obtinuit, ut Skia id est, ala, vulgo diceretur.” M. Martin, who was himself a native of Skye, in his “Description of the Western Isles” written in 1699, says “Skie (in the ancient language Skianach, i.e., wing’d) is so called because the two opposite promontories (Vaterness lying north-west, and Troterness north-east) resemble two wings.” Another learned Skyeman of the last century, Dr John Macpherson of Sleat, held a different opinion. In his “Dissertations” he writes— “When the Norwegians conquered the Western Isles, they sometimes changed the old Gaelic names of places, and gave them new ones abundantly descriptive. Thus to the Eastern (Ebudæ of the ancients they gave the name of Ealand Skianach, or the Cloudy Island—Sky, in the Norse language, signifying a cloud.” Pennant and Jameson are also of opinion that the name is derived from the Norwegian Ski, a mist. Pinkerton, while admitting the Norwegian or Gothic origin of the name, says that “Skia, corruptedly called Skye, is named from Skua, one of the Ferrœ Isles.” Some are of the same opinion with that expressed by James Buchanan in his “Defence of the Scots Highlanders,” that the derivation is Celtic from “skia, a shield; skian, a dirk, or a sword; and neach, a people, i.e., skian-neach, these arms making up part of the dress of the inhabitants of this isle, in hostile times, when arms and war were the daily employments of these warlike people, and so might well be called skian and neach, the people with the dirks or swords.” It is supposed by others that the winged temple, which Apollo had among the Hyperboreans, was situated in Skye, which from that circumstance, may have got the name of the winged isle, Eilean Sgiathanach. In the poems of Ossian, Skye is always called the Isle of Mist—Eilean a Cheo.

The earlier part of the history of Skye is so obscure, and the available sources of information so defective and conflicting, that a complete and correct sketch of its early history cannot be attempted. There has been considerable discussion among authors as to who were the first inhabitants of this country. The most probable account is that they were a colony of Celts from Gaul, a few centuries before the Christian era, who on landing in Scotland gave it its name of Alba or Albin, signifying mountainous, and who were themselves styled Albanich, but also retained their original name of Gauil or Gael. These spread themselves over the Western Isles, and would in all probability be the aboriginal inhabitants of Skye. Towards the Christian era, a colony of Goths or Scythians from Scandinavia, appear to have invaded and settled in the Western Isles, which it is said they erected into a kingdom, called Hebudœ, corrupted into Hebrides, in honour of their leader, Hubba. They were called Gall, or strangers, hence the Western Isles were also styled Innse-gall, Islands of the Strangers. These strangers on settling in the isles began to molest and plunder the Gael of the mainland, who very properly called the depredators pilferers, i.e., Piocuich, hence Picts. The Picts on the other hand, despising the wandering habits of the Gael in attending to their herds and flocks, gave them the sobriquet Scuits, wanderers, hence Scots. During the earlier centuries of the Christian era colonies of Danes and Norwegians settled in the Western Isles. Their presence in Skye is still manifest from the ruins of Danish fortifications, and from the Norwegian extraction of the names of several localities. The Celtic element was not, however, extinguished, either in the population or typography of the island.

The first glimpse we have into the history of Skye—as distinguished from general notices of the Western Isles as a whole by some early Roman writers—is in the Poems of Ossian, supposed to have been composed in the early part of the third century. He relates that Cuthullin, son of Semo, and grandson of Cathbaid, was about that time the chief of Skye,—Cuthullin had his palace at Dunskaich in Sleat—a castle afterwards famous in the history of the Isles, and the gray hollow ruins of which can still be seen. An old Skye legend has it, that this castle was built by Cuthullin and his Fingalians in a single night—

All night the witch sang, and the castle grew

Up from the rock, with tower and turrets crowned;

All night she sang—when fell the morning dew

‘Twas finished round and round—

Cuthullin had command of a numerous army, and was renowned for his physical strength and skill in the use of arms. “Nor slept thy hand by thy side, chief of the Isle of Mist! many were the deaths of thine arm, Cuthullin, thou son of Semo! His sword was like the beam of heaven when it pierces the sons of the vale; when the people are blasted and fall, and all the hills are burning around.” In some of those daring attacks by the Caledonians against the Romans it appears Cuthullin led a party of his Skyemen. Addressing Fingal, King of Morven, after an unsuccessful battle in Ireland, he says, “It is not thus thou hast seen me, O Fingal, returning from the wars of thy lands, when the kings of the world had fled, and joy returned to the hill of hinds.” Cuthullin was a great hunter, and with his hounds and favourite dog “Luath” often ‘waked the thundering echoes of the rugged “Alps” of Skye—which hills still bear his mighty name. There is a long stone close to the castle of Dunskaich, to which it is said that Cuthullin’s dog was tied when he was not engaged in the chase. The wisdom and valour of Cuthullin gained him such reputation in Ireland, that in the minority of Cormac, the supreme king of that country, he was chosen as guardian to the king, and General of the Irish tribes in the war carried on against Swaran, King of Lochlin, who had invaded Ireland. He left his young wife, Bragela, in his castle of Dunskaich in Skye, but she was not forgot by him, and at one of the feasts given on the eve of battle, he thus, according to Ossian, addresses the minstrels:— “O strike the harp in praise of my love, the lonely sunbeam of Dunskaich; strike the harp in praise of Bragela, she that I left in the Isle of Mist, the spouse of Semo’s son! Dost thou raise thy fair face from the rock to find the sails of Cuthullin? The sea is rolling distant far, its white foam deceives thee for my sails. Retire, for it is night my love, the dark winds sigh in thy hair—retire to the halls of my feasts, think of the times that are past, for I will not return till the storm of war is ceased.” Cuthullin fought with varied success in Ireland, and never returned to Skye, having been slain in battle at the early age of twenty-seven. His continued absence at the wars in Ireland was mourned with tender longing by the fair Bragela. Her sentiments on the occasion are so feelingly described by the bard, that though they lose in the translation they are well worth quoting:— “It is the white waves of the rock and not Cuthullin’s sails. Often do the mists deceive me for the ship of my love! when they rise round some ghost and spread their gray skirts on the wind. Why dost thou delay thy coming, son of the generous Semo? Four times has autumn returned with its winds, and raised the seas of Togorma, since thou hast been in the roar of battles, and Bragela distant far. Hills of the Isle of Mist! when will ye answer to his hounds? But ye are dark in your clouds. Sad Bragela calls in vain. Night comes rolling down. The face of ocean fails. The heathcock’s head is beneath his wing. The hind sleeps with the hart of the desert. They shall rise with morning’s light and feed by the mossy stream. But my tears return with the sun. My sighs come on with the night. When wilt thou come in thine arms, O chief of Erin’s wars?” Some of the Irish bards claim Cuthullin as belonging to Ireland, and say that he merely went to Skye, for a short time, to attend the great military academy of Domhnall, the champion, and the Amazonian lady, Scathach, in order to acquire feats of arms in which he was deficient, and that Conlaoch, son of Cuthullin, was also educated in “Dunsgathach,” in Skye, in all the arts of war which his father knew, with the exception of the gathbholg. The gathbholg means literally, the dart quiver. It appears to have been a fiery dart, and the same weapon which Virgil calls cateia, used by the Teutonic race. Cateia has been described as a compound Celtic word gath, or cath, a dart, and tei, of fire. Cuthullin is said to have killed his friend Ferda, by mistake, with the gathbholg, “a dart kindled into a devouring flame by the strength of wind.” Fingal, or Fionn MacChumhail, the father of Ossian, a man of gigantic size and strength and a leader of the Feine or Fingalians, is said to have visited Skye on a hunting expedition about this period. The great hunt celebrated by Ossian, in which 6000 deer were killed, is commonly allowed to have been in Strath, in Skye. Fingal with his celebrated dog Bran led the chase, in which 3000 hounds were employed. There is a hill near Portree called “Aite suidhe Fhinn,” or Fingal’s sitting place, where it is said he used to sit directing his followers at the chase, and there is a legend that a large chaldron for cooking his venison, used to be set on three large stones near the sea shore of Loch Snizort at Kensalyre, two of which stones are still standing. The Lochlins or Danes began to infest the Western Isles at this time, and had frequent sanguinary encounters with the Fingalians. A single combat between Fingal and Manos, the King of the Lochlins, on one of these occasions, is thus described by the ancient bard:—

They flung their weapons on the ground,

And in each other grasp, the two heroes.

When thus began the struggle of the chiefs

It was to us a weariness to be at rest;

The stones and the heavy earth

Awoke under the straining of their feet.

The victorious son of Cumhal lifted up

The king of Lochlin high on his breast,

And struck his back down to the ground

In the midst of the ranks of Innistore.

Thus fell the king of Lochlin, the brave,

In presence of all on the heath;

And on him, though no honour to a king,

Was put the tie of three smalls.

The Feine or Fingalians were on the decline even in the days of Ossian, and from the third to the eighth century it is believed that the Lochlins or Danes were able to make a somewhat permanent settlement in the North Western Isles. This appears from the number of ruins of Danish fortifications in these Isles, built about that period. There are a great number of these forts or duns in Skye; the most conspicuous of these are Duntulm Castle, anciently named Dun David, as it was built and inhabited by David, one of the most powerful of the Vikings. This castle at a later period was the residence of the chiefs of the Macdonalds. There are also—Dun Gherishadder, Dun Bhorve, Dun Skerinish, Dun Skudborg, all in Troternish; and Dun-phaick, Dun-flo, Dun-geilb, Dun-islay, and Dun-an-choinach, in Sleat. These forts, besides being places of defence, served the purpose of a rude telegraph, being built on eminences, and so placed, that each dun is in view of some other, and by this means, when a fire was made on a beacon in one fort, it was in a few moments after communicated to all the rest. This signal was used as an alarm at the approach of an enemy, or when suspicious vessels were seen approaching the coast.

 

CHAPTER II.

The religion of Skye previous to the sixth century was Druidism. The Druids acted both as priests and judges, and were highly venerated. They were possessed of much natural wisdom and learning, which, however, was greatly marred by superstition. That their knowledge of astronomy was somewhat extensive is apparent from the manner in which their temples were built. They worshipped one God, under the name of Beil or Beathuil, signifying the Originator of Life, in whose honour they held the festival of Bealltainn (May-day), on which fires were lit on each hill to welcome the rising of the sun, which they regarded as a symbol of their god Beil. Some superstition as to the use of fire on May-day existed at a very recent period in Skye. The Druids had also the festival of Samhuinn (Hallowe’en). Samhuinn, in Gaelic, means the fire of peace. On that evening all fires were extinguished, and it was necessary to go to the Druids for a live coal from their consecrated fires, which it was believed carried a blessing with it on the household for the whole year. A relic of this festival is still observed in the Highlands and isles, in the custom, now on the decline, of carrying lighted peats and torches on Hallowe’en. Druidism received its death-blow in the north-west of Scotland on the promulgation of Christianity by Saint Columba and his followers.

In the year 565 Columba and his twelve Christian friends left their native Erin in a curroch, and landed on the Island of Iona, then the stronghold of Druidism, and known as the “Isle of Druids.” From thence Columba repaired to the Court of Brudius, the King of the Picts, held at the head of Loch Ness, probably at Inverness. He was at first refused admittance, but at length succeeded, and was instrumental in altering Brudius’ views so far, that he gave his consent to the gospel being preached to his subjects, and granted Columba the Island of Iona in possession. Some historians assert that it was from Conal, King of the Scots, that Columba received Iona. It is true the island was near the confines of both kingdoms, but to which it actually belonged is now difficult to ascertain. Columba was a frequent visitor and had great influence at the courts of both kings. In one of his journeys to the court of King Brudius “he remained some days in Scia or Skye, where he slew a boar.” Adomnan, in his Life of Columba, mentions Skye as the scene of one of the saint’s prophecies, “which was fulfilled by the arrival of an aged chief, named Artbrannan, on its shores, his reception of the truth, his baptism, his death, and his burial, all in immediate succession, the last being performed conquesto lapidum acervo, at the mouth of a river, thence named Tobar Artbranani.” This aged chief received the word of God through an inter...