Lords of the Isles

From Viking Warlords to Clan Chiefs

Timothy Venning

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781445645056
• Edition: 0
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

In contrast to most of Scotland, the north-western coast and the islands beyond were a region of mixed political control as well as culture into the sixteenth century. The divergent influences of Celtic and Scandinavian culture were more marked here than in the evolving mainland kingdom of Scots. It was a physically remote region of substantial autonomy under its own dynasties. Timothy Venning explores the whole of the lordship of the Isles at its widest extent, under Somerled MacGillebride (ruled c. 1130–64), encompassing the kingdom of Man during its independent history, plus the mainland domains of Somerled's family in the western Highlands. He also covers the jarldom of Orkney, a Scandinavian lordship divided between involvement in and allegiance to Scotland and Norway until the later fifteenth century. This book traces the complex story of the kings and lesser lords who ruled the region and the continuing autonomy of the area's clans until the catastrophe of 1745–46 when those clans loyal to their traditional sovereigns were decimated for backing the Stuart invasion. The London government then suppressed an entire culture. The story shows the dynamics of a richly varied world alien to centralised modern Britain.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 - Rulers of Orkney and ‘the Isles’ to 1066
• 2 - Orkney Between Norway and Scotland, 1066 to 1471
• 3 - Lords of the Isles, I: The Hebrides to Robert Bruce
• 4 - Under Scots Overlordship: MacDonald versus Stewart, 1329–c. 1600
• 5 - Lords of Man to 1265
• 6 - The Clans of the North-West and Hebrides to c. 1700
• 7 - The Non-MacDonald Clans of the Region
• 8 - The Clans in the Major Wars for Scotland, 1642 to 1746
• Picture Section
• Bibliography
• List of Illustrations