 Tour 6 – The 'daunting' of the Isles
SCOTLAND regards James IV as a "good King". But was that how the Gaelic Highlanders saw it?
This tour will reveal the politics of the Stuart monarchy towards the Highlands and particularly towards the Lords of the Isles on whom successive kings sought to stamp their authority despite their recurrent weakness and such a challenging terrain.
James IV was little interested in what was being done in his name in the Isles and the Stuart monarchy's route out of its difficulties in the West left a grim legacy: the two most over-mighty subjects of the 16th century -– the earls of Argyll and Huntly -- were creatures of its own making.
Their singular achievement was the destruction of the Lordship of the Isles; their signal failure was to replace it with anything that was conducive to peace and good governance.
To understand the scale of the issue we’ll visit the seats of power of some of the strongest of the “strong men” – the castles of the earls of Argyll, Huntly and Seaforth and see at first hand why the transfer of authority from the king to local henchmen, should have had such terrible consequences. A visit to Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness will throw into sharp relief the practical effect of the Royal Stuart decision to 'give up' on his Gaelic subjects.
('Daunting' – Scots: taming; subjecting).
 
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