The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAr. Ill] OFSCOTLAND 223
they
had been able to reach the shelter of the Isles. So
completely were the Highlanders surprised by this bold march,
that the lord of the Isles found himself deserted before the battle
by l^e clans Chattan and Cameron, who, doubtful of the issue of
an encounter, and feeling no great cordiality for the cause of
the earl of Ross, went over to the royal army. The lord of
the Isles, however, did not shun the attack, but, as might be
expected from the dispiriting effect of so great a desertion, the
result was the complete rout and dispersion of the Highland
army ; and so close did the pursuit of the Island lord at
length become, that he found it impossible to conceal himself,
and after several unsuccessful attempts to obtain a reconcilia-
tion with the king, he resolved to throw himself upon the
royal mercy, and to descend to the most extraordinary piece
of humiliation which is recorded in history. It was upon the
occasion of a solemn festival held in the chapel of Holyrood
that this proud chief, whose father and grandfather had entered
into treaties and concluded peace as independent princes,
appeared before the assembled Scottish court, divested of all
his garments save his shirt and drawers alone, and holding a
naked sword in his hand, knelt down at the feet of the
monarch, and implored his clemencj'. In some degree his
supplication was successful, for James granted him his life, but
directed him to be instantly imprisoned in Tantallon Castle.
James, however, had yet to learn that, from the peculiar
nature of the system of clanship, the imprisonment of their
chief did not in any way affect the strength of the clan, or
render them more amenable to the royal authority. On the
contrary, he was now to find that such a likely
proceeding was more
to incite them to revenge. And accordingly Alexander
of the Isles had been only two years in captivity, when the
inhabitants of the Isles once more broke out into open insurrection,
and burst into Lochaber under the command of Donald
Balloch, the son of his uncle Reginald, and chief of the clan
Ranald. They there encountered an army which had been
left in Lochaber for the purpose of overawing the Highlanders,
under the command of the earls of Mar and Caithness, and
after an obstinate conflict, the king's troops were completely
defeated, the earl of Caithness left dead upon the field, while