¹ Davies, Norman, The Isles: A History (London, 1999)Google Scholar; Davies, R. R., The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093–1343 (Oxford, 2000)Google Scholar; Frame, Robin, The Political Development of the British Isles, 1100–1400 (Oxford, 1990)Google Scholar; Bradshaw, Brendan and Morrill, John, The British Problem c. 1534–1707: State Formation in the Atlantic Archipelago (Basingstoke, 1996)Google Scholar; Ellis, Steven G. and Barber, Sarah, eds., Conquest and Union: Fashioning a British State, 1485–1725 (London, 1995)Google Scholar; Canny, Nicholas, Making Ireland British, 1580–1650 (Oxford, 2001)Google Scholar; Macinnes, Allan I., The British Revolution, 1629–1660 (Basingstoke, 2005)Google Scholar; Keith Robbins, “Historians and Twentieth-Century British History, 1983–2008,” unpublished paper presented at the Conference on Modern British History, University of Strathclyde, 24 June 2008.

² Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James, 3 March 1607, in The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, A.D. 1545–1625 (RPCS), ed. Burton, John Hill and Masson, David, first series, 10 vols. (Edinburgh, 1877–98), 7:513Google Scholar. The Scots did not reject union outright but were glad that the English rejection meant they no longer had to offer lukewarm support to James's proposal.

³ Act of Parliament “For the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disorderit subjectis inhabitantis of the bordouris hielandis and ilis,” 29 July 1587, in Acts of the Parliament of Scotland (APS), ed. Thomson, T. and Innes, C., 12 vols. (Edinburgh, 1814–75), 3:461–66Google Scholar. This act aimed at controlling the Highlands and the Border region of southern Scotland. The Border region had been regarded as lawless for some time, and policies previously adopted there were utilized in the Highlands as well. The 1587 act also made a distinction between the west Highlands and Isles and the central and eastern Highlands. While some reference will be made to the Borders, this article will concentrate on the west Highlands and Isles. For further discussion of the central and eastern Highlands, see Cathcart, Alison, Kinship and Clientage: Highland Clanship, 1451 to 1609 (Leiden, 2006)Google Scholar. Although the civilizing policy was extended to the northern Isles, they will not form part of this study. As argued by Macinnes (British Revolution, 40, 61–62), the annexation of Orkney and Shetland was concerned primarily with James's integration of the British seas into his ius imperium.

⁴ Ohlmeyer, Jane H., “‘Civilizinge of those rude parts’: Colonisation within Britain and Ireland, 1580s–1640s,” in The Oxford History of the British Empire, vol. 1, The Origins of Empire, ed. Canny, Nicholas (Oxford, 1998), 124–47Google Scholar; Macinnes, Allan I., Clanship, Commerce and the House of Stuart, 1603–1788 (East Linton, 1996)Google Scholar; Dawson, Jane E. A., The Politics of Religion in the Age of Mary Queen of Scots: The Earl of Argyll and the Struggle for Britain and Ireland (Cambridge, 2002)Google Scholar.

⁵ Gregory, Donald, The History of the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland, from A.D. 1493 to A.D. 1625 (Edinburgh, 1836; repr. 2008), 330–33Google Scholar; MacGregor, Martin, “The Statutes of Iona: Text and Context,” Innes Review 57, no. 2 (Autumn 2006): 111Google Scholar.

⁶ Lee, Maurice, Government by Pen: Scotland under James VI and I (Urbana, IL, 1980), 75–82, 136–47Google Scholar; Goodare, Julian, “The Statutes of Iona in Context,” Scottish Historical Review 77, no. 203 (April 1998): 31–57Google Scholar; Armitage, David, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge, 2000), 55–58Google Scholar; Macinnes, Clanship, 56–87.

⁷ Macinnes, Clanship, ix; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 156–57. See also Stevenson, David, Highland Warrior: Alasdair MacColla and the Civil Wars (Edinburgh, 1980), 20–31Google Scholar; Lee, Maurice, “The Government of Scotland after 1603,” Scottish Historical Review 55, no. 159 (1976): 41–53Google Scholar, reprinted in The “Inevitable” Union, ed. Lee, Maurice (East Linton, 2003), 133–44Google Scholar; Lynch, Michael, “James VI and the ‘Highland Problem,’” in The Reign of James VI, ed. Goodare, Julian and Lynch, Michael (East Linton, 2000), 208–27Google Scholar.

⁸ MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 112–13.

⁹ Ibid., 113. MacGregor acknowledges the need for greater contextualization.

¹⁰ Recent interpretations of James VI's Highland policy have viewed them from a state-formation perspective. In reality, James's policies, including naval expeditions to the Isles (most of which were abandoned due to cost), extracting promises of good behavior from the Highlanders known as surety and caution, royal favor for those who cooperated with the crown and forfeiture for those who consistently rebelled, were little more than a sophisticated repeat of the policies adopted by his grandfather and great-grandfather, James V and James IV, respectively. Indeed James may well have taken note of Lindsay of Pitscottie's account of the policy of James V which “brocht the yllis … in goode ruell”; Lindesay, RobertPitscottie, of, The History and Chronicles of Scotland. From the Slauchter of King James the First to the Ane Thousande fyve hundreith thrie scoir fyftein zeir, ed., Mackay, Æ. J. G., 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1899–1911), 1:352Google Scholar.

¹¹ Since, arguably, the fourteenth century, the “Highlands” had been regarded increasingly as a region lacking in law and order where the crown's authority was repeatedly ignored. What the crown, and most of Lowland society, failed to appreciate was the economic situation which produced high levels of petty tit-for-tat raiding in the region. Combined with ever-increasing competition over land this unrest confirmed the view of the Highlands as a “lawless” region. By the time James VI succeeded to the Scottish throne, these assumptions were accepted without question.

¹² King and Council commission against Lewis, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:87–88; Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council, 9 May 1608, RPCS, 8:502. James wrote from Whitehall to the council in Edinburgh acknowledging discontent on the part of some who were charged to assist the planned expedition to the Isles. The king reiterated the command that they were to assemble, arguing that the venture was “so necessarie to oure service and so beneficiall to that hole Estate.”

¹³ James VI and I, Basilicon Doron, in King James VI and I: Political Writings, ed. Sommerville, Johann P. (Cambridge, 1994), 24Google Scholar. This reference to plantation is an indication of James's archipelagic awareness, drawing on Irish precedents to be applied within a Scottish context. Also it may have been a rather self-conscious attempt to show an English audience that he was capable of dealing effectively with the Irish situation. This was crucial in light of the backdrop of Hugh O’Neill's rebellion of the 1590s.

¹⁴ Otherwise known as the MacDonalds of Dunivaig. In 1589 they had separated from the MacDonalds of the Glens, the Irish branch of the family that became known as the MacDonnells.

¹⁵ Angus MacDonald's letter of submission to James, 8 October 1596, RPCS, 6:24–25; Offers made by MacDonald of Knockrinsay to James, 6 September 1599, RPCS, 5:321; Gregory, Donald, History of the Western Highlands, 268–74Google Scholar. Angus had sent his son James to court to make his submission. Although James was detained as a hostage for his father, Angus did not fulfill any other of the conditions; Gregory, History of the Western Highlands, 267–79, 272–74, 280–84, 287–90.

¹⁶ Act of Parliament “The inhabitantis of the iles and helandis Suld schwa thair haldingis,” 16 December 1597, APS, 4:138–39; Act of Parliament “Ratificatioun of the contract of the Lewis,” 29 June 1598, APS, 4:160–64; Certain councilors nominated to deal with matters concerning the Isles, 4 May 1598, RPCS, 5:455; Ratification of the contract concerning the island of Lewis, 29 June 1598, RPCS, 5:462–63; Gregory, History of the Western Highlands, 276–77, 279. Lewis would be the only region planted.

¹⁷ This is quite remarkable considering the unrest that resulted from disputes over land possession in the Highlands. At the same time, James was well aware of the military capabilities of his Highland subjects, many of whom had considerable experience of warfare in Ireland. It suggests either a severe underestimation of opposition to this policy or utter contempt for the inhabitants of the region.

¹⁸ Proclamation for musters for recovery of island of Lewis, 19 July 1602, RPCS, 6:420–22; Caution for the portioners of Lewis, 8 March 1603, RPCS, 6:545–46; Act in favor of the gentlemen of Lewis, 8 March 1603, RPCS, 6:546. As early as July 1602, James issued proclamations regarding an attempt to regain Lewis while also commenting how those involved in the first plantation were trying to shirk their responsibilities.

¹⁹ For centuries Scots had been migrating to and settling in the north of Ireland and throughout the sixteenth century remained the proverbial thorn in the side of Tudor monarchs. For the most part the English regarded the expulsion of the Scots as crucial for the settlement of the north, although at times alliance was made with the MacDonalds against the O’Neills. Meanwhile, the efforts of the English to utilize the influence of Archibald Campbell, fifth earl of Argyll, to deal with the situation were promising, but the venture did not come to fruition (Dawson, Politics of Religion, 128). Such inconsistency in policy exacerbated levels of unrest, and the English were unable to deal with the movement of Scots into the north. James VI had been content to allow his Highland subjects to cause problems for Elizabeth, but as his succession to the English crown loomed ever closer, the king realized the necessity of extending law and order throughout Ireland.

²⁰ Proclamation concerning the inhabitants of Lewis, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:89; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James, 3 March 1607, RPCS, 7:513–14, n. 1. James was aware of English attitudes toward the Scots.

²¹ King and Council commission against Lewis, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:84–87; Proclamation concerning the inhabitants of Lewis, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:89–90; Charges for rendering the castles of the Isles, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:87–89; Charges for rendering limfads and galleys, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:87–89, 87; Perceval-Maxwell, M., Scottish Migration to Ulster in the Reign of James VI (London, 1973), 12.Google Scholar

²² Proclamation for the Isles, 13 June 1605, RPCS, 7:59–60; Proclamation for the west Isles, 27 June 1605, RPCS, 7:68–69; Warrant for pressing of mariners, 27 June 1605, RPCS, 7:69–70; Commission of lieutenancy in the west Isles and Kintyre, 8 August 1605, RPCS, 7:115–17; The Gentlemen Adventurers of Lewis, 31 July 1606, RPCS, 7:229; Letter from James to the Three Estates of Scotland, 11 February 1605, RPCS, 7:466. James knew that success in this venture would reflect on his standing, both at home and on the continent. Perhaps specifically he had the Dutch in mind, as their fishing in the region was hampered by the lawless activities of his island subjects. See MacCoinnich, Aonghas, “Native, Stranger and the Fishing of the Isles, 1611–1637,” paper in Occasional Proceedings of Northern European Historical Research Network, delivered at Aberdeen, August 2005Google Scholar.

²³ Bartlett, Robert, Gerald of Wales (Oxford, 1982), 158–77Google Scholar; Quinn, David B., “Ireland and Sixteenth Century European Expansion” in Historical Studies I, ed. Williams, T. Desmond (London, 1958), 20–32Google Scholar; Shuger, Debora, “Irishmen, Aristocrats, and Other White Barbarians,” Renaissance Quarterly 50, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 494–525Google Scholar. James's civilizing policy had its roots in classical antiquity. Shuger points out that “civility,” as a program of reform, was not limited to the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland.

²⁴ Macinnes, Allan I., “Crown, Clan and Fine: The ‘Civilizing’ of Scottish Gaeldom, 1587–1638,” in Northern Scotland 13 (1993): 31.Google Scholar

²⁵ Grant to Sir Randal MacDonnell of the Route and the Glens in Antrim and Rathlin Island, 14 April 1604, BL Add. MS, 36775, fols. 138b–139; Confirmation of earlier grant to Sir Randal MacDonnell, 6 July 1604, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), D2977/5/1/1/2.

²⁶ Perceval-Maxwell, , Scottish Migration to Ulster, 47–56Google Scholar; Letter from James to Sir Arthur Chichester, 16 April 1605, Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland (CSPI), ed. Hamilton, Hans Claude et al. , 24 vols. (London, 1860–1911), 12:271–72.Google Scholar

²⁷ There was a long tradition of Scottish fighting men migrating to Ireland, either on a temporary or permanent basis. See Hayes-McCoy, Gerald A., Scots Mercenary Forces in Ireland, 1565–1603 (Dublin, 1937)Google Scholar; Dawson, Politics of Religion, 5–6, 51–52, 163–64, 202–5.

²⁸ Proclamation concerning the inhabitants of Lewis, 18 July 1605, RPCS, 7:89–90.

²⁹ Sommerville, , King James VI and I, 1–61, 62–84Google Scholar; Wormald, Jenny, Court, Kirk and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh, 1981), 148Google Scholar.

³⁰ Mason, Roger, “Renaissance and Reformation: The Sixteenth Century,” in Scotland: A History, ed. Wormald, Jenny (Oxford, 2005), 138–39Google Scholar. I would like to thank Alan Macdonald, University of Dundee, for discussing this point with me.

³¹ Articles proposed by the council concerning the marquis of Huntly's undertaking for the North Isles, 30 April 1607, RPCS, 7:360–62; Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council concerning the marquis of Huntly, 3 December 1606, RPCS, 7:504; Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council concerning the marquis of Huntly, 16 March 1607, RPCS, 7:516–17; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James concerning the marquis of Huntly, 26 March 1607, RPCS, 7:518–19; Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council concerning the marquis of Huntly, 7 April 1607, RPCS, 7:520–21; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James concerning the marquis of Huntly, (?) May 1607, RPCS, 7:523–24; Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council concerning the marquis of Huntly, 20 May 1607, RPCS, 7:524–25; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James concerning the marquis of Huntly, 19 June 1607, RPCS, 7:528–29; Goodare, “Statutes of Iona,” 33. Huntly agreed before the council “to tak in hand the service of setling of the North Yllis undir his Majesteis obedyence … and to putt ane end to that service be extirpatioun of the barbarous people of the Yllis within a yeare.” Although he had been extending his authority in this region throughout the later sixteenth century, Huntly's refusal to agree to a higher annual duty may have been a deliberate move on his part to stall, if not thwart completely, this plan. The marquess, aware of the failure of the first two attempts at plantation of Lewis by the Fife Adventurers and of the third attempt under way but reaching no successful conclusion, would have had little desire to see such an eventuality played out in the North Isles under his watch.

³² James had managed the conflicting interests of the Catholic party and the kirk in Scotland successfully by making concessions to one in order to gain support for measures against the other. By 1607 he had neutralized the threat of the radical Presbyterians in Scotland but was pushing through reform of the church along Erastian lines. The action against Huntly was to satisfy an already disgruntled kirk, as well as wider Protestant opinion throughout his kingdoms in the wake of the failed gunpowder plot. Donaldson, Gordon, Scotland: James V–James VII (Edinburgh, 1965), 186–96, 204–8Google Scholar; Mason, “Renaissance and Reformation,” 136–42; Wormald, Jenny, “Confidence and Perplexity: The Seventeenth Century,” in Wormald, , Scotland, 145–53Google Scholar.

³³ Council order for the arrest of vessels to be employed in reducing the Isles, 21 May 1608, RPCS, 8:94.

³⁴ After Huntly's defeat of crown forces, led by Argyll, at the battle of Glenlivet in 1594, Argyll was committed to ward for a short period. However, Campbell influence in the west of Scotland was such that, at times, James would come to rely on him for execution of crown policy in the region.

³⁵ Letter concerning the earl of Argyll's claim to Kintyre, (?) 1607, RPCS, 7:749–50; Grant of lands in Kintyre to the earl of Argyll, 30 May 1607, in Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum (RMS), ed. Thomson, John Maitland et al. , 11 vols. (Edinburgh, 1912–), 6:1911Google Scholar; Letter from Sir George Carey Lord Justice of Ireland to Sir Robert Cecil, 3 December 1599, CSPI, 8:295–96; “Remedies [for Irish incursions], and the Benefits which will accrue from them,” n.d., CSPI, 11:666–67; “Ratification to the Erle of Argyill,” 28 June 1617, APS, 4:559–60. Since the 1580s James had spoken repeatedly of the rich economic resources of the Highlands and Isles that were underexploited by the inhabitants while, at the same time, aware that the crown had never received full rental from the region.

³⁶ Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 16 July 1607, CSPI, 13:223. Chichester had “received intelligence from the sea-coasts of Ulster, and especially of Antrim, that Angus M’Connell … with some other confederates … were up in arms in the Islands of Scotland, intending to make attempts upon those coasts, and especially that of Cantyre (of which Angus pretends to be lord) and also upon the opposite parts of this realm.”

³⁷ Proclamation concerning MacDonald of Dunivaig, 31 July 1607, RPCS, 4:423; Commission of justiciary to the earl of Argyll over the Isles, 12 August 1607, RPCS, 7:426–72. The commission excluded the North Isles.

³⁸ After Angus MacDonald's submission in the wake of Lord Scone's expedition, the chief had attempted to negotiate with council and had submitted proposals; see Pitcairn, Robert, ed., Criminal Trials in Scotland, 3 vols. (Edinburgh, 1833), 3:365–66.Google Scholar

³⁹ Gregory, History of the Western Highlands, 288–90; and see n. 15 above.

⁴⁰ Grant to James MacDonald of Dunluce of lands in Kintyre, 4 May 1597, RMS, 6:554. It is not clear exactly how James MacDonnell won the favor of the king. Gregory (History of the Western Highlands, 266–69, 273–74) asserts that James requested the assistance “as should be required” of MacDonnell in an expedition of 1596 to the Isles. The following year, MacDonnell “accepted an invitation to visit the Court of Scotland” when he was “described by several Scottish writers of the period as a man of handsome appearance and dignified manners; and, although ignorant of the Lowland tongue, he speedily became a great favorite”; The Warrender Papers, vol. 2., ed. Cameron, Annie I. (Edinburgh, Scottish History Society, 1932), 429–30.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Pitcairn, Criminal Trials in Scotland, 3:365–66; Gregory, History of the Western Highlands, 310–11.

⁴² Argyll had been able to manipulate the council in order to thwart the efforts of Angus MacDonald of Dunivaig and his son, Sir James, to secure continued possession of Kintyre and Islay. See Gregory, History of the Western Highlands, 272–74, 287–90, 305–13; Pitcairn, Criminal Trials in Scotland, 3:365–66.

⁴³ Perceval-Maxwell, Scottish Migration to Ulster, 74, 76.

⁴⁴ Grant to Hugh Montgomery and James Hamilton, 5 November 1605, PRONI, D4216/B/1–2.

⁴⁵ Perceval-Maxwell, Scottish Migration to Ulster, 49–60.

⁴⁶ SirCraig, Thomas, De Unione Regnorum Britanniæ Tractatus, ed. Terry, C. Sanford (Edinburgh, Scottish History Society, 1909), 446–47.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Submission of the earl of Tyrone, 8 April 1603, CSPI, 11:13–14; Letter from James to the earl of Devonshire, Lieutenant of Ireland, 4 September 1603, CSPI, 11:79–80; Letter from James to Sir Arthur Chichester, 21 December 1612, CSPI, 15:310.

⁴⁸ James's personal attitude toward Catholicism was clear. His wife, Anne of Denmark, his chancellor, the earl of Dunfermline, and his close friend, Huntly, were all Catholics.

⁴⁹ Council charge for arresting some men from Ireland, 18 September 1607, RPCS, 7:439. The Scottish Council's reaction, and indeed the lack of it, to the Flight of the Earls is surprising. My thanks to Nicholas Canny for helpful comments on this point.

⁵⁰ O’Neill's rebellion against English authority effectively ended with defeat at the Battle of Kinsale on 24 December 1601, although generous terms for O’Neill were gained through the Treaty of Mellifont of 30 March 1603. O’Neill and O’Donnell subsequently accompanied Lord Deputy Mountjoy to London to meet James who upheld the terms of the treaty, although it was widely unpopular in England. In the following years O’Neill increasingly found himself under attack from various directions including legal questions regarding his and O’Donnell's claims to land, while O’Donnell and Cuconnaught Maguire faced severe financial difficulties as well. Combined with O’Neill's growing paranoia regarding his own safety, this resulted in the three men fleeing with their families to Spain. Canny, Nicholas, “The Flight of the Earls, 1607,” Irish Historical Studies 17, no. 67 (March 1971): 380–99Google Scholar; Morgan, Hiram, Tyrone's Rebellion: The Outbreak of the Nine Years War in Tudor Ireland (Woodbridge, 1993)Google Scholar; Nicholas Canny, Making Ireland British, 174–87; McCavitt, John, “The Flight of the Earls,” Irish Historical Studies 29, no. 113 (May 1994): 159–73Google Scholar; Finnegan, Michael D., “Tyrone's Rebellion: Hugh O’Neill and the Outbreak of the Nine Years War in Ulster” (MA thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway, 2001)Google Scholar; McCavitt, John, The Flight of the Earls (Dublin, 2002)Google Scholar; Canny, Nicholas, “Hugh O’Neill [Aodh Ó Néill], second earl of Tyrone (c. 1550–1616),” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) (London, 2004)Google Scholar, http://www.oxforddnb.com.

⁵¹ Canny, Making Ireland British, 133–34. Elizabethan plantation schemes were justified by reference to the theory of res nullia or “empty land.” In 1608 the crown claimed to have at its disposal all, or significantly large parts, of the counties of Armagh, Cavan, Coleraine, Donegal, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. County Coleraine was later designated County Londonderry. And see n. 70 below.

⁵² Canny, Making Ireland British, 200–201. A distinction was made between undertakers and servitors. Undertakers “would ‘undertake’ … to build defensible buildings on their property, to remove the existing occupiers … and to populate their lands exclusively with English or Scottish Protestant tenants.” Servitors were those who had served the crown in either a civil or military capacity, and, in the Ulster context, most were expected to be former army officers. They “were also obliged to build defensible buildings on their properties, and were encouraged, but not obliged, to place English and Scottish tenants on their estates.” Any native Irish who gained land were “to promote ‘tillage and husbandry after the manner of the English Pale.’”

⁵³ Canny, Making Ireland British, 192–93.

⁵⁴ Perceval-Maxwell, Scottish Migration to Ulster, 81.

⁵⁵ Letter from Sir John Davies to Salisbury, 12 September 1607, CSPI, 13:273; Canny, Making Ireland British, 191–92, 236.

⁵⁶ Sir Cahir O’Doherty had been an English ally prior to this rebellion, which, far from being an attempt to overthrow the English garrison at Derry, was motivated primarily by local and personal factors. The governor of Derry, Sir George Paulet, “played a major role in provoking” the revolt that resulted from a dispute concerning the possession of Inch Island. O’Doherty's rebellion was viewed as part of the wider plot O’Neill was believed to be organizing against the crown. McCavitt, John, Sir Arthur Chichester Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1605–1616 (Belfast, 1998), 140–48Google Scholar; Hunter, Robert J., “The End of O’Donnell Power,” in Donegal: History and Society; Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, ed. Nolan, William, Ronayne, Liam, and Dunlevy, Mariead (Dublin, 1995), 250–51.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ Convention of Estates concerning forces for service in the Isles, 20 May 1608, RPCS, 8:93; Commission of lieutenancy over the Isles to Lord Ochiltree, 21 June 1608, RPCS, 8:113–14.

⁵⁸ On the same day, Dunfermline and Sir Thomas Hamilton wrote to James VI informing him of “the treusonabill insurrection of Odochartie, and burneing of Derry in Ireland” acknowledging “the first pairt of oure dewtie wes to mak your maiestir aduerteised with the greatest speid that could be.” See State Papers and Miscellaneous Correspondence of Thomas, Earl of Melros, ed. Maidment, James, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1837), 1:44–45.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Letter from the Lord Deputy and Irish Council to the Edinburgh Council, 24 April 1608, RPCS, 8:497–98; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 4 May 1608, CSPI, 13:501.

⁶⁰ Proclamation of a general wapinschaw, 25 April 1608, RPCS, 8:78; Proclamation to western shires for service against Irish rebels, 25 April 1608, RPCS, 8:78–79; Commission of lieutenancy over the Isles to Lord Ochiltree, 21 June 1608, RPCS, 8:113–14; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to certain noblemen in the west, 28 April 1608, RPCS, 8:498–99. A wapinshawing was a military muster of men within a particular region or lordship.

⁶¹ Royal proclamation against supplying the rebels in Ireland, 30 April 1608, RPCS, 8:82–83.

⁶² Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council, 9 May 1608, RPCS, 8:503; Letter from Thomas Philips to the Edinburgh Council, 9 May 1608, RPCS, 8:504–5. Phillips had obtained Coleraine from James Hamilton of the Hamilton-Montgomery plantation. Hamilton had acquired large amounts of land in Ulster but was persuaded by Chichester to sell a significant amount to other English and Scotsmen. See Perceval-Maxwell, Scottish Migration to Ulster, 51–55.

⁶³ Letter from the Edinburgh Council to James, 21 May 1608, RPCS, 8:506–7; Letter from the Edinburgh Council to the governor of Carrickfergus, 30 May 1608, RPCS, 8:508; Letter from the London Council to Sir Arthur Chichester, 2 June 1608, CSPI, 13:548. On 2 June 1608, however, the council in England wrote to Chichester informing him that “300 are to be sent over from Scotland.”

⁶⁴ Letter from the Edinburgh Council to the governor of Carrickfergus, 21 June 1608, RPCS, 8:511.

⁶⁵ Letter from the Edinburgh Council to Sir Arthur Chichester, 13 July 1608, RPCS, 8:512–13. The letter goes on to mention the 100 soldiers (although previous communication mentioned 200 soldiers) and their conditions of pay.

⁶⁶ Letter from the Lords and Irish Council to Sir Arthur Chichester, 2 June 1608, CSPI, 13:548–49. Canny (Making Ireland British, 195) argues that Chichester had “a responsibility” to further James's British endeavors, while the councils in Edinburgh and Dublin articulated a “new spirit of co-operation” around the time of the Flight of the Earls. They may well have done so, but this was due to political expediency rather than any deeper desire to consider local or national issues in a British context. The council in England, however, was clear in its prioritization of matters in the other two kingdoms. Orders sent to Chichester dated 2 June 1608 stated he was “not to divert any of the forces from the work he has in hand, in order to support the expedition intended against the Isles of Scotland.” Irish affairs, the council asserted, were “of more consequence” than those of Scotland, “a country where the King is better assured of his contentment than he can be of Ireland.”

⁶⁷ Proclamation concerning cooperation of Scottish and Irish forces, 10 March 1608, RPCS, 8:59–61; Proclamation concerning rebellious Islesmen, 10 March 1608, RPCS, 8:61; Proclamation for colonizing the north of Ireland with Scotsmen, 28 March 1609, RPCS, 8:267–68; see McGinnis, Paul J. and Williamson, Arthur H., eds., The British Union: A Critical Edition and Translation of David Hume of Godscroft's “De Unione Insulae Britannicae” (Aldershot, 2002), 37, 217–23Google Scholar, esp. 217 n. 2, and 223. Hume advocated English settlements in the west Isles and Lochaber in order to civilize and thus politicize the local inhabitants. This would ensure that the English saw these parts of the realm as their responsibility too, crucial in order to attain his vision of a united Britain. Indeed, as Hume urged James, “if you secure the farthest parts, there will be no region in which division may begin.”

⁶⁸ Council order for the arrest of vessels to be employed in reducing the Isles, 21 May 1608, RPCS, 8:94–95; New issue of royal proclamation concerning the reduction of the Isles, 21 May 1608, RPCS, 8:95.

⁶⁹ Letter from Sir William St. John to the Edinburgh Council, 17 July 1608, RPCS, 8:514–15; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 16 July 1607, CSPI, 13:223. Prior to this, Captain St. John had been “employed on the coasts of Munster,” but now, according to Chichester, he was “to ply up and down the channel and from the river of Strangford to that of Loghfoile … to amuse the rebels that perhaps they would lie still.” See also Letter from the earl of Dunfermline concerning soldiers sent to Ireland including an account of payment, 13 July 1608, BL Add. MS, 32476, fols. 9–11.

⁷⁰ Proclamation for apprehension of Phelim Reogh MacDavid, 2 August 1608, RPCS, 8:139–41. James's “glorious and notable victorie over the wicked and detestable traytour O’Dogarty” was evidence of the “detestatioun” in which God “haldeth ungraitfull, disloyall, and trayterous subjectis, who, spending the course of thair naturall lyff in impietie, treasoun, and falshoode, make thair end and funerallis to be infamous, tragicall, and miserable.”

⁷¹ Andrew Stewart, third Lord Ochiltree, was a member of the Stewart family descended from Murdoch Stewart, duke of Albany, grandson of King Robert II. In 1534 his great-grandfather, Andrew Stewart, third Lord Avondale, had exchanged his barony of Avondale for that of Ochiltree in Ayrshire with Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, and later, in 1543, he was recognized as a lord of parliament with the title Lord Stewart of Ochiltree. Andrew, second Lord Ochiltree, had played an important role during the years of the reformation of religion in Scotland. Grandson of the second lord, Andrew, third Lord Ochiltree, was a nephew of James Stewart, earl of Arran, a favorite of James VI for a time. He was a member of the Privy Council, first Lord of the Bedchamber, governor of Edinburgh Castle, and General of the Ordnance. Andrew Knox was born in Renfrewshire, the second son of John Knox of Ranfurly in Kilbarchan parish. After studying at Glasgow University during the time of Andrew Melville, he was appointed minister of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, in 1581, and then Paisley in 1585. During the 1590s he performed a number of services for James VI that resulted in his promotion to the bishopric of the Isles in 1605. The following year Knox visited his diocese with a new seal depicting a bishop in an open boat. Thus, both Ochiltree and Knox had strong familial, political, and religious connections in the west and would have been familiar with crown reliance on the naval power of families in the region. See Margaret H. B. Sanderson, “Andrew Stewart, second Lord Ochiltree,” ODNB; James Kirk, “Andrew Knox, bishop of Raphoe,” ODNB; Paul, J. Balfour, The Scots Peerage, 9 vols. (Edinburgh, 1909), 6:509–17Google Scholar.

⁷² Macgregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 138.

⁷³ Stevenson, Highland Warrior, 29–30; Macinnes, Clanship, 65. Macinnes asserts that the main impetus behind this legislation was “to educate the fine [clan elite] about their responsibilities as members of the Scottish landed classes.”

⁷⁴ Macinnes, Clanship, 65–73; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 138–50.

⁷⁵ Statutes of Iona, agreed 23 August 1609, registered 27 July 1610, RPCS, 9:27, 29. MacGregor (“Statutes of Iona,” 150) suggests that the statute on firearms signified “the desire to preserve hunting—very much a traditional benchmark of behaviour and identity for the Gaelic elite—as an aristocratic monopoly.”

⁷⁶ James's Instructions to the Lords Commissioners concerning the Isles, 9 February 1609, RPCS, 8:745–46; Macinnes, Clanship, 67.

⁷⁷ Goodare, “Statutes of Iona,” 41, 51, 53; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 113; Macinnes, Clanship, 65–66.

⁷⁸ Lee, Government by Pen, 79–80; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 112–13; Goodare, “Statutes of Iona,” 47–48.

⁷⁹ Report of Lord Ochiltree to the Edinburgh Council, 5 October 1608, RPCS, 8:173–75; Letter from the earl of Argyll to the Edinburgh Council, 6 October 1608, RPCS, 8:741–42; Council minute, 6 November 1608, RPCS, 8:742. Hector Maclean of Duart, Lauchlan MacLean, brother of Hector, Allan MacLean, son of MacLean of Ardgowan, Neil MacIlduy and Neil MacRory, dependents of MacLean of Duart, were warded in Dumbarton Castle; Donald Gorm of Sleat and Donald MacAllan MacIan, captain of the Clanranald, were warded in Blackness Castle; Alexander MacLeod, brother of Rory MacLeod of Dunvegan and Harris, was warded in the Tolbooth in Edinburgh. Angus MacDonald of Clan Donald South was allowed to remain at liberty with a promise he would appear before the council on 15 November. Rory MacLeod of Dunvegan and Harris was yet to come in.

⁸⁰ Royal commission to certain members of the Edinburgh Council, 6 February 1609, RPCS, 8:742–43.

⁸¹ James's Instructions to the Lords Commissioners concerning the Isles, 6 February 1609, RPCS, 8:745; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 113–14.

⁸² Royal letter concerning the Isles, 27 June 1609, RPCS, 8:752–53; Royal letter to the Edinburgh Council, 8 May 1610, RPCS, 9:16–18; Bond of Obedience from the Island chiefs to James, agreed 24 August 1609, registered 27 July 1610, RPCS, 9:24–26; Statutes of Iona, agreed 23 August 1609, registered 27 July 1610, RPCS, 9:26–30; Goodare, “Statutes of Iona,” 37–38.

⁸³ Goodare, “Statutes of Iona,” 41–42; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 113, 116, 119–20.

⁸⁴ Macinnes, Clanship, 57–59, discusses social and legal differences between Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland.

⁸⁵ Macinnes, Allan, “Making the Plantations British, 1603–38,” in Frontiers and the Writing of History, 1500–1850, ed. Ellis, Steven G. and Esser, Raingard (Laatzen: Wehrhahn, 2006), 95–125, 104.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ It is, perhaps, more than a coincidence that in May 1610, when James asked council to proceed with registration of the statutes, land in Ulster was finally ready to be handed over to new owners. Having been preoccupied with affairs in Ireland, James could now turn his attention back to the Isles.

⁸⁷ MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 120.

⁸⁸ James employed the policy of transplantation elsewhere in his three kingdoms. For the transplantation of the Grahams from “the mid center of the hole Yland under our impyre” to Ireland, see Letter from the London Council to Sir Arthur Chichester and the Irish Council, 30 April 1606, CSPI, 12:462; Petition of Grahams, n.d. [1606?], CSPI, 13:50; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 21 February 1607, CSPI, 13:118; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester and the Irish Council to the London Council, 20 April 1607, CSPI, 13:140; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 23 June 1607, CSPI, 13:198; Letter from James to Sir Arthur Chichester, 16 July 1607, CSPI, 13:222; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 4 August 1607, CSPI, 13:245; Letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 11 April 1608, CSPI, 13:471; Abstracts of letter from Sir Arthur Chichester to the London Council, 4 July 1609, CSPI, 14:251. Others were sent to the Netherlands to fight; see Ohlmeyer, “‘Civilizinge of those rude parts,’” 132.

⁸⁹ Kidd, Colin (British Identities before Nationalism: Ethnicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600–1800 [Cambridge, 1999], 123–45)Google Scholar discusses the problematic and paradoxical attitudes of the crown, the kirk, and wider Lowland society toward Gaelic Scotland. Indeed, Kidd argues that this region “which in practice constituted the periphery of the Scottish nation … continued … to define Scotland's identity and the historical legitimacy of its institutions” (127), while James VI “showed no reluctance to base his political theories on the ancient Scots” of the west. Thus, although Lowland society refused to reject the origins of its Gaelic past, it continued to express hostility toward Gaelic society, language and culture. See also Mason, Roger A., “Civil Society and the Celts: Hector Boece, George Buchanan and the Ancient Scottish Past,” in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Cowan, Edward J. and Finlay, Richard J. (Edinburgh, 2002), 95–119Google Scholar; Macinnes, British Revolution, 8–24, 40–41, 54–62.

⁹⁰ James's Instructions to the Lords Commissioners concerning the Isles, 6 February 1609, RPCS, 8:745.

⁹¹ Macinnes, Clanship, ix, 65–73; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 138–58, esp. 156.

⁹² Knox was later rewarded with the appointment to the bishopric of Raphoe in Donegal on 6–7 May 1610, again emphasizing James's three-kingdoms perspective. If Knox could achieve such results in the west Highlands and Isles, he would be a useful individual to have operating in the north of Ireland during the plantation. See Ohlmeyer, “‘Civilizinge of those rude parts,’” 135. Ochiltree became an undertaker in the plantation of Ulster, and was granted lands within Tyrone by James VI in 1610. His son, Andrew Stewart, was created Baron Castlestewart by James in 1619.

⁹³ Letter from James to the Edinburgh Council concerning the Isles, 8 May 1610, RPCS, 9:18.

⁹⁴ Commission to Andrew Knox, Bishop of the Isles, 30 June 1609, RPCS, 8:756; McCavitt, Flight of the Earls.

⁹⁵ Macinnes, “Making the Plantations British, 1603–38,” 104; MacGregor, “Statutes of Iona,” 115.

⁹⁶ Macinnes, “Making the Plantations British, 1603–38,” 105.

⁹⁷ Macinnes, Clanship, 56–81; Ghill-Eeathain, Bardachd Chloinn, Eachann Bacach and Other Maclean Poets, ed. O’Baoill, Colm O. (Edinburgh, 1979)Google Scholar; Kidd, British Identities before Nationalism, 127; Mason, “Renaissance and Reformation,” 139.