In the summer of 1411, the ageing Donald of Isla, Lord of the Isles, invaded mainland Scotland with a huge, battle-hardened army, only to be fought to a bloody standstill on the plateau of Harlaw, fifteen miles from Aberdeen, a town he had threatened to sack. One of the greatest battles in Scottish history, described by hardened mediaeval chroniclers as 'atrocious', 'Reid Harlaw' left some 3,000 dead and wounded. Dismissed by Scott as a 'Celt v. Saxon' power struggle, it has faded from historical memory, other than in the north-east of Scotland.

Written records in Latin, Scots, Gaelic and English are presented in their original form, and with transcriptions and translations. Two major ballads are analysed, one contemporary, and one fabricated over 350 years later - which is still sung. Lowland views dominate, because of the loss and destruction of Highland records, notably those of the Lords of the Isles themselves. The histories themselves fall into two groups - those written at or around the time, and those composed some 300 years later.These later accounts form the basis of most modern descriptions of the battle, but they tend to be romantic and highly imaginative, creating noble order where chaos once existed.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Map
• Genealogical Table
• 1 Introduction
• Part 1: The Early Histories
  • 2 The Opponents: The Lord of the Isles and the Earl of Mar
    • Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles
    • Donald’s Lordship
    • Robert II’s Many Offspring
    • Donald Claims the Earldom of Ross
    • Cooperation with England?
    • James I’s Involvement?
    • The Invasion
    • The Earl of Mar
    • Provost Davidson
    • The Battle
  • 3 Early ‘Highland’ and Lowland Accounts of the Battle of Harlaw
    • Early ‘Highland’ Accounts
    • 1411. The Annals of Loch Cé
    • [1411?] The Brosnachadh, an Incitement to Battle
    • The Lament for Red Hector
    • 1596. ‘Observations of Mr. Dioness Campbell, Deane of Limerick, on the West Isles of Scotland. A.D. 1596’
    • Early Lowland Chronicles
    • c.1440s. Scotichronicon, by Walter Bower
    • c.1461. Liber Pluscardensis (Book of Pluscarden)
    • 1521. Historia majoris Britanniae, by John Mair or Major
    • 1527. Scotorum Historia, by Hector Boece
    • 1582. Rerum Scoticarum Historia, by George Buchanan
    • Summary of the Early Historical Accounts
  • 4 The ‘Ramsay ballad’: ‘The Battle of Harlaw’
    • The Purpose of the ‘Ramsay ballad’?
• Part 2: The Much Later Accounts
  • 5 The Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth-century Accounts
    • Post-1660s. The [Sleat] History of the Macdonalds, by Uisdean (Hugh) MacDonald
    • The Red and Black Books of Clanranald
    • The Addendum in English to the Brosnachadh
    • 1715. The Martial Atchievements of the Scots Nation, by Patrick Abercromby MD
    • c.1720 and c.1732. ‘The privat History of the Irvins of Kingcausie’, by John Irvine, 8th of Kingcausie
    • c.1734. A Brief Genealogical Account of the Family of Maclean, by Hector Maclean
  • 6 The Later Eighteenth-century Accounts: Lord Forbes and his Ballad
    • 1742. [A. Forbes] Don: A poem
    • 1784. ‘Memoirs of the House of Forbes’, by J. Forbes
    • c. 1780s. ‘The Battle of Harlaw’ (Child 163)
  • 7 The Early Nineteenth-century Accounts
    • 1816. The Antiquary, by Sir Walter Scott
    • 1819. The Caledonian Itinerary, by Alexander Laing
    • 1828. Tales of a Grandfather, by Sir Walter Scott
    • 1829. History of Scotland, by Patrick Tytler
    • 1838. An Historical and Genealogical Account of the Clan MacLean, by a Seneachie
  • 8 The Later Nineteenth-century Accounts
    • 1845. ‘Parish of the Chapel of Garioch’, in The New Statistical Account of Scotland, by the Reverend Henry Simson
    • 1863. ‘The Burghers of Bon-Accord’, in Ballads from Scottish History, by Norval Clyne
    • 1867. ‘Regency of Albanys’, in The History of Scotland, by John Hill Burton
    • 1878. ‘The Battle of Harlaw and its Times’, in Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch, by John Davidson
    • 1881. ‘Donald, Second Lord of the Isles’, in History of the MacDonalds, by Alexander Mackenzie
    • 1896. ‘Donald of Harlaw’, in The Clan Donald, by Reverends Angus and Archibald MacDonald 108
  • 9 Harlaw Legends and Myths
    • Concerning Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum
    • 1893. A Short Account of the Family of Drum in the County of Aberdeen, by Douglas Wimberley 114
    • 1909. The Irvines of Drum, by Jonathan Forbes Leslie
    • A Battle between CELT and SAXON?
    • The Early Histories
    • Seventeenth-century Accounts
    • Eighteenth-century Accounts
    • Early Nineteenth-century Accounts
    • Later Nineteenth-century Accounts
• Part 3: Aftermath
  • 10 Retreat and Abasement?
    • Abasement at Polgilb?
    • The Fates of the Earldom of Mar and the Earldom of Ross/the Lordship of the Isles
    • The Earldom of Mar
    • The Earldom of Ross/the Lordship of the Isles
  • 11 Conclusions
    • Possible Reasons for Donald’s Invasion in the Summer of 1411
    • Inauguration of the Harlaw Monument
    • Barbarism versus Civilisation?
    • Donald’s Gamble
• Appendix I: Latin Sources
• Appendix II: The Orthography of the ‘Ramsay ballad’ 152
• Notes
• Index
• Picture section