The Heather and the Gale: Clan Donald and Clan Campbell During the Wars of Montrose

by Ronald Williams

After the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles, the Clan Donald and the Clan Campbell emerged as prominent amongst all who sought to fill the power vacuum in the West. Ronald Williams shows how their differing strategies led inexorably to that fatal confrontation, wherein Gaeldom, Catholicism and the King were eventually overwhelmed by Calvinism and bloody revolution. The author sets the stage and then, drawing upon personal research, sweeps through the saga of Montrose's campaign. There are detailed topographical references throughout.

Genres: History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book because it was "family history", despite the poor reviews. It is not written well. The maps help a little but the audience has to know Scotland and the military.

I did learn that Heather is the flower of the McDonald clan, oops.
The Campbell flower is the Gale?
The Earl of Campbell was an idiot and deserved to lose those many battles.

The death of my predecessor, Campbell of Auchinbreck, was a great general and died with his head cleaved by an axe. My family will love that detail.

The author is certainly biased to describe the clan, "It was a feature of the Campbells that they sired prodigious quantities of children...and their tendency...to hunt in a pack;" except that it is still true almost 400 years later.