Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1827 edition. Excerpt: ...of these strangers, were rendered nugatory by the feeble administrations of David II. and Robert III. A protracted struggle for national independence, the successive flight, imprisonment, and redemption of the son of Bruce,0 prevented an inquiry into a M. Westminster, 455. b Robertson's Index to Charters. c Buchanan, b. ix. M'Kenzie's Lives of Eminent Authors, II. 91. Rymer's Fcedera, V. 793. VI. 46, 52. the internal policy of the Highlands by the government; whilst, amid the general distress, the exaltation of the powerful family of Douglas threatened to dissolve what little of political union remained/ We find, indeed, that in the national council held by Robert II. in April 1385, John, earl of Carrick, was ordered to proceed to the Highlands, and call the chiefs into his presence to reform the outrages complained of in their territories;b but it does not appear his mission was productive of much effect. The commencement of Robert III.'s reign, was marked by an event strikingly illustrative of the inefficacy of the laws, and of the turbulence of the times. Alexander, fourth son of Robert II. justly denominated the " Wolf of Badenoch," collected his Highlanders in revenge for the sentence of excommunication denounced against him by the Bishop of Moray, and set fire to the cathedral of Elgin, and the houses of the clergy.0 Too mild to punish, the king dared not even to complain. From the long captivity of his successor, and the character of the regents, Robert and Murdoch, Dukes of Albany, universal anarchy arose. The prerogatives of the Crown, naturally inconsiderable, were reduced to nothing; the spoils of the monarchy shared by a dissolute nobility;d whilst the weak, oppressed by the powerful, appealed to justice in vain. Donald, Lord...
