The 13th February 1692 witnessed one of the most infamous events in British history.
In 1688, the Protestant William of Orange arrived in England with his army.
His aim was to overthrow the Catholic, and unpopular, King James II and make himself king.
James II clearly hadn't heeded events in the English Civil War.
That war came about because his father, Charles I, wanted to rule as an Absolute Monarch, and ignored Parliament at every opportunity. Parliament and the Monarchy declared war on each other, and it was the Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, who won the day. England became a republic, but only until 1660 when the Monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the Throne.
But here was James II, the brother of Charles II, who wanted to rule as an Absolute Monarch. This couldn't happen. So in 1688, just three years into James II's reign, over comes William of Orange from Holland, who overthrows James II and makes himself William III. The Stuart Dynasty ended and the Hanoverian Dynasty started. This was the Glorious Revolution. His wife was also Queen Mary II - the only time in England's history that there has been a dual monarchy.
But despite the fact that William III and Mary II became Britain's first Constitutional Monarchs(they had restrictions placed on their powers), there were still those who wanted James II, or any Stuart (the Stuarts were of Scottish descent), on the Throne, regardless of their Absolute Monarchy leanings. These people were known as Jacobites.
Needless to say, the Jacobites weren't too popular. After all, many of them supported Absolute monarchy.
Scotland at the time was still divided into clans. It was thought that one clan, the MacDonalds, had hesitated in pledging allegiance to the new monarchs. So on 13th February 1692, 38 MacDonalds were killed by the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot. Another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the dreaded English who committed the massacre. It was Scots themselves.
Now, the signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe will be unveiled along with nine other artefacts at the National Library of Scotland to mark the end of the Year of Homecoming, which celebrates 250 years since the birth of Robert Burns.
Massacre of Glencoe: 300-year-old document which ordered killing of Scots to go on show
By Daily Mail Reporter
16th November 2009
Daily Mail
Enlarge
Death warrant: The signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe, which will form the centrepiece of a display of cultural 'treasures'
A 300-year-old document which led to one of the darkest episodes in British history will form the centrepiece of a display of cultural 'treasures' set to go on show this week.
The signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe will be unveiled along with nine other artefacts at the National Library of Scotland to mark the end of the Year of Homecoming.
The paper served as a mandate for one of the most infamous events in Scottish history, as the Campbells were ordered to attack their hosts, the MacDonalds, and 'putt all to the sword under seventy'.
It followed a proclamation issued in August 1691, requiring the chiefs of the Scottish clans to take an oath of allegiance to William III before the end of the year.
Alasdair MacDonald of Glencoe - known as Maclain - missed the deadline by a few days, providing the authorities with an opportunity to crush his clan.
Scotland's Secretary of State, John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, spotted the opportunity.
Dalrymple was a Lowlander and a Protestant who disliked the Highlanders and viewed their whole way of life as a hindrance to Scotland, which would be better served in union with England.
He had a particular dislike for the MacDonalds of Glen Coe and Maclain's failure to sign the oath on time gave him the perfect pretext for action.
The Secretary of State's orders were explicit: the MacDonalds were to be slaughtered - 'cut off root and branch'.
What the document says:
You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old Fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution at fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safety of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692
For their Majesties service
To Capt. Robert Campbell
of Glenlyon
(signed) R. Duncanson
Three commanders were to be involved - two from the Campbell-dominated Argyll regiment and one from Fort William.
In the end, two of those never arrived in time, claiming they were delayed by bad weather.
It was Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, a desperate man who had lost his all through gambling, who carried out Stair’s final order, 'to put all to the sword under seventy'.
The soldiers arrived at Glen Coe 12 days before the massacre. They came as friends, seeking shelter due to the fact that the fort was full.
The MacDonalds honoured the Highland hospitality code and gave the soldiers quarter in their own houses.
They lived together with neither the clan nor the common Argyll soldiers knowing what lay ahead.
On the night of February 13 a blizzard howled through Glen Coe, giving whiteout conditions.
As the clan slept the house guests gathered, received their orders - signed by Campbel''s from his superior officer, Major Duncanson - and set about systematically killing everyone they could.
Thirty-eight men lay dead the next morning, including the chief, MacIain.
About 40 women and children, including MacIain’s elderly wife, died of exposure on the mountainside after they were burned out of their homes.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, a hand-written poem by Robert Burns, The Battle of Sherramuir, will be on display for the first time since it was bought for £30,000 earlier this year at an auction in America.
And visitors are promised a 'rare glimpse' of a Sherlock Holmes tale in the handwriting of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Another highlight of the collection is the Forlani Map, which is thought to be the first printed map of Scotland on its own.
Attacks: Artist James Hamilton's famous 1884 depiction of the Glencoe Massacre
Enlarge
The Lyon In Mourning: Episcopal clergyman and Jacobite Robert Forbes pieced together this account of the Jacobite Rising of 1745-46 from interviews and eyewitness accounts after the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746
Also on show will be a map from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, produced for the 1895 memorial Edinburgh edition of the writer's complete works.
Martyn Wade, chief executive of the National Library of Scotland, said: 'We are very excited to be celebrating the Year of Homecoming by offering members of the public the opportunity to see this collection of priceless Scottish treasures.
The Forlani Map - the first printed map of Scotland - is going on display at the National Library
Novel idea: Also on display is The Adventure of the Illustrious Client by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
dailymail.co.uk
In 1688, the Protestant William of Orange arrived in England with his army.
His aim was to overthrow the Catholic, and unpopular, King James II and make himself king.
James II clearly hadn't heeded events in the English Civil War.
That war came about because his father, Charles I, wanted to rule as an Absolute Monarch, and ignored Parliament at every opportunity. Parliament and the Monarchy declared war on each other, and it was the Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, who won the day. England became a republic, but only until 1660 when the Monarchy was restored and Charles II came to the Throne.
But here was James II, the brother of Charles II, who wanted to rule as an Absolute Monarch. This couldn't happen. So in 1688, just three years into James II's reign, over comes William of Orange from Holland, who overthrows James II and makes himself William III. The Stuart Dynasty ended and the Hanoverian Dynasty started. This was the Glorious Revolution. His wife was also Queen Mary II - the only time in England's history that there has been a dual monarchy.
But despite the fact that William III and Mary II became Britain's first Constitutional Monarchs(they had restrictions placed on their powers), there were still those who wanted James II, or any Stuart (the Stuarts were of Scottish descent), on the Throne, regardless of their Absolute Monarchy leanings. These people were known as Jacobites.
Needless to say, the Jacobites weren't too popular. After all, many of them supported Absolute monarchy.
Scotland at the time was still divided into clans. It was thought that one clan, the MacDonalds, had hesitated in pledging allegiance to the new monarchs. So on 13th February 1692, 38 MacDonalds were killed by the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot. Another forty women and children died of exposure after their homes were burned. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the dreaded English who committed the massacre. It was Scots themselves.
Now, the signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe will be unveiled along with nine other artefacts at the National Library of Scotland to mark the end of the Year of Homecoming, which celebrates 250 years since the birth of Robert Burns.
Massacre of Glencoe: 300-year-old document which ordered killing of Scots to go on show
By Daily Mail Reporter
16th November 2009
Daily Mail
Enlarge
Death warrant: The signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe, which will form the centrepiece of a display of cultural 'treasures'
A 300-year-old document which led to one of the darkest episodes in British history will form the centrepiece of a display of cultural 'treasures' set to go on show this week.
The signed order for the Massacre of Glencoe will be unveiled along with nine other artefacts at the National Library of Scotland to mark the end of the Year of Homecoming.
The paper served as a mandate for one of the most infamous events in Scottish history, as the Campbells were ordered to attack their hosts, the MacDonalds, and 'putt all to the sword under seventy'.
It followed a proclamation issued in August 1691, requiring the chiefs of the Scottish clans to take an oath of allegiance to William III before the end of the year.
Alasdair MacDonald of Glencoe - known as Maclain - missed the deadline by a few days, providing the authorities with an opportunity to crush his clan.
Scotland's Secretary of State, John Dalrymple, Master of Stair, spotted the opportunity.
Dalrymple was a Lowlander and a Protestant who disliked the Highlanders and viewed their whole way of life as a hindrance to Scotland, which would be better served in union with England.
He had a particular dislike for the MacDonalds of Glen Coe and Maclain's failure to sign the oath on time gave him the perfect pretext for action.
The Secretary of State's orders were explicit: the MacDonalds were to be slaughtered - 'cut off root and branch'.
What the document says:
You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old Fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution at fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safety of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692
For their Majesties service
To Capt. Robert Campbell
of Glenlyon
(signed) R. Duncanson
Three commanders were to be involved - two from the Campbell-dominated Argyll regiment and one from Fort William.
In the end, two of those never arrived in time, claiming they were delayed by bad weather.
It was Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, a desperate man who had lost his all through gambling, who carried out Stair’s final order, 'to put all to the sword under seventy'.
The soldiers arrived at Glen Coe 12 days before the massacre. They came as friends, seeking shelter due to the fact that the fort was full.
The MacDonalds honoured the Highland hospitality code and gave the soldiers quarter in their own houses.
They lived together with neither the clan nor the common Argyll soldiers knowing what lay ahead.
On the night of February 13 a blizzard howled through Glen Coe, giving whiteout conditions.
As the clan slept the house guests gathered, received their orders - signed by Campbel''s from his superior officer, Major Duncanson - and set about systematically killing everyone they could.
Thirty-eight men lay dead the next morning, including the chief, MacIain.
About 40 women and children, including MacIain’s elderly wife, died of exposure on the mountainside after they were burned out of their homes.
Elsewhere in the exhibition, a hand-written poem by Robert Burns, The Battle of Sherramuir, will be on display for the first time since it was bought for £30,000 earlier this year at an auction in America.
And visitors are promised a 'rare glimpse' of a Sherlock Holmes tale in the handwriting of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Another highlight of the collection is the Forlani Map, which is thought to be the first printed map of Scotland on its own.
Attacks: Artist James Hamilton's famous 1884 depiction of the Glencoe Massacre
Enlarge
The Lyon In Mourning: Episcopal clergyman and Jacobite Robert Forbes pieced together this account of the Jacobite Rising of 1745-46 from interviews and eyewitness accounts after the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746
Also on show will be a map from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, produced for the 1895 memorial Edinburgh edition of the writer's complete works.
Martyn Wade, chief executive of the National Library of Scotland, said: 'We are very excited to be celebrating the Year of Homecoming by offering members of the public the opportunity to see this collection of priceless Scottish treasures.
'The collection has a wide appeal, with pieces from iconic Scottish literary figures in Burns, Conan Doyle, Scott and Stevenson, and from key moments and movements in the history of Scotland, including the Covenanters, the Jacobites, the Union of the Parliaments and, of course, the massacre at Glencoe.
'I would encourage anyone interested in catching a glimpse of Scotland's history to visit the library this winter.'
The items will be on show at the library from November 19 to January 8, 2010.
The Forlani Map - the first printed map of Scotland - is going on display at the National Library
Novel idea: Also on display is The Adventure of the Illustrious Client by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
dailymail.co.uk
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