Traditions and Stories of Scottish Castles
Inverary Castle
THE Highland Clans whose territories bordered upon the
Lowlands occupied a position much more favourable for the spread of
civilization :amongst themselves than did the more northern septs. For,
apart from the fact that the country wherein their lot was cast afforded
more opportunity for the advance of progress by means of agriculture, the
very proximity of a race at once so peaceful and industrious as the
Lowland Scottish race would exercise a powerful influence upon them.
An American Aristocrat's
Guide to Great Estates: Inveraray Castle
Among the Clans thus
brought within the reach of civilization the Campbells have ever been
eminent. Though their origin is wrapped in obscurity, there are few spots
whose history may be more readily
followed within the limits of historic time. Leaving out of notice the
apocryphal tales which many of their bards relate, which would carry back
their origin to a period anterior to the Deluge, it may be found that in
the first half of the 12th century (November 1153), Somerled, the Thane of
Argyll, who is supposed to have been of Norwegian origin, invaded Scotia
in the reign of Malcolm IV., "the Maiden," and made his name terrible in
the west of Scotland. By dint of energy and fearless daring, he over-ran
the whole tract of country, now known as Argyllshire, and put to flight
the savage aborigines. At length fate overtook him at Renfrew in 1165, and
as he died umnarried he was not the direct progenitor of the Campbell
Clan. He had been associated, however, with his two nephews, David and
John MacHeth, great grandsons of Malcolm I. (died 1040), and they seem to
have carried on the family. Whether Somerled was really the direct
ancestor of the Campbells of Argyll is a dubious question, and one over
which historians still wrangle. For with that national pride for which the
Highlanders are proverbial, many disputants indignantly disclaim aught
save a purely native origin. And their tale is not an improbable one.
A certain western warrior,
whose deeds live now only in his name of Diarmid O’Duibhne, was in
possession of the lands around Loch Awe early in the 11th century. And
from him in the female line, so far as can be known, this ancient race has
sprung—an idea somewhat corroborated by the fact that the family is still
denominated in song Siot Diarmid, the race of Diarmid. The name
Campbell was first introduced to the Clan by the marriage of Eva, daughter
of Paul O’Duibhne, surnamed Insporran because he bore the King’s
bag, with Archibald Gillespie Campbell, the descendant possibly (like the
Lyons of Glamis) of some Roman settler in Britain, whose proud title of
Campo-Beilo, though suited for the yellow Tiber, suffered contraction when
he came within the sphere of the Clyde. The lands of Loch Awe were thus
transferred to him, and he became the direct founder of an
unfailing race, great alike in the Council and
the Field. And even now Argyllshire is the spot :—
"Where Campbells, sprung of
old O’Diubhne’s race,
Old as their hills, still rule
their native place.
No ancient chief could like the O’Duibhne wield
The weighty war, or range the embattled field.
Unmoving bear the shock of charging foes,
Pierce throng’d battalions, or their ranks inclose."
The shadowy shapes of these
early characters fade into darkness before the fame of Sir Colin Campbell
of Loch Awe, who was knighted by Alexander III. in 1280, one year before
the King’s daughter, Margaret of Norway, was married to King Eric of that
country. This Sir Colin had largely increased the possessions of his Clan
in Loch Awe district, as well as gaining a great reputation as a warrior,
and so he came to be distinguished as Cailean Mor, Colin the Great
(not MacCallum Mor, which means son of Malcolm the Great, quite a
different name). From this great Chief the numerous Campbell descendants
are styled MacCailean Mor till this day. It was the fate of Colin the
Great to be slain in a conflict with his powerful neighbour MacDougall,
Lord of Lorn, which took place at the String of Cowal in Argyllshire. This
Lord of Lorn was descended from Somerled, Thane of Argyll, to whom
reference has been made as ancestor also of Campbell of Loch Awe
(originally spelled "Lochow"), and thus a feud was begun between the two
families which lasted for many years.
Sir Niel Campbell, eldest
son of Colin the Great, was knighted by Alexander III. in 1286, and was
afterwards concerned in the appointment of a successor to the Scottish
Throne, after the death of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, in 1290, which
left a vacancy. When Edward I. of England came as Over-lord to Scotland in
1296, he persuaded Sir Niel to swear fealty to him, and also induced Sir
Niel’s three brothers, Sir Dugald, Arthur and Duncan to join the English
ruler. But these four Campbells did not adhere to their oath to Edward I.,
for as the star of Robert Bruce rose in the ascendant they all joined the
Scottish claimant, and remained his faithful supporters during all the
King’s varied career. So highly did King Robert appreciate Sir Niel that
he gave him his sister, Lady Mary Bruce, as his wife, who thus became
ancestress of the Argyll family connected with Royalty. The King also
bestowed upon him and his son, Sir John of Moulin, all the lands which had
been forfeited for treason by David de Strathbogie. As Sir John fell at
the Battle of Halidon Hill, without heirs, the title and estates reverted
back to the Crown. Sir Niel died in 1316 and was succeeded by his eldest
son, Colin.
Sir Colin Campbell of
Lochow, received the Governorship of Dunoon Castle as a reward for his
prowess in aiding the Steward of Scotland in regaining it from the
English, and this post remained in the family until the edifice had fallen
into ruins. He died in 1340, and was succeeded by his son Sir Archibald of
Lochow, and afterwards by his grandson, Sir Duncan of Lochow. The honour
of having built the first Inveraray Castle and completed it is shared by
Sir Duncan and his son, Sir Colin.
By the middle of the 15th
century the Campbells had been noted as munificent Castle-builders. The
various heads of branches of the families sprung from Lochow vied with
each other in erecting each one a more beautiful structure than his near
relative. Thus Sir Colin Campbell built Inveraray Castle about 1450, as
well as his own Castle of Kilchurn on Loch Awe, the Tower of Strathfillan,
and the enclosing walls of the Isle of Tay. The Chapel at Finlarig was
also erected by him, while Colin, the Laird of Balloch, built the Castle
there which was afterwards known as Taymouth Castle. Sir Duncan, known as
"Black Duncan," erected the Castle of Finlarig and Lochdochart (now a
ruin), as well as the "great house of Barcaldine." The Campbells by this
time had been making acquaintance with Continental civilization, and
cultivated Latin, French and Italian poetry and literature, as well as
painting and architecture. Meanwhile they had not neglected their
patriotic devotion to the land of their birth, but still remained true and
loyal Scotsmen.
When Prince James of
Scotland was despatched by his alarmed father, Robert III., to France for
safety, after the murder of his elder brother, the Duke of Rothesay, the
emissaries of Henry IV. of England captured him off Flamborough Head, and
bore their prize joyfully to the Court at London. Here he was detained for
eighteen years—1406-1424—and was only liberated on the bond of some of the
leading nobles and gentry of Scotland promising to pay the ransom of their
King, which was set down at forty thousand pounds.
Amongst the list of
noblemen there appears the name of Sir Duncan Campbell, under the title of
Lord of Argyll; and as a proof of the rapid advance of the Clan we may
notice that the income at which he is rated (1500 marks) was not excelled
by any of the Scottish nobility, and only equalled by the Lord of Dalkeith.
This proves as conclusively as possible that the heads of the Clan
Campbell had not frittered away their substance in futile and harmful war,
but had devoted much of their attention to the culture of their lands,
since those wild hills, once barren and unproductive, could at that time
rival the fertile fields of Lothian and Tweeddale.
Nor did the Prince, when he
ascended the throne as James I. of Scotland, forget the Highland Chief who
had thus pledged himself to procure the liberation of his native Prince.
Sir Duncan was raised by James II. to the dignity of a Lord of Parliament,
and assumed the title of Lord Campbell of Argyll. In the Privy Council he
held a prominent place, and was nominated Justiciar of the County in which
his possessions were situated. The connection with the Crown which the
Campbells enjoyed already was rendered still more intimate by his
espousal, first of Mariota Stewart, daughter of the Regent Albany, and
afterwards of Margaret Stewart, daughter of an illegitimate son of Robert
III. It will thus be seen that Lord Campbell was a man of mark in his
generation, and one well-fitted to hand down his name to posterity. But
perhaps the crowning effort of his life was the transference of the seat
of his Clan, which had been located at Loch Awe for centuries, from their
hereditary rendezvous to the shores of Loch Fyne.
It is no easy task to
persuade an ignorant and unreasoning race to leave the homestead about
which all their associations of memory linger, to abandon the glories
which cluster around the ancestral pile, renowned alike in song and story,
and to transfer their affections, with their Lares and Penates, to new and
unfamiliar scenes. But the Lord of Argyll proved himself equal to the
difficulty, and as the new abode of the head of the Clan gradually rose in
all its magnificence before the astonished Campbells their regret for the
past became hope for the future. Of the mansion of Lochow there are no
remains which could afford data for a comparison, but it may be safely
concluded that it could not compare with the Castle of Inveraray, either
in size, position, or grandeur. And though the chances and changes of time
have laid the latter structure low, and supplied its place by a more modem
erection, the relics which even yet remain indicate somewhat of its former
greatness. An imaginative Scottish historian thus compares the first and
the present Castles of Inveraray :—
"If we may believe a
curious old print, the present unsightly pile, with its clumsy bulk and
tawdry decorations, must have displaced a predecessor which, in the
beautiful variety of turrets and decorated chimneys crowning the massive
cluster of square and round towers built into each other at different ages
below, probably excelled Glamis, and the finest specimens of this peculiar
architecture in the north."
The reasons which would
influence Lord Campbell in deciding upon a removal from Loch Awe to Loch
Fyne may be readily understood. Situated upon an inland Loch, and hemmed
in by hills, whose towering peaks defied the advance of an army, the
ancient house of Loch Awe was secure from attack. But a clan whose
strength is ever increasing soon finds that the bulwarks which were
convenient for purposes of defence become absolute barriers to their own
progress. The inland loch is soon explored, and its shores speedily
subjugated; and the resistless conquerors are athirst for new worlds to
encounter. The politic leader who can "discern the signs of the times,"
will look around for an outlet for the enthusiasm of his followers, lest
it grow too much for him to command. And as Lord Campbell seems to have
been a shrewd student of mankind, he judged wisely in carrying his
clansmen to the shores of an open firth which communicated directly with
the Atlantic Ocean, and thus laid a whole world under tribute to the
daring and adventurous soul who cared to try his fortunes on the great
waters.
Nor would the picturesque
situation of the new Castle be wholly without its effect. The existing
Castle, which is built but a short distance from the site of the original
structure, sufficiently shows the prospect as it would appear to the
denizens of the older edifice. And the glorious scene that spreads itself
before the view from this standpoint is not seriously altered by the fact
that you look upon it now through the apertures of a pseudo-Gothic
window-frame, whose affected uncouthness may become a disturbing element
to the sensitive soul; whilst Lord Campbell viewed the same scene from his
Scottish-Baronial tower-light with greater joy than yours. For to him the
panorama thus disclosed must have seemed almost a discovery, a new Eden
brought within the reach of his kinsfolk.
Yonder before you lies Loch
Fyne, which, by the peculiar bend it takes might deceive you into the idea
that it was a peaceful inland lake, but that the rising and falling tides,
with their loads of saline weeds, sufficiently show that it is but a
minute portion of the illimitable ocean. The river May, which bestows its
name upon the Castle and township, flows down from the heights above Loch
Awe close beside the building, whilst the Shiray, taking its rise in the
mountains farther north, sweeps down more rapidly towards the Loch, thus
forming a kind of peninsula between the rivers. From the town of Inveraray
the shore circles inwards as a crescent-like bay, at the southern horn of
which stands the little county town, whose importance is more derived than
personal. The houses are few and not particularly elegant, and thus they
add to the imposing effect of the Castle, which is essentially the point
in the scene. The structure is of comparatively recent date, having been
erected during the latter half of the 18th century near the spot whereon
the original Castle stood.
The wooded hill of
Duniquoich stands forth in solitary grandeur from the lesser eminences
around, and brings the Castle, which lies at its base, into bold relief
against the dark background thus provided. Had the stone used been either
the white granite of the North of Scotland, or the marble of Italy, the
effect would have been too dazzling by contrast; but the dull colour of
the greenish slate of which it is built harmonizes exquisitely with the
foliage that surrounds it. The building is quadrangular, with massive
towers rising from the foundations at the corners, and a square pavilion
with rectangular flanking-towers over-topping the whole. Though somewhat
pretensious in its style, the desired effect is produced, for you cannot
escape from the Castle if your eyes once turn in its direction. The design
has been attributed to the famous William Adam, the father of the two
famous architects, Robert and John Adam, who enjoyed a European
reputation. The Castle of Inveraray was begun by the third Duke of Argyll
(born 1682, died 1761) in 1744, and William Adam died in 1748, the work of
completing the design having been committed to Robert Morris, a famous
English architect, and finished about the time of the Duke’s death.
The feud which had existed
between the Campbells of Loch Awe and the Lords of Lorne since the time
when the "Great Colin" was slain was finally tranquilized by the
all-powerful influence of Love; and the sovereignty of the Campbells over
Lorne was obtained by the no less potency of gold. Colin Campbell,
grandson of Sir Duncan, first Lord Campbell, had won the heart of the
eldest daughter of John Stewart, third Lord of Lorne and Innermeath, for
the ancient possessors of this district, the MacDougalls, had failed to
provide male heirs to inherit their dignities, and these had passed into
the hands of the Stewarts. In 1465, the marriage of Colin, Lord Campbell
took place, and the title of Lord Lone was added to his other dignities,
and Castle Gloom—afterwards named Castle Campbell—near Dollar, became his
by right. He was created first Earl of Argyll in 1457, and filled many
important positions at the Court, as Ambassador frequently, and Lord High
Chancellor of Scotland in 1482. His death took place in 1493, when he was
succeeded by his eldest son, Archibald, the second Earl, who fell in
command of the vanguard at the Battle of Flodden.
This second Earl worked
more faithfully for the advancement of his family than for the welfare of
the kingdom. He had taken part with his father in the struggle betwixt
James IlI. and Prince James (afterwards James IV.) which ended in the
violent death of the former at Sauchieburn; and was duly rewarded by the
new King. The Governorship of the Castle of Tarbert, and command of the
King’s lands in Knapdale and Kintyre, gave him control of the Campbell
lands in that district of Ayrshire. As disputes had arisen as to the
division of the spoil among the conspirators who had fought for James IV.,
the Earl of Argyll and the Earl of Lennox fell to quarrelling together.
Ultimately this dispute was settled by the marriage of Argyll to
Elizabeth, daughter of Lennox. It is possible that the very efforts of the
parents to prevent this union only served to intensify the passion of the
enamoured pair, for, as the old song says :—
"There is no
striving
To cross
his intent,
There is no contriving
His plots to prevent;
But if once the message greet him
That his true love doth stay,
If Death should come and greet him,
Love will find out the way."
Their love was finally crowned with success, and the
union of the two powerful families of Argyll and Lennox, whose lands were
contiguous, placed the shores of the Clyde from Glasgow to the sea, and
the mountains, fields, and valleys of the Levenax and Loch Awe beneath the
rule of two competent and friendly leaders. The storm between Scotland and
England, which had been gathering for many years, at length burst on the
fatal field of Flodden, and brought woe and tribulation over the whole
land.
Few Scotsmen care to dwell
even now on the story of Flodden, for it requires all the lustre of
Bannockburn to counterbalance its disgrace. The absolute incompetence of
the King for the post of leader, which he would not resign, despite their
entreaties, to more experienced hands, brought about the climax of the
disaster. It must have been with feelings of amazement and dread that
veteran warriors like Angus and Huntly saw the troops of England dashing
unopposed over the narrow bridge at Twisel, and ranging themselves without
hindrance immediately opposite their own army on the field of Flodden. The
obstinacy and self-confidence of the Stewart race was again to bring
calamity on the Scottish nation.
The order of battle may be
briefly explained. The troops on either side were divided into four
companies. Surrey opposed the King, and was supported by Lord Thomas
Howard and his brother, Sir Edmund, on the right, and Lord Stanley on the
left, while Lord Dacre commanded a reserve of horse. The King had two
companies on his left, led by Crawford and Montrose, and Huntly and Home,
whilst his right was composed of the West Highlanders under Argyll and
Lennox, and the reserve was under the charge of Bothwell. The left wing
under Huntly and Home was the first to encounter the English troops, and
their victory was easy; but when the rude Highlanders under Argyll mingled
in the fray, their ignorance of civilized warfare proved their ruin.
Unused to depend upon aught save personal prowess, the bold mountaineers
rushed precipitately forward upon the steady and immovable spearmen under
Stanley. With unquenchable ardour the clansmen fought, each man a hero;
but their independent valour was misspent:-
"For
on the left, unseen
the while,
Stanley broke
Lennox and Argyll;
Though there the western
mountaineer,
Rushed with bare bosom
on the spear,
And flung the feeble targe aside
And with both hands the broadsword plied,
‘Twas vain."
The prodigies of valour
then performed shall never be adequately recited. In such a case mere
personal valour is often of no avail against firm discipline and brute
force. And this was the fortune of the right wing at Flodden. As the smoke
of the battle rolled away from the field, and the English spearmen looked
round for their foes, behold! they were not:
"Like
the leaves of the forest when summer
is green,
That host with its banners at sunset was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when
autumn has blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and
strewn."
The brave leaders,
fellow-champions and cornpanions-in-arms, had not spared themselves amid
the general carnage, but the time was gone. From that dread onslaught the
Earls of Argyll and Lennox returned no more, and such glory as gilds the
soldier’s tomb is theirs by right of conquest. The romantic mind cannot
refrain from turning to that woeful scene by the banks of the Till, when
:—
"Mony were the mudie men
Lay gasping on the green;
And mony were the fair ladies
Lay lemanless at hame."
The death of the Second
Earl of Argyll at Flodden, however mournful as an incident of war, had the
happy effect of bringing the claims of the family more prominently into
notice. The Earl had a family of four sons and seven daughters; and it was
the lot of one of these sons to become the ancestor of another line of
Campbells now represented by the Earl Cawdor. The story is a romantic one.
Sir John Campbell of Lorne,
third son of the second Earl of Argyll, whilst wandering with a band of
his clansmen in the vicinity of Cawdor Castle, Nairnshire, had the good
fortune to encounter the heiress of Sir John Calder, Thane of that Ilk,
then a young girl, with no protector near save her nurse. There was no
feud betwixt the Campbells and the Calders at this time, so it may be
supposed that the opportunity of "reiving" a wealthy heiress was too great
a temptation for Sir John Campbell to resist. The youthful Muriella was
seized and borne away with speed from her ancestral domain by one portion
of the band, whilst another party lingered behind to form a rearguard in
case of pursuit. By an inexcusable neglect they had overlooked the capture
of the nurse, and she managed to escape to Calder Castle and to raise an
alarm. Then there was hurry and turmoil over the loss of the young maiden
:—
"It’s fy gar ride, and
fy gar rin,
And haste ye bring these traitors again,"
and soon a powerful party
started in pursuit of the kidnappers who had stolen away the Chieftain’s
daughter.
Ere they had gone far they
overtook the Campbells, and startled them while halting around their
camp-fire, flattering themselves upon the ease with which they had gained
their prize. The sudden descent of the Calders at once put an end to their
self-gratulation, and they found it necessary to defend at once their
captive and their lives. They had determined in any case to secure the
heiress of Calder (now spelled "Cawdor "), and the ruse by which they
accomplished this feat has been seldom paralleled for bravery. Campbell of
Lorne, mounted on his steed, and bearing the young Muriella in his arms
before him, retreated rapidly, with a few chosen followers, on the road to
Inveraray. His uncle, Campbell of Inverliver, seeing the swift approach of
the Calders, ordered his seven sons to throw over a large camp-kettle
which had been in use, and to gather around it in battle-array so as to
deceive the Calders into the belief that their young lady-heiress was
beneath it. Impelled by their duty both to father and chief the brave
clansmen did as required, and the stratagem succeeded. Never doubting for
a moment that Muriella was below the utensil thus strangely transformed
into a citadel, the pursuers dismounted and attacked the small body of
Campbells on all sides. Undismayed by the onslaught, even though hopeless
of relief, the brave Campbell clansmen made a gallant defence, and though
they knew that certain death awaited them they resolved to sell their
lives dearly. Their opponents, however, were too powerful for them, and
one after the other fell, never to rise more.
With a shout of victory the
Calders rushed forward to release their imprisoned lady; but their
exultation was changed into chagrin and disappointment when they found
that their wished-for prize was fled, and saw that the strategy of the
Campbells had duped them into a fatal and irretrievable blunder. Now they
discovered that whilst engaged in this fierce struggle, and, as they
thought, on the point of obtaining a victory, their young heiress was
being borne away swiftly in the arms of her captors, through the wilds of
Inverness-shire and Ross-shire, and was speeding away in frantic haste to
the distant Castle of Inveraray. Pursuit was hopeless, and they were
forced to leave her to her fate.
And that fate was a
peculiar one. Sir John Campbell, who had thus taken her as a spoil in war,
carefully tended her through girlhood to budding prime, and at length
married her, thus bringing the rich heritage of Cawdor into the Campbell
family. A curious story is told regarding this Muriella, which exhibits
some of the queer morality of the time. When the nurse was set upon at
Cawdor she well knew what the result of the attack would be. To prevent
the substitution of a changeling for the true heiress, she determined to
put an indelible mark upon her. Seizing the child’s hand, she bit off one
of the joints of her little finger, thus brutally maiming for life her
foster-child. And though when Muriella became heiress there was no doubt
of her identity ever suggested, it may readily be supposed that had she
died in infancy the Campbells would have stretched their morality so as to
secure the inheritancy to which she was entitled. Nor was the nurse’s work
altogether a piece of wanton cruelty, for, to judge from their own words,
the Campbells would not have hesitated to serve a stranger as heiress had
aught befallen Muriella in her early years. The only mark which Nature had
bestowed upon her was her auburn hair; and when some one suggested to
Campbell of Auchinbreck that their toil would be mis-spent should she die
in infancy, his reply was:—
"She can never die so long
as a red-haired lassie can be found on either side of Loch Awe." But fate
spared the clan from this imposition, and Sir John of Lorne married the
golden-haired beauty, whom he had reft, as if she had been a Sabine maid,
from her home; and he forgave the missing joint in view of her fortune.
Another of the romantic incidents in the life of this Sir John Campbell is
narrated in the article on Castle Duart, within this volume.
The system of family feuds
was then in full force, and the absolute obedience with which the clansmen
executed the commands of their Chiefs perpetuated these hereditary
quarrels. There were not those wanting who whispered that the Argyll
family secretly encouraged the disaffection of the Isles that they might
increase their own possessions through the folly of their dupes. The
position which the Earl occupied as Sheriff of Argyll and Justice-General
of Scotland gave him a powerful hold over the ignorant and lawless tribes
in his own neighbourhood. The third Earl died in March 1529, having
married a daughter of the Earl of Huntly, the leader of the Catholics in
the north; but Argyll’s son, the fourth Earl, was the first prominent
Scottish nobleman who supported the Protestant religion. Two of his sons
succeeded to the Earldom. Archibald became fifth Earl, and was an ardent
supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, and even commanded a section of her
army at Langside. Though twice married, he left no issue, and was
succeeded by his half-brother, Colin, sixth Earl, who had not a very
distinguished career.
It is not possible within
reasonable space to give details of the nobles of Argyll up till the
present day; so a brief notice is all that is necessary, as their lives
may be read in the national history of Scotland. Archibald, the seventh
Earl, served as an officer in the Spanish Army of Philip III. when the
States of Holland were captured. Archibald, eighth Earl, was a very
notable figure in Scottish affairs during the seventeenth century. He was
Commander-in-Chief of the Covenanters. In 1641 he had been raised in the
Peerage by Charles I. to the rank of Marquess of Argyll; but in 1645 he
was defeated by his valiant rival, the great Marquess of Montrose, at the
battles of Inverlochy and Kilsyth. His insincerity was shown when at
Charles II.’s Coronation in January 1650—51 at Scone, he placed the Crown
on the King’s head, and shortly afterwards he assisted at the Proclamation
of Cromwell as Protector in Scotland. When Charles II. was restored to the
throne in 1660 Argyll went to London thinking to ingratiate himself with
the King; but he was sternly repulsed, accused of treason, tried, and
executed at Edinburgh in May 1661.
Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyll, son of the foregoing
nobleman, had a similar fate. The original title and estates had been
restored to him, but he was of a turbulent nature, and, having resisted
the Test Act, he was tried for treason, and condemned to death in 1681,
the date being left to the King’s discretion. Argyll was imprisoned in
Edinburgh Castle, from which place he escaped. Returning to this country,
he endeavoured to organise a rebellion in favour of the Duke of Monmouth,
but failed in the project, was captured and executed without another trial
upon the decision of 1681 at Edinburgh in 1685, his title and estates
being forfeited. His eldest son, Archibald, succeeded, and had his
father’s forfeited estates and titles restored, thus becoming tenth Earl
of Argyll.
With this Archibald the
fortunes of the Campbell family revived. He joined the Convention of
Estates and took part in the movement in favour of William of Orange and
Mary, joining that Prince at the Hague, and bringing him to England as
William III. For his numerous services he was created first Duke of Argyll
in 1701, and thus introduced the ducal title. His son and successor, John,
second Duke of Argyll, was the famous statesman and military leader whom
Pope thus eulogized:-
"Argyll, the
State’s whole thunder born to wield,
And shake alike the Senate and the Field."
It was the second Duke who
arrested the Jacobite Rising of 1715 by his famous victory at Sheriffmuir,
after which he was appointed Field-Marshal of all His Majesty’s Forces. He
died in 1743, and as he had no male issue he was succeeded by his brother,
Archibald, who became third Duke of Argyll, and was Lord Justice-General,
Lord Clerk Register, and Keeper of the Great Seal. He also died without
male succession, and the fourth Duke of Argyll was the cousin of his
predecessor. It is not necessary to trace the family further in detail,
save in this condensed manner :—
John, fourth Duke, cousin
of third Duke, died 1722.
John, fifth Duke, son,
1723—1806.
George William, sixth Duke,
son, 1766—1839, no issue.
John Douglas, seventh Duke,
brother, 1777— 1847.
George Douglas, eighth
Duke, son, 1823—1900.
John Douglas Sutherland,
ninth Duke, son, 1845—1914, known for many years as Marquess of Lorne
before he succeeded his father in 1900; was married in 1871 to H.R.H.
Princess Louise-Caroline-Alberta, daughter of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
who survived the Duke of Argyll. As there was no family, he was succeeded
by his nephew, Sir Niall Diarmid Campbell, tenth Duke of Argyll, born
1872, son of Lord Archibald Campbell, second son of the eighth Duke, whose
death in 1913 made Sir Niall in 1914 nearest in succession to the title.
The varied story of the
Campbells of Argyll and of their connection with Inveraray Castle is here
completed, and it will be seen that nearly all of them were high-souled
Scottish patriots. And the song of Argyll has ever been like this :—
"‘Tis not for the land of my
sires to give birth
Unto bosoms that shrink when their trial is nigh;
Away! we will bear over ocean and earth
A name and a spirit that never will die.
My course to the winds, to the stars I resign;
But my soul’s quenchless fire, O my country, is thine."
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