Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 35 on 15/11/2007.

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The Earls of Argyll

James Irvine Robertson looks at the dramatic history of the noble Campbells

Every Highlander knows that the greatest of all Scottish clans is their own. Many of us are prepared to concede that Clan Donald has had its moments. And what we think of the Campbells is really best left unsaid in a family magazine such as this - which is grossly unfair.

The Campbells are unpopular simply because, when the music stopped in 1746, they were the most successful of the Highland kindred. Their chiefs were no more ruthless, devious, or treacherous than those of any other clan, but they made fewer political mistakes and they had a solid and unchallenged power base in the western Highlands that gave the earls of Argyll 20,000 followers and a national importance unique amongst clan chiefs. But, in the late 1600s, two successive heads of the family lost their heads to the Maiden, Edinburgh’s guillotine. So what went wrong?

The Campbell family had been prominent for centuries. The 1st Earl was created in 1487; the 5th was Lord High Chancellor in 1572 and a leading supporter of Mary Queen of Scots. The 7th lost the plot a bit, took a Catholic wife, entered the Spanish service and converted, so the estates were taken over by his son who became 8th Earl in 1638. Like his forebears and descendants, he was Archibald Campbell and his Protestant and Presbyterian faith provided the template for his life. So did his clan’s expansion, and he greatly extended his control in the west, taking land from Macdougalls, Macdonalds, Stewarts, Macleans, and the properties of the abolish.....

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By James Irvine Robertson

Section : Scottish History

Page number : 38