Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

590
INVERNESS.
king of England, in Lis progress through Scot-
land, advanced to Kildrummy near Nairn, and
being deterred from proceeding in person far-
ther, by the wild aspect of the country, he re-
mained in Kinloss Abbey twenty days, while
his forces were reducing the castles of Inver-
ness, Urquhart, and other places. In 1330, the
castle of Inverness surrendered to Robert Bruce,
who besieged it in person, assisted by Sir James
Fraser. In the year 1369, David II. granted
a charter to the burgesses and community, con-
firming certain rights to lands. About this pe-
riod, and for many years after, the shire and
town were frequently disturbed and injured by
the rancorous quarrels and conflicts between the
clans Chattan and Cameron, and other septs,
as well as the inroads of the lords of the Isles.
In 1400 a memorable incident of this kind oc-
curred. Donald, lord of the Isles, having ap-
proached the town with a body of men, threat-
ened to burn it unless ransomed at a large price.
The provost of the burgh, with an ingenuity
which cannot be enough commended, pretend-
ed to listen to the terms offered, sent a large
quantity of spirits as a present to the chief, who
had encamped with his men on the north side
of Kessock Ferry. The islanders being high-
ly delighted with the whisky, soon became in-
toxicated, and the provost with his courageous
burgesses, watching the event, now fell upon
them with sword in hand, and, as tradition says,
put the whole to an indiscriminate slaughter,
excepting one person, whose descendants, from
the manner of his escape, still retain the name
of Loban. A number of cairns are still seen
on the field of battle, pointing out the reposi-
tories of the slain. In 1427, James I. pro-
ceeded to the north, to repress the turbulence
of the Highland chiefs. He held a parliament
in the castle, to which he summoned all the
northern chiefs and barons. He ordered three
men of rank to be executed, and detained Al-
exander, lord of the Isles, in custody for a year.
About twelvemonths after the liberation of this
person, he returned to Inverness with an army,
and pretending friendship, was hospitably treat-
ed; but, throwing off the mask, he gave the town
to be sacked and burnt by his men, to avenge
himself for the treatment he received here from
the king. Luckily, his attempts to secure the
castle were frustrated by its keeper, Malcolm,
chief of clan Chattan. The readers of history
will remember, that Alexander was subse-
quently defeated in Lochaber, and being brought
prisoner to Edinburgh, was compelled to beg
his life on his knees, before the whole court,
at the altar of the chapel of Holyrood. The
humiliation of this chieftain did not prevent his
successor, Donald, lord of the Isles, from vi-
siting the town with his retainers, in 1455,
taking the castle by surprise, and plundering
and burning the town. In 1464 James III.
visited Inverness, and gave it a new charter ;
and it would appear, from the dating of a royal
charter given to Mackay of Strathnaver, that
James IV. was also at Inverness, in the year
1499. In 1514 the previous charters of the
burgh were confirmed by James V. In 1555,
Mary of Guise, the queen regent, visited the
town, and held a convention of estates, and
courts for the punishment of caterans and other
malefactors. . The Earl of Caithness was im-
prisoned by her in the castle, for protecting
robbers. A few years afterwards, in Septem-
ber 1562, Inverness was honoured with a visit
from Queen Mary, accompanied by the Earl
of Murray. Being refused admission into the
castle by its governor, a minion of the Earl of
Huntly, she was forced to reside in the town,
in a private house, still standing in Bridge
Street. Her troops being soon joined by the
Frasers, Mackintoshes, and Monroes, they re-
duced the fortress, and hanged the lieutenant,
its keeper. Huntly himself having levied war
against the queen, was soon afterwards defeated
and killed, in a fair battle. The queen's court,
while in the town, was attended by most of the
Highland chiefs ; and she kept a small squa-
dron in the harbour, to ensure her safety. In
1565, the regent Murray ordered the chief of
the clan Gunn to be executed in the town, and
we are told by Sir Robert Gordon, that the
only crime he had been guilty of, was taking
the " crown of the causeway" from the regent.
A year afterwards, Murray was invested with
the hereditary sheriffship, which had been for-
feited by Huntly. James VI. tried various
moderate measures to quell the disturbances
in this part of the Highlands, and was a distin-
guished friend of the burgh, to which he grant-
ed a new charter, commonly called the Great
Charter, in 1591, establishing and extending
its privileges. In 1625, Duncan Forbes, the
provost of, and a merchant in the burgh, bought
the estate of Culloden from the laird of Mack-
intosh, which is still in the family. News
having been received in Inverness, in 1644, of
a body of Irish having landed on the west coast