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Northumbria University Mountaineering Club |
O U T A C |
Glencoe Map |
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The
textbook blurb :
Glencoe, glen in Argyll and Bute district, Strathclyde region, Scotland.
From a relatively low watershed and pass to Glen Etive, 308 m it runs east for
about 8 km as a steep-sided, glacier-scoured trough about 1/2 km wide, bounded
by towering mountains of 1,000 m or more, before turning northwest as a broader
glen amid softer hills until the River Coe reaches the Atlantic coast at Loch
Leven. In February 1692 it was the site of a treacherous clan massacre
involving the Macdonalds of Glencoe. The glen is now almost completely
uninhabited.
Massacre of Glencoe, (February 13,
1692), in Scottish history, the treacherous slaughter of the MacDonalds of Glencoe
by soldiers under Archibald Campbell, 10th earl of Argyll. Many Scottish
clans had remained loyal to King James II after he was replaced on the British
throne by William III in 1689. In August 1691 the government offered an
indemnity to all chiefs who should take an oath of allegiance before January.
1, 1692. "Letters of fire and sword," authorizing savage attacks upon
recalcitrants, were drawn up in anticipation of widespread refusals; the
chiefs, however, took the oath. Alexander MacDonald of Glencoe postponed
his submission until December. 31, 1691, and was then unable to take his oath
until January 6 because there was no magistrate at Fort William to receive it.
An order for military punishment was thereupon issued under William III's
signature. More than 100 soldiers from Fort William who had been quartered
amicably upon the MacDonalds for more than a week suddenly attacked them; many
of the clan escaped, but the chief, 33 men, 2 women, and 2 children were killed. John
Campbell, earl of Breadalbane, a neighbour and enemy of the MacDonalds, was
widely suspected of planning the attack but was not its main instigator; his
imprisonment in 1695 was for earlier involvement with the Jacobites.
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Northumbria University Mountaineering Club |
O U T A C |
Glencoe Map |
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