Disorder in a Militarised Society: Disputes and Violence in Northern Scotland at the end of the Fourteenth Century

Abstract

In relation to the exercise of violence and disorder in late fourteenth-century northern Scotland, previous studies have suggested that the waning of royal and magnate control, owing to successive wars and the economic crisis caused by European-wide climate regression and plague, led to the rise of lesser Gaelic military kindreds in the central Highlands. The disorder at the end of that century, in particular, has been discussed in terms of the adoption of a Gaelicised style of lordship by Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan, and his conflicts with the neighbouring secular and ecclesiastical authorities. This paper, however, investigates another aspect of the disorder in the north, focussing on the conflicts between other local non-Gaelic lords and the regional ecclesiastical communities in Moray, which have received limited attention so far, and also discusses the political, economic and social factors behind these disputes with a view to the contribution of recent environmental history. In addition, the study highlights that the adoption of the Gaelicised style of lordship, traditionally considered a peculiarity of the earl of Buchan, was also found among other non-Gaelic local magnates, suggesting the possibility of a more nuanced understanding of Highland–Lowland divisions.