scotianostra: September 28 1396 saw the “Battle of the Clans” between clans Chattan and

scotianostra:September 28 1396 saw the “Battle of the Clans” between clans Chattan and Kay on the North Inch, Perth, in front of King Robert III.This is also known as the Battle of the North Inch and it was a staged battle, one witness called it “A selcouth thing” (an amazing thing) and it certainly sounds like it having attracted the attention of King Robert III. A makeshift arena was made and thirty warriors of the Chattans and Camerons, although some versions say the “Kays” were the involved. The date has also been questioned, Sir Walter Scott, in his “Fair Maid of Perth,” says the day of the battle was Palm Sunday. One historian, however, fixes the day as October 23, and another gives September 28. Alexander Mackintosh Shaw, in his privately printed “Clan Battle at Perth,” affirms that the day was not Palm Sunday, but “a Monday morning about the end of September, 1396” So I am going for the 28th it seems to be quoted as this more than any other date, I’m also dismissing the Kays as it is recorded the Camerons were enemies of The Chattan Confederation as they were know.  Chattan Confederation? I hear you ask, well the confederation comprised of Mackintoshes, Macphersons, Davidsons, Macgillivrays and Macbeans.” Marshall’s “History of Perth” tells us that: “It is generally admitted that the Clan Chattan were the MackintoshesThe King was asked to intercede in the dispute between the two clans but was unable to help so it has been said that it was he who arranged this “duel” Barriers were erected on three sides of the North Inch to keep off spectators, the River Tay forming the fourth side. The Gilded Arbour summerhouse of the Dominican Monastery, which overlooked the Inch, was adapted as a grandstand for the King and his court. Exchequer accounts for the year contained this entry: “For timber, iron and making lists for 60 persons fighting on the Inch at Perth, £14 : 2s. :10id.”, isn’t it amazing some details can be so precise, while others vague!?. The “60 persons” were 30 from each side, there is an account from the time written by a chronicler, Andrew Wyntoun who was Prior of the St. Serf monastery at nearby Loch Leven, he used the term I love  “three score wyld Scottis men,” on two sides of thirty each, in pursuit of an old feud. Though fictional I like Sir Walter Scott’s account of the battle, it succeeds in capturing some of the noise and fury that must have surrounded the clash. “The trumpets of the king sounded a charge, the bagpipes blew up their screaming and maddening notes, and the combatants, starting forward in regular order, and increasing their pace till they came to a smart run, met together in the centre of the ground, as a furious torrent encounters an advancing tide. For an instant or two the front lines, hewing at each other with their long swords, seemed engaged in a succession of single combats; but the second and third ranks soon came up on either side, actuated alike by the eagerness of hatred and the thirst of honour, pressed through the intervals, and rendered the scene a tumultuous chaos, over which the huge swords rose and sunk, some still glittering, others streaming with blood, appearing, from the wild rapidity with which they were swayed, rather to be put in motion by some complicated machinery, than to be wielded by human hands.“ Again there are differing accounts of the outcome, one says Chattan were victors slaying all their foes and 9 of their own warriors surviving, another claims 7 men survived the contest, five on one side and two on the other. Of these two, one managed to cross the River Tay, while the other was either pardoned or hung. Wikipedia, where I normally start my searches states 11 to 1 was the "result” , you can see the difficulty I have putting these type of posts together!  The chief of the Chattans that day is said to be buried in St Tuchaldus Church, Rothiemurchus. The “ill feeling” between the two “clans” was said to have lasted into the 19th century. -- source link

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