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(The Battle o) Harlaw

Date October 1953
Track ID 20381
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1953.236.A2

Original Tape ID

SA1953.236

Summary

A song recounting the events of 'The Battle of Harlaw' from the perspective of the defenders of land invaded by a highland army under MacDonald. The invaders are eventually defeated after losing heart when two noble brothers kill MacDonald.

Contributor recounts that the Highlandmen were winning the battle up until MacDonald was killed, and would likely have won the battle had this not happened; however, they lost heart and left the battlefield. It was said after the battle that the Highlander's "blood was runnin on the roads like water".

Item Notes

17 verses with refrain; N.B. there are typically 16 verses in Jeannie
Robertson's version of this song - verse 9 is an unintentional repeat
of verse 6 in this preformance.

The Battle of Harlaw ('Cath Gairbheach' in Gaelic) took place near
Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 24th July 1411 between Donald
of Islay, Lord of the Isles (MacDonald) and an army commanded by
Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar.

Despite the biased and historically-inaccurate view of this Scots song
(e.g. MacDonald was not in actual fact killed at the battle), and some
Gaelic songs which place the outcome more in MacDonald's favour, the
battle is generally considered to have been a 'draw', due to the
severe casualties on both sides. It is remembered as a particularly
bloody and savage battle in Scottish history.

The site of the battle lies approximately three kilometres north-west
of Inverurie.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 1, pp.302-313 (no. 112)
'Scottish Ballads' (E. Lyle, 1994) pp.44-47
'Come Gie's a Sang' (S. Douglas, 1995) pp.20-21
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) pp.473-475
'The Scottish Ballads' (R. Chambers, 1829) pp.20-28
'The Scottish Minstrel, Vol.4' (R.A. Smith, 1821) p.36
'Ballads of Scotland vol 1' (W.E. Aytoun, 1858) pp.64-78
'Book of Scottish Ballads' (A. Whitelaw, 1845) pp.138-140
'The Scottish Folksinger (N. Buchan & P. Hall, 1973) pp.132-133
'Ancient & Modern Scottish Songs vol 1' (D. Herd, 1869/1973) pp.37-45
'Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads' (A. Keith, G. Greig, 1925) pp.101-106
'The Scots Musical Museum vol 6' (J. Johnson, R. Burns, 1853 edition)
p.528 (No.512)

Item Subject/Person

Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles (MacDonald)

Recording Location

County - Midlothian

Parish - Edinburgh

Village/Place - Edinburgh, Oddfellows Hall

Item Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Chapel of Garioch

Village/Place - Harlaw

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R2861 GD112 C163

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair