The Bonnie House of Airlie is a traditional Scottish folk song of the seventeenth century, telling the tale of the raid by Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, on Airlie Castle, the home of James Ogilvy, Earl of Airlie, in the summer of 1640. [1] A broadsheet version first appeared in 1790 and it received formal publication as number 199 in Francis Child's collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads of 1882.
Although there had been traditional enmity between the Campbells and Ogilvys since at least the sixteenth century, their private feud intensified in 1638, when the two clans joined opposite sides in the National Covenant rebellion: Ogilvy supported the king, Charles I, and Campbell the rebels. When James Ogilvy raised a regiment of several hundred men and marched south to the king's aid, Archibald, claiming to act on behalf of the anti-royalist alliance, seized and destroyed the castle of Airlie and, according to some accounts, brutally raped James Ogilvy's wife, Margaret. [2]
Child, collecting in the 1870s, found four broadly similar versions. [3] These all describe how the castle was destroyed by fire after Lady Ogilvy refused to reveal the whereabouts of the family treasure. However other versions continued in oral circulation and the one reproduced here, with its bleak penultimate verse, was collected on 27 June 1955 in Fetterangus by Hamish Henderson and Peter Kennedy from Lucy Stewart: [4]
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Given the numerous references to "Chairlie" and the allusion to "Locheil", the song has inevitably taken on additional layers of meaning, being understood to refer to Charles Edward Stuart and the 1745 rebellion long after the events at Airlie. [5]
Alan Lomax included the song in his Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland of 1961. It was sung by Belle Stewart, who learned the song from her 91-year-old uncle Henry MacDonald, and recorded by Peter Kennedy. [6] Later recordings, using different tunes, have been made by Ewan MacColl and Kate Rusby.
Different versions of the song were collected in Scotland, Canada, and the US. [7]
Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan. Historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans, their lands were in Argyll and the chief of the clan became the Earl and later Duke of Argyll.
Scottish folk music is music that uses forms that are identified as part of the Scottish musical tradition. There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland during the late Middle Ages, but the only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song". After the Reformation, the secular popular tradition of music continued, despite attempts by the Kirk, particularly in the Lowlands, to suppress dancing and events like penny weddings. The first clear reference to the use of the Highland bagpipes mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. The Highlands in the early seventeenth century saw the development of piping families including the MacCrimmons, MacArthurs, MacGregors and the Mackays of Gairloch. There is also evidence of adoption of the fiddle in the Highlands. Well-known musicians included the fiddler Pattie Birnie and the piper Habbie Simpson. This tradition continued into the nineteenth century, with major figures such as the fiddlers Niel and his son Nathaniel Gow. There is evidence of ballads from this period. Some may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. They remained an oral tradition until they were collected as folk songs in the eighteenth century.
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 50s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was a major figure in the Covenanter movement that fought for the maintenance of the Presbyterian religion against the Stuart monarchy's attempts to impose episcopacy. He is often remembered as the principal opponent of the royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.
Hamish Scott Henderson was a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier.
Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll was a medieval Scottish nobleman, peer, and politician. He was the son of Archibald Campbell, Master of Campbell and Elizabeth Somerville, daughter of John Somerville, 3rd Lord Somerville. He had the sobriquet Colin Mulle, Bold Earl Colin.
Gillespie Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll was a Scottish nobleman and politician who was killed at the Battle of Flodden.
Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll or Archibald "the Red" Campbell, was a Scottish nobleman and politician.
Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was appointed to the Lord Chancellorship of Scotland.
Bothy ballads are songs sung by farm labourers in the northeast region of Scotland.
Jimmy MacBeath (1894–1972) was an itinerant worker and singer of Bothy Ballads from the north east of Scotland. He was a source of traditional songs for singers of the mid 20th century Folk Revival in Great Britain.
The Battle of Glenlivet was a Scottish clan battle fought on 3 October 1594 near Glenlivet, Moray, Scotland. It was fought between Protestant forces loyal to King James VI of Scotland who were commanded by Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll, against Catholic forces who were commanded by George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly, and Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll. The Catholics won a decisive victory in the battle, but in the aftermath were subdued by King James.
Belle Stewart, born Isobella McGregor, was a Scottish Traveller traditional singer. Her biography, Queen Amang the Heather: the Life of Belle Stewart, was written by her daughter, Sheila Stewart, and published in 2006.
Castle Campbell is a medieval castle situated above the town of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, in central Scotland. It was the lowland seat of the earls and dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, from the 15th to the 19th century, and was visited by Mary, Queen of Scots, in the 16th century. Mary was impressed by this and said "this reminds me of home".
Séon Carsuel was a 16th-century Scottish prelate, humanist, and Protestant reformer. Born early in the century, when Carsuel completed his education he joined the service of the Protestant Earl of Argyll, tutoring his son and using his patronage to obtain benefices, most notably becoming Bishop of the Isles in 1565. Standing at over 7 feet in height, Carsuel was an important figure in the history of Scottish Gaelic, as in 1567 his Foirm na n-Urrnuidheadh, the Gaelic translation of the Book of Common Order, became the first work to be printed in any Goidelic language.
Agnes Keith, Countess of Moray was a Scottish noblewoman. She was the wife of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland and the illegitimate half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, making her a sister-in-law of the Scottish queen. As the wife of the regent, Agnes was the most powerful woman in Scotland from 1567 until her husband's assassination in 1570.
The Auchinbreck of Campbell family, was founded by Duncan Campbell of Kilmichael, in Glassary, Argyllshire, Scotland. He was the son of Duncan, first Lord Campbell of the Clan Campbell, by his second wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Stewart of Blackhall, the illegitimate son of King Robert III of Scotland. The family of the Lords Campbell later became Dukes of Argyll, and remain chiefs of Clan Campbell. Duncan Campbell, as a grandson of King Robert III, received a considerable estate confirmed by royal charter dated 19 June 1452. The family remained at their estate of Auchinbreck, from which they took their title, until 1641. The Campbells of Auchinbreck were commissioned to provide military training and were used by the Earls of Argyll as military support. In 1628 the then head of the family of Campbells in Auchinbreck received a baronetcy, which included a grant of North American land in Nova Scotia.
The Sheriff of Argyll was historically a royal officer charged with enforcing the king's rights in Argyll; in Scotland, the concept of sheriff gradually evolved into a judicial position.
Airlie Castle is a mansion house in the parish of Airlie, Angus, near the junction of the Isla and Melgund rivers, 9 kilometres west of Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland. A castle was built on the site in c. 1432 and was burnt out in 1640, with a mansion house built incorporating and on top of some of the ruins in c. 1792–93, and occupied today. The house and the stables are Category B listed buildings and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
Duncan James Williamson was a Scottish storyteller and singer, and a member of the Scottish Traveller community. The Scottish poet and scholar Hamish Henderson once referred to him as "possibly the most extraordinary tradition-bearer of the whole Traveller tribe."
Forter Castle is located in Glenisla, Perthshire, Scotland. It was built in 1560 by James Ogilvy, the 5th Lord of Airlie. In 1640, it was burned by Archibald Campbell, the 8th Earl of Argyll, but it was rebuilt in the early 1990s.