West Highland Galley

This book is about West Highland galleys. At first sight this may seem an unrewarding field of study. We have not a single surviving plank from such vessels. Mediaeval boats from the remotest corner of Europe, a subject of neither interest or importance surely! My justification is simply that these boats were central to the Hebridean way of life. There are dozens of major islands in the Hebrides, hundreds of smaller ones. The whole fabric of island life is dependent upon the sea. Colonies were established, raids mounted, rents exacted, goods exchanged, cattle ferried, funerals carried - all by sea. first and foremost Highland galleys existed in wood - as commercial or military vehicles, but they also had life in wax or stone - as images of power, and as metaphors in thought and language. The birlinn was not just a material artefact, it became a cultural symbol.

In the course of this book I will argue that for 800 years galleys supported the Hebridean economy. That until 1266 the islanders were at the crossroads of an international trading empire. That their boats were up-to-date and that they were as close to Bergen by sea as they were to Edinburgh by land. That the loss of Norwegian sovereignty in 1266 condemned the Isles to commercial isolation and economic decline. The Hebrideans had nothing with which to oppose the Norse, for whom distance was no object, remoteness no security. To the Scots they became an intractable military problem.

By transporting mercenaries to Ireland, galleys subsidised island life until the Union of the Crowns. Despite a perception to the contrary they were not overwhelmed or destroyed by the Scottish state. They were not defeated by the English off Ulster or by the Scots in their own waters. Galleys were fully contemporary until the late thirteenth century. They fell behind as the Norwegian connection was severed. They survived because they were perfectly suited to their environment and to the hit-and-run tactics of a warrior aristocracy. In the end they disappeared for a combination of reasons: the ending of mercenary service in Ireland, the defeat of Clan Donald South by the Campbells and the effects of relative economic disadvantage. They could only survive in a situation of political and military independence. Norse sovereignty largely allowed them to do this. Between the Treaty of Perth (1266) and the Union of Crowns (1603) these conditions were removed.

Galleys were clinker-built wooden boats that could be rowed or sailed. They had a single mast bearing as square sail. They could carry 40 hours and a crew of up to three men per oar. Both stem and stern were steeply pitched. From the first glance it is apparent that they are direct descendents of Viking ships. The most important single difference is the replacement of the steering-board by a stern rudder. For 800 years the galley was the dominant boat-type in the Hebrides.

One of the hallmarks of West Highland culture during the late Middle Ages was its stone sculpture. We have over 600 surviving grave slabs and some 60 stone crosses from the years 1300- 1600. Many are badly worn but enough survive in good or reasonable condition to indicate both the skill of their artists and the cultural vitality of the society that produced them. These monuments were richly decorated with representational and geometric art. Like their ancestors, both Pictish and Irish, the Highland sculptors had a fondness for interlace panels, interwoven foliage and foliated crosses. Whilst the rich decorative patterns are wonderful in execution, they are not, perhaps, as interesting as the representational motifs that appear alongside them.

We have hunting-scenes, armed warriors, churchmen and civilians. We have men and women, monks and nuns. We even have half-sized slabs to children. There are figures at prayer, scenes from the coffin, horses, archers, huntsmen and animals. There are strange magical beasts with human heads, mermaids and unicorns, weapons and trade symbols. We also have galleys - over 80 of them - appearing on roughly one in eight of the surviving stones. In fact galleys are amongst the most important recurrent motifs, sure proof of their contemporary role as well as their aesthetically pleasing quality. Most are badly weathered but a detailed study can reveal a good deal about the boats themselves. (In the text a reference such as 'Lochaline (20)' refers to the list of these slabs in the Appendix. Map 2 indicates their distribution.)

We are not dependent on the stones alone. The sculptural record is supplemented by considerable literary and documentary evidence. Naval tradition in other countries, boat-building techniques, loan-words, wax seals, manuscript illuminations can all give us clues about mediaeval boat-building in general and Highland practice in particular. Unfortunately no galley has survived but so many once sailed here and so frequent must have been their loss that some relics may lie preserved on the sea-bed.

The history of the Hebrides between c.800 and the last Norse invasion of 1263 is troubled and volatile. It is not at all 'dark'. We know quite a lot from Irish Annals, Icelandic sagas and the Chronicles of the various peoples of Britain. It was a long and turbulant period - in many ways a revolutionary one. The Hebrides were on a geographical crossroads; forced into contact with richer cultures in Scaninavia, Britain and Ireland. Despite the violence and social dislocation, this brought a wealth and vitality to the area taht contrasts with the slow isolated decay characteristic of more recent centuries. In that particular crucible was forged a hebridean culture which attempted independence in the early Middle Ages. It was eventually snuffed out; disjointed from Man and Dublin, isolated from Scandinavia and suppressed by Scotland. It lacked the economic and military resources to sustain itself. But there is evidence of a vibrant, local Gaelic culture. From the early Middle Ages we have a remarkable series of stone castles. From the later mediaeval period we have some equally remarkable grave-sculpture. We have the image of galleys - the vehicles of power and communication. Less attention has beeen paid to these early achievements than to later dreams. Through a telescope of sentiment it sometimes semms as if the Hebrides led a charmed and independent life for long periods during the Middle Ages. Until 1266 they were part of the Norse empire - linked politically to Scandinavia, culturally to Ireland, by blood to both. They were briefly at the crossroads of an international maritime culture rather than the subsidised periphery of Europe. From 1221- 1266 they were a centre of conflict as Norway and Scotland fought for dominion. Geography, and Scotland, won. Absence of strong central power in Edinburgh meant that for the next 250 years the Hebrides led a quasi-independent existence both politically and culturally.

The Lordship of the Isles can be seen as a political extension of the previous Kingdom of Man. This continuity was enhanced by the triumph of the Islay MacDonalds over their mainland cousins, the MacDougalls, during the Wars of Independence. It was reinforced by the longevity of John, Lord of the Isles from 1336 1387. It climaxed in the the extraordinary cultural flowering between 1350 and 1550 whose hallmark is the the fine series of grave-slabs and crosses. However, the notional charm of this 'Golden Age' was probably lost on the majority of the population for whom life was exaction and toil. The Hebrides have always been a harsh environment, the sea an unforgiving element. Politically the Lordship was a unique institution - forever threatened by Scottish ambition. Over many years the West Highlands and Islands, under the leadership of Clan Donald, fought to maintain a measure of independence. Their final political failure was marked by the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles in 1493. By 1506, when it was captured by Huntly, the Scottish kings had made their presence felt even in furthest Stornoway. From then on is a sad story.

One of the many disservices of the Jacobite myth is that it has conjured us into believing that the issues of Higghland autonomy were decided in the eighteenth century. In puely dynastic terms they were. In other respects the Jacobite risings appear as a disastrous diversion. In the context of political competition between two starkly different cultures the real issues had been decided centuries earlier. The irony is that the Highlanders remained so loyal to a family that had brutally diminshed their own independence. Perhaps we can tell something of this culture by focusing on its galleys; symbolic then, symbolic now, of the power and reach of their maritime world.'