Scotland

  • Simon Fraser

    Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat was born around 1667, the second son of the 10th Lord Lovat. The Barony of Lovat had been titled to the Frasers since around 1460, and also carried their own clan chief status, the MacShimis (sons of Simon). Prior to the Barony, the Frasers were titled Lairds of Lovat, where they held a Tower and fort. The lands of Beauly Abbey in Inverness-shire were granted to the Frasers after the dissolution, where Beauly Castle stands. Simon Fraser’s father, Thomas 10th Lord Lovat was a younger son of a previous Lord (7th), and therefore not originally in the line of succession, however the 9th Lord died…

  • Joan of the Tower and the connection between England and Scotland.

    Joan of England was the youngest child of Edward II and Isabella of France. Born at the tower of London on 5th July 1321, she would become well known in history as Joan of the Tower. A man of the City, Robert of Staunton was relieved of £80 of his debt of £180, a princely sum, to ride two miles across London to inform King Edward of his daughter’s arrival. Edward joined his wife and child three days later. Edward was furious to find his wife, the Queen consort had given birth in a crumbling room with a leaky roof, her labour bed wet from rain that had dripped through.…

  • Battle of Maidstone

    Towards the end of May, 1648, with Charles I imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, with the threat of invasion from the Scottish Engagers coming South, and Cromwell having to quash an uprising in Wales, the New Model Army was divided in two. Many accompanied Cromwell to take care of Wales, and the remainder under command of Sir Thomas Fairfax were to march North to head off the Scottish attack. Plans changed abruptly when small pockets of Royalist supporters rose in support of the King, fearing the New Model Army and demanding their removal, with the reinstatement of Charles. This rebellion was assisted and gained momentum and…

  • Charles II – The Rocky Road to Rule

    Charles Stuart, second child and second son of King Charles I and Henrietta Maria, sister of King Louis XIII of France, was born on 29th May, 1630. His older brother, born the year before, died after only a few hours, and was named Charles James. As soon as it was apparent that Charles was a healthy baby, his birth was announced and he was taken away at a few hours old, to his own rooms, to begin his raising by a team of maids, nurses and rockers. Charles was a large baby, his mother writing to a friend that at only four months old, Charles was both ‘tall and fat’…

  • Battle of Harlaw

    Overshadowed by the more glamourous battles of Sterling and Bannockburn a century before, between the Scots and the English, Harlaw has been long forgotten by many, but remains historically as important to the Scottish line of succession, not to mention being one of the bloodiest battles ever to have taken place. Historians when asked, will argue at length as to the significance of Harlaw as a battle for the right of lineage, some claiming it as a clan war, others claiming it nothing more than an excuse for looting. But in July 1411, the succession of the Earldom of Ross was the cause of this bloody and inconclusive battle. In…