Iain Lom, Bàrd na Ceapaich,
or plain John MacDonald (c. 1624–c. 1710) is doubtlessly one of the most
famous poets of seventeenth-century Gaeldom. He lived through turbulent times
and witnessed the second battle of Inverlochy (1645) which saw the complete
drubbing of the Clan Campbell. There was absolutely no love lost between Iain
Lom and the Campbells; he would take every opportunity that came his way to
demean and mock them. It is sometimes easy to forget that Iain Lom MacDonald was
a great grandson of the deposed Keppoch chief Iain Àlainn (or ‘Handsome John’). His full patronymic, showing his
descent, is Iain mac Dhòmhnaill mhic Iain mhic Dhòmhnaill mhic
Iain Àlainn. Notwithstanding his
outstanding verse such a noble background could have only bolstered his status
among his clansfolk. This, however, did not help him when his outspoken
political verse, in the wake of The Keppoch Murder (1663) made it expedient for
him to leave the Braes until the situation had ‘cooled’ down. The following
biographical sketch was collected by Calum Maclean from John MacDonald of
Highbridge on the 21st of January 1951:
Thug e treis gu h-àrd ann am Bràigh Loch Abar. Chaidh
e an sin a-mach gu deas agus nach robh e na bhàrd aig Teàrlach a Dhà, a thàinig
air a’ chrùn dà bhliadhna na deaghaidh do Chromwell coachladh. Chaochail
Cromwell anns an sia ceud deug agus a h-ochd thar an leth-cheud. Thàinig am
fear eile ann dà bhliadhna an deaghaidh sin is thug e ceithir bliadhna fichead
ann. Nuair a chaochail e dh’fhàg e duais aig Iain Lom. Is bha siud aig Iain Lom
gus an do chaochail e.
Bha e na adhbhar a-rithist Iain Lom aig Murt na
Ceapaich gun rachadh na daoine ann an Inbhir Làire a rinn am murt. Agus thachair
sin ann an 1663. Agus bha Iain Lom an uair seo a’ tighinn gun a làthainean mu
dheireadh aige fhèin agus e a’ fuireach gu h-àrd ann an Allt a’ Chaorainn.
Chaidh a mhac a mharbhabh le Dòmhnall Donn Mac Fear Bhoth Chunndainn, far am
biodh iad a’ togail nan creach. Bha iad ann an Srath Spèidh an dithist dhiubh,
Dòmhnall Donna agus Mac Iain Luim. Agus a h-uile taigh anns an robh e a’ dol
a-staigh, bha iad a’ faighneachd dheth:
“Cò am fear a tha leat an seo, a Dhòmhnaill?”
“Tha mac do dh’Iain Lom.”
Ach mu dheireadh thàinig an rud gu connsachadh agus
thuirt e:
“Dh’fhaodadh tu mise innseadh na b’ fheàrr na siud, na
Mac Iain Luim ag ràdha.”
“O! ma-tà,” thuirt e, “na gabh nàire a t’ athair
idir,” thuirt e, “ged a tha e cho lom sin is nach fhàsadh feusag air. ’S ann
mar sin a thug iad Iain Lom air.”
Ach co-dhiù mharbh Dòmhnall Donn, mharbh e Mac Iain
Luim leis a’ bhiodag. Agus rinn Iain Lom òran dà, aoireadh. Agus bheir mi
dhuibh earann dheth:
“Is truagh nach fhaca mi air creag thu,
Agus seillean nad chluais,
Agus luch nad achlais,
A’ cur a h-achanaich suas;
Agus clach air a sparradh
Nad bheul tarsaing mhì-stuaim,
Nan tigeadh an fheannag
Is bàrr na teangaidh a thoirt bhuat.”
Chaochail e ann an 1710 agus chaidh a thìodhlacadh ann
an Cille Choirill. Theireadh iad Tom Aingeal ris. Latha an tìodhlacaidh cò bh’
ann ach Aonghas Alasdair Ruaidh à Gleanna Comhann, bàrd ainmeil.
“Cluinneam dè th’ agad ri ghràitinn,” thuirt
Gilleasbui’ na Ceapaich ris a’ bhàrd Thuirt e na briathran seo:
“Bha mi an-diugh ann
an Tom Aingeal
Is chunna mi crìoch air m’ fhear-cinnidh;
Iubhair nam
bàrd, Righ na Filidh,
A Dhia, a
dhèanamh sìth ri t’ anam;
B’ fhuath leat Màiri, b’ fhuath leat Uilleam,
B’ fhuath leat luchd Siol Dhiarmaid uile.
A h-uile neach nach biodh rìoghail.
Dh’innseadh tu dhaibh e gun iarraidh:
Gaol an leoghainn is fuath an tuirc
Anns an uaigh ’s a bheil do chorp.
Dhia thoirt mathanas dhut,
Bha thu dioltach anns an olc.”
And
the translation goes something like the following:
He spent a good deal of time in Brae Lochaber. He then
went down south and he was the poet laureate of King Charles II, that came to
the crown two years after the death of Cromwell in 1658. The other one came two
years after that and he spent twenty-four years [on the throne]. When he died
he left this prize for Iain Lom and he had this until his own death.
It was a reason enough for Iain Lom at the time of the
Keppoch Murder that men would go to Inverlair to avenger the murders. That
happened in 1663. And Iain Lom was coming to the end of this days and he was
staying in Allt a’ Chaorainn. His son
was murdered by Donald Donn the son of the Taksman of Bothuntine when they were
cattle raiding. The two of them were in Strathspey, Donald Donn and Iain Lom’s
son. And every house that they visited they asked:
“Who is the man along with you, Donald?”
“It is Iain Lom’s son.”
But eventually things reached a head and he said:
“You could introduce me better than that, than by
saying the son of Iain Lom.”
“Oh, then,” he said, “don’t be ashamed of your father
at all even though he is so bald he can’t grow a beard. That’s way they called
him Iain Lom (‘Bare John’).
But in any event Donald Donn murdered the son of Iain
Lom with a dagger. And Iain Lom composed a song to him, a satire. And I’ll give
you a bit of it:
“It’s a pity that I
have not seen you on a rock
With bees buzzing in your
ears
And a mouse in your
oxter
That would force your
armpits up,
And a stone thrust
Across your immodest
mouth
And if a raven came
It would take the tip
of your tongue off.”
He died in 1710 and was buried in Cille Choirill in a
place they named Tom Aingeal. On the day of the burial who made an appearance
but Aonghas Alasdair Ruaidh from Glencoe, a renowned bard.
“Let me hear what you have to say,” said Archibald of
Keppoch to the bard. And so he related the following verse:
“I was in Tom Aingeal today
Where I saw the end of my kinsman;
Key of the bards, King of the
Poets,
God, let his soul rest in peace;
You hated Queen Mary, and you hated King William,
You hated the whole of Clan
Campbell.
Every one who was not royal.
You would tell them without asking:
Love of the lion and hatred of boar
In the grave there lies you corpse
God have mercy on you,
You were ever
spiteful in vengeance.”
A
monument was placed by the Liberal MP Charles Fraser-MacKintosh to commemorate the bard's
memory in the early part of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, it was
mistakenly placed over the grave of another Lochaber bard, Dòmhnall Mac
Fhionnlaigh nan Dàn, which lies near the entrance to Cille Choirill. Iain Lom
MacDonald’s grave which was pointed out many years ago, further up on the hill
known as Tom Aingeal, has been forgotten now. This is verified by the following
information that Calum Maclean collected which he later wrote about in his book
The Highlands (1959):
Farther on to the right is the church of St
Cyril (Cille Choirill). It stands
high on the slope of a hill overlooking the railway line. Here it is that lain
Lom, the Bard of Keppoch, has found his last resting-place. The tradition is
that he expressed a wish to be buried with his face towards his beloved
Corrour. A stone taller than all others in the graveyard has been raised in his
honour. All other headstones face due east; lain Lom’s headstone looks
southwards to Corrour. The actual spot where his remains lie is not known now.
It will never be known, for the last tradition bearer who knew for certain is
long dead. My kind friend, Mr Archibald Maclnnes, caretaker of the graveyard
and the most accurate authority on the history of Lochaber, does not know where
lain Lom lies although he knows every other grave marked and unmarked in St
Cyril’s.
References:
Anne
M. MacKenzie (ed.), Òrain Iain Luim:
Songs of John MacDonald, Bard of Keppoch (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd,
1964)
Calum I. Maclean, The Highlands (London: Batsford, 1959)
Calum I. Maclean, The Highlands (London: Batsford, 1959)
Donald
C. MacPherson, ‘The Clan Donald of Keppoch’, The Celtic Magazine, vol. 4
(1878), pp. 368–75
SSS
NB 22, pp. 118–21
Rev. Allan Sinclair, ‘John MacDonald,
The Lochaber Bard, and his Times’, The
Celtic Review, vol. V, no. LI (January 1880), pp. 97–104
Image:
Iain
Lom MacDonald’s headstone, Cille Choirill, Brae Lochaber.
"The Bones of my kindred Un-honoured un-urned Mark the desolate path the Campbell has burned Be it so They never returned" I first saw this in John Buchan's fine book on The Great Montrose :-)
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