Gardiner, S. R. 1893 History of the Great Civil War: 1644-45. Longman, London.
Reid, S. 2003 Auldearn, 1645: the Marquis of Montrose's Scottish campaign. Osprey, Oxford.
Stevenson, D. 1980 Allastair MacColla and the Highland Problem in the 17th Century. John Donald, Edinburgh.
Information on Sources & Publication
There is one detailed Covenanter report, by Fraser, and several Royalist reports on the battle, by Gordon, Wishart and Montrose and in the Clanranald account, with further minor references such as the report in Hope's diary. They are all available in transcription or translation (the Gaelic Clanranald account) but are not presented in full in any of the main secondary works.
Compiling an integrated account of the battle is problematic in this case. There are always differences in eyewitness accounts because each individual would only have seen a part of the battle, while it is to be expected that there will be differences according to which side the eyewitness was on. At Auldearn, the problem is that there were deep hostilities within the Royalist camp that appear in the accounts. There are two distinct aspects to the Royalist accounts of the battle: one representing Montrose positively, and implying rash action by Mac Colla; the others showing Mac Colla and Lord Gordon as the real architects of victory and Montrose an incompetent commander who caused the problems in the first place and played little part in recovering the situation. Fraser's account, from the Covenanter side, provides a useful control in this difficult situation, while the Clanranald account also appears somewhat more balanced than the other Royalist accounts, even though criticising Montrose's character. These biases are discussed in detail by Stevenson, but from a strongly Mac Colla-centred perspective, while Gardiner takes Montrose's side.
Montrose's account is a brief letter, providing little detail and conflating much into a brief description of the action. The Book of Clanranald gives a detailed description of Mac Colla's troops and of the action of his men, hence is almost solely focussed on the action on the Royalist right wing. Gordon's account is also focussed mainly upon the actions of Mac Colla on the right wing and so, irrespective of partisan biases, provides a partial account of the battle.
Stevenson argues that Montrose intentionally provides a partial account, to cover up his failures of intelligence and the fact that he was taken by surprise. However, the letter is similar to many brief letters from various Civil War commanders describing the events of their major battles and should not be so easily dismissed. Similarly, Stevenson accuses Wishart of presenting a highly partisan account of Auldearn, but fails to acknowledge the far greater degree of bias and partial coverage apparent in the Gordon account.
The first significant secondary work was the study of the battle by Gardiner, upon whose interpretation most of the subsequent descriptions were based (Gardiner 1893). His topographical detail is drawn from a discussion by Shaw, first published in 1775. Gardiner placed Montrose's troops along the road running south from Auldearn, just inside the area of the later landscape park of Kinsteary, with the left flank near Newmill and the right near the Doocot Hill. One important error of fact is his misplacing of Dead Wood onto Garlic Hill, where he confuses it with site of burials found in the nineteenth century. His account is limited by his access to only Wishart's and Gordon's account, and his predominant dependence upon the former.
The most substantial modern discussion of the battle is that by Stevenson who, in 1980, provided a comprehensive re-interpretation. His account is compromised by his concentration on demolishing Gardiner's interpretation, the linked critical assessment of Wishart's account, and his extreme bias towards Mac Colla and against Montrose. A major problem also arises from his partial and mistaken reconstruction of the historic terrain at Auldearn, particularly his mapping of the main Inverness to Forres road, which leads to him suggesting a south-west approach by the Covenanters. His demolition of Gardiner's interpretation is based partly upon this faulty terrain reconstruction, together with his focus upon the Gordon account. It is an argument which cannot be sustained once all the battle accounts are reconsidered in the light of a more detailed historic terrain reconstruction. Hence Gardiner's picture of a major flank attack by Montrose, one of the key tactical moves upon which the latter's status as a gifted commander is based, can be reinstated, at least in general terms. Most other studies are highly derivative and simplified, and generally follow Gardiner's interpretation (Seymour, 1979, Guest & Guest, 1996, Bennett, 1990).
Primary Sources
Book of Clanranald: MacBain, A, and J. Kennedy. Reliquiae Celticae: texts, papers and studies in Gaelic literature and philology (1892). p.49, 51, 53, 55, 57. Translation also published by Danachair (Ó Danachair, 1950).
Fraser, J. & Mackay, W. 1905 Chronicles of the Frasers : the Wardlaw manuscript entitled 'Polichronicon seu policratica temporum, or, The true genealogy of the Frasers', 916-1674. Publications of the Scottish History Society, 47. Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press by T. and A. Constable for the Scottish History Society. 294-97.
Gordon, P. 1844 A Short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper : from the yeare of God MDCXXXIX to MDCXLIX. Spalding Club Series, Aberdeen. 120-27
Montrose, Marquis of 1645 Mercurius Aulicus, 2 July 1645, 1611-12.
Shaw, L. & Gordon, J. F. S. 1882 The History of the Province of Moray: comprising the counties of Elgin and Nairn, the greater part of the county of Inverness and a portion of the county of Banff,–all called the province of Moray before there was a division into counties. Hamilton Adams & co. & T. D. Morrison, London, Glasgow.
Spalding, J. 1792 The History of the Troubles and Memorable Transactions in Scotland, from the year 1624 to 1645: Containing an interesting narrative of the proceedings of the great families in Scotland during that period - rising of the Highland clans in arms - origin and progress of the covenanters, their battles, sieges,
&c. - And many other remarkable particulars of the troubles in the North of Scotland, not contained in any other history of the times. T. Evans, London. 318-21.
Thomson, T. 1843 A Diary of Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope, 1633-45.
Wishart, G. 1720 A Complete History of the Wars in Scotland; under the conduct of the illustrious James Marquis of Montrose. London. 98-103.
Cartographic & Illustrative Sources
Roy, Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-1755
1771 Map of the Controverted Marches between Belmackardoch and Kinnoudie, RHP 1026 Taylor, G. and Skinner, A. (1776).
Thompson, J. (1832)
Secondary Sources
anon 1898 History of the Parish of Auldearn. Auldearn.
Gardiner, S. R. 1893 History of the Great Civil War: 1644-45. Longman, London.
Guest, K. & Guest, D. 1996 British Battles: the front lines of history in colour photographs, HarperCollins 1996, London.
MacBain, A. & Kennedy, J. (1892).
Macfarlane, W., Clark, J. T. & Mitchell, A. 1908 Geographical Collections Relating to Scotland. 3v.
Ó Danachair, C. 1950 Irish Sword. 128-32.
Reid, S. 1990 The Campaigns of Montrose: a military history of the Civil War in Scotland 1639 to 1646. Mercat Press, Edinburgh.
Reid, S. 2003 Auldearn, 1645: the Marquis of Montrose's Scottish campaign. Osprey, Oxford.
Seymour, W. 1979 Battles in Britain and their Political Background, 1066-1746. Book Club Associates, London.
Stevenson, D. 1980 Allastair MacColla and the Highland Problem in the 17th Century. John Donald, Edinburgh.
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