0:00:07 > 0:00:10On the night before D-Day, General Montgomery,
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Commander of the Allied land forces,
0:00:12 > 0:00:18sent a message to his troops that included four lines of poetry.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22"He either fears his fate too much Or his deserts are small
0:00:22 > 0:00:26"That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all."
0:00:29 > 0:00:32To win or lose it all.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36The lines perfectly summed up the Allies' desperate do or die
0:00:36 > 0:00:40invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe in 1944.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49The poem Monty quoted to inspire men on the Normandy beachhead
0:00:49 > 0:00:52was written in the heat of another conflict
0:00:52 > 0:00:57a vicious civil war that devastated 17th century Britain.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Its author? A Scottish aristocrat, the Marquis of Montrose.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Montrose was not solely a poet. He was a man of action.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Executed at the early age of 37, he is regarded by some as
0:01:13 > 0:01:18the greatest general that Scotland - possibly Britain - ever produced.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22To others, he is a pariah, who unleashed the bloodthirsty
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Highlanders upon the raw recruits of the armies
0:01:25 > 0:01:30of the Scottish Parliament, nurtured sectarian hatred between Protestant
0:01:30 > 0:01:35and Catholic and created a great gulf between Highlands and Lowlands.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39His was a century of religious and political revolution.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43A complex man, he was also a patriot,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and he was greatly concerned about the future of his native
0:01:46 > 0:01:50land at this crisis point in Scottish and British history.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11In 1644 and '45, exactly 300 years before the D-Day invasion
0:02:11 > 0:02:15and the Battle for Europe, Montrose led an outnumbered army
0:02:15 > 0:02:20to victory in six major battles in a vicious civil war.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24The events of that extraordinary 12-month campaign made the young
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Montrose briefly Master of Scotland.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35A brilliant young man. A glittering career. An epic adventure.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39A contemporary said that Montrose acted the part of the hero
0:02:39 > 0:02:42too much and lived as in a romance.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44But this story is a tragedy.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Montrose was finally captured, betrayed, condemned as a traitor
0:02:49 > 0:02:54and publicly hanged, his body decapitated, his limbs severed.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58He was a man who dared to win - and lost it all.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Modern Scottish soldiers exercise in the Scottish mountains.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14They're on a forced march over rough winter terrain.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16It's an arduous expedition.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21These well-equipped modern warriors are following in the footsteps
0:03:21 > 0:03:24of an army led by Montrose.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27His men crossed these mountains in mid-winter from Loch Ness
0:03:27 > 0:03:31to modern Fort William to fall on an army of Campbells.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42In 1645, Britain was in the grip of a mini ice age, so conditions
0:03:42 > 0:03:46would have been much worse, with men struggling through thick snow.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53They had snow and 1645 technology,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55so I imagine it wasn't very enjoyable then.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57I don't think this would come anywhere near as bad as what
0:03:57 > 0:04:00it was for them. You have to take your hat off to the guys.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03A leader, to ask that of his men,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07has either got to be mad or very, very confident.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Novelist John Buchan, a biographer of Montrose, described the attack
0:04:14 > 0:04:18as, "One of the greatest exploits in the history of British arms."
0:04:18 > 0:04:21So, who was Montrose, and why was he struggling through
0:04:21 > 0:04:24the depths of winter to slaughter Campbells?
0:04:30 > 0:04:34James Graham was born in Montrose in 1612,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38probably in late October, or early November.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40His family was ancient and aristocratic.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43BAGPIPES PLAY
0:04:48 > 0:04:52In January 1627, the new head of this old and powerful family,
0:04:52 > 0:04:57James Graham, came here to study at the University of St Andrews.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Since his father had died only two months earlier,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03the young undergraduate was now the 5th Earl of Montrose.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08The years the young Earl spent here were probably
0:05:08 > 0:05:09the happiest of his life.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12As well as studying, Montrose indulged his passion
0:05:12 > 0:05:18for archery, horses, golf and cards and gambled on them all.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21He won the Silver Arrow two years running in the university's
0:05:21 > 0:05:24annual archery competition.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Today, the Royal Company of Archers is holding a commemorative
0:05:28 > 0:05:33competition, but archery wasn't just a sport in Montrose's time.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37He was to lead armies that included bowmen and musketeers.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45This is where the young Earl would have worshipped
0:05:45 > 0:05:48while at St Andrews, St Salvator's Chapel.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Like a majority of Scots, Montrose believed that monarchy was
0:05:54 > 0:05:56essential to good government.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59But he was also a Presbyterian who had imbued the Scottish
0:05:59 > 0:06:04belief that the King had no right to dictate in matters of faith,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and had no direct line to God that made him infallible.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10This tension between monarchy, religion
0:06:10 > 0:06:14and civil society was to dominate Montrose's short life.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Montrose's education wasn't yet complete when he left St Andrews.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Marriage to Magdalen Carnegie,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29when he was 17, didn't stop Montrose from making a Grand Tour
0:06:29 > 0:06:34of Europe and studying at the famous French military academy at Angers.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The Thirty Years War was still raging in Europe, where
0:06:41 > 0:06:46the Swedish King, Gustavus Adolphus, pioneered new, highly mobile,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48aggressive tactics.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53Young Montrose would certainly have met veterans of that war at Angers.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56In 1636 Montrose returned to Scotland,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59stopping off in London where the greatest Scottish aristocrat
0:06:59 > 0:07:01of the day, the Marquis of Hamilton,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03had arranged an audience with King Charles.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The meeting did not go well.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Charles allowed Montrose to kiss his hand,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11but then he turned away at the last moment.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Montrose was bitterly disappointed.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17At this point, Charles seemed intent on treating all his Scottish
0:07:17 > 0:07:19subjects with utter disdain.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Since the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Scots had claimed the right to depose tyrannical monarchs.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32But monarchs didn't see it that way.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38The 17th century Stuart Kings insisted that God had
0:07:38 > 0:07:40given them a Divine Right to rule.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Within the whole notion of the God-given right of kings to rule
0:07:46 > 0:07:50developed the idea that they have the right to rule
0:07:50 > 0:07:54absolutely. Subjects are duty-bound simply to obey.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Even if a king rules tyrannically, then subjects must still obey.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03They can only pray or pray to God for relief from a tyrant,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06they can't actually take action against him.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Charles alienated the Scots' aristocracy by seizing former
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Church land that had been given to them at the time of the Reformation.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18He abolished hereditary legal rights that gave landowners
0:08:18 > 0:08:22and Highland chiefs power over their tenants and clansmen.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24And he increased taxes.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Charles also wanted to dictate how the Scots worshipped.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35He could not thole the troublesome Presbyterians with their
0:08:35 > 0:08:40egalitarian and anti-hierarchical views and he zealously strove
0:08:40 > 0:08:43to clad the Scots Kirk in the garb of Anglicanism.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46This made him so unpopular in Scotland that he never
0:08:46 > 0:08:50came near the place for the first eight years of his reign.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52When Charles was eventually crowned in Scotland,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56at St Giles' Cathedral, it was the rites of the English Church,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59not the Scottish Presbyterian Church, that were used.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Charles wanted a united church for his United Kingdom -
0:09:03 > 0:09:06an Anglican Church of which he was the head.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14To Presbyterian Scots, the Anglican Church with its bishops,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17ritual and liturgy smacked of Popery.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Presbyterians wanted more of a direct line to God
0:09:20 > 0:09:26un-mediated by priests, bishops or popes, let alone deluded monarchs.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34When a new book of prayer, based on English ritual,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39was read out here one Sunday in 1637, there was a riot.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Radical clergy had Edinburgh in turmoil.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48They're very militant clergymen,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51who we would describe as fundamentalists, basically,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54we use the term zealot or fanatic sometimes,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58but these are people who think that the laws of God override the laws
0:09:58 > 0:10:03of men and anything that Charles or any monarch does that doesn't
0:10:03 > 0:10:07conform to the word of God as they understand it, can be resisted.
0:10:07 > 0:10:08Charles is married to a Catholic.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13The innovations that he's making in worship, like kneeling
0:10:13 > 0:10:19at communion, like a set prayer book with a set liturgy, all this
0:10:19 > 0:10:22smacked of Popery as far the radical Presbyterians were concerned.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And even if they were being a little bit cynical in exploiting this,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31the fear of Popery was so deep-rooted
0:10:31 > 0:10:35by this time in the 1630s, this
0:10:35 > 0:10:40is the kind of thing that's going to rouse people to oppose royal policy.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46So they're evoking popular action against the Crown in ways...
0:10:46 > 0:10:50This is playing with fire, this is potentially very, very dangerous.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56At Greyfriars Kirkyard on the 28th of February 1638,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00opposition to Charles' religious tyranny became organised.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Montrose was a key player.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06He was also one of the first nobles to subscribe
0:11:06 > 0:11:08the National Covenant.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Although the Covenant had been written by radical Presbyterians,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16these nobles weren't just signing up to a religious cause.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18In the absence of a Royal Court in Scotland,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22religion had become a focus for Scottish political identity.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Frustrated by Charles' despotism,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32those who signed the Covenant wished to wrest power back from him.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39The Earl of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, declared for the Covenant.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41'Gley'd eyed Erchie' as they called him,
0:11:41 > 0:11:46was devout, ruthless and the most powerful of all clan chiefs.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49He was also widely hated in the Highlands.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The scene was set for a religious and political revolution
0:11:53 > 0:11:54and bloody civil war.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01The Covenanters seized Edinburgh, Stirling and Dumbarton Castles.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Montrose was sent north to lead a Covenanting army against
0:12:04 > 0:12:10King Charles' supporter, the Marquis of Huntly, head of Clan Gordon.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12Montrose finally defeated the Royalist army at
0:12:12 > 0:12:15the Brig o' Dee near Aberdeen.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Montrose was a Covenanter
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and a member of the Parliament that the Covenanters dominated.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28But he was desperately worried about the direction in which
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Parliament appeared to be taking Scotland.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34In 1639, Montrose met Charles again
0:12:34 > 0:12:38and this time he was impressed and charmed.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41The following year, Charles conceded almost every single
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Parliamentary demand,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47including acceptance of the Covenant and the abolition of the Bishops.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52He also, more or less, handed over Royal authority to Parliament.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57I have no doubt that Charles would have reneged on all of that,
0:12:57 > 0:13:04but Montrose - an honourable man with a weakness for courtly honour - believed him.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Time would show that he was more of a military brain
0:13:07 > 0:13:09than he was a political one.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15But for hard-liners like the Marquis of Argyll fundamentalists
0:13:15 > 0:13:19we'd call them today the King's concessions weren't enough.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22There was loose talk of deposing a tyrant.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27It may be that the shrewd Argyll saw through Charles' cynicism,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29while Montrose didn't.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Scots Brigade will shoulder their muskets!
0:13:32 > 0:13:36In 1640, Montrose began organising a moderate faction within
0:13:36 > 0:13:40the Covenant movement to oppose hard-line extremists,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43declaring that it was time,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46"All honest men who respected the liberty of the country and this
0:13:46 > 0:13:50"cause, to join themselves together to oppose the ways of tyranny."
0:13:52 > 0:13:56People like Montrose and others begin to wonder if this isn't
0:13:56 > 0:14:00going too far, and they perhaps begin to question whether what
0:14:00 > 0:14:06they're doing is legitimate and what the long-term consequences might be.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Not just for the Crown but actually for them too.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Is this a case in history
0:14:10 > 0:14:13where an individual really makes a colossal difference?
0:14:13 > 0:14:16The personality, the character of Charles I?
0:14:16 > 0:14:20It's awfully hard to avoid the conclusion that an awful
0:14:20 > 0:14:23lot of it is to be put at the doorstep of Charles.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27I mean, the man was totally inept as a politician.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Just say what you mean, Roger!
0:14:29 > 0:14:32He loved his family, he liked dogs, he had a great art collection,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36but in terms of running the country he was a bit of a dead loss.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The more extreme, like Argyll, suspected Montrose's loyalty,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47had him imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and tried for treason,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49the penalty for which was death.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Montrose was finally released in 1642,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59but by then his defection from the Covenanter Parliament was complete.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02From now until the end of his life he would be a King's man.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08The English Parliament was now at war with the King.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12It had looked on in envy at the concessions the Scots had
0:15:12 > 0:15:15won from Charles but talking had got them nowhere.
0:15:15 > 0:15:21In October 1642 the first pitched battle was fought at Edgehill,
0:15:21 > 0:15:22near Oxford.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Both sides were inexperienced and the result was inconclusive.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30For the Scots, this was a chance to wield power south of the border.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47What was once called the English Civil War is now more
0:15:47 > 0:15:50accurately named the War of the Three Kingdoms.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52A leading expert on the conflict is
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Jane Ohlmeyer of Trinity College Dublin.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02A contemporary chronicler of the activity in Scotland
0:16:02 > 0:16:07says that there was a little black cloud over Scotland which eventually
0:16:07 > 0:16:11engulfed Britain and Ireland, the whole of Britain and Ireland.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Do you think there's anything in that assessment?
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I think actually there's an awful lot.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19I think that we have taken a highly Anglocentric approach to
0:16:19 > 0:16:23the study of these islands during the mid-17th century,
0:16:23 > 0:16:24and let's face it,
0:16:24 > 0:16:29the war began in Scotland and that de-stabilised Ireland, Ireland then
0:16:29 > 0:16:33de-stabilised England, it's very very much a war of three kingdoms
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and there are civil wars raging within each of the three kingdoms.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40So the interconnectedness is of central importance.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42And the reality is, the Scots started it.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50In 1643, a Scottish army crossed the border and captured Newcastle.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53The Covenanter Scottish Parliament had signed the Solemn League
0:16:53 > 0:16:56and Covenant a promise to aid the English Parliament
0:16:56 > 0:16:59against King Charles on the condition that the English
0:16:59 > 0:17:03would adopt the Presbyterian form of worship.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06The Solemn League went much further than the Covenant that
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Montrose had so willingly put his name to at Greyfriars.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18In October 1644, Montrose was made Captain-General of
0:17:18 > 0:17:20the King's forces in Scotland.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24His role was to open up a second front that would relieve
0:17:24 > 0:17:28pressure on Charles' forces in England by drawing Covenanter
0:17:28 > 0:17:31troops back home to defend Scotland.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Among the forces he commanded were the Irish
0:17:35 > 0:17:37troops of Alasdair MacColla.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42A giant, he was one of the greatest warriors of his day.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Raised on Colonsay, he was a refugee from the ever growing Campbell
0:17:46 > 0:17:51empire and now served his kinsman, the MacDonald Earl of Antrim.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56The Earl of Antrim is an extraordinary character.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58He's the ultimate Catholic survivor.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02He is the grandson of the great O'Neill of Tyrone
0:18:02 > 0:18:07and then on the other side he is the heir of Clan Donald South and
0:18:07 > 0:18:11sees himself as this great Scottish warlord, and not just sees himself,
0:18:11 > 0:18:16but was perceived as one of the great leaders of the Scottish clans.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21Anyone who hated the Campbells was a fan of the MacDonalds of Antrim.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27While Alasdair MacColla was perfectly content to serve
0:18:27 > 0:18:30the cause of King Charles, he was much more
0:18:30 > 0:18:33interested in scoring points off his hereditary enemies, the Campbells,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and regaining the ancient MacDonald lands of Kintyre and Islay.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42This potential conflict of motive was to haunt
0:18:42 > 0:18:45the whole of Montrose's campaign.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Alasdair and his Irish marched to Atholl,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52recruiting a few hundred Highlanders along the way.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55But they had almost come to blows with local Stewarts
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and Robertsons when four riders came into view.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Leading them was Montrose.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07He was dressed as a Gael, in trews, shortcoat and Highland bonnet.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09The Gaelic poet, Iain Lom,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12described him as having the comeliness of a king's son.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13Instead of fighting the Irish,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16800 Atholl men immediately joined the cause.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Montrose now had the makings of an army.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25And here at Truidh Hill, he raised the standard for King and country.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Montrose's brilliance was that he had a hotch-potch army.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Sometimes some attended, sometimes others attended.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36He had the core of the Irish Brigade who were regular soldiers,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38and they were good soldiers.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41But his ability to mould them together as a team
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and deploy them in the way he did.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He was an inspiring leader, there's no doubt about it.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49He wasn't the size and stature of someone like Alasdair MacColla
0:19:49 > 0:19:53but he was nevertheless an inspiring leader, and he used his skills
0:19:53 > 0:19:59and talents, always, to defeat armies that outnumbered him.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Montrose led his hotchpotch little force towards Perth,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06where Lord Elcho was mustering a Covenanting army
0:20:06 > 0:20:08to crush the Royalist Rising.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10On Sunday, 1st September,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13the two armies met outside the city at Tibbermore.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20It was a warm day, and the minister of Tibbermore,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Kirk Alexander Balneaves, gave Montrose a glass of water.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28He was de-frocked for this act of kindness.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31But he later told the ministers of Perth Presbytery
0:20:31 > 0:20:36that there was not one among them who, had they been there that day,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38would not have kissed Montrose's backside.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Elcho's line was strung out across the battlefield
0:20:49 > 0:20:51with 500 cavalry on each flank.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55The ministers wandered around among the pikemen and the musketeers,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59telling them that God had promised them a splendid victory.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03They highly commended the bloodthirsty war cry,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05"Jesus and no quarter!"
0:21:06 > 0:21:08Jesus and no quarter!
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Facing the Covenanters, Montrose's line was stretched
0:21:12 > 0:21:14and only three ranks deep.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16He couldn't afford to be outflanked.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19He himself commanded the right flank,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22on foot and armed with a targe and pike.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27Alasdair's Irish were in the centre and 500 bowmen on their left.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Covenanting cavalry attacked, but were driven off by the bowmen.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35Montrose advanced.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44The National Army Museum in London
0:21:44 > 0:21:48has an expert on 17th century warfare - Julian Farrance.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51You look at you there and you look pretty dangerous with this musket,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53but of course it's absolutely useless to you as it is
0:21:53 > 0:21:56because you've got no ammunition and without any ammunition,
0:21:56 > 0:21:57this is just a big stick.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00So before you can do anything really,
0:22:00 > 0:22:01you're going to need to have this.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Now this is, sometimes you'll hear this thing called
0:22:04 > 0:22:08the Twelve Apostles or something, it's actually an ammunition carrier.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Its proper name is a Bandolier of Box
0:22:10 > 0:22:13and we still use bandoliers of ammunition today.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17So stick that on, so that goes there and over your head like that.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Now, each one of these bottles carries a charge of gunpowder for the weapon.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24This one down here with the long nose is fine meal gunpowder for the priming pan,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28and in this little pouch here are musket balls like these fellas here.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31This is the kind of thing that you're going to be shooting.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36Assuming you've managed to get it all primed and loaded, you're ready to go.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40When these muskets were fired, they were fired in teams of men, right?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42In what way, how did it work?
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Traditionally, and certainly the case in the English Civil War,
0:22:45 > 0:22:46you'd have your first rank ready,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49they would deploy and fire the weapon, then run round to the back
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and start going through the loading procedure.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54The next rank would then step forward, take up their position,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57fire away, run round to the back and shuffle forward
0:22:57 > 0:22:59until you get back to the front again,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02when hopefully you were just about ready to present and fire again.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06And that works fine if you've got enough guys to be able to do it,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09- and if you've got enough muskets. - But Montrose doesn't.- Unfortunately.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12So what does he do? He decides that you should all fire in one go.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Partially it's necessity, that they haven't got enough guys
0:23:15 > 0:23:17to be able to do that kind of tactic.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21It's also that they're looking at developing the way the musket's going to be working
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and it's certainly something looking forward to the future which may well
0:23:24 > 0:23:27work extremely well, is that you're getting quite close to the enemy,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30you let them have a good solid volley of everything you've got,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32which softens them up and then you pursue them
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and follow them in with sharp things, and that will hopefully
0:23:35 > 0:23:38then break up their positions and formations and they will go.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40And once they start to go, it's all over.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43And that becomes the Highland Charge, or part thereof at least,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47which lasts for another century after the time of Montrose.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55In the face of the Highland Charge,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Elcho's line broke in surprise and confusion.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02The battle turned into a rout.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Fleeing Covenanters were cut down as they fled.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08This was turning into an absolute disaster.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12It is said that you could have walked on the backs of the dead
0:24:12 > 0:24:14all the way to Perth.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18That evening the Perth magistrates surrendered the keys of the city
0:24:18 > 0:24:22and they also promised a huge lump sum to the Royalist cause.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Montrose's glorious year had truly begun.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Montrose marched on Dundee, but found the town well defended
0:24:34 > 0:24:40and he moved north towards Aberdeen, the strategic key to the Northeast.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43The city was held by a Covenanting army,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47but its people were mostly Royalist sympathisers.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Montrose wrote this letter to Aberdeen's provost and magistrates
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and sent an envoy and a drummer to deliver it.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57The letter demanded the surrender of the city.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Women, children and the old were to leave.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Those who remained could expect no quarter.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09As the envoy left, a Covenanting soldier shot the drummer dead.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Incensed, Montrose ordered that his men spare no-one.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Aberdeen was to pay a high price for that one life.
0:25:19 > 0:25:242,000 infantry defended Aberdeen. Montrose had 1,700.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29The enemy had 500 cavalry. Montrose had 70.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34When a troop of enemy cavalry charged,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37the Royalist front line opened to let them through,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41then swiftly and fatally closed behind them.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Surrounded, they were cut down.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46The Royalist line hacked and slashed its way forward,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and the Covenant centre broke and fled.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54But it was the bloodshed that followed the battle that left
0:25:54 > 0:25:57the greatest stain on Montrose's career.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Once inside this Royalist city, his Royalist army
0:26:00 > 0:26:04indulged in a three-day orgy of rape, pillage and slaughter.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08It was said there was hardly enough men left alive to bury the dead.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24One of Alasdair's Irish officers boasted, "The riches of this town
0:26:24 > 0:26:26"have made all of our soldiers cavaliers."
0:26:26 > 0:26:30The looting of the city was the price the Gaels demanded
0:26:30 > 0:26:31in return for their services.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35But Montrose must have known he was guilty of one of the most
0:26:35 > 0:26:38unforgivable atrocities of the entire war.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44There was now a £20,000 on Montrose's head - dead or alive.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48And an army led by the Marquess of Argyll was hunting him.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58But in these days it was thought impossible to maintain armies
0:26:58 > 0:27:02in the field over the winter, and Argyll withdrew to his stronghold
0:27:02 > 0:27:04at Inveraray.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08It wasn't the elegant Georgian village that it is today,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12but it was the political and military capital of the Campbells,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14the most powerful clan in Scotland.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19As Argyll rested here, an audacious plan was being hatched.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Alasdair MacColla wanted to destroy Argyll in his lair.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30At first, Montrose was aghast,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34but Alasdair argued that with Argyll and the Campbells destroyed,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37more Highland clans would rally to the cause of King Charles.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39He said that the Gaels knew their mountains,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43and they could take Inveraray by surprise.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47The breathtaking boldness of this plan captured Montrose's imagination,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51so in early December, he marched his force
0:27:51 > 0:27:54through the mountains from Blair Atholl to Argyll.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56It was madness or genius.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Guided by a MacDonald of Glencoe,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04they marched 104 miles through mountain, snow and bog.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Had their long ragged column been discovered
0:28:07 > 0:28:11in some of the narrow passes, they could easily have been slaughtered.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16With Montrose was his 14-year-old son and heir, John.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Montrose was daring to win or lose it all.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26At Inveraray, a breathless Campbell scout broke the news to Argyll
0:28:26 > 0:28:30that Montrose and Alasdair were advancing down Glen Shira.
0:28:30 > 0:28:31He did not wait.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35His galley was lying in Loch Fyne.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38He jumped on board and escaped.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Although his castle was too well defended for Montrose to take,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44the surrounding lands were ravished.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48A century of naked clan and religious hatred
0:28:48 > 0:28:51came to a head in an orgy of blood and plunder.
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Barely a house was left unburned. All armed men were put to the sword.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00At least 900 Campbells died and there was not even a battle.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Montrose wrote to the King,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08"I was willing to let the world see that Argyll was not the man
0:29:08 > 0:29:10"his Highlanders believed him to be,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"nd that it was possible to beat him in his own Highlands."
0:29:15 > 0:29:1850 years later, the Campbells avenged the carnage
0:29:18 > 0:29:23by slaughtering 37 MacDonalds in the Massacre of Glencoe,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26some of the Campbells invoking their dead kinsmen
0:29:26 > 0:29:28as they went about the gruesome work.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35After some weeks of rest, and laden with plunder,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39the Royalists began to rampage their way up the Great Glen.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Montrose may have planned to attack Covenanter troops
0:29:42 > 0:29:45billeted at Inverness.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48When Montrose reached Kilcumin, modern Fort Augustus,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52he hit upon the rather splendid device of having his followers
0:29:52 > 0:29:54subscribe a new band.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57This was a document known as the Kilcumin Band
0:29:57 > 0:30:00which was modelled, undoubtedly, on the National Covenant.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04Except the difference here was that he invited Catholics
0:30:04 > 0:30:07as well as Presbyterians, Episcopalians and anyone else really
0:30:07 > 0:30:10who cared to do so, to subscribe this document,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13which was not so much about religion obviously,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17because it was non-sectarian, but it was about the maintenance
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and defence of the person of Charles I.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25If you like, Montrose was attempting at this date to reunite
0:30:25 > 0:30:28the different factions in war-torn Scotland.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Even as he was drawing up this document,
0:30:30 > 0:30:35word came that the Earl of Seaforth was heading down Loch Ness
0:30:35 > 0:30:36with a Covenanting army.
0:30:38 > 0:30:39Then more bad news.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Argyll and a large army, bent on revenge,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46had occupied Inverlochy, further down the Great Glen.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51Montrose was in danger of being crushed in a fatal pincer movement.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54He reacted with breathtaking audacity.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08These modern soldiers, a combined force of regulars
0:31:08 > 0:31:11and territorials from the Royal Regiment of Scotland,
0:31:11 > 0:31:15are re-enacting Montrose's greatest military feat -
0:31:15 > 0:31:18a desperate forced march in the depths of winter
0:31:18 > 0:31:23through the mountains to take a much stronger enemy by complete surprise.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27The Royalist army's route was so challenging
0:31:27 > 0:31:33that even the modern army sees this as an exercise that tests endurance,
0:31:33 > 0:31:35leadership and navigation.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Some of the tactics that were used then are just as relevant
0:31:43 > 0:31:47to the modern day in terms of arriving at the point of battle
0:31:47 > 0:31:49when the enemy least expects it.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51And so we can all draw lessons from the past.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54I think in Montrose the lessons are particularly obvious.
0:31:54 > 0:31:55His use of ground,
0:31:55 > 0:32:00his tactical awareness has left an astonishing legacy in our history.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03So what Montrose did, we still do today.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05This is very, very good training for us,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09and is very applicable to what we're currently doing in Afghanistan.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Troops have got to follow their commander.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Now, the commander has got to be respected
0:32:14 > 0:32:17and I would say he was very well-respected by the sheer fact
0:32:17 > 0:32:20that a lot of the battles he won he was outnumbered,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23and because of that the guys would follow him anywhere.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25But it also meant, towards his opposition,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28that they also respected him and feared him as well.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37From Loch Ness, Montrose and his 1,500 men took to the mountains,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41travelling parallel to the Great Glen, but concealed by a ridge.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Their guide may have been a local MacDonald - Iain Lom,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47the famous Gaelic bard.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52They crossed over the 2,000 feet pass, down into Glen Turret,
0:32:52 > 0:32:57marching in deep snow, wading waist-deep through freezing streams
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and without food for two days. At the foot of Glen Roy
0:33:01 > 0:33:05they met and killed a raiding party of Argyll's men.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09The survivors fled to Inverlochy, by modern Fort William,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11with the incredible news.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16That night, Argyll withdrew to his galley on Loch Linnhe.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Montrose struck at dawn,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27before Argyll's commander had time to properly organise.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30About 2,000 Campbells held the centre,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33with regular lowland Covenanters on the flanks.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37Musketeers were posted on Inverlochy Castle walls
0:33:37 > 0:33:39to fire down on Montrose's men.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41Montrose wrote...
0:33:41 > 0:33:45"A little after the sun was up both armies met
0:33:45 > 0:33:48"and the rebels fought for some time with great bravery,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51"as men that deserved to fight in a better cause.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54"Our men, having a nobler cause, did wonders
0:33:54 > 0:33:58"and came immediately to push of pike and dint of sword."
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Modern warfare is barbaric enough but here men literally hacked
0:34:10 > 0:34:13one another to death in a rage of bloodlust.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17You could smell the fear on the breath of the man you killed.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20You could taste his blood as it spurted and splattered over you.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24The Campbells fought doggedly to the end.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29It's believed that Argyll lost 1,500 men on that day here.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32He himself took to the loch for safety.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35By way of contrast, Montrose's losses were slight.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40Iain Lom climbed a hill to watch the battle.
0:34:40 > 0:34:41A MacDonald,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45he gleefully turned the massacre of the Campbells into poetry.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51TRANSLATION:
0:34:59 > 0:35:01And then Iain Lom goes on to say at the end:
0:35:24 > 0:35:29Was this an example of Gaelic charity towards the defeated?
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Utter charity! This is an example of gruesome realism.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35Iain Lom was there,
0:35:35 > 0:35:38but he was in no way an impartial or independent witness.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42He took as much joy and relish in the plight of the Campbells,
0:35:42 > 0:35:46the destruction, the bloody, gruesome destruction
0:35:46 > 0:35:49of the Campbells as Alasdair MacColla did.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52And there is a rejoicing here, isn't there?
0:35:52 > 0:35:54I mean, this is what they've wanted to see happen
0:35:54 > 0:35:56to the Campbells for a long time.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59There's gloating here. There's rejoicing and gloating.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02There's no doubt they wanted this to happen to the Campbells.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06On both sides in these battles there were terrible atrocities done.
0:36:06 > 0:36:11And in the Gaelic tradition, if you can associate, well, manure
0:36:11 > 0:36:13and the destruction of your enemies in this way,
0:36:13 > 0:36:18this is very powerful iconography, very powerful symbolism.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27Tragically, Montrose's 14-year-old son and heir, John, died
0:36:27 > 0:36:31of an illness brought on by the exposure and hardship
0:36:31 > 0:36:33of the winter campaign.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37Within weeks, the Covenanters imprisoned Montrose's new heir,
0:36:37 > 0:36:41his younger son James, in Edinburgh Castle.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45History tells us very little about Montrose's wife, Magdalen.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49Her father was a Covenanter, very much opposed to his son-in-law,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52but we don't know if their marriage was a happy one.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55There is no evidence of other women in Montrose's life,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59and the Covenanters would have seized upon any suspicion
0:36:59 > 0:37:02that their arch enemy was a fornicator.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07We do know, however, that Magdalen lost her home, her estates,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10her position and her sons, in her husband's cause.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Montrose kept on the move,
0:37:23 > 0:37:28recruiting and avoiding the two armies that were now hunting him.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33In early May, his force of 1,500 foot and 250 horse reached
0:37:33 > 0:37:38the little village of Auldearn, two miles east of Nairn.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42An army of well over twice that size, commanded by Sir John Hurry,
0:37:42 > 0:37:47advanced on him in a rapid night march through torrential rain.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54Close to the sea, Hurry's men had fired off
0:37:54 > 0:37:57their sodden muskets to test them.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00They were heard by Montrose's scouts.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03He had a few precious hours to set a trap.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Montrose placed Alasdair and his Irish,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10together with MacDonalds and Gordons just up here below the hill.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Behind them, he placed the Royal banner
0:38:13 > 0:38:16to give the impression that this constituted the main body
0:38:16 > 0:38:20of Montrose's army. In fact, they were bait.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24This was a trap which was to lure the Covenanters into an attack.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29To the north there were cavalrymen that Montrose disposed
0:38:29 > 0:38:32over the top of the hill there.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36And to the south, concealed behind the ridges, was Montrose
0:38:36 > 0:38:39with 800 infantrymen and about 50 cavalrymen.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44All faced west, towards Inverness, the direction from which
0:38:44 > 0:38:46the Covenanting army was approaching,
0:38:46 > 0:38:48here on the battlefield of Auldearn.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53The plan was brilliant.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56The enemy would be lured towards Alasdair's little force
0:38:56 > 0:38:58beneath Castle Hill.
0:38:58 > 0:39:03At the height of the battle, Montrose would launch a devastating flank attack.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05The Covenanters took the bait.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09But the hot-blooded Alasdair almost ruined everything.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Confronted by hated Campbell enemies, he actually attacked,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15although vastly outnumbered.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Alasdair led from the front.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28In the thick of battle he lost his sword, but he seized another one,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31which he used to scythe away the pikes which were embedded in his shield.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36He then clove his way through the enemy as his men fell around him.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Alasdair was only saved when the Royalist cavalry attacked
0:39:43 > 0:39:47the Covenanters' flanks, throwing them into confusion.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50This was the moment Montrose was waiting for.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52His infantry poured down the hill
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and onto the Covenanters in a devastating attack.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Hurry's cavalry ran for their lives,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02although their commander was the last to leave the field.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04His foot soldiers were slaughtered.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11Auldearn was Montrose's greatest, bloodiest, victory.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Alasdair went on a recruiting drive to raise the clans in the west.
0:40:21 > 0:40:28In the meantime, Montrose played cat and mouse with General Baillie's Army Of The Covenant.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32Montrose and Baillie finally met at Gallowhill at Alford on Donside.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Baillie was a Scottish veteran of the Thirty Years' War,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42and had commanded victorious Parliament troops at Marston Moor.
0:40:42 > 0:40:48His scouts had reported that Alasdair and many of his savage Irish were missing.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50This may be what tempted Baillie to fight here.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Montrose left most of his force behind Gallowhill.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Baillie thought Montrose had retreated, leaving only a rearguard.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03He crossed the River Don at a narrow ford.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06It would be almost impossible to retreat.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Lord George Gordon, commander of Montrose's cavalry on the right flank,
0:41:10 > 0:41:15attacked a much larger force of Covenanting horse.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19Gordon was supported by an Irish regiment of foot.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21The Irish dropped their muskets and then
0:41:21 > 0:41:26dived in between the horses' legs, using their dirks to hack
0:41:26 > 0:41:30at their bellies and the hamstrings of the horses, thus disabling them.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32The Covenanting cavalry was completely routed.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Montrose's Highland Infantry charged the centre,
0:41:40 > 0:41:42firing at close quarters.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46The outflanked Covenanters fought doggedly, but were doomed.
0:41:48 > 0:41:50There was bad news from England.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Montrose now learned that the King's forces had been mauled at Naseby.
0:41:58 > 0:42:05Montrose desperately wanted to take his "small but never conquered army" south to aid Charles,
0:42:05 > 0:42:10but waited until Alasdair returned from the West with reinforcements.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14By August, Montrose's army had 5,000 men.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17It was the largest he had commanded
0:42:17 > 0:42:20but General Baillie's new force was even bigger.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25The two armies met at Kilsyth, eight miles north-east of Glasgow,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28on a sweltering August day.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32Max Hastings is a journalist and historian.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35He's been a war correspondent, famously in the Falklands,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38and has written a biography of Montrose.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41Max, if you'd been a war correspondent
0:42:41 > 0:42:45here on the 15th August 1645, what would you have seen?
0:42:45 > 0:42:47A fantastically dramatic scene.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51First of all, down in the bottom of the bowl there,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53natural amphitheatre, Montrose's camp.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Not many tents because only the grandees had tents.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Most of the Irish and the clansmen would have been sleeping on the open ground.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Lot of baggage, women cooking, children,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06all the ragtag of this wild, Highland army.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11And then, over the hill there, comes Baillie's Covenanters' army.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15First of all, Baillie made a colossal mistake.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18There's nothing stupider you can do on any battlefield,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22ancient or modern, but to cross your enemy's front,
0:43:22 > 0:43:27and Bailie decided he was going to try and outflank Montrose, but Montrose knew he was there.
0:43:27 > 0:43:33So what does he see, but the Covenanting Army streaming across his front up this hill.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37Now, all right, the fact they were doing this meant his men
0:43:37 > 0:43:39had to charge from the bottom there up the hill.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43But these are phenomenally fit, wild clansmen, that to them,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47leaping over the gorse with their swords in hand is nothing.
0:43:47 > 0:43:53And they came sweeping up the hill and threw themselves upon Baillie's columns,
0:43:53 > 0:43:57caught at a hopeless disadvantage.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01Alasdair Macdonald and the Highlanders, they really got stuck in,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and already Baillie's people are breaking.
0:44:04 > 0:44:0917th century battles were more like a rugger scrum.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13Now, when armies clash, when they collide,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17there's a terrible, heaving struggle, sometimes for hours,
0:44:17 > 0:44:21with these desperate packs of men throwing themselves upon each other.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26And suddenly Baillie's army breaks, and Baillie's army starts to run.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29Then there was a terrible killing.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31Some of it over here, at Slaughter Howe,
0:44:31 > 0:44:33some of it 20 miles over there.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35They were pursuing them ruthlessly.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Of course, in search of plunder as well as anything else.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41Plunder, plunder, plunder is always what Highland armies are about.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43Half of them don't give a damn about the King's cause.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47What they care about is booty, loot. Fighting is their business.
0:44:47 > 0:44:53And they did it brilliantly on that day here at Kilsyth.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57And after they won they wanted the spoils of this terrific victory
0:44:57 > 0:45:03when yet again they'd beaten what should have been a formidable Covenanting army.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08Montrose was born into the heart of the Scottish aristocratic establishment.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11Yet the greatest failure of his campaign was his inability
0:45:11 > 0:45:17to win over members of his own peer group, even though many of them thought like him.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22He called such waverers, "Vipers wasting at the bowels of their native nation
0:45:22 > 0:45:24"for their own benefit."
0:45:24 > 0:45:28They were not Presbyterian fanatics, but they did not join him.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32The decision to use Irish Catholics is, I suppose, a mixed one in terms
0:45:32 > 0:45:34of the impact it's going to have, because they may be great troops,
0:45:34 > 0:45:38but they are going to alienate potential supporters back in Scotland,
0:45:38 > 0:45:43and remember it's not just Irish Catholics, they're perceived to be truly barbaric as well,
0:45:43 > 0:45:48and I think some of the behaviour of MacColla's troops at times fed, you know,
0:45:48 > 0:45:54this notion that they're wild, uncivilised barbarians coming to massacre women and children.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58Obviously dreadful things did occur, especially along the Western seaboard,
0:45:58 > 0:46:03so from a PR perspective, it does not stand Montrose in good stead at all.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06We have to be realistic. Alasdair was a brute.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08I don't think anyone has ever suggested anything else.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13He was a fighting machine. All he wanted to do was fight, loot, burn and kill.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17But if you're going to fight wars, I'm afraid you need people like this,
0:46:17 > 0:46:24and it's entirely understandable why the Lowlands of Scotland, most of the people hated Montrose,
0:46:24 > 0:46:29because he brought this terrible wild army down upon them, wreaking havoc.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36Alasdair MacColla had no desire to invade the land of the Sassenach.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38His enemy was Argyll and Clan Campbell.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44Alasdair left 500 of his Irish veterans and headed west.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46The two men never met again.
0:46:50 > 0:46:56Thousands of Scots Covenanters were fighting for the English Parliament against the King.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58They were now sent north to deal with Montrose,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01led by General David Leslie.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05A veteran Scottish soldier, Leslie was an ally of Cromwell
0:47:05 > 0:47:09and had played an important part in the defeat of the Royalists at Marston Moor.
0:47:11 > 0:47:18On the 12th of September Montrose's small army was camped in a meadow by the River Ettrick at Philiphaugh.
0:47:18 > 0:47:24Blood is still spilt here - it's the home of Selkirk Rugby Club.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Montrose was billeted in the town nearby,
0:47:27 > 0:47:30where he was writing his dispatches to the King.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34That night a party of scouts, patrolling three miles from the camp,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37was surprised by Leslie's advance guard.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42One escaped and rode like mad to warn Montrose.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44But his staff did not believe the story.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47They thought he'd been involved in a drunken brawl
0:47:47 > 0:47:50and they refused to waken their commander.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53As Montrose slept, and the scout raged,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Leslie's forces advanced on the sleeping army.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00It was a disastrous failure of military intelligence.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04In the morning, Leslie attacked.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09Montrose just made it to the Royalist camp before dragoons occupied Selkirk.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13His army was surrounded and outnumbered ten to one.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15Men were fleeing in the confusion.
0:48:15 > 0:48:22Montrose repeatedly led troopers in reckless charges against the Covenanter horse.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Of the foot soldiers, only the disciplined Irish
0:48:25 > 0:48:27stood their ground and actually counterattacked.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33Even the Covenanting propaganda admitted that
0:48:33 > 0:48:36"The battle was very hotly disputed."
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Battlefield archaeologist Tony Pollard has made a special study of Philiphaugh.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56Montrose, as ever, has chosen his ground well.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58He's disorganised on the day of the battle because he's
0:48:58 > 0:49:01a mile away up in the town and a lot of his men are down here,
0:49:01 > 0:49:06but nonetheless, he's picked a good strategic point if he is attacked.
0:49:06 > 0:49:11Enclosures with ditches and hedges running across the flat terrain,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14which the musketeers, largely the Irish troops,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17used to very good effect as a defensive structure.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20The thing with the Montrose campaign is a lot of the troops were
0:49:20 > 0:49:23just levies, they were just local people who were recruited or
0:49:23 > 0:49:25press-ganged into these small armies.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29But the Irish who fought with Montrose throughout these campaigns,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31these were professions, hardcore troops.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33And they knew a thing or two about fighting.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36And you'd think, well, you're outnumbered
0:49:36 > 0:49:38and you're behind a fortified position,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41you're going to stay there, but not the Irish.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44They were all for charging forward and they did at one point.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49They charged in to Leslie's bigger army but got pushed back into their defences.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52And once they've been pushed back they were the only
0:49:52 > 0:49:55element of Montrose's army which really remained in position.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59But the odds were overwhelming.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02Montrose seemed to be resolved to die in the battle,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05but was persuaded to flee.
0:50:05 > 0:50:11The army might be lost, but if he survived to fight another day, the cause might not be.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14With a handful of horse, he cut his way out and escaped.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24Captured Irish who had been persuaded to surrender were executed.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Their women and children were slaughtered.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31After six brutal defeats which must have tested
0:50:31 > 0:50:34the faith of the most devoted Covenanter,
0:50:34 > 0:50:40the spawn of anti-Christ were finally delivered into the hands of the godly.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43And here, on the Philiphaugh estate,
0:50:43 > 0:50:47we have this remarkable monument which commemorates,
0:50:47 > 0:50:52of all people, the Covenanters and not the many, many victims -
0:50:52 > 0:50:57soldiers, women, children, who were slaughtered after the battle.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00This is a monument to Covenanting triumph.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10Montrose rallied the survivors of Philiphaugh, and began to form a new army.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12But the King, desperate to keep his throne,
0:51:12 > 0:51:18was prepared to do deals and was now negotiating with the Covenanter Parliament
0:51:18 > 0:51:21that Montrose had led the Royalist rebellion against.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Charles ordered Montrose:
0:51:23 > 0:51:26"You must disband your force and go into France,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30"where you will receive my further directions.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34"This at first may justly startle you, but I do assure you that if,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38"for the present, I should offer to do more for you, I could not do so."
0:51:38 > 0:51:41The only thing that was wrong with the Royalist cause
0:51:41 > 0:51:44and the English Civil War was the King.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48He was not a good master to Montrose, that here was this
0:51:48 > 0:51:53devotedly loyal lieutenant who had achieved this miracle in Scotland
0:51:53 > 0:51:57and Charles never sent him help and was negotiating behind his back
0:51:57 > 0:52:02with half the Covenanting factions, as indeed his son did later.
0:52:02 > 0:52:10And I'm afraid it must be said that Charles I was not worthy of Montrose.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Montrose went into exile.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16His military fame made him a celebrity,
0:52:16 > 0:52:18and he sat for this portrait.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22He's wearing black armour like a candidate for martyrdom.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26He was offered the rank of General in the French Army,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30but his only desire was to return to Scotland to fight for his King.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39Charles surrendered to the Scottish Covenant Army in 1646.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42He still refused to accept their form of worship,
0:52:42 > 0:52:48so the Scots handed him over to the English Parliament for a price.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Charles was beheaded in January 1649.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54When told, Montrose fainted with shock.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58When he came to he is said to have groaned:
0:52:58 > 0:53:02"We must die, die with our gracious king.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06"May the God of life and death be my witness,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10"that henceforth life on earth will be bitterness and mourning."
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Even the Covenanters did not want a republic.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17They opened negotiations with the dead king's 18-year-old son,
0:53:17 > 0:53:22Charles II, who turned out to be a double-dealer like his father.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27He agreed that Montrose should land a force in the north of Scotland
0:53:27 > 0:53:33but at the same time, he attempted to open negotiations with the Covenanting Government.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37Montrose was to be used as a bargaining tool in these negotiations.
0:53:39 > 0:53:46In April 1650, Montrose with 1,500 Danish mercenaries and Orcadian royalists,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49landed on the Scottish mainland in Caithness,
0:53:49 > 0:53:53but the northern clans did not rally to Montrose's Royal Standard.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59His little army was routed at Carbisdale.
0:53:59 > 0:54:04After three days on the run, disguised as a shepherd, Montrose was captured.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08Montrose's fate was now sealed, and it had all been in vain.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13King Charles had done a deal with the Scottish Covenanters.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17He had agreed to enforce Presbyterianism in England,
0:54:17 > 0:54:22if they supported him against Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25I don't think Charles II ever really thought Montrose,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29when he returned to Scotland, was likely to achieve success.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31He was just another pawn on the board,
0:54:31 > 0:54:36and Charles II treated Montrose as cynically as his father had done.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40Montrose was taken to Edinburgh and cruelly paraded through the streets.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43When brought before Parliament, he told his accusers:
0:54:43 > 0:54:47"I did engage in the first Covenant, and was faithful to it.
0:54:47 > 0:54:53"For the League, I thank God I was never in it, and so could not break it.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58"How far religion has been advanced by it, and what sad consequences followed on it,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01"these poor, distressed Kingdoms can witness."
0:55:05 > 0:55:10Montrose was condemned to be hanged at the cross of Edinburgh like a common thief,
0:55:10 > 0:55:15not beheaded as custom dictated an aristocrat should die.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19After three hours his body was to be cut down, beheaded,
0:55:19 > 0:55:24and his limbs hacked off and displayed in cities around Scotland.
0:55:24 > 0:55:30His reaction to the sentence was typical of this young, romantic cavalier -
0:55:30 > 0:55:32he composed a poem.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35"Let them bestow on every earth a limb
0:55:35 > 0:55:39"Then open all my veins that I may swim
0:55:39 > 0:55:42"To Thee, my maker in that crimson lake
0:55:42 > 0:55:46"Then place my parboil'd head upon a stake
0:55:46 > 0:55:50"Scatter my ashes throw them in the air
0:55:50 > 0:55:54"Lord, Since you knowest Where all these atoms are
0:55:54 > 0:55:58"I'm hopeful you'll recover what's my dust
0:55:58 > 0:56:01"And confident thou'lt raise me with the just."
0:56:02 > 0:56:08This is electric stuff, it's unflinching, direct.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10But I don't know if it's the bravado of belief
0:56:10 > 0:56:15or if it's just this fierce defiance, this almost death wish.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22The next day, Montrose walked down the High Street to the scaffold.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26He dressed more like a bridegroom than a criminal going to the gallows.
0:56:41 > 0:56:4411 years after Montrose's execution,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46King Charles ordered that his remains be
0:56:46 > 0:56:51reassembled for a sumptuous funeral in St Giles' Cathedral.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55His head was removed from a spike on the Edinburgh tollbooth to be
0:56:55 > 0:56:58replaced by that of his archenemy Argyll,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01a victim of the King's revenge.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04The two men now lie on either side of St Giles'.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12CONGREGATION SINGS
0:57:12 > 0:57:17Four centuries after the birth of James Graham, First Marquess Of Montrose,
0:57:17 > 0:57:22this remarkable man is being commemorated in a service at St Giles'.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24They've asked me to do the eulogy.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39It was said of him that he took upon himself the role of the hero too much,
0:57:39 > 0:57:41and lived as in a romance.
0:57:41 > 0:57:47But if so, it was an unromantic romance, full of blood and guts.
0:57:47 > 0:57:53But it was one which, Montrose had decided, must end tragically.
0:57:53 > 0:57:59He died a Covenanter and a willing martyr to monarchical faithlessness.
0:57:59 > 0:58:06At the end, he bequeathed to posterity his name and his charity.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08No man can do more.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12Above all, he remained true to his own creed,
0:58:12 > 0:58:17which still strikes a powerful chord after 400 years.
0:58:17 > 0:58:22"He either fears his fate too much Or his deserts are small
0:58:22 > 0:58:27"That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all."
0:58:35 > 0:58:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd