0:00:07 > 0:00:15They call it Britain's last great wilderness, a place as beautiful as it is barren.
0:00:17 > 0:00:23The islands and mountains of Scotland seem to exist on the edge of the imagination.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25But it wasn't always like this.
0:00:25 > 0:00:33For centuries, Gaelic Scotland was at the heart of the Scottish kingdom. Then it changed.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It became something different, something separate.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43Something other.
0:01:09 > 0:01:16In many ways, Scotland is a nation of two cultures, one Highland and one Lowland
0:01:16 > 0:01:21and one part just doesn't seem to understand the other.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Most of us don't speak Gaelic,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27we speak English and, whether we admit it or not,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31we have to view our country through the prism of the English language.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35And when we go to the Highlands and Islands we find ourselves amongst
0:01:35 > 0:01:40a language and an entire culture that we don't understand, we just don't get.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45It's an uneasy, uncomfortable double vision, it's Scotland's guilty secret.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51And it all began with a feud between two families.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26In 15th-century Scotland, family was everything.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34This is the story of two of those families and how their fates were locked together.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42The rise of one meant the fall of the other.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Their struggle was epic...
0:02:47 > 0:02:49..their names legendary.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52They were the Stewarts and the MacDonalds.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04There's a story of a medieval Spanish traveller who came to Edinburgh to see the sights.
0:03:04 > 0:03:10When he got home, someone asked him what was the most wonderful thing he'd seen.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13The traveller thought for a moment then answered,
0:03:13 > 0:03:19"A grand man called MacDonald with a great train of men after him, called neither Duke nor Marquis."
0:03:22 > 0:03:26His name was Alexander, Lord of the Isles,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Ri Innse Gall, The King of the Hebrides.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Alexander's family, the MacDonalds, had played the game well.
0:03:39 > 0:03:46They had backed Bruce and the rewards had flowed - lands, wealth and power.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49The power of 10,000 armed men.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Power over the islands.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Power over the sea.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05This is called a birlinn or a West Highland galley.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07She's really a descendant of a Viking long ship.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15What range, what territory could boats like these cover effectively?
0:04:15 > 0:04:22In some cases 50, maybe 60 miles a day. You could certainly go from Northern Ireland up to Cape Wrath
0:04:22 > 0:04:25in two or three days if you had the wind behind you.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29How important would you say these crafts were to the Lordship?
0:04:29 > 0:04:34Vital. Whoever controlled the roads of the sea had the power and that's what the MacDonalds had.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37If it wasn't for these, there would have been no Lordship of the Isles.
0:04:44 > 0:04:50With over 100 birlinns at his command, Alexander dominated Scotland's Atlantic seaboard.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54No wonder they called him the King of the Hebrides.
0:04:57 > 0:05:03The nerve centre of his far flung territories, Finlaggan on Islay.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11It was here Alexander summoned his chiefs to do deals, form alliances
0:05:11 > 0:05:14and, most importantly, keep the peace.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22As an archaeologist, one of the first things
0:05:22 > 0:05:26that strikes me about this place is that it isn't fortified.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29But then of course, it didn't need to be.
0:05:29 > 0:05:35By the time Alexander took over, the Lordship had already enjoyed a century of internal stability.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39And with that peace and with the patronage of the MacDonald Lords
0:05:39 > 0:05:45came a flourishing of the arts, sculpture, music and poetry.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17It's often hard to get a sense of what places like Finlaggan were like in their heyday.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21But a few archaeological finds that have been recovered from the site
0:06:21 > 0:06:25over the years give an idea of the day-to-day reality of life here.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27This is from a hunting dog's collar
0:06:27 > 0:06:32and you can tell from the careful decoration on it that the dog's owner was proud of the beast
0:06:32 > 0:06:38and wanted it to look its best and of course the Lords of the Isles were very big on hunting.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43These are gaming pieces carved from bone, the rules of the game long forgotten,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47but on this one you can see the carved outline of a stag
0:06:47 > 0:06:51with its antlers and its mouth open and its tongue sticking out.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56And finally, this last piece is a pilgrim's badge or token.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58It's made of lead and it's from Rome.
0:06:58 > 0:07:04So, somebody with connections to the Lordship of the Isles went all the way to Rome and brought back this
0:07:04 > 0:07:10as a souvenir with its image of St Peter carrying the keys of heaven.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Alexander, Lord of the Isles, held the keys to more earthly kingdoms.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24His Atlantic realm faced in two different directions at once.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34To the south was Ireland where family and cultural ties were deep.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40To the east was Scotland.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45But the Lordship wasn't on the fringes of the Scottish kingdom, it was at its very centre.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55The Gaelic world of the Lordship was at the heart of how Scotland imagined itself.
0:07:55 > 0:08:02It was the Gaels who had first unified the kingdom, giving it its Gaelic name, Alba.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Now Gaelic Scotland was enjoying a second golden age.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19If Finlaggan was the heart of the Lordship,
0:08:19 > 0:08:21then Iona was its soul.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37St Columba's island was one of the most important spiritual sites in Scotland.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48It was here that the bodies of the Lords of the Isles were brought for burial.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53Alexander showered the Abbey and its community with money and gifts.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Of course he had good reason.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02Like the best of medieval godfathers, he had a string of mistresses
0:09:02 > 0:09:06and a pile of cautionary letters from the Pope to prove it.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13All this church building was a kind of spiritual insurance policy.
0:09:13 > 0:09:19But if Alexander MacDonald feared for his soul, that was pretty much all he feared.
0:09:19 > 0:09:26He was Ri Innse Gall, a king in his own land, in a land where there was no king.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Scotland was a kingdom with an empty throne.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35Its Royal line had faltered.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Its young king was in the hands of its ancient enemy.
0:09:44 > 0:09:52James Stewart, King of Scots, had been captured by the English when he was only 12 years old.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58His family had fought alongside Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Independence.
0:10:00 > 0:10:07When Bruce's bloodline died out, it was the Stewarts who succeeded to the Scottish throne.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18But the sole heir to the new Stewart dynasty was now a hostage -
0:10:18 > 0:10:22a bargaining chip, leverage.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28It was the same old game, for the same old stakes.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33If the Scottish magnates wanted their king back, they would have to submit to English overlordship.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35"Forget the Bruce.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37"Give up your independence."
0:10:40 > 0:10:44But the Scots weren't going to play by English rules.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48"No, thanks," they said. "We're managing fine without a king."
0:10:48 > 0:10:54So James was left a captive with plenty of time to brood on his redundancy.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01For a time, James had been shunted from one miserable prison to another.
0:11:02 > 0:11:09But then his Royal privileges were restored and he was given free run of Henry V's court.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20You can imagine how grateful James was for this outbreak of benevolence.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23But Henry's motives weren't exactly pure.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28He had a war to finish in France and he needed a new ally to fight an old enemy.
0:11:28 > 0:11:35Because across the Channel it wasn't just the French that Henry was up against, it was the Scots.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36BAGPIPES PLAY
0:11:49 > 0:11:54The role the Scots played in the 100 Years War was something the French would never forget.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58In this summer pageant in the middle of France the crowds are celebrating
0:11:58 > 0:12:05the arrival of Scottish troops at a life or death moment in the history of their country.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Henry V had just defeated the French at Agincourt.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Final, decisive victory was within his grasp.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14But then the Scots waded in on behalf of their old ally.
0:12:14 > 0:12:19Now the Scots and French forces were united against the English king.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24To defeat them he would have to divide them and Henry thought he had the perfect weapon, James.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Now Henry's plans for him became clear.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36James was King of the Scots.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41So James could tell the Scots to pack up and go home.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Melun was the acid test.
0:12:52 > 0:12:59In 1420, Henry lay siege to the strategic town just upriver from Paris.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02The walls were defended by Scottish troops.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06James knew what was expected of him.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10He ordered the Scots to surrender.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17English and French kings expected unquestioning obedience from their subjects.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19But these soldiers were Scots.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24And in Scotland, king and kingdom didn't mean the same thing at all.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Scotland was more than one individual.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32It was a community, a loose but resilient network of loyalties.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35"Lay down your arms," James commanded his subjects.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39And as one, the Scots kept on fighting.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55700 defenders held out against a 20,000-strong besieging force.
0:13:58 > 0:14:04These days, the underground vaults beneath the town are used to store wine.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09But in 1420, this was the scene of vicious hand-to-hand combat.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16The English dug tunnels beneath the fortifications in an attempt to undermine them.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The defenders opened up their own tunnels so they could counterattack.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25It was in claustrophobic, suffocating darkness that the battle of Melun was fought.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38But for all their tenacity, the defenders of Melun couldn't hold out.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44When Henry finally broke into the town, he was out for revenge.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51The surviving Scots were rounded up, separated from the other prisoners
0:14:51 > 0:14:57and executed en masse as traitors to their king, James I.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09James never forgot the shame of Melun.
0:15:09 > 0:15:14He had been made to act as a puppet by a foreign king, he'd been defied by his subjects.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17His humiliation was immeasurable, off the scale.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22It was Melun, more than anything else, that shaped the kind of man
0:15:22 > 0:15:26James would become - intolerant, inflexible, impatient.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Just two years after Melun, Henry V was dead.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40His successors couldn't see much political value in James.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43But their prisoner was still worth a king's ransom.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57In 1424, the English cashed their chips in.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02At 30 years old, James Stewart was on his way home.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Scotland was more of a memory for James than a reality.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18He had spent over half his life in English captivity, so he had a lot of catching up to do.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22In other words, he was a king in a hurry.
0:16:31 > 0:16:37Amongst the welcoming party was Alexander MacDonald, King of the Hebrides and Lord of the Isles.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43He must have viewed the new arrival with guarded curiosity.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53Along with the other Scottish magnates, Alexander had agreed to pay a colossal ransom.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55What had they got for their money?
0:16:57 > 0:17:00A king on the make, a catwalk king.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03A king who understood that front was everything.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15Linlithgow Palace was James I's pet project.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17It was something brand-new in Scotland.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20It wasn't a fortress.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24It was a Renaissance-style Royal residence.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29It made its point through wealth, not strength.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34James had an agenda.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39He wanted to elevate the very idea of kingship.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43Linlithgow Palace declared, in 100-foot-high capital letters,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46James' ambitions as a European monarch.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Before James I, the magnates like the Lords of the Isles
0:17:59 > 0:18:05had regarded their king as first amongst equals, and occasionally as something less than that.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13But James considered himself to have no equals.
0:18:18 > 0:18:24James I was educated and accomplished, he was Scotland's first Renaissance king.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Amongst many other talents, he had a real gift for poetry.
0:18:28 > 0:18:35In one poem entitled The Kingis Quair, he described the moment when he first fell in love.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58James was a captive of England when he wrote these lines,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01but you wouldn't have heard this language at the court of Henry V.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05This was James's mother tongue and imagine how he must have missed it,
0:19:05 > 0:19:10the rich Scots language of his Lowland birthplace.
0:19:14 > 0:19:20Scotland in the 15th century was a blur of different languages and dialects.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25In the Lowlands, Scots - a distinctive vernacular with Anglo-Saxon roots - predominated.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Most of the rest of the kingdom -
0:19:29 > 0:19:32at least half of Scotland's population - spoke Gaelic.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36And within Gaelic Scotland there was no more influential,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41no more determined figure than Alexander, Lord of the Isles.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50While James Stewart was palace building, Alexander MacDonald was empire building.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11Alexander's birlinns gave him control of an island archipelago.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13But his real ambitions lay on the mainland.
0:20:21 > 0:20:28Ross stretched from the rocky shores of the Atlantic to the rich farmland of the North Sea coast.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33By acquiring Ross, Alexander became one of the most powerful landowners in the kingdom.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40Ross was the jewel in Alexander's crown.
0:20:40 > 0:20:46But soon James himself began to cast envious eyes on the northern prize.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48The king was running short of cash.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51All this palace building came at a price.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53He'd already tried cooking the books.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59Money that should have been going south to pay his ransom was being spent on gold leaf and fine carving,
0:20:59 > 0:21:05but even that wasn't enough to plug the hole in his finances. He needed money, and badly.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Alexander's territory in Ross began to look seriously tempting.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20James invited Alexander to meet him in Inverness.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28But this would be no Royal garden party.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37Alexander was camped outside the town with a large entourage including his own family.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41When he finally got the summons from the king, Alexander, his mother
0:21:41 > 0:21:44and a few select followers got dressed in their finery.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49What delights were on the menu, what treats were in store?
0:21:49 > 0:21:54As soon as they were through the gates, they were set upon and disarmed by the king's men.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57The MacDonalds didn't have a chance to resist.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Alexander's own mother was pushed around, taunted, dishonoured.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09James watched as the MacDonalds were dragged off like common criminals.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11It seemed to inspire him.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14He entertained the court with some off the cuff verse.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17But this time, the muse was less romantic.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19It was no gentle love poem he recited.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23"Let us take the chance to conduct this company to the tower
0:22:23 > 0:22:26"For by Christ's death, these men deserve death."
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Wary tolerance had suddenly turned violent.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44James executed some of his prisoners without trial.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46But he didn't kill Alexander.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49He didn't have to.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57James had got his hands on Ross and the revenues it provided.
0:22:57 > 0:23:04After a couple of months and with a great show of mercy, he released the Lord of the Isles.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07But if he thought Alexander would be grateful,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09he was wrong.
0:23:09 > 0:23:16Alexander gathered up his men, returned to Inverness and burned it to the ground.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Revenge was sweet, but it was short-lived.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Alexander knew he'd allowed his anger to blind his judgement.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32A Royal army was closing in.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, Alexander calculated that he had only one option left.
0:23:42 > 0:23:49At Holyrood Palace in 1429, Alexander, Lord of the Isles, surrendered.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Ritually stripped to his underclothes in front of James,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00he handed over his sword, his title and his lands.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05Alexander, Lord of the Isles, was then led away into captivity.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15The rules of the game had changed.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22The magnates had once carved up Scotland amongst them.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Not any more.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Now the king was in charge.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Or so the king wanted to believe.
0:24:33 > 0:24:40The Lord of the Isles might be behind bars, but his family openly defied Royal authority.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43James sent an army to deal with them.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50But Alexander's men weren't about to turn tail.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37From every corner of his dispossessed territories, Alexander's supporters gathered,
0:25:37 > 0:25:42moving to meet the Royal army at Inverlochy at the head of the Great Glen.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55The Islesmen landed their birlinns a few miles down there where Fort William now is.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59They marched along the river towards where the Royal army
0:25:59 > 0:26:02was camped around Inverlochy Castle, just down there in the trees.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05The commander of the Royal troops was in the middle of a card game
0:26:05 > 0:26:07when he got the report of the enemy approach.
0:26:07 > 0:26:13He dismissed it. He said he knew very well the doings of the big-bellied carles of the Isles.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17At that moment, a body of archers hidden on this hill
0:26:17 > 0:26:20shot a hail of arrows down onto the unprepared Royal troops.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25And taking that as their cue, the main body of the Islesmen charged.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35It only took a few minutes.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Over 900 Royal troops lay dead.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Their injured commander fled over the mountains.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Inverlochy was a brutal lesson in the limits of Royal power.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00James was forced to realise that it was as dangerous
0:27:00 > 0:27:04to keep Alexander behind bars as it was to have him on the loose.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13A month after Inverlochy, he set Alexander free.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Alexander got just about everything back -
0:27:25 > 0:27:31his lands, his titles and, crucially, his prestige.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34The MacDonalds were back on top.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42The Stewarts, meanwhile, were in trouble.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51To many of the magnates, James's release of Alexander seemed like weakness.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55They scented blood.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04Simmering resentments finally boiled over into conspiracy.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10On 20th February 1437, James's enemies finally caught up with him.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19It was after midnight when they broke into the Royal lodgings.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28With the assassins outside the door, James searched for a way out.
0:28:28 > 0:28:34But there wasn't one, so he smashed a hole through the wooden floor and dropped into the sewer beneath.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41But the exit to the drain had been blocked off.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44James turned to face his pursuers.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46He tried to make a fight of it.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50But there, in the darkness and the filth, he was stabbed to death.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Scotland held her breath.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07The killing of a king was a shocking, almost sacrilegious act.
0:29:14 > 0:29:20With the Stewart dynasty weak and exposed, the MacDonalds were unassailable.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24When Alexander, Lord of the Isles, eventually died in 1449,
0:29:24 > 0:29:30his dream of ruling an empire that stretched from coast to coast had been realised.
0:29:35 > 0:29:42He was buried not on Iona like his forefathers, but on the mainland in the rich soil of Ross.
0:29:51 > 0:29:59From beyond the grave, Alexander was not only reinforcing past claims, he was hinting at future ambitions.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11The kingdom was at a turning point.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15With James I and Alexander, Lord of the Isles, gone
0:30:15 > 0:30:19it was up to a new generation to continue their legacies.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31On the Stewart side, James II assumed his father's throne.
0:30:31 > 0:30:36A bright red birthmark earned him the nickname, James the Fiery Face.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44On the MacDonald side, it was John who now became Lord of the Isles.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48His inauguration followed a ritual that was centuries old.
0:30:57 > 0:31:02Just like the ancient kings, John stepped into a carved rock footprint,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05joining him to the land he was to rule over.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57The bards heaped extravagant praise on John MacDonald.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01But it only added to the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18John's position was difficult, even precarious.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20Should he try to expand his territory?
0:32:20 > 0:32:25Or would it better to consolidate his already over-stretched empire?
0:32:25 > 0:32:28For the moment, he opted for the status quo.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38Meanwhile, James took decisive action.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43The new king would cement his family's fortunes, not through violence
0:32:43 > 0:32:45but at the altar.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59Here in Edinburgh in 1449, James II married Mary of Gueldres.
0:32:59 > 0:33:05She was the grandniece of the Duke of Burgundy, one of the most wealthy and powerful men on the continent.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10The Stewarts had most definitely arrived at the top table of European power.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18There was a hefty price to pay, of course.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23James and his family wanted to impress their powerful, foreign guests
0:33:23 > 0:33:28with the very best in food, wine and entertainment.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30But it was worth it.
0:33:36 > 0:33:42The marriage brought the Stewarts international prestige and political influence.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46And there were other more tangible items on the gift list.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52This is some wedding present for a teenage king.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57It is. And the wedding wasn't exactly a shotgun wedding.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01It was one of the main dynastic weddings of the period.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04And when James got this gun, Mons Meg, from the Duke of Burgundy,
0:34:04 > 0:34:10he was being given one of the most impressive pieces of technology available at that time.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Just how dangerous or effective was a thing like this?
0:34:14 > 0:34:19This gun could fire 18 inch stone balls, a good sized ball,
0:34:19 > 0:34:23that could go over a mile actually especially with a following wind.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28And the real danger that this represented was to the castles of the period.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33A gun like this brought against a great castle was a real threat in terms of knocking its walls down.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38What does it say about James though, that he now possesses this?
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Where does it put him in the league table of kings?
0:34:41 > 0:34:48It's putting him right up there amongst go-getters, amongst the main sovereigns in Europe.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52- So James was, in many ways, a big noise?- Absolutely.
0:34:54 > 0:34:59James II's showy pretensions hid a mass of insecurities.
0:35:00 > 0:35:05He was thin-skinned, prickly, paranoid.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12The king felt trapped, hemmed in.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17To the north and west John MacDonald dominated a huge arc of territories.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22Meanwhile to the south, there was another potential rival,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24the Black Douglas.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32William, Earl of Douglas was a 15th century pin-up.
0:35:32 > 0:35:37He was popular, he was famous and he was very, very rich.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42His family, the Black Douglases, were the big power in the Borders.
0:35:45 > 0:35:52When William, Earl of Douglas, and John, Lord of the Isles, agreed a friendship pact
0:35:52 > 0:35:54it set them on a collision course with James.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04Deals like this were routine, innocuous, they meant as much as a handshake.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06But James didn't see it as a courtesy.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09He chose to view it as a conspiracy.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17The king brooded on how to deal with the two magnates.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22He didn't brood for very long.
0:36:26 > 0:36:31In 1452, James requested the presence of the Earl of Douglas at Stirling Castle.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35William smelt a rat.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38He only showed up when he got a letter guaranteeing his safety.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54It was the dinner party from hell.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57James was jumpy and volatile. William was edgy too.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02The fact that both men had been drinking since lunchtime made the situation even more unpredictable.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07Only one thing was guaranteed and that was a confrontation.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14At some point, late in the proceedings, James demanded
0:37:14 > 0:37:18that William give up his alliance with John, Lord of the Isles.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22William refused. Bad move.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30James exploded. He pulled a knife and launched himself at William.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Then his courtiers pitched in.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Legend has it that when the frenzy was over, they dumped him out of that window.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42When the body was recovered by William's men, it was found to have 26 separate stab wounds.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46His head had been split open with an axe.
0:37:49 > 0:37:56It was a shocking act, as much for its violation of notions of honour as its brutality.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59William's followers paraded a copy of the king's safe conduct pass
0:37:59 > 0:38:02around Stirling before ransacking the town.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10But James was more than a match for the Black Douglas.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15Faced by the King's heavy artillery, the Douglas castles surrendered without a shot.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19William's family fled into exile in England.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26This was another great leap in the Stewart fortunes.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30By seizing the lands of the Black Douglases, James had made himself very rich.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Big guns, wealthy relations and a single brutal act of murder
0:38:34 > 0:38:38would bankroll the future of Scotland's Royal dynasty.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42For James, it was a dream outcome.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47But for John, it was a nightmare scenario.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51What had happened to the Black Douglas could happen to him.
0:38:52 > 0:38:59John had to find a way of keeping on the right side of the explosive and newly powerful king.
0:38:59 > 0:39:06So when James prepared for war with England in 1460, John was amongst his most loyal lieutenants.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15John vowed that his men would fight one league mile ahead of the main army.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19It was a very public, very ostentatious show of loyalty to the King.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23It was also a vow which John would never have to keep.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25James loved guns.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29In fact he loved them to death.
0:39:33 > 0:39:39James was in the middle of a long, hot summer campaign when he got news that his queen, Mary, was arriving.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42He got one of the guns ready to fire a salute.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45But his grand gesture blew up in his face, literally.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50The gun exploded, sending lethal shrapnel flying in all directions.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53At 29 years old, James II was dead.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11No-one could doubt that the Stewarts would continue.
0:40:11 > 0:40:18The dynasty seemed unassailable, as much a part of Scotland now as its rocks and hills.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24But the new king, James III, was just a boy.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27For some, opportunity knocked.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Only months after the coronation of eight-year old James,
0:40:37 > 0:40:42an envoy arrives at John MacDonald's stronghold of Ardtornish Castle on a secret mission.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46The messenger represents the defeated Black Douglas family
0:40:46 > 0:40:51and he carries with him an offer from the English king, Edward IV.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01What Edward proposes is this, he will back a rebellion in Scotland
0:41:01 > 0:41:05and the MacDonald and the Douglas families will share the spoils.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10John will get the north of the country, the Black Douglas will get the south. And Edward?
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Well, Edward secures his grip on the English throne.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Of course there was a catch to all of this.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21John and the Douglas have to acknowledge Edward as their overlord.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27This was treason.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29The MacDonalds and the Black Douglas
0:41:29 > 0:41:33were plotting the annihilation of Scotland's Royal dynasty.
0:41:37 > 0:41:43The old king's suspicions now appeared less like paranoia and more like prophecy.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51So, why did John take such a huge gamble?
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Why did he risk everything that his forefathers had achieved?
0:41:55 > 0:41:59The simple answer was that he had no choice.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09John was being put under pressure by his own relatives.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13They wanted to see the continued expansion of MacDonald territory
0:42:13 > 0:42:18and the leader of the hardline faction was his illegitimate son, Angus Og.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25Angus Og pressed his father to sign the treaty with the English.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30The ink wasn't even dry before Angus and his men set out to demand
0:42:30 > 0:42:34that taxes owed to the King be paid directly to the MacDonalds.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47But the English king had only ever wanted a diversion in the north.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52When Edward sorted out his own internal troubles, he had no further need for his Scottish allies.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58The game was up for John, Lord of the Isles.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04He could now only hope that the King, James III, wouldn't discover the secret treaty.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15Fat chance. Eventually the story leaked out
0:43:15 > 0:43:20and everyone, the King included, knew about John's pact with the English.
0:43:33 > 0:43:40John was cornered. In a humiliating ceremony that echoed that of Alexander all those years before,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43he was forced to surrender.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54John had wanted nothing more than to be like his father.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57This was the bitter fulfilment of that wish.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00Like his father, he had underestimated the power of the Stewarts.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03And like his father, he had paid the price.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05But this was more than a personal failure.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09The repercussions would be felt much more widely,
0:44:09 > 0:44:14rippling down the centuries and affecting Scotland to this day.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20John kept his head.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24He even managed to hold onto some of his lands.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29But the humiliating submission was too much for others in his family.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47Angus Og looked back to the glory days, a time when his family commanded respect.
0:44:50 > 0:44:57Then, the MacDonalds had burned Inverness to the ground and routed a Royal army at Inverlochy.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02No-one, not even kings, had been able to subdue them.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06And now they were expected just to roll over.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15The argument divided the family.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19In the process, it tore Gaelic Scotland apart.
0:45:19 > 0:45:25When Angus attempted to seize power from his father, the Highlands and Islands erupted into civil war.
0:45:27 > 0:45:32The birlinns which had made the Lordship now gathered to destroy it.
0:45:34 > 0:45:41Son against father, the final battlefield - a bay on the Sound of Mull.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54That stretch of water ahead is called Bloody Bay.
0:45:54 > 0:45:59It's where the birlinns of John and Angus Og clashed with such disastrous violence.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03It's supposed to have been a victory for Angus' forces,
0:46:03 > 0:46:08but the truth is that it was a defeat for the whole of the Lordship.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10Something more than men died that day.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15The idea of a strong Gaelic world, a coherent entity
0:46:15 > 0:46:19that could deal on equal terms with the rest of Scotland, died too.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39It was a seismic moment.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44The hairline crack between the Highlands and the Lowlands suddenly blew wide open.
0:46:46 > 0:46:52At one time, Gaelic Scotland, the place, the people and the language,
0:46:52 > 0:46:56had seemed central to the collective identity of Scots.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01But now it began to be seen as threatening, as different,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03as "other".
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Scotland was changing,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and changing fast.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17Only one thing seemed constant -
0:47:17 > 0:47:19the Stewarts.
0:47:21 > 0:47:28Just a few years after the implosion of the MacDonalds, another James sat upon the Scottish throne.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33Extravagant, charming and able to inspire affection as well as respect,
0:47:33 > 0:47:38James IV was everything that his forefathers weren't.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40But he did have one Stewart trait...
0:47:42 > 0:47:45..a burning desire to make a mark.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51Falkland Palace was James IV's country retreat,
0:47:51 > 0:47:55an escape from the everyday pressures of court.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57Everywhere you look,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59there are thistles.
0:48:01 > 0:48:09This was the new Stewart emblem, an image that James adapted and reproduced endlessly.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13It was a brilliant logo, so simple, so memorable that the thistle became
0:48:13 > 0:48:18the definitive symbol, not just of the Stewarts, but of Scotland too.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34James wanted to create a new Scottish identity.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39But that identity was a very specific, even limiting one.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48James IV was the last Scottish King to speak Gaelic.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53But Gaelic wasn't the King's native tongue. Scots was.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59And under the patronage of James, Scots was on the up.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13This is one of the first prints
0:49:13 > 0:49:19printed and produced in Scotland in 1507, 1508 and it's written in the language of the Lowland Scots.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Who's the author that's printed here?
0:49:22 > 0:49:24The Flyting Of Dunbar And Kennedie is actually by two poets.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27- And this is by Dunbar. - What is a flyting?
0:49:27 > 0:49:31A flyting is a genre where one poet challenges another poet to a duel
0:49:31 > 0:49:33by being as abusive as possible.
0:49:33 > 0:49:40Can you read me an example of Dunbar having a pop at his adversary?
0:50:04 > 0:50:07He's not exactly calling him a smashing chap, is he?
0:50:07 > 0:50:09Uh, not really, no, no.
0:50:09 > 0:50:16I can already pick out from what you're saying that one of the key things that this Lowland poet
0:50:16 > 0:50:24is accusing the other of, is of using the Irish tongue, the Gaelic tongue. What's that all about?
0:50:24 > 0:50:28I think that Dunbar is tapping into the stereotypes that would exist at the time.
0:50:28 > 0:50:34As part of James IV's political agenda, cultural agenda, social agenda
0:50:34 > 0:50:40you're looking at him pushing Lowland Scots as the language of the people in Scotland
0:50:40 > 0:50:43and use that as an official language
0:50:43 > 0:50:48and export that to the further out regions, and therefore Gaelic is clearly under pressure.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50- So language is power?- Yes.
0:50:58 > 0:51:03Under James IV, earthy, everyday Scots
0:51:03 > 0:51:07became the language of literature and law and therefore of power.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Gaelic, meanwhile, had become politically tainted.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16It might well have been the language of half of all Scots but, as far as Lowlanders were concerned,
0:51:16 > 0:51:19it was the tongue of traitors and outlaws.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27Without the glue of the Lordship to hold it together,
0:51:27 > 0:51:33the Highlands and Islands had become a kind of Wild West.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Everyone was out to grab what they could.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39In the bloodletting, old scores were settled.
0:51:39 > 0:51:45Angus Og, the upstart son who had tried to seize the Lordship, met a brutal end,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49strangled to death by one of his own servants.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00This was Linn nan Creach, The Raiding Time.
0:52:00 > 0:52:06To the outside world it seemed that every stereotype of the lawlessness of the Gaels had been confirmed.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13As if overwhelmed by the torrent of violence that he had unleashed,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17John MacDonald retreated into penance and prayer.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22In name at least, he was still King of the Hebrides, still Lord of the Isles.
0:52:22 > 0:52:28But in the new Scotland, there could only be one king and only one lord.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43In 1493, James took the title for himself.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49The Stewarts, not the MacDonalds, were the Lords of the Isles now.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54It was their word, their law, their rule.
0:52:54 > 0:53:00James put together an expedition and sailed north to impose his authority.
0:53:03 > 0:53:08The last time a Scottish king had ventured into the labyrinth of the Hebrides, he'd been on the run.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11But unlike Robert the Bruce nearly 200 years previously,
0:53:11 > 0:53:16James had come not as a fugitive but as a feudal overlord.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20The time of the MacDonalds had passed.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25The time of the Stewarts had come.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29They were rich,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31they were powerful,
0:53:31 > 0:53:32they were in charge.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38The Stewarts now looked to secure their future.
0:53:39 > 0:53:46In 1503, James IV married Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII of England.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56It was another spectacular marriage for the Stewarts,
0:53:56 > 0:53:59but with an important difference. This time,
0:53:59 > 0:54:05it wasn't just the Stewarts using a Royal match as a passport to power and respectability,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07it was the English Tudors.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10The Tudor dynasty was still a fragile one.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15They'd just emerged from the Wars of the Roses and they were clinging onto power by their fingertips.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Marriage into the long-established Stewart family
0:54:18 > 0:54:22would bring much needed legitimacy in the eyes of European monarchy.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27It was an extraordinary reversal of fortune.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32Once they'd been hostages and political prisoners,
0:54:32 > 0:54:39now the Stewart dynasty were major power brokers, able to make the reputations of their Royal rivals.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45And with the birth of a baby boy in 1507,
0:54:45 > 0:54:50the Stewarts were only a heartbeat away from the throne of their ancient enemy,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52the English.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06The world had turned, the centre had shifted.
0:55:06 > 0:55:12While the Stewart court blossomed, the court of the Lords of the Isles, Finlaggan, burned.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05The Highland Boundary fault line cuts like a sword stroke through the heart of Scotland.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10From coast-to-coast, it divides the country into two distinct parts,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13the Highlands and the Lowlands.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16It's a neat division,
0:56:16 > 0:56:17perhaps too neat.
0:56:21 > 0:56:27It's easy for us to think that the differences between Gaelic identity and Scots are somehow set in stone.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35But this sense of separation is only a few centuries old.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39It's history, not geography that divides us.
0:56:41 > 0:56:47Scotland's split personality is the result of a family struggle that pulled the kingdom apart.
0:56:50 > 0:56:57From being fully-paid up members of the Scottish project, Gaels began to be thought of as rebels...
0:56:57 > 0:56:58outsiders.
0:57:00 > 0:57:06Scotland couldn't continue to be diverse, it had to be a single, political entity.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10And maybe a single cultural entity too.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17It was the Stewarts who drove this new vision of a Scottish kingdom.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22In their eyes, Scotland was secure in its independence and established on the European stage.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26But this was only the start of what they had set out to achieve.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31In the years to come, their ambitions would truly take flight.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03We want your opinions on Scotland's history. Visit the website and tell us what you think.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Go to...
0:58:07 > 0:58:12The Open University has also produced a booklet about Scottish history
0:58:12 > 0:58:15and an audiowalk, linked to tonight's programme.
0:58:15 > 0:58:20If you want to know how you can claim your free copy or download the walk, visit the website
0:58:20 > 0:58:23or call...
0:58:43 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:45 > 0:58:47E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk