ABSTRACT
The house of Argyll – the senior branch of the clan Campbell – has always been a subject to stir controversy and passion in the Scottish Highlands. Their immense power and territorial possessions have been regarded by their enemies, who are many, as the fruits of evil deeds. Their very success in emerging triumphant out of the violence and treachery of the clan feuds of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries argues in some eyes an unmatched proficiency in guile. As the head of a clan whom one of its enemies characterized as ‘a race that craves ever to fish in drumlie (muddy) waters’ (Gregory, 1836, p. 375), the house of Argyll has attracted a more than ordinary share of distrust and hatred.
