Iain Lom

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John MacDonald, known as Iain Lom (c. 1624–c. 1710) was a

Poet Laureate of Scotland, Iain Lom has long been considered to have a permanent place in the canon of Scottish Gaelic literature
.

Biography

Iain Lom's family were of minor nobility (

Gaelic Scotland
, since there might often be a number of men with the same first names in any given clan, they were given sobriquets which might be based on a peculiar characteristic or feature. "Lom" is Scots Gaelic for "bald" or "bare" (lom a., comparative form luime, bare, bald, shaven, cropped), perhaps indicating he was bald. However, in Gaelic idiom, it can also mean one who is very plain-spoken, an idiom which perhaps can best be related in English to the term "bare-faced" (though this is now generally applied only to liars). He was also known as Iain Manntach which translates as "Stammering John," perhaps from a speech impediment.

His family held land as tacksmen at Allt a' Chaorainn, near the present day Laggan dam.[1] A ruined croft near the road is said in the local oral tradition to have been Iain Lom's house.

Looking down to Laggan Dam and Iain Lom's home at Allt a' Chaorainn.

His dates of birth and death are unknown, but we know that he was present at (and composed a song about) the 1645

Treaty of Union
(1707); this would presume a birthdate in the early-mid-1620s (if not earlier), and a death in the early 18th century. Most of the few details we have of his life are known from contemporary comments, and from his poetry.

There is a tradition that he attended the Royal Scots College at Valladolid in Spain as a youth and was expelled for some failing or indiscretion. Some suggest that Lom maybe a reference to a tonsure.[3]

He was apparently somewhat disabled, and was once described by a contemporary as "walking with a hirple" (i.e., a limp)

war poem Là Inbhir Lochaidh ("The Day of Inverlochy") is regarded as one of the great treasures of Scottish Gaelic literature and is an important historical source regarding the battle.[7][8]

His supposed lameness didn't stop him from climbing a tree during the battle of Inverlochy. When chastised for his seeming cowardice by his Chief afterwards, he is said to have replied that he had climbed the tree the better to see his chief and clansmens' deeds, and had he risked being been killed, who would have composed a poem about their victory?

There are many stories told of his quick and vitriolic wit, which apparently was demonstrated from an early age. He was a man of strong passions, none of which exceeded his hatred of Clan Campbell, as is evident from the following from Là Inbhir Lochaidh (The Day of Inverlochy)

It is widely believed that Whig poet

Lord Macaulay, wrote both poets out of what was long considered the unquestioned official history of British Isles. The stature of both poets was further diminished by the fact that they composed in Gaelic, which even then was a language under attack
by the central government.

Iain Lom was almost single-handedly responsible for bringing those responsible for the 1663

palace coup by a death squad consisting of 7 men (Alexander MacDonald, the Keppoch Tacksman of Inverlair
, and his six sons) who then, with the support of other Tacksmen, seized the Chieftainship of Keppoch for themselves.

Even though Alexander MacDonald of Inverlair was married to his sister, Iain Lom appealed to

decapitated all seven assassins with the very sword they had used to slay the Keppoch heirs. Iain Lom then showed all 7 heads to the Chief of Glengarry, as a public rebuke for his earlier refusal to follow the code of conduct. On his way he stopped at Loch Oich side and washed the heads at Tobar nan Ceann (The Well of the Heads) where a monument was later erected. He versified the story in Murt na Ceapaich (The Keppoch murders)[9]

Detail of monument at Tobar nan Ceann

The Bard is also believed to have been present at the

Act of Union 1707. This is regarded as the last work that can be attributed to him and it is assumed that his death must have been soon afterwards.[12]

Work

Iain Lom is representative of a switch from the ancient, classical tradition of Gaelic poetry to the vernacular poetry of the 17th century and later. Classical bards wrote mainly praise poems to their clan chiefs in the

Classical Gaelic literary language that Scotland had once shared with Gaelic Ireland. While Iain Lom's work continues many features of the classical tradition, including the syllabic metrical rules of Dán Díreach, he wrote in the everyday Gaelic vernacular of his time.[13] A thoroughly political poet, he was a fierce opponent of the English Puritans and the Scottish Covenanters. Later he opposed the accession of William of Orange and later governments. He remained a loyal devotee of the House of Stuart, and thus was an early Jacobite
. As a clan bard, he commented on the battles and engagements the Keppoch clan engaged in while campaigning for the Stuarts, especially under Great Montrose, as well as on contemporary matters. His known works include the following:

Family

Even though Iain Lom's sister who was married to Keppoch Murders mastermind Alexander MacDonald of Inverlair, the Bard seems to have remained on good terms with his sister even after widowing her.[14] While W.T. Kilgour says that he never married others say that he had a son, a good poet in his own right, who was killed in a skirmish at

Glen Spean by Dòmhnall Donn (Brown haired Donald) of Bohuntine, a bard with family ties to the Keppoch Murderers. This is reportedly why, when Dòmhnall Donn, who was a famous cattle raider, was awaiting execution in Inverness, Iain Lom, as a man of great influence, made no move to help him.[15][16]

Burial

Iain Lom is said in the local oral tradition to lie buried in the churchyard of Cille Choiril, just east of Roybridge and near his home at Allt a' Chaorainn. The exact location of his grave is unknown but Charles Fraser-Mackintosh erected a fine memorial stone there to him in the late 19th century.[17]

Cille Choiril churchyard where Iain Lom is said to be buried
Monument to Iain Lom at Cille Choiril
Detail of Ian Lom's monument

In Fiction

Iain Lom features as a character in Neil Munro's novel of the Little Wars of Lorn, John Splendid (1898).

References

  1. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXXI
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-19-214107-4
    . Retrieved 25 November 2017. military anecdotes hastings ian lom macdonald.
  3. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXVI
  4. ^ Scots word originally used in 1450 by the Scots poet Robert Henryson, perhaps derived from the Old Norse word herpast "suffer from cramps").
  5. ^ John Buchan, "Montrose", (London: Nelson, 1928),p223
  6. ^ Donald J. MacDonald, "Slaughter Under Trust; Glencoe 1692" (London, Robert Hale.1965)38
  7. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXXVIII
  8. ^ John L. Roberts,"Clan, King and Covenant" (Edinburgh University Press, 2000) 65-68
  9. ^ Donald B. MacCulloch, "Romantic Lochaber", (Lines Publishing, 1996)200-201
  10. ^ C.S. Terry, "John Graham of Claverhouse. Viscount of Dundee 1648-1689", (London: Constable, 1905)350-353
  11. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)p315
  12. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)198-229
  13. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXLII-XXLIII
  14. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXVII
  15. ^ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruthaich : The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean", (Stornoway: Acair.1985)225
  16. ^ Annie M. Mackenzie,"Oran Iain Luim", (Scottish Gaelic Texts Society,1964)XXVII
  17. ^ W. T. Kilgour "Lochaber in War and Peace" (Alexander Gardner, Paisley, 1908)304-305

Further reading

  • Orain Iain Luim; the Songs of John MacDonald, bard of Keppoch, edited by Annie M. Mackenzie, Edinburgh, 1964.
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