Ronald Black was a lecturer in the Department of Celtic Studies, Edinburgh University, from 1979 to 2001. He is the author of The Campbells of the Ark (John Donald, 2017) and is now director of the Dewar Project.
Ronnie will host a joint event with David Caldwell, author of Islay: The Land of the Lordship and The Archaeology of Finlaggan, Islay (expected this year). Between them they will present two completely different ways of researching history, other than through documents: David’s through archaeology, mine through translation, presentation and analysis of the Gaelic historical stories collected by John Dewar in Islay, Jura and Colonsay in 1869–70.
Ronnie told us “my book (co-edited with Chris Dracup) is the first in a planned series of ten covering not only the whole of Argyll but also Arran, west Dunbartonshire, Perthshire and Lochaber. We describe Dewar’s stories as “the people’s history of the West Highlands, in their own language, from 1306 to 1752”. In fact, the Islay/Jura/Colonsay stories can better be described as covering the period 1586 (the massacre at Mulindry) to 1833 (the founding of Port Wemyss). That means that, in effect, the archaeology of Finlaggan and Dewar’s stories together provide an alternative seam of historical evidence running smoothly from the middle ages to the nineteenth century. I look forward to discussing this with David in the course of the presentation, and to finding points of contact between these two very different kinds of source.”
Ronnie is a native of Glasgow, and told us he has many fond memories of cycling, walking and camping around Argyll in the 1960s. He first visited Jura and Islay in 1964 and Colonsay in 2014.
John Dewar’s Islay, Jura and Colonsay is a unique format, the first of its kind. The stories are presented in Gaelic and English on facing pages, but with many black-and-white and colour illustrations showing pages of manuscript and sites featured in the stories, along with maps, comprehensive historical commentary, a chapter pulling together the evidence on the battles of Tràigh Ghruinneart and Beinn Bhigeir. There’s a full presentation of informants’ biographies, and a detailed gazetteer of the many place-names mentioned by Dewar.
Dewar’s stories are a bottom-up view of history, violent, no holds barred, full of heroes, heroines, villains and villainesses, concentrating firstly on the vicious MacDonald–MacLean feud in Islay, secondly on the vicious MacDonald–MacPhee feud in Colonsay, and thirdly on the takeover of Islay and Jura by the Campbells – genocidal at first, but more progressive thereafter, at least in Islay.
Ronald’s latest book is John Dewar’s Islay, Jura and Colonsay.
Ronnie will be in conversation with David Caldwell on Sunday morning 1st September at Bruichladdich hall – get your tickets today.