Montrose - a History

MONTROSE- A History by JOHN BUCHAN. Originally published in 1928. PREFACE: PREFACE: IN September, 1913, 1 published a short sketch of Montrose, which dealt chiefly with his campaigns. The book went out of print very soon, and it was not reissued because I cher ished the hope of making it the basis of a larger work, in which the background of seventeenth-century politics and religion should be more fully portrayed. I also felt that many of the judgments in the sketch were exaggerated and hasty. During the last fifteen years I have been collecting material for the understanding of a career which must rank among the marvels of our history, and of a mind and character which seem to me in a high degree worthy of the attention of the modern reader. The manuscript sources have already been diligently explored by others, and I have been unable to glean from them much that is new but I have attempted to supplement them by a study of the voluminous pamphlet literature of the time. My aim has been to present a great figure in its appropriate setting In a domain where the dust of controversy has not yet been laid, I cannot hope to find for my views universal acceptance, but they have not been reached without an earnest attempt to discover the truth, J. B. ELSFTEJLB MANOR, OXFORD June, 1928. COntents include: INTRODUCTION THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 3 BOOK I PREPARATION I. YOUTH 1612-86 19 IL THE STRIFE IN SCOTLAND 1636-38 29 III. THE FIRST COVENANT WARS 1638-39 60 IV. MONTROSE AND ARGYLL 1639-42 86 V. THE RUBICON 1642-44 114 BOOK II ACTION VI. THE CURTAIN RISES MARCH, 1644-AuGusT, 1644 143 VII. TIPPERMUIR SEPTEMBER, 1644 154 VIII. ABERDEEN AND FYVIE SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1644 173 IX. INVERLOCHY DECEMBER, 1644-FEBRUARY, 1645 187 X. THE RETREAT FROM DUNDEE FEBRUARY-APRIL, 1645 202 r XI. - AULDEARN AND ALFORD ApRIL-JULY, 1645 213 XII. KlLSYTH JULY-AUGUST, 1645 232 XIII. THE , WAR ON THE BORDER AUGUST-SEPTEMBER, 1645 243 XIV, AFTER PHIUPHAUGH SEPTEMBER, 1645-SEPTEMBER, 1646 260 BOOK III PASSION XV...