A Celtic Dirk at Scotland's Back? The Lordship of the Isles in Mainstream Scottish Historiography since 1828

This paper provides a detailed historiographical analysis of published work on the Lordship of the Isles produced in the last 200 years, commencing with Patrick Fraser Tytler's discussion in his monumental History of Scotland.  It examines the changing perspectives offered on the nature of the Lordship and its relationship with the lowlands-based monarchy, and attitudes on the nature of Gaelic culture and society, projecting these against the evolving Scottish historiographical traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and views on the nature of government and relationships between rulers and subjects