The Rough Bounds

In the late 11th century, however, Malcolm III of Scotland made a written agreement with Magnus Barelegs, the Norwegian king, which moved the border to the coast; the area thus became Scottish.

In the early 12th century, Somerled, a Norse-Gael of uncertain origin, came into possession of the Rough Bounds and Lorn; no reliable record explains how this happened, but by the 1140s, David I of Scotland's control of the region had been eroded.

At the turn of the century, William I had created the position of Sheriff of Inverness, to be responsible for the Scottish highlands, which theoretically now extended to Garmoran.

However, violent disputes between the latter two groups lead, in 1427, to king James I executing the leader of the Siol Gorrie, and declaring the Lordship of Garmoran forfeit.

By this point, John of Ross's conspiratorial ambition had caused the Lordship of the Isles to be forfeited, but in 1501, his heir, Black Donald, launched an insurrection seeking to restore it.

At a similar time, the king asserts his right to transfer ownership of Knoydart, on the basis that feudal obligations hadn't been upheld for the previous 70 years; quite why he should argue this if the land had been in royal hands since 1498 is still unclear.

The Campbells attacked Castle Tioram from the sea, but the Earl of Huntly was unwilling to bring troops into the Rough Bounds, and the assault failed.

In 1609, the Statutes of Iona attempted to enforce the Scottish reformation in the highlands, but the Rough Bounds remained resolutely Roman Catholic,[8] and sided with the Royalists during the Civil War.

In the following century, the area became a hotbed of Jacobite sympathy, and even resorted to burning down Tioram Castle, in order to prevent it falling into anti-Jacobite hands.

Following the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745, it was the last part of Scotland in which Bonnie Prince Charlie found sanctuary, and the one from which he left for exile in France, on 20 September 1746.

A succession of flamboyant but unsuccessful chiefs (including especially Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry [1771–1828] and Ranald George Macdonald of Clanranald [1788–1873]) resulted ultimately in the area passing into other hands.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) established their Scottish headquarters just outside Arisaig, and constructed paramilitary training bases throughout the region.