#uprisings

The Battle of Man Garvia was fought on July 31st 1187 in Northern Scotland.

This was part of the Meic Uilleim Risings, a series of uprisings against the dominant rulers of the time, who are known in our history as The House of Dunkeld, I will delve a wee bit further and take us past the events that happened on this day in 1187.

As a nation the Scots were still finding our feet in the Medieval era, the The House of Dunkeld, in Scottish Gaelic Dùn Chailleann, were the dominant rulers, from 1034 to 1040 and from 1058 to 1286. The line is also variously referred to by historians as "The Canmores" and "MacMalcolm". However they were often fighting to hold on to their power.

On of the main rebellions against their reign was from The MacWilliams, or Meic Uilleims’, to give them their proper gaelic name. Their claim was rooted in the succession crisis precipitated by Malcolm III’s death in 1093. Although Malcolm’s eventual successors were three of his sons by his second wife, St Margaret – Kings Edgar, Alexander I (and David I – the throne had in the interim been occupied briefly by Duncan II (r.1094), Malcolm’s son by his first wife, Ingibiorg.

It was through an offspring of Duncan II that the claimants sprung up, Duncans son himself, William, seemed to have been content to leave the kingship to his half-uncles, his descendants – styling themselves the ‘Meic Uilleims’ – were not so passive.

These later Meic Uilleims were able to press their claims because William himself had, prior to the death in the 1150s, built up a power-base in northern Scotland, possibly taking possession of the important earldom of Moray. When King William I began tightening royal control over this region in the 1160s and 1170s, the Meic Uilleims were able to present themselves as both champions of Gaelic Scotland and guarantors of Moravian autonomy, and in this capacity they seem to have attracted considerable support from those who stood to lose out in the face of the king’s expanding power.

Meic Uilleim-led resistance may already have been gathering pace by the later 1170s, but it was in 1181 that Donald Meic Uilleim, taking advantage of the king’s temporary absence in France, launched a full-scale rising. He seems to have taken almost complete control of both Moray and Ross, and by 1186 government control in the north was so tenuous that the Meic Uilleims were able to launch a raid as far south as Coupar Angus. It took a huge royal effort, culminating in a battle at the unidentified site of ‘Mam Garvia’ in 1187, during which Donald himself was killed, to put down the rebellion.

We hadn't heard the last of the Meic Uilleims , however. Donald’s sons, who had fled into exile following their father’s defeat, returned to Scotland in 1211 to renew the challenge. Several royal campaigns succeeded in capturing one son, Guthred, who was quickly executed, but the other, Donald Bàn, remained at large, and led a renewed push against the young Alexander II. again raising much of Ross and Moray. This time, it was the action of a rival regional magnate, Fercher mac an t-Sagairt, that undid the Meic Uilleims, and following his defeat of them, Fercher sent the heads of Donald Bàn and some of his main supporters southwards as a gift for the king.

Despite the tightening of royal authority over the northern territories under Alexander II’s energetic leadership, sporadic disorders continued in Moray throughout the 1210s and 1220s, culminating in the burning of Abertarff castle, held by one of Alexander’s vassals, in 1228. The king rushed north in person to crush this latest insurgency, which he did with characteristic ruthlessness. By 1230, every remaining Meic Uilleim, including a baby girl whose brains were dashed out on the mercat cross of Forfar, had been killed, and a century-old challenge to the MacMalcolm kings was finally extinguished.

"Uprisings/revolts/fighting back will never be comprised of or led by any self identified political ideology or framework. They’re done by pissed off people who’ve seen how capitalism, white supremacy and every other exploitative system fuck us daily and how they’ve rooted themselves into every aspect of our lives to where they seem inescapable. 

We don’t have to read long boring ass books from 100 years ago to see the effects of capitalism and how it has propped itself up and adapted within our lives. Fighting back won’t happen because you read every book from Marx, fighting back won’t happen because you met up with other local anarchists to create a network of people who identify within the same ideology as you. 

Fighting back happens because people affected by capitalism get fed up and do something about it. 

Leninists aren’t gonna lead the people into a new stage of social relations, anarchists aren’t gonna persuade people to free themselves from hierarchies. We are simply going to get sick of dying and suffering under capitalism and white supremacy and fight back until we aren’t forced to live under the weight of these systems. 

What we can do now is support the people in our lives as best we can and form bonds within our communities to share resources and support. living outside of capitalism is possible.”

That are protesting - I stand with you.

That are upset - I understand.

That can’t fathom the moment - few can.

That foment this rage for their own benefit - shame.

That are so mad they can’t imagine another response other than violence - preach.

That wonder why there is so much hate ...