HISTORICAL NOTE
Archibald Douglas, who first appeared in my earlier series, THE RETURN OF THE HIGHLANDERS, is a real historical figure. His marriage to Margaret Tudor soon after the death of her husband, James IV of Scotland, made the handsome young Douglas chieftain stepfather to Scotland’s two-year-old king. This put him in a position to vie for control of the crown, which everyone except the queen realized was his goal in marrying her. For many years, Archibald alternately rose and fell from power, and the Douglas family fortunes rose and fell with him.
Archie, his brother and his uncle were forced to flee Scotland more than once, but in my research I found no mention of their sisters, wives or mothers escaping with them. Information on the Douglas women is sparse, but I did learn that Archie’s sisters were called in for questioning during one of his exiles, and his stepson, James V, eventually burned one of the Douglas sisters at the stake, though there was no evidence she was complicit in Archie’s schemes.
After I discovered how the men of their family had put them in danger and left, I decided to write this series and give the Douglas lasses happy endings with loyal men.
Sybil Douglas is a wholly fictional character, but her sisters Alison (Captured by a Laird), Margaret (Kidnapped by a Rogue) and Janet, as well as her brother George and her uncles mentioned in this book were real. As a fiction writer, I adjusted facts and filled in the personalities of these and other historical characters to suit the needs of my story.
Turning to the MacKenzie side, I should note first that clan history of five hundred years ago is based on oral tradition and mixed with legend. That said, I changed my hero’s first name to Rory, but he is based on John of Killin, one of the great chieftains of Clan MacKenzie. John (Rory) was a cunning and capable leader who significantly expanded the MacKenzie's territory and influence. In real life, he married the daughter of the Grant chieftain, and their son Kenneth became the next chieftain. I, however, had to get rid of his Grant wife to make room for Sybil.
The conflict between John of Killin and his uncle Hector Roy of Gairloch probably took place ten to twenty years earlier than in this book. By some accounts, John’s older half-brother was murdered by Buchanan. John of Killin was still a minor when that happened, and his uncle Hector served as his tutor (guardian) and usurped his estates, claiming John was illegitimate.
In the traditional account of the fire at Fairburn, John of Killin sailed from Gairloch and pretended to leave for Ireland before sneaking back with his thirty trusted men to burn his uncle’s house. At some point, the king’s council took John of Killin’s side in the dispute and ordered Hector to relinquish the rents and possession of Eilean Donan Castle to his nephew.
John of Killin lived to be an old man and ruled his clan for half a century. His siblings included the Priest of Avoch, who was married, and a sister who was the wife of the Munro chieftain of Foulis.
I drew the story of the marriage between John of Killin’s father and his mother, Agnes Fraser, from traditional accounts. Their “irregular” marriage was supposedly validated and their children legitimized by the pope. The Well of the Heads incident is based on a tale of an ambush of Munros by MacKenzies that was even deadlier than the one I wrote here.
I found Rogi Falls on a map of the area and just used the name for the falls in my book, but most of the other places in this book are real. I was lucky to travel across the traditional MacKenzie lands and visit many of the places where I set scenes, including Eilean Donan Castle, Beauly Priory, Castle Leod, and Fortrose Cathedral. The area is stunningly beautiful, and the medieval buildings, many of which are in ruins, are amazing.
Big Duncan of the Axe was at least a legend, and James Hamilton of Finnart was a power-player in his time who had perhaps ten illegitimate children. Margaret Douglas’s husband was James William Douglas, the 7th Baron of Drumlanrig. You can find out what he did to Margaret in order to save himself in the next book, Kidnapped by a Rogue.