Suggested further reading
This reading list of material held at the National Library of Scotland complements the 1715
Jacobite Rising website and is suitable for secondary-age students and upwards who would
like to find out more about Jacobites within the context of:
Gaelic and English
Culture & music
Historic and contemporary
NLS shelfmarks are given where available.
Useful names to remember:
James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) – Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Useful Gaelic names/titles:
Na Seumasaich = Jacobites
Aramach/Ar-a-mach = rebellion
Bliadhna Theàrlaich = Year of Charlie (ie ’45)
Bliadhna Sheumais = Year of James (ie ’15)
Jacobite history
General
I F Grant and Hugh Cheape. Periods in Highland history. Shepheard-Walwyn, 1987. NLS
Shelfmark - H3.87.2304
An account of Highland history and culture, from earliest days to date.
Taigh-Tasgaidh Sluagh na Gàidhealtachd, Baile Ùr An t-Slèibh, Iùil luchd-tadhail / Highland
Folk Museum, Newtonmore, Visitor Guide. 2011. Gaelic edition. NLS shelfmark PB5.213.403/10
Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, Visitor Guide. 2011 PB5.213.403/11
Illustrated booklets which include a section on life in a Highland township in the 1700s.
Anthony Kamm. The Jacobites. NMS Enterprises Ltd, 2000. NLS Shelfmark OP6.209.177/26
An illustrated, general account of the Jacobite events.
Bruce Lenman. The Jacobite Risings in Britain 1689 – 1746. Scottish Cultural Press, 1995.
NLS shelfmark HP2.95.2201
An academic work first published in 1980.
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Bruce Lenman. The Jacobite Clans of the Great Glen. Scottish Cultural Press, 1995.
NLS shelfmark HP2.95.2202
A study of the clan system and how it was changed by the Jacobite Risings, first published in 1984
Iain Rose agus Hugh Andrew. Na Seumasaich. CB Earranta, Inbhir Nis, 1990. NLS Shelfmark –
PB5.209.214/2
Iain Rose agus Hugh Andrew. The Jacobites. CB Publishing, 1990. NLS shelfmark: WP2.90.447
An account of the Jacobites and the risings, published in both English and Gaelic editions. Suitable
for school use and includes questions.
Martin Hackett. Raise the Clans – The Wargamer’s guide to the Jacobite Rebellions.
Amberley, 2014. NLS shelfmark PB8.214.549/5
A detailed account of the Jacobite battles and sites, from 1685 – 1746.
Sir Walter Scott. From Montrose to Culloden : Bonnie Prince Charlie & Scotland’s Romantic Age.
Cumberland House Publishing, 2001. NLS shelfmark HP1.202.0249
This is the fourth volume in Scott’s Tales of a Scottish Grandfather.
John Buchan. The Massacre of Glencoe. First published in 1933. NLS holds various editions.
A fictional account, in English.
Nigel Tranter. The Clansman. Cornet, 1993.
A fictional portrayal of Rob Roy and the MacGregor clan, first published 1959.
John Prebble. Culloden. Pimlico, 2002
A fictional account from the soldier’s point of view, first published in 1961.
Fo bhruid / Robert Louis Stevenson ; riochd an sgeòil le Alan Grant ; na dealbhan le Cam
Kennedy ; a’ Ghàidhlig le Ian MacDhòmhnaill. Waverley Books, 2007.
NLS shelfmark : PB8.207.1052/1
A graphic novel version of Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’, which has been translated into Gaelic, and
is also published in English and Scots. The background to the story is the Jacobite risings and it
illustrates the divisions within Scotland – Highlands/Lowlands, and Jacobite/Whig.
1715
1745
The Jacobite Rising of 1715. National Galleries of Scotland, 1965 NLS Shelfmark: GMP.1
A short account of the rising and the events that led up to it, with portraits.
Bill Inglis. The Battle of Sheriffmuir – based on eye witness accounts. Stirling Council Libraries,
2005. NLS shelfmark HP1.205.2598.
An accessible account of the background and of the battle itself, based on twelve eye witness
accounts.
Iain Unwin. Blàr Sliabh a’ Chlamhain. Na dealbhan tùsail aig Anndra Crummy, Ìomhaighean à
Brat-grèise Sliabh a’ Chlamhain agus sgeulachd o Gòrdan Prestoungrange, Eadar-theangachadh gu
Gàidhlig le Seonaidh A. Mac a‘ Phearsain.
Cuthill Press with Prestoungrange University press for The Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage
Trust, 2012. NLS shelfmark : PB6.214.7.18
A pictorial account of the Battle of Prestonpans using the Prestonpans Tapestry. English version
also available. NLS shelfmark: HB6.214.7.19
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BBC Scotland’s Gaelic pages on the Jacobites – 1745 rising, includes a timeline and pages on
important people,
Iain Mac-Choinnich. Eachdraidh a’ Phrionnsa, no, Bliadhna Thearlaich : anns am bheil minchunntas air taisdeal a’ Phrionnsa do dh’Albhainn ; togbhail nam fineachan Gaelach ‘na aobhar
; agus gach teugbhail ‘bha aca r’a naimhdean ; maille ri iomruagadh a’ Phrionns’ agus a luchdleanmhuinn an deigh latha Chuil-Fhodair, &c. A Gardner, Paislig, 1906 Reprinted from the
Edinburgh edition of 1845.
Digital version available - Digital version created by National Library of Scotland available at
http://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/pageturner.cfm?id=76587077
Poetry
Ronald Black, Editor. An Lasair : anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse. Birlinn, 2001.
NLS Shelfmark -HP1.201.3949
Sixty poems by forty Gaelic poets, including English translations, notes and historical context.
Explains that the aftermath of the 1715 rising saw the decline of clan chief patronage of poets,
which had previously played a vital role in maintaining the traditional clan structure and
supporting the role of the chief. See Òran nam fineachan/Song of the clans, written in 1715 by John
MacDonald in praise of the Scottish clans who supported James.
The poems also cover later events, such as An t-Èideadh Gàidhealach/The Highland Dress, Margaret
Campbell’s poem on the banning of Highland dress.
Murray G H Pittock. Poetry and Jacobite politics in Eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland.
Cambridge University Press, 1994. NLS shelfmark H3.95.1584
An academic examination of the role of Jacobite and 18th century writing in Scots, Irish, Welsh and
Gaelic, and of how politics influences literature.
John Lorne Campbell, Editor. Highland songs of the Forty-Five. Published by the Scottish
Academic Press for the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, Edinburgh 1984. NLS Shelfmarks : Lit.S.36 &
N3.205.454/L
First published in 1933, poems are in Gaelic with English translations. It includes poems from the
most noted Gaelic poets of the period, such as Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Duncan Bàn
MacIntyre and Rob Donn.
Colm O’ Baoill. Poems and songs by Sileas Macdonald c.1660-c.1729. Scottish Academic Press for
The Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 1972. NLS Shelfmark : Lit.S.36
A selection of 23 of her poems, in Gaelic with English translations. Poems IV – IX cover the 1715
Jacobite Rising, and include Latha Sliabh an t-Siorraim/The Battle of Sheriffmuir , as featured in
NLS’s exhibition.
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Songs
Peter Kay. A Jacobite legacy – from Bonnie Dundee to Bonnie Prince Charlie. Published by Soar
Music in 1995.
NLS shelfmark: Mus.Box.q.306.2
Music and words in English, with explanations of the historical context to each song. It includes
5 relating to 1715 – Came Ye o’er fra France; The Standard on the Braes of Mar; Derwentwaters
Farewell; The Sherramuir Fight; Lady Keith’s Lament.
Bonaidean is Breacain : orain is ceol bho àr-a-mach nan Seumasach 1745/46. Published by Acair
in 1996.
NLS shelfmark: Mus.Box.q.306.2.
Songs in Gaelic with English translations and music.
Rebellious Scots to crush – an anthology of the arts as engendered by the Battle of Presonpans in
1745. Selected with commentaries by Arran Paul Johnston. Prestoungrange University Press in
Association with Burke’s Peerage & Gentry, 2008.
NLS shelfmark PB5.211.1111/11
Includes anti-Jacobite verses to God Save the King, first published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in
1745, a month after the Battle of Prestonpans
The Jacobite relics of Scotland – being the songs, airs and legends of the adherents of the House of
Stuart. Collected and illustrated by James Hogg. Edinburgh University Press, 2003.
NLS shelfmark H3.91.6770
Hogg was commissioned to collect Jacobite songs by the Highland Society of London in 1817 and
this collection was first published in 1819. It includes both Jacobite and Whig songs, in English,
and with a lot of additional information. This edition has extensive notes.
General Wade, roads and infrasctructure
General Wade created many new roads and bridges in the Highlands, in order to provide safe
access to his troops to defeat the Jacobites and impose Hanoverian rule.
William Taylor. The military roads in Scotland. House of Lochar, 1996. NLS shelfmark :
Hist.S.68.Ro.T
Describes the 18th century road building work in Scotland, undertaken initially by General Wade
after the 1715. Many of these roads and bridges are still in use today, and are very evident in
Highland areas.
Lindsay Farquharson. General Wade’s legacy: the 18 century military road system in Perthshire.
Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, 2011.
NLS shelfmark : PB8.212.4/13
an illustrated account of the Perthshire road and bridge building and improvement by General
Wade and his successor William Caulfield, including relevant maps.
National Library of Scotland maps available online
http://maps.nls.uk/view/74486584 = c.1720-40 - map showing General Wade’s proposed roads
pencilled in, with a note of the numbers of clansmen that could be called upon in each area and
from which clan, eg. Forbes of Culloden, 200men, Duke of Gordon, 1000 men.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400311 = 1746 General Wade map showing the route of a new road
from Stirling to Inverness via Perth (ie. mostly the A9).
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