MacMillan 3

The Last Comyn in Lochaber

Dark-haired Myles MacMillan (Maolmuire Dubh MacGhillemhaoil) had a daughter about to be married, and as Comyn, the Feudal Superior, was too old to avail himself of the hearty privilege mercheta mulierum, he transferred his seignorial right - jus prima noctis - to his two sons. Both claimed her on the first night of her marriage, and her father very reluctantly gave the preference to the elder son, but turning aside, he told his daughter she was to scream aloud should young Comyn try to molest her. The night was not far spent when she began to scream, and at the given signal for help, Myles rushed into the bedroom with a dagger in either hand, and soon despatched the unfortunate Comyn. He also made quick work of the younger brother before he had become aware of his danger. He cut off their heads and, as one old seanachie describes the scene so vividly in pictorial language, "Thoinn e gad 's chuir e 'stigh e troimh 'n sgòrnan agus a-mach air a' bheul" ("He twisted a withy and put it through their throat and out at the mouth"). This done, he made post haste to Inverlochy where he left the two heads lying at the entrance to the Castle. The first sight which met old Comyn's gaze in the morning was the gory heads of his two sons. He said at once, "My head will be the next", and resolved to quit the district without delay. A certain woman in the neighbourhood, hearing of his intention, used the words which have become proverbial to describe her anxiety to speed his departure : "Cuireamaid na strathraichean air na searraichean a chuideachadh leis an imrich" ("Let us put the pack-saddles on the foals to help with the flitting"). Old Comyn left Lochaber safely ; but as he was drawing near Stratherrick he sat down at a place now known as "Suidhe Chuimein" ("Comyn's Seat"), and looking back on the Lochaber hills his heart burst with grief, and there he died. He was buried at the south end of Loch Ness, thence called "Cill a' Chuimein" ("Comyn's Burialplace") in the Gaelic language, but now more widely known by its English name, Fort Augustus, in honour of the blood-thirsty "Butcher" of Cumberland.


	The Last Comyn in Lochaber Dark-haired Myles MacMillan (Maolmuire Dubh MacGhillemhaoil) had a daughter about to be married, and as Comyn, the Feudal Superior, was too old to avail himself of the hearty privilege mercheta mulierum, he transferred his seignorial right - jus prima noctis - to his two sons. Both claimed her on the first night of her marriage, and her father very reluctantly gave the preference to the elder son, but turning aside, he told his daughter she was to scream aloud should young Comyn try to molest her. The night was not far spent when she began to scream, and at the given signal for help, Myles rushed into the bedroom with a dagger in either hand, and soon despatched the unfortunate Comyn. He also made quick work of the younger brother before he had become aware of his danger. He cut off their heads and, as one old seanachie describes the scene so vividly in pictorial language, "Thoinn e gad 's chuir e 'stigh e troimh 'n sgòrnan agus a-mach air a' bheul" ("He twisted a withy and put it through their throat and out at the mouth"). This done, he made post haste to Inverlochy where he left the two heads lying at the entrance to the Castle. The first sight which met old Comyn's gaze in the morning was the gory heads of his two sons. He said at once, "My head will be the next", and resolved to quit the district without delay. A certain woman in the neighbourhood, hearing of his intention, used the words which have become proverbial to describe her anxiety to speed his departure : "Cuireamaid na strathraichean air na searraichean a chuideachadh leis an imrich" ("Let us put the pack-saddles on the foals to help with the flitting"). Old Comyn left Lochaber safely ; but as he was drawing near Stratherrick he sat down at a place now known as "Suidhe Chuimein" ("Comyn's Seat"), and looking back on the Lochaber hills his heart burst with grief, and there he died. He was buried at the south end of Loch Ness, thence called "Cill a' Chuimein" ("Comyn's Burialplace") in the Gaelic language, but now more widely known by its English name, Fort Augustus, in honour of the blood-thirsty "Butcher" of Cumberland.