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Famous Highland Personalities

INTRODUCTION

Over the centuries the Highlands & Island have produced many famous personalities. Some are remembered for their qualities of leadership, e.g. Sir Hector Macdonald. Others are noted for their outstanding courage e.g. Flora Macdonald. A few might, however, be best remembered for the wrong reasons such as Rob Roy, who was a very successful cattle thief and outlaw, or the Brahan Seer whose predictions of doom still intrigue highlanders today.

Macbeth

Probably the first great Highland personality was Macbeth, who killed King Duncan and usurped the Scottish crown in 1040AD. Unfortunately little of Macbeth's lifestory is known ; legend, witches and William Shakespeare have embellished it a lot. The castle at Dingwall (in its time one of the great strongholds in the north, but long since gone) has a fair claim to being his birthplace. He reigned for 17 years from 1040 to 1057 before he too died in battle in Aberdeenshire, not as Shakespeare has it at Dunsinane Hill in Perthshire.

But what of the others? Read on:

CONTENTS

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