Kenneth MacAlpin

Kenneth I, King of the Picts, died on February 13, 858.  Nearly a milleneum later he was remembered in the name Buccleuch as referred to in Sir Walter Scott's "The Lay of the Last Minstrel":

VIII


The dwarf, who feared his master's eye
Might his foul treachery espie,
Now sought the castle buttery,
Where many a yeoman, bold and free,
Revelled as merrily and well
As those that sat in lordly selle.
Watt Tinlinn there did frankly raise
The pledge to Arthur Fire-the-Braes;
And he, as by his breeding bound,
To Howard's merrymen sent it round.
To quit them, on the English side,
Red Roland Forster loudly cried,
'A deep carouse to yon fair bride!'
At every pledge, from vat and pail,
Foamed forth in floods the nut-brown ale,
While shout the riders every one;
Such day of mirth ne'er cheered their clan,
Since old Bucclench the name did gain,
When in the clench the buck was ta'en.
 
Note on Line 154. Since old Buccleuch the name did gain.


A tradition preserved by Scott of Satchells gives the followmg romantic origin of that name. Two brethren, natives of Galloway, having been banished from that country for a riot, or insurrection, came to Rankleburn, in Ettrick Forett, where the keeper, whose name was Brydone received them joyfully, on account of their skill in winding the horn, and in the other mysteries of the chase, Kenneth MacAlpin, then King of Scotland, came soon after to hunt in the royal forest, and pursued a buck from Ettrickbeuch to the glen now called Buckeleuch, about two miles above the junction of Rankleburn with the river Ettrick. Here the stag stood at bay; and the king and his attendants, who followed on horseback, were thrown out by the steepness of the hill and the morass.  John, one of the brethren from Galloway, had followed the chase on foot and now coming in seized the buck by the horns, and being a man of great strength and activity, threw him on his back, and ran with his burden about a mile up the steep hill, to a place called Cracra-Cross. where Kenneth had halted, and laid the buck at his sovereign's feet.

Saint Columba

Colum Cille, the "dove of the church", or Saint Columba landed in Iona in 563AD.  He passed away on June 9th, in 597AD.  During the 34 years he lived in Scotland, his missionary work introduced Christianity to the Picts. 

Of Irish extraction, Columba came to Scotland with 12 fellow monks, all of whom lived an ascetic life.  He established his church on the island of Iona.  As his life drew to a close, he is said to have that fact, and so walked into his church, and breathed his last by the altar.

References to St. Columba occur frequently in Scottish texts, often associated with Iona.  Walter Scott refers to him in the poem "Glenfinlas":

...'Twas Moy; whom in Columba's isle
The seer's prophetic spirit found,
As with a minstrel's fire the while,
He waked his harp's harmonious sound.


Full many a spell to him was known,
Which wandering spirits shrink to hear;
And many a lay of potent tone,
Was never meant for mortal ear.


For there, 'tis said, in mystic mood,
High converse with the dead they hold,
And oft espy the fated shroud,
That shall the future corpse enfold.


O so it fell, that on a day,
To rouse the red deer from their den,
The Chiefs have ta'en their distant way,
And scour'd the deep Glenfinlas glen....

Saint Kessog

Kessog was a saint of the Celtic Church.  His feast day is March 10, in remembrance of his death in the year 520.

Kessog's story begins in Ireland, where he was born of a royal family in Munster.  He is said to have performed miracles from an early age (childhood).  He undertook religious training with Saint Machaloi while in Ireland, then was sent as a missionary to Lennox in what was Strathclyde, at the time.  Strathclyde bordered three kingdoms, Dal Riata (Scots -west), Picts (East), and Welsh (south).

Kessog moved to Luss in the 6th century, building a monastery there on Inchtavannoch (Monk's Island) in Loch Lomond.  Kessog was killed at Bandry.  His assailants are unknown.

Walter Scott's "The Lady of the Lake" is set in the Trossachs region, Loch Katrine being an inspiration.  Loch Lomond, Lennox, Luss - all figure in this poem:

"...The terror of Loch Lomond's side,
Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay
A Lennox foray--for a day.'--

....

XX.

Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin,
And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied;
Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin,
And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side.
Widow and Saxon maid
Long shall lament our raid,
Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe;
Lennox and Leven-glen
Shake when they hear again,
'Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!'..."