For nearly 3 centuries, Scotland’s western isles were ruled by men who considered themselves kings equal to those in Edinburgh or London.

The island of Islay was the seat of the Lordship of the Isles, but evidence of a castle from an earlier period, as well as finds from a palatial complex built on a lake, confirm where these lords held their thrones for the first time.

Revealed in a new book by the preeminent expert on the subject, Dr. David Caldwell, the center of power was the area of Finlaggen, specifically on two islets set atop the waters of Loch Finlaggen.

The Lordship of the Isles was a quasi-independent state of political and cultural importance in the 14th and 15th centuries.

With control of the islands off the west coast, Argyll, and the vast earldom of Ross in the Highland

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