TRYST OF A FLEET

The second of two medieval poems, (both) originally composed in Gaelic, celebrating the attempt by John MacSween, to retake Castle Sween, in Knapdale, Scotland. The poem brings to life the optimism and bravery of the defeated cause. It's reference to what is reputedly the earliest stone castle on the Scottish mainland illustrates 'the misfortune that outshone all others in the west'. Exactly who built this powerful structure, which overlooks the loch of the same name, before any king of Scots did the same remains a guess. The earliest reference to a 'Norse-Gael' Sween in Gaelic occurs in 1034 and is the best historical candidate for the clan's eponym: 'Suibne son of Cinead [Kenneth], King of the Foreigner-Gaels (Gal-Gaedhil), died. That was the year of King Duncan's accession to the throne, in the time of Thorfinn The Mighty and Macbeth of Moray.

The MacSweens had survived nearly three centuries of turbulent history as the Lords of Knapdale since then, when they launched their expedition in 1310. King Robert had already laid Buchan waste and daunted MacDougall, so that John showed much temerity in accepting a grant from the English king to all the lands his ancestors had enjoyed, provided he could recover them by force. The fleet with which he made his attempt is described exactly as if it belonged to an alliance of Irish Scots and Norsemen in the days before there was a Scottish nation. The poem is filled with the spirit of a bygone age.

"Tryst of a fleet against Castle Sween;

Welcome is the adventure in Ireland;

Horsemen travelling the billows;

Brown ships are being prepared for them.

Of quilted Hauberks is arrayed

The ship's prow in the form of jewels,

of warriors with brown-faced girdles.

They are Norsemen and Nobles."

They took their womenfolk with them, lying about in cushions, of satin and sendal in their ships, so confident were they of the outcome. But needless to say the MacSweens were scattered, and although some remained in Argyll for centuries to come, others carried the name to the Outer Hebrides, where they are found today in particularly large numbers in the Isle of Scalpay. 

(Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia.pg.66)