BOOK REVIEW

Warriors and Priests The History of the Clan MacLean 1300 - 1570
Nicholas MacLean-Bristol. £19.95 hbk. (Tuckwell Press)

This is the first account of the Clan MacLean to be published for almost a century. The previous publication was that of the Rev MacLean Sinclair's Clan Gillean in 1899.

Nicholas MacLean-Bristol has spent more than forty years studying his Clan, twenty of which have been devoted to this particular book.

Having just retired from Project, Nicholas MacLean-Bristol can now concentrate on his writing and plans to produce a new book every two years within the decade. A military man talking here!

The next in the series, Royalists and Jacobites 1600 - 1750, is in production. Soldiers and Seanachies 1750 - 1815 will complete the Trilogy.

"I have been working up to this all my life and can only now give the study my full attention. I still work from notes taken in the '60s when I was stationed at Redford Barracks and would nip over to the National Library in Edinburgh at any given opportunity. My earliest studies in the subject began, however, when I read Clan Gillean at my Aunt's house at the tender age of six. That and The History of the West Highlands by Donald Gregory published in 1830. I can truly say that the Clan MacLean has been a lifelong passion.!"

In his large book-lined study at Breacachadh Castle the author sits at a surprisingly small desk; the surface of which is, not unsurprisingly, very tidy. "It has to be!" he says ruefully. There are piles of photocopies of ancient documents interlaced with his own neat modern transcripts. These are a record of deeds, debts, important written communications relevant to the Clan MacLean going back to the 16th century, all held by the Scottish Record Office and never indexed. At source there are 250 volumes. "A degree in Palaeography would be useful but over the years I have learned how to decipher the handwriting. It gets easier by the 18th century!"

It is somehow fitting that there is not a sign of modern communication technology in the study. Though Nicholas MacLean- Bristol does admit to the back-up services of the Project Trust Offices at Ballyhough for final presentation to publishers.

Like some other writers he finds the physical act of handwriting part of the creative process. When he is writing he is at his desk by 6.45 am doing dozens of drafts and needs, nay demands, complete silence. Woe betide any interruptions from within the Castle - or without...

"I am more approachable whilst doing research. 9.00 - 11.30 am I'll go to Ballyhough and dictate letters, come back home after seeing to any agricultural matters, have lunch and be at the 'deciphering' desk for the rest of the day.

Future projects include A Murder on Mull (working title), "a sort of Mediaeval Whodunnit." Nicholas MacLean-Bristol is well aware that the Trilogy he is working on just now has a very specialised academic audience. Being a publisher (in '72 he set up The Society of West Highlands and Islands Historical Reseach, thirteen 32 page academic essays with attractive 'glossy' covers aiming to redress populist historical publications) he understands the economics of publishing only too well.

"The publishers role is first and foremost to identify books that sell; the writer writes because he needs to. And here am I in between..."

There is no doubt MacLean Bristol is wedded to his art whether as a publisher or writer. A member of The Scottish Society of Mediaevalists he is proud of the opportunity the WHIHR can give scholars to "fly kites; explore ideas," in the Notes and Queries publications.

He does not feel isolated on Coll. "I have so many contacts in the field whose advice and knowledge I recognise and I look forward, despite my laborious longhandedness!, to exploring the worlds of CD Rom and Internet. I foresee future developments which will make Coll the Clan MacLean resource centre."

Meanwhile, the mediaevalist sharpens his pencil with his dirk in the silence of the Castle...

M.H.