Oral Narrative and Propaganda

Abstract

This article examines some inconsistencies among narratives relating to the dispute between Angus MacDonald of Islay and Sir Lachlan MacLean of Duart over possession of the Rhinns of Islay in the late sixteenth century. While the historicity of the events is not in dispute, local accounts, both written and oral, tended to alter their chronology or other details in order to provide a reading of those events that favoured one side or the other – in other words, propaganda, or as some would say, ‘fake news’, albeit well after the event.