John McDonald, otherwise known as Iain Lom (1624-1710) was a Scottish Gaelic poet renowned as one of the finest Gaelic seventeeth-century poets. Named Poet Laureate by Charles II during his reign, one of the few Gaelic poets to receive such an honour, Iain Lom’s most famous work would be ‘La Inbhir Lochaidh’, or ‘The Battle of Inverlochy’, detailing the Royalist rout of a Scottish Covenanter army during Montrose’s famous campaign of 1645. A sizeable contingent of Irish soldiers, many of which experienced veterans who had served under Spain in West Flanders fought in Montrose’s army, under the command of Alasdair Mac Colla, a kinsman of Iain Lom’s and a celebrated military leader in both Scottish Gaelic and Irish folklore.
Poetry
The Battle of Inverlochy (1645)