The Secret of Braemore Castle

T. Clement Robison

Description

Using both historical events and legends and set against the backdrop of the beautiful Highland Country of Scotland, the author weaves a fascinating tale of mystery and adventure. Written in the first person, the author entices the reader to accompany him on a visit to his ancestral estate of Braemore Castle. The visit turns dangerous when an ancient clue draws the author into a search for a medieval treasure that is believed by many to be nothing but foolish folklore. Medieval legends of: warring clans, Vikings, Nordic kings, and Knights Templars each play a part in this imaginative narrative.

Sujets

• Historical
• Legend
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 24 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669878032
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE SECRET OF BRAEMORE CASTLE
 
 
 
 
 
T. CLEMENT ROBISON
 
Copyright © 2023 by T. Clement Robison.
 
ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-7804-9

eBook
978-1-6698-7803-2

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 05/24/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
842523
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
EPILOGUE
 
 
 
OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
(W.I.A.) Wounded in Action
Enemy of My Enemy
Operation Duck Hook
Lost Treasure of the Grand Strand
The Improbable Life of Billy T. Kettle
Corpse on Cape Romain
Legend of Saint Boniface’s Chalice
Curse of Yamashita’s Gold
The Peculiar Disappearance of Professor Brownrigg
Papal Quest
 
 
 
 
 
This work is dedicated to the memory of Michael (Mike) Leonard whose initial genealogical research planted the seed in the mind of the author for this story.
CHAPTER ONE
May 15, 2020
It was late Friday afternoon before I returned to the office. I had just completed a four-day jury trial and I was anxious to get back and clean off my desk before the weekend. I was in good spirits, having won a hundred-and-eighty-thousand-dollar judgment for my client. My fee would be twenty percent.
The day’s mail sat on the corner of my desk. As was customary, my secretary, Brenda, placed the mail in two piles: one for business correspondence the other for personal. I shuffled through the business mail, momentarily ignoring the one personal envelope.
After deciding there was nothing in the business group that demanded my immediate attention, I turned my attention to the single envelope. Instantly the return address caught my eye. The correspondence was from the Braemore Castle, Berriedale, Scotland.
As an attorney I was used to receiving lots of mail from odd places usually sent by odd people with odd requests. My habit was to just drop those letters into the oval file next to my desk. But for some reason my curiosity was piqued.
I was further intrigued when I turned the envelope over and saw it was sealed with wax. On the seal there was what appeared to be, a crest imbedded with the words: CLAN GUNN across the top and the words AUT PAX AUT BELLUM across the bottom.
The address on the envelope added to the mystery. It was addressed to Barrister Thomas C. Robison. I knew a barrister in the United Kingdom is the equivalent to an attorney in the United States, but I had never received correspondence bearing that title.
I carefully slid my letter opener under the seal and pried open the flap. The envelope contained a single page letter. The penmanship was beautiful very closely resembling Calligraphy. At the top center of the page, was a drawing of a castle in the foreground and some trees and shrubbery along with some clouds in the background. The drawing was done in a manner to suggest a feeling of a windswept location. It was drawn using a light gray scale. Written over and across the center of the drawing, in bold letters, were the words: BRAEMORE CASTLE.
The letter read:
Dear Sir:
It has been determined that you are a direct descendant of the Robison Gunn Clan of Braemore, Scotland. Specifically, you are a decedent of Donald Gunn, son of Robert (Robi) Gunn, second son of George (Seoras) Gunn, the Crowner of Caithness and first chief of the Gunn Clan as determined in the fifteenth cen tury.
The purpose of this correspondence is to inform you that the Braemore Estate, consisting of a castle and approximately five hundred acres of land located on the east coast of Scotland, south of the Village of Knockally and north of the Village of Ramscraigs, is scheduled to be auctioned off by reason of a deficiency in the payment of land taxes. The government having taken possession by intestate succession. The auction is to occur thirty days from the date of this correspond ence.
You are invited to take part in this auction if you so choose, and if successful, take immediate possession of your ancestral estate. The outstanding debt on the estate to date is £ 969751. Only bids of that amount or higher will be accepted. Please contact the Office of the Highland Council at the address below no later than June 30, 2020 to acquire the necessary credentials for purposes of entering bids and obtaining other pertinent information regarding this ma tter.
Since rely,
Sir William Robison Gunn, Chief of the Clan Gunn
www.highland.go v.uk
I did a quick calculation of the amount of the unpaid taxes in dollars and found the amount to be approximately $300,000; a little too rich for my blood but, admittedly, not that much for a castle and five hundred acres of land on the coast of Scotland.
I retrieved a world atlas from my bookshelf and opened it to the country of Scotland. It took some time until I was able to locate Braemore and the villages of Knockally and Ramscraigs. I found it odd the map had the location of the Village of Braemore several miles inland from the coast while the other villages appeared to be on the coast. Apparently, the estate was not located near the Village of Braemore.
A computer search informed me the nearest airport to the area was the John O ’Groat Airport located one mile from Wick, Scotland. I stuck my head out of the office door and asked Brenda to find out the best flights to Wick.
“Wick, Scotland? Why do you want to know that?” she asked.
“I just found out I am of Scottish descent and they are going to auction off my ancestral estate in Braemore, Scotland in one month. I would like to visit my family castle before it is put on the auction block.”
“Your family owns a castle in Scotland?”
“It appears that way, lassie,” I laughingly replied.
I was never very interested in my ancestors or from where the Robisons originated. I had once asked my father what nationality we were and he offhandedly replied that we were Nordic.
The letter had motivated my curiosity so I did a computer search of my surname. As it turns out, my father’s remark was correct. The Gunn Clan are direct descendants of Gunni, the grandson of Sweyn Asleifsson, a Viking hero of some sort. Also, it appears the Gunns are of royalty having descended from the Earls of Orkney who were Norsemen. Coincidently, the Gunni name is Norse and means “war.”
The meaning of the Gunn name certainly was fitting. A search of the history of the clan reveals they were at war nearly constantly with one rival clan or another such as the Sinclairs and the Keiths who had obtained grants from the Scottish King for lands held by the Gunns. Feuds between clans were commonplace; of special note was the feud with the Keiths.
Apparently one of the Keiths, by the name of Dugald, had romantic feelings for a lass named Helen, the daughter of the head of the Braemore Gunns. Unfortunately, Helen did not feel the same way about Dugald. The rejection angered the Keiths who surrounded the Gunn home and killed several inhabitants allowing Dugald to kidnap Helen and carry her back to Ackergill, the Keiths’ castle. This kidnapping apparently caused Helen so much anguish that she killed herself by jumping off the castle wall.
As a result, the Gunns and the Keiths went to war which lasted several years. An effort to end the war occurred around the year 1478 when a meeting was set up to discuss a truce at a chapel located in the Tayre area of Caithness, wherever that was. It was agreed upon that twelve representatives of each clan would attend the meeting.
George Gunn at that time was the chief of the clan, his sons and some chief kinsmen arrived first. In violation of the agreement the Keiths arrived later with twenty-four men and a battle ensued. George Gunn was killed along with some of his sons and several of the Keiths. The Keiths retreated later to be attacked by surviving Gunns and killed.
A footnote to this story states that in 1978 the leader of the Keith Clan and the leader of the Gunn Clan signed a treaty at the same chapel ending the feud after five hundred years.
If the story of the feud is true, and I have no reason to believe it is not. I’m sure although embellished over the years, it shows it didn’t take much for these Viking des