brightened from 1308, when he defeated John Comyn, earl of
Buchan (d. 1313?), at Inverurie. For a hundred years after
Robert Bruce's death (1329) there was intermittent anarchy
in the shire. Aberdeen itself was burned by the English in
1336, and the re-settlement of the districts of Buchan and
Strathbogie occasioned constant quarrels On the part of the
dispossessed. Moreover, the crown had embroiled itself
with some of the Highland chieftains, whose independence it
sought to abolish. This policy culminated in the invasion of
Aberdeenshire by Donald, lord of the Isles, who was, however,
defeated at Harlaw, near Inverurie, by the earl of Mar in
1411. In the 15th century two other leading county families
appeared, Sir Alexander Forbes being created Lord Eorbes
about 1442, and Sir Alexander Seton Lord Gordon in 1437 and
earl of Huntly in 1445. Bitter feuds raged between these
families for a long period, but the Gordons reached the
height of their power in the first half of the 16th century,
when their domains, already vast, were enhanced by the
acquisition, through marriage, of the earldom of Sutherland
(1514). Meanwhile commerce with the Low Countries, Poland
and the Baltic had grown apace, Campvere, near Flushing in
Holland, becoming the emporium of the Scottish traders, while
education was fostered by the foundation of King's College
at Aberdeen in 1497 (Marischal College followed a century
later). At the Reformation so little intuition had the
clergy of the drift of opinion that at the very time that
religious structures were being despoiled in the south, the
building and decoration of churches went on in the shire.
The change was acquiesced in without much tumult, though
rioting took place in Aberdeen and St Machar's cathedral in
the city suffered damage. The 4th earl of Huntly offered
some resistance, on behalf of the Catholics, to the influence
of Lord James Stuart, afterwards the Regent Murray, but
was defeated and killed at Corrichie on the hill of Fare in
1562. As years passed it was apparent that Presbyterianism
was less generally acceptable than Episcopacy, of which system
Aberdeenshire remained for generations the stronghold in
Scotland. Another crisis in ecclesiastical affairs arose in
1638, when the National Covenant was ordered to be subscribed,
a demand so grudgingly responded to that the marquis of
Montrose visited the shire in the following year to enforce
acceptance. The Cavaliers, not being disposed to yield,
dispersed an armed gathering of Covenanters in the affair
called the Trot of Turriff (1639), in which the first blood
of the civil war was shed. The Covenanters obtained the upper
hand in a few weeks, when Montrose appeared at the bridge
of Dee and compelled the surrender of Aberdeen, which had no
choice but to cast in its lot with the victors. Montrose,
however, soon changed sides, and after defeating the Covenanters
under Lord Balfour of Burleigh (1644), delivered the city to
rapine. He worsted the Covenanters again after a stiff
fight on the 2nd of July 1645, at Alford, a village in the
beautiful Howe of Alford. Peace was temporarily restored
on the ``engagement', of the Scots commissioners to assist
Charles I. On his return from Holland in 1650 Charles II.
was welcomed in Aberdeen, but in little more than a year
General Monk entered the city at the head of the Cromwellian
regiments. The English garrison remained till 1659, and
next year the Restoration was effusively hailed, and prelacy
was once more in the ascendant. Most of the Presbyterians
conformed, but the Quakers, more numerous in the shire
and the adjoining county of Kincardine than anywhere else
in Scotland, were systematically persecuted. After the
Revolution (1688) episcopacy passed under a cloud, but the
clergy, yielding to force majeure, gradually accepted the
inevitable, hoping, as long as Queen Anne lived, that prelacy
might yet be recognized as the national form of Church
government. Her death dissipated these dreams, and as George
I., her successor, was antipathetic to the clergy, it happened
that Jacobitism and episcopalianism came to be regarded in the
shire as identical, though in point of fact the non-jurors as
a body never countenanced rebellion. The earl of Mar raised
the standard of revolt in Braemar (6th of September 1715); a
fortnight later James was proclaimed at Aberdeen cross; the
Pretender landed at Peterhead on the 22nd of December, and
in February 1716 he was back again in France. The collapse
of the first rising ruined many of the lairds, and when the
second rebellion occurred thirty years afterwards the county
in the main was apathetic, though the insurgents held Aberdeen
for five months, and Lord Lewis Gordon won a trifling victory
for Prince Charles Edward at Inverurie (23rd of December
1745). The duke of Cumberland relieved Aberdeen at the end
of February 1746, and in April the Young Pretender was a
fugitive. Thereafter the people devoted themselves to
agriculture, industry and commerce, which developed by leaps
and bounds, and, along with equally remarkable progress in
education, transformed the aspect of the shire and made the
community as a whole one of the most prosperous in Scotland.
See W. Watt, History of Aberdeen and Banff (Edinburgh,
1900); Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen
and Banff. (edited by Dr Joseph Robertson, Spalding Club); Sir
A. Leith-Hay, Castles of Aberdeenshire (Aberdeen, 188R);
J; Davidson, Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch
(Edinburgh, 1878); Pratt, Buchan (rev. by) R. Anderson),
(Aberdeen, 1900); A. I. M'Connochie, Deeside (Aberdeen, 1895).
ABERDOUR, a village of Fifeshire, Scotland. Pleasantly
situated on the shore of the Firth of Forth, 17 1/2 m. N.W.
of Edinburgh by the North British railway and 7 m. N.W. of
Leith by steamer, it is much resorted to for its excellent
sea-bathing. There are ruins of a castle and an old decayed
church, which contains some fine Norman work. About 3
m. S.W. is Donibristle House, the seat of the earl of Murray
(Moray), and the scene of the murder (Feb. 7, 1592) of James,
2nd (Stuart) earl of Murray. The island of Inchcolm, or
Island of Columba, 1/4 m. from the shore, is in the parish of
Aberdour. As its name implies, its associations date back
to the time of Columba. The primitive stone-roofed oratory
is supposed to have been a hermit's ceil. The Augustinian
monastery was founded in 1123 by Alexander I. The buildings
are well preserved, consisting of a low square tower, church,
cloisters, refectory and small chapterhouse. The island
of Columba was occasionally plundered by English and other
rovers, but in the 16th century it became the property of
Sir James Stuart, whose grandson became 2nd earl of Murray
by virtue of his marriage to the elder daughter of the 1st
earl. From it comes the earl's title of Lord St Colme (1611).
ABERDOVEY (Aberdyfi: the Dyfi is the county frontier), a
seaside village of Merionethshire, North Wales, on the Cambrian
railway. Pop. (1901) 1466. It lies in the midst of beautiful
scenery, 4 m. from Towyn, on the N. bank of the Dyfi estuary,
commanding views of Snowdon, Cader Idris, Arran Mawddy and
Plynllmmon. The Dyfi, here a mile broad, is crossed by a
ferry to Borth sands, whence a road leads to Aberystwyth.
The submerged ``bells of Aberdovey'' (since Seithennin ``the
drunkard'' caused the formation of Cardigan Bay) are famous
in a Welsh song. Aberdovey is a health and bathing resort.
ABERFOYLE, a village and parish of Perthshire, Scotland, 34 1/4
m. N. by W. of Glasgow by the North British railway. Pop.
of parish (1901) 1052. The village is situated at the base of
Craigmore (1271 ft. high) and on the Laggan, a head-water of the
Forth. Since 1885, when the duke of Montrose constructed a
road over the eastern shoulder of Craigmore to join the older
road at tho entrance of the Trossachs pass, Aberfoyle has become
the alternauve route to the Trossachs and Loch Katrine. Loch
Ard, about 2 m. W. of LIberfoyle, lies 105 ft. above the
sea. It is 3 m. long (including the narrows at the east end)
and 1 m. broad. Towards the west end is Eilean Gorm (the
green isle), and near the north-western shore are the falls of
Ledard. Two m. N.W. is Loch Chon, a90 ft. above the sea,
1 1/4 m. long, and about 1/2 m. broad. It drains by the Avon
Dhu to Loch Ard, which is drained in turn by the Laggan. The
slate quarries on Craigmore are the Only industry in Aberfoyle.
ABERGAVENNY, a market town and municipal borough in the
northern parliamentary division of Monmouthshire, England, 14
m. W. of Monmouth on the Great Western and the London and
North-Western railways. Pop. (1901) 7795. It is situated
at the junction of a small stream cailed the Gavenny with the
river Usk; and the site, almost surrounded by lofty hills,
is very beautiful. The town was formerly walled, and has the
remains of a castle built soon after the conquest, frequently
the scene of border strife. The church of St Mary belonged
originally to a Benedictine monastery founded early in the 12th
century. The existing building, however, is Decorated and
Perpendicular, and contains a fine series of memorials of dates
from the 13th to the 17th century. There is a free grammar
school, which till 1857 had a fellowship at Jesus College,
Oxford. Breweries, ironworks, quarries, brick fields and
collieries in the neihbourhood are among the principal industrial
establishments. Abergavenny was incorporated in 1899, and is
governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 825 acres.
This was the Roman Gobannium, a small fort guarding the
road along the valley of the Usk and ensuring quiet among
the hill tribes. There is practically no trace of this
fort. Abergavenny (Bergavenny) grew up under the protection
of the lords of Abergavenny, whose title dated from William
I. Owing to its situation, the town was frequently embroiled
in the border warfare of the 12th and 13th centuries, and
Giraldus Cambrensis relates how in 1173 the castle was seized
by the Welsh. Hamelyn de Baalun, first lord of Abergavenny,
founded the Benedictine priory, which was subsequently
endowed by William de Braose with a tenth of the profits
of the castle and town. At the dissolution of the priory
part of this endowment went towards the foundation of a
free grammar school, the site itself passing to the Gunter
family. During the Civil War prior to the siege of Ragban
Castle in 1645, Charles I. visited Abergavenny, and presided
in person over the trial of Sir Trevor Williams and other
parliamentarians. In 1639 Abergavenny received a charter
of incorporation under the title of bailiff and burgesses.
A charter with extended privileges was drafted in 1657, but
appears never to have been enrolled or to have come into effect.
OV1ng to the refusal of the chief officers of the corporation
to take the oath of allegiance to William III. in 1688, the
charter was annullod, and the town subseunentlv declined in
prosperity. The act of 27 Henry VIII., which provided that
llonmouth, as county town, should return one burgess to
parliament, further stated that other ancient Monmouthshire
boroughs were to contribute towards the payment of the
member. In consequence of this clause Abergavenny on various
occasions shared in the election, the last instance being in
1685. Reference to a market at Abergavenny is found in a charter
granted to the prior by William de Braose (d. r211). The right
to hold two weekly markets and three yearly fairs, as hitherto
held, was confirmed in 1657. Abergavenny was celebrated for
