The Rise and Fall of the Stewart Earls

Around 100 years after the islands came under Scottish influence, an illegitimate child of King James V was given control of both Orkney and Shetland. Neither Earl Robert Stewart nor his appointed Sheriff Laurence Bruce cared much for the lives of the native Shetlanders. The new rulers abused their power in any way they could, tampering with official weights to increase taxes, pirating passing ships and helping themselves to just about anything that they wanted.

The exploitation under this duo was hard for locals to deal with, but it was nothing compared to Robert’s son Patrick. His deeds were so vile that he has gone down in local history as Black Patie. Amongst other crimes, he used forced labour to build Scalloway Castle, allegedly mixing the blood and hair of those unfortunate workers into the mortar.

Black Patie’s methods were so unpopular that even the wealthy landowners began to feel the effects. The formerly disliked Laurence suddenly found himself on the same side as the Shetlanders but going against the Earl was a dangerous business. He built Muness Castle on Unst to protect himself and was thankful for those walls when he survived an attack by Patrick’s men in 1608.

Word of the Earl’s dark deeds was sent to the Scottish government and a force arrived in the islands to apprehend him. With the testimony of many landowners including Laurence Bruce, Black Patie’s reign of terror came to an end. After a lengthy trial, he was finally convicted of treason and beheaded in Edinburgh.