Warfare

Yes, I do remember hearing it said that Scottish clan warfare and African tribal warfare are quite similar, a factor that helped the Scottish missionary David Livingstone to find a rapport with the African people. The same problems occur with people running wild and killing each other and never getting punished if you have a friend in high places, especially the king. If the king likes you then you are feeling good and you can do whatever you want but if the king doesn't like you then tough luck, you might as well be dead because your head is not worth two cents. It all depends on the arbitrary and capricious whim of the king. The Douglas clan should know this better than most so we do not need to explain that if they spend a few weeks vacationing in Rome they might come home to find that while they were gone the king had one or two of their castles burned to the ground for no apparent reason other than just the whim of a monarch who suddenly opened his ear to the Douglas' enemy, Crichton, that guy who previously orchestrated the murder of Douglas' father at the Black Bull Dinner and got away with it. The pendulum of the king's will seems to swing back and forth. One day he allows the Douglas to be murdered at the Black Bull Dinner and then for a while he allows the Douglas' son to run roughshod over the organizers of the Black Bull Dinner and then the king swings back the other way again. That is the way that the medieval system worked. The king had all the power, basically, and, well, you could organize a revolt but you had better be sure to win because if you lose you will forfeit everything. It was just too dangerous to be rich and famous in medieval times. You would probably end up having your head cut off or burned at the stake. That was the typical fate of those whose name became well known. Better to toil in obscurity and anonymity than to be caught in the glaring spotlight of fame and publicity.