Scottish clan
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A Scottish clan (from
The modern image of clans, each with their own tartan and specific land, was promulgated by the Scottish author
Many clans have their own clan chief; those that do not are known as armigerous clans. Clans generally identify with geographical areas originally controlled by their founders, sometimes with an ancestral castle and clan gatherings, which form a regular part of the social scene. The most notable clan event of recent times was The Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh, which attracted at least 47,000 participants from around the world.[2]
It is a common misconception that every person who bears a clan's name is a lineal descendant of the chiefs.[3] Many clansmen, although not related to the chief, took the chief's surname as their own either to show solidarity or to obtain basic protection or for much needed sustenance.[3] Most of the followers of the clan were tenants, who supplied labour to the clan leaders.[4] Contrary to popular belief, the ordinary clansmen rarely had any blood tie of kinship with the clan chiefs, but they sometimes took the chief's surname as their own when surnames came into common use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[4] Thus, by the eighteenth century the myth had arisen that the whole clan was descended from one ancestor, perhaps relying on Scottish Gaelic clann originally having a primary sense of 'children' or 'offspring'.[4]
About 30% of Scottish families are attached to a clan.[5]
Clan organization
Clan membership
As noted above, the word clan is derived from the Gaelic word clann.
According to the former Lord Lyon, Sir
Historically, a clan was made up of everyone who lived on the chief's territory, or on territory of those who owed allegiance to the said chief. Through time, with the constant changes of "clan boundaries", migration or regime changes, clans would be made up of large numbers of members who were unrelated and who bore different surnames. Often, those living on a chief's lands would, over time, adopt the clan surname. A chief could add to his clan by adopting other families, and also had the legal right to outlaw anyone from his clan, including members of his own family. Today, anyone who has the chief's surname is automatically considered to be a member of the chief's clan. Also, anyone who offers allegiance to a chief becomes a member of the chief's clan, unless the chief decides not to accept that person's allegiance.[11]
Clan membership goes through the surname.
Several clan societies have been granted coats of arms. In such cases, these arms are
Authority of the clans (the dùthchas and the oighreachd)
Scottish clanship contained two complementary but distinct concepts of heritage. These were firstly the collective heritage of the clan, known as their dùthchas, which was their prescriptive right to settle in the territories in which the chiefs and leading gentry of the clan customarily provided protection.[15] This concept was where all clansmen recognised the personal authority of the chiefs and leading gentry as trustees for their clan.[15] The second concept was the wider acceptance of the granting of charters by the Crown and other powerful land owners to the chiefs, chieftains and lairds which defined the estate settled by their clan.[15] This was known as their oighreachd and gave a different emphasis to the clan chief's authority in that it gave the authority to the chiefs and leading gentry as landed proprietors, who owned the land in their own right, rather than just as trustees for the clan.[15] From the beginning of Scottish clanship, the clan warrior elite, who were known as the ‘fine’, strove to be landowners as well as territorial war lords.[15]
Clans, the law and the legal process
The concept of dùthchas mentioned above held precedence in the
The main legal process used within the clans to settle criminal and civil disputes was known as arbitration, in which the aggrieved and allegedly offending sides put their cases to a panel that was drawn from the leading gentry and was overseen by the clan chief.[15] There was no appeal against the decision made by the panel, which was usually recorded in the local royal or burgh court.[15]
Social ties
Fosterage and manrent were the most important forms of social bonding in the clans.[16] In the case of fosterage, the chief's children would be brought up by a favored member of the leading clan gentry and in turn their children would be favored by members of the clan.[16]
In the case of manrent, this was a bond contracted by the heads of families looking to the chief for territorial protection, though not living on the estates of the clan elite.[16] These bonds were reinforced by calps, death duties paid to the chief as a mark of personal allegiance by the family when their head died, usually in the form of their best cow or horse. Although calps were banned by Parliament in 1617, manrent continued covertly to pay for protection.[16]
The marriage alliance reinforced links with neighboring clans as well as with families within the territory of the clan.[16] The marriage alliance was also a commercial contract involving the exchange of livestock, money, and land through payments in which the bride was known as the tocher and the groom was known as the dowry.[16]
Clan Gatherings and Affiliations
Clan gatherings are a unique feature of Scottish clan culture, where members of a clan convene to celebrate their shared heritage, participate in
Clan management
Rents from those living within the clan estate were collected by the tacksmen.[18] These lesser gentry acted as estate managers, allocating the runrig strips of land, lending seed-corn and tools and arranging the droving of cattle to the Lowlands for sale, taking a minor share of the payments made to the clan nobility, the fine.[19] They had the important military role of mobilizing the Clan Host, both when required for warfare and more commonly as a large turnout of followers for weddings and funerals, and traditionally, in August, for hunts which included sports for the followers, the predecessors of the modern Highland games.[18]
Clan disputes and disorder
Where the oighreachd (land owned by the clan elite or fine) did not match the common heritage of the dùthchas (the collective territory of the clan) this led to territorial disputes and warfare.
Feuding was further compounded by the involvement of Scottish clans in the wars between the Irish Gaels and the English Tudor monarchy in the 16th century.[20] Within these clans, there evolved a military caste of members of the lesser gentry who were purely warriors and not managers, and who migrated seasonally to Ireland to fight as mercenaries.[22]
There was heavy feuding between the clans during the civil wars of the 1640s; however, by this time, the chiefs and leading gentry preferred increasingly to settle local disputes by recourse to the law.
Cattle raiding, known as
Lowland clans
An act of the Scottish Parliament of 1597 talks of the "Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannis ... duelland in the hielands or bordouris". It has been argued that this vague phrase describes Borders families as clans.
The Lowland Clan MacDuff are described specifically as a "clan" in legislation of the Scottish Parliament in 1384.[25]
History
Origins
Many clans have often claimed mythological founders that reinforced their status and gave a romantic and glorified notion of their origins.[26] Most powerful clans gave themselves origins based on Irish mythology.[26] For example, there have been claims that the Clan Donald were descended from either Conn, a second-century king of Ulster, or Cuchulainn, the legendary hero of Ulster.[26] Whilst their political enemies the Clan Campbell have claimed as their progenitor Diarmaid the Boar, who was rooted in the Fingalian or Fenian Cycle.[26]
In contrast, the Clans
However, in reality, the progenitors of clans can rarely be authenticated further back than the 11th century, and a continuity of lineage in most cases cannot be found until the 13th or 14th centuries.[26]
The emergence of clans had more to do with political turmoil than ethnicity.
During the Wars of Scottish Independence, feudal tenures were introduced by Robert the Bruce, to harness and control the prowess of clans by the award of charters for land in order to gain support in the national cause against the English.[26] For example, the Clan MacDonald were elevated above the Clan MacDougall, two clans who shared a common descent from a great Norse-Gaelic warlord named Somerled of the 12th century.[26] Clanship was thus not only a strong tie of local kinship but also of feudalism to the Scottish Crown. It is this feudal component, reinforced by Scots law, that separates Scottish clanship from the tribalism that was found in Ancient Europe or the one that is still found in the Middle East and among aboriginal groups in Australasia, Africa, and the Americas.[26]
Civil wars and Jacobitism
During the 1638 to 1651
When
When James was deposed in the November 1688
Highland involvement in the
In 1745, the majority of clan leaders advised
Enough were persuaded, but the choice was rarely simple; Donald Cameron of Lochiel committed himself only after he was provided "security for the full value of his estate should the rising prove abortive," while MacLeod and Sleat helped Charles escape after Culloden.[34]
Collapse of the clan system
In 1493, James IV confiscated the Lordship of the Isles from the MacDonalds. This destabilised the region, while links between the Scottish MacDonalds and Irish MacDonnells meant unrest in one country often spilled into the other.[35] James VI took various measures to deal with the resulting instability, including the 1587 'Slaughter under trust' law, later used in the 1692 Glencoe Massacre. To prevent endemic feuding, it required disputes to be settled by the Crown, specifically murder committed in 'cold-blood', once articles of surrender had been agreed, or hospitality accepted.[36] Its first recorded use was in 1588, when Lachlan Maclean was prosecuted for the murder of his new stepfather, John MacDonald, and 17 other members of the MacDonald wedding party.[37]
Other measures had limited impact; imposing financial sureties on landowners for the good behaviour of their tenants often failed, as many were not regarded as the clan chief. The 1603 Union of the Crowns coincided with the end of the Anglo-Irish Nine Years' War, followed by land confiscations in 1608. Previously the most Gaelic part of Ireland, the Plantation of Ulster tried to ensure stability in Western Scotland by importing Scots and English Protestants. This process was often supported by the original owners; in 1607 Sir Randall MacDonnell settled 300 Presbyterian Scots families on his land in Antrim.[38] This ended the Irish practice of using Highland gallowglass, or mercenaries.
The 1609 Statutes of Iona imposed a range of measures on clan chiefs, designed to integrate them into the Scottish landed classes. Whilst there is debate over their practical effect, they were an influential force on clan elites in the long term.[39]: 39 The Statutes obliged clan chiefs to reside in Edinburgh for a large part of the year, and have their heirs educated in the English-speaking Lowlands. Lengthy periods in Edinburgh were costly. Since the Highlands were a largely non-cash economy, this meant they shifted towards commercial exploitation of their lands, rather than managing them as part of a social system. The costs of living away from their clan lands contributed to the chronic indebtedness that was increasingly common for Highland landowners, eventually leading to the sale of many of the great Highland estates in the late 18th and early 19th century.[40]: 105–107 [41]: 1–17 [39]: 37–46, 65–73, 132
During the 18th century, in an effort to increase the income from their estates, clan chiefs started to restrict the ability of tacksmen to sublet. This meant more of the rent paid by those actually farming the land went to the landowner. The result, though, was the removal of this layer of clan society. In a process that accelerated from the 1770s onward, by the early 19th century the tacksman had become a rare component of society. Historian
The Jacobite rising of 1745 used to be described as the pivotal event in the demise in clanship. There is no doubt that the aftermath of the uprising saw savage punitive expeditions against clans that had supported the Jacobites, and legislative attempts to demolish clan culture. However, the emphasis of historians now is on the conversion of chiefs into landlords in a slow transition over a long period. The successive Jacobite rebellions, in the view of T.M. Devine, simply paused the process of change whilst the military aspects of clans regained temporary importance; the apparent surge in social change after the '45 was merely a process of catching up with the financial pressures that gave rise to landlordism.[39]: 46 The various pieces of legislation that followed Culloden included the Heritable Jurisdictions Act which extinguished the right of chiefs to hold courts and transferred this role to the judiciary. The traditional loyalties of clansmen were probably unaffected by this. There is also doubt about any real effect from the banning of Highland dress (which was repealed in 1782 anyway).[39]: 57–60
The Highland Clearances saw further actions by clan chiefs to raise more money from their lands. In the first phase of clearance, when agricultural improvement was introduced, many of the peasant farmers were evicted and resettled in newly created crofting communities, usually in coastal areas. The small size of the crofts were intended to force the tenants to work in other industries, such as fishing or the kelp industry. With a shortage of work, the numbers of Highlanders who became seasonal migrants to the Lowlands increased. This gave an advantage in speaking English, as the "language of work". It was found that when the Gaelic Schools Society started teaching basic literacy in Gaelic in the early decades of the 19th century, there was an increase in literacy in English. This paradox may be explained by the annual report of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) in 1829, which stated: "so ignorant are the parents that it is difficult to convince them that it can be any benefit to their children to learn Gaelic, though they are all anxious ... to have them taught English".[41]: 110–117
The second phase of the Highland clearances affected overpopulated crofting communities which were no longer able to support themselves due to famine and/or collapse of the industries on which they relied. "Assisted passages" were provided to destitute tenants by landlords who found this cheaper than continued cycles of famine relief to those in substantial rent arrears. This applied particularly to the Western Highlands and the Hebrides. Many Highland estates were no longer owned by clan chiefs,[a] but landlords of both the new and old type encouraged the emigration of destitute tenants to Canada and, later, to Australia.[44]: 370–371 [39]: 354–355 The clearances were followed by a period of even greater emigration, which continued (with a brief lull for the First World War) up to the start of the Great Depression.[39]: 2
Romantic memory
Most of the anti-clan legislation was repealed by the end of the eighteenth century as the Jacobite threat subsided, with the
Clan symbols
The revival of interest, and demand for clan ancestry, has led to the production of lists and maps covering the whole of Scotland giving clan names and showing territories, sometimes with the appropriate tartans. While some lists and clan maps confine their area to the Highlands, others also show Lowland clans or families. Territorial areas and allegiances changed over time, and there are also differing decisions on which (smaller) clans and families should be omitted (some alternative online sources are listed in the External links section below).
This list of clans contains clans registered with the
Tartan
Tartans were traditionally associated with the Highland Clans and following the end of the Dress Act of 1746 banning tartans from being worn by men and boys, "district then clan tartans" have been an important part of Scottish clans. Almost all Scottish clans have more than one tartan attributed to their surname. Although there are no rules on who can or cannot wear a particular tartan, and it is possible for anyone to create a tartan and name it almost any name they wish, the only person with the authority to make a clan's tartan "official" is the chief.[52] In some cases, following such recognition from the clan chief, the clan tartan is recorded and registered by the Lord Lyon. Once approved by the Lord Lyon, after recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Tartan, the clan tartan is then recorded in the Lyon Court Books.[53] In at least one instance a clan tartan appears in the heraldry of a clan chief and the Lord Lyon considers it to be the "proper" tartan of the clan.[b]
Originally, there appears to have been no association of tartans with specific clans; instead, highland tartans were produced to various designs by local weavers and any identification was purely regional, but the idea of a clan-specific tartan gained currency in the late 18th century and in 1815 the Highland Society of London began the naming of clan-specific tartans. Many clan tartans derive from a 19th-century hoax known as the Vestiarium Scoticum. The Vestiarium was composed by the "Sobieski Stuarts", who passed it off as a reproduction of an ancient manuscript of clan tartans. It has since been proven a forgery, but despite this, the designs are still highly regarded and they continue to serve their purpose to identify the clan in question.
Crest badge
A sign of allegiance to the clan chief is the wearing of a crest badge. The crest badge suitable for a clansman or clanswoman consists of the chief's
Clan badge
Clan badges are another means of showing one's allegiance to a Scottish clan. These badges, sometimes called plant badges, consist of a sprig of a particular plant. They are usually worn in a bonnet behind the Scottish crest badge; they can also be attached at the shoulder of a lady's tartan
See also
- Armigerous clan
- Chief of the name
- Clan seat
- Clan
- Feud
- Gaels
- Gàidhealtachd
- Highland Clearances
- History of Scotland
- Irish clans
- List of Scottish clans
- Lord Lyon
- Scotia
- Scoto-Normans
- Scottish clan chief
- Scottish Gaelic
- Scottish names
- Scottish Heraldry
- Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs
- Statutes of Iona
Notes
- ^ In Devine's study of the Highland Potato Famine, he states that, in 1846, of the 86 landowners in the famine-affected region, at least 62 (i.e. 70%) were "new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800".[43]: 93–94
- ^ The crest of the chief of Clan MacLennan is A demi-piper all Proper, garbed in the proper tartan of the Clan Maclennan.[54]
References
- ISBN 9780199234820.
- ^ Mollison, Hazel (27 July 2009). "The Gathering is hailed big success after 50,000 flock to Holyrood Park". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Surnames: Clan-based surnames". Scotland's People. National Records of Scotland. 2018. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ ISBN 0-7486-1393-5.
- ^ DeBrohun, Diana (23 February 2020). "Were my Ancestors Part of a Scottish Clan?". Scottish American Insider. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
- ISBN 9780199234820.
- ^ a b Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 28.
- ^ Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 29.
- ^ Agnew of Lochnaw, Sir Crispin, Bt (13 August 2001). "Clans, Families and Septs". ElectricScotland.com. Retrieved 18 November 2013.)
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ "What is a clan?". Lyon-Court.com. Court of the Lord Lyon. Archived from the original on 17 January 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
- ^ a b "Who is a member of a clan?". Lyon-Court.com. Court of the Lord Lyon. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
- ^ a b Court of the Lord Lyon. "Information Leaflet No. 2". Retrieved 25 April 2009 – via ElectricScotland.com.
- ^ "John MacLeod of MacLeod". The Independent. London. 17 March 2007. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011.
- ^ Innes of Learney (1971): pp. 55–57.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 14.
- ^ a b c d e f Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 15.
- ^ "The Importance of Clan Gatherings in Scottish Culture". CLAN.com. 29 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ a b Way of Plean; Squire (1994): pp. 15–16.
- ^ Way of Plean; Squire (1994): pp. 15–16 .
- ^ a b c d Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 16.
- ^ Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 16 .
- ^ Way of Plean; Squire (1994): pp. 16–17.
- ^ a b c d e f g Way of Plean; Squire (1994): p. 17.
- ISBN 9780007551798.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-1110-2..
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Way of Plean; Squire (1994): pp. 13–14.
- ^ Royle 2004, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Lenihan 2001, p. 65.
- ^ Mackie, Lenman, Parker (1986): pp. 237–238.
- ^ Lenman 1995, p. 44.
- ^ McLynn 1982, pp. 97–133.
- ^ Riding 2016, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Pittock 2004.
- ^ Riding 2016, pp. 465–467.
- ^ Lang 1912, pp. 284–286.
- ^ Harris 2015, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Levine 1999, p. 129.
- ^ Elliott 2000, p. 88.
- ^ ISBN 978-0241304105.
- ISBN 0-7486-1034-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7190-9076-9.
- ISBN 978-1-78027-165-1.
- ISBN 1-904607-42-X.
- ISBN 9780712698931.
- ^ Roberts (2002) pp. 193–5.
- ^ a b Sievers (2007), pp. 22–5.
- ^ Morère (2004), pp. 75–6.
- ^ Ferguson (1998), p. 227.
- ^ Buchan (2003), p. 163.
- ^ Calloway (2008), p. 242.
- ^ Milne (2010), p. 138.
- ^ "Tartans". Lyon-Court.com. Court of the Lord Lyon. Archived from the original on 14 January 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
- ^ Campbell of Airds (2000): pp. 259–261.
- ^ Way of Plean; Squire (2000): p. 214.
- ^ "Crests". Lyon-Court.com. Court of the Lord Lyon. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
- ^ "The History of Arms". Lyon-Court.com. Court of the Lord Lyon. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
- ^ Adam; Innes of Learney (1970)
- ^ Campbell of Airds (2002): pp. 289–290.
- ^ Moncreiffe of that Ilk (1967): p. 20.
- ^ Adam; Innes of Learney (1970): pp. 541–543
Sources
- Adam, Frank; Innes of Learney, Thomas (1970). The Clans, Septs & Regiments of the Scottish Highlands (8th ed.). Edinburgh: Johnston and Bacon.
- Brown, Ian (2020). Performing Scottishness: Enactment and National Identities. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3030394066.
- Buchan, James (2003). Crowded with Genius. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-055888-8.
- Calloway, C. G. (2008). White People, Indians, and Highlanders: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971289-2.
- ISBN 978-1-902930-17-6.
- ISBN 978-1-902930-18-3.
- Beresford Ellis, Peter (1990). MacBeth, High King of Scotland 1040–1057. Dundonald, Belfast: Blackstaff Press. ISBN 978-0-85640-448-1.
- Elliott, Marianne (2000). The Catholics of Ulster. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0713994643.
- Ferguson, William (1998). The Identity of the Scottish Nation: an Historic Quest. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-1071-6.
- Harris, Tim (2015). Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567–1642. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0198743118.
- Innes of Learney, Thomas (1971). The Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland (8th ed.). Edinburgh: Johnston and Bacon.
- Lang, Andrew (1912). The History Of Scotland: Volume 3: From the early 17th century to the death of Dundee (2016 ed.). Jazzybee Verlag. ISBN 978-3849685645.
- Lenihan, Padraig (2001). Conquest and Resistance: War in Seventeenth-Century Ireland (History of Warfare). Brill. ISBN 978-9004117433.
- Lenman, Bruce (1995). The Jacobite Risings in Britain, 1689–1746. Scottish Cultural Press. ISBN 189821820X.
- Levine, Mark, ed. (1999). The Massacre in History (War and Genocide). Bergahn Books. ISBN 1571819355.
- Mackie, J. D.; Lenman, Bruce (1986). Parker, Geoffrey (ed.). A History of Scotland. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0880290401.
- JSTOR 41467263.
- Milne, N. C. (2010). Scottish Culture and Traditions. Paragon Publishing. ISBN 978-1-899820-79-5.
- Dawson, Deidre; Morère, Pierre (2004). Scotland and France in the Enlightenment. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-5526-6.
- Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Iain(1967). The Highland Clans. London: Barrie & Rocklif.
- Pittock, Murray (2004). "Charles Edward Stuart; styled Charles; known as the Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5145. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Riding, Jacqueline (2016). Jacobites: A New History of the 45 Rebellion. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1408819128.
- Roberts, J. L. (2002). The Jacobite Wars: Scotland and the Military Campaigns of 1715 and 1745. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-902930-29-9.
- Royle, Trevor (2004). Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660. Brown, Little. ISBN 978-0316861250.
- Sievers, Marco (2007). The Highland Myth as an Invented Tradition of 18th and 19th Century and Its Significance for the Image of Scotland. Edinburgh: GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-638-81651-9.
- ISBN 0-00-470810-5.
- ISBN 0-00-472501-8.
- ISBN 0-00-470547-5.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-7190-9076-9.
- Dodgshon, Robert A. (1998). From Chiefs to Landlords: Social and Economic Change in the Western Highlands and Islands, c. 1493–1820. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-1034-0.
- Macinnes, Allan I. (1996). Clanship, Commerce and the House of Stewart, 1603–1788. East Linton: Tuckwell Press. ISBN 1-898410-43-7.
External links
- The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs
- The Court of the Lord Lyon – the official heraldic authority of Scotland
- The Scottish Register of Tartans – official Scottish government database of tartan registrations, established in 2009
- The Scottish Tartans Authority – Scottish registered charity and the only extant private organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of tartans
- Council of Scottish Clans and Associations (COSCA, US-based)
- The Scottish Australian Heritage Council
- "Scottish Clans and Families" – clans registered with the Court of the Lord Lyon (unofficial list via the Electric Scotland website)
- "All Hail the Chiefs: The Unlikely Leaders of Scotland's Modern Clans". The Independent. 19 July 2009.[dead link]
- SkyeLander: Scottish History Online blog by Robert M. Gunn