A guide to the Clans and Tartans of Scotland: From Scottish Clan Information to Clan Merchandise, Handmade Kilts, Highland Outfits ... everything a true Scot should need and know.

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The Clan System (part 1)

Introduction

It is the fundamental urge of all living creatures to re-produce, to seek protection in the safety of numbers and to seek order through some form of social harmony. As human beings differ little from this, all over the world from the beginning of recorded time societies have existed, which have bound it's population together in such a way.

Whereas many Empires have been formed, flourished and died out at the hand or in the name of imperialism and dictatorship one system has remained. It is as strong today as it ever was, binding together millions across the globe, not with fanatical religious dogma but with the spirit and belonging of an extended family. One that is both socialist in principle and patriarchal in structure - the Scottish clan system.

Origins

The word 'clan' actually derives from the Gaelic form 'Clann', meaning 'children' or 'stock'. However it's meaning in Scots can be a tribe or race or can represent a family unit.

It is quite possible however that the origins of the clan system outdate even the name itself. When the Romans eventually left Britain to it's own devices Scotland was populated by five distinct races:

North of the Forth and Clyde and occupying what is considered the Highlands were the Picts, A mysterious people of which very little is known today. Settled in Strathclyde were the Britons who had spread from England along with the Saxons who occupied the southeast. The Attacotti were in Galloway and Argyll, during the 6th century the Kingdom of Dalriada was established, from here came the Scots or Scoti, the eventual inheritors of the nation.

Evidence of Tribal and territorial divisions began in Dalriada around 500 AD with Fergus Mor son of Erc. Four tribes governed the area: Cinel Gabran, Cinel Comgall (lead by Fergus) along with Cinel Lorn and Cinel Angus (lead by Fergus' brothers Lorn & Angus).

The arrival of St Columba in 563 brought more than simple Christianity (St Ninian had already established a monastery in Galloway). St Columba was a powerful and influential missionary whose work not only extinguished the druidic culture of the Picts but began the process which led to the eventual unification of Scotland.

The coronation of Kenneth MacAlpine in 843 heralded a new age for Scotland. The court was moved from Dunstaffinage in the west to the comparative safety of Scone in Perthshire.

Security was indeed an important issue, Scotland had already suffered for over 50 years from constant Norse invasions, monasteries had been destroyed and the country sustained attacks from all sides. Caithness & Sutherland, The Western Isles and parts of Northumbria were all in Norse hands; Scotland would have to wait nearly 500 years before regaining total control of its lands.

When Malcolm Ceanmore became King in 1058 after killing MacBeth a recognisable Clan system began to emerge, Malcolm was an aggressive man (the name 'Ceanmore' can be translated as 'Big Head') and a committed Anglophile. His marriage to Margaret, granddaughter to Edmund King of England brought many changes to the Scottish Court (which had now moved to Dunfermline). Questions of the ancient rights of succession were to the fore and there was conflict between the existing system of Celtic Tanistry and the English Feudal system.

Malcolm was persuaded by the Queen to adopt the latter, Gaelic was aboloished in avour of English as the language of the court and roman Catholicism was the practiced religion.

Many prominent Saxons and Normans were invited to Scotland and given lands, this angered and alienated the Celtic subjects whose desire to keep the old traditions led to them supporting his brother, Donald Ban's succession after his death in 1093. The resulting Celtic backlash led to the expulsion of many Saxon and Norman arrivals who were swiftly dispatched to either England or the afterlife!

Many powerful Clans had begun to emerge and the system was given some form of order in 1587 with a roll of the Clans. Some of the names on this roll claim to have an incredible and ancient pedigree:

Clan Donald claimed to have originated from Conn a second century King of Ulster, the Campbells were alleged to have descended from Diarmaid the boar and the MacKinnons and MacGregors with the noblest lineage of all could trace their ancestry back to King Alpin, father of Kenneth MacAlpine. However most clan names struggle to verify their heritage before the 11th century.

The power of the clans never sat easily with the authority of the crown or indeed with each other. Conflict between the clans frequently broke out right up to the 18th century and the efforts of some Kings to control their power bordered on the fanatical. The Lord of the Isles was stripped of his titles by James IV in 1493 and the efforts of King William of Orange to make these powerful Highland families swear allegiance to the crown led to the tragic and totally avoidable massacre of Glencoe.

An act of almost unparalleled barbarism, which left many - including the King with the blood of innocent men women and children on their hands, Glencoe has left an indelible mark on the Highlands today.

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