The Historical Intrigue Of The Highlands Of Scotland

The Highlands of Scotland were well written about for their wars and betrayals and it is certainly accurate that from the reign of James IV in the 1490′s existence in the Highlands was somewhat tumultuous. In 1493, James went against the strong chiefs of the MacDonald Clan and forfeited the MacDonald Lord of the Isles in favour of himself and the Campbell Clan. Therefore the Campbell’s took over as powerhouse in that time at the expense of the MacDonalds.

Issues arose not only with the MacDonalds but also with several additional Scottish clans because of this harmful power divide that the Campbells kept over all others. The Campbell were in such a position that they could buy up readily available land and charge a kind of lease upon anybody that wished to utilize the area for cows or sheep. The MacLeans were especially aggrieved Clan. As a sidenote here, the actual word Clan emanates from the Gaelic expression “clann” which actually means “children”.

It would seem this can signify any person inside a clan were strongly related however this was not the case. Only the higher echelons of the specific clan were associated with the chiefs. All others simply saw the chief as the leader rather than as a relative as such.

The actual structure of clans came from a combination of early Celtic idealism and feudal procedures, the primary point being the ownership of lands. The clan chief was the master of the lands of the clan and he had the capability to grant the land out to his fellow clans men. The position of a clan however wasn’t actually about the quantity of land that the family held but more with regards to how many males the clan may muster to fight in battle. As a result of Highlands being very militaristic they would be looked to for fighting men during the time of turmoil involving the King and his opposition. For the highland clans this became problematic since they often became embroiled in lowland politics.

When James VI came to be King however, civil war broke out. When he called on the clans to assist the Campbells decided otherwise. It was not just the Campbells who were to cause issues for James – he extirped (sent away) the clan MacGregor in 1603, and in 1609 he introduced new laws in to force which limited all clan chiefs from utilizing and abusing their earlier powers.

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