Portal:Clans of Scotland

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The Clans of Scotland Portal

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A Scottish clan (from Gaelic clann, literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, which regulates Scottish heraldry and coats of arms. Most clans have their own tartan patterns, usually dating from the 19th century, which members may incorporate into kilts or other clothing.

The modern image of clans, each with their own tartan and specific land, was promulgated by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott after influence by others. Historically, tartan designs were associated with Lowland and Highland districts whose weavers tended to produce cloth patterns favoured in those districts. By process of social evolution, it followed that the clans/families prominent in a particular district would wear the tartan of that district, and it was but a short step for that community to become identified by it.

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.

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Clan Macqueen is a Highland Scottish clan and a member of the Chattan Confederation. The clan does not currently have a chief and is therefore considered an armigerous clan. (Full article...)
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Clan MacAlister is a Scottish Clan. The clan is the earliest branch to have split off from Clan Donald, claiming descent from Alasdair Mòr, son of Domhnall founder of Clan Donald. From Alasdair Mòr the clans takes its surname MacAlister; this surname is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic MacAlasdair meaning "son of Alasdair". In the 15th century the chief of the clan was seated in Kintyre, and the clan was centred there until the 18th century, when a chief sold the family estate in preference to an estate in the Scottish Lowlands. (Full article...)
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Clan Borthwick is a Scottish clan. (Full article...)
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Clan MacLeod of The Lewes, commonly known as Clan MacLeod of Lewis (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Mhic Leòid Leòdhais), is a Highland Scottish clan, which at its height held extensive lands in the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland. From the 14th century up until the beginning of the 17th century there were two branches of Macleods: the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris (Clan MacLeod); and the Macleods of the Isle of Lewis. In Gaelic the Macleods of Lewis were known as Sìol Thorcaill ("Seed of Torquil"), and the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris were known as Sìol Thormoid ("Seed of Tormod").

The traditional progenitor of the MacLeods was Leod, made a son of Olaf the Black, King of Mann and the Isles, by a now-discredited tradition. An older, more accepted tradition names his father Olvir and describes the clan as Sliochd Olbhur. Tradition gave Leod two sons, Tormod - progenitor of the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan (Sìol Thormoid); and Torquil - progenitor of the Macleods of Lewis (Sìol Thorcaill). In the 16th and early 17th centuries the chiefly line of the Clan Macleod of The Lewes was nearly extinguished by the bloodthirsty and power hungry chief "Old Rory" and his various offspring. This feuding directly led to the fall of the clan, and loss of its lands to the Clan Mackenzie. One line of the 16th century chiefly family, the Macleods of Raasay, survived and prospered on their lands for centuries thereafter. The current chief of Lewis descends from this latter family. (Full article...)
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Clan Cumming (Scottish Gaelic: Na Cuimeinich [nə ˈkʰɯ̃mɛnɪç]), historically known as Clan Comyn, is a Scottish clan from the central Highlands that played a major role in the history of 13th-century Scotland and in the Wars of Scottish Independence. The Clan Comyn was once the most powerful family in 13th-century Scotland, until they were defeated in civil war by their rival to the Scottish throne, Robert the Bruce. (Full article...)
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Clan Johnstone is a Border Reiver Scottish clan. (Full article...)
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Clan Ross (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Anndrais [ˈkʰl̪ˠãũn̪ˠ ˈan̪ˠt̪ɾɪʃ]) is a Highland Scottish clan. The original chiefs of the clan were the original Earls of Ross. (Full article...)
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Clan Carnegie is a Lowland Scottish clan. (Full article...)
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Clan MacThomas is a Highland Scottish clan and is a member of the Clan Chattan Confederation. (Full article...)
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Clan Cameron is a West Highland Scottish clan, with one main branch Lochiel, and numerous cadet branches. The Clan Cameron lands are in Lochaber, and within their lands lies Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles. The Chief of the clan is customarily referred to as simply "Lochiel". (Full article...)
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Clan Pollock is an armigerous Scottish clan whose origin lies in a grant of land on the southern bank of the River Clyde, courtesy of King David I, to the sons of Fulbert from Walter fitz Alan, the 1st High Steward of Scotland, in the 12th century. It is among the oldest recorded surnames in Scotland. The clan is a sept of Clan Maxwell. (Full article...)
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Clan Agnew (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Mac a' Ghnìomhaid) is a Scottish clan from Galloway in the Scottish Lowlands. (Full article...)
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Clan Leslie is a Lowland Scottish clan. The progenitor of the Clan, Bartolf, was a nobleman from Hungary, who came to Scotland in 1067. He built a castle at Lesselyn, from which the clan name derives. (Full article...)
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Clan Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: Brùs) is a Lowlands Scottish clan. It was a royal house in the 14th century, producing two kings of Scotland (Robert the Bruce and David II), and a disputed High King of Ireland, Edward Bruce. (Full article...)
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Clan Wood is a Lowland Scottish clan from North Esk, Largo Bay and Angus in Scotland. (Full article...)

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Christina of the Isles (fl. 1290–1318) was a fourteenth-century Scottish noblewoman. She was daughter of Ailéan mac Ruaidhrí, and a leading member of Clann Ruaidhrí. Although Ailéan had two sons, Lachlann and Ruaidhrí, both appear to have been illegitimate, whereas Christina was legitimate, and possibly a daughter of Ailéan's wife, Isabella. A fourteenth-century source states that Christina assisted Robert I, King of Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence, when he was a fugitive and hunted by the forces of Edward I, King of England. Christina's support of the Bruce cause may have stemmed from her marriage to Donnchadh, a member of the comital kindred of Mar, a family closely related to the Bruces.

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Did you know?

...that the last chief of Clan MacQuarrie sold off his clan lands in Scotland and joined the British Army, at age 68, and fought in the American Revolutionary War?
... that King James IV of Scotland once used Mingary Castle as a stronghold for fighting off clan Donald in the late 15th century?
...that tradition traces Clan Drummond, a Scottish clan from Stirlingshire, to Hungarian origins?
... that in 1747, Aulay Macaulay, the last chief of Clan MacAulay, invented a system of shorthand in an unsuccessful attempt revive his clan's fortune?
... that the Clan Mackintosh fought against the Clan MacDonald and Clan Cameron in 1688, in what is claimed to have been the last Scottish clan battle?
... that Alexander of Islay encouraged Clan Chattan to fight the Battle of Craig Cailloch against Clan Cameron as revenge for the Camerons' defection?
... that members of Scottish clans wear a sprig of a particular plant known as a clan badge, to identify their affiliation?
...that the last chief of Clan MacQuarrie sold off his clan lands in Scotland and joined the British Army, at age 68, and fought in the American Revolutionary War?
... that the 17th chief of the Clan Maclachlan was killed by a cannonball while leading his Jacobite clansmen at the Battle of Culloden in 1746?
...that tradition traces Clan Drummond, a Scottish clan from Stirlingshire, to Hungarian origins?
...that Taillear Dubh na Tuaighe ("Black Tailor of the Axe") got his nickname after killing the rival Scottish Highlands clan chief in battle with a Lochaber axe?