RIDER's blog: "SCOTTISH"

Clan Wallace is for obvious reasons, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Clan History from Scotland, because of Scotland's Hero, William Wallace, Guardian of Scotland, defender of the freedom of Scotland. This Clan has no Septs (or family members) just Wallace, this is the current Chief's decison. Gaelic Name: Uallas Branches: Wallace of Cairnhill, Wallace of Cessnock, Wallace of Craigie, Wallace of Ellerslie (that's me), Wallace of Kelly, Wallace of Riccarton. Arms: Gules, a lion rampant Argent within a bordure counter-compony of the Last and Azure. Motto: Pro Libertate (For Liberty) Badge: : Issuant from a crest coronet of four (three visible) strawberry leaves Or, a dexter arm vambraced, the hand brandishing a sword all Proper. Lands: Ayrshire and Renfrewshire Origin of Name: From Volcae, a tribe in North Gaul In old Latin documents the term Walensis is used to designate the Welsh, but in Scotland is more commonly used as a native name meaning a Strathclyde Briton and not, as is often thought, a Welshman coming in the train of the Norman French. It is from this Walensis that the name Wallace is derived. In the second half of the 12th century a man named Richard, defined as a Wallace, obtained lands in Ayrshire, which belongs to the former Kingdom of Strathclyde. His property was called Richardston, now Riccarton; and his great-grandson, Sir Malcolm Wallace, received the lands of Elderslie in Renfrewshire. Such was the background of Malcolm's son William, who was to evoke a national spirit which united so many disparate peoples and to earn his place as Scotland's greatest patriot. The Clan Wallace did not descend from Sir William Wallace but from the Riccarton Branch.

The Declaration of Arbroath
6th April 1320 A.D.

To the most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord John, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons Duncan, Earl of Fife, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Man and of Annandale, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, William, Earl of Ross, Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, and William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Steward of Scotland, William Soules, Butler of Scotland, James, Lord of Douglas, Roger Mowbray, David, Lord of Brechin, David Graham, Ingram Umfraville, John Menteith, guardian of the earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay Constable of Scotland, Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Henry St Clair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton,William Abernethy, David Wemyss, William Mushet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsay, William Mowat, Alan Murray, Donald Campbell, John Cameron, Reginald Cheyne, Alexander Seton, Andrew Leslie, and Alexander Straiton, and the other barons and freeholders and the whole community of the realm of Scotland send all manner of filial reverence, with devout kisses of his blessed feet.
Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today. The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and, even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken a single foreigner.
The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles -- by calling, though second or third in rank -- the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter's brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever.
The Most Holy Fathers your predecessors gave careful heed to these things and bestowed many favours and numerous privileges on this same kingdom and people, as being the special charge of the Blessed Peter's brother. Thus ournation under their protection did indeed live in freedom and peace up to the time when that mighty prince the King of the English, Edward, the father of the one who reigns today, when our kingdom had no head and our people harboured no malice or treachery and were then unused to wars or invasions,came in the guise of a friend and ally to harass them as an enemy. The deeds of cruelty, massacre, violence, pillage, arson, imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, robbing and killing monks and nuns, and yet other outrages without number which he committed against our people, sparing neither age nor sex, religion nor rank, no one could describe nor fully imagine unless he had seen them with his own eyes. But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Macabaeus or Joshua and bore them cheerfully. Him, too,divine providence, his right of succession according to or laws and customs which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and assent of us all have made our Prince and King. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound both by law and by his merits that our freedom may be still maintained, and by him, come what may, we mean to stand. Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone,which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
Therefore it is, Reverend Father and Lord, that we beseech your Holiness with our most earnest prayers and suppliant hearts, inasmuch as you will in your sincerity and goodness consider all this, that, since with Him Whosevice-gerent on earth you are there is neither weighing nor distinction of Jew and Greek, Scotsman or Englishman, you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and privation brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition, that we can, to win peace for ourselves.
This truly concerns you, Holy Father, since you see the savagery of the heathen raging against the Christians, as the sins of Christians have indeed deserved, and the frontiers of Christendom being pressed inward every day; and how much it will tarnish your Holiness's memory if (which God forbid) the Church suffers eclipse or scandal in any branch of it during your time, you must perceive. Then rouse the Christian princes who for false reasons pretend that they cannot go to help of the Holy Land because of wars they have on hand with their neighbours. The real reason that prevents them is that in making war on their smaller neighbours they find quicker profit and weaker resistance. But how cheerfully our Lord the King and we too would go there if the King of the English would leave us in peace, He from Whom nothing is hidden well knows; and we profess and declare it to you as the Vicar of Christ and to all Christendom.
But your Holiness puts too much faith in the tales the English tell and will not give sincere belief to all this, nor refrain from favouring them to our prejudice, then the slaughter of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the other misfortunes that will follow, inflicted by them on us and by us on them, will, we believe, be surely laid by the Most High to your charge.
To conclude, we are and shall ever be, as far as duty calls us, ready to do your will in all things, as obedient sons to you as His Vicar; and to Him as the Supreme King and Judge we commit the maintenance of our cause, csating our cares upon Him and firmly trusting that He will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to nought. May the Most High preserve you to his Holy Church in holiness and health and grant you length of days. Given at the monastery of Arbroath in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April in the year of grace thirteen hundred and twenty and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid.
Endorsed: Letter directed to our Lord the Supreme Pontiff by the community of Scotland.
Additional names written on some of the seal tags: Alexander Lamberton, Edward Keith, John Inchmartin, Thomas Menzies, John Durrant, Thomas Morham (and one illegible)

From Ancient Times to 1600 — léine and brat
The Highland Scots emigrated from Ireland around 375 ce. They displaced the native Picts and made the Highlands their own. From their native land, they brought Irish dress. This consisted of a léine [LAY-na] and a brat. Léine is the modern Irish word for shirt. In antiquity, the léine was similar to a linen undertunic, although silk is occasionally mentioned. It was usually white or unbleached, often decorated with red or gold embroidery at the neck and cuffs, and sometimes hooded as well. A woman wore it long; a man’s léine ended at his knees. In the earliest times, the léine probably had no shape at all. However, in the Norman era, it gained definition in the waist and by the Elizabethan age, it had become a full pleated smock made from at least 7 yards of fabric. It was always made of linen and its colour was invariably yellow. The English referred to it as the "saffron shirt" and in 1537 Henry VIII banned its use in Ireland (saffron was, and still is, a very expensive spice; its use as a dye was a luxury reserved for nobility, not the common Irish). By this time, the léine had also developed long, training sleeves. It has been pictured as long and flowing, the length hitched up over a belt. Other depictions, particularly in Ulster and the islands nearest Scotland, portray it to reach only to mid-thigh, with wide sleeves and an elaborately pleated skirt like a short kilt. However, it was never made of wool or plaid material. Sometimes trews were worn underneath and a short jacket on top. The brat is a rectangular piece of cloth thrown around the body and fastened on the breast or shoulder by a brooch. Both men and women wore them. The brat could be wrapped around the shoulders or looped under the sword arm for better maneuverability. Brats were worn in varying lengths depending upon the occasion and the rank of the wearer. Some tales speak of the Queen's brat dragging on the ground behind her chariot. They were also worn in a good many colours, “variegated” and “many-coloured” being mentioned in the ancient tales. Because the number of colours one could wear was restricted by one’s rank, a many-coloured brat was a sure sign of nobility. In the Táin Bo Culaigne, King Conor Mac Nessa of Ulster’s costume is described: “He wore a crimson, deep-bordered, five-folding tunic; a gold pin in the tunic over his bosom; and a brilliant white shirt, interwoven with thread of red gold, next to his white skin.” “Five-folding” has also been rendered as “wrapped five times.” The Irish word used here, “filleadh” is also used in the word for kilt, “filleadh beag.”
At this point, it would help to define a few terms in their original usage. The word “plaid” does not mean in Gaelic what it does is English. Plaide in Gaelic means a blanket. In some Middle English quotations, plaid is used as a verb, meaning "to pleat.” Therefore, a “plaid” refers to a blanket or something that is pleated, not the striped material associated with the Highland Scots. The Gaelic word for plaid as we know it is breacán. This can mean speckled, dappled, striped and spotted as well as “plaid.” The second word we must define is “tartan.” This also does not refer in any way to a colour or pattern. Tartan, from the French “tiretaine,” indicates a kind of cloth irrespective of its colour and it is taken to mean a type of light wool. Tartan also referred to a silk/wool blend. To distinguish between the old uses of these words and the modern uses, these words will appear in italics when the old use is intended.
The Léine Changes
Scottish literature does not make much mention of Scottish Highland dress before 1600. The most common statement is that they were “dressed in the Irish style”: probably in a léine and brat. The lack of any reference to differences between Scottish and Irish dress implies that there were none. H. F. McClintock, in his great source work Old Irish and Highland Dress, lists a number of quotes in which Highland clothes are mentioned. The earliest reference is from Magnus Berfaet’s Saga in 1093. This quote mentions that men wore short tunics with an upper garment and went barelegged. This can be taken to be the same shirt and mantle (léine and brat) combination mentioned above. Later quotes further elucidate this. However, the léine seems to be quite different from the contourless tunic we saw earlier. In the sixteenth century, the léine is in variably dyed with saffron and made from no less than 7 yards of linen. For further information, see "Man's Léine".
John Major’s History of Greater Scotland (1521) describes the “Wild Scots” (Highland Scots) as “from the middle of the thigh to the foot they have no covering for the leg, clothing themselves with a mantle instead of an upper garment and a shirt dyed with saffron.” Sound familiar?
The Lord High Treasurer’s account of materials for a Highland dress made for King James V in 1538 lists a vari-coloured velvet short jacket with green lining, a pair of tartan trews, two or more long shirts sewn with silk and ornamented with ribbons to the wrists. There is no mention made of any kind of plaid as we know it.
Jean de Beagué (1556) in L’histoire de la Guerre d’Écosse (The History of the Scottish War) says of certain Highlanders present at the French siege of Haddington in 1549: “They wear no clothes except their dyed shirts and a sort of light woolen rug of several colours.”
Lindsay of Pitscottie in 1573 wrote: “They be clothed with ane mantle, with ane schirt saffroned after the Irish manner, going barelegged to the knee.”
An illustration by Lucas de Heere, circa 1577, raises some curious questions about pre-17th century Highland Dress. The original watercolour print has been lost, but a reprint of it resides in the Library of Ghent University and in the British Museum. Unfortunately, the reprint is in black and white and the original colour information is not know.
Why would someone tamper with a historical drawing? The Victorians, in particular, had no porblem with amending archeological evidence to suit their purposes. In many cases, "shirts" have been drawn on pictures of topless aboriginal women and "skirts" have been placed over the loins of naked men. In this case, it is the latter.
In Rome, Bishop Lesley published a treatise on things Scottish in 1578. He says: “All, both nobles and common people, wore mantles of one sort (except that the nobles preferred those of several colours). These were long and flowing, but capable of being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds. I am inclined to believe that they were the same as those to which the ancients gave the name of bracchæ. Wrapped up in these for their only covering, they would sleep comfortably. They had also shaggy rugs, such as the Irish use at the present day, some fitted for a journey, others to be placed on a bed. The rest of their garments consisted of a short woollen jacket, with the sleeves open below for the convenience of throwing their darts, and a covering for the thighs of the simplest kind, more for decency that for show or defence against cold. They made also of linen very large shirts, with numerous folds and wide sleeves, which flowed abroad loosely to their knees. These the rich coloured with saffron and others smeared with some grease to preserve them longer clean among the toils and exercises of a camp, which they held it of the highest consequence to practice continually. In the manufacture of these, ornament and a certain attention to taste were not altogether neglected, and they joined the different parts of their shirts very neatly with silk thread, chiefly or a red or green colour.”
Early Scots hunting in the Mountains of Scotland. From Holinshed's Chronicle, 1577.
In James Aikman’s 1827 translation of George Buchanan’s 1581 History of Scotland: “They delight in variegated garments, especially stripes, and their favourite colours are purple and blue. Their ancestors wore plaids of many colours, and numbers still retain this custom but the majority now in their dress prefer a dark brown, imitating nearly the leaves of the heather, that when lying upon the heath in the day, they may not be discovered by the appearance of their clothes; in these wrapped rather than covered, they brave the severest storms in the open air, and sometimes lay themselves down to sleep even in the midst of snow.” Nicolay D’Arfeville, the cosmographer to the King of France, published a volume in 1583 called The Islands and Kingdom of Scotland. “[The ‘wild’ (Scots)] wear like the Irish a large and full shirt, coloured with saffron, and over this a garment hanging to the knee, of coarse wool, after the fashion of a cassock, they go bareheaded, and let their hair grow very long, and wear neither hose nor shoes, except some who have boots made in an old-fashioned way, which come as high as their knees.”
Therefore, Irish and Scottish dress would be nearly indistinguishable before 1600. Regional differences may have existed, but no documentation attests to what they were. In fact, many writers and painters mistakenly labeled their subjects “Irish” when they were really Highland Scots, and vice versa.

The Gaelic word for children is more accurately translated as family in the sense in which the word Clan became accepted in the Scottish Highlands during the 13th century. A Clan is a social group whose core comprises a number of families derived from, or accepted as being derived from, a common ancestor. Almost without exception, that core is accompanied by a further number of dependent and associated families who have either sought the protection of the Clan at some point in history or have been tenants or vassals of its Chief. That Chief is owed allegiance by all members of the Clan, but ancient tradition nevertheless states that the Clan is above the Chief. Although Gaelic has been supplanted by English in the Lowlands of Scotland for nearly a thousand years, it is an acceptable convention to refer to the great Lowland families, like the Douglases, as Clans although the heads of certain families, such as Bruce, prefer not to use the term.
Allegiance was generally given to a father's Clan, but Celtic tradition includes a strong element of descent through, and loyalty to, a mother's line. In reality, the chief of a Clan would ingather any stranger, of whatever family, who possessed suitable skills, maintained his allegiance and, if required, adopted the Clan surname.

The Do's and Don'ts of Wearing a Kilt

Men who plan to wear the kilt should recognize that a kilted man inevitably attracts admiring spectators drawn like moths to a sporran, or termites to a caber. These admirers, who often given to calling out endearments like "Kiltie, kiltie cauld bum, cannae keep a warm one...," or "Donald, where's yer troosers...," see a kilted Scot as an adventurer who walks the thin line between Presbyterian and prurient, between bard and barbarian, between traditon and tramp. They hope to glimpse, even fleetingly, that element which separates our kilted clansmen from trousered trash. However, to avoid inadvertently offending the delicate sensibilities of spectators (and some are more delicate than others), men should observe the following rules of kilt etiquette.
Walk, do not run, for the departing trains, supermarket blue-light specials, or last calls in the pub. If you must walk quickly, then keep both hands on your sporran. If your sporran is up around your neck, you're walking much too quickly.
Do not go upstairs, especially in a double-decker bus, a lighthouse, or Sir Walter Scott's monuments. Likewise, you should avoid opening balconies and glass-fronted elevators. Niether should you go downstairs. If you find yourself upstairs, make sure all of the spectators have left the premises before you descend.
Do not stoop, crouch, or squat to pick up anything from the floor. Have a friend pick up the object for you. If your friends wil not oblige, kick the object to a secluded area before you retrieve it. If you have no friends, then stooping, crouching, or squatting in a kilt may only worsen your lonely condition.
Do not wear shiny new wellies. Dull them a little (perhaps with mud or mince). Or wear spats with your wellies and establish your credentials as the fashion trend-setter you are.
Do not stand at the edge of reflective pools, unrippled ponds, or mirror-like puddles. And, on those formal events when you must wear silver-buckled shoes, do not stand still for longer than five seconds at a time. Dance instead.
Dance nothing more than a boisterous waltz. Reserve wild reels, jigs, and flings for family gatherings where your identity needs no further elaboration, or for those occasions when your anonymity is assured. Limbo dancing in a kilt at any time definately breaches kilt etiquette.
Respond only with an enigmatic smile to any questions about what is worn under your kilt. Avoid responding with the cliche "Nothing is worn under my kilt. Everything is in working order." Similarly, do not offer any demonstrations of what is worn under your kilt. And an offer such as "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" can be misconstrued as the opening salvo in an ever-escalating series of challenges and exhibitions that might be illegal in public places, even between consenting adults.
Shaving your legs is unnecessary. However, hirsute highlanders who elect to wax the hair from their legs and not just the knee area displayed between kilt and hose. These false economies only contribute to the myth of the cheap Scot. Also, it's considered bad taste to suggest private viewings of your "kilt-line".
Do not sit with one leg crossed over the other. This position requires you to uncross your legs later, a tricky manoeuver mastered by only a select few after years of training. Always sit with your knees no more than six inches apart, thus creating enough shadow for mystery and discretion. Avoid soft recliners and rocking chairs where the sitter's knees may move above shoulder level.

by Colin Wallace