Scottish Clans

Scottish castles and Tower Houses evolved as fortified dwellings that were erected in an environment of weak royal authority and feuding between rival clans. They demonstrated a strong and highly successful design that formed the core of many larger structures. Many of them continued to be inhabited long after the threat of unwanted visitors had diminished and remain excellently preserved for visitors and historians. This book examines these castles and Tower Houses, focusing on their distinctive style that flourished in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans 1450-1650 (Fortress).

A major new narrative history of the most famous battle in Scottish history. This is to be a book about a battle, about the events that took place amidst the showers of sleet on that grim day 16th April 1746, the last pitched battle to be fought on British soil. Not only did it mark the final ruin of the Jacobite cause that had erupted sporadically since the ousting of James II of England and VII of Scotland by his son in law William of Orange in 1689 but it also witnessed the bitter death knell of the highland clans. Culloden: The Last Charge of the Highland Clans.

A guide to the surnames of Scotland. Each entry covers the history, areas of family lands, castles and tartans (ancient and modern) associated with the powerful clans of the Highlands - and the great families of the Lowlands. The author's extensive introduction puts clan development into historical context. There are 240 tartan patterns and over 70 photographs of clan and family lands and their castles in full. Additional photographs highlight famous clan personalities. The clan armorial crest illustations and the designs for the Matriculated Standards of the Clan Chiefs of Scotland are the work of the late heraldic artist, Don Pottinger. Malcolm Innes of Edingight CVO, Lord Lyon King of Arms, has contributed a foreword. The six pages of maps indicating spheres of influence of families about the turn of the 18th century were compiled by the late Sir Iain Moncreiffe and are supplemented by an extensive cross-index of sept names. Recent years have seen the revival of clan and family societies throughout the world and this book provides a comprehensive guide to all those who wish to know more about their Scottish ancestors. Scottish Clans and Family Names: Their Arms, Origins and Tartans.

The histories of over 100 Scottish clans, together with full-colour illustrations of their tartans. This Collins Gem is being reissued in flexibinding, providing the durability of a hardback with the flexibility of a paperback. The stylish new cover design will enliven this and 70 other bestselling Gems. The antiquity of tartan is amply proved by the many references to it in early Scottish literature and in the written accounts of travellers who visited Scotland several hundreds of years ago. Collins Gem Clans and Tartans is the ideal introduction to this fascinating and integral part of Scotland's turbulent history. The histories of over 100 Scottish clans, together will full-colour illustrations of their tartans The crest, motto and Gaelic name for each clan A list of clan septs A history of tartan and a map delineating the geographical distribution of the Scottish clans. Clans and Tartans (Collins GEM).

This overview of Highland society covers the period from the rise of Somerled to the first clearances. Four main themes cover the changing political relationships in the region, the composition and alliances of the clans, the changes in settlement, and the economy of the Highlands and Islands. Age of the Clans (The Making of Scotland).

The clans were united by claims of common descent from a distant ancestor and these could be Picts, Scots or even Norsemen, the peoples who roamed first millennium Scotland. The warriors of the clan, fiercely loyal to each other and to the chief, the centre of all clan life, were known for their remarkable courage and endurance, selfless loyalty and highly developed military skills. Not for nothing we they considered the best fighting men in the world. These skills in time formed the backbone of the British Armies that conquered the world, the Highland regiments. The tales collected here illustrate the drama and the dynamism of a society that lived close to nature, had little in the way of material wealth but was possessed of a tan intellectual treasure house of story and song. That tradition gives us instances of outstanding bravery and cold-hearted deceit, loyalty to the death and the eeriness of the magic and the supernatural. The Well of the Heads: Tales of the Scottish Clans.

The history of Barra and its people from the time of the Vikings to the notorious clearances of 1850/51, as revealed by archaeology and hundreds of historical documents tucked away in archives in Scotland, England, Italy and Canada. The book describes the homes and workplaces of the population from Kisimul Castle and Eoligarry House, to the blackhouses and shielings of the ordinary clansmen. It pieces together their way of life, and for the first time uses archaeology to reveal just what it was like to live in a blackhouse. There is also a special study of the township of Balnabodach, one of the most romantic settings in the whole of the Hebrides where one of the most notorious dramas of the Clearances was played out. From Clan to Clearance: History and Archaeology on the Isle of Barra C. 850-1850 AD.

From the establishment of the Kingdom of Dalriada in Argyll by Fergus Mor in AD 500, through to the forfeiture of the Lordship at the end of the 15th century, this is Scotland's history told in narrative style. The book also examines the depredations of the Vikings and the Battle of Clontarf. The Lords of the Isles: Clan Donald and the Early Kingdom of the Scots.