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The Highlanders of Scotland : Their Origin, History, and Antiquities : With 0^. M^ «?; THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND. VOL. I. G. WOODFALL, angel court, skinner street, london. : THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND, THEIR ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND ANTIQUITIES; WITH A SKETCH OF THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE CLANS INTO WHICH THEY WERE DlVIDi:!}, AND OF THE STATE OF SOCIETY WHICH EXISTED AMONG THEM. PA WILLIAM F. SKENE, F.S.A. Scot. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXVII. '^ 4 APHJ TO THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF LONDON, WHICH IS PUBLISHED AT THEIR REQUEST, IS (with their permission) RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THEIR OBEDIENT, HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PKEFACE. " Heureux le peuple dont Vhisioire enniiie^'' say the French, and if this be a just criterion of national prosperity, it must be confessed that the High- landers of Scotland have no mean claim to be considered as one of the happiest people in Europe. Just as this remark may be with regard to Higli- land history, it would not be easy to assign a reason for it, still less to account for the general neglect which the history of that people has experienced, in an age when the early annals of almost every nation have been examined, and their true origin and his- tory determined, with a talent and success to which no other period can show a parallel. The cause of this somewhat remarkable fact may, perhaps, be traced to the influence of that extraor- dinary prejudice against the Celtic race in general, and against the Scottish and Irish branches of that race in particular, which certainly biased the better judgment of our best historians, who appear to have regarded the Highlands with somewhat of the spirit of those who said of old, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth." But it is mainly to be attributed to the neglect, by the indiscreet supporters of High- land fables, of that strictly critical accuracy, in point of evidence and of reasoning, so indispensable to the value of historical research ; the want of which infal- libly leads to the loose style of argument and vague assumption so remarkably characteristic of that class of writers, and tends unfortunately to draw down upon the subject itself no small share of that ridicule to which the authors were more justly liable. The prevailing error which appears to me to have misled almost all who have as yet written upon the subject, has been the gratuitous assumption, not only by those whose writings are directed against the claims of the Highlanders, but also by their numerous de- fenders, that the ])resent Highlanders are the de- scendants of the ancient Scotti, who, in company with the Picti, so often ravaged the Roman provinces in Britain. Nor have either party deemed it neces- sary to bring either argument or authority in sup- port of their assumption. The Scots, as will be shewn in the sequel, were unquestionably a colony issuing from Ireland in the sixth century ; and thus, while the one party triumphantly asserts the Irish origin of the Highlanders, their defenders have hitherto directed their efforts to the fruitless attempt of proving that the Scots were the original inhabit- ants of the country. The attention of the Author was directed to this subject by an advertisement of the Highland Society of London, making offer of a premimn for the best ; History of the Highland Clans ; his Essay proved the successful one, and the Highland Society deemed his Work worthy of the attention of the public, and requested that it might be published. Since that period the Author has been enabled to make many important additions to the original Essay, and has considerably altered its plan and an-angement. In collecting the materials of the present Work, the Author has to acknowledge the very liberal assistance which he has received from many of his literary firiends in Scotland; and he feels that it would be improper to allow this opportunity to escape without acknowledging the very great obligations which he has been laid under by Donald Gregory, Esq., Secre- tary to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, for the valuable and important communications which he has at all times so liberally made to the Author; and also by Mr. T. G. Repp, for the able assistance which he has rendered to the Author in the earlier part of his enquiry. In presenting this Work to the public it will be necessary to say a few words regarding the system of history developed in it. A glance at the Table of Contents will shev.' that that system is entirely new that it is diametrically opposed to all the generally received opinions on the subject, and that it is in itself of a nature so startling, as to require a very rigid and attentive examination before it can be received. The Author had, from a very early period, been convinced that the present system was en-o- neous, and that there was in it some fundamental error, which prev^ented the elucidation of the truth. Accordingly, after a long and attentive examination of the early authorities in Scottish history, together with a thorough investigation of two new and most valuable sources,— viz., the Icelandic Sagas in their original language and the Irish Annals,—he came to the conclusion, that that fundamental error was the supposed descent of the Highlanders from the Dal- riadic Scots, and that the Scottish conquest in the ninth century did not include the Highlands. Pro- ceeding upon this basis, the system of history deve- loped in the following pages naturally emerged ; and in it will be found the fii'st attempt to trace the High- landers, and to prove their descent, step by step, fi'om the Caledonians,^— an attempt which the incon- trovertible Irish origin of the Dalriadic Scots has hitherto rendered altogether unsuccessful. The Au- thor is aware that to many this system may appear wild and visionary, but he feels confident that a perusal of the chain of reasoning contained in the first few chapters, \Yi\\ be sufficient to satisfy any unprejudiced enquirer that the true origin of the Highlanders is therein ascertained, and that their descent from the Caledonians rests upon historic authority of no ordinary strength. The same re- marks which apply generally to the origin of the Highlanders, are true also with regard to the High- land clans ; the descent of each of these has been traced and proved from the most authentic docu- ments, while the absurdity of the Irish origins of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as the Scandinavian dreams of later historians, have been shewn. With these remarks, the Author leaves his Work to the judgment of the public, and he may conclude with the words of a celebrated foreign historian, " There can be no greater enjoyment to the inqui- sitive mind than to find light where he has hitherto found nothing but darkness. More than once I have experienced this agreeable sensation in the progress of the present investigation, and I may venture with the more confidence to deliver this Work from my hands to the reader, because happily I can safely assert, that much which formerly appeared to him only in doubtful and obscure gloom, will now be seen in the full and clear light of day." CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. PART I. THE HIGHLANDS. CHAPTER I. Page The original Colonization of Britain —The Picts and Ca- ledonians proved to be the same People. —The Dalriadic Scots an Irish Colony of the Sixth Century 1 CHAPTER II. The State of the Scottish Tribes in the year 731 — Their Territories — Internal Condition—Principles of Succes- sion. — Government 21 CHAPTER III. The Scottish Conquest.—Its effects did not extend to the Northern Picts, but were confined exclusively to the Southern Picts, or Picts inhabiting the Lowlands.—The Northern Picts were altogether unaffected by that Con- quest, and remained in some degree independent of the Scottish dynasty, which then began to rule over the greater part of Scotland 46 CHAPTER IV. The Northern Picts called themselves Gael, spoke the Gaelic language, and were the real ancestors of the mo- dern Highlanders 67 — XIV CONTENTS OF VOLUME I, CHAPTER V. Page General History of the Highlands from the first Norwegian invasion of that district to the accession of Malcolm Ken- more, and to the termination of the Norwegian kingdom of the Highlands and Islands 88 CHAPTER VI. General History of the Highlands, from the accession of Malcolm Kenmore to the termination of the history of the Highlanders as a peculiar and distinct people, in the abo- lition of heritable jurisdictions and the introduction of sheep farming 120 CHAPTER VII. Constitution and Laws of the Highlanders.— Clanship. Law of Succession.—Law of Marriage, and Gradation of Ranks 151 CHAPTER VIII. Religion of the Highlanders.—The Culdee Church.— Its Constitution and form of Government—Poetry— Ossian considered as an historical Poet.—New proof of his au- thenticity.— Music 181 CHAPTER IX. The Highland Dress.— Three Varieties of Dress worn pre- vious to the Seventeenth Century ; and their Antiquity. Arms and Armour Character of the Highlanders. 219 APPENDIX. The Seven Provinces of Scotland 243 PART I. THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND. CHAPTER I. The original Colonization of Britain The Picts and Caledo- nians proved to be the same People. —The Dalriadic Scots an Irish Colony of the Sixth Century. coioniza- The oriffiiial colonization of Britain, as ot tion of Bri- ° '^'"- most countries, is involved in considerable obscurity ; but although this obscurity arises in some degree from the distance of time to which we must look back, and the scanty materials which have come down to us, j^et much of the uncertainty which has hitherto invested the subject, and of the controversies to which that uncertainty has necessa- rily given rise, is to be attributed to the want of a proper discrimination of the authorities for the early history of Britain.
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