The clans lived by the sword and perished by the sword, and the last feeble embers flickered out at the battle of Culloden in 1746.Įven though the clan system has lost the power it had over the years, people still wear the tartan of their clan, usually either a tie or a kilt, to proclaim their pride in their ancestry and in a vanished world. The clan system was already dying by the 18th century it was extraordinary that this ‘tribal’ system had survived so long. A further reminder of the massacre, the old Clachaig Inn at Glen Coe still carries the sign on its door, ‘No Campbells’. To this day the 9 of diamonds in a pack of playing cards is known as the ‘Curse of Scotland’ because the pips on the card bear some resemblance to the arms of the Master of Stair (Robert Dalrymple) who, like William III, bore the greatest responsibility for the slaughter. In the early 19 th century Mulchaich comprised two farms known as Upper and Lower Mulchaich. However, some of the clan managed to escape and report the massacre to the other clans. Some 37 MacDonalds perished, including the clan chief Alasdair MacDonald, known as MacIain. The Campbells were staying with the MacDonalds, and after a week of apparent friendship, at 5am the Campbells turned on their hosts and massacred them. The Campbells, the MacDonalds’ hereditary enemies, were approached and given the task, and told to ‘put all to the sword that were under 70’. The King became angry and Sir Robert Dalrymple of Stair recommended to him that the MacDonalds should be wiped out for their disobedience. MacDonald of Glencoe, by accident, came too late to take the oath to the King. Even today in winter Glen Coe is a bleak place, and it was here in February 1692 that 37 MacDonalds were murdered by their guests, a company of Campbell militia.Īn order had gone out to the highland chiefs from King William III that they should take an oath of allegiance to him before 1 January 1692. Glen Coe is a valley in the northern part of Bute in Strathclyde. Massacres were commonplace but the one that took place at Glen Coe in 1692 will never be forgotten. The clan system was the basis of highland life. Stories abound of jealousies, atrocities, and endless raiding of cattle, goods and women! This kind of independence led to clan feuds and the consequences were often tragic. The MacDonalds wore a sprig of heather, the Grants fir, and the Macintoshes wore holly.įor centuries the sovereign had no authority in the Highlands, and therefore, safe in their mountain fortresses, the clans escaped retribution. The clans were distinguished by the badges in their bonnets. She specialises in 18th-century Britain and its depictions onscreen. He held his territory by consent of the clan whose members were his tenants, and they gave their loyalty to the chief. Dr Madeleine Pelling is an art historian at the University of York. In the 17th century the chief of the clan was both a gentleman and a barbarian. The word “clann” comes from the Gaelic and means children, and its members claimed kinship from the common ancestor whose name they bore, and even the poorest clansman considered themselves of nobler birth than any southerner.
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