Sorry I'm late to this fascinating topic...

The Gordons had cavalry because they had the unique situation of being a lowland family and a Highland clan. The cavalry were raised in the lowlands. Cavalry were impractical in the Highlands due to the lack of forage crops. Natural forage was needed for cattle, and excess was was a rare commodity, geographically.

Reading through books like the Black Book, The Lairds of Grant, etc. they focus on the acquisition of land, which meant wealth in cattle, in men, and the prospect of surplus in case of crop failure. Men are dual-purpose: security in arms, and security in food. Sales of surplus black cattle provided rare cash, for necessities not home grown.

The clans were both tribal, and feudal. We don't hear much from the northern Highlands after the Viking era, because the clan chiefs were also the regional feudal lords. The "great clans" we read so much about, like the Campbells and Gordons, had chiefs who were feudal lords over many clans and lands. That provides for interesting, if bloody, history. The breakup of the lordship of the isles is the other big story.

Clan feuds, and feuds within clans, like the Clanranald feud that led to Blàr na Leine, provide most of the military history. Feudal subjugation provides much of the rest.

I hope this little lecture isn't repeating material already covered, and isn't too boring.

Not boring at all Richard, please feel free to write as much as you like on the subject.

I think I'll actually read through the topic before posting more. :idea: lol

Oh, P.S. There's a great PSAS article on pennylands, merklands, etc. I'll look for a link.

I'd also recommend reading Ross Crawford's PHD thesis which I linked to in an earlier post in this thread

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/...;CFTOKEN=0

What is a Pennyland? Or Ancient Valuation of Land in the Scottish Isles. (pp 253-85)
Thomas, F W L

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/...;CFTOKEN=0

Ancient Valuation of Land in the West of Scotland: Continuation of 'What is a Pennyland?'. (pp 200-13)
Thomas, the late F W L

Well, that's a lot of good reading. And thanks for the thesis link.

I think the '45 has skewed thinking about the highland charge. Charges from high ground have been around as long as warfare itself. In the late clan era, I think it was the only viable option against "modern" infantry. MacKay writes much in his memoirs about cavalry vs highlanders: they kept to the high ground in the presence of cavalry. When they didn't, they paid the price.

Many of the clan battles, conversely, speak of the opponents standing toe-to-toe until only a few on each side were standing. No high ground, no charge. No cavalry, no high ground. I think it really is that simple. Or it could be me that's simple. :lol:

Ambushes and other treachery, of course, are also timeless and universal.

Regarding Normans in the Highlands, they, like the Normandy Normans, Lowland Scots Normans, Anglo Normans, and Anglo-Hiberno-Normans, adopted their local cultures readily. But I think this is especially true in the Highlands, because of their remoteness, except for coastal areas, and also because the the overarching feudal system was weak and in fairly constant flux. Note that the suppression of the Lordship of the Isles also marks the beginning of the Clan Era proper.

Well, perhaps the Anglo-Hiberno-Normans adapted, but retained a fair degree of Anglo-Norman-ness, rather than adopting Hibernian culture?

I've seen references to these pennyland articles while trying to research the agricultural part of Gaelic society in Scotland, but I never actually came across them online. So thanks for the links. I'll be sure to give them a read when I get the chance.

Richard Worthington wrote:

Many of the clan battles, conversely, speak of the opponents standing toe-to-toe until only a few on each side were standing. No high ground, no charge. No cavalry, no high ground. I think it really is that simple.

Yes clan battles were probably for the most part fairly straightforward affairs. I would still love to find more details like, how many men deep was typical in a line of battle? Where were the archers positioned; at the rear, or on the wings, or were they sent ahead of the line to skirmish? Sadly these details are probably lost to time.

Richard Worthington wrote:

Ambushes and other treachery, of course, are also timeless and universal. Regarding Normans in the Highlands, they, like the Normandy Normans, Lowland Scots Normans, Anglo Normans, and Anglo-Hiberno-Normans, adopted their local cultures readily. But I think this is especially true in the Highlands, because of their remoteness, except for coastal areas, and also because the the overarching feudal system was weak and in fairly constant flux. Note that the suppression of the Lordship of the Isles also marks the beginning of the Clan Era proper. Well, perhaps the Anglo-Hiberno-Normansadapted, but retained a fair degree of Anglo-Norman-ness, rather than adopting Hibernian culture?

Agreed on all points.

Ross Crawford mentions poetry as a source. Quite a lot has been published. Another interesting source is the history behind piobaireachd tunes. Alex Haddow's History and Structure of Ceol Mòr is full of obscure clan history. Not much is before the mid 16th century, though.

Have you read Alexander Carmichael's Grazing and Agrestic Customs? Fun and highly informative.

Walker's Economcal History in two volumes is interesting as well.

https://books.google.com/books?id=-qcHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=agriculture+highlands+islands+walker&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi_vpjkoJnVAhWF4SYKHaqsARIQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=agriculture%20highlands%20islands%20walker&f=false

Fun books like the one on the evil eye in the western Highlands have plenty on agricultural customs and folklore.

https://books.google.com/books?id=venWAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+evil+eye+highlands&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj--fibopnVAhVKeyYKHTG9DeQQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=The%20evil%20eye%20highlands&f=false

Here are Mackay's Memoirs, which have a lot on Highlanders and mobility, and Highlanders vs cavalry.

https://books.google.com/books?id=xvMHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR11&dq=MacKay+memoirs+1689&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3t_fgpZnVAhUKRyYKHX7gC4IQ6AEIITAB#v=onepage&q&f=false

Speaking of Highland charges, Gaelic poetry, and Crawford's thesis, here is William Matheson singing Iain Lòm's song about the Battle of Inverlochy. Iain Lòm was the Keppoch bard who warned Montrose that "The Campbells Are Coming".

Crawford cites Matheson as a source, which reminded me of this recording.

http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/19929/14

I found this quote in Ancient Valuation of Land in the West of Scotland: Continuation of 'What is a Pennyland?'.

Quote:

In Harris, 1792, the ancient and still common computation of land was a penny, halfpenny, farthing, half-farthing, clitag, etc. A tacksman might hold 20d, that is, an ounceland; while a small tenant or crofter usually held a farthing land. The stock or souming for a farthing land was four milk cows, three or four horses, and as many sheep on the common as the tenant had the luck to rear. The crop might be computed, in general at four or five bolls, and the rent was 30 or 40 shillings, besides personal service, rated at one day's work per week.

So in the late 18th century Hebrides, a tacksman had on average x80 as much land as a typical crofter. This means that late 18th century tacksmen made up the top 1.25% of the population. If (and this might be a big if) this percentage can be applied to earlier times, and it was fairly consistant across the different areas of the Highlands, then we can say that for every tackman there were 8-10 tenants, and for every tenant there were 8-10 cotters.

If all of this is correct then in the 5 parishes of Atholl recorded in 1638, were would have been 4-5000 men total. Assuming that most of these men were married with at least one child, then the total population would have been something like 12-15000. I'm curious, how do these numbers look to you guys?

The OSA for Blair Atholl and Strowan records the following for 1791:

Quote:

3120 souls, viz. 1480 males, and 1640 females. Of that number, 758 were under eight years of age. The average of marriages, for the last 20 years, was nearly 26; and the yearly average of baptisms, for the same period, was 94. Besides the number above mentioned, there is a considerable number of young people, belonging to the parish, serving in the east and west; of whom part will probably return, and part will not.

Richard. Unfortunately I'm not sure if these OSA figures support my idea or not.

Nor am I, but it is data. :idea:

I'm not sure if the combined parishes of Blair Atholl and Strowan match the muster area. The Highland parishes tend to cover a large area due to low population density. However, they don't necessarily coincide with the clan lands of a given era.

True. The musters recorded how many fighting men lived in a parish and on whose land they lived. However It doesn't always tell us the full numbers of men a particular laird or tacksmen had under him. For example, Alexander Robertson of Lude, had (including himself) 46 men in the parish of Lude and another 12 men in the parish of Struan. If the records of more parishes had survived then perhaps we woulld find that he had more men.

If I'm not mistaken the Lairdship of Struan was held by the Chief of Clan Donnachaidh (Robertson), so you would expect Laird of Struan to have more men than Alexander Robertson of Lude, yet we only have record 18 men in service of the Laird. Note that this figure does not include the Laird himself, I assume that this means that he lived on lands outside of those recorded. I'm sure that if more records survived then we would find more men in the Laird's service.

Yes, Robertson of Struan is the chief.

The records of musters may not survive, but often the names of tacks and tacksmen do. The size and number of the farms is a clue to the number of tenants (you know this, I'm just spelling it out). In many cases the population numbers in the OSA can be safely extrapolated back in time, being after the end of heritable jurisdictions, but essentially pre-clearance and before many agricultural reforms.