Whatever their ancient origins - Celtic, Norse or Norman-French - by the 13th century the clan system was well established in the Highlands of Scotland. It was a distinct Gaelic tribal culture, which, in its 15th century heyday, threatened the authority of the Stewart monarchy itself. Though increasingly brought into contact with the rest of Scotland, the clan system survived largely intact until its dismantling in the years following 1746, a consequence of the failure of the final Jacobite uprising on the bloody field of Culloden.

The clans - their heyday and their demise

In Gaelic, the word clann means family or children. The clan system was completely separated by language, custom and geography.

The clans lived off the land more or less self-sufficiently, with cattle as their main wealth. Stealing cattle (sometimes in order to survive) was widespread, as were territorial disputes between clans. Land was owned by the chief, rather than individual clansmen, and was held either directly from the Crown or from other superior clan chiefs.

The most powerful chiefs in some places kept expensive courts and retainers for prestige and had virtual autonomy over matters of law and order within their territory. Not all of a clan chieftain's preoccupations were war-like. For example, an important member of the chief's retinue was the bard, who could both compose an epic poem, perhaps recalling a feat of heroism in battle, and recite lineage, which was an important part of his role as the recorder of the clan's history. The clan piper was another hereditary post, of whom the MacCrimmons, hereditary pipers to the MacLeods, were perhaps the most famous.

However, by the 18th century, with agricultural improvements spreading from the Lowlands and with some road-building taking place which made communications easier, clans and their chiefs were brought more and more into contact with 'southern' ways. Thus, even without the shock of Culloden and the violent reaction of the Lowland authorities (which included the proscription or banning of tartan and the forfeiting of rebel clan chief's estates) the old clan system was gradually being absorbed into a modern economic society.

蘇格蘭的家族體系，無論是源自凱爾特人，斯堪的那維亞還是諾曼-法國人，到13世紀時，在蘇格蘭高地上家族制度已極具規模。家族是蓋爾人獨特的部落文化的一部分，到15世紀的鼎盛時期，家族體系對斯圖亞特王朝的統治甚至構成了威脅。各家族之間相互聯系，直到1746年詹姆士派被鎮壓的卡洛登一戰后，家族體系才逐步瓦解。

家族制度的興盛和消亡

在蓋爾語中，clan的意思是家庭和孩子。家族是完全按照語言、習慣和地理方位而劃分的。

各個家族都擁有土地，基本可以自給自足，但他們主要的財產是牛。從別人家偷牛（有時是生活所迫）是很普遍的，家族之間的地盤爭端也層出不窮。土地歸家族首領所有，土地的最高擁有人是地位更高的家族首領或國王。

最有權利的家族首領擁有豪華的庭院和眾多仆從以顯示身份，且在法律和規則方面擁有無形的自主權。當然，家族首領生活的全部并不是爭斗，家族中的重要人物之一是詩人，他們負責譜寫經典詩歌，歌頌戰爭中的英雄精神，或陳述宗譜。家族的吹奏手也是家族中的重要人物，其中最著名的如MacCrimmons以及世襲的麥克勞德（MacLeods）。

18世紀，隨著低地農業的發展和交通的日益便利，家族和家族首領與南部英格蘭地區之間的溝通越來越頻繁。所以，即使沒有卡洛登一戰和低地地區的過激反應（禁裙令和沒收反叛家族首領的財產），古老的家族制度也會逐漸融入到新型的商業社會中。

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