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== Clans ==
The familiar feudal system which we know from ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' and [[King Arthur]] and which comes to mind when we think of the phrase "Middle Ages" was actually far more limited in scope in [[Real Life]] history. In any case it only took partial root in Scotland. Instead, especially in the Highlands and border regions, feudalism was rather light and merged with the Celtic Early Medieval pseudofamilial societies that we call [[The Clan]]. A Scottish clan was a tribal network named after it's first patron. It included the chief, the clan elders and the clansfolk which were often the tenants of the chief as well. Each clan operated like an independent principality. For instance the Macdonalds, who held the title of Lords of the Isles(rulers of Hebrides)were a great sea power in their own right and had history been just a little bit different, they could have been an independent power or been the subjects of the Crown of Norway. Several larger clans could field several thousand warriors. The clan system ingrained itself into Scottish life and was a referent for delicate matters of internal politics. For instance one King of Scots, when deciding how the Roma should be integrated into the system, simply declared one of them "Chief of the Egyptians"(Gypsies), thus effectively deciding that Roma were another Clan(it actually was fairly common practice to give a title to the Roma's official ambassador to a given ruler's court and chief was a rendering closer to Roma custom then the feudalistic titles given in other countries but they would have had different chiefs among themselves).
The Clan system along the English border was slightly different from that in the Highlands; it's nature came from the constant warfare between England and Scotland, but lasted even after(roughly)amiable relations were established in the reign of Elizabeth of England and James of Scotland. When James succeeded Elizabeth forming the United Kingdom, the Border clans were ethnicly cleansed. After that they tended to be resettled in areas where highly ferocious people could be out of sight of [[The Government]] but not out of sight of indigenous peoples whom the crown also found inconvenient. In Ireland they formed much of the ancestry of the Ulstermen. In North America they became the "Scots-Irish" which settled in the Appalachians and further West. The Highland Clans took longer to subdue. They tended to take the side of the Stuart dynasty in the various civil wars and were almost eliminated culturally after the Battle of Culloden in 1745. They were saved by two quirks of history. One was that it was realized that Highlanders in fact made useful soldiers and were as apt to serve the crown as rebel against it. The other was the Romantic movement in literature, notably as represented by Sir [[Walter Scot]]. During this time ethnic exoticism became seen as colorful instead of dangerous, and the clans became fashionable in the ruling classes of Great Britain. Many of the customs we associate with the Clans in fact date from this period. For instance, the Tartans or clan heraldry on the kilts were in fact not standardized until this period. In another way, however this was a bad time for the Highlands, as it was the time of the notorious Clearances in which landholders(I.E. Chiefs) were evicting the tenants for the sake of changing the agricultural products. Some of the evicted tenants survived by migration, to North America and other places and others survived from the pay for soldiering. In any case the Clan system as in old times exists today more as a focus of identity then as the political system it once was.
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