The History of Scottish Clans

Presented below are differing ideas on the origins of Clans in Scotland.  As with the history of the Scottish tartan, I will present these divergent opinions as to encourage the reader to reach his/her own conclusions.

From Hall of Names International Inc., GenealogyWeb.com:

"In ye old days a family could not qualify for clan status unless they had the proven ability to put 250 armed men ahorse within one hour to defend their clan, lands and properites.  As well as providing a fighting men for their leige lord and king.
http://www.genealogyweb.com/cgi-bin/tartan03


From the Hall of Names International Inc., InfoKey.com:

The Clan
"Definition of the word 'Clan' The Gaelic word for children is more accurately translated as 'family' in the sense in which the word clan became accepted in the Scottish Highlands during the 13th century.  A clan is a social group whose core comprises a number of families derived from, or accepted as being derived from, a common ancestor.  Almost without exception, that core is accompanied by a further number of dependent and associated families who have either sought the protection of the clan at some point in history or have been tenants or vassals of its chief.  That chief is owed allegiance by all members of the clan, but ancient tradition nevertheless states that 'the Clan is above the Chief'.  Although Gaelic has been supplanted by English in the Lowlands of Scotland for nearly a thousand years, it is an acceptable convention to refer to the great Lowland families, like the Douglases, as clans, although the heads of certain families, such as Bruce, prefer not to use the term.  Allegiance was generally given to a father's clan, but Celtic tradition includes a strong element of descent through, and loyalty to, a mother's line.  In reality, the chief of a clan would 'ingather' any stranger, of whatever family, who possessed suitable skills, maintained his allegiance and, if required, adopted the clan surname.

The Sept
"A Sept is a family name which can be related to a clan or larger family for various reasons:  either through marriage or by seeking protection from a larger and more powerful neighbouring clan or family.  Many names which are recorded as septs have since become clans in their own right and many can be related to more than one clan.
http://www.infokey.com/hon/tartans.htm