A Scottish clan (from Gaelicclann, literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, which regulates Scottish heraldry and coats of arms. Most clans have their own tartan patterns, usually dating from the 19th century, which members may incorporate into kilts or other clothing.
The modern image of clans, each with their own tartan and specific land, was promulgated by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott after influence by others. Historically, tartan designs were associated with Lowland and Highland districts whose weavers tended to produce cloth patterns favoured in those districts. By process of social evolution, it followed that the clans/families prominent in a particular district would wear the tartan of that district, and it was but a short step for that community to become identified by it.
Many clans have their own clan chief; those that do not are known as armigerous clans. Clans generally identify with geographical areas originally controlled by their founders, sometimes with an ancestral castle and clan gatherings, which form a regular part of the social scene. The most notable clan event of recent times was The Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh, which attracted at least 47,000 participants from around the world.
Clan MacAlister is a Scottish Clan. The clan is the earliest branch to have split off from Clan Donald, claiming descent from Alasdair Mòr, son of Domhnall founder of Clan Donald. From Alasdair Mòr the clans takes its surname MacAlister; this surname is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic MacAlasdair meaning "son of Alasdair". In the 15th century the chief of the clan was seated in Kintyre, and the clan was centred there until the 18th century, when a chief sold the family estate in preference to an estate in the Scottish Lowlands. (Full article...)
Clan MacLeod of The Lewes, commonly known as Clan MacLeod of Lewis (Scottish Gaelic: Clann Mhic Leòid Leòdhais), is a HighlandScottish clan, which at its height held extensive lands in the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland. From the 14th century up until the beginning of the 17th century there were two branches of Macleods: the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris (Clan MacLeod); and the Macleods of the Isle of Lewis. In Gaelic the Macleods of Lewis were known as Sìol Thorcaill ("Seed of Torquil"), and the MacLeods of Dunvegan and Harris were known as Sìol Thormoid ("Seed of Tormod").
The traditional progenitor of the MacLeods was Leod, made a son of Olaf the Black, King of Mann and the Isles, by a now-discredited tradition. An older, more accepted tradition names his father Olvir and describes the clan as Sliochd Olbhur. Tradition gave Leod two sons, Tormod - progenitor of the Macleods of Harris and Dunvegan (Sìol Thormoid); and Torquil - progenitor of the Macleods of Lewis (Sìol Thorcaill). In the 16th and early 17th centuries the chiefly line of the Clan Macleod of The Lewes was nearly extinguished by the bloodthirsty and power hungry chief "Old Rory" and his various offspring. This feuding directly led to the fall of the clan, and loss of its lands to the Clan Mackenzie. One line of the 16th century chiefly family, the Macleods of Raasay, survived and prospered on their lands for centuries thereafter. The current chief of Lewis descends from this latter family. (Full article...)
Clan MacDuff or Clan Duff is a Lowland Scottish clan. The clan does not currently have a chief and is therefore considered an armigerous clan, which is registered with the Lyon Court. The early chiefs of Clan MacDuff were the original Earls of Fife, although this title went to the Stewarts of Albany in the late fourteenth century. The title returned to the MacDuff chief when William Duff was made Earl Fife in 1759. His descendant Alexander Duff was made Duke of Fife in 1889. (Full article...)
John Gallda MacDougall (died 1371–1377), was a fourteenth-century Scottish magnate. He was a grandson of John MacDougall, Lord of Argyll, a man who had been forced from Scotland into exile in the first third of the century. It was under John Gallda that the MacDougall leadership made its resurgence in Scotland after generations of English exile. By the mid century, John Gallda was married to Johanna Isaac, a niece of David II, King of Scotland, and restored to a portion of the MacDougalls' originally holdings in Argyll. John Gallda was the last MacDougall to hold the lordship of Lorne. He and Johanna had two legitimate daughters through which the lordship passed, whilst the leadership of MacDougalls passed to an illegitimate son.
Private and local clan battles (Many of these also had links at national level, including the feuds between Clan Donald and the Crown, Clan Douglas and the Crown and the Mary, Queen of Scots civil war)