Subject: gentleman
Culture: Scottish
Setting: Tartanmania
Evolution: 1544 Highland Scot duine-uasal > 1745 Scottish Highlander ceann-cinnidh > neo-traditional Scottish
Context (Events, Art, Kilt Inspection)
* Hobsbawn & Ranger eds. 1983 p15-16 (Hugh Trevor-Roper, "The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland" p15-41)
"Today, whenever Scotchmen gather together to celebrate their national identity, they assert it openly by certain distinctive national apparatus. They wear the kilt, woven in a tartan whose colour and pattern indicates their 'clan'; and if they indulge in music, their instrument is the bagpipe. This apparatus, to which they ascribe great antiquity, is in fact largely modern. It was developed after, sometimes long after, the Union with England against which it is, in a sense, a protest. Before the Union, it did indeed exist in vestigial form; but that form was regarded by the large majority of Scotchmen as a sign of barbarism: the badge of roguish, idle, predatory, blackmailing Highlanders who were more of a nuisance than a threat to civilized, historic Scotland. And even in the Highlands, even in that vestigial form, it was relatively new: it was not the original, or the distinguishing badge of Highland society.
"Indeed, the whole concept of a distinct Highland culture and tradition is a retrospective invention. Before the later years of the seventeenth century, the Highlanders of Scotland did not form a distinct people. They were simply the overflow of Ireland. On that broken and inhospitable coast, in that archipelago of islands large and small, the sea unites rather than divides and from the late fifth century, when the Scots of Ulster landed in Argyll, until the mid-eighteenth century, when it was 'opened up' after the Jacobite revolts, the West of Scotland, cut by off mountains from the East, was always linked rather to Ireland than to the Saxon Lowlands. Racially and culturally, it was a colony of Ireland."[...] The creation of an independent Highland tradition, and the imposition of that new tradition, with its outward badges, on the whole Scottish nation, was the work of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It occurred in three stages. First, there was the cultural revolt against Ireland: the usurpation of Irish culture and the re-writing of early Scottish history, culminating in the insolent claim that Scotland -- Celtic Scotland -- was the 'mother-nation' and Ireland the cultural dependency. Secondly, there was the artificial creation of new Highland tradition, presented as ancient, original and distinctive. Thirdly, there was the process by which these new traditions were offered to, and adopted by, historic Lowland Scotland: the Eastern Scotland of the Picts, the Saxons and the Normans."Bonnets (balmoral, glengarry)
* Thompson 1989 p3
"There are two types, the Balmoral, which comes in several styles, which is more like a military overseas cap. The latter is a military style, and to many people it looks out of place except with a uniform or on a boy who is young enough not to look silly 'playing soldier.' One of the books says that certain of the clans prefer the Glengarry, but some of my Scottish advisors ridicule this and have no use for a Glengarry for anyone of age who is not forced to wear it by military regulations. On the other hand many Americans do wear the Glengarry bonnet -- enough so that it would take a bold and dedicated purist to call them wrong. the Glengarry comes in Navy blue with a red toorie (the little pompom on top) and may be 'diced' with a checkered band of red, black, and white around it.
"They also make Glengarries in tartan, but no tartan bonnet is correct with Scottish attire. The same is true of the tam-o'-shanter, a large bonnet in soft wool in tartan colors. Since it is crocheted or knit rather than woven, a tartan design cannot be reproduced. These colored bonnets may be all right to wear with Saxon clothes to indicate your Scottish predelictions, but do not wear either of them with the kilt!"Jacket
* Thompson 1989
Kilt
* Cumming, Cunnington, & Cunnington 2010 p115
"Kilt (M) Period: Late 18th century onwards. One item within Highland dress for men is a kilt, a length of woolen cloth, usually of a checkered or tartan pattern, fitting around the waist and descending to the knee, with closely overlapping pleats and a plain wrap-over panel at the front held by straps and buckles and a decorative pin."
* Henderson 2000 p83
"The fact that today's tartans are not authentic in pattern, colour, fabric, or method of production has been conveniently swept under a national tartan rug."
* Henderson 2000 p76-77
"The Highlands were feared and despised by southern Scotland for hundreds of years but, by the 1850s, all that had changed. The highlanders were tamed and the land had become a trendy holiday destination. Highland dress, in a flamboyant style that real highlanders wouldn't even recognise, was well and truly in vogue. Ever since the fateful visit by George IV in 1822, Britain had gone into a northern frenzy. Tartan, especially, was all the rage -- to the extent that Queen Victoria designed her own, covering every wall, chair and servant in Balmoral Castle with the stuff.
"The tartan bandwagon was suddenly full to overflowing. Two brothers, the Sobrieski-Stuarts, turned up from Poland claiming to be grandsons of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Naturally enough, they also just happened to be experts on the history of the tartan. In 1842 they produced a nattily titled book: Vestiarrium Scoticum: from the manuscript formerly in the Library of the Scots College at Douay; with an Introduction and Notes. The book listed and illustrated 75 original clan tartans and was happily accepted by all and sundry as being authentic."The Sobrieski-Stewarts were, in reality, John and Charles Allen. They were not related to Prince Charlie in any way, shape or form and knew no more about authentic tartans than the next con man. By the time this was realised, however, their bogus designs were firmly established in the cloth manufacturing industry and remain so to this day."Nowadays, there seem to be more tartans in existence than there are Scots to wear them. Visitors to Edinburgh's tartan shops are pleasantly surprised to find that their surname, no matter how exotic it might be, is connected in some way to a Scottish clan. That this connection may be so far removed as to be preposterous is submerged by the desire to be entitled to some tartan or other. Sadly, even if a visitor really is related to a MacDuff or Sinclair, he will probably end up wearing a 'clan' tartan that no MacDuff or Sinclair ever designed or wore."Dagger
* Weapon 2006 p131
"Toward the end of the 18th century, the dirk became increasingly ceremonial in form. It was often decorated with silver pommel caps and ferrules."
* Wilkinson 1978 p92
"Following the Jacobite rebellion of 1745-46, Scottish culture was very much frowned on and laws were passed forbidding the use and wearing of all things Scottish. Tempers and memories cooled, however, and in 1782 these laws were repealed and many Scottish traditions were exaggerated in reaction. The dirk, which by then had largely ceased to be a weapon, became even more decorative with large pieces of mineral fitted on the pommel."
* Thompson 1989 p88
"... [T]he dirk is an item of evening wear. It should be black handled and the sheath should be black morocco or patent leather. Silver mounting is desireable, and jewels may be added. In fact, the whole thing except the blade may be of jewelled silver. It usually has a miniature knife and fork in smaller sheaths on the side of the big sheath. These are frequently attached by little chains, to be sure that they will be absolutely useless."
Accessories (pouch, jewelry, flask)
* > Pouch, Jewelry, Flask
Footwear (hose/flashes, knife, shoes)
* > Hose/Flashes, Knife, Shoes
