Looking at Old
Sources
©2010
Matthew A. C. Newsome, GTS, FSA Scot
For many, the origins of the Scottish National Dress are
shrouded in mystery. The kilt is seen as the ancient garment
of the Gael from time immemorial, its origins lost in misty
ages past. Arguments about whether the kilt actually
originated in Scotland or rather in Ireland, Norway, Eastern
Europe or some other location generally end with one party or
the other shrugging their shoulders and insisting that “we
cannot really know how or when the kilt originated.”
While the story of the kilt’s beginnings is perhaps not as
precisely documented as one might desire, the truth is we do
know quite a bit about how the early Gaelic people clothed
themselves, and the body of evidence we have tells us that the
earliest form of the kilt (the belted plaid or feilidh-mór)
originated in the Highlands of Scotland at the end of the
sixteenth century.
If we look at the written accounts of Highland dress during
the 1500s, one of the first things that strikes us is the
remarkable similarity between the clothing of the Scottish and
Irish Gaels. The common dress of the Irish at the time was a
large, often pleated shirt called a leine, generally
dyed saffron, over which a large mantle was worn, called a
brat in Irish.
John Major describes this basic costume in his History of
Greater Britain, published in 1521. Describing the men of
the Highlands, he writes, “From the middle of the thigh to the
foot they have no covering for the leg, clothing themselves
with a mantle instead of an upper garment and a shirt dyed
with saffron.”
Jean de Beaugue describes the same sort of clothing in his
1556 account of the campaign of the French auxiliaries in
Scotland during the siege of Haddington (1548-9). In
describing the Highland men, he writes, “They wear no clothes
except their dyed shirts and a sort of light woolen rug of
several colors.” The “light woolen rug” undoubtedly refers to
a mantle of some sort, and the description of it being
“several colors” puts one in mind of tartan, though the colors
certainly could have been arranged in some other pattern.
Moving forward in the century, we see a detailed description
of Highland clothing in the 1578 account of Bishop Lesley,
De origine, moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum. It is well
worth quoting. “All, both nobles and common people, wore
mantles of one sort (except that the nobles preferred those of
several colors). These were long and flowing, but capable of
being neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds.”
Let us pause here for a moment. Like the previous account, he
mentions mantles of several colors, which again we can
possibly imagine as a tartan design. But these mantles were
worn “gathered up… into folds.” Up until this point in the
historic record, there is nothing that would indicate any kind
of kilt-like garment being worn in Scotland. The Scottish
Gaels are consistently described as dressing like their Irish
contemporaries – a leine and brat (a tunic and
mantle). But here we read for the first time that the mantle
was sometimes gathered up and worn in folds. Remember that the
earliest form of the kilt, the feilidh-mór, was
essentially a length of cloth that was gathered up into folds
and belted about the waist to keep the whole arrangement in
place. It was the lower portion of this garment that would
eventually become the kilt as we know it today. Bishop Lesley
does not mention this mantle ever being belted, so it would be
too much to claim that he is describing an early kilt. Yet the
description of the mantles being worn gathered in folds is a
development worthy of note.
He continues his description. “Wrapped up in these [mantles]
for their only covering, they would sleep comfortably. They
had also shaggy rugs, such as the Irish use at present day,
some fitted for a journey, others to be placed on a bed. The
rest of their garments consisted of a short woolen jacket,
with the sleeves open below for the convenience of throwing
their darts… They made also of linen very large shirts, with
numerous folds and wide sleeves, which flowed abroad loosely
to their knees. These, the rich coloured with saffron and
others smeared with some grease to preserve them longer clean
among the toils and exercises of a camp…”
Here in his description we once more see the typical Irish
style saffron shirt. But the “shaggy rugs such as the Irish
use” is undoubtedly a description of the brat, meaning
the mantles previously described must be something distinctive
enough that Bishop Lesley classifies them separately. It would
seem that a stylistic divergence is beginning to emerge
between the Irish brat and the Scottish plaide
around this time.
Another curious detail is found in the history of Scotland
written by George Buchanan in 1581. In his account of the
Western Isles, he writes, “They delight in variegated
garments, especially stripes, and their favourite colors are
purple and blue. Their ancestors wore plaids of many colors,
and numbers still retain this custom but the majority now in
their dress prefer a dark brown, imitating very nearly the
leaves of the heather, that when lying upon the heath in the
day, they may not be discovered by the appearance of their
clothes; in these wrapped rather than covered, they brave the
severest storms in the open air, and sometimes lay themselves
down to sleep even in the midst of snow.”
Aside from learning of the plaid’s use both as bedding and
camouflage, we read in this passage that the wearers were
“wrapped rather than covered.” It is tempting to believe this
curious phrase might indicate the feilidh-mór, a mantle
worn gathered at the waist. But again, this would be going
beyond what the evidence supports.
To find the first hard evidence of the belted plaid being
worn, we must look to an Irish source, The Life of Red Hugh
O’Donnell, written by Lughaidh O’Clery. Describing
Scottish mercenaries from the Hebrides, engaged in O’Donnell’s
service in 1594, he writes, “These were recognized among the
Irish by the difference of their arms and clothing, their
habits and language, for their exterior dress was mottled
cloaks to the calf of the leg with ties and fastenings. Their
girdles were over the loins outside the cloaks.” This is the
first time we read of the belts being worn outside of the
mantle, which is the chief characteristic of the belted plaid,
the earliest form of the kilt. Note, too, that this Irish
source mentions this as characteristic of the Scots, distinct
from the Irish fashion.
This style is confirmed in other sources. Sometime around
1641, Robert Gordon of Straloch described the Highlanders at
the Battle of Glenlivet, fought in 1594 (the same year as the
O’Donnell account). “As for their Apparel; next the Skin they
wear a short linnen Shirt, which the great men among them
sometime dye of saffron colour… Their uppermost Garment is a
loose Cloke of several Ells, striped and party colour’d, which
they gird breadth-wise with a leather Belt, so as it scarce
covers the knees… Far the greatest part of the Plaid covers
the uppermost parts of the Body. Sometimes it is all folded
round the Body about the Region of the Belt, for disengaging
and leaving the hands free; and sometimes ‘tis wrapped round
all that is above the Flank… When they compose themselves to
Rest and Sleep, they loose the Belt and roll themselves in the
Plaid, lying down on the bare ground or putting Heather under
them nicely set together after their manner.”
During the sixteenth century we see almost universal agreement
in the written descriptions of Scottish Highland clothing that
the Scottish and Irish Gaels dressed much alike. But when we
come to the very end of that century we first read accounts of
the Scots wearing their plaids gathered and belted at the
waist. This was different enough to be worthy of comment by
the writers, who mention it as something quite distinct from
the usual Irish way of dress.
It was the belted plaid that would become the standard mode of
dress for Highland men during the seventeenth century. As time
marched on, this garment would transform from the
feilidh-mór to the feilidh-beag and ultimately into
the modern kilt, a universally recognized symbol of the
Scottish people.
(All quotes above documented in Old Irish and Highland
Dress by H. F. McClintock, 1943).
Image caption:
A Dutch watercolor of Irish men and women, c. 1575, showing
the characteristic Irish leine and brat,
with a short jacket called an ionar.
