Advice on MacDonald "Lord of the Isles" Tartan

[CollinMacD]

Greetings,

I am seeking advice on the "MacDonald of the Isles, Red Modern, woven from Lochcarron. My clan is MacDonald Clanranald, and I would like to know is it wrong for me to wear MacDonald of the Isles, is that actually a clan, or is it a generalized tartan for all MacDonalds? I certainly do not want to offend or do something improper when wear the tartan. I have the Clanranald modern and ancient but really like this tartan and don't know if its associated with a clan or for all MacDonalds

Secondly, I would assume any clan MacDonald can wear the MacDonald Dress. Is that correct? I don't know enough about the proper formalities of wearing of clan tartans, and really don't want to mislead, or offend another clan. Can somebody help me and clear this up.

Thanks

[Macseobang]

I had a similar question about the MacDonald "Lord of the Isles" tartan a few weeks ago. First off, I'm no expert, but I think there is a difference between "MacDonald of the Isles" and "MacDonald Lord of the Isles". The latter being a tartan specific to the title "Lord of the Isles" first held by John MacDonald of Islay (son on Angus Og) in 1336. The title was stripped away from John's great grandson John II in 1481 by the king of Scotland because he signed a secret treaty with Kind Edward the IV of England. John II's illegitimate son (another Angus Og) was considered to be the last "lord of the isles" and when he died in 1488 the independence of the isles was lost, greatly increasing the power of the Stewarts and the crown of Scotland. Also, Angus Og's only son was captured by Campbells, possibly preventing him from becoming the next Lord of the Isles and putting the nail in the coffin for the MacDonald's lordship of an independent region.

That's a summary of what I remember and Wikipedia. As to who can wear the "Lord of the Isles" tartan? I tried looking into it, but I still can't find any restrictions. There is a special DNA test (Y-DNA) you can get and the clan genealogist for Clan Donald USA can interpret your results. I was exited to find out that I am a direct paternal descendant of John 1st Lord of the Isles so I think I can say that I would most likely be "allowed" to wear the Lord of the Isles tartan, but it doesn't mean you can't. It get's complicated with MacDonalds because it was such a large clan with many septs. I think in general most MacDonalds are okay with wearing any MacDonald tartan, but there will always be some purists who think you should have a specific link to that particular sept.

I don't know much about the "MacDonald of the Isles" tartan. I think that tartan came into existence a bit later after Clan Donald had separated into many septs on the isles and mainland, but I'm not sure. Others on the forum may be able to give you more advise on the dress option of the tartan, but from what I know about other clans, most people feel they can wear any of the variants of their clan tartan (dress, hunting, e.t.c.), but as I mentioned MacDonalds can be a bit more complicated. I plan on ordering a Lord of the Isles kilt soon (the one that looks green with white).

Hope this helped.

Warren Macdonald

[CollinMacD]

Warren,

Thanks for the info, I understand the Lord of the Isle is very specific. I have had the DNA done already and part of the Clan Donald Project. I am a RM-A 269, which is very British/Scottish/Irish. So my family is a very very old clan family. I have traced my ancestors back to Knoydart, and Lockabar to the 16th century, and all are MacDonald, Clanranald, and very Roman Catholic to this day.

I just like the MacDonald of the Isles tartan, as I have the two MacDonald Clanranald already, so the toss up is the MacDonald Dress which is the vanilla version, or do I dare to be different and go for the MacDonald of the Isle,, which I really like. I am standing by to hear more, I am hoping Peter MacDonald can chime in, he is the man that know this in depth, and waiting to hear from him to help all of us understand this a little more.

[Ulan]

As a little aside, "Lord of the isles", was then bestowed upon the Duke of Rothesay and so is a title carried by the male heir to the British throne, ergo Prince Charles, who has worn a kilt in this tartan

[figheadair]

Gentlemen, gentlemen, far too much 'can', should', 'ought' and 'allowed' going on. Simple answer, in the vast majority of cases there is no such thing as entitlement to wear a particular tartan, you may therefore wear whatever you want. Whether you choose to and why is another matter entirely.

And so to the question of the identity of the tartans. Tartan history warning

The Lord of the Isles tartan (back line on the red) is so-called because it appeared in the c1750 portrait of the MacDonald Boys where is shown being worn by the younger, Alexander, who later became 1st Baron Macdonald in 1766. The design was first recorded in D.W. Stewart's 1893 where he called it MacDonald of the Isles. Stewart cites the portrait as his source but then conflates the old Lord of the Isles title (confiscated by the Crown in 1493) with that of Baron (Lord) Macdonald. Ever since the tartan has been known by Stewart’s naming although it does not seem to have been widely woven until sometime after 1930.

In the first half of the 20th century there was considerable confusion and not a small amount of misnaming of this sett and the similar tartan without the black stripe now commonly sold as MacDonald of Sleat and worn by the chief of that branch. Stewart thought that the Sleat version must have arisen due to an incorrect copying of the portrait sett but then points out that the black line is obvious in the picture. Whether it arose by error or design, the non-black line version can be traced back to c1800 when it was produced by Wilsons of Bannockburn as Lord Macdonald under which name it appeared in the Cockburn Collection (1810). McIan (1847) and Macleay (1870) used this pattern for some of their characters, the former including it in his drawing of the Lord of the Isles.

Just to confuse things, Stewart’s called his second tartan The Lord of the Isles: Hunting, a pattern he took from a c1765 portrait of Alexander, 1st Baron (Lord) Macdonald, he of the red (black line) sett from an earlier portrait. Stewart rather unhelpfully referred to the sitter as the first Lord Macdonald of the Isles which of course he wasn’t, that was John of Islay (d.1386).

And then to cap it all, the Alan Brothers who produced their ‘one on a theme of’ type patterns which they called Macdonald_Isles.

So what to wear? The choice is yours but if it were me I’d opt for the red sett (black stripe) without worrying about the arbitrary title ‘invented’ by someone in 1893. In much the same way, I wear the hunting sett as a plaid.

[figheadair]

As a little aside, "Lord of the isles", was then bestowed upon the Duke of Rothesay and so is a title carried by the male heir to the British throne, ergo Prince Charles, who has worn a kilt in this tartan

He used to wear the Hunting sett.

[CollinMacD]

Thank you so much Peter, I was waiting to hear that. I just love the tartan, so you advise wearing the red with black, can you put an illustration of what you mean? Thanks

One other question, what is the meaning of the muted colors, I really don't understand about the background, is this just a personal preference of a person who does not want to wear bright colors, or is there a purpose or reason behind it. Just don't understand the muted or weather looks? Again thanks, I learn so much from your posts....

[Liam]

Your other comment regarding the MacDonald dress tartan ..... yes it probably can be worn by all, but these tartans IMHO are better suited to the lassies.
Others here may have a different opinion.

[OC Richard]

The Lord of the Isles tartan (back line on the red) is so-called because it appeared in the c1750 portrait of the MacDonald Boys where is shown being worn by the younger, Alexander...

This painting goes to show, in my opinion, that tartans had no significance at that time, due to the two boys wearing five different tartans. (You can just make out the bottom edge of the left-hand boy's waistcoat which does not match his jacket.)

The tartan of the jacket on the left, which has the black line, and a version missing the black line, were both worn by the Isle Of Skye Pipe Band, one for their kilts, the other for their plaids. I loved this tartan-mixing, just what one sees in old portraits.

Another 18th century portrait shows a suit of this quite different "MacDonald tartan." Prince Charles (the modern one) was often seen wearing a kilt in this tartan in his younger days.



About the Allan Brothers' creations, their fake "ancient manuscript" says

MakDonald of ye Ylis... he heth ane blue set, and ane greine sett, quaroff ye blew hathe twa greit panes of blak, and vpon ye ylk borure yroff, and yrby twa gross sprangis of ye samen, and in ye myduard of ye ylk gren sett ane stryp quhite, the maist pairt of half ane fynger breid, ad yn ye mydward of ye blew ane gross spraing reidd.

As with any verbal descriptions of tartan this is open to a wide variety of interpretations. Of course the same men who wrote this fake ancient description also did the admittedly modern illustrations- what's funny is when the two don't match up.

In any case the "ancient manuscript" doesn't say it's a hunting tartan; it's evidently considered the ordinary clan tartan.

[figheadair]

Thank you so much Peter, I was waiting to hear that. I just love the tartan, so you advise wearing the red with black, can you put an illustration of what you mean? Thanks

Here's Stewart's 1893 plate.
1. The Lord Of The Isles-2.jpg

One other question, what is the meaning of the muted colors, I really don't understand about the background, is this just a personal preference of a person who does not want to wear bright colors, or is there a purpose or reason behind it. Just don't understand the muted or weather looks? Again thanks, I learn so much from your posts....

Muted colours are just another commercial colour range. They, or any other range, are a matter of personal preference - see my paper The Use of Color in Tartan. Personally I'm not really a fan of any of the commercial ranges because they break the traditional practice of counterbalancing colours rather than going for a uniform range of each in an individual range. Just look at any of my papers that discuss historical specimens.

Given your background I wonder why you are not considering one of the older red based tartans associated with the Clanranalds branch such as MacDonald of Belfinlay or MacDonald of Glenaladale? Both would need to be a special weave but that’s not an outrageous expense and has the benefit of you being able to choose the colours/shades and importantly, the sett size.. If you’re considering a new kilt why not take the time to get the tartan you want in the colour range you’d prefer.