Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
Actually, Steve, the Scottish Borders also had clans that were recognized as such by an Act of Scottish Parliament in 1587 “held at Edinburgh upon 29 July 1587 for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disorderly persons, inhabitants of the borders, highlands and isles” which goes on to list the chieftains and chiefs of these clans in the borders and Highlands.

The organized/extended families dwelling in the Lowlands were excepted from this Act.

There is an article by a Dr Bruce Durie, former professor of genealogy at Strathclyde University on https://www.scotclans.com/what-is-a-...r-bruce-durie/ that discusses what constitutes a clan, etc., etc.

To quote from the above article: "“Clans” are therefore a phenomenon of the Highlands and Borders and the equivalent kinship/territorial structures in the Lowlands are the “family”, usually based on a feudal barony."
Yes, I agree with the extension of 1587 as it applied to the most Northern and the most Southern regions of Scotland in that time. I disagree with who the 'Highland' clans thought of themselves to be at that time.

The Gaelic and Borders cultures had long been separated by that date. The Highlands remained a patriarchal society within an over-riding and imposed feudal, and the Borders had long accepted the feudal over-riding the patriarchal.

Perhaps a subtle or difference in our time, but of enormous distance in the 16C.