Quote Originally Posted by Kid Cossack View Post
MacMillan of Rathdown:

Thanks---so far yours is far and away the most reasoned response, although the "jealous husband" line probably beats it for romance.

I had also wondered if the little ice age had played any role, but I'm no climatologist.
Well, yes it did. Starting about 1550 and lasting until 1700 the climate across all of Europe became very, very much colder. In Scotland this resulted in three disastrous crop failures; one in 1563, another in 1565, and again in 1567. Another truly dismal harvest happens in 1572-- all of which impact most dramatically on the poorest section of Scotland, the Highlands. Bad harvests mean less fodder for animals. Fewer animals mean reduced livestock sales, hence no cash income. Without cash the Highlanders can't purchase finished goods, like linen. Without linen it is impossible to continue to make trousers. Likewise, in the Highlands, there was no abundance of sheep. They are not indigenous to the Highlands and very few Highlanders kept sheep. This meant that wool, the natural by-product of sheep, was also a scarce commodity "North of the Highland Line."

The bubonic plague epidemic of 1584 was also a contributing factor, as was the "civil war" that marked much of Queen Mary's reign.

In 1587 the export of "foodstuffs" is prohibited because of shortages. By 1592 things in Scotland had become so dire that the Scots Parliament enacted laws banning the export of sheep and cows due to critical food shortages throughout the kingdom.

It is my contention that it was against this backdrop of climatic, economic, agricultural, and political disaster that the kilt was born of absolute necessity-- the need to wrap oneself in rags and huddle near a fire to keep from freezing to death whilst slowly starving.