ABSTRACT
Kinship was an organising principle throughout pre-industrial Scottish society. However, as a consequence of political, social and economic change, there appears to have been a lessening of kin relations throughout the wider community during the late medieval period.2 This was evident in the Highlands where kinship and the expression of kinship and ‘kyndnes’ were of heightened significance. Clan chiefs acquired additional territory geographically remote from their main estate, at times accompanied by heritable jurisdiction over disparate regions. In order to defend and protect their disparate lands there was a growing need for political and military allies across the Highland region.3 The significance of blood kinship lessened as clan chiefs increasingly looked to client clans and allies for assistance and as a means of furthering their influence outside their locality. This reliance on external alliances for political and military purposes has resulted in the tendency for clan studies to concentrate primarily on the role of the chief and his fine (the principal men of the clan), providing greater insight into political organisation within clanship while simultaneously highlighting the divergent political aims of individual clans.
