Max Hystory - Adventures in Time - Glencoe

Castle Life

Chapter one

Clansmen and their families were not city dwellers, but that doesn't mean they were isolated. There was not a vast expanse of empty Highland countryside which we are so used to seeing today. At that time, most people lived in the country and not towns. The valleys and glens would have been full of people living in small farms, or crofts. They were self-contained areas, controlled by a laird associated with a clan or family. There might be a fortified castle, a great house, or they may be just a consolidation of homes, that made up the central governing area of each swath of Clan land. Edinburgh had a population of just 50,000, and Glasgow was even smaller. There was not yet the push for Highlanders to move south, nor was there any reason to do so.

First and foremost men and their families were farmers, yes they held allegiance to a clan, but it was the hungry mouths that must be fed every day that took priority. The Highlands were not locked in a state of perpetual warfare, however, most men took pride in their ability to fight, whether that be with a sword, dirk, or hands, and they made sure they were able if the need warranted, or if just challenged personally. The average clansman was a farmer who spent most of his time tending to fields or livestock. He would be trying to feed his family. If he lived on the coast, this would be through fishing or looking after sheep or cattle if he lived in the mountains, or tending crops if he lived in the glens. Highlanders might be involved in a little bit of black market activity much like someone today might pay a tradesman in cash, but the idea of the Highlands being constantly lawless is an artificial idea that dates back to medieval times. Commerce was often carried out by bartering, rather than paying in cash. It was a hand-to-mouth existence – unless you were a chief.

As Highland social structures were so localized, clan chiefs were important. The main government was based far away in Edinburgh and London and played virtually no role in daily life. Highland farmers and tenants would follow their chiefs, they paid rent to him and in turn, he protected them. The Clan Chief was who you turned to when you had a problem, crop failure, serious illness or injury, loans, etc. in turn the chief could ask the tenant to turn out and fight for him, or do some other task or errand, basically what he asked or what he said mostly went. Many chiefs did mix with Lowland society, and sometimes their homes would contain fine books and furniture. Highlanders might not have been able to afford them, but they would be aware of them, they would take pride in the chief having such amenities. The Chief would be a wise man to perpetuate the idea of the clan as a great extended family, his lifestyle and lands were reliant on the tenants living the life that tradition and custom had created over time.

Most farmers grew crops and had sheep or cattle or other animals, which provided food for them throughout the year. A small portion of their crops might be taken as rent since actual money was scarce in the highlands, and this is how the Chiefs provided food for his family and those who worked within the castle. A castle would take a small army of people to operate on a daily basis, it would have to have its own farmers, stock handlers, tacksmen, stableboys, blacksmiths, healers, cooks, maids, cleaners, handymen, professional clan soldiers, stonemasons and many more I am sure I am missing.

Every morning would begin early with maids restoaking fires, cooks making a huge breakfast for everyone, farmers checking on crops or harvesting them, horses being exercised, stables being cleaned, beds being made, clothes and linen being washed, and a hundred other chores before midday. tenants in need would be flowing into the castle, being searched by guards before seeing the blacksmith, tacksman, or healer for whatever it was that troubled them. They could even be here to see the Chief on some more important matter, but without prior notice, they could be waiting all day for the chief to make time to see them.

The romantic version of castle life exists only in the movies, Castle life was a lot of hard work, an all-day job, there was no eight-hour shifts or work breaks. Your job was your life and you were glad to have it, many died of starvation or worse without the security of Clan or kin. Homelessness in the 17th century was a death sentence, which is why the punishment of banishment from the clan was in reality, a fate as bad as death.