The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CiiAi'. I] OFSCOTLAND 185
kynge, namede Albanactus reagnedethei'-, the which derivacion all
the Yrische men of Scotland, which be the auncient stoke, cannot,
nor will not denye."
He then proceeds to say, " But our said bussheps drywithe
Scotland and theme selfes, from a certain lady namede Scota,
which (as they alledge) came out of Egipte, a raaraculous hote
cuntreth, to recreatt hirself emonges theame in the colde ayre
of Scotland, which they can not affernie by no probable auncient
author!' From the extracts which have been made from this
curious author, it will at once be seen, that there were at that
time in Scotland two conflicting traditions regarding the origin
of the Reddschankes or Highlanders, the one supported by the
Highlanders of the " more aunciettt stokel' the other by the
^'
"
curside spiritualitie of Scotland ; and from the indignation
and irritation which he displays against the "
bussheps," it is
plain that the latter tradition was fast gaining ground, and
must indeed have generally prevailed. The last tradition is
easily identified with that contained in the MS. of 1450, and
consequently there must have existed among the purer Highlanders
a still older tradition by which their origin was derived
from the " Pictis."
The existence of such a tradition in Scotland at the time is
still further proved by Stapleton's Translation of the Venerable
Bede, which was written in 1550. In that translation he renders
the following passage of Bede, "
Cugus monasterium in cunctis
pene septentrionalium Scottorum et omnium Pictorum monasteriis
non parvo tempore arcem tenebat," as follows :— " The
house of his religion was no small time the head house of all
the monasteries of the northern Scottes, and of the abbyes of
all the Reddschankes." It would be needless to multiply
quotations to shew that the Highlanders were at that time
universally known by the term Reddschankes.
The accordance of the oldest tradition which can be traced
in the country, with the conclusion to which a strict and critical
examination of all the ancient authorities on the subject had
previously brought us, forms a body of evidence regarding the
true origin of the Highlanders of Scotland to which the history
•of no other nation can exhibit a parallel. The authority of John
Elder, however, not only proves the tradition of the descent of