The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. VII] OF SCOTLAND 113
belonged to no other independent clan, and the stranger chief
had acquired the whole possessions of their race, the custom
seems to have been for them to give a bond of Manrent to their
new lord, by which they bound themselves to follow him as their
chief, and make him the customary acknowledgment of the
Calpe. They thus became a dependent sept upon a clan of a
different race, while they were not considered as forming a part
of that clan.
With respect to the gradation of ranks in relation to the
clan of which they were members, besides the righ or king,
who, in point of rank and birth was originally on equality with
the other chiefs, and merely derived some additional dignity
during his life from his station, the highest title of honour
among the Highlanders was anciently that of Maonnor. The
nature of this title has been sufficiently examined in another
place, and from all the materials which have come down to
us, it is very evident that the Maormors were the patriarchal
chiefs of the great tribes Jnto which the Highlanders were
formerly divided.
When the line of the ancient Maormors had gradually fallen
before the influence of the feudal system and the introduction
of the feudal barons, the clans into which the great tribes were
divided appear in independence, and their leaders were known
by the name of Ceann Cinne or chief, who was held to represent
the common ancestor and founder of the clan, and who
derived his dignity from that source. The peculiarities of the
Gaelic chief are too well known to require any illustration,
it may only be necessary
to mention that it was an office
possessed strictly by right of blood alone, and that nothing
can be more erroneous or more inconsistent with the principles
which regulated the form of society among the Highlanders
than the opinion, so frequently expressed, that either election
or a connexion by marriage could give any person a right to
the chiefship who, according to the Highland principle of
succession, was not the nearest male heir to that dignity. Next
to the chief was the Tanist, or person entitled to succeed by
the laws of Tanistry, who possessed that title during the life of
the chief, and was considered a person of considerable con-
sequence.
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