Chapter 4 - Why (Clan) Gunn is not a Clan
4. Why Gunns are not Clan Gunn
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
A clan was … a patrilineal kindred whose members could trace their descent from a common ancestor.[1]
Clans were united by claims of common descent from a distant ancestor…[2]
In 1704 Gunns are not listed in ‘The Celtic muster rolls (which) are exactly similar to the Clans of Scotland.’[3]
Concepts like clanship and clannishness remain contested and controversial…[4]
The cult of the kilt and the clan in modern times has been described as nothing more than a commercial racket.[5]
The question of whether Gunns are a clan will seem nonsensical to those who simplistically[6] believe all Scottish family names are clan names and so Gunns must be a clan. Not all Scottish family names conflate with clan surnames; non-clan based surnames include location based ones such as Murray and Ogilvie, and occupational surnames such as Stewart, Smith, Baxter and many more.[7]
But what is a clan? One view given in the The Oxford Companion to Scottish Highlands states ‘Strictly defined, a clan was a biological phenomenon, a patrilineal descent group deriving from a common ancestor or eponym...’[8]
A similar view is also shown by David Sellar (an ex Lord Lyon) -
By way of definition, it has been suggested that, ‘Clann was used to describe a patrilineal kindred the members of which descended in known steps from a named ancestor’ … This definition underlines two points believed to be true of the clan in Scotland and in Ireland: namely that the members of the true clan were related to one another through the male line, and that the eponym or name father of the clan was a historical, and not a mythical, character.[9]
Professor Celeste Ray explores the issue of what is a clan in more detail -
Confusion between biological and sociopolitical dimensions of clans stems from nineteenth century Highlandism and its later perpetuation in the myriad of books celebrating tartanry (such as Robert Bain's The Clans and Tartans of Scotland, originally published in 1958). Reedited through the years, Bain's text is still a staple of heritage enthusiast’s libraries … Biological kinship was important for the clan elite, from whom a chief would come, but not for all clansfolk. Clans were variably composed of a minority of immediate kin and a majority of non-kin inhabiting the clan's territorial base. Bain divides the clan between "broken men" (those without a chief who join the clan for protection and thereafter claim the chief's name), and "native men" (whom Bain interpreted as a small core group of the chief's blood relatives …. The American, and especially southern, emphasis on "blood" kinship within the clan could also be seen as an American cultural influence on concepts of Scottish heritage and / or an American elaboration of tartanism…[10]
In other words, clans require a central, historically real, male founder to be a clan. The ‘aristocracy’ of the clan would descend from the common ancestor but probably the majority of a clan would not. Given that chapter 1 discussed an origin theory for Gunns as a non-kindred, location based group – with no central male founder - and chapter 2 detailed why the ‘Orkney / Norse / Gunn’ central male founder origin was impossible, then Gunns are not a clan on academic and historic grounds.[11] Many lowland ‘clans’ are also highly ‘clan doubtful.’[12]
To further support the idea of Gunns not being a clan[13] note that an Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in July 1587 ‘for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the ... inhabitants of the Borders, Highlands and Isles’ and it included an attachment with ‘the roll of the Clans that have captains, chiefs and chieftains upon whom they depend, ... and of some special persons of the said clans’ but there was no listing for ‘Clan’ Gunn.[14] The absence of ‘Clan’ Gunn from Clan lists has often occurred and continues today - Alister Farquhar Matheson[15] in his Scotland’s Northwest Frontier writing on ‘Clan Beginnings’ explored the Mackays of Strathnaver history, including their lineage. There is no mention of a ‘Clan’ Gunn. He also does not discuss ‘Clan’ Gunn when writing about Clans of ‘The Northeastern Sector’.[16]
In short, there are contemporary listings of Scottish Clans in 1587, 1609, 1704, and 1824 to name but a few dates. “Clan Gunn” does not appear in any of these primary source listings. Is it credible that a Highland Clan could exist and prosper from at least 1450 (the Coroner’s time) through to the early 19th Century but miss official recognition in contemporary documents? Why is it that the first recognition of the “Clan” came during the Victorian era when such things became romantic and trendy? Because that is when the mythical “Clan Gunn” was invented.
Gunns not being a Clan raises questions about the point of Clan Gunn Societies.[17] One view as to why people join Clan societies is that members can ‘share the successes’[18] of those with the same surname in that they hope they share close ancestry, but this idea does not work for Gunns as Gunns do not descend from a common ancestor.
SUMMARY Using normal historic and academic definitions of Scottish Highland clans the Gunns are not a clan as the Gunns have no founding father.
***
[1] Page 254, Ian D. Whyte, Scotland before the Industrial Revolution adds ‘Most ordinary clansmen were not directly related to the Chief’.
[2] Page 1, Stuart MacHardy, The Well of the Heads And Other Tales of the Scottish Clans.
[3] Page 96-97, James Logan, The Scottish Gael, Volume 1. It is noteworthy the lack of mention of Clan Gunn / Clan Gunn Chiefs in the Gaelic Poetry of Scotland before 1700 although many Clan Chiefs are so mentioned, including minor ones. See, especially page 197, M. Pia Coira By Poetic Authority The Rhetoric of Panegyric in Gaelic Poetry of Scotland to c.1700. The continual absence of any evidence in documents of the time for Clan Gunn Chiefs adds to the surety that such Chiefs were never in existence in historic time; by contrast the Hebridean Chiefs – large and small – are fully documented by 1609, see Page 44- 47 J. L. Campbell, Canna The Story of a Hebridean Island.
[4] Page 10, ed. Angela McCarthy, A Global Clan: Scottish Migrant Networks and Identity Since the Eighteenth Century.
[5] Page 14, Ian Grimble Clans and Chiefs.
[6] Tourist histories support this fallacy.
[7] For further information see http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=551&560 accessed 10 February 2015. The origin of Turnbull is as obscure as the real origin of the name Gunn; see Ian Grimble page 71 Clans and Chiefs. ‘A misconception regarding the population and origin of the peoples of Scotland is that all people belong to clans, when in reality most of its inhabitants … had no clan connection at all.’ Patrick L. Thomson ‘The Transition of Clan MacTavish Surnames’.
[8] Page 93, Michael Lynch, The Oxford Companion to Scottish Highlands.
[9] Page 92 David Sellar, chapter 4 ‘The Family’, in ed. E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson A History of of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000 to1600.
[10] Pages 79-80, R. Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage. I like the subtlety of the title of her third map (page 85) which illustrates the ‘Clan and Family Territories of Scotland’ so getting around the question as to which surnames were or were not clan names.
[11] As I state often in this book given Gunns are not a clan then a ‘Clan’ Gunn Chief is logically wrong; it is worth noting the lack of primary source material for the existence of ‘Clan’ Gunn Chiefs. The earliest relevant Highland’s historical text of the time was Sir Robert Gordon’s A Genealogical History of the Earldom Of Sutherland. In it he occasionally applied the word chief and chieftain to some Gunns. These terms should be viewed as shorthand for Gunn major families; chief / main / major mean the same thing. R. A Dodgshon’s use of the ‘term chief to describe anyone with significant position of rank and social control over how land was allocated, whether through their position as owner or merely tacksman’ Page 171 R. A Dodgshon in ed. R. A. Houston and I.D. Whyte Scottish Society, is another uncommon use of the word chief. If applied to the Gunns it could mean that the Coroner, and the heads of the MacHamish and Braemore families for some time, could be viewed as chiefs in the way that Gordon also used the term - that is, as important families - but this is not the usage of the word as the tourist / romantic stories use it. Nor is either the common academic use of the term.
[12] See pages 84-6 Celeste Ray, Highland Herirtage, ‘surname and family societies … like Clan Armstrong … Clan Forrester… Clan Davidson … Clan Henderson’.
[13] John Maculloch’s 1824 book The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland in letters to Sir Walter Scott, chapter 13 describes the many Highland Clans known to him, including many obscure ones, but there is no mention of a Gunn clan.
[14] James VI: Translation; 1587, 8 July, Edinburgh, Parliament; Parliamentary Register; 29 July 1587; Legislation; For the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disordered subjects, inhabitants of the borders, highlands and isles; 1587 / 7 / 70.
[15] Page 320 Alister Farquhar Matheson Scotland’s Northwest Frontier.
[16] Pages 536-538, Alister Farquhar Matheson, ibid.
[17] Page 90, Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage. Celeste Ray explores the patriarchical nature of clan societies; not least the male surname and male dominated ‘histories’ they celebrate. Are such societies merely a ‘dress-up’ world – a comicon with a Scottish theme if you prefer - for those who find modern standards and philosophies challenging? Or as Celeste Ray says page 207 ‘Stress of societal change impacts each generation differently, and this may explain the predominance of the retirement-age participants in a community celebrating ancestors and perceived pasts … Mainstream (Scottish) heritage celebrations construct an environment somewhat antithetical to contemporary emphases on the sensitive man, political correctness, women’s leadership and achievements, and changing familial structures.’ She also highlights American Highlandism links with Confederate values in Chapter 7 of her book.
[18] Page 89, Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage.
The individual chapters can be downloaded as pdfs from latrobe.academia.edu/AlastairGunn
A clan was … a patrilineal kindred whose members could trace their descent from a common ancestor.[1]
Clans were united by claims of common descent from a distant ancestor…[2]
In 1704 Gunns are not listed in ‘The Celtic muster rolls (which) are exactly similar to the Clans of Scotland.’[3]
Concepts like clanship and clannishness remain contested and controversial…[4]
The cult of the kilt and the clan in modern times has been described as nothing more than a commercial racket.[5]
The question of whether Gunns are a clan will seem nonsensical to those who simplistically[6] believe all Scottish family names are clan names and so Gunns must be a clan. Not all Scottish family names conflate with clan surnames; non-clan based surnames include location based ones such as Murray and Ogilvie, and occupational surnames such as Stewart, Smith, Baxter and many more.[7]
But what is a clan? One view given in the The Oxford Companion to Scottish Highlands states ‘Strictly defined, a clan was a biological phenomenon, a patrilineal descent group deriving from a common ancestor or eponym...’[8]
A similar view is also shown by David Sellar (an ex Lord Lyon) -
By way of definition, it has been suggested that, ‘Clann was used to describe a patrilineal kindred the members of which descended in known steps from a named ancestor’ … This definition underlines two points believed to be true of the clan in Scotland and in Ireland: namely that the members of the true clan were related to one another through the male line, and that the eponym or name father of the clan was a historical, and not a mythical, character.[9]
Professor Celeste Ray explores the issue of what is a clan in more detail -
Confusion between biological and sociopolitical dimensions of clans stems from nineteenth century Highlandism and its later perpetuation in the myriad of books celebrating tartanry (such as Robert Bain's The Clans and Tartans of Scotland, originally published in 1958). Reedited through the years, Bain's text is still a staple of heritage enthusiast’s libraries … Biological kinship was important for the clan elite, from whom a chief would come, but not for all clansfolk. Clans were variably composed of a minority of immediate kin and a majority of non-kin inhabiting the clan's territorial base. Bain divides the clan between "broken men" (those without a chief who join the clan for protection and thereafter claim the chief's name), and "native men" (whom Bain interpreted as a small core group of the chief's blood relatives …. The American, and especially southern, emphasis on "blood" kinship within the clan could also be seen as an American cultural influence on concepts of Scottish heritage and / or an American elaboration of tartanism…[10]
In other words, clans require a central, historically real, male founder to be a clan. The ‘aristocracy’ of the clan would descend from the common ancestor but probably the majority of a clan would not. Given that chapter 1 discussed an origin theory for Gunns as a non-kindred, location based group – with no central male founder - and chapter 2 detailed why the ‘Orkney / Norse / Gunn’ central male founder origin was impossible, then Gunns are not a clan on academic and historic grounds.[11] Many lowland ‘clans’ are also highly ‘clan doubtful.’[12]
To further support the idea of Gunns not being a clan[13] note that an Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament in July 1587 ‘for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the ... inhabitants of the Borders, Highlands and Isles’ and it included an attachment with ‘the roll of the Clans that have captains, chiefs and chieftains upon whom they depend, ... and of some special persons of the said clans’ but there was no listing for ‘Clan’ Gunn.[14] The absence of ‘Clan’ Gunn from Clan lists has often occurred and continues today - Alister Farquhar Matheson[15] in his Scotland’s Northwest Frontier writing on ‘Clan Beginnings’ explored the Mackays of Strathnaver history, including their lineage. There is no mention of a ‘Clan’ Gunn. He also does not discuss ‘Clan’ Gunn when writing about Clans of ‘The Northeastern Sector’.[16]
In short, there are contemporary listings of Scottish Clans in 1587, 1609, 1704, and 1824 to name but a few dates. “Clan Gunn” does not appear in any of these primary source listings. Is it credible that a Highland Clan could exist and prosper from at least 1450 (the Coroner’s time) through to the early 19th Century but miss official recognition in contemporary documents? Why is it that the first recognition of the “Clan” came during the Victorian era when such things became romantic and trendy? Because that is when the mythical “Clan Gunn” was invented.
Gunns not being a Clan raises questions about the point of Clan Gunn Societies.[17] One view as to why people join Clan societies is that members can ‘share the successes’[18] of those with the same surname in that they hope they share close ancestry, but this idea does not work for Gunns as Gunns do not descend from a common ancestor.
SUMMARY Using normal historic and academic definitions of Scottish Highland clans the Gunns are not a clan as the Gunns have no founding father.
***
[1] Page 254, Ian D. Whyte, Scotland before the Industrial Revolution adds ‘Most ordinary clansmen were not directly related to the Chief’.
[2] Page 1, Stuart MacHardy, The Well of the Heads And Other Tales of the Scottish Clans.
[3] Page 96-97, James Logan, The Scottish Gael, Volume 1. It is noteworthy the lack of mention of Clan Gunn / Clan Gunn Chiefs in the Gaelic Poetry of Scotland before 1700 although many Clan Chiefs are so mentioned, including minor ones. See, especially page 197, M. Pia Coira By Poetic Authority The Rhetoric of Panegyric in Gaelic Poetry of Scotland to c.1700. The continual absence of any evidence in documents of the time for Clan Gunn Chiefs adds to the surety that such Chiefs were never in existence in historic time; by contrast the Hebridean Chiefs – large and small – are fully documented by 1609, see Page 44- 47 J. L. Campbell, Canna The Story of a Hebridean Island.
[4] Page 10, ed. Angela McCarthy, A Global Clan: Scottish Migrant Networks and Identity Since the Eighteenth Century.
[5] Page 14, Ian Grimble Clans and Chiefs.
[6] Tourist histories support this fallacy.
[7] For further information see http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?r=551&560 accessed 10 February 2015. The origin of Turnbull is as obscure as the real origin of the name Gunn; see Ian Grimble page 71 Clans and Chiefs. ‘A misconception regarding the population and origin of the peoples of Scotland is that all people belong to clans, when in reality most of its inhabitants … had no clan connection at all.’ Patrick L. Thomson ‘The Transition of Clan MacTavish Surnames’.
[8] Page 93, Michael Lynch, The Oxford Companion to Scottish Highlands.
[9] Page 92 David Sellar, chapter 4 ‘The Family’, in ed. E. J. Cowan and L. Henderson A History of of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000 to1600.
[10] Pages 79-80, R. Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage. I like the subtlety of the title of her third map (page 85) which illustrates the ‘Clan and Family Territories of Scotland’ so getting around the question as to which surnames were or were not clan names.
[11] As I state often in this book given Gunns are not a clan then a ‘Clan’ Gunn Chief is logically wrong; it is worth noting the lack of primary source material for the existence of ‘Clan’ Gunn Chiefs. The earliest relevant Highland’s historical text of the time was Sir Robert Gordon’s A Genealogical History of the Earldom Of Sutherland. In it he occasionally applied the word chief and chieftain to some Gunns. These terms should be viewed as shorthand for Gunn major families; chief / main / major mean the same thing. R. A Dodgshon’s use of the ‘term chief to describe anyone with significant position of rank and social control over how land was allocated, whether through their position as owner or merely tacksman’ Page 171 R. A Dodgshon in ed. R. A. Houston and I.D. Whyte Scottish Society, is another uncommon use of the word chief. If applied to the Gunns it could mean that the Coroner, and the heads of the MacHamish and Braemore families for some time, could be viewed as chiefs in the way that Gordon also used the term - that is, as important families - but this is not the usage of the word as the tourist / romantic stories use it. Nor is either the common academic use of the term.
[12] See pages 84-6 Celeste Ray, Highland Herirtage, ‘surname and family societies … like Clan Armstrong … Clan Forrester… Clan Davidson … Clan Henderson’.
[13] John Maculloch’s 1824 book The Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland in letters to Sir Walter Scott, chapter 13 describes the many Highland Clans known to him, including many obscure ones, but there is no mention of a Gunn clan.
[14] James VI: Translation; 1587, 8 July, Edinburgh, Parliament; Parliamentary Register; 29 July 1587; Legislation; For the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disordered subjects, inhabitants of the borders, highlands and isles; 1587 / 7 / 70.
[15] Page 320 Alister Farquhar Matheson Scotland’s Northwest Frontier.
[16] Pages 536-538, Alister Farquhar Matheson, ibid.
[17] Page 90, Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage. Celeste Ray explores the patriarchical nature of clan societies; not least the male surname and male dominated ‘histories’ they celebrate. Are such societies merely a ‘dress-up’ world – a comicon with a Scottish theme if you prefer - for those who find modern standards and philosophies challenging? Or as Celeste Ray says page 207 ‘Stress of societal change impacts each generation differently, and this may explain the predominance of the retirement-age participants in a community celebrating ancestors and perceived pasts … Mainstream (Scottish) heritage celebrations construct an environment somewhat antithetical to contemporary emphases on the sensitive man, political correctness, women’s leadership and achievements, and changing familial structures.’ She also highlights American Highlandism links with Confederate values in Chapter 7 of her book.
[18] Page 89, Celeste Ray, Highland Heritage.