The Belted Plaid
This article is from Matt Newsome's excellent
publication 'Early Highland Dress' published in book and CD form by
Scotpress of Auburn, Alabama.
Author of 'Old Irish & Highland Dress" H.F. McClintock
mentions Highland dress from the sixteenth century but it should be
stressed that nowhere is there to be found evidence to suggest the
wearing of any form of kilt in Scotland in the time period
before the sixteenth century. People may claim various
early dates for the wearing of the kilt, but hard evidence has yet
to be found. Most often, what people are claiming to be a kilt is
merely a depiction of a leine or an acton.
The type of kilt that we begin to encounter in the sixteenth
century is called a feileadh-mor (great wrap), a
breacan-an-fheilidh orfeileadh-bhreacain (tartan wrap) or simply a
belted plaid. All refer to the same garment. A plaid or plaide is a
length of heavy woollen fabric worn over the body like a mantle or
a shawl. It has nothing to do with the modern American usage of the
word "plaid" which is confusingly used to mean just tartan.
A belted plaid is simply a very long plaid that has been
gathered into folds and belted around the body. It is often called
in modern re-enactment circles a "great kilt." Despite what you saw
in Braveheart, at the Highland Games, or in your local production
of Macbeth, the belted plaid was not worn in the Middle Ages. The
belted plaid costumes worn in Braveheart, in particular, were not
even very good representations of belted plaids. I honestly do not
believe the costumiers did any historical research - they simply
designed a garment that they thought would look both Scottish and
medieval to the popular audience.
"Plaid" refers to the blanket-like garment called by the Irish a
brat that was worn as a mantle over the shoulders. The belted plaid
was a natural evolution that grew out of larger plaids being
gathered up and belted at the waist, sometime during the late
sixteenth century. The first reference to anything that may
possibly be taken as a belted plaid comes as late as 1578. Bishop
Lesley, writing in Rome, says of the Highland Scots:
"Their clothing was made for use (being chiefly suited
for war) and not for ornament. All, both nobles and common people,
wore mantles of one sort (except that the nobles preferred those of
several colours). These were long and flowing, but capable of being
neatly gathered up at pleasure into folds."
He goes on to describe the rest of the outfit, but it is this
section that demands our attention. The mantle he describes can be
taken for a plaid. The curious fact is that he suggests that these
were somehow gathered up into folds. What he means is unclear. Some
suggest that this refers to the practice of pleating the length of
the plaid and belting it around the waist as in a belted plaid. But
we must be careful in assuming too much for Lesley never mentions a
belt and his description would imply that the plaids were able to
be worn gathered as well as unfolded, and certainly the larger
belted plaid as we think of it, is too long to be comfortably worn
unfolded. We should remain open to the possibility that this could
refer to some early usage of the belted plaid but in no way can we
claim that this is definitely describing a kilt.
Another document from this period that is very often cited as
possibly describing a kilt is George Buchanan's history of Scotland
published in 1581. He describes the Highland dress this way:
"Their ancestors wore plaids of many colours, and
numbers still retain this custom but the majority now in their
dress prefer a dark brown, imitating nearly the leaves of the
heather, that when lying upon the heath in the day, they may not be
discovered by the appearance of their clothes; in these wrapped
rather than covered, they brave the severest storms in the open
air, and sometimes lay themselves down to sleep even in the midst
of snow."
This document attests to the rugged constitution of the
Highlander, and the fact that the plaids were used as protection
from the elements and a form of camouflage as well as a mode of
dress. Since it refers to plaids and seems to indicate a tartan
pattern, many eagerly assume this is a kilt or belted plaid. But
such an assumption would be invalid as no form of pleating or
belting is mentioned and all of his descriptions are equally valid
of an unbelted plaid (i.e. a mantle or brat) which we know to have
been worn with frequency at this time.
The truth of the matter is that only one document has yet been
found that dates from before 1600 and without a doubt describes a
belted plaid, the earliest form of the kilt. It is an Irish source,
written in Gaelic. In the Life of Red Hugh O 'Donnell written by
Lughaidh O'Clery, we read of a group of hired mercenaries from the
Scottish Hebrides, employed by O'Donnell in 1594. These were
recognized among the Irish by the difference of their arms and
clothing, their habits and language, for their exterior dress was
mottled cloaks to the calf of the leg with ties and fastenings.
Their girdles were over the loins outside the cloaks.
Here we have the first definite mention of the belt being worn
around the outside of the mantle - the hallmark of the belted
plaid. And though it is an Irish source, it is clear from the
context that this was definitely not an Irish mode of dress and was
characteristic of the Scots among them. It may be possible that the
belted plaid was worn or at least in development some time prior to
this description, but the hard fact remains that this is the first
proof we have of its existence and anything earlier is mere
speculation.
Keep in mind that McClintock describes ten mentions of Highland
dress in Scotland prior to this in date and of those ten only the
two mentioned above contain anything that could remotely be
suggestive of a belted plaid. If the belted plaid was being worn
with any regularity I think these other writers would have made at
least passing mention of it in their descriptions of Highland
dress, especially since it is such a unique garment and so worthy
of note.
The earliest picture we have of a belted plaid comes from after
1600 but the exact dating is uncertain and it would seem to be from
the first decade of the seventeenth century. And there are ample
seventeenth century references to the belted plaid, so we know its
use quickly became nearly universal among the Gaelic
Highlanders.
When trying to recreate one of the first belted plaids from the
late sixteenth century, it is necessary to extrapolate from what we
know of the garment from later times. We know it was untailored and
consisted of a length of woollen material or a linen-wool blend,
most often of tartan pattern (although solid colours were worn as
the 1635 portrait of Sir
Duncan Campbell of Lochow attests to - he is wearing a solid red
belted plaid). The length would appear to have normally been
between four and five yards (although there is evidence for a range
of between three and six, perhaps seven).
One will often hear it repeated that the plaids had to be at
least nine yards. Often it is 10, 12 or even 16. In fact, I have
seen one web page where the author suggests a length of 30 yards -
that is 90 feet of heavy woollen material! The "nine-yard" myth has
its foundation in the military records of the eighteenth century
that sometimes show where eight or nine yards of tartan are
purchased for the making of a belted plaid. What one needs to
realize is that this hand woven material was only about 25" to 30"
wide, and the plaid had to be broad enough to reach from the knees
to above the head. So two widths of material would be sewn together
to produce a 50" to 60" width. Therefore nine yards of tartan
material would make a plaid four and a half yards long. In fact,
most eighteenth century military records show about 6.5 yards going
into a belted plaid, making it 3.25 yards in length. This
corresponds with the earliest surviving tailored kilts we have,
which all contain between three and four yards of cloth.
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