A kilt is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first recorded in the 16th century as the great kilt, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak. The small kilt or modern kilt emerged in the 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt. Since the 19th century, it has become associated with the wider culture of Scotland, and more broadly with Gaelic or Celtic heritage.
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of active blocks, as well as to provide passive protection by closing one or more lines of engagement during combat.
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, on Drummossie Moor near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil.
Fort George is a large 18th-century fortress near Ardersier, to the north-east of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was built to control the Scottish Highlands in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745, replacing a Fort George in Inverness constructed after the 1715 Jacobite rising to control the area. The current fortress has never been attacked and has remained in continuous use as a garrison.
The sporran, a traditional part of male Scottish Highland dress, is a pouch that functions as a pocket for the kilt. Made of leather or fur, the ornamentation of the sporran is chosen to complement the formality of dress worn with it. The sporran is worn on a leather strap or chain, conventionally positioned in front of the groin of the wearer.
A heiti is a synonym used in Old Norse poetry in place of the normal word for something. For instance, Old Norse poets might use jór "steed" instead of the prosaic hestr "horse".
A dirk is a long-bladed thrusting dagger. Historically, it gained its name from the Highland dirk where it was a personal weapon of officers engaged in naval hand-to-hand combat during the Age of Sail as well as the personal sidearm of Highlanders. It was also the traditional sidearm of the Highland Clansman and later used by the officers, pipers, and drummers of Scottish Highland regiments around 1725 to 1800 and by Japanese naval officers.
Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, though the current (12th) Duke, Bruce Murray, lives in South Africa. The castle stands in Glen Garry, and commands a strategic position on the main route through the central Scottish Highlands.
The pugio was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the pugio was intended as an auxiliary weapon, but its exact purpose for the soldier remains unknown. Officials of the empire took to wearing ornate daggers in the performance of their offices, and some would wear concealed daggers for defense in contingencies. The dagger was a common weapon of assassination and suicide; for example, the conspirators who stabbed Julius Caesar used pugiones. The pugio developed from the daggers used by the Cantabrians of the Iberian peninsula.
The Highland charge was a battlefield shock tactic used by the clans of the Scottish Highlands which incorporated the use of firearms.
Dutch is a West Germanic language, that originated from the Old Frankish dialects.
The history of the modern kilt stretches back to at least the end of the 16th century. The kilt first appeared as the belted plaid or great kilt, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over the head as a hood. The small kilt or walking kilt did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
Loudon's Highlanders, or the 64th Highlanders, or Earl of Loudon's Regiment of Foot, was an infantry regiment of the British Army.
The feather bonnet is a type of military headdress used mainly by the Scottish Highland infantry regiments of the British Army from about 1763 until the outbreak of World War I. It is now mostly worn by pipers and drummers in various bands throughout the world. It is also worn in a similar fashion by regiments in various Commonwealth armies.
Prince Charlie's Targe is a notable 18th-century targe, a type of shield. The most prominent example is a highly decorated targe in the National Museum of Scotland. The silver decorations include Medusa's head in the centre and various arms and crests around the edge. The initial targe was presented to Charles by James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth circa 1740. The targe is said to have been recovered by government forces following the Battle of Culloden and was later presented to the presented to the Duke of Cumberland. In 2016, the targe was exhibited at Perth Museum.
Redshank was a nickname for Scottish mercenaries from the Highlands and Western Isles contracted to fight in Ireland; they were a prominent feature of Irish armies throughout the 16th century. They were called redshanks because they went dressed in plaids and waded bare-legged through rivers in the coldest weather. An alternative etymology, illustrated by Jamieson by a quote from Sir Walter Scott, is that it referred to the untanned deer leather buskins worn by Highlanders, although Jamieson notes that Scott's source, John Elder of Caithness, actually stated its origin was from their habit of going "bare-legged and bare-footed". The term was not derogatory, as the English were in general impressed with the redshanks' qualities as soldiers.
A claymore is either the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword or the Scottish variant of the basket-hilted sword. The former is characterised as having a cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons with quatrefoil terminations and was in use from the 15th to 17th centuries.
There is some evidence on historical fencing as practised in Scotland in the Early Modern Era, especially fencing with the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword during the 17th to 18th centuries.
The Danum shield was a Roman shield found in the Danum Roman fort at Doncaster in 1971. It was discovered amid the remains of a bonfire and may have been intentionally disposed of during the partial abandonment of the fort. The shield was rectangular in shape and measured approximately 0.65 metres (2.1 ft) by 1.25 metres (4.1 ft). It is considered to have been part of the equipment of a Roman auxilium (non-citizen) soldier. An assessment in the 1970s considered it to have had an unusual vertical hand grip, suggesting a possible use by cavalry. However a recent work suggests the handgrip may have been horizontal and the shield used by an infantryman. The shield was covered in leather and was probably painted, though its original colour is not known. The outer face was decorated with bronze sheeting, possibly incised with a Celtic pattern.
An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 is an oil painting, by the Anglo-Swiss artist David Morier. It is part of the art collection of the British royal family. The painting depicts a scene during the 1746 Battle of Culloden, in which a group of Jacobite Army troops charge against a line of government soldiers.
