The Weapons and Fighting Methods of the Highland Scots
A study of the historical swordsmanship and warfare practices of the Scottish Highlanders

Article by Dale Seago.

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Highland lads were trained in the use of weapons from an early age, commencing with singlestick practice with ash sticks, first striking at targets and later at each other. One apparent goal appears consistent with a concept found in Asian martial arts: the development of such a high level of proficiency in use of the weapon that one became skilled enough to avoid killing unless it was absolutely necessary. Quarrels or duels (as distinct from battlefield conflict) were typically fought only until first blood was drawn. Rob Roy MacGregor fought his own last such duel with sword and targe in 1734, about a year and a half before his death, against Alasdair Stewart of Invernahyle to mark the resolution of a clan dispute. Rob's two decades of strife against the Marquis of Montrose (Yes, it went on rather longer than the Liam Neeson movie would lead you to believe!) had made him a legend in the Highlands, and it was considered an honor to face him. Stewart won with a wound to Rob's arm, but admitted that it was only his own youth and suppleness which had allowed him to score. In prizefights with weapons it also was customary to wound, not kill, with swords having sharp edges but blunted points being used. Donald McBane, mentioned earlier, came down out of the mountains and fought his own last fight at age 62 against a young Irish prizefighter who had offended the gentry of Edinburgh with his claim that he could beat any Scot with a sword. In McBane's own words,

"In 1726, I fought a clean young man at Edinburgh. I gave him seven wounds, and broke his arm with the Fauchion, and this I did at the request of several nobles and gentlemen. But now being sixty-three years of age, (I) resolves never to Fight any more, but to Repent of my former Wickedness."

The last edged weapon to be discussed here is the dirk. I have not been able to determine the origin of the word, but an acquaintance in Ireland named Daithi O Ceileachair suggests an intriguing possibility. In the Victorian era and subsequently, a small knife carried in the stocking became a popular accessory of Highland dress. This is of course the sgian dubh, or "black knife". While this is a recent development, it illustrates the poetic nature of the Gaelic mind and language. It is not unreasonable to think that a combat knife carried by men throughout the Highlands and Western Isles might have been popularly known as a sgian dearg, or "red knife". We probably will never know for certain; but it is not that great a shift from "dearg" to "dirk".

It is generally accepted that the dirk was developed from the ballock knife, so called because the handle had two swelling protuberances instead of a crossguard to keep the hand from sliding forward onto the blade when thrusting. These protuberances were later reduced to the "haunches" of the true dirk, which in most cases retain something of the original "phallic" character. It is difficult to date the dirk's appearance precisely: Ewart Oakeshott has placed it in the mid-1500s, while others think this is much too early. The blades of ballock knives - often called "dudgeon daggers" due to the use of boxwood ("dudgeon") for handles - were frequently inscribed with mottoes, and this practice was continued with the dirk.

It is difficult to say what should be considered the stereotypical dirk, because there was considerable variation in handle and blade styles. The earliest dirk handles were cylindrical, but they soon became more ovoid in shape. The proportion of grip length to haunches varied greatly as well: In some cases (earlier pieces especially), it was clear that the handle was gripped above the haunches as with the ballock knife, with the haunches acting as a guard; while others had such a short grip that it seems clear that the haunches were considered simply part of the gripping area. Handles might be made from boxwood, ivy root, bog oak, imported ebony, or other wood; horn; bone; brass; even pewter. Wooden handles were typically carved with Celtic interlace patterns.

The earliest sheaths were leather, often covering the lower part of the haunches. Later, metal reinforcements were added, and it also became popular to carry a bye-knife, or a knife and fork set, in pockets on the sheath.

Blades were typically 12 to 16 inches in length. While some were forged specifically to be dirk blades, very often a cut-down sword blade was used. This was not just a matter of the famous Scottish thrift, though certainly a sword blade damaged or broken in battle was not something one would want to see wasted. There also was a succession of disarming acts restricting the carry of swords. From the mid-1600s (if not earlier), there also was a general perception that the temper of blades made abroad - especially in Germany - was superior to local production. All these factors combined to popularize the "recycling" of swords into dirks. A fairly reliable way of telling at a glance whether or not an antique dirk is a recycled sword is by the presence or absence of fullers: Blades forged specifically for dirks were generally unfullered. A false edge on either type of blade is common but by no means universal.

In battlefield combat, the dirk was a "backup" to the broadsword. It often was carried in the left hand while the targe was worn simultaneously on the left arm. Since the targe itself often had a steel spike screwed into the central boss, this combination of dirk, spike, shield, and broadsword was formidable.

The dirk occupies a unique niche in Highland culture and history. Many Highland Scots were too cash-poor to buy a sword, but virtually every male carried a dirk - and carried it everywhere! If in Japan the katana was the soul of the Samurai, in Scotland the dirk was the heart of the Highlander. In many warrior cultures oaths were sworn on one's sword. Among the Gael, however, binding oaths with the force of a geas (involving dire supernatural penalties for breaking such an oath) were sworn on one's dirk. The English, aware of this, used the custom against the Highlanders after Culloden: When Highland dress was prohibited in 1747 those Gael who could not read or sign an oath were required to swear a verbal oath, "in the Irish tongue and upon the holy iron of their dirks", not to possess any gun, sword, or pistol, or to use tartan: "... and if I do so may I be cursed in my undertakings, family and property, may I be killed in battle as a coward, and lie without burial in a strange land, far from the graves of my forefathers and kindred; may all this come across me if I break my oath."

The failure of the Jacobite rising of 1745 was more than a defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland followers, for the Highlanders fighting against him were ultimate losers as well. The English military and political repression, and the economically driven Clearances, which followed destroyed a Gaelic warrior culture which, despite the corrupting influence of Anglo-Norman feudalism, had survived remarkably intact since the days of the Roman Empire. Many Highlanders starved; many more emigrated to the Colonies and to Canada; and others (from both sides of the conflict) were sold into slavery, sometimes by their own clan chiefs. The English cynically allowed Highlanders to retain some of their cultural trappings such as tartan, broadsword, and dirk by joining Highland military regiments in service to the crown. (I say "cynically" because this approach was openly discussed as a sort of "final solution to the Highland problem" of intermittent rebellion: Far better to have these people go off to fight and die against other wogs than against the English.)

Today, the memory of the Gael as a warrior has been so far lost that, when a person sees someone wearing Highland dress, the first question asked is whether the wearer plays the bagpipes; and people think a dirk is the little knife one wears in one's sock.

Yet there are still those, however few, who remember the traditional cultural values of valor, honor, independence, self-sufficiency, and love of family, clan, and country; and who hold these things dear. I recall these values anew whenever I hear the ceol mor, the "great music" of the Highland bagpipe... and I swear upon the holy iron of my dirk that I will not forget.

Saorsa gu brath! (Freedom forever!)

About the Author

Dale Seago has followed the profession of arms as both a Marine NCO and a commissioned Army officer, serving from the Vietnam war through Desert Storm. A martial artist for over thirty years, Dale teaches feudal-era Japanese combat skills as chief instructor of the Bujinkan San Francisco Dojo. As a member of Guardsmark, Inc.'s San Francisco branch, he manages the security staffs of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Bohemian Club. Of Scottish ancestry on his mother's side and Irish on his father's, Dale is a member of the Clan Douglas Society of North America.

Click here for Dale's website.

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