The term cateran (from the Gaelic ''ceathairne'', a collective word meaning "peasantry") historically referred to a band of fighting men of a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

clan; hence the term applied to the Highland, and later to any,

marauders Marauder, marauders, The Marauder, or The Marauders may refer to: * A person engaged in banditry or related activity ** Piracy ** Looting ** Outlaw ** Partisan (military) ** Robbery ** Theft Entertainment * ''Marauder'', the second novel in t ...

or cattle-lifters. An individual member is a ceithernach or catanach, but Walter Scott calls an individual a cateran (e.g. in '' Rob Roy'', '' Chronicles of the Canongate''). According to Randy Lee Eichoff it derives from Old Celtic 'cat' (battle, war) and 'nach' (man, fellow) Catanach means war-man, warrior. Its plural is ceithern or ceithrenn or caithereine or kettering or kettenring and several other spellings. They are mentioned in the

Dunkeld Litany Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...

: A cateranis et latronibus, a lupis, et omnia mala bestia, Domine libra nos. From caterans and robbers, from wolves, and all evil creatures, Lord, deliver us. Magnus Magnusson states that some Highland chieftains retained substantial private armies of professional soldiers, known as 'ceatharn', to be used against their neighboursMagnusson, Magnus (2000) ''Scotland, The Story of a Nation'', page 211 Problems arose when the third royal son of King Robert II,

Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, Alasdair Mór mac an Rígh, and called the Wolf of Badenoch (1343 – c. 20 July 1405), was the third surviving son of King Robert II of Scotland and youngest by his first wife, Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. He w ...

(the King's Lieutenant for areas of Scotland north of the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scot ...

) began using a force of 'caterans' himself. Subsequently, the word 'cateran' came to refer to those Highland bandits or malefactors. Caterans feature in many Scottish novels and short stories, notably Hamish MacTavish Mhor in Walter Scott's 'The Highland Widow'. Stories of the Cateran cattle-raiding tradition of the Scottish clans can be found in 'School of the Moon' by Stuart McHardy.

References

History of the Scottish Highlands Military units and formations of the Middle Ages {{Scotland-hist-stub

See also

References