Scotland in the Middle Ages bards to the Lord of the Isles, existed in Scotland and a larger number in Ireland, until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century. Members of bardic schools were trained in the complex rules and forms of Gaelic poetry. Much of their work was never written down and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century. In the late Middle Ages, Middle Scots, often simply called English, became the dominant language of the country. It was derived largely from Old English, with the addition of elements from Gaelic and French. Although resembling the language spoken in northern England, it
Scotland in the Late Middle Ages other’s support and this could help intensify the idea of the feud, which was usually carried out as a form of revenge for a kinsman and for which a large bodies of kin could be counted on to support rival sides, although conflict between members of kin groups also occurred. The combination of agnatic kinship and a feudal system of obligation has been seen as creating the highland clan system, evident in records from the 13th century. Surnames were rare in the highlands until the 17th and 18th centuries and in the Middle Ages all members of a clan did