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The clan chief, whose name sometimes had been derived from a pagan deity, rather than an actual historical character, was held in high esteem, even as a kind of semi-divinity, commanding absolute loyalty. It was the duty of the clansmen to follow wherever he led, in peace and war. Ancient custom gave him the powers of lawgiver and judge. On hunting expeditions, he was given cuid-oidhche, "a night's share or portion" one night's hospitality for himself, his men and his animals in the place he had reached by nightfall. In return for land, his clansmen gave him goods and military service. The various offices of the society were hereditary. Every head of a distinct family was captain of his own tribe, every clan had its standard-bearer and its chief had his own poet or bard to praise his accomplishments in battle. As in Wales and Ireland in the Middle Ages, the Celtic way of life in Scotland greatly interfered with the establishment of an effective, democratically organized state. The clans paid little heed to pronouncements coming from Edinburgh Kings and parliaments were far away, south of the Highland Line, totally removed from the realities of everyday life. Loyalty was not to any central government, but to one's own clan chief in his independent little principality.
The Western Highlands and the Islands were run as petty kingdoms, full of inter-tribal jealousies and family quarrels. In times of emergency, Highlanders were summoned to their clan's special meeting place by the Fiery Cross. The cross was carried from glen to glen by relays of strong runners who shouted their military slogans. Clansmen would take up their arms and go to their traditional meeting place to take orders from their chief. Each clan had a distinguishing badge, worn in their bonnets. Some of these plants like the leek, worn in the caps of Welsh soldiers, were thought to have magical or evil-averting significance. In the later Middle Ages, the feudal system, introduced by the Normans, with its hierarchy of allegiance stretching from peasant to king, found its way into most of Scotland, especially the Lowlands. The older clan system was more or less confined to the more inaccessible Highland areas. Here it continued practically unchanged until the middle of the 18th century. If a clansman had to obey an order, his own chief was given preference over the feudal lord or king. Loyalty to clan came before anything else.
The Highlands remained completely beyond the control of king and parliament. However, James IV (1488-1513) tried to extend the Royal Prerogative into the Celtic strongholds by beginning a new policy towards the Chiefs, whose language he learned. He visited the Western Isles on many occasions, not as an invader, but as s friend, anxious to promote fishing and shipbuilding to contribute to the economy in an effort to turn the clans away from constant in fighting. But the Celtic way of life was too deeply engrained and James soon reverted too more traditional, feudal ways of keeping order in the Highlands. A series of rebellions followed and it was not until the capture of Black Donald and the establishment of a number of strategically placed military strongholds throughout the Highlands, that any sense of order was accomplished.