The Statutes of Iona, passed in Scotland…
October 1609 CE
The Statutes of Iona, passed in Scotland in 1609, require that Highland Scottish clan chiefs send their heirs to Lowland Scotland to be educated in English-speaking Protestant schools.
As a result some clans, such as the MacDonalds of Sleat and the MacLeods of Harris, adopt the new religion.
Other Clans, including the MacDonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, Glengarry, and Glencoe, remain resolutely Roman Catholic.
Among the provisions of the statutes are:
* The provision and support of Protestant ministers to Highland Parishes;
* The establishment of hostelries;
* The outlawing of beggars;
* The prohibition of traditional hospitality and strong drink;
* The education of chiefs’ heirs in Lowland schools where they “may be found able sufficiently to speik, reid and wryte Englische";
* Limitations on the bearing and use of arms;
* The outlawing of bards and other bearers of the traditional culture;
* The prohibition on the protection of fugitives
Although the Statutes of Iona mark the end of the bloody feuds between the clans in the Scottish highlands, this enaction is the beginning of the ascendancy of the English language over Scots Gaelic.
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