The MacBeth tartan is a very colourful balance of reds, blues and greens with white and yellow highlights.
Most of us are familiar with the name MacBeth, or Macbeth, through Shakespeare’s play of that name. In Scottish history it is said that King Macbeth, Mac Bethad mac Findláich (c.1005–57) was the grandson of King Malcolm II, and his wife (Gruoch) was the granddaughter of King Kenneth III. The real king bore little resemblance to Shakespeare’s creation, though he did kill the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle, and he was killed by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III) in 1056.
But, surprisingly, the surname MacBeth is not related to him. The surname has the look of a patronymic name (“son of ...”) but it is not. Mac Bethad (or, in modern Gaelic, MacBheatha), means “son of life”. The surname MacBeth is associated with a family of hereditary physicians, thought to have originated in Ireland, who practised medicine for the Lords of the Isles. They were employed by every Scottish monarch between Robert I (d. 1329) and Charles I (d. 1649). Some changed their name to Beaton. Some migrated to the west coast and Mull. Others went to Inverness, Sutherland, Easter Ross and Moray. The MacBeths/Beatons are sometimes called the “Beaton Medical Kindred”, and they are listed as a sept of the clans MacBean and Maclean. The MacBeth tartan in which this notebook is bound is based on the Royal Stewart sett.
The Waverley Scotland Tartan Cloth Commonplace Notebook – MacBeth uses the MacBeth Tartan.
The Waverley Scotland Tartan Cloth Commonplace Notebooks each with 176 pages (left side blank, right side ruled), acid-free, thread sewn, 80 gsm cream shade pages, are bound in genuine Scottish tartan cloth over board, with round cornered cover and book block corners, stained edges and a matching elastic enclosure. Available from mid-January 2016.
Each volume has a ribbon-marker and an expandable inner note holder made of cardboard and cloth, and removable booklet with background notes, with a Clan Map of Scotland, and with an individual bookmark, giving detail on the specific tartan used for the binding.
The tartan cloth is supplied by and produced with the authority of Kinloch Anderson Scotland, holders of Royal Warrants of Appointment as Tailors and Kiltmakers to HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH The Prince of Wales.
