Dicing on bonnets

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

To quote Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, sometime Lord Lyon, writing in 1938 (The Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland):

" The term chevtaine is definitely employed in early heraldic literature, and 'A cheivetayn's hedd chappelled embattled Or' appears in an heraldic badge in 1562. This "chieftain's embattled cap," inscribed with its owner's title like a sailor's cap, is obviously the origin of the later stiff and unnatural-looking Mural Crown, which (tinctured Or) has become more or less confined to persons with high military authority..."

Sir Thomas then goes on to say:

"It seems not unlikely that this medieval chieftain's bonnet survives not merely in the Mural Crown of heraldry, but in the diced borders of military Highland bonnets. This border in its more primitive form was a broad surround of very large checks, a noticeable feature of the bonnet in which the Duchess of Gordon went recruiting."

I don't think it is too big a leap of logic to suggest that the diced border was originally intended to denote those persons with the authority to call out the men of the clan for military service, and that with the passage of time came it came to be a mark, although not universal in its application, of those serving in the military.