In the absence of records of the employment of the bagpipe in war in the Highlands it is to Ireland, the so-called Lowlands of Scotland and to England that we have to turn for information; at the same time we must bear in mind that evolution of the instrument itself had begun to operate, and the English and Lowland pipes were different from the variety now known as the "Highland," which has supplanted all others.
As regards Ireland it is known that the Irish troops who fought in Gascony in 1286 had pipers with them, and a drawing of their instrument appears in a manuscript of 1300 A.D. in the British Museum. There were also Irish pipers at the battle of Falkirk in 1298, and they are again referred to in contemporary accounts of the battle of Creçy.
The military piper therefore goes far back into history. But it was as a social instrument that one finds most frequent reference to bagpipes of some pattern or other in the Middle Ages. There was a pipe band at the English Court in 1327, and an old inventory of 1419 shows that at the Palace of St. James' were "foure baggpypes with pypes of ivorie ... the bagge covered with purple vellat."
But, whereas the English pipes went the same way as the Continental varieties, it was otherwise in Scotland. Two institutions existed there which fostered the tradition and saved piob mhor from the fate of disappearance—the Burgh piper and the Clan piper; and by 1450 A.D. these had certainly become part of the national life.
In Edinburgh in 1487 A.D. there were three town pipers, who were paid three pence daily; one of their duties was "to accompany the toun's drummer throw toun morning and evening." In 1505 A.D. the town records of Dumbarton, Biggar, Wigton, Dumfries and Linlithgow refer to burgh pipers.
In Aberdeen in 1630 A.D. exception appears to have been taken to the custom of playing through the streets, as it is placed on record that this was to be stopped "it being an uncivill forme to be usit uithin sic a famous burghe, and being oftene found fault uith als weill be sundrie niehbouris as by strangeris." That the citizens of this "famous burghe" are peculiarly susceptible to the criticisms of "strangeris" might never have been suspected by superficial observers, and it is well that there is official testimony to the fact.
The effect of their daily music on the inhabitants of Perth was different,—or perhaps Perth was less amenable to the criticisms of "strangeris." In any case it is recorded of a burgh piper, who used to rouse the citizens at 5 a.m., that his music was "inexpressibly soothing and delightful."
At Dundee the piper played through the town "every day in the morning at four hours and every nicht at aucht hours," and was paid twelve pennies yearly by each householder.
The pipes, at least in the pre-Reformation days—were sometimes played in church; in course of time, however, piping on Sunday scandalised the authorities, religious and civil, and, in the burgh records, we find repeated instances of pipers being punished for this misdemeanour.