Sir
David Graham’s bonnie daughter Margaret (born 1305) married a man by the name
of Aodh (we English-corrupted offspring say “Hugh”) de Ross, Fourth Mormaer of
Ross, whose background was every bit as distinguished, and as violent, as her
own.
His
earldom had been minted by Fearchar mac an t-sacairt (Son of the Priest), First
Mormaer of Ross. In spite of his name, Fearchar’s parentage wasn’t at all
scandalous. His father had been the hereditary Abbot of Applecross, a lay
position of power and influence. These men took no vows of abstinence and were
as free to marry as any other nobles. They were descended from King Kenneth III
of Alba (“Scotland” per se didn’t yet exist) through the King's granddaughter Gruoch
ingen Boedhe Mac Cenaeda mhic Dubh. Today she’s known as Lady Macbeth.
Fearchar
was an extremely powerful Celtic nobleman from the Ross area who benefitted by
upholding the authority of the King of Scots. He emerged from obscurity as a
local warlord in 1215 to crush a large scale uprising against King Alexander
II.
The Chronicle of Melrose reports that: “Machentager attacked them and
mightily overthrew the king’s enemies; and he cut off their heads and presented
them as gifts to the new king…And because of this, the lord king appointed him
a new knight.”
“Mormaer”
indicates more than a mere knighthood. It means something like “Great Steward”;
later centuries replaced it with the West German term “Earl”.
Ross was
a breathtakingly magnificent tract of land. Its million-and-a-half mainland
acres ran along the north rim of the Great Glen from sea to sea, and it reached
out to embrace numerous small islands off its west coast. It was truly a jewel
in the royal crown; well worth fighting for, and evidently worth killing for.
No comments:
Post a Comment