Mormaer of Ross
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The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Ross refers to a medieval Gaelic lordship in northern Scotland, roughly between the Oykell and the Beauly. Initially, it was probably confined entirely to Easter Ross to an area between the Dornoch Firth and the Cromarty Firth, i.e. the Tarbat peninsula and the parishes of Kiltearn (equal to the modern Evanton) and Alness. The earliest man we known of to have the comital title to Ross, was the rebel Máel Coluim mac Áeda. However, the true founder was of course the famous Ferchar mac in tSagairt, who attained the title probably sometime in the 1220s by destroying the "MacHeths" and "Meic Uilleim", two rebel kinship groups.
His son and successor Uilleam I greatly expanded the Mormaerdom, conquering territory from the Kingdom of Norway. The line ended in 1372, when Uilleam III died with no heir, and his daughter Euphemia married Walter Lesley. The comital Lordship eventually passed into the hands of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles.
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[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Grant, Alexander, "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba" in E.J. Cowan and R.Andrew McDonald (eds.) Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era", (Edinburgh, 2000)
- McDonald, R. Andrew, "Old and new in the far North: Ferchar Maccintsacairt and the early earls of Ross" in Steve Boardman and Alasdair Ross (eds.) The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland, c.1200-1500, (Dublin/Portland, 2003)
- Roberts, John L., Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages, (Edinburgh, 1997)
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