Mormaer of Caithness
The Mormaer of Caithness was a vassal title and a member of the Norwegian nobility since the Viking Age and until 1476.
The mormaerdom Caithness was intermittently held—presumably always as fief of Scotland— by the Norse Earls of Orkney, at least since the days of childhood of Thorfinn Sigurdsson in c. 1020, but possibly already several decades before. The modern reconstruction of holders of peerage earldoms do not usually include those of Caithness, although there is no essential difference between them and, for example, those of Mormaers of Lennox, Mormaers of Strathearn and Mormaers of Angus.
In 1334 the then Earl of Orkney, who was still a Norwegian vassal, was created or recognized as Earl of Caithness (see there for how the mormaerdom of Caithness continued as an earldom). In the true circumstances of 14th century this presumably was just a recognition of his hereditary right to the ancient earldom/mormaership of Caithness. Next year, all his Scottish titles were forfeited for treason. The next grant after Earl Malise's confiscation was to David Stewart, a younger son of King Robert II of Scotland.
List of Mormaers of Caithness
The list is by necessity a fragmentary one, archives being not fully preserved, actual reign of some supposed mormaers being not fully attested, and so forth:
- Donnchad of Caithness, (or Dungadr) whose wife was Groa, daughter of Thorstein Olafsson.[1]
- Thorfinn I of Orkney (Torfin mac Enar), possibly succeeding as Donnchad's son-in-law, husband of his daughter Gruaidh inghen Donnchaidh
- Skuli Thorfinnsson of Orkney, son of Gruaidh and Thorfinn, mormaership (of Caithness) confirmed by Kenneth II of Alba
- Lodvi Thorfinnsson of Orkney
- Sigurd II Lodvisson of Orkney
- 1014–c. 1056 Thorfinn II of Orkney, mormaership of Caithness specifically given to him over his half-brothers by king Malcolm of Alba, his maternal grandfather (1. in Complete Peerage)
- Madadhan of Caithness (apparently in Strathnaver, Muddan, Moddan), created mormaer of Caithness by king Duncan I of Alba in mid-1030s, killed 1040 (parenthesis in Complete Peerage)
- Ottar of Thurso, son of another Madadhan, presumably a descendant of the previous Madadhan
- 1080? Haakon I of Orkney, brother-in-law of Ottar and grandson of Thorfinn II (3. in Complete Peerage)
- 1110? Arailt mac Haquin, Harold I of Orkney, nephew of Ottar, and son of Haakon; recognized in Caithness by king David I (5. in Complete Peerage)
- Elga inghen Madadhan (Helga Moddansdottir)
- Rögnvald Kali Kolsson of Orkney (9. in Complete Peerage)
- Erlend III of Orkney, recognized of Caithness by Malcolm IV (8. in Complete Peerage)
- 1170? Harold II of Orkney, son of Matad, Earl of Atholl (Arailt mac Mataidh) (7. in Complete Peerage)
- Harald the Young, grandson of Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, confirmed by king Uilleam I of Alba (10. in Complete Peerage)
- Ragnald IV of the Isle of Man, given Caithness by king Uilleam I of Alba
- 1206 David of Orkney (11. in Complete Peerage)
- 1214 Iain mac Arailt mac Mataidh, John I of Orkney (murdered in Thurso 1231) (12. in Complete Peerage)
- 1232 Magnus, earl of Orkney, (13. in Complete Peerage) may have been:-
- a son of Gille-Brighde of Angus, who was alive in 1150 and dead by 1189
- a son of Gille Críst, Earl of Angus, who died before 1206, and thus a grandson of Gille-Brighde of Angus
- the same person as Máel Coluim, Earl of Angus, who ruled roughly 1214–1240 and was a son of Donnchadh, Earl of Angus who seems to have been dead by 1214, a grandson of Gille Críst, Earl of Angus and a great-grandson of Gille-Brighde of Angus
- Gilbert II of Orkney
- 1239 Malcolm (15. in Complete Peerage) or Magnus III of Orkney
- Magnus IV of Orkney
- 1280? John II of Orkney (16. in Complete Peerage)
- 1300? Magnus V of Orkney (18. in Complete Peerage)
- ?princess Catherine of Orkney
- c. 1334–35 Maol Íosa V, Earl of Strathearn, earl of Orkney (XIII/1. in Complete Peerage)
- Maud of Strathearn, and her husband Wayland de le Arde
- Alexander de le Arde, in 1375 sold his hereditary rights to Robert II of Scotland
- 1375 – before 1389 David Stewart, Earl palatine of Strathearn (XIV/1. in Complete Peerage)
- c. 1389–c.1402 Euphemia Stewart, countess palatine of Strathearn (XV/2. in Complete Peerage)
- c.1402–c.1428 Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (XVI/3. in Complete Peerage)
- ?1428–31 Alan Stewart (XVII/4. in Complete Peerage)
- 1431–37 again: Walter Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (d. 1437) (forfeit 1437) (XVIII/3. (bis) in Complete Peerage)
- 1452 George Crichton, 1st Earl of Caithness (d. 1455) (created 1452, resigned 1452) (XIX/1. in Complete Peerage)
- 1455–76 William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, created 1st Earl of Caithness, great-grandson of Iseabail inghen Maoliosa, youngest daughter of Malyesu V of Strathearn and his designated heiress of Orkney (XX/1. in Complete Peerage)
Notes
- ↑ Crawford (1987) p. 64
References
- Crawford, Barbara E. (1987) Scandinavian Scotland. Leicester University Press. ISBN 0-7185-1197-2