Mormaer of Mar

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The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Mar was a comparatively long-lasting Mormaerdom in the north-eastern part of the High Medieval Kingdom of the Scots.

The first Mormaer is usually regarded as Ruadrí (fl. 1131), mentioned in the Book of Deer. Some modern sources give earlier Mormaers, i.e. Muirchertach (Latinized as Martachus) and Gartnait (sometimes Gratnach), mentioned respectively in charters of the reigns of king Máel Coluim III (relating to the Céli Dé establishment of Loch Leven) and king Alexander I (relating to the monastic establishment of Scone). The accounts of the Battle of Clontarf in some Irish annals name Domnall son of Eimen son of Cainnech [Mór], Mormaer of Mar in Alba, as among those killed alongside Brian Bóruma.

The principal seats of the Mormaerdom were Migvie and Doune of Invernochty. The Mormaerdom seems initially to have rotated between two kin-groups, that represented by Morggán, and that represented by Gille Críst. The Mormaerdom was split upon the accession of Donnchadh, a descendant of Morggán. Donnchadh got the title of Mormaer and the wealthier and militarily more useful upland parts of Mar, and Thomas Durward, a descendant of Gille Críst through the female line, got the coastal, low-lying arable land. The line of Mormaers ended when Mormaer Thomas died childless in 1374.


Mormaers of Mar
Ruadrí fl. 1130s
Gille Chlerig before 1147
Morggán before 1147- before 1183
Gille Críst 1183-1203
Donnchadh 1203-1244
Uilleam 1244-1276
Domhnall I 1276-1301
Gartnait 1301-1305
Domhnall II 1305-1332
Thomas 1332-1374
Margaret
m. William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas
Isabella d. 1408

  • Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500-1286, 2 Vols (Edinburgh, 1922)
  • Richard D. Oram, "The Earls and Earldom of Mar, c1150-1300," Steve Boardman and Alasdair Ross (eds.) The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland, c.1200-1500, (Dublin/Portland, 2003). pp. 46-66
  • Roberts, John L., Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages, (Edinburgh, 1997)


Mormaerdoms
Angus | Atholl | Buchan | Caithness | Carrick | Dunbar | Fife | Lennox | Mar | Mearns | Menteith | Moray | Ross | Strathearn | Sutherland

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