| party,
and royalist sympathies (the Gordons were Catholic Jacobites, the Forbeses Protestant
Whigs). Theirs was a long history of staunch and honorable service to their cause. They
still hold the charter that Robert the Bruce granted to their predecessor, Sir Christian
of the Aird, who was active in the Bruce’s campaign at Castle Urquhart in 1305, and
was later at Halidon Hall. The Urquharts descend from William of Urquart, Constable of
Castle Urquhart and Sheriff (agent of royal authority) of Cromarty in the early fourteenth
century. This sheriffdom became hereditary in the Urquhart family.
The MacKenzies (Mac Coinnich) lived just west
of the Aird in Ross, and descend from Gilleon of the Aird, a dynast of late eleventh or
early twelfth century, and the predecessor of Sir Christin of the Aird mentioned above. In
medieval times they held their lands of the O’Beolain earls of Ross (later surnamed
"Ross"), and on the downfall of that earldom under its later MacDonald earls,
the MacKenzies rose to great power in the North, rising against their erstwhile lords, the
MacDonalds, at the moment of their need. The MacKenzies were staunch Jacobites.
The Mathesons (Mac Mhathain) remained loyal to the MacDonald
earls of Ross to the end, but later adhered to their Mackenzie kinsmen as they rose to
preeminence. They lived in western Ross opposite Skye, with early branches in Sutherland
as well.
The Nicholsons (Mac Neacail) originally possessed the lands between Loch Maree and
Loch Torridon on the west coast of Ross. These lands passed in the early fourteenth
century through an heiress to the MacLeods of Lewis. After this the Nicholsons followed
the MacLeods of Lewis, and most of them settled by the MacLeods in north-central Skye,
where they held for several centuries the lands of Scorrybreac near Portree. Their chief,
as "Mac Nichol of Portree," was one of the sixteen members of the Council of the
MacDonald Lords of the Isles.
The South Albans
The South Albans descend from the original Pictish tribal
population of Stirlingshire, Fife and especially lowland Perthshire and Angus. They were
originally known by the tribal designation "the men of Fortrenn" from the
province of that name centered around Strathearn. By the seventh century their leading
dynasty had monopolized the high-kingship of the Picts. This probably had something to do
with the physical proximity of Fortrenn to the English Kingdom of the Northumbrians, who
were the main threat to the security of the Picts and Dalriadic Scots as well (see Chapter
IV). Out of this Pictish past came the medieval office of mormaer (earl) and the concept
of thanage (baronyholding), both hereditary but territorial concepts to supplement the
strictly tribal offices of the Gaels in the
kingdom of Albany in the early Middle Ages. The families which emerge in the High Middle
Ages include the Ogilvys,the Drummonds,and
those descended from the House of Strathearn. |
