Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 3 (of 3), Land and peopleSkene, W. F. (William Forbes)
History
Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 3 (of 3), Land and people
Skene, W. F. (William Forbes)
Celts -- Scotland; Civilization, Celtic; Scotland -- Antiquities, Celtic; Scotland -- History -- To 1603
The remaining genealogies in these MSS. have one common feature, that
the genealogy of each of the clans contains in it the name of Cormac,
son of Airbertach, but he is differently connected with the line of
Lorn, and is placed in many of the genealogies at a different period.
They may be thus grouped. The first consists of the _Clan Andres_ or
Rosses, the _Clan Cainig_ or Mackenzies, and the _Clan Matgamma_ or
Mathesons. These are all brought from a common ancestor, _Gilleoin na
hairde_ or Gilleon of the Aird, by which, no doubt, the mountainous
region in the centre of Ross-shire, the old name of which was Airdross,
or the Aird of Ross, is meant. The Rosses and Mathesons are brought from
his son Cristin, and the Mackenzies from another son, Gilleon Og, father
of _Cainig_ or Kenneth, the eponymus of the clan. _Gilleon na hAirde_ is
made grandson of Loarn, son of Fearchar, son of Cormac mac Airbertach,
and the usual calculation would place Cormac in the tenth century; but
his father Airbertach is made son of Feradach, and brother of Fearchar
Fada, who died in 697. To this group may be added the _Clan Duibsithe_
or Macduffys of Lochaber and Colonsay, who are brought from Fearchar,
son of Cormac; but the connecting links are shorter and bring him down
to two centuries later. The Macnabs are likewise brought from Loarn, son
of Fearchar, son of Cormac, which would relegate him also to the tenth
century; but in this genealogy, instead of placing Cormac in immediate
connection with Fearadach, he is made son of Erc, son of Domnaill Duinn,
son of Fearchar Abraruadh, thus corresponding more with the early part
of the genealogy of the Clan Labhran and Clan Aidh. The Clan Gregor is
likewise brought from Cormac by a son Ainnrias or Andrew, and by this
genealogy he is placed in the twelfth century, and is made son of
Fearchar Oig, son of Fearchar Fada, who died in 697. The last group
consists of the _Clan Guaire_ or Macquarrys, the _Clan Fingaine_ or
Mackinnons, the _Clan Gillamhaol_ or Macmillans, and the _Clan
Gillaagamnan_ or Maclennans, descended respectively from four sons of
Cormac—Guaire, Fingaine, Gillcrist called _Gillamhaol_, and
Gillaagamnan. By these genealogies Cormac is brought down a century
later, and this is probably his true date, and as an ancestor of these
clans he is also probably an historical personage, for in the genealogy
of the _Clan Gillamhaol_ it is added that his father Airbertach
possessed twelve tribes or septs (_Treabh_) among the Norwegians—viz.,
in _Greagraidhe_ of the warriors, commonly called Mull, and in Tiree,
and in _Craobhinis_, by which Iona is meant, while it is in Mull and the
neighbouring islands that the Maclennans and Macquarrys had their
possessions; but in these genealogies Airbertach is made son of
Murcertach, son of Fearchar Og, and between the latter and Fearchar
Fada, the names of Macbeth and his father Finnlaoch, which really belong
to the genealogy of the Mormaers of Moray, are introduced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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