An event, however, took place soon after, which led to the policy inaugurated by David the First, of feudalising these earldoms, being resumed by Malcolm and still further carried out by his successor. This was the attack made upon the king by six of the old Celtic earls, when, under the leadership of Ferteth, earl of Stratherne, they besieged him in Perth in the year 1160. Fordun, quoting from the Chronicle of Melrose, says, ‘Six earls—Ferchard, Earl of Stratherne, to wit, and five other earls—being stirred up against the king, not to compass any selfish end, or through treason, but rather to guard the common weal, sought to take him, and laid siege to the keep of that town (Perth). God so ordering it, however, their undertaking was brought to nought for the nonce, and after not many days had rolled by, he was, by the advice of the clergy, brought back to a good understanding with his nobles.’[76] An expression in the Orkneyinga Saga would lead us to infer that the object of the six Celtic earls was to put up the young son of William Fitz Duncan, who was usually called the Boy of Egremont, and as grandson of King Duncan, the eldest son of Malcolm III. by Ingibiorg, widow of Earl Thorfinn of Orkney, had a direct claim to the throne, which would commend itself both to the Gaelic and to the Norwegian population in preference to the descendants of the Saxon princess Margaret.[77] Wyntoun gives us the following account of this occurrence:— A mayster-man called Feretawche, Wyth Gyllandrys Ergemawche, And other mayster-men thare fyve, Agayne the king than ras belyve; For caws that the past till Twlows, Agayne hym thai ware all irows: Forthi thai set thame hym to ta In till Perth, or than hym sla. But the kyng rycht manlyly Swne skalyd all that cumpany, And tuk and slwe.[78] Wyntoun here associates with the five earls who followed Ferteth, the Earl of Stratherne, Gillandrys Ergemawche. If two persons are meant, Ergemawche may be a corruption of Egremont, and Gillandres may have represented the old Celtic earls of Ross, as the clan bearing the name of Ross are called in Gaelic _Clan Ghilleanrias_, or descendants of Gillandres, and may have led the revolt which drove Malcolm macHeth out of the earldom. [Sidenote: Creation of additional earldoms.]