Such being the distinction between the old Celtic earldoms represented by the seven earls and those subsequently constituted, we learn also from the discussions which took place in the competition for the crown somewhat of the rights which they claimed as their privilege; for among the documents still preserved connected with the competition is an appeal on behalf of the seven earls of the kingdom of Scotland to Edward I., in which it is stated that, ‘according to the ancient laws and usage of the kingdom of Scotland, and from the time whereof the memory of man was not to the contrary, it appertained to the rights and liberties of the seven earls of Scotland and the “communitas” of the same realm, whenever the royal throne should become vacant _de facto et de jure_, to constitute the king, and to place him in such royal seat, and to confer upon him all the honours belonging to the government of the kingdom of Scotland.’[90] And this function we find them evidently performing at the coronation of Alexander the Second. [Sidenote: Province of Argyll.] The only one of the seven provinces which was required to be brought into more direct connection with the Crown was the great district of _Arregaithel_ or Argyll, and early in his reign Alexander annexed the northern part to the earldom of Ross, and placed that earldom in possession of a devoted adherent of his person. The district forming what was then called North Argyll consisted in a great measure of the territory of the old and powerful Celtic monastery of Apercrossan, and had passed into the hands of a family of hereditary lay abbots, who termed themselves _Sagarts_ or priests of Applecross; and Ferquard Macintaggart, or the son of the _Sagart_ or priest who had aided the young king in suppressing an insurrection of the Gaelic people of Moray and Ross in support of the pretensions of the MacWilliam and MacHeth families in the early part of his reign, was now created Earl of Ross, which thus became a feudal earldom held of the Crown, by a family who were among its most loyal supporters.[91] The insurrection which took place a few years after in favour of Gillespic mac Eochagan, also of the family of MacWilliam, led to the rest of this great district being subdued and brought into the same relation with the Crown. The king, we are told by Fordun, led an army into Argyll. The men of Argyll were frightened. Some gave hostages and a great deal of money, and were taken back in peace, while others, who had more offended against the king’s will, forsook their estates and possessions and fled. But our lord the king bestowed both the land and the goods of these men upon his own followers ‘at will’; or, as Wyntoun expresses it— ‘And athe tuk off thare fewté Wyth thare serwys and thare homage, That off hym wald hald thare herytage; Bot the eshchetys off the lave To the lordys off that land he gave.’