History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name — John Shaqi
History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the nameMackenzie, Alexander
History
History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name
Mackenzie, Alexander
Mackenzie family; Scotland -- Genealogy; Seaforth, Earls of
When the ablest upholders of the Colin Fitzgerald theory are obliged
to make such admissions and explanations as these, they explain
away their whole case and they must be held to have practically
given it up; for once admit, as Sir William Fraser does, that the
charter is of the reign of Alexander II. (1230), it cannot possibly
have any reference to Colin Fitzgerald, who, according to those
who support the Irish origin of the clan, only arrived in Scotland
from Ireland in 1262 and it is equally absurd and impossible to
maintain that a charter granted in 1230 could have been a reward
for services rendered or valour displayed at the battle of Largs,
which was fought in 1263, to say nothing of the now admittedly
impossible date and signatures written on the face of the document
itself; and Sir William Fraser having, by the logic of facts,
been forced to give up that crucial point, should in consistency
have at the same time given up Colin Fitzgerald. And in reality
he practically did so, for having stated that the later reputed
charters of 1360 and 1380 are not now known to exist, he adds, "But
the terms of them as quoted in the early histories of the family
are consistent with either theory of the origin of the Mackenzies,
whether descended from Colin Fitzgerald or Colin of the Aird."
In this he is quite correct; but it is impossible to say the same
thing of the earlier charter, which all the authorities worth
listening to now admit to be a palpable forgery of the seventeenth
century; and Sir William virtually admits as much.
There is one other fact which alone would be almost conclusive
against the Fitzgerald theory. Not a single man of the name Colin
is found, either among the chiefs or members of the clan from their
first appearance in history until we come to Colin cam Mackenzie
XI. of Kintail, who succeeded in June, 1568 - a period of three
hundred years after the alleged date of the reputed charter to
Colin Fitzgerald. Colin Cam was a second son, his eldest brother,
Murdoch, having died during his father's life and before he attained
majority, when Colin became heir to the estates. It was then, as
now, a common custom to name the second son after some prominent
member of his mother's family, and this was, no doubt, what was
done in the case of Colin Cam, the first Colin who appears - as
late as the middle of the sixteenth century - in the genealogy of
the Mackenzies. His mother was Lady Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of
John, Earl of Atholl, by Lady Mary Campbell, daughter of Archibald,
second, and sister of Colin, third Earl of Argyll. Colin Cam
Mackenzie, XI. of Kintail, and the first of the name in the family
genealogy, was thus called Colin by his mother, Lady Elizabeth
Stewart, after her uncle Colin, third Earl of Argyll.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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