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
against Alexander II., son of William the Lion, in 1215, was
the last. Of this raid the following account is given in 'Celtic
Scotland,' Vol. I. p. 483:
"The young king had barely reigned a year when be had to encounter
the old enemies of the Crown, the families of Mac William and
Mac Eth, who now combined their forces under Donald Ban, the son
of that Mac William who bad been slain at Mamgarvie in 1187, and
Kenneth Mac Eth, a son or grandson of Malcolm Mac Eth, with the son
of one of the Irish provincial kings, and burst into the Province
of Moray at the head of a large band of malcontents. A very
important auxiliary, however, now joined the party of the king.
This was Ferquhard or Fearchar Macintagart, the son of the 'Sagart'
or priest who was the lay possessor of the extensive possessions
of the old monastery founded by the Irish Saint Maelrubba at
Applecross in the seventh century. Its possessions lay between the
district of Ross and the Western Sea and extended from Lochcarron
to Loch Ewe and Loch Maree, and Ferquhard was thus in reality a
powerful Highland chief commanding the population of an extensive
western region. The insurgents were assailed by him with great
vigour, entirely crushed, and their leaders taken, who be at once
beheaded and presented their heads to the new king as a welcome
gift on the 15th of June, when he was knighted by the king as a
reward for his prompt assistance."
The district then known as North Argyle consisted chiefly of the
possessions of this ancient monastery of Appercrossan or Applecross.
Its inhabitants had hitherto - along with those of South Argyle,
which extended from Lochcarron to the Firth of Clyde - maintained
a kind of semi-independence, but in 1222 they were, by their
lay possessor, Ferchair Mac an t'Sagairt, who was apparently the
grandson or great-grandson of Gillandres, one of the six earls
who besieged Malcolm IV. at Perth in 1160, brought into closer
connection with the crown. The lay Abbots of which Ferquhard
was the head were the hereditary possessors of all the extensive
territories which had for centuries been ruled and owned by this
old and powerful Celtic monastery. As a reward for his services
against the men of Moray in 1215 and for the great services which,
in 1222, he again rendered to the King in the subjugation of the
whole district then known as Argyle, extending from the Clyde to
Lochbroom, he received additional honours. In that campaign known
as "the Conquest of Argyle," Ferquhard led most of the western
tribes, and for his prowess, the Celtic earldom, which was then finally
annexed to the Crown and made a feudal appanage, was conferred on
him with the title of Earl of Ross, and he is so designated in a
charter dated 1234. He is again on record, under the same title,
in 1235 and 1236. Regarding an engagement which took place between
Alexander II. and the Gallowegians, in 1235, the Chronicle of
Melrose says, that "at the beginning of the battle the Earl of
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