Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 5.djvu/221

MAR. 219 II. 1140? & Morgund, Earl of Mar [S.] Ho is stated (which is doubtful) to have been son( :l ) of Gillocher 1 ( b ) a previous Mormaer of Mar. "His legitimacy was challenged, but appears to have stood its ground. "( c ) He and his wife, " Agnes, Countess of Mar," grant jointly several charters between 1141 and 1178, his said wife, in some cases, granting charters alone. "( d ) He possibly m. (as a second wife) Orabilis,(<-') da. of one Ness, a foreign settler in Kifeshire. He d. before 11S3, probably about 1178, leaving male issue, by none of which, however, he was immediately succeeded . III. UTS'! 3. Gilchrist, Earl of Mar [S.J, appears in charters, 117S — 1244.0 " His filiation is unknown ; he represented apparently the succession opposed in hereditary claim to that of Earl Morgund."( c ) He was a great benefactor to the church. " He seems, along with a sou Malcolm, to have been witness [1203-14] to a charter(s) to the monastery of Cupar. IV. 1220? J f . Duncan, Earl of Mar [S.], one of the four sons of Earl Morouxd and the Countess Agnes, both abovenamed. He "was Earl of Mar, early in the reign [121 1-1!)] of Alexander II." being "Gilchrist's successor in the Earldom,"( h ) by whose heirs, probably, it was that his legitimacy was disputed before 1233. He was living 1239, but d. before Sep. 1244. V. 1240? 5. William, Earl of Mar [S.], s. and h. His right to the succession was unsuccessfully contested, on the ground of the illegitimacy (') of his father Duncan) and grandfather (Morgund), by Alan Doorward,( k ) ( a ) His relation to his predecessor is unknown, beyond that (as was the rule in all the Celtic tribes) each was descended in the male line from the common founder of the race. It was not till after the introduction of the feudal system into Scotland, in the 12th century, that " the Celtic Earldoms, originally descendible to male agnates only, became thenceforward descendible to heirs general, like every other description of hereditary office and dignity as amply proved by Lord Hailes." [See " A " (vol. i, p. 168), as in note " b " on p. 218.] ( b ) In a document purporting to be a grant, 16 Kalends of June 1171, from King William the Lion, of the Earldom of Mar to this Morgund, the grantee is styled " fUium Qillochcri, quondam Oomitis dc Marrc." This deed was possessed by Selden and was printed by him in his " Titles of Honour." There are, however, great doubts of its authenticity. [See " A " (vol. i, p. 16S), and " B" (vol. iii, pp. 441—447), as in note "b" on p. 218.] (>-•) See " A " (vol. i, p. 167), as in note " b " on p. 21S.] ( d ) " These charters are undoubtedly suggestive of Morgund having been Earl in right of his wife, and such the late Joseph Robertson believed to have been the case; but it is, on the other hand, difficult to recognise this supposition with the importance afterwards attached to the question of Morgund's legitimacy, and it would rather seem that some other explanation must be sought of Agues thus dealing with the Earldom in her own name." [See " C " as in note " b " on p. 21S-] (°) See " C " as in note " b " on p. 218, for a contradiction of Dr. Skene's hypothesis [in "B" as in said note " b "] that this Orabilis was the wife of Earl Gilchrist. (') " The contemporary charter evidence to support the surmise that Gilchrist had superseded Morgund in the Earldom, circa 1170, is worthless." [See " C " is in note " b," on p. 218.] (6) See " C " as in note " b " on p. 218, where it is added that in " the abbreviate " of this chartulary the words '• 0. dc Mar " have been wrongly extended to " Qratncy, Comes," but that " there is no where else a trace of any Qratncy, Earl of Mar, at that date." () See " C " us in note " b " on p. 218. (') This alleged illegitimacy was eeitainly never established ; indeed, since the succession of Earl Donald, " no other Earl of Mar appears except as his direct descendant." [See " A " as in note " b " on p. 218,] Alan was s. and h. of Thomas Durward, who [1140-80 ?] had contested the succession of Earl Morgund. This Thomas, formerly Thomas de Lundin, was the King's " Hostiarius " or " Doorward," which name of Durward ho assumed. It has been