continuing descents from Norse earls of Orkney
M.Sjostrom
I crawled through materials displaying more or less reliable possibilities of today people to descend via an attested lineage from high-medieval earls of Orkney.
There seem to be some legendary lineages, not worth much, and then a handful of lineages which enjoy the real possibility of holding water in each intervening generation. However:
If I understand correctly, each and every of those best lineages also suffer from at least one *uncertain* filiation in the sequence required for continuing direct descent.
I have identified THREE basically sound potential lineages--- does anyone know any other lineages than these, for to add to this survey of possibilities ?
These three lineages are:
* possible descent from Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir of Orkney, illegitimate daughter of earl Haakon Paalson of Orkney and Caithness.
* possible descent from Joan Jonsdottir of Orkney, daughter of earl Jon Haraldson of Orkney and Caithness.
* clear and attestable bunch of descents from Maeliosa III, son of Maeliosa II, mormaer of Sratheireann, as is believed: by the latter's second wife Matilda 'Maud' Gilbriktsdottir (Matilda inghen Gillabrighte) of 'Orkney and Caithness'.
-----
The last-mentioned lineage has, afaik, the advantage of being descended via legitimate marriages from actually ruling earls of Orkney and Caithness.
It seems to have at least following groups of descendants (they are in order of presumed precedence to the heirship-general of Matilda):
1) descendants of Maud, eldest daughter of mormaer & earl Maeliosa V, are not necessarily existing any longer. She had an attested son, Alexander (Wayland) de le Arde who held lordship in Caithness.
IF there exist surviving descent from this Maud, it would be via a possible daughter who became mother of a Chisholm, they inheriting Le Arde = The Aird, and it was possibly such lady's granddaughter who were Muriella Chisholm, wife of the laird of Duffus, and foremother of all later lords of Duffus.
2) descendants of said Maud's younger (half-)sister, Iseabail inghen Maelisu SRATHEIREANN, heiress of Orkney, daughter of earl Maeliosa V. Iseabail married a sinclair lord of Rosslyn, their son became jarl of Orkney, and all sorts of later Scots aristocracy descend attestedly from this, for example lords Sinclair, lords of rosslyn, and earls of Caithness, as well as all their cognatic descendants.
3) descendants of knight Patrick Graham, of Dundaff and Kincardine, only known surviving son of Helen of Sratheireann, daughter of earl Maeliosa (IV). Senior among them, earls then marquesses of Montrose, and cadet line, earls of Airth and Menteith claimants to Palatine of Strathearn - and lots of Scots aristocracy as result
4) descendants of Mairi inghen Raonaill Le Chene (heiress of Duffus, Berriedale and Auldwyck) and her sister Mairead inghen Raonaill Le Chene (heiress of Inverugie and Ackergill), both being daughters of said Helen, herself daughter of earl Maeliosa (IV). Their lineages were, respectively, the Sutherland of Duffus and the Keith of Inverugie, and consequently a lot of Scots aristocracy.
5) descendants of Joan de Moray, heiress of Bothwell, wife of Archibald the Grim, 3rd earl of Douglas. She was in any case a direct descendant of Maurice de Moray, earl of Strathearn... himself maternal grandson of earl Maeliosa, mormaer of Sratheireann, the one who seemingly was son of Matilda Gilbriksdottir of Orkney...
- and consequently a lot of Scots aristocracy
Problems:
Because the 1200s mormaers of Sratheireann = earls of Strathern, are not well known and each of them seeminlgly made several marriages, filiation to those wifes being a source of confusion and problems of identification, the filiation of earl Maeliosa III as biological son of his father's second wife Matilda (and not some other of those wives) is not well established.
However, the fact that Maeliosa V of Sratheireann (descendant and chief heir of Maeliosa III) was since 1330s accorded and treated as legitimate heir of Orkney and Caithness, speaks for their truthful descent from the Orkney dynasty, and speaks for Matilda being progenitress of their family.
Nowhere have I seen any explicit near-contemporary attestation that Matilda herself was daughter of earl of Orkney, daughter of earl Gillebrighte (Gilbert/Gibbon) or another of those Orkney earls of that period. It is simply just believed that because she was somehow connected from Caithness and therearound, and because Maeliosa V succeeded to Orkjney and Caithness inheritance, Matilda therefore were daughter of an earl who held those.
However, the inheritance rights of the Norse of those several centuries did NOT actually require a descent from earlier 'owners' in order to be eligible heir to a Norse landed property. It sufficed for heirship, if the claimant was kin to the last owner... for example, via another root than that root via which the last owner had received that property. The *closest* relative in degree of proximity of kinship inherited. For example, the 'last owner' had inherited the manor and lands of his father, formerly held by his paternal grandfather. Now, the owner dies childless and has no siblings either. His maternal aunt, if lives, is closer heir to him than for example his parternal cousins... and it was basically immaterial to the Scandinavian law that the aunt did not descend from earlier (or most recent) owners of those lands... similarly, in corresponding situation, maternal first cousin is closer brelative than paternal second cousin...
I am not saying that in the question of 1330s disposition of the iinheritance of Orkney and Caithness, such necessarily happened - BUT it's not impossible. If a non-Orcadian root actually WERE the right how Maeliosa V inherited Orkney and Caithness, then that succession actually dies not guarantee a descent from Norse earls of Orkney.
More: the pedigree of the Angus-Orkney family is not too well attested. It just might be that Matilda's father, were he an earl of those, still wasn't a direct descendant of earl Rognvald 'Kali'.
The *believed* lineage passes:
earl Thorfinn - younger son: earl Erlend - daughter Gunnhild Erlendsdottir - earl Rognvald 'Kali' - daughter Ingerid Rognvaldsdottir - daughter who is believed to been mother of: - Magnus of Angus, earl of Orkney and Caithness whom Ingerid Rognvaldsdottir's son, earl Harald Eirikson recognized as his heir and successor, Thus far, the lineage is plausible, and only attested in the Orkney saga. But then, whether (as is believed) Matilda were daughter of earl Gibbon and Gibbon were son of that earl Magnus, these filiations afaik do not have explicit contemporary attestation... or does at least some of them ?
Still, this looks to me like this is the strongest of the possibilities.
-----
Joan Jonsdottir of Orkney is reported as daughter of earl Jon Haraldson of Orkney and Caithness, when she is mentioned as hostaged.
Their lineage from earlier earls comes as follows:
earl Thorfinn - elder son: Paal Thorfinnson - earl Haakon Paalsonn - illegitimate daughter Mairead inghen Haquin (Margret Hakonsdottir) - earl Harald Maddadson (Aralt mac Mataidh) - earl Iain mac Arailt (Jon Haraldson) - Joanna.
Thus far, relatively well-attested, unbroken.... that one illegitimacy militates against their rights, but that filiation itself is comparatively well-attested.
However, it is a big question mark, who was mother or Mairi 'de Moravia', heiress of Duffus and heiress of lots of lands in Caithness. She is usually mentioned as daughter of younger Freskin of Duffus, but I have seen a suggestion that she were daughter of Walter of Duffus and thusly seemingly sister of that Freskin.
That Mairi of Duffus had a Joan/Joanna as mother, is not explicitly attested afaik, but depends on the knowledge that a Joanna of Strathnaver was wife of lord of Duffus, seemingly wife of Freskin.
Moreover it's also a problem to fiond any attestation to the identification of Joanna of Strathnaver as Joanna, daughter of earl of Orkney.
This identification between Mairi's mother and Joanna, daughter of earl of Orkney, is only supported by the fact that Mairi held a lot of land in Caithness, where the heiress of earl Jon Haraldson is of course expected to have large holding.
But, that landholding can just be explained in the unstable and warred times of those decades, by a new grant of land. For example, the Duffus lord, a supporter of victors of those warrings, just received lands previously held by earl Jon.
Still, it was a pattern of those centuries that a grant of land was augmented ('legitimated' or at least secured) by a marriage with a lady of the family of previous holders...
So, the biggest need thusly is whether any explicit attestation exists about the identification of Mairi of Duffus' mother with the daughter of earl Jon of Orkney.
IF this filiation actually were true, then it strengthens and combines another lineage: Mairi of Duffus' son, knight Raonaill Le Chene, lord of Inverugie, Duffus and Strathnaver (a great landholder in both Moray and Caithness) married Helen, daughter of Maeliosa (IV) of Sratheireann, who had the descent from Maeliosa II, himself believed to been son of Matilda the abovementioned, a believed descendant of the legitimate, younger line of Norse earls of Orkney.
Knight Raonaill's two daughters (foremothers of the Sutherland of Duffus and the Keith of Inverugie, see above) thusly would have Orkney earls' lineage from both parents.
-----
Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir of Orkney, *illegitimate* daughter of earl Haakon Paalson of Orkney and Caithness, was elder sister of the illegitimate Mairead mentioned above, and had the same descent, which generally is credible.
But, whether she had a daughter named Raghnailt/ Rahnhild (Raghnailt inghen Amhlaib/ Ragnhild Olavsdottir), is a matter of somewhat uneasy belief and non-contemporary claim.
Raghnailt is, practically certainly (though a few generations worth of her descendants are detailed only in clan lore material, not in any near-contemporary documents) the foremother of a large bunch of Scots insular lineages, those of MacDonald and those...
I will not try to make any organized listing of those descendants, suffice it to say that certainly a lot of them exist and an attested descent from one of Lords of The Isles would suffice to have that ancestry.
BUT, Raghnailt is just mentioned, in near-contemporary documents, as daughter of king Amhlaibh / Olav - not detailing who of his wives or concubines was her mother.
I seem to remember that it's just a somewhat later writing which connects her as daughter of Ingibiorg of Orkney.
So, that possibility is thusly weak - depending on this one filiation question. If it can be shown that Raghnailt was daughter of Ingibiorg, then her descendants would be attestedly heirs of that *illegitimate* lineage from Norse earls of Orkney.
Some centuries later, many descendants of Raghnailt married with descendants of the abovelisted Matilda, and of Mairi of Duffus - at the stage when most of Scots aristocracy was descendants of at least one of them and usually of more than one.
Today, there lives a lot of people who are descended from ALL three of these:
* Raghnailt
* Mairi of Duffus
* Maeliosa III of Sratheireann
------
"mcdonaldREMOVE TO...@scs.uiuc.edu
(about high-medieval earls of Orkney)
I am a descendant of almost all of the lines you mention. But I'll comment only
on this one, since I'm a McDonald.
> Ingibiorg Hakonsdottir of Orkney, *illegitimate* daughter of earl Haakon Paalson of Orkney and
> Caithness, was elder sister of the illegitimate Mairead mentioned above, and had the same
> descent, which generally is credible.
>
> But, whether she had a daughter named Raghnailt/ Rahnhild (Raghnailt inghen Amhlaib/ Ragnhild
> Olavsdottir), is a matter of somewhat uneasy belief and non-contemporary claim.
>
> Raghnailt is, practically certainly (though a few generations worth of her descendants are
> detailed only in clan lore material, not in any near-contemporary documents) the foremother of a
> large bunch of Scots insular lineages, those of MacDonald and those... I will not try to make any
> organized listing of those descendants, suffice it to say that certainly a lot of them exist and
> an attested descent from one of Lords of The Isles would suffice to have that ancestry.
>
> BUT, Raghnailt is just mentioned, in near-contemporary documents, as daughter of king Amhlaibh /
> Olav - not detailing who of his wives or concubines was her mother. I seem to remember that it's
> just a somewhat later writing which connects her as daughter of Ingibiorg of Orkney.
>
> So, that possibility is thusly weak - depending on this one filiation question. If it can be
> shown that Raghnailt was daughter of Ingibiorg, then her descendants would be attestedly heirs of
> that *illegitimate* lineage from Norse earls of Orkney.
>
I do have this in my files, from earlier s.g.m. posts. It seems to
provide a previously unknown near-contemporary source that says unequivocally that
Ragnilda was a daughter of Ingobiorg.
***************************************
Brice Clagett in s.g.m.:
Somerled, recently discussed here, married Ragnhild, daughter
of Olaf III Kleining, King of Man. There has long been uncertainty
as to Ragnhild's mother. The Red Book of Clanranald says
Ragnhild was the legitimate daughter of King Olaf and transmitted
a claim to Man to her descendants. The Manx chronicle says she
was daughter of Olaf by a concubine. If Ragnhild's mother was
Olaf's wife Ingibiorg, daughter of Hakon Paulsson, Jarl of Orkney,
then Somerled's descendants can claim a host of colorful Nordic
ancestors such as Thorfinn Skull-Cleaver, Ragnvald the Wise,
Harald Fairhair, Ketil Flatnose, Grim the Ram, and Aud Ketilsdotter
(called Djupaudga, the Extremely Rich, or Djupaudga, the Deeply
Wise), said to be the first recorded Norse convert to Christianity,
who settled in Iceland c. 875. See generally CP vol. 10 app. A,
"Norse Predecessors of the Earls of Orkney," and ES 2:79-80,
105-09.
The consensus in the Scottish literature has been that Ragnhild
was probably but not certainly Ingibiorg's daughter. See W.D.H.
Sellar, "Hebridean Sea Kings: The Successors of Somerled, 1164-
1315," in Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages (ed. Edward J.
Cowan & R. Andrew McDonald, 2000) pp. 187, 191, 192, 197-98;
John Marsden, Somerled and the Emergence of Gaelic Scotland
(2000) pp. 69-70, 166.
In June of this year, at my 50th college reunion, I learned that my
classmate Bob Cook is a professor at the University of Iceland, and
mentioned to him that I am descended from Aud IF Ragnhild was
Ingibiorg's daughter. After Bob got back to Iceland he was kind enough
to do some research, and came up with a footnote (page 274 footnote
3) to Finnbogi Gudmundsson's edition of the Orkneyinga Saga
(Reykjavik 1965). The footnote quotes from a ms. called Holm, Isl. 39
fol. papp., in the Icelandic collection of the Royal Library in
Stockholm,
which contains a text of the Saga copied in 1615 from a ms. of about
1300 which was destroyed in the Copenhagen fire of 1728. Bob says
that the Holm, Isl. ms. is considered to have great authority because
of the early date of the ms. from which it was copied. The footnote in
question quotes a passage from this document which says: "Ragnhildis
moder vaar Ingeborg Hagen Jarlis Powelssons daatter."
I wrote Professor Sellar, with whom I have corresponded in the past,
telling him about this and asking if it did not greatly strengthen the
case.
He replied that he had not known of this source and that he finds it
"exciting."
*************************
Olaf's son Godred was the son of Aufrica, daughter of Fergus of
Galloway (probable son-in-law of Henry I). This is stated by the
Chronicle of Man and confirmed by Robert de Torigny, who called Godred
a cousin of King Henry II, a realtionship that would be hard to
explain unless the Chronicle of Man is right on this point. The
Chronicle of Man is a very biased source (anti-Somerled), so it need
not be taken at face value in demoting Somerled's wife to a bastard.
An important point would be whether or not the source you mention also
calls Godred a son of Ingibjorg (as some later Norse sources do). If
so, it would undermine the reliability of this source. If this source
only makes Somerled's wife a daughter of Ingibjorg, and it is only
later that the Norse sources add Godred to the list of Ingibjorg's
children, then the latter would have a reasonable explanation
(confusion, or jumping to conclusions), and the source you mention
would have more credibility.
Stewart Baldwin
***************************************
end of two quotes from my files.
However, many of the other connections I have in my files stop, going
backwards in time, just at the point where you make a connection.
for example, your "4) descendants of Mairi inghen Raonaill Le Chene "
I have no parents for this Mary. What are your sources for all these
links? Genealogics has as source for the ancestors of this Mary only
Burke's 1938, a very unreliable secondary source.
Doug McDonald
Alex Maxwell Findlater
> I have no parents for this Mary. What are your sources for all these
> links? Genealogics has as source for the ancestors of this Mary only
> Burke's 1938, a very unreliable secondary source.
>
> Doug McDonald
I don't understand Norse, but I presume you are talking about the two
daughters and co-heiresses of Sir Reginald le Chene III. If so, their
mother was Helen d Malise Earl of Strathearn. In 1353 she married Sir
David Graham under a Papal dispensation, which from memory - I don't
have the records - describes her as the widow of Sir Reginald le
Chene.
Someone here probably does have access to these records, so could they
please check to see that I am right.
John P. Ravilious
Dear Alex, Doug, et al.,
The text and source of the dispensation for Helen of Strathearn
and her 2nd husband, Sir David de Graham, is given below. I have
included the chart I drew up to illustrate the relationship between
the two.
I show Reginald ('III') and Helen of Strathearn as the parents of
Mary (wife of Nicholas de Sutherland) and Mariota, wife of (1) Sir
John de Douglas and (2) John de Keith - source of the Invergugie
descent. Mary and Mariota were the coheirs of their brother Reginald
('IV'), who d.s.p. some time after 14 Jan 1378/9 (dispensation for him
to marry Muriel Keith) and before 4 May 1380 (date of dispensation for
Muriel to marry Robert Stewart, then Earl of Fife, later 1st Duke of
Albany).
Cheers,
John
=============================================
from Bliss, ed. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers
relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters,
Vol. III (A.D. 1342 - 1362) [London: PRO, 1897, reprinted
1971], p. 514:
" 1353.
7 Id. Oct. To David de Grame, knight, and Helen, relict
Avignon. of Reginald Chene, knight, of the dioceses of
(f. 448.) Brechin and St. Andrews.
Dispensation, at the request of John, king
of France, to intermarry, they being related
in the fourth degree of kindred. [Theiner, 305.] "[1]
Robert, Earl = NN
of Strathearn I
d. bef 1244 I
___________________________I_____________
I I
Malise, Earl = 1) Matilda Annabela = Sir Patrick
of Strathearn I of Orkney I de Graham
d. bef 23 Nov I I k. 1296
1271 I I
________I ______ ___I______
I I I
Malise = Marjory Sir David Graham NN = Sir
E of Strathearn I Comyn d. 1329 Malcolm
d. 1312 I I Drummond
_____________I ____I_________________
I I I
Malise = 1) NN Sir David Graham Margaret
E of Strathearn I d. ca. 1330 = Hugh
d. 1328 I I E of Ross
I_______ I______
I I
1) Sir Reginald = Helen of = 2) Sir David
le Cheyne I Strathearn I de Graham
d bef 1353 I I d. 1371
V I
I
Sir Patrick Graham
1st Lord Graham
d. aft 6 May 1400
John P. Ravilious
Among the list of possible Orkney links, you included the
following:
" 5) descendants of Joan de Moray, heiress of Bothwell, wife of
Archibald the Grim, 3rd earl of Douglas. She was in any case a direct
descendant of Maurice de Moray, earl of Strathearn... himself maternal
grandson of earl Maeliosa, mormaer of Sratheireann, the one who
seemingly was son of Matilda Gilbriksdottir of Orkney...
- and consequently a lot of Scots aristocracy '
This one I believe fails, at least in that particular line. The
grant of the earldom of Strathearn to Sir Maurice de Moravia (Murray)
was not an issue of heredity; he was in fact the son of the first
unknown wife of Sir John de Moravia of Drumsergard.
Sir John m. 2ndly, Mary of Strathearn, who had a charter after
their marriage (ca. 1319-1322) of the lands of Abercairney. These
lands were inherited by her eldest son Alexander Murray of
Abercairney, who m. Janet de Barclay, dau. of Sir John de Barclay and
Margaret Graham [and thereby half-sister to Euphemia of Ross, King
Robert II's queen). The many descendants of Maurice Murray do not
have this alleged Orkney ancestry; however, the long line of
descendants of Murray of Abercairney do, and should be added to your
list.
Cheers,
John
> read more »...
Alex Maxwell Findlater
what it is worth:
The Cheyne family flourished from about 1200 to about 1380; their
original fief, Inverugie, was previously held by Ralph le Nain, who
received a confirmation in 1213 . Because of the use of the same
Christian name, it is difficult to distinguish between the various
Reginalds. It seems likely that the first Reginald le Cheyne
inherited Inverugie by marriage, perhaps that of his father Henry to
the Nain heiress. We are told that Reginald Cheyne I married a Comyn
daughter, but there is some doubt about the identity of the Comyn
father. Reginald I had the farm of the thanage of Formartine in
1266 , and was Sheriff of Kincardine in 1264 and Justiciar from
1267-69. The fact that he was Sheriff of Kincardine suggests that the
original Cheyne holdings might have been in that area, next to Mar.
He married secondly Eustacia Colville of Ochiltree and died before
1296, when there is a reference to her being confirmed in the dower
lands . In a deed of 1316, she is called the widow of Reginald Cheyne
the father. Reginald I is the Reginald le Chene le Père in the public
documents of the period after Alexander III’s death up to ca 1292,
which would make him still active at a very advanced age.
The second Sir Reginald would perhaps have been born after 1245.
Henry Le Cheyne Bishop of Aberdeen held that office from 1282 until
1328. Given the normal practice at that time, I would expect that he
became bishop when no older than thirty, and certainly no younger than
twenty-seven, the consecrable age, putting his birthdate at circa
1250, which implies that his elder brother must have been born at
about the same time. This assumes that he lived to nearly 70 years of
age, a very good age in those days. It seems unlikely that he would
have lived to a much greater age and he could not have been appointed
bishop at a much lesser age.
Dowden records that Hector Boece says that he was “sister’s son of
John Comyn who was slain by Bruce” This John Comyn, slain in 1306, was
the son of John Comyn died 1303, who was born in about 1260 and
married Joan daughter of William de Valence by Joan de Muchensy, who
we know married in 1247. The chronology is therefore quite
impossible; either Bishop Henry was sister’s son of the John Comyn of
Badenoch who died ca 1303, or else there may be greater confusion and
the first Sir Reginald may have married a daughter of the Earl of
Buchan, which would seem intrinsically more probable.
Reginald II married Mary daughter of Freskin, and we have a charter of
the resignation of Strabrock to him by his wife, “Marie filie quondam
Friskin de Moravia militis” . He was a supporter of John Balliol and
thus of Edward I of England; he was warden of Moray, defending both
Balvenie and Duffus Castles when Robert Bruce sacked them in 1308.
It is necessary to explain that the earldoms of Caithness and Orkney
were jointly held but in two parts, by two cousins, both of whom were
called Earl. Earl John was murdered in 1231 by Snaekoll Gunnisson,
son of Earl Harald Ugni’s sister Ragnhild. He left a sole heiress,
known as Joan of Strathnaver, who was taken hostage in either 1212 or
1222 by the victorious Scots. She married Freskin de Moravia of
Duffus and they had two daughters, Mary mentioned above and Christian
who married William de Federeff. It is clear that William de Federeff
or his heir ceded his quarter share of the earldom to the Cheynes,
from a brief description of a deed in Robertson’s Index of Charters,
in Appendix II of the first volume of the Register of the Great Seal.
William de Federeff, either this man, or a successor, had a daughter
Helen who married William Comyn, and there is a note in the same list
of a charter of confirmation by William de Federeff to Helen and
William Comyn of the lands of Federeff. Thus we find that the Cheynes
of Inverugie held, it is said , as much as half of the land in
Caithness, including Oldwick and Berriedale Castle, which was their
caput there.
Reginald le Cheyne III was a signatory to the Declaration of Arbroath
in 1320. On 28th July 1323, King Robert granted “Reginaldo le Chen
militi et fideli nostro … totam terram de Strathbrokis .. quam Maria
filia quondam Friskini de Moravia militis sponsa quondam Reginaldi le
Chene militis nobis …. imperpetuum resignavit” (to Reginald le Chen
knight the whole lands of Strabrock, on the resignation of Mary
daughter of Freskin de Moravia, spouse of the deceased Reginald le
Chen knight). He also had a grant of the thanage of Newdosk, in the
Sheriffdom of Kincardine in about 1345.
It seems likely that in his youth he would have married, but there is
no record of a wife then, nor of children, so it may be that she died
without giving birth. Probably about 1340 Reginald III married Helen
daughter of Malise Earl of Strathearn, having a son Reginald IV and
two daughters, Marjory, who married Nicol Sutherland, second son of
Kenneth 4th Earl of Sutherland and Mariota, who married firstly John
Douglas and then Sir John Keith, son of the second Sir Edward Keith of
Synton. Their mother remarried in 1353, when she receives a Papal
dispensation to wed Sir David Graham, with whom she had a son Sir
Patrick Graham of Kincardine. Reginald IV seems to have died about
1379.
Mariota married John Douglas in about 1365 and he died without issue
in 1366. We know this from the Royal charter of confirmation to her
dated 26th May 1366 as the “sponse quondam Johannis de Douglas” (wife
of the umquhile John Douglas) in which the grant is to her and to
“heredibus inter ipsam et Johannem de Douglas procreates masculis seu
femellis, quibus forte deficientibus, heredibus predicte Mariote
legitimis quibuscunque” (the heirs male or female procreated between
her and John Douglas, and if by chance there are none, to the
legitimate heirs whomsoever of the aforesaid Mariota). Obviously she
was only recently widowed and it was not known whether there would be
any issue of the marriage.
She then remarried and had a son Andrew Keith who was of age on 4th
March 1390/1, when his mother’s grant is confirmed to him as “Andree
de Keth filio et heredi Johannis de Keth de Invirrogy fidelis nostri
et Jonete sponse sue, omnes terras de Strabrock …. que fuerunt dicti
Johannis et Marie Cheyne sponse sue racione dicte sponse ……. Tenendas
et habendas ….. sicut quondam Reginaldus Cheyne miles et antecessores
sui dictas terras ….. tenuerunt et possiderunt” (to Andrew Keith, son
and heir of our faithful servant John Keith of Inverugie, and to his
wife Joneta all the lands of Strabrock which were of the said John and
of Mary Cheyne his wife, in right of the said wife To Be Held and Had
just as the umquhile Sir Reginald Cheyne and his predecessors held and
possessed the said lands). This gives a probable birth date for
Mariota or Mary Cheyne of 1345 or perhaps a little bit earlier.
The Sutherland family received the lands of Duffus, and most of
Caithness. The Keiths got Strabrock, Inverugie and Achergill in
Caithness. The Keiths of Inverugie were the greatest cadet of the
earls Marischal and after Sir William Keith of Inverugie was killed in
1513 at Flodden, the inheritance was split between his daughters
Margaret who married William 3rd earl Marischal and Elizabeth who
married John 8th Lord Forbes. His widow went on to have a child in ca
1354, by her second husband Sir David Graham, of Kincardine.
The following tree gives the bones of the argument in perhaps more
readily digestible form.
Sir Reginald = dau Comyn Joan of Strathnaver taken hostage 1212 or
1222
= Eustacia Colville widowed bef 1296 |
| |
Sir Reginald b ca 1250, charter 1269 = Mary de Moravia b ca 1240/50,
charter 1323
______|
|
Sir Reginald b ca 1280, fl ca 1320 d bef 1353 = Helen of Strathearn b
ca 1320 = 1353 Sir David Graham
_______________________________________|
| | |
Reginald IV Marjory = Nicol Sutherland Mariota Cheyne b ca 1345
= John Douglas ca 1365 = John Keith ca 1366
dsp ca 1379 | _____________________|
| |
Henry Sutherland of Torbol dvp Andrew Keith b bef 1370 as of age &
married in 1390/1
Alex Maxwell Findlater
disappeared: sorry.
RRS, ii, no 513, p 463
Alexander Grant: Thanes and Thanages, p 72, in Medieval Scotland,
Crown, Lordship & Community, ed Grant & Stringer, EUP, 1993, quoting
the Alexander III Rental
Rotuli Scotiae, I, p 26; Foedera, I, p 845
Dowden J, The Bishops of Scotland, p 108, quoting Hectoris Boetii
Episcoporum Aberdonensium Vitae, 16, New Spalding Club, Glasgow 1912
RMS, Vol I, App II, No 262, p 525, note 4
Complete Peerage Vol II, p 475 sub Caithness and Vol XX Appendix A p
27 for Orkney
RMS, Vol I, Appendix II, No 1317, p 601
RMS, Vol I, Appendix II, No 1283, p 598
Caithness Field Club Bulletin October 1976
Antiquities of Aberdeen and Banff, IV, p 611, also in Vol I of
Ancient Charters in NAS
RMS, Vol I, Appendix II, No 1023, p 581
RMS, Vol I No 228, p 73
RMS Vol I No 830 p 325