The office of Mormaer is first mentioned in the context of the Battle of Corbridge (918), in the Annals of Ulster.
The first individual Mormaer to be named was Dubacan mac Indrechtaich, one of the companions of Amlaib, the son of King Causantín II.
However, the earliest Mormaers of each province are generally unknown until the 12th century, by which time the Mormaer is being referred to in Latin documents as Comes.
The office of Mormaer is first mentioned in the context of the Battle of Corbridge (918), in the Annals of Ulster.
The first individual Mormaer to be named was Dubacan mac Indrechtaich, one of the companions of Amlaib, the son of King Causantín II.
However, the earliest Mormaers of each province are generally unknown until the 12th century, by which time the Mormaer is being referred to in Latin documents as Comes.
Mormaer Beth is a name mentioned in a unreliable charter granted to Scone Priory, later Scone Abbey, by king Alexander I of Scotland.
The only reason for associating Beth with Fife is that he appears first in the witness list, an honour often but certainly not always given to the Mormaers of Fife amongst the other Scottish Mormaers.
It is also been suggested this is the same person as Áed, Mormaer of Ross, attested in two early charters of David I.
Prior to the sons of Malcolm Canmore and the saintly Queen Margaret ruling Scotland, the area was known as Angus and was usually linked with the Mearns (Kincardine) or Gowrie.
Mormaer was a celtic term meaning ’great steward’ and gave way to the term ’Earl’ by the late 12
The earliest recorded was Earl Gilchrist, Mormaer of Angus, who gave Kirriemuir to the Abbey of Arbroath in 1178.
Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005.
His father was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II.
A Mormaer was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of Scotland, but in Latin documents the word is usually translated as 'Comes', which means earl.
Macbeth, Mormaer of Moray 1032-1057, King of Scotland 1040-1057, was born the son of Findlaech, Mormaer of Moray, who was of the Cenel nGabrain sect of the Scots of Dalriada.
The name or title of mormaer has caused some confusion amongst modern historians in that most accept it's meaning to be leader, strongman or warlord.
To add to the uncertainty, also staying at the very same court were two other young men with mothers who undoubtedly nurtured the same ambitious dreams for their children, for both had the same strong claim to the throne of Scotland.
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The first individual Mormaer to be named was Dubacan mac Indrechtaich, one of the companions of Amlaib, the son of King CausantÃn II (Constantine II).
This has led to the erroneous impression that "Mormaerdoms" were scrapped and replaced by "Earldoms." In fact, Comes (literally Companian, in the feudal age Count, which word derives from it) is just a Franco-Latin word used on the British Isles to render either Mormaer or Earl into Latin (with French).
As a result, scholars now recognize that Mormaer was the vernacular word used by the Gaels.
Other names for Duncan were ATHOLL and MORMAER King.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol VII, p27, mormaor: "also spelled mormaer (Gaelic `mor'= great; `maor' or `maer'= steward, bailiff), a title of the rulers of the seven provinces into which Celtic Scotland (ie the part of the country north of the Forth and the Clyde) was divided.
Ancestral File Ver 4.10 9G9W-HH Duncan MORMAER Lord Born Abt 954, Ver 4.10 Born Abt 949, 8HSF-G0 Duncan Born Abt 969.
www.geneal.net /970.htm (190 words)
CELT: The Gaelic Notes in the Book of Deer(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
Thereupon the mormaer went to beseech the clerics that they should make a prayer on behalf of the boy, that health might come to him; and he gave to them land as a grant from Cloch in Tiprat as far as Cloch Peitte Meic-Garnait.
Matain son of Cairell gave a mormaer's dues in Altrie and Cú Lí son of Baíthín gave a toísech's dues.
Gartnait son of Cainnech and Ete daughter of Gille-Michéil gave Pett Meic-Gobraig for the consecration of a church of Christ and of Peter the apostle, and to Columba and Drostán, free of all imposts, with a bond for it to Cormac bishop of Dunkeld, the eighth year of the reign of David.
