MORMAER

The title of 'Mormaer' designates a regional or provincial ruler in the medieval Kingdom of the Scots. In theory, although not always in practice, a Mormaer was second only to the King of Scots, and the senior of a ''toisech''.

Contents

Origin

Earliest Mormaers

Mormaer, Comes and "Earl"

Mormaers and other Lordships

List of Mormaers

Bibliography

External links

Origin

The etymology is variously debated as "Great Steward" (incorporating Gaelic and Picto-Latin), or "Sea Lord" (perhaps defenders against the attacks of Vikings). Historians do not know if the institution was Gaelic or Pictish. It is notable that the word Mormaer occurs ''only'' in the post-Pictish period, and so it is difficult to sustain any argument for Pictish origins. There is also debate whether the term ''mormaer'' was simply the east-coast equivalent of ''Kinglet'' (Gaelic: ''ruirí'' or ''rí''). For the earliest periods, we are unsure about the exact difference between a ''Mormaer'' and a ''Toisech''. The earliest Scottish Latin sources use the word ''thanus'' (Thane) for the word Toisech. This word was adopted from the Anglo-Saxon lands to the south. It is possible that both ''Thanus'' and ''Comes'', and ''Mormaer'' and ''Toisech'', all originally meant similar things, or at least were not part of a stratified hierarchy as we have come to think.

Earliest Mormaers

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 (Constantine II). His death at the Battle of Brunanburh (937) is recorded in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba. He is mentioned as ''Mormair Oengusa'' (''Mormaer of Angus'').
Another three Mormaers are named, though without provinces, in the Annals of Tigernach, s.a. 976. 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, Comes and "Earl"

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). For instance, several Irish sources call King Robert Bruce ''Mormaer'' (of Carrick) in the 14th century. As this is not an Irish word, it is clear that the word is being used by the Scots for the office. Moreover, the term is still recorded as being used for the "Earl" of Lennox a century later. On the other hand, the West Germanic word ''Earl'' is not recorded as being is use in Scotland until the mid-14th century, and then only in an English literary text.
As a result, scholars now recognize that ''Mormaer'' was the vernacular word used by the Gaels. ''Earl'' on the other hand is an English or Scots translation, alien to the Gaelic tradition.
There might be nothing wrong with this. However, many authors use the term ''Jarl'' to describe contemporary Scandinavian lords of the same rank, and the term ''Count'' for French and German ones. In this context, using the term ''Earl'' for ''Mormaer'' is simplistic and inappropriate, and might be compared with calling a Roman Emperor ''Shah''. Some of this objection is removed as the Scottish comital lordships become increasingly acquired by families of French or Anglo-French origin, and as English becomes the dominant language of Lowland Scotland in the later Middle Ages. Of course, ''Count'' would still be safer, but almost no Scottish historian employs this word. In fact, one might even use Duke, especially in the case of Moray, since Mormaer was the highest noble rank under the King.

Mormaers and other Lordships

A Mormaerdom was not simply a regional lordship, it was a regional lordship with official comital rank. This is why other lordships, many of them more powerful, such as those of Lords of Galloway, Argyll and Innse Gall, are not and were not called Mormaerdoms or Earldoms.

List of Mormaers

This list does not include Orkney, which was a Norwegian Earldom, and became ruled by Scotland in the 15th century. Sutherland might be included, but it was created only late, and for a foreign family (see Earl of Sutherland)

★ Mormaerdom/Kingdom of Moray

★ Mormaerdom of Fife

★ Mormaerdom of Strathearn

★ Mormaerdom of Angus

★ Mormaerdom of Atholl

★ Mormaerdom of Buchan

★ Mormaerdom of Caithness'', See Earl of Orkney

★ For ''Mormaerdom of Carrick'', See Earl of Carrick

★ For the Anglo-Scottish ''Mormaerdom of Lothian/Dunbar'', See Earl of Dunbar

★ Mormaerdom of Lennox

★ Mormaerdom of Mar

★ ? Mormaerdom of Mearns

★ Mormaerdom of Menteith

★ Mormaerdom of Ross

Bibliography

★ Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500-1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)

★ Barrow, G.W.S., ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', (Edinburgh, 2003)

★ Broun, Dauvit, "Mormaer," in J. Cannon (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to British History'', (Oxford, 1997)

★ Lynch, Michael, ''Scotland: A New History'', (Edinburgh, 1991)

★ Roberts, John L., ''Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages'', (Edinburgh, 1997)

External links

★ Thanes & Thanages

★ Annals of Tigernach

★ Annals of Ulster

★ Chronicon Scotorum

★ Gaelic Notes on the Book of Deer