Ross was one of the ancient mormaerdoms of Scotland, and grew out of the
earlier Pictish kingdom of Fidach, or Moray, which at one time covered a much
larger area. Though its early extent was restricted to what is now known as
Easter Ross, the area between Moray and Sutherland around the firths of Dornoch
and Cromarty, it was extended under succeeding holders to include much of the
upper west coast. The mormaers of Ross were for long a threat to the stability
of the kingdom and frequent attempts were made to keep them under control. The
earliest known holders are of the family of MacHeth, named after Aedh, Mormaer
of Ross. The first recognised holder is Malcolm MacHeth, who died around 1168,
although he is sometimes confused with Malcolm MacAlexander, a bastard son of
King Alexander I, and it is possible that they were involved together in
various dynastic struggles against the ruling house. Malcolm MacHeth may have
been followed by Donald and then Adam MacDonald, though is dubiety whether
these follow as father to son. Adam may instead possibly have been son of
Donald MacWilliam, a descendant of King Malcolm III who believed himself to be
the rightful heir. By 1200 the MacHeth seem to have been ousted as mormaers,
but one Kenneth MacHeth joined with Donald Ban MacWilliam to invade Ross in
1215. This invasion was defeated by the next holder.
Earls of Ross (c.1223)
1st Earl of Ross, Ferchar mac in t’Sagairt, b.?, a.c.1223,
d.1251
Ferchar, anglicised as Farquhar MacTaggart, is considered the first earl
proper. He was probably a member of a noble family in Ross, and with the
backing of King Alexander II he defeated the combined forces of the MacWilliam
and the MacHeth, for which he was installed officially as earl. Before this
time, Ross had probably been considered more of a buffer against depradations
by the Vikings, with successive kings content for local chieftains to maintain
strong local forces as long as they remained well away from the centres of
power. In 1235 Fergus aided Alexander in suppressing the revolt of Gille Ruadh,
or Gilroy, in Galloway after the death of Alan, the last Lord of Galloway, and
he was present at the Treaty of York in 1237. Marrying off his daughters to
some of the most powerful men in the areas bordering the Irish Sea is evidence
of his ambition.
2nd Earl of Ross, William I, b.?, a.1251, d.1274
Son of Ferchar. He was responsible for re-taking control of the Hebrides
from the kings of Norway, and was rewarded by having Skye and Lewis added to
his domains.
3rd Earl of Ross, William II, b.?, a.1274, d.1323
Son of William I and Johanna Comyn, daughter of William Comyn, Earl of Buchan. During the Wars of Independence he was captured
by the English at the Battle of Dunbar and afterwards committed himself to their
side. As was common amongst the surviving Gaelic lords in Scotland,
overlordship by England was seen as a way of preserving, if not expanding,
their domains at the expense of the lowland Scots. He even handed over Bruce’s
wife Elizabeth de Burgh, and daughter Marjorie, to the English, after they had
been captured in Tain. By 1306, this had put in him direct conflict with Bruce,
and when Bruce brought an army north in 1308, with support from some of
William’s neighbours in Skye, William submitted, receiving Dingwall as a reward
or bribe. He led the Ross forces at the Battle of Bannockburn and was a
signatory to the Declaration of Arbroath.
4th Earl of Ross, Hugh, b.c.1275, a.1323, d.1333
Son of William II. His mother was possibly Euphemia de Balliol, sister
of the famous King John Balliol, or Euphemia de Barclay, daughter of Sir Hugh
de Berkeley, Justiciar of Lothian. Hugh was a favourite of Bruce, receiving
extensive estates, in particular Skye, and married the King’s sister Matilda
(also known as Maud). When she died he married Margaret Graham, and their
daughter Eupheme became Countess of Moray by marriage
to Sir John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray. When Randolph died, Eupheme
married Robert Stewart, 6th High Steward
and eventual King Robert II. Hugh of Ross died at the Battle of Halidon Hill.
5th Earl of Ross, William III, b.?, a.1333, d.1371-1372
Son of Hugh and Matilda Bruce. He was friendly with the Stewarts, and
was made Justiciar of Scotland. However, the Lordship of Skye, handed to his
father by Bruce, was handed back to Reginald, Lord of the Isles, by King David
II. When David invaded England in 1346, William, in revenge, refused to
accompany him. David was captured at the Battle of Neville’s cross and kept as
a prisoner in England until 1357 on agreement to pay a large ransom. William
continued to ignore any requests for help and in 1370 he was made forfeit, with
the earldom being passed to his daughter Euphemia and her husband Walter
Leslie.
6th Earl (Countess) of Ross, Euphemia, b.1342-1345, a.1370,
d.1394-1395
Daughter of William III and Mary Macdonald, daughter of Angus Og
Macdonald, Lord of the Isles. When her first husband
died she married Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan,
the Wolf of Badenoch.
7th Earl of Ross, Alexander Leslie, b.?, a.1394-1395, d.1402
Son of the Countess and Sir Walter Leslie (b.?, d.1381-1382). His
widowed mother married Alexander Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, son of King
Robert II, who was granted substantial lands formerly within the earldom of
Ross. Shortly after the marriage in 1382, he was also created 1st
Earl of Buchan, leaving a greatly reduced inheritance for Leslie, and
alienating the powerful Leslie and Lindsay families from the King. However,
with Robert III coming to the throne, backed by the powerful influence of his
brother, Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife and later Duke of Albany,
Buchan’s power was eroded and his marriage annulled by the Pope due to his
having co-habited with his mistress for many years. This situation allowed
Leslie to succeed his mother with little trouble.
8th Earl (Countess) of Ross, Euphemia Leslie, b.?, a.1402,
d.1394-1398
Daughter of the 7th Earl and Isabella Stewart, daughter of
Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany. She was under total control of
her grandfather Albany, and she eventually resigned the earldom to his own son
rather than her father’s sister Mariota (b.?, d.1440). Mariota married Domhnall
of Islay, Lord of the Isles, and they pressed Mariota’s claim, having control
of the earldom’s main seat at Dingwall Castle and the nominal backing of the
young King James I, then being held captive by the English. In 1411 Domhnall
led a strong Highland army into Aberdeenshire, but was repulsed at the Battle
of Harlaw by Alexander Stewart, 11th Earl of Mar,
an illegitimate son of Buchan. This battle is often portrayed as being a
conflict between the Gaelic-speaking Viking influenced tribal Celt and the
English-speaking Anglo-French influenced Celt, but in my opinion this is giving
it too much weight as a mirror of the times. In any case, it was a fiercely
fought contest with large numbers of casualties. With the outcome undecided,
Domhnall retreated to the Isles, giving Albany time to raise another army and
send it north. This force was large enough to push right into Easter Ross,
taking Dingwall, and forcing Domhnall to surrender his claim. In 1415 Albany
persuaded Euphemia to resign the earldom to his son John Stewart, who was
already 3rd Earl of Buchan. By the time that James returned from
captivity in England, both Albany and Domhnall had died, Albany having been
succeeded by his son Murdoch Stewart. James removed Murdoch from power and had
him executed for treason, and gave support to Mariota’s claims, allowing her
son to succeed as earl in 1437.
9th Earl of Ross, John Stewart, b.c.1381, a.1415, d.1424
Son of Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife and Duke of Albany, and Muriel
Keith. He is principally known as 3rd Earl of Buchan and had little
involvement in the Ross earldom.
10th Earl of Ross, Alexander Macdonald, b.?, a.1437, d.1449
Son of Mariota Leslie, sister of the 7th Earl, and Domhnall
of Skye, Lord of the Isles. Himself Lord of the Isles from 1423, he was a
supporter of James I against the Albany Stewarts. However, once Murdoch Stewart
and his allies were removed from power, Alexander declared himself Earl of
Ross, whereas the King also had a justifiable claim being a cousin of the
previous holder. In 1428 James travelled north to enforce his authority and
arranged to meet Alexander at Inverness, but took him prisoner along with his
mother and several close allies such as MacKay, Munro, Mathieson and MacKenzie.
James had to release his prisoners to save face after Alexander’s uncle John
Macdonald was killed by a royal messenger. The following year, the Macdonalds
went to war, taking Inverness, with the aim of replacing the King with James
Stewart, son of Murdoch of Albany, who had support in the Albany Stewart
earldoms of Fife and Menteith and also from England. This James Stewart died
suddenly, fortunately for the King, and he led a large army north into
Badenoch, where Clan Chattan and the Camerons came out on his side. Alexander
fled the battlefield and the King took the major castles of Urquhart and
Dingwall. With the threat of artillery now being used against him, Alexander turned
himself in, and he was confined at Tantallon Castle under the control of
William Douglas, 2nd Earl of Angus. James
now handed the task of quelling the rebellious provinces to Alexander Stewart,
11th Earl of Mar. However, in both Lochaber
and Strathnaver, the King’s men met with defeat, and not being able to afford a
protracted campaign, James released Alexander. In 1435 Mar died without an
heir, and with him went King’s influence over the north-eastern highlands.
James had no option but to recognise Alexander as Earl of Ross. In 1439
Alexander was made Justiciar of Scotland, and in the last few years of his life
parcelled out large areas of Ross to his chief vassals.
11th Earl of Ross, John Macdonald, b.c.1435, a.1449, d.1503
Son of the 10th Earl and Elizabeth Seton, daughter of Sir
Alexander Seton, Lord of Gordon and Huntly. As Lord of
the Isles he had pretensions for kinghood, if not of the whole of Scotland,
then all of Scotland north of the Forth. He was encouraged, possibly by the
King, to marry Elizabeth Livingston, daughter of James Livingston, 1st
Lord Livingston (for whom see the earls of Linlithgow),
who was highly influential at Court, but when Livingston briefly fell from
favour and fled to his son-in-law’s protection, Ross used the opportunity to
rise in rebellion, and started out by taking the royal castles of Inverness,
Urquhart and Dingwall back into his possession. He also made a bond with
William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, and
Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford,
the most powerful of the southern nobles. However, when James II murdered Douglas
for refusing to break this bond, Macdonald did nothing untoward, and after the
collapse of the Black Douglas, took the opportunity to extend his influence
into the borders. Soon after James died in 1460, the Lancastrian Henry VI
sought refuge with the Scottish court after being forced out by the House of
York. Ross was approached by James Douglas, the exiled last earl of Douglas,
acting as an emissary of Edward VI, and in return sent his own representatives
to London to negotiate a treaty for him to pay homage to Edward in return for
control of Scotland north of the Forth. In reality, Edward was using Ross as a
diversion in order to put the Scots under pressure not to support the
Lancastrians. Ross, as part of the agreement, advanced his forces further
eastwards, with the quickly-desired effect that the Scots washed their hands of
Henry. Ross, possibly seeing through the deceit, retired his troops and
everything went quiet. However, some years later, when Edward needed to keep
the peace with the Scots while at war in France, he informed James III of the
terms of his treaty with Ross. Ross was immediately declared forfeit as a
traitor and forced to submit himself to the King in the summer of 1476. He was
treated comparatively leniently, but was stripped of much of his domains, and
created Lord of the Isles anew as a vassal of the King, with much loss to his
personal standing. The pressure was too much, and he was ousted as Lord of the
Isles and head of Clan Donald by his son, Angus Og Macdonald, and defeated at
sea in the Battle of the Bloody Bay, off Tobermory, in 1481. Angus retook
Easter Ross but was initially pressurised by the earls of Atholl and Huntly. In
1488 Angus took the opportunity caused by a rebellion in the south of the
country to take Inverness again, but he was murdered in his sleep in 1490,
after which John re-appeared under the influence of his nephew Alexander
Macdonald of Lochalsh. They attempted to resume control of Ross but where
beaten by the Mackenzie Clan, and in 1493 James IV abolished the title of Lord
of the Isles. John Macdonald died in idle captivity some years later.
Earls of Ross (1481)
1st Earl of Ross, James Stewart, b.1476, a.1481, d.1504
Son of King James III and Margaret of Denmark. He was also created 1st
Lord Ardmannoch and 1st Lord Brechin and Navar. In 1488 he was
created 1st Duke of Ross.
Dukes of Ross (1488)
1st Duke of Ross, James Stewart, b.1476, a.1488, d.1504
He was made Archbishop of St Andrews in 1497 and Lord Chancellor in
1502, but died young, all his titles becoming extinct at his death.
Duke of Ross (1514)
1st Duke of Ross, Alexander Stewart, b.1514, a.1514, d.1515
Fourth and youngest son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor.
Earls of Ross (1565)
1st Earl of Ross, Henry Stuart, b.1545, a.1565, d.1567
The son of Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox
and Lady Margaret Douglas (b.1515, d.1578), daughter of Archibald Douglas, 6th
Earl of Angus. He was born in Yorkshire during his
father’s exile from Scotland, and was known as Lord Darnley from his baptism,
as heir to the earldom of Lennox. In 1564 the family returned to Scotland when his
father’s rights were restored by Parliament. By birth he was in the succession
for both the English and Scottish thrones, as was his cousin Queen Mary, to
whom he was related in several different ways, and they were married in 1565.
As consort of the Queen, he was given the titles of 1st Duke of
Albany, 1st Earl of Ross and 1st Lord Ardmannoch. However
the marriage was strained from the beginning, he being an unpleasant character,
unpopular with the other nobles, and with a drinking problem that exacerbated a
violent streak. Although they managed to produce an heir between them, their
relationship went from bad to worse, and he had her secretary David Rizzio
murdered in a fit of jealousy. Things settled down briefly when Mary gave
birth, but he had made too many enemies at court, and his body was found in the
gardens of the Kirk o’Field in Edinburgh where he had been staying, having fled
his bedchamber after an explosion had taken place in the house. He had probably
evaded the first attempt to murder him only to be run down by the conspirators
outside. Suspicion initially fell on James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, Mary’s next husband, but he was too powerful
to take on at the time, until other events took over. Much later, Esme Stuart,
Darnley’s uncle, became a major influence over the young king and used the
murder as an excuse to get rid of his rival James Douglas, 4th Earl
of Morton, who was executed in 1581. Much conspiracy
theory still surrounds the death, stirred up the famous Casket letters from
Mary to Bothwell, purportedly written between 1566 and 1567, that later
appeared in public and were debated by the Scottish Parliament, which was keen
to see Mary tried for murder. Elizabeth of England ordered an enquiry into the question
but was little interested in its outcome, and nothing was ever proven. The
original letters were destroyed by James VI in 1584 but some copies and
possible forgeries, and even forgeries of forgeries, have kept the conspiracy
going to the present day.
2nd Earl of Ross, James Stuart, b.1566, a.1567, d.1625
Son of the 1st Earl and Mary, Queen of Scots. In February of
1567 he succeeded to the titles that had been awarded to his father and in July
of that year became King James VI.
Earls of Ross (1603)
1st Earl of Ross, Charles Stuart, b.1600, a.1603, d.1649
Son of King James VI and Anne of Denmark. As second heir after his older
brother he was created Duke of Albany, Marquess of Ormonde, Earl of Ross and
Lord Ardmannoch. In 1605 he was created Duke of York, and in 1612 he became
heir after his brother’s death and was additionally made Duke of Cornwall, Duke
of Rothesay, to be followed in 1616 by Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
before becoming King Charles I.
(Last updated: 22/04/2011)