| Notes |
- See also Notes in "CLAN information sources MACKENZIE" in this file.
Essay from
Douglas Hickling, 516 Blair Avenue, Piedmont CA 94611. Dhhic@comcast.net
THE PEDIGREES OF THE EARLY CHIEFS OF CLAN MACKENZIE--
CAN THEY BE TRUSTED?
The several published pedigrees of the early Mackenzie chiefs--fromKenneth, for whom the clan is named, through Alexander "Ionraic"--thatare contained in family histories compiled between the 17th and early20th centuries are based upon traditions, real, perceived, or contrived.Considering that these pedigrees frequently contradict each other andthat they are not supported by existing contemporary records, can any ofthem be relied upon?
The two earliest surviving manuscript histories of the Mackenzies werecompiled in the seventeenth century by George (Sir) Mackenzie, createdfirst Earl of Cromartie by Queen Anne in 1703. His first account,written circa 1650, takes the form of a letter and was published involume II of William (Sir) Fraser's THE EARLS OF CROMARTIE (1876), at 462et seq. It was followed by a shorter manuscript history entitled THEGENEALOGY OF THE MACKENZIES PRECEEDING THE YEAR 1661 WRITTEN IN THE YEAR1669 BY A PERSON OF QUALITY, published in 1900 in Volume I of WalterMacfarlane's GENEALOGICAL COLLECTIONS in PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISHHISTORY SOCIETY, volume 33. The pedigrees of the early chiefs containedin both manuscript histories are similar. Earl Cromartie's pedigree,based upon his 1669 shorter manuscript history, at 54-60, follows:
PEDIGREE I
1. Kenneth, son of Colin Fitzgerald and the daughter and heiress ofKenneth MacMahon (Matheson), was named for his maternal grandfather. Hemarried Morba, "daughter to MacDougal of Lorne." He was succeeded bytheir son,
2. Kenneth, who supported Bruce in his contest with the Comyns. Hewas succeeded by his son,
3. Kenneth na Sroine, who married Finguala, daughter of MacLeod ofLewis. He was executed by the Earl of Ross at Inverness, and succeeded bytheir son,
4. Murdoch Dow, who married a daughter of "MacCaula of Lochbroom."He was succeeded by his son,
5. Murdoch Nidroit ("of the bridge"), so called because his motherwhile pregnant with him had been saved from a fall at the bridge ofScatwell. He married Fingala, daughter of MacLeod of Harris. He wassucceeded by his son,
6. Alexander Ionraic ("the upright"), who married (1) Anna,daughter of MacDougal of Lorne, by whom he had Kenneth and Duncan, and(2) Margaret, daughter of MacDougal of Morir.
The shorter manuscript history of the Mackenzies, b Éy the first Earlof Cromartie, was soon followed by THE GENEALOGIE OF THE SURNAME OFM'KENZIE SINCE THEIR COMING INTO SCOTLAND collected in 1667 by JohnMackenzie of Applecross, a friend of the first Earl, and copied from theformer's papers in 1670. This manuscript was published in 1916 as volumeII of HIGHLAND PAPERS and volume XII of PUBLICATIONS OF THE SCOTTISHHISTORY SOCIETY (second series). The pedigree of the early Mackenziechiefs as set forth in the Applecross manuscript follows:
PEDIGREE II
1. Kenneth, son of Colin Fitzgerald and the daughter of KennethMatheson, was named for his maternal grandfather. He married a daughterof MacIver, and was succeeded by his son,
2. Murdoch, who married a daughter of MacAulay. He was succeeded by
3. Kenneth na sroine, who married a daughter of MacDougall of Lorn,whom he caused to be thrown over the bridge at Scatwell while she waspregnant with
4. Murdoch na drochaid ("of the bridge"), w Èho married adaughter of MacLeod of Lewis. He was executed by the Earl of Ross atInverness, and was succeeded by
5. Murdoch dubh, known as Black Murdoch of the cave. He married adaughter of MacLeod of Harris, and they were the parents of
6. Alexander Ionraic ("the upright"). He was brought up byMacDougall of Lorn, and married (1) a daughter of MacDougall of Lorn, bywhom he had Kenneth and Duncan, and (2) a daughter of MacRanald.
It is widely believed that John Mackenzie of Applecross borrowed theColin Fitzgerald descent from the first Earl of Cromartie and that theyboth relied upon one or more earlier manuscripts that no longer exist.
The foregoing are the only published seventeenth century manuscripthistories of the family. Several later unpublished family histories bycompilers, including the Rev. John Macrae, Hector Mackenzie, Dr. GeorgeMackenzie, and Captain John Matheson of Bennets-field, are held inScottish libraries, but they are not readily accessible because they arein manuscript form only.
In 1833, an ancient parchment now known as the manuscript of 1467 wasfound by William F. Skene in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. Themanuscript is a compilation of crude lists of names, believed to be thepedigrees of the chiefs of most of the highland clans up to about 1400.According to Skene, the manuscript was compiled by an Irish sennacheemployed by Clan Maclachlan as indicated by the fact that the pedigreeof that clan is quite detailed and includes intermarriages.
In 1834, Skene published his English translation of this manuscript involume 1, part 1, of the TRANSACTIONS OF THE IONA CLUB, at 54. In anote, Skene pointed out that the manuscript established "[t]hecomparatively late invention of many of the traditionary origins of allthe highland clans."
Skene became more specific in his THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND (1836), inwhich he attacked the notion that the Mackenzies were descended fromColin Fitzgerald as claimed by the 17th century, and subsequent, familyhistorians. First, at 187-188, he stated that whenever a clan tradition,such as that of the Mackenzies, asserts a marriage of the foreign founderof the clan with the heiress of that family, the family claiming theforeign founder is invariably the oldest cadet of the family which hassomehow usurped the power and estates of the clan chief. It thenattempts to conceal the defect in its right by blood by asserting theforeign founder who married the chief's heiress.
Second, Skene, at 325-326, stated that the documents frequently quoted assupporting a Mackenzie descent from Colin Fitzgerald were either (1)non-existent, (2) inconclusive, or (3) "a forgery of later times." Notonly was there no documentary support for the claimed descent from ColinFitzgerald, such a descent was rejected by the manuscript of 1467, whichshows a Gaelic descent from Gilleoin of the Aird.
In his THE EARLS OF CROMARTIE (1876) volume I, at v, William (Sir) Frasersets forth a Mackenzie pedigree in tabular form which provides the basisfor the following:
PEDIGREE III
1. Kenneth, son of Colin Fitzgerald and a daughter of KennethMacMahon or Matheson, married Morba Macdowal, daughter of Alexander Lordof Lorn, and was succeeded by
2. Kenneth Mackenneth, who married Margaret, daughter of David deStrathbogie, Earl of Athol. He was succeeded by
3. Kenneth Mackenzie, who married Fynvola, daughter of RoderickMacleod of Lewis. He was succeeded by
4. Murdoch Mackenzie. who married Isabel, daughter of MurdochMacAulay. He was succeeded by
5. Murdoch Mackenzie, who married Fingala, daughter of Macleod ofHarris. He was succeeded by
6. Alexander Mackenzie, who married (1) Agnes Campbell, daughter ofColin, Earl of Argyll, and (2) Margaret Macdougal, "a daughter of theHouse of Lorn." The mother of his son Kenneth is not identified.
Fraser, who published his history forty years after Skene's THEHIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND, stoutly defends the genuiness of the documentsupon which the claim of a descent from Colin Fitzgerald is based anddeclares the manuscript of 1467 to be "quite fabulous." He adheres, inmost respects, to the pedigrees contained in the 17th century Mackenziefamily histories. As the historian an d patron of the Earls ofCromartie, Fraser no doubt felt pressured to uphold the theories advancedby the first Earl in his history of the family.
Only three years later, Major James D. Mackenzie of Findon published hisGENEALOGICAL TABLES OF THE CLAN MACKENZIE (1879). The notes whichaccompany the tables, at 7-10, set forth the following:
PEDIGREE IV
1. Kenneth, son of Colin, "the 'Gerald' of tradition, or of earlyCeltic or Irish derivation" and a daughter of Kenneth Macmahon ofLochalsh. He married Morba, daughter of Alexander MacDougall of Lorne.He was succeeded by
2. Kenneth "or in some manuscripts Murdoch." He married Margaret,daughter of David de Strathbolgy, eleventh Earl of Athol. He fought atBannockburn, 1314, and was succeeded by
3. Kenneth na Sroine of Kintail, who married Fynvola (or Finguala),daughter of Torquil MacLeod II of Lewis. The compiler notes that,according to Dr. George Mackenzie, Kenneth was murdered by the Earl ofRoss at Perth. His only son,
4. Murdoch Dubh, is said to have been conveyed to the Lewis uponhis father's death and to have been called "of the caves" because he leda "hole in the corner existence" before he was able to regain hisfather's estates. He married Isabel, daughter of MacAulay of Lochbroom,and was succeeded by his son,
5. Murdoch na Drochaid ("of the bridge"). He married Finguala,daughter of MacLeod, chief of Harris, by whom he had one son,
6. Alexander Ionraic (the upright"), who married (1) Anna, daughterof MacDougall of Dunollie of the lineage of Lorn, by whom he had Kennethand Duncan, and (2) "another MacDougall or MacCoull of Morar, or 'Morir'on the mainland."
James D. Mackenzie of Findon vigorously attacked the reliability of themanuscript of 1467 as well as the writings of Skene and others thatquestioned the existence of Colin Fitzgerald. As is clear from PedigreeIV above, the compiler was willing to concede only the possibility thatColin was not of Irish origin while at the same time insisting that hewas the founder of the clan, whatever his origin may have been. James D.Mackenzie was the last Mackenzie historian of consequence to adhere tothe 17th century family histories and to the claimed descent from Colin.
Alexander Mackenzie was the first historian of the family to adopt manyof Skene's views as well as his translation of the manuscript of 1467.He published his HISTORY OF THE CLAN MACKENZIE in 1879, a work which wasfirst serialized, beginning in 1877, in THE CELTIC MAGAZINE, volume III,a periodical which he edited.
Skene published the third volume of his mature work CELTIC SCOTLAND in1880. In the revised 1890 edition of this volume, Skene discusses therole and reliability of clan genealogies. In his view, stated at338-339, the clan pedigrees contained in 14th and 15th century Irishmanuscripts, including the manuscript of 1467, "as far back as theeponymous or common ancestor from which the clan takes its name, are ingeneral tolerably well vouched, and may be held to be authentic," but theearly historic portions of these pedigrees, "when analyzed, prove to beentirely artificial and untrustworthy."
At 346 et seq., Skene explains that, in 1597, the Parliament held atEdinburgh passed an act which required that inhabitants of the highlandsshow by what right they possessed their lands. Many of the clans, whichhad at one time held charters to their lands, had lost them during theconflicts that followed the forfeiture of the Lords of the Isles. Manytimes, lands were feudally vested in an alien family, but actuallypossessed by competing clans. Other clans had held their lands for timeimmemorial, maintained by the sword. The chiefs "found themselvescompelled to defend their rights upon grounds which could compete withthe claims of their eager opponents, and to maintain an equality of rankand prestige with them in the Herald's Office." They did not hesitate"to put forward spurious pedigrees better calculated to maintain theirposition when a native descent had lost its value and was too weak toserve the purpose."
According to Skene, at 349, from this period, the "manuscript historiesof the leading highland families began to be compiled, in which thesepretensions were advanced and spurious charters inserted." At 351-354,he states that "the most remarkable of these spurious origins is thatclaimed by the Mackenzies," first put forward by the first Earl ofCromartie. "[T]he evidence of the construction of a false legend is toopalpable to be disputed." At 353 note 28, Skene says that other chartersnot related to Colin Fitzgerald "said to be granted by David II in 1360and Robert III in 1380, are equally suspicious."
Skene's English translation of the genealogy of the Clan Kenneth, as setforth in the manuscript of 1467, beginning with the most recent person inthe pedigree is printed at 485: "Murdoch son of Kenneth son of John sonof Kenneth son of Angus son of Cristin son of Kenneth son of Gilleeoin ogson of Gilleeoin of the Aird." In a note, Skene explains that heregarded the listing of Agad (Adam) in the manuscript as the father ofCristin as a mistake which he corrected by substituting the name ofKenneth, as shown in the Black Book of Clanranald by MacVurich.
In compiling his revised HISTORY OF THE MACKENZIES, published in 1894,Alexander Mackenzie rejected the claimed descent from Colin Fitzgerald,as he had in his earlier HISTORY OF THE CLAN MACKENZIE (1879), and quotedSkene's THE HIGHLANDERS OF SCOTLAND and CELTIC SCOTLAND several times andat length. The pedigree of the early Mackenzie chiefs set forth in the1894 history and below is substantially the same as in the earlier 1879history:
PEDIGREE V
1. Kenneth, who is placed fourth from the top in the Mackenziepedigree in the manuscript of 1467. In accordance with that manuscript,Kenneth's father is listed as Angus, but his mother is not identified.He married Morna or Morba, daughter of Alexander Macdougall of Lorn "deErgedia," by a daughter of John the first Red Comyn. He died in 1304 andwas succeeded by their only son,
2. John Mackenzie, aided the Bruce and married Margaret, daughterof David de Strathbogie, 11th Earl of Atholl, by Joan, daughter of John,the Red Comyn. He died in 1328 and was succeeded by his only son,
3. Kenneth Mackenzie na sroine, who led the clan during troubledtimes and was eventually executed at Inverness in 1346 at the order ofthe Earl of Ross. He was married to Finguala, or Florence, daughter ofTorquil Macleod II of Lewis, and succeeded by his only son,
4. Murdoch Mackenzie, who was known as Black Murdoch of the caveand as Murdoch Dubh. He married Isabel, only child of Macaulay ofLochbroom and died in 1375, being succeeded by his son,
5. Murdoch Mackenzie, known as Murdoch of the bridge, who marriedFinguala, or Florence, daughter of Malcolm Macleod III of Harris andDunvegan. Murdoch died in 1416, and was succeeded by his only son,
6. Alexander Mackenzie Ionraic, who married twice. First hemarried Anna, daughter of John Macdougall of Dunolly, and his secondmarriage was to Margaret, daughter of Macdonald of Morar, a cadet ofClanranald. He explains that some of the family manuscripts identifyMargaret as a daughter of M'Couil or Macdougall of Morar but that all ofthese named wives are really the same person, as one of the families ofClanranald or Moydart or Morar was named "Macdougall" after its ancestor,Dougald Macranald. Alexander was succeeded by Kenneth, a son by hisfirst wife.
Skene's THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND was republished in 1902 without changeother than the addition of extensive notes by Alexander Macbain to theoriginal text. At 408, Macbain says that Skene has made "overmuch use"of the manuscript of 1467 and that where it stands alone, as in the caseof Clan Mackenzie, "it has to be used with caution, even as late as1400," which is about the date that that pedigree ends. In commenting onSkene's discussion of charters that relate to the early Mackenzie chiefs,Macbain states, at 417, that "little or nothing is known of their historyuntil the forfeiture of the last Earl--1463. Anything before that isspurious."
The article on MacKenzie, Earl of Seaforth, set forth in volume 7 of THESCOTS PEERAGE (1910), beginning at 495, was written by Peter J.Anderson. The compiler sets forth the following:
PEDIGREE VI
1. Kenneth, said to have married Morna, daughter of AlexanderMacdougal of Lorn. He died in 1304 and was succeeded by their son,
2. John Mackenzie, who supported Bruce. He is said to have marriedMargaret, daughter of David de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl. He died in1338 and was succeeded by their son,
3. Kenneth Mackenzie na sroine, who appears to have been inconstant strife with the Earl of Ross by whom he was made prisoner andexecuted in 1346. He is said to have married Fynvola, daughter ofTorquil Macleod of Lewis. He was succeeded by their son,
4. Murdoch Mackenzie of the cave, who is said by the first EarlCromartie to have had a charter from King David II, the authenticity ofwhich "is not now admitted by genealogists." He is said to have marriedIsabel, a daughter of Murdoch Macaulay of Lochbroom. He died in 1375 andwas succeeded by their son,
5. Murdoch Mackenzie of the bridge, who is said by the first EarlCromartie to have had a charter from King Robert II, a charter "not nowbelieved to be authentic." He is said to have married Fynvola, daughterof Malcolm Macleod of Harris. He died in 1416 and was succeeded by theirson,
6. Alexander Mackenzie Ionraic, who had, in 1463, from John, Earlof Ross, a charter of the lands of Killin, Garve, Kinlochluiconan andothers, and in 1477 a Crown charter of Strathconan, Strathgarve,Strathbraan and others, forfeited by the Earl of Ross. He married (1)Anna, daughter of John Macdougall of Dunolly, and (2) Margaret, daughterof "M'Coull of Morir." He died in 1488 and was succeeded by Kenneth, hisson by his first marriage.
Although Anderson claimed that he was setting forth the pedigree ofchiefs given by the first Earl Cromartie, a comparison of the pedigree inTHE SCOTS PEERAGE with Pedigrees I and V, above, shows that he relied farmore upon Alexander Mackenzie than the first Earl as his source. Thearticle gives continuing currency to this particular version of thepedigree of the early Mackenzie chiefs, while at the same timedisparaging its authority on the ground that there is "no record evidencefor the existence of any of them previous to Alexander MackenzieIonraic,'" and by the continuing use of "said to have been" in hisidentification of the chiefs' wives. He casts further doubt on theidentification of Margaret Strathbogie as the wife of John Mackenzie,noting, at 496, that "no record of this daughter has been discovered."
In his introduction to the Applecross manuscript, published in 1916,several years after the appearance of the Seaforth article in THE SCOTSPEERAGE, J. R. N. Macphail noted, at 4, "that there is no record evidencefor the existence of any of the alleged chiefs prior to Kenneth-a-bhlair,who rose to a position of some importance towards the end of thefifteenth century, on the fall of John, Lord of the Isles and Earl ofRoss." At 13 note 2, Macphail rejects the charters relied upon byAnderson, set forth in line 6 of Pedigree VI as proof of the existence ofAlexander Mackenzie Ionraic, on the ground that "the authority cited isonly an Inventory of the Allangrange Papers. He does not appear in theRegister of the Great Seal or other public records."
The 20th century historians have looked with even greater skepticism atthe traditional listing of the chiefs who precede Alexander Ionraic,based on the lack of any record evidence of their existence and the factthat the early pedigrees are contradictory.
Continued in "CLAN origins 2 MACKENZIE"
From Douglas Hickling, 516 Blair Avenue, Piedmont CA 94611.Dhhic@comcast.net
|
- 1200