The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

34^ THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
their j^osition is identic, for the Merns bears exactly the same
position towards the southern Picts, forming a sort of wedgelike
termination to their territories, which Garmoran does to
the northern Picts. There can therefore be little doubt of the
absolute identity of the names of these two earldoms. ^
The people and earls of Moerne are frequently mentioned
in the older chronicles, principally as rebelling, along with the
Moravians, against the government. It has invariably been
assumed that Moerne here implies the Lowland Merns, but the
constant and close connexion between the people of Moerne
and the Moravians in the history of the Scottish rebellions has
been remarked by historians as singular and inexplicable.
If, by the Moerne, the Northern earldom is meant, which
is adjacent to Moray, the connexion is natural, but it is
impossible to account either for the language of the chronicles,
or for the circumstances themselves, if it is to be understood
of the Lowland Merns.
This will appear more clearl)' from a review of the particular
instances in which the name occurs.
ancient chronicles four times :—
Moerne is mentioned in
I. In A.D. 950, Malcolm, king of Scotland, went into Moray,
and slew Cellach, and shortly afterwards he is slain by the
Viri na Moerne, or Men of the Moerne in Fodresach. Cellach
we can prove to have been Maormor of neither Moray nor
Ross. He must have been of some neighbouring Maormorship.
If Moerne is Moran in the north, the transaction is natural ;
the king slew their chief, and was slain by them in Forres. If
the Merns, we neither know why the first event should have
been mentioned or the second taken place. Moreover, another
authority says he was slain by the Moravians at Ulurn. Ulurn
was near P^orres. We see how the Moravians might have been
mistaken for the people of Garmoran—not for the Merns— or
how the people of the Merns should have been in Moray.
II. Duncan, king of Scotland, is slain A.D. 1094 by Malpeder
]\Iacloen, Comite de Moerne. This, however, could not have
been the Southern Merns, because we have strong reason to
'
In the red book of Clanranald, tlie to the districts forming the eirldom
name Morshron, pronounced Moran, of Garmoran.
and signifying '•
great nose," is applied