The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. IX] OF SCOTLAND 349
think that until tiie reign of Edgar some time after, the Merns
formed a part of the Maormorship of Angus. The older
historians all agree that Merns was originally a part of Angus
and it certainly was so in the tenth century, for when Kenneth,
the third king of Scotland, was slain by the daughter of the
earl of Angus, the scene of his slaughter is placed by the old
chronicles in Fettercairn in the Merns. The ancient dioceses
of the Culdee church, however, afford the most certain infor-
mation as to the number and extent of the Maormorships
previous to the reign of Edgar, and they place the matter
beyond a doubt, for the diocese of Brechin unquestionably
included the Merns along with Angus, and prove that it must
have formed a part of the Maormorship of Angus until the
reign of Edgar. If the earl who slew king Duncan was earl
of Garmoran, the event is more intelligible, for he did so for
the purpose of placing Donald Bane on the throne ; and
Donald, we know, received the principal support from the
Celtic inhabitants of the west.
III. Alexander I. in his palace at Invergowry is attacked
by the " Satellites " of Moerne and Moraj^ He drives them
across the Month— across the Spey and over " the Stockfurd
into Ros."
" And tuk and slew thame or he past
Out of that land, that fewe he left
To tak on hand swylk purpose eft."
The conne.Kion between Moray and Garmoran is intelligible
— not so if this was Merns ; for it is quite impossible to account
for the people of the Merns taking refuge in Ross, when the
Grampians would afford them a securer retreat in their own
neighbourhood. The language of Winton, however, is quite
inconsistent with the supposition that the Southern Merns is
here meant ; if by this, the Northern ]\Ioerne or Garmoran is
here meant, it agrees with our previous deduction, that the
earldom must have been forfeited after the reign of Edgar.
It is thus plain that these transactions are connected with
the Northern Moran only, and we trace from , them three of
the old earls of Garmoran.
1. Cellach, slain by Malcolm, king of Scotland, A.D. 950.
2. Cellach, who appears in the Sagas under the name of