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[Cd. 2190.] Price 28. 7d.

1904.

INTRODUCTION.

The house and earldom of Mar is one of the greatest antiquity in Scotland. Indeed, claim has been made for it as the premier earldom of that country. The lord of that earldom was one of the seven earls who had the right when the throne was vacant of electing the new sovereign. So early as 1014 mention is made in the Annals of Ulster of Donald, Mormaor or Earl of Mar, as having in that year been slain at the battle of Clontarf in Ireland, when fighting with the King of Leinster and the Danes. Rotheri is mentioned as Earl of Mar between 1114 and 1131, but his relationship to the Donald above mentioned is not known. Morgund was Earl in the reigns of King David the First and King Malcolm the Fourth. He was, however, dispossessed for a time by one Gilchrist, who during his tenure of the earldom founded the priory of Monymusk. But Morgund was restored by King William the Lion, and died before 1183. His wife's name was Agnes, and he had at least two sons, Duncan and David. After the death of Morgund there was again a Gilchrist Earl of Mar, who had a wife called Orabile, and he was succeeded by Duncan, the son and heir of Morgund, who flourished during the reign of King Alexander the Second. Earl Duncan had a son, William, who is found in possession of the earldom in 1268. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and had a son Donald, who was flourishing as Earl of Mar in 1283-1297, and took the English King's side in the wars of independence. Donald was succeeded in the earldom by his son, Gratney, who, though at first loyal to Edward, seems to have afterwards taken part with Robert the Bruce. It is stated by Fordun and others that he married Christian Bruce, that King's sister. He died, however, before 1306, as upon the news of Bruce's insurrection reaching Edward's ears, Gratney's infant son, Donald, who was then heir to the earldom of Mar, was ordered by Edward to be kept a prisoner by the Bishop of Chester in the Castle of Bristol. This Donald after

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