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Map of Scotland showing the historic district of Ross

Ross (Ros in Scottish Gaelic) is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom, sheriffdom and county. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning a headland - perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. The Norse word for the Orkneys - Hrossay meaning horse island - is another possible origin. The area once belonged to the Norse earldom of Orkney. Ross is a historical comital region, perhaps predating the Mormaerdom of Ross. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Ross_(district). ... Image File history File links Ross_(district). ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic)1 Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime... The title of mormaor or mormaer designated one of the rulers of the seven provinces of Celtic Scotland, i. ... An Earl as a member of the British peerage ranks below a Marquess and above a Viscount. ... A sherrifdom is a judicial district in Scotland. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Goidelic is one of two major divisions of modern-day Celtic languages (the other being Brythonic). ... The Black Isle (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Dubh) is an eastern area of Ross and Cromarty. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2005) 19,590  - Density 20 / km² Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... An Earl as a member of the British peerage ranks below a Marquess and above a Viscount. ... The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Ross refers to a medieval Gaelic lordship in northern Scotland, roughly between the Oykell and the Beauly. ...

History

The district of Ross is often mentioned in the Norse sagas along with the other parts of the country then governed by Mormaers or Jarls, and Skene in his earlier work says that it was only on the downfall of those of Moray that the chiefs of Ross appear prominent in historical records, the Mormaer of Moray being in such close proximity to them and so great in power and influence that the less powerful Mormaer of Ross held only a comparatively subordinate position, and his name was in consequence seldom or never associated with any of the great events of that early period in Highland history. It was only after the disappearance of those district potentates that the chiefs appear under the appellation of Committee of Earls. That most, if not all, of these earls were the descendants of the ancient maormors there can be little doubt, and the natural presumption in this instance is strengthened by the fact that all the old authorities concur in asserting that the Gaelic name of the original Earls of Ross was O'Beolan - a corruption of Gilleoin, or Gillean, na h`Airde - or the descendants of Beolan. And we actually find, says the same authority, from the oldest Norse Saga connected with Scotland that a powerful chief in the North of Scotland named O'Beolan, married the daughter of Ganga Rolfe, or Rollo of Normandy, the celebrated pirate who became afterwards the celebrated Earl of Normandy. Excerpt Njåls saga in the Möðruvallabók (AM 132 folio 13r) circia 1350. ... The title of mormaor or mormaer designated one of the rulers of the seven provinces of Celtic Scotland, i. ... In classical drama, the skene was the background building to which was connected the platform stage, in which were stored the costumes and to which the periaktoi (painted panels serving as the background) was connected. ... Moray (pronounced Murray, spelled A Moireibh in Gaelic) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. ... The Mormaerdom or Kingdom of Moray (Middle Irish: Muireb or Moreb; Medieval Latin: Muref or Moravia; Modern Gaelic:Moireabh) was a lordship in High Medieval Scotland that was destroyed by King David I of Scotland in 1130. ... Rollo on the Six Dukes statue in the Falaise town square. ... Flag of Normandy Normandy (in French: Normandie, and in Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region in northern France. ...

If this view is well-founded the ancestor of the Earls of Ross was chief in Kintail as early as the beginning of the tenth century. We have seen that the first Earl of Ross recorded in history was Malcolm MacHeth, to whom a precept is found, directed by Malcolm IV, requesting him to protect the monks of Dunfermline and defend them in their lawful privileges and possessions. The document is not dated, but judging from the names of the witnesses attesting it, the precept must have been issued before 1162. It will be remembered that MacHeth was one of the six Celtic earls who besieged the King at Perth two years before, in 1160. William the Lion, who seems to have kept the earldom in his own hands for several years, in 1179 marched into the district at the head of his earls and barons, accompanied by a large army, and subdued an insurrection fomented by the local chiefs against his authority. On this occasion he built two castles within its bounds, one called Dunscath on the northern Sutor at the entrance to the Cromarty Firth, and Redcastle in the Black Isle. In the same year we find Floris III, Count of Holland, complaining that he had been deprived of its nominal ownership by King William. There is no trace of any other earl in actual possession until we come to Ferquard or "Ferchair Mac an t' Sagairt," Farquhar the son of the Priest, who rose rapidly to power on the ruins of the once powerful MacHeth earls of Moray, of which line Kenneth MacHeth, who, with Donald Ban, led a force into Moray against Alexander II, son of William the Lion, in 1215, was the last. Four of the Five Sisters of Kintail from Shiel Bridge Kintail is an area of mountains in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. ... The MacHeths were a Gaelic kindred who raised several rebellions against the Scotto-Norman kings of Scotland in the 12th and 13th centuries. ... Malcolm IV (c. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Events June 3 - Thomas Becket consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury. ... The Royal Burgh of Perth (Peairt in Scottish Gaelic) is a large burgh in central Scotland. ... Events Eric IX of Sweden is succeeded by Karl Sverkersson. ... William I (William the Lion, William Leo, William Dunkeld or William Canmore), (1142/1143 - December 4, 1214) reigned as King of Scotland from 1165 to 1214. ... Events Third Council of the Lateran condemned Waldensians and Cathars as heretics, institutes a reformation of clerical life, and creates the first ghettos for Jews Afonso I is recognized as the true King of Portugal by Portugal the protection of the Catholic Church against the Castillian monarchy Philip II is... External link Cromarty Firth Port Authority Categories: 1911 Britannica | UK geography stubs | Geography of Scotland | Special protection areas in the UK | Ports and harbours of the UK ... The Black Isle (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Dubh) is an eastern area of Ross and Cromarty. ... Count Floris III of Holland ( 1141 - August 1, 1190) was Count of Holland from 1157 to his death, succeeding his father, Dirk VI. On September 28, 1162 he married Ada, sister of king William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion. ... Domnall mac Donnchada or Domnall Bán (anglicised Donald III) (before 1040–1097 or later) was King of Scots. ... Alexander II (August 24, 1198 – July 6, 1249), king of Scotland, son of William I, the Lion, and of Ermengarde of Beaumont, was born at Haddington, East Lothian, in 1198, and succeeded to the kingdom on the death of his father on 4 December 1214. ... A certified copy of the Magna Carta March 4 - King John of England makes an oath to the Pope as a crusader to gain the support of Innocent III. June 15 - King John of England was forced to put his seal on the Magna Carta, outlining the rights of landowning...

The district then known as North Argyle consisted chiefly of the possessions of this ancient monastery of Appercrossan or Applecross. Its inhabitants had hitherto - along with those of South Argyle, which extended from Lochcarron to the Firth of Clyde - maintained a kind of semi-independence, but in 1222 they were, by their lay possessor, Ferchair Mac an t'Sagairt, who was apparently the grandson or great-grandson of Gillandres, one of the six earls who besieged Malcolm IV at Perth in 1160, brought into closer connection with the crown. The lay Abbots of which Ferquhard was the head were the hereditary possessors of all the extensive territories which had for centuries been ruled and owned by this old and powerful Celtic monastery. As a reward for his services against the men of Moray in 1215 and for the great services which, in 1222, he again rendered to the King in the subjugation of the whole district then known as Argyle, extending from the Clyde to Lochbroom, he received additional honours. In that campaign known as "the Conquest of Argyle," Ferquhard led most of the western tribes, and for his prowess, the Celtic earldom, which was then finally annexed to the Crown and made a feudal appanage, was conferred on him with the title of Earl of Ross, and he is so designated in a charter dated 1234. Argyle is an archaic spelling of Argyll, now part of the Argyll and Bute council area in western Scotland. ... The Pass of the Cattle was until the late 20th century the only road linking Applecross with the rest of the country Applecross is a small settlement at the edge of the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands. ... Map of the Firth of Clyde and area The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. ... Centuries: 12th century - 13th century - 14th century Decades: 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s - 1220s - 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s Years: 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 See also: 1222 state leaders Events Foundation of the University of Padua Completion of the Cistercian convent in Alcobaca... Fearchar of Ross or Ferchar mac in tSagairt (Fearchar mac an t-sagairt, often anglicized as Farquhar MacTaggart), was the first Mormaer or Earl of Ross (1223-1251) we know of from the thirteenth century, whose career brought Ross into the fold of the Scottish kings for the first time... Events Eric IX of Sweden is succeeded by Karl Sverkersson. ... A certified copy of the Magna Carta March 4 - King John of England makes an oath to the Pope as a crusader to gain the support of Innocent III. June 15 - King John of England was forced to put his seal on the Magna Carta, outlining the rights of landowning... The River Clyde, looking eastwards upstream, as it passes beneath the Kingston Bridge in Central Glasgow. ... Events Canonization of Saint Dominic Collapse of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) Deaths Emperor Chukyo of Japan Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan Monarchs/Presidents Aragon - James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned from 1213 to 1276) Castile - Ferdinand III, the Saint King of Castile and Leon (reigned...

He is again on record, under the same title, in 1235 and 1236. Regarding an engagement which took place between Alexander II and the Gallowegians, in 1235, the Chronicle of Melrose says, that at the beginning of the battle the Earl of Ross, called Macintagart, came up and attacked the enemies (of the King) in the rear, and as soon as they perceived this they took to flight and retreated into the woods and mountains, but they were followed up by the Earl and several others, who put many of them to the sword, and harassed them as long as daylight lasted. In Celtic Scotland, it is stated that the hereditary lay priests of which he was the chief according to tradition, bore the name of O'Beollan; and MacVuirich, in the Black Book of Clanranald, says that from Ferquhard was descended Gillapatrick the Red, son of Roderick, and known traditionally as the Red Priest, whose daughter, at a later date, married and carried the monastery lands of Lochalsh and Lochcarron to the Macdonalds of the Isles. The Chronicle of Melrose is a medieval chronicle from the Cottonian Manuscript, Faustina B. ix within the British Museum. ...

Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 most of Ross was reunited when Ross-shire, along with Cromartyshire, became part of the newly-formed county of Ross and Cromarty. The sheriffdoms of Ross and Cromarty had been merged 141 years earlier, in 1748, the parliamentary constituency of Ross-shire and the constituency of Cromartyshire had merged in 1832, creating the Ross and Cromarty constituency, and the First and Second Statistical Accounts had treated the two jointly. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 finalised this process by providing that "the counties of Ross and Cromarty shall cease to be separate counties, and shall be united for all purposes whatsoever, under the name of the county of Ross and Cromarty." The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1888 (52 & 53 Vict. ... Ross-shire (Siorrachd Rois in Gaelic), or simply Ross, is a traditional county of Scotland bordering on Sutherland, Cromartyshire (of which it contains many enclaves), Inverness-shire and on an exclave of Nairnshire. ... Cromartyshire (Siorrachd Chromba in Gaelic) was a county in the north of Scotland, consisting of a series of enclaves within Ross-shire. ... Ross and Cromarty: administrative county (1889-1975) Image:RossCromDistrict. ... Ross-shire was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1832. ... Cromartyshire and Nairnshire were alternating constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1832. ... Ross and Cromarty was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1983. ... Statistical Accounts of Scotland are indispensable documents for the study of Scotland in the 18th and 19th Centuries. ...

Footnotes

¹ Ross-shire with Cromartyshire ROSS MCLEAN HAS AIDS

References

• History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name, available at Project Gutenberg.