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Donnchad II, Earl of Fife

 

 
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Donnchad II, Earl of Fife
 
 
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Mormaer
Mormaer

The title of Mormaer designates a regional or provincial ruler in the medieval Kingdom of the Scots. In theory, although not always in practice, a Mormaer was second only to the Kings of Scots, and the senior of a toisech....
 Donnchad II, (1154 - 1204) anglicized as Duncan or Dunecan, succeeded his father Donnchad I
Donnchad I, Earl of Fife

Mormaer Donnchad I , 1133 – 1154, anglicized as Duncan or Dunecan, was the first Gaelic language magnate to have his territory regranted to him by feudal charter, by David I of Scotland in 1136....
 as a child. As a child of the previous Mormaer, he was entitled to succeed his father through primogeniture
Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire Estate , to the exclusion of younger siblings. It is the tradition brought by the Normans to England in 1066....
, but not to lead his kin-group
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
, Clann MacDuib
Clan MacDuff

Clan MacDuff is a Scottish clan armigerous clan, which is registered with Lyon Court, though currently without a clan chief. Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk wrote that the Clan MacDuff was the premier clan among the Scottish Gaels....
. That probably fell to his cousin, Aed mac Gille Míchéil. Like previous Mormaers of Fife, Donnchad II was appointed Justiciar of Scotia
Justiciar of Scotia

The Justiciar of Scotia was the most senior Legal institutions of Scotland in the High Middle Ages in the Scotland in the High Middle Ages Kingdom of Scotland....
 (i.e. Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 North of the Forth
River Forth

The River Forth , 47 km long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some 30 km west of Stirling....
). Donnchad's minority also meant that Ferchar
Ferchar, Earl of Strathearn

Mormaer Ferchar is the second earliest known Mormaer of Strathearn, but as with other Mormaerdoms, this is simply a source problem and in no way means the he actually was the second....
, Mormaer of Strathearn, took supreme place as head of the Gaelic
Gaels

The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages languages ? Irish language, Scottish Gaelic and Manx language....
 nobility and guide for the boy-king Máel Coluim IV
Malcolm IV of Scotland

Malcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne....
.

The scholar Geoffrey Barrow
G. W. S. Barrow

Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow DLitt Fellow of the British Academy Royal Society of Edinburgh is a British historian and academic. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, and arguably the most prominent Scottish medievalist of the last century....
 suggests that it was during Donnchad's tenure that Beinn MacDuibh took its names, i.e.






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Mormaer
Mormaer

The title of Mormaer designates a regional or provincial ruler in the medieval Kingdom of the Scots. In theory, although not always in practice, a Mormaer was second only to the Kings of Scots, and the senior of a toisech....
 Donnchad II, (1154 - 1204) anglicized as Duncan or Dunecan, succeeded his father Donnchad I
Donnchad I, Earl of Fife

Mormaer Donnchad I , 1133 – 1154, anglicized as Duncan or Dunecan, was the first Gaelic language magnate to have his territory regranted to him by feudal charter, by David I of Scotland in 1136....
 as a child. As a child of the previous Mormaer, he was entitled to succeed his father through primogeniture
Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire Estate , to the exclusion of younger siblings. It is the tradition brought by the Normans to England in 1066....
, but not to lead his kin-group
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
, Clann MacDuib
Clan MacDuff

Clan MacDuff is a Scottish clan armigerous clan, which is registered with Lyon Court, though currently without a clan chief. Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk wrote that the Clan MacDuff was the premier clan among the Scottish Gaels....
. That probably fell to his cousin, Aed mac Gille Míchéil. Like previous Mormaers of Fife, Donnchad II was appointed Justiciar of Scotia
Justiciar of Scotia

The Justiciar of Scotia was the most senior Legal institutions of Scotland in the High Middle Ages in the Scotland in the High Middle Ages Kingdom of Scotland....
 (i.e. Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 North of the Forth
River Forth

The River Forth , 47 km long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some 30 km west of Stirling....
). Donnchad's minority also meant that Ferchar
Ferchar, Earl of Strathearn

Mormaer Ferchar is the second earliest known Mormaer of Strathearn, but as with other Mormaerdoms, this is simply a source problem and in no way means the he actually was the second....
, Mormaer of Strathearn, took supreme place as head of the Gaelic
Gaels

The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages languages ? Irish language, Scottish Gaelic and Manx language....
 nobility and guide for the boy-king Máel Coluim IV
Malcolm IV of Scotland

Malcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne....
.

The scholar Geoffrey Barrow
G. W. S. Barrow

Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow DLitt Fellow of the British Academy Royal Society of Edinburgh is a British historian and academic. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, and arguably the most prominent Scottish medievalist of the last century....
 suggests that it was during Donnchad's tenure that Beinn MacDuibh took its names, i.e. when Donnchad II acquired land in that area (Barrow, 1980, 86). Donnchad, like other Mormaers of Fife, kept in close association with the king. His name is recorded, among other places, in a charter granted to the priory on the Isle of May.

Donnchad's person was required to be a hostage following the defeat of William the Lion
William I of Scotland

William I , known as the Lion or Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. His reign was the second longest in Scottish history before the Acts of Union 1707 with England in 1707, ....
 and the Treaty of Falaise
Treaty of Falaise

The Treaty of Falaise was an agreement made in December 1174 by the captive William I of Scotland, King of Scots, and the England King Henry II of England....
, although in fact he certainly sent someone else in his place. (Barrow, 2003, 106).

He married Ada (Ela/Hela), who may have been the half sister of King Máel Coluim IV
Malcolm IV of Scotland

Malcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne....
 by his father Henry of Scotland, some sources may claim she was his niece. Máel Coluim IV's father Henry of Scotland is believed to have had children prior to his marriage. Donnchad II had three sons, Mael Coluim, Donnchad, and Dabíd (Malcolm, Duncan, and David), two notably named for the Scottish Kings. He had a fourth child, a daughter, whose name is unknown. The Earl's of Fife are considered important allies of the Scottish royals from King Dabid I onward. In 1152, on the death of Scottish King Dabid I
David I of Scotland

David I or Dabhidh Mac Maol Chaluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later List of monarchs of Scotland . The youngest son of Maol Chaluim Mac Donnchaidh and Saint Margaret of Scotland, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland, but was exiled to England temporarily in 1093....
's son Henry of Scotland, Donnchad I
Donnchad I, Earl of Fife

Mormaer Donnchad I , 1133 – 1154, anglicized as Duncan or Dunecan, was the first Gaelic language magnate to have his territory regranted to him by feudal charter, by David I of Scotland in 1136....
 had escorted Máel Coluim IV
Malcolm IV of Scotland

Malcolm IV , nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" , King of Scots, was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon and Ada de Warenne....
, introducing him as the royal heir.

His son Máel Coluim
Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife

Mormaer Maol Choluim of Fife , or M?el Coluim anglicanized as Malcolm, was one of the more obscure Mormaer of Fife.He married Maud ingen Gilla Brigte, the daughter of Gille Brigte, Earl of Strathearn, the Mormaer of Strathearn....
 succeeded him in 1204.

Bibliography

  • Bannerman, John
    John Bannerman (historian)

    Doctor John Bannerman was a Scotland historian noted for his work on Gaelic Scotland.John Walter MacDonald Bannerman, son of John Bannerman, Baron Bannerman of Kildonan, later Lord Bannerman of Kildonan, and Ray Mundell, was born in Balmaha, Stirlingshire....
    , "MacDuff of Fife," in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp.20-38
  • Barrow, G. W. S., The Anglo-Norman Era in Scottish History, (Oxford, 1980).
  • Barrow, G. W. S. Earl's of Fife in the 12th Century, (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1952-53), pp. 51-61.
  • Barrow, G. W. S., The Kingdom of the Scots: Government, Church and Society from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century, (Edinburgh, 2003)
  • Paul, Sir James Balfour (ed.), Wood’s Edition of David Douglas’s Scots Peerage (Edinburgh, 1907).