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The MacHeths were a 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....
 kindred who raised several rebellions against the Scotto-Norman kings of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 in the 12th and 13th centuries. Their origins have long been debated.

main controversy concerning the MacHeths is their origin. The key question relates to the paternity of Máel Coluim MacHeth, the first of the kindred known. The present orthodoxy makes Máel Coluim the son of one Beth
Mormaer Beth

Mormaer Beth is a name of a Mormaer mentioned in an unreliable charter granted to Scone, Perthshire Priory, later Scone Abbey, by king Alexander I of Scotland....
 (or Áed or Eth), Mormaer of Ross, who witnessed two charters in the early reign of David 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....
.






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The MacHeths were a 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....
 kindred who raised several rebellions against the Scotto-Norman kings of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 in the 12th and 13th centuries. Their origins have long been debated.

Origins

The main controversy concerning the MacHeths is their origin. The key question relates to the paternity of Máel Coluim MacHeth, the first of the kindred known. The present orthodoxy makes Máel Coluim the son of one Beth
Mormaer Beth

Mormaer Beth is a name of a Mormaer mentioned in an unreliable charter granted to Scone, Perthshire Priory, later Scone Abbey, by king Alexander I of Scotland....
 (or Áed or Eth), Mormaer of Ross, who witnessed two charters in the early reign of David 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....
. Earlier theories involved conflating two persons generally now seen as distinct: Máel Coluim MacHeth and Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair
Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair

M?el Coluim mac Alaxandair or M?el Coluim mac Alasdair was the son of King Alexander I of Scotland and enemy of King David I of Scotland, his uncle....
, an illegitimate son of Alexander I
Alexander I of Scotland

Alexander I or Alaxandair mac Ma?l Coluim , called "The Fierce", King of the Scots or King of Alba, was the fourth son of M?el Coluim mac Donnchada by his wife Saint Margaret of Scotland, grand-niece of Edward the Confessor....
.

Even when it is accepted that Máel Coluim MacHeth was the son of Áed of Ross, this has raised further questions concerning the background of the kindred and the nature of their claims. The general consensus favours a background in Ross, and claims to the Mormaerdom; descent from the Scots royal house, perhaps through Domnall, son of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada
Malcolm III of Scotland

M?el Coluim mac Donnchada , called in most Anglicisation regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, "Big Head" or Long-neck , was King of Scots....
, who died in 1085, has also been proposed.

Dramatis personae


Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair

Máel Coluim, now presumed to be the son of Alexander rather than MacHeth, first appears in 1124, when Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis

Orderic Vitalis was an English historians in the Middle Ages who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and England....
 reports:

It is not certain whether it was this Máel Coluim, the royal bastard, who married a sister of Somerled
Somerled

Somerled was a military and political leader of the Scottish Isles in the 12th century who was known in Gaelic as ri Innse Gall . His father was Gillebride of Clan Angus who had been exiled to Ireland....
, king (or lord) of Argyll
Argyll

Argyll, archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient D?l Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath....
. If it were he, then this must have been prior to his capture and imprisonment in 1134. He was held at Roxburgh
Roxburgh

The destroyed royal burgh of Roxburgh was an important trading burgh in High Middle Ages to early modern period Kingdom of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at least as much importance as Edinburgh, Stirling, or Berwick-upon-Tweed, for a time acting as de facto capital ....
, and was still there in 1156 when his son was captured at Whithorn
Whithorn

Whithorn is a former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about ten miles south of Wigtown.The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, Candida Casa the 'White [or 'Shining'] House', built by Saint Ninian about 397....
 and imprisoned with him.

Máel Coluim MacHeth
If it is accepted that this Máel Coluim and the son of Alexander I are not one and the same, Máel Coluim MacHeth appears in 1157, when it is said that he was reconciled with the king, Malcolm 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....
. It appears that he was restored to the mormaerdom of Ross, which he held until his death in around 1168.

Domnall MacHeth
The existence of Domnall MacHeth is dependent upon accepting that Máel Coluim MacHeth was the prisoner of Roxburgh and the husband of Somerled's sister. If this is so, then Domnall was involved in a rebellion early in the reign of Malcolm IV, was captured at Whithorn in 1156 and was, perhaps, released in 1157 when his father was restored as Mormaer of Ross in 1157.

Adam mac Domnaill
In 1186, a certain Adam son of Domnall, "the king's outlaw", was killed by Máel Coluim
Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl

M?el Coluim of Atholl was Mormaer of Atholl between 1153/9 and the 1190s.The Chronicle of Holyrood tells us that in 1186 M?el Coluim had an outlaw called Adam mac Domnaill killed at the altar of a church in Coupar Angus, and burned 58 of his associates inside the church....
, Mormaer of Atholl, in the sanctuary of the church at Cupar
Cupar

Cupar is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town is approximately equidistant between the larger settlements of Dundee and Glenrothes....
, and the church burnt with 58 of Adam's associates within. It may be that this Adam mac Domnaill was a son of Domnall mac Uilleim
Meic Uilleim

The Meic Uilleim were the Gaels descendants of William fitz Duncan, grandson of Malcolm III of Scotland, king of Scots. They were excluded from the succession by the descendants of M?el Coluim's son David I of Scotland during the 12th century and raised a number of rebellions to vindicate their claims to the Mormaerdom of Moray and perhaps t...
. However, his identification is not certain. One reading would give his name as Áed mac Domnaill, and it may be that he should be counted among the MacHeths.

Kenneth MacHeth
As with the Meic Uilleim, the MacHeths disappear from history in the years around 1200. It may be that there were no adult male MacHeths to press their claims to Ross, or that the record is incomplete. This is the period in which Harald Maddadsson
Harald Maddadsson

Harald Maddadsson was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Earl of Atholl, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, daughter of Earl Haakon Paulsson of Orkney....
, Earl of Orkney
Earl of Orkney

The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norsemen Earl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Kingdom of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland ....
, appears as the chief threat to the Kings of Scots in the north.

The next, and last, MacHeth to be reported is Kenneth (or Cináed), who joined with Domnall Bán mac Uilleim and an unnamed Irish prince, to invade Ross in 1215, shortly after the death of king William
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, ....
. This invasion proved to be no threat to the new king, Alexander II
Alexander II of Scotland

Alexander II , King of Scots, was the only son of William I of Scotland and Ermengarde of Beaumont. He was born at Haddington, East Lothian, East Lothian, in 1198, and spent time in England before succeeding to the kingdom on the death of his father on 4 December 1214, being crowned at Scone on 6 December the same year....
, as it was defeated by Ferchar mac in tSagairt
Fearchar, Earl of Ross

Fearchar of Ross or Ferchar mac in tSagairt , was the first Mormaer or Earl of Mormaer of Ross we know of from the thirteenth century, whose career brought Ross into the fold of the Scottish kings for the first time, and who is remembered as the founder of the Earl of Ross....
, the future Mormaer of Ross, who killed the leaders and sent their heads to King Alexander. With this, the MacHeth claims to Ross appear to have ended.

See also

  • Clan MacKay
    Clan MacKay

    The Clan Mackay is an ancient and once powerful Scottish clan from the country's far north in the Scottish Highlands, but with roots in the old province of Moray....
    , possible descendents of the MacHeths