Matad of Atholl was

Mormaer In early Middle Ages, medieval Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, a mormaer was the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic name for a regional or provincial ruler, theoretically second only to the Kings of Scots, King of Scots, and the senior of a ''Toísech'' (chi ...

Atholl Atholl or Athole ( gd, Athall; Old Gaelic ''Athfhotla'') is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering (in anti-clockwise order, from Northeast) Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. Histor ...

, 1130s–1153/59. It is possible that he was granted the Mormaerdom by a

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, as suggested by Roberts, rather than merely inheriting it. However, this is unlikely. If he did inherit it, he inherited it from his father, Máel Muire. According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Matad was the son of Máel Muire, who was son of king Donnchad I and younger brother of King Máel Coluim III Cenn Mór. It is highly unlikely that the kings of Scotland, with little more claim to the kingship than Matad himself, would have been in a position to "grant" the Mormaerdom. It is much more likely that Matad inherited part of a deal made with Máel Muire by the king in order to alienate Máel Muire and his descendants from the kingship. Mormaer Matad is most famous for being the father of

Harald Maddadsson Harald Maddadsson (Old Norse: ''Haraldr Maddaðarson'', Gaelic: ''Aralt mac Mataid'') (c. 1134 – 1206) was Earl of Orkney and Mormaer of Caithness from 1139 until 1206. He was the son of Matad, Mormaer of Atholl, and Margaret, daughter of ...

, or ''Arailt mac Mataid''. He married Margaret, the daughter of

Haakon Paulsson Haakon may refer to: Given names * Haakon (given name) * Håkon, modern Norwegian spelling of the name * Håkan, Swedish spelling of the name * Hakon, Danish spelling of the name People Norwegian royalty * Haakon I of Norway (c. 920–961), th ...

(the son of

Thorfinn the Mighty Thorfinn Sigurdsson (1009?– 1065), also known as Thorfinn the Mighty (Old Norse: ''Þorfinnr inn riki''), was an 11th-century Jarl of Orkney. He was the youngest of five sons of Jarl Sigurd Hlodvirsson and the only one resulting from Sigur ...

). Through this marriage, their son Harald would succeed to the

Earldom of Orkney The Earldom of Orkney is the official status of the Orkney, Orkney Islands. It was originally a Norsemen, Norse Feudalism, feudal dignity in Scotland which had its origins from the Viking period. In the ninth and tenth centuries it covered mor ...

(c. 1139). He is called ''Maddadr'' in the Orkneyinga Saga, and some historians follow on from this and call him Maddad. He also features as a witness to charters of the reign of King

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland (di ...

, where he is called ''Madeth Comes'' and ''Maddoc Comes'' (=''Mormaer Matad'').Anderson, ''Early Sources'', V.II, p. 139 , n.2 Other names originating from the obvious difficulties encountered by his name are Madach and Maddad. According to Anderson, he died sometime between 1151 and 1161. He was succeeded by another of his sons, Máel Coluim.

References

Bibliography

*Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500-1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922 *Roberts, John L., ''Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages'', (Edinburgh, 1997) *Topping, Patrick, "Harald Maddadson, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, 1139-1206," in ''The Scottish Historical Review'', 62, 1983. {{Earls of Atholl 1150s deaths People from Perth and Kinross Year of birth unknown Mormaers of Atholl 12th-century mormaers