The House of Moray or Clann Ruaidrà is a historiographical and genealogical construct to illustrate the succession of rulers whose base was in
Moray
Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...
and who ruled sometimes a larger kingdom, mainly the
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a Anglo-Sc ...
. An important feature of Scottish politics throughout the 11th century, they reached the height of their power with the reign of
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
between 1040 and 1057.
Clann Ruaidrà first appears in the documentary record in 1020 with the killing of
Findláech mac Ruaidrà by his nephews, the sons of
Máel Brigte. Findláech's death is recorded in both the ''
Annals of Tigernach
The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (Abbreviation, abbr. AT, ) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin language, Latin and Old Irish, Old and Middle Irish.
Many of the pre-historic entries come f ...
'', where he is described as
Mormaer of Moray
The title Earl of Moray, or Mormaer of Moray (pronounced "Murry"), was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until ...
, and the ''
Annals of Ulster
The ''Annals of Ulster'' () are annals of History of Ireland, medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrà Ó Luinà ...
'', where he is described as
King of Alba
The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, Kenneth I MacAlpin () was the founder and first King of the Kingdom of Scotland (although he never held the title historically, being King of th ...
.
Clann Ruaidri has been claimed to have been descended in the male line from the
Cenél Loairn
The Cenél Loairn, the descendants of Loarn mac Eirc, controlled parts of northern Argyll around the Firth of Lorne, most probably centred in Lorne but perhaps including the islands of Mull and Colonsay, Morvern and Ardnamurchan. The bounda ...
, one of the ruling kindreds of Gaelic
Dál Riata
Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...
, based on a genealogy of
Máel Snechtai
Máel Snechtai mac Lulaich (died 1085) was the ruler of Moray, and the son of Lulach, King of Scotland.
He is called on his death notice in the Annals of Ulster, "Máel Snechtai m. Lulaigh ri Muireb" (="Máel Snechtai, Lulach's son, King of Mora ...
reproduced in four Irish manuscripts. This genealogy has now been shown to be a clear and chronologically impossible fabrication made in the 11th or 12th centuries, constructed by joining three existing genealogies together. The pedigree lists only one further name beyond the ancestors of Máel Snechtai already identifiable from annalistic sources - that of Domnall, the father of RuaidrÃ, who was the father of
Findláech of Moray
Findláech mac Ruaidrà (died 1020), son of Ruaidrà mac Donald, was the minor "king", locally called "Mormaer", of Moray, in the north of modern-day Scotland, from some point before 1014 until his death in 1020. Findláech's son Macbethad mac Fi ...
. The immediate ancestor of Domnall is given as Mongán mac Domnaill, who in fact died , over three centuries before the death of Findláech in 1020.
At the times when the rival house held the throne, the Moray leaders usually had their effectively independent state of Moray, where a succession of kings (kinglets) or
mormaer
In early medieval Scotland, a mormaer was the Gaelic name for a regional or provincial ruler, theoretically second only to the King of Scots, and the senior of a '' ToÃsech'' (chieftain). Mormaers were equivalent to English earls or Continenta ...
s ruled.
The succession followed quite loyally the rules of
tanistry
Tanistry is a Gaelic system for passing on titles and lands. In this system the Tanist (; ; ) is the office of heir-apparent, or second-in-command, among the (royal) Gaelic patrilineal dynasties of Ireland, Scotland and Mann, to succeed to ...
, resulting in practice to outcomes where branches of the leaders' extended family rotated on the rulership, possibly keeping a balance between important branches. This is quite typical for tribal societies, where
primogeniture
Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...
is much less usual than
agnatic seniority
Agnatic seniority is a patrilineality, patrilineal principle of inheritance where the order of succession to the throne prefers the monarch's younger brother over the monarch's own sons. A monarch's children (the next generation) succeed only ...
or turns on the throne. For example,
Macbeth, King of Scotland
Macbethad mac Findláech (anglicised as Macbeth MacFinlay; died 15 August 1057), nicknamed the Red King (), was King of Scotland from 1040 until his death in 1057. He ruled during the period of Scottish history known as the Kingdom of Alba.
...
descended from one branch, and his stepson
Lulach
Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin ( Modern Gaelic: ''Lughlagh mac Gille Chomghain'', known in English simply as Lulach, and nicknamed Tairbith, "the Unfortunate" and Fatuus, "the Simple-minded" or "the Foolish"; c. 1032 – 17 March 1058) was King o ...
from another.
Genealogy and recorded titles
See also
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Scotland in the Early Middle Ages
Scotland was divided into a series of kingdoms in the Early Middle Ages, i.e. between the end of Roman authority in Roman Britain, southern and central Britain from around 400 AD and Origins of the Kingdom of Alba, the rise of the kingdom of Alba ...
*
Scotland in the High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Donald II of Scotland, Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of King Alexander III of Scotland, Alexander III in 1286, which was an indirect cause of the Wars of S ...
*
Scottish monarchs family tree
This is a family tree for the kings and queens of Scotland, since the unification under the House of Alpin in 834, to the personal union with England in 1603 under James VI of Scotland. It includes also the Houses of Dunkeld, Balliol, Bruce, and ...
*
Style of the monarchs of Scotland
The style of the Scottish sovereign refers to the styles and forms of address used by Scottish royalty, specifically the monarchs of Scotland from the earliest to the present, including monarchs from the Pictish period to the British period.
Ear ...
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moray
Scottish royalty
Lists of Scottish people
Medieval Scottish families