Earl of Atholl

The Mormaer or Earl of Atholl was the title of the holder of a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl (Ath Fodhla), now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from contemporary sources are Fortriu and Circinn. Indeed, the early 13th century document known to modern scholars as the de Situ Albanie repeats the claim that Atholl was an ancient Pictish kingdom. In the 11th century, the famous Crínán of Dunkeld may have performed the role of Mormaer. Royal connections continued with Máel Muire, who was the son of King Donnchad I, and the younger brother of Máel Coluim III mac Donnchada. Matad was perhaps the most famous of the Mormaers, fathering Harald Maddadsson, a notorious rebel of the Scottish King and perhaps the first Gael to rule Orkney as Earl of Orkney. The line of Máel Muire and Crínán came to an end when Forbhlaith, the daughter of Mormaer Henry married David de Hastings. The latter marriage produced a daughter, Ada, who married into the Strathbogie family, a semi-Normanized Gaelic family with Fife origins. The Strathbogies ruled until the Wars of Independence, when the Campells took over. It finally passed to the Stewarts. Early Mormaers/Earls of Atholl Dubdon (fl. 960s) Duncan II MacDonachadh 970s1010 Crínán? (died 1045) ? Máel Muire, Earl of Atholl (fl. 1130s), son of Duncan I of Scotland Matad, Earl of Atholl (died 1151x1161), son of Máel Muire of Scotland Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl (died 1190s), son of Matad, Earl of Atholl Henry, Earl of Atholl (died 1211) son of Máel Coluim, Earl of Atholl Isabella, Countess of Atholl m. Thomas of Galloway (died 1232) m. (?) Alan Durward Padraig, Earl of Atholl (died 1241) Forbhlaith, Countess of Atholl m. David de Hastings Ada, Countess of Atholl (died 1264) m. John de Strathbogie David de Strathbogie, 8th Earl of Atholl (died 1270) John de Strathbogie, 9th Earl of Atholl (died 1306) David II Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (died 1326) (forfeited)