Fergus, lord of Galloway, became a monk at Holyrood and the Earl of Ross appears to have been forfeited. The earldom of Ross was granted as part of the dowry of the Princess Ada on her marriage with Florence, Count of Holland. From that time the Earls of Ross appear as strong supporters of the Scottish King, and, holding Mull, Skye, Iona and the Nordreys, Kintaill between Lewis and Skye or northern islands, in opposition to a Norwegian nominee, the distant cultures point to Skye's involvement in this heroic age of the Gaelic speaking people.
The surname Ross has in early times been invariably rendered in Gaelic as Gilleanrias, or Gillanders, and the Rosses appear under this appellation in all the early Acts of Parliament. It is established to the satisfaction of all reasonable men that the Applecross and O'Beolan Earls of Ross were one and the same, and that they were descended from Gilleoin na h' Airde, corrupted in the Norse Sagas into "Beolan," the general designation by which they were known, until Earl William, the last of his line, died without surviving male issue on the 9th of February, 1372, when the title devolved upon his daughter, Euphemia, Countess of Ross in her own right, whose daughter, Mary, or Margaret, by Sir Walter Leslie, carried the earldom to Donald of Harlaw, second Lord of the Isles. That the O'Beolan Earls of Ross, of whom Ferquhard Mac an t'Sagairt was the first, descended from the same ancestor, Gilleoin na h' Airde, as the older "Gillandres" earl of 1160, is equally certain. Earl Gillandres probably forfeited for the part he took against Malcolm IV the Maiden. on that occasion, and Ferquhard having rendered such important services to Alexander II. was restored probably quite as much in virtue of his ancient rights as the grandson of Ferquhard as on account of his valiant conduct in support of the crown in Moray, in Argyle, and in Galloway, in 1215, 1222, and 1235. There is also an unvarying tradition that on the death of the Lord of Skye, the last Earl of the O'Beolan line a certain grandson of Olav the Red: Paul MacTire of Imokilly, Co. Cork was for some years head of the Rosses, a direct line to Gilleon na h'Airde, the "Beolan" of the Norse Sagas, who lived in the tenth century, and who will be shown to be also the remote progenitor of the Mackenzies. This tradition is corroborated by the fact that there is a charter on record by Earl William of the lands of Gairloch in 1366 in favour of Paul Mac Tire and his heirs by Mary Graham, in which the Earl styles Mac Tire his cousin. This grant was confirmed by King Robert II. in 1372.
The Mackenzies are said to descend from Gillean of the Aird, the 12th century ancestors of the Earl of Ross and by the end of the 13th century they were settled at Eilean Donan, now one of the most photographed castles in Scotland. King Alexander III gave the castle to Colin Fitzgerald, son of an Irish Earl of Kildare and the family changed their name to Mackenzie. The Normans and their Flemish mercenaries invaded Pembroke in 1093. Carmarthen was captured in 1146-7 by a force of Normans and Flemings under the Fitzgeralds and William, son of Aed (Gwilym ap Aedan.) Giraldus Cambrensis made a visit to Kildare in 1185 and described the Book of Kells. About the year 1213 there arose a great discord between King John (1199-1216) and his barons, because Matilda the Fair, daughter to the said Robert Fitzwalter, whom the king unlawfully loved, nor her father would consent thereunto, whereupon, and for other like causes, ensued war through the whole realm. The barons were received into London, where they greatly endamaged the king. Robert Fitzwalter died in 1234. According to legend, Matilda Fitzwalter was betrothed to Robin Hood (Robert of Loxley, earl of Huntingdon) who was related through his mother to Gilbert de Ghent, lord of Lindsay and Kyme (Lincoln) and cousin of Count Eustace of Boulogne. It became a war casualty of the Cambro-Norman era of the Irish Midlands, perhaps the War of Kildare of 1234 AD. Gerald, a younger son of Maurice, who obtained lands in Offaly, was father of Maurice Fitzgerald, who held the great office of justiciar of Ireland from 1232 to 1245. The O’Boylans (O Baoigheallain) were of the same stock as the O’Flanagans (O Flannagain) of northwest Fermanagh. The O’Boylans were, after the Anglo-Norman invasion, lords of all Oriel, a widespread territory stretching from Fermanagh to Louth.
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