The last chief to hold the Celtic earldom was William, 6th Earl of Ross who died in 1372. In this way the earldom of Ross became separated from the chiefship of the clan, and it ultimately, after the forfeiture of John, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross, at the end of the fifteenth century, was conferred upon the second son of James III. and a succession of other holders. Meanwhile, however, the chiefship had really passed to a brother of the last Earl William, father of the Countess Euphemia.
William, 6th Earl of Ross (5th in the O'Beolan Line) and Lord of Skye died (1372). The earldom passed to his daughter Countess Euphemia since King Robert III was born at Scone (1337), and the chiefship devolved on his younger half-brother Hugh Ross, 1st of Balnagowan and Chief of Clan Ross. After an eleven-year confinement in the Tower and a further nine-year refusal by the northern lords to pay Earl William's huge ransom, King David II caused Earl William to forfeit all of his lands in 1370, and the Earldom of Ross was given to his daughter Euphemia and her husband Sir Walter Leslie following the death of Earl William in 1372 at the Castle of Delney.
William, 6th Earl of Ross' daughter, Euphemia, married Sir Walter Leslie of Leslie, Aberdeen-shire, and he, in her right, assumed the title of Earl of Ross. Their son, again, was known as Alexander Leslie, Earl of Ross. Alexander married a daughter of the Regent Duke of Albany and upon his death, about the yeare 1405, his only child, a daughter, having become a nun, was induced by the all-powerful Duke of Albany to assign the lands and earldom to her mother’s brother, the Earl of Buchan. Alexander Leslie’s sister, Margaret, however, had married Donald, Lord of the Isles, and he, in her right, now claimed the earldom of Ross. Raising an army of 10,000 men, he took possession of the Earldom, and, marching southwards, reached Inverurie on the Don, less than twenty miles from Aberdeen. There he was met by the Regent’s forces under the Earl of Mar, and on St. John’s Eve, 24th July, fought the bloody battle of Harlaw. Ultimately, by a treaty with Albany at Lochgilp on the Firth of Clyde, Donald was forced to relinquish the earldom; but, after the return of James I. and the overthrow of the house of Albany, Donald’s son, Alexander, who was the King’s cousin once removed, was recognised as Earl of Ross.
William, 6th Earl of Ross' brother, Hugh Ross of Rarichies, in 1374 received a charter of the lands of Balnagown. The lands of Balnagowan remained in the possession of the designated heir, Hugh of Rarichies, who became the first Chief of Clan Ross in the Balnagowan line. Thus, a gift of the lands of Easter Allan and Balnagowan (in 1357) was confirmed in a charter by King David II in 1371 to Hugh of Rarichies (a brother of William) and Hugh took the name of the county Ross as his surname. Hugh Ross, the first Laird of Balnagowan, married Margaret Graham of Ury, and their offspring were William and Jean. The influence of the Leslies, of Kintyre and of Tarbert, Co. Kerry who as feudal superiors in right of the Countess Euphemia, claimed the services of the Ross-shire tenants as their vassals, prevented Balnagown from openly exercising the powers of the chiefship, and a near relative, Paul MacTyre, a man celebrated for his valour, took command of the clan (MacIntyre in Gaelic; Mac-an-t-Saoir), much in the same way as at a later day the famous Rob Roy took command of the MacGregors.
William Ross, the second Laird of Balnagowan after his father's death in 1374, and his uncle, King Robert II, confirmed the second chief's possession of the estates of Balnagowan, Wester Ross, Strathglass, Eilandonan, Westray and Easter Allan. William married Christina, daughter of Lord Livingstone, and was succeeded by their son Walter upon his death in 1398.
In the campaigns of Robert the Bruce and his brother Edward, Sir Walter, the Earl of Ross of that time, appears as the bosom friend of the latter, and he and Sir William Vipont are recorded as the only persons of note who were slain on the side of the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn. At the battle of Halidon Hill, again, after the death of Bruce, one of the four divisions of the Scottish army was led by Hugh, Earl of Ross. When the day was going badly against the Scots, who, as they struggled through the marshy ground, were falling thick as leaves in Vallombrosa under the arrows of the English bowmen, the Earl proceeded to lead his division against the wing where Edward Baliol commanded, but was driven back and slain.
Thirteen years later still, when David II. was gathering a great Scottish army in preparation for the ill-fated campaign which was to end in defeat at the battle of Durham, the Earl of Ross took part in a transaction which withdrew a large part of the Scottish forces from the royal army. The muster took place at Perth, and was the greatest known for a considerable period. Unfortunately, however, it afforded an opportunity for ancient feuds to break out between the Highland chiefs. Among these the bitterest occurred between the Earl of Ross and Ranald of the Isles. This came to a head in the monastery of Elcho, where the Earl assassinated his enemy. Forthwith, dreading the royal vengeance, the Earl withdrew his men, and retreated rapidly into the north. At the same time the Islesmen, having lost their leader, dispersed in confusion. Not only did the king find his forces considerably reduced in consequence, but the event made a serious impression upon the spirits of the army, by whom it was looked upon as an omen of disaster.
Fearchar was only the first Earl of Ross in the O'Beolan line from Wester Ross.
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Hugh Ross, the son of Walter Ross and Katherine McTyre, became the fourth Laird of Balnagowan and Chief of Clan Ross in 1412. He is said to have married the daughter of the Earl of Sutherland, and had as issue four sons:
- (1) John, the fifth laird; John Ross, the fifth Laird of Balnagowan, married
Christina Macleod of Lewis, and they had many sons. Alexander succeeded as the
next laird and Donald became first of Priesthill and Dean of Caithness. The Earldom
of Ross was forfeited to the Crown by Earl John MacDonald in 1476, and there were
battles in the Highlands which
the Earldom to be wasted and seized by other clans. Attempts by John of Balnagowan
to recover the Earldom of Ross failed.
- (1)Alexander Ross of Balnagowan
married Dorothy, daughter of the Earl of Sutherland, and had a son and daughter:
- (1) David, who became the seventh Laird of Balnagowan, and
- (2) Isabella, who married George Munro, the tenth Baron of Foulis.
- (1)Alexander Ross of Balnagowan
married Dorothy, daughter of the Earl of Sutherland, and had a son and daughter:
- (2) Hugh, about whom little is known;
- (3) William Ross of Meikle Allan, who became the first laird of Shandwick from whom Sheriff Charles Campbell Ross traced his descent;
- (4) Rev. Thomas Ross, who became the Rector of the Collegiate Church of Tain.
A John Carruthers was keeper of Lochmaben Castle in 1446. This castle was at one time owned by the Bruces and may be where Robert the Bruce was born. In the 13th century, the Carruthers family rose to be the hereditary stewards of Annandale under the Bruces. Nigel de Karruthers became Rector at nearby Ruthwell (Ruthwell Cross) and rose to become Canon of Glasgow Cathedral in 1351 and was chancellor to Robert, Steward of Scotland (progenitor of the Stewart monarchs). A John Carruthers was keeper of Lochmaben Castle. In the 16th century, the Carruthers were included in the list of unruly clans in the West Marches in 1587 by King James VI. Lands were acquired in Mouswald but this line ended when Simon Carruthers was killed in a border raid and the lands passed to the Douglases of Drumlanrig with the marriage of the Carruthers heiress.
The earldom reverted to the crown in 1424, but James I soon afterwards restored it to the heiress of the line, the mother of Alexander Macdonald, 3rd Lord of the Isles, who thus became the 11th Earl. In consequence, however, of the treason of John Macdonald, 4th and last Lord of the Isles and 12th Earl of Ross, the earldom was again vested in the crown (1476). The second creation in 1215 for Ferchar mac in tSagairt, which creation was surrendered to the crown in 1476 and was probably run by the MacDonald Lord of the Isles before the third creation in 1481. Only a few claim that Fearchar Mac an t'Sagairt (Farquhar MacTaggart), "son of the priest", was the first Earl of Ross and that he was was a direct descendant of Anrias (Andrew), who was supposedly the eldest son of Gilleon na h'Airde. It is also most noteworthy that one finds many people with the surname of Ross, whose origins and religion (unaffected by the Protestant Reformation) may be traced to this land grant in the South-West of Scotland. The adoption of Clan surnames has been attributed to the encouragement by King Malcolm III (Canmore) well over one hundred years earlier.
The Rosses and MacKays had been involved involved in clan battles during the lifetime of Alexander Ross, and the feud was rekindled when Angus MacKay began raiding, killing and plundering within the territories of Ross. The Rosses caught Angus and his men at Tarbat, locked them inside the church and set it afire. Angus's son revenged this act with a bloody battle against the Ross Clan at Alt'a Charrais in June of 1486, where Alexander of Balnagowan was killed. After a long struggle with the neighbouring clan MacKays, the clan Ross was defeated at a battle at Strathcarron by the Mackays in 1486 and never recovered.
Five years later James III bestowed it on his second son, James Stewart, whom he also created Duke of Ross in 1488. By the 16th century the whole area of the county was occupied by different clans. The Rosses held what is now Easter Ross; the Munros the small tract around Ben Wyvis, including Dingwall; the Macleods Lewis, and, in the mainland, the district between Loch Maree and Loch Torridon; the Macdonalds of Glengarry, Coigach, and the district between Strome Ferry and Kyle of Lochalsh, and the Mackenzies the remainder. The county of Ross was constituted in 1661, and Cromarty in 1685 and 1698, both being consolidated into the present county in 1889. A later successor died without male issue and succession passed through the female line, a circumstance which led to a struggle for the Earldom between the Lords of the Isles and the Regent Albany.
Lord Henry Stewart Darnley, Earl of Ross and Duke of Albany, (1545-1567) second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was the eldest son of Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, and through his mother Lady Margaret Douglas was a great-grandson of the English King Henry VII. After the death of Francis II of France in 1560 Darnley was sent into that country by his mother, who hoped that he would become king of England on Queen Elizabeth I's death. He decided to leave Scotland, but a variety of causes prevented his departure; and meanwhile at Craigmillar a band of nobles undertook to free Mary from her husband, who refused to be present at the baptism of his son, James I, at Stirling in December 1566. King James the Third with the authority of Parliament in the year 1476 annexed the Earldom of Ross. The famous River Spey opens up through it its way to the sea, in which it dwells when it has watered the castle of Rothes; from that the family of Leslies has taken the title of Earl since King James II raised George Leslie to the honour of Earl of Rothes.
The MacDonalds of Garragach and Keppoch, called the Clan Ranald of Lochaber, were descended from Alexander, or Allaster Carrach, third son of John, Lord of the Isles, and Lady Margaret Stewart. He was forfeited for joining the insurrection of the Islanders, under Donald Balloch, in 1431, and the greater part of his lands were bestowed upon Duncan Mackintosh, captain of the clan Chattan, which proved the cause of a fierce and lasting feud between the Mackintoshes and the MacDonalds. It was from Ranald, the fourth in descent from Allaster Carrach, that the tribe received the name of the Clanranald of Lochaber. Previous to the Revolution of 1688, the feud between his clan and the Mackintoshes, regarding the lands occupied, led to the last clan battle that was ever fought in the Highlands. The Mackintoshes having invaded Lochaber, were defeated on a height called Mulroy. The Cineal nGabrain originally dwelt south of the Cineal Loairn in the island districts of Jura, Bute, and Arran, and the mainland districts of Cowal and Kintyre. They derive their descent from Gabhran, King of Dal Riada in the sixth century.