• General Notes

  TITLE:  Abthane (head of all the thanes), Earl HUNDI/ Senechal of the ISLES
  NOTE:
  Died of injuried in battle against the Vikings
  NOTE:
  Abthane, or head, of all the thanes of the western isles. He was also lay abbot of Dunkeld, or Dul. Married Bethoc, eldest daughter of Malcolm II; father of Duncan who succeeded Malcolm II. Athol or Ethol was probably the dowry of his princess. In his day the Culdees were still prominent there. The abbot represented the original founder, and came to be chosen from the principal family in the district, claiming to be founder's kin. Such were the abbots of Dunkeld of the house of Athol, a truth which the Roman Catholic historians are slow to recognize; but perhaps it may satisfy their scruples to learn, on the authority of "Ailred", that no Culdee, after his election, continued to live in the house with his wife and children. Crynan was probably
  from Northumbria, Beatrix died early, leaving an only son -- the gracious Duncan -- and daughter, whose husband, Moddan, chief of Athol, was sent by King Duncan to conquer Caithness. Crynan is the Earl Hundi of the sagas, and his son Duncan is by them called "Hundason" and "the king who was only an earl's son". Crynan made an attempt to rally the adherents of the house of Athol in favor of his grandsons, Malcolm Caenmore and Donald Bain (the sons of the murdered Duncan) in 1045 but was defeated and slain, with his
  "19 x 20 warriors". Ethelred, his great-grandson, the second son of Malcolm Caenmore and Queen Margaret, was the next known abbot of Dunkeld. Chief of Athol. [The Bruces and the Cumyns, p. 489, 504-5]
  MINOR, FOSTER, WAITE, BURR, NEWLIN LINE
  !Abbot of Dunkeld; husband of Bethoc; father of Duncan I. [Chronicle of the Royal Family, chart]
  !Cospatrick was the son of Maldred, the son of Crynan/Crun, Earl of Northumberland. [The Bruces and the Cumyns, p. 505]
  Thane, Lord of the Isles, Lay Abbot of Dunkeld; m. Bethoc; father of Maldred. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3395]
  "Of the kin of St. Columbra"; son of Duncan, Lord of the Isles; father of Duncan I, King of Scots. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3312]
  Crinan the Thane (Albanock, Grimus), of the kin of St. Columba, lord of the Isles, Governor of Scots Island, Earl of Strathclyde, hereditary Abbot of Dunkeld; b. 978, Scotland; slain 1045; m.c.1000, Bethoc, heiress and Princess of Scotland. [Royalty for Commoners, p. 130]
  Also called Albanach or Grimus; b. 978, d. 1045, Lay Abbot of Dunkeld, Governor of the Scots Islands 1045. A battle between the Scots themselves caused his death; m. Bethoc; father of Duncan I MacCrinan. [Ancestral Roots, p. 147]
  The Robertsons can trace a path of descent from Crinan, Lord of Atholl, the royal house of Duncan I, and the Earls of Atholl. They are more properly called Clan Donnachaidh, from Duncan, 5th in descent from Conan of Glenerochie, a younger son of Henry, Earl of Atholl. [Clans & Tartans, p. 262]
  Sir Iain Moncreiffe in his book THE HILAND CLANS offered the hypothesis that Crinan's male lineage traced back to the kindred of St. Columba--a branch of the great Irish family O'Neill-who were Abbots of Iona, Kells, Dunkeld, etc. Nothing definite is known of Crinan's ancestry, but that he was Lay Abbot of
  Dunkeld, and the Duncan mac Crinan's grandson Aethelred was also Lay Abbot of Dunkeld, suggests that Crinan may have belonged to that kindred.
  Mike Davidson, however, argued that Crinan belonged to the Cinel nGabhrain--that is, the Scottish royal family, the same family to which Crinan's father-in-law King Malcolm II belonged. His reasons had to do with
  succession customs in Gaelic Culture--any man having or claiming direct male descent from the founder of a royal family was eligible to succeed, the closest male relatives being favored first. King Malcolm II did a very good job of purging his dynasty of rival male claimants, and when he died the throne went to his daughter's son Duncan. But succession could not go through the female line. That is wh

Details of (Abthane) Crynan de Mormaer's family with (Princess) Bethoc MacKenneth of SCOTLAND