General Notes

Fergus, Prince of Lord of Galloway, flourished in the reign of David I. He became a canon regular in the abbey of Holyroodhouse. Left two sons, 1. Gilbert, ancestor of the Earls of Carrick. 2. Uchtred. [Ref: Peerage of Scotland by John Philip Wood, Edinburgh, 1813, v1 p612-13] note: Prince of Lord of?... Curt

At some remote era the Lord of Galloway became dependant upon the king of Scotland, and Fergus, the first known prince of the province, was an attendant on certain state occasions at the royal court, whilst he acknowledged the superiority of his contemporary David by the payment of a certain tribute in time of peace, and by a contingent of turbulent soldiery in war; resembling, in other respects, an ally rather than a vassal, and enjoying a considerable degee of independence within his hereditary dominions. He married Elizabeth, a natural daughter of Henry the First, and Afreca, his daughter by this union, became the wife of Olave and the mother of Godfrey, kings of Man and the Isles. [note: "Chron. St. Crucis" 1160. The names of Fergus and his son, Uchtred, occur amongst the witnesses to the grant of Perdeyc on the 7th July 1136. "Reg. Glasg.", No. 3, 7." [Ref: Scotland under her Early Kings by  E. William Robertson, Edinburgh, 1862, p356-357]

In Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland; a Cistercian house founded in 1142 by King David I and Fergus Lord of Galloway for monks brought from Rievaulx in Yorkshire. The name (Dun-nan-droigheann) means "fort of the thorn-bushes", and the monastery commands a fine view of the Solway Firth. [Ref: Catholic Encyclopedia]

History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway, by P. H. M'Kerlie, New Edition, 1906 v1: p110:  Beyond the statement that Fergus was forty-two years of age in 1138, nothing is known to indicate who he was.  He was a courtier of David I, his name appearing in several charters granted by that monarch.  He seems to have enjoyed considerable eminence, having for his wife Elizabeth, bastard daughter of Henry I of England.

p111-112:  ...the contention that Fergus was the descendant or next of kin of Dovenald, son of Dunegal, is entirely erroneous.  That he was a native of rank in Galloway, and succeeded by lineal descent to the position he held, is not supported by a single fact of any kind, and is opposed to a truthful history of the district.  Neither could he have held supreme power over Galloway as a prince, but only as a governor, in the same way as Cumberland--then a portion of Scotland--was held by the Meschines family, or until deposed by the Norsemen.  The Moemaer's position when they held the northern provinces of Scotland was not analagous, for they had great power with weak kings.  Fergus was under David I, who was a powerful King.  David was surrounded by unscrupulous adventurers from England, usually termed Anglo-Normans, but the progenitors of many were called the scum of Europe.  Fergus appears to have been appointed Governor after the disasterous battle of the Standard, fought on Catton Moor, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, in 1138, in which the Galwegians served under the king, with other levies from all parts of Scotland and Cumberland.  The united army is called 26,000 men.  It is mentioned that the Galwegians claimed as a right to lead the van as the principal fighting men; but their right to this honour has never been satisfactorily explained.  One thing seems certain, that they were badly commanded, which no doubt caused their conduct not to be altogether to their credit, although at first brave in the extreme.  From bad generalship they were exposed to, and suffered greatly from, the English archers, without being allowed to close with them.  Thereby they had most of their fighting men slain--their lines got broken and they retreated.  Weakened and dispirited, no more favorable opportunity could have been offered for the king to place a stranger over them, to check their turbulent disposition and wild habits.  During the seventeen years he was Prince of Cumbria, David received the support of all the adventurers on the English border, and is said by all contemporary authorities to have been "terrible only to the men of Galloway."  As king, after the battle, he had them fully in his power, and exercised it by placing a governor over them.  Fergus, on appointment, at once commanded, as no native would have done, to build religious houses in connection with the English Church, alias Church of Rome, in opposition to the native Celtic Irish-Scottish Church of Iona.  He was evidently of Norse descent, and one of King David's own school, or so appeared so as to ingratiate himself.  The "Sankt King," as he is called, or, as elsewhere, "that Prince of Mink-feeders and Prime Scottish Saint of the Romish Calendar which procured him Canonisation from the Pope," was surrounded, as already stated, by adventurers from England, preferring them to his Scottish subjects.  There can be no doubt on the mind of any close reader and searcher of history that Fergus was appointed governor about A.D. 1139, after peace was concluded between Kings David of Scotland and Stephen of England.

p112:  It is necessary to repeat here that Fergus married Elizabeth, the bastard daughter of King Henry I of England.  This King ruled from 1100 to 1135.  Unless Fergus had been in England more or less time, he could not have become acquainted with her and married before he became Governor of Galloway, otherwise his descendants--three generations--would have had very short lives.  Also, had he been a native, from the position apparently held from the first, he would have led the Galwegians at the Battle of the Standard, instead of Ulgric and Dovenald.  That Fergus was married long before his connection with Galloway, supported by the facts that Olaf, King of Man, began to reign in 1102, and that he had married Affrica, the daughter of Fergus, but previously had three sons and several daughters by his concubines, one of the latter becoming the wife of Somerled, the ruler of Argyll.

p113:  In summary, Fergus, first founded c1138 St. Mary's Priory at the Isle of Trahil or Trayl, Kirkcudbright, in token of his reconciliation with King David, whom he had sorely displeased, arising it is believed, from  complicity in the rebellion of Angus, Earl of Moran, in 1130, when David was absent.

p114:  After his settlement in Galloway he built abbeys and chapels in different areas and brought monks from England and abroad to occupy them.  During the tenure of Fergus in the reign of David, nothing special occurred worthy of mention; but after the death of the King (24th March, 1153), and while his son and successor, Malcolm, was a minor, Fergus, in 1160, with much ingratitude, threw off his allegiance, joining Somerled the ruler of Argyll, who had been in open rebellion, and they ravaged the west coast.  Somerled was slain at Renfrew in 1164.  It is stated that they counted on the aid of the North or Norse-men to place William of Egremont, the great-grandson of Malcolm Caenmore, on the throne.  In regard to Somerled, as it is a disputed point, we will not press it here, beyond stating that if he were not of Norse lineage on both sides (i.e. father and mother) he was certainly closely connected with them by blood.  This union with Fergus and Somerled is another link in the evidence that Fergus was of Norse origin.  They were defeated, and Fergus either resigned, or, as more probable, had taken from him the same year (1160) the governorship of Galloway.  He took refuge in Holyrood Abbey as a canon regular, and died in 1161.

Regards,
Curt