General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> 3rd Earl of Ross
Ferquhard, first Earl of Ross, who is said to have been FerquhardMacintagart, son of the lay parson of the territory of the monastery ofApplecross, which had passed into the hands of a family of lay abbotscalled Sagarts of Priests of Applecross, and he was therefore a powerfulHighland chief. When Alexander II, soon after his accession, was forced,in 1215, to suppress an insurrection in Moray and Ross, Ferquhard, sidingwith him, seized the insurgent leaders, beheaded them, and presentedtheir heads to the King, 15 June 1215, and was knighted by him. He was,at a later date, created Earl of Ross, appearing as such in a writ datedprobably after June 1226. The charter was at one time upon record, butthe roll is now lost. He may have been Earl in 1225, but his is notcertain. He founded the Abbey of Ferne, in the parish of Edderton, sometime before 1230, the first Abbot being installed in that year. In 1235he greatly assisted King Alexander II in supressing the insurrection atGalloway. In 1237 he was witness to an agreement between the Kings ofEngland and Scotland, in presence of Odo, the Legate. Dominus Fercardus,Comes de Ross, is a witness to a composition between Andrew, Bishop ofMurray, and Walter Cumyn, Earl of Menteith, concerning the lands ofKincardine in 1234, to a composition between the Chapter of Moray andAlexander de Stryvelene concerning the half davach of land in Devath in1234; and in 1244 he was one of those who informed the Pope of the treatyof peace made with the King of England. He died about 1251, and wasburied in the Abbey he had founded, where the stone effigy of a warrioris said to mark his grave. [The Scots Peerage VII:231-232]

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FERQUHARD MAC TAGGART, EARL OF ROSS [SCT], is traditionally said to havebeen lay priest or abbott of Applecross, co. Ross. In 1215 "Machentagar"defeated an incursion into Moray under Donald Bane and others, and on 15June delivered the leaders' heads, in token of his success, to the newking Alexander II, who knighted him. Later, possibly before 12 December1225, as Ferquhard Ros, he was created EARL OF ROSS. Some time before1230, he founded the Abbey of Fearn, in Mid-Fearn, parish of Edderton,later removed to the parish of Fearn. In 1235 Comes Rossensis nomineMackintagart again rendered notable service to the King in Galloway, bytaking a force of rebels in the rear, and putting them to flight. In 1237he witnessed the agreement between Henry III and Alexander II at York;and in 1244 was one of the magnates [SCT] who, with the King, notifiedthe Pope of their treaty with England. He died in January 1250/1, atTain, and is said to have been buried in the abbey of Fearn. [CompletePeerage XI:142-3, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]