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Moray (Middle Irish: Muréb; Medieval Latin: Moravia; Old Norse: Mýræfi) was a province within the area of modern-day Scotland, that may at times up to the 12th century have operated as an independent kingdom or as a power base for competing claimants to the Kingdom of Alba. It covered a much larger territory than the modern council area of Moray, extending approximately from the River Spey in the east to the River Beauly in the north, and encompassing Badenoch, Lochaber and Glenelg in the south and west. Moray emerged in the 10th century as a successor to the dominant Pictish kingdom of Fortriu. The status of its rulers was ambiguous: being described in some sources as mormaers, in others as Kings of Moray, and in others as Kings of Alba. The ruling kin-group of Moray, sometimes called the House of Moray, attained the throne of Alba between 1040 and 1058 in the person of Mac Bethad mac Findláich (Shakespeare's Macbeth) and his stepson Lulach. After Lulach was killed and succeeded by Máel Coluim mac Donnchada of the House of Dunkeld, Lulach's son Máel Snechtai and grandson Óengus continued to rule Moray and challenge the kings to the south until Óengus' defeat and death at the Battle of Stracathro in 1130. Over the following decades David I of Scotland and his successors established institutions to bring Moray more directly under Scottish control, suppressing the office of mormaer, founding monasteries, burghs and sheriffdoms within the province, and granting large areas of it as provincial lordships to loyal followers. However Moray continued to be a base for rebellions by the Meic Uilleims, the descendants of the last mormaer William fitz Duncan, until the last of the line was killed in 1230. Name The placename "Moray" could have either a Pictish or a Gaelic origin, but its earliest attested form as Moreb makes a Pictish origin more likely. Moreb is cognate with the Middle Welsh moreb and Cornish morab, which survives as murriph in Cornish English, all of which mean "low lying land near to the sea". William Watson's earlier derivation of Moray from the unattested Gaelic *mori-treb meaning "sea-settlement" is now considered less likely. Historians have suggested that the topographical nature of the placenames of Moray and Ross, coupled with their origins as local divisions of the kingdom of Fortriu, may mean that they were originally qualified as Mureb Fortrenn and Ros Fortrenn, respectively the "Coastland of Fortriu" and "Headland of Fortriu". While there is no direct evidence of the provinces having these names, it is possible that the phrase "ros (headland) of Fortriu" may underlie the place-name Fortrose, referring to nearby Chanonry Point. Geography In the century or two before 1130 the name Moray described a polity far larger than the later county or council area of the same name. The boundaries of Moray were explicitly documented in the charter of Robert the Bruce that granted the recreated earldom to Thomas Randolph in 1312. The western boundary of the province was described as following the River Spey south from its mouth, though including all of the lands of Fochabers, Rathenach, Rothes and Boharm, and all of the lordships of Badenoch, Kincardine, Glencarnie and Lochaber, all of which also included land on the east bank of the river. North of Lochaber the province included Glenelg on the west coast – an area described as "Argyll of Moray" – from where the northern boundary of the province followed the River Beauly to the Moray Firth. Unusually, this document does not name any perambulators, so probably reflects an earlier perambulation of the borders, most likely dating from the period when Moray was taken into crown hands after 1130. Before the early 13th century Moray was not considered part of "Scotland" (Latin: Scotia, Old Irish: Alba) which was thought to extend only between the Firth of Forth and the River Spey. As late as 1214 the Gesta Annalia recorded how William the Lion "returned from Moray to Scotland, and progressed from Scotland into Lothian". Placename evidence also suggests that the people of Moray did not consider themselves "Scots". History Origins and early history Moray and neighbouring Ross were the heartlands of the powerful Pictish kingdom of Fortriu, which was last recorded in entries in the Annals of Ulster in 904, and in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland in 918, and from which both Moray and Ross probably emerged as successor polities in the 10th century. Moray is first recorded in a reference in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba describing how Malcolm I of Scotland, who reigned from 943 to 954, "crossed into Moray and slew Cellach". The identity of this Cellach is not known: while it is possible that he was a ruler of Moray, the name was a common one during this period. The entry does however imply that Moray at this time did not lie within Malcolm I's home territory. There is no direct mention of Moray in any other contemporary record from the 10th century, but circumstantial evidence suggests that Moray was probably the home territory for some of the Kings of Alba during the period. From 889 until 997 the Kingship of Alba alternated between two distinct families descended from two sons of Kenneth MacAlpin: Clann Aeda, the descendants of King Áed, and Clann Chausantin, the descendants of Constantine I. Surviving records show the kings of Clann Chausantin constantly in conflict with the men of Moray: Donald II is recorded in the Chronicle of Melrose and the Pictish King lists dying at Forres in 900; Malcolm I is recorded in the same sources being "killed by the Moravians by treachery" at Blervie, just south of Forres, in 954; and King Dub is recorded in the Annals of Ulster being killed in Forres "by the Scots themselves" in 967, with his body being hidden under the bridge at nearby Kinloss. Although some sources record other locations for the deaths of these kings, no kings from Clann Chausantin are recorded in any source as being killed south of the Mounth. In contrast no kings from Clann Aeda seem to have faced opposition in the north. and the one recorded being killed north of the Mounth was Ildulb, who died at Cullen at the hands of the Vikings. It therefore seems likely that Moray was the power base for Clann Aeda, while Clann Chausantin were probably based south of the Grampian Mountains. Forres appears to have been the major political centre of Moray during this period, a status it probably inherited after the destruction of Burghead Fort by Vikings in the 9th century, and which may be commemorated by the monumental carved Sueno's Stone that survives on the outskirts of the modern town. The rulers of Moray appear to have controlled the more easterly provinces of Buchan and Mar until the 12th century, but the extent of their power to the north is unclear. Njal's Saga, a Saga of the Icelanders, mentions Mormaers and Kings in northern Scotland from the later 10th century, namely Jarl Melsnatr (Máel Snechtai) and King M.... Discover the Jacqueli Finley popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jacqueli Finley books.