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Cap Badge
Kilt pin
Plaid Brooch
Tie pin
Cuff links
Sgian Dubh
Mar was one of the seven ancient kingdoms or provinces of Scotland whose rulers were known by the title of ‘mormaer’. Its territory lay in that part of Aberdeenshire largely between the Rivers Don and Dee. In the charter erecting the Abbey of Scone in 1114, the Mormaer of Mar is named as Rothri, and he is given the latin title ‘Comes’ which generally equates to the modern rank of earl. Rothri was succeeded by Morgund, second Earl of Mar, who witnessed, some time before 1152, charters to the Abbey of Dunfermline. William, the fifth Earl, was one of the Regents of Scotland and Great Chamberlain of the Realm in 1264. His son, Donald, was knighted at Scone by Alexander III in September 1270. He witnessed the marriage contract of Princess Margaret of Scotland with King Eric of Norway The Earls of Mar supported the Bruce claim to the throne, and Donald’s eldest daughter, Isabel of Mar, became the first wife of Robert the Bruce. Her brother, Gratney, the seventh Earl, married Robert’s sister, Christian, further strengthening the Bruce alliance. John, the twentieth Earl, was appointed governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1615. The earls were not supporters of Charles l’s religious policies, but when it became clear that support of the Covenant meant armed opposition to the king, both the earl and his eldest son, John, Lord Erskine, took up arms in the royalist cause. The earl entertained Montrose in 1645 in his castle at Alloa. Lord Erskine accompanied the king’s captain general and rode at the Battle of Kilsyth in August 1645. In 1875 the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords ruled that the title of Earl of Mar claimed by Walter Erskine, twelfth Earl of Kellie, was not that of the ancient dignity of Mar. There is accordingly an Earl of Mar and Kellie, the chief of the Erskines, who should not be confused with the chief of the tribe of Mar. |
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