Buchan

Who he is

Name

Fergus

Title

Earl (mormaer) of Buchan

Since

Not pinned (in office under William)

Born

Not pinned

Family

Perhaps son of Colban. No sons; his daughter Marjory will marry William Comyn (between 1209 and 1212), bringing the earldom to the Comyns.

Confidence

medium

Dies before 1214. The Comyn earldom is in the future: on 1 January 1200 Buchan is a native earldom.

Overlord

King William

What it holds

• The earldom of Buchan: Ellon (head court), Deer, Slains, Rattray, Turriff lands

How it was acquired

Hereditary mormaerdom.

Allies and rivals

The Comyns are courting the heiress's future.

How things stand that morning

Held by Earl Fergus, without a male heir.

Wealth

Grain, cattle and fish. No figures.

Military

Men of Buchan. No numbers.

Threats

• The succession through a daughter

Places of note

• Ellon: Moot hill and head court of Buchan
• Deer: Old monastery (the Book of Deer)

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment asks whether the Comyns hold Badenoch in 1200: they do not; William Comyn gains Buchan through marriage about 1212, and Badenoch is a grant of about 1229.

Evidence: Fergus is known from a few charters.

On the map: Earldom outline approximate.

Primary sources for Scotland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Holyrood, Anonymous (canons of Holyrood, Edinburgh) (about 1150 to 1170, with later additions). Gives nothing for 1200: its original text ends in 1163 and the few additions stop before William the Lion's last decades. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh (about 1196 to 1198). Ends in 1198, so it gives no 1200 entries of its own; the Stanley continuation has only a line or two for 1200. Read online
• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Great Life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Adam of Eynsham (about 1210 to 1215). The last book is a day by day account of Hugh's final year by the chaplain who was with him: his dealings with John at the start of the reign, his journey to France and the Grande Chartreuse in 1200, his illness in London, his death at the Old Temple on 16 November 1200 and the funeral at Lincoln on 23 November attended by King John, William the Lion of Scotland, three archbishops and a crowd of bishops and earls. Read online

2 more in the sources library for The British Isles.