History of the Mackenzies | Page 8

is, "Colin, an Irish stranger and nobleman, of the
family of the Geraldines who, in the previous year, had been driven
from Ireland, and had been well received by the King, remained up to
this time at Court, and fought bravely in the aforesaid battle." This
extract has often been quoted to prove that Colin Fitzgerald was the
progenitor of the Mackenzies; but it will be noticed that it contains no
reference whatever to the point. It merely says that Colin, an Irishman,
was present at Largs.
After the defeat of Haco the King sent detachments to secure the West
Highlands and Isles, and to check the local chiefs. Among the leaders
sent in charge of the Western garrisons was, according to the supporters
of the Irish-origin theory, Colin Fitzgerald, who, under the patronage of
Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith, was settled in the Government of the
Castle of Ellandonnan, the well-known stronghold of the Mackenzies,
in Kintail, situated on a small rocky island at the junction of Lochalsh,
Loch Duich and Loch Long. Colin's jurisdiction, it is said, extended
over a wide district, and he is referred to in the fragment of the Record
of Icolmkill, already quoted, as he "of whom we have spoken at the
battle of Largs, and who afterwards conducted himself with firmness
against the Islanders, and was left a governor among them." Sir George
Mackenzie, first Earl of Cromartie, who will be proved later on to have
been the inventor of the Fitzgerald theory, says in a MS. history of the
clan, that Colin "being left in Kintail, tradition records that he married
the daughter of Mac Mhathoin, heritor of the half of Kintail. This
Mhathoin," he continues, "is frequently identified with Coinneach
Gruamach Mac Mhathoin, Cailean's predecessor as Governor of
Ellandonnan Castle. The other half of Kintail belonged to O'Beolan,
one of whose chiefs, Ferchair, was created Earl of Ross, and his lands
were given to Cailean Fitzgerald." It will be proved by incontestible
public documents still in existence, that these identical lands were,
except that they once for a time exchanged them with a relative for
lands in Buchan, uninterruptedly possessed by the Earls of Ross, the
descendants of this Ferchair, or Farquhar, for two centuries after the

battle of Largs.
While the Earl of Cromartie and other clan historians accept the
Fitzgerald origin by marriage with a daughter of Kenneth Matheson of
Lochalsh, the Mathesons maintain that the first Mackenzie, or Mac
Choinnich - the actual progenitor of the clan - was a son of their chief,
Coinneach Gruamach, and that the Mackenzies are thus only a sept, or
minor branch of the Mathesons. It must in fairness be admitted that the
latter contention is quite as near the truth as the Fitzgerald theory and it
must have already occurred to the reader, how, if the Fitzgerald origin
of the Mackenzies had been true, has it come about that the original
patronymic of Fitzgerald has given way to that of Mackenzie? It is not
pretended that it was ever heard of after Colin himself.
This difficulty occurred even to the Earl of Cromartie, and this is how
he attempts to dispose of it. Cailean, he says, had a son by the daughter
of Kenneth Mac Mhathoin, or Matheson, whom he named Coinneach,
or Kenneth, after his father-in-law Kenneth Matheson; Cailean himself
was killed in Glaic Chailein by Mac Mhathoin, who envied him, and
was sore displeased at Colin's succession to Matheson's ancient
heritage; Colin was succeeded by his son Kenneth, and all his
descendants were by the Highlanders called "Mac Choinnich," or
Kenneth's son, taking the patronymic from Mac Mhathoin rather than
from Cailean, whom they esteemed a stranger. Of the two theories the
Matheson one is by far the more probable; but they are both without
any real foundation.
The Fitzgerald theory has, however, until recently, been accepted by all
the leading Mackenzie families and by the clan generally. It has been
adopted in all the Peerages and Baronetages, and by almost every
writer on the history and genealogy of the Cabar feidh race.
The main if not the only authority of any consequence in favour of this
Irish origin is the charter alleged to have been granted by Alexander III.
to Colin in 1266, of which the reputed original runs as follows:-
"Alexander, Dei Gracia, Rex Scottorum, omnibus probis hominibus
tocius terre sue clericis et laicis, salutem sciant presentes et futuri me
pro fideli seruicio michi navato per Colinum Hybernum tam in bello
quam in pace ideo dedisse, et hac presenti carta mea concessisse dicto
Colino, et ejus successoribus totas terras de Kintail. Tenendas de nobis
et successoribus nostris in liberam baronium cum guardia. Reddendo

servicium forinsecum et fidelitatem. Testibus Andrea episcopo,
Moraviensi. Waltero Stewart. Henrico de Balioth Camerario. Arnoldo
de