Tul of Moray - Sources?

Started by Sharon Doubell on Saturday, December 5, 2015
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12/5/2015 at 1:53 AM

What are the Sources for Tul?

I can find this (below):http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getper..., which cites:
* Kings & Queens, Neil Grant, (pub 2003 by HarperCollinsPublishers Hammersmith London W6 8JB), p10 (Reliability: 3)
* Pedigrees of the Scottish Clans, John D McLaughlin, (http://members.aol.com/lochlan4/pedigree.htm), Genealogy of the Clan Duff (Reliability: 3)
*Kings & Queens, Neil Grant, (pub 2003 by HarperCollinsPublishers Hammersmith London W6 8JB), p11 (Reliability: 3)

=King Lulach married Fionghuala, daughter of Sinel, Mormaor of Angus. They had two children , Mael-Snechtai, afterwards, provincial King of Moray, and Princess Olith (some say "Tul"). The details of Lulach's enthronement and coronation at Scone Abbey in August 1057 are the first actually recorded in Scottish and Irish annals. He is believed to be one of the first Scottish kings who was actually crowned at his enthronement- since enthronement on the Stone of Destiny rather than crowning was the legal act of king-making in Scotland. Crowning was a later development.

Mael-Snechtai laid claim to the Scottish Throne in 1078, and the Anglo-Saxon chronicles report that King Mael-Coluim III raided Mael-Schectai's compound , seized his mother, Queen Dowager Fionghuala, and all his possessions. Mael-Schechtai himself, barely escaped. Now ruined, he entered a monastery where he died unmarried in 1085. Some writers suggest Mael-Schechtai may have been forced into a monastery by Mael-Coluim III. Mael-Schechtai's sister, Olith, married, according to Mackay tradition, her own cousin, Aedh, Mormaor of Ross, who according to Michael Mackay, was a male-line cousin of the late King Lulach descended from King Lulach's grand-uncle, Prince Domnall mac Ruaridh of Moray. Aedh succeeded Mael-Snechtai as Mormaor (not king) of Moray. He appears to have lived at peace with King Mael-Coluim's family, since he witnessed several royal charters. Aedh and Princess Olith had three sons. These sons revived their uncle's claim to the Scottish Throne. The eldest of these, Oengus, took the title of King of Moray on his father's death, and led an army south into Scotland proper in 1130. There he was slain -some say in single combat with a Norman knight- at the Battle of Inchbare. His brother MaelColuim , Earl of Ross, fought and was imprisoned by King Mael-Coluim IV. This king also expelled the Moray royal family from Moray, along with most of Morays' native inhabitants in a campaign which was conducted over about five years.

The family resettled in Strathnaver, Sutherland where they founded a clan named Clan Aedh (sometimes referred to as Clan Morggan- Lulach's royal ancestor). The present Chief of Clan Aedh, Lord Hugh Mackay of Reay, is the legal representative of King Lulach's family, although his DNA has not yet been tested. The Chiefs of Clan Gregor (MacGregor) and Finguine (Mackinnon) are descended in the male line from Bishop Cormac of Dunkeld, who, according to the Irish Annals of Tigernach, was a great/great-grandson of King MacBeatha=

12/5/2015 at 2:03 AM

In the absence of original Sources, Mackay clan tradition must suffice, if there are no rival clan traditions.
(Áed, Mórmaer of Moray is obviously part of this teadition.)

12/5/2015 at 2:20 AM

Note, though: Grant's suggestion that Máel Snechtai subsequently retired to a monastery is based only on textual innuendo, and is made unlikely by the fact that he was called "King of Moray" on his death. [recorded in the Annals of Ulster] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1el_Snechtai_of_Moray)

References
Grant, Alexander, "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba", in E.J. Cowan and R.Andrew McDonald (eds.), Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, (Edinburgh, 2000)

Private User
12/5/2015 at 5:43 PM

No names have been attached to the persons "mormaer of Angus" or "wife of Lulach" or "daughter of Lulach" prior to modern times.

"Sinell" is given as the name of the previous "thane of Glamis" in That Scottish Play, which is certainly not to be taken as authoritative in any respect.

"Mael Snechtai" which means "servant of the snows", may be a byname that Lulach's son got stuck with. (Once everybody hangs a nickname on you and calls you by it, that *becomes* your name for all intents and purposes.)

12/6/2015 at 1:22 AM

I am relinking Angus as the son of Tul of Moray - whose name - despite not having an original source, is only linked to the NN daughter of Lulach - possibly called Olith or Tul.

Private User
12/6/2015 at 7:21 AM

A note that the name is "undocumented, derived from family tradition" should cover it.

12/6/2015 at 11:44 PM

Yes I put one on. What do you think of it?

Private User
12/7/2015 at 12:06 AM

Looks good to me.

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