Gillemichael MacDuff, 3rd Earl of Fife - Right person, wrong place, wrong parents

Note to Sharon: Both are Master Profiles, both are in complete trees, one tree is Totally Bogus but some of the profiles *are* correct - it's the relationships around Pseudo-Gillemichael that are all wrong.

We can be reasonably sure that Constantine was Earl of Fife before Gille Micheil - they are documented as having borne that title in that order. (The only real point of dispute is when and how Constantine acquired it.)

As to their being brothers - Constantine occasionally, but Gille Micheil *consistently*, styled himself "mic meic Dubh" (descendant of Dubh). That places them in the same family with Constantine as the older, but they could have been uncle and nephew, or first cousins in the male line. There doesn't seem to be enough age difference to interpret them as father and son.

Patronymics like "mac" and "mic meic" were almost invariably inherited through the MALE line. Ethelred of Dunkeld was not a descendant of Dubh, but of Dubh's *brother* (and through the distaff line at that!).

It's a pity that historians have never completely agreed on a name for the line descending from Malcolm III mac Duncan. "House of Dunkeld" (stemming from Crinan, lay Abbot of Dunkeld) is not universally accepted; "mac Malcolm" is not universally accepted; none of the other possible patronymic alternatives (mic meic Duncan, mic meic Crinan, etc) are seriously in the running.

We have a known daughter of Gille Micheill attaghed to the *wrong profile*. See Book of Deer marginalia: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G102007/

III

Gartnait son of Cainnech and Ete daughter of Gille-Michéil gave Pett Meic-Gobraig for the consecration of a church of Christ and of Peter the apostle, and to Columba and Drostán, free of all imposts, with a bond for it to Cormac bishop of Dunkeld, the eighth year of the reign of David. These being the witnesses: Nechtan bishop of Aberdeen, and Léot abbot of Brechin, and Mal-Domnaig(?) son of Mac-Bethad, and Aluine son of Aircill, and Ruaidrí mormaer of Mar, and Mataidín the judge, and Gille-Críst son of Cormac, and Mal-Petair son of Domnall, and Domangart lector of Turriff, and Gille-Coluim son of Muiredach, and Duibne son of Mal-Coluim.

So what are we to do about the Two Gille Micheils? Merge both, or cut one?

Merging will mean a helluva cleanup job because barnacles. But otherwise poor little Ete needs to be transferred to the father who will be kept.

Private User can you come and give us your opinion here?

What about Shaw "Mac-in-Toisich" MacDuff, 1st Chief -Anne Brannen needs to come and help us figure out what to with him as well.

cf http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTTISH%20NOBILITY.htm#_Toc359671981

I'm going to merge Ete ingen Gillemichael and any of the others that Myrna and Anne think should be merged - then use this as a discussion to decide which are spurious extras to be removed. What do you think, Maven?

Private User, can you put yourself back as a curator on Ete? - I lost you in the merge, and it wasn't my intention to 'usurp' you doll :-)

So the Shaw MacDuff profile is an issue indeed.

There is strong belief in him, and it's clear that he existed. And was all helpful in battle and what not, and became the leader of a clan.

That clan being the Macintoshes -- the name means "son of the leader."

And so far so good.

The tradition is that he is the son of Duncan, and certainly that fits the time line.

Here is a nice précis of where the info came from:

There have been two views taken of the origin of the Clan Mackintosh. According to the one, supported by a MS. of date 1467, the family can be traced to the Dalriadic kings; according to the other, founded on the Kinrara MS., which was completed about the year 1679, they are descended from the ancient Earls of Fife. For reasons assigned, Mr. Mackintosh follows the latter document as his chief authority for the earlier period. It is a family history written in English by Lachlan Mackintosh of Kinrara, brother of the 18th chief, and afterwards abbreviated and translated into Latin. This Lachlan quotes from three older MSS. which are now no longer extant. One of these was the work of Ferquhard, 12th chief; another, that of Andrew Macphail, parson of Croy; and the third was written by George Munro of Davochgartie.

Briefly, the account in the Kinrara MS. is, that Shaw, second son of Duncan, 3rd Earl of Fife, came to the north with King Malcolm IV. in 1163, to suppress a rebellion of the men of Moray; and that as a reward for his services he was made keeper or constable of the royal castle of Inverness, and received possession of the lands of Petty and Breachley, with the forest of Stratheme (Strathdearn). The name Mackintosh is said to mean ‘son of the thane,’ and this Shaw Macduff was the first to bear it, because his father, though an earl, was commonly called Toshachy that is, ‘thane.'

This is from The Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan. By A. M. Mackintosh, pp. xxiv, 566. Printed for the author, 1903.

I found it at. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/chattan.htm

So the tradition is based on a 17th C MS, BUT that MS cites three earlier MS, now lost.

I would leave him as the son of Duncan, and add in all the scholarly info about where this all comes from.

One more wrinkle-- a scholar writing in 1922 says that this story makes no sense because Duncan was not a toiseich but a mormaer, so if he was Duncan's son his name should have been Mac Mhoireir. I'm not seeing a lot of traction for this, but I add it for the sake of fullness.

Another wrinkle is that "Shaw" was probably a much later Englishing of a proper Celtic name - probably Seaghan ("hawk") or Seaghda ("hawk-like, fine, goodly"), both of which have a pronunciation somewhat like "Shaw".

"Sean" (pronounced "Shawn") is another possibility. :-)

Excellent scholarly work on the Scottish genealogies here, along with discussion of the MacIntosh genealogies:
'
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/91596/1/91596.pdf

Sorry I have been missing from this conversation. I lost my son in June to a massive heart Attack and just moved this past Sat. to be closer to his widow and two minor children. Bought a new house and closing on the old one in a couple of weeks, so needless to say my life has been in upheaval mode for a few months now. Probably will be a few months before I can do any serious work on Geni. Thanks for understanding, Myrna

We're getting them sorted out, gradually. It's slower without your help but we're getting there.