The Earls of Mar

The Mormaer or Earl of Mar was the provincial ruler of the province of Mar in north-eastern Scotland. First attested in the year 1014, the "family seat" eventually became Kildrummy Castle, although other sites like Doune of Invernochty were initially just as important. The title evolved into a peerage title, and was made particularly famous by John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar who was an important Jacobite military leader during the 1715 Jacobite rising. His role was later commemorated in the Genesis song "Eleventh Earl of Mar" on their album Wind & Wuthering (1977), which depicts the innocence of the Earl's young son, and the failure of the unsuccessful campaign.

Mar stretches from the Braes of Mar in the west to Aberdeen, and from the Braes of Angus in the south to the River Don, and was one of the divisions of the ancient kingdom of the Picts. It existed later as a geographical and political region under its mormaer long before Ruadri is recorded as its first earl in about 1120. The title is the oldest still existing in Scotland, and Mar is the premier Scottish earldom. Its present holder, the 31st since Ruadri, is Countess of Mar in her own right. .... more

Kildrummy castle

• A1. Gille Críst;
  • B1. Morggán, 2nd Earl of Mar, lvd:1147/1178;
    • C1. Alesta of Mar, m. Alan FitzWalter;  <==  Clan Stewart
    • C2. Donnchad, 4th Earl of Mar;
      • D1. Uilleam, 5th Earl of Mar, Chamberlain of Scotland, d:1276, m. Elizabeth Comyn;  ==>  Clan Comyn
        • E1. Domhnall I, 6th Earl of Mar, m. Helen of Wales;  ==>  Princes of Wales
          • F1. Isobel of Mar, m. Robert the Bruce;  <==  Clan Bruce
          • F2. Marjory of Mar, m. Kenneth de Moravia;  <==  Clan Sutherland
          • F3. Gartnait, 7th Earl of Mar, d:1305, m. Christina Bruce;  ==>  Clan Bruce
            • G1. Domhnall II, 8th Earl of Mar, d:1332, m. Isabel Stewart;  ==>  Clan Stewart
              • H1. Margaret, Countess of Mar, m. William Douglas;  <==  Clan Douglas