Clan Sutherland (continued...)

William, younger brother of Hugh of Moray, Lord of Sutherland, was ancestor of the great family of Murray, while Hugh’s own son William of Sutherland was made Earl of Sutherland about the year 1235. His line became chiefs of the Pictish tribe that originally inhabited Caithness before the coming of the Vikings, and to them the earls were always known as the lords of the Catti (cat is the root meaning), the tribal designation from which Caithness ("peninsula of the Catti") takes its name. Hence the "wild-cat" crest of the Sutherland chiefs, similar to that of the nearby Clan Chattan (see Chapter VII), the Picto-Scottish Erainnian clan with whom they probably shared a Pictish connection. The earls fought for the Royal House of Bruce, and but for the death of the fifth earl’s son by Margaret Bruce, heiress of the House of Bruce, it would have been the Sutherlands and not the Stewarts who became kings of Scots. Nevertheless the earls of Sutherland rose to great power in the North, and exercised something approaching royal authority in their earldom. .... ElectricScotland.com

A Brief History of Clan Sutherland, by Andrew Sutherland

The origins of the earliest residents of Sutherland date back some 6000 years and are somewhat obscure. There were ancient Picts and Celts who built stone tombs, hill-forts, and brochs throughout their territory. The 17th century historian, Sir Robert Gordon stated, "In the year of Christ four score and two, there arrived a great company of Germans named "Catti", a valiant people of mighty bodies who were banished out of their native land for killing of a Roman general. At their first arrival, their captain went onshore to spy the land, when he was suddenly invaded by a company of monstrous big wild cats that much molested the country. The fight between them was cruel, yet in the end he killed them all. From thence the thanes and earls of Catti, or Sutherland, even unto this day do carry on their crest or badge, above their arms, a cat sitting with one of its feet upwards ready to catch his prey." He continued, "There is not a rat in Sutherland. And, if they do come thither in ships from other ports, which often happeneth, they die presently as soon as they do smell the air of that country." Whatever the fate of rats in the area, there is tradition that after landing in the north of Scotland, the Catti named the area of Caithness and their chief married the daughter of the Pictish king Brude.

A further influx of people into Sutherland occurred during the twelfth century consisting of the defeated followers of the Royal House of MacAlpin, the last truly Celtic Scottish Kings. In 1150, King David I (1124-1153) marched north into the Province of Moray to put down what would be the last in a series of rebellions.

The Sutherland forbear was Freskin de Moravia, whose father was probably a Flemish noble named Ollec with lands in Morayshire and elsewhere ("de Moravia" being "of Moray"). He was given a commission by King David I to gather the Sutherland Gaels together and clear the Norsemen from the area, and he received Strabrock in West Lothian and Duffus in Moray from King David I.

Some hold that he was therefore probably the hero of the clan legend about the killing of the last Norseman. The crucial battle took place near Dornoch where the Norse chief had gathered his men in a desperate attempt to stop the Scottish advance. The fight at first went the Norsemen's way when they penetrated the Scot's formation and the Sutherland chief was injured. As the chief lay wounded though, he spotted a Norse general coming up to support the attack. Finding a horseshoe at hand, he threw it with all of his might striking the Norseman squarely in the forehead, killing him, and turning the whole battle around. By the end of the day, all of the Scots' foes had been killed or captured.

Hugh, Lord of Duffus, the son of William and grandson of Freskin, was the heir to Duffus and Strabrock. He is referred to as Hugh Freskin and Hugh de Moravia in documents from 1195 onward. The Bishop of Moray gave him a free chapel in Duffus Castle between 1203 and 1214. By 1211 he also had Skelbo and other land in Sutherland. Hugh Freskin died before 1222 and was buried in the church of Duffus leaving three sons, William, Walter and Andrew.

Hugh is said to have strengthened the family's royal favor by ridding the north of a ferocious band of robbers lead by one Harold Chisolm. Among the crimes, a number of Sutherland churchmen were tortured by nailing horseshoes to their feet and making them dance to entertain the followers before putting them savagely to death. On hearing of this outrage, King William the Lion ordered Hugh of Sutherland to pursue Chisolm to the death and a great fight ensued near John o' Groats. All of the robbers were either killed or captured. Harold Chisolm and the other leaders were given a punishment to fit the crime, horse shoeing and hanging. The rest were gelded to prevent any offspring from men who were so detestable. This seems to have been a frequent punishment of the time. In 1198 an entire sept of the Sinclairs were castrated for the killing of the Bishop of Caithness.

Another service to the crown in this early period was the suppression of a rebellion by the Sinclairs in 1222. The trouble was over tithes imposed by the Bishop of Caithness whose seat was at Dornoch. The Sinclair Earls of Caithness had long resented the fact that the bishopric was under Sutherland control and decided to exploit the discontent over tithes, to get rid of the bishop and have the seat moved. There was soon a riot, said to be incited by Sinclair gold. The unfortunate bishop was roasted alive and his cathedral was set on fire. The rioters then headed north to join up with their Sinclair allies. Once again the Lord of Sutherland was given responsibility by the crown for restoring law and order, and for punishing Sinclair for his instigation of the incident. The Sutherland clan force was gathered and the far northeast was laid waste in a campaign of revenge and repression. Wick and Thorso were burned and the Sinclair stronghold razed to the ground. Eighty men were tried at a summer court session at Golspie and there was strict punishment for the rioters. Four of the ringleaders were roasted and then fed to the town dogs for good measure.

Hugh's son, William, Lord Duffus and Sutherland, took the name of his lands, Sutherland, as the family name, and was created Earl of Sutherland by Alexander II. The exact date is not known but must have been about 1235. The 1st Earl of Sutherland helped Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness, in the building of Dornoch Cathedral. He is said to have died in 1248 and been buried in the Cathedral. He had a son, William.

William, the 2nd Earl of Sutherland, began appearing in documents in 1263 and attended Parliament in 1283-84. He supported the claim to the throne of King Robert I (Robert the Bruce, 1306-1329). At Berwick in 1296, he signed the homage roll, but later adhered to the English King (Edward I, 'Longshanks,' 1272-1307) and died about 1306-1307. He had two sons, William and Kenneth.

William, the 3rd Earl of Sutherland, was a minor when he succeeded his father the 2nd Earl in 1306-1307. In 1308-1309 the young Earl attended Parliament at St. Andrews. He fought in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn that gave Robert the Bruce the rule of Scotland. In 1320, he signed the letter to Pope John XXII, known as the Declaration of Arbroath, asserting full independence of Scotland from the English Crown. He died unmarried in 1330.

Kenneth, the 4th Earl of Sutherland, also son of William, the 2nd Earl, succeeded his brother William, the 3rd Earl in 1330. Earl Kenneth married Mary, daughter of Donald, Earl of Mar and his wife Helen, daughter of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, bringing in a descent from the post-Roman British families. Earl Kenneth led his clansmen in the disastrous Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333 where the Scots attempted to raise the siege of Berwick. Unfortunately, the English had the high ground and a bog at the base of the hill hampered the Scots' advance. By the time the advancing Scots reached the enemy lines they had lost a significant number of men to English archers, Kenneth and three other earls among them. Earl Kenneth's elder son William was his heir and the 5th Earl of Sutherland. Earl Kenneth's other son Nicholas married Mary, daughter and heiress of Reginald le Cheyne and of Mary, Lady of Duffus, and was the ancestor of the Sutherland Lairds of Duffus.

The great clan wars of the region mainly occurred from the late 14th through the late 16th centuries. The Bishops of Caithness, the Scottish crown and the Gaelic clansmen between Dornoch, Lairg and Helmsdale were close allies of the Sutherlands. Their habitual enemies were the Sinclairs of Caithness, the Mackays and the McLeods to the west of Sutherland. The long dispute with the MacKays first came to a head in 1372, when Nicholas Sutherland of Duffus, head of one of the junior branches, murdered Mackay and his heir in their beds at Dingwold Castle where they had met in an attempt to patch up the feud. Much bloodshed followed, including a retaliatory raid on Dornoch. The cathedral was once again set on fire and many Sutherland men were hanged in the town square. After this, the feud quieted down as both sides were called away to fight against the English.