Mac Obertaig; (4) of Fergus Leith Dearg; and (5) of Krycul. In
the third of these divisions he includes the old Earls of Ross,
the Mackenzies, the Mathesons, and several other clans, and to this
classification he adheres, after the most mature consideration,
in his later and greater work, the 'History of Celtic Scotland.'


THE REAL CELTIC ORIGIN.


It is now most interesting to know who the ancient Earls of Ross,
from whom the Mackenzies are really descended, were. The first of
these earls of whom we have any record is Malcolm Mac Heth to whom
Malcolm IV. gave Ross in 1157, with the title of Earl of Ross, but
the inhabitants rose against him and drove him out of the district.
Wyntoun mentions an Earl "Gillandrys," a name which we believe
is derived from the common ancestor of the Mackenzies and Rosses,
"Gilleoin-Ard-Rois," as one of the six Celtic earls who besieged
King Malcolm at Perth in 1160. Skene is also of opinion that this
Gillandres represented the old Celtic earls of Ross, as the clan
bearing the name of Ross are called in Gaelic Clann Ghilleanrias,
or descendants of Gillandres, and may, he thinks, have led the
revolt which drove Malcolm Mac Heth out of the earldom. The same
King, two years after the incident at Perth, gave the earldom of
Ross to Florence, Count of Holland, on that nobleman's marriage with
His Majesty's sister Ada, in 1162, but the new earl never secured
practical possession ['Celtic Scotland,' Vol. III., pp. 66-67.] He
is, however, found claiming it as late as 1179, in the reign of
William the Lion.