the ninth century.

The origin of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and the Mackenzies from
the same source is strikingly illustrated by their inter-marriages
into the same families and with each other's kindred. Both the
O'Beolans and the Mackenzies made alliances with the Comyns of
Badenoch, with the MacDougalls of Lorn, and subsequently with the
Macleods of Lewis and Harris, thus forming a network of cousinship
which ultimately included all the leading families in the Highlands,
every one of which, through these alliances, have the Royal blood
of all the English, Scottish, and Scandinavian Kings, and many of
the earlier foreign monarchs, coursing in their veins.

Surely this is a sufficiently ancient and illustrious origin and
much more satisfactory to every patriotic clansman than an Irish
adventurer like the reputed Colin Fitzgerald, who, if he ever
existed, had not and never could have had any connection with the
real origin of the Mackenzies, which was as purely native of the
Highlands as it was possible for any Scoto-Celtic family in those
days to be. The various genealogical steps and marriage alliances
already referred to will be confirmed in each individual case as
we proceed with the succession and history of the respective chiefs
of the family, beginning with the first of the line,


I. KENNETH, OR COINNEACH,


Who gave his name to the clan. His is the fourth ascending name
in the manuscript genealogy of 1467, which begins with Murdoch