The Priest "An Sagart" O'Beolan

(from wikipedia)
The traditional story is that Fearchar was part of the ancient family Ó Beólláin (O'Beolain, Boland, Bolan) of the Gaelic Cenél Eoghain that were co-arbs (hereditary abbots) of St. Maelrubha at Applecross in Ross-shire. This idea goes back to the work of the great William F. Skene, and indeed, even before him, with William Reeves, whom Skene cited.[1]

The historian Alexander Grant has recently challenged this theory, arguing that the evidence for this origin is far too thin to contradict the intuitive and well attested idea that he came from Easter Ross. Grant takes up the idea instead that mac an t-Sacairt (= Son of the Priest') probably refers to a background as keeper of the shrine to St Duthac, at Tain, Scotland.[2]

However, despite "Ross" being a word describing the land the Earls managed (hence the Earl of Ross), Sir Robert Gordon (Earldom of Sutherland, P.36) states the Earls of Ross were first of the surname Ó Beólláin, and then were Leslies…) and continues on page 46 they are called by the surname Ó Beólláin through 1333 when "Hugh Beolan, Earl of Ross" is recorded as one of the slain at the battle of Halidon Hill. The surname remains as the surname of the Earls of Ross from Uilleam Ó Beólláin I, Earl of Ross until the death of Uilleam Ó Beólláin III, Earl of Ross in 1372 when his daughter, Euphemia I, Countess of Ross married to Sir Walter Leslie. Ross became the surname of the Earls of Ross much later in the history of the Earldom (much like the name "Windsor" is also used as the 20th century surname for the Royal Family). {it was the 4th Earl of Ross that 1st took on the Surname Ross.}

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comments

Lord Lyon Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, the chief herald for Scotland, in 1970 endorsed the view that said this is "the other and more probable account, which the best authorities have adopted" - "The first of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross was Fearcher MacinTagart, grandson of Gillianrias, and son of the Sagart, or priest, who was the co-arb, or hereditary abbot of the old monastery founded by the Irish St. Maelrubha at Applecross in the seventh century."

See "The Clans, Septs & Regiments of the Scottish Highlands" By Frank Adam (page 285)

Justin Swanstrom continues:

http://www.geni.com/discussions/150244?msg=1046999

"The case for this scenario is fleshed out by the Mackenzie history, which I also posted yesterday. The short version is that Fearchar was probably the son (or grandson) of Gilleanrias. The Ross Clan is called in Gaelic, Clan Anrias or Clan Gilleanrias (the descendants of Anrias or Gilleanrias). This was probably the Gilleanrias who was one of the earls who besieged Malcolm II in 1160. In a genealogy dated 1450 the chief of Clan Gilleanrias is Paul MacTire. This same Paul MacTire was called cousin in a charter from William, last O'Beolan Earl of Ross. The genealogy makes this Paul MacTire the 2nd great grandson of Gilleanrias, and takes the family further back to Gilleoin na h-Airde and beyond."

O'Beolan in The Celtic Magazine, Volume 3, edited by Alexander Mackenzie, Alexander Macgregor, Alexander Macbain

"The basic idea is that when the direct male line of the O'Beolan earls of Ross died out, the earldom passed to he Leslies, but the chiefship of the Ross clan passed to Paul MacTire, and since clan Ross was called Clan Gilleanrias, both the O'Beolan earls and Paul MacTire must be descendants of the same Gilleanrias."

• Wikipedia
  • 1. Reeves, William, 'Saint Maelrubha: His History and Churches' (in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. III (1857–60), 258-96, at pp. 275-6); Skene Celtic Scotland, Vol. II, pp. 483-4 .
  • 2. Grant, "The Province of Ross", p. 121.

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Quotes from History of the MacKenzies, 1892:

Page. 24... 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. Note: Gilleoin-Ard-Rois was 10th century. Earl Gillandrys was 12th century. See page 31 quote for Gilleoin of the Aird of the 10th.

Page 25-26... It will be remembered that [Malcolm] Mac Heth was one of the six Celtic earls who besieged the King at Perth two years before, in 1160.

Page 26... Ferquhard or Fearchar Macintagart, the son of the 'Sagart' or priest who was the lay possessor of the extensive possessions of the old monastery founded by the Irish Saint Maelrubha at Applecross in the seventh century. Its possessions lay between the district of Ross and the Western Sea and extended from Lochcarron to Loch Ewe and Loch Maree, and Ferquhard was thus in reality a powerful Highland chief commanding the population of an extensive western region.

Page 27... The district then known as North Argyle consisted chiefly of the possessions of this ancient monastery of Appercrossan or Applecross. Its inhabitants had hitherto — along with those of South Argyle, which extended from Lochcarron to the Firth of Clyde — maintained a kind of semi-independence, but in 1222 they were, by their lay possessor, Ferchair Mac an t'Sagairt, who was apparently the grandson or great-grandson of Gillandres, one of the six earls who besieged Malcolm IV.at Perth in 1160, brought into closer connection with the crown. The lay Abbots of which Ferquhard was the head were the hereditary possessors of all the extensive territories which had for centuries been ruled and owned by this old and powerful Celtic monastery.

Page 31. It is established to the satisfaction of all reasonable men that the Applecross and O'Beolan Earls of Ross were one and the same, and that they were descended from Gilleoin na h' Airde, corrupted in the Norse Sagas into " Beolan," Note: See page 5 of main narrative for King Bjolan "Beolan"

Page 39... The Priest — "An Sagart" (in the place for father of) Ferquhard Mac an t'Sagairt"..

Comments: Earl Gillandres and Malcolm MacHeth were each 1 of 6 Celtic Earls of the same time frame. Alexander MacKenzie was Editor of Celtic Magazine.