Mormaer

The title of Mormaer designates a regional ruler in the medieval Kingdom of the Scots, second only to the king therein. The etymology is variously debated as "Great Steward" (incorporating Gaelic and Picto-Latin), or "Sea Lord" (perhaps defenders against the attacks of Vikings). Historians do not know if the institution was Scottish or Pictish. There is also debate as to whether or not the term mormaer was simply the east-coast equivalent of Kinglet (Gaelic: ruir? or r?).

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We are unsure about the exact difference between a Mormaer and a Toisech. The earliest Scottish Latin sources use the word thanus (Thane), adopted from the Anglo-Saxon lands to the south. Thanus is often equated with Toisech, but it is possible that both thanus and comes, and Mormaer and Toisech, all originally meant the similar things; or at least were not as stratified as we have come to think.

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The term Mormaer first occurs in reference to one of the companions of King Causant?n II at the Battle of Corbridge (918). Another 3 Mormaers are mentioned near the close of the 10th century. The earliest Mormaers of each province are generally unknown until the 12th century, by which time the Mormaer is being referred to in Latin documents as Comes.

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This has led to the erroneous impression that "Mormaerdoms" were scrapped and replaced by "Earldoms." In fact, Comes (lit. count) is just a Franco-Latin word used to translate Mormaer into Latin (with French). For instance, several Irish sources call Robert Bruce Mormaer (of Carrick) in the 14th century (it is not an Irish word!), and the term is still recorded as being used for the "Earl" of Lennox a century later. On the other hand, the English word Earl is not recorded as being is use in Scotland until the 14th century.

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Nevertheless, as English became more prominent in that century in much of Lowland Scotland, it is the term which has come to be used. Strictly speaking, though, it is not at all very accurate to use the word before that period.

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