Duke of Atholl

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The title Duke of Atholl, named after Atholl in Scotland, was created only one time in British history by Queen Anne in 1703, as a promotion of the very ancient title of Mormaer or Earl of Atholl. The latter has a a very old and complex history.

The present Duke holds numerous subsidiary titles. These include: Marquess of Atholl (created 1676), Marquess of Tullibardine (1703), Earl of Atholl (1629), Earl of Tullibardine (1629 and 1676), Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle (1703), Viscount of Balquhidder (1676), Lord Murray of Tullibardine (1604), and Lord Murray, Balvenie and Gask (1676). All of the titles belong in the peerage of Scotland.

The Duke's eldest son and heir has the courtesy title of Marquess of Tullibardine. Between 1846 and 1957 the Duke was also Baron Glenlyon in the United Kingdom, enabling him to sit in the House of Lords. On this barony's extinction in 1957, the Duke of Atholl had the dubious honour of being the highest ranking peer without a seat in the House of Lords (removed in 1963 when all hereditary Scottish peers gained the right to sit in that body).

Contents

[edit] History: Mormaerdom/Earldom of Atholl

The Mormaer of Earl of Atholl refers to a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl (Ath Fodhla), now in northern Perthshire.

Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from contemporary sources are Fortriu and Circinn. Indeed, the early thirteenth century document known to modern scholars as the de Situ Albanie repeats the claim that Atholl was an ancient Pictish kingdom. In the eleventh century, the famous Crínán of Dunkeld may have performed the role of Mormaer.

Royal connections continued with Máel Muire, who was the son of King Donnchad I, and the younger brother of Máel Coluim III mac Donnchada. Matad was perhaps the most famous of the Mormaers, fathering Harald Maddadsson, a notorious rebel of the Scottish King and perhaps the first Gael to rule Orkney as Earl of Orkney. The line of Máel Muire and Crínán came to an end when Forbhlaith, the daughter of Mormaer Henry married David de Hastings.

The latter marriage produced a daughter, Ada, who married into the Strathbogie family, a semi-Normanized Gaelic family with Fife origins. The Strathbogies ruled until the Wars of Independence, when the Campells took over. It finally passed to the Stewarts.

[edit] Military Command & traditional residence

The holder of the title also commands the only legal private army in Europe, the Atholl Highlanders.

The Dukes of Atholl's traditional residence is Blair Castle, though the family has owned several other residences and castles in the past, notably Huntingtower Castle, Balvenie Castle, Tullibardine Castle and Dunkeld House (the latter two demolished).

[edit] List of title holders

[edit] List of Mormaers/Earls

[edit] Early Mormaers/Earls of Atholl

After David II, two of others of his name claimed the lordship, though neither exercised it:

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Second Creation (1320)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Third Creation (1341)

  • William Douglas, Earl of Atholl (d. 1353) (resigned upon creation)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Fourth Creation (1342)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Fifth Creation (1398)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Sixth Creation (1403)

Lost the earldom upon the death of his brother, Robert III of Scotland, in 1406.

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Seventh Creation (1404)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Eighth Creation (1457)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Ninth Creation (1596)

with the subsidiary title Lord Innermeath (1469)

  • John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl (1566–1603)
  • John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Atholl (d. 1625)

[edit] Earls of Tullibardine, First Creation (1606)

  • John Murray, 1st Earl of Tullibardine (d. 1609)
  • William Murray, 2nd Earl of Tullibardine (c. 1574–1626) (resigned)

[edit] Earls of Tullibardine, Second Creation (1628)

[edit] Earls of Atholl, Tenth Creation (1629)

[edit] List of Marquesses

[edit] Marquesses of Atholl (1676)

[edit] List of Dukes

[edit] Dukes of Atholl (1703)

Heir Apparent: Bruce George Ronald Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine (b. April 6, 1960)
The Marquess of Tullibardine's Heir Apparent: Michael Bruce John Murray, Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle (b. March 5, 1985)

[edit] Barons Glenlyon (1821-1957)

[edit] See also


[edit] Bibliography

  • Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500-1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
  • Roberts, John L., Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages, (Edinburgh, 1997)
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[edit] External links

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Extant British dukedoms*

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* Extant dukedoms, listed by precedence, from highest to lowest
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