Mariota Leslie, 9th Countess of Ross

Mariota Leslie, 9th Countess of Ross

Name: Mariota Leslie, 9th. Countess of Ross

Born: 1363 in Leslie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Married: 8 Oct. 1395, in Tulloch Castle, Dingwall, Ross, Scotland to Donald MacDonald, of Islay, Lord of the Isles

Children: (4)

Alexander MacDonald of Islay, 11th Earl of Ross

1396–1449 • LB1M-87T

Lady Agnes (Stewart) MacDonald 1400–1463 • GN6X-8VK

Angus MacDonald, Bishop of the Isles 1410–1470 • L28Z-MZP

Marjorie (MacNeil) MacDonald, of Orkney 1410–1504 • GX39-C66

Mariota (Sutherland) MacDonald, of the Isles

Died: 1429 in Tulloch Castle, Dingwall, Cromarty-Ross, Scotland (age of 70)

Buried: 1429 in Tulloch Castle, Dingwall, Cromarty-Ross, Scotland

Life Sketch:

The Life Summary of Mariota "Maired" Mary Leslie, Countess of Ross was born 1363, in Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland, her father, Walter Leslie Earl of Ross, was 49 and her mother, Euphemia Ross, was 40. She married Donald MacDonald, 8th. Lord of the Isles on 8 Oct. 1395, in Tulloch Castle, Dingwall, Ross, Scotland. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters.

House: Clan Donald

Father: Walter Leslie, Lord of Ross

Mother: Euphemia I, Countess of Ross Mariota, Countess of Ross (Mairead, also called Mary and Margaret) was the daughter of Euphemia I, Countess of Ross and her husband, the crusading war-hero Walter Leslie, Lord of Ross.

Upon the death of her brother, Alexander Leslie, Earl of Ross, she became the heir-presumptive of her niece Euphemia II, Countess of Ross although her husband Domhnall of Islay, Lord of the Isles pressed Mariota's superior claim to the earldom. Domhnall attempted to gain control of the earldom, and sometime after 1405 but before 1411, Domhnall gained control of Dingwall Castle.

In the year after the death of the nominal king Robert III of Scotland (1406), in August 1407, Domhnall sent emissaries to England to the heir of the throne, the captive James Stewart. King Henry IV of England sent his own emissaries the following year to negotiate an alliance against Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, the Guardian of Scotland who was controlling Euphemia and the earldom. With control over the principal seat of the earldom of Ross and support of the exiled heir to the Scottish throne, in 1411 Domhnall felt strong enough to march against Albany's main northern ally, Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar.

At the Battle of Harlaw, Domhnall failed to inflict a decisive victory, and withdrew back to the western highlands. In the aftermath, Albany was able to retake Dingwall and seize control of Easter Ross.

In 1415, Euphemia was persuaded by Albany to resign the earldom to his own second son, John Stewart, Earl of Buchan. This action was challenged by Domhnall of Islay, who continued to claim the earldom on behalf of Mariota.

After the return of King James the latter destroyed the power of the Albany Stewarts, executing the Albany's son and successor Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany. Domhnall had died in 1423, but Mariota continued to enjoy the support of his successor and her own son, Alexander.

Alexander took over her claims, and in 1437 her son was recognized as earl by the king. She died in 1429. She had two known children, Alexander and Mariota. When Lady Margaret's niece, Euphemia, Countess of Ross, daughter of her deceased brother, Alexander, Earl of Ross, had declared her intention to take the veil, Donald of the Isles asserted his claim to the earldom of Ross as next heir, in right of his wife, in conformity with the entail made by William, Earl of Ross, her grandfather, in 1370. He disputed the destination made by his wife's niece Euphemia, as being made in prejudice to his wife, who was the lawful heir to the earldom.

The Duke of Albany, and his son John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, wishing to keep what they had, insisted that the resignation of the Countess Euphemia was legal, and they declared that they would maintain it. Whereon Donald resolved to assert his right by force of arms; and he so far took possession that he held the castle of Dingwall, the residence of the Earls of Ross. He raised an army of 10,000 men in the Hebrides and Ross, and marched through Moray into the Garioch, on Mar, intending, it is said, to attack the city of Aberdeen.

Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar and Lord of the Garioch, the king's lieutenant in the North, collected a body of troops in haste, and met the invader at Harlaw, on the river Urie, about eighteen miles north-west of the city of Aberdeen, 24th July 1411. Although Mar's army was inferior in number, the battle was most obstinately contested, with great loss on both sides. It proved indecisive, however. Both parties claimed the victory.

On the side of Donald, the chiefs of MacKintosh and MacLean fell, with about 900 men ; Mar lost 500 men, besides many persons of rank. Sir Andrew de Leslie, 3rd. Baron of Balquhain, who commanded Mar’s horse, lost six sons in the battle. Donald of the Isles was so much weakened by this sanguinary battle, that he was forced to retire, and the Duke of Albany, Regent of the kingdom, shortly afterwards proceeded with a force to the north, and took the castle of Dingwall; and in the following year, 1412, he invaded Donald's territories, and obliged him to abandon his pretensions to the earldom of Ross, and to give hostages for his future observance of peace.

John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, was now styled Earl of Ross, and he held the title till his death at the battle of Verneil, in Normandy, 17th August 1424; and his brother, Sir Robert Stewart, being also killed in the same battle, and neither of them leaving any male issue, the earldom of Ross, in virtue of the limitation in the charter granted to them by their father, the Regent, in 1415, devolved on the crown. It would appear that although the Stewarts got forcible possession of the earldom of Ross, yet Lady Margaret Leslie did not forego her just claims, and she retained at least the title of Countess of Ross, as is shown by the following document:

— "John Byschop of Ross, Dame Margaret of the Ile, Lady of the Yles and of Ross, Huchen Fraser, Lord of Lovat, John Urchard, Lord of Crommathy, Donald of Kalder, Thayne of that like, with many others, till all and sundry, & c. We mak knowyn, truche thir presents that in August 16 year 1420, in the kyrk yharde of Rosmarkyn, compeart Willyam the Grame, son and heyr umquhile of Henry the Grame, in presence of us before a nobil Lord and a michty Thomas Erie of Murreff, his ovyr Lord of the barony of Kerdale, resyngnan over of his auyn fre will in til handes of the sayde Lord the Erie the sayde all his lands of the barony of Kerdale Scheradom of Inverness, and all other lands, to be gyffyn to the sayde Willyam the Grame and his heyris-male, and faylzand them, to Willyam the Hay. Upon the quhylkes thyngis the sayde Willyam the Grame and Willyam the Hay requirit us in witnesyng by our letters testimonial and our seals. The quhilk we grawntit at the place and day before sayde." Lady Margaret Leslie, Countess of Ross, had by her husband, Donald, Lord of the Isles, issue

I. Alexander, who succeeded as Lord of the Isles, and assumed the title of Earl of Ross;

II. Mariot, married to Alexander Sutherland. She and her husband, Alexander Sutherland, in 1429, got a grant of the lands of Duchall from her brother, Alexander, Lord of the Isles and Earl of Ross. Donald, Lord of the Isles, died before 1427. Margaret, Countess of Ross, and her son, Alexander, Lord of the Isles, were arrested by King James I. when he held a parliament at Inverness, in 1427. The Lord of the Isles was soon released, but his mother, the Countess of Ross, was detained a prisoner, and died about 1429.