'Fife1'
Index links to: Lead / Letter
Families covered: Early Earls of Fife, Strathbogie Earls of Atholl
| There is mystery surrounding the identities of the early holders of the Earldom of Fife and it is by no means certain that (for example) Gillemichael (shown below as the 3rd Earl) was in fact descended from Dufagan (shown below as the 1st Earl). Some web sites report the old suggestion that Dufagan was son of MacDuff, ie. grandson of King Duff (or Dubh), but this is rejected by most serious genealogists simply because MacDuff is thought to have never existed. | |||||||||||||||
| Dufagan (or Beth), 1st Earl of Fife (a 1107, 1114) succeeded by ... | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Constantine, 2nd Earl of Fife (d 1129) succeeded by ... | ||||||||||||||
| A. | Gillemichael, 3rd Earl of Fife (d by 07.1136) | ||||||||||||||
| i. | Duncan, 4th Earl of Fife (d 1154) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Hela | |||||||||||||||
| a. | Duncan, 5th Earl of Fife, Justiciar (d 1203-4) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Ada or Ela (niece of Malcolm IV, King of Scotland) | |||||||||||||||
| (1) | Malcolm, 6th Earl of Fife (dsp 1228) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Maud/Matilda (dau of Gilbert, 3rd Earl of Strathearn) | |||||||||||||||
| (2) | Duncan of Fife | ||||||||||||||
| m. Aliz Corbert (dau of Walter Corbet of Makerstoun) | |||||||||||||||
| (A) | Malcolm, 7th Earl of Fife, Regent (d 1266) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Helen of Wales (a 1291, dau of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales) | |||||||||||||||
| (i) | Colban, 8th Earl of Fife (b c1244, d 1270) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Anne Lundin (dau of Sir Alan of Lundin, Durward) | |||||||||||||||
| (a) | Duncan, 9th Earl of Fife (b c1262, d 25.09.1288) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Johanna de Clare (a 1322, dau of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester) | |||||||||||||||
| ((1)) | Duncan, 10th Earl of Fife (b c1285, d 1353)§D |
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| m. (11.1307) Mary Monthermer (b c1298, dau of Ralph, Lord Monthermer) | |||||||||||||||
| ((A)) | Isabella, Countess of Fife (dsp c1390) | ||||||||||||||
| m1. Sir William Ramsay of Colluthie (d c1360) ## see here ## | |||||||||||||||
| m2. Walter Stewart, Earl of Fife (dsp c1363, son of King Robert II) | |||||||||||||||
| m3. Sir Thomas Byset of Upsetlington (dsp before 17.04.1365) | |||||||||||||||
| m4. John de Dunbar (dsp 1371) | |||||||||||||||
| ((2)) | Isabel of Fife | -- | |||||||||||||
| m. John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan (b c1259, dsp before 03.12.1308) | -- | ||||||||||||||
| ((3)) | daughter possibly of this generation | -- | |||||||||||||
| m. Michael de Arnot (a 1335) | -- | ||||||||||||||
| (ii) | Macduff of Reres (d Falkirk 22.07.1298) | ||||||||||||||
| (a) | Isabella | -- | |||||||||||||
| m. Sir David de Balfour of Strathor (d 1318) | -- | ||||||||||||||
| (iii) | daughter | -- | |||||||||||||
| m. Sir William de Moravia of Petyn (d before 03.1253) | -- | ||||||||||||||
| (3) | David of Strathbogie | ||||||||||||||
| (A) | John of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl | ||||||||||||||
| m. Ada, Countess of Atholl (dau of Sir David of Hastings, Earl of Atholl) | |||||||||||||||
| (i) | Sir David of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (b c1240, d 06.08.1270) | ||||||||||||||
| m1. Helen | |||||||||||||||
| m2. (before 06.1266) Isabella Chilham (d 1291-2, dau of Richard de Chilham of Dover) | |||||||||||||||
| (a) | John of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (d 10.11.1306) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Marjory of Mar (dau of Sir Donald, 6th Earl of Mar) | |||||||||||||||
| ((1)) | David of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (d 28.12.1326) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Joan Comyn (b c1295, d before 24.07.1326, dau of John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch) | |||||||||||||||
| ((A)) | David of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (b 01.02.1309, d 30.11.1335) | ||||||||||||||
| m. Katherine Beaumont (d 11.11.1368, dau of Henry Beaumont, 1st Lord, 'Earl of Buchan') | |||||||||||||||
| ((i)) | David of Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (b c1332, d c12.1369) | ||||||||||||||
| m. (before 1361) Elizabeth Ferrers (d 22.10.1375, dau of Henry Ferrers, 2nd Lord of Groby) | |||||||||||||||
| ((a)) | Elizabeth of Strathbogie (d after 1416) | ||||||||||||||
| m1. (1376) Sir Thomas Percy (d 1388) | |||||||||||||||
| Through this marriage, a descendant (in 1916) successfully claimed the barony of Strabolgi (Strathbogie). | |||||||||||||||
| m2. (before 1402) Sir John le Scrope (b c1345, d 12.1405) | |||||||||||||||
| m3. Robert de Thorley | |||||||||||||||
| ((b)) | Philippa of Strathbogie (d 1395?) | ||||||||||||||
| m1. Sir Ralph Percy (d 1397?) | |||||||||||||||
| m2. Sir John Halsham (d 1415) | |||||||||||||||
| ((B)) | Aymer or Adomar of Strathbogie or Atholl | ||||||||||||||
| m. Maria | |||||||||||||||
| ((i)) | Isabella of Strathbogie or Atholl | ||||||||||||||
| m. Ralph de Eure (d 10.03.1421/2) | |||||||||||||||
| The dates make this connection look questionable but not impossible. | |||||||||||||||
| ((ii)) | Maria of Strathbogie or Atholl | ||||||||||||||
| m. Robert de l'Isle | |||||||||||||||
| Shown by some web sites as a possible ancestor of later Duff families, although the connection is apparently not accepted by serious genealogists, was ... | |||||||||||||||
| ((C)) | John Duff (d 1404) | ||||||||||||||
| ((2)) | Sir John of Strathbogie / Atholl (a 1316) | ||||||||||||||
| Possibly the Sir John shown by some web sites as of the next generation & father of ... | |||||||||||||||
| ((A)) | Marieta de Garioch | ||||||||||||||
| m. Adam de Strathecan of Glenkindie | |||||||||||||||
| ((3)) | Isabel of Strathbogie (d 1317) | -- | |||||||||||||
| m. Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick, King of Ireland | -- | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | Amabilla shown here (speculatively) by some as wife of Sir Adam of Gordon | ||||||||||||||
| (4) | daughter (a 1188) | ||||||||||||||
| b. | Adam of Fife | ||||||||||||||
| m. Orabilis | |||||||||||||||
| c. | Afreka of Fife | ||||||||||||||
| m. Harald Maddadson, Earl of Orkney (b 1134, d 1206) | |||||||||||||||
| TSP (Fife) reports that Duncan (4th Earl) had at least two sons and a daughter, identified above. It also reports that "Some writers have held that the families of Spens, McIntosh, Duff and Fife are descended from this Earl of Fife, but without proof, and it is now certain that the origin of the McIntoshes is to be looked for elsewhere." Notwithstanding this caution, and noting that we show above an alternative ancestor for various Duff families, provisionally we show the following additional connections. | |||||||||||||||
| d. | Shaw or Sheagh Mac-in-toisich (d 1179) | -- | |||||||||||||
| BLG1952 (Mackintosh of Mackintosh) reports this much-claimed connection, identifying Shaw as "2nd son of Duncan McDuff, the 2nd of that name, and 3rd Earl of Fife." The numbering of the earls differs between sources, so that difference is not considered significant, but the dates indicate that, if he was of this family, he was probably son of the 1st Duncan rather than the 2nd. In Gaelic, "mac in toisich" means 'son of the chief/leader". | |||||||||||||||
| e. | John le Dispensator (a 1161) ancestor of Spens family | -- | |||||||||||||
| This John may have been son-in-law rather than son of Earl Duncan. | |||||||||||||||
| ii. | Hugh (Eoghin) of Fife | ||||||||||||||
| a. | Hugh (Egius) of Fife | ||||||||||||||
| This Hugh was long identified as father of John of (Wemyss and) Methil, ancestor of the Wemyss family, but according to TSP (Wemyss) that connection has since been disproved as John's father has since been confirmed as Michael of (Wemyss and) Methil whose wife may have been a daughter of Earl Gillemichael. | |||||||||||||||
| b. | Orm de Abernethy (a 1172/3) | -- | |||||||||||||
| Orm, son of Hugh, is identified in TSP (Saltoun), and also 'Fife (P&H)', as ancestor of the Abernethy family. BP1999 (Saltoun) identifies that Hugh as son of Gillemichael, 3rd Earl of Fife. That claim was not made for BP1934 (Saltoun) so it is assumed that some additional evidence has been found to justify that identification. | |||||||||||||||
| iii. | Ete of Fife | J | |||||||||||||
| m. Gartnait, Earl of Buchan | J | ||||||||||||||
Main source(s): TSP (Fife), TSP (Atholl), TCP (Fife), 'Fife (P&H)'
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