The abrupt, and unsolved, murder of Niall left the north of Scotland in a tenuous position. It was luck, more than anything, that Uilleam had been born 6 months before his father’s death or the line of Gòrdonach would have ended with little remark in history. Ximena, mother to the young Duke, promptly had herself instated as regent to try and insure safety for her son.
Ainmeil (Notable)
- Uilleam Gòrdonach - Duke of Moray
- Ivar ‘Boneless’ av Ivar - Norse conqueror and ruler of the Western Isles of Scotland
- Constantín mac Alpin - King of Scotland
- Ximena Íñugas - mother to the young duke and Regent of Moray
- Sigtrygg av Ivar - son and primary heir to Ivar ‘Boneless’
Cunntas (Events)
Constantín, King of Scotland requested the hand of Ximena to wed his son Prince Hugh. This would have strengthened ties for the young Duke with his King, and was a prestigious match for the Princess of Navarra. However, Ximena, was fearful for her son. It was unknown who had her husband assassinated, but it was known that the King of Scotland stood to gain the most from an end of the Gòrdonach line - namely reabsorbing all of Moray’s holdings. Distrustful, she rejected the offer and was wed to Robert de Elgin, a courtier within the court of Moray to remain near her progeny and ward off further mac Alpin interest.
The Defense of Orkney
The fate of Orkney remained undecided, but Constantín and the army of Scotland joined in the fray. Moray rushed troops to join the fighting.
However, their efforts proved to be ineffective.
FAU 870.9 Constantín, King of the Scotti, was defeated by the fair heathens at Birsay.
However, no further Norse reinforcements arrived. Moray and Scotland were again able to form their levies and again strike at the Ostlanders, eventually overwhelming them, and then won back Orkney’s holdings. Drained and tired of the fighting, Haraldr and Constantín agreed to a peace in 872, securing Moray’s hold upon Orkney.
Uncertainty
Peace did not last, however. In 871 Jylland declared an invasion of England against Mercia. In 872 Constantín joined the desperate defense. All of Catholic Britain was at war with the Norse in the area, and losing. The councillors of Uilleam urged Moray to refrain from participating.
Earl Morgan in Ros in the North sought to claim the duchy from young Uilleam. He refused to forego this ambition, and was ordered arrested for the safety of the realm. He was captured, and made comfortable in the dungeons.
After having aided in the defense of Orkney, it was learned that Constantín schemed to revoke the county from Uilleam. Likely to weaken his powerful vassal. No action was taken, but tension rose considerably in the court of the young duke.
The Wars of 876
876 was a critical year of activity in Scotland. Constantín moved to expand his territory at the expense of Strathclyde, declaring a war to capture Dail Chluaidh. Norse attackers from Teviotdale struck at Strathclyde at the same time - two invading armies overwhelmed the defense of the Britons in the North.
The Ivar ‘Boneless’ declared a war to take Srath Èireann from Constantín. Weakened and defeated in Strathclyde, Scotland could not resist Ivar who would win his claim.
In late 877 Halfdan, Petty King in Jorrvik, declared an attack to capture Fib from Constantín, who was still too weak to resist. The councillors of Uilleam again refrained from sending direct aid for the fighting, seeing that Scotland was too weak to challenge the invaders.
Revolt of Pictavia
In 877 Earl Crinan in Ce, or Pictavia, to the East sought to claim the duchy from young Uilleam. He refused to forego this ambition, and was ordered arrested for the safety of the realm. He resisted and raised his armed levies in rebellion. There was a short, sharp clash at St. Machar, and then the war became a series of sieges that culminated in the surrender of Crinan and his placement into the dungeons in early 878, where he would perish in September later that same year.
A Changing Crown
FAU 878.6 Ivar ‘Boneless’ was crowned the pagan King of Scotland.
While not unexpected, it must still have been a time of great tension as word arrived that the reign of the mac Alpin’s was ended and Ivar was in fact considered King of Scotland. Moray had lost the protection, such as it was, of the Scottish crown.
The duchy was alone and exposed to any further effort of Ostlandet to take Orkney, to the depredations of Ivar, or to any further northern ambitions by Halfdan in Jorvik. The Lord Councillors of Moray showed little hesitation as the Chancellor for the newly independent Duchy of Moray traveled quickly to Ivar in Suðreyjar.
FAU 878.6 Uilleam of Moray meekly swore fealty to the crown of Scotland in Innse Gall (Suðreyjar).
Transition
The Earl of Ros, Morgan, was still languishing in the dungeons, where Niall had placed him following his revolt in the early 870s. The Councillors of Moray sought to raise funds by ransoming him, but instead elected to banish him and his family in April of 880 - taking the title to Ros and seizing the treasury therein.
Fall of the mac Alpin
In June of 882 Ivar, King of Scotland, acted to press his de jure claim upon Fotla, held by a count under Duke Constantín mac Alpin of Albany. Scotland won the war, and Fotla fell back under the crown. However, during the fighting, Ivar ‘Boneless’ passed in September of 882. The realm was divided amongst his many sons, Sigtrygg took the Crown of Scotland, and the capital was relocated to Srath Èireann.
At the start of the fighting for Fotla, the Chancellor of Moray was recalled from that county, wherein he had been seeking to find record of a claim by the Gòrdonach. Robert, a talented lowborn courtier, was named the new Chancellor and sent to Circinn, again to find proof of a Gòrdonach claim. He promptly produced appropriate documentation. Young Uilleam’s Council rapidly approved action to take advantage of the weakened Constantín with his armies destroyed fighting Ivar, and war was declared. It was a brief affair, amounting only to a couple of sieges before Constantín mac Alpin ‘The Unready’ surrendered the last of his holdings in Scotland. Unlanded, he fled to the continent.
Coupled with conquests Ivar had won in Ireland, Norse Scotland continued to grow strong.
Turmoil
Sigtrygg attempted to lead and conquer as had his father, and to continue adding further territory in Ireland. But his vassals saw him as weaker, and felt they had stronger rights. Jarl SigfroÞ of East Anglia, his brother, was one such and declared rebellion in August of 883. Other Norse lords were also drawn into the fighting. The Scots, under Moray, refrained from joining the fray at first. But when levies from the rebels marched north and laid siege in Ros, Moray called up its troops and drove them out. They then crossed to lay siege to the Isles - seeking compensation for the ravages of the invasion.
It was July of 885, as this fighting was underway, that Gilchrist of Ce thought he had an opportunity, and (has had his father before him) he raised his banner in revolt against Moray when the Council ordered his arrest.
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