Mariota LESLIE, Countess of Ross

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• Clan: ; Donald
• FamilySearch ID: LBBH-XMW
• Title (Nobility): ; Countess of Ross
• Name: Mairead
• Name: Margaret

Notes:

The Life Summary of Mariota
When Mariota Leslie Countess of Ross was born about 1370, 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 about 1391, in Harlaw, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters. She died in 1440, in Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, United Kingdom, at the age of 70.

From Wikipedia:

Mariota, Countess of Ross
Born:Scotland
Died:1440, Scotland
Spouse:Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles
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; died 1440) 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 1440. She had two known children, Alexander and Mariota.




About Mariota Leslie, Countess of Ross
Mariota, Countess of Ross (Mairead, also called Mary and Margaret; died 1440) 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.

http://books.google.com/books?id=7QGnt0PLWo8C&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q=&f=false Page 81 - 85

DONALD, LORD OF THE ISLES; AND MARGARET LESLIE, Tenth Countess of Ross.

Lady Margaret Leslie, daughter of Walter Leslie, Earl of Ross, by his wife Euphemia, Countess of Ross, married Donald, Lord of the Isles. 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 got, 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 Macintosh and Maclean fell, with about 900 men ; Mar lost 500 men, besides many persons of rank. Sir Andrew de Leslie, third 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. ----------------------------------------------- Margaret (Mariota) Leslie ? Surname: Leslie ? Given Name: Margaret (Mariota) ? Sex: F ? Birth: ABT 1375 ? Death: ABT 1440 in Tulloch Castle, Dingwall, Ross, Scot.

? Note: Vol 7, pg. 241 "The Scot's Peerage" by Sir James Balfour Paul

vol. 5, pg. 42, "The Scots Peerage" by Sir James Balfour Paul

pg. 638, "A Genealogical & Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage & Baronetage of the British Empire" by John B. Burke, Eleventh Edition, published 1849

Source: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=brucedjohnson1&id=I17642

Father: Walter of Ross Leslie b: ABT 1321 in Leslie, Garioch, Aberdeens, Scot. Mother: Euphemia of Ross b: ABT 1352 in Ross, , Scot.

Marriage 1 Donald of the Isles b: ABT 1355 Children 1.Alexander MacDonald of the Isles 2.Mariota of the Isles b: ABT 1410 in The Isles, Inverness, Scot.

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Mariota Leslie, Countess of Ross's Timeline
1363
1363
Birth of Mariota
Ross, Cromartyshire, Scotland
1380
1380
Age 17
Birth of Gilbert MacAlistair
1398
1398
Age 35
Birth of Alexander MacDonald, 9th Lord of the Isles,...
Tulloch Castle,Dingwall,Ross And Cromarty,Scotland
1404
1404
Age 41
Birth of Mariota MacDonald, of the Isles
Of The Isles,Scotland
1410
1410
Age 47
Birth of Agnes MacDonald
Dingwall, Cromarty, Scotland
1429
1429
Age 66
Death of Mariota at Tulloch Castle
Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland
????
Birth of A

Mariota married Donald MACDONALD, 8th Lord of the Isles on 8 Oct 1395 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland. Donald (son of John "Iain" Islay MACDONALD, Carrach and Lady Margaret STEWART, Princess of Scotland) was born about 1351 in Western Isles, Scotland; died on 8 May 1423 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland; was buried in 1423 in Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Alexander MACDONALD, 10th. Earl of Ross was born in Jul 1396 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland; died on 7 May 1449 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland; was buried in 1449 in Fortrose Cathedral, Fortrose, Ross-shire, Scotland.
2. Mariota MACDONALD OF THE ISLES was born in 1398 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland; died on 20 Jul 1448 in Cromarty, Cromartyshire, Scotland; was buried in 1448 in Cromartyshire, Scotland.
3. Agnes MACDONALD was born about 1400 in Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland; died in 1463 in Glenorchy, Argyll, Scotland; was buried in 1463 in Glenorchy, Argyll, Scotland.
4. Anna MACDONALD was born about 1405 in Scotland; died in in Scotland.
5. Angus MACDONALD, Bishop of the Isles was born in 1410 in Ardtornish Castle, Argyll, Scotland; died in 1470 in Scotland; was buried in 1470 in Scotland.

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: G97Y-1W7

Walter married Euphemia OF ROSS. Euphemia was born in 1348 in Hill of Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland; died on 28 Feb 1394; was buried in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: GNVS-ZR3