Earl of Strathearn

Earldom of Strathearn The Arms of the Realm and Ancient Local Principalities of Scotland

For other uses of Strathearn, see Strathearn (disambiguation).

The Mormaer of Strathearn or Earl of Strathearn was the provincial ruler of Strathearn in medieval Scotland. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Maol Íosa I is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the company of King David I at the Battle of the Standard, 1138. The last ruler of the Strathearn line was Maol Íosa V, also Earl of Orkney, who chose the wrong side in the Balliol-Bruce conflict which followed the death of King Robert I of Scotland. In 1344 possession was given to Maurice de Moravia, a royal favourite who had a vague claim to the lordship.

Strathearn has since been used as a peerage title for James Stewart, an illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, who was created Lord Abernethy and Strathearn and Earl of Moray in 1562. In 1631, William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith was confirmed in this dignity as heir of line of Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn (d. 1415), but was forced to settle for the less prestigious title of the Earl of Airth in 1633.

It has also been granted to members of the Royal Family in the titles of Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn (created 1766, extinct 1790), Duke of Kent and Strathearn (created 1799, extinct 1820) and Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (created 1874, extinct 1943).

On 29 April 2011, the title was recreated when Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title on Prince William of Wales. The title will merge into the Crown should he or one of his male line descendants (in the event that he predeceases his father and grandmother) take the throne, and become extinct should he neither succeed nor have male issue.

Ancient Earls of Strathearn

HRH Prince William, Earl of Strathearn (pictured in 2011)

Royal standard of HRH Prince William, Earl of Strathearn.

• Máel Ísu I, Earl of Strathearn (fl. 1138)
• Ferchar, Earl of Strathearn (fl. 1160)
• Gille Brigte, Earl of Strathearn (1171–1223)
• Robert, Earl of Strathearn (1223–1245)
• Maol Íosa II, Earl of Strathearn (1245–1271)
• Maol Íosa III, Earl of Strathearn (1271–1317)
• Maol Íosa IV, Earl of Strathearn (1317–1329)
• Maol Íosa V, Earl of Strathearn (1330–1334) (d. 1350 as Earl of Orkney)

Earls of Strathearn, Moray line beginning 1344

• Maurice de Moravia, Earl of Strathearn (d.1346)

Earls of Strathearn, Stewart/Graham line beginning 1357

• Robert Stewart, Earl of Strathearn (1316–1390) (passed to son after becoming King Robert II in 1371)
• David Stewart, Earl of Strathearn (1355–1390)
• Euphemia Stewart, Countess of Strathearn (d.1415)
  • m. Patrick Graham
• Malise Graham, Earl of Strathearn (1410–after 1427), deprived of the peerage before 1427
• Walter Stewart, Earl of Strathearn (d. 1437)

Earls of Strathearn, Mountbatten-Windsor line beginning 2011

• Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus (born 1982)

Bibliography

• Neville, Cynthia J., Native Lordship in Medieval Scotland: the Earldoms of Strathearn and Lennox, c. 1140–1365, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005 ISBN 1-85182-890-7
  • --do.--The Earls of Strathearn from the twelfth to the mid fourteenth century, with an edition of their written acts. 2 vols. 1983. Ph.D. thesis, University of Aberdeen. (http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/Deliv...&pid=130786)