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- Irish King Lists contradict on the origin of Ferguas Mor mac Erc.
"In the 20th year of the reign of the monarch Lughaidh, son of Laeghaire, with a complete army, Fergus Mor mac Earca (along with five of his brothers, Fergus Og, Loarn Mor, Loarn Og, Aongus Mor, and Aongus Og) went into Scotland to assist his grandfather, King Loarn, who was much oppressed by his enemies, the Picts; who were vanquished by Fergus and his party, who prosecuted the war so vigorously, followed the enemy to thier own homes, and reduced them to such extremity, that they were glad to accept peace upon the conqueror's own conditions; whereupon, on the King's death, which happened about the same time, the said Fergus Mor was unanimously elected and chosen King as being of the blood royal by his mother. And the said Fergus, for a good and lucky omen, sent to his brother, who was then Monarch of Ireland, for the Marble Seat, called "Saxum Fatale" (in Irish, "Liath Fail", and "Cloch-na-Cinneamhna", implying in English, "The Stone of Destiny"), to be crowned thereupon; which happened accordingly, for, as he was the first absolute King of all Scotland of the Miesian Race, so the succession continued in his blood and lineage ever since to this day." (unknown genealogical source)
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Born in approximately 434 AD, Fergus Mor Mac Erc is considered the father of the Royal lines of Scotland and thus the father of Scotland itself.
Fergus was the first Scottish based King of Dalriada, a country split by the sea, with a base in Ireland (the area of now County Antrim, Ireland) and territory also in the western portions of what is now Scotland.
There are two legends concerning the origins of Scottish Dalriada. One tells of a famine that caused the tribe of the Dal Riada to move into northern Ireland and parts of western Scotland. The other says that the Dal Riada moved north in Ireland because of famine and then aligned themselves with the Picts in Northern Ireland, thus gaining the right to settle in the Pict land of Caledonia (now called Scotland).
In either case the settlement of Alba by the Irish Scotti apparently started around the second century AD. By the late fourth century, the Scotti had attained enough strength to draw the attention of the Picts. They were soon attacked and in retaliation Niall of the Nine Hostages, the High King of Ireland (and great grandfather of Fergus Mor mac Erc), landed with a sizeable force to punish the Picts. The little colony of Scottish Dalriada was saved and slowly gained strength over the next one hundred years. It is during the late fifth century that Fergus Mor ("The Great") mac (son of) Erc arrived in Scottish Dalriada.
Fergus Mor was the son of Earca, daughter of Loarn, King of Dalriada. By right, Fergus became King of Dalriada in about 498 AD. He soon moved his seat of power from Ireland to Scotland -- likely because his eldest brother was already King in Antrim, and thus Fergus would have no title to inherit. Fergus brought with him a large host of O'Neill warriors.
With his arrival, Scottish Dalriada was now a force to be reckoned with. Fergus consolidated his power in the new lands until his death in c. 501 AD. His successors continued his efforts until c. 576, when Dalriada was strong enough to petition and successfully split from its mother country in Ireland. This seat of power eventually combined with the Empire of the Picts and later with Strathclyde and Lothian to form the modern country of Scotland.
Even though Fergus Mor did little that is notable in his lifetime besides this move, he is considered the father of all the Royal lines of Scotland and thus the father of Scotland itself. When a male line of kings died, the new line was based from a female descendant of Fergus Mor. In Scottish history there is no bloodline more impressive, as it ran through the royal houses of Alpin, Dunkeld, Bruce, Stewart and Hanover.
BW, February 2000
http://www.tartans.com/articles/famscots/fergusmor.html
(edited by this author)
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Abt 434 - 511 (~ 77 years)
