Ela (Of Scotland) MacDuff (abt. 1145)

Born about 1145 in Scotland [uncertain]

Descendants

Died [date unknown] in Scotland [uncertain]

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Ada (Of Scotland) MacDuff was an inhabitant of Medieval Scotland. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

Ela was the daughter of unknown parents.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Research notes

Ela's parents have been speculated about for many years because of the charter which Sir James Balfour of Denmyln claimed he transcribed from the manuscript notebook of Sir John Skene, Lord Clerk Register (1594-1604).^[3] In the charter, copied below from Barrow "in the barbarous form of Balfour's manuscript", Malcolm IV, king of Scotland, at Edinburgh circa 1160-2, granted in frank marriage to Duncan, earl of Fife and his heir born of his wife Ada, the king's niece, Strathmiglo, Falkland, Bathillet, Strathbraan, and the whole farm of (King's) Kettle.^[4]

Malcolmus del gratia Rex Scottorum Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus, Justiciis Yicecomitibus, Ministris et omnibus hominibus totius terre sue francis Anglis et Scotis tarn presentibus quam futuris Salutem Sciant tarn posteri quam presentes, me dedisse concessisse et hac mea carta confirmasse Duncano Comiti et heredi suo qui de uxore sua Ada nepte mea nasceretur Stradimiggloch et Falecklen et Radhulit, et Stradbrauen et totam firmam meam de Cattell in liberum Maritagium, in Bosco et piano, in pratis et pascuis, in Aquis et Molendinis, et in omnibus libertatibus ville eisdem terris pertinentibus, Quare uolo et precipio ut Comes Duncanus et heredes sui has prenominatas terras habeant [et] teneant libere et quiete in Liberum Maritagium presentibus testibus, Ernesto episcopo St Andree Yillielmo abbate de Streuelin Osberto abbate de Jedburghe Willielmo fratre Regis Ada Comitissa Yaltero Cancellario Gilberto Comite de Anegus Richardo de Morueill Odonell de Umphraweill Richardo Comyne Philippo de Colueill Yillielmo de Burdet Matheo Archidiacono St Andree Nell filio Comitisse Orme filio Hugonis Roberto de Quinci Apud Edinburghe A° 7 regni regis.

Apart from the above charter there is no evidence of who Ela's parents were although suggestions are:

• Unknown, illegitimate child of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and Earl of Northumberland

Sir J. Balfour Paul's The Scots Peerage (1907) states that when Sir James Balfour of Denmyln transcribed the charter in which King Malcolm IV of Scotland refers to the wife of Duncan (II), earl of Fife, as Ada nepta mea (my niece), he incorrectly dated it at Edinburgh in the seventh year of Malcolm IV's reign, although the witnesses to the charter date it to between 1160 and 1162, and perhaps misread Ada for Ela. It also says objections were raised to Ela being the niece of King Malcolm because none of his siblings were old enough to have had a child of marriageable age by 1160.^[1] King Malcolm IV's parents, Ada de Warenne and Henry of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and Earl of Northumberland, married in 1139.^[5] It suggests the possibility that Countess Ela was Malcolm's niece because his father, Earl Henry, had one illegitimate child in his youth and may have had others.^[1]

• Unknown child of David I, king of Scotland

Cawley's Medieval Lands (2017) agrees that Malcolm IV was too young to have a niece married around 1160, has no record of an illegitimate child by Earl Henry, and suggests if nepte is interpreted more loosely it could mean a more remote relative of the king, so Ela could have been a first cousin, the daughter of an unknown child of Earl Henry's father, David I, king of Scotland.^[2]

• Connexion to the Warenne family

In The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century (1955), Barrow's opinion of Sir James Balfour's veracity and accurateness as a Scottish antiquary is scathing because he deliberately fabricated documents and bungled transcriptions. Barrow clearly doubts the authenticity of Malcolm IV's "purported charter" because Balfour claimed to have copied it from the notebook of Skene, but it is not in the Skene manuscript nor is there any sign that it ever was. The three other documents that Balfour did copy from the Skene manuscript contain serious errors. Saying Balfour was known to add dating clauses to charters, Barrow objects to the charter's date of anno 7 regni regis, dating the charter to between November 1160 and September 1162 because Arnold bishop of St Andrews was a witness. Barrow agrees that King Malcolm had no niece of marriageable age before 1162, because in 1160 he gave his sister Margaret in marriage to the duke of Brittainy and his sister Ada to the count of Hollan in 1162. He says the statement in the The Scots Peerage that Malcolm's father had an illegitimate child is probably a reference to Margaret, the alleged mother of Alice de Lindesay who married circa 1228, which was based on "extremely flimsy and unsupported evidence" and no evidence substantiates Earl Henry having other illegitimate children. Barrow then suggests Ada may have been a transcription error for Ala, a variant of Ela, and there may be a connection between Ela and the Warenne family, because Ela was an unusual name at that time although King Malcolm's uncle, William III earl Warenne, was married to Ela of Ponthieu, the daughter of Ela of Burgundy; Ela witnessed a charter by King Malcolm's mother, Ada de Warenne, circa 1160-5; and Reginald de Warenne, probably Ada de Warenne's brother, witnessed a charter issued by Ela's husband to the monks of May. Barrow ends this discussion with the statement that Ela's identity and how she was connected to King Malcolm remain a mystery awaiting further evidence.^[3]

• Reginald de Warenne

In "Ada De Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123-1178)" (1981), Victoria Chandler says Countess Ela, the wife of Duncan II of Fife (d. 1204) may have been the niece of Ada de Warenne, countess of Huntingdon and Northumberland, and the child of Reginald de Warenne, giving the same evidence for her suggestion as Barrow does, ie, Ela witnessed Ada's charter to St Andrew's; Ada and Ela were witnessess for Morgrund and Agnes of Mar; Ela's grant to Dunfermline was witnessed by Alexander de Martin,^[6] Ada's chief vassal, who had a daughter named Ela.^[7]

Douglas Richardson in a post to soc.genealogy.medieval (2005) says "Joan de Somerville's maternal great-grandmother was Ada, wife of Roger de Merlay (died 1239), who my files shows was the daughter of Duncan, 6th Earl of Fife in Scotland, by his wife, Ela, thought to have been a daughter of Reynold de Warenne."^[8]

Marriage and Children

Ela married Duncan (II) Macduff (d. 1204), variously referred to as the fourth,^[9] fifth^[1] or 6th earl of Fife.^[10]

Ela and her husband, Duncan, had children:

1. Malcolm, in 1204 succeeded his father as earl of Fife, died 1228, married Matilda, the daughter of Gilbert, earl of Stratherne,^[1] who granted in frank marriage to Malcolm, son of Earl Duncan of Fife, with his daughter Maud, Glendevon, Carnbo, Aldie, Fossoway, Dalkeith and (?) Pitfar (1194-8);^[4]
2. Duncan, married Alice Corbet, the daughter of Walter Corbet of Makerstoun;^[1]
3. David, who received the lands of Strathbogie, Aberdeenshire, from his father;^[1]
4. a daughter, her father gave 500 marks to the King of England, in 1188, for the custody of Roger de Merlay's land in Northumberland, the ward of Roger's son and leave for the son to marry his daughter.^[1]

Research Notes

The Wikipedia article about Ela's husband, Donnchad II, Earl of Fife, states "On Christmas Day 1160, he married Ada (Ela/Hela/Adela) who is named in official documents as a close relative of King Máel Coluim IV, translated as a half sister by his father Henry of Scotland or niece from the Latin text." ^[11] citing the following sources:

1. Dalton, Stephanie. 15 Jan 2006. "Scotland's People: Walking the line back in time, profile of Johnny Cash", Scotsman.com. Retrieved 28 June 2007. Dalton says "[Cash] traced his family tree back to 11th-century Fife."
2. Manzoor, Sarfraz (Sunday 7 February 2010). "Scottish roots of Johnny Cash, the man in black tartan." Guardian.uk.co, The Observer. Retrieved 2011-04-12. Manzoor says "Cash visited a genealogist and discovered that he was of Scottish descent and that his clan had originated around the 12th century in the Strathmiglo area of Fife. The connection was traced back to when the niece of Malcolm IV (1153-1165) – who was named Cash or Cashel – married the Earl of Fife."
3. Cash, John R. with Patrick Carr, Johnny Cash, the Autobiography, Harper Collins 1997, p. 3.
4. Cash, Roseanne (2010). Composed: a Memoir. Viking Press/Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-101-45769-6. Cash says "... the Cash name did indeed originate in Fife, with Ada, half-sister of King Malcolm IV. She married Duncan, earl of Fife, and was given a land dowry of what is now Strathmiglo ... which comprised nine thousand acres in the year 1160. Ada and Duncan built a castle ..."

The official website of Clan MacTavish, says Cash is an Associated Family Name or Sept of Clan MacTavish,^[12] and it has no evidence of Ela/Ada being connected with the name Cash or Cashel.^[13]

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Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7} James Balfour Paul, ed., The Scots Peerage: Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, 9 vols (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1907), IV:7-8, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/scotspeeragefoun04paul#page/6/mode/2up accessed 6 September 2017). See text and note 4.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Charles Cawley, "Scotland, Kings: B. Kings of Scotland 1034-1290: Ela", Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families, 2017, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND.htm#ElaMDuncanFife accessed 8 September 2017).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} G W S Barrow, "The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1952-54, 87:52-3. (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1955). Digital Image The Archaeology Data Service (http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_087/87_051_062.pdf accessed 8 September 2017).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} G W S Barrow, "The Earls of Fife in the 12th Century", 60.
5. ↑ Charles Cawley, "Scotland, Kings: B. Kings of Scotland 1034-1290: Henry of Scotland", Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families, 2017, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND.htm#Henrydied1152 accessed 8 September 2017).
6. ↑ Victoria Chandler, "Ada De Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123-1178)." The Scottish Historical Review 60, no. 170 (1981): 128. Digital Image JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org.rp.nla.gov.au/stable/25529417 accessed 7 September 2017).
7. ↑ Victoria Chandler, "Ada De Warenne, Queen Mother of Scotland (c. 1123-1178)." 126.
8. ↑ Douglas Richardson, soc.genealogy.medieval, 10 November 2005, https://groups.google.com/d/msg/soc.genealogy.medieval/d4xpAffc8h8/xkSxdldIqmsJ accessed 9 September 2017.
9. ↑ Andrew McDonald, ‘Macduff family, earls of Fife (per. c.1095–1371)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com.rp.nla.gov.au/view/article/50328, accessed 7 Sept 2017 via National Library of Australia subscription). Duncan (II) Macduff, fourth earl of Fife (d. 1204): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/54115.
10. ↑ Ted R. McDuffee, comp, "Analysis of Chief/Representer of Clan MacDuff", Clan MacDuff Society of America (http://www.clanmacduff.org/history.html accessed 7 September 2017).
11. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Donnchad II, Earl of Fife," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Web (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donnchad_II,_Earl_of_Fife&oldid=789975134 accessed September 7, 2017).
12. ↑ "Associated Family Names – Septs", Clan MacTavish (http://clanmactavish.org/family-names-septs accessed 10 September 2017).
13. ↑ "MacTavish History", Clan MacTavish (http://clanmactavish.org/history accessed 10 September 2017).

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