Donnchadh was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and Scottish magnate in what is now south-western Scotland. His career stretched from the last quarter of the 12th century until his death in 1250. He fought battles in Ireland and acquired land there that he subsequently lost. A patron of religious houses, he attempted to establish a monastery in his own territory.
About Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick in brief
Donnchadh was a Gall-Gaidhil prince and Scottish magnate in what is now south-western Scotland. His career stretched from the last quarter of the 12th century until his death in 1250. He fought battles in Ireland and acquired land there that he subsequently lost. A patron of religious houses, he attempted to establish a monastery in his own territory. He married the daughter of Alan fitz Walter, a leading member of the family later known as the House of Stewart. His descendants include the Bruce and Stewart Kings of Scotland, and probably the Campbell Dukes of Argyll. Charters provide a little information about some of his activities, but overall their usefulness is limited because no charter-collections from the Gaelic south-west have survived the Middle Ages. The only surviving charters relevant to Donnchadh’s career come from the heavily Normanised English-speaking area to the east. Roger of Hoveden wrote two important works: the Gesta Henrici II and the Chronica, the latter a re-worked and supplemented version of the former. These works are the most important and valuable sources for Scottish history in the late 12th Century. Despite the apparently late Scottish textual historian Dauvit Broun’s work in fact consists of two apparent earlier pieces, Gesta Annalia and GestaAnnalia II, the former written before April 1285 and covering the period from King Máel Coluim mac chada to 2 February 1285, despite an earlier text, 2 February 1285 Gesta Annalia I appears to have been based on an earlier work, 2 February Coluim m mac Chada to 2 February 1285.
The Chronicle of Melrose, which survives on its own, was compiled between 1384 and August 1387 and compiled by John of Fordun and Walter Bower’s Chronica gentis Scottorum. It was written between 1383 and 1387. It is the only surviving work of its kind in the Scottish Gaelic language, and was compiled at Dunfermline Abbey, in the north-west of Scotland. The work was written by John Fordun between 1382 and 1385 and compiled in its own own date between 1386 and 1388. It contains details of Donnchad’s relationship with his father, Gille-Brighde of Galloway, and his uncle, Uhtred ofGalloway. It also includes details of his patronage towards religious houses such as Melrose Abbey and North Berwick priory nunnery. He was the first mormaer or earl of Carrick, a region he ruled for more than six decades, making him one of the longest serving magnates in medieval Scotland. He also fought a battle in Ireland in 1197 assisting John de Courcy, Prince of Ulster. He served as an emissary in the region in 1174 on behalf of the English monarch, and thus his account of his father’s approach to the English king comes from a witness.
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