The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. VI] OF SCOTLAND 8i
districts, however, we are warranted in concluding that the
effect must have been very different, and that the possession
of the country by the Norwegians for thirty years could have
exercised as little permanent influence on the population itself,
as we are assured by the Saga it did upon
chiefs.
the race of their
Previously to this conquest the northern Gaelic race possessed
the whole of the north of Scotland, from the western to
the eastern sea, and the general change produced by the con-
quest must have been, that the Gael were for the first time
confined within those limits which they have never since
exceeded, and that the eastern districts became inhabited by
that Gothic race, who have also ever since possessed them.
The population of the south of Scotland remained in the
meantime partly Anglic and partly Gaelic, the former people
possessing the whole of the country south of the Firth of Forth,
while the latter occupied the remaining districts. Upon the
death of Thorfinn the northern districts of the country fell once
more under the rule of the native chiefs, and they appear to
have refused to acknowledge Malcolm Kenmore's right, and to
have chosen for themselves a king of their own, Donald
M'Malcolm, who in all probability was a son or descendant
of Malcolm M'Maolbride, the Maormor of Moray, who had
formerly been king of Scotland. During a period of twentyone
years, Malcolm appears to have been engaged in constant
attempts to reduce the northern districts under his dominion,
and to have gradually extended his kingdom, until he at length
succeeded in suppressing all opposition to his government. In
lO/O we find him founding the Culdee establishment of Mortlach,
in consequence of a victory obtained over his opponents. In
1077 the Saxon Chronicle informs us that Maolsnechtan, the
Maormor of Moray, and son of that Lulach whom the northern
faction had placed on the throne after the death of Macbeth,
sustained a complete overthrow from Malcolm, and escaped
with difficulty with the loss of his army and treasures ; and
finally, in 1085, we find recorded the violent deaths of Donald
M'Malcolm, king of Alban, and Maolsnechtan M'Lulach,
Maormor- of Moray. After this date we do not trace the
appearance of any further opposition to his power, and he
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