The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

CHAP. V] OF SCOTLAND 265
The real descent of the family is indicated by their desig-
nation, which was uniformly and exclusively de Atholia. It is
scarcely possible to conceive, that the mere fact of a stranger
possessing a considerable extent of territory in the earldom,
should entitle him to use such a designation. Atholia was
the name of a comitatus, and after the accession of David I
the comitatus was as purely a Norman barony as any baronia
or dominium in the country. It will not be denied that the
name of the barony was exclusively used by its possessors and
their descendants, and that the possession of a territorial name
of barony as surely marks out a descent from some of the
ancient barons, as if every step of the genealogy could be
proved ; and if we turn to the other earldoms in Scotland,
we find it to be invariably the case, that those families whose
peculiar designation is the name of the earldom, are the male
descendants of the ancient earls. Thus the Northern families
of " De Ross" can all be traced to the earls of that district, and
the case is the same with Sutherland, Mar, Angus, Strathern,
Fife, Menteith, and Lenox. The only apparent exception to the
rule is in the case of the earldom of Moray, and in that the
origin of the family of De Moravia is altogether unknown, so
that the probability is equally great that that family is descended
from the former earls of Moray, as that they were foreigners.
Further, although many families have at different times obtained
extensive territories in several of the earldoms, even greater
in proportion than those of the Robertsons, yet not a single
instance can be found of any of these families assuming a
designation from the earldom in which their territories were
situated, nor is it possible to produce a single family not
descended from the ancient earls who bear the name of the
earldom. The designation De Atholia thus distinctly indicates
a descent from the ancient earls of Atholl, but the history of
their lands points to the same result. The possessions of
Duncan de Atholia, who is considered the first of the Robert-
sons of Struan, consisted, so far as can be ascertained, of three
classes. ist. Those lands, afterwards erected into the barony
of Struan, of which Glenerochie formed the principal part, and
which were strictly a male fief 2d. The barony of Disher and
Toyer, comprehending the greater part of the present disti'ict