History Of The Mackenzies [22]
inter-marriages, the Mackenzies are also descended from the ancient Celtic MacAlpine line of Scottish Kings, from the original Anglo-Saxon Kings of England, and from the oldest Scandinavian, Charlemagne, and Capetian lines, as far back as the beginning of the ninth century.
The origin of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and the Mackenzies from the same source is strikingly illustrated by their inter-marriages into the same families and with each other's kindred. Both the O'Beolans and the Mackenzies made alliances with the Comyns of Badenoch, with the MacDougalls of Lorn, and subsequently with the Macleods of Lewis and Harris, thus forming a network of cousinship which ultimately included all the leading families in the Highlands, every one of which, through these alliances, have the Royal blood of all the English, Scottish, and Scandinavian Kings, and many of the earlier foreign monarchs, coursing in their veins.
Surely this is a sufficiently ancient and illustrious origin and much more satisfactory to every patriotic clansman than an Irish adventurer like the reputed Colin Fitzgerald, who, if he ever existed, had not and never could have had any connection with the real origin of the Mackenzies, which was as purely native of the Highlands as it was possible for any Scoto-Celtic family in those days to be. The various genealogical steps and marriage alliances already referred to will be confirmed in each individual case as we proceed with the succession and history of the respective chiefs of the family, beginning with the first of the line,
I. KENNETH, OR COINNEACH,
Who gave his name to the clan. His is the fourth ascending name in the manuscript genealogy of 1467, which begins with Murdoch of the Cave.
Murdoch died in 1375, and was thus almost contemporaneous with the author of the Gaelic genealogy, which, translated, proceeds up to this Kenneth as follows:--Murdoch, son of Kenneth, son of John, son of Kenneth, and so on, as already given at page 39 to Gilleoin of the Aird.
At this interesting stage it may be well to explain how the name Mackenzie came to be pronounced and written as it now is. John, the son of this Kenneth, would be called in the original native Gaelic, "Ian Mac Choinnich," John, son of Kenneth. In that form it was unpronounceable to those unacquainted with the native tongue. The nearest approach the foreigner could get to its correct enunciation would be Mac Coinni or Mac Kenny, which ultimately came to be spelt Mac Kenzie, Z in those days having exactly the same value and sound as the letter V; and the name, although spelt with a Z instead of a Y would be pronounced Mac Kenny, as indeed we pronounce in our own day, in Scotland, such names as Menzies, Macfadzean, and several others, as if they were still written with the letter Y. The two letters being thus of the same value, after a time came to be used indiscriminately in the word Kenny or Kenzie, and the letter z having subsequently acquired a different value and sound of its own, more allied to the letter S than to the original Y, the name is pronounced as if it were written Mackensie.
Kenneth was the son and heir of Angus, the direct representative of a long line of ancestors up to Gilleoin na li'Airde, the common progenitor of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross, the Clann Ghille-Andrais, who about the end of the fourteenth century called themselves Rosses, and of the Mackenzies. The close connection by blood and marriage between the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and Kenneth's family before and after this period has been already shown, but the ancient ties of friendship had at this time become somewhat strained. Kenneth succeeded to the government of Ellandonnan Castle, which was garrisoned by his friends and supporters, the Macraes and the Maclennans, who, even at that early date in large numbers occupied Kintail. Kenneth, in fact, was Governor of the Castle, and was otherwise becoming so powerful that his superior, the Earl, was getting very jealous of him.
At this time the first
The origin of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and the Mackenzies from the same source is strikingly illustrated by their inter-marriages into the same families and with each other's kindred. Both the O'Beolans and the Mackenzies made alliances with the Comyns of Badenoch, with the MacDougalls of Lorn, and subsequently with the Macleods of Lewis and Harris, thus forming a network of cousinship which ultimately included all the leading families in the Highlands, every one of which, through these alliances, have the Royal blood of all the English, Scottish, and Scandinavian Kings, and many of the earlier foreign monarchs, coursing in their veins.
Surely this is a sufficiently ancient and illustrious origin and much more satisfactory to every patriotic clansman than an Irish adventurer like the reputed Colin Fitzgerald, who, if he ever existed, had not and never could have had any connection with the real origin of the Mackenzies, which was as purely native of the Highlands as it was possible for any Scoto-Celtic family in those days to be. The various genealogical steps and marriage alliances already referred to will be confirmed in each individual case as we proceed with the succession and history of the respective chiefs of the family, beginning with the first of the line,
I. KENNETH, OR COINNEACH,
Who gave his name to the clan. His is the fourth ascending name in the manuscript genealogy of 1467, which begins with Murdoch of the Cave.
Murdoch died in 1375, and was thus almost contemporaneous with the author of the Gaelic genealogy, which, translated, proceeds up to this Kenneth as follows:--Murdoch, son of Kenneth, son of John, son of Kenneth, and so on, as already given at page 39 to Gilleoin of the Aird.
At this interesting stage it may be well to explain how the name Mackenzie came to be pronounced and written as it now is. John, the son of this Kenneth, would be called in the original native Gaelic, "Ian Mac Choinnich," John, son of Kenneth. In that form it was unpronounceable to those unacquainted with the native tongue. The nearest approach the foreigner could get to its correct enunciation would be Mac Coinni or Mac Kenny, which ultimately came to be spelt Mac Kenzie, Z in those days having exactly the same value and sound as the letter V; and the name, although spelt with a Z instead of a Y would be pronounced Mac Kenny, as indeed we pronounce in our own day, in Scotland, such names as Menzies, Macfadzean, and several others, as if they were still written with the letter Y. The two letters being thus of the same value, after a time came to be used indiscriminately in the word Kenny or Kenzie, and the letter z having subsequently acquired a different value and sound of its own, more allied to the letter S than to the original Y, the name is pronounced as if it were written Mackensie.
Kenneth was the son and heir of Angus, the direct representative of a long line of ancestors up to Gilleoin na li'Airde, the common progenitor of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross, the Clann Ghille-Andrais, who about the end of the fourteenth century called themselves Rosses, and of the Mackenzies. The close connection by blood and marriage between the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and Kenneth's family before and after this period has been already shown, but the ancient ties of friendship had at this time become somewhat strained. Kenneth succeeded to the government of Ellandonnan Castle, which was garrisoned by his friends and supporters, the Macraes and the Maclennans, who, even at that early date in large numbers occupied Kintail. Kenneth, in fact, was Governor of the Castle, and was otherwise becoming so powerful that his superior, the Earl, was getting very jealous of him.
At this time the first