Mormaer of Moray

The Mormaerdom or Kingdom of Moray (Middle Irish: Muireb or Moreb; Medieval Latin: Muref or Moravia; Modern Gaelic: Moireabh) was a lordship in High Medieval Scotland that was destroyed by King David I of Scotland in 1130. It did not have the same territory as the modern local government council area of Moray, which is a much smaller area, around Elgin. The medieval lordship was in fact centred on both the lower Spey valley and around Inverness and the northern parts of the Great Glen, and probably originally included Buchan and Mar, as well as Ross.

In the century or two before 1130 the name Moray described a polity, far larger than the later county or district of the same name, which at its largest extended from Drumochter in the south to the Scandinavian held lands of Caithness and Sutherland in the north. Moray would also eventually cover from Buchan in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

Njal's Saga, a Saga of the Icelanders mentions Mormaers and Kings in northern Scotland from the later 10th century, namely Jarl Melsnatr (Máel Snechtai) and King Melkofr (Máel Coluim) of "Scotland". Both date from the period 976 to 995. However no king named Máel Coluim reigned in Scotland in this period. Njal's Saga was not written as a historical guide for details outside Iceland or Scandinavia and the text is notoriously unreliable.

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