Earl of Mar

The Earldom of Mar is one of the ancient peerage titles of in the Peerage of Scotland. The title evolved by the early twelfth century from the ancient office of mormaer, but there is no clear and definite succession to the earldom until later. While the eleventh (by some counts) holder of the title, Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar, was alone at the Castle of Kildrummy, Alexander Stewart entered it and forced her to sign a charter on August 12, 1404 yielding the earldom to him and his heirs. She revoked the charter later that year, but on marrying him, she gave him the earldom for life with remainder to her heirs. The King confirmed her last action the next year.

In 1426, Stewart resigned the title so that he could be granted a new one by the King, the new title being more "legitimate". The King did so, but specified that the earldom and associated lands would revert to the Crown upon the death of the Earl. In 1435, the Earl died, and Robert, Lord Erskine claimed the title, but the King claimed its lands under the specifications of reversion made in the patent. The issue remained unresolved until 1457, when James II obtained a court order declaring the lands as crown possessions. Thereafter, he bestowed the title on his son John, who died without heirs in 1479. It was next granted to James' other son, Alexander, Duke of Albany, but the title was then declared forfeit because of Alexander's alliances with the English. James III created his son John Earl of Mar in 1486, upon whose death in 1503 the title became extinct again. The title was once again created in 1562, for James, Earl of Moray, son of James V, but he, too, could not produce a qualified heir.

In 1565 Queen Mary made (or restored) John, Lord Erskine, heir to the Lord Erskine, heir of the ancient Earls through a cousin of Isabel, who quarreled with James II about the Earldom, Earl of Mar. John, the sixth Earl counting from 1565, was attainted for rebellion in 1716 (he was also created Duke of Mar in the Jacobite peerage), and the earldom remained forfeit for over a century In 1824, the Earldom was finally restored by Act of Parliament to John Francis Erskine, the heir of the attained Earl. His grandson, the ninth Earl,successfully claimed inheritance the earldom of Kellie and associated titles in 1835.

At the death of the ninth Earl of Mar and eleventh Earl of Kellie in 1866, the Earldom of Kellie and the family's estates passed to Walter Erskine, the cousin of the late Earl, and his heir-male. Meanwhile, it was assumed that the Earldom of Mar passed to John Francis Goodeve, the late Earl's nephew, and his heir-general. (An heir-male is an heir in a male line, while an heir-general is an heir in either the male or female line. The terms do not refer to the gender of the holder.) Goodeve changed his name to Goodeve Erskine; his claim was agreed upon by all. He even participated in the election of representative peers for the Peerage of Scotland. However, the Earl of Kellie submitted a petition to the House of Lords asking that the Earldom of Mar be declared his, dying before it could be considered. His son, the thirteenth Earl of Kellie, renewed the petition, and the Lords referred it to their Committee on Privileges. The petition made a number of claims:

The original Earldom of Mar was a territorial title rather than a title of peerage and was therefore "indivisible." (In other words, the territory could not be separated from the title.)
Alexander Stewart obtained a new Royal charter for the Earldom, rather than receiving it in right of his wife Isabel.
After the death of Alexander Stewart, his lands were passed to the Sovereign in accordance with the charter, and thereafter were disposed of by the Crown.
As the territorial Earldom was "indivisible," upon the termination of the territory, the earldom must have ended also.
Therefore, since the territorial Earldom had already become non-existent, Queen Mary's 1565 grant was not a revival of that title. Rather, it was a totally new creation, this time in the form of a peerage title.
Since the instrument of Queen Mary's 1565 grant cannot be found, the presumption ought to be that the Earldom passes to heirs-male, and not to heirs-general. Thus, the Earl of Kellie is entitled to the Earldom of Mar as he is the late Earl of Mar's heir male, while John Goodeve Erskine was an heir-general.

Goodeve Erskine had different ideas, however. He portrayed the Crown's takeover of the territorial Earldom not as pursuant to a charter, but rather as an act of tyranny. He argued:

James I, in a tyrannical act, seized the lands of Alexander Stewart, when these should have passed to Robert, Lord Erskine.
The "true" Earls never agreed to terminate their claim to the Earldom.
Queen Mary's 1565 grant was a restitution of the old territorial Earldom rather than a new creation.
Because the title is a restoration of a territorial Earldom, and because the territorial Earldom could pass to heirs-general, John Goodeve Erskine was the rightful heir, being the late Earl of Mar's heir-general.

The House of Lords Committee on Privileges ruled in 1875, to the dissatisfaction of many, that the Earldom of Mar was newly created in 1565, passed only to heirs-male, and therefore belonged to the Earl of Kellie, and not to Goodeve Erskine. The Lord Chancellor, Roundell Palmer, 1st Baron Selborne, declared it to be "final, right or wrong, and not to be questioned".

However, there was a sentiment that the Lords had decided wrongly. A bill was brought to Parliament, to allow Goodeve Erskine to assume the title, and was passed without dissent. The Earldom of Mar Restitution Act declared that because of the doubts relating to the 1565 creation, it would be assumed that there are two Earldoms of Mar. The Earldom created in 1565 would be held by the Earl of Kellie. The ancient Earldom, however, was declared to be still in existence, and was given to John Goodeve Erskine. For the purposes of precedence, it is assumed that the Earldom held by Goodeve Erskine's heirs was created in 1404.

The family seat is Kildrummy Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Contents

1 Earls of Mar, first Creation (circa 1115)

2 Earls of Mar, second Creation (1426)

3 Earls of Mar, third Creation (1457)

4 Earls of Mar, fourth Creation (1483)

5 Earls of Mar, fifth Creation (1486)

6 Earls of Mar, sixth Creation (1562)

7 Earls of Mar, seventh Creation (1565, restoration of ancient line)

8 Earls of Mar, line of first creation restored 1885 with precedence of 1404

9 Earls of Mar and Kellie, seventh Creation (1565)