TheEarl orMormaer of Ross was the ruler of the province ofRoss in northernScotland, as well as chief ofClan Ross.

In the early Middle Ages,Ross was part of the vastearldom of Moray. It seems to have been made a separate earldom in the mid 12th century, whenMalcolm MacHeth is found designated Earl of Ross. Malcolm had earlier been imprisoned atRoxburgh for rebelling againstDavid I, but when Malcolm's brother-in-lawSomerled invaded Scotland, David was forced to relent and grant the earldom unto Malcolm.

The title was later granted byWilliam the Lion toFloris III of Holland in 1161 upon Floris's marriage to William's sisterAda of Huntingdon.^{[citation needed]} However, Floris held the title only in a nominal sense, as he took no active part in the governance of Ross. The title seems not to have been passed on, for in 1291 Floris's descendant is found complaining that he had been deprived of the earldom.

The true founder was the famousFerquhard, from the Irish Ó Beólláin (O'Beolain, Boland, Bolan) family. This Ferquhard was the son of the lay parson of the monastery ofApplecross, and was hence known as MacIntagart, meaning "son of the priest". In 1215 the newly crownedAlexander II was forced to suppress a rebellion in Moray and Ross. Ferquhard sided with the king, and captured the rebel leaders, before beheading them and presenting their heads to Alexander. For this he was knighted. He was created Earl of Ross in the 1220s, probably in 1226.

The line of Ferquhard continued until the death ofWilliam, 5th Earl of Ross, in 1372. William had two daughters, the eldest of which,Euphemia, marriedSir Walter Leslie, who then becamejure uxoris Earl of Ross. The Leslies continued to hold the earldom until another heiress, also namedEuphemia. This Euphemia was a sickly girl, who suffered from a hunchback. Though she was nominally Countess of Ross, Ross's governance was carried out by her grandfather, the ruthless and ambitiousRobert, Duke of Albany. Euphemia's uncleDonald, Lord of the Isles, had a superior claim by right of his wife, Mariota Leslie. He feared Albany would take not only Ross but more. So, in 1411, he invaded Ross with 10,000 men and won theBattle of Dingwall and theBattle of Harlaw.^[1]

In 1415 Euphemia was persuaded or forced to resign the earldom in favor of Albany's son, John. However, the Albany Stewarts would meet their downfall whenKing James I returned to Scotland in 1424. Robert was believed to have murdered James's brotherDavid, who was King Robert III's heir. And he sought to capture James, the last living son. In addition, while James was in prison in London, Albany did nothing to try and free him. In revenge James had the entire family forfeited and executed (with the exception ofJames the Fat who escaped to Ireland). By then, the earldom had officially passed to Euphemia's grandson, Alexander of Islay (Alexander Macdonald), Lord of the Isles, who as Earl of Ross continued to hold it until his son,John forfeited it in the 1470s.

In 1481James III granted the earldom unto his second son, also namedJames. James had already been madeMarquis of Ormond at his baptism. In 1487 his earldom was raised to a dukedom, and he was granted the additional titles Earl of Ardmenach and Lord of Ardmannoch, Brechin and Navarre. James entered the clergy, and thus never married or had issue. He died in 1503, and all his titles became extinct.

The fourth creation was on 20 May 1565, forHenry, Lord Darnley, who was also created Lord Ardmannoch. Shortly thereafter he was createdDuke of Albany. After his murder atKirk o' Field, he was succeeded by his infant sonJames, whose accession as James VI a few months later returned the titles to the Crown.

Upon the investiture ofCharles Stuart asDuke of Albany on 2 December 1600, he was also granted the Marquisate of Ormonde, the Earldom of Ross, and the Lordship of Ardmannoch. Charles's elder brotherHenry died unexpectedly in 1612, and he becamePrince of Wales as heir apparent to the throne. He acceded as king in 1625, and the titles again reverted to the Crown.

Ross currently has no earl, but it is possible the title will one day be revived for a member of the royal family. There was speculation that the title might be revived forPrince Harry; it was not.^[2]

• Malcolm MacHeth (died 1168)
• With the crown
• Ferquhar (died 1249)
• William I (died 1274)
• William II (died 1323)
• Hugh, Earl of Ross (died 1333) (from whom descend the chiefs ofClan Ross).
• William (died 1372)
• Euphemia I (diedc. 1394)
  • MarriedSir Walter Leslie
• Alexander Leslie (died 1402)
• Euphemia II (diedc. 1424) (resigned c. 1415)
• John Stewart, (died 1424)
• Mariota (diedc. 1429) (sister of Alexander Leslie, Earl of Ross)
  • m.Donald, Lord of the Isles
• Alexander of Islay (died 1448)
• John of Islay (diedc. 1498) (forfeited 1476)

• James Stewart (1476–1504)

• Henry Stuart (1546–1567) (laterDuke of Albany and King of Scotland)
• James Stuart (1566–1625) (later King of Scotland and King of England)

• Charles Stuart (1600–1649) (became king in 1625)

• Balfour Paul, Sir James.The Scots Peerage. Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1909.
• Grant, Alexander. "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba" in E.J. Cowan and R. Andrew McDonald (eds.)Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000.ISBN 1-86232-151-5.
• McDonald, R. Andrew. "Old and New in the Far North: Ferchar Maccintsacairt and the Early Earls of Ross" in Steve Boardman and Alasdair Ross (eds.)The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland, c.1200–1500. Dublin: Four Courts, 2003.ISBN 1-85182-749-8.
• Roberts, John L.Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997.ISBN 0-7486-0910-5.
• Brown, Peter, publisher,The Peerage of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1834, p. 212.

• Somerled & Earl of Ross
• Malcolm Macbeth, the first Earl of Ross
• Clan Ross
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• History of the Mackenzies, with genealogies of the principal families of the name atProject Gutenberg

• Clan Ross
• Earls of Ross
• Earldoms in the Peerage of Scotland
• Extinct earldoms in the Peerage of Scotland
• British and Irish peerages which merged in the Crown
• Noble titles created in 1157
• Noble titles created in 1215
• Noble titles created in 1481
• Noble titles created in 1565
• Noble titles created in 1600

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