Studies on the early Lennox

This work examines the origins of the polity of the Lennox which evolved following the fall of the kingdom of Al Clut in 870. Given that no written documentation concerning the Lennox exists until charters began to be written in the mid-twelfth century, the work has mainly relied on extracting information from those charters. The aim has been that of searching for indications that could cast a retrospective light on the intervening years. A main emphasis has been on uncovering the role undertaken by the Al Clut Britons in the construction of the new Lennox. For this task the place-names within the charters were collated in order to establish the size, shape and geography of the Lennox. Thereafter, the place-names were examined to establish both the location of potential Brittonic estates and also to understand how the newer, Gaelic estates might have differed. An examination of archaeological evidence within the Lennox points to a community of Britons who had become Scandinavianised. By the twelfth century these Britons had come to live in a decidedly Gaelic environment and culture: the influential Galbraith family of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is taken as being descended from this community. This work charts their career within the 12th, 13th and early 14th centuries, both in terms of the high offices which they held and also in terms of their possession of lands and estates. There is scant evidence alluding to the origins of the Lennox earls themselves, but that available has been assessed with some suggestion made as to how they came to be in power.