MAGNUS II 32ND EARL, 1231-1239

CONTEMPORARY PRINCES:
NORWAY: 1207 Hakon V
SCOTLAND: 1213 Alexander II
ENGLAND: 1216 Henry III
ROME: 1227 Gregory IX
PRELATES:
ORKNEY: 1223 Jofreyr - [See Historiettes]
CAITHNESS: 1223 St.Gilbert - [See Historiettes]

MAGNUS, [second] son of the Earl of Angus, appears among those present at the perambulation of the boundaries of the lands of the Abbey of Aberbrothock on the 16th January 1222, while on the 2nd October 1232, he appears amongst the witnesses to a charter of King Alexander II to the chapel of St.Nicholas at Spey as M. Earl of Angus and Caithness. The Caithness would be North Caithness only, as about this time King Alexander II, of Scotland, erected Sutherland, or the southern land of Caithness, into a separate earldom in favour of William, son of Hugh Freskin, who was thus first of the Earls of Sutherland.

It is not clear how Magnus of Angus inherited the Orkneys, as, on the death of his predecessor, there seem to have been many who had prior claims to the earldom. Fordun credits Earl John with a daughter, and from the Orkneyinga Saga we gather that he had five sisters, Helena, Margaret, Gunnhild, Herberg and Langlif. There was his brother, Earl Henry of Ross, and Sigvald Skralgi was also (of kin) allied to the Earl.

Of the descendants of Ingigerd, heiress of St.Rognvald, young Earl Harald had fallen in battle at Clairdon, and his brother Magnus at Sogn, in Norway, with King Magnus, while of the third son of Ingigerd, Rognvald, we have no further account than that he accompanied Harald to Norway to receive investiture. The daughters of Ingigerd and Eric were Ingibiorg, Elin, and Ragnhild. The last was married first to Lifolf Skalli, who fell so gloriously at Clairdon, and afterwards to Gunni Andresson, by whom she had issue Snaekoll, who, by the claims preferred against Earl John, seems to have been the sole representative of his grandmother, the Lady Ingigerd. As, after the death of Earl John, in 1231, Snaekoll stayed some time at the Norwegian court, and Magnus was Earl of Caithuess in 1232, it is in the highest degree improbable that Magnus acquired any rights to Orkney through Snaekoll or Ingigerd. He must, therefore, have heired John through a daughter or sister.

It is thought Earl John left two co-heiresses, one of whom transmitted her rights to Magnus of Angus, who thus acquired one-half of Caithness; and the other, Johanna, who possessed Strathnaver in her own right, and died before 1269, leaving by her husband Freskin, Lord of Duffus, two co-heiresses, Mary, married to Sir Reginald Cheyne, and Christian, married to Sir William de Federith, and each of these had a fourth part of Caithness, for Sir William de Federith resigns his fourth part to Sir Reginald Cheyne, who then appears in possession of one-half of Caithness, the other half being held by Magnus of Angus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney. In the time of Magnus the Second a Jewish ship was lost in the Orkneys. The Iceland Annals record the death of Earl Magnus as occurring in 1239. From the Diploma of the succession of the Earls of Orkney we learn that he was succeeded by Gilbride