History of the clan Mackenzie

HISTORY OF THE MACKENZIES. 2$
same value, came to be used indiscriminately in the word
Kenny or Kenzie; and the letter "Z" having, in later times,
acquired a different and independent value, we now pro-
nounce the name as if it were written Mackenzie.
In the preceding pages, which are necessarily of an
introductoiy character, it has been shown from authentic
records that Kintail was in the possession of the Earls of
Ross in and before 1296; that King Robert Bruce confirmed
him in those lands in 1306-29; that in 1342 Earl William
granted the ten pennylands or davachs of Kintail to another
— Reginald of the Isles ; that this grant was confirmed by
the King; and that in 1362-72 Kintail was, "with the Castle
of Eileandonan," exchanged by the Earl with his brother
Hugh for lands in Buchan. How could these lands be pos-
sessed by the Mackenzies and the Earls of Ross at one and
the same time ? is a question which the upholders of the
Irish origin are bound to answer. The Mackenzies could
not have possessed a single acre of it, there being only ten
davachs or pennylands in Kintail altogether. It cannot be
assumed that the Earl of Ross had taken illegal possession,
for in the Acts of Parliament in 1296 Kintail is mentioned
as " the lands of the Earl of Ros," and these possessions are
later on confirmed to him by the King.
These facts, which are founded on authentic records (see
page iS), must be disposed of before we can accept the
reputed charter to Colin Fitzgerald, even were it possible
any longer, after it has been shown that it must have been
written at least thirty-three years before the Battle of Largs
was fought, and thirty-six before the date of the charter
itself, to attach any importance to it. William Fraser, in
his " Earls of Cromartie," recently published, admits that
the charter is not of Alexander the Third, and says — " In
the middle of the seventeenth century, when Lord Cromartie
wrote his history, the means of ascertaining, by the names
of witnesses and otherways, the true granter of a charter
and the date were not so accessible as at present. The
mistake of attributing the Kintail charter to King Alexander
the Third, instead of King Alexander the Second, cannot