New Spalding Club > Thanage of Fermartyn including the district commonly called Formartine

viii Preface.
part was tribe demesne, which went to the support of the office-bearers of the
tribe, the Mormaer and Toisech, Brehon or Judge. The fecht-fine was occu-
pied by the tribes thus — The indfine or commonaHty of the tribe possessed
the tribe land ; the arable land was distributed at stated intervals among the
ceile or free members of the tribe, each having their share ; a fresh distribution
took place as fresh claimants for a share appeared ; the pasture land was
pastured in common, according to the number of cattle possessed by each, and
the waste land separated one Tuath from another.
The Tuath was divided into homesteads, to each of which belonged as
much land as was required for the subsistence of a family. These were called
Raths, which enter largely into the place names of the district, as Rait, Raits-
hill near Tolquhon, Rothie, Rothmaise, &c., &c. These Raths, according to
the Brehon laws, to be legally constituted required a dwelling-house, an ox
stall, a hog-sty, a sheep pen, and a calf house, and they were all surrounded by a
ditch or rampart, with wooden pallisades for protection. There were various
kinds of Raths. The Fine-Rath was the homestead occupied by the original
kindred, Mar-Rath that occupied by the stranger tenants, and Jar-Raths occu-
pied by the stranger serfs on the chiefs' demesnes lands and others.
A system such as this prevailed in the district between the Dee and the
Deveron at the time when St. Drostan landed in Buchan. In the various
grants, as recorded in the " Book of Deer," to the original monastery of St.
Drostan, we have the names recorded of the various Mormaers and Toisech:.,
who were the officials of the tribe. The language was Celtic or Gaelic, and is
found prevalent in many of the place names of the district.
But great changes were impending, and the office of Mormaer or royal
official underwent considerable modification. A (vicecomes) sheriff was intro-
duced, on whom many of the duties of the Mormaer devolved. The title of
Mormaer fluctuated until finally it became Earl. Thus Gratnait, Mormaer of
Buchan, whose grant to the clerics of Deer about 1 192, as recorded in the
" Book of Deer," appears in the foundation of the monastery of Scone, in 1220,
as Earl Gratnait. There was also the office of Maor, upon whom certain
duties devolved, and the Mair of Fee, anciently connected with the lands of
Pitmuxton, may have derived its name at least from this office.
The tribal officer of Toisech also underwent a change. Thanages were
introduced, and the Toisech became a Thane. When this change took place
there is no record, but it probably was made about the time of Alexander I.
The Thanages come in between the tribal organisation and the Norman feudal
system. It arose out of the old Celtic system, and disappeared in the Norman,
after the confusions created by the great war of independence. In the reign