| He is the Earl who appears in King Alexander I's foundation charter of Scone as ' Beth Comes.' He appears in another charter to Scone as Beth, as also in more than one charter by King David I to Dunfermline Abbey as Ed or Head. His identity has been disputed. Dr. Skene admits that 'Head may certainly have been the Earl of Moray who preceded Angus, and gave his name to the family of MacHeth,' but he rejects the idea that Beth and Head or Ed were the same. One of his reasons is that as the name Beth occurs in two separate writs, it could not have been miswritten in both, and that Beth was a different person. But it is possible, looking at the matter in the light of later research, that the later charter is the more genuine, and the name 'Beth' may have been transferred to the so-called foundation charter when it was compiled in its present form. Dr. Skene also suggests that Ed and Edelrad are the same, forgetting that while Ed or Head appears in charters so late as 1128, Edelrad was dead at least before 1107. It is not improbable therefore that the 'Beth' who appears in two Scone charters of Alexander I about the year 1123 or 1124, and has the rank of Earl, is identical with the * Ed ' or ' Head ' who holds the same rank in two charters by King David I to the Abbey of Dunfermline of dates about 1128 or a little later. This 'Ed,' 'Head,' or 'Heth' has been claimed as the Earl of Moray, and in recent works it has been asserted, with good show of reason, that he was the ancestor of the Clan Mackay of Sutherland, thus supporting the alleged connection of that clan with Moray and Buchan. Eth is said to be the ancestor of Malcolm MacEth who in the time of King Malcolm IV. was made Earl of Ross, and who is believed to be the direct progenitor of the Mackays in the north.3 |