Attention will have to be paid to the Pictish family of Moldan of
Duncansby, of Moddan, created Earl of Caithness by his uncle Duncan I,
and of Moddan "in Dale," each of whom in turn succeeded to much of
the estates of the ancient Maormors of Duncansby, but whose people had
been driven back from most of the best low-lying lands into the upper
valleys and the hills by the foreign invaders of Cat. For, when the
Norse Vikings first attacked Cat and succeeded in conquering the Picts
there, they conquered by no means the whole of that province. They
subdued and held only that part of Ness or modern Caithness which lies
next its north and east coasts, and the rest of the sea-board of Ness,
Strathnavern and Sudrland, forcing their way up the lower parts of
the valleys of these districts, as their place-names still live on to
prove; but they never conquered, so as to occupy and hold them, the
upper parts of these river basins or the hills above them, which
remained in possession of Picts and Gaels throughout the whole period
of the Norse occupation. Further, the Picts and Gaels extended the
area which they retained, until Norse rule was expelled from the
mainland altogether.
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