On the whole, therefore, we believe that there is another and simpler
explanation, and it seems probable that there was in this case no
wardship, or if there was, that there was a great deal more, and that
Malcolm held the earldom of Caithness as _Custos_ or administrator or
trustee for the Crown for four years after Earl John's death till the
succession was settled, and till all Caithness except Sutherland was
parcelled out among three claimants, namely the two heirs, each of one
of two sisters of Harald Ungi, and the hostage daughter of Earl John.
When all this was settled, Magnus, as the son of one of the two
elder sisters of Harald Ungi, and also as the husband of Earl John's
daughter, would be entitled on Earl John's death, _jure maritae_,
in Orkney, to a grant from the Norse king of the Orkney jarldom,
and also, in Caithness, _first, jure maritae_, to a grant from the
Scottish king in or after 3rd July 1236, of the North Caithness
earldom and lands held by Earl John, which Dalrymple in his
Collections (p. lxxiii) states positively, without quoting his
authority, that Magnus had for a payment of L10 per annum, and,
_secondly, jure matris_ (Ingibiorg or Elin) to a grant, also from the
Scottish king, of the earldom of South Caithness, which by the Charter
of Alexander "under the greit Seill," above alluded to, Magnus also
got.
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