The other moiety of the Caithness earldom lands would be fairly given
to Johanna as heiress of Ragnhild, Harald Ungi's youngest sister, and
we know that Johanna got that other moiety, because we find that her
descendants inherited it, and conveyed it or parts of it by writs
still extant, by the description of "half Caithness."
There are, however, other views. Skene's opinion on the subject of the
succession, in his very able paper (given in Appendix V, vol. iii, pp.
449-50 of his _Celtic Scotland_), is as follows:--
"Earl Harald died in 1206, and was succeeded by his son David,
who died in 1214, when his brother John became Earl of Orkney and
Caithness. Fordun tells us that King William made a treaty of peace
with him in that year, and took his daughter as a hostage, but the
burning of Bishop Adam in 1222 brought King Alexander II down upon
Earl John, who was obliged to give up part of his lands into the hands
of the king, which, however, he redeemed the following year by paying
a large sum of money, and by his death in 1231 the line of Paul again
came to an end.
"In 1232, we find Magnus, son of Gillebride, Earl of Angus, called
Earl of Caithness, and the earldom remained in this family till
between 1320 and 1329, when Magnus Earl of Orkney and Caithness, died;
but during this time it is clear that these earls only possessed one
half of Caithness and the other half appears in the possession of the
De Moravia family, for Freskin, Lord of Duffus, who married Johanna,
who possessed Strathnaver in her own right, and died before 1269, had
two daughters, Mary, married to Sir Reginald Cheyne, and Christian,
married to William de Fedrett; and each of these daughters had one
fourth part of Caithness, for William de Fedrett resigns[11] his
fourth to Sir Reginald Cheyne,[12] who then appears in possession
of one-half of Caithness (Chart.
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