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- BIOGRAPHY
The earldom (mormaerdom) of Buchan is one of the most ancient dignities in Scotland. Fergus held it in the time of King William 'the Lion'. He was the last native Gaelic Mormaer (provincial ruler) of Buchan, and only the third to be known by title as Mormaer. Fergus appears to have had strong connections in Fife, and it is possible that his father, named in some sources as Colbán, was from Fife. It is recorded that Fergus made a grant of a mark of silver annually to the abbey of Aberbrothwick, which had been founded by King William.
A feudal charter issued by Fergus, granting lands to a subordinate, appears to have survived. The charter had some witnesses with French names, which may have been due to his Comyn connections. Fergus had no male heirs, and married his widowed only daughter Margaret to William Comyn, justiciar of Scotland, bringing Gaelic control of the mormaership to an end. On Fergus' death, believed to have been before 1199, Buchan became the first native mormaerdom to pass into the hands of a foreign family, when Margaret's husband became earl of Buchan in her right.
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