Sandy's Blog
Cromarty, Macbeth and Medieval Markets
by Casagrandeblog - 09:21 on 28 July 2013
Caroline Vawdrey has put together an excellent little exhibition in the East Church on ‘Medieval Cromarty,’ to tie in with the archaeological dig now underway at the Reeds Park. It got me thinking about what an important place Cromarty must have been in the Middle Ages. The reason for its importance was its location. A thousand years ago the lands to the north of the Cromarty Firth were largely controlled by the Norse Earls of Orkney, descendants of Viking raiders. For the Scottish Kings, based far to the South, Cromarty was a frontier town, with a castle to protect its harbour and ferry crossing. This was a time, remember, when there were no roads, and sea transport was much more important than overland routes.
The King delegated control of these far-flung parts of his kingdom to ‘Thanes’, high-ranking government officials, and the Thane of Cromarty was responsible for security on this border region, maintaining the castle and its garrison. In the 11th century the Thane of Cromarty was none other than Macbeth (shown right, with his scheming wife), who - as Shakespeare tells us - killed King Duncan and became King himself in 1040. He was a very good King, incidentally. Shakespeare got that bit wrong.
Two hundred years later, Cromarty and the lands round about was now a Sheriffdom, and the hereditary Sheriffs, based in Cromarty castle, were the Anglo-Norman family of Mowat. They presided over a thriving small burgh, with its High Street running downhill from the castle to the market cross and Tolbooth, and its parish church a few hundred yards to the West. The 13th and 14th century coins that have been discovered in the fields round the town tell us that a lot of trading took place at the Cromarty markets. I wonder if market day was really as busy as Mike Taylor’s picture suggests!
Thanks to Hugh Miller, we know an awful lot about Cromarty life in the 19th century. It’s good that we are now trying to discover a bit more about our medieval past.
CLUNES the probability that this family may stem from an ARCHIBALD de CLUNACE of
CROMARTIE, who signed as witness to a grant of land in Badenoch dated 1336, appears to be likely - possibly as vassels of the Gordons ?
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