LOCHFERGUS. 1.87 



Malcolm IV., then a minor. He was the first King who was 

 crowned at Scone. Somerled and several others of the northern 

 chiefs were dissatisfied with the succession, and taking advantage 

 of the extreme youth of the King, and the distracted councils 

 which prevailed at Court, rose in insurrection, and put forward a 

 son of the former Pretender, M'Eth. Fergus at first did not join 

 them, because we find that he seized the claimant Donald when 

 he sought sanctuary at Whithorn, and sent him to prison at Rox- 

 burgh, where his father, the elder M'Eth, was also confined. 

 However, the English King Henry H. having persuaded Malcolm 

 to resign that part of his territory south of the Tweed and go to 

 France to assist him in fighting his battles there, the Gallovidians 

 refused to have an English King to reign over them, so they, 

 under Fergus, joined Somerled. The young Scottish King 

 hurried home, and took up arms to chastise the Gallovidians, but 

 the impenetrable forests, the treacherous morasses, and the rugged 

 hills of Galloway were practically inaccessible, except to those 

 who knew them intimately. Twice Malcolm entered Galloway, 

 but had to retire beaten and discomfited. The third time, how- 

 ever, he doubled his forces, and by this means, in addition to 

 propitiating some of the rebels, he prevailed, and Somerled 

 became reconciled. Fergus, thus deserted by his former friends, 

 resigned the I-ordship of Galloway, or what is more probable, 

 deprived of his ofifice, and retired once more to the Abbey of 

 Holyrood, where he became a Canon Regular, and it is said 

 ended his days in the following year through grief and sorrow. 

 Before he died, however, he bestowed on Holyrood Abbev the 

 village and church of Dunrodden (Dunrod, near Kirkcudbright). 

 There seems little doubt that Fergus was a wise and beneficent 

 ruler, and that Galloway made great progress under his sway. 

 And to any impartial historian who takes the trouble to enquire 

 into the reasons or motives which prompted him to take up arms 

 against his Sovereign will not only find extenuating circumstances, 

 but in these unsettled times very good reasons for his actions. In 

 these old times " might was right, ' ' and the succession to the 

 throne was not always in accordance with justice. 



UCHTRED. 



Fergus was succeeded by Uchtred, who took up his residence 



