Gartnait, Earl of Mar

Who was Gartnait, Earl of Mar?

Gartnait of Mar, also known as Gartnait mac Domhnaill, was the eighth known Mormaer of Mar, ruling from somewhere around 1301, perhaps as early as 1297, until his death in 1305. He was a son of Domhnall I of Mar, brother of Isabella of Mar and brother-in-law of Robert I of Scotland.

The last recorded instance of his father occurs in 1297, and there are possible records of his son Gartnait as Mormaer in 1302, and definite records in 1305. Gartnait himself is known to have collaborated with Edward I of England in some form during the crackdown of 1297, but this does not necessarily mean any break with his father or with Robert I, whom his father supported.

In 1302, a document containing terms of reconciliation between Edward I of England and Robert stipulates that Robert should act as the warden of Gartnait,¹ implying that Gartnait's father Domhnall had just died.