An examination of the witnesses usually detects
these spurious charters, and in this case it is conclusive against
the charter. Andrew was bishop of Moray from 1223 to 1242 and
there was no bishop of that name in the reign of Alexander the
Third. Henry de Baliol was chamberlain in the reign of Alexander
the Second, and not of Alexander the Third. Thomas Hostarius
belongs to the same reign, and has been succeeded by his son Alan
long before the date of this charter."
Dr Skene adds that if the Earl of Cromartie was not himself the
actual inventor of the whole story, it must have taken its rise not
very long before his day, for, he says, "no trace of it is to be
found in the Irish MSS., the history of the Geraldine family knows
nothing of it, and MacVureach, who must have been acquainted with
the popular history of the western clans, was equally unacquainted
with it." ['Celtic Scotland,' Vol. III., pp. 351-354.]
This fully corroborates all that was said in the preceding pages
regarding the Fitzgerald-Irish origin of the Mackenzies and which
every intelligent clansman, however biassed, must now admit in his
inner consciousness to be fully and finally disposed of.
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