Note (return) — Chapter IX

Robertson's explanation is that Malcolm was Earl of Caithness only as guardian of a ward entitled to that earldom. The question then arises, as Robertson puts it, "who was the heir?" and he answers it, "certainly not his8 uncle Magnus, son of Gillebride,9 but very probably the son of Magnus by Earl John's daughter; the supposed grant of the Earldom to this Magnus being probably grounded upon his real marriage with the heiress," and he adds "If, on the death of Earl John in 1231, his grandson was an orphan and a minor, his wardship would naturally have been granted to the next of kin, his cousin the Earl of Angus."