Earl of Ross

The Earl or Mormaer of Ross was the ruler of the province of Ross in northern Scotland.

Origins and transfers

In the early Middle Ages, Ross was part of the vast earldom of Moray. It seems to have been made a separate earldom in the mid 12th century, when Malcolm MacHeth is found designated Earl of Ross. Malcolm had earlier been imprisoned at Roxburgh for rebelling against David I, but when Malcolm's brother-in-law Somerled invaded Scotland, David was forced to relent and grant the earldom unto Malcolm.

The title was later granted by William the Lion to Floris III of Holland in 1161 upon Floris's marriage to William's sister Ada of Huntingdon. However, Floris held the title only in a nominal sense, as he took no active part in the governance of Ross. The title seems not to have been passed on, for in 1291 Floris's descendant is found complaining that the earldom had been deprived from him.

The true founder was the famous Ferquhard, from the Irish Ó Beólláin (O'Beolain, Boland, Bolan) family. This Ferquhard was the son of the lay parson of the monastery of Applecross, and was hence known as MacIntagart, meaning "son of the priest". In 1215 the newly-crowned Alexander II was forced to suppress a rebellion in Moray and Ross. Ferquhard sided with the king, and captured the rebel leaders, before beheading them and presenting their heads to Alexander. For this he was knighted. He was created Earl of Ross in the 1220s, probably in 1226.

No symbol

The no symbol (also known as a prohibition sign, no sign, circle-backslash symbol, nay, interdictory circle, or universal no) is a circle with a diagonal line through it (running from top left to bottom right), surrounding a pictogram used to indicate something is not permitted. The no symbol is generally colored red, but is sometimes another color, typically black.

The Unicode code point for the prohibition sign (also called the no symbol) is U+20E0;, Combining Enclosing Circle Backslash (   ⃠   ). It is a combining character, which means that it appears on top of the character before it, so putting d⃠ will show   d⃠.   (Note: This will appear only if the character exists in an available font.) It also appears in the Webdings and Wingdings 2 fonts.

There is also a prohibition sign emoji located at U+1F6AB NO ENTRY SIGN (🚫), which does not combine with anything.

According to the ISO standard (and also under a UK Statutory Instrument), the red area must take up at least 35% of the total area of the sign within the outer circumference of the "prohibition sign". So 35% of everything within the outer edge of the "no symbol" must be the symbol itself. Additionally, for printed signs under the UK rules, the width of a "no symbol" is set at 80% the height of the area it is printed to.

Ross

Ross (Ros in Scottish Gaelic) is a region of Scotland and a former earldom and county. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning "headland", perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. Another possible origin is the West Norse word for Orkney – Hrossey – meaning horse island; the area once belonged to the Norwegian (West Norse) earldom of Orkney. Ross is a historical comital region, perhaps predating the Mormaerdom of Ross.

History

Excavations of a rock shelter and shell midden at Sand, Applecross on the coast of Wester Ross have shown that the coast was occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

It may be doubted whether the Romans ever effected even a temporary settlement in the area of the modern county. In Roman times, and for long afterwards, the land was occupied by Picts, who, in the 6th and 7th centuries, were converted to Christianity by followers of Saint Columba. Throughout the next three centuries the natives were continually harassed by Norwegian Viking raiders, of whose presence tokens have survived in several place-names (Dingwall, Tain, and others). At this time the country formed part of the great province of Moray (Latin: Moravia), which then extended as far as the Dornoch Firth and the Oykel, and practically comprised the whole of Ross and Cromarty.

John of Islay, Lord of the Isles

John of Islay (or John MacDonald) (Scottish Gaelic: Eòin Mac Dòmhnuill or Scottish Gaelic: Iain mac Aonghais Mac Dhòmhnuill) (died 1386) was the Lord of the Isles (1336–1386) and chief of Clan Donald. In 1336, he styled himself Dominus Insularum, "Lord of the Isles"; because this is the first ever recorded instance of the title in use, modern historians count John as the first of the later medieval Lords of the Isles, although this rather broad Latin style corresponds roughly with the older Gaelic title Rí Innse Gall ("King of the Isles"), in use since the Viking Age, and for instance, the even more similar Latin title dominus de Inchegal ("Lord of the Hebrides"), applied to Raghnall Mac Somhairle in the mid-12th century. In fact John is actually styled Rí Innsi Gall or King of the Isles shortly after his death in a contemporary entry in the Irish Annals of Ulster.

Biography

Earl

An earl /ɜːrl/ is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke (hertig/hertug). In later medieval Britain, it became the equivalent of the continental count (in England in the earlier period, it was more akin to duke; in Scotland it assimilated the concept of mormaer). However, earlier in Scandinavia, jarl could also mean sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty kingdoms of Norway had in fact the title of jarl and in many cases of no lesser power than their neighbours who had the title of king. Alternative names for the "Earl/Count" rank in the nobility structure are used in other countries, such as Hakushaku during the Japanese Imperial era.

In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above viscount. A feminine form of earl never developed; countess is used as the equivalent feminine title.