Clan Keith
Clan Keith is a Scottish clan, whose chief historically held the hereditary title of Great Marischal of Scotland.
History
Origins of the clan
The placename Keith comes from a Cumbric form of the Modern Welsh coed ("wood").
A warrior of the Chatti tribe is said to have killed the Danish General, Camus, at the Battle of Barrie in 1010. For this valour Malcolm II of Scotland dipped three fingers into the blood of the dead and drew them down the warrior's shield. The warrior was thereafter named Marbhachair Chamuis which meant the Camus Slayer. The chief of the Clan Keith has borne the same three lines on his shield ever since. It can be found as early as 1316 on the seal of Sir Robert de Keith.
King Malcolm's victory at the Battle of Carham in 1018 brought him into possession of Lothian and the lands of Keith in Lothian were subsequently held by the Camus Slayer. It is from these lands that his progeny took their name.
A Norman adventurer named Hervey married the native heiress of Marbhachair and in about 1150 David I of Scotland granted her a charter for the lands of Keith. In a charter of 1176 their son was styled as Marischal of the King of Scots. The Marischal was charged with the safety of the king's person within Parliament and was also custodian of the royal regalia.
