Did you know that three great Clans of Scotland begin their history with the Barony of Keith Marischal?
The Barony of Keith Marischal ranks among the oldest baronies still existing, in Scotland and in the world. It has a rich history that dates back to the early 1100's when Norman knights settled in the Kingdom of Alba (later to become Scotland) to defend the land against the Norse (Viking descendants) in the North and West, and invading armies from the South.
Discover the stories and events that have shaped the Barony, three Great Clans, the history of Scotland and global inventions during more than 870 years.
barony of keith marischal keith lands and barony
The Much Honoured Erik Almqvist, Baron of Keith Marischal, born 1969, is a Fraser descendant. He is the great-grandson of Sven Alexander Almqvist, who built the first oil tanker in the world, The Zoroaster, in 1878 together with Ludvig Nobel. Before this invention, oil was transported in barrels; adaptions of the Zoraster tank construction is used to this day by modern-day oil tankers. The first tankers were named the Zoraster, the Buddha, the Mohamed, the Socrates after the world's first religions and philosophies. The message was: this invention is a gift to all of mankind.
His maternal ancestry includes the Lyle family of Arbroath, a Norman noble family whose descendants emigrated to Sweden in 1638 and became prominent iron producers and exporters, ennobled also in Swedish service in 1719 under the name Leijel and related to the Lyle Lords of Duchal/de Insula, ancient Norman nobility and holders of the castle Duchal in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Duchal is likely to have been the family seat since the late 12th century and is first documented in the Paisley charter of 1243, naming Radulphus de Insula.
A second maternal line leads to the Baltic. Søren Norby (or Severin Norbi)—born around 1470, died 1530—was a member of the Danish nobility and one of the dominant military figures of early sixteenth-century Scandinavia. Commander of the Danish fleet under kings Hans I and Christian II, he was appointed governor of Iceland in 1515 and ruler of Gotland in 1517, holding the island for eight years from Visborg Castle with full authority. Coins were minted in his name, a distinction in Northern Europe that was otherwise reserved for royalty. Norby was commissioned with finding a sea route to America and the West Indies via Greenland in December 1520 by the Danish king, although war interfered with these plans.
The present-day Baron has led the world's first empirical study measuring broadband speed effects on national GDP (Arthur D. Little / Ericsson / Chalmers University of Technology, 2011) and authored the Networked Society City Index together with Patrik Regårdh. He has played a pivotal part in the financial rescue of Mobily, Saudi Arabia's second-largest telecommunications operator. He was the lead advisor for digital, cost, and cultural transformation programs across Telia Company in Sweden 2006-2009, including support for the commercial turnaround of Telia Carrier (2010–2011). He co- authored the Data Protection and Privacy Framework for Africa, the Broadband National Plan of Sierra Leone, and the Continental Blueprint for Cybersecurity. He supported the formation and launch of the Network of Cybersecurity Authorities (ANCA), ratified by seventeen African nations at Rabat in February 2025.
He developed the Regional E-Government Strategy for twelve West-African countries 2026–2030. He has helped elevate and grow the UAE International Investors Council, whose member entities hold combined assets of approximately USD 1 trillion. He has done a financial rescue of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.
He is the Founder and CEO of Sense Strategy ( https://sensestrategy.com/ ) and Owner of the Almqvist Family Office (https://www.almqvistfamilyoffice.com/ ).
And:
The Baron should not be confused with the politician with a similar name born 1982.
Through the marriage of Hervey Fitz Warin's son with Sir Simon Fraser's grand-daughter and heiress Eda in AD 1225, the Keith - Fraser descendants held the Barony for half a millennia.
The Barony of Keith Marischal was not forfeited in the many wars between the 14th and 18th century - in contrast to many other ancient Scottish dignities. Thus it survived into modern times.
Now once again the Barony is held by descendants of the first family to hold the dignity.
The Present-Day Baron, The Much Honoured Erik Almqvist (full name Sven Olof Erik Almqvist, born 1969), 35th Baron of Keith Marischal, is married to Karolina Temelj Almqvist, Baroness of Keith Marischal.
The Barony of Keith Marischal is mentioned in many royal charters and Great Seals of Scotland through the centuries. To the left is a well-preserved Royal Charter from 1294, which, on the order of John Balliol, King of Scotland [Johannes Dei Gratia, Roi Scotia, omnibus probis homminus, or John, by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, to all good men], outlines the rights of the Barony of Keith Marischal.
The Baronial system was invented in France during the reign of Charlemagne, King of France, Germany and much of Italy AD 768 –814. Given that Charlemagne brought unity to much of Western Europe for the first time since the fall of Rome, the land was simply too vast for him to exercise control over directly by himself. Rather, the King assigned land to be held by hereditary barons, who in turn upheld the rule of law in their respective territories, collected taxes, and raised troops for the King. Over the next few centuries, the barons and lords of Europe became its nobility. The Normans made the arrangement systematic. In Scotland, lordships and baronies emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Whilst many baronies became extinct for reasons of succession, war or politics, Keith Marischal has stood the test of time and remains one of the oldest extant (still existing) Baronies - in Scotland, and in the world. These Dignities are a reminder of a time when Europe was ruled by kings, queens, and the rules of chivalry.
Legend has it that Keith lands were first granted in the year 1010 to the Camus slayer after the battle of Barry. As there is no surviving charter, we need to move to the early 12th century for surviving written evidence.
What can safely be said is that Keith existed as a royal territory before AD 1124. A grant of lands in Keith in the reign of Alexander I (1107-1124) given to Dumferline Abbey is recorded and later confirmed by King David I in 1128. King David I divided the Keith lands c. 1150 among two Baronial families, with Sir Simon Fraser receiving the southeast part (Keith Symon or Keith Hundeby) and the Keiths through Hervey fitz Warin receiving the northwest (Keith Hervey). The families and estates were united in marriage before AD 1225 through the marriage of Philip de Keith, son of Hervey, to Eda, granddaughter of Sir Simon Fraser. These holdings are recorded in AD 1160 and 1176 through recorded church donations.
For more than half a millennium, the Barons of Keith Marischal would have extensive rights in their territory, including 'pits and gallows,' i.e., the right to imprison criminals and impose the death penalty for more serious offenses, raising a small army of their own to support the King in terms of war, to hold their own court, and so forth.
The Barons of Keith Marischal stayed true to Scotland and its rulers and were pivotal in securing Scotland's independence during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The 8th Baron of Keith Marischal, Robert de Keith, was a signatory of the Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland's own declaration of Independence, in addition to leading the decisive cavalry charge at the Battle of Bannockburn, forcing the English longbow archers to flee the field.
The first mention of the Barony of Keith dates from 1160, when Sir Simon Fraser, the first Baron of Keith, donates a church to the Monks of Kelso:
...donacionem quam Symon Fraser eis fecit de ecclesia de Keth cum tota illa terra et toto nemore ab australi parte riuuli qui currit iuxta predictam ecclesiam..."
- Kelso Abbey Cartulary AD 1160, National Library of Scotland
This marks the start of recorded history for Clan Fraser in Scotland and thus also for Clan Fraser of Lovat, a Highland clan that emerged from Clan Fraser.
Edinburgh itself, the present-day capital of Scotland, evolved from a Celtic fortress called Din-Eidyn to a city (or Burgh, hence the name Edin-burgh). A city of such importance necessitated the protection of strong knights; hence, King David I had invited Norman knights such as Sir Simon Fraser and Hervey Fitz Warin, see below, to defend the southeast approach route to Edinburgh from invading southern armies.
The Barony dates from AD 1150, when King David I of Rìoghachd na h-Alba (or simply Alba, modern-day Scotland) donated land in East Lothian near Edinburgh to the Norman knight Sir Simon Fraser, who had helped defend the Kingdom of Alba that would become Scotland, as well as the city of Edinburgh. David I of Alba was canonized in 1175 by Pope Alexander III and is the patron saint of Scotland.
Around the same time, Hervey Fitz-Warin, also a Norman knight, gains adjacent lands in Keith through marriage of a local princess of the Pictish Cattra tribe. Then, Hervey's son marries Simon Fraser's granddaughter and heiress, Eda, thus consolidating the lands of Keith under one barony.
The Keiths and the Frasers, now united through marriage, would help shape much of Scotland's history in the centuries that followed.
The name Keith derives from the Celtic word for "wood" or "woodlands," which was an apt name for the forests that existed east of Edinburgh in the 12th century.
Clan Keith derives its very name from the Barony of Keith in East Lothian.
As the Keiths became Marischals and later Great Marischals of Scotland, the name Marischal was added to the barony, which became known as Keith Marischal.
The recorded history of Frasers in Scotland begins when Simon Fraser, the first Baron of Keith (a Barony situated in East Lothian, Scotland) donates a church to the monks of Kelso Abbey in 1160.
Through Simon's brother Udard, the Fraser family would develop into a major Scottish Clan who together with the Keiths played a major role in th
The recorded history of Frasers in Scotland begins when Simon Fraser, the first Baron of Keith (a Barony situated in East Lothian, Scotland) donates a church to the monks of Kelso Abbey in 1160.
Through Simon's brother Udard, the Fraser family would develop into a major Scottish Clan who together with the Keiths played a major role in the Scottish Wars of Independence, supporting William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Together with Robert the Bruce and the Keiths they won the battle of Bannockburn 1316 (where Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie led Fraser infantry that helped defeat the heavy cavalry of the English at Bannockburn) and signed the declaration of Arbroath 1320 (a declaration which very likely inspired the American Declaration of Independence in 1776), securing Scotland as an independent Kingdom.
The Frasers built a string of castles including Fraser Castle, Oliver Castle and Cairnbulg Castle, the latter still held by the family.
Fraserburgh is but one city founded by the Frasers, and Alexander George Fraser, Sixteenth Lord Saltoun played a prominent part helping Wellington at the battle of Waterloo 1815.
Simon Fraser (1776–1862), was a famous explorer who charted much of British Columbia in Canada, including the Fraser River, named after him.
Clan Keith took its very name from the Keith lands and Barony. As the son of the Norman knight Hervey Fitz Warin (who had gained land in Keith adjacent to Sir Simon Fraser) married the grand-daughter and heiress of Simon Fraser of Keith named Eda, all Keith land was consolidated in one larger Barony and family of Keith - Fraser descent.
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Clan Keith took its very name from the Keith lands and Barony. As the son of the Norman knight Hervey Fitz Warin (who had gained land in Keith adjacent to Sir Simon Fraser) married the grand-daughter and heiress of Simon Fraser of Keith named Eda, all Keith land was consolidated in one larger Barony and family of Keith - Fraser descent.
The Keiths would emerge as Great Marischals of Scotland, being victorious at Bannockburn 1316, signing the Declaration of Arbroath 1320, securing Scotland as an independent Kingdom. Sir Robert Keith led the Scottish cavalry at Bannockburn, sending the English longbowmen fleeing from the battlefield.
The Keith Marischals (later Earl Marischals) founded Marischal College in 1593, whose scholars would play a major role in the Scottish Enlightenment, develop multiple inventions such as the world's first electric train and the development of modern physics through Maxwell who achieved the second great unification of physics from which Einstein took inspiration from when formulating his theory of relativity.
The Keiths also sponsored the work of Jean-Jacques Rosseau during the Age of Enlightenment and played an important role in the early history of Nova Scotia and Canada.
Sir Simon Fraser of Neidpath (1257-1306), brother of Sir Alexander Fraser (a victor of Bannockburn). founded the Fraser of Lovat Clan. Sir Simon's marriage to the Celtic heiress of the Bisset lands near Beauly effectively started the Highland Clan. Sir Simon himself met a horrible death at the hands of the English following his support o
Sir Simon Fraser of Neidpath (1257-1306), brother of Sir Alexander Fraser (a victor of Bannockburn). founded the Fraser of Lovat Clan. Sir Simon's marriage to the Celtic heiress of the Bisset lands near Beauly effectively started the Highland Clan. Sir Simon himself met a horrible death at the hands of the English following his support of William Wallace and a free and independant Scotland.
The Clan would populate and control most of the Highland territories from Inverness and Beauly to the shores of Loch Ness. The Frasers of Lovat played a major part in Scottish and Highland history including the Jacobite Risings, and would later build and command regiments throughout the emerging British Empire. The Fraser of Lovat's role in the Jacobite Risings are featured in the TV series 'Outlander'.
During WW2, Frasers were famous for their courage and served at most major allied battlefronts including the Normandy landings 1944 which liberated the European Continent from occupation.
The 15th Lord Lovat personally led commandos behind enemy lines in Norway and at Sword Beach during the Normandy landings in 1944, where he famously walked ashore ahead of his unit under heavy enemy fire followed by his personal bagpiper playing "Highland Laddie", boosting the morale of the Allies. Sir Winston Churchill famously described him as the "the handsomest man ever to cut a throat".
Other Fraser of Lovat descendants would make great engineering and scientific breakthroughs in 19th century during First Industrial Revolution, and in the 21st century knowledge economy.
The Frasers, Keiths, and Frasers of Lovat would build some of the most beautiful castles of Scotland.
Three of these are pictured to the left:
Clockwise from above left: Castle Dunnotar (Clan Keith), Castle Beaufort (Clan Fraser of Lovat), Castle Fraser (Clan Fraser).
Castle Dounie, the original seat of the Frasers of Lovat, was damaged by the armies of Cromwell, and destroyed by the English following Culloden in 1746, as was the original castle at the Keith Marischal lands in East Lothian. However, the Keith Marischal castle was replaced with a manor house with the same name built in 1589 which stands to this day. keith lands and barony
The Kings of Alba united three Gaelic Kingdoms (Dál Riata, Fortriu, and Alba), thus creating what we now call Scotland. The Kings of Alba were traditionally coronated in Scone at the Stone of Destiny, pictured left.
The Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, was taken from Scotland in 1296 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was seized by King Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks) and taken to Westminster Abbey, where it remained for seven hundred years. The stone was eventually returned to Scotland in 1996 and is now kept in Edinburgh Castle. keith lands and barony
King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, leaving his three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway, as his heir. When also Margaret died upon arriving to her new kingdom in 1290, the English king claimed the kingdom of Scotland first by demanding the Scottish king bend the knee and then claimed it for himself. This triggered a series of events known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.
William Wallace (1270-1305) fought for an independent Scotland during a period when the country was under constant threat of annihilation from the English king. The movie Braveheart (1995, starring Mel Gibson) was based on William Wallace and his fight for freedom for the Scots.
The Keiths and the Frasers fought in many of these battles for the freedom of Scotland. Following Wallace's death, Sir Robert Keith, Baron of Keith Marischal, famously led the cavalry charge for the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 at a pivotal moment, effectively securing the victory for the Scots. This charge was later immortalized in a poem by Sir Walter Scott:
"O! for one hour of Wallace wight,
That Scotland might avenge her right!"
In vain the wish—for far away,
While spoil and havoc mark their way,
The English host are in array;
And, pressing on with eager speed,
Their archers form the battle's head;
But, as they march in long array,
The Scottish horsemen burst away,
And, sweeping down with sudden force,
Disperse the archers' scattered course.
The battle and the subsequent Declaration of Arbroath signed by by Sir Robert Keith, Baron of Keith Marischal, and Alexander Fraser, Baron of Touchfraser and Cowie, secured an independent Scotland for generations to come.
After the Battle of Bannockburn in 1316, the English King convinced the Pope to outlaw - excommunicate - the Scottish King Robert the Bruce.
The Frasers and the Keiths together with some 36 other Scottish Noblemen responded by signing and sending the Declaration of Arbroath to the Pope, stating that they supported Robert the Bruce as the rightful King of Scotland, as long as he supported a free Scotland. The Declaration includes a famous passage, which inspired the movie Braveheart (and most likely the American Declaration of Independence some four hundred and fifty years later):
"As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."
When the armies of Oliver Cromwell some 300+ years later tried to capture also the Scottish Crown Jewels (known as the Honors of Scotland), the oldest in the British Isles, the Keiths smuggled the Crown Jewels out of the besieged Dunnottar Castle, sparing them for posterity. In gratitude, the King created the Earldom of Kintore for the Keiths.
Both the Stone of Destiny and the Scottish Crown Jewels are now on permanent display in Edinburgh Castle.
In the 1620's, the Scots developed a colony in the new world which they called Nova Scotia in present day Canada.
The Keiths played a prominent role in the early history of this emerging society, holding several Baronet noble titles in the New World.
The Frasers made pioneering marks too in Canada including:
The Keith's were well known for their long term support for religious and political freedom. Jean-Jacques Rosseau, the Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer, one of the most influential thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment, was financially sponsored by the Keiths.
George Keith, the 10th Earl Marischal of Scotland and Baron of Keith Marischal, and his brother, Field Marshal James Francis Edward Keith, were significant patrons and supporters of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
In particular, the 10th Earl Marischal (Baron Keith Marischal), who had been exiled after the Jacobite rising of 1715, became a key figure in Rousseau's life when Rousseau faced persecution and exile in the 1760s. After Rousseau's works Émile and The Social Contract were condemned in France and Switzerland, the Earl Marischal offered Rousseau refuge at his estate in Neuchâtel (then under Prussian rule), thus providing him crucial sanctuary during a period of intense personal and political turmoil.
The Marischal College in Aberdeen, founded in 1593 by the Baron Keith Marischal, would play an important role during the Scottish Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution of the 19th century, see below.
The Marischal College in Aberdeen, founded 1593 by the Keith Marischals, is the second largest granite building in the world.
Have you ever taken a train ride in your life? Chances are you travelled on an electric train, first invented by Robert Davidson, who received his education at Marischal College in Aberdeen.
James Clerk Maxwell was a 19th century Scottish physicist and Professor at Marischal College. He was the first to describe electricity, magnetism and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism achieved the second great unification of physics, where the first had been realized by Isac Newton. He was the first to formulate the butterfly effect, and the concept of relativity.
When Einstein later was asked if he stood on the shoulders of Newton, he famously replied “No, on the shoulders of Maxwell".
The Marischal College merged with King's College in 1860 to form present day University of Aberdeen. barony of keith marischal
The greatest civil engineering project of 19th century Sweden was the construction of Göta Canal (1810–1832), a series of canals traversing Sweden from East to West. Built to connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, enabling safe and efficient navigation. It stretches 190 kilometers, of which 87 kilometers were dug by hand. The canal system stands to this day working like a clockwork.
Significance: Revolutionized inland transportation and commerce, significantly reducing travel time, and demonstrating Sweden’s engineering capabilities internationally.
The engineer behind this work was Daniel Fraser (1787-1849), a disciple of the great Thomas Telford. Daniel moved from Ancrum Scotland to Sweden to lead the work. Motala Verkstad, which he built, helped spark the Industrial Revolution in Sweden. Daniel acquired Charlottenburg Castle in Motala, Sweden, pictured above left, where he died in 1849. Daniel Fraser's descendants married into the Swedish Norrman and Almqvist families. present barony family.
Motala Verkstad quickly gained national and international fame as a centre of excellence in manufacturing and engineering. Jules Verne wrote about Motala Verkstad in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas / 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea from 1870. In the novel, Captain Nemo explains that parts of the submarine Nautilus were secretly manufactured by leading workshops around the world. The ram/spur or prow of the Nautilus is said to have come from “les ateliers de Motala, en Suède” — “the workshops of Motala, in Sweden.”
Fraser descendants would marry into the 19th century Swedish ecclesiastical and industrialist Almqvist family. This branch of the Fraser - Keith family tree would go on to make significant land-wins in the realm of innovation and technology.
Sven Alexander Almqvist (1840-1931), would carry Daniel Fraser's legacy a step forward by building the first oil tanker in the world, the Zoroaster, together with Ludvig Nobel in 1878. The first generation of oil tankers were named after the philosophies and religions of the world (the Zoroster, the Buddha, the Mohamed, and the Socrates).
The message was: "This is a gift to all of mankind".
When Karl Benz invented the combustive engine in 1886, the problem of shipping oil efficiently across the world's oceans was already solved, sparking the modern car based society we know today. present barony family.
The Caspian Sea is entirely landlocked, so to reach it from Sweden the Zoroaster sailed via the Baltic Sea, then through Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega, the Rybinsk and Mariinsk Canal systems, and finally down the Volga River into the Caspian. Almqvist designed the vessel specifically small enough — at around 184 feet long — to navigate these inland waterways. Its maiden run from Baku to Astrakhan took place in 1878.