
Fergus of Galloway (1088-12 May 1161) was Lord of Galloway from 1098 to 1161, succeeding Comgal of Carrick and preceding Uhtred of Galloway.
Biography[]
Fergus was born in 1088 to a family of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. He became Lord of Galloway on Comgal of Carrick's death in 1098, and he witnessed a charter of King David I of Scotland in 1136. He married Elizabeth, an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England, and he fathered Affraic of Galloway, Gille Brigte of Galloway, and Uhtred of Galloway. He had Affraic married to King Olafr Godredsson of Sudreyjar, forging a marital alliance with the Norwegians. When Olafr was assassinated by a rival branch of the dynasty, Galloway was invaded, but Fergus' grandson Gudrodr Olafsson seized control of Sudreyjar. Fergus and his grandson oversaw military operations in Ireland before Gudrodr was overthrown by Somerled, and Galloway was also wracked by inter-dynastic strife during the 1150s. In 1160, King Malcolm IV of Scotland launched three military campaigns into Galloway to avenge Fergus' preying upon his territories, having him sent to the abbey of Holyrood, where he died in 1161.