the year 1224
to Freskin's father Walter de Moravia of Duffus without pecuniary
or other valuable consideration, it has been concluded, probably
correctly, that this grant was made on the occasion of the marriage
of Walter to Ferchar's daughter Euphamia; and Freskin, their heir, was
born in or after 1225, and had become _dominus_ de Duffus by 1248 on
his father's death. Johanna, on our hypothesis, would have to be born
by 1232 at latest, that is, before or soon after her supposed father
Snaekoll went to Norway, and from her supposed father's date she could
hardly have been born before 1225. Snaekoll's date can be ascertained
with comparative accuracy. For his mother lost her first husband,
Lifolf Baldpate, only in 1198, at the battle of Clairdon, and she can
hardly have married Snaekoll's father, Gunni, much before 1200. From
these dates Snaekoll could have been born by 1201, and married in
Scotland between 1224 and 1231, and Freskin and Johanna would thus
be of very suitable ages to marry each other, and their marriage
therefore would take place after 1245, or possibly as late as 1250. If
Johanna was the daughter of a younger child of Ragnhild, she might be
born later than 1225.

This would involve a long minority for Johanna, and by reason of her
marriage with Freskin de Moravia in 1245 or later, we suspect that
Freskin's uncle, William _dominus Sutherlandiae_, whose territories
were bounded on the north and east by her lands, was her guardian,
an office whose duties the head of the powerful and loyal House
of Sutherland alone could efficiently perform in the troublous and
turbulent times of her minority.

From Bain's _Calendar of Documents_ relating to Scotland[25] we know
that Freskin was one of the signatories of the National Bond of mutual
alliance and friendship with Sir Llewelin son of Griffin, Prince of
Wales, and other leading Welshmen on the 18th of March 1259. Freskin
would not have been asked to sign a document of such international
importance unless, like another of its signatories, Sir Reginald Chen
I (whose son of the same name, Reginald Chen II, married Freskin's
daughter, Mary of Duffus, later on) he had been one of the leading men
of his time in Scotland. We also find that his rights were saved in a
charter of 11th April 1260 and that on 13th October 1260 he was one of
the three vice-gerents of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, Justiciar
of Scotland, present in Court at Perth on that date.[26]

On