Bolan

Ó Beólláin, or Bolan, was the Gaelic family of the medieval earls, or mormaers, of Ross. Tradition made them hereditary keepers of Applecross monastery. Their first great figure was Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt, meaning son of the priest.

In 1215 Fearchar crushed a revolt in Moray and Ross for Alexander II and presented the rebel leaders' heads to the king. In the 1220s he received the mormaerdom of Ross. His descendants ruled from Dingwall and Tain; Hugh was slain fighting for David II at Halidon Hill in 1333.

The last male earl, William, died in 1372, leaving a daughter, Euphemia. Her marriage to Walter Leslie carried the earldom into the Leslie family; after further disputes Ross passed to the MacDonald lords of the Isles in the fifteenth century.