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'Máel Coluim mac Donnchada' (anglicised 'Malcolm III') (1030x1038–13 November 1093) was King of Scots. He was the eldest son of Donnchad mac Crínáin. While often known as 'Malcolm Canmore' or 'Malcolm Ceanmor'^[2], the earliest epithet applied to him is Long-Neck.^[3] It appears that the real "Malcolm Canmore" was this Máel Coluim's great-grandson Máel Coluim IV.^[4]
Máel Coluim's long reign, spanning five decades, did not mark the beginning of the Scoto-Norman age, nor can Máel Coluim's reign be seen as extending the authority of Alba's kings over the Scandinavian, Norse-Gael and Gaelic north and west of Scotland. The areas under the control of the Kings of Scots did not advance much beyond the limits set by Máel Coluim mac Cináeda until the 12th century and 13th century. Máel Coluim's wars against the kingdom of England, which may have had as their goal the conquest of the rump of the earldom of Northumbria which remained under direct English rule, did not result in any significant advances southwards. Máel Coluim's main achievement is often thought to match that of Cináed mac Ailpín, in continuing a line which would rule Scotland for many years,^[5] although his role as "founder of a dynasty" has more to do with the propaganda of his youngest son David, and his descendants, than with any historical reality.^[6]
While Máel Coluim's second wife, Saint Margaret of Scotland, was beatified, Máel Coluim himself is not regarded as being of notable piety, which distinguishes him from his predecessors and successors. Few, if any, religious reforms can be dated to his reign, and he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments except Dunfermline Abbey.

Contents

Background

Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg

Máel Coluim and Margaret

Máel Coluim and William Rufus

Depictions in fiction

Notes

References

External links

Background

Main articles: Scotland in the High Middle Ages

Máel Coluim's father Donnchad became king in late 1034, on the death of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, Donnchad's maternal grandfather. Donnchad's reign was not successful and he was killed by Mac Bethad on 15 August 1040. Although William Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'' presents Máel Coluim as a grown man and his father as an old one, it appears that Donnchad was still young in 1040,^[7] and Máel Coluim and his brother Domnall Bán were children.^[8] Máel Coluim's family did attempt to overthrow Mac Bethad in 1045, but Máel Coluim's grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the attempt.^[9]
John of Fordun's account, which is the original source of part at least of Shakespeare's version, claims that Máel Coluim's mother was a niece of Siward, Earl of Northumbria,^[10] but an earlier king-list gives her the Gaelic name Suthen.^[11] Based on Fordun's account, it was assumed that Máel Coluim passed most of Mac Bethad's seventeen year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of Edward the Confessor.^[12] If Máel Coluim's mother took her sons into exile, she is now thought to have gone north, to the court of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney, an enemy of Mac Bethad's family, and perhaps Donnchad's kinsman by marriage.^[13]
An English invasion in 1054, with Earl Siward in command, had as its goal the installation of Máel Coluim, "son of the King of the Cumbrians (i.e. of Strathclyde)". This Máel Coluim, perhaps a son of Eógan II of Strathclyde, disappears from history after this brief mention. He has been confused with Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, but Mac Bethad was not killed by the English in 1054, but in 1057 and by the Scots.^[14]
Máel Coluim first appears in the historical record in 1057 when various chroniclers report the death of Mac Bethad at Máel Coluim's hand, probably on 15 August 1057 at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire.^[15] Mac Bethad was succeeded by his step-son Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Máel Coluim, "by treachery",^[16] near Huntly on 23 April 1058. After this, Máel Coluim became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only Marianus Scotus reports this.^[17]

Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg

If Orderic Vitalis is to be relied upon, one of Máel Coluim's earliest actions as may have been to travel south to the court of Edward the Confessor to arrange a marriage with Edward's kinswoman Margaret.^[18] If such an agreement was made in 1059, it was not kept, and this may explain the Scots invasion of Northumbria in 1061 when Lindisfarne was plundered.^[19] Equally, Máel Coluim's raids in Northumbria may have been related to the disputed "Kingdom of the Cumbrians", reestablished by Earl Siward in 1054, which was under Máel Coluim's control by 1070.^[20]
The Orkneyinga saga reports that Máel Coluim married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg a daughter of Finn Arnesson.^[21] Although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058.^[22] The ''Orkneyinga Saga'' records that Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg had a son, Donnchad, who was later king.^[3] Some Medieval commentators, following William of Malmesbury, assumed that Donnchad was illegitimate, which is no more than propaganda reflecting the need of Máel Coluim's descendants by Margaret to undermine the claims of Donnchad's descendants, the Meic Uilleim.^[24] Máel Coluim's son Domnall, whose death is reported in 1085, is not mentioned by the author of the ''Orkneyinga Saga''. He is assumed to have been born to Ingibiorg.^[25]
Máel Coluim's marriage to Ingibiorg secured him peace in the north and west. The ''Heimskringla'' tells that her father Finn had been an adviser to Harald Hardraade and, after falling out with Harald, was then made an Earl by Sweyn Estridsson, King of Denmark, which may have been another recommendation for the match.^[26] Máel Coluim enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the Earldom of Orkney, ruled jointly by his step-sons, Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson. The ''Orkneyinga Saga'' reports strife with Norway but this is probably misplaced as it associates this with Magnus Barefoot, who became king of Norway only in 1093, the year of Máel Coluim's death.^[27]

Máel Coluim and Margaret

Although he had given sanctuary to Tostig Godwinson when the Northumbrians drove him out, Máel Coluim was not directly involved in the ill-fated invasion of England by Harald Hardraade and Tostig in 1066, which ended in defeat and death at battle of Stamford Bridge.^[28] In 1068, he granted asylum to a group of English exiles fleeing from William of Normandy, among them Agatha, widow of Edward the Confessor's nephew Edward the Exile, and her children: Edgar Ætheling and his sisters Margaret and Cristina. They were accompanied by Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria. The exiles were to be disappointed if they had expected immediate assistance from the Scots.^[29]
In 1069 the exiles returned to England, to join a spreading revolt in the north. Even though Gospatric and Siward's son Waltheof submitted by the end of the year, the arrival of a Danish army under Sweyn Estridsson ensured that William's position remained weak. Máel Coluim decided on war, and took his army south into Cumbria and across the Pennines, wasting Teesdale and Cleveland then marching north, loaded with loot, to Wearmouth. There Máel Coluim met Edgar and his family, who were invited to return with him, but did not. As Sweyn had by now been bought off with a large Danegeld, Máel Coluim took his army home. In reprisal, William sent Gospatric to raid Scotland through Cumbria. In return, the Scots fleet raided the Northumbrian coast where Gospatric's possession were concentrated.^[30] Late in the year, perhaps shipwrecked on their way to a European exile, Edgar and his family again arrived in Scotland, this time to remain. By the end of 1070, Máel Coluim had married Edgar's sister Margaret, the future Saint Margaret of Scotland.^[31]
The naming of their children represented a break with the traditional Scots Regal names such as Máel Coluim, Cináed and Áed. The point of naming Margaret's sons, Edward after her father Edward the Exile, Edmund for her grandfather Edmund Ironside, Ethelred for her great-grandfather Ethelred the Unready and Edgar for her great-great-grandfather Edgar was unlikely to be missed in England, where William of Normandy's grasp on power was far from secure.^[32] Whether the adoption of the classical Alexander for the future Alexander I of Scotland (either for Pope Alexander II or for Alexander the Great) and the biblical David for the future David I of Scotland represented a recognition that William of Normandy would not be easily removed, or was due to the repetition of Anglo-Saxon Royal name—another Edmund had preceded Edgar—is not known.^[33] Margaret also gave Máel Coluim two daughters, Edith, who married Henry I of England, and Mary, who married Eustace III of Boulogne.
In 1072, with the Harrying of the North completed and his position again secure, William of Normandy came north with an army and a fleet. Máel Coluim met William at Abernethy and, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle "became his man" and handed over his eldest son Donnchad as a hostage and arranged peace between William and Edgar.^[34] Accepting the overlordship of the king of the English was no novelty, previous kings had done so without result. The same was true of Máel Coluim; his agreement with the English king was followed by further raids into Northumbria, which led to further trouble in the earldom and the killing of Bishop William Walcher at Gateshead. In 1080, William sent his son Robert Curthose north with an army while his brother Odo punished the Northumbrians. Máel Coluim again made peace, and this time kept it for over a decade.^[35]
Máel Coluim faced little recorded internal opposition, with the exception of Lulach's son Máel Snechtai. In an unusual entry, for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains little on Scotland, it says that in 1078:
Whatever provoked this strife, Máel Snechtai survived until 1085.^[36]

Máel Coluim and William Rufus

When William Rufus became king of England after his father's death, Máel Coluim did not intervene in the rebellions by supporters of Robert Curthose which followed. In 1091, however, William Rufus confiscated Edgar Ætheling's lands in England, and Edgar fled north to Scotland. In May, Máel Coluim marched south, not to raid and take slaves and plunder, but to besiege Newcastle, built by Robert Curthose in 1080. This appears to have been an attempt to advance the frontier south from the River Tweed to the River Tees. The threat was enough to bring the English king back from Normandy, were he had been fighting Robert Curthose. In September, learning of William Rufus's approaching army, Máel Coluim withdrew north and the English followed. Unlike in 1072, Máel Coluim was prepared to fight, but a peace was arranged by Edgar Ætheling and Robert Curthose whereby Máel Coluim again acknowledged the overlordship of the English king.^[37]
In 1092, the peace began to break down. Based on the idea that the Scots controlled much of modern Cumbria, it had been supposed that William Rufus's new castle at Carlisle and his settlement of English peasants in the surrounds was the cause. However, it is unlikely that Máel Coluim did control Cumbria, and the dispute instead concerned the estates granted to Máel Coluim by William Rufus's father in 1072 for his maintenance when visiting England. Máel Coluim sent messengers to discuss the question and William Rufus agreed to a meeting. Máel Coluim travelled south to Gloucester, stopping at Wilton Abbey to visit his daughter Edith and sister-in-law Cristina. Máel Coluim arrived there on 24 August 1093 to find that William Rufus refused to negotiate, insisting that the dispute be judged by the English barons. This Máel Coluim refused to accept, and returned immediately to Scotland.^[38]
It does not appear that William Rufus intended to provoke a war,^[39] but, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports, war came:
Máel Coluim was accompanied by Edward, his eldest son by Margaret and probable heir-designate (or tánaiste), and by Edgar.^[40] Even by the standards of the time, the ravaging of Northumbria by the Scots was seen as harsh.^[41]
While marching north again, Máel Coluim was ambushed by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, whose lands he had devastated, near Alnwick on 13 November 1093. There he was killed by his god-sib Arkil Morel, steward of Bamburgh Castle.^[42] Edward was mortally wounded in the same fight. Margaret, it is said, died soon after receiving the news of their deaths from Edgar.^[43] The Annals of Ulster say:
Máel Coluim's body was taken to Tynemouth for burial. It may later have been reburied at Dunfermline Abbey in the reign of his son Alexander or perhaps on Iona.^[44]
On 19 June, 1250, following the canonisation of Máel Coluim's wife Margaret by Pope Innocent IV, Margaret's remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary. Tradition has it that as the reliquary was carried to the high altar of Dunfermline Abbey, past Máel Coluim's grave, it became too heavy to move. As a result, Máel Coluim's remains were also disinterred, and buried next to Margaret beside the altar.^[45]

Depictions in fiction

Malcolm's accession to the throne, as modified by tradition, is the climax of ''Macbeth'' by William Shakespeare.

Notes

1. Duncan, p. 42, takes Máel Coluim to be "at least two, possible as much as ten, years old" in 1040.
2. ''Shaw, ''Historical Critiques'', p. 6
3. ''Orkneyinga Saga'', c. 33.
4. Duncan, pp. 51–52, 74–75; Oram, ''David I'', p. 17, note 1. ''Cenn Mór'' certainly means "great chief" rather than "big head", as sometimes thought.
5. The question of what to call this family is an open one. "House of Dunkeld" is all but unknown; "Canmore kings" and "Canmore dynasty" are not universally accepted, nor are Richard Oram's recent coinage "meic Maíl Coluim" or Michael Lynch's "MacMalcolm". For discussions and examples: Duncan, pp. 53–54; McDonald, ''Outlaws'', p. 3; Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity'', Appendix C; Reid. Broun discusses the question of identity at length.
6. Hammond, p. 21. The first genealogy known which traces descent from Máel Coluim, rather than from Cináed mac Ailpín or Fergus Mór, is dated to the reign of Alexander II, see Broun, pp. 195–200.
7. The notice of Donnchad's death in the ''Annals of Tigernach'', s.a. 1040, says he was "slain ... at an immature age"; Duncan, p.33.
8. Duncan, p. 33; Oram, ''David I'', p. 18. There may have been a third brother if Máel Muire of Atholl was a son of Donnchad. Oram, ''David I'', p. 97, note 26, rejects this identification.
9. Duncan, p. 41; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1045 ; Annals of Tigernach, s.a. 1045.
10. Fordun, IV, xliv.
11. Duncan, p. 37; M.O. Anderson, p. 284.
12. Barrell, p. 13; Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity'',p. 25.
13. See Duncan, p. 42; Oram, ''David I'', pp. 18–20. Máel Coluim had ties to Orkney in later life. Earl Thorfinn may have been a grandson of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda and thus Máel Coluim's cousin.
14. On Máel Coluim, "son of the King of the Cumbrians", see Duncan, pp. 37–41; Oram, ''David I'', pp.18–20.
15. Anderson, ''ESSH'', pp. 600–602; the Prophecy of Berchán has Mac Bethad wounded in battle and places his death at Scone.
16. According to the Annals of Tigernach; the Annals of Ulster say Lulach was killed in battle against Máel Coluim; see Anderson, ''ESSH'', pp. 603–604.
17. Duncan, pp.50–51 discusses the dating of these events.
18. Duncan, p. 43.
19. Duncan, p. 43; Oram, ''David I'', p. 21.
20. Oram, ''David I'', p. 21.
21. ''Orkneyinga Saga'', c. 33, Duncan, pp. 42–43.
22. See Duncan, p. 42–43, dating Ingibiorg's death to 1058. Oram, ''David I'', pp. 22–23, dates the marriage of Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg to c. 1065.
23. ''Orkneyinga Saga'', c. 33.
24. Duncan, pp. 54–55; Broun, p. 196; Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 117–119.
25. Duncan, p.55; Oram, ''David I'', p. 23. Domnall's death is reported in the Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1085: "... Domnall son of Máel Coluim, king of Alba, ... ended [his] life unhappily." However, it is not certain that Domnall's father was this Máel Coluim. M.O. Anderson, ''ESSH'', corrigenda p. xxi, presumes Domnall to have been a son of Máel Coluim mac Maíl Brigti, King or Mormaer of Moray, who is called "king of Scotland" in his obituary in 1029.
26. ''Saga of Harald Sigurðson'', cc. 45ff.; ''Saga of Magnus Erlingsson'', c. 30. See also Oram, ''David I'', pp. 22–23.
27. ''Orkneyinga Saga'', cc. 39–41; McDonald, ''Kingdom of the Isles'', pp. 34–37.
28. Adam of Bremen says that he fought at Stamford Bridge, but he is alone in claiming this: Anderson, ''SAEC'', p. 87, note 3.
29. Oram, ''David I'', p. 23; Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 87–90. Orderic Vitalis states that the English asked for Máel Coluim's assistance.
30. Duncan, pp. 44–45; Oram, ''David I'', pp. 23–24.
31. Oram, ''David I'', p. 24; Clancy, "St. Margaret", dates the marriage to 1072.
32. Máel Coluim's sons by Ingebiorg were probably expected to succeed to the kingdom of the Scots, Oram, ''David I'', p.26.
33. Oram, p. 26.
34. Oram, pp. 30–31; Anderson, ''SAEC'', p. 95.
35. Oram, ''David I'', p. 33.
36. His death is reported by the Annals of Ulster amongst clerics and described as "happy", usually a sign that the deceased had entered religion.
37. Oram, ''David I'', p. 34–35; Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 104–108.
38. Duncan, pp. 47–48; Oram, ''David I'', pp. 35–36; Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 109–110.
39. Oram, ''David I'', pp.36–37.
40. Duncan, p. 54; Oram, ''David I'', p. 42.
41. Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 97–113, contains a number of English chronicles condemning Máel Coluim's several invasions of Northumbria.
42. The Annals of Innisfallen say he "was slain with his son in an unguarded moment in battle".
43. Oram, pp.37–38; Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 114–115.
44. Anderson, ''SAEC'', pp. 111–113. M.O. Anderson reprints three regnal lists, lists F, I and K, which give a place of burial for Máel Coluim. These say Iona, Dunfermline, and Tynemouth, respectively.
45. Dunlop, p. 93.

References

★ Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History A.D 500–1286'', volume 1. Reprinted with corrections. Paul Watkins, Stamford, 1990. ISBN 1-871615-03-8

★ Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers.'' D. Nutt, London, 1908.

★ Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie, ''Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland.'' Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, revised edition 1980. ISBN 0-7011-1604-8

★ Anon., ''Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney'', tr. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Penguin, London, 1978. ISBN 0-14-044383-5

★ Barrell, A.D.M. ''Medieval Scotland.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. ISBN 0-521-58602-X

★ Clancy, Thomas Owen, "St. Margaret" in Michael Lynch (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002. ISBN 0-19-211696-7

★ Barrow, G.W.S., ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000–1306.'' Reprinted, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1989. ISBN 0-7486-0104-X

★ Barrow, G.W.S., ''The Kingdom of the Scots.'' Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2003. ISBN 0-7486-1803-1

★ Broun, Dauvit, ''The Irish Identity of the Kingdom of the Scots in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.'' Boydell, Woodbridge, 1999. ISBN 0-85115-375-5

★ Duncan, A.A.M., ''The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence.'' Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8

★ Dunlop, Eileen, ''Queen Margaret of Scotland.'' National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2005. ISBN 1-901663-92-2

★ John of Fordun, ''Chronicle of the Scottish Nation'', ed. William Forbes Skene, tr. Felix J.H. Skene, 2 vols. Reprinted, Llanerch Press, Lampeter, 1993. ISBN 1-897853-05-X

★ Hammond, Matthew H., "Ethnicity and Writing of Medieval Scottish History", in ''The Scottish Historical Review'', Vol. 85, April, 2006, pp. 1-27

★ McDonald, R. Andrew, ''The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard, c. 1100–c.1336.'' Tuckwell Press, East Linton, 1997. ISBN 1-898410-85-2

★ McDonald, R. Andrew, ''Outlaws of Medieval Scotland: Challenges to the Canmore Kings, 1058–1266.'' Tuckwell Press, East Linton, 2003. ISBN 1-86232-236-8

★ Oram, Richard, ''David I: The King Who Made Scotland.'' Tempus, Stroud, 2004. ISBN 0-7524-2825-X

★ Reid, Norman, "Kings and Kingship: Canmore Dynasty" in Michael Lynch (ed.), op. cit.

★ Sturluson, Snorri, ''Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway'', tr. Lee M. Hollander. Reprinted University of Texas Press, Austin, 1992. ISBN 0-292-73061-6

External links

★ CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork includes the Annals of Ulster, Tigernach and Innisfallen, the Lebor Bretnach and the Chronicon Scotorum among others. Most are translated or translations are in progress.

★ Heimskringla at World Wide School

★ Orkneyinga Saga at Northvegr