The Rev. J.A. Wylie in his 'History Of The Scottish Nation' (published in 1886):
"The contentions that broke out under the two reigns on which we are now entering were of a commonplace character, the fruit of an ignoble ambition, and they would by this day have been forgotten had it not chanced that the immortal light of genius fell upon them, and invested them with a halo which, despite their inherent triviality, has given them a place in Scottish history from which they never can be dislodged. Shakespeare, as is well known, has borrowed materials from the transactions of these reigns which he has woven into one of the grandest dramas of the world's literature. We enter, as it were, upon enchanted ground when we come to this period of Scottish history. We are well aware of this, and know that the grandeurs and terrors amid which for some time our path lies are imaginary, and yet despite our every effort to dismiss the illusions that surround us, and see only the realities of the case, the creation of the poet stubbornly keeps its place before our eye as the true image and picture of the time."
Raphael Holinshed (d.c.1580) probably came from Cheshire, but, from roughly 1560, he lived in London, where he was employed, by publisher Reginald Wolfe, in the compilation of a universal history. After Wolfe's death, in 1573, the scope of the work was abbreviated and it appeared, with many illustrations, as the 'Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande', in 1577. The work was compiled, by Holinshed and several assistants, largely uncritically, from many sources of varying degrees of trustworthiness. Shakespeare was among the Elizabethan dramatists who found inspiration in the book; notably for the tragedies King Lear, Cymbeline, and Macbeth. Holinshed himself was responsible for the 'Historie of Scotland' which drew largely on the fabulously fanciful 'Scotorum Historiae' of Hector Boece (or Boethius), which was published in 1527. Boece's glorification of the Scottish nation should be viewed as romance, rather than history. Having dismissed not only Shakespeare's drama (which might be expected to take liberties with the facts) but also his direct and indirect sources as works of fantasy, what remains make very slim pickings indeed.
Duncan I succeeded his grandfather, Malcolm II, in 1034. He had already ruled Strathclyde under Malcolm II, and, according to John of Fordun, as soon as Duncan became king of the Scots, he passed the rule of Strathclyde to his son, Malcolm. Fordun says that Duncan was married to a kinswoman (sister?) of, the Dane, Siward, earl of Northumbria. Duncan's brother, Maldred, was married to a daughter of, a previous, Anglo-Saxon, earl of Northumbria, Uhtred. Duncan's claim to the throne was not particularly strong - he was the son of Malcolm II's daughter, Bethoc, and Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld - and his grandfather appears to have killed a potential challenger (the grandson of Boite, son of Kenneth) in 1033. Boite, however, had a daughter, Gruoch, and it seems that her second husband was Macbeth, mormaer of Moray.
Though John of Fordun clearly had access to the 'Chronicle of Huntingdon', he does not repeat its statement that Macbeth was "nepos", which can mean grandson or nephew, of Malcolm II. Back in the 19th century, the Rev. Wylie wrote: "More than one attempt has been made of late to unravel the vexed question of how Macbeth stood related to Duncan, and what claims he had, or whether he had any, on the throne. The problem, however, seems to defy elucidation, and after all attempts it remains, we are compelled to say, where it was." His words are as true today as they were then.
Another daughter of Malcolm II had been married to Sigurd 'the Stout', earl (jarl) of Orkney. Their son was Earl Thorfinn. In the 'Orkneyinga Saga' (written c.1200, by an anonymous Icelandic author) Malcolm is succeeded by Karl Hundason ('Peasant, Son of a dog'). Malcolm had given Caithness to Thorfinn, but Karl thought that Thorfinn should pay tribute for it. Thorfinn, of course, thought otherwise, and: "... out of this arose a mighty feud, and each harried the other's realm."
The 'Orkneyinga Saga' says that Karl wanted to "... set up in Caithness that chief whose name was Mumtan or Muddan; he was his sister's son, and he gave him the title of earl." Gathering a force in Sutherland, Muddan rode for Caithness. Thorfinn, however, assembled a greater army - drawn from Caithness, but with reinforcements from the Orkneys: "And as soon as the Scots knew that they had fewer men, they would not fight, and rode up back to Scotland. Then earl Thorfinn fared after them and laid under him Sutherland and Ross, and harried far and wide over Scotland; thence he turned back to Caithness ..." Thorfinn's army dispersed - he kept with him, at Duncansby: "... five long-ships, and just so much force as was enough to man them well. Muddan came to see king Karl in Berwick, and tells him how his paths had not been smooth. King Karl then got very wrath when he learned that his land was harried; he went then at once on ship-board, and had eleven long-ships and much people; then he held on north along Scotland. Muddan he sent back to Caithness with a great force, and he rode the upper way through Scotland; it was so settled that he should come down thence, and then Thorfinn would be in a cleft stick. Now it must be told of Karl that he never slackened sail before he came to Caithness; and then there was scant space between him and Thorfinn. Then Thorfinn took that counsel to go on ship-board and hold out into the Pentland firth, and he meant to go to the Orkneys; by that time there was so scant space between them, that Karl and his men saw Thorfinn's sails as he sailed east across the firth, and they sailed after them at once." Under cover of darkness Karl's ships approached Thorfinn's unnoticed. "But next morning when it was light, the first thing they found out was that Karl and his men were rowing up to them with eleven ships. There were then two choices on hand: the one was to jump ashore and leave the ships and all his goods to his foes; the other is to put out to meet them and then let destiny have her sway. Thorfinn called then on his men, and bade them get out their weapons; he said he would not run away, and bade them row against them manfully. And after that each side lashed their ships together. Earl Thorfinn egged on his men much, and bade them be hot, and make the first bout hard. As for the Scots, he said few of them would stand... Now earl Thorfinn egged on his men hotly; then he ran his ship aboard of Karl's ship, and there was a very hard fight. Then the Scots held together, just before the mast on the king's ship, and then earl Thorfinn leaps out of the poop and forward on the ship, and fought most bravely. And when he saw that men grew thin on board Karl's ships, he egged on his men to board; and when king Karl saw that, he bade them cut the lashings and hold away. Then Thorfinn and his men cast grappling hooks on board the king's ship. Then Thorfinn bade them bear up his banner, and he followed it thither himself, and a great company of men with him. Then Karl leapt from his ship with those men that were left upstanding; but the most part had fallen on board that ship. Karl leapt on board another ship, and bade them take to their oars, and then the Scots laid themselves out to fly, but Thorfinn chased them... Karl held on away south to Broadfirth [the Moray Firth], and went on shore there and gathered force anew. Thorfinn turned back after the battle." Thorfinn's lieutenant, Thorkell, arrived from the Orkneys with reinforcements. "... then they sailed south to Broadfirth after Karl and his men, and as soon as ever they came off Scotland they began to harry. Then they were told how Muddan was north in Caithness at Thurso, and had there a great host; he had also sent to Ireland after men, for he had there many friends and kinsmen, and there he waited for this force." Thorfinn and Thorkell decided that Thorkell "... should go north along Caithness with some of the host, while Thorfinn lay behind off Scotland and harried there. Thorkell went stealthily; besides all the land-folk was true and trusty to him in Caithness; no news of him went before him until he came into Thurso at dead of night, and took the house over the heads of Muddan and his men and set fire to it. Muddan slept up in a loft, and just as he leapt out and down out of the loft gallery, Thorkell hewed at him, and the blow came on his neck and took off his head. After that the men gave themselves up, but some got away by running. There many men were slain, but there were a very great many to whom peace was given. Thorkell stayed there a short while ere he fared back to Broadfirth; he had then a whole host with him which he had got in Caithness and out of Sutherland and Ross; then he met earl Thorfinn south of Moray, and tells him what had been done in his travels. The earl thanked him well for his toil; then they both lay there a while and harried the land." Karl assembled an army from all of southern Scotland, reinforced by the Irish sent for by Muddan: "... and the place where he and Thorfinn met was at Turfness, south of Broadfirth. There arose a mighty battle, and the Scots had a far greater host. Earl Thorfinn was at the head of his battle array; he had a gilded helmet on his head, and was girt with a sword; a great spear in his hand, and he fought with it, striking right and left. So it is said that he was the foremost of all his men. He went thither at first where the battle of those Irish was; so hot was he with his train, that they gave way at once before him, and never afterwards got into good order again. Then Karl let them bring forward his banner to meet Thorfinn; there was a hard fight, and the end of it was, that Karl laid himself out to fly, but some men say that he has fallen... Earl Thorfinn drove the flight before him a long way up into Scotland, and after that he fared about far and wide over the land and laid it under him. He fared then so far south as Fife, and laid the land under him; men went under him wherever he fared." Thorfinn dismissed Thorkell and part of his army, but "when the Scots knew that, how the earl had sent away from him some of his host, those very same came against him who had already given themselves up to him; and as soon as ever the earl was ware of their guile, he fetched together his force and fared to meet them; then the Scots were slower in their onslaught when they knew the earl was ready for them. Earl Thorfinn made ready to fight as soon as ever he met the Scots; but then they did not dare to defend themselves, but broke off at once into flight, and fled wide away to woods and wastes. And when Thorfinn had chased the fleers, he got together his men, and says that then he will let them burn all that district in which they then were, and so pay the Scots for their enmity and treachery. Then the earl's men fared among thorpes and farms, and so burned everything, that not a cot stood after them; they slew too all the fighting-men they found, but women and old men dragged themselves off to woods and wastes with weeping and wailing. Much folk too they made captives of war and put them into bonds, and so drove them before them... After that earl Thorfinn fared north along Scotland to his ships, and laid under him the land wherever he went. He fared then north to Caithness, and sate there that winter; but every summer thenceforth he had his levies out, and harried about the West lands, but sat most often still in the winters."
Summarising Thorfinn's career, the 'Orkneyinga Saga' states:
"Earl Thorfinn held all his realms till his death day; it is soothly said that he has been the most powerful of all the Orkney earls. He owned nine earldoms in Scotland, and all the Southern isles, and he had a great realm in Ireland... The earl's death was a great grief in the Orkneys and in his lands of heritage. But in those lands which he had laid under him with war, then many thought it great thraldom to abide under his power. Then many realms fell away which the earl had laid under him, and men looked for trust under those chiefs who were there home-born to rule in those realms."
Opinion is divided whether Karl Hundason should be identified with Duncan or Macbeth, neither of whom otherwise figure in the 'Saga'. On rather firmer ground, in 1039, as Symeon of Durham, in the 'Historia Ecclesiae Dunelmensis' (History of the Church of Durham), records:
"... Dunecan [Duncan], king of the Scots, advanced with a countless multitude of troops, and laid siege to Durham, and made strenuous but ineffective efforts to carry it. For a large proportion of his cavalry was slain by the besieged, and he was put to a disorderly flight, in which he lost all his foot-soldiers, whose heads were collected in the market-place and hung up upon posts. Not long afterwards the same king, upon his return to Scotland, was murdered by his own countrymen."
Against the year 1040, the 'Annals of Ulster' announce:
"Donnchad [Duncan] son of Crinan, king of Alba, was killed by his own people."
The 'Annals of Tigernach' note that Duncan was killed at an "immature age".
It would appear that Duncan had advanced against a, presumably, rebellious Macbeth. A couplet in the so called 'Verse Chronicle', as copied into the 'Chronicle of Melrose', notes:
By Macbeth, the son of Finleg [Findlaech], he was struck down;
The mortally wounded king died in Elgin [in Moray].
The mortally wounded king died in Elgin [in Moray].
Marianus Scotus writes:
"Duncan, the king of Scotland, was killed in the autumn, by his earl, Macbeth, Findlaech's son ..."
Macbeth took the throne. According to John of Fordun, Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donald, resisted Macbeth for almost two years, before:
"... Donald betook himself to the isles, and Malcolm to Cumbria [i.e. Strathclyde]; for it seemed to them that, had they remained, they would more likely have died than lived. Malcolm, afterwards, wishing to have Earl Siward's advice in all his undertakings there, went on to him; and, by his advice and guidance, he sought an audience of King Edward, who was then reigning. The king, who was very merciful and mild, willingly extended his friendship unto him, and promised him help - for Edward himself had lately been an exile as Malcolm now was."
Duncan's father, Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld, must have opposed Macbeth, since his death in "a battle between the Scots themselves" is recorded, by the 'Annals of Ulster', in 1045. The indications are, however, that Macbeth was a competent king. The 'Verse Chronicle' notes that his "reign was a time of prosperity", and, by 1050, he felt sufficiently secure to make a pilgrimage to Rome, where, according to a famous comment by Marianus Scotus, he "scattered money like seed to the poor". Records, from the priory attached to St.Andrews Cathedral, show that Macbeth and his wife, Gruoch, were generous benefactors to the Culdees of Loch Leven, indeed, 'The Prophecy of St.Berchan', a late-11th century, Middle-Irish, poem, calls Macbeth "the generous king", and says:
The ruddy, pale-yellow-haired, tall one,
I shall be joyful in him.
Scotland will be brimful in the west and in the east,
during the reign of the furious Red one.
I shall be joyful in him.
Scotland will be brimful in the west and in the east,
during the reign of the furious Red one.
In 1052, Edward 'the Confessor' was obliged to expel most of his Norman retainers from England. Florence of Worcester reports that:
Osbern, surnamed Pentecost, and his companion Hugh, surrendered their castles, and, by the licence of earl Leofric [of Mercia] passing through his earldom, went into Scotland, and were there kindly received by Macbeoth [Macbeth], king of the Scots."
John of Fordun devotes six chapters to a conversation, which takes place in England, between Duncan's exiled son, Malcolm, and "a distinguished, noble, and trusty man, named Macduff, thane of Fife". Macduff tries to persuade Malcolm to mount an attempt on the Scottish throne, but Malcolm pretends to be unfit to rule, in order to test Macduff's loyalty. In his 'Notes and Illustrations' to Fordun's chronicle (first published 1872), W.F. Skene writes: "For the whole of this ingeniously imagined interview, I consider Fordun to be solely responsible, and I am inclined also to accredit him with the entire invention of Macduf, Thane of Fife, and the part he plays in the reigns of Macbeth and Malcolm." However, in 'Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom' (first published 1975), A.A.M. Duncan comments: "I am inclined not to dismiss completely the story which appears in Fordun of a Macduff fleeing Scotland and Macbeth to join Malcolm III. Behind the elaborate narratives of Fordun there is usually some brief annal, and although none can be identified for this tale, it does name, circumstantially, Macduff's landing at Ravenspur on the Yorkshire coast."
The 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' (Manuscript D) entry for 1054 states:
"This year went Siward the earl with a great army into Scotland, both with a ship-force and with a landforce, and fought against the Scots, and put to flight the king Macbeth, and slew all who were the chief men in the land, and led thence much booty, such as no man before had obtained. But his son Osbarn [Osbeorn], and his sister's son Siward, and some of his housecarls, and also of the king's, were there slain, on the day of the Seven Sleepers [27th July]."
The 'Annals of Ulster' puts the number of dead at "3000 of the Scots and 1500 of the English". Florence of Worcester says that "all the Normans whom we mentioned before" were among those killed, and adds that Siward:
"... as the king [Edward] had directed, elevated to the throne Malcolm, son of the king of the Cumbrians."
Geffrei Gaimar says that Siward had, apparently the year before, been to Scotland and agreed a peace with Macbeth, which the latter broke. According to an anecdote told by Henry of Huntingdon, Siward had sent his (unnamed) son "on an expedition into Scotland". Siward's son was killed, "and when the news reached his father, he inquired: "Was his death-wound received before or behind?" The messengers replied, "Before." Then said he, "I greatly rejoice; no other death was fitting either for him or me." Whereupon, Siward led an army into Scotland, and having defeated the king and ravaged the whole kingdom, he reduced it to subjection to himself." The tradition presented by an Anglo-Norman 'Life of Waltheof' portrays Donald, not Malcolm, as a displaced "king of the Scots" who pesters Siward to help him: "Yielding to his petition, the earl collected an army in support of the king; and proceeded as far as Dundee, where it was announced to him that his vassals of Northumbria had risen against him and his supporters, to so great a purpose that they had killed his son, Osbert Bulax." Siward is obliged to return to Northumbria: "And he restored to the king [i.e. Donald, in this story] the lands that he had invaded by force and occupied in opposition to the king's enemies ..."
Although not completely successful - Macbeth had been driven back, but was still alive - Siward's campaign probably established Malcolm as ruler in Strathclyde and Lothian, at least. There is no record of what happened in the intervening years but, eventually, in 1057, Malcolm succeeded in defeating and killing Macbeth, in battle, at Lumphanan (Aberdeenshire). Macbeth's stepson, Lulach, appears to have provided a rallying point for, his stepfather's supporters. He was declared king, but his reign lasted just a few months. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, at Essie, in Strathbogie (Aberdeenshire), in 1058.
In the vast majority of sources (including John of Fordun) Macbeth's reign is given as seventeen years (he took the throne in 1040). That of Lulach (who is sometimes given the epithet 'Fatuus' - 'the Simple' or 'the Foolish') is generally placed at around four months. According to Marianus Scotus, Macbeth was killed on 15th August 1057, and Lulach on 17th March 1058. The deaths of Macbeth and Lulach are noted by the 'Annals of Ulster' and the 'Annals of Tigernach', but both deaths are located in the same year, 1058, and Macbeth's death is placed later in the annal than Lulach's. There are, however, small differences between the 'Annals'. Whereas the 'Annals of Ulster' say that both Macbeth and Lulach were killed "in battle" by Malcolm, the 'Annals of Tigernach' make no mention of how Macbeth was killed by Malcolm, but say that Lulach was killed "treacherously" by Malcolm. The 'Annals of Ulster' style both Macbeth and Lulach "over-king". The 'Annals of Tigernach' style Macbeth "over-king", but Lulach "king". (In 'Early Sources of Scottish History', A.O. Anderson suggests that Tigernach's annalist: "... thought that Macbeth was Lulach's suzerain.") William of Malmesbury, in his report of the 1054 (though the date is not mentioned) expedition of Siward and Malcolm, mistakenly, writes that: "... Siward earl of the Northumbrians, who at his [King Edward's] command, engaging with Macbeth, the Scottish king, deprived him both of his life and of his kingdom, and placed on the throne Malcolm, who was the son of the king of Cumbria." John of Fordun, who makes extensive use of William of Malmesbury (indeed, he quotes that very section), therefore, fuses the battle "on the day of the Seven Sleepers" (1054) and Lumphanan (1057) into a single battle. In Fordun's version, Siward accompanied Malcolm on his expedition. As Malcolm made his progress across Scottish territory, so Macbeth's followers deserted to his side. Macbeth, alarmed by his diminishing man-power, made a run northwards. Malcolm followed, and caught up with Macbeth at Lumphanan. Since Macbeth's soldiers had realised "that Malcolm was their true lord", and "fled at the first trumpet blast", there was only "a slight battle", in which Macbeth was killed. This, says Fordun, occurred on 5th December 1056. John of Fordun's nationalistic pride was deeply offended at how William of Malmesbury: "... ascribing none of the praise for the victory in this battle to Malcolm, assigned it all to Siward; while the truth is, that the victory was entirely owing to the former alone, with his men and his standard-bearer. This at least I am pretty sure of - that had Malcolm not been there, this people would not have fled from the battle, even if King Edward, and his men to boot, had been present with Siward." Fordun places Lulach's death "in the year 1057, on the 3rd of April, in Easter week, on a Thursday."
Malcolm was now undisputed king - Malcolm III (he became king "by the law of inheritance", says the 'Verse Chronicle'). He is, perhaps, better known as Malcolm 'Canmore' - literally 'Big Head'. About 1065, Earl Thorfinn died. The 'Orkneyinga Saga' says that his widow, Ingibjorg, "gave herself away" (i.e. got married) to Malcolm.
William Croft Dickinson ('Scotland from the Earliest Times to 1603') and A.A.M. Duncan ('Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom') both suggest it is more likely that Malcolm married Thorfinn's daughter, rather than his widow. Either way, this marriage would seem to militate against the theory that Macbeth had been in cahoots with Thorfinn when he took the throne, indeed, it might tend to suggest that Macbeth's downfall was due to Malcolm's alliance with Thorfinn.
Meanwhile, Symeon of Durham (in the 'Historia Regum') reports that, in 1059, Tostig, earl of Northumbria (Siward having died in 1055), in company with the archbishop of York and the bishop of Durham, "conducted king Malcolm to King Eadward [Edward]". The purpose of the visit is the subject of speculation, Symeon provides no further information. Any feeling of gratitude that Malcolm might have felt towards England was short lived. In 1061, whilst Tostig (with whom Malcolm, apparently, enjoyed a friendly relationship) was in Rome:
"... Malcolm, king of Scots, furiously ravaged the earldom of his sworn brother earl Tosti [Tostig], and violated the peace of St.Cuthbert in the island of Lindisfarne."
Symeon of Durham
Nevertheless, in 1066, Malcolm provided a safe haven from which, the now outlawed, Tostig, in alliance with King Harald 'Hardrada' of Norway, launched his abortive invasion of England. (See: The Battle of Stamford Bridge). After 1066, Malcolm's history becomes inextricably interwoven with that of the Norman conquerors of England.
