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Malcolm III of Scotland

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain)

    Máel Coluim (III) mac Donnchada
             King of Scots
       Image:Malcum Camnoir.jpg
   Reign   1058–1093
   Born    1030x1038
           Scotland
   Died    13 November 1093
           Alnwick, Northumberland, England
   Buried  Tynemouth
   Consort Ingebjorg Finnsdotter
           St Margaret of Scotland
   Father  Donnchad mac Crínáin
   Mother  Suthen

   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, the earliest epithet
   applied to him is Long-Neck. It appears that the real Malcolm Canmore
   was this Máel Coluim's great-grandson Malcolm IV.

   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 main achievement is often thought to match that of Cináed
   mac Ailpín, in continuing a line which would rule Scotland for many
   years, 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.

Background

   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 mac Findláich
   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, and Máel Coluim and his brother
   Domnall Bán were children. Máel Coluim's family did attempt to
   overthrow Mac Bethad in 1045, but Máel Coluim's grandfather Crínán was
   killed in the attempt.

   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, but an earlier king-list gives her the
   Gaelic name Suthen. 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. 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.

   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.

   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, between Aboyne and Banchory.
   Mac Bethad was succeeded by his step-son Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin, who
   was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed
   by Máel Coluim, "by treachery", 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.

Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg

   Late medieval depiction of Máel Coluim III with MacDuib ("MacDuff"),
   from an MS (Corpus Christi MS 171) of Walter Bower's Scotichronicon.
   Enlarge
   Late medieval depiction of Máel Coluim III with MacDuib ("MacDuff"),
   from an MS (Corpus Christi MS 171) of Walter Bower's Scotichronicon.

   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. 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. 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.

   The Orkneyinga saga reports that Máel Coluim married the widow of
   Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg a daughter of Finn Arnesson. Although
   Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is
   possible that she died much earlier, around 1058. The Orkneyinga Saga
   records that Máel Coluim and Ingibiorg had a son, Donnchad, who was
   later king. 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. 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.

   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. Máel Coluim enjoyed a peaceful
   relationship with the Earldom of Orkney, ruled jointly by his
   step-sons, the Thorfinnssons Paul and Erlend. The Orkneyinga Saga
   reports strife with Norway but this is probably misplaced as it names
   Magnus Barefoot, who became king of Norway only in 1093, the year of
   Máel Coluim's death.

Máel Coluim and Margaret

   Although he had given sanctuary to Tostig Godwinsson 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. 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.

   In 1069 the exiles returned to England, to join a spreading revolt in
   the north. Even though Cospatrick 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. 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.

   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 the Peacable was unlikely to be missed in
   England, where William of Normandy's grasp on power was far from
   secure. 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 difficulties of excessive repetition of
   Anglo-Saxon Royal names, (another Edmund had preceded Edgar), is not
   known. 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.
   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.

   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:

     Malcholom [Máel Coluim] seized the mother of Mælslæhtan [Máel
     Snechtai] ... and all his treasures, and his cattle; and he himself
     escaped with difficulty.

   Whatever provoked this, Máel Snechtai survived until 1085.

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.

   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.

   It does not appear that William Rufus intended to provoke a war, but,
   as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports, war came:

     For this reason therefore they parted with great dissatisfaction,
     and the King Malcolm returned to Scotland. And soon after he came
     home, he gathered his army, and came harrowing into England with
     more hostility than behoved him ...

   Máel Coluim was accompanied by Edward, his eldest son by Margaret and
   probable heir-designate (or tánaiste). Even by the standards of the
   time, the ravaging of Northumbria by the Scots was seen as harsh. 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. Edward was mortally wounded in the same fight.
   Margaret, we are told, died soon after receiving the news of their
   deaths. The Annals of Ulster say:

     Mael Coluim son of Donnchad, over-king of Scotland, and Edward his
     son, were killed by the French i.e. in Inber Alda in England. His
     queen, Margaret, moreover, died of sorrow for him within nine days.

   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.

Depictions in fiction

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

   He is featured in the Walt Disney animated television series Gargoyles
   under the name "Canmore". He was the third person to use the Hunter
   persona. His bloodline through his illegitimate son Donald continued to
   use the Hunter identity through the ages, seeking out gargoyles -
   specifically the immortal Demona.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_III_of_Scotland"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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