AD 800–1093 The Bloody Succession of Early Scottish Kings (including Macbeth)

MOST PEOPLE KNOW one story of Macbeth, as told by William Shakespeare in his famous tragic play. In this, Macbeth met three witches who foretold, among other things, that he would become King of Scotland. He fulfilled this prophesy by stabbing the elderly King Duncan to death in his bed. Assured that ‘no man born of woman’ could kill him, Macbeth believed he was almost immortal and continued to murder others, including the family of Macduff. Unknown to Macbeth, Macduff had been born by Caesarean, so was not ‘born of woman’; it was he who finally killed Macbeth to avenge the murders of his own family.

The facts, so far as they are known, point to a very different story. In Moray, where Macbeth was Mormaer, or Earl, is Pitgaveny where he fought for his right to be King of Scotland. Here he killed King Duncan I in battle. About midway between the Moray blasted heath, where Shakespeare had Macbeth meet the three witches, and Glamis Castle, where much of the play is set, lies the village of Lumphanan. It was here, some miles west of Aberdeen, that Macbeth met his death in battle in 1057 at the hand of Malcolm Canmore, later King Malcolm III.

For around 500 years, since establishing their Kingdom of Dalriada in the west of what is now Scotland, the Scots had gradually expanded their territory by invading and exploiting the lands of the Picts. By the mid-800s the Picts, already weakened by Viking attacks, were finally defeated by the Scots, whose leader, Kenneth MacAlpin, became king of the Picts as well as the Scots, ruling over a fledgling kingdom they called Alba. The neighbouring lands to the south, Northumbria and Strathclyde, were ruled by sub-kings and straddled what is now the border with England.

Alba was a Celtic state where people spoke a slightly different form of the old language of the Picts, a Gaelic which the Scots had brought from Ireland together with their culture and harp music. The dominance of the Scots resulted in the name of the emerging country – Scotland – and a society which gave birth to the clan system. During their lifetime, reigning kings and chiefs would appoint their successors from their kinsmen, usually a brother, nephew or cousin who was fit, able and the right age to inherit the responsibility. Although it seems civilised, this system was open to abuse and led to intrigue and murder.

KENNETH II MURDERED BY AN EMBITTERED MOTHER

Following Kenneth MacAlpin’s death in 859, ten kings each ruled Alba briefly. Then in 971 Kenneth II came to the throne and ruled for 24 years. Like the kings who preceded him, he found it hard to control the area south of Aberdeen called the Mearns, where one of the many to die by the king’s sword was the son of the Mormaer of the Mearns and his wife Finella. At their Castle of Kincardine, near the foot of the mountain pass still called Cairn o’ Mount, Finella plotted to avenge her son’s death and had a special, elaborate tower constructed. Inside were rich tapestries which hid several loaded crossbows, all aimed at a statue of a king holding a golden apple. Feigning friendship and reconciliation, Finella invited King Kenneth to an opulent banquet. Afterwards, well-fed and probably somewhat inebriated, the king was taken by Finella to view the new tower where she enticed him to take the golden apple. Lifting the gift, King Kenneth unwittingly released multiple triggers and died in agony as crossbow bolts pierced his body from all angles.

Kenneth II had chosen his nephew, also Kenneth, as his successor. However, Kenneth II’s son Malcolm had other ideas. He slew his cousin, seized the throne and became Malcolm II. The slaughter continued. Malcolm killed not only Kenneth III’s son, but also all other members of his own family who might have a claim to the throne. Although Malcolm had no male heirs, his daughters had married influential leaders and he was determined to found a Royal House, his choice for king being his most favoured grandson Duncan. During his thirty-year reign, Malcolm killed every kinsman who might challenge Duncan for the throne, except Duncan’s cousins Macbeth, son of the Mormaer of Moray, and Thorfinn the Mighty, son of the Earl of Orkney.

King Duncan was not the old man of Shakespeare’s play and in fact came to the throne in his early thirties. Only six years later, as Duncan tried to take control of the north of Scotland, his cousin Macbeth, now Earl of Moray in his own right, defended his territory and challenged Duncan. The battle was fought at Pitgaveny near the River Lossie, northeast of Elgin. It was here that Duncan died at Macbeth’s hand. Macbeth succeeded as king not by cold-blooded murder as told by Shakespeare, but in battle.

Macbeth reigned wisely for seventeen years. His wife, Gruoch, was far from being Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth character and became the first recorded Queen of Scotland. Although he and Gruoch had no children together, he appointed his stepson Lulach to succeed him. In 1050, the king was confident enough to leave Scotland to travel on pilgrimage to Rome with his cousin Thorfinn, and is reported to have scattered money there ‘like seed’ among the poor.

Duncan’s son, Malcolm, was only nine when Macbeth slew his father, and was sent for safety to the English Court of King Edward the Confessor. There he grew up under English influence, but clearly felt he had a right to the throne of Scotland. Earl Siward the Strong of Northumbria supported Malcolm’s claim and in 1054 marched north, defeating Macbeth’s army at Dunsinane near Dunkeld, leaving the way clear for Malcolm to follow.

Known as Malcolm Canmore, meaning large head, Duncan’s son at last headed to Scotland to avenge his father’s death. Macbeth’s men withdrew through the Cairn o’ Mount pass over the eastern Grampian mountains, perhaps trying to reach Moray where Macbeth would expect more support from his own people. But Macbeth and his men were never to see Moray again. Although they reached the River Dee and crossed it, probably at the ford at Kincardine o’ Neil, Malcolm’s army was close behind and caught up with them nearby at Lumphanan Moss.

The view towards Lumphanan today from Cairn o’ Mount. In Macbeth’s time, the countryside would have been hidden by forest. (Author’s collection)

The tactics of the time were for the leader to order his men to dismount to meet the enemy. Macbeth probably took his place in the line with his best men, bidding them to hold their wooden shields firm against the weapons of Malcolm’s men and to look for opportunities to attack. But warfare at this time was primitive, the victors being those who could hold their nerve through the shock of attack and violent contact.

There is no written record of the Battle of Lumphanan of 1057. However, local tradition points to Macbeth’s Well, where the king is said to have quenched his thirst before the battle and to Macbeth’s Stone, on which Malcolm is believed to have beheaded Macbeth. Legend has it that Macbeth’s body was carried up the slope of Perkhill for temporary burial within an ancient cairn of stones, now called Macbeth’s Cairn. Later, Macbeth’s body was removed and taken to the holy island of Iona, traditional burial place of Scotland’s early kings.

Although Lulach succeeded his stepfather as king, he reigned for only a few months before he and his supporters were slain by Malcolm, eager to take the throne for himself. As Malcolm III, he ruled for thirty-five years and attacked England persistently throughout his reign, dying in battle in 1093 while attacking Alnwick Castle. It seems his early upbringing at the English Court had little influence over his ambitions to extend his kingdom.