Macbeth, King of Scotland
Macbeth | |
---|---|
Mormaer of Moray | |
Reign | 1032–1057 |
Predecessor | Gille Coemgáin |
Successor | Lulach |
Born | 1005 Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty |
Died | Lumphanan | 15 August 1057 (aged 51/52)
Burial | |
Spouse | Gruoch |
House | Moray |
Father | Findláech |
Mother | Donada (presumed) |
Macbethad mac Findláech (
In 1040,
Macbeth was initially succeeded by his stepson Lulach, but Lulach ruled for only a few months before also being killed by Malcolm III, whose descendants ruled Scotland until the late 13th century. Macbeth is today best known as the main character of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth and the many works that it has inspired. However, Shakespeare's Macbeth is based on Holinshed's Chronicles (published in 1577) and is not historically accurate.
Name
The name Mac Bethad (or, in modern Gaelic, MacBheatha), from which the anglicized "MacBeth" is derived, means "son of life".[2] Although it has the appearance of a Gaelic patronymic it does not have any meaning of filiation but instead carries an implication of a righteous man[2] or religious man.[3] An alternative proposed derivation is that it is a corruption of macc-bethad meaning "one of the elect".[2]
Macbeth's full name in Middle Irish (medieval Gaelic) was Macbethad mac Findláech. This is realised as MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh in modern Scottish Gaelic, and is rendered Macbeth MacFinlay (also spelled Finley, Findlay, or Findley) in modern English. Mac Findláech is a Gaelic patronymic meaning "son of Findláech", referring to his father Findláech of Moray.[4]
Royal ancestry
Some sources make Macbeth a grandson of King
Mormaer and dux
When
... Malcolm, king of the Scots, submitted to him, and became his man, with two other kings, Macbeth and Iehmarc ...[6]
Some have seen this as a sign of Macbeth's power; others have seen his presence, together with Iehmarc, who may be Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, as proof that Malcolm II was overlord of Moray and of the Kingdom of the Isles.[7] Whatever the true state of affairs in the early 1030s, it seems more probable that Macbeth was subject to the king of Alba, Malcolm II, who died at Glamis, on 25 November 1034. The Prophecy of Berchán, apparently alone in near-contemporary sources, says that Malcolm died a violent death: calling it a "kinslaying" without actually naming his killers.[8] Tigernach's chronicle says only:
Máel Coluim son of Cináed, king of Alba, the honour of western Europe, died.[9]
He became
Malcolm II's grandson Duncan (Donnchad mac Crínáin), later King Duncan I, was acclaimed as king of Alba on 30 November 1034, apparently without opposition. Duncan appears to have been tánaise ríg, the king in waiting, so that, far from being an abandonment of tanistry, as has sometimes been argued, his kingship was a vindication of the practice. Previous successions had involved strife between various rígdomna – men of royal blood.[10] Far from being the aged King Duncan of Shakespeare's play, the real King Duncan was a young man in 1034, and even at his death in 1040 his youthfulness is remarked upon.[11]
Duncan's early reign was apparently uneventful. His later reign, in line with his description as "the man of many sorrows" in the Prophecy of Berchán, was not successful. In 1039, Strathclyde was attacked by the Northumbrians, and a retaliatory raid led by Duncan against Durham turned into a disaster. Duncan survived the defeat, but the following year he led an army north into Moray, Macbeth's domain, apparently on a punitive expedition against Moray.[12] There he was killed in action, at the battle of Bothnagowan, now Pitgaveny, near Elgin, by the men of Moray led by Macbeth, probably on 14 August 1040.[13][14]
King of Alba
On Duncan's death, Macbeth became king. Had his reign not been universally accepted, resistance would have been expected, but none is known to have occurred. In 1045, Duncan's father
After the defeat of Crínán, Macbeth was evidently unchallenged.
Karl Hundason
The Orkneyinga Saga says that a dispute between Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney, and Karl Hundason began when Karl Hundason became "King of Scots" and claimed Caithness. The identity of Karl Hundason, unknown to Scots and Irish sources, has long been a matter of dispute, and it is far from clear that the matter is settled. The most common assumption is that Karl Hundason was an insulting byname (Old Norse for "Churl, son of a Dog") given to Macbeth by his enemies.[19] William Forbes Skene's suggestion that he was Duncan I of Scotland has been revived in recent years. Lastly, the idea that the whole affair is a poetic invention has been raised.[20]
According to the Orkneyinga Saga, in the war which followed, Thorfinn defeated Karl in a sea-battle off
Whoever Karl Hundason may have been, it appears that the saga is reporting a local conflict with a Scots ruler of Moray or Ross:
[T]he whole narrative is consistent with the idea that the struggle of Thorfinn and Karl is a continuation of that which had been waged since the ninth century by the Orkney earls, notably Sigurd Rognvald's son, Ljot, and Sigurd the Stout, against the princes or mormaers of Moray, Sutherland, Ross, and Argyll, and that, in fine, Malcolm and Karl were mormaers of one of these four provinces.[23]
Final years
In 1052, Macbeth was involved indirectly in the strife in the
Macbeth did not survive the English invasion for long, for he was defeated and mortally wounded or killed by the future Malcolm III ("King Malcolm Ceann-mor", son of Duncan I)
Unlike later writers, no near-contemporary source remarks on Macbeth as a tyrant. The Duan Albanach, which survives in a form dating to the reign of Malcolm III, calls him "Mac Bethad the renowned". The Prophecy of Berchán, a verse history which purports to be a prophecy, describes him as "the generous king of Fortriu", and says:
The red, tall, golden-haired one, he will be pleasant to me among them; Scotland will be brimful west and east during the reign of the furious red one.[30]
Life to legend
Macbeth's life, like that of King Duncan I, had progressed far towards legend by the end of the 14th century, when John of Fordun and
William Shakespeare's depiction and its influence
In Shakespeare's play, which is based mainly upon Raphael Holinshed's account and probably first performed in 1606, Macbeth is initially a valiant and loyal general to the elderly King Duncan. After being manipulated by Three Witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth murders Duncan and usurps the throne. Ultimately, the prophecies of the witches prove misleading, and Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant. Duncan's son Malcolm stages a revolt against Macbeth, during which a guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth commits suicide. During battle, Macbeth encounters Macduff, a refugee nobleman whose wife and children had earlier been murdered on Macbeth's orders. Upon realising that he will die if he duels with Macduff, Macbeth at first refuses to do so. But when Macduff explains that if Macbeth surrenders he will be subjected to ridicule by his former subjects, Macbeth vows, "I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, to be baited by a rabble's curse." He chooses instead to fight Macduff to the death. Macduff kills and beheads Macbeth, and the play ends with Prince Malcolm becoming king.
The likely reason
In a 1959 essay,
Lady Macbeth has also become famous in her own right. In his 1865 novel
References
- ^ William Forbes Skene, Chronicles, p. 102.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7509-1891-6.
- ISBN 978-1884964-17-6.
- ^ Ellis 1990, p. 2.
- ^ Ellis 1990, pp. 24, 55.
- ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. E, 1031.
- ^ Compare Duncan, Kingship of the Scots, pp. 29–30 with Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, pp. 222–223.
- ^ Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, p. 223; Duncan, Kingship of the Scots, p. 33.
- ^ Annals of Tigernach 1034.1
- ^ Duncan I as tánaise ríg, the chosen heir, see Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, pp. 33–35; Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, pp. 223–224, where it is accepted that Duncan was king of Strathclyde. For tanistry, etc., in Ireland, see Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, 63–71. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-Kings, pp. 35–39, offers a different perspective.
- ^ Annals of Tigernach 1040.1.
- ^ G. W. S. Barrow, Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306, Edinburgh University Press, 1981, p. 26.
- ^ Broun, "Duncan I (d. 1040)"; the date is from Marianus Scotus and the killing is recorded by the Annals of Tigernach.
- ^ Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, pp. 223–224; Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Annals of Tigernach 1045.10; Annals of Ulster 1045.6.
- ^ The Scots Peerage (PDF). Vol. 3 – via electricscotland.com.
- ^ Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings, p. 122. Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, p. 224, refers to Earl Siward as Malcolm III's "patron"; Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, pp. 40–42 favours Orkney; Woolf offers no opinion. Northumbria is evidently a misapprehension, further than that cannot be said with certainty.
- ^ Ellis 1990, p. 74.
- Njál's saga; Crawford, p. 72.
- ^ Anderson, ESSH, p. 576, note 7, refers to the account as "a fabulous story" and concludes that "[n]o solution to the riddle seems to be justified".
- ISBN 978-0-7486-0910-9
- ^ Orkneyinga Saga, cc. 20 & 32.
- ^ Taylor, p. 338; Crawford, pp. 71–74.
- ^ Broun, Dauvit (2015). "Malcolm III". In Cannon, John; Crowcroft, Robert (eds.). The Oxford Companion to British History (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
- ^ Florence of Worcester, 1052; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. D, 1054; Annals of Ulster 1054.6; and discussed by Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, pp. 38–41; see also Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 260–263.
- ^ Moncreiffe, Iain (Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk). The Robertsons (Clan Donnachaidh of Atholl). W. & A. K. Johnston & G. W. Bacon Ltd., Edinburgh. 1962 (reprint of 1954), p. 6
- ^ Andrew Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, ed. F.J. Amours, vol. 4, pp 298–299 and 300–301 (c. 1420)
- ^ The exact dates are uncertain, Woolf gives 15 August, Hudson 14 August and Duncan, following John of Fordun, gives 5 December; Annals of Tigernach 1058.5; Annals of Ulster 1058.6.
- ^ Ellis 1990, pp. 97–98.
- Prophecy of Berchán, p. 91, stanzas 193 and 194.
- ^ "The History of Scotland by John Leslie, 1578". British Library. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
- ^ Ellis 1990, p. 115.
- OL 6271434M.
Sources
- The Annals of Ulster, AD 431–1201, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2003, retrieved 15 November 2008
- The Annals of Tigernach, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 1996, retrieved 15 November 2008
- Gaelic notes from the Book of Deer (with translation), CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2001, retrieved 15 November 2008
- ISBN 1-871615-03-8
- Anderson, Alan Orr (1908), Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers A.D. 500 to 1286, London: D. Nutt
- ISBN 0-7011-1604-8
- Bannerman, John (1974), Studies in the History of Dalriada, Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, ISBN 0-7011-2040-1
- Barrell, Andrew D. M. (2000), Medieval Scotland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-58602-3
- ISBN 0-7486-0104-X
- ISBN 978-0-85115-375-9
- Cowan, Edward J. (1993), "The Historical MacBeth", in Sellar, W. D. H. (ed.), Moray: Province and People, Edinburgh: The Scottish Society for Northern Studies, pp. 117–142, ISBN 0-9505994-7-6
- Crawford, Barbara (1987), Scandinavian Scotland, Leicester: Leicester University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1282-0
- Driscoll, Stephen T. (2002), Alba: The Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland AD 800–1124, The Making of Scotland, Edinburgh: Birlinn, ISBN 978-1-84158-145-3
- ISBN 0-901824-83-6
- Duncan, Archibald A. M. (2002), The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1626-8
- ISBN 0-85640-448-9
- Foster, Sally M. (2004), Picts, Gaels and Scots: Early Historic Scotland (2nd ed.), London: Batsford, ISBN 978-0-7134-8874-6
- Smyth, Alfred P. (1984), Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-0100-7
- Swanton, Michael (1996), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92129-5
- Taylor, A. B. (1937), "Karl Hundason, "King of Scots"" (PDF), Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, LXXI: 334–340, S2CID 257294925
- ISBN 978-0-9549733-7-7
- Woolf, Alex (2000), "The 'Moray Question' and the Kingship of Alba in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries", The Scottish Historical Review, LXXIX (2), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: 145–164, S2CID 162334631
- Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
Further reading
- Tranter, Nigel MacBeth the KingHodder & Stoughton, 1978.
- Dunnett, Dorothy King Hereafter Knopf, 1982, ISBN 0-394-52378-4.
- Gregg, William H. Controversial issues in Scottish history Putnam, 1910.
- Marsden, John Alba of the Ravens: In Search of the Celtic Kingdom of the Scots Constable, 1997, ISBN 0-09-475760-7.
- Walker, Ian Lords of Alba Sutton Publishing, 2006, ISBN 0-7509-3492-1.