First The House of Ailpín, named for King Ailpín II of Dalrida, which was written as Dál Riata
when they first settled in south-west Éireland, and Dal Riada
when they moved to the north-east, to Uladh, before crossing the Éirish Sea and
settling on the west coast of what would eventually become Scotland but which
they still called Dalrida, and would change, not to Scotland but to Alba, as we
shall see.
Ailpín II brought together the crowns of the Scots and the Picts, reigning
from around 833-840, and was both the first and the last tribal leader on
record to hold land in both Éireland and Scotland - Kintyre, in the former. He probably
died fighting the Picts at Galloway, though he had married a Pict princess so
they should have been able to avoid pitched battle. Perhaps the Picts were the
ones doing the fighting, because, in their culture, succession went through the
female line, and it was in danger of being lost to patriarchalism.
The difference will
become important within a generation, causing two entirely different clans to
emerge, one agnatic (from the father’s side), the other matriarchal (from the
mother’s side). So the House of Ailpín, the Cenél nGabráin of Dál Riata, will beome known as “the race of Fergus” (from their
ancestor Fergus Mór mac Eirc), while a second clan, the Dunkeld
dynasty, will emerge through Duncan
I having Malcolm II as his maternal grandfather. Malcolm II was thus the last of the Mac Ailpins, but the merging of Scots and Picts
had already ensured the Dunkeld line (named for their capital city),
whose kings (by the names that we call them in English) were Malcolm I (942-954); Indulf (954-962); Dubh (962-967); Cuilean (967-971); Kenneth II (971-995); Constantine III (995-997); Kenneth III (997-1005); Malcolm II (1005-1034); Duncan I (1034-1040); Macbeth (1040-1057); and Lulach ("The Fool") (1057-1058)
*
Our list of truly
Scottish kings starts at the Unification of Scotland, which took place in 843, when Kenneth Mac Ailpín, King Kenneth I of the Scots,
took over the throne of the Picts from his mother, but also the throne of the
Dal Riadic Scots from his father; though as we will see it still wasn’t a fully
unified land even then. Just as the Scots had crossed the Éirish Sea from the
west, so the Vikings were doing the same across the North Sea from the east. Kenneth called
the new realm Alba, and it extended from what are now Argyll and Bute as far as
Caithness, and included most of southern and central Scotland, starting north of a line between the Forth and Clyde rivers. Between Alba and
Aengland were Viking settlements, and then still more Viking settlements, but
the “invasion”" ended around 1000, at which time Malcolm II marched north to take what land he could, defeating the
Scots at the Battle of Carham in 1016.
Kenneth's father, obviously
named Ailpín from the fact that Mac means “son of”, and already listed above - Ailpín II - also fought the
Picts, but in his case was defeated, indeed killed. His throne was in Dal Riada,
but he had a second base in Pictavia - a name whose meaning does not require me to explain - and appears to have achieved the union of
the two kingdoms by intermarriage rather more than warfare: helped by the fact
that the Picts still did as the Jews, and passed inheritance through the female
line. There were some conquests too though, along the eastern coast, attacking Lothian,
and burning down both Dunbar and Melrose. When the Vikings threatened the Isle
of Iona he removed the treasured relics of St. Columba to Dunkeld, making that the
headquarters of the Scottish Columban church. He died at Forteviot, not far
from Scone in Pictish territory, and was buried on Iona. His brother Donald I succeeded him in Alba, while Kenneth looked after the Scots.
*
Domnall mac Ailpín (Donald I), king of Alba from 858 until 862, esteemed
beyond most monarchs in history, anywhere, at any time, for establishing a
corpus of laws and rights that bear the interesting name “Aed” sometimes
spelled “Aedh”, but clearly connected to the Jewish Otiyot, the Roman “Ides”
and the Moslem Eids - for which see Feb 15
The laws included the custom of Tanistry or Tanism (for
which see my page on Shet at
TheBibleNet),
which makes our second connection with the Jews, but more significantly takes
us back to the “common source” of the Hittites, from whom all this evolved -
remember that “Celtic” tribes, all emigrated west from the north-eastern Mediterranean, some via Europe, some via North Africa: the Picts from around Thrace, the Scots from Scythia (today’s Ukraine but extended much further east), the Cymru (Welsh) from Cimmeria (today’s Crimea, Biblical Gomer), the Éirish Tuatha Dé Danann from the same area as the Biblical tribe of Dan and the eastern Greek Danaans.
According to this custom, the successor of a
king was elected during his lifetime from the eldest and worthiest of his kin,
often a collateral (brother or cousin) in preference to a descendant (son), and not necessarily because he was the current king's first-born.
The next king, Donald’s cousin Constantine I, succeeded in accordance with this
custom.
*
Causantín mac Áeda (Constantine I), succeeded his uncle Donald I and reigned from 862 until 877, a reign that was mostly occupied by wars with the Norsemen,
of whom the worst remembered name is Olaf the White, the Danish king of Dublin;
he showed off his machismo for no other useful purpose than the pleasure of
doing so, byy laying waste the lanfdds of both the Picts and Britons pretty
well every year; the other, further south around Northumberland and Galloway,
was the Danish chieftain Halfdan. Constantine died at some brute’s hand at
Inverdovat in Fife.
*
Áed
mac Cináeda (reigned from 877 until 878) was Constantine’s brother, and probably the
similarity of his name with that of the Tanist laws is a coincidence of our
lack of pronunciation skills - he is generally phoneticised as "Eye-ed". Likewise killed by some
macho brute, and succeeded by his differently spelled but probably identically pronounced nephew Eochaid.
*
Eochaid ab Rhun in full (reigned from 878 until 889), king of
Strathclyde, which was not regarded as part of Scotland until he acquired both
thrones, and probably he is only re corded as king of the Picts for the same
reason. His father Rhun ab Arthgal had ruled Strathclyde before him,
and was apparently descended from a long line of British kings, though I still
need to research that. His mother was a daughter of Cináed mac Ailpín, another king of the Picts and therefore another suggestion
that the “Union” of Kenneth Mac Ailpín was rather more theoretical than
actual.
Also worth pointing out that “ab” is the Pictic
alternative to Mac (though Ezekiel 38:1 prefers the early Hittite hard "g" to the softer Phoenician, and therefore pronounces it Mag), which would be "Ben " in the Hebrew, "Bar" in the
Aramaic that grew from it, and “Ibn” in Arabic: “son of” translates all of them. "Fitz" in many Aenglisch names, rooted in French
fils from the Latin filius, has the same meaning, but from a Latin rather than a Hittite "common source".
*
Giric
mac Dúngail (reigned from 878 until 889; and yes, I know those were the same dates as Eochaid ab Rhun, above; a divided land will always have more than ruler at the same time) A nephew of Kenneth Mac Ailpín, Giric objected to the Scottish kingship continuing solely in the
hands of Kenneth's sons and their descendants, and
gained power after slaying his first cousin, Áed. He was supported by Eochaid, whose guardian he may have been, and who was a grandson of Kenneth I through his mother.
*
Domnall
mac Causantín (Donald II) (reigned
from 889 until 900) was the son of Constantine I and successor to Eochaid and Giric. His reign coincided with renewed
invasions by the Danes, who came less to plunder and more to occupy the lands
bordering Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He was also embroiled in
efforts to reduce the highland robber tribes. By one account he was slain at
Dunnottar, meeting a Danish invasion; by another he died of infirmity brought
on by his campaigns against the highlanders. He was succeeded by his cousin Constantine II.
*
Constantine
II born 900; reigned until
943, at which time he entered a monastery; died 952; regarded as one of the
greatest of the early Scottish kings, his long reign being proof of his power
during a period of dynastic conflicts and foreign invasions.
During the first part of
his reign the kingdom was still beset by the Norsemen. In his third year they
wasted Dunkeld and all of Alba. They were repulsed, however, in Strathearn the
following year. In his eighth year Rognwald, the Danish king of Dublin, with earls Ottir and Oswle Crakaban, ravaged Dunblane. Six years later
the same leaders were defeated on the Tyne by Constantine in a battle whose site and
incidents are told in conflicting stories; it appears certain, however, that Constantine saved his dominions from further
serious attacks by the Vikings.
*
Máel
Coluim mac Domnaill (Malcolm Mac Donald is the English rendition) (Malcolm I): (reigned from 943 until 954), succeeded to the crown when his
cousin Constantine
II entered a monastery. He annexed Moray to the kingdom for the first time. After driving the
Danes from York, the English king Edmund turned Cumbria over to Malcolm, apparently as a fief or seal of alliance. Later, when
Norsemen again invaded the land, the Scots sent raids against the English, and
in 954 the West Saxon king Eadred
reunited the northern counties to his dominions. Malcolm was slain the same year during a
rebellion in Moray.
*
Ildulb
mac Causantín (Indulf)
(reigned from 954 until 962) was the son of Constantine II. Indulf was a dialect version of the Old Norse Hildulfr, and Ildulb probably an attempt to Picticise
is; his sons also had Norse names: Olaf and Culen.
He was sub-king of Strathclyde - another aspect of Tanism, where the year is divided between two rulers, the senior one representing the fertility period through spring and summer, the other the autumn and winter period when bio-degradation needs to be supervised down there in the Underworld - during Malcolm I's, reign and became king when Malcolm was killed.
*
Dubh
mac Maíl Coluim (reigned from 962 until
967) (and can someone expert please tell me why some Scottish websites spell
him Máel but others, as here, Maíl) succeeded
Indulf as king of Alba. In older histories
his name may be found anglicised as Duff, whence his son is Macduff); the modern Gaelic version is Dubh, which has the sense of "dark"
or "black". It may be that Dubh was an epithet, as the "Duan Albanach" refers to him as Dubhoda dén, "Dubod the vehement" or "impetuous".
He was son of Máel
Coluim mac Domnaill and succeeded to the
throne when Ildulb
mac Causantín was killed in 962.
Although Dubh held the throne for almost five years,
little is known about his life. The chronicler John Fordun records him as "A man of
dove-like simplicity, yet the terror of rebels, thieves and robbers". He
goes on to include tales of witchcraft and treason, almost all of this is
rejected by modern historians. There are very few sources for the reign of Dubh, of which the "Chronicle of
the Kings of Alba", and a single entry in the "Annals of Ulster",
are the closest to contemporary.
The "Chronicle"
records that during Dubh’s reign bishop Fothach, most likely bishop of St Andrews
or of Dunkeld, died. The remaining report is of a battle between Dubh and Cuilén, son of king Ildulb. Dubh won the battle, fought “upon the ridge of Crup”, in which Duchad, abbot of Dunkeld, sometimes
supposed to be an ancestor of Crínán of Dunkeld, and Dubdon,
the mormaer of Atholl, died.
The various accounts
differ as to what happened afterwards. The "Chronicle" claims that Dubh was driven out of the kingdom. The
Latin material interpolated in Andrew of Wyntoun’s "Orygynale Cronykl" states that he was murdered
at Forres, and links this to an eclipse of the sun which can be dated to July 20
966. The "Annals of Ulster" report only: “Dub mac Maíl Coluim, king
of Alba, was killed by the Scots themselves”; the usual way of reporting a
death in internal strife, and place the death in 967. It has been suggested
that Sueno’s Stone, near Forres, may be a monument to Dubh, erected by his brother Cináed. It is presumed that Dubh was killed or driven out by Cuilén, who became king after Dubh’s death, or by his supporters.
Dubh left at least one son, Cináed. Although his descendants did not
compete successfully for the kingship of Alba after Cináed was killed in 1005, they did hold
the mormaerdom of Fife. Dubh’s
descendants, the clann Dubh,
(clan MacDuff) held the mormaerdom, and later
earldom, until 1371.
*
Much of what follows was gleaned
from this
website:
Cuilén
mac Illuilb (967-971): anglicised
as Culen, and evolved as Colin; also found
as Cuilean and as Culen the Whelp, and probably all of these are late
variants of the Celtic Cú
Chulainn (pronounced Koo Hullen).
Culen was King Indulf's son, and had believed himself to
be his father's rightful heir, even when the crown had gone instead under the
law of Tanistry (in effect a vote by the senior members of the extended family)
to Dubh. Culen had fought Dubh for the crown, but lost, and many Scots at the time felt Culen to be implicated in Dubh's murder in Forres in 967.
King Culen was not around for long enough to
make any really lasting impression on his country. Much of his time was spent
in trying to regain control over Strathclyde, whose sub-king Riderch was taking an increasingly independent
stance. During his campaigning, Culen killed Riderich's
brother and raped his daughter.
Riderich vowed to take his revenge, and did
so when he killed Culen in Lothian in 971. Culen was succeeded by Dubh's brother, Kenneth II.
*
Cináeda
mac Maíl Coluim (Kenneth II) (reigned from 971 until 995), son of Malcolm I, the king of the united Picts and
Scots, he began his reign by ravaging the Britons, probably as an act of
vengeance, but his name is also included among a group of northern and western
kings said to have made submission to the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar in 973, perhaps at Chester; and the
chronicler Roger of Wendover ("Flores Historiarum",
under the year 975) states that shortly afterward Kenneth received from Edgar all the land called Lothian (i.e.,
between the Tweed and the Forth rivers). This is the first mention of the River
Tweed as the recognised border between England and Scotland. Kenneth was slain, apparently by his own
subjects, at Fettercairn in the Mearns
*
Causantín
mac Cuiléin (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Mhaoil
Chaluim) Constantine III (reigned 995-997). He was the son of Cuilean (also known as Cuilén mac Iduilb). John of Fordun calls him, in Latin, "Constantinus Calvus", which translates as Constantine the Bald, but may be a confusion by John of Fordun with Eógan II of Strathclyde, also known as “the
Bald”.
Constantine became king upon the death of Kenneth II, supposedly killed by Finnguala, daughter of Cuncar, Mormaer of Angus, a killing with
which Constantine is associated in several accounts.
He reigned for eighteen months according to the "Chronicle of the Kings of Alba"
John of Fordun writes that the day following the
death of Kenneth
II, Constantine the Bald, son of King Cullen usurped the throne. He had
reportedly won the support of a number of nobles. The throne was also claimed
by his cousin Malcolm
II, son of Kenneth II, resulting in long-lasting division
of the Scottish population, and conflict. Constantine III reigned for a year and a half,
“continually harassed by Malcolm
and his illegitimate uncle, named Kenneth, a
soldier of known prowess, who was his unwearied persecutor, and strove with his
whole might to kill him, above all others.”
The "Annals of
Tigernach" report that he was killed in a battle between the Scots in 997.
His death is placed by the "Chronicle" at Rathinveramond, at the
mouth of the Almond, where it meets the River Tay near Perth. This appears to
have been a royal centre, close to Scone and Forteviot, as Domnall mac Ailpín is said to have died there in 862.
His killer is named as Cináed mac Maíl Coluim, probably in error for either Cináed mac Duib, who became king on Constantine’s death, or perhaps for Máel Coluim mac Cináeda.
Constantine is not known to have left any
descendants, and he was the last of the line of Áed mac Cináeda to have been king.
*
Cináed
mac Duib; Modern Gaelic Coinneach mac Dhuibh; anglicised as Kenneth III, and nicknamed “An Donn” ("the Chief" or
"the Brown") was born circa 966 and died, probably, on March 25 1005;
he was the son of Dubh and the grandson of Malcolm I): King of Alba (Scotland) from 997
to 1005, succeeding to the throne (perhaps) after killing his cousin Constantine III; he was himself killed at
Monzievaird by Malcolm (son of Kenneth II), who became Malcolm II. Gruoch, the wife of the future King Macbeth, was apparently one of his granddaughters.
*
Máel
Coluim mac Cináeda (Mael Coluim II; Malcolm II) (born circa 954; reigned 1005-1034). He acquired the throne by killing Kenneth III (Cinaed III) of a rival royal dynasty. Having attempted
to expand his kingdom southwards with a notable victory at the Battle of
Carham, Northumbria in 1018, he was driven north again in 1027 by Canute (Cnut the Great) the Dane, the Danish king of
England. Malcolm died on November 25 1034; according
to one account of the time he was “killed fighting bandits”. Eager to secure
the royal succession for his daughter’s son Duncan, he tried to eliminate possible rival claimants; but Macbeth, with royal connections to both Kenneth II and Kenneth III, survived to challenge the
succession.
The Aug 15 blog-page has this tale, including Duncan, several Malcolms,
the Earl of Orkney, MacDuff, Earl Siward and
even Succeeded his grandfather Malcolm II as King of the Scots. Invaded northern England and besieged Durham in
1039, but was met with a disastrous defeat. Duncan was killed
during, or after, a battle at Bothganowan, near Elgin, on 15th August, 1040.
*
Donnchad mac Crinain (Donnchad I); Donnchadh mac Crìonain in Scottish Gaelic; anglicised as Duncan I; nicknamed “An t-Ilgarach”, "the Diseased" or
"the Sick" (born circa 1001; died August 14 1040): king of Scotland
(Alba) from 1034 to 1040, succeeding his grandfather Malcolm II as King of the Scots. He invaded northern England, besiegimg Durham in
1039, but suffered a disastrous defeat. Duncan was killed
during, or after, a battle at Bothganowan, near Elgin, on 15th August, 1040.
“When Malcolm’s grandson and successor Duncan I came to the throne in 1034, he
united Alba with Strathclyde, Cumbria, and Lothian” - which tells me that Alba
was by no means all of Scotland. “Thereafter, the name Alba began to fade away;
and every king, at least in retrospect, was normally styled 'king of Scots'.
The first extant recorded use was by Duncan II, the ‘Rex Scotie’, in 1094.”
*
Mac Bethad mac Findláich (reigned from 1040 until 1057), known in English as Macbeth, was born around 1005. His father
was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II. He acquired
the throne after defeating Duncan I in battle following years of family feuding (what, I thought he killed him with a dagger while sleeping in the guest bedroom at Inverness Castle: did Shakespeare make that up?). He was the first Scottish
king to make a pilgrimage to Rome; a generous patron of the church, it is
thought he was buried at Iona, the traditional resting place of the kings of
the Scots.
On the blog on June 24 and Aug 15
*
Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin (reigned from 1057
until 1058); Lughlagh
mac Gille Chomghain in Modern Gaelic; known in English simply as Lulach; nicknamed Lulach "Tairbith", "Lulach the Simple-Minded" or "Lulach Fatuus", "Lulach
the Foolish" because he was a very weak king. He does, however, have the distinction of being the first king of
Scotland of whom there are coronation details available. He was crowned in
August 1057 at Scone.
Lulach was the son of Gruoch of Scotland (Lady
Macbeth), from her first marriage to Gille Coemgáin, Mormaer of
Moray, and thus the stepson of Mac Bethad. Following the death in battle of Macbeth in 1057, the
king’s followers placed Lulach in the throne, despite strong
resistance from the of faction of Máel Coluim III. Lulach ruled only for a few months before being assassinated and succeeded by Máel Coluim.
Lulach was married,
although his wife’s name is unknown. His son Máel Snechtai became Mormaer of Moray, while Óengus of Moray was the son of Lulach’s daughter.
He is belived to
be buried with the rest of the Gaelic kings of Scotland on Saint Columba’s Holy
Island of Iona, in or around the monastery. The exact position of his grave is
unknown.
[and if this is
indeed pronounced Loo-Law, as I am told it should be, is he then a version of
Llug Llaw - Celtic sun-god, warrior-king, master craftsman of the Tuatha Dé Danann, known sometimes as Lugh Lámhfhada ("Long-Armed") or Lugh Samildánach ("Skilled in Many Arts"), associated with light, oaths, harvest (Lughnasadh), and bringing prosperity by defeating the Fomorians - in the same way that Lloegyr on
the Cymru page is a variant of Lear? This needs more investigating.]
*
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (born 1058; died 1093); or Maol Chaluim mac
Dhonnchaidh in Scottish Gaelic; Malcolm III Canmore his title (Mael Coluim III Cenn Mór in the contemporary Scots language); though "Canmore" was just a nickname that he acquired later on; "ceann mòr"
in Gaelic, it literally means “big-head”, but followers of Donald Trump insist that it should be understood as "great
chief".
He succeeded to
the throne after killing Macbeth and Macbeth’s stepson Lulach in an English-sponsored attack. When William I ("The
Conqueror") invaded Scotland in 1072 he forced Malcolm to accept the Peace of Abernethy and become his vassal.
*
Domnall
mac Donnchada (reigned 1093-1097), nicknamed "Domnall Bán" or "Donald the Fair", anglicised as Donalbain. Donald III: the son of Duncan I, he seized the throne from his
brother Malcolm
III and made the
Anglo-Normans very unwelcome at his court. He was defeated and dethroned by his
nephew Duncan
II in May 1094 (which makes a clash with the dates in brackets; no, see below, he got
restored)
BUT
Donnchad
mac Máel Coluim (reigned 1094); Donnchadh mac Mhaoil
Chaluim in Modern Gaelic: Duncan II. The son of Malcolm III, he had been sent to the
court of William
I as a hostage in 1072. With the
help of an army supplied by William II (Rufus) he defeated his uncle Donald III. His foreign supporters were
detested. Donald III engineered his murder on November 12 1094 (more on this saga here)
AFTER WHICH
1094: Donald III restored. However, Donald was captured and blinded by another
of his nephews, Edgar, in 1097. A true Scottish nationalist, it is
perhaps fitting that this would be the last king of the Scots who would be laid
to rest by the Gaelic Monks at Iona.
*
Étgar
mac Maíl Choluim (reigned 1097-1107); Eagar mac Mhaoil Chaluim in Modern Gaelic; anglicised as Edgar. The eldest son of Malcolm III, he had taken refuge in England
when his parents died in 1093. Following the death of his half-brother Duncan II, he became the Anglo-Norman
candidate for the Scottish throne. He defeated Donald III with the aid of an army supplied by
William
Rufus. Unmarried, he was
buried at Dunfermline Priory in Fife. His sister married Henry I in 1100.
*
Alaxandair
mac Maíl Coluim (reigned 1107-1124); Alasdair mac Mhaol
Chaluim in modern Gaelic;
anglicised as Alexander
I; posthumously nicknamed
"The
Fierce" . Another son of Malcolm III and his English wife (Saint) Margaret, he succeeded his brother Edgar to the throne and continued the
policy of "reforming" the Scottish Church, building his new priory at
Scone near Perth. He married the illegitimate daughter of Henry I. He died childless and was buried
in Dunfermline.
*
Dabíd
mac Maíl Choluim (reigned 1124-1153); anglicised
as David
I; nicknamed "the Saint". The youngest son of Malcolm III and Margaret, the sister of Edgar Ætheling (more on him here but not to be confused with the
Scottish King Edgar, above). A modernising king,
responsible for transforming his kingdom largely by continuing the work of
Anglicisation begun by his mother. He seems to have spent as much time in
England as he did in Scotland. He was the first Scottish king to issue his own
coins, and he promoted the development of towns at Edinburgh, Dunfermline,
Perth, Stirling, Inverness and Aberdeen. By the end of his reign his lands
extended over Newcastle and Carlisle. He was almost as rich and powerful as the
king of England, and had attained an almost mythical status through a "Davidian"
revolution.
He married Matilda, daughter and heiress of Waltheof,
Earl of Northumbria, in 1113 and thus gained possession of the earldom of
Huntingdon. They had two sons, Malcolm (not to be confused with Malcolm IV of Scotland, who is below and was that Malcolm’s nephew) and Henry, and two daughters, Claricia and Hodierna.
On the death of King Edgar in 1107, the territories of the
Scottish crown had been divided in accordance with the terms of his will
between his two brothers, Alexander
and David. Alexander, together with the crown, received Scotland north of the
Rivers Forth and Clyde, David
the southern district with the title of Earl of Cumberland. The death of Alexander in 1124 gave David possession of
the whole, starting on 27 April of that year.
In 1127, in the
character of an English baron, he swore fealty to Matilda (not his wife, but having the same
name adds confusion - see the Aenglisch page for her) as heiress to her father Henry I, and when the usurper Stephen ousted her in 1135 David vindicated her cause in arms and
invaded the Kingdom of England. But Stephen marched north with a great army, whereupon David made peace. The peace, however, was
not kept. After threatening an invasion in 1137, David marched into England in 1138, but
sustained a minor defeat on Cutton Moor in the engagement known as the Battle
of the Standard.
He returned to Carlisle,
and soon afterwards concluded peace. In 1141 he joined Matilda in London and accompanied her to
Winchester, but after a narrow escape from capture he returned to Scotland.
Henceforth he remained in his own kingdom and devoted himself to its political
and ecclesiastical reorganisation. A devoted son of the church, he founded five
bishoprics and many monasteries. In secular politics he energetically forwarded
the process of feudalisation and anglicisation which his immediate predecessors
had initiated. He died at Carlisle. David I is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint,
although he was never formally canonised.
*
Máel
Coluim mac Eanric (reigned 1153-1165); Malcolm IV; Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig in Scottish Gaelic; nicknamed "Virgo", "the Maiden"; he
was the son of Henry (Eanric is Henry in
Gaelic) of Northumbria. His grandfather David I persuaded the Scottish Chiefs to recognise Malcolm as his heir to the throne, and aged
twelve he became king. Recognising "that the King of England had a better
argument by reason of his much greater power", Malcolm surrendered Cumbria and Northumbria
to Henry
II. He died unmarried and
with a reputation for chastity, whence his nickname.
*
Uilleam
mac Eanraig, William I (reigned
fully forty-nine year, from 1165-1214); known as "Garbh", "the Rough",
though it usually gets rendered more generously as "the Lion". The second
son of Henry of Northumbria (the same family as David's Matilda, and
therefore of Malcolm IV, above). After a failed attempt to invade Northumbria, William was captured by Henry II. In return for his release, William and other Scottish nobles had to
swear allegiance to Henry and hand over sons as hostages.
English garrisons were installed throughout Scotland. It was only in 1189 that William was able to recover Scottish
independence in return for a payment of 10,000 marks. William’s reign witnessed the extension of
royal authority northwards across the Moray Firth.
William
I of Scotland
is on March 15
*
Alaxandair
mac Uilliam (reigned 1214-1249); Alasdair mac Uilleim in modern Gaelic; Alexander II in English. The son of William Garbh, with the Anglo-Scottish
agreement of 1217, he established a peace between the two kingdoms that would
last for eighty years. The agreement was further cemented by his marriage to Henry III’s sister Joan in 1221. Renouncing his ancestral
claim to Northumbria, the Anglo-Scottish border was finally established by the
Tweed-Solway line.
*
Alaxandair
mac Alaxandair, Alexander III (reigned 1249-1286). The son of Alexander II, he married Henry III’s daughter Margaret in 1251. Following the Battle of
Largs against King
Haakon of Norway in October
1263, Alexander secured the western Highlands and
Islands for the Scottish Crown. After the deaths of his sons, Alexander gained acceptance that his grand-daughter
Margaret should succeed him. He fell and was
killed whilst riding along the cliffs of Kinghorn in Fife.
*
Margaret,
Maid of Norway, sometimes known as Margaret of Scotland, she may have reigned from 1286-1290
but the matter is disputed.
She was the daughter of Eirik Magnusson, King of Norway and Margaret, the daughter of Alexander III, King of Scots - the grand-daughter
recommended by him above. Born in 1283, it is thought likely that her mother
died at her birth.
Officially named in
1286, when she was not yet three, and immediately betrothed to Edward, the son of Edward I of England ("Longshanks", Ed I, he of the "Model Parliament"), she only set sail for Scotland in
the autumn of 1290, but never arrived; she died, according to the official
records, at Kirkwall in Orkney, on September 26 1290, at the age of just seven,
from the effects of sea-sickness; true or false, she was never formally
crowned. There are some who argue
over whether Margaret should even be referred to as "Queen
of Scots" since she was never crowned, or even inaugurated, nor did she
ever set foot in Scotland. They are probably the same people who support the
sea-sickness theory.
*
With Margaret's death there was no obvious heir to the Scottish throne,
and in fact no single person even came forward claiming an undisputed claim to
be a linear heir however many times removed to the title King of the Scots; into
which vacuum thirteen wannabes did eventually, inevitably emerge. Unable to
make their bid without unsheathing a sword, the thirteen agreed to recognise Edward I’s overlordship, and to abide by his
arbitration. Edward decided in favour of one John de Balliol (his equally famous dad can be found on May 4), who did sort of have a quite strong
claim, based on distant links back to William the Lion; he became king in 1292, and ruled until 1296.
I have used the word
"ruled", which you probably misunderstood as a synonym for
"reigned" or "governed". Edward having placed his man Balliol on
the throne, now expected him to serve as a mere puppet and proxy, and ruled
some very precise and narrow lines around Balliol's powers
to make decisions, a form of vassaldom and homage that might, in today's world,
be described as a "special relationship", and the reason why I have posted him here in St Andrew of Scotland's beloved blue, but not in the royal of the purple cloaks, even though ostensibly he wore one. The Scottish nobles responded
by setting up a Council of Twelve in July 1295, and at the same time agreed an
alliance with the King of France Philippe le Bel. Edward invaded (he became known forever after as "the hammer of the Scots"), and after defeating Balliol at the Battle of Dunbar imprisoned
him in the Tower of London and forced his abdication. Balliol was eventually released into papal
custody and ended his life in France. He is remembered by his Gaelic nickname
as "Toom Tabard", "empty coat".
*
And will it surprise you in the slightest, given the above, to read my next line?
1296-1306: Scotland "annexed"
to England
*
The House of Bruce
Roibert
a Briuis in mediaeval Gaelic, Raibeart Bruis in modern Scottish Gaelic, Robert de Brus or Robert de Bruys in Norman French; Robert I the Bruce in English; reigned 1306-1329. He
became king in 1306 after murdering his only possible rival for the throne, John ComynIII of
Badenoch (for whom click here and pick up the
Ballliol and Bruce connections while you are doing so); and not a back-street
job either, he did it in front of the high altar at Greyfriars Church in
Dumfries and was excommunicated for this sacrilege; not that this prevented his
coronation just a few months later.
Robert was defeated in his
first two battles against the English and became a fugitive, hunted by both Comyn’s
friends and the English. The famous legend about him, finds him hiding in a
room, killing time as there were no people available by watching a spider swing
from one rafter to another, in an attempt to anchor its web. It failed six
times, but succeeded at the seventh attempt. Bruce took this to be an omen and resolved to struggle on. His
decisive victory over Edward
II‘s army at Bannockburn
in 1314 finally won the freedom he had struggled for.
As
far as the blog goes: died on June 7; Bannockburn mentioned on Sept 21
*
David
Brus (Bruce), David II (reigned 1329-1371). The only surviving
legitimate son of Robert
Bruce, he succeeded his
father when only five years of age. He was the first Scottish king to be
crowned and anointed. Whether he would be able to keep the crown was another
matter, faced with the combined hostilities of John Balliol and the "Disinherited", those Scottish landowners
that Robert
Bruce had disinherited
following his victory at Bannockburn. David was for a while even sent to France for his own safe
keeping. In support of his allegiance with France he invaded England in 1346,
whilst Edward
III was otherwise occupied
with the siege of Calais. His army was intercepted by forces raised by the
Archbishop of York. David was wounded and captured. He was
later released after agreeing to pay a ransom of 1,000,000 marks. David died unexpectedly and without an
heir, while trying to divorce his second wife in order to marry his latest
mistress.
*
The House of Stuart
(Stewart)
Robert
Stewart, Robert II (reigned 1371-1390): the son of Walter the Steward and Marjory, the daughter of Robert Bruce, he was recognised as heir
presumptive in 1318, but the birth of David II meant that he had to wait fifty years before he could become
the first Stewart king at the age of fifty-five. A
poor and ineffective ruler with little interest in soldiering, he delegated
responsibility for law and order to his sons, doing his duties in a more
pleasant way, fathering at least twenty-one children on several different
mothers.
*
John
Stewart, Robert III (reigned 1390-1406).
Upon succeeding to the throne he decided to take the name Robert rather than his given name John. As King, Robert III appears to have been as ineffective
as his father Robert
II. In 1406 he decided to
send his eldest surviving son to France; the boy was captured by the English
and imprisoned in the Tower. Robert died the following month and, according to one source, asked
to be buried in a midden (a dunghill) as "the worst of kings and most
wretched of men".
*
James Stewart, James I (only of Scotland; the English one comes later) (reigned
1406-1437). After falling into English hands on his way to France in 1406,
James was held a captive until 1424. Apparently his uncle, who also just
happened to be Scotland’s governor, did little to negotiate his release. He was
eventually released after agreeing to pay a 50,000 mark ransom. On his return
to Scotland, he spent much of his time raising the money to pay off his ransom
by imposing taxes, confiscating estates from nobles and clan chiefs. Needless
to say, such actions made him few friends; a group of conspirators broke into
his bedchamber one night and murdered him.
*
James Stewart “Fiery face”, James II (reigned 1437-1460). Although king since the murder of his father when
he was seven, it was only after his marriage to Mary of Guelders that he
actually assumed control. An aggressive and warlike king, he appears to have
taken particular exception to the Livingstons and the Black Douglases (for whom click here). Fascinated by those new-fangled inventions "firearms", he was blown up and killed by
one of his own siege guns whilst besieging Roxburgh.
*
James Stewart, James III (reigned 1460-1488). At the tender age of eight, he
was proclaimed king following the death of his father James II. Six years later he was kidnapped; upon his return to
power, he proclaimed his abductors, the Boyds,
traitors. His attempt to make peace with the English by marrying his sister off
to an English noble was somewhat scuppered when she was found to be already
pregnant. He was killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn in Stirlingshire on June 11
1488.
*
James
Stewart, James IV (reigned 1488-1513). The son of
James
III and Margaret of Denmark, he had grown up in the care of his
mother at Stirling Castle. For his part in his father’s murder by the Scottish
nobility at the Battle of Sauchieburn, he wore an iron belt next to his skin as
penitence for the rest of his life. To protect his borders he spent lavish sums
on artillery and his navy. James
led expeditions into the Highlands to assert royal authority, and developed
Edinburgh as his royal capital. He sought peace with England by marrying Henry VII’s daughter Margaret Tudor in 1503, an act that would
ultimately unite the two kingdoms a century later. His immediate relationship
with his brother-in-law deteriorated however when James invaded Northumberland. James was defeated and killed at Flodden,
along with most of the leaders of Scottish society.
*
James
Stewart, James V (reigned 1513-1542).
Still an infant at the time of his father’s death at Flodden, James’s early years were dominated by
struggles between his English mother, Margaret Tudor, and the Scottish nobles. Although
king in name, James did not really start to gain
control and rule the country until 1528. After that he slowly began to rebuild
the shattered finances of the Crown, largely enriching the funds of the
monarchy at the expense of the Church. Anglo-Scottish relationships once again
descended into war when James
failed to turn up for a scheduled meeting with Henry VIII at York in 1542. James apparently died of a nervous
breakdown after hearing of the defeat of his forces following the Battle of
Solway Moss.
*
Mary
Stuart (reigned 1542-1567),
officially Mary
1 of Scotland, remembered as Mary Queen of Scots : she was born (see Dec 8) just
a week before her father King James V died, and was sent to France in 1548 to marry the Dauphin,
the young French prince, in order to secure a Catholic alliance against
England. In 1561, after he died still in his teens, Mary returned to Scotland. At this time
Scotland was in the throes of the Reformation, and a widening
Protestant-Catholic split. A Protestant husband for Mary seemed the best chance for
stability. Mary married her cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, but it was not a success. Darnley became jealous of Mary’s secretary and favourite, David Riccio. He murdered Riccio in front of Mary. She was six months pregnant at the
time.
Her son, the future King
James
VI, was baptised into the
Catholic faith at Stirling Castle. This caused alarm amongst the Protestants. Darnley
later died in mysterious circumstances. Mary sought comfort in James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, and rumours abounded that she was
pregnant by him. Mary and Bothwell
married. The Lords of Congregation did not approve of the liaison and she was
imprisoned in Leven Castle, eventually escaping and fleeing to Protestant
England, where Catholic Mary’s
arrival provoked a political crisis for Queen Elizabeth I. After nineteen years of
imprisonment in various castles throughout England, Mary was found guilty of treason for
plotting against Elizabeth and was beheaded at Fotheringhay.
see also March 15
where she is not being the slightest bit contrary with either the Dauphin of
France, or James Bothwell – also here; and read my account of her through the eyes of Queen Bess here
*
At which point the Scottish and English lists
combine
James VI of Scotland and James I of England (reigned 1567-1625): he became king
of Scotland when still just thirteen months old, following the abdication of
his mother. By his late teens he was already beginning to demonstrate political
intelligence and diplomacy in order to control government. He assumed real
power in 1583, and quickly established a strong centralised authority. He
married Anne of Denmark in 1589.
As the great-grandson of
Margaret Tudor, he succeeded to the English throne
when Elizabeth
I died in 1603, thus
ending the centuries-old Anglo-Scots border wars.
So, in 1603, the official
Union of the Crowns of Scotland and England, as a result of which the entire
Stuart dynasty, Charles
I, Charles II, James II, William
II with Mary II, and Anne, all count as the monarch(s) of
both Scotland and England
But I cannot end this
list without one more name, this one in Scottish blue not royal purple, because
he never made it to any throne: Charles Edward
Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Mario Stuart, Scotland's "Bonnie Prince Charlie" born Dec 31 1720, died in exile at the Palazzo
Muti in Rome in January 1788.
Nor can I end this list without thanking the various anonymous websites from whom I have gleaned so much information, and by name Paula Lofting, whose website is here, and whose map of Macbeth's Scotland adorns the top of this page. Tapadh leat (I believe that's pronounced "tap-lat") to all of you
You can find David Prashker at:
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