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Birth:          ABT 1033 of Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland
Death:          13 Nov 1093 Alnwick, Northumberland, England
Cause of Death: in battle
Burial:         Holy Trinity Church, Dumferline, Fifeshire, Scotland

Notes
m 1068/1069
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_III_of_Scotland
Malcolm (Gaelic: Máel Coluim; c. 26 March 1031 – 13 November 1093) was King of 
Scots from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic for 
"Great Chief": "ceann" denotes "leader", "head" (of state) and "mòr" denotes "pre-
eminent", "great", and "big").[1][2] Malcolm's long reign of 35 years preceded the 
beginning of the Scoto-Norman age. He is the historical equivalent of the character of 
the same name in William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Malcolm's kingdom did not extend over the full territory of modern Scotland: the north 
and west of Scotland remained under Scandinavian, Norse-Gael, and Gaelic rule, and 
the territories under the rule of the Kings of Scots did not extend much beyond the 
limits established by Malcolm II until the 12th century. Malcolm III fought a series of 
wars against the Kingdom of England, which may have had as its objective the 
conquest of the English earldom of Northumbria. These wars did not result in any 
significant advances southward. Malcolm's primary achievement was to continue a 
lineage that ruled Scotland for many years,[3] although his role as founder of a 
dynasty has more to do with the propaganda of his youngest son David I and his 
descendants than with history.[4]

Malcolm's second wife, St. Margaret of Scotland, is Scotland's only royal saint. 
Malcolm himself had no reputation for piety; with the notable exception of Dunfermline 
Abbey in Fife he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments or 
ecclesiastical reforms.

Background[edit]

Malcolm's father Duncan I became king in late 1034, on the death of Malcolm II, 
Duncan's maternal grandfather and Malcolm's great-grandfather. According to John of 
Fordun, whose account is the original source of part at least of William Shakespeare's 
Macbeth, Malcolm's mother was a niece of Siward, Earl of Northumbria,[5][6] but an 
earlier king-list gives her the Gaelic name Suthen.[7] Other sources claim that either a 
daughter or niece would have been too young to fit the timeline, thus the likely 
relative would have been Siward's own sister Sybil, which may have translated into 
Gaelic as Suthen.

Duncan's reign was not successful and he was killed by Macbeth on 15 August 1040. 
Although Shakespeare's Macbeth presents Malcolm as a grown man and his father as 
an old one, it appears that Duncan was still young in 1040,[8] and Malcolm and his 
brother Donalbane were children.[9] Malcolm's family did attempt to overthrow 
Macbeth in 1045, but Malcolm's grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the 
attempt.[10]

Soon after the death of Duncan his two young sons were sent away for greater safety
—exactly where is the subject of debate. According to one version, Malcolm (then aged 
about nine) was sent to England,[11] and his younger brother Donalbane was sent to 
the Isles.[12][13] Based on Fordun's account, it was assumed that Malcolm passed 
most of Macbeth's seventeen-year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of 
Edward the Confessor.[14][15]

According to an alternative version, Malcolm's mother took both sons into exile at the 
court of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney, an enemy of Macbeth's family, and 
perhaps Duncan's kinsman by marriage.[16]

An English invasion in 1054, with Siward, Earl of Northumbria in command, had as its 
goal the installation of one "Máel Coluim, son of the king of the Cumbrians". This Máel 
Coluim has traditionally been identified with the later Malcolm III.[17] This 
interpretation derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of 
Scotland, John of Fordun, as well as from earlier sources such as William of 
Malmesbury.[18] The latter reported that Macbeth was killed in the battle by Siward, 
but it is known that Macbeth outlived Siward by two years.[19] A. A. M. Duncan 
argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, later 
writers innocently misidentified "Máel Coluim" with the later Scottish king of the same 
name.[20] Duncan's argument has been supported by several subsequent historians 
specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram, Dauvit Broun and Alex Woolf.[21] It has 
also been suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of Owain Foel, British 
king of Strathclyde[22] perhaps by a daughter of Malcolm II, King of Scotland.[23]

In 1057 various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolm's hand, on 15 
August 1057 at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire.[24][25] Macbeth was succeeded by his 
stepson Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach 
was killed by Malcolm, "by treachery",[26] near Huntly on 23 April 1058. After this, 
Malcolm became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only 
John of Fordun reports this.[27]

Malcolm and Ingibiorg[edit]
If Orderic Vitalis is to be relied upon, one of Malcolm's earliest actions as king may 
have been to travel south to the court of Edward the Confessor in 1059 to arrange a 
marriage with Edward's kinswoman Margaret, who had arrived in England two years 
before from Hungary.[28] If he did visit the English court, he was the first reigning king 
of Scots to do so in more than eighty years. If a marriage agreement was made in 
1059, it was not kept, and this may explain the Scots invasion of Northumbria in 1061 
when Lindisfarne was plundered.[29] Equally, Malcolm's raids in Northumbria may have 
been related to the disputed "Kingdom of the Cumbrians", reestablished by Earl Siward 
in 1054, which was under Malcolm's control by 1070.[30]

The Orkneyinga saga reports that Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, 
Ingibiorg, a daughter of Finn Arnesson.[31] Although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to 
have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058.
[32] The Orkneyinga Saga records that Malcolm and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan II 
(Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim), who was later king.[33] Some Medieval commentators, 
following William of Malmesbury, claimed that Duncan was illegitimate, but this claim is 
propaganda reflecting the need of Malcolm's descendants by Margaret to undermine 
the claims of Duncan's descendants, the Meic Uilleim.[34] Malcolm'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.[35]

Malcolm'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.[36] Malcolm 
enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the Earldom of Orkney, ruled jointly by his 
stepsons, Paul and Erlend Thorfinnsson. The Orkneyinga Saga reports strife with 
Norway but this is probably misplaced as it associates this with Magnus Barefoot, who 
became king of Norway only in 1093, the year of Malcolm's death.[37]

Malcolm and Margaret[edit]
Although he had given sanctuary to Tostig Godwinson when the Northumbrians drove 
him out, Malcolm 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 the battle 
of Stamford Bridge.[38] 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 disappointed, however, if they had expected immediate assistance from the 
Scots.[39]

In 1069 the exiles returned to England, to join a spreading revolt in the north. Even 
though Gospatric and Siward's son Waltheof submitted by the end of the year, the 
arrival of a Danish army under Sweyn Estridsson seemed to ensure that William's 
position remained weak. Malcolm 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 Malcolm 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, Malcolm 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 possessions were concentrated.[40] 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, Malcolm had married Edgar's sister 
Margaret of Wessex, the future Saint Margaret of Scotland.[41]

The naming of their children represented a break with the traditional Scots regal 
names such as Malcolm, 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 and her brother, briefly the elected king, Edgar 
Ætheling—was unlikely to be missed in England, where William of Normandy's grasp on 
power was far from secure.[42] 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 
repetition of Anglo-Saxon royal name—another Edmund had preceded Edgar—is not 
known.[43] Margaret also gave Malcolm 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. Malcolm met William at 
Abernethy and, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle "became his man" and 
handed over his eldest son Duncan as a hostage and arranged peace between 
William and Edgar.[44] Accepting the overlordship of the king of the English was no 
novelty, as previous kings had done so without result. The same was true of Malcolm; 
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. Malcolm again made peace, and this time 
kept it for over a decade.[45]

Malcolm 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.[46]

Whatever provoked this strife, Máel Snechtai survived until 1085.[47]

Malcolm and William Rufus[edit]

When William Rufus became king of England after his father's death, Malcolm did not 
intervene in the rebellions by supporters of Robert Curthose which followed. In 1091, 
William Rufus confiscated Edgar Ætheling's lands in England, and Edgar fled north to 
Scotland. In May, Malcolm 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, where he 
had been fighting Robert Curthose. In September, learning of William Rufus's 
approaching army, Malcolm withdrew north and the English followed. Unlike in 1072, 
Malcolm was prepared to fight, but a peace was arranged by Edgar Ætheling and 
Robert Curthose whereby Malcolm again acknowledged the overlordship of the English 
king.[48]

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. It is 
unlikely that Malcolm controlled Cumbria, and the dispute instead concerned the 
estates granted to Malcolm by William Rufus's father in 1072 for his maintenance 
when visiting England. Malcolm sent messengers to discuss the question and William 
Rufus agreed to a meeting. Malcolm travelled south to Gloucester, stopping at Wilton 
Abbey to visit his daughter Edith and sister-in-law Cristina. Malcolm 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 Malcolm refused to accept, and 
returned immediately to Scotland.[49]

It does not appear that William Rufus intended to provoke a war,[50] 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 ....[51]

Malcolm was accompanied by Edward, his eldest son by Margaret and probable heir-
designate (or tánaiste), and by Edgar.[52] Even by the standards of the time, the 
ravaging of Northumbria by the Scots was seen as harsh.[53]

Death[edit]
While marching north again, Malcolm 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 Arkil Morel, steward of Bamburgh Castle. The conflict became 
known as the Battle of Alnwick.[54] Edward was mortally wounded in the same fight. 
Margaret, it is said, died soon after receiving the news of their deaths from Edgar.[55] 
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. Normans] in Inber Alda in England. His queen, Margaret, moreover, 
died of sorrow for him within nine days.[56]

Malcolm's body was taken to Tynemouth Priory for burial. The king's body was sent 
north for reburial, in the reign of his son Alexander, at Dunfermline Abbey, or possibly 
Iona.[57]

On 19 June 1250, following the canonisation of Malcolm's wife Margaret by Pope 
Innocent IV, Margaret's remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary. Tradition 
has it that as the reliquary was carried to the high altar of Dunfermline Abbey, past 
Malcolm's grave, it became too heavy to move. As a result, Malcolm's remains were 
also disinterred, and buried next to Margaret beside the altar.[58]

Issue[edit]

Malcolm and Ingibiorg had three sons:
1.Duncan II of Scotland, succeeded his father as King of Scotland
2.Donald, died ca.1094
3.Malcolm, died ca.1085

Malcolm and Margaret had eight children, six sons and two daughters:
1.Edward, killed 1093
2.Edmund of Scotland
3.Ethelred, abbot of Dunkeld
4.King Edgar of Scotland
5.King Alexander I of Scotland
6.King David I of Scotland
7.Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England
8.Mary of Scotland, married Eustace III of Boulogne

Depictions in fiction[edit]

Malcolm appears in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth as Malcolm, and also as the 
anti-hero of its 2009-written (by Noah Lukeman), and historically very inaccurate, 
successor-play The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II. He is the son of King Duncan and 
heir to the throne. He first appears in the second scene where he is talking to a 
sergeant, with Duncan. The sergeant tells them how the battle was won thanks to 
Macbeth. Then Ross comes and Duncan decides that Macbeth should take the title of 
Thane of Cawdor. Then he later appears in Act 1.4 talking about the execution of the 
former Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth then enters and they congratulate him on his 
victory. He later appears in Macbeth’s castle as a guest. When his father is killed he 
is suspected of the murder so he escapes to England. He later makes an appearance 
in Act 4.3, where he talks to Macduff about Macbeth and what to do. They both 
decide to start a war against him. In Act 5.4 he is seen in Dunsinane getting ready for 
war. He orders the troops to hide behind branches and slowly advance towards the 
castle. In Act 5.8 he watches the battle against Macbeth and Macduff with Siward 
and Ross. When eventually Macbeth is killed, Malcolm takes over as king.

The married life of Malcolm III and Margaret has been the subject of two historical 
novels: A Goodly Pearl (1905) by Mary H. Debenham, and Malcolm Canmore's Pearl 
(1907) by Agnes Grant Hay. Both focus on court life in Dunfermline, and the Margaret 
helping introduce Anglo-Saxon culture in Scotland. The latter novel covers events to 
1093, ending with Malcolm's death.[59][60]

Canmore appears in the third and fourth episodes of the four-part series "City of 
Stone" in Disney's Gargoyles, as an antagonist of Macbeth. After witnessing his father 
Duncan's death, the young Canmore swears revenge on both Macbeth and his 
gargoyle ally, Demona. After reaching adulthood, he overthrows Macbeth with English 
allies. Canmore is also the ancestor of the Hunters, a family of vigilantes who hunt 
Demona through the centuries. Canmore was voiced in the series by J.D. Daniels as a 
boy and Neil Dickson as an adult.

In The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II, Malcolm (who has succeeded from MacBeth, and 
ruled well for ten years) is led by the witches down MacBeth's path to perdition—killing 
his brother Donalbain as well as MacDuff before finally being killed by Fleance 
(supposedly the ancestor of Stuart king James).

Parents
MAC CRINAN Duncan I (ABT 1001 - 14 Aug 1040)
FITZSIWARD Sibyl (ABT 1017 - 1070)

Siblings
____ Malcolm III "Ceanmor" (ABT 1033 - 13 Nov 1093)
____ Duncan (ABT 1035 - )
____ Donald III "Bane" (1039 - 1099)

Marriage To FINNSDOTTIR Ingeborg (ABT 1023 - BEF 1069)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
ARNESSON Finn (ABT 1005 - 1062)
HALFDANSDOTTIR Bergliot Thorborg (ABT 1006 - )

Children by FINNSDOTTIR Ingeborg ABT 1023 - BEF 1069
EDELRAD Heth (Beth) (Ed) (Head) (ABT 1062 - AFT 1115)

Marriage To OF SCOTLAND Margaret "Atheling" "Saint" (ABT 1048 - 16 Nov 1093)
    m. 1070 

Notes
his 2d

Parents
____ Edward "Atheling" (1016 - 1057)
VON BRAUNSCHWEIG (BRUNSWICK) Agatha (ABT 1028 - AFT 1066)

Children by OF SCOTLAND Margaret "Atheling" "Saint" ABT 1048 - 16 Nov 1093
OF SCOTLAND Matilda "Atheling" (ABT 1079 - 1 May 1118)
____ David I "Saint" (ABT 1080 - 24 May 1153)
OF SCOTLAND Mary (1082 - 31 May 1116)

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