Killing Fields of Scotland

by R J M Pugh

  In the next chapter, we shall examine Malcolm’s reign which was chiefly noted for his annexation of Saxonia, thus completing the unification of mainland Scotland in 1018.16

  Notes

  1 The part of Strathclyde in Cumberland and Westmorland remained independent for some years after the Norman Conquest; a principality of Scotland as was Wales of England, the Scottish rump of Strathclyde was the appanage of the heir-apparent to the Scottish throne.

  2 Lynch, Scotland: A New History, p.17.

  3 Hume Brown, History of Scotland, vol i, p.18; Matthews, England Versus Scotland: Great British Battles; Pugh, Swords, Loaves and Fishes: A History of Dunbar, p.66.

  4 Successive occupants of the Bernician throne were named Eadwulf or Eadulf.

  5 For centuries, it was thought Y Gododdin was a Welsh poem, cymric being akin to the Votadini tongue. The Gododdin is in fact the earliest surviving Scottish poem (see Jackson, The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish Poem).

  6 Oliver, A History of Scotland, p.45 gives Aviemore; Brotchie, The Battlefields of Scotland, p.22 identifies a site in Forfarshire, in Angus, as does Lynch op. cit., p.19.

  7 Brotchie, op. cit., p.22.

  8 Woolf, Alex, Dún Nechtáin, Fortriu and the Geography of the Picts (Scottish Historical Review, vol. LXXXV, 2: No 22, October 2006).

  9 Oliver, op. cit., p.45.

  10 For example, Oliver, op. cit., p.45.

  11 Encyclopedia Britannica; Hume Brown op. cit., vol. i, p.32. The burning was probably the Anglian wooden stockade and settlements near the modern Victoria Harbour.

  12 Boece, History of Scotland, is a mixture of romantic fiction and fact; Buchanan, History of Scotland contains an account of Luncarty but omits the story of the falcon. Other accounts are found in Abercromby, Martial Achievements in Scotland and Pratt, Buchan. Hume Brown states that the ‘Danes were worsted in so singular a manner at Luncarty’ op. cit., vol. i, p.41.

  13 Buchanan, op. cit; Crammond, Annals of Cullen.

  14 Pugh, RJM, op cit., pp.38 – 39.

  15 Shaw, History of the Province of Moray. Miller, The History of Dunbar gives Mar, Aberdeenshire.

  16 The Danes maintained their hold on Orkney and Shetland until the fifteenth century; the Norwegians occupied the Western Isles, Bute and Arran until 1266, three years after the battle of Largs.

  Chapter 3

  The Early Middle Ages

  During the early years of the eleventh century, the reign of Malcolm II proved that he was more than equal to the task of introducing new policies in his realm, bringing these to a satisfactory conclusion. Under Malcolm, Alba attained a degree of unprecedented cohesion through the sheer, ruthless force of his personality which brought the warring factions of Celts, Scots, Britons and Norwegians to an understanding of each other even if they remained unreconciled. In Caithness and Sutherland, Malcolm enjoyed cordial relations with the Norwegian jarl (earl) Sigurd the Stout, even giving his daughter in marriage to Sigurd. When Sigurd was slain at the battle of Clontarf in Ireland in 1014, Malcolm conferred Caithness and Sutherland on Sigurd’s son Thorfinn, a mere boy; this suggests that Malcolm was grooming the child as an ally in any future conflicts with the native Celtic mormaers (great stewards) in the north. Although the frontier in the north remained fluid, the establishment of a southern boundary at the river Tweed was uppermost in Malcolm’s mind; in the year 1018 Malcolm was resolved to achieve that border line.

  As we saw in the previous chapter, in the first year of his reign, Malcolm had attempted to annex Lothian but had over-reached himself by invading northern England as far as Durham, where he was rebuffed by Earl Uhtred of Northumberland. However, by 1018, Uhtred was dead and Northumberland was split in two. A powerful leader ruled the southern half but the northern part was held lightly by a weaker man, Eadwulf (also known as Eadulf Cudel). Malcolm raised an army and was joined by Owen the Bald, the last king of the kingdom of Strathclyde. For thirty nights before Malcolm reached the river Tweed, a comet (possibly Haley’s Comet) appeared in the night sky, striking fear into the Northumbrians who saw it as a portent of coming disaster.

  Carham-on-Tweed

  The battle of Carham, sometimes known as the battle of Coldstream, as the site lies three miles to the south-west of that town, actually took place just south of the river Tweed. Malcolm won a spectacular victory over Eadulf Cudel which gave him control of the Merse (Berwickshire) and East Lothian. Although fought on English soil, Carham is included in this account because, not only did it secure Lothian and the Merse for the kingdom of Alba, it also established the Scottish border at the Tweed. It could be argued that Carham itself was included in Malcolm’s annexation although contemporary and modern historians agree that the Scottish border ends on the north bank of the river Tweed.

  Carham has been the subject of dispute among modern historians, who doubt its importance in the securing of Lothian (the Merse, or Berwickshire and East Lothian) as an integral part of Scotland. Some insist that Lothian was granted to Kenneth II (971 – 995) by King Edgar of England on condition that Kenneth recognized him as his superior. Professor Hume Brown states that the authority for this is doubtful.1 One has to ask the question; if Edgar had in fact ceded Lothian to Kenneth, why did Malcolm II ‘invade’ northern England in 1018 and fight a battle to annex it? A possible answer is that Malcolm knew of this arrangement and decided to rid himself of the need to pay homage to England for the territory. The modern historian Professor M. Lynch disputes the importance of Carham, a view not shared by this author; Lynch contends that ‘Carham could not have seemed so decisive at the time’ and that ‘Carham solved nothing’.2 Hume Brown ventures to say that the annexation of Lothian, on account of Carham, was the most important event in Scotland’s history.3 Malcolm had achieved what his forebears had failed to do in the past century and a half; even if the benefits were not immediately apparent, Malcolm II was described as ‘King of Alba’ in the Irish Annals of Tigernach.

  A postscript to Carham illustrates Malcolm’s generosity to a defeated opponent, Eadulf Cudel, who knew that by signing Lothian away his co-ruler in southern Northumberland would punish him for his profligacy. Malcolm was magnanimous; he offered Eadulf sanctuary in Berwickshire where he lived out his remaining years in what was once known as Eadulf’s Ton (ton being Anglo-Saxon for village). In time Eadulf’s Ton became known as Eddleston.

  What, then, was the effect of Carham? The answer is perhaps obvious. Had Lothian remained in English possession, the history of Scotland might have been vastly different. For example, the battles of Dunbar of 1296 and 1650 might have been fought elsewhere. These are but two crude examples. The earldom of Dunbar, a vital area and important cockpit during the Wars of Independence, would have been occupied by the English and supported by the dynasty of Dunbar earls until the fifteenth century and possibly beyond that, a thorn in the side of Scottish kings from Robert the Bruce and the Stewart or Stuart dynasty of kings until the union with England in 1707.

  As for the remainder of Malcolm II’s reign, his failure to produce a male heir to succeed him would cause constitutional problems and give rise to further battles. Malcolm had three daughters. One married Sigurd the Stout; their son Thorfinn became ruler of Caithness and Sutherland. Another, known as Bethoc became the wife of Thane Crinan, lay Abbot of Dunkeld, whose son Duncan became king in 1034. The third, Doada married Findlaech, mormaer of Moray; their son Macbeth would challenge and kill King Duncan with the help of Thorfinn, his cousin. Like Duncan, Macbeth had a legitimate claim to the throne through the female line. These three marriages led to events which were turning points in Scotland’s history.

  Malcolm’s reign achieved the annexation of the sprawling kingdom of Strathclyde, although this gain and that of Lothian must be set against his failure to check the expansionist policies of the Norwegian earls of Orkney to colonize mainland Scotland. However, under Malcolm, Scotland became the country we know today, apart from the continuing presence of Norsemen in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isl
es. After his acquisition of Lothian, Malcolm became virtual ruler of the country from the river Tweed to the Pentland Firth. Even the troublesome kingdom of Strathclyde was subdued, not by martial means but through diplomacy, after its last independent king, Owen, Malcolm’s ally at Carham died in 1018. Malcolm attempted to install his grandson Duncan (the product of his daughter Bethoc’s marriage to Crinan the Thane) as prince of Strathclyde. The Strathclyde Britons were unhappy about this but reluctantly accepted Duncan as their leader. When Malcolm died in 1034, the unpopular Duncan ascended the throne.

  Duncan I (1034 – 40) was troubled by the Norwegians in Caithness and Sutherland as well as by his cousin Macbeth in Morayshire. Duncan’s reign was as brief as it was unfortunate. Possibly because of his weakness or youth, or both, his kingdom was threatened by Aldred, Earl of Northumberland, who invaded Strathclyde and embarked on a brief but bloody campaign. Either before or after this invasion – contemporary accounts are obscure – Duncan invaded Northumberland and laid siege to Durham where, despite having a large army of foot and horse, he was badly beaten; so great was the defeat his heavy casualties forced him to retreat.4 At least the Northumbrians did not pursue him.

  Duncan’s main worries were in the north, however. Thorfinn, his cousin, proved more troublesome, refusing to acknowledge Duncan as rightful King of Scotland. Duncan attempted to install another cousin, Moddan, in Caithness and Sutherland; Moddan’s army was soundly beaten by Thorfinn, which allowed the latter to add Rosshire to his dominions. Duncan responded by raising another army and a fleet which entered the Pentland Firth to attack Thorfinn from the sea, while Moddan engaged him by land. Duncan’s fleet was scattered by Thorfinn’s ships; Thorfinn then attacked Moddan at Thurso, where he personally slew Moddan, after setting fire to the house Moddan was using as his headquarters.

  Torfness

  In c.1034 a dispirited Duncan raised yet another army and met Thorfinn at Torfness, thought to be Burghead on the Moray Firth, where again, the Norwegian defeated him.

  Bordie

  Bordie, or the battle of Culross Moor, Fife, is considered to be the site of a battle in 1038 between the Scots and the Vikings, possibly Norwegians. The outcome was yet another defeat for Duncan. According to folklore, great slaughter occurred; little is known of the protagonists or the precise number of fatal casualties. The Scottish standard was reputedly placed in a flat outcrop of rock which (with difficulty) can still be seen today. Duncan’s lacklustre reign was nearing its end. Enter Macbeth, mormaer of Moray whose wife Gruoch was the granddaughter of Kenneth III. In addition, Macbeth’s mother Doada was the daughter of Malcolm II and these links to the throne encouraged him to make a bid for it. Taking advantage of Duncan’s parlous situation, Macbeth allied himself with Thorfinn, killing Duncan in an unidentified battle near Elgin in 1040. Macbeth then drove both of Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donald into exile.5 In 1045 Crinan the Thane attempted to unseat Macbeth in favour of his son Duncan I’s son Malcolm (the future Malcolm III) but was slain along with ‘ nine times twenty heroes’.6 In 1046 we witness the beginnings of interference in Scotland’s constitution by Earl Siward of Northumberland; according to the historian Fordun, Siward was related to the House of Crinan through the marriage of his relative Suthen – possibly a sister – to Duncan.7 A second attempt against Macbeth at Dunsinnan by Siward in 1054 was more successful; Duncan’s son Malcolm – later Malcolm III – was appointed king, but only in Strathclyde and Lothian.8 Macbeth retreated northwards to Moray to await his expected confrontation with Malcolm.

  Macbeth was as we know unfairly demonized in Shakespeare’s eponymous play written five centuries later. How historically accurate was Shakespeare? While his play is a masterpiece, it is bad history. The playwright drew his story from Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles (1577) and, in turn, Holinshed based his account on John of Fordun’s Scotichronicon or Chronica Gentis Scotorum (The Chronicle of the People of Scotland, c.1380) and Andrew Wyntoun’s Oryginale Cronykil (Original Chronicle, 1420). Fordun was the better historian; Wyntoun’s account is steeped in romance and folklore. Both these chronicles were incorporated in Hector Boece’s Scotorum Historiae (The History of Scotland, 1574); it was his history which was bowdlerised by Holinshed and dramatized by Shakespeare. There were no witches, no Banquo (let alone his ghost!), no midnight murder of Duncan. Macbeth was never tempted by three witches but by plain, old-fashioned ambition.

  Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606) is steeped in the preoccupations of James VI and I – the rights of succession, the relationship between Scotland and England, witchcraft and – horror of horrors – the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, an attempt on the king’s life. James believed in the divine right of kings, that monarchs were God’s representatives and regents. Killing a king was the ultimate crime against Nature. Macbeth’s disaffection with Duncan may have originated with the killing of his wife Gruoch’s nephew by Malcolm II ‘the aggressor’, one of the most ruthless kings in the mac Alpin dynasty.9 What, then was the reason for demonizing Macbeth? That question is fairly simple to answer. Macbeth and his line were men of Morayshire, the last of the old Celtic rearguard; Moray remained the main obstacle to the Normanization and Anglicization of Scotland by the House of Alpin, spearheaded by Malcolm III and his descendants.

  Lumphanan

  In point of fact, Macbeth ruled wisely and justly until 1057. His reputation as a strong but generous ruler is accepted by modern historians.10 Shakespeare’s play and certain hostile chronicles present Macbeth as a usurper and murderer, Lady Macbeth as a monster encouraging her husband; the myth refuses to go away.

  Macbeth was respected by his people; he was also generous to the Church. For example, in 1050, he is said to have distributed money to the poor in Rome11 which confirms that he had gone on pilgrimage to the Eternal City, where he ‘scattered money like seed’.12 Macbeth’s wife Gruoch gave lands to the Culdee (from the Celtic Cele De, meaning an associate or attendant of God) community of St Serfs, Lochleven, a religious order associated with the Celtic branch of the Catholic Church in Scotland.a

  Finally, at Lumphanan, near The Mounth in Aberdeenshire, Malcolm attacked and slew Macbeth in 1057. There are scant details of the battle. Malcolm was crowned king at Scone but the death of Macbeth did not guarantee peace. Macbeth’s stepson Lulach ‘the Simple’ challenged Malcolm until 1058 when he slew Lulach at Strathbogie, Aberdeenshire. Malcolm III (1058 – 93) became the undisputed ruler of Scotland. To strengthen his hold on the north, Malcolm married Ingibiorg, the widow of Thorfinn who had challenged Malcolm’s father, Duncan I. Malcolm’s position was stronger than any of his predecessors, which explains why he invaded Northumberland no fewer than five times during his reign, seeking to extend his southern border. By 1070 Malcolm’s wife Ingibiorg had died as that year he married Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, the Saxon heir to the English throne whom William the Conqueror had driven from England in 1068. In his last attempt take Northumberland in 1093, Malcolm was slain – some say treacherously – by a a friend.13 His queen, Margaret, died of grief a few days later.

  There was, however, a continuing division in the country now known as Scotia; no single ruler, no matter how resolute and determined was likely to be acceptable to the northern Celts and the southern peoples. However, be that as it may, the reigns of Malcolm III’s sons Edgar (1097 – 1107), Alexander I (1107 – 24) and David I (1124 – 53) were fortunate in that they were free from any significant battles. When David I inherited the throne in 1124, his reign saw the second period of consolidation of Scotland as a nation. It has to be said that the most potent support which sustained him in all his undertakings came from the Norman knights and barons he had invited to Scotland to settle and marry into the noble families. The Norman parvenues readily offered David support when the landowners of Moray revolted against his rule. Angus and Malcolm MacHeth, grandsons of Lulach, raised an army to challenge David’s right to the throne of Scotland. This came about in 1130 during David’s absence in England attending to his affa
irs and estates there, gained through his marriage to Matilda, granddaughter of Earl Siward of Northumberland.

  Stracathro

  Fortunately for David, he had a strong Constable of Scotland, Edward fitz Siward of Mercia (no relation to Earl Siward of Northumberland) to govern the country during his visit south. At the subsequent battle of Stracathro near Brechin, Forfarshire (modern Angus), on 16 April 1130 Edward of Mercia defeated Angus MacHeth, slaying 4,000 of his followers; Edward’s casualties were 1,000. Despite this crushing defeat, for the next five years Angus MacHeth’s elder brother Malcolm would hold out against David. Eventually an exasperated David appealed to the barons in the north of England to assist him in subduing his troublesome Celtic subjects. Learning of this, Malcolm’s supporters handed him over without a fight to David who imprisoned the troublesome Celt in Roxburgh Castle for the next twenty-three years. Thus Moray became an integral part of the kingdom. By way of reward, David divided Morayshire between those northern England barons and the native nobles he felt he could trust.

  When David died in 1153, his younger brother Malcolm IV (1153 – 65), known to history as ‘The Maiden’ succeeded him. Despite his less than manly soubriquet, Malcolm was courageous and was never slow to bring to account those who opposed his rule. In 1153 Donald MacHeth, son of that Malcolm MacHeth still held prisoner in Roxburgh, was titular head of the House of Moray and was determined to challenge Malcolm IV. On his own it is doubtful if Donald could have achieved very much but he formed an alliance with a much more powerful man in the person of Somerled, Lord of Argyle and Kintyre who established a ‘Kingdom’ of the Isles and refused to acknowledge Malcom IV as his superior. Having given his daughter in marriage to Donald MacHeth, Somerled had hopes that his son-in-law would ascend the throne. For three years Somerled and Donald carried out raids in various parts of the kingdom until finally, in 1156, Donald was taken prisoner at Whithorn and joined his father in Roxburgh Castle. As for Somerled, his attention was drawn elsewhere until, in 1164, he again challenged Malcolm IV.