The KINGS of SCOTLAND (1)

THE development of the modern Kingdom of Scotland from a
disorganised state in which, after the days of the Roman occupation,
different races warred for supremacy, belongs to general history,
and need not be treated of in the pages of a Peerage.
But it is necessary for a complete understanding of the pedigrees
of the Scottish nobility to notice briefly the individual sovereigns
who ruled over the kingdom after its component elements were
united into one people, who occupied, if not the whole, at least
the greater part of the country now called Scotland. These rulers
will be considered not so much in relation to their public acts,
which again belong to the province of the historian, as to their
alliances, offspring, and relationships, which permeate the whole
genealogical history of the Peerage.

The most convenient starting-point for such a purpose is the reign
of MALCOLM III. 'Ceannmor,' i.e. Great head or Chief. He
was the eldest son of Duncan I. by his wife, a cousin of Siward,
Earl of Northumberland : Duncan being the son of Crinan the
Thane by his wife Bethoc, eldest daughter and heir of Malcolm
II. King of Scots.* He was born about 1031. Between 1061
and 1093 he led five raids into England,devastating the northern
counties and bringing about a great invasion of his own country
by William the Conqueror in 1072, and by his son Robert in 1080.

 In his last English raid Malcolm was defeated and slain at
Alnwick, 13 November 1093. He married, first, about 1059,
Ingibjorg, daughter of Earl Finn Arnason, and widow of Thorfinn
Sigurdson, Earl of Orkney.

He had by her :
1. DUNCAN, afterwards king.
2. Donald, died 1085.
A son Malcolm has been assigned
 to him, but there seems
to be no positive proof of this.


* Chron. Picts and Scots, 152 ; Fordun, book iv. 39, 40, 44 : Scottish
Kings, by Sir Archibald Hamilton Dunbar, Bart., which book is
the basis of this article, and where full references are given to the
authorities for the statements made.


more to follow...........