| Notes |
- Malcolm III ascended the throne of Scotland 17 March 1057-58, after
slaying MacBeth at Lumphanan, County Aberdeen, Scotland, 15 Aug. 1057.
Under him, the provinces acquired by Thorfinn again came under native
rule.
Malcolm died 1093. He was killed by the English at Ainwick.
Malcolm Canmore ('great head' or 'chief') was the eldest son of Duncan
I. After his father's death, he found refuge in England with his uncle
Siward of Northumbria, where he stayed for more than 14 years.
His first wife was Ingibjorg, widow of Earl Thorfinn of Orkney. She
died, and in about 1070 he married Margaret, great-niece of King
Edward the Confessor of England. She had sought refuge in Scotland
with her brother, Edgar the Atheling (Anglo-Saxon heir to the English
throne), when William I excluded him from the English succession.
Margaret had a strong influence over her husband, who revered her
piety and secretly had jewel-encrusted bindings made for her religious
books, which he himself was unable to read, never having learned to do
so. He also substituted Saxon for Gaelic as the court language.
According to Margaret's biographer, she corresponded with Lanfranc,
Archbishop of Canterbury, brought Benedictine monks to Dunfermline and
did away with local usages in the Scottish Church. Margaret also began
building what was later to be known as St Margaret's Chapel, situated
on the highest part of Edinburgh Castle.
Malcolm was determined to extend his kingdom southwards and take
advantage of the upheaval caused by the Norman Conquest. Making the
excuse that he was supporting the claim to the English throne of his
brother-in-law Edgar Atheling, Malcolm invaded England five times (he
was a formidable warrior-king, having killed his two predecessor
kings).
Three times defeated, Malcolm was forced under the treaty of Abernethy
in 1072 to become 'the man' of the English king and give up his son
Duncan as a hostage. Malcolm and his eldest son were finally killed in
battle at Alnwick, Northumberland on 13 November 1093, aged about 62.
His wife died when they brought her the news at Edinburgh Castle. She
was canonised in 1249.
After Malcolm's death, the frontier between the kingdoms of Scotland
and England was clearly defined for the first time. Anglo-Norman
influence in Scotland was promoted by the subsequent marriages of
Malcolm's sons to English brides.
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Abt 1033 - 1093 (~ 60 years)