Malcolm Canmore (King Malcolm III) (1031-1093)

Malcolm Canmore was the son of King Duncan I and went into exile in Northumberland when his father was killed by Macbeth in 1040 in Forres, Morayshire. With the help of the English King, Edward the Confessor and his uncle Earl Siward of Northumbria, King Malcolm defeated and killed Macbeth at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire in 1057.

Macbeth’s stepson called Lulach, took over the throne but Malcolm killed him too.

Malcolm founded the dynasty of the House of Canmore which lasted 200 years until the House of Stewart. He married Ingebjørg and had two sons, Donald and Duncan II who succeeded him. His wife was the daughter of the Norwegian Earl Finn Arnesson and her mother’s father was a brother of the Norwegian Kings St. Olav and Harald Haradrade.

When his wife died around 1069, he married Margaret, Edgar Atheling’s sister. Edgar would have become King of England if William the Conqueror from Normandy had not invaded the country. They had six sons, three of them (Edgar, Alexander and David) would be kings.

Margaret introduced English customs and language into the Scottish court and also church procedure but she never learnt Gaelic, which was the language spoken by many Scots at that time.

Her son, Kind David I built a small church inside Edinburgh Castle which was dedicated to her memory; the church is known as St. Margaret’s Chapel and it’s the oldest building in the castle.

In 1071 Malcolm was forced to sign the Treaty of Abernethy; and his son Duncan became a hostage in England. This happened as a result of the large number of English exiles who gathered in the court and also due to Malcolm’s raids into Northumbria and Cumbria.

Despite the worries of the English king, Malcolm made two more raids into England in 1079 and 1091 and once more he lost and had to submit to the English king.

By Mónica Loreto