Editing Malcolm III of Scotland (section)

== Background ==
{{Main|Scotland in the High Middle Ages}}
Malcolm's father [[Duncan I of Scotland|Duncan I]] became king in late 1034, on the death of [[Malcolm II of Scotland|Malcolm II]], Duncan's maternal grandfather and Malcolm's great-grandfather. One Scottish king-list gives Malcolm's mother the name Suthen (Suthain), a Gaelic name;<ref>McGuigan, ''Máel Coluim III'', p. 99; Duncan, p. 37; M.O. Anderson, p. 284.</ref> [[John of Fordun]] states that Malcolm's mother was a "blood relative" (''consanguinea'') of the Danish earl [[Siward, Earl of Northumbria|Siward]],<ref name="McGuigan, p. 99">McGuigan, ''Máel Coluim III'', p. 99.</ref><ref>Young also gives her as a niece of Siward. Young, p. 30.</ref> though this may be a late attempt to deepen the Scottish royal family's links to the earldom of Northampton (of which Siward was regarded as founder).<ref name="McGuigan, p. 99"/> Later tradition, attested by the fifteenth century, makes Malcolm's mother the daughter of the miller of [[Forteviot]] and presents Malcolm as a bastard.<ref>McGuigan, ''Máel Coluim III'', p. 101; Purdie, 'Malcolm, Margaret, Macbeth and the Miller', pp. 45–63.</ref>

Duncan's reign ended violently, he was killed in battle in Moray on 15 August 1040, by a force under the command of [[Macbeth of Scotland|Macbeth]]. Duncan may have been young at the time of his death,<ref>The notice of Duncan's death in the ''[[Annals of Tigernach]]'', s.a. 1040, says he was "slain ... at an immature age"; Duncan, p. 33.</ref> and Malcolm and his brother [[Donald III of Scotland|Donald]] were probably children.<ref>Duncan, p. 33; Oram, ''David I'', p. 18. There may have been a third brother if [[Máel Muire of Atholl]] was a son of Duncan. Oram, ''David I'', p. 97 note 26, rejects this identification.</ref> Malcolm's paternal grandfather was killed in battle in 1045, possibly as part of some continuing conflict with Macbeth.<ref>Duncan, p. 41; ''[[Annals of Ulster]]'', s.a. 1045; ''Annals of Tigernach'', s.a. 1045.</ref>

According to later tradition, Duncan's two young sons were sent away for greater safety — exactly where is the subject of debate. According to one version, Malcolm's brother Donald was sent to the Isles;<ref>Ritchie, p. 3</ref><ref>Young, p. 30</ref> and Malcolm was sent to England; based on Fordun's account, it came to be assumed that Malcolm passed most of Macbeth's seventeen-year reign in the [[Kingdom of England]] at the court of [[Edward the Confessor]].<ref>Barrell, p. 13; Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity'', p. 25.</ref><ref>Ritchie, p. 3, states that it was fourteen years of exile, partly spent at Edward's Court.</ref> It is also possible that Malcolm went into exile at the court of [[Thorfinn Sigurdsson]], [[Earl of Orkney]], an enemy of Macbeth's family.<ref>Duncan, p. 42; Oram, ''David I'', pp. 18–20. Malcolm had ties to Orkney in later life. Earl Thorfinn may have been a grandson of Malcolm II and thus Malcolm's cousin.</ref> Ireland and Strathclyde may be other candidates, but neither the place of exile nor in fact exile itself, are certainties.<ref>McGuigan, ''Máel Coluim III'', pp. 123–132</ref>

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 was traditionally identified with the later Malcolm III.<ref>See, for instance, Ritchie, ''Normans'', p. 5; or Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 570; Ritchie, p. 5, states that Duncan placed his son, the future Malcolm III of Scotland, in possession of Cumbria as its Prince, and states that Siward invaded Scotland in 1054 to restore him to the Scottish throne. [[Hector Boece]] also says this (vol. XII p. 249), as does Young, p. 30.</ref> The interpretation derives from the ''Chronicle'' attributed to  John of Fordun, as well as from earlier sources such as [[William of Malmesbury]].<ref>Broun, "Identity of the Kingdom", pp. 133–134; Duncan, ''Kingship'', p. 40</ref> The latter reported that Macbeth was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Macbeth outlived Siward by two years.<ref>Oram, ''David I'', p. 29</ref> [[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.<ref>Duncan, ''Kingship'', pp. 37–41</ref> Duncan's argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as [[Richard Oram]], [[Dauvit Broun]] and Alex Woolf.<ref>Broun, "Identity of the Kingdom", p. 134; Oram, ''David I'', pp. 18–20; Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', p. 262</ref> It has also been suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of [[Owain Foel]], British king of [[kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]]<ref>Duncan, ''Kingship of the Scots'', p. 41</ref> perhaps by a daughter of [[Malcolm II]], King of Scotland.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', p. 262</ref>

In 1057, various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolm's hand, on 15 August 1057 at [[Lumphanan]] in [[Aberdeenshire (historic)|Aberdeenshire]].<ref>Ritchie, p. 7</ref><ref>Anderson, ''ESSH'', pp. 600–602; [[The Prophecy of Berchán]] has Macbeth wounded in battle and places his death at [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]].</ref> Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson [[Lulach]], who was crowned at [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]], probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, "by treachery",<ref>According to the Annals of Tigernach; the Annals of Ulster say Lulach was killed in battle against Malcolm; see Anderson, ''ESSH'', pp. 603–604.</ref> near [[Huntly]] on 23 April 1058. After this, Malcolm became king, perhaps inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only John of Fordun reports this.<ref>Duncan, pp. 50–51 discusses the dating of these events.</ref>