Editing Macbeth, King of Scotland (section)

== Mormaer and ''dux'' ==
When [[Cnut the Great]] came north in 1031 to accept the submission of King Malcolm II, Macbeth too submitted to him:
{{blockquote|... Malcolm, king of the Scots, submitted to him, and became his man, with two other kings, Macbeth and Iehmarc ...<ref>''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,'' Ms. E, 1031.</ref>}} Some have seen this as a sign of Macbeth's power; others have seen his presence, together with Iehmarc, who may be [[Echmarcach mac Ragnaill]], as proof that Malcolm II was overlord of Moray and of [[Lord of the Isles|the Kingdom of the Isles]].<ref>Compare Duncan, ''Kingship of the Scots'', pp. 29–30 with Hudson, ''Prophecy of Berchán'', pp. 222–223.</ref> Whatever the true state of affairs in the early 1030s, it seems more probable that Macbeth was subject to the king of Alba, Malcolm II, who died at [[Glamis]], on 25 November 1034. ''[[The Prophecy of Berchán]]'', apparently alone in near-contemporary sources, says that Malcolm died a violent death: calling it a "kinslaying" without actually naming his killers.<ref>Hudson, ''Prophecy of Berchán'', p. 223; Duncan, ''Kingship of the Scots'', p. 33.</ref> Tigernach's chronicle says only:
{{blockquote|Máel Coluim son of Cináed, king of Alba, the honour of western Europe, died.<ref>''Annals of Tigernach'' 1034.1</ref>}}

He became  [[Mormaer of Moray|Mormaer (Earl) of Moray]] – a semi-autonomous [[Provinces of Scotland|province]] – in 1032, and was probably responsible for the death of the previous mormaer, [[Gille Coemgáin of Moray|Gille Coemgáin]]. He subsequently married Gille Coemgáin's widow, [[Gruoch]], but they had no children together. Macbeth later accepted her son from Gille Coemgáin, [[Lulach]], as his heir. Gruoch may have had a claim to the Scottish throne herself, since she was a granddaughter of either [[Kenneth II of Scotland|Kenneth II]] or [[Kenneth III of Scotland|Kenneth III]].

Malcolm II's grandson Duncan (Donnchad mac Crínáin), later King Duncan I, was acclaimed as king of Alba on 30 November 1034, apparently without opposition. Duncan appears to have been ''tánaise ríg'', the king in waiting, so that, far from being an abandonment of [[tanistry]], as has sometimes been argued, his kingship was a vindication of the practice. Previous successions had involved strife between various ''rígdomna'' {{spaced ndash}} men of royal blood.<ref>Duncan I as ''tánaise ríg'', the chosen heir, see Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots'', pp.  33–35; Hudson, ''[[The Prophecy of Berchán|Prophecy of Berchán]]'', pp. 223–224, where it is accepted that Duncan was king of [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]]. For tanistry, etc., in Ireland, see Ó Cróinín, ''Early Medieval Ireland'', 63–71. Byrne, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings'', pp. 35–39, offers a different perspective.</ref> Far from being the aged King Duncan of Shakespeare's play, the real King Duncan was a young man in 1034, and even at his death in 1040 his youthfulness is remarked upon.<ref>Annals of Tigernach 1040.1.</ref>

Duncan's early reign was apparently uneventful. His later reign, in line with his description as "the man of many sorrows" in the ''Prophecy of Berchán'', was not successful. In 1039, Strathclyde was attacked by the [[Northumbria]]ns, and a retaliatory raid led by Duncan against [[Durham, England|Durham]] turned into a disaster. Duncan survived the defeat, but the following year he led an army north into [[Province of Moray|Moray]], Macbeth's domain, apparently on a punitive expedition against Moray.<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, ''Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306'', Edinburgh University Press, 1981, p. 26.</ref> There he was [[killed in action]], at the [[battle of Pitgaveny|battle of Bothnagowan]], now Pitgaveny, near [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]], by the men of Moray led by Macbeth, probably on 14 August 1040.<ref>Broun, "Duncan I (d. 1040)"; the date is from [[Marianus Scotus]] and the killing is recorded by the [[Annals of Tigernach]].</ref><ref>Hudson, ''Prophecy of Berchán'', pp. 223–224; Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots'', pp. 33–34.</ref>