Editing Macbeth, King of Scotland

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{{Short description|Scottish king from 1040 to 1057}}
{{about|the historical Scottish king|for the play by William Shakespeare|Macbeth|for the main character of that play|Macbeth (character)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Macbeth
|image=File:Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (Oxford Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 489, folio 41v).jpg
|caption=The name ''Mac Beathad Mac Fhindlaích'' in the [[Annals of Ulster]]
| succession   = [[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Alba]]
| reign        = 14 August 1040 – 15 August 1057
| predecessor  = [[Duncan I]]
| successor    = [[Lulach]]
| death_date   = {{death date|1057|8|15|df=y}} (aged 51/52)
| death_place  = [[Battle of Lumphanan|Lumphanan]]
| spouse       = [[Gruoch]]
| father       = [[Findláech of Moray|Findláech]]
| mother       = Donada (presumed)
| succession1  = [[Mormaer of Moray]]
| reign1       = 1032–1057
| predecessor1 = [[Gille Coemgáin of Moray|Gille Coemgáin]]
| successor1   = [[Lulach]]
| place of burial = [[Iona]]
| house        = [[House of Moray|Moray]]
}}

'''Macbethad mac Findláech''' ([[Anglicisation|anglicised]] as '''Macbeth MacFinlay'''; died 15 August 1057), nicknamed the '''Red King''' ({{langx|mga|Rí Deircc}}),<ref>[[William Forbes Skene]], ''Chronicles'', p. 102.</ref> was [[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Scotland]] from 1040 until his death in 1057. He ruled during the period of Scottish history known as the [[Kingdom of Alba]].

Little is known about Macbeth's early life, although he was the son of [[Findláech of Moray]] and may have been a grandson of [[Malcolm II]], presumably through the latter's daughter Donada. 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]].

In 1040, [[Duncan I]] launched an attack into Moray and was [[killed in action]] by Macbeth's troops. Macbeth succeeded him as King of Alba, apparently with little opposition. His 17-year reign was mostly peaceful, although in 1054 he was faced with an English invasion, led by [[Siward, Earl of Northumbria]], on behalf of [[Edward the Confessor]]. Macbeth was killed at the [[Battle of Lumphanan]] in 1057 by forces loyal to the future [[Malcolm III]]. He was buried on [[Iona]], the traditional resting place of Scottish kings.

Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson [[Lulach]], but Lulach ruled for only a few months before also being killed in battle against Malcolm III, [[House of Dunkeld|whose descendants]] ruled Scotland until the late 13th century. 

A fictionalized version of Macbeth is best known as [[Macbeth (character)|the main character]] of [[William Shakespeare]]'s [[Macbeth|tragedy of the same name]] and the many works that it has inspired. Shakespeare's Macbeth is based on ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles]]'' (published in 1577) and is not historically accurate.

== Name ==
The name ''Mac Bethad'' (or, in modern Gaelic, ''MacBheatha''), from which the anglicized "MacBeth" is derived, means "son of life".<ref name= Aitchison>{{cite book |title=Macbeth: Man and Myth |last=Aitchison |first=Nicholas Boyter |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-7509-1891-6 |page=38|publisher=Sutton }}</ref> Although it has the appearance of a [[Patronymic#Irish, Scottish, and Manx|Gaelic patronymic]] it does not have any meaning of [[filiation]] but instead carries an implication of a righteous man<ref name= Aitchison/> or religious man.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Shakespeare Name and Place Dictionary |editor-last=Davis |editor-first=J. Madison  |year=1995 |isbn=978-1884964-17-6 |page=294 |publisher=[[Routledge]] }}</ref> An alternative proposed derivation is that it is a corruption of ''macc-bethad'' meaning "one of the elect".<ref name= Aitchison/>

Macbeth's full name in [[Middle Irish]] (medieval Gaelic) was ''{{lang|mga|Macbethad mac Findláech}}''. This is realised as ''{{lang|gd|MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh}}'' in modern [[Scottish Gaelic]], and is rendered ''Macbeth MacFinlay'' (also spelled ''Finley'', ''Findlay'', or ''Findley'') in modern English. ''Mac Findláech'' is a [[Patronymic#Irish, Scottish and Manx|Gaelic patronymic]] meaning "son of Findláech", referring to his father [[Findláech of Moray]].{{sfn|Ellis|1990|p=2}}

== Royal ancestry ==
Some sources make Macbeth a grandson of King [[Malcolm II]], presumably through his daughter Donada, and thus a cousin to [[Duncan I]], whom he succeeded. He was possibly also a cousin to [[Thorfinn the Mighty]], Earl of Orkney and Caithness.{{sfn|Ellis|1990|pp=24, 55}}

== 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>

== King of Alba ==
On Duncan's death, Macbeth became king. Had his reign not been universally accepted, resistance would have been expected, but none is known to have occurred. In 1045, Duncan's father [[Crínán of Dunkeld]] (a scion of the Scottish branch of the [[Cenél Conaill]] and Hereditary [[Abbot of Iona]]) was killed in a battle between two Scottish armies.<ref>''Annals of Tigernach'' 1045.10; ''Annals of Ulster'' 1045.6.</ref> Duncan's younger brother Maldred of Allerdale is believed to have died in the same battle, the family fighting Macbeth in defence of Duncan I's young son [[Malcolm III]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/ScotsPeerageVol3.pdf|title=The Scots Peerage|volume=3|page=|via=electricscotland.com}}</ref>

[[John of Fordun]] wrote that Duncan's wife fled Scotland, taking her children, including the future kings Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) and [[Donald III]] (Domnall Bán mac Donnchada, or Donalbane) with her. On the basis of the authors' beliefs as to whom Duncan married, various places of exile, [[Northumbria]] and [[Orkney]] among them, have been proposed. However, [[E. William Robertson]] proposes the safest place for Duncan's widow and her children would be with her or Duncan's kin and supporters in [[Atholl]].<ref>Robertson, ''Scotland under her Early Kings'', p. 122. Hudson, ''Prophecy of Berchán'', p. 224, refers to Earl Siward as Malcolm III's "patron"; Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots'', pp. 40–42 favours Orkney; Woolf offers no opinion. Northumbria is evidently a misapprehension, further than that cannot be said with certainty.</ref>

After the defeat of Crínán, Macbeth was evidently unchallenged. [[Marianus Scotus of Mainz|Marianus Scotus]] tells how the king made a [[pilgrimage]] to [[Rome]] in 1050, where, Marianus says, he gave money to the poor as if it were seed.{{sfn|Ellis|1990|p=74}}

=== Karl Hundason ===
The ''[[Orkneyinga saga|Orkneyinga Saga]]'' says that a dispute between [[Thorfinn the Mighty|Thorfinn Sigurdsson]], [[Earl of Orkney]], and [[Karl Hundason]] began when Karl Hundason became "King of Scots" and claimed [[Caithness]]. The identity of Karl Hundason, unknown to Scots and Irish sources, has long been a matter of dispute, and it is far from clear that the matter is settled. The most common assumption is that Karl Hundason was an insulting byname ([[Old Norse]] for "Churl, son of a Dog") given to Macbeth by his enemies.<ref>However Macbeth's father may be called "jarl Hundi" in ''[[Njál's saga]]''; Crawford, p. 72.</ref> [[William Forbes Skene]]'s suggestion that he was Duncan I of Scotland has been revived in recent years. Lastly, the idea that the whole affair is a poetic invention has been raised.<ref>Anderson, ''ESSH'', p. 576, note 7, refers to the account as "a fabulous story" and concludes that "[n]o solution to the riddle seems to be justified".</ref>

According to the ''Orkneyinga Saga'', in the war which followed, Thorfinn defeated Karl in a sea-battle off [[Deerness]] at the east end of the [[The Mainland, Orkney|Orkney Mainland]]. Then Karl's nephew Mutatan or Muddan, appointed to rule Caithness for him, was killed at [[Thurso]] by [[Thorkel Amundason|Thorkel the Fosterer]]. Finally, a great battle at [[Tarbat Ness]]<ref>{{citation | title= Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland and the Middle Ages | first= John Lenox | last= Roberts | publisher= Edinburgh University Press | year= 1997 | isbn= 978-0-7486-0910-9 | page= [https://archive.org/details/lostkingdomscelt0000robe/page/22 22] | url= https://archive.org/details/lostkingdomscelt0000robe/page/22 }}</ref> on the south side of the [[Dornoch Firth]] ended with Karl defeated and fugitive or dead. Thorfinn, the saga says, then marched south through Scotland as far as [[Fife]], burning and plundering as he passed. A later note in the saga claims that Thorfinn won nine Scottish earldoms.<ref>''Orkneyinga Saga'', cc. 20 & 32.</ref>

Whoever Karl Hundason may have been, it appears that the saga is reporting a local conflict with a Scots ruler of Moray or [[Ross, Scotland|Ross]]:
{{blockquote|[T]he whole narrative is consistent with the idea that the struggle of Thorfinn and Karl is a continuation of that which had been waged since the ninth century by the Orkney earls, notably [[Sigurd Rognvald]]'s son, [[Ljot]], and [[Sigurd the Stout]], against the princes or ''mormaers'' of Moray, Sutherland, Ross, and Argyll, and that, in fine, Malcolm and Karl were ''mormaers'' of one of these four provinces.<ref>Taylor, p. 338; Crawford, pp. 71–74.</ref>}}

=== Final years ===
In 1052, Macbeth was involved indirectly in the strife in the [[Kingdom of England]] between [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex]] and [[Edward the Confessor]] when he received a number of [[Normans|Norman]] exiles from England in his court. In 1054, Edward's [[Earl of Northumbria]], [[Sigurd the Dane|Siward]], led a very large invasion of Scotland (Suthed, Duncan's widow and Malcolm's mother, was Northumbrian-born; it is probable but not proven that there was a family tie between Siward and Malcolm). The campaign led to a bloody [[Battle of Dunsinane|battle at Dunsinane]],<ref name="Dauvit2015Malcolm">{{cite book |last1=Broun |first1=Dauvit |editor1-last=Cannon |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Crowcroft |editor2-first=Robert |title=The Oxford Companion to British History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=2nd |url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/oupoxford/malcolm_iii/0 |access-date=6 August 2020 |chapter=Malcolm III}}</ref> in which the ''[[Annals of Ulster]]'' reported 3,000 Scots and 1,500 English dead, which can be taken as meaning very many on both sides. One of Siward's sons and a son-in-law were among the dead. The result of the invasion was that one Máel Coluim, "son of the king of the [[Cumbria]]ns" (not to be confused with Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, the future Malcolm III of Scotland) was restored to his throne, i.e., as ruler of the [[kingdom of Strathclyde]].<ref>[[Florence of Worcester]], 1052; ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Ms. D, 1054; ''Annals of Ulster'' 1054.6; and discussed by Duncan, ''The Kingship of the Scots'', pp. 38–41; see also Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 260–263.</ref> It may be that the events of 1054 are responsible for the idea, which appears in Shakespeare's play, that Malcolm III was put in power by the English.

Macbeth did not survive the English invasion for long, for he was defeated and mortally wounded or killed by the future Malcolm III ("King Malcolm ''Ceann-mor''", son of Duncan I)<ref>Moncreiffe, Iain (Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk). ''The Robertsons (Clan Donnachaidh of Atholl)''.  W. & A. K. Johnston & G. W. Bacon Ltd., Edinburgh. 1962 (reprint of 1954), p. 6</ref> on the north side of the [[Mounth]] in 1057, after retreating with his men over the [[Cairnamounth]] Pass to take his last stand at the battle at [[Lumphanan]].<ref>Andrew Wyntoun, ''Original Chronicle'', ed. F.J. Amours, vol. 4, pp 298–299 and 300–301 (c. 1420)</ref> ''[[The Prophecy of Berchán]]'' has it that he was wounded and died at [[Scone, Perth and Kinross|Scone]], sixty miles to the south, some days later.<ref>The exact dates are uncertain, Woolf gives 15 August, Hudson 14 August and Duncan, following John of Fordun, gives 5 December; ''Annals of Tigernach'' 1058.5; ''Annals of Ulster'' 1058.6.</ref> Macbeth's stepson [[Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin|Lulach]] was installed as king soon after,{{sfn|Ellis|1990|pp=97–98}} but was killed in 1058 by Malcolm who succeeded him.

Unlike later writers, no near-contemporary source remarks on Macbeth as a tyrant. The ''[[Duan Albanach]],'' which survives in a form dating to the reign of Malcolm III, calls him "Mac Bethad the renowned". ''The Prophecy of Berchán'', a verse history which purports to be a prophecy, describes him as "the generous king of [[Fortriu]]", and says:
{{blockquote|The red, tall, golden-haired one, he will be pleasant to me among them; Scotland will be brimful west and east during the reign of the furious red one.<ref>Hudson, ''[[Prophecy of Berchán]]'', p. 91, stanzas 193 and 194.</ref>}}

== Life to legend ==
{{main|Macbeth|Macbeth (character)}}
[[File:Macbeth and Banquo encountering the witches - Holinshed Chronicles.gif|thumb|upright 1.4|Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches. Illustration from ''[[Holinshed's Chronicles]]'' (1577).]]

Macbeth's life, like that of King Duncan I, had progressed far towards legend by the end of the 14th century, when John of Fordun and [[Andrew of Wyntoun]] wrote their histories. [[Hector Boece]], [[Walter Bower]], and [[George Buchanan (humanist)|George Buchanan]] all contributed to the legend.

=== William Shakespeare's depiction and its influence ===
[[File:Fuseli - Macbeth and the Witches.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|''Macbeth and the witches'', painting by [[Henry Fuseli]]]]
In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s [[Macbeth|play]], which is based mainly upon [[Raphael Holinshed]]'s account and probably first performed in 1606, [[Macbeth (character)|Macbeth]] is initially a valiant and loyal general to the elderly King Duncan. After being manipulated by [[Three Witches]] and his wife, [[Lady Macbeth]], Macbeth murders Duncan and usurps the throne. Ultimately, the prophecies of the witches prove misleading, and Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant. Duncan's son Malcolm stages a revolt against Macbeth, during which a guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth commits suicide. During battle, Macbeth encounters [[Macduff (Macbeth)|Macduff]], a refugee nobleman whose wife and children had earlier been murdered on Macbeth's orders. Upon realising that he will die if he duels with Macduff, Macbeth at first refuses to do so. But when Macduff explains that if Macbeth surrenders he will be subjected to ridicule by his former subjects, Macbeth vows, "I will not yield to kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, to be baited by a rabble's curse." He chooses instead to fight Macduff to the death. Macduff kills and beheads Macbeth, and the play ends with Prince Malcolm becoming king.

The likely reason<ref>{{cite web|title=The History of Scotland by John Leslie, 1578|url=http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-history-of-scotland-by-john-leslie-1578|website=British Library|access-date=8 August 2016|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510135424/http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-history-of-scotland-by-john-leslie-1578|url-status=dead}}</ref> for Shakespeare's unflattering depiction of Macbeth is that [[King James VI and I]] was descended from Malcolm III via the [[Clan Bruce|House of Bruce]] and his own [[House of Stewart]], whereas Macbeth's line died out with the death of Lulach six months after his step-father. King James was also thought to be a descendant of [[Banquo]] through [[Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland]]. Historian [[Peter Berresford Ellis]] suggested that Shakespeare's inaccurate portrayal of MacBeth was unintentional, as he only had access to sources written from the point of view of the English and 'Anglicized Scotsmen', detached culturally and linguistically from 11th-century Scotland. Ellis thus proposed that "the degeneration of MacBeth of Scotland into a murdering usurper" preceded Shakespeare by "some 350 years after [MacBeth's] death at Lumphanan".{{sfn|Ellis|1990|p=115}}

[[File:Do you see that white sail far out to sea Yonder is Macduff.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Macbeth at the fort of Macduff, by [[J. R. Skelton]]]]
In a 1959 essay, [[Boris Pasternak]] compared Shakespeare's characterisation of Macbeth to [[Raskolnikov]], the [[protagonist]] of ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' by [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]. Pasternak explained that neither character begins as a murderer, but becomes one by a set of faulty rationalisations and a belief that he is above the law.<ref>{{cite book |title=I Remember: Sketch for an Autobiography |url=https://archive.org/details/iremembersketchf00past |url-access=registration |last=Pasternak |first=Boris |author-link=Boris Pasternak |translator1-last=Magarshack |translator1-first=David |translator2-last=Harari |translator2-first=Manya |publisher=[[Pantheon Books]] |location=New York |year=1959 |pages=150–152 |ol=6271434M}}</ref>

Lady Macbeth has also become famous in her own right. In his 1865 novel ''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (novel)|Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District]]'', [[Nikolai Leskov]] updated ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' so that it takes place among the [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]]n [[merchant class]]. In a twist on the source, however, Leskov reverses the gender roles: the woman is the murderer and the man is the instigator. Leskov's novel was the basis for [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]'s 1936 [[Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (opera)|opera of the same name]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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* {{citation |last=Taylor |first=A. B. |title=Karl Hundason, 'King of Scots' |journal=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |volume=LXXI |year=1937 |pages=334–340 |doi=10.9750/PSAS.071.334.342 |s2cid=257294925 |url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_071/71_334_342.pdf }}
* {{citation |url=http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/staff/alexwoolf/CultofMoluag.pdf |last=Woolf |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Woolf |contribution=The Cult of Moluag, the See of Mortlach and Church Organisation in Northern Scotland in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries |editor-last=Arbuthnot |editor-first=Sharon J. |editor2-last=Hollo |editor2-first=Kaarina |title=Fil suil nglais – A Grey Eye Looks Back: A Festschrift for Colm O'Baoill |publisher=Clann Tuirc |year=2007 |pages=317–322 |location=Brig o' Turk |isbn=978-0-9549733-7-7}}
* {{citation |last=Woolf |first=Alex |title=The 'Moray Question' and the Kingship of Alba in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries |journal=The Scottish Historical Review |volume=LXXIX |issue=2 |year=2000 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |issn=1750-0222 |pages=145–164|doi=10.3366/shr.2000.79.2.145 |s2cid=162334631 |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:30748/CONTENT/woolf-2000-the-moray-question.pdf/ }}
* {{citation |last=Woolf |first=Alex |title=From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070 |year=2007 |series=The New Edinburgh History of Scotland |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-7486-1234-5}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Macbeth}}
* Tranter, Nigel ''[[Historical novels by Nigel Tranter set before 1286#MacBeth the King|MacBeth the King]]'' Hodder & Stoughton, 1978.
* Dunnett, Dorothy ''King Hereafter'' Knopf, 1982, {{ISBN|0-394-52378-4}}.
* [https://archive.org/details/controversialis00greggoog Gregg, William H. ''Controversial issues in Scottish history'' Putnam, 1910.]
* Marsden, John ''Alba of the Ravens: In Search of the Celtic Kingdom of the Scots'' Constable, 1997, {{ISBN|0-09-475760-7}}.
* Walker, Ian ''Lords of Alba'' Sutton Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|0-7509-3492-1}}.

== External links ==
* [https://www.royal.uk/macbeth-r-1040-1057 Macbeth] at the official website of the [[British monarchy]]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/macbeth.shtml Macbeth] at BBC History

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{{s-ttl|title=[[King of Alba]]|years=1040–1057}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Gille Coemgáin of Moray|Gille Coemgáin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Mormaer of Moray]]|years=1032–1057}}
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{{Pictish and Scottish Monarchs}}
{{English, Scottish and British monarchs}}
{{Macbeth}}
{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1000s births]]
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[[Category:1057 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Moray]]
[[Category:Macbeth]]
[[Category:11th-century Scottish monarchs]]
[[Category:Monarchs killed in action]]
[[Category:Scottish pre-union military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:Burials at Iona Abbey]]
[[Category:Mormaers of Moray]]
[[Category:Gaelic monarchs in Scotland]]
[[Category:11th-century mormaers]]