Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy by Panton Kenneth J

Author:Panton, Kenneth J. [Panton, Kenneth J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Reference
Goodreads: 10093037
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2011-02-24T08:00:00+00:00

M

MACALPIN, KENNETH (?–c858). Traditionally, Kenneth MacAlpin (also known as Kenneth I) is regarded as the king of Dalriada who defeated his Pictish neighbors in 843 and united the two territories into a single realm that covered Britain north of the River Clyde and the River Forth. Many modern scholars dispute this tale, however, suggesting that Kenneth was never the ruler of Dalriada, that he became chief of the Picts through inheritance rather than battle, and that fusion of the two societies occurred over a period of decades rather than in a single year so that his status as the first king of Scots is more legend than fact.

Little is known of Kenneth, although he may have made raids into the lands south of the Forth and undoubtedly was faced with encroachments by Scandinavian invaders. There is little dispute, though, that he founded a dynasty, now termed the House of Alpin, that provided leaders of the emerging Scottish kingdom until the mid-11th century. Two of his sons—Áed and Constantine I—were also to become kings. One daughter (whose name is unknown) married Run, king of Strathclyde, and a second (Máel Muire) was twice married into leading Irish families, initially to Aed Finliath and then to Flann Sinna. After his death, possibly at Forteviot on 8 February 858, and burial (on the island of Iona, according to some sources), Kenneth was succeeded by his brother, who ruled as Donald I.

MACBETH (c1005–1057). Macbeth, king of Scots from 1040 to 1057, has had bad press ever since William Shakespeare wrote his eponymous play in the early years of the 17th century. However, far from being an evil murderer, he rid his country of an ineffective military commander, was regarded by contemporary sources as a legitimate monarch, supported religious communities, and introduced laws that give daughters the same inheritance rights as sons.

The son of Findláech of Moray and, possibly, a daughter of Kenneth II, Kenneth III, or Malcolm II, Macbeth succeeded his cousin, Gille Coemgáin, as mormaer (or earl) of Moray in 1032 and confronted King Duncan I when that monarch attempted a foray into his territory in 1040. Shakespeare portrays Duncan as an elderly man assassinated while he lay asleep in Macbeth’s castle, but in fact he was a youthful and incompetent military leader who died on the battlefield at the hands of his opponent’s supporters.

Macbeth’s accession to the throne after Duncan’s death was widely welcomed and was followed by a lengthy period of peace, broken only by a rebellion in 1045, when Crinan (Duncan’s father) led an uprising designed to install his grandson (later Malcolm III) on the throne. There was also, apparently, considerable prosperity, because in 1050, during a pilgrimage to Rome, the king “scattered alms like seed corn,” according to one chronicler. However, on 15 August 1057, Malcolm, with English support, avenged his father’s death, mortally wounding Macbeth in a conflict at Lumphanan, some 25 miles west of Aberdeen. Macbeth, according to one source, was buried on the island of Iona, and

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.