It cannot be denied that the 11th century Scottish King
Macbeth has had a bad press, not least from William Shakespeare, but how much
of his bad reputation is deserved?
He was the son of Findlaech mac Ruaidri, the king of Moray,
who was killed in 1020 by his nephews (Macbeth’s cousins) Gille Comgain and
Mael Coluim. Macbeth took his revenge in 1032 by killing Gille Comgain, seizing
the throne, and marrying Gille’s widow Gruoch.
According to Shakespeare, Macbeth seized the throne of
Scotland after murdering King Duncan. This is true in part, although Duncan’s
death was in battle rather than as a result of treachery. Duncan had led a
campaign against Moray and lost his life at the Battle of Pitgaveny in August
1040.
Macbeth’s reign was somewhat longer than is implied by
Shakespeare’s play. He had to fight to defend his throne, for example against
Duncan’s father Crinan, whom he killed in battle in 1045. However, things were
sufficiently settled to allow him to make a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050 – he was
the only reigning King of Scotland ever to do this.
A greater threat to Macbeth’s throne came from Duncan’s son
Malcolm, who was backed by a strong army from Northumbria. Battle was joined at
Dunsinane (in what is now Perthshire) in July 1054, at which Malcolm gained the
upper hand and was able to force Macbeth to surrender a considerable tract of
land. A second battle was fought in August 1057 at Lumphanan (Aberdeenshire) at
which Macbeth was killed.
He was succeeded by his stepson Lulach, whose father Gille
Comgain had been killed by Macbeth. Despite Malcolm’s victory at Lumphanan, it
appears that it was not decisive enough to allow him to seize the throne at
this stage.
There is no indication in the historical record that
Macbeth’s behaviour as king justifies the impression given in Shakespeare’s
play. Medieval warlords had to be strong to survive, and their actions were
unlikely to be particularly “liberal”. That said, any description of Macbeth as
a bloodthirsty tyrant seems to be far from the mark.
In Shakespeare’s defence, he used sources that were not
entirely trustworthy and which relied on material dating from the early 14th
century. Even modern historians, with better access to contemporary sources,
cannot be certain that they have all the facts about Macbeth correct. The above
summary is probably about as good as it gets in terms of accuracy!
© John Welford
Dorothy Dunnett wrote King Hereafter about this.
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