King Malcolm

There have been four kings of Scotland called Malcolm.

Malcolm I

Son of Donald II (d. 900); became king of Scotland some time between 940 and 945, succeeding his cousin, Constantine II; killed 954, succeeded by Indulf (b. 927?, d. 962), his cousin - Constantine II's son.

Little is known in detail of Malcolm (Mael Coluim mac Domnaill, in Gaelic - 'Malcolm son of Donald'). His reign saw much fighting, both at home and abroad.

Malcolm II

Son of Kenneth II (d. 995); killed his cousin Kenneth III in battle and succeeded him 1005; died 1034, succeeded by Duncan I (d. 1040).

Malcolm II (Mael Coluim mac Cinaeda in Gaelic - 'Malcolm son of Kenneth') was a busy warrior, sometimes successful. He incorporated the northern part of Northumbria - the Lothians and border counties - at the Battle of Carham (1018) and the kingdom of Strathclyde (his ally at Carham) into Scotland. He reigned for nearly thirty years, and probably died peacefully, leaving a fairly secure country to an undisputed successor. (Duncan I is the king represented in Shakespeare's Macbeth as an elderly virtuous monarch; historically, he was probably in his 20s when he was killed by Macbeth in battle. See further Macbeth in history.)

Malcolm III

Son of Duncan I (d. 1040); killed Macbeth at Battle of Lumphanan 1057; married (1) Ingibjorg (d. c.1067), daughter of Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, c.1060 ; (2) Saint Margaret (d. 1093), daughter of Edward Ætheling (d. 1057) and great-niece of Edward the Confessor; killed at the first Battle of Alnwick 1093, succeeded by his brother Donald III (Donalbane, c.1040-1099?).

Malcolm III (from the thirteenth century known as Canmore) (Mael Coluim Ceann Mór in Gaelic, 'Malcolm with the Big Head', a nickname originally given to his great-grandson) was the eldest son of Duncan I, king 1034-1040, and the Malcolm of Shakespeare's Macbeth. He was a vigorous ruler, who raided England often - taking the 'Saxon' part against the new Norman dynasty. Under him, Scots policy was directed southwards to England, rather than, as previously, north and west to the Scandinavian kingdoms.

Malcolm IV

Born 1141, son of Henry, earl of Huntingdon (c.1115-1152), grandson and heir of David I, whom he succeeded, aged 12, in 1153; died 1165, unmarried; succeeded by his brother William I 'the Lion'.

Malcolm IV, nicknamed 'The Maiden' on the grounds of his chastity (he never married) and piety (he founded several religious establishments), was no weakling: he established firm rule in Scotland. But in his adolescence, he ceded the territories of Northumbria, Cumbria and Westmorland to Henry II of England in a negotiation. This did not endear him to his countrymen, although the English Earldom of Huntingdon, which had been lost by his grandfather to Stephen in 1141, was restored to his family. This Malcolm was nicknamed by his contemporaries 'Canmore' (Ceann Mór in Gaelic, 'Big Head'), a nickname later transferred to his great-grandfather Malcolm III, which has been taken as helping a diagnosis of Paget's disease (including enlargement of the skull), which may explain his fatal illness for the last two years before his death aged 24.