On St Brice’s Day (13 November) 1093, the reigning Scottish king was killed in a skirmish. So ended the 35-year reign of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, likely more familiar to most readers as either Malcolm III or Malcolm Canmore. He was probably in his late fifties or sixties at the time. Scottish and Irish sources refer to the location of the deadly encounter as Inber Alda[n], ‘Inveraln’, i.e. Alnmouth, in what would later become the English county of Northumberland.
In the later Middle Ages he was remembered as the ‘father’ of Scotland’s feudal order. By the 18th century, Malcolm had become an ‘enlightened’ highland chief seeking to ‘improve’ his country by emulating England and marginalising his Gaelic subjects. Thus his reign came to be seen as marking the transition between the ‘Celtic’ era of the monarchy and the more ‘Anglicised’, more familiar period. He became the link between ancient Celtic Scotland and the highlands with the British state. Queen Victoria herself commissioned a statue to stand in the entrance hall of Balmoral (see image on page 12).
Myth has provided the main way of understanding Malcolm’s reign, leaving it poorly understood by modern historians. He also tends to be overshadowed by two contemporaries, St Margaret and Macbeth, among Scottish history’s most famous personalities. The renown of Macbeth and Margaret has made it difficult for Malcolm to sustain much of an independent popular legacy. Malcolm when he is known is the husband of Margaret or the avenger who dispatches the villain at the end of a play.
Yet, as I shall try to explain below, the developments of Malcolm’s reign have a strong claim to be among the most consequential of any Scottish monarch, and do need to be understood in their own right.
Malcolm’s origins
Malcolm’s political success meant that his dynasty would rule Scotland from his own lifetime until the 1280s. But his dynastic credentials were relatively weak in his own day, something that needs to be understood if his accomplishments are to be evaluated properly. Up until 1034, Scottish kings were chosen from another dynasty, referred to by contemporaries as Clann Cinaeda mac Ailpín, the ‘children of Kenneth Mac Alpin’; the ‘MacAlpins’ or ‘Alpinids’. The Alpinids had ruled Alba, Scotland, almost continuously since the mid 9th century.
After the death of the last Alpinid king, Malcolm II, a certain Donnchad son of Crínán – Duncan I – took power. This was the father of Malcolm III. Donnchad’s reign was to be brief, ended by his kinsman
