2. THE FIRST KING OF SCOTS2 DUNCAN (CRINAN1) was born 1001, and died 1040. He married QUEEN AELFAED OF NORTHUMBRIA.
Notes for THE FIRST KING OF SCOTS DUNCAN:
On the death in 1034 of Malcolm II. without male issue, he was succeeded, under the new law, by his grandson, Duncan I., son of his daughter the Princess Bethoc, or Beatrice, and her husband Crinan, Hereditary Abbot of Dunkeld and Dull, who, was already King of the Britons of Stratliclyde. Duncan was a young man and had the reputation of being a good king, and his reign lasted until 1040, when, after a defeat at the hands of tlie Norsen, slahi near Elgin by Maclietli, Mormaer of Moray.
Duncan I - King of Scots was "the gracious Duncan" of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Contrary to the Celtic practice whereby the ablest male of the royal house was held to have the best claim to succession and often asserted it by violence, Duncan succeeded his grandfather Malcolm II who died in 1034 without contest. But his reign became a struggle against rivals.
In 1039 - 1040, Duncan suffered heavy losses in an unsuccessful siege of Durham and was defeated twice by his cousin Thorfinn, Jarl of Orkney, under whom Norse power in Scotland reached its greatest extent. Thorfinn may have advanced a claim to the throne. Macbeth, Mormaer (subking) of Moray, certainly did. On August 14, 1040, Macbeth killed Duncan at Pitgaveny, near Elgin. Macbeth's deed can be regarded as a natural reaction to a tenure not based on established custom.
Child of THE DUNCAN and QUEEN NORTHUMBRIA is:
3.
i.
MALCOLM3 CANMORE , KING MALCOLM III, b. Abt. 1031; d. 1093.
