In 975 there occurred a couple of important deaths that would be significant for Scotland. The great King Edgar died and was succeeded by his young son Edward. The faction supporting Edward subsequently had Ealdorman Oslac of York exiled from England in the same year. He was replaced with the Thored, son of Gunnar, who had raided Westmorland in 966. It is unclear what lies behind this and it may simply have arisen from internal factional disputes. It is entirely possible that Oslac was considered weak and that Thored was viewed in contrast as a man of action. There is perhaps a remote possibility that it was linked to the earlier capture of the Saxon prince by Kenneth. If this was indeed a son of Ealdorman Eadwulf of Northumbria, then perhaps the latter blamed Oslac for not helping to secure his release. He may therefore have lobbied the new King and his supporters to secure Oslac’s exile.
In 975 the Annals of Ulster and the Welsh annals both report the death of Donald, son of Owain, King of the Strathclyde Britons, during a pilgrimage to Rome. It is possible that Donald had relinquished his throne before 973, when, as we have seen, Malcolm appears as the ‘king of Strathclyde’ alongside Kenneth at Chester. He may have resigned his kingship in order to go on pilgrimage. He may have been forced to resign it as a penalty for his failure to control or to punish his son Rhydderch in 971. In either case, he surrendered his kingdom to his son Malcolm, who may have succeeded him in 972. The Annals of Tigernach, which are another group of contemporary Irish annals, attribute a twenty-five-year reign to Malcolm when they report his death in 997, which would place his accession in 972. It is therefore probable that Donald actually set out for Rome in 972 or 973. If so, he may have died on his return journey in 975.
In 976 the Annals of Tigernach record the names of three Scottish mormaers. Unfortunately, nothing else is known about these men, who are Cellach, son of Findguine, Cellach, son of Bard and Duncan, son of Morgand. The annalist himself provides no further details whatsoever, not even mentioning that they died. It is possible that the rest of this entry was lost in the process of copying. It might be expected to go on to relate that the three men died, were killed in a battle or traveled somewhere – but there is nothing at all. The demise of three mormaers in a single year, if this is what this signifies, is unusual and, perhaps, suggests something other than natural causes. It might perhaps then be connected to the internal dispute over the kingship in the following year. The three are not mentioned in any other Irish sources and the ending of the Scottish Chronicle at around this time effectively removes the only possibility of learning more about these mysterious men.
In 977 the Annals of Ulster record that Olaf, son of Idulf or Amblaih mac Idulb, who was presumably a younger brother of Culen, was killed by Kenneth II. He is described by the annalist as ‘King of Alba’. It can only be presumed that Olaf, who may have been impatient for power, had raised a claim to the throne in opposition to Kenneth. The fact that the annalist awards him the royal style may perhaps suggest that he had even had himself enthroned, although the title only appears in a later marginal note. He had presumably been unwilling to wait for Kenneth to meet a natural death and perhaps attempted to overthrow him. It was perhaps a revival of the rivalry of the 960s between Dub and Culen. Unfortunately for him, it was Olaf who was killed in the resultant clash between them.
In 980, the Annals of Ulster record the Battle of Tara between the Irish under Mael Sechnaill, son of Domnall and the Vikings of Dublin and the Isles under Olaf Cuaran. The latter was the same Olaf who had attempted in vain to seize control of York in the 940s. The result of this encounter was a major defeat for the Vikings during which Olaf’s son, Ragnall was killed and Olaf and his followers were expelled from Dublin. They are said to have fled to the Isles, presumably Man and the Western Isles of Scotland. It was not long after this that Olaf retired or, perhaps, was forcibly retired from the kingship. He was now in his sixties and spent his remaining years in the apparently reconstituted monastery of Iona. He had originally been baptised in 943 under the sponsorship of King Edmund of England and finally died a Christian in 981 and was buried in Iona. As in 902, the sudden influx of Vikings expelled from Dublin appears to have brought disruption to northern Britain. It would be surprising if it had not upset the local balance of power and there are certainly signs of disturbance in other entries from the Annals of Ulster. In 980, however, the disruption was limited to the western coasts and islands and hardly affected the kingdom of Alba itself.
In 986, a force of ‘Danes’ under a man called Guthfrith, son of Harold, who was probably a brother of the Magnus present at Chester in 973 and is later named ‘King of the Isles’, plundered Iona. The raiders killed the Abbot and fifteen elders of the monastery, which makes it clear that a monastic community had been revived there. In this case, Guthfrith may just have been indulging in normal raiding activity. On the other hand, this attack on Iona, which was presumably within his own sphere of authority, seems rather more purposeful. He may have attacked Iona in retaliation for its providing refuge to Olaf and his Irish Vikings. The focus of the subsequent activities of this force of Danes suggests internal strife between two Viking factions: those from Dublin who had been worsted at Tara, and those from the Isles. In 987 Guthfrith and his followers won a victory against some other Vikings in Man, perhaps those who had fled from Dublin, before being slaughtered themselves in a counterattack and suffering 360 casualties. In 989 a severely weakened Guthfrith returned to his home in the Isles where he was killed during a raid on Dalriada. This defeat was presumably inflicted by local Scottish forces who may or may not have acknowledged the authority of Kenneth II of Alba. This internal dispute reduced the potential threat presented to Alba by both of these Viking groups.
In 995, the Annals of Ulster record that ‘Kenneth, son of Malcolm, was treacherously killed by his own people’. He had ruled the kingdom fairly successfully for nearly twenty-four years. The later king-lists name his assailant as Finella, the daughter of an earl, presumably a mormaer, Cunthar of Angus and place his death at Fettercairn. He is portrayed as the victim of a personal attack launched in revenge for his killing of Finella’s only son. The assassination may, however, have been prompted by supporters of his rival and successor. Cunthar, Mormaer of Angus was perhaps not the first leader of that province to be implicated in the killing of a king from the lineage of Donald II. In 954 Maelbrigte of Angus may have led the men of the Mearns in killing Kenneth’s own father King Malcolm I, perhaps in support of the lineage of Constantine II.
If Constantine III, son of Culen or Castantin mac Culen did indeed benefit from this murder he would not live to enjoy his prize for long. The treacherous killing of Kenneth II appears to have revived the struggle for the throne between the descendants of Dub and Culen which had been such a feature of the 960s and which had been revived briefly in 977. It once again inaugurated a period of intense competition for the kingship between these rival lines. In 997 the Welsh annals report that Malcolm, son of Donald, King of the northern Britons of Strathclyde died after a reign of twenty-five years. He was presumably succeeded by his brother Owain, although this is not mentioned in the sources. In the same year the Annals of Tigernach record a battle between the two Scottish factions. In this fighting, the recently installed King Constantine III, son of Culen was killed with many others at Inveralmond by Kenneth, son of Dub or Cinaed mac Dub, who subsequently assumed the throne as Kenneth III.
In 999, the Irish ‘Annals of the Four Masters, although a very late compilation, appear to offer some evidence of a new feud over the kingship. They report that Dungal, son of Kenneth was killed by Gillacomgain, son of Kenneth. This encounter involved a struggle between cousins from different branches of the descendants of King Donald II, who appear to have quarrelled over the succession to the kingship so recently seized from the lineage of Constantine II. Unfortunately, the existence of two different Kenneths, one from each of the rival lines, and the lack of any other reference to these two characters, makes it impossible to be sure which party benefited fro
m this victory. It does indicate, at least, that the propensity for feud was becoming ever more prevalent with each faction attempting to gain the advantage and eliminate its rivals. Indeed, the greater frequency of violent clashes between these groups is graphically indicated by the annal entries. The frequency of such events in 995, 997, 999 and 1005 suggests an intensification of the rivalry over the kingship.
It seems that the increasing distance in terms of relationships between the rival lines produced a parallel increase in the likelihood of violence between them. In the early period, when the claimants were brothers or close cousins, the amount of violence was perhaps tempered or restrained by the relative closeness of the relationship between them. In subsequent years, as the relationships between the rival lines became more distant, there was less of a family connection to restrain the potential for violence. The distant cousins of the 990s such as Constantine III and Kenneth III had to go back three or more generations to establish a close family connection. It was increasingly like having two or three rival dynasties with no family link between them at all. The increasing estrangement of the various branches fuelled their rivalry and made the competition for the prize of the kingship increasingly violent.
In 1000, according to The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Aethelred of England ‘went into Cumberland and ravaged very nearly all of it; and his ships went out round Chester and should have come to meet him, but they could not.’ Instead they launched a series of raids against the Isle of Man. At this time Aethelred was struggling to cope with renewed Viking attacks along the coasts. He was consequently anxious to secure some positive results to counter his failure against these Vikings. The attacks on Cumberland and Man have often been considered as attempts to strike at the Vikings themselves. The Chronicle entry, however, makes it clear that the Isle of Man was not originally a target. Instead Cumberland was the real objective that Aethelred intended to strike against and it was currently subject to the kings of Alba. He may have hoped to seize this region to compensate for his poor performance elsewhere and perhaps restore his popularity. The current state of internal dissension within Scotland may have encouraged him to adopt this plan. He may have seen it as an easy way to secure an English victory.
In 1005 the simmering tensions between the rival dynasties of Alba exploded into violence once again. The Annals of Ulster report another battle between the Scots, during which Kenneth III, the son of Dub, was killed by Malcolm, son of Kenneth II or Mael Coluim mac Cinaeda at Monzievaird near the upper River Earn. The victor subsequently assumed the kingship in place of his dead rival as Malcolm II. This battle was to prove decisive in ending a period of intense internecine conflict that had begun almost ten years earlier. It brought to the throne a man who would actively work to confine the succession to a single line and so end this sort of conflict permanently. It is probably the case that others had already sought to do this before, but none had been successful. Malcolm may have been doing this for selfish reasons, but his achievement would ultimately prove beneficial to the kingdom as a whole.
In the period of sixty years between 943 and 1005, the kingdom of Alba was actively consolidated and expanded by a series of rulers. It had become a single unified state with a mixed culture based on its Picto-Scottish origins. It had effectively secured solid control over a sub-kingdom of Strathclyde and its rulers based in the Clyde Valley. It had further extended this control southwards into the region of Cumberland and the borders of Westmorland. It had also expanded southwards across the Firth of Forth into the rich farming lands of Lothian, which had previously been part of English Northumbria. It had also, more importantly, secured recognition of this expansion from the powerful kings of the English to the south. It had also intervened in the semi-autonomous region of Moray. In the face of powerful English competition it had tried but, so far, failed to secure control over the rest of English Northumbria. It was not prepared to abandon this attempt and would yet achieve further success. This was remarkable progress for a state that had frequently been hindered by its alternating succession especially in the last ten years. While this system had ensured the succession of the adult rulers necessary to engage in the kind of military struggle to expand the kingdom, it often resulted in fierce competition between rival claimants which could sometimes explode into civil war. This was often wasteful and debilitating and distracted kings from their efforts to expand their sphere of authority.
In the same sixty years from 940 to 1005, the kingdom of Alba had witnessed significant changes elsewhere in Britain. It had seen the rise to dominance of the kings of England over southern Britain and the complete absorption of Viking York on its own southern border into an expanding England. It had managed, however, to avoid a similar fate itself and to hold onto its own dependant regions of Strathclyde, including Cumberland, and Lothian in spite of the presence of the powerful kingdom of England to the south. The kings of Alba had achieved this relative success by reaching an acceptable modus vivendi about respective spheres of influence with their English counterparts. They had had to surrender for the present their claims to the rest of English Northumbria to achieve this. They had managed all this in spite of bloody internal conflicts over the succession to the throne. It was an impressive achievement for a small kingdom with limited resources.
5
The Great King and the Exiled Prince
It had been over a century since the first appearance of the kingdom of Alba by that name in the records. It had then been a new and vulnerable political entity surrounded by dangerous enemies. In the century that followed, it might have seemed that very little had changed on a superficial level. The Vikings once again posed a threat to the British Isles as a new wave of raiders and invaders arrived from Norway and Denmark towards the end of the tenth century. Fortunately, the ambitious leaders of these new Vikings concentrated on the higher rewards to be secured by attacks on the rich English state to the south. They left the poorer Celtic states of Scotland, Ireland and Wales more or less alone. The Vikings who had settled on the northern and western fringes of Alba remained a feature of the local scene but were no longer a major threat. The Britons of Strathclyde and the English of Lothian were now subject peoples under Scottish hegemony, a hegemony accepted, at least for the present, by the English kingdom to the south.
It was, in fact, the kingdom of England itself that presented the greatest potential threat to Alba in 1000. Fortunately, its kings were based in the far south where most of their lands and wealth were concentrated. They considered the Welsh a more convenient target for their aggression. They seldom bothered about the Scots who were so far removed from their vital centres in the south. They were, also, preoccupied with the renewed Viking threat at this time. The English had the potential to threaten Alba when they were free from other dangers or distractions, as under Athelstan in 934. In other circumstances, and especially in periods of weakness, they made it a priority to defend their heartland in the south.
In contrast, the kings of Alba were increasingly drawn towards their own eastern and southern areas close to England, where most of their lands and wealth were concentrated. They were thus ideally placed to exploit English weakness to extend their own power southwards. The kings of Alba had already exploited the advantageous position of their southern power centres to establish control over Strathclyde and Lothian. They had, however, been unable to secure York because of its closer proximity to the English power centres. The south-eastern location of their own power centres, however, presented a risk when England was strong and free to intervene in the north. The English could easily reach the power bases of the kings of Alba, which were relatively close to the border. The vulnerability of the kingdom of Alba had been made clear by the ease with which Athelstan had been able to penetrate into the heart of it in 934.
In 1005 King Malcolm II, son of Kenneth II or Mael Coluim mac Cinaeda had secured the throne after killing his cousin and rival Kenneth III at Monzievaird on the upper Earn and was probably in his twenties or
thirties when he secured the throne and would go on to have a long reign of almost thirty years, longer than any other king since Constantine II. He succeeded to a kingdom which had been disrupted for the previous decade by fighting between three rival factions. This must have weakened the kingdom and exposed it to external attack. It was fortunate that England was unable to exploit this weakness as a result of its preoccupation with Viking raids during most of this period. The Vikings were similarly preoccupied with raiding in wealthy England and showed little interest in Alba. In spite of the recent debilitating shedding of blood among the royal lineages, Alba remained a significant power in northern Britain. It continued to exercise lordship over the sub-kingdom of Strathclyde and to rule over the former English region of Lothian. The new king had removed or silenced his internal rivals but still faced a number of potential problems including the presence of the formidable English kingdom to the south.
A series of circumstances now conspired to free Malcolm from external threats too. In the first place King Aethelred of England would remain distracted for over a decade by his problems with the Vikings, which would eventually culminate in the conquest of his kingdom by Danish rulers in 1016. He would never be in a position to repeat his invasion of Cumberland in 1000. In 1005 the Annals of the Four Masters report the death of Ragnall son of Guthfrith, King of the Isles, who presumably had ruled the Western Isles since 989 in succession to his father. The death of this ruler appears to have produced a power vacuum in the west that drew in the earls of Orkney. The resultant struggle for control effectively eliminated a potential threat to Malcolm from the west for a number of years. In 1006 Aelfhelm, Ealdorman of York and his two sons were killed by agents of King Aethelred. This severely weakened the English position in the north following the rise to power of Malcolm as King of Alba.
Lords of Alba Page 12
