Scotland under her early kings, Volume 1 (of 2)

by Eben William Robertson

Upon the death of Malcolm the Second the direct male line of Kenneth MacAlpin became extinct; but the rights of the royal race, originally inherited through the female line, were transmitted in the same manner through heiresses to the two great families of Atholl and Moray, whose disputes for the crown were destined to become as fruitful a source of strife and bloodshed as the sanguinary struggle between their immediate ancestors, or the earlier feuds between the lines of Constantine and Aodh.

Boedhe, the death of whose son has been already noticed, left a daughter, Gruoch, who, by her marriage with Gilcomgain, the son of Malbride MacRory, carried the claims of the line of Duff, after the death of her brother, into the family of the Moray Mormaors. Finlay MacRory, the antagonist of Sigurd Lodverson, lost his life in a feud with his nephews Malcolm and Gilcomgain, to the former of whom the earldom reverted according to the Gaelic rule of succession, until his death in 1029, when it fell into the possession of his younger brother Gilcomgain. Three years later the Mormaor was surprised and burnt in his Rath or fortress, with fifty of his immediate followers, leaving an infant son, Lulach, who, after the death of Boedhe’s son in the following year became the sole remaining representative of the line of Kenneth Macduff. Gruoch, the widow of Gilcomgain, was married eventually to Macbeth MacFinlay,[133] who had succeeded her late husband and his own cousin in the Mormaorship of Moray, when, as the husband of Gruoch and the guardian of the infant Lulach, Macbeth became the representative during the minority of the latter of his claims upon the crown of Scotland.

Bethoc, or Beatrice, the eldest of the late king’s daughters, carried her claims to the race of Atholl by her marriage with Crinan, Abbot of Dunkeld, who was also the head of the Atholl family.[134] Their son was Duncan, the heir and successor of his grandfather, who, before his accession to the throne of Scotland, had been placed by Malcolm over the dependent province of Strath Clyde.

Another of Malcolm’s daughters, a younger sister of Beatrice, married Sigurd Lodverson soon after his victory over the Mormaor Finlay, the father of Macbeth, when it was evidently the object of the late king to secure the alliance of the Orkney Jarl as a formidable rival to the hostile family of Moray. A. D. 1014. After the fall of Sigurd in the battle of Clontarf, his son Thorfin, as has been already mentioned, when a mere child, was placed by his grandfather over the earldom of Sutherland and Caithness, whilst the Orkneys were inherited by his three half-brothers, Einar, Somarled, and Brusi. Upon the death of Somarled, a few years later, Thorfin claimed a share of the islands, when Einar prepared to resist his pretensions by force, but through the intervention of the other brother, Brusi, Thorfin succeeded in attaining his object, and in this manner he first acquired a footing in the Orkneys.

Einar perished shortly afterwards in a feud, when a fresh difficulty arose upon his death about the division of his portion of the islands. Brusi, fearful lest king Malcolm, who was then alive, should support the claims of his grandson, determined upon enlisting the king of Norway in his own behalf, and for this purpose he sailed for the latter country, whither he was soon followed by Thorfin, who thought with much justice (to use the words of the Saga), “that though he stood well with Olaf, and many would support him in his absence, many more would do so if he were present.” Before the arrival of his younger brother, Brusi had already resigned his Odal rights into the hands of Olaf, agreeing to be bound by the royal decision, and to hold all his lands as a Lenderman or royal Jarl at the will and pleasure of the king. When a similar resignation was demanded from Thorfin, he hesitated at first to acquiesce in any such arrangement; but after consulting with his friends he agreed with such alacrity to every proposition of Olaf, that the suspicions of the king were aroused, and deciding that Einar’s portion had reverted to the Norwegian crown, he restored it to Brusi, relying more upon the fidelity of the elder brother than upon the youthful but ambitious Thorfin.

The pacific Brusi soon found reason to complain of his brother, after their return to the Orkneys, for neglecting to contribute his allotted portion towards the defence of the islands; as Thorfin, residing continually on the mainland, was satisfied with limiting his connection with his insular fiefs to the punctual exaction of his dues. The younger Jarl offered to rectify his neglect, by taking the whole trouble out of the hands of his elder brother, on condition that the latter in return should surrender the disputed share; and as peace, not power, was the object of the indolent Brusi, he willingly purchased it at the price of insignificance, and at his death, which occurred about the year 1030, Thorfin, A. D. 1030. without further scruple, annexed the whole of the Orkneys to his dominions.[135]

Such was the state of Scotland when Duncan the First succeeded to the throne of his grandfather. In the extreme north, dominions more extensive than any Jarl of the Orkneys had hitherto acquired, were united under the rule of Thorfin Sigurdson, whose character and appearance have been thus described—“He was stout and strong, but very ugly, severe and cruel, but a very clever man.” The extensive districts then dependant upon the Moray Mormaors were in the possession of the celebrated Macbeth, and though the power of those northern magnates must undoubtedly have been weakened by the aggressions of the Norwegian Jarls, it tells not a little for the energy and vigour of the late king, that his grandson was able to ascend the throne without encountering any opposition from the formidable representative of the claims of the rival family.

The early portion of Duncan’s reign is void of incident, but, before long, the mainland possessions of Thorfin appear to have become an object of dispute, the king demanding the usual tribute due from a dependancy of Scotland, whilst the Jarl denied the justice of his claim, maintaining that he held his earldom by Odal right, as an absolute and unconditional gift from their joint grandfather Malcolm. At length Duncan, to punish his kinsman’s contumacy and assert the rights of the crown, determined upon appointing another member of his family, Moddan or Madach, to replace Thorfin in the earldom, and dispatching Madach with an army to the north, he empowered him to take possession of the royal grant.[136] A. D. 1040. Much about the same time, the Scottish king, desirous of extending the conquests of his grandfather towards the south, laid siege to Durham, but the town was destined to become as fatal to the hopes of Duncan as it had once been disastrous to those of Malcolm, a sudden and unexpected sally spread confusion amongst the besieging army, and again the heads of the Scottish slain were ranged in triumph around the hostile walls of Durham.[137]

Madach had been equally unsuccessful in his attempt upon the earldom of Thorfin. Warned of the approach of his rival, the Jarl summoned Thorkell Fostri to join him with the Orkneymen in Caithness, and Madach, perceiving that an engagement with their united forces would only be attended with a disastrous result, retreated southwards for reinforcements, whilst Thorfin availed himself of the opportunity to overrun the neighbouring district of Ross. Intelligence of his proceedings reached the king at Berwick, deciding him to march at once towards the north, in order to support in person his grant of the earldom to Madach. It appears to have been Duncan’s object to cut off Thorfin from the Orkneys, thus preventing his junction with Thorkell Fostri and his Norwegians, whom the Jarl, on the retreat of his rival, had permitted to return to the islands; and to carry out his purpose, he despatched Madach towards Caithness with the land army, whilst with eleven vessels he sailed round Duncansby Head to interpose his ships between the Jarl and his island home; hoping thus either to force him to fight at a disadvantage with the superior numbers of Madach, or to drive him southwards upon those Highland districts which were less well affected to his cause.

The sight of Duncan’s sails in the Pentland Firth conveyed to Thorfin the earliest intelligence of his enemy’s approach, and, baffled in an attempt to put to sea, and thus escape to Sandwick, he was forced to lie off Dyrness for the night and to await the king’s attack on the following morning.[138] The ships of Thorfin were laden with the plunder of the northern provinces of Scotland, and his men fought so desperately in defence of their booty, that the king was beaten off and obliged to make for the coast of Moray, whither he was speedily followed by the united forces of Thorfin and Thorkell Fostri; the Jarl watching the movements of Duncan and collecting reinforcements from Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross, whilst he dispatched Thorkell to surprise Madach, who had now reached Thurso, where he was resting in unguarded security. The fidelity of the men of Caithness ably seconded the projects of their Jarl, so effectually concealing the approach of Thorkell, that the first notice of danger was conveyed to the unfortunate Madach by the flames of his burning house, and he perished in a vain attempt to burst through the ranks of his enemies, and escape from the blazing ruins.