[572]. The Ulster Annals have in 1033 ‘Mac meic Boete meic Cinaedha do marbhadh la (slain by) Maelcolaim meic Cinaedha.’ It has usually been assumed that this Boete was the son of Kenneth, son of Dubh, the predecessor of Maelcolm mac Kenneth, and thus represented a rival branch of the house; but the dates will not admit of this, and his father Kenneth must be placed a generation further back. He may either have been the same Kenneth who was father of Malcolm, thus making Boete his brother, or the Kenneth, son of Malcolm, who slew Constantin, son of Cuilein, in 997, and who is supposed by Fordun to be his illegitimate brother. Fordun tells us that ‘the old custom of the succession of kings lasted without a break until the time of Malcolm, son of Kenneth, when, for fear of the dismemberment of the kingdom, which might perhaps result therefrom, that king by a general ordinance decreed as a law for ever that henceforth each king after his death should be succeeded in the government of the kingdom by whoever was at the time being the next descendant—that is, a son or a daughter, a nephew or a niece, the nearest then living. Failing these, however, the next heir begotten of the royal or a collateral stock should possess the right of inheritance.’—Fordun, Chron., Ed. 1872, B. iv. c. 1. Whether Malcolm actually issued a formal decree to this effect rests on the authority of Fordun alone, which can hardly be accepted for the events of this early period. Malcolm seems to have taken the readier mode of removing from life any competitor who could claim as a male descendant.
[573]. Post fratris interitum Ealdulfus comes efficitur Northymbrensium, qui, cum superbia extolleretur, Britones satis atrociter devastavit: sed tertio post anno, cum ad Hardecanutum reconciliandus in pace venisset, interfectus est a Siwardo, qui post illum totius provinciæ Northanhymbrorum, id est ab Humbra usque Tuedam Comitatum habuit.—Sim. Dun. Hist. Con.
As the Saxon Chronicle records the death of Eadulf in 1041, this places this invasion in 1038.
[574]. Simeon, Hist. Ec. Dun. cxliv. Simeon places this event in the year 1035, upon the death of Cnut, but he also says that it took place when his son Harold was in the fifth year of his reign and Bishop Eadmund in the twentieth of his episcopate, which would place it in the year 1040; but this was the last year of Duncan’s reign when he was engaged in his northern war, and it could hardly have taken place then. It seems to be obviously connected with Eadulf’s invasion of Cumbria, but whether it preceded or followed it there is nothing to indicate.
[575]. A suggestion made by the author in an early work (The Highlanders of Scotland, published in 1837), in which, he believes, the Sagas were for the first time used in Scotch history, that two kings of Scotland of the name of Malcolm have been confounded—one who died in 1029, and Malcolm mac Kenneth who died in 1034, and that the latter was Kali Hundason—has unfortunately been adopted by Professor Munch in his History of Norway. The author has long since come to the conclusion that this theory is untenable.
[576]. It is unnecessary here to enter into any detail of the history of these three brothers; and how Thorfinn acquired a portion of the islands as each died. The last of them was Brusi, who is stated in the Olafs Saga to have died in the lifetime of King Cnut, soon after his conquest of Norway, that is, about 1029.
[577]. St. Berchan calls Malcolm Duncan’s grandfather, ‘son of the woman of Leinster,’ and also ‘son of the cow-breast from the banks of the Liffey.’ The kings of Leinster are at this time often called kings of Liffey, and this connection probably gave Duncan a claim on their assistance.
[578]. Orkneyinga Saga. Collect. de Rebus Albanicis, p. 341. See also Mr. Anderson’s edition, p. 17.
[579]. 1040 Donnchad rex Scotiæ in autumno occiditur (19 Kal. Sept.) a duce suo Macbethad mac Finnloech, cui successit in regnum annis 17.
Donnchad regnavit annis 5, hoc est, a missa Sancti Andreæ (14 Novr.) ad eandem et insuper ad nativitatem Sanctæ Mariæ.—Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 65. By this last festival Marianus means that of the Assumption, which was on the 15th of August. A poem quoted in the Orkneyinga Saga says the battle was fought on a Monday. The 19 Kal. Sept. or 14th of August fell in the year 1040 upon a Thursday, and the 15th on a Friday. Tighernac has under 1040 ‘Donnchadh mac Crinan Airdri Alban immatura ætate a suis occisus est.’ The later chronicles all agree that he was slain by Macbeth, in a place called Bothgouanan near Elgin. This is probably the place now called Pitgaveny; and if the battle was fought at Burghead, Duncan would retreat upon Elgin.