General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> King of Scotland
Duncan I (d 1040), king of Scotland, succeeded his grandfather, MalcolmMackenneth (d 25 Nov 1034), in the throne of Scotland. His mother's name,according to a twelfth-century tradition , was Bethoc, the daughter ofthe latter king; his father was Crinan or Cronan, abbot of Dunkeld. ThisCronan, must be regarded as a great secular chief and lay abbot ofDunkeld, occupying a position somewhat similar to that of the titiularcomharbs of Armagh during the same century. According to Mr Skene, Bethoewas married to Cronan before 1008 A.D., the year in which her youngersister married Sigurd, earl of Orkney.

During his father's lifetime Duncan appears to have borne the title of'rux Cumbroroum,' i.e. to have been king of the Strathclyde Welsh. He wasprobably appointed to this office on the death of Owen or Eugene theBald, who is said to have been slain about the time of the battle ofCarham (1018 A.D.), in which he was certainly engaged. As Lothian, thenorthern part of the great earldom of Northumbria, was ceded to Malcolmabout the same time, Mr Skene considers it not imporbable that Duncan wasruler of the whole territory south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde. Hisname, however, is not mentined with those of his father, Macbeth andJehmarc, when those princes submitted to Canute, in 1031 A.D.

Malcolm appears to have cleared the way only just before his own death,for his grandson's succession by the murder of one whom, the 'UlsterAnnals' call 'the son of the son of Boete, son of Cuiaed,' in whom we mayprobably see the rightful heir to the throne by law of tanistry. Nextyear Duncan appears to have become king of Scotia without opposition; andin virtue of his former possessions must have been direct sovereign or atleast overlord of Cumbria, Lothian, and Albania. The latter half of hisreign was disturbed by the aggression of Eadulf, earl of theNorthumbrians, who, apparently in 1038, harried the 'Britons' of Cumbria;and it is perhaps to the same time that we ought to assign Duncan'sunsuccessful expedition against Durham.

In the northern part of Scotland Sigurd, earl of Orkney, had fallen atthe battle of Contarf (1014 AD), leaving a young son, Thorfinn, who,being King Malcolm's grandson, was also Duncan's cousin. BetweenThorfinn's domains and Albany, or Scotland, properly so called, layMoray, ruled by its Celtic mormaer. To this office Maelbaethe or Macbethseems to have succeeded about 1029 A.D., and the title he, like hispredecessor, bore of 'Ri Alban' seems to have challenged the pretensionsof Malcolm and Duncan. The latter king probably aimed at resuming hiscousin's territories of Caithness and Sutherland, when he gave thisearldom to his nephew, Moddan, whom he sent north to make good his claim.Forced to retire before his rival Thorfinn, Moddan found his uncle atBerwick, received fresh troops, and was again dispatched towardsCaithness, while the king himself sailed in the same direction, hoping toplace Thorfinn between the two armies. A naval engagement in the PentlandFirth frustrated this plan, and drove Duncan southwards to Moray Firth.Meanwhile Moddan had occupied Caithness, and was now at Thurso, waitingreinforcements from Ireland, while Thorfinn had gone south in pursuit ofDuncan, who was mustering a new army. Moddan was surprised and slain byThorfinn's lieutenant, Thorkell Fostri, who then hastened to rejoin theearl at Thorfness or Burghead. After a desperate struggle Duncan wasdefeated, 'and some say he was slain.' Such is the account given ofDuncan's death in the 'Sagas,' where he himself appears under the'strange designation of Karl or Kali Hundason,' that is, either 'theChurl, or Kali, the son of the Hound,' where the hound cna be none otherthan Crinan, the abbot of Dunkeld.

More precise, however, is the entry of Marianus Scotus, an almostcontemporary annalist, who says that in the autumn of 1040 was slain 'aduce Macbetho mac Finnloech, who succeeded him, and reigned for seventeenyears.