Each month we present a chapter in the history of Scotland. We move forward in time each month.
Kings of Scots, Their People and Alba (continued)Yet in the 1030s much of this achievement was at risk. The succession of Duncan in 1034 did not, it seems, gain wide acceptance. It is debatable whether Macbeth had a better claim. What the claim of Macbeth does, however, is to illustrate the weaknesses of mac Alpin rule. The disaffection of Macbeth may have originated in the death of his wife's nephew, who was one of the many victims of Malcolm II, one of the most ruthless of the kings of Scots and dubbed 'aggressor'. In a sense, the dispute was a revival of the long feud between the descendants of Dubh and Kenneth II. Duncan's own credibility, as a candidate must partly have turned on his grooming in the dower kingdom of Cumbria. But his interest in Cumbria may have provoked ambitions in Northumbria and his ill-advised attack on Durham in 1039. Again, failure outside the kingdom may have helped trigger resistance within it. Duncan's attempt in the following year to impose his authority in the north brought about his downfall: he was defeated and killed near Elgin. His death was the fourth of a series of unsuccessful attempts by kings of Scots to impose their will on Moray. The alliance forged between Macbeth and Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, resulted probably from Duncan's efforts to reclaim Caithness; and a second defeat, at the hands of Thorfinn, who pursued the defeated Duncan as far south as Fife, may have triggered Macbeth's coup. Duncan's conspicuous failure as a military leader may also help explain the impression that the new King of Scots, whose power base lay far to the north of Scone, enjoyed a long, unwonted period of harmony with his subjects.
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