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Timeline of chronicled events in the lives of Malcolm MacEth, Earl of Ross & Malcolm MacAlexandair
as we have reconstructed it, using Alasdair Ross's excellent research work in 'The Identity of the Prisoner of Roxburgh: Malcolm son of Alexander or Malcolm MacEth?' in S. Arbuthnot, K. Hollo, and A.Ross (editors), Festschrift: Essays in honour of Professor Colm Ó Baoill, (forthcoming, 2004). which the author was kind enough to allow us to peruse. http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/2634#.VoaNgPl97IU Translations below, are, for the most part, by Alisdair Ross. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacHeths
- 1115 - 1130: Áed, Mórmaer of Moray and/ or Mormaer of Ross, attested in two early charters of David I.
- 1124: Alexander I, King of Scots dies
- 1124: (Alexander I, King of Scots, died, and his brother David I, King of Scots took up the government of the kingdom. Malcolm MacAlexandair, a bastard son of Alexander I, King of Scots, made a bid for his father's kingdom, and instigated two bitter wars against him; but David I, King of Scots, being wiser, more powerful and wealthier, defeated him and his supporters) Orderic Vitalis (c1141)
- 1130: Angus, Mórmaer of Moray dies
- 1130: Áed, Mórmaer of Moray disappears from record.
- 1130: (Angus, Mórmaer of Moray and Malcolm MacAlexandair entered Scotland with five thousand armed men, attempting to gain control of the kingdom. Then Edward, son of Siward who had been a thane of Mercia in King Edward's time, himself a constable and a kinsman of David I, King of Scots, mustered the army and fell without warning on the enemy forces. In the course of the conflict he killed the earl of Moray and shattered his troops, killing some and putting the rest to flight. He and his forces, triumphant at their victory, hotly pursued the fugitives into the territory of Moray which no longer had a lord and defender, and with God's aid conquered the whole of that extensive duchy. Orderic Vitalis (c1141):
- 1130: (In the same year Angus, Mórmaer of Moray, with Malcolm MacAlexandair, illegitimate son of Alexander I, King of Scots, who was brother of David I, King of Scots and had reigned before him, and with five thousand armed men entered Scotland, and wished to reduce the whole region to himself. At that time David I, King of Scots was present in the court of the king of the English; but Edward, his kinsman and leader of his knighthood, went against them with an army and slew Angus, Mórmaer of Moray, and overthrew, captured and routed his troops. Then he entered Moray, which lacked a defender and a lord; and control of the whole spacious region was, with God's help, through Edward made subject thenceforth to the religious King David.) Robert de Torigni, abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel’s World Chronicle: (c1154 -86)
- ? One of the Máel Coluims married a sister (female relative?) of Somerled, “King of the Isles”, king (or lord) of Argyll. (Unknown sister of Somerled, of the Isles) If it were Malcolm MacAlexandair, then this must have been prior to his capture and imprisonment in 1134.
m ([1130]%29 [--- of Argyll, daughter of ---]. Her parentage and marriage are confirmed by John of Fordun’s Scotichronicon (Continuator) records that "Summerledus regulus Ergadiæ et sui nepotes, filii…Malcolmi Macheth" rebelled against King Malcolm IV in the first year of his reign[9]. This assumes that the term "nepos" should be interpreted as "nephews" in that source. Her marriage date is estimated assuming that it is correct that her husband was imprisoned from 1134, before which his two children must have been born. There would be no such restriction on the date if Malcolm son of King Alexander I and Malcolm MacHeth were two different persons as suggested by Duncan[10]. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTTISH%20NOBILITY%20LATER.htm#Mal...
- 1153: David I, King of Scots dies & Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots becomes king at 12yrs old
- 1153: (Somerled, “King of the Isles” and his nephews, the sons of Malcolm MacAlexandair, allied with themselves very many men, and rebelled against Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots, and disturbed and disquieted Scotland to a great extent.) Holyrood Chronicle (c1200 - 1355)
- 1153: (Now in the first year of his reign Somerled, “King of the Isles” the under-king of Argyll and his nephews, that is the sons of Malcolm MacHeth, gathering to themselves a very large following, rose in rebellion against Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots and threw a large area of Scotland into turmoil. That Malcolm was the son of MacHeth, but he used to assert untruthfully that he was the son of Angus, Mórmaer of Moray. Angus with all his people was killed by the Scots at Stracathro while laying waste his own locality in the time of David I, King of Scots of blessed memory. After his death the aforesaid Malcolm MacHeth rose in rebellion against David I, King of Scots under the pretence of a son intending to avenge the death of a father. After looting and laying waste the adjoining areas of Scotland, he was finally captured, and was confined in close custody by the aforesaid David I, King of Scots in the tower of the castle of Marchmont. Meanwhile, as Somerled, “King of the Isles” was continuing to stir up civil strife, his nephew, one of the sons of Malcolm MacHeth called Donald, was captured by some of King Malcolm‟s loyal followers at Whithorn, and was imprisoned in the same tower of Marchmont as his father. After his capture, his father Malcolm made his peace with the king in the following year, but Somerled, “King of the Isles” still continued to work his wicked ways among the people.) 'Gesta Annalia I, (c.1250) THE VERACITY OF THIS TEXT DISCREDITED BY ROSS AS A MANGLING OF PREVIOUS TEXTS
- 1156: (Donald mac Malcolm son of Malcolm MacAlexandair was captured at Whithorn and imprisoned with his father) Holyrood Chronicle (c1200 - 1355)
- 1156: (Donald mac Malcolm son of Malcolm MacAlexandair was captured at Whithorn and imprisoned in the keep of Roxburgh with his father.) The Chronicle of Melrose (- 1270)
- 1157: (Malcolm MacEth, Earl of Ross was reconciled with the king of the Scots). Holyrood Chronicle (c1200 - 1355)
- 1160-62 (King Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots to Malcolm, earl of Ross; command to protect and maintain monks of Dunfermline, and cause them to have their rights by land and water as they had in time of King David.) Regesta Regum Scottorum, i, Acts of Malcolm IV, ed. G.W.S. Barrow (Edinburgh, 1960) no. 179
- 1163 (Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots deported the Moravians.) Holyrood Chronicle (c1200 - 1355)
- 1165: Máel Coluim IV mac Eanric, King of Scots dies aged 24 & William "The Lion", King of Scots takes over
- c1168 :Malcolm MacEth, Earl of Ross dies