Duncan II of Scotland
Encyclopedia
Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim (Modern Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

: Donnchadh mac Mhaoil Chaluim; anglicised as Duncan II; before c. 1060 – 12 November 1094) was king of Scots. He was son of Malcolm III
Malcolm III of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Donnchada , was King of Scots...

 (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) and his first wife Ingibiorg Finnsdottir
Ingibiorg Finnsdottir
Ingibiorg Finnsdottir was a daughter of Earl Finn Arnesson and Bergljot Halvdansdottir , a niece of the Norwegian Kings Saint Olaf and Harald Hardraade. She is also known as Ingibiorg, the Earls'-Mother. The dates of her life are not certainly known.She married Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney...

, widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney
Thorfinn Sigurdsson , called Thorfinn the Mighty, was an 11th-century Earl of Orkney. One of five brothers , sons of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson by his marriage to the daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland...

.

Early life

Duncan was given into the keeping of William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

 in 1072 as a hostage, and spent many years at court, where he was exposed to the newly arrived Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 culture. His father, who had many sons, appears to have made no effort to obtain Duncan's return. By the reign of William II
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...

, Duncan was probably a member of the Norman court rather than a hostage, and he was knighted by the English King.

His father's chosen successor was Duncan's half-brother Edward, who died in the same combat during the invasion of Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

 in 1093 as did Malcolm III. Malcolm was succeeded by his brother Donalbane
Donald III of Scotland
Domnall mac Donnchada , anglicised as Donald III, and nicknamed Domnall Bán, "Donald the Fair" , was King of Scots from 1093–1094 and 1094–1097...

 (Domnall Bán mac Donnchada), who reigned as Donald III, and Malcolm's other sons joined their half-brother Duncan in England.

Rule

Duncan received William II's tacit support for the Scottish kingship, but the English king did not extend direct support, as he planned a campaign in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

. It is probably in the period 1093–1094 that Duncan married Uchtreda of Northumbria
Uchtreda of Northumbria
Ethelreda was a daughter of Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria remembered in 13th century Cumberland as the mother of William fitz Duncan. She is thought to have been the wife Duncan II of Scotland, though very little is known otherwise about her.-References:* William M...

, daughter of Gospatric, Earl of Dunbar and Northumbria, although an earlier betrothal has been proposed. Accompanied by his Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...

 followers, and perhaps by the elder of his half-brothers, Duncan easily defeated Donalbane in the early summer of 1094, but appears to have had little support north of the Forth
River Forth
The River Forth , long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some west of Stirling...

, being reliant on his Northumbrian, English and Norman allies.

Death

A revolt later in 1094 was directed against Duncan's followers rather than the new king, but many of the Normans were killed and the rest sent away in order to settle the revolt. Donalbane's supporters appear to have rallied again, and Duncan was murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

ed late in 1094 by Máel Petair
Máel Petair of Mearns
Máel Petair of Mearns is the only known Mormaer of the Mearns. His name means "tonsured one of Peter".One source tells us that Máel Petair was the son of a Máel Coluim, but tells us nothing about this. If this weren't bad enough, other sources say that his father was a man called "Loren", and in...

, Mormaer of Mearns
Mormaer of Mearns
The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Mearns is the most obscure medieval Scottish Mormaerdom. It is known only from one source, a source relating that Máel Petair, Mormaer of Mearns, killed Donnchad II. There is good reason to believe that this is not some mistake, and that Mearns was once a Mormaerdom...

. He was buried at Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey is as a Church of Scotland Parish Church located in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. In 2002 the congregation had 806 members. The minister is the Reverend Alastair Jessamine...

.

Legacy

His son by Uchtreda, William fitz Duncan
William fitz Duncan
William fitz Duncan was a Scottish prince, a territorial magnate in northern Scotland and northern England, a general and the legitimate son of king Donnchad II of Scotland by Athelreda of Dunbar.In 1094, his father Donnchad II was killed by Mormaer Máel Petair of...

, was a prominent figure during the reigns of Duncan's half-brothers Alexander
Alexander I of Scotland
Alexander I , also called Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim and nicknamed "The Fierce", was King of the Scots from 1107 to his death.-Life:...

 and David
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

.

Ancestry

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