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Duncan II of Scotland

 

 
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Duncan II of Scotland
 
 
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Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim (Modern Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
: 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

M?el Coluim mac Donnchada , called in most Anglicisation regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, "Big Head" or Long-neck , 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 King of Norway Olaf II of Norway and Harald III of Norway....
, widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney

Thorfinn Sigurdsson , called Thorfinn the Mighty, was Earl of Orkney. One of four brothers , sons of Earl Sigurd Hlodvirsson by his marriage to the daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland....
.

an was given into the keeping of William I of England
William I of England

William I , better known as William the Conqueror , was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and English monarchy from later 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name....
 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 names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock....
 culture.






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Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim (Modern Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
: 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

M?el Coluim mac Donnchada , called in most Anglicisation regnal lists Malcolm III, and in later centuries nicknamed Canmore, "Big Head" or Long-neck , 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 King of Norway Olaf II of Norway and Harald III of Norway....
, widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson
Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney

Thorfinn Sigurdsson , called Thorfinn the Mighty, was Earl of Orkney. One of four 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 , better known as William the Conqueror , was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and English monarchy from later 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name....
 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 names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly 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 Kingdom of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers also over Duchy of Normandy, and influence in Kingdom of Scotland....
, 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 is primarily the name of both a medieval petty kingdom of the Angles people, in what is now north east England and southern Scotland, and of the earldom which succeeded it when a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom became England....
 in 1093 as did Malcolm III. Malcolm was succeeded by his brother Donalbane
Donald III of Scotland

Domnall mac Donnchada , anglicisation as Donald III, and nicknamed Domnall B?n, "Donald the Fair" , was King of Scots from 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 situated along the coast of France south of the English Channel between Brittany and Picardy and comprises territory in northern France and the Channel Islands....
. 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....
, 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 conquest by William I of England in 1066, although a few Normans were already in England before 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 , 47 km 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 30 km 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 as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , 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

M?el Petair of Mearns is the only known Mormaer of the Mearns. His name means "tonsured one of Peter".One source tells us that M?el Petair was the son of a M?el Coluim, but tells us nothing about this....
, Mormaer of Mearns
Mormaer of Mearns

The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Mearns is the most obscure medieval Scottish Mormaer. It is known only from one source, a source relating that M?el Petair of Mearns, Mormaer of Mearns, killed Duncan II of Scotland....
. He was buried at Dunfermline Abbey
Dunfermline Abbey

Dunfermline Abbey is a large Benedictine abbey in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It was administered by the Abbot of Dunfermline. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but the monastic establishment was based on an earlier foundation dating back to the reign of King Malcolm III of Scotland ....
.

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 fine general and the legitimate son of king Duncan II of Scotland by Athelreda of Dunbar....
, was a prominent figure during the reigns of Duncan's half-brothers Alexander
Alexander I of Scotland

Alexander I or Alaxandair mac Ma?l Coluim , called "The Fierce", King of the Scots or King of Alba, was the fourth son of M?el Coluim mac Donnchada by his wife Saint Margaret of Scotland, grand-niece of Edward the Confessor....
 and David
David I of Scotland

David I or Dabhidh Mac Maol Chaluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later List of monarchs of Scotland . The youngest son of Maol Chaluim Mac Donnchaidh and Saint Margaret of Scotland, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland, but was exiled to England temporarily in 1093....
.

Ancestry