Edgar of Scotland

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Edgar of Scotland

Edgar or Étgar mac Maíl Choluim (Modern Gaelic: Eagar mac Mhaoil Chaluim), nicknamed Probus, "the Valiant" (c. 1074–8 January 1107), was king of Alba from 1097 to 1107. He was the 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 Margaret of Wessex

Saint Margaret of Scotland

Saint Margaret , was the sister of Edgar ?theling, the short-ruling and uncrowned Anglo-Saxons King of England. She married Malcolm III of Scotland, King of Scots, becoming his Queen consort....
(later Saint Margaret).

Edgar claimed the kingship in early 1095, following the murder of his half-brother Duncan II

Duncan II of Scotland

Donnchad mac Ma?l Coluim anglicised as Duncan II was king of Scots. He was son of Malcolm III of Scotland and his first wife Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney....
(Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim) in late 1094 by Máel Petair of Mearns

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....
, a supporter of Edgar's uncle Donald III

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).

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Malcolm III of Scotland

Saint Margaret of Scotland

Duncan II of Scotland

Máel Petair of Mearns

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). His older brother Edmund

Edmund of Scotland

Edmund was a son of Malcolm III of Scotland and his second wife Saint Margaret of Scotland. He may be found on some lists of Scottish kings, but there is no evidence that he was king....
sided with Donald, presumably in return for an appanage and acknowledgement as the heir of the ageing and son-less Donald.

Edgar received limited support from 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....
(William Rufus) as Duncan had before him; however, the English king was occupied with a revolt led by Robert de Mowbray

Robert de Mowbray

Robert de Mowbray , a Normans, was Earl of Northumbria from 1086, until 1095, when he was deposed for rebelling against William Rufus, King of England....
, Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Danish people, late Anglo-Saxon England, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia....
, who appears to have had the support of Donald and Edmund. Rufus campaigned in northern England for much of 1095, and during this time Edgar gained control only of Lothian

Lothian

Lothian forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills.In Lothian there is Edinburgh City, West Lothian, Mid Lothian and East Lothian....
. A charter

Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified....
issued at Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in North East England. It lies at the heart of the City of Durham local government district. It is the county town of County Durham....
at this time names him "... son of Máel Coluim King of Scots ... possessing the whole land of Lothian and the kingship of the Scots by the gift of my lord William, king of the English, and by paternal heritage."

Edgar's claims had the support of his 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....
— Ethelred

Ethelred of Scotland

Ethelred was the son of King Malcolm III of Scotland and his wife Saint Margaret of Scotland, the third oldest of the latter and the probable sixth oldest of the former....
was Abbot of Dunkeld, and Edmund was divided from his siblings by his support of Donald — and his uncle Edgar Ætheling

Edgar Ætheling

Edgar ?theling, also known as Edgar the Outlaw was the last male member of the West Saxon royal house of Cerdic of Wessex....
as these witnessed the charter at Durham.

William Rufus spent 1096 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....
which he bought from his brother Robert Curthose, and it was not until 1097 that Edgar received the further support which led to the defeat of Donald and Edmund in a hard-fought campaign led by Edgar Ætheling.

Although Geoffrey Gaimar

Geoffrey Gaimar

Geoffrey Gaimar , was an Anglo-Norman chronicler. Gaimar's most significant contribution to medieval literature and history is as a translator from Old English language to Anglo-Norman language....
claimed that Edgar owed feudal service to William Rufus, it is clear from Rufus's agreement to pay Edgar 40 or 60 shillings a day maintenance when in attendance at the English court that this was less than accurate. In any event, he did attend the court on occasion. On 29 May 1099, for example, Edgar served as sword-bearer at the great feast to inaugurate Westminster Hall. After William Rufus's death, however, Edgar ceased to appear at the English court. He was not present at the coronation of Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror. He succeeded his elder brother William II of England as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106....
.

Edgar was certainly not heir by primogeniture

Primogeniture

Primogeniture is the common law right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire Estate , to the exclusion of younger siblings. It is the tradition brought by the Normans to England in 1066....
, as later kings would be, since Duncan II had a legitimate son and heir in the person of 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....
. With Donald and Edmund removed, however, Edgar was uncontested king of Scots, and his reign incurred no major crisis. Compared with his rise to power, Edgar's reign is obscure. One notable act was his gift of a camel

Camel

Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and is well known for its healthy low fat milk, and the Bactrian camel has two humps....
(or perhaps an elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....
) to his fellow Gael Muircheartach Ua Briain

Muircheartach Ua Briain

Muirchertach Ua Briain , son of Toirdelbach Ua Briain and great-grandson of Brian B?ruma, was High King of Ireland....
, High King of Ireland

High King of Ireland

A High King of Ireland is a historical or legendary figure who claimed lordship over the whole of Ireland. The High-Kingship was never a political reality in Ireland, but has a strong literary and folkore tradition....
.

In 1098, Edgar signed a treaty with Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, setting the boundary between Scots and Norwegian claims in the west. By ceding claims to the Hebrides

Hebrides

The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups, the Inner and Outer Hebrides....
and Kintyre

Kintyre

Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the south-west of Argyll and Bute. The region stretches approximately 30 miles , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south, to East Loch Tarbert, Kintyre in the north....
to Magnus, Edgar acknowledged the practical realities of the existing situation. Edgar's religious foundations included a priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows headed by a prior or prioress.Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monastery of monks or nuns ....
at Coldingham

Coldingham

Coldingham is an historic village in Berwickshire, on southeast Scotland's coastline, north of Eyemouth.As early as 660AD, Coldingham was the site of a religious establishment of high order, when it is recorded that Etheldreda, the Queen of Ecgfrith of Northumbria, became a nun at the Abbey of Coldingham, then under the management of Aebbe...
in 1098, associated with the Convent

Convent

A convent may refer to a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or it may refer to the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion....
of Durham. 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 ....
he sought support from Anselm of Canterbury

Anselm of Canterbury

Saint Anselm of Canterbury was an Italian medieval philosopher, theology, and church official who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109....
with his mother's foundation from which the monks of Canterbury

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christianity structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
may have been expelled by Domnall Bán.

Edgar died in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
on 8 January, 1107 and was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. Unmarried and childless, he acknowledged his brother Alexander as his successor. Edgar's will also granted David an appanage

Appanage

An apanage or appanage is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who under the system of primogeniture would otherwise have no inheritance....
in "Cumbria" (the lands of the former Kingdom of Strathclyde

Kingdom of Strathclyde

Strathclyde , originally Brythonic language Ystrad Clud, was one of the kingdoms of the Brythons in the northern part of the island Great Britain throughout the Sub-Roman Britain period , and the Scotland in the Middle Ages....
), and perhaps also in southern parts of Lothian. David would later be known as Prince of the Cumbrians

David, Prince of the Cumbrians

Before David I of Scotland became King of Scotland in 1124, he was David, Prince of the Cumbrians and earl of a great territory in the middle of England acquired by marriage....

Ancestry

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