The Malleable Macbeth

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THE MALLEABLE MACBETH:

UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLVING IMAGE OF AN OBSCURE MEDIEVAL KING

A Thesis

Presented to

The Faculty of Graduate Studies

The University of Guelph

RYAN SKIERSZKAN DAVIDSON

In partial fulfillment of requirements

for the degree of

Master of Arts

April 2008

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THE MALLEABLE MACBETH: UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLVING IMAGE OF AN OBSCURE MEDIEVAL KING

Ryan Skierszkan Davidson Advisor: University of Guelph, 2008 Professor Elizabeth Ewan

This thesis investigates the changing historical perceptions of the Scottish king

Macbeth (r. 1040-1057) in relation to the development of Scotland's constitutional identity between 1000 and 2000 A.D. Macbeth's historiographical transformation from a fairly ordinary king in the eleventh century to a usurping tyrant during the later medieval and Enlightenment periods, and then to a peaceful prince and nationalist hero in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is the result of successive generations of historians reinterpreting their country's history in order to justify the political ideologies of their contemporary communities. This metamorphosis not only demonstrates history writing's susceptibility to political forces, as well as how the myth of Macbeth has changed over time, but provides for us a comprehensive and linear, one-thousand-year example of the way in which Scotland's self-perception as a distinct nation has adapted according to the modernizing political process. Some of the writers included in this study are Marianus

Scottus, John of Fordun, Andrew Wyntoun, Hector Boece, David Hume, Walter Scott,

C. C. Stopes, Ruaraidh Erskine and Nick Aitchison. Acknowledgements

The completion of this project would not have been possible without the assistance of a number of exceptional and gifted individuals. I am forever indebted to my advisor Dr. Elizabeth Ewan whose wisdom and expert insights helped me to navigate through one thousand years of Scottish history. Her remarkable kindness and enthusiasm were perhaps the greatest assets I had in producing this paper. It was a tremendous honour to have worked with her. Many thanks and apologies are in order to Dr. Graeme

Morton who was in the unfortunate position of trying to teach this medievalist about post- union Scotland. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Alan Gordon and Dr.

Susannah Humble Ferreira for challenging me to see my arguments from a different perspective. Special thanks to Dr. Peter Goddard who was an incredible help during my two years in the program. I have a long-standing debt to Dr. Michael Keefer who encouraged me to continue my studies at the graduate level and who has always been willing to assist me in my academic endeavours. I owe considerable thanks to my esteemed colleague Yvan Prkachin whose beard alone has been inspirational. I would like to thank my family, Jane and 'The Neil' for their continuous encouragement, and both my grandfathers for their interest in all things historical. Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my partner Hilary (who now knows more about

Macbeth than she would care to) for her incredible support and patience - my great excuse to avoid duties around the house has come to an end.

1 Table of Contents

Chapter One All there is to know about the 'furious Red one', 1000-1300

Chapter Two A guidebook on how to manufacture a tyrannical image for an obscure eleventh-century monarch, 1300-1500

Chapter Three Humanists de-humanizing Macbeth, 1500-1707

Chapter Four The paradoxical Macbeth: a 'hateful Usurper' who brought peace, justice and prosperity to his people, 1707-1900

Chapter Five How historical is the 'historical Macbeth', 1900-2008

Bibliography

li Chapter One: All there is to know about the 'furious Red one', 1000-1300

When Nick Aitchison published his Macbeth: Man and Myth in 1999 the Scottish historical community breathed a collective sigh of relief: "finally." Finally a proper analysis of the history of Scotland's most notorious king had been written seeking not to tarnish his name, nor revive his character as a Celtic hero, but simply to provide an accurate description of what we can know about a medieval monarch who ruled almost one thousand years ago. Macbeth, an otherwise obscure eleventh-century Scottish king has long found himself the focus of much perverted historical investigation. So few contemporary documents describing Macbeth's kingship have survived that you could fit everything there is to know about him on a post-it note, with plenty of room left over to list your groceries. We know he reigned from 1040 to 1057, defeated and killed King

Duncan to capture the crown, quelled a rebellion led by Duncan's father Crinan in 1045, visited Rome in 1050, was defeated by Earl Siward of Northumbria in 1054 at the behest of Edward the Confessor, and was killed by Malcolm III, son of Duncan in 1057. He also made a land donation to the Church of St. Serf at some point during his seventeen-year reign. Anything beyond this is speculation at best.

Not only is there a minimal amount of surviving sources, but these extant records also happen to be quite ambiguous by nature. While this deficiency in detail may frustrate today's historian seeking to uncover the 'historical Macbeth', historians of the past found in the enigmatic characterization of Macbeth a rather attractive prospect - an open canvas on which to paint whatever they desired. In this fashion Macbeth has been portrayed as a tyrannical monster by medieval chroniclers and Renaissance humanists, an equitable and

1 just prince by nineteenth-century romanticists, and a nationalist hero by twentieth-century

Celtic revivalists. Macbeth, in effect, became a powerful tool for the historian because of his malleability; he could be recast and reshaped to suit any ideology. This flexibility is the most intriguing aspect of Macbeth, not so much his history, which, no doubt will always be the subject of much scholarly debate, but his historiography, which is an invaluable one-thousand-year-long example of how history is written in accordance with the evolution of contemporary political principles. The historiography of Macbeth is not only useful to understanding the conflicting popular imagery of the king, but provides for us a window into Scotland's self-perception as a nation along constitutional lines.

In Macbeth: Man and Myth, Nick Aitchison looks to uncover the myth-making historiographical process that Macbeth's image was forced to endure. If we are to agree with those who reviewed the author's monograph, we would believe that the "book surveys the scarce chronicle and archaeological sources on Macbeth and his reign, as well as charts developments and changes in the myths about Macbeth from the eleventh century through the twentieth."1 Aitchison, however, fails to meet this end. While his discussion of the historiography of Macbeth, pre-Shakespeare, is quite well rounded, it is indeed missing some compelling features that are crucial to understanding the mythologizing of the king.

For instance, Aitchison completely overlooks the association between Macbeth and Moray separatism - a link that demonstrably affected the medieval writer John of

1 R. M. Wood, review of Macbeth: Man and Myth, by Nick Aitchison, Sixteenth Century Journal 31, no. 3 (2000): 909. Similarly, Julia Rudolph writes, "this book sets out not only to counter the mythology that has long surrounded this Scottish king, but also to explain how these myths developed over the course of 900 years, perpetuated even today by modern historians as well as modern film makers and novelists" (Julia Rudolph, review of Macbeth: Man and Myth, by Nick Aitchison, The Historian 65, no. 2 (2002): 486).

2 Fordun's perception of the eleventh-century monarch, and thus contributed to the chronicler's antagonistic interpretation of Macbeth's reign. Furthermore, Aitchison neglects to analyze the mini-treatise on proper kingship found in Walter Bower's

Scotichronicon (1440s), entitled The duty of a king is threefold, which appears between the reigns of Duncan I and Macbeth as a 'how to' guide to proper kingship for James II.

This is an essential document to understanding the preservation of the tyrannical image of

Macbeth. There is also no discussion in Macbeth: Man and Myth of Hector Boece's portrayal of Macbeth as a heinous reprobate, fashioned in response to the brief civil war of 1488 which left the king, James III, dead. The sixteenth-century humanist used the history of Macbeth as a precedent for overthrowing a king who did not reflect the wishes of the Scottish community, thus justifying regicide on specific grounds. It is impossible to properly interpret Boece's vision of Macbeth without drawing this all-important connection to James III. Similarly, for George Buchanan, Macbeth's reign marked a legitimate historical example for overthrowing a previously accepted monarch; it was a precedent for the forced abdication of Mary Queen of Scots. Another historiographical episode ignored by Aitchison.

Finally, while later sections of Macbeth: Man and Myth account for the popular acceptance of the fictional Macbeth through literary development, theatre productions and films, nowhere does Aitchison account for the remarkable four-hundred-year historiographical transformation Macbeth's character endures from the production of

Shakespeare's play to the reinterpretations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The writers responsible for this transformation must be considered in order to form an accurate depiction of the mythologizing process of Macbeth's kingship. Exploring the

3 works of such writers as Richard Burton (1696), David Scott (1727), George Ridpath

(1772), George Chalmers (1807), Walter Scott (1829-30), Thomas Napier Thomson

(1869), C. C. Stopes (1897), Ruaraidh Erskine (1930) and Geoffrey Barrow (1975), offers a clear understanding of the shifting perceptions of Macbeth, while demonstrating how Scotland's constitutional self-image developed over time.

Aitchison's incomplete report of the historiography of Macbeth lacks cohesion.

As Julia Rudolph has noted, "although the social and political contexts of these chronicles and of later histories of Macbeth are, at times, mentioned [by Aitchison], there is no sustained or coherent analysis of these contexts provided."2 What Nick Aitchison and any other historian hitherto considering the mythology of Macbeth have proved unsuccessful in accomplishing is uncovering the unifying or binding historical agent that has acted as both the anchor for the preservation and the catalyst for the reinterpretations of the myth of Macbeth; the mechanism responsible for this historical development is the evolution of Scotland's national constitutional arrangement.

There are but few existing contemporary sources that mention the reign of

Macbeth, all of which follow a similar pattern that can be categorized into three sections of Macbeth's life. They describe, in simplest form, how he came to the throne, something of what he did as king (there are very few entries for these years), and how he died.

Given the elaborate tales of later historians, it is somewhat surprising to find so little written about Macbeth during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Of course, one must remember that it was not the primary aim of eleventh-century Scottish chroniclers to interpret or discuss the actions of those they mentioned; rather, these chroniclers were

2 Julia Rudolph, review of Macbeth: Man and Myth, by Nick Aitchison, The Historian 65, no. 2 (2002): 486).

4 writing to catalogue the passing of time. They were providing simple temporal reference points. These reference points acted as markers for temporally documenting God's providence, and to break the continual cyclical movement of the natural world in order to capture the "transitoriness of human existence."4 For instance, the reign of Scotland's king Duncan is described as follows, "Duncan reigned for five years: that is, from the mass of St. Andrew to the same, and beyond, to the Nativity of St. Mary."5 When religious indicators were not used to mark the passage of time, ancestral references were used instead, for example: "A battle [was fought] between Dubdaleithe, Patrick's successor, and Murchaid Ua-Maelsechlaind, the successor of Finnian and Columcille, in contention over Martry."6 There is a clear absence of interpretation of events and there is rarely any evidence of political propaganda to be found in these reticent sources. This, of course, makes it difficult to judge how Macbeth's immediate contemporaries evaluated his kingship.

Before considering the records documenting Macbeth's reign, it is perhaps worth looking into how the man of Moray 'seized' the throne of Scotland. While there was nothing particularly compelling or unusual about Macbeth's seizure of power in an early- medieval capacity (after all, tenth-century Scotland witnessed numerous instances of regicide), later chroniclers singled out Macbeth's actions for political purposes as particularly heinous. During the eleventh century the Scottish kingship certainly existed as the nucleus of the realm's governing body; however many provincial areas, such as

3 R. Dean Ware, "Medieval Chronology: Theory and Practice," in Medieval Studies, ed. James M. Powell (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1976), 213. 4 Gabrielle M. Spiegel, The Past as Text (London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1997), 86. This purpose for chronicling is of Greek and Roman origin. 5 Marianus Scottus, marginal addition in the Palatino-Vatican MS (c. 1070s), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 579. 6 Tigernach, Annals, (c. 1088). Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 599.

5 Moray for example, retained a significant degree of independence from the national kingship, which at this point, although still a hereditary position, had not established itself in accordance with the practices of primogeniture. Instead, a system of alternating succession appears to have been the ruling custom. In this environment king-killing was not considered especially offensive as rival branches of the royal family wrestled for control of the national crown.

An important series of events shaped Macbeth's path to the Scottish throne. It is widely believed, by medieval and modern historians alike, that his mother was either the daughter of Kenneth II (r. 971-975), or Malcolm II (r. 1005-1034), which would have given him a legitimate claim to the throne.7 There remains the possibility, however, that the ancestral claims made on behalf of Macbeth, "of which there is no trace in the Irish genealogies, illustrate the desire of a legally-minded age to provide Macbeth with a

'hereditary' title and are pretty certainly false."8 His father was Findlaech the mormaer

(provincial ruler) of Moray,9 who was killed by his own nephews in 1020.10 One of those nephews was Gillecomgain, the husband of Gruoch, who was the daughter of Bodhe, son of Kenneth II or Kenneth III (r. 7997-1005); unfortunately the records are rather imprecise. Upon Findlaech's death, Gillecomgain succeeded as the mormaer of Moray.

The succession to the position of the mormaer of Moray was clearly established by the same principles governing the succession to the Scottish crown. The position

7 Hector Boece calls the mother of Macbeth Doada, the second daughter of Malcolm II (Boece, vol. 2, 252). Boece's history is unreliable, so it is difficult to say if there is any truth to Macbeth's pedigree. Historians today agree that, at the very least, Macbeth was closely related to Malcolm II. 8 A. A. M. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, 842-1292 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd., 2002), 34. 9 Mormaers were of the highest noble order second only to the king of Scotland. They were sub-kings, and in the case of Moray ruled, in effect, independently of the crown. 10 Tigernach, Annals, (c. 1088). Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 551.

6 would not necessarily be filled by the deceased's eldest son; had that been the case

Macbeth would have become mormaer on his father's death. The law of primogeniture did not govern the Scottish succession, but rather, a system of tanistry was followed. The most able-bodied male in the bloodline would be appointed to the position (or accepted in the position) by his peers, alternating the succession to the crown through parallel branches of the royal family. For instance, Donald II (889-900) was not immediately succeeded by his son Malcolm, rather, Donald's cousin Constantine II (900-943) succeeded in his place. After Constantine's death, the crown reverted to Donald's immediate bloodline through his son Malcolm I (943-54). Upon Malcolm's death, his cousin and the son of Constantine, Indulph, reigned for eight years between 954 and 962.

As fate would have it Gillecomgain was killed twelve years into his mormaerdom in 1032: he was burned to death along with fifty of his men.11 Macbeth succeeded as the mormaer of Moray and married his cousin's widow. Gruoch was now allied with the man of Moray who would capture the throne of Scotland. There is no evidence in any contemporary source that links Macbeth with the murder of his cousin, but Gillecomgain was indeed responsible for killing Macbeth's father and it just so happened that Macbeth became mormaer of Moray upon the death of his kinsman. Clearly Macbeth had probable cause for killing his cousin, but the entire episode could have been coincidental. There is no conclusive proof to demonstrate otherwise. This dramatic series of events, however, proved too tempting for later historians who linked these dark occurrences to form a tale of ambition, emphasizing both Gruoch's supposed desire to return the royal succession to

11 Annals of Ulster (1032). Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 571. Note that although the Annals of Ulster, as we know them today, were compiled in the fifteenth century, it is accepted that the notes and sources from which the Annals were compiled were contemporary.

7 her bloodline (through Kenneth II or III) and, as leader of the rival faction to the crown,

Macbeth's pursuit of the throne.

Furthermore, Macbeth's successors and Gruoch's descendents would continue

their rivalry with the house of Canmore for some time after the death of Macbeth. Lulach,

Macbeth's stepson, lost his crown and life to Malcolm III (later known as Malcolm

Canmore), son of Duncan and slayer of Macbeth in 1058. Lulach's son Maelsnechtai

maintained the house of Moray's feud against Malcolm; it is believed he rebelled against

the crown in 1078 when Malcolm "won the mother of Mael Snechta [that is, King

Lulach's widow]... and all his best men, his treasures and his cattle."12 Maelsnechtai would later die "happily" in 1085 still the "king" (which should read mormaer) of Moray,

according to the Annals of Ulster. Gruoch's great-grandson, Angus, carried on the war

against the house of Canmore through the twelfth century. In 1130, "a battle [was fought] between the men of Scotland and the men of Moray; and in it four thousand of the men of

Moray fell, including their king, Angus, the son of Lulach's daughter."14 There also appears to have been an insurrection in 1116 when "Lodmund, Donald's son, the king of

Scotland's grandson, was killed by the men of Moray."15 R. Andrew McDonald has suggested that this episode may be related to the attack on Alexander I at Invergowrie by,

Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, 100, found in Alexander Grant, "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba," Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, ed. Edward J. Cowan and R. Andrew McDonald (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, Ltd., 2000), 103. 13 Annals of Ulster (1085). Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 2, 46. In Irish terms, Macbeth was probably regarded as a king. 14 Annals of Ulster (1130). Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 2, 173. For a more detailed account of the Moray rebellion against the crown, see - R. Andrew McDonald, '"Soldiers Most Unfortunate': Gaelic and Scoto-Norse Opponents of the Canmore Dynasty, c. 1100-c. 1230," in History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700-1560, ed. R. Andrew McDonald (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 93- 119. 15 Annals of Ulster (1116). Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 2, 160.

8 according to Walter Bower, "ruffians of the Mearns and Moray." What this means is that Macbeth was affiliated with a family and province of Scotland that remained hostile towards the Scottish crown for decades after he was king.

This would certainly not endear him to the historians of future generations writing to legitimize the Scottish royal family, ruling over a supposed independent and unified realm. Consider what John of Fordun had to say about the people of Moray:

At this time [1163], the rebel nation of the Moravienses, whose former lord, namely, the Earl Angus, had been killed by the Scots, would, for neither prayers nor bribes, neither treaties nor oaths, leave off their disloyal ways, or their ravages among their fellow-countrymen. So having gathered together a large army, the king [Malcolm IV] removed them all from the land of their birth.17

A challenge to the royal house of Scotland came to be interpreted as a threat to the very institution that safeguarded Scotland's independence. As such, Macbeth would undergo a lengthy process of vilification throughout the later middle ages, despite there being no evidence in contemporary records to support these claims.

The Chronicle of Marianus Scottus is perhaps the most reliable source that describes the reign of Macbeth. A contemporary of Macbeth, Marianus (1028-1082/3) was an Irishman who appears to have left Ireland in 1056 to preach and study in what is today Germany. He became a monk at Koln, and retired in Mainz, where he wrote his

Chronicon in the 1070s. Marianus lived in the Isles while Macbeth was king, and

R. Andrew McDonald, Outlaws of Medieval Scotland: Challenges to the Canmore Kings, 1058-1266 (Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2003), 23. 17 John of Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, ed. William F. Skene, trans. Felix J. H. Skene (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1872), 251-252. According to Stephen Boardman, Fordun identified himself with the north-eastern area of the Lowlands which the present author presumes would not have endeared him to the rebellious people of the North who posed a constant threat to the southern-based kingdom (Stephen Boardman, "Chronicle Propaganda in Fourteenth-Century Scotland: Robert the Steward, John of Fordun and the 'Anonymous Chronicle'," The Scottish Historical Review 76 (April 1997): 24). 18 Alan Orr Anderson, ed. Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286 (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), lxxviii.

9 composed his history shortly after the death of Macbeth; in fact, Marianus's amanuensis was from Scotland,19 so the Chronicon is linked more closely to the reign of Macbeth than any other record. However, there are several chroniclers who document the reign of

Macbeth in a similar manner to Marianus, and their work merits further discussion as well.20

Marianus's brief passage on Macbeth's accession to the throne (1040) is a fair representation of how the early chroniclers wrote about the king's rise to power:

"Duncan, the king of Scotland, was killed in autumn, (on the nineteenth day before the

Kalends of September,) by his earl, Macbeth, Findlaech's son; who succeeded to the kingdom, [and reigned] for seventeen years."21 Very little with regard to Macbeth's character can be pulled from this account. An entry in the Chronicle of the Kings of

Scotland under the year 1040 is analogous to Marianus's version, while the information provided under the heading "1005-1034" in the Prose and Verse Chronicles is also comparable, [s.a. 1034] This Malcolm [II] had no son; but a daughter, who was the wife of Crin[an], the abbot of Dunkeld. And by her he begot a son, Duncan by name; who for six years was king of Scotland. Macbeth, son of Findlaech, struck him a mortal wound. The king died at Elgin.23

19 Nick Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2000), 78. 20 The Annals of Tigernach (1088), The Prose and Verse Chronicles (71098-1263), Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland (c. 1093). 21 Marianus Scottus, Chronicon (c. 1070s), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson. (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 579. 22 Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland (c. 1093), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 581. Although it has been held that this source was originally composed in 1187, it is quite possible, according to Anderson, that it could have been written anytime between 1058 and 1178 (Anderson, xlvi). 23 Prose and Verse Chronicles (71098 - 1263), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 576. The brackets are used for clarity and consistency: Crinan's name appears as "Crini" in the original chronicle, while "Malcolm" is not distinguished as Malcolm II in this text, although given the genealogy and date affixed to this episode, there is no doubt that the text is referring to Malcolm II.

10 Again, what we can extract from these early sources is minimal at best; Duncan was killed, and the son of Findlaech, Macbeth acceded to the throne. There are many questions that these passages leave open to interpretation. How did Macbeth kill Duncan?

Was it Macbeth who killed Duncan personally, or was Duncan simply killed during a battle with Macbeth's soldiers? Did Macbeth have a legitimate claim to the throne, or did he seize the throne in a power vacuum based solely on his military prowess? These are important questions that can only be answered with a substantial amount of guesswork leading to tentative conclusions that are stained with the words 'likely', 'probably',

'possibly' and so forth. Unfortunately, these suggestive indicators prove necessary while discussing Macbeth's life, as presenting information in an unequivocal manner is misleading. Rarely can anything be said about Macbeth's character and motives with a meaningful degree of certainty.

Similarly, the passages describing Macbeth's death provide few glimpses into the life of the eleventh-century king. Tigernach's Annals states succinctly: "Macbeth,

Findlaech's son, sovereign of Scotland, was slain by Malcolm, Duncan's son."24 The

Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland divulges little more, giving to us only Macbeth's place of death and burial: "Macbeth, Findlaech's son, reigned for seventeen years. And he was killed in Lumphanan by Malcolm, Duncan's son; and was buried in the island of Iona."

This is of little value to understanding Macbeth the man; however, the fact that he was

Tigernach, Annals (c. 1088), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 600. Little is known about the original composition of the Annals of Tigernach. A note under the year 1088 in the Annals, which marks the end of the section dating from 1017 to 1088 and the beginning of its continuation from 1088 to 1178, states that "Down to this, Tigernach wrote. In [10]88 he rested," while according to the Annals of Ulster, in 1088, "Tigernach Ua- Broein, airchinnech of Clonmacnoise [Ireland], rested in Christ" (Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, xcv). 25 Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland (c. 1093), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 600.

11 buried at Iona, the traditional burial ground of Scottish kings, suggests that his rule was accepted as legitimate, despite the claims of later chroniclers.

There is another 'death passage' that provides for us some detail useful in deducing additional information about Macbeth:

Mac Finlay26 was slain in August. Lulach succeeded and was slain in March; and Malcolm succeeded him. Malcolm, son of Duncan, governed Scotland. Duncan reigned for five years, that is from the mass of St. Andrew to the same and beyond, to the nativity of St. Mary. Then Mac Finlay reigned seven teen years to the same mass of St. Mary. Lulach reigned from the nativity of St. Mary to the mass of St. Patrick in the month of March. Then Malcolm reigned for twenty years, to the mass of St. Patrick.27

Macbeth must have had a significant support network, and a good number of the ruling political community must have found his reign agreeable since Macbeth's stepson Lulach succeeded to the throne despite Malcolm's successful invasion and slaying of Macbeth.

In fact, when considering the system of tanistry, the crown should have reverted to

Duncan's line, and Malcolm should have been crowned king. This seems to attest to either Macbeth's popularity or his powerful political hold over the kingdom. Either way, this deduction is exclusively a nineteenth- through twenty-first-century interpretation of events,28 and is difficult to prove definitively, although logically it makes sense.

Macbeth reigned for seventeen years. Unfortunately, there are but few surviving documents that provide any kind of accurate depiction of his character and administrative capabilities during the course of his kingship. What survives is an entry in the Annals of

Tigernach (d. 1088), that describes a battle which occurred in Scotland in 1045. Macbeth,

Mac Finlay is another name for Macbeth, it simply means 'son of Findlaech', Macbeth's father. 27 Marianus Scottus, Chronicon (c. 1070s), Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: A.D. 500 to 1286, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1991), 86. 28 See Ellis, Macbeth: High King of Scotland: 1040-57, 91, and Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 69.

12 however, is not mentioned by name, nor is the reigning 'King of Scotland' referred to.

Within the Annals it is simply stated that "A battle [was fought] between Scots, upon a united expedition; and Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld, [father of Duncan,] was killed in it; and many along with him, namely nine score fighting men." Alan Orr Anderson has argued that this battle was without doubt a rebellion raised against Macbeth by the former king's

an faction, likely conducted with the hope of restoring Duncan's lineage to the throne through Malcolm. If this battle was indeed representative of a rebellion against Macbeth, then the king clearly had substantial support from his subjects enabling him to achieve victory and preserve his hold on the realm for another nine years before his position was again under attack.

In 1054 Macbeth was defeated and put to flight by an invading army, but he appears to have maintained control of his crown until his death in 1057. The most contemporary passage describing the invasion is rather cryptic, "A battle [was fought] between Scots and English; and in it many soldiers fell."31 It is challenging to pluck anything meaningful from this record. Although dated to the twelfth century, there are several surviving sources that describe the events of 1054 in greater detail, most of which are in relative agreement with one another. Florence of Worcester's (d. 1118) Chronicon ex Chronicis is representative in its statement that, At this time [1054] earl Siward [of Northumbria] went with a great army into Scotland, by king Edward's command with an army of horse and a strong fleet, and slew many thousand Scots and, and all the Northmen.... And he put Macbeth to flight, and, as the king had commanded, set up as

Tigernach, Annals (c. 1088), Early Sources of Scottish History, 583. Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 584. Tigernach, Annals (c. 1088), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 592.

13 king Malcolm, son of the king of the Cumbrians.

The Chronicle of Melrose, compiled between 1178 and 1198 from earlier historical notes, reiterates this information precisely.33

These sources are, however, somewhat misleading, indicating that Malcolm succeeded to the Scottish throne after this campaign. In fact Macbeth was not deposed in

1054. The likely explanation for this 'error' is that Malcolm assumed control of his ancestral lands of Cumbria, and probably came to dominate the southern areas of

Scotland, while Macbeth was forced to retreat to his stronghold in the north, Moray. Both would have controlled their respective territories, so Malcolm would have governed

Cumbria and the surrounding area as a king, but Macbeth remained the king of Scotland in name, at least, until Malcolm defeated and killed him in battle in 1057.

Although lacking detail, the most accurate source describing Siward's invasion is the Anglo Saxon Chronicle which states, "In this year [1054] earl Siward marched with a great host into Scotland, and made great slaughter of Scots and put them to flight, but the king escaped. On his [Siward's] side fell many, both Danes and English, also his own son."34 Once again the absence of any significant depth in this source makes it virtually impossible to determine anything about Macbeth's ability to command and lead his forces. What can be deduced, in much the same way as Crinan's rebellion indicated, is that Macbeth must have had substantial support and a respectable degree of approval within his realm in order to face Malcolm's English-backed invasion. Even in defeat,

32 Florence of Worcester (c. 1118) "Chronicon ex Chronicis," Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, A.D. 500 to 1286, ed. Alan O. Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1991), 85. 33 Chronicle of Melrose (1178-1198), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 593. 34 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. G. N. Garmonsway (London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1960), MS. E, 184.

14 Macbeth managed to hang on to his crown for three more years, attesting to either his prowess as commander or his popularity, and maybe both.

Not discussed in Scottish chronicles is Macbeth's sheltering of Norman fugitives in 1052 following the return of the Godwins to England.35 This episode is, however, briefly mentioned in Florence of Worcester's Chronicon: "And Osbern, surnamed

Pentecost, and his ally Hugh rendered up their castles; and by permission of earl Leofric went through his country, and were received by Macbeth, king of the Scots." Celtic laws of hospitality and social code, it has been argued, were the motives that dictated

Macbeth's act of hospitality toward the Normans. This may be true to some extent, but to limit Macbeth's reasons for accepting the Normans to custom alone ignores the obvious political dynamic of his action. This is the first recorded presence of Normans in

Scotland, and Macbeth would have benefited from their expertise and military skills.38

Furthermore Macbeth may have known Malcolm was staying at the court of Edward the

Confessor, and perhaps he was beginning to appreciate the seriousness of this looming external threat as the exiled prince matured into adulthood. Macbeth's acceptance of the

Norman refugees, therefore, seems likely to have occurred in pursuit of a political and military alliance. The Scottish monarch could have understood very well the potential threat from the south. If true, then Macbeth was demonstrating a certain level of aptitude and awareness, which gives us some insight into his character.

Godwin, the earl of Wessex and his son Harold were exiled from England in 1051 by Edward the Confessor following Godwin's opposition to the king's Norman favourites. The Godwins returned in 1052 and by show of force were restored to their positions of influence and authority. 36 Florence of Worcester (c. 1118) "Chronicon ex Chronicis," Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, 84. 37 Peter Berresford Ellis, Macbeth: High King of Scotland: 1040-57 (London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1980), 81-82. 38 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 84.

15 One of the more influential early records of Macbeth's kingship is found in an entry in Marianus Scottus's Chronicon written under the year 1050: "The king of

Scotland, Macbeth, scattered money like seed to the poor, at Rome."39 Curiously, this rarely comes up in later histories, possibly because historians felt the need to omit any evidence that would suggest a religious and pious side to the supposed 'usurping tyrant' that Macbeth comes to personify. Along similar lines, a notice of a gift found in the St.

Andrews Register, transcribed in the thirteenth century from earlier contemporary accounts, confirms that the Culdees of Lochleven received the lands of Kyrkness as a grant from Macbeth and Gruoch, "Rex et Regina Scottorum."40 Also recorded in the St.

Andrews Register is a land grant of Bolgyne from Macbeth "with the utmost veneration and devotion" to the Church of Saint Serf.41 Given that a considerable number of the few sources detailing Macbeth's kingship are church-related, it is tempting to describe the medieval monarch as a very pious king. Such a conclusion would, however, be misleading, as Nick Aitchison has pointed out that Macbeth simply appears to have

"conformed to the established practices of kingship in eleventh-century Scotland" and medieval Europe.42

There is no confirmation of Macbeth's pilgrimage to Rome recorded by the

Vatican, which has led some historians to presume that, in fact, he never visited the Holy

See. However, supposing that such a venture was not overly unique to men of the Isles, as Sitric, the king of Dublin (1028 or 1034?), Cnut, the king of England (1027/1031?),

39 Marianus Scottus, Chronicon, Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 588. 40 Registr. Prior. St. Andreae, "Notitiae of Grants by Macbeth and Gruoch, King and Queen of Scots, to the Church of Saint Serf, A.D. 1040-1057," ed. Archibald C. Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters Prior to 1153 (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1905), 5. 41 "Notitiae of Grants by Macbeth and Gruoch" in Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters Prior to 1153, 6. 42 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 77,83. Peter Berresford Ellis also makes note of this in Macbeth: High King of Scotland 1040-57AD, 74-75.

16 the earl Tostig (1061), and Thorfinn, earl of Orkney and Caithness all traveled to Rome, it is nevertheless worth noting that Macbeth successfully completed a pilgrimage to

Rome simply because he was the only Scottish king to do so.

There are many possible motives for Macbeth's journey to Rome: perhaps he was seeking to absolve his sins, specifically the murder of Duncan; maybe he was looking to secure recognition and legitimization of his position as king of Scotland on an international level through the Church, and on a divine level with the pope's support; and in a similar fashion, it is conceivable that Macbeth aimed to present Scotland as part of the greater European community for political as well as economic reasons. There remains the possibility that Macbeth was inspired to undertake his pilgrimage to Rome after meeting with Cnut in 1031. It is written under the heading "1031" in the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle that "Cnut went to Rome. In the same year he went to Scotland, and Malcolm, the king of Scots, submitted to him and two other kings, Maelbeth and Iehmarc."43 If this

'Maelbeth' is Macbeth, the 'king' of Moray, then there is a problem with the dating of this episode since Macbeth was not the mormaer, or 'king' of Moray until after the death of Gillecomgain in 1032. If Macbeth was in fact part of this affair, then it is reasonable to presume that Cnut, fresh from his trip to Rome, would have discussed his pilgrimage with the Scots. Ultimately, Macbeth's motivation for traveling to Rome could have been based on one, some, all, or none of these reasons. As will be discussed later, this is precisely why Macbeth has always been so appealing to historians over the last millennium: his character and motives are entirely open to interpretation which makes it easy to manipulate his history according to historians' contemporary imperatives.

43 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS. E - 157, 159.

17 Macbeth's pilgrimage to Rome contributes some constructive insight into the development of twelfth-century positive reflections of his reign. If later chroniclers were informed of the king's journey to the Holy See through Marianus Scottus's documentation of the event, then the way in which he presented his material may have had a lot to do with the commendable interpretations of Macbeth's kingship. As mentioned earlier, Marianus wrote that "Macbeth, scattered money like seed to the poor, at Rome." In his colossal compilation of early medieval sources, Alan O. Anderson posits that Marianus chose these words "possibly with a suggestion of advantage to be reaped."44 In this manner, through his charitable deed in Rome, Macbeth was sowing the seeds of fruitful seasons in Scotland: no good deed goes unrewarded. The Prose and

Verse Chronicles, originally composed sometime between 1098 and 1263,45 states that

"Macbeth became king of Scotland, for seventeen years; and in his reign there were productive seasons. But Duncan's son, named Malcolm, cut him off by a cruel death, in

Lufnaut."46 This is apparently the earliest record of Scotland enjoying a period of prosperity under Macbeth's rule. Nothing of the sort is mentioned in Marianus Scottus's

Chronicon and Tigernach's Annals, the two sources most closely related by date to

Macbeth's reign. In fact, Macbeth was "cut... off by a cruel death," which suggests that his untimely demise was a cause of sorrow for the Scots.

The idea that Scotland was thriving while Macbeth sat on the throne was expanded upon and made more elaborate in the Prophecy ofBerchan (c? 1165-1169),

Afterwards the Red king will take the kingdom of high, field-faced Scot land. After slaughter of Gaels, after slaughter of Foreigners, the generous

Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 588. 45 They appear as we know them as interpolations in the Chronicle of Melrose without being dated which makes it difficult to determine the years of their composition. 46 Prose and Verse Chronicles (71098-1263), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 601.

18 king of Fortriu will take [Scotland]. The ruddy, pale-yellow-haired, tall one, I shall be joyful in him. Scotland will be brimful, in the west and in the east, during the reign of the furious Red one. For twenty years, and ten years, the sovereign reigning over Scotland; in the middle of Scone he will bleed to death, on the evening of a night, after a wound.47

Although there appears to be little evidence to suggest that it is the reign of Macbeth that the Prophecy is describing (after all, Macbeth ruled for 17 years, not 30), the account does not match the reign of any other king, and modern historians agree that the passage refers to Macbeth.48 Once more we find Scotland in a state of abundance. Under the leadership of the "generous king" Scotland is "brimful, in the west and in the east."49

Macbeth's charitable act in Rome, which could be the reason why he is called the

"generous king," would certainly prove appealing to the Christian monks recording the history of the Scottish kingship, and so it follows that they would look favourably upon the reign of the only Scottish king to visit Rome, the institutional focal point of their universe. As Macbeth casts seed to the poor in Rome, the land flourishes with fecundity in Scotland.

It should be noted that Nick Aitchison has hypothesized that the "twenty years, and ten years" referred to in the Prophecy ofBerchan, was actually the method by which the poet wished for Macbeth a lengthy reign, which in turn, indicates that the poem was

47 Prophecy ofBerchan (c. 71165-1169), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 601. The Prophecy ofBerchan was "a Middle-Irish historical poem, written in the form of a prophecy, and ascribed to an abbot Berchan." The second part of the poem in which Macbeth appears was written by an unknown composer sometime between 1165 and 1169 (Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, xxxiv-xxxv). 48 Nick Aitchison, G. W. S. Barrow and Peter Berresford Ellis. 49 The connection between the king's character and the condition of the land is a common Celtic motif, and not unique to descriptions of Macbeth. Under the kingship of Constantine II, for example, it is prophesized in the Prophecy ofBerchan that "Scotland will be full from his day," as he proves himself, "a king of the kings" - Prophecy ofBerchan (c. 71165-1169), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 447- 448.

19 composed during Macbeth's kingship. If this were the case, then Marianus Scottus's record would have had no bearing on the Prophecy. This is an interesting proposition; however it is difficult to accept in the absence of additional verifiable evidence. Alan O.

Anderson argued that the mistaken account of the duration of Macbeth's reign, coupled with the flawed report of Malcolm's death described in Berchan's Prophecy suggests the historical poem was written long after the reigns of these medieval monarchs,51 and this conclusion seems far more satisfactory.

It could very well be that Macbeth's actions in Rome garnered him the epithet

"Macbeth of renown."52 While the moniker does not explicitly indicate why Macbeth was famous, and presumably a great deal more famous than his predecessors and successors since he alone carried the title, it is reasonable to believe that his pilgrimage to Rome had something to do with it. Killing Duncan and seizing the Scottish throne would not have bestowed upon Macbeth a higher level of fame, or infamy as later chroniclers interpreted events. The king dying violently through factious wars was relatively common in medieval Scotland: in immediate succession Malcolm I was slain in 954, Indulf perished in 962, Dub was killed in 966, Culen was murdered in 971... and the list goes on. From this perspective, there is no reason to believe that Macbeth's seizure of the throne in 1040 would have been understood as a constitutional crisis, because killing one's predecessor in tenth- and early eleventh-century Scotland did not threaten the constitutional validity of the realm; only retrospectively, with primogeniture firmly established and the very real threat of English overlordship looming over Scotland's independence did Macbeth

50 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 103. 51 Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 2, 58. 52 Duan Albanach (c. 1058-1093), Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 602.

20 become maligned for his actions. Macbeth's fame is therefore far more likely to have come from his journey to Rome, placing him on the greater European stage, and endearing him to monastic writers. What is important to take from this bit of historiography is that within one hundred years of Macbeth's death at the hands of

Malcolm's invading force, his reign was celebrated as a prosperous period for Scotland.

One would assume that as time passed and history slowly blended into mythology,

Macbeth's reign would only become more celebrated for its religious connections given that future generations of chroniclers were all monastic writers by trade. However, the political events of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries would steer the retrospective interpretation of Macbeth's reign in an entirely different direction.

Macbeth's succession to the throne of Scotland was only once described as usurpation by a near contemporary source. It is one thing to take a kingdom by force, quite another to take it illegally. In an insertion in the Chronicle of Melrose it is written:

"Duncan, the king of the Scots, died; and Macbeth usurped to himself his kingdom."53

We must remain careful as to what we read into this usurpation. In the same passage the chronicler does not appear to harbour ill will towards Macbeth as he describes the king's reign as a time of "productive seasons."54 Also, this does not necessarily mean that

Macbeth seized the kingdom illegally without any right or claim to the throne. Duncan was likely named Malcolm II's successor before his grandfather's death in 1034, and this may only have been the case because it looks as though Malcolm was looking to forcefully secure the succession through his immediate bloodline: he killed the grandson

Prose and Verse Chronicles (71098-1263), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 600. Prose and Verse Chronicles (71098-1263), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 601.

21 of Bodhe, a potential claimant from a rival branch of the family in 1033.55 Macbeth's seizure of the crown, therefore, may be considered usurpation only because he used violence to achieve this end. It does not mean that he did not have a legitimate claim to the throne, but this is exactly how John of Fordun came to interpret events in the fourteenth century.56 Fordun appears to have judged Macbeth's usurpation of the crown

(according to the Chronicle of Melrose) as an unlawful abduction of the people's protectorate, the very institution that secured their freedom. As such, in 'usurpation'

Fordun saw 'tyranny'.

55 Annals of Ulster (1033), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 1, 571. 56 This discussion moves from contemporary and near contemporary sources to the fourteenth century, omitting the thirteenth century, for a couple of reasons. Chroniclers during this period were not concerned with retrospective revisions of the past so much as they focused on recording current events for reasons discussed on pages 4-5. Also, when documents from the eleventh century were transcribed into texts during the thirteenth century, these appeared as copies of the originals and so there was no manifestation of new interpretations.

22 Chapter Two: A guidebook on how to manufacture a tyrannical image for an obscure eleventh-century king, 1300-1500

Much like social life, political policy in medieval Scotland was governed by custom; legislation was bound by historical precedent.1 As such, "history, the record of political tradition [which] determined the parameters of political activity," was used by reigning officials to justify their position based on the "authority of the eternal yesterday." In

1301, during the Scottish Wars of Independence, Edward I of England used the history provided by Geoffrey of Monmouth to lay legitimate claim to the throne of Scotland through his ancestry. Edward found in Brutus, the 'first King of Britain' (Britain meaning the whole of the island), the original act of the king passing his crown to his eldest son as the King of England, and the sovereign of Britain. According to Edward, this gave him the right to the overlordship of Scotland. To counteract Edward's claim, the Scots declared their own version of their history stressing their national independence through royal genealogy. Baldred Bisset and the other Scottish delegates sent to Rome to contest the declaration of Edward's overlordship claimed that Scotland had been legally ruled by an unbroken line of 113 kings.3 Through the ninth to twelfth centuries Scottish identity was developed and expressed through the Scoto-Celtic monarchy in order to unite the ethnically diverse peoples of the Scottish kingdom.4

In his Chronica Gentis Scottorum (1371-1387), John of Fordun traced the unbroken line of Scottish kings from their origins in Greece and Egypt in the sixteenth

1 Spiegel, The Past as Text, 84. 2 Spiegel, The Past as Text, 85. 3 Dauvit Broun, "The Picts' Place in the Kingship's Past," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 14. The claim also appears in the Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland's documented national affirmation of independence. 4 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 15.

23 century BC, to the death of David I in 1153, with his Gesta Annalia continuing to the reign of Robert Stewart in 1370. With the establishment of a hereditary monarchy based on direct descent, Macbeth's reign became understood as a break in this otherwise completely legitimate and continuous line, and so the king was chastised as an interloper.

Furthermore, "genealogies also catalyzed pride in a Scottish 'community' by indicating great longevity and a national origin in remote antiquity."5 Macbeth came to be understood as a threat to a Scottish communal pride and sense of national solidarity that was firmly housed within the constitutional kingship now governed by the laws of primogeniture.

Dauvit Broun has argued that although Fordun's chronicle contains passages emphasizing Scotland's freedom, the historical text ultimately fails "to promote a vision of Scotland as the Scottish homeland."6 While there is indeed considerable evidence to support this claim, Fordun's passage describing the Scots' longing for Malcolm's return from exile in England suggests otherwise:

This faithful people... not designing to submit any longer to this uneasy subjection of theirs under a man of their own class, they took this opportunity of giving the rightful heir, by their flight, an opening for surely recovering the kingdom. For, truly, it seems, I think, that the faithful native -born people of any country, when its head, that is to say, its king, has been taken away by violence, or is suffering any humiliation, certainly suffers with him, and grieves for his reproach, as if sorrowing for its own.7

There is a distinct resonance with the idea of 'our homeland' as the "native-born" people, who are clearly the Scots at this point, feel a powerful tie to their land through the

Scottish kingship, the guarantor of its peoples' freedom. On a related note, when Macduff pleas with Malcolm to return to Scotland, he says: "to us all, namely, who, for thee, have

Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 15. 6 Broun, "The Picts' Place in the Kingship's Past," 18-19. 7 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 193.

24 forsaken country, estates, wives, and children, and the nation of our own blood? who, moreover, lately put our lives in peril of death, as was meet, and would do so again in time to come."8 Describing Scotland as "the nation of our blood" certainly conveys a sentimental connection between the people and the land of Scotland, thus making it a

'homeland'. Macbeth threatened the validity of this homeland which is represented by the true line of the Scottish monarchy.

Through tracing royal genealogy, Fordun pointed out that Macbeth in no way had a justifiable blood claim to the throne as he was nothing but "a man of their own class" in relation to the common people of Scotland.9 The Scottish succession crisis of 1290 emphasized the necessity of legal documentation proving a legitimate line of royal succession, as evidenced by Edward's claim to be overlord after the death of Margaret

'Maid of Norway'.10 Couple this with the decree of the Scottish parliament and king, in

1373, that the succession to the crown of Scotland was officially to be passed through the royal family's male line of descent,11 and it is clear that Fordun used Macbeth as an example of the tyranny that would ensue from accepting the rule of a man who was not of appropriate royal stock. Metaphorically describing Macbeth's position, Fordun wrote:

May not, indeed, any body whatsoever deserve to be called a monstrosity, whereof the foot, - the lowest member I mean, - festering with a fiery distemper, and not allayed in time by the hands, with cautery, overrides the more worthy members, and infects its own head with poison, tearing it off,

Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 186-187. 9 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 193. There is also a genealogy table on p. 421 where Macbeth is found to have no royal blood. 10 Curiously, when discussing the history of Scotland's royal lineage in the passages of the Gesta Annalia (Fordun's unfinished work recounting the events between 1153 and 1363) outlining the succession crisis of 1286, Fordun begins with Malcolm III and his wife Margaret, completely ignoring previous kings including Macbeth. Perhaps his aim was to emphasize the purity of the Canmore dynasty which passed legitimately into the Stewart line through the offspring of Walter, the sixth high steward of Scotland and his wife Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I (Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 309-313). 11 Archibald Dunbar, ed., Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005-1625 (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1899), 161.

25 and unnaturally putting itself, instead of the head, upon the neck and shoulders?12

The "worthy members" to whom Fordun was referring are those of aristocratic birth, born by right of their noble character to govern over their countrymen, whereas Macbeth, "the lowest member" - a commoner - poisoned the kingship because he lacked this noble character. So began the myth of Macbeth, created by a chronicler who sought to provide his countrymen with a unifying national identity.

Including the passages inserted into chronicles by later generations of historians

(which mainly appear to be replications of original texts with nothing more than minor scholastic adjustments) Macbeth's historical foundation lies in but a few eleventh-century passages that account for his accession to the throne, his religious pilgrimage, and his defeat and death. Yet between 1371 and 1387, John of Fordun produced a history of

Scotland containing the modern equivalent of fifteen pages of text discussing the reign of

Macbeth. Clearly the historian made full use of artistic liberty. The creative elements added to the Macbeth story by John of Fordun are easily recognizable. Fordun was the first chronicler to categorize Duncan's death as murder: "[Duncan] was, however, murdered through the wickedness of a family, the murderers of his grandfather and great grandfather, the head of which was Machabeus,13 son of Finele; by whom he was privy wounded unto death."14 The "wickedness" ascribed to the house of Moray in this passage clearly testifies to the resentment felt towards the eleventh-through-twelfth-century

Moray separatist movement against the Southern Crown. As a member of the house of

Moray, Macbeth's reputation was doomed as defining and protecting Scotland's royal

12 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 193. 13 Fordun uses a biblical variation of the name 'Macbeth'. 1 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 180.

26 pedigree became the order of the day in the fourteenth century. Historically, Macbeth descended from a family entrenched in a tradition of regicidal behaviour which threatened Scotland's constitutional existence. From this perspective, even if it is grossly inaccurate, it is easy to see why Fordun despised the man of Moray.

The fact that Fordun was the first to describe Macbeth as a tyrant is quite significant as this judgement of the king would dominate historical opinion for the next

450 years. Through the words of Macduff, thane of Fife, Fordun labelled Macbeth "a tyrant king, who... as is usual with all tyrants... exercise[d] his insatiable avarice, and cruel despotism."15 The chronicler also expressed pity for his people "long weighed down by tyranny."16 This seems a far cry from the pilgrim under whom Scotland enjoyed years of prosperity. Because Fordun's account was far more descriptive and enjoyable to read in its narrative format compared to earlier sources, it appeared more complete and acceptable to an audience all too familiar with the danger of having the wrong person on the throne: consider the Bruce versus Balliol episode at the turn of the century.

Fordun was also the first to incorporate the Macduff character into the narrative.

Although the thane of Fife does not feature in any surviving contemporary documentation detailing Macbeth's kingship, John Bannerman has suggested that the traditions associating Macduff with the reigns of Macbeth and Malcolm found in the chronicles of

Fordun and Wyntoun should be accepted as authentic. It could also very well be that the thane of Fife found his way into this story through patronage or political advocacy in the same way Banquo springs onto the stage for the first time in Hector Boece's work.

15 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 189. 16 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 193. 17 John Bannerman, "MacDuff of Fife," in Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, ed. Alexander Grant and Keith J. Stringer (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993), 26.

27 William Skene, the nineteenth-century editor of Felix J. H. Skene's translation of the

Chronica Gentis Scottorum believed that Fordun simply invented the Macduff character, which according to Sally Mapstone, "recent scholarship seems to have confirmed."

The thane of Fife adds an emotional literary component to the account as representative of the Scots people. He escapes from Macbeth's grasp, and flees to

England where he dramatically convinces Malcolm, the rightful heir to the throne, to return to Scotland to rid the land of tyranny.19 While contemporary accounts of

Macbeth's reign proved relatively apolitical, Fordun's history is entirely partisan. The historically Greco-Roman inspired theatrical dialogue between Macduff and Malcolm is an obvious fabrication used to emphasize Macduff's earnest love for his country, while demonstrating Malcolm's perceptive and intelligent nature. The dialogue concludes as follows:

'So, forasmuch as all the kindled torches of unrighteousness are gathered together within thee, and a burning and craving covetousness, and a haughty and unbearable cruelty reign in the breast of thine adversary, neither of you shall ever lord it over me'... and weeping and moaning, [Macduff] looked mournfully northwards, and said: 'Scotland, farewell for ever!'...

Malcolm... feeling now assured of [Macduff's] good faith... asked him to stop and speak with him, saying... 'I am not sensual, or a thief, or faithless; but it was to try thee that I pretended I was given to such faults... Thou shalt bring me back into my land, the land the Lord gave our fathers to dwell in.'?0

Recalling the limited and less-than-descriptive passages outlining Macbeth's reign, it is difficult to accept Fordun's version as legitimate history given the obvious literary dimension to it. Remarkably, this conversation survived through several generations of

Sally Mapstone, "Shakespeare and Scottish Kingship: A Case History," in The Rose and the Thistle: Essays on the Culture of Late Medieval and Renaissance Scotland, ed. Sally Mapstone and Juliette Wood (East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press Ltd., 1998), 168-169. 19 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 181-194. 20 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 190-191.

28 historical texts to wind up in similar fashion in Shakespeare's play; the words have been changed, but the structure is almost identical.21 While it is believed Fordun used some earlier sources that have not survived into the present day,22 and that maybe he incorporated some elements of oral tradition, there is no physical evidence that can prove that Fordun did not manufacture his history of Macbeth in order to satisfy the ideological demands of a post-War-of-Independence Scotland. In this case, it would seem reasonable to presume that this was deliberate historical alteration and misrepresentation.

Recent analysis has uncovered some compelling evidence that confirms the existence of a 'lost chronicle' likely composed at St. Andrews sometime during the thirteenth century, with extensions as far back as the twelfth century, possibly earlier. It has been suggested that John of Fordun used this 'lost chronicle' (or at least a version of it), as did Wyntoun and Bower to produce their respective histories.24 In light of this discovery, there is the inclination to presume that perhaps Fordun built upon previous interpretations of Macbeth found in sources now lost to us. However, while there proves to be substantial evidence that links Fordun's Gesta Annalia, which covers the period between 1153 and 1363, with the 'lost chronicle', this evidence seems to be restricted to passages accounting for events occurring during the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.25 In the absence of examples linking, at the very least, twelfth-century passages to Fordun's work, there is no evidence to suggest that the Chronica Gentis Scottorum,

21 William Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. Robert S. Miola (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2004), 4.3.1-140. 22 Fiona Watson, "The Demonisation of King John," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 31. 23 Dauvit Broun, "A New Look at Gesta Annalia Attributed to John of Fordun," in Church, Chronicle and Learning in Medieval and Early Renaissance Scotland, ed. Barbara E. Crawford (Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 1999), 14. 24 Broun, "A New Look at Gesta Annalia," 9-21. 25 Broun, "A New Look at Gesta Annalia," 14-21.

29 accounting for Scotland's history up to 1153, has any association with possibly lost chronicles.

Further evidence of Fordun's manipulation of events can be found in the very sources he ignores. Fordun makes it known that he was indeed aware of the chronicles of

Marianus Scottus. He discussed "the famous Marianus Scotus's" monastic life and historical contribution, writing: "he examined the chronologers, thought over the discrepancies of the cycles, and added twenty-two years over and above, which were wanting in the aforesaid cycles."26 Fordun's awareness of Marianus's developments clearly suggests that he had in fact, been privy to the information in the monk's

Chronicon. It follows that he would have indeed read about Macbeth's pilgrimage to

Rome, which apparently he deliberately overlooked when fashioning his own chronicle.

A journey to the Holy See would certainly appear out of character for a murderous tyrant, and so the episode was omitted. Perhaps Fordun attempted to justify this exclusion when writing of Marianus: "he had few followers in his opinion." 27 But even if that were true, it is rather suspicious that the only primary source Fordun discussed and ignored in his account is a source that provided information that would have led to a positive interpretation of Macbeth's reign. As Scotland's first great historical anthology, Fordun's

Chronica Gentis Scottorum was also the first Scottish historical work with a comprehensive political agenda. The relative tabula rasa of Macbeth's seventeen year reign, and the monarch's connection to the house of Moray no doubt played a massive role in Fordun's modified history, which was framed to safeguard the constitutional kingship and Scotland's independence.

26 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 183. 27 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 183.

30 Writing in the early fifteenth century, Andrew of Wyntoun is largely responsible for demonizing the life of Macbeth. He was a prior of St Serfs, Lochleven (coincidently the very same place that received a land grant from King Macbeth) and historian, and wrote his Original Chronicle (1420) under what appears to have been intense religious anxiety. Wyntoun lived in a Scotland that was coming out of a century of catastrophic devastation. The Wars of Independence and the Black Death caused such widespread death that the average Scot was not equipped emotionally or intellectually to deal with the situation. People turned to supernatural explanations,28 and/or the Church to mitigate their fears of damnation. Wyntoun was greatly influenced by the events of the fourteenth century as well as the early fifteenth century, believing heavily in the supernatural; witch persecution was on the rise in Europe, specifically between 1375 and

1435, and in respect to his chapters concerning Macbeth, he demonstrates significant distress over the practices of witchcraft and diabolism. It is no small wonder that

Wyntoun's version of the history of Macbeth is riddled with creative supernatural elements which he used to present Macbeth in true Mephistophelian form.

According to the prior of St. Serf's, Macbeth was conceived from a sexual encounter between his mother and the devil:

Fra bis person wipe hir had playide And had be iourne wip hir don, Pat he had gottyn on hir a son, And he pe dewil was pat hym gat And bade hir noucht be fleyit for bat, Bot said bat hir son suld be A man of gret state and bounte, And na man sulde [be] born of wif

28 Carter Lindberg, The European Reformations (Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2003), 28. 29 Lindberg, The European Reformations, 32. 30 Christina Larner, Enemies of God: The Witch-hunt in Scotland (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981), 17.

31 Off powar to reiff hym his lif.

The passage contains elements clearly influenced by fairy-tale type stories. Not only is

Macbeth literally demonized as the son of the devil, but fantastic prophecy is introduced as well, as Macbeth, a quasi-supernatural being, cannot be killed by anyone naturally born of a woman. However, Wyntoun's fable reaches its climax as Macduff proclaims while battling Macbeth:

I was neuir born Bot of my modyr wayme was schorn. Now sal bi tresson here tak ende, And til bi fadyr I sal be sende.32

The villainous usurper is killed by the heroic knight in the battle of good versus evil and all ends well with the restoration of Duncan's line to the throne. Wyntoun's emphasis on

Macbeth's death can be attributed to the importance of the reestablishment of order and the legitimate line of kings, as he wrote "to demonstrate, by means of its history, that

Scotland was a proper, independent state."33 Macbeth threatened the sanctity of what historically and constitutionally defined Scotland as an independent state, and so for

Wyntoun, and his readers, Macbeth became the embodiment of evil.

It is within the pages of Wyntoun's Original Chronicle that we find the origins of all the supernatural elements that have been associated with Shakespeare's play. Not only is Macbeth killed by a man shorn from his mother's womb, but the three witches are introduced for the first time as well:

And pa women pan thoucht he Thre werd systeris mast lyk to be.

31 Andrew of Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, ed. F.J. Amours (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1906), 279. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 301. 33 Alexander Grant, "The Middle Ages: the Defence of Independence," in Why Scottish History Matters, ed. Rosalind Mitchison (Edinburgh: The Saltire Society, 1991) 15.

32 I>e first he herd say gangande by: "Lo, 3ondyr be thayne of Crwmbathy!" E>e topir woman said again: "Off Mwrray 3ondyr is be thayne." Pe third ban said: "I se be kynge."

... Off bir thaynedomys he thayn was made Syne next he thoucht for to be kynge.34

History was swiftly becoming mythology. The fear of witchcraft would hold strong in public consciousness; some later historians had no problem accepting Wyntoun's supernatural elements, and the Original Chronicle provided historical evidence and a precedent of witches diabolically affecting Scottish affairs, a link that could later be drawn to James VI's terrifying and almost-deadly voyage home from Denmark in 1590 when witches were blamed for the violent weather at sea.

Even the story that Macbeth would not lose his crown until Birnam Wood "shall come against him" has its roots in Wyntoun's chronicle. After Malcolm's invasion is launched, his forces find out that,

... Makbethe ay In fanton fretis had gret fay, And trowit had in sic fantasy, Be bat he trowit stedfastly, Neuir discomfit for to be Qwhil wipe his eyne he sulde se I>e wode be broucht of Brynnane Til be hil of Dunsynnane. 6

Prophecy manifests itself once more as Malcolm's soldiers disguise themselves with wood and bush and advance on Macbeth's position.37

Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 275. Shakespeare, Macbeth, 4.1.94. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 299. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 301.

33 The theatrical elements in Wyntoun's history make it difficult to accept that his chronicles were influenced by any legitimate sources, and yet, somewhat surprisingly, he references three very important documents pertaining to the reign of Macbeth, who as

Wyntoun states, "grew, as 3he herde, to gre fayme,"38 which indicates that he likely read the Duan Albanach. Like John of Fordun, Wyntoun had access to some form of Marianus

Scottus's Chronicon, but unlike Fordun, who failed to provide any redeeming qualities in

Macbeth, Wyntoun neither ignored nor dismissed Marianus's material; in fact, it appears as though he did not ignore any documentation he came across. Wyntoun does not seem to have any problem accepting that,

Qwhen pape was Leo be [nynt] in Rome, As pilgrayme to be cowrt he coyme, And in his almus he sew siluir Til al pure folk pat had mystare; In al tyme oyssit he to wyrk Profetabilly for halikyrk.40

An association is made between Macbeth's good works in Rome and the success of the

Church in Scotland. The devil's son went on a pilgrimage to Rome? How could this be?

Amazingly, Wyntoun also writes that,

And sewynteyn wyntir ful regnande As kynge he was ban in Scotlande. All his tyme was gret plente Habundande bathe on lande and se. He was in [iustice] richt lauchful.41

Macbeth's reign is described as a plentiful and lawful period, which proves that Wyntoun had researched the passages detailing Macbeth's reign in the Chronicle of Melrose and/or the Prophecy ofBerchan. It is difficult to understand the motivation behind this

Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 279. "he" being Macbeth. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 277. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 211.

34 paradoxical interpretation of Macbeth's kingship. On the one hand Macbeth is portrayed as a wonderful king, visiting the Holy See and bringing justice and abundance to

Scotland; on the other hand, he is the murderous son of the devil.

Another peculiarity in Wyntoun's text is his emphasis on Macbeth's noble birth.

He places Macbeth in the royal family as Duncan's "systyr son." A. A. M. Duncan stresses that there is no substantial evidence in the Irish genealogies to support this claim, and that Wyntoun would have felt compelled to provide a hereditary title for Macbeth because of the "legally-minded" age in which he lived.43 This genealogical assertion fits awkwardly into the text because, much like the positive description of Macbeth's reign, it seems to give Macbeth's reign some legitimacy. Wyntoun produced his history based on oral traditions and sources that no longer survive and perhaps it is within these sources that he found sufficient evidence to suggest that Macbeth was so closely linked to

Malcolm II and Duncan. Either way, it is difficult to prove Wyntoun's motive for placing

Macbeth in the royal family, since Fordun, only a few decades earlier, had no problem depicting Macbeth as a man without title to the throne, a simple commoner.

Some historians maintain that Wyntoun was "obviously ignorant of Fordun's chronicle,"44 and so he would not have had the definitive precedent to affirm that

Macbeth had no hereditary claim to the throne. However, Macduff appears in Wyntoun's history fulfilling an identical role to the one exhibited in Fordun's chronicle, and furthermore, the conversation that takes place between Macduff and Malcolm in

Wyntoun's Original Chronicle is analogous to the one recorded in the Chronica Gentis

Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 273. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, 34. Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 105.

35 Scottorum. No existing documentation of Macduff predates Fordun's narrative, which means that Wyntoun must have had access to Fordun's chronicle, or that both chroniclers based their respective histories on the same source that no longer survives. If indeed

Fordun and Wyntoun were both using this earlier source, then what could account for the discrepancies between their two texts? Why is Macbeth part of the royal family in one and not the other? Why is Wyntoun's account loaded with supernatural elements and some positive features of Macbeth's reign, while Fordun's account is completely devoid of these elements? If Wyntoun had access to Marianus Scottus's Chronicon, the Duan

Albanach, the Chronicle of Melrose and/or the Prophecy ofBerchan, then why is it not conceivable that he had access to Fordun's text? It is certainly possible that Wyntoun used the general structure of the history of Macbeth as described by Fordun, and incorporated other source material including some oral elements. Wyntoun's confused account may be the result of the historian trying to synthesize conflicting reports about

Macbeth who is described as just and pious and murderous and evil, the latter interpretation winning out in the end because of Macbeth's unconstitutional usurpation of the crown.

Nora K. Chadwick has suggested that the supernatural elements associated with

Wyntoun's account originated in oral saga which was likely transcribed into a register

(now lost), as part of the St. Andrews Register.46 Many of the fantastical aspects of the

Original Chronicle coincide with the well established Celtic story-telling tradition, which at this point was centuries old. Chadwick calls attention to Macbeth's conception story:

The picture of the devil as of exceeding fair countenance and tall and fine

45 Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 291-295, and Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 184-190. 46 Nora K. Chadwick, "The story of Macbeth: a study in Celtic and Norse traditions," Scottish Gaelic Studies 6:2 (Sept. 1949), 197-198.

36 figure, and his appearance to Macbeth's mother, and his prophecy about the fame of her royal son, recall the story of the appearance of Manannan mac Lir to the mother of Mongan, in the early Irish story of the Compert Mongain, and that of Lug mac Ethnenn in the Compert ConCulainn.47

There is clearly a case to make that Wyntoun adopted mythical components from oral saga and that conceivably he had access to the folios, known as the Historia, of the lost

Register. However, there is no reason to assume that the Historia necessarily presented features of witchery and Macbeth in the same story. There is nothing in the contemporary documents that would support this position. Perhaps Wyntoun simply fused tales of witchcraft to Macbeth's history in order to satisfy a political end. Vilifying Macbeth through accusations of diabolism is far more in tune with the spirit of the fifteenth century than centuries-previous when public perceptions of witchcraft (in hostile fashion) do not appear to have been anywhere near as pervasive.48

Macbeth's tyrannical persona was preserved through the fifteenth century in the

Scotichronicon (1440s), a text written by the abbot of Inchcolm, Walter Bower, which largely reflected Fordun's interpretation of Scottish history, as it was intended to be a continuation and expansion of the Chronica Gentis Scottorum. As a stalwart supporter of the Stewart monarchy, Bower's political aims mirrored those of Fordun, stressing the genealogy of the royal bloodline to ensure the integrity and legality of the independent

Scottish monarchy. Because Bower predominantly relied on Fordun's chronicle in the production of his history, none of the supernatural elements found in Wyntoun's work appear in his Scotichronicon, which indicates that either the abbot of Inchcolm never had access to the Original Chronicle, or he simply dismissed it.

Chadwick, "The story of Macbeth," 209. Larner, Enemies of God, 17.

37 The Scotichronicon is very much a patriotic history of Scotland. Following

Fordun's emphasis on constitutional lineage as the symbol of Scotland's state identity,

Bower's depiction of Macbeth as an unjust usurper is a near replica of Fordun's vision.

The Stewart bloodline could be traced through the eldest daughter of Robert Bruce (r.

1306-1329), Margery, who conceived her son Robert with Walter the Steward (Stewart).

Robert would later become the king of Scotland, ruling the kingdom between 1371 and

1390. Therefore, the Stewarts could trace their ancestry continuously through the Scottish royal bloodline down through Duncan and his predecessors with but a few exceptions.

Macbeth, who happened to be one of these exceptions, was portrayed accordingly.49

Bower wrote of Duncan, ancestor of the house of Stewart:

This good quality in particular was inborn in him that he never allowed any discord to arise among the nobles in the kingdom either in his own time or his grandfather's; but immediately on hearing of it he prudently restored harmony. Should not such a king be greatly revered, should he not be loved and honoured by all the inhabitants of the kingdom? Alas for the wicked arts of treachery, alas for the accursed arts of betrayal!... He was killed through wickedness of the family of the murderers of both his grandfather and great-grandfather, chief among whom was Macbeth son of Findlaech, by whom he was fatally wounded in secret at Bothgofnane.5

Notice the parallels to Fordun's account discussed earlier; the first and last four lines are virtually identical to the passage found in the Chronica Gentis Scottorum. The only significant difference is Bower's additional rhetoric surrounding Duncan, who is so magnificent a king that he should be "revered," "loved," and "honoured by all the inhabitants of the kingdom."51 Duncan's son, Malcolm, the man who defeated and killed

Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 115. 50 Walter Bower, Scotichronicon, vol. 2, ed. D. E. R. Watt (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1989), 421. 51 This interpolation is an example of Bower's attempt to celebrate the Stewart dynasty's ancestry through past kings.

38 Macbeth, as Bower would have it, is, like his father, praised highly: "King Malcolm was quite unassuming, brave-hearted and spirited, very powerful in bodily strength and daring, not rash but dependable, endowed with many other good qualities."53 Again, this excerpt mirrors Fordun's words almost exactly.54 The similarities continue: Macbeth's rule is declared a "tyrannous regime" where the Scots lived through "distressful subjection under a man of no higher rank than themselves."55 Fordun's precedent of explicitly stating that Macbeth was not part of the royal family was also perpetuated by

Bower as he sought to rob Macbeth of any kingly dignity.

There is one major digression from Fordun's chronicle, however, that seems to deal more with James II's minority and issues of a successful kingship in fifteenth- century Scotland. After briefly outlining Duncan's reign, and just before discussing

Macbeth's kingship, Bower included a small treatise entitled The duty of a king is threefold.56 The abbot of Inchcolm reasoned that,

Kings ought to observe three functions, namely that they establish reasonable laws by their wisdom, secondly that they bring malefactors to justice by means of their power, thirdly that they grant mercy to those who need it freely and compassionately. And in response to these three functions their subjects ought to show three qualities, honour, fear and love. For a king who establishes rational laws wisely deserves to be held in honour; a king who punishes rebels through his power ought to be feared; but above all he who rules mercifully ought to be loved.57

The passage's location between the reigns of Duncan and Macbeth, two kingships that proved ultimately unsuccessful, is best understood as a 'how to' guide for kings, written

Walter Bower, Scotichronicon. vol. 3, ed. D. E. R. Watt (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1995), 19. Scotichronicon, vol. 3, 31. 54 Fordun writes, "He was a king very humble in heart, bold in spirit, exceeding strong in bodily strength, daring, though not rash, and endowed with many other good qualities" (Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 194). 5 Scotichronicon, vol. 3, 21. 56 Scotichronicon, vol. 2,423,425. Scotichronicon, vol. 2,423.

39 in the 'mirror of princes' tradition and in some ways anticipating Hector Boece's instructional history some eighty odd years later. Although a proven leader and loved by his people, Duncan erred when dealing with a faction under suspicion of treason, in that he failed to either win over the opposition through friendship, or "put them down" by law. According to the abbot of Inchcolm, the king's conflict with his rebellious subjects and how he is able to effectively manipulate the qualities of honour, fear and love will ultimately determine his level of success. Macbeth's downfall stems from his lack of mercy, the most important quality in a king which earns him the love of his people.

Macbeth's treatment of Macduff is an appropriate example of Macbeth's inability to show clemency:

Because the king, guided by anger rather than reason, had too precipitately made a man of such energy and power an exile or disinherited without a decree of the general council and nobles, they said that it was completely unjust that any noble or commoner should be condemned by a summary sentence of exile or disinheritance, before he was called to court on a lawful day at the statutory time. And possibly, they said, when he came at that time he would clear himself according to the laws and go free.59

Macbeth's seizure of the thane of Fife's lands and estates and the enforced exile of the energetic and powerful noble is seen as too harsh a punishment. It is quite compelling that this episode is directly linked to Macbeth's downfall as the banished Macduff seeks company with the exiled Malcolm in England, and there convinces the rightful heir to return and depose Macbeth.

Bower's aim was to provide his contemporary audience, specifically James II (r.

1437-60), with the necessary qualities of good kingship. This emphasis on mercy stems from complicated episodes of judgement during James I's reign (1406-1437). James I

58 Scotichronicon, vol. 2,421. 59 Scotichronicon, vol. 3, 439.

40 demonstrated his "grace" when he spared the life of the rebellious Alexander Lord of the

Isles,60 but failed to show mercy to Walter Stewart, the heir to the dukedom of Albany, whom he condemned to death along with his father and brother in 1425. According to

Bower, Walter Stewart was "most loving as a person, very wise in his speech, highly pleasing to everybody and loved by all."61 Much of James I's reign was filled with executions and Bower seems to be suggesting that the decision to execute a man must be given due consideration, lest the wrong man be judged too harshly. The advisors to James in the case of the Albany family were prominent members of the Douglas family and the earl of Atholl. Atholl later sponsored James's assassination, while the Douglases tried to wrestle power from James II.

The connection between James I, the Stewart dynasty and the kingship's ancestral past in Duncan is made clear. Duncan and James were both celebrated kings, but ultimately failed to manage their more rebellious subjects - Duncan with Macbeth, and

James with the Atholl branch of the Stewart family. Lamenting the death of the

"excellently worthy and naturally gifted"62 James I, Bower wished to restore Scotland to its heights under the kingship of James, which had since his death fallen into "intolerable tyranny." Here we find the strongest association between James I and his predecessor

Duncan. While traveling around his kingdom it was the practice of Duncan to "correct abuses unlawfully inflicted on the lower classes..., to crush the wickedness of brigands and other criminals... with a kind of judicious severity, and to calm down the internal

Scotichronicon, vol. 8, 263. Scotichronicon, vol. 8, 245. Scotichronicon, vol. 8, 305. Scotichronicon, vol. 8, 147.

41 disputes of his subjects." Similarly, James "wisely expelled feuds from the kingdom, kept plundering in check, stopped disputes and brought enemies to agreement." 5 Bower firmly believed that it took a "strong kingship to stop the oppression of the weak by the powerful,"66 and he established a history providing kingly examples of just that. Upon the death of both kings, however, Scotland descended into tyranny. The Stewart dynasty was aligned with a dignified ancestry historically demonstrating a tradition of peace, justice and good governance; Bower provided examples of the perils that would befall the nation without Stewart leadership.67

The Scotichronicon was part of a general movement to establish "ancient precedents for the political status and territorial integrity of the late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century kingdom as a fully independent monarchy," glorifying the Scots' ability

/TO to uphold their independent kingdom against both internal and external threats.

Macbeth, who unjustly and violently interrupted the line of noble kings, was perceived by

Bower as one of these internal threats that jeopardized the constitutional lineage that not only safeguarded Scotland's freedom from external threats, but provided internal stability and peace. As a result, Macbeth was cast as a villainous usurper, who was deposed by the rightful heir to the well-established crown.

Scotichronicon, vol. 2, 421. 65 Scotichronicon, vol. 8, 323. 66 Michael Brown, '"Vile Times': Walter Bower's Last Book and the Minority of James II," The Scottish Historical Review 79:2 (2000): 166-7, 166. 67 While James's son, James II became king following his father's death, he was only a young boy, and so a minority government was set up to manage the affairs of the kingdom. Nobles fought for control over James and the government, resulting in what Bower described as "intolerable tyranny." 68 Steve Boardman, "Late Medieval Scotland and the Matter of Britain," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 47.

42 Chapter Three: Humanists de-humanizing Macbeth, 1500-1707

Although the humanist writers of the sixteenth century maintained the well-constructed tradition of tarnishing the name of Macbeth, their reasons for doing so differed slightly from the champions of Scottish monarchial independence who wrote in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. John Major's interpretation of the history of Macbeth in A History of Greater Britain (1521), however, has more in common with its fourteenth- and fifteenth-century scholastic counterparts than with the humanist writings of Hector Boece and George Buchanan. This is despite the fact that it argues for union between Scotland and England, as opposed to the earlier histories' fierce support for independence. Ignoring the overly imaginative aspects of Wyntoun's chronicle, Major's version of the Macbeth story appears simply as a reduced version of the Fordun/Bower interpretation.

It is somewhat surprising that Major did not elaborate on the relationship between

Malcolm and Edward, given his unionist political ideology, although he does point out that Edward supported Malcolm's invasion with money and soldiers.1 Given his conviction that it is "of more moment to understand aright, and clearly to lay down the truth on any matter, than to use elegant and highly coloured language,"2 it is clear why his version appears in a more succinct form. An interesting note about Major's report is

Aitchison's assertion that "unusually, Major's account of Macbeth's reign begins by criticizing the inaction of Duncan and his predecessors,"3 when there is nothing unusual

1 John Major, A History of Greater Britain as well England as Scotland, trans. Archibald Constable (Edinburgh: University Press for the Scottish History Society, 1892), 123. Major, A History of Greater Britain, cxxxiii. 3 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 116.

43 about Major's criticism at all since the very same criticism can be found in both Fordun's and Bower's chronicles.4

Shortly after Major's work, however, the Macbeth myth begins to change once more. Hector Boece, first principal of King's College in Aberdeen, and the man who produced Scotland's first humanist history, the Scotorum Historia (1527), wrote within the 'mirror of princes' tradition.5 Scotland's reigning prince and future rulers were to learn from past kings, mirroring themselves after those who achieved greatness. This literary convention was a form of advising the current monarch in what was perceived as appropriate kingly behaviour. In this respect, Boece's history is similar to Bower's, only the difference between good kings and bad kings is made far more lucid through colourful language and elaboration, or as Colin Kidd puts it, dressing "the national mythology in Sunday-best Latin and,... couching it in the speculumprincipis genre, to give it an elevated ethical and political dimension."6 In fact, Boece went so far as proposing that the ruler of the realm was to act as a reflection of his people. He reinforced his history with examples of the personal "evils that befell Scottish kings who became tyrants" as legitimate precedents for the rights of the people to resist a tyrannical king.7

Macbeth served the humanist suitably in this manner.

The text commonly used to refer to Boece's version of the history of Macbeth is

John Bellenden's translation of the Scotorum Historia into the vernacular Scots entitled the Chronicles of Scotland, printed in 1536. This causes a slight problem however,

Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 180, and Bower, Scotichronicon, vol. 2, 421-422. 5 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 18. Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 18. Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 19. 8 The original translation of Boece's Scotorum Historia by John Bellenden, canon of Ross, was commissioned by James V and appeared in manuscript form in 1531.

44 because it has been proven recently that Bellenden's translation is not interchangeable with the Latin original. Written in Scots, Bellenden's translation was printed for a different audience, namely Scottish lay courtiers, nobility, and likely the merchant class, while Boece's work was geared more towards a scholarly European (as well as Scottish) audience. Using Bellenden's Scots version seems more prudent to this investigation than discussing the Latin original because the Scots version was clearly available to a larger portion of the Scottish population and so would have had a greater impact on the popular perception of Macbeth's reign. Although Bellenden's version will be quoted from throughout this discussion, the ideas will be referred to as those of Hector Boece. Despite the discrepancies found in the Chronicles of Scotland, it would appear as though Boece wielded a considerable say in the production of Bellenden's printed edition; after all,

Thomas Davidson's brief printer's note states that the work was "compilit and newly correckit be the reuerend and noble clerke maister Hector Boece channon of Aberdene.

/Translatit laitly be maister Iohne Bellenden Archedene of Murray, channon of Ros."10

Bellenden's edition set for print is described as being newly corrected by Boece which indicates that Boece ultimately oversaw and approved of the final copy as reflective of his understanding of Scottish history. Sally Mapstone has argued convincingly that the corrections to the original translation were most likely completed by both men,11 but the fact that Boece was involved in this process suggests that the text remains largely

9 Nicola Royan, "The Relationship Between The Scotorum Historia of Hector Boece and John Bellenden's Chronicles of Scotland" in The Rose and the Thistle: Essays on the Culture of Late Medieval and Renaissance Scotland, ed. Sally Mapstone and Juliette Wood (East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press Ltd., 1998), 138. 10 Thomas Davidson's printer's note, Chronicles of Scotland, in Mapstone, "Shakespeare and Scottish Kingship," 164-165 11 Mapstone, "Shakespeare and Scottish Kingship," 166.

45 reflective of his own interpretation of Scottish history and so it seems more sensible to credit the idea, rather than the word.

For Boece, Duncan and Malcolm were both kings with traits to emulate, while the malevolent Macbeth's darkened persona was placed in juxtaposition to his counterparts in order to emphasize their good qualities. According to Boece, "Macbeth was given all his will to cruelty as Duncan was given to piety,"12 while Malcolm "maid mony ciuil and religius lawis to honor of god and proffet of his realm."13 Interestingly, Boece described the first ten years of Macbeth's reign as governed "in gud justice,"14 but only a "schort time efter, Macbeth returnit fra al meiknes to his innative cruelte; for he was led by furyis, as the nature of all tyrannis is."15 Macbeth then began "slaing his noblis, or ellis confiscand thair guddis be vane causis."16 This of course was legitimate grounds for the

Scottish people to rebel against their king, as Macduff, representing the wishes of the

Scots, sought out Malcolm, and convinced him to return to Scotland to fight for the throne.18 During the ensuing battle Macbeth was slain in combat by Macduff, much to the same effect as in Wyntoun's Original Chronicle.19 Boece aimed to give his history "an elevated ethical and political dimension"20 "exemplifying the bad ends awaiting bad kings." Macbeth, ignoring reason, surrendered to his polluted passions, demonstrating his weakness of will and character ushering in a period of repression. It was only through

12 Hector Boece, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, trans. John Bellenden (Edinburgh: W. and C. Tail, 1821), 253. 13 Hector Boece, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, trans. John Bellenden (Edinburgh: Thomas Davidson, 1540?), Early English Books Online: image 211: clxxix. 14 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 263. 15 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 264. 16 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 268. 17 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 270. 18 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 273. 19 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 21 A. 20 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 19. 21 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 20.

46 the uncorrupted valour of the nobility, namely Macduff, that a king, virtuous in nature

99 was restored to the throne. Macbeth immorally seized the throne of Scotland and acted as a tyrant to his people resulting in his deposition and death. Thus, his reign served the sixteenth-century humanist twofold: Macbeth's kingship was a perfect case study for future kings of Scotland to understand the dangers of behaving in tyrannical fashion; and a historical precedent was created that gave the noble elite legitimate justification to depose a despotic monarch.

It is difficult to overlook the parallels between Boece's history of Macbeth, and the events of the later fifteenth century. It is quite clear that the contemporary political world shaped, considerably, the history of Scotland as seen by Hector Boece. In his lifetime, the canon of Aberdeen observed the crisis of 1488 which culminated in an internal war that left King James III (r. 1460-1488) dead. James's reign was marked by tremendous difficulty in his relationship with the Scottish noble elite. According to later historians, this difficulty stemmed from James's excessive materialism, and his preferential treatment of his low-class favourites including musicians, architects, and tailors, over an alienated militaristic, landed, and entitled nobility. Whether or not this conflict accurately explains James's failings as a king is not entirely relevant to our discussion; what is relevant, however, is that James's relationship with the nobility disintegrated into war, a most alarming prospect. James was killed in the battle of

Sauchieburn in 1488 by a group of conspirators who proceeded to raise James's son to the throne as James IV (1488-1513).

22 For a discussion of these general concepts found in Boece and Buchanan's histories see - RA Mason, "Rex Stoicus: George Buchanan, James VI and the Scottish Polity," in Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation, c.l 100-1707, vol. 4, ed. Bob Harris and Alan R. MacDonald (Great Britain: Dundee University Press, 2007), 232. 23 Rosalind Mitchison, A History of Scotland, 3rd edition (London: Routledge, 2002), 76.

47 As it turns out, James IV was to mature into one of Scotland's most capable and popular kings, and soon after his coronation he began to repent his part in the deposition of his father. This created a "climate of insecurity" in which the noble community became concerned over how the new king would come to terms with what had occurred in 1488, and what, if any, action should be taken.24 The 'legal-minded' Scottish community needed to legitimize the regicide that had occurred, and so it turned to antiquity for historical precedents. The absence of appropriate examples of tyrannicide in

Scottish annals was by no means a deterrent as the past could be easily molded to satisfy the demands of the current political situation.25 Boece was absorbed into this process providing a much needed precedent with the deposition and slaying of the tyrannical

Macbeth. In this regard, "an ancient constitution had been forged to meet a specific set of circumstances;" in other words, tyrannicide had now become a constitutional right of the Scottish political community. Of course, the king would disagree with such a claim and there certainly existed no legislation to support the notion that 'the king must cooperate or else...', but with precedents set, the noble community found justification for such actions. It is no small wonder that Macbeth appears particularly ruthless towards the nobles in Boece's interpretation, metaphorically depicting the contentious relationship between James III and his nobles.27 Norman Macdougall made reference to this

Colin Kidd discussing the ideas of Thomas Innes found in his "Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain, or Scotland' (1729), in Subverting Scotland's Past, 106. See also - Norman Macdougall, James IV (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd., 1989), 49-53. 25 Colin Kidd discussing the ideas of Thomas Innes found in his "Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain, or Scotland" (1729), in Subverting Scotland's Past, 106. Also see Colin Kidd, "The Ideological Uses of the Picts," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 171. 26 Colin Kidd discussing the ideas of Thomas Innes found in his "Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain, or Scotland" (1729), in Subverting Scotland's Past, 106. 27 Note that Hector Boece never explicitly criticizes James III. In fact, in an earlier publication his treatment of James is largely sympathetic. This however may have been the result of his wish to avoid

48 comparison in his book James 111: A Political Study: "Thus James III, sitting on his horse watching the approach of his rebellious son and remembering the witch's prophecy, might almost be the Macbeth in Bellenden's translation of Boece."28 The emphasis on the king's relationship with his nobility is certainly in keeping with the constitutional arrangements of the period as we find a developing parliamentary system alongside the monarchy.

Hector Boece also contributed immensely to the mythologizing of the 'history' of

Macbeth. He used the histories provided by Fordun, Bower and Wyntoun, merged them together, and added some further dramatic elements and characterization that the majority of people associate with Shakespeare's play. The most interesting of these is the introduction of Banquo, "the beginnar of the noble surname of Stewartis in this realm; of quhome oure king now present, be lang progression, is discendit."29

The reason for Boece's creation of the character of Banquo is difficult to discern.

An obvious fabrication, as Banquo fails to appear in any historical documentation before

Boece's text, his character seems unnecessary to the fulfillment of the humanist's goals.

The Stewart kings could trace their royal blood clearly and easily through the Scottish royal house down through antiquity.30 Why then introduce Banquo as the father of

Stewart royal heritage, especially when Banquo supported Macbeth's slaying of the offending his current king, the grandson of James III. Also Boece's depiction of James appears in relation to his praise of Bishop Elphinstone of Aberdeen, "who as James's principal counsellor (according to Boece) could only be responsible for wise advice; so by association with Elphinstone, James III receives conventional praise" (Norman Macdougall, James III: A Political Study (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd., 1982), 277). Boece simply transposed the conflict of 1488 into the distant past as a justifiable precedent for the removal of an uncooperative king, without having to directly comment on the matter. 28 Macdougall, James 111: A Political Study, 258. 29 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 253. 30 Although it should be noted that if the Stewart kings wished to trace their royal heritage through antiquity, they had to pass through a female line in Marjorie Bruce, eldest daughter of Robert I. Perhaps Boece desired to extend the Stewart name from the male bloodline further into the past.

49 king? Short of asking Boece himself, this may never be known, but that is not to say that Banquo does not reveal to us some important sixteenth-century perceptions of the

Stewart monarchy.

When Banquo is first introduced he is involved in some necessary administrative works:

Banquo had gaderit all the kingis rentis, he punist sindry limmaris of the cuntre with sic extreme rigour of justice, that the pepil rais aganis him with gret power, and spulyeit him of all the money quhilk he had gaderit afore to the kingis use; and thoucht he eschapit with his life, yit he wes evil woundit.33

At first glance this passage may not appear altogether flattering to the Stewarts. Banquo's collection of taxes and administration of justice goes unappreciated, to say the least, by the people who attack and wound him, which certainly emphasizes the unpopularity of these actions. But what Boece is actually suggesting here is that, despite the potential for popular disapproval of these actions, they are necessary to proper maintenance and governance of the realm.

In effect, this is a veiled criticism of James Ill's reign, which was perceived as a failure in this capacity compared to the reigns of James I, II, and IV. James V seems to have adhered to Boece's instructions; he spent a considerable amount of time travelling his country administering royal justice. There is a popular consensus among modern historians that one of James Ill's major failings was his inadequacy to administer justice throughout the realm,34 and it would appear that Boece, almost 500 years earlier, was well aware of this problem. As Jamie Cameron has pointed out, "one of the hallmarks of successful Stewart monarchy was that the king should be seen to be active in person

31 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 260. 32 meaning he punished a variety of villains and scoundrels. 33 Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 253. 34 Macdougall, James III, 2.

50 throughout the country in the giving of law and order and the execution of justice."

James IV frequently invested a lot of his energy in participating in justice ayres across his country, while his son James V did the same; James III, however, ignored this responsibility.37 Boece created an association between the Stewart dynasty and the administration of justice: a relationship dating back centuries. While some parties might not agree with the level of justice and taxation administered, it is a necessary function of a good king. Banquo's character, which could have been inserted into the text at any point in the history of Scotland, appeared during the reign of Macbeth as a cautious note to be wary of appropriate levels of taxation and justice administered, for the possibility of falling into tyranny was, and is, ever present.

Hector Boece was predisposed to pseudo-history; he accepted unreliable sources and fabricated tales because in them he found the stories that enabled him to "moralize on kingship."39 For Macbeth, this meant another century of being dragged through the mud.

Fortunately for the king, he was not forced to undertake this journey of historical misrepresentation alone as Boece re-introduced Macbeth's wife, Gruoch, into his text as a darkly manipulative woman.

The only contemporary evidence of Gruoch's existence can be found in a notice of gift recorded in the St. Andrews Register, transcribed in the thirteenth century from earlier contemporary accounts, which confirms that the Culdees of Lochleven received

Jamie Cameron, James V: The Personal Rule, 1528-1542, ed. Norman Macdougall (East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1998), 92. 36 For examples, see Norman Macdougall, James IV (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd., 1989). 37 Cameron, James V, 92. 38 Specifically, there is sufficient contemporary evidence of this documented during the reign of James II - Roland Tanner, The Late Medieval Scottish Parliament: Politics and the Three Estates, 1424-1488 (East Lothian: Tuckwell Press, 2001), 162-163. 39 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 106.

51 the lands of Kyrkness as a grant from Macbeth and Gruoch, "Rex et Regina Scottorum"

The same document describes Gruoch as the daughter of Bodhe,41 the son of Kenneth III

(r. 7997-1005); however, there remains the possibility that she was the granddaughter of

Kenneth II (r. 971-975).42 She does not appear in any medieval chronicle before

Wyntoun's Original Chronicle in 1420, where we learn nothing of her character.43

It is within the pages of the History and Chronicles of Scotland that we find for the first time an ambitious Gruoch who pressures her husband to murder the king in order to fulfill her personal aspiration to be queen:

Attour, his wife, impacient of lang tary, as all wemen ar, specially quhare thay ar desirus of ony purpos, gaif him gret artation to persew the thrid weird, that scho micht be ane quene: calland him, oft timis, febil cowart, and nocht desirus of honouris; sen he durst not assailye the thing with manheid and curage, quhilk is offerit to him be benivolence of fortoun; howbeit sindry otheris has assailyeit sic thingis afore, with maist terribil jeopardyis, quheii thay had not sic sickernes to succeid in the end of thair laubouris as he had. Makbeth, be persuasion of his wife, gaderit his freindis to ane counsall at Innernes, quhare King Duncane happinnit to be for the time. And becaus he fand sufficient oportunite, be support of Banquho and otheris his freindis, he slew King Duncane, the vii yeir of his regne.44

Gruoch uses the influence she has over her husband to persuade him into killing Duncan to achieve her own objective. This excerpt from Boece's history is paralleled in a passage spoken by Lady Macbeth found in Shakespeare's Macbeth:

Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time

Registr. Prior. St. Andreae, "Notitiae of Grants by Macbeth and Gruoch, King and Queen of Scots, to the Church of Saint Serf, A.D. 1040-1057," ed. Archibald C. Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters Prior to 1153 (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1905), 5. 41 "Notitiae of Grants by Macbeth and Gruoch" in Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters Prior to 1153, 5. 42 Archibald Dunbar, Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1899), 18. Wyntoun, Original Chronicle, 275. 44 Hector Boece, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, trans. John Bellenden (Edinburgh: W. and C. Tait, 1821), 260.

52 Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,' Like the poor cat i' the adage?45

Much like the fictional Lady Macbeth, Gruoch played an active role in slaying the king.

Boece wrote that it was through Gruoch's persuasion that Macbeth gathered his allies where Duncan was temporarily residing, and with their support murdered the king. She appears as the instigator of Duncan's murder and it was her influence over Macbeth that plunged the kingdom into war. For centuries Gruoch had remained inconsequential, a secondary character at most in the annals of Scottish history, and yet, in 1527 she assumed a central role in the usurpation of the Scottish throne: an extraordinary transformation.

This metamorphosis is made complete through an elaborate metrical revision of

Boece's history by William Stewart. It is within the pages of Stewart's Buik of the

Croniclis of Scotland (written during the 1530s) that Gruoch appears at her most manipulative and most heinous. While Boece described the first ten years of Macbeth's reign as ruled in "gud justice;"46 only after which Macbeth reverted to his "innative cruelte,"47 Stewart depicted Macbeth as a genuinely good man:

This Makcobey, quhilk wes bayth wyss and wycht, Strang in ane stour, and trew as ony steill, Defendar als with of the commoun weill, So just ane juge so equale and so trew.48

45 Shakespeare, Macbeth, (1.7.35-44). 46 Boece, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, 263. 47 Boece, The History and Chronicles of Scotland, 264. 48 William Stewart (1530s), The Buik of the Croniclis of Scotland: A Metrical Version of the History of Hector Boece, vol. 2, ed. William Turnbull (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts,

53 Macbeth's noble character was polluted through his wife's malevolent influence as Stewart reveals her dark design:

This wickit wyfe hir purpois thus hes sped, Sic appetite to be ane quene scho hed; As wemen will, the thing that desire, Into thair mynd burnis hettar nor fyre... Ressoun in thame hes na auctoritie, For appetyte and sensualitie; Foull appetyte hes ay thair purpois to provyde And causis thame oft till go by the rycht... Syne throw his wyfe consentit to sic thing, For till distroy his cousing and his king.4

Gruoch pressured her husband to kill the king in order to satisfy her own lustful desire to be queen. Stewart sexualized Gruoch's corrupting nature, following Walter Bower and

John Major's patriarchal tradition of condemning women in positions of power based on their moral weaknesses.50 This interpretation of Gruoch is remarkably similar to

Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, which is cause for speculation that Shakespeare's Macbeth was not entirely based on the history of the king as provided by Raphael Holinshed, but rather that William Stewart's work was the source from which Shakespeare drew his

1858), 639. 49 Stewart, The Bulk of the Croniclis of Scotland, vol. 2, 639. 50 Bower attacked Margaret Drummond, queen to David II (r. 1329-1371), because he believed David's decision to wed Margaret was a decision born of lust, which adhered to the medieval belief that women existed as the embodiment of physical sensation which disturbed the composure and tranquility of the male mind (for further discussion on medieval perceptions of woman see introduction to Alcuin Blamires, Karen Pratt and C. W. Marx, eds., Woman Defamed and Woman Defended: An Anthology of Medieval Texts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 1-15). Predictably, David's lust was not seen as a reflection of the weakness of his own character, but rather, as an example of Margaret's sinful nature as a woman. In this sense, a woman's desirability carried guilt for her, not him. For Bower, Margaret "poisoned" the king's ability to govern effectively (Bower, Scotichronicon, 335-359). Thrust into a position of considerable power after the death of her husband James II (r. 1437-1460), Mary of Gueldres found herself open to attack from those convinced that a woman had no place exercising influence over matters of the realm, which, according to her opponents, concerned men alone. In order to discredit Mary, historians attacked her sexuality emphasizing her moral weakness and thus justifying the argument to exclude women from positions of authority. John Major wrote, "After the death of James the Second [Mary] had not kept her chastity, but had dealt lewdly with Adam Hepburn, heir to the lord of Hales, who was a married man... she thus acted more wickedly than did the wife of James the First" (Major, A History of Greater Britain, 388).

54 inspiration. According to Boece and Stewart, it is Gruoch who was responsible for plunging the kingdom into civil war due to the unscrupulous influence she held over her husband.

The role of women as political agents was deemed by many to be incompatible with the standards held by the Scottish political community of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Scottish queens, Joan Beaufort (d. 1445), Mary of Gueldres (d. 1463), and

Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) overstepped the boundaries of their prescribed domesticated roles and became active administrative and political figureheads, particularly with regard to their positions as royal caretakers. This of course upset the balance of the patriarchal governing body, which sought legitimate means to re-suppress the queen's influence over matters of government.

Hector Boece aimed to achieve this purpose by providing historical precedents for the damaging impact female influence had on the kingship. Gruoch proved to be the model candidate for this procedure as her historical record lacked any real definition

(much like her husband's), enabling Boece to mold an exemplary historical case to fulfill his agenda. In Boece and Stewart's histories, Gruoch personifies the perceived ambitious and corruptive nature of Joan Beaufort, Mary of Gueldres and Margaret Tudor. Their histories tell us more about sixteenth-century perceptions of women in power than the factual history of an eleventh-century queen. Taking into account Fiona Downie's proposal that the "association of the queen's power with her influence over the king carried with it the unacceptable prospect of her misuse of this influence,"52 the 'Gruoch' that became Lady Macbeth was created not only as a representation of the Scottish

51 C.C. Stopes put forward this possibility in 1897, "The Scottish and English Macbeth," Shakespeare's Industry (London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1916), 102-103. 52 Downie, She is but a Woman, 23.

55 queens of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but as the antithesis of St. Margaret (c.

1040-93). Malcolm Ill's pious queen, having significant influence over her husband, excelled in her role as wife, mother and moral exemplar. She did not abuse her position, but fulfilled it appropriately according to the standards of sixteenth-century historians.

Gruoch's story, in contrast, was a demonstration of the consequences of female misuse of influence over the king, which ultimately resulted in a civil war and the death of a king.

A woman's potentially corrupting influence over a king was a serious and legitimate concern during the sixteenth century as it was "generally accepted" that women were

"weak, of little virtue, and that God had decided their place in society when He made Eve in the image of Adam."53 While Eve's influence over Adam brought about man's fall from grace and banishment from paradise, Gruoch's influence over Macbeth ushered in a period of tyranny and bloodshed.

In a related matter, questions of queenship are also present in the works of George

Buchanan, tutor of King James VI, who fashioned his History of Scotland (1582),54 in much the same manner as Boece (in fact he drew extensively from Boece for his passages on Macbeth), as a royal genealogy of good kings and the struggle against tyranny.55 In his history, Buchanan needed to provide justification through precedent for the forced abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567. As such, his history of Scotland was

Kristen Post Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy: Mary Queen of Scots, and the Politics of Gender and Religion, (Houndmills, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 8. 54 Note: four years previous to Buchanan's History of Scotland, John Leslie, bishop of Ross and advisor to Mary Queen of Scots, published his De origine moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum libri decern in Rome in 1578. Leslie's version of the Macbeth story is relatively condensed compared to the works of Boece and Buchanan. He does not in any way change Macbeth's character or add any new elements to the myth except that: Banquo is withdrawn from involvement in Duncan's murder (p. 305) - presumably to give the progenitor of the Stewart family a less incriminating origin given that Mary was a descendent of this family - and Macbeth's pilgrimage to Rome is accredited to Malcolm instead; Leslie claiming that the passage found in Marianus Scottus's chronicles could not possibly refer to Macbeth who "oppresset Scotland throuch tyrannie" (p. 308). For further detail see - John Leslie, The Historie of Scotland, vol. 1, trans. James Dalrymple, ed. E. G. Cody (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1888), 305-309. 55 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 20.

56 founded on the theory of popular sovereignty; the king or queen's right to rule was dependent on the constitutional agreement of the "virtuous men of the community."56

This marks a dramatic shift in Scotland's perception of its constitutional self.

While Fordun, Wyntoun, Bower, and to some degree Boece understood Scotland's identity in terms of a legally established monarchial institution housed in Malcolm Ill's

(and his predecessors') immediate bloodline, James's tutor shifted the constitutional emphasis from the royal crown, and thus the royal lineage, to the "individuals worthy by civic virtue" whose duty it was to uphold the law, elect the king through acceptance in parliament, and if necessary depose any king who would set himself above the law.57

Buchanan's vision was entrenched in republican ideology where the king was appointed by his people in order to represent his people, and should he fail to do so, was liable for dismissal. Buchanan's political philosophy was rooted in the premise that "within a man two most savage monsters, lust and rage, wage perpetual war with reason."58 For this reason, the law of the realm had to be set above everyone, including the king, in order to safeguard the kingdom from the potentially corrupting passions of man.

Buchanan's argument, based on ancient Greek philosophy, was far more reflective of sixteenth-century concerns over the monarchy than those of the eleventh century. His works, not only offering validation for Mary's deposition, were meant to be used as instruments defining appropriate guidelines for his young pupil James VI. The history of Macbeth provided for Buchanan a canvas on which he could paint his image of

56 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 20. 57 Kristen Post Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy: Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Politics of Gender and Religion (Houndmills, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 162-163. 57 Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy, 161. 58 George Buchanan, "De Jure Regni," as cited in RA Mason, "Rex Stoicus: George Buchanan, James VI and the Scottish Polity," 231. 59 RA Mason, "Rex Stoicus: George Buchanan, James VI and the Scottish Polity," 231-232.

57 good kingship, and equally, poor kingship. Exhibiting his "undisguised tyranny,"

Macbeth, "in contempt of his nobility, administered the internal affairs of the kingdom, by the advice of his household, without ever deigning to consult them."60 Unseen in other sources, this small addition to Macbeth's story is significant in that it illustrates

Buchanan's fear of monarchy acting in the absence of consent, which ultimately reduces the kingdom to tyranny, a sentiment highly indicative of Buchanan's interpretation of

Mary's queenship.

Analogous to Macbeth's push for complete control, Mary "endeavoured to raise" one of her favourites, David Riccio, "to the rank of a lord of parliament" so that "by procuring for him the right of voting in that assembly, he might manage their proceedings according to the wishes of the queen." x Furthermore, she tried to force a nobleman out of his estate in order that she might endow Riccio with an advancement in social status. On this Buchanan commented, "the common people lamented the present situation of the country, and prognosticated its daily becoming worse, if men of ancient nobility, and distinguished reputation, were to be turned out of the seats of their ancestors." Similar circumstances are revealed during the reign of Macbeth, who raised "ruffians" to prominent positions of power.63 For Buchanan, there was a clear correlation between the reigns of Macbeth and Mary, as both monarchs failed to govern with the consent of the nobility, which ultimately resulted in their justifiable depositions.

The parallelism of Macbeth and Mary's histories is made more apparent through the origins of the rulers' downfalls. Macbeth's descent into tyrannical behaviour began

60 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 333-334. 61 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 2,477. 62 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 2,477. 63 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 333.

58 with his wife urging him to kill Duncan and seize the throne, while Mary's fall from grace started with Riccio's influence over the queen in substituting foreigners in place of the existing nobility, which according to Buchanan, marked "the beginning of almost all tyrannies."65 Buchanan rationalized Mary's ousting by demonstrating that similar instances of tyrannical oppression existed in Scotland's past, and in such cases the people themselves removed their monarch for failing to uphold the constitutional rights accorded by law to the community of the realm. The history of Macbeth was modified by

Buchanan to represent this sentiment, providing an earlier precedent for the action taken against Mary.66

Originally a loyal supporter of Mary's queenship, Buchanan's allegiance seems to have started to shift after he discovered the awful treatment the Huguenots faced during the French wars of religion. The murder of Lord Darnley (father of James VI, heir to the throne) and Mary's behaviour afterward, the hurried marriage to James Hepburn, earl of

Bothwell, secured Buchanan's turnabout into the "primary apologist for the Lords of

Confederation." No doubt the queen's Catholic sympathies also factored into

CO Buchanan's protestations. The deposition of a legitimate and rightful monarch was a

Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 331. 65 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 2,474. 66 Ironically, although schooled by the leading Scottish humanist of the later sixteenth century with a strong inclination towards republican virtue, Mary's son, James VI would come to defy his tutor's teachings, championing the absolute authority of the king, who according to The True Law of Free Monarchies (1597), is not subject to any law, statute or objection from his people; for a king is only "to be iudged by GOD, whom to onely hee must giue count of his iudgement" - James VI, King of Scotland (1597), The Trve Lawe of Free Monarchies: or The Reciprock and mutuall dutie betwixt a free King, and his naturall Subiects (London: T. C, 1603), Early English Books Online: image 17. 67 Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy, 160-161. 68 Andrew Hadfield summarizes Buchanan's grievances with Mary: "Mary was guilty of numerous crimes: imposing her false religious beliefs on the Scots against their wishes; arrogantly refusing to listen to the sensible advice of her courtiers; promoting her own favourites at the expense of others; making little effort to control her natural female deficiencies (unlike Elizabeth); plotting treason against God, lawfully elected monarchs and the godly, and so on," as cited in "Hamlet's country matters: the 'Scottish play'

59 shocking offence, but Buchanan sought justification for this act through past examples of the Scottish people checking the power of their monarchy.69

Macbeth was an historical example of someone betraying the social contract between the appointed king and his people. According to Buchanan, Macbeth was originally,

a man of penetrating genius, a high spirit, unbounded ambition, and, if he had possessed moderation, was worthy of any command however great; but in punishing crimes he exercised a severity, which, exceeding the bounds of laws, appeared apt to degenerate into cruelty.70

This cruelty mixed with the prophecy of the three women and the influence of Macbeth's wife, led Macbeth to kill Duncan, his maternal cousin, and seize the throne proclaiming himself king.71 Buchanan believed that "Scotland's early Gaelic civilization [w]as founded on the austere moral principles of classical republicanism,"72 which meant that no king could govern over his people without the consent of the community, specifically the Scottish noble elite. Macbeth violated this process by usurping the throne from a previously accepted king, Duncan, and by failing to represent his people in a lawful manner: "he publicly executed the most powerful chieftains, upon the most frivolous pretences, and frequently upon fictitious accusations; and with the produce of their confiscations, he supported a band of ruffians, under the name of Royal Guard."73

within the play," in Shakespeare and Scotland, ed. Willy Maley and Andrew Murphy (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), 91. Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy, 161. 70 George Buchanan, The History of Scotland, vol. 1, trans. James Aikman (Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton and Co., 1827), 328. 71 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 331. 72 Roger A. Mason, "Civil Society and the Celts: Hector Boece, George Buchanan and the Ancient Scottish Past," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 119. 73 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 333.

60 Macbeth was in breach of the social contract that guaranteed the maintenance of the law, and thus the constitutional identity of the realm.

Buchanan, no doubt influenced by Boece, described the first ten years of

Macbeth's reign as tranquil, for the king "enacted very many and very useful statutes,"74 but the murder of Duncan, "haunting his imagination, and distracting his mind, occasioned his converting the government, which he had obtained by perfidy, into a cruel tyranny."75 Shakespeare was visibly influenced by this dramatic explanation for

Macbeth's descent into madness.

Buchanan ends his history of Macbeth following the tradition laid before him;

Macduff, representing the will of the Scots, finds Malcolm in England where he convinces the rightful ruler to invade Scotland and depose the tyrant. Macduff, as in the histories written previously, kills Macbeth in battle ending the tyrannical regime.77

Buchanan reemphasized the political morality found in Boece's text where 'bad ends await bad kings,' while providing an early example of the rights of the people to depose a monarch, thus giving precedent to the justifiable expulsion of Mary, Queen of Scots.

While Buchanan dismissed many of the more fantastical elements found in

Boece's history, claiming "some of our writers relate a number of fables, more adapted for theatrical representation, or Milesian romance, than history, I therefore omit them," he did, however, accept Macbeth's early effectiveness as a ruler, despite the man of

Moray's iniquitous acquisition of the throne.79 Buchanan summarized Macbeth's reign

74 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 332. 75 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 333. 76 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 334-335. 77 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 336. 78 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 336. 79 Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 332.

61 thus: "Macbeth reigned seventeen years over Scotland, during the first ten of which he performed the duty of the best of kings, but in the seven last, he equaled the cruelty of the most barbarous tyrants."80 This description of Macbeth' s reign is reflective of

Buchanan's own opinions of Mary's queenship, and seems somewhat of a justification of his early support for the Catholic queen. Buchanan was one of Mary's "great admirers" for most of her early political career, but turned his back on her after the murder of

Darnley and her subsequent marriage to Bothwell.81 In Macbeth, he found an acceptable instance in which a monarch could be praised for earlier deeds, only to later falter significantly, in effect, easing his conscience for previously supporting a monarch that would be deposed for failing to represent the wishes of the people.

The lengthy process of mythologizing and vilifying the historical character of

Macbeth reached its zenith in William Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth, widely accepted as being produced in 1606. This tragedy forever sealed the manufactured malevolent image of Macbeth in popular culture. However, Macbeth's wicked characterization, which has become associated with Shakespeare's work, predates the production of the play by several hundred years as has been demonstrated. The English playwright appears to have constructed his play in most part around the history of

Macbeth as provided by George Buchanan, and Raphael Holinshed, whose passages detailing the reign of Macbeth in the Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577 and 1587),82 were based on Hector Boece's interpretation of events. Holinshed's

Buchanan, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 336. Walton, Catholic Queen, Protestant Patriarchy, 159-160. 82 The first publication of Holinshed's Chronicles appeared in 1577, the second edition was printed in 1587.

62 language is different from Boece's version, but the structure of the narrative remains the same.

While some chronological aspects of the play differ from those in historical texts, a necessity for the formation of a coherent and cohesive staging of the story, Shakespeare would have maintained that his play had an impressive historical accuracy, which, quite suitably, would support the seventeenth-century perception of the story of Macbeth as

"sober history."83 In this sense, perhaps Macbeth is better understood as a history play, than a tragedy. One of the few adjustments the playwright made to the plot was altering

Banquo's character to better suit the Stewart image, as James VI of Scotland had recently become James I of England as well. In the play, Banquo no longer appears as an accomplice to Duncan's murder, but instead "firmly declares his allegiance to the reigning king." Shakespeare may have written his play for different reasons from

Boece's 'mirror of princes' history; the playwright may have been writing to flatter the new king of England, confirming the historical decency and legitimacy of James's heritage; equally, however, Shakespeare may have simply found the story of Macbeth fascinating, and decided to expand the tale in theatrical form. What is most significant about Shakespeare's version of the Macbeth myth is that although he popularized the story, he in no way changed the established perception of Macbeth's kingship.

Henry N. Paul, The Royal Play of Macbeth: When, Why, and How it was Written by Shakespeare (New York: Octagon Books, 1971), 207. 84 The union of the crowns occurs in 1603. 85 Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2004), 336. Banquo is first removed from assisting Macbeth in Duncan's murder in John Leslie's history of Scotland, which was translated into Scots in 1596. It is unlikely that Shakespeare would have had access to this source, but not impossible. 86 Greenblatt, Will in the World, 335-336. 87 Even if Shakespeare's primary motivation lay in his personal interest with the history of Macbeth, he would have still remained very conscious of the position of James VI and I, as well as the witch hunts of the 1590s.

63 While Macbeth's corrupted image did not change during the roughly 225 year period between Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scottorum and Shakespeare's Macbeth, the reasons behind the adherence to this interpretation did. John of Fordun, Andrew

Wyntoun, and Walter Bower wrote their respective histories emphasizing the genealogy of the royal bloodline to ensure the integrity and legality of Scotland's own independent constitutional lineage preserved in the Scottish kingship. For these chroniclers, Macbeth threatened the legitimacy of this sacred line of kings. Even within this group of medieval historians, the motivation behind their chronicles differed; Fordun was writing in the context of the Scottish Wars of Independence, while Bower worked to validate the legitimacy of the new Stewart dynasty. Hector Boece and George Buchanan differed from their predecessors, articulating the importance of a king ruling with consent, while creating historical precedents justifying the deposition of any monarch that failed to represent the constitutional freedoms accorded to the people of the realm. The empty history of Macbeth's reign provided for the humanists an ideal opportunity to fabricate an early precedent to suit their cause. Boece and Buchanan's histories of Macbeth are far more reflective of the reigns of James III and Mary than they are of the kingship of the eleventh-century king. Although, on the surface, Macbeth remained a villainous usurper in the historical annals from Fordun to Buchanan, clearly, the preservation of this interpretation of Macbeth depended on the ideological views set by the constitutional demands of the chroniclers' respective contemporary worlds.

The 'historical' Macbeth of Boece and Buchanan eventually found himself infamously sealed in popular culture (via Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England,

Scotland and Ireland) by virtue of William Shakespeare's tragic play. This traditional

64 view of the eleventh-century monarch would remain dominant throughout Scotland during the following century, albeit for drastically different reasons than those of previous centuries. Popularized by medieval and Renaissance historians, the traditional focus on the Scottish royal family as the channel through which Scots could celebrate their national identity underwent a complete overhaul during the seventeenth century.

After the union of the crowns in 1603, the Scots found themselves ruled by a king in absentia. The Scottish monarch, established in antiquity, the very means by which the

Scots preserved their independence from English overlordship, was now firmly seated on the English throne in London.

How could the Scots continue to define themselves, and distinguish themselves from the English with their constitutional representative administering the realm from

England? For many, the situation resulted in a "nagging fear of royal Anglicisation," and that any form of "real influence and real prestige were beginning to slip away to London and the English elite."88 This would have indeed led to significant uncertainty within the

Scottish noble elite as they now competed with a powerful English aristocracy, which in turn would account for the developing emphasis on family history over the old model national histories, or more appropriately, king histories. Scottish noblemen commissioned genealogical histories of their families which demonstrated their longstanding patriotism, catalogued potential successors guaranteeing the transmission of the estate within the family, elevated household prestige through connections with the ancient Scottish past, and ensured their prominent place amongst the contemporary ruling class.

88 David Allan, '"What's in a Name?': Pedigree and Propaganda in Seventeenth-Century Scotland," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past," ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 164-165. Allan supplies the following reference that addresses these points: K. M. Brown, "The Scottish Aristocracy, Anglicisation and the Court, 1603-38," Historical Journal, 36 (1993), 543-76.

65 David Hume of Godscroft's History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus

(originally penned in the 1620s, and published in 1643-4), for example, boasted that the family could trace its origins as far back as AD 767, no doubt attempting to outshine its

Scottish, as well as English counterparts.89 Similarly, William Drummond of

Hawthornden's manuscript history of his illustrious family name pre-eminently ascribed the Drummonds a place in antiquity, accentuating the political importance of their name in connection with the Scottish royal family.90 While evidence suggests that this brand of history appears to have developed as a European trend during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there is reason to believe that Scotland's interest in familial history developed in response to the king's departure for England, which unsettled the political/power structure in Scotland, and Britain as a whole. With historians' attention turned to the genealogies of wealthy Scottish magnates,91 the history of Macbeth, as well as the other Scottish kings, remained fixed to the interpretations of Boece and Buchanan.

Familial history alone was not responsible for the seventeenth-century usurpation of the Scottish kingship as the dominant mode of historical construction. The history of the Church was brought to the forefront, providing for the Scots what their monarchy once had, a distinct national identity. Comparable to the development of Scottish genealogical histories in that the departure of the king created a pronounced impact, the loss of the king as the guarantor of national independence forced the Scots to turn elsewhere for institutional support. Jenny Wormald commented, "the new experience of

89 Allan, "Pedigree and Propaganda," 166. 90 Allan, "Pedigree and Propaganda," 149-150. 91 There were countless genealogies produced during the seventeenth century, some examples are: the Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland, written by Sir Robert Gordon (sometime between 1615 and 1630); the Genealogy of Cunningham, considered to have been composed by William Colquhoun (c. 1602); Gordon of Gordonstoun's Genealogical History of the Gordon family (1620s); there is a Campbell family genealogy dated to 1690-1; and this is simply naming a handful. David Allan provides a significant list of these genealogies in "Pedigree and Propaganda," 147-167.

66 being part of a composite monarchy created among the Scots the same need to assert their own superiority. Like other nations, they did it primarily through the Church."92 The vigorous adoption of Calvinist doctrine into the reformed Presbyterian Kirk impassioned the Scots with the belief that their state of purity surpassed all others as "God's elect and a covenanted nation, a nation far more thoroughly reformed than England."

Evidence of the Scots' commitment to their newly established custodial institution of national identity can be found in their siding with the English parliament in 1643 against the king.94 In fact, in 1688-89, a period of increased levels of anti-popery, the burial places of the Stewart kings were desecrated, marking a significant shift away from the time-honoured loyalty accorded to the Stewart monarchy.95 With loyalties swinging towards the Kirk, so too did the attention of historians, which is unsurprising given that those who wrote histories were generally part of the clergy. The titles of the histories produced during the seventeenth century are a clear indication of this shift in emphasis: the History of the Church of Scotland by David Calderwood (1575-1650); the History of the Catholick Church (printed in 1662), written by the Presbyterian Alexander Petrie;

John Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, published in 1655; and the

Church History of Britain, penned by Thomas Fuller which appeared in 1655 as well.96

With attention focused on Church history, the sixteenth-century interpretation of

Macbeth remained unchanged simply because he was not necessary or instrumental to the remodelling of Scottish history through Protestant eyes. The sweeping grand-scale

92 Jenny Wormald, "Confidence and Perplexity: The Seventeenth Century," in Scotland: A History, ed. Jenny Wormald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 145. 93 Wormald, "Confidence and Perplexity," 145. 94 Wormald, "Confidence and Perplexity," 145. 95 Wormald, "Confidence and Perplexity," 165. 96 These titles were taken from Gordon Donaldson's "The Sources of Scottish History," which lists, and briefly discusses the titles mentioned. See - Gordon Donaldson, "The Sources of Scottish History," (privately printed in 1973, reprinted in Edinburgh, 1978), 37.

67 histories of Scottish kingship common to the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries were not relevant in this environment. That is not to say that the history of the kings was dropped altogether; William Alexander's Medulla historiae Scoticae (1685), for example, describes Macbeth's reign in the same manner as Hector Boece, albeit far less fancifully.

Banquo is presented as the father of the Stewart Dynasty, Macbeth ruled through

"Tyranny and Cruelty, forcing his Nobles to the servilest of his Work," and Macduff personally kills Macbeth by "his own hand," after Malcolm invades.97 Standard issue stuff, really, more or less a hangover from sixteenth-century interpretations. Likewise,

The History of the Kingdom of Scotland (1696), written by Richard Burton, does not veer far from the standard tale. Macbeth and Banquo come across the three prophetic women in the woods, and the three tales of vice told by Malcolm are included. It is worth noting that there are three prophetic women, like there are three tales of vice told by

Malcolm. The number three is a powerful number in Scottish folklore - things occur in threes, so there is a strong element of mythology that persists in texts heading into the eighteenth century, and fittingly, in regard to the sections dealing with Macbeth. Burton's history ends with Macduff killing the despotic Macbeth, restoring Malcolm to the throne with the help of Edward the Confessor, Siward, the earl of Northumbria and ten thousand men." This number of ten thousand soldiers is conspicuously absent from the contemporary chronicles of King Macbeth, not appearing in the histories until the sixteenth century.100

97 William Alexander, Medulla historiae Scoticae (London: printed for Randal Taylor, 1685), 55-56. 98 Richard Burton, The History of the Kingdom of Scotland (Westminster: W. Smith and Co., 1813), 82, 88. 99 Burton, History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 88. 100 Raphael Holinshed, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, vol. 5 (New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1976), 276.

68 Richard Burton was witness to the Revolution of 1688-9,101 and championed the

Protestant victory over Catholicism, writing "[the] cruelty and tyranny of Macbeth for which he was mortally hated of the people, who groaned for deliverance from such intolerable slavery." The Scots saw their country descending into what they called

'papal tyranny', as they believed James VII7II was looking to Catholicize Scotland once more. When Burton wrote that the Scots "groaned for deliverance from such intolerable slavery," he was referring to the 'papal-tyranny' of the Stewart king. And who was there to deliver Scotland from this slavery? None other than noble England.103 Burton's writings anticipated the way in which eighteenth-century historians would come to interpret these events. This brand of 'king history', however, only emerged towards the end of the sixteenth century and was rare compared to the popularity of familial and

Church histories.104

101 William and Mary were not proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland until 1689 by the Convention of Estates. 1 2 Burton, History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 85. 103 Burton, History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 86-88. 104 In similar fashion, biographical histories were also starting to become more popular, such as The memoires of the lives and actions of James and William, Dukes of Hamilton and Castleherald, by Gilbert Burnet (1677).

69 Chapter Four: The paradoxical Macbeth: a 'hateful Usurper' who brought peace, justice and prosperity to his people, 1707-1900

During the eighteenth century, the history of Macbeth would undergo significant reconstruction. Although he was still considered a villainous usurper by the Scottish historians of newly united Britain, Macbeth's function as an historical agent had now shifted to suit the demands of a changed political landscape. As in the seventeenth century, it was no longer a primary concern for historians to provide legal documentation in support of the independent monarchy of the free realm of Scotland or for them to demonstrate historical precedents guaranteeing for the community protection against the potential misuse of this very institution. Rather, much of Scottish history was now shaped to justify the approval of the Treaty of Union (1707), which dissolved the Scottish parliament and incorporated the independent realm of Scotland into 'Great Britain'.

Many leading Scottish figures believed that Union, meaning at least some degree of absorption and assimilation into the English state, was "essential" for the development of Scotland in a commercial, constitutional, and intellectual manner.1 England symbolized modernity in its progressive commercial and constitutional liberties, while peripheral zones like Scotland represented backwardness with their "anachronistic feudal institutions."2 The two-chambered English parliament, with a speaker and elected members of parliament propelling the House of Commons, was perceived as far more advanced than the single-chambered Scottish parliament, which for centuries was dominated by the Lords of the Articles, a committee that was often considered to have operated in accordance with royal policy, and thus limited the independence of the

1 Neil Davidson, The Origins of Scottish Nationhood (London: Pluto Press, 2000), 101-102. 2 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 268.

70 parliamentary body.3 The perception of Scotland's structure of government as antiquated was also due to a historiographical tradition that recognized overthrow and murder as the tools by which Scottish constitutional disagreements were resolved; the English parliament on the other hand, secured resolution through the far more democratic practices of "consensus and compromise."4

With these perceptions in mind, Scottish historians of the eighteenth century denounced the ancient past as factional and barbaric, and turned to the hereditary monarchy, the once admired champion of Scottish independence and embodiment of

Scottish history, which was now understood to have functioned as the "better guarantor[sic] of the civil peace necessary for the rise of commerce, redefined manners and personal freedoms,"5 which prepared the realm for union with England. Eighteenth- century historians, therefore, understandably focused their attention on Malcolm's relationship with England in the struggle against Macbeth. Scotland could only be freed from the barbaric tyranny of Macbeth by the good grace of Edward the Confessor, king of England. While the perception of Macbeth as a tyrannical figure remained ingrained in the collective historical consciousness from the medieval period, eighteenth-century historians differed in that the focus of Macbeth's reign shifted to emphasize England's part in the restoration of Malcolm, and to create a link between Macbeth and Catholic

Jacobitism.

James Wallace, whose History of the Kingdom of Scotland was printed in 1724, described Macbeth very much in line with the Boecian tradition of the sixteenth century.

3 See the introduction to Roland Tanner's The Late Medieval Scottish Parliament for a discussion of the historical perceptions of the Scottish parliament. 4 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 70-71. 5 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 122.

71 Within Wallace's text, Macbeth appears as an "ambitious" and "bloody cruel" "unjust usurper," 6 the image by which he is certainly more popularly known. Wallace included the prophecies of the witches, only at this point Wyntoun's witches had become "three women of surprising beauty," the third of whom "Hail[s] Macbeth King of Scotland."7

The story of Malcolm's three vices to gauge Macduff's intentions, Macbeth's death at the hand of the thane of Fife, and the prophecy that from Banquo will descend the line of future kings are also included.8

In stark contrast to later seventeenth-century historians, Wallace did not appear to exercise any judgement with regard to the validity of his sources. It is possible, however, that Wallace included these fictional elements because he believed in their capacity to strengthen his message. Through the Stewart monarchy, he found a connection between

England and Scotland; Banquo existed as the origin of a royal line that would progress towards uniting the two kingdoms. This connection is further emphasized when Malcolm, having been forced to flee Scotland, is "Royally Entertained by King Edward," who graciously provides "Ten thousand Men commanded by Seymore and his son, to assist

Malcolm" in his endeavour to "free his Native Kingdom from the merciless oppression of the Usurper Macbeth."9 The historical tale centres on the invasion of Scotland by

Malcolm, which was only made possible with the support of King Edward of England. A developing theme begins to emerge in the eighteenth-century version of the history of

Macbeth - in order for Scotland to succeed, English support is necessary.

6 James Wallace, The History of the Kingdom of Scotland (Dublin: Printed by Author, 1724), 63-65. 7 Wallace, The History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 63. 8 Wallace, The History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 63-5. 9 Wallace, The History of the Kingdom of Scotland, 64,65.

72 Not only is there a prominent undertone of the Union of 1707 in David Scott's

History of Scotland (1727), but there is evidence of a powerful anti-Jacobite sentiment as well. Scott followed the mythologized historiographical tradition laid out before him incorporating into his history the prophetic tale of the "three Women of exceeding

Beauty... [who] suddenly evanish'd. The People in those Days called them Wierd-Sisters or Wood-Women."10 The inclusion of this kind of fairy-tale-type ingredient raises serious doubts about Scott's (and others who did the same) methods. Scott, like Wallace before him, never traced the history of Macbeth back to the contemporary sources of the king's reign; instead he obviously relied on the fictitious tales of Fordun, Wyntoun, and those who followed suit.11

Scott's History of Scotland is a rather exceptional source as it is stocked full of anti-Jacobite propaganda. In this over-the-top interpretation, Macbeth has become the symbolic representation of James VIII/III and the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Once again,

Macbeth, one of the greatest multi-purpose and most flexible agents in Scottish history, was readymade to bend according to demand. Scott asserted that after the son of

Findlaech heard the prophecy of the three women he "beg[an] to forget his Duty to GOD, and Allegiance and Obedience to his lawful Sovereign the King." This expressive vocabulary was quite unique as it had never appeared in any of the sources predating the

David Scott, The History of Scotland (Westminster: J. Cluer and A Campbell, 1727), 130. 11 Scott's portrayal of Gruoch, simply called "Wife" is exceptionally fiendish, in some ways more so than Shakespeare's 'Lady Macbeth'. According to Scott, not only was it Macbeth's wife who "propos'd the King's Death," but when Macbeth hesitated to accept this course of action, it was "the importunate Solicitations of his Wife" that convinced him to do so. Furthermore, the future queen played an active role in murdering Duncan: "Macbeth with his Wife enter'd the King's Apartment, and finding him fast asleep, and the Servants which lay near him, they stab'd the King with a long Knife to the Heart, and put the bloody Instrument near one of the Servant's Bed" (Scott, 131). For the first time we find Gruoch not only present, but a part of the killing. 12 Scott, History of Scotland, 130. Scott again reinforces the importance of duty to the "Lawful King" on page 135.

73 eighteenth century. Curiously, this quote has some close parallels to the proclamations of the Church of Scotland issued in 1715, which were dispatched to help quell the rising popularity of the Jacobite rebellion. The Kirk was alarmed that the Jacobites were appropriating the very image that the Church of Scotland had once secured for itself,

"champions of Scottish nationalism and the defenders of Scottish liberty."13 Fearing a reversion to the 'popish tyranny' of the Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland fought back launching a powerful anti-Jacobite counteraction through public address. One of these announcements, the Admonition By the Synod of Glasgow and Air, explicitly emphasized people's "Duty to GOD... to give all necessary Aid and Assistance to His

Majesty [George I]," a Protestant king, against the Catholic 'Pretender' James VIII/III.14

Any support lent to James was considered unconstitutional by unionist standards, as the

Act of Security passed by the Scottish parliament in 1704 decreed that the successor to

Queen Anne and heir to the Scottish throne must be a Protestant.15 By constitutional law, it was the duty of the people to pledge their allegiance to the Protestant George I. Under these terms, James's position was considered illegitimate by a Presbyterian dominated populace. Macbeth, acting like James, ignored his obligation to his lawful king and dishonourably broke his code of allegiance by murdering Duncan, the constitutionally appointed king.

Devine, The Scottish Nation, 37. 14 "Admonition By the Synod of Glasgow and Air, To all the Congregations under Their Inspection" (Glasgow: 1715), 2. 15 The issue of the constitutional legitimacy of a Catholic Stewart was raised earlier in England under the kingship of James II. In accordance with the Act of Supremacy (1534), upon his succession to the throne, James II, a Catholic, became the head of the Anglican (Protestant) Church of England, a situation which, in the eyes of the exiled members of the Whig party, was constitutionally incompatible with England's structure of Church and State law. It was seen as entirely contradictory to have a Catholic sitting as the head of the Church of England, since a Catholic monarch bowed to the Pope as the head of the Christian Church, which ultimately would place the Pope as the head of the Church of England. Therefore, according to law, a Catholic royal claimant came to be seen as illegitimate.

74 Scott used the history of Macbeth to metaphorically warn the people of Scotland of the changes the Catholic (Jacobite) invasion would bring:

Being posses'd with the evil Spirit of ambitious Pride and Covetousness, he [Macbeth,] gave his Mind daily to such wicked Contrivances as might bring him to such a great Change of Conditions; as from being a happy and free Subject, enjoying Peace, Plenty of Riches, and the highest Offices of the Government, besides, the Love and Respect of his Sovereign, and all good People; to become an unjust and hateful Usurper, a Title most hateful and abominable to all Professors of Christianity.16

Life for Scott in Presbyterian Scotland under the rule of George I was presented as happy, free, peaceful and prosperous. James and his followers would bring nothing but injustice and popish tyranny. This representation of Jacobitism was equally pronounced in the

Church of Scotland's proclamation, A Seasonable Admonition by the Provincial Synod of

Lothian and Tweedale (1715), which declared that the "wicked Combination," meaning

Catholics and false-Protestants, sought only to "subject a free People to Slavery and

Tyranny."17 Similarly, Macbeth, described as "the Tyrant," "consulted all Means to establish his own Power, and impoverish and enslave the Subjects.18 Scott utilized the history of Macbeth as a platform to express the Protestant concerns of the eighteenth century; in other words, the ideology of eighteenth-century Scotland was mirrored in the history of Macbeth.

One of the more intriguing passages in Scott's History of Scotland seems more appropriately affixed to eighteenth-century criticisms of the hierarchy of the Roman

Church, than to the administration of Macbeth's reign. After word reached the Scots that

16 Scott, History of Scotland, 130-131. 17 "A Seasonable Admonition by the Provincial Synod of Lothian and Tweedale" (Edinburgh: November 2, 1715), 3. 18 Scott, History of Scotland, 133.

75 Malcolm planned to invade and reclaim his rightful throne, Scott described the reception of this news as follows:

This message was most joyfully receiv'd among the Loyal Scots, who had for so many Years been most cruelly oppres'd by the Usurper; who had depriv'd them of all their ancient Privileges, and had reduc'd them to such an Inferiority, that they were subject to, and afraid of the meanest, and most abject, deprav'd Persons; who were made rich and rais'd to great Preferment for their inhumane service to the Usurper.19

This allegorical interpolation to the myth of Macbeth is clearly an attack aimed at the supposed corruption of the Catholic Church. The "meanest, and most, abject, deprav'd

Persons" are made to represent the cardinals, bishops and priests who are elevated above their fellow Christians, "made rich and rais'd to great Preferment for their inhumane service to the Usurper," who is the Pope. The true Christians of Scotland, were deprived of their "ancient Privileges," and reduced to a level of "Inferiority" when the Catholic

Church forced itself upon the Scots infecting the spirit and purity of their Presbyterian

Kirk. Six hundred years after visiting the Pope in Rome, a visit which was, ironically, left out of Scott's history, Macbeth had become a symbol of corrupt Roman popery; and so his diabolic metamorphosis continued to spawn.

The interpretive metaphor of Edward existing as the symbol of England, and

Malcolm as the symbol of Scotland was preserved in Scott's history: "[Edward the

Confessor (England)] was a Prince of exceeding Virtue and Piety, and noted for his generous friendship to Malcolm [(Scotland)]." Here, there is a clear attempt to legitimize union with England; the relationship will be most generous, and therefore beneficial to Scotland. Scott reinforced this point again, writing, "the Prince [Malcolm] was ready... to join the English Army. This message was most joyfully receiv'd among

19 Scott, History of Scotland, 135. 20 Scott, History of Scotland, 133. Brackets inserted by present author.

76 the Loyal Scots." Loyalty to Scotland was demonstrated through union with England,

"unionist-nationalism" as it has been labelled, an idea that would have appeared outrageously paradoxical two centuries earlier. Scott's work is a classic case of using history as a means to propagate one's ideological outlook to a wider audience; those who are loyal to Scotland will no doubt support the partnership with England, and support

Protestantism over Catholic Jacobitism.

Born into a world where Scotland and England had only recently become united under the British flag, the reverend George Ridpath23 (1717-1772) produced his Border

History of England and Scotland Deduced from the Earliest Times to the Union of the

Two Crowns: Comprehending a Particular Detail of the Transactions of the Two Nations with One Another?* which, as evidenced by the title alone, centred on the historical development of the two kingdoms' progression towards union. It is no small wonder that the union of the crowns is the apex of Ridpath's history, given the importance of the 1707

Act of Union.

Ridpath demonstrates significant discretion in his Border History, omitting the 9S counterfeit aspects of the mythological history of Macbeth. There are no witches or demons, prophecies, dialogue, or falsely attributed laws to be found in this considerably

Scott, History of Scotland, 135. 22 Graeme Morton, Unionist nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830-1860 (East Lothian, Tuckwell Press, 1999). Also see - Graeme Morton, William Wallace: Man and Myth (United Kingdom: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2001). Morton uses the term to describe an early and mid nineteenth-century phenomenon, although the concept also seems applicable to David Scott's beliefs in the eighteenth century. 23 Not to be confused with the eighteenth-century anti-unionist pamphleteer of the same name. 24 It is not entirely clear when Ridpath wrote his history. His brother Philip Ridpath revised and published the Border History in 1776. 25 Ridpath appears to have based his history of Macbeth around information provided by John of Fordun and contemporary/near-contemporary sources of Macbeth's reign. 26 Strangely, Hector Boece attributed the development of some interesting laws to Macbeth: "The tent part of al frutis growing on the ground sail be gevin to kirkmen, and God sal be adroit with oblationis and prayer.... He that is maid knicht, sal be sworne to defend wedois, commonis, and pupillis.... The eldest

77 condensed version of the story. Of note is Banquo's absence from the narrative, which appears to be the result of the Scots' abandonment of the Stewart monarchy as guarantor of Scotland's constitutional liberty. After the Revolution of 1688-9, whereby James

VII/II was ousted in favour of his daughter Mary and the Dutch prince William of

Orange, it was no longer necessary to celebrate Stewart kingly heritage in antiquity. Mary and William's arrival reinforced the shift from monarchical to constitutional identity that for Scotland had begun in 1603 with James VI' s departure at which time parliament began its ascendancy over the crown. The disassociation from the monarchy as the embodiment of the realm's identity meant that the succession of the closest blood relation to the monarch was no longer as important as protecting the constitutional measures that secured a Protestant state. In effect, James VII/II did not fit into the state's constitutional bounds, while Mary and William served to protect them. Much as Macbeth interrupted a solidified genealogical line of kingship, James, an interloper himself (in a religious capacity), disrupted 120 years of Protestant rule, being the first Catholic monarch to rule over Scotland since Mary, Queen of Scots. Accordingly, ousting the legitimate king of the realm was justifiable because the Stewarts were no longer considered acceptable representatives of the Scottish community; the Kirk rather, safeguarded the nation's identity through Presbyterianism. The Jacobite uprisings of the late seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century, supporting the claim of the Stewarts as the rightful heirs to the British throne, forced some Scottish historians who favoured the

Hanoverian line and union with England to redefine the Stewarts' role in Scottish history.

douchter sal succeed to heritage, failyeing of the eldest son; and gif ony woman mary with the lord of the ground, scho sail tine her heritage" (Boece, History and Chronicles of Scotland, 262).

78 As such, Banquo, father of the Stewart dynasty, was perceived as incompatible to the contemporary constitutional design, and thus was abandoned altogether.

However, Ridpath did not differ from previous historians in maintaining the longstanding tradition of tarnishing the name of a king who for centuries provided historians with the opportunity to superimpose present ideology onto past events.

Macbeth, according to the reverend, remained nothing more than a "rapacious tyrant" and

"usurper" who "cut off Duncan from rightful rule.27

The eighteenth-century historian was writing during a period of transition. The years immediately following 1707 were characterized by a spell of anxiety as many Scots questioned the decision they had made for constitutional union with England. The instantaneous benefits that they expected were nowhere to be found, while popular discontent was on the rise. Amazingly, the level of taxation London imposed on major

Scottish commodities such as beer, salt, linen, soap and malt saw the opposing Scottish parties of the Commons vote unanimously to repeal the Treaty of Union only six years after its ratification.28

By the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Scots were singing a different tune. Union with England was beginning to prove its worth in dividends. The tobacco trade with the American colonies was enormously prosperous generating high levels of capital for the country (and for Glasgow specifically). The linen industry was on the rise as profits grew significantly between 1736 and 1740, while expansions in

27 George Ridpath, The Border History of England and Scotland Deduced from the Earliest Times to the Union of the Two Crowns: Comprehending a Particular Detail of the Transactions of the Two Nations with One Another (Berwick: C. Richardson, 1848), 38. 28 Tom Devine, The Scottish Nation: 1700-2000 (London: Penguin Books, 1999), 19-20. 29 The tobacco trade between Britain's American colonies and Scotland flourished between the 1740s and mid-1770s - Richard B. Sher, "Scotland Transformed: The Eighteenth Century," in Scotland: A New History, ed. Jenny Wormald (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 196.

79 banking, and exporting timber, slate and fish strengthened the economy. Developing their histories as confirmation that union with England was the path to be taken to progress as a nation (as evidenced by Scotland's economic gains in the mid-1700s, which stood as validation to counteract the earlier 'nay-sayers'), historians such as George

Ridpath and David Hume wrote to demonstrate the necessity of joining England, arguing that Scotland's survival was dependent on it.

Scotland's progress as a nation was severely delayed; its constitution and institutions were still very much 'medieval,' being over a century behind England in social development, and so, in the words of Lord Chancellor Alexander Wedderburn

(1755-6) it came to depend on "the more mature strength of her kindred country

[England]."31 When Malcolm (who comes to represent Scotland for eighteenth-century historians) fled from the murderous Macbeth,

[the Earl] Siward received the young prince with great humanity, and carried Him to the court of Edward; who being a prince of much goodness, and having by his flight to Normandy from the iniquity of the Danish usurpers, himself experienced the distresses of exile, gave an hospitable reception to the royal refugee, and entertained him at his court several years.32

Malcolm finds assistance, security, and safekeeping with England, the same benefits offered (in economic terms) to Scotland through union with England. Ridpath continues to emphasize Scotland's reliance on England in order to escape the tyranny of Macbeth, who had come to represent Scotland's barbaric past:

The countenance and aid of the English king was readily obtained; Siward, with the permission of king Edward, accompanied the prince into Scotland, where great numbers immediately joined him; and Macbeth being abandoned by his army, and obliged to seek his safety in flight, was soon overtaken and slain.33

jU Devine, The Scottish Nation, 105-106. 31 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 209-210. 32 Ridpath, Border History, 38.

80 In this passage Scotland is rescued by the 'goodness' of England, and it is only with the help of the southern kingdom that Scotland can regain its freedom and dignity. Although

Ridpath's history ends with the union of the crowns, the final sentence in his Border

History summarizes his personal beliefs appropriately:

This union at last took place, in the memorable year 1707; since which period Britain has enjoyed so much domestic felicity, and has been so much respected abroad, that every unprejudiced mind must be sensible of the unspeakable advantages of this great event.34

Similar to George Ridpath, David Hume (1711-1776) demonstrated an appropriate scepticism of the bogus interpretations of Macbeth's reign provided by

Wyntoun, Boece and the like. No fantastical elements appear in the philosopher's version of the man of Moray's kingship. Macbeth is only mentioned briefly in Hume's History of

England (the title alone certainly emphasizes the supremacy of Scotland's southern neighbour), which is indicative of his belief that medieval history, by and large, did not merit historical investigation.35 In fact, his renowned contemporary William Robertson dismissed Scottish history before 1500 as altogether "unworthy of consideration," given its barbarity.36

Hume preserved the popular notion that the ambitious Macbeth usurped the throne, which there is certainly trustworthy primary evidence to support. Banquo is once again discarded, but more importantly, Hume also omitted Macduff from his interpretation which indicates that he based his history on the sources produced before

John of Fordun's Chronica. This marks the beginning of the shift towards source-based

33 Ridpath, Border History, 38. 34 Ridpath, Border History, 484. 35 Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay, "Introduction," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 3. 36 Michael Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective," in Scotland: A Concise Cultural History, ed. Paul H. Scott (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company, 1993), 15.

81 evidence that would later dominate the nineteenth-century perception of Scotland's historical past. These sources, as we have seen, do not depict Macbeth as an ambitious and hostile usurper; Hume, therefore, had his own reasons for accepting the negatively skewed interpretation of Macbeth. The philosopher's brief passage nevertheless follows a structure similar to that of other eighteenth-century historians where order is disrupted by the usurper, after which order is re-established thanks to the assistance of the English.

Hume writes:

Siward whose daughter was married to Duncan, embraced, by Edward's orders, the protection of this distressed family: He marched an army into Scotland; and having defeated and killed Macbeth in battle, he restored Malcolm to the throne of his ancestors.37

Again, the benefits from the friendship with England have become the pivotal aspect of the story. Scotland, "so much infested by the intrigues and animosity" of Macbeth,38 needed England to restore itself in the eleventh century, much like Scotland, according to

Hume, required England in the eighteenth century to restore its dignity. By killing

Duncan, Macbeth, who Hume described as carrying a "pestilent ambition," disrupted the civil peace that was necessary to facilitate the rise of commercial success and a constitutional partnership with England (ironically provided through the abandonment of

Scotland's sovereignty as a result of union with England). As such, Macbeth's villainous reputation was sustained.

While Fordun and his successors compiled their histories in order to prove

Scotland's legitimate independence through royal genealogy, eighteenth-century historians maintained the traditional importance of royal genealogy in their own histories,

37 David Hume, The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Accession of Henry VII, v. 1 (London: 1762), 120. 38 Hume, History of England, 120. 39 Hume, History of England, 120.

82 but in a different manner. No longer was royal genealogy used to strengthen evidence of

Scottish independence; rather, it was now used to demonstrate a line of progress towards union with England and successful constitutional and commercial liberty. Macbeth was seen as a break in this line, and so was considered a usurper and tyrant. He was a representation of the backwardness of Scotland that stood in the way of national development. The words of A.D.M. Barrell are best applied to the eighteenth-century understanding of Macbeth's kingship: "Macbeth's reign came to be seen as an unfortunate interlude, a regrettable reversion towards barbarism in what was otherwise an age of progress."40 His murderous usurpation was construed as evidence of his savage backwardness because he failed to adhere to the progressive constitutional design of primogeniture, set down previously, according to John of Fordun, by Kenneth II sometime before the year 975.41 The very act of killing Duncan demonstrated Macbeth's archaicism.

Macbeth was a 'particular' for the historians of the Enlightenment who sought

"conclusions at once universal and eternal," and who "shunned the merely particular."42

The story of Macbeth was one of the particular incidents that disrupted an otherwise complete and unbroken history of royal genealogy, a history which eighteenth-century writers understood as "human nature."43 The eighteenth-century Scottish philosophical community believed that human social development progressed along a four stage process beginning with hunting and gathering communities and finishing with commercial societies. This was man's natural progression from barbarism to civilization.

40 A. D. M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 12. 41 Fordun, Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, 164-165. 42 Bruce P. Lenman, "Union, Jacobitism and Enlightenment," in Why Scottish History Matters, ed. Rosalind Mitchison (Edinburgh: The Saltire Society, 1991), 57. 43 Lenman, "Union, Jacobitism and Enlightenment,"57.

83 Severing the appropriate line of constitutional kingship, which would eventually lead

Scotland to union with England as part of a commercially successful empire, procured for

Macbeth undue criticism as his usurpation was understood as a reversion to the barbaric past; he momentarily halted the country's progressive path towards advanced social development. In this light, Macbeth could be used to undermine the Scots' claim to their own constitutional (monarchical) lineage, which was completely unacceptable for eighteenth-century historians making a case for an equal partnership with England.

Macbeth stuck out as something that did not fit into this mould; consequently he was vilified and projected as corrupting the general path and conclusion of history. However, as Romanticism ushered in a change towards the 'particular,' the history of Macbeth would take on a radically different character.

Feelings of English superiority and discontent over Scotland's reduced national role in the Union45 combined with urbanization and industrialization in the Lowlands sparked a dramatic paradigm shift in the perception of the historical Macbeth. In the eyes of the romantic historians of the nineteenth century, union with England had robbed

Scotland of its Scottishness.46 For some, surrendering the nation's constitutional independence came to be understood as a forfeiture of the self. In an ironic twist, as shown by Malcolm Chapman, the elements of the Scottish past "reviled as barbarian, backward and savage" by eighteenth-century historians, were now praised as aspects of

"the 'real' Scotland - land of tartan, kilts and heather."47 Seeking to establish a Scottish

44 Lenman, "Union, Jacobitism and Enlightenment,"57. 45 Marinell Ash, The Strange Death of Scottish History (Edinburgh: The Ramsay Head Press, 1980), 136. These feelings are referenced to Walter Scott specifically. 46 Ash, Strange Death of Scottish History, 27. 47 Malcolm Chapman's words discussed in David McCrone, Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Nation (New York: Routledge, 2001), 39.

84 national consciousness, Walter Scott (1771-1832) turned to the past to find, in his own words, what "made Scotland Scotland."48 He found his answer in "romantic Highland symbolism" which came to dominate nineteenth-century popular culture;49 an image in which Macbeth would be recast. This celebration of Highland culture was only made possible after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and its aftermath. Leading up to the Forty- five, Jacobitism was deemed a very real and serious threat to the British constitutional monarchy; accordingly, it was denounced by a strong financial contingent and the

Presbyterian Kirk - benefactors of the new order. However, once the threat of rebellion was eliminated after the Battle of Culloden (1746); subsequent legislative enforcements, such as the Disarming Act of 1746, which prohibited weapons carrying and highland dress; and following the restructuring of the land and society to better meet the economic demands of the landowners, Highlandism and Jacobitism became acceptable means of sentimentalizing the Scottish past. As Tom Devine has noted, "the rebels were, however, effectively tamed, their martial power destroyed and the scene set for their metamorphosis from faithless traitors to national heroes."50 Macbeth's transformational arc would follow a similar projection. Condemned by the same writers who deplored the

Jacobite rebellion, Macbeth would come to enjoy a vigorous reinterpretation of his kingship, analogous to the romantic rehabilitation of the Jacobites. Without an independent constitutional state providing a sense of unified civil society, 'romantic

Highlandism' became "a kind of surrogate nationalism,"51 which fostered a spectacular revision of Scotland's past.

48 Ash, Strange Death of Scottish History, 27. 49 Devine, Scottish Nation, 292-293. 50 Devine, Scottish Nation, 237. 51 Tom Nairn, The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-Nationalism (London: NLB, 1977), 135.

85 It must be noted that although Scotland relinquished its constitutional independence, the country managed to retain a strong constitutional basis with the survival of its own church, law and education systems, which certainly points to a more modern and successful political arrangement than the previous monarchical structure.

However, a longing for 'days-past' seems to have been infused in historical texts as well as literary works ironically contingent on the 'failure' of this very same past. For example, Jacobitism could only be celebrated in the nineteenth century in so far as it failed to achieve its objectives in the eighteenth century. If Bonnie Prince Charlie had succeeded, than his restoration would have been perceived by the majority of Scots as a threat to the existing constitutional basis, particularly with regard to Presbyterianism. In this sense, the construction of national identity in the nineteenth century depended on the failure of 'old Scotland'. Macbeth, the Highland ways, and Charles Stewart became romanticized heroes only because their failures made it acceptable for this to be the case.

Eighteenth-century writers berated this group because they were perceived as hazardous to the constitutional security of the realm; Highlanders in particular had long been denounced for "being a general affront to civilization."52 Once this threat had subsided, it was permissible to romanticize their stories and sympathize with their causes.

Furthermore, there was a particular nineteenth-century phenomenon that deeply shaped the outlook of Scottish historians - 'bibliomania'. Historical publishing clubs such as the Maitland and Bannatyne Clubs (founded in 1823 and 1828 respectively) worked to improve the availability of Scottish historical sources for patriotic and

Richard J. Finlay, "Queen Victoria and the Cult of Scottish Monarchy," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 212.

86 utilitarian purposes; this action was taken to ensure the safekeeping of the Scottish past

- in effect, the people's identity. Macbeth was caught up in this 'rescue process', as the

Scots grew eager to save their iconic symbols of the past.54 While the clubs appear to have been in decline after the death of Walter Scott in 1832, their conventions persisted.

Later nineteenth-century historians paid considerable attention to medieval documents; their discussions of Macbeth are highlighted by a significant emphasis on bibliographical information.

The startling reinterpretation of Macbeth's kingship which developed during the nineteenth century is nowhere more apparent than in the works of George Chalmers and

Sir Walter Scott whose respective studies marked a dramatic swing in the historical perception of Macbeth's reign. Writing during the opening years of the nineteenth century, Chalmers retained some of the negative qualities of Macbeth's history so much focused upon during the previous century. He believed Macbeth captured the throne through "the insidiousness of assassination"55 and that the man of Moray's seizure of the throne was an act of "usurpation."56 However, he ultimately concluded that despite the indulgences of the English bard who wrote "to gratify the populace of the theatre, the plenty of the reign of Macbeth, his justice, his vigour, [and] his hospitality, were long remembered in Scotland."57 Chalmers's Caledonia (1807) posts an impressive reference list that includes (to name but a few examples) Marianus Scottus's Chronicon, the Annals of Ulster, the Register of St. Andrews, Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scottorum, Wyntoun's

53 Ash, Strange Death of Scottish History, 73. 54 Note: not all nineteenth-century historians were eager to remodel the Scottish past. Alexander Cullen, for example, remained passionate in his distaste for Macbeth (Alexander Cullen, The History of Scotland (London: Iho Crabb, John Street Blackfriars Road, 1815), 62-63. 55 George Chalmers, Caledonia: or, an Account, Historical and Topographical, of North Britain; from the Most Ancient to the Present Times, vol. 1 (London: T. Cadell, and W. Davies, 1807), 405. 56 Chalmers, Caledonia, 414. 57 Chalmers, Caledonia, 412.

87 Original Chronicle, and the works of Boece, Buchanan and Holinshed. From these sources the historian was able to deduce that Macbeth's kingship was not oppressive as

Fordun, Boece, and the like had their readers believe, but rather, the king's reign proved beneficial for Scotland. For the first time since before the writings of John of Fordun we

CO find Macbeth presented, not as a tyrant, but as a man of valour, a revision owing very much to the bibliographical movement that dominated historical investigation at this time.

Gruoch, Macbeth's wife, re-surfaces for the first time in four hundred years as a woman seeking to inflict revenge, with justifiable cause, upon the house of Duncan. She suffered a great deal at the hands of Duncan's ancestors: "a grandfather dethroned, and slain; a brother assassinated; and her husband burnt, within his castle, with fifty of his friends; herself [left] a fugitive."59 Her alliance with Macbeth in the hope of dethroning

Duncan seems fairly reasonable (by medieval standards) considering the wrongs she faced. Contrasting heavily with Shakespeare's scheming harpy, Chalmers's "Lady

Gruoch" is noted for her donation of "the lands of Kirkness, and also the manor of Bolgy, to the culdees of Lochleven."60 She was a lady of "great strength of character,"61 and was finally beginning to shed the wicked reputation that had plagued her since the sixteenth century.

Working to revitalize a perceived lost national consciousness, there is a concerted refutation of the well-established myth of Macbeth within Walter Scott's work. For the historian this meant reclaiming the Scottish king from his 'disgraceful' existence in the

58 Chalmers, Caledonia, 408. 59 Chalmers, Caledonia, 405. 60 Chalmers, Caledonia, 409. 61 Chalmers, Caledonia, 405.

88 Shakespearean tradition. Scott incorporated the acclaimed playwright into his discussion as the man largely responsible for popularizing Macbeth's villainy. Where previous historians, other than Chalmers, either ignored or accepted Shakespeare's play as the

'status quo', Scott saw the tragedy as a powerful component of the mythologizing process of the king. Primarily a novelist and poet himself, there is no doubt Scott was aware of the wide-spread impact fiction could have on the general populace, especially when dealing with supposed historical truths. Scott warned his readers:

we must not be blinded by our poetical enthusiasm, nor add more than due importance to legends, because they have been woven into the most striking tale of ambition and remorse that ever struck awe into a human bosom. The genius of Shakespeare having found the tale of Macbeth in the Scottish chronicles of Holinshed, adorned it with a lustre similar to that which a level beam of the sun often invests some fragment of glass, which, though shining at a distance with the lustre of a diamond, is by a near investigation discovered to be of no worth or estimation.62

Scott was able to criticize Shakespeare's Holinshed-based account because of his active participation in the investigative environment of bibliomania - working to discover medieval documents and publish them for posterity. He was well versed in Latin which made these antiquarian sources all the more accessible. Contemporary and near- contemporary sources of Macbeth's reign depicted a distinctly different picture than the one projected by Fordun and others, which allowed Scott to dissect the mythologizing process first hand. As a result, he was able to provide a convincing, although brief, historiographical account of the events surrounding Macbeth's reign.

Scott discussed how "the lady of Macbeth... whose real name was Graoch... [and who] has been since painted as the sternest of women" by later historians, had in fact

6 Walter Scott, Scotland, vol. 1 (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier and Sons, 1899), 30. Scott's work was originally produced in 1829-30. This history of Scotland is not to be mistaken with Scott's story-book type history Tales of a Grandfather, in which Macbeth is depicted, quite surprisingly, in similar fashion to Shakespeare's villain.

89 suffered "deadly injuries" at the hands of Duncan's family, since "she was the granddaughter of Kenneth IV., killed in 1003, fighting against Malcolm II," grandfather of Duncan through his daughter Beatrice. Although failing to provide explicit reference to the medieval documents, this clearly demonstrates that Scott had access to contemporary sources. Naming Macbeth's wife 'Graoch' instead of 'Gruoch' (the spelling used by Chalmers), and designating Beatrice as the mother of Duncan instead of

Bethoc (whom Chalmers identifies as Duncan's mother) suggests that Scott was using different copies of primary sources than the ones used by Chalmers. Medieval records provided different variations of the same episode and so it is no wonder that Scott's findings differed slightly from those attained by Chalmers.

Scott was also aware that "the old annalists add[ed] some instigations of a supernatural kind to the influence of a vindictive woman over an ambitious husband," which of course, included the "three women, of more than human stature and beauty."64

Furthermore, Scott concluded:

Very slight observation will enable us to recollect how much this simple statement differs from that of the drama, though the plot of the latter is consistent enough with the inaccurate histories from whom Shakespeare drew his materials. It might be added, that early authorities show us no such persons as Banquo and his son Fleance.... Neither were Banquo nor his son ancestors of the house of Stuart.65

Scott's awareness of the inaccurate sources used by Shakespeare is evidenced by his omission of the mythical elements associated with Macbeth.66 In this sense, the structure

Scott, Scotland, vol. 1, 30. Scott must have been confused by some of the earlier records as there was no Kenneth IV, rather, his passage should read "Kenneth III." 64 Scott, Scotland, vol. 1, 30. 65 Scott, Scotland, vol. 1,31. Again, Scott demonstrates his awareness of medieval sources as he points out that Banquo is nowhere to be found in earlier records of Macbeth's reign. 66 While the witches, prophecies, and fabricated dialogues are weeded out of, or dismissed as falsehoods in Scott's history, Macduff, the earl of Fife, appears in Scott's version of Macbeth's kingship, which points to a significant peculiarity in his findings. Even though he dismisses both Fordun's tyrannical

90 of Scott's interpretation is analogous to that of Hume's, although Scott inverted the philosopher's perception of right and wrong, turning Hume's conclusion upside-down.

Instead of his usual tyrannical projection, Macbeth was undergoing a remodelling process: he was becoming legitimized.

Although Sir Walter Scott provided a tremendous service to the history of

Macbeth by pointing out the counterfeit historiographical developments surrounding the king's reign, he remained guilty himself of broadcasting the very same variety of pseudo- history that he challenged.67 The romanticist began a mythologizing tradition of his own by making a hero out of the formerly vilified Macbeth. This dichotomy is perfectly illustrative of Walter Scott who was a man divided between the rational Whig and the romantic Jacobite (the head and the heart) traditions of Scottish history. Scott's reinterpretation of the events of Macbeth's life is as follows:

Macbeth broke no law of hospitality in his attempt on Duncan's life. He attacked and slew the king at a place called Bothgowan, or the Smith's House, near Elgin, in 1039, and not, as has been supposed, in his own castle of Inverness. The act was bloody, as was the complexion of the times, but, in very truth, the claim of Macbeth to the throne, according to the rule of Scottish succession, was better than that of Duncan. As a king, the tyrant so much exclaimed against was, in reality, a firm, just, and equitable 69

prince.

The killing of Duncan is rendered completely legitimate and justifiable by Scott's placement of Macbeth in the position of rightful heir to the throne, since, according to the historian, Macbeth's claim to the throne "was better than that of Duncan." Macbeth is described conclusively as "a firm, just, and equitable prince," which is a complete view of Macbeth, and the fairytale dialogue between Malcolm and Macduff found in the Chronica Gentis Scottorum, Scott, for reasons unknown, accepts the validity of Macduff as a historically truthful agent in this episode, who flees Scotland and counsels Siward of Northumberland to invade Scotland (Scott, Scotland, vol. 1,31). 67 Scott was not averse to his own inventions; for instance, the story of Bruce's spider comes to mind. 68 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 259. 69 Scott, Scotland, vol. 1, 30-31.

91 reversal from the earlier histories. Interestingly, there is very little discussion of

Macbeth's defeat and death which used to be the focal point of the story in eighteenth- century versions. No longer was Macbeth the tyrant who unjustly usurped for himself the kingdom of Scotland, breaking the line of Scottish kings progressing towards societal advancement and union with England. Macbeth had been repackaged in the wake of the bibliographical and romantic movements which came to dominate historical investigation during the nineteenth century.

Following an unsettling period after the Napoleonic Wars, in which Scotland experienced economic depression (specifically between 1815 and 1850), insurrection

(1820), class conflict and industrial contention (1820s and 1830s), a disruption in the

Church (1843) and food shortage in the Highlands (1846), many Scots feared the loss of their cultural identity. This "belief that Scotland was disappearing created a fad for the collection of historical manuscripts and ballads before old Scotia was lost forever." The investigative legacy left by the bibliographical movement coupled with the disorder listed above rekindled the pursuit of Scottishness through Scotland's past in the later nineteenth century, which had previously dominated the earlier years of the same century.

First, however, something should be said about the puzzling intermission (from

Walter Scott's death through the mid-century mark), which seems to have briefly halted the re-evaluation of Macbeth's reign. Following Scott's reinterpretation of the medieval monarch's kingship, we find a significant gap before Macbeth's favourable image was once again rekindled in the 1870s; the only exception being Thomas Wright's History of

Scotland, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time (1852), which was, however, re published in 1873. This gap appears to have been the result of a stronger Scottish

70 Finlay, "Queen Victoria and the Cult of Scottish Monarchy," 214.

92 association with Britishness. During this period, popular Scottish figures "were used as symbols... to celebrate Scotland's equality with England" under the Union.71 William

Wallace and Robert Bruce's successful push for independence in the fourteenth century was believed to have ensured Scotland's equal treatment with England under the Union of 1707, which united both peoples within the British state.72 As equal partners under the

British flag, the Scots were able to connect to a greater sense of Britishness. A testament to this was the re-publication of George Ridpath's pro-union Border History of England and Scotland in 1848, which, as discussed earlier, celebrated Malcolm's relationship with the king of England, while chastising Macbeth as an interloper. The unionist-nationalism that characterized this interval, however, expired during the 1860s as "centralised knowledge and centrally co-ordinated and standardized intervention" forced a shift in

Scotland's governmental focus from a "philanthropic bourgeoisie and an empowered local state" to "Westminster, [and] the parliamentary state."73 Centralized state control in

London forced Scotland's nationalist front to adapt politically, marking the beginning of the Home Rule movement in the later nineteenth century.

Simply put, Thomas Wright (1810-1877), historian and antiquary, transformed

Macbeth into hero. Never before had such overt patriotism been connected to the eleventh-century monarch, as Wright elevated Macbeth to a level of distinction previously unacknowledged. According to the historian,

It appears from all accounts that the administration of Macbeth was vigorous and beneficent. His subjects are said to have enjoyed during his reign the blessings of peace and plenty; justice was administered with an even hand, and the turbulence of the chieftains was restrained by his courage and authority.... He was supported by the clergy, whose favour he had gained by

71 Morton, Unionist nationalism, 188. 72 Morton, Unionist nationalism, 182. 73 Morton, Unionist nationalism, 188.

93 his great liberality to the church.

This description of Macbeth is completely irreconcilable with the image projected by historians writing before the nineteenth century. A far cry from the formerly considered brutal despot, Macbeth's character had been reworked, under the pretext of primary source based evidence, to celebrate his courage and administrative skill, which brought peace and prosperity to the realm.

It is perhaps in the conclusion to Wright's discussion of Macbeth that the historian's sympathies are revealed most clearly:

It will be seen that most of the incidents of Shakespeare's play have no foundation in history, though some of them are taken from the fables of the later chroniclers. Instead of being hated by his subjects, the name of Macbeth was long popular in Scotland as that of one of the best of their kings, and the Scottish people felt the indignity of a foreign intervention in their domestic affairs.75

"The indignity of a foreign intervention" is a reference to Malcolm's invasion of Scotland with the support of the English crown. This invasion was considered a blessing by Hume and company during the eighteenth century, which is a demonstration of history's vulnerability to modification, as interpretations of the same event became utterly polarized within a one hundred year period. It is fascinating to witness Wright dismiss his predecessors as creators of "fables", while he remains completely unaware of his own tendency to historicize. There is certainly no contemporary evidence that suggests that the Scots viewed Macbeth as "one of the best of their kings." This is simply Wright's impression of his own ideological understanding of how Scotland should have been, and must be again in the face of cultural Anglicization.

74 Thomas Wright, The History of Scotland, From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, vol. 1 (London: London Printing and Publishing Company, 18-), 29. 75 Wright, History of Scotland, vol. 1, 29.

94 The reverend Thomas Napier Thomson (1798-1869) further advanced the practice

of historiographical scepticism in relation to previous interpretations of Macbeth's reign.

He was well aware of the damage done to Macbeth by the old historiographical tradition:

But leaving the romantic fictions, and even the prophecies that welcomed the victors upon the "blasted heath" - events which were copied from the Scottish into the English histories, and invested by Shakespeare with a power that makes historical reality shrink before it like a mendacious culprit... A prosperous and tranquil reign of seventeen years only diversified by a commonplace journey to Rome and back again - this was not enough for our historians of the middle ages; and having adopted Macbeth as a romantic personage, they gathered round him the events that were fittest for such a character, as it was at that time understood.76

One gets a sense of Thomson's understanding of how historians tend to impose their own ideologies on past events. He rejected (as did Scott and Wright) the fantastical elements of past histories such as the prophecies of the weird sisters, and he considered the possibility that Macbeth's "claims to the crown were at least as strong as those of his cousin Duncan."77 Thomson judged Macbeth, "a most beneficent" man, claiming that,

"the old chronicles are filled with descriptions of the peace and prosperity that abounded in Scotland during the greater part of his reign. With this, indeed, the people were so well

satisfied that they made no movement on behalf of the family of Duncan."78 The old chronicles are most certainly not "filled with descriptions of peace and prosperity." As discussed earlier, there is very little written about Macbeth in the "old chronicles" at all.

This is, however, a position assumed by most nineteenth-century historians. Cosmo Lines

(1798-1874), for example, lamented that Macbeth's reign, a "period of national

Thomas Thomson, A History of the Scottish People From the Earliest Times, vol. 1 (London: Blackie and Sons, Ltd., 1893), 84-85. It is worth noting that Thomson considered the works of Hector Boece and George Buchanan as "romantic fictions" (Thomson, 84). 77 Thomson, History of the Scottish People, 84. 78 Thomson, History of the Scottish People, 85. 79 There are no contemporary chronicles that describe Macbeth's reign as peaceful, and only two mention that there were 'productive seasons'.

95 prosperity and fabulous wealth is but a bright spot in a dark picture. The defeat and death of Macbeth were the commencement of great troubles to Scotland, which became the scene of constant disputed successions and civil wars."80 There is some degree of irony in

Thomson's writing; he accuses past historians of malpractice for painting Macbeth as a tyrant to suit their own ideological needs, and yet he does the same, only he paints

Macbeth as a magnificent king.

During the eighteenth century, the Siward/Malcolm invasion of Scotland was interpreted as a reestablishment of order, a sign of progress towards union with England.

Thomson saw the Siward/Malcolm invasion of Scotland through a newfound patriotic lens - 'emotional Celtic patriotism' - as nineteenth-century writers saw in the Jacobite military resistance to union with England.81 There are clear anti-Anglo sentiments in

Thomson's text as evidenced by his charge that "the aid by which [Malcolm] was restored was derived from aliens and enemies."82 Macbeth fought to defend his country from the invading English hoard, and his "people... rallied round him, and fought bravely in his cause."83 Even when Macbeth was defeated, "the Scots, instead of repairing to the standard of the victorious Malcolm, continued their resistance, and proclaimed Lulach, the step-son of Macbeth, king."84 This is a remarkably skewed interpretation of events which certainly exaggerates the information obtained through primary documentation.

The hostility towards England and promotion of Macbeth's cause are nineteenth-century reactions to the "political and material superiority of England [which] threatened the full-

80 Cosmo Innes, Scotland in the Middle Ages: Sketches of Early Scotch History and Social Progress (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1860), 118. 81 Murray G. H. Pittock, "The Jacobite Cult," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), 196. 82 Thomson, History of the Scottish People, 85. 83 Thomson, History of the Scottish People, 86. 84 Thomson, History of the Scottish People, 86.

96 scale assimilation of Scotland." The Scottish community dealt with English encroachments, real or imagined, within historical texts,86 as evidenced by Macbeth's romantic stand against Malcolm's English-backed invasion.

Patrick Fraser Tytler's (1791-1849), "monumental... and scholarly" History of

Scotland (the first instalment was published in 1828) proved to be an especially popular historical text amongst a middle-class eager to rediscover the Scottish past.87 Tytler's history began, originally, with the succession of Alexander III (r. 1249-1286) to the throne of Scotland, which on some level attests to the historian's lack of interest in early medieval Scotland: odd given his connection to Walter Scott's bibliographical group.

However, a reprinted version of his History of Scotland appeared in 1873 with an editor's introduction, which included a narrative of the early medieval kings of Scotland. The addition of a chapter detailing the reigns of early medieval kings suggests significant public demand in this area of Scottish history, partly due to the rising popularity of the cult of Scottish monarchy during Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901). Victoria toured

Scotland extensively. Her visits to Balmoral (after its purchase in 1852) were accompanied by numerous public stopovers which generated significant interest in (as well as the spectacle of) the monarchy.88 In Scotland, a sense of continuity (albeit imagined) was drawn between the current British monarchy and the monarchy of the

Scottish past; Victoria even wore the Stewart tartan with no perceived sense of irony.

The publication of an additional chapter in Tytler's history was likely the result of an

85 Devine, Scottish Nation, 244. 86 Ash, Strange Death of Scottish History, 136. 87 Devine, Scottish Nation, 292. 88 Such as Stirling in 1842, 1869,1875,1879 and 1891; and Glasgow and Perth in 1849 - Finlay, "Queen Victoria and the Cult of Scottish Monarchy," 216. 89 Finlay, "Queen Victoria and the Cult of Scottish Monarchy," 211-215.

97 attempt to capitalize on the growing interest in the monarchy, which was done by strengthening the line of continuity between Scotland's past and the present monarchy.

Passages within the newly published interpolation remained very much in line with the spirit of the times, confirming the valiant characterization of Macbeth popularized by Walter Scott:

Malcolm [II] left no son, and was succeeded by his grandson "the gracious Duncan" of Shakespeare, son of Crinan, abbot of Dunkeld, by Bethoc, daughter of Malcolm. According to Celtic law the crown should have reverted to the line of Kenneth III, surnamed the Grim. The rights of this branch of the royal family had devolved upon Gruach, granddaughter of Kenneth and wife of Macbeth, maormor of Ross.... She had not only the best claim to the throne, according to the old rule of succession, but she had deadly injuries to avenge on the house of Malcolm. He had dethroned and killed her grandfather, assassinated her brother, and was suspected of having caused her first husband, Gilcomgain, maormor of Moray, to be burnt in his own castle.... Macbeth too, had wrongs to revenge on the family of Malcolm, for his father had been killed in battle by Sigurd, the son-in-law of the Scottish king. Instigated probably by ambition as well as by revenge, Macbeth took up arms against Duncan, whom he slew, not in his own castle of Inverness, but at a place called Bothgowan.... The vacant throne was immediately seized by Macbeth, who held it for eighteen years. He appears to have been both an able and a just sovereign; his admini stration was remarkably prosperous, and gave general satisfaction to the people. His role was more extensive than that of any previous monarch, and under his sway was included all the territory that now bears the name of Scotland.90

Once again, we find no mention or allusion to Macbeth as tyrant or usurper, but rather, he appears as "an able and a just sovereign" who had legitimate "wrongs to revenge on the family of Malcolm." Macbeth, therefore, had good reason for killing Duncan and seizing the throne. He was a celebrated ruler; his subjects clearly approved of him. He was responsible for bringing Scotland to a level of prosperity. He advanced the role of the monarchy, solidifying under his control more territory than had been previously

"Introductory, by the Editor" in Patrick Fraser Tytler, Tytler's History of Scotland, vol.1 (Glasgow: printed by William MacKenzie, 1873), 20-21.

98 maintained by his predecessors. Considerable effort is demonstrated here to restore to

Macbeth an honourable image.

Fittingly, the editor's introduction to Tytler's History of Scotland falls in line with

P. F. Tytler's neo-royalist sympathies. Tytler praised the efforts of strong kings who sought to "control their lawless nobles in an attempt to replace the anarchy and oppression of their 'independent and tyrannical' nobles with a measure of order, stability and the possibility of cultural and economic progress."91 This is inverted 'Buchananite history'; instead of the nobles checking the potentially despotic power of the king, in this historical approach, the king's position exists to check the oppressive power of the nobility. The editor's description of Macbeth certainly conforms to this structure.

Macbeth's intervention is displayed as a positive action. Scotland was in a permanent state of upheaval before Macbeth killed Duncan to take the throne, as violent quarrels between nobles plagued the community. All the senior males in Gruoch's family were wiped out, and Macbeth's father was killed in 'noble' conflict as well.92 When Macbeth succeeded to the throne, he brought stability to Scotland; he represented peace and prosperity, and so is the historical embodiment of progress. It is intriguing to find how the very same actions, killing Duncan and capturing the throne, could be interpreted on the one hand as a heinous crime perpetrated against the very constitutional framework of the realm, and on the other, as a rightful and promising act. Along similar lines, J. H.

Burton found that according to the rule of alternate succession, "the grandson of Malcolm

[namely, Duncan] was a usurper," not Macbeth.93 Andrew Lang (1844-1912), who believed Macbeth to be "an excellent king, [who was] liberal to the poor," also agreed

91 Kidd, Subverting Scotland's Past, 273. 92 "Introductory, by the Editor" in Tytler, Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. 1, 20-21. 93 John Hill Burton, The History of Scotland (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1873), 345.

99 that "Duncan, in the eyes of strict Pictish legitimists, was really a usurper," and that

Macbeth was in the position of right when he took the crown by force.

In line with Scott's work, the glorified reinterpretation of Macbeth celebrated in the introduction to Tytler's history was the result of a vigorous approach to the acquisition and publication of medieval documents. While sources are only referred to indirectly in the text, the editor's introductory discussion of Macbeth provides information that could only have been drawn from contemporary accounts of the king's reign. There is mention of Macbeth's donation to the Culdees: "He and his queen are recorded among the earliest benefactors of the Culdee monastery of Lochleven."95 There is a footnote attached to this point, which states, "they are termed in the record

(Registrum Prioratus Sancti Andrea?) 'King and Queen of Scots.'"96 The approach to source-based evidence clearly trumps the acceptance of the fairytale elements of

Macbeth's reign fabricated by Fordun, Wyntoun and Boece. The editor also discusses

Macbeth's pilgrimage to Rome, and his hospitable reception of the Norman exiles from

England, two episodes which are almost entirely ignored throughout the historiography of

Macbeth. For nineteenth-century historians, the contemporary evidence documenting

Macbeth's reign painted a much different picture than the one depicted by historians of the fourteenth through eighteenth centuries. However, instead of simply deconstructing the mythology of Macbeth as it had developed over the past eight hundred years or so, this new generation of historians developed their own legend to replace the old one.

94 Andrew Lang, A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1900), 53-54. 95 "Introductory, by the Editor" in Tytler, Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. 1, 21. 96 "Introductory, by the Editor" in Tytler, Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. 1, 21. 97 "Introductory, by the Editor" in Tytler, Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. 1,21.

100 The source that perhaps best exemplifies the bibliographical tradition of the nineteenth century in relation to Macbeth is William F. Erskine's Celtic Scotland: A

History of Ancient Alban (1876), which references and footnotes primary sources directly. The original documentation of Macbeth's grant to the Culdees and his pilgrimage to Rome are provided along with direct quotation from Berchan 's Prophecy.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the works of Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham are also discussed. Of Macbeth, Skene concludes, "That he was not the tyrant he is represented by Fordun to have been seems very certain. There is no trace of it in any authentic record" and "if he had possessed a legitimate title, he would probably have maintained his position, and been recorded as one of the best of the Scottish kings."98 The historical character of Macbeth had now begun a new chapter in its historiographical journey from cryptic beginnings to tyrannical usurper, and now to Scottish hero.

The traditional 'tyrannical' version of Macbeth popularized by Shakespeare, acquired from the well established historiography of Holinshed, Boece and Fordun, was completely demythologized by the historians of the nineteenth century, who in turn, replaced the former myth with one of their own, celebrating Macbeth as a just, peaceful and heroic king, a picture which there is no sufficient primary evidence to substantiate.

While attacking the traditional perspective of Macbeth as a fabrication, Walter Scott and company exercised the same mistakes made by their predecessors. They were guilty of shaping the past in order to make sense of the contemporary issues they faced. The supposed disappearance of 'old Scotland' after a century of union with England ignited in some historians a desire to recapture their country's past, romanticizing in the process

98 William Skene, Celtic Scotland: A History of Ancient Alban, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1876), 405-413.

101 some of the previously considered dangerous elements of Scottish history, including

Macbeth. The 'good king' image of Macbeth standing fast against Edward's troops projected by later nineteenth-century historians coincided with the rise of the Home Rule movement in which many Scots looked to secure stronger local governance to better suit their own distinct ideological platform, rather than living with policy geared towards

Britain/England. In both cases the history of Macbeth had been revised to connect the nineteenth-century Scot with a true sense of Scottishness.

102 Chapter Five: How historical is the 'historical Macbeth', 1900-2008

Heading into the twentieth century, Macbeth's function as a symbol of national identity

was gaining momentum alongside the push for Home Rule which was fast becoming part of the political agenda with the establishment of the Scottish Home Rule Association

(SHRA) in 1886. Resonating with Thomson and Wright's fear of absorption into English culture, C. C. Stopes (1897) maintained that historians of the past

tried to ignore how the national spirit rebelled against the foreign influences that affected the king [Malcolm], and how it looked fondly and sadly back to the good old days of King Macbeth, a king so powerful, so prosperous, so faithful, so hospitable, and withal so national.1

Stopes believed that Malcolm ushered in a new age of Anglicization, whereas

Macbeth was characteristic of the national spirit, a representation of the golden age of

Scotland. She found that Scotland was in jeopardy of losing its distinctive cultural identity and so worked to recapture her country's Scottishness. There is indeed a touch of irony to Macbeth's portrait as a nationalist, given his ties to the House of Moray, which levelled a powerful insurrection against the Scottish crown during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Furthermore, Macbeth would not have had any connection to the concept of 'nationalism' as it was known to those living during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Stopes was part of the Celtic revivalist movement that exploded at the turn of the century ushering in a modern Scottish renaissance. 'What once was, will be again' became the order of the day as nationalist groups popped up alongside the SHRA, such as

1 C. C. Stopes, "The Scottish and English Macbeth", originally published in 1897, found in C.C. Stopes, Shakespeare's Industry (London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1916), 86. The emphasis on "so national" was taken from Stopes's 1916 publication.

103 the Liberal Young Scots Society, the Scottish Patriotic Association (1901), and the

Scottish National League (1904). Gaelic and Gaelic related periodicals and publications expanded in popularity; ideas of Jacobite romanticism and Celtic communism were celebrated; revocation of union with England and the creation of a 'Union of the Celtic

Races' was espoused; a call for the restoration of the Stewarts was promoted by the

Legitimist Jacobite League (1898); and re-establishing Celtic culture and its system of government became part of the agenda.4 There was even talk of restoring the Gaelic language as the vernacular,5 which was obviously an aspiration of the more radical element. These impulses were not reflective of the majority of Scots; however they did have an impact on perceptions of the Scottish past.6 As always, Scotland's constitutional debate would play a fundamental role in the way in which the Scots approached their history.

Stopes's description of Macbeth is so radically different from the histories of previous centuries that it comes across as quite unbelievable. When first introduced to the king-to-be, we discover that "Macbeth received her [Gruoch, after escaping from

2 Derick Thompson, "Gaelic Literature," in Scotland: A Concise Cultural History, ed. Paul H. Scott (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company, 1993), 139. Examples of theses periodicals are Patrick Geddes's Evergreen (1895), Ruaraidh Erskine's Guth na Bliadhna (1904), Theodore Napier's Fiery Cross (1901), and The Scottish Nationalist (1903). 3 Pittock, "The Jacobite Cult", 203. 4 Murray G. H. Pittock, Scottish Nationality (Houndmills, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001), 98. 5 Harvie, Scotland and Nationalism, 103. 6 Strangely, two Scottish history texts appear in this period catering to children, both portraying Macbeth in the Boecian tradition. H. E. Marshall, whose history is intentionally "woven with the golden threads of romance and glittering with the rubies and sapphires of Fairyland" explains that "Macbeth found pleasure only in putting his nobles to death, for in this way he not only rid himself of his enemies, but he became daily richer and richer" - H. E. Marshall, Scotland's Story: A History of Scotland for Boys and Girls, (Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1907), viii, 39. Seeking for children "delight in the romance and legend of their native land," Jessie Patrick Findlay describes Macbeth in storybook fashion as an "avaricious tyrant" - Jesse Patrick Findaly, Tales of the Scots: From Holinshed (Stirling: Eneas Mackay, 1914), 8, 84. These publications are entirely contrary to the way in which perceptions of Macbeth were being articulated during this period; however, it is worth noting that both writers appear to have intended to keep a part of Scotland (the old myths) alive for the coming generation, which is certainly in tune with nineteenth- and twentieth-century attitudes.

104 Malcolm's attack on her husband Gillecomgain] kindly and shortly afterwards married her, and the first trait of his character thus outlined for us is his generous and protecting love for a proscribed fugitive."7 This is certainly one way to approach this episode; another, is that perhaps Macbeth simply married Gruoch to strengthen his claim to the

Scottish throne, as Gruoch descended from the bloodline of Kenneth II, or III. In the absence of any definitive documentation about the lives of the Macbeths, there appears to have been an 'anything goes' mentality to the narration of their story.

Stopes continues her praise for the "national" king: "Macbeth is famed as a good king, honoured by the Church, beloved by his people, and feared by his country's foes.

His were good days for Scotland; the very weather seemed to improve, and the crops were plentiful, generally a sign of able and stable government."8 This romanticized version of the history of Macbeth is as equally ridiculous as the fantasy-based history of

Andrew Wyntoun. Stopes, well aware of the erroneous historiographical tradition of

Macbeth, explains that there are seemingly "two Macbeths. The earlier and better one is derived from the old records; the later and worse one is woven out of interested statements and bardic 'stories.'"9 Like Thomas Wright, she was completely oblivious to her own biases when criticising past interpretations. Her "brave king whose strong hand sustained eleventh century Scotland during seventeen years" is as much a fabrication as

Fordun's tyrannical Macbeth, only the new and improved image of Macbeth is upheld under the false pretence that contemporary evidence supports this depiction.

Although interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, which sparked a rise in Scottish association with British patriotism, the Celtic revivalist movement that

7 Stopes, "The Scottish and English Macbeth," 81. 8 Stopes, "The Scottish and English Macbeth," 81. 9 Stopes, "The Scottish and English Macbeth," 92.

105 reached its zenith during the earlier part of the century remained noticeably influential over perceptions of Macbeth through the 1920s and 30s, when the medieval monarch would be used as an instrument to foster Celtic Patriotism.

Historical writers of the twentieth century presented something new: history books dedicated exclusively to the life of King Macbeth. John Macbeth's Macbeth: King,

Queen and Clan, published in 1921, was the first such text to appear followed by

Ruaraidh Erskine's Mac Beth in 1930. Troubled times followed the conclusion of World

War One: by war's end Scotland had lost some 100 000 men; shipbuilding was in decline; unemployment soared as high as 14.3 per cent in 1923;10 Scotland experienced a net loss of population for the first time in its history;11 Highland clearance was still in effect from 1911;12 and as a result of economic pressure, the majority of Scottish banks, five railroad companies and most of the shipping companies were appropriated by

English capital between 1918 and 1923, which many saw as increased imposition by the

British state.13 This period of hardship facilitated a significant amount of frustration over

Scotland's standing within the British state, and many Scots renewed the call for some degree of independence that had been championed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was hardly the 'welcome home' the boys were expecting.

The revivalist movement enjoyed a level of rejuvenation in this atmosphere as the hopelessness and gloom that surfaced in postwar Scotland created "the need to recover a world which had been lost."14 Although the rally for Home Rule (which originally

10 Lynch, Scotland: A New History, 423. 11 Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective", 36. 12 Lynch, Scotland: A New History, 439. 13 Christopher Harvie, Scotland and Nationalism (New York: Routledge, 2004), 26. Similar information can be found in Lynch, Scotland: A New History, 433/40. 14 Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective", 36.

106 emerged during the 1880s), or devolution from English parliamentary control, was losing substantial support by 1931,15 its idealist aspirations were nevertheless reflected in the history of Macbeth. The eleventh-century monarch would once again provide historical agency for the new ideology of Scottish nationalism. He was adopted by the separatist movement as a champion of Scottish independence.

John Macbeth's Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan (1921) and Ruaraidh Erskine's

Mac Beth (1930) are completely contextualized within the phenomenon of Celtic revivalism which stood in defiance of the belief that "prior to 1707 the Scottish people were a pack of miserable savages, living in incredible poverty and squalor, and playing no part in the development of civilization."16 John Macbeth's understanding of the reign of his ancestor was highly influenced by 'Marxist Celtic communism'. King Macbeth is praised for meting "out equal justice to great and small, whether they were chiefs or retainers."17 In fact, King Macbeth's socialist disposition was the very reason Scotland prospered during his reign as John Macbeth does not fail to elucidate, "one result of this

1 Q even-handed justice was that Scotland flourished as it had never flourished before."10 The concept of the early Scottish egalitarian society was a strong element of "popular nationalism," which as exhibited in Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, "penetrated" the

"works of academic scholarship."19 Ruaraidh Erskine believed that the egalitarianism and collectivism esteemed in Celtic culture were erased through the infiltration of Anglo-

Devine, Scottish Nation, 324. 16 Words spoken by Robert Boothby, a young Conservative politician, as found in Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective", 15. 17 John Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan (Edinburgh: W.J. Hay at John Knox's House, 1921), 58. 18 Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, 58. 19 David McCrone, Understanding Scotland, 79. Note: McCrone is referencing the idea of Allan MacLaren.

107 Saxon "greed and selfishness." John Macbeth's emphasis on King Macbeth's social

measures of equal justice is demonstrative of these Celtic values. Curiously, Erskine's

Celtic values, prominent in his public life (as a promoter of socialist idealism he

"welcomed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution") were largely absent in his version of the

reign of Macbeth. His history writing, however, remained politically charged as his Mac

Beth was a call for a Celtic federation of nations, and a direct appeal for a unified

Scotland (not unlike John Macbeth's nationalist convictions).

The first forty pages of Erskine's ninety page book are dedicated to the ethnology

of the Scottish people. Erskine believed that the Picts were the dominant race in Pre-

Celtic Scotland, although around 808 AD, the Scots (Celts from Ireland who had been

settling on the West coast of Scotland) began to eclipse the political power of the Picts, eventually overtaking much of Pictish society, resulting in a cultural exchange as Pictish customs and manners were absorbed into the Celtic fold while Celtic culture and language were imposed on the conquered.22 This is an extremely important connection for Erskine who reconciles the disparity between the Picts and the Celts by culturally meshing them together.23 In this sense, the modern day Scot has ties to both the ancient

Pict and Celt because the conquering Celts adopted Pictish customs. Whether or not this is actually true, is irrelevant to the present discussion; what matters is that Erskine saw in the Celts a way to unilaterally connect twentieth-century Scots with the ancient Picts.

Why so much discussion about the history of the Scottish people in a book about

Macbeth? Ruaraidh Erskine was "the Scottish delegate at the Pan-Celtic Congress held in

20 Pittock, Scottish Nationality, 98. 21 Murray G. H. Pittock, Celtic Identity and the British Image (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 83. 22 Ruaraidh Erskine, Mac Beth (Inverness: Robert Carruthers & Sons, 1930), 11-14. 23 For Erskine, Macbeth's character comes to embody Pict, Celt and Gael.

108 Dublin" in 1901 and he "planned for a future when a re-Celticized Scotland would join a

'Celtic federation' of nations."24 To achieve his political goals, which were understood as

"eccentric and marginal" and never completely accepted by the general electorate

(although it should be noted that Ruaraidh Erskine and Theodore Napier were instrumental in the development of what would later become the Scottish National

•ye

Party), he needed to emphasize the unity of the Celtic peoples, a cultural link that could be solidified in ancestral history. Macbeth fits into Erskine's plan as "the great personage[sic] of Celtic history"26 who was "desirous to abrogate the ancient national distinctions, to set himself, as King of Scots - the race that now formed the most powerful section of his subjects - at the head of a united country."27 Macbeth's abrogation of national distinctions is symbolic of the division between Scots and Irish that must be overcome in order to fashion a greater united Celtic community independent of England.

John Macbeth discussed Scotland's ancient ancestry as well, his motivation derived, similarly, from the fear of encroaching Englishness. He contended, "the

Macbeths resembled the other great clan-names of pre-Norman and Saxon times" and "in the words of A.B. Scott, the Pictish people did well in keeping themselves as clansmen free from 'the polluting touch of the Teutonic beast.'"28 John Macbeth longed for a

"Pictish 'world we have lost',"29 while he looked back fondly on a time when the Scots,

Pittock, Celtic Identity and the British Image, 83. Pittock, Scottish Nationality, 108, 98. Erskine, Mac Beth, 6. Erskine, Mac Beth, 85. Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, 5. Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective", 23.

109 represented by Macbeth and company, stood firm against the overwhelming tide of

Anglicization.

Celtic revivalism's emphasis on 'true' Scottish ancestry did not escape the pages

of 'general history' texts either. Charles Sanford Terry's A History of Scotland (1920),

points out that "in Moray, Macbeth's earldom, a line of Celtic pretenders persisted [after

the death of Macbeth] who were not extinguished till the reign of Alexander III, the first

of Canmore's line whom the true Scots took to their hearts."30 The 'true' Scots in this

case were the Highlanders who remained loyal to their customs and maintained what was

effectively a separate nation from the Anglicized rule of Malcolm.31 For the Celtic

revivalists, Macbeth was a part of the 'golden age' of Scotland, "a period in history when the nation was 'itself, and thence could be found again."32

Despite its cultural importance, it is no small wonder that a popular distaste for

the Enlightenment surfaced during the Scottish Renaissance. Historians of the

eighteenth century disassociated themselves from the Celtic past in favour of creating an ethnic connection with their neighbours to the south through Germanic ancestry. They

saw in this lineage a predisposition to liberty,34 and therefore progression of the national

state, while the Celtic past was backward and barbaric. Writers of the Scottish

Renaissance saw this as a perversion of the national identity and so worked to reconnect themselves with their Pictish and Celtic heritage, in effect, presenting a distinctive

Scottish identity in opposition to the overwhelming imposition of English culture, and to

Charles Sanford Terry, A History of Scotland (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1920), 21. 31 Terry describes Malcolm's influences from the English court in significant detail on page 22. In fairness, he also points out some of the benefits of English influence. 32 David McCrone, The Sociology of Nationalism (London: Routledge, 2002), 53-54. 33 Lynch, "Scottish Culture in its Historical Perspective", 37. 34 Pittock, Celtic Identity and the British Image, 55.

110 build relations with neighbouring Celtic communities for political purposes. For the historians of the Enlightenment, Macbeth represented the feudal oppression of the Celtic world, while the twentieth-century Renaissance writers found in Macbeth a symbol of the golden age of Celtic Scotland.

Macbeth was not just a symbol of the Celtic past; he was an early Scottish nationalist. John Macbeth affirmed that Macbeth's "actions as king, soldier, general, and patriot won him distinction in his day;"35 that it was Macbeth alone who was "patriot enough to secure the liberation and protection of his country."36 Erskine entitled Macbeth

"the unifier of his country"37 and stated that the king's "principal object in life was to revive in his own person the high-Kingship" of Scotland.38 He was a benevolent visionary, seeking to end the quarrels between the Highlands and Lowlands and a man of conviction, taking "his stand, prepared to do what in him lay in order to defeat as far as he might, and as best he could, the advancing cohorts of Southern [(in this case English)] innovation."39

It is indeed hardly surprising that the actions and wishes of the Scottish

Renaissance writers are mirrored in the actions of Macbeth. These writers were using the past as a "source of legitimacy" in order to shape their current world to better match their projected future,40 a future that remarkably resembled the past. A linear connection was established between the Scots of the twentieth century and the Celts of the eleventh century in an attempt to destroy the division between 'them' and 'us', which was to be

35 Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, 1. 36 Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, 2. 37 Erskine, Mac Beth, 87. 38 Erskine, Mac Beth, 85. 39 Erskine, Mac Beth, 6-7, 85. 40 David McCrone, "Tomorrow's Ancestors: Nationalism, Identity and History," in Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed. Edward J. Cowan and Richard J. Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd., 2002) 264.

Ill replaced with 'we'. Of course, in reality, the Scots of the 1920s and 30s "manifestly would have little in common" with the Celts of the distant past.41 Macbeth was not a patriotic Scotsman, nor champion of unified nationalism - how could he be? These ideas in the modern sense did not exist in eleventh-century Scotland. In fact, Macbeth's slaying of Duncan, and in turn his death at the hand of Malcolm, had more to do with Moray separatism than Scottish unification.42 Macbeth was the most powerful agent in the

Highlands as mormaer of Moray: a land that enjoyed a degree of autonomy from the southern throne and had its own identity. Duncan's death in or around Elgin, a location controlled by Macbeth, suggests either that Duncan was advancing his forces against

Macbeth in a bid to extend his influence in the north or that Macbeth acted on an opportunity to promote his own power.43 Furthermore, when Macbeth lost control of

Cumbria and Lothian after he was defeated by Earl Siward in 1054, he made no attempt to recapture the southern portion of the kingdom. There was no urge to maintain

Scotland's 'unity'. Macbeth was in no way a nationalist or patriot of Scotland, he was not the beneficent unifier of the Scottish people, and he did not aim "to save Scotland from the miseries of royal incompetence, misrule, and factions in Church and State."44 There is no evidence in the medieval chronicles surrounding the reign of Macbeth to suggest that this was the case, and it is far more likely that he was simply reacting to the circumstances in which he found himself, as opposed to having some prearranged nationalist agenda.

41 McCrone, "Tomorrow's Ancestors: Nationalism, Identity and History," 265. 42 Mitchison, A History of Scotland, 14, 28. 43 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 62-63. 44 Macbeth, Macbeth: King, Queen and Clan, 64-65.

112 Observing the great pendulum swing denoting the historiographical shift from the malicious Macbeth to the heroic Macbeth, later twentieth-century historians sought out what happened to be overlooked during the previous nine hundred and some odd year free-for-all: the historical Macbeth. G. W. S. Barrow's compact discussion of Macbeth in his article, "Macbeth and the Other Mormaers of Moray," is one of the earliest and more adept investigations of the 'real' Macbeth. Barrow, using the limited contemporary sources available, reported on the conflict between the House of Moray and the royal dynasty of Malcolm II, providing context to how exactly Macbeth fit into the bigger picture of eleventh-century Scotland. Most of the discussion surrounds the names of the more influential figures of the period such as the earl of Orkney, Thorfinn Sigurdsson;

Malcolm's successor, Duncan I, his parents Bethoc and Crinan; some of the other men of

Moray, Maelsnechtai (Lulach's son), Malcolm and Maelbrigte (mormaers of Moray);

Siward, the earl of Northumbria; and Malcolm III. Since the early medieval chronicles have left us little other than names of the more politically relevant agents, it is perhaps most reasonable, in the interest of historical accuracy, to simply discuss how these names interconnect with one another. The historicizing and moralizing featured in previous histories is largely absent; however, Barrow does at times skew his conclusions in favour of Macbeth, which, of course, is a fair interpretation based on available sources. Barrow advances:

That he was thus able to leave his kingdom for an arduous journey of many months and much peril proves in striking fashion the strength of Macbeth's kingship. Two years later, his reputation stood so high that a band of knightly Norman adventurers, ejected from the marches of Wales, got a safe-conduct to ride to Macbeth's court and take service with him. This is the first occasion on which Normans are known to have been in Scotland. The experiment of employing Norman 'mercenaries' was not only not a success, but may actually have proved Macbeth's undoing. The arrival of

113 these confident southerners may have aroused the jealous hostility of the native nobles, thus giving to King Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donald, the opportunity they sought. 5

A few small liberties appear to have been taken here. The king's trip to Rome could prove "in striking fashion the strength of Macbeth's kingship," but equally this may simply prove that no potential rival claimant was in position to challenge for the throne at this point, meaning that his kingship was 'secure', not necessarily 'strong'. This may look like quibbling over semantics, but a conscious choice was made nonetheless to opt for

"strength" over other possibilities. Also, what does Macbeth's reputation have to do with

Norman exiles? Macbeth's reception of the Normans does not necessarily have anything to do with his supposed 'high-standing reputation'. There is no evidence in the primary sources to suggest that there is a connection here. Not to mention, attributing Macbeth's downfall to his reception of the Normans is overly speculative, and who is to say if these

"southerners" were indeed "confident."

At one point, Barrow seems to get carried away with his description of Macbeth:

"The new mormaer of Moray was a doughty warrior. The story in later writers, that he fought campaigns against the Norseman can scarcely be dismissed as fiction."46 It could very well be the case that Macbeth was a "doughty warrior," but only in as much as

Duncan I, Malcolm II, Malcolm III and most other eleventh-century rulers were doughty warriors as well. Truthfully, it marks a degree of biased glorification. Portraying

Macbeth as a 'warrior' is in its own right a mythological conception, and it certainly earns the king, in a historical sense, a false distinction from his contemporaries.

Geoffrey Steuart Barrow, "Macbeth and Other Mormaers of Moray," in The Hub of the Highlands, ed. Loraine Maclean (Edinburgh: Inverness Field Club and Paul Harris, The Albyn Press, 1975), 117. 46 Barrow, "Macbeth and Other Mormaers of Moray," 115.

114 This warrior image of Macbeth was further nourished by Dorothy Dunnett's fictitious novel the King Hereafter, published in 1982, which combines the earl Thorfinn and Macbeth into the same person as a heroic Viking warrior. Nigel Tranter's Macbeth the King (originally published in 1978) also conforms to this motif, the protagonist declaring "I shall not hesitate to draw the sword in defence of any and every of

Scotland's rights and interests, against whomsoever, foe or friend."47 Likewise, Bob

Stewart's Macbeth: Scotland's Warrior King (part of the Heroes and Warriors series), an illustrated booklet which appears to be geared towards young readers and/or tourists, markets Macbeth on the back cover as "a renowned figure in his day - a warrior, traveler, statesman, an effective ruler for more than fifteen years, and the last true Celtic King of

Scotland."48 This might be over-hyping Macbeth just a tad much; clearly the strong sense of nostalgia that enshrouded the medieval king during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century had firmly entrenched itself into the Scottish psyche.

Similar to featuring Macbeth as a 'warrior king' was the nineteenth- and twentieth-century projection of the man of Moray as, in the words of Cosmo Lines, "a bright spot" in the otherwise "dark picture" of early medieval Scotland. While the few near-contemporary sources of Macbeth's reign may appear to support this claim - celebrating his rule as prosperous and considering him to be both renowned and generous49 - this aggrandizement begins to dwindle when put into the appropriate context. These characterizations of Macbeth's kingship may have been true, but this high level of praise was by no means exclusive to Macbeth; his predecessors and successors

47 Nigel Tranter, Macbeth the King (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1981), 151. 48 Bob Stewart, Macbeth: Scotland's Warrior King (Poole, Dorset: Firebird Books, 1988), reverse cover. 49 Prose and Verse Chronicles, Duan Albanach, and Prophecy ofBerchan.

115 garnered equal if not stronger approbation. For instance, Malcolm II was eulogized:

"Malcolm, Kenneth's son, the king of Scotland, the honour of all the west of Europe."50

Duncan was deemed a "hero" and according to the Prophecy ofBerchan's extolment of his son, Malcolm III was "the best king who will take Scotland."51 In relation to other eleventh-century Scottish monarchs, it would be misleading to single out Macbeth for particular praise. Compared to his peers, his reign was far more ordinary than extraordinary.

In Peter Berresford Ellis's MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 1040-57 AD, published in 1980, we find a precursor to Nick Aitchison's investigation. Although nowhere near as detailed as the findings in Macbeth: Man and Myth, Ellis's historiographical discussion of Macbeth's tarnished image is impressive nonetheless. He turned to John of Fordun as the first to paint Macbeth as "a usurper and an oppressor of the Scottish people," while also pointing out that Fordun "was the first to mention

Macduff, supposedly exiled for his friendship with Duncan's sons."52 Ellis continues his analysis with Wyntoun's "invention of the story of the three weird sisters who foretell the rise and fall of the Scottish monarch," and Boece's invention of "the character of Banquo as the progenitor of the line of Stewart kings."53 His concluding remarks on the matter incorporated Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, which based on the history as provided by

Boece, were used by Shakespeare to develop his drama.54 But like other historians, his

50 Tigernach, Annals, (c. 1088). Early Sources of Scottish History: A.D. 500 to 1286, vol. 1, ed. Alan Orr Anderson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1990), 572. 51 Prophecy of Berchan (c. 71165-1169), Early Sources of Scottish History, vol. 2, 56-57. 52 Peter Berresford Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 1040-57 AD (London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1980), 116. 53 Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 116-117. 54 Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 118.

116 historiographical investigation stopped abruptly at the production of Shakespeare's play as if the historiography of Macbeth died the day Macbeth was first performed.

The problem with Ellis's monograph is that all the facts surrounding Macbeth's reign are sowed into an overly narrative format, which weakens the author's genuine addition to the discussion. Although predominantly fact-based, the exaggerated narration skews the reader's opinions of Macbeth favourably. Straight away in the first chapter

Ellis recounts:

During his five-year reign Duncan had led his Scottish clans into five battles, each part of an unpopular expansionist war, and had been five times defeated. Therefore the citizens of Scone looked upon the Moray clansmen not so much as rebels or conquerors but as liberators who had deposed a tyrannical ruler. The victorious thirty-five-year-old commander who marched at the head of the clansman was a tall man, with red hair and a ruddy complexion.... His name was Macbeth Mac Findlaech and, following Duncan's defeat and death, he had come to Scone to argue his case before the chieftains, churchmen and lawmakers of Scotland.55

How could Ellis have known that Duncan's so called "expansionist war" was

"unpopular;" and with whom was it unpopular? It is impossible to find definitive answers to these questions. Also, it is not overly likely that Macbeth had to "argue his case before the chieftains, churchmen and lawmakers;" after killing Duncan. His accession to the throne was probably on his own accord: there was little argument to be made.

Attempting to fill a book with information about Macbeth can pose a significant challenge as Ellis has clearly demonstrated. In the absence of evidence to critically assess, Ellis filled a significant number of his pages with notional and unsubstantiated discussion. For example, he worked to paint a picture of Macbeth's childhood, of which, literally, there has never been anything recorded:

55 Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 1-2.

117 During his ten years of schooling Macbeth would have been educated in many subjects. He would have had to learn about the complicated legal system, for, if elected chieftain, it would be one of his duties to sit as a judge. He would have studied music and learnt to play an instrument - probably a form of harp - because music, both singing and playing an instrument, was considered an important accomplishment in Celtic society. Literature was another important field of study, especially poetry.

Most importantly, MacBeth and his fellow students would have been instructed in the art of warfare, perhaps by warriors whose services were hired by the monks. Macbeth would have been taught the virtue of single combat.... Above all, the high value of honour would be impressed upon him.... As to weapons, MacBeth would have been taught proficiency with the sword.... Macbeth would also have been taught recreational pursuits such as chess, as well as other board games which were peculiar to the Celts.... More to the young pupil's liking, perhaps, were the pleasures of hunting. He would have been taught how to snare wild birds, how to hunt boar and other game.

This is completely absurd; Macbeth is portrayed as a Renaissance Prince, which he most certainly was not. It is amazing that even when seeking to uncover the 'real' Macbeth, historians cannot help but embellish his history. It is almost comical that in his introduction, Ellis proclaims: "there are enough contemporary sources by which to rescue the good name of the historical MacBeth and that is the intention of this work: to present the real MacBeth for judgement."57 The historical Macbeth is not rescued in Ellis's "real" or truthful presentation of the king, just as the historical Macbeth, at this point, had scarcely been truly presented at all.

A much more scholarly attempt at uncovering the 'historical Macbeth' was advanced in Edward J. Cowan's article, appropriately entitled, "The Historical Macbeth"

(1993). Cowan's analysis merits consideration because he abstains from falsely decorating a king of whom we know very little. His conclusions are entirely reasonable and not at all festooned with notions of patriotism and heroism:

Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, 118-119. Ellis, MacBeth: High King of Scotland, x.

118 [MacBeth] contained the House of Dunkeld, fought off the might of the earldom of Orkney and resisted the southern threat posed by the Earl Siward and his Northumbrians. His kingdom was sufficiently secure to permit him to visit Rome. He was to be remembered as the great champion of the Men of Moray and latterly of Gaelic Scotland. But above all, in his time there CO

were productive seasons.

Qualifiers such as 'brave', 'warrior', 'wise' and the like are not slipped into place to promote the king. It is important to note Cowan stressed that Macbeth "was to be remembered as the great champion of the Men of Moray and latterly Gaelic Scotland," meaning that it might not necessarily have been the case that he was a champion of

Moray or Gaelic Scotland, but that he had come to be seen as such, which, as we have seen, is certainly true.

Rather than fabricating a history to fill the void, it is refreshing to find that someone has accepted the simple fact that "of Macbeth's seventeen year rule there is not a great deal to report."59 However, Cowan seems to counter his own statement when he suggests the innovative hypothesis that Karl Hundason, a 'historical' personage in the

Orkneyinga Saga (penned before 1192), which among other things recorded the exploits of Thorfinn of Orkney, was in fact the name attributed to Macbeth in this Norse saga.60 If this were the case, then, as Cowan comments, the "Orkneyinga Saga sheds considerable light on Macbeth's career" as there are significant details describing Hundason's exploits.61 If Hundason and Macbeth were indeed the same person, this finding would prove very exciting, opening new doors into the world of Macbeth's characterization. The problem is, however, that it is far more likely that the Orkneyinga Saga, and the Njal's

58 Edward J. Cowan, "The Historical MacBeth," in Moray: Province and People, ed. W. D. H. Sellar (Scotland: The Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 1993), 136. 59 Cowan, "The Historical MacBeth," 122. 60 Cowan, "The Historical MacBeth," 124-129. 61 Cowan, "The Historical MacBeth," 126.

119 Saga for that matter, were "corrupted during transmission, or that the authors invented

particular aspects of their stories, including some fictitious characters."62 Karl Hundason

falls into this category; in short, Macbeth has nothing to do with this character. Despite

Cowan's attempt to simply expose the 'historical Macbeth', it would appear as though he

could not escape that seemingly ever-present allure to find new ways to interpret the

history of Macbeth.

What is so promising about Nick Aitchison's Macbeth: Man and Myth, is that the

author avoids the historicizing and mythologizing to which virtually all his predecessors

were prone. While his historiographical contributions have already been considered, his

conclusions merit further consideration and must not be overlooked. After discussing

Macbeth's kingship, Aitchison surmised:

It is difficult to assess the achievements of Macbeth's reign. Although Macbeth is widely portrayed by both medieval chroniclers and modern historians as a wise and good king and his reign as a prosperous one, these conclusions do not appear to be based on historical evidence, but attest the mythologising of Macbeth. However, his pilgrimage to Rome clearly distinguishes him as a king who was international in his outlook and experience.... Indeed, Macbeth was the only Scottish king ever to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. Macbeth's other achievement was his sheer tenacity. His seventeen-year reign was reasonably long by the standards of early medieval Scotland in general, but even more so given the circumstances in which he gained the kingship.63

Like Cowan's conclusion, Aitchison's is fairly appropriate based on the information

available to us.

In addition, Aitchison was kind enough to explain to his readers what makes

Macbeth so appealing to historians: "the longevity of the Macbeth myth is attributable to its repackaging to suit changing political and historical circumstances and social and

Alasdair Ross, "The Province of Moray, 1000-1230" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, 2003), pages 17-18 of chapter three. 63 Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 95.

120 cultural tastes." While this is indeed true, Aitchison falls shy of really 'hitting the nail on the head', denoting his failure to pinpoint the powerful link between the history of

Macbeth and the evolving arrangements of the Scottish constitution. Perceptions of

Macbeth, historically, appear to have shadowed Scotland's ever-transforming national constitution. Fordun's emphasis on the legitimate line of the royal house, Boece's justification for the deposition of James III, David Scott's anti-Jacobian interpretation,

Wright's valiant Macbeth, and John Macbeth's patriotic king were all fashioned in response to the unique constitutional developments of each historian's contemporary time period. Consequently, Macbeth has been portrayed as both a tyrannical oppressor and national hero. While, historiographically, Macbeth's character has fluctuated dramatically over time, the truly 'historical Macbeth' has often been overlooked. Even when attempting to reveal the 'real Macbeth', historians have fallen into the trap of mythologizing the king in a new light. Perhaps Richard Oran has described the situation best:

Macbethad has exercised a strange fascination over generations of historians and writers, most of whom have been concerned with rehabilitating the historical figure and dispelling the myth of the Shakespearian monster. Few people today believe that Shakespeare's tragic figure bears any resemblance to the historical king, but the rehabilitation has perhaps swung too far in that he is now often presented as some kind of far-sighted, benevolent ruler who brought his people peace and prosperity. For all the ink that has been wasted on attempting to establish the character of the king and his reign, we are no closer to agreement, and it should be remembered that for the whole of his seventeen-year reign we have the merest handful of records of events, many of which are open to widely differing interpretations.65

Historically, Macbeth appears to us as obscurely as his predecessors. In fact, we can probably deduce more truth about Malcolm IPs character, who ruled from 1005 to 1034,

Aitchison, Macbeth: Man and Myth, 136. 65 Richard Oram, ed., The Kings and Queens of Scotland (Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus Publishing Ltd., 2001), 46-48.

121 than Macbeth's. Macbeth was an exceptionally obscure king, and so perhaps, in the interest of historical accuracy, it is best that he remain in obscurity. The exhaustive assault his character has endured could certainly use a break. Of course, such a repose will never happen as new generations of writers look to establish their own vision of the

Scottish past through pockets of empty history, like Macbeth's reign, open to constant reinterpretation and reinvention.

Seeking answers to Scotland's medieval past through Macbeth will always reflect the views of contemporary historians rather than the history of an eleventh-century monarch, who we will, truly (barring the discovery of an uncharacteristically well- detailed medieval manuscript), never come to know. This historiographical phenomenon, however, has provided an invaluable account of Scottish self-perception, whether the

Scots distanced themselves from Macbeth because of his illegal seizure of power, or forged a nationalist association with the man of Moray for holding strong against the tide of Anglicization.

What does the future hold for Scotland's most infamous king? Hopefully, the realization that Macbeth is best suited for the purposes of better understanding Scottish kingship in the closing years of the early medieval period, rather than singled out for his supposed unique historical agency. Taken in context alongside the reigns of other

Scottish kings from Malcolm I (r. 943-954) to Malcolm III (1058-1093), Macbeth proves quite useful to understanding eleventh-century perceptions of kingship, and gives the modern historian a glimpse of the constitutional and political structures governing the realm as well as the violence and internal conflict Scotland faced at this time. What the

122 future realistically holds for Macbeth, however, is commercialization. In the ongoing pursuit for the almighty tourist dollar, www.kingmacbeth.com awaits.

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