Macbeth was born in 1005, his father was Findlaech mac Ruadri, mormar of Moray and his grandfather was Ruadhri (pronounced Roary). Moray was in the grip of a virtual civil war between those loyal to one or other branch of the Cené lLoairn. Even when Edward the Confessor returned from exile to take the English throne in 1037, many of the earls who served him were Danish Máel Coluim was accompanied by Edward, his eldest son by St. Margaret and probable heir-designate (or tánaiste). At Roman Exeter, Edgar's stepbrother Æthelred fought Viking raids by settling in Danegelds given to Danish soliders on the condition of Æthelred and his thegns. In 1013 Danish King Sweyn's army ravaged England and Æthelred was forced to flee to Normandy in France. The English nobles asked Sweyn to be their king and he accepted only to die in 1014 before being crowned. Æthelred returned but died two years later. Sweyn's son Cnut (or Canute) now led the Danish army in England and he came up against Æthelred's son Edmund Ironside.
In 1054, Edward sent Sigurd into Scotland with the intention of driving out Macbeth and installing Malcolm as a client king of Scots, indebted to them both. The decisive battle between Macbeth and Malcolm Canmore took place, however, on the plains of Gowrie, west of Dundee. Supported by his kinsman and Macbeth's old nemesis, Sigard of Northumbria, Malcolm brought both a fleet and an army of horse against the Scots. In July of 1054, the fleet landed at Dundee and took possession of the town, including much booty from a couple of merchant ships that had just arrived. Even by the standards of the time, the ravaging of Northumbria by the Scots was seen as harsh. While marching north again, Máel Coluim was ambushed by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, whose lands he had devastated, near Alnwick on 13 November 1093. There he was killed by his god-sib Arkil Morel, steward of Bamburgh Castle.
YORK had around forty-five parish churches in 1300. Twenty survive, in whole or in part, a number surpassed in England only by Norwich-a city in East Anglia, which was named after the homeland of the Angles. The later earldom of Northumbria was bounded by the River Tees in the south and the River Tweed in the north (broadly similar to the modern North East England) and was recognised as part of England by the Anglo-Scottish Treaty of York in 1237.
In July of 1054, the fleet landed at Dundee and took possession of the town, including much booty from a couple of merchant ships that had just arrived. But how did the army of horse join up with the fleet? To reach the plains of Gowrie overland, they would have had to come up through Scottish-held parts of Mercia, past Edinburgh, through Fife, and across the Tay River. To get from the river crossing to Dundee, they would have had to ride within a few miles of Scone, the Scottish capital, and skirt a ridge of hills via a rather narrow strip of coastal land. Either Macbeth was not at home, or the Northumbrians chose not to engage him at his stronghold. The Northumbrian annals award the victory to their Earl Siward, stating that Macbeth was "put to flight," and Malcolm Canmore was made king. There are several possibilities. One is that Macbeth retreated to his territories in the north, ruling there while Malcolm Canmore held the south, ruler in fact if not in name. Another is that Malcolm was made king, not of Alba, but of the client kingdom of Cumbria at this time, a position that could have been awarded him as part of a peace settlement at Dundee.
In 1054, Earl Sigurd of Northumberland, who spirited Malcolm to England after Duncan's death, invaded Scotland. According to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, he met and defeated Macbeth at the battle of Birnam Wood / Dunsinane (July 27). Most of Macbeth's army were killed, but Macbeth escaped. Siward's son and nephew were also killed. According to the Chronicles of Ulster, Macbeth continued to reign and was actually killed three years later by Duncan's son Malcolm. Thorfinn II survived until 1064. After Macbeth's death, Lulach claimed the kingship and had some supporters. Lulach was ambushed and killed a few months later by Malcolm.
Siward (Sigurd) died before the end of 1055, of natural causes. This set back Malcolm's ambitions, and it was three more years until Macbeth's death is confirmed - 'Macbeth, son of Findlaech, high king of Alba, slain by Malcolm, son of Duncan' [Annals of Tigernach]. '..he was killed at Lumphanan and buried on the island of Iona' [Chronicle of the Kings]. He died on August 15th, 1057 - the seventeenth anniversary of his slaying of Duncan. Macbeth's forces seem to have won at Lumphanan, since Malcolm did not succeed to the throne. Macbeth's tanaise and successor was Lulach mac Gillacomgain, his stepson. His short reign (August 1057 to March 1058] came to an end when he was 'slain by Duncan's son, by treachery' (Annals of Tigernach) at Essie in Strathbogie. Scotland's Celtic monarchy died with him. Malcolm III was to reign for thirty five years and be remembered as 'Malcolm Canmore'. He founded a dynasty which extinguished any remnants of the Celtic character of the kingship of the Scots.
The defeat at Dundee was a mortal blow to Macbeth's power in Alba. Three years after his defeat at Gowrie, Macbeth's death is recorded at the hands of Malcolm Canmore outside the tiny village of Lumphanan in northeastern Scotland. Malcolm Canmore had managed to lead a warband up the Strathmore and across the Grampian Mountains, or he had sailed up the coast and sent an expeditionary force inland. There was a running battle, with Macbeth making a last stand outside Lumphanan. There he was killed, and his body was buried with the previous Scottish kings on the Isle of Iona. Macbeth's step-son and nephew, Lulach mac Gillecomgain, appears next in the king lists, but it is likely that he was never actually in control of the southern provinces. He was killed by Malcolm Canmore after only a few months, quite possibly in an ambush. He was posthumously dubbed "Lulach the Foolish." It was the end of the Celtic style of high kingship in Scotland. Malcolm Canmore ruled in the English style, and although the kingship went to his brother Donalbane upon his death, it was subsequently passed back to Malcolm's son and proceeded in patrilineal fashion from then.