Malcolm IV of Scotland

aka 'the Maiden' as he never married and had no known offspring.

Malcolm IV (Medieval Gaelic: Máel Coluim mac Eanric; Scottish Gaelic: Maol Chaluim mac Eanraig), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 1141 – 9 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumbria (died 1152) and Ada de Warenne.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_IV_of_Scotland

The original Malcolm Canmore, a name now associated with his great-grandfather Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada), he succeeded his grandfather David I, and shared David's Anglo-Norman tastes.

Called Malcolm the Maiden by later chroniclers, a name which may incorrectly suggest weakness or effeminacy to modern readers, he was noted for his religious zeal and interest in knighthood and warfare. For much of his reign he was in poor health and died unmarried at the age of twenty-four.

Rex designatus

Earl Henry, who had perhaps been seriously ill in the 1140s, died unexpectedly at Newcastle or Roxburgh on 12 June 1152, in the Northumbrian domain which David and he had done much to attach to the Scots crown in the decades of English weakness after the death of Henry I of England. Unlike the death of William Adelin in the White Ship, which had left Henry I without male heirs, Earl Henry had three sons. Thus, although his death damaged David's plans, and made disorders after his death very likely indeed, it was not a disaster.[2]

As the eldest of Earl Henry's sons, although only eleven years old, Malcolm was sent by his grandfather on a circuit of the kingdom, accompanied by Donnchad, Mormaer of Fife, styled rector, perhaps indicating that he was to hold the regency for Malcolm on David's death. Donnchad and Malcolm were accompanied by a large army.[3] As it turned out, Donnchad did not long survive David, holding the regency for a year before his death in 1154.

Rivals and neighbours

Malcolm's grandfather died at Carlisle on 24 May 1153, and Malcolm was inaugurated as king three days later, on 27 May 1153, at Scone, then aged twelve.[4] The king-making ceremony took place before the old king was buried, which might appear hasty, but Malcolm was not without rivals for the kingship.

The Orkneyinga Saga claims "William the Noble", son of William fitz Duncan, was the man whom "every Scotsman wanted for his king".[5] As William fitz Duncan married Alice de Rumilly in about 1137, young William can only have been a youth, perhaps a child. There is no sign that William made any claims to the throne. He died young, sometime in the early 1160s, leaving his sizable estates to his three sisters.[6] Of William's other sons, Bishop Wimund had already been blinded, emasculated and imprisoned at Byland Abbey before David's death, but Domnall mac Uilleim, first of the Meic Uilleim, had considerable support in the former mormaerdom of Moray.

Another would-be king, imprisoned at Roxburgh since about 1130, was Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair, an illegitimate son of Alexander I. Máel Coluim's sons were free men in 1153. They could be expected to contest the succession, and did so.

As a new king, and especially as a young one, Malcolm could also expect challenges from his neighbours, with Somerled, King of Argyll, Fergus, Lord of Galloway and Henry II, King of England foremost among them. Only Rognvald Kali Kolsson, Earl of Orkney, was otherwise occupied, being on crusade, and his death in 1158 brought the young and ambitious Harald Maddadsson to sole power in the north.

The first opposition to Malcolm came in November of 1153, from the combination of a neighbour, Somerled of Argyll, and family rivals, the "sons of Malcolm", that is of Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair. This came to little as Somerled soon had more pressing concerns, firstly his war with Godred Olafson of Man which lasted until 1156 and secondly, perhaps, a conflict with Gille Críst, Mormaer of Menteith, over Cowal.[7] Support for the sons of Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair may also have come from areas closer to the core of the kingdom, for two conspirators are named by chroniclers, one of whom died in trial by combat in February 1154.[8]

In 1157, it is reported, King Malcolm was reconciled with Máel Coluim MacHeth, who was appointed to the Mormaerdom of Ross, which had probably been held by his father.[9]

Malcolm IV and Henry II

Malcolm was not only King of Scots, but also inherited the Earldom of Northumbria, which his father and grandfather had gained during the wars between Stephen and Empress Matilda. Malcolm granted Northumbria to his brother William, keeping Cumbria for himself. Cumbria was, like the earldoms of Northumbria and Huntingdon, and later Chester, a fief of the English crown. While Malcolm delayed doing homage to Henry II of England for his possessions in Henry's kingdom, he did so in 1157 at Chester. Here Henry refused to allow Malcolm to keep Cumbria, or William to keep Northumbria, but instead granted the Earldom of Huntingdon to Malcolm, for which Malcolm did homage.[10]

After a second meeting between Malcolm and Henry, at Carlisle in 1158, "they returned without having become good friends, and so that the king of Scots was not yet knighted."[11] In 1159 Malcolm accompanied Henry to France, serving at the siege of Toulouse where he was, at last, knighted. "Whether this was the act of a king of Scots or of an earl of Huntingdon we are not told; it was certainly the act of a man desperate for knightly arms, but that did not make it any more acceptable in Scotland."[12]

Malcolm returned from Toulouse in 1160. At Perth, Roger of Hoveden reports, he faced a rebellion by six earls, led by Ferchar, Mormaer of Strathearn, who besieged the king.[13] Given that Earl Ferchar heads the list of those named, it is presumed that Donnchad II, Mormaer of Fife, was not among the rebels.[14] John of Fordun's version in the Gesta Annalia appears to suggest a peaceful settlement to the affair, and both Fordun and Hoveden follow the report of the revolt and its ending by stating that the king led an expedition into Galloway where he eventually defeated Fergus, Lord of Galloway and took his son Uchtred as a hostage while Fergus became a monk at Holyrood, dying there in 1161.[15] While it was assumed that the earls included Fergus among their number, and that the expedition to Galloway was related to the revolt, it is now thought that the earls sought to have Malcolm attack Galloway, perhaps as a result of raids by Fergus.[16]

Some time before July 1163, when he did homage to Henry II, Malcolm was taken seriously ill at Doncaster.[17] Scottish sources report that a revolt in Moray brought Malcolm north, and it is said that he

“ removed [the men of Moray] from the land of their birth, as of old Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had dealt with the Jews, and scattered them throughout the other districts of Scotland, both beyond the [Mounth] and this side thereof, so that not even one native of that land abode there.[18] ”

Having made peace with Henry, replaced Fergus of Galloway with his sons, and resettled Moray, only one of Malcolm's foes remained, Somerled, by 1160 king of the Isles as well as of Argyll. In 1164, Somerled led a large army of Islesmen and Irishmen to attack Glasgow and Renfrew, where Walter Fitzalan had newly completed a castle. There Somerled and his son Gillebrigte were killed in battle with the levies of the area, led by the Bishop of Glasgow, probably Herbert of Selkirk at that time. The chronicles of the day attributed the victory to the intercession of Saint Kentigern.[19]

Death and Posterity

Malcolm died on December 9, 1165 at Jedburgh, aged twenty-four. His premature death may have been hastened by osteitis deformans.[20] While his contemporaries were in no doubt that Malcolm had some of the qualities of a great king, later writers were less convinced. The compiler of the Annals of Ulster, writing soon after 1165, praises Malcolm:

“ Máel Coluim Cenn Mór, son of Henry, high king of Scotland, the best Christian that was of the Gaidhil [who dwell] by the sea on the east for almsdeeds, hospitality and piety, died.[21] ”

Likewise, William of Newburgh praises Malcolm, "the most Christian king of the Scots", highly in his Historia Rerum Anglicarum.[22]

Nonetheless, Malcom was not well regarded in all quarters. The Gesta Annalia remarks

“ [Malcolm] quite neglected the care, as well as governance, of his kingdom. Wherefore he was so hated by all the common people that William, the elder of his brothers - who had always been on bad terms with the English, and their lasting foe, forasmuch as they had taken away his patrimony, the earldom of Northumbria, to wit - was by them appointed warden of the whole kingdom, against the king's will[23] ”

According to legend, he had a daughter who was betrothed to Henry, Prince of Capua, on the latter's deathbed, but this is false as Malcolm had no heirs. His mother formulated a plan for a marriage to Constance, daughter of Conan III, Duke of Brittany, but Malcolm died before the wedding could be celebrated.[24]

It is difficult, given the paucity of sources, to date many of the reforms of the Scoto-Norman era, but it appears that Malcolm continued the reforms begun by his grandfather and granduncles. The sheriffdoms of Crail, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Forfar, Lanark and Linlithgow appear to date from Malcolm's reign, and the office of Justiciar of Lothian may also date from this period.[25]

Malcolm founded a Cistercian monastery at Coupar Angus, and the royal taste for continental religious foundations extended to the magnates, as in Galloway, where the Premonstratensians were established at Soulseat by 1161.[26]

Following the death of Henry, who was buried at Kelso Abbey, King David arranged for his grandson to succeed him, and at Scone on May 27, 1153, the twelve year old was declared Malcolm IV, King of Scots. also inheriting the Earldom of Northumbria,

King Malcolm died at the age of 25 without issue.

Genealogy

https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTLAND.htm

HENRY of Scotland, son of DAVID I King of Scotland & his wife Matilda [Maud] of Huntingdon ([1115]-12 Jun 1152, bur Kelso Abbey, Roxburghshire). ... m (1139[446]%29 ADA de Warenne, daughter of WILLIAM [II] de Warenne Earl of Surrey & his wife Isabelle de Vermandois (-1178). Earl Henry & his wife had six children:

1. MALCOLM (20 Mar 1142[453]-Jedburgh Castle 9 Dec 1165, bur Dunfermline Abbey, Fife[454]). William of Newburgh names "Malcolmum filii primogenitum" of Earl Henry[455]. Robert of Torigny names "nepotes quos Henricus filius eius" Malcolm and William as successors of "David rex Scotiæ"[456]. He succeeded his grandfather in 1153 as MALCOLM IV “the Maiden” King of Scotland, crowned soon after at Scone Abbey, Perthshire. He resigned his right to the earldoms of Northumberland and Cumberland in 1157, and was confirmed as Earl of Huntingdon by Henry II King of England[457]. The Chronicle of the Picts and Scots dated 1251 records that "Malcolm filius Henrici filii David" reigned for 12 years, 6 months and 20 days, died "apud Jedwarth", and was buried "Dumfermline"[458]. King Malcolm had one illegitimate child by an unknown mistress:

a) son (-before 1165, bur Inverlethan). King Malcolm IV granted privileges to the church of Inverlethan in which "corpore filii mei" passed its first night after he died, by undated charter[459].

[459] Kelso, Tome I, 21, p. 22.

1159 - The Kelso Charter < link >

This royal charter, granted to Kelso Abbey, contains the earliest surviving images of Scottish kings. The two fine miniatures in the initial 'M' portray Malcolm IV and David I enthroned with their symbols of power.

The charter was granted by Malcolm IV ('the Maiden'), and confirmed all previous grants to the Abbey. Malcolm was the grandson and successor of David I (1084-1153). David is represented as Solomon, the perfect Biblical king, with his long hair and beard conveying the image of a patriarch. The manuscript clearly tries to reinforce the impression that the Scots kings are part of a dynastic and divinely-ordained order of rulers.

The charter has been deposited in the Library since 1924 by His Grace the Duke of Roxburghe. Dep. 255

References

• Malcolm IV Malcolm iv.jpg King of Scots Reign 24 May 1153 – 9 December 1165 Coronation 27 May 1153 Predecessor David I Successor William I Born 23 April 1141 – 24 May 1141[1] Scotland Died 9 December 1165 Jedburgh Burial Dunfermline Abbey House Dunkeld Father Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumbria Mother Ada de Warenne
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_IV_of_Scotland
• Source Medium: Internet Page: Subject: New Scottish Princess: Maud of Huntingdon, wife of John de Monmouth, of Monmouth, Monmouthshire From: Douglas Richardson Date: 6/29/2013 5:15 PM To: gen-medieval@rootsweb.com Text: Complete Peerage, 3 (1913): 169 (sub Chester) and 6 (1926): 647 (sub Huntingdon) both include accounts of John of Scotland, Earl of Chester and Huntingdon (died 1237), son and heir of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon (died 1219) (brother of Kings Malcolm and William of Scotland). While Complete Peerage refers to him as "John le Scot," I find that during his lifetime, Earl John was known simply as John of Scotland, as indicated by many contemporary charters, including the items cited in the following citation:
• This document has a pedigree for John of Monmouth II, Maud (Matilda), his 1st wife she died childless and she is the daughter of John Huntingdon who is the Earl of Huntingdon. Catherine unknown she is the 2nd wife of John of Monmouth II:
• John of Scotland, Earl of Chester and Huntingdon (died 1237), son and heir of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon (died 1219) (brother of Kings Malcolm and William of Scotland).
• Richard de Wyesham who was born de Monmouth, he was Lord of Wyesham in Monmouth Wales. Richard de Wyesham he is the Ancestor of our Wysham Family and he is a brother to John of Monmouth II:
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=johanson&...
• https://www.royal.uk/malcolm-iv-r-1153-1165
• Kelso Abbey, Scottish Borders < link >
• 3rd May 1128: Kelso Abbey Consecrated < link > ... David’s first known foundation reflected this wide-ranging religious interest. In 1113, he settled Tironensian monks on his lands at Selkirk, now the site of a well-known Borders town. This small beginning would have important consequences for the spread of reformed monasticism in Scotland and the overall shape of the mediaeval Scottish Church
• Chartulary of Kelso Abbey, 14th century., Adv.MS.34.5.1. National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division. < link > Accessed August 09, 2024. < manuscript > (images only, in Latin)