Macbeth - a Biopic

Macbeth’s father was the chief (Mormaer) of Moray, a large and fertile region in the North East of Scotland. He was assassinated by one his (Macbeth's) cousins in 1020. The cousin died in 1029 and power passed to another cousin. In 1032 Macbeth killed him, married his wife and regained the chieftainship for his own branch of the family.

In 1040 the neighbouring and more powerful ruler to his South (King Duncan) invaded Moray. However, Duncan was killed in the attack and lost not only his life, but his kingdom to Macbeth. (This was the same Duncan, who Shakespeare described as being killed in his bed by Macbeth at the instigation of Lady Macbeth.)

Macbeth then fought to gain control over Caithness in the North of Scotland which was occupied by decendants of Vikings. Viking stories tell of a Karl Hundason who fought them in Scotland. Karl Hundason translates as ‘peasant son of a dog’. This may have been an insulting name that they gave to Macbeth.

So Macbeth became master of the greater part of the rich agricultural lands of Eastern Scotland as well as Sutherland and Caithness in the far North.

It seems likely that he would have spent much of his time in the Southern part of his lands, in the neighbourhood of the present day city of Perth. Within a few miles of this city is situated the hilltop fort of Dunsinane (a fort with earth ramparts rather than a stone castle) and the Abbey of Scone where he was probably crowned king. Dunsinane is, of course, where Shakespeare says that Malcolm took his just revenge on Macbeth for the murder of Duncan. In fact, Shakespeare's version of events was probably neither just, nor geographically accurate, but powerful fiction nevertheless.

As far as we can gather, Malcolm was acting as the instrument of the English forces. They had attacked Macbeth in 1054. It is unclear whether Macbeth retained control of his lands after a battle in which his forces suffered quite badly. In 1057 he was again under attack by Malcolm. It is possible that Macbeth was somewhere in the South of his kingdom, and was forced to flee Northwards. He was possibly heading for his Ancestral lands in Moray when he was overtaken by Malcolm's men.

He crossed the foothills of the Grampian mountains at a pass called the ‘Cairn o’Mount’ and then the river Dee (possibly where a later drovers' road crossed the Dee at the ancient village of Kincardine O'Neil). He reached Lumphanan (a slightly later castle mound can still be seen here which may be a successor to an earlier fortification) where he was captured and killed. Local legend records his decapitation on a stone that stands near the present day farm of Cairnbeathie. It is believed he was temporarily buried under stones a mile or so away, now known as Macbeth’s Cairn.

Macbeth was a medieval monarch. Power and wealth were associated with armies and religion. Armies and conquest brought wealth in this world. The wealth paid for assumed comfort in the next (by way of gifts of land and endowments to the church). These mixed morals saw Macbeth as capable of both wreaking terrible retribution on his cousin (burning him and his retainers alive in their house) and distributing alms to the poor on a pilgramage to Rome.

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