Summary of Malcolm MacEth

Facts and Events

Notes

Went north after the clearance of Moray & his daughter Gormiath married
Harold, Norse Earl of Caithness. She goaded Earl Harold into
rebellion against the scottish king.
Whilst in uprising with his brother, Angus (who was slain) he escaped to the isles under the protection of Somerled (1130).
Was imprisioned 1134 and released 1157 by Malcolm IV who made him 1st Earl of Ross.

Earl of Moray 1130 - 1134
Earl of Ross 1157 - 1160

Malcolm was known as MacEth; "Eth" or "Heth" is the equivalent of the Gaelic "Aedh": Malcolm's father. After the defeat in
1130, Malcolm MacEth fled to the Western Isles of Scotland, where his cause was taken up by Somerled, the powerful
Regulus of Argyll (later to become Lord of the Isles). Malcolm married Somerled's sister, and the two men raised an army to
press the Moray claim to the throne. To resist this force, King David called for help from the English barons of the border
district. The threat of this army advancing northwards proved sufficient to thwart the Moraymen, and Malcolm MacEth was
betrayed into the hands of King David by his own adherents in 1134. For the next twenty-three years, Malcolm was
imprisoned in Roxburgh Castle.

Marriages/Children

Sources

1. 1165 or 1168.

                             Malcolm III Canmore 
        Aedh               |
      |                    | Margaret Wessex     
      |
Malcolm MacEth
      |
      |                      Lulach  
      | Daughter of Lulach |
                           |         

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