834 SCOT 
the dignity-of nobility, which is still enjoyed by his descend¬ 
ants. From that time peace continued for several years, 
during which period Kenneth attempted to regulate the suc¬ 
cession to the royal dignity, so as to render it hereditary in 
his own family. In the pursuit of this object he committed 
the only crime with which his reign is stained, the murder of 
Malcolm, the son of king Duffus, who was considered by 
the nobility as the next successor to the throne. All his 
efforts, however, proved unsuccessful; for though he ob¬ 
tained a vote of the states in favour of his views, yet when 
the throne became vacant by his death, which happened in 
the year 994, Constantine the Bald was proclaimed king. 
Malcolm, Kenneth’s son, collected a large body of troops 
to assert the preference of his rights, but on the approach of 
the royal troops he dismissed his army, and retired into 
Cumberland. Kenneth, his natural brother, regarding this 
conduct as dishonourable, prevailed on most of the soldiers 
to join his standard and continue the war. A battle soon 
afterwards ensued, in which both Constantine and Kenneth 
fell, each by the hand of the other, at the very moment 
when victory had declared for the latter. 
In this critical emergency, the nobles elected Grimus, the 
son of Duffus, to the sovereign authority. This prince seems 
to have possessed greater popularity than his predecessor, 
for he was no sooner declared king, than most of his oppo¬ 
nent’s partizans deserted to his cause. Malcolm’s party, 
therefore, deemed it advisable to negociate for peace, and 
accordingly a treaty was concluded, by which it was agreed 
that Grimus should retain the kingdom till his death, when 
it should revert to Malcolm and his heirs, according to the 
intentions of Kenneth. This peace was scrupulously ob¬ 
served during eight years; but after that period, Grimus 
having begun to evince a most tyrannical disposition, Mal¬ 
colm thought himself justified in again taking up arms. He 
accordingly marched into Scotland, and as the tide of popu¬ 
larity was now decidedly in his favour, he soon acquired a 
large army. Grimus marched to oppose him, but being be¬ 
trayed by his soldiers, he was severely wounded in the first 
battle, and soon after terminated his existence. 
Malcolm, on assuming the sceptre, laboured to compose 
the various factions which agitated the state, and to destroy 
the numerous banditti of robbers who had taken advantage 
of the laxity of the old government, to infest almost every 
district of the kingdom. He renewed, in his capacity of 
king of Scotland, the league which he had formed with the 
English, as governor of Cumberland, and in virtue of its 
conditions Sent a corps of troops to assist them in opposing 
the Danes. This measure so roused the indignation of the 
Danish monarch, that he dispatched a large fleet and army 
to invade the Scottish territories, under the command of 
two of his best generals, Olave and Euceus. A landing was 
effected in the province of Moray, which being subdued, 
the invaders laid siege to the fortress of Naim. Malcolm, 
who, who, during these operations, had been busily engaged 
in levying forces, arrived while the garrison yet continued a 
gallant defence ; but being defeated, they were compelled to 
surrender; and the fortresses of Elgin and Moray were eva¬ 
cuated without resistance. 
Upon these successes the Danes resolved to fix their ha¬ 
bitation in Moray, and with this view sent home their ships 
to bring over their wives and children. In the mean time 
Malcolm re-organized his army, and made head against the 
enemy again at Mortlich, in the district of Marr. At first 
the Scots, discouraged by the fall of three of their comman¬ 
ders, retreated to their camp, where they made a vigorous 
stand, and changed their flight into a glorious victory. Mal¬ 
colm, however, did not deem it prudent to advance far in 
pursuit, nor to attempt the expulsion of the whole Danish 
colony before he had recruited his forces with new levies. 
This cautious policy afforded time to king Swein to dispatch 
a second body of troops to the assistance of their country¬ 
men. They were commanded by Camus, a general of tried 
courage and abilities, and disembarked near Aberbrothick, 
in Angus, whence they marched forward to the village of 
LAND. 
St. Bride, near which the Scots lay encamped, and ready to 
receive them. The action that followed terminated in the 
total rout of the Danes, who, finding their retreat to their 
ships cut off, dispersed in different directions. Camus and 
the most considerable party fled towards the mountains, with 
the intention of penetrating to Moray ; but before they had 
proceeded far from the field of battle, they were overtaken, 
and either slain or made prisoners. A similar fale attended 
all the other fugitive bands. 
This second discomfiture, though more signal than th« 
first, did not yet discourage the Danish king. Immediately 
on being apprized of it, he sent a third armament under his 
own son, Canute, which landed in Buchan without oppo¬ 
sition, and plundered the surrounding country. Malcolm, 
who had scarcely recovered the losses sustained in former 
battles, nevertheless hastened to oppose this new invasion. 
At first he declined risking a general engagement, but when 
he had ascertained that his opponents were less strong than 
was originally supposed, he seized a favourable opportunity 
to fall upon them with his whole forces. The battle was 
the most dreadful hitherto fought against the Danes; the 
Scots remained masters of the field, but were unable to pur¬ 
sue the enemy, who retreated without molestation. Next 
day both parties, equally afraid to hazard another contest, 
eagerly listened to the interposition of the clergy, and con¬ 
cluded a peace, in which it was stipulated that all the Danes 
should leave Scotland, and that neither Swein nor Malcolm 
should, in future, wage war against one another. 
Malcolm having seen the first article of the above treaty 
performed, disbanded his army, and reigned for some years 
in greater splendour and glory than any preceding monarch 
Of Scotland. As old age approached, however, he acquired 
an exorbitant love for money, a passion which led him to 
commit many acts of oppression and injustice. This conduct 
excited the hatred of the nobility, and eventually occasioned 
his assassination, though authors are not agreed as to ths 
perpetrators of the bloody deed. 
Duncan, the grandson of Malcolm, by his daughter Bea¬ 
trice, succeeded to the vacant throne. He was a prince of 
reat popularity, which he had justly acquired; but while 
is virtues endeared him to the wise and good, they awakened 
feelings of enmity in the breasts of the turbulent and sedi¬ 
tious. Macdugald, a chieftain of the west, first raised the 
standard of rebellion, and attracted to it many of the 
islanders, and a body of Irish, who joined him in the hope 
of plunder. The king dispatched one Malcolm, a thane of 
high rank, to quell this insurrection, but he was unfortu ■ 
nately defeated and taken prisoner. Alarmed at that event, 
Malcolm summoned a council, in which Macbeth, one of his 
relatives, declared, that if he were made general of an expe¬ 
dition, in conjunction with Bancho, thane of Loch Abyr, 
they would soon bring the traitors to punishment. Mac¬ 
beth obtained the wished-for command, and performed his 
task almost without resistance; for such was the terror in¬ 
fused into the rebels by his known character for severity, 
that on his approach they endeavoured to save themselves 
by flight, but the main body was overtaken, and most of 
them put to the sword. 
Thus was Duncan freed from domestic sedition, but he 
did not long enjoy peace. The Norwegians, under Swein, 
king of Denmark, soon alter landed in Fifeshire, and again 
aroused him from his natural inactivity. Having entrusted 
to Macbeth the charge of levying a new army, he himself 
advanced, wilh such troops as he could collect, to oppose 
the invaders, whom he met at Culross, where a battle 
ensued, with terminated to the disadvantage of the Scots. 
Duncan retired to the town of Perth, which was imme¬ 
diately besieged by the Danes. In the mean time Macbeth 
advanced with the new levies, upon whose arrival the king 
made a sudden attack upon the enemy’s camp, while they 
were totally unprepared, and routed them with such slaughter, 
that only Swein, and a few attendants, were enabled to 
reach their ships. 
But no sooner was Dunean relieved from this second, 
N danger, 
