read all General Interest

Macbeth in Moray – by Brian Lockey author of The Path to Cawdor

With the recent release of the movie “Macbeth – All Hail” maybe folk would like to know more about the real Macbeth who was born around AD 1000 and crowned King of Scotland in 1040. Aside from not being the Thane of Cawdor there are many other inaccuracies in the Shakespeare version of his life.

Witches feature in the Scottish Play but they have no part in the true story of Macbeth, Mormaer of Moray. In fact he and his wife Gruoch were both active Christians. However, King James IV of Scotland believed in witches and their evil ways. Shakespeare, ever keen to please James, is said to have included such witches in the play for his benefit. It is quite plausible that the three Forres witches who allegedly made King Duff seriously ill in the 10th century provided a blueprint for the play characters. The fact that both covens were near Forres is unlikely to be co-incidence.

After meeting the witches in the play Macbeth is welcomed to Forres by King Duncan at his castle. A castle did actually exist at Forres in Macbeth's time. It was sited at a good defensive point where the Thompson monument now stands. However, King Duncan never lived there. Nor did Macbeth ever stay at an Inverness Castle where, according to the play, he later murders Duncan.

In reality King Duncan was an aggressor who brought an army north to eliminate Macbeth. He arrived at the Moray Firth, sailed up Loch Spynie and did battle with Macbeth's forces at Pitgavney near Elgin. Precise details are not known but a local history claims he was brought injured from the fighting to Elgin Castle where he died. Macbeth, believing he had a genuine claim, then assumed the Scottish crown.

During Macbeth's reign Scotland had a rare period of political and social stability. This allowed him time to enhance the status of Scotland by going on a long pilgrimage to Rome in 1050 where he had an audience with Pope Leo IX.

Regarding Macbeth's death, a battle did take place in Perthshire, most probably at Dunsinane Hill as Shakespeare wrote. Macbeth defended his position there after being pursued by Northumbrian forces led by Earl Siward. While defeated in that battle, Macbeth escaped unharmed.

It is argued that Macbeth stood down in favour of his stepson Lulach in 1057. Lulach was also pursued by forces wishing to place Duncan's son Malcolm on the throne. Macbeth came out of retirement after his son died in subsequent fighting. In 1058 a further battle took place at Lumphanan, in modern Aberdeenshire. It is here where Macbeth died. One story claims he was captured alive and beheaded at Macbeth's Stone near the battle site. The new King Malcolm later gave Macbeth's body a respectful burial alongside other kings at St. Oran's Cemetery on Iona.

The people of Scotland, and Moray in particular, should therefore be proud of Macbeth and recognise that he was a decent king who helped forge the nation we currently live in. It is so sad that, thanks mainly to Shakespeare, he is not generally recognised as such.

Text

Much is adapted/taken from my book “The Path to Cawdor – a Photographic Tour with Macbeth Connections” which tends to highlight the differences between the lives of the real and fictitious Macbeth.

In writing/compiling my book I used “Macbeth – A True Story”, by Fiona Watson as a major source of information and inspiration. We have been in frequent contact and she is delighted that my own book is now in print to help fight the case for restoring the good name of a good king. I would thoroughly recommend her book to anyone interested in reading a full and authoritative account of Macbeth's life.

Some detail from Fiona's book is different to other histories. Her book is so well researched however, that I have preferred to accept her account and conclusions to others. For example, some histories say that Macbeth's stepson, Lulach became king after Macbeth's death. Fiona, however, believes that Macbeth stepped down in favour of Lulach.