Equinox

Today is the autumnal equinox. The night and day are equal but because we have British Summer Time for another month, it seems to be getting dark earlier. Astronomically, it is the start of Autumn but to anyone with eyes to see, the season is half over. 

The brambles are past, the haws are red, the autumn crocuses are still blooming but not for long, the plum crop has been eaten or turned into jam and only the apples that are too high on the tree to be reached remain. They will have to wait until the equinoctial gales shake them loose.

Out of reach

The log store is stacked. The apples have been traded to the cider maker for a few bottles of last year's vintage. The jams and chutneys have been labelled and stored.

The bird feeders have been cleaned and disinfected for the winter seeds and nuts and one or two of the blue tits have been making an early inspection. The cotoneaster is laden with berries awaiting the waxwings. Will they appear this year?

The late burst of sunshine has brought out the butterflies to feed on the rotting windfalls but no wasps. Where have all the wasps gone? We have hardly seen one all summer.

Butterflies feed on the windfalls

The hedgehog has deserted the garden but he or she - it's difficult to tell with hedgehogs - is still around. I think its low profile is not due so much to imminent hibernation as to being picked up by an inquisitive collie. The hedgehog may have been a little bit miffed but there was no doubt from the yelps as to who came off worst from the encounter.

The year is on the turn and autumn, however you calculate it, is definitely here.

Macbeth Trail - Postscript

Lulach's stone, traditional site of his death near Mossat

Whether Lulach, Macbeth's stepson, fought at Lumphanan is unknown. What is known is that like the fictitious Fleance of Shakespeare's play, he escaped death at the time. Such was the prestige of Macbeth that, even after his demise, the House of Moray was powerful enough for the crown to pass to Lulach.

His is the first recorded coronation of a Scottish monarch, seated on the Stone of Destiny at Scone within a month of the defeat at Lumphanan.

In effect, Lulach was King only in the north, essentially in the old Pictish territories and of the far north and Northern Isles where there were family connections to ensure loyalty.

Lulach was nicknamed "Tairbeath", Lulach the Simple. Whether he was or not, he certainly wasn't of the same mould as his predecessor.

He was lured from the security of his home base, some say by a false promise of negotiation, to Mossat in Strathbogie on the ancient border of the lands of Moray.

Here, he was killed on the 17th March 1058 and consigned to history as a footnote. The traditional site is marked by an Iron Age standing stone of much greater antiquity so the exact circumstances of his death are unknown

Kildrummy Castle, seat of the Earls of Mar, still guards the approach to Moray

So died the last King of the House of Alpin, a dynasty which had started when Kenneth I,(Cináed mac Ailpín, Kenneth MacAlpin) became King of the Picts and Scots to form the beginnings of Alba in 843.

Lulach was also, arguably, the last King of Alba. Every monarch since Kenneth had in effect been the King of Scotland, but those up to King Aedh would have been referred to in their own time as Kings of the Picts and Scots; and those from Donald I onward as Kings of Alba. It was only with the replacement of the House of Moray (Macbeth) with the House of Dunkeld (Malcolm) that the occupant of the throne would be referred to by contemporary sources as the King of Scotland.

The line of Lulach continued, his son Máel Snechtai was Mormaer of Moray, while his daughter had a son, Óengus, who inherited the title of Mormaer of Moray and made an unsuccessful attempt to claim the throne in the reign of David I, which ended in his defeat and death in 1130.

After the defeat of Óengus, Moray was probably granted to William fitz Duncan and, after his death in 1147, it was to some extent colonized by King David's French, Flemish and English followers.

Returning from my journey on the trail of Macbeth, I crossed the Forth on the new bridge  - the Queensferry Crossing, named after Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, and Queen Gruoch's successor as consort to the king.  We live amidst our history.

The Queensferry bridge

Macbeth Trail Part IV

Macbeth's Stone, the traditional site of his death

Climbing up to the Cairn of Mounth summit from the sunny, fertile Howe of the Mearns, I was wreathed in cold grey mists. I wondered if this was the route taken by Ri Deircc, "the Red King, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, King of Alba as he returned to his stronghold in Moray. After his defeat at Dunsinane, he must have been constantly on the march, fighting to secure his kingdom from the forces of Malcolm, Máel Coluim ceann mòr Malcom Canmore, and his allies.

He was a man in his fifties, old for his times and for the past three years he had been campaigning almost continuously. He must have been tired but he was still king.

He appears to have asserted his sovereignty over the southern half around Dunkeld and was probably returning with his weary war band when he was engaged in battle at Lumphanan.

It is likely that Malcolm had an alliance with the Earls of Orkney. Malcom later married Ingibiorg, widow of Thorfinn of Orkney. This would allow him to attack from an unexpected quarter

Macbeth's men, probably tired and footsore crossed to enter Deeside by the passes across the Mounth, the long fingers of the Grampians that reach out to the coastal plain. At the coast, seaborne attack from Malcolm's allies was always possible so this easier route was to be avoided.

The road is winding and steep even today and the weather, even in August, as it may well have been in 1057, was cold and wet.

They must have felt relieved to be down into Deeside, settling to rest for the night. There is an ancient well where Macbeth is reputed to have slaked his thirst. They were "in a wood" which would suggest being unprepared - medieval combatants would choose open ground - when they were surprised by an unexpected attack from the north.

The Peel of Lumphanan

The Peel of Lumphanan is a circular mound  or motte on which the de Lundin family built a fortified tower in the 1200's but it is possible that Macbeth had a stronghold there of which no trace remains. Malcolm may have already been in possession of any redoubt before Macbeth arrived.

Holinshed says that Macduff, his old nemesis, "pursued Macbeth with great hatred even until he came to Lumfanaine". Perhaps this was the basis for Shakespeare's dramatic showdown between them.

On the 15th of August, 1057 they joined in battle.

Macbeth's Stone, some quarter of a mile south of the Peel, is said to be the site of his death.

Despite his death and the defeat of his army, his name still carried enough power for his stepson Lulach to be seated on the Stone of Destiny and proclaimed king though his reign lasted only a few months.

Macbeth had reigned for seventeen years giving the nascent kingdom of Alba "productive seasons" and was regarded as "a generous King".

As was fitting for a ruler of his stature due recognition was given to his passing.

His body would have been carried by boat down the Great Glen to the western seaboard and thence to Iona, traditional burial place of Scottish kings.

Iona Abbey

 

St Martin's Cross has stood for 1200 years

With his death, the last of the great Celtic kings of Alba, came the end of the line that began with the semi-legendary Kenneth Mac Alpin.

 

Warriors'  grave slabs on Iona

Malcolm's second marriage to Margaret of Wessex and his acquaintance with the customs of the English court would change the style of kingship in what was to become Scotland.

The Anglo-Scot and Scot-Norman dynasties that followed would all denigrate Macbeth for their own purposes to justify their claims to the throne and finally, to please another king, Shakespeare would traduce his reputation completely.

Had Macbeth defeated Malcolm would Scotland as it was to become, have developed differently? Would the Vikings of the northern isles have moved the power base and royal patronage towards Scandinavia or would the rising might of the Norman kingdoms of England have subsumed its smaller neighbour?   Nations are but accidents of history.