Nickname: The Gracious
Also Known As:<_AKA> King of /Scots/
Cause of Death: Killed by MacBeth, his successor.
Ancestral File Number: 8MMC-3K
Sources: RC 165; Kraentzler 1158, 1263; A. Roots 170; Pfafman; AF; Paget;
The Royal Line of Succession by Patrick W. Montaque-Smith; MacBeth, Scotland's
Warrior King by Bob Stewart; NEHGR 122/265; AIS.
RC: Duncan mac Crinan (Duncan I), King of Strathclyde, 1018-1034. King of
Scots, 1034-1040. Died in battle 14 Aug. 1040 near Elgin, Moray, Scotland;
murdered by MacBeth. He besieged Durham, 14 Aug. 1040.
Murdered by his successor, MacBeth (or by MacBeth's followers), near Elgin,
Moray, Scotland, in 1040.
Stewart: Duncan was a bad king and MacBeth a good king, despited Shakespeare,
who wrote his play based on history written 600 years after the time of MacBeth.
"The actual Duncan was tyrannical and a destructive leader who foolishly
sacrificed large numbers of his men in fruitless campaigns of expansion. He was
not poisoned as in Hector Boece's chronicle or murdered as in Shakespeare, but
slain in battle during his disastrous campaign against Thorfinn of Orkney."
Elected High King at Scone in December 1034 at the age of 33. He had some
experience of rule as petty king of Cumbria.
"Perhaps Duncan's most unpopular and dangerous move was to force campaigns
on northern and southern fronts almost simultaneously. Duncan attempted to
expand into the territories of Caithness and Sutherland, ruled by the powerful
Thorfinn of Orkney as part of the Norse territories. He also tried to take
advantage of the disputes over English succession, by invading Northumbria.
Thus, forces moved both north and south, to Caithness under command of
Duncan's nephew Moddan, and to Durham under command of Duncan himself. Both
attempts failed miserably.
"Duncan, showing himself not only to be heartless and totally incapable of
basic military strategy, sent repeated cavalry charges against the massive
walls of Durham; once the cavalry was defeated, the city troops counter-
attacked and killed thousands of the Scottish infantry. The heads of these men,
killed through the incompetence of the king they had helped to elect, were
impaled around the city walls." See Stewart, page 20, for more detail on
subsequent futile military action. "'The Orygynale Cronyhkil of Scotland'
describes Duncan as a vicious tyrant."
Pfafman: Duncan I MacCrinan. King of Scotland 1034-1040.
Royal Line: King of Scotland, 1034-1040. First King of the House of Atholl.
His maternal grandfather, Malcolm II, died in 1034 without a male heir and
succession to the throne was disputed, but Duncan gained the throne, only to be
slain by his cousin, MacBeth.
NEHGR: Duncan I, reigned 1034-1040. No known bastards. Had Malcolm III;
Donald Bane; Melmare, ancestor of the earls of Atholl, and, possibly, Madach.
AIS: Duncan I, The Gracious, born about 1001, Scotland; died 14 Aug 1040,
Moray, Scotland.

• Married: 1030 in Northumberland,England ²

1. Malcolm III "Longneck" CEANNMOR b: 1031 in Atholl,Perthshire,Scotland

1. Repository:
   
   Title: btphelps.FTW
   Abbrev: btphelps.FTW
   Note:
   Source Media Type: Other
2. Repository:
   
   Title: Mainfile.ged
   Abbrev: Mainfile.ged
   Note:
   Source Media Type: Other
3. Repository:
   
   Title: Blackmans of Knight's Creek
   Author: Henry James Young
   Publication: 1980 revised edition
   Abbrev: Blackmans of Knight's Creek
   Note:
   NS74943
   
   Source Media Type: Book
   Page: 116
4. Repository:
   
   Title: British Kings & Queens
   Abbrev: British Kings & Queens
   Note:
   The older the date the more the data is in question
   
   Source Media Type: Book
   Page: 381, 396, 410, FC55