I got into the historic Macbeth by beginning to look into all the petty issues, like strange words and names, and, generally, the background of the characters involved, almost a year ago now. As I was also looking into the main source Shakespeare had – Holinshed’s “Chronicle of Scotland” – and – reading the text so closely – the historical issues of Shakespeare’s own time, all this became so complex that it is really difficult to break the tangle at one point by teasing out a thread … So, I’d just try and start with what I remember as the beginning: SWENO – “the Norway’s king”.
It was just a coincidence, as he is in the second scene and was the first name that “lept out”. Was this Sweno just a name from Holinshed, and we don’t really know who he was, or was he a real king of Norway? Of course he was! In this case, a quick check with Wikipedia delivered everything I needed. (Wikipedia, by the way! I hope ChatGPT will not be the end of it. I was so happy to have it that I donated, for the first time, for online content. It sent me into the Scottish woods in the end, but not before I had retrieved great input about Gruoch, daughter of Boite mac Cinaede, the historical “Lady Macbeth”. There definitely is a story in it …) But first: Sweno = Svein Knutsson (1016-1035). He probably wasn’t even a king of Norway in his own right, but some kind of “pawn” of his father’s, the “great” King Canute who arranged a marriage with an English noblewoman and sent him over to govern. Svein was there only a few years and failed spectacularly campaigning in Scotland where he got cheated by King Donnchad I (“our” king Duncan) newly come to office upon the death of his father. He negotiated a peace with Sweno and provided his army generously with food and drink while they were waiting for the silver to be paid. During the night, Donnchad sent his “dux” (= general) Macbethad mac Findláech – the future king Macbeth! – with his troops to slaughter the inebriated Norsemen. Sweno himself got away and had to return to Norway where he died only about a year later at the age of eighteen or nineteen. I was thrilled as I now had a DATE for the beginning of “Macbeth”: 1034 – the year Donnchad took over as king and had to deal with the Norse invasion. The historical Donnchad was about the same age as Macbethad and got killed by him in battle in 1040 because he attacked Moray, Macbethad’s province, obviously thinking his former general had become insubordinate, and a threat. As it is known that Macbethad was defeated and killed in the battle at Dunsinane Hill in 1057 by Donnchad’s son Malcolm who invaded Scotland with the help of English troops provided by King Edward the Confessor, we have now gathered all the historical dates for “Macbeth”:
1034-1040 for Act I
1040 for Act II
1040-1057 for Act III-V
Of course, timelines like this don’t matter when a play is produced, but they provide this historical context that changes what kind of a story it is in my mind. And I wouldn’t have expected it to be so precise! On top of this, as it is in Holinshed – with just a few years difference – Shakespeare must have been aware of it.
Even though Wikipedia might have saved him a lot of time – as it did me! - it wouldn’t have furnished him with the STORIES the way Holinshed’s “Chronicle of Scotland” did. A surprising amount of detail about Macbeth, his contemporaries, and the broader history of Scotland ended up in the play, a lot of it as “historical background.” It is an artificial separation anyway – though not unimportant for my decision what kind of text I am reading! - but Holinshed let me revisit “Macbeth” as one of the “histories” as well as a “tragedy”. In truth, the historic anchor point is so obvious: both the crowns of Scotland and England coming together on one head with King James I.
I am tempted to start with the year 830 where great King Kenneth made WAR on the Picts, effectively annihilated them – BLOODbath! - and then moved the famous marble seat from Argyle to a place called SCONE; the seat on which the Scottish kings sit when they receive their crown. After this decisive victory, there follows a time of PEACE for Scotland as it has not seen in a long time, and would probably not see anytime soon, accompanied by extensive legislation. When King Kenneth dies in 856 and is BURIED AT COLMKILL, everthing is well.
Under his reign, for a few decades, Scotland also seems to have been as big as it would ever be, after he had pushed the Picts back to the fringes of Cumberland. Already under his successor, his brother Donald – apparently the first king having been CROWNED AT SCONE - the Britons and the ENGLISHmen join with the Picts pretending to help them get back their land – in truth, obviously, to lay their hands on it. Donald loses this WAR, and considerable BLOODshed ensues at the hands of the victors. A treaty is sealed that fixes the border with the Britains on the Clyde, the one with the English on the Forth. So, PEACE restored, at a considerable price, but this king doesn’t work out as well as his brother. He falls into such DEPRAVITY that he gets deposed and ends his life in prison in 860. (Obviously the first of quite a few rulers Macduff refers to whose vices have cost them their throne!)
Constantine, King Kenneth’s son, succeeds him and is CROWNED AT SCONE. He appears to have been a man of order and stern justice ( -> PEACE!) and is ascribed a part in having made the Scots as tough as they are still perceived in our day and age. Not a day too soon, one might say, as he is also the first king having to deal with a Norse invasion. The GREAT DANISH ARMY simultaneously covers England and Scotland with WAR, leaving chaos and BLOODshed in their wake. Kind Constantine is captured and MURDERed, and BURIED AT COLMKILL. The invaders continue into Northumberland where they anihilate the joint armies of King Osbert and King Ella – two more kings slain! - then East Anglia where King Edmund suffers the same fate. From a Scottish and English perspective, this is the beginning of very dark times.
Rather chaotic times too, politically, until Gregory, son of the Thane of Argyle, takes the reins of the kingdom, is CROWNED AT SCONE, and becomes an exceptional WARleader. He scores a decisive victory over the DANES at Berwick, pushes the Britons back behind the Welsh border for good and takes possession of York, which makes King Alfred remember the “old alliance” (against the Norse), granting Scotland possession of Northumbria in exchange for its loyalty. We are now in the year 780, and things are looking up for Scotland! A time of PEACE and quiet follows. Having restored order to his kingdom, Gregory dies, an old man, and is BURIED AT COLMKILL.
The next CORONATION AT SCONE is for Donald V, a descendant of Constantine, who applies himself to keeping up the good order of Gregory’s reign (PEACE!), but there is “malice domestic brewing: a BLOODY CONFLICT between Rosse and Murreyland (= MORAY!). (CIVIL WAR) Even though the Thane of Rosse seems to have been the instigator, it ends with draconic measures against Moray. PEACE is restored. King Donald dies in 903 and is BURIED AT COLMKILL.
Constantine the III succeeds him, son of Ethus, who has been king for a short time before Gregory. He is CROWNED AT SCONE and soon challenged by the ENGLISH kings Edward and his son Aethelstan for Cumberland, Northumbria and Westmoreland. This leads to an alliance between DANES and Scots which gets DEFEATED at Brunanburgh by the English under King Aethelstan. (The first English victory over the Scots inscribed into the “Making of England” story King Alfred “triggered” when his kingdom of Wessex first resisted the Norse invaders.). King Constantine dies in 942 and is BURIED AT COLMKILL.
Malcolme, son of Donald, Constantine’s general, succeeds him as king in 942/43 and is CROWNED AT SCONE. Under his reign, the ALLIANCE between ENGLAND and Scotland is renewed. England under Aethelstan gains Northumberland, Scotland keeps Cumberland and Westmoreland. Indulphe, the son of Constantine III, is made PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND and heir to the crown of Scotland. (“Prince of Cumberland” having become a Scottish equivalent of the “Prince of Wales”, that is: the heir apparent – which Malcolm will become in “Macbeth”!) Scotland experiences a period of PEACE under a king who is looking after his subjects in worldly and spiritual matters. He gets MURDERed in 959 and BURIED AT COLMEKILL.
The heir apparent, Indulphe, is CROWNED AT SCONE. His nine years of reign are shaped by continuous WAR with the DANES. In league with the ENGLISH king Edmund he gains a decisive victory over the Northumbrian Danes which leads to another massive Danish and NORSE INVASION. Indulphe is slain in battle and BURIED AT COLMEKILL in 968.
His successor Duff, son of King Malcolme, is CROWNED AT SCONE. He has to deal with a REBELLION of the WESTERN ISLES, which results in his antagonizing the thanes there (– a problem that pops up in “Macbeth” when the rebel Macdonwald is recruiting from the isles!) A sickness of the king encourages further rebellions, with MORAY at the forefront. (There is also precedent for witches, as King Duff is healed after the witches who caused his illness are found out and executed.) The Captain in charge of the castle of Forres in Moray, Donwald, turns traitor when his kinsmen, who partook in the rebellion, are hanged. On the instigation of his wife – “though he abhorred the deed greatly” - he bribes his servants to MURDER King Duff in his sleep. He kills the servants and blames the murder on them. (The story of “Macbeth” therefore seems to be an amalgamation of the biography of the rebel Donwald and the actual King Macbeth!) After the murder, for months together, there is such bad weather that neither sun nor moon appear in the sky, outrageous lightnings and tempests are causing great destruction, and “unnatural” phenomena are reported, for example a sparrowhawk strangled by an owl, (some of which Shakespeare used in “Macbeth”.) Initially, the king’s body was buried in a ditch but got later recovered and BURIED AT COLMKILL.
After having pursued the crime and dealt with the rebels in Moray, Culene, son of King Indulph and former PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND, is CROWNED AT SCONE in 972. He doesn’t work out in the way he initially promised as he succumbs to sensual lust – “sparing neither maid, widow, nor wife, …, sister nor daughter” – and neglects the administration of his kingdom. (DEPRAVITY!) He gets “punished” by contracting a “filthy disease” and is MURDERED by REBELLIOUS thanes in 976 and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (Obviously another of the depraved Scottish kings Macduff refers to in his conversation with Malcolm.)
Thereupon Kenneth, the son of King Malcolm I, is CROWNED AT SCONE. He is the exact opposite of Culene, a model king, but so severe in his execution of the law that he antagonizes his thanes and soon has REBELLION on his hands. After PEACE is restored, it is immediately threatened by a new DANISH INVASION. Again the king acts decisively and utterly destroys the invading army, but the notorious “Kernes of the WESTERN ISLES” perceive their chance to raid Rosse, other countries join the fray. King Kenneth suddenly has to deal with CIVIL WAR but again succeeds in restoring the PEACE and, this time, keep it for almost 20 years. He has his cousin Malcome, Prince of Cumberland and heir apparent, poisoned because he wants the throne to go to his own offspring (MURDER!), and has a law passed for succession by birthright. His own son Malcolm is made PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND. (I found it interesting that Malcolm passed the law using the same reasoning as Shakespeare did indirectly: to keep the peace. Garantied succession by birth should forestall rebellion because, if there is an heir apparent, killing the king to get the throne won’t work - but, in both cases: Just see what happened!) Malcolm ultimately repents and does penance to avert divine retribution. Nonetheless he gets MURDERED by a relative of the murdered cousin in 994 and BURIED AT COLMKILL.
The legislation King Kenneth instigated under the pretence of preventing rebellion had the opposite effect. REBELLION raises its head instantly upon his death when a rival king, Constantine, gets himself CROWNED AT SCONE. Malcolme, the PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND and heir apparent, raises an army. (CIVIL WAR … again!) Whilst the country is divided, King Edward (alternatively: Ethelred?) entreats Malcolm for help against the DANES. Whilst Malcolm is fighting in England, his cousin meets Constantine in battle at the Forth. Constantine is killed and, as he was crowned at Scone, inevitably BURIED AT COLMEKILL in the year 1002.
Grime (or Gryme – does he really have a Norse name = Grim???), brother of Malcolm, gathers the remains of Constantine’s following behind him and gets himself CROWNED AT SCONE. Because of the accomplished fact Malcolm has to negotiate. He gets the rule of Cumberland, and succession is granted to him and his heirs. Grime turns out as the most abominable tyrant and oppressor (- another example of the misdemeanor Macduff laments!) to the point that his nobles REBEL and make WAR upon him. He is defeated, dies of his wounds, and is BURIED AT COLMEKILL in 1010.
Malcolm summons the thanes to Scone but refuses to take the crown before his father’s succession legislation is confirmed. After that he gets CROWNED AT SCONE and becomes an exemplary king. Justice is “ministered (…) throughout the kingdom, with such equity and uprightness, as had not been heard of in any age before him …” So, finally, BLISS!!! Of course not! This is the moment (the first) Sueno – in Holinshed apparently the father of “our” Sweno from “Macbeth” – invades England with a large army of Danes, Norsemen, Swedes and Goths. WAR again, and the old ALLIANCE of ENGLAND and Scotland against the NORSE threat is revived. It suffers a disastrous defeat which leads to England temporarily falling under Norse reign. DARK TIMES indeed - for England AND Scotland because Sueno continues his campaign in the North, taking Moray. After many BLOODY battles, though, Malcolm can persuade the invaders to leave Scotland. Follows a time of PEACE, but Malcolm cannot settle the internal conflicts and is slain by REBELS in 1034, and, of course, BURIED AT COLMKILL.
His grandson DUNCAN succeeds him and is CROWNED AT SCONE. His general is Macbeth, who is also his first cousin (their mothers being both daughters of Duncan). His reign begins PEACEfully, but he is a weak king and soon has to deal with REBELLION against Banquo, Thane of Lochaber and King Duncan’s steadfast ally. He sends Banquo and Macbeth to deal with the rebels under Macdonwald who is recruiting “Kernes and Gallowglasses” from the WESTERN ISLES. (CIVIL WAR again!) They defeat the rebels; Macdonwald kills himself. “Justice and law restored again” (PEACE!) But not for long, as SUENO, King of NORWAY, arrives at Fife with a mighty army to bring the whole of Scotland under his reign. (WAR!) Duncan is defeated and retires to Bertha where he is besieged by the Danes; meanwhile Macbeth gathers a new army. As their provisions are running out, Duncan can persuade Sueno to raise the siege. The food and drink he sends are “spiced” in a manner to induce sleep. During the night Macbeth arrives with his troops to slaughter the Norse. (Massive BLOODshed!) Sueno escapes with a few of his followers and sails back to Norway. Dealing with the remaining Norse, Macbeth gets a fair amount of gold out of them for letting them bury their dead at St. Colme’s Inch. PEACE restored ,,, (These events, occurring in the sixth year of Duncan’s reign, deliver the context of “Macbeth” and are related rather faithfully and in great detail at the beginning of the play – apart from the fact that the Danes were not vanquished in battle but betrayed and slaughtered in their sleep, which would have put such a damper on heroism!)
(In like detail Shakespeare uses the following) encounter of Macbeth and Banquo with the three “weird sisters” on their way to meet King Duncan. “Whereupon Macbeth devises how he might attain the kingdom.” Even more so, apparently, his ambitious wife “brenning in unquenchable fire to bear the name of Queen.” He gathers supporters, “amongst whom Banquo was the chiefest”, and MURDERS king Duncan in the sixth year of his reign. His body is CARRIED TO COLMKILL.
Macbeth “usurpeth the crown” and gets himself CROWNED AT SCONE. We are now in the year 1046. The sons of Duncan, Malcolm and Donald Bane escape from Scotland and are taken in by the English King S. Edward, son of Etheldred, and the Irish king respectively. In the beginning, Macbeth becomes an exemplary king who “set his whole intention to maintain justice and to punish all enormities and abuses which had chanced through the feeble and flouthful administration of Duncan.” Even though he administers justice with outstanding brutality, people, at long last, enjoy “ good PEACE and tranquility”. He also passes a good deal of legislation, mostly for the benefit and security of the crown. (I had read in Wikipedia that he was surnamed “the Red” – which made me automatically think of red hair. Probably the most likely explanation, but, reading Holinshed, another interpretation came to mind: BLOOD on his hands???) This cruel streak seems to have grown throughout his reign. “He began to show what he was, instead of equity practising cruelty. For the prick of conscience (…) caused him ever to fear, least he should be served the same cup as he had ministered to his predecessor.” (Here Shakespeare even dug into the imagery!) He arranges for Banquo and his son Fleance to be MURDERed, but Fleance escapes into Wales, and there follows a lengthy account of how his descendants became the house of STEWARD (to the king) and ultimately ascended to the throne of Scotland which they did currently hold. (Quite an important contemporary issue, as we shall see …) Macduff, the Thane of Fife, joins Malcolm in England to help him get the Scottish crown. (REBELLION!) As soon as Macbeth learns this, he sends people to Fife to MURDER his family. Malcolm obtains ten thousand soldiers under the command of Syward, Earl of Northumberland, to invade Scotland, and Macduff facilitates his plan by communicating with the Scottish nobility. CIVIL WAR ensues. Macbeth withdraws to his fortress at Dunsinane. He is put to flight and slain by Macduff (- very much in the way Shakespeare tells it in his play -) in the year 1057. It appears that, as a “usurper”, he is not buried at Colmkill. (The issue of rightful succession and usurpation of the throne will be the subject of further discussion.)
Malcolm gets CROWNED AT SCONE and immediately sets upon repairing the rift the rebellion caused by calling a Parliament and advancing many of the Nobles, giving them the title and privileges of (ENGLISH) earls. So, PEACE reigns again in Scotland …
This was an extremely condensed extract of Holinshed’s “Cronicle of Scotland” from great King Kenneth to great King Malcolm (surnamed “Big Head” according to Wikipedia, which might be a physical description but, more likely in my opinion, due to his importance as a ruler). There is much more, especially about the reign of King Macbeth which I will examine further. (On his account, it seems, the master of historical empiricism and tedious detail, Holinshed, temporarily aspired to become the Ken Follett of his age. Steep template for Shakespeare who doesn’t see the need to invent anything.) But, at the moment, I will do the contrary and condense the account even further, leaving out all the specifics and concentrate on the recurring features that, in my perceptions, stood out:
830) King Kenneth. WAR. BLOODbath. PEACE. BURIED AT COLMKILL. (856) King Donald CROWNED AT SCONE. ENGLISH invasion. WAR. BLOODshed. PEACE. DEPRAVITY. Downfall. (860) King Constantine CROWNED AT SCONE. PEACE. DANISH invasion. WAR. BLOODbath. King Constantine MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. Intervall of chaos. (870) King Gregory CROWNED AT SCONE. WAR against the DANES. Victory. PEACE. King Gregory BURIED AT COLMKILL. King Donald V CROWNED AT SCONE. PEACE. CIVIL WAR. BLOODshed. PEACE. King Donald BURIED AT COLMKILL. (903) Constantine III CROWNED AT SCONE. ENGLISH aggression. Alliance with the DANES. WAR. Defeat. King Constantine BURIED AT COLMKILL. (942/43) King Malcolme CROWNED AT SCONE. Alliance with ENGLAND. PEACE. Indulphe PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND. King Malcolm MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (959) King Indulphe CROWNED AT SCONE. WAR with the DANES. Alliance with ENGLAND. NORSE invasion. More WAR. King Indulphe slain in battle and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (968) King Duff CROWNED AT SCONE. REBELLION. King Duff MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (972) King Culene, fomer PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND, CROWNED AT SCONE. DEPRAVITY. REBELLION. King Culene MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (976) King Kenneth CROWNED AT SCONE. REBELLION. PEACE restored. DANISH invasion. WAR. Victory. REBELLION. CIVIL WAR. PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND MURDERed. King Kenneth MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (994) King Constantine CROWNED AT SCONE. REBELLION. Malcolm, PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND, raises an army. CIVIL WAR. Alliance with ENGLAND against the DANES. King Constantine slain in battle and BURIED AT COLMEKILL. (1002) King Grime CROWNED AT SCONE. Tyranny. REBELLION and CIVIL WAR. King Grime slain and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (1010) King Malcolm CROWNED AT SCONE. PEACE. NORSE invasion. Alliance with ENGLAND. WAR. BLOODshed. Utter defeat. Agreement with the Norse. PEACE restored. King Malcolm slain by REBELS and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (1034). King Duncan CROWNED AT SCONE. PEACE. REBELLION and CIVIL WAR. PEACE restored. NORSE invasion. Norse defeated and slaughtered (BLOODshed). PEACE restored. King Duncan MURDERed and BURIED AT COLMKILL. (1046) King Macbeth CROWNED AT SCONE. Malcolm, PRINCE OF CUMBERLAND exiled to ENGLAND. PEACE. Tyranny (BLOODshed.) Former ally Banquo MURDERed. REBELLION. CIVIL WAR. Malcolm invades Scotland in alliance with the ENGLISH. King Macbeth slain. (1057) King Malcolm CROWNED at SCONE. PEACE restored …
So, that’s two hundred and thirty years of Scottish history in a nutshell. And there IS a bit of a pattern, isn’t there? Speaking of CIRCULAR … I usually don’t see history in this way because I don’t think it’s interesting. For me history is this river we don’t jump in twice, but the trouble is that the water doesn’t feel so different at times – especially “dark times”! At the moment, it feels as if “we” - as Europe – might have arrived at such a juncture. It’s still not so bad where I am, but heavy clouds are gathering, the past raises the ugliest of its many heads, and there is very little in terms of a a silver lining …
