Macbeth, << muhk BEHTH >> (?-1057), also spelled Mac Bethad, seized the throne of Scotland in 1040. He did this after defeating and killing King Duncan I, also spelled Donnchad. Macbeth based his claim to the crown on his victory and his wife’s royal ancestry. Duncan’s son Malcolm III, also spelled Mael Coluim, and Earl Siward of Northumberland defeated Macbeth at Dunsinane in 1054, but they did not dethrone him. Three years later, Malcolm III killed Macbeth at Lumphanan on Aug. 15, 1057. Macbeth’s stepson Lulach reigned for a few months, and then Malcolm III succeeded Lulach as king.
The English playwright William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (about 1606) contains a distorted version of these events. His version is based on Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577). The only historical truth in the play is Duncan’s death at the hand of Macbeth. From this fact, Shakespeare drew his portrait of ambition leading to a violent and tragic end.
