King Malcolm Canmore and his wife Margaret
submitted by: SUP Pioneer Stories Cedar City Chapter January Newsletter
• My 29th great grandfather, Kind Duncan I of Scotland, was killed by Macbeth, whose infamy served as the basis for Shakespeare’s well-known play
• King Duncan’s son, Malcolm Canmore, my 28th great grandfather, was 9 years old at the time that Macbeth seized the Scottish throne
• Malcolm’s mother successfully hid Malcolm for 17 years at which time, with the help of the English army, Malcolm defeated Macbeth in battle and restored the throne to his family line.
• Malcolm was a man who had “no reputation for piety,” but did have a reputation for being ferocious. He, along with the rest of the Scots, was what Christians have historically referred to as pagans or heathens.
• Consistent with the standards of his day, Malcolm’s first marriage was a politically arranged union to a Danish princess named Ingibjorg (pronounced In ja bee org).
• Consistent with the realities of her day, Ingibjorg died shortly after giving birth to her second child.
• Meanwhile, William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England from his home in Normandy, France.
• Princess Margaret, my 28th great grandmother and daughter of the rightful English king, Edgar Aethling, fled with her brother intending to seek asylum in the Hungarian Empire
• While crossing the English Channel, a powerful storm arose. Had the storm been less powerful the fugitive royal family would have made it to the Hungarian Empire and lived out their lives as exiles in obscurity. Had the storm been ever so slightly more southerly they would have been blown back into England where Margaret’s brother would have been executed and Margaret either executed or imprisoned for her life to be sure that she had no posterity who could challenge William’s line. Had the storm been more northerly it would have blown the fugitives either into the rocky northern coasts of Scotland or out into the North Sea where they would have perished. Instead, the storm had the perfect strength and direction to shipwreck Margaret and her family on the beach right in front of King Malcolm Canmore castle 6 months after Ingibjorg had died leaving Malcolm with two young sons.
• Malcolm fell in love with Margaret which resulted in a marriage based on love rather than political advantage, a rarity in the Middle Ages.
• A faithful Christian described as an amazingly beautiful young woman, Margaret not only civilized and converted Malcolm to Christianity but converted all of Scotland as well. Even though Queen, she personally went into impoverished areas where she cared for the sick, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and taught the gospel. Extremely atypical for their day, Malcolm appointed Margaret to positions of real administrative authority. With Malcolm’s support, the love of the Scottish people, and her authority, she brought in priests and nuns into Scotland, established monasteries and convents, and was the prime agent behind the conversion of Scotland to Christianity.
• In addition, she bore 8 children, six sons and two daughters in an era when the average woman did not survive the birth of her second child; all 8 grew to adulthood in an era when half of all children did not survive to adulthood; three of her sons became successive kings of Scotland who ruled with exceptional wisdom and virtue; one daughter married the son of William the Conqueror, thus becoming the Queen of England from which Margaret had fled for her life; the other daughter married the king of a section of France that abutted Normandy, the area in France from which William the Conqueror came (France was not a unified country at that time)
• Margaret’s descendants then constituted both the Scottish and English royalty for 500 years, thus dramatically impacting world history.
• In 1250 Margaret was canonized a saint thus becoming the only Scottish queen to ever be declared a saint. Her virtuous son, David 1 was also canonized a saint.
• Queen, Saint Margaret was to Scotland what St. Patrick was to Ireland. She was an amazing Christian pioneer and missionary, a religious and political leader in an era when women had virtually no influence at all.
Submitted by John Ault
Submitted by John Ault