The House of Moray - A Medieval Scottish TL

To begin, I would like to advertise The Lion Roars by The British Scotsman, it's an awesome TL so go read it.

Anyway this TL is about what would happen if the son of King Lulach (1057-1058), Maelsnechtai, deposed King Malcolm III (1058-1093). So here we go!

The year was 1067. After 9 years of living under the boot of Malcolm III, the Mormaer(Earl) of Moray, Malesnechtai sent letters to most of the Mormaers of Scotland who were tired with Malcolm and his oppressive rule. Malcom had but one ally among the Mormaers who kept a watch on Maelsnechtai. He was MacDuff, Mormaer of Fife. Maelsnechtai was the son of King Lulach I who was murdered by Malcolm in a coup after the killing of Lulach's stepfather, King Macbeth who was a good and just King who ruled from 1040-1057. This gave Maelsnechtai the only true claim to the throne and he had good evidence that the Coup of 1058 was supported by the English. But the English that supported the coup no longer ruled. King Edward Aetheling was dead, as was his successor Harold Godwinsson. Harold, slain at Hastings, was the victim of the Great Norman invasion of the previous year. That meant Malcolm had lost his support.

Back to the letters, only one letter survives to the present day and the letter was adressed to Mormaer Maelmuire of Atholl, the king's own brother.
"My dear friend Mael Muire. All Mormaers know of your ill treatment at the hands of your brother, Mael Coluim. He has taken from you and Atholl, brought shame upon Alba by submitting to the French (Norman King William of England). Now he seeks to wage war against Caithness and Orkney, sending his lapdog MacDuff to collect men. Something has to be done about this. I have organized a council of Mormaers at Rois to answer what should be done with the false King?"
There is no evidence to show that Malcolm was planning to invade the Norwegians of Caithness and Orkney but it seemed to have worked. At Ross, the Mormaers gathered at council and discussed what to do. Attendance was written down by the Bishop of Moray, Duncan.
The attending Mormaers were: Maelshnechtai of Moray, Maelmuire of Atholl, Mallus of Strathearn, Cuncar of Angus, Cainnech of Buchan, Aed of Ross, Ruadri of Mar and Gillecrist of Menteith.
It was dangerous to write the information down but even holding the council was treasonous. For three days the council was held before the all came to the conclusion that Malcolm III had to go. All 8 Mormaers, the Bishops of Glasgow, Moray, Argyle, Brechin and Galloway signed an oath that was to change Scotland's history forever.
A month after the council, the coup started. In Galloway the Bishop ordered his soldiers to kill the King's tax collectors. Upon recieving word of this, Malcolm gathered and army around 1500 strong and marched to Galloway. The army of Galloway, only numbering 600 was camped in the Galloway Hills, the largest wilderness in Scotland south of the Highlands. While guerilla raids were being conducted by the army of Galloway, the Mormaers had formed an army almost 2000 strong and besieged Malcolm's capital at Stirling. Malcolm had to think fast. He could either pull out of Galloway and attempt to take on the Mormaers led by Maelsnechtai and Maelmuire or deal with Galloway first, giving him time to strike a deal with the English...
 
I've changed the way I'll be doing the TL so bear with me.

1067
February: King Malcolm decides to leave Galloway and begins a march to Stirling on the 22nd February.

March 4th: Malcolm arrives at Stirling with his army now only numbered at 1000, due to the vicious guerilla fighting in the Galloway Hills. The battle is short and bloody. Malcom and half his army are killed while Maelsnechtai triumphs and grabs the Scottish crown from Malcolms dead head, proclaiming himself King.

March 5th: Stirling surrenders and Maelsnechtai surprisingly is welcomed into the capital. The new King of Scotland summons the council of Mormaers to decide on how to strenghten their hold on the country. The Bishop of Galloway, having followed Malcolm's army arrives in the town to take Maelsnechtai to Scone for his coronation.

March 14th: Maelsnechtai is crowned King of Scotland at Scone. As soon as the coronation is over he sets out with his army to quell the Canmore loyalists in Mearns.

April: King William of England grants Malcolm's brother, Donald, asylum in England. This would have consequences in the future. Maelsnechtai defeats the loyalists at Mearns and beheads their leader, Mormaer Peter of Mearns.

May: MacDuff, Mormaer of Fife, seeing what happened to Mearns, submits to Maelsnechtai in front of an amused Maelmuire. He is forced by Maelsnechtai to butcher the priests of Berwick, who had been preaching anti-Moray sermons.

June- End of the year: Maelsnechtai designates his nephew, Oengus, as his heir. King William invades Wales in an attempt to take the South coast. Diarmait, High King of Ireland is assassinated, causing a long civil war. Maelmuire of Atholl is appointed overlord of MacDuff, and Maelsnechtai tightens his grip on the Mormaers. He appoints three Lords: Maelmuire would be the Lord of the Highlands, Mallus of Strathearn became Lord of the Lowlands and Oengus became Lord of the Borders. Oengus hated his position and ruled only in name, the real ruler of the borders was his lieutenant, the Irish Patrick Douglas.
 
Interesting premise, and thanks for the support. Just one nitpick, the Kings would be crowned as King of the Scots, not so much Scotland. A small thing I know...but it really wasn't until Robert I that they were called King of Scotland. :)
 
Interesting premise, and thanks for the support. Just one nitpick, the Kings would be crowned as King of the Scots, not so much Scotland. A small thing I know...but it really wasn't until Robert I that they were called King of Scotland. :)
Thanks for the comment and advice. I'm going to be using Alba instead of Scotland in most cases now since it's the correct term and the Kingdom would be mainly Gaelic now with a Gaelic Dynasty.
 
1068
January: The English invasion of Southern Wales meets success as the Principalities of Gwent and Morgannwg submit to William leaving only Deheubarth fighting for Southern Wales.
Maelsnechtai summons his council of Mormaers to discuss what to do next. While peace was always good, Maelsnechtai thrived on war. The Vikings of the Hebrides were causing problems in Moray, where they were raiding coastal towns. These acts were supported by the Norwegian King, Magnus II. The Council sent a letter to Magnus and a copy of it survives to this day:
"The King of Alba, Mael Snechtai, would remind his highness Magnus Haraldsson that the lands of Moray are not there to be pillaged by the Norwegian Hebrideans. We feel it right to inform a fellow Christian that his people are commiting countless sins on the good, honest people of Moray and that if these unjustified attacks do not cease there will be war between the people of Alba and Norway."
To say the least, Magnus was fuming. He immediately gathered an army and headed for Scotland. He would show Maelsnechtai how Vikings really fought.

March: Magnus lands near Elgin on Scotland's east coast and capital of Moray. He proceeds to slaughter the locals with his 7000 strong army that had one objective- take Scottish land. The Hebrideans had been informed and they landed on the west coast of Scotland with an army of 1000. Maelsnechtai had taken ill and was in no shape to fight a war, so Maelmuire led a 5000 strong army of Scots to fight the Norwegians at Elgin. Magnus tricked Maelmuire into his camp by offering peace. As the two men sat down to 'negotiate' a tall, muscular, bearded, ginger Norwegian named Haakon Magnusson spilt Maelmuire's head open with an axe. The body of the Mormaer of Atholl was paraded in front of the Scottish Army who soon left, leaderless and demoralised.

April: The Norwegians of Orkney and Caithness invade Ross, forcing Mormaer Aed to flee and arrive beaten, destitute and filthy at the Court of Maelsnechtai. An unlikely hero emerges to save Scotland though. The humiliated rival of the Council of Mormaers and Canmore loyalist, MacDuff of Fife persuades the ill Maelsnechtai to place him in command of the army. Raising more soldiers from Fife and Canmore loyalists in England, the new army matches that of the Norwegians. However, the Norwegians are more skilled at warfare so MacDuff skirmished around Elgin fleeing to the Cairngorn mountains with Magnus in pursuit. As the Norwegians entered a mountain pass they found themselves trapped on both sides. The slaughter was incredible and Magnus himself was captured.

May: While Magnus was ransomed off, MacDuff attacked the Hebridean invaders, who were quickly defeated and then the men of Caithness and Orkney, who met the same fate. He didn't stop there. MacDuff invaded Caithness, besieging the capital at Wick. After Wick fell so did the rest of Caithness. Magnus made peace with the Scots soon after and the result of the following treaty was the Scottish annexation of Caitness and the Inner Hebrides.

June: Deheubarth earned it's place in history on June 11th 1068. The small Principality fought the bloody battle of Dyfed against William of England. In terms of death, it was the bloodiest battle Wales had ever seen with two thirds of Deheubarth's forces slain. However the cost was extremely high for the English who, although victorious, made a quick peace deal with the Welsh and left the region alone for the time being. This Phyrric Victory at Dyfed was only the beggining of the brutal border conflicts between the Welsh and the English.

September: Maelsnechtai appoints MacDuff as Lord of the Highlands after the success against the Norwegians. Rumours circulate that Maelsnechtai invited the Norwegians to attack the Scots and that MacDuff saw through the plan and saved the Kingdom due to his sense of honor. These rumours give Canmore loyalists an increase in size and a secret council is formed to further the Canmore cause, the council is held in Glasgow, where the Bishop, who was involved in the coup against the Canmore's, leads the council. It is speculated that the Bishop was angry against the higher taxes on the clergy that Maelsnechtai put in place to fund the war against Norway. The council contacts the only surviving Canmore, Donald, and begins persuading him to return to Scotland.

November: Mallus, Lord of the Lowlands and Mormaer of Strathearn learns of the Canmore council and attempts to warn the King. However, on his way to Stirling, Mallus is ambushed and killed by assassins hired by the Council who have spies in most Mormaers. One of these spies is none other than the real ruler of the Borders, Patrick 'the Black' Douglas.

December: The new Lord of the Lowlands is appointed by Maelsnechtai. He is the King of Strathclyde, Malcolm. Malcolm is a strange, mystical character. He appears to come out of nowhere as the first recorded evidence of him is his appointment by the King but he would change Scottish history forever...

(I think I might get away with introducing the Black Douglases in a TL where they should be butterflied away, Rejoice!)
 
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Here's a map of the British Isles in 1068:
Moray TL 1068.PNG
The English left all of Wales and the Principality of Morgannwg was annexed by Gwent. The Norwegian enclave in Ireland is the Kingdom of Dublin and I couldn't be bothered adding France.

Moray TL 1068.PNG
 
Thanks for the comment and advice. I'm going to be using Alba instead of Scotland in most cases now since it's the correct term and the Kingdom would be mainly Gaelic now with a Gaelic Dynasty.
Are you going down a road where the Gaels dominate, rather than the lowland Lallans speakers then? Does the monarch cut a deal with the Lord of the Isles? Where will the capital be?
 
Are you going down a road where the Gaels dominate, rather than the lowland Lallans speakers then? Does the monarch cut a deal with the Lord of the Isles? Where will the capital be?
The official capital is at Scone, but the court is at Stirling to keep the Canmore loyalist South on good terms. For now the Gaels will dominate but that could all change and Maelsnechtai will pursue a policy of aggressive expansion so no deals will be cut with the Lord of the Isles unless it is the submition of the Lord. The real centre of Alba however, is the Morvian capital at Elgin which will be rebuilding after the devestating Norwegian attack.
 
1069
January: MacDuff was filled with rage. He had just learned of the Canmore Council and he knew it was too soon for action. Not only that but he was torn between his good friends, the Canmores, and his titles. There was only one thing he could do to stop the council becoming common knowledge. On January 28th he arrived at the court of Maelsnechtai. With him was thr Bishop of Glasgow. The Bishop would not leave the court alive. MacDuff betrayed the Bishop to the King and witnessed the hanging of the Bishop that followed. The lands of the Bishop were granted to MacDuff for revealing the plot.

April: Wanting more glory to his name, Maelsnechtai embarked on a great expedition to Ireland. Under his command were 6000 warriors of Alba who were mostly veterans of the war against Norway. The army set sail for the Viking lands of Dublin.

May: The Scots army captures Dublin and slaughters the inhabitants. After this, he sets sail down the Irish coast capturing Wexford, Waterford and Cork. Although the King of Dublin was protected by the Norwegians, they refused to aid their Irish cousins after their crushing defeat at the hands of MacDuff. Only Limerick survives as the sole Viking Kingdom in Ireland.

June: Maredudd, Prince of Deheubarth, forces the submition of Caradog, Prince of Gwent. Deheubarth now controled the Southern Welsh coast, putting more strain on relations with England.

October: The Princes of Powys and Gwynedd wage war against each other with Gwynedd gaining ground against Powys but the war soon turns into a stalemate.
William of England couldn't risk a war with the Scots after the bloodbath in Wales, so he attempted to persuade Donald Canmore to give up his claims for a Welsh Principality. Donald reluctantly agreed, forcing the Canmore Council in Scotland to seek a new pretender King.

November: The Council found a pretender in the 15 year old Edward Canmore, son of Malcolm III. Without the Bishop of Glasgow, Peter Douglas stepped into the leadership role and he was planning the coup against Maelsnechtai.

December: Maelsnechtai fathers a son, Minas (the great one). Oengus was no longer heir to the throne so now he picked up interest in his lands, the Borders. Peter Douglas was removed from the limelight for now, but soon Maelsnechtai would come calling. The Irish were causing trouble...

Map of Britain, 1069:
Moray TL 1068.PNG

Moray TL 1068.PNG
 
Interesting map.
Can't help noticing that your Scottish king has extended the Scots border to the Tees. I think in this instance William the Bastard wouldn't have bothered attacking the Welsh if the neighbours to the north had seized Northumberland and Durham!

Oh and in the years 1066 -70 William was far too busy suppressing the recalcitrant English to engage in foreign incursions. The Norman actions in south Wales were carried out by Marcher Barons and were pretty much a private enterprise rather a deliberate royal policy.

And given the fact that the most recalcitrant English were in the north and in OTL required the act of genocide known as the "Harrying of the North" to finally suppress them I can't see them allowing the old enemy to the north to march in without opposition. Unless of course they invited them in to give them a hand against the Normans?
 
1068
January: The English invasion of Southern Wales meets success as the Principalities of Gwent and Morgannwg submit to William leaving only Deheubarth fighting for Southern Wales.
Maelsnechtai summons his council of Mormaers to discuss what to do next. While peace was always good, Maelsnechtai thrived on war. The Vikings of the Hebrides were causing problems in Moray, where they were raiding coastal towns. These acts were supported by the Norwegian King, Magnus II. The Council sent a letter to Magnus and a copy of it survives to this day:
"The King of Alba, Mael Snechtai, would remind his highness Magnus Haraldsson that the lands of Moray are not there to be pillaged by the Norwegian Hebrideans. We feel it right to inform a fellow Christian that his people are commiting countless sins on the good, honest people of Moray and that if these unjustified attacks do not cease there will be war between the people of Alba and Norway."

To say the least, Magnus was fuming. He immediately gathered an army and headed for Scotland. He would show Maelsnechtai how Vikings really fought.​



March: Magnus lands near Elgin on Scotland's west coast and capital of Moray. He proceeds to slaughter the locals with his 7000 strong army that had one objective- take Scottish land. The Hebrideans had been informed and they landed on the east coast of Scotland with an army of 1000. Maelsnechtai had taken ill and was in no shape to fight a war, so Maelmuire led a 5000 strong army of Scots to fight the Norwegians at Elgin. Magnus tricked Maelmuire into his camp by offering peace. As the two men sat down to 'negotiate' a tall, muscular, bearded, ginger Norwegian named Haakon Magnusson spilt Maelmuire's head open with an axe. The body of the Mormaer of Atholl was paraded in front of the Scottish Army who soon left, leaderless and demoralised.​



April: The Norwegians of Orkney and Caithness invade Ross, forcing Mormaer Aed to flee and arrive beaten, destitute and filthy at the Court of Maelsnechtai. An unlikely hero emerges to save Scotland though. The humiliated rival of the Council of Mormaers and Canmore loyalist, MacDuff of Fife persuades the ill Maelsnechtai to place him in command of the army. Raising more soldiers from Fife and Canmore loyalists in England, the new army matches that of the Norwegians. However, the Norwegians are more skilled at warfare so MacDuff skirmished around Elgin fleeing to the Cairngorn mountains with Magnus in pursuit. As the Norwegians entered a mountain pass they found themselves trapped on both sides. The slaughter was incredible and Magnus himself was captured.​



May: While Magnus was ransomed off, MacDuff attacked the Hebridean invaders, who were quickly defeated and then the men of Caithness and Orkney, who met the same fate. He didn't stop there. MacDuff invaded Caithness, besieging the capital at Wick. After Wick fell so did the rest of Caithness. Magnus made peace with the Scots soon after and the result of the following treaty was the Scottish annexation of Caitness and the Inner Hebrides.​



June: Deheubarth earned it's place in history on June 11th 1068. The small Principality fought the bloody battle of Dyfed against William of England. In terms of death, it was the bloodiest battle Wales had ever seen with two thirds of Deheubarth's forces slain. However the cost was extremely high for the English who, although victorious, made a quick peace deal with the Welsh and left the region alone for the time being. This Phyrric Victory at Dyfed was only the beggining of the brutal border conflicts between the Welsh and the English.​



September: Maelsnechtai appoints MacDuff as Lord of the Highlands after the success against the Norwegians. Rumours circulate that Maelsnechtai invited the Norwegians to attack the Scots and that MacDuff saw through the plan and saved the Kingdom due to his sense of honor. These rumours give Canmore loyalists an increase in size and a secret council is formed to further the Canmore cause, the council is held in Glasgow, where the Bishop, who was involved in the coup against the Canmore's, leads the council. It is speculated that the Bishop was angry against the higher taxes on the clergy that Maelsnechtai put in place to fund the war against Norway. The council contacts the only surviving Canmore, Donald, and begins persuading him to return to Scotland.​



November: Mallus, Lord of the Lowlands and Mormaer of Strathearn learns of the Canmore council and attempts to warn the King. However, on his way to Stirling, Mallus is ambushed and killed by assassins hired by the Council who have spies in most Mormaers. One of these spies is none other than the real ruler of the Borders, Patrick 'the Black' Douglas.​



December: The new Lord of the Lowlands is appointed by Maelsnechtai. He is the King of Strathclyde, Malcolm. Malcolm is a strange, mystical character. He appears to come out of nowhere as the first recorded evidence of him is his appointment by the King but he would change Scottish history forever...​



(I think I might get away with introducing the Black Douglases in a TL where they should be butterflied away, Rejoice!)​

English?

Surely you mean Normans?
 
Sorry mate but at this time William was still up to his ears in English rebellions. You don't move on to new conquests whilst your base areas are still unsecure.

As much as I hate the bastard I've got to admire his skills as a general.
 
1068
March: Magnus lands near Elgin on Scotland's west coast and capital of Moray. He proceeds to slaughter the locals with his 7000 strong army that had one objective- take Scottish land. The Hebrideans had been informed and they landed on the east coast of Scotland with an army of 1000.
Oops. Got your directions mixed up
 
1) The English rebellion will be coming up in the next installment.
2) In this TL things were slightly the other way round, William the Bastard left his Norman Barons to deal with the north, while he decided to win glory by attacking Wales and that backfired...

Sorry mate but at this time William was still up to his ears in English rebellions. You don't move on to new conquests whilst your base areas are still unsecure.

As much as I hate the bastard I've got to admire his skills as a general.

:confused:He's lost a big chunk of England, and instead of getting it back, he's engaging in foreign invasions? :confused:

Ya, this looks pretty ASB to me, too. Sorry.
 
:confused:He's lost a big chunk of England, and instead of getting it back, he's engaging in foreign invasions? :confused:

Ya, this looks pretty ASB to me, too. Sorry.
Well no, he didn't loose any parts of England. Before the Norman invasion until the mid 13th Century, the border changed over and over again. At 1066, the Scots controlled the areas shown, so no it is not ASB. Also anything from January 1067 onward could be completely butterflied away. That could mean that no massive English rebellions at all, or it could mean there are several. Also Harold I had the Welsh submit to him, so in William's eyes it wouldn't be a foreign invasion, more quelling the rebellious Welsh in the name of his supposedly rightful Kingdom of England.

Today's Scottish borders are very different from those of 1066.
 
Well no, he didn't loose any parts of England. Before the Norman invasion until the mid 13th Century, the border changed over and over again. At 1066, the Scots controlled the areas shown, so no it is not ASB. Also anything from January 1067 onward could be completely butterflied away. That could mean that no massive English rebellions at all, or it could mean there are several. Also Harold I had the Welsh submit to him, so in William's eyes it wouldn't be a foreign invasion, more quelling the rebellious Welsh in the name of his supposedly rightful Kingdom of England.

Today's Scottish borders are very different from those of 1066.

razers are for fish

Different but not that much. The Scots kings had a claim on Srathcylde and including Cumbria since ~1018 when it's king died and the Scots king of the time took over the state. However they never occupied that much of the east coast and especially not to include areas such as Durham. When England was weakened or divided, which was tragically the case in 1066-1068 period you often got, sometimes very bloody, Scots raids but never actual attempts to hold the land.

Steve
 
In 1016 or thereabouts the Scottish border was firmly secured on the Tweed by the battle of Carham won by Malcolm II over an army of Northumbrian English. This was confirmed some years later in treaty by King Cnut. Although for many years afterwards Kings of the Scots aspired to push their frontier further south the Tweed remained the southern limit of the Scottish kingdom.

On a personal note I can't help noticing that, with the exception of other posters on this topic, Scottish history tends to follow the pattern of English history with an arbitatary cut-off date beyond which historical events are seen as not strictly relevant. In England that date is 1066, in Scotland it appears to be around 1290 or so.

In this both countries miss out on some of their most stirring history, the creation of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland respectively, how the embattled petty Kingdom of Wessex turned round the result of the Danish invasions and forged a Kingdom of the English and how a small enclave of Irish settlers expanded and turned "Pictland" into Scotland.
 
Interesting TL. I will keep an eye on it.

Might this TL see Macbeth with a better reputation, considering it's the son of his stepson as king of Scotland and the Canmore dynasty gone?
 
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