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Lulach

King of Alba from 1057 to 1058

Summary

King of Alba from 1057 to 1058

Field	Value
succession	King of Alba
reign	15 August 1057 –
17 March 1058
coronation	8 September 1057, Scone
cor-type	Inauguration
predecessor	Macbeth
successor	Malcolm III
birth_date	c. 1032
birth_place	Moray, Scotland
death_date	(aged 25/26)
death_place	Essie, Strathbogie
issue	Máel Snechtai
Unnamed daughter
house	Moray
father	Gille Coemgáin of Moray
mother	Gruoch of Scotland
place of burial	Iona

17 March 1058 | cor-type = Inauguration Unnamed daughter

Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin (Modern Gaelic: Lughlagh mac Gille Chomghain, known in English simply as Lulach, and nicknamed Tairbith, "the Unfortunate" and Fatuus, "the Simple-minded" or "the Foolish"; c. 1032 – 17 March 1058) was King of Alba (Scotland) between 15 August 1057 and 17 March 1058.

Lulach was the son of Gruoch of Scotland, from her first marriage to Gille Coemgáin, Mormaer of Moray, and thus the stepson of Macbeth (Mac Bethad mac Findlaích). Through his mother, he was also the great-grandson of either Kenneth II or Kenneth III. Following the death of Macbeth at the Battle of Lumphanan on 15 August 1057, the king's followers placed Lulach on the throne. He has the distinction of being the first king of Scotland of whom there are inauguration details available: he was inaugurated, probably on 8 September 1057 at Scone. Lulach appears to have been a weak king, as his nicknames suggest, and ruled only for a few months before being assassinated and usurped by Malcolm III. However, it is also plausible his nicknames are the results of negative propaganda, and were established as part of a smear campaign by Malcolm III.

Lulach's son Máel Snechtai was Mormaer of Moray, while Óengus of Moray was the son of Lulach's daughter.

He is believed to be buried on Saint Columba's Holy Island of Iona in or around the monastery. The exact position of his grave is unknown.

Depictions in fiction

Lulach is a protagonist in Joel H. Morris's historical novel All Our Yesterdays: A Novel of Lady Macbeth, published by Putnam Books in 2024, where he is referred to as "the Boy." A prequel to the play, the novel interweaves the historical Lady Macbeth and her son with the characters depicted in Shakespeare's tragedy.

Lulach is an important secondary character in Dorothy Dunnett's historical novel King Hereafter, where he is portrayed as a seer. In the novel, Dunnett used Lulach as a mouthpiece for researched information about the real Macbeth.

Lulach is also one of the protagonists in Jackie French's children's novel Macbeth and Son and in Susan Fraser King's novel Lady MacBeth.

Lulach is also a character in David Greig's play Dunsinane where he is hunted by the English soldiers as a threat to peace in Malcolm's Scotland.

Lulach McPritchett in Modern Family is a Scottish warrior and ancestor of Jay Pritchett.

Lulach — misnamed Luach — appears in the animated series Gargoyles (TV series) as Macbeth and Gruoch's son, and, briefly, King of Scotland.

Lulach appears in a 2024 adaptation of Shakespeare's play called Gruoch and Macbeth: A Screenplay by Graham J. Howard.

Lulach appears in Val McDermid's Queen Macbeth.

He is apparently referenced by Lady Macbeth (his mother's counterpart in the play Macbeth), in Act I Scene VII, where she says she has "given suck, and know / How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me", in what would be a historical reference to Lulach.

References

''Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin'' is the [[Middle Irish. Mediaeval Gaelic]] form.
Skene, ''Chronicles'', p. 102.
Anderson, ''Early Sources'', vol. I, p. 603.
"King Hereafter".
Hateley, Erica. (2010). "Shakespeare in Children's Literature: Gender and Cultural Capital". [[Taylor & Francis]].
"Macbeth: Entire Play".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1058-deaths 11th-century-scottish-monarchs burials-in-iona house-of-moray 11th-century-murdered-monarchs year-of-birth-unknown mormaers-of-moray gaelic-monarchs-in-scotland 11th-century-mormaers assassinated-heads-of-state-in-europe

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