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DONALD,
the name of several kings of early Scottish history. The first four
reigned before the Picts and Scots were united under Kenneth MacAlpin in
843. Donald the fourth, who succeeded in 632, was drowned in Loch Tay,
Perthshire, having been there, it is said, “at fishing with his servants
for pastime.” [Old Chron. of Scotland, p. 55.]
Donald V.,
sometimes called Donald I., succeeded his brother Kenneth in 860. The
ancient laws of the kingdom were revised and confirmed under his
authority, and according to Pinkerton (Enquiry, vol. ii. p. 178),
the Gaël or Dalriads obtained a confirmation of the old laws assigned them
by Ed. Fin. [Chr. Pict.] The Norwegians having invaded the kingdom
Donald fought and defeated them; but is said at last to have fallen by
their hands at Forres in 904.
DONALD, King of Scotland,
commonly called Donald Bane, the son of Duncan, and brother of Malcolm
Canmore, before usurping the throne was styled maormor or earl of Gowrie,
and had large possessions in that district, as on the baptism of his
nephew Alexander he conferred on him the lands of Liff and Invergowrie. [Balfour’s
Annals, vol. i. p. 6.] On the usurpation of the throne by Macbeth,
while his elder brother Malcolm fled into Cumberland, Donald took refuge
in the Isles, where he seems to have ingratiated himself so well with the
people and with the Celtic portion of the inhabitants of Scotland, that
after the death of his brother Malcolm Canmore, in 1093, with their
assistance he was enabled to take possession of the throne, to the
exclusion of the children of the latter. He was, however, dethroned in
1094, by Duncan the Second, the elder son of the late king, by Ingiobiorge,
widow of Earl Thorfinn, (see ALEXANDER I.,) but Duncan was himself
treacherously slain in 1095, by Malpedir, thane of Moern or Garmoran, a
district in northern Inverness-shire. The other children of Malcolm by his
second wife, Edgar, Alexander, and David, had, meanwhile, found refuge in
England, under the protection of their maternal uncle, Edgar Atheling,
when Duncan being removed, Donald Bane returned from his exile and
re-ascended the throne, which he was permitted to fill but for a short
time, as in the same year an army, composed of English, Anglo-Saxons and
Anglo Normans, (many of whom had been expelled by Donald Bane from the
country,) led by Edgar Atheling, and accompanied by the young princes his
nephews, invaded Scotland, and the usurper Donald, being deserted by those
who had twice enabled him to become king, was made prisoner, his eyes put
out, and he was consigned for the rest of his life to a dungeon. This took
place in 1098, with Edgar, fourth son of Malcolm by the second marriage,
succeeded to the throne. Donald Bane’s son, Madach by name, was earl of
Athol in the reign of David the First. He married Margaret daughter of
Haco earl of Orkney. Henry the grandson of Madach died in the reign of
Alexander the Second, without issue male, and with him Donald Bane’s
descendants in the male line failed. |
