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 Britroyals

King Malcolm IV of Scotland (1153 - 1165)


Name: King Malcolm IV of Scotland
Father: Henry, Earl of Northumberland
Mother: Ada de Warenne
Relation to Charles III: 24th great-granduncle
House of: Canmore
Born: March 20, 1141
Ascended to the throne: May 24, 1153 aged 12 years
Crowned: May/June, 1153 at Scone Abbey, Perthshire
Married: Did not marry
Children: none
Died: December 9, 1165, at Jedburgh Castle, aged 24 years, 8 months, and 20 days
Buried at: Dunfermline Abbey, Fife
Succeeded by: his brother William

Malcolm (Máel Coluim mac Eanric) was 12 years old when he became King on the death of his grandfather. He did not marry and was named ’The Maiden’ after his vows of chastity.

Henry II of England sensing weakness in the boy king, reclaimed Northern England in the Treaty of Chester in 1157, and settled the Scottish border on a line between the Solway and the Tweed. Somerled ‘Lord of the Isles’ led an insurrection and established his own independent kingdom but was defeated at Renfrew in 1164.

Malcolm died at Jedborough Castle in 1165, and was succeeded by his brother William.

Timeline for King Malcolm IV of Scotland

Year Event
1153Malcolm IV becomes king
1156Somerled defeats the Norse King of Mann and the Isles establishing his own semi-independent rule as Innse Gall - King of the Hebrides.
1157Henry II of England takes back lands in Northern England granted to David I. The border is fixed at the Solway and Tweed very close to where it is today.
1164Somerled is defeated by the Scottish crown in the Battle of Renfrew.
1165Malcolm IV dies at Jedburgh Castle and is succeeded by his brother, William the Lion