page_title: Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde
section_title: Máel Coluim's reign and death
hierarchical_section_title: Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde / Máel Coluim's reign and death
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 9r of British Library Cotton MS Faustina B IX (the Chronicle of Melrose). The excerpt refers to the title of Máel Coluim mac Domnaill, King of Strathclyde (died 997).
context_page_description: Máel Coluim was a tenth-century King of Strathclyde. He was a younger son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, and thus a member of the Cumbrian dynasty that had ruled the kingdom for generations. Máel Coluim's Gaelic name could indicate that he was born during either an era of amiable relations with the Scots, or else during a period of Scottish overlordship. In 945, the Edmund I, King of the English invaded the kingdom, and appears to have granted the Scots permission to dominate the Cumbrians. The English king is further reported to have blinded several of Máel Coluim's brothers in an act that could have been an attempt to deprive Dyfnwal of an heir.
  It is unknown when Dyfnwal's reign came to an end. There is reason to suspect that a certain Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal was a son of his, and that this man ruled when he assassinated the reigning King of Alba in 971. Certainly by 973, Máel Coluim was associated with the kingship, as both he and his father are recorded to have participated in a remarkable meeting of kings assembled by Edgar, King of the English. The context of this assembly is not entirely clear.
context_section_description: Both Dyfnwal and Edgar died in 975. According to various Irish annals, Dyfnwal met his end whilst undertaking a pilgrimage. Surviving sources fail to note the Cumbrian realm between the obituaries of Dyfnwal in 975 and Máel Coluim in 997. Quite when Dyfnwal ceased to possess the kingship is uncertain. On one hand, there is reason to suspect that Rhydderch possessed power in 971. On the other hand, it is also possible that Dyfnwal was still reigning in 973. In fact, this could have been the point when he ceded power to Máel Coluim: conceivably as a consequence of Rhydderch's assassination of Cuilén two years beforehand. Alternately, Dyfnwal may have retained royal control until setting off upon his pilgrimage. If correct, it could have been Edgar's death that precipitated this final trek, and the transference of the Cumbrian kingship to Máel Coluim.
  Máel Coluim's part in the assembly could have partly concerned his father's impending pilgrimage, and that he sought surety for Dyfnwal's safe passage through Edgar's realm. The fact that Máel Coluim is identified as one of the assembled kings could indicate that Dyfnwal had relinquished control to him at some point before the convention. Conversely, Máel Coluim's title could instead indicate that he merely represented his aged father, and acted as regent. Evidence that Máel Coluim had indeed assumed the kingship before the assembly may exist in the record of a certain Malcolm dux who witnessed an English royal charter in 970 at Woolmer. Although the authenticity of this document is questionable, the attested Malcolm could well be identical to Máel Coluim himself. If Máel Coluim was indeed king in 973, Dyfnwal's role at the assembly may have been that of an 'elder statesman' of sorts—possibly serving as an adviser or mentor—especially considering his decades of experience in international affairs.
  If Máel Coluim succeeded Dyfnwal, it could mean that Rhydderch—if he was indeed Máel Coluim's brother—was either dead or unable to reign as king. Whilst it is possible that the sons of Dyfnwal maimed by the English in 945 were still alive in the 970s, the horrific injuries endured by these men would have meant that they were deemed unfit to rule. Notwithstanding the uncertainties surrounding his accession, Máel Coluim's reign was evidently unremarkable. Certainly, no source records Scottish-Cumbrian political relations at about the inception of Máel Coluim's reign, although the fact that Dyfnwal left for Rome could be evidence that the latter did not regard the realm or dynasty to be threatened during his absence. 
  Máel Coluim—alongside contemporary Irish, English, and Frankish kings—is commemorated by several lines of panegyric verse preserved by the tenth-century Saltair na Rann. He died in 997, the same year as his northern counterpart, Custantín mac Cuiléin, King of Alba. Máel Coluim's demise is recorded by the Annals of Clonmacnoise, the Annals of Ulster, Chronicon Scotorum, and the Annals of Tigernach. The latter styles him "king of the north Britons". Máel Coluim seems to have been succeeded by a brother, Owain. The latter appears to have been succeeded by Owain Foel, a man who may well have been a son of Máel Coluim.
caption: Máel Coluim's title as it appears on folio 9r of British Library Cotton Faustina B IX: "rex Cumbrorum".[104][note 8]
exif: {}