Maol Choluim II, Earl of Fife

Infobox_Person
name = Maol Choluim II mac Donnchaidh MacDuibh
(Malcolm, son of Duncan, Macduff)
other_names = Máel Coluim or Malcolm II of Fife


caption = The Mormaer of Fife as depicted at the inauguration of Alexander III in a late medieval manuscript of Walter Bower's "Scottichronicon".
birth_date = Early 1200s
birth_place =
death_date = 1266
death_place =
death_cause =
known =
occupation =
title = Mormaer ("Earl") of Fife
salary =
term = 1228-1266
predecessor = Maol Choluim I
successor = Colbán
party =
boards =
religion =
spouse = Elen ferch Llywelyn, the daughter of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth
children = Colbán; unknown son stylled "MacDuibh" ("Macduff")
relations =
website =
footnotes =

Maol Choluim II (or Máel Coluim II, usually anglicized as Malcolm II), [He is sometimes called Malcolm, "6th Earl of Fife, "7th Earl of Fife" or "8th Earl of Fife"; these styles are both anachronistic and, besides, inaccurate, since the earliest earls are not recorded.] was a 13th century Mormaer of Fife who ruled the mormaerdom or earldom of Fife between 1228 and 1266. He was the nephew of Maol Choluim I, the previous mormaer, and the son of Maol Choluim I's brother Donnchadh, son of Donnchadh II. [Bannerman, "Macduff", p. 33.]

He is one of the Scottish magnates whose name occurred as a guarantor in the Treaty of York, September 25, 1237.Balfour Paul, "Scots Peerage", vol. iv, p. 9; Macdonald, "Macduff family".] He participated in the famous inauguration of King Alexander III of Scotland at Scone on 13 July, 1249, where the mormaers of Fife had a traditional senior role in the coronation.Macdonald, "Macduff family".] He played a role during the minority of Alexander III of Scotland, being appointed one of the guardians in the king, September 20, 1255.Balfour Paul, "Scots Peerage", vol. iv, p. 9.]

He appears to have had a close relationship with Henry III of England, both during the minority and after, and in Scotland may have been allied with Alan Durward. He was fined in Northumberland on April 24, 1256, for not appearing before royal justices on the first day of their session, as presumably ordered. He disappears from the records after the "coup" against the minority administration in 1256-57, but reappears a few years later when he is recorded swearing an oath to Henry to promise to maintain the position of the young king and queen when the latter, Henry III's daughter Margaret, went to England in 1260.

Maol Choluim II died in 1266. [Balfour Paul, "Scots Peerage", vol. iv, p. 9; Bannerman, "Macduff of Fife", pp. 33, 35; Macdonald, "Macduff family".] He had married Elen ferch Llywelyn, the daughter of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth "Fawr" ("the Great"), who after Maol Choluim's death married the Mormaer of Mar, Domhnall. He had two sons who are known to us. The elder was Colbán, to whom the mormaerdom passed after Maol Choluim's death. [Balfour Paul, "Scots Peerage", vol. iv., pp. 9-10; Bannerman, "Macduff of Fife, p. 33.] Chieftancy of Clann Meic Duibh went to another son, whose name however is unknown as he was only referred to by his title "MacDuibh".Bannerman, "MacDuff of Fife", pp. 32-3, "et passim".] Maol Choluim appears from later records to have granted lands to this younger son, which were later dispossessed by William Wishart, Bishop of St Andrews, later backed by King John de Balliol, against whom "MacDuibh" appealed to King Edward I of England.Bannerman, "MacDuff of Fife", pp. 32-3.]

Notes

Bibliography

* Bannerman, John, "MacDuff of Fife", in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) "Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow", (Edinburgh, 1993), pp. 20-38
* McDonald, Andrew, "Macduff family, earls of Fife (per. c.1095–1371)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50328 , accessed 8 Aug 2007]
* Paul, James Balfour, "The Scots Peerage", Vol. IV, (Edinburgh, 1907)