Gruoch of Scotland

Gruoch ingen Boite was the daughter of Boite son of Kenneth III of Scotland. [It is not entirely certain that the Cináed father of Boite was Cináed mac Duib rather than Kenneth II of Scotland. Both possibilities are admitted by Duncan, p. 345, table A, although most sources, e.g. Woolf, favour Cináed mac Duib.] The dates of her life are not certainly known.

Before 1032 Gruoch was married to Gille Coemgáin mac Maíl Brigti, Mormaer of Moray, with whom she had at least one son, Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin, later King of Scots. Gille Coemgáin was killed in 1032, burned in a hall with fifty of his men. [Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1032.] Gruoch's second marriage was to King Mac Bethad, again the date is unrecorded. No children of this marriage are known.

Gruoch is named with Boite and also with Mac Bethad in charters endowing the culdee monastery at Loch Leven. The date of her death is not known.

She served as the model for the character Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth". A slightly more accurate version of Gruoch appeared in the animated television series Gargoyles.

Notes

References

* [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001A/index.html Annals of Ulster] ( [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A/index.html translation] ) at University College Cork's CELT project.
* Duncan, A. A. M., "The Kingship of the Scots 842–1292: Succession and Independence." Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-7486-1626-8
* Woolf, Alex, "Macbeth" in Michael Lynch (ed.), "The Oxford Companion to Scottish History." Oxford UP, Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-211696-7