Everything about William Fitz Duncan totally explained
William fitz Duncan is a modern
anglicisation of either the
Old French Guillaume fils de Duncan or the
Middle Irish Uilleam mac Donnchada. William was a Scottish prince, a territorial magnate in northern Scotland and northern England, a fine general and the legitimate son of king
Donnchad II of Scotland by Athelreda of Dunbar.
In
1094, his father Donnchad II was killed by
Mormaer Máel Petair of Mearns, supporting the claims of King
Domnall III Bán. It is probable that William left Scotland with his mother in that year, to the safety of
Allerdale in
Cumberland. A decade or so later, he ventured to the court of his half-uncle.
Under the reign of his half-uncle
Alexander I, it's highly likely that William was regarded as a viable
tánaiste (for example "designated heir"), but
Henry I of England supported
David. When David succeeded, William, as the legitimate king under the rules of
primogeniture was certainly bought off by David, probably being made
tánaiste. William repeatedly leads the lists of witnesses appearing in Scottish royal
charters in the reigns of Alexander I and David I.
A
13th century northern English source claims that William was Mormaer of Moray. As this source had no reason to make this up, it's highly likely that William was made the
ruler of Moray after the defeat of King
Óengus of Moray in
1130. It is feasible that this grant had something to do with the coming of age of David's son,
Prince Henry. As well as being the ruler of
Moray, William controlled the English lands of Allerdale,
Skipton and
Craven, making him one of the greatest barons of northern England.
William was a great warrior. He frequently led Scottish armies. In the campaign of
1138, he led an army of Gaels that defeated a Norman English army at the
Battle of Clitheroe, raising the hopes for the success of the royal army, hopes which failed to materialize at the
Battle of the Standard.
William had several marriages. His first marriage was over, presumably through death, by the year
1137, when he married
Alice de Rumilly. By the latter, he'd a son, also called William (William of Egremont or William the Atheling), who died in 1160. He also had a large number of bastards, probably including
Wimund of the Isles. It is now presumed that Domnall mac Uilleim, and the
Meic Uilleim clan that repeatedly rebelled against later Scottish kings in their quest to gain the Scottish throne, were legitimate descendants of a marriage to a daughter of Óengus of Moray.
He died in
1147, whereupon Moray fell back into the hands of David.
Bibliography
- Oram, Richard, David I: The King who made Scotland, (Gloucestershire, 2004)
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