Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde

Máel Coluim
King of Strathclyde
Máel Coluim's name and title as it appears on folio 5v of British Library Cotton MS Domitian A VIII (De primo Saxonum adventu): "Malcolm rex Cumbrorum".
Predecessor	Dyfnwal ab Owain or Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal
Successor	Owain ap Dyfnwal
Died	997
Issue	Owain Foel?
Father	Dyfnwal ab Owain

Máel Coluim (died 997) 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 been participated in a remarkable meeting of kings assembled by Edgar, King of the English. The context of this assembly is not entirely clear. It could have concerned the stability of the border between the English realm and that of the Scots and Cumbrians. It could have also focused upon lurking threat of Vikings based in Dublin and the Isles.

Máel Coluim's father died in 975, having set off upon a pilgrimage to Rome. Quite when Máel Coluim succeeded Dyfnwal is uncertain. It could have been before, during, or after the assembly of 973. In any case, Máel Coluim's reign was evidently unremarkable, although the tenth-century Saltair na Rann preserves several lines of verse in his praise. Máel Coluim appears to have been succeeded by a brother, Owain. This man's successor, Owain Foel, seems to have been a son of Máel Coluim.