Macbeth of Scotland in the context of "Gruoch"

Findláech mac Ruaidrí (died 1020), son of Ruaidrí mac Donald, was the minor "king", locally called "Mormaer", of Moray, in the north of modern-day Scotland, from some point before 1014 until his death in 1020. Findláech's son Macbethad mac Findláech (Mac Bethad), was made famous as the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

14th century Scottish chronicler and poet Andrew of Wyntoun claims that Findlaech fathered Mac Bethad with Malcolm II of Scotland's second daughter Donalda, as one of several dynastic marriages Malcolm II used to consolidate his own kingship, but there is no other confirmation of this.

Gille Coemgáin mac Máil Brigti (died 1032) was the King or Mormaer of Moray, a semi-autonomous kingdom centred on Inverness that stretched across the north of Scotland. Unlike his two predecessors, he is not called King of Scotland in his death notice, but merely Mormaer. This has led to some speculation that he was never actually the ruler of Moray, but merely a subordinate of MacBethad mac Findláich. (Hudson p. 136).

In 1020, he participated in the killing of his uncle Findláech, the father of MacBeth. He became the Mormaer of Moray in 1029, after the death of his brother. He married Gruoch, the granddaughter of Kenneth III, and they had a son, Lulach.

The consorts of the monarchs of Scotland, such as queens consort, princesses consort, and kings consort, bore titles derived from their marriage. The Kingdom of Scotland was first unified as a state by Kenneth I of Scotland in 843, and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom after the Act of Union 1707 when it was merged with the Kingdom of England to become the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The early history of Scotland is confused and often obscure, due largely to information given by the sources of the time and after, which are often contradictory, vague, and lacking in detail. Details of the kings prior to Malcolm III are sparse, and the status of two – Giric and Eochaid – dubious; details of their wives are almost non-existent. Thus, it is practically impossible to construct a list of consorts of Scotland prior to the accession of Macbeth, whose wife Gruoch is well-documented.

Boite mac Cináeda ("Boite son of Kenneth"; also, Bodhe, Boedhe, etc.; d. 1058) was a Scottish prince, son of either King Kenneth II of Scotland (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim) or King Kenneth III of Scotland (Cináed mac Duib).

He was the father of Gruoch of Scotland and friend to Findláech of Moray, Macbeth of Scotland's father. He arranged the marriage of Macbeth and Gruoch in 1032, which permitted Macbeth to assume the throne of Scotland in 1040. Later, he was behind the short-lived ascension of his grandson, Lulach, to the throne in 1057.