Edmund of Scotland

Who was Edmund of Scotland?

Edmund or Etmond mac Maíl Coluim was a son of Malcolm III of Scotland and his second wife Margaret. He may be found on some lists of Scottish kings, but there is no evidence that he was king. Although Edmund was likely Malcolm and Margaret's second son, he was passed over in subsequent successions as a result of betraying his siblings by siding with their uncle, Donald Bane.

On the death of Edmund's father and his heir-designate, Edward, his eldest son by Margaret, in November 1093, Edmund's uncle Donald Bane took the throne. Edmund and his younger brothers Edgar, Alexander and David fled abroad, to England, to join their half-brother Donnchad at the court of William Rufus.

In 1094 Donnchad, with Rufus's blessing and the support of landless nobles from the English court and landowners in Lothian, drove Domnall Bán from the throne. It is supposed that Edmund, as the next in age, was Donnchad's heir-designate. Donnchad was forced by a rebellion to send his English allies home, and was shortly afterwards killed. The killer was Máel Petair, Mormaer of Mearns, but the Annals of Ulster and William of Malmesbury agree that the killing was done on the orders of Domnall Bán and Edmund.