View source for Lulach

{{Short description|King of Alba from 1057 to 1058}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Lulach
| image           = File:King Lulach of Scotland.png
| succession      = [[King of Alba (Scotland)]]
| reign           = 15 August 1057 –<br />17 March 1058
| coronation      = 8 September 1057, [[Scone, Perth and Kinross|Scone]]
| predecessor     = [[Macbeth, King of Scotland|Macbeth]]
| successor       = [[Malcolm III]]
| birth_date      = c. 1032
| birth_place     = [[Moray, Scotland]]
| death_date      = {{death date|1058|3|17|df=y}} (aged 25/26)
| death_place     = [[Rhynie, Aberdeenshire|Essie, in Strathbogie]]
| issue           = [[Máel Snechtai]] <br/> Unnamed daughter
| house           = [[House of Moray|Moray]]
| father          = [[Gille Coemgáin of Moray]]
| mother          = [[Gruoch of Scotland]]
| place of burial = [[Iona]]
}}
'''Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin''' ([[Scottish Gaelic|Modern Gaelic]]: ''Lughlagh mac Gille Chomghain'',<ref>''Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin'' is the [[Middle Irish|Mediaeval Gaelic]] form.</ref> known in [[English language|English]] simply as '''Lulach''', and nicknamed '''Tairbith''', "the Unfortunate"<ref>Skene, ''Chronicles'', p. 102.</ref> and '''Fatuus''', "the Simple-minded" or "the Foolish";<ref>Anderson, ''Early Sources'', vol. I, p. 603.</ref> c. 1032 – 17 March 1058) was [[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Alba]] (Scotland) between 15 August 1057 and 17 March 1058.
Lulach was the son of [[Gruoch|Gruoch of Scotland]], from her first marriage to [[Gille Coemgáin of Moray|Gille Coemgáin]], [[Earl of Moray|Mormaer of Moray]], and thus the stepson of [[Macbeth, King of Scotland|Macbeth]] (Mac Bethad mac Findlaích). Through his mother, he was also the great-grandson of either [[Kenneth II of Scotland|Kenneth II]] or [[Kenneth III of Scotland|Kenneth III]]. Following the death of Macbeth at the [[Battle of Lumphanan]] on 15 August 1057, the king's followers placed Lulach on the throne. He has the distinction of being the first king of [[Scotland]] of whom there are coronation details available: he was crowned, probably on 8 September 1057 at [[Scone, Perth and Kinross|Scone]]. Lulach appears to have been a weak king, as his nicknames suggest, and ruled only for a few months before being assassinated and usurped by [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Malcolm III]]. However, it is also plausible his nicknames are the results of negative propaganda, and were established as part of a smear campaign by Malcolm III.
Lulach's son [[Máel Snechtai]] was [[Earl of Moray|Mormaer of Moray]], while [[Óengus of Moray]] was the son of Lulach's daughter.
He is believed to be buried on Saint Columba's Holy Island of [[Iona]] in or around the [[Iona Abbey|monastery]]. The exact position of his grave is unknown.
== Depictions in fiction ==
Lulach is an important secondary character in [[Dorothy Dunnett]]'s historical novel ''[[Dorothy Dunnett#King Hereafter|King Hereafter]]'', where he is portrayed as a seer. In the novel, Dunnett used Lulach as a mouthpiece for researched information about the real Macbeth.<ref>{{cite web |title=King Hereafter |url=http://www.dorothydunnett.co.uk/dunnettqa5.htm |website=Dorothy Dunnett |access-date=2 September 2016}}</ref>
Lulach is also one of the protagonists in [[Jackie French]]'s children's novel ''Macbeth and Son''<ref>{{cite book |title=Shakespeare in Children's Literature: Gender and Cultural Capital |last=Hateley |first=Erica |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2010 |isbn=9780415888882 |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LjNSM0k76TwC&pg=PA90}}</ref> and in [[Susan Fraser King]]'s novel ''Lady MacBeth''.
Lulach is also a character in [[David Greig (dramatist)|David Greig]]'s play [[Dunsinane (play)|''Dunsinane'']] where he is hunted by the English soldiers as a threat to peace in Malcolm's Scotland.
Lulach McPritchett in [[Modern Family]], a Comedy series, is a Scottish warrior and ancestor of Jay Pritchett.
Lulach - misnamed Luach - appears in the animated series [[Gargoyles (TV series)]] as Macbeth and Gruoch's son, and, briefly, King of Scotland.
Lulach appears in a 2024 adaptation of Shakespeare's play called ''Gruoch and Macbeth: A Screenplay'' by Graham J. Howard.
Lulach appears in Val McDermid's ''Queen Macbeth''.
He is apparently referenced by [[Lady Macbeth]] (his mother's counterpart in the play [[Macbeth]]), in Act I Scene VII, where she says she has "given suck, and know / How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macbeth: Entire Play |url=https://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html#:~:text=I%20have%20given%20suck,%20and%20know |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=shakespeare.mit.edu}}</ref> in what would be a historical reference to Lulach.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.royal.uk/lulach-r-1057-1058 Lulach] at the official website of the [[British monarchy]]
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{{s-hou | [[House of Moray]] ||c. 1032|17 March|1058}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef | rows=2 | before=[[Macbeth of Scotland|Macbeth]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of Scottish monarchs|King of Alba]] | years=1057–1058}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Malcolm III]]}}
|-
{{s-ttl | title=[[Mormaer of Moray]] | years=1057–1058}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Máel Snechtai]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Pictish and Scottish Monarchs}}
{{English, Scottish and British monarchs}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1058 deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century Scottish monarchs]]
[[Category:Burials in Iona]]
[[Category:House of Moray]]
[[Category:11th-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Mormaers of Moray]]
[[Category:Gaelic monarchs in Scotland]]
[[Category:11th-century mormaers]]
[[Category:Assassinated heads of state in Europe]]