Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

THE CUMYNS.
INTRODUCTION.
BEFORE the days of Malcolm Coenmore little is recorded of the civil polity of
Scotland. Until after 1070 the monks had little footing in the land, and it is
chiefly on the foundation of their chronicles that early history is built. Of the
reign of Macbeth, which was not a short one, and is said to have been very pros-
perous, nothing is told, except that " he distributed great alms at Rome " (but
whether in person or by deputy, does not appear) ; nor would his name be now a
household word were it not for the meteoric gleam cast across it by Shakspeare's
magic-lantern, contracting into the dramatic action of an hour the murder of
" the gracious Duncan," a reign of fifteen or sixteen years, and the death of the
usurper.
It is not wonderful, therefore, that we should know little of the life of Donald-
bain, the brother of Malcolm Caenmore, who, after his brother's death, seized the
crown, and held it, in accordance with the ancient law of tanistry, in preference
to the sons of the deceased king.
He is said to have been supported by the "Northmen" probably by his
cousins the Orkney Jarls, and it appears not unlikely that he had succeeded to
his grandfather " Crynan's" sway in Athol and the Hebudes. Whom he married
we are not told, but he had an only daughter, called, like his grandmother,
Beatrix or Bethoc. This lady married " the Count de St Pol," who, dying
early and leaving no son, his brother was his successor ; whilst his only daughter
by Beatrix, " Hextilda, Countess of Etheletela,"* became the wife of Ricliard
Cumyn, the descendant of Robertus de Cumyn, created Earl of Northumberland
* Probably Ethel or Athol, or such part of it as did not pertain to the Church.
3 D