Suthen

• Preferred Name: Suthen ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}
  
• Alternate Name: Sybilla Bearsson
  
• Gender: F
  
• Death: Y
  
• FSID: L8MB-CYC
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  The mother of Malcolm III is known only from a single near-contemporary source, a Scottish kings list that states simply that Malcolm's mother was named Suthen, a Gaelic name. It provides no additional information about her.
  
  The Chronicle of John of Fordun, written in the late 1300s and hence almost 350 years after the fact, refers to Duncan's wife as the kinswoman of Siward of Northumbria.
  
  Siward was an Anglo-Dane, born in Scandinavia and married to an Anglo-Saxon wife, and EXTREMELY unlikely to have had a close kinswoman with a Gaelic name.
  
  These two sources are hence in conflict, and it is unlikely that John of Fordun, who was writing centuries later and incorporating some material of a non-historical nature, was accurate in the face of the conflicting information given by the kings list.
  
  In relatively recent times, genealogists have combined these two conflicting pieces of information to make Suthen the name of Siward's kinswoman, while others have chosen to interpret the generic 'kinswoman' of the original source as the much more specific and unsupported 'first cousin' or even 'daughter' (whcih is chronologically impossible). Likewise, at some point another name came to be assigned to Suthen, Sybil or Sybilla, which has no basis in the historical record.
  
  There is no source that attests to Suthen being the mother of the other children of Duncan.
  
  === Birth and death dates ===
  She is only known from a record that says Malcolm was son of Duncan by Suthen. There is no further information, just her name. It is completely impossible to derive a birth or death date from this limited information. People hate having blank date fields, so thet have simply invented dates, but they are completely without foundation.
  
  ===
  Sibyl Fitzsiward (Duncan)
  http://trees. ===
  
  Sibyl Fitzsiward (Duncan)
  http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=83f603ea-8317-42e9-907d-0dda
  a3f0d51d&tid=6272391&pid=-831495472
  
  === Parentage ===
  Unfortunately, over the course of centuries over-enthusiastic historians and genealogists have taken a very limited historical record and elaborated upon it with completely unwarranted additional material. That is KNOWN about the mother of Malcolm comes from a single source, a medieval king list, that simply says Malcolm's mother was named Suthen.
  
  Three centuries later, in a narrative that mixed fact and legend, John of Fordun would describe her as kinswoman of Earl Siward.
  
  Genealogists have taken this vague reference to kinship in a late and not-very-reliable source and simply started making up combinations that enabled them to add names to their pedigrees when the actual information is unknown. Also, somewhere along the lines the name Sibylla got assigned this woman, even though there is no contemporary source for it.
  
  Even were she a relative of Siward, which cannot be taken for granted, nothing more specific can be deduced. She was not from Northumbria - that was Siward's title by marriage, not the place where his family were from. She was not Björnsdóttir, which would make her sister of Siward, and while the term used to describe vague kinship would be consistent with a number of relationships, 'sister' is not one of them. Speculating about other relationships is pointless, because the original source is so late and untrustworthy, and so little is known about Siward's pedigree - 'kinswoman' could be as distant as second cousin, on either side of the family, yet all that is known is the name of Siward's father.
  
  In recent studies by academic historians, the account of John of Fordun has been dismissed as unreliable and any connection to Siward rejected as an invention to rationalize his intervention in the war for Scottish succession. This leaves Malcolm's mother simply as Suthen, with no known associated place of origin, though the flawed Northumbrian attribution persists in the unreliable online pedigrees.
  
  Given the lack of information, it is not known when this woman was born or when she died, and it is not known that she was queen consort, as she could have died before Duncan succeeded. As such, all dates, all parentage, all titles are simply made up.

1. King of Scotland Malcom III, b. ABT 1031     d. 13 NOV 1093 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England
2. Donald Bane King of Scotland, b. ABT 1033 in Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland     d. ABT 1099 in Rescobie, Angus, Scotland
3. Mael Muire Mac Donnchad Mormaer of Atholl Mormaer of Atholl Mormaer of Atholl, b. 1037 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland     d. 1128 in Cumberland, England

1. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Sybil -
   Author: The Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Chart., Anne Taute && Brooks Little, Crown Publishing, NY. 1986
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2033102574
   
2. Title: Chronicle of John of Fordun (before 1360 – c. 1384)
   Note: see chronicler's bio at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Fordun
   
3. Title: Suthen - The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England
   Publication: Name: https://fasg.org/projects/henryproject/data/suthe000.htm;
   Note: FEMALE Suthen Wife of king Duncan I of Scotland. The name of Suthen is known only from an interlined addition to a king list contained in an early fourteenth century manuscript ["Malcolin filius Doncath xxxvij annis et viij mensibus et interfectus in Inveralden et sepultus in Dunfermelin." Regnal List "I", KKES 284 ]. Duncan has pointed out that the name "Suthen" is Gaelic [Duncan (2002), 37]. Thus, if the name is correct, it would call into question the suggestion that Suthen was a relative of Siward [see below]. Date of Birth: Unknown. Place of Birth: Unknown. Date of Death: Unknown. Place of Death: Unknown. Father: Unknown. Mother: Unknown. While a close relationship between Suthen and Siward of Northumbria is plausible enough from the known evidence, such a relationship is not certain. See the Commentary section for further discussion. Spouse: Donnchad mac Crínáin (Duncan I), d. 14×15 August 1040, king of Scotland. Child: MALE Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm III "Canmore"), d. 13 November 1093, king of Scotland; m. (1) Ingibjorg Finnsdóttir, d. 18 February before 1058?, widow of Þorfinnr Sigurðarson (Thorfinn), jarl of Orkney. m. (2) 1070×1, St. Margaret, d. 1093, daughter of Eadweard "the Exile". The sources do not state whether or not Suthen was the mother of Duncan's other children, and it is unknown whether or not Suthen was Duncan's only wife. See the page on Duncan I for more details. Commentary Possible relatives: Edward, fl. 1130, consobrinus David regis, son of Siward. Evidently relying on a common source, Orderic Vitalis and Robert de Torigny write about Edward, leader of the knighthood of Scotland (called son of a Siward by Orderic), who is called a cousin (consobrinus) of king David of Scotland ["Porro Eduardus, Siwardi filius, qui sub Eduardo rege tribunus Merciorum fuit, princeps militiæ, et consobrinus David regis, ..." OV viii, 22 (vol. 3, p. 404); "Odwardus, consobrinus eius [David] et princeps militis" Chron. Robert de Torigny, s.a. 1130, MGH SS 6: 490]. When Angus, earl of Moray, and Malcolm, illegitimate son of king Alexander I, invaded Scotland in 1130, Edward, as the leader of the knighthood, gathered an army and opposed the enemy. Angus was killed, and Moray was captured for the king [OV viii, 22 (vol. 3, p. 404); Chron. Robert de Torigny, s.a. 1130, MGH SS 6: 489-490]. Siward, fl. 1042×66, tribunus Merciorum. For chronological reasons, "qui sub Eduardo rege tribunus Merciorum fuit" would evidently refer to Siward, the father of Edward. The interval of time between the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) and 1130 is great enough that Anderson conjectured that Edward may have instead been a grandson of Siward [ESSH 1: 596]. As noted in the following paragraphs, the identification of Siward, tribunus Merciorum, is uncertain. There are different ways to interpret the evidence regarding Edward and his father Siward, and only one of these would make them relatives of Suthen. Freeman identified Siward, tribunus Merciorum, with Siward Barn and with a Siward son of Æthelgar who is twice mentioned by Orderic Vitalis as being a relative of king Edward the Confessor ["Siwardus et Aldredus, filii Ædelgari, pronepotes regis" OV iv, 1 (vol. 2, p. 166); "Siwardo Edelgari filio, regis Eduardi consanguineo" OV v, 14 (vol. 2, p. 416); Freeman (1870-9), 4: 21; see Searle (1899), 446]. If this identification is correct, then Edward son of Siward would have been related to Edward the Confessor, and his relation to David would then be through David's mother Margaret, a grandniece of Edward the Confessor. In this case, Edward son of Siward would not be related to Suthen. Another possibility was mentioned by Anderson. After mentioning the identification of Siward, tribunus Merciorum, and Siward son of Æthelgar as a possibility, he stated that Siward, tribunus Merciorum, may "more probably" have been the Siward, sister's son of earl Siward of Northumbria, who was killed in 1054 [ASC(D) s.a. 1054; ESSH 1: 596-7]. If true, this falls in line with the statement of John of Fordun that the mother of Malcom III was a relative of earl Siward. Which (if either) of these options is true is unclear. It illustrates the problems inherent in trying to deduce exact relationships based on statements that individuals were related. Possible relative: Siward, d. 1055, earl of Northumbria. John of Fordun's often unreliable history of Scotland (late fourteenth century) states that the mother of Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donald was a "consanguinia" [sic] of earl Siward ["Genuit autem Duncanus, avi sui diebus, ex consanguinia Sywardi comitis, duos filios, Malcolmum Canmor, latine vero Grossum Caput, et Donaldum Bane, cui Malcolmo Cumbriæ regionem pater statim ut coronatus est donavit." Fordun, iv, 44 (p. 187)]. There is no earlier authority for the statement, although it could be based on a misidentification of Edward's father Siward. There does not appear to be any justification for attempts to define a more specific relationship between Suthen and Siward. Conjectured father (very doubtful): Owain "the Bald" (Eugenius Calvus), d. 1015×8?, king of Strathclyde. According to Simeon of Durham, Owain, the last known native king of Strathclyde, was present with Malcolm II at the Battle of Carham, in 1018 ["Ingens bellum apud Carrum gestum est inter Scottos et Anglos, inter Huctredum filium Waldef comitem Northymbrorum, et Malcolmum filium Cyneth regem Scottorum. Cum quo fuit in bello Eugenius Calvus rex Clutinensium.." Sim. Durh., Historia Regum, c. 130, s.a. 1018 (2: 155-6)]. Despite the obvious chronological problem, he is often identified with the Owain whose death is reported by one manuscript of Annales Cambriae in an annal one year before Cnut's assumption of the kingship in England, therefore evidently 1015 ["Owinus filius Dunawal occisus est." AC (Ms. B), 22]. Alan Macquarrie conjectured that Owain was the father of a daughter who married king Duncan I of Scotland and became the mother of Malcolm III [Macquarrie (1993), 6 (gen. table, marked by a "?"), 17]. The only "evidence" for this is the very uncertain claim that Duncan ruled the Cumbrians at some point [see the page of Duncan I]. This apparent desire to maintain genealogical continuity does not give sufficient reason to support this suggestion. Bibliography AC = John Williams ab Ithel, ed., Annales Cambriæ (Rolls Series 20, London, 1860). AT = Whitley Stokes, ed. & trans., ‘The Annals of Tigernach’, Revue Celtique16 (1895), 374-419; 17 (1896), 6-33, 116-263, 337-420; 18 (1897), 9-59, 150-303, 374-91. Duncan (2002) = A. A. M. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, 842-1292 (Edinburgh, 2002). ESSH = Alan Orr Anderson, Early Sources of Scottish History, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1922, reprinted Stamford, 1990). [Contains English translations of many of the primary records] Fordun = William F. Skene, ed., Johannis de Fordun Chronica Gentis Scotorum (The Historians of Scotland, vol. 1, Edinburgh, 1871). Freeman (1870-9) = Edward A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England (5 vols. + index vol., Oxford, 1870-9). KKES = Marjorie Ogilvy Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland (Edinburgh, Totowa, NJ, 1973). Macquarrie (1993) = Alan Macquarrie, "The Kings of Strathclyde, c.400-1018", in Alexander Grant & Keith J. Stringer, eds., Medieval Scotland - Crown, Lordship and Community - Essays presented to G. W. S. Barrow (Edinburgh, 1993), 1-19. MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series. OV = Augustus le Prevost, ed. Orderici Vitalis Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ, 5 vols. (Paris, 1838-55); also available in Marjorie Chibnall, ed. & trans., The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, 6 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80). As I do not have easy access to all volumes of Chibnall's edition, citations here are given from Prevost's edition. Searle (1899) = William George Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles (Cambridge, 1899). Sim. Durh. = Thomas Arnold, ed., Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, 2 vols. (Rolls Series 75, 1882-5). Compiled by Stewart Baldwin First uploaded 5 August 2001. Major revision uploaded 20 June 2010.
   Page: Identifies Suthen as the wife of king Duncan I of Scotland, and mother of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm III "Canmore"). Says she is only positively identified as the mother of Malcolm, that the mother of Duncan's other children is not identified and that Suthen may not have been his only wife. Possible relative: Siward, d. 1055, earl of Northumbria. Conjectured father (very doubtful): Owain "the Bald" (Eugenius Calvus), d. 1015×8?, king of Strathclyde.
   
4. Title: Legacy NFS Source: Sybil -
   Author: The Highland Clans. Chart., Iain Moncreiffe, The Lyon Bramhall House, London && New York. 1967.
   Page: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2033102611
   
5. Title: Wikipedia: Duncan I of Scotland
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_I_of_Scotland;
   
6. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
   Author: Ancestry Family Tree
   
7. Title: Wife of Duncan I in Scots Peerage
   Author: Archive.org Scots Peerage Volume I page 1
   Publication: Name: https://archive.org/details/scotspeeragefoun01paul/page/n16/mode/1up;
   Note: Malcolm III. 'Ceannmor,' i.e. Great head or Chief. He was the eldest son of Duncan I. by his wife, a cousin of Siward, Earl of Northumberland : Duncan being the son of Crinan the Thane by his wife Bethoc, eldest daughter and heir of Malcolm II. King of Scots.^ He was born about 1031.
   Page: Identifies the wife of Duncan I as the 'cousin of Siward, Earl of Northumberland'. Also identifies her as the mother of Malcolm III