King of Scots from 1040, the legend of whose life was the basis of Shakespeare's Macbeth.  About 1031 Macbeth succeeded his father, Findlaech (Sinel in Shakespeare), as mormaer, or chief, in the province of Moray, in northern Scotland. Macbeth established himself on the throne after killing his cousin King Duncan I in battle near Elgin--not, as in Shakespeare, by murdering Duncan in bed--on Aug. 14, 1040. Both Duncan and Macbeth derived their rights to the crown through their mothers.

 

Macbeth's victory in 1045 over a rebel army, near Dunkeld may account for the later references (in Shakespeare and others) to Birnam Wood, for the village of Birnam is near Dunkeld.
In 1046 Siward, Earl of Northumbria, unsuccessfully attempted to dethrone Macbeth in favour of Malcolm (afterward King Malcolm III Canmore - our 31st great-grandfather).

By 1050 Macbeth felt secure enough to leave Scotland for a pilgrimage to Rome.
But in 1054 he was apparently forced by Siward to yield part of southern Scotland to Malcolm. Three years later Macbeth was killed in battle by Malcolm.