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Tonight I was doing some reading about Macbeth… not so much the Shakespearian play (マクベス〜ウィリアム・シェークスピア), but about the real King Macbeth of Scotland…

Yep, he was a real guy… not just Shakespeare’s invention… he was King of Alba (the old name for Scotland) for 17 years.

The name "Macbeth" has a lot of lore and legend… it’s also considered to be an unlucky word in the theatre, and the Shakespearian play "Macbeth" is normally just referred to as "The Scottish Play".

I used to think that people in some other countries had peculiar names… until I read that Macbeth’s full name was actually:

"Mac Bethad son of Findláech son of Ruadrí son of Domnall son of Morggán son of Cathamal son of Ruadrí son of Ailgelach son of Ferchar son of Fergus son of Nechtan son of Colmán son of Báetán son of Eochaid son of Muiredach son of Loarn son of Ercc son of Eochaid Muinremuir."

Shakespeare would have had fun trying to market his play with a title like that hehe.

The reason for my interest in Macbeth is simple, his history and the history of my county (Caithness) have strong ties. And one of those ties also adds more intrigue to Macbeth’s name.

During Macbeth’s reign over Scotland my corner of the country was colonised by Vikings. Macbeth, wanting control as King of Scotland wasn’t very happy about this, so many battles ensued in the North Eastern Highlands between Scots and Vikings.

There is an ancient book (still being printed) called "The Orkneyinga Saga", written by an anonymous Noresman. It contains accounts of battles which took place in Orkney and Caithness at that time.

It makes reference to a King of Scotland known as "Karl Hundason", who reclaimed rule over Caithness from the Viking, Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney… this confused many historians, as they thought that they knew for a fact that Macbeth was King of Scotland at this exact time in history…

… However, it turns out that those old Vikings had a sense of humour… the name "Karl Hundason" was in fact a direct reference to Macbeth… but when translated into old Norse language, the language of the Vikings, it means:

"Churl, son of a Dog", hehe

… a derogatory nickname given to Macbeth by his enemies in the North.

Anyway, that was a lot of useless information, but I thought it was quite funny in a stupid sort of way… … and for some crazy reason I thought I’d share it with you.