No free photograph

Máel Coluim

King of Strathclyde · Historical Figures · Died 997

Máel Coluim was a tenth-century King of Strathclyde. He was a younger son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, and thus a member of the Cumbrian dynasty that had ruled the kingdom for generations.

Máel Coluim is read about 4.5 times a day, in 6 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 23 June 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?

Compare

People around Máel

Family

Parents

Máel Coluim

Child Owain Foel

Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

Also in Français

Media & music

Photos 9

Depiction of Edmund I as it appears on folio 2r of British Library Royal 14 B VI.[15]

The name of Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal as it appears on folio 8v of British Library Cotton Faustina B IX (the Chronicle of Melrose): "Radhardus".[29]

The name of Cináed mac Maíl Choluim as it appears on folio 15r of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 488: "Cinaeth mac Mail Cholaim".[39]

The name of Dyfnwal ab Owain as it appears on folio 59r of Oxford Jesus College 111 (the Red Book of Hergest): "dỽnwaỻaỽn".[51]

An early twentieth-century depiction of Edgar being rowed down the River Dee by eight kings.[64] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Edgar met six kings at Chester. By the twelfth century, chroniclers alleged that eight kings rowed Edgar down the river in an act of submission.[65] One of these eight was Máel Coluim himself.

The name of Edgar as it appears on folio 142v of British Library Cotton Tiberius B I (the "C" version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle): "Eadgar Angla cing".[79]

Máel Coluim's title as it appears on folio 15v of Oxford Bodleian Library Rawlinson B 488: "rí Bretan Tuaisceirt" ("king of the Britons of the north").[39]

About this person

Máel Coluim's Gaelic name could indicate that he was born during either an era of amiable relations with the Scots, or else during a period of Scottish overlordship. In 945, the Edmund I, King of the English invaded the kingdom, and appears to have granted the Scots permission to dominate the Cumbrians. The English king is further reported to have blinded several of Máel Coluim's brothers in an act that could have been an attempt to deprive Dyfnwal of an heir.