Culen of Scotland (Cuilén mac Illuilb) (also called Cuilean, Colin and Culen the Whelp) was king of Scotland from 967 to 971. He was the son of King Indulf, and the third cousin of both the Dubh, previous king, and of his successor, Kenneth II.
Culen was the third king in a row to succeed to the throne of Scotland because his predecessor had been murdered. When Dubh's body was discovered under a bridge at Kinloss, near Forres in Aberdeenshire it was widely assumed that his assassins (who had kidnapped him the day before) were employed by Culen.
Culen had two sons: the future Constantine III and Malcolm. Malcolm remains a very obscure figure in Scottish history; it is only known that he was alive in 1002.
Culen was assassinated in Lothian by Riderch, a sub-king of Strathclyde, in 971. The act was in revenge for Culen's rape of Riderch's daughter and the murder of his brother during a campaign to re-assert control over Strathclyde. This in turn was part of a wider picture of conflict between Culen's family and the Strathclyde nobles, which saw Culen's brother, Eochaid, die the same year. Thus, Culen became the fourth king of Scotland to be murdered in succession.
Colin; Cuilén mac Illuilb; Cuilean; or Culen the Whelp) was King of Alba from 967 to 971.
Culen was King Indulf's son and had believed himself to be his father's rightful heir, even when the crown had gone instead under the law of tanistry (in effect a vote by the senior members of the extended family) to King Duff.
Culen had fought Duff for the crown and lost, and many Scots at the time felt Culen to be implicated in Duff's murder in Forres in 967.
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