Ethelred was the son of King Máel Coluim III and his wife Margaret, the third oldest of the latter and the probable sixth oldest of the former. He took his name, almost certainly, from Margeret's great-grandfather King Æþelræd Unræd, or Ethelred the Unready. Ethelred had a multicultural upbringing in the pious household of his Gaelic father and Anglo-Hungarian mother. He had an ecclesiatical career and avoided a political career, perhaps because of some disability, being passed over for the succession. His career probably brought him the prestigious abbacy of Dunkeld, however he died as a cluniac monk in Somerset. He is often thought to have held the office Mormaer of Fife, but this is almost certainly a mistake. The source is a notitia of a grant to the Céli Dé monks of Loch Leven, contained within the Register of the Priory of St Andrews, which says: King Malcolm III of Scotland (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada), (1031 – November 13, 1093) also known as Ceann Mór (Anglicized as Canmore) meaning Big Head in the then Scottish language. ... Stained glass window image of Saint Margaret of Scotland in the small chapel at Edinburgh Castle Saint Margaret of Scotland, also known by her Anglo-Saxon name Margaret Ætheling (c. ... Ethelred the Unready (c. ... Dunkeld (Dùn Chailleann in Scottish Gaelic) is a small town in Strathtay, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, approximately 15 miles north of Perth on the A9 road into the Scottish Highlands and on the opposite (north) side of the River Tay from the Victorian village of Birnam. ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ... Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. ... The Mormaer or Mormaerdom of Fife refers to the Gaelic lordship of Fife which existed in Scotland until 1371, and continued as a non-Gaelic Earldom/County thereafter. ... The Culdees formed an ancient monastic order with settlements in Ireland and Scotland. ... Loch Leven, looking north from Vane Farm. ...

Translated, this is "Ethelred" or "Edelred, man of venerable memory, son of King Máel Coluim of Scotland, Abbot of Dunkeld and also Mormaer of Fife". However, the same notitia records a number of witnesses, among whom are the brothers of Ethelred, David and Alexander; after the last two comes Constantinus Comes de Fyf, i.e. Causantín, the actual Mormaer of Fife. The contradiction has been explained by Bannerman. He argues that the translator of Register of the Priory of St Andrews (a collection of Latin translations of earlier Gaelic documents) had been thrown off by the use of a singular Gaelic verb for a joint grant (i.e. where the verb had two subjects), common in Gaelic charters. As a result, the translator omitted the Mormaer. At any rate, it is clear that Ethelred was never a Mormaer of Fife, since Causantín is attested in other sources. King David I (or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim; also known as Saint David I or David I the Saint) (1084 – May 24, 1153), was King of Scotland from 1124 until his death, and the youngest son of Malcolm Canmore and of Saint Margaret (sister of Edgar Ætheling). ... Alexander I (Alasdair mac Maíl Coluim) (c. ... Mormaer Causantín of Fife is the first man we know for certain to have been Mormaer of Fife. ... The title of mormaor or mormaer designated one of the rulers of the seven provinces of Celtic Scotland, i. ... Fife (Fìobh in Gaelic) is a council area of Scotland, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with landward boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. ...

References

1. ↑  Lawrie, Charters, XIV, p. 11.

Bibliography

• Bannerman, John, "MacDuff of Fife," in A. Grant & K.Stringer (eds.) Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community, Essays Presented to G.W.S. Barrow, (Edinburgh, 1993), pp.20-38
• Lawrie, Sir Archibald C., Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153, (Glasgow, 1905),
• Oram, Richard, David I: The King who made Scotland, (Gloucestershire, 2004)