SCOTLAND, King Kenneth II of
925 - 995 (70 years)
Set As Default Person 
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Name SCOTLAND, Kenneth II of Title King Birth 925 Gender Male Relation to Me 33 GGF Royalty & Nobility Between 971 and 995 King of the Scots (Alba) Web Address https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_II_of_Scotland Name Cináed mac Maíl Coluim (Modern Gaelic: Coinneach mac Mhaoil Chaluim[1] anglicised as Kenneth II, and nicknamed An Fionnghalach, "The Fratricide" Death 995 Cause: Believed to have been murdered - Probably murdered
Person ID I7312 My Genealogy | Laviolette Ancestry Last Modified 4 Feb 2024
Father SCOTLAND, Malcolm I of, b. 895 d. 954 (Age 59 years) Relationship natural Family ID F1807 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Living Children + 1. SCOTLAND, King Malcolm II of, b. 954 d. 25 Nov 1034, Angus, Scotland 
(Age 80 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural]Family ID F1806 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 4 Feb 2024
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Photos Kenneth_II_of_Scotland
Documents 
Kenneth II of Scotland - Wikipedia
Albums 
Royal Connections (3)
When you find a Gateway Ancestor in your family tree, it is almost impossible not to go down a rabbit hole of ancestry leading to connections with countless ancestors of the royal and noble classes. These lines have been extensively researched and documented by historians, so it is really just a matter of following the line. I've spent countless hours engrossed in the stories these royal lines have uncovered. In this album, I will link to ancestors who were members of the Royal class. Royalty refers to the ruling monarch and their immediate family. This includes kings, queens, princes, and princesses. The monarch is typically the highest authority in the land and has the power to grant titles of nobility.
Keep in mind that it is not necessarily unusual to be descended from royalty. After all, many of these connections go back to my 25th great grandparents and beyond. Theoretically, we have 67,108,864 sets of 25th great grandparents (In reality, due to a phenomenon known as pedigree collapse, where ancestors appear in the family tree multiple times in different generations due to intermarriage within a community, the actual number of unique 25th great-grandparents a person has is likely to be much lower). With this many, it might be more unusual NOT to descend from royalty. However, what makes our ancestry so unique is that we can TRACE it that far back, person to person to person. Since my fascination with our ancestry lies in my curiosity about the stories of the individual people, this is beyond compelling to me. It is like getting lost in a series of medieval novels in which I have an actual connection to the characters. It brings history to life.
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Notes - He began his reign by ravaging the Britons, probably as an act of vengeance, but his name is also included among a group of northern and western kings said to have made submission to the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar in 973, perhaps at Chester; and the chronicler Roger of Wendover (Flores Historiarum, under the year 975) states that shortly afterward Kenneth received from Edgar all the land called Lothian (i.e., between the Tweed and the Forth rivers). This is the first mention of the River Tweed as the recognized border between England and Scotland. Kenneth was slain, apparently by his own subjects, at Fettercairn in the Mearns.
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John of Fordun, a 14th-century historian, narrates that Kenneth II, King of Scotland from 971 to 995, sought to alter the royal succession laws. His aim was to ensure his descendants' ascension to the throne, thereby excluding Constantine III and Kenneth III, also known as Gryme. These two, feeling threatened by Kenneth II's plans, conspired against him and roped in Lady Finella, daughter of Cuncar, Mormaer of Angus. Finella had her own vendetta against Kenneth II, who was responsible for her son's death.
The Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, compiled by William Forbes Skene, and dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries, corroborate the story of Finella's revenge on Kenneth II. However, these chronicles do not mention her connection to Constantine or Gryme. The Annals of Ulster, on the other hand, simply state that Kenneth II was deceitfully murdered, without specifying the perpetrator.
According to Fordun's account, Constantine III and Gryme were relentlessly plotting the king's and his son's demise. Kenneth II, while on a hunting trip near his residence, ventured into the woods and ended up in Fettercairn, where Finella lived. Finella, feigning loyalty, invited the king to her home, claiming she had critical information about a plot against him. She lured Kenneth II into a secluded cottage rigged with a deadly trap: a statue connected to crossbows. When Kenneth II touched the statue, he triggered the crossbows, which fatally shot him from all sides. Finella managed to flee and join her co-conspirators, Constantine III and Gryme. The king's hunting party later found his body but could not capture Finella. In retaliation, they burned down Fettercairn.
Historian Smyth regards the intricate plot and the mechanical trap as fictional embellishments but acknowledges the core truth of the narrative: Kenneth II's succession plans ultimately led to his assassination.
- He began his reign by ravaging the Britons, probably as an act of vengeance, but his name is also included among a group of northern and western kings said to have made submission to the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar in 973, perhaps at Chester; and the chronicler Roger of Wendover (Flores Historiarum, under the year 975) states that shortly afterward Kenneth received from Edgar all the land called Lothian (i.e., between the Tweed and the Forth rivers). This is the first mention of the River Tweed as the recognized border between England and Scotland. Kenneth was slain, apparently by his own subjects, at Fettercairn in the Mearns.