The Language of Poets

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Gaelic has been described as a language of poets and certainly it is a very descriptive, lyrical language. In Gaelic, Malcolm becomes Mael Coluim, Duncan becomes Donnchad and Macbeth, Mac Bethad, which means 'son of life'.

Alba - including Moray - would have been a Gaelic-speaking country in Macbeth's time, but the fading of the Celtic world saw the Gaelic language and culture retreat until, today, Gaelic survives only in the west of Scotland.

Court poets

Leaders like Macbeth would have had court poets to entertain them and also to record significant events. This was an oral tradition with ancient roots. It is the words of Macbeth's court poet we hear when he is described in the Prophecy of Berchan as 'The red, tall, golden-haired one, he will be pleasant to me among them; Scotland will be brimful west and east during the reign of the furious red one'

Poetry in stone

Stone buildings were not common in 11th century Alba so the permanent memorials that attracted the patronage of the rich were sculptures. It is difficult to date the sculpture of the period accurately, so we cannot tell for certain if there is surviving sculpture from Macbeth's period.

The Book of Deer

Although Alba's culture was principally an oral one, writing was not unknown. Nothing survives from 11th century Moray but one of Scotland's most important illuminated manuscripts comes from Old Deer in Aberdeenshire just to the east of Moray. The Book of Deer was written in the 10th century and was used by monks two centuries later to record, in the earliest surviving written Scots Gaelic, grants of land and information about the monastery's foundation.

BBC Alba