Cawdor castle near Inverness in Scotland. Thane of Cawdor was a title conferred upon Macbeth by Duncan.
Part 1 of 2
JUST before Edward the Confessor came to the English throne, two Scottish generals, Macbeth and Banquo, saved the throne of their king Duncan by repulsing a Danish invasion.*
On their way home, three witches accosted them. They told Macbeth that he would one day be a king, and Banquo that he would be a father of kings.
Macbeth wrote half-jokingly of it to his wife, but when she learned that Duncan was to visit Macbeth’s castle, she gave her husband no peace until he had agreed to help the prophecy come true.
It was quickly done: Macbeth stabbed Duncan as he slept. Duncan’s son Malcolm fled to England, fearing for his life, and Macbeth, the popular general, was crowned instead.
But the prophecy concerning Banquo, the ‘father of kings’, haunted Macbeth.
He hired men to murder Banquo and his son, but the boy escaped; and after Banquo’s bloodied ghost appeared accusingly at the new King’s table, Macbeth turned to the witches for counsel.
Edward came to the English throne on 8th June, 1042. His predecessor was Harthacnut, a son of Cnut (Canute) the Great, a Danish king; Edward was followed on the throne by Harold Godwinson in 1066.
Précis
Hoping to fulfil the prophecy of three witches, Lady Macbeth persuaded her husband to kill King Duncan and take his crown. Now Macbeth feared a traitor in every shadow, and he murdered his comrade-in-arms, Banquo. But when Banquo’s ghost reproached him, rather than repent the desperate king turned to the witches again. (52 / 60 words)
Part Two
An ancient hill fort atop Dunsinane Hill, near Dundee, Scotland.
THE witches assured Macbeth that Banquo’s sons would take his crown only if the very trees of nearby Birnam wood climbed the hill on which Dunsinane palace stood.
Macbeth was relieved: how could such a fantasy ever happen?
Of more immediate concern, they warned, was Duncan’s loyal Thane, Macduff: so again Macbeth sent ruffians to murder him in his home.
Fortunately, Macduff was not there: he was closeted with Edward in England, together with Malcolm. But when he learned that his whole family had been slain, he came north with an English army to exact revenge.*
As they approached Macbeth’s castle on Dunsinane hill, the English cut the branches from the trees of Birnam wood for camouflage, so that the wood itself seemed to be marching up the hill.
With the prophecies of the witches all turning against him, Macbeth fought Macduff hand-to-hand, and the tormented King fell, defiant to the last.
In 1054, Duncan’s son Malcolm did indeed ally with the English king Edward the Confessor, and Siward, Earl of Northumbria. Malcolm mortally wounded or killed Macbeth in battle in 1057, and one year later became king.
Précis
The witches poisoned Macbeth’s mind against Macduff, and he tried to kill him and all his family. But Macduff escaped, and brought an English army against Macbeth in revenge. The soldiers cut branches from Birnam wood as camouflage, fulfilling the last of the witches’ forebodings, and with that Macduff slew the unhappy king. (53 / 60 words)
