The dynasty of Malcolm III and David I that ruled Scotland from 1034 to 1290, feudalised the kingdom, and ended with the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway.
The house took its name from Dunkeld, whose lay abbot Crínán married Bethóc, daughter of Malcolm II of the house of Alpin. Their son became king as Duncan I in 1034, uniting the abbatial and royal lines. Duncan’s reign ended in 1040 when he was killed by Macbeth, and it was Duncan’s son Malcolm III who eventually recovered the throne, killing Macbeth’s stepson in 1058 — the events later dramatised by Shakespeare.
Malcolm III, called Canmore ("great chief"), married the English princess Margaret, later canonised as St Margaret of Scotland, and their marriage began the steady turning of the Scottish court toward English and continental models.
The dynasty’s greatest king was David I, a son of Malcolm and Margaret raised at the Anglo-Norman court. As king he remade Scotland: he settled Norman and Flemish knights on Scottish land, granted charters to create royal burghs such as Edinburgh and Berwick, founded great abbeys including Melrose and Kelso, reformed the coinage and the church, and built a royal administration on the English pattern.
His grandson Malcolm IV — shown beside him in the Kelso charter — and then William the Lion continued this Europeanising work; William gave Scotland the red lion rampant that became its royal arms. Under these kings a recognisably medieval Scottish kingdom took shape.
The thirteenth century, and especially the long reign of Alexander III, was remembered as a time of peace and prosperity. But Alexander’s children died before him, and when he was killed in a fall from his horse in 1286 his only heir was his infant granddaughter Margaret, daughter of the king of Norway — the Maid of Norway.
The little girl was recognised as queen, but she died in 1290 on the voyage to Scotland, at about seven years old, ending the male and direct line of Dunkeld. Her death left the throne disputed among many claimants, and the arbitration of that "Great Cause" by Edward I of England opened the door to the Wars of Scottish Independence and the rival kingships of Balliol and Bruce.