The historical Macbeth killed King Duncan I in battle at Pitgaveny near Elgin — not in his bed as Shakespeare dramatised. Duncan had been a weak king who suffered military failures in England and Moray. Macbeth was his cousin and mormaer (governor) of Moray — a powerful northern nobleman with his own claim to the throne through his mother. His seventeen-year reign was by most accounts competent and peaceful, and he even made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050. Shakespeare's version inverts the actual history.
Duncan I killed in battle
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