Malcolm IV / Máel Coluim mac Eanric (1141-1165)

Called "the Maiden", Malcolm was noted for his religious zeal and interest in knighthood and warfare. For much of his reign he was in poor health and died unmarried at the age of twenty-four.

His father, Earl Henry of Huntingdon, died unexpectedly in 1152. As the eldest of his sons, although only eleven years old, Malcolm was sent by his grandfather, David I, on a circuit of the kingdom, accompanied by Donnchad, Mormaer of Fife, indicating that he was to hold the regency for Malcolm on David's death. Donnchad and Malcolm were accompanied by a large army. As it turned out, Donnchad did not long survive David, holding the regency for a year before his death in 1154.

Malcolm's grandfather died on 24 May 1153, and Malcolm was inaugurated as king three days later at Scone, then aged twelve. The king-making ceremony took place before the old king was buried, which might appear hasty, but Malcolm was not without rivals for the kingship.

A would-be king, imprisoned at Roxburgh since about 1130, was Malcolm mac Alaxander, an illegitimate son of Alexander I. Malcolm's sons were free men in 1153. They could be expected to contest the succession, and did so.

As a new king, and especially as a young one, Malcolm could also expect challenges from his neighbours, with Somerled, King of Argyll, Fergus, Lord of Galloway and Henry II, King of England foremost among them. Only Rognvald Kali Kolsson, Earl of Orkney, was otherwise occupied, being on crusade, and his death in 1158 brought the young and ambitious Harald Maddadsson to sole power in the north.

The first opposition to Malcolm came in November of 1153, from the combination of a neighbour, Somerled of Argyll, and family rivals, the "sons of Malcolm", that is of Malcolm mac Alaxander. This came to little as Somerled soon had more pressing concerns, firstly his war with Godred Olafson of Man which lasted until 1156 and secondly, a conflict with Gille Críst, Mormaer of Menteith, over Cowal.

Malcolm was not only King of Scots but also inherited the Earldom of Northumbria, which his father and grandfather had gained during the wars between Stephen and Empress Matilda. Malcolm granted Northumbria to his brother William, keeping Cumbria for himself. Cumbria was, like the earldoms of Northumbria and Huntingdon, and later Chester, a fief of the English crown. While Malcolm delayed doing homage to Henry II of England for his possessions in Henry's kingdom, he did so in 1157 at Chester. Here Henry refused to allow Malcolm to keep Cumbria, or William to keep Northumbria, but instead granted the Earldom of Huntingdon to Malcolm, for which Malcolm did homage.

After a second meeting between Malcolm and Henry, at Carlisle in 1158, "they returned without having become good friends, and so that the king of Scots was not yet knighted." In 1159 Malcolm accompanied Henry to France, serving at the siege of Toulouse where he was, at last, knighted. "Whether this was the act of a king of Scots or of an earl of Huntingdon we are not told; it was certainly the act of a man desperate for knightly arms, but that did not make it any more acceptable in Scotland."

Malcolm returned from Toulouse in 1160. At Perth he faced a rebellion by six earls, led by Ferchar, Mormaer of Strathearn, who besieged the king. Given that Earl Ferchar heads the list of those named, it is presumed that Donnchad II, Mormaer of Fife, was not among the rebels. John of Fordun's version in the Gesta Annalia appears to suggest a peaceful settlement to the affair, and both Fordun and Hoveden follow the report of the revolt and its ending by stating that the king led an expedition into Galloway where he eventually defeated Fergus, Lord of Galloway and took his son Uchtred as a hostage while Fergus became a monk at Holyrood, dying there in 1161. While it was assumed that the earls included Fergus among their number, and that the expedition to Galloway was related to the revolt, it is now thought that the earls sought to have Malcolm attack Galloway, perhaps as a result of raids by Fergus.

Some time before July 1163, when he did homage to Henry II, Malcolm was taken seriously ill at Doncaster.

Having made peace with Henry, replaced Fergus of Galloway with his sons, and resettled Moray, only one of Malcolm's foes remained, Somerled, by 1160 king of the Isles as well as of Argyll. In 1164, Somerled led a large army of Islesmen and Irishmen to attack Glasgow and Renfrew, where Walter Fitzalan had newly completed a castle. There Somerled and his son Gillebrigte were killed in battle with the levies of the area, led by the Bishop of Glasgow, probably Herbert of Selkirk at that time. The chronicles of the day attributed the victory to the intercession of Saint Kentigern.

Malcolm died on December 9, 1165 at Jedburgh, aged twenty-four. He was succeeded by his brother, William.