Máel Coluim (died 997) was a tenth-century King of Strathclyde. He was a younger son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, and thus a member of the Cumbrian dynasty that had ruled the kingdom for generations. Máel Coluim's Gaelic name could indicate that he was born during either an era of amiable relations with the Scots, or else during a period of Scottish overlordship. In 945, the Edmund I, King of the English invaded the kingdom, and appears to have granted the Scots permission to dominate the Cumbrians. The English king is further reported to have blinded several of Máel Coluim's brothers in an act that could have been an attempt to deprive Dyfnwal of an heir.
It is unknown when Dyfnwal's reign came to an end. There is reason to suspect that a certain Rhydderch ap Dyfnwal was a son of his, and that this man ruled when he assassinated the reigning King of Alba in 971. Certainly by 973, Máel Coluim was associated with the kingship, as both he and his father are recorded to have participated in a remarkable meeting of kings assembled by Edgar, King of the English. The context of this assembly is not entirely clear. It could have concerned the stability of the border between the English realm and that of the Scots and Cumbrians. It could have also focused upon lurking threat of Vikings based in Dublin and the Isles.
Máel Coluim's father died in 975, having set off upon a pilgrimage to Rome. Quite when Máel Coluim succeeded Dyfnwal is uncertain. It could have been before, during, or after the assembly of 973. In any case, Máel Coluim's reign was evidently unremarkable, although the tenth-century Saltair na Rann preserves several lines of verse in his praise. Máel Coluim appears to have been succeeded by a brother, Owain. This man's successor, Owain Foel, seems to have been a son of Máel Coluim.
Dyfnwal's sons and English aggression
Máel Coluim was a son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, a man who ruled the Cumbrian Kingdom of Strathclyde from about the 930s to the 970s. Máel Coluim's name is Gaelic, and may be evidence of a marriage alliance between his family and the neighbouring Alpínid dynasty of the Kingdom of Alba. The name may also reveal that Máel Coluim was a godson of his northern namesake, Máel Coluim mac Domnaill, King of Alba, and could perhaps be indicative of Dyfnwal's submission to this Scottish king.
In 945, the "A" version of the eleventh- to thirteenth-century Annales Cambriæ, and the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Brut y Tywysogyon reveal that the Kingdom of Strathclyde was wasted by the English. The ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle offers more information, and relates that Edmund I, King of the English harried across the land of the Cumbrians, and the region to Máel Coluim mac Domnaill. Similarly, the twelfth-century Historia Anglorum records that the English ravaged the realm, and that Edmund commended the lands to Máel Coluim mac Domnaill who had agreed to assist him by land and sea. According to the version of events preserved by the thirteenth-century Wendover and Paris versions of Flores historiarum, Edmund had two of Dyfnwal's sons blinded. If these sources are to be believed, they could reveal that the two princes had been English hostages before hostilities broke out, or that they were prisoners captured in the midst of the campaign. The ritual blinding of kings was not an unknown act in contemporary Britain and Ireland, and it is possible that Edmund may have meant to deprive Dyfnwal of a royal heir.
The gruesome fate inflicted upon Dyfnwal's sons could reveal that their father was regarded to have broken certain pledges rendered to the English. One possibility is that Dyfnwal was punished for harbouring insular Scandinavian potentates. Whatever lay behind the campaign, it could have been utilised by the English Cerdicing dynasty as a way to overawe and intimidate neighbouring potentates. Máel Coluim was probably a younger son of Dyfnwal, and not one of the sons mutilated by the English. The Gaelic name borne by Máel Coluim could indicate that he was born during a period of Scottish dominance over the Cumbrian realm, or that he was born during a time of relatively warm relations between the Scots and Cumbrians.