Murdoch II, the Crusader, MacDrostan
Lived: 1046-1098
Head of House MacDrostan: 1076-1098
King of Scotland: 1076-1098
King of Jerusalem: 1080-1084
Murdoch II succeeded his father at the pinnacle of prosperous and largely peaceful era for the Kingdom of Scotland. Whilst the Kingdom had been growing in both prosperity and power, Murdoch’s triumphs in the Holy Land would play an important role in establishing Scotland’s status as one of the premier forces in Christendom.
Murdoch was, arguably, the single most all powerful Scottish monarch of the entire Medieval era. It would take centuries before anyone was again capable of wielding the level of authority Murdoch enjoyed without substantial and troublesome internal opposition. Building upon the foundations constructed by his forbearers, Murdoch further extended the powers of the monarchy, centralising law courts, establishing a firm law of succession based upon Primogeniture, and extending exaction upon his nobility in relation to both taxation and demands for levies, whilst keeping his aristocracy rigidly in line. It was this authority that allowed Murdoch to depart for the Holy Land in 1078 with an army of some 18,000 men, for a period of several years, without even a whimper of rebellion stirring at home.
Murdoch II’s exploits on Crusade have remained the stuff of legend for centuries. When his army arrived in Palestine the Crusade was on the cusp of oblivion – and with it the prestige of the Papacy’s latest drive for reform appeared doomed. Despite the involvement of significant armies from Italy, France and Germany – the King of Aquitaine even personally travelling to the Levant in the early stages of the expedition – by the time of Murdoch’s arrival in early 1079 scarcely a few thousand Crusaders remained in the field. The mighty Shia Caliphate the ruled over the Holy Land ruled from the Horn of Africa to the city of Antioch, its vast military resources had allowed it to swat away the fragmented Crusader armies that arrived before the Scots with only small enclaves of Germans around Beirut and French and Italians around Jaffa remaining. With the Scottish army dwarf those of the remaining Christian forces, Murdoch quickly established leadership of the Crusade and led his army to a much celebrated victory at Arsuf just weeks after his arrival. In the following months the Scots routed the Shia from Palestine, Jerusalem falling in November 1079 before the Caliph agreed to a truce in the summer of 1080 following the failure of a newly raised army from Egypt to dislodge the Crusaders.
A large number of the Crusaders, from all over Europe and including Murdoch himself, chose to remain in Palestine even after their final victory. With the Papal legate enthusiastically proclaiming Murdoch King of Jerusalem, there was a clear desire for the Catholic presence in the region to be made permanent. With leading Scots commanders from the Crusade engage in an orgy of land grabbing, Jerusalem’s new Scottish aristocracy made clear its determination to remain in Palestine permanently. When Murdoch II finally elected to return to Scotland in 1084 he entrusted his Near Eastern Kingdom to another great hero of the Crusade – Robert of Galloway.
Returning to Scotland, Murdoch basked in his untouchable reputation as the liberator of the Holy Land. Incredibly, considering the instability of the great majority of Europe’s feudal states, with the exception of the Crusade, Scotland was involved in only one war during Murdoch II’s entire reign – a brief border squabble with the Galicians that resulted in the annexation of Shrewsbury in 1088.
As his Kingdom relished an extended era of stability, Murdoch’s health decline notably through the 1090s. Increasingly plagued by illness he was left bedridden in the final few months of his rule – finally passing away in 1098 after 22 years on the throne. In the absence of concerted opposition, and in the capable of hands of Murdoch II and his deputies, the centralised monarchy of late 11th century Scotland was remarkably effective. Unfortunately for Britain’s Northerly realm, the good times could not last forever.
