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Lady Finella (c. 950–995) was a noblewoman and Scottish assassin who killed King 
However, the story is that to seek revenge, and with help from the king's men or Cinaed's rivals, Lady Finella created an elaborate death-trap at a cottage in
Kenneth II
Cináed mac Maíl Coluim ( gd, Coinneach mac Mhaoil Chaluim, label=Scottish Gaelic language, Modern Scottish Gaelic, Anglicisation, anglicised Kenneth II, and nicknamed , "The Fratricide, Fratricidal"; died 995) was Kingdom of Scotland, King of Sc ...
(some sources say King Kenneth III
Cináed mac Duib ( Modern Gaelic: ''Coinneach mac Dhuibh''; c. 966 – c. 25 March 1005), anglicised as Kenneth III, and nicknamed ''An Donn'' ("the Chief" or "the Brown"), was King of Scots from 997 to 1005. He was the son of Dub (Dub mac Maíl ...
) out of revenge, based on chronicles from the 14th century.
She was the daughter of Cuncar, Mormaer of Angus
The Mormaer or Earl of Angus was the ruler of the medieval Scottish province of Angus. The title, in the Peerage of Scotland, is held by the Duke of Hamilton, and is used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the Duke's eldest son.
Hist ...
, who was thought to be a descendant of Pictish
Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographica ...
royalty. Lady Finella is a well-known name that is rarely spelled the same way, and is also referred to as Fenella, Finuela, Finnguala, Fimberhele, Strath Finella, Strathfinella Hill, or Sibill, depending on the source. Most of her story is known through John of Fordun
John of Fordun (before 1360 – c. 1384) was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th ce ...
's chronicles written in the late 14th century, probably based on local, medieval folklore or ' feud-sagas'. He documented that Lady Finella's son was killed, most likely in battle, by Cinaed at Dunsinnan, a.k.a. Cinaed mac Máel Couim (Kenneth II MacMalcolm, king of Alba
''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...
(971–995). Lady Finella was possibly enlisted by traditional factions opposed to the king's attempted feudal rule of primogeniture, the right of estates going to the first-born son.
However, the story is that to seek revenge, and with help from the king's men or Cinaed's rivals, Lady Finella created an elaborate death-trap at a cottage in Fettercairn
Fettercairn (, gd, Fothair Chàrdain) is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, northwest of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire on the B966 from Edzell. Fettercairn is also reached via the Cairn O' Mount road (B974) from Deeside.
The name ...
then lured King Kenneth II inside when he was visiting the area. Inside, a statue of a boy stood in the center of the main room. Lady Finella said that if the king touched the boy's head it would lead to 'amazing sport'. When King Kenneth II pulled the statue's head towards him it triggered a series of crossbow
A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fire ...
s throughout the space that sent a hail of arrows into the king. True or not, it is established that Kenneth II was killed in Fettercairn in 995. The story continues that Lady Finella fled towards the coast where she was pursued and cornered by the king's soldiers at the top of a waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...
near St Cyrus. To avoid capture, Lady Finella threw herself over the waterfall from a height of 150 feet to her death. The valley where this supposedly took place is called Den Finella.
References