Máel Coluim (fl. 1054) was an eleventh-century magnate who seems to have been established as either King of Alba or King of Strathclyde. In 1055, Siward, Earl of Northumbria defeated Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, the reigning ruler of the Kingdom of Alba. As a result of this military success against the Scots, several sources assert that Siward established Máel Coluim as king. It is uncertain whether this concerned the kingship of Alba or the kingship of Strathclyde. The fact that Máel Coluim is described as the son of a "King of the Cumbrians" suggests that he was a member of the Cumbrian royal dynasty of Strathclyde, and could indicate that he was a close relative of Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde, the last known King of Strathclyde. Máel Coluim's Gaelic personal name could indicate that he was maternally descended from the royal Alpínid dynasty of Alba, which would have in turn endowed him with a claim to the Scottish throne. Máel Coluim's fate is unknown. The fact that Siward died in 1055, and Mac Bethad retained authority in Alba, suggests that Máel Coluim was quickly overcome. There is evidence indicating that the southern reaches of the Kingdom of Strathclyde—the territories upon the Solway Plain—fell into the hands of the English during Siward's floruit. The more northerly lands of the realm seem to have been conquered by Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, King of Alba sometime between 1058 and 1070, and it is uncertain whether an independent Kingdom of Strathclyde still existed by the time of this conquest. In any event, Máel Coluim appears to be the last member of the Cumbrian royal dynasty on record. Background Máel Coluim seems to have been a member of the Cumbrian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Strathclyde. The twelfth-century Chronicon ex chronicis identifies him as a "son of the king of the Cumbrians" (). He was likely closely related to—and possibly descended from—Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde, a monarch attested in 1018 assisting the Scots against the Northumbrians at the Battle of Carham. Not only is the fate of Owain Foel uncertain following this Scottish victory, so too is the fate of the Cumbrian kingdom. Son of the king of the Cumbrians In 1054, the Kingdom of Alba was invaded by Siward, Earl of Northumbria in an campaign noted by the ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. According to the twelfth-century Gesta regum Anglorum,