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A united country, such as might be expected in modern times, was hardly to be looked for in the eleventh century. Unity shows itself in easy and competent administration by rulers whose orders are obeyed, and whose plans are implemented. But administration could not be easy when instructions had to be carried by individuals from one point to another, when the swiftest means of transport available was a horse; when there was nothing equivalent to a police force making travel reasonably safe, and when the ultimate power - armed force - was available not just to the king, but to many of his subordinates as well. Also, it was not so easy for the Scottish kings to establish and assert their superiority over all others in the realm as it was, for instance, for the kings of England after 1066. In that year, by right of conquest William I was able to claim possession of the totality of English land, which he could then re-allocate in return for service and good behaviour. The Scottish kings never enjoyed this clean slate experience, but had, from the earliest days, to maintain authority by their own abilities.

Then, in addition to these technical obstacles to smooth government, there were recurring factional disputes. From the earliest days of full Scottish unity - the beginning of Duncan's reign in 1034 - this basic disunity was revealed, with the challenge to Duncan's title and his defeat and death at the hands of Macbeth. It is now widely understood that Macbeth acted not as some sort of bandit chief, but as the representative of one long enduring faction among the various branches of the Royal family.

Two such branches had been excluded from hopes of royal office through the various brutalities of Kenneth II and his son Malcolm II, who made it their business to remove any rivals from their path. Macbeth may have taken it upon himself to act as champion of one of those excluded lines; and his strength was based on the lands of that particular family in Moray and the north-east generally. This fact suggests that the feud went far back even into the days of Dalriada, when one family or tribe of Scots was long in competition with another. Whatever the origins of conflict were, Macbeth did oust Duncan, and reigned for seventeen not unsuccessful years, before his own defeat and death at the hands of Duncan's son, Malcolm III.

Yet, the essential idea of unity remained, and no claimant or rebel was bent upon dismantling the Scottish kingdom as it had come to exist. Scottish unity was, by modern standards, no doubt less than perfect, but it was as genuine and as effective as the unity of any other kingdom at the time, where administrative problems were no less difficult and the emergence of claimants to the throne no less frequent.

Malcolm III is most commonly known not by his numeral but by a nickname 'Canmore'. This name, from the Gaelic Ceann mor, is literally translated as 'big-head'. The term may have been used because of his physical appearance, but it has sometimes been suggested that the term may have been used in a symbolic sense, and really means 'great chief', or implies 'great wisdom'.

Certainly Malcolm is usually thought of as one of Scotland's great monarchs.