Today’s zombie taken from the upcoming Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide is none other than Macbeth,
King of Scots.
However, forget everything you think you know about Macbeth. Shakespeare’s play is a fantasy, based on false
propagandist historical accounts. Macbeth was a hereditary mormaer or regional lord of Moray, at a time when
most Scottish nobles perished at the hands of their power-hungry relatives. Macbeth got the job by killing his
cousins (who themselves had murdered his father). Another power struggle developed when Duncan I – who, in
contrast to his aged portrayal by Shakespeare, was only in his thirties – became King of Scots. Macbeth killed him
in a skirmish.
King Macbeth went on to reign for seventeen years, feeling so secure as to go on pilgrimage to Rome, the only
Scottish king to do so.
And now he’s back: is this a zombie I see before me…?