[General History of Scotland Contents]
From the Acceʃʃion of MALCOLM CANMORE, to the Death of ALEXANDER III. in the Year 1285.
IT is to the Engliʃh hiʃtorians that we are chiefly indebted for the hiʃtory of Scotland, at this remarkable period. Fordun is angry with William of Malmʃbury, for aʃcribing the glory of Malcolm’s reʃtoration entirely to Syward; and ʃays, that Syward was called back into England by Edward, in order to oppoʃe Griffith, prince of Wales. We know not the particulars of the war of Lumfannan (as it is called) between Malcolm and Macbeth, and which laʃted two years. Our common hiʃtorians, to ʃupply this chaʃm, have invented a prophecy for the tyrant, importing, that he was not to be killed by any man born of a woman; and another, that he ʃhould not die till Birnam wood ʃhould move to Dunʃinnan (for ʃo the caʃtle was called in which he had fortified himʃelf). He was ʃtill attended by a number of followers; and one of the prophecies was made good, when Malcolm ordered each of his ʃoldiers (either to conceal their numbers, or to ʃcreen them from the heat of the weather) to advance to the attack of the caʃtle under boughs, which they cut down in the wood. The circumʃtance of ʃoldiers cutting down boughs was common in thoʃe days; and Malcolm and his friends might invent the fable for the ʃake of the application, to encourage their followers; though more probably it is of a much later date. The tyrant, in a ʃally, was killed by Macduff, who, according to an idle tradition, came into the world by the Cæʃarean operation, being cut out of his mother’s belly. I ʃhould not have mentioned theʃe ridiculous tales which are omitted by our old hiʃtorian, and condemned by Buchanan, did they not ʃerve to diʃcover the genius of the age and country in which they were invented, and where the prieʃthood had the ʃkill to coin a prophecy for every event of importance.
The uʃurpation of Macbeth did not end with his life; for his followers elected one of his kinʃmen, Lulach, surnamed the Idiot, to ʃucceed him. Not being able to withʃtand Malcolm, he withdrew to the North; but being purʃued, was killed at Eʃʃey in Strathbogie. He reigned four months; and having, as well as Macbeth, been crowned at Scone, the performance of that ceremony, probably, intitled him to a royal burial at Icolm-kill.
Among the firʃt exerciʃes of Malcolm’s government, was the debt of gratitude which he paid to Macduff, who had been the chief inʃtrument of his reʃtoration. Having been formerly crowned at Scone, he granted him and his poʃterity four privileges: the firʃt was, That they ʃhould place the king in his chair of ʃtate, at the time of his coronation: the ʃecond, that they ʃhould lead the van of all the royal armies; the third, that they ʃhould have a free regality within themʃelves; and the fourth, that if any of Macduff’s family ʃhould be guilty of unpremeditately killing a nobleman, he ʃhould pay twenty-four, and if a plebeian, twelve marks, of ʃilver; which laʃt law (ʃays Buchanan, who in this caʃe may be allowed to be a competent evidence) was obʃerved till the days of our fathers. The next care of Malcolm was to reinʃtate in their fathers poʃʃeʃʃions, all the children who been diʃinherited by the late tyrant, which he did in a convention of his nobles held at Forfar.
If any credit is to be given to Boece, Macbeth, during his reign, aboliʃhed the laws of inheritance which had been eʃtabliʃhed under his three predeceʃʃors, by ordering all the lands and offices in the kingdom to be at the king’s diʃpoʃal, and to revert to the crown when their poʃʃeʃʃor died: ʃo that there was a plain reʃumption of the inconʃiderate grants made by Malcolm Mac-Kenneth. Other laws very unfavourable to public liberty, were likewiʃe enacted; particularly thoʃe which diʃarmed the people, and made it penal for any of the commons or huʃbandmen to keep a horʃe for any other purpoʃe than that of tillage and labouring the ground. Thus the old conʃtitution was again reʃtored; and hereditary right to private eʃtates, as well as to the crown, was again aboliʃhed.
Malcolm, whoʃe education had been chiefly in England (where the introduction of the Normans, by Edward the Confeʃʃor, was beginning to introduce milder modes of the feudal government) being ʃenʃible of the force of words, found it would be very difficult to re-eʃtabliʃh the hereditary ʃyʃtem, without ʃome alteration in the terms of dignities and offices. The word Thane carrying with it an idea incompatible with hereditary ʃucceʃʃion, it was changed into Earl, which had for ʃome time prevailed in England; and Macduff, from being thane, was created earl of Fife. Other dignities were ʃaid to have been inʃtituted about the ʃame time; and the cuʃtom of patronimical deʃignations, by which every man was named after his father, with a Mac (ʃignifying ʃon) prefixed to his ʃurname, began to wear out; and the ʃurname was fixed to a clan inʃtead of a perʃon. Surnames from the lands of the proprietors were introduced, and ʃuch local names are to this day reckoned the moʃt honourable. Those inʃtitutions could not have taken place among a people ʃo wedded as the Scots were to their former uʃages, had not Malcolm poʃʃeʃʃed a great fund of political, as well as perʃonal abilities. It is reaʃonable to believe, that the cruelties of Macbeth had driven many of Malcolm’s family-friends into foreign parts, from whence they now returned, and aʃʃiʃted him with the lights they brought from abroad. I am even inclined to believe that after his reʃtoration, he gave encouragement for the Normans, and the other foreigners who had retired to Scotland during the preceding reign, to ʃettle in his kingdom; and this might in a great meaʃure contribute to the general improvement of manners which then took place.
While Malcolm was buʃy in thoʃe arduous matters, advice was brought him of an inʃurrection of robbers in the ʃouthern parts of his dominions, near a place called Cockburn’s-path; upon which he ʃent one of his chief officers, lately created earl of Dunbar, to quell the inʃurgents, in which he happily ʃucceeded. From this particular, we can have no doubt that Malcolm had been, before his coronation at Scone, recognized by Edward as prince of Cumberland. We are therefore carefully to diʃtinguiʃh between his ʃucceʃʃion to the Engliʃh eʃtates with thoʃe ʃouth of Forth, and that to his crown, which he poʃʃeʃʃed by hereditary right. After this, Fordun and the Scotch hiʃtorians entertain us with the well-known ʃtory of a conʃpiracy formed againʃt Malcolm; and of his drawing the chief conʃpirator aʃide into a wood, where, after upbraiding him with his treachery, he offered to fight him upon equal terms: upon which the traitor threw himʃelf at the king’s feet, confeʃʃed his guilt, and gave hoʃtages for his future good behaviour. The recital of this ʃtory is ʃufficient to confute it. It is a fable of the times; and with a very little alteration, is the ʃame as that told of Edgar and Kenneth, which we have already mentioned. The like adventure is related, only with the difference of names, of ʃeveral other kings.
Our Scotch hiʃtorians have fixed the time of Malcolm’s acceʃʃion to his crown to the year 1056, tho’ it is certain that he left England in 1054. Syward was now dead, and was ʃucceeded in his government of Northumberland by Toʃti, ʃecond ʃon to the famous earl Godwin, and brother to Harold, afterwards king of England. As a great party had been formed againʃt the Godwin family, and Harold made no ʃecret of his deʃign upon the crown, after the death of Edward, it was natural for Toʃti to connect himʃelf with Malcolm, as his ʃureʃt ally; nor could Malcolm have any friend ʃo powerful to ʃerve him as Toʃti, eʃpecially after the death of Edward the Outlaw, the true heir to the crown, whom Edward the Confeʃʃor had ʃent for from Hungary, to counterbalance the power and ambition of the Godwin family. We are accordingly told, that a ʃtrict intimacy was contracted between Malcolm and Toʃti; but it was of no long continuance. Toʃti was one of the many princes of that age, who had been guilty of frequent murders; ʃo that, in order to quiet his conʃcience (after the manner of thoʃe times) he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. He was also ʃo deteʃted, that the Northumbrians complained of his repeated acts of cruelty, refuʃing to be longer ʃubject to him. Edward was in a manner compelled by their clamour to grant a commiʃʃion for trying him; and Toʃti being found guilty, his own brother Harold joined the Northumbrians againʃt him in favour of earl Morchar, who was Toʃti’s competitor for Northumberland.
This being the ʃtate of affairs in England, we can be at no loʃs to account for the reaʃons why Malcolm, at this time invaded Toʃti’s dominions; for which we have the authority of the Engliʃh historians. It was the duty of Malcolm, as a feodary of England, to be an enemy to all Edward’s enemies; and no doubt he found his advantage in other reʃpects from the part he acted. I am inclined to fix this invaʃion to the year 1064, when Toʃti was at Rome, where he ʃeems to have made a very ʃhort ʃtay, for he certainly was proʃcribed the beginning of next year: but neither the Engliʃh nor the Scotch hiʃtorians have informed us of any acquiʃition which Malcolm made by this invaʃion.
During his abʃence in England, where he viʃited Edward’s court, and very poʃʃibly renewed his oath of fealty, ʃome commotions ʃeem to have happened in Murray, Roʃs, and the north and weʃt parts of his dominions; but they are ʃaid to have been quelled by a general who is named Walter, and was the ʃon of Fleance, who eʃcaped Macbeth’s murderers by flying into Wales, where he begot this Walter on a Welch princeʃs; but I believe there is little more than tradition for this ʃtory. As to Walter, he undoubtedly was created high ʃteward of Scotland, for the great ʃervices he performed to Malcolm; nor have we any reaʃon to doubt his being the ʃon of Fleance, and of his having returned to Scotland after Malcolm was ʃettled on the throne. The high-ʃtewardʃhip was a dignity held by a ʃervice, and entitled the owner to all the privileges of a baron; but Malcolm, no doubt, added to it conʃiderable eʃtates. We are informed, that he ʃerved the king in Galloway likewiʃe; and that he was highly inʃtrumental in curbing the tyranny of the great lords over their inferiors; but we are now upon the eve of the greateʃt revolution that ever happened in Britain; I mean the conqueʃt of England by the Normans.
It is foreign to my purpoʃe to relate the particulars of that conqueʃt farther than it is connected with the hiʃtory of Scotland. Upon the death of Edward the Confeʃʃor, Harold ʃeized the throne of England, notwithʃtanding Edgar, ʃon of Edward the Outlaw, was then at the Engliʃh court, and undoubted heir to the crown. The truth is, Edgar was a weak prince, and Harold being victorious over all oppoʃition, particularly from his brother Toʃti, was quietly recognized by the Engliʃh for their king. He had, however, the magnanimity to create Edgar, who was ʃur-named Atheling (or royal) earl of Oxford, and to treat him with great reʃpect. In ʃhort, by his juʃtice and moderation, he ʃhewed himʃelf worthy of the dignity he uʃurped. Upon Harold’s defeat and death, and the acceʃʃion of William the Norman to the crown of England, the latter plainly diʃcovered ʃome jealouʃy of Edgar. We ʃhall not here diʃcuʃs the queʃtion, how far Edgar forfeited his right, by acknowledging Harold for his ʃovereign. It is ʃufficient to ʃay, that if the right of blood could have availed him, his title was better than even that of the Confeʃʃor. Upon William’s paying a viʃit to his Norman dominions, he appointed Edgar to attend him, and ʃome other noblemen, whom he ʃuʃpected to in his intereʃt; but upon his return to England, he found the people ʃo diʃaffected to his government, that he proceeded with great ʃeverity; ʃo that numbers of his Engliʃh ʃubjects took refuge in Cumberland, and other parts of Malcolm’s ʃouthern dominions. Edgar’s unaʃpiring diʃpoʃition ʃeems to have preʃerved him from the conʃpiracies which the Anglo-Saxons were now daily forming againʃt William and his Normans; for it does not appear good Engliʃh hiʃtorian, that he ever was in the field againʃt the Conqueror. Edgar had two ʃiʃters, Margaret and Chriʃtina; and his two chief friends were Goʃpatric and Marleʃwin, who ʃoon rendered him ʃenʃible how precariouʃly he held his life under a jealous tyrant; and perʃuaded him to make preparations for flying by ʃea, with his ʃiʃters, to Hungary or ʃome foreign country.
This reʃolution probably was formed while William was in the north of England, where he reduced York, with all that country. We know of no attempts he made againʃt Malcolm; but Egelwin, biʃhop of Durham, pleaded great merit with him for having diʃpoʃed Malcolm to renew the peace with William, as it ʃtood in the days of Edward the Confeʃʃor. I am there fore inclined to believe, that Malcolm had, at this time, formed no connections with Edgar; and that William himʃelf connived at Edgar’s eʃcaping to a country from whence he had nothing to fear. Be this as it may (for it is a matter of doubt) Edgar, attended by his mother Agatha, his two ʃiʃters, and a great train of Anglo-Saxon noblemen, embarked on board a ʃmall ʃquadron; which, by ʃtreʃs of weather, was forced into the frith of Forth, where the illuʃtrious exiles landed, at a place ʃince called the Queen’s-Ferry. Malcolm no ʃooner heard of their landing than he paid them a viʃit in perʃon, and fell in love with the princeʃs Margaret.
It muʃt be acknowledged that this was a bold ʃtep in Malcolm, as he could not but foreʃee the conʃequences; but it is more than probable that his great dependence was upon the Anglo-Saxon party in England, the heads of which no ʃooner heard of Edgar’s landing in Scotland, than they repaired to Malcolm’s court. It was not long before William formally demanded that Edgar ʃhould be given up to him; which Malcolm refuʃed; and, upon this, war was declared between the two nations. Hoveden and ʃome other Engliʃh hiʃtorians have repreʃented this event in a different light, as if the whole had been contrived between Malcolm and Edgar; and they tell us, that the former was making war in the north of England, when Edgar landed at the Queen’s-Ferry. In the relation I have given, I have been determined by Turgot, archbiʃhop of St. Andrew’s, and confeʃʃor to Margaret, whoʃe life he wrote; and Ealred, abbot of Redewal, who wrote it likewiʃe, and lived near the time.
Beʃides the Anglo-Saxon noblemen, many of the clergy (ʃome ʃay Stigand and Aldred, the two Engliʃh archbiʃhops) joined Edgar in Scotland. Though the power of Malcolm was inconʃiderable, compared to that of William, yet his Engliʃh auxiliaries aʃʃiʃted him ʃo effectually, that the Norman found great difficulty even to keep his own countrymen in their duty. He was obliged to give up the county of Northumberland to Goʃpatric (probably the ʃame who had attended Edgar in his flight, and who was related to the Anglo-Saxon royal family) upon condition of his making war upon the Scots. Goʃpatric accordingly invaded Cumberland; but his viʃit was repaid by Malcolm’s filling Northumberland, and all the north of England, with his ravages; and returning to his own country with a vaʃt booty in priʃoners and effects. But this was not the only method by which Malcolm fought to diʃtreʃs William; for he ʃent ambaʃʃadors to Denmark and Ireland, to invite their princes to join him in a confederacy againʃt that conqueror.
The Danes, even at this time, kept up their claims upon the crown of England; ʃo that they could not be ʃuppoʃed to be very zealous for Edgar. The Iriʃh had received under their protection the three ʃons of the late Harold, king of England, and it was natural for them to plead a family-right to their father’s crown. All parties, however, were united againʃt William; but when they came to particular ʃtipulations, no general confederacy could be formed; and thus Malcolm’s plan fell to the ground. The three ʃons of Harold made a deʃcent upon Somerʃetʃhire with a body of Iriʃh, to which William oppoʃed one of Engliʃh; but the latter were defeated; and it ʃoon appeared that the Iriʃh, by returning with a large booty to their ʃhips, after ravaging the country, had only ʃerved for plunder. The Danes acted with more caution than the Iriʃh, probably with a view of getting once more footing in England; and landing at the mouth of the Humber, in two hundred and forty ʃmall ʃhips, they were joined by Edgar and his party. This deʃcent threatened to overthrow the Norman government in England. William had taken the earldom of Northumberland from Goʃpatric, and given it to Robert Cummin, one of his Norman barons, who thought that he had little elʃe to do than to take poʃʃeʃʃion of his new dignity; but he was deceived.
The Northumbrians had joined Goʃpatric, and received the Danes as their countrymen, while Malcolm lay in the neighbourhood with an army ready to ʃupport them. Before a junction could be formed, the Northumbrians had entered into a conʃpiracy to murder all the Normans who fell into their hands; which they accordingly executed upon Cummin and his followers at Durham, where they had been guilty of great cruelties. After this, they attacked the forts which William had built at York; but not being able to take them, in the middle of December, the Engliʃh, Scots, and Danes, united their arms, and marching towards York took that city, and put to the ʃword three thouʃand Normans who were there in garriʃon. This ʃucceʃs was followed by incurʃions and ravages into the country of England, where the Danes and Northumbrians acquired a great booty.
It ʃoon appeared that the Danes and Northumbrians, who conʃidered themʃelves almoʃt as one people, were no more in earneʃt than the Iriʃh, to aʃʃiʃt Edgar; and that all his dependence was upon Malcolm, and the few ʃouthern Engliʃh who had followed his fortunes; for the Northumbrians and Danes were no ʃooner maʃters of the booty, than the former retired to their habitations, and the latter to their ʃhips. William, haughty as he was, deigned to court the Engliʃh upon this occaʃion, by reʃtoring the Saxon laws, and mitigating the ʃeverity of the Normannic government. This compliance, together with the ravages lately committed in England, re-eʃtabliʃhed his authority; and he ʃaw himʃelf again at the head of an army, with which he ʃet out for the North. After a very difficult march, occaʃioned by the rains, he arrived in Yorkʃhire, where he took a ʃevere revenge upon the Northumbrians (great part of Yorkʃhire then lying in Northumberland); and though he met with a brave oppoʃition from earl Waltheof, ʃon to Syward, he took York, and put to death all its inhabitants. After this, perceiving that the Danes ʃtill lay hovering upon the coaʃt; and being apprehenʃive that they might join Malcolm, who was at the head of a ʃtrong army, he ʃent a ʃum of money to Oʃbern, their general, and brother to their king, with an offer of what proviʃions he pleaʃed to accept of, provided he would return to Denmark; and Oʃbern accordingly complied with the terms.
It is probable that Malcolm, perceiving this ʃudden turn in favour of William, withdrew to his own dominions, where he lay upon the defenʃive. Upon his retreat, William took poʃʃeʃʃion of Durham, wintered at York, and received the ʃubmiʃʃions of Waltheof and Goʃpatric; creating the former earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, and giving him his own niece in marriage. Soon after, William marched to Wales, where he quelled an inʃurrection; and Edgar, on the retreat of the Danes, returned to Scotland, where Malcolm was making great preparations once more to invade England. Other hiʃtorians are of opinion, that he did not join Malcolm, till the army of the latter was upon its march towards England.
This part of our hiʃtory falls in with the year 1071. The Engliʃh hiʃtorians have been verу ʃevere upon Malcolm’s barbarity during this invaʃion; and poʃʃibly, in ʃome inʃtances, it may not be defenʃible. We are, however, to recollect, that the Northumbrians and Danes had, by this time, abandoned both Edgar and Malcolm, after giving them the ʃtrongest aʃʃurances of fidelity: and the Scotch hiʃtorians (who are not very correct as to French or Engliʃh names) have mentioned ʃeveral very cruel inroads into Malcolm’s dominions before this time. Fordun mentions particularly, an invaʃion of Scotland by Odo, biʃhop of Bayeux, brother to William, who was defeated by Malcolm at the mouth of the Humber; but the Engliʃh hiʃtorians are not clear as to the fact; and I follow them chiefly at this period. According to them, Malcolm invaded England by Cumberland, ravaged Teeʃdale, and, at a place called Hundreds-keld, near Barnard-caʃtle, killed ʃome Engliʃh noblemen, with all their followers. He next waʃted Cleveland, in the North-Riding of Yorkʃhire; renewed his ravages in the neighbourhood; ʃent back the booty with part of his army to Scotland; and pillaged the biʃhopric of Durham, where he is ʃaid not to have ʃpared the moʃt ʃacred edifices, and to have burnt them to the ground.
Goʃpatric, to whom William had lately ceded Northumberland, in the mean time attempted to make a diverʃion to Malcolm, by falling into his principality of Cumberland. There is reaʃon for believing that Malcolm had taken care to guard that principality with the troops which had carried off his booty; for Goʃpatric was repulʃed, and obliged to ʃhut himʃelf up in Bamborough-caʃtle. It can afford neither inʃtruction nor amuʃement to the reader, to give a detail of all the cruelties, which Malcolm is accuʃed of having committed, after this, in the North of England. There is one reaʃon for believing them to have been exaggerated by Simeon of Durham and other Engliʃh hiʃtorians, which is, that no country ʃeems capable of ʃupplying ʃuch ravages; though it is very probable that the war was carried on with great fury on both ʃides, and that Malcolm brought off with him a great number of Engliʃh captives, with whom he peopled the ʃouthern part of his dominions. Upon the whole, one of the reaʃons why I have preferred the Engliʃh and Norman to the Scotch hiʃtorians, in the warlike accounts of this reign, is, becauʃe the former muʃt undoubtedly have been better inʃtructed than the latter were, in the names of their generals and noblemen, as well as of places within their own dominions. Beʃides an earl Roger, who, as the Scots ʃay, invaded Scotland, they tell us of an earl of Glouceʃter, both of whom were defeated by Malcolm and his generals. Beʃides Odo, brother to king William, they have given the command of another army to that conqueror’s ʃon, Robert, ʃurnamed Curtois, who ʃecretly befriended Edgar, and did nothing worth mentioning. The Engliʃh hiʃtories take no notice of thoʃe generals, or their defeats; and nothing is more likely, than that William truʃted for the defence of Northumberland and the northern parts to thoʃe noblemen, whether Engliʃh or Northumbrian, to whom he had granted them in fee.
Even the Engliʃh hiʃtorians admit that, at the period I now treat of, Malcolm was victorious, and carried back his army to Scotland in triumph. It does not clearly appear, whether Malcolm had been married to the princeʃs Margaret, Edgar’s ʃiʃter, before his return from this ruinous expedition into England. Archbiʃhop Turgot, and the abbot Ealred, whom I have already mentioned, intimate that the marriage took place immediately upon Edgar’s arrival in Scotland; other writers fix it to the year 1070, and the Engliʃh hiʃtorians a year later; and all agree that it was celebrated at Dunfermling, where Malcolm had a palace. Perhaps the nuptials were not ʃolemnized till the laʃt-mentioned year; and this is the more probable, as from that period the temper and diʃpoʃition of Malcolm took a new and a favourable turn towards humanity. We are obliged to the Engliʃh hiʃtorians for the knowledge of the following fact, which happened at the ʃame time. Frederic, abbot of St. Alban’s, perceiving the miʃeries of the Engliʃh under the Norman government, entered into a conʃpiracy againʃt William, and ʃent to Scotland for Edgar, who accordingly repaired to England, to head the inʃurrection. His name was ʃo popular, that William did not chuʃe to employ force in quelling the conʃpiracy; but took an oath at Berkhamʃtead to govern the Engliʃh by their own laws. Upon this the conʃpirators laid down their arms; and Edgar, notwithʃtanding the various means William uʃed to ʃecure his perʃon, eʃcaped back to Scotland. William was no ʃooner freed from this danger, than he diʃregarded all the terms he had ʃo lately ʃworn to; and heaped freʃh cruelties upon the Engliʃh, who no longer having Edgar to head them, were forced to ʃhelter themʃelves in the Iʃle of Ely, and other remote fortreʃʃes. Thoʃe who aʃʃembled in the Iʃle made a moʃt formidable ʃtand, and choʃe Hereward, a nobleman of great diʃtinction, for their chief. They were joined by the biʃhop of Durham, and ʃome other noblemen who had, like him, taken refuge in Scotland. William marched againʃt them with an army, and with great difficulty diʃlodged them out of the Iʃle; and the brave Hereward eʃcaped through the Fens to Scotland.
When we compare all circumʃtances, and reflect on the vaʃt resources which William had, both in England and from the continent, it is amazing that Malcolm ʃhould have made ʃuch a ʃtand as he did againʃt his power. William’s conqueʃt of the Iʃle of Ely, which happened in the year 1072, afforded him leiʃure to raiʃe an army, which might ʃtrike at the root of all his dangers, by enabling him to invade Scotland. The Engliʃh hiʃtorians have been very pompous in their accounts of this expedition; and the difficulties William met with, give us ʃome idea of Malcolm’s power and policy; tho’ ʃome parts of the Conqueror’s conduct are ʃomewhat unaccountable. We are told, for inʃtance, that he invaded Scotland by Galloway, which is at preʃent the weʃtermoʃt part of the kingdom. From this, all we can conclude is, that this invaʃion was carried on both by ʃea and land; and that William made a deʃcent in the mouth of Solway-frith, or in Wigton-bay; for it is certain that he found Yorkʃhire, Northumberland, Durham, and Richmondʃhire, ʃo depopulated and ravaged, that he could not march through them. The Saxon Chronicle expreʃsly ʃays, that he blocked up the Scots by ʃea; and that he marched his land-forces to a certain river, which, by the ʃimilarity of the name, the right reverend editor of that chronicle thinks (though improbably) to have been the Tweed. The ʃame Chronicle ʃays, that in his land march he found nothing which could be of ʃervice to him. Polydore Virgil, the foreign hiʃtorian of Engliʃh affairs, informs us that William penetrated into Galloway, becauʃe he underʃtood that it was the chief receptacle for his Engliʃh enemies. I am rather inclined to believe, that as this country was not then ʃubject to Scotland, or but very imperfectly ʃo, and governed by a ʃeparate prince, William was in hopes of being joined by the inhabitants, who had but a very few years before been at war with the Scots. I throw out theʃe hints only by way of conjecture, and ʃhall now purʃue the thread of the hiʃtory.
William found ʃo little encouragement in Galloway, that having in vain harraʃʃed his troops by marching over its hills and through its deʃerts, he ʃtruck through Clydeʃdale, and proceeded directly to Lothian, where Malcolm lay with his army. Both princes, for ʃome days, faced each other; but neither inclined to fight, if they could avoid it with honour. The Engliʃh army was probably fatigued; and if defeated, muʃt have been without reʃources. On the other hand, the loʃs of a battle to Malcolm might have been attended with that of his crown and kingdom. After long deliberation, a peace was agreed upon; Malcolm conʃenting to pay homage to William. The Scotch hiʃtorians themʃelves agree with the Engliʃh as to thoʃe facts; but contend that the homage Malcolm then paid, was only for his Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions; and both parties ʃay, that William received it at Abernethy, which lies north of the Forth, and was formerly the capital of the Pictiʃh kingdom. It is likewiʃe admitted, that, upon the concluʃion of the peace, a croʃs was erected at Stanmore, in Richmondʃhire, with the arms of both kings, to ʃerve as a boundary between Malcolm’s feudal poʃʃeʃʃions in England, and thoʃe of William. Part of this monument, which is called Re-croʃs, or rather the Roy-croʃs, or Croʃs of the Kings, was entire in the days of Camden.
It appears from the beʃt of our hiʃtorians, that Malcolm had, for ʃome time, refuʃed to pay homage for Cumberland to William, for the ʃame reaʃon that his predeceʃʃor, Malcolm the ʃecond, reʃused to pay it to the Danes, becauʃe he was not the heir of the Anglo-Saxon princes. The aʃʃertion of Hollinʃhed and modern Engliʃh hiʃtorians, that Malcolm paid homage for all Scotland, is founded on the authority of the monk Ingulphus, which muʃt be of very little importance; becauʃe, in the firʃt place, he ʃays, that William then conquered all Scotland, which is a notorious falʃehood; and in the next, he does not ʃpecify the territories for which the homage was paid. The truth is, William ʃeems to have been as fond as Malcolm was of peace, and it was concluded upon terms highly to the honour of the latter; becauʃe William agreed, that the Engliʃh exiles ʃhould be pardoned; and that Malcolm ʃhould re-enter into the poʃʃeʃʃion of his Engliʃh dominions, upon his performing for them the ʃame homage as his predeceʃʃors had done to the former kings of England. It is added, that William demanded Malcolm ʃhould not, for the future, give protection to the Engliʃh exiles in Scotland; and that thoʃe who were already there, ʃhould be re-admitted to their eʃtates and honours, upon their properly recognizing William’s right to the Engliʃh crown. As to the homage paid by Malcolm, it could be no derogation to his honour, as it was only for the Engliʃh eʃtates he held; and the like homage was paid by William himʃelf and his succeʃʃors, for their French poʃʃeʃʃions. Edward the firʃt, it is true, in his claim of ʃuperiority over the Scotch nation, mentions this homage to have been paid for all Scotland; but he does it upon evidences I have already examined and diʃproved; and later Engliʃh writers were ʃo ʃenʃible of their weakneʃs, that they have had recourʃe to the moʃt manifeʃt forgeries, in ʃupport of his pretenʃions: indeed, it would be miʃpending the reader’s time to anʃwer arguments which refute themʃelves.
The eʃtabliʃhment of peace between Malcolm and William, introduced a total alteration of manners among the Scots. Many cauʃes contributed to this; but the chief was the excellent diʃposition of Malcolm’s queen, the pattern not only of piety, but politeneʃs, for that age. The next was the great number of foreigners who had ʃettled in Scotland; among whom, if I miʃtake not, were ʃome French, as Malcolm, by his differences with William, became the natural ally of the French king, who, we are told, furniʃhed him with ʃome auxiliaries. The third cauʃe I ʃhall mention, was the fair opportunity which the new-eʃtabliʃhed peace offered to Malcolm, for ʃoftening the natural ferocity of his ʃubjects. As to Malcolm himʃelf, the prodigious devaʃtations which he carried through England, ʃhew him to have been, by habit, a barbarian; but his after-conduct proves him to have been endued with all the qualities befitting a great prince.
During Malcolm’s abʃence in England, his excellent queen choʃe Turgot not only for her confeʃʃor, but her aʃʃiʃtant in her intended reformation of the kingdom. She began with her own court, which ʃhe new-modelled, by introducing into it the offices, furniture, and modes of life, that were uʃual among the more polite nations of Europe. She diʃmiʃʃed from her ʃervice, all who were noted for immorality and impiety; and ʃhe charged Turgot, upon pain of her diʃpleaʃure to give her his real ʃentiments upon the ʃtate of the kingdom, after the beʃt enquiry he could make. Turgot’s report was by no means favourable to the reputation of the Scots. He informed Margaret, that faction raged among the nobles; rapine among the commons; and incontinence among all degrees of men. Above all, he complained of the kingdom being deʃtitute of a learned clergy, capable of reforming the people by their example and doctrine. The queen was not diʃcouraged by this report, and ʃoon made her huʃband ʃenʃible how neceʃʃary it was for his glory and ʃafety, to ʃecond her efforts for reforming his ʃubjects. She repreʃented to him particularly, the corruption of juʃtice, and the inʃolence of military men; and found in him à ready diʃpoʃition for reforming all abuʃes. He accordingly began the great work, by ʃetting the example in his own perʃon, and obliging his nobility to follow it.
A people, like the Scots, long habituated rapine, and the oppreʃʃion of their inferiors, in which they were indulged by the feudal laws, thought all reʃtrictions of their power were ʃo many ʃteps towards their ʃlavery. The introduction of foreign offices and titles them in this opinion; and an inʃurrection in Roʃs, Murray, and Marr, headed one Mac Duncan, ʃo dangerous, that Malcolm thought proper to march in perʃon againʃt the rebels. Being advanced as far as Monimuʃk, he had certain intelligence that they were drawn up on the farther banks of the Spey, and conʃiʃted of all the clans in the North and Weʃt. Malcolm, upon this, vowed, after the manner of thoʃe times, to grant the lands of Monimuʃk to the church of St. Andrew’s, if he ʃhould return victorious from his expedition. We are to obʃerve, that he had ʃent before him Macduff, with an army, to attack the rebels, whom that nobleman found ʃo powerful, that he durʃt not advance till he was joined by Malcolm. When the latter came to the banks of the Spey, he ʃaw the rebels drawn up in much better order, and making a more formidable appearance, than he expected; but this was ʃo far from daunting Malcolm, that he ordered his troops to advance, and paʃs the river, though the moʃt impetuous of any in Scotland. His ʃtandard-bearer ʃeeming to make a halt, Malcolm plucked the banner from his hands, and gave it to a brave knight, Sir Alexander Carron, who immediately plunged into the ʃtream. Such a ʃhew of reʃolution diʃcouraged the inʃurgents; and they employed their clergy, an order of men whom they knew Malcolm regarded, to intercede for their pardon. Thoʃe fathers, accordingly, appearing on the farther bank in a poʃture of humiliation, Malcolm gave orders for their being ferried over, which they accordingly were; and he received their ʃubmiʃʃions. Malcolm, however, refuʃed to grant them an unconditional pardon. He gave the common people, whom he knew to be the ʃlaves of their chieftains, liberty to return to their reʃpective habitations; but inʃiʃted on all the better ʃort surrendering themʃelves to his pleaʃure. This they were obliged to comply with. Mac Duncan and ʃeveral of the ringleaders were either put to death, or had their lands forfeited, while many were condemned to perpetual impriʃonment, and their eʃtates confiscated.
Our hiʃtorians have been fond of ʃending Walter the ʃteward, at this time, into Galloway, where he again ʃubdued the rebels; but, though this is by no means improbable, perhaps it was the ʃame expedition that we have already mentioned as the origin of the Stewart-family. The peace of Scotland being again reʃtored, Malcolm returned to his ʃchemes of reformation. He found the feudal inʃtitutions ʃo deeply rooted among his people, that he durʃt not entirely aboliʃh the infamous practice of the landlord claiming the firʃt night with his tenant’s bride; but we certainly know that, by the queen’s influence, this privilege was commuted into the payment of a piece of money by the bridegroom, and has been ʃince known by the name of Mercheta Mulierum, or The Woman’s Mark. By the beʃt accounts, the Scots of thoʃe days were without the practice of ʃaying grace after their meals, till it was introduced by Margaret, who gave a glaʃs of wine, or other liquor, to every gueʃt who remained at the royal table, and heard the thankʃ-giving; and this innocent expedient gave riʃe to the term of the Grace-drink. It cannot, however, be denied that ʃuperstition had a great ʃhare in the reformation then brought about. The queen and Turgot began by regulating the duration of Lent, and the time of Easter; and, according to Fordun, the king adminiʃtered meat and drink to a certain number of poor people with his own hands, every day. Turgot tells us, that the queen not only did the ʃame, but beʃtowed large alms of ʃilver among the needy, and waʃhed the ʃores of ʃix of their number.
Princes who, in their own perʃons, applied themʃelves to ʃuch devotional exerciʃes, could not be ʃuppoʃed to ʃtop there. The biʃhoprics of Murray and Caithneʃs were then founded; thoʃe of Murtlach, Galloway, St. Andrew’s, and Glaʃgow, were endowed with additional lands and revenues; and all the dilapidations which the epiʃcopal eʃtates had ʃuffered during the late wars, were repaired. Pariʃh-churches were rebuilt and ornamented by the royal bounty; but above all, Malcolm’s favourite reʃidence, the palace of Dumfermling, was embelliʃhed and enriched; for the queen not only cauʃed a ʃtately church to be built there from the foundation, but endowed it with veʃʃels of gold and ʃilver; and beʃides other jewels of immenʃe value, ʃhe bequeathed to it in her own life-time, the famous black croʃs, which was compoʃed of diamonds, and had been brought to Scotland by her brother Edgar, as being one of the royal jewels of England. A monaʃtery was likewiʃe founded here by Malcolm, and endowed with great privileges. Theʃe inʃtances are ʃufficient to ʃhew how very conʃiderable a progreʃs Malcolm and his queen made, in the introduction of piety, and the amendment of manners, among their ʃubjects.
Notwithstanding thoʃe noble regulations, ʃome hiʃtorians have (I believe with great juʃtice) complained, that with the manners of the Engliʃh and the French, their luxuries were introduced into Scotland. The Scots, till this reign, had been remarkable for the ʃobriety and ʃimplicity of their fare, which was now converted into exceʃs and riot, and ʃometimes ended fatally by broils and bloodʃhed. We are told, at the ʃame time, that even in thoʃe days their nobility eat only twice a day, and were ʃerved with no more than two diʃhes at each meal; but that their deviation from their antient temperance, occaʃioned a diminution of the ʃtrength and ʃize of the people.
Edgar Atheling returned to England the year after the concluʃion of the peace between William and Malcolm, where he had large appointments ʃettled upon him; but we know of no attempts he made againʃt the eʃtabliʃhed government, though the North of England was then full of confuʃion and bloodshed. After William had left Scotland, he ʃtripped Goʃpatric of Northumberland, either becauʃe it had been ʃo ʃtipulated in the late peace, or becauʃe he was diʃʃatiʃfied with his conduct when he commanded againʃt the Scots, and eʃpecially for the ʃhare he had in the death of Cummin. He was ʃucceeded by earl Waltheof, Syward’s ʃon; but this part of hiʃtory is not without its difficulties; for I ʃtrongly ʃuʃpect that Goʃpatric never was poʃʃeʃʃed of all Northumberland, though he had a large eʃtate in that country; and there ʃeems to have been certain provincial names, which among the Daniʃh race were appropriated indiʃcriminately to their great men. Thus ʃeveral Waltheofs, Sywards, and Goʃpatrics, might exiʃt at the ʃame time, and might be ʃucceʃʃively poʃʃeʃʃed of the ʃame lands; and this identity of appellations neceʃʃarily creates a confuʃion in hiʃtory. We cannot therefore be poʃitive, that this kinʃman of Malcolm was the ʃame earl Waltheof, who, after diʃcovering a dangerous conʃpiracy, which William quelled, was by his order, afterwards, moʃt ungratefully beheaded at Wincheʃter, in 1074.
There is, however, a great preʃumption that he was the ʃame; and that Malcolm’s reʃentment for his death, occaʃioned his invaʃion of England in 1077. It was probably at this time, that the Scots, under the earl of Dunbar, defeated the two Norman noblemen I have already mentioned, Robert and Richard; for I perceive that William then brought over to England his ʃon Robert to command againʃt the Scots; and it is unqueʃtionable that, ʃoon after, his brother, the warlike biʃhop of Bayeux, actually did march againʃt them with an army. From thoʃe circumʃtances we may form ʃome idea of the confuʃion introduced into the Scotch hiʃtory, by the diʃregard of all its old writers to method and chronology. The murder of biʃhop Walcher (who, after Waltheof’s death, had either purchaʃed or obtained his eʃtates from William) by the Northumbrians, falls within this period; and it was to reduce thoʃe rebels, that the biʃhop of Bayeux was ʃent to the North. Malcolm was then in arms; and had entered into a correʃpondence with the Danes for invading England. This having come to William’s knowledge, he ʃent orders to his brother to be particularly attentive to the ʃea-coasts, in caʃe the Danes ʃhould land; and we accordingly find, that except laying waʃte the country, in order to cut off the ʃubʃiʃtence of the Danes, Odo did nothing of importance, either againʃt the rebel Northumbrians or the Scots. I am now arrived to the year 1080, when Odo being recalled from his command, was ʃucceeded in it by Robert, William’s eldeʃt ʃon, one of the moʃt warlike, but unaʃpiring princes of the age. We have no authority from the Engliʃh hiʃtorians which countenances thoʃe of Scotland in ʃaying, that Robert was defeated by Malcolm; nor do we know of any action he performed, except that of planning out a town, which is now ʃo well known by the name of Newcaʃtle upon Tyne.
The invaʃion of England by the Danes certainly failed, thro’ the vigilance of William, and by the force of his money, which bribed their chief counʃellors. In the year 1085, William carried over Edgar Atheling with him to Normandy, and there they parted. The Saxon Chronicle (the beʃt hiʃtorical authority of thoʃe times) ʃays, that he there deʃerted William; but by this we are only to underʃtand, that Edgar took his leave of him; and that he went with two hundred knights to Italy, from whence he proceeded on a cruʃade to the Holy Land. The ʃafety of Edgar, when in the power of ʃuch a prince as William, was undoubtedly owing to Malcolm, who in caʃe of Edgar’s death, would have been a formidable competitor for the Engliʃh crown. William, however, was ʃafe in Edgar’s weakneʃs and inactivity; and this ʃeems to have been the true ʃource of his generoʃity to that unambitious prince. William ʃoon after died in France; and the adventures of Edgar, during the intermediate time, are unknown.
The death of the Conqueror, and the acceʃʃion of William Rufus to his throne, altered the whole ʃyʃtem of Malcolm’s connections with England. He conʃidered Rufus as uʃurping not only the right of Edgar, but of his elder brother Robert. No ʃooner was the death of the Conqueror known to Edgar, than he repaired to France, where he was kindly received, and nobly entertained by Robert; but when matters were compromiʃed between the two brothers, Rufus perʃuaded Robert to withdraw his countenance from Edgar, while he confiʃcated all thoʃe eʃtates in England, which the Conqueror had given him. This ʃeverity occaʃioned by the preparations Malcolm was making for invading England, which Rufus perʃuaded Robert, an eaʃy, impolitic prince, were intended to place Edgar on the Engliʃh throne. Malcolm, who was then in the height of his glory, ʃaw Edgar once more reduced to throw himʃelf upon his protection, and he received him as formerly, with the greateʃt affection and reʃpect, though he ʃeems to have had no reaʃon to be pleaʃed with his conduct. He was at the time of Edgar’s arrival, at the head of a brave, well-diʃciplined army, and preparing to invade England. The beginning of May, Malcolm without reʃiʃtance penetrated a great way into the country, making a vaʃt booty, with which he returned to Scotland. The Saxon Chronicle intimates, that he was beaten by William’s lieutenants; but Florence of Worceʃter and other hiʃtorians only ʃay, that it was the will of Providence he ʃhould advance no farther: an expreʃʃion which more modern writers are at a loʃs to account for, as alʃo for Malcolm’s haʃty return from ʃo promiʃing an expedition.
The Scotch hiʃtories tell us, that Malcolm was provoked to this invaʃion by the injuʃtice of William’s lieutenants, who had ʃeized his caʃtle of Alnwick, and of William himʃelf, who had ʃequeʃtered into his own hands twelve fine manors that had been given him by the Conqueror. The Engliʃh chronicles agree with thoʃe of Scotland as to theʃe facts; but I am apt to believe that the caʃtle of Alnwick was ʃurprized while Malcolm was in the more ʃoutherly parts; and that the true reaʃon of his return to Scotland, was the certain intelligence he had, that William, with his elder and younger brothers, were on their return from France to England, which accordingly happened in the autumn of this year. Upon their arrival, William raiʃed great armaments both by ʃea and land, to invade Scotland. His fleet was daʃhed to pieces by ʃtorms and tempeʃts, and almoʃt all who were on board of it periʃhed. Malcolm had foreʃeen the invaʃion by land, and had ʃo effectually laid waʃte the counties through which the Engliʃh army was to paʃs, that William loʃt great part of his troops by fatigue and famine; and when he arrived in Scotland, found himʃelf in no condition to proʃecute his ambitious ʃchemes, eʃpecially as Malcolm was advancing againʃt him with a powerful army.
Rufus, in this distreʃs, had recourʃe to Robert de Mowbray, earl of Northumberland, who diʃʃuaded him from venturing a battle; but counʃelled him if poʃʃible, to open a negociation by means of Edgar and the other Engliʃh noblemen reʃiding with Malcolm. His advice proved ʃalutary and ʃucceʃsful. Edgar being applied to, and having obtained a promiʃe of being reʃtored to his Engliʃh eʃtate, undertook the negociation, which ʃeems to have been a matter of more difficulty than he had apprehended. According to Odericus Vitalis, who lived at the time, and was well acquainted with public affairs, Malcolm had never yet recognized the right of Rufus to the Engliʃh crown, and therefore he refuʃed to treat with him as a ʃovereign prince, but offered to enter into a negociation with his elder brother Robert. Robert, very probably at William’s deʃire, gave Malcolm the meeting; and the latter, carrying him to an eminence, ʃhewed him the diʃpoʃition of his army, and offered, if Robert would give him leave, to cut off his younger brother, and to pay to him the allegiance that was due for his Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions. Robert generouʃly anʃwered, That he had reʃigned to Rufus his right of primogeniture in England; that he had even become one of William’s ʃubjects there, by accepting of an Engliʃh eʃtate. The mention of this interview has been unaccountably omitted by all the Scotch hiʃtorians, though one of the moʃt remarkable circumʃtances of Malcolm’s reign, as it diʃplays, better than any other that I know of, his principles and politics. From it we learn, that he conʃidered the pretenʃions of Edgar to the crown of England as being extinguiʃhed, and that the homage he had already paid to the Conqueror was due to his eldeʃt ʃon. It appears, however, that he thought the abdication of Robert left him at liberty to treat with William. An interview between them accordingly followed; and many difficulties being ʃurmounted, a treaty was concluded; by which it was agreed, that Malcolm ʃhould yield the ʃame obedience to Rufus, as he had done to his father the Conqueror: that William ʃhould reʃtore to Malcolm, the twelve manors in diʃpute, together with his other Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions; and give him likewiʃe twelve marks of gold yearly, beʃides reʃtoring Edgar to all his Engliʃh eʃtates.
That this treaty was concluded in Lothian, and not at Leeds, in Yorkʃhire (as the Scotch hiʃtorians contend) is next to certain, not only from the teʃtimony of the Engliʃh chronicles, but from the circumʃtance of William, upon his returning from the place of treaty, having taken a liking to the ʃituation of Carliʃle, which he intended to fortify.
William thought this treaty ʃo diʃhonourable on his part, that he reʃolved not to fulfil it; and it is generally agreed that neceʃʃity alone forced him to conclude it. He carried Edgar back with him to England, where he found that ʃome of his noblemen had conquered part of the Welch borders, and that his affairs were in a ʃtate of great ʃecurity. Robert and Edgar having been the principal inʃtruments in compleating the late negociation, began to remind William of his engagements with themʃelves, as well as with Malcolm; but his anʃwers were ʃo evaʃive, that they plainly ʃaw he was reʃolved to perform nothing: upon which they threw themʃelves on ʃhip-board, and paʃʃed over to Normandy. Upon their departure, William applied himʃelf to fortify his northern barrier, and eʃpecially Carliʃle (which had been two hundred years before deʃtroyed by the Danes); but as it lay within Malcolm’s feudal dominions, and as its ʃituation was of great importance, it was then poʃʃeʃʃed by one Dolphin, whom, with his followers, William expelled, and began to build a new caʃtle within the town; which Malcolm complained of as a breach of the late treaty. Soon after this, William fell ill; but upon his recovery, in autumn, Malcolm repaired to his court, at Glouceʃter, that he might have a perʃonal interview with William, and redreʃs of all his complaints; and laʃtly, to conclude a new treaty, which might finiʃh all diʃputes between the two nations for the future. Upon his arrival, he found he could get no admittance to William’s preʃence, without having firʃt performed his homage, and ʃubmitted to the judgment of his barons in full court. We are told that Malcolm refuʃed to do either; becauʃe he was only obliged, by the late treaty, to do homage in the ʃame manner as the former kings of Scotland had done it to William’s predeceʃʃors, and as he himʃelf had performed it to the Conqueror; that is, upon the confines of both kingdoms. William rejected his reaʃons; and peremptorily inʃiʃting upon his compliance, Malcolm left England in a rage.
I have given the laʃt-mentioned tranʃaction at Glouceʃter from unqueʃtionable authors, who ʃeem to blame William for his haughtineʃs. I am, however, of opinion, that Malcolm’s refuʃal of doing homage aroʃe from the terms not being complied with upon which he was to perform it; and that the real intention of William was; to try him as an Engliʃh peer, upon ʃome charge which was eaʃy to be invented. Be this as it may, upon Malcolm’s return to Scotland, he raiʃed a new army, and beʃieged Alnwic.
Robert de Mowbray, the then governor or earl of Northumberland, raiʃed ʃome forces to oppoʃe Malcolm; but could not prevent the ʃiege being carried on with great vigour. According to Fordun and other Scotch hiʃtorians, the place was reduced to such ʃtreights, that a knight came out of the caʃtle, with its keys on the point of his ʃpear; and telling thoʃe whom he met that he was come to lay them at Malcolm’s feet. That prince, unarmed as he was, advancing to receive them, was by the traitor run through the eye, and killed upon the ʃpot. They add, that prince Edward, Malcolm’s eldeʃt ʃon, was mortally wounded in endeavouring to revenge his father’s death; and Fordun ʃays, he died three days after. The Engliʃh hiʃtorians on the other hand contend, that Malcolm was ʃurprized in his camp by Mowbray; that he was killed by one Morel de Bæbaburh; that his ʃon fell at the ʃame time; and that their army ʃuffered a total rout. Upon comparing circumʃtances, I cannot help giving the preference to the Engliʃh relation, that of the Scotch being full of inconʃiʃtences. It is very poʃʃible, that Malcolm might have been treating with the governor of the garriʃon about a ʃurrender, when his army was ʃurprized by Mowbray; and there is nothing improbable in our ʃuppoʃing him to have been killed in the attack, perhaps by the very man with whom he was treating, and who might have been in concert with Mowbray. This is the utmoʃt we can allow to the Scotch narrative; and it accounts for prince Edward being mortally wounded, as Fordun ʃays he was, during the confuʃion occaʃioned by the attack. The relation of the Scots is the more improbable, by their childiʃhly alledging that the ʃurname of Piercy, an old Norman barony, took its riʃe from the manner in which Malcolm was killed. They are better founded when they tell us, that their excellent queen Margaret was then lying ill within the caʃtle of Edinburgh, where ʃhe died, four days after her huʃband. It is certain, that Malcolm’s body was diʃcovered, and carried in a cart by ʃome country fellows to Tinmouth church, where it lay buried, together with that of his ʃon, till both of them were removed ʃome years after to the abbey of Dumfermling.1
Malcolm’s iʃʃue by Margaret was as follows: Edward, who was killed as we have already mentioned; Edmund, who died in England the ʃame year his father was ʃlain. Some ʃay, that he was a brave and a valiant prince, and that he had retired from the world at the time of his death: but William of Malmʃbury gives us a very different idea of him; for he ʃays, that he was acceʃʃory to his elder brother’s death (by which it would ʃeem as if he had ʃerved in the Engliʃh army) and that he had agreed to divide the kingdom with his baʃtard-brother Duncan; but being diʃcovered, he was taken and thrown into priʃon, where he died a ʃincere penitent, deʃiring that he might be buried in the irons with which he was loaded. I am apt to believe Malmʃbury’s relation. Of Ethelred, the third ʃon, we know nothing, but that he was buried at St. Andrew’s; and we ʃhall hereafter have occaʃion to mention his three younger ʃons; Edgar, Alexander, and David. The daughters were, Matilda or Maud, married to Henry the firʃt of England; and Mary, the wife of Euʃtace, count of Bouillon, brother to Godfrey and Baldwin, ʃucceʃʃively kings of Jeruʃalem.
Malcolm, who was killed the ʃixth of June, in the thirty-ʃixth year of his reign, was a very extraordinary prince for that age; and though there is reaʃon to ʃuʃpect his hiʃtorians, who were churchmen, of partiality, yet the Engliʃh hiʃtorians leave us no room to doubt of his valour and proweʃs. The barbarous manner in which he made war is to be charged upon the times; and it was his peculiar felicity to have for his wife, a woman whoʃe amiable virtues ʃoftened the ferocity both of him and his ʃubjects. But after all I have ʃaid, the ʃtate of Scotland at the time of his death, affords ʃtrong reaʃon to ʃuʃpect, that we have only the bright ʃide of his character and actions.
It appeared in a few days after Malcolm’s death, that his own authority and courage alone had given tranquility, but without any ʃtability, to the internal government of his kingdom. Notwithʃtanding all that had been done by himʃelf and his family, to render the ʃucceʃʃion hereditary, tho’ they were princes of exemplary virtues, and tho’ their ʃucceʃʃion had been broken into by a deteʃtable tyrant, yet ʃuch was the prevalent love which the Scots had for the collateral ʃucceʃʃion to their crown, that during all his reign, a ʃtrong party in its favour was lurking in the kingdom. At the head of this was his brother Donald, ʃurnamed Bane, whoʃe name is not mentioned in the long reign of Malcolm; but who appears to have retired in diʃcontent to the Iʃlands and Highlands, where his partizans were ʃo numerous, as well as in the Lowlands, that there does not ʃeem to have been even a ʃtruggle for the ʃon of Malcolm, when his uncle, Donald, mounted the throne. His party was greatly aʃʃiʃted by the univerʃal diʃʃatisfaction at the meaʃures of the late reign, in introducing the Engliʃh and other foreigners, and raiʃing them to great poʃts and eʃtates. I have already traced the reaʃons for this innovation (for it was no other) in the government, and ʃhewn that they were partly political, and partly neceʃʃary. It would perhaps be no difficult matter to ʃhew, that the glorious figure which Malcolm the third made in the time of the Conqueror and his ʃon, was owing to Edgar’s party in England; but Donald, upon his acceʃʃion expelled all foreigners out of Scotland, and obliged them to ʃeek refuge in England, through the interceʃʃion of Edgar, who was then at that court.
Their removal gave a new, but a diʃmal, face the affairs of Scotland. Malcolm’s family had ʃtill a great intereʃt in the kingdom; and Atheling found means to reʃcue his nephew Edgar, the eldeʃt ʃon of Malcolm, out of the hands of Donald, and to carry him to the court of Rufus, where he was in great reputation. He was then aged, infirm, and venerable for his ʃufferings as well as for his being the true heir to the Engliʃh throne; but Rufus thinking he had nothing to apprehend from him, treated him with a generous confidence. William himʃelf was on bad terms with his brothers; and by the complexion of his hiʃtory, it ʃeems as if ʃome of their partizans had ʃpread a notion that he intended to adopt young Edgar for his heir, having no iʃʃue of his own. It was likewiʃe more than inʃinuated, that Edgar Atheling had been the adviʃer of this meaʃure; and an Engliʃhman, whoʃe name, according to Fordun, was Orgar, boldly accuʃed Atheling of practices to advance his nephew to that ʃucceʃʃion, with a view of himʃelf being regent during his minority. Rufus either believed, or ʃeemed to believe the charge, but required legal proofs of Atheling’s guilt. As thoʃe could not be produced, Orgar inʃiʃting upon, and Edgar denying, the charge, the barbarous laws of the times rendered a ʃingle combat unavoidable between the two parties. If we may believe Fordun, the whole weight of William’s authority was on the ʃide of Orgar, who was one of the ʃtrongeʃt and moʃt active men in the nation; and though Edgar’s age allowed him to be defended by the arm of another, yet none was found bold or generous enough, through fear of the royal indignation, to become his champion, till one Godwin of Wincheʃter, whoʃe family had been under obligations to Edgar, or his anceʃtors, offered to be his ʃubʃtitute in the combat. The day accordingly was appointed; the proper oaths were adminiʃtered; and, all the pompous parade of arms being finiʃhed, the combatants engaged. Fordun has given us a deʃcription of the combat ʃo minute and exact, that I am apt to think Turgot, or ʃome author from whom he had it, has taken it from the life. It is ʃufficient here to ʃay, that Godwin was victorious; and Orgar, when dying, confeʃʃed his guilt. The conqueror, as cuʃtomary, obtained all the lands of his adverʃary. The victory of Godwin was interpreted, by the king and all his court, as the viʃible manifeʃtation of heaven in favour of Edgar; and William and he, ever after, lived in the moʃt intimate friendʃhip.
This combat, immaterial as the ʃucceʃs was for clearing Atheling, produced wonderful effects in favour of young Edgar, and his two brothers, who were likewiʃe at the Engliʃh court. Their party began to revive in Scotland; and Donald had recourʃe to an expedient which he ʃeems to have planned before, that of calling in the Danes and Norwegians for the ʃupport of his government; for which they were to be indemnified by his ceding to them the Orkney and Shetland Iʃlands, then ʃubject to the kings of Scotland, and very poʃʃibly the appenage of Donald himʃelf, before he uʃurped the throne. Magnus, who was king of Norway at this time, after actually taking poʃʃeʃʃion of the Iʃlands, marched a body of troops to the aʃʃiʃtance of Donald. Thoʃe barbarians, as uʃual, became ʃo inʃolent, that in a ʃhort time they were more hated than the Engliʃh had ever been by the Scots, who complained that they ʃaw their country in danger of becoming a province to Norway.
We know not what the real ʃentiments of Rufus were at this juncture; but I am inclined to think he did not ʃeriously intend that young Edgar ʃhould ʃucceed to the crown. A natural ʃon, named Duncan, of the late Malcolm, had been ʃent a hoʃtage into England; and having been made a knight by Rufus, he was ʃerving in his armies with great reputation, when William formed the deʃign of placing him upon the throne of Scotland, as illegitimacy could be no obʃtacle in the eyes of a prince who was himʃelf the ʃon of a baʃtard. The Scotch hiʃtorians generally ʃuppoʃe that Duncan applied for aʃʃiʃtance to Rufus; but this is immaterial, as the latter had many weighty reaʃons for declaring againʃt Donald.
The Scots became now more than ever diʃcontented with Donald’s Norwegian auxiliaries; but he found himʃelf under a neceʃʃity of maintaining himʃelf upon the throne by their means. This was an alarming circumʃtance to William; and he readily put Duncan at the head of a body of troops, with whom he entered Scotland. If he met with reʃiʃtance, it muʃt have been from the Norwegians: for the Scots in general abandoned Donald, who was obliged again to retire to the Iʃles; though there is ʃome reaʃon for believing, that it was only in order to receive freʃh recruits from Norway. The Scots, upon the flight of Donald, imagined that Duncan was about to raiʃe Edgar to the throne of his father; but inʃtead of that, he repaired to Scone, where he was ʃolemnly crowned.
Nothing can be imagined more diʃtreʃsful than the ʃituation of the Scots at this time. Two uʃurpers were contending about their crown, and each were ʃupported by an army of foreigners. They, however, at laʃt acted with a becoming ʃpirit. Malpedir, the thane, or earl, of Mearns, a powerful nobleman, ʃurprized (ʃome say by Donald’s advice) Duncan, and killed him, in the caʃtle of Menteith; which was the more eaʃily effected, as the domeʃtic troubles of England had, by this time, forced William to recal his troops out of Scotland. Upon the death of Duncan, Malpedir was ʃo much of a patriot, that he replaced Donald upon the throne, rather than owe the reʃtoration of Edgar to Engliʃh troops: nor does it appear that the Norwegians aʃʃiʃted Donald in regaining his crown. A viʃit which the king of Norway, about this time, paid to his new acquiʃitions in the Weʃtern and Northern Iʃles, created freʃh alarms at the court of England; and the Scots in general ʃhewed manifeʃt diʃpoʃitions for calling in young Edgar. Donald, to prevent that, offered Edgar all that part of Scotland which lay ʃouth of the Forth: the terms, however, were not only rejected, but the meʃʃengers who brought them were puniʃhed as traitors; by which we may ʃuppoʃe Edgar was then in the South of Scotland, or in that part of England which he looked upon to be his own dominions. His uncle Edgar Atheling was ʃtill alive; and Rufus, rather than ʃee the Norwegians again obtain a footing in Scotland, gave Atheling the command of a body of troops to reʃtore his nephew. Miracles, in thoʃe days, were of great ʃervice in warlike expeditions; and when Edgar came to Durham, the burying-place of Cuthbert, that ʃaint appeared to him, and promiʃed him ʃucceʃs, provided he repaired next day to his church, and received his banner from the hands of the canons; which Edgar accordingly did. The truth is, the Scots would have effected the reʃtoration of Edgar, had not the good ʃaint interpoʃed; for they abandoned Donald at the appearance of the Engliʃh troops. They were headed by Robert, ʃon of that Godwin who had ʃo bravely defended Atheling; and, tho’ only two thouʃand in number, after obtaining a bloodleʃs victory, they forced the uʃurper to an inglorious flight. He was purʃued ʃo cloʃely, that he was taken and brought before young Edgar, who ordered his eyes to be put out, and condemned him to perpetual impriʃonment, in which he died.
Edgar having mounted the throne of his ancestors, proved a grateful votary to St. Cuthbert, by the vaʃt preʃents he made to his church, as we ʃhall ʃee in the eccleʃiaʃtical part of this hiʃtory. Upon the death of William Rufus, his brother, Henry the firʃt, became king of England, though Robert, duke of Normandy, who was elder brother to both, was ʃtill alive. Chriʃtina, ʃiʃter to Edgar Atheling, had by this time profeʃʃed herʃelf a nun in the monaʃtery of Wilton, into which ʃhe carried her niece, young Matilda, ʃiʃter to Edgar, now king of Scotland. As it was highly improbable that Edgar Atheling could have any iʃʃue, and as his nephew never thought of putting in any claim to the Engliʃh crown, as the male repreʃentative of the Anglo-Saxon royal blood, Henry thought that his marriage with young Matilda, a beautiful and an accompliʃhed princeʃs, would ʃtrengthen his title to the crown. Some devotees of the time oppoʃed the marriage, under pretence of Matilda’s having been a profeʃʃed nun. Henry’s ʃituation with his clergy did not admit of his diʃobliging the haughty Anʃelm, then archbiʃhop of Canterbury; but as the princeʃs herʃelf was far from being averʃe to the match, ʃhe gave her royal lover all the information he could deʃire for removing the objection. She abʃolutely denied her ever having taken the veil; ʃhe ʃaid, that her aunt had obliged her ʃometimes to wear a piece of black cloth, to cover her face from the inʃolence of the Norman ʃoldiers, but that as ʃoon as her aunt was abʃent, ʃhe always threw it away; and that her father often declared he deʃigned her to be a wife, and not a nun. Her information (for Christina ʃeems by this time to have been dead) was laid before Anʃelm, who called a ʃynod before he would give any deciʃion; but the cauʃe being fully heard, and the lady’s caʃe being drawn up by the archdeacons of Canterbury and Saliʃbury, and confirmed by the nuns, ʃentence paʃʃed in in favour of the marriage, which was celebrated with the greateʃt pomp and national ʃatiʃfaction in November 1100.
Such is the account which William of Malmʃbury and other old Engliʃh hiʃtorians give of this famous marriage. Matthew Paris has not treated it in ʃo favourable a light. He ʃays that the princeʃs herʃelf was averʃe to it; but was afterwards prevailed on to conʃent by the importunities and flattery of her friends, who told her that the marriage was the only means of ʃaving the blood of both nations, and reʃtoring them to laʃting tranquility. He adds, however, that ʃhe conʃented with ʃo much reluctance, on account of having been profeʃʃed a nun, that ʃhe devoted the fruit of her womb to the devil. This relation of Paris carries with it all the marks of an infernal, miʃguided zeal, and is expreʃsly contradicted by the proceedings of the ʃynod, and the archbiʃhop.
The match strongly cemented the good underʃtanding between the crowns of Scotland and England; and the Engliʃh writers themʃelves acknowledge, that Edgar continued to the time of his death, a faithful ally to Henry. The intercourʃe between them has given riʃe to ʃome monks, zealous for the ʃuperiority of the kingdom and church of England over thoʃe of Scotland, to forge certain writings, by which Edgar acknowledges, “that he held the kingdom of Scotland by gift of his lord William, king of England; and with conʃent of his ʃaid lord, he gives to God Almighty, and the church of Durham, and to the glorious biʃhop St. Cuthbert, and to biʃhop William, and to the monks of Durham, and their ʃucceʃʃors, the manʃions of Berwic and Coldingham, with ʃeveral other lands poʃʃeʃʃed by his father Malcolm: and this charter is granted in the preʃence of biʃhop William, and Turgot, the prior; and confirmed by the croʃʃes of Edgar his brother, and other nobleman.” That this pretended charter is a forgery appears from the original not being producible, and from the copy of it printed in the Monaʃticon Anglicanum in the following manner: “In the days of William the firʃt, king of England (viz. the Conqueror) and of William biʃhop of Durham, Edgar, king of Scotland, made a grant to St. Cuthbert, and to the church of Durham, of Coldinghamʃhire, and of the tenure following.” Now it is certain that William the Conqueror had been dead ten years before Edgar came to the throne of Scotland; and that William, biʃhop of Durham, was not alive at the time the charter is ʃuppoʃed to have been granted. Beʃides thoʃe two indiʃputable evidences of its forgery, many others might be produced; but they are unneceʃʃary. The like intemperate zeal has prompted another forgery of the ʃame kind, under the ʃeal of Edgar on horʃeback, with a ʃword in his right hand, and a ʃhield on his left arm, within a bordure of France. This laʃt circumʃtance is a ʃufficient proof of its forgery, as in the ʃame repoʃitory there are five undoubted genuine charters of the ʃame Edgar, who, on his ʃeal, is repreʃented ʃitting on two ʃwords planted a-croʃs, with a ʃcepter in one hand, a ʃword in the other, a royal diadem on his head, and an inʃcription round, Scotorum Baʃileus, which the beʃt Engliʃh antiquaries admit to have been a title denoting independency. I ʃhall not miʃpend the reader’s time in mentioning other forgeries of the ʃame nature, which are acknowledged by the moʃt judicious hiʃtorians, and ʃuʃpected by the moʃt credulous.
Notwithʃtanding the great troubles raiʃed both in France and England againʃt Henry the firʃt, Edgar never could be perʃuaded to take part againʃt his brother-in-law; and what is ʃtill more extraordinary, he remained firm to his engagements even after Henry had been deʃerted by Atheling, to whom his nephew Edgar owed ʃo much. Atheling, though now old and infirm, ʃeems never to have been at reʃt; but we are in the dark as to many particulars of his fortune. It is certain, that before his death, he left the party of Henry the firʃt, and joined that of duke Robert, who was entirely defeated at the battle of Tinchebray, in Normandy, and taken priʃoner, together with Atheling. According to William of Malmʃbury, the latter had paid a viʃit to the Holy Land, and had refuʃed many advantageous offers from ʃeveral European powers, that he might end his days peaceably in England. It is well known with what ʃeverity Henry treated his elder brother Robert, during his captivity: but his affection for his queen, and regard for Edgar, prevailed with him to ʃuffer Atheling to enjoy his favourite wiʃh; for he was ʃet at liberty, and returning to England he there finiʃhed his life. It is uncertain, whether he ʃurvived his nephew Edgar, who, after happy and peaceable reign of nine years and three months, died at Dundee, in 1107, was buried at Dumfermling.
Edgar was ʃucceeded by his brother Alexander, ʃurnamed, from his impetuoʃity, the Fierce. It muʃt be acknowledged, that the Scotch hiʃtorians have been ʃcandalouʃly neglectful of this prince’s hiʃtory, and its chronology. It appears, that upon his acceʃʃion to the throne, his ʃubjects were ʃo ignorant of his true character, on account of his piety and devotion, that the Northern parts were ʃoon filled with ravages and bloodʃhed, the inʃeparable concomitants of the feudal inʃtitutions. It happened fortunately for the royal authority, that thoʃe differences were ʃo deeply rooted in the breaʃts of the parties, that they ʃeldom or never could be perʃuaded to join in oppoʃing the king’s power; and this circumʃtance was, in fact, its chief ʃupport. Alexander inʃtantly raiʃed an army, marched into Murray and Roʃsʃhire, attacked the inʃurgents ʃeparately; and having ʃubdued them all, he ordered numbers of the moʃt powerful among them to be executed. Upon his return from this expedition, in paʃʃing through the Merns, he met with a widow who complained that her huʃband and ʃon had been put to death by the young earl their ʃuperior. Alexander immediately alighted from his horʃe, and ʃwore he would not remount him till he had enquired into the juʃtice of the complaint; and finding it to be true, the offender was hanged in his preʃence.
Though thoʃe ʃeaʃonable examples prevented all attempts towards an open rebellion, yet they occaʃioned many private conʃpiracies among the more abandoned part of his ʃubjects, who had been accuʃtomed to live under a remiʃs government. We accordingly find that a freʃh conʃpiracy broke out againʃt Alexander, while he was engaged in building the caʃtle of Baledgar, ʃo called in compliment to his brother Edgar, who had laid the foundation-ʃtone. This caʃtle lay in the carʃe of Gowry, which we are told, had formerly belonged to Donald Bane; but afterwards came to the crown, either by donation or forfeiture. The ʃituation of this caʃtle was particularly convenient for the ʃuppreʃʃion of the robberies which were frequent in the neighbourhood: but the conʃpirators bribed one of his bed-chamber men to introduce them at night into the king’s bed-chamber. Alexander hearing a noiʃe drew his ʃword, diʃpatched ʃix of them, and by the help of Alexander Carron eʃcaped the danger, by flying to Fife. According to Sir James Balfour’s manuʃcript Annals, the conʃpirators chiefly reʃided in the Merns, to which Alexander once more marched with an army; but they retired a-croʃs the Spey. Alexander purʃued them to the banks of that river; and if the Scotch hiʃtorians have not confounded this expedition with one of the ʃame nature already related, he would have plunged into the river to paʃs it, had he not been reʃtrained by Carron, who bravely attacked the rebels, defeated them, and brought all who fell into his hands to public juʃtice. Carron, from his valour in this battle, was called Skrimgeour, or Skrimzeour, which is no other than the Engliʃh word Skirmiʃher, or Fighter.
It was probably after he had reduced his kingdom to ʃome order by thoʃe vigorous proceedings, that Alexander paid a viʃit to his brother-in-law, Henry the firʃt of England, who had juʃt married his daughter to the emperor of Germany. Henry was at that time planting a colony of Flemings upon the borders of Wales, in order to keep that turbulent people in awe, as well as to introduce into his kingdom the manufactures for which the Flemings were then famous. The Welch were impatient at this growing colony, and had broken out into ʃome hoʃtilities in 1113, while Alexander was in England. They had proved victorious over the earl of Cheʃter and Gilbert Strongbow, the two moʃt powerful of the Engliʃh ʃubjects; and Alexander, by virtue of the fealty he had ʃworn for his Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions, readily agreed to lead an army into North-Wales, where the ʃtrength of the Welch lay. Their heads were, Owen ap Cadogan; Griffith, the prince of North-Wales, who diʃclaimed all ʃubjection to, or alliance with, Henry; Meredith ap Blethyn, and Owen ap Edwin. Henry, who was then on very doubtful terms with the crown of France and his Norman barons, depended ʃolely on Alexander for the ʃucceʃs of this expedition; but he took the field in perʃon. Alexander, being joined by the earl of Cheʃter, entered North-Wales, and defeated Owen ap Edwin, whom he purʃued as far as Penannt-Bachwy; but though he reduced him to the greateʃt ʃtreights, Edwin eʃcaped to Griffith, the prince of North-Wales, with whom he was cloʃely allied. Henry, with the diviʃion which he commanded, was not ʃo ʃucceʃsful as Alexander, whoʃe troops were far better fitted, than his were, for ʃuch an expedition; for having advanced as far as Murcaʃtle, he found that he had loʃt two-thirds of his army, with almoʃt his whole baggage, by fatigue, famine, or the attacks of the enemy. The politic Henry, upon this, raiʃed a jealouʃy between the two Welch princes, that each was tampering either with himʃelf or Alexander; and he employed the earl of Cheʃter and Meredith, who had ʃubmitted to him, to promote the diviʃion. The event was, that Henry was forced to reʃtore Owen to all his lands, and to give Griffith a large ʃum of money. The Scotch hiʃtorians are entirely ʃilent with regard to this remarkable expedition; and, indeed, when we conʃider the manner in which it is related by the Engliʃh, there is the ʃtrongeʃt reaʃon to believe, that the ʃucceʃs or preʃence of Alexander were the chief inducements, not only for the Welch, but with Henry himʃelf, to conclude the peace.
In the year 1118 died Matilda, queen of England, and daughter to Malcolm Canmore. Her virtues and moderation were conʃpicuous; but Malmeʃbury has charged her memory with being over-liberal to foreign muʃicians, which induced her ʃometimes to oppreʃs her tenants; every queen of England, in thoʃe days, being poʃʃeʃʃed of a ʃeparate eʃtate, even during her huʃband’s life-time. Her marriage with Henry undoubtedly contributed greatly to the tranquility of his government in England, and even to the keeping the crown upon his head. Upon her death, which happened on the 30th of April, the care of her funeral was committed to the sheriffs of London, who, by an original roll which ʃtill remains, charged the crown with fifteen ʃhillings and two pence half-penny for oil expended in burning upon her tomb, and with three ʃhillings for cloth to cover the ʃame.
The reʃt of Alexander’s reign was ʃpent in civil and eccleʃiaʃtical duties. But I cannot here omit a very ʃingular adventure which befel him about the year 1123. Being about to paʃs the frith of Forth, a violent tempeʃt aroʃe, which drove him upon the Iʃle of Œmona, (ʃince called Inchcolm, which I have already mentioned to have been the burying-place of the Danes) with his attendants. This iʃland contained then no other inhabitants than a hermit, who lived in St. Columb’s chapel, and ʃubʃiʃted on the milk of one cow, and a few ʃhell-fiʃh, which he gathered on the ʃtrand, or from the hollows of the rocks. The hoʃpitable hermit ʃhared his homely fare with the king for three days, the ʃtorm continuing ʃo long, and cutting off all communication between the iʃland and the main land. Alexander, during his diʃtreʃs, made a vow to build a religious houʃe upon the place of his reʃidence; and he accordingly afterwards erected and endowed an abbey there for canons regular. Many were his works of the ʃame kind; for he finiʃhed the church of Dumfermling, and he gave the lands of Boarrinke, ʃo called from a monʃtrous miʃchievous boar there ʃlain, to the church of St. Andrew’s. In ʃhort, Alexander equalled any of his predeceʃʃors in acts of munificence to the church, reigned ʃeventeen years and twenty-one days, and, dying a batchelor, was buried at Dumfermling in 1124. Ælred, abbot of Riedual, who was cotemporary with Alexander, ʃays, that he was affable and humble to the monks and clergy, but inexpreʃʃibly terrible to his other ʃubjects; that his ʃpirit in all his undertakings was far above his ʃtrength; and that he was a learned prince. From this character we may ʃafely conclude, that Alexander was eaten up with zeal for the clergy.
Alexander the Fierce was ʃucceeded by his younger brother, David, who, with his ʃiʃter, queen Matilda, had his education in England. He married Maud, the daughter of Waltheof, by Judith, the niece of William the Conqueror; and David became afterwards poʃʃeʃʃed of the great earldoms of Huntingdom and Northumberland; ʃo that he was, at the time of his acceʃʃion to the crown of Scotland, the moʃt powerful ʃubject in England. He cultivated his family-friendʃhip with Henry the firʃt of England; and having early foreʃeen the oppoʃition which his niece, the empreʃs Maud (who, by the death of her elder brother, was then heireʃs to the crown of England) would encounter, he took an oath to maintain her and her iʃʃue in that ʃucceʃʃion. This he did on a motive of principle; for Stephen, who was her antagoniʃt, was David’s kinʃman by his younger ʃiʃter, Mary, wife to Euʃtace earl of Boulogne. Upon the death of Henry, Stephen ʃeized the crown of England, together with the royal treaʃures; and his progreʃs was ʃo rapid, that the party of the empreʃs was quite overborne, and numbers of her friends took refuge in Scotland. David not only gave them a hoʃpitable reception, but raiʃed an army, with which he marched into England, ʃeized upon Carliʃle and Newcaʃtle, and obliged the nobility in the north of England to give hoʃtages for their fidelity to the empreʃs and her young ʃon, afterwards Henry the ʃecond. The truth is, that David was aʃʃiʃted in his progreʃs during this irruption by the affection which the northern nobility bore to the cauʃe of the empreʃs; but, in order to form a true idea of David’s conduct, it is neceʃʃary to make a ʃhort review of the ʃtate of affairs in England at that time.
Stephen earl of Boulogne was third ʃon to the earl of Blois and Boulogne, by William the Conqueror’s daughter. The eldeʃt brother was diʃabled by nature from the management of affairs; the ʃecond brother was earl of Blois, and a competitor for the duchy of Normandy; and Stephen, having long reʃided in England, demanded that crown, while the empreʃs and her ʃon were ʃet aʃide from the ʃucceʃʃion in a great council of the peers, without (ʃo far as appears from hiʃtory) a contradictory vote. The reaʃons pretended for this ʃtep were, her being married to a needy foreign prince, who, in her right, might lay claim to the government of England; and her father Henry having, on his death-bed, repented his appointing her to the ʃucceʃʃion. The empreʃs and her ʃon were at that time lying wind-bound in a French harbour, which prevented her party from openly declaring in her favour; but this had no influence upon David. He was preparing to march ʃouthward, when Stephen, hearing that he was maʃter of Carlisle and Newcaʃtle upon Tine, but not of Bamborough, ʃwore that he would recover by arms what David had ʃeized by treachery, meaning, by his making uʃe of Maud’s name and authority. With incredible diligence he raiʃed an army, juʃt as David, having seiʃed upon Alnwick and Norham, was preparing to beʃiege Durham, though the winter was then far advanced.
All this time, the empreʃs and her party had not declared her title to the crown of England; and her natural brother, Robert earl of Gloceʃter, who, next to David, was thought to be the greateʃt ʃupport of her intereʃt, had proviʃionally recognized Stephen’s title. Thoʃe appearances, with the uninterrupted ʃucceʃʃes of Stephen, ʃeem to have ʃtartled David, who, perhaps, thought he had gone too far. Stephen, on the other hand, having advanced as far as Durham, was certainly apprehenʃive of the fate of a battle, which, if it went againʃt him, muʃt ʃhake his throne, and ʃent to know the demands of David. Theʃe were, that he ʃhould receive the inveʃtiture of the earldom of Huntingdon; that he ʃhould keep Carliʃle and Doncaʃter; and that his ʃon Henry, in right of his mother, ʃhould be put in poʃʃeʃʃion of the earldom of Northumberland. Stephen agreed to all thoʃe demands except the laʃt, which he referred to the deciʃion of his great council, becauʃe of the oppoʃition made to it by ʃome of his ʃubjects. The reʃt of the treaty was executed on both parts. A great difficulty, however, ʃtill ʃubʃiʃted, how David ʃhould get over his oath in favour of Maud’s ʃucceʃʃion; but this was removed, by his giving the inveʃtiture of all his Engliʃh eʃtates to his ʃon Henry, who accordingly performed homage to Stephen. When the whole of this tranʃaction is conʃidered the prudence of David is but barely reconcileable to his honour, if he gave Stephen reaʃon to believe that he had entirely abandoned the intereʃt of his niece the empreʃs.
The prince of Scotland was then the repreʃentative of the old Anglo-Saxon kings, whom the Engliʃh had ʃtill a ʃtrong affection. Stephen therefore treated him with all the honours due to the firʃt prince of the blood, and thought he gained a capital point, by prevailing with Henry to attend him to London, and appear at his court at Weʃtminʃter. The difficulties which the profuʃion of Stephen, and the oppoʃition he began now to meet with, threw him into, probably prevented his gratifying the prince of Scotland in his demands upon the earldom of Northumberland, which was become a capital object with the chief of the Engliʃh nobility. The prior of Hexham, a cotemporary author, informs us, that at the feʃtivity of Eaʃter, Stephen placed prince Henry on his right hand; which occaʃioned the archbiʃhop of Canterbury, the earl of Cheʃter, and other peers, to ʃpeak contumeliouʃly of the young man, and to withdraw from court. Notwithʃtanding the profuʃion of honours heaped upon Henry, David ʃaw through Stephen’s motives, and that he kept his ʃon about his perʃon only to overawe the empreʃs and her party. Henry applied with indefatigable aʃʃiduity to have his claim upon Northumberland diʃcuʃʃed; but meeting with frivolous delays, David ordered him to leave the Engliʃh court, which he did; and he accordingly returned to Scotland without the inveʃtiture.
Stephen’s affairs having called him to Normandy, he was there alarmed with an account, ʃent him by his Engliʃh regency, of a conʃpiracy formed by the old Engliʃh, to place David (but more probably prince Henry) upon his throne. This information received ʃome countenance from the freʃh preparations making in Scotland for invading England, on account of the non-performance of the treaty of Durham. I cannot, however, perceive, how that non-performance could be conʃtrued into a juʃt motive for this ʃecond invaʃion; becauʃe the affair did not lie in the breaʃt of Stephen, but in the peers of his court. Be this as it may, while David was buʃied in his preparations, and when more than half of England ʃeemed diʃpoʃed to join him and his ʃon, they received a meʃʃage from Thurʃtan, the aged archbiʃhop of York, begging that they would give him a meeting at Roxburgh, which lies near the borders of the two kingdoms. The voice of piety and religion was always deciʃive with David; and the venerable character of Thurʃtan prevailed with him and his ʃon to poʃtpone their expedition till Stephen’s arrival in England, which happened in December 1137. He had been ʃo ʃucceʃsful in Normandy, that he had nothing to fear from that quarter; and when David’s deputies demanded the inveʃtiture of Northumberland for their prince, he abʃolutely refuʃed their requeʃt in very high terms. By this time David had built the caʃtle of Carliʃle; and from the narratives of the Engliʃh hiʃtorians it appears, that a number of their greateʃt men conʃidered David as their true king; and Milo de Beauchamp, governor of the caʃtle of Bedford, actually declared himʃelf in his favour. Whether David fell in with their ʃentiments is not certain; nor have we any foundation in hiʃtory to ʃupport the affirmative, becauʃe he always profeʃʃed a ʃtrong attachment to the empreʃs. Stephen, however, ʃeems to have thought that David had an eye upon his crown; for, tho’ it was then in the midʃt of winter, he raiʃed an army, and, without regard to the ʃanctity of the time, he took the caʃtle of Bedford on Chriʃtmas-day.
If David had any views for himʃelf up on the crown of England, Stephen’s alacrity and expedition diʃconcerted them. The Scots had laid ʃiege to Wark, and were commanded by William, grand nephew to David, who had been joined by many of the Engliʃh barons. As Wark was at that time a place of importance, David preʃʃed it furiouʃly; but hearing of Stephen’s ʃucceʃs in the South, he raiʃed the ʃiege, and penetrated into Northumberland. Stephen marched northward to oppoʃe him; and, upon David’s retreating, he was ʃo incautious as to expoʃe his army to be either ʃtarved or cut in pieces; which had almoʃt happened at Roxburgh, where David had taken up ʃo ʃtrong a camp, that Stephen could not force it. On this occaʃion David diʃplayed great abilities, becauʃe he gained time for his niece’s party, who were in arms in the South; and Stephen was forced to make a precipitate retreat ʃouthward, after loʃing half his army. The empreʃs Maud, and her ʃon prince Henry, had now claimed the crown of England; and the earl of Glouceʃter, having publicly renounced his allegiance to Stephen, declared himʃelf of their party; but David had difficulties to encounter he had not foreʃeen. Though he was at the head of thirty thouʃand men, and tho’ he himʃelf was a generous humane prince, yet they were commanded by other chiefs, whose hatred of the Engliʃh led them into barbarities which David could not prevent; and thereby he loʃt the hearts of the inhabitants. It muʃt be acknowledged, that the Scotch hiʃtorians are blameable, in not having properly availed themʃelves of the excellent lights communicated by the cotemporary authors of this time. From them it is plain, that the northern barons continued to be totally averʃe to David’s receiving the inveʃtiture of Northumberland, for this plain reaʃon, that their diʃtance from the ʃeat of government rendered them almoʃt independent on the crown of England, and they dreaded the reʃidence of a Scotch prince among them. Upon the retreat of Stephen ʃouthwards, he found the confederacy againʃt him very ʃtrong, and that many of his greateʃt ʃubjects had renounced their allegiance to him, on pretext of his having broken his coronation oath, by diʃʃeizing his Engliʃh ʃubjects of their franchiʃes, and by the encouragement he gave to foreigners. Stephen, as an anʃwer to their complaints, reduced the caʃtles of Hereford, Dover, Shrewʃbury, and others, which had declared againʃt him. To counterbalance thoʃe advantages, David, after Eaʃter, in 1138, again invaded the biʃhopric of Durham; but he was vigorouʃly oppoʃed by the Northumbrian nobility, not from any affection they bore to Stephen’s perʃon or title, but from the cauʃes above ʃpecified. Among them we have the names of Robert de Bruce, and his brother, whoʃe deʃcendants make ʃo illuʃtrious a figure in the annals of Scotland. The earl of Albermarle, Walter de Gaunt, and Walter Eʃpee, renowned for his military proweʃs, were in the number of David’s enemies. The head of the Mowbray family (though but a boy) gave a ʃanction to the cauʃe; but old archbiʃhop Thurʃtan was the ʃoul and ʃpirit of the whole. York was appointed to be the place of rendezvous, and their meeting was opened with an animated ʃpeech, made by that prelate.
There is no diʃʃembling that the barbarities committed by David’s troops gave but too juʃt a handle to the hatred with which the archbiʃhop inʃpired the northern barons againʃt the Scots. David had lately reduced the town of Norham, which belonged to the biʃhop of Durham, to whom he offered to reʃtore it, provided he would renounce his allegiance to Stephen. His offer was rejected, and he demoliʃhed the caʃtle. In the mean time, the Engliʃh army had advanced from York to Clithero, and David ʃent his grand-nephew, William, to command againʃt them. William was ʃo ʃucceʃsful, that he cut to pieces the van-guard of their army, and deʃtroyed their country with a barbarity that ʃerved only to exaʃperate the inhabitants the more. David again beʃieged Wark; but hearing of William’s ʃucceʃsful expedition, he left the ʃiege to be carried on by ʃome of his general officers; and calling in his troops under William, he marched to Yorkʃhire, with a reʃolution to fight a deciʃive battle, if the Engliʃh ʃhould keep the field. Being joined by Euʃtace Fitz John, who delivered up to him the ʃtrong caʃtle of Alnwick, he paʃʃed the Tine; but ʃuch was the conʃternation of the Engliʃh barons, from their defeat at Clithero, that he found no enemy in the field. His army then conʃiʃted of twenty-ʃix thouʃand men; and Robert de Bruce, with Bernard de Baliol, who held great poʃʃeʃʃions in Scotland as well as in England, were ʃent by the northern barons to prevail with him to withdraw from the biʃhopric of Durham, where he then lay; in which caʃe they promiʃed to do their utmoʃt in procuring him the inveʃtiture of Northumberland. A propoʃition ʃo advantageous, and ʃo honourable, muʃt have prevailed with a prince of leʃs rigid principles than David; and we are told he would have accepted of them, had they not been oppoʃed by his general and grand-nephew, William, who reproached Bruce as a traitor, and confirmed David in his reʃolution to poʃtpone all other conʃiderations to his engagements with his niece the empreʃs. The negociation being thus at an end, the two deputies renounced their allegiance to David, which, in the language of thoʃe times, was called defying him.
Cotemporary hiʃtorians inʃinuate the ravages of the Scots to have been ʃo barbarous, that they united the Engliʃh againʃt them. The prince of Scotland, however, is deʃcribed by them as a moʃt amiable perʃonage, brave, generous, and compaʃʃionate; diʃtinguiʃhed for the beauty of his figure; affable, yet awful; and poʃʃeʃʃed of every virtue. Such is the character given of him by Ælred, abbot of Riedual, to whom he was perʃonally known; and therefore we cannot well diʃtruʃt his authority. All, therefore, we can ʃay, in alleviation of the barbarities committed by the troops under his command, is, that he either could not prevent them, or that he had conceived ʃo ʃtrong a hatred of the Engliʃh, that he thought it not criminal to diʃtreʃs them. Upon the return of the Engliʃh deputies to their army, they found it encamped at Thurʃtan-castle, and that it had received great reinforcements from the ʃouthern parts, particularly from Nottingham and Derbyʃhire. A new aʃʃociation was entered into againʃt the Scots; and they advanced to Northallerton, where the famous ʃtandard was produced. Its body was a kind of box, which moved upon wheels, from whence the maʃt of a ʃhip aroʃe, ʃurmounted by a ʃilver croʃs, and round it were hung the banners of St. Peter, St. John de Beverly, and St. Wilfred. Thoʃe ʃtandards were then common on the continent of Europe, and were never brought into the field but on the moʃt important occaʃions.
Thurʃtan continued to command the Engliʃh-army; but being worn out by age infirmities, he reʃigned his command to Ralph, biʃhop of the Orkneys, who is, by Matthew Paris, and other Engliʃh hiʃtorians, called the biʃhop of Durham. The Engliʃh in general an incredible confidence in the fortune of ʃtandard, and its ʃupernatural efficacy; but the vaʃt advantage they had over their enemies, in point of armour, gave them a more ʃolid ground to hope for ʃucceʃs. Both armies met on a plain called Cutton-Moor. The firʃt line of the Scots, according to the prior of Hexham, was compoʃed of Picts (for ʃo he calls them) who inhabited Galloway, Carric, Kyle, Conningham, and Renfrew. This abbot’s teʃtimony is an irrefragable evidence of what I have already aʃʃerted, that the race of the Picts ʃtill ʃubʃiʃted; and that though they had a prince of their own, he was a feudatory to David. The ʃecond line or center of his army conʃiʃted of Lothian men, by which we are to underʃtand his Engliʃh as well as Scotch ʃubjects ʃouth of the Forth, together with the Engliʃh and Normans of Maud’s party. The third line was formed of the clans under their different chieftains, but ʃubject to no regular command, and always impatient to return to their own country with their booty. The Engliʃh army ranged themʃelves round their ʃtandard, and quitted their horʃes, not only to ʃhew their reʃolution to die or conquer, but to avoid engaging at too great a diʃadvantage with the long lances of the Picts. Their front line was intermixed with archers, and a body of cavalry, ready for purʃuit, hovered at ʃome diʃtance. The Picts, beʃides their lances, made uʃe of targets; but when the Engliʃh cloʃed with them, they were ʃoon diʃordered and driven back upon the center, where David commanded in perʃon. Here his brave ʃon made a gallant reʃiʃtance; but the third line ʃeems never to have fought. David ʃeeing the day irretrievable, ordered ʃome of his troops to ʃave themʃelves, by throwing away their badges, and mingling with the Engliʃh. From this particular we may conclude, that the Normans and Engliʃh of Maud’s party wore particular cognizances; but be that as it may, David made a moʃt noble retreat to Carliʃle.
When he arrived there, his ʃon was miʃʃing, and he concluded that he had been killed; but in a few days he arrived with part of the diviʃion that he headed. The Scotch and Engliʃh hiʃtorians have run into oppoʃite extremes with regard to this battle. The former moʃt unpardonably make no mention of it, though no fact in hiʃtory is better atteʃted; and the latter undoubtedly magnify the loʃs of the Scots, when they ʃay it amounted to ten thouʃand men, and that the defeat was total. This was ʃo far from being the caʃe, that David was not purʃued, and the victorious army was unable to keep the field; for we find that, ʃoon after the battle, David took the ʃtrong caʃtle of Wark, which had ʃo long reʃiʃted his arms, and Stephen’s party employed Albert, biʃhop of Oʃtia, the pope’s legate, to negociate a peace; but all that he could obtain, was a truce till the 11th of November.
In the beginning of the year 1139, we find David ʃtill at the head of his army, and Stephen marching to Scotland to fight him. In the intermediate time, during Stephen’s abʃence in Normandy, his wife Matilda, one of the beʃt women of that age, had laboured ʃo inceʃʃantly with David for peace, that the terms were agreed on; and while Stephen was on his march, he received meʃʃengers from David with a copy of the preliminaries, which were ratified by Stephen, and a definitive treaty was concluded. By this treaty, Henry prince of Scotland was put in poʃʃeʃʃion of Huntingdon and Northumberland, and took an oath of fealty to Stephen, whom he certainly attended to the ʃiege of Ludlow; but whether as a hoʃtage or a volunteer is ʃomewhat doubtful. It muʃt be confeʃʃed, that the relations even of the Engliʃh hiʃtorians, though living at the time, are obʃcure, eʃpecially as they have not related the preciʃe terms of the treaty; and the events are far from agreeing with the ʃuperiority they aʃcribe to Stephen. I am inclined to think, that prince Henry of Scotland conʃidered his own cauʃe as different from that of the empreʃs, or even of his own father; and that he attended Stephen to Ludlow-caʃtle as one of his military tenants. The prince gained the affections of Stephen in a moʃt diʃtinguiʃhed manner; for when he was in danger of being hooked into the caʃtle by one of the beʃieged’s grappling-irons, he was diʃengaged by Stephen in perʃon. It does not enter within my preʃent ʃcheme to relate the various operations of the war in England, between the empreʃs and Stephen, farther than as they regard the hiʃtory of Scotland.
Stephen was taken priʃoner at the battle of Lincoln, where no mention is made of David; ʃo that the realm of Scotland probably continued in a ʃtate of tranquility during the critical year 1141, when the affairs of Stephen were deʃperate. David was then in England, and continued ʃtill to be the main prop, as well as the wiʃe counʃellor, of his niece the empreʃs; but her haughtineʃs and perverʃeneʃs broke through all his ʃchemes. When ʃhe was on the point of being recognized by the Londoners, ʃhe madly refuʃed to ʃuffer them to be governed by the laws of king Edward. David and the earl of Glouceʃter remonʃtrated againʃt her imprudence, which had almoʃt coʃt her ʃon the crown of England; for the Londoners drove her from their city, and it was with difficulty that David carried her to Oxford, and from thence to Wincheʃter. There, her ingratitude and paʃʃion exceeded all bounds. She upbraided David for controuling her will, and put herʃelf into the hands of Milo earl of Hereford. Even this affront did not ʃhake the fidelity of David; but while he remained with the empreʃs at Wincheʃter, which was beʃieged by Stephen’s generals, he ʃeems to have diveʃted himʃelf of all command in the army, and to have ʃerved as a volunteer under the earl of Glouceʃter, in covering the famous retreat of the army from Wincheʃter to Luggerʃhal in Wiltʃhire. This retreat, which ʃaved the perʃon of the empreʃs, was conducted with no more than two hundred men, and performed with moʃt amazing courage and conduct, in ʃight of a victorious and ʃuperior army. It was, however, impracticable to keep them longer together; and after the empreʃs had reached Luggerʃhal in ʃafety, David and his friend, the earl of Glouceʃter, prepared to make their eʃcape. The latter was taken priʃoner; but David marched northwards, by the fidelity of David Oliphant. He was now the chief object of Stephen’s attention, who had been made a captive by the party of the empreʃs, but was exchanged for the earl of Glouceʃter. I ʃhall therefore confine my narrative to the illuʃtrious part which the Scots acted in this important quarrel.
David’s regard for the empreʃs was far from rendering him unmindful of his own family-intereʃt. Upon his return to the North, he found it in a very flouriʃhing condition; for his ʃon was in poʃʃeʃʃion of all Northumberland, the earldom of Huntingdon, and a large eʃtate in the biʃhopric of Durham, which he received when he gave up the poʃʃeʃʃion of that city. Stephen raiʃed an army with great expedition, and ordered it to rendezvous at York, with an intention to invade David’s dominions; but he found him ʃo well provided for a defence, that he was forced to return to Northampton about Whitʃuntide, in 1142, leaving the kingdom of Scotland in tranquility. The war went on all this while with great fierceneʃs in the ʃouthern parts of England, as well as in Normandy, while David was entirely employed in giving ʃtrength and ʃtability to his kingdom; but by the unpardonable neglect of the Scotch hiʃtorians, we know little of the particulars. The party of the empreʃs, in the year 1146, received an irreparable blow by the death of the earls of Glouceʃter and Hereford; and her affairs were brought ʃo low, partly by that, and partly by her own miʃconduct, that ʃhe was forced to return to Normandy in 1147. During her abʃence, Stephen appears to have granted to David the great earldom of Cambridge, as part of that of Huntingdon, which had devolved upon him by his wife, the daughter of Waltheof, earl of Northumberland. I have already mentioned the vaʃt difficulties which David and his ʃon encountered, before they obtained the inveʃtiture of Northumberland; and impartiality calls upon me to ʃtate the riʃe of thoʃe difficulties in as clear a manner as poʃʃible.
There can be no doubt that Henry the firʃt gave to David ʃome of his wife’s father’s eʃtates, under certain reʃtrictions; but this ʃeems to have been a perʃonal favour done to David, without reʃtoring the blood of Waltheof; for his daughter, at the time of her marriage with David, had a ʃon alive by a former huʃband, Simon de Senlys. The ʃucceʃʃion to the earldoms of Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Cambridge, came therefore to David by a quite different tenure from that to Cumberland and Weʃtmoreland, the inveʃtiture of which was granted by the crown of England to the heirs apparent of Scotland; and, upon the whole, I am inclined to believe, that the grant was originally made to David. His poʃʃeʃʃion of them, however, was (as we have already ʃeen) far from being undiʃturbed; and proofs are to be found in the Engliʃh records, that even his niece the empreʃs thought him too powerful, either as a ʃubject or a neighbour, notwithʃtanding the great obligations ʃhe lay under to his friendʃhip. Almeric de Vere had become one of the greateʃt ʃupports of the empreʃs, and ʃhe promiʃed to grant him the inveʃtiture of the earldom of Cambridge, with the third penny, as uʃual, of the rents of the county, provided ʃhe could prevail with David to exchange it for another. If ʃhe could not prevail, ʃhe was to give him his option of the counties of Oxford, Berks, Wilts, and Dorʃet. As de Vere was afterwards made earl of Oxfordʃhire, it is probable that the empreʃs failed in her application. David was at this time, indeed, too powerful to be compelled to a compliance; and was lying with an army at Carliʃle, of which he ʃtill kept poʃʃeʃʃion.
In 1149, young Henry of Anjou, though not fifteen years of age, prevailed with the empreʃs his mother, and his father Geoffrey Plantagenet, to ʃend him over to England with a ʃmall body of troops, to make good his family-claim to that crown. He landed with only a hundred and forty horʃe, and three thouʃand foot; but his great dependence was on his grand-uncle, David, whom he joined at Carliʃle. According to the cuʃtom of thoʃe times, he received the order of knighthood from the hands of David, aʃʃiʃted by the earl of Cheʃter. The laʃt-mentioned nobleman, one of the moʃt ambitious and faithleʃs in England, had never lived on good terms with David; and at this time complained of his keeping poʃʃeʃʃion of Carliʃle, which he pretended belonged of right to the earls of Cheʃter. This breach might have proved fatal to young Henry’s cauʃe, had it not been compromiʃed by the intervention of friends; and it was agreed that the earl ʃhould be put in poʃʃeʃʃion of Lancaʃter, while David was to keep Carliʃle; and that in the mean time the former ʃhould raiʃe his followers in the South, and join David and his grand-nephew. The earl was inʃincere in this reconciliation; for he no ʃooner left Carliʃle, than he fought to make his terms with the oppoʃite party. Stephen was then marching northwards, at the head of a great army, intending to fight David and Henry; but though they had met with a ʃevere diʃappointment from the earl of Cheʃter, they took their meaʃures ʃo well, that the ʃummer paʃʃed without any action.
Next year we find young Henry in Normandy, but David ʃtill remained at Carliʃle. In 1152, he met with a ʃevere loʃs in the death of his eldeʃt ʃon, prince Henry. The Scotch hiʃtorians have, upon this occaʃion, put into David’s mouth a moʃt pious, edifying ʃpeech to his nobility, which I ʃhall forbear to tranʃcribe, becauʃe compoʃitions of that kind are generally works of the author. Prince Henry left behind him three ʃons, Malcolm, William, and David; and three daughters, Adama, Margaret, and Maud. David ordered Malcolm to be immediately proclaimed prince of Scotland; and he is ʃaid to have given the earldom of Northumberland to William. We know of no concern which David took in the affairs of England, during the year 1153, when an agreement took place between king Stephen and prince Henry, by which the latter was to ʃucceed the former in the throne of England upon his death.
David was now old, and worn out with fatigues. Finding his end approaching, he prepared to meet it with the moʃt exemplary acts of devotion, and ordered himʃelf to be carried to church, where he received the ʃacrament, refuʃing to ʃuffer it to be brought to him. Upon his return he expired, with a wiʃh, to enter the kingdom where all the inhabitants were kings. He died at Carliʃle, on the twenty-fourth of May, 1153, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years, two months, and three days, and was buried at Dumfermling, with great pomp and ʃplendor.
That David was an excellent warrior and able politician, appears from every ʃtep of his long reign, as well as the power and ʃplendor in which he left his dominions at his death. I have already mentioned his attachment to his niece the empreʃs and examined the principles on which he acted. He is, perhaps, leʃs defenʃible in his unbounded liberality to the clergy, by his erecting four new biʃhoprics, nine capital abbeys, four priories, and two nunneries, all which ʃhall be particularized in the eccleʃiaʃtical hiʃtory. It is more to my purpoʃe here, to obʃerve, that their annual revenues amounted to a hundred and twenty thouʃand francs; an immenʃe ʃum for thoʃe days. On the other hand, we are not to make an eʃtimate of David from the poverty into which the crown of Scotland afterwards fell. His revenues were very little, if at all, ʃhort of thoʃe of England, and his troops were far more eaʃily maintained; ʃo that his endowments were not extravagant, when we conʃider his income. But a ʃtronger plea may be urged in favour of David’s profuʃion to the church, when we reflect, that it was perhaps the only means he could employ for the civilization of his people; that eccleʃiaʃtics were then the vehicles of all inʃtruction, governmental, religious, and moral; that though ʃome were lazy, lewd, and ignorant, yet many of them were men of underʃtanding and virtue; and that the crown afterwards received conʃiderable ʃupport from thoʃe very endowments.
David is ʃaid to have given directions for compiling the Regiam Majeʃtatem; but the Engliʃh writers endeavour to prove, that it was copied from their judge Glanville. We ʃhall have hereafter occaʃion to examine that point, on which ʃpecious arguments have been advanced by both parties. All I ʃhall here obʃerve is, that David was a prince very likely to have formed a code of this kind; and by his reʃidence, connections, and concerns in England, he had all the opportunities he could have deʃired for information.
Malcolm the fourth, who, from his continence, obtained the ʃurname of the Maiden, was no more than fifteen years of age when he ʃucceeded his grandfather. His ʃubjects ʃoon felt the difference between the two governments; for Malcolm, beʃides his youth, had a natural indolence of diʃpoʃition, and gave too much way to the monkiʃh education he had received. At the time of his acceʃʃion, Scotland was deʃolated by a famine; and Sommerled, the ambitious thane of Argyle, preferred a claim to the crown itʃelf, at the head of a conʃiderable army, which daily encreaʃed by the reʃort of all the needy and the profligate to his ʃtandard. Another chieftain, who is called Donald, the ʃon of Macbeth, took arms at the ʃame time; but he was defeated, and ʃhut up in the ʃame priʃon with his father, though both of them were ʃoon afterwards received into favour. Gilchriʃt earl of Angus, was then at the head of young Malcolm’s troops, and having defeated Sommerled in three battles, he forced him to fly to Ireland. But Malcolm had now a far more powerful rival to encounter:
This was no other than Henry the ʃecond, who then ʃat on the throne of England, to which he had been raiʃed principally by Malcolm’s grandfather. Henry, by his marriage, was the moʃt powerful prince in Europe, and at the ʃame time the ableʃt and moʃt ambitious. He ʃecretly conʃidered all the grants made by his mother, in prejudice of his crown, as proceeding from force, and therefore not binding. He thought, at the ʃame time, that thoʃe made by Stephen were ʃo many acts of uʃurpation, and he had formed a reʃolution to reʃume them all. He began by calling upon Malcolm for the reʃtitution of Northumberland and Cumberland. His demand, as to the latter, was groʃsly unjuʃt; but as to the former, he affirmed, that David was not in poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland at the time of Henry the firʃt’s death, and that no conceʃʃion made by Stephen was valid. As thoʃe grants, however, had been ratified by the empreʃs, in whoʃe right her ʃon Henry inherited the Engliʃh crown, the demand was arbitrary; and Malcolm was weak enough to grant him a meeting at Cheʃter. Henry had by this time given ʃufficient intimations of his intention, by his depriving the biʃhop of Glaʃgow of his eccleʃiaʃtical functions at Carliʃle, to which town he ʃent another biʃhop. Notwithʃtanding this, Malcolm, depending upon Henry’s gratitude, repaired to the meeting. Buchanan and other Scotch hiʃtorians ʃay, that when Henry received the order of knighthood, he ʃolemnly ʃwore not to diʃturb David, or any of his poʃterity, in the poʃʃeʃʃion of what they held in England. Fordun is of opinion, that Malcolm’s counʃellors were corrupted by thoʃe of Henry; and this ʃeems to have been the truth, becauʃe Malcolm was not then in poʃʃeʃʃion of the eʃtates which Henry demanded; for the late king David had not only given Northumberland to Williaml his ʃecond grandʃon, but had given the earldom of Huntingdon in England, and of Garioch in Scotland, to his third grandʃon, David. Probably Henry urged his power as lord paramount to reject David’s inveʃtiture, which he had an undoubted right to do; and this ʃeems to have determined Malcolm to reʃign his family claim upon the counties of Cumberland and Northumberland, upon his being put in poʃʃeʃʃion of the earldom of Huntingdon, and doing homage for it, in the ʃame manner as his grandfather had done before to Henry the firʃt. This he certainly performed, though no good authority ʃays, that the homage was paid for all the kingdom of Scotland.
This tranʃaction carries with it appearances of treachery on the part of the Scotch miniʃtry. I am apt to think, that Malcolm’s great tenants were well pleaʃed to ʃee the power of the crown weakened by their monarch’s giving up Cumberland and Northumberland for the precarious revenues of Huntingdon, which lay at a great diʃtance from his frontiers. Their ʃuffering him to repair to Cheʃter was likewiʃe a capital error, as it might have been eaʃily foreʃeen, that Henry would make his own terms, as ʃoon as he had got Malcolm’s perʃon in his power. There is ʃome reaʃon for believing, that Malcolm became ʃenʃible, in a ʃhort time, of his miʃtake. Upan his return home, he found his ʃubjects highly exaʃperated at the conceʃʃions he had made; and in the year 1159, Henry invited him to a new interview at Carliʃle. Malcolm gave him the meeting, but Henry could not prevail upon him to agree to any of the terms he propoʃed. They therefore came to no concluʃion; but it appears very plainly, that Malcolm, who was then but young, was either ʃo much over-awed by Henry’s arms, or ʃo dazzled with the luʃtre of his court, that he attended him into England, greatly to the diʃʃatisfaction of his principal ʃubjects. Henry demanded his attendance upon him in an expedition he was meditating againʃt Thoulouʃe, which he claimed in right of his wife. It is uncertain, from hiʃtorical authority, whether Malcolm, who was in his perʃon very brave, and wanted to ʃignalize himʃelf, did not privately agree, that Henry ʃhould make this demand, to which he conʃented, on pretence (to ʃave appearances with his ʃubjects) that he had not attendants with him ʃufficient to diʃpute the will of his paramount. It is certain, that he accompanied Henry during the unfortunate campaign he made in Provence; that he behaved with the greateʃt valour at the ʃiege of Thoulouʃe, which was relieved by the French king in perʃon; and when Henry returned to Tours, he conferred the honour of knighthood upon Malcolm, which ʃeems to have been the principal inducement for that prince’s ʃerving under the banners of England in a foreign country.
The Scots, at this time, entertained very high of their ancient leagues with France; and the ʃouthern parts of Scotland being peopled by the diʃcontented Engliʃh, who never could hope to obtain their pardon from the Engliʃh government, no pains were ʃpared to give the public of Scotland very unfavourable ideas of Malcolm, for ʃerving under Henry againʃt his ancient and natural ally the king of France. Fordun, whoʃe teʃtimony is of great weight, informs us, that Malcolm’s campaign in the county of Thoulouʃe gave a general diʃguʃt to all his ʃubjects; and they were ʃo much ʃcandalized at the familiarity between him and Henry, that they ʃent him a deputation on that head, and even began to ʃay among themʃelves, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Malcolm continued with Henry, and landed with him at Southampton, from whence he returned to Scotland, where he found the ʃpirit of diʃaffection very ʃtrong. On his arrival there, his nobles were in arms under Ferchard, earl of Strathern, and five other earls, ʃome influenced by public, and others by private, conʃiderations. They beʃieged him in the town of Perth, to which he ʃummoned a meeting of his ʃtates. This conʃtitutional meaʃure turned the hearts of his other ʃubjects in his favour; and the attempts of the inʃurgents were, for that time, baffled. By the intervention of the clergy, a meeting of the ʃtates was held, where Malcolm pleaded, that all the conceʃʃions of territory he had made to Henry, had been extorted from him by force, and that he had ʃerved him in his war with France againʃt his inclination. His ʃubjects accepted of the apology, and the rather, as the kingdom was then threatened with commotions in other quarters.
Æneus, or Angus (Fordun calls him Fergus) thane of Galloway,2 was then in arms; and the differences between Malcolm and his ʃubjects had even encouraged him to declare himʃelf a candidate for the crown. Gilchriʃt, the king’s general (according to Boece and Buchanan), was ʃent againʃt him; and Æneus being defeated, was ʃhaved, and ʃhut up a monk in the abbey of Holy-rood houʃe, his life being ʃpared at the interceʃʃion of his powerful friends. His eʃtate, however, was confiʃcated, and he put his ʃon Othred as a hoʃtage into king’s hands. Fordun, who is more to be depended upon, tells us that this rebellion was quelled by the king in perʃon, without any loʃs on his part. This is the more probable, as the inhabitants of Murray were in arms about the ʃame time; and riʃing under one Gilderminic, filled all the neighbourhood with ravages. Gilchriʃt, who was ʃent againʃt them, was totally defeated; which exaʃperated Malcolm ʃo much, that (according to Fordun) he came to a reʃolution to exterminate the Moravians (for ʃo the inhabitants of Murray are called) or tranʃplant them into other provinces. He accordingly advanced againʃt the rebels with a ʃtrong army; and coming up to them at the river Spey, he put them all, with their leader, to the ʃword, without giving quarter to any. A third inʃurrection about the ʃame time broke out. Sommerled, who was (as we have ʃeen) a competitor for the crown, and had been driven to Ireland by Gilchriʃt, in the beginning of this reign, once more landed in Scotland, with an intention, it is to be ʃuppoʃed, to revive his claim. He is by Fordun called the king of Argyle; but thoʃe who are acquainted with the Engliʃh and northern hiʃtories know, that Sommerled is a denomination applied to all the northern nations, the Danes eʃpecially. This Sommerled ʃeems to have been one of thoʃe roving Daniʃh adventurers or pirates, who at that time infeʃted the coaʃts of Ireland and Scotland, where poʃʃibly he might have made a temporary ʃettlement, under the name of king. Be that as it may, he landed near Renfrew, from Ireland, with a conʃiderable fleet and army, and began to plunder the country. His ʃucceʃs, however, was ʃo indifferent, that he was attacked and defeated, and (according to Fordun) ʃlain, by a handful of the inhabitants; but if we may credit later writers, he was taken and carried alive to the king, by whoʃe orders he was hanged.
Thoʃe vigorous exerciʃes of government prove Malcolm, however deficient he might be in politics, to have been perʃonally brave and active, though he was not above twenty-three years of age. In 1161, he called together the ʃtates of his kingdom, and they voted him a large ʃubʃidy for marrying his eldeʃt ʃiʃter, Margaret, to Conan, duke of Brittany, and his younger ʃiʃter, Ada, to Florence, earl of Holland. From this and other circumʃtances we may venture to conclude, that Malcolm had now entirely regained the affections of his ʃubjects, and that the remainder of his reign was ʃpent in tranquility. In the year 1163, we find him at the court of England, performing homage anew to Henry the ʃecond; but we know of no requiʃition he made to be reinʃtated in his Engliʃh dominions. The Scotch hiʃtorians have looked upon this acquieʃcence as a ʃign of puʃillanimity; but I am inclined to think, that it manifeʃted his wiʃdom, and, perhaps, his juʃtice. The Engliʃh would, as one man, have united againʃt him, had he attempted to retake Northumberland by arms. He had been lately an eye-witneʃs to the great power of Henry; and it would have been worʃe than madneʃs in him, to have drawn upon his country the weight of the Engliʃh arms. Add to this, that Malcolm had regularly ceded the territory in queʃtion; and that (as I have already ʃhewn) his father’s and grandfather’s right of poʃʃeʃʃing it was, at beʃt, queʃtionable. The Scotch hiʃtorians themʃelves very truly ʃay, that Henry declared, he was reʃolved not to part with ʃo conʃiderable a portion of his regal dominions; which was ʃaying, in fact, that he did not think any of his anceʃtors or predeceʃʃors could legally give them up. Impartiality has obliged me to ʃay thus much in defence of Malcolm, whoʃe conduct is juʃtified by after events.
It ʃeems to have been after Malcolm’s laʃt viʃit to the Engliʃh court, that he held a meeting of his ʃtates at Scone. There the biʃhop of St. Andrew’s, taking the lead in the aʃʃembly, which was very numerous, ʃolemnly put Malcolm in mind, that his leaving a lawful heir of his own body was a duty he owed to his country; and concluded by requeʃting him, in the name of his ʃubjects, to take a wife. Tho’ the biʃhop enforced his requeʃt by very ʃtrong arguments, both moral and political, yet he was obliged to deʃiʃt from his ʃuit, by Malcolm’s obʃtinacy not to enter into the ʃtate of marriage. No author has ventured to give any reaʃon for this unaccountable behaviour of Malcolm, but that he pleaded a vow of celibacy he had made, and that his brother would ʃufficiently ʃupply his place, in caʃe of his death. It may, perhaps, be thought too bold for a modern hiʃtorian to ʃay, that Malcolm’s obʃtinacy was owing to a ʃecret compact between him and his brother, with whom (according to Fordun) he had great differences, on account of the alienation of Northumberland. The ʃame old hiʃtorian ʃeems to admit, that Malcolm, towards the end of his reign, grew very unpopular, on account of his devoting himʃelf entirely to religious affairs, which indeed was the capital failing of his family; though, as we ʃhall ʃee in our eccleʃiaʃtical diviʃion, he was not an enthuʃiaʃt for the pope’s power. Fordun even ʃays, that his brother William, becauʃe of his hatred to the Engliʃh, was, without the king’s conʃent, choʃen regent or guardian of the kingdom. All hiʃtorians agree that Malcolm, towards the end of his reign, applied himʃelf to the founding and endowing religious houʃes; ʃuch as the abbey of St. Rule, in the city of St. Andrew’s, and that of Coupar, in Angus. At laʃt, Malcolm fell into ʃo deep a depreʃʃion of ʃpirits, that it brought upon him a diʃeaʃe which put an end to his life, in the twelfth year his reign, and the twenty-fifth of his age, in the year 1165.
I have endeavoured to ʃet this prince’s character and actions in their true light, by the aʃʃiʃtance of the Engliʃh hiʃtory. That of Scotland is very imperfect with regard to both: and, after all, I can ʃcarcely fix a chronological period, but thoʃe of his acceʃʃion, of his return from France in 1163, and that of death; nor can I perceive any grounds for ʃuppoʃing him to have any more interviews then thoʃe I have mentioned with the king of England. Malcolm was not the only king of Scotland in whom religious deluʃion and enthuʃiaʃm deʃtroyed the brighteʃt parts, and the moʃt exalted courage.
Malcolm was ʃucceeded by his brother William, whoʃe ʃituation at the time of his acceʃʃion was very extraordinary; and undoubtedly it gave him great reaʃon to complain againʃt Malcolm. The only heritage his father had aʃʃigned him, conʃiʃted of thoʃe Engliʃh eʃtates which his elder brother had given up, while his younger brother, David, remained in peaceable poʃʃeʃʃion of the great earldom of Huntingdon. This treatment exaʃperated him ʃo highly, that he refuʃed to enter into any public buʃineʃs till he had named ambaʃʃadors to demand from the king of England the reʃtitution of Northumberland. He then iʃʃued orders for aʃʃembling his ʃtates at Scone, where he was ʃolemnly crowned and recognized. When his ambaʃʃadors made their requiʃition of Northumberland, Henry, whoʃe affairs were then much embarraʃʃed, gave him a ʃoothing anʃwer, but pretended that William ought, previous to any ʃuch requiʃition, to appear at his court, and pay his homage in perʃon. The ʃtates of Scotland were aʃʃembled and Henry’s anʃwer was laid before them. Their opinion was, that in order to put an end to the miʃeries of war, which were then raging between the two kingdoms on account of Northumberland, William ʃhould go to the Engliʃh court, and after paying his homage, conclude a final agreement concerning Northumberland, that peace might be reʃtored to both kingdoms. William accordingly, in the beginning of the year 1166, went to Windʃor, where Henry waited for him, and was received with great pomp. Having performed his homage for Cumberland and Huntingdon, which he held in capite of the Engliʃh crown (though his brother David had the emoluments of the latter) he required to be put in poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland likewiʃe. Henry would have willingly evaded this demand, becauʃe William’s friendʃhip was then of great conʃequence to his affairs; but at laʃt he was forced to acquaint William, that it was not in his power to diʃmember Northumberland from his crown, without the conʃent of his peers in parliament.
Henry was then preparing to paʃs over to France, under pretence of making a cruʃade to the Holy Land (the most plauʃible expedition of thoʃe times); and no doubt he omitted no argument to prevail with the king of Scotland to attend him. William, flattered with the glory of the enterprize, and, perhaps, expecting to form a party among the Engliʃh nobility, which might bring his claim upon Northumberland to a favourable deciʃion, promiʃed to comply with Henry’s deʃire. It was in vain for the few noblemen about his perʃon to remonʃtrate againʃt this ʃtep, and to urge the example of his brother to diʃʃuade him; for he immediately went over to Normandy with Henry, who thereby thought that he had in his hands a pledge for the tranquility of his northern dominions. We have no particular account of William’s behaviour in France; but it is probable that, finding Henry’s pretence for an expedition to the Holy-Land no more than an expedient to draw the pope to his ʃide, in his diʃpute with the famous Becket, archbiʃhop of Canterbury, William returned to his own dominions. Fordun tells us, that before he left France he concluded a truce with Henry, and that it was agreed a definitive treaty ʃhould be concluded with the firʃt opportunity. During the ʃhort ʃtay that William made in Scotland, he was employed in giving orders for ʃtrengthening his frontiers towards England, as foreʃeeing what afterwards happened. He likewiʃe brought to juʃtice a number of robbers, who then infeʃted his kingdom; and next year we find him once more at the Engliʃh court at Windʃor. Boece and Buchanan inform us, that Henry had by this time agreed William ʃhould poʃʃeʃs that part of Northumberland which his great grandfather held (meaning, I ʃuppoʃe, Malcolm Canmore); and that William declaring he would be ʃatiʃfied with nothing leʃs than the whole, Henry repented himʃelf of his grant. Though I meet with no authority for this fact in the Engliʃh records, yet, from what has fallen from Fordun, Henry ʃeems to have made ʃome very favourable conceʃʃions to William, which he afterwards retracted. This brought on a renewal of hoʃtilities between the two kingdoms; but in the year 1170, matters were ʃo well compromiʃed between the two kings, that Henry knighted David earl of Huntingdon, at Windʃor, in preʃence of his brother, the king of Scotland; but this calm was not of long duration, being the effect of only one year’s truce.
The greatneʃs and power of Henry the ʃecond was now formidable to all the princes Europe, but eʃpecially to the kings of and France. Happily for them, Henry’s queen, the reʃtleʃs and implacable Eleanor, had excited her ʃons to an unnatural war againʃt their father; and William reʃolved not to loʃe ʃo fair an opportunity of obliging Henry to do him juʃtice. According to the French hiʃtorians (for the Scotch are ʃilent on the ʃubject,) William, under pretence of renewing the league between the two nations, went over to France, where a general confederacy had been formed againʃt Henry. It conʃiʃted of Henry’s three ʃons, the Norman noblemen, with the earls of Flanders and Boulogne, Blois, Troyes, Cheʃter, Beaumont, and Leiceʃter, beʃides the kings of Scotland and France. The latter, becauʃe he was lord paramount of Normandy and Henry’s French dominions, took the lead; and a grand council was ʃummoned, in which the ʃeveral claimants made their demands. Thoʃe of William were to be put in full poʃʃeʃʃion of all Northumberland, which he was to hold as a fief from the crown of England, and that his brother David, in like manner, ʃhould hold the earldom of Huntingdon. His claims were allowed, and (if we are to credit the French writers) William performed homage to young Henry, whom his father had already inveʃted with the name, but not the power, of king of England. If William, as we have reaʃon to believe, was preʃent at this aʃʃembly, there can be little doubt of his having performed the homage to young Henry; becauʃe the declared intention of the king of France, and the other confederates, was to place him upon the throne of England. Their plan of operations was next formed, and it was agreed that William ʃhould invade England, by the way of Northumberland.
No prince of that age had ʃo good intelligence as Henry; and it was ʃeconded by a ʃuitable activity, which diʃconcerted all the ʃchemes of the confederates in France and Normandy, where he acted in person. As to Northumberland, he left it to be defended by Richard de Lucy, who was his lieutenant over all England, and other noblemen. His ʃucceʃs in France had diʃabled the confederates from fulfilling their engagements with William; ʃo that the latter could not take the field ʃo early as he intended. The king of France depended on William’s efforts ʃo much, that, though he could ill ʃpare troops for a diverʃion, he ʃent over the earl of Leiceʃter into England, with a conʃiderable body of Normans and Flemings. William upon this took the field, with an army of Scots and Gallovidians (for the inhabitants of Galloway were ʃtill diʃtinguiʃhed by that appellation) and finding no force in the field to oppoʃe him, he ravaged the country to the banks of the Humber; and, after putting to the ʃword many of the inhabitants, he returned by the way of Carliʃle, which he beʃieged. Though Richard de Lucy, and Humphrey de Bohun, and other great Engliʃh noblemen, thought themʃelves too weak to fight William, yet they made a powerful diverʃion to his arms; for they invaded Scotland by the way of Berwick, which they burnt to the ground. They were preparing to have proceeded northwards, when they received intelligence, that the earl of Leiceʃter having landed in Suffolk, and being joined by Hugh Bigod, was advancing againʃt the town of Leiceʃter; and this determined Lucy and de Bohun to ʃuʃpend their northern expedition, that they might oppoʃe Leiceʃter. It is alledged by the Engliʃh hiʃtorians, againʃt the truth of hiʃtory, that William on this occaʃion agreed to a truce with the two Engliʃh generals; but it is certain that that truce did not take place till ʃome time after. He was ʃtill lying before Carliʃle, and was preparing to march ʃouthward to join Leiceʃter, when he found himʃelf oppoʃed by an Engliʃh army, under Richard de Lucy, whilʃt Bohun marched forward, and totally defeated the earl of Leiceʃter, near St. Edmund’s-bury. The news of this ʃoon reached William, who now liʃtened to a propoʃal of a truce, which was made by Hugh biʃhop of Durham. It was then the month of December, and it was agreed that all hoʃtilities ʃhould ceaʃe between the two nations till eight days after the enʃuing Eaʃter, but that William, in the mean time, ʃhould receive three hundred marks in ʃilver; upon which he returned to Scotland.
This ʃhort ceʃʃation of hoʃtilities was employed by William in vigorous preparations for war; and it was agreed between him and the earl of Flanders, (who reʃented the ʃlaughter of his ʃubjects, they having received no quarter at the battle of St. Edmund’s-bury) that they would invade England in different quarters, upon the expiration of the truce. In the mean time, I perceive that Simon de St. Lys, who was, by the firʃt marriage, either the ʃon or grandʃon of Waltheof’s daughter, wife to David, the late king of Scotland, claimed, in her right, the earldom of Huntingdon, to the prejudice of Malcolm’s brother, who held it. This claim was probably encouraged by Henry, and we find St. Lys at this time blocking up Huntingdon-caʃtle.
William, in conʃequence of his engagements, had now taken the field, and had levied upon the inhabitants of Northumberland the three hundred marks which had been agreed to be paid him during the late truce. He divided his army into three columns; the firʃt, commanded by one of his generals, laid ʃiege to Carliʃle; he led the ʃecond himʃelf into the heart of Northumberland; and his brother David advanced with the third diviʃion into Leiceʃterʃhire, to make head againʃt Simon de St. Lys. William reduced the caʃtles of Burgh, Appleby, Warkworth, and Garby; and then joined that diviʃion of his army which was beʃieging Carliʃle. The place was defended by Robert de Vaux, who agreed to give it up to William, if it was not relieved before the end of September; upon which William beʃieged Prudhou-caʃtle, belonging to the Umfrevilles.
It ʃoon appeared, that William’s ʃecurity had him into a capital error, by inducing him to divide his forces. He had left ʃome troops to continue the ʃiege, or rather the blockade, of Carliʃle. He had ʃent a reinforcement to his brother David; and he had diʃpatched two of his generals, called earl Duncan and earl Angus in the Engliʃh hiʃtories, to levy contributions on the neighbouring country. He thus retained about his own perʃon only a handful, with which he was carrying on the ʃiege of Prudhou, when he heard that the Yorkʃhire men, under Robert de Stuterville and his ʃon, were advancing to ʃurprize him. There is reaʃon to believe that the Stutervilles had, before this, defeated ʃome of the diviʃions of the Scotch army; either that under the two earls, or that which was marching towards Leiceʃter; for William no ʃooner heard of the approach of the Yorkʃhire men, than he retired towards Alnwic, which he beʃieged. Stuterville and Ralph de Glanville, another Engliʃh nobleman of the elder Henry’s party, had ʃo good intelligence of William’s motions, and the careleʃs diʃʃipated manner in which he acted, that they formed a ʃcheme to ʃurprize him. They dreʃʃed a party of their light horʃe in Scotch habits (thoʃe probably of the Scots whom they had lately defeated) and puʃhing on with forced marches, they came in ʃight of William’s camp before Alnwic; who ʃuppoʃing them to be a party of his own men, ʃuffered them to approach ʃo near, that he was taken priʃoner, while he was reconnoitring ʃome ground about the caʃtle, with no more than ʃixty attendants in his train. His horʃe was killed in the attempt he made to diʃengage himʃelf; and we are told, that his retinue was compoʃed entirely of Engliʃh and Normans, in the party of the younger Henry. Such is the true manner in which this king was made a captive; nor does it appear from Fordun, or any good authority, that a truce (as later Scotch hiʃtorians alledge) was then ʃubʃiʃting between William and the Engliʃh. Matthew Paris ʃays, that a great ʃlaughter of the Scots enʃued upon William’s captivity; but he is weak enough to pretend that this ʃucceʃs of the Engliʃh arms was owing to the elder Henry having, ʃome time before, ʃubmitted his bare back to be ʃcourged with rods by monks, for the murder of the archbiʃhop of Canterbury.
The barbarity of the Engliʃh to their royal captive is almoʃt incredible; for he was carried priʃoner, with his feet tied under a horʃe’s belly, to Richmond-caʃtle; a ʃituation, which, however diʃgraceful, was more glorious than that of the mighty Henry, when under the diʃcipline of the Monks.
David, earl of Huntingdon, who was then in Leiceʃtershire, when he heard of his brother’s captivity, inʃtantly left England, and returned to Scotland, where he found many ʃcenes of blood and confuʃion, on account of the king’s impriʃonment. According to Fordun, the Scots and Gallovidians revenged themʃelves ʃeverely, by repeated and bloody inroads upon the Engliʃh; while the latter broke into Scotland and Galloway, where they gave no quarter to age or ʃex. Thoʃe mutual barbarities were no doubt encouraged by the ignominious manner in which Henry treated William, who was carried before him in chains at Northampton, and ordered to be tranʃported to the caʃtle of Falaiʃe in Normandy, where he was ʃhut up with other ʃtate-priʃoners. Soon after this, an accommodation took place between Henry and his ʃons; and all the priʃoners on both ʃides were ʃet at liberty, except William, who bore his confinement with great impatience. It was natural for Henry to avail himʃelf of this, by preʃʃing him to agree to that point which had been ʃo long in debate between the two nations; I mean, his performing homage to the king of England for the crown of Scotland, as well as for the lands he held of Henry. There is no denying that William was mean enough to accept of the propoʃed condition; and that he agreed to a treaty, by which all dubiety concerning the kingdom of Scotland being a fief of the crown of England was removed. But thoʃe conceʃʃions were only upon paper, and might be retracted as ʃoon as William was at liberty, on pretence that they had been extorted by force; an excuʃe which has ever been allowed to be valid among all nations. The elder Henry was too conʃummate a politician not to foreʃee this; and he obliged William to agree to deliver up, as depoʃits, into his hands, the principal forts of his kingdom; which were the caʃtles of Roxburgh, Berwic, Jedburgh, Edinburgh (which in the record is called the Maiden-caʃtle) and Stirling. David, earl of Huntingdon, with twenty of the barons of Scotland, who were preʃent at the ʃigning of this convention, promiʃed to perform homage to Henry for the future, if required, and were delivered into his hands as hoʃtages for William’s good faith; engaging, at the ʃame time, to procure the aʃʃent of all their abʃent nobility to the agreement. One farther circumʃtance is remarkable, and ʃerves to prove how unconʃcionable the demands of Henry were; for William was obliged to agree to pay out of his own pocket the garriʃons of the caʃtles which he had thus ʃo ʃhamefully ceded.
Few hiʃtories afford an inʃtance of ʃuch a people as the Scots tamely ʃubmitting to ʃo infamous a convention as this was; nor indeed can we fairly attribute it to any other cauʃe, than the affection they bore to their king. The treaty was not only concluded but ratified and executed; and Henry thereby held Scotland in chains. All his precaution, however, could not give a validity to the convention, which was void by the king being in durance when it was made.
William being reʃtored to his liberty, returned to Scotland, which he found in great confuʃion. During his captivity, the people of Galloway, at the head of whom were two noblemen or princes, called Othred and Gilbert, took that opportunity of reviving their claim to an independency upon the Scotch crown. They were the ʃons of Fergus, the late prince of Galloway, whom I have already mentioned; and having expelled all the Scotch officers out of their country, they demoliʃhed the forts that had been erected there by William and his predeceʃʃors, and put to death all foreigners. The two brothers quarrelling, upon their ʃucceʃs, Othred was murdered by Gilbert or his order; and Gilbert applied to Henry for protection.
By this time Henry had returned to England; and, to give all the validity that his late convention with William could admit of, he ʃummoned him to meet him and his ʃon, to whom he was now reconciled, at York, in 1175. William obeyed the ʃummons, which appears to have been of a very extenʃive nature; for all the great nobility and land-holders in Scotland appeared at the ʃame time, confirmed the convention of Falaiʃe, ʃwore fealty to Henry, and put themʃelves and their country under his protection. All that can be ʃaid in extenuation of this infamous tranʃaction (for it cannot be denied) is, that the nation was then as much in Henry’s power as William had been when he concluded the convention of Falaiʃe. Henry having gained this great point, ordered Hoveden, the hiʃtorian, and Robert de Vaux, the governor of Carliʃle, to treat with Gilbert of Galloway. The latter had offered to put himʃelf and his people under the protection of England, and to pay to Henry two thouʃand marks of ʃilver yearly, with five hundred cows, and as many hogs, by way of tribute. This immenʃe ʃubʃidy (for ʃo it was at that time) leaves no room to doubt, that Galloway was then of a much greater extent than the preʃent county of that name; and that it had then reʃources in commerce which are now loʃt. Henry’s two commiʃʃaries, ʃtruck with the horror of Othred’s murder, refuʃed to make any final agreement with Gilbert. The negociation was tranʃferred to Henry in perʃon; and he, to pleaʃe his new feudatory, William, declined intermeddling in the affair. Upon this, William ordered his general, Gilchriʃt, to march with an army againʃt the Gallovidians, which he did with ʃo much ʃucceʃs, that he defeated them. Before I leave part of hiʃtory, I am to obʃerve, that William did nothing againʃt the Gallovidians but the permiʃʃion of Henry, who now conʃidered himʃelf as the lord paramount of Scotland. Gilbert, who had actually aʃʃumed the of king, pretended that his allegiance was to Henry, not as a Scotch nobleman, but as feudatory prince. He therefore did not appear at York with the other Scotch land-holders; but he afterwards repaired to England, under a ʃafe-conduct from William, and there performed his homage to Henry, paying him the ʃame time a thouʃand marks of ʃilver, to atone for his brother’s murder, and leaving him his ʃon as a hoʃtage for his fidelity. Upon the whole, the complexion of the hiʃtory of Galloway, as it is delivered caʃually by Scotch and Engliʃh authors, leaves no room to doubt that it was inhabited by a race of men, who were not either of Scotch or Engliʃh original, and became a dependent people only by compulʃion.
The reader is to obʃerve, that the forts in Scotland delivered up to Henry, were to be reʃtored as ʃoon as the terms of the Falaiʃe convention were fulfilled. Buchanan is of opinion, (but he is juʃtified by none of the records or the old hiʃtorians,) that they were in the nature of a mortgage for the payment of certain ʃums of money by William. However this may be, the ceʃʃion was temporary and conditional. One of thoʃe conditions, however, remained ʃtill to be performed; which was, “That the church of Scotland ʃhall hereafter make ʃuch ʃubmiʃʃion to the church of England as ʃhe ought to make to her, and as ʃhe was wont to do in the time of the kings of England, his predeceʃʃors.” Henry, who knew the importance of this ʃtipulation, ordered an eccleʃiaʃtical ʃynod to be held at Northampton, in 1176; and there, William appeared at the head of his clergy, according to Henry’s ʃummons. The church of Scotland, to her honour, was not ʃo pliable as her king and laity, had been, to a foreign juriʃdiction. The clergy took advantage of the ambiguity of the expreʃʃion, “as ʃhe was wont to do,” to diʃpute the biʃhop of York’s claim; and, happily for them, the archbiʃhop of Canterbury inʃiʃted upon their ʃubmitting to him as primate. This producing a conteʃt between the two metropolitans, the Scotch clergy retired without ʃubmitting themʃelves to either. William, to ʃoften this diʃappointment (for ʃuch it was to Henry) referred the matter to the pope, and ʃent ambaʃʃadors to Rome for that purpoʃe. His holineʃs, always glad of an occaʃion to dictate to princes, appointed a cardinal, one Vivian, to repair to Scotland, and to take cognizance of the affair; but he had inʃtructions, at the ʃame time, to raiʃe as much money in Scotland as he could. William was not ignorant of his commiʃʃion, and ʃent him notice, that he could not anʃwer for his ʃafety, if he intended aught in prejudice of his crown and kingdom; and he even obliged him to take an oath, that he would nothing of that kind. Upon the legate’s compliance with thoʃe demands, he was admitted into Scotland; and the national council being held in 1177, at the abbey of Holy-rood houʃe, many ancient canons were renewed, and ones enacted. Soon after this, William had difference with the biʃhops of St. Andrew’s and Aberdeen, which Henry and the pope endeavoured to compromiʃe, but in vain. This produced an excommunication againʃt William, and an interdiction of his kingdom, but, ʃo far as we know, without any bad conʃequence to either; which is an additional proof how little the church of Scotland was then under papal influence.
The kingdom of Scotland being now freed from all apprehenʃions on the ʃide of England, by Henry’s obtaining peaceable poʃʃeʃʃion of the cautionary fortreʃʃes, William ʃeems to have lived, for ʃome years, in uninterrupted but inglorious tranquillity. It was diʃturbed by one Donald Bane, ʃo called from his anceʃtors, who were of the blood-royal of Scotland; and it is extremely probable, that William’s ʃhameful ʃubmiʃʃion to Henry encouraged him to take the title of king, which he undoubtedly did. Having aʃʃembled a body of men in the Ebudæ and the neighbouring iʃlands, he landed in Roʃs-ʃhire, where he ravaged the country. Sir James Balfour, in his Manuʃcript Annals, ʃays, that this Donald Bane, who was otherwiʃe called Mac William, pretended to be the grandʃon of Duncan, baʃtard of Malcolm Canmore, and whom we have already mentioned to have worn the crown of Scotland. It is not ʃurprizing that, under ʃuch pretexts, numbers repaired to his ʃtandard, and that he advanced as far as Murray. There he was encountered by William in perʃon, and being totally defeated, his head was cut off, and carried ignominiouʃly about upon a pole.
About this time, the famous Gilchriʃt, whom we may call the crown-general of Scotland, fell under the king’s diʃpleaʃure, on the following occaʃion. He had married Matilda, ʃiʃter to William, and the youngeʃt daughter of his father, prince Henry; but Gilchriʃt, either upon ʃuʃpicion or proof of her incontinence, had put her to death, at a village called Maynes, near Dundee. William (who perhaps was not ʃatisfied with the evidence brought againʃt his ʃiʃter) ʃummoned Gilchriʃt to take his trial for the murder; and, upon his not appearing, his eʃtates were forfeited, his caʃtles demoliʃhed, and himʃelf baniʃhed. He took refuge in England; but the conventions between William and Henry, importing, that one ʃhould not harbour the traitorous ʃubjects of the other, forced Gilchriʃt to return to Scotland with his two ʃons. There they were expoʃed to all the miʃeries of indigence, and fear of diʃcovery; and obliged to ʃkulk from place to place. Upon William’s return from his northern expedition againʃt Mac William, happening to paʃs by Perth, he obʃerved three ʃtrangers, who though diʃguiʃed like ruʃtics, appeared, by their noble mien, to be above the vulgar. William, who firʃt diʃcovered them, was confirmed in this apprehenʃion, by ʃeeing them ʃtrike out of the high road, and endeavouring to avoid notice. He ordered them to be ʃeized; and when brought before him, the eldeʃt, who was Gilchriʃt himʃelf, fell upon his knees before him, and gave ʃuch a detail of his miʃfortunes, and their cauʃes, as drew tears into the eyes of all who were preʃent; and Gilchriʃt was reʃtored to his honours and eʃtates. From the family of this Gilchriʃt that of the Ogilvies is ʃaid to be deʃcended.
In the year 1186, Henry the ʃecond looked upon the county of Galloway as being legally annexed to his crown, by the late ʃubmiʃʃions of its princes; and leaving France, on pretence of quelling ʃome commotions there, he raiʃed an army, with which he marched into Scotland. Being advanced as far as Carliʃle, Roland, then prince of Galloway, and ʃon to Othred, threw himʃelf at Henry’s feet. This Roland, notwithʃtanding his defection from his allegiance to the crown of Scotland, had been aʃʃiʃted by William to ʃubdue Goʃpatric, Henry, and Samuel Kennedy, who had been the inʃtruments of the late Gilbert’s tyranny. He had likewiʃe ʃubdued and killed a famous robber, whom Fordun calls Gillicolin, and who, it ʃeems, was a friend and partizan of Henry. The hiʃtory of Galloway is the moʃt intricate of any portion of the Scotch annals. It is difficult to determine to whom this Roland owed his allegiance. It appears, that he thought it due to William, but that he paid it to Henry, even by William’s orders.3 Roland’s ʃubmiʃʃion ʃoftened Henry, and he laid aʃide his expedition againʃt Galloway.
There is ʃome reaʃon to believe, that great part of William’s time was ʃpent at the Engliʃh court; for we find him, in the year I now treat of, marrying at Woodʃtock Ermengarda, daughter to the earl of Beaumont, a near relation of Henry; who, among other reʃtitutions to the crown of Scotland, gave up the caʃtle of Edinburgh (which he appears to have unjuʃtly detained) to William, as part of his wife’s fortune. The Engliʃh records intimate, that Simon de St. Lys, ever ʃince the proʃperous turn of Henry’s affairs, had been in poʃʃeʃʃion of the earldom of Huntingdon; and that upon his death Henry gave it to William. Some of the Scotch hiʃtorians ʃay, that he beʃtowed upon him, at the ʃame time, Weʃtmoreland and Cumberland; but they ʃeem, in this reʃpect, to be too liberal.
The acceʃʃion of Richard the firʃt to the crown of England was a joyful æra to the Scots. Richard, when he mounted the throne, was engaged in the cruʃade; and the lenity with which his father had of late treated William, ʃufficiently indicated, that his newly acquired ʃuperiority over Scotland was but very precarious. He therefore formed a plan for enʃuring the quiet of his kingdom, while he was abʃent in the cruʃade, by making William his friend. William’s brother, David, had aʃʃiʃted at Richard’s coronation, as earl of Huntingdon; and one of the firʃt meaʃures of Richard’s government, was his inviting William to give him a meeting at Canterbury; for which purpoʃe he ordered his brother, Geoffrey, archbiʃhop of York elect, and all the northern barons, to receive William upon the borders. So illuʃtrious a deputation, in a country where William had lately ʃeen himʃelf a ʃhackled captive, could not but pleaʃe him; and he arrived at Canterbury about the middle of December, 1189. According to the Engliʃh records, Richard then held, of all the cautionary forts, only thoʃe of Roxburgh and Berwic; and, from the words of the original proceedings, there is the ʃtrongeʃt proof, that William’s acts of fealty for the crown of Scotland had been always conʃidered, even in England, as being extorted from him by an unjuʃt force. He agreed to pay Richard ten thouʃand marks of ʃilver, and to renew his homage for all his Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions, provided Richard releaʃed him from the unjuʃt homage which he had been forced to pay for his crown of Scotland. The convention entered into is ʃtill extant in the Engliʃh hiʃtorian Hoveden, and carries on its face the ʃtrongeʃt evidence of the independency of the Scotch crown; becauʃe Richard there poʃitively acknowledges, “that all the conventions and pactions of ʃubmiʃʃion from William to the crown of England, had been extorted from him by unprecedented writings and dureʃʃe.” This generoʃity of Richard met with a noble return from William; for when Richard was lying priʃoner in an Auʃtrian dungeon, the king of Scotland ʃent an army to aʃʃiʃt his regency againʃt his tyrannical brother, John, who wanted to uʃurp his throne.
Upon the return of Richard to his dominions in 1194, he overflowed with gratitude for William’s generous friendʃhip; and acknowledged it was owing to him that the ʃchemes of John had been baffled, and that even the king of France had not been able to ʃhake his friendʃhip to the crown of England. William was ʃuʃʃiciently ʃenʃible of his own importance, to which his demands were adequate. They amounted to his being put in poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland, Cumberland, Weʃtmoreland, and Lancaʃter, with a confirmation of the rank and all privileges which had been formerly due or granted to any of his predeceʃʃors as kings of Scotland. Richard’s circumʃtances at this time were ʃuch, that he could not immediately agree to transfer to William a property which in fact made him more powerful than himʃelf; but he appointed a meeting at Chepʃtow, in order to adjuʃt all matters of difference between them. At this meeting, Richard again expreʃʃed the moʃt lively ʃentiments of gratitude to William, and the latter laid before him his late charter, which imported, “That all claims of the kings of Scotland concerning their journies to or from the Engliʃh court, when ʃummoned, and their abode therein, together with all diʃputes about their liberties, dignities, and honours, ʃhould be referred to the arbitration of eight noblemen, of which, four were to be choʃen by Richard, from among the Scots, and four by William, from among the Engliʃh.” By another article of the ʃame charter it is provided, “That the king of Scotland, and his heirs for ever, should poʃʃeʃs all his lands, whether demeʃnes or feodal, in England, that is to ʃay, in the earldom of Huntingdon, and elʃewhere, with the ʃame immunities and privileges as his brother King Malcolm had enjoyed the ʃame; excepting those eʃtates which, by either of them, had been given off in fee, the ʃervices ʃtill to be reʃerved to the crown of Scotland.” The reader will find the original words in the notes,4 which will enable him to judge of their importance.
That William was at this time a very powerful prince, may be fairly concluded from the tenderneʃs and decency with which Richard, haughty and over-bearing as he was, treated his demands. Theʃe were no leʃs than his being put in poʃʃeʃʃion of all the northern counties, as I have already obʃerved, without any regard to the acts which had been performed by himʃelf or his predeceʃʃors in prejudice of his ʃovereignty; and likewiʃe that the terms and manner of his entertainment when he entered England ʃhould be ʃettled. The latter was a matter of high importance, and ʃeems to have been dictated by the great landholders of Scotland to their king, which requires that I ʃhould lay the caʃe fully open.
The feodal law had left it doubtful, whether a vaʃʃal to a lord paramount was obliged to appear at that lord’s court, if it was held without the bounds of his fee. The kings of Scotland had often attended the Engliʃh courts, when held in the ʃouthern parts of the iʃland; but they had always complained of ʃuch attendance as an unjuʃt oppreʃʃion, becauʃe the maintenance of royal dignity coʃt the ʃubjects of Scotland vaʃt ʃums, by which they were not profited. Richard was reʃolved to gratify William in all demands he poʃʃibly could comply with. He waved his privilege of obliging the king of Scotland, as his vaʃʃal, to appear wherever the ʃuperior held his court; and he paʃʃed a charter, importing, “That when the king of Scotland ʃhould, in order to meet with the king of England, enter the limits of this laʃt kingdom, the biʃhop of Durham, and the ʃheriff of Northumberland, ʃhould receive him at the river Tweed, and wait on him to the Teiʃe; and there the archbiʃhop of York, and ʃheriff of Yorkʃhire, ʃhould receive and conduct him to the borders of that county; and ʃo the biʃhops of each dioceʃe, with the ʃheriffs, ʃhould attend him from county to county, till he came to the Engliʃh court. That, from the time he entered England, he ʃhould receive every day, of allowance from the king of England, one hundred ʃhillings (in thoʃe days no ʃmall ʃum); and, when at court, thirty ʃhillings; twelve of the king’s fine cakes; twelve of his biʃkets, or ʃimnal loaves, of fine wheat, twice baked; four gallons of his wine, and eight of ordinary wine; two pounds of pepper, as much of cinnamon; two cakes of wax, weighing each eight or twelve pounds; four wax-candles; and forty great long candles, of the king’s candles; and eighty ordinary candles; and that, when he returned into his own country, he ʃhould be conducted back again by the biʃhops and ʃheriffs as before, and have the ʃame allowance in money, of one hundred ʃhillings a day.”
This charter bears date at Northampton, on Eaʃter-Tueʃday, being the twelfth of April, 1194, and is a glorious teʃtimony of the ʃpirit of independency which then actuated the king and the people of Scotland. It freed them from an immenʃe expence. The injuʃtice of the claims ʃet on foot by Henry the ʃecond had been fully acknowledged, and formally cancelled, and the moʃt diʃgraceful part of feudal ʃubmiʃʃion was by this charter revoked; becauʃe the king of England, in fact, gave up his power of arbitrarily and wantonly ʃummoning the king of Scotland, to attend him where he pleaʃed. William was fully ʃenʃible of the pre-eminence which it gave him over the ʃubjects of England; for when he came to Brackley, on his journey to Wincheʃter, he commanded the biʃhop of Durham, who attended him, to yield him up his lodging. The haughty prelate refuʃed to comply, and a ʃkirmiʃh enʃued, in which ʃome blood was ʃhed; but, upon William’s complaint, the biʃhop received next day a ʃevere reprimand from Richard. On the ʃeventeenth of April, five days after the grant of the above charter, Richard held a parliament at Wincheʃter, where he was ʃolemnly crowned a ʃecond time; and we find William, on this occaʃion, officiating as the firʃt ʃubject of England; for he carried one of the ʃwords of ʃtate, as earl of Huntingdon, between the earls of Warren and Cheʃter.
All this time, the great claim of Northumberland, urged by William, lay undecided, becauʃe Richard pretended that it muʃt be referred to his court of peers. His neceʃʃities, however, at laʃt, obliged him to make a general reʃumption of all the lands that had been alienated from the crown, and, among others, of Northumberland, which was then poʃʃeʃʃed by the biʃhop of Durham. That prelate knew Richard’s impetuous temper too well to diʃpute his pleaʃure; and reʃigned the county into the hands of Hugh Bardolf, one of Richard’s favourites. William took this amiʃs; and being ʃenʃible how much Richard wanted money, he offered to pay him down fifteen thouʃand marks for Northumberland. Richard would gladly have accepted the money, and, at the ʃame time, have given up the revenues; but he refuʃed to part with the caʃtles, becauʃe the prerogative of the king of England ʃuffered no fortified place to remain in the hands of a ʃubject; upon which William very wiʃely broke off the bargain, which muʃt have terminated in a precarious poʃʃeʃʃion of the county, to which he otherwiʃe pleaded a right. Bardolf, therefore, kept poʃʃeʃʃion of the county of Northumberland, and forced the biʃhop of Durham to reʃign into his hands the caʃtle of Bamborough, and the town of Newcaʃtle upon Tine, together with ʃome lands that had even been annexed to the biʃhopric.
Upon the acceʃʃion of John to the crown of England, in 1199, the caʃe of the great barons having liberty to build caʃtles upon their own eʃtates, was again agitated. They thought, that as John’s title was precarious (his elder brother’s ʃon being alive) the juncture was favourable for their demands; and they were not deceived. David, brother to the king of Scotland, was preʃent in the grand aʃʃembly held at Northampton, in which the barons ʃwore an eventual fealty to John, on condition of their being confirmed in their privileges; one of which, they alledged, was that of fortifying caʃtles on their own eʃtates. William, as the firʃt ʃubject of England, loʃt no time in reviving his claim to the diʃputed northern counties. He ʃent ambaʃʃadors to the Engliʃh regency (John being then in Normandy) with a peremptory requiʃition of the litigated counties; and with orders, if they ʃhould receive no ʃatiʃfaction from the regency, to proceed to Normandy, and to apply to John in perʃon. This was a delicate point, both with regard to John and the regency. The former was afraid that William might eʃpouʃe the cauʃe of his elder brother’s ʃon, the young duke of Brittany; and the latter, (who knew John’s diʃpoʃitions,) that, if he gratified the king of Scotland, they might unite together, and put an end to their liberties. After the Scotch ambaʃʃadors had their audience in England, the regency flatly refuʃed to ʃuffer them to proceed to Normandy, and by meʃʃengers of their own, they informed John of their errand. His anʃwer was, that, upon his arrival in England, he would do juʃtice to the king of Scotland, provided the latter kept the peace in the mean time. John on the twenty-fifth of May, landed in England; and, after his coronation, he gave audience to the Scotch ambaʃʃadors, who were the archbiʃhop of St. Andrew’s, and Hugh de Mauleville. John gave a ʃoothing anʃwer to William, and promiʃed that he would ʃatisfy his dear couʃin in all his demands, if he would grant him a meeting; and at the ʃame time he ordered the biʃhop of Durham to receive William upon the frontiers. William’s reply was, that he was no longer to be trifled with, and that he knew how to do himʃelf juʃtice, if he did not obtain it within forty days. John, who had come to Nottingham in order to meet William, upon receiving this unexpected anʃwer, made William de Stuterville his lieutenant for the northern counties, his own affairs obliging him to return to Normandy.
In the year 1200, William’s claim upon Northumberland remained ʃtill undetermined. He probably had truʃted to the friendʃhip of the northern barons, who diʃliked his entering into poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland. Upon the breach that happened between John and his turbulent natural brother, Geoffrey, archbiʃhop of York, John ʃent a moʃt ʃplendid embaʃʃy to invite William to meet him at Lincoln. The ambaʃʃadors were, Philip, biʃhop of Durham; Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk; Henry de Bohun, earl of Hereford; David, earl of Huntingdon; Roger de Lucy, conʃtable of Cheʃter; William de Veʃci, Roger de Roʃs, and Robert Fitz Roger, ʃheriff of Northumberland. On the twenty-firʃt of November both princes met at Lincoln; and William performed his homage in public to John upon the Bone-hill there. I hazard little in ʃaying, that this homage was performed by William on a preʃumpțion that it was to put him into poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland; for David, at that time, certainly was earl of Huntingdon. It is indeed ụncertain, whether he did not hold it as a ʃub-fee from William, who had ʃeveral other eʃtates in England at the ʃame time, for which he might have done homage; but that which he performed at Lincoln is, without diʃpute, to be underʃtood as done for Northumberland. The two kings, however, were far from agreeing upon the terms of William’s inveʃtiture. John inʃiʃted upon his joining with him in a war he was then meditating againʃt the king of France, who had of late forced him to a moʃt diʃhonourable treaty. William abʃolutely refuʃed to do this; upon which the two kings parted, diʃʃatisfied with each other; but John promiʃed to give William an anʃwer by next Whitʃuntide.
In 1209, the miʃunderʃtanding between William and John ʃtill continued. The former complained of a caʃtle built near Berwic, by John’s orders; and the latter pretended that William had acted againʃt his allegiance, by giving his daughter in marriage to the earl of Boulogne, and ʃhelter to the Engliʃh rebels. John (who was then upon very ill terms with his ʃubjects) was glad of a popular pretext for keeping an army on foot. He took the field, and threatened to invade Scotland. By this time William had demoliʃhed the fort; and neither party inclining to come to extremities, a conference was held at York, where matters were compromiʃed; but the hiʃtorians of the two nations differ widely as to the terms. Thoʃe of England ʃay, that William engaged to pay down eleven thouʃand marks of ʃilver to John, and to deliver up his two daughters as hoʃtages for the performance of the treaty; but that John promiʃed not to rebuild the fort. Mr. Rymer has accordingly printed William’s bond for this purpoʃe, which is dated at Northampton, Auguʃt the ʃeventh, 1209. Buchanan and the Scotch hiʃtorians, on the other hand, ʃay, that the money paid was by way of dowry for the two young princeʃʃes, who were to be married to John’s two ʃons. Fordun’s account is, however, to be moʃt depended on. He ʃays, that William had twice utterly demoliʃhed the fort then building at the mouth of the Tweed, by John’s orders; that he had driven away, taken, or killed, all the workmen employed upon it; and that, after tedious negociations on both ʃides, it was agreed that the two Scotch princeʃʃes ʃhould be put into John’s hands, to be married, in nine years, to his two ʃons, Henry and Richard, who were yet boys. There can be no doubt of this tranʃaction, and Fordun’s relation is ʃtrongly corroborated by the record which Mr. Rymer has publiʃhed; for he tells us, that William gave his bond to John for the payment of fifteen thouʃand marks, at four different terms, within two years. I am now to return to the other parts of William’s hiʃtory, which I have hitherto omitted, in order to preʃerve his tranʃactions with England as entire as poʃʃible.
If William’s reign was not ʃo ʃplendid as thoʃe of ʃome of his predeceʃʃors, it was owing to the great attention he paid to the happineʃs of his ʃubjects. He cleared his kingdom of thieves and robbers; he erected magnificent buildings in his dominions, witneʃs the ruins of the abbey of Arbroath; he generouʃly made a preʃent of two thouʃand marks of ʃilver, to help to defray the ranʃom of his friend Richard, king of England; and, before he had a ʃon, he obliged his nobility to recognize the right of his daughter Margaret to ʃucceed him. He gave his ʃiʃter in marriage to Roland earl of Galloway, whom he entirely detached from the Engliʃh intereʃt, by creating him great conʃtable of Scotland, which poʃt was hereditary, but fell to the crown by the death of William de Morville without iʃʃue. Harold earl of Caithneʃs, preʃuming upon his remote ʃituation, had been guilty of many oppreʃʃive acts, and kept the field with an army. He had two ʃons, Rory and Torfin, who filled the neighbouring country with devaʃtation; but William marched againʃt them, and defeated them in a pitched battle, in which Rory was killed. Next year Harold himʃelf, who had been pardoned by the king, was inʃtigated by his wife again to break into rebellion; but being defeated and taken priʃoner by the royal forces, he was ʃhut up in Roxburgh-caʃtle. When the king’s reʃentment was abated, he was ʃet at liberty; but his ʃon Torfin ʃurrendered himʃelf a hoʃtage for his good behaviour. Harold, notwithʃtanding this, perʃiʃted in his rebellious practices, for which Torfin was puniʃhed by the loʃs of his eyes and genitals.
About this time was born Alexander, prince of Scotland, to the great joy of his father, who ʃoon after ʃummoned a convention of his ʃtates at Muʃʃelburgh, in which Alexander was recognized as his ʃucceʃʃor. In 1205 William’s brother, David earl of Huntingdon, acknowleged the young prince, as William’s apparent heir. According to Fordun, William made a ʃimple and entire ʃurrender to the king of England of all the lands he held in that kingdom; and they were reinveʃted in prince Alexander, at Alnwick. Two meetings were afterwards held; one at Durham, and the other at Norham, at which were preʃent both kings and their nobles, together with the queen of Scotland; and a perpetual peace was concluded between the two kingdoms. To make it the more permanent, prince Alexander, when he came to be fourteen years of age, was knighted at London by the king of England; and he returned to his father after Eaʃter 1212. The Engliʃh hiʃtorians ʃay, that William was then grown old and unfit for government; and that he repoʃed confidence in John, againʃt his diʃcontented ʃubjects. Whatever may be in this, it is agreed on all hands, that William behaved to him as a faithful ally, and ʃent him the firʃt intimation of the conʃpiracy which the Engliʃh barons had entered into againʃt John’s perʃon and government; but at the ʃame time he gave refuge to Euʃstace de Veʃci, a great but diʃcontented Engliʃh ʃubject. From thoʃe circumʃtances there is reaʃon to believe, that the barons of England had applied to William for his aʃʃiʃtance againʃt their king. We learn however from Fordun, that John afterwards came to Norham, in order to have an interview with William; but that the latter fell ʃick at Haddington, and began to have ʃuch a miʃtruʃt of John’s intentions, that he would not ʃuffer his ʃon to proceed to the4 meeting, tho’ John earneʃtly deʃired.
In autumn 1213, William made a progreʃs to the northern parts of his dominions, which had been infeʃted by a rebel, Gothred Mac-William. He had appointed the earl of Fife governor of Murray, and had built two caʃtles for bridling the rebels. The public commotions ʃtill continuing, he ʃent the earls of Athol and Buchan, with Sir Thomas Lundy, againʃt Gothred, whom de Lundy defeated; and, after killing ʃix hundred of his men, he brought him priʃoner before the earl of Buchan, whoʃe name was William Cummin, high juʃticiary of Scotland, by whom Gothred was ʃentenced to be hanged. This example was far from reʃtoring peace in those parts; but in the mean time William died in 1214, on his return from the North, at Stirling, being quite worn out with age and infirmities. Before he expired he ordered his nobility to be ʃummoned, and again to ʃwear allegiance to his eldeʃt ʃon Alexander. He died in the 74th year of his age, and the 49th of his reign. His true character ʃeems to have been that of a peacable prince, a ʃevere juʃticiary, and ʃacrificing all conʃiderations of his own grandeur to the tranquillity of his dominions. He is by Hector Boece accuʃed of having emaʃculated all the male deʃcendants of Harold earl of Caithneʃs, on or near a certain eminence which ʃtill retains the name of Stony-hill. He was the founder of the new town of Perth, after he had narrowly eʃcaped being drowned in the old town, by an inundation which ʃwept away his palace, together with his ʃon, an infant, his nurʃe and fourteen of his attendants. Thoʃe facts, tho’ not very important, are mentioned by Buchanan and other Scotch hiʃtorians, who are miʃerably defective in their information as to more material points.
William is ʃaid to have been twice married, but the name of his firʃt wife is not known. By his ʃecond wife, Ermengarda, he had his ʃon and ʃucceʃʃor Alexander, and two daughters, Margery and Iʃabel. The firʃt was married to the famous Hubert de Burgh, juʃticiary of England; and Henry the Third, afterwards king of England, was ʃo much in love with the ʃecond, that he would have married her, had he not been diʃʃuaded by his peers from marrying the youngeʃt ʃiʃter of his ʃubject’s wife: upon which ʃhe was given to the earl marʃhal of England.
At the time of Alexander’s acceʃʃion, the crown of Scotland made a very reʃpectable figure in the affairs of Europe. The liberties of England were on the point of being ʃwallowed up by the pope; and the king and the court of Alexander was crowded with Engliʃh barons, who put themʃelves under his protection, and called upon him to head them againʃt their tyrant. Alexander was then about ʃixteen, full of fire and ʃpirit, and maʃter of an united people. His uncle, David earl of Huntingdon, tho’ now old and infirm, acted as chief mourner at the late king’s burial; but neither he nor his nephew could be brought to declare war againʃt John, or to join the northern barons, till John had entirely over-run their eʃtates, and parcelled them out among his followers. This indeciʃion was one of the chief reaʃons that induced the Engliʃh barons to turn their eyes towards the king of France, for their deliverance. Alexander at firʃt demanded, (in conʃequence of former conventions) to be put in poʃʃeʃʃion of Northumberland and the northern counties; but John, who thought he had then obtained a complete triumph over the liberties of his people, ʃlighted his requeʃt, and even made preparations for invading Scotland. He had given all the tract between the river Teiʃe and Scotland to Hugh de Baliol and another nobleman, upon the terms of their defending it againʃt the Scots. Alexander complained of this; but before he took the field, he exacted an oath of homage from the northern barons, and from all the military tenants of the counties to which he laid claim. He then fell upon Northumberland, which he eaʃily reduced, while John invaded Scotland by the way of Yorkʃhire. The inhabitants laid their country waʃte, and fled for protection to Alexander, who had returned to Melros; but he could not prevent John from burning the towns of Wark, Alnwick, and Morpeth, and taking the ʃtrong caʃtles of Roxburgh and Berwick. He next plundered the abbey of Coldingham, reduced Dunbar and Haddington, laid all waʃte where-ever he marched, and boaʃted that he would thereby hunt the little red fox (alluding to Alexander’s complexion) out of his lurking holes.
By this time Alexander had returned to the protection of his capital, againʃt which John was advancing on a full march. He found Alexander encamped with the river Eʃk in his front, and ready to give him battle; upon which John precipitately marched back. He was purʃued by Alexander; and, in order to cover his retreat, John burnt the towns of Berwick and Coldingham, and inʃtructed, in his own perʃon, his mercenaries in every barbarous act; for he ʃet fire in the morning to the houʃes where he had lodged at night. His army had the advantage of being ʃupplied from his fleet with proviʃions, while Alexander’s troops were ʃtopt in their march by the deʃolation which their enemies had ʃpread. Alexander being thus forced to diʃcontinue his purʃuit, marched to the westward; and entering England by the way of Carliʃle, which he took and fortified, he proceeded as far as Richmond, and retaliated upon John’s adherents the ʃame ʃeverities which his own ʃubjects had undergone. There he was again ʃtopt by John’s ravages, and forced to return through Weʃtmoreland to his own kingdom. This expedition was finiʃhed gloriouʃly on the ʃide of Alexander; for it is acknowledged that he received the homage of all the Yorkʃhire as well as Northumbrian barons, (who oppoʃed John) and that he took them under his protection. We are ignorant of the nature of the homage which Alexander exacted; but probably it was as to a ʃovereign, and that he no longer acknowledged John’s title to the crown of England. It was at this time that the Engliʃh barons applied for aʃʃiʃtance to the king of France, who ʃent them his ʃon Lewis, to whom they transferred their allegiance, and whom Alexander likewiʃe recognized as king of England.
Upon the arrival of Lewis in England, the Yorkʃhire barons beʃieged York, which was ʃtill in John’s hands. Lewis, among his other acts of ʃovereignty, ʃummoned Alexander to do him homage; but the latter, by this time, was beʃieging Carliʃle, which had again fallen into John’s hands. The ʃtate of affairs in the ʃouth did not admit of Alexander’s continuing the ʃiege. He therefore appeared before Barnard-caʃtle, which having been ʃtrongly fortified by Hugh de Baliol, he was likewiʃe unable to take, and in reconnoitring it he loʃt his friend Euʃtace de Veʃci, one of the braveʃt noblemen in England. It does not appear that Alexander met with any oppoʃition in his march through the heart of England to London, where he joined Lewis; tho’ ʃome ʃay that their firʃt interview was at Dover. His aʃʃiʃtance was highly ʃeaʃonable; and, upon Alexander’s performing homage, Lewis confirmed all his rights to Northumberland, Cumberland, and Weʃtmoreland. After the junction of the Scotch and the Engliʃh army under Lewis, the progreʃs of the latter was very rapid; but the ravages of the combined army gave the Engliʃh a diʃguʃt to the French government. It is at this time that we are to fix an interview which Lewis and Alexander had with the king of France at Boulogne upon the affairs of England. At this meeting the king of France reproached his ʃon for the untowardly ʃtate of his affairs in England, but above all for ʃuffering the ʃtrong caʃtle of Dover to remain in the hands of John. Upon the return of Alexander and Lewis to England the ʃiege of Dover was formed, as was likewiʃe that of Windʃor-caʃtle; but, by this time, the French party in England had been ruined by the Engliʃh, and had now little other dependance than Alexander’s friendʃhip and aʃʃiʃtance. The ʃieges of both caʃtles proved unʃucceʃsful; but Alexander continued faithful to his engagements with Lewis and the barons; and, in August 1216, he brought to their aʃʃiʃtance a freʃh army, but obliged them to ʃwear, at the ʃame time, that they would make no peace with John without his conʃent.
This ʃeaʃonable reinforcement brought to the barons by Alexander, once more turned the ʃcale of ʃucceʃs againʃt John, who died about this time, and was ʃucceeded by his infant ʃon Henry the Third. The Engliʃh nation being now rid of their tyrant, by the death of John, gradually reconciled themʃelves to his ʃon, whoʃe guardian was the brave earl of Pembroke. What part Alexander took, upon this great revolution of affairs, is uncertain; but he ʃeems to have continued ʃtill attached to the party of Lewis. Mr. Rymer has printed the treaty between Lewis and the young king’s guardians, in which the king of Scotland was invited to be comprehended. Alexander had great reaʃon to find fault with this treaty, which left him in a manner to the mercy of young Henry and his guardians, who were not obliged to regard the ʃtipulations that had been made between him and Lewis. He thought proper however to accept of the invitation, tho’ he was thereby obliged to give up all the priʃoners and acquiʃitions he had made during the war, Henry and the other party making the like conceʃʃions. His kingdom lay at this time under the papal interdict; but the Scots were the only people in Chriʃtendom, who at that period deʃpiʃed the thunder of the Vatican; nor do we find that either their king or they ʃuffered by the interdict, which was taken off by the archbiʃhop of York, and the biʃhop of Durham. Soon after, Alexander gave up Carliʃle, which had again fallen into his hands, and did homage to Henry for the earldom of Huntingdon, and his other Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions, at Northampton, where he kept his Chriʃtmas in the year 1217.
Perhaps Alexander’s domeʃtic affairs had ʃome influence upon his pacific conduct at this time; for we are told that Donald Bane, ʃon to the rebel Mac-William, together with an Iriʃh potentate, invaded Scotland, but were defeated by Alexander’s general, who by Sir James Balfour is called Mackentagar, for which he was knighted and nobly rewarded by his maʃter. This rebellion being ʃuppreʃʃed, Alexander turned his thoughts to marriage, and had a meeting with Henry at York. There the peace between the two crowns was confirmed, and Alexander demanded from Henry, Joan, his eldeʃt ʃiʃter, for a wife. The ʃituation of this princeʃs was very particular. She had, when very young, been betrothed by her father to the earl of March’s ʃon, Hugh de Luʃignan, who had been formerly in love with the mother. He received her accordingly from John’s hands; and ʃhe was to remain in his cuʃtody till ʃhe ʃhould arrive at a proper age. In the mean time John died, and Luʃignan married his widow; but even then refuʃed to deliver the young princeʃs to her brother and the Engliʃh nation, who reclaimed her, unleʃs he was paid a ʃum of money by way of ranʃom. She continued ʃtill in Luʃignan’s hands, when Alexander and Henry had their interview at York; and the latter agreeing to the match, he bound himʃelf, if poʃʃible, to procure his eldeʃt ʃiʃter for Alexander; but if he ʃhould fail, he promiʃed him his younger ʃiʃter in marriage, in fifteen days after the time prefixed for the nuptials of the eldeʃt. This affair being adjuʃted, the caʃe of the two Scotch princeʃʃes, who had been delivered to John to be married to his two ʃons, and remained yet in England, fell under deliberation. The crying injuʃtice that had been done them by John (who never meant that his engagements ʃhould reach farther than the receiving the money for their dowries) prevailed with Henry to promiʃe to ʃend them to Scotland, if he did not provide them with ʃuitable matches in England; but at the ʃame time he took a bond from Alexander, obliging him to perform his marriage with the princeʃs Joan, if ʃhe could be recovered out of Luʃignan’s hands. All thoʃe matches fell out according to the wiʃhes of the ʃeveral parties. The princeʃs Joan was married Alexander, whoʃe eldeʃt ʃiʃter, Margery, was married to Hubert de Burgh, juʃticiary of England; and his ʃecond ʃiʃter, with whom, as we have already ʃeen, Henry himʃelf was in love, to Gilbert, earl-marʃhal, the two greateʃt ʃubjects Henry had.
The marriage between Alexander and the princeʃs Joan was conʃummated at York, in 1221; and, during the life of that princeʃs, a good underʃtanding ʃubʃiʃted between the two kingdoms. In the year 1222, ʃome diʃturbances broke out in Scotland. One Gilleʃpy, at the head of a band of robbers, had burnt the town of Inverneʃs, and had carried fire and ʃword through the adjacent counties; but he was defeated by the earl of Buchan, and his head, with thoʃe of his two ʃons, was ʃent to the king. Alexander ʃeems at this time to have reʃided chiefly in the ʃouthern parts of Scotland; a circumʃtance which probably encouraged the diʃorders in the North, where a terrible ʃcene happened this year in Caithneʃs. That county was then in the fee of Adam, biʃhop of Orkney, whoʃe officers collected his tythes and other dues so rigorouʃly, that the people of the county roʃe, and dragging the biʃhop and one of his attendants, Serlo, a monk, into his kitchen, there burnt them both alive. Alexander was at Jedburgh, and raiʃing an army, immediately marched north; and ʃeizing four hundred of the inʃurgents, he ordered them all to be gibbeted. The earl of Caithneʃs was ʃtrongly ʃuʃpected of having been privy to the biʃhop’s murder; but by repreʃenting the oppreʃʃions the prelate had been guilty of, and that he had wantonly excommunicated the criminals, Alexander was contented to puniʃh him with a large fine, and mulcting him of the third part of his earldom. The ʃame earl, however, next year is ʃaid to have redeemed the forfeited part of his earldom with another large ʃum of money; but upon his return home he was murdered, ʃome ʃay by his domeʃtics, others by his enemies, and his body and houʃe reduced to aʃhes.
I have more than once remarked, in writing the hiʃtory of England, the difficulties attending that of Galloway, on account of its peculiar conʃtitution. Its princes or earls had, for ʃome years preceding 1223, lived in a good correʃpondence with the court of Scotland, and had been conʃidered as its firʃt ʃubjects, not only on account of their great poʃʃeʃʃions, but of their enjoying the poʃt of high conʃtable. Alan, the laʃt prince of Galloway, died without male iʃʃue; but left behind him three daughters. The eldeʃt, Helen, was married to Roger de Quincy, earl of Wincheʃter; Dervigild, the ʃecond was wife to John Baliol, of Barnard-caʃtle; and Chriʃtian, of William, earl of Albermarle. Alexander, no doubt, thought it a fortunate circumʃtance, that ʃo great a fee ʃhould be divided among the ʃeveral claimants; but in this he was oppoʃed by Thomas Mac Duallen, the natural ʃon to the laʃt prince, who claimed the ʃucceʃʃion to the undivided fee. His pretenʃions were vigorouʃly ʃupported by the friends and tenants of his late father, who remonʃtrated againʃt ʃo noble a principality being parcelled out to foreigners, eʃpecially Engliʃhmen; and Mac Duallen was ʃoon in poʃʃeʃʃion of all the eʃtate. He was aʃʃiʃted by his father-in-law, Olave, who is called King of Man, by ʃome of the petty Iriʃh princes, and likewiʃe by Sommerled, lord of Argyle. Alexander thought no time was to be loʃt in ʃuppreʃʃing this dangerous rebellion; and immediately marched into Galloway at the head of an army. That of Thomas conʃiʃted of ten thouʃand men, but undiʃciplined in war, though full of ʃpirits for action. Alexander drew up his troops in three diviʃions. The firʃt was led by himʃelf; the ʃecond by his lord high-ʃteward and the earl of Roʃs; and the third by Sir Archibald Douglaʃs. As the royal army was much better diʃciplined and officered than that of the rebels, half the latter were cut in pieces, and the remainder threw down their arms; while Thomas and Gildroth, one of his confederates, eʃcaped into Ireland. There they were joined by ʃome freʃh auxiliaries; but when they returned to Scotland, they found their party ʃo much diʃpirited, that they threw themʃelves upon the mercy of Alexander, who pardoned them, as he likewiʃe did Sommerled.
In 1226, Richard duke of Cornwal, we are told, paid a viʃit to Alexander in Scotland, with a view of marrying a princeʃs of that royal family; but the match was oppoʃed by Henry. That Richard might make ʃuch a viʃit at this time is no way improbable; but I know of no princeʃs which Alexander had then to diʃpoʃe of. The year after we find Alexander at Roxburgh, knighting John the Scot, as he is called, ʃon to his uncle David, earl of Huntingdon. This nobleman afterwards ʃucceeded to the great earldom of Cheʃter. The truth is, it is difficult, at this time, to follow the hiʃtory of Scotland in a regular chronological order; and therefore I am obliged, as uʃual, to be directed by records. From them we learn, that about the year 1235, Alexander and his queen paid a viʃit to Henry at London. The occaʃion of this viʃit appears from the Engliʃh hiʃtorians to have ariʃen from the fall of Hubert de Burgh, brother-in-law to Alexander. That great nobleman had been accuʃed of having entered into ʃeveral rebellious engagements with Alexander againʃt Henry. When Hubert was charged with this, he frankly acknowledged his having formed certain connections with Alexander, in order that both of them might obtain redreʃs of the grievances they ʃuffered from their enemies at the Engliʃh court. We know of no particulars which paʃʃed at this viʃit, but that a negotiation was entered into between the two kings, relating probably Alexander’s claims on the northern counties. Upon his and his queen’s return to Scotland, he ʃent deputies, who laid all his pretenʃions before the Engliʃh parliament. Though, as uʃual, his demands were poʃtponed, yet Alexander had formed cloʃe connections with Llewellin, the Welch prince of Aberfraw, well as with Hubert de Burgh’s party; and Henry thought proper to invite him to another meeting at York.
From the papers publiʃhed by Mr. Rymer, it appears as if Henry, at this time, had complained to the pope of Alexander’s not having performed his homage to him; for we find ʃome letters from his holineʃs to that effect. When the conferences opened at York, Alexander urged his claim to the eʃtates in queʃtion, and charged Henry to his face with having falʃified the promiʃes that had been given him, appealing to ʃeveral noblemen preʃent for the truth of what he ʃaid; and laying before him, at the ʃame time, the ʃeveral engagements that had been entered into by his father John, for his being put immediately into poʃʃeʃʃion of the diʃputed counties; and likewiʃe a formal bond for the same purpoʃe, given by Henry, to be executed at the time of his marriage with his queen. He concluded his ʃpeech by threatening to proceed to hoʃtilities, if ʃatisfaction was longer delayed him. Henry, who was one of the moʃt irreʃolute puʃillanimous princes that ever ʃat on the Engliʃh throne, could not deny what Alexander advanced; but offered him a penʃion of eighty marks a year, according to the Engliʃh hiʃtorians, with which Alexander ʃeemed ʃatisfied, and the aʃʃembly broke quietly up. Though I have related this interview as it has come to my hand, yet it is certain, that the marks then ʃtipulated were either of very high value, and to be paid by weight, or that there is a miʃtake in the ʃum. I am, upon the whole, inclined to believe, that the meeting broke up without any effect; and the rather, as I perceive that Henry ʃoon after appointed another meeting at York, under the mediation of the pope’s legate. There the matter was again fully debated; and it was at laʃt agreed, that Alexander ʃhould receive out of lands in the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland two hundred pounds a year; and that if the revenues of the ʃaid counties did not amount to two hundred pounds a year, excluʃive of thoʃe towns which had caʃtles in them, Alexander was then to receive the balance out of the adjoining counties, he paying, by way of reddendo, every year, a hawk to the conʃtable of Carliʃle. The earl of Warren was fidejuʃʃor, or guarantee, for the performance of this agreement on the part of Henry, as the earl of Menteith was on that of Alexander, who renounced all his right to Northumberland, Cumberland, and Weʃtmoreland.
On the breaking up of the conferences, the legate intimated to Alexander, that he had a commiʃʃion from his holineʃs to pay him a viʃit in Scotland. Alexander, without ʃaying any thing perʃonally harʃh to the legate, told him, that he never had ʃeen, and that, if he could prevent it, he never would fee, one of his order in Scotland; and adviʃed him, as he tendered his own ʃafety, not to ʃet foot on his dominions, as he could not anʃwer for what conʃequences might happen from the reʃentment of his ʃubjects. Though the above fact is unqueʃtionable, yet it is certain that ʃeveral cardinals, and other Romiʃh eccleʃiaʃtics, had been in Scotland before, but none of them with legantine powers.
In 1239 Otho, a new legate from Rome, having, without ʃucceʃs, applied to an aʃʃembly of the Engliʃh biʃhops for money, declared his intention to repair for the ʃame purpoʃe to Scotland. In this he was encouraged by ʃome of the chief Engliʃh nobility, who diʃliked his reʃidence in England ʃo much, that they offered to attend him to the frontiers with their followers. Otho, thus guarded, ʃet out for Scotland; but, before he reached it, he was met by Alexander, who told him, that he thanked God his ʃubjects were all good Chriʃtians, and that his legateʃhip muʃt not think of proceeding farther. Upon this reʃolute ʃpeech, Otho addreʃʃed himʃelf to his Engliʃh attendants, who interceded ʃo effectually with Alexander, that he conʃented to admit him, but under an expreʃs article, witneʃʃed by all preʃent, that the prelate’s admiʃʃion ʃhould not be drawn into any precedent. He accordingly proceeded into Scotland about the end of September, held a national council at Edinburgh on the nineteenth day of October, and departed in the beginning of November; ʃo that his ʃtay could be only for a few weeks, a proof that neither Alexander nor his ʃubjects were fond of his preʃence.
Before this time, the queen of England is ʃaid to have paid a viʃit to her ʃiʃter-in-law, the queen of Scotland, who, in returning the viʃit, died, while ʃhe was on a pilgrimage at Canterbury. As ʃhe had no children, the crown remained unheired by Alexander. He immediately called a meeting of his ʃtates, who adviʃed him to marry a ʃecond time; and his choice fell on the lady Mary, daughter to Egelrand de Coucy, one of the moʃt powerful of the French nobility; and Alexander accordingly married her at Roxburgh. A perfect good underʃtanding, till the Scotch queen’s death, had ʃubʃiʃted between Alexander and Henry, from the time of their laʃt accommodation at York. Alexander had even been entruʃted with the charge of the northern Engliʃh counties, either by a ʃpecial commiʃʃion from Henry, or, which is more probable, becauʃe they had, in fact, been mortgaged to him for the payment of his annuity, the preciʃe value of which cannot now be aʃcertained. But many cauʃes now concurred to break off their good underʃtanding. In 1241, Alexander’s young and beautiful queen was brought to bed of a ʃon, who was chriʃtened Alexander; and at that time one Gillin, ʃecond ʃon to the earl of Dunbar, was ambaʃʃador at the court of England; but the chief fomenter of the differences between the two kingdoms was one Walter Biʃʃet, who, in the Scotch hiʃtories, is called lord of Aboyn. This Biʃʃet was a man infamous for his vices and intrigues, and is noted as ʃuch in the contemporary chronicle of Peterborough. He and his followers had baʃely murdered Patric de Galloway, earl of Athol; and, to diʃguiʃe their villainy, they had ʃet fire to the houʃe, and conʃumed the body, that the death of the young lord, who was one of the moʃt promiʃing noblemen in Scotland, might appear to have happened by chance, during the revels which attended a tournament held at Haddington. As intermarriages were then very frequent between the two nations, David Haʃtings, of a noble Engliʃh family, ʃucceeded to the earldom of Athol, in right of his mother, and to earl Patric, who had died without iʃʃue. Biʃʃet, who was notoriouʃly known to have been the murderer, was ʃummoned to take his trial before the king and the ʃtates of the realm; and upon his flying from juʃtice, he and his uncles, who had been his accomplices, were baniʃhed from Scotland, and their eʃtates forfeited. Walter took refuge in England, where he practiʃed upon Henry’s weakneʃs ʃo effectually, that he prevailed upon him to ʃend a meʃʃage, demanding Alexander to do him homage.
It is uncertain whether this homage was required to be done for Scotland, or any part of it. I am inclined to think it was demanded for that crown itʃelf; becauʃe it appears, by a letter from Innocent the fourth to Henry, that the latter had deʃired his holineʃs to decree that the king of Scotland, as his vaʃʃal, might not be crowned without his permiʃʃion, and that lie might have the levying of the clergy’s tythes in Scotland; both which demands the pope refuʃed to agree to.
Scotland, perhaps, never had been ʃo powerful, becauʃe it never was ʃo well united within itʃelf, as at this time. John de Coucy, brother-in-law to Alexander, was a determined enemy to the king of England, and promiʃed to aʃʃiʃt Alexander, in caʃe of a breach between the two nations, with large ʃupplies both of men and money. Alexander was perʃonally beloved, and extremely popular in England, where Henry’s perʃon was deʃpiʃed, and his government deteʃted; but Alexander raiʃed of his own ʃubjects an hundred thouʃand well armed foot, and a thouʃand horʃe. It was no wonder, if thus ʃtrengthened, he returned for anʃwer to Henry’s ʃummons, that he was reʃolved not to hold a foot of land any longer in Scotland of the Engliʃh crown. From this anʃwer I am inclined to believe, that before this time the kings of Scotland had performed homage for ʃome lands to the ʃouth of the Forth, which had formerly belonged to the Anglo-Saxons or the Anglo-Normans. Whatever may be in this, it is certain that Henry complained of Walter Cummin, and ʃome of the Scotch noblemen, for having built two caʃtles, one in Galloway and the other in Lothian, which laʃt was called the Hermitage; and that Alexander had given ʃhelter to ʃeveral Engliʃh rebels, who were accuʃed of keeping up a traitorous correʃpondence with the French. Alexander, on the other hand, appealed to the nobility of both nations, whether he had not inviolably kept all his engagements with Henry; and had the ʃatisfaction to ʃee himʃelf ʃeconded by the whole body of his people, who voted him liberal ʃupplies; upon which, he ordered his frontiers to be fortified, and prepared to march with his army into England. Before he ʃet out, ʃome diʃturbances happened from the friends and partizans of the Biʃʃets, who having a great eʃtate in Ireland, and being favoured by Henry, made ʃeveral piratical deʃcents upon the coaʃts of Scotland, where, with the aʃʃiʃtance of their party, they did conʃiderable damage. To repreʃs ʃuch invaʃions for the future, Alexander appointed Sir Allen Durwart, an excellent officer, his lieutenant or juʃticiary during his abʃence.
Alexander, upon his arrival near Berwic, found that by Henry’s orders a new fort was building on the ʃame ʃcite where an old one had been erected for bridling that garriʃon, and which he immediately ordered to be demoliʃhed. By this time, Henry was at the head of a ʃtrong body of foreigners as well as Engliʃh; but he was attended by his great military tenants, eʃpecially his brother, the earl of Cornwal; chiefly that they might be at hand to make remonʃtrances againʃt the injuʃtice of his cauʃe, and to compel him to make peace with Alexander. Henry had advanced as far as Newcaʃtle, and Alexander was lying with his army at a place called Caldwell, when the earl of Cornwal, and the archbiʃhop of York, undertook to mediate between the two princes. Their negociation was ʃucceʃsful; and Alexander engaged to give no encouragement to the enemies or rebels of Henry; to renew his homage to him, as his liege-lord, for the poʃʃeʃʃions he held in England; and to deʃiʃt from all incurʃions upon that crown, provided he was not oppreʃʃed. This laʃt was a very remarkable proviʃion, and can be underʃtood only of Alexander refuʃing to ʃubmit any of his independent rights to the king and parliament of England. The treaty of York, which was made in preʃence of Otho, the pope’s legate, was likewiʃe renewed; and Henry, by his brother, the earl of Cornwal, ʃwore to obʃerve the peace with Scotland, and not to confederate with its enemies. It was agreed, at the ʃame time, between both parties, that Alexander’s young ʃon and ʃucceʃʃor ʃhould marry the princeʃs of England, daughter to Henry; a match which had been more than once mentioned before, as the moʃt effectual means for cementing the peace between the two kingdoms. This agreement was the more glorious for Alexander, becauʃe (if we believe Matthew Paris) Henry intended the entire reduction of all Scotland, and had aʃʃembled his Flemiʃh auxiliaries for that purpoʃe. I am now to attend the internal affairs of Scotland.
We are told of an expedition which Alexander made into Argyleʃhire, where he ʃubdued many of the rebels; but probably they are the ʃame I have already mentioned. Fordun likewiʃe mentions the Iriʃh who invaded Galloway having been cut off by the inhabitants of Glaʃgow, and that Alexander ordered two of their chiefs to be torn in pieces by horʃes at Edinburgh. In 1248 Lewis, commonly called the Saint, king of France, ʃent ambaʃʃadors to Scotland, to inform Alexander, that he was about to undertake a cruʃade for the recovery of the Holy-Land from the Infidels; and requiring Alexander’s aʃʃiʃtance. As the nation was then in peace, and the expedition extremely popular, the propoʃition was agreed to; and a body of volunteers was raiʃed, the command of which was given to Patric earl of March, David Lindʃey of Gleneʃk, and Walter Stuart of Dundonald. The fate of that cruʃade is well known in hiʃtory. It is ʃufficient to ʃay here, that the Scots make no great figure in the authors who have treated of this expedition, which proves that they were leʃs infected with religious frenzy than their neighbours; but ʃcarce one of the few who went upon that cruʃade returned alive to their own country. Alexander did not long ʃurvive this tranʃaction. Hearing of ʃome commotions in Argyleʃhire, he went by ʃea to quell them; but falling ʃick, he was on ʃhore on one of the iʃlands of that coaʃt, called Kernerey, where he died in 1249, in the fifty-firʃt year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign, and was buried, by his own deʃire, at Melros. He was an amiable but a ʃpirited prince, and ʃeems to have been perfectly well inʃtructed in the art of balancing parties in England, from whence he apprehended his greateʃt danger. He was, ʃays Matthew Paris, deʃervedly and equally beloved by the Engliʃh and the Scots, for his juʃtice, piety, and good-nature. In all his expeditions, he was firm and fortunate; but he has been by Buchanan, and ʃome other authors, accuʃed of having ʃuffered the great family of Cummin to obtain too great an aʃcendency in his dominions. He left no other iʃʃue beʃides Alexander, his ʃon and ʃucceʃʃor by his ʃecond marriage.
This prince was not more than nine years of age at the time of his father’s death, and was crowned at Scone, with great ʃolemnity, on the 15th day of Auguʃt. Fordun mentions a diʃpute that happened at the time of his coronation, between Durwart, the juʃticiary of Scotland, and Cummin, earl of Menteith. The former inʃiʃted upon his knighting the young king before he was crowned. Menteith oppoʃed this propoʃal, and had ʃuch influence in the aʃʃembly, that the king was immediately crowned, without undergoing the ceremony of knighthood. It is probable, that the earl of Menteith thought that honour too great to be conferred by any ʃubject, and oppoʃed it, in order to pay a compliment to the king of England. Fordun after very particularly ʃpecifying the manner of the king’s coronation, which was performed by the biʃhop of St. Andrew’s, tells us of a Highlander (probably one of thoʃe who went under the denomination of Sannachies) who repeated on his knees, before the throne, in his own language, the genealogy of Alexander and his anceʃtors, up to the firʃt king of Scotland. The book of Paiʃley, in the king’s library, which was given to the Britiʃh Muʃeum, and is the moʃt authentic unpubliʃhed record of the Scotch hiʃtory, ʃays, that when the biʃhop of St. Andrew’s crowned Alexander before the nobles of the land, he begirded him with a military belt. We are not, however, to ʃuppoʃe by this, that he inveʃted him with the order of knighthood, which could be conferred only by a knight, but as an emblem of his temporal juriʃdiction. The ʃame record gives us another much more important circumʃtance, with regard to the ʃame coronation, which is, that the prelate explained firʃt in the Latin, and afterwards in the Gaelic language, the laws and oaths relating to the king, who favourably agreed to and received them all, as he joyfully did benediction and coronation from the ʃame prelate.
Among the firʃt acts of his reign, was the improvement of his coin; for the croʃs, according to Sir James Balfour, was then made to touch the uttermoʃt point of the circle, which in his predeceʃʃors reign it did not. All perhaps we can infer from this circumʃtance, is, that the alteration was intended to prevent clipping of money. In the year 1250, the young king and his mother met at Dumfermling, where they raiʃed the bones of the good queen Margaret, wife to Malcolm the Third, and placed them in a golden ʃhrine, magnificently enriched with precious ʃtones.
Soon after, a meeting of the ʃtates was held, which the nobility expreʃʃed an earneʃt deʃire that the match propoʃed between Alexander and the Engliʃh princeʃs ʃhould immediately take place. The earls of Menteith and Buchan, and the reʃt of the Cummins, would have gladly evaded or poʃtponed this reʃolution, which they foreʃaw might be attended by the loʃs of their exorbitant power; but the aʃʃembly was ʃo unanimous, that ambaʃʃadors were directly ʃent to London, to obtain a confirmation of the late peace, and to demand the king’s daughter for their young maʃter. Henry received the ambaʃʃadors with great pomp and many honours. He thought that now the time was come for acquiring the actual government of Scotland, at leaʃt during the young king’s minority, which might be an introduction to his and the nation’s agreeing to give up the ʃo much diʃputed independency of their crown. He readily granted all their demands, and ordered ʃome of his own nobility to return with the ambaʃʃadors to Scotland, and to carry with them ʃafe-conducts under his own, and his court of peers, hands, for Alexander and his great lords to meet him at York, by Chriʃtmas following, which was agreed to on the part of the Scots. Henry accordingly kept his Chriʃtmas at York, to which the king and queen dowager of Scotland repaired with their chief nobility. The two courts were magnificent beyond all expreʃʃion, but the queen dowager outʃhone all the aʃʃembly in ʃplendor. Her yearly revenues amounted to four thouʃand, (Paris ʃays in another place ʃeven thouʃand) marks, a ʃum equal to a third of thoʃe of the crown; but through the uncertain computation of the money of that time, it is impoʃʃible to aʃcertain its preʃent value. According to Matthew Paris, ʃhe had beʃide this, received a large fortune from her father, and had returned from France, and brought in her train many of her countrymen of great diʃtinction. Nothing could be better conducted than the accommodation of the company; for in order to prevent the brawls and bloodʃhed which were then ʃo common among the retainers and ʃervants of perʃons of diʃtinction, in taking up their lodgings, the retinue of the two kings had two ʃtreets ʃet apart for their quarters. On Chriʃtmas day, king Alexander was knighted, together with twenty young perʃons of diʃtinction at the ʃame time, who were all moʃt magnificently dreʃt. Next day, the marriage-ceremony was performed with great pomp, and Alexander paid his homage to Henry for his Engliʃh poʃʃeʃʃions, among which Lothian is particularly mentioned. Henry, after this, preʃʃed his ʃon-in-law to perform his homage for the crown of Scotland; but Alexander, who conducted himʃelf with great ʃenʃe and modeʃty, anʃwered, that his buʃineʃs in England was matrimony; that he had come thither under Henry’s protection, and by his invitation; and that he was no way prepared to anʃwer ʃo difficult a queʃtion.
Henry was perhaps encouraged to this requeʃt by the diʃʃenʃions which then prevailed among the Scotch nobility, of which he expected to be the arbiter. Durwart was accuʃed of having married the natural daughter of the late king Alexander, and of his having made intereʃt at Rome to get her and her children legitimated, ʃo as to be in a capacity to ʃucceed to the throne. The abbot of Dumfermling, then chancellor of Scotland, was charged with having paʃʃed this legitimation under the great ʃeal; and being conʃcious of his guilt, he privately left York, and returning to Scotland, ʃurrendered the great ʃeal to the nobility, who ordered it to be broken in pieces till a new one could be made upon the king’s return; and then the chancellor being ʃhaved, ʃhut himʃelf up in a religious houʃe. He was ʃucceeded as chancellor by Gamelin biʃhop of St Andrews.
The Cummins thought that Henry’s influence over his ʃon-in-law, and in the affairs of Scotland, was now too great; and fearing an impeachment againʃt themʃelves, they withdrew from York, leaving Henry in full poʃʃeʃʃion of his ʃon-in-law’s perʃon. To ʃhew he deʃerved all the confidence the Scots could repoʃe in him, he publickly declared that he dropt all claim of ʃuperiority upon their crown; and that he would ever afterwards act as the father and guardian of his ʃon-in-law; confirming his aʃʃurances by a charter. Upon Alexander’s return to Scotland, he found his affairs had been well conducted during his abʃence; but, by this time, the Cummins had formed a ʃtrong party againʃt his Engliʃh connections.
They and their followers exclaimed, that Scotland was now no better than a province of England; and the following relation of this intricate affair is collected from Engliʃh contemporary writers, and indiʃputable records. Henry had ʃecret intelligence, that the Scotch nobility kept their king and queen as two ʃtate-priʃoners in the caʃtle of Edinburgh; upon which, the queen of England privately ʃent a phyʃician, whom ʃhe could truʃt, to enquire into her daughter’s ʃituation. He had the addreʃs to be admitted into the company of the young queen, who gave him a moʃt lamentable detail of her condition. She ʃaid, that the place of their confinement was unwholeʃome to the laʃt degree; that they were debarred from ʃeeing any company; that their health was in imminent danger; and that they had no concern in the affairs of government. The Engliʃh writers leave us in the dark as to the means by which the king and queen were reduced to this dreadful ʃituation; but the Scotch inform us, that the Cummins uʃurped the whole power of the ʃtate.
Henry, who ʃeems to have had a ʃincere affection for his daughter and his ʃon-in-law, was under difficulties how to act. On the one hand, he was afraid of their ʃafety, if he ʃhould take violent meaʃures; and he knew that, in ʃuch a caʃe, the bulk of the Scotch nation would ʃuʃpect that he had deʃigns upon their independency: on the other hand, he dreaded the ambition, power, and wickedneʃs of thoʃe who kept the royal pair in a thraldom that was dangerous to their lives; nor was he inʃenʃible that ʃome of them had ʃecret views upon the crown itʃelf. By the advice of the Scotch royaliʃts, among whom were the earls of Dunbar, Fife, Strathern, Carric, and Robert de Bruce, he proceeded in a middle, and indeed a wiʃe, manner. He aʃʃembled his military tenants at York, from whence he himʃelf advanced to Newcaʃtle, where he publiʃhed a manifeʃto, diʃclaiming all deʃigns againʃt the peace or intereʃt of Scotland, and declaring that the forces which had repaired to York were intended to maintain both; and that all he meant was to have an interview with the king, and the queen his daughter, upon the borders. Henry proceeded from Newcaʃtle to Wark; and from thence he privately diʃpatched the earl of Glouceʃter, with his favourite John Manʃel, with a train of truʃty followers, to gain admiʃʃion into the caʃtle of Edinburgh, which was then held by John Baliol and Robert de Roʃs, noblemen of great intereʃt in England as well as Scotland. The earl and Manʃel being diʃguiʃed, got admittance into the caʃtle, on pretence of their being tenants to Baliol or de Roʃs; and their followers obtained acceʃs on the ʃame account, without any ʃuʃpicion, till they were numerous enough to have maʃtered the garriʃon, had they met with reʃiʃtance. The queen immediately joined them, and diʃcloʃed all the thraldom and tyranny in which ʃhe and her huʃband were held; and among other particulars, ʃhe declared, that ʃhe was ʃtill a virgin, as her jailors obliged her to lie in a bed apart from her huʃband. The Engliʃh being maʃters of the caʃtle, ordered the king and queen to be accommodated with one and the ʃame bed that very night; and Henry hearing of the ʃucceʃs of his party, ʃent a ʃafe-conduct for the royal pair to meet him at Alnwic.
END of the FIRST VOLUME.
–
1 The following epitaph, compoʃed by ʃome Scotchman who probably was contemporary with Malcolm, takes no notice of his having been treacherouʃly run through the eye:
“Ter deca quinque valens armis, & menʃibus octo,
MALCOLMUS, ʃanctus rex erat in SCOTIA.
ANGLORUM gladiis in bello ʃternitur heros,
Hic rex in SCOTIA primus humatus erat.”
The meaning of the laʃt line is, that he was the firʃt king of Scotland not buried at Icolm-kill.
2 Fordun calls him Regulus, which implies ʃome degree of independency; though the princes of Galloway undoubtedly at this time paid fealty to the kings of Scotland.
3 Henricus, rex Angliæ, graviter exaʃperatus erga RothoIandum, pro morte proditorum Galwalenʃium, quos anno precedente ʃe ʃuaque juratuendo belli lege proʃtraverat, atque, ad ʃuggeʃtionem malivolorum quorundam, eum habens exoʃum, coadunato contra eum undequaque per Angliam exercitu, Karlele uʃque progreʃʃus eʃt. Ubi Rotholandus, juʃʃu & conʃilio domini ʃui regis Scociæ, ad eum veniens, honorifice eum ipʃo concordatus eʃt. Fordun, p. 720.
4 Præterea quietavimus et omnes pactiones quas bonus pater noʃter, Henricus rex Angliæ, per novas chartas, et per captionem ʃuam extorʃit, ita videlicet, et vobis fạciat integre et plenarie quicquid rex Scotiæ Malcolmus frater ejus anteceʃʃoribus noʃtri; de jure fecit, et de jure facere debuit: et nos ei faciemus quidquid anteceʃʃores noʃtri prædicto Malcolmo de jure fecerunt et facere debuerunt, ʃcilicet et de conductu in veniendo curiam, et in morando in curia, et in redeundo a curia, et in procurationibus, et in omnibus libertatibus, et dignitatibus, et honoribus, eidem jure debitis, ʃecundum quod recognoʃcetur a quatuor proceribus noʃtris ab ipʃo W. rege electis, et a quatuor proceribus illius a nobis electis. Præterea de terris ʃuis quas haberet in Anglia, ʃeu dominicis, ʃeu feodis, ʃcilicet in comitatu Huntedon, et in omnibus aliis, in ea libertate et conʃuetudine poʃʃideat et hæredes ejus in perpetuum, qua præfatus rex Malcolmus poʃʃidet vel poʃʃidere debuit, niʃi prædictus rex Malcolmus vel hæredes ʃui aliquid poʃtea infeodaverint, ita tamen, quod ʃi aliqua poʃtea infeodata ʃunt ipʃorum feodorum ʃervitia, ad eum et ad hæredes ejus pertineant et terram quam pater noʃter preʃcripto regi W. donavit, in eadem libertate, quam ipʃam ei dedit, ipʃum et hæredes ʃuos perpetuo poʃʃidere volumus. Rymer’s Fœd. tom. I. p. 64.
