History Of Scotland Vol. 1 - Part 4

( Originally Published 1909 )

Malcolm IV.—William the Lion: his Captivity—Treaty of Falaise: Abrogated by Richard I.—Death and Character of William—Alexander IL: his Death

MALCOLM IV., at the age of twelve years, succeeded to his excellent grandfather, David I., 1153. Being a Celtic prince, succeeding to a people of whom the great proportion were Celts, he was inaugurated at Scone with the peculiar ceremonies belonging to the Scoto-Irish race. In compliance with their ancient customs, he was placed upon a fated stone, dedicated to this solemn use, and brought for that purpose from Ireland by Fergus, the son of Eric. An Iro-Scottish or Highland bard also stepped forward, and chanted to the people a Gaelic poem, containing the catalogue of the young king's ancestors, from the reign of the same Fergus, founder of the dynasty.' The poem has been fortunately preserved, and must not be considered in the light of one of Cibber's birthday odes. On the contrary, it was an exposition from the king to the people of the royal descent, in virtue of which he claimed their obedience, and bears a sufficiently accurate conformity with other meagre documents on the same subject, to enable modern antiquaries, by comparing the lists, to form a regular catalogue of these barbarous kings or kinglets of the Dalriadic race.

In Malcolm's reign the lords of the Hebridean islands, who were in a state of independence, scarcely acknowledging even a nominal allegiance either to the crown of Scot-land or that of Norway, though claimed by both countries, began to give much annoyance to the western coasts of Scotland, to which their light-armed galleys or birlins, and their habits of piracy, gave great facilities. Somerled was at this time lord of the isles, and a frequent leader in such incursions. Peace was made with this turbulent chief in 1153; but in 1164, ten years after, Somerled was again in arms, and fell, attempting a descent at Renfrew.

Malcolm IV.'s transactions with Henry of England were of greater moment. Henry (second of the name) had sworn (in 1149) that if he ever gained the English crown he would put the Scottish king in possession of Carlisle, and of all the country lying between Tweed and Tyne; but, when securely seated on the throne, instead of fulfilling his obligation, he endeavored to deprive Malcolm of such possessions in the northern counties as yet remained to him, forgetting his obligations to his great-uncle David, and his relationship to the young king his grandson. The youth and inexperience of Malcolm seem on this occasion to have been circumvented by the sagacity of Henry, who was besides, in point of power, greatly superior to the young Scots prince. In-deed, it would appear that the English sovereign had acquired a personal influence over his kinsman, of which his Scottish subjects had reason to be jealous. Malcolm yielded up to Henry all his possessions in Cumberland and Northumberland; and when it is considered that his grand-father David had not been able to retain them with any secure hold, even when England was distracted with the civil wars of Stephen and Matilda, it must be owned that his descendant, opposed to Henry II. in his plenitude of undisputed power, had little chance to make his claim good. He also did homage for Lothian, to the great scandal of Scottish historians, who, conceiving his doing so affected the question of Scottish independence, are much disposed to find the Lothian, for which the homage was rendered, in Leeds or some other place, different from the real Lothian, which they considered as an original part of Scotland. But this arises from their entertaining the erroneous opinion that Lothian bore, in Malcolm the Fourth's time, the same character of an integral part of Scotland which it has long exhibited. Homage was done by the Scottish kings for Lothian, simply because it had been a part or moiety of Northumberland, ceded by Eadulf-Cudel, a Saxon earl of Northumberland, to Malcolm II., on condition of amity and support in war, for which, as feudal institutions gained ground, feudal homage was the natural substitute and emblem.

Besides the cession of his Northumbrian possessions, Malcolm seems to have attached himself to Henry I I. personally, and to have cultivated a sort of intimacy which, when it exists between a powerful and a weaker prince, seldom fails to be dangerous to the independence of the latter. The Scottish king was knighted by Henry, in 1159, and attended and served in his campaigns in France, till he was recalled by the formal remonstrances of his subjects, who declared they would not permit English influence to predominate in their councils. In 1160, Malcolm's return and presence quelled a dissatisfaction which had wellnigh broken out into open mutiny. He was also successful in putting down insurrections in the detached and half-independent provinces of Galloway and Moray. Malcolm IV. died in 1165, at the early age of twenty-four years. Though brave in battle, he seems from his intercourse with Henry to have been flexible and yielding in council, to which, with some effeminacy of exterior and shyness of manners, must be attributed his historical epithet of Malcolm the Maiden. It could not be owing, as alleged by monkish writers, to his strict continence, since it is now certain that he had at least one natural son.

William, brother of Malcolm IV., succeeded him, and was crowned in 1166. He instantly solicited from Henry the restitution of Northumberland, and, disgusted with the English monarch when it was refused him, opened a negotiation with France, being the first authentic account of that intercourse between the countries which an idle legend imputes to a league between Achay or Achaius, king of Scots, and the celebrated Charlemagne, and by which the latter monarch is idly said to have taken into his pay a body of Scottish mercenaries.

The declared enemy of England, William took advantage of the family discords of Henry II. to lend that prince's son Richard assistance against his father. The Scottish king obtained from the insurgent prince a grant of the earldom of Northumberland as far as the Tyne. Willing to merit this munificence on the part of Richard, William in 1173 invaded Northumberland without any marked success. In the subsequent year he renewed the attempt, which terminated most disastrously. The Scottish king had stationed himself before Alnwick, a fortress fatal to his family, and was watching the motions of the garrison, while his numerous and disorderly army plundered the country. Meantime a band of those northern barons of England, whose ancestors had gained the battle of the standard, had arrived at New-castle, and sallied out to scour the country. They made about four hundred horsemen, and had ridden out upon adventure, concealed by a heavy morning mist. A retreat was advised, as they became uncertain of their way; but Bernard de Baliol exclaimed, that should they all turn bridle, he alone would go on and preserve his honor. They advanced, accordingly, somewhat at random. The mist suddenly cleared away, and they discovered the battlements of Alnwick, and found themselves close to a body of about sixty horse, with whom William, the Scottish king, was patrolling the country. At first he took the English for a part of his own army, and when undeceived, said boldly, "Now shall we see who are good knights," and charged at the head of his handful of followers. He was unhorsed and made prisoner, with divers of his principal followers. The northern barons, afraid of a rescue from the numerous Scottish army, retreated with all speed to Newcastle, bearing with them their royal captive. William was presented to Henry at Northampton with his legs tied beneath the horse's belly; unworthy usage for a captive prince, the near relation of his victor. It should be remembered, however, that William's interference in the domestic quarrels of his family must have greatly incensed Henry against him, and that it was not a time when men were scrupulous in their mode of expressing resentment.

We may reasonably suppose that, with such vindictive feelings toward his prisoner, Henry II. was not likely to part with him unless upon the most severe terms. And the loss of the king was so complete a derangement of the system of government, as it then existed in Scotland, that the Scottish nobility and clergy consented that, in order to obtain his freedom, William should become the liegeman of Henry, and do homage for Scotland and all his other territories. Before this disgraceful treaty, which was concluded at Falaise in Normandy, in December, 1174, the kings of England had not the semblance of a right to exact homage for a single inch of Scottish ground, Lothian alone excepted, which was ceded to Malcolm II., as has been repeatedly mentioned, by grant of the Northumbrian earl Eadulf. All the other component parts of what is now termed Scotland had come to the crown of that kingdom by right of conquest, without having been dependent on England in any point of view. The Pictish territories had been united to those of the Scots by the victories of Kenneth Macalpine. Moray had reverted to the Scottish crowns by the success of Malcolm IL in repelling the Danes. Galloway had also been reduced to the Scottish sway without the aid or intervention of England; and Strath-Clyde was subjected under like circumstances. A feudal dependence could only have been created by cession of land which had originally been English, or by restoring that which had been conquered from Scotland. But England could have no title to homage for provinces which, having never possessed, England could not cede, and having never conquered, could not restore.

Now, however, by the treaty of Falaise, the king of England was declared lord paramount of the whole kingdom of Scotland; a miserable example of that impatience which too often characterized the Scottish councils.

An attempt was made at the same time to subject the Scottish Church to that of England, by a clause in the same treaty, declaring that the former should be bound to the latter in such subjection as had been due and paid of old time, and that the English Church should enjoy that supremacy which in justice she ought to possess. The Scottish churchmen explained this provision, which was formed with studied ambiguity, as leaving the whole question entire, since they alleged that no supremacy had been yielded in former times, and that none was justly due. But the civil article of submission was more carefully worded; and the principal castles in the realm, Roxburgh, Berwick, Jed-burgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling, were put in Henry's hands, as pledges for the execution of the treaty of Falaise; while the king's brother, David, earl of Huntingdon, and many Scottish nobles, were surrendered as hostages to the same effect. Homage for broad Scotland was in fact rendered at York, according to the tenor of the treaty, and the king's personal freedom was then obtained.

William had surrendered the independence of his kingdom in ill-advised eagerness to recover his personal freedom; but he maintained with better spirit the franchises of the Church. In a disputed election (1181) for the archbishopric of St. Andrew's, he opposed with steadiness and constancy the induction of John, called the Scot, who was patronized by the pope, Alexander III. The kingdom of Scotland was laid under an interdict ; but William remained unshaken; and a new pope, willing to compromise the matter, gave way to the king's pleasure, and recalled the excommunication. In 1188, Pope Clement III. formally ratified the privileges of the Church of Scotland, as a daughter of, and immediately subject to, Rome, and declared that no sentence of excommunication should be pronounced there save by his holiness or his legate a latere, such legate being a Scottish subject, or one specially deputed out of the sacred college. These were the principal transactions of William's reign after his release till the death of Henry II. of England, omitting only some savage transactions in Galloway, which argued the total barbarity of the inhabitants.

The frontier castles of Roxburgh and Berwick still remained in possession of the English at the death of Henry II. On the succession of his son, Richard Coeur de Lion, a remarkable treaty was entered into between the kings and nations, by which, after a personal interview with William, at Canterbury, Richard renounced all right of superiority or homage which had been extorted from William during his captivity, and reestablished the borders of the two kingdoms as they had been at the time of William's misfortune; reserving to England such homage as Malcolm, the elder brother of William, had paid, or was bound to have rendered; and thus replacing Scotland fully in the situation of national independence resigned by the treaty of Falaise. All claims of homage due to England before that surrender were carefully reserved, and therefore William was still the king of England's vassal for Lothian, for the town of Berwick, and for whatever lands besides he possessed within the realm of England. The stipulated compensation to be paid by Scot-land for this ample restitution of her national freedom was ten thousand marks sterling, a sum equal to one hundred thousand pounds in the present day.

The inducements leading Richard to renounce the advantages which his father had acquired in the moment of William's misfortune were manifest : 1. The generous nature of Richard probably remembered that the invasion of Northumberland and the battle of Alnwick took place in consequence of a treaty between William and himself; and he might think himself obliged in honor to relieve his ally of some part, at least, of the ill consequences which had followed his ill-fated attempt to carry into effect their agreement. This was, indeed, an argument which monarchs of a selfish disposition would not have been willing to admit; but it was calculated to affect the chivalrous and generous feelings of Coeur de Lion. 2. Richard being on the point of embarking for the Holy Land, a large sum of money was of more importance to him than the barren claim of homage, which, in effect, could never have a real or distinct value to an English monarch, unless when, at some favorable opportunity, it could be connected with a claim to the property as well as the mere superiority of the kingdom of Scotland. 3. It was of the highest consequence that the English king, bound on a distant expedition with the flower of his army, should leave a near-bordering and warlike neighbor rather in the condition of a grateful ally than of a sullen and discontented vassal, desirous to snatch the first opportunity of bursting his feudal fetters, by an exertion of violence similar to that which had imposed them.

The money stipulated for the redemption of the national independence of Scotland was collected by an aid granted to the king by the nobles and the clergy; and there is reason to think that, in part at least, the burden descended on the inhabitants in the shape of a capitation tax. Two thou-sand marks remained due when Richard himself became a prisoner, and were paid by William in aid of the lion-hearted prince's ransom, if indeed, which seems equally probable, that sum was not a generous and gratuitous contribution on the part of the Scottish king toward the liberation of his benefactor.

Domestic dissensions in his distant provinces, all of them brought to a happy conclusion by his skill and activity, are the most marked historical events in William's after-reign. Some misunderstanding with King John of England occasioned the levying forces on both sides; but by a treaty entered into between the princes, the causes of complaint were removed; William agreeing to pay to John a sum of fifteen thousand marks for goodwill, it is said, and for certain favorable conditions. William died at Stirling, 1214, aged seventy-two, after a long and active reign of forty-eight years.

William derived his cognomen of the Lion from his being the first who adopted that animal as the armorial bearing of Scotland. From this emblem the chief of the Scottish heralds is called the Lion king-at-arms. Chivalry was fast gaining ground in Scotland at this time, as appears from the importance attached by William and his elder brother Malcolm to the dignity of knighthood, and also from the romantic exclamation of William, when he joined the unequal conflict at Alnwick, "Now shall we see the best knights."

William the Lion was a legislator, and his laws are pre-served. He was a strict, almost a severe, administrator of justice; but the turn of the age and the temper of his subjects required that justice, which in a more refined period can and ought to make many distinctions in the classification of crimes, should in barbarous times seize her harvest with less selection. The blot of William's reign was his rashness at Alnwick, and the precipitation with which he bartered the independence of Scotland for his own liberty. But his dexterous negotiation with Richard I. enabled him to re-cover that false step, and to leave his kingdom in the same condition in which he found it. By his wife, Ermengarde de Beaumont, William had a son, Alexander, who succeeded to him. By illicit intrigues he left a numerous family.

Alexander II.'s reign, though active, busy, and abounding in events, yet exhibits few incidents of that deeply influential character which affect future ages. These events are rather to be considered in the gross than in particular detail, and we shall revert to them hereafter, only stating here generally that Alexander's battles chiefly took place in endeavoring to give currency to the law in those parts of his kingdom which were still Celtic.

Alexander had, in 1216, a temporary quarrel with John, which led to mutual depredations; but peace was restored, and, in 1221, he married the English princess Joan, who was secured in a jointure of one thousand pounds of landed rent.

In 1222, the king was engaged in subduing a rebellion in Argyle; and, in the same year, was obliged to visit Caithness, where the bishop had been burned in his house by connivance of the earl of the same county. In 1228 it was the district of Moray which was discontented and disturbed by the achievements of one Gillescop, who was put down and executed by the efforts of the Earl of Buchan, justiciary of Scotland. In 1231 Caithness witnessed a second tragedy similar to that of 1228, only the parts of the performers were altered. It was now the bishop or his retainers who murdered the Earl of Caithness and burned his castle. This called for and received fresh chastisement.

In 1233 new tumults arose among the Celtic inhabitants of Scotland. Alan, lord of Galloway, died, leaving three daughters. The king was desirous of dividing the region among them as heirs portioners. The inhabitants with stood, in arms, the partition of their country, being resolved it should continue in the form of a single fief. The purpose of the king was to break the strength of this great principality, and create three chiefs who might be naturally expected to be more dependent on the crown than a single overgrown vassal had proved to be. Alexander led an army against the insurgents, defeated them, and effected the pro-posed division of the province.

It is to be carefully noted that all these wars with his insurgent Celtic subjects, though maintained by the king in defence of the administration of justice and authority, tended not the less to alienate the districts in which they took place from the royal power and authority; and the temporary submission of their chiefs was always made with reluctance, and seldom with sincerity.