object of the king of England to assert the dependence of the lords of Galloway upon his crown, and accordingly it will scarcely excite surprise to find that province enumerated amongst the "kingdoms" which Roger of Wendover was the first to attach to their names. His selection, however, was most unfortunate, for to Duffnal he has given South Wales, the undoubted appanage of Owen, or his son Einion, of the family of Howel Dha, whilst for Galloway he has chosen Iago, as unquestionably a prince of North Wales. With his donation of Westmoreland to Jukill I need hardly interfere. 66 66 Two charters are connected with the supposed occurrences of this period, both of which have been condemned as spurious by Mr. Kemble. The first was evidently intended to pass for a donation made at Edgar's coronation, for it is witnessed by the eight kings "at Bath in the Feast of Pentecost," but dated unluckily in 966, five years before Kenneth could sign himself Rex Scotorum," or Edgar was crowned at the city of sick men !" The second is framed far more skilfully, but bears evident marks of the Norman era of its composition and some circumstances connected with it are especially worthy of notice. Malmesbury, in his Antiquities of Glastonbury, mentions certain privileges and grants made to the monastery by Edgar, and the text goes on thus: "Hoc donum, ne instabile vel inglorium sit, lituo eburneo, quem linibus auri prætexebat, super altare dato confirmavit. Dedit etiam aliud privelegium in hæc verba-[here follows the charter in question, concluding] Acta est hæc privelegii pagina et confirmata apud Londonium anno 971 indictione 14. Ad supplementum vero securitatis ne tanta liberalitas nutaret, Johanne Papa persuaso, donum suum Apostolico suffulsit edicto, cujus hæc est series. Noverit cunctorum, etc. . . . Actum tempore Egelwardi, ejusdem monasterii Abbatis, hoc Apostolicum decretum anno 965.' In other words, a charter dated in 971 and attested amongst other witnesses by Abbot Sigegar, was confirmed by the Pope in 965, in the time of Sigegar's predecessor, Abbot Aylward! The interpolation is unmistakable; but by omitting the words in italics, the sense is restored as Malmesbury wrote it, Edgar's original gift, attested by placing the ivory horn on the altar, having been confirmed by the Pope in 965. The same interpolation is traceable in nearly every MS. of the Gesta Regum, in which this identical charter reappears, to be invariably confirmed by the Pope five years before it was granted by the king. It would be unjust to attribute this questionable transaction to Malmesbury. In his Gesta Regum he writes thus: "Arturis sepulchrum nusquam visitur unde antiquitas næniarum adhuc eum venturum fabulatur"; and again, in a passage copied from his Antiquities of Glastonbury, "Illud quod pene clam omnibus est, libenter prædicarem, si veritatem exculpere possem, quid illæ pyramides sibi velint quæ cimeterium monachorum prætexant"; yet in the same Antiquities some one has not hesitated to interpolate the following: "Prætermitto de Arturo, inclyto rege Brittonum, in cimeterio monachorum inter duas Pyramides cum sua conjuge tumulato!" The body of Arthur was discovered, according to Wendover, in 1191, and the hand of Malmesbury had long been mouldering in the grave when this passage, and the charter, of which he was equally ignorant, were inserted in his works by some unscrupulous fabricator. Another fabrication which has been inserted amongst the events of this reign is the cession of Lothian to Kenneth of Scotland, to be held of the English crown as a hereditary feudal fief. This first appears in the pages generally attributed to John of Wallingford, who filled the office of abbot of St. Albans the same monastery in whose chronicles "the five kings" first appear with kingdoms-from 1195 to 1214; though they would appear rather to have been the work of another John of Wallingford who died in 1258. According to this authority, on the death of Osulf, unwilling that any part of Northumbria should pass hereditarily, Edgar created an earldom for Oslac, extending from Humber to Tees, and erected the sea-coast of Deira, reaching from Tees to Mireforth,-meaning probably the Firth of Forth,— into another earldom for Eadulf Ewelchild, which must have interfered considerably with the grant to Oslac. Lothian, always open to the incursions of the Picts and Scots, was little cared for by the English kings, and Kenneth, hearing of the liberality of Edgar, and hoping to profit by it, was conducted to the English court by the two earls and Elfsi, Bishop of Durham-a proceeding not a little suggestive of the marginal addition to Simeon of Durham, to which allusion has been already made. Arrived there, Kenneth suggests to Edgar that this neglected Lothian had always belonged of hereditary right to the kings of Scotland, a claim which Edgar refers to his council, who assent to it, with the reservation that it was always held by homage, assigning as a reason that it was a worthless province, and difficult of access to defend. Kenneth accordingly consents to hold Lothian as a fief "sub nomine homagii sicque determinata vetus querela de Louthian, et adhuc nova sæpe intentatur." 66 It is scarcely necessary to remark, about a tale so redolent of the age in which it was first put forth, that it will not be found in a single authority of an earlier date than the thirteenth century. Every chronicler before that epoch, Norman as well as Saxon, was ignorant of the old quarrel about Lothian," yet it is strange that Æthelward, at least, should not have celebrated its cession during his kinsman's reign in some of those unpolished periods that excited the contemptuous pity of the fastidious Malmesbury. Simeon, the best authority for Northumbrian history, writing a hundred years and upwards before Wallingford, tells how Lothian was ceded to the Scots through the pusillanimity of Eadulf Cudel in the days of Canute, ignorant alike of the previous cession to Kenneth and of the existence of the old quarrel" in the time of Edgar. Yet Simeon's earls-Osulf, Oslac, Waltheof, Uchtred-are historical characters, whose names appear in authentic charters; "Oslac Eorl with the Here dwelling in the Eorldordom" is mentioned in the laws of Edgar, but the name of his companion in the pages of Wallingford, Eadulf Ewelchild, is never found except in two spurious charters once in the appropriate company of another myth, Malcolm Dux,and, in fact, is nothing else than a blundering attempt at adapting the real ceder of Lothian, Child Eadulf Cudel, to the time of Edgar as Eadulf Ewelchild. Wendover has improved upon the account attributed to his abbot, mentioning the conditions on which Lothian was to be held: Kenneth and his successors were to attend the court of the English kings on every solemn festival when the latter "wore the crown," and mansiones were assigned for the support of the Scottish train on these continual progresses, which remained in the possession of the Scottish kings until the reign of Henry the Second. The addition of Wendover, with the mansiones held to the days of the second Henry, was purposely framed to correspond with the supposed cession of Lothian, which the same chronicler has added to the fiefs surrendered by Malcolm IV. to the English king in 1157; a cession which has not only been overlooked by every contemporary authority, but was also totally ignored by the English kings themselves, who showed an unaccountable negligence in exercising the right, which they would unquestionably have acquired by such an act, of summoning the baronage of the Lothians to perform the military service due to their English overlord. NOTES TO CHAPTER XXII 1“1224. Reginald [King of the Isles], taking with him Alan, lord of Galloway, with the Manks, proceeded to the insular parts; that the part of the land which he had given to Olave his brother he might take from him and subjugate it to his own dominion. But forasmuch as the Manks did not choose to fight against Olave or the islanders, because they loved them, Reginald and Alan, doing no good, returned home. After a short time, Reginald, under pretence of going to the court of the lord the king of England, received from the people of Man one hundred marks, and proceeded to the court of Alan lord of Galloway. At the same time he gave his daughter in marriage to the son of Alan; which the Manks hearing were very angry, and sending for Olave constituted him their king. "1228. Olave, with all the great men of Man, and the braver part of the people sailed to the Isles. Shortly after, Alan, lord of Galloway, and Thomas, earl of Athol, and Reginald the king, came to Man with a great army, wasted all the southern part of Man, and plundered churches, and killed as many men as they could take; and the southern part of Man was reduced almost into a desert: And after this Alan returned with his army into his own land, and left his bailiffs in Man, who should render him the tribute of the country.”— Chron. Regum Manniæ. 2 The Norman barons divided the territory between them; "but," we are told in the Chronicle of Melrose, “the inhabitants of that land preferring one master rather than several went to our lord the king with the request that he himself would accept the lordship of that inheritance, but the king was too just to do this. Thereupon the Galwegians were angry beyond measure, and prepared for war. Moreover, they devastated with fire and sword some of the royal lands contiguous to themselves," and the king resolved to make a final effort to reduce it entirely to obedience. "In the following year our lord the king," says the chronicler," mustered an army, and entered Galloway. Having reached a spot convenient for the purpose, he determined there to pitch his tents, for the day was now drawing toward evening. The Galwegians, however, who had all day been hiding among the mountains, knew the place better, and, trusting to their local acquaintance with its difficulties, offered the king battle. In truth, the place was filled with bogs, which were covered over with grass and flowers, amongst which the larger portion of the royal army had involved itself. At the beginning of the battle the earl of Ross, called Makintagart, came up and attacked the enemies in the rear, and as soon as they perceived this they took to flight, and retreated into the woods and mountains, but they were followed up by the earl and several others, who put many of them to the sword, and harassed them as long as daylight lasted. On the next day the king, acting upon his accustomed humanity, extended his peace to as many as came to him, and so the surviving Galwegians, with ropes around their necks, accepted his offer." "The time of peace with England, of plenty in the land, of foreign trade flourishing, of internal peace, of law and justice, was the period of a full century following the treaty between William the Lion and Richard Coeur-de-Lion, comprehending the reign of William and the long reigns of the second and third Alexanders.-Cosmo Innes, Scotland in the Middle Ages, p. 296. In a material point of view, it may safely be affirmed that Scotland at the death of King Alexander III. was more civilized and more prosperous than at any period of her existence, down to the time when she ceased to be a separate kingdom in 1707.—Innes, Sketches of Early Scottish History and Social Progress, p. 157. Castles, which had begun to be erected in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, were rapidly multiplied by those Norman barons and their followers, who, as we have already seen, obtained large grants of land from the Scottish monarchs. Various strongholds along the seacoasts, supposed to have been built by the Vikings, as well as cells or religious houses, are known to have previously existed. But it was chiefly under the protection of the baronial towers that hamlets and towns sprung up; and in less than two centuries a vast change was produced. Ayrshire, notwithstanding the attachment of the inhabitants to their Celtic habits, seems to have made considerable progress in the new order of things, though most of the towns and principal villages are of Celtic origin: for example, Ayr, Irvine, Kilmarnock, Kilmaurs, Mauchline, Ochiltree, Auchinleck, Cumnock, Ballantrae, Girvan, Maybole, &c., no doubt took their rise prior to the Saxon era of our history. Those of more recent times are easily known by the Teutonic affix tun or ton. They are ten in number: Coylton, Dalmellington, Galston, Monkton, Richarton, Stevenston, Stewarton, Straiton, Symington, and Tarbolton; and even these are not all wholly Saxon. "Though it is thus apparent that the majority of the towns and villages of the county took their rise in Celtic times, and while the Gaelic continued to be the prevailing language, there can be little doubt that the introduction of foreigners, especially the mercantile Flemings, whom the mistaken policy of the English monarchs drove from the south, tended greatly to promote that mercantile prosperity for which the country was distinguished in the reign of Alexander. In ship-building, in fishing, in agriculture, and commerce, Scotland was considerably in advance of England in the twelfth century. The Saxons, Flemings, and other foreigners, are known to have been settled chiefly in the towns; yet, in Aryshire at least, they seem to have constituted but a small body in comparison with the other inhabitants. The names, so far as they have been preserved in the municipal records of Ayr, for instance, show that Celtic patronymics were by far the most numerous.”—Paterson, History of the County of Ayr, pp., 22, 23. 4 Mr. Robertson was not the first to see the fatal objection to the statement in the Saxon Chronicle that Regnwald, king of Northumbria, took Eadward for his father and lord in 924, while he died in 921. Florence of Worcester saw it before him, and places the event under the year 921. The most recent discussion of the question of the English Supremacy is that by Mr. Charles Truman Wyckoff, entitled, Feudal Relations between the Kings of England and Scotland. Chicago University Press, 1897. IN CHAPTER XXIII WALLACE AND BRUCE N accordance with Edward's order, the accession of Baliol to the crown of Scotland was followed by a transfer of the right of final appeal from the Scottish to the English king in all causes brought in the courts of Scotland. The first important case to come up after this arrangement had been made was one relating to the lands of Duncan MacDuff, then a minor, whose guardian had been dispossessed by Baliol, and imprisoned. The guardian appealed to the Lord Paramount, and the Scottish king was summoned to appear before Edward and answer his complaint. This Baliol failed to do, and a second summons was sent. Baliol appeared. When questioned in regard to MacDuff's cause, he replied that he was king of Scotland, and could not answer without the advice of his people. When reminded that he was Edward's liegeman and angrily questioned by his master, Baliol persisted in his refusal to answer without the advice of his counsellors. The English Parliament then adjudged him guilty of contempt; and, as a penalty, ordered that the three principal castles of Scotland be surrendered to King Edward. The latter, however, wishing to avert an open conflict at that time, stayed the whole of the proceedings until the following year. When the English Parliament met again in May, 1294, Baliol appeared, and apparently made his peace. A war with France having broken out in the meantime, Baliol likewise agreed to yield up the entire revenues of his English possessions for three years to assist in fighting the French. Edward ordered an embargo to be laid on all vessels trading at Scottish ports; but this was evaded by the Scots, and that nation made a secret treaty of alliance with Philip, King of France. In the latter part of the next year (1295) Baliol, moreover, engaged with King Philip to assist him with his whole power in case Edward invaded France; while the French king agreed, on his part, to render like succor to Baliol if the English should enter Scotland. March 26, 1296, the king of the Scots having assembled a large force, and relying too strongly upon the fair promises of his new ally, began open hostilities against the English by an invasion of Cumberland. He assaulted Carlisle, but was obliged to retreat without effecting its reduction. About ten days later his army entered Northumberland, whence, after burning some ecclesiastical posts and making an unsuccessful attempt against the castle of Harbottle, it retired empty-handed. Edward, in the meantime, led a strong sea and land force against Berwick. After capturing that town and butchering the garrison and inhabitants,' he forced the capitulation of the castle. Baliol at this time formally renounced his allegiance to Edward. |