[1072 A.D.]

homage was a matter of dispute, it was tendered in general terms, and a reservation was often made by the tenderer, or the acceptor, or by both.

Thus, in the case of Philip and Edward, alluded to above, the former accepted the liege homage of Edward sauf son droit-the very words so often occurring in the transactions relating to homage between the English and Scottish kings-with a reservation of his claims as actual proprietor of certain lands in Gascony. So, also, in the English version of the homage rendered by Alexander III to Edward I, after he had become "the liegeman of the king of England against all men," Edward is represented as accepting his homage "salvo jure et clamio pro homagio pro regno Scotia." Evidently, according to the feudai interpretation, and as the writer of the Memorandum understood it, a tender of homage in general terms did not necessarily carry with it anything more than the vague and general allegiance of the homager; and Edward is accordingly represented as accepting such general homage with a reservation of his further claims. In all cases of vague and general homage it is important to bear this in mind.

The homage performed by the kings of Scotland appears to have been usually of this vague description, and tendered in general terms-not unlike the first homage of Edward III to Philip "par paroles generales, en disant que nous entrioms en son homage par ainsi come nous et noz predecessours, ducs de Gyenne, estoient jadis entrez en l'omage des rois de France"and often, in the first instance, with a reservation.

It was only at the commencement of a new reign, or upon the acceptance of a new fief, that the question of homage was of any real importance. Once tendered and accepted in the terms usually agreed upon, its repetition on the coronation of an heir, or on any other similar occasion, added no real strength to the original tie, and was simply the reiteration of a form already settled. It was of no more intrinsic importance than the repetition of the ceremony of kissing hands on each successive appointment, a ceremony, indeed, which represents in the present day the old feudal tender of homage in acknowledgment of a royal grant.

In short, the real question of the feudal superiority of the one country over the other resolves itself into the inquiry, What did Henry gain by the Convention of Falaise? According to the wording of the treaty, he gained a distinct acknowledgment of the feudal dependence of Scotland upon his crown; and if the history of the period is to be believed, he unsparingly exercised, during the remainder of his reign, the prerogatives of an overlord which he had thus acquired. Such, however, would have been the normal condition of Scotland had her kings always performed homage for their native kingdom; the Convention of Falaise would have been a mockery, and Henry would have reaped no advantage from the fortunate accident which placed William at his mercy.

Everything connected with this question has so long been the subject of bitter contention, and has been so frequently argued with all the bias of strong partisanship, that it is not a little difficult to avoid occasionally following in the usual beaten track. But on viewing the relations between the two countries after the Norman conquest as much as possible in the spirit of a judge rather than in that of an advocate of either party, it will be found that the claims of the more powerful kingdom on the feudal dependence of the weaker were scarcely, in the first instance, the result of any settled plan or deep-laid scheme of policy-much less of a traditional dependence of centuries upon a mythical Saxon empire-but grew up by degrees out of the events of a later period.

[1072 A.D.]

When William the Norman marched northwards, six years after his victory at Hastings had placed him upon the throne of England, his hold upon his new kingdom was scarcely yet firmly established. Northumbria was still in that disturbed and lawless condition which, ten years later, prevented its northern portion from being included in the general survey of the kingdom; and it was his object, not to add another to the many elements of discord in the north by asserting an empty claim to the dependence of Scotland, but to secure the peace of his northern frontiers. When the Norman army, in overwhelming force, was once transported beyond the "Scotswater," Malcolm, who had no power of retiring upon the northern districts, where the population was either lukewarm in his cause or openly hostile to it, at once came to terms; and the Treaty of Abernethy secured peace in this quarter, with one trifling exception, during the remainder of William's reign. The Etheling was now encouraged to come to terms with his kinsman's new ally; his supporters no longer received the assistance which had hitherto been openly accorded them; and William henceforth was at leisure to turn his whole attention fearlessly elsewhere.

All this was brought about by the same means through which the English ministry were accustomed, about two centuries ago, to pacify the Highlandshe pensioned Malcolm. The grant of manors, and the annual subsidy of twelve marks of gold, were nothing else than a pension, necessarily acknowledged in the feudal era by homage-for all "gentle tenure" was at this period held by free or gentle service, necessitating homage or else the pension would have been a tribute. The subsequent conduct of Rufus seems to have been dictated by overweening arrogance rather than policy-nimia superbia -for he appears to have cared little about deriving any fixed and permanent advantage from circumstances which must have unquestionably enabled him to attach any terms he chose to the assistance he rendered to the two older sons of Malcolm Canmore. He was satisfied, apparently, with a vague admission of his general superiority-and amidst all his faults there were gleams, occasionally, of a careless generosity in the character of the Red King -but it must not be forgotten that peace, rather than conquest, was the policy of the Norman kings upon their northern frontier.

Henry raised no claims upon the kingdom of his queen's brothers, and he appears to have discouraged rather than promoted the pretensions of the see of York. Alexander, accordingly, was not amongst the great liegemen of the English crown who tendered their allegiance to the ill-fated heir of Henry and "good Queen Maud"; but David was situated differently, being an English baron in right of the Honour of Huntingdon, and a connection of a more intimate description was thus established between the two

crowns.

From this period it became the settled object of the Scottish kings to assert their ancestral claim upon the northern counties, which, if admitted, would have undoubtedly gone far towards reuniting the greater portion of the old Bernician kingdom under the male representative of the Saxon line; whilst the English kings were always naturally averse to add the important earldom of Northumberland to the other fiefs, conferred upon the royal family of Scotland in virtue of their descent from Earl Waltheof. The results of Stephen's troubled reign, however, and the political necessities of Henry Fitz-Empress in his early years, all but annexed that earldom to the Scottish crown, and the demands of Henry with which Malcolm complied at Chester-demands which will be best justified on the plea of expediency-simply replaced the kingdoms on their earlier footing."

[1072-1093 A.D.]}

LAST YEARS OF MALCOLM AND HIS QUEEN MARGARET (1072-1093 A.D.)

To return to the reign of Malcolm Canmore-after the submission at Abernethy he appears to have remained quiet for some years. He did not, however, finally abandon the cause of his brother-in-law, the Ætheling; and in 1079, choosing his opportunity when the English king was engaged in war with his son Robert on the Continent, he again took up arms and made another destructive inroad into Northumberland. The following year, after the reconcilement of William and his son, the latter was sent at the head of an army against Scotland; but he soon returned without effecting anything. It was immediately after this expedition that the fortress bearing the name of the Castellum Novum, on the Tyne, which gave origin to the town of Newcastle, was erected as a protection against the invasions of the Scots.

war.

When Rufus succeeded to the English throne, the two countries appear to have been at peace. But in the summer of 1091 we find Malcolm again invading Northumberland. Rufus immediately made preparations to attack Scotland both by sea and land; and, although his ships were destroyed in a storm, he advanced to the north with his army before the close of the year. We have already related in the history the course and issue of this new After being suspended for a short time by a treaty made, according to the Saxon Chronicle,d "at Lothian in England," whither Malcolm came "out of Scotland," and awaited the approach of the enemy, it was renewed by the refusal of the Scottish king to do the English king right—that is, to afford him satisfaction about the matter in dispute between them, anywhere except at the usual place-namely, on the frontiers, and in presence of the chief men of both kingdoms. Rufus required that Malcolm should make his appearance before the English barons alone, assembled at Gloucester, and submit the case to their judgment.

"It is obvious on feudal principles," as Allen observes, "that if Malcolm had done homage for Scotland to the king of England, the Scotch nobles must have been rere-vassals of the latter, and could not have sat in court with the tenants in chief of the English crown." Yet it is evident that the nobility of both kingdoms had been wont on former occasions to meet and form one court for adjudication on such demands as that now made by the English king.

The hostilities that followed, however, were fatal to Malcolm. He was slain [treacherously with his eldest son] in a sudden attack made upon him while besieging the castle of Alnwick, on the 13th of November, 1093.

The reign of Malcolm was one of the most memorable and important in the early history of Scotland. It was in his time, and in consequence, in great part, of his personal fortunes, that the first foundations of that intimate connection were laid which afterwards enabled the country to draw so largely upon the superior civilisation of England, and in that way eventually revolutionise the whole of its social condition. From the time of Malcolm Canmore, Scotland ceased to be a Celtic kingdom. He himself spoke the language of his forefathers as well as Saxon; but it may be doubted if any of his children understood Gaelic, any more than their English mother. All his six sons, as well as his two daughters, received English names, apparently after their mother's relations.

['It was ruled that the kingdom of Scotland, whatever might be its relations towards the kingdom of England, whether separate or united, whether dependent or independent, whether friendly or hostile, should be itself truly an English kingdom, a kingdom which was for some generations more truly English than the southern England itself.-FREEMAN.']

H. W.-VOL. XXI. D

[1093 A.D.] His marriage with the sister of Eadgar Ætheling exercised a powerful influence both over the personal conduct of Malcolm and over public affairs. There is still extant a Latin life of Queen Margaret, by her confessor Turgot, which is on various accounts one of the most interesting records of those times. Margaret was very learned and eloquent, as well as pious, and she exercised her gifts not only in the instruction of her husband, but also in controversy with the Scottish clergy, whose various errors of doctrine and discipline she took great pains to reform. Her affections, however, were not all set upon the beauty of spiritual things. She encouraged merchants, we are told by Turgot, to come from various parts of the world, with many precious commodities which had never before been seen in that country, among which are especially mentioned vestments ornamented with various colours, which, when the people bought, adds the chronicler, and were induced by the persuasions of the queen to put on, they might almost be believed to have become new beings, so fine did they appear.

Malcolm is traditionally said to have, with the advice of his nobility, made various important innovations in the constitution of the kingdom, or the administration of public affairs. There is neither proof nor probability, however, for the statement which has been often repeated, that he introduced feudalism in a systematic form into Scotland. That state of things appears rather to have grown up gradually under the influence of various causes, and its complete establishment must be referred to a period considerably later than the reign of this king. The modern titles of earl and baron, however, are traced nearly to his time, and seem then, or very soon after, to have begun to supplant the older Celtic mormaor and Saxon thane. Surnames also began to be used in this or the next reign. But on the whole, it was probably not so much by any new laws which were enacted by Malcolm Canmore (the collection in Latin which has been attributed to him is admitted to be spurious), or by any new institutions which he established that Scotland was in a manner transformed into a new country in his days, as by his English education and marriage, the English manners which were thus introduced at his court, and the numbers of English of all ranks whom the political events of the time drove to take refuge in the northern kingdom. Much of the change, therefore, was really the effect of the Norman conquest of England, which in nearly the same degree that it made Saxon England Norman, made Celtic Scotland Saxon.

DONALD BAIN TO ALEXANDER I (1093-1124 A.D.)

The disastrous close of the reign of Malcolm, whose own death was followed in a few days by that of his excellent queen-worn out, it is said, by her vigils and fastings, and other pious exercises-afforded an opportunity to his brother Donald Bain [Bane or Ban, i.e. "the Fair"] to seize the throne. Malcolm's eldest son, Edward, had fallen with his father at Alnwick; his second, Æthelred, was a churchman; but he left four other legitimate sons, although they were all as yet under age. Donald is said to have remained till now in the western islands, where he had taken refuge, on the death of his father Duncan, more than fifty years before. He now invaded Scotland with a fleet fitted out in the western islands, and, with the aid of the faction which had all along been opposed to the English innovations of Malcolm,

['On his death he left the kingdom in possession for the first time of the same southern frontier which it ever after retained. It was now separated from England by the Solway Firth, the range of the Cheviot Hills, and the river Tweed.—SKENE." ]

[1094-1107 A.D.]

carried everything before him. The children of the late king were hastily conveyed to England by their uncle Eadgar Ætheling; and Donald, as soon as he mounted the throne, expelled all the foreigners that had taken refuge at his brother's court.

He had reigned only a few months, however, when another claimant of the crown appeared in the person of Duncan, son of Malcolm Canmore [by his first wife Ingibiorg]. He had been sent, it seems, by his father as a hostage to England; and by now offering to swear fealty to Rufus, he obtained permission to raise a force for the invasion of Scotland. He succeeded in driving Donald from the throne and mounting it himself in May, 1094.

But after a reign of only about a year and a half Duncan was assassinated at the instigation of Donald Bain, and Donald again became king about the end of the year 1095. After his restoration he proceeded in his former course of policy, by favouring the Celtic and depressing the Saxon population. Affairs proceeded in this train for about two years; but at length, in 1097, Eadgar Ætheling raised an army, with the approbation of the English king, and marching with it into Scotland, after an obstinate contest, overcame Donald, in the beginning of the following year, and obtained the crown for his nephew Edgar, the son of Malcolm Canmore. "Edgar, like Duncan," observes Allen, appears to have held his kingdom in fealty to William.

"These two cases, and the extorted submission of William the Lion, during his captivity (to be presently mentioned), are the only instances I have found since the conquest of any king of Scotland rendering fealty to England for his crown. Both occurrences took place after a disputed succession in Scotland, terminated by the arms and assistance of the English. Duncan was speedily punished for his sacrifice of the honour and dignity of the sceptre he unworthily held. Edgar appears to have repented of his weakness, and to have retracted before his death the disgraceful submission he had made in order to obtain his crown. One of his coins is said to bear the impress of 'Eadgarus Scottorum Basileus,' a title which, like imperator, implied that the holder acknowledged no superior upon earth."'

On his second deposition Donald Bain was deprived of the power of giving further disturbance by being detained in prison and having his eyes put out. Edgar retained the throne till his death, on the 8th of January, 1107; and during his reign the country appears to have enjoyed both internal tranquillity and freedom from foreign war. The accession of Henry I to the throne of England, which took place in 1100, and his marriage the same year with Edgar's sister [Eadgyth, known in England as Matilda or Maud], had the effect of maintaining peace between the two countries for a long course of years from this date. This favourable tendency of circumstances was not opposed by the disposition of Edgar, whom a contemporary chronicler,

"The Scoto-Saxon period, which began (A.D. 1097) one and thirty years after the Saxon period of the English annals had closed, will be found to contain historical topics of great importance. The Gaelic Scots predominated in the former period; the Saxon-English will be seen to give the law in this. We shall perceive a memorable revolution take place, concerning which the North-British annals have hitherto been altogether silent: we shall soon perceive a new people come in upon the old, a new dynasty ascend the throne, a new jurisprudence gradually prevail; new ecclesiastical establishments settled, and new manners overspread the land. In this period we shall see an Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Anglo-Belgic colonisation begin in the country beyond the Forth, and a Scoto-Saxon dynasty commence. In our course we shall perceive the prevalence of the Celtic customs insensibly superseded by the introduction of new manners, and the influence of a Celtic government gradually reduced, by the establishment of an Anglo-Norman jurisprudence, and by the complete reform of a Celtic church."-CHALMERS, The "reform" of the Celtic church was unquestionably for the worse.