My last post saw Henry II ascend the throne in England and David I die in Scotland. David was predeceased by his eldest son, Henry Earl of Northumberland. His son, Malcolm the Maiden inherited the throne. The nickname has nothing to do with unknightlyness- think more poor health, religious fervour and an early death before marriage. He was succeeded by his brother, William the Lion. Ultimately William, who spent time at Henry II’s court and who backed Henry’s sons in their rebellion against their father, was forced to recognise Henry as his feudal overlord thanks to various unfortunate occurrences in Scotland, including a rebellion in Gallowegians. William was even forced to pay Henry for the English army in Scotland and had a bride selected for him.

As an aside Ermengarde de Beaumont was part of the extended Plantagenet family thanks to Henry I’s sizeable illegitimate family. The terms of the wedding were agreed according to the Treaty of Falaise. And while we’re on the subject William’s mother was Ada de Warenne whose father was one of William the Conqueror’s most trusted advisers while her mother who had something of a scandalous past was descended from the kings of France – the House of Dunkeld was looking decidedly normanised one way and another.

Anyway, when Richard the Lionheart came to the throne there was a shift in power. he just wanted to go on Crusade so he accepted 10,000 marks from the Scots in return for The Quitclaim of Canterbury – which basically meant that the Scots were inn charge of themselves and that Richard agreed that he wasn’t their overlord. For a time the status quo was maintained. It was bad form to attack the kingdoms of monarchs who were away on holy war and if good manners weren’t sufficient, the threat of excommunication carried more weight.

However, the reign of John and his son Henry III saw a continuation of the tensions on the northern border of England. Where exactly did one kingdom end and the other begin? In 1200, for instance William claimed Northumberland as part of Scotland when they met at Lincoln. The Treaty of Norham followed in 1203 and in 1209 when John arrived on the border with an army, William submitted before an invasion took place. In 1210, William’s heir, Alexander, gave John an oath of loyalty at Alnwick – but in England the political situation was becoming more tense.

Alexander became king in 1214 but the following year saw the First Barons War and Magna Carta in England. In the north, barons like Eustace De Vesci, Lord of Alnwick (The one who is famously said to have substituted a sex worker for his wife in the bed of King John. The said wife being Margaret of Scotland, an illegitimate daughter of William the Lion.) chose to offer their allegiance to the Scottish king rather than John. It was 1216 before John was able to drive the Scots from Northumbria. And that’s all without mentioning Carlisle which found itself under siege.

Alexander II came to terms with Henry III’s regency government while Alexander III married Henry’s daughter Margaret. Their respective ages were 10 and 11. Henry III began plotting to seize overlordship of Scotland – the young king and his wife were kept apart, seized by opposing factions and Margaret wrote that she hated Scotland. Eventually though, Alexander attained his majority and the couple went on to have three children who all predeceased their father.

Alexander spent the decade after Margaret’s death as a widower but without an adult male heir to succeed him he was urged to take a new bride. So, he married Yolande de Dreux in 1285. He died following a fall from his horse the fallowing year on his way to visit her. The new queen of Scotland was his granddaughter the Maid of Norway who died before she arrived in Scotland.

There were various claimants to the crown and Edward I claimed that he should choose by right of being overlord of the Scottish monarchs – just let’s not go there – these last three posts have demonstrated that it all depended on who had the most stable kingdom and the biggest army – and yes I know that the Earl of Huntingdon owed feudal duty to the English king and no this isn’t the time to get into that kind of discussion. And it was Edward I who gave orders for the boundary to be identified by 6 Scottish knights and 6 English knights – who were required to travel its length, not once but twice.

Ultimately the thirteenth century ended with armies crossing the border one way or the other. While the border was established the next 300 years saw national armies on occasion but on a regional level there were raids, looting and kidnappings…in which became a way of life.