Malcolm III Archives - The History JarThe History Jar

The kingdom of Northumbria did not enter Norman rule placidly but Gospatric, who was related to Malcolm Canmore was eventually stripped of his power and died in Scotland. The Scottish king had given him Dunbar Castle and his eldest son became the Earl of Dunbar. Another, Dolphin, ruled Carlisle on Malcolm’s behalf.

We had arrived at the Treaty of Abernethy in 1072.

1079 The Normans invade Scotland to remind Malcolm not to keep raiding Northumbria and to reinforce the Treaty of Abernethy.

1092 William II, better known as William Rufus, drives Dolphin out of Carlisle. Malcolm doesn’t immediately respond to this.

13 November 1093 Malcom III killed with his eldest son by Margaret of Wessex at the Battle of Alnwick on his way home from a spot of light raiding. It is said that Margaret died from a broken heart three days later. Malcolm’s brother Donald Bane took the throne as Donald III but was driven from it six months later by Duncan – who had been handed to William the Conqueror as a hostage at the signing of the Treaty of Abernethy. Rufus accepted Duncan II’s homage – however, despite the political expedient, it wasn’t long before Donald regained the throne. The turmoil in Scotland was matched by the dispute in England between William Rufus and his elder brother Robert Curthose who was Duke of Normandy but who wanted his brother’s crown as well.

1095 Duncan II murdered.

1097 Edgar, the fourth son of Malcolm, takes the Scottish throne. He has received English support.

1100 William Rufus killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest. His brother Henry ascends the throne as Henry I and marries Edith of Scotland – the daughter of Malcolm III and Margaret of Wessex. As well as helping to secure his northern border, it also helps to stabilise his throne. Edith changes her name to Maud when she marries.

1107 Edgar dies and his younger brother, Alexander the Fierce, became king in his stead – with the approval of King Henry I. This accord was cemented by Alexander’s marriage to Sybilla of Normandy who was one of Henry’s illegitimate daughters.

Henry is able to cement his control of the north and establish lordships to rule Cumbria and the borders on his behalf – e.g the de Hottons of Hutton.

1124 Alexander died without children and was succeeded by his brother David who becomes King David I.

King Henry I died on 1 December 1135. He had wanted his only legitimate child, the Empress Matilda, to rule after him but despite having made his barons agree to the plan, its actually his nephew Stephen of Blois who nabs the crown. In 1138 a civil war known as the Anarchy erupts between supporters of Stephen and Matilda.

King David I had already seized the opportunity to extend his kingdom south once more on the pretext of supporting Matilda’s claim. The local militia and baronial retinues of Yorkshire and the North Midlands fight back against the Scottish incursion to the West and south. In Northumbria the castles at Bamburgh and Wark hold out against the Scots

January 1136 Treaty of Durham – King Stephen cedes Cumberland to the Scots – Carlisle is part of Scotland once more. The earldom of Huntingdon and its associated land is transferred to David’s son Henry.

22 August 1138 •The Battle of the Standard on the Great North Road – north of Northallerton. The Scots are defeated but retreat in good order they regrouped in Carlisle. There is another meeting and another treaty at Durham. Cumberland would remain part of Scotland for the next 20 years and Northumberland was ceded to Earl of Huntingdon as a fief.

It was King David I who built the first stone castle at Carlisle and where he died on 24 May 1153. He had extended his rule to both the north and the south and through the Second Treaty of Durham he was an independent king who did not have to take oaths of vassalage to the English… which brings us to the end of the Norman period.

The Plantagenets in the form of King Henry II, son of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou, ascended the throne in 1154. Obviously Henry had other plans for the north but for the time being Scotland held the upper hand in the matter of the borders.

Most people think that in the aftermath of 1066, having won the Battle of Hastings, that William the Conqueror was able to sit back on his newly acquired throne and twiddle his fingers – after all the story is the Conquest of England and that is usually where the topic stops if you are a school child.

However, William spent the rest of his life dealing with rebellions both in England and in Normandy. His neighbours in Normandy also assumed that if William was in England that the Norman border would make an easy target.

As a result of the various rebellions in England many of the Saxon nobility sought shelter at the Scottish court of Malcolm III. He ended up married to Edgar the Atheling’s sister Margaret in 1071 – who renowned for her piety became St Margaret. Edgar with his family arrived in Scotland in 1068 having previously submitted to William only to join with Gospatrick of Northumbria to rebel against William. According to legend the family was on board a vessel destined for the Continent, remember they were originally from Hungary before being invited by Edward the Confessor to return to England.

So far as Malcolm was concerned his marriage to Margaret gave him a claim to the English throne – stories tend to linger more on the romance of the fleeing princess rather than the potential for a land grab. It was an opportunity for Malcolm to expand his borders southwards during times when William had his hands full elsewhere. He celebrated his marriage by invading various bits of Northumberland and Cumberland. It is probable that he was looking to establish a secure border and annex Cumberland which the Normans had not yet got around to quelling aside from the easily accessible coastal areas.

In 1072 William, having dealt with the revolting Northerners, turned his attention to the Scots. He sent an army across the border as well as a fleet of ships. The Scots and the Normans met at Abernethy in Perthshire. Malcom lost the ensuing battle and he was forced to sign the Treaty of Abernethy. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that Malcolm agreed to become William’s man and his son Duncan was handed over as surety for future good behaviour. Edgar was asked politely to leave Scotland and William gave Malcom lands in Cumberland – but which in reality did not receive the Norman stamp until the reign of William Rufus – and even then in times of trouble the Scots were quick to shift the border south. Just as an aside the Norman habit of giving Scottish nobility land in the north of England as a way of turning them into liege men did ultimately change the Scottish language and the politics of the region.

This all sounds very clear cut but the Normans did not successfully invade Scotland – Scotland remained firmly in the hands of the Scots – albeit a Scottish court which many felt was becoming anglicised by the presence of Margaret, her children by Malcolm and the assorted ragtag of Saxons who had sought shelter across the border.

Throughout this period there were skirmishes and battles across the borders between England and Scotland. In 1079 the treaty had to be re-imposed after a Norman army skirmished across the border in retaliation for Malcolm’s incursions into Northumberland.

The treaty broke down completely in 1093. Malcom was killed at the Battle of Alnwick on the 13th November and Margaret, apparently from grief, died on the 16th November. Malcolm was succeeded by his brother Donald.