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Surrey was appointed Viceroy of Scotland after the defeat of the Scots at Dunbar in 1296 but their association was of long standing. He had been earl since 1240 and was married, during his wardship to the Crown, to Alice de Lusignan, the half sister of Henry III. She died in 1256 having given birth to John’s heir – William.

About four years older than Edward he was raised with the royal family at Guildford Castle and in 1254 accompanied Edward to Spain to claim his bride, Eleanor of Castile. He was still part of Edward’s household in Gascony in 1260-1261. His guardian was Peter of Savoy who was the queen, Eleanor of Province’s uncle.

During the Second Barons’ War he was largely supportive of Prince Edward, except during the year 1262-1263 when he supported Simon de Montfort. Effectively both the barons and the Royalist knew that war was coming after the Provisions of Oxford broke down. In London, the barons were commanded by Simon de Montfort and the Earl of Gloucester.

In 1264 Surrey defended Rochester Castle which was besieged by the barons until it was relieved by Edward who then marched on Tonbridge Castle. Their next stop was Lewes, which was Surrey’s ancestral home. Following the Battle of Lewis which saw de Montfort and the barons victorious- the earl escaped to France via Pevensey – recognising that he would not be treated sympathetically by de Montfort.

In 1265 he landed at Pembroke with Edward’s uncle William de Valence, and Surrey’s brother-in-law. He immediately petitioned the barons for the return of his estates which had been granted, for the main, to the Earl of Gloucester – who was a cousin both of them being part of the extended Marshal family. De Montfort refused to return them – and Surrey took part in the Battle of Evesham on 4 August, 1265. he was at the Battle of Chesterfield the following year with Henry of Almaine.

He was, it appears, a man with a very bad temper – certainly not someone you would wish to cross. In 1268 he fell out with Alan de la Zouche and his son over properties in Northamptonshire. Encountering them at Westminster, in 1270, there was a fight that left Alan seriously injured, dying from them. In the aftermath, he took himself off to Reigate Castle which he intended to defend against the Crown. It was Henry of Almaine, and the self-same Earl of Gloucester, who persuaded him to submit and pay a fine rather than rebelling against the king.

In 1278 he had a falling out with Edward I who held a Parliament in Gloucester to identify lords who had impinged on royal rights of justice and to reclaim them for the Crown. Surrey was served with a writ of quo warranto – or by what warrant he held some of his rights – it is said that Surrey drew a rusty old sword exclaiming that it was his warrant since he’d arrived on English shores with William the Conqueror.

He held Wakefield and Conisborough under royal grant, fought agains the Welsh, and the Scots but was defeated by William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Surrey had been reluctant to return to Scotland after 1296 and he now fled all the way back to York. Surrey’s initial interest in Scotland, aside from his long service to Edward I, was the fact that his daughter Isabel, by his second wife, was married to one of the prospective king’s of Scotland – John Baliol. After the defeat Surrey did return to Scotland the following year.

By that time his only son, William, had been killed in a tournament held in 1285 at Croydon. In time Surrey was succeeded by his grandson, another John, who had been an infant when his father died in 1285. The 7th Earl was still a minor when the 6th Earl died in 1304 and was buried at the Cluniac priory in Lewes. He was raised alongside the future Edward II and married to Joan of Bar – who was Edward I’s granddaughter. It wasn’t a happy marriage. The descriptions of the 7th earl are not flattering and he claimed to be pre contracted to Maud of Nerford.

Margaret, the sister of Edgar the Atheling, was the child of Edward the Exile and Agatha, a German princess. She was born in Hungary in 1046. When Edward the Confessor took the throne he invited the last of the Royal House of Wessex to return from their exile. Edward, Agatha and their children – Edgar, Margaret and Christina cam back to England but Edward died in suspicious circumstances shortly after their arrival.

Edgar submitted to William the Conqueror but became involved in a rebellion in 1068. His family fled England. They initially, possibly, intended to return to Hungary but bad weather drove their vessel to Scotland where Margaret married the King, Malcolm Canmore at Dunfermline Abbey in 1069. Incidentally Canmore translates according to Alison Weir as ‘big head.’

The widowed king who was aged about forty loved his young Saxon bride and trusted her advice. Queen Margaret became known not only for her piety but also for her learning. Malcolm could not read but such was his love for his wife that he would send her books to be ornamented with covers of gold. She wielded so much power that she changed the way that the Scottish court behaved and dressed. She bought the sophisticated continental behaviour of her childhood to Canmore’s court which included closer links with the Roman Catholic church. During this time Mass was said in Latin in Scotland rather than Gaelic. She was also the patron of Benedictine monks who arrived on Scottish shores for the first time. Malcolm allow this wife to support the church and to guide the policies as to its practice. She supported monks, hermits and spent much of her time and money providing charity to the poor and to orphaned children.

Inevitably relations with William of England were difficult. Malcolm took advantage of the difficulties that William faced in his early years to extend the border of Scotland south so that it included most of Cumberland. Malcolm was killed at the Battle of Alnwick along with Margaret’s eldest son Edward in 1093. She died three days after receiving the news of her bereavement in Edinburgh Castle which was being besieged by Malcolm’s brother Donald Bane on 16th November. Margaret’s remaining sons escaped from the castle in a thick mist along with the body of their mother which they carried to Dunfermline Abbey where it was buried as she had wished. It was she who’d commissioned the ferry that crossed the Firth of Forth taking pilgrims to the abbey.

Margaret bore Malcolm Canmore eight children including Edward. Her daughter Edith married one of William the Conqueror’s sons (King Henry I) and took on the Norman name Matilda. Her other daughter Mary married the Count of Boulogne and her daughter (Margaret’s granddaughter married King Stephen becoming yet another Queen Matilda.) One son, Ethelred, became the Abbot of Dunkeld while four more sons became kings of Scotland in their turn – Edmund, Edgar, Alexander I and David I.

For further information including St Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle the Freelance History Writer http://thefreelancehistorywriter.com has a great entry about the life and times of a Saxon Princess who became a queen and a saint.