The Normans and Scotland

< 1066 The Norman Invasion Δ Index Scottish Wars of Independence >

After his victory at Hastings, William the Conqueror had to suppress many rebellions to secure his new kingdom in England. As a result of the unrest, some English nobles sought sanctuary, in Scotland, at the court of Malcolm III. One of these was Edgar Ætheling, a member of the house of Wessex and thus the last English claimant to the throne of England.

Faced with a hostile Scotland, in alliance with disaffected English lords including Ætheling, William rode north and signed with Malcolm the Treaty of Abernethy in 1072
While this prevented a full-scale invasion of Scotland, it made Malcolm swear allegiance to William in exchange for estates in Cumbria and the banning of Edgar Ætheling from the Scottish court.

The next few centuries were relatively peaceful for Scotland, with close links between the Scottish and English royal courts.

Reign Name Notes
1057-1093 Malcolm III (Canmore) Succeeded to the throne after killing Macbeth and Macbeth’s stepson Lulach in an English-sponsored attack. Signed the Treaty of Abernethy with William the Conqueror
1093-1094 Donald III Son of Duncan I he seized the throne from his brother Malcolm III and made the Anglo-Normans very unwelcome at his court. He was defeated and dethroned by his nephew Duncan II in May 1094
 
1094-1094 Duncan II Son of Malcolm III. In 1072 he had been sent to the court of William I as a hostage. With the help of an army supplied by William II (Rufus) he defeated his uncle Donald III Ban. His foreign supporters were detested. Donald engineered his murder on 12 November 1094.
 
1094-1097 Donald III (restored) In 1097 Donald was captured and blinded by another of his nephews, Edgar. A true Scottish nationalist, it is perhaps fitting that this would be the last king of the Scots who would be laid to rest by the Gaelic Monks at Iona.

 

Inter dynsatic marriage

In 1100, William’s youngest son, became King Henry the First of England. He married Maud, the daughter of Malcolm Canmore. One of Maud’s younger brothers, David, was raised in the court of Henry the First, where he made many Norman friends.

Reign Name Notes
1097-1107 Edgar Eldest son of Malcolm III. He had taken refuge in England when his parents died in 1093. Following the death of his half-brother Duncan II, he became the Anglo-Norman candidate for the Scottish throne. He defeated Donald III Ban with the aid of an army supplied by William II. Unmarried, he was buried at Dunfermline Priory in Fife. His sister married Henry I in 1100.
 
1107-1124 Alexander I The son of Malcolm III and his English wife St. Margaret. Succeeded his brother Edgar to the throne and continued the policy of ‘reforming’ the Scottish Church, building his new priory at Scone near Perth. He married the illegitimate daughter of Henry I. He died childless and was buried in Dunfermline.
 
1124-1153 David I The youngest son of Malcolm III and St. Margaret. A modernising king, responsible for transforming his kingdom largely by continuing the work of Anglicisation begun by his mother. He seems to have spent as much time in England as he did in Scotland. He was the first Scottish king to issue his own coins and he promoted the development of towns at Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Perth, Stirling, Inverness and Aberdeen. By the end of his reign his lands extended over Newcastle and Carlisle. He was almost as rich and powerful as the king of England, and had attained an almost mythical status through a ‘Davidian’ revolution.

 

Norman nobles invited to Scotland

King David invited his friends, mostly younger sons of Norman nobles, to come to Scotland with the inducement of the possession of land. This was an attractive offer because the Normans did not divide their lands among their children. The oldest son received all the land and any titles. It ensured that estates were not broken up, but left younger sons without a means of making a living.

Reign Name Notes
1153-1165 Malcolm IV Son of Henry of Northumbria. His grandfather David I persuaded the Scottish Chiefs to recognise Malcolm as his heir to the throne, and aged 12 he became king. Recognising ‘that the King of England had a better argument by reason of his much greater power’, Malcolm surrendered Cumbria and Northumbria to Henry II. He died unmarried and with reputation for chastity, hence his nickname ‘the Maiden’.
 
1165-1214 William the Lion Second son of Henry of Northumbria. After a failed attempt to invade Northumbria, William was captured by Henry II. In return for his release, William and other Scottish nobles had to swear allegiance to Henry and hand over sons as hostages. English garrisons were installed throughout Scotland. It was only in 1189 that William was able to recover Scottish independence in return for a payment of 10,000 marks. William’s reign witnessed the extension of royal authority northwards across the Moray Firth.
 
1214-1249 Alexander II Son of William the Lion. With the Anglo-Scottish agreement of 1217, he established a peace between the two kingdoms that would last for 80 years. The agreement was further cemented by his marriage to Henry III’s sister Joan in 1221. Renouncing his ancestral claim to Northumbria, the Anglo-Scottish border was finally established by the Tweed-Solway line.
 
1249-1286 Alexander III The son of Alexander II, he married Henry III’s daughter Margaret in 1251. Following the Battle of Largs against King Haakon of Norway in Oct. 1263, Alexander secured the western Highlands and Islands for the Scottish Crown. After the deaths of his sons, Alexander gained acceptance that his granddaughter Margaret should succeed him. He fell and was killed whilst riding along the cliffs of Kinghorn in Fife.
 
1286 – 1290 Margaret, Maid of Norway The only child of King Eric of Norway and Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. She became queen at the age of two, and was promptly betrothed to Edward, son of Edward I. She saw neither kingdom nor husband as she died aged 7 at Kirkwall on Orkney in September 1290. Her death caused the most serious crisis in Anglo-Scottish relations.

 

< 1066 The Normans Invasion Δ Index Scottish Wars of Independence >