If he proceeded at once to violent measures, he was afraid of the lives of his daughter and sonin-law; and, on the other hand, by a more cautious conduct, he left them exposed to the wicked attempts of those who kept them in thraldom, some of whom, he knew, had designs on the crown. By advice of the Scottish royalists, among whom were the earls of Dunbar, Fife, Stratherne, Carrick, and Robert Bruce, Henry assembled his military tenants at York, whence he himself advanced to Newcastle, where he published a manifesto, disclaiming all designs against the peace or independency of Scotland; declaring that the forces which had been collected at York were designed to maintain both; and that all he meant was to have an interview with the king and queen upon the borders. From Newcastle he proceeded to Wark, where he privately despatched the earl of Gloucester, with his favorite John Mansel, and a train of trusty followers, to gain admission into the castle of Edinburgh, which was then held by John Baliol and Robert Ross, noblemen of great influence both in England and Scotland. The earl and Mansel gained admittance into the castle, in dis guise, on pretence of their being tenants to Baliol and Ross; and their followers obtained access on the same account, without suspicion, till they were sufficiently numerous to have mastered the garrison, had they met with resistance. The queen immediately informed them of the thraldom and tyranny in which she had been kept; and among other things declared that she was still a virgin, as her jailors obliged her to sleep separate from her husband. The English, being masters of the castle, ordered a bed to be prepared that very night for the king and queen; and Henry, hearing of the success of his party, sent a safe conduct for the royal pair to meet him at Alnwick. Robert Ross was summoned by Henry to answer for his conduct; but, throwing himself at the king's feet, he was punished only by the sequestration of his estate, as was John Baliol, by a heavy fine, which the king of England reserved entirely to his own use. Alexander and his queen were attended to Alnwick by the heads of their party; and when they arrived it was agreed that Henry should act as his son-in-law's guardian; in consequence of which several regulations were made to suppress the exorbitant power of the Cummins. That ambitious family, however, were all this time privately strengthening their party in Scotland, though they outwardly appeared satisfied with the arrangements made. This rendered Alexander secure; so that, being off his guard, he was surprised when asleep in the castle of Kinross, by the earl of Menteith, who carried him to Stirling. The Cummins were joined in this treason by Sir Hugh Abernethy, Sir David Lochore, and Sir Hugh Barclay; and, in the mean time, the whole nation was thrown into the utmost confusion. The great seal was forcibly taken from Robert Stuterville, substitute to the chancellor the bishop of Dunkeld; the estates of the royalists were plundered; and even the churches were not spared. The king at last was delivered by the death of the earl of Monteith, who is said to have been poisoned by his wife to gratify her passion for a young English gentle

man named John Russel. The earl died at a juncture very critical for Scotland, and his death disconcerted all the schemes of his party, which never afterwards could make head against the royalists. Alexander, being thus restored to the exercise of regal authority, acted with great wisdom and moderation. He pardoned the Cummins and their adherents, upon their submitting to his authority; after which he applied himself to the regulation of his other affairs; but a storm was now ready to break upon him from another quarter. The usurper Donald Bane, brother to Malcolm Canmore, had engaged to deliver up the isles of Orkney and Shetland to the king of Norway, for assisting him in making good his pretensions to the crown of Scotland. Haquin, the king of Norway, at this time alleged that these engagements extended to the delivering up the islands of Bute, Arran, and others in the Frith of Clyde, as belonging to the Western isles; and, as Alexander would not comply with these demands, Haquin appeared with a fleet of 160 sail, having on board 20,000 troops, who landed and took the castle of Ayr. Alexander immediately despatched ambassadors to treat with Haquin; but the latter, flushed with success, would hearken to no terms. He made himself master of the isles of Bute and Arran ; after which he passed over to Cunningham. Alexander divided his army into three bodies: The first was commanded by Alexander, high steward of Scotland (the great grandfather of Robert II.), and consisted of the Argyle, Athol, Lenox, and Galloway men. The second was composed of the inhabitants of Lothian, Fife, Merse, Berwick, and Sterling, under Patrick earl of Dunbar. The king himself led the centre, which consisted of the inhabitants of Perthshire, Angus, Mearns, and the northern counties. Haquin, who was an excellent commander, disposed his men in order of battle, and the engagement began at a place called Largs. Both parties fought with great resolution; but at last the Norwegians were defeated with dreadful slaughter, no fewer than 16,000 of them being killed on the spot. The remainder escaped to their ships; which were so completely wrecked, the day after, that Haquin could scarcely find a vessel to carry him with a few friends to Orkney, where he soon after died of grief. In consequence of this victory, Owen king of the Isle of Man submitted to Alexander; and his example was followed by several other princes of the Norwegians. Haquin's son, Magnus, a wise and learned prince, soon after arrived in Scotland with fresh reinforcements, and proposed a treaty; but Alexander, instead of listening to an accommodation, sent the earls of Buchan and Murray, with Alan the chamberlain, and a considerable body of men to the Western Islands, where they put to the sword some of the inhabitants, and hanged their chiefs for having encouraged the Norwegian invasion. In the mean time Magnus returned to Norway where a treaty was at last concluded between him and Alexander. By this Magnus renounced all right to the contested islands; Alexander at the same time consenting to pay him 1000 merks of silver in the space of two years, and 100 yearly ever after, as an ac

knowledgment for these islands. To cement the friendship more firmly, a marriage was concluded between Margaret the daughter of Alexander, and Eric the son and heir of Magnus, who was also a child; and, some years after, when the parties were of proper age, the marriage was consummated. From this time to the accession of Edward I. of England, we find nothing remarkable in the history of Scotland. That prince, however, proved a more cruel enemy to this country than it had ever experienced. Alexander was present at the coronation of Edward, who was then newly arrived from the Holy Land, where he had been on a crusade. Soon after this Alexander paid him homage for his English estates; particularly for the lands and lordship of Penrith and others, which Henry had given him along with his daughter. He proved an excellent ally to Edward in his wars against the French; and the latter passed the charter by which he acknowledged that the services of the king of Scotland in those wars were not in consequence of his holding lands in England, but as an ally to his crown. Even at this time, however, Edward had formed a design on the liberties of Scotland; for, in the charter just mentioned, he inserted a salvo, acknowledging the superiority by which he reserved his right to the homage of the king of Scotland, when it should be claimed by him or his heirs. The bishop of Norwich suggested this salvo: and this was the reason why Alexander would not perform the homage in person, but left it to be performed by Robert Bruce earl of Carrick; Alexander standing by, and expressly declaring that it was only paid for the lands he held in England. No acts of hostility, however, took place during the life of Alexander, who was killed on the 19th of March, 1285, in the fortyfifth year of his age, by his horse rushing down the black rock near Kinghorn as he was hunting. IV. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND TO THE DEATH OF JAMES V. Both before and after the death of Alexander, the great subjects of Scotland seemed to have been sensible of Edward's ambitious designs. On the marriage of Margaret with Eric prince of Norway, the states of Scotland passed an act obliging themselves to receive her and her heirs as queen and sovereigns of Scotland. Edward at that time was in no condition to oppose this measure, in which the Scots were unanimous; and therefore contented himself with forming factions among the leading men of the country. Under pretence of resuming the cross, he renewed his intrigues at the court of Rome, and demanded leave from the pope to collect the tenths in Scotland; but his holiness replied that he could make no such grant without the consent of the government of Scotland. On the death of Margaret, queen of Norway, her daughter, in consequence of the act above-mentioned, was recognised by the states as queen of Scotland. As she was then but two years old, they came to the resolution of excluding from all share in the government, not only Edward 1. but their queen's father; and they accordingly established a regency from among their own number, consisting of the six following noblemen; viz. Robert Wishart bishop of Glasgow,

Sir James Cummin of Badenoch, senior, James lord high steward of Scotland, who were to have the superintendancy of all that part of Scotland which lies south of the Forth; William Fraser bishop of St. Andrew's, Duncan M'Duff earl of Fife, and Alexander Cummin earl of Buchan, who were to have the direction of all affairs north of that river. With these arrangements Eric was exceedingly displeased, as considering himself as the only rightful guardian of his own child. He therefore cultivated a good correspondence with Edward, from whom he had received considerable pecuniary favors; and, perceiving that the states of Scotland were unanimous in excluding all foreigners from the management of their concerns, he fell in with the views of the king of England, and named commissioners to treat with those of Edward upon the Scottish affairs. These negotiations terminated in a treaty of marriage between the queen of Scotland and Edward prince of Wales, young as they both were. This alarmed the states of Scotland, who resolved not to suffer their queen to be disposed of without their consent. It was therefore agreed by the commissioners on both sides, to acquaint them with the result of their conference, and to demand that a deputation should be sent up for settling the regency of Scotland, or, in other words, for putting the sovereign power into the hands of the two kings. As the two parties, however, were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, being first cousins, a dispensation was applied for to pope Boniface, who granted it on the condition that the peers of Scotland consented to the match. Though the Scottish nobility were very much against this match, they could not refuse their consent to it when proposed by the father and grand-uncle of their young queen. They therefore appointed the bishops of St. Andrew's and Glasgow, with Robert Bruce lord of Annandale, and John Cummin, to attend as their deputies, but with a salvo to all the liberties and honors of the realm of Scotland; to which Edward agreed. These deputies met at Salisbury with those of England and Norway; and it was at last agreed, 1. That the young queen should be sent from Norway (free of all marriage engagements) into England or Scotland. 2. That if the queen came to England she should be at liberty to repair to Scotland as soon as the distractions of that kingdom should be settled: that she should, on her arrival in her own dominions, be free of all matrimonial contracts; but that the Scots should engage not to dispose of her in marriage without her father's or Edward's consent. 3. The Scottish deputies promised to give such security as the Norwegian commissioners should require, that the tranquillity of the nation should be settled before her arrival. 4. That the commissioners of Scotland and Norway, joined with commissioners from England, should remove such regents and officers of state in Scotland as should be suspected of disaffection, and place others in their stead. If the Scottish and Norwegian commissioners should disagree on that or any other head relating to the government of Scotland, the decision was to be left to the arbitration of English commissioners. The party of Edward was

now so strong in Scotland that no opposition was made to the late agreement, in a parliament held at Brechin to deliberate upon the settlement of the kingdom. It is uncertain whether he communicated in form to the Scottish parliament the pope's dispensation for the marriage; but they highly approved of it upon certain conditions to which Edward was previously to agree; but the latter, without waiting to perform any condition, immediately sent for the young queen from Norway. This exceedingly displeased Eric, who was not inclined to put his daughter into the hands of a prince whose sincerity he suspected, and therefore shifted off the departure of the princess till he should hear farther from Scotland. Edward, alarmed at this, had again recourse to negociation; and ten articles were at last drawn up, in which the Scots took all imaginable precautions for the safety and independency of their country. These articles were ratified by Edward on the 28th of August, 1289; yet, even after the affair of the marriage was fully settled, he lost no time in procuring as strong a party as he could. At the head of these were the bishop of St. Andrew's and John Baliol. That prelate, while he was in England, was highly caressed by Edward, from whom he had great expectations of preferment; and Baliol, having great estates in England, considered the latter as his sovereign. The bishop, on his return to Scotland, acted as a spy for Edward, and carried on with him a secret correspondence, informing him of all public transactions. It appears from this correspondence that the Scots were far from being unanimous as to the marriage. Bruce earl of Annandale suspected that the young queen was dead; and, soon after Michaelmas 1290, assembled a body of forces, and was joined by the earl of Mar and Athol. Intelligence of these commotions was carried to Edward by Baliol; and the bishop of St. Andrew's advised Edward, in case the report of the queen's death should prove true, to march a body of troops towards Scotland, to secure such a successor as he thought proper. Edward, in the mean time, consented to allow ambassadors to be sent from Scotland to bring over the young queen; previous to which he appointed the bishop of Durham to be lieutenant in Scotland for the queen and her future husband; and all the officers there, both civil and military, obliged themselves to surrender their employments and fortresses to the king and queen (that is, to Edward) immediately on their arrival in Scotland. But, while the most magnificent preparations were making for the reception of the young queen, certain intelligence of her death was received.

The Scots were thrown into the utmost consternation by the news of their queen's death; while Edward was as well prepared as if he had known what was to happen. The state of Scotland at this time indeed was to the last degree deplorable. The act of succession established by the late king had no farther operation, being determined by the death of the queen; and, since the crown was rendered hereditary, there was no precedent by which it could be settled. The Scots, in general, however, turned their eyes

upon the posterity of David earl of Huntingdon, brother to the two kings, Malcolm IV. and William I., both of whom died without lawful issue. The earl had three daughters; Margaret, the eldest, was married to Alan lord of Galloway; the only issue of which marriage was Dervegil, wife to John Baliol, who had a son John, a competitor for the crown. The second daughter, Isabella, was married to Robert Bruce; and their son Robert was a candidate likewise. The third daughter, Ada, had been married to Henry Hastings, an English nobleman. John Hastings, the son of this marriage, was a third competitor; but, as his claim was confessedly the worst of the three, he only put in for a third of the kingdom, on the principle that his mother was joint-heir with her two sisters. Several other claimants now started up. Florence earl of Holland pretended to the crown, in right of his great-grandmother Ada, the eldest lawful sister of king William; as did Robert de Pynkeny, in the right also of his great-grandmother Marjory, second sister of king William. Six other claimants appeared, very absurdly founding upon their descent from bastards of king William and Alexander II. and III. John Cummin lord of Badenoch derived his claim from a more remote source, viz. Donald Bane, who usurped the crown about 200 years before this time; but he was willing to resign in favor of John Baliol, The latter indeed had surely the best right; and, had the succession been regulated as it now is in all hereditary kingdoms, he would undoubtedly have carried it. Bruce and Hastings, however, pleaded that they were preferable, not only to John Baliol the grandchild of Margaret, but also to Dervegil her daughter and his mother, for the following reason: Dervegil and they were equally related to their grandfather earl David: she was indeed the daughter of his eldest daughter; but she was a woman, they were men; and the male in the same degree ought to succeed to sovereignties, in their own nature impartible, preferably to the female. Notwithstanding this number of candidates, however, it was soon perceived that the claims of all of them might be cut off, excepting two, viz. Baliol and Bruce, of whom the former had the preference with respect to hereditary right, and the latter as to popularity. Baliol had strongly attached himself to Edward's party; which, being by far the most powerful in Scotland, gave him a decided superiority over Bruce. The event was that Edward, by his own party most probably, was appointed to decide between the two competitors. It soon appeared, however, that Edward had no mind to adjudge the crown to any person but himself; for, in an assembly held at Norham on the 10th of May 1291, Brabanzon the chief justice of England informed the members: That his master was come thither in consideration of the state of the realm of Scotland, which was then without a king, to meet them, as direct sovereign of that kingdom, to do justice to the claimants of his crown, and to establish a solid tranquillity among his people; that it was not his intention to retard justice, nor to usurp the right of any body, or to infringe the liberties of the kingdom of Scotland, but to render to every

one his due.

And, to the end this might be done with the more ease, he required the assent of the states ex abundante, and that they should own him as direct sovereign of the kingdom; offering, upon that condition, to make use of their counsels to do what justice demanded.' The deputies were astonished at this declaration, and replied that they were by no means prepared to decide on Edward's claim of superiority; but that Edward ought previously to judge the cause between the two competitors, and require homage from him whom he should choose to be king. Edward gave them till next day to consider of his demand. Accordingly, on that day, the assembly was held in Norham church, where the deputies from Scotland insisted upon giving no answer to Edward's demands, which could be decided only by the whole community; representing that numbers of the noblemen and prelates were absent, and that they must have time to know their sense of the affair. On this Edward gave them three weeks; which interval he employed in multiplying claimants to the crown, and in flattering each with hopes, if he would acknowledge his superiority. But when the assembly met, according to appointment, on the 2d of June, they found the place of meeting surrounded by a numerous army of English. Edward had employed the bishop of Durham to draw up the historical evidence of his right to the crown of Scotland; which has since been published. In this paper mention is made of the fealty and homage performed by the kings of Scotland to the Anglo-Saxon kings of England; but no evidence is brought of any such homage being performed. As to the homage performed by the kings of Scotland, from the time of William the Conqueror to that of the dispute between Bruce and Baliol, the Scots never denied it; but they contended with justice that it was performed for the lands held of the crown of England; and that it was as far from any relation to a fealty performed for the crown of Scotland, as the homage paid by the English monarchs to the crown of France was from all relations to the crown of England. With regard to the homage paid by William to Henry II., it was not denied that he performed it for the whole kingdom of Scotland: but they pleaded that it was void, because it was extorted when William was a prisoner; and they produced Richard I.'s charters, which pronounced it compulsive and iniquitous. But Edward was by no means disposed to examine into the merits of these arguments. Instead of this, he closeted the several pretenders to the crown; and, having found them all ready to comply with his measures, he drew up the following charter of recognition to be signed by them all: To all who shall hear this present letter: We Florence earl of Holland, Robert de Bruce lord of Annandale, John Baliol lord of Galloway, John Hastings lord of Abergavenny, John Cummin lord of Badenoch, Patrick de Dunbar earl of March, John Vesci for his father Nicholas Soulis, and William de Ross, greeting in the Lord: Whereas we intend to pursue our right to the kingdom of Scotland; and to declare, challenge, and aver the same before him that has most

power, jurisdiction, and reason to try it; and the noble prince Edward, by the grace of God king of England, &c., having informed us, by good and sufficient reasons, that to him belongs the sovereign seigniory of the same: We therefore promise that we will hold firm and stable his act; and that he shall enjoy the realm to whom it shall be adjudged before him. In witness whereof, we have set our seals to this writing, made and granted at Norham, the Tuesday after the Ascension, in the year of Grace 1291.' Edward then declared, by the mouth of his chancellor, that although, in the dispute which was arisen between the several claimants, touching the succession to the kingdom of Scotland, he acted in quality of sovereign, in order to render justice to whomsoever it was due; yet he did not thereby mean to exclude himself from that hereditary right which in his own person he might have to that crown, and which right he intended to assert and improve when he should think fit: and the king himself repeated this protestation with his own mouth in French. The candidates were then severally called upon by the English chancellor to know whether they were willing to acknowledge Edward's claim of superiority over the crown of Scotland, and to submit to his award in disposing of the same; which being answered in the affirmative, they were then admitted to prove their rights. But this was mere matter of form; for all the force of England was then assembled on the borders to support the claims of Edward, and nothing now remained but to furnish him with a suff cient pretence for making use of it. Observing that the Scots were not so unanimous as they ought to be in recognising his superiority, and that the submission, which the candidates had signed, was not sufficient to carry it into execution, Edward demanded that all the forts in Scotland should be put into his possession, that he might resign them to the successful candidate. Though nothing could be more shameful than a tame compliance with this last demand of Edward, the regency of Scotland without hesitation yielded to it also. bert de Umfraville alone, who had the command of the castles of Dundee and Forfar, refused to deliver them up, until he should be indemnified by the states, and by Edward himself, from all penalties of treason which he might be in danger of incurring. But, though Edward had thus got into his hands the whole power of the nation, he did not think proper to determine every thing by his own authority. Instead of this, he appointed commissioners, and promised to grant letters patent declaring that sentence should be passed in Scotland. It had been all along foreseen that the great dispute would be between Bruce and Baliol; and, though the plea of Cummin was judged frivolous, yet he was a man of too much influence to be neglected, and he agreed tacitly to resign it in favor of Baliol. Edward accordingly made him the compliment of joining him with Balio in nominating forty commissioners. Bruce was to name forty more; and the names of the eighty were to be given in to Edward in three days; after which the king was to add to them twenty-four of his own

Gil

choosing. The place and time of meeting were left in their own option. They unanimously pitched upon Berwick for the place of meeting; but, as they could not agree about the time, Edward appointed the 2d of August following. Soon after this the regents resigned their commissions to Edward; but he returned them, with powers to act in his name; and nominated the bishop of Caithness to be chancellor of Scotland; joining in the commission with him Walter de Hemondesham an Englishman, and one of his own secretaries. Still, however, he met with great difficulties. Many of his own nobles, particularly the earl of Gloucester, were by no means fond of increasing the power of the English monarch by the acquisition of Scotland; and there fore threw such obstacles in his way that he was again obliged to have recourse to negociation and intrigue, and at last to delay the meeting until the 2d of June in 1292; but during this interval, that he might the better reconcile the Scots to the loss of their liberty, he proposed a union of the two kingdoms; and for this he issued a writ by virtue of his superiority. The commissioners having met on the 2d of June, 1292, ambassadors from Norway presented themselves in the assembly, demanding that their master should be admitted into the number of their claimants, as father and next heir to the late queen. This demand too was admitted by Edward, after the ambassadors had acknowledged his superiority over Scotland; after which he proposed that the claims of Bruce and Baliol should be previously examined, but without prejudice to those of the other competitors. This being agreed to, he ordered the commissioners to examine by what laws they ought to proceed. The discussion of this question was attended with such difficulty, and the opinions on it were so various, that Edward once more adjourned the assembly to the 12th of October following; when the commissioners urged that Edward ought to give justice conformable to the usage of the two kingdoms; but that, if no certain laws or precedents could be found, he might, by the advice of his great men, enact a new law. The succession to the kingdom, they said, might be awarded in the same manner as to other estates and great baronies. Upon this, Edward ordered Bruce and Baliol to be called before him, and both of them urged their respective pleas, and answers, to the following purpose: Bruce pleaded, 1. That Alexander II., despairing of heirs of his own body, had declared that he held him to be the true heir, and offered to prove by the testimony of persons still alive that he declared this with the advice and in the presence of the good men of his kingdom. Alexander III. also had declared to those with whom he was intimate, that, failing issue of his own body, Bruce was his right heir. The people of Scotland had also taken an oath for maintaining the succession of the nearest in blood to Alexander III., who ought of right to inherit, failing Margaret the maiden of Norway and her issue.-Baliol answered that nothing could be concluded from the acknowledgment of Alexander II.; for that he left heirs of his body; but made no answer to what was said of the sentiments of Alexander III., and of the oath made by the Scottish nation to maintain the suc

cession. 2. Bruce pleaded that the right of reigning ought to be decided according to the natural law, by which kings reign; and not according to any law or usage in force between subject and subject: that, by the law of nature, the nearest collateral in blood has a right to the crown; but that the constitutions which prevail among vassals bind not the lord, much less the sovereign: that although in private inheritances, which are divisible, the eldest female heir has a certain prerogative, it is not so in a kingdom that is indivisible; there the nearest heir of blood is preferable whenever the succession opens.To this Baliol replied that the claimants were in the court of their lord paramount; and that he ought to give judgment in this case, as in the case of any other tenements, depending on his crown, that is, by the common law and usage of his kingdom, and no other. That, by the laws and usages of England, the eldest female heir is preferred in the succession to all inheritances, indivisible as well as divisible. 3. It was urged by Bruce that the manner of succession to the kingdom of Scotland in former times made for his claim; for that the brother, as being nearest in degree, was wont to be preferred to the son of the deceased king. Thus, when Kenneth Macalpin died, his brother Donald was preferred to his son Constantine, aud this was confirmed by several other authentic instances in the history of Scotland.-Baliol answered that, if the brother was preferred to the son of the king, the example proved against Bruce; for that the son, not the brother, was the nearest in degree. He admitted that after the death of Malcolm III. his brother usurped the throne: but he contended that the son of Malcolm complained to his liege lord the king of England, who dispossessed the usurper, and placed the son of Malcolm on the throne; that after the death of that son the brother of Malcolm III. again usurped the throne; but the king of England again dispossessed him, and raised Edgar, the second son of Malcolm, to the sovereignty. 4. Bruce pleaded the example of other countries, particularly Spain and Savoy, where the son of the second daughter excluded the grandson of the eldest daughter.-Baliol answered that examples from foreign countries were of no importance; for that according to the laws of England and Scotland, where kings reign by succession in the direct line, and earls and barons succeed in like manner, the issue of the younger sister, although nearer in degree, excludes not the issue of the eldest sister, although more remote; but the succession continues in the direct line. 5. Bruce pleaded that a female ought not to reign, as being incapable of governing : that at the death of Alexander III. the mother of Baliol was alive; and, as she could not reign, the kingdom devolved upon him, as being the nearest male heir of the blood royal. But to this Baliol replied that Bruce's argument was inconsistent with his claim: for that, if a female ought not to reign, Isabella the mother of Bruce ought not, nor must Bruce himself claim through her. Besides Bruce himself had sworn fealty to a female, the maiden of Norway. The arguments being thus stated on both sides, Edward demanded an answer from the council as to the