[498] Chron. Mel. 1211. Fordun, l. 8, c. 76. The Thanes of Ross invited him over, says Fordun.
[499] Fordun, l. 8, c. 72. The “Mons in ea diruens” of Fordun was evidently the old Rath-inver-Amon. Boece drowns a youthful prince John and his nurse—very apocryphal characters—and rebuilds Perth upon its present site.
[500] These castella appear to have been built of wood, as one was burnt in the following year.
[501] Fordun, l. 8, c. 76.
[502] Fordun, l. 8, c. 76.
[503] Fordun, l. 8, c. 76. Walter of Coventry, ad an. 1212. The words of this writer are, “Scotorum Rex Willelmus jam ætatis provectæ, cum interioris regni sui partes seditione turbatas pacificare non posset, ad Anglorum Regem confugiens, se et regnum filiumque quem unicum habibat, ejus commisit provisioni. At ille, cingulo militari commendatum sibi adolescentem donans, in partes illas cum exercitu proficiscens, dimissis per interiora regni suis Guthredum cognomento Mac William, seditionis ducem, cepit et patibulo suspendit. Erat hic de Scotorum Regum antiquâ prosapiâ, qui Scotorum et Hibernensium fretus auxilio, longas contra modernos Reges, sicut et pater suus Duvenaldus, nunc clàm nunc palàm exercuit inimicitias. Moderniores enim Scotorum Reges magis se Francos fatentur, sicut genere, ita moribus, linguâ, cultu; Scotisque ad extremam servitutem redactis, solos Francos in familiaritatem et obsequium adhibent.” This account, as is so often the case, contains a mixture of truth and error. The flight of William to John, and John’s campaign in the Highlands of Scotland during the summer of 1212 (for Godfrey was given up at that time), are apocryphal, for he was at that time engaged in his expedition against the Welsh, from which he returned so suddenly, through fear of treachery. He may have assisted William—perhaps with some of his foreign Reiters—though he was hardly in a condition at that time to yield much assistance to any one. The distinction between the “ancient and modern kings” of Scotland is also imaginary, for William and his rivals were cousins, equally claiming to represent the race of Malcolm Ceanmore; though the assertion that their kings were “Normans, not Scots,” is exactly what the disaffected subjects of the reigning family would have urged against them. Even the last sentence is only partially true, for out of the leaders employed in this very war, the Earls of Fife and Atholl, and Malcolm, son of Morgund of Mar, were of native Scottish origin; the Earl of Buchan owed his earldom to his wife, the heiress of a native earl; and Thomas the Durward was also apparently of a Scottish rather than of a foreign family. In fact, the feudalized upper classes of Scotia and the lowlands of Moray, were at this time looked upon as “Normans;” the mountaineers who clung to “ancient custom,” as the real Scots; their position being reversed a few generations later, when the former claimed to be “Scots,” regarding the latter as “Erse” or Irish. There is much truth, however, in this passage, though it must be taken cum grano.
[504] Fordun, l. 8, c. 77. Chron. Mel. 1212. Wendover 1212 (vol. 3, p. 238). Fœdera, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 104. “Ubi voluerit ad fidem ipsius domini Regis, ita quod non disparagetur,” are the words. The result of this treaty relieved John from any fears lest Alexander should contract any alliance with his enemies. The “liege homage” rendered by William and his son to the prince Henry, was upon the same principle as he and his brother David, and, at an earlier period, Malcolm had performed homage to the eldest son of Henry the Second. Had this homage been rendered—as some seem to suppose—for the kingdom of Scotland, it is almost needless to observe that such a stipulation would have been carefully entered in the treaty, and the Scottish barons would have been summoned to attend the councils of the English king—as in the latter part of Henry’s reign—and to aid him in his wars.
[505] Fordun, l. 8, c. 76.
[506] If the story told by Hemingburgh is true (ad an. 1215, vol. 1, p. 247)—that John’s anger against Eustace de Vesci was occasioned by the rejection of his suit by that baron’s beautiful wife—William may have acquired his knowledge of the disaffection of the English nobles through that very lady, who was his own natural daughter Margaret.
[507] Fordun, l. 8, c. 78. He is the only writer who notices these transactions, but his account is strongly borne out by a letter in the Fœdera, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 108, to the emperor Otho, dated at Bamborough 28th January 1213, in which John writes that he has been detained in the north by arrangements for the security of that part of his kingdom. It is clear, therefore, that he was upon the northern frontier in the early part of that year; and his abortive negotiations with the Scottish king might have easily escaped the notice of the English chroniclers amidst the important events that occurred so soon afterwards. From the commencement of the thirteenth century the authority of Fordun is of far greater weight than before, and I have found his statements frequently corroborated by the Fœdera and the Rolls. In the latter part of William’s reign can be traced the elements of those parties which appear in the subsequent reigns (but more especially in that of Alexander the Third) as the English and Scottish factions.