Every cause for hostility between the English and Scottish kings was removed for a time by the relinquishment of Edgar’s claims upon the English crown, and Malcolm was at liberty to turn his attention to internal policy, and to establish his authority, and secure it more firmly, over the northern provinces of his dominions. The deaths of Macbeth, and of his successor Lulach, had crushed without extinguishing the hopes of the rival family; but though their pretensions were again revived by Lulach’s son Malsnechtan, fortune continued adverse to the men of Moray, and a sanguinary and decisive victory, A. D. 1077. in which Malcolm is said to have “won the mother of Malsnechtan, all his best men, his treasures and his cattle,” confirmed the superiority of the king. This solitary passage in the Saxon chronicle is the only indication of the occurrence of any contest in the north of Scotland during the course of Malcolm’s reign; though probably the battle thus recorded by the chronicler of a different people, who adds that, “God’s justice was done upon Malsnechtan, for he was all forsworn,” effectually established the royal authority over the dominions of the hostile Mormaors. Malsnechtan, indeed, survived his overthrow to “die in peace,” a few years afterwards, A. D. 1085. when the title of “king of Moray,” conferred upon him by the Irish annalist, implies (if correct) a partial independence; but as there can be no doubt about the foundation of Mortlach before the date of his death, the surrounding territory must have been by this time annexed to the crown, and the influence of the Moray family must henceforth have been confined to the westward of the Spey.[166]
A. D. 1079.
Two years after his successes in the north Malcolm again crossed his southern frontiers with a hostile army; and, as at the time of this inroad William was contending in Normandy against his eldest son, it is doubtful whether the incursion was intended to effect a diversion in favour of Robert, always a warm friend of the Scottish monarch, or whether it was simply dictated, in the absence of the English king, by a wish to sweep the country to the Tyne. William was very shortly reconciled with his son, whom he dispatched with an army in the following autumn A. D. 1080. to make reprisals for the invasion of the Scots; but either from a want of ability, or from a secret feeling in favour of Malcolm, Robert retreated without effecting anything beyond a fruitless march to Falkirk; on his return southwards laying the foundations of a new castle on the Tyne—the first link in the chain of border fortresses destined to defend the English frontier from the ever ready attacks of the Scots—around which the future capital of Northumberland eventually grew into existence.[167]
A. D. 1087.
The two king’s were never destined to meet again. The stern soul of the Conqueror was touched upon his deathbed with some feelings of remorse for the numerous captives whom he had so long retained in hopeless confinement, and he left directions to his sons to release, after his death, all prisoners of state, and others whom motives of policy had hitherto kept under restraint. Amongst the hostages set at liberty were Malcolm’s son Duncan, and Ulf the son of Harold, whose good fortune made Robert the arbiter of their fate; and the Duke of Normandy, with an honourable regard for the wishes of the dead, not only carried out the intentions of his deceased father, but conferred upon them both the dignity of knighthood, dismissing them with presents and marks of honour from his court; whilst the other prisoners, less fortunate, were retained in close custody by Rufus.[168]
A. D. 1091.
Four years after the death of the Conqueror, when the contest between his sons was brought to a temporary conclusion upon the pacification between William and Robert, Edgar the Atheling was expelled from the lands assigned to him in Normandy by the late king, and was once more driven to seek a refuge in Scotland. Malcolm again espoused his cause, and partly, perhaps, in the hope of enforcing by a hostile demonstration the restoration of the Conqueror’s grant of manors, which appears to have been withheld by his successor, he marched a numerous army across the frontier in early spring, advancing as far as Chester le Street on his route to Durham; but upon learning that the whole country was in arms to oppose his progress, he lost no time, as his purpose was anticipated, in returning at once to Scotland.[169]
Intelligence of this fruitless inroad reaching William in Normandy, determined his return to England, and crossing the Channel with his brother Robert, he dispatched a powerful fleet along the coast, and prepared to follow in his father’s footsteps, and to march with his Norman chivalry to the north. But the English king had miscalculated the difficulties he would have to encounter, and though the summer was already far advanced before he returned to England, unlike his politic predecessor, who was always capable of postponing his vengeance to the proper season, he pushed forward his preparations for an immediate attack upon his enemy. Michaelmas passed away before he commenced his march, and when he reached the north, towards the close of autumn, his fleet was dispersed by a violent storm, and many of his horses had perished from cold and hunger in traversing the wastes yet stamped with the traces of his father’s vengeance. Instead of declining a contest as before, Malcolm, who was aware of his adversary’s situation, advanced into Lothian to meet the invaders; but a collision was prevented by the intervention of Robert, who, sending for the Atheling from the Scottish camp, arranged, with his assistance, a renewal of the treaty of Abernethy. Edgar was reconciled to William on the same occasion, accompanying him to England on his return to the south; but before Christmas both Robert and the Atheling retired in disgust from the English court, as the promises of the king remained in every case unfulfilled.[170]
A. D. 1092.
Another bulwark against the inroads of the Scots was erected in the following year, when William, marching into Cumberland, or Northumbria as it is called by the northern chroniclers, drove out Dolfin, who then possessed the land, and rebuilt and fortified Carlisle, which had lain in ruins since the days of Halfdan, peopling the neighbourhood with a body of peasantry collected from other parts of the country.[171] In spite of the non-fulfilment of William’s promises, Malcolm had as yet proceeded to no open act of hostility, and many of the leading men in England were anxious to carry out the intentions of Robert, and to secure a firm and lasting peace on terms honourable to both kings, and beneficial to their respective subjects. The illness of William in the year after his expedition into Cumberland, appeared a favourable opportunity for effecting an arrangement, as the fear of approaching death had softened the harshness of his character, and inclined him to listen to the entreaties of his advisers, who urgently implored him to repair his previous injustice; and accordingly, when Malcolm sent to demand the completion of their treaty, William named Gloucester as the place of meeting, delivered hostages for the safety of the Scottish king during his absence from his own country, and deputed Edgar Atheling to conduct his relative with all befitting honour to the English court.[172]