The losses of the Scots upon this memorable occasion were estimated at ten thousand men, a number probably exaggerated, together with all the plunder they had accumulated, the place where it was captured being long remembered as Baggage Moor. More perished in the flight than in the battle—and such was generally the case—for not only were the fugitives massacred by the exasperated peasantry, but whenever they came into contact with each other, Angles, Scots, and Picts of Galloway fought with all the animosity of mutual hatred. The victors, deprived of their horses by Prince Henry’s charge, could make no attempt at following up their success: so, separating with mutual congratulations, they dispatched intelligence of their victory to Stephen, who, in acknowledgment of their important services, raised two of their number to the dignity of earls; Robert Ferrers obtaining the Earldom of Derbyshire, whilst that of Yorkshire was conferred upon William Albemarle.
The battle of Northallerton, long famous under the name of the battle of the Standard, adds but another to the many bitter proofs, that an army without discipline is simply a disorderly mob. The discordant elements of the Scottish nation were naturally averse to coalesce; whilst the custom of “Scottish service,” which bound every man to attend “the hosting across the frontier,”[248] swelled the ranks of the army with a body of men, fierce and warlike indeed, and endued with that self-willed and reckless courage which has on more than one occasion been their bane, but often indifferently armed, and as undisciplined as they were unruly. David, brought up amongst the Norman chivalry of the court of England, was well aware of the military character both of his own followers and of his opponents, and framed his plan of attack accordingly, the result of Prince Henry’s charge fully justifying his original decision; and when the fear of a mutiny at a most critical moment forced him to yield his better judgment, he rightly determined upon the sole course left open—a surprise. But in allowing Bruce and Balliol to gain time by parlying, thus confirming the character ascribed to him by Malmesbury, he committed a serious and fatal error, sacrificing every advantage he had already obtained, and enabling the confederates to clear the town of Northallerton, and receive the shock of his disorderly host in a favourable and well-chosen position, that ensured victory to the defending army.
Upon the third day after the arrival of the Scottish army at Carlisle, the anxiety of the king about his son was set at rest by the safe arrival of the prince. Henry, upon his return from his second charge, instead of meeting, as he had expected, with a victorious army, beheld the royal standard slowly retiring in the distance, and at once comprehending the catastrophe, arranged with his companions to mingle with the pursuers and endeavour if possible to rejoin the king. In order to prevent recognition, they agreed to disperse in different directions, first divesting themselves of everything that could betray their real character; so that out of two hundred knights originally in attendance upon the prince, only nineteen entered Carlisle in armour. Other fugitives reached the same place by degrees, and the king busied himself in restoring discipline, and in punishing with severity all whom he deemed guilty of misconduct or defection. Heavy fines were levied upon the delinquents, who were also bound by oaths and hostages never again to desert the royal person in battle, and when order was in some measure restored, David once more led his army to the investment of Werk.[249]
He was still prosecuting the siege when he was informed of the approach of the Papal legate Alberic Bishop of Ostia, and hastened to meet him at Carlisle, with the clergy and nobility of his dominions. A. D. 1130. Eight years previously, upon the death of Honorius the Second, sixteen cardinals had declared for Innocent the Second, whilst the majority elected Peter of Leon under the name of Anacletus, who through the wealth of his father, a converted Jew, was enabled successfully to establish himself in Rome. Two princes alone adhered to the antipope, his own brother-in-law Roger Count of Sicily, who by this course converted his coronet into a crown, and David of Scotland, the reasons for whose conduct are not so easily apparent. Upon the death of Anacletus, which occurred in the beginning of this year, an attempt to continue the schism by electing another rival to Innocent, who took the name of Victor the Fourth, was rendered abortive by the speedy resignation of the ephemeral pope; Innocent returned without opposition to Rome, and it was principally to notify the extinction of the schism, that Alberic was dispatched as legate to the kings of England and Scotland.
A. D. 1138.
He arrived at Carlisle four days before Michaelmas, bringing with him the Scottish chancellor William Comyn, whom he had ransomed from his captors at Northallerton, and everything was satisfactorily arranged during the three following days. Eardulf was admitted to the see of Carlisle, and John was recalled to Glasgow from the monastery of Tiron, in which that determined absentee had taken refuge from the troublesome duties of his diocese;[250] whilst reparation was made by David, even before it was demanded, for the injuries sustained by the Priory of Hexham from an unauthorised foray of a party of the Scottish army,[251] and the wildest tribes promised to set their captives at liberty, and to abstain henceforth from indiscriminate slaughter. Still the benevolent Alberic was oppressed with anxiety, for during his progress through the north he had been an eyewitness of the frightful consequences of the ravages of the hostile armies. All Northumberland was a desert, no attempt was made at cultivation, nor was an inhabitant to be met with along the route which he had traversed. The barons with their retainers were shut up in their castles, the peasantry and their families crowded the monasteries, or lurked in the wildest and most inaccessible retreats. The good bishop, dreading a recurrence of such horrors, and feeling that his sacred office imposed more than the mere formal duties of his legateship, besought the king to accept of his mediation with Stephen, and thus to put an end to the miseries of the war. Long was David inexorable, until the representative of the haughtiest prelate of Christendom, kneeling before the king of Scotland as a humble suppliant for “peace upon earth,” prevailed so far that a truce was arranged to last until St. Martin’s day, from the benefit of which the garrison of Werk was alone to be excepted; and Alberic, departing from Carlisle upon Michaelmas day, retraced his steps towards the court of Stephen, in the true character of a Christian bishop, as the bearer of a message of peace.[252]
The castle of Werk still held out, though David, having ascertained that its defenders were short of provisions, continued to press the siege with unabated rigour. But Jordan de Bussy was indomitable. The horses of the garrison yet survived, and he was determined that they should be sacrificed one by one to enable their masters to continue their stubborn resistance, proposing, when this last resource failed, to make a desperate sally in the all but hopeless attempt to cut his way through the besieging army. From this last alternative he was saved, for when his stock of provisions was reduced to two horses, one alive and the other in salt, the abbot of Rievaulx arrived, with the commands of Walter Espec to surrender the castle; and David, in a spirit of knightly courtesy that does him credit, provided this gallant little garrison, twenty-four in number, with fresh horses, and permitted them to depart with their arms, and all the honours of war.[253]
Much about the same time arrangements were concluded for the settlement of a firm and lasting peace between the two kings. Alberic had not been unmindful of his mission of peace, and, after the conclusion of the council of London, he pressed upon Stephen the necessity of putting a stop to the horrors of the northern war. At first the English king showed as decided an aversion to conclude a peace as his antagonist, and his exasperation was encouraged by a numerous party amongst his barons, who burned to avenge themselves for their losses. But Alberic soon found that he possessed an ally whose influence more than counterbalanced that of the war party, in Matilda the queen of Stephen, who was warmly attached to her uncle and cousin, and most anxious to promote a friendly feeling between her Scottish kinsmen and her husband. She joined her entreaties to those of the legate, who, rightly appreciating the value of such support, hesitated not to return to Rome long before the truce expired, in the full conviction that his benevolent object was attained.[254] A. D. 1139. Nor were his anticipations destined to be falsified, and as Stephen left the whole conduct of the negotiation in the hands of his queen, in the following April she repaired to Durham for the purpose of meeting her cousin Henry. Neither of the kings were present upon this occasion,—indeed they never appear to have met,—but the conditions of the peace had been already settled, and it had been decided that Henry was to receive investiture of Northumberland in addition to his other fiefs, the barons of the shire holding of the Scottish prince, saving their fidelity to Stephen. The English king, however, continued to retain Newcastle and Bamborough in his own possession, for which an equivalent was to be provided in the south of England—Henry on his side guaranteeing to preserve unaltered throughout his new fiefs, “the laws and customs” of the late king Henry, and to respect the rights of the Archbishop of York and of the Bishop of Durham. The barons of Northumberland then swore fealty to their new Earl, who, delivering up the sons of five of the principal nobles of Scotland as hostages for the due performance of his part of the agreement, accompanied the queen upon her return to the south, when the treaty was confirmed by Stephen at Nottingham.[255]
During the whole of the following summer Henry remained in England, sedulously courting popularity by his lavish munificence and gallant bearing—qualities so acceptable to the Norman chivalry of the age. He accompanied Stephen to the siege of Ludlow Castle, narrowly escaping capture on this occasion; for, on approaching too closely to the walls, he was unhorsed by a hook suddenly launched from the battlements, owing his rescue solely to the prompt and daring gallantry of the king. In the course of the same year he was united to Ada de Warenne, the youngest daughter of the great earl of that name; and as the bride’s family were staunch adherents of the cause of Stephen, and the Scottish prince, bound by no ties to the empress, was probably far more attached to the amiable character of Queen Matilda—whose influence seems traceable in the marriage—than to her haughty and imperious cousin, the arrival of the latter in England with the Earl of Gloucester, appears to have produced no interruption of cordiality between Henry and the English king. He was again present with his countess at the English court in the following year, A. D. 1140. in spite of the civil war then raging, barely escaping, on his return to Scotland, the machinations of his ancient enemy the Earl of Chester, the grant of Carlisle being once more the cause of their quarrel. Ranulph, tempted by the prevailing anarchy, had planned the seizure of Henry and the Countess Ada, counting probably upon extorting, as their ransom, a surrender of the coveted fief; but the queen, anticipating his design, warned Stephen of the danger, who, in accordance with her suggestions, escorted his guests in person to the north, thus frustrating the intentions of Ranulph, but, by so doing, drawing upon himself the hatred of that fickle and revengeful baron.[256]
A. D. 1141.