[200] An. Ult. and A. F. M. 1095. An. Inisf. 1078. Chron. Man. “Nullus qui fabricant navem vel scapham ausus esset plus quam tres clavos insere.” Such are the words of the Chronicle; their exact meaning I do not pretend to understand.
[201] This account of the first expedition of Magnus is taken from the Heimskringla, Saga 11, c. 9, 10, 11. Chron. Man. 1098. Chron. Sax. 1098. From his partiality to the costume of the Islesmen, he obtained the name of Magnus Barefoot. The later Scottish Chroniclers assert that the cession of the Isles was the price of the assistance of Magnus, which placed Donald Bane upon the throne. He must have been resuscitated from the grave.
[202] Heimsk. Saga 11, c. 25. An. Ult. A. F. M. 1101, 1102. According to the Chronicle of Man, Magnus sent his shoes to Murketagh, ordering that king to carry them on Christmas day, in token of his inferiority. The Irish chieftains were naturally indignant, but their king replied that he was ready to eat the shoes rather than one province of Ireland should be wasted! This singular tale was unknown to the Norse and Irish Chroniclers; and indeed, if Magnus deserved the epithet appended to his name, it would have been difficult for him to send such articles of apparel to the Irish court.
[203] Heimsk. Saga 11, c. 26–28. An. Ult. and A. F. M. 1103. Vide also Antiq. Celt.-Scand., p. 231 to p. 244.
[204] An. Inisf. 1086. Malm. Gesta Regum, l. 5, sec. 409.
[205] Fordun, l. 5, c. 34.
[206] Sim. Dun. de Gestis 1107. Ailred de Bel. Stand (Twysden, p. 344). Fordun, l. 5, c. 55.
[207] Ailred, in his Genealogia Regum (Twysden, p. 367, 368), describes the character of the three brothers, Edgar, Alexander, and David. He also relates an anecdote which he heard from David, that whilst that prince in his younger days was in attendance at the English court, he received a sudden summons, when amongst his companions, to repair to the presence of his royal sister. He found the Queen engaged in her evening occupation of washing the feet of a number of lepers, and pressing the feet of each leper to her lips as she completed the ceremony. Matilda invited her brother to follow her example, but he excused himself, not unnaturally expressing a doubt whether the royal Henry would approve of the manner in which his Queen bestowed her favours. Matilda did not press the subject, and David rejoined his companions. Wendover has copied this anecdote, dating it in 1105.
[208] Wynton, bk. 7, c. 5, l. 21 to 62. Fordun, l. 5, c. 36. Lib. de Scone, ch. 1. I have principally followed the account of Wynton. It was evidently the object of Alexander to bring the men of Moray and Mærne to an engagement where his mounted followers could act with effect, whilst it was equally the aim of his enemies to attack the king at a disadvantage, which they calculated upon doing if he attempted to cross by the usual ford. It was from no mere reckless bravado that Alexander swam across, at an unguarded spot probably, and at full tide, when he was least expected, thus out-manœuvring the enemy and falling upon them in the open country. Swimming a river was no uncommon feat amongst the heavy-armed soldiery of those days. Robert of Gloucester swam the Trent before the battle of Lincoln, when the fords were impassable from floods. Fordun (or Bowyer), frightened perhaps at the idea of the king and his men-at-arms swimming the Moray Firth, places the battle at the Spey, and divides the honour of the feat with Sir Alexander Scrimgeour. He and Boece are eloquent about the escape of Alexander from the treachery of one of his chamberlains in league with the enemy; but Wynton knew nothing of the tale, which probably rests on a very doubtful foundation. Mr. Skene (Highlanders, vol. i., p. 129) has attributed the attack on Alexander to Ladman, a son of Donald Bane, on the strength of the following entry in the Ulster Annals under the year 1116. “Ladmunn M. Dom. h ... righ Alban killed by the men of Moray.” But Ladman son of Donald, grandson of ... king of Alban, can scarcely be a description applicable to a son of Donald Bane; and the word now lost must have been the name of Ladman’s great grandfather, not the designation of his father. Donald Bane appears to have left no son, for both Wynton and the Comyn pedigree in the Fœdera, represent Bethoc as his heiress. Ladman also appears to have been at enmity with the Moraymen; but who or what he was must remain a matter of conjecture.
[209] An. Ult. 1093. Fordun supplies four bishops elect between Fothadh and Turgot; but of “Gregory, Cathrey, Edmar, and Godric,” Wynton, a canon of St. Andrews, and well read in the archives of the see, was profoundly ignorant. The words of the old MS. quoted in Selden’s preface to Twysden p. 6, “Electus fuit Turgotus ... et stetit per annos septem. In diebus illis totum jus Keledeorum per totum regnum Scotiæ transivit in Episcopatum St. Andriæ,” imply that a great change was brought about at this time.