[34] Turgot, Vit. Marg. vi. (Surtees Simeon, p. 241), enlarges on this head; “Fateor, magnum misericordiæ Dei mirabar miraculum, cum viderem interdum tantam orandi regis intentionem, tantam inter orandum in pectore viri sæcularis compunctionem.” He adds, “Quæ ipsa respuerat eadem et ipse respuere, et quæ amaverat, amore amoris illius amare.” William of Malmesbury (iv. 311) speaks to the same effect; Malcolm and Margaret were “ambo cultu pietatis insignes, illa præcipue.”

[35] So witnesses Turgot in the chapter just quoted; “Libros in quibus ipsa vel orare consueverat vel legere, ille, ignarus licet literarum, sæpe manu versare solebat et inspicere: et dum ab ea quis illorum esset ei carior audisset, hunc et ipse cariorem habere, deosculari, sæpius contrectare.” Then follows about the bindings.

[36] Turgot is of course full on this head throughout, and we have a further witness from our own Florence (1093) and Orderic (701 D). From the last we get her bounty to Iona—​that barbarous name is more intelligible than any other. In his words it is “Huense cœnobium quod servus Christi Columba, tempore Brudei, regis Pictorum, filii Meilocon, construxerat.”

[37] Turgot, in his fourth chapter, enlarges on the strict order which Margaret kept in her household, especially among her own attendant ladies. “Inerat enim reginæ tanta cum jocunditate severitas, tanta cum severitate jocunditas, ut omnes qui erant in ejus obsequio, viri et feminæ, illam et timendo diligerent et diligendo timerent. Quare in præsentia ejus non solum nihil execrandum facere, sed ne turpe quidem verbum quisquam ausus fuerat proferre. Ipsa enim universa in se reprimens vitia, cum magna gravitate lætabatur, cum magna honestate irascebatur.”

[38] Orderic (703 B, C) has his panegyric on the three brothers, and specially on David; but it is William of Malmesbury (v. 400) who is especially emphatic on the unparalleled purity of life of all three. “Neque vero unquam in acta historiarum relatum est tantæ sanctitatis tres fuisse pariter reges et fratres, maternæ pietatis nectar redolentes; namque præter victus parcitatem, eleemosynarum copiam, orationum assiduitatem, ita domesticum regibus vitium evicerunt, ut nunquam feratur in eorum thalamos nisi legitimas uxores isse, nec eorum quenquam pellicatu aliquo pudicitiam contristasse.”

[39] Will. Malms, ib. “Solus fuit Edmundus Margaritæ filius a bono degener.” We shall hear of him and his doings presently.

[40] Turgot, viii. p. 243. “Scottorum quidam, contra totius ecclesiæ consuetudinem, nescio quo ritu barbaro missam celebrare consueverunt.”

[41] Ib. viii. (Surtees Simeon, p. 243). “Qui [Malcolmus] quoniam perfecte Anglorum linguam æque ac propriam noverat, vigilantissimus in hoc concilio utriusque partis interpres extiterat.”

[42] Ib. vii. (p. 242). “Obsequia regis sublimiora constituit, ut eum procedentem sive equitantem multa cum grandi honore agmina constiparent, et hoc cum tanta censura, ut quocumque devenissent, nulli eorum cuiquam aliquid liceret rapere, nec rusticos aut pauperes quoslibet quolibet modo quisquam illorum opprimere auderet vel lædere.” He describes at some length the new-fashioned splendour which she brought into the Scottish court, and adds; “Et hæc quidem illa fecerat, non quia mundi honore delectabatur, sed, quod regia dignitas ab ea exigebat, persolvere cogebatur.”

[43] Take for instance our own Chronicle, 1093; “Da þa seo gode cwen Margarita þis gehyrde, hyre þa leofstan hlaford and sunu þus beswikene, heo wearð oð deað on mode geancsumed, and mid hire prestan to cyrcean eode, and hire gerihtan underfeng, and æt Gode abæd þæt heo hire gast ageaf.” Florence and Orderic are much to the same effect.