14. Homage at Lincoln.—When John succeeded his brother on the throne of England, William did such homage to him as the King of Scots had been wont to render to the King of England before the treaty of Falaise. He met John at Lincoln, whither he was escorted by a brilliant retinue of English barons. But there was no kindly feeling between the two Kings. John tried to build a castle at Tweedmouth in order to spoil the trade of Berwick, the largest trading city in Scotland, but the Scots drove away the builders and levelled the castle, and for some time both Kings kept threatening armies on the Border.
15. Independence of the Church.—At a great Council held at Northampton in 1176, the Archbishop of York claimed Scotland as a part of his province, and called on the Scottish clergy to acknowledge their dependence. They protested and appealed to the Pope, who forbade the Archbishop to press his claim. Clement III. in 1188 confirmed their claim of independence, on the ground that the Church of Scotland was in immediate dependence on the Holy See.
16. Internal Troubles.—During William's captivity, Galloway revolted. All the King's officers were either slain or expelled, and as, after the submission at Falaise, Gilbert the chief of Galloway considered himself a vassal of England, he let the Lothians have no peace till his death in 1185. William's nephew Roland then seized Galloway, drove out his opponents, and rebuilt the Royal castles. William used his influence to induce Henry to confirm Roland in possession, and thereby gained a devoted and faithful ally. It was mainly by his aid that William was enabled to put down a formidable rising in the north.
17. Social Progress.—During this reign the free towns began to rise into notice. Their privilege of trade and right to govern themselves was recognized by a charter granted to the city of Aberdeen, in which William confirmed his burghers north of the Mount, in their right of holding their own court or "free anse," as they had done in the time of his grandfather David. Thus we see that the towns of the north of Scotland were united for mutual support a century before the rise of the great continental Hansa, which bound together by a similar league the trading cities of the Baltic. Some of the most important towns date their charters from William, and he extended the influence of civilization in the north by holding his court in such remote places as Elgin, Nairn, and Inverness. The only religious foundation of this reign was the abbey of Arbroath. It was dedicated to the newest saint in the calendar, Thomas of Canterbury. William died at Stirling in 1214, leaving one son, Alexander, who succeeded him.
18. Alexander II., 1214-1249.—Alexander's accession was the signal for one of the usual risings in Moray; but as the power of the Crown in that district was now stronger than it had been in earlier times, this rising was more easily put down than any former one had been. The great struggle between despotism and freedom had just at this time set John of England and his barons at variance. Alexander joined the barons in hopes of getting back Northumberland. He crossed the Border and received the homage of the northern barons, and the following year he joined his force to those of the confederates, and marched to Dover, where he did homage to Louis of France, who, at the invitation of the barons, had come over to take the crown. The death of John and the victory of his son, Henry the Third, at Lincoln, changed the whole state of affairs, and in 1217 Alexander did the usual homage to Henry and was invested with the Honour of Huntingdon. Four years later the bond between them was drawn closer by the marriage of Alexander to Joanna, Henry's sister. This alliance was followed by a lasting peace, though Alexander still claimed Northumberland, and Henry upheld the right of the Archbishop of York to supremacy over the Scottish Church. In a council held at York in 1237, Alexander agreed to compound his claim to the earldom for a grant of the lands of Penrith and Tynedale, and, when Henry went to France, he left the Border under the care of the King of Scots.
19. Settling of the Border Line.—In 1222 an attempt was made to lay down a definite boundary between the two countries. Six commissioners on either side were appointed, and though the exact course of the line was disputed, from that time it continued pretty much what it is now, though a wide tract on either side was claimed alternately by both nations and belonged in reality to neither.
20. State of the North.—A disturbance which happened during this reign shows us something of the lawless state of the northern part of the kingdom. Adam, bishop of Caithness, tried to enforce the payment of tithes in his diocese, but his people came together to consider the best way of resisting this exaction. While they were thus holding council, it is said that a voice cried out, "Short rede good rede; slay we the bishop." On this advice they acted, for without more waste of words they attacked the bishop, and burned him and his house to ashes. Shortly before this a former bishop of Caithness had been seized and had his tongue cut out by the Earl of Orkney. Alexander died on an expedition to the Western Isles, at Kerrara, a small islet off the coast of Argyle. By his second wife, Mary of Coucy, he left a son, who succeeded him.
21. Alexander III., 1249-1266.—Alexander, a child of eight years, was crowned with great pomp at Scone, the ancient crowning place, where the famous stone of Destiny was kept. The tradition was that no one who had not been enthroned on this stone was lawful King of Scots. The most striking part of the coronation ceremony was the appearance of a Sennachy or Celtic bard, who greeted Alexander as King by virtue of his descent from the ancient Celtic Kings, and recited the whole list of the King's ancestors, carrying them back to the most remote ages. This might serve to remind him that after all his title of King came solely from those very Celts whom his more immediate forefathers had slighted and despised.
22. Alexander's Marriage and Homage to England.—On Christmas day, 1251, Alexander was married at York, to Margaret, daughter of Henry the Third, and at the same time he did homage for the lands he held in England, but evaded Henry's claim of homage for Scotland, pleading the necessity of consulting his advisers before giving an answer on so difficult a matter. This question was brought up again in 1278, when Alexander went to Westminster to acknowledge and to do homage to Edward the First, and he gave for answer that he did homage for his English fiefs alone and not for his kingdom. Edward asserted his right as over-lord of the kingdom, but he did not then attempt to enforce it.
23. Last Invasion of the Northmen.—In 1262 Hakon of Norway came with a great fleet to visit the Orkneys and the Western Isles, Sudereys or Southern Isles as the Northmen called them. The fleet sailed down the Western Coast, levying black mail on the islands and making divers inland raids. Among other exploits the Northmen dragged a number of their ships across the narrow neck of land that parts Loch Long from Loch Lomond, sailed down Loch Lomond, and harried the Lennox, as the fertile tract which stretches along its lower end is called. Hakon sailed up the Firth of Clyde, and an attempt was made at a peaceable agreement between him and the King, who was at first willing to give up all claim to the Hebrides, but wished to keep the Cumbraes, Bute, and Arran. But the Scots purposely delayed coming to terms, as they expected that the autumn storms would soon help them to get rid of their enemy. Nor were their hopes disappointed, for, in the beginning of October, a violent tempest rose, separated the ships of the invaders, sunk some, and stranded others. On the following day the Northmen who had landed were easily beaten, near Largs, by a Scottish army hastily got together on the coast of Ayr, in 1263. Hakon died in one of the Orkneys on his way home, and his son, in 1266, agreed to give up Man and the Isles for 1,000 marks down, and the promise of 100 yearly. An amnesty was granted to the Islesmen, and it was settled that the bishopric should continue in the province of Drontheim. In 1281 the King's daughter, Margaret, married Eric, the heir to the throne of Norway. She died in 1283, leaving an infant daughter, who, a few months after, by the death of Alexander, the King's only son, became heir to the Scottish crown. Three years later, in 1286, the King himself was killed by a fall from his horse while riding by night along the coast of Fife, near Kinghorn.