The Articles of the Barons had to some extent treated this question of the Welsh hostages and charters as an open one, referring its final determination to the arbitration of Stephen Langton and such others as he might nominate to act with him. The point had apparently been decided in favour of the Welsh before the Charter was engrossed in its final form.[[1044]]
[1044]. No. 45 of the Articles of the Barons is connected by a rude bracket with No. 46 (relating to the king of Scotland); and a saving clause, thus made applicable to both, is added with some appearance of haste: “nisi aliter esse debeat per cartas quas rex habet, per judicium archiepiscopi et aliorum quos secum vocare voluerit.” Cf. supra, 202. So far as related to Scotch affairs, the king’s caveat found its way, although in an altered form, into Magna Carta. See c.[59].
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE.
Nos faciemus Alexandro regi Scottorum de sororibus suis, et obsidibus reddendis, et libertatibus suis, et jure suo, secundum formam in qua faciemus aliis baronibus nostris Anglie, nisi aliter esse debeat per cartas quas habemus de Willelmo patre ipsius, quondam rege Scottorum; et hoc erit per judicium parium suorum in curia nostra.
We will do toward Alexander, King of Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and his hostages, and concerning his franchises, and his right, in the same manner as we shall do towards our other barons of England, unless it ought to be otherwise according[according] to the charters which we hold from William his father, formerly King of Scots; and this shall be according to the judgment of his peers in our court.
A heterogeneous body of forces was drawn into temporary union by common hatred of John. The barons welcomed allies whether from Wales or from Scotland; if the three preceding chapters were a bid for Llywelyn’s support, this one was dictated by a desire to conciliate Alexander. John was forced to promise to restore to the king of Scots his sisters and other hostages, together with his franchises and his “right.” This last word covered Alexander’s claim to independence and also whatever title he might prove good to various English fiefs which he claimed to hold under the English Crown.
Opinions have been, and still are, sharply divided as to whether, or in what degree, Scotland was subject to feudal overlordship. Of one fact there can be no doubt; David I. and his successors, kings of Scotland, had been wont to do fealty and homage to the kings of England; but this fact has received widely different interpretations. Such homage, it is argued, was performed in respect of certain English baronies which happened to belong by hereditary right to the kings of Scotland, namely, the earldom of Huntingdon, the isolated position of which enabled the English Crown without danger to admit the claim, and the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, the proximity of which to the border rendered their possession by a Scottish prince a source of weakness to England.[[1045]] The terms in which the oath of homage was taken did not indicate for what fiefs it was sworn—whether for the English earldoms alone, or for the whole country north of Tweed as well.