History of Scotland by Patrick Tytler 2
Their spirited resistance
The answer of Alexander and his clergy was here equally decided: Scotland itself, they said, was ready to equip for the crusade a body of knights suitable to the strength and resources of the kingdom, and they therefore rejected the requisition. Accordingly, David earl of Athole, Adam earl of Carrick, and William lord Douglas, with many other barons and knights, assumed the cross, and sailed for Palestine.In consequence, however, of the papal grant, Henry attempted to levy the tenth upon the benefices in Scotland. The Scottish clergy refused the contribution, appealed to Rome, and, in addition to this, adopted measures, which were singularly bold, and well calculated to secure the independence of the Scottish church. They assembled a provincial council at Perth, in which a bishop of their own was chosen to preside, and where canons for the regulation of their own church were enacted. This they contended they were entitled to do, by the bull of Pope Honorius the Fourth granted in the year 1225; and, aware of the importance of making a vigorous stand at this moment, by their first canon it was appointed that an annual council should be held in Scotland; and by their second, that each of the bishops should assume, in rotation, the office of "Protector of the Statutes," or Conservator Statutorum. These canons remain to this day an interesting specimen of the ancient ecclesiastical code of Scotland.
Marriage of Robert de Bruce, father of KIng Robert Bruce, to Marjory countess of Carrick
About this time happened an incident of a romantic nature, with which important consequences were connected. A Scottish knight of high birth, Robert de Bruce, son of Robert de Bruce, lord of Annandale and Cleveland, was passing on horseback through the domains of Turnberry, which belonged to Marjory countess of Carrick. The lady happened at the moment to be pursuing the diversion of the chase, surrounded by a retinue of her squires and damsels. They encountered Bruce. The young countess was struck by his noble figure, and courteously entreated him to remain and take the recreation of hunting. Bruce, who, in those feudal days, knew the danger of paying too much attention to a ward of the king, declined the invitation, when he found himself suddenly surrounded by the attendants; and the lady, riding up, seized his bridle, and led off the knight, with gentle violence, to her castle of Turnberry. Here, after fifteen days' residence, the adventure concluded as might have been anticipated. Bruce married thecountess without the knowledge of the relations of either party, and before obtaining the king's consent; upon which Alexander seized her castle of Turnberry and her whole estates. The intercession of friends, however, and a heavy fine, conciliated the mind of the monarch. Bruce became, in right of his wife, Lord of Carrick; and the son of this marriage of romantic love was the great Robert Bruce, the restorer of Scottish liberty.Death of Henry III of England
Two years previous to this (1272) died Henry the Third of England, after a reign of nearly sixty years. His character possessed nothing that was great; his genius was narrow; his temper wavering; his courage, happily, seldom tried; and he was addicted, like many weak princes, to favouritism.Accession of Edward 1
At times, however, he had permitted himself to be guided by able ministers; and the vigour, talents, and kingly endowments of his son Edward the First, shed a lustre over the last years of his reign, which the king himself could never have imparted to it.Alexander III and his Queen attend the coronation of Edward
At the coronation of this great prince, who succeeded Henry, Alexander, and his queen the new king's sister, attended with a retinue of great pomp and splendour. He took care, however, to obtain a letter under the hand of the English monarch, declaring that the friendly visit should not be construed into any thing prejudicial to the independence of Scotland, —a policy which the peculiarities of feudal tenure made frequent at this time; for we find Edward himself, when some years afterwards he agreed to send twenty ships to the King of France, his feudal superior for the duchy of Normandy, requiring from that prince an acknowledgment of the same description.The designs of Edward upon Scotland had not yet, in any degree, betrayed themselves, and the kingly brothers appear to have met on cordial terms. Both were in the prime of manhood; Alexander having entered, and Edward having just completed, his thirtyfourth year. Scotland, still unweakened by the fatal controversies between Bruce and Baliol, was in no state to invite ambitious aggression. The kingdom was peaceful, prosperous, and loyal, possessing a warlike and attached nobility, and a hardy peasantry, lately delivered, by the defeat of Haco and the wise acquisition of the Western Isles, from all disturbance in the only quarter where it might be dreaded; and from the age of Alexander, and his queen, who had already born him three children, the nation could look with some certainty to a successor. Edward, on the other hand, who had lately returned from Palestine, where he had greatly distinguished himself, received his brother-in-law with that courtesy and kindness which was likely to be increased by his long absence, and by the perils he had undergone. About this time the pope sent into Scotland an emissary named Benemund de Vicci, corrupted into Bagimont, to collect the tenth of all the ecclesiastical benefices, the estimate being made not according to the "ancient extent, but the true value." The tax appears to have been strictly exacted, and went by the name of Bagimonfs Roll.
Alexander deputes the Earl of Carrick to perform homage to Edward in his name for the lands which he holds of him
This, however, could scarcely be true; the event showed that Edward had either misconceived or misstated the purpose of Alexander. He appeared before the English parliament at Westminster, and offered his homage in these words:— "I, Alexander king of Scotland, do acknowledge myself the liegeman of my Lord Edward king of England, against all deadly." This Edward accepted, reserving his claim of homage for the kingdom of Scotland, when he should choose to prefer it. The King of Scots then requested that the oath should be taken for him by Robert de Bruce earl of Carrick, which being granted, that earl took the oath in these words:—
"I, Robert earl of Carrick, according to the authority given to me by my lord the King of Scotland, in presence of the King of England, and other prelates and barons, by which the power of swearing upon the soul of the King of Scotland was conferred upon me, have, in presence of the King of Scotland, and commissioned thereto by his special precept, sworn fealty to Lord Edward king of England in these words:— 'I, Alexander king of Scotland, shall bear faith to my lord Edward king of England and his heirs, with my life and members, and worldly substance; and I shall faithfully perform the services, used and wont, for the lands and tenements which I hold of the said king?" Which fealty being sworn by the Earl of Carrick, the King of Scotland confirmed and ratified the same. Such is an exact account of the homage performed by Alexander to Edward, as given in the solemn instrument by which the English monarch himself recorded the transaction.
Alexander probably had not forgotten the snare in which Edward's father had attempted to entrap him, when still a boy; and the reservation of an unfounded claim over Scotland might justly have incensed him. But he wished not to break with Edward: he held extensive territories in England, for which he was willing, as he was bound in duty, to pay homage; yet he so guarded his attendance at Edward's coronation, and his subsequent oath of fealty, that the independence of Scotland as a kingdom, and his own independence as its sovereign, were not touched in the most distant manner; and the King of England, baffled in his hope of procuring an unconditional homage, was forced to accept it as it was given. It is material to notice, that in the instrument drawn up afterwards, recording the transaction, Edward appears to declare his understanding, that this homage was merely for the Scottish king's possessions in England, byagain reserving his absurd claim of homage for Scotland, whenever he or his heirs should think proper to make it.
Marriage of Princess Margaret of Scotland to Eric king of Norway
This matter being concluded, Alexander, who had suffered a severe domestic affliction in the death of his queen, began to seek alliances for his children. He married his daughter Margaret to Eric king of Norway, then a youth in his fourteenth year. Her portion was fourteen thousand marks, the option being left to her father to give one-half of the sum in lands, provided that the rents of the lands were a hundred marks yearly for every thousand retained. The price of land at this early period of our history seems, therefore, to have been ten years' purchase.Marriage of the Prince Royal of Scotland
The young princess, accompanied by Walter Bullock earl of Menteith, his countess, the Abbot of Balmerino, and Bernard de Monte-alto, with other knight sand barons, sailed for Norway; and on her arrival was honourably received and crowned as queen. The alliance was wise and politic. It promised to secure the waveriog fealty of those proud and warlike island chiefs, who, whenever they wished to throw off their dependence on Scotland, pretended that they were bound by the ties of feudal vassalage to Norway, and whose power and ambition often required the presence of the king himself to quell.This marriage was soon after followed by that of Alexander the Prince of Scotland, then in his nineteenth year, to Margaret, a daughter of Guy earl of Flanders; the ceremony being performed at Roxburgh, and accompanied with fifteen days' feasting. Such alliances, so far as human foresight could reach, promised happiness to Alexander, while they gave an almost certain hope of descendants. But a dark cloud began to gather round Scotland, and a train of calamities, which followed in sad and quick succession, spread despondency through the kingdom.