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ROYAL HERALDRY. 353
eventually the common throne gave its designation to the common realm,
and it was termed Scotland.
The same policy, viz., protection against the Danes, had mutually
animated the English kings and the kings of Scotland, and a common
hostility to a common foe brought about a " commendation "
by which the
Scots beyond the Forth and the Welsh of Strathclyde, chose the English
King, Eadward the Elder, " to father and lord."
In course of time the kingdom of Scotland grew in stability and
dignity, the families of her kings became united to the families of
the English and Norman kings. Malcolm married the sister of Eadgar
Etheling, and Henry I. the Scottish princess, Matilda. Her brother,
David, with his special sanction, married Countess Maud, the widow of
Simon de St. Liz Earl of Huntingdon, and assumed the earldom. He
afterwards assisted Matilda in her contest with Stephen, and he filled his
Court with Norman nobles, such as the Bruces and Baliols, from the south,
and was defeated at the battle of the Standard.
His son, Henry, who succeeded him, on condition of swearing allegiance
to
Stephen, had the earldom and honour of Huntingdon,
with the
borough of Doncaster and Carlisle, and this was held by succeeding kings
until William the Lion transferred it to his youngest brother, David, the
grandfather of Robert Bruce, and the great-grandfather of John Baliol.
In the reign of Henry II., William the Lion, being captured during
the revolt of the English baronage, to gain his freedom consented to
hold his Crown of Henry and his heirs. Richard I. allowed the Scotch
to repurchase the freedom which they had thus forfeited, and in future
the Scotch king did homage, with a distinct protest that it was rendered
for lands which he held in fief within the realm of England. The English
king accepted the homage with a counter protest that it was rendered
to him as " over-lord " of the Scottish realm.
In 1249 Alexander III., grandson of William the Lion, became King
of Scotland.* He was but a child, only eight years of age. His father was
Alexander II., and his mother, Mary, daughter of Ingelram de Couci a
family so proud that they affected a royal pomp, and considered all titles as
beneath their dignity. The "Cri de Guerre" of Ingelram was
" Je ne suis Roy, ni Prince aussi.
Je suis le Seigneur de Couci."
Henry III. had then been some thirty years upon the throne of England,
and this seemed a golden opportunity for asserting his claim as " over-lord."
Walter Bisset, a powerful Scotch baron, had murdered Patrick Earl of
Athole, at a tournament near Haddington, and condemned for this to forfeit
his estates and be exiled to Palestine, he fled to the English Court and
*
Tytler's History of Scotland.