Kingdom of Scotland

Who rules

Name

William I, called the Lion (Uilleam mac Eanraig; Guillaume)

Title

King of Scots (rex Scottorum)

Since

9 December 1165, on the death of his brother Malcolm IV; inaugurated at Scone on 24 December 1165

Born

About 1142 or 1143; he is about 57 on 1 January 1200

Family

Second son of Henry, earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon (died 1152), and Ada de Warenne; grandson of David I; younger brother of Malcolm IV. Queen: Ermengarde de Beaumont, married at Woodstock on 5 September 1186, daughter of Richard, viscount of Beaumont-sur-Sarthe in Maine, a match made by Henry II, who gave back Edinburgh castle as her dower. Legitimate children: Margaret (born 1193, about 6), Isabella (born about 1195, about 4), Alexander, the heir (born 24 August 1198 at Haddington, 16 months old). A fourth child, Marjorie, is born about 1200 (date not pinned; on 1 January she may not yet be born). Natural children married into the northern English and Lothian baronage: Ada (wife of Patrick, earl of Dunbar, since 1184), Isabel (wife of Robert de Ros of Helmsley and Wark since 1191, earlier of Robert de Brus), Margaret (wife of Eustace de Vesci of Alnwick since 1193), Aufrica (wife of William de Say), Robert of London and Henry Galightly. Brother: David, earl of Huntingdon and lord of the Garioch (see David of Huntingdon).

Confidence

high

The heir: until August 1198 the king had no son. In 1195, when he fell gravely ill at Clackmannan, William proposed his daughter Margaret as heir, to marry Otto of Brunswick (now Otto IV, the Welf king of the Romans) with Lothian as her portion and Northumberland and Cumberland from Richard I; the Scottish magnates refused a woman's succession and the plan lapsed (Roger of Howden). Alexander's birth in 1198 settled the succession on a child; David of Huntingdon is the adult next in line.

Court this winter: the king's movements at Christmas 1199 are not pinned; the court moves between Stirling, Perth and Scone, Edinburgh, Forfar, Haddington, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Traquair, Kinghorn and Crail, and north to Elgin when the king is in Moray.

Overlord

None in Scotland itself. The Treaty of Falaise (1174) was cancelled by the Quitclaim of Canterbury (5 December 1189), bought from Richard I, which restored Roxburgh and Berwick castles and Scottish independence. William owes homage to the king of England only for lands held in England, and the question of homage for Northumberland is open: he has not yet done homage to John (that comes at Lincoln on 22 November 1200).

What the realm holds

• The royal demesne, castles, burghs and thanages (see King's demesne)
• Overlordship of the earls of Fife, Strathearn, Atholl, Angus, Mar, Buchan, Menteith, Lennox, Dunbar and Carrick and of the great barons of the south
• Overlordship of Galloway (Roland, who is also the king's constable)
• A claim to overlordship of Argyll and Kintyre (the sons of Somerled), and of Caithness (held of the king by Earl Harald, now contested; see Caithness)
• Claims in England: Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland (held by his father Henry and grandfather David I until 1157); the earldom of Huntingdon is held by his brother David

How it was acquired

Hereditary in the house of Dunkeld (the line of Malcolm III and St Margaret); William succeeded his brother in 1165.

Allies and rivals

Allies: his brother David of Huntingdon; the Anglo-Norman magnates of the south (the Stewart, Bruce, Morville through Roland, Lindsay, Comyn, Soules); his sons-in-law Patrick of Dunbar, Robert de Ros and Eustace de Vesci; Rognvald of Man, his ally against Earl Harald. Rivals: King John over Northumberland and Cumberland; Harald Maddadsson in Caithness; the MacWilliam line (Guthred son of Domnall, in Ireland; his father was killed in 1187) and the MacHeths, claimants to the throne and to Moray and Ross; the sons of Somerled in the west.

The realm that morning

William holds the kingdom in peace on 1 January 1200, with three loose ends: the claim to the English northern counties (open; John has not met him), Caithness (taken from Harald's control in the campaigns of 1196-1198 and put under Rognvald of Man's stewards; Harald is waiting to strike back, see Caithness), and the succession, which rests on a boy of sixteen months.

Wealth

Wool, hides and fells shipped from Berwick, Roxburgh, Perth and Aberdeen to Flanders; salmon of the Tweed, Tay, Dee and Spey; salt pans of the Forth; the burgh rents and tolls and the customs of the ports; the cain (tribute in kind) of cattle, cheese and grain from the Gaelic provinces; the demesne thanages. No figures.

Military

The common army (exercitus Scoticanus): the obligation of free men to serve under their earls and lords, raised for the Moray war of 1187 and the Caithness expeditions of 1196 and 1197. Knight service from the Anglo-Norman fees of the south and east; castle-guard in the royal castles; Galwegian infantry led by Roland; galleys from the west only through allies (Rognvald of Man). No troop numbers in the sources.

Threats

• The succession rests on a child born in August 1198
• John's refusal of Northumberland and Cumberland, and the risk of war or humiliation over homage
• Harald Maddadsson's return to Caithness
• The MacWilliam claimants in Ireland, with friends in Ross and Moray
• Galloway's restlessness and the death of an old lord (Roland is old by 1200)
• The king's age and the illness of 1195

Officers

Chancellor: William Malveisin, elect of Glasgow, chancellor since about September 1199 (successor to Hugh de Roxburgh, who died in July 1199 as elect of Glasgow). Chamberlain: Philip de Valognes, lord of Panmure and Benvie (chamberlain from about 1193 to 1215). Steward: Alan son of Walter (steward since 1177; see The Stewart). Constable: Roland, lord of Galloway, constable since 1196 in right of his wife Helen de Morville after the death of her brother William de Morville.

Justiciars: the justiciar of Scotia north of the Forth and the justiciar of Lothian to the south hold the king's chief pleas; who holds each on 1 January 1200 is not pinned (Earl Duncan of Fife is the long-serving justiciar of Scotia of the reign; William Comyn is justiciar of Scotia from 1205). Sheriffs: see the sheriffdom records.

Court winter 1199 in 1200

Not pinned. William's charters are rarely dated by day; he is usually at Stirling, Perth, Edinburgh, Forfar, Haddington or Roxburgh in winter.

Treaties and truces

Peace with England under the Quitclaim of Canterbury (1189). No truce is needed with John, but the northern counties are unsettled: in 1199 William's envoys demanded Northumberland and Cumberland of the new king and were put off; William is reported to have gathered his host to take them by force and then to have held back (Roger of Howden; the story of a warning dream at St Margaret's tomb at Dunfermline belongs here). The marriages of his natural daughters to Ros (Wark), Vesci (Alnwick) and Dunbar bind the Northumbrian baronage to him.

Coinage

Silver pennies of sterling weight, current with English money. The crescent-and-pellet coinage gave way about 1195 to a short cross coinage on the English model, struck in the names of the moneyers Hue and Walter (mints thin; Roxburgh, Berwick, Edinburgh and Perth were the reign's earlier mints).

Rome and the Church

Since the bull Cum universi (Clement III, 1189, renewed by Celestine III in 1192) the Scottish church is the 'special daughter' of the apostolic see, subject to no archbishop: York's claim to metropolitan rights over the Scottish sees was rejected. The nine sees named are St Andrews, Glasgow, Dunkeld, Dunblane, Brechin, Aberdeen, Moray, Ross and Caithness; Argyll was carved out of Dunkeld about 1192. Whithorn in Galloway stays under York.

Relations with Innocent III are good; a legate, Cardinal John of Salerno, comes in 1201.

Sheriffdoms note

Sheriffdoms given records (attested by 1199 or with a royal castle and a sheriff under William): Berwick, Roxburgh, Edinburgh, Haddington, Linlithgow, Stirling, Fife (thin), Perth, Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Banff (thin), Elgin, Inverness, Lanark. Left out because no sheriff is attested by 1199 in the lists checked: Ayr (castle 1197, burgh 1203-1206, first sheriff 1221), Dumfries (royal castle and burgh, first named sheriff about 1230), Peebles or Traquair and Selkirk (first named sheriffs 1259 and about 1214; probably run with Roxburgh or as forest bailiwicks), Nairn or Auldearn and Forres (folded into Inverness and Elgin), Clackmannan (its published list duplicates Linlithgow's; folded into Stirling), Dingwall and Cromarty (thirteenth century).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200, month not pinnedDuncan of Carrick carries off Avelina, daughter of Alan son of Walter, the steward, and marries her without the king's leave; William, angry, takes pledges (Roger of Howden).Depends on: Duncan's bid for the Stewart alliance Stopped by: A betrothal arranged at court first, or the king's intervention before the abduction
2. Late March 1200 (days not pinned)John goes north to York expecting to meet William; William sends envoys instead and repeats the demand for the northern counties (Roger of Howden; thin).Depends on: John crossing to England in late February 1200 and settling the north before the French peace Stopped by: John staying in Normandy, or a Scottish raid
3. 1200, before NovemberEnvoys pass between John and William about Northumberland (William Comyn is one of the Scottish envoys of 1199-1200); William is summoned to John and given safe-conduct.Depends on: John's wish to settle the north before the French peace and his new marriage Stopped by: A Scottish raid on the northern counties or a breakdown of the safe-conducts
4. 22 November 1200At Lincoln William does homage to John, saving his own right, and asks for Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland as his inheritance; John puts the claim off and the question stays open.Depends on: Both kings willing to meet; William's safe-conduct Stopped by: War over the northern counties, or John's refusal to meet
5. 24 November 1200William attends the funeral of Hugh of Lincoln (who dies 16 November) at Lincoln with John and helps carry the bier.Depends on: William being at Lincoln for the homage Stopped by: The Lincoln meeting not taking place
6. 19 December 1200Roland of Galloway, the constable, dies at Northampton; his son Alan succeeds to Galloway, Cunningham, Lauderdale and the constableship.Depends on: Natural death while pursuing his wife's English claims Stopped by: Only a change in his circumstances (not travelling)

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201Harald Maddadsson returns to Caithness, kills Rognvald's stewards, and mutilates Bishop John at Scrabster; William prepares a great expedition (1201-1202), Harald submits and pays a quarter of the revenues of Caithness; the hostage Thorfinn is blinded.Depends on: Rognvald's stewards being left unsupported Stopped by: A strong royal garrison in Caithness or a settlement with Harald

Places of note

• Scone: Inauguration place of the kings, with its Augustinian abbey
• Stirling castle: Royal castle and residence; the king dies here in 1214
• Edinburgh castle: Royal castle; the queen's dower since 1186
• Dunfermline: Royal burial church and residence; St Margaret's shrine

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes (Part 6 G) give William Malveisin as elect of Glasgow from October 1199 and chancellor: agreed. The chancellorship is usually dated from about 8 September 1199.

Evidence: The king, his family and his great officers are well attested (charters in Regesta Regum Scottorum II; Roger of Howden; the Melrose chronicle). Justiciars and the exact court of the winter are not pinned.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Holyrood, Anonymous (canons of Holyrood, Edinburgh) (about 1150 to 1170, with later additions). Gives nothing for 1200: its original text ends in 1163 and the few additions stop before William the Lion's last decades. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh (about 1196 to 1198). Ends in 1198, so it gives no 1200 entries of its own; the Stanley continuation has only a line or two for 1200. Read online
• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Great Life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Adam of Eynsham (about 1210 to 1215). The last book is a day by day account of Hugh's final year by the chaplain who was with him: his dealings with John at the start of the reign, his journey to France and the Grande Chartreuse in 1200, his illness in London, his death at the Old Temple on 16 November 1200 and the funeral at Lincoln on 23 November attended by King John, William the Lion of Scotland, three archbishops and a crowd of bishops and earls. Read online
• Early Sources of Scottish History, Various; collected and translated by A. O. Anderson (sources of the 6th to 13th centuries; collection published 1922). The quickest way to every non-English witness to Scotland and the Isles in 1200, in translation and in date order: the Irish annals on the Isles and Galloway, Orkneyinga saga and the Norwegian sagas on Harald Maddadsson of Orkney and Caithness and his war with William the Lion, the Chronicle of Mann on Ragnall and the Hebrides, Melrose and Holyrood, and Scottish charters. Read online
• Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers, Various; collected and translated by A. O. Anderson (sources of the 8th to 13th centuries; collection published 1908). Every passage about Scotland in Howden, Diceto, Newburgh, Coggeshall, Gervase, Wendover and the rest, translated and dated. Read online