Ermengarde de Beaumont

Henry II of England had such a hold over William I of Scotland (after William joined in the rebellion of Henry's sons against their father) that he put his knights in control of several Scottish castles, forced William to pay him £26,000, and even chose William's bride. This was all done by the Treaty of Falaise that William was forced to sign to get out of captivity.

The bride-to-be was not inconsequential. Henry chose Ermengarde de Beaumont, a great-granddaughter of Henry I. More immediately, she was the daughter of a viscount, Richard I of Beaumont-le-Vicomte. One chronicler, Walter Bower, described her as "an extraordinary woman, gifted with a charming and witty eloquence." She was 16 when she married William at Woodstock Palace.

William objected (uselessly), feeling that a king should have a bride of higher status, but Henry was feeling generous: he offered to pay all wedding expenses and to return to William the castles he had taken due to the Treaty of Falaise. The Castle of Edinburgh was considered Ermengarde's dowry.

William accepted the bride under these conditions (again, he had little choice), but he may not have accepted his "marital duties." He had fathered illegitimate children by at least two women, but children by Ermengarde did not come until at least seven years after the wedding. Perhaps it was only his concern to produce legitimate heirs that prompted him to finally treat Ermengarde as his wife.

Ermengarde was not just a footnote to William's reign, however. She supposedly helped a royal chaplain obtain a bishopric after she (and the king) accepted a bribe. In 1209, she mediated on behalf of her aging husband (he was 67) with King John. She is said to have taken over some of his duties in his later years, and went with William to England in 1212 to secure from King John the succession of their son Alexander.

After William's death in 1214, she was described as being distraught. She spent her final years founding the Cistercian Balmerino Abbey in Fife, where she was buried after her death in 1234.

So...what was the mediation in 1209 with King John, you ask? Well, despite previous failures, William never gave up his (and his ancestors') dream of expanding Scotland to include Northumbria. Let me tell you tomorrow how that went.

William the Lion

The title of the second longest reign in Scottish history goes to William I (c.1142 - 1214). Only James VI was longer (of course that was helped by the fact he became king when he was one year old). His father, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, was the son of King David I and would have followed him, but Henry died while David was still king, making Henry's son Malcolm the heir presumptive. David died in 1153, making the 12-year-old Malcolm king and Malcolm's brother William heir presumptive. When Malcolm died at 24 in 1165, William (then 23) ascended to the throne on Christmas Eve.

William was physically imposing and red-maned, earning the nickname "The Lion." Alternatively, he was also called in Gaelic Uilliam Garbh which means "William the Rough." His headstrong manner led him to bite off more than he could chew when dealing with England, specifically regarding the Earldom of Northumbria.

Northumbria had been granted to William's father Henry by England as part of negotiations with Scotland: King David had invaded it, trying to claim the northernmost parts of England to expand Scotland's borders. Controlling it was another matter, however, since England at the time was ruled by the powerful and clever Henry II. William spent time after his coronation at Henry's court—England had always been supportive of Scotland's kings—but they quarreled, and William made a treaty with France in 1168. A few years later, William and France supported the rebellion against Henry II by his sons.

During one engagement, the Battle of Alnwick in 1174, William's bravado led him to charge against the English, outpacing his own soldiers, shouting "Now we shall see which of us are good knights!" He was captured by Ranulph de Glanvill, an event I mentioned here that led to Glanvill's promotion.

The Lion was put in chains and taken to Falaise in Normandy, Henry sent his troops into Scotland. If William wanted his freedom and Scotland back, he would have to acknowledge Henry as his overlord and pay, not a ransom, but the cost of Henry's troops holding Scotland. Henry computed that at £26,000. Moreover, the Church of Scotland had to submit to the will of the Church of England. It also transferred the castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling over to English soldiers. William would have to request permission from Henry to muster soldiers for affairs as simple as putting down local uprisings.

(And that was a problem for William, because Scotland was not happy that they were not independent, and Galloway particularly took advantage of William's weakened position to cause trouble.)

William had little choice. He signed the Treaty of Falaise, and the formerly "friendly understanding" between two realms on the isle of Great Britain became a legal obligation for the next 15 years. Henry even chose William's bride, over William's objections. In fact, let's talk about Ermengarde de Beaumont tomorrow, and see what the result was.