William Versus England

Although William I of Scotland fell out of favor with King Henry II of England, Henry did restore all the castles he had occupied when William sided with Henry's sons in open rebellion. He also provided William a bride, Ermengarde de Beaumont. William never regained good relations with England, however, and never stopped trying to gain Northumbria for himself.

He made a non-hostile attempt to gain Northumbria in 1194, when Henry's son Richard Lionheart was king. He offered £9,750 to buy it, which was tempting for Richard. Richard did not care so much for England as he did for two other things: his territory on the continent, and fighting; the money would finance the Third Crusade. William wanted possession of the castles in Northumbria as well, and Richard was not going to give away a potential defensive need.

William focused on uniting Scotland, bringing the formerly independent Galloway under his control, stopping insurrections in Moray and Inverness, and bringing Caithness and Sutherland into line with his rule. William's own banner, which showed a red lion (long after his death he was called "William the Lion") became the Royal Banner of Scotland.

As he aged, however, England in the form of Richard's younger brother, John, thought it a good time to increase control over Scotland. He took an army north, but was bought off with sums of money from William, as well as a promise that William's daughters would marry English nobles. This would give the offspring of those marriages a greater English presence in Scotland. William's son and heir, Alexander, was betrothed to John's daughter Joan. It is believed that Ermengarde managed these negotiations on behalf of her aging husband.

In his lifetime, William managed to not only unite parts of Scotland; he built new settlements, clarified criminal law, and expanded the duties of justices and sheriffs along English lines, a reform movement started by his grandfather, David I. Despite his futile attempts to expand his borders southward, he managed to strengthen Scotland, leaving behind a stronger and more unified country.

He died in 1214 at the age of 72 and was buried in Arbroath Abbey, which he founded in 1178. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander II, who learned nothing from his father's travails about trying to get along with England. But let's save that story for next time.

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.

The Roman de Fergus

Although you wouldn't suspect that the life of Fergus of Galloway (who died in 1161) would lend itself to the Arthurian Romance cycle, the tendency to latch onto an old name and use it in creative ways was common in the Middle Ages. What was even more creative was that the story seems to be a parody of Arthurian romance.

The Roman de Fergus, or "Story of Fergus" is written in Old French by someone who claims to be Guillaume le Clerc (William the Clerk). A recent idea links the author to a royal clerk, William of Malveisin, who was born in France but became a royal clerk in Scotland. The name and the language make him a likely candidate to write the Roman to entertain the court of William I of Scotland, who would not mind the implied mockery of a lord of Galloway.

Unlike most Arthurian Romance, this Roman has very specific and accurate references to geography. In it, Fergus is a farmer, son of a lord who can only afford a fortress made of wood, not stone. Fergus observes Arthur and his knights on a stag hunt near Carlisle, and is inspired by them to become a knight himself.

He gets a suit of armor from his father, and heads to Arthur's court in Carlisle. Along the way he kills two bandits whose heads he presents to Arthur. Kay the Seneschal mocks him and challenges him to prove his worth by defeating the Black Knight. He is knighted by Arthur and receives a sword from Perceval.

At Liddel Castle along the way, he falls in love with Galiene, and promises to return to her when he has defeated the Black Knight. After doing so, he returns, but Galiene is missing. He searches for a year, and encounters a dwarf who says he will find her if he can retrieve a shield from a hag (who is also a dragon) in Dunnottar Castle. This he does, killing a few more people with whom he argues, and returns to find Galiene is now the ruler of Lothian. Unfortunately, she is in Roxburgh, besieged by a neighboring king. Heading to Roxburgh, he is attacked at Melrose by the husband of the hag he killed at Dunnottar.

Fergus eventually saves Roxburgh, and he and Galiene are reunited at a tournament held by Arthur in which Fergus defeats every one of Arthur's knights.

The Roman de Fergus was entertaining, but not considered great medieval literature except that it was an interesting parody of the Perceval-Grail story. Then something odd happened: in the mid-13th century it was translated into Middle Dutch...poorly. The first half was done well, but a second translator took over who was not as good at Old French. Perhaps the second translator just wanted to re-work the story. The resulting Roman de Ferguut is far better known as a Dutch classic than the original is known in Scotland. It even earned an English translation in 2000.

Although Fergus becomes a hero, did his humble origin qualify as mockery, and was this story a playful pursuit by William the Clerk, or did his employer William I of Scotland request it? Let's see why King William might have wanted to poke a little fun at Galloway next time.

Ranulph Glanvill

Ranulph de Glanvill is the reason I started dailymedieval.com, to pay some attention to the countless people, places, and paraphernalia of the Middle Ages that would never get any attention in the Modern Era, but were of course significant in their time. 

We don't know much now about his early life, except that he was born about 1112 at Stratford St. Andrew in Suffolk. His public activity is first noted as Sheriff of Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire until he was removed from office in 1170 along with several other sheriffs for corruption.

Whatever his offense, it did not prevent his re-appointment as Sheriff of Lancashire by 1173, then Sheriff of Westmoreland in 1174. During the Battle of Alnwick in 1174, when William I of Scotland invaded Northumbria, Ranulph was the leader of an English force that met and captured William. King Henry II appreciated this, and later appointed Ranulph Chief Justiciar of England. This sounds like he was made "Chief Justice," but that is not the case. The Chief Justiciar had authority comparable to the modern Prime Minister, as the monarch's chief minister.

As Henry's right-hand man, he was effectively the regent when Henry was absent from the kingdom. He was also entrusted to custody of Eleanor of Aquitaine, when Henry saw fit to confine his queen to Winchester Castle. (There were good reasons for this, which we will someday get to.)

After Henry's death, Richard I imprisoned him until he paid a ransom. Why? A possible reason is that Richard just wanted to raise money to continue his favorite pastimes: fighting and Crusading. Ranulph went on Crusade and died in 1190 at the Siege of Acre. Considering his age, I would not be surprised if Richard coerced Ranulph into "taking the cross."

During his lifetime, he founded two abbeys and a leper hospital. Of course, he also produced the Treatise of Glanvill, discussed in the previous post. Next time, we'll look at some of the medieval legal terms addressed and codified on the Treatise.