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From: <>
Subject: King of Scots/Scotland + Vassals of the King of England
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 97 11:05:39 est

With reference to the King of Scots or King of Scotland as "vassals of
the King of England" :

David I, King of Scotland was the second husband of Matilda of
Huntingdon, who in her right had inherited the Earldom of Huntingdon.
David, when he married Matilda, was still a Prince of Scotland and
unlikely to become the King of Scotland, but upon King Alexander I
(the Fierce) death without male heirs, David became King of Scotland.
He, however, As Matilda of Huntingdon's husband, had pledged fealty
to Henry, King of England _for the Earldom of Huntingdon_ and still
continued to do so.

Henry of England was also the husband of Matilda (Edith) of Scotland,
David I's sister, and was pleased by David's marriage to Matilda of
Huntingdon, and was even more so when David became King of Scotland.
He perhaps saw it as leverage in his undermine of the Kingdom of
Scotland. Keep in mind that Henry of England represented the second
generation of Norman Kings in England, and so the Scots would have
been very aware of the Norman need to gain political supremacy over
the northern lands.

David was aware of this but for various reasons, held on to the
earldom, one primary reason being the need for the revenues of the
great earldom to help him establish a more "modern" Scotland - i.e.
"modern" for his time - to build administrative systems which were in
concert with the new church/parish boundaries, build monasteries, etc.

David's son, Henry (after his uncle) inherited the earldom and so also
pledged fealty to the King of England for this. There is a whole
other story regarding the relationship between Henry of Huntingdon and
his stepbrother by his mother's first husband. I _think_ Henry of
England wanted to give the earldom to the stepbrother at one point
because the loyalty of David of Scotland and Henry, Earl of
Huntingdon, in terms of pledging fealty, was questionable. This
earldom became the edge of the wedge for the English monarchy to claim
that the Kings of Scotland were vassals of the Kings of England.

Regarding the term King of Scots/Scotland: This is off the top of my
head, but if I remember correctly, either Malcolm III Caennmore or his
son Alexander was the first King of Scotland, i.e. having been the
first to unite the Scots north of the river ?Alba and south of the
river to just above the Northumberland 'border'. Also, if I remember
correctly, the Scots north of the river ?Alba were not too amused by
Malcolm III's or Alexander's wish to include the lowlands, as these
lowlands were not considered truly part of the ancient Kingdom of
Alba. Also, the ancient Celtic line from whom Alexander's
?grandfather had seized power, were the true powers of the north in
Alexander's time, in terms of being on the spot while Alexander spent
much of his time in the south (if I remember correctly). Sorry, my
memory is a bit fuzzy on the details. At any rate, the Northumberland
question with England, and the internal problems north and south of
the river are both quite interesting areas of study for any one who
cares to delve into the intricacies of Scottish history.

Pat Richards

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