POLITICAL STATE OF SCOTLAND.

351

the Danes.

Britain, a tie often disputed, but never entirely cast off. The rebellion of the Scots, which drew Conquest by down upon them the vengeance of Canute, was speedily followed by the submission of the Scottish Reguli. Malcolm and two other kings, described by the obscure and probably corrupted appellations of Maelboethe and Jemarch, performed homage to the Dane, who effected a total subjugation of the Scottish race and country.

dependence

of the Scots.

I shall not here deduce with minuteness the Political transmission of exerted authority and obedi- of the Ko ence rendered, nor the difficulties which have been raised against the Scottish subjection to the British Crown, nor the answers which can be fairly given to the objections suggested by feelings which must in every way be honoured and respected, however unsupported by the facts of history; but the last transactions between an Anglo-Saxon monarch and the Scots are those which perhaps display most clearly the relations between the two crowns. Edward the Confessor, in the popular elegy which laments his death, was celebrated as the exalted ruler of heroes, the lord of the Britons, the Welsh, and the Scots; and the authority of the most pacific of our English monarchs was never disputed by his vassals. The throne Macbeth. of Scotland had been usurped by Macbeth, to the prejudice of Malcolm Canmore. He claimed the aid of his superior, which was readily

VOL. III.

A A

Malcolm.

Strath-Clyde.

South
Cumbria.

granted; a fleet and army, despatched by the Confessor, under the command of Siward, Earl of Northumberland, advanced to the north. Macbeth was powerfully aided by the Northmen; but the English forces gained the victory, and the result of the expedition enabled the Earl of Northumbria to fulfil the behest of his sovereign. Malcolm was appointed King of the Scots, pursuant to the commands of Edward, and from his lord he received investiture of Scotland, to hold under the Anglo-Saxon Crown.

15. From the Dee to the Clyde constituted the kingdom of Cumbria, or the Northern Britons. Strath-Clyde, properly so called, extended from the Upper Forth and Loch Lomond on the north, to the Kirshope, the Eden, and the Solway on the south; and from the Irish Sea and Firth of Clyde, which washed its western shores, it ranged eastward to the limits of the Merse and Lothian, including Galloway, or the country of the Southern Picts, the latter being, however, a distinct though subject dominion. The Southern Cumbria included the modern Cumberland, Westmoreland, and a portion of Yorkshire, Leeds being the original frontier town between the British and Anglo-Danish territories. This, the ancient and most brilliant seat of the British power, is almost effaced from our annals. Here, in Reged and Strath-Clyde, we must locate the fabled Court

North Cum

Scotland.

of Arthur; and the traditions still floating in the recollections of the last generation, and the tales ascribed to the earthworks and fortresses where the Round Table was held, alone connects the country with the race which has entirely disappeared. Alcluid, or Dumbarton, continued to be the seat of a British monarchy, until the repeated incursions of the Danes involved the northern Cymri in the same misfortunes which had been sustained by their Saxon enemies. Alliance by marriage as well Union of as conquests subjected the northern Cumbria bria and to the Scottish Kings. Of these princes, Eocha, whose name is softened into Eugenius, and in whom we must, under either disguise, discover the more familiar name of Owen, appears in the most memorable battle of Brunnaburgh, when the combined Reguli of the north endeavoured to free themselves from their dependence upon the Anglo-Saxon empire. Athelstan triumphed; but instigated by the Danes, the Scoto-Cumbrian Kings continued their attempts to release themselves from the Saxons. In these conflicts they failed the victory gained by Edmund over Donald, the son of Eugenius, placed Strath-Clyde, wasted and depopulated, entirely in his power.

the English

The transactions which ensued afford a most Conduct of important insight into the policy of the Anglo- King. Saxon empire. Master of the vacant throne, Edmund might have retained possession, or

of Cumbria.

granted Strath-Clyde to a favourite or a follower; but, yielding to the principle of lineage and blood, he restored the crown to the Scottish Disposition dynasty. Cumbria was re-granted to Malcolm I. as a benefice, upon condition that he should co-operate with the monarch of Britain by sea and land, and most particularly against the Danes. This engagement was ratified by an oath of fealty; but a singular rule of succession, established at an earlier period, received a new sanction. Cumbria was immediately vested in the Tanaist, or the son, designated in the lifetime of his father as his successor. For it had been established that the dominion of the Scots and of the Cumbrians should never be united in the same person, although the kingdoms should remain in the same family: Cumbria thus bearing the same relation to the Scottish crown which Wales, nominally at least, bears to the kingdom of England.

Relation of the Danes to Scotland.

The refusal of Malcolm III. to contribute to the payment of the Danegeld, alleging that he was only bound to render military service, was punished by the ravages of Ethelred. The accession of Canute afforded to Duncan, the Regulus of Cumbria, a reason for throwing off his allegiance to the English crown. But the Dane invaded Scotland: a peace was concluded upon condition that the Regulus of Cumbria should perform homage to the sovereign of Britain and his successors. Malcolm Canmore

became King of Cumbria, when his father Duncan obtained the Scottish crown. In his person, until the birth and majority of Prince David, the antient rule of succession was suspended; and under the reign of the Confessor, the whole of these territories were vested in the Scottish Sovereign, whose distance from the seat of government, as well as his power, tempted him to be the rival rather than the subject of the Anglo-Saxon King.