Lords of Alba

by Ian W. Walker

  In view of Malcolm’s new stake in the future of England, it is hardly surprising that he focused most of his attention on affairs in England for a long period after 1068. He probably paid much greater attention to his southern borders and to his southern neighbour than had any king of Alba before him. This new priority may also have influenced his pattern of residence within his own kingdom. Malcolm appears to have spent more time in southern parts of the kingdom, notably formerly English Lothian, than any of his predecessors. He appears to have spent a lot of time in the area around Dunfermline and Edinburgh, which offered better access to the southern borders than the old heart of Alba around the Tay and Earn. It also offered easy access to Continental trade which passed up the east coast from England. The greater use of Lothian by Malcolm was no doubt prompted by the practical need to be close to his important southern border. It was also, however, a more central location within the expanded kingdom of Alba. It enjoyed excellent communication links by water across the Forth, as witnessed by the development of the royal ferry at Queensferry.

  On 28 January 1069, Robert Comyn, King William’s nominee as earl of Northumbria was killed at Durham with around 900 men and this initiated a major Northumbrian rebellion. It is possible that this action may have been encouraged by Malcolm and Edgar from the safety of Scotland, but it was probably spontaneous. It did, however, prompt Edgar to resurrect his claim and he entered England to lead the Northumbrians, including Marleswein, Gospatric, Siward Barn, Archill and the sons of Karl, southwards to capture York and its Norman castle. He secured York and rule over Northumbria, probably as a precursor to invading the rest of England. He paused to collect more forces and encourage further rebellion, but he delayed too long. In contrast King William reacted decisively and marched north early in the spring to surprise Edgar, rout his forces and sack York, including its Minster. Edgar was forced to flee back to safety in Scotland with his brother-in-law, Malcolm at some point after 11 May 1069.

  In the autumn of 1069, sometime between 15 August and 8 September, a Danish fleet arrived in the Humber estuary. The English exiles led by Edgar Atheling and including Marleswein, Waltheof, Gospatric, Siward Barn, Archill and the sons of Karl marched south from the Scottish border to join the Danish fleet in planning the capture of York. The late account of William of Malmesbury suggests that there may also have been a Scottish contingent with this force. It seems clear from the coordination of their activities that Edgar and the Danes had previously been in contact. On 11 September, Archbishop Ealdred of York died and was buried in the Minster church probably shortly before the combined English and Danish forces occupied the city. On 19 September, according to John of Worcester, the Norman castle garrison in York fired the city to deprive the English and Danes of any useful shelter in attacking the castles. This tactic failed and the combined Anglo-Danish forces defeated the Normans and destroyed both their castles on 21 September.

  It must have appeared to Malcolm at this point that many of the political hopes arising from his marriage to Margaret were close to fulfilment. He had already secured the restoration of his control over Cumberland. In England Edgar Atheling had now seized control of Northumbria, including York. He had also opened negotiations with earls Edwin and Morcar, who retained wide authority in the West Midlands and who could be instrumental in his achieving control over Mercia. He was closely allied to a large Danish royal fleet which could offer him an invaluable source of trained troops. In effect, Edgar was now ideally placed to launch an invasion of southern England alongside his Danish and English allies in the spring of 1070. The authority of King William and his Normans was restricted to the south and they still faced hostility in the south-west and across the Midlands. The whole Norman position was fragile in the extreme. If Edgar managed to advance south in spring 1070 with the English and Danes behind him almost anything might happen.

  King William was all too aware of the dangers presented by this uprising. He chose once again to strike first during the winter of 1069. It was a tactic often employed by William to catch his opponents off-balance and one already used against Exeter, the Mercians and Edgar in 1068. He marched north rapidly to catch Edgar and his Danish allies unprepared and was completely successful in this. The Danes had crossed the Humber in their ships to take up winter quarters in Lincolnshire, leaving the English unsupported in York itself. William deployed troops to confine the Danes in their marshy retreat while he continued towards York. In spite of a three-week delay when the English defended the river crossing at Pontefract, he still managed to recapture York and expel the English leaders before Christmas. The surprised English had little choice but to withdraw from York and take refuge in camps in the open countryside, according to Orderic Vitalis. William remained in York over Christmas while his troops devastated in brutal fashion the surrounding shire in pursuit of the English in their camps. On 11 December, Bishop Aethelwine and the clerks of Durham hastily abandoned their church, taking the body of St Cuthbert with them, in anticipation of William’s advancing further north. They made their way north to Lindisfarne where they presumably felt they would be safe from William’s wrath.

  In early 1070, a frustrated William duly advanced further north into Northumbria after the English rebels. He spent fifteen days camped near the Tees where Waltheof surrendered in person and Gospatric did so through proxies. The latter was subsequently appointed earl of Northumbria. In January 1070, King William continued his raiding northwards to Hexham on the Tyne before returning to York and then setting out across the Pennines to Chester. In the meantime the hungry Danes remained confined to Lincolnshire, where Norman forces were able to restrict their foraging quite effectively. In the face of imminent starvation the Danes sought terms from William and, in return for the immediate delivery of food supplies and a substantial pay-off, agreed to leave the area in the spring. In spring 1070 King William plundered the English monasteries of their wealth, partly in order to buy off the Danes. The latter finally left England on 24 June 1070 but only after plundering the monasteries of Ely and Peterborough with English help. This entirely sensible deal for the Danes effectively abandoned their English allies to their fate.

  The collapse of the Danish alliance and the loss of support that followed William’s savage harrying of the north forced Edgar to return to Scotland. It was clear that Edgar Atheling had consistently underestimated King William and hence had been unprepared for the swiftness of his counterstrokes. It was also clear that King Malcolm himself could not support Edgar’s restoration solely with his own limited resources. It required either strong support from the restless English population or powerful Danish assistance. It seemed increasingly apparent that the former was effectively restricted by an active Norman response which quickly crushed any dissent. The Danes had proved to be untrustworthy allies who were pursuing their own aims rather than those of the English. In these circumstances, it was inevitable that Edgar and his followers had little option but to withdraw until the situation improved.

  At some point, most probably in spring 1070, Malcolm led a large army of Scots from Cumberland into Northumbria. This force ravaged the whole of Teeside and neighbouring areas, including Cleveland, Holderness, County Durham and Wearmouth. This Scottish raid is portrayed in the twelfth-century account featured in The History of the Kings as an example of state terrorism of the worst kind with no political objectives whatsoever. It certainly appears to have fallen on lands already devastated by King William during his previous harrying. It is reported that Earl Gospatric responded with a counter-raid into Cumberland before retreating and shutting himself up in his stronghold at Bamburgh where he was safe from any Scottish retaliation. This suggests that the Scots pillaged as far north as Bamburgh, although this is nowhere mentioned in surviving sources. It is possible that Malcolm’s intention, however harsh it might seem to us, was to punish this region for deserting his brother-in-law Edgar and submitting to William. He appears to have targeted the lands of the earldom of Northumbria and the bishop
ric of Durham and may therefore have been specifically punishing the defection of Earl Gospatric and Bishop Aethelwine. If The History of the Kings is correct in reporting the presence of Edgar and his family at Wearmouth in 1070, which is by no means certain, it is even possible that Malcolm launched this raid to protect Edgar from betrayal by his former allies, including Gospatric. It is also possible that the failure of the English uprising encouraged Malcolm to try to extend his own direct control from Cumberland into Northumbria. He had previously focused on consolidating his hold on Cumberland, leaving Edgar to pursue the conquest of Northumbria and England. The self-evident failure of Edgar may have induced him to attempt to seize Northumbria himself. The absorption of Northumbria would certainly be pursued by his successors into the thirteenth century. It seems likely that this Scottish raid ended before 25 March 1070 when Bishop Aethelwine and his clerks returned to Durham with the body of St Cuthbert. It seems unlikely that they would have done so unless it was safe.

  In its twelfth-century account of this Scottish raid, The History of the Kings portrays Malcolm as the villain of 1070. ‘He [Malcolm] ordered his troops no longer to spare any of the English nation but either to smite all to the earth or to carry them off captives.’ It then proceeds to relate the kind of apocryphal atrocity stories common to wars throughout history. This account does not, however, appear to reflect more contemporary opinion in this respect and it may have been influenced by subsequent Scottish raids from the 1130s. In contrast, the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not even mention Malcolm’s raid but clearly identifies the actions of King William as the main cause of the devastation inflicted on Northumbria. There must also have been some destruction inflicted by the English and the Danes, although admittedly this is likely to have been on a lesser scale. The History also contains a story about how Malcolm captured Edgar Atheling and Margaret at Wearmouth in 1070 during his raid and that the marriage to Margaret took place thereafter. This tale is also contradicted by the contemporary Chronicle which indicates that Malcolm and Margaret were already married by then. This suggests that the twelfth century account in The History should be treated with some caution and is not necessarily entirely accurate in his portrayal of events and that earlier sources, if available, should be preferred.

  In 1071 the Mercian leaders, Edwin and Morcar, found themselves increasingly isolated and under pressure from King William, following his raids on Chester and Stafford in 1070. They finally started to look for allies in a serious way, instead of standing alone as they had done until then. Edwin, Earl of Mercia supposedly intended to seek support from Malcolm and possibly Edgar Atheling. He was, however, betrayed by his own men and killed by the Normans before he could reach the Scottish border. It seems unlikely that his mission would have been a success in any case. King Malcolm was already tied to Edgar and may have been increasingly reluctant to challenge a successful William. It appears that Morcar, Edwin’s brother had chosen a different course. He sought refuge on the Isle of Ely with Hereward and his followers, who had remained behind after the departure of the Danes in the summer of 1070. In 1071 Aethelwine, the deposed Bishop of Durham and Siward Barn sailed from Scotland to Ely to join Morcar and Hereward there. They were possibly representatives of Edgar Atheling, who may once again have been in the process of seeking allies. Once again, King William struck swiftly to crush this latent rebellion and imprisoned its leaders, apart from Hereward who escaped.

  In 1072 King Malcolm’s eager hopes of only three years ago had been dashed following the series of English defeats in 1068, 1069, 1070 and 1071. The departure of the Danes, however unreliable they had proved to be, must also have been a major blow. The prospect of Edgar’s restoration to the English throne had clearly vanished with them. The existence of an independent north under native English rule had also faded following William’s raids and Gospatric’s defection. King Malcolm had managed to retain control over Cumberland and he continued to shelter large numbers of important English exiles, including Edgar. He would now have to fall back on his own resources. He could seek to extend his own authority over Northumbria, perhaps with the tacit support of these exiles. In contrast, King William appeared to have finally silenced native rebellions with his brutal northern campaign of 1070. He had managed, for the time being at least, to buy off the Danes in 1070. He had crushed the last organised English opposition at Ely in 1071. He had no intention of leaving Malcolm and his dangerous nest of English rebels alone to plan further invasions or insurgencies. He could not ignore the continued presence on his northern frontier of his main rival Edgar Atheling. He may also have been concerned by the additional threat offered by the birth of a son, named Edward, to Malcolm and his English wife Margaret, which must have occurred at about this time.

  At some time after 15 August 1072, King William invaded Scotland with a land and naval force like Athelstan before him. He led his army to the Forth but, according to The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ‘there he found nothing that he was any better for.’ This suggests that Malcolm, like Constantine II, when faced with such overwhelming force, chose to withdraw before it and adopt a scorched earth policy. In the end Malcolm met William at Abernethy on the Tay where, according to the Chronicle, he ‘made peace with King William and was his vassal and gave him hostages’. This appears to be an abject surrender by Malcolm, who was certainly under intense pressure. It was, however, probably more in the nature of a compromise reached after a stalemate. William had been unable to achieve the kind of significant military success that had brought him control of England. He had failed to penetrate as far north as Athelstan in 934. He would soon have to retreat and needed some form of concession to justify his expedition. On his side, Malcolm could not oppose William’s superior force openly but was keen to get rid of him as soon as possible. It was this that brought them together to treat for peace. On his return to England, William deposed the unreliable Earl Gospatric, who fled first to Scotland and then to Flanders, presumably to join Edgar Atheling. He also built a castle at Durham to control this region and to protect his new appointee, Walcher, Bishop of Durham.

  The agreement reached at Abernethy in 1072 represents another occasion when each side probably placed a very different interpretation on what the agreement actually signified. It was clear that Malcolm submitted to William’s superior force but what this implied was open to different interpretation. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle clearly suggests that the Normans interpreted this as a formal feudal submission, which acknowledged William, King of England as the superior lord of Malcolm, King of Alba. In contrast, Malcolm probably viewed the submission as a practical and temporary acknowledgement of English superiority with no long-term consequences. It was viewed by the Scots in exactly the same light as the temporary submission of Constantine II to Athelstan in 934. This difference of interpretation, which was partly cultural in origin but also political, would result in problems in the longer term.

  In the short term, the Treaty of Abernethy confirmed that Malcolm had been forced to acknowledge William’s military superiority. The presence of William’s army near Abernethy in the heart of Alba was ample witness to this. The surrender of hostages by Malcolm in the shape of Duncan, his eldest son from his first marriage, recognised his temporary inferiority. It also appears that Malcolm was forced to expel Edgar Atheling from his kingdom and he went to Flanders at some point before 1074. This all seems fairly one-sided; but it was not a complete success for William. There were restrictions on what William was able to achieve at Abernethy, which are important signs of limits on his power. They indicate that it was not entirely a case of abject surrender by Malcolm. For example, Malcolm was not compelled to hand Edgar over to William. In addition, he remained married to Margaret and kept his infant son Edward, who held a claim to the English throne. King Malcolm could present this as a success, even though William held his eldest son, Duncan as a hostage.

  In the aftermath of the Norman invasion of 1072, Malcolm was compelled to review his policy in relation to
England. He could no longer ignore the fact of the Norman Conquest. King William was now secure and dominant throughout his new kingdom. The long run of Norman military successes in 1068, 1069, 1070, 1071 and 1072 and the expulsion of English nobles and clerics from lands and offices had left William apparently unassailable. In addition Malcolm’s brother-in-law, Edgar Atheling had proved himself either unlucky or inept and incapable of promoting in an effective way his strong claim to the English throne. In these circumstances, it was no time for Malcolm to throw good money after bad and he therefore abandoned, temporarily at least, both his support for Edgar and his own designs on the north of England. He had not entirely given up on these goals and probably intended to resurrect them when circumstances appeared more favourable. He could afford to bide his time until his son Edward and the brothers that would follow him were old enough to raise their own claims.

  On 8 July 1074 Edgar Atheling returned to Scotland from Flanders, accompanied by Gospatric. King Philip of France sought to exploit Edgar’s claim to threaten William and invited Edgar to come to France. Unfortunately, Edgar was shipwrecked on the shores of England. He had to return to Scotland through hostile territory in a bedraggled state. This latest debacle persuaded Malcolm to convince Edgar to abandon his claim to the throne and submit to King William. It may be that Malcolm wanted simply to reduce tension with his powerful southern neighbour by removing this major source of irritation. It could also be that he sought to open up a path for the future claims of his own son Edward by convincing Edgar to resign his own apparently hopeless claim. It was perhaps a signal of future interest in the English succession that Malcolm, probably in 1074, appointed Gospatric as Earl of Dunbar in English-speaking Lothian. According to The History of the Kings, Malcolm endowed the new Earl with ‘adjacent lands in Lothian’, which may possibly have been lands formerly held by Gospatric’s ancestors when they ruled this region before its loss to the Scots. This appointment was made ‘until more prosperous times should come’ or perhaps until King Malcolm could secure Northumbria or, through his sons, England itself. Earl Gospatric might then perhaps expect to regain the lands in Northumbria that he had lost to the Normans.