A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



aspect of Cumberland in a few years by removing King David and 

 Henry his son, King Stephen, and Ranulf, Earl of Chester. 1 Stephen 

 died in 1154, the year after David, and was succeeded by Henry II., 

 the son of Maud, whose claims he had displaced. The Scottish suc- 

 cession had fallen into the hands or Malcolm, a mere boy, from whose 

 feeble grasp Henry wrested the territory which the necessities of 

 Stephen had driven him to resign. 



For almost a century after the retrocession by Malcolm the Maiden 

 in 1 157," the Scots continued to press their national claims to the district 

 south of the Solway, and on every opportune occasion demanded some 

 equivalent in compensation. It may be said that England's difficulty 

 was Scotland's opportunity for reviving her demands. The administra- 

 tion of Cumberland during the reign of Henry II. was a delicate task 

 in view of its Scottish sympathies and associations, requiring all the 

 resources of tact and skill to complete its incorporation as a portion of 

 the English commonwealth. The king took a personal interest in the 

 recovered province and visited Carlisle from time to time as the public 

 affairs of the district called for his immediate attention. 3 He came 

 north in 1 158 and held a conference with King Malcolm in that city, 

 but the kings separated mutually displeased, in consequence of which 

 the King of Scots was not knighted at that time.* It was on this visit 

 that King Henry committed to Hubert de Vaux the barony of Gilles- 

 land, a wide tract abutting the frontier on the east which had been 

 previously held by Gille son of Boet, a local chieftain who appears to 

 have acknowledged no feudal superior.* The presence of a Scottish 

 element among the territorial owners, which the King of Scotland was 

 not backward in utilizing as it suited his purpose, was a constant danger 



1 Prince Henry died on 12 June 1152 (Anglia Sacra, i, 161 ; Cbron. of Melrose, in anno) ; David died 

 at Carlisle on 24 May 1153 (Priory of Hexham, i. 168) ; Earl Ranulf died on 16 December 1153, having 

 been poisoned as was thought by William Peverel (Twysden, Decem Scriptores, 1374). King Stephen died 

 in 1154. 



> Anglia Sacra (Chron. of Holyrood), i. 161 ; Decem Serif tores (Ralf de Diceto), 531 



8 The king was certainly in Carlisle in 1158 and 1186 : possibly also in 1163. Compare the outline 

 itinerary of Henry II. prepared by Bishop Stubbs (Benedict Abbas, Gesta Hen. II. Ric. I. [Rolls Series], ii. 

 app. i. to Preface) with Eyton's Itinerary of Henry II. 32-3, 39, 62, 269. The visit in 1186 was of great 

 political and ecclesiastical importance. The king came north with a powerful army to assist William, 

 King of Scotland, in punishing Roland son of Uctred son of Fergus, lord of Galloway, for his evil conduct 

 to his kinsman, Duncan son of Gilbert son of Fergus. Messengers were sent to summon Roland to the 

 king's presence in Carlisle. Under safe conduct Roland came and made his submission, giving hostages 

 for the performance of his pledges (Benedict Abbas, i. 348-9 ; Hoveden [Rolls Series], ii. 309). It was on 

 this occasion that Henry made an effort to fill the vacant see of Carlisle by the nomination of Paulinus de 

 Ledes, master of the Hospital of St. Leonard, York ; but Paulinus refused the bishopric, though the king 

 offered to endow it with a rental of the value of 300 marks issuing from the churches of Bamborough and 

 Scarborough, the chapelry of Tickhill, and two royal manors near Carlisle (Hoveden, ii. 309 ; Benedict 

 Abbas, i. 349). 



Hoveden, i. 216 ; Cbron. de Mailros (Bannatyne Club), 76. 



6 The charter of enfeoffment has been printed in facsimile from the record in the Cartae Antiquaein. 

 a previous volume (i. 320). Though witnessed at Newcastle-on-Tyne, there can be little doubt that it 

 was the outcome of the king's visit to Carlisle. In the Pipe Roll of 1 158 (4 Hen. II.) the sheriff of Carlisle 

 accounts for l I y. given to Hubert de Vaux by the king's writ as a corrody in preparation of his visit. 

 For the tenure of Gillesland by Gille son of Boet, see V .CM. Cumb. i. 310, and an article by the present 

 writer in the Scottish Antiquary, xvii. 105-11. 



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