POLITICAL HISTORY 



to the peace of the district. 1 Taking advantage of complications in 

 England, William the Lion made a desperate attempt in 1 174 to regain 

 the lost possessions of his crown. By a sudden and well-directed inroad, 

 he succeeded in taking the castle of Liddel, which belonged to Nicholas 

 de Stuteville, and the king's castles of Appleby and Brough under Stain- 

 more which had been in the custody of Robert de Stuteville, but the 

 castle of Carlisle, garrisoned by the baronage of the county, resisted his 

 repeated assaults during a prolonged siege. 3 For the gallant defence of 

 Carlisle Jordan Fantosme has ascribed the credit to Robert de Vaux, 

 whose heroic conduct and unsullied honour he has immortalized in his 

 metrical ' Chronicle of the War.' 3 The capture of King William at 

 Alnwick brought hostilities to a close, and the land had rest from Scot- 

 tish incursions for a considerable time. Though the attempt to regain 

 the county failed, the attendant devastations were not without effect on 

 its economic condition and fiscal administration/ 



King Richard began his reign with a magnanimous act of restitu- 

 tion to Scotland by which he restored to ' his dearest cousin ' William 

 the Lion the castles of Roxburgh and Berwick with the Honor of 

 Huntingdon, and released him from the humiliating conditions extorted 

 by Henry II. after his capture at Alnwick. 5 The Scottish chieftains in 

 their turn gave security that they should not pass the border during 

 Richard's absence on the Crusade. 8 But the understanding did not last 

 long. In 1194 the Scottish claims were again renewed and diplomatic 

 negotiations followed with the inevitable result that Richard retained 

 his sovereignty over the northern counties and William departed dolens 

 et confusus from the English court. At this time Richard made a most 

 interesting proposal to the Scottish king with the view, no doubt, of 

 establishing a friendly alliance between the two kingdoms. There was 

 to be a marriage between Otho son of Henry, Duke of Saxony, nephew 

 of Richard, and Margaret daughter of King William, with the stipula- 

 tion that the King of Scotland should dower his daughter with the 

 whole of Lothian and the King of England should give Otho and Mar- 

 garet the whole of Northumberland and the county of Carlisle. The 

 proposed agreement, however, was declined by King William, and the 

 settlement of the Scottish claims was in consequence postponed. 7 



The unprecedented nature of King John's taxation created so much 

 discontent in Cumberland and produced so serious a strain on the loyalty 

 of the people that the safety of the county was in jeopardy towards the 

 close of his reign. Immediately after his accession precautions had been 



1 See the list of Scottish landowners ' qui morabantur in regno Scotiae, habentes terras et tenementa 

 infra ballivam meam Cumbrie,' which the sheriff took into the king's hand in 1296 on the outbreak of the 

 war (Doc. of Hist, of Scot. [Scot. Rec. Pub.], ii. 41-3). 



Benedict Abbas, Gesta Hen. II. Ric. I. (Rolls Series), i. 64-70 ; Walter of Coventry (Rolls Series), 

 i. 225 ; Hoveden (Rolls Series), ii. 60. 



8 Published in the Rolls Series of Chronicles and Memorials, and also by the Surtees Society. 



r.C.ff.Ctti. 1.309-1 1. 



* Rymer, F cetera, i. 50 ; Nat. MSS. of Scotland, i. No. 46. 

 8 Chron. Ric. Divis. (Eng. Hist. Soc.), 9. 



i Hoveden (Rolls Series), iii. 243, 250, 308 ; Walter of Coventry (Rolls Series), ii. 95-6. 



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