42 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



It is probable that from first to last, the number of 

 Norwegians engaged in these skirmishes did not exceed 

 1,500, and the loss of 24,000 men, which, according to some 

 Scottish historians, they suffered, is a wild exaggeration. 

 But the political results of the conflict were far-reaching, for 

 the Hebrides were finally severed from the Norwegian 

 Crown, and incorporated with the Kingdom of Scotland. 

 The aged King Hakon reached Kirk wall, where a fever, 

 supervening upon his crushing misfortune, carried him off, 

 on 1 5th December, 1263. His remains found a final 

 resting place in the Cathedral of Bergen. 



Alexander III. followed up his success with energy. 

 He brought Magnus of Man to his knees, and in 1264 

 sent a force to the Hebrides to reduce them to submission. 

 Some of the chiefs were hanged, others sought safety in 

 flight, and bribes secured the allegiance of the remainder. 

 In the following year, Magnus of Norway, Hakon's son 

 and successor, opened negotiations with the Scottish King 

 for the final settlement of the Hebridean question. He 

 offered to resign Bute and Arran, while retaining possession 

 of the other islands, but this offer was naturally rejected. 

 Finally, 'in 1266, the whole of the islands (excluding the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands)with the patronage of the Bishopric 

 of the Isles, were ceded to Scotland, in consideration of 

 4,000 merks of silver, to be paid in annual instalments, 

 each of 1,000 merks, and thereafter an annual quit-rent of 

 loo merks. A note to the treaty stipulated that the pre- 

 vailing custom of enthralling a conquered people should 

 not be observed in this instance. By this provision, Magnus 

 secured the Norsemen in the Isles against a state of servi- 

 tude which, to their proud spirits, would have been the 

 most galling feature of what probably seemed to them 

 a disgraceful surrender. 



The Perth Treaty was sealed by the betrothal of Erik, 

 son of Magnus, to Margaret, daughter of Alexander. The 

 marriage dower, however, was apparently not paid, for in 

 1299-1300, Hakon V. of Norway claimed the arrears, and 

 with them, the resumption of Norway's sovereignty over 



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