A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
which occupied the attention of the king’s Court at intervals from 1275 
to 1316, in a historic dispute over the possession of the Honor of 
Cockermouth, the clue to the origin of these documents will be found. 
They are nothing more than memoranda prepared by the claimants for 
the guidance of the lawyers, and, perhaps, put together with the assist- 
ance of the monks of St. Bees and Holmcultram. As historical docu- 
ments they are of slender value when standing alone, but for our present 
purpose they are useful in showing that the tradition of the district at 
the close of the thirteenth century was universal that William the Con- 
queror was the instrument in making the Solway the north-western 
frontier of the English kingdom. 
Before we place any reliance upon this early tradition, or accept the 
plea of devastation as a sufficient reason for the omission of nearly the 
whole of the modern county from Domesday, it would be well to inquire 
briefly into the circumstances of the district, as far as we know them, 
about the time of the Norman Conquest. Some points come out clearly 
on the highest authority. In 945, so witness the chronicles," Eadmund 
king of the West Saxons wasted all ‘ Cumbraland,’ and gave it to Malcolm 
king of Scots on the condition that he should be his ally by sea and land. 
This uncertain vassalage continued with more or less interruption for 
over a century, the Scottish princes doing homage for that portion of 
ancient Cumbria which now embraces the English county, though at 
that time it was no part of England. In 1070 troubles lay thick on 
the Border provinces.” King Malcolm and Gospatric earl of Northum- 
berland were at enmity, and wasted each other’s territories ‘with atrocious 
depopulation.’ From a statement of Symeon of Durham, it would 
appear that the Scottish king’s title to Cumberland was not considered at 
this time above suspicion. When the chronicler says that the principality 
was under the dominion of Malcolm in 1070, but that it was his ‘ not 
possessed by right, but subjugated by violence,’ the inference is obvious.” 
Two years later the Conqueror went towards Scotland with a great force 
to have a final reckoning with the Scottish king. On his way by the 
east coast he deprived Gospatric of his earldom, and advancing into 
Scotland he met Malcolm at a place called Abernethy, where a truce 
was arranged and Malcolm ‘ became his man.’* There is no suggestion 
that Malcolm was deprived of any portion of his Cumbrian dominion by 
William I. at this or any other time. In that case the explanation of its 
absence from Domesday is very simple. We could not look for it, for 
genealogies seems quite plain. Each revival of litigation needed argumentative material for submission 
to the courts, and these documents were compiled to supply it. It may be mentioned here that the 
succession to Aveline and John de Eston’s claim to the comitatus of Albemarle and all Aveline’s lands in 
England are discussed by Mr. J. H. Round in Geneal. Mag. i. 4-7. 
1 Anglh-Saxon Chronicle, in ann. 945 ; Hoveden, i. 56, ed. Stubbs; Lappenberg, Augh-Saxon Kings, 
i. 149, ed. Thorpe ; Skene, Celtic Scotland, i. 362. 
2 Hoveden, i. 121 ; Symeon of Durham, i. 87, Surtees Society. 
3 Symeon of Durham, i. 88. It is right to say that Symeon was no lover of the Scottish people, on 
account of their depredations in the bishopric. This statement of his has been called in question by 
his various editors. 
4 Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv. §17 ; Skene, Celtic Scotland, i. 424, 425. 
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