Note 79 — CHAPTER THE THIRD. CONSTANTINE THE SECOND—A. D. 900-943.

The period of this reign has been chosen by the Anglo-Norman writers as the era in which a feudal supremacy, in a strict Anglo-Norman sense, was first acquired over Scotland by her southern neighbour; and the theory, as might be expected, is supported in an appropriate manner. Three years after the death of Reginald, the fiery Dane is resuscitated from his grave, and placed, by the fiat of the English chroniclers, side by side with Constantine and the Prince of Strath Clyde, brought, together with the whole free population of Cumbria, Scotland, and Danish Northumbria, from the borders of the Forth, the Clyde, and the Humber, to the distant Peak of Derbyshire, to tender homage to the Saxon Edward at Bakewell! Yet their submission, and even the unwonted journey so far from their respective frontiers, fail to avert their sorrowful fate; for though Reginald is permitted to return to his tomb, his luckless companions are wantonly hurled from their thrones upon the accession of Athelstan; whilst, to enhance the glory of the Saxon king, Aldred of Bamborough is made the companion of their flight. He was the faithful friend of Edward, the son of Eadulf, “the darling” of the great Alfred,—considerations which have little weight with the ruthless chroniclers; and Aldred is raised to an evanescent independence, to swell the triumph of Athelstan by being ejected from what is called “his kingdom!” As history advances, fresh links are added to the chain of bondage, and the decreasing power of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs marches hand in hand with the increasing submission of the Scottish kings. Then is exhibited the singular anomaly of an obedient and obsequious vassal appropriating without ceremony the territories of his sovereign lord, until the climax is attained in the reign of the Confessor; and at a time when the over-powerful subjects of that prince seem to have been fast verging towards independence, freely and willingly does the Scottish king tender that allegiance for his entire kingdom which the iron-willed successors of the feeble Edward in vain attempted to extort. Into such errors and inconsistencies have the great majority of Anglo-Norman chroniclers fallen in endeavouring to found a claim to a feudal supremacy over Scotland in an age in which neither amongst Scots nor Anglo-Saxons was the feudal system in force.—V. Appendix L, pt. 1.