Note 486 — Chapter XIII · WILLIAM THE LION—1165–1214.

Hoveden 1200, p. 454, 461. From the distinguished deputation which John dispatched to William when the king of Scotland came to Lincoln, it is not improbable that one of the reasons why William had hitherto refused to meet John was a reluctance on the part of the latter to carry out Richard’s Charter of Privileges. In the Introduction to Robertson’s Index, p. xii., No. 3, is the following entry:—“Charta Johannis Regis Angliæ, missa Willielmo Regi Scotiæ de tractatu maritagii inter Regem Franciæ et filiam Willielmi Regis Scotiæ.” There is some mistake here (probably an error of a copyist), for Philip Augustus was never in a condition during the reign of John to marry one of William’s daughters. But if the tractatus maritagii alludes to the proposed betrothal of Alexander to a French princess, the charter may have been a confirmation by John of Richard’s Charter of Privileges, dispatched in haste with the deputation to bring about a reconciliation with William, and to break off the proposed alliance with France.