Note 507 — Chapter XIII · WILLIAM THE LION—1165–1214.

Fordun, l. 8, c. 78. He is the only writer who notices these transactions, but his account is strongly borne out by a letter in the Fœdera, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 108, to the emperor Otho, dated at Bamborough 28th January 1213, in which John writes that he has been detained in the north by arrangements for the security of that part of his kingdom. It is clear, therefore, that he was upon the northern frontier in the early part of that year; and his abortive negotiations with the Scottish king might have easily escaped the notice of the English chroniclers amidst the important events that occurred so soon afterwards. From the commencement of the thirteenth century the authority of Fordun is of far greater weight than before, and I have found his statements frequently corroborated by the Fœdera and the Rolls. In the latter part of William’s reign can be traced the elements of those parties which appear in the subsequent reigns (but more especially in that of Alexander the Third) as the English and Scottish factions.