[1121] _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs), vol. i. p. 343. R. Diceto (Stubbs), vol. ii. p. 40. The last gives the date as March 10; the _Gesta_ make it just before Mid-Lent, which was February 26. [1122] Cf. Rigord (Duchesne, _Hist. Franc. Scriptt._, vol. v.), p. 13, with R. Diceto as above. [1123] _Gesta Hen._ as above, p. 344. Cf. R. Diceto as above. [1124] R. Diceto as above. [1125] _Gesta Hen._ as above, p. 345. [1126] _Ibid._ R. Diceto as above. England was now his only refuge. In these closing years of his reign, when the whole interest of the story centres round the person of the king, the character of those few incidents which take place on English ground is in striking contrast with the state of affairs which occupied him in Gaul. While the Angevin dominions on the continent were threatening disruption under their owner’s very eyes, each of his visits to England was marked by some fresh indication of the firm hold which he had gained upon his island realm and its dependencies, or of the lofty position which England under him had acquired among the powers of the world. Of the internal affairs of England itself, indeed, we hear absolutely nothing save a few ecclesiastical details, and of Wales and Scotland scarcely more. Henry’s first business after his landing in 1184 had been to lead an army against South Wales;[1127] but at the mere tidings of his approach Rees hurried to make submission at Worcester.[1128] William of Scotland was in still greater haste to meet the English king with a suit for the hand of his granddaughter Matilda of Saxony,[1129] who was now in England with her parents. The project was foiled by the Pope’s refusal to grant a dispensation,[1130] without which such a marriage was impossible, owing to the descent of both parties from Malcolm III. and Margaret. Henry, however, on his next visit to England in 1186, proposed that William should wed in Matilda’s place her kinswoman Hermengard of Beaumont.[1131] Hermengard stood even nearer than Matilda in descent from Henry I., but there was no obstacle to her marriage with the king of Scots; he therefore willingly embraced the offer; and before the year closed the alliance between the two kings was doubly cemented, first at Carlisle by the final submission of Galloway to Henry, William himself standing surety for its obedience;[1132] and afterwards, at Woodstock on September 5, by the marriage of Hermengard and William, to whom Henry restored Edinburgh castle as his contribution to the dowry of the bride.[1133] [1127] _Gesta Hen._ (Stubbs), vol. i. p. 314. Gerv. Cant. (Stubbs), vol. i. p. 309. [1128] _Gesta Hen._ as above. [1129] _Ib._ p. 313. [1130] _Ib._ p. 322. [1131] _Ib._ p. 347. [1132] _Ib._ pp. 348, 349. [1133] _Ib._ p. 351.