=18. Alexander II., 1214-1249.=--_Alexander's_ accession was the signal for one of the usual risings in Moray; but as the power of the Crown in that district was now stronger than it had been in earlier times, this rising was more easily put down than any former one had been. The great struggle between despotism and freedom had just at this time set _John_ of England and his barons at variance. Alexander joined the barons in hopes of getting back Northumberland. He crossed the Border and received the homage of the northern barons, and the following year he joined his force to those of the confederates, and marched to _Dover_, where he did homage to Louis of France, who, at the invitation of the barons, had come over to take the crown. The death of John and the victory of his son, _Henry the Third_, at _Lincoln_, changed the whole state of affairs, and in 1217 Alexander did the usual homage to Henry and was invested with the _Honour of Huntingdon_. Four years later the bond between them was drawn closer by the marriage of _Alexander_ to _Joanna_, Henry's sister. This alliance was followed by a lasting peace, though Alexander still claimed Northumberland, and Henry upheld the right of the Archbishop of York to supremacy over the Scottish Church. In a council held at York in 1237, Alexander agreed to compound his claim to the earldom for a grant of the lands of _Penrith_ and _Tynedale_, and, when Henry went to France, he left the Border under the care of the King of Scots. =19. Settling of the Border Line.=--In 1222 an attempt was made to lay down a definite boundary between the two countries. Six commissioners on either side were appointed, and though the exact course of the line was disputed, from that time it continued pretty much what it is now, though a wide tract on either side was claimed alternately by both nations and belonged in reality to neither. =20. State of the North.=--A disturbance which happened during this reign shows us something of the lawless state of the northern part of the kingdom. _Adam_, bishop of _Caithness_, tried to enforce the payment of tithes in his diocese, but his people came together to consider the best way of resisting this exaction. While they were thus holding council, it is said that a voice cried out, "Short rede good rede; slay we the bishop." On this advice they acted, for without more waste of words they attacked the bishop, and burned him and his house to ashes. Shortly before this a former bishop of Caithness had been seized and had his tongue cut out by the Earl of Orkney. Alexander died on an expedition to the Western Isles, at _Kerrara_, a small islet off the coast of Argyle. By his second wife, _Mary of Coucy_, he left a son, who succeeded him.