=21. Alexander III., 1249-1266.=--_Alexander_, a child of eight years, was crowned with great pomp at _Scone_, the ancient crowning place, where the famous stone of _Destiny_ was kept. The tradition was that no one who had not been enthroned on this stone was lawful King of Scots. The most striking part of the coronation ceremony was the appearance of a Sennachy or Celtic bard, who greeted Alexander as King by virtue of his descent from the ancient Celtic Kings, and recited the whole list of the King's ancestors, carrying them back to the most remote ages. This might serve to remind him that after all his title of King came solely from those very Celts whom his more immediate forefathers had slighted and despised. =22. Alexander's Marriage and Homage to England.=--On Christmas day, 1251, Alexander was married at _York_, to _Margaret_, daughter of _Henry the Third_, and at the same time he did homage for the lands he held in England, but evaded Henry's claim of homage for _Scotland_, pleading the necessity of consulting his advisers before giving an answer on so difficult a matter. This question was brought up again in 1278, when Alexander went to _Westminster_ to acknowledge and to do homage to _Edward the First_, and he gave for answer that he did homage for his English fiefs alone and not for his kingdom. Edward asserted his right as over-lord of the kingdom, but he did not then attempt to enforce it. =23. Last Invasion of the Northmen.=--In 1262 _Hakon_ of _Norway_ came with a great fleet to visit the _Orkneys_ and the _Western Isles_, _Sudereys_ or _Southern Isles_ as the Northmen called them. The fleet sailed down the _Western Coast_, levying black mail on the islands and making divers inland raids. Among other exploits the Northmen dragged a number of their ships across the narrow neck of land that parts _Loch Long_ from _Loch Lomond_, sailed down _Loch Lomond_, and harried the _Lennox_, as the fertile tract which stretches along its lower end is called. Hakon sailed up the _Firth of Clyde_, and an attempt was made at a peaceable agreement between him and the King, who was at first willing to give up all claim to the _Hebrides_, but wished to keep the _Cumbraes_, _Bute_, and _Arran_. But the Scots purposely delayed coming to terms, as they expected that the autumn storms would soon help them to get rid of their enemy. Nor were their hopes disappointed, for, in the beginning of October, a violent tempest rose, separated the ships of the invaders, sunk some, and stranded others. On the following day the Northmen who had landed were easily beaten, near _Largs_, by a Scottish army hastily got together on the coast of _Ayr_, in 1263. Hakon died in one of the _Orkneys_ on his way home, and his son, in 1266, agreed to give up _Man_ and the _Isles_ for 1,000 marks down, and the promise of 100 yearly. An amnesty was granted to the Islesmen, and it was settled that the bishopric should continue in the province of _Drontheim_.