Scotland under her early kings, Volume 1 (of 2) : $b a history of the kingdom to the close of the thirteenth centuryRobertson, Eben William
History
Scotland under her early kings, Volume 1 (of 2) : $b a history of the kingdom to the close of the thirteenth century
Robertson, Eben William
Scotland -- History -- To 1603
He was still prosecuting the siege when he was informed of the approach
of the Papal legate Alberic Bishop of Ostia, and hastened to meet him
at Carlisle, with the clergy and nobility of his dominions. [Sidenote:
A. D. 1130.] Eight years previously, upon the death of Honorius the
Second, sixteen cardinals had declared for Innocent the Second, whilst
the majority elected Peter of Leon under the name of Anacletus,
who through the wealth of his father, a converted Jew, was enabled
successfully to establish himself in Rome. Two princes alone adhered to
the antipope, his own brother-in-law Roger Count of Sicily, who by this
course converted his coronet into a crown, and David of Scotland, the
reasons for whose conduct are not so easily apparent. Upon the death
of Anacletus, which occurred in the beginning of this year, an attempt
to continue the schism by electing another rival to Innocent, who took
the name of Victor the Fourth, was rendered abortive by the speedy
resignation of the ephemeral pope; Innocent returned without opposition
to Rome, and it was principally to notify the extinction of the schism,
that Alberic was dispatched as legate to the kings of England and
Scotland.
[Sidenote: A. D. 1138.]
He arrived at Carlisle four days before Michaelmas, bringing with him
the Scottish chancellor William Comyn, whom he had ransomed from his
captors at Northallerton, and everything was satisfactorily arranged
during the three following days. Eardulf was admitted to the see of
Carlisle, and John was recalled to Glasgow from the monastery of
Tiron, in which that determined absentee had taken refuge from the
troublesome duties of his diocese;[250] whilst reparation was made by
David, even before it was demanded, for the injuries sustained by the
Priory of Hexham from an unauthorised foray of a party of the Scottish
army,[251] and the wildest tribes promised to set their captives at
liberty, and to abstain henceforth from indiscriminate slaughter. Still
the benevolent Alberic was oppressed with anxiety, for during his
progress through the north he had been an eyewitness of the frightful
consequences of the ravages of the hostile armies. All Northumberland
was a desert, no attempt was made at cultivation, nor was an inhabitant
to be met with along the route which he had traversed. The barons
with their retainers were shut up in their castles, the peasantry and
their families crowded the monasteries, or lurked in the wildest and
most inaccessible retreats. The good bishop, dreading a recurrence of
such horrors, and feeling that his sacred office imposed more than
the mere formal duties of his legateship, besought the king to accept
of his mediation with Stephen, and thus to put an end to the miseries
of the war. Long was David inexorable, until the representative of
the haughtiest prelate of Christendom, kneeling before the king of
Scotland as a humble suppliant for “peace upon earth,” prevailed so
far that a truce was arranged to last until St.
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