In the course of the summer after the release of William, both the English kings, who now affected the closest intimacy and regard, repaired in company to York: and here, upon the 10th of August, they were met by the king of Scotland, bringing with him Earl David, no longer lord of Huntingdon, with the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, knights, and other freeholders of Scotland, who united with their king in swearing fealty to the two Henries, and in ratifying the convention of Falaise. All became the liegemen of the English kings in the Cathedral church of St. Peter--a fabric of an earlier date than the present noble minster--and yet further to secure the exact fulfilment of the treaty, the clergy swore to lay their native land under an interdict, and the laity pledged themselves to hold, as true men, to their English suzerains, if ever William of Scotland proved unfaithful to his oath.[416] For fifteen years the convention of Falaise remained in full force, and every action of Henry, down to the day of his death, exhibits the tenacity with which he clung to its scrupulous fulfilment. Not a papal legate was allowed to enter Scotland who had not first sworn to do nothing detrimental to the interests of the English king, with an additional promise to return through England--a proviso that precluded the possibility of evasion--whilst a similar pledge was exacted from all the Scottish clergy who attended the eleventh Council at the Lateran. William was continually summoned to attend, as a vassal, at the Court of his English lord; and he brought his earls and barons, when required, to assist at the councils of their common superior. He crossed the sea to Normandy, at the command of Henry, to submit to that king’s decision in his dispute about the bishopric of St. Andrews; license was granted for his expeditions into Galloway; and he conducted the lords of that province to perform fealty to Henry, or to promise to abide by the decrees of the English court. In short, a comparison between the usual state of Scotland, and her condition during these fifteen years of real feudal subjection, affords one of the clearest and most convincing proofs of her entire freedom from all dependance upon her southern neighbour, at every other period of her history, before the reign of the first Edward.