During the absence of William in Normandy, whilst he was in attendance at the court of Henry upon the subject of his dispute with the papal see, some of the leading nobility of Scotland--probably of _Moravia_--taking advantage of the distracted state of the kingdom, made overtures to Donald Bane, a son of William Fitz Duncan, inviting him to assert his claim upon the throne of Scotland. This Donald, better known as Mac William, had already put forward his pretensions to the Scottish crown, but his attempts had been hitherto limited to predatory incursions, nor had he ever yet obtained a permanent footing in the country; but the old spirit of disaffection still lingered in the north and west, where the enemies of the king flocked to the standard of his hostile kinsman as readily as they had once gathered around the banner of the heir of Moray, and the insurrection soon rose to a formidable head.[431] Upon his return to England towards the close of July, William received intelligence of the invasion of Donald Bane, but it was not until the middle of September that he obtained the permission of Henry to absent himself with his attendant barons from the English court, and to take measures for the defence of his kingdom. He at once hurried with his brother David toward the provinces in possession of the enemy, but Mac William appears to have avoided an encounter, and the king was obliged to remain satisfied with strengthening his hold upon the marches and lowlands of Ross-shire, and confining his enemy to the remoter Highland districts, by the erection of the two castles of Eddirton and Dunscath.[432]