Rothesay, his imprisonment by the Duke of Albany, his mysterious death, and the peaceful succession of Albany to the governorship without, so far as the records go, any appointment by the Estates whatsoever.[93] The view we have taken seems the most probable when we consider the circumstances, the composition of Parliament, and the whole tone of the reign. It is, however, not incompatible with an acknowledgment that there possibly existed in 1398 a neutral party which was able to wield a certain influence in the fierce division of parties. It is noteworthy that a resolution was passed that the names of Rothesay's councillors who agreed to an act of government should be recorded, so that he and they alike might be responsible to the Estates. It would be rash to speak dogmatically in the present condition of our knowledge. There is a strong temptation to accept this as a constitutional movement; but it must be remembered that it is at least equally probable that we have here a device by which Albany aimed at ridding himself on the first opportunity of his reckless and dissipated nephew and of that nephew's favourite counsellors.[94] The great pitfall of Scottish historians has been to read later or foreign ideas into the scanty records of the national history. If they are right who argue that under David II and the two Roberts we have a discernible impulse towards parliamentary government, we certainly lose all trace of it after the death of the Duke of Rothesay. The Duke of Albany kept complete control of the country till his death in 1419, when he was succeeded by his son, without any trace of parliamentary sanction. The government of the first Albany was firm, but he ruled as absolute master. A parliament had met in 1402, before Rothesay's death, and had passed some useful acts for the maintenance of internal order, probably under Albany's guidance. The most important of these refer to justice, and illustrate the difficulty of dealing with hereditary sheriffs. While the country was divided between Rothesay and Albany, Parliament still had a place. After Rothesay's death it practically disappears till a great council was summoned in 1423 to discuss the propositions for the king's return, which involved the question of a ransom.