It's a 13th of July. You know what really annoys the Scots is that sometimes the
English think they own us. The problem is they might have a point and I'm gonna
explain on this day in Scottish history. Hiya I'm Bruce Fummey. If you're
interested in the people, events and places in Scottish history then
subscribe to Scotland history tours, and click the bell symbol to be notified of
new videos. In the meantime let me tell you a story.
Now I try to make videos that are around 10 minutes long, but there's no way that I
can do that and give you the context to this story in that time. So whilst this
is about what happened on the 13th of July, you're only going to get the first
episode today and the second episode a week from now on the 20th of July. Now my
Patreon members they can get it now in the members site. And there'll be an
explanation of how you can become a member after this video. Anyway for this
first episode I have brought you to this unique round tower in Abernathy in
Perthshire behind me. There are actually two of them and Scotland. They reckon
that this one was built around 1100. It certainly would have been here during
the reign of King William the first of Scotland/ William the Lion. It's from him
that we get the Lion rampant on the flag. William was one of the Canmore Kings,
descended from Malcolm Canmore. Now from the time of Malcolm Canmore, Scottish
Kings were always raiding in Northumbria whenever they got the chance. I'll let you in to a
secret. It seems to me that medieval politics went a bit like this. If you
thought you were more powerful you invaded somebody and persuaded the
leader to make a formal act of submission to you and that way everyone
knew their place. Everyone knew who was in charge; who owned who. Now there
might be a bit of mopping up to do with the William Wallace's of this world, but
that's a detail. If you were the weaker then what you did was when the larger power
was looking the other way you'd invade the borderlands, take as much as you
can get your hands on, burn, loot and pillage.
I'll be honest I don't know the difference between looting and pillaging.
Can anyone find out the difference between looting and pillaging and put the
answer in the comment section below. That'd be really helpful. Anyway, after a
few rounds of looting and pillaging the looted and pillaged people think: 'If this
powerful king's too busy elsewhere to protect us, we'd be better off just
submitting to the looters. Now you may still be technically part of England, but it's
really the Scottish King who calls the shots.
International power politics isn't much different now.
Sometimes the weapons are economic or electronic but essentially the game
remains the same. We've only changed the chips. Mmm chips.
With steak. Anyway when William of Normandy invaded England in 1066 (using
method one) Malcolm Canmore took the opportunity to employ method two, by
invading the north of England. And, eventually when William had imposed
himself down south, he came north with an army in 1072, and here at Abernathy
forced Malcolm the King of Scots to make a formal submission to him in front of
this tower. It might just have been there about that time. The point is
that there was a consequence to Malcolm's invasion of Northumbria. Now,
when William of Normandy died Malcolm was up to his old tricks again,
invading the north of England, when he perceived the new king to be weak.
Eventually Malcolm died on one of these raids into Northumberland, but from then,
right down to Malcolm's great grandson William I on the 13th of July 1174,
Scottish Kings had been invading the North of England, and sometimes facing
the consequences. The consequences for David the first were almost non-existent.
He stretched his power and influence over the north of England: firstly by
being close to the English King Henry I Henry was married to David's
sister Mathilda. After Henry's death David took advantage of England's Anarchy to
do the looty, pillagy thing. Now I don't know the adjectives for
looting and pillaging. Stick it in the comment section. So by the time he died
David I was effectively in charge as far south as the Humber. OK it's 1154
David the first of Scotland died a year ago.
His grandson, Malcolm's King. He's known as Malcolm the maiden... because he was a
crap batsman. It's a cricket joke because we're gonna involve the English. Because
Henry the second has come to power in England. He's the 'Who will rid me of
this troublesome priest?' guy. He was a grandson of David's sister Mathilda.
Henry was knighted by David. If you've been paying attention, or you've seen my video
David the first then you'll know that David had extended Scottish
influence and authority through the north of England to the Humber. When he
was knighted by David, Henry has sworn a solemn oath that if he ever became King
of England he would respect the rights of Scottish King to these northern
English lands. Do you think he'll keep that oath? Comments. So a year after
David's death, Henry the second (the new king of England) summons his cousin (the
relatively new King of Scotland) for a traditional getting to know you 'who's
got the biggest ; 'Willie' meeting. Out of the blue Henry says: 'See that Northumberland,
Cumberland and Westmorland north of England stuff? I wan't it back.' Did you
choose the right answer? Now the Maiden looked at Henry's willy and it was the size
of a big army. Malcolm the Maiden's was the size of a small entourage taken unawares
by a lying cheating scumbag of a... His willy wasn't big enough to hold the
north of England
Now you're probably thinking: 'For a video about William the first and the loss of
Scotland I'm talking a lot about other people.'
Honestly the context is important. William is Malcolm the Maiden's brother
and when Malcolm dies without marrying, having children, or learning to play
cricket; William becomes king. Now he's still
really annoyed at losing the north of England, and he's determined to get those
lands back. The power balance, however, is such that Williams initial approach is
to suck up to Henry. William even goes on campaign with him to France and
everything. But it doesn't work. In fact Henry starts to get a bit annoyed at
William and there's an angry outburst. To be honest Henry's a bit of a hothead.
I alluded to this before but did I tell you that Henry the second had a bit
of trouble with his Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket. Thing is, he
made Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury so that he'd do what he was
told, but as Archbishop Beckett's messing
things up by being all religious and stuff. It's an outrage! Supporting
the Pope? Who does that? Anyway Henry's proper hacked off with him in a fit of
rage he shouted: 'Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?' and some of his
knights look at each other: 'Was that an exasperated scream on an explicit
instruction?' 'I don't know, but we better head over to Canterbury and hack the
Bishop to death at the alter just in case.' It's gruesome, its sacrilegious, in terms
of horrific acts of British royalty it's right up there with Prince Harry marrying
a mixed-race American divorcee. You Daily Mail readersy
know who I'm talking about. And then something else happens. Henry manages to
antagonise three of his sons and his wife. They start a revolt against him. So
now you have a rebellion in England led by Henry's son ...also called Henry.
Young Henry looks for support from William in Scotland. Why not, the revolt's
supported by the Flemish and the French? I'll be honest things have collapsed in
around Daddy Henry's ears. His previously
powerful position is crumbling. His willy is as shrivelling up to nothing, and William
decides that this is a time to get the north of England back. Now it's no
surprise that everything's going badly for Henry
with rebellions and all that kind of stuff. Thomas Becket was martyred at the
altar. Miracles of healing are happening to folk in his name. he's been made a
saint and you've got your son's rebelling and half of Europe against you.
You know why that is don't you? It's God punishing you for going back on
your oath to that nice Scottish King. Speaking of Scottish Kings,
William invades the North of England on the side of Henry's sons (a couple of
times actually) He besieges a few castles, and then he splits his forces and he
finds himself camped out with nothing but a small bodyguard of men near Alnwick Now
on the morning of the 13th of July, on this day in Scottish history, a larger
English force approaches that camp through the morning mist. The cry of
sentries goes up. King William and his Knights rush from their tents. He manages
to get onto his horse and then he charges headlong into the English,
shouting: 'Now we will see which of us are the good knights.' That's the end of this
episode. If you ever want to see the next episode then first you'll need to
click on the 39 second video How to Support Bruce, otherwise episode 2 will
be available next week. In the meantime: like, share, subscribe, and of course
Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda