ABSTRACT
Even before the news of Margaret’s death was certain the two chief claimants started asserting themselves, and one of the Guardians wrote to Edward urging him to intervene. Edward had till now been busy in Gascony, but had given a little attention to the Scottish issue as a good neighbour and near relative. However, he had an aim of his own, the reassertion and acknowledgement of his overlordship. Feudal overlordship had indubitably existed a hundred years before: it had twice been claimed by his father and once by himself, in 1278, when Alexander III came to Edward’s Parliament to do homage for his English lands. We have two different accounts of this scene, one from the English Close Roll and one from the cartulary of Dunfermline. In the English account there was some ambiguity in the definition of the homage done, and the right of homage expressly for the kingdom of Scotland was reserved for later discussion: in the Scottish account this right was expressly denied by Alexander in ringing phrases. Neither document is undeniable proof of what happened, but the English is the better evidence by historical standards. The Scottish version, though it appears to have had echoes circulating in 1299, was not written down in the form we have it till after 1320, and it is hard to place much credence on spirited back-chat recorded nearly two generations later. Both accounts agree that the English claim to suzerainty was made, and neither show it as accepted.
