DYNASTY OF MALCOLM.


On the death of Malcolm the contest for the Crown lay between his
brother, Donald Ban, supported by the Celts; his son Duncan by his first
wife, a Norse woman (Duncan being then a hostage at the English Court,
who was backed by William Rufus); and thirdly, Malcolm's eldest son by
Margaret, Eadmund, the favourite with the anglicised south of the
country. Donald Ban, after a brief period of power, was driven out by
Duncan (1094); Duncan was then slain by the Celts (1094). Donald was
next restored, north of Forth, Eadmund ruling in the south, but was
dispossessed and blinded by Malcolm's son Eadgar, who reigned for ten
years (1097-1107), while Eadmund died in an English cloister. Eadgar had
trouble enough on all sides, but the process of anglicising continued,
under himself, and later, under his brother, Alexander I., who ruled
north of Forth and Clyde; while the youngest brother, David, held Lothian
and Cumberland, with the title of Earl. The sister of those sons of
Malcolm, Eadgyth (Matilda), married Henry I. of England in 1100. There
seemed a chance that, north of Clyde and Forth, there would be a Celtic
kingdom; while Lothian and Cumbria would be merged in England. Alexander
was mainly engaged in fighting the Moray claimants of his crown in the
north and in planting his religious houses, notably St Andrews, with
English Augustinian canons from York. Canterbury and York contended for
ecclesiastical superiority over Scotland; after various adventures,
Robert, the prior of the Augustinians at Scone, was made Bishop of St
Andrews, being consecrated by Canterbury, in 1124; while York consecrated
David's bishop in Glasgow. Thanks to the quarrels of the sees of York
and Canterbury, the Scottish clergy managed to secure their
ecclesiastical independence from either English see; and became, finally,