During William's reign (1188) Pope Clement III. decided that the Scottish
Church was subject, not to York or Canterbury, but to Rome. Seven years
earlier, defending his own candidate for the see of St Andrews against
the chosen of the Pope, William had been excommunicated, and his country
and he had unconcernedly taken the issue of an Interdict. The Pope was
too far away, and William feared him no more than Robert Bruce was to do.

By 1188, William refused to pay to Henry II. a "Saladin Tithe" for a
crusade, and in 1189 he bought from Richard I., who needed money for a
crusade, the abrogation of the Treaty of Falaise. He was still disturbed
by Celts in Galloway and the north, he still hankered after
Northumberland, but, after preparations for war, he paid a fine and
drifted into friendship with King John, who entertained his little
daughters royally, and knighted his son Alexander. William died on
December 4, 1214. He was buried at the Abbey of Arbroath, founded by him
in honour of St Thomas of Canterbury, who had worked a strange posthumous
miracle in Scotland. William was succeeded by his son, Alexander II.
(1214-1249).



ALEXANDER II.


Under this Prince, who successfully put down the usual northern risings,
the old suit about the claims to Northumberland was finally abandoned for
a trifling compensation (1237). Alexander had married Joanna, daughter
of King John, and his brother-in-law, Henry III., did not press his
demand for homage for Scotland. The usual Celtic pretenders to the
throne were for ever crushed. Argyll became a sheriffdom, Galloway was