Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

46 WILLIAM THE LION.
raised the standard of that branch of the royal family, invited so to do by
some of the principal nobility.
William Fitz-Duncan, " Nepos Regis," and General to David I. at the Battle
of the Standard, married, as we have seen, about that time (A.D. 1138) Alice de
Rumeilli, lady of Skipton, daughter of William and Cecilia de Meschines, by
whom he had an only son known as " The Boy of Egremont," who was drowned
in the Wharfe, near the spot where Bolton Abbey was erected by his disconsolate
mother, and the great estates of the family were carried by the three daughters
of that marriage into three of the greatest families in England.
1st. Cicely, the eldest, married William le Gros, third Earl of Albemarle, who
got with her Craven in Yorkshire — obiit 1179.
2d. Hawise married William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex ; and, secondly,
William de Fortibus.
3d. Amicia married de Aston.
But it appears that William Fitz-Duncan had been previously married to one
of the M'Heth's, and through that alliance had become Earl of Moray — an
inheritance which he left to his descendants of that marriage, " The M'Williams,"
who were constantly in rebellion, claiming sovereign rights. This insurrection
of Donald-bain M William rose to a formidable height. William heard of it on
his return to England in July, but it was September ere he was allowed to
depart with his brother David to take measures for the defence of his kingdom.
Donald MWilliam retired to the northern Highlands, and the king was forced
to content himself with erecting the two castles of " Eddirton " (Redcastle) and
" Dunscath," near Cromarty, to overawe the lowlands of Ross-shire.
1 184. Gilbert of Galloway invaded the south of Scotland, and William was preparing
to meet him, when the return of Henry from Normandy made him alter his
intentions. The Duchess of Saxony had arrived in the train of her father, and
William was a suitor for the hand of her daughter Matilda.
Simon de St Litz, too, had died without heirs, having held Northumbria, &c,
and William looked for the restoration of his fiefs.
Henry promised his consent to the marriage if a papal dispensation could be
obtained, for William and Matilda were within eight degrees of consanguinity ;
but the Pope refused compliance, and the marriage was given up.
1185. The forfeiture of Huntingdon, however, was reversed, and Earl David was
reinstated in that earldom by his brother at a council held in London at Mid-
Lent. Henry now proposed and carried out the marriage of William of Scot-
land with Ermengarde de Bellamonte,* — a marriage which did not at first please
* Ermengarde was the daughter of Richard Earl of Beaumont or Belmonte, grandson of William the
Conqueror, or, as some called her, "Aunt to King Henry."