Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

48 WILLIAM THE LION.
positive refusal of some of the principal nobles to march against M'William.
No hesitation marked the conduct of Roland of Galloway, who threw the whole
weight of his influence upon the side of his royal master, placing himself at the
head of 3000 of his own followers on whom he could depend ; and leaving the
king with the rest of the army at Inverness, he set out in search of M'William.
Upon the Muir of Mamgarvy (a now forgotten spot), near Inverness, Roland
fell in with a body of the enemy, whose numbers about equalled his own.
Neither party shunned the fight, but Roland gained the day, and amongst the
slain was discovered the lifeless body of M'William.
The war being thus terminated, the victor returned in triumph to Inverness
with the head of his formidable opponent, thus earning the gift of the earldom
of Carrick to his cousin Duncan, which secured his own peaceable possession of
Galloway.
1 189. When Richard Cceur de Lion succeeded to the crown of England, he was
bent upon his expedition to the Holy Land. For 10,000 marks of silver
William bought back from Richard the independence of his kingdom and the
restoration of his castles of Roxburgh and Berwick ; and after the coronation,
at which David Earl of Huntingdon bore one of the swords of state, William
was escorted, with every mark of honour, to Canterbury, where he received
from the hands of Richard " a charter," annulling all the concessions extorted
by Henry at the time of his unfortunate capture fifteen years before. At the
same time the Bishop of Durham bought the earldom of Durham.
1 190. Earl David went to the Crusades with 5000 men.
1 1 93. William contributed 200 marks towards Richard's ransom; and upon his
release, David of Huntingdon was the first to declare in his favour. Uniting
with the Earl of Chester, whose sister he had married, he assisted in besieging
Nottingham in behalf of the king. Early in spring, William met Richard at
Clipston, and urged his claim on the earldom of Northumberland and the
counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, as held by his father Prince
Henry ; but after various negotiations this came to nothing, and in the year
1 199 the death of Richard again unsettled the affairs of Scotland with England.
Aug. 24 A son was born to King William, afterwards Alexander II.
1 1 98. The barons assembled at Musselburgh to swear fealty to the heir. David
1 201. j? ar i f Huntingdon did so four years later — a point of considerable import-
I20 5- ance, as, by the old laws of tanistry, the king's brother, come to years of discre-
tion, would have been preferred to his infant son.
1210. Another of the M'William family appeared in the person of Godfrey, one of
the sons of Donald-bain. Ireland had been his land of refuge, until disaffection
in various parts of the country seemed to favour his prospects ; and then his