J. F. Campbell Collection > Minstrelsy of the Scottish border > Volume 1

4 MINSTRELSY OF
Alexander III. of Scotland died in 1285 ; and, for
the misfortune of his country, as well as his own, he had
been bereaved of all his children before his decease. The
crown of Scotland descended upon his grand-daughter,
Margaret, termed, by our historians, the Maid of Nor-
ttioy. She was the only offspring of a marriage betwixt
Eric, King of Norway, and Margaret, daughter of Alex-
ander III. The kingdom had been secured to her by
the Parliament of Scotland held at Scone, the year pre-
ceding her grandfather's death. The regency of Scot-
land entered into a congress with the ministers of the
King of Norway, and with those of England, for the
establishment of good order in the kingdom of the in-
fant Princess. Shortly afterwards, Edward I. concei-
ved the idea of matching his eldest son, Edward, Prince
of Wales, with the young Queen of Scotland. The plan
was eagerly embraced by the Scottish nobles ; for, at
that time, there was little of the national animosity,
which afterwards blazed betwixt the countries, and
they patriotically looked forward to the important ad-
vantage, of uniting the island of Britain into one king-
dom. But Eric of Norway seems to have been unwil-
ling to deliver up his daughter ; and, while the nego-
ciations were thus protracted, the death of the Maid of
Norway effectually crushed a scheme, the consequences
of which might have been, that the distinction betwixt
England and Scotland would, in our day, have been as
obscure and uninteresting as that of the realms of the
heptarchy. — Hailes' Ajinah. Fordun, &:c.