Story of the Stewarts

23
" de Metz, a Lorrainer, the three Peverils, and, greatest of
" all, Alan the Son of Flaald."
Moreover, as Mr Round indicates in his work already
quoted, Henry I., as a younger son and lord of the Cotentin,
had many Breton friends and neighbours, by whom he
was also assisted, when besieged in Mont St Michael, and
whom he appears to have rewarded by grants of English
fiefs on attaining the regal dignity. It was therefore
no doubt under Henry, that Alan Fitz-Flaald first settled in
England.
Such are the rival accounts and arguments relative to
the origin and ancestry of the House of Stewart — the one
based entirely on tradition ; the other though lacking in
direct documentary proof as to the identity of the Scottish
" Walter the son of Alan " with the Shropshire Baron of
the same name — yet based on circumstantial evidence of
coincidence and co-relation only second to absolute cer-
tainty.
It is for the individual reader to decide which account
is the more worthy of credit, and some may even yet
prefer the via media and to follow Lord Hailes who —
writing however, it is proper to say, before the re-