TheTreaty of Abernethy was signed at theScottish village ofAbernethy in 1072 by KingMalcolm III of Scotland andWilliam of Normandy.
William had started his conquest ofEngland when he and his army landed inSussex, defeating and killing the English KingHarold Godwinson at theBattle of Hastings in 1066.
William's army had to suppress many rebellions to secure the kingdom. As a result of the unrest, some English nobles had sought sanctuary in Scotland at the court of Malcolm III. One of them wasEdgar Ætheling, a member of theHouse of Wessex who was the last English claimant to the throne of England.
Faced with a hostileScotland, allied disaffected English lords, including Edgar and William, rode north and signed the Treaty of Abernethy with Malcolm. Although the specific details of the treaty are lost in history, it is known that in return for swearing allegiance to William, Malcolm was given estates inCumbria, and Ætheling was banned from the Scottish court.
In 1040,Duncan I had been killed in battle byMacbeth.[1] Duncan's sonMalcolm was forced to seek safety in England. Fifteen years later, Malcolm avenged the death of his father at theBattle of Lumphanan, in which Macbeth was killed. Lulach, Macbeth's step-son, briefly succeeded to the throne of Scotland before he died at Malcolm's hands in 1058. With the death of Lulach, Malcolm became King of Scots. During the course of his reign, Malcolm invaded the northern counties of England numerous times. The counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland were historically claimed by Scotland.[2]
In England, after the defeat and death ofHarold Godwinson at theBattle of Hastings in 1066, English resistance to their Norman conquerors was centred onEdgar Ætheling, the grandson ofEdmund Ironside, half-brother toEdward the Confessor.[3]Copsi, a supporter ofTostig, a previous Anglo-Saxon earl of Northumbria who had been banished by Edward the Confessor, was a native of Northumbria, and his family had a history of being rulers ofBernicia and, at times, Northumbria. Copsi had fought inHarald Hardrada's army with Tostig against Harold Godwinson at theBattle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, but had managed to escape after Harald's defeat. When Copsi offered homage to William atBarking in 1067, William rewarded him by making him earl of Northumbria.[4] After just five weeks as earl, Copsi was murdered byOsulf, son of EarlEadwulf IV of Bernicia. In turn, the usurping Osulf was also killed, and his cousin,Cospatrick, bought the earldom from William. He was not long in power before he joined Ætheling in rebellion against William in 1068.[4]
With two Earls murdered and one changing sides, William decided to intervene personally in Northumbria.[5] He marched north and arrived inYork during the summer of 1068. The opposition melted away, and some of them, including Ætheling, took refuge at the court of Malcolm III.[6]
In the winter of 1069-70, William led his army on a campaign of terror in theEnglish North Country in an action known as theHarrowing of the North.[7]
In 1071, in Scotland, Malcolm married Ætheling's sister,Margaret.[6] The marriage of Malcolm to Edgar's sister profoundly affected the history of England and Scotland. The influence of Margaret and her sons brought about the anglicisation of the Lowlands.[8]
Ætheling sought Malcolm's assistance in his struggle against William.[5] With Edgar as an ally, Malcolm used the opportunity to try to expand his kingdom to include the northern disputed counties of England.[2] In 1071, he invaded Cumberland, possibly to establish the border betweenCarlisle andNewcastle. He harried the farms and villages and carried off so many people that, according to one chronicler, there was no village or even large house in southern Scotland that did not afterwards have an English servant or two.[2]
Malcolm's raiding of northern England and the formal link between the royal house of Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon house ofWessex were obvious threats to William. With his campaign in northern England over, he turned his attention to Scotland. In 1072, he brought an army into southern Scotland. William crossed the Forth and arrived near Abernethy.[2] William and Malcolm signed the Treaty of Abernethy through which, according to theAnglo Saxon Chronicle, Malcolm became William's "liege man". The treaty's full details are unknown, as no documents have survived, but it seems that Malcolm's son Duncan was given as a hostage, and Edgar was expelled from the Scottish court. In return for swearing allegiance to William, Malcolm was given estates in Cumbria.[9][10]
"This year, King William led an army and a fleet against Scotland, and he stationed the ships along the coast and crossed the Tweed with his army; but he found nothing to reward his pains. And king Malcolm came and treated with king William, delivered hostages, and became his liege-man; and king William returned home with his forces."
— Giles 1914, ASC 1072
The peace secured by the treaty was an uneasy one. When negotiations over the disputed Cumbrian territories broke down with the new King of England,William Rufus, Malcolm invaded northern England again and besiegedAlnwick Castle. Unexpectedly, a relief column arrived, led by theEarl of Northumbria. Malcolm and his son were killed at the ensuingBattle of Alnwick (1093).[11]
In 1173,William the Lion of Scotland supported arebellion againstHenry II of England. In 1174, William was captured at theBattle of Alnwick (1174) and transferred toFalaise, inNormandy. There, he signed theTreaty of Falaise, which effectively surrendered Scotland to Henry. Henry then handed Scotland back to William as afief in return for William's homage to Henry.[12]
However, after Henry II's death, William petitionedRichard I to be released from the terms imposed on Scotland by the treaty. Richard, needing to raise finances for theThird Crusade, accepted William's offer of 10,000marks. AtCanterbury on 5 December 1189, Richard released him from all allegiance and subjection for the Kingdom of Scotland, which remained an independent realm untilEdward I successfully revived English claims of overlordship in 1291-2.[13]