The Scots King who defeated the English

(And loved them actually)

Tam D sent me this ‘potted history’ of quite the finest pair of Royals Scotland’s had yet I suspect.

Anyway,

Here’s Tam…

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Dunfermline was his craggy wild fortress.

From here he arose to invade down over the Border.

With fierce warriors.

Plus...

• Steely Danes.

• And bitter Northumbrian Barons.

That said.

At York they put the Norman garrison to the sword. Yet when a counter-attack ensued, the Danes legged it back to their ships.  

Thanks guys!

So it was up to the Scottish King to step up.

He did so and with a large force...

Defeated the English at Hunderskelde on the River Derwent. 

He then ravaged Durham savagely.

Parts of North and West Yorkshire were brutalised too.

Not pretty, for instance...

Crowds fleeing and hiding in Churches were torched to a crisp.

• No mercy.

• Not even in the Kirk.

Such was life in 11th Century Scotland.

Yet for all that,

Dunfermline's tough King loved the English.

A lot.

For example early on he spent fifteen years at the court of Edward the Confessor in England.

And.

His wife was English...

• Beautiful.

• Royal Saxon blood flowed through her.

• Pious enough to tame the powerful King and his nobles.

Margaret had quite the impact on Malcolm Canmore.

• More love.

• More calmness.

• More Godliness?

Could be...

At Royal Court in Dunfermline Malcolm welcomed English asylum seekers. Those fleeing the wrath of William the Conquerer's reprisals.

William was famously brutal too...

The whole of Humber to the Tee was completely laid waste by him at one point. His wholesale butchery killed almost every soul. 

Desolation.

Those who escaped knew where to go. 

A land of liberty up North. 

So they fled to seek refuge of King Malcolm III and his wise Saxon Queen.

And they got it.

Grateful for acceptance they assimilated (and you'd never ken which was which to this day).

All which...

Kind of makes you realise.

We Scots are a funny mix after all... like everyone else.

Scots. Picts. English. Viking. French. Irish and more ;)

A dash of this. A dab of that.

Yet at the end of the day...

• Folk are good.

• Folk are bad.

Just like the Cities they are born in.

What do we want to be like? 

After all it's beautiful here...

Till next time!

Tam D.

PS. Malcolm III Canmore, King of Scotland lies in stunning Dunfermline Abbey above. Beside his beloved Queen Margaret.