A Troubled Time in Scotland

    Saxon and then Norman monarchs in England constantly put pressure on Scottish kings.  In 1068, King Malcolm (III) Cænmore of Scotland (reigned 1058 – 1093) married St. Margaret the Exile, a member of the West Saxon dynasty, and their sons ruled Scotland until 1153.  The Scottish kings who followed established ever stronger feudal ties to the English Crown.  The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 made a deep and lasting impression on Scottish history.  The Kings of Scotland looked with favour on Norman settlers who came north to live in Scotland, since these Norman newcomers strengthened the Scottish monarchy.  The Scottish kings gave the Norman settlers land and titles in return for which the settlers became loyal followers who helped the Crown quell uprisings and control rebellious Scottish lords.

    Relations between Scotland and England became critical following the death in 1290 of Queen Margaret, the Maid of Norway who was the last of the direct descendants of Malcolm Cænmore and St. Margaret the Exile.  In 1286, the three-year-old Maid of Norway had become Queen of Scotland under a regency.  In 1290, Margaret, then seven years old, set sail from Norway to Scotland to assume her crown and marry Edward, the eldest son of King Edward (I) of England.  En route, however, she fell ill and died in Orkney, never having reached Scotland.

    A struggle for the succession ensued, and thirteen Scottish nobles claimed the throne.  King Edward (I) of England interceded and chose John Balliol as king.  To be fair, John Balliol's claim to the throne was as legitimate as that of any of the thirteen claimants; but there is little doubt that he was chosen because his support for King Edward’s policies was certain.  Scottish resistance to King Edward’s plan to bring Scotland into the English fold found its first leader in Sir William Wallace, a poor knight who enjoyed the support of the growing middle class of small landowners, merchants and townspeople; especially after King Edward deposed John Balliol and declared himself King of Scotland in 1296.

    In 1297, Sir William Wallace led a small force of about 30 men that burned Lanark and killed the Sheriff, who was our forebearer Sir Andrew de Livingston.  Mr. E.B. Livingston writes in The Livingstons of Callendar: “The earliest Livingston documentary seal, so far as known, is that of Sir Andrew de Livingston, Sheriff of Lanark, which is appended to his homage roll, dated 28 August 1296.  This, however, is evidently not heraldic.  It is described by the late Mr. Joseph Bain in his list of Homage Seals as: ‘Lozenge shape, a wolf (?) passant to sinister, a tree behind; S’Andree D’Levingistun Mil.’”

    Wallace then mobilized a much larger force that routed the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on September 11, 1297.  However, King Edward (I) defeated Wallace’s forces at the Battle of Falkirk on July 22, 1298.  The leadership of the resistance then passed to Robert the Bruce, grandson of Robert de Bruce, Lord Annadale; who had been the most elderly of the thirteen claimants to the throne in 1290.

    King Robert the Bruce’s great X4 granddaughter, Beatrice Fleming, daughter of Robert Fleming, 1st Lord Fleming, was to marry James Livingston, 3rd Lord Livingston of Callendar in the 15th century.