[Footnote 53:  In the summer of 1405 the English ravaged Arran, and the Scots sacked Berwick.  There were also some naval skirmishes later in the year.]

[Footnote 54:  Cf.  App.  B.]

[Footnote 55:  The Clan Donald, vol. i, p. 154.  The Mackenzies were also against the Celtic hero.]

[Footnote 56:  There is great doubt as to whether these events belong to the year 1448 or 1449.  Mr. Lang, with considerable probability, assigns them to 1449.]

[Footnote 57:  James’s army contained a considerable proportion of Islesmen, who, as at Northallerton and at Bannockburn, fought against “the Saxons farther off".]

[Footnote 58:  He had married, in 1469, Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Denmark.  The islands of Orkney and Shetland were assigned as payment for her dowry, and so passed, a few years later, under the Scottish Crown.]

[Footnote 59:  Cf. The Days of James IV, by Mr. G. Gregory Smith, in the series of “Scottish History from Contemporary Writers".]

CHAPTER VII

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH ALLIANCE

1500-1542

When, in 1501, negotiations were in progress for the marriage of James IV to Margaret Tudor, Polydore Virgil tells us that the English Council raised the objection that Margaret or her descendants might succeed to the throne of England.  “If it should fall out so,” said Henry, “the realm of England will suffer no evil, since it will not be the addition of England to Scotland, but of Scotland to England.”  It is obvious that the English had every reason for desiring to stop the irritating opposition of the Scots, which, while it never seriously endangered the realm, was frequently a cause of annoyance, and which hampered the efforts of English diplomacy.  The Scots, on the other hand, were separated from the English by the memories of two centuries of constant warfare, and they were bound by many ties to the enemies of England.  The only King of Scots, since Alexander III, who had been on friendly terms with England, was James III, and his enemies had used the fact as a weapon against him.  His successor had already twice refused the proffered English alliance, and when he at length accepted Henry’s persistent proposal and the thrice-offered English princess, it was only after much hesitation and upon certain strict conditions.  No Englishmen were to enter Scotland “without letters commendatory of their own sovereign lord or safe conduct of his Warden of the Marches”.  The marriage, though not especially flattering to the dignity of a monarch who had been encouraged to hope for the hand of a daughter of Spain, was notable as involving a recognition (the first since the Treaty of Northampton) of the King of Scots as an independent sovereign.  On the 8th of August, 1503, Margaret was married to James in the chapel of Holyrood.  She was received with great rejoicing; the poet Dunbar,