Since Richard I had restored his independence to William the Lion, in 1189, the question of the overlordship had lain almost entirely dormant.  On John’s succession, William had done homage “saving his own right”, but whether the homage was for Scotland or solely for his English fiefs was not clear.  His successor, Alexander II, aided Louis of France against the infant Henry III, and, after the battle of Lincoln, came to an agreement with the regent, by which he did homage to Henry III, but only for the earldom of Huntingdon and his other possessions in Henry’s kingdom.  After the fall of Hubert de Burgh, Henry used his influence with Pope Gregory IX, who looked upon the English king as a valuable ally in the great struggle with Frederick II, to persuade the pope to order the King of Scots to acknowledge Henry as his overlord (1234).  Alexander refused to comply with the papal injunction, and the matter was not definitely settled.  Henry made no attempt to enforce his claim, and merely came to an agreement with Alexander regarding the English possessions of the Scottish king (1236).  During the minority of Alexander III, when Henry was, for two years, the real ruler of Scotland (1255-1257), he described himself not as lord paramount, but as chief adviser of the Scottish king.  Lastly, when, in 1278, Alexander III took a solemn oath of homage to Edward at Westminster, he, according to the Scottish account of the affair, made an equally solemn avowal that to God alone was his homage due for the kingdom of Scotland, and Edward had accepted the homage thus rendered.

It is thus clear that Edward regarded the claim of the overlordship as a “trump card” to be played only in special circumstances, and these appeared now to have arisen.  The death of the Maid of Norway had deprived him of his right to interfere in the affairs of Scotland, and had destroyed his hopes of a marriage alliance.  It seemed to him that all hope of carrying out his Scottish policy had vanished, unless he could take advantage of the helpless condition of the country to obtain a full and final recognition of a claim which had been denied for exactly a hundred years.  At first it seemed as if the scheme were to prove satisfactory.  The Norman nobles who claimed the throne declared, after some hesitation, their willingness to acknowledge Edward’s claim to be lord paramount, and the English king was therefore arbiter of the situation.  He now obtained what he had asked in vain in the preceding year—­the delivery into English hands of all Scottish strongholds (June, 1291).  Edward delayed his decision till the 17th November, 1292, when, after much disputation regarding legal precedents, and many consultations with Scottish commissioners and the English Parliament, he finally adjudged the crown to John Balliol.  It cannot be argued that the decision was unfair; but Edward was fortunate in finding that the candidate whose hereditary claim was strongest was also the man most fitted to occupy