It is
unquestionable that there was an immigration of the Northumbrian
population into Scotland; but the Northumbrian population were
Anglo-Danish, and the north of England was not thickly populated. When
William the Conqueror ravaged the northern counties with fire and sword,
a considerable proportion of the population must have perished. The
actual infusion of English blood may thus be exaggerated; but the
introduction of English influences cannot be questioned. These
influences were mainly due to the personality of Malcolm's second wife,
the Saxon princess, Margaret. The queen was a woman of considerable
mental power, and possessed a great influence over her strong-headed and
hot-tempered husband. She was a devout churchwoman, and she immediately
directed her energies to the task of bringing the Scottish church into
closer communion with the Roman. The changes were slight in themselves;
all that we know of them is an alteration in the beginning of Lent, the
proper observance of Easter and of Sunday, and a question, still
disputed, about the tonsure. But, slight as they were, they stood for
much. They involved the abandonment of the separate position held by the
Scottish Church, and its acceptance of a place as an integral portion of
Roman Christianity. The result was to make the Papacy, for the first
time, an important factor in Scottish affairs, and to bridge the gulf
that divided Scotland from Continental Europe.
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