These great Norman names were to become
great in Scottish story; but it required a long process to make their
bearers, in any sense, Scotsmen. Most of them had come from England,
many of them held lands in England, and none of them could be expected
to feel any real difference between themselves and their English
fellows.
During the reign of Henry I, Anglo-Norman influences thus worked a great
change in Scotland. On Henry's death, David, as the uncle of the Empress
Matilda, immediately took up arms on her behalf. Stephen, with the
wisdom which characterized the beginning of his reign, came to terms
with him at Durham. David did not personally acknowledge the usurper,
but his son, Henry, did him homage for Huntingdon and some possessions
in the north (1136). In the following year, David claimed
Northumberland for Henry as the representative of Siward, and, on
Stephen's refusal, again adopted the cause of the empress. The usual
invasion of England followed, and after some months of ravaging, a short
truce, and a slight Scottish victory gained at Clitheroe on the Ribble,
in June, 1138, the final result was David's great defeat in the battle
of the Standard, fought near Northallerton on the 22nd August, 1138.
The battle of the Standard possesses no special interest for students of
the art of war. The English army, under William of Albemarle and Walter
l'Espec, was drawn up in one line of battle, consisting of knights in
coats of mail, archers, and spearmen.
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