But it must be recollected that,
throughout his reign, there is comparatively little racial antagonism
between the two countries. David interfered in an English civil war, and
took part, now on one side, and now on the other. But the whole effect
of his life was to bring the nations more closely together through the
Norman influences which he encouraged in Scotland. His son and heir held
great fiefs in England,[38] and he granted tracts of land to
Anglo-Norman nobles. A Bruce and a Balliol, who each held possessions
both in Scotland and in England, tried to prevent the battle of the
Standard. Their well-meant efforts proved fruitless; but the fact is
notable and significant.
David's eldest son, the gallant Prince Henry, who had led the wild
charge at Northallerton, predeceased his father in 1152. He left three
sons, of whom the two elder, Malcolm and William, became successively
kings of Scotland, while from the youngest, David, Earl of Huntingdon,
were descended the claimants at the first Inter-regnum. It was the fate
of Scotland, as so often again, to be governed by a child; and a strong
king, Henry II, was now on the throne of England. As David I had taken
advantage of the weakness of Stephen, so now did Henry II benefit by the
youth of Malcolm IV. In spite of the agreement into which Henry had
entered with David in 1149, he, in 1157, obtained from Malcolm, then
fourteen years of age, the resignation of his claims upon
Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland.
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