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.
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