1 Jan 1209 Jahr - Peace between King John and King William

Beschreibung:

Bower discusses a conflict between King William and King John where each misinterprets the other's intentions, thinking they desire a war. Eventually, the two figure out that they only want peace and decide to negotiate.

Bower writes in his (c.1440) narrative:
"“As a result of the effort at mediation between the two kings made by the magnates and nobles of both kingdoms who had flocked there from both sides to do battle, both were eventually united and bound by a peace treaty which took the following form. The said king of Scotland was to give his two daughters Margaret and Isabella into the charge of the king of England with a view to their being married…At last, after the intermediaries had held a preliminary discussion about the peace treaty which was to remain in force in perpetuity, the kings in person with supporters chosen from their councils met in Norham. There they reached an agreement about marriages as stated above, and it was also agreed that the castle which the king of England had tried to build at Tweedmouth should never be built in the future, and as compensation for the dishonour done to the king of England by its destruction by the king of Scotland, the king of Scotland should pay him 4,000 pounds. It was also stipulated that the merchants of Scotland should freely and in the customary manner enter England for the purpose of carrying on their trade, and that the king of the Scots should retain all his ancient honours intact. In return for the said marriages and for his observing all the other articles fully and completely 15,000 marks should be paid to King John of England ( as well as the aforesaid 4,000 pounds) within a period of two years and in four equal installments due on four fixed term dates.

To encourage greater stability in observing the pact William Comyn the justiciar of Scotia on behalf of his lord and Robert de Viuexpoint, a knight who was on close terms with the king of England and was a member of the English council, were chosen from each side and took an oath on the gospels in the name of the kings that they would observe the peace in perpetuity. Then all the nobility of England and Scotland who were present made the same promise under oath that to the best of their ability that agreement should be kept unbroken by both sides. And to remove any suspicion that the peace and the agreement might be broken by the king of the Scots, the lord king of Scotland voluntarily gave the king of England thirteen hostages for his maintaining the peace. And since that same king, being in some degree tired by old age, had in mind to end his life [ in an atmosphere of] genuine love and peace, he sent his daughters along with the hostages to the justiciar and the emissaries of the king of England at Carlisle, and handed them over on the Sunday which was the day after the Assumption of Our Lady. And the two kings’ armies returned home with the utmost joy.”
(A History Book for Sots: Selections from Schotichronicon by Walter Bower, Edited by D. E. R. Watt)

What does this mean for peace?
These extracts reveal a large amount on the maintaining of an Anglo-Scottish medieval peace treaty. The establishment of a marriage pact, along with the transferrence of hostages, pacts between the nobility, and the use of justiciars as negotiators all speak to a system of maintaining peace set out within culture and legal customs.

The final line that the 'two kings' armies returned home with the utmost joy' also point to public attitudes towards peace and non-violence from both the English and the Scottish.

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