Conferences at Salisbury

The place appointed was Salisbury; but previous to the meeting of the plenipotentiaries, Edward had secretly procured a dispensation from the pope for the marriage of his son, the Prince of Wales, to the young Princess of Norway, as the youthful pair were within the forbidden degrees. No hint, however, of this projected union, was yet suffered to transpire; and the commissioners met at Salisbury, where a treaty was drawn up, in which no direct allusion was made to the marriage, although it included provisions which evidently bore upon this projected union.

It was there stipulated by the commissioners for Norway, that the young queen should be sent into the kingdom of Scotland or England, untrammelled by any matrimonial engagement, before the feast of All Saints in the next year; and that on this first condition being fulfilled, the King of England should send her into Scotland, also free from all matrimonial engagements, as soon as he was assured that this kingdom was in such a state of tranquillity as to afford her a quiet residence. This wide and convenient clause evidently gave Edward the power of detaining the heretrix of the crown for an almost indefinite period in England; and its being inserted in this treaty, proves, that although Bruce, by accepting the office of commissioner, appeared to have abandoned his son's claim to the crown, Edward was suspicious that the interest which looked to a male successor to the crown was still pretty high in Scotland. By the third article, the States of Scotland undertook, before receiving their queen, to find security to the King of England, that she should not marry without his counsel and consent, and that of the King of Norway. The Scottish commissioners next engaged for themselves, that the quiet of the kingdom of Scotland should be established before the arrival of the queen, so that she might enter her dominions with safety, and continue therein at her pleasure.

With regard to the removal of guardians, or public officers in Scotland, it was determined, that should any of these be suspected persons, or troublesome to the King of Norway or the Queen of Scotland, they should be removed, and better persons appointed in their place, by the advice of the "-good men" of Scotland and Norway, and of persons selected for this purpose by the King of England; and it was stipulated that these English commissioners were ultimately to decide all disputes regarding public measures, which might occur between the ministers of Scotland and Norway, as well as all differences arising amongst the Scottish ministers themselves. It was finally agreed, that in the middle of the ensuing Lent, there should be a meeting of the Estates of Scotland at Roxburgh; by which time the Scottish plenipotentiaries engaged, that every thing to which they had now consented should be fulfilled and ratified in the presence of the commissioners of England.

Of this convention three copies were made: one in Latin, which was transmitted to the King of Norway; and two in French, retained for the use of the Scots and English. At this period, the majority of the nobility of both countries were of NormanFrench extraction, and Norman-French was alike in England and Scotland the language in which state affairs were generally conducted.

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