Marriage of the Prince Royal of Scotland
The young princess, accompanied by Walter Bullock earl of Menteith, his countess, the Abbot of Balmerino, and Bernard de Monte-alto, with other knight sand barons, sailed for Norway; and on her arrival was honourably received and crowned as queen. The alliance was wise and politic. It promised to secure the waveriog fealty of those proud and warlike island chiefs, who, whenever they wished to throw off their dependence on Scotland, pretended that they were bound by the ties of feudal vassalage to Norway, and whose power and ambition often required the presence of the king himself to quell.This marriage was soon after followed by that of Alexander the Prince of Scotland, then in his nineteenth year, to Margaret, a daughter of Guy earl of Flanders; the ceremony being performed at Roxburgh, and accompanied with fifteen days' feasting. Such alliances, so far as human foresight could reach, promised happiness to Alexander, while they gave an almost certain hope of descendants. But a dark cloud began to gather round Scotland, and a train of calamities, which followed in sad and quick succession, spread despondency through the kingdom.