On This Day In History: William I ‘The Lion’ Was Crowned At Scone – On Dec 24, 1165

AncientPages.com - On December 24, 1165, William I, the second son of Henry of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, succeeded his brother Malcolm IV as King of Scotland.

He was known as "The Lion" because of his standard, a red lion rampant on a yellow background, which remains Scotland's royal standard today.

The nave of Arbroath Abbey, as observed from the west. Image credit: Don-music  - CC BY-SA 4.0

Many conflicts with Henry II of England initially marked his 50-year reign. William was captured and had to pay homage to Henry in exchange for his release and sign the humiliating Treaty of Falaise.

This treaty was an agreement made in December 1174 between the captive William I, King of Scots, and Henry II, King of England.

It required William to swear that Scotland would be subordinate to the English crown after that. English soldiers were also to occupy several key Scottish castles, and Scotland would be heavily taxed to pay for their upkeep.

Scotland was taxed heavily to cover the cost of the English forces' occupation of their country. Fifteen years later, Richard I, seeking funds for his crusades, released Scotland from this treaty in exchange for a considerable sum.

The photo is not credited. - The image has been scanned from History of Scottish seals from the eleventh to the seventeenth century, volume 1, page 109, by Walter de Gray Birch, published in 1905. This book was published in Stirling, Scotland. Public Domain

William developed a small but efficient central administrative bureaucracy. He granted charters to many burghs of Scotland and, in 1178, founded Arbroath Abbey, which was to become one of the wealthiest monasteries in Scotland, the site of the Declaration of Arbroath.

In 1182, Pope Lucius III bestowed on him the impressive papal honor of a Golden Rose. In 1188, Pope Clement III gave his protection to the Scottish Church. And in 1192, the Pope issued a Bull that recognized the independence of the Scottish Church (previously under the authority of the Archbishop of York), reporting directly to Rome.

William died on December 12, 1214, and was succeeded by his son, Alexander II.

Updated on December 21, 2022

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