The closing years of Alexander’s reign were overshadowed by domestic misfortunes and the prospects of difficulties about the succession.  His wife, Margaret of England, had died in 1275, and was followed to the tomb by their two sons, Alexander and David.  A delicate girl, Margaret, then alone represented the direct line of the descendants of William the Lion.  Margaret was married, when still young, to Eric, King of Norway, and died in 1283 in giving birth to her only child, a daughter named Margaret.  No children were born of Alexander’s second marriage; and in March, 1286, the king broke his neck, when riding by night along the cliffs of the coast of Fife.  Before his death, however, he persuaded the magnates of Scotland to recognise his granddaughter as his successor.  The Maid of Norway, as Margaret was called, was proclaimed queen, and the administration was put into the hands of six guardians, who from 1286 to 1289 carried on the government with fair success.  As time went on, the baronage got out of hand and a feud between the rival south-western houses of Balliol and Bruce foreshadowed worse troubles.

William Eraser, Bishop of St. Andrews, the chief of the regents, visited Edward in Gascony and urged the necessity of action.  The best solution of all problems was that the young Queen of Scots should be married to Edward of Carnarvon, a boy a few months her junior.  But both the Scots nobles and the King of Norway were jealous and suspicious, and any attempt to hurry forward such a proposal would have been fatal to its accomplishment.  However, negotiations were entered into between England, Scotland, and Norway.  In 1289 the guardians of Scotland agreed to nominate representatives to treat on the matter.  Edward took up his quarters at Clarendon, while his agents, conspicuous among whom was Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, negotiated with the envoys of Norway and Scotland.  On November 6 the three powers concluded the treaty of Salisbury, by which they agreed that Margaret should be sent to England or Scotland before All Saints’ Day, 1290, “free and quit of all contract of marriage or espousals”.  Edward promised that if Margaret came into his custody he would, as soon as Scotland was tranquil, hand her over to the Scots as “free and quit” as when she came to him; and the “good folk of Scotland” engaged that, if they received their queen thus free, they would not marry her “save with the ordinance, will, and counsel of Edward and with the agreement of the King of Norway”.  In March, 1290, a parliament of Scots magnates met at Brigham, near Kelso, and ratified the treaty.  Fresh negotiations were begun for the marriage of Edward of Carnarvon and the Queen of Scots, resulting in the treaty of Brigham of July 18, which Edward confirmed a month later at Northampton.  By this Edward agreed that, in the event of the marriage taking place, the laws and customs of Scotland should be perpetually maintained.  Should Margaret die without issue, Scotland was to go to its natural heir, and in any case was to remain “separate and divided from the realm of England”.