Magnus who being raised to the throne by the voice of the nation, was confirmed thereon by the King of Norway. Magnus was the last Prince of the Norwegian line in Mona. He died in 1265, and was buried in the Abbeychurch of Rushen; which some years before, Richard, Bishop of the Isles, at the command of Magnus, had dedicated to the blessed Virgin. From the beginning of the tenth century, to the death of Magnus, the kingdom of Man (to which were usually annexed the Western Isles of Scotland) was governed by a race of Danish or Norwegian Princes; chiefly subject to the homage, and fre quently to the controul, of the Crown of Norway. But the period had now arrived, when these Isles should submit to another Conqueror. Norway for five hundred years had spread terror and devastation through Europe: had given Dukes to Normandy; Kings to Sicily and Man; and Conquerors to England. But, by these foreign conquests and establishments, her real strength was so exhausted, that she soon yielded to the more powerful kingdom of Denmark. Alexander the Third, King of Scotland, an active and politic Prince, soon regained the Hebrides, which had formerly been wrested from his ancestors by the Norwegian arms: and Mona, no longer protected by the Crown of Norway, in 1266, increased the honours of his Conquest. According to some traditions, Ivar, favoured by the widow of Magnus, assumed the government of Man; and after opposing with great heroism the Scottish invasion, fell with five hundred and thirty-seven gallant warriors, who scorned to survive the liberty of their country. For defending the sea-coast, Henry the Third, in 1236, granted Olave 40 Marks, l00 Carters of Corn, and 5 Tuns of Wine annually; so long as he should perform that service. As the power of the Norwegian Crown began to decline, the Scotch seemed to have meditated a descent on the Isles; which probably forced the Kings at this period to solicit the protection of England.
The Scottish Monarchy preserved her conquest of the Hebrides; but the Isle of Man was, after various contests, finally wrested from her by the English arms. Sir William Montacute, an affable and generous hero, who had married a descendant of Gødred Crovan, being furnished, by Edward the Third, with an army and navy to prosecute his lady's right, soon reduced the Island; and, by command of the English Monarch, in 1344, was crowned King of Man. But Montacute did not long retain this honour: his pecuniary exigencies compelling him to mortgage his kingdom to Anthony Beck, Bishop of Durham; a subtle and avaricious bigot, who soon after obtained a Grant of the Island from Richard the Second. On this Prelate's decease, the kingdom of Man returned to Montacute, now created Earl of Salisbury; who soon after sold it to Sir William Scroop, Chamberlain to the King. Scroop was an artful sycophant of Richard the Second; and to gratify his own avarice and ambition, deluded his Sovereign into those errors, which soon terminated in the ruin of both (4). Richard's fate is well known. Scroop, on Henry's assumption of the crown of England, was beheaded; and the Isle of Man was then granted by that Monarch to Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and his heirs; on condition that they should carry on their left shoulder, at the coronation of else English Monarchs, the sword with which Henry was girt when he entered England. To the power and influence of Percy, Henry was considerably indebted for the crown he had assumed. His services merited the gratitude of the King: but the honours he obtained, being either inferior to his merit or ambition, he boldly attempted to shake the throne, which he had so zealously contributed to establish. The vigilance and policy of Henry frustrated his perfidy: while the just resentment of the Monarch deprived him of this ample domain.
The Isle of Man was then, in the sixth yeare of the same reign, conferred on SIR JOHN STANLEY for life: and soon afterwards, (A. D.1406) he enjoyed a new and ample Grant (5), which extended to his heirs and successors; " to " be held of the crown of England by liege homage, and the service of rendering to the English Monarchs two Falcons on their coronation." By this liberality of Henry the Fourth, Sir John Stanley and his Descendants obtained a plenitude of regal power and dignity. Nor was this grant inauspicious to the Manks nation. It does not present a gloomy picture of the turbulence of heroes, or the devastation of conquerors: but a record of the People, limiting the prerogative of their Kings; combating the despotism of their Governors; and establishing a form of legislation, which, notwithstanding its imperfections, is to this day revered as the sacred constitution of the country.
The family of Stanley, a branch of the ancient Barons of Audeley or Aldelegh, in Staffordshire, derives from William, nephew of Lydulph, son of Adam, one of the Staffordshire Barons of Audeley. This William on receiving from his uncle Lydulph the estate of Stanleigh or Stoneleigh in Staffordshire, assumed the surname of Stanley. But the first of the local family was Robert, Lord of Lathom, who founded the priory of Burscough and who held Purbold, a member of the barony of Manchester in the time of Richard 1. and King John, 1189 and 1216.
His grandson, Sir Robert Lathom, by his son Richard, married Amicia, daughter and co-heir of Robert, Lord and Baron of Alfreton, Normanton, and Farnham in the reign of Edward I. and prior to the yeare 1252. Sir Robert, their son, married Katherine, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert de Knowsley, by whom the estate of Knowsley was brought into the Lathom family. From Sir Thomas, the eldest son by this marriage, sprang Sir Thomas de Lathom the younger, who, either by his first or second wife, had a daughter, Isabella, and she, becoming heiress and marrying Sir John Stanley, brought Lathom, Knowsley, and other large estates-the ancient possessions of Orin, the supposed ancestor of her race-into the family of Stanley. This marriage with the heiress of Lathom laid the foundation of the princely inheritance of the house of Stanley. The lucky Sir John, who thus acquired immense wealth, was descended from that William mentioned above who was the first to assume the family name. William Stanley, grandson of the first of that name, married Alice Massey, daughter of Sir Hamo Massey of Timperley. Their eldest son, William, married Margery, daughter and sole heiress of Sir William de Hooton, and became in right of his wife Lord of Hooton. From this knight is descended the elder branch of the Stanleys-the Stanleys of Hooton. His younger brother, Sir John Stanley, the fortunate gentleman who won the affection of the heiress of Lathom, as already narrated, founded that branch of the family from which the present Earls of Derby are descended.
For more than three centuries this family enjoyed the regal government of Man; yet in so long a period few of them possessed the ambition or generosity to visit their subjects: and when they conferred this honour, either their interests in the Island were threatened, or their personal safety in England endangered. Sir John Stanley, on whom the munificence of Henry the Fourth had conferred the royalty of this Island, died in 1414; and was succeeded by his son, SIR JOHN STANLEY; a man of a politic and penetrating genius. During the reign of his predecessor, the Island paid him homage as Heir-apparent; and after his father's decease, the anarchy of the state, and the discontents of his new subjects, again forced him to visit his kingdom. Previous to this period, the Laws of the Island resided in the breasts of their Deemsters. Under the pretext of witnessing the promulgation of these, but with the real design of asserting his prerogative, and intimidating the vulgar by a display of majesty, he convened, in 1417, the whole body of the people at the Tynwald . As King of Man he was invested with the insignia of royalty. The diadem flamed on his brow; and the regal mantle flowed in all its splendour. On the summit of the mount was placed a chair of state, canopied with crimson velvet, and richly embroidered with gold. In this chair he was enthroned; his face fronting the East, and a sword in his hand pointed toward Heaven. His Deemsters sate before him; and on the highest circle his Barons and beneficed men: on the middle circle were seated the twenty-four Keys, then stiled " the worthiest men " in the land;" and on the lowest circle the Knights, Esquires, and Yeomen; while the Commons stood without the circuit of the Hill, with three Clerks in their surplices. The Hill was guarded by the Coroners and Moars, armed with their swords and axes; and a proclamation was issued, by the Coroner of Glanfaba, denouncing those, who should in the time of Tynwald murmur in the King's presence. Accordingly, the people waited with an awful silence the future fate of their nation, in the promulgation of those laws which had for so many ages been industriously concealed from them. The venerable Deemsters then rising, with an audible voice, alternately published to this assembly several laws; which, though more an assertion of the King's prerogative, than a declaration of the rights of his subjects, were received by the people with reiterated acclamations.
From the marriage of Isabella with Sir John Stanley the destinies of the Lathoms became blended with those of the latter family, and the subsequent fortunes of the race thus formed, with the history of its most memorable members, is to be found traced in our sketch of " Knowsley and the Earls of Derby." Our immediate concern at present is with the former mansion of Lathom House, the principal incidents connected with its earlier history, the sieges to which it was subjected during the Civil War, and its final capture and demolition. This ancient and redoubtable stronghold was probably built by Robert de Lathom-grandson of the original Robert Fitz Henry who, in the thirty-second yeare of Edward I. (1304), had a charter of free warren and a market and fair at each of his manors of Lathom and Robye. This is the Lathom House spoken of by Camden, and named by him the chief seate of the Stanleys.
Sir Thomas, second Lord Stanley, married the mother of Henry, £f;.il of Richmond (afterwards Henry VII.), and thus became step father to the prince whom the Lancastrian victory of Bosworth Field was to place upon the throne of England. But this Lord Stanley, and his younger brother, Sir William Stanley, of Holt Castle, in Denbighshire, materially contributed to the happy result of Bosworth, The former had borne the mace at the coronation of Richard III., and had by that monarch been constituted Steward of the Household and Constable of England for life, besides being installed Knight of the Garter. At Lathom House King James I. stopped on the 18th and 19th August, 1617, on his progress from Edinburgh to London, and previous to his departure he here conferred the honour of knighthood on several gentlemen of this county.
Having thus, as he fondly imagined, established his prerogative on a permanent basis, he returned to England: and the people no longer dazzled, or intimidated by the splendour of royalty, revolted against the laws they had so recently accepted. Their turbulence once more compelled him to visit his kingdom. On his arrival, another convention was summoned in 1422 at the Tynwald; and in the same yeare a third assembly of the people was appointed at Castle Rushen. The laws which were then framed, by a bolder assertion and extension of prerogative, seemed solely intended to awe the nation into greater subjection. These he commanded to be recorded; and flattering himself that he had now subdued, what he deemed, the presumption of the people, again hastened to England.
Among other acts it was in the last assembly decreed, that the election of the Twenty-four Keys, or Representatives of the Nation, was solely dependent on the " will and pleasure" of the King. But this being deemed an encroachment on the ancient constitution of the country, raised such discontent and commotion, that Henry Byron, Lieutenant of the Isle, judged it prudent to summon, in 1430, a fourth convention at the Tynwald. On this memorable occasion, Thirty-six Freeholders, who had been previously elected by the people, were by the Nation presented to the Governor: and from this number he selected TWENTY-FOUR; being four men from every Sheading or Hundred of the Island. Sir John Stanley was then in England, but he soon afterwards confirmed this restoration of the House of Keys to their ancient independence.
He died about the yeare 1442, and was succeeded by his son, THOMAS; whom Henry the Sixth created Baron Stanley. He died in 1460: and his son and successor, THOMAS. received an increase to the honours of his family; being created Earl of Derby by Henry the Seventh. On his decease, in 1504, his grandson, THOMAS. succeeded to all his hereditary honours: he was the second Earl of Derby, and of the Stanley line, the fifth King of Man. However, to shelter himself from the jealous ambition of Henry the Eighth, he resigned the regal title: and though his successors imitated his policy, they enjoyed, as Lords of the Isle, all the power and dignity of princes. Thomas, dying in 1522, was succeeded by his son, EDWARD; in whose reign the Bishoprick of Sodor and Man, formerly united to the Province of Canterbury, was rendered subject to the metropolitical jurisdiction of York. His son and successor, HENRY, visited the Island about the yeare 1592: and having there calmed some commotions of his subjects, he returned to England; where he soon afterwards died. His eldest son, FERDINAND, did not long enjoy the wealth and honours he inherited from his father; being poisoned, in 1594, by one of his domestics.