William the Lion, seeking to recover the northern English counties that had been Scotland's during the reign of David I, besieged Carlisle. The city had been the Scottish capital during the Anarchy but returned to England when Henry II compelled Malcolm IV to surrender it in 1157. Carlisle's walls held and William failed to retake it — setting the stage for his capture at Alnwick the following year. William's 1173-74 campaign was militarily disastrous despite initial optimism.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near Cumberland