John, King of England succession. Henry the Young King had been crowned King of England in 1170, but was not given any formal powers by his father; he was also promised Normandy and Anjou as part of his future inheritance. Richard was to be appointed the Count of Poitou with control of Aquitaine, whilst Geoffrey was to become the Duke of Brittany. At this time it seemed unlikely that John would ever inherit substantial lands, and he was jokingly nicknamed "Lackland" by his father. Henry II wanted to secure the southern borders of Aquitaine and decided to betroth his youngest son to Alais, the
Máel Coluim, son of the king of the Cumbrians of Strathclyde. The twelfth-century "Chronicon ex chronicis" identifies him as a "son of the king of the Cumbrians" (). He was likely closely related to—and possibly descended from—Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde (fl. 1018), a monarch attested in 1018 assisting the Scots against the Northumbrians at the Battle of Carham. Not only is the fate of Owain Foel uncertain following this Scottish victory, so too is the fate of the Cumbrian kingdom. In 1054, the Kingdom of Alba was invaded by Siward, Earl of Northumbria (died 1055) in an campaign noted by the ninth- to twelfth-century "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". According to