[4] Cumin was captured at the Battle of the Standard in August 1138, but was set free at the instigation of the papal legate, Alberic of Ostia.
With the death of Geoffrey, David tried to gain control of the English diocese by installing his own candidate into Durham, this being his chancellor, Cumin.
[3] Another supporter was William of Aumale, Earl of York, who attempted to marry one of his nieces to Cumin's nephew who held Northallerton in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
[2] Around this time his soldiers were described as by Simeon of Durham as "incessantly making forages; whatever they could lay their hands on they plundered....wherever these men passed it became a wilderness.
[6] In 1144, Cumin negotiated a settlement of the dispute, in which he relinquished his claims to Durham in exchange for lands to endow his nephew Richard.
Cumin was imprisoned for a time, but eventually returned to the south of England where he had the support of Gilbert Foliot, then Abbot of Gloucester.