[1346-1355 A.D.]

of which the warlike population had been long followers of this chivalrous family.

The consequences of these successes would probably have been a furious invasion of Scotland, had it depended entirely upon the will of Edward III. But the consent of the English barons was necessary, and they were little disposed to aid in a renewal of those expensive and destructive hostilities which had been so often and so fruitlessly waged against Scotland. The king of England, therefore, reluctantly consented to a truce with the Stewart, which he renewed from time to time, as he began to conceive designs of at once filling his coffers with a large ransom for his royal prisoner, David, and to secure a right of succession to the Scottish throne by other means than open war. With this view, the royal captive was treated with more kindness than at first, and (to sharpen, perhaps, his appetite for restoration to freedom and to his kingdom) he was allowed to visit Scotland on making oath and finding hostages to return in a time limited.

Impatient as his predecessor, William the Lion, David seems to have been ready to submit his kingdom to the sovereignty of Edward, and yield up once more the question of supremacy, in order to obtain his personal freedom. He appears even to have taken some steps for that purpose. But when the pulse of the Scottish nobles was sounded on this subject, they made an unanimous declaration, that though they would joyfully impoverish themselves to purchase with money the freedom of their sovereign, they would never agree to surrender, for that or any other object, the independence of their country. David was, therefore, obliged to return to his captivity.

A treaty for the ransom of David was eventually agreed upon by commissioners at Newcastle, for 90,000 marks sterling, which sum was to be paid up by instalments of 10,000 marks yearly. All the nobility of the kingdom, and all the merchants, were to become bound for the regular payment of these large sums. The greater part of the Scottish nobles thought this an exorbitant demand for the liberty of a prince of moderate talents, without heirs of his body, and attached to idle pleasures. While the estates were doubting whether or not the treaty should be ratified, the arrival of a brave French knight, de Garencière (or Garancières), with a small but selected body of knights and esquires, and a large sum of 40,000 moulons of gold, to be distributed among the Scots nobles on condition of their breaking the truce and invading England, decided their resolution. They readily adopted, at whatever future risk, the course which was attended with receiving money instead of that which involved their own paying it. Indeed, the Northumbrian borderers themselves made the first aggression, by invading and spoiling the lands of the earl of March. The Douglas and the earl of March determined on reprisals.

These Scottish nobles conducted their inroad as men well acquainted with the stratagems of border warfare.' The earls of Angus and March, assisted by the French auxiliaries, made themselves masters of the important town of Berwick, but failed to obtain possession of the castle. At this important crisis, the French, who had done various feats of arms under Eugene de Garencière, took their leave and returned home, disgusted with the service in Scotland. Their national valour induced them to face with readiness the dangers of the warfare; but their manners and habits made them impatient of the rough fare and fierce manners of their allies.

[Sir William Ramsay captured Sir Thomas Gray in an ambuscade at Nisbet.] Froissart gives at length their vivid impressions of the contrast of the rude north with

the courtly luxuries to which they were accustomed.]

[1356 A.D.]

THE LAST OF THE BALIOLS SURRENDERS THE CROWN TO EDWARD III

(1356 A.D.)

Edward III no sooner heard of the defeat at Nisbet and the surprise of Berwick, than he passed over from Calais, and appeared before the town with a great part of that veteran army which had been so often victorious in France, and large reinforcements, who emulated their valour. The Scots who had gained the town had had no time to store themselves with provisions, or make other preparations for defence. They capitulated, therefore, for permission to evacuate the town, of which Edward obtained possession by the terror of his appearance alone.

Berwick regained, it was now the object of Edward III to march into Scotland, and to put a final end to the interruptions which the Scottish wars so repeatedly offered to his operations in France. He determined, being now in possession of all means supposed adequate to the purpose, to make a final conquest of the kingdom, and forcibly unite it, as his grandfather had joined Wales, to the larger and richer portion of the island.

But as, like that grandfather, Edward III had not leisure to conquer kingdoms for other men, it was necessary for him to clear the way of the claims of Baliol, whom he had hitherto professed to regard as the legitimate king of Scotland. This was easily arranged, for Edward Baliol was, in the hands of Edward III, a far more flexible tool than his father had proved in those of Edward I. Being a mere phantom, whom Edward could summon upon the scene and dismiss at pleasure, he was probably very easily moulded to the purpose of the king of England, and of free consent and good-will underwent the ceremony of degradation to which his father, after failing in all attempts at resistance, had been compelled to submit, and which procured him the dishonourable nickname of Toom Tabard, or Empty Jacket. Edward Baliol appeared before Edward at Roxburgh attired in all the symbols of royalty, of which he formally divested himself, and laying his golden crown at the feet of the English king, ceded to him all right, title, and interest which he had or might claim in the sovereignty of Scotland. In guerdon of his pliancy, Baliol, when retiring into private life, was to be endowed by Edward III with a sum of 5,000 marks, and a stipend or annuity of 2,000 pounds sterling a year. With this splendid income Edward Baliol retired into privacy and obscurity, and is never again mentioned in history. The spirit of enterprise which dictated the invasion of Scotland in 1332 and the adventurous attack upon the Scottish encampment at Dupplin Muir, shows itself in no other part of his conduct. He died childless in the year 1363; and thus ended in his person the line of Baliol, whose pretensions had cost Scotland so dear.

EDWARD'S FUTILE INVASION (1356 A.D.)

The campaign which Edward designed should be decisive of the fate of Scotland now approached. The Scottish nobles, more wise in calamity than success, resolved to practise the lessons of defensive war which had been bequeathed to them by their deliverer, King Robert.

Edward no sooner entered Scotland than he found his troops in want of every species of supply, save what they bore along with them. Incensed at the difficulties and privations by which he was surrounded, Edward vented his wrath in reckless and indiscriminate destruction, burning every town and village which he approached, without sparing the edifices which were dedi

[1356-1357 A.D.]

cated to heaven and holy uses. The fine abbey church at Haddington, called the Lamp of Lothian, from the beauty of its architecture, was burned down, and the monastery, as well as the town itself, utterly destroyed. These ravages caused the period (February, 1356) to be long remembered by the title of the Burnt Candlemas.

Edward had expected to meet his victualling ships, which had been despatched to Berwick; but no sail appeared on the shipless seas. After waiting ten days among the ruins of Haddington, his difficulties increasing with every minute, Edward at length learned that a storm had dispersed his fleet, not one of which had been able to enter the firth of Forth. Retreat was now inevitable: the sufferings of the English soldiers rendered it disorderly, and it was attended with proportional loss. The Scots, from mountains, dingles, forests, and pathless wildernesses, approached the English army on every side, watching it as the carrion crows and ravens wait on a tainted flock, to destroy such as fall down through weakness. To avoid returning through the wasted province of Berwickshire, Edward involved. himself in the defiles of the upper part of Teviotdale and Ettrick Forest, where he suffered much loss from the harassing attacks of Douglas, and on one occasion very narrowly escaped being made prisoner.

DAVID II RETURNS FROM CAPTIVITY (1357 A.D.)

The failure of this great enterprise, the fifth in which the attempt of invasion had been foiled, seems to have induced Edward to resort to other means than those of open and avowed hostility for the establishment of his power in Scotland, an object which he conceived to be still within his reach. The temper of his royal prisoner David Bruce was now, by his long confinement in England, become well known to him, and he doubted not that by some agreement with the selfish prince he might secure that interest in Scotland' and its government of which the people were so jealous. A preliminary step to such an intrigue was the delivery of David from his long captivity, and the establishment of peace between the nations. By the final agreement at Berwick between the commissioners for each kingdom, October 3rd, 1357, David's ransom, augmented since the last treaty, was fixed at 100,000 marks, to be discharged by partial payments of 10,000 marks yearly. The nobles, churchmen, and burgesses of Scotland bound themselves to see the instalments regularly paid; and three nobles of the highest rank, who might, however, be exchanged for others of the same degree from time to time, together with twenty young men of quality, the son of the Stewart being included, were surrendered to England as hostages. Thus was David restored to freedom eleven years after having been made prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross. The terms, on the whole, were rather more severe than those proposed three years before, when the treaty was broken off by the interest of France.

The first thing, after his return, which marked the tendency of David's political feelings and attachments was his predilection for visits to England, and long residences there, which became so frequent as to excite a feeling among his subjects that they did but waste their substance in needlessly ransoming a sovereign who preferred the land of his captivity to his own dominions. A trifling incident also occurred soon after his liberation, which manifested an arrogant, vain, and unfeeling temper. As the people, eager to see their long-absent king, pressed into his presence with more affection than reverence, David snatched a mace from an attendant, and laying about

[1357-1363 A.D.] him with his own royal hand, taught his liege subjects in future to put their loyal feelings under more ceremonial restraint."

Meanwhile, under this change of measures Scotland gradually improved, and the people, unconscious of the hidden designs which threatened to bring her down to the level of a province of England, enjoyed the benefits and blessings of peace. The country presented a stirring and busy scene. Merchants from Perth, Aberdeen, Kirkaldy, Edinburgh, and the various towns and royal burghs, commenced a lucrative trade with England, and through that country with Flanders, Zealand, France, and other parts of the continent; wool, hides, sheep and lamb skins, cargoes of fish, herds of cattle, horses, dogs of the chase, and falcons, were exported.

Frequent and numerous parties of rich merchants, with caravans laden with their goods, and attended by companies of horsemen and squires, for the purposes of defence and security, travelled from all parts of Scotland into England and the continent. Edward furnished them with passports, or safe-conducts; and the preservation of these instruments, amongst the Scottish rolls in the Tower, furnishes us with an authentic and curious picture of the commerce of the times. On one memorable occasion, in the space of a single month, a party of sixty-five merchants obtained safe-conducts to travel through England, for the purposes of trade; and their warlike suite amounted to no less than two hundred and thirty horsemen.

Besides this, the Scottish youth, and many scholars of more advanced years, crowded to the colleges of England; numerous parties of pilgrims travelled to the various shrines of saints and martyrs, and were liberally welcomed and protected; whilst, in those Scottish districts which were still in the hands of the English, Edward, by preserving to the inhabitants their ancient customs and privileges, endeavoured to overcome the national antipathy and conciliate the affections of the people. Commissions were granted to his various officers in Scotland, empowering them to receive the homage and adherence of the Scots who had hitherto refused to acknowledge his authority; passports, and all other means of indulgence and protection, were withdrawn from such as resisted or became objects of suspicion; and every means was taken to strengthen the few castles which he possessed."

The weakness of David, who had shown himself willing, would his subjects have permitted him, to sacrifice to Edward the independence of Scotland, by acknowledging him as lord paramount, had encouraged the king of England to propose that, in place of the Stewart of Scotland, the grandson of Robert Bruce by his daughter Marjory, Lionel duke of Clarence, the third son of Edward III himself, should be called to succeed to the crown of Scotland. This project seems to have been kept closely concealed from the Scottish nation at large until the month of March, 1363, when David Bruce ventured to bring it himself before the estates of the Scottish parliament, convoked to meet at Scone. The king of Scotland had lately become a widower, by the death of Queen Joanna, during one of her visits to England.

David Bruce proposed to the estates of Scotland, "that, in the event of his dying without heirs, they should settle the crown on one of the sons of the king of England. He particularly recommended the duke Lionel of Clarence as a worthy object of their choice, hinted that this would insure a constant peace between the two nations of Britain, and become the means to induce the king of England to resign, formally and forever, all pretensions to the feudal supremacy, which had been the cause of such fatal struggles." The estates of Scotland listened with sorrow and indignation to such a proposition, coming as it did from the lips of their sovereign, the son of the

[1363-1368 A.D.]

heroic Robert Bruce. Instantly and unanimously they replied, "that they would never permit an Englishman to rule over them; that, by solemn acts of settlement sworn to in parliament, the Stewart of Scotland was called to the crown in default of the present king or issue of his body; that he was a brave man, and worthy of the succession: from which, therefore, they refused to exclude him, by preferring the son of an alien enemy."

King David received, doubtless, this blunt refusal, which necessarily inferred a severe personal reproach, with shame and mortification, but made no reply;, and the parliament, passing to other matters, appointed commissioners to labour at the great work of converting the present precarious truce between England and Scotland into a steady and permanent peace. But the proposal of altering the destination of the crown, although apparently passed from or withdrawn, remained tenaciously rooted in the minds of those whose interests had been assailed by it. The Stewart and his sons, with many of his kindred, the earls of March, Douglas, and other southern barons, assumed arms, and entered into bonds or leagues to prevent, they said, the alteration of the order of succession as fixed in the days of Bruce. The king armed in his turn, not, as he alleged, to enforce an alteration of the succession, but to restore good order, and compel the associated lords to lay down their arms, in which he was successful. The Stewart and his associates submitted themselves, awed by the unexpected spirit displayed by the king, and the numerous party which continued to adhere to him. Stewart himself, together with Douglas, March, and others associated in the league, were contented to renounce the obligation in open parliament, convened at Inchmurdoch, May 14th, 1363. The Stewart, upon the same occasion, swore on the gospels true liegedom and fealty to David, under the penalty of forfeiting not only his own life and lands, but his and his family's title of succession to the throne. In recompense of this prompt return to the duty of a subject, as well as to soothe the apprehensions for national independence which the proposal of the king had excited, the right of succession to the throne, as solemnly established in the Stewart and his sons, was fully recognised, and the earldom of Carrick, once a title of Robert Bruce, was conferred on his eldest son, afterwards Robert III.

THE KING'S RANSOM, AND EDWARD'S EFFORTS AT A PEACEFUL CONQUEST OF

SCOTLAND

The imprudent David had hardly ratified the proceedings of the parliament of Scone ere, forgetful of the danger he had lately incurred, he repaired to London, and renewed with Edward III those intrigues which had for their object the alteration of the succession. A new plan was now drawn up for this purpose, at a conference held between the two kings and certain selected counsellors, November 23rd, 1363. By this the king of England, Edward III, was himself to be declared heir of King David, in case the former should die without male issue. Twenty-seven conditions followed, the object of most of which seems to have been to reconcile the Scottish people to the sway of an English monarch, by imparting to them a share in the advantages of English trade, by ratifying to north Britain its laws and independence as a separate kingdom, and, above all, by discharging the ransom, which continued a heavy burden upon Scotland, of which only a tenth part had been yet paid. The national pride was to be flattered by the restoration of the fatal stone of inauguration, on which it was proposed that the king of England himself should be crowned at Scone, after the Scottish manner. All claim of suprem

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