PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT
The Scots manifesto of April 6, 1320, presented a united and firm front
to English pretensions and Papal intrigues. Yet there were traitors
in the camp. Little more than four months had elapsed when the Black
Parliament, held at Scone on August 20, was investigating a conspiracy
to kill King Robert and elevate to the throne Sir William de Soulis.
Sir William was a brother of Sir John, and a grandson of Sir Nicholas,
one of the Competitors in 1292. Edward's emissaries had been tampering
with the fidelity of King Robert's barons.
The plot still remains involved in obscurity. It was discovered to
the King, Barbour heard, by a lady. Gray, however, as well as John of
Tynmouth, states that the informant was Sir Murdoch de Menteith, who
had come over to Bruce in 1316-17, and remained on the Scots side till
his death some sixteen years later; but, apart from his name, there
seems no reason to suppose that he was in Edward's pay. Sir William was
arrested at Berwick, with 360 squires in his livery (says Barbour), to
say nothing of 'joly' knights. He openly confessed his guilt, and was
interned for life in Dumbarton Castle. The Countess of Strathearn was
also imprisoned for life. Sir David de Brechin, Sir John de Logie, and
Richard Brown a squire, were drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Sir Roger de
Mowbray opportunely died; but his body was brought up and condemned
to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded--a ghastly sentence considerately
remitted by the King. Sir Eustace de Maxwell, Sir Walter de Barclay,
Sheriff of Aberdeen, Sir Patrick de Graham, and two squires, Hamelin de
Troupe and Eustace de Rattray, were fully acquitted. Soulis, Brechin,
Mowbray, Maxwell, and Graham had all attended the Arbroath parliament,
and put their seals to the loyal manifesto.
It is far from evident why Soulis escaped with imprisonment while
Brechin and others were sent to the gallows. Robert may have judged
that Soulis was a tool rather than prime mover of the plot; he may
have regarded the long service of the culprit; he may have softened
at the recollection of his brother Sir John's death by his own
brother Edward's side. Brechin, no doubt, had considerable services
to his credit. But his record shows grievous instability, and Robert
probably had sound reasons for putting a period to his dubieties. His
fate aroused painful regrets. Barbour narrates that Sir Ingram de
Umfraville openly censured the sight-seers at his friend's execution,
obtained leave to give the body honourable burial, and prepared to quit
Scotland, telling the King he had no heart to remain after seeing so
good a knight meet with such a fate. This story of Barbour's has been
too hastily discredited.
The position of Bruce remained unshaken. On November 17, Edward
instructed various high officers to receive to his peace, 'as secretly
as they could,' such Scots as felt their consciences troubled by the
papal excommunication; and, on December 11, the Archbishop of York was
empowered to release all such renegades from the censure of the Church.
Sir Ingram de Umfraville was re-established in his Northumberland
estates (January 26), and Sir Alexander de Mowbray (February 18) and
Sir William de Mohaut (May 20) obtained Edward's pardon. But Bruce was
practically unaffected by Edward's subterranean diplomacy.
Openly, Edward maintained due observance of the truce, and by the
middle of September 1320, had taken steps towards a final peace. The
negotiations begun at Carlisle at Michaelmas were resumed at Newcastle
on February 2, and continued for nine weeks; papal commissioners being
present, and French envoys fostering the cause of peace. But the
deliberations were fruitless. The Earl of Richmond's production of a
mass of old parchments to demonstrate Edward's overlordship of Scotland
indicates how little the English King and commissioners realised the
facts of the situation.
Throughout the summer and autumn of 1321, Edward was in hot water with
the barons of the Welsh border. At the July parliament at Westminster,
he was compelled to banish the Despensers, and to send home the
turbulent lords with pardon. These troubles prevented him from sending
the promised envoys to 'enlighten the consciences' of the Pope and his
Cardinals as to the wickedness of the Scots. On August 25, however,
he wrote the usual denunciatory generalities, and yet again impressed
on his Holiness the necessity of dealing severely with Bruce and his
adherents. The summons of Bruce and his four Bishops had meanwhile been
postponed to September 1; but even then they did not compear. Edward's
envoys, at last despatched on December 8, were still in very good
time. Having taken Leeds Castle in Kent and driven back the marauding
Marchers to the Welsh border, he informed the Pope that his domestic
troubles were settling down, and, in view of an expedition on the
expiry of the Scots truce at Christmas, he appealed for a subsidy from
Rome. But already Lancaster was stretching one hand to Bruce and the
other to the malcontents of the Welsh March.
The Marchers rose, but Edward proved himself the stronger, and by the
third week of January received the submission of the Mortimers. On
February 8, he tried conciliation with Lancaster, and also authorised
Harcla to treat with Bruce for 'some sort of final peace.' Lancaster,
however, received the Welsh insurgents, and harassed Edward's advance,
but was compelled to fall back on his castle of Pontefract.
Lancaster's negotiations with the Scots had begun as early as December.
His emissary, Richard de Topcliffe, an ecclesiastic, had obtained a
safe-conduct from Douglas (December 11) to visit Jedburgh, and one
from Randolph (January 15) to come to him wherever he could find him.
Randolph was then at Corbridge on a swift raid, while Douglas and the
Steward advanced, the one towards Hartlepool and the other towards
Richmond, harrying or taking ransom. Immediately on the junction
of Hereford and his Marchers with Lancaster at Pontefract, in the
beginning of February, before they went south to oppose Edward's
advance, the rebel chiefs despatched John de Denum with a letter to
Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas, 'or which of them he shall soonest find,'
asking an appointment for a final agreement. The precise terms proposed
were presently found on the dead body of Hereford at Boroughbridge.
Bruce, if not detained by illness or other serious cause, and Randolph
and Douglas, with their power, shall join the Earls in their enterprise
'in England, Wales and Ireland, and with them live and die in the
maintenance of their quarrel, without claiming conquest or dominion in
the said lands of England, Wales, and Ireland.' The Earls, on their
part, shall never aid Edward against the Scots, and, their quarrel
ended, shall do their best to establish and maintain peace between the
two countries on the footing of independence. Fortunately for Edward,
John de Denum lost ten days in his peregrinations. He missed Douglas
on February 7, and was unable to obtain his reply till February 17.
On February 16, Randolph, then at Cavers, near Hawick, had issued a
safe-conduct for Sir John de Mowbray and Sir Roger de Clifford to come
to him in Scotland. In either case, the ten days were gone. But for
this accident, the history of the English crown would probably have
been turned into another channel.
The approach of the royal troops decided the insurgents to retire
towards the Scots, to Lancaster's castle of Dunstanburgh. At
Boroughbridge, however, they were confronted by Harcla on March 16, and
disastrously defeated. Hereford was slain on the bridge; Lancaster was
captured, tried, and beheaded. Harcla was created Earl of Carlisle.
'Do not trouble yourself,' wrote Edward to the Pope (March 25), 'to
proclaim a truce between me and the Scots. Formerly some exigencies
inclined me to a truce, but now, thank God, these no longer exist, and
I am constrained, by God's help, to war them down for their broken
faith.'
Edward at once summoned his army to muster at Newcastle by the second
week in June; but early in May he postponed the assembly till July 24.
By that time, however, the Scots had completed another destructive
raid. Before mid June, a force had crossed the western March; and in
the beginning of July, Robert himself, with Randolph and Douglas,
penetrated beyond Preston and ravaged the length and breadth of
Lancashire and the archdeaconry of Richmond, burning Lancaster town and
castle 'so entirely that nothing is left,' and carrying off what cattle
had not been driven for safety into the remoter parts of Yorkshire.
They do not seem to have encountered local opposition. As they
returned, they lay five days before Carlisle, without drawing forth the
prudent Harcla; and on July 24, they struck their tents for home.
The English army followed them, entering Scotland by the eastern March
in the first days of August. Robert withdrew both men and cattle from
the Merse and the Lothians, either to the strongholds or beyond the
Forth, and lay with his army at Culross. Barbour tells how an English
foraging party found but one lame cow at Tranent: 'It is the dearest
beef I ever saw yet,' remarked Warenne, 'it must have cost £1000 and
more.' Edward himself subsequently wrote that he had 'found neither
man nor beast' in the Lothians. The English fleet failed to bring up
provisions, and, on August 23, Edward found himself with some 7000
men at Leith, in like predicament with his father before the battle
of Falkirk. He was starved into retreat. Immediately the Scots hung
upon his rear, and Douglas cut up an advance company of 300 men near
Melrose. The English had sacked Holyrood; they now sacked Melrose
Abbey, killing the prior and others; and they burnt to the ground
Dryburgh and other monasteries. 'But,' says Fordun, 'God rewarded them
therefor.'
Bruce instantly followed up his advantage. By the middle of September,
the Scots were before Bamborough and Norham. Bamborough bought off the
invaders; and on September 26, Sir Roger de Horsley, the constable,
as well as the constables of Warkworth, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick
castles, received a severe wigging from Edward for not showing fight
against such an inferior force. Norham was defended by Sir Thomas Gray
the elder against an inadequate body of 200 Scots. Edward displayed
great energy of rebuke and counsel, while Robert steadily advanced
southwards. On October 14, the English army barred the way on the ridge
of Blackhowe Moor between Biland and Rievaulx; but Bruce's rapid action
enabled him to strike a decisive blow before the Earl of Carlisle, who
was at Boroughbridge with 2000 (surely not, as some say, 20,000) horse
and foot, could effect a junction, if indeed he really meant to do so.
Douglas at once offered to storm the English position, and Randolph,
leaving his own division, led the way up the hill as a volunteer. The
Scots were strongly opposed by Sir Ralph de Cobham, who was held to
be the best knight of his day in England, and by Sir Thomas Ughtred,
constable of Pickering, whose gallantry in the fight raised him to
a higher position than even Cobham. The assailants were grievously
embarrassed by stones rolled down upon them and by the fire of the
archers. Robert supported them by sending 'the Irishry,' the Argyll
Highlanders, and the men of the Isles to scramble up the crags in
flank. At the top they were confronted by the main body under the
Earl of Richmond, but they charged with such impetuosity as broke
the English ranks and scattered them in flight; Gray even uses the
conventional expression, 'like a hare before hounds.' 'In these
days,' says John of Bridlington, 'the Lord took away the hearts of
the English.' Richmond was captured and held to heavy ransom (14,000
marks). Lord Henri de Sully and other French knights surrendered to
Douglas; by arrangement with whom, King Robert soon released them by
way of diplomatic compliment to the King of France. Edward narrowly
escaped from Biland Abbey and fled through the night to Bridlington,
whence the prior conducted him to Burstwick. Sir Walter the Steward
pursued as far as York. Robert occupied the abbeys of Biland and
Rievaulx and divided the spoils of the English camp and the king's
baggage. Then, making Malton his headquarters, he wasted Yorkshire at
his will, taking ransoms from Ripon, Beverley, and other towns, and
despoiling religious houses; and he returned, with immense booty, to
keep Christmas in Scotland.
Three calamitous invasions in one year might well have induced
reflection in a statesmanlike mind. They merely excited Edward's
impotent eagerness for revenge. But the Earl of Carlisle, as doughty
a warrior as the best, saw that the contest was both hopeless and
ruinous; and on January 3, 1322-23, he was closeted with Randolph at
Lochmaben. There and then they drafted an agreement. The fundamental
provisions were: (1) that each realm should have its own national
King; (2) that the Earl should aid King Robert in maintaining Scotland
against all gainsayers; and (3) that King Robert and the Earl should
maintain the realm of England under the direction of a council of
twelve, six to be chosen by each party. Then, if the King of England
should assent to these conditions within a year, King Robert was to
found an abbey in Scotland, of 500 marks rent, for the souls of the men
slain in war, and to pay an indemnity of 40,000 marks within ten years;
and the King of England was to have the marriage of the heir male of
the King of Scotland under advice of the council of twelve.
Harcla at once published the terms of the agreement, and they were
received with intense satisfaction on the Border. He appears to have
acted in concert with the chief officers in these parts, and to have
believed, or at least professed, that he acted within the terms of
his commission. Edward, however, on January 8, ordered that no truce
be made without his knowledge, and summoned Harcla to his presence;
and on January 19, he sent a copy of the Lochmaben indenture to his
Council at York, with the comment that it appeared to him 'fraught with
great danger.' He had already (January 13) instituted a search of the
Chancery rolls for any authorisation to Harcla to treat with the Scots.
On February 25, Harcla was arrested in Carlisle Castle; and on March
3, he was tried, condemned, and barbarously executed. The charge of
treason, though formally too well grounded, was essentially baseless;
otherwise it is unintelligible that Harcla should have limited his
measures of self-defence to the procurement of the formal oaths of the
northern sheriffs to stand by him 'in all things touching the common
good of England and the said peace.' His action was simply the action
of a strong, business-like, and patriotic man, forgetful of finesse.
His mistake lay in omitting to obtain express authority to treat, and
in neglecting either to veil his contempt for the King, or to provide
against his natural resentment, inflamed as it was sure to be by the
envy of personal enemies.
The death of Harcla, the keenest and ablest warrior in England, did
not remove the difficulties from Edward's path. In a fortnight he was
treating for peace--'was frightened, and begged for peace,' according
to the _Flores Historiarum_--though in his own perversely maladroit
fashion. On March 21, Robert wrote to Lord Henri de Sully, Edward's
envoy, in substance this:
The King of England's letter, of which you sent me a copy
yesterday, bears that he has granted a cessation of arms to the
people of Scotland at war with him. This language is very strange
to me. In former truces taken between us, I was named principal
of the one part, as he was of the other part, although he did
not vouchsafe to me the title of King. But on this occasion, no
more mention is made of me than of the least person in my realm;
so that, in case of a breach, I should be no more entitled than
another to demand redress. Do not be surprised, then, that I do
not agree to this truce. If, however, it were put before me in
the proper way, I should willingly sanction it, as I promised
you. I send you a copy of the King's letter; for I imagine you
have not seen it, or, if you have, you have paid but scant
attention to its terms.
After some futile negotiations at Newcastle, a truce was at last
concluded at Bishopsthorpe, near York, to last till June 12, and for
thirteen years thereafter. On May 30, 1323, Edward ordered it to be
proclaimed throughout England; and on June 7, Robert ratified it at
Berwick. Each party was to evacuate all lands of the other by June
12; neither party was to build or repair fortresses on the March,
excepting constructions in progress; and Edward was to interpose no
obstacle to any attempt of Robert and his friends to obtain absolution
at Rome. During the negotiations, Edward had been summoning his forces
in England, Ireland, and Gascony, in the belief that the Scots were
really purposing another invasion; but in the first days of June he
countermanded the muster.
King Robert was sincerely anxious to set himself and his people right
with the Church. He despatched Randolph as his ambassador. On his way
south, Randolph, with the Bishop of St Andrews, treated with Edward's
commissioners for a final peace; and, at any rate, on November 25,
he got Edward to write to the Pope and the Cardinals in favour of a
grant of absolution to the Scots during the peace negotiations. How
Randolph fared at Rome we learn from a letter of the Pope's to Edward,
dated January 1, 1323-24. First, he begged for the usual indulgences
necessary to enable him to fulfil his vow to go on a crusade. The Pope
refused: there would be little good to the Holy Land or to his own
soul, while he lay under the Church's censure; but the request might
be reconsidered if he would effect a permanent peace with England
and satisfy the Church. Secondly, Randolph prayed for safe conducts
for Bruce's envoys, presently to be sent to procure reconciliation
with the Church. The Pope refused, for the present, but he agreed to
direct the usual application to the princes on the line of route.
Thirdly, Randolph put forward Robert's readiness to join the King of
France in his proposed crusade, or, if the King of France did not go,
then to proceed himself or send Randolph instead. The Pope replied
that reconciliation with the Church was an indispensable condition
precedent. Fourthly, Randolph declared that King Robert and himself
desired above all things to obtain peace and reconciliation, and that
it really lay with His Holiness to bring their ardent desires to
fruition. Let him address himself to Robert as King, and Robert would
readily respond to his wishes; it was the reservation of the royal
title that blocked the way. The Pope consented to address Robert by the
royal title.
Edward was keenly annoyed. The Pope, after setting forth the facts of
Randolph's interview, had earnestly begged Edward not to take it ill
that he had consented to address Robert as King. It could do him no
harm; it could do Robert no good. He was intensely anxious for peace,
and, if he did not give Robert the royal title, Robert would not look
at his letters any more than he had done before. But Edward did not
agree. He bluntly urged that the concession would prejudice his right
and his honour, bring discredit on the Church, and enable Bruce to make
capital of his wrong-doing. He recapitulated his claims to Scotland,
contended that no change should be introduced during the truce, and
pointed out that the concession would be popularly construed as a papal
confirmation of Bruce's title. Let the title therefore be reserved as
before.
Then Edward played another card: he invited Edward de Balliol, son of
ex-King John, to come over to England. The safe-conduct was issued on
July 2; and it was not Edward's fault that Balliol postponed his visit.
Meantime, in the midst of conflict with France over Aquitaine, Edward
continued negotiations with Robert for final peace. But no agreement
could be reached. The true cause appears in Edward's letter of March
8, 1324-25, to the Pope. There had recently been a meeting of envoys
at York, but the Scots would not yet budge from their old position,
and 'I could not meet their wishes without manifest disherison of my
royal crown.' His envoys had proposed to refer the knotty point to the
decision of His Holiness; but 'this they absolutely declined.' The
Scots, indeed, had apparently stiffened their demands. According to
the Monk of Malmesbury, they had claimed not only the independence of
Scotland, but also the north of England down to the gates of York (by
right of conquest), and the restoration of Bruce's manor of Writtle in
Essex, as well as of the famous coronation stone.
In May, Scots envoys were again on the road to Rome, and Edward wrote
to the Pope, informing him that he was sending ambassadors to guard his
own interests. Again, on September 23, he wrote to the Pope and the
Cardinals urging them not to recall the sentences of excommunication
till the Scots should surrender Berwick to him--Berwick, captured
treacherously in defiance of the papal truce. The Pope consented,
and on October 18 Edward expressed effusive thanks. But he reaped no
advantage from the diplomatic victory: in three months he was deposed
by his Parliament for notorious incompetence.
On January 25, 1326-27, Edward, Prince of Wales, a boy of fifteen,
was proclaimed King. He presently confirmed the thirteen years' truce
(February 15), and appointed envoys to treat for final peace (March 4).
The meeting was to take place on the March on May 17. But, on April 5,
Edward III. summoned his power to be at Newcastle by May 18, averring
that he had sure information that Robert was massing his troops on the
Border with the intention of invading England if his own terms of peace
were not conceded. It seems much more likely that Robert's action was
purely precautionary in view of the disturbed condition of the English
March; but a hostile construction was favoured by the fact that many
of the most turbulent fellows in Northumberland were Scots. On the
other hand, Barbour is likely enough to be right in asserting that
Robert was unable to obtain redress for the seizure of Scots vessels in
English and Flemish waters; and it may be, as he says, that for this
reason Robert openly renounced the truce. At the same time, Robert
must have heard of Edward's warlike preparations by land and sea. This
may be what Fordun has in view when he says that the duplicity of the
English was at length laid bare. Edward's summons was issued on April
5, and Froissart places Robert's formal defiance 'about Easter' (April
12); but this date must be nearly two months too early. One thing is
certain: Robert was in no aggressive mood, and would not have resumed
hostilities without really serious provocation.
About the middle of June a body of Scots crossed the Border, and on
July 4 they were at Appleby, almost in touch with the Earl Marshal.
Edward was at York, where he had been joined by Sir John of Hainault,
Lord of Beaumont, with a body of heavy cavalry, between whom and the
English archers much bad blood had been spilt in the streets of York.
His army was very large--Barbour says 50,000; Froissart says upwards
of 40,000 men-at-arms; Murimuth says three times as large and strong
as the Scots army--a force difficult alike to handle and to feed in a
rough and wasted country, especially in face of the Scots veterans. On
July 13, Edward had reached Northallerton, and had learned that the
Scots intended to mass their forces near Carlisle.
By this time the Scots army, under Randolph and Douglas, had ravaged
Coquetdale and penetrated into the Episcopate of Durham. When Edward
reached Durham city, he was apprised of the passage of the Scots by a
track of smoking ruins and devastated fields. He decided to bar their
return. Advancing with his cavalry, he crossed the Tyne at Haydon
Bridge (July 26), leaving his infantry on the south side. But the Scots
did not come, and between drenching rains and lack of provisions his
troops were worn out in body and in temper. The men, says Froissart,
'tore the meat out of each other's hands'; and 'great murmurs arose
in the army.' After a week's distressful experience, he determined to
seek the enemy southwards, and offered a reward of £100 a year in land,
as well as knighthood, to the man that should bring him in sight of
them 'on hard and dry ground' fit for battle. He crossed the Tyne at
Haltwhistle fords, losing many men in the swollen river. On the fourth
day, Thomas de Rokeby reported the Scots, and brought Edward face to
face with them on the Wear.
The Scots were strongly posted on a rising ground on the south bank:
Froissart numbers them 24,000; Barbour, much more probably, 10,000.
Douglas made a reconnaissance, and reported a strong army in seven
divisions. 'We will fight them,' cried Randolph, 'were they more'; but
Douglas counselled patience. Presently Edward sent heralds, offering
to retire far enough to allow the Scots room to array themselves for
battle on the north side on the morrow; or, if the Scots preferred, to
accept like terms on the south side. It was an unconscious repetition
of the offer of Tomyris, Queen of Massagetai, to Cyrus, on the Araxes
river. But the Scots, evidently too weak to fight in a plain field,
replied that they would do neither the one thing nor the other; that
the King and his barons saw they were in his kingdom and had burnt and
pillaged wherever they had passed, and that, if this displeased the
King, he might come and amend it; for they would tarry there as long
as they pleased.' That night the English lay on their arms. Part of
the Scots also kept themselves in readiness, while the rest retired
to their huts, 'where they made marvellously great fires, and, about
midnight, such a blasting and noise with their horns that it seemed as
if all the great devils from hell had been come there.'
The next two days the Scots and English lay watching each other across
the Wear. On the first day, a thousand English archers, supported by
men-at-arms, attempted to draw the Scots. Douglas, planting an ambush
under the Earl of Mar (who had at length joined the Scots) and his
own son Archibald of Douglas, rode forward, with a cloak over his
armour, and gradually gave way to their onset, till he had enticed them
within reach of the ambush. At Douglas's signal, the ambush broke upon
the pursuers, and slew 300 of them. Next day, the English put 1000
horsemen in ambush in a valley behind the Scots position, and delivered
a front attack. Douglas was advancing to repel the assailants when he
was informed of the force in rear, and instantly drew back his men.
'They flee,' cried some Englishmen; but John of Hainault explained the
manoeuvre, and, according to Barbour, pronounced the Scots captain fit
'to govern the Empire of Rome.'
On the following morning--probably August 3--the Scots were gone.
They had moved about two miles along the river, and occupied a still
stronger position in Stanhope Park. In the afternoon the English were
again facing them. About midnight, Douglas, with 200 horsemen--Barbour
says 500--crossed the Wear, and rode boldly into the English camp.
'No guard, by St George!' he exclaimed, on being discovered, as if he
were an English officer. He made right for the King's pavilion, and,
shouting his war-cry, actually 'cut two or three of its cords.' The
King most narrowly escaped capture or death. Douglas got clear with
but insignificant loss, and, collecting his men by a prearranged note
of his horn, he returned to camp. Randolph, who was waiting under
arms, ready for rescue or aid, eagerly asked the news. 'Sir,' replied
Douglas, 'we have drawn blood.'
The success of Douglas suggested to Randolph that a larger party might
have inflicted defeat on the English. Douglas had his grave doubts.
Randolph again proposed a pitched battle. Douglas objected, in view of
the disastrous effects in case of defeat. No; better treat the English
as the fox treated the fisherman. The fox had entered the fisherman's
cottage and was eating a salmon. The fisherman discovered him, and
stood on the threshold with a drawn sword in his hand. The fox, seeing
the fisherman's cloak on the bed, dragged it into the fire. Thereupon
the fisherman rushed to save his cloak, and the fox bolted out at
the unguarded door. Douglas, in fact, had planned a mode of escape,
and, though somewhat wet ('sumdele wat'), it would serve. Randolph
gave way. So the Scots made merry in the day time, burnt great fires
at night, and blew their horns 'as if all the world were theirs.'
Occasional skirmishes took place, and the English drew round the Scots
on both sides, leaving their rear open on a morass believed to be
impassable. Meantime Douglas made his preparations.
It was probably on the night of August 6-7 that Douglas led the Scots
army out of Stanhope Park. He took them across the morass, about a mile
wide, over a causeway of branches, which the rear demolished as they
passed. The men led their horses, and only a few baggage animals stuck
fast. By daybreak the Scots were far on the way homewards. The English
had been completely outwitted. On the day before, they had captured a
Scots knight, who told them that orders had been issued 'for all to be
armed by vespers and to follow the banner of Douglas,' he did not know
where. The English lords suspected a night attack, and remained under
arms. In the morning, two Scots trumpeters, who had been left to blow
misleading blasts, were brought into camp. 'The Scots,' they said, 'are
on the march home, since midnight; they left us behind to give you the
information.' The English, fearing a ruse, continued to stand to their
arms till their scouts confirmed the mortifying intelligence.
The Scots were soon met by a considerable body of their countrymen
under the Earl of March and Sir John the Steward. They all hurried back
to Scotland by the western march. The English retired to Durham, and
then to York, where the army was disbanded on August 15. Edward is said
to have shed bitter tears over the collapse of his expedition. Some of
the chroniclers allege unsupported charges of treachery, and mistakenly
accuse Mortimer of accepting a heavy bribe to wink at the escape of the
Scots. But the plain fact is that the English were outgeneralled at
every turn.
It was neither age nor sickness, as the chroniclers allege, that
prevented King Robert from leading the Weardale foray. He was away
in Ireland, creating a diversion. On July 12, at Glendun in Antrim,
he granted a truce for a year to Henry de Maundeville, the English
seneschal of Ulster, and his people, on condition of their delivering
a certain quantity of wheat and barley at Lough Larne. The expedition
does not seem to have been directly prosperous; the Irish, whom he had
expected to rise and join him in Ulster, having apparently broken faith.
Immediately on the return of the Scots from Weardale, King Robert
passed into Northumberland. He sent Randolph and Douglas to besiege
Alnwick Castle; set down another division before Norham Castle;
and, with a third body, himself overran the neighbourhood. He even
granted away the English lands to his chief followers. The attempt
on Alnwick was unsuccessful, and, the open country having bought a
truce, the leaders concentrated on Norham. On October 1, while Bruce
still lay before Norham, Edward appointed commissioners to treat with
him for final peace. After negotiations at Newcastle and York, the
treaty was signed by Robert at Edinburgh on March 17; confirmed by
the English Parliament on April 24; and finally, on May 4, signed
by Edward at Northampton. Edward conceded in the fullest terms the
absolute independence of Scotland as the marches stood in the days of
Alexander III., and agreed to deliver up all extant documents relating
to the overlordship, and in any case to annul them; and he consented
to aid Robert to obtain the revocation of the papal processes. Robert
agreed to pay £20,000 sterling in three years. And the peace was to be
cemented by the marriage of David, the Scots heir-apparent, a boy of
four, with Joan, King Edward's sister, a girl of six. In England, the
peace was freely stigmatised as 'shameful,' and the marriage as 'base';
partly on patriotic grounds, partly from dislike of Queen Isabella and
Mortimer, who guided the policy of the King. The news of the death of
the King of France no doubt gave an impulse to the English decision,
for it would be necessary for Edward to have his hands free to assert
his claim to the succession. The conditions were alike 'honourable for
the Scots and necessary for England.'