+Source.+--_The Book of Pluscarden_, pp. 168 _et seqq._ (_Historians
of Scotland_, vol. x.)
After the battle lost (by the Scots) at Falkirk, the King of England did
not for the nonce personally come north of the Firth of Forth; but he
sent a very large force, which ravaged the whole land of Fife and all
the adjacent lands of the town of Perth, and killed great numbers of the
inhabitants of those lands; and when this force came back, the said King
and his men went home again with immense booty. This, no doubt, was
God's doing; for if then, or after the engagement at Dunbar and the
capture of King John, he had tarried in the country, he would, as is
believed, either have subdued to his sway the whole land of Scotland and
its inhabitants, or have laid it waste, all but the water and the
stones. As, however, he was very busy elsewhere, he could not attend to
everything at one and the same time. So he and his men went back, after
appointing administrators, officers, and wardens of the castles in
Scotland, in the parts, namely, beyond the Forth, which part of the
country was then fully under his dominion, with the exception of a few
outlaws of the nation of the true Scots, who lived in the woods and were
lurking in caves in rocks and glens, and who, on account of the
slaughter and losses they had inflicted on both English and Anglicised
Scots, durst not appear openly in the sight of the people. But at this
time John Comyn, the Chief Warden of Scotland, and his son, and Simon
Fraser, called Fresail, warlike men, stalwart, and endowed with every
virtue, together with their partisans and followers, day and night lay
in wait for the aforesaid officers, bailiffs, and wardens of castles of
the King of England, and greatly harassed the aforesaid English, as also
the Anglicised Scots, as above stated; and for four years or more they
kept harrying one another with mutual slaughter and divers scourges and
torments....
In the year 1303 the King of England entered Scotland with a very large
force, which he had brought with him from both England and Wales,
Gascony, Ireland, and Savoy--the Count of which was there in person, as
well as the Prince of Wales--both by land and by sea, ... with the
deliberate design of peacefully settling in that land of Scotland
altogether and subduing it for ever, or, on the other hand, entirely
sweeping away its inhabitants and leaving the said land a waste. The
King, therefore, scouring the whole country over hill and dale as far as
Lochindorb,[100] received oaths of fealty and homage from all the
inhabitants, and himself personally brought the northern parts under his
dominion. Then, after appointing his royal officials and officers in the
towns and castles, the King went about exploring the country, and
brought it all under his allegiance and dominion; and he remained at
Dunfermline to spend the winter, and no one in all Scotland hindered
him, or brought force to bear against him; but he rested in peace until
Candlemas. In this year Edward of Carnarvon, then Prince of Wales, spent
some time in the town of Perth, and during the whole of this time food
was so plentiful and abundant in Scotland that a laggen[101] of good
beer sold commonly for twopence, and a laggen, Scottish measure, of good
wine for eightpence. The same year, after the whole people of Scotland
had made its submission to the King of England, John Comyn, then Head
Warden, and all the magnates of Scotland, except that noble leader
William Wallace, and his partisans and followers, were little by little
brought by the aforesaid King to make their submission and swear
allegiance to him, giving up to him the towns, castles, and all the
strongholds but Stirling Castle and its garrison....
Just after the Easter Festival, the said King Edward besieged Stirling
Castle for three months without a break; and he ordered the whole of the
lead of the monastery of St. Andrews to be stripped off and carried to
Stirling aforesaid for the construction of the engines for the siege. At
length, however, the warden of the said castle, William Oliphant by
name, surrendered the castle to him, under a certain condition in
writing and under seal. But, notwithstanding his promise, the King, on
taking the castle, belied his word and broke through the condition by
taking the said William Oliphant, the warden of the said castle, in
bonds with him to London, and consigning him to a fearful dungeon. The
same year also, when he had taken castles, towns and all the other
strongholds, and the whole of the leading lords of the realm had made
their submission to him, and the whole of the castles and towns formerly
destroyed had been rebuilt, and there was no one but William Wallace
alone who remained faithful to the King of Scotland; and after he had
appointed wardens and officers of his own there, and all and sundry of
the Scottish nation had taken the oaths of fealty and homage, the said
King, together with the Prince of Wales and their armies, went back to
England, leaving, however, one Chief Warden as his lieutenant to put
down and chastise any outbreaks by any of the rest, both Scottish and
English; and he never afterwards showed his face in Scotland. After his
departure, the English nation lorded it in every part of Scotland,
harassing the Scots in many and manifold ways, and ruthlessly doing them
to death with wrongs, massacres, and stripes, under the awful yoke of
slavery.
[100] Near Elgin.
[101] Probably in about seven quarts.