Bruce invades Yorkshire
On the other side, King Robert in person led his army, about midsummer, into Yorkshire, and wasted the country, without meeting an enemy, as far as Richmond. A timely tribute, collected by the neighbouring barons and gentlemen, saved this town from the flames; but this merely altered the order of march into the West Riding, which was cruelly sacked and spoiled for sixty miles round, after which the army returned with their booty and many prisoners. Bruce then embarked for Ireland; and soon after the English king, encouraged by his absence and that of Randolph, summoned his military vassals to meet him at Newcastle, and determined to invade Scotland with great strength; but the Earl of Lancaster, to whom the conduct of the enterprise was intrusted, and the barons of his party, having in vain waited at Newcastle for the king's arrival, returned home in displeasure; so that the original design of Edward broke down into several smaller invasions, in repelling which, the activity and military enterprise of Sir James Douglas and the Steward, not only kept up, but materially increased, the Scottish ascendency. In Douglas, the adventurous spirit of chivalry was finely united with the character of an experienced commander. At this time he held his quarters at Linthaughlee, near Jedburgh; and having information that the Earl of Arundel, with Sir Thomas de Richemont, and an English force of ten thousand men, had crossed the Borders, he determined to attack him in a narrow pass, through which his line of march lay, and which was flanked on each side by a wood.