History of Scotland by Patrick Tytler 2
His Difficulties
After this the king marched to Irvine, a seaport town situated on a river of the same name, and remained there encamped for eight days, until provisions were brought up from the ships which lay on the coast.During this time the Scottish army showed itself on the opposite side of the river; but on being successively attacked by the Earl of Surrey, the Prince of Wales, and the king himself, they rapidly retreated to their morasses and mountains. Through this rough and difficult ground, the heavy-armed English soldiers could not penetrate; and the Welsh, whose familiarity with rocky passes rendered them well fitted for a warfare of this kind, obstinately refused to act. Thus baffled in his attempts at pursuit, Edward stationed his head-quarters at Dumfries, and employed himself in taking possession of the different towns and castles of Galloway, and in receiving the submission of the inhabitants of that district.
A Truce
Here he remained till the end of October; and having spent five months on an expedition which led to no important success, he was at last compelled, by the approach of winter, to delay till another season all his hopes of the entire subjugation of Scotland. Affecting, therefore, now when it suited his convenience, to be moved by the representations of the plenipotentiaries sent from the King of France, he granted a truce to the Scots, and artfully gave to a measure of necessity the appearance of an act of mercy. Edward, however, cautiously added, that he acceded to the wishes of Philip, out of favour to him as his friend and relative, not as the ally of Scotland; nor would he give his consent to the cessation of arms, until the ambassadors of France agreed to consider it in this light: so careful was he lest any too hasty concession should interrupt his meditated vengeance, when a less refractory army and a milder season should allow him to proceed against his enemies.The Pope claims Scotland as belonging to the Church of Rome
The king was induced, by another important event, to grant this truce to the Scots. This was no less than an extraordinary interposition upon the part of the pope, commanding him, as he reverenced his sacred authority, to desist from all hostilities; and asserting that the kingddm of Scotland now belonged to the Holy See, and from the most remote antiquity had done so. The arguments by which the Roman church supported this singular claim, were, no doubt, suggested by certain Scottish Commissioners whom Soulis the regent, in a former part of this year, had sent on a mission to Rome, to complain of the grievous injuries inflicted by Edward upon Scotland, and to request the pope's interposition in behalf of their afflicted country.Boniface, accordingly, influenced, as is asserted, by Scottish gold,! directed an admonitory bull to Edward, and commanded Winchelsea archbishop of Canterbury to deliver it to the king, who was then with his army in the wilds of Galloway. This prelate, with much personal risk, owing to the unlicensed state of the country, and the danger of being seized by the bands of Scottish robbers, who roamed about, thirsting, as he tells us, for the blood of the English, travelled witfi his suite of clerks and learned dignitaries as far as Kirkcudbright; and having passed the dangerous sands of the Solway with his chariots and horses, found the king encamped near the castle of Caerlaverock, and delivered to him the papal bull. Its arguments, as far as concerned the right of the King of England to the feudal superiority of Scotland, were sufficiently sound and judicious; but, as was to be expected, the grounds on which he could rest his own claim far less satisfactory. "Your royal highness," he observed, "may have heard, and we doubt not but the truth is locked in the book of your memory, that of old the kingdom of Scotland did and doth still belong in full right to the Church of Rome, and that neither your ancestors, kings of England, nor yourself, enjoyed over it any feudal superiority. Your father Henry, king of England, of glorious memory, when, in the wars between him and Simon de Montfort, he requested the assistance of Alexander III. king of Scotland, did, by his letters-patent, acknowledge that he received such assistance, not as due to him, but as a special favour. When you yourself requested the presence of the same King Alexander at the solemnity of your coronation, you, in like manner, by your letters-patent, entreated it as a matter of favour and not of right. Moreover, when the King of Scotland did homage to you for his lands in Tynedale and Penrith, he publicly protested that hia homage was paid, not for his kingdom of Scotland, but for his lands in England;—that as King of Scotland he was independent, and owed no fealty; which homage, so restricted, you did accordingly receive. Again, when Alexander III. died, leaving as heiress to the crown a grand-daughter in her minority, the wardship of this infant was not conferred upon you,, which it would have been had you been lord superior, but was given to certain nobles of the kingdom chosen for that office." The bull proceeded to notice the projected marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Maiden of Norway; the acknowledgment of the freedom and independence of Scotland contained in the preliminary negotiations; the confusions which followed the death of the young queen; the fatal choice of Edward as arbiter in the contest for the crown; the express declaration of the King of England to the Scottish nobility, who repaired to his court during the controversy, that he received this attendance as a matter of favour, not as having any right to command it; and, lastly, it asserted, that if, after all this, any innovations had been made upon the ancient rights and liberties of Scotland, with consent of a divided nobility, who wanted their kingly head; or of that person to whom Edward had committed the charge of the kingdom, these ought not in justice to subsist, as having been violently extorted by force and fear.
After such arguments, the pope went on to exhort the king in the name of God, to discharge out of prison and restore to their former liberty all bishops, clerks, and other ecclesiastical persons whom he had incarcerated, and to remove all officers, whom by force and fear he had appointed to govern the nation under him; and he concluded by directing him, if he still pretended any right to the kingdom of Scotland, or to any part thereof, not to omit the sending commissioners to him fully instructed, and that within six months after the receipt of these letters, he being ever ready to do him justice as his beloved son, and inviolably to preserve his right.
Edward's Indignation
In presenting this dignified and imperious mandate, the archbishop, in presence of the English nobles and the Prince of Wales, added his own admonitions on the duty of a reverent obedience to so sacred an authority, observing that Jerusalem would not fail to protect her citizens, and to cherish, like Mount Sion, those who trusted in the Lord. Edward, on hearing this, broke into a paroxysm of wrath, and swearing a great oath, cried out—" I will not be silent or at rest, either for Mount Sion or for Jerusalem; but, as long as there is breath in my nostrils, will defend what all the world knows to be my right." But the papal interference was in those days, even to so powerful a monarch as Edward, no matter of slight importance; and, returning to his calmer mind, he requested the archbishop to retire until he had consulted with his nobility.On Winchelsea's readmission, the king, in a milder and more dignified mood, thus addressed him:—" My Lord Archbishop, you have delivered me, on the part of my superior, and reverend father, the pope, a certain admonition touching the state and realm of Scotland. Since, however, it is the custom of England, that in such matters as relate to the state of that kingdom, advice should be had with all whom they may concern, and since the present business not only affects the state of Scotland, but the rights of England; and since many prelates, earls, barons, and great men, are now absent from my army, without whose advice I am unwilling, finally, to reply to my Holy Father, it is my purpose, as soon as possible, to hold a council with my nobility, and" by their joint advice arid determination, to transmit an answer to his Holiness by messengers of my own.
Parliament at Lincoln
It was particularly dangerous for Edward to quarrel with the pope at this moment; for the peace with France was unconcluded, and Gascony still remained in the hands of the Holy See, which had not yet decided to whom it should rightly belong. The King of England, therefore, assumed the appearance of solemn deliberation in the preparation of his answer. He disbanded his army; he summoned a parliament to meet at Lincoln; he wrote to the chancellors of both universities, commanding them to send to this parliament some of their most learned and expert civilians, to declare their opinion as to the right of the King of England to be Lord Paramount of Scotland; and he gave directions to the abbots, priors, and deans of the religious houses in England, that they should diligently examine the ancient chronicles and archives of their monastery, and collect and transmit to him by some one of their number, not only all matters illustrative of the rights competent to the King of England in the realm of Scotland, but everything which in any way related to that kingdom.Letter of the barons and community of England to the Pope
On the meeting of the parliament at Lincoln, the king, after having conciliated the good-will of his nobility, by. the confirmation of the great charters of liberties, and of the forests, the last of which he had evaded till now, ordered the pope's bull to be read to the earls and barons assembled in parliament; and, after great debates amongst the lawyers who were present, the nobility of England directed a spirited letter to the pope, with a hundred and four seals appended to it.In this epistle, after complimenting the Holy Roman Church upon the judgment and cau tion with which she respected and inviolably preserved the rights of every individual, they remarked, that a letter from the Holy See had been shown to them by their lord, King Edward, relating to certain matters touching the state and realm of Scotland, which contained divers wonderful and hitherto unheard-of propositions. It was notorious, they observed, in these parts of the world, that from the very first original of the kingdom of England, the kings thereof, as well in the times of the Britons as of the Saxons, enjoyed the superiority and direct dominion of the kingdom of Scotland, and continued either in actual or in virtual possession of the same through successive ages. They declared, that in temporals, the kingdom of Scotland did never, by any colour of right, belong to the Church of Rome; that it was an ancient fief of the crown and kings of England; and that the kings of Scotland, with their kingdom, had been subject only to the kings of England, and to no other.
That with regard to their rights, or other temporalities in that kingdom, the kings of England have never answered, nor ought they to answer, before any ecclesiastical or secular judge, and this on account of the freedom and pre-eminence of their royal dignity, and the custom to this effect observed through all ages. Wherefore, they concluded—"having diligently considered the letters of his Holiness, it is now, and for the future shall be, the unanimous and unshaken resolution of all and every one of us, that our lord the king, concerning his rights in Scotland, or other temporal rights, must in nowise answer judicially before the pope, or submit them to his judgment, or draw them into question by such submission; and that he must not send proxies or commissioners to his Holiness, more especially when it would manifestly tend to the disinheritance of the crown and royal dignity of England, to the notorious subversion of the state of the kingdom, and to the prejudice of our liberties, customs, and laws, delivered to them by their fathers; which, by their oaths, they were bound to observe and defend, and which, by the help of God, they would maintain with their whole force and power." And they added, "that they would not permit the king to do, or even to attempt, such strange and unheard-of things, even if he were willing so far to forget his royal rights. Wherefore they reverently and humbly entreated his Holiness to permit the king to possess his rights in peace, without diminution or disturbance.''
Having in this bold and spirited manner refused to submit his pretended rights in Scotland to the jurisdiction of the See of Rome, the monarch, about two months after the meeting of his parliament at Lincoln, directed a private letter to the pope, which he expressly declared was not a memorial to a judge, but altogether of a different description, and solely intended to quiet and satisfy the conscience of his Holy Father, and in which, at great length, and by arguments too trifling to require confutation, he explained to him the grounds upon which he rested his claim of superiority, and the reasons for his violent invasion of Scotland.
Edward invades Scotland
More intent than ever upon the reduction of this country, Edward once more summoned his barons to meet him in arms at Berwick on the day of St John the Baptist, and directed letters to the different seaports of England and Ireland, for the assembling of a fleet of seventy ships to rendezvous at the same place. He determined to separate his force into two divisions, and to intrust the command of one to his son, the Prince of Wales. A pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas-a-Becket, and other holy places, was undertaken by the king previous to his putting himself at the head of his army; and this being concluded, he passed the borders, and besieged and took the castle of Bonkill in the Merse. The Scots contented themselves with laying waste the country; and aware of the hazard of risking a battle, they attacked the straggling parties of the English, and distressed their cavalry, by carrying off the forage.-f- The campaign, however, which had been great in its preparations, passed in unaccountable inactivity. An early winter set in with extreme severity, and many of the large war-horses of the English knights died from cold and hunger; but Edward, who knew that the Scots only waited for his absence, to rise into rebellion, determined to pass the winter at Linlithgow. Here, accordingly, he established the head-quarters of his army, sent orders to England for supplies to be forwarded to his troops, employed his warlike leisure in building a castle, and kept his Christmas with his son and his nobles.The treaty of peace between Edward and Philip of France was still unconcluded; and as Philip continued a warm advocate for Baliol and the Scots, Edward, moved by his remonstrances, gave authority to his envoys at the French court to agree to a truce with Scotland.The envoys, however, were sharply reproved by the king and his nobles, for giving the title of king to Baliol, and permitting, as the basis of the negotiation, the alliance between France and his enemies.Edward was well aware, that if he admitted this, any conclusion of peace with Philip would preclude him from continuing the war which he had so much at heart; and on ratifying the truce, he subjoined his protestation, that although he agreed to a cessation, he did not recognise John Baliol as the King of Scotland, nor the Scots as the allies of the King of France. Having brought these matters to a close at Linlithgow, the king proceeded to Roxburgh, and from this, by Morpeth and Durham, returned to London.
The Scots Deserted by the Pope and by Philip
The perseverance and courage of the Scots were ill supported by their allies. Boniface soon deserted them, and with extreme inconsistence, forgetting his former declarations, addressed a letter of admonition to Wishart, the Bishop of Glasgow, commanding him to desist from all opposition to Edward. Wishart had been delivered from an English prison some time before, and, on taking the oath of fealty, had been received into favour; but unable to quench his love of liberty, or perhaps of intrigue, he had recommenced his opposition to the English; and the pope now addressed him as the "prime mover and instigator of all the tumult and dissension which has arisen between his dearest son in Christ, Edward king of England, and the Scots.''At the same time his Holiness addressed a bull to the body of the Scottish bishops, commanding them to be at peace with Edward, and threatening them, in case of disobedience, with a severer remedy.Deserted by Boniface, the Scots still looked to Philip for support; and aware that the negotiations for peace between France and England were in the course of being concluded, they sent the Earl of Buchan, James the Steward of Scotland, John Soulis oneof the regents^ and Ingelram de Umfraville, to watch over their interests at the French court. But Philip, having been defeated in Flanders, became anxious at all risks to conclude a peace with England, and to concentrate his efforts for the reduction of the revolted Flemings.§ Edward, who had hitherto supported the Flemings, entertained the same wish to direct his undivided strength against the Scots, and a mutual sacrifice of allies was the consequence. The English king paved the way for this, by omitting the Earl of Flanders in the enumeration of his allies, in the former truce ratified at Linlithgow; and Philip, in return, not only left out the Scots in the new truce concluded at Amiens, but entirely excluded them in the subsequent and final treaty of peace not long afterwards signed at Paris. Previous, however, to the conclusion of this treaty, so fatal to the Scots, the army of Edward experienced a signal defeat near Edinburgh.