Edward III

Preface

The reign of Edward III. was long, and crowded with events : little more than a sketch of it in its inner and outer aspects is to be looked for in a book like this, which, moreover, professes only to reproduce and epitomize what has been already brought to light by the original research of others. It may be well, therefore, to mention the names of a few out of many writers whose works should be studied by any who wish to fill up these outlines with more thorough and detailed information.

There is a remarkable dearth of cotemporary historical authorities for the early part of the 14th century. Froissart did not reach manhood till it had passed its meridian. But he founded the earlier portion of his History on the Chronicles of Jehan le vi. Preface.

Bel, a canon of Liege, who actually served in the Scottish campaign of 1327. This work has recently been discovered, and is edited by M. Poulain, Brussels, 1863. Froissart's work is valuable from its minuteness and simplicity; but he approaches his subject from the point of view of external picturesqueness, and cares little for the moral aspects and deeper social and political movements of the epoch. The Rolls of Parliament, the treaties, proclamations, and correspondence collected in Rymer's Foedera on the one hand, and the " Canterbury Tales* ' and " Vision of Piers Ploughman" on the other, are a welcome and necessary supplement to his courtly and chivalric narrative. In the great Florentine History of the Villani brothers will be found many important, though incidental, notices of the Battle of Creci and subsequent English invasions of France, and of the internal condition of that country. The political history of the latter end of Edward III.'s reign is described with extraordinary vividness, though strong party bias, in a remarkably outspoken, and evidently cotemporary, chronicle — a translation of w r hich exists in the Harleian Library, reproduced in the 22nd vol. of ArchcBologia. (The original has been lately found, and is printed in the Rolls series). The cotemporary Chronicles of Robert of Avesbury (" Wonderful

Preface. vii.

Deeds of Edward III.," Hearne) and those of Knyghton Canon of Leicester (Twysden's " Decern Scriptores"), and of Walsingham, Historiographer Royal ("Historia Anglicana," compiled from the annals of the Abbey of St. Albans), which appeared in the following century, contain many important and interesting details. To the above should be added "The Poem of the Black Prince/' by the Herald Chandos, edited and translated for the Roxburghe Club by the Rev. H. O. Coxe, Librarian of the Bodleian. Joshua Barnes, who lived in the reign of James II., has left a ponderous folio on the life of King Edward III., which, though written in the spirit of a determined panegyrist, and disfigured by some puerile absurdities, is nevertheless a very valuable contribution to the history of the period.

Of later writers, it may be as well to inform or remind the young student that much important information on the political and social aspects of the time is to be found in Hallam's "Middle Ages," Milman's "History of Latin Christianity/' and Hook's "Lives of the Archbishops. ' ' For the Black Death, Professor Rogers' " History of Prices" should be consulted, and two articles contributed to the 2nd and 3rd vols, of the "Fortnightly Review" by Mr.

viii. Preface.

Seebohm ; for the history of Wiclif, Professor Shirley's "Fasciculi Zizaniorum" ; for the social and domestic habits of the epoch, Mr. Wright's " Homes of Other Days;" for its literature, M. Taine's brilliant Lectures. For the whole reign the latest authority is Mr. William Longman's " Life and Times of Edward III.," to which I am largely indebted, — a work equally remarkable for its justice, its variety of interest, and its completeness as a picture of the times.

Contents

PAGE.

FIRST DECADE, A. D. 1327-1337.

Chapter I

Circumstances attending the accession of Edward III., 6-8. Peace with France, 8. Raid of the Scots into the Northern Counties, 8-13. Peace with Scotland, 14. Murder of Edward II., 16. Marriage of Edward III., 16. He claims the Crown of France, 17. Execution of the Earl of Kent, 18. Fall and execution of Mortimer, 19. Measures for the preservation of the Peace in England, 23.

Chapter II

Edward Balliol invades Scotland, 26. Wins the Battle of Dupplin Moor, is crowned King, 27, 28 ; and expelled, 29. Edward III. invades Scotland, 30. Battle of Halidon Hill, 31. Prolonged hostilities with Scotland, 32. Claims of Edward III. to the French Crown, 35. Position of the King of France ; Battle of Cassel, 38. Edward does homage for Guienne, 38. Friendly and unfriendly relations between England and France, 41. Policy of France, 42. The French strike the first blow, 44.

IX x Contents.

Chapter III

Map of Europe in the Fourteenth Century; England, Ireland, Scotland, 45. France; Spain, 46. Provence; Sicily, 46, 47. Papal States, 48. Turks. 50. Russia, 50. Denmark, 51. The Empire, 52,53. Swiss Confederation, 54. Flemings, 55. Wool staples, 57. Final preparations for the War, 58. Battle of Cadsand, 61.

SECOND DECADE, A. D. 1337-1347.

Chapter I

Parliament sanctions war with France, 63. First invasion of France ; the King sails for Flanders, 65. Difficulties with his allies, 67. Conference at Coblentz, 68. Siege of Cambrai, 70. Edward marches into France, 71. His correspondence with the Pope, 73, 74. Returns to England for money, 75. Second invasion of France, 80. Battle of Sluys, 81. Siege of Tournai, 82. King returns to England and impeaches Stratford, 84, 85. Breaks faith with Parliament, 88, 89.

Chapter II

Affairs of Scotland, 90. Siege of Dunbar ; of Perth, 91 ; of Stirling, 92. Affairs of Brittany, 93. Relations of England with Papal See, 100. Round Table at Windsor, 101. Murder of Van Arteveldt, 103. The English in Aquitaine and Brittany, 104. Siege of Auberoche and Angouleme, 105.

Chapter III

Third invasion of France by the King in person, 107. He marches through Normandy to Poissy, 108. Crosses the Seine, in ; and the Somme, 112. Wins Battle of Creci, 114. Sits down before Calais, 121. England invaded by the Scots, 122. Battle of Neville's Cross, 123. Siege of Aiguillon, 125 ; of Calais, 127.

Contents. xi

THIRD DECADE, A. D. 1347-1357.

Chapter I

Calais colonised, 134. Edward declines the Imperial Crown, 135. State of England, 136. Of France, 138. Black Death, 140. Its origin, 140. Causes, 142. Nature, 143. The Flagellants, 145. Progress of the Plague, 146. Social effects, 147. Proceedings in Parliament, 151,

Chapter II

Battle of l'Espagnols-sur-mer ; Death of King Philip of France, and accession of John, 155. Triple invasion (the fourth) of France, 158. Edward makes friends with the King of Navarre, 158. Inroad of the Scotch; Burnt Candlemas, 160; and return invasion of Scotland, 161. First French campaign of the Prince of Wales, 162.

Chapter III

King John of France summons his States-General, 163. Second campaign of the Prince of Wales, 166. Battle of Poitiers, 167. King John carried to London, 176.

FOURTH DECADE, A. D. 1357-1367.

Chapter I

Condition of France after the Battle of Poitiers, 178. Meeting of the States-General at Paris ; Etienne Marcel, 180. The Jacquerie, 183. Intrigues of Marcel with the King of Navarre, 186. Edward's fifth invasion of France, 189. Peace of Bretigni, 190. King John ransomed and restored to France, 192. The Companies, 193. King John returns to England, and dies there. 194.

xii Contents.

Chapter II

Prince of Wales married ; created Duke of Aquitaine, 195. Duguesclin, 195. Settlement of affairs in Brittany, 196. Spanish Campaign of the Prince of Wales, 197. Battle of Navarrete and restoration of Pedro the Cruel, 203. Sickness and retreat of the Prince, 205.

Chapter III

Domestic affairs of England, 206. Legislation for Ireland, 211.

FIFTH DECADE, A. D. 1367-1377.

Chapter I

Splendour and decay of Edward III.'s reign, 215. Government of the Black Prince in Aquitaine, 216. Pedro the Cruel defeated, 220; and slain, 221. Recommencement of war with France, 222. Massacre of Limoges. 224. Black Prince returns to England, 226. Sea fight off Rochelle, 228. Siege of Thouars, and failure of expedition to relieve it, 229. Last great invasion of France by Duke of Lancaster, 230. Review of the condition of France, 232.

Chapter II

Internal affairs of England, 235. Parliamentary parties, 236. State of the Navy, 237. The Church is taxed, 238. Death of Queen Philippa; the " Good Parliament," 239. Position and political influence of the Black Prince and of the Duke of Lancaster, 239. Death of the Black Prince, 243. Prince Richard acknowledged as Heir-Apparent, 244.

Part III

Language and literature, 274. Vision of Piers Ploughman, 278. The Canterbury Tales, 279.

Index 283

PEDIGREES.

England, Brittany and Castile * at beginning.

France, Artois, and Blois to face p. $6.

Empire, Popes, and Scotland . . . . " p. 52.

MAPS.

Europe in the 14th Century .... at beginning.

France after the Peace of Bretigni . . • to fact p. 190

France, illustrative of the chief) Campaigns of the War. i at end.

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY.

A.D.

1327. Deposition of Edward II., and accession of Edward III.

(Jan. 29). The Scots invade the Northern Counties. Murder of Edward II. (Sept. 21).

1328. Independence of Scotland recognized by treaty (March 17).

Death of Charles IV. of France ; Edward III. claims the French Crown. Philip of Valois succeeds to it. Battle of Cassel: Robert Bruce dies, and his son David II. is crowned at Scone (Nov. 23).

1329. Lancaster's Abortive attempt against Mortimer. Edward

III. does homage for Guienne.

1330. Earl of Kent executed. Mortimer seized and put to death

(Nov. 29). The Queen imprisoned.

1332. Edward Balliol invades Scotland (Aug. 7); wins the Battle

of Dupplin Moor (Aug. 12); is crowned King of Scotland (Sept. 27); and expelled (Dec. 25).

1333. Edward III.'s first invasion of Scotland. Battle of Halidon

Hill (July 19). Balliol reinstated : does homage to Edward III.

1334. Balliol again forced to fly from Scotland. xv xvi Chronological Summary.

A.D.

I 337- Edward III. assumes the title of King of France.

1339. His first invasion of France. Siege of Cambrai : the King's

return.

1340. His second invasion of France. Battle of Sluys (June 24)

Siege of Tournai. Truce concluded (Sept. 25),

1341. Impeachment of Stratford : last instance of the trial of a

Bishop " by his peers."

1342. Siege of Hennebon. Edward invades Brittany.

1343. Fresh truce with France. The Earl of Salisbury crowned

King of Man.

1344. Earl of Derby's campaign in Guienne. First gold coin

struck in England.

1345. Murder of Van Arteveldt.

1346. Edward's third invasion of France. Battle of Creci (Aug.

26). Siege of Calais begun. Battle of Neville's Cross (Oct. 12).

1347. Calais taken.

1348. The Black Death.

1349. Right of self-taxation asserted by Parliament. Statute of

Labourers. Attempt to recover Calais.

1350. Battle of l'Espagnols-sur-mer (Aug. 29). Death of Philip

VI., and accession of John II., of France.

1352. Statute of Treasons.

x 353- Statute of the Staple.

1355. First campaign of the Black Prince in the South of France. Edward III.'s fourth invasion of France. He is recalled by the siege of Berwick.

I 35^- Second campaign of the Black Prince. Battle of Poitiers, and capture of King John of France (Sept. 19).

Chronological Summary. xvii.

A.D.

1358. Outbreak of the Jacquerie in France.

1359. Edward III.'s fiftn invasion of France. Siege of Rheims.

1360. Siege of Paris: Peace of Bretigni (May 8). Liberation of

King John of France. That Kingdom overrun by "the Companies.''

1361. Second Outbreak of the Plague.

1362. Pleadings ordered to be in the English language. The

Prince of Wales is created Duke of Aquitaine, and marries the Fair Maid of Kent.

1363. King of France returns to England, and dies, April 8.

Charles V. (the Wise) succeeds him.

1364. Settlement of the affairs of Brittany on the death of Charles

of Blois.

1365. The refusal of the " tribute " claimed by Urban V. is de-

fended by Wiclif.

1367. Statute of Kilkenny. Invasion of Spain by the Black Prince. Victory of Navarrete (April 3).

1369. The Prince is summoned to Paris, and King Edward III.

resumes the title of King of France. Third and last outbreak of the Plague. Death of Queen Philippa.

1370. Massacre at Limoges.

1372. Sea-fight off Rochelle (June 23). Edward III.'s sixth and

last invasion of France.

1373. French expedition of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

1376. The" Good Parliament." The Black Prince dies (June 8). Intrigues of the Duke of Lancaster.

I 377« Prince Richard formally invested as successor to his grandfather. Death of Edward III. (June 21).

ENGLAND AND BRITTANY.

1 J

EDWARD III

= FMlipps s

J. n

L s ,l

1 H„L isk=%

™Zi™

RICHARD I

,.r rran. .■. sister of Philip the

Memorandum on the Money of the Period,

From the time of Henry I. to that of Edward I. the pound sterling was legally identical with the pound of silver, 240 silver coins, or pennies, each coin being one pennyweight. Under Edward I. the pound sterling and the lb. weight first parted company, the beginning of a system which gave rise to much hardship to the poor, uncertainty to commerce, and temptation to kings. Edward III. first introduced a gold coinage (gold having previously been interchanged, like any other commodity, by weight), and this gave him further opportunities of altering the pound sterling at his pleasure, for the value of the gold money had at one time to be adjusted to the value of the silver, and that of the silver to that of the gold, at another. Thus, in the course of twenty-five years the lb. weight of gold represented 15/. in silver money, then 13/. 3^. 4d. t and then 15/. again. The lb. weight of silver was coined into 243 pennies in Edward I.'s reign, subsequently into 270, and lastly into 300. It is needless to observe what perplexity these changes introduce into all calculations of prices and comparisons of the relative value of money at different times, even in the same reign. In large money accounts within the kingdom the pound sterling is the unit most frequently named, but it was employed only as " money of account," being unrepresented by a single coin. Next came the mark, worth 13s. 40*., then the shilling, both also money of account, for the first twelve penny shillings pieces were coined by Henry VIII. Edward III. issued the first groat or great coin, being the largest in use, and passing current for four pennies — silver pennies, for no copper was coined by authority till the reign xx. Money of the Period.

of James I. The first gold coin which Edward III. issued was the "florence" or florin, of the value of 6s. He afterwards coined nobles, rose nobles, as they were called from being stamped with a rose, of half the value of the mark. In international transactions the unit most frequently employed is the gold florin of Florence, equivalent to the gold crown (escu d' or) of France, the value of which we may infer with tolerable certainty from the fact that it was the recognized equivalent of Edward III.'s half-florin, or 3J.

No two authorities are agreed as to the figure which should be employed as a multiplier in order to bring the moneys of the fourteenth century up to their equivalents in value, that is, in purchasing power, in the money of the present day. It probably lies between twelve and fifteen.

EDWARD THE THIRD.

INTR OD UCTION.

Edward III. was King of England for a little more than fifty years, having been proclaimed January 24, 1327, and dying June 21, 1377.

The backbone of the story of his reign and times is the great Continental war.

This war, though taxing to the utmost the resources of England and France, and illustrated by many brilliant actions of which our countrymen are still justly proud, was ultimately indecisive, and unfruitful in direct results.

In its external aspects it was less like an international struggle in which great issues were involved and important principles at stake, than one of those splendid tournaments in which this, the golden age of chivalry, took delight. Preparations are made on a magnificent scale ; the contending parties defile, under the eyes of innumerable eager spectators, into the lists ; with the blazonry of shield and surcoat, the waving of plume and pennon, the blare of trumpet and clarion. Defiances are interchanged, and after many a ceremonious delay and passing of heralds to and fro, the champions encounter furiously in the shock of battle. But when one of the combatants has unhorsed his adversary and borne him to the ground, the victor, instead of slaughtering or perma-

B nently disabling his prostrate foe, suffers him to rise and bathe his bruises, to call for a fresh horse and lance, and renew the contest. At nightfall, to complete the parallel, the interest slackens, the combatants depart, the spectators disperse, and no more substantial results remain from the splendid and costly pageant, than broken heads and broken lances and reputations lost and won.

Nevertheless, though of secondary importance in the history of the time, the war will unavoidably occupy the greatest amount of space in the following pages ; and its leading events, if they do not suggest, at least fall in with, the attempt to distribute the fifty years of the reign into five clearly defined periods of ten years each.

The first decade is marked at its commencement by

the formal conclusion of a peace between

a.d. 1327- England and France, and it terminates with

the ripening of the quarrel between the two

nations, and the completion of the preparations on both

sides for war.

The next period of ten years opens with the first invasion of France, and winds up with the fourth a d. 1337- anc [ greatest invasion, which resulted in the victory of Creci and the surrender of Calais. The beginning of the third decade finds a forced cessation of hostilities throughout Europe, in a.d. 1347- consequence of the ravages of the Black Death ; and its conclusion is marked by the battle of Poitiers and the capture of the French King. The fourth period commences with an indirect consequence of the war — the outbreak of the Jaca.d. x 357- querie in France ; and takes us down to the battle of Navarrete and the reinstatement of the King of Spain by the Black Prince.

The last ten years of the reign - are marked by a series of reverses and disasters, commencing with the illness of the Black Prince, his war tax and consequent unpopularity in his French duchy ; and end- AD - *3 6 7-

ing with the loss of almost all the territories which the English had previously possessed, or won during the war, in France.

The external history of the whole epoch, so far as its most conspicuous actors were concerned, thus returns, as it were, upon itself; and this is equally true of its several portions. At the end of every ten years or so, a great and apparently decisive battle is fought, but the general aspect of affairs is scarcely altered by the event. The same negotiations and counter-negotiations, the same diplomatic thrusts and parries, the same menaces and courtesies are renewed ; and after £.11 we hardly seem to advance a step, any more than in a dream, towards a practical result. A good deal of this is doubtless traceable to the character of the English King himself. His reign was for a long time great and prosperous, in spite of extravagant expenditure, shortsighted legislation, and vacillating foreign policy ; because, by his personal prowess, liberality and splendour, his ready tact, incessant activity, and marvellous good fortune, he carried his people with him, enlisted their sympathy, and commanded their admiration. But, unlike his grandfather the great Edward I., he lived and laboured for glory and ambition, not for practical or permanent objects. His work and influence were personal and evanescent. No sooner does his vigour begin to decline and his busy and brilliant individuality to fade away out of the foreground, than disasters of various forms come thronging in, and gradually take possession of the scene.

France, though passing through a terrible agony, and apparently the greatest sufferer by the long struggle, was in reality the chief gainer in the end, for her kings were guided throughout by a consistent hereditary policy which made them keep the single object in view of extinguishing the half, or more than half, independent fiefs of the Crown, and thus consolidating a vast nominal dominion into a compact and united sovereignty.

The Emperor too had a policy quite independent of the dynastic struggle in which he was so long engaged ; a policy which brought him into sympathy with the aspirations of the whole German race after social and religious freedom ; — the development, namely, of the sources of wealth, in trade, enterprise, and political liberty, and the emancipation of himself and his subjects from the tyranny of the Vatican. He recognized kindred sentiments in the English people, and at first entered warmly into the English alliance. He withdrew from it in despair only when it became evident that local jealousies would make it impossible to carry out his project of so combining the power of England and of the Empire as to compel the submission of the Pope, and the recognition by France of the claims of Edward III. Charles IV., who succeeded Lewis in 1347, and was crowned Emperor in 1354, took no part in European politics. He was in fact a very good ruler of his own kingdom of Bohemia, but he left the interests of the Empire to take care of themselves.

The anarchic condition of the far East of Europe began, towards the close of this epoch, to assume shape and consistency by the growing importance of Moscow, and its recognition as a centre of national life and national aspirations for Tartar-ridden Russia ; as well as by the union of the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary under the sceptre of Louis the Great. All along that monarch's South-Eastern frontier the Crescent gleamed, for Northcrn Greece and Servia and Wallachia were subdued and occupied by the Janissaries of Sultan Amurath the First, who had already established the long enduring dominion of the Turk on the ruins of the Roman Empire of the East.

On the northern and southern shores of Europe, this was the day of wealthy and powerful trading republics. The rising communities on the Baltic as well as on the Tuscan and Adriatic seaboards enriched themselves by the struggles (to the parties themselves worse than unproductive) of the greater powers, and became the bankers, carriers, purveyors, and clothiers, of the civilized world.

But the main historical interest and importance of the epoch are to be sought below the surface ; in the first beginnings of the great religious revolution, which, though it broke up the nominal unity of Christendom, conferred on whole nations the inestimable boon of free access to God, and of a faith in harmony with reason ; — they are to be sought in the parallel advance of popular institutions, commercial enterprise, and original literature ; in the decay of feudalism and chivalry, with the simultaneous upgrowth of a great middle class, and a multitude of new ideas and new social and political relations which in their progress and expansion have largely contributed to the formation and development of the Europe of to-day. All these points will be touched upon, more or less in detail, in the following pages, though England will naturally occupy the foreground, and her history determine the greater or less amount of prominence to be given to contemporary continental events.

Edward the Third. A. D.

FIRST DECADE.

Chapter I. From The King's Accession To The Fall Of Mortimer

The new reign began inauspiciously. The young King was a boy of fourteen, the son and namesake of a sovereign deposed for his folly and vice ; from Accession of whom he inherited the legacy of a smouldering quarrel with Scotland, and another with France, a chronic rebellion in Ireland, and a thinned, half-starved, depressed, and miserable population at home.

His mother, born Isabel of France, and one of the most odious characters in English history, having deserted her wretched consort, took up her residence, with the heir of the kingdom, in a foreign capital ; and there contrived an invasion of England which resulted in the dethronement of the reigning King, and, ultimately, in his coldblooded assassination. Her chief aider and abettor in this undertaking was Roger Mortimer, an expatriated rebel against her husband's authority, with whom she formed an intimacy the nature of which is hardly doubtful ; and who, by the successful issue of the enterprise, found himself in a position wherein he was able for a time to defy the laws, and gratify to his heart's content its three ruling passions of covetousness, vanity, and vindictiveness.

1327. "Resignation" of Edward the Second. 7

At the time when Edward III. was proclaimed, his unhappy father lay a prisoner in Kenilworth Castle. As the young King refused to accept the crown without the sanction and good-will of his predecessor, the farce was enacted of sending a Parliamentary deputation to Kenilworth, to receive the " voluntary " resignation of the fallen monarch. When the commissioners arrived, he was led in to meet them in a plain black gown, and, the object of their coming having been explained, he wept and said. " It grieves me much that I have deserved so little of my people, and I humbly beg pardon of all present; but since it cannot be otherwise, I thank you for choosing my eldest son to succeed me." The steward of the royal household then broke his staff of office, as was customary on a king's death ; proclamation was made that all people were released from their allegiance to "Edward of Carnarvon," and the commissioners returned to London, amid the rejoicings of the populace, to assist at the coronation of Edward III.

The King's youth and the unscrupulous ambition of Isabel and the partner of her guilt made him a passive instrument in their hands. They assumed a more than royal authority, appropriated to themselves the estates of the Despensers confiscated in the last reign, and induced the Parliament to assign so large a dowry to the ex-Queen that "hardly one-third part of the revenues of the crown lands were left for the use of the King."

Immediately after the ceremony of the coronation, "the King's peace" having been duly proclaimed, the Great Charter was confirmed, for the first of thirteen times in this reign. The Parliament Council of

& Regency.

then proceeded to appoint the Earl of Lancaster, with three other earls, four bishops, and four barons, to be guardians and counsellors of the young

8 £ award the Third. a.d.

King during his minority. Mortimer was not one of these, which may perhaps be accounted for partly by his being still under the sentence of attainder passed upon all who had been of "the quarrel of the Earl of Lancaster" executed in the last reign; but, (in addition to the odium created by his arrogance and rapacity,) there seems good reason to believe that he was beginning to be regarded with suspicion and dislike on account of his relations with the now doubly unfaithful Queen of Edward II. Most of the members of the Council, however, belonged to the Queen's party ; and by means of their influence, and an unscrupulous disregard of the intentions of Parliament, Mortimer and Isabel were enabled to carry things with such a high hand that " no one dared open his mouth for the good of the King or of the kingdom."

Edward was crowned on February i, and on the same day was admitted by his cousin Lancaster to knighthood, an order to which, in those days, even kings were proud to belong ; and the contemporary ideal of which order he so well fulfilled throughout his career, that he claims to rank as the first knight of Europe in his day, with perhaps a less questionable right than that upon which George IV. aspired to be the first gentleman of Europe in his. No time was lost by the Council of Regency in securing the kingdom against aggression, by concluding a treaty with France, and issuing orders for the due observance of the thirteen years' truce made with Scotland in 1323. But, as will shortly be seen, neither of these precautions was of any avail. For the aged warrior, Robert Bruce, hearing of the deposition of Edward II. and the accession of a boy king, could not ^Scotland resist the temptation thus offered of reas-

serting the independence of Scotland. No pains were spared by the English Government to avert

1317- Scottish Raid into the Northern Counties. 9

hostilities, but the Scotch were determined on war ; and at Easter, 1327. their king sent a formal defiance to Edward, declaring that he would "enter England and burn it, as he had done before the battle of Bannockburn." Upon this, a proclamation was issued in King Edward's name, summoning all the tenants of the Crown to meet him in arms at Newcastle on May 19, and a supporting fleet was ordered to sail to Skinburness, a port in the north of Cumberland. While the King was on his way to the rendezvous, news reached him that the Scots had already entered English territory, and were ravaging the county of Cumberland, 24,000 strong, under Randolph Earl of Murray, and Sir James Douglas the darling of Scottish story, — the Bruce himself being too ill with leprosy to lead his army into the field. During the six weeks that King Edward's forces remained at York, conflicting rumours as to the position of the Scotch army were brought to the English camp. Hearing that they were gathering in force at Carlisle, Edward issued orders that all the able-bodied men of the " wapentake of Holdernesse and the town of Beverley*' should be marshalled in arms ; but attaching more credence to a report that they were laying waste the county of Northumberland, he advanced northward himself to the city of Durham, and two days' march beyond. All this time he could gain no information of the present whereabouts of the enemy, though where they had already been was only too evident from the ruins they left on their track ; for it soon appeared that while the well-equipped English army, 62- 000 strong, was blindly pushing forward in search of them, the nimble Scots had given them the slip, and were actually in the rear of their pursuers.