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 Baliol part in the French war then in contemplation, for which offence his English fiefs were forfeited, as is stated by John of Walsingham, or granted the revenue of these for three years as an aid to the English king, according to the more common account of the English chroniclers, consenting, at the same time, to surrender Berwick, Roxburgh, and Jedburgh to the English king. The Scottish writers attribute Baliol's quarrel with Edward to his being required to plead in person in Macduff's suit, and other indignities put upon him when in England. Whatever the precise cause alleged, the real question at stake was the independence of Scotland; and on his return to Scotland Baliol or his parliament determined to brave the displeasure of the English monarch. The summons addressed to him and his barons to send men to the French war were treated with contempt; and at a parliament at Scone all the English at Baliol's court were dismissed, the fiefs held by the English forfeited, and a council of four bishops, four earls, and four barons appointed to advise or control Baliol.

Next year an alliance with Philip the Fair was made, by which the French and Scotch kings promised to aid each other in the event of an English invasion of their respective countries, and Philip agreed to give his niece, Isabel de Valence, the daughter of the Count of Anjou, in marriage to Baliol's heir. In 1296, Edward having invaded Gascony, the Scotch proceeded to carry out their part of the treaty, and with a large force, headed by six earls and not by Baliol in person, ravaged Cumberland, but failed to take Carlisle. This was towards the end of March, and Edward, with his usual promptness, before the close of the month advanced in person with a better disciplined army to the eastern border, and stormed Berwick (30 March). While there Henry, abbot of Arbroath, brought him a formal renunciation of Baliol's homage and fealty, which had been agreed upon by the Scottish parliament. In words of Norman French, preserved by the Scottish chroniclers, Edward exclaimed,'Has the foolish fellow done such folly? If he does not wish to come to us, we shall go to him.' No time was lost in the execution of the threat. On 28 April his general, John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, captured Dunbar; in May Roxburgh and Jedburgh surrendered; and in June Edinburgh Castle was taken by Edward himself. Stirling, Perth, and Scone yielded without resistance, and on 7 July, in the churchyard of Stracathro, in Forfarshire, Baliol renounced his alliance with the French king, and three days later, at Brechin, Baliol gave up his kingdom to Antony Beck, bishop of Durham, as the representative of the English king, and, apparently on the same day, appeared before Edward, who was then at Montrose, and delivered to him the white rod, the usual feudal symbol of resignation by a vassal of his fief into the hands of his superior. (The notary's instrument, dated Brechin, 10 July, is printed by Stevenson, 'Documents illustrative of Scottish History,' ii. 61, and the surrender at Montrose, of the same date, is in the 'Diary of Edward's Scottish Campaign,' ii. 28.) Edward went as far north as Elgin, ending his triumphant progress there on 26 July. 'He conquered the realm of Scotland,' says a contemporary diary, 'and searched it within twenty-one weeks without any more.' But the conquest was rather of Baliol than of Scotland; for although Edward took the oaths of the leading men in the districts he passed through, he did not remain to confirm his victories. By 22 Aug. he had returned to Berwick, carrying with him the coronation-stone of Scone, the regalia of Scotland, and the black rood, sacred as a supposed relic of the cross of Christ, and as the gift of Queen Margaret. At Berwick Edward convened a parliament for Scotland, and received the homage of all who attended. He allowed the nobility who submitted to retain their estates, and conferred on the clergy the privilege of free bequest they had not hitherto enjoyed in Scotland; after appointing officers of state as his deputies, of whom Earl Warren, as guardian of Scotland, was the chief, and entrusting the castles to English custodians, he returned to London.

John Baliol and his son Edward were carried as captives to England, and remained prisoners, at first at Hertford and after August 1297 in the Tower, until 18 July 1299, when, on the request of the pope, they were liberated. Placed under the custody of Raynald, bishop of Vicenza, the delegate sent by the pope to make peace between France and England, Baliol pledged himself to live where the pope ordered. After various wanderings to Wissant, Cambrai, Châtillon, in November 1302, Baliol took refuge on his French estates, where he led an obscure life until his death, without making the slightest effort to recover the kingdom he had lost. For a time he was regarded as its virtual sovereign, and when Wallace, by his valour and generalship, roused the patriotism of his countrymen, abandoned by the king and most of the nobles, and drove out the English, recovering for a brief space the independence of Scotland, he governed under the title of