Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/40

Edward I the infantry which Wallace had arranged in four compact masses, stood firm, and the English horse charged in vain against their spears. At last they were broken by the English archers and by volleys of stones from the other foot soldiers, and were then helpless. Edward's victory was complete; twenty thousand Scots are said to have perished, while only two men of rank fell on the English side. On advancing to Stirling, Edward found that the Scots had burnt the town; he lay there fifteen days to recover from his hurt, sending out expeditions to ravage the country, and putting the castle in a state of defence. He then marched to Abercorn, and thence through Clydesdale to Ayr, intending to advance into Galloway, but provisions failed, and he returned through Annandale and received the surrender of Bruce's castle of Lochmaben. On 9 Sept. he was at Carlisle, and there held a council, at which he granted the estates of the Scottish nobles to his own lords. The Earls of Norfolk and Hereford now requested that they might return home, declaring that their horses and men were worn out, though they let it be known that they were offended because the king had granted the Isle of Arran to Thomas Bisset, a Scottish lord who had seized it, whereas they said that he had promised to do nothing without their counsel. Edward's army, which had already suffered much from fatigue and privations, was greatly weakened by their departure, and no further operations of any importance were attempted. After staying for a while at Jedburgh, Newcastle, Durham, and Tynemouth, he spent Christmas at Cottenham, and marched southwards early in 1299, having utterly crushed the rising under Wallace, but leaving the land beyond the Forth virtually unsubdued, and the whole country ready to break into revolt. In spite of his magnificent army, his success was limited by want of provisions, and by the discontent and suspicion of the constable and marshal.

The promise Edward had made before his expedition that he would confirm the charters was claimed in a great council he held at London on 8 March. He was displeased, and, though he declared that he would give his answer the next day, removed from the city during the night. Suspecting that he meant to evade his promise, the lords came after him and blamed him for his removal. He declared that he had moved for the sake of better air, and told them to go to his council for his answer. The Great Charter was confirmed, but to the confirmation of the Forest Charter was added, 'saving the right of our crown,' and when the people, who were assembled in St. Paul's churchyard to hear the charters and the king's confirmation, heard this salvo, their blessings were turned into curses (, ii. 183). Another council was held in May, and the king then confirmed both the charters without any salvo, and promised to issue a commission for a perambulation of the forests, in order to settle disputes and declare the reformation of abuses. At the request of the pope, Edward liberated Baliol in July and delivered him to the legate, for he was anxious to meet the wishes of Boniface, in the hope that he would speedily regain Gascony, and was disappointed at not receiving it at his marriage in September. Soon after his marriage he began to make arrangements for another expedition to Scotland, for the regents chosen by the Scottish lords, who were upheld by Philip, were threatening his garrison in Stirling. On 11 Nov. he held a council at York, and advanced thence with his army as far as Berwick. There, however, the barons declared that it was too late in the year to make a campaign, and that they would go no further, for the king, they said, was not carrying out the confirmation of the charters. He was therefore obliged to return, and to authorise the surrender of Stirling. After spending Christmas at Berwick, he returned to the south, and held a parliament at London on 6 March 1300, which 'contained both commons and clergy' (Const, Hist. ii. 149). The question of the charters was again renewed. Again the king confirmed them, and gave his consent to a series of articles supplementary to the Great Charter ('articuli super cartas'), enacting chiefly sundry reforms in the system of administering justice. In this parliament the king yielded to the will of the nation in the matter of the forests, and ordered the perambulations. At midsummer he again met a force composed of those who owed military service at Carlisle, and marched into Scotland with three thousand men at arms, his banner displaying 'three leopards courant of fine gold, set on red, fierce, haughty, and cruel' (Siege of Carlaverock, p, 23). He took Lochmaben, and, about 10 July, the castle of Carlaverock, which was for some time held against his army by a garrison of only sixty men. As a reward for their valour Edward granted them life and limb, and ordered that each of them should receive a new garment (ib. p. 87). He entered Galloway, and there had an interview with certain Scottish lords, who demanded that Baliol should be allowed to reign over them; he refused their demands and marched to Irvine, remaining in Galloway until the end of October. While he