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 176), he plundered the north of England and then returned south. Lancaster retired to his castle at Pontefract, while the royal party met at Clarendon on 9 Feb., probably to plot his overthrow. The Earl of Warenne was selected to surprise him, but was seized with a sudden panic on approaching Lancaster's country. One of the knights of his household, however, succeeded in carrying off the countess at Canford in Dorset, very probably with her connivance, for she was accused of infidelity to her husband (ib. p. 178). This led to a private war between the two earls. Thomas harried Warenne's lands, and some of his followers took Knaresborough Castle. Thomas received renewed summons for an expedition to Scotland, but, as before, there were continual postponements. The efforts of the cardinal legates and Pembroke issued in another abortive agreement between the king and the earl in July to reserve their differences for the parliament which was to meet on 27 Jan. 1318. This did not of course prevent Edward threatening Thomas with the army he had gathered under the pretext of the Scottish war, and the private war still went on merrily as ever. On 3 Nov. the king intervened, ordering Lancaster to desist (Cal. Close Rolls, p. 575). The parliament summoned at Lincoln for 27 Jan. was prorogued until 12 March, and then until 19 June, and finally revoked on account of the invasion of the Scots. But the capture of Berwick on 2 April 1318 by the latter was more potent than all the negotiations in bringing the parties to agreement. Thomas insisted on the punishment of the grantees of the royal grants made contrary to the ordinances, and the removal of his enemies from the king's councils. A solemn reconciliation took place near Leicester on 5 Aug.; among the conditions were a confirmation of the ordinances and the establishment of a sort of council consisting of two bishops and a baron with a baron or banneret of the household of the Earl of Lancaster, who were always to accompany the king to execute and give counsel on all weighty matters (ib. p. 113). Edward and Thomas entered Scotland together about 15 Aug. and laid siege to Berwick, but mutual distrust and the king's ill-concealed projects of vengeance led to the abandonment of the siege through Lancaster's departure. He was accused by the king's party of having been bribed by the Scots. He refused to attend the two councils of magnates held in January and October of the next year, but there was a lull for a time in the struggle.

With the private war which arose early in 1321 between the younger Despenser and his rivals for the Gloucester inheritance, Hugh de Audley and Roger d'Amory began the last act. At a meeting summoned by Lancaster at Sherburn in Elmet, he and his party declared against Despenser, and on 15 July Edward had to consent to the banishment of both father and son. But Lady Badlesmere's insult to the queen on 13 Oct. and the capture of Leeds Castle on 31 Oct. strengthened his hands. The conference which, in spite of Edward's formal prohibition, Thomas summoned at Doncaster on 29 Nov. (ib. p. 505) did nothing. Thomas's holding aloof when the king was besieging Leeds Castle can be explained by his enmity to Badlesmere, but his vacillation after its capture and the recall of the Despensers proved his incompetence as a leader. However effective his policy of sulky inaction had been on previous occasions, it was of no avail against the sudden burst of energy which Edward now put forth. Instead of marching to the assistance of his adherents in the south, the earl lingered in the north, and even on 8 Feb. 1322 his attitude was still so undecided that Edward could write to him inhibiting him from adhering to the king's contrariants (ib. p. 515). The royal levies assembled at Coventry on 28 Feb. Thomas tried with the small force at his disposal to check the king's advance at Burton-on-Trent. He was successful for three days, but the royal army crossed the river at another place, so that, after some show of offering battle, he and his followers set fire to Burton, and went north to Tutbury and thence to Pontefract. Robert de Holand deserted with five hundred men he had collected, if we are to believe a story in the chronicle of William de Packington which has come down to us, epitomised in Leland's ‘Collectanea’ (ii. 464, ed. Hearne). Lancaster's followers held a council at this last place, and resolved to push on to his castle of Dunstanburgh in Northumberland; but Lancaster refused, proposing to stay at Pontefract, until Robert de Clifford drew out his dagger and threatened to kill him. They left Pontefract, hoping to find refuge in the last resort with the Scots, with whom Thomas had already been in correspondence under the pseudonym of ‘King Arthur.’

On 16 March they reached Boroughbridge, but found their passage over the Ure barred by Sir Andrew Harclay and a force which had been collected to act against the Scots. The Earl of Hereford fell in the attempt to force a passage, and, deserted by most of his followers during the night, Thomas had to surrender next morning. He was taken to York, and then to the king at Pontefract on