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 SCOTLAND 705 invited to mediate between them, for which purpose a conference was held at Norham in 1291 between the English monarch and the principal nobility and clergy of Scotland. Ed- ward awarded the crown to Balliol, on con- dition that he should do homage to him as his feudal superior. He swore allegiance, but when called upon soon after to aid Edward against France, he renounced his allegiance and declared war, upon which Scotland was overrun by a powerful English army, Balliol taken prisoner and sent to the tower of Lon- don, and the principal strongholds of the king- dom captured. At this juncture, when nearly all the great nobles had submitted to the con- queror, Sir William "Wallace of Ellerslie ap- peared in arms at the head of a small band of followers, and continued the contest with heroic energy for several years, until he was at length betrayed into the bands of Edward, who caused him to be cruelly executed at Lon- don (1305). The struggle was continued by Bobert Bruce, grandson of the competitor of Balliol, at first with marked ill fortune, but finally culminating in the great battle of Ban- nockburn, June 24, 1314, where the English under Edward II. were utterly routed and dis- persed by a much inferior force of Scots. The war continued 14 years longer, during which England was 12 times invaded and scourged with fire and sword, until, by a treaty ratified in 1328, Edward III. renounced his claim of sovereignty. Bruce died in 1329. During the century which succeeded the sceptre was sway- ed by three kings, one of whom, Eobert II. (1371-'90), was the son of the steward of Scot- land, whence the origin of the name of the royal house of Stuart, of which he was the first sovereign. His successor, Eobert III. (1390- 1406), devolved the cares of government upon his eldest son, the duke of Eothesay, who quarrelled with his uncle, the duke of Albany, and was starved to death by order of that pow- erful magnate. The king's second son, James, on his voyage to France in 1405, was captured by the English and carried a prisoner to Eng- land, where he was detained for 19 years, du- ring the greater part of which the government of Scotland was administered by Albany as regent. In 1424 the captive prince was re- leased, and returning to Scotland began a brief reign of great energy, devoted mainly to reducing to order the powerful and turbulent nobility. He made many great reforms, insti-. tuted the court of session and other tribunals, and introduced law and order in the place of license and turbulence. He was assassinated in 1437, and was succeeded by his son James II., a boy of six years, during whose minority the kingdom was torn by factions, one of which was headed by the earl of Douglas, whose immense possessions made him the most powerful baron of Scotland. The king on attaining his majority assumed the reins of government with vigor and decision, and ef- fectually humbled the house of Douglas, whose chief he stabbed with his own hand in the castle of Stirling in 1452. The king sub- sequently took part in the civil wars of Eng- land on the side of Henry VI., and was ac- cidentally killed while besieging Eoxburgh in 1460. His son James III. was then in his eighth year, and during his minority the coun- try, in spite of the turbulence of the nobles, was comparatively prosperous, while after his accession civil war raged almost constantly be- tween the king and his brother the duke of Albany, who assumed the title of Alexander, king of Scotland, and was supported by the Douglases, by the lord of the Isles, and many other great nobles. Albany was finally de- feated in 1483 ; but a new rebellion broke out a few years later, the chiefs of which arrayed the king's son, a youth of 16, against his fa- ther, and the latter was defeated and slain at Sauchie-burn in 1488. The rebellious son, who succeeded under the title of James IV., maintained a magnificent court, promoted the civilization of the country, and curbed the power of the nobles and of the great highland chiefs, the most considerable of whom, the lord of the Isles, having rebelled, was prompt- ly subdued and stripped of his extensive do- minions, which were forfeited to the crown. In 1513 he was imprudently led by French influence, which had long been very great in Scotland, to declare war against Henry VIII. of England, and to invade that kingdom with a powerful army. He was met by the earl of Surrey at Flodden, Sept. 9, and defeated and slain, together with so many chiefs, nobles, and common soldiers, that all Scotland was plunged in mourning; and to this day the defeat is regarded by the Scotch as the great- est disaster in their national annals. A long series of misfortunes followed during the mi- nority of James V., the son of James IV., whose mother, Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. of England, was made regent, and speedily became involved in quarrels with the nobles. She had rashly married the earl of Angus, the head of the house of Douglas, and that faction retained possession of the young king's person till in his 17th year he freed him- self from their yoke and assumed the reins of government, and, after a struggle in which the Douglases were supported by England, suc- ceeded in driving them into exile. During his reign Protestantism made great progress in Scotland, though severely persecuted by Car- dinal Beaton, the Catholic primate. In 1542 James became involved in war with England, and died in the same year of a broken heart caused by the mutinous conduct of the nobles, which had led to a disgraceful defeat of his army at Solway Moss. The crown descended to his only child, a daughter a few days old, the celebrated and unfortunate Mary queen of Scots. (For the history of Scotland during her reign, see MARY STUART.) Mary was driven into exile in England in 1568, and her absence left her natural brother, the regent Murray, mas-