The Scalacronica. 65 



through the waste country to Scotland as soon as they heard that 

 the siege had been raised. For this had been the cause of their 

 inroad. The King left the Marches in great tribulation without 

 recovering Berwick, and betook himself to the south. Andrew 

 de Herkeley was made Earl of Carlisle ; but he did not continue 

 long in power, for 'he wished, through pride, to have the royal 

 chase, and he made peace with the Scots in a different way from 

 that in which he was ordered to make it. So said the King's 

 Council. This Andrew was betrayed by the chief men of 

 his Council at Carlisle, and was there drawn and hanged. He 

 had often been successful against the Scots, sometimes as a good 

 leader, and always inflicting damage upon them in many fine 

 feats of arms. He was once captured by them, and ransomed at 

 a high price. In the summer, after the death of the Earl of 

 Lancaster, the King marched into Scotland with a ver}' large 

 army, in which he had armed men on foot from every town in 

 England, as well as knights and esquires. He advanced to 

 Edinburgh, but at Leith there was so much sickness and famine 

 among the commons in that great army that perforce they 

 decided to return, from lack of victuals. At this time the King's 

 foragers were defeated at Melrose in a foray by James de 

 Douglas. No one dared from fear to mo\'e ,out of the army to 

 seek victuals, so much were the English checked and discomfited 

 in the war. Before their arrival at Newcastle there was such a 

 murrain in the army from lack of victuals t*hat they decided it 

 was necessary to depart. The King retreated to York with the 

 great men of his realm. But Robert de Brus had collected all 

 the forces of Scotland, the Isles, and the Highlands, and followed 

 him closely. The King was informed of his approadh and went 

 to Blackhow Moor with all the forces he could suddenly collect. 

 They occupied a fort on a mountain near Bilaund, where the 

 King's men were defeated, and the Earl of Richmond and the 

 Lord de Sully, a baron of France, were captured, as well as 

 many more. The King with dithculty escaped from Ryvauls, 

 where he himself was, thinking that no men could outstrip his 

 own men. But the leaders of the Scots were so dauntless and 

 they so checked the English that before fhem they were as the 

 hare before the hounds. They rode beyond the Wold and before 

 York, committing havock at their pleasure, without taking 

 account of anybody, until it was a suitable time for them to 



