HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



permitted to enjoy. Having driven Baliol to resist- 

 ance, and alliance with the king of France, he 

 invaded the country, overthrew the Scotch army, 

 and stripping Baliol of his sovereignty, assumed 

 to himself the dominion of Scotland, as a right 

 forfeited to him by the rebellion of his vassal. 



It is at this time that the celebrated William 

 Wallace, the Scottish national hero, appears on 

 the scene. Wallace's father was a knight and 

 landowner, having the estate of Ellerslie, in Ren- 

 frewshire, and a representative of the Saxon 

 element in the population, as opposed to the 

 Norman, to which the nobility belonged, and 

 which was ranged on the side of Edward. 

 Whether or not the stories as to Wallace's per- 

 Dnal bulk and strength are true, he must have 

 ?n a military and political genius of the first 

 srder, while his name is synonymous with the 

 purest patriotism. From the first, he chafed under 

 "ic rule of Edward, and as he became known as 

 daring opponent of English authority, other 

 itriots joined him, and proceeding from small 

 successes to great, he was able to reduce nearly 

 all the strongholds held for Edward. On the 

 nth September 1297, he utterly routed at Stirling 

 Bridge an army sent against him and commanded 

 ay Warenne, Earl of Surrey, who had been ap- 

 aointed by Edward governor of Scotland. After 

 this defeat he cleared the country of the English 

 invaders, and ruled the country as Guardian of 

 the kingdom. Edward himself, however, marched 

 "ito Scotland, and on the 22d July 1298, defeated 

 allace at Falkirk, in spite of a gallant resist- 

 ance with an inferior army. After this defeat, 

 Wallace unaccountably vanishes from Scotch 

 istory, and certainly from the Guardianship of 

 Scotland; and there is some reason to believe 

 lat for a time he lived in France. The war was 

 sntinued, however, and ultimately Edward again 

 stablished his authority in Scotland. Wallace, 

 who still held out with a small following, was 

 captured in Glasgow, having been betrayed, it 

 is stated, by his man, John Short, to Alexander 

 de Monteith, Edward's governor of Dumbarton 

 Castle. He was taken to London, tried for treason, 

 id executed on the 23d August 1305. 

 Some time after the death of Wallace, while 

 Edward was engrossed with his French wars, 

 ROBERT BRUCE, Earl of Carrick, grandson of him 

 vho had competed with Baliol, conceived the idea 

 putting himself at the head of the Scots, and 

 ideavouring by their means at once to gain the 

 rown, and to recover the independence of the 

 cingdom. After a series of adventures, beginning 

 nth the stabbing of his rival, Comyn of Bade- 

 loch, in Dumfries in 1306, Bruce was crowned at 

 Scone. For some time after, he had to skulk as 

 a fugitive, being unable to maintain his ground 

 against the English officers ; but at length he 

 became so formidable, that Edward found it 

 necessary (1307) to lead a large army against him. 

 The English monarch, worn out with fatigue and 

 age, died on the coast of the Solway Firth, at 

 Burgh-on-the-Sands, in 1307, when just within 

 sight of Scotland, leaving his sceptre to his son 

 EDWARD II. That weak prince immediately 

 returned to London, leaving Bruce to contend 

 with his inferior officers. 



After several years of constant war, in which 

 one English fortress after another fell into the 

 hands of Bruce, Edward resolved to make a 



decisive effort to reduce Scotland to subjection 

 and save Stirling Castle, which held out. In the' 

 summer of 1314, he invaded it with an army of 

 100,000 men. Bruce drew up his troops, which 

 were only 30,000 in number, at Bannockburn, 

 near Stirling. Partly by steady valour, and partly 

 by the use of stratagems, the Scots (June 24) were 

 victorious, and Edward fled ignominiously from 

 the field. The Scottish king gained an immense 

 booty, besides securing his crown and the inde- 

 pendence of his country. He next year sent his 

 brother Edward with a body of troops to Ireland, 

 to assist the native septs, or clans, in resisting 

 the English. This bold young knight was crowned 

 king of Ireland at Carrickfergus, and for some 

 time held his ground against the English forces, 

 but was defeated at Athenree in 1316, and two 

 years afterwards fell in battle near Dundalk. 



The weakness of Edward II. was chiefly shewn 

 in a fondness for favourites, into whose hands 

 he committed the whole interests of his people. 

 At length Queen Isabella and the Prince of Wales 

 raised an insurrection against the king, and he 

 was deposed by parliament as being unworthy to 

 reign. The prince was then crowned as EDWARD 

 III. (1327), being as yet only about fourteen years 

 of age ; and in the course of a few months the 

 degraded sovereign was cruelly put to death in 

 Berkeley Castle, the chief instrument in causing 

 his death being Roger Mortimer, the queen's 

 favourite and paramour. 



During the minority of the young king, the 

 reins of government were held ostensibly by 

 guardians, but in reality by the queen and Morti- 

 mer. Under their administration, a peace was 

 concluded, in 1328, with King Robert of Scotland, 

 of which one of the conditions was a full acknow- 

 ledgment of the independence of the Scottish 

 monarchy. 



EDWARD III. RICHARD II. 



Edward III. who soon after assumed full power 

 by overthrowing and executing Mortimer, was a 

 warlike monarch, and inspired 'by all his grand- 

 father's desire of conquest In 1329, Robert Bruce 

 died, and was succeeded by his infant son DAVID, 

 to whom Isabella, a young sister of the English 

 king, was married, in terms of the late treaty. 

 Notwithstanding this connection, Edward aided a 

 son of John Baliol in an attempt to gain the Scot- 

 tish crown. Edward Baliol overthrew the Regent 

 of Scotland at Dupplin, September 1332, and for 

 two months reigned as King of Scots, while David 

 and his wife took refuge in France. Baliol was, 

 however, obliged to flee, it being believed that 

 he had consented to cede some of the southern 

 counties to England ; but an incessant border 

 warfare was kept up, the Scots being assisted 

 by France. 



But for his attention being diverted to France, 

 Edward III. would have made a more formidable 

 effort to subdue Scotland. He was led into a long 

 course of warfare with France, to the crown of 

 which he made a claim on the death of Charles IV. 

 without issue, because his mother was a daughter 

 of Philip IV. against the actual monarch, Philip 

 VI. In the victories which he gained at Crecy 

 (August 26, 1346) and Poitiers (September 19, 

 1350), the national valour, his own, and that 

 of his celebrated son, the Black Prince, were 



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