SCOTLAND. 



589 



Hiitory. 



A.D. 1355. 



Release of 

 David. 



A.D. 1363. 



A.I). 1370. 

 Death of 

 David the 

 Second, and 

 accession of 

 Robert the 

 second 

 Stewart. 



A.D. 1371. 



gessej, became bound for payment of the ransom, and 

 observance of the truce, lint various ciutes concur- 

 r.-d to ti-'i-tr.ite the t-v.-cntion of the treaty for David's 

 Tin- I-'n'iivli monarch, dreadii.^ a new inva- 

 Kioti !> lish, dispatched an emissary to 



land with a cho>i r, !><>dv of troops, and a considerable 

 su in ofmonev, to be di-tribut --d among the Scottish 

 nobility, on condition of tlicir renewing the war. The 

 noble-, accepted the French otters, and resolved to in- 

 v.ide Knyland. 



The Scottish borderers took the field, entered Eng- 

 land, and pillaged Norham. Stewart, Earl of Angus, 

 having collected a small fleet, approached Berwick in 

 the night, and scaled the walls ; while the Karl of 

 March, with the French troops, seconded the attack. 

 The town surrendered, the inhabitants retiring to the 

 castle, which the Scots were unable to reduce till the 

 town was invested by an army under Edward, when 

 they capitulated and retired. 



Despairing of regaining his authority in Scotland, 

 Baliol made an absolute surrender of his kingdom and 

 crown to Edward of England. But this did not in- 

 crease the authority of Edward in Scotland, and, re- 

 solving to extort the reluctant obedience of the barons, 

 he led his forces into Lothian. But the army was in- 

 volved in difficulties, and had no alternative but to re- 

 treat, or to be wasted by famine and the sword. Edward 

 desolated the country, and laid in ashes every town, 

 village, and hamlet that he passed in his retreat. 



After this retreat, the Scots expelled his partisans 

 from the west marches. Nithsdale, Annandale, and Gal- 

 loway, successively surrendered their fortresses, and 

 yielded obedience to the regent ; while the English, 

 intent upon the subjugation of France, re-opened a ne- 

 gotiation for the release of the king of Scots. A treaty 

 was concluded at Berwick, in consequence of which 

 David was released after a captivity of eleven years. 

 The ransom agreed upon was one hundred thousand 

 merks sterling, to be paid by yearly instalments of ten 

 thousand. But he visited England a few months after 

 his release ; and during the remainder of his reign 

 made many visits to London. 



The Scots negotiated alternately with the French 

 and the English ; with the former, to obtain a subsidy 

 to enable them the more easily to discharge the king's 

 ransom, though at the expence of a war with England; 

 with the latter, to procure if possible an abatement of 

 the ransom, or to procrastinate the payment. 



The king, in a parliament held at Scone, proposed 

 that, in the event of his dying without issue, one of the 

 sons of the king of England should be chosen to suc- 

 ceed him. They unanimously rejected the proposal. 

 The nobles entered into associations for maintaining 

 the legal succession ; and took up arms against the per- 

 son suspected of favouring the king's political views. 

 David had recourse to arms ; but a general amnesty 

 was granted. 



David ike Second died in the castle of Edinburgh, in 

 the 42d year of his reign, and the 4?th of his . 



The crown now passed to Robert, the High Steward 

 of Scotland. He was experienced in the art of go- 

 vernment, as well as in the duties of a subject. 



William, earl of Douglas, at first opposed the acces- 

 sion of the steward, and claimed the crown for himself, 

 as uniting in his own person the pretensions of Comyn 

 and the title of Baliol ; but this claim he was compel- 

 led to withdraw by the unanimous opposition of the 

 barons. Robert the Second was crowned at Scone, and 

 an act was passed, declaring John, earl of Carrick, the 

 king's eldest son, the heir-apparent to the throne; 



while, in order to secure the friendsbin of France, the 

 treaty with that country was renewed, the French mo- 

 narch engaging to support the Scott against the inrlu. A.I' 

 ence and arms of England. It was also enacted, that, 

 f iling the heir-apparent and his iskue, the following 

 noblemen and their heirs should succeed to the throne: 

 first, The e.irl of Fife and Monteith ; second, Alexan- 

 der, lord of lUdt-noch; third, The Earl of Mrather. 

 and fourth, Wilier, earl of Atholl. 



The national tranquillity was interrupted by the ac- 

 cession of Ilii-liard the Second to the English throne. 

 An affray at Roxburgh wai the ostensible cause for 

 commencing hostilities, followed by a naval engage- 

 ment between a small fleet of Scottish, French, and 

 Spanish vessels, an i^lish merchantmen, which 



were captured off Scarborough. 



While the English and Scottish governments were A.D. 137*. 

 prosecuting measures for pacification, Alexander Ham- 

 say assaulted and took the cattle of Berwick by sur- 

 prise. The ear. of Northumberland soon invested the 

 town ; and, except Ramsay, none of the garrison 

 escaped from slaughter. The English army marched 

 into the south of Scotland and ravaged the country. 

 A detachment of six-hundred lancemen and archers 

 fell into an ambuscade of the Scots commanded by 

 Archibald Douglas. 



In two years after, another inroad into England was A.D. 1360. 

 made by the Scots under Douglas, who surrounded the 

 town of 1'enrith by night, and burned it ; but they 

 carried home with them the plague, which then deso- 

 lated England, and expiated the miseries they had 

 inflicted. The duke of Lancaster advanced to the 

 frontiers of Scotland with a numerous army, with se- 

 cret instructions to conclude a peace on the best terms 

 he could obtain. A truce was concluded for two years. 

 Notwithstanding that tranquillity was thus apparently 

 established, the Scots sent an embassy to France, and 

 obtained promises of support and subsidy, as a com- 

 pensation for being ready to make war upon England 

 when the affairs of their allies rendered it necessary. 



The truce with England was permitted to expire, 

 and a short truce was entered into between the En- 

 glish and the French, in which the Scots were not in- 

 cluded. The duke of Lancaster, conceiving this a 

 sufficient reason for commencing hostilities, entered 

 Scotland and advanced to Edinburgh ; which he t pared, 

 in gratitude for the hospitality he had there experi- 

 enced. 



The Scottish nobles now took up arms, and plun- A.D. 1381. 

 dered the northern counties of England with impuni- 

 ty. Conformably to the late treaty, the French mo- 

 narch dispatched de Vienne, admiral of France, with 

 the stipulated supply into Scotland, with the view of 

 carrying the war into England, and delivering France 

 from invasion. He arrived at Leith, but was greatly 

 shocked at the poverty of the Scot-. The equipments 

 for war were scantily supplied ; even the necessaries of 

 life could hardly be procured. The French w^hed to ^ ^ 

 return home; and, in order to afford them employ- 

 ment, a numerous force was prepared to invade Eng- 

 land. Thirty thousand men took the tield under the 

 command of the earls of Fife and Douglas ; and their 

 French allies entered the English territories, and ra- 

 vaged the country as far as Newcastle ; but learning 

 thit Lancaster was approaching, retired with their 

 prey into Scotland. K'.chard the Second advanced 

 with a large army against the Scots. Dryburgh, 

 Newbottle, and Edinburgh, were successively given 

 to the flames. Stirling, Perth, and Dundee, were de- 

 stroyed ; and the English vanguard advanced to Aber 



