POLITICAL HISTORY 



tenance of his dignity. This distinction was conferred upon him, as 

 stated in the patent, for his signal victory at Boroughbridge and his 

 delivery of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, into the king's hand. 1 Hartcla 

 became the most powerful personage in the north. But his fall was no 

 less rapid than his rise. His degradation within a year of the conferring 

 of the earldom is one of the most striking and dramatic episodes in 

 Cumbrian history. It is very doubtful that, in the action which he had 

 taken in concluding a peace with the Scots, Hartcla was really a traitor 

 to the best interests of his country. He had already been appointed a 

 commissioner to deal with Bruce, 2 and subsequent events may have in- 

 creased his conviction of the wisdom of such a step. The position of 

 the county was full of gloom, and no one better than he could gauge the 

 hopelessness of the unequal contest between a tried warrior like Robert 

 Bruce and a man like his own king, infirm of purpose and animated 

 only by a vague desire to revenge himself on his enemies. In 1322 a 

 petition had been sent to King Edward from the dwellers on the 

 Marches, telling how dreadful were their sufferings and that they had 

 nothing but their naked bodies to give to his service, at the same time 

 imploring him to come to their relief. 3 But Hartcla knew by experi- 

 ence the futility of such a course, and he was aware how little could be 

 expected from the king. It would seem that, actuated by such im- 

 pressions, he responded to the advances made by Bruce, whom he met 

 at the castle of Lochmaban on 3 January 1323.* On his return to 

 Carlisle, the earl reported the terms of the peace to an assembly of the 

 principal men of the county (omnes majores comitatus ejusdem, quam regulares 

 quam etiam seculares] by whom they were accepted, more from fear than 

 of their own wish. The news was received with different feelings by 

 the commonalty (pauperes et mediocres et agrkultores] , who made no secret 

 of their pleasure that the King of Scotland should be allowed to hold 

 his own kingdom on condition that they should live in peace. 6 King 

 Edward, however, looked at the matter from another standpoint, though 

 he seemed not to have been clear in the first place how far Hartcla was 

 in the wrong. He ordered an inquiry into the rolls of Chancery for 

 the exact terms of the earl's commission to treat with the Scots, but it 

 is doubtful that he waited for a reply. On i February the king and 

 his council issued a commission to Sir Anthony de Lucy to arrest the 

 earl, which was carried out in the castle of Carlisle. Intelligence of 

 the event reached the king at Knaresborough on 28 February, and so 



1 Rymer, Fcedera, ii. (i.), 481 ; Pat. 15 Edw. II. pt. ii. m. 22 ; Lords' Report on the Dignity of a 

 Peer, ill. 175. Leland states that Lancaster tried to corrupt Hartcla at Boroughbridge by offering him 

 one of the counties he had in his possession if he would favour his cause. ' But Herkeley refusid his offre. 

 Then Thomas prophetied that he wold sore repent and that shortely so fair, and that he should dy a 

 shameful deth, that is to say, to be hangid, drawen and quartered (Collectanea, i. 464). 



2 Pat. 15 Edw. II. pt. ii. m. 29. 



s Royal Letters, No. 4342 ; Cal. Doc. Scot. (Scot. Rec. Pub.), iii. 148. This petition has been 

 printed by Mr. Stevenson in Chron. de Lanercost, 537-8. 



4 The indenture made between them has been printed in a summary by Bain with remarks on the 

 character of the peace (Cal. Doc. Scot. iii. pp. xxx., xxxi. 148-9). 



8 Chron. de Lanercost (Maitland Club), 248-50. 



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