 Balmyle's pension for being Chancellor was to be paid by Arbroath Abbey, for which the abbey later fell into arrears.Later in the year, in April, he was one of four Scottish envoys sent to Canterbury for abortive talks with the English and French.In the next few years, Nicholas' activities are difficult to trace, but he was probably involved in much diplomatic activity, including perhaps having a hand in drawing up the brief which Baldred Bisset would later deliver to the pope in the interests of Scottish independence.