TravelScotland Logo TravelScotland Logo

How to use Timeline


Timeline of Scottish History


Edwards decided measures

The general revolt of the Scots, and that rapid success with which it was attended, determined the English Regency to summon a parliament at London, on the 10th of October. To this assembly came the Earl of Norfolk and the Earl of Hereford, the one Marshal and the other Constable of England, with so powerful a body of their retainers, that they overawed its proceedings; and aware of the trying emergency in which the rebellion of the Scots had placed the king, they declared, that no aids or levies should be granted against the Scots, unless the Great Charter, and the Charter of the Forests, were ratified, along with an additional clause, which prohibited any aid or tallage from being exacted, without the consent of the prelates, nobles, knights, and other freemen. Edward was startled when informed of these demands. His affairs detained him in Flanders, where accounts had reached him of the whole of Scotland having been wrested from his hand by Wallace; he was still engaged in a war with France; and, thus surrounded by difficulties, it was absolutely necessary for him to make' every sacrifice to remain on good termswith his barons.

He accordingly, after three days' deliberation, consented to confirm all the charters which had been sent over to him; and having wisely secured the affections of his nobility, he directed letters to the earls and barons of England, commanding them, as they valued his honour, and that of the whole kingdom, to meet at York on the 14th January, and thence, under the orders of the Earl of Surrey, to proceed into Scotland, and put down the rebellion of that nation. At the same time he sent letters to the great men of Scotland, requiring them on their fealty to attend the muster at York, and denouncing them as public enemies if they refused.

These seasonable favours granted to the nobility, and the good grace with which Edward bestowed them, although, in truth, they were extorted from him much against his inclination, rendered the king highly popular; so that at York, on the day appointed, there was a great muster of the military force of the kingdom. There came the Earl Marshal and the Great Constable of England, the Earl of Surrey the king's lieutenant against the Scots, the Earls of Gloucester and Arundel, Lord Henry Percy, John de Wake, John de Segrave, Guido son of the Earl of Warwick, and many other powerful earls and barons.