is to say, that while he, the said realm of Scotland, as King and Lord thereof, held and governed, he had found in the people of the said kingdom so much malice, fraud, treason, and deceit, that, for their malignity, wickedness, treachery, and other detestable facts, and for that, as he had thoroughly understood, they had, while their prince, contrived to poison him, it was his intention never to go or enter into the said kingdom of Scotland for the future, or with the said kingdom or its concerns, either by himself or others, to intermeddle, nor for the reasons aforesaid, and many others, to have any thing to do with the Scots. At the same time, the said John desired the said Bishop of Durham, that he would acquaint the most magnificent prince, and his Lord, Edward, the most illustrious king of England, with his intention, will, and firm resolution in this respect. This act was signed and sealed by the public notary, in the presence of the Bishop of Durham aforesaid, and of Ralph de Sandwich, constable of the Tower of London, and others, who heard this discourse."[1]
We regret for the honour of Scotland, that, excepting the date of this shameful libel, there is no other reason for supposing it to be dictated in an insincere spirit. Baliol now appears to have really entertained no higher wish than to regain his personal liberty, and be permitted to spend the rest of his days in retirement. Accordingly, having at last convinced King Edward of his sincerity, he and his son were delivered, on the 20th of July, 1299, to the Pope's legate, the Bishop of Vicenza, by whom they were transported to France. The unfortunate Baliol lived there upon his ample estates, till the year 1314, when he died at his seat of Castle Galliard, aged about fifty-five years. Though thus by no means advanced in life, he is said to have been afflicted with many of the infirmities of old age, among which was an entire deprivation of sight.
BALIOL, Edward. King John Baliol had two sons, Edward and Henry. The former seems entitled to some notice in this work, on account of his vigorous, though eventually unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown lost by his father. When King John entered into the treaty with the King of France, in 1295, it was stipulated in the first article that his son Edward should marry the daughter of Charles of Valois, niece to the French monarch, receiving with her twenty-five thousand livres de Tournois current money, and assigning to her, as a dowry, one thousand five hundred pounds sterling of yearly rent, of which one thousand should be paid out of King John's lands of Baliol, Dampier, Helicourt, and de Hornay, in France, and five hundred out of those of Lanark, Cadiou, Cunningham,[2] Haddington, and the Castle of Dundee, in Scotland. This young prince accompanied his father in his captivity in the Tower, and was subsequently carried with him to France. After the death of John Baliol, Edward quietly succeeded to the French family estates, upon which he lived unnoticed till 1324, when Edward II. commanded that he should be brought over to England, apparently for the purpose of being held up as a rival to Robert Bruce. Whether he now visited England or not is uncertain; but it would rather appear that he did not, as, in 1326, he was invited by Edward III. for the same purpose. At this time, the English monarch was endeavouring to secure a peace with the King of Scots, but at the same time held himself prepared for war by mustering his barons at Newcastle. He seems to have thought that a threat of taking Baliol under his patronage was apt to quicken the desires of the Scots for an accommodation. Nevertheless, in the summer of this
- ↑ Prynne's Collections, iii. 665.
- ↑ "John Baliol is known to have possessed in Cunningham the following lands: Largs, Noddesdale, Southannan. Dalry, Giffin, Cumsheuch, Dreghorn, the great barony of Kilmarnock, together with Bondinton and Hartshaw; extending in all to about L9,900 Scots of valued rent, or about L15,000 real rent at present."—Robertson's Ayrshire Families.
