a contemporary, states that Bruce was present at this parliament.
At the Broadgate lay the Bruce, erle was he that day.
But his name is not in the list of those summoned, or of those who agreed to the reply to the pope. It is impro ble that he was there or actively engaged in the controversy which was carried on b a memorial presented to the pope on behalf of Edward] in favour of the English supremacy, and replies by the Scotch in the ‘Processus Baldlredi contra figmenta Regis Angliæ,’ drawn by Baldred de Bisset, rector of Kinghorn, one of the Scottish commissioners at itome. It was the policy of Bruce at this time to remain in the background, but events were hastening which brought him forward as the first actor on the stage. Scottish history at this juncture was involved with the relations of ‘the English king to the court of France and the see of Rome. Edward made up his quarrel with Philip the Fair, whose sister Margaret he married in 1299, and with whom an alliance was completed on 20 May 1303. Gascony was restored to France, and Scotland, up to this time supported by the French king, was abandoned. The pope also, anxious to stir up Edward against Philip, with whom he had a nearer and more dangerous controversy as to the rights of church and state, though unsuccessful in his object, temporised to gain it, and withdrew his protection from the Scotch. Edward, who had reconciled his own subjects hy tardy concessions, to procure the necessary supplies of men and money for the invasion of Scotland, commenced the war in earnest in 1303. In September of the previous year he ordered Sir John de Segrave to make a foray by Stirling and Kirkintilloch, but it was delayed till the following spring, and on 24 Feb. Segrave was defeated by Comyn, the regent, at Roslin. Edward himself then took the command, and in a brilliant campaign traversed the whole country from the border to Elgin, perhaps to Caithness, reducing every place of strength and wintering at Dunfermline. On 24 Jan. of the following year (1304) the capitulation of Stirling, the only castle which held out, completed his conquest. The evidence is slight, but sufficient to show that in this campaign Bruce still supported Edward. On 3 March Edward writes to Bruce: ‘If you complete that which (you have begun, we shall) hold the war ended by your deed and all the land of Scotland gained,’ and on the 5th of the same month to his son, referring to the Earl of Carrick and the other good people who were advancing to the parts near Stirling to pursue his enemies; on the 30th to the earl himself a letter sent by John de Bottetourt [q. v.], who was to receive supplies for his service; and on 15 April there is an urgent letter requesting him to spare no pains to cause the siege engines he was preparing with stones and timber to be forwarded, and on no account to delay because of the want of lead.
But while Bruce was thus openly supporting Edward, a secret alliance into which he entered with Lumberton, bishop of St. Andrews, the friend of Wallace, proves he had other designs, and though its terms are general, it was the first overt act which committed Bruce to the cause called patriotic in Scotland and treason in England. Until June, more than a month before the fall of Stirling, the earl and the bishop met at Cambuskenneth and subscribed a bond which bound them to support each other against all adversaries at all times and in all affairs, and to undertake nothing of difficulty without communication. When Lamberton was taken prisoner in 1306 he admitted the genuineness of the document, and his connection with Bruce was one charge preferred against him by Edward before the pope. Lamberton is an important link in the history of the war of independence, bringing into contact its first period under Wallace with its second under Bruce, and proving the continuity of the resistance to Edward though the leaders were different. In 1305 Wallace was betrayed and carried prisoner to London, where he was executed as a traitor, though he denied with truth that he had ever taken any oath to Edward. He was the only victim at this time. Towards the nobles and the country generally a contrary course was pursued. The one thing unpardonable was stubborn resistance, and the king evidently thought that clemency and organised government would reconcile Scotland to his rule. With this view, in a parliament held at London in Lent 1305, Edward ordered that the community of Scotland should meet at Perth on the day after the Ascension to elect representatives to come to London to a parliament to be held three weeks alter the feast of St. John the Baptist (24 June) to treat of the secure custody of Scotland. His advisers in this were the Bishop of Glasgow, the Earl of Carrick (Bruce), Sir John Segrave, his lieutenant in Lothian, and Sir John de Landale, the chamberlain of Scotland. Representatives were accordingly chosen, and the English parliament tow ich they were summoned finally met on 16 Sept. Bruce was not one of
