22
THE HISTORY OF
Highlanders and men of the Isles elimbed the precipice on which the English camp stood, and the enemy were driven out with great loss. The Scots pursued them to the gates of York, wasted the country without control, and returned home unmolested.
Edward, disheartened by repeated losses, agreed to a cessation of arms, from March 30, 1323, to June 12, 1336. The treaty was ratified by Robert, as King of Scotland, June 7, 1323. Robert's next care was to reconcile himself to the church; and to obtain from the Pope the title of King, which had been so long denied him; which at last, with difficulty, was obtained.
In the beginning of 1327, Edward II. was deposed, and harbarously murdered in Berkeley Castle by Gournay and Mautravers. He was succeeded by his son, Edward III., then in the 15th year of his age. He renewed the negociations for peace, and ratified the truee which his father had made; but hearing that the Scots had resolved to invade England if a peace was not immediately concluded, he summoned his barons to meet him in arms at Newcastle; and fortified York. On June 15, 1327, Douglas and Randolph invaded England by the western marches, with an army of 20,000 horsemen. Against them Edward led an army of at least 30,000 men, who assembled at Durhan on the 13th of July. The Scots proceeded with the utmost cruelty, burning and destroying everything as they went along; and on the 18th of the same month, the English discovered them by the smoke and flames which marked their progress. They marched forward in order of battle towards the quarter where the smoke was' perceived, but, meeting with no enemy for two days, they concluded that the Scots had retired. Disencumbering themselves there of their heavy baggage, they resolved, by a forced march, to reach the river Tyne, and, by posting themselves on the north bank of that river, to intercept the Scots on their return. On the 20th of July, the cavalry, having left the infantry behind, crossed the river at Halidon; but before the rest of the army could come up, the river was so swollen by sudden rains, that it could no longer be forded; and thus the English troops remained divided for several days, without any accommodation for quarters, and in the greatest want of provisions and forage. The soldiers now began to murmur, and it was resolved again to proceed southwards. The king proclaimed a reward of lands, to the value of £100 yearly for life, to the person who should first discover the enemy "on dry ground, where they might be attacked;" and many knights and esquires swam across the river on this strange errand. The army continued its march for three
