Common Pleas, "that, for the future, no justice Edward I. should be done to the clergy, in the King's court, yet A.D. 1297. that, nevertheless, justice should be done to all persons making complaints against them." This soon produced a division among the clergy, many of whom quickly submitted to the King. Those who still refused, were left to be injured and abused by any one that met them. Oftentimes, their horses were taken from them on the King's highway. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, while on his way to court, to make complaint of these hardships, had his horses seized by the King's officers at Maidstone, and he was forced to borrow horses for the rest of his journey. His efforts to persuade the King to be more merciful were all to no purpose, for the King looked on him as the very ringleader of the obstinate clergy, and consequently treated him with such severity, that he was obliged to lodge and board with a parish priest of his diocese. proceed their effects There can be no doubt that these proceedings of The King's the King were arbitrary and illegal, for the Parlia- ings arbiment, by whose authority alone the money could be trary, but raised, had refused to grant it. But the struggle good. between the Crown and the Church was of good effect, as it checked the Pope's interference in the temporal concerns of the kingdom. still perse veres in the France, Notwithstanding his difficulties in raising money, The King the King still determined to carry on the war with France. With this view, he entered into an alliance war with with the Earl of Flanders, the condition of which was, that they should both make war with France, and that neither should make peace without the consent of the other. But the King could not get on without money, and, to raise it, he was obliged to continue and continues his illegal means of raising money. Edward I. his illegal courses. He ordered all, who had any A.D. 1297. wool or leather by them, to carry it to certain seaports, where he promised to buy it of them. But as soon as the King got possession of it, instead of money, he gave tallies for it, "to be paid when the King was able." He also greatly increased the duty on the export of wool. His army wanted provisions, but he had no money to buy them, so he exacted 2000 qrs. of wheat and oats, and large quantities of salted meat, from each county, without payment. He then summoned a council of his military tenants, to meet him at Salisbury, to make arrangements for the invasion of Gascony; but as he had no intention of going in person, the barons refused to go. Quarrel between the King and the barons. A great quarrel now arose between the King and the barons. The Earl of Norfolk, Marshal, and the Earl of Hereford, Constable, of England, excused themselves from going, saying, that their offices obliged them, by their tenure, only to attend the King when he went abroad in person. "I am ready," said the Marshal, "to attend your person in the front of the army, as I am bound by hereditary right." "But you shall go with others, and that without me," replied the King. "I am not obliged, neither will I go without you," answered the Marshal. "Sir Earl," said the King, in a violent rage, "you shall either go or hang." "Sir King, I will neither go nor hang," replied the Marshal, and so he departed from the King's presence. This council, however, agreed on one point, and that was, to compel the clergy to submit to the King. When the council broke up, and the two Earls returned to their counties, they gathered together a body of 1500 horse, to resist the King, and they Edward I. would not allow the King's officers to take any wool, A.D. 1297. leather, or provisions. They also resolved to hold a separate Parliament, in the Forest of Wyre,7a on the borders of Wales, to consider how they might best resist the King's extortions. The clergy too, under the guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, met together for the same purpose. But they could not agree, and, at length, the Archbishop broke up the meeting, saying, "Let every man save his own soul." Still the King persevered. He issued writs from May 24. Portsmouth, on the 24th May, ordering a great force to assemble at Winchelsea; and, in order to prevent the repetition of the barons' excuses, he, time, ordered them to meet him, to go with him mouth. to Flanders. But the dissatisfaction caused by his arbitrary proceedings had not died away, and the summons was disregarded. The barons refuse to this King at meet the Ports again sum barons to France. Troubles in Scotland now began again, but the Troubles in King, rather than give up his war with France, left Scotland, Scotland in the hands of the Earl of Surrey, whom he had appointed Governor of that kingdom. Again but the the King summoned his barons to meet him at Win- King chelsea, and, not doubting he should succeed in mons the raising forces to go with him, he made arrangements invade for the government of England, by his son, during his absence, and made an effort at reconciliation with the clergy. A meeting took place in Westminster Hall, at the beginning of July, when the King asked pardon of the people there assembled, excusing his conduct by saying that, as for "that part of their estates which they had either given him, or his ministers had extorted from them, it was taken for the good of the country, and that they might enjoy The King Edward I. the remainder more quietly." The Archbishop burst A.D. 1297, into tears; and the people vowed fidelity to the King and to his son, during his absence. But, adds an old chronicler, "Some prayed for him, whilst others cursed him in their hearts;" they doubted his sincerity. The clergy still resisted. reconciled with the clergy. Earls of Norfolk and Suf folk refuse France till to go to grievances are re dressed. The King's army met him at Winchelsea, but the Earls of Norfolk and Suffolk still refused to go with him, unless he would first redress the grievances of the kingdom. These were set forth in a remonstrance, complaining of excessive taxes, and of the non-observance of the Magna Charta and the Charter of Forests. The King was too intent on his French expedition to allow the dissatisfaction of these two Earls, and their supporters, to cause further delay. So he put forward an attempt at justification, made The King fair promises, and set sail for Flanders. No sooner was he gone, than the discontented earls and barons forbade the levying of any taxes. sails for Flanders. Disturbances in Scotland. The Scotch resist the Dominion of the English. While these preparations for war with France were going on, great events were happening in Scotland. Although the submission of Baliol deprived the Scotch of a leader, and the jealousies among the nobles and competitors for the throne prevented any united action against the English, yet the hatred felt by the Scotch for their English rulers, fomented by the unwise severity of Edward's officers, was continually breaking out. Throughout the whole country, numerous bands of armed peasants infested the highways, plundering the English, and laying waste their lands.18 hatred of lace heads Their numbers gradually increased, and they besieged Edward I. the castles held by the English. At length, when the A.D. 1297. country was left to its fate by the greater nobles, there Scotch arose, from among the lesser barons, a man who long the Enstruggled successfully against the English dominion, glish. and who, had he not been thwarted by the quarrels The nobles among his own countrymen, would doubtless have keep aloof, driven the English out of Scotland. This was William but WalWallace of Elderslie. In those days, bodily strength the revolt. and courage were of the greatest importance, and Wallace had an iron frame, and a stature which was almost gigantic. A quarrel with some English officers drove him to revolt; he was insulted, in the town of Lanark, and would have been killed in the streets, had he not been sheltered in the house of his sweetheart, until he was able to escape to the neighbouring woods. Here, by degrees, he collected together those who had refused submission to Edward, and they chose him for their chief. He, and his brave little band, began by attacking straggling parties of the English, and in these attacks he was generally successful. The small band; paths across the mountains, and the ways from one part of the country to another, thus became well known to him; and the knowledge thus acquired, was of great use to him in his contests with the English troops. His countrymen began to trust him they inmore and more, and he was soon at the head of a large body of Scottish exiles. Sir William Douglas was the first noble who came with his vassals to and are Wallace's support; with their united forces they Douglas. joined by gained greater successes, and by degrees some of the most powerful of the Scottish nobles were not ashamed to fight under the banners of Wallace. But, among the Scottish nobles who did not thus The pata triots at crease, |