He took leave of the lords and ladies of the town and entrusted the town to their defence. He had the mayor of the town and the richest inhabitants renew their vows to defend the town efficiently and sufficiently as part of the inheritance of the
king of England. To which they readily assented. With that, the
earl departed with his army and rode towards
Bordeaux by way of the fortresses he had conquered, and when he had reached it, he gave leave to all the men-at-arms and thanked them for their fine service.
Shortly after that he gave orders to sail to
Calais to see the
king, his lord.
Now we will leave off speaking of him, and talk of the
king of Scotland.
SHF 1-295 sync
How the king of Scotland invaded England, laying waste to the country, and how the queen of England came to face him.
I have been silent for a time with respect to
king David of Scotland but until now have had no cause to speak of him, for, as I have said before, the treaties which the
English and
Scots had between them were strictly adhered to without infringement by either side. Now it so happened that when the
king of England had besieged the town of
Calais, the
Scots resolved to make war on the
English and to avenge the wrongs done to them, for their country was emptied of men-at-arms since the
king of England had a great host of them over in
Calais, and also a great many in
Brittany and
Gascony.
King Philippe, who had a strong alliance with the
king of Scotland, took great pains to bring about this war, for he would gladly have seen the
king of England raise the siege of
Calais and return to
England.
The
king of Scotland sent a summons covertly to be at the town of
St-John-upon-Tay. The earls, prelates and barons of
Scotland travelled there to hold talks and were all in agreement that, as soon and as vigorously as they could, they would enter
England towards
Roxburgh, with such strength and so well prepared as to combat the might of the remaining forces of
England, who were in
England at that time. With the
king in this agreement were all of the barons, prelates and knights of the kingdom of
Scotland, and more than sixty thousand fighting men, give or take a few. They conducted this gathering in secret so as to inflict greater harm on their enemies. Then was summoned
Johannes de Out-isles, leader of the wild
Scots, who obeyed none but him, and requested to join their army. He agreed readily and came with three thousand of the most savage men of his land. However, the
king of Scotland could not send out his summons so secretly that the
queen of England, who was in the north in the marches of
York, might not come to know of it and be informed of everything, and would not provide a solution as soon as she learnt of what was going on. She was advised to look to her friends and summon all those who held lands of the
king, her lord. The good
lady came to reside in the city of
York which is called Berwick, in the county of
Northumberland.
When the
king of England crossed the sea, the
lord Percy, the
lord Ros, the
lord Neville and the
lord Mowbray, four great barons, had stayed behind to aid in defending the land should the need arise.
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