SCOTLAND AFTER FALKIRK (1298-1303).
Source.—The Book of Pluscarden, pp. 168 et seqq. (Historians of Scotland, vol. x.)
After the battle lost (by the Scots) at Falkirk, the King of England did not for the nonce personally come north of the Firth of Forth; but he sent a very large force, which ravaged the whole land of Fife and all the adjacent lands of the town of Perth, and killed great numbers of the inhabitants of those lands; and when this force came back, the said King and his men went home again with immense booty. This, no doubt, was God's doing; for if then, or after the engagement at Dunbar and the capture of King John, he had tarried in the country, he would, as is believed, either have subdued to his sway the whole land of Scotland and its inhabitants, or have laid it waste, all but the water and the stones. As, however, he was very busy elsewhere, he could not attend to everything at one and the same time. So he and his men went back, after appointing administrators, officers, and wardens of the castles in Scotland, in the parts, namely, beyond the Forth, which part of the country was then fully under his dominion, with the exception of a few outlaws of the nation of the true Scots, who lived in the woods and were lurking in caves in rocks and glens, and who, on account of the slaughter and losses they had inflicted on both English and Anglicised Scots, durst not appear openly in the sight of the people. But at this time John Comyn, the Chief Warden of Scotland, and his son, and Simon Fraser, called Fresail, warlike men, stalwart, and endowed with every virtue, together with their partisans and followers, day and night lay in wait for the aforesaid officers, bailiffs, and wardens of castles of the King of England, and greatly harassed the aforesaid English, as also the Anglicised Scots, as above stated; and for four years or more they kept harrying one another with mutual slaughter and divers scourges and torments....
In the year 1303 the King of England entered Scotland with a very large force, which he had brought with him from both England and Wales, Gascony, Ireland, and Savoy—the Count of which was there in person, as well as the Prince of Wales—both by land and by sea, ... with the deliberate design of peacefully settling in that land of Scotland altogether and subduing it for ever, or, on the other hand, entirely sweeping away its inhabitants and leaving the said land a waste. The King, therefore, scouring the whole country over hill and dale as far as Lochindorb,[100] received oaths of fealty and homage from all the inhabitants, and himself personally brought the northern parts under his dominion. Then, after appointing his royal officials and officers in the towns and castles, the King went about exploring the country, and brought it all under his allegiance and dominion; and he remained at Dunfermline to spend the winter, and no one in all Scotland hindered him, or brought force to bear against him; but he rested in peace until Candlemas. In this year Edward of Carnarvon, then Prince of Wales, spent some time in the town of Perth, and during the whole of this time food was so plentiful and abundant in Scotland that a laggen[101] of good beer sold commonly for twopence, and a laggen, Scottish measure, of good wine for eightpence. The same year, after the whole people of Scotland had made its submission to the King of England, John Comyn, then Head Warden, and all the magnates of Scotland, except that noble leader William Wallace, and his partisans and followers, were little by little brought by the aforesaid King to make their submission and swear allegiance to him, giving up to him the towns, castles, and all the strongholds but Stirling Castle and its garrison....
Just after the Easter Festival, the said King Edward besieged Stirling Castle for three months without a break; and he ordered the whole of the lead of the monastery of St. Andrews to be stripped off and carried to Stirling aforesaid for the construction of the engines for the siege. At length, however, the warden of the said castle, William Oliphant by name, surrendered the castle to him, under a certain condition in writing and under seal. But, notwithstanding his promise, the King, on taking the castle, belied his word and broke through the condition by taking the said William Oliphant, the warden of the said castle, in bonds with him to London, and consigning him to a fearful dungeon. The same year also, when he had taken castles, towns and all the other strongholds, and the whole of the leading lords of the realm had made their submission to him, and the whole of the castles and towns formerly destroyed had been rebuilt, and there was no one but William Wallace alone who remained faithful to the King of Scotland; and after he had appointed wardens and officers of his own there, and all and sundry of the Scottish nation had taken the oaths of fealty and homage, the said King, together with the Prince of Wales and their armies, went back to England, leaving, however, one Chief Warden as his lieutenant to put down and chastise any outbreaks by any of the rest, both Scottish and English; and he never afterwards showed his face in Scotland. After his departure, the English nation lorded it in every part of Scotland, harassing the Scots in many and manifold ways, and ruthlessly doing them to death with wrongs, massacres, and stripes, under the awful yoke of slavery.
[100] Near Elgin.
[101] Probably in about seven quarts.