The king himself then addressed the assembly. He declared his intention to pronounce a speedy decision in the controversy; and, meanwhile, to maintain the laws and re‐establish the tranquillity of the country. The several claimants then affixed their signatures to two important instruments—the first declaring their consent to receive judgment from the king as lord paramount; and the second, delivering the land and the castles of Scotland into Edward’s hands, he engaging to re‐deliver them to the person who should appear to be justly entitled. Then a list of eighty commissioners was formed by the candidates themselves, to which list the king was to add twenty‐four names; and these commissioners were to receive the claims of the several candidates, and to report them to the king.
On the 11th of June, the regents of Scotland delivered the kingdom, and the governors of the castles gave up those fortresses, into the hands of king Edward, who immediately re‐delivered them to the regents, promising to give full possession to the rightful claimant, so soon as the question as to the succession should be decided. The guardians of the kingdom then swore fealty to Edward, as lord paramount, and were followed in the same oath by Robert Bruce, by his son, by John Baliol, and by the earls of Buchan, Mar, Athol, Angus, Lennox, Menteith, and many other barons and knights. The peace of king Edward, as lord paramount, was publicly proclaimed, and the assembly was adjourned until the 2nd of August, then to meet at the town of Berwick‐upon‐Tweed. On that day it again met; and the claimants were invited to present their petitions. These, which were twelve in number, were read; and the king recommended them to the attention of the commissioners; enjoining them to give in their report to him, at Berwick, on the 2nd of June, in the next year. Edward was at that time called to England by the illness of his mother, who was then on her death‐bed. He had also the disagreeable task before him of suppressing a violent feud which had broken out between the earls of Hereford and Gloucester. He probably also anticipated that the investigation of the claims of so many as twelve candidates, by a large body of commissioners, would necessarily occupy much time. On these grounds he postponed the decision until the following summer, and soon took his departure for England.[52]
In June, 1292, the commissioners assembled, the king and all the claimants being present. There can be no doubt that it began to be generally understood by this time that the question must lie between Robert Bruce and John Baliol, both of whom were descended from daughters of David, earl of Huntingdon, who was brother of William the Lion, king of Scotland. The table of affinity is given below.[53]
Some difficulties arising, the king desired further information to be obtained, and adjourned the further hearing until the 15th of October. On that day all parties again met, and the king proposed to the commissioners two questions: first, by what laws or customs the judgment ought to be regulated? and, secondly, was the kingdom of Scotland to be regarded as a common fief, and the succession to be regulated by the same principles which were applicable to earldoms and baronies? The commissioners replied, that the laws and usages of the two kingdoms must rule the question; but if none existed to regulate the case, the king must make a new law for a new emergency; and that the succession must be decided in the same manner as the succession to earldoms, baronies, and other indivisible inheritances.
The claimants were then called upon, and each endeavoured to maintain his own right. The language used by John Baliol, who ultimately obtained the kingdom, is worthy of notice. He urged “that the claimants were in the court of the lord paramount, of whose ancestors, from time immemorial, the realm of Scotland was held by homage; and that the king of England must give judgment in this case as in the case of other tenements held of the crown, looking to the laws and established usages of his kingdom”[54]
The king then required of his great council a final answer to this question: “By the laws and customs of both kingdoms, ought the issue of an elder sister, but more remote by one degree, to exclude the issue of a younger sister, although one degree nearer?” The council replied, that the issue of the elder sister must be preferred. Another adjournment then took place, until the 6th of November. On that day the king declared his judgment, that Bruce’s right must yield to the superior claim of Baliol. Whereupon a new question was raised: John de Hastings, descended from the third daughter of David earl of Huntingdon, alleged that the kingdom of Scotland was partible, and ought to be divided among the descendants of the three daughters. Bruce followed, maintaining the same view; and the king referred the question to his council—“Is the kingdom of Scotland divisible; or are its escheats and its revenues divisible?” The council replied, that neither could be divided. One more adjournment then took place, to the 17th of November, when all parties were commanded again to meet in the castle of Berwick‐on‐Tweed.
“On that great and important day, the council and parliament of England, with the nobility of both countries, being met, and the various competitors appearing, the king solemnly decreed, ‘That the kingdom of Scotland, being indivisible, and the king of England being bound to judge of the rights of his subjects according to the laws and usages of the people over whom he reigns, by which laws the more remote in degree of the first line of descent is preferable to the nearer in degree of the second; therefore, John Baliol ought to have seizin of the kingdom of Scotland, with reservation always of the right of the king of England, and of his heirs, when they shall think proper to assert it.’
“After having delivered judgment, Edward exhorted Baliol to be careful in the government of his people, lest, by giving any just cause of complaint, he should call down upon himself an interference of the lord paramount. He then commanded the regents to give him seizin of his kingdom, and directed orders to the governors of the castles throughout Scotland to deliver them into the hands of Baliol. The great seal of Scotland was then broken into four parts, and the pieces ordered to be deposited in the treasury of the king of England.”[55]
On the following day, Baliol, in the castle of Norham, swore fealty to Edward, who gave a commission to John St. John to proceed to the coronation of the new king. This ceremony took place on St. Andrew’s day; and towards the end of December the king of Scotland visited Edward in England, and paid homage to him at Newcastle‐on‐Tyne.