heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

2QO
THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
" S'il ne voult venir &.
nous, nous viendrons a lui ;
" and immediately sent
the Earls of Warrenne and Warwick to recover the castle of Dunbar, which
the garrison had treacherously surrendered. With 1,000 horse, 10,000 foot,
and 100 men from the army of the Bishop of Durham, Warrenne defeated
1,500 horse and 40,000 foot, and defeated the Scots, who had come to its
rescue, pursuing them seven or eight miles, almost to the forest of Selkirk;
and when he had finally routed the Scotch forces captured Roxburgh,
Jedburgh, Stirling, and Edinburgh, Balliol having surrendered was stripped
of his royal robes, spoiled of crown and sceptre, and compelled to stand
as a criminal before the King with a white rod in his hand. Warrenne
was then appointed Regent of Scotland, General of all the forces north
of the Trent, with his residence at Bothwell Castle, and with him were
associated Cressingham, an ecclesiastic, as Chief Treasurer, and William
Ormesby, Chief Justice.
On the Scots rising in arms under the famous William Wallace,
second son of Sir Malcolm Wallace, of Ellerslie, in 1297, Warrenne
received the King's orders to raise the militia in the northern parts and
chastise the insurgents. Warrenne at once sent his nephew, Henry
de Percy, at the head of an army of 40,000 foot and 300 horse, to
Galloway, who surprised the Scotch at Irvine, and compelled them,
divided amongst themselves, to capitulate and promise hostages, while
Wallace, in anger and disgust, retired with a few tried and veteran followers
to the north. But the Scots were irresolute and contradictory
too jealous to act with Wallace, they were too proud to submit to
Warrenne. Only William Douglas and the Bishop of Glasgow submitted,
meanwhile the great number allied themselves with Wallace. Edward was
dissatisfied, superseded Warrenne, and appointed Brian Fitzalan
Governor
of Scotland in his stead. Smarting under this indignity, and, in consequence,
more than ever at variance with Cressingham, the treasurer, a
proud and violent churchman, who preferred the cuirass to the cassock,
Warrenne marched with his army towards Stirling, and on reaching the
south bank of the river Forth, spanned by a long, narrow wooden bridge,
he found that Wallace had already occupied the high ground on the other
side, above Cambuskenneth. Lennox, the Steward of Scotland, was with
the English army, and asked Warrenne to delay the attack until he had
attempted to bring Wallace to terms. He failed in his purpose, and a
scuffle arose between foraging parties, which, but for the command of
Wallace to wait until the morning, would have drawn on an engagement
that night. The morning was already far advanced before Warrenne rose
from his bed and drew up his army in battle array. Wallace had not,
however, been idle; he had tampered with his English soldiers, drawn away
his Scotch, acquainted himself with the numbers of his men, and matured