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ROYAL HERALDRY. 357
made. "By holy Edward!" exclaimed the King, "whose crown I wear, I
will either have my rights recognised or die in the vindication of them !"
What could they do The utmost consideration which ?
they could obtain
from him was an adjournment of three weeks. His army had now arrived.
His money and promises had already secured some, including the Regent
Frazer. Bruce, and Baliol, and other competitors for the throne, were only
too anxious to curry favour with him. They assembled again on Holywell
Haugh, a green plain opposite to Norham. The same demand was made by
the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Chancellor of England, and submitted to
without further discussion.
"
We agree to receive judgment from him as
" our Lord Paramount. We are willing to abide by his decision, and
" consent that he shall possess the kingdom
June nth the four Regents of Scotland delivered the kingdom into Edward's
hands, Gilbert de Umfraville, the Earl of Angus, being the only exception to
such a craven submission. The great seal of Scotland was delivered to
to whom he awards it." On
Alan, Bishop of Caithness, and Walter Agmondesham, his
Englishmen. The four Regents swore fealty, and a herald then proclaimed
the peace of King Edward as Lord Paramount.
assistants, both
After some deliberation the claims of twelve competitors were reduced
to three, viz. : John de Hastings, Robert Bruce, and John Baliol, the
descendants of the three daughters of David Earl of Huntingdon, the two
former claiming each a third part of the kingdom the ; last, as descended
from the eldest daughter, claiming the entire sovereignty. On the 6th
November, it was decided that the kingdom could not be divided ;
on the
iyth, 1292, at Berwick, Edward finally decreed that the sole sovereignty
should be awarded to Baliol. The great seal of Scotland was solemnly
broken, and on the following day Baliol, in the Castle of Norham, swore
fealty to Edward, who gave a commission to John St. John to perform the
ceremony of coronation by placing the new monarch upon the ancient stone
at Scone.
But the consequences of such a craven submission could not long
be endured, for Edward, having at last obtained the object of his own and
his predecessors' wishes, was determined that it should not become a dead
letter.
First, Baliol was summoned to appear before him on an appeal from
Roger Bartholomew against the judgments of the Regents ;
then, on the
appeal of Macduff against their decision as to his having seized the property
of his great nephew and the earldom of Fife and on each occasion he was
;
treated with hauteur and contempt. Then Edward, having refused to obey
a similar summons directed to him as Duke of Aquitaine, by Philip King of
France, found his own territory seized and declared forfeited, and war was
immediately declared to recover it. He at once summoned Baliol and the
most powerful of the Scottish nobles to attend him in person, with their
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