Here is to be noted, that during the time whilest the ciuill warre was in hand betwixt king Edward and his barons, the Scots and Frenchmen were not idle, for the Scots wasted & destroied the countrie of the bishoprike of Durham (as before ye haue partlie heard) & the Frenchmen made roades & incursions into the borders of Guien, alledging that they did it vpon good and sufficient occasion, for that king Edward had not doone his homage vnto the king of France, as he ought to haue doone, for the duchie of Aquitaine, and the countie of Pontieu. But the true occasion that mooued them to attempt the warres at that present, was for that they were in hope to recouer all the lands which the king of England held within France, cléerelie out of his hands, for so much as they vnderstood the discord betwixt him and his barons, and how infortunatlie he had sped against the Scots, by reason whereof they iudged the time to serue most fitlie now for their purpose. [Sidenote: _Rich. South._] [Sidenote: Rob. Bruce inuadeth England.] [Sidenote: Sée more hereof in Scotland.] [Sidenote: An. Reg. 16.] [Sidenote: The king goeth into Scotland with an army.] [Sidenote: _Ri. Southw._] [Sidenote: _Merimouth._] In the octaues of the natiuitie of saint Iohn Baptist, Robert Bruce entring into England by Carleill, kept on his waie through Cumberland, Coupeland, Kendall, and so into Lancashire, till he came to Preston in Andernesse, which towne he burnt, as he had doone others in the countries through which he had passed. There were some of the Scots that forraied the countrie fiue miles on this side Preston southwards, and thus being fourescore long miles within England, they returned homewards, and entred againe into Scotland without incounter, after they had béene at this time within England the space of thrée wéeks and thrée daies. King Edward being thus beset with two mischiefes both at one time, thought good first to prouide remedie against the néerer danger, which by the Scots was still at hand, and therefore he meant to go against them himselfe, and to send his brother Edmund earle of Kent into Guien, to defend that countrie from the Frenchmen. Herevpon now in the sixtéenth yeare of his reigne, after that the Scots were returned home with a great bootie and rich spoile, he got togither a wonderfull great armie of men, and entring into Scotland, passed far within the countrie, not finding any resistance at all (as the most part of our writers doo agrée) but at length, through famine and diseases of the flix and other maladies that fell amongst the Englishmen in the armie, he was constreined to come backe, and in his waie besieged the castell of Norham, which fortresse he wan within ten daies after he had begun to assault it.