Now that he had only a single war upon his hands Edward's position was
entirely changed. There was no more need to conciliate the magnates nor
the parliament. His displeasure fell mainly on the archbishop and the
earl of Norfolk, who had so long led the opposition. Winchelsea was put
in disgrace, and ultimately exiled. Norfolk, who was childless, was
forced to sign a grant by which his lands went to the king after his
death--a harsh and illegal proceeding, for he had collateral heirs. But
the Scots, as was natural, bore the brunt of the king's wrath. In June
1303, a month after the peace of Paris, he advanced from Roxburgh,
determined to make a systematic conquest of the realm, and not to return
till it was ended. He kept up his campaign throughout the winter,
reduced every fortress that held out, and carried his arms as far as
Aberdeen and Elgin. In February 1304 the regent Comyn and most of the
Scottish baronage submitted, on the promise that they should retain
their lands on doing homage. Wallace, who had returned from France, kept
up a guerilla warfare in the hills for a year more, but was captured in
July 1305, and sent to London to be executed as a traitor. Even before
his capture it seemed that Scotland was thoroughly tamed, and was
destined to share the fate of Wales.
Edward's arrangements for the administration of the conquered kingdom
were wise and liberal, if only the national spirit of the Scots could
have tolerated them. The Scottish parliament was to continue, though
representatives from beyond Tweed were also to be sent to the English
parliament. The sheriffdoms and most of the ministerial posts were left
in the hands of Scots, though the supreme executive authority was put in
the hands of John of Brittany, earl of Richmond, the king's nephew. The
land seemed for a time to be settling down, and indeed the baronage were
to such a large extent English in both blood and feeling, that there was
no insuperable difficulty in conciliating them. A considerable fraction
of them adhered consistently to the English cause from this time forth,
and ultimately lost their lands for refusing to follow the rest of the
nation in the next insurrection.
But the delusion that Scotland had been finally subdued was to last only
for a year, although in 1305 Edward seemed to have accomplished his
task, and stood triumphant, with the northern realm at his feet, his
domestic foes humbled, and France and the papacy defeated. His last
short interval of peaceful rule was distinguished by the passing of the
Statute of Trailbaston in the parliament of 1305. This was a measure for
the repression of local riots, empowering justices in every shire to
suppress clubmen (_trailbastons_), gangs of marauders who had been
rendering the roads unsafe.
Robert Bruce.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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