Meantime the Pope made his voice heard. On May 6, he had written to Edward, promising to send a nuncio to deal with the Bishop of Glasgow and others; and on May 11, he had strongly denounced to the Archbishop of York the assumption of the Bishop, desiring him to order the culprit peremptorily to come to his Holiness at Bordeaux. The Archbishop replied that the Bishop had been captured in arms, and that the King thought it inexpedient to serve the citation on his prisoner, but would send envoys with explanations. On June 18, the Pope addressed a bull to the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle directing them to excommunicate Bruce and his adherents, and to lay their lands, castles, and towns under ecclesiastical interdict till they should purge their offence. Already, on June 5, according to the London Annalist, the Archdeacons of Middlesex and Colchester had formally excommunicated Bruce and three other knights at St Paul's for the death of Comyn. However the sacrilegious deed at Dumfries may have affected the attitude of Scotsmen generally to Bruce, it did not produce revulsion in the minds of the more ardent patriots, any more than in the minds of Bruce's personal friends. Yet not only the powerful Comyn interest, but also a very large section of the rest of the population, adhered, formally at least, to the English cause. The particular movements of Bruce are not on record; but it appears that his adherents were pressing Sir Alexander de Abernethy in Forfar Castle, and that Irish as well as Scots allies were active in Fife and Gowrie. The foresters of Selkirk, as we have seen, had stood by Edward, and apparently had suffered not a little for their fidelity. Hemingburgh says Bruce 'did great wonders': undoubtedly the impression is that he must have been fighting a strenuous uphill battle. The great mass of the nation, however, was waiting for more definite developments. In June, Sir Aymer de Valence had advanced from Berwick to Perth. In his company were several prominent Scots--Sir John de Mowbray, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, Sir Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Adam de Gordon, Sir David de Brechin, and others that leant to Comyn. He had received to the peace some complaisant Scots whose lands or dwellings lay on his northward route. Bruce probably kept him under observation, retiring before him beyond the Forth, and not attempting to bar his progress to Perth.