At the head of his personal adherents, and a large body of the “_liberi firmarii_,” or free yeomanry of Scotland, Wallace retired indignantly towards the North. This latter class of men consisted of the tenants, and descendants of tenants, of the crown and church-lands, or those who occupied farms on the demesnes of the barons, for which they paid an equivalent rent in money or produce. They had the privilege of removing to whatever place they might think most desirable, and owed no military service except to the King for the defence of the country. Among them the independence of Scotland always found its most faithful and stubborn supporters. These “liberi firmarii,” for so they are called in the chartularies, and chamberlains’ accounts, were considered so useful from their superior industry, and agricultural knowledge, that during the minority of the Maid of Norway, a sum of money appears to have been distributed among them as an inducement to remain on the crown lands of Libertoun and Lawrence-town, which they were preparing to leave in consequence of a mortality among their cattle. They formed a striking contrast to the _cottars_ or _villeyns_, who were entirely subject, both in body and means, to the will of the landholder, and were sold or transferred along with the estate; and could be claimed or brought back to it, if they removed, in the same manner as strayed cattle.[108] These formed the bulk of the degraded horde who followed the banners of the recreant barons, and whose servility, ignorance and ferocity, often made them dangerous to the liberties of the country; while the former class, along with the freemen of the boroughs, supplied the materials from which Wallace recruited the ranks of his patriotic battalions. Aware, from former experience, of the difficulty of bringing Wallace to action if he were not so inclined, Percy and Clifford appear to have withdrawn their forces, satisfied with having detached the aristocracy from his standard; none remaining with our hero save the gallant Sir Andrew Murray, Sir John Graham, and a few of his own personal friends.