“Ea vero tempestate primorum consultu direxit ad partes transmarinas Rex Almaricum de Valencia Comitem de Penbrokia, virum siquidem ad queque nepharia peragenda iuxta sue propinquitatis nequiciam continue paratum, regis Francorum presencie nuncium super dictis negocüs assistendum vt eiusdem regis Francorum animum ab inceptis, revocaret, ut ipsius benevolenciam affectum regis Anglorum varijs blandiciis inclinaret. Quo perveniente, ac iuxta proposita suorum verborum responsis acceptis, per Pykardiam rediens, ad quoddam municipium mi. villa, id est, _dimidia villa_, nuncupatum, tribus leucis a Compyne distans, in vigilia Sancti Johannis, declinavit pransurus, ubi Christus voluit virum sanguineum et dolosum non dimidiare dies suos. Sed finita refectionis hora thalamum ingreditur, deambulando statim in atrio corruit, ac sine confessione et viatico salutari infelicem animam subito in solo sufflavit.”[97] The following account of the Earl of Pembroke is from the pen of Hutchinson. “This Earl” (Adomer de Valence) “seemed to have a divine interdict depending over him, and the immediate vindictive hand of Providence to be upon him and his posterity for his atrocious deeds. He was a tool to his prince, and servilely submitted to the mandate of the crown, contrary to the dictates of humanity, honour, and justice. He sat in judgment on Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and impiously acquiesced in his sentence. He was a chief instrument in apprehending the famous Scottish patriot Wallace in 1305; accomplishing his capture by the treachery of his most intimate associates, and those in whom he placed his utmost confidence, Sir John Menteith and others of infamous memory. _Adomer_, on his bridal day, was slain in a tournament, held in honour of his nuptials; and left a wife at once a _maiden_, _bride_ and _widow_. It is said that, for several generations of this family, _a father was never happy enough to see his son_, the proscribed parent being snatched off by the hand of death before the birth of his issue.” (_Hutchinson’s History of Northumberland._) It may be also remarked as a singular coincidence, the fatality which attended the Stuarts after they came to the throne, not one of whom, for many generations, died a natural death. John Menteith was the son of Walter Stuart, Earl of Menteith, and of the same family which afterwards swayed the Scottish sceptre.