No further attempts were made by King Edward to regain possession of Stirling Castle. His efforts to win the crown of France diverted his attention, and the Hundred Years’ War had already broken out. No second Bannockburn closed the latter portion of the War of Independence; such a triumph could not take place under so unpatriotic and degenerate a King as the son of the valiant Bruce. Yet Scotland wrestled through the storm, though not until the High Steward had succeeded his worthless uncle on the throne was the nation safe from the grasping hand of her more powerful neighbour. CHAPTER III. THE EARLY STEWARTS. On the death of David II. in 1371, the crown passed to Robert the Steward, grandson of the Bruce, in accordance with the succession settlement made at the Parliament of 1318. The first of the Stewarts was past middle life when he mounted the Scottish throne, and although he had been a man of war in his youth, he longed to spend his later years in the enjoyment of repose. To some extent his desire was fulfilled, for the war with England--which continued in spite of a truce--was of a fitful nature and not a desperate struggle for freedom. The King’s favourite seat was the Castle of Rothesay, but he occasionally made Stirling his place of residence, finding it a convenient resting-place between Bute and St. Andrews or Perth. For a number of years Sir Robert Erskine had been keeper of Stirling Castle, and in 1373 the sovereign’s son Robert, Earl of Menteith and Fife, and afterwards Duke of Albany, was appointed to fill the office. For the maintenance of this important position the Earl received an annual grant of fourteen chalders of corn and twelve chalders of oatmeal from the lands of Bothkennar, as well as an income of two hundred merks from the Lord Chamberlain of Scotland.[24] The money was to be levied from the crown lands and from feudal dues in the shire of Stirling; but this arrangement did not long hold good, as a few years afterwards the fee was paid from the Treasury. It was in the power of the keeper to appoint and dismiss the constable and janitors of the castle. The Earl of Fife did not neglect the duties of his office, for the Exchequer Rolls bear witness to much strengthening and repairing of the fortress; alterations doubtless rendered necessary by the use of gunpowder in war. If Froissart is to be trusted, these fortifications served their purpose well, as he declares that an unsuccessful attack was made upon the castle by the soldiers of Richard II. Other chroniclers, however, do not refer to Stirling in connection with the invasion of 1385; they imply that the English army advanced little further than Edinburgh, being compelled by the wasted condition of the country to retreat across the Border.