From the time of Gaveston’s death the unhappy king remained for some years the sport or tool of contending parties. He was indeed incompetent to reign alone, or to choose ministers who could rule in his name. The Earl of Pembroke, Aymer de Valence, the son of that William of Lusignan, Henry III.’s half-brother, who was banished in 1258, first attempted to take the reins. Walter Langton had made his peace and become treasurer again; and on the death of Archbishop Winchelsey, in 1313, Walter Reynolds, the king’s old tutor and present chancellor, became primate. But these were not men to withstand the great weight of the opposition. Thomas of Lancaster, who on the death of Henry de Lacy had added the earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury to the three which he already held, treated on equal terms with the king as a belligerent. The mediation of the clergy brought the two together at the close of 1312, and in the autumn of 1313 a general pacification was brought about, followed by an amnesty and a liberal supply of money in Parliament. The Ordinances were recognized as the law of the land; the birth of an heir to the crown was hailed as a good omen, and better hopes were entertained for the future. The war with Scotland was to be resumed, and with secure peace order in the government must follow. [Sidenote: Successes of Robert Bruce in Scotland. ] [Sidenote: Battle of Bannockburn. ] [Sidenote: Despotism of Lancaster. ] [Sidenote: War of the Earls. ] The Scots had been indeed left alone too long. Short truces, desultory warfare, the defeat of any spasmodic effort on the part of the English by a determined policy on the Scottish side of evading battle, had resulted in a great increase of strength in the hands of Robert Bruce. He had taken advantage of the domestic troubles of England, to recover one by one the strongholds of his kingdom. It is believed that he had intrigued both with Gaveston and with Lancaster. The Castle of Linlithgow came into his hands in 1311, Perth in 1312, Roxburgh and Edinburgh in 1313. Stirling, almost the only fortress left in the hands of the English, was besieged, and had promised to surrender if not relieved before midsummer 1314. Edward prepared to take the command of his forces and to raise the siege. But it was no part of Lancaster’s policy to support him. Taking advantage of the article of the Ordinances which forbade the king to go to war without the consent of the baronage in Parliament, he declined to obey the summons to war until Parliament had spoken. Edward protested that there was no time; Lancaster and his confederate earls stood aloof. The King and Pembroke, with such of the barons as they could influence, and a great host of English warriors, who had no confidence in their commander, met the Scots at Bannockburn, on the 24th of June, and were shamefully defeated. Edward lost all control over the country in consequence. The