No sooner was the Bishop installed in his command, than the Scots invested Carlisle for twenty-eight days in November and December, 1297. The want of discipline among Wallace's irregular troops was deplorable, and the people of these counties suffered lamentably from their violence and rapacity.[1] But King Edward was on his way home, and a mighty army of 30,000 men[2] was gathering to avenge Surrey's misfortunes. Edward de Balliol, son of the ex-King John, was sent to the Tower early in December. Wallace withdrew across the Border, and Surrey was at Roxburgh again on February 16, 1298.
During this campaign a protection was granted to the Prior and Convent of Hexham, which is not easy to explain. It is given by "Andrew de Moray and William Wallace (Wallensis), leaders of the army of Scotland, in the name of the noble Prince Lord John, by the grace of God illustrious King of Scotland," etc. Now Sir Andrew de Moray was, as has been shown, a prisoner in the Tower at this time. That his son had been killed at the battle of Stirling, is clearly certified in an inquisition post mortem held on November 28, 1300,[3] wherein mention is made of his son, also called Andrew, two and a half years
- ↑ Bain, ii., 245, 249, 261.
- ↑ Ibid., 245. These figures may be relied on, being taken from the King's order to levy. Hemingburgh, usually a cautious if partial chronicler, is betrayed into the customary exaggeration of his kind in dealing with numbers, and states that there were 7,000 cavalry and 80,000 infantry. No army of that size has assembled in England within living memory.
- ↑ Ibid., ii., 300.
