Loading...Baliol's Subjection
Baliors spirit sunk under this declaration; and he, and the Scottish nobility then in his train, pusillanimously consented to buy their peace with Edward by a renunciation of all stipulations regarding the laws and liberties of Scotland, which had been made in the treaty of Brigham, and which, so long as they continued in force, convicted the King of England of a flagrant disregard of his oath, formerly so solemnly pledged. On this being agreed to, Edward ordered the public records and ancient historical muniments of the kingdom, which had formerly been transmitted from Edinburgh to Roxburgh, to be delivered to the King of Scotland. He also, out of special favour, commanded possession of the Isle of Man to be given to him; and, softened by these concessions, Baliol returned to his kingdom. But it was only to experience fresh mortification, and to feel all the miseries of subjection.The policy of Edward towards Scotland and its new king, was at once artful and insulting. He treated every assumption of independent sovereignity with rigour and contempt, and lost no opportunity of summoning Baliol to answer before him to the complaints brought against his government; he encouraged his subjects to offer these complaints by scrupulously administering justice according to the laws and customs of Scotland; and he distributed lands, pensions, and presents, with well-judged munificence, amongst the prelates and the nobility. The King of Scotland possessed large estates both in England and Normandy; and in all the rights and privileges connected with them, he found Edward certainly not a severe, almost an indulgent, superior. To Baliol the vassal, he was uniformly lenient and just: to Baliol the king, he was proud and unbending to the last degree. An example of this soon occurred.