In this battle such a number of ecclesiastics, in full canonicals, fell (300, according to Dr. Lingard), that it was, says Buchanan, for a long time called the White Battle; and it is sportively recorded by the Scottish writers, under the title of the Chapter of Myton (or Mitton, as they erroneously call it). The Archbishop himself had a very narrow escape, and had business enough to fill up the vacancies in the church, on his return. The body of the Mayor of York was honourably interred in the parish church of St. Wilfrid, at York, and the Archbishop granted an indulgence of forty days to all the citizens, who, being truly penitent, should approach the sacraments, and say a Paternoster and Ave-Maria for the repose of his soul. A chantry was also founded for him in the same church. The Scots returned home without further molestation, but with a large increase of spoil; and Edward, as soon as he heard of the event, raised the siege of Berwick, and hastily retired to York. The King had now another great favourite, in the person of Hugh de Spencer, a man of considerable exterior accomplishments, but destitute of all prudence and moderation. His rapacity led to a combination of the nobles against him, in 1321, and Edward was compelled to banish both him and his father beyond the sea. In a short time, the King found himself in a situation to bid defiance to his enemies, and the Spencers were recalled. Again the factious, turbulent, but powerful Earl of Lancaster headed a confederacy of the nobles, and raised an army to oppose the King; but having entered into an alliance with Bruce, King of Scotland, many of the English deserted him, and joined the standard of Edward. Lancaster, with the Earl of Hereford and a few other noblemen, having failed in an attempt to secure a position at Burton-upon-Trent, hastily retreated northward, to join the succours which were expected from Scotland. On the 16th of March, 1321, he arrived at Boroughbridge, where he found Sir Andrew Harcla, Governor of Carlisle, and Warden of the Western Marches, and Sir Simon Ward, Sheriff of Yorkshire, with a strong force, ready to bar his further progress. Harcla, who had received the honour of Knighthood at the hand of Lancaster, was now tempted to prove his gratitude to him, at the expense of his duty to his Sovereign. Lancaster promised to confer upon him one of the five Earldoms then in his possession, if he (Harcla) would help him with the forces under his command, to remove the Spencers; but the Warden of the Marches was incorruptible; and the Earl had nothing left but to turn back, and fight the King's army, which was in pursuit of him, or force the passage of the river before it came up; and he chose the latter of these alternatives. The river, which is here about sixty yards wide, was at that time traversed by a wooden bridge, the small town of Boroughbridge standing on the south side.

The Earl's archers first begin the fight, but were repelled by the more potent discharge of their adversaries. The men-at-arms next attempted to force the passage of the river, and the Earl of Hereford was slain by the thrust of a lance below his armour, through a chink in the bridge, by a Welsh soldier, who had hid himself beneath. Sir William Sulley and Sir Roger Bernefield were slain, and Sir Roger Clifford was wounded on the head. During this attack, Lancaster had led a part of his army to a ford, a little lower down; but here again he was repelled by a shower of arrows from the opposite bank. Seeing all his attempts to pass the river by force baffled, his courage entirely failed him, and he retired into a chapel, where he was seized, stripped of his armour, and treated with great indignity. The rest of his party were dispersed, and a great many of them taken. Lancaster was conveyed to York, where he was insulted, pelted with dirt, and called in derision "King Arthur." He was then imprisoned in the castle of Pontefract, in a dungeon, in a new tower, which he himself had recently made, and the only entrance to which was by a trap-door in the floor of the turret. Shortly afterwards the King being at Pontefract, the Earl was arraigned, in the hall of the castle, before a small number of peers, among whom were the Spencers, his mortal enemies. As might have been expected, he was condemned, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but through respect for his royal blood, the punishment was changed to decapitation; and the sentence was immediately put into execution. The fate of Lancaster involved that of many others. Never since the Conquest had such havoc been made among the ancient nobility; never since then had the scaffold been drenched with so much noble blood as on this occasion. No less than ninety-five Barons and Knights were taken prisoners, and afterwards tried for high treason. The Lords Warren de Lisle, William Touchet, Thomas Mandute, Fitz William the younger, William Cheney, and Henry de Bradburn, were executed at Pontefract; and the Lords Clifford, Mowbray, and Deynville, were executed at York, and their bodies hung in chains.

The wooden bridge, upon which the fate of the Lancaster faction was decided, has since been succeeded by a handsome one of stone. The ground occupied by the forces of Harcla and Ward, is now covered with houses, timber, and coal yards; and partly by a short canal, belonging to the river Ure navigation. At a place called The Old Banks, below the bridge, many fragments of arms and armour were found in 1792, when the embankments of the river were formed. These were probably relics of this battle.

In 1322, the King, after having conciliated the Barons, held another Parliament in York, in which the decree, made in the preceding year in London,

for alienating their estates, was reversed, and the elder Spencer created Earl of Winchester. At this Parliament the several ordinances of the Barons, made at different times, were examined, and such of them as were confirmed, were, by the King's order, directed to be called statutes; the clergy of the province of York granted the King a subsidy of fourpence in each mark; Robert Baldock was made Lord Chancellor; and Edward, the King's eldest son, was created Prince of Wales, and Duke of Aquitain. After the dissolution of this Parliament, Edward raised an immense army to oppose Robert Bruce, who was then desolating the English border; and in the month of August, in the same year, at the head of this army, he marched into Scotland; and though the enemy had destroyed all the forage, he penetrated as far as Edinburgh, into this region of total famine. Being obliged to retire for want of provisions, this mighty host retreated to England, and so ravenous were the soldiers, after their late abstinence, that no less than 16,000 of them died of repletion. Bruce, aware of the retreat of the English, closely followed them, and then he became the aggressor. In order to end the war, he conceived the bold design of capturing the person of the King; and with that intention, he came up with the English army, encamped upon an advantageous piece of ground, near Byland Abbey, about fourteen miles from York, which Edward had made his head quarters, while he refreshed and recruited his men. The English were posted on the Abbey bank-a high ridge of land, extending from Cambe Hill, by Oldstead, to the village of Wass-a most favourable position. Bruce, who well knew how to encounter great obstacles in the field, sent his two associates in arms, Randolph and Douglas, to storm the narrow pass, which led to the top of the hill; whilst he turned the English position, by sending a body of Highlanders to scale the steep cliff, and thus surprised the enemy, by attacking them at once in flank and rear.

After a short fight the English were routed, and fled, leaving their strong position, and much spoil in the hands of the victors. Edward, who was at dinner in the Abbey when the battle began, made his escape to York with difficulty, but he was indebted for his safety to the swiftness of his horse. He left his privy seal, plate, money, and other treasures, behind him. The fugitives were chased towards York by Walter Stewart, before which city, it is said, he halted until the evening, with only 500 men-at-arms, to see if the enemy would come out to the encounter. There is no record of the number slain in this fight, but several of the nobility were taken prisoners, among whom were John de Bretagne and Henry de Sully. The Scottish army returned unmolested, and laden with spoil. Byland Abbey, so close to the

scene of conflict, was no doubt plundered of all that was worth carrying away; but it was not destroyed, nor its inmates slaughtered, as were those of Dryburgh and Melrose by the English in their late incursion.

According to the expression of the old chronicle, the battle of Byland Abbey took place "fifteen days after Michaelmas, 1322." Sir Andrew Harcla, now Earl of Carlisle, was accused of having entered into a traitorous correspondence with the Scottish King, and of supineness and wilful inaction, in not interrupting the march of the Scots, and thus preventing them pursuing the retreat of Edward; and with all the savage barbarity of the times, he was tried, condemned, and executed. But even the guilt of that unfortunate nobleman (and that is doubtful) could not shift the blame of the shameful defeat and infamous flight of the English, their army being much more numerous than that of the Scots. After this battle a truce was agreed upon between the two nations, to continue for the space of thirteen years.

Edward was shortly after deposed and imprisoned by the direction of Mortimer, the paramour of his Queen, Isabella; and he was finally murdered with unparalleled cruelty. His son, then but fourteen years old, was crowned in 1327, under the title of Edward III.; and his reign, which lasted for fifty years and a few months, shines with much lustre in the annals of England, and constitutes a splendid period in the history of York. In the first year of his reign, the youthful King ordered his whole army to rendezvous in York, in order to oppose the Scots, who, with two powerful armies, including 20,000 light cavalry, under the conduct of the distinguished Generals, Randolph and Douglas, were ravaging the northern part of the kingdom. While the King lay at York, preparing for the expedition, he was joined by John, Lord Beaumont, of Hainault, and several other knights and gentlemen, who, with his retinue, composed a band of 500, or, according to Knightson, of 2000 men. Most of these foreigners were lodged in the suburbs, but to Lord John himself, the King assigned the monastery of White Monks in the city. The King, with the Queen-mother, made their abode at the monastery of the Friars Minors. For six weeks Edward held his court at York, whilst an army of 60,000 men was being raised. On Trinity Sunday the King gave a splendid entertainment at the monastery. To his usual retinue of 500 Knights, he added 60 more; and the Queen-mother had in her suite 60 ladies of the highest rank and greatest beauty in England.

During the festivities a contest arose between the Hainaulters and a body of Lincolnshire archers, who lodged with them in the suburbs; and hostilities once begun, abettors successively came in on both sides, till nearly 3000 of the archers were collected. Many of the foreigners were slain, and the rest were

*

obliged to retire. During the fray part of the city took fire, and it was with difficulty that the flames were subdued. On the following night the foreigners, determined on revenge, headed by their officers, fell upon the Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire archers, and slew about 300 of them. This rash act induced the English to combine, to the number of 6000, in the horrible resolution of sacrificing the whole of the Hainaulters; but this catastrophe was arrested, and the tranquillity of the city restored by the firmness and wise precautions of the King. The Scots being informed of the warlike preparations of Edward, sent ambassadors to York to negociate a treaty of peace; upon the failure of which, Edward advanced against them with his army, in all the martial pomp of those chivalrous times. After a close pursuit the enemy was at last overtaken and surrounded at Stanhope Park, and would have surrendered but for the treachery of Lord Mortimer, who opened a road for their escape. The Scots then withdrew their forces, but Douglas assaulted the English camp at night, and nearly succeeded in killing the King. On the failure of this attempt the Scots, after doing what mischief they could, retreated within their own territories. Edward, excessively chagrined at the escape of an enemy whom he had so thoroughly in his power, returned to York, and afterwards to London. Lord John Beaumont, upon receiving £14,000.-the sum for which he and his foreign soldiers had been engaged, returned to the continent; and shortly afterwards a marriage was negociated between his niece, Philippa, the most celebrated beauty of the age, and the young King of England. This marriage was solemnized in the Cathedral of York, by the Archbishop of that province, and the Bishop of Ely, on the 24th of January, 1328, it being the Sunday before the eve of the festival of the Conversion of St. Paul.

The court was then at York, and for three weeks the feastings, jousts, tournaments, maskings, revels, interludes, &c., were continued without intermission. "Upon these happy nuptials," says Froissart, "the whole kingdom teemed with joy." But jealousies again arose between the Hainault soldiery, which formed part of the retinue of Beaumont, and the English; and the former took advantage of this carnival to treat the latter with outrage and violence. The foreigners not only set fire to the suburbs of the city, by which a whole parish was nearly destroyed, but they violently assaulted several of the wives, daughters, and maid servants of the inhabitants. The citizens, enraged by these proceedings, armed themselves, and challenged the Hainaulters to battle. In this desperate contest, which took place in the

• Leland's Coll. vol. i., p. 307. Rymer, vol. iv., p. 292.