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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER
The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. II. A.D. 1066 to A.D. I307.
page 518
A.T*. 1295. PROPOSAL TO IKVADE ENGLAND.
of the king, Walter de Langton by name, was appointed to his office in his stead. The foreign monks were excluded from their houses, each of them being allowed eighteen pence a week for his support. On the day of Saint Leodegarius, the lord archbishop of Canterbury was enthroned in his cathedral, and Master John of Monmouth was on the same day consecrated by him bishop of Llandaff.
In these days, the Scots having broken the covenant of
peace which they had made with their liege lord the king of
England, made another treaty with the king of France, which
is preserved in an authentic document drawn up by both
parties, and preserved to be read plainly by all who wish ; and
having thus made a confederacy, they rose in insurrection
against their king, despising his simplicity and disdaining his
superiority. And leading him into the inner districts of Scot
land, they shut him up there in a certain castle, which was
surrounded by abrupt mountains, appointing knights to guard
their helpless king. After this, they elected, after the fashion
of the French, twelve peers, four bishops, four earls, and four
chieftains, by whose orders all the affairs of the kingdom
should be settled. And all this was done by way of insult to
the kingdom of England, because, in spite of the secret mur
murings of some of the Scots, and the open objections of
others, John Balliol had been appointed king of Scotland by
the king of England.
A certain knight, of great experience in war, by name Thomas TurbeviUe, one of those who had been taken prisoner at the siege of Byons, departed and spoke to the nobles and chief magistrates of the French, telling them how they might by treachery make themselves masters of the kingdom of England ; so they rejoiced, and promised to give him an estate and no inconsiderable sum of money. And he undertook the business, leaving there his two sons as hostages, as a proof that they might rely on him. But as they feared the common people of England, as one that was skilful in the art of war from the beginning, they thought how they might circumvent them cunningly. Therefore, some of the French agreed to furnish money to induce the prince of Wales again to renew the war. And when the king of England had marched to encounter the Welch, then the Scots and French were to advance treacherously on both sides, that in that way they might invade the island when it was stripped of its defenders.
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