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Scalacronica is in Early Medieval Books.
11th September 1297. And the following winter, the said William Wallace burnt all Northumberland. The Earl of Warenne (age 66), who was Keeper of Scotland for the King of England, being in the south1, turned towards Scotland; where at the bridge of Stirling he was defeated by William Wallace, who, being at hand in order of battle2, allowed so many of the English as he pleased to cross over the said bridge, and, at the right moment3, attacked them, caused the bridge to be broken, where many of the English perished, with Hugh de Cressingham, the King's Treasurer; and it was said that the Scots caused him to be flayed, and in token of hatred made girths of his skin. The Earl of Warenne took flight to Berwick. William Wallace, to whom the Scots adhered, immediately after this discomfiture, followed4 the said Earl of Warenne in great force, and skirting Berwick, arrived on Hutton Moor in order of battle; but perceiving the English arrayed to oppose him, he came no nearer to Berwick, but retired and bivouacked in Duns Park5.
Note 1. Warenne, or Surrey, which was his principal title, had been recalled on 18th August for service with King Edward on the Continent, and Sir Brian Fitz Alan was appointed Keeper of Scotland in his place. But Sir Brian having raised a difficulty about his salary (£1128 8s.), the Prince of Wales wrote on 7th Sept., 1298, requiring Surrey to remain at his post. (See Stevenson's Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland, ii. 230.)
Note 2. En batailA soun point. i.e., in force or in order of battle; used in both senses.
Note 3. A soun point. i.e.
Note 4. Suyst, misprinted fuyst in Maitland Club Ed.
Note 5. Not Duns Park on Whitadder, but in a place which then bore that name a little to the north of Berwick.
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22nd July 1298. The said English lords recovered the said town of Berwick, and held it until the arrival of the King, who, returning from Gascony, approached Scotland in great force, entered it by Roxburgh, advanced to Templeliston and Linlithgow, and so towards Stirling, where William Wallace, who had mustered all the power of Scotland, lay in wait and undertook to give battle to the said King of England. They fought on this side of Falkirk on the day of the Magdalene in the year of grace 1298, when the Scots were defeated. Wherefore it was said long after that William Wallace had brought them to the revel if they would have danced.
Walter, brother of the Steward of Scotland, who had dismounted [to fight] on foot among the commons, was slain with more than ten thousand of the commons.1 William Wallace, who was on horseback, fled with the other Scottish lords who were present. At this battle, Antony de Bek, Bishop of Durham, who was with King Edward of England, had such abundance of retinue that in his column there were thirty-two banners and a trio of earls — the Earl of Warwick (age 26), the Earl of Oxford (age 41), and the Earl of Angus (age 53).
Note 1. It was Sir John Stewart of Bonkill (age 52) who was thus slain, at the head of his Selkirk bowmen. Gray's estimate of the slain is more reasonable than that of clerical writers. Walsingham puts the number at 60,000, probably three times as much as Wallace's whole force: Hemingburgh reduces it to 56,000.
[19th October 1330]. The council having been dissolved, the said William (age 29) said to the King that it were better to eat the dog than that the dog [should eat] them; so he advised him to speak to the constable of the castle, charging him upon his oath and allegiance to keep the plan secret, and [directing] him to leave a postern open to the park that very night, and [warning him] that if he would not do so, he [the King] would cause him to be hanged so soon as he [the King] should have the upper hand. The said William arranged with his comrades to assemble by night at a certain thicket in the park to which all should come; but they missed the trysting place, except the said William de Montacute and John de Nevill with four-and-twenty men, who kept their appointment well.
They were afraid that their comrades might miss them, and they durst not sound a call because of the sentries in the castle; and so, as bold and enterprising men, they declared that, as the matter had gone so far, they would risk the adventure by themselves. They went forward, and found the postern open, as the King had commanded. They entered the castle and mounted the stairs of the second court without meeting anybody, for it was mirk night, and the followers of the [gentle] folk had left the castle for their lodgings. The Queen (age 35), Mortimer (age 43), and their confidential adherents were holding a council to take measures against this plot which had been discovered to them. They [the conspirators] entered the hall where the Queen was sitting in council. The usher cried out at their entry. Hugh de Turpington, who was steward of the King's household, [but] was of the Queen's party, rushed out of the council and met them in the middle of the hall, crying 'Down with the traitors!' and made to strike the first [of them] with a dagger, when John de Nevill ran him through the body and slew him, and an esquire [also] who offered resistance.
Then they passed forward into the chamber, and seized Mortimer and those whom they wished to have; so that before dawn none remained in the town save those who were of the King's party, who had armed themselves when the conspirators entered the castle.
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[29th November 1330]. He [the King] gave directions for the custody of his mother, and took the said Mortimer (age 43) with him to Leicester, where he intended to put him to death; but he took other advice, causing a Parliament to be summoned to London, where Mortimer was drawn and hanged, upon a charge of having been party to the death of the King, the father [Edward II.], and because of the death of the Earl of Kent, and for the renunciation of the right to Scotland, and for the dissipation of the King's treasure which had been entrusted to him by his [Edward's] father, and upon other counts with which he was charged.
The lords who had been banished were restored. For a long time after this the King acted upon the advice of William de Montacute (age 29), who always encouraged him to excellence and honour and love of arms; and so they led their young lives in pleasant fashion, until there came a more serious time with serious matters.