.

They proceeded to effect a military organization of the country,
dividing it up into districts, each with commanders and lieutenants.
Order was established and negotiations entered into for the mutual
safeguard of traders with the Hanse towns.

The nobles who ventured to oppose the authority of Wallace and his
colleague were punished in some cases by the confiscation of lands,
which were bestowed upon Sir Alexander Scrymgeour and other loyal
gentlemen, and these grants were recognized by Bruce when he became
king. In these deeds of grant Wallace and Moray, although acting as
governors of Scotland, state that they do so in the name of Baliol
as king, although a helpless captive in England. For a short time
Scotland enjoyed peace, save that Earl Percy responded to the raids
made by the Scots across the Border, by carrying fire and sword
through Annandale; and the English writers who complain of the
conduct of the Scots, have no word of reprobation for the proclamation
issued to the soldiers on crossing the Border, that they were free
to plunder where they chose, nor as to the men and women slain,
nor the villages and churches committed to the flames.

Chapter X

The Battle of Falkirk

While Wallace was endeavouring to restore order in Scotland, Edward
was straining every nerve to renew his invasion. He himself was
upon the Continent, but he made various concessions to his barons
and great towns to induce them to aid him heartily, and issued writs
calling upon the whole nobility remaining at home, as they valued
his honour and that of England, to meet at York on January 20th,
"and proceed under the Earl of Surrey to repress and chastise the
audacity of the Scots." At the same time he despatched special
letters to those of the Scottish nobles who were not already in
England, commanding them to attend at the rendezvous.

The call upon the Scotch nobles was not generally responded to.
They had lost much of their power over their vassals, many of whom
had fought under Wallace in spite of the abstention of their lords.
It was clear, too, that if they joined the English, and another
defeat of the latter took place, their countrymen might no longer
condone their treachery, but their titles and estates might be
confiscated. Consequently but few of them presented themselves at
York. There, however, the English nobles gathered in force. The
Earls of Surrey, Gloucester, and Arundel; the Earl Mareschal and
the grea