League. The truce with England was continued
and was renewed in 1380, three years before the date
originally fixed for its expiry. The renewal was
necessitated by various acts of hostility which had
rendered it, in effect, a dead letter. The English
were still in possession of such Scottish strongholds
as Roxburgh, Berwick, and Lochmaben, and round these
there was continual warfare. The Scots sacked
the town of Roxburgh in 1377, but without regaining
the castle, and, in 1378, they again obtained possession
of Berwick. John of Gaunt, who had forced the
government of his nephew to acknowledge his importance
as a factor in English politics, was entrusted with
the command of an army directed against Scotland.
He met the Scottish representatives at Berwick, which
was again in English hands, and agreed to confirm the
existing truce, which was maintained till 1384, when
Scotland was included in the English truce with France.
The truce, which was to last for eight months, was
negotiated in France in January, 1383-84. In February
and March, John of Gaunt conducted a ravaging expedition
into Scotland as far as Edinburgh. During the
Peasants’ Revolt he had taken refuge in Scotland,
and the chroniclers tell us that the expedition of
1384 was singularly merciful. Still, it was an
act of war, and the Scots may reasonably have expressed
surprise, when, in April, the French ambassadors (who
had been detained in England since February) arrived
in Edinburgh, and announced that Scotland and England
had been at peace since January. About the same
time there occurred two border forays. Some French
knights, with their Scottish hosts, made an incursion
into England, and the Percies, along with the Earl
of Nottingham, conducted a devastating raid in Scotland,
laying waste the Lothians. About the date of
both events there is some doubt; probably the Percy
invasion was in retaliation for the French affair.
But all the time the two countries were nominally
at peace, and it was not till May, 1385, that they
were technically in a state of war. In that month
a French army was sent to aid the Scots, and, under
the command of John de Vienne, it took part in an
incursion on a somewhat larger scale than the usual
raids. The English replied, in the month of August,
by an invasion conducted by Richard II in person,
at the head of a large army, while the Scots, declining
a battle, wasted Cumberland. Richard sacked Edinburgh
and burned the great religious houses of Dryburgh,
Melrose, and Newbattle, but was forced to retire without
having made any real conquest. The Scots adopted
their invariable custom of retreating after laying
waste the country, so as to deprive the English of
provender; even the impatience of their French allies
failed to persuade them to give battle to King Richard’s
greatly superior forces. From Scotland the English
king marched to London, to commence the great struggle
which led to the impeachment of Suffolk and the rise
of the Lords Appellant. While England was thus