David’s residence in France and in England had entirely deprived him of sympathy with the national aspirations of his subjects.  He loved the gay court of Edward III, and the Anglo-Norman chivalry had deeply affected him.  He hated his destined successor, and he had been charmed by Edward’s personality.  Accordingly we find him, seven years after his return to Scotland, again making a journey to England.  It is a striking fact that the son of the victor of Bannockburn should have gone to London to propose to sell the independence of Scotland to the grandson of Edward I. The difficulty of paying the yearly instalment of his ransom made a limit to his own extravagant expenditure, and he now offered, instead of money, an acknowledgment of either Edward himself or one of his sons as the heir to the Scottish throne.  The result of this proposal was to change the policy of Edward.  He abandoned the Balliol claim and the traditional Edwardian policy in Scotland, and accepted David’s offer.  David returned to Scotland and laid before his Parliament the less violent of the two schemes, the proposal that, in the event of his dying childless, Prince Lionel of England should succeed (1364).

  “To that said all his lieges, Nay;
   Na their consent wald be na way,
   That ony Ynglis mannys sone
   In[to] that honour suld be done,
   Or succede to bere the Crown,
   Off Scotland in successione,
   Sine of age and off vertew there
   The lauchfull airis appearand ware.”

So the proposal to substitute an “English-man’s son” for the lawful heirs proved utterly futile.  Equally vain were any attempts of the Scots to mitigate Edward’s rigour in the exaction of the ransom, and Edward reverted to his earlier policy, disowned King David, and prepared for another Scottish campaign to vindicate his right as the successor of Balliol, who had died in 1363.  But English energies were once more diverted at a critical moment.  The Black Prince had involved himself in serious troubles in Gascony, and England was called upon to defend its conquests in France.  In 1369 a truce was made between Scotland and England, to last for fourteen years.

David II died, unregretted, in February, 1370-1371.  It was fortunate for Scotland that the miserable seven years which remained to Edward III, and the reign of his unfortunate grandson, were so full of trouble for England.  Robert the Steward succeeded his uncle without much difficulty.  He was fifty-six years of age, already an old man for those days, eight years the senior of the nephew whom he succeeded.  The main lines of the foreign policy of his reign may be briefly indicated; but its chief interest lies in a series of border raids, the story of which is too intricate and of too slight importance to concern us.  The new king began by entering into an agreement with France, of a more definite description than any previous arrangement, and the year 1372 may be taken as marking the formal inauguration of the Franco-Scottish