The defeat of the French at Crecy was followed on the 17th of October, in the same year, by the equally signal defeat of the Scots at the battle of Nevii's Cross, near Durham, in which the greater part of the nobility of Scotland were either taken prisoners or slain, and the king himself, after being wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy. Froissart says that Queen Philippa led the English army Into the field on this occasion ; but no native contemporary or very ancient writer mentions this remarkable circumstance.
Three days after the battle of Crecy, Edward sat down before the town of Calais. It did not however open its gates to him till after a noble defence of nearly eleven months. On Its surrender the English king was prevented, by the intercession of Queen Philippa, from making his name infamous by taking the lives of the six burgesses whom ho commanded to be given up to his mercy as the price for which he consented to spare their fellow-citizens. The reduction of Calais was followed by a truce with France, which lasted till 1355. When the war was renewed, Philip VI. had been dead for five years, and the throne was occupied by his son John. On the 19th of September 1356 the Black Prince gained the battle of Poietiers, at which the French king was taken prisoner. The kings both of France and Scotland were now in Edward's hands, but neither country was yet subjngatcd. At last, after many negotiations, David II. was released, in November 1357, for a ransom of 100,0001., to be discharged in ten yearly pay ments. Kiug John was released on his parole in 1360, when a treaty of peace was concluded between the two countries at Bretigny, con firming to the English the possession of all their recent conquests. But after remaining in France for about four years, John returned to captivity on finding that he could not comply with the conditions on which he had received his liberty, and died in London, 8th of April, 1361. He was succeeded by his son, Charles V., who had acted as lieutenant of the kingdom during his absence.
It would appear that during the Scottlah king's long detention in Englard he had been prevailed upon to come into the views of Edward, at least to the extent of cousenting to sacrifice the independence of his country after his own death ; and it is probable that it was only upon a secret compact to this effect that he obtained his liberty. Joanna,
the consort of David, died childless in 1362 ; and in a parliament held at Scone the following year the king astounded the estates by proposing that they should choose Lionel, duke of Clarence, the third son of the king of England, to fill the throne in the event of his death without issue. At this time the text heir to the throne in the regular line of the succession was the Stewart of Scotland, the son of David's elder sister Marjory ; and a wish to exclude his nephew, against whom he entertained strong feelings of dislike, is supposed to have had a con siderable share in influencing the conduct of the king. The proposal was rejected by the parliament unanimously and with indignation. A few months after this the death of Edward Bernal without issue removed all chance of any competitor arising to contest David's own rights, and he became of course a personage of more importance than ever to the purposes of the ambitious and wily king of England. David now repaired to London ; and here it was agreed in a secret conference held between the two kings on the 23rd of November, that in default of the king of Scots and his issue male, the king of England for the time being should succeed to the crown of Scotland. In the meantime the king of Scots was to sound the inclinations of his people, and to inform the English king and his council of the result. (See the articles of the agreement, twenty-eight in number, in the sixth volume of Rymer's iFeedern.') From this time David acted with little disguise in the Interests of the English king, and even spent as much of his time as he could in England. One effect of this policy was, that actual hostilities between the two countries ceased; but no public misery could exceed that of Scotland, distracted as it was by internal convulsions, exhausted by the sufferings and exertions of many pre ceding years, and vexed by the exactions necessary to defray the ransom of the king, his claim to which Edward artfully took advantage of as a pretext for many insults and injuries, and a cover for all sorts of intrigues. In 1365 however it was agreed that the truce (for tho cessation from hostilities was as yet nothing more) should be prolonged till 1371.