Such was the state of Scotland when the reconciliation between Edward and the earls restored England to the appearance of unity.  As if conscious that no time was to be lost in strengthening his position, Bruce redoubled his efforts to make himself master of the fortresses which still remained in the enemy’s hands.  Regardless of the rigour of the season, he set actively to work in the early weeks of 1314, and remarkable success attended his efforts.  In February, the border stronghold of Roxburgh was taken by a night attack.  “And all that fair castle, like the other castles which he had acquired, they pulled down to the ground, lest the English should afterwards by holding the castle bear rule over the land."[1] In March, Edinburgh castle was secured by some Scots who climbed up the precipitous northern face of the castle rock, overpowered the garrison, and opened the gates to their comrades outside.  Flushed with this great success, Bruce began the siege of Stirling, the only important English garrison then held by the English in the heart of Scotland.  He pressed the besieged so hard that they agreed to surrender to the enemy, if they were not relieved before Midsummer day, the feast of St. John the Baptist.  While Robert was watching Stirling, his brother Edward devastated the country round Carlisle, lording it for three days at the bishop’s castle of Rose, and levying heavy blackmail on the men of Cumberland.

    [1] Lanercost Chronicle, p. 223.

If Stirling were lost, all Scotland would be at Bruce’s mercy.  Even Edward was stirred by the disgrace involved in the utter abandonment of his father’s conquest; and from March onwards he began to make spasmodic efforts to collect men and ships to enable him to advance to the relief of the beleaguered garrison.  At first it seemed sufficient to raise the feudal levies and a small infantry force from the northern shires, but as time went on the necessity of meeting the Scottish pikemen by corresponding levies of foot soldiers became evident, and over 20,000 infantry were summoned from the northern counties and Wales.[1] But the notice given was far too short, and June was well advanced before anything was ready.

    [1] For the numbers at Bannockburn, see Foedera, ii., 248,
    and Round, Commune of London, pp. 289-301.

Even the Scottish peril could not quicken the sluggish patriotism of the ordainers.  Four earls, Lancaster, Warenne, Warwick, and Arundel, answered Edward’s summons by reminding him that the ordinances prescribed that war should only be undertaken with the approval of parliament, and by declining to follow him to a campaign undertaken on his own responsibility.  They would send quotas, but begged to be excused from personal attendance.  Yet even without them, a gallant array slowly gathered together at Berwick, and one at least of the opposition earls, Humphrey of Hereford, was there, with Gilbert of Gloucester