As in 1314 and 1318, the restoration of order was followed by an attempt to put down Bruce.  In August, 1322, Edward assembled his forces at Newcastle and invaded Scotland.  Berwick was unsuccessfully besieged and the Lothians laid waste.  The Scots still had the prudence to withdraw beyond the Forth, and avoid battle in the open field.  By the beginning of September, pestilence and famine had done their work on the invaders.  Unable to find support in the desolate fields of Lothian, the, English returned to their own land, having accomplished nothing.  The Scots followed on their tracks, but with such secrecy that they penetrated into the heart of Yorkshire before Edward was aware of their presence.  In October they suddenly swooped down on the king, when he was staying at Byland abbey.  Some troops which accompanied him were encamped on a hill between Byland and Rievaux.  They were attacked by the Scots and defeated; their leader, John of Brittany, was taken prisoner, and Edward only avoided capture by a precipitate flight from Byland to Bridlington.  All Yorkshire was reduced to abject terror, and Edward’s hosts, the canons of Bridlington, removed with all their valuables to Lincolnshire, and sent one of their number to Bruce at Malton to purchase immunity for their estates.  After a month the Scots went home, leaving famine, pestilence, and misery in their train.  The Despensers thus proved themselves not less incompetent to defend England than Thomas of Lancaster.

As the state afforded no protection, each private person had to make the best terms he could for himself.  Even the king’s favourite, Louis of Beaumont, the illiterate Bishop of Durham, entered into negotiations with the Scots, while the Archbishop of York issued formal permission to religious houses of his diocese to treat with the excommunicated followers of Bruce.  Not only timid ecclesiastics, but well-tried soldiers found in private dealings with the Scots the only remedy for their troubles.  After the Byland surprise, Harclay, the new Earl of Carlisle, the victor of Boroughbridge, and the warden of the marches, dismissed his troops, sought out Bruce at Lochmaben, and made an arrangement with him, by which it was resolved that a committee of six English and six Scottish magnates should be empowered to conclude peace between the two countries on the basis of recognising him as King of Scots.  There was great alarm at court when Harclay’s treason was known.  A Cumberland baron, Anthony Lucy, was instructed to apprehend the culprit, and forcing his way into Carlisle castle by a stratagem, captured the earl with little difficulty.  In March, 1323, Harclay suffered the terrible doom of treason.  He justified his action to the last, declaring that his only motive was a desire to procure peace, and convincing many of the north-countrymen of the innocence of his motives.  To such a pass had England been reduced that those who honestly desired that the farmers of ’Cumberland should once more till their fields in peace, saw no other means of gaining their end than by communication with the enemies of their country.