first shock; and still the deadly hail of arrows descended from right and left, until the whole of the Scottish army was thrown into panic-stricken disorder.  Escape was impossible for the foremost ranks by reason of the closeness of their formation.  At last, the rear files sought safely in flight, and were closely pursued by the victors, mounted on their fresh horses.  A huge mass of slain, piled up upon each other, marked the place of combat.  As at Bannockburn, the small disciplined host prevailed, but discipline was now with the English and numbers only with the Scots.[1]

    [1] The significance of the battle of Dupplin was first pointed
    out by Mr. J.E.  Morris in Engl.  Hist.  Review, xii. (1897),
    430-31.

The victory of Dupplin Moor was for the moment decisive.  Balliol occupied Perth, and received the submission of many of the Scottish magnates, among them being that Earl of Fife who first opposed his landing.  A few weeks later, on September 24, Balliol was crowned King of Scots at Scone by the Bishop of Dunkeld.  It was a soldier’s coronation, and the magnates sat at the coronation feast in full armour, save their helmets.  The disinherited then received the lands for which they had striven; and thereupon quitted the new king, either to secure their estates or to revisit their property in England.  But the Scots, of no mind to receive a king from the foreigner, chose a new regent in Sir Andrew Moray, son of the companion of Wallace; and prepared to maintain King David.  On December 16, Balliol was surprised at Annan by a hostile force under the young Earl of Moray, son of the late regent, and by Sir Archibald Douglas.  His followers were cut off, his brother was slain, and he himself had the utmost difficulty in effecting his escape to England.  He had only reigned four months.

During Balliol’s brief triumph, Edward III. had declared himself in his favour.  Debarred by the treaty of Northampton from questioning the independence of King David, he was able to make what terms he liked with David’s supplanter.  In November a treaty was drawn up at Roxburgh, by which Balliol recognised the overlordship of Edward, and promised him the town, castle, and shire of Berwick.  In return for these concessions, Edward III. acknowledged his namesake as lawful King of Scots.  When, a few weeks later, his new vassal appeared as a fugitive on English soil, Edward had no longer any scruples in openly supporting him in an attempt to win back his throne.  In the spring of 1333, Balliol and the disinherited once more crossed the frontier in sufficient force to undertake the siege of Berwick.  The border stronghold held out manfully, but the Scots failed in an attempt to divert the attention of the English by an invasion of Cumberland.  After Easter, Edward III. went in person to Berwick, and devoted the whole resources of England to ensuring its reduction.  The siege lasted on until July, when the garrison, at the last gasp, offered to surrender, unless the town were relieved within fifteen days.  The Scots made a great effort to save Berwick from capture, and the English king was forced to fight a pitched battle, before he could secure its possession.