question of the succession to his decision in a Parliament at Norham.  But the overlordship which the Scots acknowledged was something far less direct and definite than the superiority which Edward claimed at the opening of this conference in May 1291.  His claim was supported by excerpts from monastic chronicles and by the slow advance of an English army; while the Scotch lords, taken by surprise, found little help in the delay which was granted them.  At the opening of June therefore in common with nine of the claimants they formally admitted Edward’s direct suzerainty.  To the nobles in fact the concession must have seemed a small one, for like the principal claimants they were for the most part Norman in blood, with estates in both countries, and looking for honours and pensions from the English Court.  From the Commons who were gathered with the nobles at Norham no such admission of Edward’s claims could be extorted; but in Scotland, feudalized as it had been by David, the Commons were as yet of little weight and their opposition was quietly passed by.  All the rights of a feudal suzerain were at once assumed by the English king; he entered into the possession of the country as into that of a disputed fief to be held by its overlord till the dispute was settled, his peace was sworn throughout the land, its castles delivered into his charge, while its bishops and nobles swore homage to him directly as their lord superior.  Scotland was thus reduced to the subjection which she had experienced under Henry the Second; but the full discussion which followed over the various claims to the throne showed that while exacting to the full what he believed to be his right Edward desired to do justice to the country itself.  The body of commissioners which the king named to report on the claims to the throne were mainly Scotch.  A proposal for the partition of the realm among the claimants was rejected as contrary to Scotch law.  On the report of the commissioners after a twelvemonth’s investigation in favour of Balliol as representative of the elder branch at the close of the year 1292, his homage was accepted for the whole kingdom of Scotland with a full acknowledgement of the services due from him to its overlord.  The castles were at once delivered to the new monarch, and for a time there was peace.

[Sidenote:  Edward and Scotland]

With the accession of Balliol and the rendering of his homage for the Scottish realm the greatness of Edward reached its height.  He was lord of Britain as no English king had been before.  The last traces of Welsh independence were trodden under foot.  The shadowy claims of supremacy over Scotland were changed into a direct overlordship.  Across the one sea Edward was lord of Guienne, across the other of Ireland, and in England itself a wise and generous policy had knit the whole nation round his throne.  Firmly as he still clung to prerogatives which the baronage were as firm not to own, the main struggle