opportunity to define and extend what had been, hitherto, a rather vague
English suzerainty over Scotland.^78 The English perspective can be
perceived, in practice, in a couple of examples that directly concern the
de Vescys themselves. In early 1290, the sheriff of Northumberland
crossed the border, without permission, to survey the de Vescy lands at
Sprouston, near Roxburgh. In response, the Scottish regency govern-
ment ordered the sheriff to be arrested, and he later tried to claim
damages to the sum of 12,000l.^79 A few years later, when John Balliol
was established on the throne, Edward had no hesitation in granting a
weekly market and an annual fair, at Crail in Fife, to Isabella de Vescy, on
his own authority.^80 In brief, the king of England pressed his claims so
assertively that he drove the Scots into alliance with France–and this, in
turn, precipitated thefinal breach.^81
It has often been suggested that Henry’s involvement in English
affairs dates from 1297, when wefirstfind him listed as a part of the
royal household. However, Simpkin has shown that he took up arms, on
Edward’s behalf, in the previous year.^82 Admittedly, the campaign of
1296 was very much a triumphal procession. At its climax, John Balliol
was symbolically stripped of his kingship, and it looked as though
Scotland had been annexed (much, indeed, as Edward had done in
Wales,fifteen years earlier).^83 But this was the beginning, not the end,
of the‘Scottish Wars of Independence’. A short while later, Edward was
obliged to hasten back from Flanders to face William Wallace’s
schiltromsat Falkirk on 22 July 1298. It is possible to detect something
of Henry’s bravery and inexperience in the fact that, amidst the thick of
thefighting, his brown bay charger was killed under him. It was clearly a
fine animal, worth some 60 marks.^84
The campaign of 1296, then, was the start of Henry’s tremendously
long and impressive military career in the British Isles. It has been
calculated that he fought in no fewer than seventeen English hosts.^85
It is not surprising that wefind this reflected in a gradual growth in the
size of the contingents that served under his personal command. For
instance, whilst we know the name of only a single follower in 1296, it is
clear that Henry was leading much larger retinues by 1309 and 1314.^86
(^78) See the summary in Prestwich,Edward I, 356–69.
(^79) These events can be followed inDocuments Illustrative of the History of Scotland,
1286 – 1306 , compiled by J. Stevenson, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1870), i, nos. 87, 89–90.
(^80) Ibid., i, no. 331. (^81) See Prestwich,Edward I, 357–75.
(^82) D. Simpkin,The English Aristocracy at War: From the Welsh Wars of Edward I to the Battle
83 of Bannockburn(Woodbridge, 2008), 121.
85 Ibid., 469–76.^84 CDS, ii, no. 1011.
Simpkin,The English Aristocracy at War, 121–2.^86 Ibid., 123–4 n. 75.
The Beaumonts 119