. Edward heard of their compact while Bruce was
in London, and the Scot fled to Dumfries. There, 1306, in
the Church of the Gray Friars, he had an interview with John
Comyn, called the Red Comyn--Bruce's rival for the Scottish
throne--which ended in a violent altercation and the killing
of Comyn by Bruce with a dagger. Next to the Baliols, Bruce
was now nearest heir to the throne, and March 27, 1306, he
was crowned.

Edward now determined to take more vigorous measures than
ever against the Scots. He denounced as traitors all who had
participated in the murder of Comyn, and declared that all
persons taken in arms would be put to death. He made great
preparations for subduing Scotland, but while leading his
army into that country, 1307, he died at Burgh-on-the-Sands,
near Carlisle.

Meanwhile Bruce, who ranks with Wallace as a Scottish hero,
had suffered some reverses at the hands of the English.
Under the Earl of Pembroke, in 1306, they took Perth and
drove Bruce into the wilds of Athol. In the same year, at
Dairy, Bruce was defeated by Comyn's uncle, Macdougal, Lord
of Lorn, and escaped to Ireland. But in 1307 Bruce returned
to Scotland and carried on the war against Edward II. The
English were driven out of the strong places one by one; war
alternated with diplomacy through several years; and at last
came a crisis which roused the English government to a
supreme effort.

Stirling castle still held out, besieged by Edward Bruce,
Robert's brother, 1313, but its surrender was promised by
Mowbray, the governor, in the event of his not being
relieved before June 24, 1314. The relieving of Stirling
meant for the English a new invasion of Scotland. On both
sides the strongest efforts were made--on the one side to
relieve the castle, on the other to strengthen its
besiegers. The opposing forces met in battle at
Bannockburn, June 24, 1314, an action which has never been
better described than in this characteristic recital by
Professor Lang.

Bannockburn, like the relief of Orleans, or Marathon, was one of the
decisive battles of the world. History hinged upon it. If England had
won, Scotland might have dwindled into the condition of Ireland--for
Edward II was not likely to aim at a statesmanlike policy of union, in
his father's manner. Could Scotland have accepted union at the first
Edward's hands; could he have refrained from his mistreatment as