King Edward directed his first essay in arms against the Scots, in requital of their sanguinary invasions of the North.

The flower of his army was supposed to consist of 2,000 men-at-arms under Lord John of Hainault, and the distinction thus bestowed upon foreign troops aroused the honest wrath of the English. King Edward was accompanied by his mother, Queen Isabella, and while the court was engaged in festivities in the monastery of the Friars Minors, at York, on Trinity Sunday, a dreadful tumult arose in the suburbs—the Hainaulters and the Lincolnshire archers, being quartered near each other, engaged in a dreadful conflict. A great part of the army was drawn into the quarrel; houses were fired, and lighted the scene of murder with a weird and fitful light.

All authority was defied, and exhaustion alone arrested the conflict, which was renewed later on, when the Hainaulters combined, and beat up the quarters of the bowmen of Lincoln and Northampton, slaughtering three hundred of them before the tumult was quelled.

After this the English foot entered into a confederation to cut off the Hainaulters, and the young King had great difficulty in restoring peace and order in his army.

The campaign was extremely unfortunate. Douglas surprised the camp one night, cut down the royal tent, raised his war-cry in the midst of the startled army, and, after nearly capturing the King, effected his escape. The Hainaulters received £14,000 for their assistance.

The Hainaulters were again at York in the following January, on the occasion of the marriage festivities of King Edward and Queen Philippa.

The foreigners distinguished themselves by firing the suburbs of the city, and by insulting the wives, daughters, and female servants of the citizens, who challenged them to mortal combat. The foreigners lost 527 men, slain by the sword or the waters of the Ouse, and slaughtered 242 Englishmen.

Several Parliaments were held at York in Edward’s reign, and when David Bruce invaded Northumbria in 1346, Queen Philippa raised her standard in the city. The Scots kept York under observation for some time, and attacked the suburbs.

The impending battle was fought near Durham on the 17th of October. After a vain attempt to cut off the English archers, the Scots closed in a hand-to-hand conflict, and fought under a deadly hail of arrows. The English steadily won ground, and the Scots began to break before repeated repulses and attacks. The King fought like a lion; his banner disappeared; the Earl of March and the Great Steward retired their divisions, believing the King was slain. He still fought on; eighty loyal gentlemen supporting him. He was surrounded, wounded in the leg, two spears were entangled in his harness, his sword was dashed out of his hand, and he was called upon to surrender. Maddened by mortification and pain, he struck out with his gauntleted fist. John Copeland lost two teeth by the King’s hand, but was gratified by receiving his surrender.

After Edward’s days of warfare and pride came to an end, Richard II. reigned in his stead. Some little ferment occurred in Beverley and Scarborough, but Wat Tyler’s death prevented the movement from spreading.

In 1385 Richard quartered his army at Beverley, during an expedition to Scotland. A Bohemian knight, Sir Meles, was insulted by two of Sir John Holland’s squires, and protected by two archers, retainers of Lord Ralph Stafford. A heated dispute was settled by the death of one of the squires, who was shot by an arrow. The guilty archer appealed to Lord Ralph Stafford for protection, and Lord Ralph at once sought Sir John Holland, who was also out in quest of Sir Meles, vowing to avenge the death of his favourite squire. Knight and lord met in a narrow lane, and, it being dark, did not recognise each other until the challenge passed, when Holland drew his sword, exclaimed, “Stafford, I was inquiring for you; thy servants have murdered my squire, whom I loved so much;” then he smote the young lord, and laid him dead at his feet.

Holland took sanctuary at Beverley, and King Richard confiscated his possessions, and declared that he should be executed if he ventured out of bounds.

Holland was the King’s half-brother by their mother Joan, the widow of the Black Prince, and she besought pardon for the guilty knight, and so bitterly bewailed his peril, that, after three days of continuous weeping, she expired. Holland was then pardoned. He was afterwards raised to the rank of Earl of Huntingdon, and being seized by the vassals of the late Duke of Gloucester, whom he had held in deadly hatred, he was delivered to the headsman’s axe.

For six months, A.D. 1392, the Courts of King’s Bench and Chancery were held at York, Richard being at feud with the citizens of London. He bestowed the title of Lord Mayor upon the mayors of York; presented the city with the first mayor’s mace; and created the first Duke of York in the person of Edward Plantagenet, the fifth son of Edward III. and Queen Philippa.

In Richard’s reign the battle of Otterburn was fought. Earl Douglas won Sir Henry Percy’s lance before the barriers of Newcastle, and vowed that it should float from the loftiest tower of Dalkeith Castle. Percy swore that it should not be carried out of Northumberland, and Douglas promised to plant it before his tent, that Percy might have an opportunity of regaining it

On the following night Percy, with 6,000 horse and 8,000 foot, furiously attacked the Scots, who were encamped at Otterburn. Douglas, by a skilful movement, took the English in flank, and a hot encounter ensued, which was interrupted as a dark cloud swept before the moon. It passed, and the battle was resumed, as the scene was flooded with light. Douglas smote his way through the press, wielding his axe in both hands. Three spears smote him, and man and horse went down. He was found dying, defended by his chaplain, William Lundie, who bestrode him, curtail-axe in hand. Douglas thanked God that few of his ancestors had died in bed or chamber. He reminded his friends of the old prophecy that a dead Douglas should win a field; and commanded them to raise his fallen banner and his war-cry, but to tell none that he lay dying there. His orders were followed, and the English were defeated.

The De la Poles, merchants of Hull, rose to power during the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. Edward received princely assistance from the brothers during his French wars, and in 1327 bestowed the office of Chief Butler upon Richard. William he created a Knight-Banneret. Sir Michael was appointed Admiral of the King’s fleet in the North, and was raised to the peerage as Earl of Suffolk. In 1389 he died at Paris, a broken-hearted exile. His son and successor followed Henry V. to France, and died, of a malignant disease, before the walls of Harfleur. Michael, his eldest son, took up his honours, but perished on the field of Agincourt, a few weeks later. William, the fourth earl, famous as a statesman and warrior, was foully slain in the roads of Dover, his head being struck off against the side of the long-boat of the ship Nicholas. His son, created Duke of Suffolk in 1462, married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Duke of York. Their eldest son, John, Earl of Lincoln, was declared heir to the crown by Richard III. He fell at the battle of Stoke, June 16th, 1487. The fifth Earl of Suffolk was brought to the block in 1513; and the exile, Richard, fought beneath the banner of King Francis, and was slain amid the rout at Pavia in 1525, when King Francis was taken prisoner, after a desperate defence.

In “The Story of the De la Poles,” J. Travis-Cook, F.H.R.S., furnishes the student with a very interesting account of this talented but unfortunate family.

Edward Baliol’s expedition against Scotland, fruitful of so much suffering and useless bloodshed, sailed from Ravenser in 1332. The crown that he won was as suddenly lost as acquired.