arranged his troops with the view of besieging it ; and as the garrison refused to surrender it, they employed engines of war, which shot forth large stones and beat down many houses, and the tops of the towers. Alarmed at this, the garrison immediately surrendered the castle and all that it contained to the king of England. And in that place, being the principal treasury of the kingdom, the royal insignia of the kingdom of Scotland were discovered, which were carried off, and deposited and sealed up in the king's store-rooms at Westminster. After that, the king of England crossed the Scottish channel, panting to drag the king of Scotland (who was king only in name) out of his caverns ; and reducing the towns of Saint Andrew's and Saint John's, with the castles in the neighbourhood, under his power. Moreover, John, king of Scotland, being now destitute of all military means of defence, on the day after the festival of the Translation of the blessed Thomas the Martyr, hoping to procure his release from bonds and imprisonment, submitted himself to the king of England, by a letter, which may be seen hereafter, almost at the end of the book. For the king of England had committed to confinement in prison John Balliol, who had been king of Scotland, in the Tower of London, and all the other earls and barons of Scotland whom he had defeated in battle in different other casks. Therefore, Edward, king of England, having traversed all the islands of Scotland, and taken the towns and castles, as no rebels showed themselves, summoned the prelates and nobles of his kingdom to meet in parliament at Saint Edmund's Bury, at the feast of Saint Martin, from whom he demanded a new talliage. And there was granted to him by the citizens and burgesses the eighth penny, and from the rest the twelfth penny was extorted. But on that occasion the clergy neither offered nor granted him anything. On which the king was indignant, and gave them time to deliberate on a better answer, which should be more welcome and acceptable to his will. And in the mean time he caused the doors of all the ecclesiastical barons to be sealed up. And while this was being done, the archbishop caused a bull from the Apostolic See to be published in all the cathedral churches, prohibiting, on pain of excommunication, any contribution being granted to the king, or to any other prince, from the revenues of the church.