A.D . 1301. THE ΚΠΓβ CONVOKES A COUNCIL AT LINCOLN. 547 reverend father, the lord pope, have addreseed to us a certain admonition touching the state and rights of the kingdom of Scotland ; but because it is the custom of the kingdom of England, that in' all matters affecting the state of the said kingdom, the counsel of all those whom the matter concerns should be sought, and as the present business of the kingdom of Scotland concerns the constitution and rights of the kingdom of England, and as many prelates, earls, barons, and other nobles of the kingdom of England are absent, who are not, and have not, been in this army, but who have, an interest in the business here spoken of, withont consulting whom no final answer can be given to either the aforesaid supreme father or to you. Accordingly, with reference to this subject, the lord the king intends, as soon as he conveniently can, to consult both those who are present and those who are absent, on the contents of the letters of the aforesaid father, and to discuss there with them deliberately, and by ambassadors of his own to give an answer respecting them to the supreme, pontiff, in accordance with their common advice. And this reply thus made in his name and in his presence, the king ratified and expressly approved. Accordingly, when, after having received such a reply in the presence of such a numerous body of nobles and other persons worthy of credit, I had departed from his presence and returned towards my home again, I heard that the said lord the king, immediately within four days after my departure, had returned with his army into England, and that each of the knights belonging to his army had returned home with his horses and arms, and that the lord the king, his army being thus dispersed, and having but a few comrades retained around him, purposed to stay, as was commonly said, at a certain abbey which is called Holm coltran, on the borders of Scotland, on -the coast. And thus I reverently executed your commission in every respect, with all the diligence that I was able. May your apostolical highness fare well always, and increase in the Lord, to the good government of his church. " Given at Otteford, on the eighth of October, in the year of our Lord thirteen hundred." The king having, after some deliberation, convoked a council at Lincoln, for the purpose of framing a declaration of his rights, wrote back letters of the following tenor, as an answer to those from the Apostolic See.