A.D. 1303. PEACE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. 5G5 And immediately afterwards, that very day, the besieged being destitute of all assistance, surrendered the caetle to the king of England. There were in Scotland two most famous abbeys, both endowed with very ample possessions, and very strongly fortified as to their buildings, namely, Aberbredok and Dumferline. Moreover, Dumferline contained a very considerable quantity of ground within its walls, extending over three hydes of land, and embracing in its circuit many almost royal palaces, so that three illustrious kings could be at the same time and all together entertained within its walls, with all their followers, without inconveniencing one another. Therefore, on account of the great magnitude of the place, the chief nobles of the kingdom of Scotland were accustomed to meet there and arrange their designs against the king of England ; and very often, in time of war, they would go forth from this retreat, and harass the people of England with depredation and slaughter. Therefore the army of the king, seeing that the temple of the Lord was not a church, but a den of thieves, and, as it were, a beam in the eyes of the people òf England, sent forth a torch of conflagration, and utterly destroyed it, levelling the recesses, and walls, and all the palaces with the ground, saving the church alone from the fire, and a few houses sufficient for the abode of the regular monks. The same year, on the feast of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, peace, which had been long wished for, was made between the two kingdoms, being proclaimed first in France, and then in England. At which time, the province of Guienne, with all its rights and liberties, was restored to the king of England, in the same form in which he had held it before the beginning of this war. On the day of Saint Mark the Evangelist, Guy, son of the count of Flanders, entered Selandia with a thousand men, not fearing the many thousands of men who came to encounter htm ; and fighting gallantly on foot, and defeating the enemy, he made himself master of that county. And how often the anger of the king of France boiled over at this, and prompted him to send an armed force against the Flemings, it does not become us to insert in this history. But as often as he sent an army, it is agreed on all hands that it was defeated ; be cause his troops were either slain in battle, or else returned ignominioueiy and ingloriously from the battle. And the