91
to treat for her marriage with Edward IV., or of a truce with Scotland (g).
In the subsequent year, 1463, Warwick led an army into Dumfriesshire
and burnt the town of Lochmaben, whence we may infer, whatever Wyr-
cestre may say, that the earl, who was an intriguer as well as a soldier, came
to Dumfries more as a spy than a negotiator, if he came at all in the pre-
ceding year (h).
During such an age the people were seldom at rest from foreign or from
civil war. In 1478 and 1479, Dumfriesshire was disquieted by a feud
between Lord Maxwell and Douglas of Drumlanrig, which was important
enough to attract the interference of parliament in March, 1479 (i).
About the same time the traitorous intrigues of the lord of Annandale, the
Duke of Albany, began to be felt. He aimed at nothing less than the
dethroning of the king, his brother, and seizing the crown, which he agreed
to hold under the English king. Detection obliged Albany to flee for
protection to the land to which he wished to be a vassal king; and he was
attainted by parliament on the 8th of July, 1483. The lordship of Annan-
dale and the castle of Lochmaben became again invested in the crown (k).
In July, 1484, the expatriated Earl of Douglas, and the traitor Duke of
Albany, invaded Dumfriesshire with an English force, thinking they
might be joined by the people, or at least be able to plunder Lochmaben
fair on St. Magdalen's day, but they were disappointed. The country
gentlemen hastily assembled their spirited followers, and attacked the base
intruders with such vigour as to defeat them after an obstinate conflict.
Douglas was taken, while Albany was driven back into England, of which
he was the willing slave rather than lord of Annandale and Duke of Albany
in Scotland, so low is inordinate ambition (l),
(g) Wyrcestre, a contemporary chronicler, says the earl met the queen, in 1462, for obtaining
her assent to her marriage with young Edward, who at last chose a wife for himself. Lib. Niger,
493. But he is of very doubtful authority, and the silence of Rymer impeaches Wyrcestre's
veracity.
(A) Stowe, 417 ; Rym., xi. 501. Those hostilities soon ceased, as it was the interest of both parties
to be quiet, and on the 1st of June 1464, a truce was made. Warwick was on the 11th of the same
month appointed with others to meet the Scottish commissioners at Lochmaben Stone, to settle a
mutual reparation of damages. Rym., xvi. 527. Lochmaben Stone was a frequent place of treaty
during those times of truce more than of peace.                                (i) Acta Parl., ii. 122.
(k) Acta Parl., ii. 147, 152. That lordship and castle were annexed to the crown by parliament
on the 13th of October 1487. Ib., 179.
(l) The master of Maxwell, Murray of Cockpool, Johnston of the same, Crichton of Sanquhar,
Carruthers of the same, and Charteris of Amisfield, were the principal leaders who performed that