Document 1/51/26 (A-S Relations, no. 23)
- Description
- John, king of Scotland, writes to lord Edward, king of England, noting that Edward and others of his realm – to Edward’s knowledge, for surely he should not be ignorant of what they do – have inflicted, by naked force, grievous and intolerable injuries, slights, and wrongs upon John and the inhabitants of his realm, and indeed have caused harm beyond measure to the liberties of himself and the kingdom, and in a manner which offends against God and against justice; for instance by summoning John outside his realm at the mere beck and call of anybody, as his own whim dictated, and by harassing him unjustifiably; by seizing his castles, lands and possessions, and those of his people, within Edward’s realms, unjustly and without any fault on John’s part; by taking away and receiving within Edward’s realm, both by land and by sea, John’s chattels and those of his subjects; by slaying merchants and other inhabitants of his realm; and by forcibly seizing the men of his realm, taking them into his own, and keeping and imprisoning them there. John has often sent his envoys to him to discuss the amendment of these things, yet, up to the present, the injuries not only persist as they were, but even have offences added to them which are worse than the first, by Edward and his subjects, as one day succeeds another. For now Edward have come to the frontiers of John’s realm in warlike array, with a vast concourse of soldiers, and with an army openly assembled, to disinherit him and the inhabitants of his realm, and have crossed beyond into his realm, and brutally committed acts of slaughter and burning, as well as aggression and acts of violence both by land and by sea. John cannot any longer endure these injuries, insults, and grievous wrongs, nor these hostile attacks, nor can he remain in Edward’s fealty and homage (which, be it said, were extorted by extreme coercion on Edward’s part) and John desires to assert himself against Edward, for his own defence and that of his realm, to whose defence and safekeeping he is constrained by the bond of an oath; and so by the present letter he renounces the fealty and homage which he has done to him, and which any other person among his faithful subjects, the inhabitants of his realm, has done, by reason of the lands which are held of Edward in his realm, and also by reason of the membership of Edward’s household or retinue: this he does in his own name and in the name of each and all of them
- Firm date
- circa 5 April 1296
- Dating Notes
- × date the letter was presented to Edward I
- Place date (modern)
- Berwick-upon-Tweed
- Place date (document)
- Berewky super Twedam
- Related Place
- Berwick
- Source for Data Entry
- Anglo-Scottish Relations, no. 23
- Trad. ID
- A-S Relations, no. 23
- Calendar number
- 1/51/26
- Charter type
- Letter (correspondence)
- Language
- Latin
- Original (contemporary)
- yes
- Notes
- TNA C47/22/3 (10); CDS, v, no. 149