Though De Warenne had been
persuaded to use unworthy means to intimidate his great opponent, he
would have shrunk from being a coadjutor of treachery. His removal
from the lord-wardenship of Scotland, in consequence of the wounds he
had received at Dalkeith, opened a path to the elevation of Aymer de
Valence. And when he was named viceroy in the stead of De Warenne, he
told Edward that if he would authorize him to offer an earldom, with
adequate estates, to Sir John Monteith, the old friend of Wallace, he
was sure so rapacious a chieftain would traverse sea and land to put
that formidable Scot in the hands of England. To incline Edward to the
proffer of so large a bribe, De Valence instanced Monteith's having
volunteered, while he commanded with Sir Eustace Maxwell on the
borders, to betray the forces under him to the English general. The
treachery was accepted; and for its execution he received a casket of
uncounted gold. Some other proofs of his devotion to England were
mentioned by De Valence.
"You mean his devotion to money," replied the king, "and if that will
make him ours at this crisis, give him overflowing coffers, but no
earldom! Though I must have the head of Wallace, I would not have one
of my peers show a title written in his blood.
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