[2] Edward I, had coerced recognition as Lord Paramount of Scotland, the feudal superior of the realm as part of the arbitration process.
[5] In response Scotland sought alliances with King Philippe IV of France, with embassies sent in October 1295, that resulted in the Treaty of Paris in February 1296.
[6] Upon the discovery of the alliance of Scotland with France, Edward I ordered an English army to muster in Newcastle upon Tyne in March 1296.
Edward I also demanded the Scottish border castles of Roxburgh, Jedburgh and Berwick be handed over to English forces.
[7] A Scottish army led by John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, invaded England on 26 March 1296 and attacked Carlisle.
Another Scottish army committed many atrocities during raids into Northumberland from 8 April, burning the town of Corbridge, two monasteries and laying siege to take Harbottle Castle.
The English succeeded in entering the town and began to sack Berwick, with contemporary accounts of the number of townspeople slain range from between 4,000 and 17,000.
The English then began a siege of Berwick Castle, whereupon Douglas surrendered it upon conditions that his life and those of his garrison were spared.
The Dunbar defenders sent messages to John, who caught up with the main body of the Scottish army at Haddington, requesting urgent assistance.
As they did so their ranks broke up, and the Scots, deluded into thinking the English were leaving the field, abandoned their position in a disorderly downhill charge, only to find that Surrey's forces had reformed on Spottsmuir and were advancing in perfect order.
John was stripped of the symbols of power, the Scottish crown taken, the insignia ripped from his surcoat, leading to his nickname ‘toom tabard’ (empty coat), before he and much of the Scots nobility were taken south to the Tower of London or English castles.
Edward I then travelled to Kincardine in the Mearns, Glenbervie, Durris and Aberdeen, where Thomas Morham, whom Hugh de Saint John had captured together with eleven others in arms were placed into captivity.