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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of King Robert the Bruce, by A. F. Murison
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: King Robert the Bruce
+
+Author: A. F. Murison
+
+Illustrator: Joseph Brown
+
+Release Date: January 18, 2014 [EBook #44695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KING ROBERT THE BRUCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    KING ROBERT
+    THE BRUCE:
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
+
+
+_The following Volumes are now ready_:--
+
+  THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
+  ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.
+  JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.
+  ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.
+  THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.
+  RICHARD CAMERON. By PROFESSOR HERKLESS.
+  SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.
+  THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE.
+  JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
+  TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
+  THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
+  NORMAN MacLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
+  SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
+  KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ.
+  ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
+  JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
+  MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MacLACHLAN.
+  DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
+  WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON.
+  ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK.
+  THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
+  POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON.
+  ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
+  ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON.
+  JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE.
+  KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    KING ROBERT
+    THE BRUCE
+
+    BY
+
+    A. F.
+    MURISON
+
+    FAMOUS
+    SCOTS
+    SERIES
+
+    PUBLISHED BY
+    OLIPHANT ANDERSON
+    & FERRIER · EDINBURGH
+    AND LONDON
+
+
+
+
+The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and
+the printing from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.
+
+    _July 1899._
+
+
+
+
+    ALMAE MATRI
+    VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI
+
+
+
+
+    "O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay--
+    De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices;
+    It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices,
+    As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray.
+    Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie;
+    But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion,
+    While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean,
+    Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die:
+    They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime
+    By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time."
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the historical
+complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together they
+outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and
+successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of
+Edward I. and Edward II.--the most memorable episode in the history of
+Scotland.
+
+As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the narrative
+is based on the primary authorities. Happily State records and
+official papers supply much trustworthy material, which furnishes
+also an invaluable test of the accuracy of the numerous and wayward
+race of chroniclers. Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact
+and deflections of judgment, is eminently useful--in spite of the
+indulgence of historical criticism.
+
+There is no space here to set forth the long list of sources, or to
+attempt a formal estimate of their comparative value. Some of them
+appear incidentally in the text, though only where it seems absolutely
+necessary to name them. The expert knows them; the general reader will
+not miss them. Nor is there room for more than occasional argument on
+controverted points; it has very frequently been necessary to signify
+disapproval by mere silence. The writer, declining the guidance of
+modern historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent
+study of the available materials.
+
+After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of Patriotism reared
+for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if not time-serving, eulogies
+of Barbour and Fordun, and maintained for some five centuries, the
+figure of the Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
+deliverance.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I
+                                                  PAGE
+  THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE                             11
+
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION                           18
+
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  THE CORONATION OF BRUCE                           26
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY        36
+
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  THE KING IN EXILE                                 53
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  THE TURN OF THE TIDE                              58
+
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+
+  RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY                           69
+
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+
+  RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES                            84
+
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+
+  THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN                         92
+
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND                  108
+
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+
+  CONCILIATION AND CONFLICT                        119
+
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+
+  PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT                       134
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+
+  THE HEART OF THE BRUCE                           149
+
+
+
+
+KING ROBERT THE BRUCE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE
+
+
+When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of Scottish
+independence, died at the foot of the gallows in Smithfield, and was
+torn limb from limb, it seemed that at last 'the accursed nation' would
+quietly submit to the English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching
+bones of the heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of
+his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations after national
+freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In fifteen years of arduous
+diplomacy and warfare, with an astounding expenditure of blood and
+treasure, Edward I. had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources
+of Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of the
+nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in arms. It is of the
+irony of fate that the very man destined to bring Edward's calculations
+to naught had been his most zealous officer in his last campaign, and
+had, in all probability, been present at the trial--it may be at the
+execution--of Wallace, silently consenting to his death. That man of
+destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale and Earl of Carrick.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory of a Norse origin
+in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who established himself in the
+diocese of Coutances in Manche, Normandy, though not improbable, is but
+vaguely supported. The name is territorial; and the better opinion is
+inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and Valognes.
+
+The first Robert de Brus on record was probably the leader of the
+Brus contingent in the army of the Conqueror. His services must have
+been conspicuous; he died (about 1094) in possession of some 40,000
+acres, comprised in forty-three manors in the East and West Ridings of
+Yorkshire, and fifty-one in the North Riding and in Durham. The chief
+manor was Skelton in Cleveland.
+
+The next Robert de Brus, son of the first, received a grant of
+Annandale from David I., whose companion he had been at the English
+court. This fief he renounced, probably in favour of his second son,
+just before the Battle of the Standard (1138), on the failure of his
+attempted mediation between David and the English barons. He died in
+1141, leaving two sons, Adam and Robert.
+
+This Robert may be regarded as the true founder of the Scottish branch.
+He is said to have remained with David in the Battle of the Standard,
+and, whether for this adherence or on some subsequent occasion, he was
+established in possession of the Annandale fief, which was confirmed
+to him by a charter of William the Lion (1166). He is said to have
+received from his father the manor of Hert and the lands of Hertness in
+Durham, 'to supply him with wheat, which did not grow in Annandale.' He
+died after 1189.
+
+The second Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of the preceding lord,
+married (1183) Isabel, daughter of William the Lion, obtaining as her
+dowry the manor of Haltwhistle in Tyndale. His widow married Robert de
+Ros in 1191. The uncertainty as to the dates of his father's death and
+his own has suggested a doubt whether he ever succeeded to the lordship.
+
+William de Brus, a brother, the next lord, died in 1215.
+
+The third Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of William, founded the
+claim of his descendants to the crown by his marriage with Isabel,
+second daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of
+William the Lion. He died in 1245.
+
+The fourth Robert de Brus of Annandale, eldest son of the preceding
+lord, was born in 1210. In 1244, he married Isabel, daughter of Gilbert
+de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Next year he succeeded to Annandale,
+and, on his mother's death in 1251, he obtained ten knight's fees in
+England, her share of the Earldom of Huntingdon. He took an active
+part in public affairs. In 1249-50 he sat as a Justice of the King's
+Bench, and in 1268 he became Chief Justice of England, but Edward, on
+his accession (1272), did not reappoint him. He served as Sheriff of
+Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle Castle in 1254-55, and in 1264 he
+fought for Henry at Lewes, and was taken prisoner.
+
+At the same time, de Brus was a prominent figure in the baronage of
+Scotland. The alleged arrangement of 1238 whereby Alexander II., with
+the consent of the Scots parliament, appointed de Brus his successor in
+the event of his dying childless, was frustrated by the King's second
+marriage (1239), and the birth of a son, Alexander III. (1241). As one
+of the fifteen Regents (1255) during the minority of Alexander III.,
+he headed the party that favoured an English alliance, cemented by the
+young King's marriage with Margaret, daughter of Henry III. At the
+Scone convention on February 5, 1283-84, he was one of the Scots lords
+that recognised the right of Margaret of Norway. The sudden death of
+Alexander III., however, in March 1285-86, and the helplessness of the
+infant Queen, put him on the alert for the chances of his own elevation.
+
+On September 20, 1286, de Brus met a number of his friends at Turnberry
+Castle, the residence of his son, the Earl of Carrick. There fourteen
+Scots nobles, including de Brus and the Earl of Carrick, joined in a
+bond obliging them to give faithful adherence to Richard de Burgh,
+Earl of Ulster, and Lord Thomas de Clare (de Brus's brother-in-law),
+'in their affairs.' One of the clauses saved the fealty of the parties
+to the King of England and to 'him that shall obtain the kingdom of
+Scotland through blood-relationship with King Alexander of blessed
+memory, according to the ancient customs in the kingdom of Scotland
+approved and observed.' The disguise was very thin. The instrument
+meant simply that the parties were to act together in support of de
+Brus's pretensions to the crown when opportunity should serve. It
+'united the chief influence of the West and South of Scotland against
+the party of John de Balliol, Lord of Galloway, and the Comyns.' There
+need be no difficulty in connecting this transaction with the outbreak
+of 1287-88, which devastated Dumfries and Wigton shires. The party of
+de Brus took the castles of Dumfries, Buittle and Wigton, killing and
+driving out of the country many of the lieges. There remains nothing
+to show by what means peace was restored, but it may be surmised that
+Edward interfered to restrain his ambitious vassal.
+
+For, by this time, Edward was full of his project for the marriage
+of the young Queen with his eldest son, Prince Edward. The Salisbury
+convention, at which de Brus was one of the Scottish commissioners,
+and the Brigham conference, at which the project was openly declared,
+seemed to strike a fatal blow at the aspirations of de Brus. But the
+death of the Queen, reported early in October 1290, again opened up a
+vista of hope.
+
+When the news arrived, the Scots estates were in session. 'Sir Robert
+de Brus, who before did not intend to come to the meeting,' wrote the
+Bishop of St Andrews to Edward on October 7, 'came with great power,
+to confer with some who were there; but what he intends to do, or
+how to act, as yet we know not. But the Earls of Mar and Athol are
+collecting their forces, and some other nobles of the land are drawing
+to their party.' The Bishop went on to report a 'fear of a general
+war,' to recommend Edward to deal wisely with Sir John de Balliol,
+and to suggest that he should 'approach the March for the consolation
+of the Scots people and the saving of bloodshed.' The alertness of de
+Brus and his friends is conspicuously manifest, and the foremost of the
+party of Balliol is privately stretching out his hands for the cautious
+intervention of the English King.
+
+The Earl of Fife had been assassinated; the Earl of Buchan was dead;
+and the remaining four guardians divided their influence, the Bishop of
+St Andrews and Sir John Comyn siding with Balliol, and the Bishop of
+Glasgow and the Steward of Scotland with de Brus. Fordun thus describes
+the balance of parties in the early part of 1291:
+
+  The nobles of the kingdom, with its guardians, often-times
+  discussed among themselves the question who should be made their
+  king; but they did not make bold to utter what they felt about
+  the right of succession, partly because it was a hard and knotty
+  matter, partly because different people felt differently about
+  such rights and wavered a good deal, partly because they justly
+  feared the power of the parties, which was great, and partly
+  because they had no superior that could, by his unbending power,
+  carry their award into execution or make the parties abide by
+  their decision.
+
+The most prominent competitors were liegemen of Edward, and, whether
+they appealed to warlike or to peaceful methods, the decision must
+inevitably rest with him.
+
+At the Norham meeting of June 1291, de Brus, as well as the other
+competitors, fully acknowledged the paramount title of Edward. He had
+no alternative; he had as large interests in England as in Scotland,
+and armed opposition was out of the question. Availing himself of his
+legal experience, he fought the case determinedly and astutely. If
+Fordun correctly reports the reformation of the law of succession by
+Malcolm, de Brus was, in literal technicality, 'the next descendant';
+as son of David of Huntingdon's second daughter, he was nearer by one
+degree than Balliol, grandson of David's eldest daughter. But the
+modern reckoning prevailed. De Brus's plea that he had been recognised
+both by Alexander II. and by Alexander III. was not supported by
+documentary evidence, and his appeal to the recollection of living
+witnesses does not seem to have been entertained. His third position,
+that the crown estates were partible, was but a forlorn hope. He must
+have seen, long before November 1292, that an adverse decision was a
+foregone conclusion. He entered a futile protest. Already, in June,
+he had concluded a secret agreement with the Count of Holland, a
+competitor never in the running, but a great feudal figure, for mutual
+aid and counsel; he had also an agreement with the Earl of Sutherland,
+and, probably enough, with others. But an active dissent was beyond the
+powers of a man of eighty-two. Accordingly, he resigned his claims in
+favour of his son, the Earl of Carrick, and retired to Lochmaben, where
+he died on March 31, 1295, at the age of eighty-five.
+
+The fifth Robert de Brus of Annandale, the eldest son of the
+Competitor, was born in 1253. On his return from the crusade of 1269,
+on which he accompanied Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., he married
+Marjory (or Margaret), Countess of Carrick, and thus became by the
+courtesy of Scotland Earl of Carrick. Marjory was the daughter and
+heiress of Nigel, the Keltic (if Keltic be the right epithet) Earl of
+Carrick, grandson of Gilbert, son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway, and
+she was the widow of Adam of Kilconquhar, who had died on the recent
+crusade. De Brus is said to have met her accidentally when she was out
+hunting. Fordun gives the romance as follows:--
+
+  When greetings and kisses had been exchanged, as is the wont of
+  courtiers, she besought him to stay and hunt and walk about; and,
+  seeing that he was rather unwilling to do so, she by force, so
+  to speak, with her own hand made him pull up, and brought the
+  knight, though very loth, to her castle of Turnberry with her.
+  After dallying there with his followers for the space of fifteen
+  days or more, he clandestinely took the Countess to wife, the
+  friends and well-wishers of both parties knowing nothing about
+  it, and the King's consent not having been obtained. And so the
+  common belief of all the country was that she had seized--by
+  force, as it were--this youth for her husband. But when the
+  news came to the ears of King Alexander, he took the castle
+  of Turnberry and made all her other lands and possessions be
+  acknowledged as his lands, for the reason that she had wedded
+  with Robert de Brus without consulting his royal majesty. Through
+  the prayers of friends, however, and by a certain sum of money
+  agreed upon, this Robert gained the King's goodwill and the whole
+  domain.
+
+It may be, of course, that the responsibility was thrown on the lady
+in order to restrain the hand of the incensed king. But she was half
+a dozen years older than de Brus, who was still in his teens and was
+never distinguished for enterprise. In any case, she acted only with
+the legitimate frankness of her time, and the marriage put a useful
+dash of lively blood into the veins of the coming king.
+
+In every important political step, de Brus followed with docility his
+father's lead. He stood aloof from Balliol, and, in spite of marked
+snubbing, steadily adhered to Edward. From October 1295, he was for two
+years governor of Carlisle Castle. After the collapse of Balliol at
+Dunbar, he is said to have plucked up courage to claim fulfilment of
+a promise of Edward's, alleged to have been made in 1292 immediately
+after the decision in favour of Balliol, to place his father eventually
+on the Scottish throne. The testy reply of 'the old dodger' (_ille
+antiquus doli artifex_), as reported by Fordun, is at any rate
+characteristic: 'Have I nothing else to do but to win kingdoms to
+give to you?' The story, though essentially probable, is discredited
+by the chronicler's assertion that the promise was accompanied by an
+acknowledgment on the part of Edward that his decision of the great
+cause was an injustice to de Brus, the Competitor.
+
+But while de Brus took nothing by his loyalty to Edward, he suffered
+for his disloyalty to Balliol. He had, of course, ignored the summons
+of Balliol 'to come in arms to resist the King of England,' and
+consequently Balliol's council had declared him a public enemy and
+deprived him of his lands of Annandale, giving them to Comyn, Earl of
+Buchan. At the same time, and for the like reason, his son Robert was
+deprived of the Earldom of Carrick, which de Brus had resigned to him
+on November 11, 1292. Annandale, indeed, was restored to de Brus in
+September 1296, but the state of Scotland was too disturbed for his
+comfort, and he retired to his English possessions, where, for the most
+part at least, he lived quietly till Edward had settled matters at
+Strathord. He then set out for Annandale, but died on the way, about
+Easter, 1304, and was buried at the Abbey of Holmcultram in Cumberland.
+
+De Brus left a large family of sons and daughters, most of whom will
+find conspicuous mention in the story of the eldest brother, Robert,
+Earl of Carrick, the future King of Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION
+
+
+Robert Bruce, the sixth Robert de Brus of Annandale and the seventh de
+Brus of the Annandale line, was the eldest son of the preceding lord
+and a grandson of the Competitor. He was born on July 11, 1274. The
+place of his birth is uncertain--Ayrshire says Turnberry; Dumfriesshire
+says Lochmaben. Geoffrey le Baker calls him an Englishman (_nacione
+Anglicus_), and records that he was 'born in Essex,' to which another
+hand adds, 'at Writtle,' a manor of his father's. Geoffrey, it is true,
+like several other chroniclers, confuses Bruce with his grandfather,
+the Competitor; and he may mean the Competitor, though he says the
+King. Hemingburgh makes Bruce speak to his father's vassals before the
+Irvine episode as a Scotsman, at any rate by descent. In any case Bruce
+was essentially--by upbringing and associations--an Englishman. It was
+probably in, or at any rate about, the same year that Wallace was born.
+At the English invasion of 1296, they would both be vigorous young men
+of twenty-two, or thereabouts. During most part of the next decade
+Wallace fought and negotiated and died in his country's cause, and
+built himself an everlasting name. How was Bruce occupied during this
+national crisis?
+
+Considering the large territorial possessions and wide social
+interlacings of the family in England, their English upbringing, their
+traditional service to the English King, their subordinate interest in
+Scottish affairs, the predominance of the rival house of Balliol, and
+the masterful character of Edward, it is not at all surprising that
+Robert Bruce should have preferred the English allegiance when it was
+necessary for him to choose between England and Scotland. On August 3,
+1293, indeed, he offered homage to Balliol on succeeding to the Earldom
+of Carrick. But on March 25, 1296, at Wark--three days before Edward
+crossed the Tweed--he joined with his father and the Earls of March and
+Angus in a formal acknowledgment of the English King; and on August
+28 he, as well as his father, followed the multitude of the principal
+Scots in doing homage to the conqueror at Berwick.
+
+With this political subjection one is reluctant to associate a more
+sordid kind of obligation. Some six weeks later (October 15) it is
+recorded that 'the King, for the great esteem he has for the good
+service of Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, commands the barons to
+atterm his debts at the Exchequer in the easiest manner for him.' But
+the elder Bruce continued to be designated Earl of Carrick in English
+documents after he had resigned the earldom to his son, and it can
+hardly be doubted that the debts were his. It is a small matter,
+indeed, yet one would like to start Bruce without the burden.
+
+Early in 1297, Scotland was heaving with unrest. Edward, while busily
+arranging 'to cross seas' to Flanders, was also pushing forward
+preparations for a 'Scottish War.' In May, Wallace and Douglas had
+summarily interrupted the severities of Ormsby, the English Justiciar,
+at Scone, and driven him home in headlong flight. About the same time,
+or somewhat later, Andrew de Moray took the field in Moray, Macduff
+rose in Fife, and Sir Alexander of Argyll set upon the adherents of
+Edward in the West. On May 24, Edward had addressed, from Portsmouth,
+a circular order to his chief liegemen north and south of Forth,
+requiring them to attend certain of his great officers to hear 'certain
+matters which he has much at heart,' and to act as directed. Bruce was
+ordered to attend Sir Hugh de Cressingham and Sir Osbert de Spaldington
+at Berwick. But before the order could have reached him, he must have
+heard of the expulsion of Ormsby, and had probably conceived dynastic
+hopes from the aspect of affairs. Indeed, he appears to have fallen
+under English suspicions. For, no sooner did the news from Scone reach
+Carlisle than the Bishop and his advisers--the Bishop was acting
+governor in the absence of the elder Bruce at Portsmouth--'fearing for
+the faithlessness and inconstancy of Sir Robert de Bruys the younger,
+Earl of Carrick, sent messengers to summon him to come on a day fixed
+to treat with them about the King's affairs, if so be that he still
+remained faithful to the King.'
+
+Bruce duly appeared with a strong following of 'the people of
+Galloway,' and repeated the oath of fealty upon the consecrated Host
+and upon the sword of St Thomas (à Becket). What more could the Bishop
+want or do? But Bruce went a step further. He summoned his people, says
+Hemingburgh, and, 'in order to feign colour, he proceeded to the lands
+of Sir William de Douglas and burnt part of them with fire, and carried
+off his wife and children with him to Annandale.' For all that, he was
+already in secret conspiracy with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Steward
+of Scotland, and Sir John of Bonkill, the Steward's brother. Douglas,
+indeed, presently appears as one of the leaders in the rising; but his
+relations with Bruce would be subject to easy diplomatic adjustment.
+
+When the time for open action arrived, Bruce appealed to his father's
+men of Annandale. He repudiated his oath at Carlisle as extorted by
+force and intimidation, and professed a compelling sense of patriotism.
+The Annandale men deferred reply till the morrow, and slipped away to
+their homes overnight. With his Carrick men, however, he joined the
+Bishop and the Steward, and began to slay and harry the English in the
+south-west.
+
+Engrossed in the outfitting of his expedition, Edward delegated the
+suppression of the Scots to Warenne, Earl of Surrey, the Guardian of
+Scotland, who sent ahead his kinsman, Sir Henry de Percy, with a strong
+force. Percy advanced through Annandale to Ayr, and, two or three days
+later, stood face to face with the insurgents near Irvine. There was
+dissension in the Scots camp. Sir Richard Lundy went over to Percy,
+'saying that he would no longer war in company with men in discord and
+at variance.' Besides, the English force was no doubt much superior.
+The insurgent leaders at once asked for terms. The provisional
+agreement was that 'their lives, limbs, lands, tenements, goods and
+chattels,' should be unharmed, that their offences should be condoned,
+and that they should furnish hostages. Such was the humiliating fiasco
+of July 7, 1297, at Irvine.
+
+So far their skins were safe; and now, on the counsel of the Bishop,
+they appealed to Cressingham and Warenne to confirm the agreement, and
+to vouchsafe an active interest in their behalf with Edward. The full
+flavour of their pusillanimity can only be gathered from the text of
+their letter to Warenne.
+
+  They were afraid the English army would attack them to burn and
+  destroy their lands. Thus, they were told for a certainty that
+  the King meant to seize all the middle people of Scotland to send
+  them beyond sea in his war [in Gascony], to their great damage
+  and destruction. They took counsel to assemble their power to
+  defend themselves from so great damages, until they could have
+  treaty and conference with such persons as had power to abate
+  and diminish such kind of injury, and to give security that
+  they should not be exceedingly aggrieved and dishonoured. And,
+  therefore, when the host of England entered the land, they went
+  to meet them and had such a conference that they all came to the
+  peace and the faith of our Lord the King.
+
+The hostage for Bruce was his infant daughter, Marjory. It would be
+interesting to know why Douglas failed to provide hostages. It may be
+that his native obstinacy was aroused by the objurgations of Wallace,
+who then lay in Selkirk Forest, and who is said to have displayed
+intense indignation at the ignominious surrender. Edward ratified the
+convention; but somehow it was not till November 14 that powers were
+conferred on the Bishop of Carlisle and Sir Robert de Clifford 'to
+receive to the King's peace Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, and his
+friends, as seems best to their discretion.'
+
+Midway between the shameful collapse at Irvine and the formal
+submission at Carlisle lay September 11, 1297, and Wallace's memorable
+victory at Stirling Bridge. In this great triumph of patriotism Bruce
+had neither part nor lot. Neither was he present at the disastrous
+battle of Falkirk on July 22, 1298. The Scottish chroniclers, indeed,
+relate the popular story that the English victory was primarily due to
+Bruce, who, with Bishop Bek, stealthily caught the Scots in the rear
+and broke up the schiltrons. But this is a complete misconception, due
+possibly to a confusion of Bruce with Basset, who, with Bek, delivered
+the attack on the left wing, not on the rear, or with Bruce's uncle,
+Sir Bernard, who fought on the English side. In any case, Bruce stands
+clear of Falkirk. For English chroniclers relate that, when Edward
+withdrew towards Carlisle, Bruce burnt Ayr Castle and fled away
+into Carrick. Yet it seems all but certain that he was in Edward's
+allegiance within three weeks before the battle. He had gone over
+before the result reached him, possibly on learning the dire straits of
+Edward immediately before, or on the strength of a false report of the
+issue.
+
+The stormy meeting of Scots nobles at Peebles on August 19, 1299,
+discovers Bruce in a remarkable attitude. One object of the meeting was
+to choose Guardians of the realm. The discussion was sufficiently warm;
+for Sir John Comyn--the Red Comyn, afterwards slain at Dumfries--seized
+the Earl of Carrick by the throat, and his cousin of Buchan tried a
+fall with de Lamberton, Wallace's Bishop of St Andrews. The outcome
+of the wrangle was a purely personal accommodation of an essentially
+momentary character. It was settled that the Bishop of St Andrews, the
+Earl of Carrick, and Sir John Comyn should be the Guardians, the Bishop
+as principal to have custody of the castles. Bruce, through the Wallace
+influence, had gained the upper hand. But it must have cost him a pang
+to consent to act in the name of Balliol.
+
+Bruce, with Sir David de Brechin, returned to the attack of Lochmaben
+peel, where the Scots had been pressing Clifford since the beginning of
+August. They were unsuccessful in direct assault, but they seriously
+hindered the victualling of the place by infesting the lines of
+communication. Bruce would seem to have been in consultation with his
+colleagues in the Torwood on November 13, when the Guardians, who
+were then besieging Stirling, despatched to Edward an offer to cease
+hostilities on the terms suggested by the King of France. At any rate
+he is named as Guardian, and it is to be noted that the Guardians write
+'in the name of King John and the community of the realm.' Edward was
+compelled to abandon Stirling to its fate, and Lochmaben fell in the
+end of the year. Warenne's December expedition to the western March was
+a failure. Edward, in fact, had been paralysed by his refractory barons.
+
+During the next two years, while Comyn was doing his best in the field
+and Wallace was busy in diplomatic negotiation, there is no trace of
+Bruce in the records. He may have felt it too irksome to pull together
+with Comyn. But he reappears--in a new coat--in 1301-2. On February 16,
+Edward, 'at the instance of the Earl of Carrick,' granted pardon to a
+murderous rascal, one Hector Askeloc. And by April 28, 1302, the King
+had 'of special favour granted to the tenants of his liege Robert de
+Brus, Earl of Carrick, their lands in England lately taken for their
+rebellion.' And Bruce attended Edward's parliament towards the end of
+October.
+
+In the next year or two Bruce manifested special devotion to the
+English King. When Edward was going north on the campaign of 1303, he
+ordered Bruce to meet him about the middle of May at Roxburgh with
+all the men-at-arms he could muster, and with 1000 foot from Carrick
+and Galloway. On July 14, Bruce received an advance of pay by the
+precept of Sir Aymer de Valence, the King's lieutenant south of Forth.
+On December 30, he is Edward's sheriff of Lanark; on January 9, he
+is Edward's constable of Ayr Castle. His star was deservedly in the
+ascendant by diligent service.
+
+His ardour steadily increased. After the surrender of Comyn and his
+adherents in February 1303-4, he threw himself heartily into the
+pursuit of Wallace. On March 3, Edward wrote to 'his loyal and faithful
+Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, Sir John de Segrave, and their
+company,' applauding their diligence, begging them to complete the
+business they had begun so well, and urging them, 'as the cloak is well
+made, also to make the hood.' Wallace and Sir Simon Fraser were hotly
+pursued southwards, and defeated at Peebles within a week.
+
+About this time Bruce must have received news of the death of his
+father, probably not unexpected. On April 4, 1304, he was at Hatfield
+in Essex, whence he wrote to Sir William de Hamilton, the Chancellor,
+asking him to direct quickly the necessary inquisitions of his father's
+lands in Essex, Middlesex and Huntingdon, as he wished to go to the
+King with them to do homage. On June 14, having done homage and fealty,
+he was served heir. The succession to the paternal inheritance was
+happily achieved.
+
+Meantime, on his return north, Bruce had found Edward in hot eagerness
+to commence the siege of Stirling, and worked with the energy of
+gratitude that looks towards favours to come. He undertook the special
+task of getting up the King's engines to Stirling. On April 16, the
+King wrote him thanks for sending up some engines, and gave particular
+instructions about 'the great engine of Inverkip,' which appears to
+have been unmanageable for want of 'a waggon fit to carry the frame.'
+Bruce seems to have been at Inverkip and Glasgow, and wherever else
+any of the thirteen engines were lagging on the road to Stirling. His
+energy operated in congenial harmony with the fiery expedition of the
+King.
+
+Yet there was something in the background of all this enthusiastic
+service. On June 11, only three days before 'his loyal and faithful
+Robert de Brus' did homage and fealty to Edward on succession to his
+father, Bruce met Bishop Lamberton at Cambuskenneth and formed with
+him a secret alliance for mutual aid and defence 'against all persons
+whatsoever.' Seeing dangers ahead, and wishing to fortify themselves
+against 'the attempts of their rivals,' they engaged to assist each
+other to the utmost of their power with counsel and material forces in
+all their affairs; 'that neither of them would undertake any important
+enterprise without consultation with the other'; and that 'they would
+warn each other against any impending danger, and do their best to
+avert the same from each other.' No particular motives or objects, of
+course, are specified. But the Bishop may have foreseen the likelihood
+of an invasion of English ecclesiastics; and Bruce would not be slow
+to perceive the possible value of the moral support of the Church, and
+of the material aid derivable from the men and lands of the religious
+houses of the wide episcopate of St Andrews. At such a moment neither
+party would affect to forget the Bruce's royal pretensions. We shall
+hear of this bond again.
+
+Stirling surrendered on July 20, the last of the Scottish fortresses
+that held out against Edward. Wallace, the last centre of opposition,
+was a fugitive, dogged by emissaries of the English King. In March next
+year, Bruce was with the King at Westminster, petitioning him for the
+lands recently held by Sir Ingram de Umfraville in Carrick--a petition
+substantially granted--and he attended Edward's parliament in Lent. It
+is hardly any stretch of probability to believe that he was present, in
+August, at the trial and execution of the illustrious Wallace--the man
+that, above all others, paved the way for his elevation to the Scottish
+throne.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bruce was now in his thirty-second year. From his twenty-second year
+onwards, through the ten years' struggle of Wallace and Comyn, he was
+two parts of the time the active henchman of Edward, and during the
+other part he is not known to have performed any important service
+for Scotland. His action during this period--the period of vigorous
+manhood, of generous impulses and unselfish enthusiasms--contrasts
+lamentably with the splendour of Wallace's achievement and endeavour,
+and gravely with the bearing of Comyn. One looks for patriotism and
+heroism; one finds not a spark of either, but only opportunism,
+deliberate and ignoble, not to say timid--the conduct of a 'spotted
+and inconstant man.' Yet Bruce was tenaciously constant to the grand
+object of his ambition. In the light of his kingly career this early
+period has puzzled the historians very strangely; but one cannot affect
+to be surprised that the friendliest critic is compelled to pronounce
+the simple enumeration of the facts to be, 'in truth, a humiliating
+record.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CORONATION OF BRUCE
+
+
+Stirling surrendered and Wallace a fugitive, Edward went home and
+meditated measures for the government of the conquered country.
+While yielding no point of substance, he recognised the policy of
+conciliation in form. He took counsel with the Bishop of Glasgow,
+the Earl of Carrick, and Sir John de Mowbray; and, ostensibly guided
+by their suggestions, he appointed a meeting of ten Scots and twenty
+English representatives to be held in London in the middle of July.
+The meeting was subsequently postponed to September. On September
+23, all the representatives were 'sworn on our Lord's body, the holy
+relics, and holy Evangels, each severally.' The joint commission
+settled ten points, which were embodied in an Ordinance--'not a
+logical or methodical document,' but 'mixing up the broadest projects
+of legislation and administration with mere personal interests and
+arrangements.' First, the official establishment was set forth: Sir
+John de Bretagne, junior, Edward's nephew, being appointed King's
+Lieutenant and Warden, Sir William de Bevercotes Chancellor, and
+Sir John de Sandale Chamberlain. Next, Justiciars were appointed, a
+pair for each of the four divisions of the country. Then a score of
+Sheriffs were named, nearly all Englishmen, though Scots were eligible.
+Thereafter, the law was taken in hand: 'the custom of the Scots and
+Brets' was abolished; and the King's Lieutenant, with English and
+Scots advisers, was 'to amend such of the laws and usages which are
+plainly against God and reason,' referring difficulties to the King.
+For the rest, the articles were mainly particular. One of them applied
+specifically to Bruce: 'The Earl of Carrick to place Kildrummy Castle
+in the keeping of one for whom he shall answer.' The King confirmed the
+Ordinance at Sheen. At the same time (October 26), apparently, the
+King's Council for Scotland--twenty members, including the Bishop of St
+Andrews, the Earls of Carrick, Buchan, and Athol, Sir John Comyn, and
+Sir Alexander of Argyll--was sworn in. Bretagne was unable to proceed
+to Scotland till Lent (and then till Easter), and meantime a commission
+of four was appointed to act for him, the first commissioner being the
+Bishop of St Andrews.
+
+The King rejoiced at the sure prospect of peace in Scotland. The
+country was outwardly quiet. Edward had put on the velvet glove. He
+had restored submissive barons, knights, and lairds to their lands;
+he had that very day at Sheen doubled the periods within which they
+might pay their several fines; and he had displayed a general friendly
+consideration in his Ordinance. A fortnight before (October 14), he
+had instructed all the English sheriffs that he desired honourable and
+courteous treatment to be shown to all Scots passing through their
+jurisdictions. In a short time, he was contemplating a more complete
+assimilation of the two countries, to be arranged in a Union convention
+at Carlisle. But, in February next, the whole face of affairs was
+suddenly transformed by the report that Sir Robert de Brus, Earl of
+Carrick, had done sacrilegious murder on Sir John Comyn at Dumfries.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The accounts of the train of events leading to the death of Comyn,
+though agreeing in essentials, vary considerably in details. The Scots
+story may be told first. Fordun, like his compatriots, colours his
+narrative deeply with the fanciful glow of Bruce's patriotism. He
+tells how Bruce 'faithfully laid before Comyn the unworthy thraldom of
+the country, the cruel and endless torment of the people, and his own
+kindly project for bringing them relief.' Bruce, he says, 'setting the
+public advantage before his own,' proposed to Comyn two alternatives:
+either take you the crown and give me your lands, or else take my
+lands and support my claim to the crown. Comyn chose the latter
+alternative; and the agreement was guaranteed by oaths and embodied in
+indentures duly sealed. Eventually, however, Comyn betrayed Bruce's
+confidence, 'accusing him again and again before the King of England,
+by envoys and by private letters, and wickedly revealing his secrets.'
+Edward acted with restraint: he sounded Bruce; he even showed him his
+adversary's letters; he feigned acceptance of his explanations. One
+evening, however, 'when the wine glittered in the bowl,' he expressed
+his definite determination to put Bruce to death on the morrow. On
+hearing this, the Earl of Gloucester at once sent Bruce a broad hint in
+the form of twelve pence and a pair of spurs. Bruce promptly mounted
+his horse, and rode day and night to his castle of Lochmaben. As he
+was nearing the Border, he met a messenger of Comyn's bearing to
+Edward the very bond he had made with Comyn. He struck off the man's
+head and hurried on his way. By appointment, he presently met Comyn in
+the church of the Friars Minorites at Dumfries. He charged Comyn with
+treachery. 'You lie!' replied Comyn. Whereupon Bruce stabbed him on
+the spot. The friars stretched Comyn on the floor behind the altar.
+'Is your wound mortal?' he was asked. 'I think not,' he replied. The
+hopeful answer sealed his fate. 'His foes, hearing this, gave him
+another wound, and thus, on February 10,[1] was he taken away from the
+world.'
+
+According to Barbour, the alternative proposal proceeded, not from
+Bruce, but from Comyn, which is far from likely; and it was made 'as
+they came riding from Stirling,' presumably--Blind Harry, indeed,
+expressly says so--when Edward and his barons were going home from the
+siege. Barbour goes beyond Fordun in stating that Comyn actually rode
+to Edward and placed in his hands the indenture with Bruce's seal.
+Thereupon, he says, the King 'was angry out of measure and swore that
+he would take vengeance on Bruce' for his presumption, summoned a
+council, produced the bond, and demanded of Bruce whether the seal was
+his; but Bruce obtained respite till next day in order to get his seal
+and compare it with the bond, and fled the same night with the document
+in his pocket. The embellishments of later writers--the conversion of
+Gloucester's twelve pence into other coins, the reversal of Bruce's
+horses' shoes because of the new-fallen snow, and so forth--need not
+be considered. Barbour makes no mention of an appointment: Bruce rode
+over to Dumfries, where Comyn was staying, and the tragedy was enacted.
+Barbour has the same outline of the interview as Fordun, but he remarks
+that other accounts were current in his time.
+
+A picturesque tradition tells how Bruce, on striking the blow, hurried
+out of the church to his friends, whereupon Roger de Kirkpatrick and
+James de Lindsay, seeing his excitement, anxiously inquired how it was
+with him. 'Ill!' replied Bruce; 'I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn.'
+'You doubt!' cried Kirkpatrick; 'I'll mak' siccar' (make sure). And
+they rushed into the church and buried their daggers in Comyn's body.
+But if the Justiciars were then sitting, and Roger de Kirkpatrick
+was still one of them--for he and Walter de Burghdon were appointed
+Justiciars for Galloway on October 25--there may be some difficulty in
+accepting the tradition.
+
+The English story commences in Scotland, and it introduces a very
+important element wholly absent from the principal Scottish versions.
+The English authorities expressly allege a deliberate purpose on
+Bruce's part to rid himself of his rival. Both Hemingburgh and the
+Lanercost Chronicler state that Bruce sent two of his brothers, with
+guileful intent, to invite Comyn to an interview; Hemingburgh names
+Thomas and Nigel. The fullest account is given by Sir Thomas Gray,
+who wrote in 1355--just half a century later, but still twenty and
+thirty years earlier than Barbour and Fordun. Gray records that
+Bruce dispatched his brothers, Thomas and Nigel, from Lochmaben to
+Dalswinton, where Comyn was staying, to invite him to meet Robert in
+the church at Dumfries; and, moreover, that he instructed them to fall
+upon Comyn on the way and kill him--a purpose thwarted by the softening
+effect of Comyn's kindly reception of the youths. 'Hm!' said Bruce,
+on hearing their report, 'milk-sops you are, and no mistake; let me
+meet him.' So he advanced to Comyn, and led him up to the high altar.
+He then opened the question of the condition of Scotland, and invited
+Comyn's co-operation in an attempt at freedom on the terms already
+mentioned as contained in the alleged bond between them. 'For now is
+the time,' he said, 'in the old age of the King.' Comyn firmly refused.
+'No?' cried Bruce, 'I had other hopes in you, by promise of your own
+and of your friends. You discovered me to the King by your letters.
+Since while you live I cannot fulfil my purpose, you shall have your
+guerdon!' On the word, he struck Comyn with his dagger, and some of his
+companions completed the crime with their swords before the altar.
+
+Hemingburgh works up artistically the pacific bearing of Comyn in the
+face of Bruce's accusations; and this would be likely enough if it be
+true that Comyn was unarmed and attended by but a small escort. The
+writer of the Merton MS. of the _Flores Historiarum_, who says Comyn
+was unarmed, states that he endeavoured to wrest Bruce's weapon from
+his hand; that Bruce's men rushed up and freed their leader; that
+Comyn got away to the altar; and that Bruce pursued him, and on his
+persistent refusal to assent, slew him on the spot.
+
+A distinct English variation occurs in at least five of the records.
+The Meaux Chronicle states that Bruce, on returning to Scotland
+after the settlement of the Ordinance, summoned the Scots earls and
+barons to Scone to consider the affairs of the realm, and put forward
+his hereditary claim. He received unanimous support, except that
+Comyn stood by his oath of fealty to Edward, rejected Bruce's claim
+with scorn, and at once left the council. The council was adjourned
+to a future day at Dumfries. Meantime Bruce sent Comyn a friendly
+invitation. Comyn appeared at Dumfries and was cordially received
+by Bruce, but still he maintained his objections, and again he left
+the council. Bruce drew his sword and followed him, and ran him
+through the body in the Church of the Friars Minorites. The Cambridge
+Trinity College MS., it may be noted, states that Bruce sent his two
+brothers to invite Comyn to meet him at the 'Cordelers' of Dumfries;
+and Geoffrey le Baker makes Bruce kill Comyn in the midst of the
+magnates. But these councils may safely be set aside as grounded on
+misconceptions.
+
+The English allegation of Bruce's purpose of murder seems to invest
+with a special interest Blind Harry's casual story, with its
+coincidences and discrepancies. Bruce, says Harry, charged his brother
+Edward, whom he found at Lochmaben on his arrival, to proceed next day
+with an armed escort to Dalswinton, and to put Comyn to death, if they
+found him; but they did not find him.
+
+On the fall of Comyn, his followers pressed forward and blows were
+hotly exchanged. Comyn's uncle, Sir Robert, assailed Bruce himself,
+but failed to pierce his armour (which, the Meaux Chronicler says, he
+wore under his clothes), and was cut down by Sir Christopher de Seton,
+probably in the cloister, not in the church. Barbour adds that 'many
+others of mickle main' were killed in the mêlée; and the statement is
+amply confirmed.
+
+While this scene was enacting, the English Justiciars were in session
+in the Castle. Thither Bruce and his friends, having overpowered
+Comyn's adherents, at once proceeded. The Justiciars had prudently
+barricaded the doors, but, when Bruce called for fire, they instantly
+surrendered. Bruce spared their lives, and allowed them to pass over
+the Border without molestation. According to Hemingburgh, it was only
+after Bruce had got possession of the Castle that he learned that
+Comyn was still alive after his first wound; whereupon, by order of
+Bruce, the wounded man was dragged from the vestibule, where the friars
+were tending him, and slain on the steps of the high altar, which was
+bespattered with his blood.
+
+Comyn was slain (according to the usually accepted date) on February
+10. Less than two months later (April 5), Edward affirmed that he had
+placed complete confidence (_plenam fiduciam_) in Bruce. The profession
+may be accepted as sincere, for it is on record, under date February
+8 (the order would have been made some days earlier), that Edward
+remitted scutage due by Bruce on succession to his father's estates.
+We may, therefore, put aside the English part of the Fordun and
+Barbour story and refuse to believe that Edward dallied with Comyn's
+allegations, or was such a simpleton as to let Bruce keep possession
+of the incriminating bond. But was there a bond at all? It is generally
+accepted that Edward did hold in his hands a bond of Bruce's; but
+this bond is usually taken to have been the Lamberton indenture,
+which is supposed to have come into Edward's possession through the
+instrumentality of Comyn. Still, there is nothing to show that this
+indenture was yet in Edward's hands. It may also be gravely doubted
+whether Comyn would ever have entered into any bond with Bruce. There
+is much significance in the silence of the English records. Nor is
+there more than a very slight English indication of any communication
+about Bruce from Comyn to Edward. It is likely enough, however, that
+Comyn informed Edward of Bruce's private pushing of his claims; and it
+may be that the details of the story of a bond were evolved on mere
+suppositions arising out of the Bruce-Lamberton compact.
+
+The allegation that Bruce deliberately murdered Comyn is the most
+serious matter. But the English writers do not satisfy one that they
+had the means of seeing into Bruce's mind; and the allegation may be
+reasonably regarded as inference, not fact. There can scarcely be
+any doubt that Bruce resumed the active furtherance of his claims
+on observation of the declining health of Edward, but without any
+immediate intention of a rupture. He could hardly have found support
+enough to counterbalance the far-reaching power of Comyn, to say
+nothing of the power of Edward. Clearly it was of the very first
+importance that he should, if possible, gain over Comyn. He may have
+offered Comyn broad lands and high honours. But to expect the practical
+heir of the Balliol claims to support him was, on the face of it,
+all but hopeless; and to speak of patriotism to Comyn would have
+been nothing less than open insult. Comyn, of course, would stanchly
+reject Bruce's overtures. Despite all his prudence, Bruce had a hot
+and imperious temper; and Comyn's obstinacy--it may be Comyn's frank
+speech--most probably broke down his self-command. If it had been
+Bruce's deliberate purpose to kill his rival, he would scarcely have
+chosen a church for the scene, or have left the deed to be afterwards
+completed either by others or by himself. The mere fact that he was
+totally unprepared for a struggle with Edward tells almost conclusively
+against the theory of premeditation--unless there was a very clearly
+compromising bond with Comyn, which is wholly improbable. The bond with
+Lamberton--the only bond that certainly existed--was capable of easy
+explanation, and was a wholly insufficient reason to urge him to murder
+a rival, whose adherents would make up in bitterness what they lost in
+leadership.
+
+Nor is there any reason to believe that Lamberton was implicated.
+True, he was charged, on his own bond, with complicity in the deed.
+There still exist letters patent, dated Scotland's Well, June 9, 1306,
+in which Lamberton declares to Sir Aymer de Valence, then Edward's
+lieutenant in Scotland, his anxious desire 'to defend himself in
+any way the King or Council may devise against the charge of having
+incurred any kind of guilt in the death of Sir John Comyn or of Sir
+Robert his uncle, or in relation to the war then begun'; and on August
+9, at Newcastle, he acknowledged the Cambuskenneth indenture. But there
+is no necessary connection between the compact and the crime; and it
+is in the last degree improbable that Lamberton had any anticipation
+whatever of the Dumfries tragedy. His sympathy with Bruce's rising is
+quite a different consideration.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Having garrisoned Dumfries Castle, Bruce sent out his messengers to
+raise adherents. The Galwegians having refused to join him, he ravaged
+their lands; and he took the castles of Tibbers, Durisdeer, and Ayr.
+But he was not strong enough to keep the castles for more than a very
+short period. After the first surprise, Comyn's men asserted their
+superior force; and aid arrived from Carlisle. The Lanercost chronicler
+records that Bruce pursued a Galwegian noble and besieged him in a
+lake, but that the Carlisle contingent raised the siege, compelling
+Bruce to burn his machines and 'ships,' and take to flight. Probably
+Carlaverock is meant.
+
+Leaving the local struggle to lieutenants, Bruce hastened to Bishop
+Wishart in Glasgow. At Arickstone, in the upper end of Annandale,
+Barbour says, he was joined by James of Douglas, who had been staying
+with the Bishop of St. Andrews--a young man destined to play a
+great part in the history of Bruce. Bishop Wishart joyously received
+his visitor, cheerfully broke his sixth oath of fealty to Edward,
+pronounced absolution of Bruce for the murder of Comyn, and produced
+coronation robes and a royal banner. There was nothing half-hearted
+about the flexible prelate. Already the country was in eager
+expectation, and Bruce and the Bishop proceeded boldly to Scone.
+
+On March 27, 1306, in the Chapel Royal of Scone, the immemorial scene
+of the inauguration of the Kings of the Scots, Robert Bruce was crowned
+King. The ceremony inevitably lacked certain of the traditional
+accessories that strangely influenced the popular mind. The venerable
+Stone of Destiny had been carried off by Edward ten years before. The
+crown--if crown there had been--was also gone; and the ancient royal
+robes--if such there had been--were no longer available. The prescient
+Bishop, however, had provided fresh robes, and a circlet of gold was
+made to do duty for a crown. Still, there was lacking an important
+functionary--the person whose office and privilege it was to place the
+crown on the head of the King. The proper official was the chief of the
+clan MacDuff; but Duncan, Earl of Fife, was in wardship in England, and
+again, as on the coronation of Balliol, arose the difficulty of finding
+an efficacious substitute. No substitute was forthcoming, and the
+coronation had to pass with maimed rites.
+
+Two days later, however, this difficulty was dramatically solved.
+Isabella, Countess of Buchan, and sister of the Earl of Fife, had
+hastened south with an imposing retinue, and appeared to claim the
+honour and privilege of her house. A second coronation--not mentioned
+by the Scottish writers--was held on March 29. The wife of a Comyn,
+nearly related to the murdered Sir John, the Countess yet performed
+the mystic function. It would be an exceedingly interesting thing if
+one could now disentangle the extraordinary complication of ideas and
+influences involved in this remarkable ceremonial. The subsequent
+punishment of the Countess by Edward continued the romance of the
+occasion; and it may be added here that, on March 20, 1306-7, Edward,
+at the instance of his queen, pardoned one Geoffrey de Conyers for
+concealing the coronet of gold with which King Robert was crowned.
+
+The coronation might have been expected to strike the imagination
+of the Scots, and to rally the spirit that cherished the memory of
+Wallace. Fordun asserts that Bruce's friends in Scotland, as compared
+with his collective foes, were but 'as a single drop compared with
+the waves of the sea, or as a single grain of seed compared with
+the multitudinous sand.' The hyperbole has a considerable basis of
+fact. Bruce, indeed, was supported at his coronation by the two chief
+prelates of Scotland, the Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, and by
+the Abbot of Scone; by strong-handed relatives--his four brothers,
+Edward, Thomas, Alexander, and Nigel; his nephew, Thomas Randolph of
+Strathdon (better known afterwards as Randolph, Earl of Moray), and
+his brother-in-law, Sir Christopher de Seton (husband of his sister
+Christian); by the Earls of Lennox, Athol, and Errol; and by such
+valorous men as James de Douglas, Hugh de la Haye (brother of Errol),
+David Barclay of Cairns, Alexander, brother of Sir Simon Fraser, Walter
+de Somerville of Carnwath, David de Inchmartin, Robert Boyd, and Robert
+Fleming. Apart from the episcopal influence, however, the array is
+not very imposing. Yet how vastly superior to the meagre beginnings
+of Wallace! Bruce, indeed, lacked one vital source of strength that
+his great predecessor had--intimate association and sympathy with the
+common folk; but, on the other hand, he was admitted, except by the
+Comyn interest, to be the legitimate sovereign, and 'is not the King's
+name twenty thousand names?' And so it would have been but for his
+inglorious record. It is only the servile adulation of later writers
+that has pictured Bruce as animated by patriotism. He was simply a
+great Anglo-Norman baron in quest of aggrandizement; and it took many
+years to satisfy the people generally that their interests were safe
+in his keeping. But he was a man with deep reserves of strength, freed
+at last from the paralysis of worldly prudence by a sudden shock,
+and compelled to defend his crown and his life with his back to the
+wall. Happily, if only incidentally, such self-defence involved the
+championship of the independence of Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY
+
+
+The new King buckled to his task with fiery energy. 'All the English'
+had not, though many of them had, 'returned to their own land'; and
+Bruce instantly issued a proclamation requiring those that remained
+to follow those that had gone. According to the Meaux chronicler, he
+proceeded to expel them; but the particular acts are not recorded. At
+the same time he imperiously insisted on the submission of such Scots
+as had not yet joined him. He threw the Perth bailies into prison, and
+required them, on pain of death, to pay up £54 of the King's Whitsunday
+rents. A detailed example of his procedure remains in the memorial
+of exculpation addressed by Malise, Earl of Strathearn, to Edward.
+The Earl alleges that, on Monday, the day after the coronation, Bruce
+sent to him the Abbot of Inchaffray, requiring him to repair forthwith
+to his presence to perform homage and fealty. On his refusal, Bruce,
+with the Earl of Athol, entered Strathearn in force, occupied Foulis,
+and despatched another summons, with a safe conduct, to the Earl,
+who took counsel with his followers in the wood of Crieff. Bruce's
+messenger seems to have been Sir Malcolm de Inverpeffry, who had been
+Edward's sheriff of Clackmannan and Auchterarder, and had been one of
+the first to go over to Bruce. Taking the advice of Sir Malcolm and
+of his own friends, he went to Bruce, but still he refused to comply
+with the peremptory demand of submission. Next day, he again met Bruce
+by appointment at Muthill. In the course of the interview, Athol, who
+had been stung by a sharp home thrust of Strathearn's, urged Bruce to
+break his promise of safe conduct and give the Earl into custody, while
+Athol's men should go and ravage his lands. Strathearn was taken to
+Inchmalcolm, where he steadily maintained his refusal. Sir Robert de
+Boyd thereupon advised Bruce to cut off his head and grant away his
+lands, and to do the like to all others afflicted with such scruples.
+Strathearn then gave way, and they let him go. The story may be
+coloured to suit Strathearn's new difficulties, but it may at least be
+taken as an indication of Bruce's resolute, yet prudent, action.
+
+The memorial further shows that Strathearn was again at issue with
+Bruce before the battle of Methven. Bruce sent him a letter, he says,
+directing him to bring his power to Calder; but, instead of obeying
+the order, he communicated the letter to Sir Aymer de Valence, then at
+Perth, and prepared to follow with his men. Just as he was starting,
+Bruce came upon him, laid siege to the place where he was, and ravaged
+his country. At an interview, Strathearn flatly refused to join Bruce
+in an attack on Valence; and Bruce had to let him go recalcitrant and
+unpunished, for the sake of the hostages in the hands of Strathearn's
+party.
+
+The news of Bruce's revolt and the death of Comyn roused Edward into
+full martial vigour. He at once despatched judicious instructions to
+his officers in Scotland and on the Borders. In March he was directing
+military supplies to be accumulated at Berwick; and in the beginning of
+April he commanded the Irish authorities to divert supplies destined
+for Ayr to Skinburness, and to send them 'with the utmost haste,'
+giving 'orders to the seamen to keep the high seas and not to approach
+the ports of Ayr or Galloway on any account.' On April 5 he issued
+orders for the immediate muster of the forces of the northern counties
+at the summons of Valence and Percy.
+
+Having set his army in motion, Edward held a great feast at Westminster
+at Whitsuntide. By proclamation he invited all such youths as had a
+hereditary claim to knighthood, and such as had the means to campaign,
+to come and receive knighthood along with the Prince of Wales. In the
+middle of April he had despatched his clerks to St Botolph's Fair, with
+orders to his sheriffs and other lieges of Southampton and Wilts to aid
+them 'in purchasing 80 cloths of scarlet and other colours, 2000 ells
+of linen cloth, 4000 ells of canvas, 30 pieces of wax, and 20 boillones
+of almonds,' for the outfit and entertainment of the new knights.
+The Royal Palace could not contain the visitors. The Prince and the
+more noble of the candidates kept vigil in Westminster Abbey; the rest
+made shift to keep vigil in the Temple. Next day the King knighted the
+Prince, and made him Duke of Aquitaine. Thereupon the Prince went to
+Westminster Abbey and conferred knighthood upon his companions. The
+crush before the high altar was so severe that two knights died and
+many fainted; and the Prince ordered in a ring of war-horses to fence
+off his knights from the crowd. The number of new knights may be taken
+roundly at three hundred.
+
+Then followed a remarkable ceremony. As the King and the knights sat
+at table, there entered a splendid procession, attended by a train of
+minstrels, in the midst of which were borne two swans in golden nets
+amid gilt reeds, 'a lovely spectacle to the beholders.' On seeing them,
+the King chivalrously vowed a vow to God and to the swans--emblems of
+purity and faith--that he would go to Scotland, and, alive or dead,
+avenge the outrage to Holy Church, the death of Comyn, and the broken
+faith of the Scots. Turning to the Prince and the nobles, he adjured
+them by their fealty that, if he should die before accomplishing his
+vow, they should carry his body with them in the war, and not bury it
+'till the Lord gave victory and triumph' over the perfidious Bruce
+and the perjured Scots. One and all, they engaged their faith by the
+same vow. Trevet adds that Edward further vowed that, when the war in
+Scotland was successfully ended, he would never more bear arms against
+Christian men, but would direct his steps to the Holy Land and never
+return thence. 'Never in Britain, since God was born,' says Langtoft,
+'was there such nobleness in towns or in cities, except Caerleon in
+ancient times, when Sir Arthur the King was crowned there.'
+
+The brilliant ceremony over, the Prince set out for Carlisle, where his
+army was ordered to be in readiness on July 8. He was accompanied by a
+large number of his new-made knights. The King was to follow by slow
+stages.
+
+Amidst the pomp of the gallant ceremonial, Edward's mind was keenly
+bent upon the business of the expedition. Writing to Valence on May
+24, he desires 'that some good exploit be done, if possible, before
+his arrival.' Two days later (May 26), he is delighted to hear that
+Valence, then at Berwick, is ready to operate against the enemy, and
+urges him to strike at them as often as possible, and in concert
+with the forces at Carlisle. As regards 'the request by some for a
+safe-conduct for the Bishop of St Andrews,' Valence, he orders, 'will
+neither give, nor allow any of his people to give such.' The Bishop, if
+he pleases, may come to the King's faith, and receive his deserts. Let
+Valence take the utmost pains to secure the Bishop's person, and also
+the person of the Bishop of Glasgow; and let him send frequent news of
+his doings.
+
+Valence had a stroke of luck. On June 8, Edward 'is very much pleased'
+to learn from him 'that the Bishop of Glasgow is taken, and will soon
+be sent to him.' The Bishop had been taken in arms on the recapture of
+Cupar Castle by the English. A week later (June 16), Edward informs
+Valence that 'he is almost as much pleased as if it had been the Earl
+of Carrick,' and directs him to send the Bishop 'well guarded' to
+Berwick, 'having no regard to his estate of prelate or clerk.' The
+order was executed without any undue tenderness to the Bishop. The
+Bishop of St Andrews, however, was still at large. 'I understand from
+many,' wrote Edward to Valence in the letter of June 8, 'that the
+Bishop of St Andrews has done me all the mischief in his power, for,
+though chief of the Guardians of Scotland appointed by me, he has
+joined my enemies.'
+
+As yet the edge of Edward's appetite was but whetted. On June 12, he
+'is well pleased to hear that Valence has burned Sir Simon Fraser's
+lands in Selkirk Forest,' and commands him 'to do the same to all
+enemies on his march, including those who turned against him in this
+war of the Earl of Carrick, and have since come to his peace as enemies
+and not yet guaranteed; and to burn, destroy, and waste their houses,
+lands, and goods in such wise that Sir Simon and others may have no
+refuge with them as heretofore.' At the same time, Valence is to spare
+and honour the loyal, and in particular to compliment the foresters
+of Selkirk on their loyal and painful service. In successive letters
+he reiterates the caution to beware of surprise and treason, and his
+anxiety for constant news.
+
+Still more vindictive is his tone on June 19. He commands Valence
+to burn, destroy, and strip the lands and gardens of Sir Michael de
+Wemyss's manors, 'as he has found nor good speech nor good service in
+him,' and this for an example to others. Likewise, to do the same, or
+worse, if possible, to the lands and possessions of Sir Gilbert de la
+Haye, to whom the King did great courtesy when he was last in London,
+but now finds he is a traitor': the King will make up the loss to the
+persons to whom he has granted his lands!
+
+Meantime the Pope made his voice heard. On May 6, he had written to
+Edward, promising to send a nuncio to deal with the Bishop of Glasgow
+and others; and on May 11, he had strongly denounced to the Archbishop
+of York the assumption of the Bishop, desiring him to order the culprit
+peremptorily to come to his Holiness at Bordeaux. The Archbishop
+replied that the Bishop had been captured in arms, and that the King
+thought it inexpedient to serve the citation on his prisoner, but would
+send envoys with explanations. On June 18, the Pope addressed a bull
+to the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle directing them to
+excommunicate Bruce and his adherents, and to lay their lands, castles,
+and towns under ecclesiastical interdict till they should purge their
+offence. Already, on June 5, according to the London Annalist, the
+Archdeacons of Middlesex and Colchester had formally excommunicated
+Bruce and three other knights at St Paul's for the death of Comyn.
+
+However the sacrilegious deed at Dumfries may have affected the
+attitude of Scotsmen generally to Bruce, it did not produce revulsion
+in the minds of the more ardent patriots, any more than in the minds
+of Bruce's personal friends. Yet not only the powerful Comyn interest,
+but also a very large section of the rest of the population, adhered,
+formally at least, to the English cause. The particular movements
+of Bruce are not on record; but it appears that his adherents were
+pressing Sir Alexander de Abernethy in Forfar Castle, and that Irish
+as well as Scots allies were active in Fife and Gowrie. The foresters
+of Selkirk, as we have seen, had stood by Edward, and apparently had
+suffered not a little for their fidelity. Hemingburgh says Bruce 'did
+great wonders': undoubtedly the impression is that he must have been
+fighting a strenuous uphill battle. The great mass of the nation,
+however, was waiting for more definite developments.
+
+In June, Sir Aymer de Valence had advanced from Berwick to Perth. In
+his company were several prominent Scots--Sir John de Mowbray, Sir
+Ingram de Umfraville, Sir Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Adam de Gordon,
+Sir David de Brechin, and others that leant to Comyn. He had received
+to the peace some complaisant Scots whose lands or dwellings lay on his
+northward route. Bruce probably kept him under observation, retiring
+before him beyond the Forth, and not attempting to bar his progress to
+Perth.
+
+On June 25, Bruce, no doubt reinforced, appeared before the walls of
+Perth, and challenged Sir Aymer to come out and fight him, or else to
+surrender. Hemingburgh assigns to Valence only 300 men-at-arms and
+some foot, a smaller force, he says, than Bruce had; but it is most
+unlikely that Valence was not the stronger, though possibly not by 1500
+men, as Barbour alleges. Valence seems to have been ready to accept
+Bruce's challenge, but to have been dissuaded by his Scots friends.
+Umfraville, says Barbour, advised him to promise battle on the morrow,
+but to attack that night when the Scots were off guard in reliance on
+his promise. Bruce--'too credulous,' says Hemingburgh--accepted the
+promise. He was not in a position to establish a siege, and he retired
+to Methven Wood. His main body set about preparing food, and disposed
+themselves at ease, while parties went out to forage. In the dusk of
+the evening, Valence issued from Perth and took Bruce by surprise. It
+is not to be supposed, as the chroniclers narrate, that Bruce was so
+inexperienced as to allow his men to lie in careless unreadiness: no
+doubt many of them would have laid aside their arms; but the very fact
+that his knights at least fought with loose linen tunics over their
+armour to hide their distinctive arms would seem to show that they
+at any rate were prepared. Still they did not expect attack. They
+promptly rallied, however, and met with vigour the sudden and furious
+onset. Bruce, keenly realising the importance of the issue, bore
+himself with splendid valour. Before his fierce charge, the enemy gave
+way; and, Langtoft says, he killed Valence's charger. Thrice was he
+unhorsed himself, and thrice remounted by Sir Simon Fraser. According
+to Sir Thomas Gray, he was taken prisoner by John de Haliburton, who
+let him go the moment he recognised him. Barbour tells how he was hard
+beset by Sir Philip de Mowbray, and was rescued by Sir Christopher de
+Seton. But the day was going against him, and it was in vain that he
+made a supreme effort to rally his men. He was compelled to retreat.
+Barbour asserts that the English were too wearied to pursue, and
+retired within the walls of Perth with their prisoners, keeping there
+in fear of the approach of Bruce; but it seems far more likely, as
+Langtoft relates, that they kept up the pursuit 'for many hours.' The
+statement of Hemingburgh and others that the English pursued Bruce to
+Cantyre, and besieged and took a castle there, mistakenly supposing him
+to be in it, is evidently a misconception, and a confusion of Dunaverty
+with Kildrummy.
+
+Bruce lost comparatively few men in the battle--the 7000 of the
+Meaux chronicle need not be considered--but a number of his ablest
+supporters were taken prisoners, notably Thomas Randolph, his nephew,
+Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir David Barclay, Sir Hugh de la Haye, Sir David
+de Inchmartin, and Sir John de Somerville. The Bishop of St Andrews
+had surrendered to Valence before the battle, but had taken care to
+send his household to fight for Bruce. His calculation is said to have
+been 'that if the Scots beat the English they would rescue him as a
+man taken by force for lack of protection, whereas, if the English won
+the day, they would mercifully regard him as having been abandoned by
+his household, as not consenting to their acts.' But this looks like a
+speculation of the chronicler's. Valence displayed humane consideration
+for his prisoners, all the more honourable as he had not yet received
+Edward's letter of June 28, modifying his previous bloodthirsty orders.
+
+After the defeat, Bruce's party broke up into several groups.
+Sir Simon Fraser was captured at Kirkincliffe, near Stirling. Sir
+Christopher de Seton was taken at Lochore Castle in Fife. The Earl
+of Lennox made for his own fastnesses. Bruce himself proceeded
+northwards to Aberdeen. Barbour says he had about 500 followers, the
+most prominent of whom were his brother Sir Edward, the Earls of Athol
+and Errol, Sir William Barondoun, James of Douglas, and Sir Nigel
+Campbell. He kept to the high ground, not venturing to the plains, for
+the population had outwardly passed to the English peace again. Barbour
+tells pitifully how the fugitives' clothes and shoon were riven and
+rent before they reached Aberdeen. Here they were met by Nigel Bruce,
+the Queen, and other ladies; and here Bruce rested his company 'a good
+while.'
+
+The English, however, followed up, and Bruce was unable to show fight.
+The whole party, therefore, took to the hills again. The exact date is
+not recorded; but we know that Valence was at Aberdeen on August 3.
+The very next day (August 4) a painful scene was enacted at Newcastle.
+Fifteen Scots, all prisoners from Methven, including Sir David de
+Inchmartin, Sir John de Cambhou, Sir John de Somerville, Sir Ralph
+de Heriz, and Sir Alexander Scrymgeour, were arraigned before nine
+justices, whose instructions directed that 'judgment be pronounced as
+ordained, and none of them be allowed to answer.' They were all hanged.
+At the same time, John de Seton, who had been taken in Tibbers Castle,
+which he was holding for Bruce, and who had been present with Bruce at
+the death of Comyn, and at the capture of Dumfries Castle, of which
+Sir Richard Siward of Tibbers was constable, was condemned, drawn, and
+hanged. It appears to have been due to the earnest intervention of
+Sir Adam de Gordon that Randolph--as we shall henceforth call Thomas
+Randolph (_Thomas Ranulphi_) Bruce's nephew, later Earl of Moray--was
+spared.
+
+Bruce and his followers suffered serious privations in the hill
+country. Barbour engagingly tells how Douglas especially exerted
+himself in hunting and fishing, and, as became a chivalrous youth
+hardly out of his teens, served indefatigably the ladies as well as
+his lord. The party pushed south-westwards by 'the head of the Tay.'
+Eventually, they found themselves face to face with the Lord of Lorn,
+Alexander MacDougal, a 'deadly enemy to the King,' says Barbour,
+'for the sake of his uncle John Comyn.' Alexander was really Lord of
+Argyll, and had married Comyn's third daughter; it was his son, John
+of Lorn, whose uncle Comyn was, and Barbour may mean John. Alexander
+is said to have had over 1000 men, with the chiefs of Argyll as his
+lieutenants. Bruce was in no case for battle, but he was encouraged, in
+his necessity, by the nature of the ground, and put on a bold front.
+A stern combat ensued at Dalry--the 'Kings Field'--in Strathfillan,
+near Tyndrum. Fordun gives the date August 11; and, if this be correct,
+Barbour has misplaced the episode. The men of Lorn, wielding their
+great pole-axes on foot, did serious execution upon Bruce's horses; and
+they wounded badly some of his men, including Douglas and Sir Gilbert
+de la Haye. Bruce satisfied himself by a determined charge that further
+contest would cost him too many men, and, forming close, he retreated
+steadily, protecting his rear in person so vigilantly and boldly that
+none of the Lorns durst advance from the main body.
+
+The wrath of Lorn incited two brothers named MacIndrosser--that is,
+sons of Durward (the Doorkeeper) as Barbour explains--to perform an
+oath they had sworn to slay Bruce. This oath may possibly be connected
+with the fact that Alan Durward, the celebrated Justiciar of Scotland,
+had vainly endeavoured to get his family claims to the throne forwarded
+by the legitimation of his daughters, his wife being an illegitimate
+daughter of Alexander II. Joined by a third man--possibly the MacKeoch
+of the Lorn tradition--they rushed on Bruce in a narrow pass--perhaps
+between Loch Dochart and Ben More--where the hill rose so sheer from
+the water that he had barely room to turn his horse. One caught his
+bridle, but Bruce instantly shore off his arm. Another had seized his
+leg and stirrup; but Bruce rose in his stirrups and spurred his horse,
+throwing down his adversary, who still grimly maintained his grip. The
+third meanwhile had scrambled up the incline and jumped on Bruce's
+horse behind him; but Bruce at once dragged him forward and clove his
+head. He then struck down the man at his stirrup. This exploit cowed
+the Lorns. Barbour glorifies Bruce by citing the admiring comment of
+MacNaughton, a Baron of Cowal. 'You seem to enjoy our discomfiture,'
+said Lorn angrily. 'No,' replied MacNaughton; 'but never did I hear
+tell of such a feat, and one should honour chivalry whether in friend
+or in foe.' Bruce rode after his men, and Lorn retired in chagrin.
+Barbour, it will be observed, makes no mention of a personal encounter
+between Bruce and Lorn, or of the capture of the famous Brooch of Lorn,
+
+    'Wrought and chased with fair device,
+    Studded fair with gems of price.'
+
+Bruce, according to Barbour, now applied himself to comfort his party,
+though probably he was less versed than the devoted Archdeacon in
+historical examples of courage in despair. There was need for comfort;
+things were going rapidly from bad to worse. The ladies began to fail.
+And not only the ladies, but some of the harder sex: the Earl of Athol,
+Barbour says, could hold out no longer on any terms. A council of war
+was called, with the result that Bruce himself, with some 200 of the
+tougher men, took to the higher hills, and Sir Nigel Bruce, taking
+all the horses, even the King's, essayed to conduct the Queen and the
+other ladies, as well as the more exhausted of the men, back to the
+Aberdeenshire stronghold of Kildrummy.
+
+Sir Nigel reached Kildrummy in safety. The castle was well provisioned,
+and was deemed impregnable. It had not been taken by Valence in early
+August, when he 'well settled affairs beyond the Mounth, and appointed
+warders there.' Sir Nigel was soon besieged, probably by the Prince of
+Wales. A vigorous attack was met by a spirited defence, the besieged
+frequently sallying and fighting at the outworks. There was hardly
+time for the besiegers to despair of success, as Barbour says they
+did, when a traitor set fire to the store of corn heaped up in the
+castle hall, involving the place in flames, and driving the garrison
+to the battlements. The English seized their opportunity and attacked
+as closely as the fire permitted, but they were gallantly repelled.
+The entrance gate, though burnt, is said to have been so hot that
+they could not enter. They accordingly waited till the morrow. The
+defenders, with great exertion, managed to block up the gate overnight.
+At daybreak, the attack was renewed, with all the energy of certain
+hope. The besieged, however, having neither food nor fuel, recognised
+that further defence was impossible, and surrendered at discretion.
+The precise date is not clear. A calendered letter, anonymous, dated
+September 13, states that 'Kildrummy was lately taken by the Prince';
+but, if this date be correct, it seems strange that Edward, writing
+on September 22, should not say more than that 'all is going well at
+Kildrummy Castle.'
+
+The prisoners included Sir Nigel Bruce, Sir Robert de Boyd, Sir
+Alexander de Lindsay, 'and other traitors, and many knights and
+others.' Hemingburgh mentions the Queen; but Barbour and Fordun relate
+that she and the Princess Marjory, in order to escape the siege, had
+been escorted to the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain, where they were
+taken by the Earl of Ross, who delivered them to Edward. It may be
+incidentally noted that some two years afterwards (October 31, 1308),
+the Earl of Ross did fealty and homage to King Robert at Auldearn, and
+was reinstated in his lands.
+
+The fate of the more important prisoners demands particular notice.
+Most of the captives were interned in English castles; but
+
+    'Some they ransomed, some they slew,
+    And some they hanged, and some they drew.'
+
+The Queen was sent to stay at the manor of Burstwick, in Holderness,
+Yorkshire. Edward certainly meant to treat her handsomely. His
+directions were that she should have 'a waiting-woman and a
+maid-servant, advanced in life, sedate, and of good conversation; a
+butler, two man-servants, and a foot-boy for her chamber, sober and
+not riotous, to make her bed; three greyhounds, when she inclined to
+hunt; venison, fish, and the "fairest house in the manor."' Hemingburgh
+gives two reasons. First, her father, the Red Earl of Ulster, had
+proved faithful to him. Second, he was pleased with a reported saying
+of hers on the coronation of her husband. 'Rejoice now, my consort,'
+Bruce said, 'for you have been made a Queen, and I a King.' 'I fear,
+Sir,' she replied, 'we have been made King and Queen after the fashion
+of children in summer games.' Other chroniclers give the story with
+slight variation. In a letter, without date, but apparently belonging
+to next year, she complains to Edward 'that, though he had commanded
+his bailiffs of Holderness to see herself and her attendants honourably
+sustained, yet they neither furnish attire for her person or her
+head, nor a bed, nor furniture of her chambers, saving only a robe
+of three "garmentz" yearly, and for her servants one robe each for
+everything'; and she prays him 'to order amendment of her condition,
+and that her servants be paid for their labour, that she may not be
+neglected, or that she may have a yearly sum allowed by the King for
+her maintenance.' In autumn 1310, she was at Bistelesham; in 1311-12,
+at Windsor Castle; in autumn 1312, at Shaftesbury; in 1313, at Barking
+Abbey; in 1313-14, at Rochester Castle; in October 1314, at Carlisle
+Castle, on her way back to Scotland, in consequence of Bannockburn.
+
+Marjory, Bruce's daughter, had first been destined to a 'cage' in the
+Tower of London, but was placed by Sir Henry de Percy in the Priory of
+Watton in Yorkshire. She returned to Scotland with the Queen.
+
+Mary Bruce, sister of the King, and wife of Sir Nigel Campbell, was
+kept first in Roxburgh Castle, in a 'cage,' and then at Newcastle till
+June 25, 1312, when she was probably exchanged.
+
+Christian Bruce, another sister of the King, and widow of Sir
+Christopher de Seton, was relegated to the Priory of Sixhill, in
+Lincolnshire, whence she was released on July 18, 1314, and returned
+with the Queen.
+
+The Countess of Buchan was put in a 'cage' in Berwick Castle. The
+Earl, it is said, wanted to kill her, but Edward delivered judgment
+thus: 'As she did not strike with the sword, she shall not perish by
+the sword; but, because of the unlawful coronation she performed, let
+her be closely confined in a stone-and-iron chamber, fashioned in the
+form of a crown, and suspended at Berwick in the open air outside
+the castle, so that she may be presented, alive and dead, a spectacle
+to passers-by and an everlasting reproach.' In fact, she was placed
+in a room--or rather an erection of three storeys or rooms--of stout
+lattice-work in a turret of the castle. She was to be kept so strictly
+that 'she shall speak to no one, and that neither man nor woman of the
+nation of Scotland, nor other, shall approach her,' except her keeper
+and her immediate attendants. The 'cage' was simply an arrangement for
+'straiter custody,' though but rarely judged necessary in the case of
+ladies. About a year later, the ex-Constable of Bristol Castle was
+reimbursed certain expenditure, part of which was for 'making a wooden
+cage bound with iron in the said house for the straiter custody of
+Owen, son of David ap Griffith, a prisoner, shut therein at night.'
+
+A harder fate awaited the foremost knightly defenders of Kildrummy.
+Sir Nigel Bruce and several others were drawn, hanged, and beheaded at
+Berwick. The handsome person and gallant bearing of the youthful knight
+excited general sympathy and regret.
+
+The Earl of Athol had escaped from Kildrummy and taken to sea, but was
+driven back by contrary winds and took refuge in a church, where he
+was captured--'the news whereof eased the King's pain.' In the end of
+October he was taken to London, and tried and condemned. When friends
+interceded for him, and urged his royal blood, 'The higher the rank,'
+said Edward, 'the worse the fall; hang him higher than the rest.' In
+virtue of his royal blood he was not drawn, but he was hanged fifty
+feet high (twenty feet higher than others), taken down half-dead,
+beheaded and burnt, and his head was set on London Bridge, again higher
+than the rest.
+
+Sir Christopher de Seton had been taken at Lochore (Hemingburgh,
+Trevet)--if not at Kildrummy (Gray)--betrayed, says Barbour, by MacNab,
+'a man of his own household,' 'a disciple of Judas.' 'In hell condemnèd
+mot he be!' prays the good Archdeacon. He was taken to Dumfries, in
+consideration of the part he played at the death of Comyn, and there
+(not, as Barbour says, at London) he was drawn, hanged, and beheaded.
+He was only twenty-eight years of age.
+
+Sir Simon Fraser had been captured about August 24, by Sir David de
+Brechin, near Stirling, and conducted to London on September 6. He was
+tried and condemned, drawn, hanged, and beheaded; his body, having been
+rehung on the gallows for twenty days, was burnt; and his head was
+carried, with the music of horns, to London Bridge, and placed near
+the head of Wallace. Fraser, since turning patriot, had extorted the
+admiration of foes and friends alike. 'In him,' says Langtoft, 'through
+his falseness, perished much worth.' 'The imprisoned Scots nobles,'
+says another English chronicler, 'declared he could be neither beaten
+nor taken, and thought the Scots could not be conquered while he was
+alive. So much did they believe in him that Sir Herbert de Morham,
+handsomest and tallest of Scotsmen, a prisoner in the Tower, offered
+his head to the King to be cut off the day Simon was captured.' Sir
+Herbert's squire, Thomas du Bois, joined in his master's confident
+wager. Both of them were beheaded on September 7, the day after Sir
+Simon's arrival at the Tower.
+
+But Edward dared not imbrue his hands in the blood of great churchmen.
+The Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow and the Abbot of Scone were
+conducted to Newcastle-on-Tyne in the warlike guise in which they are
+said to have been taken. From Newcastle (August 10) they were led by
+stages, still traceable, to their separate places of confinement--the
+castles of Winchester, Porchester, and Mere. On the way they were not
+allowed to communicate with each other, or with anyone else, 'excepting
+their keepers only'; and, on arrival at their several destinations,
+they were loaded with irons. Edward was keenly anxious to get hold
+of the Bishop of Moray also, whom he believed--no doubt wrongly--to
+have been a party to the murder of Comyn, but who certainly adhered to
+Bruce. The Bishop, however, had fled to Orkney, and for a twelvemonth
+left Edward to negotiate with the King of Norway for his surrender.
+
+The Bishop of St Andrews had sagaciously surrendered to Valence four
+or five days before Methven. He had already (June 9) warmly repudiated
+the charge of complicity in the death of Comyn. On August 9, he was
+severely examined at Newcastle. Why had he concealed his bond with
+Bruce when he was admitted of the Council at Sheen? He had 'entirely
+forgotten' it--which is not quite improbable, for, on the face of
+it at all events, and possibly in fact, it related to the immediate
+contingencies of eighteen months back. Why did he hasten to Bruce's
+coronation? He went to see him 'on account of grievous threats against
+his person and substance, and for no other reason'--but he was not so
+stiff as the Earl of Strathearn. Neither these nor his further answers
+are satisfactory. Already he was declaring himself 'heartily sorry.' On
+June 1, 1308, on an order dated May 23, he was released from Winchester
+Castle, where he had lain from August 24, 1306, but he was taken
+bound to remain within the county of Northampton. At Northampton, on
+August 11, he swore fealty to Edward in abject terms, and made oath to
+remain within the bounds of the bishopric of Durham. He was creeping
+northwards. The Pope sent a strong remonstrance in his favour, but
+Edward II. had anticipated it by the Bishop's release. On February
+16, 1309-10, the Bishop figures at the head of a commission of seven,
+invested, on the urgency of the Pope, with full powers to treat with
+Bruce for a cessation of hostilities. On July 24, 1311, he was back in
+Scotland, and Edward writes to the Pope excusing his absence from a
+General Council holden at Vienna, on the ground that 'he is much needed
+to give right direction to the minds of Scotsmen, and in these days no
+one's exhortations are more readily acquiesced in.' Indeed, 'we have
+laid upon him various arduous tasks touching the state of the country,
+and especially its tranquillity.' Besides, 'his absence would be a
+danger to souls.' In a second letter of excuse, on December 4, Edward
+testifies emphatically to his continued fidelity. About two years
+later, November 30, 1313, the Bishop was still so much in favour that
+Edward dispatched him on an embassy to the King of France. On September
+25, 1314, he 'is going abroad on business of his own, by our leave';
+which implies his final release as a consequence of Bannockburn.
+
+The Bishop of Glasgow was more strictly dealt with. Apparently about
+the date of his internment in Porchester Castle (say August 25,
+1306), he prayed the King, 'for God and for charity and the salvation
+of his soul, to allow him to remain in England within certain bounds
+at the King's will, on such surety as the King may demand, till the
+rising of the Scots be entirely put down.' On December 1, 1308, Edward
+II. delivered him to Arnaud, Bishop of Poitiers, to be taken to the
+Pope; but three days later he wrote to his Holiness, and to a number
+of cardinals, that the Bishop's crimes forbade any hope that he could
+be allowed to return to Scotland. He set forth at large the supreme
+wickedness of the Bishop, 'the sower of universal discord,' the
+traitor, the sixfold perjurer, the ecclesiastic taken in arms; 'not a
+pacific overseer, but a belligerent; not a Levite of the altar, but a
+horsed warrior, taking to himself a shield for a diocese, a sword for
+a stole, a corslet for an alb, a helmet for a mitre, a spear for a
+pastoral staff.' Begging the Pope on no account to permit the return of
+the Bishop to Scotland, or even 'elsewhere within the King's power,'
+he recommends the appointment of Master Stephen de Segrave, Professor
+of Canon Law and Dean of Glasgow, to the western bishopric. To the
+Pope the Bishop went; and with the Pope he apparently remained for
+two years, for in January 1310-11, Edward wrote from Berwick to his
+Chancellor informing him that he had heard that the Bishop was 'busy
+suing his deliverance at the Court of Rome,' and commanding him, 'in
+concert with the Earl of Lincoln, the Lieutenant and Guardian, and
+the Treasurer of Scotland, to issue letters under the Great Seal to
+the Pope, and to the Cardinals named in the enclosed list, urgently
+opposing the Bishop's restoration either to his office or to his
+country, and pointing out his evil bearing (_mavoys port_), and his
+repeated violation of his oath, and anything else likely to induce
+the Pope to refuse him leave even to return to Scotland.' These
+representations appear to have stayed the Pope's hand; and again,
+on April 23, Edward repeated with especial urgency his request for
+the supersession of the Bishop by Master Stephen de Segrave. Late in
+1313, the Bishop was sent back to Edward 'to be detained by the King
+at pleasure till Scotland was recovered'; and Edward, on November 20,
+committed him to the charge of the Prior of Ely, 'to remain at the
+Priory at his own expenses, and not to go forth except for the purpose
+of taking the air, under sufficient escort.' On July 18, 1314, Edward
+ordered him to be brought to York, where he joined Bruce's Queen and
+other Scots prisoners, with whom he was sent to Carlisle on October 2,
+and thence to Scotland. Physically, however, he was worn out; he had
+become totally blind. He survived his restoration but two years, dying
+in 1317. It stands to the credit of Bruce that he always retained a
+strong feeling of gratitude and sympathy for the patriotic, flexible,
+gallant, and much enduring Bishop.
+
+The campaign of the east was over. On October 4, Edward conferred
+on Sir Aymer de Valence lands and official honours in the shires of
+Peebles and Selkirk; and, on October 7, he made him keeper of the
+castle and forest of Jedburgh. On October 23, Edward received the
+homage and fealty of James, Steward of Scotland, and restored to him
+his lands. Of course the English lands and possessions of Bruce and all
+his adherents were distributed as rewards to the deserving officers and
+the favourites of the conqueror. The active opposition to the English
+in Scotland was smothered in blood, except in the parts of Galloway and
+Carrick.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE KING IN EXILE
+
+
+When Sir Nigel Bruce parted for the last time with his brother and
+passed on his fated way to Kildrummy, the King was left with some two
+hundred men, all on foot. He kept steadily to the hills, where he
+suffered severely from hunger, cold, and wet, till at last he resolved
+to make southward to Cantyre. Despatching Sir Nigel Campbell, whose
+kinsmen dwelt in these parts, to obtain boats and victuals, and to
+meet the party 'at the sea'--either on Loch Long or on the Firth of
+Clyde--Bruce, says Barbour, struck for Loch Lomond, probably about
+Rowardennan. Here he could find no boats, and either way round was long
+and beset with foes. At last Douglas discovered a sunken boat, capable
+of holding but three men. In the course of a night and a day the party
+were ferried over, two by two, a few of them, however, swimming 'with
+fardel on back.' Meanwhile Bruce cheered their drooping spirits by
+reading from the old romance how Fierabras was overcome by the right
+doughty Oliver, and how the Twelve (Eleven) Peers held out in Aigremont
+against Lawyne (Laban, Balan) till they were delivered by Charlemagne.
+
+The most pressing difficulty was lack of food. Presently, however, this
+was relieved by the Earl of Lennox, who had noted the sound of the
+King's horn and joyfully hastened to him. Shortly Sir Nigel returned
+with boats and food in abundance. Bruce and his friends embarked.
+Barbour has a dramatic story how Lennox made delay in starting, how
+his boat was pursued--probably by Lorn's men--and how he escaped
+by throwing overboard his belongings, which the enemy stopped to
+appropriate. The boats ran down the Firth and safely landed the party
+in Cantyre.
+
+Here Bruce received a friendly welcome from Angus of Islay, Lord of
+Cantyre, who placed at his disposal the rock fortress of Dunaverty.
+He entertained suspicions of treachery, however, and stayed only three
+days. Then, with all his following, he passed over to the island of
+Rathlin, an exile from his kingdom.
+
+Such is Barbour's story. Taking it, meantime, as it stands, let us
+see what the English had been doing in the south-west. The details of
+operation are very scanty. Percy, the King's lieutenant on the western
+March, had exerted himself during June, July and August in fortifying
+and provisioning the castles. Lochmaben Castle fell on July 11, and
+Prince Edward felt himself free to go to Valence at Perth a few days
+later, and to carry through the siege of Kildrummy by the middle
+of September. He seems to have acted with more zeal than prudence.
+Rishanger says he took 'such vengeance that he spared neither sex
+nor age; towns, too, and hamlets, wherever he came he set on fire,
+and he mercilessly devastated the country.' This conduct 'is said to
+have gravely displeased the King his father, who chid him severely.'
+The King had moved northwards by slow stages, borne in a litter on
+horseback. It was September 29 when he reached the priory of Lanercost,
+eight miles from Carlisle, and this house he made his headquarters till
+March 26.
+
+In September, the siege of Dunaverty was proceeding under the direction
+of Sir John Botetourte, the King's ablest engineer. The local people
+were very slack in aiding the English, and Edward, on September 25,
+ordered Sir John de Menteith to compel them to supply the besiegers
+with provisions and necessaries, 'if they will not with a good grace.'
+Next month Edward empowered Sir John of Argyll to receive to his peace,
+on special conditions, Donald of Islay, Gotheri his brother, John
+MacNakyld, and Sir Patrick de Graham. The conditions suggest that they
+had been in a position to drive a good bargain; and the submission
+of the first three at least may, perhaps, be connected with the
+capitulation of Dunaverty towards the end of October.
+
+Now, at what date did Bruce pass from Dunaverty to Rathlin? Even were
+it not for Barbour's weather indications, and for the necessity of the
+awkward admission that, for some good reason--say commissariat--Bruce
+fled before the English approach and left some of his stanchest
+supporters in Dunaverty, it is difficult to suppose that he could
+have lain undisturbed in Rathlin from mid September to the end of
+January. Sir Thomas Gray records that Prince Edward, on his return
+from Kildrummy (say mid September), had an interview with Bruce, 'who
+had re-entered from the Isles and had collected a force in Athol,' at
+the bridge of Perth, much to the displeasure of the King his father.
+Gray is manifestly wrong in some points, and he may be wrong in all.
+Still, Bruce, finding his way barred by Alexander of Argyll and not
+daring to descend to the plains, may likely enough have turned back to
+Athol, and, on hearing of the disaster of Kildrummy and the capture
+of his Queen, his daughter, and his sisters, may have felt driven
+to a desperate attempt at accommodation. On such a supposition, it
+becomes easy to accept Barbour's Perthshire and Atlantic weather, to
+absolve Bruce from an apparent sacrifice of friends in Dunaverty, and
+to shorten to a credible length his stay in Rathlin. There are two
+difficulties to this view. One is that the English should have gone
+so far out of their way as to besiege Dunaverty so zealously, or at
+all. They seem, however, to have been under the impression that Bruce
+himself was there. The other difficulty is that Dunaverty had just been
+taken by the English. But if the astute Angus Oig was governor when
+Bruce arrived, Dunaverty was remote enough to allow him large scope for
+temporising.
+
+The secret of Bruce's retreat appears to have been well kept. In
+October, indeed, Edward had commissioned Sir John of Argyll admiral on
+the west coast. But he did not find Bruce. It was not till January 29,
+that Edward commanded the Treasurer of Ireland to aid Sir Hugh Bisset
+in fitting out 'as many well-manned vessels as he can procure, to come
+to the Isles and the Scottish coast, and join Sir John de Menteith in
+putting down Robert de Bruce and his accomplices lurking there, and in
+cutting off their retreat.' More precise are the terms of appointment
+of Sir Simon de Montacute (January 30) as commander of the fleet
+specially destined 'for service against the rebels lurking in Scotland,
+and in the Isles between Scotland and Ireland.' On February 1, Edward
+ordered up vessels from Skinburness and neighbouring ports 'towards Ayr
+in pursuit of Robert de Bruce and his abettors, and to cut off his
+retreat.' Bruce, therefore, must have left Rathlin some days before the
+end of January, and probably because of the menace of the English fleet.
+
+Barbour keeps him in Rathlin till winter was nearly gone--not really
+an inconsistency; but he seems to attribute the exodus to Douglas's
+chafing at inaction. Douglas, he says, proposed to Boyd an attempt
+on Brodick Castle, which Boyd knew well. With Bruce's leave they
+proceeded to Arran, and overnight set ambush at the castle. As they lay
+in wait, the sub-warden arrived with over thirty men in three boats,
+bringing provisions and arms; and Douglas and Boyd set upon them. The
+outcry brought men from the castle, who fled, however, before the bold
+advance of the Scots, and barred the gate. The Scots appropriated the
+sub-warden's provisions and arms, and took up a position in a narrow
+pass; and the garrison does not seem to have even attempted to dislodge
+them.
+
+On the tenth day, it is said, Bruce arrived with the rest of his men,
+in thirty-three small boats, and was conducted by a woman to the glen
+where Douglas and Boyd lay, strangely ignorant of his coming. Then
+Bruce determined to dispatch the trusty Cuthbert of Carrick to sound
+the people on the mainland, arranging that Cuthbert, in case he found
+them favourable, should raise a fire on Turnberry Point at a time
+fixed. Cuthbert found Percy in Turnberry Castle, with some 300 men;
+and, as for the Scots, some were willing, but afraid, while most were
+distinctly hostile. He dared not fire the beacon.
+
+At the appointed time, Bruce looked eagerly for the signal. He descried
+a fire. The party put to sea, 300 strong, and rowed, in the dusk and
+the dark, right on the fire. Cuthbert was at his wits' end; he dare
+not extinguish the fire. He met Bruce at the shore, and explained the
+untoward attitude of the people. 'Why, then,' demanded Bruce angrily,
+with a suspicion of treachery, 'why did you light the fire?' Cuthbert
+explained it was none of his doing, and beyond his help. What was to
+be done? A council of war was held. Sir Edward Bruce is said to have
+decided the question by a point-blank refusal to retire. He, for one,
+would strike at once, let come what might.
+
+Cuthbert had learned that two-thirds of the garrison were lodged in
+the town. Bruce and his men entered quietly in small parties, breaking
+open the doors and slaying all they found. Percy did not venture to
+sally from the castle. Bruce stayed three days, testing the feeling of
+the people; but even those that secretly favoured him were afraid to
+show an open preference. It is said that a lady, a near relative of his
+own, Christian of the Isles, came and encouraged him, and afterwards
+sent him frequent supplies of money and victuals. While mewing up
+Percy, he harried the country with increasing daring. A strong force
+of Northumberland men, however, raised the siege. Hemingburgh places
+Bruce's attack on Turnberry Castle 'about Michaelmas'; but it seems
+very unlikely that Bruce ventured to take the field in the south-west
+before he passed to Rathlin.
+
+Apart from Barbour's details, it is plain that Bruce had struck a heavy
+blow. On February 6, Edward wrote to his Treasurer expressing surprise
+'at having no news of Valence and his forces since he went to Ayr,
+if they have done any exploit or pursued the enemy.' He commands him
+'quickly to order Valence, Percy, and Sir John de St John, and others
+he sees, to send a trustworthy man without delay with full particulars
+of their doings and the state of affairs.' And he is 'not to forget in
+his letter to them to say on the King's behalf that he hears they have
+done so badly that they do not wish him to know.' To the same effect he
+wrote himself to Valence on February 11, and commanded him 'to write
+distinctly and clearly by the bearer the news of the parts where he is,
+the state of affairs there, and the doings of himself and the others
+hitherto, and how he and they have arranged further proceedings. For
+he suspects from his silence that he has so over-cautiously conducted
+matters that he wishes to conceal his actions.' At the same time he
+addressed similar letters to the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, St
+John, and Percy. The tone is too earnest to permit the supposition that
+Edward was dissembling knowledge of the facts.
+
+Bruce had at last regained a footing--though but a precarious
+footing--in his kingdom, and rendered Edward anxious about the
+immediate future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE
+
+
+In the midst of his new success, another severe family blow was
+impending on Bruce. On February 10, 1306-7--the first anniversary of
+the Dumfries tragedy--his brothers Thomas and Alexander made a raid on
+Galloway, with some 300 Scots and 700 Irish auxiliaries, landing at
+Loch Ryan, in the territory of Sir Dougal MacDowall. In a desperate
+fight, the force was completely crushed by MacDowall, who captured
+Thomas and Alexander, and Sir Reginald Crawford, Wallace's uncle, all
+'wounded and half-dead.' Hemingburgh says the Scots were caught by
+surprise; Trevet adds 'in the night.' MacDowall delivered his chief
+prisoners, together with the heads of a baron of Cantyre and two Irish
+kinglets, to Prince Edward, at Wetheral, near Carlisle. These prisoners
+were all executed at Carlisle on February 17. Sir Thomas Bruce was
+drawn, hanged, and beheaded; Alexander Bruce, being a beneficed
+clergyman (Dean of Glasgow), was not drawn, but he and Sir Reginald
+Crawford, and apparently Sir Brice de Blair, were hanged and beheaded.
+Thomas's head was placed on the castle tower, and the heads of the
+others graced the three gates of the city. MacDowall was rewarded with
+the lands and possessions of Sir Robert de Boyd and Sir Brice de Blair,
+and on February 19, he received fifty marks and a charger; while on
+March 1, a profitable privilege was conferred, at his instance, upon
+his son.
+
+According to Gray and Trevet, Bruce had sent his brothers to Nithsdale
+and Annandale 'to gain over the people.' It may be that the expedition
+was intended first to operate as a diversion, and then to join Bruce
+himself in Nithsdale. For Bruce, if not already in these parts, was
+moving thitherwards. On February 12, Sir John Botetourte, with a
+considerable force, including over a score of knights, started to make
+a raid on Bruce in Nithsdale; and on March 8, he was reinforced by 180
+archers from Carlisle. The details, however, are not recorded.
+
+It was probably in February, upon the landing of Bruce in Carrick,
+that Edward issued from Lanercost an ordinance intended to conciliate
+the Scots, while it graded carefully the degrees of punishment for the
+worst classes of delinquents. Contrary to the King's intention, the
+ordinance had been interpreted as too harsh and rigorous. On March 13,
+therefore, he materially modified it. A few days later, he directed
+steps to be taken for the repair and fortification of several castles
+on the east side beyond Forth, and ordered fresh levies from the
+northern counties of England to muster, 2300 strong, at Carlisle by a
+fortnight after Easter.
+
+In a lull of the Nithsdale operations, Bruce is said to have
+reluctantly granted Douglas leave to proceed to Douglasdale,
+accompanied only by two yeomen. On arrival, Douglas disclosed himself
+to Tom Dickson of Hazelside, a stanch old warrior-tenant of his
+father's, who was overjoyed to see the youth, and introduced him to
+the other leal men of the land, one by one, at private conferences. It
+was quickly decided to fall upon the unsuspecting garrison of Douglas
+Castle in St Bride's Church on Palm Sunday (March 19). The countrymen
+would bring concealed weapons, and Douglas would appear, with his
+two men, in the guise of a corn-thresher, a threadbare mantle on his
+back and a flail on his shoulder. The moment he raised his war-cry,
+they would overpower the soldiers, and then the castle would offer no
+resistance. Everything fell out as planned, except that an over-eager
+friend prematurely raised the Douglas war-cry. Dickson instantly fell
+upon the English in the chancel, and a neighbour followed his example;
+but both were slain. At this moment Douglas came on the scene, raised
+his war-cry, and pressed hard on the English, who manfully defended
+themselves. About twenty were killed; the remaining ten were taken
+prisoners. At the castle, Douglas found only the porter and the cook;
+and so he barred the gates, and dined at leisure. After dinner, he
+packed up valuables, arms, and other portable things, and proceeded to
+destroy what he could not take away. He piled the wheat, flour, meal,
+and malt on the floor of the wine cellar, beheaded the prisoners on
+the pile, and broached the wine casks. This ghastly mess was locally
+designated 'the Douglas Larder.' He then spoilt the well by throwing
+in salt and dead horses. Finally, he set fire to the castle, and left
+nothing but stones. The party dispersed, and hid away their wounded.
+But Clifford, for whom the castle had been held, soon had it rebuilt
+and regarrisoned.
+
+A later petition, by Lucas de Barry, represents that Lucas had been
+'under Sir Robert de Clifford in Douglas Castle when Sir Robert de Brus
+and Sir James Douglas attacked it, the year when the late King died.'
+But this does not necessarily mean that either Clifford or Bruce was
+there in person.
+
+On the same Sunday morning, Edward entered Carlisle with Peter,
+Cardinal Bishop of St Sabine, a papal legate, who had just arrived to
+arrange terms of peace between the English and French kings on the
+basis of a marriage between Prince Edward and Isabella, daughter of
+the King of France. On the Wednesday following, in the Cathedral, the
+legate explained the objects of his mission, and, with bell, book and
+candle, excommunicated the murderers of Comyn, with all their aiders
+and abettors. The like denunciation was busily repeated through the
+churches, especially of the north of England. On Friday, the peace was
+proclaimed.
+
+Towards the end of March, Sir John Wallace is said to have been
+captured 'in the plain, pursued by the northeners,' and was taken
+to Carlisle. Edward sent him to London, 'fettered on a hackney,' to
+undergo the same barbarous death as his heroic brother. His head was
+fixed on London Bridge, 'raised with shouts,' says Langtoft, 'near the
+head of his brother, William the Wicked.' It could not have been more
+nobly honoured.
+
+By the middle of April, Bruce had moved to Glen Trool, where he was
+hard beset for some three weeks by superior forces under a number of
+able knights, young Sir John Comyn among them. The incidents of the
+period have not been preserved. Barbour, indeed, tells how Valence and
+Clifford advanced stealthily on Bruce, with over 1500 against less
+than 300 men, and found him in a narrow pass, where horse could not
+reach him. Valence sent a woman, disguised as a beggar, to spy out
+the position; but Bruce saw through the dodge, and the spy confessed.
+The English had to advance on foot. Bruce dashed upon them with fury,
+seizing with his own hand their foremost banner. Some of his men,
+Barbour admits, had gone off, but came back on seeing how the fight
+went. The foremost English company being overpowered, the main body
+retreated; and a quarrel between Clifford and Vaux seems to point to a
+fruitless attempt of Clifford's to rally the fugitives. One can only
+say that some such incidents are probable enough. Anyhow, Bruce appears
+to have baffled all the attempts of the English in Glen Trool, and to
+have got away towards Lothian.
+
+In Lothian, Bruce found friends. The people, Hemingburgh explains,
+had been exasperated during the preceding year by the justice of the
+English justiciars; and, therefore, 'as if unanimously, they rose and
+went with Bruce, willing rather to die than to be judged by the English
+laws.' Thus reinforced, Bruce turned back to meet Valence. Perhaps it
+was now that he over-ran Kyle and Cunningham. Valence, says Barbour,
+despatched from Bothwell 1000 men under Sir Philip de Mowbray, whom
+Douglas with 60 men met at Ederford, a narrow pass between two marshes,
+and, by skilful strategy, totally defeated. Stung by this ignominious
+reverse, Valence challenged Bruce, who lay at Galston, to meet him on
+May 10, at Loudon Hill--the scene of Wallace's father's death and of
+Wallace's first victory. Bruce accepted the challenge. Choosing his
+ground between two stretches of moss, he cut three deep trenches (with
+adequate gaps for the passage of his men) across the hard moor between,
+and marshalled his 600 followers, so that Valence's 3000 men could come
+into action only in detail. He ordered a fierce onset on the foremost,
+with the view of discouraging the rest--the successful tactic in Glen
+Trool; and Sir Edward and Douglas, as well as himself, are said to have
+performed prodigies of valour. The English gave way, and, despite
+his utmost efforts, Valence was driven from the field. Barbour says
+he retreated to Bothwell; Gray states that Bruce pursued him to Ayr.
+Three days later, Bruce also defeated the Earl of Gloucester with even
+greater slaughter (says Hemingburgh) than had reddened Loudon Hill, and
+besieged him in Ayr Castle.
+
+From a letter, anonymous, dated May 15, we learn without surprise
+that Edward 'was much enraged that the Warden and his force had
+retreated before King Hobbe'--his familiar designation of Bruce. What
+does surprise one is to learn, on the same authority, that 'James of
+Douglas sent and begged to be received, but, when he saw the King's
+forces retreat, he drew back.' It would be quite intelligible that the
+hardships of his first terrible year of service had shaken the nerve
+of the youthful warrior. But there were now 'rumours of treasonable
+dealings between some of the English and the enemy,' and it seems far
+more probable that Douglas was engineering one of his ruses. It needs
+better evidence to stamp this solitary suggestion of a blot on the
+clear scutcheon of Douglas.
+
+The news of Bruce's success, no doubt exaggerated and distorted,
+produced a great sensation in the northern parts of Scotland. A
+calendared letter, anonymous, written from Forfar to some high official
+under date May 15, graphically pictures the local feeling.
+
+  The writer hears that Sir Robert de Brus never had the goodwill
+  of his own followers or the people at large, or even half of
+  them, so much with him as now; and it now first appears that he
+  was right, and God is openly with him, as he has destroyed all
+  the King's power both among the English and the Scots, and the
+  English force is in retreat to its own country not to return.
+  And they firmly believe, by the encouragement of the false
+  preachers who come from the host, that Sir Robert de Brus will
+  now have his will. And these preachers are such as have been
+  attached before the Warden and the justices as abettors of war,
+  and are at present freed on guarantees and deceiving the people
+  thus by their false preachment. For he (the writer) believes
+  assuredly, as he hears from Sir Reginald de Cheyne, Sir Duncan de
+  Frendraught, and Sir Gilbert de Glencairney, and others who watch
+  the peace both beyond and on this side of the mountains (Mounth),
+  that, if Sir Robert de Brus can escape any way 'saun dreytes' or
+  towards the parts of Ross, he will find them all ready at his
+  will more entirely than ever, unless the King will be pleased to
+  send more men-at-arms to these parts; for there are many people
+  living well and loyally at his faith provided the English are in
+  power, otherwise they see that they must be at the enemies' will
+  through default of the King and his Council, as they say. And it
+  would be a deadly sin to leave them so without protection among
+  enemies. And may it please God to keep the King's life, for when
+  we lose him, which God forbid, say they openly, all must be on
+  one side, or they must die or leave the country with all those
+  who love the King, if other counsel or aid be not sent them. For
+  these preachers have told them that they have found a prophecy
+  of Merlin, how, after the death of the grasping King (_le Roi
+  Coueytous_), the Scottish people and the Bretons shall league
+  together, and have the sovereign hand and their will, and live
+  together in accord till the end of the world.
+
+It was probably reports of this tenor that drew Valence and Bevercotes
+on a hasty visit to the north immediately after Loudon Hill. They were
+both in Inverness on May 20.
+
+The reverses sustained by Valence and Gloucester led to increased
+activity on the English side. The Bishop of Chester, with his successor
+as treasurer (the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry), was at Lanark on
+May 15, at Dumfries next day, and on May 18 he was back at Carlisle,
+having seen to the provisioning of the fortresses. Edward was 'so
+greatly pleased with his account that he kissed him--especially for
+his borrowing the castle of Cumnock from its owner, Earl Patrick, for
+a term, and garrisoning it with 30 men-at-arms under Sir Ingram de
+Umfraville and Sir William de Felton, besides 100 foot.' The Bishop
+went south next day to represent Edward at the funeral of the Countess
+of Gloucester, the King's daughter Joan.
+
+Edward himself was too ill to travel. Besides, he was immersed in
+military preparations, summoning reinforcements and hurrying up
+supplies. Bruce, though unable to maintain the siege of Ayr, did
+considerable damage; for on June 1, Valence requisitioned masons and
+carpenters from Carlisle 'to repair the castle and houses.' At the same
+time, Valence added some 300 men to the garrison, 'to strengthen the
+castle and secure the country round, while he is on his foray towards
+Carrick and Glen Trool.' He was following up Bruce. Probably, too, he
+avenged Loudon Hill before the arrival of Edward's fresh levies, which
+had been summoned to be at Carlisle by the middle of July. Hemingburgh
+says the English 'defeated Bruce with great slaughter, so that he
+lurked thereafter in moors and marshes' with the ridiculous force of
+'some 10,000 foot, and the English could not get at him, as he always
+slipped out of their hands.' Gray says that Bruce was so badly beaten
+'that he retired on foot through the mountains, and from isle to isle,
+and sometimes he had not so much as a single companion with him.' One
+is inclined to give the credit of this defeat to Valence--if defeat
+there was. Bruce may have taken refuge again in Glen Trool; Gray's
+mention of the isles may result from a confusion with earlier events.
+This record of fresh disaster finds no mention in Barbour or in Fordun.
+
+Sir Thomas Gray, professing to quote from 'the chronicles of his
+deeds,' relates how at this time Bruce came, all alone, to a passage
+between two islands, over which he was ferried by two boatmen. Had he
+heard any news of what had become of Bruce? they asked. 'None,' he
+replied. 'Certes,' said they, 'we would we had grip of him at this
+moment; he should die by our hands.' 'And why?' queried Bruce. 'Because
+he murdered John Comyn, our lord,' was the answer. They landed him. 'My
+good fellows,' said Bruce, 'you wanted to get hold of Robert de Bruce.
+Look at me!--that will give you satisfaction. And were it not that you
+have done me the courtesy of ferrying me over this narrow passage, you
+should rue your wish.' So he went on his way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Barbour recounts various exploits of Bruce and Douglas between the
+landing in Carrick and the first retreat to Glen Trool; but, if they
+represent facts, they must clearly be spread over a longer period.
+
+For example. Sir Ingram Bell, the governor of Ayr--Barbour writes Sir
+Ingram de Umfraville, who was probably in Cumnock Castle--intrigued
+with a personal attendant of Bruce's, a man of local importance, a
+one-eyed, sturdy rascal, nearly related to Bruce. The villain was
+promised a reward of £40 in land to compass the King's death. With his
+two sons, who were also trusted by Bruce, he lay in wait one morning
+for his master, when he had gone out with only a page in attendance.
+Bruce, suspecting the men, ordered them to stand. As they still came
+on, he drew his page's bow, and shot the father in the eye; and with
+his sword he cleft the skull of one son after the other. This may be
+one of half a dozen possible variants of the story of the Brooch of
+Lorn.
+
+Not long afterwards, in the dusk of evening, Bruce with 60 men was
+attacked by over 200 Galwegians, who had brought a sleuth-hound to
+track him. Warned by his sentinels, he drew his men into a narrow pass
+in a bog, and, leaving Sir Gilbert de la Haye in charge, went out with
+two men to reconnoitre the position. Passing some way along the water
+side, he found the banks high and the water deep, and no ford but the
+one he had crossed. Here he sent his men back to camp, and watched
+alone. Presently he heard the deep baying of the hound, and soon the
+enemy appeared, under a bright moon. He determined to stand; they must
+come on singly in the strait passage. They plunged confidently into the
+water, but Bruce bore down the foremost with his spear, and stabbed the
+horse, which fell in the ascent from the water and impeded the others.
+He kept the ford; and, when his men came up, they found fourteen slain,
+and the rest in retreat. The rumour of this exploit drew many to his
+side.
+
+Again Douglas repaired to Douglasdale and set an ambush near
+Sandilands. With a small party he then took some cattle near the castle
+of Douglas and drove them off. Thirlwall, the constable, sallied out
+and pursued the party past the ambush. Attacked suddenly, he was slain
+in attempted defence, together with most of his men. The survivors fled
+to the castle, barred the gate, and manned the walls. Douglas had to
+content himself with what booty he could find about the castle.
+
+Presently Douglas, hearing of the approach of Valence with a strong
+force, joined the King in a narrow pass near Cumnock. Bruce had but
+300 men. Valence was accompanied by John of Lorn, who headed over 800
+and had a sleuth-hound, said to have been once a favourite of Bruce's.
+On finding himself caught between the two bodies, Bruce divided his
+men into three companies, anticipating that the enemy would follow
+his own track, and that so his other two companies would escape. The
+hound followed Bruce, who gradually dispersed his company, at last
+keeping only his foster-brother with him. Still the hound persisted.
+John of Lorn then sent forward five of his stoutest men to take
+Bruce. Three attacked Bruce; two assailed his foster-brother. Bruce
+killed one of his opponents, and, marking the dismay of the others,
+jumped aside to help his foster-brother, and smote off the head of
+one of his assailants. He then killed his own two pursuers, while
+his foster-brother despatched the only one remaining. Meantime Lorn
+closed up with the hound. Bruce, with his companion, made for a wood,
+and threw himself down by a stream, declaring he could go no farther;
+but, yielding to his friend's remonstrances, he got up, and they waded
+together some way down the stream, thus baffling the hound and escaping
+further pursuit. Another account, according to Barbour, was that the
+King's companion lurked in a thicket and shot the hound with an arrow.
+Anyhow, Bruce escaped. It is said that Randolph captured Bruce's banner
+in the pursuit, much to the satisfaction of the English King.
+
+Having cleared the forest, Bruce and his companion were crossing a
+moor, when they came on three men, armed with swords and axes, one of
+them carrying a sheep on his shoulder. The men said they wished to join
+Bruce, and Bruce said he would take them to him. They perceived that he
+was Bruce, and he perceived that they were foes. Bruce insisted that,
+till better acquaintance, they should go separate and in front of him.
+Coming to an empty house at night, they killed the sheep, roasted it,
+divided it, and dined at opposite ends of the room. Bruce, tired and
+hungry as he had been, must sleep, his man promising to keep watch. His
+man, however, fell asleep too; he 'might not hold up an e'e.' The men
+then attacked Bruce, who instantly awoke, grasped his sword, and trod
+heavily on his man. Bruce slew the three, but lost his companion, who
+was killed in his sleep.
+
+Bruce now made for the rallying-point of his dispersed companies. Here
+he found the goodwife of the house 'sitting on a bink.' In answer to
+her exhaustive inquiries, he said he was a wayfarer. 'All wayfarers,'
+said she, 'are welcome for the sake of one--King Robert the Bruce.'
+Then the King revealed himself. Where were his men? He had none.
+Thereupon the gallant woman declared her two big sons should become his
+men. As he sat at meat, he heard the tread of soldiers, and started up
+to offer defence. It was Douglas and Sir Edward Bruce with 150 men.
+
+Bruce now suggested that the enemy, confident that his force was
+dissipated, would lie open to surprise. He made a forced march
+overnight, and at daylight caught a large detachment--certainly nothing
+like 2000 (Barbour's figures)--in some town, and slew two-thirds of
+them. He retreated before the main body began to stir, and Valence did
+not pursue.
+
+On another occasion Bruce went a-hunting alone, with two hounds. He
+had his sword, but had laid aside his armour. Presently he saw three
+men with bows approaching--men that had in fact been watching for such
+an opportunity to take vengeance for Comyn. Bruce taunted them for
+attacking with arrows, three to one, and they chivalrously threw down
+their bows and drew their swords. Bruce struck down one; a hound fixed
+in another's throat and brought him to the ground, when Bruce cut his
+back in two; and the third, fleeing to the wood, was seized and pulled
+down by a hound and despatched by Bruce.
+
+These stories represent early traditions and may easily be true, though
+they may be merely imaginary. The three-men stories may be variants of
+a single original, but by no means necessarily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On July 7, 1307, Edward I. died at Burgh-on-Sands, some three miles
+from Carlisle. Owing to the poor success of his lieutenants, the
+gallant King had determined to move forward in person. On Monday, July
+3, he is said to have advanced from Carlisle; but it was Thursday
+before he reached Burgh-on-Sands. On Friday, as his attendants raised
+him up in bed to eat, he died in their hands. On his sick-bed--or, as
+Walsingham says, on his death-bed--Edward had again charged the Prince
+to persist steadily in the war against Bruce, taking his bones with
+him in a casket. 'For,' said the dying King, with heroic confidence,
+'no one will be able to overcome you while you have my bones borne
+with you.' But all his dying advice and solemn charges the Prince
+eventually disregarded.
+
+The body of the late King was conveyed south in great state, to lie
+in the church at Waltham till a definite settlement was attained in
+Scotland. The Prince attended the cortège several stages, and then
+returned to Carlisle. Edward was buried at Westminster on October 28.
+
+Edward I. was not only the greatest of English Kings, but one of the
+greatest of Englishmen. His treatment of Scotland, however he may
+have reasoned out the justice of it, must always remain a very dark
+blot on his memory. Never was his military ardour or his personal
+resolution more signally manifested than in the last months and days of
+his latest expedition. He died in harness, his valiant spirit shining
+undimmed till the moment it was quenched by death itself. The virile
+judgment and stern purpose of Edward I. was succeeded by the childish
+incompetence and obstinacy of Edward II. The death of the great King
+assured the eventual triumph of Bruce. The moment anticipated by
+nationalists with hope and by anti-nationalists with dread was come. It
+was the turn of the tide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY
+
+
+While the great Edward was passing south on his last march, Valence was
+actively engaged in strengthening the English positions in Kyle and
+Carrick. Percy held Ayr Castle, and John of Argyll guarded Ayr town and
+neighbourhood with a large force, which was presently joined by half a
+score of redoubtable Scots knights with their followings.
+
+The young King started from Carlisle on July 31, 1307, for Dumfries,
+where many Scots nobles obeyed his summons to do homage and fealty.
+Advancing up the valley of the Nith, he was at Cumnock on August 21,
+and stayed there fully a week. At Tinwald, on August 30, he confirmed
+Valence in the office of Warden of Scotland. He offered to receive
+to his peace all Scotsmen not implicated in the murder of Comyn. The
+Lanercost chronicler says he divided his army into three bodies to
+pursue Bruce, but the pursuit was unsuccessful, and on September 4 he
+returned to Carlisle with empty hands.
+
+The effects of the accession of Edward II. were quickly apparent.
+No sooner had he retired than the whole Border was ablaze. Even the
+faithful men of Selkirk and Tweeddale and of the Forest, tenants of
+the Warden himself, rose in force, and on September 12 the Sheriff of
+Roxburgh reported that 'the poor tenants' of his district had fled
+into England with their goods for fear of the enemy. The weight of the
+Scots attack, however, was thrown upon Galloway and the MacDowalls.
+The English settlers fled in numbers; for, on September 25, Edward
+ordered Clifford, the justiciar of the forest beyond Trent, 'to allow
+the men of Galloway to feed their flocks and herds in Englewood Forest,
+whither they have come to take refuge for fear of Robert de Brus and
+his accomplices.' On the same day he directed Sir Thomas de Multon
+of Egremont and four other northern barons to hasten to Lancashire,
+Cumberland, and Westmorland, to assist John, baron of Wigton, and
+Richard le Brun, his justices there, 'for the salvation and quiet of
+the men of those parts,' and to redress the wrongs and losses they
+sustained, and to repel the incursions of the Scots. It looks as if
+a swift foray had been executed by the men of Selkirk and Tweeddale.
+On September 30, Edward, who had now learned further from St John,
+MacDowall, and other officers in Galloway, that Bruce was 'burning and
+plundering, and inciting and compelling the inhabitants to rebel,'
+commanded Sir John de Bretagne, who had just succeeded Valence, to
+march against the enemy. At the same time he summoned to the Warden's
+assistance Earl Patrick and half a dozen other powerful Scots, as
+well as the baron of Wigton and Richard le Brun, apparently already
+relieved of their Selkirk visitors, and the keepers of the peace of
+Northumberland and Tyndale. The Lanercost chronicler admits that the
+Galwegians purchased peace, being unable to resist the forces of Bruce.
+
+Sir Thomas Gray also bears testimony to Bruce's activity, and explains
+the favour he steadily gained, in part at least, by the harsh conduct
+of English officials 'for purposes of individual advantage.' We have
+already seen that as early as May Scotland beyond the Forth was ready
+for the advent of Bruce, and the English officers were looking forward
+with dread to the death of Edward I. And now Bruce turned from Galloway
+to the north.
+
+According to Fordun, Bruce advanced as far as Inverness, where he took
+the castle and levelled it with the ground, slaying the garrison;
+and the other fortresses of the north he dealt with in like drastic
+fashion. In this expedition, no doubt, it was--in late October and
+November 1307--that Bruce overran Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness,
+and compelled the Earl of Ross to take truce. The Earl's apologetic
+petition to Edward explains how Bruce came against him with 3000 men
+and subjugated these counties, 'and would have destroyed them utterly
+if we had not taken truce with him at the entreaty of the good people,
+both religious and other, till Whitsunday next.' Ross declares that
+he could get no help from the Warden of Moray. The Bishop of Moray,
+who had taken refuge in Orkney for about a year and whose lands had
+been loyally raided by Ross, had by this time returned to Edward's
+peace, and was demanding damages for the wasting of his lands. He,
+at any rate, was not likely to have moved a finger against Bruce;
+on the contrary, he no doubt privately aided him. Ross's apologies
+were accepted; for in May 1308 he appears as Lieutenant of the Warden
+of Scotland, and is requested to remain in office till midsummer.
+But on October 31, he submitted to Bruce, who reinstated him in his
+lands (with fresh additions), and his name heads the roll of Bruce's
+Parliament at St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9.
+
+Barbour, making no mention of these exploits, brings Bruce north of
+the Mounth and on to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. Bruce is joined by
+Sir Alexander Fraser and Simon Fraser--the famous Sir Simon's brother
+and son--who had apparently been acting in his interests in the north,
+opposed mainly by Comyn (Earl of Buchan), Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir
+David de Brechin. At Inverurie Bruce fell very sick. He could neither
+eat nor drink; no medicine did him any good; he became too weak to ride
+or to walk. Sir Edward Bruce, says Barbour, tried to comfort the men,
+but it seems much more likely that Sir Edward remained in command in
+Galloway, while Douglas made excursions towards the eastern border.
+At any rate, Bruce's men would not fight while their chief was ill,
+or Bruce had too much prudence to allow them; so they placed him on a
+litter and carried him into the Slevach (mountain fastnesses). Comyn,
+hearing of Bruce's serious illness, advanced against him with Mowbray
+and Brechin, and with a largely superior force. The time, says Barbour,
+was 'after Martinmas, when snow covered all the land.' Bruce quietly
+awaited attack. On three successive days there occurred skirmishes
+between bodies of archers, Buchan's men getting the worst of the
+encounter day after day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously
+obtaining additions, while Bruce was getting pinched with hunger.
+Placing the King in his litter again, Bruce's men changed quarters,
+marching slowly in fighting order, with their sick chief in the
+centre, and restricting themselves rigidly to defence. They took up a
+position in Strathbogie, a little further north, and Buchan's force
+abandoned the pursuit and dispersed.
+
+The King gradually regained strength and returned to Inverurie, 'to
+be in the plains for the winter,' for the better chances of food.
+Again Buchan proceeded to attack him, reaching Oldmeldrum 'on the
+evening before Yule even' (January 4) 1307-8, with about 1000 men.
+Next day Brechin made a dash at Inverurie; whereupon Bruce, in spite
+of remonstrances, determined to mount and fight, though, says Fordun,
+'he could not go upright, but with the help of two men to prop him up.'
+He is said to have had 'near 700 men.' He advanced towards Oldmeldrum,
+and as the enemy retreated, pressed steadily upon them, pushing their
+retreat into flight, and pursuing them, Fordun says, as far as Fyvie.
+Buchan and Mowbray fled to England, while Brechin stood a siege in his
+own castle of Brechin. Bruce's 'herschip' (harrying) of the district of
+Buchan is said to have been so exemplary that men lamented it for half
+a century afterwards.
+
+There are discrepancies between Barbour's account and Fordun's. Fordun
+dates Buchan's retirement from the Slevach on Christmas day (on
+which Barbour fights at Inverurie and Oldmeldrum), and he arranges
+a truce on the occasion. It is in the Slevach that he makes Bruce's
+illness commence. He dates the battle of Inverurie, without mention
+of Oldmeldrum, vaguely in 1308. He also calls Mowbray Philip, not
+John, and he says nothing of Brechin. Buchan and Mowbray, if they did
+not then flee to England, at any rate went south not very long after
+this time; and if Brechin surrendered his castle, it was certainly
+not, as Barbour says it was, to David, Earl of Athol, who was on the
+English side. On May 20, 1308, Edward writes to thank a great number
+of his officers in Scotland, including Athol, Buchan, Brechin, John de
+Mowbray, and others, for their faithful service, and he requests Buchan
+to remain 'in the district committed to him' till August 1. This may
+mean that up to May he had remained in command in the north, though
+keeping clear of Bruce's devastating track.
+
+Having reduced the country beyond the Grampians ('benorth the Mounth'),
+Bruce descended upon Angus. Barbour says nothing of an attack on
+Brechin Castle, having already recorded its capture and the submission
+of Sir David to Bruce; but, as we have seen, Sir David was still--and,
+indeed, for several years to come--on the English side; and Barbour was
+evidently misinformed. Forfar Castle was taken by Philip the Forester,
+of Platter; the watch had not been vigilant, and Philip scaled the
+walls. Bruce demolished the castle; whether because it was of the old
+ineffective type, or because he had no means of holding it. He then,
+according to Barbour, invested Perth, which was strongly fortified,
+and was held by Moffat and Oliphant--Sir William Oliphant, the gallant
+defender of Stirling, who had been released from the Tower on May
+24, 1308, having lain rusting there for nearly four years. The Earl
+of Strathearn, says Barbour, was also in the garrison, while his son
+and his men were in Bruce's camp; but Barbour is mistaken, for though
+Strathearn had been transferred from Rochester Castle to York Castle in
+the preceding November, he does not appear to have been released till
+November 18 of this year. Frequent skirmishes took place during a six
+weeks' siege, when Bruce suddenly decamped, amid the premature jeers
+of the garrison. After eight days he returned suddenly in the night,
+and, finding the English lulled in security, plunged into the moat up
+to his neck, mounted the walls by ladder, and surprised the sentinels.
+His men, dispersed in groups, gave the garrison no chance to marshal
+for effective defence. The English leaders were taken; but few men were
+slain, in consideration of their decent treatment of Scots. There was
+much booty for the victors. Bruce demolished the walls and the towers.
+'Was none that durst him then withstand.' Whether this capture of Perth
+be fact or not--and probably it should be placed at a later date--Bruce
+now had the upper hand north of Forth.
+
+While Bruce was re-conquering his kingdom in the north, Edward II.
+had married Isabella of France at Boulogne on January 28, 1307-8,
+and had been crowned at Westminster on February 25. He had at once
+plunged himself in difficulties with his barons by his infatuation
+for Piers de Gaveston. In June some purpose of accommodation with
+Bruce appears to have been pressed upon the English king. There exists
+a memorandum dated June, without the year, which Mr Bain rightly, it
+seems, assigns to 1308. It sets out that the levies summoned to meet
+the King at Carlisle on August 23 shall be countermanded; and that the
+King shall take no truce or sufferance from Bruce, but the Wardens of
+Scotland--Sir Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Sir William de
+Ros of Hamelake (appointed on June 21)--'may take such, for as long
+time as possible, as they have done hitherto of their own power or by
+commission, so that the King, however, may furnish his castles with
+men and victuals, and that no one be taken or other "mesprision" made
+during such truce.' Then the wardens of districts are arranged. The
+Earl of Buchan, Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir Ingram de Umfraville are
+to be wardens of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick respectively; Sir
+Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Edmund de Hastings, and Sir John Fitz
+Marmaduke, are to be wardens beyond the Forth. The endorsement bears
+that the Wardens of Scotland shall 'take truce from Robert de Brus
+as from themselves, as long as they can, but not beyond the month of
+Pasques' (April), and--curiously enough--that 'the King may break
+the truce at pleasure if the others will yield this point, but, if
+they will not, the truce may be made without it.' The memorandum
+testifies to the strength of Bruce's hold on the country, and to the
+recalcitrance of Edward's barons. Still Edward struggled on. On June
+21, he requested a large number of officers to retain their posts till
+specified dates, and to join the Scottish expedition at Carlisle on
+August 23. On July 10, he requisitioned ships and men from Shoreham all
+round to Bristol, for the King 'needs a great fleet.' But on August 11,
+he countermanded the order for these ships and men, 'the King having
+deferred his expedition for the present.' The English barons were too
+strong for the young King.
+
+It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce Argyll.
+Probably, however, he undertook the expedition immediately after the
+reduction of the north. If he conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth,
+and Sir William Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have
+been free to go west till the very end of July 1308. Fordun states
+that, within a week after August 15, Bruce defeated the men of Argyll
+and subdued the whole land; that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll
+'for some time' in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban);
+and that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but was
+allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to England.
+Barbour tells how Lorn--John, the son of Alexander--gathered some 2000
+men and opposed Bruce in a narrow pass between a steep mountain and
+the sheer bank of a loch--perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe.
+Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on the ridge
+commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched Douglas, Sir Alexander
+Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of
+archers, to fetch a circuit above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the
+pass. Lorn's men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding
+themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a bridge crossing
+the river at one end of the loch, and, having crossed, attempted to
+break down the bridge. Bruce was upon them before they could effect
+their purpose, and completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun
+Lorn's country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace
+Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was wont to be,'
+escaped by water. Bruce then received the homage of all the men of
+Argyll, and returned to Perth.
+
+But these events must have been spread over a considerable time, and
+they may not have been continuous. The record of Bruce's Parliament at
+St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9, places it beyond doubt that Alexander
+of Argyll came to Bruce's peace; it states that Alexander himself and
+'the barons of the whole of Argyll and Inchegall' were present as
+liegemen of Bruce. Again, on June 16, 1309, both Alexander and John of
+Lorn were present at Edward's council at Westminster as liegemen of
+the English king. Further, we have a letter of Lorn's, undated, but
+replying to a letter of Edward's dated March 11, in which he says that
+he had been on sick-bed for half a year; that Bruce 'had approached his
+territories with 10,000 or 15,000 men, it was said, both by land and
+sea,' while he 'had no more than 800 to oppose him,' and 'the barons of
+Argyll gave him no aid'; that a truce had been made, at the instance of
+Bruce; that 'he hears that Bruce, when he came, was boasting that he
+(Lorn) had come to his peace,' 'which God and he (Lorn) knows is not
+true'; that, on the contrary, 'he is, and will ever be, ready to serve
+him (Edward) to the utmost of his power'; that 'he has three castles
+to guard, and a loch twenty-four leagues long, on which he has vessels
+properly manned, but is not sure of his neighbours'; and that 'so soon
+as the King or his power arrives, he will be ready with lands, ships,
+and others to aid him,' either in person (if he be not sick), or by his
+son. Neglecting minor discrepancies, one may safely accept Mr Bain's
+reconciliation of the various accounts. Alexander came to Bruce's peace
+after the affair of Loch Awe; John was still holding out in March, but
+was driven from Dunstaffnage within the next two months; and Alexander
+thereupon retired, with John, to England. Alexander died in Ireland in
+the end of 1310. John lived to fight for Edward some seven or eight
+years more; but, as Mr Bain gently remarks, 'Barbour has strangely
+misrepresented his later career.'
+
+Bruce was now master in the west as well as in the north. Beyond Forth,
+however, Perth, if ever captured, must soon have been recovered; and
+Dundee--and even Banff--remained in English hands, as well as the
+key-fortress of Stirling on the south bank of the dividing river. Still
+Bruce was master of the country, and he was free to turn his attention
+to the south.
+
+Sir Edward Bruce, after an arduous struggle, had taken a firm grip
+of Galloway by the end of 1308. With Lindsay, Boyd, and Douglas
+he had attacked the Galwegians--'notwithstanding the tribute they
+received from them,' says the Lanercost chronicler, who also admits
+that they 'subdued almost all that land.' According to Barbour, Sir
+Edward met the English near Cree, routed them, slew some 1200, and
+pursued Umfraville and St John to Buittle Castle. St John then rode
+to England and brought up over 1500 men; on hearing which, Sir Edward
+instantly mounted, with 50 men, followed up the trail of the enemy
+in the morning mist, and, when the day cleared and he found himself
+within bowshot, charged with his usual reckless audacity. The English
+believed there must be more men with Sir Edward than they saw. At the
+third charge he routed them, slaying or taking many; St John, however,
+escaping. Sir Allan de Cathcart, Barbour affirms, 'told me this tale.'
+Sir Edward had all Galloway at the King's peace.
+
+Fordun, again, relates that Sir Edward, on November 18, inflicted a
+crushing defeat on Donald of the Isles and the Galwegians on the river
+Dee (not Cree), taking Donald prisoner in his flight, and slaying 'a
+knight named Roland, with many of the nobles of Galloway.' Whatever the
+dates and the details, Sir Edward must have done some stern fighting.
+The Lanercost chronicler even records that it was said that the English
+king would have liked, if he could, to give Bruce peace on terms of
+aiding him against his earls and barons.
+
+No doubt the MacDowalls were uprooted. But Mr Bain seems somewhat lax
+in stating that 'before April 1, 1309, Sir Dougal, their head, had been
+driven into England, where for thirty years he and his family were
+obliged to remain to escape the vengeance of the Bruces.' On April 1,
+1309, it is true, Sir Dougal received as a reward for his services,
+'whereby he has become hated by the enemy,' the manor of Temple Couton,
+in Yorkshire, 'for the residence and support of his wife and children.'
+But he himself was constable of Dumfries Castle in 1311, sheriff also
+in 1312, and he had the mortification of surrendering the castle to
+Bruce on February 7, 1312-13. Edward made provision for him from time
+to time till his death (before January 27, 1327-28). A petition by
+his son and heir Duncan, dated 1347, represents that Sir Dougal lost
+£100 in land for his allegiance to Edward I. and Edward II.; that Sir
+Dougal's brother was slain (in revenge for Bruce's two brothers); that
+the petitioner's eldest brother had been slain at Bannockburn; and that
+he and his six brothers were destitute. It shows a dark glimpse of the
+losing side.
+
+In the meantime, according to Barbour, Douglas had done some useful
+work on his account. Some time after Bruce went north, he proceeded to
+Douglasdale again and placed an ambush near his ancestral castle. He
+sent fourteen men with sackfuls of grass on horses' backs to pass along
+as if bound for Lanark fair. Sir John Webton, the constable, sallied
+upon them; whereupon they cast down the sacks, threw off their frocks,
+and, mounting their horses, showed fight. Douglas now broke ambush and
+cut off Webton from the castle, eventually slaying him and all his
+men. Barbour relates that there was found in Webton's pouch a letter
+from a lady engaging to marry him if he kept 'the auenturous castell
+of Douglas' for a year--a story worked up by Sir Walter Scott in his
+boldly unhistorical 'Castle Dangerous.' Douglas took the castle and
+demolished it.
+
+Douglas also, Barbour says, did a great deal of hard fighting in
+Selkirk Forest. On one occasion, in a house on the Water of Lyne
+(which joins the Tweed a few miles above Peebles), he lighted upon Sir
+Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, whose father, Sir John, distinguished
+himself so brilliantly at Falkirk, Randolph, Bruce's nephew, Sir
+Adam de Gordon, and others, who were really in search of himself. He
+surrounded the house, and a fierce fight resulted. Gordon got away
+safe, but Douglas captured Stewart, who was wounded, and Randolph, and
+took them next morning to the King--who, in that case, must already
+have returned south. Barbour tells of the proud bearing of Randolph,
+and how Bruce put him 'in firm keeping' till he acknowledged his
+authority. This must have taken place before March 4, 1308-9, when
+Edward conferred on Sir Adam de Gordon Randolph's forfeited manor of
+Stichill, in Roxburghshire. Never afterwards did Randolph swerve from
+his uncle's allegiance.
+
+Early in 1308-9 (January 14, Hemingburgh; February 12, Lanercost
+chronicle), there came papal envoys to Edward and Bruce, at the
+instance of the French king, and a truce was made, to run to November
+1. But Bruce is said to have ignored it in practice, and perhaps that
+is why a new sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him and
+his adherents in the summer of 1309. On June 18, Edward summoned his
+array; and, on July 30, he renewed the summons, requiring his army to
+muster at Newcastle at Michaelmas, and declaring that the Scots had
+'notoriously broken' the truce. Yet, only three days later (August 2),
+he authorised the Earl of Ulster to treat with Bruce for peace; and,
+on August 21, he renewed the commission, and granted safe-conducts
+for Bruce's envoys, Sir Nigel Campbell and Sir John de Menteith--the
+captor of Wallace, who must have joined Bruce before March 16, when he
+was present at the St Andrews parliament. Still Edward hurried on his
+preparations. He had summoned auxiliaries from Wales (August 5), and
+filled afresh the chief offices in Scotland (August 16); and presently
+he appointed the Earl of Gloucester captain of the army of Scotland
+(September 14), and despatched fresh wardens to the Marches (about
+October 18). Again, however, the Pope intervened, and on November 29,
+Edward granted full powers to four of his magnates to treat in his name
+for a truce. The Wardens of the Marches, according to the Lanercost
+chronicle, had just forestalled the step by taking provisional truce
+till the middle of January; and Edward extended the period to March
+8, and afterwards 'to summer,' 1310--for, says the chronicler, 'the
+English do not like to enter Scotland to war before summer, especially
+because of the lack of fodder for their horses.' Probably the extension
+to summer was arranged by the commission of seven appointed on February
+16, headed by the Bishop of St Andrews.
+
+There had been a round year of peace negotiations and futile truces,
+with warlike preparation in the background. On February 24, 1309-10,
+Bruce's position was strengthened by a formal recognition of his royal
+title by a special meeting of the prelates and other clergy at Dundee.
+In the beginning of June 1310, there was an outbreak on the Border, the
+Priory of Coldstream being sacked, and the prioress and nuns dispersed;
+and in the middle of the month the English fleet was ordered north to
+strengthen Perth and to harass the eastern seaboard. Then, on August
+15, Edward again mustered his army at Newcastle (Hemingburgh), or
+at Berwick (Lanercost chronicle). The Earls of Lancaster, Pembroke
+(Valence), Warwick, and Hereford would not accompany him, displeased
+with his favour for Gaveston, though professing to be absorbed in their
+duties as 'Ordainers'; but they sent their feudal services. The Earls
+of Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall (Gaveston), with Percy, Clifford,
+and many other magnates, did attend the muster. The expedition,
+according to Walsingham, was said to be a mere pretext to excuse the
+King from going to France to do fealty for his French possessions. He
+dreaded to leave Gaveston 'among his enemies,' lest that troubler of
+the realm should 'meet death, prison, or worse.' 'Such things were
+said among the people; whether true or false,' says the chronicler,
+'God knows, I don't.' The expedition crossed the Border early in
+September, and passed by Selkirk, Roxburgh, Biggar, Lanark, Glasgow,
+to Renfrew, back to Linlithgow, and thence to Berwick. The progress
+occupied just over two months. Bruce stood aloof; on October 6, when
+Edward was at Biggar, he was reported to be with his forces 'on a moor
+near Stirling.' Fordun says there was famine in Scotland this year,
+many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of horses and other unclean
+cattle.' But Edward was liberally supplied by the religious houses with
+'oxen, cows, wethers, wheat, oats, barley, malt, beans, and peas,'
+besides friendly contributions from other quarters. On November 22, he
+issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of provisions from
+England.
+
+When Edward withdrew from Linlithgow, Bruce hung upon his rear through
+Lothian, severely harassing the army, and all local sympathisers.
+Walsingham records an instance. A party of English and Welsh had gone
+out to plunder, supported by cavalry. Bruce suddenly attacked from
+ambush, and, though aid quickly arrived, he killed 300, and retired as
+suddenly as he had advanced. 'Indeed,' says the chronicler, 'I should
+extol Bruce, whose policy was to fight thus and not in open field, but
+for his lying under the charge of homicide and the brand of treachery.'
+
+Edward wintered at Berwick. Bruce seems to have actively developed
+offensive operations on the west coast, to draw him home by a flank
+attack, as well as to obtain supplies. For, on December 15 and 16,
+Edward roused his officers in the north-western counties, and in Wales
+and Ireland, to counteract Bruce's reported purpose 'to send his whole
+fleet in the present winter to take the Isle of Man, and seize all the
+supplies therein for the sustenance of his men.' Bruce's adherents in
+Man are stated to have caused much trouble and mischief. A week before
+Christmas, Clifford and Sir Robert Fitz Pain met Bruce at Selkirk to
+discuss terms of peace, and another interview was arranged with the
+Earls of Gloucester and Cornwall near Melrose; but 'it was said,'
+writes a high official on February 19, 'that Bruce had been warned by
+some that he would be taken, and therefore departed, so that they have
+had no parley.'
+
+A memorandum, undated, but assignable to 1307-10, addressed by the
+'Commune' of Scotland to Edward and his great officers in the country,
+affords a glimpse of the English high-handedness that always did--and
+does--so much to thwart the English policy. The Commons represent that
+'though they have purchased a truce for the safety of the country
+and their allegiance, and included the castles and towns in their
+bounds--namely, the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh,'
+yet 'some of the sheriffs allow no goods to leave their castles, or
+their garrisons to pay for what they buy'--the sheriff of Edinburgh,
+in particular--'and the country is so poor that they cannot get on
+without ready money.' Again, 'when the enemy's people come to bargain
+under the truce, their goods are taken by some of the castellans and
+King's officers, endangering the truce, as the robbers are harboured
+in the castles.' They earnestly plead for redress of such oppressions,
+and complain that the King's former letters on the subject have
+been suppressed by the officers inculpated. Only an occupation in
+overwhelming force could stand against such a course of official
+misconduct. Meantime this fatal administrative weakness was greatly
+counterbalanced by the political divisions among the Scots.
+
+In 1310-11, Gaveston, for whom Edward could find no resting-place
+elsewhere, was established as lieutenant north of Forth and warden of
+Dundee and Perth. 'It is said,' writes a high official, anonymous, on
+April 4, 1311, 'that Bruce meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall'
+(Gaveston): but either he was unable to do so, or deemed it prudent
+to weary out the enemy by harassing evasion. On April 9, Edward
+issued instructions hastening the outfit of the fleet destined for
+the coast of Argyll under Sir John of that ilk--'seeing it is one of
+the greatest movements of the Scottish war'; and throughout May and
+June great pressure was brought to bear upon the ports of England and
+Ireland, though not always with effect. On July 14, the muster of the
+army at Roxburgh was postponed to the 1st of August. 'This expedition,'
+said Edward, 'lies especially close to our heart.'
+
+Edward, however, was in deep trouble with his 'Ordainers,' and Bruce
+was beforehand with him. On August 12, Bruce burst into England at
+the Solway, burned the whole of Gilsland, the town of Haltwhistle,
+and great part of Tyndale, returning to Scotland in eight days with
+great droves of cattle. The Lanercost chronicler admits that he killed
+few besides those that offered resistance, and that, though he took
+several of the canons, and did infinite mischief during the three days
+he made the monastery his headquarters, yet he released the canons of
+his own accord. The latter episode is recorded as a separate foray, but
+probably it belongs to the August operations.
+
+The same chronicler gives an account of a more serious raid on
+September 8, by Harbottle, Holystone and Redesdale, down to Corbridge
+and back through Tyndale, occupying fifteen days. The Wardens of the
+Marches, he says, could offer no resistance, and confined their efforts
+to wasting the country in anticipation of the Scots, only 'they did
+not burn houses or slay men.' The stress of opposition fell upon the
+Bishop of Durham. Both Edward and the Bishop paint the invasion in the
+usual lurid colours. At the same time the people had certainly not been
+handled with tenderness. The Northumbrians protected themselves by
+payment of £2000 for a respite till February 2, 1311-12. In the middle
+of December Bruce appears to have made another raid into England; and
+on January 26, 1311-12, Edward appointed six commissioners to treat in
+his name for truce with the Scots.
+
+The rising power of Bruce is variously testified otherwise than by the
+progress of his army. The Lanercost chronicler admits that, in spite
+of the adherence of so many Scots to the English side, 'their hearts,
+though not their persons, were always with their countrymen.'
+
+An inquisition at Edinburgh on February 20, mentions seven landed
+knights and others that had gone over to Bruce in the past three or
+four years, including Sir Robert de Keith, Sir Thomas de la Haye, and
+Sir Edmund de Ramsay. Again, a list of land rewards to Sir Robert
+de Hastang on March 20 mentions twelve, among whom are Sir David de
+Brechin (who, however, is made warden of Berwick on April 20, though
+Sir Edmund de Hastings receives the post on May 3), Sir Alexander de
+Lindsay, Sir Geoffrey de Mowbray, and Sir Herbert de Maxwell. In five
+hard years Bruce had recovered three parts of his kingdom, and carried
+fire and sword through the English March.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES
+
+
+Bruce was now in a position to turn his main energies against the
+strongholds still in English occupation.
+
+Towards the end of March 1312 he was preparing to besiege Berwick with
+an unusually large force. But the operations are not known; and, in any
+case, they were soon postponed. On April 26, he held a parliament at
+Ayr, and carefully settled the succession to the throne.
+
+The dissensions between Edward and his barons appear to have induced
+Bruce to carry the war into the enemy's territory. While the incensed
+barons were hunting down Gaveston, he raided the March again, took
+tribute, burned Norham, and carried off prisoners and booty. Again, in
+the end of June, after Gaveston was beheaded, Bruce made another foray
+into the episcopate of Durham. He burnt Hexham, and dealt so severely
+with the Priory, that even in 1320, it is said, the canons were unable
+to return, while their collectors were still 'wandering about in the
+country in 1326, with the archbishop's brief, in quest of funds for the
+canons and their church.' It may have been on this occasion that Bruce
+sent Douglas to pillage the region of Hartlepool. It is, no doubt, in
+reference to a subsequent raid, that the Lanercost chronicler tells how
+a detachment entered Durham on market day, burned most of the town,
+and slew all that resisted, but did not touch the castle or the abbey.
+The episcopate compounded for peace till next midsummer at £2000, the
+Scots bargaining for free passage 'whenever they wanted to ride further
+into England!' The Palatinate Register records the date as August 16.
+The Northumbrians, too, paid down £2000; Westmorland, Coupland, and
+Cumberland also paid ransom--money in part, and for the rest hostages,
+'sons of the greater lords of the country.' And meantime Edward was
+squabbling with his barons. It was enough to make his martial father
+rise from his grave.
+
+At last, on December 6, the Lanercost chronicle relates, Bruce suddenly
+pounced upon Berwick. His men had placed two ladders, and 'he would
+soon have had the castle, as is believed,' had the garrison not been
+warned by the barking of a dog. The ladders, says the chronicler, 'were
+of a remarkable make, as I myself, who write this, witnessed with my
+own eyes.' He describes ladders of ropes, with wooden steps, and iron
+hooks to grip the wall top. The alarm being raised, Bruce retired,
+leaving the two ladders for the monk's inspection. 'So a dog on that
+occasion saved the town, as once geese by their cackling saved Rome.'
+
+Bruce turned north to Perth. According to the Lanercost chronicle,
+he took the town by surprise in the night of January 10 (Fordun says
+January 8), 1312-13. The governor, Sir William Oliphant--probably this
+is the capture of Perth antedated by Barbour--'was bound and sent to
+the islands afar'; but, if so, he did not stay long there, for he
+was in England within two months, and on October 21, he obtained a
+safe-conduct to return to Scotland. The chronicler says that Bruce slew
+the better Scots burgesses, but permitted the English to go free; while
+Fordun records that he put 'the disloyal people, Scots and English
+alike,' to the sword. 'In his clemency,' adds Fordun, 'he spared the
+rabble, and granted forgiveness to such as asked it; but he destroyed
+the walls and dykes, and consumed everything else with fire.'
+
+Bruce next swept down upon Dumfries. Here his old enemy, Sir Dougal
+MacDowall, constable of the castle, had experienced much difficulty all
+through summer and autumn in obtaining adequate supplies. He gave up
+the castle to Bruce on February 7, the short siege probably indicating
+that he was starved into surrender. It is likely, as Mr Bain surmises,
+that Buittle, Dalswinton, Lochmaben, and Carlaverock were all recovered
+about the same time.
+
+The Scots appear to have derived considerable supplies from Flanders.
+On February 15, 1312-13, Edward remonstrated with the Count of
+Flanders, begging him to restrain his subjects from all intercourse
+with Scotsmen. The Count seized the occasion to demand compensation
+for losses and injuries inflicted on his subjects by Englishmen. An
+English commission, much to the disgust of the Flemish envoys, rejected
+the claims; and presently Flemish seamen plundered English vessels,
+the chief depredator being the ingenious John Crab, whom we shall meet
+again. On May 1, 1313, Edward invited the Count to send his aggrieved
+subjects back to London; but 'now,' he added, 'we hear that thirteen
+ships of your power, laden with arms and victuals, quite lately crossed
+from the port of Swyn to Scotland--whereat we very much marvel.' The
+Flemish quarrel went on; but on May 17, at the instance of the French
+king, Edward appointed four commissioners 'to negotiate a truce or
+sufferance with the Scots.'
+
+Within a week, however, as Edward was on the point of embarking for
+France to confer with Philip about Gascony, he learned from a special
+messenger from the lieges of Cumberland that the Scots were again
+upon them. He could only tell them to do their best, and he would
+hasten back to take order for their safety. On June 6, Bishop Kellawe
+of Durham testifies to the forlorn state of the nuns of Halistan on
+the March; there are hostile incursions daily, goods and cattle are
+reived, and the very nuns are insulted and persecuted by the robbers,
+and driven from their homes suffering miserably. Such are examples
+of the state of affairs in the mind of the Lanercost chronicler when
+he records that 'the people of Northumberland, Westmorland, and
+Cumberland, and other men of the Marches, neither having nor hoping
+from their King defence or aid, he being then in the remote parts of
+England and not appearing to trouble himself about them, offered no
+moderate amount--nay, a very large amount--of money to Robert for truce
+till September 29, 1314.' Bruce was striking hard and persistently, and
+Edward was giving way all along the line of war.
+
+On his return, indeed, Edward at once took measures of retaliation. As
+early as April 2, he had answered applications from Northumberland for
+aid by a promise of relief before midsummer--a promise that remained
+unfulfilled. On July 6, he demanded a subsidy from the bishops, and on
+August 13 he made a like appeal to the abbots and convents. In warlike
+mood, in the end of July, he had ordered something like a press-gang
+muster of boats at the ports from the Wash round to Plymouth. It was
+but a spasmodic effort of weakness. About the beginning of October,
+Sir Ralph Fitz William reported that 'they are grievously menaced with
+treason at Berwick, but, if the garrison are loyal, they will defend
+it against the King of France and the King of Scotland for a while
+till succour reaches them.' In the end of next month, the Bishop of St
+Andrews proceeded to France in the interest of Edward, no doubt with
+the object of detaching Philip from co-operation with Bruce. It was a
+fatuous choice of an envoy.
+
+The wretched inefficiency of Edward had by this time rendered the
+position of his adherents in Scotland all but insupportable. In
+November they despatched the Earl of March and Sir Adam de Gordon to
+lay their grievances before him. Their petition recounts their heavy
+losses at the hands of the enemy during the past three years; their
+costly purchase of truce; and especially their intolerable sufferings
+from the lawless outrages committed upon them by the garrisons of
+Berwick and Roxburgh, who are alleged to have plundered, killed, and
+held them to ransom at will, as if they had been enemies. Here is
+a substantial repetition of the memorandum of 1307-10. Sir Adam de
+Gordon could tell how he had himself been arrested by the constable of
+Roxburgh Castle and required to find security for his good behaviour.
+The King, replying on November 28, could only give them the cold
+comfort of an assurance of his intention to march to their relief at
+next midsummer. It is quite natural that such slackness of the central
+authority should have given head to such marauding scoundrels on the
+Border as Sir Gilbert de Middleton and Thomas de Pencaitland. That
+notorious knight of the road, Sir Gilbert, will cross our path again.
+
+It could not have been earlier than autumn 1313 that Bruce recovered
+the Peel of Linlithgow, which was held by Sir Archibald de Livingstone,
+under the orders of Sir Peter Lubaud, warden and sheriff of Edinburgh.
+Barbour makes it harvest time. The peel garrison had cut their hay,
+and engaged William Bunnock, a neighbouring farmer, who hated them
+patriotically, to 'lead' it for them. Bunnock conceived the notion of
+elevating the familiar harvesting process to an operation of war, and
+arranged the strategic details with his friends. He planted an ambush
+in the early morning, and let the hay lie till the peel men had gone
+out to cut their crop. Loading the hay, with eight men hid in it, he
+set a hardy yeoman, with a hatchet under his belt, to drive the waggon,
+himself walking idly beside. When the waggon was half-way through the
+gate, Bunnock shouted the signal, 'Thief! Call all! Call all!' The
+driver instantly severed the traces, stopping the waggon; Bunnock slew
+the porter; the eight men leapt down from the midst of the hay, and
+the ambush swarmed up. They slew the men they found in garrison, and
+pursued those that were in the fields towards Edinburgh and Stirling,
+killing some in their flight. For this exploit Bruce rewarded Bunnock
+worthily. The peel he at once demolished. The story of Bunnock rests on
+the sole authority of Barbour.
+
+The next castle to fall was Roxburgh. Douglas had been keeping the
+Forest, and harassing Roxburgh and Jedburgh castles. Resolving to win
+Roxburgh, he got a handy man, Simon of the Leadhouse, to make him
+ladders of hempen ropes, with strong wooden steps and iron hooks, after
+the Berwick pattern. Then gathering some sixty men, he approached the
+castle on Fastern's Even (Shrove Tuesday), February 27, 1313-14, and
+waited till dark. The party left their horses, put black frocks over
+their armour, and crept forward on all fours like cattle. The deception
+succeeded; Barbour says they overheard the garrison jesting at the
+expense of the neighbouring farmer, who, they imagined, had left his
+cattle at large to be carried off by the Douglas. The click of a hook
+on the wall attracted a sentinel, but Simon, who had mounted first,
+stabbed the man dead, and the party quickly scaled the wall. The
+garrison were making merry in the hall, when the Scots burst in upon
+them with the Douglas war-cry. A sharp conflict ensued. At length Sir
+William de Fiennes, the constable, a valorous Gascon, retreated to the
+great tower. With daylight, the Scots plied the tower with arrows, and
+eventually wounded Sir William so badly in the face that he yielded,
+on terms that he and his men should pass safe to England. Douglas
+conducted them over the Border, and Sir William soon afterwards died of
+his wound. Bruce sent his brother Sir Edward to demolish the castle.
+Sir Edward, says Barbour, secured all Teviotdale except Jedburgh
+and other places near the English border. On main points Barbour is
+corroborated by Sir Thomas Gray and the Lanercost chronicler.
+
+The news of the capture of Roxburgh stimulated the rivalry of Randolph,
+who was besieging Sir Peter Lubaud in Edinburgh Castle. Hopeless of
+taking the place by assault, Randolph cast about for some likely
+stratagem, when William Francis (or William the Frenchman), one of
+his men, suggested a plan of extreme boldness. Francis, according to
+Barbour, stated that he had at one time lived in the castle, and,
+having a sweetheart in the town, had been accustomed to climb the
+sheer rock in the darkest nights. All that was needed was good nerve,
+and a twelve-foot ladder for the wall on the top. So, on a dark
+night--Fordun gives March 14, 1313-14--Randolph, with thirty picked
+men, essayed the adventurous ascent. About half way up they stopped
+to rest. Here their nerves were dramatically tested. One of the watch
+overhead threw down a stone, exclaiming 'Away! I see you well.' It was
+a mere joke, the sentry saw nothing; and the stone passed harmlessly
+over them. The watchmen passed on without suspicion, and Randolph with
+his men hastened up the steeper and steeper crag to the foot of the
+wall. Instantly the ladder was fixed, Francis mounting first, then
+Sir Andrew Gray, and Randolph himself third. Before all the party got
+over the watch was alarmed, the cry of 'Treason! Treason!' resounded
+through the castle, and a desperate struggle ensued. Randolph himself
+was very sorely bested, but he succeeded in killing the commandant;
+whereupon the garrison gave in. The Lanercost chronicler states that a
+strong assault was made on the south gate--the only point reasonably
+open to assault--where the garrison offered a vigorous resistance; and
+that the party mounting the rock on the north side under cover of this
+front attack, having surprised and overcome the defenders, opened the
+gate to their comrades. Sir Peter Lubaud, the warden, says Barbour,
+had been deposed from the command of the garrison on account of some
+suspicious intercourse with the enemy, and was found by Randolph in
+prison in fetters. He became Bruce's man, but soon afterwards he fell
+under suspicion of treason, and, by Bruce's order, was drawn and hanged
+(Gray)--or at any rate put in prison, where he died miserably (John
+of Tynmouth). The Lanercost writer states that the victors 'slew the
+English,' probably meaning the garrison; but the extant rolls show that
+there were many Scotsmen in the garrison, 'two of them,' as Mr Bain
+remarks, even 'bearing the surname of Douglas.' Bruce demolished the
+castle.
+
+Barbour states that Sir Edward Bruce, having won all Galloway and
+Nithsdale, and taken Rutherglen Peel and Dundee Castle, laid siege to
+Stirling Castle from Lent to midsummer, 1313; and that then Sir Philip
+de Mowbray, the constable, agreed to yield the castle, provided it
+were not relieved by midsummer 1314. The most recklessly chivalrous
+terms are indeed consonant with Sir Edward's character. But if, as
+Barbour and the Monk of Malmesbury agree, Mowbray was influenced by a
+threatened failure of provisions, the period must have been much less.
+He in Stirling would hardly be in any better case for supplies than
+was MacDowall in Dumfries. Immediately on investment of the castle,
+he would begin to feel the pinch; and the fall of Edinburgh would at
+once intimate the hopelessness of his position. But, further, we have
+seen Sir Edward demolishing Roxburgh Castle in early March, and it does
+not seem likely that he would have left a substitute to look after
+Stirling. Besides, the Lanercost chronicler can hardly be mistaken
+when he says that Sir Edward entered England on April 17, taking up
+his headquarters at the Bishop's manor house at Rose, and sending his
+army as far as Englewood Forest, south and west, for three days to burn
+and plunder--because the tribute had not been duly paid. Once more,
+the Monk of Malmesbury represents that it was after the fall of the
+other castles that Mowbray carried to Edward the news of his agreement
+for surrender. On the whole, it may be seriously doubted whether the
+respite extended beyond a couple of months, or even six weeks. It is
+not, apparently, till May 27, that Mowbray's conditional agreement for
+surrender is mentioned in any existing official document.
+
+Besides Stirling, the only fortresses of any importance that now
+remained in the hands of the English were Berwick, Jedburgh, and
+Bothwell. But the immediate interest centres in the fateful attempt to
+relieve the castle of Stirling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.
+
+
+As far back as December 23, Edward II. had summoned his army to
+assemble at Berwick on June 10, 1314, for the war against Scotland. In
+March, he was busily ordering his fleet for service on the east and
+west coasts, and hastening the muster of the Irish contingent under the
+Lord of Ulster. On May 27, from New Abbey, he issued an urgent reminder
+to the sheriffs and barons of the northern and midland counties to have
+their men at Wark by June 10. He has learnt, he tells them, that the
+Scots are massing great numbers of foot in strong positions protected
+by marshes and all but inaccessible to cavalry; and he fires their zeal
+by informing them of the agreement of Mowbray to surrender the castle
+of Stirling unless the siege be raised by midsummer day. Bruce, then,
+had already chosen his ground, and commenced his measures of defence.
+
+The English and Welsh troops summoned on May 27, numbered together
+21,540. The numbers of the Irish contingent are not preserved, but, on
+analogous cases, they can hardly be reckoned beyond 3000. The Gascons,
+Hainaulters, and other foreigners are not likely to have numbered more
+than the Irish. 'After allowing,' with Mr Bain, '10,000 light horsemen
+and 3000 heavy cavalry, the whole English army probably did not exceed
+50,000'--at the very outside. The Earls of Lancaster, Warenne, Arundel,
+and Warwick did not join the expedition, on the ostensible ground that
+the King had not first consulted Parliament in conformity with the
+Ordinances, and thus they would be laid open to ecclesiastical censure;
+but they sent their feudal services. The outfit of the army was on the
+most ample, not to say magnificent, scale. 'The multitude of waggons,
+if extended one after another in file,' says the Monk of Malmesbury,
+'would have stretched over twenty leagues.' In truth, he says, it
+was universally acknowledged that 'such an army did not go out of
+England in our time.' The Monk's testimony lends a sober colour to the
+assertion of Robert Baston, the Carmelite friar that went to celebrate
+an English victory and was captured and made to sing the Scottish
+triumph. 'Never,' he declared, 'was seen a more splendid, noble, or
+proud English army.'
+
+There is no definite clue to the numbers of the Scots. 'But,' as Mr
+Bain says, 'in so poor and thinly populated a country, devastated by
+long war, 15,000 or 16,000 would be a fair estimate of the comrades
+of Bruce. The Scots, twenty years later, could raise no more for the
+almost equally important object of relieving Berwick.'
+
+The estimates usually given follow Barbour, who says there were over
+100,000 English--enough 'to conquer the whole world'--and some 50,000
+Scots, of whom 30,000 were fighting men. No doubt Barbour includes in
+the English 100,000 the miscellaneous 'pitaille,' or rascalry, that
+swarmed about the baggage trains of mediæval armies. But Mr Bain's
+estimate seems to be as near as the authorities will admit. The
+proportion of English to Scots was most probably somewhere about three
+to one.
+
+The army that mustered under Edward was indeed 'very fair and
+great,' yet, in the eye of the Church--probably enlightened by later
+events--there was one needful thing lacking. When Edward I. was on
+the warpath towards Scotland, says the Lanercost chronicler, 'he was
+wont to visit on his way the saints of England--Thomas of Canterbury,
+Edmund, Hugh, William, Cuthbert--and to offer them fair oblations,
+to commend himself to their prayers, and to dispense large gifts to
+the monasteries and the poor'; but his degenerate son, omitting these
+pious duties,' came with great pomp and circumstance, took the goods
+of the monasteries on his route, and, it was stated, did and said some
+things to the prejudice and injury of the saints,' by reason whereof
+'certain religious of England prophesied' that no good would come of
+the expedition. To the same effect, Robert of Reading records that
+Edward permitted his troops, on their march, to ravage with violence
+the patrimony of 'religious' and other churchmen, as if they had been
+robbers (_more prædonum_). Still the Archbishop of York and the Bishop
+of Durham, rehearsing the long list of Bruce's alleged enormities,
+officially enjoined all within their jurisdiction to pray for the
+success of the King's arms, offering an indulgence of forty days in
+reward of such patriotic piety.
+
+The King was in high spirits over the splendour of his army. Apparently
+he anticipated an easy and complete triumph. He started from Berwick
+only a few days before the fateful day of St John. 'From day to day,'
+says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'he hastened to the place fixed on
+beforehand, not like a man leading an army to battle, but rather as
+if he were going on pilgrimage to Compostella. Short was the stay for
+sleep; shorter still the stay for food; in consequence of which the
+horses, horsemen, and foot were worn out by labour and fatigue.' On
+Friday, June 21, the English army lay at Edinburgh; and on Saturday it
+lay at Falkirk, little more than ten miles from Stirling.
+
+The problem for Bruce was to keep the English out of Stirling till St
+John's day had passed. In good time he had selected and laid out the
+inevitable field of battle with military prescience of the first order.
+He had mustered his forces in the Torwood, in a position commanding the
+approach to Stirling from the south; and on the morning of Saturday,
+the 22nd of June, on news of the approach of the English, he marched
+them to the chosen spot on a plain some two miles south of Stirling
+within the last large loop of the Bannock Burn, called the New Park--a
+hunting-ground of the Scots kings. The Park was a piece of firm ground
+rising on the north and west into the swelling ridges of Coxet Hill
+near St Ninian's, and Gillies Hill on the left of the Bannock above
+the bend towards the Forth. Eastwards it fell away into a marshy tract
+filling the angle of the two rivers and intersected by watercourses.
+Southwards, too, the hard ground was broken by two morasses--Halbert's
+Bog and Milton Bog--between the Park and the Bannock. Bruce rested
+his right wing on the steep bank of the Bannock below Gillies Hill;
+his left wing stretched away past St Ninian's nearly to the gates
+of Stirling; his rear was protected by Gillies Hill and the Bannock
+behind. The English would be compelled to advance either across the
+Bannock between Parkmill and Beaton's Mill--a breadth of a short
+mile, free from precipitous banks--to the line of hard ground, with a
+contracted front, to be immediately divided by the intervening bogs;
+or else along the line of low and marshy flat between the Park and the
+Forth. To reduce the superiority of the English cavalry, Bruce had
+industriously dug pits along the parts of the firm route by which they
+would probably, if not inevitably advance--pits a foot wide, round,
+and deep as a man's knee, honeycombing the ground; and these holes he
+covered loosely with a disguise of brushwood, turf, and grass. He is
+also said to have inserted in them stakes shod with iron points. Sir
+Thomas de la Moore mentions long transverse trenches, similarly covered
+so as to bear men aware of them, but not horses. Later writers add that
+Bruce strewed the ground with calthrops, or metal spikes, to cripple
+the English horses. He himself had determined to fight on foot.
+
+Bruce marshalled his troops in four divisions, facing south-eastwards.
+The van was led by Randolph. The second and third divisions were ranged
+behind the wings of the van; the former, to the right and resting on
+the Bannock, led by Sir Edward Bruce, the latter by Walter the Steward
+('that then was but a beardless hyne') and Douglas. The rearguard,
+consisting of the men of Carrick, Argyll, Cantyre and the Isles, was
+stationed right behind the van at some interval, under the immediate
+command of Bruce himself. All the divisions could thus be promptly
+massed on the English whether they should select the higher or the
+lower line of advance. It was of the very first importance that no
+detachment of the English should be allowed to outmanoeuvre the main
+body of the Scots and throw themselves into Stirling; and Randolph,
+who held the most advanced position, was especially charged to guard
+against this fatal contingency. The non-combatants retired behind the
+hill in the rear, afterwards named from them the Gillies' (that is,
+Servants') Hill.
+
+The dispositions of the English army are not known in certain detail.
+There is little help in Barbour's statement that it was divided into
+ten companies of 10,000 each. We know that the van was led by the
+Earl of Gloucester; and that, if Robert of Reading and the Monk of
+Malmesbury may be relied on, the appointment of Gloucester was hotly
+resented by the hereditary constable, the Earl of Hereford. The King's
+bridle was attended by Sir Aymer de Valence and Sir Giles d'Argentine,
+the latter of whom was regarded as the third knight in Christendom,
+and had been released from captivity at Salonica in the end of the
+preceding year through Edward's urgent representations to the Emperor,
+and even to the Empress, of Constantinople.
+
+At sunrise on Sunday, June 23--the eve of St John--the Scots heard
+mass. Bruce then devoted special attention to the pits that were still
+preparing. After midday--the Scots observed the fast on bread and
+water--the English were reported to be advancing from the fringe of
+the Torwood. Bruce issued his final orders. Then he is said to have
+addressed his men in terms of high resolution, bidding every man depart
+that was not ready for either alternative--to conquer or to die. Not a
+man moved from the ranks. More than five centuries later, at Balaclava,
+'Men,' cried Sir Colin Campbell, 'you must die where you stand.' 'Ay,
+ay, Sir Colin, we'll do that,' was the cheery response. Such, too, was
+the spirit of the same race on the field of Bannockburn.
+
+At this point, according to Barbour, Douglas and Sir Robert de Keith
+(hereditary marshal) proceeded, by order of Bruce, to reconnoitre
+the enemy's advance. They returned with such a report of the numbers
+and equipment of the English as they deemed it prudent to render to
+Bruce only 'in great privity.' Bruce, however, put a bold face on the
+situation, and directed them, says Barbour, to spread a depreciatory
+account of the enemy.
+
+The main body of the English appears to have halted while the leaders
+should take counsel. But Gloucester, with the vanguard, ignorant of
+this and ardent for the fray, dashed through the Bannock and advanced
+on the Park, where Sir Edward Bruce was ready to receive him. King
+Robert himself was riding in front of Sir Edward's division on a small
+palfrey, with only a battle-axe in hand. On his basnet, according to
+Barbour's haberdashery, he wore a hat of jacked leather, surmounted
+by 'a high crown, in token that he was a king.' Some of the English
+knights, says the Monk of Malmesbury, rode out between the lines and
+flung their challenges to the Scots. Sir Henry de Bohun, a knight of
+the house of Hereford, spurred at Bruce himself, and Bruce, swerving
+at the critical moment of attack, rose in his stirrups as de Bohun
+passed and clove his head at a stroke, the shaft of his axe shivering
+in his hand. It may be remarked incidentally that Gray calls the
+luckless knight Sir Piers de Mountforth. The Scots pressed forward; the
+English fell back; but Bruce prudently soon recalled his men from the
+conflict. The Monk of Malmesbury, however, acknowledges that there was
+'sufficiently keen fighting, in which Gloucester was unhorsed.' It is
+not surprising that the leading Scots remonstrated earnestly with Bruce
+for exposing himself to such an unequal chance. According to Barbour,
+he made no answer, only regretting the breaking of his good axe-shaft.
+There can hardly be any doubt that Bruce took the risk deliberately,
+in calculated reliance on his dexterity and strength, and not without
+a judicious eye to the moral effect on both armies. The feat, in any
+case, damped the ardour of the English and raised the spirit of the
+Scots.
+
+Almost contemporaneously with the advance of Gloucester, Clifford
+and Beaumont, with 300 men-at-arms--Gray, whose father rode with
+them, says 300, while Barbour makes them 800--hurried along the lower
+ground on the English right towards Stirling. Their evident object, as
+Barbour says, was to relieve the castle; but the Lanercost chronicler
+ingenuously explains that it was to prevent the Scots from escaping by
+flight. Randolph, strangely ill-served by his scouts and by his eyes,
+if Barbour be right, is said not to have been aware of the movement
+till he received a sharp message from Bruce (as if Bruce's attention
+was not fully engaged elsewhere), telling him significantly that a
+rose had fallen from his chaplet. This is sheer monkish imagination.
+Gray makes no mention of this incredible inadvertence, but represents
+Randolph as fired by the news of Bruce's repulse of the English van;
+and the Lanercost chronicler states that the Scots deliberately allowed
+the advance of the party. Of course they did; Randolph undoubtedly
+descried them the moment they debouched on the carse. To do so was no
+less important than it was for Sir Edward to be ready for Gloucester's
+onset. The next step for Randolph was to tackle his enemy at the right
+spot and not elsewhere. With a strong detachment he rapidly traversed
+the wooded edge of the Park, so as to converge upon the English
+horsemen at the narrow neck between St Ninian's and the Forth--the only
+point, in fact, where he could calculate upon holding them without
+moving his whole division down into the low-lying ground (if even that
+would have done it), and deranging the order of battle. When they were
+'neath the kirk,' he issued from the wood and menaced their further
+progress.
+
+'Let us retire a little,' said Beaumont; 'let them come; give them the
+fields.'
+
+'Sir,' remarked Sir Thomas Gray, the elder, 'I suspect if you give them
+so much now, they will have all only too soon.'
+
+'Why,' rejoined Beaumont tartly, 'if you are afraid you can flee.'
+
+'Sir,' replied Gray, 'it is not for fear that I shall flee this day.'
+
+Whereupon Sir Thomas spurred his steed between Beaumont and Sir William
+d'Eyncourt and charged the Scots. Randolph, whose men were on foot,
+instantly threw them into a schiltron, 'like a hedgehog.' D'Eyncourt
+was slain at the first onset. Gray's horse was speared and he himself
+was taken prisoner. The horsemen were wholly unable to make the
+slightest impression on the schiltron: they could not ride down the
+Scots; they could only cast spears and other missiles into their midst.
+Occasionally, on the other hand, a Scot would leap out from the ranks
+and strike down horse or rider. Douglas, seeing the Scots surrounded,
+entreated Bruce to permit him to go to Randolph's aid. Bruce, however,
+sternly refused to disorder his array, but at last yielded to his
+importunity. The temporary absence of Douglas and a small party could
+not really matter at the moment, and it was wise to make doubly sure
+of the vital object dependent on Randolph's defence. On getting near,
+however, and perceiving that Randolph was holding his own, Douglas
+chivalrously halted his men. But his appearance was not without effect
+upon the English party. They gave up the contest. The movement had
+completely failed. Some of them straggled to Stirling Castle; the main
+body of the survivors fled back the way they had come; and Randolph
+returned in triumph. It may be, as Barbour says, that Bruce used the
+occasion to deliver to his men another rousing address. At any rate he
+had gained a marked success in each of the operations of the day.
+
+Though Gloucester had retired, apparently he did not withdraw beyond
+the Bannock, but encamped for the night along the north bank. According
+to the unanimous testimony of the chroniclers, the English host was
+struck with serious discouragement. It may have been, as Barbour says,
+that they talked in groups disconsolately and forebodingly, and that
+the encouragement of the leaders predicting victory in the great battle
+on the morrow failed to shake off their depression. Still there was
+activity in the vanguard camp. Barbour says that at night efforts were
+made to render bad parts of the low-lying land in the angle of the
+rivers passable, and even that aid in this work was furnished by the
+Stirling garrison. According to the Malmesbury chronicler, the English
+anticipated attack in the night; and Gray states that they lay under
+arms, their horses being ready bridled. Bruce, however, had resolutely
+restricted himself to the tactics of defence; but the anticipation was
+a natural one enough. Some of the men, very probably, sought artificial
+means of consolation and courage. Sir Thomas de la Moore, following
+Baston, pictures the English camp as a lamentable and unwonted scene of
+drunkenness, men 'shouting "Wassail" and "Drinkhail" beyond ordinary';
+and he sets forth, in forcible contrast, the quiet self-restraint and
+patriotic confidence of the Scots.
+
+In all the circumstances, it would seem an inexplicable thing that
+the Scots should have been on the point of retiring in the night and
+making for the fastnesses of the Lennox. Yet Gray records that such was
+their intention. Sir Alexander de Seton, he says, came secretly from
+the English host to Bruce, and told him that they had lost heart, and
+would certainly give way before a vigorous onset next day; whereupon
+Bruce changed his plans and braced himself to fight on the morrow. The
+Scots had, indeed, 'done enough for the day,' but they had not done
+enough for the occasion. Stirling Castle might yet be relieved. It is
+likely enough that Seton visited Bruce, and that there were weak-kneed
+warriors in Bruce's lines; but that the matter of the interview is
+correctly reported by Gray seems absolutely incredible.
+
+On the morning of St John's day, June 24, the Scots heard mass at
+sunrise, broke their fast, and lined up with all banners displayed.
+Bruce made some new knights, and created Walter the Steward and Douglas
+bannerets. He then made fresh dispositions of his troops, in view of
+the position of the English van along the Bannock. There, clearly, the
+battle would be fought. Accordingly, he brought forward Randolph's
+division from the wood, placing it probably by the north-west corner
+of Halbert's Bog, almost parallel to Sir Edward's division; while the
+third division lay across the south-east slopes of Coxet Hill. The
+formation was in echelon by the right, with unequal intervals. Behind
+the general line, the rear division stretched from the south-west
+slopes of Coxet Hill towards Gillies Hill.
+
+The Scottish array appears to have made a deeper impression on the
+English veterans than on the English king. The Malmesbury chronicler
+states that the more experienced leaders advised that the battle should
+be postponed till the following day, partly because of the solemn
+feast, partly because of the fatigue of the soldiery. The advice
+was scorned by the younger knights. It was supported, however, by
+Gloucester, himself a youthful knight. On him, it is said, the King
+turned with vehement indignation, charging him even with treason and
+double-dealing. 'To-day,' replied the Earl, 'it will be clear that I
+am neither traitor nor double-dealer'; and he addressed himself to
+preparation for battle.
+
+The Scots seem to have made but a paltry show in the eyes of Edward.
+'What! Will yonder Scots fight?' he is said to have asked his attendant
+knights, incredulously. Sir Ingram de Umfraville assured him they
+would; at the same time suggesting that the English should feign to
+retire, and so draw the Scots from their ranks to plunder, when they
+would fall easy victims. Neither did this suggestion jump with the
+high humour of Edward. At the moment, he observed the Scottish ranks
+falling on their knees as the Abbot of Inchaffray passed along the
+lines, bearing aloft the crucifix.
+
+'Yon folk kneel to ask for mercy,' he exclaimed.
+
+'Sire,' said Umfraville, 'ye say sooth now; they crave mercy, but not
+of you; it is to God they cry for their trespasses. I tell you of a
+surety, yonder men will win all or die.'
+
+'So be it!' cried Edward, 'we shall soon see.' And he ordered the
+trumpets to sound the charge.
+
+At the very moment when the hostile armies were closing in stern
+conflict, says the Monk of Malmesbury, Gloucester and Hereford were
+in hot wrangle over the question of precedence; and Gloucester sprang
+forward, 'inordinately bent on carrying off a triumph at the first
+onset.' His heavy cavalry, though hampered for space and disconcerted
+by the treacherous pits, went forward gallantly, under the cover of a
+strong force of archers, who severely galled the Scots, and even drove
+back their bowmen. They crashed against Sir Edward Bruce's division,
+which received them 'like a dense hedge' or 'wood.' The great horses
+with their eager riders dashed themselves in vain against the solid
+and impenetrable schiltron. Those behind pressed forward, only to
+bite the dust, like their comrades, under the spears and axes of the
+Scots. 'There,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'the horrible crash
+of splintered spears, the terrible clangour of swords quivering on
+helmets, the insupportable force of the Scottish axes, the fearsome
+cloud of arrows and darts discharged on both sides, might have shaken
+the courage of the very stoutest heart. The redoubling of blow on blow,
+the vociferation of encouragements, the din of universal shouting, and
+the groans of the dying, could be heard farther than may be said.' The
+Lanercost writer goes near to justifying Scott's remarkable expression,
+'steeds that shriek in agony.' Seldom in history has there been so
+fierce a turmoil of battle.
+
+According to Barbour, Randolph, noting the strain upon the first
+division, bore down to Sir Edward's support and drew an equally heavy
+attack upon himself. Steadily the second division won ground, though
+they seemed lost in the swarms of the enemy, 'as they were plunged in
+the sea.' But not yet did victory incline to either side. Then Bruce
+threw into the scale the weight of the third division, the Steward and
+Douglas ranging themselves 'beside the Earl a little by.' With splendid
+tenacity, the English grappled with the newcomers in stubborn conflict,
+till, Barbour says, 'the blood stood in pools' on the field.
+
+The engagement was now as general as the nature of the position
+allowed. Both sides settled down to steady hard pounding, and it
+remained to be seen which would pound the hardest and the longest.
+
+The English were at enormous disadvantage in being unable to bring into
+action their whole force together. They could, indeed, supply the gaps
+in the narrow front with sheer weight of pressure from the rear, and
+they took bold risks on parts of the softer ground, especially along
+the north bank of the Bannock; but, even so, the fighting line was
+grievously hampered for space, and the wild career of wounded steeds
+defied the most strenuous efforts to preserve order. The archers,
+however, worked round to the right of Sir Edward's division, plying
+their bows with such energy and discrimination as greatly to disconcert
+Sir Edward's men. The moment had come for King Robert to order into
+action the marshal, Sir Robert de Keith, with his handful of 500
+horsemen 'armed in steel.' Keith dashed upon the archers in flank, and
+scattered them in flight. This successful operation gave the Scots
+archers the opportunity to retaliate with effect, while it relieved the
+foremost division to reconcentrate their energies on the heavy cavalry
+steadily thundering on their front. But more English cavalry pressed
+to occupy the ground abandoned by the English archers. And now Bruce
+appears to have brought his rear division into action upon the English
+flank. It was his last resource. The Scots, says Barbour, 'fought as
+they were in a rage; they laid on as men out of wit.' But still the
+English disputed every inch of ground with indomitable resolution.
+
+It was probably about this time that the gallant young Gloucester fell.
+After brilliant efforts to penetrate the impenetrable wedge of Scots,
+he had his charger slain under him, and was thrown to the ground. The
+mishap is said to have dazed his men, who 'stood as if astonied,'
+instead of aiding him to rise, burdened as he was with the weight of
+his armour, and possibly trammelled by his horse. He was thus slain in
+the midst of the 500 armed followers he had led into the front of the
+battle. The Monk of Malmesbury raises a loud lament over Gloucester's
+luckless fate: 'Devil take soldiery,' he exclaims in pious energy,
+'whose courage oozes out at the critical moment of need.' It may be,
+however, that others are right in stating that Gloucester was slain in
+consequence of his rash and headlong advance at the very first onset.
+
+The prolonged and doubtful struggle naturally wearied out the patience
+of the non-combatants behind Gillies Hill. Choosing a captain,
+says Barbour, they marshalled themselves--15,000 to 20,000 in
+number--improvised banners by fastening sheets on boughs and spears,
+and advanced over the brow of the hill in view of the battle raging
+below. The English, it is said, believing them to be a fresh army,
+were struck with panic. Bruce marking the effect shouted his war-cry
+and urged his men to their utmost efforts. The English van at last
+yielded ground, though not at all points. The Scots, however, seized
+their advantage, and pressed with all their might. The English line
+broke, falling back on the Bannock. Confusion increased at every step.
+Horsemen and foot, gentle and simple, were driven pell-mell into the
+Bannock, and but few of them were lucky enough to gain the south bank;
+the burn, Barbour says, was 'so full of horses and men that one might
+pass over it dry-shod.' The panic ran through the whole English army.
+The day was lost and won.
+
+King Edward refused to believe the evidence of his senses, and
+obstinately refused to quit the field. But it is the merest
+bravado--though countenanced by Scott--when Trokelowe relates how the
+King, in the bitterness and fury of his wrath, 'rushed truculently
+upon the enemy like a lion robbed of whelps,' copiously shed their
+blood, and was with difficulty withdrawn from the orgy of massacre.
+Unquestionably he stood aloof from the battle, watching its progress at
+a safe distance. When the English gave way in hopeless rout, Valence
+and Argentine seized his rein and hurried him off the field in spite
+of all remonstrance. It was not a moment too soon, for already, says
+Gray, Scots knights 'hung with their hands on the trappings of the
+King's destrier' in a determined attempt to capture him, and were
+disengaged only by the King's desperate wielding of a mace. They had
+even ripped up his destrier, so that presently he had to mount another.
+Once the King was clear of immediate pursuers, Argentine directed him
+to Stirling Castle and bade him farewell. 'I have not hitherto been
+accustomed to flee,' he said, 'nor will I flee now. I commend you to
+God.' And striking spurs to his steed he charged furiously upon Sir
+Edward Bruce's division, but was quickly borne down and slain.
+
+The turning of the King's rein was the signal for the general dispersal
+of the army in flight.
+
+King Edward, attended by Valence, Despenser, Beaumont, Sir John
+de Cromwell, and some 500 men-at-arms, made for Stirling Castle.
+Mowbray, with the plainest commonsense--the suggestion of treachery
+is preposterous--begged him not to stay, for the castle must be
+surrendered; in any case, it would be taken. So the King was conducted
+in all haste round the Park and the Torwood towards Linlithgow; the
+Lanercost writer assigns as guide 'a certain Scots knight, who knew
+by what ways they could escape.' But for Bruce's anxious care to keep
+his men in hand in case of a rally, it seems quite certain that Edward
+would not have escaped at all. Douglas went in pursuit, but he had only
+some sixty horsemen. On the borders of the Torwood he met Sir Lawrence
+de Abernethy, who was coming to assist the English, but at once changed
+sides on learning the issue of the day, and joined Douglas in pursuit
+of the fugitive King. At Linlithgow Douglas came within bowshot of
+the royal party, but, not being strong enough to attack, hung close
+upon their rear, capturing or killing the stragglers. The pursuit was
+continued hot-foot through Lothian; Douglas
+
+          'was alwais by thame neir;
+    He leit thame nocht haf sic laseir
+    As anys wattir for to ma'--
+
+till at last Edward found shelter in Earl Patrick's castle of Dunbar.
+The King, with seventeen of his closest attendants, presently embarked
+on a vessel for Berwick (Barbour says Bamborough), 'abandoning all the
+others,' sneers the Lanercost writer, 'to their fortune,' These others,
+according to Barbour, had not even been admitted to Dunbar Castle;
+but Douglas let them go on to Berwick unmolested, and with a drove of
+captured horses speedily rejoined Bruce at Stirling. Sir Thomas de la
+Moore attributes the King's escape 'not to the swiftness of his horse,
+nor to the efforts of men, but to the Mother of God, whom he invoked,'
+vowing to build and dedicate to her a house for twenty-four poor
+Carmelites, students of theology. This vow he fulfilled, in spite of
+the dissuasion of Despenser, and the house is now Oriel College, Oxford.
+
+Another party, headed by the Earl of Hereford, made for Carlisle.
+According to the Lanercost chronicler, it included the Earl of Angus,
+Sir John de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, and
+many other knights, and numbered 600 horse and 1000 foot. They appealed
+to the hospitality of Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert, who held Valence's
+castle of Bothwell for Edward with a garrison of sixty Scots. Fitz
+Gilbert admitted 'the more noble' of them--Barbour says fifty; the
+Meaux chronicler, 120; Walsingham, a still larger number. Fitz Gilbert
+at once secured them all as prisoners, and delivered them to Sir Edward
+Bruce, who was sent with a large force to take them over. Hereford and
+others were eventually exchanged for the Queen, the Princess Marjory,
+and the Bishop of Glasgow; the rest were held to heavy ransom. The
+main body of the party struggled forward to the Border, but many of
+them--Barbour says three-fourths--were slain or captured. Everywhere,
+in fact, the inhabitants, who 'had previously feigned peace' with the
+English, rose upon the hapless fugitives. Thus, Sir Maurice de Berkeley
+escaped with a great body of Welshmen, but, says Barbour, many were
+taken or slain before they reached England. A large number fled to
+Stirling Castle, where Barbour pictures the crags as covered with them;
+but these at once surrendered to a detachment of Bruce's force.
+
+It is hopeless to number the slain that strewed the field of battle,
+choked the Bannock, or floated down the Forth. Barbour says roundly
+that 30,000 English were slain or drowned. The Meaux chronicler admits
+20,000. Walsingham numbers no less than 700 knights and squires.
+Besides Gloucester and Argentine, the veteran Sir Robert de Clifford,
+Sir Pagan de Tybetot, Sir William the Marshal, Sir William de Vescy,
+Sir John Comyn (the son of the Red Comyn, slain at Dumfries), Sir Henry
+de Bohun, Sir William D'Eyncourt, and many other notable warriors,
+had fallen in the forefront of battle. Sir Edmund de Mauley, the
+King's seneschal, was drowned in the Bannock. The undistinguished many
+must remain uncounted. The Scots losses, which, though comparatively
+insignificant, must yet have been considerable, are equally beyond
+reckoning. The only men of note mentioned are Sir William Vipont and
+Sir Walter Ross.
+
+In dealing with his prisoners, Bruce displayed a princely generosity.
+Trokelowe frankly acknowledges that his handsome liberality gained him
+immense respect 'even among his enemies.' Walsingham declares that it
+'changed the hearts of many to love of him.' The Monk of Reading is
+fairly astonished. There was no haggling over exchanges or ransoms,
+though no doubt many of the ransoms were at a high figure. Sir Ralph
+de Monthermer, who was captured at Stirling, and was an old friend of
+Bruce's, was released without ransom, and carried back to England the
+King's shield, which Bruce freely returned. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, a
+relative of Bruce's, who yielded himself to the King personally on the
+day after the battle, was sent home, not only without ransom, but with
+handsome gifts. The bodies of Gloucester and Clifford were freely sent
+to Edward at Berwick with every token of respect for gallant foes; and,
+while the common men that fell on the field were interred in common
+trenches, the more noble were buried with noble ceremonial 'in holy
+places.'
+
+The spoils collected by the victors were enormous. Walsingham ventures
+on an estimate of £200,000; 'so many good nobles, vigorous youths,
+noble horses, warlike arms, precious garments and napery, and vessels
+of gold--all lost!' Bruce made generous distribution among his
+valiant men. The individual ransoms largely increased the individual
+acquisitions. 'The whole land,' says Fordun, 'overflowed with boundless
+wealth.'
+
+The chroniclers labour to assign reasons for the great disaster. The
+religious reason seems rather thin; for, if Edward and his barons broke
+the Ordinances, and also fought on a feast day, Bruce and his friends
+lay under multiplied excommunications. There is more substance in
+other allegations--presumptuous confidence on the part of the English
+leaders; discord in their councils; their impetuous and disorderly
+advance; the fatigue and hunger of the men by reason of the rapid
+march from Berwick. One would be unwilling to press a certain lack of
+enthusiasm for their King, or a suspicion of inadequate generalship.
+There is sufficient explanation in the skill, prudence, and iron
+resolution of Bruce, supported by able generals of division, and by
+brave and patriotic men. Had the result been otherwise, it would have
+been, for England, a greater disaster still.
+
+'Yet'--and the word of honest sympathy and justification will not jar
+now on any generous mind--
+
+    'Yet mourn not, Land of Fame!
+    Though ne'er the leopards on thy shield
+    Retreated from so sad a field
+        Since Norman William came.
+    Oft may thine annals justly boast
+    Of battles stern by Scotland lost;
+        Grudge not her victory,
+    When for her freeborn rights she strove--
+    Rights dear to all who Freedom love,
+        To none so dear as thee!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND
+
+
+The battle of Bannockburn might well have been the historical, as well
+as the dramatic, close of the struggle. But Edward refused to be taught
+by experience, and the desultory welter of war was miserably prolonged
+for nearly half a generation to come. The disaster rankled in Edward's
+mind, ever craving vengeance, impotently. With childish wilfulness,
+he would not even concede to Bruce the formal title of King of Scots,
+though the Lanercost chronicler admits that the victory at Bannockburn
+extorted a general recognition of his right by conquest.
+
+Edward retired from Berwick to York. It was plain that Bruce would
+instantly follow up his victory, and already there was anxiety on
+the Border. Berwick was not only vexed by the Scots, but still more
+seriously menaced by the violence of the Northumbrians, who had been
+exasperated by the hanging of a number of their countrymen for alleged
+treachery; and the storm burst upon the north of England before Edward
+could send up reinforcements. Before the middle of July, Sir Andrew
+de Harcla, the constable of Carlisle, was in daily expectation of
+an attack, and complained that he was hampered by lack of promised
+support. Bishop Kellawe could not attend Parliament, so busy was he
+in preparations for the defence of his episcopate; 'all the people
+say that, if he now leave the district, they will not venture to stay
+behind.'
+
+Immediately after the battle, Sir Philip de Mowbray surrendered
+Stirling Castle, and passed over to the side of the victor. Towards the
+end of July, Sir Edward Bruce and Douglas, with other Scots nobles,
+crossed the eastern Border and ravaged Northumberland, leaving the
+castles unassailed. They spared the episcopate of Durham from fire
+in consideration of a large sum of money. Crossing the Tees, they
+penetrated beyond Richmond, the people fleeing before them to the
+south, to the woods, to the castles. They turned up Swaledale, and
+on Stainmoor severely handled Harcla, who had seized the opportunity
+of quietness at Carlisle to make a luckless raid upon them. On their
+northward march they burnt Brough, Appleby, Kirkoswald, and other
+towns, and trampled down the crops remorselessly. Coupland bought off a
+visitation. They re-entered Scotland with many prisoners of price, and
+with great droves of cattle. They had met with no resistance, except
+Harcla's futile effort. 'The English,' says Walsingham dolefully, 'had
+lost so much of their accustomed boldness that a hundred of them fled
+from the face of two or three Scots.'
+
+On September 9, Edward held a parliament at York. He readily confirmed
+the ordinances, changed ministers, even retired Despenser--anything
+for the military help of his barons. But further operations against
+Scotland were postponed till Hereford and the other prisoners of note
+could be ransomed home. About a week later, Edward had a communication
+from Bruce expressing a strong desire for accord and amity. Safe
+conducts were issued, and truce commissioners were appointed.
+Meantime, however, the negotiations were too slow for the Scots; for,
+on the very day that Edward appointed his commissioners, the Prior
+and Convent of Durham signed a bond for 800 marks to Randolph for a
+quiet life till the middle of January. Randolph, in fact, penetrated
+Yorkshire, committing the usual depredations. Still the negotiations,
+which apparently had been entered into at the instance of Philip of
+France, went forward. But in November the English envoys returned
+from Dumfries with empty hands, and with the news of the likelihood
+of another invasion of the Scots, 'owing to the lack of food in their
+country.' Already, indeed, a body of Scots had occupied Tyndale,
+and were pushing down towards Newcastle. About Christmas they again
+ravaged Northumberland, and let off Cumberland till midsummer day next
+year for the sum of 600 marks. The Archbishop of York, whose manor of
+Hexham had suffered, vigorously denounced the invaders; and at York
+Minster on January 17, barons and clergy resolved on making a stand
+at Northallerton three days later. But the only serious effort of the
+season was Harcla's valorous November raid on Dumfriesshire, where
+he was well punished, despite the local knowledge of his recreant
+lieutenant, Sir Thomas de Torthorwald. About the beginning of February,
+indeed, John of Argyll overpowered the Scots in the Isle of Man, and
+recovered it for Edward. But 'the terror that prevailed throughout the
+north of England,' as Canon Raine says, 'was something unexampled';
+'with the exception of a few fortresses, two or three of the northern
+counties were almost permanently occupied by the Scots.'
+
+On April 26, 1315, a Parliament was held in the Parish Church of Ayr,
+to consider 'the condition, defence, and perpetual security of the
+Kingdom of Scotland.' The business was to settle the succession to
+the throne. It was enacted that, failing lawful male heirs of King
+Robert, Sir Edward and his lawful male heirs should succeed; failing
+these, Marjory; and failing Marjory, the nearest lineal heir of the
+body of Robert. In case the heir were a minor, Randolph was to be
+guardian of both heir and realm. Failing all these heirs, Randolph
+was to be guardian until Parliament should determine the succession.
+Presently Marjory married Sir Walter the Steward. She died in her first
+confinement on March 2, 1315-16, leaving a son, who became Robert II.
+of Scotland.
+
+The settlement no doubt was influenced by the imminence of a large
+expansion of policy--the ill-starred Irish expedition. On May 25,
+1315, Sir Edward Bruce landed at Carrickfergus with 6000 men. On his
+staff were some of the foremost Scots knights--Randolph, Sir Philip de
+Mowbray, Sir John de Soulis, Sir John the Steward, and many others.
+The true motives of the enterprise are by no means clear. There was no
+immediate object in dividing the English forces, and in any case there
+was involved a like division of the Scots forces. The suggestion of the
+discontentment of the Scots with their territorial boundaries, growing
+out of repeated successes in the field and a superfluity of money,
+seems to be a mere speculation of the Lanercost chronicler. There is
+more probability in Barbour's assertion that Sir Edward Bruce, 'who
+stouter was than a leopard, thought Scotland too small for his brother
+and himself.' It may be that this particular outlet for his restless
+and ambitious spirit was opened up by an offer of the crown of Ireland
+by independent Ulster kinglets either in the first place to King Robert
+or directly to Sir Edward himself. It is not improbable, however, that
+the movement may have been a serious attempt at a great flank attack
+on England. Walsingham mentions 'a rumour that, if things went well in
+Ireland, Sir Edward would at once pass over to Wales.' 'For these two
+races,' he says, 'are easily stirred to rebellion, and, taking ill with
+the yoke of servitude, they execrate the domination of the English.'
+
+The Irish expedition despatched from Ayr, King Robert and his
+lieutenants again turned to the Border. In the end of May, a meeting
+of the clergy and magnates of the north had been convened at Doncaster
+by the Archbishop of York, at the instance of the Earl of Lancaster
+and other barons, who appear to have been in a conciliatory mood; and
+on June 30, Edward issued his summons for the muster at Newcastle by
+the middle of August. But already, on June 29, Douglas had entered
+the episcopate of Durham. Pushing on to Hartlepool, he occupied, but
+did not burn the town, the people taking refuge on the ships; and he
+returned laden with plunder. Sir Ralph Fitz William had given Edward a
+week's warning, but nothing had been done in consequence. It does seem
+odd, therefore, to stumble on an account of payment to nineteen smiths
+of Newcastle for 'pikois,' 'howes,' and other instruments sent to Perth
+in August.
+
+On July 22, Bruce himself invested Carlisle, which was held by the
+redoubtable Harcla. His army was amply supplied by forays into
+Allerdale, Coupland, and Westmorland. Every day an assault was
+delivered upon one of the three gates of the city, and sometimes upon
+all at once; but the besieged replied manfully with showers of stones
+and arrows. On the fifth day of the siege, the Scots brought into
+action a machine that hurled stones continuously at the Caldew gate and
+the wall, but without effect; and the defenders answered with seven or
+eight similar machines, as well as with springalds for hurling darts
+and slings for hurling stones, 'which greatly frightened and harassed
+the men without.' The Scots next erected a wooden tower overtopping
+the wall; whereupon the besieged raised over the nearest tower on the
+wall a similar wooden tower overtopping the Scots one. But the Scots
+tower proved useless, for its wheels stuck in the mud of the moat, and
+it could not be got up to the wall. Nor could the Scots use their long
+scaling ladders, or a sow they had prepared to undermine the wall;
+they could not fill up the moat with fascicles; and, when they tried
+to run bridges of logs on wheels across the moat, the weight of the
+mass, as in the case of the tower, sank the whole construction in the
+mud. On the ninth day, Bruce abandoned his engines, and delivered a
+general assault; but still the besieged made manful defence. Next day
+the attack was renewed with special vigour on the eastern side, while
+Douglas with a determined band attempted to scale the wall on the west,
+at its highest and most difficult point, where an assault would not
+be expected. His men mounted the wall under the protection of a body
+of archers; but the English tumbled down ladders and men, killing and
+wounding many, and baffling the attack. On the morrow (August 1), the
+siege was raised. The Lanercost chronicler, who writes as if he had
+been present, affirms that only two Englishmen were killed and a few
+wounded during the eleven days' investment.
+
+Whether Bruce was hopeless and disgusted, or had been informed of the
+approach of a relieving force under Valence, or had heard the false
+report of the defeat and death of Sir Edward in Ireland, at any rate he
+hurried back to Scotland. Harcla promptly sallied in pursuit, harassing
+flank and rear, and making two important captures--Sir John de Moray
+and Sir Robert Baird. Moray had been conspicuous at Bannockburn, and
+had been enriched by the ransom of twenty-three English knights,
+besides squires and others, who had fallen to his share. Baird is
+described as 'a man of the worst will towards Englishmen.' Harcla
+delivered the prisoners to Edward, receiving (November 8) a guerdon
+of 1000 marks; but the money was to be raised from wardships, and the
+accrual of it was spread over eight years. The King's treasury was low.
+
+There is very little news of the Scots navy in those days, but it seems
+to have been reasonably active. On September 12, one bold mariner,
+Thomas Dunn, 'with a great navy of Scots,' followed an English ship
+into Holyhead harbour, and, in the absence of the master on shore,
+carried it off to Scotland. About the same time John of Argyll was in
+Dublin, impatiently expecting reinforcements from the Cinque Ports.
+Edward retained part of the squadron to assist the French king against
+the Flemings.
+
+On January 15, 1315-16, Bruce and Douglas made a sudden attack on
+Berwick, by land and sea simultaneously, during the night. They hoped
+to effect an entrance from the sea, at a point between the Brighouse
+and the castle, where there was no wall. The attempt failed. It was
+bright moonlight, and the assailants were promptly observed and
+repulsed. Sir John de Landells was slain, and Douglas himself escaped
+with difficulty in a small boat.
+
+The garrison of Berwick had only too much reason to complain. Writing
+on October 3, Edward's Chamberlain of Scotland had informed him that
+the provisions expected from Boston in the end of July had never
+been sent, and 'the town is in great straits, and many are dying
+from hunger.' Indeed, 'if the Mayor and himself had not promised the
+garrison food and clothing for the winter, they would have gone.' Two
+days later, Sir Maurice de Berkeley, the warden, wrote that the town
+and the inhabitants never were in such distress, 'and will be this
+winter, if God and the King don't think more of them,' and quickly.
+Unless money and provisions arrive by the end of the month, they will
+give up their posts and leave the town, to a man. On October 30,
+indeed, a vessel had brought in malt, barley and beans, but the master
+had had to throw overboard a great part of his cargo to escape the
+enemy. On November 26, Edward sent £300 by way of pay to the garrison;
+but he could not succour them effectually, and apparently Valence, who
+was warden north of Trent, had fallen into a lethargy. The repulse of
+Bruce was therefore signally creditable to the defence.
+
+A series of four official despatches during the latter half of February
+and the first week in March exhibit the deplorable state of the town
+from famine. On February 14, part of the garrison, in the teeth of
+the warden's orders, had gone out on a foray, declaring it was better
+to die fighting than to starve. They had captured many prisoners and
+cattle, but Douglas, on the information of Sir Adam de Gordon, who had
+recently changed sides, caught them at Scaithmoor, slew their leader,
+and furiously broke up their schiltron, killing or capturing twenty
+men-at-arms and sixty foot. Considering that the men were struggling to
+keep the means of rescuing them from starvation, Barbour may well be
+right in declaring it to be the hardest fight that Douglas ever fought.
+The foray brought no relief to the garrison, except by diminution of
+mouths. The men were 'dying of hunger in rows on the walls.' 'Whenever
+a horse dies,' wrote Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 'the men-at-arms carry
+off the flesh and boil and eat it, not letting the foot soldiers touch
+it till they have had what they will. Pity to see Christians leading
+such a life.' He will remain warden no longer than his term, which
+expires a month after Easter.
+
+Meantime Sir Henry de Beaumont, warden of the March, had gone to
+Lincoln to represent to the King and Council his conferences with some
+of the Scots leaders for a truce. On February 22, Edward appointed
+commissioners to treat with Bruce, Sir Maurice de Berkeley being one;
+and on April 28, 1316, he authorised safe conducts for the Scots
+envoys. But the business did not get forward, and the Mayor of Berwick,
+on May 10, sent urgent news to the King. Berwick has provisions for a
+month only; the enemy's cruisers have cut off supplies, and have just
+captured two vessels with victuals; the warden will serve an extended
+term till Whitsunday, but no longer; Bruce will be at Melrose in a
+fortnight with all his force. And all the time Edward was hampered in
+his measures against Scotland by the war in Ireland and by a rising in
+Wales.
+
+At midsummer 1316, the Scots again crossed the Border with fire and
+sword, and penetrated to Richmond, where they were heavily paid to
+abstain from further burning in the town and neighbourhood. Then they
+headed west as far as Furness, burning and ravaging without opposition.
+They carried home immense booty, as well as many prisoners, men and
+women; and they were particularly delighted with the quantity of iron
+they found at Furness, there being very little iron in Scotland. The
+leader of this expedition is not named.
+
+For many years there had been great scarcity in both countries, a
+natural consequence of predatory warfare. 'This year,' says the
+Lanercost chronicler, 'there was both in England and in Scotland a
+mortality of men from famine and pestilence unheard of in our times;
+and in the northern parts of England a quarter of corn sold at 40s.'
+Walsingham says the distress was worst in the north, where, he heard,
+'the people ate dogs and horses and other unclean animals.'
+
+In Ireland it was still worse; in these wretched years of intestine
+broils, it is said 'men were wont to devour one another.' Sir Edward
+Bruce had now been fighting there for a full year. With his Irish
+allies, he had raided the English adherents in Ulster; occupied
+Carrickfergus after a great fight, but failed to take the castle;
+captured and burnt Dundalk (June 29, 1315); defeated the joint forces
+of the Earl of Ulster and the King of Connaught at Connor (September
+10); besieged Carrickfergus in vain (till December 6); marched down
+into Kildare, defeating first Sir Roger de Mortimer at Kenlis, and
+afterwards (January 26) Sir Edmund le Butler, the justiciar, at
+Arscott; and returned to the siege of Carrickfergus, which was starved
+into surrender some time in summer. On May 2, 1316, Sir Edward was
+crowned King of Ireland.
+
+In autumn of 1315, and again in the following March, Randolph had
+returned to Scotland for reinforcements. On the latter occasion he
+brought Sir Edward's urgent request that King Robert would come in
+person, for then the conquest would be assured. In autumn, 1316,
+accordingly, Bruce appointed Douglas and the Steward Guardians in his
+absence, and sailed from Loch Ryan to Carrickfergus. His operations
+during the winter in Ulster do not appear to have advanced the cause
+materially, and in spring he set out on an adventurous expedition
+throughout Ireland.
+
+Barbour's account, though considerably detailed, can be treated only
+with the greatest reserve. King Edward led the van, King Robert brought
+up the rear. The enemy lay in wait at Moyra Pass, 'the Gap of the
+North,' the immemorial route of invaders north and south, some three
+miles north of Dundalk. Edward, says Barbour, rode past the ambush.
+When the rear came up, two archers appeared in view, immediately
+suggesting the nearness of an enemy; and Bruce held back his men. Sir
+Colin Campbell, son of Sir Nigel and nephew of Bruce, pressed forward
+and killed one of them, but the other shot his horse; whereupon Bruce,
+in great wrath, felled Sir Colin with his truncheon for disobedience,
+which 'might be cause of discomfiting.' Emerging at length from the
+gorge, they found Richard de Clare with 40,000 men drawn up on the
+plain, whom they presently defeated: in all the Irish war 'so hard
+a fighting was not seen.' When Edward heard of it, 'might no man
+see a wrother man.' But only a cloistered ecclesiastic can be held
+responsible for such military procedure.
+
+Advancing on Dublin, the Scots took Castle Knock on February 23;
+two days later they were at Leixlip; in four days more, they had
+reached Naas; and on March 12, they were at Callan in Kilkenny. The
+southernmost place they visited was Limerick, where they stayed two or
+three days. As they were starting northwards again, King Robert heard a
+woman's wail, and on inquiry learned that it was a poor laundress that
+had been seized with the pains of labour and was lamenting to be left
+behind; upon which he countermanded the march till she should be able
+to accompany the army. Such is Barbour's story; let us call it, after
+Scott, a 'beautiful incident.' The expedition then, somehow, passed
+back to Dublin, and on to Carrickfergus. It is an amazing narrative.
+Possibly the Bruces anticipated that they would gain over the tribes
+of the south and west; possibly they expected to tap ampler and more
+convenient sources of supplies; possibly they were trying the effect
+of a grand demonstration. At any rate they did not win any permanent
+support; 'in this march,' says Fordun, 'many died of hunger, and the
+rest lived on horse-flesh'; and the demonstration was utterly futile.
+Towards the end of the march, the English hung upon the Scots, but
+'hovered still about them and did nothing.' Yet it seems unreasonable
+to blame the English commanders, for it cannot be doubted that
+they would have exterminated the Scots if they could. A change of
+Lord-Lieutenant was impending; and Sir Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore,
+who had been appointed to succeed Sir Edmund le Butler (November 23),
+was delayed by want of outfit and did not arrive in Ireland till April
+7, when the expedition was practically over.
+
+King Robert returned to Scotland in May 1317, after an absence of
+about half a year, bringing with him 'many wounded men.' Meantime his
+lieutenants had kept Scotland with a strong hand. During 1316, Edward's
+efforts to conduct an army against the Scots had been again and again
+thwarted, and towards the end of November negotiations were in progress
+for a truce. At the same time the redoubtable Harcla had been defeated
+and captured by Sir John de Soulis (Barbour says) in Eskdale, and was
+begging Edward for Sir John de Moray and Sir Robert Baird, his former
+prisoners, 'in aid of his ransom, as he does not see how he can free
+himself otherwise.' Truce or no truce, the Earl of Arundel, who was
+in command on the March, conceived the notion of sending a force to
+hew down Jedburgh Forest. Douglas, who was building himself a house
+at Lintalee on the Jed, took 50 men-at-arms and a body of archers and
+planted an ambush at a wooded pass. When the English--certainly nothing
+like 10,000, as Barbour estimates them--had well entered, the archers
+assailed them in flank, and Douglas struck upon the rear, killing
+their leader, Sir Thomas de Richmond, and routing them disastrously. A
+detachment that had taken possession of Douglas's quarters at Lintalee
+he surprised at dinner and slew almost to a man. Jedburgh Forest was
+left unfelled.
+
+About the same time, it came to the ears of Douglas that Sir Robert de
+Neville, 'the Peacock of the North,' irritated by the recurrent praise
+of his deeds, had boasted at Berwick that he would fight him on the
+first chance. Douglas instantly took the road to Berwick, marching in
+the night, and in the early morning he displayed his broad banner, and
+lit up the landscape by firing several villages. Neville issued at the
+challenge and posted himself on a hill, expecting that the Scots would
+scatter in search of plunder. Douglas, however, impatiently advanced,
+and quickly met Neville, man to man. It was an unequal contest. Neville
+fell under the sword of Douglas. His troops fled. His three brothers,
+Alexander, John, and Ralph were among the prisoners captured, and were
+held to ransom for 2000 marks each.
+
+The English, beaten at all points on the Border, made an attempt by
+sea, landing a force of 500 men near Inverkeithing to raid Fife. The
+Earl and the Sheriff of Fife, though apprised of their coming, had not
+the pluck or the numbers to prevent their landing, and retired. Bishop
+Sinclair of Dunkeld, however, rode up at the head of 60 horsemen, his
+episcopal cloak covering a suit of full armour. He scouted the Earl's
+excuse of superior numbers, and told him to his face that he deserved
+to have his gilt spurs hewn off his heels. 'Follow me,' he cried, 'and,
+in the name of the Lord, and with the aid of St Columba, whose land
+they are ravaging, we will take revenge.' Thereupon, casting off his
+cloak and wielding a formidable spear, he spurred right on the enemy,
+routed them, and drove them to their ships with great slaughter. So
+precipitate was their flight that one barge was overladen and sank with
+all on board. Ever after Sinclair was called by King Robert 'my own
+Bishop,' and popularly he was 'the Fechtin' Bishop.'
+
+Bruce had now complete control of every part of his kingdom, excepting
+Berwick, and the northern counties of England lay open to him at his
+will. It was more than time for a final peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CONCILIATION AMID CONFLICT
+
+
+On January 1, 1316-17, the Pope declared a truce of two years between
+Edward and Bruce 'acting as King of Scotland' (_gerentem se pro
+rege Scotiæ_), and denounced excommunication against all breakers
+thereof. By a Bull dated March 17, he exhorted Edward to peace with
+Bruce 'now governing the realm of Scotland' (_impraesentiarum regnum
+Scotiæ gubernantem_), representing not only the waste of good lives
+and property but also the hindrance to the recovery of the Holy
+Land, and announcing the despatch of his nuncios, Guacelin d'Euse
+and Lucca di Fieschi, to effect a solemn concord. Presently he drew
+up two more Bulls, dated March 28--one, to certain English prelates,
+excommunicating all enemies of Edward invading England and Ireland; the
+other, to certain Irish prelates, excommunicating Robert and Edward
+Bruce--but these the Cardinals would hold in reserve till the issue of
+their mission should declare itself. In these Bulls, King Robert is
+'late Earl of Carrick' (_dudum Comes de Carrik_); Edward, by profession
+of eagerness to go on a crusade--and otherwise--is the Pope's 'most
+dear son in Christ.' In view of the crusade, it was essential that
+Edward should also enjoy peace at home; and, on April 20, the Pope
+wrote to the chief magnates urging them to support their King with
+counsel and with help.
+
+Towards the end of June 1317, the two Cardinals arrived in England,
+and were conducted with great ceremony to London. Edward had gone to
+Woodstock, where, on July 1, he summoned his parliament to meet at
+Nottingham on the 18th, to consider, before the Cardinals should come
+to his presence, the questions he would have to discuss with them. On
+July 27, he authorised safe conducts for the Cardinals' party, and
+assigned specially to the two prelates two officers of his personal
+staff. The Cardinals started for the north, 'as the manner of the
+Romans is,' with great pomp and circumstance. On the way, they were to
+consecrate the new Bishop of Durham, Louis de Beaumont, who proceeded
+in their train. They were also accompanied by Sir Henry de Beaumont,
+the brother of the Bishop elect, and other magnates. In the pride
+of ecclesiastical security, they contemned all warnings of danger.
+They had an unexpected welcome to the episcopate. On September 1, as
+they were passing Rushyford, within nine miles of Durham--if not at
+Aycliffe, three miles south of Rushyford--they were suddenly assailed
+by Sir Gilbert de Middleton and his robber band, and despoiled of all
+their valuables. The prelates and their personal attendants Sir Gilbert
+permitted to proceed to Durham, perhaps on foot, unharmed; the Bishop
+elect, Sir Henry, and the rest he consigned to Mitford Castle--the
+eyrie whence he swooped upon the country around, harrying as far as
+the Priory of Tynemouth. Arrived at Durham, the Cardinals, having duly
+adored St Cuthbert and venerated the venerable Bede, let loose upon
+their sacrilegious assailants all the powers of excommunication. The
+malison, says the Malmesbury chronicler, was efficacious; for, before
+the year was out, Middleton was captured and taken to London, where he
+was drawn, hanged, beheaded, and quartered.
+
+The Cardinals' advance messengers, and their special envoys
+(_praecursores_)--the Bishop of Corbau and the Archdeacon of
+Perpignan--had reached the Border in safety. There the messengers
+had been stopped. The envoys, however, were met, about the beginning
+of September, by Douglas and Sir Alexander de Seton, and allowed to
+proceed, but only after handing over their letters for King Robert.
+They were conducted to Roxburgh Castle. There the King received them
+graciously, listened with reverent attention to the Pope's open
+letters in favour of peace, and replied that he would welcome a good
+and lasting peace, whether arranged by the mediation of the Cardinals
+or otherwise. He also listened respectfully to the Cardinals' open
+letters. But as for the _close_ letters, he positively refused to
+break the seal of one of them. They were addressed to Robert de Brus,
+'governing the realm of Scotland.' 'There are several others of the
+name of Robert de Brus,' he said, 'who take part with the other barons
+in the government of the realm of Scotland. These letters may be for
+one of them; they are not addressed to me, for they do not bear the
+title of King.' No; he would not risk opening other men's letters.
+Still, he would assemble his Council and consult with them whether he
+should nevertheless receive the Cardinals to audience; but, as his
+barons were engaged in various distant places, it would be impossible
+for him to give his decision till Michaelmas (September 29).
+
+The envoys had their apology ready. They explained that it was the
+custom of Holy Mother Church, during the pendency of a question, not
+to say or write anything calculated to prejudice either party. 'If my
+Father and my Mother,' replied Bruce, holding up the Pope's letters,
+'wished to avoid creating prejudice against the other party by calling
+me King, it seems to me that they ought not, while the question is
+still pending, create prejudice against me by withholding the title
+from me; especially when I am in possession of the realm, and everybody
+in it calls me King, and foreign kings and princes address me as King.
+Really, it appears to me that my Father and Mother are partial as
+between their sons. If you had presented a letter with such an address
+to another king, it may be that you would have received another sort of
+answer.' This caustic reply, the envoys reported, he delivered with a
+benign mien, 'always showing due reverence for his Father and Mother.'
+
+The envoys passed to the next point. They requested him to cease
+meantime from further hostilities. 'That,' he replied, 'I can in no
+wise do without the consent of my barons; besides, the English are
+making reprisals upon my people and their property.'
+
+In the confidence of authority, the envoys had taken with them one
+of the Cardinals' advance messengers, who had been sent on with a
+letter announcing the Pope's coronation, but had been stopped at the
+frontier. They now entreated King Robert to grant him a safe conduct;
+but he denied their request 'with a certain change of countenance,' not
+uttering a word.
+
+Turning to Bruce's staff they inquired anxiously, Why was this? Why,
+simply because King Robert was not suitably addressed. But for this
+blunder, he would have willingly and promptly responded on every point.
+
+So wrote the Cardinals to the Pope from Durham on September 7.
+They added that they expected nothing better than a refusal of an
+audience at Michaelmas; for, even if Robert were himself disposed to
+receive them, it was evident that his barons would offer opposition.
+The friends of Bruce had made no secret of their opinion that the
+reservation of the royal title was a deliberate slight at the instance
+of English intriguers--an opinion avowedly based on information from
+the papal court. The contrary assurances of the envoys had been worse
+than useless, and they despaired of further intercommunication unless
+and until the resentment of the Scots should be mollified by concession
+of the royal title. Some considerable time after Michaelmas, Bruce
+confirmed by letter the anticipations of the Cardinals. He must have
+his royal title recognised. At the same time he repeated his desire for
+peace, and his readiness to send representatives to negotiate; but when
+the bearer brought back the Cardinals' reply, he was stopped at the
+frontier, and had to take the letters back--no doubt because they were
+still improperly addressed.
+
+Three days later (September 10), Edward wrote to the Pope from York,
+whither he had hastened on hearing of the assault on the Cardinals,
+assuring him that he would promptly 'avenge God and the Church,' and
+see that the prelates had their temporal losses made good.
+
+To do the Pope justice, he had been anxious to keep clear of the
+difficulties obviously involved in the reservation of Bruce's royal
+title. In his letter of March 18, he had apologetically prayed Bruce
+not to take it ill that he was not styled King of Scotland. On October
+21, he sends the Cardinals letters--one for Bruce explaining the former
+omission of the royal title, and apparently conceding it now; another
+for Edward, begging him not to be offended at his styling Bruce King;
+and a third for themselves, blaming them for not telling him whether or
+not they had Edward's consent that he (the Pope) should address Bruce
+as King. They are to request Edward to give way on the point; and they
+are to present or to keep back the letters as they may see expedient.
+The information of the Scots from Avignon was evidently well grounded.
+
+Meantime the Cardinals made another attempt. They proclaimed the
+truce in London, and had it proclaimed by other ecclesiastics 'in
+other principal places of England and Scotland.' But they must bring
+it directly to the knowledge of Bruce. Accordingly they despatched
+Adam de Newton, the Guardian of the monastery of the Friars Minors in
+Berwick, to King Robert and the leading prelates of Scotland, to make
+the proclamation. Adam prudently left his papers in safe keeping at
+Berwick till he had provided himself with a safe conduct. On December
+14, he set out for Old Cambus, twelve miles off, and found Bruce in
+a neighbouring wood hard at work, 'day and night, without rest,'
+preparing engines for the siege of Berwick. He at once obtained his
+safe conduct, and fetched his Bulls and other letters from Berwick to
+Old Cambus; but Sir Alexander de Seton refused to allow him to wait
+upon the King, and required him to hand over the letters. Seton took
+the letters to Bruce, or professed to do so, but presently brought
+them back, delivered them to Adam, and ordered him to be gone. Bruce
+would have nothing to do with Bulls and processes that withheld from
+him the title of King, and he was in any case determined, he said,
+to have the town of Berwick. Adam, however, was not to be baffled.
+He proclaimed the truce publicly before Seton 'and a great assembly
+of people.' The Scots, however, would not take it seriously. Not the
+most solemn adjurations could procure for Adam a safe conduct either
+back to Berwick or on to the Scots prelates, and he was summarily
+ordered to get out of the country with all speed. So he took his way to
+Berwick. But he was waylaid and stripped to the skin, and his Bulls and
+processes were torn in pieces. Still Adam was undaunted. 'I tell you,
+before God,' he wrote to the Cardinals on December 20, 'that I am still
+ready as ever, without intermission, to labour for the advancement of
+your affairs.'
+
+From midsummer 1317, Edward's officers had been kept busy on the March.
+About the beginning of July, Sir John de Athy had taken the Scots
+sea-captain, Thomas Dunn, and killed all his men, except himself and
+his cousin, from whom Sir John had learned that Randolph was preparing
+to attack the Isle of Man, and even had designs on Anglesey, where
+English traitors were in league with him. Before January there had
+been large submissions to Bruce in the northern counties, partly from
+compulsion of arms, partly from starvation; and the chronic feuds
+between the town and the castle of Berwick were dangerously aggravated
+by the high-handedness of the constable, Sir Roger de Horsley, who
+hated all Scots impartially and intensely.
+
+At last a burgess of Berwick, Peter (or Simon) de Spalding, exasperated
+by Horsley's supercilious harshness--bribed with ready money and
+promise of lands, the Lanercost chronicler says; corrupted by Douglas,
+says John of Tynmouth--entered into communication with the Marshal (or
+the Earl of March) for the betrayal of the town. By direction of the
+King, the Marshal (or March) ambushed at night in Duns Park, where
+he was joined by Randolph and Douglas. Advancing on foot, the Scots
+planted their ladders unperceived and scaled the wall at the point
+where Simon was in charge. The temptation to plunder upset the order
+of attack, two-thirds of the party scattering themselves over the
+town, breaking houses and slaying men. The opposition of the town's
+people was easily overcome, but when the garrison sallied, Randolph and
+Douglas were dangerously weak. Sir William de Keith, however, exerted
+himself conspicuously, as became a brand-new knight, in collecting
+the Scots, and after very hard fighting the garrison was driven in.
+Bruce presently came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held
+out tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine. The town was taken
+on March 28 (Fordun), or April 2 (Lanercost); the castle held out
+gallantly till past the middle of July, and even then Horsley marched
+out his famished garrison with the honours of war. Bruce installed
+as warden Sir Walter the Steward. Peter of Spalding, says John of
+Tynmouth, proved troublesome in insisting upon his promised reward;
+and, on an accusation of plotting against the life of King Robert, was
+put to death. The allegation recalls the case of Sir Peter de Lubaud.
+
+Edward was extremely incensed at the Mayor and burgesses of Berwick,
+who had undertaken, for 6000 marks, to defend the town for a year
+from June 15, 1317. He ascribed the loss of it to their carelessness,
+and in the middle of April he ordered that their goods and chattels,
+wheresoever found, should be confiscated, and that such of them as
+had escaped into England should be imprisoned. On June 10, 1318, he
+summoned his army to meet him at York on July 26, to proceed against
+the Scots.
+
+Meantime the Scots were proceeding with vigour against him. For soon
+after the capture of Berwick town, Bruce detached a strong force to
+ravage the northern counties. They laid waste Northumberland to the
+gates of Newcastle, starved the castles of Harbottle and Wark into
+surrender, and took Mitford Castle by stratagem. They sold immunity to
+the episcopate of Durham, excepting Hartlepool, which Bruce threatened
+to burn and destroy because some of its inhabitants had captured a ship
+freighted with his 'armeours' and provisions. Northallerton, Ripon,
+Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Otley and Skipton were guiding-points in
+the desolating track of the invaders. Ripon and Otley suffered most
+severely, and Ripon paid 1000 marks for a cessation of destruction.
+Fountains Abbey also paid ransom; Bolton Abbey was plundered;
+Knaresborough Parish Church bears to this day the marks of the fire
+that burnt out the fugitives. The expedition returned to Scotland
+laden with spoils, and bringing numerous captives and great droves of
+cattle. The Archbishop of York postponed misfortune by being too late
+with measures of resistance. But he energetically excommunicated the
+depredators, all and sundry.
+
+On hearing of Bruce's reception of the envoys, the Pope had authorised
+the Cardinals, on December 29, to put in execution the two Bulls
+of excommunication prepared in the previous March. The Cardinals,
+however, would seem to have delayed. On June 28, 1318, when the Pope
+heard of the woeful adventures of Adam de Newton and of the capture
+of Berwick despite his truce, he ordered them to proceed. For Bruce,
+he said, had 'grievously' (_dampnabiliter_) 'abused his patience and
+long-suffering.' In September accordingly they excommunicated and
+laid under interdict Bruce himself, his brother Edward, and all their
+aiders and abettors in the invasion of England and Ireland. 'But,'
+says the Lanercost chronicler, 'the Scots cared not a jot for any
+excommunication, and declined to pay any observance to the interdict.'
+In October, Edward followed up his diplomatic success by pressing hard
+for the deposition of the Bishop of St Andrews, but the Pope easily
+found good technical pleas whereby to avoid compliance.
+
+The Irish expedition came to a disastrous close on the fatal field of
+Faughart, near Dundalk, on October 5 (or 14), 1318. A vastly superior
+English army, under Sir John de Bermingham, moved against the Scots;
+and King Edward the Bruce, wrathfully overruling the counsels of his
+staff, disdaining to wait for the approaching reinforcements from
+Scotland, and despising the hesitations of his Irish allies, dashed
+against the tremendous odds with his native impetuosity.
+
+    'Now help quha will, for sekirly
+    This day, but mair baid, fecht vill I.
+    Sall na man say, quhill I may dre,
+    That strynth of men sall ger me fle!
+    God scheld that ony suld vs blame
+    That we defoull our nobill name!'
+
+Barbour gives the numbers at 2000 against 40,000, no doubt with
+generous exaggeration. King Edward fell at the first onset, killed by
+a gigantic Anglo-Irish knight, Sir John de Maupas, who was found lying
+dead across his body. Sir John the Steward, Sir John de Soulis, and
+other officers were slain. Barbour tells how Sir Philip de Mowbray,
+stunned in action, was led captive by two men towards Dundalk; how he
+recovered his senses sufficiently to realise his position, shook off
+his captors, drew his sword and turned back towards the battle-field,
+and how he cleared a hundred men out of his way as he went. John
+Thomasson, the leader of the Carrick men, took him in charge, and
+hurried him away towards Carrickfergus. But the brave defender
+of Stirling had received a mortal wound. King Edward's body was
+dismembered, the trunk buried at Faughart, and the limbs exposed in
+Irish towns held by the English. The head is said to have been sent to
+England to Edward; but Barbour tells how King Edward the Bruce had that
+day exchanged armour with Gilbert the Harper, as he had done before
+at Connor, and how it was Gilbert's head that had been mistakenly
+struck off and despatched to England. The remnants of the Scots army
+reached Carrickfergus with the utmost difficulty, and hastily took
+ship for Scotland, where the news was received with great lamentation.
+Bermingham was created Earl of Louth for his victory. It is curious to
+observe that his wife was a sister of the Queen of Scotland.
+
+The death of Edward Bruce disturbed the settlement of the succession,
+which was again brought under consideration of Parliament, on December
+3, at Scone. Robert, the son of Sir Walter the Steward and the late
+Princess Marjory, was recognised as heir, with a proviso saving the
+right of any subsequent male issue of King Robert. In case of a
+minority, Randolph was to be guardian; and failing Randolph, Douglas.
+
+No sooner had the sentences of excommunication been promulgated than
+King Robert took measures to have them revoked or mitigated. He had
+good friends at Rome. Letters from these had fallen accidentally into
+the hands of Edward, who, on January 12, 1318-19, sent them to the
+Pope by the hands of Sir John de Neville, and asked His Holiness to
+deal suitably with the writers. A few days before, he had urged the
+two Cardinals to press the Pope to reject the applications that he
+heard were being made on behalf of Bruce and his friends, and stated
+that he would presently send envoys to the Pope himself. Neville was
+graciously received, and the Pope ordered the Scots and their abettors
+at his court to prison. On April 24, the Pope granted Edward's request
+for a Bull permitting him to negotiate for peace with the Scots
+notwithstanding their excommunication. But the pressure was not all on
+one side; the nuncios in England boldly exercised their powers, and had
+often to be restrained even by royal menace, while every ecclesiastical
+office was steadily claimed for the papal nominee. Bruce appears to
+have deemed it prudent to raise little formal objection to the papal
+appointment of ecclesiastics up and down Scotland, though some of them
+evidently had but a seat of thorns.
+
+From March to May there was an interesting correspondence between
+Edward and some minor states and municipalities on the other side of
+the North Sea, whose people, Edward understood, had harboured, or
+even assisted, his Scots enemies. They all denied the allegation. The
+statesmanlike answer of the Count of Flanders, however, is peculiarly
+notable. 'Our land of Flanders,' he wrote, 'is common to all men, of
+whatever country, and freely open to all comers; and we cannot deny
+admission to merchants doing their business as they have hitherto been
+accustomed, for thereby we should bring our land to desolation and
+ruin.'
+
+But Berwick must be recaptured. On the loss of Berwick town, Edward
+had angrily summoned his forces to muster at York on July 26, 1318.
+So few of them appeared, however, that he was forced to postpone the
+expedition. On June 4, 1319, he ordered the Welsh levies to be at
+Newcastle by July 24 at latest; and, two days after, he wrote to the
+Pope that he hoped now 'to put a bit in the jaws of the Scots.' But
+another postponement was forced on him. On July 20, however, he issued
+a peremptory order for a muster at Michaelmas. His May parliament at
+York had granted him certain taxes, his treasury being 'exhausted more
+than is believed'; and his good friend the Pope had added a material
+contribution. But the levy could not be collected till Michaelmas,
+and meantime the King appealed for an advance. There must have been
+a favourable response, for early in September he encamped before
+Berwick with some 10,000 or 12,000 men, his fleet occupying the
+harbour. Having entrenched his lines, he delivered a general assault on
+September 7. The besiegers hastily filled the dykes and placed their
+scaling-ladders, but the garrison threw them down as fast as they
+were raised. The lowness of the wall was not altogether in favour of
+the assailants, for the besieged on the top could easily thrust their
+spears in their faces. In the course of the afternoon the English
+brought a ship on the flood-tide up to the wall, with a boat lashed to
+midmast, whence a bridge was to be let down for landing a storming
+party. They were embarrassed in their efforts, however, and the ship,
+being left aground by the ebb-tide, was burned by the Scots, the
+sallying party with difficulty regaining the town. The fight went on
+briskly till night, when the combatants agreed to postpone its renewal
+for five days.
+
+Though King Robert had mustered a considerable force, probably as large
+as Edward's, he deemed it more prudent to despatch it on a raid into
+England than to launch it directly against the English entrenchments.
+He had, indeed, good reason to rely upon the skill and energy of the
+Steward. The five days' truce over, the English, on September 13, moved
+forward on wheels an immense sow, not only covering a mining party,
+but carrying scaffolds for throwing a storming party on the wall. By
+this time, John Crab, whom we have already met as a sea-captain or
+pirate, and whom the Count of Flanders presently assured Edward he
+would break on the wheel, if he could only get hold of him, had proved
+himself engineer enough to devise a 'crane,' which must have been of
+the nature of a catapult; and this engine he ran along the wall on
+wheels to encounter the sow. The first shot passed over the monster;
+the second just fell short; the third crashed through the main beam,
+and frightened the men out. 'Your sow has farrowed,' cried the Scots.
+Crab now lowered blazing faggots of combustible stuff upon the sow, and
+burnt it up. But presently another attempt was made from the harbour,
+and Crab's engine was hurried up to fight ships with top-castles
+full of men, and with fall-bridges ready at midmast. The first shot
+demolished the top gear of one of the ships, bringing down the men; and
+the other ships kept a safe distance.
+
+Meantime the general attack raged all along the wall. Sir Walter the
+Steward rode from point to point, supplying here and there men from
+his own bodyguard, till it was reduced from a hundred to a single
+man-at-arms. The severest pressure was at Mary Gate. The besiegers
+forced the advance barricade, burned the drawbridge, and fired the
+gate. Sir Walter drew reinforcements from the castle, which had not
+been attacked, threw open Mary Gate and sallied upon the foe, driving
+them back after a very hard struggle, and saving the gate. Night
+separated the combatants. Barbour tells how the women and children of
+the town had carried arrows to the men on the walls, and regards it as
+a miracle that not one of them was slain or wounded. But clearly the
+Steward could not sustain many days of such heavy fighting.
+
+The Scots army under Randolph and Douglas had meanwhile followed the
+familiar track through Ripon and Boroughbridge, harrying and burning
+and slaying. They appear to have made a serious attempt to capture
+Edward's Queen, who was then staying near York; but the Archbishop,
+learning this intention from a Scots spy that had been taken prisoner,
+sallied forth and brought her into the city, and sent her by water
+to Nottingham. Trokelowe speaks of certain 'false Englishmen' that
+had been bribed by the Scots, and Robert of Reading specifies Sir
+Edmund Darel as the guide of the invaders in the attempt. Next day the
+Archbishop, with Bishop Hotham of Ely, the Chancellor of England, and
+an unwieldy multitude of clergy and townspeople numbering some 10,000,
+advanced against the Scots between Myton and Thornton-on-Swale, about
+twelve miles north of York. 'These,' said the Scots, 'are not soldiers,
+but hunters; they will not do much good.' For the English 'came through
+the fields in scattered fashion, and not in united order.' The Scots
+formed a schiltron, and set fire to some hay in front, the smoke from
+which was blown into the faces of the English. As they met, the Scots
+raised a great shout, and the enemy, 'more intent on fleeing than on
+fighting,' took to their heels. The Scots mounted in pursuit, killing
+(says the Lanercost chronicle) clergy and laymen, about 4000, including
+Nicholas Fleming, the Mayor of York, while about 1000, 'as was said,'
+were drowned in the Swale. Many were captured and held to heavy ransom.
+The Archbishop lost, not only his men, his carriages, and his equipment
+generally, but all his plate, 'silver and bronze as well,' which his
+servants had 'thoughtlessly' taken to the field; and yet the blame may
+rest elsewhere, for the York host appears to have fully anticipated
+that the Scots would flee at sight of them. The Primate's official
+cross was saved by the bearer, who dashed on horseback through the
+Swale and carefully hid it, escaping himself in the dusk of the
+evening. Then a countryman, who had observed the cross and watched the
+bearer's retreat, discovered it, wound wisps of hay about it, and kept
+it in his hut till search was made for it, whereupon he restored it to
+the Archbishop. Such is John of Bridlington's story. The whole episode
+contrasts markedly with the exploit of Bishop Sinclair in Fife. It
+was contemptuously designated, from the number of ecclesiastics, 'the
+Chapter of Myton.'
+
+The Myton disaster occurred on September 20, and on September 24 Edward
+raised the siege of Berwick. Certain chroniclers speak of intestine
+dissensions, and particularly of a quarrel with Lancaster over the
+appointment of wardens of town and castle once Berwick was taken. The
+Lanercost chronicler says Edward desired to detach a body to intercept
+the Scots, and with the rest to carry on the siege; but his magnates
+would not hear of it. He accordingly abandoned the siege, and marched
+westward to cut off the retreat of the Scots. Randolph had penetrated
+to Castleford Bridge, near Pontefract, and swept up Airedale and
+Wharfdale; and, passing by Stainmoor and Gilsland, he eluded Edward's
+army, and carried into Scotland many captives and immense plunder. It
+remained for Edward but to disband his troops, and go home, as usual,
+with empty hands.
+
+About a month later (November 1), when the crops were harvested in
+northern England, Randolph and Douglas returned with fire and sword.
+They burnt Gilsland, and passed down to Brough (Burgh) under Stainmoor;
+turned back on Westmorland, which they ravaged for ten or twelve days,
+and went home through Cumberland. They mercilessly burnt barns and the
+stored crops, and swept the country of men and cattle.
+
+Edward began to think of truce. In his letter of December 4 to the
+Pope, he represents that urgent proposals for peace had come to
+him from Bruce and his friends. In any case, the step was a most
+sensible one. On December 21, terms were agreed on, and next day Bruce
+confirmed them. This truce was to run for two years and the odd days
+to Christmas. Bruce agreed to raise no new fortresses within the
+counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Dumfries. He delivered the castle
+of Harbottle to Edward's commissioners, 'as private persons,' with the
+proviso that, unless a final peace were made by Michaelmas, it should
+be either redelivered to him or demolished. On August 25, 1321, Edward
+commanded that it should be destroyed 'as secretly as possible.'
+
+In autumn 1319, the Pope, at the instance of Edward, had given orders
+for a revival of the excommunications against Bruce and his friends;
+but on January 8, 1319-20, he cited Bruce and the Bishops of St
+Andrews, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, and Moray, to compear before him by May
+1. The summons went unheeded; he had not addressed Bruce as King.
+Excommunications were again hurled at Bruce and his bishops, and
+Scotland was laid under ecclesiastical interdict. Meanwhile, however,
+the Scots 'barons, freeholders, and all the community of the realm'--no
+churchmen, be it observed--assembled at Arbroath Abbey on April 6, and
+addressed to his Holiness a memorable word in season. First, as to
+their kingdom and their King:
+
+  Our nation continued to enjoy freedom and peace under the
+  protection of the Papal See, till Edward, the late King of the
+  English, in the guise of a friend and ally, attacked our realm,
+  then without a head, and our people, then thinking no evil or
+  deceit, and unaccustomed to war or aggression. The acts of
+  injury, murder, violence, burning, imprisonment of prelates,
+  burning of abbeys, spoliation and slaying of ecclesiastics, and
+  other enormities besides, which he practised on our people,
+  sparing no age or sex, creed or rank, no man could describe or
+  fully understand without the teaching of experience. From such
+  countless evils, by the help of Him that woundeth and maketh
+  whole, we have been delivered by the strenuous exertions of
+  our Sovereign Lord, King Robert, who, for the deliverance of
+  his people and his inheritance from the hands of the enemy,
+  like another Maccabeus or Joshua, cheerfully endured toils and
+  perils, distress and want. Him the Divine Providence, that legal
+  succession in accordance with our laws and customs, which we are
+  resolved to uphold even to death, and the due consent of us all,
+  made our Prince and King. To him, as the man that has worked out
+  the salvation of the people, we, in maintenance of our freedom,
+  by reason as well of his merits as of his right, hold and are
+  resolved to adhere in all things. If he should abandon our cause,
+  with the intention of subjecting us or our realm to the King
+  of England or to the English, we should instantly strain every
+  nerve to expel him as our enemy and the subverter of both his own
+  rights and ours, and choose another for our King, such a one as
+  should suffice for our defence; for, so long as a hundred of us
+  remain alive, never will we be reduced to any sort of subjection
+  to the dominion of the English. For it is not for glory, or
+  riches, or honours, that we contend, but for freedom alone, which
+  no man worthy of the name loses but with his life.
+
+With this noble and resolute declaration, they appealed to the Pope
+to 'admonish' Edward, who ought to be content with his own dominions,
+anciently held enough for seven kings, and 'to leave in peace us
+Scotsmen, dwelling in our poor and remote country, and desiring nothing
+but our own,' for which 'we are ready and willing to do anything we can
+consistently with our national interests.' But, further, as to the Pope
+himself:
+
+  If, however, your Holiness, yielding too credulous an ear to the
+  reports of our English enemies, do not give sincere credit to
+  what we now say, or do not cease from showing them favour to our
+  confusion, it is on you, we believe, that in the sight of the
+  Most High, must be charged the loss of lives, the perdition of
+  souls, and all the other miseries that they will inflict on us
+  and we on them.
+
+This memorable declaration was not without effect. On August 13, the
+Pope earnestly impressed Edward with the duty of keeping on good terms
+with Bruce. And on August 18, he wrote that, on the prayer of Bruce by
+his envoys, Sir Edward de Mambuisson and Sir Adam de Gordon, he had
+granted suspension of the personal citation and of the publication of
+the sentences till the 1st of April next year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT
+
+
+The Scots manifesto of April 6, 1320, presented a united and firm front
+to English pretensions and Papal intrigues. Yet there were traitors
+in the camp. Little more than four months had elapsed when the Black
+Parliament, held at Scone on August 20, was investigating a conspiracy
+to kill King Robert and elevate to the throne Sir William de Soulis.
+Sir William was a brother of Sir John, and a grandson of Sir Nicholas,
+one of the Competitors in 1292. Edward's emissaries had been tampering
+with the fidelity of King Robert's barons.
+
+The plot still remains involved in obscurity. It was discovered to
+the King, Barbour heard, by a lady. Gray, however, as well as John of
+Tynmouth, states that the informant was Sir Murdoch de Menteith, who
+had come over to Bruce in 1316-17, and remained on the Scots side till
+his death some sixteen years later; but, apart from his name, there
+seems no reason to suppose that he was in Edward's pay. Sir William was
+arrested at Berwick, with 360 squires in his livery (says Barbour), to
+say nothing of 'joly' knights. He openly confessed his guilt, and was
+interned for life in Dumbarton Castle. The Countess of Strathearn was
+also imprisoned for life. Sir David de Brechin, Sir John de Logie, and
+Richard Brown a squire, were drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Sir Roger de
+Mowbray opportunely died; but his body was brought up and condemned
+to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded--a ghastly sentence considerately
+remitted by the King. Sir Eustace de Maxwell, Sir Walter de Barclay,
+Sheriff of Aberdeen, Sir Patrick de Graham, and two squires, Hamelin de
+Troupe and Eustace de Rattray, were fully acquitted. Soulis, Brechin,
+Mowbray, Maxwell, and Graham had all attended the Arbroath parliament,
+and put their seals to the loyal manifesto.
+
+It is far from evident why Soulis escaped with imprisonment while
+Brechin and others were sent to the gallows. Robert may have judged
+that Soulis was a tool rather than prime mover of the plot; he may
+have regarded the long service of the culprit; he may have softened
+at the recollection of his brother Sir John's death by his own
+brother Edward's side. Brechin, no doubt, had considerable services
+to his credit. But his record shows grievous instability, and Robert
+probably had sound reasons for putting a period to his dubieties. His
+fate aroused painful regrets. Barbour narrates that Sir Ingram de
+Umfraville openly censured the sight-seers at his friend's execution,
+obtained leave to give the body honourable burial, and prepared to quit
+Scotland, telling the King he had no heart to remain after seeing so
+good a knight meet with such a fate. This story of Barbour's has been
+too hastily discredited.
+
+The position of Bruce remained unshaken. On November 17, Edward
+instructed various high officers to receive to his peace, 'as secretly
+as they could,' such Scots as felt their consciences troubled by the
+papal excommunication; and, on December 11, the Archbishop of York was
+empowered to release all such renegades from the censure of the Church.
+Sir Ingram de Umfraville was re-established in his Northumberland
+estates (January 26), and Sir Alexander de Mowbray (February 18) and
+Sir William de Mohaut (May 20) obtained Edward's pardon. But Bruce was
+practically unaffected by Edward's subterranean diplomacy.
+
+Openly, Edward maintained due observance of the truce, and by the
+middle of September 1320, had taken steps towards a final peace. The
+negotiations begun at Carlisle at Michaelmas were resumed at Newcastle
+on February 2, and continued for nine weeks; papal commissioners being
+present, and French envoys fostering the cause of peace. But the
+deliberations were fruitless. The Earl of Richmond's production of a
+mass of old parchments to demonstrate Edward's overlordship of Scotland
+indicates how little the English King and commissioners realised the
+facts of the situation.
+
+Throughout the summer and autumn of 1321, Edward was in hot water with
+the barons of the Welsh border. At the July parliament at Westminster,
+he was compelled to banish the Despensers, and to send home the
+turbulent lords with pardon. These troubles prevented him from sending
+the promised envoys to 'enlighten the consciences' of the Pope and his
+Cardinals as to the wickedness of the Scots. On August 25, however,
+he wrote the usual denunciatory generalities, and yet again impressed
+on his Holiness the necessity of dealing severely with Bruce and his
+adherents. The summons of Bruce and his four Bishops had meanwhile been
+postponed to September 1; but even then they did not compear. Edward's
+envoys, at last despatched on December 8, were still in very good
+time. Having taken Leeds Castle in Kent and driven back the marauding
+Marchers to the Welsh border, he informed the Pope that his domestic
+troubles were settling down, and, in view of an expedition on the
+expiry of the Scots truce at Christmas, he appealed for a subsidy from
+Rome. But already Lancaster was stretching one hand to Bruce and the
+other to the malcontents of the Welsh March.
+
+The Marchers rose, but Edward proved himself the stronger, and by the
+third week of January received the submission of the Mortimers. On
+February 8, he tried conciliation with Lancaster, and also authorised
+Harcla to treat with Bruce for 'some sort of final peace.' Lancaster,
+however, received the Welsh insurgents, and harassed Edward's advance,
+but was compelled to fall back on his castle of Pontefract.
+
+Lancaster's negotiations with the Scots had begun as early as December.
+His emissary, Richard de Topcliffe, an ecclesiastic, had obtained a
+safe-conduct from Douglas (December 11) to visit Jedburgh, and one
+from Randolph (January 15) to come to him wherever he could find him.
+Randolph was then at Corbridge on a swift raid, while Douglas and the
+Steward advanced, the one towards Hartlepool and the other towards
+Richmond, harrying or taking ransom. Immediately on the junction
+of Hereford and his Marchers with Lancaster at Pontefract, in the
+beginning of February, before they went south to oppose Edward's
+advance, the rebel chiefs despatched John de Denum with a letter to
+Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas, 'or which of them he shall soonest find,'
+asking an appointment for a final agreement. The precise terms proposed
+were presently found on the dead body of Hereford at Boroughbridge.
+Bruce, if not detained by illness or other serious cause, and Randolph
+and Douglas, with their power, shall join the Earls in their enterprise
+'in England, Wales and Ireland, and with them live and die in the
+maintenance of their quarrel, without claiming conquest or dominion in
+the said lands of England, Wales, and Ireland.' The Earls, on their
+part, shall never aid Edward against the Scots, and, their quarrel
+ended, shall do their best to establish and maintain peace between the
+two countries on the footing of independence. Fortunately for Edward,
+John de Denum lost ten days in his peregrinations. He missed Douglas
+on February 7, and was unable to obtain his reply till February 17.
+On February 16, Randolph, then at Cavers, near Hawick, had issued a
+safe-conduct for Sir John de Mowbray and Sir Roger de Clifford to come
+to him in Scotland. In either case, the ten days were gone. But for
+this accident, the history of the English crown would probably have
+been turned into another channel.
+
+The approach of the royal troops decided the insurgents to retire
+towards the Scots, to Lancaster's castle of Dunstanburgh. At
+Boroughbridge, however, they were confronted by Harcla on March 16, and
+disastrously defeated. Hereford was slain on the bridge; Lancaster was
+captured, tried, and beheaded. Harcla was created Earl of Carlisle.
+'Do not trouble yourself,' wrote Edward to the Pope (March 25), 'to
+proclaim a truce between me and the Scots. Formerly some exigencies
+inclined me to a truce, but now, thank God, these no longer exist, and
+I am constrained, by God's help, to war them down for their broken
+faith.'
+
+Edward at once summoned his army to muster at Newcastle by the second
+week in June; but early in May he postponed the assembly till July 24.
+By that time, however, the Scots had completed another destructive
+raid. Before mid June, a force had crossed the western March; and in
+the beginning of July, Robert himself, with Randolph and Douglas,
+penetrated beyond Preston and ravaged the length and breadth of
+Lancashire and the archdeaconry of Richmond, burning Lancaster town and
+castle 'so entirely that nothing is left,' and carrying off what cattle
+had not been driven for safety into the remoter parts of Yorkshire.
+They do not seem to have encountered local opposition. As they
+returned, they lay five days before Carlisle, without drawing forth the
+prudent Harcla; and on July 24, they struck their tents for home.
+
+The English army followed them, entering Scotland by the eastern March
+in the first days of August. Robert withdrew both men and cattle from
+the Merse and the Lothians, either to the strongholds or beyond the
+Forth, and lay with his army at Culross. Barbour tells how an English
+foraging party found but one lame cow at Tranent: 'It is the dearest
+beef I ever saw yet,' remarked Warenne, 'it must have cost £1000 and
+more.' Edward himself subsequently wrote that he had 'found neither
+man nor beast' in the Lothians. The English fleet failed to bring up
+provisions, and, on August 23, Edward found himself with some 7000
+men at Leith, in like predicament with his father before the battle
+of Falkirk. He was starved into retreat. Immediately the Scots hung
+upon his rear, and Douglas cut up an advance company of 300 men near
+Melrose. The English had sacked Holyrood; they now sacked Melrose
+Abbey, killing the prior and others; and they burnt to the ground
+Dryburgh and other monasteries. 'But,' says Fordun, 'God rewarded them
+therefor.'
+
+Bruce instantly followed up his advantage. By the middle of September,
+the Scots were before Bamborough and Norham. Bamborough bought off the
+invaders; and on September 26, Sir Roger de Horsley, the constable,
+as well as the constables of Warkworth, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick
+castles, received a severe wigging from Edward for not showing fight
+against such an inferior force. Norham was defended by Sir Thomas Gray
+the elder against an inadequate body of 200 Scots. Edward displayed
+great energy of rebuke and counsel, while Robert steadily advanced
+southwards. On October 14, the English army barred the way on the ridge
+of Blackhowe Moor between Biland and Rievaulx; but Bruce's rapid action
+enabled him to strike a decisive blow before the Earl of Carlisle, who
+was at Boroughbridge with 2000 (surely not, as some say, 20,000) horse
+and foot, could effect a junction, if indeed he really meant to do so.
+
+Douglas at once offered to storm the English position, and Randolph,
+leaving his own division, led the way up the hill as a volunteer. The
+Scots were strongly opposed by Sir Ralph de Cobham, who was held to
+be the best knight of his day in England, and by Sir Thomas Ughtred,
+constable of Pickering, whose gallantry in the fight raised him to
+a higher position than even Cobham. The assailants were grievously
+embarrassed by stones rolled down upon them and by the fire of the
+archers. Robert supported them by sending 'the Irishry,' the Argyll
+Highlanders, and the men of the Isles to scramble up the crags in
+flank. At the top they were confronted by the main body under the
+Earl of Richmond, but they charged with such impetuosity as broke
+the English ranks and scattered them in flight; Gray even uses the
+conventional expression, 'like a hare before hounds.' 'In these
+days,' says John of Bridlington, 'the Lord took away the hearts of
+the English.' Richmond was captured and held to heavy ransom (14,000
+marks). Lord Henri de Sully and other French knights surrendered to
+Douglas; by arrangement with whom, King Robert soon released them by
+way of diplomatic compliment to the King of France. Edward narrowly
+escaped from Biland Abbey and fled through the night to Bridlington,
+whence the prior conducted him to Burstwick. Sir Walter the Steward
+pursued as far as York. Robert occupied the abbeys of Biland and
+Rievaulx and divided the spoils of the English camp and the king's
+baggage. Then, making Malton his headquarters, he wasted Yorkshire at
+his will, taking ransoms from Ripon, Beverley, and other towns, and
+despoiling religious houses; and he returned, with immense booty, to
+keep Christmas in Scotland.
+
+Three calamitous invasions in one year might well have induced
+reflection in a statesmanlike mind. They merely excited Edward's
+impotent eagerness for revenge. But the Earl of Carlisle, as doughty
+a warrior as the best, saw that the contest was both hopeless and
+ruinous; and on January 3, 1322-23, he was closeted with Randolph at
+Lochmaben. There and then they drafted an agreement. The fundamental
+provisions were: (1) that each realm should have its own national
+King; (2) that the Earl should aid King Robert in maintaining Scotland
+against all gainsayers; and (3) that King Robert and the Earl should
+maintain the realm of England under the direction of a council of
+twelve, six to be chosen by each party. Then, if the King of England
+should assent to these conditions within a year, King Robert was to
+found an abbey in Scotland, of 500 marks rent, for the souls of the men
+slain in war, and to pay an indemnity of 40,000 marks within ten years;
+and the King of England was to have the marriage of the heir male of
+the King of Scotland under advice of the council of twelve.
+
+Harcla at once published the terms of the agreement, and they were
+received with intense satisfaction on the Border. He appears to have
+acted in concert with the chief officers in these parts, and to have
+believed, or at least professed, that he acted within the terms of
+his commission. Edward, however, on January 8, ordered that no truce
+be made without his knowledge, and summoned Harcla to his presence;
+and on January 19, he sent a copy of the Lochmaben indenture to his
+Council at York, with the comment that it appeared to him 'fraught with
+great danger.' He had already (January 13) instituted a search of the
+Chancery rolls for any authorisation to Harcla to treat with the Scots.
+On February 25, Harcla was arrested in Carlisle Castle; and on March
+3, he was tried, condemned, and barbarously executed. The charge of
+treason, though formally too well grounded, was essentially baseless;
+otherwise it is unintelligible that Harcla should have limited his
+measures of self-defence to the procurement of the formal oaths of the
+northern sheriffs to stand by him 'in all things touching the common
+good of England and the said peace.' His action was simply the action
+of a strong, business-like, and patriotic man, forgetful of finesse.
+His mistake lay in omitting to obtain express authority to treat, and
+in neglecting either to veil his contempt for the King, or to provide
+against his natural resentment, inflamed as it was sure to be by the
+envy of personal enemies.
+
+The death of Harcla, the keenest and ablest warrior in England, did
+not remove the difficulties from Edward's path. In a fortnight he was
+treating for peace--'was frightened, and begged for peace,' according
+to the _Flores Historiarum_--though in his own perversely maladroit
+fashion. On March 21, Robert wrote to Lord Henri de Sully, Edward's
+envoy, in substance this:
+
+  The King of England's letter, of which you sent me a copy
+  yesterday, bears that he has granted a cessation of arms to the
+  people of Scotland at war with him. This language is very strange
+  to me. In former truces taken between us, I was named principal
+  of the one part, as he was of the other part, although he did
+  not vouchsafe to me the title of King. But on this occasion, no
+  more mention is made of me than of the least person in my realm;
+  so that, in case of a breach, I should be no more entitled than
+  another to demand redress. Do not be surprised, then, that I do
+  not agree to this truce. If, however, it were put before me in
+  the proper way, I should willingly sanction it, as I promised
+  you. I send you a copy of the King's letter; for I imagine you
+  have not seen it, or, if you have, you have paid but scant
+  attention to its terms.
+
+After some futile negotiations at Newcastle, a truce was at last
+concluded at Bishopsthorpe, near York, to last till June 12, and for
+thirteen years thereafter. On May 30, 1323, Edward ordered it to be
+proclaimed throughout England; and on June 7, Robert ratified it at
+Berwick. Each party was to evacuate all lands of the other by June
+12; neither party was to build or repair fortresses on the March,
+excepting constructions in progress; and Edward was to interpose no
+obstacle to any attempt of Robert and his friends to obtain absolution
+at Rome. During the negotiations, Edward had been summoning his forces
+in England, Ireland, and Gascony, in the belief that the Scots were
+really purposing another invasion; but in the first days of June he
+countermanded the muster.
+
+King Robert was sincerely anxious to set himself and his people right
+with the Church. He despatched Randolph as his ambassador. On his way
+south, Randolph, with the Bishop of St Andrews, treated with Edward's
+commissioners for a final peace; and, at any rate, on November 25,
+he got Edward to write to the Pope and the Cardinals in favour of a
+grant of absolution to the Scots during the peace negotiations. How
+Randolph fared at Rome we learn from a letter of the Pope's to Edward,
+dated January 1, 1323-24. First, he begged for the usual indulgences
+necessary to enable him to fulfil his vow to go on a crusade. The Pope
+refused: there would be little good to the Holy Land or to his own
+soul, while he lay under the Church's censure; but the request might
+be reconsidered if he would effect a permanent peace with England
+and satisfy the Church. Secondly, Randolph prayed for safe conducts
+for Bruce's envoys, presently to be sent to procure reconciliation
+with the Church. The Pope refused, for the present, but he agreed to
+direct the usual application to the princes on the line of route.
+Thirdly, Randolph put forward Robert's readiness to join the King of
+France in his proposed crusade, or, if the King of France did not go,
+then to proceed himself or send Randolph instead. The Pope replied
+that reconciliation with the Church was an indispensable condition
+precedent. Fourthly, Randolph declared that King Robert and himself
+desired above all things to obtain peace and reconciliation, and that
+it really lay with His Holiness to bring their ardent desires to
+fruition. Let him address himself to Robert as King, and Robert would
+readily respond to his wishes; it was the reservation of the royal
+title that blocked the way. The Pope consented to address Robert by the
+royal title.
+
+Edward was keenly annoyed. The Pope, after setting forth the facts of
+Randolph's interview, had earnestly begged Edward not to take it ill
+that he had consented to address Robert as King. It could do him no
+harm; it could do Robert no good. He was intensely anxious for peace,
+and, if he did not give Robert the royal title, Robert would not look
+at his letters any more than he had done before. But Edward did not
+agree. He bluntly urged that the concession would prejudice his right
+and his honour, bring discredit on the Church, and enable Bruce to make
+capital of his wrong-doing. He recapitulated his claims to Scotland,
+contended that no change should be introduced during the truce, and
+pointed out that the concession would be popularly construed as a papal
+confirmation of Bruce's title. Let the title therefore be reserved as
+before.
+
+Then Edward played another card: he invited Edward de Balliol, son of
+ex-King John, to come over to England. The safe-conduct was issued on
+July 2; and it was not Edward's fault that Balliol postponed his visit.
+Meantime, in the midst of conflict with France over Aquitaine, Edward
+continued negotiations with Robert for final peace. But no agreement
+could be reached. The true cause appears in Edward's letter of March
+8, 1324-25, to the Pope. There had recently been a meeting of envoys
+at York, but the Scots would not yet budge from their old position,
+and 'I could not meet their wishes without manifest disherison of my
+royal crown.' His envoys had proposed to refer the knotty point to the
+decision of His Holiness; but 'this they absolutely declined.' The
+Scots, indeed, had apparently stiffened their demands. According to
+the Monk of Malmesbury, they had claimed not only the independence of
+Scotland, but also the north of England down to the gates of York (by
+right of conquest), and the restoration of Bruce's manor of Writtle in
+Essex, as well as of the famous coronation stone.
+
+In May, Scots envoys were again on the road to Rome, and Edward wrote
+to the Pope, informing him that he was sending ambassadors to guard his
+own interests. Again, on September 23, he wrote to the Pope and the
+Cardinals urging them not to recall the sentences of excommunication
+till the Scots should surrender Berwick to him--Berwick, captured
+treacherously in defiance of the papal truce. The Pope consented,
+and on October 18 Edward expressed effusive thanks. But he reaped no
+advantage from the diplomatic victory: in three months he was deposed
+by his Parliament for notorious incompetence.
+
+On January 25, 1326-27, Edward, Prince of Wales, a boy of fifteen,
+was proclaimed King. He presently confirmed the thirteen years' truce
+(February 15), and appointed envoys to treat for final peace (March 4).
+The meeting was to take place on the March on May 17. But, on April 5,
+Edward III. summoned his power to be at Newcastle by May 18, averring
+that he had sure information that Robert was massing his troops on the
+Border with the intention of invading England if his own terms of peace
+were not conceded. It seems much more likely that Robert's action was
+purely precautionary in view of the disturbed condition of the English
+March; but a hostile construction was favoured by the fact that many
+of the most turbulent fellows in Northumberland were Scots. On the
+other hand, Barbour is likely enough to be right in asserting that
+Robert was unable to obtain redress for the seizure of Scots vessels in
+English and Flemish waters; and it may be, as he says, that for this
+reason Robert openly renounced the truce. At the same time, Robert
+must have heard of Edward's warlike preparations by land and sea. This
+may be what Fordun has in view when he says that the duplicity of the
+English was at length laid bare. Edward's summons was issued on April
+5, and Froissart places Robert's formal defiance 'about Easter' (April
+12); but this date must be nearly two months too early. One thing is
+certain: Robert was in no aggressive mood, and would not have resumed
+hostilities without really serious provocation.
+
+About the middle of June a body of Scots crossed the Border, and on
+July 4 they were at Appleby, almost in touch with the Earl Marshal.
+Edward was at York, where he had been joined by Sir John of Hainault,
+Lord of Beaumont, with a body of heavy cavalry, between whom and the
+English archers much bad blood had been spilt in the streets of York.
+His army was very large--Barbour says 50,000; Froissart says upwards
+of 40,000 men-at-arms; Murimuth says three times as large and strong
+as the Scots army--a force difficult alike to handle and to feed in a
+rough and wasted country, especially in face of the Scots veterans. On
+July 13, Edward had reached Northallerton, and had learned that the
+Scots intended to mass their forces near Carlisle.
+
+By this time the Scots army, under Randolph and Douglas, had ravaged
+Coquetdale and penetrated into the Episcopate of Durham. When Edward
+reached Durham city, he was apprised of the passage of the Scots by a
+track of smoking ruins and devastated fields. He decided to bar their
+return. Advancing with his cavalry, he crossed the Tyne at Haydon
+Bridge (July 26), leaving his infantry on the south side. But the Scots
+did not come, and between drenching rains and lack of provisions his
+troops were worn out in body and in temper. The men, says Froissart,
+'tore the meat out of each other's hands'; and 'great murmurs arose
+in the army.' After a week's distressful experience, he determined to
+seek the enemy southwards, and offered a reward of £100 a year in land,
+as well as knighthood, to the man that should bring him in sight of
+them 'on hard and dry ground' fit for battle. He crossed the Tyne at
+Haltwhistle fords, losing many men in the swollen river. On the fourth
+day, Thomas de Rokeby reported the Scots, and brought Edward face to
+face with them on the Wear.
+
+The Scots were strongly posted on a rising ground on the south bank:
+Froissart numbers them 24,000; Barbour, much more probably, 10,000.
+Douglas made a reconnaissance, and reported a strong army in seven
+divisions. 'We will fight them,' cried Randolph, 'were they more'; but
+Douglas counselled patience. Presently Edward sent heralds, offering
+to retire far enough to allow the Scots room to array themselves for
+battle on the north side on the morrow; or, if the Scots preferred, to
+accept like terms on the south side. It was an unconscious repetition
+of the offer of Tomyris, Queen of Massagetai, to Cyrus, on the Araxes
+river. But the Scots, evidently too weak to fight in a plain field,
+replied that they would do neither the one thing nor the other; that
+the King and his barons saw they were in his kingdom and had burnt and
+pillaged wherever they had passed, and that, if this displeased the
+King, he might come and amend it; for they would tarry there as long
+as they pleased.' That night the English lay on their arms. Part of
+the Scots also kept themselves in readiness, while the rest retired
+to their huts, 'where they made marvellously great fires, and, about
+midnight, such a blasting and noise with their horns that it seemed as
+if all the great devils from hell had been come there.'
+
+The next two days the Scots and English lay watching each other across
+the Wear. On the first day, a thousand English archers, supported by
+men-at-arms, attempted to draw the Scots. Douglas, planting an ambush
+under the Earl of Mar (who had at length joined the Scots) and his
+own son Archibald of Douglas, rode forward, with a cloak over his
+armour, and gradually gave way to their onset, till he had enticed them
+within reach of the ambush. At Douglas's signal, the ambush broke upon
+the pursuers, and slew 300 of them. Next day, the English put 1000
+horsemen in ambush in a valley behind the Scots position, and delivered
+a front attack. Douglas was advancing to repel the assailants when he
+was informed of the force in rear, and instantly drew back his men.
+'They flee,' cried some Englishmen; but John of Hainault explained the
+manoeuvre, and, according to Barbour, pronounced the Scots captain fit
+'to govern the Empire of Rome.'
+
+On the following morning--probably August 3--the Scots were gone.
+They had moved about two miles along the river, and occupied a still
+stronger position in Stanhope Park. In the afternoon the English were
+again facing them. About midnight, Douglas, with 200 horsemen--Barbour
+says 500--crossed the Wear, and rode boldly into the English camp.
+'No guard, by St George!' he exclaimed, on being discovered, as if he
+were an English officer. He made right for the King's pavilion, and,
+shouting his war-cry, actually 'cut two or three of its cords.' The
+King most narrowly escaped capture or death. Douglas got clear with
+but insignificant loss, and, collecting his men by a prearranged note
+of his horn, he returned to camp. Randolph, who was waiting under
+arms, ready for rescue or aid, eagerly asked the news. 'Sir,' replied
+Douglas, 'we have drawn blood.'
+
+The success of Douglas suggested to Randolph that a larger party might
+have inflicted defeat on the English. Douglas had his grave doubts.
+Randolph again proposed a pitched battle. Douglas objected, in view of
+the disastrous effects in case of defeat. No; better treat the English
+as the fox treated the fisherman. The fox had entered the fisherman's
+cottage and was eating a salmon. The fisherman discovered him, and
+stood on the threshold with a drawn sword in his hand. The fox, seeing
+the fisherman's cloak on the bed, dragged it into the fire. Thereupon
+the fisherman rushed to save his cloak, and the fox bolted out at
+the unguarded door. Douglas, in fact, had planned a mode of escape,
+and, though somewhat wet ('sumdele wat'), it would serve. Randolph
+gave way. So the Scots made merry in the day time, burnt great fires
+at night, and blew their horns 'as if all the world were theirs.'
+Occasional skirmishes took place, and the English drew round the Scots
+on both sides, leaving their rear open on a morass believed to be
+impassable. Meantime Douglas made his preparations.
+
+It was probably on the night of August 6-7 that Douglas led the Scots
+army out of Stanhope Park. He took them across the morass, about a mile
+wide, over a causeway of branches, which the rear demolished as they
+passed. The men led their horses, and only a few baggage animals stuck
+fast. By daybreak the Scots were far on the way homewards. The English
+had been completely outwitted. On the day before, they had captured a
+Scots knight, who told them that orders had been issued 'for all to be
+armed by vespers and to follow the banner of Douglas,' he did not know
+where. The English lords suspected a night attack, and remained under
+arms. In the morning, two Scots trumpeters, who had been left to blow
+misleading blasts, were brought into camp. 'The Scots,' they said, 'are
+on the march home, since midnight; they left us behind to give you the
+information.' The English, fearing a ruse, continued to stand to their
+arms till their scouts confirmed the mortifying intelligence.
+
+The Scots were soon met by a considerable body of their countrymen
+under the Earl of March and Sir John the Steward. They all hurried back
+to Scotland by the western march. The English retired to Durham, and
+then to York, where the army was disbanded on August 15. Edward is said
+to have shed bitter tears over the collapse of his expedition. Some of
+the chroniclers allege unsupported charges of treachery, and mistakenly
+accuse Mortimer of accepting a heavy bribe to wink at the escape of the
+Scots. But the plain fact is that the English were outgeneralled at
+every turn.
+
+It was neither age nor sickness, as the chroniclers allege, that
+prevented King Robert from leading the Weardale foray. He was away
+in Ireland, creating a diversion. On July 12, at Glendun in Antrim,
+he granted a truce for a year to Henry de Maundeville, the English
+seneschal of Ulster, and his people, on condition of their delivering
+a certain quantity of wheat and barley at Lough Larne. The expedition
+does not seem to have been directly prosperous; the Irish, whom he had
+expected to rise and join him in Ulster, having apparently broken faith.
+
+Immediately on the return of the Scots from Weardale, King Robert
+passed into Northumberland. He sent Randolph and Douglas to besiege
+Alnwick Castle; set down another division before Norham Castle;
+and, with a third body, himself overran the neighbourhood. He even
+granted away the English lands to his chief followers. The attempt
+on Alnwick was unsuccessful, and, the open country having bought a
+truce, the leaders concentrated on Norham. On October 1, while Bruce
+still lay before Norham, Edward appointed commissioners to treat with
+him for final peace. After negotiations at Newcastle and York, the
+treaty was signed by Robert at Edinburgh on March 17; confirmed by
+the English Parliament on April 24; and finally, on May 4, signed
+by Edward at Northampton. Edward conceded in the fullest terms the
+absolute independence of Scotland as the marches stood in the days of
+Alexander III., and agreed to deliver up all extant documents relating
+to the overlordship, and in any case to annul them; and he consented
+to aid Robert to obtain the revocation of the papal processes. Robert
+agreed to pay £20,000 sterling in three years. And the peace was to be
+cemented by the marriage of David, the Scots heir-apparent, a boy of
+four, with Joan, King Edward's sister, a girl of six. In England, the
+peace was freely stigmatised as 'shameful,' and the marriage as 'base';
+partly on patriotic grounds, partly from dislike of Queen Isabella and
+Mortimer, who guided the policy of the King. The news of the death of
+the King of France no doubt gave an impulse to the English decision,
+for it would be necessary for Edward to have his hands free to assert
+his claim to the succession. The conditions were alike 'honourable for
+the Scots and necessary for England.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE HEART OF THE BRUCE
+
+
+King Robert the Bruce died at Cardross on the Clyde, on June 7, 1329, a
+little more than a month before the completion of his fifty-fifth year.
+The cause of his death is said to have been leprosy. Barbour says it
+was the development of a severe cold, a benumbment contracted in the
+hardships of his early wanderings. Apart from specific disease, the
+strain of his laborious reign of nearly a quarter of a century would
+have shaken the strongest constitution of man.
+
+In the last three years he had been struck by two severe bereavements:
+the death of his son-in-law, Sir Walter the Steward, a knight of great
+promise, on April 9, 1326; and the death of the queen, at Cullen, on
+October 26, 1327. In the latter year, indeed, in spite of increasing
+illness, he had taken the field in Ireland and in Northumberland. But
+he had been unable to attend the marriage of David and Joan at Berwick
+in July 1328. Still he continued to move about quietly. When, however,
+Douglas brought him back from a visit to Galloway in the end of March
+1329, it was not to be concealed that 'there was no way for him but
+death.' And, accordingly, he set his house in order.
+
+On October 15, 1328, the Pope had at last granted absolution to Robert
+from the excommunication pronounced by the cardinals, and, on November
+5, authorised his confessor to give him plenary remission in the hour
+of death.
+
+At a parliament held on November 14, 1328, at Scone, it had been
+settled that, in the event of David's dying without heir male of his
+body begotten, Robert the Steward, son of Marjory, should succeed; and
+that, if King Robert died during David's minority, Randolph should be
+regent, and, failing Randolph, Douglas. David and Joan were crowned,
+and David received homage and fealty.
+
+On May 11, 1329, the King assembled his prelates and barons to
+hear his last wishes. He gave directions for liberal largess to
+religious houses, with special consideration for Melrose Abbey, where
+he desired his heart to be buried. He declared his long-cherished
+intention--Froissart says his 'solemn vow'--after bringing his realm to
+peace, 'to go forth and war with the enemies of Christ, the adversaries
+of our holy Christian faith.' As he had been unable to carry out his
+fixed purpose, he wished his heart to be taken and borne against the
+foes of God. On Douglas was laid this great and noble charge. Froissart
+mentions a specific instruction: 'I wish that you convey my heart to
+the Holy Sepulchre where our Lord lay, and present it there, seeing my
+body cannot go thither. And wherever you come,' added the King, 'let it
+be known that you carry with you the heart of King Robert of Scotland,
+at his own instance and desire, to be presented at the Holy Sepulchre.'
+Douglas solemnly pledged himself to this last faithful service.
+
+On the death of King Robert, his heart was embalmed, and enclosed in a
+silver casket 'cunningly enamelled,' which Douglas bore always about
+his neck. Strangely enough, even in death, the King came in conflict
+with Rome; for the excision of his heart was a breach of a Papal Bull
+of 1299, involving excommunication of the mutilators, and excluding the
+body from ecclesiastical burial. On August 13, 1331, the Pope, at the
+prayer of Randolph, granted absolution to all that had taken part 'in
+the inhuman and cruel treatment' of the King's body.
+
+The body was embalmed, and carried through the Lennox, and by Dunipace
+and Cambuskenneth, to repose with the body of the Queen in Dunfermline
+Abbey--since Malcolm Canmore, the last resting-place of the Kings of
+Scotland. Over the King's grave was erected a marble monument, which he
+had ordered from Paris a twelvemonth before his death. It might have
+been supposed that never in time would any Scotsman lay a rude hand
+on the sepulchre of the greatest of Scottish kings; yet on March 28,
+1560, an insensate rabble of 'Reformers' razed the abbey to the ground,
+and broke in pieces the royal monument. In 1818, when foundations for
+a new church were being cleared, there were found, in a grave in front
+of the spot where the high altar of the Abbey Church had stood, the
+bones of a man whose breast-bone had been sawn asunder, and who had
+been buried in fine linen shot with gold thread. The probability that
+these were the bones of Bruce was enhanced by the surrounding fragments
+of black and white marble, well-polished, carved, and gilt. There lay
+also a mouldering skull, which five centuries agone may have held the
+powerful brain that dominated the field of Bannockburn.
+
+Douglas set about his preparations. Now that peace with England was
+established, and Randolph held the reins of State, there was no
+national reason why Douglas could not be spared for a time. Nor would
+warriors like Bruce and his paladins have ever weighed for a moment
+the risks of the sacred mission. It seems a misapprehension to suggest
+either selfishness or ingratitude on the part of the dying King. Nor
+is there any substantial ground for imagining that Robert feared any
+lack of harmony between his two great lieutenants. Barbour's casual
+suggestion of petty rivalry between them cannot weigh for a moment
+against their constant association in scores of enterprises. Their
+rivalry was of noble quality. The King had made a knightly vow, and
+that vow he must, as far as might be, perform; it was hardly less a
+national than a personal obligation.
+
+On September 1, Douglas obtained from Edward III. letters of protection
+for seven years, and a letter of commendation to Alfonso XI., King of
+Castile and Leon. On February 1, 1329-30, the day of the patron saint
+of his house, St Bride, he bestowed lands on the Abbey of Newbattle to
+secure her special intercession in his spiritual interests. Shortly
+thereafter he set out on his mission, with 'a noble company'--one
+knight banneret, seven other knights, twenty-six squires, and a large
+retinue. According to Froissart, he sailed from Montrose to Sluys,
+where he lay twelve days, thinking he might be joined by other knights
+'going beyond the sea to Jerusalem'; and then to Valencia in Spain.
+According to Barbour he sailed from Berwick direct to Seville. In any
+case, he proceeded to the camp of Alfonso, then on his frontier warring
+against Osmyn, the Moorish King of Granada, and was received with
+honour befitting his fame and his mission. The knights with Alfonso
+were eagerly curious to see the famous Scot; and one notable warrior
+expressed his great surprise that Douglas's face was not seamed with
+scars like his own. 'Praised be God!' said Douglas, 'I always had hands
+to defend my head.'
+
+On August 25, 1330, the Christian and Moorish armies faced each other
+near Theba on the Andalusian frontier. Froissart states that Douglas
+mistook a forward movement of the Spanish troops for the onset of
+battle, and charged the Moors furiously; but the Spaniards had halted
+and left him unsupported. The story seems little consonant with
+Douglas's warlike intelligence. Barbour says that Alfonso assigned to
+Douglas the command of the van--which is very unlikely, unless he also
+assigned him an interpreter. He also asserts that Douglas hurled the
+precious casket 'a stone-cast and well more' into the ranks of the
+enemy, exclaiming--
+
+      '"Now pass thou forth before
+    As thou wast wont in field to be,
+    And I shall follow, or else dee"';
+
+and that he fought his way to it and recovered it, 'taking it up with
+great daintie.' This, too, is but a fantastic embellishment of the
+cloister. Barbour, of course, proceeds to rout the Moors and to make
+Douglas press on ahead of his company, attended by only ten men. Seeing
+Sir William de St Clair surrounded, however, Douglas spurred to his
+friend's rescue, but was overpowered by numbers and slain. Among those
+that fell with him were Sir William de St Clair and Sir Robert and Sir
+Walter Logan.
+
+The bones of Douglas were brought home by Sir William de Keith, who
+had been kept out of the battle by a broken arm, and were buried in
+the church of St Bride of Douglas. The silver casket with the heart of
+Bruce was buried by Randolph, 'with great worship,' in Melrose Abbey.
+
+Douglas has been charged with breach of trust. It is argued that he
+ought not to have gone to Spain, but to have crossed the continent to
+Venice or the south of France, and made direct for Jerusalem. It is
+hardly worth while to remark that this is just what Boece says he did,
+his death taking place in Spain on his way home. It is more to the
+purpose that the Holy Sepulchre was then in the hands of the Saracens,
+and that Spain was the central point of opposition to the infidels.
+But what Douglas ought or ought not to have done depends solely on the
+precise terms of his trust; and it may be taken as certain that he
+knew King Robert's mind better than either Barbour or Froissart, or
+even their critics, and that he decided on his course in consultation
+with Randolph and the other magnates, prelates as well as barons.
+Edward's safe conduct and commendatory letter show by their terms that
+his going to Spain was no afterthought, but his original intention. To
+attribute to Douglas lack of 'strength of purpose' is to miss the whole
+significance of his career.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+King Robert must obviously have been a man of powerful physique and
+iron constitution. The early hardships and continuous toils of his
+reign could not have been sustained by any ordinary frame; and his
+recorded feats of strength, such as in the case of Wallace have been
+scouted as fabulous, have always been accepted without question. The
+Merton MS. of the 'Flores Historiarum' calls him 'a very powerful man,'
+on the occasion of his striking down Comyn. The killing of Sir Henry
+de Bohun in face of both armies speaks convincingly of muscle as well
+as of nerve. If the bones discovered in 1818 were his, they indicate
+that he stood about six feet in height. 'In figure,' says Major, 'he
+was graceful and athletic, with broad shoulders. His features were
+handsome, and he had the yellow hair of the northern race, and blue and
+sparkling eyes.'
+
+Bruce's outstanding characteristic, in Barbour's analysis, was his
+'hardiment:' he 'hardy was of head and hand.' That is to say, he was
+a strong, bold, and resolute soldier. But with hardiment he joined
+'wit'--judgment, prudence, measure; and the union of the two is
+'worship.' This 'worship' was undoubtedly the fundamental cause of
+Bruce's great career; and the most simple and conspicuous illustration
+of it is seen in the dramatic episode of De Bohun's death. Fordun
+pronounces that he 'was, beyond all living men of his day, a valiant
+knight.' And Barbour sums up--
+
+    'To whom, into gude chevelry,
+    I dar peir nane, wes in his day.
+    For he led hym with mesure ay.'
+
+It was this splendid hardiment controlled and directed by cool
+judgment, and supported by untiring industry in details, that ranked
+King Robert not merely as the second knight in Christendom, but as
+one of the most renowned generals of the age. His patient drudgery of
+preparation, his wary dispositions, his firmness of resolution, his
+promptitude to mark and remedy a weakness of his own and to strike hard
+at a weakness of the enemy, were superbly illustrated on the field of
+Bannockburn. King Robert's military renown does not need the false
+attribution of tactical discoveries that he certainly did not make.
+It was not Bannockburn that showed him what infantry could do against
+mailed cavalry; nor was it the example of the Flemings at Courtrai.
+Sir William Wallace had proved the power of the schiltron before
+Bannockburn and before Courtrai; and he is not to be deprived of the
+honour by the imperfect historical knowledge of Sir Thomas Gray. If the
+tactic was known in these islands before the time of Wallace, or if
+Wallace gained the knowledge of it from elsewhere, the fact yet remains
+to be historically demonstrated. King Robert and his generals simply
+practised the lesson of Wallace with notable ability. Nor did they
+advance beyond Wallace in the still more important principles of large
+strategy. But, apart from this, the Bruce's capacity as a military
+commander stands forth pre-eminent. And though many painful incidents
+inevitably stain the records of his campaigns, they are attributable
+more to the age than to the man. It is impossible to charge on his
+memory any reckless or wanton cruelty. His mind with all its sternness
+ever tended to clemency, and his constitutional prudence, or measure,
+forbade purposeless excess.
+
+The incessant demands of war left Robert but scant leisure for
+internal administration, notwithstanding the diligent service of his
+eminently capable lieutenants. Apart from necessary inference and from
+incidental indications, his care for civil order and good government is
+conspicuously manifested in the legislation of the Scone Parliament,
+December 3, 1318; and there is abundant evidence of his fostering
+watchfulness over the commercial traffic with Continental countries.
+The Cambuskenneth Parliament, July 15, 1326, has a constitutional
+interest, as the first great council where burgesses are known to have
+sat with the baronage. The trading communities were worth consultation
+when a heavy war tax was to be levied, and the country was so cruelly
+impoverished. There can be no doubt that Robert's management of home
+affairs was watchful, energetic, and liberal.
+
+In the conduct of his foreign relations, the Bruce proved himself an
+adept in diplomacy. His dealings with the Continental princes, mainly
+in regard to shipping and commerce, were conciliatory and businesslike.
+His political transactions with the English sovereign and with the
+Pope were uniformly characterised by astute perception, reasonableness
+to the point of generosity, courteous but rigid firmness on every
+essential point, and fidelity to engagements.
+
+The occupations of the King's late and brief leisure may be read
+between the lines of the Exchequer Rolls: how he kept open house at
+Cardross, dispensed gifts and charities, pottered (with Randolph) at
+shipbuilding, sailed his great ship between Cardross and Tarbet, built
+Tarbet Castle, added a wing to his mansion, tended his garden, and so
+forth; and how he kept a pet lion at Perth, where he seems to have
+spent parts of his last two years.
+
+Bruce was twice married. First, to Isabel, daughter of the Earl of Mar,
+the mother of Marjory. Second, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of De
+Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who bore him two sons and two daughters: Matilda
+and Margaret, after 1316; David, March 5, 1324; and John, who died in
+infancy. The most distinguished of his other children, Sir Robert de
+Brus, fell at Dupplin in 1332.
+
+Bruce has been called by Lord Hailes (after Rapin) the 'restorer of
+Scottish monarchy.' The monarchy was a small matter; Bruce was the
+restorer of Scottish independence. But the conditions of the case
+are apt to be misconceived. The incalculable services of Sir William
+Wallace, through nearly ten years of incomparably heroic struggle
+against the great Edward in his full vigour, are too often forgotten,
+or belittled. But for Wallace, it is more than probable that Bruce
+would never have been King of Scotland. He built on Wallace's
+foundations.
+
+Comyn being dead, Bruce possessed the admitted right to the crown,
+without even the semblance of competition--a powerful aid in his
+enterprise. He started in the acquisitive spirit of an Anglo-Norman
+baron, and was carried through largely by his personal gallantry,
+his military capacity, his consummate prudence, and his indomitable
+resolution. Though the mass of the people rallied to him but slowly
+through many years, yet he at once gained the more ardent patriots;
+and, in particular, he had the instant support of the leading prelates,
+and, at the Dundee Parliament on February 24, 1308-9, the formal
+adhesion of the clergy generally. Nor is it easy to overestimate the
+aid of three such paladins as Edward de Brus, Randolph, and Douglas.
+And not the least of the grounds of Bruce's success is to be sought in
+the feebleness and foolishness of Edward II. and the stupid oppressions
+practised by his local officers. Still, with full acknowledgment of
+these supports, King Robert was and is the central figure in the final
+establishment of the independence of Scotland.
+
+One is strongly inclined to believe that the services of Sir Edward
+de Brus, Lord of Galloway and Earl of Carrick, have been seriously
+underrated, partly no doubt through his own besetting fault. When we
+remember how boldly he is said to have counselled action on the return
+from Rathlin, how vigorously he cleared the English out of his lordship
+of Galloway, and how ably he bore the brunt of the heaviest fighting
+at Bannockburn, we cannot but suspect that his glory has been unduly
+dimmed by the splendour of his brother, and by the inappreciation of
+his monkish critics. The main certainty about his hapless expedition
+to Ireland is the certainty that he fought with the most chivalrous
+ardour. He was not only 'hardy' but, according to Barbour, 'outrageous
+hardy'--a prototype of Hotspur. His habitual exaltation of mind is well
+expressed by the Archdeacon, when he describes him in face of vastly
+superior numbers at Kilross:
+
+              'The more they be,
+    The more honoùr allout have we,
+    If that we bear us manfully.'
+
+Undoubtedly his 'hardiment' overbore his 'wit'; yet one may safely
+doubt whether the Archdeacon was the man to take his military measure.
+At the very least, he must have been a powerful force in urging
+unmitigated hostility against the English; and his dash in battle must
+have proved a potent force on many a stricken field.
+
+In the absence of Sir Edward, Randolph ranked as first lieutenant.
+He was Bruce's nephew, son of Isabel de Brus and Thomas Randolph
+of Strathdon.[2] From Lord of Nithsdale, he blossomed into Earl of
+Moray, and Lord of Annandale and of Man. As soldier, diplomatist, and
+statesman, he displayed pre-eminent ability. Barbour represents him as
+of moderate stature, proportionably built, 'with broad visage, pleasing
+and fair,' and a courteous manner. 'A man he was,' says Lord Hailes,
+most justly, 'to be remembered while integrity, prudence, and valour
+are held in esteem among men.' He survived King Robert a little over
+three years.
+
+The good Sir James of Douglas ranked second to Randolph only because
+Randolph was the King's nephew. From his early teens he displayed a
+gallant and chivalrous spirit, a mind set on honour, and withal a
+conspicuous gift of strategic device. If we may rely on Barbour, he
+was even more cautious than the well-balanced Randolph; yet, when
+occasion served, he could display the adventurous dash of Sir Edward
+de Brus; and he exhibited a splendid tenacity. According to Froissart,
+he was 'esteemed the bravest and most enterprising knight in the two
+kingdoms.' Like most great commanders, he rendered his men devoted to
+him by a large generosity, not merely in division of the spoils, but
+also in recognition of valiant deeds. Barbour tells us that
+
+    'He had intill custom allway,
+    Quhen euir he com till hard assay,
+    To press hym the chiftane to sla;'
+
+a bold principle that often decided the fight--like Bruce's principle
+of striking hard at the foremost line. After he slew Sir Robert de
+Neville,
+
+    'The dreid of the Lorde Dowglass,
+    And his renoun swa scalit wass
+    Throu-out the marchis of Yngland
+    That all that war tharin duelland
+    Thai dred him as the deuill of hell.'
+
+And Barbour had often heard tell that wives would frighten their
+wayward children into obedience by threatening to deliver them to the
+Black Douglas. The Leicester chronicler says 'the English feared him
+more than all other Scotsmen'; for 'every archer he could take, either
+his right hand he cut off or his right eye he plucked out,' and, for
+the sake of the archers, he always took his vengeance on an Englishman
+in the severest form he could devise. This view is not corroborated,
+however, and it may be a generalisation from some particular case. But,
+while terrible to the enemy--'a brave hammerer of the English,' as
+Fordun says--Douglas is represented as charming to his friends.
+
+    'But he wes nocht sa fayr that we
+    Suld spek gretly off his beaute:
+    In wysage[3] wes he sumdeill gray,[4]
+    And had blak har,[5] as Ic hard say;
+    Bot off lymmys[6] he wes weill maid,
+    With banis[7] gret & schuldrys braid.[8]
+    His body wes weyll maid and lenye,[9]
+    As thai that saw hym said to me ...
+    And in spek wlispyt[10] he sum deill;
+    But that sat[11] him rycht wondre weill.'
+
+Scott's picture of the Knight of the Tomb, while based on Barbour's
+description, verges on caricature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was King Robert the Bruce a patriot? The question, startling as it may
+be, especially to trustful readers of uncritical laudations, may no
+longer be avoided.
+
+It is not necessary to repeat the outlines of his political attitude
+during the storm and stress of Wallace's memorable struggle. Can it be
+supposed, then, that a man may become patriotic after his thirty-first
+year? With his assumption of the kingly office, Bruce's baronial and
+royal interests coincided with the interests of Scotland, and it may be
+that some feeling of the nature of patriotism may have thus developed
+in his breast. The manifesto of the barons and other laymen in 1320,
+apart from its dramatic purpose, may be taken to indicate that the
+external reasons for the King's profession of patriotism were not less
+potent than his private reasons. Let us concede to him the benefit even
+of grievous doubt. For, be his motives what they may, the practical
+outcome was the decisive establishment of the independence of the
+realm of Scotland, and he remains for ever the greatest of the line of
+Scottish Kings.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Hemingburgh also gives February 10; Rishanger, Walsingham, and
+others give January 29. It is the difference between iv. _Id._ Feb. and
+iv. _Kal._ Feb. Probably both dates are wrong. The true date, it is
+suggested, is January 27--'Thursday next before Carne-prevyum' (_Cal._
+ii., p. 486, under August 4, 1306).
+
+[2] So say the modern authorities. The chroniclers call him Bruce's
+'nephew,' and Bruce himself calls him 'nepos'; and Boece calls him
+David's 'cousin.' But is not 'nephew' used here, not in the present
+strict sense, but in the wider sense of young relative? Bruce's father
+and mother were married not before 1270 at earliest. Isabel was married
+to the King of Norway on November 15, 1293; and probably the marriage
+was in contemplation when her father and she went to Norway in autumn,
+1292. Was she a widow, then, at 21? Randolph was present with his
+father at proceedings in the Succession case at Berwick in August
+1292. If, then, he was the son of Isabel, he must have been a mere
+child--five or six at most. If there was another sister Isabel (Bain),
+the age difficulty remains. Was Isabel--if Isabel _was_ Randolph's
+mother's name--not the sister, but the aunt, of Bruce? And was Randolph
+really Bruce's _cousin_?
+
+[3] Visage.
+
+[4] Somewhat gray (swarthy).
+
+[5] Hair.
+
+[6] Limbs.
+
+[7] Bones.
+
+[8] Shoulders broad.
+
+[9] Lean.
+
+[10] Lisped.
+
+[11] Became.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
+quotation marks retained.
+
+Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
+
+Page 35: Unmatched closing single quotation mark after "is a traitor'".
+
+Page 43: "David ap Griffith" means "son of" (Welch origin).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of King Robert the Bruce, by A. F. Murison
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: King Robert the Bruce
+
+Author: A. F. Murison
+
+Illustrator: Joseph Brown
+
+Release Date: January 18, 2014 [EBook #44695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KING ROBERT THE BRUCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 324px;">
+<img src="images/icover.jpg" width="324" height="500" class="hidepub" alt="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>
+KING ROBERT<br />
+THE BRUCE:</h1>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="newpage p4 poem-container"><div class="poem">
+<p class="center larger">FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center"><i>The following Volumes are now ready</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<ul>
+<li>THOMAS CARLYLE. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Hector C. Macpherson</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ALLAN RAMSAY. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>HUGH MILLER. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">W. Keith Leask</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>JOHN KNOX. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">A. Taylor Innes</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ROBERT BURNS. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Gabriel Setoun</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>THE BALLADISTS. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">John Geddie</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>RICHARD CAMERON. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Professor Herkless</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Eve Blantyre Simpson</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>THOMAS CHALMERS. <span class="in1">By Professor <span class="smcap">W. Garden Blaikie</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>JAMES BOSWELL. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">W. Keith Leask</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>TOBIAS SMOLLETT. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">G. W. T. Omond</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. <span class="in1">By Sir <span class="smcap">George Douglas</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>NORMAN MACLEOD. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">John Wellwood</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>SIR WALTER SCOTT. <span class="in1">By Professor <span class="smcap">Saintsbury</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Louis A. Barbé</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ROBERT FERGUSSON. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">A. B. Grosart</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>JAMES THOMSON. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">William Bayne</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>MUNGO PARK. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">T. Banks Maclachlan</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>DAVID HUME. <span class="in1">By Professor <span class="smcap">Calderwood</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>WILLIAM DUNBAR. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Oliphant Smeaton</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. <span class="in1">By Professor <span class="smcap">Murison</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Margaret Moyes Black</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>THOMAS REID. <span class="in1">By Professor <span class="smcap">Campbell Fraser</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>POLLOK AND AYTOUN. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Rosaline Masson</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ADAM SMITH. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">Hector C. Macpherson</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>ANDREW MELVILLE. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">William Morison</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">E. S. Haldane</span>.</span></li>
+
+<li>KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. <span class="in1">By <span class="smcap">A. F. Murison</span>.</span></li>
+</ul>
+</blockquote>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 335px;">
+<img src="images/title.jpg" width="335" height="600" class="bbox" alt="Title Page" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="newpage p2 center xxlarge red">
+KING ROBERT<br />
+THE BRUCE</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center large"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br />
+A. F.<br />
+MURISON</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center larger">FAMOUS<br />
+SCOTS<br />
+SERIES</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center">PUBLISHED BY<br />
+OLIPHANT ANDERSON<br />
+&amp; FERRIER <b>·</b> EDINBURGH<br />
+AND LONDON<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="newpage poem-container"><div class="poem">
+<p class="in0">The designs and ornaments of this<br />
+volume are by Mr Joseph Brown,<br />
+and the printing from the press of<br />
+Messrs Turnbull &amp; Spears, Edinburgh.</p>
+
+<p class="in0 in1">
+<i>July 1899.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="newpage p4 center larger vspace">
+ALMAE MATRI<br />
+VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="newpage poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">"O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time."<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="p0 sigright">&#8710;.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</a></h2>
+
+<p>The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the
+historical complement to the former volume on Sir William
+Wallace. Together they outline, from the standpoint of
+the leading spirits, the prolonged and successful struggle
+of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of Edward I.
+and Edward II.&mdash;the most memorable episode in the
+history of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the
+narrative is based on the primary authorities. Happily
+State records and official papers supply much trustworthy
+material, which furnishes also an invaluable test of the
+accuracy of the numerous and wayward race of chroniclers.
+Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact and deflections
+of judgment, is eminently useful&mdash;in spite of the indulgence
+of historical criticism.</p>
+
+<p>There is no space here to set forth the long list of
+sources, or to attempt a formal estimate of their comparative
+value. Some of them appear incidentally in the
+text, though only where it seems absolutely necessary to
+name them. The expert knows them; the general reader
+will not miss them. Nor is there room for more than
+occasional argument on controverted points; it has very
+frequently been necessary to signify disapproval by mere
+silence. The writer, declining the guidance of modern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span>
+historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent
+study of the available materials.</p>
+
+<p>After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of
+Patriotism reared for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if
+not time-serving, eulogies of Barbour and Fordun, and
+maintained for some five centuries, the figure of the
+Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
+deliverance.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table summary="Contents">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td></tr>
+  <tr class="small">
+    <td class="tdl">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Ancestry of Bruce</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Opportunist Vacillation</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Coronation of Bruce</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Defeat and Disaster: Methven and Kildrummy</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The King in Exile</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Turn of the Tide</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Reconquest of Territory</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Recovery of Fortresses</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Battle of Bannockburn</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER X</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Invasion of England and Ireland</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Conciliation and Conflict</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Peace at the Sword's Point</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Heart of the Bruce</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="newpage p2 center xlarge gesperrt"><b>KING ROBERT THE BRUCE</b></p>
+
+<hr />
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE</span></h2>
+
+<p>When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of
+Scottish independence, died at the foot of the gallows in
+Smithfield, and was torn limb from limb, it seemed that at
+last 'the accursed nation' would quietly submit to the
+English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching bones of the
+heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of
+his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations
+after national freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In
+fifteen years of arduous diplomacy and warfare, with an
+astounding expenditure of blood and treasure, Edward I.
+had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources of
+Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of
+the nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in
+arms. It is of the irony of fate that the very man destined
+to bring Edward's calculations to naught had been his
+most zealous officer in his last campaign, and had, in all
+probability, been present at the trial&mdash;it may be at the
+execution&mdash;of Wallace, silently consenting to his death.
+That man of destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of
+Annandale and Earl of Carrick.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory
+of a Norse origin in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who
+established himself in the diocese of Coutances in Manche,
+Normandy, though not improbable, is but vaguely supported.
+The name is territorial; and the better opinion
+is inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and
+Valognes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span>
+The first Robert de Brus on record was probably the
+leader of the Brus contingent in the army of the Conqueror.
+His services must have been conspicuous; he died (about
+1094) in possession of some 40,000 acres, comprised in
+forty-three manors in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire,
+and fifty-one in the North Riding and in Durham.
+The chief manor was Skelton in Cleveland.</p>
+
+<p>The next Robert de Brus, son of the first, received a
+grant of Annandale from David I., whose companion he
+had been at the English court. This fief he renounced,
+probably in favour of his second son, just before the Battle
+of the Standard (1138), on the failure of his attempted
+mediation between David and the English barons. He
+died in 1141, leaving two sons, Adam and Robert.</p>
+
+<p>This Robert may be regarded as the true founder of the
+Scottish branch. He is said to have remained with David
+in the Battle of the Standard, and, whether for this adherence
+or on some subsequent occasion, he was established
+in possession of the Annandale fief, which was confirmed
+to him by a charter of William the Lion (1166). He is said
+to have received from his father the manor of Hert and the
+lands of Hertness in Durham, 'to supply him with wheat,
+which did not grow in Annandale.' He died after 1189.</p>
+
+<p>The second Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of the
+preceding lord, married (1183) Isabel, daughter of William
+the Lion, obtaining as her dowry the manor of Haltwhistle
+in Tyndale. His widow married Robert de Ros in
+1191. The uncertainty as to the dates of his father's death
+and his own has suggested a doubt whether he ever
+succeeded to the lordship.</p>
+
+<p>William de Brus, a brother, the next lord, died in 1215.</p>
+
+<p>The third Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of William,
+founded the claim of his descendants to the crown by his
+marriage with Isabel, second daughter of David, Earl of
+Huntingdon, younger brother of William the Lion. He
+died in 1245.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth Robert de Brus of Annandale, eldest son of
+the preceding lord, was born in 1210. In 1244, he
+married Isabel, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of
+Gloucester. Next year he succeeded to Annandale, and,
+on his mother's death in 1251, he obtained ten knight's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span>
+fees in England, her share of the Earldom of Huntingdon.
+He took an active part in public affairs. In 1249&ndash;50 he
+sat as a Justice of the King's Bench, and in 1268 he
+became Chief Justice of England, but Edward, on his
+accession (1272), did not reappoint him. He served as
+Sheriff of Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle Castle in
+1254&ndash;55, and in 1264 he fought for Henry at Lewes, and
+was taken prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, de Brus was a prominent figure in the
+baronage of Scotland. The alleged arrangement of 1238
+whereby Alexander II., with the consent of the Scots
+parliament, appointed de Brus his successor in the event
+of his dying childless, was frustrated by the King's second
+marriage (1239), and the birth of a son, Alexander III.
+(1241). As one of the fifteen Regents (1255) during the
+minority of Alexander III., he headed the party that
+favoured an English alliance, cemented by the young
+King's marriage with Margaret, daughter of Henry III.
+At the Scone convention on February 5, 1283&ndash;84, he was
+one of the Scots lords that recognised the right of Margaret
+of Norway. The sudden death of Alexander III., however,
+in March 1285&ndash;86, and the helplessness of the infant
+Queen, put him on the alert for the chances of his own
+elevation.</p>
+
+<p>On September 20, 1286, de Brus met a number of his
+friends at Turnberry Castle, the residence of his son, the
+Earl of Carrick. There fourteen Scots nobles, including
+de Brus and the Earl of Carrick, joined in a bond obliging
+them to give faithful adherence to Richard de Burgh, Earl
+of Ulster, and Lord Thomas de Clare (de Brus's brother-in-law),
+'in their affairs.' One of the clauses saved the
+fealty of the parties to the King of England and to 'him
+that shall obtain the kingdom of Scotland through blood-relationship
+with King Alexander of blessed memory, according
+to the ancient customs in the kingdom of Scotland
+approved and observed.' The disguise was very thin. The
+instrument meant simply that the parties were to act together
+in support of de Brus's pretensions to the crown when
+opportunity should serve. It 'united the chief influence
+of the West and South of Scotland against the party of
+John de Balliol, Lord of Galloway, and the Comyns.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span>
+There need be no difficulty in connecting this transaction
+with the outbreak of 1287&ndash;88, which devastated Dumfries
+and Wigton shires. The party of de Brus took the castles
+of Dumfries, Buittle and Wigton, killing and driving out
+of the country many of the lieges. There remains nothing
+to show by what means peace was restored, but it may be
+surmised that Edward interfered to restrain his ambitious
+vassal.</p>
+
+<p>For, by this time, Edward was full of his project for the
+marriage of the young Queen with his eldest son, Prince
+Edward. The Salisbury convention, at which de Brus
+was one of the Scottish commissioners, and the Brigham
+conference, at which the project was openly declared,
+seemed to strike a fatal blow at the aspirations of de Brus.
+But the death of the Queen, reported early in October
+1290, again opened up a vista of hope.</p>
+
+<p>When the news arrived, the Scots estates were in session.
+'Sir Robert de Brus, who before did not intend to
+come to the meeting,' wrote the Bishop of St Andrews
+to Edward on October 7, 'came with great power, to
+confer with some who were there; but what he intends to
+do, or how to act, as yet we know not. But the Earls of
+Mar and Athol are collecting their forces, and some other
+nobles of the land are drawing to their party.' The
+Bishop went on to report a 'fear of a general war,' to
+recommend Edward to deal wisely with Sir John de
+Balliol, and to suggest that he should 'approach the March
+for the consolation of the Scots people and the saving of
+bloodshed.' The alertness of de Brus and his friends is
+conspicuously manifest, and the foremost of the party of
+Balliol is privately stretching out his hands for the cautious
+intervention of the English King.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Fife had been assassinated; the Earl of
+Buchan was dead; and the remaining four guardians
+divided their influence, the Bishop of St Andrews and
+Sir John Comyn siding with Balliol, and the Bishop of
+Glasgow and the Steward of Scotland with de Brus. Fordun
+thus describes the balance of parties in the early part
+of 1291:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The nobles of the kingdom, with its guardians, often-times discussed
+among themselves the question who should be made their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span>
+king; but they did not make bold to utter what they felt about the
+right of succession, partly because it was a hard and knotty matter,
+partly because different people felt differently about such rights and
+wavered a good deal, partly because they justly feared the power of
+the parties, which was great, and partly because they had no superior
+that could, by his unbending power, carry their award into execution
+or make the parties abide by their decision.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The most prominent competitors were liegemen of Edward,
+and, whether they appealed to warlike or to peaceful methods,
+the decision must inevitably rest with him.</p>
+
+<p>At the Norham meeting of June 1291, de Brus, as well
+as the other competitors, fully acknowledged the paramount
+title of Edward. He had no alternative; he had as large
+interests in England as in Scotland, and armed opposition
+was out of the question. Availing himself of his legal
+experience, he fought the case determinedly and astutely.
+If Fordun correctly reports the reformation of the law of
+succession by Malcolm, de Brus was, in literal technicality,
+'the next descendant'; as son of David of Huntingdon's
+second daughter, he was nearer by one degree than Balliol,
+grandson of David's eldest daughter. But the modern
+reckoning prevailed. De Brus's plea that he had been recognised
+both by Alexander II. and by Alexander III. was
+not supported by documentary evidence, and his appeal
+to the recollection of living witnesses does not seem to
+have been entertained. His third position, that the crown
+estates were partible, was but a forlorn hope. He must
+have seen, long before November 1292, that an adverse
+decision was a foregone conclusion. He entered a futile
+protest. Already, in June, he had concluded a secret
+agreement with the Count of Holland, a competitor never
+in the running, but a great feudal figure, for mutual aid
+and counsel; he had also an agreement with the Earl of
+Sutherland, and, probably enough, with others. But an
+active dissent was beyond the powers of a man of eighty-two.
+Accordingly, he resigned his claims in favour of his
+son, the Earl of Carrick, and retired to Lochmaben, where
+he died on March 31, 1295, at the age of eighty-five.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth Robert de Brus of Annandale, the eldest son
+of the Competitor, was born in 1253. On his return from
+the crusade of 1269, on which he accompanied Prince
+Edward, afterwards Edward I., he married Marjory (or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span>
+Margaret), Countess of Carrick, and thus became by the
+courtesy of Scotland Earl of Carrick. Marjory was the
+daughter and heiress of Nigel, the Keltic (if Keltic be the
+right epithet) Earl of Carrick, grandson of Gilbert, son of
+Fergus, Lord of Galloway, and she was the widow of
+Adam of Kilconquhar, who had died on the recent crusade.
+De Brus is said to have met her accidentally when she
+was out hunting. Fordun gives the romance as <span class="locked">follows:&mdash;</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>When greetings and kisses had been exchanged, as is the wont of
+courtiers, she besought him to stay and hunt and walk about; and,
+seeing that he was rather unwilling to do so, she by force, so to
+speak, with her own hand made him pull up, and brought the
+knight, though very loth, to her castle of Turnberry with her. After
+dallying there with his followers for the space of fifteen days or more,
+he clandestinely took the Countess to wife, the friends and well-wishers
+of both parties knowing nothing about it, and the King's
+consent not having been obtained. And so the common belief of all
+the country was that she had seized&mdash;by force, as it were&mdash;this youth
+for her husband. But when the news came to the ears of King
+Alexander, he took the castle of Turnberry and made all her other
+lands and possessions be acknowledged as his lands, for the reason
+that she had wedded with Robert de Brus without consulting his royal
+majesty. Through the prayers of friends, however, and by a certain
+sum of money agreed upon, this Robert gained the King's goodwill
+and the whole domain.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It may be, of course, that the responsibility was thrown
+on the lady in order to restrain the hand of the incensed
+king. But she was half a dozen years older than de Brus,
+who was still in his teens and was never distinguished for
+enterprise. In any case, she acted only with the legitimate
+frankness of her time, and the marriage put a useful
+dash of lively blood into the veins of the coming king.</p>
+
+<p>In every important political step, de Brus followed with
+docility his father's lead. He stood aloof from Balliol,
+and, in spite of marked snubbing, steadily adhered to
+Edward. From October 1295, he was for two years
+governor of Carlisle Castle. After the collapse of Balliol
+at Dunbar, he is said to have plucked up courage to claim
+fulfilment of a promise of Edward's, alleged to have been
+made in 1292 immediately after the decision in favour
+of Balliol, to place his father eventually on the Scottish
+throne. The testy reply of 'the old dodger' (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ille antiquus
+doli artifex</i>), as reported by Fordun, is at any rate characteristic:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>
+'Have I nothing else to do but to win kingdoms
+to give to you?' The story, though essentially probable,
+is discredited by the chronicler's assertion that the promise
+was accompanied by an acknowledgment on the part
+of Edward that his decision of the great cause was an
+injustice to de Brus, the Competitor.</p>
+
+<p>But while de Brus took nothing by his loyalty to
+Edward, he suffered for his disloyalty to Balliol. He had,
+of course, ignored the summons of Balliol 'to come in arms
+to resist the King of England,' and consequently Balliol's
+council had declared him a public enemy and deprived
+him of his lands of Annandale, giving them to Comyn,
+Earl of Buchan. At the same time, and for the like reason,
+his son Robert was deprived of the Earldom of Carrick,
+which de Brus had resigned to him on November 11,
+1292. Annandale, indeed, was restored to de Brus in
+September 1296, but the state of Scotland was too disturbed
+for his comfort, and he retired to his English possessions,
+where, for the most part at least, he lived quietly
+till Edward had settled matters at Strathord. He then
+set out for Annandale, but died on the way, about Easter,
+1304, and was buried at the Abbey of Holmcultram in
+Cumberland.</p>
+
+<p>De Brus left a large family of sons and daughters, most
+of whom will find conspicuous mention in the story of the
+eldest brother, Robert, Earl of Carrick, the future King of
+Scotland.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION</span></h2>
+
+<p>Robert Bruce, the sixth Robert de Brus of Annandale
+and the seventh de Brus of the Annandale line, was the
+eldest son of the preceding lord and a grandson of the
+Competitor. He was born on July 11, 1274. The place
+of his birth is uncertain&mdash;Ayrshire says Turnberry; Dumfriesshire
+says Lochmaben. Geoffrey le Baker calls him
+an Englishman (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nacione Anglicus</i>), and records that he was
+'born in Essex,' to which another hand adds, 'at Writtle,'
+a manor of his father's. Geoffrey, it is true, like several
+other chroniclers, confuses Bruce with his grandfather, the
+Competitor; and he may mean the Competitor, though he
+says the King. Hemingburgh makes Bruce speak to his
+father's vassals before the Irvine episode as a Scotsman, at
+any rate by descent. In any case Bruce was essentially&mdash;by
+upbringing and associations&mdash;an Englishman. It was
+probably in, or at any rate about, the same year that
+Wallace was born. At the English invasion of 1296, they
+would both be vigorous young men of twenty-two, or thereabouts.
+During most part of the next decade Wallace
+fought and negotiated and died in his country's cause,
+and built himself an everlasting name. How was Bruce
+occupied during this national crisis?</p>
+
+<p>Considering the large territorial possessions and wide
+social interlacings of the family in England, their English
+upbringing, their traditional service to the English King,
+their subordinate interest in Scottish affairs, the predominance
+of the rival house of Balliol, and the masterful character
+of Edward, it is not at all surprising that Robert
+Bruce should have preferred the English allegiance when
+it was necessary for him to choose between England and
+Scotland. On August 3, 1293, indeed, he offered homage
+to Balliol on succeeding to the Earldom of Carrick. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span>
+on March 25, 1296, at Wark&mdash;three days before Edward
+crossed the Tweed&mdash;he joined with his father and the
+Earls of March and Angus in a formal acknowledgment
+of the English King; and on August 28 he, as well as
+his father, followed the multitude of the principal Scots
+in doing homage to the conqueror at Berwick.</p>
+
+<p>With this political subjection one is reluctant to associate
+a more sordid kind of obligation. Some six weeks later
+(October 15) it is recorded that 'the King, for the great
+esteem he has for the good service of Robert de Brus,
+Earl of Carrick, commands the barons to atterm his debts
+at the Exchequer in the easiest manner for him.' But the
+elder Bruce continued to be designated Earl of Carrick in
+English documents after he had resigned the earldom to
+his son, and it can hardly be doubted that the debts were
+his. It is a small matter, indeed, yet one would like to
+start Bruce without the burden.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1297, Scotland was heaving with unrest.
+Edward, while busily arranging 'to cross seas' to
+Flanders, was also pushing forward preparations for a
+'Scottish War.' In May, Wallace and Douglas had
+summarily interrupted the severities of Ormsby, the
+English Justiciar, at Scone, and driven him home in
+headlong flight. About the same time, or somewhat later,
+Andrew de Moray took the field in Moray, Macduff rose
+in Fife, and Sir Alexander of Argyll set upon the adherents
+of Edward in the West. On May 24, Edward had addressed,
+from Portsmouth, a circular order to his chief
+liegemen north and south of Forth, requiring them to attend
+certain of his great officers to hear 'certain matters which
+he has much at heart,' and to act as directed. Bruce was
+ordered to attend Sir Hugh de Cressingham and Sir Osbert
+de Spaldington at Berwick. But before the order could
+have reached him, he must have heard of the expulsion of
+Ormsby, and had probably conceived dynastic hopes from
+the aspect of affairs. Indeed, he appears to have fallen
+under English suspicions. For, no sooner did the news
+from Scone reach Carlisle than the Bishop and his advisers&mdash;the
+Bishop was acting governor in the absence of the
+elder Bruce at Portsmouth&mdash;'fearing for the faithlessness
+and inconstancy of Sir Robert de Bruys the younger, Earl<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span>
+of Carrick, sent messengers to summon him to come on a
+day fixed to treat with them about the King's affairs, if so
+be that he still remained faithful to the King.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce duly appeared with a strong following of 'the
+people of Galloway,' and repeated the oath of fealty upon
+the consecrated Host and upon the sword of St Thomas
+(à Becket). What more could the Bishop want or do?
+But Bruce went a step further. He summoned his people,
+says Hemingburgh, and, 'in order to feign colour, he proceeded
+to the lands of Sir William de Douglas and burnt part
+of them with fire, and carried off his wife and children with
+him to Annandale.' For all that, he was already in secret
+conspiracy with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Steward of
+Scotland, and Sir John of Bonkill, the Steward's brother.
+Douglas, indeed, presently appears as one of the leaders in
+the rising; but his relations with Bruce would be subject
+to easy diplomatic adjustment.</p>
+
+<p>When the time for open action arrived, Bruce appealed
+to his father's men of Annandale. He repudiated his oath
+at Carlisle as extorted by force and intimidation, and professed
+a compelling sense of patriotism. The Annandale
+men deferred reply till the morrow, and slipped away to
+their homes overnight. With his Carrick men, however,
+he joined the Bishop and the Steward, and began to slay
+and harry the English in the south-west.</p>
+
+<p>Engrossed in the outfitting of his expedition, Edward
+delegated the suppression of the Scots to Warenne, Earl of
+Surrey, the Guardian of Scotland, who sent ahead his kinsman,
+Sir Henry de Percy, with a strong force. Percy
+advanced through Annandale to Ayr, and, two or three
+days later, stood face to face with the insurgents near
+Irvine. There was dissension in the Scots camp. Sir
+Richard Lundy went over to Percy, 'saying that he would
+no longer war in company with men in discord and at variance.'
+Besides, the English force was no doubt much
+superior. The insurgent leaders at once asked for terms.
+The provisional agreement was that 'their lives, limbs,
+lands, tenements, goods and chattels,' should be unharmed,
+that their offences should be condoned, and that they
+should furnish hostages. Such was the humiliating fiasco
+of July 7, 1297, at Irvine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span>
+So far their skins were safe; and now, on the counsel of
+the Bishop, they appealed to Cressingham and Warenne to
+confirm the agreement, and to vouchsafe an active interest
+in their behalf with Edward. The full flavour of their
+pusillanimity can only be gathered from the text of their
+letter to Warenne.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>They were afraid the English army would attack them to burn and
+destroy their lands. Thus, they were told for a certainty that the
+King meant to seize all the middle people of Scotland to send them
+beyond sea in his war [in Gascony], to their great damage and destruction.
+They took counsel to assemble their power to defend
+themselves from so great damages, until they could have treaty and
+conference with such persons as had power to abate and diminish such
+kind of injury, and to give security that they should not be exceedingly
+aggrieved and dishonoured. And, therefore, when the host of England
+entered the land, they went to meet them and had such a conference
+that they all came to the peace and the faith of our Lord the King.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The hostage for Bruce was his infant daughter, Marjory.
+It would be interesting to know why Douglas failed to provide
+hostages. It may be that his native obstinacy was
+aroused by the objurgations of Wallace, who then lay in
+Selkirk Forest, and who is said to have displayed intense
+indignation at the ignominious surrender. Edward ratified
+the convention; but somehow it was not till November 14
+that powers were conferred on the Bishop of Carlisle and Sir
+Robert de Clifford 'to receive to the King's peace Robert
+de Brus, Earl of Carrick, and his friends, as seems best to
+their discretion.'</p>
+
+<p>Midway between the shameful collapse at Irvine and
+the formal submission at Carlisle lay September 11, 1297,
+and Wallace's memorable victory at Stirling Bridge. In this
+great triumph of patriotism Bruce had neither part nor lot.
+Neither was he present at the disastrous battle of Falkirk
+on July 22, 1298. The Scottish chroniclers, indeed, relate
+the popular story that the English victory was primarily
+due to Bruce, who, with Bishop Bek, stealthily caught the
+Scots in the rear and broke up the schiltrons. But this is
+a complete misconception, due possibly to a confusion of
+Bruce with Basset, who, with Bek, delivered the attack on
+the left wing, not on the rear, or with Bruce's uncle, Sir
+Bernard, who fought on the English side. In any case,
+Bruce stands clear of Falkirk. For English chroniclers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span>
+relate that, when Edward withdrew towards Carlisle, Bruce
+burnt Ayr Castle and fled away into Carrick. Yet it seems
+all but certain that he was in Edward's allegiance within
+three weeks before the battle. He had gone over before
+the result reached him, possibly on learning the dire straits
+of Edward immediately before, or on the strength of a false
+report of the issue.</p>
+
+<p>The stormy meeting of Scots nobles at Peebles on August
+19, 1299, discovers Bruce in a remarkable attitude. One
+object of the meeting was to choose Guardians of the realm.
+The discussion was sufficiently warm; for Sir John Comyn&mdash;the
+Red Comyn, afterwards slain at Dumfries&mdash;seized
+the Earl of Carrick by the throat, and his cousin of Buchan
+tried a fall with de Lamberton, Wallace's Bishop of St
+Andrews. The outcome of the wrangle was a purely
+personal accommodation of an essentially momentary
+character. It was settled that the Bishop of St Andrews,
+the Earl of Carrick, and Sir John Comyn should be the
+Guardians, the Bishop as principal to have custody of the
+castles. Bruce, through the Wallace influence, had gained
+the upper hand. But it must have cost him a pang to
+consent to act in the name of Balliol.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce, with Sir David de Brechin, returned to the attack
+of Lochmaben peel, where the Scots had been pressing
+Clifford since the beginning of August. They were unsuccessful
+in direct assault, but they seriously hindered the
+victualling of the place by infesting the lines of communication.
+Bruce would seem to have been in consultation with
+his colleagues in the Torwood on November 13, when the
+Guardians, who were then besieging Stirling, despatched to
+Edward an offer to cease hostilities on the terms suggested
+by the King of France. At any rate he is named as
+Guardian, and it is to be noted that the Guardians write
+'in the name of King John and the community of the
+realm.' Edward was compelled to abandon Stirling
+to its fate, and Lochmaben fell in the end of the year.
+Warenne's December expedition to the western March
+was a failure. Edward, in fact, had been paralysed by
+his refractory barons.</p>
+
+<p>During the next two years, while Comyn was doing his
+best in the field and Wallace was busy in diplomatic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span>
+negotiation, there is no trace of Bruce in the records. He
+may have felt it too irksome to pull together with Comyn.
+But he reappears&mdash;in a new coat&mdash;in 1301&ndash;2. On February
+16, Edward, 'at the instance of the Earl of Carrick,' granted
+pardon to a murderous rascal, one Hector Askeloc. And
+by April 28, 1302, the King had 'of special favour granted
+to the tenants of his liege Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick,
+their lands in England lately taken for their rebellion.'
+And Bruce attended Edward's parliament towards the end
+of October.</p>
+
+<p>In the next year or two Bruce manifested special devotion
+to the English King. When Edward was going north
+on the campaign of 1303, he ordered Bruce to meet him
+about the middle of May at Roxburgh with all the men-at-arms
+he could muster, and with 1000 foot from Carrick
+and Galloway. On July 14, Bruce received an advance of
+pay by the precept of Sir Aymer de Valence, the King's lieutenant
+south of Forth. On December 30, he is Edward's
+sheriff of Lanark; on January 9, he is Edward's constable
+of Ayr Castle. His star was deservedly in the ascendant by
+diligent service.</p>
+
+<p>His ardour steadily increased. After the surrender of
+Comyn and his adherents in February 1303&ndash;4, he threw
+himself heartily into the pursuit of Wallace. On March 3,
+Edward wrote to 'his loyal and faithful Robert de Brus,
+Earl of Carrick, Sir John de Segrave, and their company,'
+applauding their diligence, begging them to complete the
+business they had begun so well, and urging them, 'as the
+cloak is well made, also to make the hood.' Wallace and
+Sir Simon Fraser were hotly pursued southwards, and
+defeated at Peebles within a week.</p>
+
+<p>About this time Bruce must have received news of the
+death of his father, probably not unexpected. On April 4,
+1304, he was at Hatfield in Essex, whence he wrote to Sir
+William de Hamilton, the Chancellor, asking him to direct
+quickly the necessary inquisitions of his father's lands in
+Essex, Middlesex and Huntingdon, as he wished to go to
+the King with them to do homage. On June 14, having
+done homage and fealty, he was served heir. The succession
+to the paternal inheritance was happily achieved.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, on his return north, Bruce had found Edward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span>
+in hot eagerness to commence the siege of Stirling, and
+worked with the energy of gratitude that looks towards
+favours to come. He undertook the special task of getting
+up the King's engines to Stirling. On April 16, the King
+wrote him thanks for sending up some engines, and gave
+particular instructions about 'the great engine of Inverkip,'
+which appears to have been unmanageable for want of 'a
+waggon fit to carry the frame.' Bruce seems to have been
+at Inverkip and Glasgow, and wherever else any of the
+thirteen engines were lagging on the road to Stirling. His
+energy operated in congenial harmony with the fiery
+expedition of the King.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there was something in the background of all this
+enthusiastic service. On June 11, only three days before
+'his loyal and faithful Robert de Brus' did homage and
+fealty to Edward on succession to his father, Bruce met
+Bishop Lamberton at Cambuskenneth and formed with
+him a secret alliance for mutual aid and defence 'against
+all persons whatsoever.' Seeing dangers ahead, and wishing
+to fortify themselves against 'the attempts of their
+rivals,' they engaged to assist each other to the utmost of
+their power with counsel and material forces in all their
+affairs; 'that neither of them would undertake any important
+enterprise without consultation with the other';
+and that 'they would warn each other against any impending
+danger, and do their best to avert the same from each
+other.' No particular motives or objects, of course, are
+specified. But the Bishop may have foreseen the likelihood
+of an invasion of English ecclesiastics; and Bruce
+would not be slow to perceive the possible value of the
+moral support of the Church, and of the material aid derivable
+from the men and lands of the religious houses of the
+wide episcopate of St Andrews. At such a moment neither
+party would affect to forget the Bruce's royal pretensions.
+We shall hear of this bond again.</p>
+
+<p>Stirling surrendered on July 20, the last of the Scottish
+fortresses that held out against Edward. Wallace, the last
+centre of opposition, was a fugitive, dogged by emissaries
+of the English King. In March next year, Bruce was with
+the King at Westminster, petitioning him for the lands
+recently held by Sir Ingram de Umfraville in Carrick&mdash;a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span>
+petition substantially granted&mdash;and he attended Edward's
+parliament in Lent. It is hardly any stretch of probability
+to believe that he was present, in August, at the trial and
+execution of the illustrious Wallace&mdash;the man that, above
+all others, paved the way for his elevation to the Scottish
+throne.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>Bruce was now in his thirty-second year. From his
+twenty-second year onwards, through the ten years'
+struggle of Wallace and Comyn, he was two parts of the
+time the active henchman of Edward, and during the other
+part he is not known to have performed any important
+service for Scotland. His action during this period&mdash;the
+period of vigorous manhood, of generous impulses and
+unselfish enthusiasms&mdash;contrasts lamentably with the
+splendour of Wallace's achievement and endeavour, and
+gravely with the bearing of Comyn. One looks for
+patriotism and heroism; one finds not a spark of either,
+but only opportunism, deliberate and ignoble, not to say
+timid&mdash;the conduct of a 'spotted and inconstant man.'
+Yet Bruce was tenaciously constant to the grand object of
+his ambition. In the light of his kingly career this early
+period has puzzled the historians very strangely; but one
+cannot affect to be surprised that the friendliest critic is
+compelled to pronounce the simple enumeration of the
+facts to be, 'in truth, a humiliating record.'</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE CORONATION OF BRUCE</span></h2>
+
+<p>Stirling surrendered and Wallace a fugitive, Edward
+went home and meditated measures for the government
+of the conquered country. While yielding no point of
+substance, he recognised the policy of conciliation in form.
+He took counsel with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Earl of
+Carrick, and Sir John de Mowbray; and, ostensibly guided
+by their suggestions, he appointed a meeting of ten Scots
+and twenty English representatives to be held in London
+in the middle of July. The meeting was subsequently
+postponed to September. On September 23, all the representatives
+were 'sworn on our Lord's body, the holy
+relics, and holy Evangels, each severally.' The joint
+commission settled ten points, which were embodied in an
+Ordinance&mdash;'not a logical or methodical document,' but
+'mixing up the broadest projects of legislation and administration
+with mere personal interests and arrangements.'
+First, the official establishment was set forth:
+Sir John de Bretagne, junior, Edward's nephew, being
+appointed King's Lieutenant and Warden, Sir William de
+Bevercotes Chancellor, and Sir John de Sandale Chamberlain.
+Next, Justiciars were appointed, a pair for each of the
+four divisions of the country. Then a score of Sheriffs were
+named, nearly all Englishmen, though Scots were eligible.
+Thereafter, the law was taken in hand: 'the custom of
+the Scots and Brets' was abolished; and the King's
+Lieutenant, with English and Scots advisers, was 'to
+amend such of the laws and usages which are plainly
+against God and reason,' referring difficulties to the King.
+For the rest, the articles were mainly particular. One of
+them applied specifically to Bruce: 'The Earl of Carrick
+to place Kildrummy Castle in the keeping of one for whom
+he shall answer.' The King confirmed the Ordinance at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span>
+Sheen. At the same time (October 26), apparently, the
+King's Council for Scotland&mdash;twenty members, including
+the Bishop of St Andrews, the Earls of Carrick, Buchan,
+and Athol, Sir John Comyn, and Sir Alexander of Argyll&mdash;was
+sworn in. Bretagne was unable to proceed to Scotland
+till Lent (and then till Easter), and meantime a
+commission of four was appointed to act for him, the first
+commissioner being the Bishop of St Andrews.</p>
+
+<p>The King rejoiced at the sure prospect of peace in
+Scotland. The country was outwardly quiet. Edward
+had put on the velvet glove. He had restored submissive
+barons, knights, and lairds to their lands; he had that
+very day at Sheen doubled the periods within which they
+might pay their several fines; and he had displayed a
+general friendly consideration in his Ordinance. A fortnight
+before (October 14), he had instructed all the
+English sheriffs that he desired honourable and courteous
+treatment to be shown to all Scots passing through their
+jurisdictions. In a short time, he was contemplating a
+more complete assimilation of the two countries, to be
+arranged in a Union convention at Carlisle. But, in
+February next, the whole face of affairs was suddenly
+transformed by the report that Sir Robert de Brus, Earl
+of Carrick, had done sacrilegious murder on Sir John
+Comyn at Dumfries.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>The accounts of the train of events leading to the death
+of Comyn, though agreeing in essentials, vary considerably
+in details. The Scots story may be told first. Fordun,
+like his compatriots, colours his narrative deeply with the
+fanciful glow of Bruce's patriotism. He tells how Bruce
+'faithfully laid before Comyn the unworthy thraldom of
+the country, the cruel and endless torment of the people,
+and his own kindly project for bringing them relief.'
+Bruce, he says, 'setting the public advantage before his
+own,' proposed to Comyn two alternatives: either take
+you the crown and give me your lands, or else take my
+lands and support my claim to the crown. Comyn chose
+the latter alternative; and the agreement was guaranteed
+by oaths and embodied in indentures duly sealed. Eventually,
+however, Comyn betrayed Bruce's confidence, 'accusing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span>
+him again and again before the King of England,
+by envoys and by private letters, and wickedly revealing
+his secrets.' Edward acted with restraint: he sounded
+Bruce; he even showed him his adversary's letters; he
+feigned acceptance of his explanations. One evening,
+however, 'when the wine glittered in the bowl,' he expressed
+his definite determination to put Bruce to death
+on the morrow. On hearing this, the Earl of Gloucester
+at once sent Bruce a broad hint in the form of twelve
+pence and a pair of spurs. Bruce promptly mounted
+his horse, and rode day and night to his castle of
+Lochmaben. As he was nearing the Border, he met
+a messenger of Comyn's bearing to Edward the very
+bond he had made with Comyn. He struck off the
+man's head and hurried on his way. By appointment,
+he presently met Comyn in the church of the Friars
+Minorites at Dumfries. He charged Comyn with treachery.
+'You lie!' replied Comyn. Whereupon Bruce stabbed him
+on the spot. The friars stretched Comyn on the floor
+behind the altar. 'Is your wound mortal?' he was asked.
+'I think not,' he replied. The hopeful answer sealed his
+fate. 'His foes, hearing this, gave him another wound,
+and thus, on February <span class="locked">10,<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></span> was he taken away from the
+world.'</p>
+
+<p>According to Barbour, the alternative proposal proceeded,
+not from Bruce, but from Comyn, which is far
+from likely; and it was made 'as they came riding from
+Stirling,' presumably&mdash;Blind Harry, indeed, expressly
+says so&mdash;when Edward and his barons were going home
+from the siege. Barbour goes beyond Fordun in stating
+that Comyn actually rode to Edward and placed in his
+hands the indenture with Bruce's seal. Thereupon, he
+says, the King 'was angry out of measure and swore that
+he would take vengeance on Bruce' for his presumption,
+summoned a council, produced the bond, and demanded
+of Bruce whether the seal was his; but Bruce obtained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span>
+respite till next day in order to get his seal and compare
+it with the bond, and fled the same night with the document
+in his pocket. The embellishments of later writers&mdash;the
+conversion of Gloucester's twelve pence into other
+coins, the reversal of Bruce's horses' shoes because of the
+new-fallen snow, and so forth&mdash;need not be considered.
+Barbour makes no mention of an appointment: Bruce
+rode over to Dumfries, where Comyn was staying, and
+the tragedy was enacted. Barbour has the same outline
+of the interview as Fordun, but he remarks that other
+accounts were current in his time.</p>
+
+<p>A picturesque tradition tells how Bruce, on striking the
+blow, hurried out of the church to his friends, whereupon
+Roger de Kirkpatrick and James de Lindsay, seeing his
+excitement, anxiously inquired how it was with him. 'Ill!'
+replied Bruce; 'I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn.'
+'You doubt!' cried Kirkpatrick; 'I'll mak' siccar' (make
+sure). And they rushed into the church and buried their
+daggers in Comyn's body. But if the Justiciars were then
+sitting, and Roger de Kirkpatrick was still one of them&mdash;for
+he and Walter de Burghdon were appointed Justiciars
+for Galloway on October 25&mdash;there may be some difficulty
+in accepting the tradition.</p>
+
+<p>The English story commences in Scotland, and it introduces
+a very important element wholly absent from the
+principal Scottish versions. The English authorities
+expressly allege a deliberate purpose on Bruce's part to
+rid himself of his rival. Both Hemingburgh and the
+Lanercost Chronicler state that Bruce sent two of his
+brothers, with guileful intent, to invite Comyn to an interview;
+Hemingburgh names Thomas and Nigel. The
+fullest account is given by Sir Thomas Gray, who wrote
+in 1355&mdash;just half a century later, but still twenty and
+thirty years earlier than Barbour and Fordun. Gray
+records that Bruce dispatched his brothers, Thomas and
+Nigel, from Lochmaben to Dalswinton, where Comyn was
+staying, to invite him to meet Robert in the church at
+Dumfries; and, moreover, that he instructed them to fall
+upon Comyn on the way and kill him&mdash;a purpose thwarted
+by the softening effect of Comyn's kindly reception of the
+youths. 'Hm!' said Bruce, on hearing their report, 'milk-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span>sops
+you are, and no mistake; let me meet him.' So he
+advanced to Comyn, and led him up to the high altar.
+He then opened the question of the condition of Scotland,
+and invited Comyn's co-operation in an attempt at freedom
+on the terms already mentioned as contained in
+the alleged bond between them. 'For now is the time,'
+he said, 'in the old age of the King.' Comyn firmly
+refused. 'No?' cried Bruce, 'I had other hopes in
+you, by promise of your own and of your friends. You
+discovered me to the King by your letters. Since while
+you live I cannot fulfil my purpose, you shall have your
+guerdon!' On the word, he struck Comyn with his
+dagger, and some of his companions completed the crime
+with their swords before the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Hemingburgh works up artistically the pacific bearing
+of Comyn in the face of Bruce's accusations; and this
+would be likely enough if it be true that Comyn was
+unarmed and attended by but a small escort. The writer
+of the Merton MS. of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Flores Historiarum</i>, who says
+Comyn was unarmed, states that he endeavoured to wrest
+Bruce's weapon from his hand; that Bruce's men rushed
+up and freed their leader; that Comyn got away to the
+altar; and that Bruce pursued him, and on his persistent
+refusal to assent, slew him on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>A distinct English variation occurs in at least five of the
+records. The Meaux Chronicle states that Bruce, on returning
+to Scotland after the settlement of the Ordinance,
+summoned the Scots earls and barons to Scone to consider
+the affairs of the realm, and put forward his hereditary
+claim. He received unanimous support, except that Comyn
+stood by his oath of fealty to Edward, rejected Bruce's
+claim with scorn, and at once left the council. The
+council was adjourned to a future day at Dumfries.
+Meantime Bruce sent Comyn a friendly invitation. Comyn
+appeared at Dumfries and was cordially received by Bruce,
+but still he maintained his objections, and again he left the
+council. Bruce drew his sword and followed him, and
+ran him through the body in the Church of the Friars
+Minorites. The Cambridge Trinity College MS., it may
+be noted, states that Bruce sent his two brothers to invite
+Comyn to meet him at the 'Cordelers' of Dumfries; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span>
+Geoffrey le Baker makes Bruce kill Comyn in the midst of
+the magnates. But these councils may safely be set aside
+as grounded on misconceptions.</p>
+
+<p>The English allegation of Bruce's purpose of murder
+seems to invest with a special interest Blind Harry's casual
+story, with its coincidences and discrepancies. Bruce, says
+Harry, charged his brother Edward, whom he found at
+Lochmaben on his arrival, to proceed next day with an
+armed escort to Dalswinton, and to put Comyn to death,
+if they found him; but they did not find him.</p>
+
+<p>On the fall of Comyn, his followers pressed forward and
+blows were hotly exchanged. Comyn's uncle, Sir Robert,
+assailed Bruce himself, but failed to pierce his armour
+(which, the Meaux Chronicler says, he wore under his
+clothes), and was cut down by Sir Christopher de Seton,
+probably in the cloister, not in the church. Barbour adds
+that 'many others of mickle main' were killed in the
+mêlée; and the statement is amply confirmed.</p>
+
+<p>While this scene was enacting, the English Justiciars
+were in session in the Castle. Thither Bruce and his
+friends, having overpowered Comyn's adherents, at once
+proceeded. The Justiciars had prudently barricaded the
+doors, but, when Bruce called for fire, they instantly
+surrendered. Bruce spared their lives, and allowed them
+to pass over the Border without molestation. According
+to Hemingburgh, it was only after Bruce had got possession
+of the Castle that he learned that Comyn was still alive
+after his first wound; whereupon, by order of Bruce, the
+wounded man was dragged from the vestibule, where the
+friars were tending him, and slain on the steps of the high
+altar, which was bespattered with his blood.</p>
+
+<p>Comyn was slain (according to the usually accepted
+date) on February 10. Less than two months later (April 5),
+Edward affirmed that he had placed complete confidence
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">plenam fiduciam</i>) in Bruce. The profession may be accepted
+as sincere, for it is on record, under date February 8
+(the order would have been made some days earlier), that
+Edward remitted scutage due by Bruce on succession to
+his father's estates. We may, therefore, put aside the
+English part of the Fordun and Barbour story and refuse
+to believe that Edward dallied with Comyn's allegations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span>
+or was such a simpleton as to let Bruce keep possession
+of the incriminating bond. But was there a bond at all?
+It is generally accepted that Edward did hold in his hands
+a bond of Bruce's; but this bond is usually taken to have
+been the Lamberton indenture, which is supposed to have
+come into Edward's possession through the instrumentality
+of Comyn. Still, there is nothing to show that this indenture
+was yet in Edward's hands. It may also be gravely
+doubted whether Comyn would ever have entered into any
+bond with Bruce. There is much significance in the silence
+of the English records. Nor is there more than a very
+slight English indication of any communication about
+Bruce from Comyn to Edward. It is likely enough,
+however, that Comyn informed Edward of Bruce's private
+pushing of his claims; and it may be that the details of the
+story of a bond were evolved on mere suppositions arising
+out of the Bruce-Lamberton compact.</p>
+
+<p>The allegation that Bruce deliberately murdered Comyn
+is the most serious matter. But the English writers do not
+satisfy one that they had the means of seeing into Bruce's
+mind; and the allegation may be reasonably regarded as
+inference, not fact. There can scarcely be any doubt that
+Bruce resumed the active furtherance of his claims on
+observation of the declining health of Edward, but without
+any immediate intention of a rupture. He could hardly
+have found support enough to counterbalance the far-reaching
+power of Comyn, to say nothing of the power
+of Edward. Clearly it was of the very first importance
+that he should, if possible, gain over Comyn. He may
+have offered Comyn broad lands and high honours. But
+to expect the practical heir of the Balliol claims to support
+him was, on the face of it, all but hopeless; and to speak
+of patriotism to Comyn would have been nothing less than
+open insult. Comyn, of course, would stanchly reject
+Bruce's overtures. Despite all his prudence, Bruce had
+a hot and imperious temper; and Comyn's obstinacy&mdash;it
+may be Comyn's frank speech&mdash;most probably broke down
+his self-command. If it had been Bruce's deliberate purpose
+to kill his rival, he would scarcely have chosen a
+church for the scene, or have left the deed to be afterwards
+completed either by others or by himself. The mere fact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span>
+that he was totally unprepared for a struggle with Edward
+tells almost conclusively against the theory of premeditation&mdash;unless
+there was a very clearly compromising bond with
+Comyn, which is wholly improbable. The bond with
+Lamberton&mdash;the only bond that certainly existed&mdash;was
+capable of easy explanation, and was a wholly insufficient
+reason to urge him to murder a rival, whose adherents
+would make up in bitterness what they lost in leadership.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is there any reason to believe that Lamberton was
+implicated. True, he was charged, on his own bond, with
+complicity in the deed. There still exist letters patent,
+dated Scotland's Well, June 9, 1306, in which Lamberton
+declares to Sir Aymer de Valence, then Edward's lieutenant
+in Scotland, his anxious desire 'to defend himself in any
+way the King or Council may devise against the charge
+of having incurred any kind of guilt in the death of
+Sir John Comyn or of Sir Robert his uncle, or in relation
+to the war then begun'; and on August 9, at Newcastle,
+he acknowledged the Cambuskenneth indenture. But
+there is no necessary connection between the compact and
+the crime; and it is in the last degree improbable that
+Lamberton had any anticipation whatever of the Dumfries
+tragedy. His sympathy with Bruce's rising is quite a
+different consideration.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>Having garrisoned Dumfries Castle, Bruce sent out his
+messengers to raise adherents. The Galwegians having
+refused to join him, he ravaged their lands; and he took
+the castles of Tibbers, Durisdeer, and Ayr. But he was
+not strong enough to keep the castles for more than a
+very short period. After the first surprise, Comyn's men
+asserted their superior force; and aid arrived from Carlisle.
+The Lanercost chronicler records that Bruce pursued a Galwegian
+noble and besieged him in a lake, but that the Carlisle
+contingent raised the siege, compelling Bruce to burn
+his machines and 'ships,' and take to flight. Probably
+Carlaverock is meant.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the local struggle to lieutenants, Bruce hastened
+to Bishop Wishart in Glasgow. At Arickstone, in the upper
+end of Annandale, Barbour says, he was joined by James
+of Douglas, who had been staying with the Bishop of St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span>
+Andrews&mdash;a young man destined to play a great part in
+the history of Bruce. Bishop Wishart joyously received
+his visitor, cheerfully broke his sixth oath of fealty to
+Edward, pronounced absolution of Bruce for the murder
+of Comyn, and produced coronation robes and a royal
+banner. There was nothing half-hearted about the flexible
+prelate. Already the country was in eager expectation,
+and Bruce and the Bishop proceeded boldly to Scone.</p>
+
+<p>On March 27, 1306, in the Chapel Royal of Scone, the
+immemorial scene of the inauguration of the Kings of the
+Scots, Robert Bruce was crowned King. The ceremony
+inevitably lacked certain of the traditional accessories that
+strangely influenced the popular mind. The venerable
+Stone of Destiny had been carried off by Edward ten
+years before. The crown&mdash;if crown there had been&mdash;was
+also gone; and the ancient royal robes&mdash;if such there
+had been&mdash;were no longer available. The prescient Bishop,
+however, had provided fresh robes, and a circlet of gold
+was made to do duty for a crown. Still, there was lacking
+an important functionary&mdash;the person whose office and
+privilege it was to place the crown on the head of the
+King. The proper official was the chief of the clan MacDuff;
+but Duncan, Earl of Fife, was in wardship in England,
+and again, as on the coronation of Balliol, arose the
+difficulty of finding an efficacious substitute. No substitute
+was forthcoming, and the coronation had to pass
+with maimed rites.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later, however, this difficulty was dramatically
+solved. Isabella, Countess of Buchan, and sister of the
+Earl of Fife, had hastened south with an imposing retinue,
+and appeared to claim the honour and privilege of her
+house. A second coronation&mdash;not mentioned by the
+Scottish writers&mdash;was held on March 29. The wife of a
+Comyn, nearly related to the murdered Sir John, the
+Countess yet performed the mystic function. It would be
+an exceedingly interesting thing if one could now disentangle
+the extraordinary complication of ideas and influences
+involved in this remarkable ceremonial. The
+subsequent punishment of the Countess by Edward continued
+the romance of the occasion; and it may be added
+here that, on March 20, 1306&ndash;7, Edward, at the instance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span>
+his queen, pardoned one Geoffrey de Conyers for concealing
+the coronet of gold with which King Robert was crowned.</p>
+
+<p>The coronation might have been expected to strike the
+imagination of the Scots, and to rally the spirit that
+cherished the memory of Wallace. Fordun asserts that
+Bruce's friends in Scotland, as compared with his collective
+foes, were but 'as a single drop compared with the waves
+of the sea, or as a single grain of seed compared with the
+multitudinous sand.' The hyperbole has a considerable
+basis of fact. Bruce, indeed, was supported at his coronation
+by the two chief prelates of Scotland, the Bishops of
+St Andrews and Glasgow, and by the Abbot of Scone; by
+strong-handed relatives&mdash;his four brothers, Edward,
+Thomas, Alexander, and Nigel; his nephew, Thomas Randolph
+of Strathdon (better known afterwards as Randolph,
+Earl of Moray), and his brother-in-law, Sir Christopher de
+Seton (husband of his sister Christian); by the Earls of
+Lennox, Athol, and Errol; and by such valorous men as
+James de Douglas, Hugh de la Haye (brother of Errol),
+David Barclay of Cairns, Alexander, brother of Sir Simon
+Fraser, Walter de Somerville of Carnwath, David de
+Inchmartin, Robert Boyd, and Robert Fleming. Apart
+from the episcopal influence, however, the array is not very
+imposing. Yet how vastly superior to the meagre beginnings
+of Wallace! Bruce, indeed, lacked one vital source
+of strength that his great predecessor had&mdash;intimate association
+and sympathy with the common folk; but, on the
+other hand, he was admitted, except by the Comyn interest,
+to be the legitimate sovereign, and 'is not the King's name
+twenty thousand names?' And so it would have been but
+for his inglorious record. It is only the servile adulation
+of later writers that has pictured Bruce as animated by
+patriotism. He was simply a great Anglo-Norman baron
+in quest of aggrandizement; and it took many years to
+satisfy the people generally that their interests were safe in
+his keeping. But he was a man with deep reserves of
+strength, freed at last from the paralysis of worldly prudence
+by a sudden shock, and compelled to defend his crown
+and his life with his back to the wall. Happily, if only
+incidentally, such self-defence involved the championship
+of the independence of Scotland.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY</span></h2>
+
+<p>The new King buckled to his task with fiery energy. 'All
+the English' had not, though many of them had, 'returned
+to their own land'; and Bruce instantly issued a proclamation
+requiring those that remained to follow those that had
+gone. According to the Meaux chronicler, he proceeded
+to expel them; but the particular acts are not recorded.
+At the same time he imperiously insisted on the submission
+of such Scots as had not yet joined him. He threw the
+Perth bailies into prison, and required them, on pain of
+death, to pay up £54 of the King's Whitsunday rents. A
+detailed example of his procedure remains in the memorial
+of exculpation addressed by Malise, Earl of Strathearn, to
+Edward. The Earl alleges that, on Monday, the day after
+the coronation, Bruce sent to him the Abbot of Inchaffray,
+requiring him to repair forthwith to his presence to perform
+homage and fealty. On his refusal, Bruce, with the Earl of
+Athol, entered Strathearn in force, occupied Foulis, and
+despatched another summons, with a safe conduct, to the
+Earl, who took counsel with his followers in the wood of
+Crieff. Bruce's messenger seems to have been Sir Malcolm
+de Inverpeffry, who had been Edward's sheriff of Clackmannan
+and Auchterarder, and had been one of the first to
+go over to Bruce. Taking the advice of Sir Malcolm and
+of his own friends, he went to Bruce, but still he refused to
+comply with the peremptory demand of submission. Next
+day, he again met Bruce by appointment at Muthill. In
+the course of the interview, Athol, who had been stung by
+a sharp home thrust of Strathearn's, urged Bruce to break
+his promise of safe conduct and give the Earl into custody,
+while Athol's men should go and ravage his lands. Strathearn
+was taken to Inchmalcolm, where he steadily maintained
+his refusal. Sir Robert de Boyd thereupon advised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span>
+Bruce to cut off his head and grant away his lands, and to
+do the like to all others afflicted with such scruples. Strathearn
+then gave way, and they let him go. The story may
+be coloured to suit Strathearn's new difficulties, but it may
+at least be taken as an indication of Bruce's resolute, yet
+prudent, action.</p>
+
+<p>The memorial further shows that Strathearn was again at
+issue with Bruce before the battle of Methven. Bruce sent
+him a letter, he says, directing him to bring his power to
+Calder; but, instead of obeying the order, he communicated
+the letter to Sir Aymer de Valence, then at Perth,
+and prepared to follow with his men. Just as he was
+starting, Bruce came upon him, laid siege to the place
+where he was, and ravaged his country. At an interview,
+Strathearn flatly refused to join Bruce in an attack on
+Valence; and Bruce had to let him go recalcitrant and
+unpunished, for the sake of the hostages in the hands of
+Strathearn's party.</p>
+
+<p>The news of Bruce's revolt and the death of Comyn roused
+Edward into full martial vigour. He at once despatched
+judicious instructions to his officers in Scotland and on
+the Borders. In March he was directing military supplies
+to be accumulated at Berwick; and in the beginning of
+April he commanded the Irish authorities to divert supplies
+destined for Ayr to Skinburness, and to send them 'with
+the utmost haste,' giving 'orders to the seamen to keep the
+high seas and not to approach the ports of Ayr or Galloway
+on any account.' On April 5 he issued orders for the
+immediate muster of the forces of the northern counties at
+the summons of Valence and Percy.</p>
+
+<p>Having set his army in motion, Edward held a great
+feast at Westminster at Whitsuntide. By proclamation
+he invited all such youths as had a hereditary claim to
+knighthood, and such as had the means to campaign,
+to come and receive knighthood along with the Prince
+of Wales. In the middle of April he had despatched
+his clerks to St Botolph's Fair, with orders to his sheriffs
+and other lieges of Southampton and Wilts to aid them
+'in purchasing 80 cloths of scarlet and other colours,
+2000 ells of linen cloth, 4000 ells of canvas, 30
+pieces of wax, and 20 boillones of almonds,' for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span>
+outfit and entertainment of the new knights. The
+Royal Palace could not contain the visitors. The
+Prince and the more noble of the candidates kept vigil
+in Westminster Abbey; the rest made shift to keep
+vigil in the Temple. Next day the King knighted the
+Prince, and made him Duke of Aquitaine. Thereupon
+the Prince went to Westminster Abbey and conferred
+knighthood upon his companions. The crush before the
+high altar was so severe that two knights died and many
+fainted; and the Prince ordered in a ring of war-horses
+to fence off his knights from the crowd. The number
+of new knights may be taken roundly at three hundred.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a remarkable ceremony. As the King
+and the knights sat at table, there entered a splendid
+procession, attended by a train of minstrels, in the midst
+of which were borne two swans in golden nets amid gilt
+reeds, 'a lovely spectacle to the beholders.' On seeing
+them, the King chivalrously vowed a vow to God and
+to the swans&mdash;emblems of purity and faith&mdash;that he would
+go to Scotland, and, alive or dead, avenge the outrage
+to Holy Church, the death of Comyn, and the broken
+faith of the Scots. Turning to the Prince and the nobles,
+he adjured them by their fealty that, if he should die
+before accomplishing his vow, they should carry his body
+with them in the war, and not bury it 'till the Lord gave
+victory and triumph' over the perfidious Bruce and the
+perjured Scots. One and all, they engaged their faith by
+the same vow. Trevet adds that Edward further vowed
+that, when the war in Scotland was successfully ended, he
+would never more bear arms against Christian men, but
+would direct his steps to the Holy Land and never return
+thence. 'Never in Britain, since God was born,' says
+Langtoft, 'was there such nobleness in towns or in cities,
+except Caerleon in ancient times, when Sir Arthur the
+King was crowned there.'</p>
+
+<p>The brilliant ceremony over, the Prince set out for
+Carlisle, where his army was ordered to be in readiness on
+July 8. He was accompanied by a large number of his
+new-made knights. The King was to follow by slow stages.</p>
+
+<p>Amidst the pomp of the gallant ceremonial, Edward's
+mind was keenly bent upon the business of the expedition.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span>
+Writing to Valence on May 24, he desires 'that some
+good exploit be done, if possible, before his arrival.' Two
+days later (May 26), he is delighted to hear that Valence,
+then at Berwick, is ready to operate against the enemy,
+and urges him to strike at them as often as possible, and
+in concert with the forces at Carlisle. As regards 'the
+request by some for a safe-conduct for the Bishop of
+St Andrews,' Valence, he orders, 'will neither give, nor
+allow any of his people to give such.' The Bishop, if he
+pleases, may come to the King's faith, and receive his
+deserts. Let Valence take the utmost pains to secure the
+Bishop's person, and also the person of the Bishop of
+Glasgow; and let him send frequent news of his doings.</p>
+
+<p>Valence had a stroke of luck. On June 8, Edward 'is
+very much pleased' to learn from him 'that the Bishop of
+Glasgow is taken, and will soon be sent to him.' The
+Bishop had been taken in arms on the recapture of Cupar
+Castle by the English. A week later (June 16), Edward
+informs Valence that 'he is almost as much pleased as if
+it had been the Earl of Carrick,' and directs him to send
+the Bishop 'well guarded' to Berwick, 'having no regard
+to his estate of prelate or clerk.' The order was executed
+without any undue tenderness to the Bishop. The Bishop
+of St Andrews, however, was still at large. 'I understand
+from many,' wrote Edward to Valence in the letter of
+June 8, 'that the Bishop of St Andrews has done me
+all the mischief in his power, for, though chief of the
+Guardians of Scotland appointed by me, he has joined
+my enemies.'</p>
+
+<p>As yet the edge of Edward's appetite was but whetted.
+On June 12, he 'is well pleased to hear that Valence has
+burned Sir Simon Fraser's lands in Selkirk Forest,' and
+commands him 'to do the same to all enemies on his
+march, including those who turned against him in this
+war of the Earl of Carrick, and have since come to his
+peace as enemies and not yet guaranteed; and to burn,
+destroy, and waste their houses, lands, and goods in such
+wise that Sir Simon and others may have no refuge with
+them as heretofore.' At the same time, Valence is to
+spare and honour the loyal, and in particular to compliment
+the foresters of Selkirk on their loyal and painful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span>
+service. In successive letters he reiterates the caution
+to beware of surprise and treason, and his anxiety for
+constant news.</p>
+
+<p>Still more vindictive is his tone on June 19. He
+commands Valence to burn, destroy, and strip the lands
+and gardens of Sir Michael de Wemyss's manors, 'as
+he has found nor good speech nor good service in him,'
+and this for an example to others. Likewise, to do the
+same, or worse, if possible, to the lands and possessions
+of Sir Gilbert de la Haye, to whom the King did great
+courtesy when he was last in London, but now finds he
+is a traitor': the King will make up the loss to the
+persons to whom he has granted his lands!</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the Pope made his voice heard. On May 6,
+he had written to Edward, promising to send a nuncio to
+deal with the Bishop of Glasgow and others; and on May
+11, he had strongly denounced to the Archbishop of York
+the assumption of the Bishop, desiring him to order the
+culprit peremptorily to come to his Holiness at Bordeaux.
+The Archbishop replied that the Bishop had been captured
+in arms, and that the King thought it inexpedient to serve
+the citation on his prisoner, but would send envoys with
+explanations. On June 18, the Pope addressed a bull to
+the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle directing
+them to excommunicate Bruce and his adherents, and
+to lay their lands, castles, and towns under ecclesiastical
+interdict till they should purge their offence. Already, on
+June 5, according to the London Annalist, the Archdeacons
+of Middlesex and Colchester had formally excommunicated
+Bruce and three other knights at St Paul's for the death of
+Comyn.</p>
+
+<p>However the sacrilegious deed at Dumfries may have
+affected the attitude of Scotsmen generally to Bruce, it did
+not produce revulsion in the minds of the more ardent
+patriots, any more than in the minds of Bruce's personal
+friends. Yet not only the powerful Comyn interest, but also
+a very large section of the rest of the population, adhered,
+formally at least, to the English cause. The particular
+movements of Bruce are not on record; but it appears that
+his adherents were pressing Sir Alexander de Abernethy
+in Forfar Castle, and that Irish as well as Scots allies were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span>
+active in Fife and Gowrie. The foresters of Selkirk, as
+we have seen, had stood by Edward, and apparently had
+suffered not a little for their fidelity. Hemingburgh says
+Bruce 'did great wonders': undoubtedly the impression
+is that he must have been fighting a strenuous uphill
+battle. The great mass of the nation, however, was waiting
+for more definite developments.</p>
+
+<p>In June, Sir Aymer de Valence had advanced from
+Berwick to Perth. In his company were several prominent
+Scots&mdash;Sir John de Mowbray, Sir Ingram de Umfraville,
+Sir Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Adam de Gordon,
+Sir David de Brechin, and others that leant to Comyn.
+He had received to the peace some complaisant Scots
+whose lands or dwellings lay on his northward route.
+Bruce probably kept him under observation, retiring before
+him beyond the Forth, and not attempting to bar his progress
+to Perth.</p>
+
+<p>On June 25, Bruce, no doubt reinforced, appeared before
+the walls of Perth, and challenged Sir Aymer to come out
+and fight him, or else to surrender. Hemingburgh assigns
+to Valence only 300 men-at-arms and some foot, a smaller
+force, he says, than Bruce had; but it is most unlikely that
+Valence was not the stronger, though possibly not by 1500
+men, as Barbour alleges. Valence seems to have been
+ready to accept Bruce's challenge, but to have been dissuaded
+by his Scots friends. Umfraville, says Barbour,
+advised him to promise battle on the morrow, but to attack
+that night when the Scots were off guard in reliance on his
+promise. Bruce&mdash;'too credulous,' says Hemingburgh&mdash;accepted
+the promise. He was not in a position to establish
+a siege, and he retired to Methven Wood. His main
+body set about preparing food, and disposed themselves at
+ease, while parties went out to forage. In the dusk of the
+evening, Valence issued from Perth and took Bruce by
+surprise. It is not to be supposed, as the chroniclers
+narrate, that Bruce was so inexperienced as to allow his
+men to lie in careless unreadiness: no doubt many of
+them would have laid aside their arms; but the very fact
+that his knights at least fought with loose linen tunics over
+their armour to hide their distinctive arms would seem to
+show that they at any rate were prepared. Still they did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span>
+not expect attack. They promptly rallied, however, and
+met with vigour the sudden and furious onset. Bruce,
+keenly realising the importance of the issue, bore himself
+with splendid valour. Before his fierce charge, the enemy
+gave way; and, Langtoft says, he killed Valence's charger.
+Thrice was he unhorsed himself, and thrice remounted by
+Sir Simon Fraser. According to Sir Thomas Gray, he was
+taken prisoner by John de Haliburton, who let him go the
+moment he recognised him. Barbour tells how he was
+hard beset by Sir Philip de Mowbray, and was rescued by
+Sir Christopher de Seton. But the day was going against
+him, and it was in vain that he made a supreme effort to
+rally his men. He was compelled to retreat. Barbour
+asserts that the English were too wearied to pursue, and
+retired within the walls of Perth with their prisoners, keeping
+there in fear of the approach of Bruce; but it seems far
+more likely, as Langtoft relates, that they kept up the pursuit
+'for many hours.' The statement of Hemingburgh
+and others that the English pursued Bruce to Cantyre, and
+besieged and took a castle there, mistakenly supposing him
+to be in it, is evidently a misconception, and a confusion
+of Dunaverty with Kildrummy.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce lost comparatively few men in the battle&mdash;the
+7000 of the Meaux chronicle need not be considered&mdash;but
+a number of his ablest supporters were taken prisoners,
+notably Thomas Randolph, his nephew, Sir Alexander
+Fraser, Sir David Barclay, Sir Hugh de la Haye, Sir David
+de Inchmartin, and Sir John de Somerville. The Bishop
+of St Andrews had surrendered to Valence before the battle,
+but had taken care to send his household to fight for Bruce.
+His calculation is said to have been 'that if the Scots beat
+the English they would rescue him as a man taken by force
+for lack of protection, whereas, if the English won the day,
+they would mercifully regard him as having been abandoned
+by his household, as not consenting to their acts.' But
+this looks like a speculation of the chronicler's. Valence
+displayed humane consideration for his prisoners, all the
+more honourable as he had not yet received Edward's
+letter of June 28, modifying his previous bloodthirsty
+orders.</p>
+
+<p>After the defeat, Bruce's party broke up into several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span>
+groups. Sir Simon Fraser was captured at Kirkincliffe,
+near Stirling. Sir Christopher de Seton was taken at
+Lochore Castle in Fife. The Earl of Lennox made for
+his own fastnesses. Bruce himself proceeded northwards
+to Aberdeen. Barbour says he had about 500 followers,
+the most prominent of whom were his brother Sir Edward,
+the Earls of Athol and Errol, Sir William Barondoun,
+James of Douglas, and Sir Nigel Campbell. He kept
+to the high ground, not venturing to the plains, for the
+population had outwardly passed to the English peace
+again. Barbour tells pitifully how the fugitives' clothes
+and shoon were riven and rent before they reached Aberdeen.
+Here they were met by Nigel Bruce, the Queen,
+and other ladies; and here Bruce rested his company 'a
+good while.'</p>
+
+<p>The English, however, followed up, and Bruce was
+unable to show fight. The whole party, therefore, took
+to the hills again. The exact date is not recorded; but
+we know that Valence was at Aberdeen on August 3.
+The very next day (August 4) a painful scene was enacted
+at Newcastle. Fifteen Scots, all prisoners from
+Methven, including Sir David de Inchmartin, Sir John de
+Cambhou, Sir John de Somerville, Sir Ralph de Heriz,
+and Sir Alexander Scrymgeour, were arraigned before
+nine justices, whose instructions directed that 'judgment
+be pronounced as ordained, and none of them be allowed
+to answer.' They were all hanged. At the same time,
+John de Seton, who had been taken in Tibbers Castle,
+which he was holding for Bruce, and who had been
+present with Bruce at the death of Comyn, and at the
+capture of Dumfries Castle, of which Sir Richard Siward
+of Tibbers was constable, was condemned, drawn, and
+hanged. It appears to have been due to the earnest
+intervention of Sir Adam de Gordon that Randolph&mdash;as
+we shall henceforth call Thomas Randolph (<i>Thomas
+Ranulphi</i>) Bruce's nephew, later Earl of Moray&mdash;was
+spared.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce and his followers suffered serious privations in
+the hill country. Barbour engagingly tells how Douglas
+especially exerted himself in hunting and fishing, and, as
+became a chivalrous youth hardly out of his teens, served<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span>
+indefatigably the ladies as well as his lord. The party
+pushed south-westwards by 'the head of the Tay.' Eventually,
+they found themselves face to face with the Lord of
+Lorn, Alexander MacDougal, a 'deadly enemy to the King,'
+says Barbour, 'for the sake of his uncle John Comyn.'
+Alexander was really Lord of Argyll, and had married
+Comyn's third daughter; it was his son, John of Lorn,
+whose uncle Comyn was, and Barbour may mean John.
+Alexander is said to have had over 1000 men, with the
+chiefs of Argyll as his lieutenants. Bruce was in no case
+for battle, but he was encouraged, in his necessity, by
+the nature of the ground, and put on a bold front. A
+stern combat ensued at Dalry&mdash;the 'Kings Field'&mdash;in
+Strathfillan, near Tyndrum. Fordun gives the date August
+11; and, if this be correct, Barbour has misplaced the
+episode. The men of Lorn, wielding their great pole-axes
+on foot, did serious execution upon Bruce's horses;
+and they wounded badly some of his men, including
+Douglas and Sir Gilbert de la Haye. Bruce satisfied
+himself by a determined charge that further contest would
+cost him too many men, and, forming close, he retreated
+steadily, protecting his rear in person so vigilantly and
+boldly that none of the Lorns durst advance from the
+main body.</p>
+
+<p>The wrath of Lorn incited two brothers named MacIndrosser&mdash;that
+is, sons of Durward (the Doorkeeper) as
+Barbour explains&mdash;to perform an oath they had sworn to
+slay Bruce. This oath may possibly be connected with
+the fact that Alan Durward, the celebrated Justiciar of
+Scotland, had vainly endeavoured to get his family claims
+to the throne forwarded by the legitimation of his daughters,
+his wife being an illegitimate daughter of Alexander II.
+Joined by a third man&mdash;possibly the MacKeoch of the
+Lorn tradition&mdash;they rushed on Bruce in a narrow pass&mdash;perhaps
+between Loch Dochart and Ben More&mdash;where
+the hill rose so sheer from the water that he had barely
+room to turn his horse. One caught his bridle, but Bruce
+instantly shore off his arm. Another had seized his leg
+and stirrup; but Bruce rose in his stirrups and spurred his
+horse, throwing down his adversary, who still grimly maintained
+his grip. The third meanwhile had scrambled up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span>
+the incline and jumped on Bruce's horse behind him; but
+Bruce at once dragged him forward and clove his head.
+He then struck down the man at his stirrup. This exploit
+cowed the Lorns. Barbour glorifies Bruce by citing the
+admiring comment of MacNaughton, a Baron of Cowal.
+'You seem to enjoy our discomfiture,' said Lorn angrily.
+'No,' replied MacNaughton; 'but never did I hear tell of
+such a feat, and one should honour chivalry whether in
+friend or in foe.' Bruce rode after his men, and Lorn
+retired in chagrin. Barbour, it will be observed, makes no
+mention of a personal encounter between Bruce and Lorn,
+or of the capture of the famous Brooch of Lorn,</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'Wrought and chased with fair device,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Studded fair with gems of price.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Bruce, according to Barbour, now applied himself to
+comfort his party, though probably he was less versed
+than the devoted Archdeacon in historical examples
+of courage in despair. There was need for comfort;
+things were going rapidly from bad to worse. The ladies
+began to fail. And not only the ladies, but some of the
+harder sex: the Earl of Athol, Barbour says, could hold
+out no longer on any terms. A council of war was called,
+with the result that Bruce himself, with some 200 of the
+tougher men, took to the higher hills, and Sir Nigel Bruce,
+taking all the horses, even the King's, essayed to conduct
+the Queen and the other ladies, as well as the more exhausted
+of the men, back to the Aberdeenshire stronghold
+of Kildrummy.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Nigel reached Kildrummy in safety. The castle
+was well provisioned, and was deemed impregnable. It
+had not been taken by Valence in early August, when
+he 'well settled affairs beyond the Mounth, and appointed
+warders there.' Sir Nigel was soon besieged, probably by
+the Prince of Wales. A vigorous attack was met by a
+spirited defence, the besieged frequently sallying and
+fighting at the outworks. There was hardly time for the
+besiegers to despair of success, as Barbour says they did,
+when a traitor set fire to the store of corn heaped up in the
+castle hall, involving the place in flames, and driving the
+garrison to the battlements. The English seized their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span>
+opportunity and attacked as closely as the fire permitted,
+but they were gallantly repelled. The entrance gate,
+though burnt, is said to have been so hot that they could
+not enter. They accordingly waited till the morrow. The
+defenders, with great exertion, managed to block up the
+gate overnight. At daybreak, the attack was renewed, with
+all the energy of certain hope. The besieged, however,
+having neither food nor fuel, recognised that further defence
+was impossible, and surrendered at discretion. The
+precise date is not clear. A calendered letter, anonymous,
+dated September 13, states that 'Kildrummy was lately
+taken by the Prince'; but, if this date be correct, it seems
+strange that Edward, writing on September 22, should
+not say more than that 'all is going well at Kildrummy
+Castle.'</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners included Sir Nigel Bruce, Sir Robert de
+Boyd, Sir Alexander de Lindsay, 'and other traitors, and
+many knights and others.' Hemingburgh mentions the
+Queen; but Barbour and Fordun relate that she and the
+Princess Marjory, in order to escape the siege, had been
+escorted to the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain, where they
+were taken by the Earl of Ross, who delivered them to
+Edward. It may be incidentally noted that some two years
+afterwards (October 31, 1308), the Earl of Ross did fealty
+and homage to King Robert at Auldearn, and was reinstated
+in his lands.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of the more important prisoners demands particular
+notice. Most of the captives were interned in English
+castles; but</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'Some they ransomed, some they slew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And some they hanged, and some they drew.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Queen was sent to stay at the manor of Burstwick,
+in Holderness, Yorkshire. Edward certainly meant to
+treat her handsomely. His directions were that she should
+have 'a waiting-woman and a maid-servant, advanced in
+life, sedate, and of good conversation; a butler, two man-servants,
+and a foot-boy for her chamber, sober and not
+riotous, to make her bed; three greyhounds, when she
+inclined to hunt; venison, fish, and the "fairest house in
+the manor."' Hemingburgh gives two reasons. First, her
+father, the Red Earl of Ulster, had proved faithful to him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span>
+Second, he was pleased with a reported saying of hers
+on the coronation of her husband. 'Rejoice now, my
+consort,' Bruce said, 'for you have been made a Queen,
+and I a King.' 'I fear, Sir,' she replied, 'we have been
+made King and Queen after the fashion of children in
+summer games.' Other chroniclers give the story with
+slight variation. In a letter, without date, but apparently
+belonging to next year, she complains to Edward 'that,
+though he had commanded his bailiffs of Holderness to see
+herself and her attendants honourably sustained, yet they
+neither furnish attire for her person or her head, nor a bed,
+nor furniture of her chambers, saving only a robe of three
+"garmentz" yearly, and for her servants one robe each for
+everything'; and she prays him 'to order amendment of
+her condition, and that her servants be paid for their labour,
+that she may not be neglected, or that she may have a yearly
+sum allowed by the King for her maintenance.' In autumn
+1310, she was at Bistelesham; in 1311&ndash;12, at Windsor Castle;
+in autumn 1312, at Shaftesbury; in 1313, at Barking Abbey;
+in 1313&ndash;14, at Rochester Castle; in October 1314, at
+Carlisle Castle, on her way back to Scotland, in consequence
+of Bannockburn.</p>
+
+<p>Marjory, Bruce's daughter, had first been destined to
+a 'cage' in the Tower of London, but was placed by
+Sir Henry de Percy in the Priory of Watton in Yorkshire.
+She returned to Scotland with the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Bruce, sister of the King, and wife of Sir Nigel
+Campbell, was kept first in Roxburgh Castle, in a 'cage,'
+and then at Newcastle till June 25, 1312, when she was
+probably exchanged.</p>
+
+<p>Christian Bruce, another sister of the King, and widow
+of Sir Christopher de Seton, was relegated to the Priory
+of Sixhill, in Lincolnshire, whence she was released on
+July 18, 1314, and returned with the Queen.</p>
+
+<p>The Countess of Buchan was put in a 'cage' in Berwick
+Castle. The Earl, it is said, wanted to kill her, but Edward
+delivered judgment thus: 'As she did not strike with the
+sword, she shall not perish by the sword; but, because of
+the unlawful coronation she performed, let her be closely confined
+in a stone-and-iron chamber, fashioned in the form of a
+crown, and suspended at Berwick in the open air outside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span>
+the castle, so that she may be presented, alive and dead, a
+spectacle to passers-by and an everlasting reproach.' In
+fact, she was placed in a room&mdash;or rather an erection of
+three storeys or rooms&mdash;of stout lattice-work in a turret of
+the castle. She was to be kept so strictly that 'she shall
+speak to no one, and that neither man nor woman of the
+nation of Scotland, nor other, shall approach her,' except
+her keeper and her immediate attendants. The 'cage'
+was simply an arrangement for 'straiter custody,' though
+but rarely judged necessary in the case of ladies. About
+a year later, the ex-Constable of Bristol Castle was reimbursed
+certain expenditure, part of which was for
+'making a wooden cage bound with iron in the said
+house for the straiter custody of Owen, son of David ap
+Griffith, a prisoner, shut therein at night.'</p>
+
+<p>A harder fate awaited the foremost knightly defenders
+of Kildrummy. Sir Nigel Bruce and several others were
+drawn, hanged, and beheaded at Berwick. The handsome
+person and gallant bearing of the youthful knight excited
+general sympathy and regret.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Athol had escaped from Kildrummy and
+taken to sea, but was driven back by contrary winds and
+took refuge in a church, where he was captured&mdash;'the news
+whereof eased the King's pain.' In the end of October he
+was taken to London, and tried and condemned. When
+friends interceded for him, and urged his royal blood, 'The
+higher the rank,' said Edward, 'the worse the fall; hang
+him higher than the rest.' In virtue of his royal blood he
+was not drawn, but he was hanged fifty feet high (twenty
+feet higher than others), taken down half-dead, beheaded
+and burnt, and his head was set on London Bridge, again
+higher than the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Christopher de Seton had been taken at Lochore
+(Hemingburgh, Trevet)&mdash;if not at Kildrummy (Gray)&mdash;betrayed,
+says Barbour, by MacNab, 'a man of his own
+household,' 'a disciple of Judas.' 'In hell condemnèd
+mot he be!' prays the good Archdeacon. He was taken
+to Dumfries, in consideration of the part he played at
+the death of Comyn, and there (not, as Barbour says, at
+London) he was drawn, hanged, and beheaded. He was
+only twenty-eight years of age.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span>
+Sir Simon Fraser had been captured about August 24,
+by Sir David de Brechin, near Stirling, and conducted to
+London on September 6. He was tried and condemned,
+drawn, hanged, and beheaded; his body, having been rehung
+on the gallows for twenty days, was burnt; and his
+head was carried, with the music of horns, to London
+Bridge, and placed near the head of Wallace. Fraser,
+since turning patriot, had extorted the admiration of foes
+and friends alike. 'In him,' says Langtoft, 'through his
+falseness, perished much worth.' 'The imprisoned Scots
+nobles,' says another English chronicler, 'declared he
+could be neither beaten nor taken, and thought the
+Scots could not be conquered while he was alive.
+So much did they believe in him that Sir Herbert de
+Morham, handsomest and tallest of Scotsmen, a prisoner
+in the Tower, offered his head to the King to be cut off
+the day Simon was captured.' Sir Herbert's squire, Thomas
+du Bois, joined in his master's confident wager. Both of
+them were beheaded on September 7, the day after Sir
+Simon's arrival at the Tower.</p>
+
+<p>But Edward dared not imbrue his hands in the blood of
+great churchmen. The Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow
+and the Abbot of Scone were conducted to Newcastle-on-Tyne
+in the warlike guise in which they are said to have
+been taken. From Newcastle (August 10) they were led
+by stages, still traceable, to their separate places of confinement&mdash;the
+castles of Winchester, Porchester, and Mere.
+On the way they were not allowed to communicate with
+each other, or with anyone else, 'excepting their keepers
+only'; and, on arrival at their several destinations, they
+were loaded with irons. Edward was keenly anxious to
+get hold of the Bishop of Moray also, whom he believed&mdash;no
+doubt wrongly&mdash;to have been a party to the murder
+of Comyn, but who certainly adhered to Bruce. The
+Bishop, however, had fled to Orkney, and for a twelvemonth
+left Edward to negotiate with the King of Norway
+for his surrender.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop of St Andrews had sagaciously surrendered
+to Valence four or five days before Methven. He had
+already (June 9) warmly repudiated the charge of complicity
+in the death of Comyn. On August 9, he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span>
+severely examined at Newcastle. Why had he concealed
+his bond with Bruce when he was admitted of the Council
+at Sheen? He had 'entirely forgotten' it&mdash;which is not
+quite improbable, for, on the face of it at all events, and
+possibly in fact, it related to the immediate contingencies
+of eighteen months back. Why did he hasten to Bruce's
+coronation? He went to see him 'on account of grievous
+threats against his person and substance, and for no other
+reason'&mdash;but he was not so stiff as the Earl of Strathearn.
+Neither these nor his further answers are satisfactory.
+Already he was declaring himself 'heartily sorry.' On
+June 1, 1308, on an order dated May 23, he was released
+from Winchester Castle, where he had lain from August
+24, 1306, but he was taken bound to remain within the
+county of Northampton. At Northampton, on August 11,
+he swore fealty to Edward in abject terms, and made oath
+to remain within the bounds of the bishopric of Durham.
+He was creeping northwards. The Pope sent a strong
+remonstrance in his favour, but Edward II. had anticipated
+it by the Bishop's release. On February 16, 1309&ndash;10, the
+Bishop figures at the head of a commission of seven, invested,
+on the urgency of the Pope, with full powers to
+treat with Bruce for a cessation of hostilities. On July 24,
+1311, he was back in Scotland, and Edward writes to the
+Pope excusing his absence from a General Council holden
+at Vienna, on the ground that 'he is much needed to give
+right direction to the minds of Scotsmen, and in these
+days no one's exhortations are more readily acquiesced
+in.' Indeed, 'we have laid upon him various arduous
+tasks touching the state of the country, and especially
+its tranquillity.' Besides, 'his absence would be a danger
+to souls.' In a second letter of excuse, on December 4,
+Edward testifies emphatically to his continued fidelity.
+About two years later, November 30, 1313, the Bishop
+was still so much in favour that Edward dispatched him
+on an embassy to the King of France. On September 25,
+1314, he 'is going abroad on business of his own, by our
+leave'; which implies his final release as a consequence of
+Bannockburn.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop of Glasgow was more strictly dealt with.
+Apparently about the date of his internment in Porchester<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span>
+Castle (say August 25, 1306), he prayed the King, 'for
+God and for charity and the salvation of his soul, to allow
+him to remain in England within certain bounds at the
+King's will, on such surety as the King may demand,
+till the rising of the Scots be entirely put down.' On
+December 1, 1308, Edward II. delivered him to Arnaud,
+Bishop of Poitiers, to be taken to the Pope; but three
+days later he wrote to his Holiness, and to a number of
+cardinals, that the Bishop's crimes forbade any hope that
+he could be allowed to return to Scotland. He set forth
+at large the supreme wickedness of the Bishop, 'the sower
+of universal discord,' the traitor, the sixfold perjurer, the
+ecclesiastic taken in arms; 'not a pacific overseer, but a
+belligerent; not a Levite of the altar, but a horsed warrior,
+taking to himself a shield for a diocese, a sword for a stole,
+a corslet for an alb, a helmet for a mitre, a spear for a
+pastoral staff.' Begging the Pope on no account to permit
+the return of the Bishop to Scotland, or even 'elsewhere
+within the King's power,' he recommends the appointment
+of Master Stephen de Segrave, Professor of Canon Law
+and Dean of Glasgow, to the western bishopric. To the
+Pope the Bishop went; and with the Pope he apparently
+remained for two years, for in January 1310&ndash;11, Edward
+wrote from Berwick to his Chancellor informing him that
+he had heard that the Bishop was 'busy suing his deliverance
+at the Court of Rome,' and commanding him, 'in
+concert with the Earl of Lincoln, the Lieutenant and
+Guardian, and the Treasurer of Scotland, to issue letters
+under the Great Seal to the Pope, and to the Cardinals
+named in the enclosed list, urgently opposing the Bishop's
+restoration either to his office or to his country, and pointing
+out his evil bearing (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">mavoys port</i>), and his repeated
+violation of his oath, and anything else likely to induce
+the Pope to refuse him leave even to return to Scotland.'
+These representations appear to have stayed the Pope's
+hand; and again, on April 23, Edward repeated with
+especial urgency his request for the supersession of the
+Bishop by Master Stephen de Segrave. Late in 1313,
+the Bishop was sent back to Edward 'to be detained by
+the King at pleasure till Scotland was recovered'; and
+Edward, on November 20, committed him to the charge of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span>
+the Prior of Ely, 'to remain at the Priory at his own expenses,
+and not to go forth except for the purpose of
+taking the air, under sufficient escort.' On July 18, 1314,
+Edward ordered him to be brought to York, where he
+joined Bruce's Queen and other Scots prisoners, with
+whom he was sent to Carlisle on October 2, and thence
+to Scotland. Physically, however, he was worn out; he
+had become totally blind. He survived his restoration
+but two years, dying in 1317. It stands to the credit of
+Bruce that he always retained a strong feeling of gratitude
+and sympathy for the patriotic, flexible, gallant, and much
+enduring Bishop.</p>
+
+<p>The campaign of the east was over. On October 4,
+Edward conferred on Sir Aymer de Valence lands and
+official honours in the shires of Peebles and Selkirk; and,
+on October 7, he made him keeper of the castle and forest
+of Jedburgh. On October 23, Edward received the
+homage and fealty of James, Steward of Scotland, and
+restored to him his lands. Of course the English lands
+and possessions of Bruce and all his adherents were distributed
+as rewards to the deserving officers and the
+favourites of the conqueror. The active opposition to
+the English in Scotland was smothered in blood, except
+in the parts of Galloway and Carrick.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE KING IN EXILE</span></h2>
+
+<p>When Sir Nigel Bruce parted for the last time with his
+brother and passed on his fated way to Kildrummy, the
+King was left with some two hundred men, all on foot.
+He kept steadily to the hills, where he suffered severely
+from hunger, cold, and wet, till at last he resolved to
+make southward to Cantyre. Despatching Sir Nigel
+Campbell, whose kinsmen dwelt in these parts, to obtain
+boats and victuals, and to meet the party 'at the sea'&mdash;either
+on Loch Long or on the Firth of Clyde&mdash;Bruce,
+says Barbour, struck for Loch Lomond, probably about
+Rowardennan. Here he could find no boats, and either
+way round was long and beset with foes. At last Douglas
+discovered a sunken boat, capable of holding but three
+men. In the course of a night and a day the party were
+ferried over, two by two, a few of them, however, swimming
+'with fardel on back.' Meanwhile Bruce cheered their
+drooping spirits by reading from the old romance how
+Fierabras was overcome by the right doughty Oliver, and
+how the Twelve (Eleven) Peers held out in Aigremont
+against Lawyne (Laban, Balan) till they were delivered by
+Charlemagne.</p>
+
+<p>The most pressing difficulty was lack of food. Presently,
+however, this was relieved by the Earl of Lennox, who had
+noted the sound of the King's horn and joyfully hastened
+to him. Shortly Sir Nigel returned with boats and food
+in abundance. Bruce and his friends embarked. Barbour
+has a dramatic story how Lennox made delay in starting,
+how his boat was pursued&mdash;probably by Lorn's men&mdash;and
+how he escaped by throwing overboard his belongings,
+which the enemy stopped to appropriate. The boats
+ran down the Firth and safely landed the party in Cantyre.</p>
+
+<p>Here Bruce received a friendly welcome from Angus
+of Islay, Lord of Cantyre, who placed at his disposal the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span>
+rock fortress of Dunaverty. He entertained suspicions of
+treachery, however, and stayed only three days. Then,
+with all his following, he passed over to the island of
+Rathlin, an exile from his kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Such is Barbour's story. Taking it, meantime, as it
+stands, let us see what the English had been doing in the
+south-west. The details of operation are very scanty.
+Percy, the King's lieutenant on the western March, had
+exerted himself during June, July and August in fortifying
+and provisioning the castles. Lochmaben Castle fell on
+July 11, and Prince Edward felt himself free to go to
+Valence at Perth a few days later, and to carry through
+the siege of Kildrummy by the middle of September.
+He seems to have acted with more zeal than prudence.
+Rishanger says he took 'such vengeance that he spared
+neither sex nor age; towns, too, and hamlets, wherever he
+came he set on fire, and he mercilessly devastated the
+country.' This conduct 'is said to have gravely displeased
+the King his father, who chid him severely.' The King
+had moved northwards by slow stages, borne in a litter on
+horseback. It was September 29 when he reached the
+priory of Lanercost, eight miles from Carlisle, and this
+house he made his headquarters till March 26.</p>
+
+<p>In September, the siege of Dunaverty was proceeding
+under the direction of Sir John Botetourte, the King's
+ablest engineer. The local people were very slack in
+aiding the English, and Edward, on September 25,
+ordered Sir John de Menteith to compel them to supply
+the besiegers with provisions and necessaries, 'if they
+will not with a good grace.' Next month Edward empowered
+Sir John of Argyll to receive to his peace, on
+special conditions, Donald of Islay, Gotheri his brother,
+John MacNakyld, and Sir Patrick de Graham. The conditions
+suggest that they had been in a position to drive
+a good bargain; and the submission of the first three at
+least may, perhaps, be connected with the capitulation of
+Dunaverty towards the end of October.</p>
+
+<p>Now, at what date did Bruce pass from Dunaverty to
+Rathlin? Even were it not for Barbour's weather indications,
+and for the necessity of the awkward admission
+that, for some good reason&mdash;say commissariat&mdash;Bruce
+fled before the English approach and left some of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span>
+stanchest supporters in Dunaverty, it is difficult to suppose
+that he could have lain undisturbed in Rathlin from mid
+September to the end of January. Sir Thomas Gray records
+that Prince Edward, on his return from Kildrummy (say
+mid September), had an interview with Bruce, 'who had
+re-entered from the Isles and had collected a force in
+Athol,' at the bridge of Perth, much to the displeasure of
+the King his father. Gray is manifestly wrong in some
+points, and he may be wrong in all. Still, Bruce, finding
+his way barred by Alexander of Argyll and not daring
+to descend to the plains, may likely enough have turned
+back to Athol, and, on hearing of the disaster of Kildrummy
+and the capture of his Queen, his daughter, and
+his sisters, may have felt driven to a desperate attempt at
+accommodation. On such a supposition, it becomes easy
+to accept Barbour's Perthshire and Atlantic weather, to
+absolve Bruce from an apparent sacrifice of friends in
+Dunaverty, and to shorten to a credible length his stay in
+Rathlin. There are two difficulties to this view. One is
+that the English should have gone so far out of their way
+as to besiege Dunaverty so zealously, or at all. They seem,
+however, to have been under the impression that Bruce
+himself was there. The other difficulty is that Dunaverty had
+just been taken by the English. But if the astute Angus
+Oig was governor when Bruce arrived, Dunaverty was remote
+enough to allow him large scope for temporising.</p>
+
+<p>The secret of Bruce's retreat appears to have been well
+kept. In October, indeed, Edward had commissioned Sir
+John of Argyll admiral on the west coast. But he did
+not find Bruce. It was not till January 29, that Edward
+commanded the Treasurer of Ireland to aid Sir Hugh
+Bisset in fitting out 'as many well-manned vessels as he
+can procure, to come to the Isles and the Scottish coast,
+and join Sir John de Menteith in putting down Robert de
+Bruce and his accomplices lurking there, and in cutting off
+their retreat.' More precise are the terms of appointment
+of Sir Simon de Montacute (January 30) as commander
+of the fleet specially destined 'for service against the rebels
+lurking in Scotland, and in the Isles between Scotland and
+Ireland.' On February 1, Edward ordered up vessels from
+Skinburness and neighbouring ports 'towards Ayr in pursuit
+of Robert de Bruce and his abettors, and to cut off his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span>
+retreat.' Bruce, therefore, must have left Rathlin some
+days before the end of January, and probably because of
+the menace of the English fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Barbour keeps him in Rathlin till winter was nearly
+gone&mdash;not really an inconsistency; but he seems to
+attribute the exodus to Douglas's chafing at inaction.
+Douglas, he says, proposed to Boyd an attempt on
+Brodick Castle, which Boyd knew well. With Bruce's
+leave they proceeded to Arran, and overnight set ambush
+at the castle. As they lay in wait, the sub-warden arrived
+with over thirty men in three boats, bringing provisions
+and arms; and Douglas and Boyd set upon them. The
+outcry brought men from the castle, who fled, however,
+before the bold advance of the Scots, and barred the
+gate. The Scots appropriated the sub-warden's provisions
+and arms, and took up a position in a narrow
+pass; and the garrison does not seem to have even
+attempted to dislodge them.</p>
+
+<p>On the tenth day, it is said, Bruce arrived with the rest
+of his men, in thirty-three small boats, and was conducted
+by a woman to the glen where Douglas and Boyd lay,
+strangely ignorant of his coming. Then Bruce determined
+to dispatch the trusty Cuthbert of Carrick to sound the
+people on the mainland, arranging that Cuthbert, in case
+he found them favourable, should raise a fire on Turnberry
+Point at a time fixed. Cuthbert found Percy in Turnberry
+Castle, with some 300 men; and, as for the Scots, some
+were willing, but afraid, while most were distinctly hostile.
+He dared not fire the beacon.</p>
+
+<p>At the appointed time, Bruce looked eagerly for the
+signal. He descried a fire. The party put to sea, 300
+strong, and rowed, in the dusk and the dark, right on
+the fire. Cuthbert was at his wits' end; he dare not
+extinguish the fire. He met Bruce at the shore, and
+explained the untoward attitude of the people. 'Why,
+then,' demanded Bruce angrily, with a suspicion of
+treachery, 'why did you light the fire?' Cuthbert explained
+it was none of his doing, and beyond his help.
+What was to be done? A council of war was held. Sir
+Edward Bruce is said to have decided the question by a
+point-blank refusal to retire. He, for one, would strike at
+once, let come what might.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span>
+Cuthbert had learned that two-thirds of the garrison
+were lodged in the town. Bruce and his men entered
+quietly in small parties, breaking open the doors and
+slaying all they found. Percy did not venture to sally
+from the castle. Bruce stayed three days, testing the
+feeling of the people; but even those that secretly
+favoured him were afraid to show an open preference.
+It is said that a lady, a near relative of his own, Christian
+of the Isles, came and encouraged him, and afterwards sent
+him frequent supplies of money and victuals. While mewing
+up Percy, he harried the country with increasing daring. A
+strong force of Northumberland men, however, raised the
+siege. Hemingburgh places Bruce's attack on Turnberry
+Castle 'about Michaelmas'; but it seems very unlikely
+that Bruce ventured to take the field in the south-west
+before he passed to Rathlin.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from Barbour's details, it is plain that Bruce had
+struck a heavy blow. On February 6, Edward wrote to his
+Treasurer expressing surprise 'at having no news of Valence
+and his forces since he went to Ayr, if they have done any
+exploit or pursued the enemy.' He commands him
+'quickly to order Valence, Percy, and Sir John de St
+John, and others he sees, to send a trustworthy man
+without delay with full particulars of their doings and the
+state of affairs.' And he is 'not to forget in his letter to
+them to say on the King's behalf that he hears they have
+done so badly that they do not wish him to know.' To
+the same effect he wrote himself to Valence on February
+11, and commanded him 'to write distinctly and clearly
+by the bearer the news of the parts where he is, the state
+of affairs there, and the doings of himself and the others
+hitherto, and how he and they have arranged further proceedings.
+For he suspects from his silence that he has so
+over-cautiously conducted matters that he wishes to conceal
+his actions.' At the same time he addressed similar letters
+to the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, St John, and
+Percy. The tone is too earnest to permit the supposition
+that Edward was dissembling knowledge of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce had at last regained a footing&mdash;though but a precarious
+footing&mdash;in his kingdom, and rendered Edward
+anxious about the immediate future.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE TURN OF THE TIDE</span></h2>
+
+<p>In the midst of his new success, another severe family blow
+was impending on Bruce. On February 10, 1306&ndash;7&mdash;the
+first anniversary of the Dumfries tragedy&mdash;his brothers
+Thomas and Alexander made a raid on Galloway, with
+some 300 Scots and 700 Irish auxiliaries, landing at Loch
+Ryan, in the territory of Sir Dougal MacDowall. In a
+desperate fight, the force was completely crushed by
+MacDowall, who captured Thomas and Alexander, and
+Sir Reginald Crawford, Wallace's uncle, all 'wounded
+and half-dead.' Hemingburgh says the Scots were caught
+by surprise; Trevet adds 'in the night.' MacDowall
+delivered his chief prisoners, together with the heads of
+a baron of Cantyre and two Irish kinglets, to Prince
+Edward, at Wetheral, near Carlisle. These prisoners were
+all executed at Carlisle on February 17. Sir Thomas
+Bruce was drawn, hanged, and beheaded; Alexander
+Bruce, being a beneficed clergyman (Dean of Glasgow),
+was not drawn, but he and Sir Reginald Crawford, and
+apparently Sir Brice de Blair, were hanged and beheaded.
+Thomas's head was placed on the castle tower, and the
+heads of the others graced the three gates of the city.
+MacDowall was rewarded with the lands and possessions
+of Sir Robert de Boyd and Sir Brice de Blair, and on
+February 19, he received fifty marks and a charger; while
+on March 1, a profitable privilege was conferred, at his instance,
+upon his son.</p>
+
+<p>According to Gray and Trevet, Bruce had sent his
+brothers to Nithsdale and Annandale 'to gain over the
+people.' It may be that the expedition was intended first
+to operate as a diversion, and then to join Bruce himself in
+Nithsdale. For Bruce, if not already in these parts, was
+moving thitherwards. On February 12, Sir John Botetourte,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span>
+with a considerable force, including over a score of knights,
+started to make a raid on Bruce in Nithsdale; and on
+March 8, he was reinforced by 180 archers from Carlisle.
+The details, however, are not recorded.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably in February, upon the landing of Bruce
+in Carrick, that Edward issued from Lanercost an ordinance
+intended to conciliate the Scots, while it graded carefully
+the degrees of punishment for the worst classes of delinquents.
+Contrary to the King's intention, the ordinance
+had been interpreted as too harsh and rigorous. On
+March 13, therefore, he materially modified it. A few
+days later, he directed steps to be taken for the repair
+and fortification of several castles on the east side beyond
+Forth, and ordered fresh levies from the northern counties
+of England to muster, 2300 strong, at Carlisle by a fortnight
+after Easter.</p>
+
+<p>In a lull of the Nithsdale operations, Bruce is said to
+have reluctantly granted Douglas leave to proceed to
+Douglasdale, accompanied only by two yeomen. On
+arrival, Douglas disclosed himself to Tom Dickson of
+Hazelside, a stanch old warrior-tenant of his father's, who
+was overjoyed to see the youth, and introduced him to
+the other leal men of the land, one by one, at private
+conferences. It was quickly decided to fall upon the
+unsuspecting garrison of Douglas Castle in St Bride's
+Church on Palm Sunday (March 19). The countrymen
+would bring concealed weapons, and Douglas would
+appear, with his two men, in the guise of a corn-thresher,
+a threadbare mantle on his back and a flail on his
+shoulder. The moment he raised his war-cry, they would
+overpower the soldiers, and then the castle would offer no
+resistance. Everything fell out as planned, except that
+an over-eager friend prematurely raised the Douglas war-cry.
+Dickson instantly fell upon the English in the
+chancel, and a neighbour followed his example; but both
+were slain. At this moment Douglas came on the scene,
+raised his war-cry, and pressed hard on the English, who
+manfully defended themselves. About twenty were killed;
+the remaining ten were taken prisoners. At the castle,
+Douglas found only the porter and the cook; and so he
+barred the gates, and dined at leisure. After dinner, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span>
+packed up valuables, arms, and other portable things, and
+proceeded to destroy what he could not take away. He
+piled the wheat, flour, meal, and malt on the floor of the
+wine cellar, beheaded the prisoners on the pile, and
+broached the wine casks. This ghastly mess was locally
+designated 'the Douglas Larder.' He then spoilt the
+well by throwing in salt and dead horses. Finally, he set
+fire to the castle, and left nothing but stones. The party
+dispersed, and hid away their wounded. But Clifford, for
+whom the castle had been held, soon had it rebuilt and
+regarrisoned.</p>
+
+<p>A later petition, by Lucas de Barry, represents that
+Lucas had been 'under Sir Robert de Clifford in Douglas
+Castle when Sir Robert de Brus and Sir James Douglas
+attacked it, the year when the late King died.' But this
+does not necessarily mean that either Clifford or Bruce
+was there in person.</p>
+
+<p>On the same Sunday morning, Edward entered Carlisle
+with Peter, Cardinal Bishop of St Sabine, a papal legate,
+who had just arrived to arrange terms of peace between
+the English and French kings on the basis of a marriage
+between Prince Edward and Isabella, daughter of the
+King of France. On the Wednesday following, in the
+Cathedral, the legate explained the objects of his mission,
+and, with bell, book and candle, excommunicated the
+murderers of Comyn, with all their aiders and abettors.
+The like denunciation was busily repeated through the
+churches, especially of the north of England. On Friday,
+the peace was proclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of March, Sir John Wallace is said
+to have been captured 'in the plain, pursued by the northeners,'
+and was taken to Carlisle. Edward sent him to
+London, 'fettered on a hackney,' to undergo the same
+barbarous death as his heroic brother. His head was
+fixed on London Bridge, 'raised with shouts,' says Langtoft,
+'near the head of his brother, William the Wicked.'
+It could not have been more nobly honoured.</p>
+
+<p>By the middle of April, Bruce had moved to Glen
+Trool, where he was hard beset for some three weeks by
+superior forces under a number of able knights, young
+Sir John Comyn among them. The incidents of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span>
+period have not been preserved. Barbour, indeed, tells
+how Valence and Clifford advanced stealthily on Bruce,
+with over 1500 against less than 300 men, and found
+him in a narrow pass, where horse could not reach him.
+Valence sent a woman, disguised as a beggar, to spy
+out the position; but Bruce saw through the dodge, and
+the spy confessed. The English had to advance on foot.
+Bruce dashed upon them with fury, seizing with his own
+hand their foremost banner. Some of his men, Barbour
+admits, had gone off, but came back on seeing how the
+fight went. The foremost English company being overpowered,
+the main body retreated; and a quarrel between
+Clifford and Vaux seems to point to a fruitless attempt
+of Clifford's to rally the fugitives. One can only say
+that some such incidents are probable enough. Anyhow,
+Bruce appears to have baffled all the attempts of the
+English in Glen Trool, and to have got away towards
+Lothian.</p>
+
+<p>In Lothian, Bruce found friends. The people, Hemingburgh
+explains, had been exasperated during the preceding
+year by the justice of the English justiciars; and, therefore,
+'as if unanimously, they rose and went with Bruce, willing
+rather to die than to be judged by the English laws.'
+Thus reinforced, Bruce turned back to meet Valence.
+Perhaps it was now that he over-ran Kyle and Cunningham.
+Valence, says Barbour, despatched from Bothwell 1000
+men under Sir Philip de Mowbray, whom Douglas with
+60 men met at Ederford, a narrow pass between two
+marshes, and, by skilful strategy, totally defeated. Stung
+by this ignominious reverse, Valence challenged Bruce,
+who lay at Galston, to meet him on May 10, at Loudon
+Hill&mdash;the scene of Wallace's father's death and of Wallace's
+first victory. Bruce accepted the challenge. Choosing
+his ground between two stretches of moss, he cut three
+deep trenches (with adequate gaps for the passage of his
+men) across the hard moor between, and marshalled his
+600 followers, so that Valence's 3000 men could come
+into action only in detail. He ordered a fierce onset
+on the foremost, with the view of discouraging the rest&mdash;the
+successful tactic in Glen Trool; and Sir Edward
+and Douglas, as well as himself, are said to have performed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span>
+prodigies of valour. The English gave way, and,
+despite his utmost efforts, Valence was driven from the
+field. Barbour says he retreated to Bothwell; Gray states
+that Bruce pursued him to Ayr. Three days later, Bruce
+also defeated the Earl of Gloucester with even greater
+slaughter (says Hemingburgh) than had reddened Loudon
+Hill, and besieged him in Ayr Castle.</p>
+
+<p>From a letter, anonymous, dated May 15, we learn without
+surprise that Edward 'was much enraged that the
+Warden and his force had retreated before King Hobbe'&mdash;his
+familiar designation of Bruce. What does surprise
+one is to learn, on the same authority, that 'James of
+Douglas sent and begged to be received, but, when he saw
+the King's forces retreat, he drew back.' It would be quite
+intelligible that the hardships of his first terrible year of
+service had shaken the nerve of the youthful warrior. But
+there were now 'rumours of treasonable dealings between
+some of the English and the enemy,' and it seems far more
+probable that Douglas was engineering one of his ruses.
+It needs better evidence to stamp this solitary suggestion
+of a blot on the clear scutcheon of Douglas.</p>
+
+<p>The news of Bruce's success, no doubt exaggerated and
+distorted, produced a great sensation in the northern parts
+of Scotland. A calendared letter, anonymous, written
+from Forfar to some high official under date May 15,
+graphically pictures the local feeling.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The writer hears that Sir Robert de Brus never had the goodwill of
+his own followers or the people at large, or even half of them, so
+much with him as now; and it now first appears that he was right,
+and God is openly with him, as he has destroyed all the King's power
+both among the English and the Scots, and the English force is in
+retreat to its own country not to return. And they firmly believe, by
+the encouragement of the false preachers who come from the host,
+that Sir Robert de Brus will now have his will. And these preachers
+are such as have been attached before the Warden and the justices as
+abettors of war, and are at present freed on guarantees and deceiving
+the people thus by their false preachment. For he (the writer) believes
+assuredly, as he hears from Sir Reginald de Cheyne, Sir Duncan de
+Frendraught, and Sir Gilbert de Glencairney, and others who watch
+the peace both beyond and on this side of the mountains (Mounth),
+that, if Sir Robert de Brus can escape any way 'saun dreytes' or
+towards the parts of Ross, he will find them all ready at his will more
+entirely than ever, unless the King will be pleased to send more men-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span>at-arms
+to these parts; for there are many people living well and
+loyally at his faith provided the English are in power, otherwise they
+see that they must be at the enemies' will through default of the King
+and his Council, as they say. And it would be a deadly sin to leave
+them so without protection among enemies. And may it please God
+to keep the King's life, for when we lose him, which God forbid, say
+they openly, all must be on one side, or they must die or leave the
+country with all those who love the King, if other counsel or aid be
+not sent them. For these preachers have told them that they have
+found a prophecy of Merlin, how, after the death of the grasping King
+(<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">le Roi Coueytous</i>), the Scottish people and the Bretons shall league
+together, and have the sovereign hand and their will, and live together
+in accord till the end of the world.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It was probably reports of this tenor that drew Valence
+and Bevercotes on a hasty visit to the north immediately
+after Loudon Hill. They were both in Inverness on
+May 20.</p>
+
+<p>The reverses sustained by Valence and Gloucester led to
+increased activity on the English side. The Bishop of
+Chester, with his successor as treasurer (the Bishop of
+Lichfield and Coventry), was at Lanark on May 15, at
+Dumfries next day, and on May 18 he was back at Carlisle,
+having seen to the provisioning of the fortresses. Edward
+was 'so greatly pleased with his account that he kissed
+him&mdash;especially for his borrowing the castle of Cumnock
+from its owner, Earl Patrick, for a term, and garrisoning it
+with 30 men-at-arms under Sir Ingram de Umfraville and
+Sir William de Felton, besides 100 foot.' The Bishop
+went south next day to represent Edward at the funeral of
+the Countess of Gloucester, the King's daughter Joan.</p>
+
+<p>Edward himself was too ill to travel. Besides, he was
+immersed in military preparations, summoning reinforcements
+and hurrying up supplies. Bruce, though unable to
+maintain the siege of Ayr, did considerable damage; for
+on June 1, Valence requisitioned masons and carpenters
+from Carlisle 'to repair the castle and houses.' At the
+same time, Valence added some 300 men to the garrison,
+'to strengthen the castle and secure the country round,
+while he is on his foray towards Carrick and Glen Trool.'
+He was following up Bruce. Probably, too, he avenged
+Loudon Hill before the arrival of Edward's fresh levies,
+which had been summoned to be at Carlisle by the middle
+of July. Hemingburgh says the English 'defeated Bruce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span>
+with great slaughter, so that he lurked thereafter in moors
+and marshes' with the ridiculous force of 'some 10,000
+foot, and the English could not get at him, as he always
+slipped out of their hands.' Gray says that Bruce was so
+badly beaten 'that he retired on foot through the mountains,
+and from isle to isle, and sometimes he had not so
+much as a single companion with him.' One is inclined to
+give the credit of this defeat to Valence&mdash;if defeat there
+was. Bruce may have taken refuge again in Glen Trool;
+Gray's mention of the isles may result from a confusion
+with earlier events. This record of fresh disaster finds no
+mention in Barbour or in Fordun.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas Gray, professing to quote from 'the chronicles
+of his deeds,' relates how at this time Bruce came, all alone,
+to a passage between two islands, over which he was ferried
+by two boatmen. Had he heard any news of what had
+become of Bruce? they asked. 'None,' he replied.
+'Certes,' said they, 'we would we had grip of him at this
+moment; he should die by our hands.' 'And why?'
+queried Bruce. 'Because he murdered John Comyn, our
+lord,' was the answer. They landed him. 'My good
+fellows,' said Bruce, 'you wanted to get hold of Robert de
+Bruce. Look at me!&mdash;that will give you satisfaction. And
+were it not that you have done me the courtesy of ferrying
+me over this narrow passage, you should rue your wish.'
+So he went on his way.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>Barbour recounts various exploits of Bruce and Douglas
+between the landing in Carrick and the first retreat to Glen
+Trool; but, if they represent facts, they must clearly be
+spread over a longer period.</p>
+
+<p>For example. Sir Ingram Bell, the governor of Ayr&mdash;Barbour
+writes Sir Ingram de Umfraville, who was probably
+in Cumnock Castle&mdash;intrigued with a personal attendant of
+Bruce's, a man of local importance, a one-eyed, sturdy
+rascal, nearly related to Bruce. The villain was promised
+a reward of £40 in land to compass the King's death.
+With his two sons, who were also trusted by Bruce, he lay
+in wait one morning for his master, when he had gone out
+with only a page in attendance. Bruce, suspecting the
+men, ordered them to stand. As they still came on, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span>
+drew his page's bow, and shot the father in the eye; and
+with his sword he cleft the skull of one son after the other.
+This may be one of half a dozen possible variants of the
+story of the Brooch of Lorn.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards, in the dusk of evening, Bruce with
+60 men was attacked by over 200 Galwegians, who had
+brought a sleuth-hound to track him. Warned by his
+sentinels, he drew his men into a narrow pass in a bog,
+and, leaving Sir Gilbert de la Haye in charge, went out
+with two men to reconnoitre the position. Passing some
+way along the water side, he found the banks high and the
+water deep, and no ford but the one he had crossed. Here
+he sent his men back to camp, and watched alone. Presently
+he heard the deep baying of the hound, and soon
+the enemy appeared, under a bright moon. He determined
+to stand; they must come on singly in the strait passage.
+They plunged confidently into the water, but Bruce bore
+down the foremost with his spear, and stabbed the horse,
+which fell in the ascent from the water and impeded the
+others. He kept the ford; and, when his men came up,
+they found fourteen slain, and the rest in retreat. The
+rumour of this exploit drew many to his side.</p>
+
+<p>Again Douglas repaired to Douglasdale and set an
+ambush near Sandilands. With a small party he then
+took some cattle near the castle of Douglas and drove
+them off. Thirlwall, the constable, sallied out and pursued
+the party past the ambush. Attacked suddenly,
+he was slain in attempted defence, together with most of
+his men. The survivors fled to the castle, barred the gate,
+and manned the walls. Douglas had to content himself
+with what booty he could find about the castle.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Douglas, hearing of the approach of Valence
+with a strong force, joined the King in a narrow pass near
+Cumnock. Bruce had but 300 men. Valence was
+accompanied by John of Lorn, who headed over 800
+and had a sleuth-hound, said to have been once a
+favourite of Bruce's. On finding himself caught between
+the two bodies, Bruce divided his men into three companies,
+anticipating that the enemy would follow his own track,
+and that so his other two companies would escape. The
+hound followed Bruce, who gradually dispersed his company,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span>
+at last keeping only his foster-brother with him.
+Still the hound persisted. John of Lorn then sent forward
+five of his stoutest men to take Bruce. Three attacked
+Bruce; two assailed his foster-brother. Bruce killed one
+of his opponents, and, marking the dismay of the others,
+jumped aside to help his foster-brother, and smote off the
+head of one of his assailants. He then killed his own two
+pursuers, while his foster-brother despatched the only one
+remaining. Meantime Lorn closed up with the hound.
+Bruce, with his companion, made for a wood, and threw
+himself down by a stream, declaring he could go no farther;
+but, yielding to his friend's remonstrances, he got up, and
+they waded together some way down the stream, thus
+baffling the hound and escaping further pursuit. Another
+account, according to Barbour, was that the King's companion
+lurked in a thicket and shot the hound with an
+arrow. Anyhow, Bruce escaped. It is said that Randolph
+captured Bruce's banner in the pursuit, much to the satisfaction
+of the English King.</p>
+
+<p>Having cleared the forest, Bruce and his companion
+were crossing a moor, when they came on three men,
+armed with swords and axes, one of them carrying a
+sheep on his shoulder. The men said they wished to
+join Bruce, and Bruce said he would take them to him.
+They perceived that he was Bruce, and he perceived that
+they were foes. Bruce insisted that, till better acquaintance,
+they should go separate and in front of him. Coming
+to an empty house at night, they killed the sheep, roasted
+it, divided it, and dined at opposite ends of the room.
+Bruce, tired and hungry as he had been, must sleep, his
+man promising to keep watch. His man, however, fell
+asleep too; he 'might not hold up an e'e.' The men then
+attacked Bruce, who instantly awoke, grasped his sword,
+and trod heavily on his man. Bruce slew the three, but
+lost his companion, who was killed in his sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce now made for the rallying-point of his dispersed
+companies. Here he found the goodwife of the house
+'sitting on a bink.' In answer to her exhaustive inquiries,
+he said he was a wayfarer. 'All wayfarers,' said she, 'are
+welcome for the sake of one&mdash;King Robert the Bruce.'
+Then the King revealed himself. Where were his men?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span>
+He had none. Thereupon the gallant woman declared her
+two big sons should become his men. As he sat at meat,
+he heard the tread of soldiers, and started up to offer
+defence. It was Douglas and Sir Edward Bruce with
+150 men.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce now suggested that the enemy, confident that his
+force was dissipated, would lie open to surprise. He made
+a forced march overnight, and at daylight caught a large
+detachment&mdash;certainly nothing like 2000 (Barbour's figures)&mdash;in
+some town, and slew two-thirds of them. He retreated
+before the main body began to stir, and Valence did not
+pursue.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion Bruce went a-hunting alone, with
+two hounds. He had his sword, but had laid aside his
+armour. Presently he saw three men with bows approaching&mdash;men
+that had in fact been watching for such an
+opportunity to take vengeance for Comyn. Bruce taunted
+them for attacking with arrows, three to one, and they
+chivalrously threw down their bows and drew their swords.
+Bruce struck down one; a hound fixed in another's throat
+and brought him to the ground, when Bruce cut his back
+in two; and the third, fleeing to the wood, was seized and
+pulled down by a hound and despatched by Bruce.</p>
+
+<p>These stories represent early traditions and may easily
+be true, though they may be merely imaginary. The three-men
+stories may be variants of a single original, but by no
+means necessarily.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>On July 7, 1307, Edward I. died at Burgh-on-Sands,
+some three miles from Carlisle. Owing to the poor success
+of his lieutenants, the gallant King had determined to
+move forward in person. On Monday, July 3, he is said
+to have advanced from Carlisle; but it was Thursday
+before he reached Burgh-on-Sands. On Friday, as his
+attendants raised him up in bed to eat, he died in their
+hands. On his sick-bed&mdash;or, as Walsingham says, on his
+death-bed&mdash;Edward had again charged the Prince to persist
+steadily in the war against Bruce, taking his bones with
+him in a casket. 'For,' said the dying King, with heroic
+confidence, 'no one will be able to overcome you while
+you have my bones borne with you.' But all his dying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span>
+advice and solemn charges the Prince eventually disregarded.</p>
+
+<p>The body of the late King was conveyed south in great
+state, to lie in the church at Waltham till a definite settlement
+was attained in Scotland. The Prince attended
+the cortège several stages, and then returned to Carlisle.
+Edward was buried at Westminster on October 28.</p>
+
+<p>Edward I. was not only the greatest of English Kings,
+but one of the greatest of Englishmen. His treatment of
+Scotland, however he may have reasoned out the justice of
+it, must always remain a very dark blot on his memory.
+Never was his military ardour or his personal resolution
+more signally manifested than in the last months and days
+of his latest expedition. He died in harness, his valiant
+spirit shining undimmed till the moment it was quenched
+by death itself. The virile judgment and stern purpose of
+Edward I. was succeeded by the childish incompetence
+and obstinacy of Edward II. The death of the great King
+assured the eventual triumph of Bruce. The moment anticipated
+by nationalists with hope and by anti-nationalists
+with dread was come. It was the turn of the tide.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY</span></h2>
+
+<p>While the great Edward was passing south on his last
+march, Valence was actively engaged in strengthening the
+English positions in Kyle and Carrick. Percy held Ayr
+Castle, and John of Argyll guarded Ayr town and neighbourhood
+with a large force, which was presently joined
+by half a score of redoubtable Scots knights with their
+followings.</p>
+
+<p>The young King started from Carlisle on July 31, 1307,
+for Dumfries, where many Scots nobles obeyed his
+summons to do homage and fealty. Advancing up the
+valley of the Nith, he was at Cumnock on August 21, and
+stayed there fully a week. At Tinwald, on August 30, he
+confirmed Valence in the office of Warden of Scotland.
+He offered to receive to his peace all Scotsmen not
+implicated in the murder of Comyn. The Lanercost
+chronicler says he divided his army into three bodies to
+pursue Bruce, but the pursuit was unsuccessful, and on
+September 4 he returned to Carlisle with empty hands.</p>
+
+<p>The effects of the accession of Edward II. were quickly
+apparent. No sooner had he retired than the whole
+Border was ablaze. Even the faithful men of Selkirk and
+Tweeddale and of the Forest, tenants of the Warden himself,
+rose in force, and on September 12 the Sheriff of
+Roxburgh reported that 'the poor tenants' of his district
+had fled into England with their goods for fear of the
+enemy. The weight of the Scots attack, however, was
+thrown upon Galloway and the MacDowalls. The English
+settlers fled in numbers; for, on September 25, Edward
+ordered Clifford, the justiciar of the forest beyond Trent,
+'to allow the men of Galloway to feed their flocks and
+herds in Englewood Forest, whither they have come to
+take refuge for fear of Robert de Brus and his accomplices.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span>
+On the same day he directed Sir Thomas de
+Multon of Egremont and four other northern barons to
+hasten to Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmorland, to
+assist John, baron of Wigton, and Richard le Brun, his
+justices there, 'for the salvation and quiet of the men of
+those parts,' and to redress the wrongs and losses they
+sustained, and to repel the incursions of the Scots. It looks
+as if a swift foray had been executed by the men of Selkirk
+and Tweeddale. On September 30, Edward, who had
+now learned further from St John, MacDowall, and other
+officers in Galloway, that Bruce was 'burning and plundering,
+and inciting and compelling the inhabitants to rebel,'
+commanded Sir John de Bretagne, who had just succeeded
+Valence, to march against the enemy. At the same time
+he summoned to the Warden's assistance Earl Patrick and
+half a dozen other powerful Scots, as well as the baron of
+Wigton and Richard le Brun, apparently already relieved
+of their Selkirk visitors, and the keepers of the peace of
+Northumberland and Tyndale. The Lanercost chronicler
+admits that the Galwegians purchased peace, being unable
+to resist the forces of Bruce.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas Gray also bears testimony to Bruce's
+activity, and explains the favour he steadily gained, in
+part at least, by the harsh conduct of English officials
+'for purposes of individual advantage.' We have already
+seen that as early as May Scotland beyond the Forth was
+ready for the advent of Bruce, and the English officers
+were looking forward with dread to the death of Edward I.
+And now Bruce turned from Galloway to the north.</p>
+
+<p>According to Fordun, Bruce advanced as far as Inverness,
+where he took the castle and levelled it with the
+ground, slaying the garrison; and the other fortresses of
+the north he dealt with in like drastic fashion. In this expedition,
+no doubt, it was&mdash;in late October and November
+1307&mdash;that Bruce overran Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness,
+and compelled the Earl of Ross to take truce. The Earl's
+apologetic petition to Edward explains how Bruce came
+against him with 3000 men and subjugated these counties,
+'and would have destroyed them utterly if we had not
+taken truce with him at the entreaty of the good people,
+both religious and other, till Whitsunday next.' Ross<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span>
+declares that he could get no help from the Warden of
+Moray. The Bishop of Moray, who had taken refuge in
+Orkney for about a year and whose lands had been
+loyally raided by Ross, had by this time returned to
+Edward's peace, and was demanding damages for the
+wasting of his lands. He, at any rate, was not likely to
+have moved a finger against Bruce; on the contrary, he
+no doubt privately aided him. Ross's apologies were
+accepted; for in May 1308 he appears as Lieutenant of
+the Warden of Scotland, and is requested to remain in
+office till midsummer. But on October 31, he submitted
+to Bruce, who reinstated him in his lands (with fresh
+additions), and his name heads the roll of Bruce's Parliament
+at St Andrews on March 16, 1308&ndash;9.</p>
+
+<p>Barbour, making no mention of these exploits, brings
+Bruce north of the Mounth and on to Inverurie in
+Aberdeenshire. Bruce is joined by Sir Alexander Fraser
+and Simon Fraser&mdash;the famous Sir Simon's brother and
+son&mdash;who had apparently been acting in his interests in
+the north, opposed mainly by Comyn (Earl of Buchan),
+Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir David de Brechin. At
+Inverurie Bruce fell very sick. He could neither eat nor
+drink; no medicine did him any good; he became too
+weak to ride or to walk. Sir Edward Bruce, says Barbour,
+tried to comfort the men, but it seems much more likely
+that Sir Edward remained in command in Galloway, while
+Douglas made excursions towards the eastern border.
+At any rate, Bruce's men would not fight while their chief
+was ill, or Bruce had too much prudence to allow them;
+so they placed him on a litter and carried him into the
+Slevach (mountain fastnesses). Comyn, hearing of Bruce's
+serious illness, advanced against him with Mowbray and
+Brechin, and with a largely superior force. The time, says
+Barbour, was 'after Martinmas, when snow covered all the
+land.' Bruce quietly awaited attack. On three successive
+days there occurred skirmishes between bodies of archers,
+Buchan's men getting the worst of the encounter day after
+day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously obtaining
+additions, while Bruce was getting pinched with hunger.
+Placing the King in his litter again, Bruce's men changed
+quarters, marching slowly in fighting order, with their sick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span>
+chief in the centre, and restricting themselves rigidly to
+defence. They took up a position in Strathbogie, a little
+further north, and Buchan's force abandoned the pursuit
+and dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>The King gradually regained strength and returned to
+Inverurie, 'to be in the plains for the winter,' for the better
+chances of food. Again Buchan proceeded to attack him,
+reaching Oldmeldrum 'on the evening before Yule even'
+(January 4) 1307&ndash;8, with about 1000 men. Next day
+Brechin made a dash at Inverurie; whereupon Bruce, in
+spite of remonstrances, determined to mount and fight,
+though, says Fordun, 'he could not go upright, but with
+the help of two men to prop him up.' He is said to have
+had 'near 700 men.' He advanced towards Oldmeldrum,
+and as the enemy retreated, pressed steadily upon them,
+pushing their retreat into flight, and pursuing them, Fordun
+says, as far as Fyvie. Buchan and Mowbray fled to England,
+while Brechin stood a siege in his own castle of
+Brechin. Bruce's 'herschip' (harrying) of the district of
+Buchan is said to have been so exemplary that men
+lamented it for half a century afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>There are discrepancies between Barbour's account and
+Fordun's. Fordun dates Buchan's retirement from the
+Slevach on Christmas day (on which Barbour fights at
+Inverurie and Oldmeldrum), and he arranges a truce on
+the occasion. It is in the Slevach that he makes Bruce's
+illness commence. He dates the battle of Inverurie, without
+mention of Oldmeldrum, vaguely in 1308. He also
+calls Mowbray Philip, not John, and he says nothing of
+Brechin. Buchan and Mowbray, if they did not then flee
+to England, at any rate went south not very long after this
+time; and if Brechin surrendered his castle, it was certainly
+not, as Barbour says it was, to David, Earl of Athol, who
+was on the English side. On May 20, 1308, Edward
+writes to thank a great number of his officers in Scotland,
+including Athol, Buchan, Brechin, John de Mowbray, and
+others, for their faithful service, and he requests Buchan
+to remain 'in the district committed to him' till August 1.
+This may mean that up to May he had remained in
+command in the north, though keeping clear of Bruce's
+devastating track.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span>
+Having reduced the country beyond the Grampians
+('benorth the Mounth'), Bruce descended upon Angus.
+Barbour says nothing of an attack on Brechin Castle,
+having already recorded its capture and the submission
+of Sir David to Bruce; but, as we have seen, Sir David
+was still&mdash;and, indeed, for several years to come&mdash;on the
+English side; and Barbour was evidently misinformed.
+Forfar Castle was taken by Philip the Forester, of Platter;
+the watch had not been vigilant, and Philip scaled the
+walls. Bruce demolished the castle; whether because it
+was of the old ineffective type, or because he had no means
+of holding it. He then, according to Barbour, invested
+Perth, which was strongly fortified, and was held by Moffat
+and Oliphant&mdash;Sir William Oliphant, the gallant defender
+of Stirling, who had been released from the Tower on
+May 24, 1308, having lain rusting there for nearly four
+years. The Earl of Strathearn, says Barbour, was also in
+the garrison, while his son and his men were in Bruce's
+camp; but Barbour is mistaken, for though Strathearn had
+been transferred from Rochester Castle to York Castle in
+the preceding November, he does not appear to have
+been released till November 18 of this year. Frequent
+skirmishes took place during a six weeks' siege, when
+Bruce suddenly decamped, amid the premature jeers of
+the garrison. After eight days he returned suddenly in
+the night, and, finding the English lulled in security,
+plunged into the moat up to his neck, mounted the walls
+by ladder, and surprised the sentinels. His men, dispersed
+in groups, gave the garrison no chance to marshal for
+effective defence. The English leaders were taken; but
+few men were slain, in consideration of their decent treatment
+of Scots. There was much booty for the victors.
+Bruce demolished the walls and the towers. 'Was none
+that durst him then withstand.' Whether this capture of
+Perth be fact or not&mdash;and probably it should be placed at
+a later date&mdash;Bruce now had the upper hand north of
+Forth.</p>
+
+<p>While Bruce was re-conquering his kingdom in the
+north, Edward II. had married Isabella of France at
+Boulogne on January 28, 1307&ndash;8, and had been crowned
+at Westminster on February 25. He had at once plunged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span>
+himself in difficulties with his barons by his infatuation for
+Piers de Gaveston. In June some purpose of accommodation
+with Bruce appears to have been pressed upon the
+English king. There exists a memorandum dated June,
+without the year, which Mr Bain rightly, it seems, assigns to
+1308. It sets out that the levies summoned to meet the
+King at Carlisle on August 23 shall be countermanded;
+and that the King shall take no truce or sufferance from
+Bruce, but the Wardens of Scotland&mdash;Sir Robert de
+Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Sir William de Ros of
+Hamelake (appointed on June 21)&mdash;'may take such, for
+as long time as possible, as they have done hitherto of
+their own power or by commission, so that the King,
+however, may furnish his castles with men and victuals,
+and that no one be taken or other "mesprision" made
+during such truce.' Then the wardens of districts are
+arranged. The Earl of Buchan, Sir John de Mowbray,
+and Sir Ingram de Umfraville are to be wardens of Galloway,
+Annandale, and Carrick respectively; Sir Alexander
+de Abernethy, Sir Edmund de Hastings, and Sir John
+Fitz Marmaduke, are to be wardens beyond the Forth.
+The endorsement bears that the Wardens of Scotland shall
+'take truce from Robert de Brus as from themselves, as
+long as they can, but not beyond the month of Pasques'
+(April), and&mdash;curiously enough&mdash;that 'the King may break
+the truce at pleasure if the others will yield this point, but,
+if they will not, the truce may be made without it.' The
+memorandum testifies to the strength of Bruce's hold on
+the country, and to the recalcitrance of Edward's barons.
+Still Edward struggled on. On June 21, he requested a
+large number of officers to retain their posts till specified
+dates, and to join the Scottish expedition at Carlisle on
+August 23. On July 10, he requisitioned ships and men
+from Shoreham all round to Bristol, for the King 'needs a
+great fleet.' But on August 11, he countermanded the order
+for these ships and men, 'the King having deferred his
+expedition for the present.' The English barons were too
+strong for the young King.</p>
+
+<p>It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce
+Argyll. Probably, however, he undertook the expedition
+immediately after the reduction of the north. If he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span>
+conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth, and Sir William
+Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have
+been free to go west till the very end of July 1308.
+Fordun states that, within a week after August 15, Bruce
+defeated the men of Argyll and subdued the whole land;
+that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll 'for some time'
+in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban); and
+that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but
+was allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to
+England. Barbour tells how Lorn&mdash;John, the son of Alexander&mdash;gathered
+some 2000 men and opposed Bruce in a
+narrow pass between a steep mountain and the sheer bank
+of a loch&mdash;perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe.
+Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on
+the ridge commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched
+Douglas, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and
+Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of archers, to fetch a circuit
+above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the pass. Lorn's
+men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding
+themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a
+bridge crossing the river at one end of the loch, and, having
+crossed, attempted to break down the bridge. Bruce was
+upon them before they could effect their purpose, and
+completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun Lorn's
+country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace
+Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was
+wont to be,' escaped by water. Bruce then received the
+homage of all the men of Argyll, and returned to Perth.</p>
+
+<p>But these events must have been spread over a considerable
+time, and they may not have been continuous. The
+record of Bruce's Parliament at St Andrews on March 16,
+1308&ndash;9, places it beyond doubt that Alexander of Argyll
+came to Bruce's peace; it states that Alexander himself
+and 'the barons of the whole of Argyll and Inchegall'
+were present as liegemen of Bruce. Again, on June 16,
+1309, both Alexander and John of Lorn were present at
+Edward's council at Westminster as liegemen of the English
+king. Further, we have a letter of Lorn's, undated, but
+replying to a letter of Edward's dated March 11, in which
+he says that he had been on sick-bed for half a year; that
+Bruce 'had approached his territories with 10,000 or 15,000<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span>
+men, it was said, both by land and sea,' while he 'had no
+more than 800 to oppose him,' and 'the barons of Argyll
+gave him no aid'; that a truce had been made, at the
+instance of Bruce; that 'he hears that Bruce, when he
+came, was boasting that he (Lorn) had come to his peace,'
+'which God and he (Lorn) knows is not true'; that, on
+the contrary, 'he is, and will ever be, ready to serve him
+(Edward) to the utmost of his power'; that 'he has three
+castles to guard, and a loch twenty-four leagues long, on
+which he has vessels properly manned, but is not sure of his
+neighbours'; and that 'so soon as the King or his power
+arrives, he will be ready with lands, ships, and others to
+aid him,' either in person (if he be not sick), or by his son.
+Neglecting minor discrepancies, one may safely accept Mr
+Bain's reconciliation of the various accounts. Alexander
+came to Bruce's peace after the affair of Loch Awe; John
+was still holding out in March, but was driven from Dunstaffnage
+within the next two months; and Alexander
+thereupon retired, with John, to England. Alexander
+died in Ireland in the end of 1310. John lived to fight
+for Edward some seven or eight years more; but, as Mr
+Bain gently remarks, 'Barbour has strangely misrepresented
+his later career.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce was now master in the west as well as in the north.
+Beyond Forth, however, Perth, if ever captured, must soon
+have been recovered; and Dundee&mdash;and even Banff&mdash;remained
+in English hands, as well as the key-fortress of
+Stirling on the south bank of the dividing river. Still
+Bruce was master of the country, and he was free to turn
+his attention to the south.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edward Bruce, after an arduous struggle, had taken
+a firm grip of Galloway by the end of 1308. With Lindsay,
+Boyd, and Douglas he had attacked the Galwegians&mdash;'notwithstanding
+the tribute they received from them,' says the
+Lanercost chronicler, who also admits that they 'subdued
+almost all that land.' According to Barbour, Sir Edward
+met the English near Cree, routed them, slew some 1200,
+and pursued Umfraville and St John to Buittle Castle. St
+John then rode to England and brought up over 1500
+men; on hearing which, Sir Edward instantly mounted,
+with 50 men, followed up the trail of the enemy in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span>
+morning mist, and, when the day cleared and he found
+himself within bowshot, charged with his usual reckless
+audacity. The English believed there must be more men
+with Sir Edward than they saw. At the third charge he
+routed them, slaying or taking many; St John, however,
+escaping. Sir Allan de Cathcart, Barbour affirms, 'told
+me this tale.' Sir Edward had all Galloway at the King's
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>Fordun, again, relates that Sir Edward, on November 18,
+inflicted a crushing defeat on Donald of the Isles and the
+Galwegians on the river Dee (not Cree), taking Donald
+prisoner in his flight, and slaying 'a knight named Roland,
+with many of the nobles of Galloway.' Whatever the dates
+and the details, Sir Edward must have done some stern
+fighting. The Lanercost chronicler even records that it
+was said that the English king would have liked, if he
+could, to give Bruce peace on terms of aiding him against
+his earls and barons.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the MacDowalls were uprooted. But Mr Bain
+seems somewhat lax in stating that 'before April 1, 1309,
+Sir Dougal, their head, had been driven into England,
+where for thirty years he and his family were obliged to
+remain to escape the vengeance of the Bruces.' On April
+1, 1309, it is true, Sir Dougal received as a reward for his
+services, 'whereby he has become hated by the enemy,'
+the manor of Temple Couton, in Yorkshire, 'for the
+residence and support of his wife and children.' But he
+himself was constable of Dumfries Castle in 1311, sheriff
+also in 1312, and he had the mortification of surrendering
+the castle to Bruce on February 7, 1312&ndash;13. Edward made
+provision for him from time to time till his death (before
+January 27, 1327&ndash;28). A petition by his son and heir
+Duncan, dated 1347, represents that Sir Dougal lost £100
+in land for his allegiance to Edward I. and Edward II.;
+that Sir Dougal's brother was slain (in revenge for Bruce's
+two brothers); that the petitioner's eldest brother had been
+slain at Bannockburn; and that he and his six brothers were
+destitute. It shows a dark glimpse of the losing side.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, according to Barbour, Douglas had
+done some useful work on his account. Some time after
+Bruce went north, he proceeded to Douglasdale again<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span>
+and placed an ambush near his ancestral castle. He sent
+fourteen men with sackfuls of grass on horses' backs to
+pass along as if bound for Lanark fair. Sir John Webton,
+the constable, sallied upon them; whereupon they cast
+down the sacks, threw off their frocks, and, mounting their
+horses, showed fight. Douglas now broke ambush and cut
+off Webton from the castle, eventually slaying him and all
+his men. Barbour relates that there was found in Webton's
+pouch a letter from a lady engaging to marry him if he kept
+'the auenturous castell of Douglas' for a year&mdash;a story
+worked up by Sir Walter Scott in his boldly unhistorical
+'Castle Dangerous.' Douglas took the castle and demolished
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Douglas also, Barbour says, did a great deal of hard
+fighting in Selkirk Forest. On one occasion, in a house
+on the Water of Lyne (which joins the Tweed a few miles
+above Peebles), he lighted upon Sir Alexander Stewart of
+Bonkill, whose father, Sir John, distinguished himself so
+brilliantly at Falkirk, Randolph, Bruce's nephew, Sir Adam
+de Gordon, and others, who were really in search of himself.
+He surrounded the house, and a fierce fight resulted.
+Gordon got away safe, but Douglas captured Stewart, who
+was wounded, and Randolph, and took them next morning
+to the King&mdash;who, in that case, must already have returned
+south. Barbour tells of the proud bearing of Randolph,
+and how Bruce put him 'in firm keeping' till he acknowledged
+his authority. This must have taken place before
+March 4, 1308&ndash;9, when Edward conferred on Sir Adam de
+Gordon Randolph's forfeited manor of Stichill, in Roxburghshire.
+Never afterwards did Randolph swerve from
+his uncle's allegiance.</p>
+
+<p>Early in 1308&ndash;9 (January 14, Hemingburgh; February
+12, Lanercost chronicle), there came papal envoys to
+Edward and Bruce, at the instance of the French king,
+and a truce was made, to run to November 1. But Bruce
+is said to have ignored it in practice, and perhaps that is
+why a new sentence of excommunication was fulminated
+against him and his adherents in the summer of 1309. On
+June 18, Edward summoned his array; and, on July 30,
+he renewed the summons, requiring his army to muster at
+Newcastle at Michaelmas, and declaring that the Scots had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span>
+'notoriously broken' the truce. Yet, only three days
+later (August 2), he authorised the Earl of Ulster to treat
+with Bruce for peace; and, on August 21, he renewed the
+commission, and granted safe-conducts for Bruce's envoys,
+Sir Nigel Campbell and Sir John de Menteith&mdash;the captor
+of Wallace, who must have joined Bruce before March 16,
+when he was present at the St Andrews parliament. Still
+Edward hurried on his preparations. He had summoned
+auxiliaries from Wales (August 5), and filled afresh the
+chief offices in Scotland (August 16); and presently he
+appointed the Earl of Gloucester captain of the army of
+Scotland (September 14), and despatched fresh wardens
+to the Marches (about October 18). Again, however, the
+Pope intervened, and on November 29, Edward granted
+full powers to four of his magnates to treat in his name for
+a truce. The Wardens of the Marches, according to the
+Lanercost chronicle, had just forestalled the step by taking
+provisional truce till the middle of January; and Edward
+extended the period to March 8, and afterwards 'to summer,'
+1310&mdash;for, says the chronicler, 'the English do not
+like to enter Scotland to war before summer, especially because
+of the lack of fodder for their horses.' Probably the
+extension to summer was arranged by the commission of
+seven appointed on February 16, headed by the Bishop of
+St Andrews.</p>
+
+<p>There had been a round year of peace negotiations and
+futile truces, with warlike preparation in the background.
+On February 24, 1309&ndash;10, Bruce's position was strengthened
+by a formal recognition of his royal title by a special meeting
+of the prelates and other clergy at Dundee. In the
+beginning of June 1310, there was an outbreak on the
+Border, the Priory of Coldstream being sacked, and the
+prioress and nuns dispersed; and in the middle of the
+month the English fleet was ordered north to strengthen
+Perth and to harass the eastern seaboard. Then, on
+August 15, Edward again mustered his army at Newcastle
+(Hemingburgh), or at Berwick (Lanercost chronicle). The
+Earls of Lancaster, Pembroke (Valence), Warwick, and
+Hereford would not accompany him, displeased with his
+favour for Gaveston, though professing to be absorbed in
+their duties as 'Ordainers'; but they sent their feudal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span>
+services. The Earls of Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall
+(Gaveston), with Percy, Clifford, and many other magnates,
+did attend the muster. The expedition, according to Walsingham,
+was said to be a mere pretext to excuse the King
+from going to France to do fealty for his French possessions.
+He dreaded to leave Gaveston 'among his enemies,'
+lest that troubler of the realm should 'meet death, prison,
+or worse.' 'Such things were said among the people;
+whether true or false,' says the chronicler, 'God knows, I
+don't.' The expedition crossed the Border early in September,
+and passed by Selkirk, Roxburgh, Biggar, Lanark,
+Glasgow, to Renfrew, back to Linlithgow, and thence to
+Berwick. The progress occupied just over two months.
+Bruce stood aloof; on October 6, when Edward was at
+Biggar, he was reported to be with his forces 'on a moor
+near Stirling.' Fordun says there was famine in Scotland
+this year, many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of
+horses and other unclean cattle.' But Edward was liberally
+supplied by the religious houses with 'oxen, cows, wethers,
+wheat, oats, barley, malt, beans, and peas,' besides friendly
+contributions from other quarters. On November 22, he
+issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of provisions
+from England.</p>
+
+<p>When Edward withdrew from Linlithgow, Bruce hung
+upon his rear through Lothian, severely harassing the
+army, and all local sympathisers. Walsingham records
+an instance. A party of English and Welsh had gone out
+to plunder, supported by cavalry. Bruce suddenly attacked
+from ambush, and, though aid quickly arrived, he killed 300,
+and retired as suddenly as he had advanced. 'Indeed,'
+says the chronicler, 'I should extol Bruce, whose policy
+was to fight thus and not in open field, but for his lying
+under the charge of homicide and the brand of treachery.'</p>
+
+<p>Edward wintered at Berwick. Bruce seems to have
+actively developed offensive operations on the west coast,
+to draw him home by a flank attack, as well as to obtain
+supplies. For, on December 15 and 16, Edward roused
+his officers in the north-western counties, and in Wales
+and Ireland, to counteract Bruce's reported purpose 'to
+send his whole fleet in the present winter to take the Isle
+of Man, and seize all the supplies therein for the sustenance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span>
+of his men.' Bruce's adherents in Man are stated
+to have caused much trouble and mischief. A week before
+Christmas, Clifford and Sir Robert Fitz Pain met Bruce at
+Selkirk to discuss terms of peace, and another interview
+was arranged with the Earls of Gloucester and Cornwall
+near Melrose; but 'it was said,' writes a high official on
+February 19, 'that Bruce had been warned by some that
+he would be taken, and therefore departed, so that they
+have had no parley.'</p>
+
+<p>A memorandum, undated, but assignable to 1307&ndash;10,
+addressed by the 'Commune' of Scotland to Edward and
+his great officers in the country, affords a glimpse of the
+English high-handedness that always did&mdash;and does&mdash;so
+much to thwart the English policy. The Commons represent
+that 'though they have purchased a truce for the
+safety of the country and their allegiance, and included
+the castles and towns in their bounds&mdash;namely, the sheriffdoms
+of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh,' yet 'some
+of the sheriffs allow no goods to leave their castles, or their
+garrisons to pay for what they buy'&mdash;the sheriff of Edinburgh,
+in particular&mdash;'and the country is so poor that
+they cannot get on without ready money.' Again, 'when
+the enemy's people come to bargain under the truce,
+their goods are taken by some of the castellans and King's
+officers, endangering the truce, as the robbers are harboured
+in the castles.' They earnestly plead for redress of such
+oppressions, and complain that the King's former letters
+on the subject have been suppressed by the officers inculpated.
+Only an occupation in overwhelming force could
+stand against such a course of official misconduct. Meantime
+this fatal administrative weakness was greatly counterbalanced
+by the political divisions among the Scots.</p>
+
+<p>In 1310&ndash;11, Gaveston, for whom Edward could find no
+resting-place elsewhere, was established as lieutenant north
+of Forth and warden of Dundee and Perth. 'It is said,'
+writes a high official, anonymous, on April 4, 1311, 'that
+Bruce meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall' (Gaveston):
+but either he was unable to do so, or deemed it prudent to
+weary out the enemy by harassing evasion. On April 9,
+Edward issued instructions hastening the outfit of the
+fleet destined for the coast of Argyll under Sir John of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span>
+that ilk&mdash;'seeing it is one of the greatest movements of
+the Scottish war'; and throughout May and June great
+pressure was brought to bear upon the ports of England
+and Ireland, though not always with effect. On July 14,
+the muster of the army at Roxburgh was postponed to the
+1st of August. 'This expedition,' said Edward, 'lies especially
+close to our heart.'</p>
+
+<p>Edward, however, was in deep trouble with his
+'Ordainers,' and Bruce was beforehand with him. On
+August 12, Bruce burst into England at the Solway,
+burned the whole of Gilsland, the town of Haltwhistle,
+and great part of Tyndale, returning to Scotland in eight
+days with great droves of cattle. The Lanercost chronicler
+admits that he killed few besides those that offered resistance,
+and that, though he took several of the canons, and
+did infinite mischief during the three days he made the
+monastery his headquarters, yet he released the canons of
+his own accord. The latter episode is recorded as a separate
+foray, but probably it belongs to the August operations.</p>
+
+<p>The same chronicler gives an account of a more serious
+raid on September 8, by Harbottle, Holystone and Redesdale,
+down to Corbridge and back through Tyndale,
+occupying fifteen days. The Wardens of the Marches,
+he says, could offer no resistance, and confined their
+efforts to wasting the country in anticipation of the Scots,
+only 'they did not burn houses or slay men.' The stress
+of opposition fell upon the Bishop of Durham. Both
+Edward and the Bishop paint the invasion in the usual
+lurid colours. At the same time the people had certainly
+not been handled with tenderness. The Northumbrians
+protected themselves by payment of £2000 for a respite
+till February 2, 1311&ndash;12. In the middle of December
+Bruce appears to have made another raid into England; and
+on January 26, 1311&ndash;12, Edward appointed six commissioners
+to treat in his name for truce with the Scots.</p>
+
+<p>The rising power of Bruce is variously testified otherwise
+than by the progress of his army. The Lanercost chronicler
+admits that, in spite of the adherence of so many Scots to
+the English side, 'their hearts, though not their persons, were
+always with their countrymen.'</p>
+
+<p>An inquisition at Edinburgh on February 20, mentions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span>
+seven landed knights and others that had gone over to
+Bruce in the past three or four years, including Sir Robert
+de Keith, Sir Thomas de la Haye, and Sir Edmund de
+Ramsay. Again, a list of land rewards to Sir Robert
+de Hastang on March 20 mentions twelve, among whom
+are Sir David de Brechin (who, however, is made warden
+of Berwick on April 20, though Sir Edmund de Hastings
+receives the post on May 3), Sir Alexander de Lindsay,
+Sir Geoffrey de Mowbray, and Sir Herbert de Maxwell.
+In five hard years Bruce had recovered three parts of his
+kingdom, and carried fire and sword through the English
+March.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES</span></h2>
+
+<p>Bruce was now in a position to turn his main energies
+against the strongholds still in English occupation.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of March 1312 he was preparing to
+besiege Berwick with an unusually large force. But the
+operations are not known; and, in any case, they were
+soon postponed. On April 26, he held a parliament at
+Ayr, and carefully settled the succession to the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The dissensions between Edward and his barons appear
+to have induced Bruce to carry the war into the enemy's
+territory. While the incensed barons were hunting down
+Gaveston, he raided the March again, took tribute, burned
+Norham, and carried off prisoners and booty. Again, in
+the end of June, after Gaveston was beheaded, Bruce made
+another foray into the episcopate of Durham. He burnt
+Hexham, and dealt so severely with the Priory, that even
+in 1320, it is said, the canons were unable to return, while
+their collectors were still 'wandering about in the country
+in 1326, with the archbishop's brief, in quest of funds for
+the canons and their church.' It may have been on this
+occasion that Bruce sent Douglas to pillage the region of
+Hartlepool. It is, no doubt, in reference to a subsequent
+raid, that the Lanercost chronicler tells how a detachment
+entered Durham on market day, burned most of the
+town, and slew all that resisted, but did not touch the
+castle or the abbey. The episcopate compounded for
+peace till next midsummer at £2000, the Scots bargaining
+for free passage 'whenever they wanted to ride further
+into England!' The Palatinate Register records the date
+as August 16. The Northumbrians, too, paid down £2000;
+Westmorland, Coupland, and Cumberland also paid
+ransom&mdash;money in part, and for the rest hostages, 'sons
+of the greater lords of the country.' And meantime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span>
+Edward was squabbling with his barons. It was enough
+to make his martial father rise from his grave.</p>
+
+<p>At last, on December 6, the Lanercost chronicle relates,
+Bruce suddenly pounced upon Berwick. His men had
+placed two ladders, and 'he would soon have had the
+castle, as is believed,' had the garrison not been warned
+by the barking of a dog. The ladders, says the chronicler,
+'were of a remarkable make, as I myself, who write this,
+witnessed with my own eyes.' He describes ladders of
+ropes, with wooden steps, and iron hooks to grip the
+wall top. The alarm being raised, Bruce retired, leaving
+the two ladders for the monk's inspection. 'So a dog on
+that occasion saved the town, as once geese by their
+cackling saved Rome.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce turned north to Perth. According to the Lanercost
+chronicle, he took the town by surprise in the night
+of January 10 (Fordun says January 8), 1312&ndash;13. The
+governor, Sir William Oliphant&mdash;probably this is the
+capture of Perth antedated by Barbour&mdash;'was bound and
+sent to the islands afar'; but, if so, he did not stay long
+there, for he was in England within two months, and
+on October 21, he obtained a safe-conduct to return to
+Scotland. The chronicler says that Bruce slew the better
+Scots burgesses, but permitted the English to go free;
+while Fordun records that he put 'the disloyal people,
+Scots and English alike,' to the sword. 'In his clemency,'
+adds Fordun, 'he spared the rabble, and granted forgiveness
+to such as asked it; but he destroyed the walls and
+dykes, and consumed everything else with fire.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce next swept down upon Dumfries. Here his old
+enemy, Sir Dougal MacDowall, constable of the castle,
+had experienced much difficulty all through summer and
+autumn in obtaining adequate supplies. He gave up the
+castle to Bruce on February 7, the short siege probably
+indicating that he was starved into surrender. It is likely,
+as Mr Bain surmises, that Buittle, Dalswinton, Lochmaben,
+and Carlaverock were all recovered about the same time.</p>
+
+<p>The Scots appear to have derived considerable supplies
+from Flanders. On February 15, 1312&ndash;13, Edward remonstrated
+with the Count of Flanders, begging him to
+restrain his subjects from all intercourse with Scotsmen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span>
+The Count seized the occasion to demand compensation
+for losses and injuries inflicted on his subjects by Englishmen.
+An English commission, much to the disgust of
+the Flemish envoys, rejected the claims; and presently
+Flemish seamen plundered English vessels, the chief
+depredator being the ingenious John Crab, whom we
+shall meet again. On May 1, 1313, Edward invited the
+Count to send his aggrieved subjects back to London;
+but 'now,' he added, 'we hear that thirteen ships of
+your power, laden with arms and victuals, quite lately
+crossed from the port of Swyn to Scotland&mdash;whereat we
+very much marvel.' The Flemish quarrel went on; but
+on May 17, at the instance of the French king, Edward
+appointed four commissioners 'to negotiate a truce or
+sufferance with the Scots.'</p>
+
+<p>Within a week, however, as Edward was on the point
+of embarking for France to confer with Philip about
+Gascony, he learned from a special messenger from the
+lieges of Cumberland that the Scots were again upon
+them. He could only tell them to do their best, and
+he would hasten back to take order for their safety. On
+June 6, Bishop Kellawe of Durham testifies to the forlorn
+state of the nuns of Halistan on the March; there are
+hostile incursions daily, goods and cattle are reived, and
+the very nuns are insulted and persecuted by the robbers,
+and driven from their homes suffering miserably. Such
+are examples of the state of affairs in the mind of the
+Lanercost chronicler when he records that 'the people
+of Northumberland, Westmorland, and Cumberland, and
+other men of the Marches, neither having nor hoping
+from their King defence or aid, he being then in the
+remote parts of England and not appearing to trouble
+himself about them, offered no moderate amount&mdash;nay,
+a very large amount&mdash;of money to Robert for truce till
+September 29, 1314.' Bruce was striking hard and persistently,
+and Edward was giving way all along the line
+of war.</p>
+
+<p>On his return, indeed, Edward at once took measures
+of retaliation. As early as April 2, he had answered
+applications from Northumberland for aid by a promise
+of relief before midsummer&mdash;a promise that remained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span>
+unfulfilled. On July 6, he demanded a subsidy from the
+bishops, and on August 13 he made a like appeal to the
+abbots and convents. In warlike mood, in the end of
+July, he had ordered something like a press-gang muster
+of boats at the ports from the Wash round to Plymouth.
+It was but a spasmodic effort of weakness. About the
+beginning of October, Sir Ralph Fitz William reported
+that 'they are grievously menaced with treason at Berwick,
+but, if the garrison are loyal, they will defend it against
+the King of France and the King of Scotland for a while
+till succour reaches them.' In the end of next month,
+the Bishop of St Andrews proceeded to France in the
+interest of Edward, no doubt with the object of detaching
+Philip from co-operation with Bruce. It was a fatuous
+choice of an envoy.</p>
+
+<p>The wretched inefficiency of Edward had by this time
+rendered the position of his adherents in Scotland all but
+insupportable. In November they despatched the Earl
+of March and Sir Adam de Gordon to lay their grievances
+before him. Their petition recounts their heavy losses
+at the hands of the enemy during the past three years;
+their costly purchase of truce; and especially their intolerable
+sufferings from the lawless outrages committed upon
+them by the garrisons of Berwick and Roxburgh, who are
+alleged to have plundered, killed, and held them to ransom
+at will, as if they had been enemies. Here is a substantial
+repetition of the memorandum of 1307&ndash;10. Sir Adam de
+Gordon could tell how he had himself been arrested by
+the constable of Roxburgh Castle and required to find
+security for his good behaviour. The King, replying on
+November 28, could only give them the cold comfort
+of an assurance of his intention to march to their relief
+at next midsummer. It is quite natural that such slackness
+of the central authority should have given head to
+such marauding scoundrels on the Border as Sir Gilbert de
+Middleton and Thomas de Pencaitland. That notorious
+knight of the road, Sir Gilbert, will cross our path again.</p>
+
+<p>It could not have been earlier than autumn 1313 that
+Bruce recovered the Peel of Linlithgow, which was held
+by Sir Archibald de Livingstone, under the orders of Sir
+Peter Lubaud, warden and sheriff of Edinburgh. Barbour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span>
+makes it harvest time. The peel garrison had cut their
+hay, and engaged William Bunnock, a neighbouring
+farmer, who hated them patriotically, to 'lead' it for them.
+Bunnock conceived the notion of elevating the familiar
+harvesting process to an operation of war, and arranged
+the strategic details with his friends. He planted an
+ambush in the early morning, and let the hay lie till
+the peel men had gone out to cut their crop. Loading
+the hay, with eight men hid in it, he set a hardy yeoman,
+with a hatchet under his belt, to drive the waggon, himself
+walking idly beside. When the waggon was half-way
+through the gate, Bunnock shouted the signal, 'Thief!
+Call all! Call all!' The driver instantly severed the
+traces, stopping the waggon; Bunnock slew the porter;
+the eight men leapt down from the midst of the hay,
+and the ambush swarmed up. They slew the men they
+found in garrison, and pursued those that were in the
+fields towards Edinburgh and Stirling, killing some in
+their flight. For this exploit Bruce rewarded Bunnock
+worthily. The peel he at once demolished. The story
+of Bunnock rests on the sole authority of Barbour.</p>
+
+<p>The next castle to fall was Roxburgh. Douglas had
+been keeping the Forest, and harassing Roxburgh and
+Jedburgh castles. Resolving to win Roxburgh, he got a
+handy man, Simon of the Leadhouse, to make him ladders
+of hempen ropes, with strong wooden steps and iron hooks,
+after the Berwick pattern. Then gathering some sixty men,
+he approached the castle on Fastern's Even (Shrove Tuesday),
+February 27, 1313&ndash;14, and waited till dark. The party
+left their horses, put black frocks over their armour, and
+crept forward on all fours like cattle. The deception succeeded;
+Barbour says they overheard the garrison jesting
+at the expense of the neighbouring farmer, who, they
+imagined, had left his cattle at large to be carried off by
+the Douglas. The click of a hook on the wall attracted
+a sentinel, but Simon, who had mounted first, stabbed the
+man dead, and the party quickly scaled the wall. The
+garrison were making merry in the hall, when the Scots
+burst in upon them with the Douglas war-cry. A sharp
+conflict ensued. At length Sir William de Fiennes, the
+constable, a valorous Gascon, retreated to the great tower.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span>
+With daylight, the Scots plied the tower with arrows, and
+eventually wounded Sir William so badly in the face that
+he yielded, on terms that he and his men should pass safe
+to England. Douglas conducted them over the Border,
+and Sir William soon afterwards died of his wound. Bruce
+sent his brother Sir Edward to demolish the castle. Sir
+Edward, says Barbour, secured all Teviotdale except Jedburgh
+and other places near the English border. On main
+points Barbour is corroborated by Sir Thomas Gray and
+the Lanercost chronicler.</p>
+
+<p>The news of the capture of Roxburgh stimulated the
+rivalry of Randolph, who was besieging Sir Peter Lubaud
+in Edinburgh Castle. Hopeless of taking the place by
+assault, Randolph cast about for some likely stratagem,
+when William Francis (or William the Frenchman), one
+of his men, suggested a plan of extreme boldness. Francis,
+according to Barbour, stated that he had at one time lived
+in the castle, and, having a sweetheart in the town, had
+been accustomed to climb the sheer rock in the darkest
+nights. All that was needed was good nerve, and a twelve-foot
+ladder for the wall on the top. So, on a dark night&mdash;Fordun
+gives March 14, 1313&ndash;14&mdash;Randolph, with thirty
+picked men, essayed the adventurous ascent. About half
+way up they stopped to rest. Here their nerves were dramatically
+tested. One of the watch overhead threw down a
+stone, exclaiming 'Away! I see you well.' It was a mere
+joke, the sentry saw nothing; and the stone passed harmlessly
+over them. The watchmen passed on without suspicion,
+and Randolph with his men hastened up the steeper
+and steeper crag to the foot of the wall. Instantly the
+ladder was fixed, Francis mounting first, then Sir Andrew
+Gray, and Randolph himself third. Before all the party got
+over the watch was alarmed, the cry of 'Treason! Treason!'
+resounded through the castle, and a desperate struggle
+ensued. Randolph himself was very sorely bested, but he
+succeeded in killing the commandant; whereupon the garrison
+gave in. The Lanercost chronicler states that a strong
+assault was made on the south gate&mdash;the only point reasonably
+open to assault&mdash;where the garrison offered a vigorous
+resistance; and that the party mounting the rock on the
+north side under cover of this front attack, having surprised<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span>
+and overcome the defenders, opened the gate to their comrades.
+Sir Peter Lubaud, the warden, says Barbour, had
+been deposed from the command of the garrison on account
+of some suspicious intercourse with the enemy, and was
+found by Randolph in prison in fetters. He became
+Bruce's man, but soon afterwards he fell under suspicion
+of treason, and, by Bruce's order, was drawn and hanged
+(Gray)&mdash;or at any rate put in prison, where he died miserably
+(John of Tynmouth). The Lanercost writer states that
+the victors 'slew the English,' probably meaning the garrison;
+but the extant rolls show that there were many
+Scotsmen in the garrison, 'two of them,' as Mr Bain remarks,
+even 'bearing the surname of Douglas.' Bruce
+demolished the castle.</p>
+
+<p>Barbour states that Sir Edward Bruce, having won all
+Galloway and Nithsdale, and taken Rutherglen Peel and
+Dundee Castle, laid siege to Stirling Castle from Lent to
+midsummer, 1313; and that then Sir Philip de Mowbray,
+the constable, agreed to yield the castle, provided it were
+not relieved by midsummer 1314. The most recklessly
+chivalrous terms are indeed consonant with Sir Edward's
+character. But if, as Barbour and the Monk of Malmesbury
+agree, Mowbray was influenced by a threatened failure of
+provisions, the period must have been much less. He
+in Stirling would hardly be in any better case for supplies
+than was MacDowall in Dumfries. Immediately on investment
+of the castle, he would begin to feel the pinch;
+and the fall of Edinburgh would at once intimate the
+hopelessness of his position. But, further, we have seen
+Sir Edward demolishing Roxburgh Castle in early March,
+and it does not seem likely that he would have left a
+substitute to look after Stirling. Besides, the Lanercost
+chronicler can hardly be mistaken when he says that
+Sir Edward entered England on April 17, taking up his
+headquarters at the Bishop's manor house at Rose, and
+sending his army as far as Englewood Forest, south
+and west, for three days to burn and plunder&mdash;because
+the tribute had not been duly paid. Once more, the
+Monk of Malmesbury represents that it was after the
+fall of the other castles that Mowbray carried to Edward
+the news of his agreement for surrender. On the whole,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span>
+it may be seriously doubted whether the respite extended
+beyond a couple of months, or even six weeks. It is not,
+apparently, till May 27, that Mowbray's conditional agreement
+for surrender is mentioned in any existing official
+document.</p>
+
+<p>Besides Stirling, the only fortresses of any importance
+that now remained in the hands of the English were
+Berwick, Jedburgh, and Bothwell. But the immediate
+interest centres in the fateful attempt to relieve the castle
+of Stirling.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.</span></h2>
+
+<p>As far back as December 23, Edward II. had summoned his
+army to assemble at Berwick on June 10, 1314, for the war
+against Scotland. In March, he was busily ordering his
+fleet for service on the east and west coasts, and hastening
+the muster of the Irish contingent under the Lord of Ulster.
+On May 27, from New Abbey, he issued an urgent reminder
+to the sheriffs and barons of the northern and midland
+counties to have their men at Wark by June 10. He has
+learnt, he tells them, that the Scots are massing great
+numbers of foot in strong positions protected by marshes
+and all but inaccessible to cavalry; and he fires their
+zeal by informing them of the agreement of Mowbray to
+surrender the castle of Stirling unless the siege be raised
+by midsummer day. Bruce, then, had already chosen
+his ground, and commenced his measures of defence.</p>
+
+<p>The English and Welsh troops summoned on May 27,
+numbered together 21,540. The numbers of the Irish
+contingent are not preserved, but, on analogous cases,
+they can hardly be reckoned beyond 3000. The Gascons,
+Hainaulters, and other foreigners are not likely to have
+numbered more than the Irish. 'After allowing,' with Mr
+Bain, '10,000 light horsemen and 3000 heavy cavalry, the
+whole English army probably did not exceed 50,000'&mdash;at
+the very outside. The Earls of Lancaster, Warenne,
+Arundel, and Warwick did not join the expedition, on the
+ostensible ground that the King had not first consulted
+Parliament in conformity with the Ordinances, and thus
+they would be laid open to ecclesiastical censure; but they
+sent their feudal services. The outfit of the army was on
+the most ample, not to say magnificent, scale. 'The
+multitude of waggons, if extended one after another in
+file,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'would have stretched<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span>
+over twenty leagues.' In truth, he says, it was universally
+acknowledged that 'such an army did not go out of England
+in our time.' The Monk's testimony lends a sober
+colour to the assertion of Robert Baston, the Carmelite
+friar that went to celebrate an English victory and was
+captured and made to sing the Scottish triumph. 'Never,'
+he declared, 'was seen a more splendid, noble, or proud
+English army.'</p>
+
+<p>There is no definite clue to the numbers of the Scots.
+'But,' as Mr Bain says, 'in so poor and thinly populated a
+country, devastated by long war, 15,000 or 16,000 would
+be a fair estimate of the comrades of Bruce. The Scots,
+twenty years later, could raise no more for the almost
+equally important object of relieving Berwick.'</p>
+
+<p>The estimates usually given follow Barbour, who says
+there were over 100,000 English&mdash;enough 'to conquer the
+whole world'&mdash;and some 50,000 Scots, of whom 30,000
+were fighting men. No doubt Barbour includes in the
+English 100,000 the miscellaneous 'pitaille,' or rascalry,
+that swarmed about the baggage trains of mediæval armies.
+But Mr Bain's estimate seems to be as near as the authorities
+will admit. The proportion of English to Scots was most
+probably somewhere about three to one.</p>
+
+<p>The army that mustered under Edward was indeed 'very
+fair and great,' yet, in the eye of the Church&mdash;probably
+enlightened by later events&mdash;there was one needful thing
+lacking. When Edward I. was on the warpath towards
+Scotland, says the Lanercost chronicler, 'he was wont to
+visit on his way the saints of England&mdash;Thomas of Canterbury,
+Edmund, Hugh, William, Cuthbert&mdash;and to offer
+them fair oblations, to commend himself to their prayers,
+and to dispense large gifts to the monasteries and the
+poor'; but his degenerate son, omitting these pious
+duties,' came with great pomp and circumstance, took the
+goods of the monasteries on his route, and, it was stated,
+did and said some things to the prejudice and injury of the
+saints,' by reason whereof 'certain religious of England
+prophesied' that no good would come of the expedition.
+To the same effect, Robert of Reading records that Edward
+permitted his troops, on their march, to ravage with violence
+the patrimony of 'religious' and other churchmen, as if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>
+they had been robbers (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">more prædonum</i>). Still the Archbishop
+of York and the Bishop of Durham, rehearsing the
+long list of Bruce's alleged enormities, officially enjoined
+all within their jurisdiction to pray for the success of
+the King's arms, offering an indulgence of forty days in
+reward of such patriotic piety.</p>
+
+<p>The King was in high spirits over the splendour of his
+army. Apparently he anticipated an easy and complete
+triumph. He started from Berwick only a few days before
+the fateful day of St John. 'From day to day,' says the
+Monk of Malmesbury, 'he hastened to the place fixed on
+beforehand, not like a man leading an army to battle, but
+rather as if he were going on pilgrimage to Compostella.
+Short was the stay for sleep; shorter still the stay for
+food; in consequence of which the horses, horsemen,
+and foot were worn out by labour and fatigue.' On Friday,
+June 21, the English army lay at Edinburgh; and on
+Saturday it lay at Falkirk, little more than ten miles from
+Stirling.</p>
+
+<p>The problem for Bruce was to keep the English out of
+Stirling till St John's day had passed. In good time he
+had selected and laid out the inevitable field of battle with
+military prescience of the first order. He had mustered
+his forces in the Torwood, in a position commanding the
+approach to Stirling from the south; and on the morning
+of Saturday, the 22nd of June, on news of the approach of
+the English, he marched them to the chosen spot on a
+plain some two miles south of Stirling within the last large
+loop of the Bannock Burn, called the New Park&mdash;a hunting-ground
+of the Scots kings. The Park was a piece of firm
+ground rising on the north and west into the swelling ridges
+of Coxet Hill near St Ninian's, and Gillies Hill on the left
+of the Bannock above the bend towards the Forth. Eastwards
+it fell away into a marshy tract filling the angle of
+the two rivers and intersected by watercourses. Southwards,
+too, the hard ground was broken by two morasses&mdash;Halbert's
+Bog and Milton Bog&mdash;between the Park and the
+Bannock. Bruce rested his right wing on the steep bank
+of the Bannock below Gillies Hill; his left wing stretched
+away past St Ninian's nearly to the gates of Stirling; his
+rear was protected by Gillies Hill and the Bannock behind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span>
+The English would be compelled to advance either across
+the Bannock between Parkmill and Beaton's Mill&mdash;a
+breadth of a short mile, free from precipitous banks&mdash;to
+the line of hard ground, with a contracted front, to be
+immediately divided by the intervening bogs; or else
+along the line of low and marshy flat between the Park and
+the Forth. To reduce the superiority of the English
+cavalry, Bruce had industriously dug pits along the parts
+of the firm route by which they would probably, if not
+inevitably advance&mdash;pits a foot wide, round, and deep as a
+man's knee, honeycombing the ground; and these holes he
+covered loosely with a disguise of brushwood, turf, and
+grass. He is also said to have inserted in them stakes
+shod with iron points. Sir Thomas de la Moore mentions
+long transverse trenches, similarly covered so as to bear
+men aware of them, but not horses. Later writers add
+that Bruce strewed the ground with calthrops, or metal
+spikes, to cripple the English horses. He himself had
+determined to fight on foot.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce marshalled his troops in four divisions, facing
+south-eastwards. The van was led by Randolph. The
+second and third divisions were ranged behind the wings
+of the van; the former, to the right and resting on the
+Bannock, led by Sir Edward Bruce, the latter by Walter
+the Steward ('that then was but a beardless hyne') and
+Douglas. The rearguard, consisting of the men of Carrick,
+Argyll, Cantyre and the Isles, was stationed right behind
+the van at some interval, under the immediate command
+of Bruce himself. All the divisions could thus be promptly
+massed on the English whether they should select the
+higher or the lower line of advance. It was of the very first
+importance that no detachment of the English should be
+allowed to outmanœuvre the main body of the Scots and
+throw themselves into Stirling; and Randolph, who held
+the most advanced position, was especially charged to
+guard against this fatal contingency. The non-combatants
+retired behind the hill in the rear, afterwards named from
+them the Gillies' (that is, Servants') Hill.</p>
+
+<p>The dispositions of the English army are not known in
+certain detail. There is little help in Barbour's statement
+that it was divided into ten companies of 10,000 each.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span>
+We know that the van was led by the Earl of Gloucester;
+and that, if Robert of Reading and the Monk of Malmesbury
+may be relied on, the appointment of Gloucester was
+hotly resented by the hereditary constable, the Earl of
+Hereford. The King's bridle was attended by Sir Aymer
+de Valence and Sir Giles d'Argentine, the latter of whom
+was regarded as the third knight in Christendom, and had
+been released from captivity at Salonica in the end of the
+preceding year through Edward's urgent representations to
+the Emperor, and even to the Empress, of Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>At sunrise on Sunday, June 23&mdash;the eve of St John&mdash;the
+Scots heard mass. Bruce then devoted special attention
+to the pits that were still preparing. After midday&mdash;the
+Scots observed the fast on bread and water&mdash;the
+English were reported to be advancing from the fringe
+of the Torwood. Bruce issued his final orders. Then
+he is said to have addressed his men in terms of high
+resolution, bidding every man depart that was not ready
+for either alternative&mdash;to conquer or to die. Not a
+man moved from the ranks. More than five centuries
+later, at Balaclava, 'Men,' cried Sir Colin Campbell, 'you
+must die where you stand.' 'Ay, ay, Sir Colin, we'll do
+that,' was the cheery response. Such, too, was the spirit
+of the same race on the field of Bannockburn.</p>
+
+<p>At this point, according to Barbour, Douglas and Sir
+Robert de Keith (hereditary marshal) proceeded, by order
+of Bruce, to reconnoitre the enemy's advance. They returned
+with such a report of the numbers and equipment
+of the English as they deemed it prudent to render to
+Bruce only 'in great privity.' Bruce, however, put a bold
+face on the situation, and directed them, says Barbour,
+to spread a depreciatory account of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The main body of the English appears to have halted
+while the leaders should take counsel. But Gloucester,
+with the vanguard, ignorant of this and ardent for the fray,
+dashed through the Bannock and advanced on the Park,
+where Sir Edward Bruce was ready to receive him. King
+Robert himself was riding in front of Sir Edward's division
+on a small palfrey, with only a battle-axe in hand. On his
+basnet, according to Barbour's haberdashery, he wore a
+hat of jacked leather, surmounted by 'a high crown, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span>
+token that he was a king.' Some of the English knights,
+says the Monk of Malmesbury, rode out between the lines
+and flung their challenges to the Scots. Sir Henry de
+Bohun, a knight of the house of Hereford, spurred at
+Bruce himself, and Bruce, swerving at the critical moment
+of attack, rose in his stirrups as de Bohun passed and clove
+his head at a stroke, the shaft of his axe shivering in his
+hand. It may be remarked incidentally that Gray calls
+the luckless knight Sir Piers de Mountforth. The Scots
+pressed forward; the English fell back; but Bruce prudently
+soon recalled his men from the conflict. The
+Monk of Malmesbury, however, acknowledges that there
+was 'sufficiently keen fighting, in which Gloucester was
+unhorsed.' It is not surprising that the leading Scots
+remonstrated earnestly with Bruce for exposing himself
+to such an unequal chance. According to Barbour, he
+made no answer, only regretting the breaking of his good
+axe-shaft. There can hardly be any doubt that Bruce took
+the risk deliberately, in calculated reliance on his dexterity
+and strength, and not without a judicious eye to the moral
+effect on both armies. The feat, in any case, damped the
+ardour of the English and raised the spirit of the Scots.</p>
+
+<p>Almost contemporaneously with the advance of Gloucester,
+Clifford and Beaumont, with 300 men-at-arms&mdash;Gray,
+whose father rode with them, says 300, while
+Barbour makes them 800&mdash;hurried along the lower
+ground on the English right towards Stirling. Their
+evident object, as Barbour says, was to relieve the
+castle; but the Lanercost chronicler ingenuously explains
+that it was to prevent the Scots from escaping by flight.
+Randolph, strangely ill-served by his scouts and by his
+eyes, if Barbour be right, is said not to have been aware
+of the movement till he received a sharp message from
+Bruce (as if Bruce's attention was not fully engaged elsewhere),
+telling him significantly that a rose had fallen
+from his chaplet. This is sheer monkish imagination. Gray
+makes no mention of this incredible inadvertence, but
+represents Randolph as fired by the news of Bruce's repulse
+of the English van; and the Lanercost chronicler
+states that the Scots deliberately allowed the advance of
+the party. Of course they did; Randolph undoubtedly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span>
+descried them the moment they debouched on the carse.
+To do so was no less important than it was for Sir Edward
+to be ready for Gloucester's onset. The next step for
+Randolph was to tackle his enemy at the right spot and
+not elsewhere. With a strong detachment he rapidly
+traversed the wooded edge of the Park, so as to converge
+upon the English horsemen at the narrow neck
+between St Ninian's and the Forth&mdash;the only point, in
+fact, where he could calculate upon holding them without
+moving his whole division down into the low-lying ground
+(if even that would have done it), and deranging the order
+of battle. When they were 'neath the kirk,' he issued
+from the wood and menaced their further progress.</p>
+
+<p>'Let us retire a little,' said Beaumont; 'let them come;
+give them the fields.'</p>
+
+<p>'Sir,' remarked Sir Thomas Gray, the elder, 'I suspect
+if you give them so much now, they will have all only too
+soon.'</p>
+
+<p>'Why,' rejoined Beaumont tartly, 'if you are afraid you
+can flee.'</p>
+
+<p>'Sir,' replied Gray, 'it is not for fear that I shall flee
+this day.'</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon Sir Thomas spurred his steed between Beaumont
+and Sir William d'Eyncourt and charged the Scots.
+Randolph, whose men were on foot, instantly threw them
+into a schiltron, 'like a hedgehog.' D'Eyncourt was slain at
+the first onset. Gray's horse was speared and he himself
+was taken prisoner. The horsemen were wholly unable to
+make the slightest impression on the schiltron: they could
+not ride down the Scots; they could only cast spears and
+other missiles into their midst. Occasionally, on the other
+hand, a Scot would leap out from the ranks and strike down
+horse or rider. Douglas, seeing the Scots surrounded,
+entreated Bruce to permit him to go to Randolph's aid.
+Bruce, however, sternly refused to disorder his array, but
+at last yielded to his importunity. The temporary absence
+of Douglas and a small party could not really matter at the
+moment, and it was wise to make doubly sure of the vital
+object dependent on Randolph's defence. On getting near,
+however, and perceiving that Randolph was holding his own,
+Douglas chivalrously halted his men. But his appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span>
+was not without effect upon the English party. They gave up
+the contest. The movement had completely failed. Some
+of them straggled to Stirling Castle; the main body of the
+survivors fled back the way they had come; and Randolph
+returned in triumph. It may be, as Barbour says, that
+Bruce used the occasion to deliver to his men another
+rousing address. At any rate he had gained a marked
+success in each of the operations of the day.</p>
+
+<p>Though Gloucester had retired, apparently he did not
+withdraw beyond the Bannock, but encamped for the
+night along the north bank. According to the unanimous
+testimony of the chroniclers, the English host was struck
+with serious discouragement. It may have been, as
+Barbour says, that they talked in groups disconsolately
+and forebodingly, and that the encouragement of the
+leaders predicting victory in the great battle on the morrow
+failed to shake off their depression. Still there was activity
+in the vanguard camp. Barbour says that at night efforts
+were made to render bad parts of the low-lying land in the
+angle of the rivers passable, and even that aid in this work
+was furnished by the Stirling garrison. According to the
+Malmesbury chronicler, the English anticipated attack in
+the night; and Gray states that they lay under arms, their
+horses being ready bridled. Bruce, however, had resolutely
+restricted himself to the tactics of defence; but the anticipation
+was a natural one enough. Some of the men, very
+probably, sought artificial means of consolation and courage.
+Sir Thomas de la Moore, following Baston, pictures the
+English camp as a lamentable and unwonted scene of
+drunkenness, men 'shouting "Wassail" and "Drinkhail"
+beyond ordinary'; and he sets forth, in forcible contrast,
+the quiet self-restraint and patriotic confidence of the Scots.</p>
+
+<p>In all the circumstances, it would seem an inexplicable
+thing that the Scots should have been on the point of
+retiring in the night and making for the fastnesses of the
+Lennox. Yet Gray records that such was their intention.
+Sir Alexander de Seton, he says, came secretly from the
+English host to Bruce, and told him that they had lost
+heart, and would certainly give way before a vigorous onset
+next day; whereupon Bruce changed his plans and braced
+himself to fight on the morrow. The Scots had, indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span>
+'done enough for the day,' but they had not done enough
+for the occasion. Stirling Castle might yet be relieved. It
+is likely enough that Seton visited Bruce, and that there
+were weak-kneed warriors in Bruce's lines; but that the
+matter of the interview is correctly reported by Gray seems
+absolutely incredible.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of St John's day, June 24, the Scots
+heard mass at sunrise, broke their fast, and lined up with
+all banners displayed. Bruce made some new knights,
+and created Walter the Steward and Douglas bannerets.
+He then made fresh dispositions of his troops, in view of
+the position of the English van along the Bannock.
+There, clearly, the battle would be fought. Accordingly,
+he brought forward Randolph's division from the wood,
+placing it probably by the north-west corner of Halbert's
+Bog, almost parallel to Sir Edward's division; while the
+third division lay across the south-east slopes of Coxet
+Hill. The formation was in echelon by the right, with
+unequal intervals. Behind the general line, the rear
+division stretched from the south-west slopes of Coxet
+Hill towards Gillies Hill.</p>
+
+<p>The Scottish array appears to have made a deeper impression
+on the English veterans than on the English king.
+The Malmesbury chronicler states that the more experienced
+leaders advised that the battle should be postponed
+till the following day, partly because of the solemn
+feast, partly because of the fatigue of the soldiery. The
+advice was scorned by the younger knights. It was supported,
+however, by Gloucester, himself a youthful knight.
+On him, it is said, the King turned with vehement indignation,
+charging him even with treason and double-dealing.
+'To-day,' replied the Earl, 'it will be clear that I am
+neither traitor nor double-dealer'; and he addressed
+himself to preparation for battle.</p>
+
+<p>The Scots seem to have made but a paltry show in the
+eyes of Edward. 'What! Will yonder Scots fight?' he is
+said to have asked his attendant knights, incredulously.
+Sir Ingram de Umfraville assured him they would; at the
+same time suggesting that the English should feign to
+retire, and so draw the Scots from their ranks to plunder,
+when they would fall easy victims. Neither did this suggestion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span>
+jump with the high humour of Edward. At the
+moment, he observed the Scottish ranks falling on their
+knees as the Abbot of Inchaffray passed along the lines,
+bearing aloft the crucifix.</p>
+
+<p>'Yon folk kneel to ask for mercy,' he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>'Sire,' said Umfraville, 'ye say sooth now; they crave
+mercy, but not of you; it is to God they cry for their
+trespasses. I tell you of a surety, yonder men will win
+all or die.'</p>
+
+<p>'So be it!' cried Edward, 'we shall soon see.' And
+he ordered the trumpets to sound the charge.</p>
+
+<p>At the very moment when the hostile armies were closing
+in stern conflict, says the Monk of Malmesbury, Gloucester
+and Hereford were in hot wrangle over the question of
+precedence; and Gloucester sprang forward, 'inordinately
+bent on carrying off a triumph at the first onset.' His
+heavy cavalry, though hampered for space and disconcerted
+by the treacherous pits, went forward gallantly,
+under the cover of a strong force of archers, who severely
+galled the Scots, and even drove back their bowmen. They
+crashed against Sir Edward Bruce's division, which received
+them 'like a dense hedge' or 'wood.' The great horses
+with their eager riders dashed themselves in vain against
+the solid and impenetrable schiltron. Those behind pressed
+forward, only to bite the dust, like their comrades, under
+the spears and axes of the Scots. 'There,' says the Monk
+of Malmesbury, 'the horrible crash of splintered spears, the
+terrible clangour of swords quivering on helmets, the insupportable
+force of the Scottish axes, the fearsome cloud
+of arrows and darts discharged on both sides, might have
+shaken the courage of the very stoutest heart. The redoubling
+of blow on blow, the vociferation of encouragements,
+the din of universal shouting, and the groans of the dying,
+could be heard farther than may be said.' The Lanercost
+writer goes near to justifying Scott's remarkable expression,
+'steeds that shriek in agony.' Seldom in history has
+there been so fierce a turmoil of battle.</p>
+
+<p>According to Barbour, Randolph, noting the strain
+upon the first division, bore down to Sir Edward's support
+and drew an equally heavy attack upon himself. Steadily
+the second division won ground, though they seemed lost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span>
+in the swarms of the enemy, 'as they were plunged in the
+sea.' But not yet did victory incline to either side. Then
+Bruce threw into the scale the weight of the third division,
+the Steward and Douglas ranging themselves 'beside the
+Earl a little by.' With splendid tenacity, the English
+grappled with the newcomers in stubborn conflict, till,
+Barbour says, 'the blood stood in pools' on the field.</p>
+
+<p>The engagement was now as general as the nature of
+the position allowed. Both sides settled down to steady
+hard pounding, and it remained to be seen which would
+pound the hardest and the longest.</p>
+
+<p>The English were at enormous disadvantage in being
+unable to bring into action their whole force together.
+They could, indeed, supply the gaps in the narrow front
+with sheer weight of pressure from the rear, and they took
+bold risks on parts of the softer ground, especially along
+the north bank of the Bannock; but, even so, the fighting
+line was grievously hampered for space, and the wild
+career of wounded steeds defied the most strenuous efforts
+to preserve order. The archers, however, worked round
+to the right of Sir Edward's division, plying their bows
+with such energy and discrimination as greatly to disconcert
+Sir Edward's men. The moment had come for King
+Robert to order into action the marshal, Sir Robert de
+Keith, with his handful of 500 horsemen 'armed in steel.'
+Keith dashed upon the archers in flank, and scattered
+them in flight. This successful operation gave the Scots
+archers the opportunity to retaliate with effect, while it
+relieved the foremost division to reconcentrate their
+energies on the heavy cavalry steadily thundering on their
+front. But more English cavalry pressed to occupy the
+ground abandoned by the English archers. And now
+Bruce appears to have brought his rear division into
+action upon the English flank. It was his last resource.
+The Scots, says Barbour, 'fought as they were in a rage;
+they laid on as men out of wit.' But still the English
+disputed every inch of ground with indomitable resolution.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably about this time that the gallant young
+Gloucester fell. After brilliant efforts to penetrate the
+impenetrable wedge of Scots, he had his charger slain
+under him, and was thrown to the ground. The mishap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span>
+is said to have dazed his men, who 'stood as if astonied,'
+instead of aiding him to rise, burdened as he was with the
+weight of his armour, and possibly trammelled by his
+horse. He was thus slain in the midst of the 500 armed
+followers he had led into the front of the battle. The
+Monk of Malmesbury raises a loud lament over Gloucester's
+luckless fate: 'Devil take soldiery,' he exclaims in
+pious energy, 'whose courage oozes out at the critical
+moment of need.' It may be, however, that others are
+right in stating that Gloucester was slain in consequence
+of his rash and headlong advance at the very first onset.</p>
+
+<p>The prolonged and doubtful struggle naturally wearied
+out the patience of the non-combatants behind Gillies
+Hill. Choosing a captain, says Barbour, they marshalled
+themselves&mdash;15,000 to 20,000 in number&mdash;improvised
+banners by fastening sheets on boughs and spears, and
+advanced over the brow of the hill in view of the battle
+raging below. The English, it is said, believing them to
+be a fresh army, were struck with panic. Bruce marking
+the effect shouted his war-cry and urged his men to their
+utmost efforts. The English van at last yielded ground,
+though not at all points. The Scots, however, seized
+their advantage, and pressed with all their might. The
+English line broke, falling back on the Bannock. Confusion
+increased at every step. Horsemen and foot,
+gentle and simple, were driven pell-mell into the Bannock,
+and but few of them were lucky enough to gain the south
+bank; the burn, Barbour says, was 'so full of horses and
+men that one might pass over it dry-shod.' The panic
+ran through the whole English army. The day was lost
+and won.</p>
+
+<p>King Edward refused to believe the evidence of his
+senses, and obstinately refused to quit the field. But it is
+the merest bravado&mdash;though countenanced by Scott&mdash;when
+Trokelowe relates how the King, in the bitterness
+and fury of his wrath, 'rushed truculently upon the enemy
+like a lion robbed of whelps,' copiously shed their blood,
+and was with difficulty withdrawn from the orgy of massacre.
+Unquestionably he stood aloof from the battle,
+watching its progress at a safe distance. When the
+English gave way in hopeless rout, Valence and Argentine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span>
+seized his rein and hurried him off the field in spite of all
+remonstrance. It was not a moment too soon, for already,
+says Gray, Scots knights 'hung with their hands on the
+trappings of the King's destrier' in a determined attempt
+to capture him, and were disengaged only by the King's
+desperate wielding of a mace. They had even ripped up
+his destrier, so that presently he had to mount another.
+Once the King was clear of immediate pursuers, Argentine
+directed him to Stirling Castle and bade him farewell. 'I
+have not hitherto been accustomed to flee,' he said, 'nor
+will I flee now. I commend you to God.' And striking
+spurs to his steed he charged furiously upon Sir Edward
+Bruce's division, but was quickly borne down and slain.</p>
+
+<p>The turning of the King's rein was the signal for the
+general dispersal of the army in flight.</p>
+
+<p>King Edward, attended by Valence, Despenser, Beaumont,
+Sir John de Cromwell, and some 500 men-at-arms,
+made for Stirling Castle. Mowbray, with the plainest
+commonsense&mdash;the suggestion of treachery is preposterous&mdash;begged
+him not to stay, for the castle must be surrendered;
+in any case, it would be taken. So the King was
+conducted in all haste round the Park and the Torwood
+towards Linlithgow; the Lanercost writer assigns as guide
+'a certain Scots knight, who knew by what ways they
+could escape.' But for Bruce's anxious care to keep his
+men in hand in case of a rally, it seems quite certain that
+Edward would not have escaped at all. Douglas went in
+pursuit, but he had only some sixty horsemen. On the
+borders of the Torwood he met Sir Lawrence de Abernethy,
+who was coming to assist the English, but at once
+changed sides on learning the issue of the day, and joined
+Douglas in pursuit of the fugitive King. At Linlithgow
+Douglas came within bowshot of the royal party, but, not
+being strong enough to attack, hung close upon their rear,
+capturing or killing the stragglers. The pursuit was continued
+hot-foot through Lothian; Douglas</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">'was alwais by thame neir;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He leit thame nocht haf sic laseir<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As anys wattir for to ma'&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">till at last Edward found shelter in Earl Patrick's castle of
+Dunbar. The King, with seventeen of his closest attendants,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span>
+presently embarked on a vessel for Berwick (Barbour
+says Bamborough), 'abandoning all the others,' sneers the
+Lanercost writer, 'to their fortune,' These others, according
+to Barbour, had not even been admitted to Dunbar
+Castle; but Douglas let them go on to Berwick unmolested,
+and with a drove of captured horses speedily rejoined
+Bruce at Stirling. Sir Thomas de la Moore attributes the
+King's escape 'not to the swiftness of his horse, nor to the
+efforts of men, but to the Mother of God, whom he invoked,'
+vowing to build and dedicate to her a house for
+twenty-four poor Carmelites, students of theology. This
+vow he fulfilled, in spite of the dissuasion of Despenser,
+and the house is now Oriel College, Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>Another party, headed by the Earl of Hereford, made for
+Carlisle. According to the Lanercost chronicler, it included
+the Earl of Angus, Sir John de Segrave, Sir Antony
+de Lucy, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, and many other
+knights, and numbered 600 horse and 1000 foot. They
+appealed to the hospitality of Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert, who
+held Valence's castle of Bothwell for Edward with a
+garrison of sixty Scots. Fitz Gilbert admitted 'the more
+noble' of them&mdash;Barbour says fifty; the Meaux chronicler,
+120; Walsingham, a still larger number. Fitz Gilbert at
+once secured them all as prisoners, and delivered them to
+Sir Edward Bruce, who was sent with a large force to take
+them over. Hereford and others were eventually exchanged
+for the Queen, the Princess Marjory, and the
+Bishop of Glasgow; the rest were held to heavy ransom.
+The main body of the party struggled forward to the
+Border, but many of them&mdash;Barbour says three-fourths&mdash;were
+slain or captured. Everywhere, in fact, the inhabitants,
+who 'had previously feigned peace' with the English,
+rose upon the hapless fugitives. Thus, Sir Maurice de
+Berkeley escaped with a great body of Welshmen, but,
+says Barbour, many were taken or slain before they
+reached England. A large number fled to Stirling Castle,
+where Barbour pictures the crags as covered with them; but
+these at once surrendered to a detachment of Bruce's force.</p>
+
+<p>It is hopeless to number the slain that strewed the field
+of battle, choked the Bannock, or floated down the Forth.
+Barbour says roundly that 30,000 English were slain or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span>
+drowned. The Meaux chronicler admits 20,000. Walsingham
+numbers no less than 700 knights and squires.
+Besides Gloucester and Argentine, the veteran Sir Robert
+de Clifford, Sir Pagan de Tybetot, Sir William the Marshal,
+Sir William de Vescy, Sir John Comyn (the son of the
+Red Comyn, slain at Dumfries), Sir Henry de Bohun, Sir
+William D'Eyncourt, and many other notable warriors,
+had fallen in the forefront of battle. Sir Edmund de
+Mauley, the King's seneschal, was drowned in the Bannock.
+The undistinguished many must remain uncounted.
+The Scots losses, which, though comparatively insignificant,
+must yet have been considerable, are equally beyond
+reckoning. The only men of note mentioned are Sir
+William Vipont and Sir Walter Ross.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with his prisoners, Bruce displayed a princely
+generosity. Trokelowe frankly acknowledges that his
+handsome liberality gained him immense respect 'even
+among his enemies.' Walsingham declares that it 'changed
+the hearts of many to love of him.' The Monk of Reading
+is fairly astonished. There was no haggling over exchanges
+or ransoms, though no doubt many of the ransoms were at
+a high figure. Sir Ralph de Monthermer, who was captured
+at Stirling, and was an old friend of Bruce's, was
+released without ransom, and carried back to England the
+King's shield, which Bruce freely returned. Sir Marmaduke
+Twenge, a relative of Bruce's, who yielded himself to
+the King personally on the day after the battle, was sent
+home, not only without ransom, but with handsome gifts.
+The bodies of Gloucester and Clifford were freely sent to
+Edward at Berwick with every token of respect for gallant
+foes; and, while the common men that fell on the field
+were interred in common trenches, the more noble were
+buried with noble ceremonial 'in holy places.'</p>
+
+<p>The spoils collected by the victors were enormous.
+Walsingham ventures on an estimate of £200,000; 'so
+many good nobles, vigorous youths, noble horses, warlike
+arms, precious garments and napery, and vessels of gold&mdash;all
+lost!' Bruce made generous distribution among his
+valiant men. The individual ransoms largely increased the
+individual acquisitions. 'The whole land,' says Fordun,
+'overflowed with boundless wealth.'</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span>
+The chroniclers labour to assign reasons for the great
+disaster. The religious reason seems rather thin; for, if
+Edward and his barons broke the Ordinances, and also
+fought on a feast day, Bruce and his friends lay under
+multiplied excommunications. There is more substance
+in other allegations&mdash;presumptuous confidence on the part
+of the English leaders; discord in their councils; their
+impetuous and disorderly advance; the fatigue and hunger
+of the men by reason of the rapid march from Berwick.
+One would be unwilling to press a certain lack of enthusiasm
+for their King, or a suspicion of inadequate generalship.
+There is sufficient explanation in the skill, prudence, and
+iron resolution of Bruce, supported by able generals of
+division, and by brave and patriotic men. Had the result
+been otherwise, it would have been, for England, a greater
+disaster still.</p>
+
+<p>'Yet'&mdash;and the word of honest sympathy and justification
+will not jar now on any generous <span class="locked">mind&mdash;</span></p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'Yet mourn not, Land of Fame!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though ne'er the leopards on thy shield<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Retreated from so sad a field<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Since Norman William came.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oft may thine annals justly boast<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of battles stern by Scotland lost;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Grudge not her victory,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When for her freeborn rights she strove&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rights dear to all who Freedom love,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">To none so dear as thee!'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span></p>
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND</span></h2>
+
+<p>The battle of Bannockburn might well have been the
+historical, as well as the dramatic, close of the struggle.
+But Edward refused to be taught by experience, and the
+desultory welter of war was miserably prolonged for nearly
+half a generation to come. The disaster rankled in
+Edward's mind, ever craving vengeance, impotently. With
+childish wilfulness, he would not even concede to Bruce
+the formal title of King of Scots, though the Lanercost
+chronicler admits that the victory at Bannockburn extorted
+a general recognition of his right by conquest.</p>
+
+<p>Edward retired from Berwick to York. It was plain
+that Bruce would instantly follow up his victory, and
+already there was anxiety on the Border. Berwick was
+not only vexed by the Scots, but still more seriously
+menaced by the violence of the Northumbrians, who had
+been exasperated by the hanging of a number of their
+countrymen for alleged treachery; and the storm burst
+upon the north of England before Edward could send up
+reinforcements. Before the middle of July, Sir Andrew de
+Harcla, the constable of Carlisle, was in daily expectation
+of an attack, and complained that he was hampered by
+lack of promised support. Bishop Kellawe could not
+attend Parliament, so busy was he in preparations for the
+defence of his episcopate; 'all the people say that, if he
+now leave the district, they will not venture to stay behind.'</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the battle, Sir Philip de Mowbray
+surrendered Stirling Castle, and passed over to the side
+of the victor. Towards the end of July, Sir Edward Bruce
+and Douglas, with other Scots nobles, crossed the eastern
+Border and ravaged Northumberland, leaving the castles
+unassailed. They spared the episcopate of Durham from
+fire in consideration of a large sum of money. Crossing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span>
+the Tees, they penetrated beyond Richmond, the people
+fleeing before them to the south, to the woods, to the
+castles. They turned up Swaledale, and on Stainmoor
+severely handled Harcla, who had seized the opportunity
+of quietness at Carlisle to make a luckless raid upon them.
+On their northward march they burnt Brough, Appleby,
+Kirkoswald, and other towns, and trampled down the crops
+remorselessly. Coupland bought off a visitation. They
+re-entered Scotland with many prisoners of price, and with
+great droves of cattle. They had met with no resistance,
+except Harcla's futile effort. 'The English,' says Walsingham
+dolefully, 'had lost so much of their accustomed
+boldness that a hundred of them fled from the face of two
+or three Scots.'</p>
+
+<p>On September 9, Edward held a parliament at York.
+He readily confirmed the ordinances, changed ministers,
+even retired Despenser&mdash;anything for the military help
+of his barons. But further operations against Scotland
+were postponed till Hereford and the other prisoners
+of note could be ransomed home. About a week later,
+Edward had a communication from Bruce expressing a
+strong desire for accord and amity. Safe conducts were
+issued, and truce commissioners were appointed. Meantime,
+however, the negotiations were too slow for the
+Scots; for, on the very day that Edward appointed his
+commissioners, the Prior and Convent of Durham signed
+a bond for 800 marks to Randolph for a quiet life till
+the middle of January. Randolph, in fact, penetrated
+Yorkshire, committing the usual depredations. Still the
+negotiations, which apparently had been entered into at
+the instance of Philip of France, went forward. But in
+November the English envoys returned from Dumfries
+with empty hands, and with the news of the likelihood
+of another invasion of the Scots, 'owing to the lack of
+food in their country.' Already, indeed, a body of Scots
+had occupied Tyndale, and were pushing down towards
+Newcastle. About Christmas they again ravaged Northumberland,
+and let off Cumberland till midsummer day
+next year for the sum of 600 marks. The Archbishop of
+York, whose manor of Hexham had suffered, vigorously denounced
+the invaders; and at York Minster on January 17,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span>
+barons and clergy resolved on making a stand at Northallerton
+three days later. But the only serious effort
+of the season was Harcla's valorous November raid on
+Dumfriesshire, where he was well punished, despite the
+local knowledge of his recreant lieutenant, Sir Thomas
+de Torthorwald. About the beginning of February, indeed,
+John of Argyll overpowered the Scots in the Isle
+of Man, and recovered it for Edward. But 'the terror
+that prevailed throughout the north of England,' as Canon
+Raine says, 'was something unexampled'; 'with the exception
+of a few fortresses, two or three of the northern
+counties were almost permanently occupied by the Scots.'</p>
+
+<p>On April 26, 1315, a Parliament was held in the Parish
+Church of Ayr, to consider 'the condition, defence, and
+perpetual security of the Kingdom of Scotland.' The
+business was to settle the succession to the throne. It
+was enacted that, failing lawful male heirs of King Robert,
+Sir Edward and his lawful male heirs should succeed;
+failing these, Marjory; and failing Marjory, the nearest
+lineal heir of the body of Robert. In case the heir
+were a minor, Randolph was to be guardian of both heir
+and realm. Failing all these heirs, Randolph was to be
+guardian until Parliament should determine the succession.
+Presently Marjory married Sir Walter the Steward. She
+died in her first confinement on March 2, 1315&ndash;16, leaving
+a son, who became Robert II. of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>The settlement no doubt was influenced by the imminence
+of a large expansion of policy&mdash;the ill-starred
+Irish expedition. On May 25, 1315, Sir Edward Bruce
+landed at Carrickfergus with 6000 men. On his staff
+were some of the foremost Scots knights&mdash;Randolph, Sir
+Philip de Mowbray, Sir John de Soulis, Sir John the
+Steward, and many others. The true motives of the enterprise
+are by no means clear. There was no immediate
+object in dividing the English forces, and in any case
+there was involved a like division of the Scots forces.
+The suggestion of the discontentment of the Scots with
+their territorial boundaries, growing out of repeated successes
+in the field and a superfluity of money, seems to
+be a mere speculation of the Lanercost chronicler. There
+is more probability in Barbour's assertion that Sir Edward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span>
+Bruce, 'who stouter was than a leopard, thought Scotland
+too small for his brother and himself.' It may be that
+this particular outlet for his restless and ambitious spirit
+was opened up by an offer of the crown of Ireland by
+independent Ulster kinglets either in the first place to
+King Robert or directly to Sir Edward himself. It is not
+improbable, however, that the movement may have been
+a serious attempt at a great flank attack on England.
+Walsingham mentions 'a rumour that, if things went well
+in Ireland, Sir Edward would at once pass over to Wales.'
+'For these two races,' he says, 'are easily stirred to
+rebellion, and, taking ill with the yoke of servitude, they
+execrate the domination of the English.'</p>
+
+<p>The Irish expedition despatched from Ayr, King Robert
+and his lieutenants again turned to the Border. In the
+end of May, a meeting of the clergy and magnates of
+the north had been convened at Doncaster by the Archbishop
+of York, at the instance of the Earl of Lancaster
+and other barons, who appear to have been in a conciliatory
+mood; and on June 30, Edward issued his summons
+for the muster at Newcastle by the middle of August.
+But already, on June 29, Douglas had entered the episcopate
+of Durham. Pushing on to Hartlepool, he occupied,
+but did not burn the town, the people taking refuge on
+the ships; and he returned laden with plunder. Sir
+Ralph Fitz William had given Edward a week's warning,
+but nothing had been done in consequence. It does
+seem odd, therefore, to stumble on an account of payment
+to nineteen smiths of Newcastle for 'pikois,' 'howes,' and
+other instruments sent to Perth in August.</p>
+
+<p>On July 22, Bruce himself invested Carlisle, which was
+held by the redoubtable Harcla. His army was amply
+supplied by forays into Allerdale, Coupland, and Westmorland.
+Every day an assault was delivered upon one
+of the three gates of the city, and sometimes upon all at
+once; but the besieged replied manfully with showers
+of stones and arrows. On the fifth day of the siege, the
+Scots brought into action a machine that hurled stones
+continuously at the Caldew gate and the wall, but without
+effect; and the defenders answered with seven or eight
+similar machines, as well as with springalds for hurling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span>
+darts and slings for hurling stones, 'which greatly frightened
+and harassed the men without.' The Scots next
+erected a wooden tower overtopping the wall; whereupon
+the besieged raised over the nearest tower on the wall
+a similar wooden tower overtopping the Scots one. But
+the Scots tower proved useless, for its wheels stuck in
+the mud of the moat, and it could not be got up to the
+wall. Nor could the Scots use their long scaling ladders,
+or a sow they had prepared to undermine the wall; they
+could not fill up the moat with fascicles; and, when they
+tried to run bridges of logs on wheels across the moat,
+the weight of the mass, as in the case of the tower, sank
+the whole construction in the mud. On the ninth day,
+Bruce abandoned his engines, and delivered a general
+assault; but still the besieged made manful defence.
+Next day the attack was renewed with special vigour
+on the eastern side, while Douglas with a determined
+band attempted to scale the wall on the west, at its highest
+and most difficult point, where an assault would not be
+expected. His men mounted the wall under the protection
+of a body of archers; but the English tumbled
+down ladders and men, killing and wounding many, and
+baffling the attack. On the morrow (August 1), the siege was
+raised. The Lanercost chronicler, who writes as if he had
+been present, affirms that only two Englishmen were killed
+and a few wounded during the eleven days' investment.</p>
+
+<p>Whether Bruce was hopeless and disgusted, or had been
+informed of the approach of a relieving force under Valence,
+or had heard the false report of the defeat and death of Sir
+Edward in Ireland, at any rate he hurried back to Scotland.
+Harcla promptly sallied in pursuit, harassing flank and rear,
+and making two important captures&mdash;Sir John de Moray
+and Sir Robert Baird. Moray had been conspicuous at
+Bannockburn, and had been enriched by the ransom of
+twenty-three English knights, besides squires and others,
+who had fallen to his share. Baird is described as 'a
+man of the worst will towards Englishmen.' Harcla delivered
+the prisoners to Edward, receiving (November 8) a
+guerdon of 1000 marks; but the money was to be raised
+from wardships, and the accrual of it was spread over eight
+years. The King's treasury was low.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span>
+There is very little news of the Scots navy in those days,
+but it seems to have been reasonably active. On September
+12, one bold mariner, Thomas Dunn, 'with a great navy
+of Scots,' followed an English ship into Holyhead harbour,
+and, in the absence of the master on shore, carried it off
+to Scotland. About the same time John of Argyll was
+in Dublin, impatiently expecting reinforcements from the
+Cinque Ports. Edward retained part of the squadron to
+assist the French king against the Flemings.</p>
+
+<p>On January 15, 1315&ndash;16, Bruce and Douglas made a
+sudden attack on Berwick, by land and sea simultaneously,
+during the night. They hoped to effect an entrance from
+the sea, at a point between the Brighouse and the castle,
+where there was no wall. The attempt failed. It was
+bright moonlight, and the assailants were promptly observed
+and repulsed. Sir John de Landells was slain, and
+Douglas himself escaped with difficulty in a small boat.</p>
+
+<p>The garrison of Berwick had only too much reason to
+complain. Writing on October 3, Edward's Chamberlain
+of Scotland had informed him that the provisions expected
+from Boston in the end of July had never been sent, and
+'the town is in great straits, and many are dying from
+hunger.' Indeed, 'if the Mayor and himself had not
+promised the garrison food and clothing for the winter,
+they would have gone.' Two days later, Sir Maurice de
+Berkeley, the warden, wrote that the town and the inhabitants
+never were in such distress, 'and will be this
+winter, if God and the King don't think more of them,'
+and quickly. Unless money and provisions arrive by the
+end of the month, they will give up their posts and leave
+the town, to a man. On October 30, indeed, a vessel had
+brought in malt, barley and beans, but the master had
+had to throw overboard a great part of his cargo to escape
+the enemy. On November 26, Edward sent £300 by way
+of pay to the garrison; but he could not succour them
+effectually, and apparently Valence, who was warden north
+of Trent, had fallen into a lethargy. The repulse of Bruce
+was therefore signally creditable to the defence.</p>
+
+<p>A series of four official despatches during the latter half
+of February and the first week in March exhibit the deplorable
+state of the town from famine. On February 14,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span>
+part of the garrison, in the teeth of the warden's orders, had
+gone out on a foray, declaring it was better to die fighting
+than to starve. They had captured many prisoners and
+cattle, but Douglas, on the information of Sir Adam de
+Gordon, who had recently changed sides, caught them at
+Scaithmoor, slew their leader, and furiously broke up their
+schiltron, killing or capturing twenty men-at-arms and sixty
+foot. Considering that the men were struggling to keep
+the means of rescuing them from starvation, Barbour may
+well be right in declaring it to be the hardest fight that
+Douglas ever fought. The foray brought no relief to the
+garrison, except by diminution of mouths. The men were
+'dying of hunger in rows on the walls.' 'Whenever a
+horse dies,' wrote Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 'the men-at-arms
+carry off the flesh and boil and eat it, not letting the
+foot soldiers touch it till they have had what they will.
+Pity to see Christians leading such a life.' He will remain
+warden no longer than his term, which expires a month
+after Easter.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Sir Henry de Beaumont, warden of the
+March, had gone to Lincoln to represent to the King
+and Council his conferences with some of the Scots
+leaders for a truce. On February 22, Edward appointed
+commissioners to treat with Bruce, Sir Maurice de Berkeley
+being one; and on April 28, 1316, he authorised safe
+conducts for the Scots envoys. But the business did not
+get forward, and the Mayor of Berwick, on May 10, sent
+urgent news to the King. Berwick has provisions for a
+month only; the enemy's cruisers have cut off supplies, and
+have just captured two vessels with victuals; the warden
+will serve an extended term till Whitsunday, but no longer;
+Bruce will be at Melrose in a fortnight with all his force.
+And all the time Edward was hampered in his measures
+against Scotland by the war in Ireland and by a rising in
+Wales.</p>
+
+<p>At midsummer 1316, the Scots again crossed the Border
+with fire and sword, and penetrated to Richmond, where
+they were heavily paid to abstain from further burning in
+the town and neighbourhood. Then they headed west as
+far as Furness, burning and ravaging without opposition.
+They carried home immense booty, as well as many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span>
+prisoners, men and women; and they were particularly
+delighted with the quantity of iron they found at Furness,
+there being very little iron in Scotland. The leader of this
+expedition is not named.</p>
+
+<p>For many years there had been great scarcity in both
+countries, a natural consequence of predatory warfare.
+'This year,' says the Lanercost chronicler, 'there was
+both in England and in Scotland a mortality of men from
+famine and pestilence unheard of in our times; and in the
+northern parts of England a quarter of corn sold at 40s.'
+Walsingham says the distress was worst in the north, where,
+he heard, 'the people ate dogs and horses and other unclean
+animals.'</p>
+
+<p>In Ireland it was still worse; in these wretched years of
+intestine broils, it is said 'men were wont to devour one
+another.' Sir Edward Bruce had now been fighting there
+for a full year. With his Irish allies, he had raided the
+English adherents in Ulster; occupied Carrickfergus after
+a great fight, but failed to take the castle; captured and
+burnt Dundalk (June 29, 1315); defeated the joint forces
+of the Earl of Ulster and the King of Connaught at Connor
+(September 10); besieged Carrickfergus in vain (till December
+6); marched down into Kildare, defeating first Sir Roger
+de Mortimer at Kenlis, and afterwards (January 26) Sir
+Edmund le Butler, the justiciar, at Arscott; and returned
+to the siege of Carrickfergus, which was starved into surrender
+some time in summer. On May 2, 1316, Sir Edward
+was crowned King of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>In autumn of 1315, and again in the following March,
+Randolph had returned to Scotland for reinforcements.
+On the latter occasion he brought Sir Edward's urgent
+request that King Robert would come in person, for then
+the conquest would be assured. In autumn, 1316, accordingly,
+Bruce appointed Douglas and the Steward Guardians
+in his absence, and sailed from Loch Ryan to Carrickfergus.
+His operations during the winter in Ulster do not appear
+to have advanced the cause materially, and in spring he
+set out on an adventurous expedition throughout Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Barbour's account, though considerably detailed, can be
+treated only with the greatest reserve. King Edward led
+the van, King Robert brought up the rear. The enemy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span>
+lay in wait at Moyra Pass, 'the Gap of the North,' the
+immemorial route of invaders north and south, some three
+miles north of Dundalk. Edward, says Barbour, rode past
+the ambush. When the rear came up, two archers appeared
+in view, immediately suggesting the nearness of an enemy;
+and Bruce held back his men. Sir Colin Campbell, son of
+Sir Nigel and nephew of Bruce, pressed forward and killed
+one of them, but the other shot his horse; whereupon
+Bruce, in great wrath, felled Sir Colin with his truncheon
+for disobedience, which 'might be cause of discomfiting.'
+Emerging at length from the gorge, they found Richard de
+Clare with 40,000 men drawn up on the plain, whom they
+presently defeated: in all the Irish war 'so hard a fighting
+was not seen.' When Edward heard of it, 'might no man
+see a wrother man.' But only a cloistered ecclesiastic can
+be held responsible for such military procedure.</p>
+
+<p>Advancing on Dublin, the Scots took Castle Knock on
+February 23; two days later they were at Leixlip; in four
+days more, they had reached Naas; and on March 12, they
+were at Callan in Kilkenny. The southernmost place they
+visited was Limerick, where they stayed two or three days.
+As they were starting northwards again, King Robert heard
+a woman's wail, and on inquiry learned that it was a poor
+laundress that had been seized with the pains of labour and
+was lamenting to be left behind; upon which he countermanded
+the march till she should be able to accompany
+the army. Such is Barbour's story; let us call it, after
+Scott, a 'beautiful incident.' The expedition then, somehow,
+passed back to Dublin, and on to Carrickfergus. It
+is an amazing narrative. Possibly the Bruces anticipated
+that they would gain over the tribes of the south and west;
+possibly they expected to tap ampler and more convenient
+sources of supplies; possibly they were trying the effect of
+a grand demonstration. At any rate they did not win any
+permanent support; 'in this march,' says Fordun, 'many
+died of hunger, and the rest lived on horse-flesh'; and the
+demonstration was utterly futile. Towards the end of the
+march, the English hung upon the Scots, but 'hovered
+still about them and did nothing.' Yet it seems unreasonable
+to blame the English commanders, for it cannot be
+doubted that they would have exterminated the Scots if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span>
+they could. A change of Lord-Lieutenant was impending;
+and Sir Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore, who had been
+appointed to succeed Sir Edmund le Butler (November 23),
+was delayed by want of outfit and did not arrive in Ireland
+till April 7, when the expedition was practically over.</p>
+
+<p>King Robert returned to Scotland in May 1317, after an
+absence of about half a year, bringing with him 'many
+wounded men.' Meantime his lieutenants had kept Scotland
+with a strong hand. During 1316, Edward's efforts to
+conduct an army against the Scots had been again and
+again thwarted, and towards the end of November negotiations
+were in progress for a truce. At the same time the
+redoubtable Harcla had been defeated and captured by
+Sir John de Soulis (Barbour says) in Eskdale, and was
+begging Edward for Sir John de Moray and Sir Robert
+Baird, his former prisoners, 'in aid of his ransom, as he
+does not see how he can free himself otherwise.' Truce or
+no truce, the Earl of Arundel, who was in command on
+the March, conceived the notion of sending a force to hew
+down Jedburgh Forest. Douglas, who was building himself
+a house at Lintalee on the Jed, took 50 men-at-arms and a
+body of archers and planted an ambush at a wooded
+pass. When the English&mdash;certainly nothing like 10,000,
+as Barbour estimates them&mdash;had well entered, the archers
+assailed them in flank, and Douglas struck upon the rear,
+killing their leader, Sir Thomas de Richmond, and routing
+them disastrously. A detachment that had taken possession
+of Douglas's quarters at Lintalee he surprised at dinner and
+slew almost to a man. Jedburgh Forest was left unfelled.</p>
+
+<p>About the same time, it came to the ears of Douglas that
+Sir Robert de Neville, 'the Peacock of the North,' irritated
+by the recurrent praise of his deeds, had boasted at Berwick
+that he would fight him on the first chance. Douglas
+instantly took the road to Berwick, marching in the night,
+and in the early morning he displayed his broad banner,
+and lit up the landscape by firing several villages. Neville
+issued at the challenge and posted himself on a hill, expecting
+that the Scots would scatter in search of plunder.
+Douglas, however, impatiently advanced, and quickly met
+Neville, man to man. It was an unequal contest. Neville
+fell under the sword of Douglas. His troops fled. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span>
+three brothers, Alexander, John, and Ralph were among
+the prisoners captured, and were held to ransom for 2000
+marks each.</p>
+
+<p>The English, beaten at all points on the Border, made
+an attempt by sea, landing a force of 500 men near Inverkeithing
+to raid Fife. The Earl and the Sheriff of Fife,
+though apprised of their coming, had not the pluck or the
+numbers to prevent their landing, and retired. Bishop
+Sinclair of Dunkeld, however, rode up at the head of 60
+horsemen, his episcopal cloak covering a suit of full armour.
+He scouted the Earl's excuse of superior numbers, and told
+him to his face that he deserved to have his gilt spurs hewn
+off his heels. 'Follow me,' he cried, 'and, in the name of
+the Lord, and with the aid of St Columba, whose land they
+are ravaging, we will take revenge.' Thereupon, casting off
+his cloak and wielding a formidable spear, he spurred right
+on the enemy, routed them, and drove them to their ships
+with great slaughter. So precipitate was their flight that
+one barge was overladen and sank with all on board. Ever
+after Sinclair was called by King Robert 'my own Bishop,'
+and popularly he was 'the Fechtin' Bishop.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce had now complete control of every part of his
+kingdom, excepting Berwick, and the northern counties
+of England lay open to him at his will. It was more than
+time for a final peace.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">CONCILIATION AMID CONFLICT</span></h2>
+
+<p>On January 1, 1316&ndash;17, the Pope declared a truce of two
+years between Edward and Bruce 'acting as King of
+Scotland' (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">gerentem se pro rege Scotiæ</i>), and denounced
+excommunication against all breakers thereof. By a Bull
+dated March 17, he exhorted Edward to peace with Bruce
+'now governing the realm of Scotland' (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">impraesentiarum
+regnum Scotiæ gubernantem</i>), representing not only the
+waste of good lives and property but also the hindrance
+to the recovery of the Holy Land, and announcing the
+despatch of his nuncios, Guacelin d'Euse and Lucca di
+Fieschi, to effect a solemn concord. Presently he drew up
+two more Bulls, dated March 28&mdash;one, to certain English
+prelates, excommunicating all enemies of Edward invading
+England and Ireland; the other, to certain Irish prelates,
+excommunicating Robert and Edward Bruce&mdash;but these
+the Cardinals would hold in reserve till the issue of their
+mission should declare itself. In these Bulls, King Robert
+is 'late Earl of Carrick' (<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">dudum Comes de Carrik</i>); Edward,
+by profession of eagerness to go on a crusade&mdash;and otherwise&mdash;is
+the Pope's 'most dear son in Christ.' In view of
+the crusade, it was essential that Edward should also enjoy
+peace at home; and, on April 20, the Pope wrote to the
+chief magnates urging them to support their King with
+counsel and with help.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of June 1317, the two Cardinals
+arrived in England, and were conducted with great
+ceremony to London. Edward had gone to Woodstock,
+where, on July 1, he summoned his parliament to meet at
+Nottingham on the 18th, to consider, before the Cardinals
+should come to his presence, the questions he would have
+to discuss with them. On July 27, he authorised safe
+conducts for the Cardinals' party, and assigned specially<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span>
+to the two prelates two officers of his personal staff. The
+Cardinals started for the north, 'as the manner of the
+Romans is,' with great pomp and circumstance. On the
+way, they were to consecrate the new Bishop of Durham,
+Louis de Beaumont, who proceeded in their train. They
+were also accompanied by Sir Henry de Beaumont, the
+brother of the Bishop elect, and other magnates. In the
+pride of ecclesiastical security, they contemned all warnings
+of danger. They had an unexpected welcome to the episcopate.
+On September 1, as they were passing Rushyford,
+within nine miles of Durham&mdash;if not at Aycliffe, three miles
+south of Rushyford&mdash;they were suddenly assailed by Sir
+Gilbert de Middleton and his robber band, and despoiled
+of all their valuables. The prelates and their personal
+attendants Sir Gilbert permitted to proceed to Durham,
+perhaps on foot, unharmed; the Bishop elect, Sir Henry,
+and the rest he consigned to Mitford Castle&mdash;the eyrie
+whence he swooped upon the country around, harrying
+as far as the Priory of Tynemouth. Arrived at Durham, the
+Cardinals, having duly adored St Cuthbert and venerated
+the venerable Bede, let loose upon their sacrilegious assailants
+all the powers of excommunication. The malison, says
+the Malmesbury chronicler, was efficacious; for, before the
+year was out, Middleton was captured and taken to London,
+where he was drawn, hanged, beheaded, and quartered.</p>
+
+<p>The Cardinals' advance messengers, and their special
+envoys (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">praecursores</i>)&mdash;the Bishop of Corbau and the
+Archdeacon of Perpignan&mdash;had reached the Border in
+safety. There the messengers had been stopped. The
+envoys, however, were met, about the beginning of September,
+by Douglas and Sir Alexander de Seton, and
+allowed to proceed, but only after handing over their
+letters for King Robert. They were conducted to Roxburgh
+Castle. There the King received them graciously,
+listened with reverent attention to the Pope's open letters
+in favour of peace, and replied that he would welcome a
+good and lasting peace, whether arranged by the mediation
+of the Cardinals or otherwise. He also listened respectfully
+to the Cardinals' open letters. But as for the
+<em>close</em> letters, he positively refused to break the seal of one of
+them. They were addressed to Robert de Brus, 'governing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span>
+the realm of Scotland.' 'There are several others of
+the name of Robert de Brus,' he said, 'who take part
+with the other barons in the government of the realm of
+Scotland. These letters may be for one of them; they
+are not addressed to me, for they do not bear the title
+of King.' No; he would not risk opening other men's
+letters. Still, he would assemble his Council and consult
+with them whether he should nevertheless receive
+the Cardinals to audience; but, as his barons were engaged
+in various distant places, it would be impossible
+for him to give his decision till Michaelmas (September 29).</p>
+
+<p>The envoys had their apology ready. They explained
+that it was the custom of Holy Mother Church, during
+the pendency of a question, not to say or write anything
+calculated to prejudice either party. 'If my Father and
+my Mother,' replied Bruce, holding up the Pope's letters,
+'wished to avoid creating prejudice against the other party
+by calling me King, it seems to me that they ought not,
+while the question is still pending, create prejudice against
+me by withholding the title from me; especially when I am
+in possession of the realm, and everybody in it calls me
+King, and foreign kings and princes address me as King.
+Really, it appears to me that my Father and Mother are
+partial as between their sons. If you had presented a letter
+with such an address to another king, it may be that you
+would have received another sort of answer.' This caustic
+reply, the envoys reported, he delivered with a benign mien,
+'always showing due reverence for his Father and Mother.'</p>
+
+<p>The envoys passed to the next point. They requested
+him to cease meantime from further hostilities. 'That,'
+he replied, 'I can in no wise do without the consent of
+my barons; besides, the English are making reprisals upon
+my people and their property.'</p>
+
+<p>In the confidence of authority, the envoys had taken
+with them one of the Cardinals' advance messengers, who
+had been sent on with a letter announcing the Pope's
+coronation, but had been stopped at the frontier. They
+now entreated King Robert to grant him a safe conduct;
+but he denied their request 'with a certain change of
+countenance,' not uttering a word.</p>
+
+<p>Turning to Bruce's staff they inquired anxiously, Why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span>
+was this? Why, simply because King Robert was not
+suitably addressed. But for this blunder, he would have
+willingly and promptly responded on every point.</p>
+
+<p>So wrote the Cardinals to the Pope from Durham on
+September 7. They added that they expected nothing
+better than a refusal of an audience at Michaelmas; for,
+even if Robert were himself disposed to receive them, it
+was evident that his barons would offer opposition. The
+friends of Bruce had made no secret of their opinion that the
+reservation of the royal title was a deliberate slight at the
+instance of English intriguers&mdash;an opinion avowedly based
+on information from the papal court. The contrary assurances
+of the envoys had been worse than useless, and they
+despaired of further intercommunication unless and until
+the resentment of the Scots should be mollified by concession
+of the royal title. Some considerable time after
+Michaelmas, Bruce confirmed by letter the anticipations
+of the Cardinals. He must have his royal title recognised.
+At the same time he repeated his desire for peace, and
+his readiness to send representatives to negotiate; but
+when the bearer brought back the Cardinals' reply, he
+was stopped at the frontier, and had to take the letters
+back&mdash;no doubt because they were still improperly
+addressed.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later (September 10), Edward wrote to the
+Pope from York, whither he had hastened on hearing
+of the assault on the Cardinals, assuring him that he
+would promptly 'avenge God and the Church,' and see
+that the prelates had their temporal losses made good.</p>
+
+<p>To do the Pope justice, he had been anxious to keep
+clear of the difficulties obviously involved in the reservation
+of Bruce's royal title. In his letter of March 18, he had
+apologetically prayed Bruce not to take it ill that he was
+not styled King of Scotland. On October 21, he sends
+the Cardinals letters&mdash;one for Bruce explaining the former
+omission of the royal title, and apparently conceding it
+now; another for Edward, begging him not to be offended
+at his styling Bruce King; and a third for themselves,
+blaming them for not telling him whether or not they
+had Edward's consent that he (the Pope) should address
+Bruce as King. They are to request Edward to give way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span>
+on the point; and they are to present or to keep back
+the letters as they may see expedient. The information
+of the Scots from Avignon was evidently well grounded.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the Cardinals made another attempt. They
+proclaimed the truce in London, and had it proclaimed
+by other ecclesiastics 'in other principal places of England
+and Scotland.' But they must bring it directly to the knowledge
+of Bruce. Accordingly they despatched Adam de
+Newton, the Guardian of the monastery of the Friars
+Minors in Berwick, to King Robert and the leading prelates
+of Scotland, to make the proclamation. Adam prudently
+left his papers in safe keeping at Berwick till he had
+provided himself with a safe conduct. On December 14, he
+set out for Old Cambus, twelve miles off, and found Bruce
+in a neighbouring wood hard at work, 'day and night, without
+rest,' preparing engines for the siege of Berwick. He
+at once obtained his safe conduct, and fetched his Bulls
+and other letters from Berwick to Old Cambus; but Sir
+Alexander de Seton refused to allow him to wait upon the
+King, and required him to hand over the letters. Seton
+took the letters to Bruce, or professed to do so, but presently
+brought them back, delivered them to Adam, and
+ordered him to be gone. Bruce would have nothing to do
+with Bulls and processes that withheld from him the title of
+King, and he was in any case determined, he said, to have
+the town of Berwick. Adam, however, was not to be
+baffled. He proclaimed the truce publicly before Seton
+'and a great assembly of people.' The Scots, however,
+would not take it seriously. Not the most solemn adjurations
+could procure for Adam a safe conduct either back to
+Berwick or on to the Scots prelates, and he was summarily
+ordered to get out of the country with all speed.
+So he took his way to Berwick. But he was waylaid and
+stripped to the skin, and his Bulls and processes were torn
+in pieces. Still Adam was undaunted. 'I tell you, before
+God,' he wrote to the Cardinals on December 20, 'that I am
+still ready as ever, without intermission, to labour for the
+advancement of your affairs.'</p>
+
+<p>From midsummer 1317, Edward's officers had been
+kept busy on the March. About the beginning of July,
+Sir John de Athy had taken the Scots sea-captain, Thomas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span>
+Dunn, and killed all his men, except himself and his
+cousin, from whom Sir John had learned that Randolph
+was preparing to attack the Isle of Man, and even had
+designs on Anglesey, where English traitors were in league
+with him. Before January there had been large submissions
+to Bruce in the northern counties, partly from
+compulsion of arms, partly from starvation; and the
+chronic feuds between the town and the castle of Berwick
+were dangerously aggravated by the high-handedness of the
+constable, Sir Roger de Horsley, who hated all Scots
+impartially and intensely.</p>
+
+<p>At last a burgess of Berwick, Peter (or Simon) de
+Spalding, exasperated by Horsley's supercilious harshness&mdash;bribed
+with ready money and promise of lands, the Lanercost
+chronicler says; corrupted by Douglas, says John of
+Tynmouth&mdash;entered into communication with the Marshal
+(or the Earl of March) for the betrayal of the town. By
+direction of the King, the Marshal (or March) ambushed at
+night in Duns Park, where he was joined by Randolph and
+Douglas. Advancing on foot, the Scots planted their
+ladders unperceived and scaled the wall at the point
+where Simon was in charge. The temptation to plunder
+upset the order of attack, two-thirds of the party scattering
+themselves over the town, breaking houses and slaying
+men. The opposition of the town's people was easily
+overcome, but when the garrison sallied, Randolph and
+Douglas were dangerously weak. Sir William de Keith,
+however, exerted himself conspicuously, as became a
+brand-new knight, in collecting the Scots, and after very
+hard fighting the garrison was driven in. Bruce presently
+came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held out
+tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine. The town
+was taken on March 28 (Fordun), or April 2 (Lanercost);
+the castle held out gallantly till past the middle of July,
+and even then Horsley marched out his famished garrison
+with the honours of war. Bruce installed as warden
+Sir Walter the Steward. Peter of Spalding, says John
+of Tynmouth, proved troublesome in insisting upon his
+promised reward; and, on an accusation of plotting against
+the life of King Robert, was put to death. The allegation
+recalls the case of Sir Peter de Lubaud.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span>
+Edward was extremely incensed at the Mayor and burgesses
+of Berwick, who had undertaken, for 6000 marks,
+to defend the town for a year from June 15, 1317. He
+ascribed the loss of it to their carelessness, and in the
+middle of April he ordered that their goods and chattels,
+wheresoever found, should be confiscated, and that such
+of them as had escaped into England should be imprisoned.
+On June 10, 1318, he summoned his army to meet him at
+York on July 26, to proceed against the Scots.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the Scots were proceeding with vigour against
+him. For soon after the capture of Berwick town, Bruce
+detached a strong force to ravage the northern counties.
+They laid waste Northumberland to the gates of Newcastle,
+starved the castles of Harbottle and Wark into surrender,
+and took Mitford Castle by stratagem. They sold immunity
+to the episcopate of Durham, excepting Hartlepool,
+which Bruce threatened to burn and destroy because some
+of its inhabitants had captured a ship freighted with his
+'armeours' and provisions. Northallerton, Ripon, Boroughbridge,
+Knaresborough, Otley and Skipton were guiding-points
+in the desolating track of the invaders. Ripon and
+Otley suffered most severely, and Ripon paid 1000 marks
+for a cessation of destruction. Fountains Abbey also paid
+ransom; Bolton Abbey was plundered; Knaresborough
+Parish Church bears to this day the marks of the fire that
+burnt out the fugitives. The expedition returned to Scotland
+laden with spoils, and bringing numerous captives and
+great droves of cattle. The Archbishop of York postponed
+misfortune by being too late with measures of resistance.
+But he energetically excommunicated the depredators, all
+and sundry.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing of Bruce's reception of the envoys, the Pope
+had authorised the Cardinals, on December 29, to put in
+execution the two Bulls of excommunication prepared in
+the previous March. The Cardinals, however, would seem
+to have delayed. On June 28, 1318, when the Pope
+heard of the woeful adventures of Adam de Newton and
+of the capture of Berwick despite his truce, he ordered
+them to proceed. For Bruce, he said, had 'grievously'
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">dampnabiliter</i>) 'abused his patience and long-suffering.'
+In September accordingly they excommunicated and laid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span>
+under interdict Bruce himself, his brother Edward, and all
+their aiders and abettors in the invasion of England and
+Ireland. 'But,' says the Lanercost chronicler, 'the Scots
+cared not a jot for any excommunication, and declined to
+pay any observance to the interdict.' In October, Edward
+followed up his diplomatic success by pressing hard for
+the deposition of the Bishop of St Andrews, but the
+Pope easily found good technical pleas whereby to avoid
+compliance.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish expedition came to a disastrous close on the
+fatal field of Faughart, near Dundalk, on October 5 (or
+14), 1318. A vastly superior English army, under Sir
+John de Bermingham, moved against the Scots; and King
+Edward the Bruce, wrathfully overruling the counsels of
+his staff, disdaining to wait for the approaching reinforcements
+from Scotland, and despising the hesitations of his
+Irish allies, dashed against the tremendous odds with his
+native impetuosity.</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'Now help quha will, for sekirly<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This day, but mair baid, fecht vill I.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sall na man say, quhill I may dre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That strynth of men sall ger me fle!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God scheld that ony suld vs blame<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That we defoull our nobill name!'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Barbour gives the numbers at 2000 against 40,000, no
+doubt with generous exaggeration. King Edward fell at
+the first onset, killed by a gigantic Anglo-Irish knight, Sir
+John de Maupas, who was found lying dead across his
+body. Sir John the Steward, Sir John de Soulis, and
+other officers were slain. Barbour tells how Sir Philip
+de Mowbray, stunned in action, was led captive by two
+men towards Dundalk; how he recovered his senses
+sufficiently to realise his position, shook off his captors,
+drew his sword and turned back towards the battle-field,
+and how he cleared a hundred men out of his way as
+he went. John Thomasson, the leader of the Carrick
+men, took him in charge, and hurried him away towards
+Carrickfergus. But the brave defender of Stirling had
+received a mortal wound. King Edward's body was
+dismembered, the trunk buried at Faughart, and the
+limbs exposed in Irish towns held by the English. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span>
+head is said to have been sent to England to Edward;
+but Barbour tells how King Edward the Bruce had that
+day exchanged armour with Gilbert the Harper, as he
+had done before at Connor, and how it was Gilbert's
+head that had been mistakenly struck off and despatched
+to England. The remnants of the Scots army reached
+Carrickfergus with the utmost difficulty, and hastily took
+ship for Scotland, where the news was received with great
+lamentation. Bermingham was created Earl of Louth for
+his victory. It is curious to observe that his wife was a
+sister of the Queen of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Edward Bruce disturbed the settlement of
+the succession, which was again brought under consideration
+of Parliament, on December 3, at Scone. Robert,
+the son of Sir Walter the Steward and the late Princess
+Marjory, was recognised as heir, with a proviso saving
+the right of any subsequent male issue of King Robert.
+In case of a minority, Randolph was to be guardian; and
+failing Randolph, Douglas.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the sentences of excommunication been
+promulgated than King Robert took measures to have
+them revoked or mitigated. He had good friends at
+Rome. Letters from these had fallen accidentally into
+the hands of Edward, who, on January 12, 1318&ndash;19, sent
+them to the Pope by the hands of Sir John de Neville,
+and asked His Holiness to deal suitably with the writers.
+A few days before, he had urged the two Cardinals to
+press the Pope to reject the applications that he heard
+were being made on behalf of Bruce and his friends, and
+stated that he would presently send envoys to the Pope
+himself. Neville was graciously received, and the Pope
+ordered the Scots and their abettors at his court to prison.
+On April 24, the Pope granted Edward's request for a
+Bull permitting him to negotiate for peace with the Scots
+notwithstanding their excommunication. But the pressure
+was not all on one side; the nuncios in England boldly
+exercised their powers, and had often to be restrained
+even by royal menace, while every ecclesiastical office was
+steadily claimed for the papal nominee. Bruce appears
+to have deemed it prudent to raise little formal objection
+to the papal appointment of ecclesiastics up and down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span>
+Scotland, though some of them evidently had but a seat
+of thorns.</p>
+
+<p>From March to May there was an interesting correspondence
+between Edward and some minor states and
+municipalities on the other side of the North Sea, whose
+people, Edward understood, had harboured, or even
+assisted, his Scots enemies. They all denied the allegation.
+The statesmanlike answer of the Count of Flanders,
+however, is peculiarly notable. 'Our land of Flanders,'
+he wrote, 'is common to all men, of whatever country,
+and freely open to all comers; and we cannot deny
+admission to merchants doing their business as they
+have hitherto been accustomed, for thereby we should
+bring our land to desolation and ruin.'</p>
+
+<p>But Berwick must be recaptured. On the loss of
+Berwick town, Edward had angrily summoned his forces
+to muster at York on July 26, 1318. So few of them
+appeared, however, that he was forced to postpone the
+expedition. On June 4, 1319, he ordered the Welsh
+levies to be at Newcastle by July 24 at latest; and, two
+days after, he wrote to the Pope that he hoped now 'to
+put a bit in the jaws of the Scots.' But another postponement
+was forced on him. On July 20, however, he
+issued a peremptory order for a muster at Michaelmas.
+His May parliament at York had granted him certain taxes,
+his treasury being 'exhausted more than is believed'; and
+his good friend the Pope had added a material contribution.
+But the levy could not be collected till Michaelmas,
+and meantime the King appealed for an advance. There
+must have been a favourable response, for early in September
+he encamped before Berwick with some 10,000 or 12,000
+men, his fleet occupying the harbour. Having entrenched
+his lines, he delivered a general assault on September 7.
+The besiegers hastily filled the dykes and placed their
+scaling-ladders, but the garrison threw them down as
+fast as they were raised. The lowness of the wall was
+not altogether in favour of the assailants, for the besieged
+on the top could easily thrust their spears in their faces.
+In the course of the afternoon the English brought a ship
+on the flood-tide up to the wall, with a boat lashed to midmast,
+whence a bridge was to be let down for landing a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span>
+storming party. They were embarrassed in their efforts,
+however, and the ship, being left aground by the ebb-tide,
+was burned by the Scots, the sallying party with difficulty
+regaining the town. The fight went on briskly till night,
+when the combatants agreed to postpone its renewal for
+five days.</p>
+
+<p>Though King Robert had mustered a considerable
+force, probably as large as Edward's, he deemed it more
+prudent to despatch it on a raid into England than to
+launch it directly against the English entrenchments. He
+had, indeed, good reason to rely upon the skill and energy
+of the Steward. The five days' truce over, the English,
+on September 13, moved forward on wheels an immense
+sow, not only covering a mining party, but carrying
+scaffolds for throwing a storming party on the wall. By
+this time, John Crab, whom we have already met as a
+sea-captain or pirate, and whom the Count of Flanders
+presently assured Edward he would break on the wheel,
+if he could only get hold of him, had proved himself
+engineer enough to devise a 'crane,' which must have
+been of the nature of a catapult; and this engine he ran
+along the wall on wheels to encounter the sow. The
+first shot passed over the monster; the second just fell
+short; the third crashed through the main beam, and
+frightened the men out. 'Your sow has farrowed,' cried
+the Scots. Crab now lowered blazing faggots of combustible
+stuff upon the sow, and burnt it up. But presently
+another attempt was made from the harbour, and
+Crab's engine was hurried up to fight ships with top-castles
+full of men, and with fall-bridges ready at midmast.
+The first shot demolished the top gear of one
+of the ships, bringing down the men; and the other ships
+kept a safe distance.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the general attack raged all along the wall.
+Sir Walter the Steward rode from point to point, supplying
+here and there men from his own bodyguard, till it
+was reduced from a hundred to a single man-at-arms.
+The severest pressure was at Mary Gate. The besiegers
+forced the advance barricade, burned the drawbridge,
+and fired the gate. Sir Walter drew reinforcements from
+the castle, which had not been attacked, threw open Mary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span>
+Gate and sallied upon the foe, driving them back after a
+very hard struggle, and saving the gate. Night separated
+the combatants. Barbour tells how the women and
+children of the town had carried arrows to the men
+on the walls, and regards it as a miracle that not one
+of them was slain or wounded. But clearly the Steward
+could not sustain many days of such heavy fighting.</p>
+
+<p>The Scots army under Randolph and Douglas had
+meanwhile followed the familiar track through Ripon
+and Boroughbridge, harrying and burning and slaying.
+They appear to have made a serious attempt to capture
+Edward's Queen, who was then staying near York; but
+the Archbishop, learning this intention from a Scots spy
+that had been taken prisoner, sallied forth and brought
+her into the city, and sent her by water to Nottingham.
+Trokelowe speaks of certain 'false Englishmen' that had
+been bribed by the Scots, and Robert of Reading specifies
+Sir Edmund Darel as the guide of the invaders in the
+attempt. Next day the Archbishop, with Bishop Hotham
+of Ely, the Chancellor of England, and an unwieldy
+multitude of clergy and townspeople numbering some
+10,000, advanced against the Scots between Myton and
+Thornton-on-Swale, about twelve miles north of York.
+'These,' said the Scots, 'are not soldiers, but hunters;
+they will not do much good.' For the English 'came
+through the fields in scattered fashion, and not in united
+order.' The Scots formed a schiltron, and set fire to some
+hay in front, the smoke from which was blown into the
+faces of the English. As they met, the Scots raised a great
+shout, and the enemy, 'more intent on fleeing than on fighting,'
+took to their heels. The Scots mounted in pursuit,
+killing (says the Lanercost chronicle) clergy and laymen,
+about 4000, including Nicholas Fleming, the Mayor of
+York, while about 1000, 'as was said,' were drowned in the
+Swale. Many were captured and held to heavy ransom.
+The Archbishop lost, not only his men, his carriages, and
+his equipment generally, but all his plate, 'silver and bronze
+as well,' which his servants had 'thoughtlessly' taken to
+the field; and yet the blame may rest elsewhere, for
+the York host appears to have fully anticipated that the
+Scots would flee at sight of them. The Primate's official<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span>
+cross was saved by the bearer, who dashed on horseback
+through the Swale and carefully hid it, escaping himself in
+the dusk of the evening. Then a countryman, who had
+observed the cross and watched the bearer's retreat, discovered
+it, wound wisps of hay about it, and kept it in his
+hut till search was made for it, whereupon he restored it
+to the Archbishop. Such is John of Bridlington's story.
+The whole episode contrasts markedly with the exploit of
+Bishop Sinclair in Fife. It was contemptuously designated,
+from the number of ecclesiastics, 'the Chapter of Myton.'</p>
+
+<p>The Myton disaster occurred on September 20, and on
+September 24 Edward raised the siege of Berwick. Certain
+chroniclers speak of intestine dissensions, and particularly
+of a quarrel with Lancaster over the appointment of wardens
+of town and castle once Berwick was taken. The Lanercost
+chronicler says Edward desired to detach a body to
+intercept the Scots, and with the rest to carry on the siege;
+but his magnates would not hear of it. He accordingly
+abandoned the siege, and marched westward to cut off the
+retreat of the Scots. Randolph had penetrated to Castleford
+Bridge, near Pontefract, and swept up Airedale and
+Wharfdale; and, passing by Stainmoor and Gilsland, he
+eluded Edward's army, and carried into Scotland many
+captives and immense plunder. It remained for Edward
+but to disband his troops, and go home, as usual, with
+empty hands.</p>
+
+<p>About a month later (November 1), when the crops were
+harvested in northern England, Randolph and Douglas
+returned with fire and sword. They burnt Gilsland, and
+passed down to Brough (Burgh) under Stainmoor; turned
+back on Westmorland, which they ravaged for ten or twelve
+days, and went home through Cumberland. They mercilessly
+burnt barns and the stored crops, and swept the
+country of men and cattle.</p>
+
+<p>Edward began to think of truce. In his letter of December
+4 to the Pope, he represents that urgent proposals
+for peace had come to him from Bruce and his friends. In
+any case, the step was a most sensible one. On December
+21, terms were agreed on, and next day Bruce confirmed
+them. This truce was to run for two years and the odd
+days to Christmas. Bruce agreed to raise no new fortresses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span>
+within the counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Dumfries.
+He delivered the castle of Harbottle to Edward's commissioners,
+'as private persons,' with the proviso that, unless
+a final peace were made by Michaelmas, it should be either
+redelivered to him or demolished. On August 25, 1321,
+Edward commanded that it should be destroyed 'as secretly
+as possible.'</p>
+
+<p>In autumn 1319, the Pope, at the instance of Edward,
+had given orders for a revival of the excommunications
+against Bruce and his friends; but on January 8, 1319&ndash;20,
+he cited Bruce and the Bishops of St Andrews, Dunkeld,
+Aberdeen, and Moray, to compear before him by May 1.
+The summons went unheeded; he had not addressed
+Bruce as King. Excommunications were again hurled at
+Bruce and his bishops, and Scotland was laid under
+ecclesiastical interdict. Meanwhile, however, the Scots
+'barons, freeholders, and all the community of the realm'&mdash;no
+churchmen, be it observed&mdash;assembled at Arbroath
+Abbey on April 6, and addressed to his Holiness a memorable
+word in season. First, as to their kingdom and their
+King:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Our nation continued to enjoy freedom and peace under the protection
+of the Papal See, till Edward, the late King of the English, in
+the guise of a friend and ally, attacked our realm, then without a head,
+and our people, then thinking no evil or deceit, and unaccustomed to
+war or aggression. The acts of injury, murder, violence, burning,
+imprisonment of prelates, burning of abbeys, spoliation and slaying of
+ecclesiastics, and other enormities besides, which he practised on our
+people, sparing no age or sex, creed or rank, no man could describe
+or fully understand without the teaching of experience. From such
+countless evils, by the help of Him that woundeth and maketh whole,
+we have been delivered by the strenuous exertions of our Sovereign
+Lord, King Robert, who, for the deliverance of his people and his
+inheritance from the hands of the enemy, like another Maccabeus or
+Joshua, cheerfully endured toils and perils, distress and want. Him
+the Divine Providence, that legal succession in accordance with our
+laws and customs, which we are resolved to uphold even to death, and
+the due consent of us all, made our Prince and King. To him, as the
+man that has worked out the salvation of the people, we, in maintenance
+of our freedom, by reason as well of his merits as of his right,
+hold and are resolved to adhere in all things. If he should abandon
+our cause, with the intention of subjecting us or our realm to the King
+of England or to the English, we should instantly strain every nerve
+to expel him as our enemy and the subverter of both his own rights
+and ours, and choose another for our King, such a one as should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span>
+suffice for our defence; for, so long as a hundred of us remain alive,
+never will we be reduced to any sort of subjection to the dominion of
+the English. For it is not for glory, or riches, or honours, that we
+contend, but for freedom alone, which no man worthy of the name
+loses but with his life.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>With this noble and resolute declaration, they appealed to
+the Pope to 'admonish' Edward, who ought to be content
+with his own dominions, anciently held enough for seven
+kings, and 'to leave in peace us Scotsmen, dwelling in our
+poor and remote country, and desiring nothing but our
+own,' for which 'we are ready and willing to do anything
+we can consistently with our national interests.' But,
+further, as to the Pope himself:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>If, however, your Holiness, yielding too credulous an ear to the
+reports of our English enemies, do not give sincere credit to what we
+now say, or do not cease from showing them favour to our confusion,
+it is on you, we believe, that in the sight of the Most High, must be
+charged the loss of lives, the perdition of souls, and all the other
+miseries that they will inflict on us and we on them.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This memorable declaration was not without effect. On
+August 13, the Pope earnestly impressed Edward with the
+duty of keeping on good terms with Bruce. And on
+August 18, he wrote that, on the prayer of Bruce by his
+envoys, Sir Edward de Mambuisson and Sir Adam de
+Gordon, he had granted suspension of the personal citation
+and of the publication of the sentences till the 1st of April
+next year.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT</span></h2>
+
+<p>The Scots manifesto of April 6, 1320, presented a united
+and firm front to English pretensions and Papal intrigues.
+Yet there were traitors in the camp. Little more than four
+months had elapsed when the Black Parliament, held at
+Scone on August 20, was investigating a conspiracy to kill
+King Robert and elevate to the throne Sir William de
+Soulis. Sir William was a brother of Sir John, and a
+grandson of Sir Nicholas, one of the Competitors in 1292.
+Edward's emissaries had been tampering with the fidelity
+of King Robert's barons.</p>
+
+<p>The plot still remains involved in obscurity. It was
+discovered to the King, Barbour heard, by a lady. Gray,
+however, as well as John of Tynmouth, states that the
+informant was Sir Murdoch de Menteith, who had come
+over to Bruce in 1316&ndash;17, and remained on the Scots side
+till his death some sixteen years later; but, apart from his
+name, there seems no reason to suppose that he was in
+Edward's pay. Sir William was arrested at Berwick, with
+360 squires in his livery (says Barbour), to say nothing of
+'joly' knights. He openly confessed his guilt, and was
+interned for life in Dumbarton Castle. The Countess of
+Strathearn was also imprisoned for life. Sir David de
+Brechin, Sir John de Logie, and Richard Brown a squire,
+were drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Sir Roger de Mowbray
+opportunely died; but his body was brought up and
+condemned to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded&mdash;a ghastly
+sentence considerately remitted by the King. Sir Eustace
+de Maxwell, Sir Walter de Barclay, Sheriff of Aberdeen,
+Sir Patrick de Graham, and two squires, Hamelin de
+Troupe and Eustace de Rattray, were fully acquitted.
+Soulis, Brechin, Mowbray, Maxwell, and Graham had all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span>
+attended the Arbroath parliament, and put their seals to
+the loyal manifesto.</p>
+
+<p>It is far from evident why Soulis escaped with imprisonment
+while Brechin and others were sent to the gallows.
+Robert may have judged that Soulis was a tool rather than
+prime mover of the plot; he may have regarded the long
+service of the culprit; he may have softened at the recollection
+of his brother Sir John's death by his own brother
+Edward's side. Brechin, no doubt, had considerable services
+to his credit. But his record shows grievous instability,
+and Robert probably had sound reasons for putting
+a period to his dubieties. His fate aroused painful regrets.
+Barbour narrates that Sir Ingram de Umfraville openly
+censured the sight-seers at his friend's execution, obtained
+leave to give the body honourable burial, and prepared to
+quit Scotland, telling the King he had no heart to remain
+after seeing so good a knight meet with such a fate. This
+story of Barbour's has been too hastily discredited.</p>
+
+<p>The position of Bruce remained unshaken. On November
+17, Edward instructed various high officers to receive
+to his peace, 'as secretly as they could,' such Scots as felt
+their consciences troubled by the papal excommunication;
+and, on December 11, the Archbishop of York was empowered
+to release all such renegades from the censure of
+the Church. Sir Ingram de Umfraville was re-established
+in his Northumberland estates (January 26), and Sir Alexander
+de Mowbray (February 18) and Sir William de
+Mohaut (May 20) obtained Edward's pardon. But Bruce
+was practically unaffected by Edward's subterranean diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>Openly, Edward maintained due observance of the
+truce, and by the middle of September 1320, had taken
+steps towards a final peace. The negotiations begun at
+Carlisle at Michaelmas were resumed at Newcastle on
+February 2, and continued for nine weeks; papal commissioners
+being present, and French envoys fostering the
+cause of peace. But the deliberations were fruitless. The
+Earl of Richmond's production of a mass of old parchments
+to demonstrate Edward's overlordship of Scotland
+indicates how little the English King and commissioners
+realised the facts of the situation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span>
+Throughout the summer and autumn of 1321, Edward
+was in hot water with the barons of the Welsh border. At
+the July parliament at Westminster, he was compelled to
+banish the Despensers, and to send home the turbulent
+lords with pardon. These troubles prevented him from
+sending the promised envoys to 'enlighten the consciences'
+of the Pope and his Cardinals as to the wickedness of the
+Scots. On August 25, however, he wrote the usual
+denunciatory generalities, and yet again impressed on his
+Holiness the necessity of dealing severely with Bruce and
+his adherents. The summons of Bruce and his four
+Bishops had meanwhile been postponed to September 1;
+but even then they did not compear. Edward's envoys,
+at last despatched on December 8, were still in very good
+time. Having taken Leeds Castle in Kent and driven
+back the marauding Marchers to the Welsh border, he
+informed the Pope that his domestic troubles were settling
+down, and, in view of an expedition on the expiry of the
+Scots truce at Christmas, he appealed for a subsidy from
+Rome. But already Lancaster was stretching one hand to
+Bruce and the other to the malcontents of the Welsh
+March.</p>
+
+<p>The Marchers rose, but Edward proved himself the
+stronger, and by the third week of January received the
+submission of the Mortimers. On February 8, he tried
+conciliation with Lancaster, and also authorised Harcla to
+treat with Bruce for 'some sort of final peace.' Lancaster,
+however, received the Welsh insurgents, and harassed
+Edward's advance, but was compelled to fall back on his
+castle of Pontefract.</p>
+
+<p>Lancaster's negotiations with the Scots had begun as
+early as December. His emissary, Richard de Topcliffe,
+an ecclesiastic, had obtained a safe-conduct from Douglas
+(December 11) to visit Jedburgh, and one from Randolph
+(January 15) to come to him wherever he could find him.
+Randolph was then at Corbridge on a swift raid, while
+Douglas and the Steward advanced, the one towards Hartlepool
+and the other towards Richmond, harrying or taking
+ransom. Immediately on the junction of Hereford and his
+Marchers with Lancaster at Pontefract, in the beginning
+of February, before they went south to oppose Edward's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span>
+advance, the rebel chiefs despatched John de Denum with
+a letter to Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas, 'or which of
+them he shall soonest find,' asking an appointment for a
+final agreement. The precise terms proposed were presently
+found on the dead body of Hereford at Boroughbridge.
+Bruce, if not detained by illness or other serious cause,
+and Randolph and Douglas, with their power, shall join
+the Earls in their enterprise 'in England, Wales and
+Ireland, and with them live and die in the maintenance
+of their quarrel, without claiming conquest or dominion
+in the said lands of England, Wales, and Ireland.' The
+Earls, on their part, shall never aid Edward against the
+Scots, and, their quarrel ended, shall do their best to
+establish and maintain peace between the two countries
+on the footing of independence. Fortunately for Edward,
+John de Denum lost ten days in his peregrinations. He
+missed Douglas on February 7, and was unable to obtain
+his reply till February 17. On February 16, Randolph,
+then at Cavers, near Hawick, had issued a safe-conduct
+for Sir John de Mowbray and Sir Roger de Clifford to
+come to him in Scotland. In either case, the ten days
+were gone. But for this accident, the history of the
+English crown would probably have been turned into another
+channel.</p>
+
+<p>The approach of the royal troops decided the insurgents
+to retire towards the Scots, to Lancaster's castle of Dunstanburgh.
+At Boroughbridge, however, they were confronted
+by Harcla on March 16, and disastrously defeated.
+Hereford was slain on the bridge; Lancaster was captured,
+tried, and beheaded. Harcla was created Earl of Carlisle.
+'Do not trouble yourself,' wrote Edward to the Pope
+(March 25), 'to proclaim a truce between me and the Scots.
+Formerly some exigencies inclined me to a truce, but now,
+thank God, these no longer exist, and I am constrained, by
+God's help, to war them down for their broken faith.'</p>
+
+<p>Edward at once summoned his army to muster at Newcastle
+by the second week in June; but early in May he
+postponed the assembly till July 24. By that time, however,
+the Scots had completed another destructive raid. Before
+mid June, a force had crossed the western March; and in
+the beginning of July, Robert himself, with Randolph and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span>
+Douglas, penetrated beyond Preston and ravaged the
+length and breadth of Lancashire and the archdeaconry
+of Richmond, burning Lancaster town and castle 'so entirely
+that nothing is left,' and carrying off what cattle had
+not been driven for safety into the remoter parts of Yorkshire.
+They do not seem to have encountered local opposition.
+As they returned, they lay five days before Carlisle,
+without drawing forth the prudent Harcla; and on July 24,
+they struck their tents for home.</p>
+
+<p>The English army followed them, entering Scotland by
+the eastern March in the first days of August. Robert
+withdrew both men and cattle from the Merse and the
+Lothians, either to the strongholds or beyond the Forth,
+and lay with his army at Culross. Barbour tells how an
+English foraging party found but one lame cow at Tranent:
+'It is the dearest beef I ever saw yet,' remarked Warenne,
+'it must have cost £1000 and more.' Edward himself
+subsequently wrote that he had 'found neither man nor
+beast' in the Lothians. The English fleet failed to bring
+up provisions, and, on August 23, Edward found himself with
+some 7000 men at Leith, in like predicament with his
+father before the battle of Falkirk. He was starved into
+retreat. Immediately the Scots hung upon his rear, and
+Douglas cut up an advance company of 300 men near
+Melrose. The English had sacked Holyrood; they now
+sacked Melrose Abbey, killing the prior and others; and
+they burnt to the ground Dryburgh and other monasteries.
+'But,' says Fordun, 'God rewarded them therefor.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce instantly followed up his advantage. By the
+middle of September, the Scots were before Bamborough
+and Norham. Bamborough bought off the invaders; and
+on September 26, Sir Roger de Horsley, the constable, as
+well as the constables of Warkworth, Dunstanburgh, and
+Alnwick castles, received a severe wigging from Edward
+for not showing fight against such an inferior force. Norham
+was defended by Sir Thomas Gray the elder against an
+inadequate body of 200 Scots. Edward displayed great
+energy of rebuke and counsel, while Robert steadily advanced
+southwards. On October 14, the English army
+barred the way on the ridge of Blackhowe Moor between
+Biland and Rievaulx; but Bruce's rapid action enabled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span>
+him to strike a decisive blow before the Earl of Carlisle,
+who was at Boroughbridge with 2000 (surely not, as some say,
+20,000) horse and foot, could effect a junction, if indeed he
+really meant to do so.</p>
+
+<p>Douglas at once offered to storm the English position,
+and Randolph, leaving his own division, led the way up the
+hill as a volunteer. The Scots were strongly opposed by
+Sir Ralph de Cobham, who was held to be the best knight
+of his day in England, and by Sir Thomas Ughtred, constable
+of Pickering, whose gallantry in the fight raised him
+to a higher position than even Cobham. The assailants
+were grievously embarrassed by stones rolled down upon
+them and by the fire of the archers. Robert supported
+them by sending 'the Irishry,' the Argyll Highlanders, and
+the men of the Isles to scramble up the crags in flank. At
+the top they were confronted by the main body under the
+Earl of Richmond, but they charged with such impetuosity
+as broke the English ranks and scattered them in flight;
+Gray even uses the conventional expression, 'like a hare
+before hounds.' 'In these days,' says John of Bridlington,
+'the Lord took away the hearts of the English.' Richmond
+was captured and held to heavy ransom (14,000 marks).
+Lord Henri de Sully and other French knights surrendered
+to Douglas; by arrangement with whom, King Robert soon
+released them by way of diplomatic compliment to the King
+of France. Edward narrowly escaped from Biland Abbey
+and fled through the night to Bridlington, whence the prior
+conducted him to Burstwick. Sir Walter the Steward pursued
+as far as York. Robert occupied the abbeys of Biland
+and Rievaulx and divided the spoils of the English camp
+and the king's baggage. Then, making Malton his headquarters,
+he wasted Yorkshire at his will, taking ransoms
+from Ripon, Beverley, and other towns, and despoiling
+religious houses; and he returned, with immense booty,
+to keep Christmas in Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>Three calamitous invasions in one year might well have
+induced reflection in a statesmanlike mind. They merely
+excited Edward's impotent eagerness for revenge. But the
+Earl of Carlisle, as doughty a warrior as the best, saw that
+the contest was both hopeless and ruinous; and on January 3,
+1322&ndash;23, he was closeted with Randolph at Lochmaben.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span>
+There and then they drafted an agreement. The fundamental
+provisions were: (1) that each realm should have
+its own national King; (2) that the Earl should aid King
+Robert in maintaining Scotland against all gainsayers; and
+(3) that King Robert and the Earl should maintain the
+realm of England under the direction of a council of
+twelve, six to be chosen by each party. Then, if the
+King of England should assent to these conditions within
+a year, King Robert was to found an abbey in Scotland,
+of 500 marks rent, for the souls of the men slain in war,
+and to pay an indemnity of 40,000 marks within ten
+years; and the King of England was to have the marriage
+of the heir male of the King of Scotland under advice of
+the council of twelve.</p>
+
+<p>Harcla at once published the terms of the agreement,
+and they were received with intense satisfaction on the
+Border. He appears to have acted in concert with the
+chief officers in these parts, and to have believed, or at
+least professed, that he acted within the terms of his commission.
+Edward, however, on January 8, ordered that
+no truce be made without his knowledge, and summoned
+Harcla to his presence; and on January 19, he sent a copy
+of the Lochmaben indenture to his Council at York, with
+the comment that it appeared to him 'fraught with great
+danger.' He had already (January 13) instituted a search
+of the Chancery rolls for any authorisation to Harcla to
+treat with the Scots. On February 25, Harcla was arrested
+in Carlisle Castle; and on March 3, he was tried, condemned,
+and barbarously executed. The charge of treason, though
+formally too well grounded, was essentially baseless; otherwise
+it is unintelligible that Harcla should have limited his
+measures of self-defence to the procurement of the formal
+oaths of the northern sheriffs to stand by him 'in all things
+touching the common good of England and the said peace.'
+His action was simply the action of a strong, business-like,
+and patriotic man, forgetful of finesse. His mistake lay in
+omitting to obtain express authority to treat, and in neglecting
+either to veil his contempt for the King, or to provide
+against his natural resentment, inflamed as it was sure to
+be by the envy of personal enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Harcla, the keenest and ablest warrior in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span>
+England, did not remove the difficulties from Edward's
+path. In a fortnight he was treating for peace&mdash;'was
+frightened, and begged for peace,' according to the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Flores
+Historiarum</i>&mdash;though in his own perversely maladroit
+fashion. On March 21, Robert wrote to Lord Henri de
+Sully, Edward's envoy, in substance this:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The King of England's letter, of which you sent me a copy yesterday,
+bears that he has granted a cessation of arms to the people of
+Scotland at war with him. This language is very strange to me. In
+former truces taken between us, I was named principal of the one
+part, as he was of the other part, although he did not vouchsafe to
+me the title of King. But on this occasion, no more mention is made
+of me than of the least person in my realm; so that, in case of a
+breach, I should be no more entitled than another to demand redress.
+Do not be surprised, then, that I do not agree to this truce. If, however,
+it were put before me in the proper way, I should willingly
+sanction it, as I promised you. I send you a copy of the King's
+letter; for I imagine you have not seen it, or, if you have, you have
+paid but scant attention to its terms.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>After some futile negotiations at Newcastle, a truce was
+at last concluded at Bishopsthorpe, near York, to last till
+June 12, and for thirteen years thereafter. On May 30,
+1323, Edward ordered it to be proclaimed throughout
+England; and on June 7, Robert ratified it at Berwick.
+Each party was to evacuate all lands of the other by
+June 12; neither party was to build or repair fortresses
+on the March, excepting constructions in progress; and
+Edward was to interpose no obstacle to any attempt of
+Robert and his friends to obtain absolution at Rome.
+During the negotiations, Edward had been summoning
+his forces in England, Ireland, and Gascony, in the
+belief that the Scots were really purposing another invasion;
+but in the first days of June he countermanded
+the muster.</p>
+
+<p>King Robert was sincerely anxious to set himself and
+his people right with the Church. He despatched Randolph
+as his ambassador. On his way south, Randolph,
+with the Bishop of St Andrews, treated with Edward's
+commissioners for a final peace; and, at any rate, on
+November 25, he got Edward to write to the Pope and
+the Cardinals in favour of a grant of absolution to the
+Scots during the peace negotiations. How Randolph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span>
+fared at Rome we learn from a letter of the Pope's to
+Edward, dated January 1, 1323&ndash;24. First, he begged for
+the usual indulgences necessary to enable him to fulfil his
+vow to go on a crusade. The Pope refused: there would
+be little good to the Holy Land or to his own soul, while
+he lay under the Church's censure; but the request might
+be reconsidered if he would effect a permanent peace with
+England and satisfy the Church. Secondly, Randolph
+prayed for safe conducts for Bruce's envoys, presently to
+be sent to procure reconciliation with the Church. The
+Pope refused, for the present, but he agreed to direct the
+usual application to the princes on the line of route.
+Thirdly, Randolph put forward Robert's readiness to join
+the King of France in his proposed crusade, or, if the
+King of France did not go, then to proceed himself or
+send Randolph instead. The Pope replied that reconciliation
+with the Church was an indispensable condition
+precedent. Fourthly, Randolph declared that King Robert
+and himself desired above all things to obtain peace and
+reconciliation, and that it really lay with His Holiness to
+bring their ardent desires to fruition. Let him address
+himself to Robert as King, and Robert would readily
+respond to his wishes; it was the reservation of the
+royal title that blocked the way. The Pope consented
+to address Robert by the royal title.</p>
+
+<p>Edward was keenly annoyed. The Pope, after setting
+forth the facts of Randolph's interview, had earnestly
+begged Edward not to take it ill that he had consented
+to address Robert as King. It could do him no harm;
+it could do Robert no good. He was intensely anxious
+for peace, and, if he did not give Robert the royal title,
+Robert would not look at his letters any more than he had
+done before. But Edward did not agree. He bluntly
+urged that the concession would prejudice his right and
+his honour, bring discredit on the Church, and enable
+Bruce to make capital of his wrong-doing. He recapitulated
+his claims to Scotland, contended that no change
+should be introduced during the truce, and pointed out
+that the concession would be popularly construed as a
+papal confirmation of Bruce's title. Let the title therefore
+be reserved as before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span>
+Then Edward played another card: he invited Edward
+de Balliol, son of ex-King John, to come over to England.
+The safe-conduct was issued on July 2; and it was not
+Edward's fault that Balliol postponed his visit. Meantime,
+in the midst of conflict with France over Aquitaine, Edward
+continued negotiations with Robert for final peace. But
+no agreement could be reached. The true cause appears
+in Edward's letter of March 8, 1324&ndash;25, to the Pope.
+There had recently been a meeting of envoys at York,
+but the Scots would not yet budge from their old position,
+and 'I could not meet their wishes without manifest
+disherison of my royal crown.' His envoys had proposed
+to refer the knotty point to the decision of His Holiness;
+but 'this they absolutely declined.' The Scots, indeed,
+had apparently stiffened their demands. According to
+the Monk of Malmesbury, they had claimed not only the
+independence of Scotland, but also the north of England
+down to the gates of York (by right of conquest), and the
+restoration of Bruce's manor of Writtle in Essex, as well
+as of the famous coronation stone.</p>
+
+<p>In May, Scots envoys were again on the road to Rome,
+and Edward wrote to the Pope, informing him that he was
+sending ambassadors to guard his own interests. Again,
+on September 23, he wrote to the Pope and the Cardinals
+urging them not to recall the sentences of excommunication
+till the Scots should surrender Berwick to him&mdash;Berwick,
+captured treacherously in defiance of the papal truce.
+The Pope consented, and on October 18 Edward expressed
+effusive thanks. But he reaped no advantage
+from the diplomatic victory: in three months he was
+deposed by his Parliament for notorious incompetence.</p>
+
+<p>On January 25, 1326&ndash;27, Edward, Prince of Wales, a
+boy of fifteen, was proclaimed King. He presently confirmed
+the thirteen years' truce (February 15), and
+appointed envoys to treat for final peace (March 4).
+The meeting was to take place on the March on May 17.
+But, on April 5, Edward III. summoned his power to
+be at Newcastle by May 18, averring that he had sure
+information that Robert was massing his troops on the
+Border with the intention of invading England if his own
+terms of peace were not conceded. It seems much more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span>
+likely that Robert's action was purely precautionary in
+view of the disturbed condition of the English March;
+but a hostile construction was favoured by the fact that
+many of the most turbulent fellows in Northumberland
+were Scots. On the other hand, Barbour is likely enough
+to be right in asserting that Robert was unable to
+obtain redress for the seizure of Scots vessels in English
+and Flemish waters; and it may be, as he says, that for
+this reason Robert openly renounced the truce. At the
+same time, Robert must have heard of Edward's warlike
+preparations by land and sea. This may be what Fordun
+has in view when he says that the duplicity of the English
+was at length laid bare. Edward's summons was issued
+on April 5, and Froissart places Robert's formal defiance
+'about Easter' (April 12); but this date must be nearly
+two months too early. One thing is certain: Robert
+was in no aggressive mood, and would not have resumed
+hostilities without really serious provocation.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of June a body of Scots crossed the
+Border, and on July 4 they were at Appleby, almost in
+touch with the Earl Marshal. Edward was at York, where
+he had been joined by Sir John of Hainault, Lord of
+Beaumont, with a body of heavy cavalry, between whom
+and the English archers much bad blood had been spilt
+in the streets of York. His army was very large&mdash;Barbour
+says 50,000; Froissart says upwards of 40,000 men-at-arms;
+Murimuth says three times as large and strong
+as the Scots army&mdash;a force difficult alike to handle and
+to feed in a rough and wasted country, especially in face
+of the Scots veterans. On July 13, Edward had reached
+Northallerton, and had learned that the Scots intended
+to mass their forces near Carlisle.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the Scots army, under Randolph and
+Douglas, had ravaged Coquetdale and penetrated into
+the Episcopate of Durham. When Edward reached Durham
+city, he was apprised of the passage of the Scots
+by a track of smoking ruins and devastated fields. He
+decided to bar their return. Advancing with his cavalry,
+he crossed the Tyne at Haydon Bridge (July 26), leaving
+his infantry on the south side. But the Scots did not
+come, and between drenching rains and lack of provisions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span>
+his troops were worn out in body and in temper. The men,
+says Froissart, 'tore the meat out of each other's hands';
+and 'great murmurs arose in the army.' After a week's
+distressful experience, he determined to seek the enemy
+southwards, and offered a reward of £100 a year in land,
+as well as knighthood, to the man that should bring him
+in sight of them 'on hard and dry ground' fit for battle.
+He crossed the Tyne at Haltwhistle fords, losing many
+men in the swollen river. On the fourth day, Thomas
+de Rokeby reported the Scots, and brought Edward face
+to face with them on the Wear.</p>
+
+<p>The Scots were strongly posted on a rising ground
+on the south bank: Froissart numbers them 24,000;
+Barbour, much more probably, 10,000. Douglas made
+a reconnaissance, and reported a strong army in seven
+divisions. 'We will fight them,' cried Randolph, 'were
+they more'; but Douglas counselled patience. Presently
+Edward sent heralds, offering to retire far enough to allow
+the Scots room to array themselves for battle on the north
+side on the morrow; or, if the Scots preferred, to accept
+like terms on the south side. It was an unconscious
+repetition of the offer of Tomyris, Queen of Massagetai,
+to Cyrus, on the Araxes river. But the Scots, evidently
+too weak to fight in a plain field, replied that they would
+do neither the one thing nor the other; that the King
+and his barons saw they were in his kingdom and had
+burnt and pillaged wherever they had passed, and that,
+if this displeased the King, he might come and amend
+it; for they would tarry there as long as they pleased.'
+That night the English lay on their arms. Part of the
+Scots also kept themselves in readiness, while the rest
+retired to their huts, 'where they made marvellously great
+fires, and, about midnight, such a blasting and noise with
+their horns that it seemed as if all the great devils from
+hell had been come there.'</p>
+
+<p>The next two days the Scots and English lay watching
+each other across the Wear. On the first day, a thousand
+English archers, supported by men-at-arms, attempted to
+draw the Scots. Douglas, planting an ambush under
+the Earl of Mar (who had at length joined the Scots)
+and his own son Archibald of Douglas, rode forward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span>
+with a cloak over his armour, and gradually gave way
+to their onset, till he had enticed them within reach of
+the ambush. At Douglas's signal, the ambush broke
+upon the pursuers, and slew 300 of them. Next day,
+the English put 1000 horsemen in ambush in a valley
+behind the Scots position, and delivered a front attack.
+Douglas was advancing to repel the assailants when he
+was informed of the force in rear, and instantly drew
+back his men. 'They flee,' cried some Englishmen;
+but John of Hainault explained the manœuvre, and,
+according to Barbour, pronounced the Scots captain fit
+'to govern the Empire of Rome.'</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning&mdash;probably August 3&mdash;the
+Scots were gone. They had moved about two miles
+along the river, and occupied a still stronger position in
+Stanhope Park. In the afternoon the English were again
+facing them. About midnight, Douglas, with 200 horsemen&mdash;Barbour
+says 500&mdash;crossed the Wear, and rode
+boldly into the English camp. 'No guard, by St George!'
+he exclaimed, on being discovered, as if he were an English
+officer. He made right for the King's pavilion, and, shouting
+his war-cry, actually 'cut two or three of its cords.'
+The King most narrowly escaped capture or death.
+Douglas got clear with but insignificant loss, and, collecting
+his men by a prearranged note of his horn, he returned
+to camp. Randolph, who was waiting under arms, ready
+for rescue or aid, eagerly asked the news. 'Sir,' replied
+Douglas, 'we have drawn blood.'</p>
+
+<p>The success of Douglas suggested to Randolph that a
+larger party might have inflicted defeat on the English.
+Douglas had his grave doubts. Randolph again proposed a
+pitched battle. Douglas objected, in view of the disastrous
+effects in case of defeat. No; better treat the English as
+the fox treated the fisherman. The fox had entered the
+fisherman's cottage and was eating a salmon. The fisherman
+discovered him, and stood on the threshold with a
+drawn sword in his hand. The fox, seeing the fisherman's
+cloak on the bed, dragged it into the fire. Thereupon the
+fisherman rushed to save his cloak, and the fox bolted out
+at the unguarded door. Douglas, in fact, had planned a
+mode of escape, and, though somewhat wet ('sumdele<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span>
+wat'), it would serve. Randolph gave way. So the Scots
+made merry in the day time, burnt great fires at night, and
+blew their horns 'as if all the world were theirs.' Occasional
+skirmishes took place, and the English drew round the
+Scots on both sides, leaving their rear open on a morass
+believed to be impassable. Meantime Douglas made his
+preparations.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably on the night of August 6&ndash;7 that Douglas
+led the Scots army out of Stanhope Park. He took them
+across the morass, about a mile wide, over a causeway of
+branches, which the rear demolished as they passed. The
+men led their horses, and only a few baggage animals stuck
+fast. By daybreak the Scots were far on the way homewards.
+The English had been completely outwitted. On
+the day before, they had captured a Scots knight, who told
+them that orders had been issued 'for all to be armed by
+vespers and to follow the banner of Douglas,' he did not
+know where. The English lords suspected a night attack,
+and remained under arms. In the morning, two Scots
+trumpeters, who had been left to blow misleading blasts,
+were brought into camp. 'The Scots,' they said, 'are on
+the march home, since midnight; they left us behind to
+give you the information.' The English, fearing a ruse,
+continued to stand to their arms till their scouts confirmed
+the mortifying intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>The Scots were soon met by a considerable body of their
+countrymen under the Earl of March and Sir John the
+Steward. They all hurried back to Scotland by the western
+march. The English retired to Durham, and then to York,
+where the army was disbanded on August 15. Edward
+is said to have shed bitter tears over the collapse of his
+expedition. Some of the chroniclers allege unsupported
+charges of treachery, and mistakenly accuse Mortimer of
+accepting a heavy bribe to wink at the escape of the Scots.
+But the plain fact is that the English were outgeneralled at
+every turn.</p>
+
+<p>It was neither age nor sickness, as the chroniclers allege,
+that prevented King Robert from leading the Weardale
+foray. He was away in Ireland, creating a diversion. On
+July 12, at Glendun in Antrim, he granted a truce for a
+year to Henry de Maundeville, the English seneschal of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span>
+Ulster, and his people, on condition of their delivering a
+certain quantity of wheat and barley at Lough Larne. The
+expedition does not seem to have been directly prosperous;
+the Irish, whom he had expected to rise and join him in
+Ulster, having apparently broken faith.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately on the return of the Scots from Weardale,
+King Robert passed into Northumberland. He sent Randolph
+and Douglas to besiege Alnwick Castle; set down
+another division before Norham Castle; and, with a third
+body, himself overran the neighbourhood. He even granted
+away the English lands to his chief followers. The attempt
+on Alnwick was unsuccessful, and, the open country having
+bought a truce, the leaders concentrated on Norham. On
+October 1, while Bruce still lay before Norham, Edward
+appointed commissioners to treat with him for final peace.
+After negotiations at Newcastle and York, the treaty was
+signed by Robert at Edinburgh on March 17; confirmed
+by the English Parliament on April 24; and finally, on
+May 4, signed by Edward at Northampton. Edward conceded
+in the fullest terms the absolute independence of
+Scotland as the marches stood in the days of Alexander III.,
+and agreed to deliver up all extant documents relating to
+the overlordship, and in any case to annul them; and he
+consented to aid Robert to obtain the revocation of the
+papal processes. Robert agreed to pay £20,000 sterling
+in three years. And the peace was to be cemented by the
+marriage of David, the Scots heir-apparent, a boy of four,
+with Joan, King Edward's sister, a girl of six. In England,
+the peace was freely stigmatised as 'shameful,' and the
+marriage as 'base'; partly on patriotic grounds, partly from
+dislike of Queen Isabella and Mortimer, who guided the
+policy of the King. The news of the death of the King of
+France no doubt gave an impulse to the English decision,
+for it would be necessary for Edward to have his hands
+free to assert his claim to the succession. The conditions
+were alike 'honourable for the Scots and necessary for
+England.'</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="vspace"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE HEART OF THE BRUCE</span></h2>
+
+<p>King Robert the Bruce died at Cardross on the
+Clyde, on June 7, 1329, a little more than a month
+before the completion of his fifty-fifth year. The cause
+of his death is said to have been leprosy. Barbour says
+it was the development of a severe cold, a benumbment
+contracted in the hardships of his early wanderings.
+Apart from specific disease, the strain of his laborious
+reign of nearly a quarter of a century would have shaken
+the strongest constitution of man.</p>
+
+<p>In the last three years he had been struck by two severe
+bereavements: the death of his son-in-law, Sir Walter the
+Steward, a knight of great promise, on April 9, 1326; and
+the death of the queen, at Cullen, on October 26, 1327.
+In the latter year, indeed, in spite of increasing illness, he
+had taken the field in Ireland and in Northumberland.
+But he had been unable to attend the marriage of David
+and Joan at Berwick in July 1328. Still he continued to
+move about quietly. When, however, Douglas brought
+him back from a visit to Galloway in the end of March
+1329, it was not to be concealed that 'there was no way
+for him but death.' And, accordingly, he set his house
+in order.</p>
+
+<p>On October 15, 1328, the Pope had at last granted
+absolution to Robert from the excommunication pronounced
+by the cardinals, and, on November 5, authorised
+his confessor to give him plenary remission in the hour
+of death.</p>
+
+<p>At a parliament held on November 14, 1328, at Scone,
+it had been settled that, in the event of David's dying
+without heir male of his body begotten, Robert the
+Steward, son of Marjory, should succeed; and that, if
+King Robert died during David's minority, Randolph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span>
+should be regent, and, failing Randolph, Douglas. David
+and Joan were crowned, and David received homage and
+fealty.</p>
+
+<p>On May 11, 1329, the King assembled his prelates and
+barons to hear his last wishes. He gave directions for
+liberal largess to religious houses, with special consideration
+for Melrose Abbey, where he desired his heart to
+be buried. He declared his long-cherished intention&mdash;Froissart
+says his 'solemn vow'&mdash;after bringing his realm
+to peace, 'to go forth and war with the enemies of Christ,
+the adversaries of our holy Christian faith.' As he had
+been unable to carry out his fixed purpose, he wished
+his heart to be taken and borne against the foes of God.
+On Douglas was laid this great and noble charge. Froissart
+mentions a specific instruction: 'I wish that you convey
+my heart to the Holy Sepulchre where our Lord lay, and
+present it there, seeing my body cannot go thither. And
+wherever you come,' added the King, 'let it be known
+that you carry with you the heart of King Robert of Scotland,
+at his own instance and desire, to be presented at the
+Holy Sepulchre.' Douglas solemnly pledged himself to this
+last faithful service.</p>
+
+<p>On the death of King Robert, his heart was embalmed,
+and enclosed in a silver casket 'cunningly enamelled,'
+which Douglas bore always about his neck. Strangely
+enough, even in death, the King came in conflict with
+Rome; for the excision of his heart was a breach of a
+Papal Bull of 1299, involving excommunication of the
+mutilators, and excluding the body from ecclesiastical
+burial. On August 13, 1331, the Pope, at the prayer of
+Randolph, granted absolution to all that had taken part
+'in the inhuman and cruel treatment' of the King's body.</p>
+
+<p>The body was embalmed, and carried through the
+Lennox, and by Dunipace and Cambuskenneth, to
+repose with the body of the Queen in Dunfermline
+Abbey&mdash;since Malcolm Canmore, the last resting-place
+of the Kings of Scotland. Over the King's grave was
+erected a marble monument, which he had ordered from
+Paris a twelvemonth before his death. It might have been
+supposed that never in time would any Scotsman lay a rude
+hand on the sepulchre of the greatest of Scottish kings;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span>
+yet on March 28, 1560, an insensate rabble of 'Reformers'
+razed the abbey to the ground, and broke in pieces the
+royal monument. In 1818, when foundations for a new
+church were being cleared, there were found, in a grave in
+front of the spot where the high altar of the Abbey Church
+had stood, the bones of a man whose breast-bone had
+been sawn asunder, and who had been buried in fine linen
+shot with gold thread. The probability that these were the
+bones of Bruce was enhanced by the surrounding fragments
+of black and white marble, well-polished, carved, and gilt.
+There lay also a mouldering skull, which five centuries
+agone may have held the powerful brain that dominated
+the field of Bannockburn.</p>
+
+<p>Douglas set about his preparations. Now that peace
+with England was established, and Randolph held the
+reins of State, there was no national reason why Douglas
+could not be spared for a time. Nor would warriors like
+Bruce and his paladins have ever weighed for a moment
+the risks of the sacred mission. It seems a misapprehension
+to suggest either selfishness or ingratitude on the part of
+the dying King. Nor is there any substantial ground for
+imagining that Robert feared any lack of harmony between
+his two great lieutenants. Barbour's casual suggestion of
+petty rivalry between them cannot weigh for a moment
+against their constant association in scores of enterprises.
+Their rivalry was of noble quality. The King had made a
+knightly vow, and that vow he must, as far as might be,
+perform; it was hardly less a national than a personal
+obligation.</p>
+
+<p>On September 1, Douglas obtained from Edward III.
+letters of protection for seven years, and a letter of commendation
+to Alfonso XI., King of Castile and Leon.
+On February 1, 1329&ndash;30, the day of the patron saint of
+his house, St Bride, he bestowed lands on the Abbey of
+Newbattle to secure her special intercession in his spiritual
+interests. Shortly thereafter he set out on his mission,
+with 'a noble company'&mdash;one knight banneret, seven
+other knights, twenty-six squires, and a large retinue.
+According to Froissart, he sailed from Montrose to Sluys,
+where he lay twelve days, thinking he might be joined by
+other knights 'going beyond the sea to Jerusalem'; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span>
+then to Valencia in Spain. According to Barbour he
+sailed from Berwick direct to Seville. In any case, he
+proceeded to the camp of Alfonso, then on his frontier
+warring against Osmyn, the Moorish King of Granada,
+and was received with honour befitting his fame and his
+mission. The knights with Alfonso were eagerly curious
+to see the famous Scot; and one notable warrior expressed
+his great surprise that Douglas's face was not seamed with
+scars like his own. 'Praised be God!' said Douglas, 'I
+always had hands to defend my head.'</p>
+
+<p>On August 25, 1330, the Christian and Moorish armies
+faced each other near Theba on the Andalusian frontier.
+Froissart states that Douglas mistook a forward movement
+of the Spanish troops for the onset of battle, and charged
+the Moors furiously; but the Spaniards had halted and
+left him unsupported. The story seems little consonant
+with Douglas's warlike intelligence. Barbour says that
+Alfonso assigned to Douglas the command of the van&mdash;which
+is very unlikely, unless he also assigned him an
+interpreter. He also asserts that Douglas hurled the
+precious casket 'a stone-cast and well more' into the
+ranks of the enemy, <span class="locked">exclaiming&mdash;</span></p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i3">'"Now pass thou forth before<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As thou wast wont in field to be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I shall follow, or else dee"';<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">and that he fought his way to it and recovered it, 'taking
+it up with great daintie.' This, too, is but a fantastic
+embellishment of the cloister. Barbour, of course, proceeds
+to rout the Moors and to make Douglas press on
+ahead of his company, attended by only ten men. Seeing
+Sir William de St Clair surrounded, however, Douglas
+spurred to his friend's rescue, but was overpowered by
+numbers and slain. Among those that fell with him were
+Sir William de St Clair and Sir Robert and Sir Walter
+Logan.</p>
+
+<p>The bones of Douglas were brought home by Sir
+William de Keith, who had been kept out of the battle by
+a broken arm, and were buried in the church of St Bride
+of Douglas. The silver casket with the heart of Bruce
+was buried by Randolph, 'with great worship,' in Melrose
+Abbey.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span>
+Douglas has been charged with breach of trust. It is
+argued that he ought not to have gone to Spain, but to
+have crossed the continent to Venice or the south of
+France, and made direct for Jerusalem. It is hardly
+worth while to remark that this is just what Boece says he
+did, his death taking place in Spain on his way home. It
+is more to the purpose that the Holy Sepulchre was then
+in the hands of the Saracens, and that Spain was the
+central point of opposition to the infidels. But what
+Douglas ought or ought not to have done depends solely
+on the precise terms of his trust; and it may be taken as
+certain that he knew King Robert's mind better than
+either Barbour or Froissart, or even their critics, and that
+he decided on his course in consultation with Randolph
+and the other magnates, prelates as well as barons.
+Edward's safe conduct and commendatory letter show by
+their terms that his going to Spain was no afterthought,
+but his original intention. To attribute to Douglas lack of
+'strength of purpose' is to miss the whole significance of
+his career.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>King Robert must obviously have been a man of
+powerful physique and iron constitution. The early hardships
+and continuous toils of his reign could not have been
+sustained by any ordinary frame; and his recorded feats of
+strength, such as in the case of Wallace have been scouted
+as fabulous, have always been accepted without question.
+The Merton MS. of the 'Flores Historiarum' calls him 'a
+very powerful man,' on the occasion of his striking down
+Comyn. The killing of Sir Henry de Bohun in face of
+both armies speaks convincingly of muscle as well as of
+nerve. If the bones discovered in 1818 were his, they indicate
+that he stood about six feet in height. 'In figure,' says
+Major, 'he was graceful and athletic, with broad shoulders.
+His features were handsome, and he had the yellow hair
+of the northern race, and blue and sparkling eyes.'</p>
+
+<p>Bruce's outstanding characteristic, in Barbour's analysis,
+was his 'hardiment:' he 'hardy was of head and hand.'
+That is to say, he was a strong, bold, and resolute soldier.
+But with hardiment he joined 'wit'&mdash;judgment, prudence,
+measure; and the union of the two is 'worship.' This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span>
+'worship' was undoubtedly the fundamental cause of
+Bruce's great career; and the most simple and conspicuous
+illustration of it is seen in the dramatic episode of De
+Bohun's death. Fordun pronounces that he 'was, beyond
+all living men of his day, a valiant knight.' And Barbour
+sums <span class="locked">up&mdash;</span></p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'To whom, into gude chevelry,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I dar peir nane, wes in his day.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For he led hym with mesure ay.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was this splendid hardiment controlled and directed
+by cool judgment, and supported by untiring industry in
+details, that ranked King Robert not merely as the second
+knight in Christendom, but as one of the most renowned
+generals of the age. His patient drudgery of preparation,
+his wary dispositions, his firmness of resolution, his promptitude
+to mark and remedy a weakness of his own and to
+strike hard at a weakness of the enemy, were superbly
+illustrated on the field of Bannockburn. King Robert's
+military renown does not need the false attribution of
+tactical discoveries that he certainly did not make. It was
+not Bannockburn that showed him what infantry could do
+against mailed cavalry; nor was it the example of the
+Flemings at Courtrai. Sir William Wallace had proved
+the power of the schiltron before Bannockburn and before
+Courtrai; and he is not to be deprived of the honour by
+the imperfect historical knowledge of Sir Thomas Gray.
+If the tactic was known in these islands before the time of
+Wallace, or if Wallace gained the knowledge of it from
+elsewhere, the fact yet remains to be historically demonstrated.
+King Robert and his generals simply practised
+the lesson of Wallace with notable ability. Nor did they
+advance beyond Wallace in the still more important
+principles of large strategy. But, apart from this, the
+Bruce's capacity as a military commander stands forth pre-eminent.
+And though many painful incidents inevitably
+stain the records of his campaigns, they are attributable
+more to the age than to the man. It is impossible to
+charge on his memory any reckless or wanton cruelty.
+His mind with all its sternness ever tended to clemency,
+and his constitutional prudence, or measure, forbade
+purposeless excess.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span>
+The incessant demands of war left Robert but scant
+leisure for internal administration, notwithstanding the
+diligent service of his eminently capable lieutenants.
+Apart from necessary inference and from incidental indications,
+his care for civil order and good government is
+conspicuously manifested in the legislation of the Scone
+Parliament, December 3, 1318; and there is abundant
+evidence of his fostering watchfulness over the commercial
+traffic with Continental countries. The Cambuskenneth
+Parliament, July 15, 1326, has a constitutional interest, as
+the first great council where burgesses are known to have
+sat with the baronage. The trading communities were
+worth consultation when a heavy war tax was to be levied,
+and the country was so cruelly impoverished. There can
+be no doubt that Robert's management of home affairs
+was watchful, energetic, and liberal.</p>
+
+<p>In the conduct of his foreign relations, the Bruce proved
+himself an adept in diplomacy. His dealings with the
+Continental princes, mainly in regard to shipping and
+commerce, were conciliatory and businesslike. His political
+transactions with the English sovereign and with the
+Pope were uniformly characterised by astute perception,
+reasonableness to the point of generosity, courteous but
+rigid firmness on every essential point, and fidelity to
+engagements.</p>
+
+<p>The occupations of the King's late and brief leisure may
+be read between the lines of the Exchequer Rolls: how he
+kept open house at Cardross, dispensed gifts and charities,
+pottered (with Randolph) at shipbuilding, sailed his great
+ship between Cardross and Tarbet, built Tarbet Castle,
+added a wing to his mansion, tended his garden, and so
+forth; and how he kept a pet lion at Perth, where he
+seems to have spent parts of his last two years.</p>
+
+<p>Bruce was twice married. First, to Isabel, daughter of
+the Earl of Mar, the mother of Marjory. Second, to
+Elizabeth, eldest daughter of De Burgh, Earl of Ulster,
+who bore him two sons and two daughters: Matilda and
+Margaret, after 1316; David, March 5, 1324; and John,
+who died in infancy. The most distinguished of his
+other children, Sir Robert de Brus, fell at Dupplin in
+1332.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>
+Bruce has been called by Lord Hailes (after Rapin) the
+'restorer of Scottish monarchy.' The monarchy was a
+small matter; Bruce was the restorer of Scottish independence.
+But the conditions of the case are apt to be misconceived.
+The incalculable services of Sir William
+Wallace, through nearly ten years of incomparably heroic
+struggle against the great Edward in his full vigour, are too
+often forgotten, or belittled. But for Wallace, it is more
+than probable that Bruce would never have been King of
+Scotland. He built on Wallace's foundations.</p>
+
+<p>Comyn being dead, Bruce possessed the admitted right
+to the crown, without even the semblance of competition&mdash;a
+powerful aid in his enterprise. He started in the
+acquisitive spirit of an Anglo-Norman baron, and was
+carried through largely by his personal gallantry, his
+military capacity, his consummate prudence, and his
+indomitable resolution. Though the mass of the people
+rallied to him but slowly through many years, yet he at
+once gained the more ardent patriots; and, in particular,
+he had the instant support of the leading prelates, and, at
+the Dundee Parliament on February 24, 1308&ndash;9, the formal
+adhesion of the clergy generally. Nor is it easy to overestimate
+the aid of three such paladins as Edward de Brus,
+Randolph, and Douglas. And not the least of the grounds
+of Bruce's success is to be sought in the feebleness and
+foolishness of Edward II. and the stupid oppressions
+practised by his local officers. Still, with full acknowledgment
+of these supports, King Robert was and is the central
+figure in the final establishment of the independence of
+Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>One is strongly inclined to believe that the services of
+Sir Edward de Brus, Lord of Galloway and Earl of
+Carrick, have been seriously underrated, partly no doubt
+through his own besetting fault. When we remember how
+boldly he is said to have counselled action on the return
+from Rathlin, how vigorously he cleared the English out of
+his lordship of Galloway, and how ably he bore the brunt
+of the heaviest fighting at Bannockburn, we cannot but
+suspect that his glory has been unduly dimmed by the
+splendour of his brother, and by the inappreciation of his
+monkish critics. The main certainty about his hapless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span>
+expedition to Ireland is the certainty that he fought with
+the most chivalrous ardour. He was not only 'hardy'
+but, according to Barbour, 'outrageous hardy'&mdash;a prototype
+of Hotspur. His habitual exaltation of mind is well
+expressed by the Archdeacon, when he describes him in
+face of vastly superior numbers at Kilross:</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">'The more they be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The more honoùr allout have we,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If that we bear us manfully.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">Undoubtedly his 'hardiment' overbore his 'wit'; yet one
+may safely doubt whether the Archdeacon was the man
+to take his military measure. At the very least, he must
+have been a powerful force in urging unmitigated hostility
+against the English; and his dash in battle must have
+proved a potent force on many a stricken field.</p>
+
+<p>In the absence of Sir Edward, Randolph ranked as first
+lieutenant. He was Bruce's nephew, son of Isabel de
+Brus and Thomas Randolph of <span class="locked">Strathdon.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></span> From Lord
+of Nithsdale, he blossomed into Earl of Moray, and Lord
+of Annandale and of Man. As soldier, diplomatist, and
+statesman, he displayed pre-eminent ability. Barbour represents
+him as of moderate stature, proportionably built,
+'with broad visage, pleasing and fair,' and a courteous
+manner. 'A man he was,' says Lord Hailes, most justly,
+'to be remembered while integrity, prudence, and valour
+are held in esteem among men.' He survived King
+Robert a little over three years.</p>
+
+<p>The good Sir James of Douglas ranked second to Randolph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span>
+only because Randolph was the King's nephew.
+From his early teens he displayed a gallant and chivalrous
+spirit, a mind set on honour, and withal a conspicuous gift
+of strategic device. If we may rely on Barbour, he was
+even more cautious than the well-balanced Randolph; yet,
+when occasion served, he could display the adventurous
+dash of Sir Edward de Brus; and he exhibited a splendid
+tenacity. According to Froissart, he was 'esteemed the
+bravest and most enterprising knight in the two kingdoms.'
+Like most great commanders, he rendered his men devoted
+to him by a large generosity, not merely in division of the
+spoils, but also in recognition of valiant deeds. Barbour
+tells us that</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'He had intill custom allway,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Quhen euir he com till hard assay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To press hym the chiftane to sla;'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">a bold principle that often decided the fight&mdash;like Bruce's
+principle of striking hard at the foremost line. After he
+slew Sir Robert de Neville,</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'The dreid of the Lorde Dowglass,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And his renoun swa scalit wass<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Throu-out the marchis of Yngland<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That all that war tharin duelland<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thai dred him as the deuill of hell.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">And Barbour had often heard tell that wives would frighten
+their wayward children into obedience by threatening to deliver
+them to the Black Douglas. The Leicester chronicler
+says 'the English feared him more than all other Scotsmen';
+for 'every archer he could take, either his right
+hand he cut off or his right eye he plucked out,' and, for
+the sake of the archers, he always took his vengeance on
+an Englishman in the severest form he could devise. This
+view is not corroborated, however, and it may be a generalisation
+from some particular case. But, while terrible to
+the enemy&mdash;'a brave hammerer of the English,' as Fordun
+says&mdash;Douglas is represented as charming to his friends.</p>
+
+<div class="poem-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="iq">'But he wes nocht sa fayr that we<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Suld spek gretly off his beaute:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In <span class="locked">wysage<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></span> wes he sumdeill <span class="locked">gray,<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And had blak <span class="locked">har,<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a></span> as Ic hard say;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Bot off <span class="locked">lymmys<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a></span> he wes weill maid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With <span class="locked">banis<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></span> gret &amp; schuldrys <span class="locked">braid.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">His body wes weyll maid and <span class="locked">lenye,<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As thai that saw hym said to me ...<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in spek <span class="locked">wlispyt<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a></span> he sum deill;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But that <span class="locked">sat<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a></span> him rycht wondre weill.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="in0">Scott's picture of the Knight of the Tomb, while based on
+Barbour's description, verges on caricature.</p>
+
+<div class="tb">*<span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
+
+<p>Was King Robert the Bruce a patriot? The question,
+startling as it may be, especially to trustful readers of uncritical
+laudations, may no longer be avoided.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to repeat the outlines of his political
+attitude during the storm and stress of Wallace's memorable
+struggle. Can it be supposed, then, that a man may become
+patriotic after his thirty-first year? With his assumption of
+the kingly office, Bruce's baronial and royal interests coincided
+with the interests of Scotland, and it may be that
+some feeling of the nature of patriotism may have thus developed
+in his breast. The manifesto of the barons and
+other laymen in 1320, apart from its dramatic purpose, may
+be taken to indicate that the external reasons for the King's
+profession of patriotism were not less potent than his private
+reasons. Let us concede to him the benefit even of grievous
+doubt. For, be his motives what they may, the practical
+outcome was the decisive establishment of the independence
+of the realm of Scotland, and he remains for ever the
+greatest of the line of Scottish Kings.</p>
+
+<div class="newpage footnotes">
+<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</a></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Hemingburgh also gives February 10; Rishanger, Walsingham,
+and others give January 29. It is the difference between iv. <i>Id.</i>
+Feb. and iv. <i>Kal.</i> Feb. Probably both dates are wrong. The true
+date, it is suggested, is January 27&mdash;'Thursday next before Carne-prevyum'
+(<i>Cal.</i> ii., p. 486, under August 4, 1306).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> So say the modern authorities. The chroniclers call him Bruce's
+'nephew,' and Bruce himself calls him 'nepos'; and Boece calls
+him David's 'cousin.' But is not 'nephew' used here, not in the
+present strict sense, but in the wider sense of young relative? Bruce's
+father and mother were married not before 1270 at earliest. Isabel
+was married to the King of Norway on November 15, 1293; and probably
+the marriage was in contemplation when her father and she
+went to Norway in autumn, 1292. Was she a widow, then, at 21?
+Randolph was present with his father at proceedings in the Succession
+case at Berwick in August 1292. If, then, he was the son of Isabel,
+he must have been a mere child&mdash;five or six at most. If there was
+another sister Isabel (Bain), the age difficulty remains. Was Isabel&mdash;if
+Isabel <em>was</em> Randolph's mother's name&mdash;not the sister, but the
+aunt, of Bruce? And was Randolph really Bruce's <em>cousin</em>?</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Visage.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> Somewhat gray (swarthy).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Hair.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Limbs.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> Bones.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Shoulders broad.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Lean.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Lisped.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Became.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="newpage transnote">
+<h2 class="nobreak"><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes</a></h2>
+
+<p>Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p>
+
+<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
+quotation marks retained.</p>
+
+<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_35">35</a>: Unmatched closing single quotation mark after "is a traitor'".</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_43">43</a>: "David ap Griffith" means "son of" (Welch origin).</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of King Robert the Bruce, by A. F. Murison
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+Title: King Robert the Bruce
+
+Author: A. F. Murison
+
+Illustrator: Joseph Brown
+
+Release Date: January 18, 2014 [EBook #44695]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KING ROBERT THE BRUCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by sp1nd, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    KING ROBERT
+    THE BRUCE:
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
+
+
+_The following Volumes are now ready_:--
+
+  THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
+  ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.
+  JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.
+  ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.
+  THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.
+  RICHARD CAMERON. By PROFESSOR HERKLESS.
+  SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.
+  THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE.
+  JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
+  TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
+  THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
+  NORMAN MacLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
+  SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
+  KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBE.
+  ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
+  JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
+  MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MacLACHLAN.
+  DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
+  WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
+  SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON.
+  ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK.
+  THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
+  POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON.
+  ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
+  ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON.
+  JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE.
+  KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    KING ROBERT
+    THE BRUCE
+
+    BY
+
+    A. F.
+    MURISON
+
+    FAMOUS
+    SCOTS
+    SERIES
+
+    PUBLISHED BY
+    OLIPHANT ANDERSON
+    & FERRIER . EDINBURGH
+    AND LONDON
+
+
+
+
+The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and
+the printing from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.
+
+    _July 1899._
+
+
+
+
+    ALMAE MATRI
+    VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI
+
+
+
+
+    "O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay--
+    De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices;
+    It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices,
+    As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray.
+    Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie;
+    But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion,
+    While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean,
+    Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die:
+    They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime
+    By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time."
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the historical
+complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together they
+outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and
+successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of
+Edward I. and Edward II.--the most memorable episode in the history of
+Scotland.
+
+As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the narrative
+is based on the primary authorities. Happily State records and
+official papers supply much trustworthy material, which furnishes
+also an invaluable test of the accuracy of the numerous and wayward
+race of chroniclers. Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact
+and deflections of judgment, is eminently useful--in spite of the
+indulgence of historical criticism.
+
+There is no space here to set forth the long list of sources, or to
+attempt a formal estimate of their comparative value. Some of them
+appear incidentally in the text, though only where it seems absolutely
+necessary to name them. The expert knows them; the general reader will
+not miss them. Nor is there room for more than occasional argument on
+controverted points; it has very frequently been necessary to signify
+disapproval by mere silence. The writer, declining the guidance of
+modern historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent
+study of the available materials.
+
+After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of Patriotism reared
+for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if not time-serving, eulogies
+of Barbour and Fordun, and maintained for some five centuries, the
+figure of the Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
+deliverance.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I
+                                                  PAGE
+  THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE                             11
+
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION                           18
+
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  THE CORONATION OF BRUCE                           26
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY        36
+
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  THE KING IN EXILE                                 53
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  THE TURN OF THE TIDE                              58
+
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+
+  RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY                           69
+
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+
+  RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES                            84
+
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+
+  THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN                         92
+
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND                  108
+
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+
+  CONCILIATION AND CONFLICT                        119
+
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+
+  PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT                       134
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+
+  THE HEART OF THE BRUCE                           149
+
+
+
+
+KING ROBERT THE BRUCE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE
+
+
+When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of Scottish
+independence, died at the foot of the gallows in Smithfield, and was
+torn limb from limb, it seemed that at last 'the accursed nation' would
+quietly submit to the English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching
+bones of the heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of
+his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations after national
+freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In fifteen years of arduous
+diplomacy and warfare, with an astounding expenditure of blood and
+treasure, Edward I. had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources
+of Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of the
+nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in arms. It is of the
+irony of fate that the very man destined to bring Edward's calculations
+to naught had been his most zealous officer in his last campaign, and
+had, in all probability, been present at the trial--it may be at the
+execution--of Wallace, silently consenting to his death. That man of
+destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale and Earl of Carrick.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory of a Norse origin
+in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who established himself in the
+diocese of Coutances in Manche, Normandy, though not improbable, is but
+vaguely supported. The name is territorial; and the better opinion is
+inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and Valognes.
+
+The first Robert de Brus on record was probably the leader of the
+Brus contingent in the army of the Conqueror. His services must have
+been conspicuous; he died (about 1094) in possession of some 40,000
+acres, comprised in forty-three manors in the East and West Ridings of
+Yorkshire, and fifty-one in the North Riding and in Durham. The chief
+manor was Skelton in Cleveland.
+
+The next Robert de Brus, son of the first, received a grant of
+Annandale from David I., whose companion he had been at the English
+court. This fief he renounced, probably in favour of his second son,
+just before the Battle of the Standard (1138), on the failure of his
+attempted mediation between David and the English barons. He died in
+1141, leaving two sons, Adam and Robert.
+
+This Robert may be regarded as the true founder of the Scottish branch.
+He is said to have remained with David in the Battle of the Standard,
+and, whether for this adherence or on some subsequent occasion, he was
+established in possession of the Annandale fief, which was confirmed
+to him by a charter of William the Lion (1166). He is said to have
+received from his father the manor of Hert and the lands of Hertness in
+Durham, 'to supply him with wheat, which did not grow in Annandale.' He
+died after 1189.
+
+The second Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of the preceding lord,
+married (1183) Isabel, daughter of William the Lion, obtaining as her
+dowry the manor of Haltwhistle in Tyndale. His widow married Robert de
+Ros in 1191. The uncertainty as to the dates of his father's death and
+his own has suggested a doubt whether he ever succeeded to the lordship.
+
+William de Brus, a brother, the next lord, died in 1215.
+
+The third Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of William, founded the
+claim of his descendants to the crown by his marriage with Isabel,
+second daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of
+William the Lion. He died in 1245.
+
+The fourth Robert de Brus of Annandale, eldest son of the preceding
+lord, was born in 1210. In 1244, he married Isabel, daughter of Gilbert
+de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Next year he succeeded to Annandale,
+and, on his mother's death in 1251, he obtained ten knight's fees in
+England, her share of the Earldom of Huntingdon. He took an active
+part in public affairs. In 1249-50 he sat as a Justice of the King's
+Bench, and in 1268 he became Chief Justice of England, but Edward, on
+his accession (1272), did not reappoint him. He served as Sheriff of
+Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle Castle in 1254-55, and in 1264 he
+fought for Henry at Lewes, and was taken prisoner.
+
+At the same time, de Brus was a prominent figure in the baronage of
+Scotland. The alleged arrangement of 1238 whereby Alexander II., with
+the consent of the Scots parliament, appointed de Brus his successor in
+the event of his dying childless, was frustrated by the King's second
+marriage (1239), and the birth of a son, Alexander III. (1241). As one
+of the fifteen Regents (1255) during the minority of Alexander III.,
+he headed the party that favoured an English alliance, cemented by the
+young King's marriage with Margaret, daughter of Henry III. At the
+Scone convention on February 5, 1283-84, he was one of the Scots lords
+that recognised the right of Margaret of Norway. The sudden death of
+Alexander III., however, in March 1285-86, and the helplessness of the
+infant Queen, put him on the alert for the chances of his own elevation.
+
+On September 20, 1286, de Brus met a number of his friends at Turnberry
+Castle, the residence of his son, the Earl of Carrick. There fourteen
+Scots nobles, including de Brus and the Earl of Carrick, joined in a
+bond obliging them to give faithful adherence to Richard de Burgh,
+Earl of Ulster, and Lord Thomas de Clare (de Brus's brother-in-law),
+'in their affairs.' One of the clauses saved the fealty of the parties
+to the King of England and to 'him that shall obtain the kingdom of
+Scotland through blood-relationship with King Alexander of blessed
+memory, according to the ancient customs in the kingdom of Scotland
+approved and observed.' The disguise was very thin. The instrument
+meant simply that the parties were to act together in support of de
+Brus's pretensions to the crown when opportunity should serve. It
+'united the chief influence of the West and South of Scotland against
+the party of John de Balliol, Lord of Galloway, and the Comyns.' There
+need be no difficulty in connecting this transaction with the outbreak
+of 1287-88, which devastated Dumfries and Wigton shires. The party of
+de Brus took the castles of Dumfries, Buittle and Wigton, killing and
+driving out of the country many of the lieges. There remains nothing
+to show by what means peace was restored, but it may be surmised that
+Edward interfered to restrain his ambitious vassal.
+
+For, by this time, Edward was full of his project for the marriage
+of the young Queen with his eldest son, Prince Edward. The Salisbury
+convention, at which de Brus was one of the Scottish commissioners,
+and the Brigham conference, at which the project was openly declared,
+seemed to strike a fatal blow at the aspirations of de Brus. But the
+death of the Queen, reported early in October 1290, again opened up a
+vista of hope.
+
+When the news arrived, the Scots estates were in session. 'Sir Robert
+de Brus, who before did not intend to come to the meeting,' wrote the
+Bishop of St Andrews to Edward on October 7, 'came with great power,
+to confer with some who were there; but what he intends to do, or
+how to act, as yet we know not. But the Earls of Mar and Athol are
+collecting their forces, and some other nobles of the land are drawing
+to their party.' The Bishop went on to report a 'fear of a general
+war,' to recommend Edward to deal wisely with Sir John de Balliol,
+and to suggest that he should 'approach the March for the consolation
+of the Scots people and the saving of bloodshed.' The alertness of de
+Brus and his friends is conspicuously manifest, and the foremost of the
+party of Balliol is privately stretching out his hands for the cautious
+intervention of the English King.
+
+The Earl of Fife had been assassinated; the Earl of Buchan was dead;
+and the remaining four guardians divided their influence, the Bishop of
+St Andrews and Sir John Comyn siding with Balliol, and the Bishop of
+Glasgow and the Steward of Scotland with de Brus. Fordun thus describes
+the balance of parties in the early part of 1291:
+
+  The nobles of the kingdom, with its guardians, often-times
+  discussed among themselves the question who should be made their
+  king; but they did not make bold to utter what they felt about
+  the right of succession, partly because it was a hard and knotty
+  matter, partly because different people felt differently about
+  such rights and wavered a good deal, partly because they justly
+  feared the power of the parties, which was great, and partly
+  because they had no superior that could, by his unbending power,
+  carry their award into execution or make the parties abide by
+  their decision.
+
+The most prominent competitors were liegemen of Edward, and, whether
+they appealed to warlike or to peaceful methods, the decision must
+inevitably rest with him.
+
+At the Norham meeting of June 1291, de Brus, as well as the other
+competitors, fully acknowledged the paramount title of Edward. He had
+no alternative; he had as large interests in England as in Scotland,
+and armed opposition was out of the question. Availing himself of his
+legal experience, he fought the case determinedly and astutely. If
+Fordun correctly reports the reformation of the law of succession by
+Malcolm, de Brus was, in literal technicality, 'the next descendant';
+as son of David of Huntingdon's second daughter, he was nearer by one
+degree than Balliol, grandson of David's eldest daughter. But the
+modern reckoning prevailed. De Brus's plea that he had been recognised
+both by Alexander II. and by Alexander III. was not supported by
+documentary evidence, and his appeal to the recollection of living
+witnesses does not seem to have been entertained. His third position,
+that the crown estates were partible, was but a forlorn hope. He must
+have seen, long before November 1292, that an adverse decision was a
+foregone conclusion. He entered a futile protest. Already, in June,
+he had concluded a secret agreement with the Count of Holland, a
+competitor never in the running, but a great feudal figure, for mutual
+aid and counsel; he had also an agreement with the Earl of Sutherland,
+and, probably enough, with others. But an active dissent was beyond the
+powers of a man of eighty-two. Accordingly, he resigned his claims in
+favour of his son, the Earl of Carrick, and retired to Lochmaben, where
+he died on March 31, 1295, at the age of eighty-five.
+
+The fifth Robert de Brus of Annandale, the eldest son of the
+Competitor, was born in 1253. On his return from the crusade of 1269,
+on which he accompanied Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., he married
+Marjory (or Margaret), Countess of Carrick, and thus became by the
+courtesy of Scotland Earl of Carrick. Marjory was the daughter and
+heiress of Nigel, the Keltic (if Keltic be the right epithet) Earl of
+Carrick, grandson of Gilbert, son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway, and
+she was the widow of Adam of Kilconquhar, who had died on the recent
+crusade. De Brus is said to have met her accidentally when she was out
+hunting. Fordun gives the romance as follows:--
+
+  When greetings and kisses had been exchanged, as is the wont of
+  courtiers, she besought him to stay and hunt and walk about; and,
+  seeing that he was rather unwilling to do so, she by force, so
+  to speak, with her own hand made him pull up, and brought the
+  knight, though very loth, to her castle of Turnberry with her.
+  After dallying there with his followers for the space of fifteen
+  days or more, he clandestinely took the Countess to wife, the
+  friends and well-wishers of both parties knowing nothing about
+  it, and the King's consent not having been obtained. And so the
+  common belief of all the country was that she had seized--by
+  force, as it were--this youth for her husband. But when the
+  news came to the ears of King Alexander, he took the castle
+  of Turnberry and made all her other lands and possessions be
+  acknowledged as his lands, for the reason that she had wedded
+  with Robert de Brus without consulting his royal majesty. Through
+  the prayers of friends, however, and by a certain sum of money
+  agreed upon, this Robert gained the King's goodwill and the whole
+  domain.
+
+It may be, of course, that the responsibility was thrown on the lady
+in order to restrain the hand of the incensed king. But she was half
+a dozen years older than de Brus, who was still in his teens and was
+never distinguished for enterprise. In any case, she acted only with
+the legitimate frankness of her time, and the marriage put a useful
+dash of lively blood into the veins of the coming king.
+
+In every important political step, de Brus followed with docility his
+father's lead. He stood aloof from Balliol, and, in spite of marked
+snubbing, steadily adhered to Edward. From October 1295, he was for two
+years governor of Carlisle Castle. After the collapse of Balliol at
+Dunbar, he is said to have plucked up courage to claim fulfilment of
+a promise of Edward's, alleged to have been made in 1292 immediately
+after the decision in favour of Balliol, to place his father eventually
+on the Scottish throne. The testy reply of 'the old dodger' (_ille
+antiquus doli artifex_), as reported by Fordun, is at any rate
+characteristic: 'Have I nothing else to do but to win kingdoms to
+give to you?' The story, though essentially probable, is discredited
+by the chronicler's assertion that the promise was accompanied by an
+acknowledgment on the part of Edward that his decision of the great
+cause was an injustice to de Brus, the Competitor.
+
+But while de Brus took nothing by his loyalty to Edward, he suffered
+for his disloyalty to Balliol. He had, of course, ignored the summons
+of Balliol 'to come in arms to resist the King of England,' and
+consequently Balliol's council had declared him a public enemy and
+deprived him of his lands of Annandale, giving them to Comyn, Earl of
+Buchan. At the same time, and for the like reason, his son Robert was
+deprived of the Earldom of Carrick, which de Brus had resigned to him
+on November 11, 1292. Annandale, indeed, was restored to de Brus in
+September 1296, but the state of Scotland was too disturbed for his
+comfort, and he retired to his English possessions, where, for the most
+part at least, he lived quietly till Edward had settled matters at
+Strathord. He then set out for Annandale, but died on the way, about
+Easter, 1304, and was buried at the Abbey of Holmcultram in Cumberland.
+
+De Brus left a large family of sons and daughters, most of whom will
+find conspicuous mention in the story of the eldest brother, Robert,
+Earl of Carrick, the future King of Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION
+
+
+Robert Bruce, the sixth Robert de Brus of Annandale and the seventh de
+Brus of the Annandale line, was the eldest son of the preceding lord
+and a grandson of the Competitor. He was born on July 11, 1274. The
+place of his birth is uncertain--Ayrshire says Turnberry; Dumfriesshire
+says Lochmaben. Geoffrey le Baker calls him an Englishman (_nacione
+Anglicus_), and records that he was 'born in Essex,' to which another
+hand adds, 'at Writtle,' a manor of his father's. Geoffrey, it is true,
+like several other chroniclers, confuses Bruce with his grandfather,
+the Competitor; and he may mean the Competitor, though he says the
+King. Hemingburgh makes Bruce speak to his father's vassals before the
+Irvine episode as a Scotsman, at any rate by descent. In any case Bruce
+was essentially--by upbringing and associations--an Englishman. It was
+probably in, or at any rate about, the same year that Wallace was born.
+At the English invasion of 1296, they would both be vigorous young men
+of twenty-two, or thereabouts. During most part of the next decade
+Wallace fought and negotiated and died in his country's cause, and
+built himself an everlasting name. How was Bruce occupied during this
+national crisis?
+
+Considering the large territorial possessions and wide social
+interlacings of the family in England, their English upbringing, their
+traditional service to the English King, their subordinate interest in
+Scottish affairs, the predominance of the rival house of Balliol, and
+the masterful character of Edward, it is not at all surprising that
+Robert Bruce should have preferred the English allegiance when it was
+necessary for him to choose between England and Scotland. On August 3,
+1293, indeed, he offered homage to Balliol on succeeding to the Earldom
+of Carrick. But on March 25, 1296, at Wark--three days before Edward
+crossed the Tweed--he joined with his father and the Earls of March and
+Angus in a formal acknowledgment of the English King; and on August
+28 he, as well as his father, followed the multitude of the principal
+Scots in doing homage to the conqueror at Berwick.
+
+With this political subjection one is reluctant to associate a more
+sordid kind of obligation. Some six weeks later (October 15) it is
+recorded that 'the King, for the great esteem he has for the good
+service of Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, commands the barons to
+atterm his debts at the Exchequer in the easiest manner for him.' But
+the elder Bruce continued to be designated Earl of Carrick in English
+documents after he had resigned the earldom to his son, and it can
+hardly be doubted that the debts were his. It is a small matter,
+indeed, yet one would like to start Bruce without the burden.
+
+Early in 1297, Scotland was heaving with unrest. Edward, while busily
+arranging 'to cross seas' to Flanders, was also pushing forward
+preparations for a 'Scottish War.' In May, Wallace and Douglas had
+summarily interrupted the severities of Ormsby, the English Justiciar,
+at Scone, and driven him home in headlong flight. About the same time,
+or somewhat later, Andrew de Moray took the field in Moray, Macduff
+rose in Fife, and Sir Alexander of Argyll set upon the adherents of
+Edward in the West. On May 24, Edward had addressed, from Portsmouth,
+a circular order to his chief liegemen north and south of Forth,
+requiring them to attend certain of his great officers to hear 'certain
+matters which he has much at heart,' and to act as directed. Bruce was
+ordered to attend Sir Hugh de Cressingham and Sir Osbert de Spaldington
+at Berwick. But before the order could have reached him, he must have
+heard of the expulsion of Ormsby, and had probably conceived dynastic
+hopes from the aspect of affairs. Indeed, he appears to have fallen
+under English suspicions. For, no sooner did the news from Scone reach
+Carlisle than the Bishop and his advisers--the Bishop was acting
+governor in the absence of the elder Bruce at Portsmouth--'fearing for
+the faithlessness and inconstancy of Sir Robert de Bruys the younger,
+Earl of Carrick, sent messengers to summon him to come on a day fixed
+to treat with them about the King's affairs, if so be that he still
+remained faithful to the King.'
+
+Bruce duly appeared with a strong following of 'the people of
+Galloway,' and repeated the oath of fealty upon the consecrated Host
+and upon the sword of St Thomas (a Becket). What more could the Bishop
+want or do? But Bruce went a step further. He summoned his people, says
+Hemingburgh, and, 'in order to feign colour, he proceeded to the lands
+of Sir William de Douglas and burnt part of them with fire, and carried
+off his wife and children with him to Annandale.' For all that, he was
+already in secret conspiracy with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Steward
+of Scotland, and Sir John of Bonkill, the Steward's brother. Douglas,
+indeed, presently appears as one of the leaders in the rising; but his
+relations with Bruce would be subject to easy diplomatic adjustment.
+
+When the time for open action arrived, Bruce appealed to his father's
+men of Annandale. He repudiated his oath at Carlisle as extorted by
+force and intimidation, and professed a compelling sense of patriotism.
+The Annandale men deferred reply till the morrow, and slipped away to
+their homes overnight. With his Carrick men, however, he joined the
+Bishop and the Steward, and began to slay and harry the English in the
+south-west.
+
+Engrossed in the outfitting of his expedition, Edward delegated the
+suppression of the Scots to Warenne, Earl of Surrey, the Guardian of
+Scotland, who sent ahead his kinsman, Sir Henry de Percy, with a strong
+force. Percy advanced through Annandale to Ayr, and, two or three days
+later, stood face to face with the insurgents near Irvine. There was
+dissension in the Scots camp. Sir Richard Lundy went over to Percy,
+'saying that he would no longer war in company with men in discord and
+at variance.' Besides, the English force was no doubt much superior.
+The insurgent leaders at once asked for terms. The provisional
+agreement was that 'their lives, limbs, lands, tenements, goods and
+chattels,' should be unharmed, that their offences should be condoned,
+and that they should furnish hostages. Such was the humiliating fiasco
+of July 7, 1297, at Irvine.
+
+So far their skins were safe; and now, on the counsel of the Bishop,
+they appealed to Cressingham and Warenne to confirm the agreement, and
+to vouchsafe an active interest in their behalf with Edward. The full
+flavour of their pusillanimity can only be gathered from the text of
+their letter to Warenne.
+
+  They were afraid the English army would attack them to burn and
+  destroy their lands. Thus, they were told for a certainty that
+  the King meant to seize all the middle people of Scotland to send
+  them beyond sea in his war [in Gascony], to their great damage
+  and destruction. They took counsel to assemble their power to
+  defend themselves from so great damages, until they could have
+  treaty and conference with such persons as had power to abate
+  and diminish such kind of injury, and to give security that
+  they should not be exceedingly aggrieved and dishonoured. And,
+  therefore, when the host of England entered the land, they went
+  to meet them and had such a conference that they all came to the
+  peace and the faith of our Lord the King.
+
+The hostage for Bruce was his infant daughter, Marjory. It would be
+interesting to know why Douglas failed to provide hostages. It may be
+that his native obstinacy was aroused by the objurgations of Wallace,
+who then lay in Selkirk Forest, and who is said to have displayed
+intense indignation at the ignominious surrender. Edward ratified the
+convention; but somehow it was not till November 14 that powers were
+conferred on the Bishop of Carlisle and Sir Robert de Clifford 'to
+receive to the King's peace Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, and his
+friends, as seems best to their discretion.'
+
+Midway between the shameful collapse at Irvine and the formal
+submission at Carlisle lay September 11, 1297, and Wallace's memorable
+victory at Stirling Bridge. In this great triumph of patriotism Bruce
+had neither part nor lot. Neither was he present at the disastrous
+battle of Falkirk on July 22, 1298. The Scottish chroniclers, indeed,
+relate the popular story that the English victory was primarily due to
+Bruce, who, with Bishop Bek, stealthily caught the Scots in the rear
+and broke up the schiltrons. But this is a complete misconception, due
+possibly to a confusion of Bruce with Basset, who, with Bek, delivered
+the attack on the left wing, not on the rear, or with Bruce's uncle,
+Sir Bernard, who fought on the English side. In any case, Bruce stands
+clear of Falkirk. For English chroniclers relate that, when Edward
+withdrew towards Carlisle, Bruce burnt Ayr Castle and fled away
+into Carrick. Yet it seems all but certain that he was in Edward's
+allegiance within three weeks before the battle. He had gone over
+before the result reached him, possibly on learning the dire straits of
+Edward immediately before, or on the strength of a false report of the
+issue.
+
+The stormy meeting of Scots nobles at Peebles on August 19, 1299,
+discovers Bruce in a remarkable attitude. One object of the meeting was
+to choose Guardians of the realm. The discussion was sufficiently warm;
+for Sir John Comyn--the Red Comyn, afterwards slain at Dumfries--seized
+the Earl of Carrick by the throat, and his cousin of Buchan tried a
+fall with de Lamberton, Wallace's Bishop of St Andrews. The outcome
+of the wrangle was a purely personal accommodation of an essentially
+momentary character. It was settled that the Bishop of St Andrews, the
+Earl of Carrick, and Sir John Comyn should be the Guardians, the Bishop
+as principal to have custody of the castles. Bruce, through the Wallace
+influence, had gained the upper hand. But it must have cost him a pang
+to consent to act in the name of Balliol.
+
+Bruce, with Sir David de Brechin, returned to the attack of Lochmaben
+peel, where the Scots had been pressing Clifford since the beginning of
+August. They were unsuccessful in direct assault, but they seriously
+hindered the victualling of the place by infesting the lines of
+communication. Bruce would seem to have been in consultation with his
+colleagues in the Torwood on November 13, when the Guardians, who
+were then besieging Stirling, despatched to Edward an offer to cease
+hostilities on the terms suggested by the King of France. At any rate
+he is named as Guardian, and it is to be noted that the Guardians write
+'in the name of King John and the community of the realm.' Edward was
+compelled to abandon Stirling to its fate, and Lochmaben fell in the
+end of the year. Warenne's December expedition to the western March was
+a failure. Edward, in fact, had been paralysed by his refractory barons.
+
+During the next two years, while Comyn was doing his best in the field
+and Wallace was busy in diplomatic negotiation, there is no trace of
+Bruce in the records. He may have felt it too irksome to pull together
+with Comyn. But he reappears--in a new coat--in 1301-2. On February 16,
+Edward, 'at the instance of the Earl of Carrick,' granted pardon to a
+murderous rascal, one Hector Askeloc. And by April 28, 1302, the King
+had 'of special favour granted to the tenants of his liege Robert de
+Brus, Earl of Carrick, their lands in England lately taken for their
+rebellion.' And Bruce attended Edward's parliament towards the end of
+October.
+
+In the next year or two Bruce manifested special devotion to the
+English King. When Edward was going north on the campaign of 1303, he
+ordered Bruce to meet him about the middle of May at Roxburgh with
+all the men-at-arms he could muster, and with 1000 foot from Carrick
+and Galloway. On July 14, Bruce received an advance of pay by the
+precept of Sir Aymer de Valence, the King's lieutenant south of Forth.
+On December 30, he is Edward's sheriff of Lanark; on January 9, he
+is Edward's constable of Ayr Castle. His star was deservedly in the
+ascendant by diligent service.
+
+His ardour steadily increased. After the surrender of Comyn and his
+adherents in February 1303-4, he threw himself heartily into the
+pursuit of Wallace. On March 3, Edward wrote to 'his loyal and faithful
+Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, Sir John de Segrave, and their
+company,' applauding their diligence, begging them to complete the
+business they had begun so well, and urging them, 'as the cloak is well
+made, also to make the hood.' Wallace and Sir Simon Fraser were hotly
+pursued southwards, and defeated at Peebles within a week.
+
+About this time Bruce must have received news of the death of his
+father, probably not unexpected. On April 4, 1304, he was at Hatfield
+in Essex, whence he wrote to Sir William de Hamilton, the Chancellor,
+asking him to direct quickly the necessary inquisitions of his father's
+lands in Essex, Middlesex and Huntingdon, as he wished to go to the
+King with them to do homage. On June 14, having done homage and fealty,
+he was served heir. The succession to the paternal inheritance was
+happily achieved.
+
+Meantime, on his return north, Bruce had found Edward in hot eagerness
+to commence the siege of Stirling, and worked with the energy of
+gratitude that looks towards favours to come. He undertook the special
+task of getting up the King's engines to Stirling. On April 16, the
+King wrote him thanks for sending up some engines, and gave particular
+instructions about 'the great engine of Inverkip,' which appears to
+have been unmanageable for want of 'a waggon fit to carry the frame.'
+Bruce seems to have been at Inverkip and Glasgow, and wherever else
+any of the thirteen engines were lagging on the road to Stirling. His
+energy operated in congenial harmony with the fiery expedition of the
+King.
+
+Yet there was something in the background of all this enthusiastic
+service. On June 11, only three days before 'his loyal and faithful
+Robert de Brus' did homage and fealty to Edward on succession to his
+father, Bruce met Bishop Lamberton at Cambuskenneth and formed with
+him a secret alliance for mutual aid and defence 'against all persons
+whatsoever.' Seeing dangers ahead, and wishing to fortify themselves
+against 'the attempts of their rivals,' they engaged to assist each
+other to the utmost of their power with counsel and material forces in
+all their affairs; 'that neither of them would undertake any important
+enterprise without consultation with the other'; and that 'they would
+warn each other against any impending danger, and do their best to
+avert the same from each other.' No particular motives or objects, of
+course, are specified. But the Bishop may have foreseen the likelihood
+of an invasion of English ecclesiastics; and Bruce would not be slow
+to perceive the possible value of the moral support of the Church, and
+of the material aid derivable from the men and lands of the religious
+houses of the wide episcopate of St Andrews. At such a moment neither
+party would affect to forget the Bruce's royal pretensions. We shall
+hear of this bond again.
+
+Stirling surrendered on July 20, the last of the Scottish fortresses
+that held out against Edward. Wallace, the last centre of opposition,
+was a fugitive, dogged by emissaries of the English King. In March next
+year, Bruce was with the King at Westminster, petitioning him for the
+lands recently held by Sir Ingram de Umfraville in Carrick--a petition
+substantially granted--and he attended Edward's parliament in Lent. It
+is hardly any stretch of probability to believe that he was present, in
+August, at the trial and execution of the illustrious Wallace--the man
+that, above all others, paved the way for his elevation to the Scottish
+throne.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bruce was now in his thirty-second year. From his twenty-second year
+onwards, through the ten years' struggle of Wallace and Comyn, he was
+two parts of the time the active henchman of Edward, and during the
+other part he is not known to have performed any important service
+for Scotland. His action during this period--the period of vigorous
+manhood, of generous impulses and unselfish enthusiasms--contrasts
+lamentably with the splendour of Wallace's achievement and endeavour,
+and gravely with the bearing of Comyn. One looks for patriotism and
+heroism; one finds not a spark of either, but only opportunism,
+deliberate and ignoble, not to say timid--the conduct of a 'spotted
+and inconstant man.' Yet Bruce was tenaciously constant to the grand
+object of his ambition. In the light of his kingly career this early
+period has puzzled the historians very strangely; but one cannot affect
+to be surprised that the friendliest critic is compelled to pronounce
+the simple enumeration of the facts to be, 'in truth, a humiliating
+record.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE CORONATION OF BRUCE
+
+
+Stirling surrendered and Wallace a fugitive, Edward went home and
+meditated measures for the government of the conquered country.
+While yielding no point of substance, he recognised the policy of
+conciliation in form. He took counsel with the Bishop of Glasgow,
+the Earl of Carrick, and Sir John de Mowbray; and, ostensibly guided
+by their suggestions, he appointed a meeting of ten Scots and twenty
+English representatives to be held in London in the middle of July.
+The meeting was subsequently postponed to September. On September
+23, all the representatives were 'sworn on our Lord's body, the holy
+relics, and holy Evangels, each severally.' The joint commission
+settled ten points, which were embodied in an Ordinance--'not a
+logical or methodical document,' but 'mixing up the broadest projects
+of legislation and administration with mere personal interests and
+arrangements.' First, the official establishment was set forth: Sir
+John de Bretagne, junior, Edward's nephew, being appointed King's
+Lieutenant and Warden, Sir William de Bevercotes Chancellor, and
+Sir John de Sandale Chamberlain. Next, Justiciars were appointed, a
+pair for each of the four divisions of the country. Then a score of
+Sheriffs were named, nearly all Englishmen, though Scots were eligible.
+Thereafter, the law was taken in hand: 'the custom of the Scots and
+Brets' was abolished; and the King's Lieutenant, with English and
+Scots advisers, was 'to amend such of the laws and usages which are
+plainly against God and reason,' referring difficulties to the King.
+For the rest, the articles were mainly particular. One of them applied
+specifically to Bruce: 'The Earl of Carrick to place Kildrummy Castle
+in the keeping of one for whom he shall answer.' The King confirmed the
+Ordinance at Sheen. At the same time (October 26), apparently, the
+King's Council for Scotland--twenty members, including the Bishop of St
+Andrews, the Earls of Carrick, Buchan, and Athol, Sir John Comyn, and
+Sir Alexander of Argyll--was sworn in. Bretagne was unable to proceed
+to Scotland till Lent (and then till Easter), and meantime a commission
+of four was appointed to act for him, the first commissioner being the
+Bishop of St Andrews.
+
+The King rejoiced at the sure prospect of peace in Scotland. The
+country was outwardly quiet. Edward had put on the velvet glove. He
+had restored submissive barons, knights, and lairds to their lands;
+he had that very day at Sheen doubled the periods within which they
+might pay their several fines; and he had displayed a general friendly
+consideration in his Ordinance. A fortnight before (October 14), he
+had instructed all the English sheriffs that he desired honourable and
+courteous treatment to be shown to all Scots passing through their
+jurisdictions. In a short time, he was contemplating a more complete
+assimilation of the two countries, to be arranged in a Union convention
+at Carlisle. But, in February next, the whole face of affairs was
+suddenly transformed by the report that Sir Robert de Brus, Earl of
+Carrick, had done sacrilegious murder on Sir John Comyn at Dumfries.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The accounts of the train of events leading to the death of Comyn,
+though agreeing in essentials, vary considerably in details. The Scots
+story may be told first. Fordun, like his compatriots, colours his
+narrative deeply with the fanciful glow of Bruce's patriotism. He
+tells how Bruce 'faithfully laid before Comyn the unworthy thraldom of
+the country, the cruel and endless torment of the people, and his own
+kindly project for bringing them relief.' Bruce, he says, 'setting the
+public advantage before his own,' proposed to Comyn two alternatives:
+either take you the crown and give me your lands, or else take my
+lands and support my claim to the crown. Comyn chose the latter
+alternative; and the agreement was guaranteed by oaths and embodied in
+indentures duly sealed. Eventually, however, Comyn betrayed Bruce's
+confidence, 'accusing him again and again before the King of England,
+by envoys and by private letters, and wickedly revealing his secrets.'
+Edward acted with restraint: he sounded Bruce; he even showed him his
+adversary's letters; he feigned acceptance of his explanations. One
+evening, however, 'when the wine glittered in the bowl,' he expressed
+his definite determination to put Bruce to death on the morrow. On
+hearing this, the Earl of Gloucester at once sent Bruce a broad hint in
+the form of twelve pence and a pair of spurs. Bruce promptly mounted
+his horse, and rode day and night to his castle of Lochmaben. As he
+was nearing the Border, he met a messenger of Comyn's bearing to
+Edward the very bond he had made with Comyn. He struck off the man's
+head and hurried on his way. By appointment, he presently met Comyn in
+the church of the Friars Minorites at Dumfries. He charged Comyn with
+treachery. 'You lie!' replied Comyn. Whereupon Bruce stabbed him on
+the spot. The friars stretched Comyn on the floor behind the altar.
+'Is your wound mortal?' he was asked. 'I think not,' he replied. The
+hopeful answer sealed his fate. 'His foes, hearing this, gave him
+another wound, and thus, on February 10,[1] was he taken away from the
+world.'
+
+According to Barbour, the alternative proposal proceeded, not from
+Bruce, but from Comyn, which is far from likely; and it was made 'as
+they came riding from Stirling,' presumably--Blind Harry, indeed,
+expressly says so--when Edward and his barons were going home from the
+siege. Barbour goes beyond Fordun in stating that Comyn actually rode
+to Edward and placed in his hands the indenture with Bruce's seal.
+Thereupon, he says, the King 'was angry out of measure and swore that
+he would take vengeance on Bruce' for his presumption, summoned a
+council, produced the bond, and demanded of Bruce whether the seal was
+his; but Bruce obtained respite till next day in order to get his seal
+and compare it with the bond, and fled the same night with the document
+in his pocket. The embellishments of later writers--the conversion of
+Gloucester's twelve pence into other coins, the reversal of Bruce's
+horses' shoes because of the new-fallen snow, and so forth--need not
+be considered. Barbour makes no mention of an appointment: Bruce rode
+over to Dumfries, where Comyn was staying, and the tragedy was enacted.
+Barbour has the same outline of the interview as Fordun, but he remarks
+that other accounts were current in his time.
+
+A picturesque tradition tells how Bruce, on striking the blow, hurried
+out of the church to his friends, whereupon Roger de Kirkpatrick and
+James de Lindsay, seeing his excitement, anxiously inquired how it was
+with him. 'Ill!' replied Bruce; 'I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn.'
+'You doubt!' cried Kirkpatrick; 'I'll mak' siccar' (make sure). And
+they rushed into the church and buried their daggers in Comyn's body.
+But if the Justiciars were then sitting, and Roger de Kirkpatrick
+was still one of them--for he and Walter de Burghdon were appointed
+Justiciars for Galloway on October 25--there may be some difficulty in
+accepting the tradition.
+
+The English story commences in Scotland, and it introduces a very
+important element wholly absent from the principal Scottish versions.
+The English authorities expressly allege a deliberate purpose on
+Bruce's part to rid himself of his rival. Both Hemingburgh and the
+Lanercost Chronicler state that Bruce sent two of his brothers, with
+guileful intent, to invite Comyn to an interview; Hemingburgh names
+Thomas and Nigel. The fullest account is given by Sir Thomas Gray,
+who wrote in 1355--just half a century later, but still twenty and
+thirty years earlier than Barbour and Fordun. Gray records that
+Bruce dispatched his brothers, Thomas and Nigel, from Lochmaben to
+Dalswinton, where Comyn was staying, to invite him to meet Robert in
+the church at Dumfries; and, moreover, that he instructed them to fall
+upon Comyn on the way and kill him--a purpose thwarted by the softening
+effect of Comyn's kindly reception of the youths. 'Hm!' said Bruce,
+on hearing their report, 'milk-sops you are, and no mistake; let me
+meet him.' So he advanced to Comyn, and led him up to the high altar.
+He then opened the question of the condition of Scotland, and invited
+Comyn's co-operation in an attempt at freedom on the terms already
+mentioned as contained in the alleged bond between them. 'For now is
+the time,' he said, 'in the old age of the King.' Comyn firmly refused.
+'No?' cried Bruce, 'I had other hopes in you, by promise of your own
+and of your friends. You discovered me to the King by your letters.
+Since while you live I cannot fulfil my purpose, you shall have your
+guerdon!' On the word, he struck Comyn with his dagger, and some of his
+companions completed the crime with their swords before the altar.
+
+Hemingburgh works up artistically the pacific bearing of Comyn in the
+face of Bruce's accusations; and this would be likely enough if it be
+true that Comyn was unarmed and attended by but a small escort. The
+writer of the Merton MS. of the _Flores Historiarum_, who says Comyn
+was unarmed, states that he endeavoured to wrest Bruce's weapon from
+his hand; that Bruce's men rushed up and freed their leader; that
+Comyn got away to the altar; and that Bruce pursued him, and on his
+persistent refusal to assent, slew him on the spot.
+
+A distinct English variation occurs in at least five of the records.
+The Meaux Chronicle states that Bruce, on returning to Scotland
+after the settlement of the Ordinance, summoned the Scots earls and
+barons to Scone to consider the affairs of the realm, and put forward
+his hereditary claim. He received unanimous support, except that
+Comyn stood by his oath of fealty to Edward, rejected Bruce's claim
+with scorn, and at once left the council. The council was adjourned
+to a future day at Dumfries. Meantime Bruce sent Comyn a friendly
+invitation. Comyn appeared at Dumfries and was cordially received
+by Bruce, but still he maintained his objections, and again he left
+the council. Bruce drew his sword and followed him, and ran him
+through the body in the Church of the Friars Minorites. The Cambridge
+Trinity College MS., it may be noted, states that Bruce sent his two
+brothers to invite Comyn to meet him at the 'Cordelers' of Dumfries;
+and Geoffrey le Baker makes Bruce kill Comyn in the midst of the
+magnates. But these councils may safely be set aside as grounded on
+misconceptions.
+
+The English allegation of Bruce's purpose of murder seems to invest
+with a special interest Blind Harry's casual story, with its
+coincidences and discrepancies. Bruce, says Harry, charged his brother
+Edward, whom he found at Lochmaben on his arrival, to proceed next day
+with an armed escort to Dalswinton, and to put Comyn to death, if they
+found him; but they did not find him.
+
+On the fall of Comyn, his followers pressed forward and blows were
+hotly exchanged. Comyn's uncle, Sir Robert, assailed Bruce himself,
+but failed to pierce his armour (which, the Meaux Chronicler says, he
+wore under his clothes), and was cut down by Sir Christopher de Seton,
+probably in the cloister, not in the church. Barbour adds that 'many
+others of mickle main' were killed in the melee; and the statement is
+amply confirmed.
+
+While this scene was enacting, the English Justiciars were in session
+in the Castle. Thither Bruce and his friends, having overpowered
+Comyn's adherents, at once proceeded. The Justiciars had prudently
+barricaded the doors, but, when Bruce called for fire, they instantly
+surrendered. Bruce spared their lives, and allowed them to pass over
+the Border without molestation. According to Hemingburgh, it was only
+after Bruce had got possession of the Castle that he learned that
+Comyn was still alive after his first wound; whereupon, by order of
+Bruce, the wounded man was dragged from the vestibule, where the friars
+were tending him, and slain on the steps of the high altar, which was
+bespattered with his blood.
+
+Comyn was slain (according to the usually accepted date) on February
+10. Less than two months later (April 5), Edward affirmed that he had
+placed complete confidence (_plenam fiduciam_) in Bruce. The profession
+may be accepted as sincere, for it is on record, under date February
+8 (the order would have been made some days earlier), that Edward
+remitted scutage due by Bruce on succession to his father's estates.
+We may, therefore, put aside the English part of the Fordun and
+Barbour story and refuse to believe that Edward dallied with Comyn's
+allegations, or was such a simpleton as to let Bruce keep possession
+of the incriminating bond. But was there a bond at all? It is generally
+accepted that Edward did hold in his hands a bond of Bruce's; but
+this bond is usually taken to have been the Lamberton indenture,
+which is supposed to have come into Edward's possession through the
+instrumentality of Comyn. Still, there is nothing to show that this
+indenture was yet in Edward's hands. It may also be gravely doubted
+whether Comyn would ever have entered into any bond with Bruce. There
+is much significance in the silence of the English records. Nor is
+there more than a very slight English indication of any communication
+about Bruce from Comyn to Edward. It is likely enough, however, that
+Comyn informed Edward of Bruce's private pushing of his claims; and it
+may be that the details of the story of a bond were evolved on mere
+suppositions arising out of the Bruce-Lamberton compact.
+
+The allegation that Bruce deliberately murdered Comyn is the most
+serious matter. But the English writers do not satisfy one that they
+had the means of seeing into Bruce's mind; and the allegation may be
+reasonably regarded as inference, not fact. There can scarcely be
+any doubt that Bruce resumed the active furtherance of his claims
+on observation of the declining health of Edward, but without any
+immediate intention of a rupture. He could hardly have found support
+enough to counterbalance the far-reaching power of Comyn, to say
+nothing of the power of Edward. Clearly it was of the very first
+importance that he should, if possible, gain over Comyn. He may have
+offered Comyn broad lands and high honours. But to expect the practical
+heir of the Balliol claims to support him was, on the face of it,
+all but hopeless; and to speak of patriotism to Comyn would have
+been nothing less than open insult. Comyn, of course, would stanchly
+reject Bruce's overtures. Despite all his prudence, Bruce had a hot
+and imperious temper; and Comyn's obstinacy--it may be Comyn's frank
+speech--most probably broke down his self-command. If it had been
+Bruce's deliberate purpose to kill his rival, he would scarcely have
+chosen a church for the scene, or have left the deed to be afterwards
+completed either by others or by himself. The mere fact that he was
+totally unprepared for a struggle with Edward tells almost conclusively
+against the theory of premeditation--unless there was a very clearly
+compromising bond with Comyn, which is wholly improbable. The bond with
+Lamberton--the only bond that certainly existed--was capable of easy
+explanation, and was a wholly insufficient reason to urge him to murder
+a rival, whose adherents would make up in bitterness what they lost in
+leadership.
+
+Nor is there any reason to believe that Lamberton was implicated.
+True, he was charged, on his own bond, with complicity in the deed.
+There still exist letters patent, dated Scotland's Well, June 9, 1306,
+in which Lamberton declares to Sir Aymer de Valence, then Edward's
+lieutenant in Scotland, his anxious desire 'to defend himself in
+any way the King or Council may devise against the charge of having
+incurred any kind of guilt in the death of Sir John Comyn or of Sir
+Robert his uncle, or in relation to the war then begun'; and on August
+9, at Newcastle, he acknowledged the Cambuskenneth indenture. But there
+is no necessary connection between the compact and the crime; and it
+is in the last degree improbable that Lamberton had any anticipation
+whatever of the Dumfries tragedy. His sympathy with Bruce's rising is
+quite a different consideration.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Having garrisoned Dumfries Castle, Bruce sent out his messengers to
+raise adherents. The Galwegians having refused to join him, he ravaged
+their lands; and he took the castles of Tibbers, Durisdeer, and Ayr.
+But he was not strong enough to keep the castles for more than a very
+short period. After the first surprise, Comyn's men asserted their
+superior force; and aid arrived from Carlisle. The Lanercost chronicler
+records that Bruce pursued a Galwegian noble and besieged him in a
+lake, but that the Carlisle contingent raised the siege, compelling
+Bruce to burn his machines and 'ships,' and take to flight. Probably
+Carlaverock is meant.
+
+Leaving the local struggle to lieutenants, Bruce hastened to Bishop
+Wishart in Glasgow. At Arickstone, in the upper end of Annandale,
+Barbour says, he was joined by James of Douglas, who had been staying
+with the Bishop of St. Andrews--a young man destined to play a
+great part in the history of Bruce. Bishop Wishart joyously received
+his visitor, cheerfully broke his sixth oath of fealty to Edward,
+pronounced absolution of Bruce for the murder of Comyn, and produced
+coronation robes and a royal banner. There was nothing half-hearted
+about the flexible prelate. Already the country was in eager
+expectation, and Bruce and the Bishop proceeded boldly to Scone.
+
+On March 27, 1306, in the Chapel Royal of Scone, the immemorial scene
+of the inauguration of the Kings of the Scots, Robert Bruce was crowned
+King. The ceremony inevitably lacked certain of the traditional
+accessories that strangely influenced the popular mind. The venerable
+Stone of Destiny had been carried off by Edward ten years before. The
+crown--if crown there had been--was also gone; and the ancient royal
+robes--if such there had been--were no longer available. The prescient
+Bishop, however, had provided fresh robes, and a circlet of gold was
+made to do duty for a crown. Still, there was lacking an important
+functionary--the person whose office and privilege it was to place the
+crown on the head of the King. The proper official was the chief of the
+clan MacDuff; but Duncan, Earl of Fife, was in wardship in England, and
+again, as on the coronation of Balliol, arose the difficulty of finding
+an efficacious substitute. No substitute was forthcoming, and the
+coronation had to pass with maimed rites.
+
+Two days later, however, this difficulty was dramatically solved.
+Isabella, Countess of Buchan, and sister of the Earl of Fife, had
+hastened south with an imposing retinue, and appeared to claim the
+honour and privilege of her house. A second coronation--not mentioned
+by the Scottish writers--was held on March 29. The wife of a Comyn,
+nearly related to the murdered Sir John, the Countess yet performed
+the mystic function. It would be an exceedingly interesting thing if
+one could now disentangle the extraordinary complication of ideas and
+influences involved in this remarkable ceremonial. The subsequent
+punishment of the Countess by Edward continued the romance of the
+occasion; and it may be added here that, on March 20, 1306-7, Edward,
+at the instance of his queen, pardoned one Geoffrey de Conyers for
+concealing the coronet of gold with which King Robert was crowned.
+
+The coronation might have been expected to strike the imagination
+of the Scots, and to rally the spirit that cherished the memory of
+Wallace. Fordun asserts that Bruce's friends in Scotland, as compared
+with his collective foes, were but 'as a single drop compared with
+the waves of the sea, or as a single grain of seed compared with
+the multitudinous sand.' The hyperbole has a considerable basis of
+fact. Bruce, indeed, was supported at his coronation by the two chief
+prelates of Scotland, the Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, and by
+the Abbot of Scone; by strong-handed relatives--his four brothers,
+Edward, Thomas, Alexander, and Nigel; his nephew, Thomas Randolph of
+Strathdon (better known afterwards as Randolph, Earl of Moray), and
+his brother-in-law, Sir Christopher de Seton (husband of his sister
+Christian); by the Earls of Lennox, Athol, and Errol; and by such
+valorous men as James de Douglas, Hugh de la Haye (brother of Errol),
+David Barclay of Cairns, Alexander, brother of Sir Simon Fraser, Walter
+de Somerville of Carnwath, David de Inchmartin, Robert Boyd, and Robert
+Fleming. Apart from the episcopal influence, however, the array is
+not very imposing. Yet how vastly superior to the meagre beginnings
+of Wallace! Bruce, indeed, lacked one vital source of strength that
+his great predecessor had--intimate association and sympathy with the
+common folk; but, on the other hand, he was admitted, except by the
+Comyn interest, to be the legitimate sovereign, and 'is not the King's
+name twenty thousand names?' And so it would have been but for his
+inglorious record. It is only the servile adulation of later writers
+that has pictured Bruce as animated by patriotism. He was simply a
+great Anglo-Norman baron in quest of aggrandizement; and it took many
+years to satisfy the people generally that their interests were safe
+in his keeping. But he was a man with deep reserves of strength, freed
+at last from the paralysis of worldly prudence by a sudden shock,
+and compelled to defend his crown and his life with his back to the
+wall. Happily, if only incidentally, such self-defence involved the
+championship of the independence of Scotland.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY
+
+
+The new King buckled to his task with fiery energy. 'All the English'
+had not, though many of them had, 'returned to their own land'; and
+Bruce instantly issued a proclamation requiring those that remained
+to follow those that had gone. According to the Meaux chronicler, he
+proceeded to expel them; but the particular acts are not recorded. At
+the same time he imperiously insisted on the submission of such Scots
+as had not yet joined him. He threw the Perth bailies into prison, and
+required them, on pain of death, to pay up L54 of the King's Whitsunday
+rents. A detailed example of his procedure remains in the memorial
+of exculpation addressed by Malise, Earl of Strathearn, to Edward.
+The Earl alleges that, on Monday, the day after the coronation, Bruce
+sent to him the Abbot of Inchaffray, requiring him to repair forthwith
+to his presence to perform homage and fealty. On his refusal, Bruce,
+with the Earl of Athol, entered Strathearn in force, occupied Foulis,
+and despatched another summons, with a safe conduct, to the Earl,
+who took counsel with his followers in the wood of Crieff. Bruce's
+messenger seems to have been Sir Malcolm de Inverpeffry, who had been
+Edward's sheriff of Clackmannan and Auchterarder, and had been one of
+the first to go over to Bruce. Taking the advice of Sir Malcolm and
+of his own friends, he went to Bruce, but still he refused to comply
+with the peremptory demand of submission. Next day, he again met Bruce
+by appointment at Muthill. In the course of the interview, Athol, who
+had been stung by a sharp home thrust of Strathearn's, urged Bruce to
+break his promise of safe conduct and give the Earl into custody, while
+Athol's men should go and ravage his lands. Strathearn was taken to
+Inchmalcolm, where he steadily maintained his refusal. Sir Robert de
+Boyd thereupon advised Bruce to cut off his head and grant away his
+lands, and to do the like to all others afflicted with such scruples.
+Strathearn then gave way, and they let him go. The story may be
+coloured to suit Strathearn's new difficulties, but it may at least be
+taken as an indication of Bruce's resolute, yet prudent, action.
+
+The memorial further shows that Strathearn was again at issue with
+Bruce before the battle of Methven. Bruce sent him a letter, he says,
+directing him to bring his power to Calder; but, instead of obeying
+the order, he communicated the letter to Sir Aymer de Valence, then at
+Perth, and prepared to follow with his men. Just as he was starting,
+Bruce came upon him, laid siege to the place where he was, and ravaged
+his country. At an interview, Strathearn flatly refused to join Bruce
+in an attack on Valence; and Bruce had to let him go recalcitrant and
+unpunished, for the sake of the hostages in the hands of Strathearn's
+party.
+
+The news of Bruce's revolt and the death of Comyn roused Edward into
+full martial vigour. He at once despatched judicious instructions to
+his officers in Scotland and on the Borders. In March he was directing
+military supplies to be accumulated at Berwick; and in the beginning of
+April he commanded the Irish authorities to divert supplies destined
+for Ayr to Skinburness, and to send them 'with the utmost haste,'
+giving 'orders to the seamen to keep the high seas and not to approach
+the ports of Ayr or Galloway on any account.' On April 5 he issued
+orders for the immediate muster of the forces of the northern counties
+at the summons of Valence and Percy.
+
+Having set his army in motion, Edward held a great feast at Westminster
+at Whitsuntide. By proclamation he invited all such youths as had a
+hereditary claim to knighthood, and such as had the means to campaign,
+to come and receive knighthood along with the Prince of Wales. In the
+middle of April he had despatched his clerks to St Botolph's Fair, with
+orders to his sheriffs and other lieges of Southampton and Wilts to aid
+them 'in purchasing 80 cloths of scarlet and other colours, 2000 ells
+of linen cloth, 4000 ells of canvas, 30 pieces of wax, and 20 boillones
+of almonds,' for the outfit and entertainment of the new knights.
+The Royal Palace could not contain the visitors. The Prince and the
+more noble of the candidates kept vigil in Westminster Abbey; the rest
+made shift to keep vigil in the Temple. Next day the King knighted the
+Prince, and made him Duke of Aquitaine. Thereupon the Prince went to
+Westminster Abbey and conferred knighthood upon his companions. The
+crush before the high altar was so severe that two knights died and
+many fainted; and the Prince ordered in a ring of war-horses to fence
+off his knights from the crowd. The number of new knights may be taken
+roundly at three hundred.
+
+Then followed a remarkable ceremony. As the King and the knights sat
+at table, there entered a splendid procession, attended by a train of
+minstrels, in the midst of which were borne two swans in golden nets
+amid gilt reeds, 'a lovely spectacle to the beholders.' On seeing them,
+the King chivalrously vowed a vow to God and to the swans--emblems of
+purity and faith--that he would go to Scotland, and, alive or dead,
+avenge the outrage to Holy Church, the death of Comyn, and the broken
+faith of the Scots. Turning to the Prince and the nobles, he adjured
+them by their fealty that, if he should die before accomplishing his
+vow, they should carry his body with them in the war, and not bury it
+'till the Lord gave victory and triumph' over the perfidious Bruce
+and the perjured Scots. One and all, they engaged their faith by the
+same vow. Trevet adds that Edward further vowed that, when the war in
+Scotland was successfully ended, he would never more bear arms against
+Christian men, but would direct his steps to the Holy Land and never
+return thence. 'Never in Britain, since God was born,' says Langtoft,
+'was there such nobleness in towns or in cities, except Caerleon in
+ancient times, when Sir Arthur the King was crowned there.'
+
+The brilliant ceremony over, the Prince set out for Carlisle, where his
+army was ordered to be in readiness on July 8. He was accompanied by a
+large number of his new-made knights. The King was to follow by slow
+stages.
+
+Amidst the pomp of the gallant ceremonial, Edward's mind was keenly
+bent upon the business of the expedition. Writing to Valence on May
+24, he desires 'that some good exploit be done, if possible, before
+his arrival.' Two days later (May 26), he is delighted to hear that
+Valence, then at Berwick, is ready to operate against the enemy, and
+urges him to strike at them as often as possible, and in concert
+with the forces at Carlisle. As regards 'the request by some for a
+safe-conduct for the Bishop of St Andrews,' Valence, he orders, 'will
+neither give, nor allow any of his people to give such.' The Bishop, if
+he pleases, may come to the King's faith, and receive his deserts. Let
+Valence take the utmost pains to secure the Bishop's person, and also
+the person of the Bishop of Glasgow; and let him send frequent news of
+his doings.
+
+Valence had a stroke of luck. On June 8, Edward 'is very much pleased'
+to learn from him 'that the Bishop of Glasgow is taken, and will soon
+be sent to him.' The Bishop had been taken in arms on the recapture of
+Cupar Castle by the English. A week later (June 16), Edward informs
+Valence that 'he is almost as much pleased as if it had been the Earl
+of Carrick,' and directs him to send the Bishop 'well guarded' to
+Berwick, 'having no regard to his estate of prelate or clerk.' The
+order was executed without any undue tenderness to the Bishop. The
+Bishop of St Andrews, however, was still at large. 'I understand from
+many,' wrote Edward to Valence in the letter of June 8, 'that the
+Bishop of St Andrews has done me all the mischief in his power, for,
+though chief of the Guardians of Scotland appointed by me, he has
+joined my enemies.'
+
+As yet the edge of Edward's appetite was but whetted. On June 12, he
+'is well pleased to hear that Valence has burned Sir Simon Fraser's
+lands in Selkirk Forest,' and commands him 'to do the same to all
+enemies on his march, including those who turned against him in this
+war of the Earl of Carrick, and have since come to his peace as enemies
+and not yet guaranteed; and to burn, destroy, and waste their houses,
+lands, and goods in such wise that Sir Simon and others may have no
+refuge with them as heretofore.' At the same time, Valence is to spare
+and honour the loyal, and in particular to compliment the foresters
+of Selkirk on their loyal and painful service. In successive letters
+he reiterates the caution to beware of surprise and treason, and his
+anxiety for constant news.
+
+Still more vindictive is his tone on June 19. He commands Valence
+to burn, destroy, and strip the lands and gardens of Sir Michael de
+Wemyss's manors, 'as he has found nor good speech nor good service in
+him,' and this for an example to others. Likewise, to do the same, or
+worse, if possible, to the lands and possessions of Sir Gilbert de la
+Haye, to whom the King did great courtesy when he was last in London,
+but now finds he is a traitor': the King will make up the loss to the
+persons to whom he has granted his lands!
+
+Meantime the Pope made his voice heard. On May 6, he had written to
+Edward, promising to send a nuncio to deal with the Bishop of Glasgow
+and others; and on May 11, he had strongly denounced to the Archbishop
+of York the assumption of the Bishop, desiring him to order the culprit
+peremptorily to come to his Holiness at Bordeaux. The Archbishop
+replied that the Bishop had been captured in arms, and that the King
+thought it inexpedient to serve the citation on his prisoner, but would
+send envoys with explanations. On June 18, the Pope addressed a bull
+to the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle directing them to
+excommunicate Bruce and his adherents, and to lay their lands, castles,
+and towns under ecclesiastical interdict till they should purge their
+offence. Already, on June 5, according to the London Annalist, the
+Archdeacons of Middlesex and Colchester had formally excommunicated
+Bruce and three other knights at St Paul's for the death of Comyn.
+
+However the sacrilegious deed at Dumfries may have affected the
+attitude of Scotsmen generally to Bruce, it did not produce revulsion
+in the minds of the more ardent patriots, any more than in the minds
+of Bruce's personal friends. Yet not only the powerful Comyn interest,
+but also a very large section of the rest of the population, adhered,
+formally at least, to the English cause. The particular movements
+of Bruce are not on record; but it appears that his adherents were
+pressing Sir Alexander de Abernethy in Forfar Castle, and that Irish
+as well as Scots allies were active in Fife and Gowrie. The foresters
+of Selkirk, as we have seen, had stood by Edward, and apparently had
+suffered not a little for their fidelity. Hemingburgh says Bruce 'did
+great wonders': undoubtedly the impression is that he must have been
+fighting a strenuous uphill battle. The great mass of the nation,
+however, was waiting for more definite developments.
+
+In June, Sir Aymer de Valence had advanced from Berwick to Perth. In
+his company were several prominent Scots--Sir John de Mowbray, Sir
+Ingram de Umfraville, Sir Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Adam de Gordon,
+Sir David de Brechin, and others that leant to Comyn. He had received
+to the peace some complaisant Scots whose lands or dwellings lay on his
+northward route. Bruce probably kept him under observation, retiring
+before him beyond the Forth, and not attempting to bar his progress to
+Perth.
+
+On June 25, Bruce, no doubt reinforced, appeared before the walls of
+Perth, and challenged Sir Aymer to come out and fight him, or else to
+surrender. Hemingburgh assigns to Valence only 300 men-at-arms and
+some foot, a smaller force, he says, than Bruce had; but it is most
+unlikely that Valence was not the stronger, though possibly not by 1500
+men, as Barbour alleges. Valence seems to have been ready to accept
+Bruce's challenge, but to have been dissuaded by his Scots friends.
+Umfraville, says Barbour, advised him to promise battle on the morrow,
+but to attack that night when the Scots were off guard in reliance on
+his promise. Bruce--'too credulous,' says Hemingburgh--accepted the
+promise. He was not in a position to establish a siege, and he retired
+to Methven Wood. His main body set about preparing food, and disposed
+themselves at ease, while parties went out to forage. In the dusk of
+the evening, Valence issued from Perth and took Bruce by surprise. It
+is not to be supposed, as the chroniclers narrate, that Bruce was so
+inexperienced as to allow his men to lie in careless unreadiness: no
+doubt many of them would have laid aside their arms; but the very fact
+that his knights at least fought with loose linen tunics over their
+armour to hide their distinctive arms would seem to show that they
+at any rate were prepared. Still they did not expect attack. They
+promptly rallied, however, and met with vigour the sudden and furious
+onset. Bruce, keenly realising the importance of the issue, bore
+himself with splendid valour. Before his fierce charge, the enemy gave
+way; and, Langtoft says, he killed Valence's charger. Thrice was he
+unhorsed himself, and thrice remounted by Sir Simon Fraser. According
+to Sir Thomas Gray, he was taken prisoner by John de Haliburton, who
+let him go the moment he recognised him. Barbour tells how he was hard
+beset by Sir Philip de Mowbray, and was rescued by Sir Christopher de
+Seton. But the day was going against him, and it was in vain that he
+made a supreme effort to rally his men. He was compelled to retreat.
+Barbour asserts that the English were too wearied to pursue, and
+retired within the walls of Perth with their prisoners, keeping there
+in fear of the approach of Bruce; but it seems far more likely, as
+Langtoft relates, that they kept up the pursuit 'for many hours.' The
+statement of Hemingburgh and others that the English pursued Bruce to
+Cantyre, and besieged and took a castle there, mistakenly supposing him
+to be in it, is evidently a misconception, and a confusion of Dunaverty
+with Kildrummy.
+
+Bruce lost comparatively few men in the battle--the 7000 of the
+Meaux chronicle need not be considered--but a number of his ablest
+supporters were taken prisoners, notably Thomas Randolph, his nephew,
+Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir David Barclay, Sir Hugh de la Haye, Sir David
+de Inchmartin, and Sir John de Somerville. The Bishop of St Andrews
+had surrendered to Valence before the battle, but had taken care to
+send his household to fight for Bruce. His calculation is said to have
+been 'that if the Scots beat the English they would rescue him as a
+man taken by force for lack of protection, whereas, if the English won
+the day, they would mercifully regard him as having been abandoned by
+his household, as not consenting to their acts.' But this looks like a
+speculation of the chronicler's. Valence displayed humane consideration
+for his prisoners, all the more honourable as he had not yet received
+Edward's letter of June 28, modifying his previous bloodthirsty orders.
+
+After the defeat, Bruce's party broke up into several groups.
+Sir Simon Fraser was captured at Kirkincliffe, near Stirling. Sir
+Christopher de Seton was taken at Lochore Castle in Fife. The Earl
+of Lennox made for his own fastnesses. Bruce himself proceeded
+northwards to Aberdeen. Barbour says he had about 500 followers, the
+most prominent of whom were his brother Sir Edward, the Earls of Athol
+and Errol, Sir William Barondoun, James of Douglas, and Sir Nigel
+Campbell. He kept to the high ground, not venturing to the plains, for
+the population had outwardly passed to the English peace again. Barbour
+tells pitifully how the fugitives' clothes and shoon were riven and
+rent before they reached Aberdeen. Here they were met by Nigel Bruce,
+the Queen, and other ladies; and here Bruce rested his company 'a good
+while.'
+
+The English, however, followed up, and Bruce was unable to show fight.
+The whole party, therefore, took to the hills again. The exact date is
+not recorded; but we know that Valence was at Aberdeen on August 3.
+The very next day (August 4) a painful scene was enacted at Newcastle.
+Fifteen Scots, all prisoners from Methven, including Sir David de
+Inchmartin, Sir John de Cambhou, Sir John de Somerville, Sir Ralph
+de Heriz, and Sir Alexander Scrymgeour, were arraigned before nine
+justices, whose instructions directed that 'judgment be pronounced as
+ordained, and none of them be allowed to answer.' They were all hanged.
+At the same time, John de Seton, who had been taken in Tibbers Castle,
+which he was holding for Bruce, and who had been present with Bruce at
+the death of Comyn, and at the capture of Dumfries Castle, of which
+Sir Richard Siward of Tibbers was constable, was condemned, drawn, and
+hanged. It appears to have been due to the earnest intervention of
+Sir Adam de Gordon that Randolph--as we shall henceforth call Thomas
+Randolph (_Thomas Ranulphi_) Bruce's nephew, later Earl of Moray--was
+spared.
+
+Bruce and his followers suffered serious privations in the hill
+country. Barbour engagingly tells how Douglas especially exerted
+himself in hunting and fishing, and, as became a chivalrous youth
+hardly out of his teens, served indefatigably the ladies as well as
+his lord. The party pushed south-westwards by 'the head of the Tay.'
+Eventually, they found themselves face to face with the Lord of Lorn,
+Alexander MacDougal, a 'deadly enemy to the King,' says Barbour,
+'for the sake of his uncle John Comyn.' Alexander was really Lord of
+Argyll, and had married Comyn's third daughter; it was his son, John
+of Lorn, whose uncle Comyn was, and Barbour may mean John. Alexander
+is said to have had over 1000 men, with the chiefs of Argyll as his
+lieutenants. Bruce was in no case for battle, but he was encouraged, in
+his necessity, by the nature of the ground, and put on a bold front.
+A stern combat ensued at Dalry--the 'Kings Field'--in Strathfillan,
+near Tyndrum. Fordun gives the date August 11; and, if this be correct,
+Barbour has misplaced the episode. The men of Lorn, wielding their
+great pole-axes on foot, did serious execution upon Bruce's horses; and
+they wounded badly some of his men, including Douglas and Sir Gilbert
+de la Haye. Bruce satisfied himself by a determined charge that further
+contest would cost him too many men, and, forming close, he retreated
+steadily, protecting his rear in person so vigilantly and boldly that
+none of the Lorns durst advance from the main body.
+
+The wrath of Lorn incited two brothers named MacIndrosser--that is,
+sons of Durward (the Doorkeeper) as Barbour explains--to perform an
+oath they had sworn to slay Bruce. This oath may possibly be connected
+with the fact that Alan Durward, the celebrated Justiciar of Scotland,
+had vainly endeavoured to get his family claims to the throne forwarded
+by the legitimation of his daughters, his wife being an illegitimate
+daughter of Alexander II. Joined by a third man--possibly the MacKeoch
+of the Lorn tradition--they rushed on Bruce in a narrow pass--perhaps
+between Loch Dochart and Ben More--where the hill rose so sheer from
+the water that he had barely room to turn his horse. One caught his
+bridle, but Bruce instantly shore off his arm. Another had seized his
+leg and stirrup; but Bruce rose in his stirrups and spurred his horse,
+throwing down his adversary, who still grimly maintained his grip. The
+third meanwhile had scrambled up the incline and jumped on Bruce's
+horse behind him; but Bruce at once dragged him forward and clove his
+head. He then struck down the man at his stirrup. This exploit cowed
+the Lorns. Barbour glorifies Bruce by citing the admiring comment of
+MacNaughton, a Baron of Cowal. 'You seem to enjoy our discomfiture,'
+said Lorn angrily. 'No,' replied MacNaughton; 'but never did I hear
+tell of such a feat, and one should honour chivalry whether in friend
+or in foe.' Bruce rode after his men, and Lorn retired in chagrin.
+Barbour, it will be observed, makes no mention of a personal encounter
+between Bruce and Lorn, or of the capture of the famous Brooch of Lorn,
+
+    'Wrought and chased with fair device,
+    Studded fair with gems of price.'
+
+Bruce, according to Barbour, now applied himself to comfort his party,
+though probably he was less versed than the devoted Archdeacon in
+historical examples of courage in despair. There was need for comfort;
+things were going rapidly from bad to worse. The ladies began to fail.
+And not only the ladies, but some of the harder sex: the Earl of Athol,
+Barbour says, could hold out no longer on any terms. A council of war
+was called, with the result that Bruce himself, with some 200 of the
+tougher men, took to the higher hills, and Sir Nigel Bruce, taking
+all the horses, even the King's, essayed to conduct the Queen and the
+other ladies, as well as the more exhausted of the men, back to the
+Aberdeenshire stronghold of Kildrummy.
+
+Sir Nigel reached Kildrummy in safety. The castle was well provisioned,
+and was deemed impregnable. It had not been taken by Valence in early
+August, when he 'well settled affairs beyond the Mounth, and appointed
+warders there.' Sir Nigel was soon besieged, probably by the Prince of
+Wales. A vigorous attack was met by a spirited defence, the besieged
+frequently sallying and fighting at the outworks. There was hardly
+time for the besiegers to despair of success, as Barbour says they
+did, when a traitor set fire to the store of corn heaped up in the
+castle hall, involving the place in flames, and driving the garrison
+to the battlements. The English seized their opportunity and attacked
+as closely as the fire permitted, but they were gallantly repelled.
+The entrance gate, though burnt, is said to have been so hot that
+they could not enter. They accordingly waited till the morrow. The
+defenders, with great exertion, managed to block up the gate overnight.
+At daybreak, the attack was renewed, with all the energy of certain
+hope. The besieged, however, having neither food nor fuel, recognised
+that further defence was impossible, and surrendered at discretion.
+The precise date is not clear. A calendered letter, anonymous, dated
+September 13, states that 'Kildrummy was lately taken by the Prince';
+but, if this date be correct, it seems strange that Edward, writing
+on September 22, should not say more than that 'all is going well at
+Kildrummy Castle.'
+
+The prisoners included Sir Nigel Bruce, Sir Robert de Boyd, Sir
+Alexander de Lindsay, 'and other traitors, and many knights and
+others.' Hemingburgh mentions the Queen; but Barbour and Fordun relate
+that she and the Princess Marjory, in order to escape the siege, had
+been escorted to the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain, where they were
+taken by the Earl of Ross, who delivered them to Edward. It may be
+incidentally noted that some two years afterwards (October 31, 1308),
+the Earl of Ross did fealty and homage to King Robert at Auldearn, and
+was reinstated in his lands.
+
+The fate of the more important prisoners demands particular notice.
+Most of the captives were interned in English castles; but
+
+    'Some they ransomed, some they slew,
+    And some they hanged, and some they drew.'
+
+The Queen was sent to stay at the manor of Burstwick, in Holderness,
+Yorkshire. Edward certainly meant to treat her handsomely. His
+directions were that she should have 'a waiting-woman and a
+maid-servant, advanced in life, sedate, and of good conversation; a
+butler, two man-servants, and a foot-boy for her chamber, sober and
+not riotous, to make her bed; three greyhounds, when she inclined to
+hunt; venison, fish, and the "fairest house in the manor."' Hemingburgh
+gives two reasons. First, her father, the Red Earl of Ulster, had
+proved faithful to him. Second, he was pleased with a reported saying
+of hers on the coronation of her husband. 'Rejoice now, my consort,'
+Bruce said, 'for you have been made a Queen, and I a King.' 'I fear,
+Sir,' she replied, 'we have been made King and Queen after the fashion
+of children in summer games.' Other chroniclers give the story with
+slight variation. In a letter, without date, but apparently belonging
+to next year, she complains to Edward 'that, though he had commanded
+his bailiffs of Holderness to see herself and her attendants honourably
+sustained, yet they neither furnish attire for her person or her
+head, nor a bed, nor furniture of her chambers, saving only a robe
+of three "garmentz" yearly, and for her servants one robe each for
+everything'; and she prays him 'to order amendment of her condition,
+and that her servants be paid for their labour, that she may not be
+neglected, or that she may have a yearly sum allowed by the King for
+her maintenance.' In autumn 1310, she was at Bistelesham; in 1311-12,
+at Windsor Castle; in autumn 1312, at Shaftesbury; in 1313, at Barking
+Abbey; in 1313-14, at Rochester Castle; in October 1314, at Carlisle
+Castle, on her way back to Scotland, in consequence of Bannockburn.
+
+Marjory, Bruce's daughter, had first been destined to a 'cage' in the
+Tower of London, but was placed by Sir Henry de Percy in the Priory of
+Watton in Yorkshire. She returned to Scotland with the Queen.
+
+Mary Bruce, sister of the King, and wife of Sir Nigel Campbell, was
+kept first in Roxburgh Castle, in a 'cage,' and then at Newcastle till
+June 25, 1312, when she was probably exchanged.
+
+Christian Bruce, another sister of the King, and widow of Sir
+Christopher de Seton, was relegated to the Priory of Sixhill, in
+Lincolnshire, whence she was released on July 18, 1314, and returned
+with the Queen.
+
+The Countess of Buchan was put in a 'cage' in Berwick Castle. The
+Earl, it is said, wanted to kill her, but Edward delivered judgment
+thus: 'As she did not strike with the sword, she shall not perish by
+the sword; but, because of the unlawful coronation she performed, let
+her be closely confined in a stone-and-iron chamber, fashioned in the
+form of a crown, and suspended at Berwick in the open air outside
+the castle, so that she may be presented, alive and dead, a spectacle
+to passers-by and an everlasting reproach.' In fact, she was placed
+in a room--or rather an erection of three storeys or rooms--of stout
+lattice-work in a turret of the castle. She was to be kept so strictly
+that 'she shall speak to no one, and that neither man nor woman of the
+nation of Scotland, nor other, shall approach her,' except her keeper
+and her immediate attendants. The 'cage' was simply an arrangement for
+'straiter custody,' though but rarely judged necessary in the case of
+ladies. About a year later, the ex-Constable of Bristol Castle was
+reimbursed certain expenditure, part of which was for 'making a wooden
+cage bound with iron in the said house for the straiter custody of
+Owen, son of David ap Griffith, a prisoner, shut therein at night.'
+
+A harder fate awaited the foremost knightly defenders of Kildrummy.
+Sir Nigel Bruce and several others were drawn, hanged, and beheaded at
+Berwick. The handsome person and gallant bearing of the youthful knight
+excited general sympathy and regret.
+
+The Earl of Athol had escaped from Kildrummy and taken to sea, but was
+driven back by contrary winds and took refuge in a church, where he
+was captured--'the news whereof eased the King's pain.' In the end of
+October he was taken to London, and tried and condemned. When friends
+interceded for him, and urged his royal blood, 'The higher the rank,'
+said Edward, 'the worse the fall; hang him higher than the rest.' In
+virtue of his royal blood he was not drawn, but he was hanged fifty
+feet high (twenty feet higher than others), taken down half-dead,
+beheaded and burnt, and his head was set on London Bridge, again higher
+than the rest.
+
+Sir Christopher de Seton had been taken at Lochore (Hemingburgh,
+Trevet)--if not at Kildrummy (Gray)--betrayed, says Barbour, by MacNab,
+'a man of his own household,' 'a disciple of Judas.' 'In hell condemned
+mot he be!' prays the good Archdeacon. He was taken to Dumfries, in
+consideration of the part he played at the death of Comyn, and there
+(not, as Barbour says, at London) he was drawn, hanged, and beheaded.
+He was only twenty-eight years of age.
+
+Sir Simon Fraser had been captured about August 24, by Sir David de
+Brechin, near Stirling, and conducted to London on September 6. He was
+tried and condemned, drawn, hanged, and beheaded; his body, having been
+rehung on the gallows for twenty days, was burnt; and his head was
+carried, with the music of horns, to London Bridge, and placed near
+the head of Wallace. Fraser, since turning patriot, had extorted the
+admiration of foes and friends alike. 'In him,' says Langtoft, 'through
+his falseness, perished much worth.' 'The imprisoned Scots nobles,'
+says another English chronicler, 'declared he could be neither beaten
+nor taken, and thought the Scots could not be conquered while he was
+alive. So much did they believe in him that Sir Herbert de Morham,
+handsomest and tallest of Scotsmen, a prisoner in the Tower, offered
+his head to the King to be cut off the day Simon was captured.' Sir
+Herbert's squire, Thomas du Bois, joined in his master's confident
+wager. Both of them were beheaded on September 7, the day after Sir
+Simon's arrival at the Tower.
+
+But Edward dared not imbrue his hands in the blood of great churchmen.
+The Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow and the Abbot of Scone were
+conducted to Newcastle-on-Tyne in the warlike guise in which they are
+said to have been taken. From Newcastle (August 10) they were led by
+stages, still traceable, to their separate places of confinement--the
+castles of Winchester, Porchester, and Mere. On the way they were not
+allowed to communicate with each other, or with anyone else, 'excepting
+their keepers only'; and, on arrival at their several destinations,
+they were loaded with irons. Edward was keenly anxious to get hold
+of the Bishop of Moray also, whom he believed--no doubt wrongly--to
+have been a party to the murder of Comyn, but who certainly adhered to
+Bruce. The Bishop, however, had fled to Orkney, and for a twelvemonth
+left Edward to negotiate with the King of Norway for his surrender.
+
+The Bishop of St Andrews had sagaciously surrendered to Valence four
+or five days before Methven. He had already (June 9) warmly repudiated
+the charge of complicity in the death of Comyn. On August 9, he was
+severely examined at Newcastle. Why had he concealed his bond with
+Bruce when he was admitted of the Council at Sheen? He had 'entirely
+forgotten' it--which is not quite improbable, for, on the face of
+it at all events, and possibly in fact, it related to the immediate
+contingencies of eighteen months back. Why did he hasten to Bruce's
+coronation? He went to see him 'on account of grievous threats against
+his person and substance, and for no other reason'--but he was not so
+stiff as the Earl of Strathearn. Neither these nor his further answers
+are satisfactory. Already he was declaring himself 'heartily sorry.' On
+June 1, 1308, on an order dated May 23, he was released from Winchester
+Castle, where he had lain from August 24, 1306, but he was taken
+bound to remain within the county of Northampton. At Northampton, on
+August 11, he swore fealty to Edward in abject terms, and made oath to
+remain within the bounds of the bishopric of Durham. He was creeping
+northwards. The Pope sent a strong remonstrance in his favour, but
+Edward II. had anticipated it by the Bishop's release. On February
+16, 1309-10, the Bishop figures at the head of a commission of seven,
+invested, on the urgency of the Pope, with full powers to treat with
+Bruce for a cessation of hostilities. On July 24, 1311, he was back in
+Scotland, and Edward writes to the Pope excusing his absence from a
+General Council holden at Vienna, on the ground that 'he is much needed
+to give right direction to the minds of Scotsmen, and in these days no
+one's exhortations are more readily acquiesced in.' Indeed, 'we have
+laid upon him various arduous tasks touching the state of the country,
+and especially its tranquillity.' Besides, 'his absence would be a
+danger to souls.' In a second letter of excuse, on December 4, Edward
+testifies emphatically to his continued fidelity. About two years
+later, November 30, 1313, the Bishop was still so much in favour that
+Edward dispatched him on an embassy to the King of France. On September
+25, 1314, he 'is going abroad on business of his own, by our leave';
+which implies his final release as a consequence of Bannockburn.
+
+The Bishop of Glasgow was more strictly dealt with. Apparently about
+the date of his internment in Porchester Castle (say August 25,
+1306), he prayed the King, 'for God and for charity and the salvation
+of his soul, to allow him to remain in England within certain bounds
+at the King's will, on such surety as the King may demand, till the
+rising of the Scots be entirely put down.' On December 1, 1308, Edward
+II. delivered him to Arnaud, Bishop of Poitiers, to be taken to the
+Pope; but three days later he wrote to his Holiness, and to a number
+of cardinals, that the Bishop's crimes forbade any hope that he could
+be allowed to return to Scotland. He set forth at large the supreme
+wickedness of the Bishop, 'the sower of universal discord,' the
+traitor, the sixfold perjurer, the ecclesiastic taken in arms; 'not a
+pacific overseer, but a belligerent; not a Levite of the altar, but a
+horsed warrior, taking to himself a shield for a diocese, a sword for
+a stole, a corslet for an alb, a helmet for a mitre, a spear for a
+pastoral staff.' Begging the Pope on no account to permit the return of
+the Bishop to Scotland, or even 'elsewhere within the King's power,'
+he recommends the appointment of Master Stephen de Segrave, Professor
+of Canon Law and Dean of Glasgow, to the western bishopric. To the
+Pope the Bishop went; and with the Pope he apparently remained for
+two years, for in January 1310-11, Edward wrote from Berwick to his
+Chancellor informing him that he had heard that the Bishop was 'busy
+suing his deliverance at the Court of Rome,' and commanding him, 'in
+concert with the Earl of Lincoln, the Lieutenant and Guardian, and
+the Treasurer of Scotland, to issue letters under the Great Seal to
+the Pope, and to the Cardinals named in the enclosed list, urgently
+opposing the Bishop's restoration either to his office or to his
+country, and pointing out his evil bearing (_mavoys port_), and his
+repeated violation of his oath, and anything else likely to induce
+the Pope to refuse him leave even to return to Scotland.' These
+representations appear to have stayed the Pope's hand; and again,
+on April 23, Edward repeated with especial urgency his request for
+the supersession of the Bishop by Master Stephen de Segrave. Late in
+1313, the Bishop was sent back to Edward 'to be detained by the King
+at pleasure till Scotland was recovered'; and Edward, on November 20,
+committed him to the charge of the Prior of Ely, 'to remain at the
+Priory at his own expenses, and not to go forth except for the purpose
+of taking the air, under sufficient escort.' On July 18, 1314, Edward
+ordered him to be brought to York, where he joined Bruce's Queen and
+other Scots prisoners, with whom he was sent to Carlisle on October 2,
+and thence to Scotland. Physically, however, he was worn out; he had
+become totally blind. He survived his restoration but two years, dying
+in 1317. It stands to the credit of Bruce that he always retained a
+strong feeling of gratitude and sympathy for the patriotic, flexible,
+gallant, and much enduring Bishop.
+
+The campaign of the east was over. On October 4, Edward conferred
+on Sir Aymer de Valence lands and official honours in the shires of
+Peebles and Selkirk; and, on October 7, he made him keeper of the
+castle and forest of Jedburgh. On October 23, Edward received the
+homage and fealty of James, Steward of Scotland, and restored to him
+his lands. Of course the English lands and possessions of Bruce and all
+his adherents were distributed as rewards to the deserving officers and
+the favourites of the conqueror. The active opposition to the English
+in Scotland was smothered in blood, except in the parts of Galloway and
+Carrick.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE KING IN EXILE
+
+
+When Sir Nigel Bruce parted for the last time with his brother and
+passed on his fated way to Kildrummy, the King was left with some two
+hundred men, all on foot. He kept steadily to the hills, where he
+suffered severely from hunger, cold, and wet, till at last he resolved
+to make southward to Cantyre. Despatching Sir Nigel Campbell, whose
+kinsmen dwelt in these parts, to obtain boats and victuals, and to
+meet the party 'at the sea'--either on Loch Long or on the Firth of
+Clyde--Bruce, says Barbour, struck for Loch Lomond, probably about
+Rowardennan. Here he could find no boats, and either way round was long
+and beset with foes. At last Douglas discovered a sunken boat, capable
+of holding but three men. In the course of a night and a day the party
+were ferried over, two by two, a few of them, however, swimming 'with
+fardel on back.' Meanwhile Bruce cheered their drooping spirits by
+reading from the old romance how Fierabras was overcome by the right
+doughty Oliver, and how the Twelve (Eleven) Peers held out in Aigremont
+against Lawyne (Laban, Balan) till they were delivered by Charlemagne.
+
+The most pressing difficulty was lack of food. Presently, however, this
+was relieved by the Earl of Lennox, who had noted the sound of the
+King's horn and joyfully hastened to him. Shortly Sir Nigel returned
+with boats and food in abundance. Bruce and his friends embarked.
+Barbour has a dramatic story how Lennox made delay in starting, how
+his boat was pursued--probably by Lorn's men--and how he escaped
+by throwing overboard his belongings, which the enemy stopped to
+appropriate. The boats ran down the Firth and safely landed the party
+in Cantyre.
+
+Here Bruce received a friendly welcome from Angus of Islay, Lord of
+Cantyre, who placed at his disposal the rock fortress of Dunaverty.
+He entertained suspicions of treachery, however, and stayed only three
+days. Then, with all his following, he passed over to the island of
+Rathlin, an exile from his kingdom.
+
+Such is Barbour's story. Taking it, meantime, as it stands, let us
+see what the English had been doing in the south-west. The details of
+operation are very scanty. Percy, the King's lieutenant on the western
+March, had exerted himself during June, July and August in fortifying
+and provisioning the castles. Lochmaben Castle fell on July 11, and
+Prince Edward felt himself free to go to Valence at Perth a few days
+later, and to carry through the siege of Kildrummy by the middle
+of September. He seems to have acted with more zeal than prudence.
+Rishanger says he took 'such vengeance that he spared neither sex
+nor age; towns, too, and hamlets, wherever he came he set on fire,
+and he mercilessly devastated the country.' This conduct 'is said to
+have gravely displeased the King his father, who chid him severely.'
+The King had moved northwards by slow stages, borne in a litter on
+horseback. It was September 29 when he reached the priory of Lanercost,
+eight miles from Carlisle, and this house he made his headquarters till
+March 26.
+
+In September, the siege of Dunaverty was proceeding under the direction
+of Sir John Botetourte, the King's ablest engineer. The local people
+were very slack in aiding the English, and Edward, on September 25,
+ordered Sir John de Menteith to compel them to supply the besiegers
+with provisions and necessaries, 'if they will not with a good grace.'
+Next month Edward empowered Sir John of Argyll to receive to his peace,
+on special conditions, Donald of Islay, Gotheri his brother, John
+MacNakyld, and Sir Patrick de Graham. The conditions suggest that they
+had been in a position to drive a good bargain; and the submission
+of the first three at least may, perhaps, be connected with the
+capitulation of Dunaverty towards the end of October.
+
+Now, at what date did Bruce pass from Dunaverty to Rathlin? Even were
+it not for Barbour's weather indications, and for the necessity of the
+awkward admission that, for some good reason--say commissariat--Bruce
+fled before the English approach and left some of his stanchest
+supporters in Dunaverty, it is difficult to suppose that he could
+have lain undisturbed in Rathlin from mid September to the end of
+January. Sir Thomas Gray records that Prince Edward, on his return
+from Kildrummy (say mid September), had an interview with Bruce, 'who
+had re-entered from the Isles and had collected a force in Athol,' at
+the bridge of Perth, much to the displeasure of the King his father.
+Gray is manifestly wrong in some points, and he may be wrong in all.
+Still, Bruce, finding his way barred by Alexander of Argyll and not
+daring to descend to the plains, may likely enough have turned back to
+Athol, and, on hearing of the disaster of Kildrummy and the capture
+of his Queen, his daughter, and his sisters, may have felt driven
+to a desperate attempt at accommodation. On such a supposition, it
+becomes easy to accept Barbour's Perthshire and Atlantic weather, to
+absolve Bruce from an apparent sacrifice of friends in Dunaverty, and
+to shorten to a credible length his stay in Rathlin. There are two
+difficulties to this view. One is that the English should have gone
+so far out of their way as to besiege Dunaverty so zealously, or at
+all. They seem, however, to have been under the impression that Bruce
+himself was there. The other difficulty is that Dunaverty had just been
+taken by the English. But if the astute Angus Oig was governor when
+Bruce arrived, Dunaverty was remote enough to allow him large scope for
+temporising.
+
+The secret of Bruce's retreat appears to have been well kept. In
+October, indeed, Edward had commissioned Sir John of Argyll admiral on
+the west coast. But he did not find Bruce. It was not till January 29,
+that Edward commanded the Treasurer of Ireland to aid Sir Hugh Bisset
+in fitting out 'as many well-manned vessels as he can procure, to come
+to the Isles and the Scottish coast, and join Sir John de Menteith in
+putting down Robert de Bruce and his accomplices lurking there, and in
+cutting off their retreat.' More precise are the terms of appointment
+of Sir Simon de Montacute (January 30) as commander of the fleet
+specially destined 'for service against the rebels lurking in Scotland,
+and in the Isles between Scotland and Ireland.' On February 1, Edward
+ordered up vessels from Skinburness and neighbouring ports 'towards Ayr
+in pursuit of Robert de Bruce and his abettors, and to cut off his
+retreat.' Bruce, therefore, must have left Rathlin some days before the
+end of January, and probably because of the menace of the English fleet.
+
+Barbour keeps him in Rathlin till winter was nearly gone--not really
+an inconsistency; but he seems to attribute the exodus to Douglas's
+chafing at inaction. Douglas, he says, proposed to Boyd an attempt
+on Brodick Castle, which Boyd knew well. With Bruce's leave they
+proceeded to Arran, and overnight set ambush at the castle. As they lay
+in wait, the sub-warden arrived with over thirty men in three boats,
+bringing provisions and arms; and Douglas and Boyd set upon them. The
+outcry brought men from the castle, who fled, however, before the bold
+advance of the Scots, and barred the gate. The Scots appropriated the
+sub-warden's provisions and arms, and took up a position in a narrow
+pass; and the garrison does not seem to have even attempted to dislodge
+them.
+
+On the tenth day, it is said, Bruce arrived with the rest of his men,
+in thirty-three small boats, and was conducted by a woman to the glen
+where Douglas and Boyd lay, strangely ignorant of his coming. Then
+Bruce determined to dispatch the trusty Cuthbert of Carrick to sound
+the people on the mainland, arranging that Cuthbert, in case he found
+them favourable, should raise a fire on Turnberry Point at a time
+fixed. Cuthbert found Percy in Turnberry Castle, with some 300 men;
+and, as for the Scots, some were willing, but afraid, while most were
+distinctly hostile. He dared not fire the beacon.
+
+At the appointed time, Bruce looked eagerly for the signal. He descried
+a fire. The party put to sea, 300 strong, and rowed, in the dusk and
+the dark, right on the fire. Cuthbert was at his wits' end; he dare
+not extinguish the fire. He met Bruce at the shore, and explained the
+untoward attitude of the people. 'Why, then,' demanded Bruce angrily,
+with a suspicion of treachery, 'why did you light the fire?' Cuthbert
+explained it was none of his doing, and beyond his help. What was to
+be done? A council of war was held. Sir Edward Bruce is said to have
+decided the question by a point-blank refusal to retire. He, for one,
+would strike at once, let come what might.
+
+Cuthbert had learned that two-thirds of the garrison were lodged in
+the town. Bruce and his men entered quietly in small parties, breaking
+open the doors and slaying all they found. Percy did not venture to
+sally from the castle. Bruce stayed three days, testing the feeling of
+the people; but even those that secretly favoured him were afraid to
+show an open preference. It is said that a lady, a near relative of his
+own, Christian of the Isles, came and encouraged him, and afterwards
+sent him frequent supplies of money and victuals. While mewing up
+Percy, he harried the country with increasing daring. A strong force
+of Northumberland men, however, raised the siege. Hemingburgh places
+Bruce's attack on Turnberry Castle 'about Michaelmas'; but it seems
+very unlikely that Bruce ventured to take the field in the south-west
+before he passed to Rathlin.
+
+Apart from Barbour's details, it is plain that Bruce had struck a heavy
+blow. On February 6, Edward wrote to his Treasurer expressing surprise
+'at having no news of Valence and his forces since he went to Ayr,
+if they have done any exploit or pursued the enemy.' He commands him
+'quickly to order Valence, Percy, and Sir John de St John, and others
+he sees, to send a trustworthy man without delay with full particulars
+of their doings and the state of affairs.' And he is 'not to forget in
+his letter to them to say on the King's behalf that he hears they have
+done so badly that they do not wish him to know.' To the same effect he
+wrote himself to Valence on February 11, and commanded him 'to write
+distinctly and clearly by the bearer the news of the parts where he is,
+the state of affairs there, and the doings of himself and the others
+hitherto, and how he and they have arranged further proceedings. For
+he suspects from his silence that he has so over-cautiously conducted
+matters that he wishes to conceal his actions.' At the same time he
+addressed similar letters to the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, St
+John, and Percy. The tone is too earnest to permit the supposition that
+Edward was dissembling knowledge of the facts.
+
+Bruce had at last regained a footing--though but a precarious
+footing--in his kingdom, and rendered Edward anxious about the
+immediate future.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TURN OF THE TIDE
+
+
+In the midst of his new success, another severe family blow was
+impending on Bruce. On February 10, 1306-7--the first anniversary of
+the Dumfries tragedy--his brothers Thomas and Alexander made a raid on
+Galloway, with some 300 Scots and 700 Irish auxiliaries, landing at
+Loch Ryan, in the territory of Sir Dougal MacDowall. In a desperate
+fight, the force was completely crushed by MacDowall, who captured
+Thomas and Alexander, and Sir Reginald Crawford, Wallace's uncle, all
+'wounded and half-dead.' Hemingburgh says the Scots were caught by
+surprise; Trevet adds 'in the night.' MacDowall delivered his chief
+prisoners, together with the heads of a baron of Cantyre and two Irish
+kinglets, to Prince Edward, at Wetheral, near Carlisle. These prisoners
+were all executed at Carlisle on February 17. Sir Thomas Bruce was
+drawn, hanged, and beheaded; Alexander Bruce, being a beneficed
+clergyman (Dean of Glasgow), was not drawn, but he and Sir Reginald
+Crawford, and apparently Sir Brice de Blair, were hanged and beheaded.
+Thomas's head was placed on the castle tower, and the heads of the
+others graced the three gates of the city. MacDowall was rewarded with
+the lands and possessions of Sir Robert de Boyd and Sir Brice de Blair,
+and on February 19, he received fifty marks and a charger; while on
+March 1, a profitable privilege was conferred, at his instance, upon
+his son.
+
+According to Gray and Trevet, Bruce had sent his brothers to Nithsdale
+and Annandale 'to gain over the people.' It may be that the expedition
+was intended first to operate as a diversion, and then to join Bruce
+himself in Nithsdale. For Bruce, if not already in these parts, was
+moving thitherwards. On February 12, Sir John Botetourte, with a
+considerable force, including over a score of knights, started to make
+a raid on Bruce in Nithsdale; and on March 8, he was reinforced by 180
+archers from Carlisle. The details, however, are not recorded.
+
+It was probably in February, upon the landing of Bruce in Carrick,
+that Edward issued from Lanercost an ordinance intended to conciliate
+the Scots, while it graded carefully the degrees of punishment for the
+worst classes of delinquents. Contrary to the King's intention, the
+ordinance had been interpreted as too harsh and rigorous. On March 13,
+therefore, he materially modified it. A few days later, he directed
+steps to be taken for the repair and fortification of several castles
+on the east side beyond Forth, and ordered fresh levies from the
+northern counties of England to muster, 2300 strong, at Carlisle by a
+fortnight after Easter.
+
+In a lull of the Nithsdale operations, Bruce is said to have
+reluctantly granted Douglas leave to proceed to Douglasdale,
+accompanied only by two yeomen. On arrival, Douglas disclosed himself
+to Tom Dickson of Hazelside, a stanch old warrior-tenant of his
+father's, who was overjoyed to see the youth, and introduced him to
+the other leal men of the land, one by one, at private conferences. It
+was quickly decided to fall upon the unsuspecting garrison of Douglas
+Castle in St Bride's Church on Palm Sunday (March 19). The countrymen
+would bring concealed weapons, and Douglas would appear, with his
+two men, in the guise of a corn-thresher, a threadbare mantle on his
+back and a flail on his shoulder. The moment he raised his war-cry,
+they would overpower the soldiers, and then the castle would offer no
+resistance. Everything fell out as planned, except that an over-eager
+friend prematurely raised the Douglas war-cry. Dickson instantly fell
+upon the English in the chancel, and a neighbour followed his example;
+but both were slain. At this moment Douglas came on the scene, raised
+his war-cry, and pressed hard on the English, who manfully defended
+themselves. About twenty were killed; the remaining ten were taken
+prisoners. At the castle, Douglas found only the porter and the cook;
+and so he barred the gates, and dined at leisure. After dinner, he
+packed up valuables, arms, and other portable things, and proceeded to
+destroy what he could not take away. He piled the wheat, flour, meal,
+and malt on the floor of the wine cellar, beheaded the prisoners on
+the pile, and broached the wine casks. This ghastly mess was locally
+designated 'the Douglas Larder.' He then spoilt the well by throwing
+in salt and dead horses. Finally, he set fire to the castle, and left
+nothing but stones. The party dispersed, and hid away their wounded.
+But Clifford, for whom the castle had been held, soon had it rebuilt
+and regarrisoned.
+
+A later petition, by Lucas de Barry, represents that Lucas had been
+'under Sir Robert de Clifford in Douglas Castle when Sir Robert de Brus
+and Sir James Douglas attacked it, the year when the late King died.'
+But this does not necessarily mean that either Clifford or Bruce was
+there in person.
+
+On the same Sunday morning, Edward entered Carlisle with Peter,
+Cardinal Bishop of St Sabine, a papal legate, who had just arrived to
+arrange terms of peace between the English and French kings on the
+basis of a marriage between Prince Edward and Isabella, daughter of
+the King of France. On the Wednesday following, in the Cathedral, the
+legate explained the objects of his mission, and, with bell, book and
+candle, excommunicated the murderers of Comyn, with all their aiders
+and abettors. The like denunciation was busily repeated through the
+churches, especially of the north of England. On Friday, the peace was
+proclaimed.
+
+Towards the end of March, Sir John Wallace is said to have been
+captured 'in the plain, pursued by the northeners,' and was taken
+to Carlisle. Edward sent him to London, 'fettered on a hackney,' to
+undergo the same barbarous death as his heroic brother. His head was
+fixed on London Bridge, 'raised with shouts,' says Langtoft, 'near the
+head of his brother, William the Wicked.' It could not have been more
+nobly honoured.
+
+By the middle of April, Bruce had moved to Glen Trool, where he was
+hard beset for some three weeks by superior forces under a number of
+able knights, young Sir John Comyn among them. The incidents of the
+period have not been preserved. Barbour, indeed, tells how Valence and
+Clifford advanced stealthily on Bruce, with over 1500 against less
+than 300 men, and found him in a narrow pass, where horse could not
+reach him. Valence sent a woman, disguised as a beggar, to spy out
+the position; but Bruce saw through the dodge, and the spy confessed.
+The English had to advance on foot. Bruce dashed upon them with fury,
+seizing with his own hand their foremost banner. Some of his men,
+Barbour admits, had gone off, but came back on seeing how the fight
+went. The foremost English company being overpowered, the main body
+retreated; and a quarrel between Clifford and Vaux seems to point to a
+fruitless attempt of Clifford's to rally the fugitives. One can only
+say that some such incidents are probable enough. Anyhow, Bruce appears
+to have baffled all the attempts of the English in Glen Trool, and to
+have got away towards Lothian.
+
+In Lothian, Bruce found friends. The people, Hemingburgh explains,
+had been exasperated during the preceding year by the justice of the
+English justiciars; and, therefore, 'as if unanimously, they rose and
+went with Bruce, willing rather to die than to be judged by the English
+laws.' Thus reinforced, Bruce turned back to meet Valence. Perhaps it
+was now that he over-ran Kyle and Cunningham. Valence, says Barbour,
+despatched from Bothwell 1000 men under Sir Philip de Mowbray, whom
+Douglas with 60 men met at Ederford, a narrow pass between two marshes,
+and, by skilful strategy, totally defeated. Stung by this ignominious
+reverse, Valence challenged Bruce, who lay at Galston, to meet him on
+May 10, at Loudon Hill--the scene of Wallace's father's death and of
+Wallace's first victory. Bruce accepted the challenge. Choosing his
+ground between two stretches of moss, he cut three deep trenches (with
+adequate gaps for the passage of his men) across the hard moor between,
+and marshalled his 600 followers, so that Valence's 3000 men could come
+into action only in detail. He ordered a fierce onset on the foremost,
+with the view of discouraging the rest--the successful tactic in Glen
+Trool; and Sir Edward and Douglas, as well as himself, are said to have
+performed prodigies of valour. The English gave way, and, despite
+his utmost efforts, Valence was driven from the field. Barbour says
+he retreated to Bothwell; Gray states that Bruce pursued him to Ayr.
+Three days later, Bruce also defeated the Earl of Gloucester with even
+greater slaughter (says Hemingburgh) than had reddened Loudon Hill, and
+besieged him in Ayr Castle.
+
+From a letter, anonymous, dated May 15, we learn without surprise
+that Edward 'was much enraged that the Warden and his force had
+retreated before King Hobbe'--his familiar designation of Bruce. What
+does surprise one is to learn, on the same authority, that 'James of
+Douglas sent and begged to be received, but, when he saw the King's
+forces retreat, he drew back.' It would be quite intelligible that the
+hardships of his first terrible year of service had shaken the nerve
+of the youthful warrior. But there were now 'rumours of treasonable
+dealings between some of the English and the enemy,' and it seems far
+more probable that Douglas was engineering one of his ruses. It needs
+better evidence to stamp this solitary suggestion of a blot on the
+clear scutcheon of Douglas.
+
+The news of Bruce's success, no doubt exaggerated and distorted,
+produced a great sensation in the northern parts of Scotland. A
+calendared letter, anonymous, written from Forfar to some high official
+under date May 15, graphically pictures the local feeling.
+
+  The writer hears that Sir Robert de Brus never had the goodwill
+  of his own followers or the people at large, or even half of
+  them, so much with him as now; and it now first appears that he
+  was right, and God is openly with him, as he has destroyed all
+  the King's power both among the English and the Scots, and the
+  English force is in retreat to its own country not to return.
+  And they firmly believe, by the encouragement of the false
+  preachers who come from the host, that Sir Robert de Brus will
+  now have his will. And these preachers are such as have been
+  attached before the Warden and the justices as abettors of war,
+  and are at present freed on guarantees and deceiving the people
+  thus by their false preachment. For he (the writer) believes
+  assuredly, as he hears from Sir Reginald de Cheyne, Sir Duncan de
+  Frendraught, and Sir Gilbert de Glencairney, and others who watch
+  the peace both beyond and on this side of the mountains (Mounth),
+  that, if Sir Robert de Brus can escape any way 'saun dreytes' or
+  towards the parts of Ross, he will find them all ready at his
+  will more entirely than ever, unless the King will be pleased to
+  send more men-at-arms to these parts; for there are many people
+  living well and loyally at his faith provided the English are in
+  power, otherwise they see that they must be at the enemies' will
+  through default of the King and his Council, as they say. And it
+  would be a deadly sin to leave them so without protection among
+  enemies. And may it please God to keep the King's life, for when
+  we lose him, which God forbid, say they openly, all must be on
+  one side, or they must die or leave the country with all those
+  who love the King, if other counsel or aid be not sent them. For
+  these preachers have told them that they have found a prophecy
+  of Merlin, how, after the death of the grasping King (_le Roi
+  Coueytous_), the Scottish people and the Bretons shall league
+  together, and have the sovereign hand and their will, and live
+  together in accord till the end of the world.
+
+It was probably reports of this tenor that drew Valence and Bevercotes
+on a hasty visit to the north immediately after Loudon Hill. They were
+both in Inverness on May 20.
+
+The reverses sustained by Valence and Gloucester led to increased
+activity on the English side. The Bishop of Chester, with his successor
+as treasurer (the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry), was at Lanark on
+May 15, at Dumfries next day, and on May 18 he was back at Carlisle,
+having seen to the provisioning of the fortresses. Edward was 'so
+greatly pleased with his account that he kissed him--especially for
+his borrowing the castle of Cumnock from its owner, Earl Patrick, for
+a term, and garrisoning it with 30 men-at-arms under Sir Ingram de
+Umfraville and Sir William de Felton, besides 100 foot.' The Bishop
+went south next day to represent Edward at the funeral of the Countess
+of Gloucester, the King's daughter Joan.
+
+Edward himself was too ill to travel. Besides, he was immersed in
+military preparations, summoning reinforcements and hurrying up
+supplies. Bruce, though unable to maintain the siege of Ayr, did
+considerable damage; for on June 1, Valence requisitioned masons and
+carpenters from Carlisle 'to repair the castle and houses.' At the same
+time, Valence added some 300 men to the garrison, 'to strengthen the
+castle and secure the country round, while he is on his foray towards
+Carrick and Glen Trool.' He was following up Bruce. Probably, too, he
+avenged Loudon Hill before the arrival of Edward's fresh levies, which
+had been summoned to be at Carlisle by the middle of July. Hemingburgh
+says the English 'defeated Bruce with great slaughter, so that he
+lurked thereafter in moors and marshes' with the ridiculous force of
+'some 10,000 foot, and the English could not get at him, as he always
+slipped out of their hands.' Gray says that Bruce was so badly beaten
+'that he retired on foot through the mountains, and from isle to isle,
+and sometimes he had not so much as a single companion with him.' One
+is inclined to give the credit of this defeat to Valence--if defeat
+there was. Bruce may have taken refuge again in Glen Trool; Gray's
+mention of the isles may result from a confusion with earlier events.
+This record of fresh disaster finds no mention in Barbour or in Fordun.
+
+Sir Thomas Gray, professing to quote from 'the chronicles of his
+deeds,' relates how at this time Bruce came, all alone, to a passage
+between two islands, over which he was ferried by two boatmen. Had he
+heard any news of what had become of Bruce? they asked. 'None,' he
+replied. 'Certes,' said they, 'we would we had grip of him at this
+moment; he should die by our hands.' 'And why?' queried Bruce. 'Because
+he murdered John Comyn, our lord,' was the answer. They landed him. 'My
+good fellows,' said Bruce, 'you wanted to get hold of Robert de Bruce.
+Look at me!--that will give you satisfaction. And were it not that you
+have done me the courtesy of ferrying me over this narrow passage, you
+should rue your wish.' So he went on his way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Barbour recounts various exploits of Bruce and Douglas between the
+landing in Carrick and the first retreat to Glen Trool; but, if they
+represent facts, they must clearly be spread over a longer period.
+
+For example. Sir Ingram Bell, the governor of Ayr--Barbour writes Sir
+Ingram de Umfraville, who was probably in Cumnock Castle--intrigued
+with a personal attendant of Bruce's, a man of local importance, a
+one-eyed, sturdy rascal, nearly related to Bruce. The villain was
+promised a reward of L40 in land to compass the King's death. With his
+two sons, who were also trusted by Bruce, he lay in wait one morning
+for his master, when he had gone out with only a page in attendance.
+Bruce, suspecting the men, ordered them to stand. As they still came
+on, he drew his page's bow, and shot the father in the eye; and with
+his sword he cleft the skull of one son after the other. This may be
+one of half a dozen possible variants of the story of the Brooch of
+Lorn.
+
+Not long afterwards, in the dusk of evening, Bruce with 60 men was
+attacked by over 200 Galwegians, who had brought a sleuth-hound to
+track him. Warned by his sentinels, he drew his men into a narrow pass
+in a bog, and, leaving Sir Gilbert de la Haye in charge, went out with
+two men to reconnoitre the position. Passing some way along the water
+side, he found the banks high and the water deep, and no ford but the
+one he had crossed. Here he sent his men back to camp, and watched
+alone. Presently he heard the deep baying of the hound, and soon the
+enemy appeared, under a bright moon. He determined to stand; they must
+come on singly in the strait passage. They plunged confidently into the
+water, but Bruce bore down the foremost with his spear, and stabbed the
+horse, which fell in the ascent from the water and impeded the others.
+He kept the ford; and, when his men came up, they found fourteen slain,
+and the rest in retreat. The rumour of this exploit drew many to his
+side.
+
+Again Douglas repaired to Douglasdale and set an ambush near
+Sandilands. With a small party he then took some cattle near the castle
+of Douglas and drove them off. Thirlwall, the constable, sallied out
+and pursued the party past the ambush. Attacked suddenly, he was slain
+in attempted defence, together with most of his men. The survivors fled
+to the castle, barred the gate, and manned the walls. Douglas had to
+content himself with what booty he could find about the castle.
+
+Presently Douglas, hearing of the approach of Valence with a strong
+force, joined the King in a narrow pass near Cumnock. Bruce had but
+300 men. Valence was accompanied by John of Lorn, who headed over 800
+and had a sleuth-hound, said to have been once a favourite of Bruce's.
+On finding himself caught between the two bodies, Bruce divided his
+men into three companies, anticipating that the enemy would follow
+his own track, and that so his other two companies would escape. The
+hound followed Bruce, who gradually dispersed his company, at last
+keeping only his foster-brother with him. Still the hound persisted.
+John of Lorn then sent forward five of his stoutest men to take
+Bruce. Three attacked Bruce; two assailed his foster-brother. Bruce
+killed one of his opponents, and, marking the dismay of the others,
+jumped aside to help his foster-brother, and smote off the head of
+one of his assailants. He then killed his own two pursuers, while
+his foster-brother despatched the only one remaining. Meantime Lorn
+closed up with the hound. Bruce, with his companion, made for a wood,
+and threw himself down by a stream, declaring he could go no farther;
+but, yielding to his friend's remonstrances, he got up, and they waded
+together some way down the stream, thus baffling the hound and escaping
+further pursuit. Another account, according to Barbour, was that the
+King's companion lurked in a thicket and shot the hound with an arrow.
+Anyhow, Bruce escaped. It is said that Randolph captured Bruce's banner
+in the pursuit, much to the satisfaction of the English King.
+
+Having cleared the forest, Bruce and his companion were crossing a
+moor, when they came on three men, armed with swords and axes, one of
+them carrying a sheep on his shoulder. The men said they wished to join
+Bruce, and Bruce said he would take them to him. They perceived that he
+was Bruce, and he perceived that they were foes. Bruce insisted that,
+till better acquaintance, they should go separate and in front of him.
+Coming to an empty house at night, they killed the sheep, roasted it,
+divided it, and dined at opposite ends of the room. Bruce, tired and
+hungry as he had been, must sleep, his man promising to keep watch. His
+man, however, fell asleep too; he 'might not hold up an e'e.' The men
+then attacked Bruce, who instantly awoke, grasped his sword, and trod
+heavily on his man. Bruce slew the three, but lost his companion, who
+was killed in his sleep.
+
+Bruce now made for the rallying-point of his dispersed companies. Here
+he found the goodwife of the house 'sitting on a bink.' In answer to
+her exhaustive inquiries, he said he was a wayfarer. 'All wayfarers,'
+said she, 'are welcome for the sake of one--King Robert the Bruce.'
+Then the King revealed himself. Where were his men? He had none.
+Thereupon the gallant woman declared her two big sons should become his
+men. As he sat at meat, he heard the tread of soldiers, and started up
+to offer defence. It was Douglas and Sir Edward Bruce with 150 men.
+
+Bruce now suggested that the enemy, confident that his force was
+dissipated, would lie open to surprise. He made a forced march
+overnight, and at daylight caught a large detachment--certainly nothing
+like 2000 (Barbour's figures)--in some town, and slew two-thirds of
+them. He retreated before the main body began to stir, and Valence did
+not pursue.
+
+On another occasion Bruce went a-hunting alone, with two hounds. He
+had his sword, but had laid aside his armour. Presently he saw three
+men with bows approaching--men that had in fact been watching for such
+an opportunity to take vengeance for Comyn. Bruce taunted them for
+attacking with arrows, three to one, and they chivalrously threw down
+their bows and drew their swords. Bruce struck down one; a hound fixed
+in another's throat and brought him to the ground, when Bruce cut his
+back in two; and the third, fleeing to the wood, was seized and pulled
+down by a hound and despatched by Bruce.
+
+These stories represent early traditions and may easily be true, though
+they may be merely imaginary. The three-men stories may be variants of
+a single original, but by no means necessarily.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On July 7, 1307, Edward I. died at Burgh-on-Sands, some three miles
+from Carlisle. Owing to the poor success of his lieutenants, the
+gallant King had determined to move forward in person. On Monday, July
+3, he is said to have advanced from Carlisle; but it was Thursday
+before he reached Burgh-on-Sands. On Friday, as his attendants raised
+him up in bed to eat, he died in their hands. On his sick-bed--or, as
+Walsingham says, on his death-bed--Edward had again charged the Prince
+to persist steadily in the war against Bruce, taking his bones with
+him in a casket. 'For,' said the dying King, with heroic confidence,
+'no one will be able to overcome you while you have my bones borne
+with you.' But all his dying advice and solemn charges the Prince
+eventually disregarded.
+
+The body of the late King was conveyed south in great state, to lie
+in the church at Waltham till a definite settlement was attained in
+Scotland. The Prince attended the cortege several stages, and then
+returned to Carlisle. Edward was buried at Westminster on October 28.
+
+Edward I. was not only the greatest of English Kings, but one of the
+greatest of Englishmen. His treatment of Scotland, however he may
+have reasoned out the justice of it, must always remain a very dark
+blot on his memory. Never was his military ardour or his personal
+resolution more signally manifested than in the last months and days of
+his latest expedition. He died in harness, his valiant spirit shining
+undimmed till the moment it was quenched by death itself. The virile
+judgment and stern purpose of Edward I. was succeeded by the childish
+incompetence and obstinacy of Edward II. The death of the great King
+assured the eventual triumph of Bruce. The moment anticipated by
+nationalists with hope and by anti-nationalists with dread was come. It
+was the turn of the tide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY
+
+
+While the great Edward was passing south on his last march, Valence was
+actively engaged in strengthening the English positions in Kyle and
+Carrick. Percy held Ayr Castle, and John of Argyll guarded Ayr town and
+neighbourhood with a large force, which was presently joined by half a
+score of redoubtable Scots knights with their followings.
+
+The young King started from Carlisle on July 31, 1307, for Dumfries,
+where many Scots nobles obeyed his summons to do homage and fealty.
+Advancing up the valley of the Nith, he was at Cumnock on August 21,
+and stayed there fully a week. At Tinwald, on August 30, he confirmed
+Valence in the office of Warden of Scotland. He offered to receive
+to his peace all Scotsmen not implicated in the murder of Comyn. The
+Lanercost chronicler says he divided his army into three bodies to
+pursue Bruce, but the pursuit was unsuccessful, and on September 4 he
+returned to Carlisle with empty hands.
+
+The effects of the accession of Edward II. were quickly apparent.
+No sooner had he retired than the whole Border was ablaze. Even the
+faithful men of Selkirk and Tweeddale and of the Forest, tenants of
+the Warden himself, rose in force, and on September 12 the Sheriff of
+Roxburgh reported that 'the poor tenants' of his district had fled
+into England with their goods for fear of the enemy. The weight of the
+Scots attack, however, was thrown upon Galloway and the MacDowalls.
+The English settlers fled in numbers; for, on September 25, Edward
+ordered Clifford, the justiciar of the forest beyond Trent, 'to allow
+the men of Galloway to feed their flocks and herds in Englewood Forest,
+whither they have come to take refuge for fear of Robert de Brus and
+his accomplices.' On the same day he directed Sir Thomas de Multon
+of Egremont and four other northern barons to hasten to Lancashire,
+Cumberland, and Westmorland, to assist John, baron of Wigton, and
+Richard le Brun, his justices there, 'for the salvation and quiet of
+the men of those parts,' and to redress the wrongs and losses they
+sustained, and to repel the incursions of the Scots. It looks as if
+a swift foray had been executed by the men of Selkirk and Tweeddale.
+On September 30, Edward, who had now learned further from St John,
+MacDowall, and other officers in Galloway, that Bruce was 'burning and
+plundering, and inciting and compelling the inhabitants to rebel,'
+commanded Sir John de Bretagne, who had just succeeded Valence, to
+march against the enemy. At the same time he summoned to the Warden's
+assistance Earl Patrick and half a dozen other powerful Scots, as
+well as the baron of Wigton and Richard le Brun, apparently already
+relieved of their Selkirk visitors, and the keepers of the peace of
+Northumberland and Tyndale. The Lanercost chronicler admits that the
+Galwegians purchased peace, being unable to resist the forces of Bruce.
+
+Sir Thomas Gray also bears testimony to Bruce's activity, and explains
+the favour he steadily gained, in part at least, by the harsh conduct
+of English officials 'for purposes of individual advantage.' We have
+already seen that as early as May Scotland beyond the Forth was ready
+for the advent of Bruce, and the English officers were looking forward
+with dread to the death of Edward I. And now Bruce turned from Galloway
+to the north.
+
+According to Fordun, Bruce advanced as far as Inverness, where he took
+the castle and levelled it with the ground, slaying the garrison;
+and the other fortresses of the north he dealt with in like drastic
+fashion. In this expedition, no doubt, it was--in late October and
+November 1307--that Bruce overran Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness,
+and compelled the Earl of Ross to take truce. The Earl's apologetic
+petition to Edward explains how Bruce came against him with 3000 men
+and subjugated these counties, 'and would have destroyed them utterly
+if we had not taken truce with him at the entreaty of the good people,
+both religious and other, till Whitsunday next.' Ross declares that
+he could get no help from the Warden of Moray. The Bishop of Moray,
+who had taken refuge in Orkney for about a year and whose lands had
+been loyally raided by Ross, had by this time returned to Edward's
+peace, and was demanding damages for the wasting of his lands. He,
+at any rate, was not likely to have moved a finger against Bruce;
+on the contrary, he no doubt privately aided him. Ross's apologies
+were accepted; for in May 1308 he appears as Lieutenant of the Warden
+of Scotland, and is requested to remain in office till midsummer.
+But on October 31, he submitted to Bruce, who reinstated him in his
+lands (with fresh additions), and his name heads the roll of Bruce's
+Parliament at St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9.
+
+Barbour, making no mention of these exploits, brings Bruce north of
+the Mounth and on to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. Bruce is joined by
+Sir Alexander Fraser and Simon Fraser--the famous Sir Simon's brother
+and son--who had apparently been acting in his interests in the north,
+opposed mainly by Comyn (Earl of Buchan), Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir
+David de Brechin. At Inverurie Bruce fell very sick. He could neither
+eat nor drink; no medicine did him any good; he became too weak to ride
+or to walk. Sir Edward Bruce, says Barbour, tried to comfort the men,
+but it seems much more likely that Sir Edward remained in command in
+Galloway, while Douglas made excursions towards the eastern border.
+At any rate, Bruce's men would not fight while their chief was ill,
+or Bruce had too much prudence to allow them; so they placed him on a
+litter and carried him into the Slevach (mountain fastnesses). Comyn,
+hearing of Bruce's serious illness, advanced against him with Mowbray
+and Brechin, and with a largely superior force. The time, says Barbour,
+was 'after Martinmas, when snow covered all the land.' Bruce quietly
+awaited attack. On three successive days there occurred skirmishes
+between bodies of archers, Buchan's men getting the worst of the
+encounter day after day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously
+obtaining additions, while Bruce was getting pinched with hunger.
+Placing the King in his litter again, Bruce's men changed quarters,
+marching slowly in fighting order, with their sick chief in the
+centre, and restricting themselves rigidly to defence. They took up a
+position in Strathbogie, a little further north, and Buchan's force
+abandoned the pursuit and dispersed.
+
+The King gradually regained strength and returned to Inverurie, 'to
+be in the plains for the winter,' for the better chances of food.
+Again Buchan proceeded to attack him, reaching Oldmeldrum 'on the
+evening before Yule even' (January 4) 1307-8, with about 1000 men.
+Next day Brechin made a dash at Inverurie; whereupon Bruce, in spite
+of remonstrances, determined to mount and fight, though, says Fordun,
+'he could not go upright, but with the help of two men to prop him up.'
+He is said to have had 'near 700 men.' He advanced towards Oldmeldrum,
+and as the enemy retreated, pressed steadily upon them, pushing their
+retreat into flight, and pursuing them, Fordun says, as far as Fyvie.
+Buchan and Mowbray fled to England, while Brechin stood a siege in his
+own castle of Brechin. Bruce's 'herschip' (harrying) of the district of
+Buchan is said to have been so exemplary that men lamented it for half
+a century afterwards.
+
+There are discrepancies between Barbour's account and Fordun's. Fordun
+dates Buchan's retirement from the Slevach on Christmas day (on
+which Barbour fights at Inverurie and Oldmeldrum), and he arranges
+a truce on the occasion. It is in the Slevach that he makes Bruce's
+illness commence. He dates the battle of Inverurie, without mention
+of Oldmeldrum, vaguely in 1308. He also calls Mowbray Philip, not
+John, and he says nothing of Brechin. Buchan and Mowbray, if they did
+not then flee to England, at any rate went south not very long after
+this time; and if Brechin surrendered his castle, it was certainly
+not, as Barbour says it was, to David, Earl of Athol, who was on the
+English side. On May 20, 1308, Edward writes to thank a great number
+of his officers in Scotland, including Athol, Buchan, Brechin, John de
+Mowbray, and others, for their faithful service, and he requests Buchan
+to remain 'in the district committed to him' till August 1. This may
+mean that up to May he had remained in command in the north, though
+keeping clear of Bruce's devastating track.
+
+Having reduced the country beyond the Grampians ('benorth the Mounth'),
+Bruce descended upon Angus. Barbour says nothing of an attack on
+Brechin Castle, having already recorded its capture and the submission
+of Sir David to Bruce; but, as we have seen, Sir David was still--and,
+indeed, for several years to come--on the English side; and Barbour was
+evidently misinformed. Forfar Castle was taken by Philip the Forester,
+of Platter; the watch had not been vigilant, and Philip scaled the
+walls. Bruce demolished the castle; whether because it was of the old
+ineffective type, or because he had no means of holding it. He then,
+according to Barbour, invested Perth, which was strongly fortified,
+and was held by Moffat and Oliphant--Sir William Oliphant, the gallant
+defender of Stirling, who had been released from the Tower on May
+24, 1308, having lain rusting there for nearly four years. The Earl
+of Strathearn, says Barbour, was also in the garrison, while his son
+and his men were in Bruce's camp; but Barbour is mistaken, for though
+Strathearn had been transferred from Rochester Castle to York Castle in
+the preceding November, he does not appear to have been released till
+November 18 of this year. Frequent skirmishes took place during a six
+weeks' siege, when Bruce suddenly decamped, amid the premature jeers
+of the garrison. After eight days he returned suddenly in the night,
+and, finding the English lulled in security, plunged into the moat up
+to his neck, mounted the walls by ladder, and surprised the sentinels.
+His men, dispersed in groups, gave the garrison no chance to marshal
+for effective defence. The English leaders were taken; but few men were
+slain, in consideration of their decent treatment of Scots. There was
+much booty for the victors. Bruce demolished the walls and the towers.
+'Was none that durst him then withstand.' Whether this capture of Perth
+be fact or not--and probably it should be placed at a later date--Bruce
+now had the upper hand north of Forth.
+
+While Bruce was re-conquering his kingdom in the north, Edward II.
+had married Isabella of France at Boulogne on January 28, 1307-8,
+and had been crowned at Westminster on February 25. He had at once
+plunged himself in difficulties with his barons by his infatuation
+for Piers de Gaveston. In June some purpose of accommodation with
+Bruce appears to have been pressed upon the English king. There exists
+a memorandum dated June, without the year, which Mr Bain rightly, it
+seems, assigns to 1308. It sets out that the levies summoned to meet
+the King at Carlisle on August 23 shall be countermanded; and that the
+King shall take no truce or sufferance from Bruce, but the Wardens of
+Scotland--Sir Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Sir William de
+Ros of Hamelake (appointed on June 21)--'may take such, for as long
+time as possible, as they have done hitherto of their own power or by
+commission, so that the King, however, may furnish his castles with
+men and victuals, and that no one be taken or other "mesprision" made
+during such truce.' Then the wardens of districts are arranged. The
+Earl of Buchan, Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir Ingram de Umfraville are
+to be wardens of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick respectively; Sir
+Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Edmund de Hastings, and Sir John Fitz
+Marmaduke, are to be wardens beyond the Forth. The endorsement bears
+that the Wardens of Scotland shall 'take truce from Robert de Brus
+as from themselves, as long as they can, but not beyond the month of
+Pasques' (April), and--curiously enough--that 'the King may break
+the truce at pleasure if the others will yield this point, but, if
+they will not, the truce may be made without it.' The memorandum
+testifies to the strength of Bruce's hold on the country, and to the
+recalcitrance of Edward's barons. Still Edward struggled on. On June
+21, he requested a large number of officers to retain their posts till
+specified dates, and to join the Scottish expedition at Carlisle on
+August 23. On July 10, he requisitioned ships and men from Shoreham all
+round to Bristol, for the King 'needs a great fleet.' But on August 11,
+he countermanded the order for these ships and men, 'the King having
+deferred his expedition for the present.' The English barons were too
+strong for the young King.
+
+It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce Argyll.
+Probably, however, he undertook the expedition immediately after the
+reduction of the north. If he conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth,
+and Sir William Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have
+been free to go west till the very end of July 1308. Fordun states
+that, within a week after August 15, Bruce defeated the men of Argyll
+and subdued the whole land; that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll
+'for some time' in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban);
+and that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but was
+allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to England.
+Barbour tells how Lorn--John, the son of Alexander--gathered some 2000
+men and opposed Bruce in a narrow pass between a steep mountain and
+the sheer bank of a loch--perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe.
+Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on the ridge
+commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched Douglas, Sir Alexander
+Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of
+archers, to fetch a circuit above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the
+pass. Lorn's men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding
+themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a bridge crossing
+the river at one end of the loch, and, having crossed, attempted to
+break down the bridge. Bruce was upon them before they could effect
+their purpose, and completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun
+Lorn's country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace
+Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was wont to be,'
+escaped by water. Bruce then received the homage of all the men of
+Argyll, and returned to Perth.
+
+But these events must have been spread over a considerable time, and
+they may not have been continuous. The record of Bruce's Parliament at
+St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9, places it beyond doubt that Alexander
+of Argyll came to Bruce's peace; it states that Alexander himself and
+'the barons of the whole of Argyll and Inchegall' were present as
+liegemen of Bruce. Again, on June 16, 1309, both Alexander and John of
+Lorn were present at Edward's council at Westminster as liegemen of
+the English king. Further, we have a letter of Lorn's, undated, but
+replying to a letter of Edward's dated March 11, in which he says that
+he had been on sick-bed for half a year; that Bruce 'had approached his
+territories with 10,000 or 15,000 men, it was said, both by land and
+sea,' while he 'had no more than 800 to oppose him,' and 'the barons of
+Argyll gave him no aid'; that a truce had been made, at the instance of
+Bruce; that 'he hears that Bruce, when he came, was boasting that he
+(Lorn) had come to his peace,' 'which God and he (Lorn) knows is not
+true'; that, on the contrary, 'he is, and will ever be, ready to serve
+him (Edward) to the utmost of his power'; that 'he has three castles
+to guard, and a loch twenty-four leagues long, on which he has vessels
+properly manned, but is not sure of his neighbours'; and that 'so soon
+as the King or his power arrives, he will be ready with lands, ships,
+and others to aid him,' either in person (if he be not sick), or by his
+son. Neglecting minor discrepancies, one may safely accept Mr Bain's
+reconciliation of the various accounts. Alexander came to Bruce's peace
+after the affair of Loch Awe; John was still holding out in March, but
+was driven from Dunstaffnage within the next two months; and Alexander
+thereupon retired, with John, to England. Alexander died in Ireland in
+the end of 1310. John lived to fight for Edward some seven or eight
+years more; but, as Mr Bain gently remarks, 'Barbour has strangely
+misrepresented his later career.'
+
+Bruce was now master in the west as well as in the north. Beyond Forth,
+however, Perth, if ever captured, must soon have been recovered; and
+Dundee--and even Banff--remained in English hands, as well as the
+key-fortress of Stirling on the south bank of the dividing river. Still
+Bruce was master of the country, and he was free to turn his attention
+to the south.
+
+Sir Edward Bruce, after an arduous struggle, had taken a firm grip
+of Galloway by the end of 1308. With Lindsay, Boyd, and Douglas
+he had attacked the Galwegians--'notwithstanding the tribute they
+received from them,' says the Lanercost chronicler, who also admits
+that they 'subdued almost all that land.' According to Barbour, Sir
+Edward met the English near Cree, routed them, slew some 1200, and
+pursued Umfraville and St John to Buittle Castle. St John then rode
+to England and brought up over 1500 men; on hearing which, Sir Edward
+instantly mounted, with 50 men, followed up the trail of the enemy
+in the morning mist, and, when the day cleared and he found himself
+within bowshot, charged with his usual reckless audacity. The English
+believed there must be more men with Sir Edward than they saw. At the
+third charge he routed them, slaying or taking many; St John, however,
+escaping. Sir Allan de Cathcart, Barbour affirms, 'told me this tale.'
+Sir Edward had all Galloway at the King's peace.
+
+Fordun, again, relates that Sir Edward, on November 18, inflicted a
+crushing defeat on Donald of the Isles and the Galwegians on the river
+Dee (not Cree), taking Donald prisoner in his flight, and slaying 'a
+knight named Roland, with many of the nobles of Galloway.' Whatever the
+dates and the details, Sir Edward must have done some stern fighting.
+The Lanercost chronicler even records that it was said that the English
+king would have liked, if he could, to give Bruce peace on terms of
+aiding him against his earls and barons.
+
+No doubt the MacDowalls were uprooted. But Mr Bain seems somewhat lax
+in stating that 'before April 1, 1309, Sir Dougal, their head, had been
+driven into England, where for thirty years he and his family were
+obliged to remain to escape the vengeance of the Bruces.' On April 1,
+1309, it is true, Sir Dougal received as a reward for his services,
+'whereby he has become hated by the enemy,' the manor of Temple Couton,
+in Yorkshire, 'for the residence and support of his wife and children.'
+But he himself was constable of Dumfries Castle in 1311, sheriff also
+in 1312, and he had the mortification of surrendering the castle to
+Bruce on February 7, 1312-13. Edward made provision for him from time
+to time till his death (before January 27, 1327-28). A petition by
+his son and heir Duncan, dated 1347, represents that Sir Dougal lost
+L100 in land for his allegiance to Edward I. and Edward II.; that Sir
+Dougal's brother was slain (in revenge for Bruce's two brothers); that
+the petitioner's eldest brother had been slain at Bannockburn; and that
+he and his six brothers were destitute. It shows a dark glimpse of the
+losing side.
+
+In the meantime, according to Barbour, Douglas had done some useful
+work on his account. Some time after Bruce went north, he proceeded to
+Douglasdale again and placed an ambush near his ancestral castle. He
+sent fourteen men with sackfuls of grass on horses' backs to pass along
+as if bound for Lanark fair. Sir John Webton, the constable, sallied
+upon them; whereupon they cast down the sacks, threw off their frocks,
+and, mounting their horses, showed fight. Douglas now broke ambush and
+cut off Webton from the castle, eventually slaying him and all his
+men. Barbour relates that there was found in Webton's pouch a letter
+from a lady engaging to marry him if he kept 'the auenturous castell
+of Douglas' for a year--a story worked up by Sir Walter Scott in his
+boldly unhistorical 'Castle Dangerous.' Douglas took the castle and
+demolished it.
+
+Douglas also, Barbour says, did a great deal of hard fighting in
+Selkirk Forest. On one occasion, in a house on the Water of Lyne
+(which joins the Tweed a few miles above Peebles), he lighted upon Sir
+Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, whose father, Sir John, distinguished
+himself so brilliantly at Falkirk, Randolph, Bruce's nephew, Sir
+Adam de Gordon, and others, who were really in search of himself. He
+surrounded the house, and a fierce fight resulted. Gordon got away
+safe, but Douglas captured Stewart, who was wounded, and Randolph, and
+took them next morning to the King--who, in that case, must already
+have returned south. Barbour tells of the proud bearing of Randolph,
+and how Bruce put him 'in firm keeping' till he acknowledged his
+authority. This must have taken place before March 4, 1308-9, when
+Edward conferred on Sir Adam de Gordon Randolph's forfeited manor of
+Stichill, in Roxburghshire. Never afterwards did Randolph swerve from
+his uncle's allegiance.
+
+Early in 1308-9 (January 14, Hemingburgh; February 12, Lanercost
+chronicle), there came papal envoys to Edward and Bruce, at the
+instance of the French king, and a truce was made, to run to November
+1. But Bruce is said to have ignored it in practice, and perhaps that
+is why a new sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him and
+his adherents in the summer of 1309. On June 18, Edward summoned his
+array; and, on July 30, he renewed the summons, requiring his army to
+muster at Newcastle at Michaelmas, and declaring that the Scots had
+'notoriously broken' the truce. Yet, only three days later (August 2),
+he authorised the Earl of Ulster to treat with Bruce for peace; and,
+on August 21, he renewed the commission, and granted safe-conducts
+for Bruce's envoys, Sir Nigel Campbell and Sir John de Menteith--the
+captor of Wallace, who must have joined Bruce before March 16, when he
+was present at the St Andrews parliament. Still Edward hurried on his
+preparations. He had summoned auxiliaries from Wales (August 5), and
+filled afresh the chief offices in Scotland (August 16); and presently
+he appointed the Earl of Gloucester captain of the army of Scotland
+(September 14), and despatched fresh wardens to the Marches (about
+October 18). Again, however, the Pope intervened, and on November 29,
+Edward granted full powers to four of his magnates to treat in his name
+for a truce. The Wardens of the Marches, according to the Lanercost
+chronicle, had just forestalled the step by taking provisional truce
+till the middle of January; and Edward extended the period to March
+8, and afterwards 'to summer,' 1310--for, says the chronicler, 'the
+English do not like to enter Scotland to war before summer, especially
+because of the lack of fodder for their horses.' Probably the extension
+to summer was arranged by the commission of seven appointed on February
+16, headed by the Bishop of St Andrews.
+
+There had been a round year of peace negotiations and futile truces,
+with warlike preparation in the background. On February 24, 1309-10,
+Bruce's position was strengthened by a formal recognition of his royal
+title by a special meeting of the prelates and other clergy at Dundee.
+In the beginning of June 1310, there was an outbreak on the Border, the
+Priory of Coldstream being sacked, and the prioress and nuns dispersed;
+and in the middle of the month the English fleet was ordered north to
+strengthen Perth and to harass the eastern seaboard. Then, on August
+15, Edward again mustered his army at Newcastle (Hemingburgh), or
+at Berwick (Lanercost chronicle). The Earls of Lancaster, Pembroke
+(Valence), Warwick, and Hereford would not accompany him, displeased
+with his favour for Gaveston, though professing to be absorbed in their
+duties as 'Ordainers'; but they sent their feudal services. The Earls
+of Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall (Gaveston), with Percy, Clifford,
+and many other magnates, did attend the muster. The expedition,
+according to Walsingham, was said to be a mere pretext to excuse the
+King from going to France to do fealty for his French possessions. He
+dreaded to leave Gaveston 'among his enemies,' lest that troubler of
+the realm should 'meet death, prison, or worse.' 'Such things were
+said among the people; whether true or false,' says the chronicler,
+'God knows, I don't.' The expedition crossed the Border early in
+September, and passed by Selkirk, Roxburgh, Biggar, Lanark, Glasgow,
+to Renfrew, back to Linlithgow, and thence to Berwick. The progress
+occupied just over two months. Bruce stood aloof; on October 6, when
+Edward was at Biggar, he was reported to be with his forces 'on a moor
+near Stirling.' Fordun says there was famine in Scotland this year,
+many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of horses and other unclean
+cattle.' But Edward was liberally supplied by the religious houses with
+'oxen, cows, wethers, wheat, oats, barley, malt, beans, and peas,'
+besides friendly contributions from other quarters. On November 22, he
+issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of provisions from
+England.
+
+When Edward withdrew from Linlithgow, Bruce hung upon his rear through
+Lothian, severely harassing the army, and all local sympathisers.
+Walsingham records an instance. A party of English and Welsh had gone
+out to plunder, supported by cavalry. Bruce suddenly attacked from
+ambush, and, though aid quickly arrived, he killed 300, and retired as
+suddenly as he had advanced. 'Indeed,' says the chronicler, 'I should
+extol Bruce, whose policy was to fight thus and not in open field, but
+for his lying under the charge of homicide and the brand of treachery.'
+
+Edward wintered at Berwick. Bruce seems to have actively developed
+offensive operations on the west coast, to draw him home by a flank
+attack, as well as to obtain supplies. For, on December 15 and 16,
+Edward roused his officers in the north-western counties, and in Wales
+and Ireland, to counteract Bruce's reported purpose 'to send his whole
+fleet in the present winter to take the Isle of Man, and seize all the
+supplies therein for the sustenance of his men.' Bruce's adherents in
+Man are stated to have caused much trouble and mischief. A week before
+Christmas, Clifford and Sir Robert Fitz Pain met Bruce at Selkirk to
+discuss terms of peace, and another interview was arranged with the
+Earls of Gloucester and Cornwall near Melrose; but 'it was said,'
+writes a high official on February 19, 'that Bruce had been warned by
+some that he would be taken, and therefore departed, so that they have
+had no parley.'
+
+A memorandum, undated, but assignable to 1307-10, addressed by the
+'Commune' of Scotland to Edward and his great officers in the country,
+affords a glimpse of the English high-handedness that always did--and
+does--so much to thwart the English policy. The Commons represent that
+'though they have purchased a truce for the safety of the country
+and their allegiance, and included the castles and towns in their
+bounds--namely, the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh,'
+yet 'some of the sheriffs allow no goods to leave their castles, or
+their garrisons to pay for what they buy'--the sheriff of Edinburgh,
+in particular--'and the country is so poor that they cannot get on
+without ready money.' Again, 'when the enemy's people come to bargain
+under the truce, their goods are taken by some of the castellans and
+King's officers, endangering the truce, as the robbers are harboured
+in the castles.' They earnestly plead for redress of such oppressions,
+and complain that the King's former letters on the subject have
+been suppressed by the officers inculpated. Only an occupation in
+overwhelming force could stand against such a course of official
+misconduct. Meantime this fatal administrative weakness was greatly
+counterbalanced by the political divisions among the Scots.
+
+In 1310-11, Gaveston, for whom Edward could find no resting-place
+elsewhere, was established as lieutenant north of Forth and warden of
+Dundee and Perth. 'It is said,' writes a high official, anonymous, on
+April 4, 1311, 'that Bruce meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall'
+(Gaveston): but either he was unable to do so, or deemed it prudent
+to weary out the enemy by harassing evasion. On April 9, Edward
+issued instructions hastening the outfit of the fleet destined for
+the coast of Argyll under Sir John of that ilk--'seeing it is one of
+the greatest movements of the Scottish war'; and throughout May and
+June great pressure was brought to bear upon the ports of England and
+Ireland, though not always with effect. On July 14, the muster of the
+army at Roxburgh was postponed to the 1st of August. 'This expedition,'
+said Edward, 'lies especially close to our heart.'
+
+Edward, however, was in deep trouble with his 'Ordainers,' and Bruce
+was beforehand with him. On August 12, Bruce burst into England at
+the Solway, burned the whole of Gilsland, the town of Haltwhistle,
+and great part of Tyndale, returning to Scotland in eight days with
+great droves of cattle. The Lanercost chronicler admits that he killed
+few besides those that offered resistance, and that, though he took
+several of the canons, and did infinite mischief during the three days
+he made the monastery his headquarters, yet he released the canons of
+his own accord. The latter episode is recorded as a separate foray, but
+probably it belongs to the August operations.
+
+The same chronicler gives an account of a more serious raid on
+September 8, by Harbottle, Holystone and Redesdale, down to Corbridge
+and back through Tyndale, occupying fifteen days. The Wardens of the
+Marches, he says, could offer no resistance, and confined their efforts
+to wasting the country in anticipation of the Scots, only 'they did
+not burn houses or slay men.' The stress of opposition fell upon the
+Bishop of Durham. Both Edward and the Bishop paint the invasion in the
+usual lurid colours. At the same time the people had certainly not been
+handled with tenderness. The Northumbrians protected themselves by
+payment of L2000 for a respite till February 2, 1311-12. In the middle
+of December Bruce appears to have made another raid into England; and
+on January 26, 1311-12, Edward appointed six commissioners to treat in
+his name for truce with the Scots.
+
+The rising power of Bruce is variously testified otherwise than by the
+progress of his army. The Lanercost chronicler admits that, in spite
+of the adherence of so many Scots to the English side, 'their hearts,
+though not their persons, were always with their countrymen.'
+
+An inquisition at Edinburgh on February 20, mentions seven landed
+knights and others that had gone over to Bruce in the past three or
+four years, including Sir Robert de Keith, Sir Thomas de la Haye, and
+Sir Edmund de Ramsay. Again, a list of land rewards to Sir Robert
+de Hastang on March 20 mentions twelve, among whom are Sir David de
+Brechin (who, however, is made warden of Berwick on April 20, though
+Sir Edmund de Hastings receives the post on May 3), Sir Alexander de
+Lindsay, Sir Geoffrey de Mowbray, and Sir Herbert de Maxwell. In five
+hard years Bruce had recovered three parts of his kingdom, and carried
+fire and sword through the English March.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES
+
+
+Bruce was now in a position to turn his main energies against the
+strongholds still in English occupation.
+
+Towards the end of March 1312 he was preparing to besiege Berwick with
+an unusually large force. But the operations are not known; and, in any
+case, they were soon postponed. On April 26, he held a parliament at
+Ayr, and carefully settled the succession to the throne.
+
+The dissensions between Edward and his barons appear to have induced
+Bruce to carry the war into the enemy's territory. While the incensed
+barons were hunting down Gaveston, he raided the March again, took
+tribute, burned Norham, and carried off prisoners and booty. Again, in
+the end of June, after Gaveston was beheaded, Bruce made another foray
+into the episcopate of Durham. He burnt Hexham, and dealt so severely
+with the Priory, that even in 1320, it is said, the canons were unable
+to return, while their collectors were still 'wandering about in the
+country in 1326, with the archbishop's brief, in quest of funds for the
+canons and their church.' It may have been on this occasion that Bruce
+sent Douglas to pillage the region of Hartlepool. It is, no doubt, in
+reference to a subsequent raid, that the Lanercost chronicler tells how
+a detachment entered Durham on market day, burned most of the town,
+and slew all that resisted, but did not touch the castle or the abbey.
+The episcopate compounded for peace till next midsummer at L2000, the
+Scots bargaining for free passage 'whenever they wanted to ride further
+into England!' The Palatinate Register records the date as August 16.
+The Northumbrians, too, paid down L2000; Westmorland, Coupland, and
+Cumberland also paid ransom--money in part, and for the rest hostages,
+'sons of the greater lords of the country.' And meantime Edward was
+squabbling with his barons. It was enough to make his martial father
+rise from his grave.
+
+At last, on December 6, the Lanercost chronicle relates, Bruce suddenly
+pounced upon Berwick. His men had placed two ladders, and 'he would
+soon have had the castle, as is believed,' had the garrison not been
+warned by the barking of a dog. The ladders, says the chronicler, 'were
+of a remarkable make, as I myself, who write this, witnessed with my
+own eyes.' He describes ladders of ropes, with wooden steps, and iron
+hooks to grip the wall top. The alarm being raised, Bruce retired,
+leaving the two ladders for the monk's inspection. 'So a dog on that
+occasion saved the town, as once geese by their cackling saved Rome.'
+
+Bruce turned north to Perth. According to the Lanercost chronicle,
+he took the town by surprise in the night of January 10 (Fordun says
+January 8), 1312-13. The governor, Sir William Oliphant--probably this
+is the capture of Perth antedated by Barbour--'was bound and sent to
+the islands afar'; but, if so, he did not stay long there, for he
+was in England within two months, and on October 21, he obtained a
+safe-conduct to return to Scotland. The chronicler says that Bruce slew
+the better Scots burgesses, but permitted the English to go free; while
+Fordun records that he put 'the disloyal people, Scots and English
+alike,' to the sword. 'In his clemency,' adds Fordun, 'he spared the
+rabble, and granted forgiveness to such as asked it; but he destroyed
+the walls and dykes, and consumed everything else with fire.'
+
+Bruce next swept down upon Dumfries. Here his old enemy, Sir Dougal
+MacDowall, constable of the castle, had experienced much difficulty all
+through summer and autumn in obtaining adequate supplies. He gave up
+the castle to Bruce on February 7, the short siege probably indicating
+that he was starved into surrender. It is likely, as Mr Bain surmises,
+that Buittle, Dalswinton, Lochmaben, and Carlaverock were all recovered
+about the same time.
+
+The Scots appear to have derived considerable supplies from Flanders.
+On February 15, 1312-13, Edward remonstrated with the Count of
+Flanders, begging him to restrain his subjects from all intercourse
+with Scotsmen. The Count seized the occasion to demand compensation
+for losses and injuries inflicted on his subjects by Englishmen. An
+English commission, much to the disgust of the Flemish envoys, rejected
+the claims; and presently Flemish seamen plundered English vessels,
+the chief depredator being the ingenious John Crab, whom we shall meet
+again. On May 1, 1313, Edward invited the Count to send his aggrieved
+subjects back to London; but 'now,' he added, 'we hear that thirteen
+ships of your power, laden with arms and victuals, quite lately crossed
+from the port of Swyn to Scotland--whereat we very much marvel.' The
+Flemish quarrel went on; but on May 17, at the instance of the French
+king, Edward appointed four commissioners 'to negotiate a truce or
+sufferance with the Scots.'
+
+Within a week, however, as Edward was on the point of embarking for
+France to confer with Philip about Gascony, he learned from a special
+messenger from the lieges of Cumberland that the Scots were again
+upon them. He could only tell them to do their best, and he would
+hasten back to take order for their safety. On June 6, Bishop Kellawe
+of Durham testifies to the forlorn state of the nuns of Halistan on
+the March; there are hostile incursions daily, goods and cattle are
+reived, and the very nuns are insulted and persecuted by the robbers,
+and driven from their homes suffering miserably. Such are examples
+of the state of affairs in the mind of the Lanercost chronicler when
+he records that 'the people of Northumberland, Westmorland, and
+Cumberland, and other men of the Marches, neither having nor hoping
+from their King defence or aid, he being then in the remote parts of
+England and not appearing to trouble himself about them, offered no
+moderate amount--nay, a very large amount--of money to Robert for truce
+till September 29, 1314.' Bruce was striking hard and persistently, and
+Edward was giving way all along the line of war.
+
+On his return, indeed, Edward at once took measures of retaliation. As
+early as April 2, he had answered applications from Northumberland for
+aid by a promise of relief before midsummer--a promise that remained
+unfulfilled. On July 6, he demanded a subsidy from the bishops, and on
+August 13 he made a like appeal to the abbots and convents. In warlike
+mood, in the end of July, he had ordered something like a press-gang
+muster of boats at the ports from the Wash round to Plymouth. It was
+but a spasmodic effort of weakness. About the beginning of October,
+Sir Ralph Fitz William reported that 'they are grievously menaced with
+treason at Berwick, but, if the garrison are loyal, they will defend
+it against the King of France and the King of Scotland for a while
+till succour reaches them.' In the end of next month, the Bishop of St
+Andrews proceeded to France in the interest of Edward, no doubt with
+the object of detaching Philip from co-operation with Bruce. It was a
+fatuous choice of an envoy.
+
+The wretched inefficiency of Edward had by this time rendered the
+position of his adherents in Scotland all but insupportable. In
+November they despatched the Earl of March and Sir Adam de Gordon to
+lay their grievances before him. Their petition recounts their heavy
+losses at the hands of the enemy during the past three years; their
+costly purchase of truce; and especially their intolerable sufferings
+from the lawless outrages committed upon them by the garrisons of
+Berwick and Roxburgh, who are alleged to have plundered, killed, and
+held them to ransom at will, as if they had been enemies. Here is
+a substantial repetition of the memorandum of 1307-10. Sir Adam de
+Gordon could tell how he had himself been arrested by the constable of
+Roxburgh Castle and required to find security for his good behaviour.
+The King, replying on November 28, could only give them the cold
+comfort of an assurance of his intention to march to their relief at
+next midsummer. It is quite natural that such slackness of the central
+authority should have given head to such marauding scoundrels on the
+Border as Sir Gilbert de Middleton and Thomas de Pencaitland. That
+notorious knight of the road, Sir Gilbert, will cross our path again.
+
+It could not have been earlier than autumn 1313 that Bruce recovered
+the Peel of Linlithgow, which was held by Sir Archibald de Livingstone,
+under the orders of Sir Peter Lubaud, warden and sheriff of Edinburgh.
+Barbour makes it harvest time. The peel garrison had cut their hay,
+and engaged William Bunnock, a neighbouring farmer, who hated them
+patriotically, to 'lead' it for them. Bunnock conceived the notion of
+elevating the familiar harvesting process to an operation of war, and
+arranged the strategic details with his friends. He planted an ambush
+in the early morning, and let the hay lie till the peel men had gone
+out to cut their crop. Loading the hay, with eight men hid in it, he
+set a hardy yeoman, with a hatchet under his belt, to drive the waggon,
+himself walking idly beside. When the waggon was half-way through the
+gate, Bunnock shouted the signal, 'Thief! Call all! Call all!' The
+driver instantly severed the traces, stopping the waggon; Bunnock slew
+the porter; the eight men leapt down from the midst of the hay, and
+the ambush swarmed up. They slew the men they found in garrison, and
+pursued those that were in the fields towards Edinburgh and Stirling,
+killing some in their flight. For this exploit Bruce rewarded Bunnock
+worthily. The peel he at once demolished. The story of Bunnock rests on
+the sole authority of Barbour.
+
+The next castle to fall was Roxburgh. Douglas had been keeping the
+Forest, and harassing Roxburgh and Jedburgh castles. Resolving to win
+Roxburgh, he got a handy man, Simon of the Leadhouse, to make him
+ladders of hempen ropes, with strong wooden steps and iron hooks, after
+the Berwick pattern. Then gathering some sixty men, he approached the
+castle on Fastern's Even (Shrove Tuesday), February 27, 1313-14, and
+waited till dark. The party left their horses, put black frocks over
+their armour, and crept forward on all fours like cattle. The deception
+succeeded; Barbour says they overheard the garrison jesting at the
+expense of the neighbouring farmer, who, they imagined, had left his
+cattle at large to be carried off by the Douglas. The click of a hook
+on the wall attracted a sentinel, but Simon, who had mounted first,
+stabbed the man dead, and the party quickly scaled the wall. The
+garrison were making merry in the hall, when the Scots burst in upon
+them with the Douglas war-cry. A sharp conflict ensued. At length Sir
+William de Fiennes, the constable, a valorous Gascon, retreated to the
+great tower. With daylight, the Scots plied the tower with arrows, and
+eventually wounded Sir William so badly in the face that he yielded,
+on terms that he and his men should pass safe to England. Douglas
+conducted them over the Border, and Sir William soon afterwards died of
+his wound. Bruce sent his brother Sir Edward to demolish the castle.
+Sir Edward, says Barbour, secured all Teviotdale except Jedburgh
+and other places near the English border. On main points Barbour is
+corroborated by Sir Thomas Gray and the Lanercost chronicler.
+
+The news of the capture of Roxburgh stimulated the rivalry of Randolph,
+who was besieging Sir Peter Lubaud in Edinburgh Castle. Hopeless of
+taking the place by assault, Randolph cast about for some likely
+stratagem, when William Francis (or William the Frenchman), one of
+his men, suggested a plan of extreme boldness. Francis, according to
+Barbour, stated that he had at one time lived in the castle, and,
+having a sweetheart in the town, had been accustomed to climb the
+sheer rock in the darkest nights. All that was needed was good nerve,
+and a twelve-foot ladder for the wall on the top. So, on a dark
+night--Fordun gives March 14, 1313-14--Randolph, with thirty picked
+men, essayed the adventurous ascent. About half way up they stopped
+to rest. Here their nerves were dramatically tested. One of the watch
+overhead threw down a stone, exclaiming 'Away! I see you well.' It was
+a mere joke, the sentry saw nothing; and the stone passed harmlessly
+over them. The watchmen passed on without suspicion, and Randolph with
+his men hastened up the steeper and steeper crag to the foot of the
+wall. Instantly the ladder was fixed, Francis mounting first, then
+Sir Andrew Gray, and Randolph himself third. Before all the party got
+over the watch was alarmed, the cry of 'Treason! Treason!' resounded
+through the castle, and a desperate struggle ensued. Randolph himself
+was very sorely bested, but he succeeded in killing the commandant;
+whereupon the garrison gave in. The Lanercost chronicler states that a
+strong assault was made on the south gate--the only point reasonably
+open to assault--where the garrison offered a vigorous resistance; and
+that the party mounting the rock on the north side under cover of this
+front attack, having surprised and overcome the defenders, opened the
+gate to their comrades. Sir Peter Lubaud, the warden, says Barbour,
+had been deposed from the command of the garrison on account of some
+suspicious intercourse with the enemy, and was found by Randolph in
+prison in fetters. He became Bruce's man, but soon afterwards he fell
+under suspicion of treason, and, by Bruce's order, was drawn and hanged
+(Gray)--or at any rate put in prison, where he died miserably (John
+of Tynmouth). The Lanercost writer states that the victors 'slew the
+English,' probably meaning the garrison; but the extant rolls show that
+there were many Scotsmen in the garrison, 'two of them,' as Mr Bain
+remarks, even 'bearing the surname of Douglas.' Bruce demolished the
+castle.
+
+Barbour states that Sir Edward Bruce, having won all Galloway and
+Nithsdale, and taken Rutherglen Peel and Dundee Castle, laid siege to
+Stirling Castle from Lent to midsummer, 1313; and that then Sir Philip
+de Mowbray, the constable, agreed to yield the castle, provided it
+were not relieved by midsummer 1314. The most recklessly chivalrous
+terms are indeed consonant with Sir Edward's character. But if, as
+Barbour and the Monk of Malmesbury agree, Mowbray was influenced by a
+threatened failure of provisions, the period must have been much less.
+He in Stirling would hardly be in any better case for supplies than
+was MacDowall in Dumfries. Immediately on investment of the castle,
+he would begin to feel the pinch; and the fall of Edinburgh would at
+once intimate the hopelessness of his position. But, further, we have
+seen Sir Edward demolishing Roxburgh Castle in early March, and it does
+not seem likely that he would have left a substitute to look after
+Stirling. Besides, the Lanercost chronicler can hardly be mistaken
+when he says that Sir Edward entered England on April 17, taking up
+his headquarters at the Bishop's manor house at Rose, and sending his
+army as far as Englewood Forest, south and west, for three days to burn
+and plunder--because the tribute had not been duly paid. Once more,
+the Monk of Malmesbury represents that it was after the fall of the
+other castles that Mowbray carried to Edward the news of his agreement
+for surrender. On the whole, it may be seriously doubted whether the
+respite extended beyond a couple of months, or even six weeks. It is
+not, apparently, till May 27, that Mowbray's conditional agreement for
+surrender is mentioned in any existing official document.
+
+Besides Stirling, the only fortresses of any importance that now
+remained in the hands of the English were Berwick, Jedburgh, and
+Bothwell. But the immediate interest centres in the fateful attempt to
+relieve the castle of Stirling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.
+
+
+As far back as December 23, Edward II. had summoned his army to
+assemble at Berwick on June 10, 1314, for the war against Scotland. In
+March, he was busily ordering his fleet for service on the east and
+west coasts, and hastening the muster of the Irish contingent under the
+Lord of Ulster. On May 27, from New Abbey, he issued an urgent reminder
+to the sheriffs and barons of the northern and midland counties to have
+their men at Wark by June 10. He has learnt, he tells them, that the
+Scots are massing great numbers of foot in strong positions protected
+by marshes and all but inaccessible to cavalry; and he fires their zeal
+by informing them of the agreement of Mowbray to surrender the castle
+of Stirling unless the siege be raised by midsummer day. Bruce, then,
+had already chosen his ground, and commenced his measures of defence.
+
+The English and Welsh troops summoned on May 27, numbered together
+21,540. The numbers of the Irish contingent are not preserved, but, on
+analogous cases, they can hardly be reckoned beyond 3000. The Gascons,
+Hainaulters, and other foreigners are not likely to have numbered more
+than the Irish. 'After allowing,' with Mr Bain, '10,000 light horsemen
+and 3000 heavy cavalry, the whole English army probably did not exceed
+50,000'--at the very outside. The Earls of Lancaster, Warenne, Arundel,
+and Warwick did not join the expedition, on the ostensible ground that
+the King had not first consulted Parliament in conformity with the
+Ordinances, and thus they would be laid open to ecclesiastical censure;
+but they sent their feudal services. The outfit of the army was on the
+most ample, not to say magnificent, scale. 'The multitude of waggons,
+if extended one after another in file,' says the Monk of Malmesbury,
+'would have stretched over twenty leagues.' In truth, he says, it
+was universally acknowledged that 'such an army did not go out of
+England in our time.' The Monk's testimony lends a sober colour to the
+assertion of Robert Baston, the Carmelite friar that went to celebrate
+an English victory and was captured and made to sing the Scottish
+triumph. 'Never,' he declared, 'was seen a more splendid, noble, or
+proud English army.'
+
+There is no definite clue to the numbers of the Scots. 'But,' as Mr
+Bain says, 'in so poor and thinly populated a country, devastated by
+long war, 15,000 or 16,000 would be a fair estimate of the comrades
+of Bruce. The Scots, twenty years later, could raise no more for the
+almost equally important object of relieving Berwick.'
+
+The estimates usually given follow Barbour, who says there were over
+100,000 English--enough 'to conquer the whole world'--and some 50,000
+Scots, of whom 30,000 were fighting men. No doubt Barbour includes in
+the English 100,000 the miscellaneous 'pitaille,' or rascalry, that
+swarmed about the baggage trains of mediaeval armies. But Mr Bain's
+estimate seems to be as near as the authorities will admit. The
+proportion of English to Scots was most probably somewhere about three
+to one.
+
+The army that mustered under Edward was indeed 'very fair and
+great,' yet, in the eye of the Church--probably enlightened by later
+events--there was one needful thing lacking. When Edward I. was on
+the warpath towards Scotland, says the Lanercost chronicler, 'he was
+wont to visit on his way the saints of England--Thomas of Canterbury,
+Edmund, Hugh, William, Cuthbert--and to offer them fair oblations,
+to commend himself to their prayers, and to dispense large gifts to
+the monasteries and the poor'; but his degenerate son, omitting these
+pious duties,' came with great pomp and circumstance, took the goods
+of the monasteries on his route, and, it was stated, did and said some
+things to the prejudice and injury of the saints,' by reason whereof
+'certain religious of England prophesied' that no good would come of
+the expedition. To the same effect, Robert of Reading records that
+Edward permitted his troops, on their march, to ravage with violence
+the patrimony of 'religious' and other churchmen, as if they had been
+robbers (_more praedonum_). Still the Archbishop of York and the Bishop
+of Durham, rehearsing the long list of Bruce's alleged enormities,
+officially enjoined all within their jurisdiction to pray for the
+success of the King's arms, offering an indulgence of forty days in
+reward of such patriotic piety.
+
+The King was in high spirits over the splendour of his army. Apparently
+he anticipated an easy and complete triumph. He started from Berwick
+only a few days before the fateful day of St John. 'From day to day,'
+says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'he hastened to the place fixed on
+beforehand, not like a man leading an army to battle, but rather as
+if he were going on pilgrimage to Compostella. Short was the stay for
+sleep; shorter still the stay for food; in consequence of which the
+horses, horsemen, and foot were worn out by labour and fatigue.' On
+Friday, June 21, the English army lay at Edinburgh; and on Saturday it
+lay at Falkirk, little more than ten miles from Stirling.
+
+The problem for Bruce was to keep the English out of Stirling till St
+John's day had passed. In good time he had selected and laid out the
+inevitable field of battle with military prescience of the first order.
+He had mustered his forces in the Torwood, in a position commanding the
+approach to Stirling from the south; and on the morning of Saturday,
+the 22nd of June, on news of the approach of the English, he marched
+them to the chosen spot on a plain some two miles south of Stirling
+within the last large loop of the Bannock Burn, called the New Park--a
+hunting-ground of the Scots kings. The Park was a piece of firm ground
+rising on the north and west into the swelling ridges of Coxet Hill
+near St Ninian's, and Gillies Hill on the left of the Bannock above
+the bend towards the Forth. Eastwards it fell away into a marshy tract
+filling the angle of the two rivers and intersected by watercourses.
+Southwards, too, the hard ground was broken by two morasses--Halbert's
+Bog and Milton Bog--between the Park and the Bannock. Bruce rested
+his right wing on the steep bank of the Bannock below Gillies Hill;
+his left wing stretched away past St Ninian's nearly to the gates
+of Stirling; his rear was protected by Gillies Hill and the Bannock
+behind. The English would be compelled to advance either across the
+Bannock between Parkmill and Beaton's Mill--a breadth of a short
+mile, free from precipitous banks--to the line of hard ground, with a
+contracted front, to be immediately divided by the intervening bogs;
+or else along the line of low and marshy flat between the Park and the
+Forth. To reduce the superiority of the English cavalry, Bruce had
+industriously dug pits along the parts of the firm route by which they
+would probably, if not inevitably advance--pits a foot wide, round,
+and deep as a man's knee, honeycombing the ground; and these holes he
+covered loosely with a disguise of brushwood, turf, and grass. He is
+also said to have inserted in them stakes shod with iron points. Sir
+Thomas de la Moore mentions long transverse trenches, similarly covered
+so as to bear men aware of them, but not horses. Later writers add that
+Bruce strewed the ground with calthrops, or metal spikes, to cripple
+the English horses. He himself had determined to fight on foot.
+
+Bruce marshalled his troops in four divisions, facing south-eastwards.
+The van was led by Randolph. The second and third divisions were ranged
+behind the wings of the van; the former, to the right and resting on
+the Bannock, led by Sir Edward Bruce, the latter by Walter the Steward
+('that then was but a beardless hyne') and Douglas. The rearguard,
+consisting of the men of Carrick, Argyll, Cantyre and the Isles, was
+stationed right behind the van at some interval, under the immediate
+command of Bruce himself. All the divisions could thus be promptly
+massed on the English whether they should select the higher or the
+lower line of advance. It was of the very first importance that no
+detachment of the English should be allowed to outmanoeuvre the main
+body of the Scots and throw themselves into Stirling; and Randolph,
+who held the most advanced position, was especially charged to guard
+against this fatal contingency. The non-combatants retired behind the
+hill in the rear, afterwards named from them the Gillies' (that is,
+Servants') Hill.
+
+The dispositions of the English army are not known in certain detail.
+There is little help in Barbour's statement that it was divided into
+ten companies of 10,000 each. We know that the van was led by the
+Earl of Gloucester; and that, if Robert of Reading and the Monk of
+Malmesbury may be relied on, the appointment of Gloucester was hotly
+resented by the hereditary constable, the Earl of Hereford. The King's
+bridle was attended by Sir Aymer de Valence and Sir Giles d'Argentine,
+the latter of whom was regarded as the third knight in Christendom,
+and had been released from captivity at Salonica in the end of the
+preceding year through Edward's urgent representations to the Emperor,
+and even to the Empress, of Constantinople.
+
+At sunrise on Sunday, June 23--the eve of St John--the Scots heard
+mass. Bruce then devoted special attention to the pits that were still
+preparing. After midday--the Scots observed the fast on bread and
+water--the English were reported to be advancing from the fringe of
+the Torwood. Bruce issued his final orders. Then he is said to have
+addressed his men in terms of high resolution, bidding every man depart
+that was not ready for either alternative--to conquer or to die. Not a
+man moved from the ranks. More than five centuries later, at Balaclava,
+'Men,' cried Sir Colin Campbell, 'you must die where you stand.' 'Ay,
+ay, Sir Colin, we'll do that,' was the cheery response. Such, too, was
+the spirit of the same race on the field of Bannockburn.
+
+At this point, according to Barbour, Douglas and Sir Robert de Keith
+(hereditary marshal) proceeded, by order of Bruce, to reconnoitre
+the enemy's advance. They returned with such a report of the numbers
+and equipment of the English as they deemed it prudent to render to
+Bruce only 'in great privity.' Bruce, however, put a bold face on the
+situation, and directed them, says Barbour, to spread a depreciatory
+account of the enemy.
+
+The main body of the English appears to have halted while the leaders
+should take counsel. But Gloucester, with the vanguard, ignorant of
+this and ardent for the fray, dashed through the Bannock and advanced
+on the Park, where Sir Edward Bruce was ready to receive him. King
+Robert himself was riding in front of Sir Edward's division on a small
+palfrey, with only a battle-axe in hand. On his basnet, according to
+Barbour's haberdashery, he wore a hat of jacked leather, surmounted
+by 'a high crown, in token that he was a king.' Some of the English
+knights, says the Monk of Malmesbury, rode out between the lines and
+flung their challenges to the Scots. Sir Henry de Bohun, a knight of
+the house of Hereford, spurred at Bruce himself, and Bruce, swerving
+at the critical moment of attack, rose in his stirrups as de Bohun
+passed and clove his head at a stroke, the shaft of his axe shivering
+in his hand. It may be remarked incidentally that Gray calls the
+luckless knight Sir Piers de Mountforth. The Scots pressed forward; the
+English fell back; but Bruce prudently soon recalled his men from the
+conflict. The Monk of Malmesbury, however, acknowledges that there was
+'sufficiently keen fighting, in which Gloucester was unhorsed.' It is
+not surprising that the leading Scots remonstrated earnestly with Bruce
+for exposing himself to such an unequal chance. According to Barbour,
+he made no answer, only regretting the breaking of his good axe-shaft.
+There can hardly be any doubt that Bruce took the risk deliberately,
+in calculated reliance on his dexterity and strength, and not without
+a judicious eye to the moral effect on both armies. The feat, in any
+case, damped the ardour of the English and raised the spirit of the
+Scots.
+
+Almost contemporaneously with the advance of Gloucester, Clifford
+and Beaumont, with 300 men-at-arms--Gray, whose father rode with
+them, says 300, while Barbour makes them 800--hurried along the lower
+ground on the English right towards Stirling. Their evident object, as
+Barbour says, was to relieve the castle; but the Lanercost chronicler
+ingenuously explains that it was to prevent the Scots from escaping by
+flight. Randolph, strangely ill-served by his scouts and by his eyes,
+if Barbour be right, is said not to have been aware of the movement
+till he received a sharp message from Bruce (as if Bruce's attention
+was not fully engaged elsewhere), telling him significantly that a
+rose had fallen from his chaplet. This is sheer monkish imagination.
+Gray makes no mention of this incredible inadvertence, but represents
+Randolph as fired by the news of Bruce's repulse of the English van;
+and the Lanercost chronicler states that the Scots deliberately allowed
+the advance of the party. Of course they did; Randolph undoubtedly
+descried them the moment they debouched on the carse. To do so was no
+less important than it was for Sir Edward to be ready for Gloucester's
+onset. The next step for Randolph was to tackle his enemy at the right
+spot and not elsewhere. With a strong detachment he rapidly traversed
+the wooded edge of the Park, so as to converge upon the English
+horsemen at the narrow neck between St Ninian's and the Forth--the only
+point, in fact, where he could calculate upon holding them without
+moving his whole division down into the low-lying ground (if even that
+would have done it), and deranging the order of battle. When they were
+'neath the kirk,' he issued from the wood and menaced their further
+progress.
+
+'Let us retire a little,' said Beaumont; 'let them come; give them the
+fields.'
+
+'Sir,' remarked Sir Thomas Gray, the elder, 'I suspect if you give them
+so much now, they will have all only too soon.'
+
+'Why,' rejoined Beaumont tartly, 'if you are afraid you can flee.'
+
+'Sir,' replied Gray, 'it is not for fear that I shall flee this day.'
+
+Whereupon Sir Thomas spurred his steed between Beaumont and Sir William
+d'Eyncourt and charged the Scots. Randolph, whose men were on foot,
+instantly threw them into a schiltron, 'like a hedgehog.' D'Eyncourt
+was slain at the first onset. Gray's horse was speared and he himself
+was taken prisoner. The horsemen were wholly unable to make the
+slightest impression on the schiltron: they could not ride down the
+Scots; they could only cast spears and other missiles into their midst.
+Occasionally, on the other hand, a Scot would leap out from the ranks
+and strike down horse or rider. Douglas, seeing the Scots surrounded,
+entreated Bruce to permit him to go to Randolph's aid. Bruce, however,
+sternly refused to disorder his array, but at last yielded to his
+importunity. The temporary absence of Douglas and a small party could
+not really matter at the moment, and it was wise to make doubly sure
+of the vital object dependent on Randolph's defence. On getting near,
+however, and perceiving that Randolph was holding his own, Douglas
+chivalrously halted his men. But his appearance was not without effect
+upon the English party. They gave up the contest. The movement had
+completely failed. Some of them straggled to Stirling Castle; the main
+body of the survivors fled back the way they had come; and Randolph
+returned in triumph. It may be, as Barbour says, that Bruce used the
+occasion to deliver to his men another rousing address. At any rate he
+had gained a marked success in each of the operations of the day.
+
+Though Gloucester had retired, apparently he did not withdraw beyond
+the Bannock, but encamped for the night along the north bank. According
+to the unanimous testimony of the chroniclers, the English host was
+struck with serious discouragement. It may have been, as Barbour says,
+that they talked in groups disconsolately and forebodingly, and that
+the encouragement of the leaders predicting victory in the great battle
+on the morrow failed to shake off their depression. Still there was
+activity in the vanguard camp. Barbour says that at night efforts were
+made to render bad parts of the low-lying land in the angle of the
+rivers passable, and even that aid in this work was furnished by the
+Stirling garrison. According to the Malmesbury chronicler, the English
+anticipated attack in the night; and Gray states that they lay under
+arms, their horses being ready bridled. Bruce, however, had resolutely
+restricted himself to the tactics of defence; but the anticipation was
+a natural one enough. Some of the men, very probably, sought artificial
+means of consolation and courage. Sir Thomas de la Moore, following
+Baston, pictures the English camp as a lamentable and unwonted scene of
+drunkenness, men 'shouting "Wassail" and "Drinkhail" beyond ordinary';
+and he sets forth, in forcible contrast, the quiet self-restraint and
+patriotic confidence of the Scots.
+
+In all the circumstances, it would seem an inexplicable thing that
+the Scots should have been on the point of retiring in the night and
+making for the fastnesses of the Lennox. Yet Gray records that such was
+their intention. Sir Alexander de Seton, he says, came secretly from
+the English host to Bruce, and told him that they had lost heart, and
+would certainly give way before a vigorous onset next day; whereupon
+Bruce changed his plans and braced himself to fight on the morrow. The
+Scots had, indeed, 'done enough for the day,' but they had not done
+enough for the occasion. Stirling Castle might yet be relieved. It is
+likely enough that Seton visited Bruce, and that there were weak-kneed
+warriors in Bruce's lines; but that the matter of the interview is
+correctly reported by Gray seems absolutely incredible.
+
+On the morning of St John's day, June 24, the Scots heard mass at
+sunrise, broke their fast, and lined up with all banners displayed.
+Bruce made some new knights, and created Walter the Steward and Douglas
+bannerets. He then made fresh dispositions of his troops, in view of
+the position of the English van along the Bannock. There, clearly, the
+battle would be fought. Accordingly, he brought forward Randolph's
+division from the wood, placing it probably by the north-west corner
+of Halbert's Bog, almost parallel to Sir Edward's division; while the
+third division lay across the south-east slopes of Coxet Hill. The
+formation was in echelon by the right, with unequal intervals. Behind
+the general line, the rear division stretched from the south-west
+slopes of Coxet Hill towards Gillies Hill.
+
+The Scottish array appears to have made a deeper impression on the
+English veterans than on the English king. The Malmesbury chronicler
+states that the more experienced leaders advised that the battle should
+be postponed till the following day, partly because of the solemn
+feast, partly because of the fatigue of the soldiery. The advice
+was scorned by the younger knights. It was supported, however, by
+Gloucester, himself a youthful knight. On him, it is said, the King
+turned with vehement indignation, charging him even with treason and
+double-dealing. 'To-day,' replied the Earl, 'it will be clear that I
+am neither traitor nor double-dealer'; and he addressed himself to
+preparation for battle.
+
+The Scots seem to have made but a paltry show in the eyes of Edward.
+'What! Will yonder Scots fight?' he is said to have asked his attendant
+knights, incredulously. Sir Ingram de Umfraville assured him they
+would; at the same time suggesting that the English should feign to
+retire, and so draw the Scots from their ranks to plunder, when they
+would fall easy victims. Neither did this suggestion jump with the
+high humour of Edward. At the moment, he observed the Scottish ranks
+falling on their knees as the Abbot of Inchaffray passed along the
+lines, bearing aloft the crucifix.
+
+'Yon folk kneel to ask for mercy,' he exclaimed.
+
+'Sire,' said Umfraville, 'ye say sooth now; they crave mercy, but not
+of you; it is to God they cry for their trespasses. I tell you of a
+surety, yonder men will win all or die.'
+
+'So be it!' cried Edward, 'we shall soon see.' And he ordered the
+trumpets to sound the charge.
+
+At the very moment when the hostile armies were closing in stern
+conflict, says the Monk of Malmesbury, Gloucester and Hereford were
+in hot wrangle over the question of precedence; and Gloucester sprang
+forward, 'inordinately bent on carrying off a triumph at the first
+onset.' His heavy cavalry, though hampered for space and disconcerted
+by the treacherous pits, went forward gallantly, under the cover of a
+strong force of archers, who severely galled the Scots, and even drove
+back their bowmen. They crashed against Sir Edward Bruce's division,
+which received them 'like a dense hedge' or 'wood.' The great horses
+with their eager riders dashed themselves in vain against the solid
+and impenetrable schiltron. Those behind pressed forward, only to
+bite the dust, like their comrades, under the spears and axes of the
+Scots. 'There,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'the horrible crash
+of splintered spears, the terrible clangour of swords quivering on
+helmets, the insupportable force of the Scottish axes, the fearsome
+cloud of arrows and darts discharged on both sides, might have shaken
+the courage of the very stoutest heart. The redoubling of blow on blow,
+the vociferation of encouragements, the din of universal shouting, and
+the groans of the dying, could be heard farther than may be said.' The
+Lanercost writer goes near to justifying Scott's remarkable expression,
+'steeds that shriek in agony.' Seldom in history has there been so
+fierce a turmoil of battle.
+
+According to Barbour, Randolph, noting the strain upon the first
+division, bore down to Sir Edward's support and drew an equally heavy
+attack upon himself. Steadily the second division won ground, though
+they seemed lost in the swarms of the enemy, 'as they were plunged in
+the sea.' But not yet did victory incline to either side. Then Bruce
+threw into the scale the weight of the third division, the Steward and
+Douglas ranging themselves 'beside the Earl a little by.' With splendid
+tenacity, the English grappled with the newcomers in stubborn conflict,
+till, Barbour says, 'the blood stood in pools' on the field.
+
+The engagement was now as general as the nature of the position
+allowed. Both sides settled down to steady hard pounding, and it
+remained to be seen which would pound the hardest and the longest.
+
+The English were at enormous disadvantage in being unable to bring into
+action their whole force together. They could, indeed, supply the gaps
+in the narrow front with sheer weight of pressure from the rear, and
+they took bold risks on parts of the softer ground, especially along
+the north bank of the Bannock; but, even so, the fighting line was
+grievously hampered for space, and the wild career of wounded steeds
+defied the most strenuous efforts to preserve order. The archers,
+however, worked round to the right of Sir Edward's division, plying
+their bows with such energy and discrimination as greatly to disconcert
+Sir Edward's men. The moment had come for King Robert to order into
+action the marshal, Sir Robert de Keith, with his handful of 500
+horsemen 'armed in steel.' Keith dashed upon the archers in flank, and
+scattered them in flight. This successful operation gave the Scots
+archers the opportunity to retaliate with effect, while it relieved the
+foremost division to reconcentrate their energies on the heavy cavalry
+steadily thundering on their front. But more English cavalry pressed
+to occupy the ground abandoned by the English archers. And now Bruce
+appears to have brought his rear division into action upon the English
+flank. It was his last resource. The Scots, says Barbour, 'fought as
+they were in a rage; they laid on as men out of wit.' But still the
+English disputed every inch of ground with indomitable resolution.
+
+It was probably about this time that the gallant young Gloucester fell.
+After brilliant efforts to penetrate the impenetrable wedge of Scots,
+he had his charger slain under him, and was thrown to the ground. The
+mishap is said to have dazed his men, who 'stood as if astonied,'
+instead of aiding him to rise, burdened as he was with the weight of
+his armour, and possibly trammelled by his horse. He was thus slain in
+the midst of the 500 armed followers he had led into the front of the
+battle. The Monk of Malmesbury raises a loud lament over Gloucester's
+luckless fate: 'Devil take soldiery,' he exclaims in pious energy,
+'whose courage oozes out at the critical moment of need.' It may be,
+however, that others are right in stating that Gloucester was slain in
+consequence of his rash and headlong advance at the very first onset.
+
+The prolonged and doubtful struggle naturally wearied out the patience
+of the non-combatants behind Gillies Hill. Choosing a captain,
+says Barbour, they marshalled themselves--15,000 to 20,000 in
+number--improvised banners by fastening sheets on boughs and spears,
+and advanced over the brow of the hill in view of the battle raging
+below. The English, it is said, believing them to be a fresh army,
+were struck with panic. Bruce marking the effect shouted his war-cry
+and urged his men to their utmost efforts. The English van at last
+yielded ground, though not at all points. The Scots, however, seized
+their advantage, and pressed with all their might. The English line
+broke, falling back on the Bannock. Confusion increased at every step.
+Horsemen and foot, gentle and simple, were driven pell-mell into the
+Bannock, and but few of them were lucky enough to gain the south bank;
+the burn, Barbour says, was 'so full of horses and men that one might
+pass over it dry-shod.' The panic ran through the whole English army.
+The day was lost and won.
+
+King Edward refused to believe the evidence of his senses, and
+obstinately refused to quit the field. But it is the merest
+bravado--though countenanced by Scott--when Trokelowe relates how the
+King, in the bitterness and fury of his wrath, 'rushed truculently
+upon the enemy like a lion robbed of whelps,' copiously shed their
+blood, and was with difficulty withdrawn from the orgy of massacre.
+Unquestionably he stood aloof from the battle, watching its progress at
+a safe distance. When the English gave way in hopeless rout, Valence
+and Argentine seized his rein and hurried him off the field in spite
+of all remonstrance. It was not a moment too soon, for already, says
+Gray, Scots knights 'hung with their hands on the trappings of the
+King's destrier' in a determined attempt to capture him, and were
+disengaged only by the King's desperate wielding of a mace. They had
+even ripped up his destrier, so that presently he had to mount another.
+Once the King was clear of immediate pursuers, Argentine directed him
+to Stirling Castle and bade him farewell. 'I have not hitherto been
+accustomed to flee,' he said, 'nor will I flee now. I commend you to
+God.' And striking spurs to his steed he charged furiously upon Sir
+Edward Bruce's division, but was quickly borne down and slain.
+
+The turning of the King's rein was the signal for the general dispersal
+of the army in flight.
+
+King Edward, attended by Valence, Despenser, Beaumont, Sir John
+de Cromwell, and some 500 men-at-arms, made for Stirling Castle.
+Mowbray, with the plainest commonsense--the suggestion of treachery
+is preposterous--begged him not to stay, for the castle must be
+surrendered; in any case, it would be taken. So the King was conducted
+in all haste round the Park and the Torwood towards Linlithgow; the
+Lanercost writer assigns as guide 'a certain Scots knight, who knew
+by what ways they could escape.' But for Bruce's anxious care to keep
+his men in hand in case of a rally, it seems quite certain that Edward
+would not have escaped at all. Douglas went in pursuit, but he had only
+some sixty horsemen. On the borders of the Torwood he met Sir Lawrence
+de Abernethy, who was coming to assist the English, but at once changed
+sides on learning the issue of the day, and joined Douglas in pursuit
+of the fugitive King. At Linlithgow Douglas came within bowshot of
+the royal party, but, not being strong enough to attack, hung close
+upon their rear, capturing or killing the stragglers. The pursuit was
+continued hot-foot through Lothian; Douglas
+
+          'was alwais by thame neir;
+    He leit thame nocht haf sic laseir
+    As anys wattir for to ma'--
+
+till at last Edward found shelter in Earl Patrick's castle of Dunbar.
+The King, with seventeen of his closest attendants, presently embarked
+on a vessel for Berwick (Barbour says Bamborough), 'abandoning all the
+others,' sneers the Lanercost writer, 'to their fortune,' These others,
+according to Barbour, had not even been admitted to Dunbar Castle;
+but Douglas let them go on to Berwick unmolested, and with a drove of
+captured horses speedily rejoined Bruce at Stirling. Sir Thomas de la
+Moore attributes the King's escape 'not to the swiftness of his horse,
+nor to the efforts of men, but to the Mother of God, whom he invoked,'
+vowing to build and dedicate to her a house for twenty-four poor
+Carmelites, students of theology. This vow he fulfilled, in spite of
+the dissuasion of Despenser, and the house is now Oriel College, Oxford.
+
+Another party, headed by the Earl of Hereford, made for Carlisle.
+According to the Lanercost chronicler, it included the Earl of Angus,
+Sir John de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, and
+many other knights, and numbered 600 horse and 1000 foot. They appealed
+to the hospitality of Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert, who held Valence's
+castle of Bothwell for Edward with a garrison of sixty Scots. Fitz
+Gilbert admitted 'the more noble' of them--Barbour says fifty; the
+Meaux chronicler, 120; Walsingham, a still larger number. Fitz Gilbert
+at once secured them all as prisoners, and delivered them to Sir Edward
+Bruce, who was sent with a large force to take them over. Hereford and
+others were eventually exchanged for the Queen, the Princess Marjory,
+and the Bishop of Glasgow; the rest were held to heavy ransom. The
+main body of the party struggled forward to the Border, but many of
+them--Barbour says three-fourths--were slain or captured. Everywhere,
+in fact, the inhabitants, who 'had previously feigned peace' with the
+English, rose upon the hapless fugitives. Thus, Sir Maurice de Berkeley
+escaped with a great body of Welshmen, but, says Barbour, many were
+taken or slain before they reached England. A large number fled to
+Stirling Castle, where Barbour pictures the crags as covered with them;
+but these at once surrendered to a detachment of Bruce's force.
+
+It is hopeless to number the slain that strewed the field of battle,
+choked the Bannock, or floated down the Forth. Barbour says roundly
+that 30,000 English were slain or drowned. The Meaux chronicler admits
+20,000. Walsingham numbers no less than 700 knights and squires.
+Besides Gloucester and Argentine, the veteran Sir Robert de Clifford,
+Sir Pagan de Tybetot, Sir William the Marshal, Sir William de Vescy,
+Sir John Comyn (the son of the Red Comyn, slain at Dumfries), Sir Henry
+de Bohun, Sir William D'Eyncourt, and many other notable warriors,
+had fallen in the forefront of battle. Sir Edmund de Mauley, the
+King's seneschal, was drowned in the Bannock. The undistinguished many
+must remain uncounted. The Scots losses, which, though comparatively
+insignificant, must yet have been considerable, are equally beyond
+reckoning. The only men of note mentioned are Sir William Vipont and
+Sir Walter Ross.
+
+In dealing with his prisoners, Bruce displayed a princely generosity.
+Trokelowe frankly acknowledges that his handsome liberality gained him
+immense respect 'even among his enemies.' Walsingham declares that it
+'changed the hearts of many to love of him.' The Monk of Reading is
+fairly astonished. There was no haggling over exchanges or ransoms,
+though no doubt many of the ransoms were at a high figure. Sir Ralph
+de Monthermer, who was captured at Stirling, and was an old friend of
+Bruce's, was released without ransom, and carried back to England the
+King's shield, which Bruce freely returned. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, a
+relative of Bruce's, who yielded himself to the King personally on the
+day after the battle, was sent home, not only without ransom, but with
+handsome gifts. The bodies of Gloucester and Clifford were freely sent
+to Edward at Berwick with every token of respect for gallant foes; and,
+while the common men that fell on the field were interred in common
+trenches, the more noble were buried with noble ceremonial 'in holy
+places.'
+
+The spoils collected by the victors were enormous. Walsingham ventures
+on an estimate of L200,000; 'so many good nobles, vigorous youths,
+noble horses, warlike arms, precious garments and napery, and vessels
+of gold--all lost!' Bruce made generous distribution among his
+valiant men. The individual ransoms largely increased the individual
+acquisitions. 'The whole land,' says Fordun, 'overflowed with boundless
+wealth.'
+
+The chroniclers labour to assign reasons for the great disaster. The
+religious reason seems rather thin; for, if Edward and his barons broke
+the Ordinances, and also fought on a feast day, Bruce and his friends
+lay under multiplied excommunications. There is more substance in
+other allegations--presumptuous confidence on the part of the English
+leaders; discord in their councils; their impetuous and disorderly
+advance; the fatigue and hunger of the men by reason of the rapid
+march from Berwick. One would be unwilling to press a certain lack of
+enthusiasm for their King, or a suspicion of inadequate generalship.
+There is sufficient explanation in the skill, prudence, and iron
+resolution of Bruce, supported by able generals of division, and by
+brave and patriotic men. Had the result been otherwise, it would have
+been, for England, a greater disaster still.
+
+'Yet'--and the word of honest sympathy and justification will not jar
+now on any generous mind--
+
+    'Yet mourn not, Land of Fame!
+    Though ne'er the leopards on thy shield
+    Retreated from so sad a field
+        Since Norman William came.
+    Oft may thine annals justly boast
+    Of battles stern by Scotland lost;
+        Grudge not her victory,
+    When for her freeborn rights she strove--
+    Rights dear to all who Freedom love,
+        To none so dear as thee!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND
+
+
+The battle of Bannockburn might well have been the historical, as well
+as the dramatic, close of the struggle. But Edward refused to be taught
+by experience, and the desultory welter of war was miserably prolonged
+for nearly half a generation to come. The disaster rankled in Edward's
+mind, ever craving vengeance, impotently. With childish wilfulness,
+he would not even concede to Bruce the formal title of King of Scots,
+though the Lanercost chronicler admits that the victory at Bannockburn
+extorted a general recognition of his right by conquest.
+
+Edward retired from Berwick to York. It was plain that Bruce would
+instantly follow up his victory, and already there was anxiety on
+the Border. Berwick was not only vexed by the Scots, but still more
+seriously menaced by the violence of the Northumbrians, who had been
+exasperated by the hanging of a number of their countrymen for alleged
+treachery; and the storm burst upon the north of England before Edward
+could send up reinforcements. Before the middle of July, Sir Andrew
+de Harcla, the constable of Carlisle, was in daily expectation of
+an attack, and complained that he was hampered by lack of promised
+support. Bishop Kellawe could not attend Parliament, so busy was he
+in preparations for the defence of his episcopate; 'all the people
+say that, if he now leave the district, they will not venture to stay
+behind.'
+
+Immediately after the battle, Sir Philip de Mowbray surrendered
+Stirling Castle, and passed over to the side of the victor. Towards the
+end of July, Sir Edward Bruce and Douglas, with other Scots nobles,
+crossed the eastern Border and ravaged Northumberland, leaving the
+castles unassailed. They spared the episcopate of Durham from fire
+in consideration of a large sum of money. Crossing the Tees, they
+penetrated beyond Richmond, the people fleeing before them to the
+south, to the woods, to the castles. They turned up Swaledale, and
+on Stainmoor severely handled Harcla, who had seized the opportunity
+of quietness at Carlisle to make a luckless raid upon them. On their
+northward march they burnt Brough, Appleby, Kirkoswald, and other
+towns, and trampled down the crops remorselessly. Coupland bought off a
+visitation. They re-entered Scotland with many prisoners of price, and
+with great droves of cattle. They had met with no resistance, except
+Harcla's futile effort. 'The English,' says Walsingham dolefully, 'had
+lost so much of their accustomed boldness that a hundred of them fled
+from the face of two or three Scots.'
+
+On September 9, Edward held a parliament at York. He readily confirmed
+the ordinances, changed ministers, even retired Despenser--anything
+for the military help of his barons. But further operations against
+Scotland were postponed till Hereford and the other prisoners of note
+could be ransomed home. About a week later, Edward had a communication
+from Bruce expressing a strong desire for accord and amity. Safe
+conducts were issued, and truce commissioners were appointed.
+Meantime, however, the negotiations were too slow for the Scots; for,
+on the very day that Edward appointed his commissioners, the Prior
+and Convent of Durham signed a bond for 800 marks to Randolph for a
+quiet life till the middle of January. Randolph, in fact, penetrated
+Yorkshire, committing the usual depredations. Still the negotiations,
+which apparently had been entered into at the instance of Philip of
+France, went forward. But in November the English envoys returned
+from Dumfries with empty hands, and with the news of the likelihood
+of another invasion of the Scots, 'owing to the lack of food in their
+country.' Already, indeed, a body of Scots had occupied Tyndale,
+and were pushing down towards Newcastle. About Christmas they again
+ravaged Northumberland, and let off Cumberland till midsummer day next
+year for the sum of 600 marks. The Archbishop of York, whose manor of
+Hexham had suffered, vigorously denounced the invaders; and at York
+Minster on January 17, barons and clergy resolved on making a stand
+at Northallerton three days later. But the only serious effort of the
+season was Harcla's valorous November raid on Dumfriesshire, where
+he was well punished, despite the local knowledge of his recreant
+lieutenant, Sir Thomas de Torthorwald. About the beginning of February,
+indeed, John of Argyll overpowered the Scots in the Isle of Man, and
+recovered it for Edward. But 'the terror that prevailed throughout the
+north of England,' as Canon Raine says, 'was something unexampled';
+'with the exception of a few fortresses, two or three of the northern
+counties were almost permanently occupied by the Scots.'
+
+On April 26, 1315, a Parliament was held in the Parish Church of Ayr,
+to consider 'the condition, defence, and perpetual security of the
+Kingdom of Scotland.' The business was to settle the succession to
+the throne. It was enacted that, failing lawful male heirs of King
+Robert, Sir Edward and his lawful male heirs should succeed; failing
+these, Marjory; and failing Marjory, the nearest lineal heir of the
+body of Robert. In case the heir were a minor, Randolph was to be
+guardian of both heir and realm. Failing all these heirs, Randolph
+was to be guardian until Parliament should determine the succession.
+Presently Marjory married Sir Walter the Steward. She died in her first
+confinement on March 2, 1315-16, leaving a son, who became Robert II.
+of Scotland.
+
+The settlement no doubt was influenced by the imminence of a large
+expansion of policy--the ill-starred Irish expedition. On May 25,
+1315, Sir Edward Bruce landed at Carrickfergus with 6000 men. On his
+staff were some of the foremost Scots knights--Randolph, Sir Philip de
+Mowbray, Sir John de Soulis, Sir John the Steward, and many others.
+The true motives of the enterprise are by no means clear. There was no
+immediate object in dividing the English forces, and in any case there
+was involved a like division of the Scots forces. The suggestion of the
+discontentment of the Scots with their territorial boundaries, growing
+out of repeated successes in the field and a superfluity of money,
+seems to be a mere speculation of the Lanercost chronicler. There is
+more probability in Barbour's assertion that Sir Edward Bruce, 'who
+stouter was than a leopard, thought Scotland too small for his brother
+and himself.' It may be that this particular outlet for his restless
+and ambitious spirit was opened up by an offer of the crown of Ireland
+by independent Ulster kinglets either in the first place to King Robert
+or directly to Sir Edward himself. It is not improbable, however, that
+the movement may have been a serious attempt at a great flank attack
+on England. Walsingham mentions 'a rumour that, if things went well in
+Ireland, Sir Edward would at once pass over to Wales.' 'For these two
+races,' he says, 'are easily stirred to rebellion, and, taking ill with
+the yoke of servitude, they execrate the domination of the English.'
+
+The Irish expedition despatched from Ayr, King Robert and his
+lieutenants again turned to the Border. In the end of May, a meeting
+of the clergy and magnates of the north had been convened at Doncaster
+by the Archbishop of York, at the instance of the Earl of Lancaster
+and other barons, who appear to have been in a conciliatory mood; and
+on June 30, Edward issued his summons for the muster at Newcastle by
+the middle of August. But already, on June 29, Douglas had entered
+the episcopate of Durham. Pushing on to Hartlepool, he occupied, but
+did not burn the town, the people taking refuge on the ships; and he
+returned laden with plunder. Sir Ralph Fitz William had given Edward a
+week's warning, but nothing had been done in consequence. It does seem
+odd, therefore, to stumble on an account of payment to nineteen smiths
+of Newcastle for 'pikois,' 'howes,' and other instruments sent to Perth
+in August.
+
+On July 22, Bruce himself invested Carlisle, which was held by the
+redoubtable Harcla. His army was amply supplied by forays into
+Allerdale, Coupland, and Westmorland. Every day an assault was
+delivered upon one of the three gates of the city, and sometimes upon
+all at once; but the besieged replied manfully with showers of stones
+and arrows. On the fifth day of the siege, the Scots brought into
+action a machine that hurled stones continuously at the Caldew gate and
+the wall, but without effect; and the defenders answered with seven or
+eight similar machines, as well as with springalds for hurling darts
+and slings for hurling stones, 'which greatly frightened and harassed
+the men without.' The Scots next erected a wooden tower overtopping
+the wall; whereupon the besieged raised over the nearest tower on the
+wall a similar wooden tower overtopping the Scots one. But the Scots
+tower proved useless, for its wheels stuck in the mud of the moat, and
+it could not be got up to the wall. Nor could the Scots use their long
+scaling ladders, or a sow they had prepared to undermine the wall;
+they could not fill up the moat with fascicles; and, when they tried
+to run bridges of logs on wheels across the moat, the weight of the
+mass, as in the case of the tower, sank the whole construction in the
+mud. On the ninth day, Bruce abandoned his engines, and delivered a
+general assault; but still the besieged made manful defence. Next day
+the attack was renewed with special vigour on the eastern side, while
+Douglas with a determined band attempted to scale the wall on the west,
+at its highest and most difficult point, where an assault would not
+be expected. His men mounted the wall under the protection of a body
+of archers; but the English tumbled down ladders and men, killing and
+wounding many, and baffling the attack. On the morrow (August 1), the
+siege was raised. The Lanercost chronicler, who writes as if he had
+been present, affirms that only two Englishmen were killed and a few
+wounded during the eleven days' investment.
+
+Whether Bruce was hopeless and disgusted, or had been informed of the
+approach of a relieving force under Valence, or had heard the false
+report of the defeat and death of Sir Edward in Ireland, at any rate he
+hurried back to Scotland. Harcla promptly sallied in pursuit, harassing
+flank and rear, and making two important captures--Sir John de Moray
+and Sir Robert Baird. Moray had been conspicuous at Bannockburn, and
+had been enriched by the ransom of twenty-three English knights,
+besides squires and others, who had fallen to his share. Baird is
+described as 'a man of the worst will towards Englishmen.' Harcla
+delivered the prisoners to Edward, receiving (November 8) a guerdon
+of 1000 marks; but the money was to be raised from wardships, and the
+accrual of it was spread over eight years. The King's treasury was low.
+
+There is very little news of the Scots navy in those days, but it seems
+to have been reasonably active. On September 12, one bold mariner,
+Thomas Dunn, 'with a great navy of Scots,' followed an English ship
+into Holyhead harbour, and, in the absence of the master on shore,
+carried it off to Scotland. About the same time John of Argyll was in
+Dublin, impatiently expecting reinforcements from the Cinque Ports.
+Edward retained part of the squadron to assist the French king against
+the Flemings.
+
+On January 15, 1315-16, Bruce and Douglas made a sudden attack on
+Berwick, by land and sea simultaneously, during the night. They hoped
+to effect an entrance from the sea, at a point between the Brighouse
+and the castle, where there was no wall. The attempt failed. It was
+bright moonlight, and the assailants were promptly observed and
+repulsed. Sir John de Landells was slain, and Douglas himself escaped
+with difficulty in a small boat.
+
+The garrison of Berwick had only too much reason to complain. Writing
+on October 3, Edward's Chamberlain of Scotland had informed him that
+the provisions expected from Boston in the end of July had never
+been sent, and 'the town is in great straits, and many are dying
+from hunger.' Indeed, 'if the Mayor and himself had not promised the
+garrison food and clothing for the winter, they would have gone.' Two
+days later, Sir Maurice de Berkeley, the warden, wrote that the town
+and the inhabitants never were in such distress, 'and will be this
+winter, if God and the King don't think more of them,' and quickly.
+Unless money and provisions arrive by the end of the month, they will
+give up their posts and leave the town, to a man. On October 30,
+indeed, a vessel had brought in malt, barley and beans, but the master
+had had to throw overboard a great part of his cargo to escape the
+enemy. On November 26, Edward sent L300 by way of pay to the garrison;
+but he could not succour them effectually, and apparently Valence, who
+was warden north of Trent, had fallen into a lethargy. The repulse of
+Bruce was therefore signally creditable to the defence.
+
+A series of four official despatches during the latter half of February
+and the first week in March exhibit the deplorable state of the town
+from famine. On February 14, part of the garrison, in the teeth of
+the warden's orders, had gone out on a foray, declaring it was better
+to die fighting than to starve. They had captured many prisoners and
+cattle, but Douglas, on the information of Sir Adam de Gordon, who had
+recently changed sides, caught them at Scaithmoor, slew their leader,
+and furiously broke up their schiltron, killing or capturing twenty
+men-at-arms and sixty foot. Considering that the men were struggling to
+keep the means of rescuing them from starvation, Barbour may well be
+right in declaring it to be the hardest fight that Douglas ever fought.
+The foray brought no relief to the garrison, except by diminution of
+mouths. The men were 'dying of hunger in rows on the walls.' 'Whenever
+a horse dies,' wrote Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 'the men-at-arms carry
+off the flesh and boil and eat it, not letting the foot soldiers touch
+it till they have had what they will. Pity to see Christians leading
+such a life.' He will remain warden no longer than his term, which
+expires a month after Easter.
+
+Meantime Sir Henry de Beaumont, warden of the March, had gone to
+Lincoln to represent to the King and Council his conferences with some
+of the Scots leaders for a truce. On February 22, Edward appointed
+commissioners to treat with Bruce, Sir Maurice de Berkeley being one;
+and on April 28, 1316, he authorised safe conducts for the Scots
+envoys. But the business did not get forward, and the Mayor of Berwick,
+on May 10, sent urgent news to the King. Berwick has provisions for a
+month only; the enemy's cruisers have cut off supplies, and have just
+captured two vessels with victuals; the warden will serve an extended
+term till Whitsunday, but no longer; Bruce will be at Melrose in a
+fortnight with all his force. And all the time Edward was hampered in
+his measures against Scotland by the war in Ireland and by a rising in
+Wales.
+
+At midsummer 1316, the Scots again crossed the Border with fire and
+sword, and penetrated to Richmond, where they were heavily paid to
+abstain from further burning in the town and neighbourhood. Then they
+headed west as far as Furness, burning and ravaging without opposition.
+They carried home immense booty, as well as many prisoners, men and
+women; and they were particularly delighted with the quantity of iron
+they found at Furness, there being very little iron in Scotland. The
+leader of this expedition is not named.
+
+For many years there had been great scarcity in both countries, a
+natural consequence of predatory warfare. 'This year,' says the
+Lanercost chronicler, 'there was both in England and in Scotland a
+mortality of men from famine and pestilence unheard of in our times;
+and in the northern parts of England a quarter of corn sold at 40s.'
+Walsingham says the distress was worst in the north, where, he heard,
+'the people ate dogs and horses and other unclean animals.'
+
+In Ireland it was still worse; in these wretched years of intestine
+broils, it is said 'men were wont to devour one another.' Sir Edward
+Bruce had now been fighting there for a full year. With his Irish
+allies, he had raided the English adherents in Ulster; occupied
+Carrickfergus after a great fight, but failed to take the castle;
+captured and burnt Dundalk (June 29, 1315); defeated the joint forces
+of the Earl of Ulster and the King of Connaught at Connor (September
+10); besieged Carrickfergus in vain (till December 6); marched down
+into Kildare, defeating first Sir Roger de Mortimer at Kenlis, and
+afterwards (January 26) Sir Edmund le Butler, the justiciar, at
+Arscott; and returned to the siege of Carrickfergus, which was starved
+into surrender some time in summer. On May 2, 1316, Sir Edward was
+crowned King of Ireland.
+
+In autumn of 1315, and again in the following March, Randolph had
+returned to Scotland for reinforcements. On the latter occasion he
+brought Sir Edward's urgent request that King Robert would come in
+person, for then the conquest would be assured. In autumn, 1316,
+accordingly, Bruce appointed Douglas and the Steward Guardians in his
+absence, and sailed from Loch Ryan to Carrickfergus. His operations
+during the winter in Ulster do not appear to have advanced the cause
+materially, and in spring he set out on an adventurous expedition
+throughout Ireland.
+
+Barbour's account, though considerably detailed, can be treated only
+with the greatest reserve. King Edward led the van, King Robert brought
+up the rear. The enemy lay in wait at Moyra Pass, 'the Gap of the
+North,' the immemorial route of invaders north and south, some three
+miles north of Dundalk. Edward, says Barbour, rode past the ambush.
+When the rear came up, two archers appeared in view, immediately
+suggesting the nearness of an enemy; and Bruce held back his men. Sir
+Colin Campbell, son of Sir Nigel and nephew of Bruce, pressed forward
+and killed one of them, but the other shot his horse; whereupon Bruce,
+in great wrath, felled Sir Colin with his truncheon for disobedience,
+which 'might be cause of discomfiting.' Emerging at length from the
+gorge, they found Richard de Clare with 40,000 men drawn up on the
+plain, whom they presently defeated: in all the Irish war 'so hard
+a fighting was not seen.' When Edward heard of it, 'might no man
+see a wrother man.' But only a cloistered ecclesiastic can be held
+responsible for such military procedure.
+
+Advancing on Dublin, the Scots took Castle Knock on February 23;
+two days later they were at Leixlip; in four days more, they had
+reached Naas; and on March 12, they were at Callan in Kilkenny. The
+southernmost place they visited was Limerick, where they stayed two or
+three days. As they were starting northwards again, King Robert heard a
+woman's wail, and on inquiry learned that it was a poor laundress that
+had been seized with the pains of labour and was lamenting to be left
+behind; upon which he countermanded the march till she should be able
+to accompany the army. Such is Barbour's story; let us call it, after
+Scott, a 'beautiful incident.' The expedition then, somehow, passed
+back to Dublin, and on to Carrickfergus. It is an amazing narrative.
+Possibly the Bruces anticipated that they would gain over the tribes
+of the south and west; possibly they expected to tap ampler and more
+convenient sources of supplies; possibly they were trying the effect
+of a grand demonstration. At any rate they did not win any permanent
+support; 'in this march,' says Fordun, 'many died of hunger, and the
+rest lived on horse-flesh'; and the demonstration was utterly futile.
+Towards the end of the march, the English hung upon the Scots, but
+'hovered still about them and did nothing.' Yet it seems unreasonable
+to blame the English commanders, for it cannot be doubted that
+they would have exterminated the Scots if they could. A change of
+Lord-Lieutenant was impending; and Sir Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore,
+who had been appointed to succeed Sir Edmund le Butler (November 23),
+was delayed by want of outfit and did not arrive in Ireland till April
+7, when the expedition was practically over.
+
+King Robert returned to Scotland in May 1317, after an absence of
+about half a year, bringing with him 'many wounded men.' Meantime his
+lieutenants had kept Scotland with a strong hand. During 1316, Edward's
+efforts to conduct an army against the Scots had been again and again
+thwarted, and towards the end of November negotiations were in progress
+for a truce. At the same time the redoubtable Harcla had been defeated
+and captured by Sir John de Soulis (Barbour says) in Eskdale, and was
+begging Edward for Sir John de Moray and Sir Robert Baird, his former
+prisoners, 'in aid of his ransom, as he does not see how he can free
+himself otherwise.' Truce or no truce, the Earl of Arundel, who was
+in command on the March, conceived the notion of sending a force to
+hew down Jedburgh Forest. Douglas, who was building himself a house
+at Lintalee on the Jed, took 50 men-at-arms and a body of archers and
+planted an ambush at a wooded pass. When the English--certainly nothing
+like 10,000, as Barbour estimates them--had well entered, the archers
+assailed them in flank, and Douglas struck upon the rear, killing
+their leader, Sir Thomas de Richmond, and routing them disastrously. A
+detachment that had taken possession of Douglas's quarters at Lintalee
+he surprised at dinner and slew almost to a man. Jedburgh Forest was
+left unfelled.
+
+About the same time, it came to the ears of Douglas that Sir Robert de
+Neville, 'the Peacock of the North,' irritated by the recurrent praise
+of his deeds, had boasted at Berwick that he would fight him on the
+first chance. Douglas instantly took the road to Berwick, marching in
+the night, and in the early morning he displayed his broad banner, and
+lit up the landscape by firing several villages. Neville issued at the
+challenge and posted himself on a hill, expecting that the Scots would
+scatter in search of plunder. Douglas, however, impatiently advanced,
+and quickly met Neville, man to man. It was an unequal contest. Neville
+fell under the sword of Douglas. His troops fled. His three brothers,
+Alexander, John, and Ralph were among the prisoners captured, and were
+held to ransom for 2000 marks each.
+
+The English, beaten at all points on the Border, made an attempt by
+sea, landing a force of 500 men near Inverkeithing to raid Fife. The
+Earl and the Sheriff of Fife, though apprised of their coming, had not
+the pluck or the numbers to prevent their landing, and retired. Bishop
+Sinclair of Dunkeld, however, rode up at the head of 60 horsemen, his
+episcopal cloak covering a suit of full armour. He scouted the Earl's
+excuse of superior numbers, and told him to his face that he deserved
+to have his gilt spurs hewn off his heels. 'Follow me,' he cried, 'and,
+in the name of the Lord, and with the aid of St Columba, whose land
+they are ravaging, we will take revenge.' Thereupon, casting off his
+cloak and wielding a formidable spear, he spurred right on the enemy,
+routed them, and drove them to their ships with great slaughter. So
+precipitate was their flight that one barge was overladen and sank with
+all on board. Ever after Sinclair was called by King Robert 'my own
+Bishop,' and popularly he was 'the Fechtin' Bishop.'
+
+Bruce had now complete control of every part of his kingdom, excepting
+Berwick, and the northern counties of England lay open to him at his
+will. It was more than time for a final peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CONCILIATION AMID CONFLICT
+
+
+On January 1, 1316-17, the Pope declared a truce of two years between
+Edward and Bruce 'acting as King of Scotland' (_gerentem se pro
+rege Scotiae_), and denounced excommunication against all breakers
+thereof. By a Bull dated March 17, he exhorted Edward to peace with
+Bruce 'now governing the realm of Scotland' (_impraesentiarum regnum
+Scotiae gubernantem_), representing not only the waste of good lives
+and property but also the hindrance to the recovery of the Holy
+Land, and announcing the despatch of his nuncios, Guacelin d'Euse
+and Lucca di Fieschi, to effect a solemn concord. Presently he drew
+up two more Bulls, dated March 28--one, to certain English prelates,
+excommunicating all enemies of Edward invading England and Ireland; the
+other, to certain Irish prelates, excommunicating Robert and Edward
+Bruce--but these the Cardinals would hold in reserve till the issue of
+their mission should declare itself. In these Bulls, King Robert is
+'late Earl of Carrick' (_dudum Comes de Carrik_); Edward, by profession
+of eagerness to go on a crusade--and otherwise--is the Pope's 'most
+dear son in Christ.' In view of the crusade, it was essential that
+Edward should also enjoy peace at home; and, on April 20, the Pope
+wrote to the chief magnates urging them to support their King with
+counsel and with help.
+
+Towards the end of June 1317, the two Cardinals arrived in England,
+and were conducted with great ceremony to London. Edward had gone to
+Woodstock, where, on July 1, he summoned his parliament to meet at
+Nottingham on the 18th, to consider, before the Cardinals should come
+to his presence, the questions he would have to discuss with them. On
+July 27, he authorised safe conducts for the Cardinals' party, and
+assigned specially to the two prelates two officers of his personal
+staff. The Cardinals started for the north, 'as the manner of the
+Romans is,' with great pomp and circumstance. On the way, they were to
+consecrate the new Bishop of Durham, Louis de Beaumont, who proceeded
+in their train. They were also accompanied by Sir Henry de Beaumont,
+the brother of the Bishop elect, and other magnates. In the pride
+of ecclesiastical security, they contemned all warnings of danger.
+They had an unexpected welcome to the episcopate. On September 1, as
+they were passing Rushyford, within nine miles of Durham--if not at
+Aycliffe, three miles south of Rushyford--they were suddenly assailed
+by Sir Gilbert de Middleton and his robber band, and despoiled of all
+their valuables. The prelates and their personal attendants Sir Gilbert
+permitted to proceed to Durham, perhaps on foot, unharmed; the Bishop
+elect, Sir Henry, and the rest he consigned to Mitford Castle--the
+eyrie whence he swooped upon the country around, harrying as far as
+the Priory of Tynemouth. Arrived at Durham, the Cardinals, having duly
+adored St Cuthbert and venerated the venerable Bede, let loose upon
+their sacrilegious assailants all the powers of excommunication. The
+malison, says the Malmesbury chronicler, was efficacious; for, before
+the year was out, Middleton was captured and taken to London, where he
+was drawn, hanged, beheaded, and quartered.
+
+The Cardinals' advance messengers, and their special envoys
+(_praecursores_)--the Bishop of Corbau and the Archdeacon of
+Perpignan--had reached the Border in safety. There the messengers
+had been stopped. The envoys, however, were met, about the beginning
+of September, by Douglas and Sir Alexander de Seton, and allowed to
+proceed, but only after handing over their letters for King Robert.
+They were conducted to Roxburgh Castle. There the King received them
+graciously, listened with reverent attention to the Pope's open
+letters in favour of peace, and replied that he would welcome a good
+and lasting peace, whether arranged by the mediation of the Cardinals
+or otherwise. He also listened respectfully to the Cardinals' open
+letters. But as for the _close_ letters, he positively refused to
+break the seal of one of them. They were addressed to Robert de Brus,
+'governing the realm of Scotland.' 'There are several others of the
+name of Robert de Brus,' he said, 'who take part with the other barons
+in the government of the realm of Scotland. These letters may be for
+one of them; they are not addressed to me, for they do not bear the
+title of King.' No; he would not risk opening other men's letters.
+Still, he would assemble his Council and consult with them whether he
+should nevertheless receive the Cardinals to audience; but, as his
+barons were engaged in various distant places, it would be impossible
+for him to give his decision till Michaelmas (September 29).
+
+The envoys had their apology ready. They explained that it was the
+custom of Holy Mother Church, during the pendency of a question, not
+to say or write anything calculated to prejudice either party. 'If my
+Father and my Mother,' replied Bruce, holding up the Pope's letters,
+'wished to avoid creating prejudice against the other party by calling
+me King, it seems to me that they ought not, while the question is
+still pending, create prejudice against me by withholding the title
+from me; especially when I am in possession of the realm, and everybody
+in it calls me King, and foreign kings and princes address me as King.
+Really, it appears to me that my Father and Mother are partial as
+between their sons. If you had presented a letter with such an address
+to another king, it may be that you would have received another sort of
+answer.' This caustic reply, the envoys reported, he delivered with a
+benign mien, 'always showing due reverence for his Father and Mother.'
+
+The envoys passed to the next point. They requested him to cease
+meantime from further hostilities. 'That,' he replied, 'I can in no
+wise do without the consent of my barons; besides, the English are
+making reprisals upon my people and their property.'
+
+In the confidence of authority, the envoys had taken with them one
+of the Cardinals' advance messengers, who had been sent on with a
+letter announcing the Pope's coronation, but had been stopped at the
+frontier. They now entreated King Robert to grant him a safe conduct;
+but he denied their request 'with a certain change of countenance,' not
+uttering a word.
+
+Turning to Bruce's staff they inquired anxiously, Why was this? Why,
+simply because King Robert was not suitably addressed. But for this
+blunder, he would have willingly and promptly responded on every point.
+
+So wrote the Cardinals to the Pope from Durham on September 7.
+They added that they expected nothing better than a refusal of an
+audience at Michaelmas; for, even if Robert were himself disposed to
+receive them, it was evident that his barons would offer opposition.
+The friends of Bruce had made no secret of their opinion that the
+reservation of the royal title was a deliberate slight at the instance
+of English intriguers--an opinion avowedly based on information from
+the papal court. The contrary assurances of the envoys had been worse
+than useless, and they despaired of further intercommunication unless
+and until the resentment of the Scots should be mollified by concession
+of the royal title. Some considerable time after Michaelmas, Bruce
+confirmed by letter the anticipations of the Cardinals. He must have
+his royal title recognised. At the same time he repeated his desire for
+peace, and his readiness to send representatives to negotiate; but when
+the bearer brought back the Cardinals' reply, he was stopped at the
+frontier, and had to take the letters back--no doubt because they were
+still improperly addressed.
+
+Three days later (September 10), Edward wrote to the Pope from York,
+whither he had hastened on hearing of the assault on the Cardinals,
+assuring him that he would promptly 'avenge God and the Church,' and
+see that the prelates had their temporal losses made good.
+
+To do the Pope justice, he had been anxious to keep clear of the
+difficulties obviously involved in the reservation of Bruce's royal
+title. In his letter of March 18, he had apologetically prayed Bruce
+not to take it ill that he was not styled King of Scotland. On October
+21, he sends the Cardinals letters--one for Bruce explaining the former
+omission of the royal title, and apparently conceding it now; another
+for Edward, begging him not to be offended at his styling Bruce King;
+and a third for themselves, blaming them for not telling him whether or
+not they had Edward's consent that he (the Pope) should address Bruce
+as King. They are to request Edward to give way on the point; and they
+are to present or to keep back the letters as they may see expedient.
+The information of the Scots from Avignon was evidently well grounded.
+
+Meantime the Cardinals made another attempt. They proclaimed the
+truce in London, and had it proclaimed by other ecclesiastics 'in
+other principal places of England and Scotland.' But they must bring
+it directly to the knowledge of Bruce. Accordingly they despatched
+Adam de Newton, the Guardian of the monastery of the Friars Minors in
+Berwick, to King Robert and the leading prelates of Scotland, to make
+the proclamation. Adam prudently left his papers in safe keeping at
+Berwick till he had provided himself with a safe conduct. On December
+14, he set out for Old Cambus, twelve miles off, and found Bruce in
+a neighbouring wood hard at work, 'day and night, without rest,'
+preparing engines for the siege of Berwick. He at once obtained his
+safe conduct, and fetched his Bulls and other letters from Berwick to
+Old Cambus; but Sir Alexander de Seton refused to allow him to wait
+upon the King, and required him to hand over the letters. Seton took
+the letters to Bruce, or professed to do so, but presently brought
+them back, delivered them to Adam, and ordered him to be gone. Bruce
+would have nothing to do with Bulls and processes that withheld from
+him the title of King, and he was in any case determined, he said,
+to have the town of Berwick. Adam, however, was not to be baffled.
+He proclaimed the truce publicly before Seton 'and a great assembly
+of people.' The Scots, however, would not take it seriously. Not the
+most solemn adjurations could procure for Adam a safe conduct either
+back to Berwick or on to the Scots prelates, and he was summarily
+ordered to get out of the country with all speed. So he took his way to
+Berwick. But he was waylaid and stripped to the skin, and his Bulls and
+processes were torn in pieces. Still Adam was undaunted. 'I tell you,
+before God,' he wrote to the Cardinals on December 20, 'that I am still
+ready as ever, without intermission, to labour for the advancement of
+your affairs.'
+
+From midsummer 1317, Edward's officers had been kept busy on the March.
+About the beginning of July, Sir John de Athy had taken the Scots
+sea-captain, Thomas Dunn, and killed all his men, except himself and
+his cousin, from whom Sir John had learned that Randolph was preparing
+to attack the Isle of Man, and even had designs on Anglesey, where
+English traitors were in league with him. Before January there had
+been large submissions to Bruce in the northern counties, partly from
+compulsion of arms, partly from starvation; and the chronic feuds
+between the town and the castle of Berwick were dangerously aggravated
+by the high-handedness of the constable, Sir Roger de Horsley, who
+hated all Scots impartially and intensely.
+
+At last a burgess of Berwick, Peter (or Simon) de Spalding, exasperated
+by Horsley's supercilious harshness--bribed with ready money and
+promise of lands, the Lanercost chronicler says; corrupted by Douglas,
+says John of Tynmouth--entered into communication with the Marshal (or
+the Earl of March) for the betrayal of the town. By direction of the
+King, the Marshal (or March) ambushed at night in Duns Park, where
+he was joined by Randolph and Douglas. Advancing on foot, the Scots
+planted their ladders unperceived and scaled the wall at the point
+where Simon was in charge. The temptation to plunder upset the order
+of attack, two-thirds of the party scattering themselves over the
+town, breaking houses and slaying men. The opposition of the town's
+people was easily overcome, but when the garrison sallied, Randolph and
+Douglas were dangerously weak. Sir William de Keith, however, exerted
+himself conspicuously, as became a brand-new knight, in collecting
+the Scots, and after very hard fighting the garrison was driven in.
+Bruce presently came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held
+out tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine. The town was taken
+on March 28 (Fordun), or April 2 (Lanercost); the castle held out
+gallantly till past the middle of July, and even then Horsley marched
+out his famished garrison with the honours of war. Bruce installed
+as warden Sir Walter the Steward. Peter of Spalding, says John of
+Tynmouth, proved troublesome in insisting upon his promised reward;
+and, on an accusation of plotting against the life of King Robert, was
+put to death. The allegation recalls the case of Sir Peter de Lubaud.
+
+Edward was extremely incensed at the Mayor and burgesses of Berwick,
+who had undertaken, for 6000 marks, to defend the town for a year
+from June 15, 1317. He ascribed the loss of it to their carelessness,
+and in the middle of April he ordered that their goods and chattels,
+wheresoever found, should be confiscated, and that such of them as
+had escaped into England should be imprisoned. On June 10, 1318, he
+summoned his army to meet him at York on July 26, to proceed against
+the Scots.
+
+Meantime the Scots were proceeding with vigour against him. For soon
+after the capture of Berwick town, Bruce detached a strong force to
+ravage the northern counties. They laid waste Northumberland to the
+gates of Newcastle, starved the castles of Harbottle and Wark into
+surrender, and took Mitford Castle by stratagem. They sold immunity to
+the episcopate of Durham, excepting Hartlepool, which Bruce threatened
+to burn and destroy because some of its inhabitants had captured a ship
+freighted with his 'armeours' and provisions. Northallerton, Ripon,
+Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Otley and Skipton were guiding-points in
+the desolating track of the invaders. Ripon and Otley suffered most
+severely, and Ripon paid 1000 marks for a cessation of destruction.
+Fountains Abbey also paid ransom; Bolton Abbey was plundered;
+Knaresborough Parish Church bears to this day the marks of the fire
+that burnt out the fugitives. The expedition returned to Scotland
+laden with spoils, and bringing numerous captives and great droves of
+cattle. The Archbishop of York postponed misfortune by being too late
+with measures of resistance. But he energetically excommunicated the
+depredators, all and sundry.
+
+On hearing of Bruce's reception of the envoys, the Pope had authorised
+the Cardinals, on December 29, to put in execution the two Bulls
+of excommunication prepared in the previous March. The Cardinals,
+however, would seem to have delayed. On June 28, 1318, when the Pope
+heard of the woeful adventures of Adam de Newton and of the capture
+of Berwick despite his truce, he ordered them to proceed. For Bruce,
+he said, had 'grievously' (_dampnabiliter_) 'abused his patience and
+long-suffering.' In September accordingly they excommunicated and
+laid under interdict Bruce himself, his brother Edward, and all their
+aiders and abettors in the invasion of England and Ireland. 'But,'
+says the Lanercost chronicler, 'the Scots cared not a jot for any
+excommunication, and declined to pay any observance to the interdict.'
+In October, Edward followed up his diplomatic success by pressing hard
+for the deposition of the Bishop of St Andrews, but the Pope easily
+found good technical pleas whereby to avoid compliance.
+
+The Irish expedition came to a disastrous close on the fatal field of
+Faughart, near Dundalk, on October 5 (or 14), 1318. A vastly superior
+English army, under Sir John de Bermingham, moved against the Scots;
+and King Edward the Bruce, wrathfully overruling the counsels of his
+staff, disdaining to wait for the approaching reinforcements from
+Scotland, and despising the hesitations of his Irish allies, dashed
+against the tremendous odds with his native impetuosity.
+
+    'Now help quha will, for sekirly
+    This day, but mair baid, fecht vill I.
+    Sall na man say, quhill I may dre,
+    That strynth of men sall ger me fle!
+    God scheld that ony suld vs blame
+    That we defoull our nobill name!'
+
+Barbour gives the numbers at 2000 against 40,000, no doubt with
+generous exaggeration. King Edward fell at the first onset, killed by
+a gigantic Anglo-Irish knight, Sir John de Maupas, who was found lying
+dead across his body. Sir John the Steward, Sir John de Soulis, and
+other officers were slain. Barbour tells how Sir Philip de Mowbray,
+stunned in action, was led captive by two men towards Dundalk; how he
+recovered his senses sufficiently to realise his position, shook off
+his captors, drew his sword and turned back towards the battle-field,
+and how he cleared a hundred men out of his way as he went. John
+Thomasson, the leader of the Carrick men, took him in charge, and
+hurried him away towards Carrickfergus. But the brave defender
+of Stirling had received a mortal wound. King Edward's body was
+dismembered, the trunk buried at Faughart, and the limbs exposed in
+Irish towns held by the English. The head is said to have been sent to
+England to Edward; but Barbour tells how King Edward the Bruce had that
+day exchanged armour with Gilbert the Harper, as he had done before
+at Connor, and how it was Gilbert's head that had been mistakenly
+struck off and despatched to England. The remnants of the Scots army
+reached Carrickfergus with the utmost difficulty, and hastily took
+ship for Scotland, where the news was received with great lamentation.
+Bermingham was created Earl of Louth for his victory. It is curious to
+observe that his wife was a sister of the Queen of Scotland.
+
+The death of Edward Bruce disturbed the settlement of the succession,
+which was again brought under consideration of Parliament, on December
+3, at Scone. Robert, the son of Sir Walter the Steward and the late
+Princess Marjory, was recognised as heir, with a proviso saving the
+right of any subsequent male issue of King Robert. In case of a
+minority, Randolph was to be guardian; and failing Randolph, Douglas.
+
+No sooner had the sentences of excommunication been promulgated than
+King Robert took measures to have them revoked or mitigated. He had
+good friends at Rome. Letters from these had fallen accidentally into
+the hands of Edward, who, on January 12, 1318-19, sent them to the
+Pope by the hands of Sir John de Neville, and asked His Holiness to
+deal suitably with the writers. A few days before, he had urged the
+two Cardinals to press the Pope to reject the applications that he
+heard were being made on behalf of Bruce and his friends, and stated
+that he would presently send envoys to the Pope himself. Neville was
+graciously received, and the Pope ordered the Scots and their abettors
+at his court to prison. On April 24, the Pope granted Edward's request
+for a Bull permitting him to negotiate for peace with the Scots
+notwithstanding their excommunication. But the pressure was not all on
+one side; the nuncios in England boldly exercised their powers, and had
+often to be restrained even by royal menace, while every ecclesiastical
+office was steadily claimed for the papal nominee. Bruce appears to
+have deemed it prudent to raise little formal objection to the papal
+appointment of ecclesiastics up and down Scotland, though some of them
+evidently had but a seat of thorns.
+
+From March to May there was an interesting correspondence between
+Edward and some minor states and municipalities on the other side of
+the North Sea, whose people, Edward understood, had harboured, or
+even assisted, his Scots enemies. They all denied the allegation. The
+statesmanlike answer of the Count of Flanders, however, is peculiarly
+notable. 'Our land of Flanders,' he wrote, 'is common to all men, of
+whatever country, and freely open to all comers; and we cannot deny
+admission to merchants doing their business as they have hitherto been
+accustomed, for thereby we should bring our land to desolation and
+ruin.'
+
+But Berwick must be recaptured. On the loss of Berwick town, Edward
+had angrily summoned his forces to muster at York on July 26, 1318.
+So few of them appeared, however, that he was forced to postpone the
+expedition. On June 4, 1319, he ordered the Welsh levies to be at
+Newcastle by July 24 at latest; and, two days after, he wrote to the
+Pope that he hoped now 'to put a bit in the jaws of the Scots.' But
+another postponement was forced on him. On July 20, however, he issued
+a peremptory order for a muster at Michaelmas. His May parliament at
+York had granted him certain taxes, his treasury being 'exhausted more
+than is believed'; and his good friend the Pope had added a material
+contribution. But the levy could not be collected till Michaelmas,
+and meantime the King appealed for an advance. There must have been
+a favourable response, for early in September he encamped before
+Berwick with some 10,000 or 12,000 men, his fleet occupying the
+harbour. Having entrenched his lines, he delivered a general assault on
+September 7. The besiegers hastily filled the dykes and placed their
+scaling-ladders, but the garrison threw them down as fast as they
+were raised. The lowness of the wall was not altogether in favour of
+the assailants, for the besieged on the top could easily thrust their
+spears in their faces. In the course of the afternoon the English
+brought a ship on the flood-tide up to the wall, with a boat lashed to
+midmast, whence a bridge was to be let down for landing a storming
+party. They were embarrassed in their efforts, however, and the ship,
+being left aground by the ebb-tide, was burned by the Scots, the
+sallying party with difficulty regaining the town. The fight went on
+briskly till night, when the combatants agreed to postpone its renewal
+for five days.
+
+Though King Robert had mustered a considerable force, probably as large
+as Edward's, he deemed it more prudent to despatch it on a raid into
+England than to launch it directly against the English entrenchments.
+He had, indeed, good reason to rely upon the skill and energy of the
+Steward. The five days' truce over, the English, on September 13, moved
+forward on wheels an immense sow, not only covering a mining party,
+but carrying scaffolds for throwing a storming party on the wall. By
+this time, John Crab, whom we have already met as a sea-captain or
+pirate, and whom the Count of Flanders presently assured Edward he
+would break on the wheel, if he could only get hold of him, had proved
+himself engineer enough to devise a 'crane,' which must have been of
+the nature of a catapult; and this engine he ran along the wall on
+wheels to encounter the sow. The first shot passed over the monster;
+the second just fell short; the third crashed through the main beam,
+and frightened the men out. 'Your sow has farrowed,' cried the Scots.
+Crab now lowered blazing faggots of combustible stuff upon the sow, and
+burnt it up. But presently another attempt was made from the harbour,
+and Crab's engine was hurried up to fight ships with top-castles
+full of men, and with fall-bridges ready at midmast. The first shot
+demolished the top gear of one of the ships, bringing down the men; and
+the other ships kept a safe distance.
+
+Meantime the general attack raged all along the wall. Sir Walter the
+Steward rode from point to point, supplying here and there men from
+his own bodyguard, till it was reduced from a hundred to a single
+man-at-arms. The severest pressure was at Mary Gate. The besiegers
+forced the advance barricade, burned the drawbridge, and fired the
+gate. Sir Walter drew reinforcements from the castle, which had not
+been attacked, threw open Mary Gate and sallied upon the foe, driving
+them back after a very hard struggle, and saving the gate. Night
+separated the combatants. Barbour tells how the women and children of
+the town had carried arrows to the men on the walls, and regards it as
+a miracle that not one of them was slain or wounded. But clearly the
+Steward could not sustain many days of such heavy fighting.
+
+The Scots army under Randolph and Douglas had meanwhile followed the
+familiar track through Ripon and Boroughbridge, harrying and burning
+and slaying. They appear to have made a serious attempt to capture
+Edward's Queen, who was then staying near York; but the Archbishop,
+learning this intention from a Scots spy that had been taken prisoner,
+sallied forth and brought her into the city, and sent her by water
+to Nottingham. Trokelowe speaks of certain 'false Englishmen' that
+had been bribed by the Scots, and Robert of Reading specifies Sir
+Edmund Darel as the guide of the invaders in the attempt. Next day the
+Archbishop, with Bishop Hotham of Ely, the Chancellor of England, and
+an unwieldy multitude of clergy and townspeople numbering some 10,000,
+advanced against the Scots between Myton and Thornton-on-Swale, about
+twelve miles north of York. 'These,' said the Scots, 'are not soldiers,
+but hunters; they will not do much good.' For the English 'came through
+the fields in scattered fashion, and not in united order.' The Scots
+formed a schiltron, and set fire to some hay in front, the smoke from
+which was blown into the faces of the English. As they met, the Scots
+raised a great shout, and the enemy, 'more intent on fleeing than on
+fighting,' took to their heels. The Scots mounted in pursuit, killing
+(says the Lanercost chronicle) clergy and laymen, about 4000, including
+Nicholas Fleming, the Mayor of York, while about 1000, 'as was said,'
+were drowned in the Swale. Many were captured and held to heavy ransom.
+The Archbishop lost, not only his men, his carriages, and his equipment
+generally, but all his plate, 'silver and bronze as well,' which his
+servants had 'thoughtlessly' taken to the field; and yet the blame may
+rest elsewhere, for the York host appears to have fully anticipated
+that the Scots would flee at sight of them. The Primate's official
+cross was saved by the bearer, who dashed on horseback through the
+Swale and carefully hid it, escaping himself in the dusk of the
+evening. Then a countryman, who had observed the cross and watched the
+bearer's retreat, discovered it, wound wisps of hay about it, and kept
+it in his hut till search was made for it, whereupon he restored it to
+the Archbishop. Such is John of Bridlington's story. The whole episode
+contrasts markedly with the exploit of Bishop Sinclair in Fife. It
+was contemptuously designated, from the number of ecclesiastics, 'the
+Chapter of Myton.'
+
+The Myton disaster occurred on September 20, and on September 24 Edward
+raised the siege of Berwick. Certain chroniclers speak of intestine
+dissensions, and particularly of a quarrel with Lancaster over the
+appointment of wardens of town and castle once Berwick was taken. The
+Lanercost chronicler says Edward desired to detach a body to intercept
+the Scots, and with the rest to carry on the siege; but his magnates
+would not hear of it. He accordingly abandoned the siege, and marched
+westward to cut off the retreat of the Scots. Randolph had penetrated
+to Castleford Bridge, near Pontefract, and swept up Airedale and
+Wharfdale; and, passing by Stainmoor and Gilsland, he eluded Edward's
+army, and carried into Scotland many captives and immense plunder. It
+remained for Edward but to disband his troops, and go home, as usual,
+with empty hands.
+
+About a month later (November 1), when the crops were harvested in
+northern England, Randolph and Douglas returned with fire and sword.
+They burnt Gilsland, and passed down to Brough (Burgh) under Stainmoor;
+turned back on Westmorland, which they ravaged for ten or twelve days,
+and went home through Cumberland. They mercilessly burnt barns and the
+stored crops, and swept the country of men and cattle.
+
+Edward began to think of truce. In his letter of December 4 to the
+Pope, he represents that urgent proposals for peace had come to
+him from Bruce and his friends. In any case, the step was a most
+sensible one. On December 21, terms were agreed on, and next day Bruce
+confirmed them. This truce was to run for two years and the odd days
+to Christmas. Bruce agreed to raise no new fortresses within the
+counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Dumfries. He delivered the castle
+of Harbottle to Edward's commissioners, 'as private persons,' with the
+proviso that, unless a final peace were made by Michaelmas, it should
+be either redelivered to him or demolished. On August 25, 1321, Edward
+commanded that it should be destroyed 'as secretly as possible.'
+
+In autumn 1319, the Pope, at the instance of Edward, had given orders
+for a revival of the excommunications against Bruce and his friends;
+but on January 8, 1319-20, he cited Bruce and the Bishops of St
+Andrews, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, and Moray, to compear before him by May
+1. The summons went unheeded; he had not addressed Bruce as King.
+Excommunications were again hurled at Bruce and his bishops, and
+Scotland was laid under ecclesiastical interdict. Meanwhile, however,
+the Scots 'barons, freeholders, and all the community of the realm'--no
+churchmen, be it observed--assembled at Arbroath Abbey on April 6, and
+addressed to his Holiness a memorable word in season. First, as to
+their kingdom and their King:
+
+  Our nation continued to enjoy freedom and peace under the
+  protection of the Papal See, till Edward, the late King of the
+  English, in the guise of a friend and ally, attacked our realm,
+  then without a head, and our people, then thinking no evil or
+  deceit, and unaccustomed to war or aggression. The acts of
+  injury, murder, violence, burning, imprisonment of prelates,
+  burning of abbeys, spoliation and slaying of ecclesiastics, and
+  other enormities besides, which he practised on our people,
+  sparing no age or sex, creed or rank, no man could describe or
+  fully understand without the teaching of experience. From such
+  countless evils, by the help of Him that woundeth and maketh
+  whole, we have been delivered by the strenuous exertions of
+  our Sovereign Lord, King Robert, who, for the deliverance of
+  his people and his inheritance from the hands of the enemy,
+  like another Maccabeus or Joshua, cheerfully endured toils and
+  perils, distress and want. Him the Divine Providence, that legal
+  succession in accordance with our laws and customs, which we are
+  resolved to uphold even to death, and the due consent of us all,
+  made our Prince and King. To him, as the man that has worked out
+  the salvation of the people, we, in maintenance of our freedom,
+  by reason as well of his merits as of his right, hold and are
+  resolved to adhere in all things. If he should abandon our cause,
+  with the intention of subjecting us or our realm to the King
+  of England or to the English, we should instantly strain every
+  nerve to expel him as our enemy and the subverter of both his own
+  rights and ours, and choose another for our King, such a one as
+  should suffice for our defence; for, so long as a hundred of us
+  remain alive, never will we be reduced to any sort of subjection
+  to the dominion of the English. For it is not for glory, or
+  riches, or honours, that we contend, but for freedom alone, which
+  no man worthy of the name loses but with his life.
+
+With this noble and resolute declaration, they appealed to the Pope
+to 'admonish' Edward, who ought to be content with his own dominions,
+anciently held enough for seven kings, and 'to leave in peace us
+Scotsmen, dwelling in our poor and remote country, and desiring nothing
+but our own,' for which 'we are ready and willing to do anything we can
+consistently with our national interests.' But, further, as to the Pope
+himself:
+
+  If, however, your Holiness, yielding too credulous an ear to the
+  reports of our English enemies, do not give sincere credit to
+  what we now say, or do not cease from showing them favour to our
+  confusion, it is on you, we believe, that in the sight of the
+  Most High, must be charged the loss of lives, the perdition of
+  souls, and all the other miseries that they will inflict on us
+  and we on them.
+
+This memorable declaration was not without effect. On August 13, the
+Pope earnestly impressed Edward with the duty of keeping on good terms
+with Bruce. And on August 18, he wrote that, on the prayer of Bruce by
+his envoys, Sir Edward de Mambuisson and Sir Adam de Gordon, he had
+granted suspension of the personal citation and of the publication of
+the sentences till the 1st of April next year.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT
+
+
+The Scots manifesto of April 6, 1320, presented a united and firm front
+to English pretensions and Papal intrigues. Yet there were traitors
+in the camp. Little more than four months had elapsed when the Black
+Parliament, held at Scone on August 20, was investigating a conspiracy
+to kill King Robert and elevate to the throne Sir William de Soulis.
+Sir William was a brother of Sir John, and a grandson of Sir Nicholas,
+one of the Competitors in 1292. Edward's emissaries had been tampering
+with the fidelity of King Robert's barons.
+
+The plot still remains involved in obscurity. It was discovered to
+the King, Barbour heard, by a lady. Gray, however, as well as John of
+Tynmouth, states that the informant was Sir Murdoch de Menteith, who
+had come over to Bruce in 1316-17, and remained on the Scots side till
+his death some sixteen years later; but, apart from his name, there
+seems no reason to suppose that he was in Edward's pay. Sir William was
+arrested at Berwick, with 360 squires in his livery (says Barbour), to
+say nothing of 'joly' knights. He openly confessed his guilt, and was
+interned for life in Dumbarton Castle. The Countess of Strathearn was
+also imprisoned for life. Sir David de Brechin, Sir John de Logie, and
+Richard Brown a squire, were drawn, hanged, and beheaded. Sir Roger de
+Mowbray opportunely died; but his body was brought up and condemned
+to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded--a ghastly sentence considerately
+remitted by the King. Sir Eustace de Maxwell, Sir Walter de Barclay,
+Sheriff of Aberdeen, Sir Patrick de Graham, and two squires, Hamelin de
+Troupe and Eustace de Rattray, were fully acquitted. Soulis, Brechin,
+Mowbray, Maxwell, and Graham had all attended the Arbroath parliament,
+and put their seals to the loyal manifesto.
+
+It is far from evident why Soulis escaped with imprisonment while
+Brechin and others were sent to the gallows. Robert may have judged
+that Soulis was a tool rather than prime mover of the plot; he may
+have regarded the long service of the culprit; he may have softened
+at the recollection of his brother Sir John's death by his own
+brother Edward's side. Brechin, no doubt, had considerable services
+to his credit. But his record shows grievous instability, and Robert
+probably had sound reasons for putting a period to his dubieties. His
+fate aroused painful regrets. Barbour narrates that Sir Ingram de
+Umfraville openly censured the sight-seers at his friend's execution,
+obtained leave to give the body honourable burial, and prepared to quit
+Scotland, telling the King he had no heart to remain after seeing so
+good a knight meet with such a fate. This story of Barbour's has been
+too hastily discredited.
+
+The position of Bruce remained unshaken. On November 17, Edward
+instructed various high officers to receive to his peace, 'as secretly
+as they could,' such Scots as felt their consciences troubled by the
+papal excommunication; and, on December 11, the Archbishop of York was
+empowered to release all such renegades from the censure of the Church.
+Sir Ingram de Umfraville was re-established in his Northumberland
+estates (January 26), and Sir Alexander de Mowbray (February 18) and
+Sir William de Mohaut (May 20) obtained Edward's pardon. But Bruce was
+practically unaffected by Edward's subterranean diplomacy.
+
+Openly, Edward maintained due observance of the truce, and by the
+middle of September 1320, had taken steps towards a final peace. The
+negotiations begun at Carlisle at Michaelmas were resumed at Newcastle
+on February 2, and continued for nine weeks; papal commissioners being
+present, and French envoys fostering the cause of peace. But the
+deliberations were fruitless. The Earl of Richmond's production of a
+mass of old parchments to demonstrate Edward's overlordship of Scotland
+indicates how little the English King and commissioners realised the
+facts of the situation.
+
+Throughout the summer and autumn of 1321, Edward was in hot water with
+the barons of the Welsh border. At the July parliament at Westminster,
+he was compelled to banish the Despensers, and to send home the
+turbulent lords with pardon. These troubles prevented him from sending
+the promised envoys to 'enlighten the consciences' of the Pope and his
+Cardinals as to the wickedness of the Scots. On August 25, however,
+he wrote the usual denunciatory generalities, and yet again impressed
+on his Holiness the necessity of dealing severely with Bruce and his
+adherents. The summons of Bruce and his four Bishops had meanwhile been
+postponed to September 1; but even then they did not compear. Edward's
+envoys, at last despatched on December 8, were still in very good
+time. Having taken Leeds Castle in Kent and driven back the marauding
+Marchers to the Welsh border, he informed the Pope that his domestic
+troubles were settling down, and, in view of an expedition on the
+expiry of the Scots truce at Christmas, he appealed for a subsidy from
+Rome. But already Lancaster was stretching one hand to Bruce and the
+other to the malcontents of the Welsh March.
+
+The Marchers rose, but Edward proved himself the stronger, and by the
+third week of January received the submission of the Mortimers. On
+February 8, he tried conciliation with Lancaster, and also authorised
+Harcla to treat with Bruce for 'some sort of final peace.' Lancaster,
+however, received the Welsh insurgents, and harassed Edward's advance,
+but was compelled to fall back on his castle of Pontefract.
+
+Lancaster's negotiations with the Scots had begun as early as December.
+His emissary, Richard de Topcliffe, an ecclesiastic, had obtained a
+safe-conduct from Douglas (December 11) to visit Jedburgh, and one
+from Randolph (January 15) to come to him wherever he could find him.
+Randolph was then at Corbridge on a swift raid, while Douglas and the
+Steward advanced, the one towards Hartlepool and the other towards
+Richmond, harrying or taking ransom. Immediately on the junction
+of Hereford and his Marchers with Lancaster at Pontefract, in the
+beginning of February, before they went south to oppose Edward's
+advance, the rebel chiefs despatched John de Denum with a letter to
+Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas, 'or which of them he shall soonest find,'
+asking an appointment for a final agreement. The precise terms proposed
+were presently found on the dead body of Hereford at Boroughbridge.
+Bruce, if not detained by illness or other serious cause, and Randolph
+and Douglas, with their power, shall join the Earls in their enterprise
+'in England, Wales and Ireland, and with them live and die in the
+maintenance of their quarrel, without claiming conquest or dominion in
+the said lands of England, Wales, and Ireland.' The Earls, on their
+part, shall never aid Edward against the Scots, and, their quarrel
+ended, shall do their best to establish and maintain peace between the
+two countries on the footing of independence. Fortunately for Edward,
+John de Denum lost ten days in his peregrinations. He missed Douglas
+on February 7, and was unable to obtain his reply till February 17.
+On February 16, Randolph, then at Cavers, near Hawick, had issued a
+safe-conduct for Sir John de Mowbray and Sir Roger de Clifford to come
+to him in Scotland. In either case, the ten days were gone. But for
+this accident, the history of the English crown would probably have
+been turned into another channel.
+
+The approach of the royal troops decided the insurgents to retire
+towards the Scots, to Lancaster's castle of Dunstanburgh. At
+Boroughbridge, however, they were confronted by Harcla on March 16, and
+disastrously defeated. Hereford was slain on the bridge; Lancaster was
+captured, tried, and beheaded. Harcla was created Earl of Carlisle.
+'Do not trouble yourself,' wrote Edward to the Pope (March 25), 'to
+proclaim a truce between me and the Scots. Formerly some exigencies
+inclined me to a truce, but now, thank God, these no longer exist, and
+I am constrained, by God's help, to war them down for their broken
+faith.'
+
+Edward at once summoned his army to muster at Newcastle by the second
+week in June; but early in May he postponed the assembly till July 24.
+By that time, however, the Scots had completed another destructive
+raid. Before mid June, a force had crossed the western March; and in
+the beginning of July, Robert himself, with Randolph and Douglas,
+penetrated beyond Preston and ravaged the length and breadth of
+Lancashire and the archdeaconry of Richmond, burning Lancaster town and
+castle 'so entirely that nothing is left,' and carrying off what cattle
+had not been driven for safety into the remoter parts of Yorkshire.
+They do not seem to have encountered local opposition. As they
+returned, they lay five days before Carlisle, without drawing forth the
+prudent Harcla; and on July 24, they struck their tents for home.
+
+The English army followed them, entering Scotland by the eastern March
+in the first days of August. Robert withdrew both men and cattle from
+the Merse and the Lothians, either to the strongholds or beyond the
+Forth, and lay with his army at Culross. Barbour tells how an English
+foraging party found but one lame cow at Tranent: 'It is the dearest
+beef I ever saw yet,' remarked Warenne, 'it must have cost L1000 and
+more.' Edward himself subsequently wrote that he had 'found neither
+man nor beast' in the Lothians. The English fleet failed to bring up
+provisions, and, on August 23, Edward found himself with some 7000
+men at Leith, in like predicament with his father before the battle
+of Falkirk. He was starved into retreat. Immediately the Scots hung
+upon his rear, and Douglas cut up an advance company of 300 men near
+Melrose. The English had sacked Holyrood; they now sacked Melrose
+Abbey, killing the prior and others; and they burnt to the ground
+Dryburgh and other monasteries. 'But,' says Fordun, 'God rewarded them
+therefor.'
+
+Bruce instantly followed up his advantage. By the middle of September,
+the Scots were before Bamborough and Norham. Bamborough bought off the
+invaders; and on September 26, Sir Roger de Horsley, the constable,
+as well as the constables of Warkworth, Dunstanburgh, and Alnwick
+castles, received a severe wigging from Edward for not showing fight
+against such an inferior force. Norham was defended by Sir Thomas Gray
+the elder against an inadequate body of 200 Scots. Edward displayed
+great energy of rebuke and counsel, while Robert steadily advanced
+southwards. On October 14, the English army barred the way on the ridge
+of Blackhowe Moor between Biland and Rievaulx; but Bruce's rapid action
+enabled him to strike a decisive blow before the Earl of Carlisle, who
+was at Boroughbridge with 2000 (surely not, as some say, 20,000) horse
+and foot, could effect a junction, if indeed he really meant to do so.
+
+Douglas at once offered to storm the English position, and Randolph,
+leaving his own division, led the way up the hill as a volunteer. The
+Scots were strongly opposed by Sir Ralph de Cobham, who was held to
+be the best knight of his day in England, and by Sir Thomas Ughtred,
+constable of Pickering, whose gallantry in the fight raised him to
+a higher position than even Cobham. The assailants were grievously
+embarrassed by stones rolled down upon them and by the fire of the
+archers. Robert supported them by sending 'the Irishry,' the Argyll
+Highlanders, and the men of the Isles to scramble up the crags in
+flank. At the top they were confronted by the main body under the
+Earl of Richmond, but they charged with such impetuosity as broke
+the English ranks and scattered them in flight; Gray even uses the
+conventional expression, 'like a hare before hounds.' 'In these
+days,' says John of Bridlington, 'the Lord took away the hearts of
+the English.' Richmond was captured and held to heavy ransom (14,000
+marks). Lord Henri de Sully and other French knights surrendered to
+Douglas; by arrangement with whom, King Robert soon released them by
+way of diplomatic compliment to the King of France. Edward narrowly
+escaped from Biland Abbey and fled through the night to Bridlington,
+whence the prior conducted him to Burstwick. Sir Walter the Steward
+pursued as far as York. Robert occupied the abbeys of Biland and
+Rievaulx and divided the spoils of the English camp and the king's
+baggage. Then, making Malton his headquarters, he wasted Yorkshire at
+his will, taking ransoms from Ripon, Beverley, and other towns, and
+despoiling religious houses; and he returned, with immense booty, to
+keep Christmas in Scotland.
+
+Three calamitous invasions in one year might well have induced
+reflection in a statesmanlike mind. They merely excited Edward's
+impotent eagerness for revenge. But the Earl of Carlisle, as doughty
+a warrior as the best, saw that the contest was both hopeless and
+ruinous; and on January 3, 1322-23, he was closeted with Randolph at
+Lochmaben. There and then they drafted an agreement. The fundamental
+provisions were: (1) that each realm should have its own national
+King; (2) that the Earl should aid King Robert in maintaining Scotland
+against all gainsayers; and (3) that King Robert and the Earl should
+maintain the realm of England under the direction of a council of
+twelve, six to be chosen by each party. Then, if the King of England
+should assent to these conditions within a year, King Robert was to
+found an abbey in Scotland, of 500 marks rent, for the souls of the men
+slain in war, and to pay an indemnity of 40,000 marks within ten years;
+and the King of England was to have the marriage of the heir male of
+the King of Scotland under advice of the council of twelve.
+
+Harcla at once published the terms of the agreement, and they were
+received with intense satisfaction on the Border. He appears to have
+acted in concert with the chief officers in these parts, and to have
+believed, or at least professed, that he acted within the terms of
+his commission. Edward, however, on January 8, ordered that no truce
+be made without his knowledge, and summoned Harcla to his presence;
+and on January 19, he sent a copy of the Lochmaben indenture to his
+Council at York, with the comment that it appeared to him 'fraught with
+great danger.' He had already (January 13) instituted a search of the
+Chancery rolls for any authorisation to Harcla to treat with the Scots.
+On February 25, Harcla was arrested in Carlisle Castle; and on March
+3, he was tried, condemned, and barbarously executed. The charge of
+treason, though formally too well grounded, was essentially baseless;
+otherwise it is unintelligible that Harcla should have limited his
+measures of self-defence to the procurement of the formal oaths of the
+northern sheriffs to stand by him 'in all things touching the common
+good of England and the said peace.' His action was simply the action
+of a strong, business-like, and patriotic man, forgetful of finesse.
+His mistake lay in omitting to obtain express authority to treat, and
+in neglecting either to veil his contempt for the King, or to provide
+against his natural resentment, inflamed as it was sure to be by the
+envy of personal enemies.
+
+The death of Harcla, the keenest and ablest warrior in England, did
+not remove the difficulties from Edward's path. In a fortnight he was
+treating for peace--'was frightened, and begged for peace,' according
+to the _Flores Historiarum_--though in his own perversely maladroit
+fashion. On March 21, Robert wrote to Lord Henri de Sully, Edward's
+envoy, in substance this:
+
+  The King of England's letter, of which you sent me a copy
+  yesterday, bears that he has granted a cessation of arms to the
+  people of Scotland at war with him. This language is very strange
+  to me. In former truces taken between us, I was named principal
+  of the one part, as he was of the other part, although he did
+  not vouchsafe to me the title of King. But on this occasion, no
+  more mention is made of me than of the least person in my realm;
+  so that, in case of a breach, I should be no more entitled than
+  another to demand redress. Do not be surprised, then, that I do
+  not agree to this truce. If, however, it were put before me in
+  the proper way, I should willingly sanction it, as I promised
+  you. I send you a copy of the King's letter; for I imagine you
+  have not seen it, or, if you have, you have paid but scant
+  attention to its terms.
+
+After some futile negotiations at Newcastle, a truce was at last
+concluded at Bishopsthorpe, near York, to last till June 12, and for
+thirteen years thereafter. On May 30, 1323, Edward ordered it to be
+proclaimed throughout England; and on June 7, Robert ratified it at
+Berwick. Each party was to evacuate all lands of the other by June
+12; neither party was to build or repair fortresses on the March,
+excepting constructions in progress; and Edward was to interpose no
+obstacle to any attempt of Robert and his friends to obtain absolution
+at Rome. During the negotiations, Edward had been summoning his forces
+in England, Ireland, and Gascony, in the belief that the Scots were
+really purposing another invasion; but in the first days of June he
+countermanded the muster.
+
+King Robert was sincerely anxious to set himself and his people right
+with the Church. He despatched Randolph as his ambassador. On his way
+south, Randolph, with the Bishop of St Andrews, treated with Edward's
+commissioners for a final peace; and, at any rate, on November 25,
+he got Edward to write to the Pope and the Cardinals in favour of a
+grant of absolution to the Scots during the peace negotiations. How
+Randolph fared at Rome we learn from a letter of the Pope's to Edward,
+dated January 1, 1323-24. First, he begged for the usual indulgences
+necessary to enable him to fulfil his vow to go on a crusade. The Pope
+refused: there would be little good to the Holy Land or to his own
+soul, while he lay under the Church's censure; but the request might
+be reconsidered if he would effect a permanent peace with England
+and satisfy the Church. Secondly, Randolph prayed for safe conducts
+for Bruce's envoys, presently to be sent to procure reconciliation
+with the Church. The Pope refused, for the present, but he agreed to
+direct the usual application to the princes on the line of route.
+Thirdly, Randolph put forward Robert's readiness to join the King of
+France in his proposed crusade, or, if the King of France did not go,
+then to proceed himself or send Randolph instead. The Pope replied
+that reconciliation with the Church was an indispensable condition
+precedent. Fourthly, Randolph declared that King Robert and himself
+desired above all things to obtain peace and reconciliation, and that
+it really lay with His Holiness to bring their ardent desires to
+fruition. Let him address himself to Robert as King, and Robert would
+readily respond to his wishes; it was the reservation of the royal
+title that blocked the way. The Pope consented to address Robert by the
+royal title.
+
+Edward was keenly annoyed. The Pope, after setting forth the facts of
+Randolph's interview, had earnestly begged Edward not to take it ill
+that he had consented to address Robert as King. It could do him no
+harm; it could do Robert no good. He was intensely anxious for peace,
+and, if he did not give Robert the royal title, Robert would not look
+at his letters any more than he had done before. But Edward did not
+agree. He bluntly urged that the concession would prejudice his right
+and his honour, bring discredit on the Church, and enable Bruce to make
+capital of his wrong-doing. He recapitulated his claims to Scotland,
+contended that no change should be introduced during the truce, and
+pointed out that the concession would be popularly construed as a papal
+confirmation of Bruce's title. Let the title therefore be reserved as
+before.
+
+Then Edward played another card: he invited Edward de Balliol, son of
+ex-King John, to come over to England. The safe-conduct was issued on
+July 2; and it was not Edward's fault that Balliol postponed his visit.
+Meantime, in the midst of conflict with France over Aquitaine, Edward
+continued negotiations with Robert for final peace. But no agreement
+could be reached. The true cause appears in Edward's letter of March
+8, 1324-25, to the Pope. There had recently been a meeting of envoys
+at York, but the Scots would not yet budge from their old position,
+and 'I could not meet their wishes without manifest disherison of my
+royal crown.' His envoys had proposed to refer the knotty point to the
+decision of His Holiness; but 'this they absolutely declined.' The
+Scots, indeed, had apparently stiffened their demands. According to
+the Monk of Malmesbury, they had claimed not only the independence of
+Scotland, but also the north of England down to the gates of York (by
+right of conquest), and the restoration of Bruce's manor of Writtle in
+Essex, as well as of the famous coronation stone.
+
+In May, Scots envoys were again on the road to Rome, and Edward wrote
+to the Pope, informing him that he was sending ambassadors to guard his
+own interests. Again, on September 23, he wrote to the Pope and the
+Cardinals urging them not to recall the sentences of excommunication
+till the Scots should surrender Berwick to him--Berwick, captured
+treacherously in defiance of the papal truce. The Pope consented,
+and on October 18 Edward expressed effusive thanks. But he reaped no
+advantage from the diplomatic victory: in three months he was deposed
+by his Parliament for notorious incompetence.
+
+On January 25, 1326-27, Edward, Prince of Wales, a boy of fifteen,
+was proclaimed King. He presently confirmed the thirteen years' truce
+(February 15), and appointed envoys to treat for final peace (March 4).
+The meeting was to take place on the March on May 17. But, on April 5,
+Edward III. summoned his power to be at Newcastle by May 18, averring
+that he had sure information that Robert was massing his troops on the
+Border with the intention of invading England if his own terms of peace
+were not conceded. It seems much more likely that Robert's action was
+purely precautionary in view of the disturbed condition of the English
+March; but a hostile construction was favoured by the fact that many
+of the most turbulent fellows in Northumberland were Scots. On the
+other hand, Barbour is likely enough to be right in asserting that
+Robert was unable to obtain redress for the seizure of Scots vessels in
+English and Flemish waters; and it may be, as he says, that for this
+reason Robert openly renounced the truce. At the same time, Robert
+must have heard of Edward's warlike preparations by land and sea. This
+may be what Fordun has in view when he says that the duplicity of the
+English was at length laid bare. Edward's summons was issued on April
+5, and Froissart places Robert's formal defiance 'about Easter' (April
+12); but this date must be nearly two months too early. One thing is
+certain: Robert was in no aggressive mood, and would not have resumed
+hostilities without really serious provocation.
+
+About the middle of June a body of Scots crossed the Border, and on
+July 4 they were at Appleby, almost in touch with the Earl Marshal.
+Edward was at York, where he had been joined by Sir John of Hainault,
+Lord of Beaumont, with a body of heavy cavalry, between whom and the
+English archers much bad blood had been spilt in the streets of York.
+His army was very large--Barbour says 50,000; Froissart says upwards
+of 40,000 men-at-arms; Murimuth says three times as large and strong
+as the Scots army--a force difficult alike to handle and to feed in a
+rough and wasted country, especially in face of the Scots veterans. On
+July 13, Edward had reached Northallerton, and had learned that the
+Scots intended to mass their forces near Carlisle.
+
+By this time the Scots army, under Randolph and Douglas, had ravaged
+Coquetdale and penetrated into the Episcopate of Durham. When Edward
+reached Durham city, he was apprised of the passage of the Scots by a
+track of smoking ruins and devastated fields. He decided to bar their
+return. Advancing with his cavalry, he crossed the Tyne at Haydon
+Bridge (July 26), leaving his infantry on the south side. But the Scots
+did not come, and between drenching rains and lack of provisions his
+troops were worn out in body and in temper. The men, says Froissart,
+'tore the meat out of each other's hands'; and 'great murmurs arose
+in the army.' After a week's distressful experience, he determined to
+seek the enemy southwards, and offered a reward of L100 a year in land,
+as well as knighthood, to the man that should bring him in sight of
+them 'on hard and dry ground' fit for battle. He crossed the Tyne at
+Haltwhistle fords, losing many men in the swollen river. On the fourth
+day, Thomas de Rokeby reported the Scots, and brought Edward face to
+face with them on the Wear.
+
+The Scots were strongly posted on a rising ground on the south bank:
+Froissart numbers them 24,000; Barbour, much more probably, 10,000.
+Douglas made a reconnaissance, and reported a strong army in seven
+divisions. 'We will fight them,' cried Randolph, 'were they more'; but
+Douglas counselled patience. Presently Edward sent heralds, offering
+to retire far enough to allow the Scots room to array themselves for
+battle on the north side on the morrow; or, if the Scots preferred, to
+accept like terms on the south side. It was an unconscious repetition
+of the offer of Tomyris, Queen of Massagetai, to Cyrus, on the Araxes
+river. But the Scots, evidently too weak to fight in a plain field,
+replied that they would do neither the one thing nor the other; that
+the King and his barons saw they were in his kingdom and had burnt and
+pillaged wherever they had passed, and that, if this displeased the
+King, he might come and amend it; for they would tarry there as long
+as they pleased.' That night the English lay on their arms. Part of
+the Scots also kept themselves in readiness, while the rest retired
+to their huts, 'where they made marvellously great fires, and, about
+midnight, such a blasting and noise with their horns that it seemed as
+if all the great devils from hell had been come there.'
+
+The next two days the Scots and English lay watching each other across
+the Wear. On the first day, a thousand English archers, supported by
+men-at-arms, attempted to draw the Scots. Douglas, planting an ambush
+under the Earl of Mar (who had at length joined the Scots) and his
+own son Archibald of Douglas, rode forward, with a cloak over his
+armour, and gradually gave way to their onset, till he had enticed them
+within reach of the ambush. At Douglas's signal, the ambush broke upon
+the pursuers, and slew 300 of them. Next day, the English put 1000
+horsemen in ambush in a valley behind the Scots position, and delivered
+a front attack. Douglas was advancing to repel the assailants when he
+was informed of the force in rear, and instantly drew back his men.
+'They flee,' cried some Englishmen; but John of Hainault explained the
+manoeuvre, and, according to Barbour, pronounced the Scots captain fit
+'to govern the Empire of Rome.'
+
+On the following morning--probably August 3--the Scots were gone.
+They had moved about two miles along the river, and occupied a still
+stronger position in Stanhope Park. In the afternoon the English were
+again facing them. About midnight, Douglas, with 200 horsemen--Barbour
+says 500--crossed the Wear, and rode boldly into the English camp.
+'No guard, by St George!' he exclaimed, on being discovered, as if he
+were an English officer. He made right for the King's pavilion, and,
+shouting his war-cry, actually 'cut two or three of its cords.' The
+King most narrowly escaped capture or death. Douglas got clear with
+but insignificant loss, and, collecting his men by a prearranged note
+of his horn, he returned to camp. Randolph, who was waiting under
+arms, ready for rescue or aid, eagerly asked the news. 'Sir,' replied
+Douglas, 'we have drawn blood.'
+
+The success of Douglas suggested to Randolph that a larger party might
+have inflicted defeat on the English. Douglas had his grave doubts.
+Randolph again proposed a pitched battle. Douglas objected, in view of
+the disastrous effects in case of defeat. No; better treat the English
+as the fox treated the fisherman. The fox had entered the fisherman's
+cottage and was eating a salmon. The fisherman discovered him, and
+stood on the threshold with a drawn sword in his hand. The fox, seeing
+the fisherman's cloak on the bed, dragged it into the fire. Thereupon
+the fisherman rushed to save his cloak, and the fox bolted out at
+the unguarded door. Douglas, in fact, had planned a mode of escape,
+and, though somewhat wet ('sumdele wat'), it would serve. Randolph
+gave way. So the Scots made merry in the day time, burnt great fires
+at night, and blew their horns 'as if all the world were theirs.'
+Occasional skirmishes took place, and the English drew round the Scots
+on both sides, leaving their rear open on a morass believed to be
+impassable. Meantime Douglas made his preparations.
+
+It was probably on the night of August 6-7 that Douglas led the Scots
+army out of Stanhope Park. He took them across the morass, about a mile
+wide, over a causeway of branches, which the rear demolished as they
+passed. The men led their horses, and only a few baggage animals stuck
+fast. By daybreak the Scots were far on the way homewards. The English
+had been completely outwitted. On the day before, they had captured a
+Scots knight, who told them that orders had been issued 'for all to be
+armed by vespers and to follow the banner of Douglas,' he did not know
+where. The English lords suspected a night attack, and remained under
+arms. In the morning, two Scots trumpeters, who had been left to blow
+misleading blasts, were brought into camp. 'The Scots,' they said, 'are
+on the march home, since midnight; they left us behind to give you the
+information.' The English, fearing a ruse, continued to stand to their
+arms till their scouts confirmed the mortifying intelligence.
+
+The Scots were soon met by a considerable body of their countrymen
+under the Earl of March and Sir John the Steward. They all hurried back
+to Scotland by the western march. The English retired to Durham, and
+then to York, where the army was disbanded on August 15. Edward is said
+to have shed bitter tears over the collapse of his expedition. Some of
+the chroniclers allege unsupported charges of treachery, and mistakenly
+accuse Mortimer of accepting a heavy bribe to wink at the escape of the
+Scots. But the plain fact is that the English were outgeneralled at
+every turn.
+
+It was neither age nor sickness, as the chroniclers allege, that
+prevented King Robert from leading the Weardale foray. He was away
+in Ireland, creating a diversion. On July 12, at Glendun in Antrim,
+he granted a truce for a year to Henry de Maundeville, the English
+seneschal of Ulster, and his people, on condition of their delivering
+a certain quantity of wheat and barley at Lough Larne. The expedition
+does not seem to have been directly prosperous; the Irish, whom he had
+expected to rise and join him in Ulster, having apparently broken faith.
+
+Immediately on the return of the Scots from Weardale, King Robert
+passed into Northumberland. He sent Randolph and Douglas to besiege
+Alnwick Castle; set down another division before Norham Castle;
+and, with a third body, himself overran the neighbourhood. He even
+granted away the English lands to his chief followers. The attempt
+on Alnwick was unsuccessful, and, the open country having bought a
+truce, the leaders concentrated on Norham. On October 1, while Bruce
+still lay before Norham, Edward appointed commissioners to treat with
+him for final peace. After negotiations at Newcastle and York, the
+treaty was signed by Robert at Edinburgh on March 17; confirmed by
+the English Parliament on April 24; and finally, on May 4, signed
+by Edward at Northampton. Edward conceded in the fullest terms the
+absolute independence of Scotland as the marches stood in the days of
+Alexander III., and agreed to deliver up all extant documents relating
+to the overlordship, and in any case to annul them; and he consented
+to aid Robert to obtain the revocation of the papal processes. Robert
+agreed to pay L20,000 sterling in three years. And the peace was to be
+cemented by the marriage of David, the Scots heir-apparent, a boy of
+four, with Joan, King Edward's sister, a girl of six. In England, the
+peace was freely stigmatised as 'shameful,' and the marriage as 'base';
+partly on patriotic grounds, partly from dislike of Queen Isabella and
+Mortimer, who guided the policy of the King. The news of the death of
+the King of France no doubt gave an impulse to the English decision,
+for it would be necessary for Edward to have his hands free to assert
+his claim to the succession. The conditions were alike 'honourable for
+the Scots and necessary for England.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE HEART OF THE BRUCE
+
+
+King Robert the Bruce died at Cardross on the Clyde, on June 7, 1329, a
+little more than a month before the completion of his fifty-fifth year.
+The cause of his death is said to have been leprosy. Barbour says it
+was the development of a severe cold, a benumbment contracted in the
+hardships of his early wanderings. Apart from specific disease, the
+strain of his laborious reign of nearly a quarter of a century would
+have shaken the strongest constitution of man.
+
+In the last three years he had been struck by two severe bereavements:
+the death of his son-in-law, Sir Walter the Steward, a knight of great
+promise, on April 9, 1326; and the death of the queen, at Cullen, on
+October 26, 1327. In the latter year, indeed, in spite of increasing
+illness, he had taken the field in Ireland and in Northumberland. But
+he had been unable to attend the marriage of David and Joan at Berwick
+in July 1328. Still he continued to move about quietly. When, however,
+Douglas brought him back from a visit to Galloway in the end of March
+1329, it was not to be concealed that 'there was no way for him but
+death.' And, accordingly, he set his house in order.
+
+On October 15, 1328, the Pope had at last granted absolution to Robert
+from the excommunication pronounced by the cardinals, and, on November
+5, authorised his confessor to give him plenary remission in the hour
+of death.
+
+At a parliament held on November 14, 1328, at Scone, it had been
+settled that, in the event of David's dying without heir male of his
+body begotten, Robert the Steward, son of Marjory, should succeed; and
+that, if King Robert died during David's minority, Randolph should be
+regent, and, failing Randolph, Douglas. David and Joan were crowned,
+and David received homage and fealty.
+
+On May 11, 1329, the King assembled his prelates and barons to
+hear his last wishes. He gave directions for liberal largess to
+religious houses, with special consideration for Melrose Abbey, where
+he desired his heart to be buried. He declared his long-cherished
+intention--Froissart says his 'solemn vow'--after bringing his realm to
+peace, 'to go forth and war with the enemies of Christ, the adversaries
+of our holy Christian faith.' As he had been unable to carry out his
+fixed purpose, he wished his heart to be taken and borne against the
+foes of God. On Douglas was laid this great and noble charge. Froissart
+mentions a specific instruction: 'I wish that you convey my heart to
+the Holy Sepulchre where our Lord lay, and present it there, seeing my
+body cannot go thither. And wherever you come,' added the King, 'let it
+be known that you carry with you the heart of King Robert of Scotland,
+at his own instance and desire, to be presented at the Holy Sepulchre.'
+Douglas solemnly pledged himself to this last faithful service.
+
+On the death of King Robert, his heart was embalmed, and enclosed in a
+silver casket 'cunningly enamelled,' which Douglas bore always about
+his neck. Strangely enough, even in death, the King came in conflict
+with Rome; for the excision of his heart was a breach of a Papal Bull
+of 1299, involving excommunication of the mutilators, and excluding the
+body from ecclesiastical burial. On August 13, 1331, the Pope, at the
+prayer of Randolph, granted absolution to all that had taken part 'in
+the inhuman and cruel treatment' of the King's body.
+
+The body was embalmed, and carried through the Lennox, and by Dunipace
+and Cambuskenneth, to repose with the body of the Queen in Dunfermline
+Abbey--since Malcolm Canmore, the last resting-place of the Kings of
+Scotland. Over the King's grave was erected a marble monument, which he
+had ordered from Paris a twelvemonth before his death. It might have
+been supposed that never in time would any Scotsman lay a rude hand
+on the sepulchre of the greatest of Scottish kings; yet on March 28,
+1560, an insensate rabble of 'Reformers' razed the abbey to the ground,
+and broke in pieces the royal monument. In 1818, when foundations for
+a new church were being cleared, there were found, in a grave in front
+of the spot where the high altar of the Abbey Church had stood, the
+bones of a man whose breast-bone had been sawn asunder, and who had
+been buried in fine linen shot with gold thread. The probability that
+these were the bones of Bruce was enhanced by the surrounding fragments
+of black and white marble, well-polished, carved, and gilt. There lay
+also a mouldering skull, which five centuries agone may have held the
+powerful brain that dominated the field of Bannockburn.
+
+Douglas set about his preparations. Now that peace with England was
+established, and Randolph held the reins of State, there was no
+national reason why Douglas could not be spared for a time. Nor would
+warriors like Bruce and his paladins have ever weighed for a moment
+the risks of the sacred mission. It seems a misapprehension to suggest
+either selfishness or ingratitude on the part of the dying King. Nor
+is there any substantial ground for imagining that Robert feared any
+lack of harmony between his two great lieutenants. Barbour's casual
+suggestion of petty rivalry between them cannot weigh for a moment
+against their constant association in scores of enterprises. Their
+rivalry was of noble quality. The King had made a knightly vow, and
+that vow he must, as far as might be, perform; it was hardly less a
+national than a personal obligation.
+
+On September 1, Douglas obtained from Edward III. letters of protection
+for seven years, and a letter of commendation to Alfonso XI., King of
+Castile and Leon. On February 1, 1329-30, the day of the patron saint
+of his house, St Bride, he bestowed lands on the Abbey of Newbattle to
+secure her special intercession in his spiritual interests. Shortly
+thereafter he set out on his mission, with 'a noble company'--one
+knight banneret, seven other knights, twenty-six squires, and a large
+retinue. According to Froissart, he sailed from Montrose to Sluys,
+where he lay twelve days, thinking he might be joined by other knights
+'going beyond the sea to Jerusalem'; and then to Valencia in Spain.
+According to Barbour he sailed from Berwick direct to Seville. In any
+case, he proceeded to the camp of Alfonso, then on his frontier warring
+against Osmyn, the Moorish King of Granada, and was received with
+honour befitting his fame and his mission. The knights with Alfonso
+were eagerly curious to see the famous Scot; and one notable warrior
+expressed his great surprise that Douglas's face was not seamed with
+scars like his own. 'Praised be God!' said Douglas, 'I always had hands
+to defend my head.'
+
+On August 25, 1330, the Christian and Moorish armies faced each other
+near Theba on the Andalusian frontier. Froissart states that Douglas
+mistook a forward movement of the Spanish troops for the onset of
+battle, and charged the Moors furiously; but the Spaniards had halted
+and left him unsupported. The story seems little consonant with
+Douglas's warlike intelligence. Barbour says that Alfonso assigned to
+Douglas the command of the van--which is very unlikely, unless he also
+assigned him an interpreter. He also asserts that Douglas hurled the
+precious casket 'a stone-cast and well more' into the ranks of the
+enemy, exclaiming--
+
+      '"Now pass thou forth before
+    As thou wast wont in field to be,
+    And I shall follow, or else dee"';
+
+and that he fought his way to it and recovered it, 'taking it up with
+great daintie.' This, too, is but a fantastic embellishment of the
+cloister. Barbour, of course, proceeds to rout the Moors and to make
+Douglas press on ahead of his company, attended by only ten men. Seeing
+Sir William de St Clair surrounded, however, Douglas spurred to his
+friend's rescue, but was overpowered by numbers and slain. Among those
+that fell with him were Sir William de St Clair and Sir Robert and Sir
+Walter Logan.
+
+The bones of Douglas were brought home by Sir William de Keith, who
+had been kept out of the battle by a broken arm, and were buried in
+the church of St Bride of Douglas. The silver casket with the heart of
+Bruce was buried by Randolph, 'with great worship,' in Melrose Abbey.
+
+Douglas has been charged with breach of trust. It is argued that he
+ought not to have gone to Spain, but to have crossed the continent to
+Venice or the south of France, and made direct for Jerusalem. It is
+hardly worth while to remark that this is just what Boece says he did,
+his death taking place in Spain on his way home. It is more to the
+purpose that the Holy Sepulchre was then in the hands of the Saracens,
+and that Spain was the central point of opposition to the infidels.
+But what Douglas ought or ought not to have done depends solely on the
+precise terms of his trust; and it may be taken as certain that he
+knew King Robert's mind better than either Barbour or Froissart, or
+even their critics, and that he decided on his course in consultation
+with Randolph and the other magnates, prelates as well as barons.
+Edward's safe conduct and commendatory letter show by their terms that
+his going to Spain was no afterthought, but his original intention. To
+attribute to Douglas lack of 'strength of purpose' is to miss the whole
+significance of his career.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+King Robert must obviously have been a man of powerful physique and
+iron constitution. The early hardships and continuous toils of his
+reign could not have been sustained by any ordinary frame; and his
+recorded feats of strength, such as in the case of Wallace have been
+scouted as fabulous, have always been accepted without question. The
+Merton MS. of the 'Flores Historiarum' calls him 'a very powerful man,'
+on the occasion of his striking down Comyn. The killing of Sir Henry
+de Bohun in face of both armies speaks convincingly of muscle as well
+as of nerve. If the bones discovered in 1818 were his, they indicate
+that he stood about six feet in height. 'In figure,' says Major, 'he
+was graceful and athletic, with broad shoulders. His features were
+handsome, and he had the yellow hair of the northern race, and blue and
+sparkling eyes.'
+
+Bruce's outstanding characteristic, in Barbour's analysis, was his
+'hardiment:' he 'hardy was of head and hand.' That is to say, he was
+a strong, bold, and resolute soldier. But with hardiment he joined
+'wit'--judgment, prudence, measure; and the union of the two is
+'worship.' This 'worship' was undoubtedly the fundamental cause of
+Bruce's great career; and the most simple and conspicuous illustration
+of it is seen in the dramatic episode of De Bohun's death. Fordun
+pronounces that he 'was, beyond all living men of his day, a valiant
+knight.' And Barbour sums up--
+
+    'To whom, into gude chevelry,
+    I dar peir nane, wes in his day.
+    For he led hym with mesure ay.'
+
+It was this splendid hardiment controlled and directed by cool
+judgment, and supported by untiring industry in details, that ranked
+King Robert not merely as the second knight in Christendom, but as
+one of the most renowned generals of the age. His patient drudgery of
+preparation, his wary dispositions, his firmness of resolution, his
+promptitude to mark and remedy a weakness of his own and to strike hard
+at a weakness of the enemy, were superbly illustrated on the field of
+Bannockburn. King Robert's military renown does not need the false
+attribution of tactical discoveries that he certainly did not make.
+It was not Bannockburn that showed him what infantry could do against
+mailed cavalry; nor was it the example of the Flemings at Courtrai.
+Sir William Wallace had proved the power of the schiltron before
+Bannockburn and before Courtrai; and he is not to be deprived of the
+honour by the imperfect historical knowledge of Sir Thomas Gray. If the
+tactic was known in these islands before the time of Wallace, or if
+Wallace gained the knowledge of it from elsewhere, the fact yet remains
+to be historically demonstrated. King Robert and his generals simply
+practised the lesson of Wallace with notable ability. Nor did they
+advance beyond Wallace in the still more important principles of large
+strategy. But, apart from this, the Bruce's capacity as a military
+commander stands forth pre-eminent. And though many painful incidents
+inevitably stain the records of his campaigns, they are attributable
+more to the age than to the man. It is impossible to charge on his
+memory any reckless or wanton cruelty. His mind with all its sternness
+ever tended to clemency, and his constitutional prudence, or measure,
+forbade purposeless excess.
+
+The incessant demands of war left Robert but scant leisure for
+internal administration, notwithstanding the diligent service of his
+eminently capable lieutenants. Apart from necessary inference and from
+incidental indications, his care for civil order and good government is
+conspicuously manifested in the legislation of the Scone Parliament,
+December 3, 1318; and there is abundant evidence of his fostering
+watchfulness over the commercial traffic with Continental countries.
+The Cambuskenneth Parliament, July 15, 1326, has a constitutional
+interest, as the first great council where burgesses are known to have
+sat with the baronage. The trading communities were worth consultation
+when a heavy war tax was to be levied, and the country was so cruelly
+impoverished. There can be no doubt that Robert's management of home
+affairs was watchful, energetic, and liberal.
+
+In the conduct of his foreign relations, the Bruce proved himself an
+adept in diplomacy. His dealings with the Continental princes, mainly
+in regard to shipping and commerce, were conciliatory and businesslike.
+His political transactions with the English sovereign and with the
+Pope were uniformly characterised by astute perception, reasonableness
+to the point of generosity, courteous but rigid firmness on every
+essential point, and fidelity to engagements.
+
+The occupations of the King's late and brief leisure may be read
+between the lines of the Exchequer Rolls: how he kept open house at
+Cardross, dispensed gifts and charities, pottered (with Randolph) at
+shipbuilding, sailed his great ship between Cardross and Tarbet, built
+Tarbet Castle, added a wing to his mansion, tended his garden, and so
+forth; and how he kept a pet lion at Perth, where he seems to have
+spent parts of his last two years.
+
+Bruce was twice married. First, to Isabel, daughter of the Earl of Mar,
+the mother of Marjory. Second, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of De
+Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who bore him two sons and two daughters: Matilda
+and Margaret, after 1316; David, March 5, 1324; and John, who died in
+infancy. The most distinguished of his other children, Sir Robert de
+Brus, fell at Dupplin in 1332.
+
+Bruce has been called by Lord Hailes (after Rapin) the 'restorer of
+Scottish monarchy.' The monarchy was a small matter; Bruce was the
+restorer of Scottish independence. But the conditions of the case
+are apt to be misconceived. The incalculable services of Sir William
+Wallace, through nearly ten years of incomparably heroic struggle
+against the great Edward in his full vigour, are too often forgotten,
+or belittled. But for Wallace, it is more than probable that Bruce
+would never have been King of Scotland. He built on Wallace's
+foundations.
+
+Comyn being dead, Bruce possessed the admitted right to the crown,
+without even the semblance of competition--a powerful aid in his
+enterprise. He started in the acquisitive spirit of an Anglo-Norman
+baron, and was carried through largely by his personal gallantry,
+his military capacity, his consummate prudence, and his indomitable
+resolution. Though the mass of the people rallied to him but slowly
+through many years, yet he at once gained the more ardent patriots;
+and, in particular, he had the instant support of the leading prelates,
+and, at the Dundee Parliament on February 24, 1308-9, the formal
+adhesion of the clergy generally. Nor is it easy to overestimate the
+aid of three such paladins as Edward de Brus, Randolph, and Douglas.
+And not the least of the grounds of Bruce's success is to be sought in
+the feebleness and foolishness of Edward II. and the stupid oppressions
+practised by his local officers. Still, with full acknowledgment of
+these supports, King Robert was and is the central figure in the final
+establishment of the independence of Scotland.
+
+One is strongly inclined to believe that the services of Sir Edward
+de Brus, Lord of Galloway and Earl of Carrick, have been seriously
+underrated, partly no doubt through his own besetting fault. When we
+remember how boldly he is said to have counselled action on the return
+from Rathlin, how vigorously he cleared the English out of his lordship
+of Galloway, and how ably he bore the brunt of the heaviest fighting
+at Bannockburn, we cannot but suspect that his glory has been unduly
+dimmed by the splendour of his brother, and by the inappreciation of
+his monkish critics. The main certainty about his hapless expedition
+to Ireland is the certainty that he fought with the most chivalrous
+ardour. He was not only 'hardy' but, according to Barbour, 'outrageous
+hardy'--a prototype of Hotspur. His habitual exaltation of mind is well
+expressed by the Archdeacon, when he describes him in face of vastly
+superior numbers at Kilross:
+
+              'The more they be,
+    The more honour allout have we,
+    If that we bear us manfully.'
+
+Undoubtedly his 'hardiment' overbore his 'wit'; yet one may safely
+doubt whether the Archdeacon was the man to take his military measure.
+At the very least, he must have been a powerful force in urging
+unmitigated hostility against the English; and his dash in battle must
+have proved a potent force on many a stricken field.
+
+In the absence of Sir Edward, Randolph ranked as first lieutenant.
+He was Bruce's nephew, son of Isabel de Brus and Thomas Randolph
+of Strathdon.[2] From Lord of Nithsdale, he blossomed into Earl of
+Moray, and Lord of Annandale and of Man. As soldier, diplomatist, and
+statesman, he displayed pre-eminent ability. Barbour represents him as
+of moderate stature, proportionably built, 'with broad visage, pleasing
+and fair,' and a courteous manner. 'A man he was,' says Lord Hailes,
+most justly, 'to be remembered while integrity, prudence, and valour
+are held in esteem among men.' He survived King Robert a little over
+three years.
+
+The good Sir James of Douglas ranked second to Randolph only because
+Randolph was the King's nephew. From his early teens he displayed a
+gallant and chivalrous spirit, a mind set on honour, and withal a
+conspicuous gift of strategic device. If we may rely on Barbour, he
+was even more cautious than the well-balanced Randolph; yet, when
+occasion served, he could display the adventurous dash of Sir Edward
+de Brus; and he exhibited a splendid tenacity. According to Froissart,
+he was 'esteemed the bravest and most enterprising knight in the two
+kingdoms.' Like most great commanders, he rendered his men devoted to
+him by a large generosity, not merely in division of the spoils, but
+also in recognition of valiant deeds. Barbour tells us that
+
+    'He had intill custom allway,
+    Quhen euir he com till hard assay,
+    To press hym the chiftane to sla;'
+
+a bold principle that often decided the fight--like Bruce's principle
+of striking hard at the foremost line. After he slew Sir Robert de
+Neville,
+
+    'The dreid of the Lorde Dowglass,
+    And his renoun swa scalit wass
+    Throu-out the marchis of Yngland
+    That all that war tharin duelland
+    Thai dred him as the deuill of hell.'
+
+And Barbour had often heard tell that wives would frighten their
+wayward children into obedience by threatening to deliver them to the
+Black Douglas. The Leicester chronicler says 'the English feared him
+more than all other Scotsmen'; for 'every archer he could take, either
+his right hand he cut off or his right eye he plucked out,' and, for
+the sake of the archers, he always took his vengeance on an Englishman
+in the severest form he could devise. This view is not corroborated,
+however, and it may be a generalisation from some particular case. But,
+while terrible to the enemy--'a brave hammerer of the English,' as
+Fordun says--Douglas is represented as charming to his friends.
+
+    'But he wes nocht sa fayr that we
+    Suld spek gretly off his beaute:
+    In wysage[3] wes he sumdeill gray,[4]
+    And had blak har,[5] as Ic hard say;
+    Bot off lymmys[6] he wes weill maid,
+    With banis[7] gret & schuldrys braid.[8]
+    His body wes weyll maid and lenye,[9]
+    As thai that saw hym said to me ...
+    And in spek wlispyt[10] he sum deill;
+    But that sat[11] him rycht wondre weill.'
+
+Scott's picture of the Knight of the Tomb, while based on Barbour's
+description, verges on caricature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was King Robert the Bruce a patriot? The question, startling as it may
+be, especially to trustful readers of uncritical laudations, may no
+longer be avoided.
+
+It is not necessary to repeat the outlines of his political attitude
+during the storm and stress of Wallace's memorable struggle. Can it be
+supposed, then, that a man may become patriotic after his thirty-first
+year? With his assumption of the kingly office, Bruce's baronial and
+royal interests coincided with the interests of Scotland, and it may be
+that some feeling of the nature of patriotism may have thus developed
+in his breast. The manifesto of the barons and other laymen in 1320,
+apart from its dramatic purpose, may be taken to indicate that the
+external reasons for the King's profession of patriotism were not less
+potent than his private reasons. Let us concede to him the benefit even
+of grievous doubt. For, be his motives what they may, the practical
+outcome was the decisive establishment of the independence of the
+realm of Scotland, and he remains for ever the greatest of the line of
+Scottish Kings.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Hemingburgh also gives February 10; Rishanger, Walsingham, and
+others give January 29. It is the difference between iv. _Id._ Feb. and
+iv. _Kal._ Feb. Probably both dates are wrong. The true date, it is
+suggested, is January 27--'Thursday next before Carne-prevyum' (_Cal._
+ii., p. 486, under August 4, 1306).
+
+[2] So say the modern authorities. The chroniclers call him Bruce's
+'nephew,' and Bruce himself calls him 'nepos'; and Boece calls him
+David's 'cousin.' But is not 'nephew' used here, not in the present
+strict sense, but in the wider sense of young relative? Bruce's father
+and mother were married not before 1270 at earliest. Isabel was married
+to the King of Norway on November 15, 1293; and probably the marriage
+was in contemplation when her father and she went to Norway in autumn,
+1292. Was she a widow, then, at 21? Randolph was present with his
+father at proceedings in the Succession case at Berwick in August
+1292. If, then, he was the son of Isabel, he must have been a mere
+child--five or six at most. If there was another sister Isabel (Bain),
+the age difficulty remains. Was Isabel--if Isabel _was_ Randolph's
+mother's name--not the sister, but the aunt, of Bruce? And was Randolph
+really Bruce's _cousin_?
+
+[3] Visage.
+
+[4] Somewhat gray (swarthy).
+
+[5] Hair.
+
+[6] Limbs.
+
+[7] Bones.
+
+[8] Shoulders broad.
+
+[9] Lean.
+
+[10] Lisped.
+
+[11] Became.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
+quotation marks retained.
+
+Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
+
+Page 35: Unmatched closing single quotation mark after "is a traitor'".
+
+Page 43: "David ap Griffith" means "son of" (Welch origin).
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of King Robert the Bruce, by A. F. Murison
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