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diff --git a/44695-0.txt b/44695-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..462fcfe --- /dev/null +++ b/44695-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5494 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44695 *** + + 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). + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of King Robert the Bruce, by A. F. Murison + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44695 *** |