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CHAPTER III
ROBERT BRUCE.
1305—1314.
We now enter upon the history of this great and rapid revolution; and in doing so, it will first be necessary to say a few words upon the early character and conduct of the Earl of Carrick, afterwards Robert the First.
This eminent person was the grand son of that Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale, who was competitor for the crown with John Baliol. He was lineally descended from Isabella, se cond daughter of David, earl of Hunt- ingdon, brother of William the Lion. John Baliol, the late King of Scot land, had, as we have already seen, renounced for ever all claim to the throne; and his son Edward was at that time a minor and a captive.
1 Wallace was executed 23d August 1305. The new regulations for the government of Scotland were introduced on the 15th October 1305. Bruce was crowned 27th March 1306. Lord Hailes represents the capture of Wallace by Sir John Menteith as only a popular tradi tion, leaving it to be inferred by his reader that there is no historical authority for the fact. See Notes and Illustrations, letter U, for an examination of the historians opinion upon this subject.
Marjory Baliol, the sister of this un fortunate monarch, married John Comyn, lord of Badenoch. Their son, John Comyn, commonly called the Red Comyn, the opponent of Wallace, and, till the fatal year 1303, the re gent of the kingdom, possessed, as the son of Marjory, Baliol’s sister, a right to the throne, after the resignation of Baliol and his son, which, according to the principles on which Edward pronounced his decision, was unques tionable. He was also connected by marriage with the royal family of Eng land,2 and was undoubtedly one of the most powerful, if not the most power ful, Subject in Scotland. Bruce and Comyn were thus the heads of two rival parties in the state, whose ani mosity was excited by their mutual claims to the same crown, and whose interests were irreconcileable. Ac cordingly, when Edward gave his 2 His wife Johanna was daughter of William de Valence, earl of Pembroke. This Earl of Pembroke was son of Hugh de Brienne, who married Isabella, widow of John, king of England, grandfather of Edward the First.
84 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
famous award in favour of Baliol, Bruce, the competitor, refused to take the oath of homage;1 and although he acquiesced in the decision, gave up his lands in the vale of Annandale, which he must have held as a vassal under Baliol, to his son, the Earl of Carrick ; again, in 1293, the Earl of Carrick resigned his lands and earldom of Carrick to his son Robert, then a young man in the service of the king of England.2 In the years 1295 and 1296, Edward invaded Scotland, and reduced Baliol, and the party of the Comyns, to submission. During this contest, Bruce, the earl of Carrick, and son of the competitor, possessed of large estates in England, continued faithful to Edward. He thus pre served his estates, and hoped to see the destruction of the only rivals who stood between him and his claim to the throne. Nor was this a vain ex pectation ; for Edward, on hearing of the revolt of Baliol and the Comyns, undoubtedly held out the prospect of the throne to Bruce ;3 and these cir cumstances afford us a complete ex planation of the inactivity of that baron and his son at this period. Meanwhile Baliol and the Comyns issued a hasty order, confiscating the estates of all who preserved their alle giance to Edward. In consequence of this resolution, the lordship of Annan- dale, the paternal inheritance of the Earl of Carrick, was declared forfeited, and given by Baliol to John Comyn, earl of Buchan, who immediately seized and occupied Bruce’s castle of Lochmaben, an insult which there is reason to think the proud baron never forgave. Compelled to submit to Ed ward, the Comyns, and the principal nobles who supported them, were now carried prisoners into England ; and, when restored to liberty, it was only on condition that they should join his army in Flanders, and assist him in his foreign wars.
During the brief but noble stand made by Wallace for the national liberty, Robert Bruce, then a young
1 Leland, Collect, vol. i. p. 540.
2 Ibid.
3 See supra, p, 42.
man of three-and-twenty, was placed in difficult and critical circumstances. It was in his favour that his rivals, the Comyns, were no longer in the field, but kept in durance by Edward. His father remained in England, where he possessed large estates, and continued faithful in his allegiance to the king. At this time it is important to remark what Walter Hemingford, a contemporary English historian, has said of young Bruce. After mention ing the revolt which was headed by Wallace, he informs us, “that the Bishop of Carlisle, and other barons, to whom the peace of that district was committed, became suspicious of the fidelity of Robert Bruce the younger, earl of Carrick, and sent for him to come and treat upon the affairs of Ed ward, if he intended to remain faithful to that monarch.” Bruce, he continues, did not dare to disobey, but came on the day appointed, with his vassals of Galloway, and took an oath on the sacred host, and upon the sword of St Thomas, that he would assist the king against the Scots, and all his enemies, both by word and deed. Having taken this oath, he returned to his country ; and to give a colour of truth to his fidelity, collected his vassals, and ra vaged the lands of William Douglas, carrying the wife and infant children of this knight into Annandale. Soon after this, however, as he returned from a meeting of the Scottish con spirators to his own country, having assembled his fathers men of Annan- dale, (for his father himself then re sided in the south of England, and was ignorant of his son’s treachery,) he told them, “ that it was true he had lately taken a foolish oath at Carlisle, of which they had heard.” He assured them that it was extorted by force, and that he not only deeply repented what he had done, but hoped soon to get absolution. Meanwhile he added, “ that he was resolved to go with his own vassals and join the nation from which he sprung; and he earnestly entreated them to do the same, and come along with him as his dear friends and counsellors. The men of Annandale, however, disliking the
1305.] ROBERT BRUCE. 85
peril of this undertaking, whilst their master, the elder Bruce, was in Eng land, decamped in the night; and the young Bruce, aspiring to the crown, as was generally reported, joined him self to the rebels, and entered into the conspiracy with the Bishop of Glasgow and the Steward of Scotland, who were at the bottom of the plot."1 Such is an almost literal translation from the words of Walter Hemingford, whose information as to Scottish affairs at this period seems to have been minute and accurate.
At this time the ambition or the patriotic feelings of Bruce were cer tainly short-lived ; for, not many months after, he made his peace at the capitulation at Irvine, and gave his infant daughter, Marjory, as a hostage for his fidelity.2 Subsequent to the successful battle of Stirling, the Comyns, no longer in the power of the English king, joined Wallace; and young Bruce, once more seeing his rivals for the throne opposed to Ed ward, kept aloof from public affairs, anxious, no doubt, that they should destroy themselves by such opposition. He did not, as has been erroneously stated, accede to the Scottish party,3 but, on the contrary, shut himself up in the castle of Ayr, and refused to join the army which fought at Falkirk. As little, however, did he cordially co-operate with the English king, al though his father, the elder Bruce, and his brother, Bernard Bruce, were both in his service, and, as there is strong reason to believe, in the Eng lish army which fought at Falkirk. Young Bruce’s conduct, in short, at this juncture, was that of a cautious neutral; but Edward, who approved of no such lukewarmness in those who had sworn homage to him, immedi-
1 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 120. Hailes, 8vo edit. vol. i. p. 301.
2 Rymer, Foed. vol. i. new edit. p. 868. Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, James, the Steward of Scotland, John, his brother, Alex ander de Lindesay, and William de Douglas, submitted themselves to Edward. On 30th July 1297, John Comyn, son of John, lord of Badenoch, John, earl of Athole, and Richard Suvard, were liberated from prison, and ac companied Edward to Flanders.
3 Hailes’ Annals, vol. i. 4to, pp. 253-263.
ately after the battle of Falkirk ad vanced into the west. Bruce, on his approach, fled; and Edward after wards led his army into Annandale, and seized his strong castle of Loch- maben.4
In a parliament held not long subse quent to this, the king gave to his nobles some of the estates of the chief men in Scotland; but the great estates of the Bruce family, embracing Annan- dale and Carrick, were not alienated. The fidelity of the elder Bruce to England in all probability preserved them. On the 13th of November 1299, we find Robert Bruce the younger, earl of Carrick, associated as one of the regents of the kingdom with John Comyn, that powerful rival, with whom he had hitherto never acted in concert.5 It seems, however, to have been an unnatural coalition, arising more out of Bruce’s having lost the confidence of Edward, than indicative of any new cordiality be tween him and Comyn; and there can be little doubt, also, that they were brought to act together by a mutual desire to humble and destroy the power of Wallace, in which they suc ceeded. But to punish this union, Edward, in his short campaign of 1300, wasted Annandale, took Loch- maben castle, and marched into Gallo way, ravaging Bruce’s country. Thus exposed to, and suffering under the vengeance of the King of England, it might be expected that he should have warmly joined with his brother re gents in the war. But this seems not to have been the case. He did not take an active share in public affairs; and previous to the battle of Roslin, he returned, as we have seen, to the English party. During the fatal and victorious progress of Edward through Scotland in 1303, he remained faithful to that monarch, while his rivals, the Comyns, continued in arms against him. On the death of his father, which took place in 1304, Bruce was permitted by the King of England to take possession of his whole English and Scottish estates; and so high does
4 Hemingford, p. 166.
5 Rymer, vol. ii. p. 859.
86 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
he appear to have risen in the esteem of Edward, that he acted a principal part in the settlement of the kingdom in 1304; whilst his rival Cornyn was subjected to a heavy fine, and seems to have wholly lost the confidence of the king.1
In this situation matters stood at the important period when we con cluded the last chapter. Bruce, whose conduct had been consistent only upon selfish principles, found himself, when compared with other Scottish barons, in an enviable situation. He had pre served his great estates, his rivals were overpowered, and, on any new emer gency occurring, the way was partly cleared for his own claim to the crown.
The effect of all this upon the mind of Comyn may be easily imagined. He felt that one whose conduct, in consistency and honour, had been in ferior to his own, was rewarded with the confidence and favour of the king ; whilst he who had struggled to the last for the liberty of his country became an object of suspicion and neglect. This seems to have rankled in his heart, and he endeavoured to instil suspicions of the fidelity of Bruce into the mind of Edward; 2 but at the same time he kept up to that proud rival the appearance of friend ship and familiarity. Bruce, in the meantime, although he had matured no certain design for the recovery of the crown, never lost sight of his pre tensions, and neglected no opportu nity of strengthening himself and his cause by those bands and alliances with powerful barons and prelates which were common in that age. He had entered into a secret league of this kind with William de Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, in which they engaged faithfully to consult together, and to give mutual assistance to each other, by themselves and their people, at all times, and against all persons, to the utmost of their power; without guile to warn each other against all dangers,
1 Trivet, p. 334.
2 Hemingford, p. 219, says this expressly : — “ Cumque mutuo loquerentur ad invicem verbis ut videbatur pacificis, statim conver- tens faciem et verba pervertens cœpit impro- perare ei,”
and to use their utmost endeavour to prevent them.3 This league was of course sedulously concealed from Ed ward; but it seems to have become known to Comyn, and a conference between him and Bruce on the subject of their rival claims actually took place. At this meeting Bruce de scribed, in strong expressions, the miserable servitude into which their mutual dissensions, and their preten sions to the crown, had plunged the country; and we are informed by one of the most ancient and accurate of the contemporary historians, that he proposed as an alternative to Comyn, either that this baron should make over his great estate to Bruce, on con dition of receiving from him in return his assistance in asserting his claim to the throne, or should agree to accept Bruce’s lands, and assist him in the recovery of his hereditary kingdom. “Support my title to the crown,” said Bruce, “ and I will give you my estate; or give me your estate, and 1 will support yours.”4 Comyn agreed to wave his right and accept the lands; and, in the course of these confidential meetings, became acquainted with Bruce’s secret associations, and even possessed of papers which contained evidence of his designs for the recovery of his rights. These designs, however, were as yet quite immature, and Bruce, who was still unsuspected, and in high confidence with Edward, repaired to the English court. Whilst there, Co- myn betrayed him,5 and despatched letters to the king, informing him of the ambitious projects of Bruce. Ed ward, anxious to unravel the whole conspiracy, had recourse to dissimula tion, and the Earl of Carrick continued
3 See Ayloffe’s Calendar of Ancient Charters, p. 295. The deed is transcribed in Lord Hailes’ Annals, vol. i. p. 280.
4 Fordun a Hearne, p. 992, vol. iv. Win- ton, vol. ii. p. 122, says this conference took place when the two barons were "ryding fra Strevylyn.” See also Langtoft, vol. ii. p. 330. Barbour’s Bruce, Jamieson’s edit. p. 18.
5 Winton asserts, vol. ii. p. 123, that Comyn betrayed Bruce when he was yet in Scotland ; upon which Edward sent for him to get him into his power ; and that Bruce, suspecting nothing, repaired to London to attend parlia ment.
1305.] ROBERT BRUCE. 87
in apparent favour. But the king had inadvertently dropped some hint of an intention to seize him; and Bruce, having received from his kinsman, the Earl of Gloucester,1 an intimation of his danger, took horse, and, accom panied by a few friends, precipitately fled to Scotland. On the Borders they encountered a messenger hastening to England. His deportment was suspi cious, and Bruce ordered him to be questioned and searched. He proved to be an emissary of Comyn’s, whom that baron had sent to communicate with Edward. He was instantly slain, his letters were seized, and Bruce, in possession of documents which dis closed the treachery of Comyn, pressed forward to his castle of Lochmaben,2 which he reached on the fifth day after his sudden flight. Here he met his brother, Edward Bruce, and informed him of the perilous circumstances in which he was placed.3 It was now the month of February, the time when the English justiciars appointed by Ed ward were accustomed to hold their courts at Dumfries; and Bruce, as a freeholder of Annandale, was bound to be present. Comyn was also a free holder in Dumfriesshire, and obliged to attend on the justiciars ; so that in this way those two proud rivals were brought into contact, under circum stances peculiarly irritating.4 They met at Dumfries, and Bruce, burning with ill-dissembled indignation, re quested a private interview with the rival who had betrayed him, in the Convent of the Minorite Friars. Comyn agreed, and, entering the convent, they had not reached the high altar before words grew high and warm, and the young baron, losing command of tem per, openly arraigned Comyn of trea chery. “You lie!” said Comyn; upon which Bruce instantly stabbed him with his dagger, and hurrying from the sanctuary which he had
1 The Earl of Gloucester is ridiculously enough denominated by Maitland, vol. i. p. 469, Earl Gomer; by Boece called Glomer, which is as absurdly supposed to be a cor ruption of Montgomery.
2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 127.
3 Barbour, vol. i. p. 23.
4 Hailes’ Annals, vol. i. p. 355.
defiled with blood, rushed into the street, and called “ To horse ! " Lind say and Kirkpatrick, two of his fol lowers, seeing him pale and agitated, demanded the cause. “ I doubt,” said Bruce, as he threw himself on his horse, “ I have slain Comyn.” “ Do you doubt ?" cried Kirkpatrick, fierce ly ; “ I'll make sure ! " and instantly entered the convent, where he found the unhappy man still alive, but bleeding, and lying on the steps of the high altar. By this time the noise of the scuffle had alarmed his friends, and his uncle, Sir Robert Comyn,5 rushing into the convent, attempted to save him. But Kirkpatrick slew this new opponent, and having de spatched his dying victim, who could offer no resistance, rejoined his master. Bruce now assembled his followers, and took possession of the castle of Dumfries, whilst the English justi- ciars, who held their court in a hall in the castle, believing their lives to be in danger, barricaded the doors. But the building was immediately set fire to, upon which the judges capitulated, and were permitted to depart from Scotland without further molestation.6 This murder had been perpetrated by Bruce and his companions in the heat of passion, and was entirely un premeditated; but its consequences were important and momentous. Bruce’s former varying and uncertain line of policy, which had arisen out of the hope of preserving, by fidelity to Edward, his great estates, and of see ing his rival crushed by his opposition
5 There seems some little ambiguity about the knight’s name. Hailes, vol. i. p. 291, says he is commonly called Sir Richard. A book of chronicles in Peter College Library, quoted by Leland, Coll. vol. i. p. 473, calls him Sir Roger. The Pope’s bull, vol. iii. Rymer, Fœd. p. 810, puts it beyond doubt that his name is Robert. The murder of Comyn happened on Thursday, the 10th of February 1305-6.
6 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 220. This histo rian tells us, that after Bruce had with his followers seized the castle of Dumfries, and expelled the justiciars, word was brought him that Comyn was still alive, and had been carried by the friars within the high altar, to confess his sins. Upon which Bruce ordered him to be dragged out and slain on the steps of the altar, so that the altar itself was stained with his blood. This is improbable.
83 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
to England, was at once changed by the murder of which he had been guilty. His whole schemes upon the crown had been laid open to Edward. This was ruin of itself ; but, in addi tion to this, he had, with his own hand, assassinated the first noble in the realm, and in a place of tremendous sanctity. He had stained the high altar with blood, and had directed against himself, besides the resent ment of the powerful friends and vassals of the murdered earl, all the terrors of religion, and the strongest prejudices of the people. The die, however, was cast, and he had no al ternative left to him but either to become a fugitive and an outlaw, or to raise open banner against Edward, and, although the disclosure of his plans was premature, to proclaim his title to the crown. Having deter mined on this last, he repaired imme diately to Lochmaben castle, and despatched letters to his friends and adherents. It was fortunate for him at this trying crisis that he had secured the friendship and assistance of the Archbishop of St Andrews, William dc Lamberton, by one of those bands or covenants, which, in this age, it was considered an unheard of outrage to break or disregard. Lamberton’s friendship disarmed of its dreadful consequences that sentence of excom munication which was soon thundered against him, and his powerful influence necessarily interested in his behalf the whole body of the Scottish clergy.
The desperate nature of Bruce’s undertaking appeared very manifest, from the small number of adherents who joined his fortunes. The enumer ation will not occupy much space. It embraced the Earls of Lennox and of Athole; Lamberton, the bishop of St Andrews; Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow; David, bishop of Moray; the Abbot of Scone; his four brothers, Edward, Nigel, Thomas, and Alexan der ; his nephew, Thomas Randolph; his brother-in-law, Christopher Seton; Gilbert de la Haye of Errol, with his brother, Hugh de la Haye; David Barclay of Cairns ; Alexander Fraser, brother of Simon Fraser, of Oliver
castle ; Walter de Somerville, of Lin ton and Carnwath; David of Inch- martin ; Robert Boyd; and Robert Fleming. Such was the handful of brave men, comprising two earls and only fourteen barons, with whose assistance Bruce determined to take the field against the overwhelming power of England, directed by one of the most experienced statesmen, and certainly by the most successful mili tary commander, of the age. “With these,” says the authentic and affec tionate Fordun, “he had the courage to raise his hand, not only against the King of England and his allies, but against the whole accumulated power of Scotland, with the exception of an extremely small number who adhered to him, and who seemed like a drop of water when compared to the ocean.”1
Bruce’s first step was bold and de cisive. He determined immediately to be crowned at Scone, and for this purpose repaired from his castle of Lochmaben to Glasgow, where he was joined by some of the friends who supported his enterprise. On the road from Lochmaben, a young knight, well armed and horsed, encountered his retinue, who, the moment Bruce ap proached, threw himself from his
1 “There is no living man,” continues the historian, “who is able to narrate the story of those complicated misfortunes which befell him in the commencement of this war, his frequent perils, his retreats, the care and weariness, the hunger and thirst, the watch ing and fasting, the cold and nakedness to which he exposed his person, the exile into which he was driven, the snares and am bushes which he escaped, the seizure, impri sonment, the execution, and utter destruction of his dearest friends and relatives. . . . And if in addition to these almost innumer able and untoward events, which he ever bore with a cheerful and unconquered spirit, any man should undertake to describe his individual conflicts and personal successes, those courageous and single-handed combats in which, by the favour of God, and his own great strength and courage, he would often penetrate into the thickest of the enemy, now becoming the assailant, and cutting down all who opposed him ; at another time acting on the defensive, and evincing equal talents in escaping from what seemed inevitable death ; if any writer shall do this, he will prove, if I am not mistaken, that he had no equal in his own time, either in knightly prowess, or in strength and vigour of body. " — Fordun a Hearne, vol. v. p. 998.
1305-6.] ROBERT BRUCE. 89
horse, and kneeling, did homage to him as his sovereign. He was im mediately recognised as Sir James Douglas, the son of William, the fourth Lord Douglas, whose estate had been given by Edward to the Lord Clifford, and was affectionately wel comed ; for his father had fought with Wallace, and the son had already shewn some indications of his fu ture greatness. Douglas immediately joined the little band who rode with Bruce; and thus commenced a friend ship which, after a series of as noble services as ever subject paid to sove reign, was not dissolved even by death : for it was to this tried follower that in after years his dying master committed his heart to be carried to Jerusalem.1
From Glasgow Bruce rode to Scone, and there was solemnly crowned, on Friday, the 27th of March. Edward had carried off the ancient regalia of the kingdom, and the famous stone- chair, in which, according to ancient custom, the Scottish kings were in augurated. But the ready care of Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, supplied from his own wardrobe the robes in which Robert appeared at his corona tion ; and a slight coronet of gold,2 probably borrowed by the abbot of Scone from some of the saints or kings which adorned his abbey, ’ was em ployed instead of the hereditary crown. A banner, wrought with the arms of Baliol, was delivered by the Bishop of Glasgow to the new king; and Robert received beneath it the homage of the prelates and earls who attended the cere mony. On the second day after the coro nation, and before Bruce and his friends had left Scone, they were surprised by the sudden arrival of Isabella, countess of Buchan, sister of the Earl of Fife, who immediately claimed the privilege of placing the king upon the throne. It was a right which had undoubtedly
1 Barbour, by Jamieson, p. 27.
2 Rymer, Fœdera, vol. ii. p. 1048. This coronella aurea came into the hands of Gef frey de Coigners, who seems to have incurred the resentment of Edward the First, for con cealing and preserving it. Langtoft, Chron icle, vol. ii. p. 331. Maitland has no autho rity for asserting, vol. i. p. 474, that the crown was made expressly for Robert’s coronation, by Geffrey de Coigners.
belonged to the earls of Fife from the days of Malcolm Canmore ; and as the Earl of Fife was at this time of the English party, the countess, a high- spirited woman, leaving her home, joined Bruce at Scone, bringing with her the war-horses of her husband.3 The new king was not in a condition to think lightly of anything of this nature. To have refused Isabellas request might give to his enemies some colour for alleging that an es sential part of the ancient solemnity had been omitted in his coronation. The English historians would have us believe that the lady was influenced by tenderer feelings than ambition or policy; but this is doubtful. It is certain that on the 20th of March the king was a second time installed in the regal chair by the hands of the countess,4 who afterwards suffered severely for her alleged presumption.
Bruce next made a progress through various parts of Scotland, strengthen ing his party by the accession of new partisans; seizing some of the castles and towns which were in the posses sion of the enemy; committing to prison the sheriffs and officers of Ed ward ;5 and creating so great a panic, that many of the English fled precipi tately from the country. His party, nevertheless, was small; the Comyns possessed the greatest power in Scot land, and they and their followers opposed him, not only from motives of policy, but with the deepest feel ings of feudal enmity and revenge; while many earls and barons, who had suffered in the late wars, preferred the quiet of submission to the repeated hazards of insurrection and revolt.
Edward had returned to Winchester, from a pleasure tour through the counties of Dorset and Hampshire, when he received the intelligence of the murder of Comyn and the revolt of Bruce. Although not an aged man, he had reached the mature period of sixty-five; and a constant exposure to the fatigues of war had begun to
3 Hemingford, vol. i, p. 220. Robertson’s Index, p. 17, No. 41.
4 Trivet, p. 342. See Notes and Illustra tions, letter V.
5 Rymer, Foed. vol. ii. p. 988.
90 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
make an impression upon a constitu tion of great natural strength. He was become unwieldy, and so infirm that he could not mount on horseback or lead his armies; and after twenty years of ambitious intrigue, and almost uninterrupted war, now that he was in the decline of his strength and years, he found his Scottish conquests about to be wrested from him by a rival, in whom he had placed the greatest confidence. But although broken in body, this great king was in his mind and spirit yet vigorous and unimpaired, as was soon evinced by the rapidity and decision of his orders, and the subsequent magnitude of his preparations. He instantly sent to strengthen the frontier garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle, with the inten tion of securing the English Borders on that side from invasion; and he appointed the Earl of Pembroke, with Lord Robert Clifford and Henry Percy, to march into Scotland, direct ing them to proceed against his rebels in that kingdom.1 This was in an eminent degree the age of chivalry; and Edward, who had himself gained renown in Palestine, availed himself of that imposing system to give greater spirit to his intended expedition. He published a manifesto, declaring his intention of bestowing knighthood upon his son, the Prince of Wales; and he caused it to be proclaimed over England that as many young esquires as had a right to claim knight hood should appear at Westminster on the Feast of Pentecost, and receive that honour along with the son of their sovereign, after which they should accompany him in his Scottish war. On the day appointed, three hundred young gentlemen, the flower of the English youth, with a brilliant assemblage of pages and attendants, crowded before the king’s palace;
1 Rymer, Fœd. new edition, vol. i. part. ii. p. 982. Math. Westminst. p. 454. Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, was appointed Guardian of Scotland, with full power to re ceive those to mercy who would come in and submit themselves, excepting those who had a hand in the murder of the Lord Comyn. This appears by a charter under the Great Seal, quoted by Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 171.
which being too small for so great a concourse, orders were given to cut down the trees in the orchard of the New Temple. In this ample space the novices pitched their pavilions; and the king, with a splendid munifi cence, distributed to them from his royal wardrobe the scarlet cloth, fine linen, and embroidered belts, made use of on such occasions. Habited in these, they kept their vigil and watched their arms in the Chapel of the Temple, whilst the young prince performed the same ceremony in the abbey church at Westminster. Next morning Edward, with great pomp, knighted his son in the palace ; and the prince, after having received the belt and spurs, came to the abbey church to confer the same honour upon the young esquires who were there waiting for him, with an im mense concourse of spectators. This crowd was the cause of giving addi tional solemnity to the spectacle, for the prince was obliged, from the press, to mount the steps of the high altar; and on this sacred spot, amid the assembled chivalry of England, he conferred the rank of knighthood upon his three hundred companions. He and his companions then proceeded to the banquet, at which two swans, ornamented with golden network, emblems in those days of constancy and truth, were brought in. Upon their being placed on the table, the king rose and made a solemn vow to God and to the swans that he would set out for Scotland, there avenge the death of John Comyn, punish the treachery of the Scots, and afterwards embark for the holy war, with the re solution to die in Palestine.2 After this strange and irreverent adjuration, he next addressed his son, and made him promise that if he died before he took this journey, he should carry his body with the army into Scotland, and not commit it to the earth until he had obtained the victory over his enemies. The clergy and laity then agreed to contribute a thirtieth, and the merchants a tenth, towards defray ing the expenses of the war. The 2 Hailes, vol. ii. p. 4.
1306.] ROBERT BRUCE. 91
prince and the barons promised faith fully to perform these commands of their sovereign; and having agreed to meet at Carlisle fifteen days after Mid summer, they returned home to make preparations for war.1 The Earl of Pembroke, with Clifford and Henry Percy, soon hastened into Scotland; and the Prince of Wales, with his knights companions, followed in the rear of their army; whilst Edward himself, unable from violent fatigue, proceeded towards Carlisle by slow journeys. It was an ill commence ment of the young prince’s chivalry that his excessive cruelty in ravaging the country, and sparing neither age nor sex, incurred the censure of his father the king, who was himself little wont to be scrupulous on these occa sions.2
Bruce was unfortunate in the early part of his career; and his military talents, which afterwards conducted him through a course of unexampled victory, were nursed amid scenes of incessant hardship and defeat. After having ravaged Galloway,3 he marched towards Perth, at that time a town walled and strongly fortified, where the Earl of Pembroke lay with a small army of soldiers. Bruce, on arriving at Perth, and finding the earl shut up within the walls, sent a challenge, requesting him, in the chivalrous style of the age, to come out and try his fortune in an open field. Pembroke answered that the day was too far spent, but that he would fight with him next morning; upon which the king retired, and encamped about a mile from Perth, in the wood of Meth- ven. Towards evening, whilst his soldiers were busy cooking their sup per,4 and many were dispersed in foraging parties, a cry was heard that the enemy were upon them ; and Pembroke, with his whole army, which outnumbered the Scots by fifteen hundred men, broke in upon the camp.5
1 Math. Westminst. p. 455. Langtoft, p. 333.
2 Ypodigma Neustriæ, p. 498.
3 Chron. Lanercost, p. 204.
4 Chron. Abingdon, quoted in Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 172.
5 Barbour, by Jamieson, p. 37.
The surprise was so complete, that it can only be accounted for by the be lief that the king had implicitly relied upon the promise of the English earl. He and his friends had scarcely time to arm themselves. They made, how ever, a stout resistance, and at the first onset Bruce attacked the Earl of Pembroke, and slew his horse; but no efforts of individual courage could restore order, or long delay defeat; and the battle of Methven was from the first nearly a rout. The king was thrice unhorsed, and once so nearly taken, that the captor, Sir Philip de Mowbray, called aloud that he had the new-made king, when Sir Chris topher Seton felled Mowbray to the earth, and rescued his master.6 The king’s brother, Edward Bruce, Bruce himself, the Earl of Athole, Sir James Douglas, Sir Gilbert de la Haye, Sir Nigel Campbell, and Sir William de Barondoun,7 with about five hundred men, kept the field, and at last effected their retreat into the fastnesses of Athole; but some of his best and bravest friends fell into the hands of the enemy. Sir David de Berklay, Sir Hugh de la Haye, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir John de Somerville, Sir David Inchmartin, and Thomas Ran dolph, then a young esquire, were all taken, along with Hugh, a chaplain.8 On being informed of the victory, Edward gave orders for the instant execution of the prisoners; but the Earl of Pembroke, with more huma nity, did not carry these orders into immediate execution. Randolph, on being pardoned, deserted his uncle ; others were ransomed; whilst the chaplain, with other knights who had
6 Barbour, pp. 35, 36. Math. Westminst,, p. 455, asserts that the king was thrice un horsed, and thrice rescued by Sir Simon Fraser.
7 This knight is a witness to a charter of Haig of Bemerside to the Abbey of Melrose, along with Thomas Rymer of Ercildoun and others. Chartulary of Melrose. Bib. Harl. 3960, t 109, a.
8 Prynne’s Edward I., p. 1123. Barbour, by Jamieson, p. 35. The battle, according to Hume’s History of the House of Douglas, p. 44, was fought on the 19th June. A ballad in MS., Harleian, No. 2253, f. 60, a, says that
I the battle was fought before St Bartholomew's
I mass, i.e. 24th August,
92 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
been taken, were hanged and quar tered.1
Bruce and his friends now began to feel the miseries of outlaws. A high price was set on his head, and he was compelled to harbour in the hills, de prived of the common comforts of life. He and his followers presented a ragged and wretched appearance. Their shoes were worn off their feet by constant toil in a mountainous country ; and hunting, in better days a joyful pastime, became a necessi tous occupation. At length want and distress drove him and his little band into the low country; and at Aber deen his brother, Sir Nigel Bruce, met him with his queen and other ladies, determined to share the pains of war and banishment with their husbands and their fathers.2 Here, after enjoy ing a short season of solace and re spite, a report was brought of the near advance of the English; and the king and his friends, accompanied by their faithful women, retreated into Breadalbane.3 And now, if already they had experienced distress, it was, we may believe, greatly aggravated by the presence of those whose constitu tions were little able to struggle against cold and hunger, and whose love, as it was of that sterling kind which was ready to share in every privation, only made the hearts of their husbands and fathers more keenly alive to their sufferings. An ancient author has given a striking account of their mode of life. The roots and berries of the woods, the venison caught in the chase, the fish which abounded in the mountain rivers, supplied them with food—the warm skins of deer and roe with bed ding—and all laboured to promote their comfort; but none with such success as the brave and gallant Sir James Douglas. This young soldier,
1 Barbour, p. 37. Prynne, Edward I., p. 1123-4.
2 Edward, on being informed of this trait of female heroism, is said toy Fordun to have published a proclamation proscribing all those women who continued to follow their hus bands. Ker. in his History of Bruce, vol. i. p. 226, seems to have mistaken the meaning of Fordun, misled by his monkish Latin.
3 Barbour, p. 41.
after the imprisonment and death of his father, had been educated at the polished court of France;4 and whilst his indefatigable perseverance in the chase afforded them innumerable com forts, his sprightly temper and constant gaiety comforted the king and amused his forlorn companions.5
They had now reached the head of Tay, and deeper distresses seemed gathering round them, for the season was fast approaching when it was im possible for women to exist in that remote and wild region; and they were on the borders of the Lord of Lorn’s country, a determined enemy of Bruce, who had married the aunt of the murdered Comyn.6 Lorn im mediately collected a thousand men, and, with the barons of Argyle, be setting the passes, hemmed in the king, and attacked him in a narrow defile, where Bruce and his small band of knights could not manage their horses. The Highlanders were on foot; and, armed with that dreadful weapon, the Lochaber axe, did great execution. Sir James Douglas, with Gilbert de la Haye, were both wounded, and many of the horses severely cut and gashed ; so that the king, dread ing the total destruction of his little band, managed to get them together, and having placed himself in the rear, between them and the men of Lorn, commenced his retreat, halting at in tervals, and driving back the enemy, when they pressed too hard upon them. It was in one of these skir mishes that Bruce, who, in the use of his weapons, was esteemed inferior to no knight of his time, with his own hand killed three soldiers, who at tacked him at the same time and at a disadvantage 7—a feat which is said to have extorted even from his ene-
4 Hume’s Hist, of House of Douglas and Angus, p. 37.
5 Barbour, vol. i. p. 40.
6 Ibid. p. 41.
7 Barbour, p. 44. Lord Hailes, who in other places quotes Barbour as an unquestion able historical authority, says he dare not venture to place this event in the text. Surely there is nothing marvellous in a knight of great bodily strength and courage with his single hand despatching three half naked ketherans.
1306.] ROBERT BRUCE. 93
mies the praise of superior chivalry. Having thus again escaped, a council was held, and it was resolved that the queen and her ladies should be con ducted to the strong castle of Kil- drummie, in Mar, under an escort, commanded by young Nigel Bruce, the king’s brother, and John, earl of Athole. The king, with only two hundred men, and beset on all sides by his enemies, was left to make his way through Lennox to Kantire, a district which, from the influence of Sir Neil Campbell, who was then with him, he expected would be somewhat more friendly. He now gave up all the horses to those who were to escort the women, and having determined to pursue his way on foot, took a melan choly farewell of his queen.1 It was the last time he ever saw his brother, who soon after was taken, and fell a victim to the implacable revenge of Edward. Bruce, meanwhile, pressed on through Perthshire to Loch Lo mond. On the banks of this lake his progress was suddenly arrested. To have travelled round it would have been accomplished at great risk, when every hour, which could convey him beyond the pursuit of his enemies, was of value. After some time, they succeeded in discovering a little boat, which, from its crazy and leaky state, could hold but three persons, and that not without danger of sinking. In it, the king, Sir James Douglas, and another, who rowed them, first passed over. They then despatched it in re turn for the rest, so that the whole band at length succeeded in reaching the other side. Amid these compli cated dangers and distresses, the spirit of their royal master wonderfully sup ported his followers. His memory was stored with the tales of romance so popular in that chivalrous age; and in recounting the sufferings of their fabled heroes, he is said to have di verted the minds of his friends from brooding too deeply on their own.2 They began now to feel the misery of hunger, and in traversing the woods in search of food they encountered
1 Barbour, vol. i. p. 51. 2 Ibid. pp. 53, 54.
the Earl of Lennox, who, since the unfortunate defeat at Methven, had heard nothing of the fate of his sove reign. Lennox fell on his master’s neck, and the king wept in embracing him. But even this natural burst of grief proved dangerous by occupying too much time; for the enemy were now pressing on their track, and every thing depended on Bruce’s gaining the coast, where he expected to meet Sir Neil Campbell, whom he had sent in advance. This he fortunately accom plished ; and Campbell, with a few boats which he had collected, conveyed the monarch and his followers to the coast of Kantire, where they were hos pitably received by Angus of Islay, lord of Kantire. From thence, deeming himself still insecure, he passed over with three hundred in his company to the little island of Rachrin, situated on the northern coast of Ireland, amid whose rude but friendly inhabitants he buried himself from the pursuit of his enemies.3
Edward, on hearing of the escape of Bruce, proceeded with his usual se verity against his enemies. He pub lished at Lanercost, where he then lay, on his road to Scotland, an ordinance, by which all who were guilty of the death of John Comyn were sentenced to be drawn and hanged; and he de creed that the same extremity of pun ishment should be inflicted on such as either advised or assented, or, after the fact, knowingly received them. It was added, that any persons who were in arms against the king, either before or since the battle of Methven, as well as all who were willingly of the party of Robert Bruce, or who assisted the people in rising contrary to law, were, on conviction, to be imprisoned ; and it was commanded that every sub ject of the king should levy hue and cry upon all who had been in arms against England, and under the penalty of imprisonment, and loss of their estates, apprehend such offenders dead or alive. Finally, as to the common people of Scotland, who, contrary to their inclination, might by their lords have been compelled to rise in arms, 3 Barbour, p. 62.
94 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
the guardian was permitted to fine and ransom them according to their offences.1
These orders were rigorously carried into execution, and the terror of the king’s vengeance induced some of the Scottish barons to act with meanness. Bruce’s queen,2 and his daughter Mar jory, thinking themselves insecure in the castle of Kildrummie, which was threatened by the English army, had taken refuge in the sanctuary of St Duthac, at Tain, in Ross-shire, and were treacherously given up to the English by the Earl of Ross, who vio lated the sanctuary, and made them, and the knights who escorted them, prisoners. These brave men were im mediately put to death, and the queen, with her daughter, committed to close confinement in England; 3 where, in different prisons and castles, they en dured an eight years’ captivity. A more severe fate awaited the Countess of Buchan, who had dared to place the king upon the throne, and who was soon after taken. In one of the outer turrets of the castle of Berwick was constructed a cage, latticed and cross- barred with wood, and secured with iron, in which this unfortunate lady was immured. No person was per mitted to speak with her except the women who brought her food, and it was carefully stipulated that these should be of English extraction. Con fined in this rigorous manner, and yet subjected to the gaze of every passer by, she remained for four years shut up, till she was released from her misery, and subjected to a milder im prisonment4 in the monastery of Mount Carmel, in Berwick. Mary and Christina, both sisters to the Scottish king, were soon after made prisoners. Mary was confined in a
1 Tyrrel, Hist, of England, vol. iii. p. 174; and Rymer, Foed. vol. i. part ii. p. 995, new edition.
2 A daughter of the Earl of Ulster.
3 Fœdera, vol. ii. pp. 1013, 1014. Barbour’s Bruce, p. 66. Major, p. 181, erroneously says the queen was delivered up by William Comyn. In Rymer, Fœdera, vol. i. part ii. new edit. p. 767, we find William, earl of Ross.
4 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 85. Trivet, p. 342. Math. West. p. 455. Notes and Illus trations, letter W.
cage similar to that of the Countess of Buchan, built for her in one of the turrets of Roxburgh castle;5 and Christina was delivered to Henry Percy, who shut her up in a convent.
Immediately after the battle of Methven, the troops of the Earl of Pembroke, in scouring the country, took prisoners, Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, and the Abbot of Scone, who were found clad in armour, and conveyed them in fetters to England.6 Soon after this, Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, who had escaped to the castle of Cupar in Fife, was there taken, and sent fettered, and in his mail coat, to the castle of Notting ham.7 These clerical champions were saved from the gallows solely by their sacred function. They had strenu ously supported Bruce by their great influence, as well as by their money and their armed vassals; and Edward, after commanding them to be impri soned in irons, within different castles, wrote to the Pope, requesting that, in consequence of their treason against him, William Comyn, brother to the Earl of Buchan, and Geoffrey de Mow- bray, should be appointed to the vacant sees of St Andrews and Glas gow—a proposal with which his Holi ness does not appear to have com plied.8
The next victim excited deeper com miseration. Bruce’s youthful brother, Nigel, had shut himself up in the castle of Kildrummie, and there defied the English army, commanded by the Earls of Lancaster and Hereford. After a brave defence, the treachery of one of the garrison, who set fire to the magazine of corn, and destroyed their supplies, compelled them to sur render. The beautiful person and en-
5 Fœdera, vol. ii. p. 1014. She was con fined in the cage till 1310, when she was ex changed for nine English prisoners of note in the hands of the Scots. Rot. Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 86.
6 Math. Westminster, p. 455.
7 Rymer, Fœd. vol. i. part ii. new edit. p. 996.
8 Prynne, Edward I., p. 1156. The Bishop of St Andrews was confined in the castle of Winchester, the Bishop of Glasgow in the castle of Porchester. Rymer, Fœd. p. 996, ut supra.
1306-7.] ROBERT BRUCE 95
gaging manners of Nigel Bruce1 ren dered his fate a subject of horror and indignation to the Scots, and excited sentiments of pity in every bosom but that of Edward. He was sent to Berwick, there condemned by a special commission, hanged, and afterwards beheaded.2 Along with him divers other knights and soldiers suffered the same fate.3 Christopher de Seton, who had married a sister of Bruce, and had rendered essential service to the king, took refuge in his castle of Loch Don, in Ayrshire, which is said to have been pusillanimously given up to the English by Sir Gilbert de Carrick.4 Seton, who was a great favourite with the people, was especially obnoxious to Edward, as he had been personally present at the death of Comyn. He was immediately hurried to Dumfries, and condemned and hanged as a traitor. So dear to King Robert was the me mory of this faithful friend and fellow warrior, that he afterwards erected on the spot where he was executed a little chapel, where mass was said for his soul.5 Sir Christopher’s brother, John de Seton, was taken about the same time, and put to death at Newcastle.
The Earl of Athole, who was allied to the King of England, had been pre sent at the coronation of Bruce, and had fought for him at the battle of Methven. In attempting to escape beyond seas, he was driven back by a tempest, and fell into the hands of the enemy. Edward, on hearing of his being taken, although he then lay dangerously sick, expressed great ex ultation; and while some interceded for Athole, on account of the royal blood which flowed in his veins, swore that his only distinction should be a higher gallows than his fellow traitors. Nor was this an empty threat. He
1 Math. Westminster, p. 456, designates him, “miles pulcherrimæ juventutis.”
2 Barbour, p. 70. Math. Westminster, p. 455.
3 Scala Chronica, p. 131.
4 Robertson’s Index, p. 135-8. Notes and Illustrations, letter X.
5 Stat. Account, vol. v. ’pp. 141, 142. Le- land, Coll. vol. i. part ii. p. 543, in other words the Scala Chronicle is in an error in describing Seton as taken prisoner in Kil- drummie castle.
was carried to London, tried and con demned in Westminster Hall, and hanged upon a gallows fifty feet high. He was then cut down half dead, his bowels taken out and burnt before his face, and at last beheaded, his head being afterwards placed, amongst those of other Scottish patriots, upon Lon don bridge.6
Sir Simon Fraser was still free ; and the other knights and nobles who had fallen into the hands of Edward are said to have boasted that it would re quire all the efforts of the king to ap prehend him. Fraser was a veteran soldier; his life had been spent in war both at home and on the continent, and he enjoyed a high reputation. With a small force which he had collected, he made a last effort for the national liberty at Kirkencliff, near Stirling, but was entirely routed, and forced to surrender himself prisoner to Sir Thomas de Multon. Many knights and squires were taken along with him, whilst others fell on the field, or were drowned in the river.7 This warrior enjoyed great popularity in Scotland, as the last friend and follow er of Wallace ; and the severity and studied indignity with which he was treated by Edward reminds us of the trial and execution of that heroic per son. He was carried to London heavily ironed, with his legs tied under his horse’s belly, and as he passed through the city, a garland of periwinkle was in mockery placed upon his head. He was then lodged in the Tower, along with his squire, Thomas de Boys, and Sir Herbert de Morham, a Scottish knight of French extraction, whose courage and manly deportment are commemorated in a contemporary English ballad. Fraser was tried and condemned, after which he suffered the death of a traitor, with all its cir cumstances of refined cruelty. He was hanged, cut down when still living, and beheaded; his bowels were then
6 Math. Westminster, p. 456.
7 The old contemporary ballad, printed from the Harleian MS. by Pinkerton, in his Maitland Poems, vol. ii. p. 488, says that Fraser, at the battle of Kirkencliff, besides Stirling, surrendered to Sir Thomas de Mill ton and to Sir John Jose.
96 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
torn out and burned, and his head fixed beside that of Wallace upon London bridge.1 The trunk was hung in chains, and strictly guarded, lest his friends should remove it. Herbert de Morham, who had been imprisoned and forfeited in 1297, and liberated under the promise of serving Edward in his Flemish war,2 next suffered death, and with him Thomas Boys. To these victims of Edward’s resent ment we may add the names of Sir David Inchmartin, Sir John de Somer- ville, Sir Walter Logan, and many others of inferior note. After the dis gusting details of these executions, the reader will be disposed to smile at the remark of a late acute historian, that the execution of the Scottish prisoners is insufficient to load Edward’s memory with the charge of cruelty.3 To com plete the ruin of Bruce, it only re mained to dispose of his great estates, and to excommunicate him, as guilty of murder and sacrilege. His lordship of Annan dale was bestowed on the Earl of Hereford, his maternal estate of Carrick given to Henry Percy, and the Lord Robert Clifford, with others of Edward’s nobles, shared the rich English estates, which had long been hereditary in this powerful family.4
In the end of February, the Cardinal St Sabinus, the legate of the Pope in England, with great pomp repaired to Carlisle, in which city Edward then kept his headquarters, and with all those circumstances of terror which
1 Math. Westminster, p. 456.
2 Lord Hailes, p. 15, following Math. West minster, calls him Herebert de Norham ; but the contemporary poem above quoted gives his name Herebert de Morham, which is cor roborated by Rymer, Fœdera, new edit. vol. i. part ii. p. 869. Norham is not in Scotland, but Morham is in Haddingtonshire. Math. Westminster, p. 456, says he was “ Vir cunc- tis Scotie formosior et statura eminentior.” Morham parish is the smallest in Hadding- tonshire, and belonged, under William the Lyon, to a family named Malherbe, who after wards assumed the name of Morham. Cale donia, vol. ii. p. 537. The ancient fortalice of Morham stood on an eminence near the church, but no vestiges of it remain. Stat. Account, vol. ii. p. 334.
3 See Notes and Illustrations, letter Y. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 236. 4 Hemmgford, p. 224.
such a sentence involved, the Scottish king and his adherents were excom municated by book, bell, and candle.5 Meanwhile, out of the reach of the Papal thunder, and ignorant of the miserable fate of his friends, Bruce, during the winter, remained in the little isle of Rachrin. On the ap proach of spring, having received some assistance from Christina of the Isles, he began to meditate a descent upon Scotland, and first despatched Sir James Douglas and Sir Robert Boyd on an adventure to the island of Arran. Douglas found it occupied by Sir John Hastings, an English knight, who held the castle of Brodick with a strong garrison; and having laid an ambus cade, he had the good fortune to sur prise the under-warden of the castle, and, after killing forty of his soldiers, to make himself master of a valuable cargo of provisions, arms, and clothing. This proved a seasonable supply to the king, who soon after arrived from Rachrin with a fleet of thirty-three galleys, and in his company about three hundred men. Ignorant of the situation of the enemy, he first de spatched a messenger from Arran into his own country of Carrick, with in structions, if he found the people well- affected, to light a fire, at a day ap pointed, upon an eminence near Turn- berry castle. When the day arrived, Bruce, who watched in extreme anxiety for the signal, about noon perceived a light in the expected direction, and instantly embarked, steering, as night came on, by the light of the friendly beacon.6 Meanwhile, his messenger had also seen the fire, and dreading that his master might embark, hastened to the beach, where, on meeting his friends, he informed them that Lord Percy, with a strong garrison, held the castle of Turnberry, that parties of the enemy were quartered in the town, and there was no hope of suc cess. " Traitor,” said the king, “why did you light the fire?” “I lighted no fire,” he replied; “but observing it at nightfall, I dreaded you might embark, and hastened to meet you.”
5 Hemingford, p. 226. 6 Barbour. pp. 83, 84.
1306-7.] ROBERT BRUCE. 97
Placed in this dilemma, Bruce ques tioned his friends what were best to be done; and his brother, Sir Edward, declared loudly, that he would follow up his adventure, and that no power or peril should induce him to re-em bark. This was said in the true spirit of a knight - errant; but his royal brother, who was playing a game of which the stake was a kingdom, might be allowed to hesitate. His naturally fearless and sanguine temper, however, got the better; and dismissing caution, he determined to remain, and, as it was still night, to attack the English quarters. The plan succeeded. The enemy, cantoned in careless security, in the houses and hamlets round the castle of Turnberry, were easily sur prised and put to the sword; while Percy, hearing the tumult, and igno rant of the small number of the Scots, did not dare to attempt a rescue, but shutting himself up in the castle, left a rich booty to the assailants, amongst which were his war horses and his household plate.1
There was a romantic interest about Bruce’s fortunes, which had a power ful effect upon the female mind, and the hero himself seems to have been willing to avail himself of this in fluence.2 He had already received as sistance from the Countess of Buchan and Christina of the Isles; and now, on hearing of his success in Carrick, he was joined by a lady, nearly related to him, but whose name has been lost. She brought him, however, a seasonable supply of money and provisions, and a reinforcement of forty men. From her, too, he first learnt the miserable fate of Seton, Athole, and the garri son of Kildrummie ; and, during the recital, is said to have vowed deeply that their deaths should not go unre- venged.
Meanwhile his success spread a panic among the English; for although Ayr castle was in the hands of Edward, neither its garrison nor that of Turn- berry, under Percy, dared to make head against him. At length, Sir Roger St John marched from North
1 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 225. 2 Barbour. p. 105, line 541. VOL. I.
umberland with a body of a thousand men ; covered by this force, Henry Percy, with the remains of his garrison, evacuated Turnberry, and hurried into England;3 whilst Bruce, unable to oppose St John, retired into the moun tainous parts of Carrick. Here the adventurous spirit of James Douglas could not long remain inactive. He knew that Lord Clifford, on whom Edward had bestowed his hereditary domain, held his castle of Douglas with a strong garrison; and having obtained the king’s permission, he travelled in disguise into Douglasdale, and, after carefully observing the strength and position of the enemy, discovered himself to Dickson, a faith ful servant, in whose house he lay concealed. Here, night after night, did his principal vassals assemble, re joiced again to find the son of their old lord ; and thus, unknown to the English, a little band of determined foes was nursed amongst them, who watched every step they took, and were ready to fall upon them the first moment that promised an advantage. This soon presented itself. The garri son, on Palm Sunday, marched out to the neighbouring church of St Bride, leaving the castle undefended. Some of Douglas’s followers, with concealed arms, entered the church along with them, and in a moment when they least suspected, the English heard the cry of “Douglas!” and found them selves attacked both from without and within. After a stout resistance, and much bloodshed, the church was won and many prisoners taken. Having thus cut off the garrison, Douglas first plundered the castle of the arms and valuables which could be carried off. This done, he raised a huge pile of the malt and corn which he found in the stores, staved the casks of wine and other liquors, and threw them on the heap, after which he slew his prisoners, and cast their dead bodies on the pile. He then set fire to this savage hecatomb, and consumed it and the halls of his fathers in the blaze.4
3 Barbour, vol. i. p. 95. Trivet, p. 344. 4 Hume’s House of Douglas and Angus, vol. i. pp. 50, 51. Barbour, pp. 100, 101. G
98 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
This cruel transaction, which is said to have been intended as a sacrifice to the manes of his faithful servant Dick- son, who was slain in the church, is still remembered in the tradition of the country by the name of the Douglas’ Larder.
This success, however, was more than balanced by a grievous disaster which about this time befell Bruce. He had despatched his brothers, Thomas and Alexander, into Ireland, where they had the good fortune to collect a force of seven hundred men, with which they crossed over to Loch Ryan in Galloway. But their ap proach to the coast had been watched by Macdowall, a chieftain of that country, who was in the English interest, and as they attempted to make good a landing, he attacked, and completely routed their little army. Many perished in the sea, and the rest were either slain or taken prisoners. Of the prisoners, those of note were Bruce’s brothers, Thomas and Alexan der, with Sir Reginald Crawford, who were all grievously wounded. Mal colm Mackail, lord of Kantire, along with two Irish reguli or chiefs, were found amongst the slain. Macdowall, with savage exultation, cut off their heads, and presented them, and his illustrious prisoners, bleeding and almost dead, to the king at Carlisle.1 Edward commanded the two Bruces and Crawford to be instantly executed. Thus, within a few short months, had the king to lament the cruel death of three brothers, that of his dear friends, Seton, Athole, and Fraser ; besides the imprisonment of his queen and his daughter.
Deprived of this reinforcement, the
Lord Hailes, vol. ii. p. 20, makes Barbour say, that “about ten persons were made prisoners in the chapel, whom Douglas put to death.” I fear, from the expressions of this historian, many more than ten persons were slain in the Douglas’ Larder.
1 Math. Westminster, pp. 457, 458. Heming- ford, p. 225. Langtoft, with less probability, asserts that Macdowall surprised the two Bruces and their soldiers, on Ash Wednesday, when returning from church, vol. ii. p. 337. The Macdowalls were anciently the most powerful family in Galloway. In Dugdale’s Mo- nasticon, vol. ii. p. 1057, we find Roland Mac- dowall, in 1190, styled “Princeps Gallovidiæ.”
king began to be in great difficulties. The English hotly pursued him, and even had the meanness to lay plots for his assassination, whilst the Galwe- gians endeavoured to hunt him down with bloodhounds.2 On one of these occasions, when only sixty soldiers were in his company, he made a nar row escape. It was near nightfall, when his scouts informed him that a force of two hundred soldiers were on the way to attack them. He instantly crossed a mountain river hard by, of which the banks were steep and wooded, and drew up his men in a swampy level about two bowshots off. He then commanded them to lie still, while he and Sir Gilbert de la Haye went for ward to reconnoitre. The ground was well fitted for defence. A steep path led up from the brink of the river to the summit of the bank, and Bruce took his stand at the gorge, where it was so narrow that the superior numbers of the enemy gave them little advantage. Here he listened for some time, till at length the baying of a hound told him of the approach of the Galwegians ; and by the light of the moon he could see their band crossing the river, and pressing up the path. He instantly despatched De la Haye to rouse and bring up his little force, whilst he remained alone to defend the pass. The fierce moun taineers were soon upon him; hut, although mounted and armed after their own fashion, they stood little chance against so powerful an adver sary as Bruce, clothed in steel, and having the advantage of the ground. One only could attack him at a time ; and as he pressed boldly, but blindly forward, he was transfixed in a mo ment by the spear; whilst his horse, borne down to the earth, and instantly stabbed, blocked up the path in such a way that the next soldier must charge over his body. He, too, with many of his companions, successively, but vainly, endeavoured to carry the pass. They were met by the dreadful sword of the king, which swept round on every side. Numbers now fell, and formed a ghastly barrier around him; 2 Barbour, pp. 108, 111.
1307.] ROBERT BRUCE. 99
so that, on the approach of his men, the Galwegians drew off, and gave up the pursuit. When the soldiers came up, they found Bruce wearied, but unwounded, and sitting on a bank, where he had cast off his helmet to wipe his brow, and cool himself in the night air. In this manner, partly by his own valour, and partly from the private information which he received from those kindly disposed to him, he escaped the various toils with which he was beset; and as he still counted amongst his party some of the bravest and most adventurous soldiers in Scot land, it often happened, that when his fortunes seemed sinking to the lowest ebb, some auspicious adventure oc curred, which reanimated the hopes of the party, and encouraged them to persevere. The castle of Douglas had been rebuilt by the English. It was again attacked by its terrible master, the “ Good Sir James; " and although he failed in getting it into his hands, its captain was slain and a great part of its garrison put to the sword ;1 after which, having heard that the Earl of Pembroke, with a large force, was marching against the king, who still lay in the mountainous parts of Car- rick, Douglas joined his sovereign, and awaited their advance.
Bruce had now been well trained. He was familiarly acquainted with this partisan kind of warfare; and it was his custom, when keenly pursued, to make his soldiers disperse in small companies, first appointing a place of rendezvous, where they should reas semble when the danger was over. Trusting to this plan, and to his own personal courage and skill, he did not hesitate, with only four hundred men, to await the attack of Pembroke’s army, which had been reinforced, by John of Lorn, with eight hundred Highlanders, familiar with war in a mountainous country, and well trained to act in the moors and morasses of this wild region. Lorn is, moreover, reported to have taken along with him a large bloodhound, which had once belonged to the king, and whose instinctive attachment was thus meanly 1 Barbour, p. 122.
employed against its old master.2 The Highland chief contrived so success fully to conceal his men, that Bruce, whose attention was fixed chiefly on Pembroke’s force, found his position unexpectedly attacked by Lorn in the rear, and by the English, with whom was his own nephew, Randolph, in the front. His brother, Edward Bruce, and Sir James Douglas, were now with him; and, after making head for a short time, they divided their little force into three companies, and dis persed amongst the mountains. He trusted that he might thus have a fairer chance of escape; but the bloodhound instantly fell upon the track of the king; and the treacherous Lorn with his mountaineers had almost run him down, when the animal was transfixed by an arrow from one of the fugitives, and Bruce with great difficulty escaped.3 In this pursuit, it is said, that with his own hand he slew five of the enemy ; which, as the men of Lorn were pro bably half-naked and ill-armed moun taineers, who had to measure weapons with an adversary fully accoutred, and of uncommon personal strength, is in no respect unlikely to be true. Bruce, however, had the misfortune to lose his banner, which was taken by Ran dolph, then fighting in the ranks of the English.4 It was an age of chivalrous adventure; the circumstances in which the king was placed when related even in the simplest manner, are marked by a deep and romantic interest; and, renouncing everything in the narrative of his almost contemporary biographer, which looks like poetical embellish ment, the historian must be careful to omit no event which is consistent with the testimony of authentic writers, with the acknowledged prowess of this great man, and the character of the times in which he lived.
Not long after this adventure, Bruce attacked and put to the sword a party of two hundred English soldiers, care lessly cantoned at a small distance from the main army ; and the Earl of Pem broke, after an unsuccessful skirmish
2 Barbour, p. 124.
3 Ibid. pp. 129, 132.
4 Ibid.
100 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
in Glentruel, where the wooded and marshy nature of the country incapa citated his cavalry from acting with effect, became disgusted with his ill success, and retreated to Carlisle.1 The king instantly came down upon the plains of Ayrshire—made himself master of the strengths of the country —and reduced the whole of Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham, to his obedience ; while Sir James Douglas, ever on the alert, attacked and dis comfited Sir Philip Mowbray,2 who, with a thousand men, was marching from Bothwell into Kyle, and with difficulty escaped to the castle of In- nerkip, then held by an English gar rison. By these fortunate events, the followers of Bruce were inspired with that happy confidence in his skill and courage, which, even in the very dif ferent warfare of our own days, is one principal cause of success; and he soon found his little army reinforced by such numbers, that he determined, on the first opportunity, to try his strength against the English in an open field.
Nor was this opportunity long of presenting itself. The Earl of Pem broke in the beginning of May, and soon after the defeat of Mowbray, advanced, with a body of men-at-arms into Ayrshire, and came up with the enemy at Loudon Hill. It is said that, in the spirit of the times, Pem broke challenged the Scottish king to give him battle ; and that, having sent word that he intended to march by Loudon Hill, Bruce, who was then with his little army at Galston, con ceiving the ground to be as favourable as could be chosen, agreed to meet him at Loudon Hill on the 10th of May. The road, at that part of Lou- don Hill where he determined to wait the advance of the English, led through a piece of dry level ground about five hundred yards in breadth, which was bounded on both sides by extensive morasses; but, deeming that this open
1 Barbour, p. 149.
2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 153. Major, with more probability, I think, calls him John Moubray. In Rymer, we meet with a John, but not with a Philip Moubray, amongst Edward’s barons. Rymer. vol. i. p. 2, new edit. p. 066.
space would give the English cavalry too much room to act, he took the precaution to secure his flanks by three parallel lines of deep trenches, which he drew on either hand from the morasses to the road, leaving an interval sufficient for the movements of a battalion of six hundred spear men, the whole available force which Bruce could then bring into the field. A rabble of ill-armed countrymen and camp-followers were stationed, with his baggage, in the rear.3 Early in the morning, the king, who was on the watch, descried the advance of Pembroke, whose force he knew amounted to three thousand cavalry. Their appearance, with the sun gleam ing upon the coat armour of the knights, the steel harness of the horses, and the pennons and banners of va rious colours, waving above the wood of spears, was splendid and imposing contrasted with Bruce’s small force.4 Yet, confident in the strength of his position, he calmly awaited their at tack. The result entirely justified his expectations, and proved how dreadful a weapon the long Scottish spear might be made, when skilfully di rected and used against cavalry. Pem broke had divided his force into two lines; and, by his orders, the first line put their spears in rest, and charged the battalion of the Scots at full gallop. But they made no im pression. The Scottish soldiers stood perfectly firm; many of the English were unhorsed and slain; and, in a short time, the first division, thrown into disorder, fell back upon the se cond, which in its turn, as the Scots steadily advanced with their extended spears, began to waver, to break, and at last to fly. Bruce was not slow to follow up his advantage, and com pletely dispersed the enemy, but with out much slaughter or many prisoners, the Scots having no force in cavalry. The victory, however, had the best effect. Pembroke retired to the castle of Ayr. The Scottish army acquired
3 The account of this battle is taken en tirely from Barbour, p. 155. The English historians all allow that Pembroke was beaten, but give no particulars.
4 Barbour, p. 157.
1307-8.] ROBERT BRUCE. 101
additional confidence; its ranks were every day recruited; and, awaking from their foolish dreams of confidence and superiority, the English began to feel and to dread the great military talents which the king had acquired during the constant perils to which he had been exposed. Only three days after the retreat of Pembroke, he at tacked, and with great slaughter de feated, Ralph Monthermer, earl of Glou cester, another of Edward’s captains, whom he so hotly pursued, that he compelled him to shut himself up in the castle of Ayr, to which he imme diately laid siege.1 These repeated successes greatly incensed Edward; and, although much debilitated by illness, he summoned his whole mili tary vassals to meet him at Carlisle, three weeks after the Feast of John the Baptist, and determined to march in person against his enemies. Per suading himself that the virulence of his disease was abated, he offered up the litter, in which hitherto he had been carried, in the cathedral at Car lisle, and mounting on horseback, pro ceeded with his army towards Scot land. But his strength rapidly sunk. In four days he proceeded only six miles; and, after reaching the small village of Burgh-upon-Sands, he ex pired on the 7th of July 1307,2 leav ing the mighty projects of his ambi tion, and the uneasy task of opposing Bruce, to a successor whose character was in every way the opposite of his father’s. The last request of the dy ing monarch was characteristic. He commanded that his heart should be conveyed to Jerusalem, and that his body, after having been reduced to a skeleton, by a process which, if we may credit Froissart, the king himself described,3 should be carried along
1 Scala Chronica, p. 132. Math. Westmin ster, p. 458. Trivet, p. 346. Hemingford, vol. i. p. 237.
2 Rymer, Foed. p. 1018, vol. i. part ii. new edit. Prynne’s Ed. I. p. 1202.
3 Froissart, vol. i. chap, xxvii. When dying he made his eldest son be called, and caused him, in the presence of his barons, and invoking all the saints, to swear that, as soon as he was dead, he would boil his body in a caldron, till the flesh was separated from the bones, after which he should bury the
with the army into Scotland, there to remain unburied till that devoted country was entirely subdued.
Edward the Second, who succeeded to the crown of England in his twenty- fourth year, was little calculated to carry into effect the mighty designs of his predecessor. His character was weak, irresolute, and headstrong; and the first steps which he took evinced a total want of respect for the dying injunctions of his father. He com mitted his body to the royal sepulchre at Westminster; he recalled from ban ishment Piers Gaveston, his profligate favourite; and after receiving at Rox burgh the homage of some of the Scot tish barons in the interest of England, he pushed forward as far as Cumnock, on the borders of Ayrshire—appointed the Earl of Pembroke Guardian of Scotland — and, without striking a blow, speedily returned into his own dominions.4
Upon the retreat of the English, the king and his brother, Sir Edward Bruce, at the head of a powerful army, broke in upon Galloway, and com manded the inhabitants to rise and join his banner. Where this order was disobeyed, the lands were given up to military execution; and Bruce, who had not forgotten the defeat and death of his two brothers by the men of this wild district, laid waste the country with fire and sword, and per mitted every species of plunder,5 in a flesh, but keep the bones ; and as often as the Scots rose in rebellion against him, he should assemble his army, and carry with him the bones of his father.
4 Hemingford. p. 238, vol. i. Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 224, On Edward’s coming to Carlisle, he was met by Patrick, earl of Dunbar, who swore homage to him. Tyrrel is in a mistake in saying he quitted King Robert’s interest. He had never joined it. Hemingford errone- ously states that Edward only advanced to Roxburgh, and then returned. After the death of Edward the First, we unfortunately lose the valuable and often characteristic his torian, Peter Langtoft, as translated by Ro bert de Brunne, one of Hearne’s valuable publications. Edward the Second was, on 6th August, at Dumfries; on 28th August, at Cumnock ; on 30th, same month, at Tinwalcl and Dalgarnock. On his return south, on 4th September, at Carlisle; on 6th, at I3owes in Yorkshire.
5 Chron. Lanercost. pp. 210, 212. Rymer, Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 14.
102 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
spirit of cruel, but, according to the sentiments of that age, not unnatural retaliation.
Governed by caprice, and perpe tually changing his councils, the King of England removed Pembroke from the guardianship of Scotland, and in his place appointed John de Bretagne, earl of Richmond, and nephew of the late king.1 Full power was intrusted to him over all ranks of persons; the sheriffs of Northumberland, Cumber land, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, were commanded to assemble the whole military force of their respective coun ties, under the orders of the guardian; the Earl of Dunbar, Robert de Keith, Alexander de Abernethy, and several other powerful barons, as well English as Scottish, were enjoined to march along with the English army, and to rescue Galloway from the ravages of Bruce; while orders were issued to the sheriffs of London for the transporting to Berwick the provisions, military stores, and arms requisite for the troops, with certain large cross-bows, called balistœ de turno, employed in the attack and defence of fortified places.2
At the head of this army, the Earl of Richmond attacked Bruce, and com pelled him to retreat to the north of Scotland.3 His brother, Edward Bruce, the Earl of Lennox, Sir Gilbert de la Haye, and Sir Robert Boyd, accom panied the king, but Sir James Dou glas remained in the south, for the purpose of reducing the forest of Sel kirk and Jedburgh.4 On reaching the Mounth, the name anciently given to that part of the Grampian chain which
1 Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 10.
2 Ibid. pp. 14, 16.
3 An anonymous MS. Chronicle, quoted by Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 225, asserts that John of Bretagne, with an army, attacked King Ro bert about Martinmas, put his forces to flight, and compelled him to retreat to the bogs and mountains. No other English historian, how ever, records this defeat, and neither Barbour nor Fordun say a word of the matter. Ker plausibly conjectures that Robert only re treated before an army greatly superior to his own; and Barbour represents the king’s expedition into the north, not as the conse quence of any defeat, but as the result of a plan for the reduction of the northern parts of Scotland.
4 Barbour, p. 162.
extends from the borders of the dis trict called the Mearns to Loch Ran- nach, Bruce was joined by Sir Alexander Fraser, along with his brother, with all their power; and from them he learnt that Comyn, the Earl of Buchan, with his own nephew, Sir David de Brechin, and Sir John Mowbray, were assem bling their vassals, and had determined to attack him. This news was the more unwelcome, as a grievous dis temper began at this time to prey upon the king, depriving him of his strength and appetite, and for a time leaving little hopes of his recovery. As the soldiers of Bruce were greatly dispirited at the sickness of the king, Edward, his brother, deemed it pru dent to avoid a battle, and entrenched himself in a strong position near Slaines, on the north coast of Aberdeenshire.
After some slight skirmishes be tween the archers of both armies, which ended in nothing decisive, pro visions began to fail; and as the troops of Buchan daily increased, the Scots retired to Strabogy, carrying their king, who was still too weak to mount his horse, in a litter.5 From this last sta tion, as their royal charge began slowly to recover his strength, the Scots re turned to Inverury; while the Earl of Buchan, with a body of about a thou sand men, advanced to Old Meldrum, and Sir David de Brechin pushed on with a small party, and suddenly at tacked and put to flight some of Ro bert's soldiers, carelessly cantoned in the outskirts of the town.6 Bruce took this as a military affront, and instantly rising from his litter, called for his horse and arms. His friends remonstrated, but the king mounted on horseback, and although so weak as to be supported by two men on each side, he led on his soldiers in person, and instantly attacking the Earl of Buchan with great fury,7 routed and dispersed his army, pursuing them
5 Barbour, pp. 170,171.
6 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1004. Bar bour, p. 172. It is said that the town of In verury received its charter as a royal burgh from the king after this victory. Stat. Acc. vol. vii. p. 331.
7 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. ut supra. Bar bour, p. 174.
1308.] ROBERT BRUCE. 103
as far as Fivy, on the borders of Buchan. Brechin fled to Angus, and shut him self up in his own castle of Brechin, which was soon after besieged and taken by the Earl of Athole, whose father had been executed in England. Into Buchan, the territory of Comyn, his mortal enemy, Bruce now marched, and took ample revenge for all the injuries he had sustained, wasting it with fire, and delivering it over to un bridled military execution. Barbour informs us, that for fifty years after, men spoke with terror of the harrying of Buchan ; and it is singular that, at this day, the oaks which are turned up in the mosses bear upon their trunks the blackened marks of being scathed with fire.1
The army of the king now rapidly increased, as his character for success and military talent became daily more conspicuous. His nephew, Sir David de Brechin, having been pardoned and admitted to favour, joined him about this time with his whole force; and pursuing his advantage, he laid siege to the castle of Aberdeen.2 Edward was now at Windsor, and, alarmed at such progress, he despatched an expe dition to raise the siege of Aberdeen, and commanded the different seaports to fit out a fleet, which should co- operate with his land forces. But these preparations were too late; for the citizens of Aberdeen, who had early distinguished themselves in the war of liberty, and were warmly attached to the cause, encouraged by the presence of the royal army, and assisted by some of its best leaders, assaulted and car ried the castle by storm, expelled the English, and levelled the fortifications with the ground.
From Aberdeen the king held his victorious progress into Angus; and here new success awaited him, in the capture of the castle of Forfar, at this time strongly garrisoned by the Eng lish. It was taken by escalade during the night, by a soldier named Philip,
1 Statistical Account, vol. xi. p. 420.
2 The battle of Inverury was fought on the 22d May 1308, and Edward’s letter for the relief of Aberdeen is dated the 10th July 1308. Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 55.
the forester of Platane, who put all the English to the sword; and the king, according to his usual policy, instantly commanded the fortifications to be destroyed.3
The vicinity of Bruce’s army now threatened the important station of Perth; and the English king, in un- dissembled alarm, wrote to the citizens, extolling their steady attachment to his interest, and commanding them to fortify their town against his enemies.4 Ever varying in his councils, Edward soon after this dismissed the Earl of Richmond from his office of Governor of Scotland, and appointed in his place, as joint guardians, Robert de Umfra- ville, earl of Angus, William de Ross of Hamlake, and Henry de Beaumont.5 John Comyn, earl of Buchan, and various other Scottish barons still at tached to the English interest, were commanded to retain the charge of the various districts already intrusted to their care; and in order to encourage them in their attachment, the king intimated his intention of leading an army into Scotland in the month of August, and directed his chamberlain, Cotesbache, to lay in provisions for the troops; but the intended expedi tion never proceeded further. The orders to Cotesbache, which are con tained in the Fœdera, acquaint us with an early source of Scottish wealth. Three thousand salted salmon were to be furnished to the army.6
Satisfied for the present with his northern successes, Bruce despatched his brother Edward into Galloway. This district continued obstinately to resist his authority, and was at present occupied by the English troops under the command of Sir Ingelram de Urn
3 Barbour, p. 175. This is the same as the forest of Plater. It was not far from Fin- haven ; and the office of forester proves Philip to have been a man of some consequence, as, by a charter of Robert II., we find a grant of the lands of Fothnevyn (Finhaven) to Alex ander de Lindesay, with the office of forester of the forest of Plater, which David de Annand resigned. Alexander de Lindesay was a baron of a noble family. Jamieson’s Notes to the Bruce, p. 443.
4 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 56.
5 Ibid.
6 Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 95.
104 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
fraville, a Scottish baron, who, in 1305, had embraced the English interest,1 and Sir John de St John. Umfraville and St John, assisted by Donegal, or Dougal,2 probably the same powerful chieftain who, in a former year, had defeated Bruce’s brothers, collected a force of twelve hundred men, and encountered Ed ward Bruce at the Water of Crie. The English and the Galwegians, however, were unable to withstand the attack of the Scots. Their ranks were immediately thrown into con fusion, two hundred were left dead on the field, and the rest dispersed amongst the mountains; while Umfra- ville, with his companion St John, with difficulty escaped to Butel, a castle on the sea-coast of Galloway.3
After this successful commence ment, Edward Bruce overran the country, compelled the inhabitants to swear allegiance to his brother, levied heavy contributions, and had already taken and destroyed many of the castles of that wild district, when he received intelligence that John de St John was again in Galloway, at the head of fifteen hundred men. Upon his near approach, Bruce discovered, by his scouts, that it was the design of the English to make a forced march, and attack him by surprise. The courage of this brave soldier, border ing on temerity, now impelled him to an attempt, which many would have
1 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 56.
2 It seems probable that Donegal, Dongall, Donald, and Dougal are all the same name. These Macdowalls were probably descended from the Lords of the Isles, who were Lords of Galloway ; and the bitter hatred which they seem to have entertained against Bruce, originated in all probability from the circum stance, that David the youngest son of Mal colm III., when he possessed Northumber land, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the whole of Scotland south of the Forth and the Clyde, except the earldom of Dunbar, be stowed the heiress of Ananderdale, in Gallo way, upon Robert de Brus, a Norman baron, and the ancestor of the royal family. The king dom of Galloway contained Ananderdale and Carrick ; and hence these proud Galwegian princes considered the Bruces from the first as strangers and intruders, who had wrested from them part of their hereditary dominions. See Macpherson’s Geographical Illustrations of Scottish History, sub voce Galloway.
3 Ker’s Bruce, vol. i. p. 345.
pronounced desperate. He stationed his foot soldiers in a straight valley, strongly fortified by nature,4 and, early in the morning, under the cover of a thick mist, with fifty knights and gentlemen, well armed and mounted, he made a retrograde movement, and gained the rear of the English, without being perceived by them. Following their line of march about a bowshot off, his intention seems to have been, to have allowed St John to attack his infantry, and then to have charged them in the rear; but before this could be effected, the mist sud denly cleared away, and Bruce’s little party were discovered when retreat was impossible. In this desperate situation, Edward hesitated not to charge the English, which he did with so much fury, that their ranks were shaken, and many of their cavalry unhorsed. Before they could recover so far as to discern the insignificant numbers of their enemy, he made a second, and soon after a third charge, so sharp and well sustained, that the confusion became general and irretriev able; and believing, probably, that the Scottish troop was only the ad vance of a greater force, the English broke away in a panic, and were en tirely routed. Sir Alan de Cathcart, one of Edward Bruce’s companions in this spirited enterprise, recounted the particulars to Barbour, the affectionate biographer of Bruce, who characterises it in simple but energetic language as a right fair point of chivalry.5 This, however, was not the only success. Donald of the Isles collecting a large force of his Galwegian infantry, and, assisted by Sir Roland of Galloway,6
4 “ His small folk gait he ilk deil,
Withdraw thaim till a strait tharby, And he raid furth with his fifty.”
—Barbour, p. 183. “ Withdraw thaim till a strait tharby.” Lord Hailes, and Ker, p. 346, from this expression, conclude that Bruce made his infantry cast up intrenchments. But for this there is no authority. He ordered his men merely to withdraw into a strait, or, in other words, made them take up a position in narrow ground.
5 Barbour, p. 183.
6“Quendam militem nomine Rolandum.’ In Rymer, vol. i. new edition, part ii. p. 772, we find mention made of Rolandus Galwalen-
1308.] ROBERT BRUCE, 105
and other fierce chiefs of that district, made head against the royalists; but Edward Bruce, flushed with his recent victories, encountered them on the banks of the Dee, dispersed their army, with the slaughter of Roland and many of the chiefs, and in the pursuit took prisoner the Prince of the Isles,1 This defeat, which happened on the 29th of June 1308, led to the entire expulsion of the English. It is said that in a single year this ardent and indefatigable captain besieged and took thirteen castles and inferior strengths in Galloway, and completely reduced the country under the domi nion of the king.2
During these repeated victories of his brother, Bruce received intelli gence that his indefatigable partisan, Sir James Douglas, having cut off the garrison of Douglas castle, which he had decoyed into an ambuscade, had slain the governor, Sir John de Webe- ton, compelled the castle to surrender, and entirely destroyed the fortifica tions.3 Douglas soon after reduced to obedience the forests of Selkirk and Jedburgh; and during his warfare in those parts had the good fortune to surprise and take prisoners, Thomas Randolph, the kings nephew, and Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, both of whom were still attached to the English interest.4 Douglas, to whom Stewart was nearly related, treated his noble prisoners with kindness, and soon after conducted Randolph to the king. “Nephew,” said Bruce, “you have for a while forgotten your alle giance, but now you must be recon ciled.” “ I have been guilty of no thing whereof I need be ashamed,” answered Randolph. “You arraign my conduct; it is yourself who ought to be arraigned. Since you have chosen to defy the King of England, why is it that you debate not the
sis Dominus. This Roland may have been the grandson of Roland, prince of Galloway.
Fordun a Hearne, p. 1005.
2 Barbour, p. 186.
3 Barbour, pp. 163, 104. I conjecture that the baron, whom Barbour calls Sir John of Webeton, was Johannes de Wanton, one of Edward’s barons, mentioned in Rymer, vol. i. p. 630, new edition.
4 Barbour, pp. 187, 188.
matter like a true knight, in a pitched field?” “That,” said Bruce, with great calmness, “ may come hereafter, and it may be ere long. Meantime, since thou art so rude of speech, it is fitting thy proud words meet their due punishment, till thou knowest better my right and thine own duty.” Hav ing thus spoken, he ordered Randolph into close confinement.5 It is pleasing to know that this lesson had its effect; for, after a short imprisonment, the young baron joined the party of the king, who created him Earl of Moray. Nor had he any reason to repent his forgiveness or generosity. Randolph soon displayed high talents for war ; he became one of the most illustrious of Bruce’s assistants in the liberation of his country, and ever after served his royal master with unshaken fidel- ity.
The king had never forgotten the attack made upon him by the Lord of Lorn, soon after the defeat at Meth- ven, and he was now able to requite that fierce chief for the extremities to which he had then reduced him. Accordingly, after the junction of Douglas with his veteran soldiers, he invaded the territory of Lorn, and arrived at a narrow and dangerous pass, which runs along the bottom of Cruachin Ben, a high and rugged mountain between Loch Awe and Loch Etive. The common people of Scotland were now, without much exception, on the side of Bruce; and although, in many districts, when kept down by their lords, they dared not join him openly, yet in conveying intelligence of the motions and inten tions of his enemies, they were of essential service to the cause. In this manner he seems to have been in formed that an ambuscade had been laid for him by the men of Lorn, in the Pass of Cruachin Ben, through which he intended to march. The Lord of Lorn himself remained with his galleys in Loch Etive, and waited the result. The nature of the ground was highly favourable for this design of Lorn ; but it was entirely defeated by the dispositions of Bruce. Having 5 Barbour, p. 189.
106 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
divided his army into two parts, he ordered Douglas, along with one divi sion, consisting entirely of archers, who were lightly armed, to make a circuit round the mountain, and to take possession of the rugged high ground above the Highlanders. Along with Douglas were Sir Andrew Gray, Sir Alexander Fraser, and Sir William Wiseman. This manoeuvre was exe cuted with complete success; and the king, having entered the pass, was, in its narrow gorge, immediately attacked by the men of Lorn, who, with loud shouts, hurled down stones upon him, and after discharging their missiles, rushed on to a nearer at tack. But their opponents, whose sol diers were light-armed, and prepared for what occurred, met his enemies more than half-way; and, not content with receiving their charge, assaulted them with great fury. Meanwhile Douglas had gained the high ground, and discharging a shower of arrows, attacked the Highlanders in the rear, and threw them into complete dis order. After a stout resistance, the men of Lorn were defeated with great slaughter; and their chief, the Lord of Lorn, had the mortification, from his galleys, to be an eye-witness of the utter rout of his army.1
He immediately fled to his castle of Dunstaffnage; and Bruce, after having ravaged the territory of Lorn, and delivered it to indiscriminate plunder, laid close siege to this palace of the Island Prince, which was strongly situated upon the sea-coast. In a short time the Lord of Lorn surrendered his castle, and swore hom age to the king; but his son, John of Lorn, fled to his ships, and continued in the service of England.2
Whilst everything went thus suc cessfully in the field, the Scottish king derived great advantage from the fluc-
1 Barbour, pp. 191,192. 23d August 1308.
2 Ibid. p. 192. Fordun a Hearne, p. 1005. Fordun says that Alexander of Argyle fled to England, where he soon after died, and Lord Hailes follows his narrative ; but it is contra dicted by Barbour, who is an earlier authority than Fordun. John of Argyle was with his men and his ships in the service of Edward the Second on 4th October 1308. Rotuli Scotiæ, m. 13, p. 58.
tuating and capricious line of policy which was pursued by his opponent. In less than a year Edward appointed six different governors in Scotland;3 and to none of these persons, however high their talents, was there afforded sufficient time to organise, or carry into effect, any regular plan of military operations. His enemy, on the other hand, betrayed no want of activity, and about this time laid siege to Rutherglen, in Clydesdale—a castle considered of such importance by Ed ward that he despatched Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, with a strong force, to raise the siege; but either the expedition never departed, or it was too late in its arrival; for Ruther- glen, in the beginning of the next year, appears to have been one of the castles in the hands of the Scots.4 Indeed, Edward’s measures seem to have mostly evaporated in orders and pre parations, whilst he himself, occupied with the pleasures of the court, and engrossed by his infatuated fondness for his favourite, Piers Gaveston, dreamt little of taking the field. Alarmed at last by the near approach of the Scottish army to the English border, he consented to accept the mediation of Philip, king of France, Who despatched Oliver de Roches to treat with Bruce, and Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, upon measures preparatory to a reconciliation. This able and intriguing prelate, on renew ing his homage to the English king, had been liberated from his impri sonment, and permitted to return to Scotland; but his fellow-prisoner. Wishart, the bishop of Glasgow, con sidered too devoted to his country, was still kept in close confinement. De Roches’ negotiation was soon fol lowed by the arrival of the king’s brother, Lewis, count of Evreux, and Guy, bishop of Soissons, as ambassa dors, earnestly persuading to peace; commissioners from both countries were in consequence appointed, and a truce was concluded, which, if we
3 Rymer, Fœdera, vol. iii. pp. 94, 160, 161. This last deed ought to have been dated 16th August 1308, instead of 1309.
4 Rotuli Scotiæ, m. 12, p. 60. See Notes and Illustrations, letter Z.
1308-11.] ROBERT BRUCE. 107
may believe Edward, was ill observed by the Scots.1 A trifling discovery of an intercepted letter clearly shewed that the King of France secretly fa voured the Scottish king. The Sieur de Varrennes, Philip’s ambassador at the English court, openly sent a letter to Bruce under the title of the Earl of Carrick; but he intrusted to the same bearer secret despatches, which were addressed to the King of Scots. Edward dissembled his indignation, and contented himself with a com plaint against the duplicity of such conduct.2
Nearly a whole year after this ap pears to have been spent by this monarch in a vacillating and contradic tory policy with regard to Scotland, which was calculated to give every advantage to so able an adversary as Bruce. Orders for the muster of his army, which were disobeyed by some of his most powerful barons—commis sions to his generals to proceed against his enemies, which were counter manded, or never acted upon—pro mises to take the field in person, which were broken almost as soon as made—directions, at one time, to his lieutenant in Scotland to prosecute the war with the greatest vigour, and these in a few days succeeded by a command to conclude, and even, if required, to purchase a truce ;3—such is the picture of the imbecility of the English king, as presented by the pub lic records of the time.
To this everything in Scotland of fered a striking contrast. Towards the end of the year 1309, on the 24th February, the prelates and clergy of Scotland held a general council at Dundee, and declared that Robert, lord of Annandale, the competitor, ought, by the ancient laws and cus toms of that country, to have been preferred to Baliol in the competi-
1 Rymer, vol. iii. p. 147, 30th July 1309. Tyrrel asserts, vol. iii. p. 235, that th.e Scots broke the truce at the instigation of the King of France, but does not give his authority.
2 Rymer, vol. iii. p. 150. The King of France himself, in writing to Edward, speaks of the “ King of Scots and his subjects.” Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 215.
3 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 246. Rotuli Scotiœ, vol. i. p. 71.
tion for the crown; for which reason, they unanimously recognised Robert Bruce, then reigning, as their lawful sovereign. They engaged to defend his right, with the liberties and inde- pendence of Scotland, against all oppo nents ; and they declared all who should contravene the same to be guilty of treason against the king and the nation.4 It seems probable that these resolutions of the clergy were connected wùth the deliberations of a parliament which assembled at the same time, and in which an instru ment of similar import was drawn up and signed by the two remaining Estates, although no record of such proceedings remains. These solemn transactions gave strength to the title of Bruce, and increased a popularity which was already great. The spirit of the king had infused itself into the nobility, and pervaded the lowest ranks of the people—that feeling of superiority, which a great military commander invariably communicates to his soldiers, evinced itself in con stant and destructive aggressions upon the English marches ; and upon the recall of the Earl of Hereford and Lord Robert Clifford from the interior of Scotland, they were necessitated to advance a sum of money before their enemies would consent to a truce.5 On the resumption of hostilities, Bruce advanced upon Perth, and threatened it with a siege. This town had been strongly fortified by the English, and was intrusted to John Fitz-Marmaduke and a powerful gar rison. Edward was at last roused into personal activity. He ordered a fleet to sail to the Tay—he issued writs for levies of troops for its instant relief 6—and he commanded his whole military vassals to assemble at Ber wick on the 8th of September, to pro ceed immediately against his enemies. Disgusted with the presence of his favourite, Gaveston, some of the great
4 Instrument in the General Register House, Edinburgh.
5 Hemingford, ut supra. Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 80. The truce was to last till Christ mas, and was afterwards prolonged till Mid summer. Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 235.
6 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 83, 84.
108 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
barons refused to repair in person to the royal standard; yet a powerful army assembled, and the Earls of Gloucester and Warrene, Lord Henry Percy, Lord James Clifford, and many other nobles and barons, were in the field.1 With this great force, Edward, in the end of autumn, invaded Scot land; and Bruce, profiting by the lessons of former years, and recollect ing the disastrous defeats of Falkirk and Dunbar, avoided a battle. It happened that Scotland was this year visited by a famine unprecedentedly severe; and the king, after driving away the herds and flocks into the narrow straits and valleys, retired, on the approach of the English, to the woods, and patiently awaited the distress which he knew the scarcity of forage and provisions must entail upon the enemy. The English king marched on from Roxburgh, through the forests of Selkirk and Jedburgh to Biggar, looking in vain for an oppo nent. From this he penetrated to Renfrew,2 and, with a weak and in judicious vengeance, burnt and laid waste the country, so that the heavy- armed cavalry, which formed the strength of his army, soon began to be in grievous distress; and, without a single occurrence of moment, he was compelled to order a retreat, and return to Berwick, where he spent the winter. Upon the retreat of the Eng lish, Bruce and his soldiers, leaving their fastnesses, broke down upon Lothian;3 and Edward, hearing of the reappearance of his enemies, with a great part of his forces again entered Scotland; but this second expedition concluded in the same unsatisfactory manner ; whilst a third army, equally formidable in its numbers and equip ment, which was intrusted to his favourite, the Earl of Cornwall, pene trated across the Firth of Forth, advanced to Perth, and for some time anxiously endeavoured to find an
1 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 247. 2 Ker is in an error in asserting that there is no evidence of Edward’s having penetrated to Renfrew. The proof is in the Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 103.
3 Chron. Lanercost, p. 214.
enemy;4 but the Scots pursued their usual policy, and Gaveston returned with the barren glory of having marched over a country where there was no one to oppose him.5 A fourth expedition, conducted by the Earls of Gloucester and Surrey, penetrated into Scotland by a different route, marched into the forest of Selkirk, and again reduced that province under a short-lived obedience to England.6
On the return of the English king to London, Robert collected an army, and gratified his soldiers, who had so long smarted under oppression, by an invasion of that country on the side of the Solway, in which he burnt and plundered the district round Gillsland, ravaged Tynedale, and, after eight days’ havoc, returned with much booty into Scotland. Edward, in a letter to the Pope, complained in bitter terms of the merciless spirit evinced by the Scottish army during this invasion ;7 but we must recollect that this cruel species of warfare was characteristic of the age; and in Robert, whose personal injuries were so deep and grievous, who had seen the captivity of his queen and only child, and the death and torture of his dearest rela tives and friends, we are not to be surprised if, in those dark days, re venge became a pleasure, and retalia tion a duty. Not satisfied with this, and aware that the English king was exclusively engaged in contentions with his barons, Bruce and his army, in the beginning of September, again entered England by the district of Redesdale, carried fire and sword through that country as far as Cor- bridge, then broke with much fierce ness and rapacity into Tynedale,8 ravaged the bishopric of Durham, and, after levying contributions for fifteen days, and enriching themselves
4 Chron. Lanercost, p. 214, ut supra. 5 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 248.
6 Chron. de Lanercost, ut supra. Lord Hailes, vol. ii. 4to, p. 31, has omitted these three last-mentioned expeditions.
7 Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 284. The expedition, according to the Chronicle of Lanercost, p. 216, took place in the middle of August.
8 Edward, in his epistle to the Pope, com pares them to foxes. Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 283. “ Ad instar vulpium.”
1311-12.] ROBERT BRUCE. 109
with spoils and captives, marched back without opposition into Scot land.1 The miseries suffered from these invasions, and the defenceless state of the frontier, induced the people of Northumberland and the lord marchers to purchase a short truce from the Scottish king,—a cir cumstance strongly indicative of the increasing imbecility of the English government.2
On his return, Bruce determined to besiege Perth, and sat down before it; but, owing to the strength of the for tifications, it defied for six weeks all the efforts of his army. It had been intrusted to the command of William 01ifant, an Anglicised Scot, to whom Edward, in alarm for so important a post, had promised to send speedy succour;3 but a stratagem of the king’s, well planned and daringly exe cuted, gave Perth into the hands of the Scots before such assistance could arrive. The care of Edward the First had made Perth a place of great strength. It was fortified by a high wall, defended at intervals by stone towers, and surrounded by a broad deep moat full of water. Bruce, hav ing carefully observed the place where the fosse was shallowest, provided scaling ladders, struck his tents, and raised the siege. He then marched to a considerable distance, and having cheated the garrison into insecurity by an absence of eight days, he sud denly returned during the night, and reached the walls undiscovered by the enemy. The king in person led his soldiers across the moat, bearing a ladder in his hand, and armed at all points. The water reached his throat; but he felt his way with his spear, waded through in safety, and was the second person who fixed his ladder and mounted the wall. A little inci dent, related by Barbour, evinces the spirit which the example communi cated to his companions, and the com parative poverty of the Scottish towns
1 Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 283. Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. l006.
2 Chron. Lanercost, pp. 216, 217.
3 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 105. 9th October 1311.
in those times. A French knight was present in the Scottish army, and ob serving the intrepidity with which Bruce led his soldiers, he exclaimed, “ What shall we say of our French lords, who live at ease in the midst of feasting, wassail, and jollity, when so brave a knight is here putting his life in hazard to win a miserable ham- let!4” So saying, he threw himself into the water with the gay valour of his nation, and having passed the ditch, scaled the walls along with the king and his soldiers. So complete was the surprise, that the town was almost instantly taken. Every Scots man who had joined the English in terest was put to the sword, but the English garrison were spared,5 and the king contented himself with the plun der of the place and the total demoli tion of its fortifications.
In the midst of these continued successes of Bruce, the measures of the English king presented a striking contrast to the energetic administra tion of his father. They were entirely on the defensive. He gave orders, indeed, for the assembling of an army, and made promises and preparations for an invasion of Scotland. But the orders were recalled, and Edward, en grossed by disputes with his barons, took no decided part against the ene my. He wrote, however, to the dif ferent English governors of the few remaining castles in Scotland, who had represented their incapacity of standing out against the attacks of the Scots without a reinforcement of men, money, and provisions;6 he directed flattering letters to John of Argyle, the island prince, praising him for the annoyance which his fleet had occasioned to Bruce, and exhorting him to continue his services during the winter ; and he entreated the Pope to retain Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, as a false traitor and an
4 Barbour, vol. i. p. 177.
5 Chron. Lanercost, pp. 221, 222. Such is the account in the above MS. Chronicle ; but Fordun a Hearne, p. 1006, affirms that both Scots and English were put to the sword. The town was taken on the 8th January 131112.
6 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 105.
110 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
enemy to his liege lord of England, in an honourable imprisonment at Rome,1 fearful of the influence in favour of Bruce which the return of this able prelate to Scotland might occasion. These feeble efforts were followed up by an attempt to conclude a truce ; but the King of Scotland, eager to pursue his career of success, refused to accede2 to the proposal, and a third time invaded England, with a greater force and a more desolating fury than before. The towns of Hex- ham and Corbridge were burnt; and his army, by a forced march, sur prised the opulent city of Durham during the night,3 slew all who re sisted him, and reduced a great part of it to ashes. The castle and the precincts of its noble cathedral with stood the efforts of the Scots, but the rest of the city was entirely sacked; and so great was the spoil that the inhabitants of the bishopric, dreading the repetition of such a visit, offered two thousand pounds to purchase a truce. The terms upon which Robert agreed to this strongly evinced the change which had taken place in the relative position of the two countries. It was stipulated by the Scots that they should have free ingress and egress through the county of Dur ham, whenever they chose to invade England; and with such terror did this proviso affect the inhabitants of the neighbouring country, that the counties of Northumberland, Cumber land, and Westmoreland contributed each a sum of two thousand pounds to be included in the same truce.4 During this invasion Bruce established his headquarters at Chester, while Sir James Douglas, with his veteran sol diers, who were well practised in such expeditions, pushed on, and having sacked Hartlepool and the country round it, returned with many bur gesses and their wives, whom he had made prisoners, to the main army.5
1 Fœdera, vol. iii. p. 245. 2 Ibid. p. 301.
3 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 262. Chron. Laner- cost, p. 220.
4 Chron. Lanercost, p. 220.
5 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 262. “ Bruce was here only making a reprisal on his own Eng-
Thus enriched with a store of prisoners and plunder, the king returned to Scotland, and on his road thither as saulted Carlisle; but he found the garrison on the alert, and a desperate conflict took place, in which the Scots were beat back with great loss,— Douglas himself and many of his men being wounded.6 This want of suc cess did not prevent him from endea vouring to surprise Berwick by a forced march and a night attack, which had nearly succeeded. The hooks of the rope-ladders were already fixed on the wall, and the soldiers had begun to mount, when the bark ing of a dog alarmed the garrison, and the assailants were compelled to retire with loss.7
On his return to Scotland, King Robert was repaid for his partial dis comfiture by the recovery of some important castles. Dalswinton, in Galloway, the chief residence of his enemies the Comyns, and, soon after, the castles of Butel and of Dumfries, which last had been committed to the care of Henry de Beaumont, were taken by assault, and, according to the constant practice of Bruce, imme diately razed and rendered untenable by any military force.8 Edward now trembled for his strong castle of Caer- laverock, which had cost his father so long a siege; and he wrote with great anxiety to its constable, Eustace de Maxwell, exhorting him to adopt every means in his power for its defence. In the winter of the same year, this monarch was driven to some mean compromises of his honour. The English garrison of Dundee had been so hard pressed by the Scots, that William de Montfichet, the warden,
lish property. He had at Hartlepool, market and fair, assize of bread and victual, also a seaport where he takes keel dues.”—Hutch- inson’s History of Durham, pp. 234, 246.
6 Hemingford, vol. i. p. 262.
7 Chron. Lanercost, p. 221. Lord Hailes, vol. ii. p. 36, and Ker, vol. i. p. 404, have fallen into an error in describing Bruce as having only “threatened to besiege Berwick.” Nor have either of these historians taken notice of his attempt upon Carlisle. Berwick was assaulted in December 1312. M. Malmes- bury, vita Ed. II. p. 145,
8 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1006.
1312-13.] ROBERT BRUCE. 111
entered into a treaty to surrender the place, and give up a number of Scot tish prisoners within a stipulated time. Edward was then at York, and having heard of this agreement, he sent per emptory orders to the warden to vio late the truce, and, under the penalty of death to himself and confiscation of his estates, to preserve the town by this flagrant act. Montfichet was also enjoined to warn the Scots, that if any of the English prisoners or hostages should be put to death, orders would be given for the immediate execution of all the Scottish prisoners in the hands of the English. In addition to this, the king addressed flattering let ters to the several officers of the gar rison of Dundee, and to the mayor, bailiffs, and community, thanking them for their good service, and ex horting them to persevere in the de fence of the town. It is mortifying to find Sir David de Brechin, the king’s nephew, who had signalised himself against his uncle in his days of distress, and, when afterwards made prisoner, had been pardoned and received into favour, again in the ranks of the enemy, and acting the part of an Anglicised Scot. He was now commanded to co-operate as joint-warden with Montfichet, and earnest orders were despatched for re inforcements of ships, provisions, and soldiers, to be sent from Newcastle and Berwick.1
The heroic spirit of Bruce had now transfused itself into the peasantry of the country; and the king began to reap the fruits of this popular spirit, in the capture of the castle of Linlith- gow, by a common labourer. His name was Binny, and being known to the garrison, and employed by them in leading hay into the fort, he com municated his design to a party of Scottish soldiers, whom he stationed in ambush near the gate. In his large wain he contrived to conceal eight armed men, covered with a load of hay ; a servant drove the oxen, and Binny himself walked carelessly at his side. When the portcullis was raised,
1 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 108. 2d March 1311-12.
and the wain stood in the middle of the gateway, interposing a complete bar rier to its descent, the driver cut the ropes which harnessed the oxen; upon which signal the armed men suddenly leaped from the cart, the soldiers in ambush rushed in, and so complete was the surprise, that with little re sistance the garrison were put to the sword, and the place taken. Bruce amply rewarded the brave country man, and ordered the castle and its strong outworks, constructed by Ed ward I., to be immediately demol ished.2
Edward had committed the charge of the castle of Roxburgh, a post of the utmost importance, to a Burgun- dian knight, Gillemin de Fiennes. On Fasten’s Even, immediately before Lent, when the soldiers and officers of the garrison were carelessly carous ing, Sir James Douglas, with about sixty soldiers, favoured by a dark night, and concealed by black frocks thrown over their armour, cautiously approached the castle, creeping on their hands and feet through the trees which studded the park. They at last approached in this way so near that they could overhear the talk of the sentinels, one of whom observed them moving; and, deceived by the darkness, remarked to his fel low that yonder oxen were late left out. Relieved by this fortunate mis take, Douglas and his men continued their painful progress, and at length succeeded in reaching the foot of the walls, and fixing their ladders of rope, without being discovered. They could not, however, mount so quietly, but that the nearest watch on the outer wall overheard the noise, and ran to meet them. All was like to be lost; but by this time the first Scots sol dier had mounted the parapet, who instantly stabbed the sentry, and threw him over, before he had time to give the alarm. Another sentinel shared the fate of the first; and so
2 Lord Hailes, following Barbour, p. 196, and Ker, following Lord Hailes, place the cap ture of Linlithgow in the year 1311. Yet it appears, by the Rotuli Scotiæ, that the peel, or castle of Linlithgow, was in possession of the English in February 1312-13.
112 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [CHAP. III.
intent were the garrison upon their midnight sports, that the terrible cry of “Douglas ! Douglas !“ shouted into the great hall was the first thing which broke off the revels. In a moment the scene was changed from mirth into a dreadful carnage; but resistance soon became hopeless, and Douglas gave quarter. De Fiennes retreated to the great tower, and gal lantly defended himself, till a deep wound in the face compelled him to surrender.1 He retired to England, and died of his wounds soon after. Bruce immediately sent his brother Edward, who levelled the works, and reduced the rest of Teviotdale, with the exception of Jedburgh, which was still garrisoned by the English.
At this time Randolph, earl of Mo ray, had strictly invested the castle of Edinburgh, which for twenty years had been in the possession of England, and was now commanded by Sir Piers de Luband, a Gascon knight, and a relative of Gaveston, the English king’s favourite.2 The garrison sus pected the fidelity of this foreigner, and, having cast him into a dungeon, chose a constable of their own nation, who determined to defend the place to the last extremity. Already had the Scots spent six weeks in the siege, when an English soldier, of the name of Frank, presented himself to Ran dolph, and informed him he could point out a place where he had him self often scaled the wall, and by which he undertook to lead his men into the castle. This man, in his youth, when stationed in the castle, had become enamoured of a girl in the neighbourhood, and for the pur pose of meeting her, had discovered a way up and down the perilous cliff, with which custom had rendered him familiar; and Randolph, with thirty determined men, fully armed, placed themselves under his direction, and resolved to scale the castle at mid night.3 The surprise, however, was not nearly so complete as at Rox-
1 Barbour, pp. 202, 203, 2 Monachi Malmesburiensis Vita Edwardi II., P. 144. 3 Barbour, p. 205.
burgh, and the affair far more severely contested. Besides, Randolph had only half the number of men with Douglas, the access was far more difficult, and the night was so dark, that the task of climbing the rock became extremely dangerous. They persevered, nevertheless, and, on get ting about half-way up, found a jut ting crag, on which they sat down to take breath. The wall was now im mediately above them; and it hap pened that the check-watches, at this time, were making their round, and challenging the sentinels, whilst Ran dolph and his soldiers could hear all that passed. At this critical moment, whether from accident, or that one of the watch had really perceived some thing moving on the rock, a soldier cast a stone down towards the spot where Randolph sat, and called out— “Away! I see you well.” But the Scots lay still, the watch moved on, and Randolph and his men waited till they had gone to some distance. They then got up, and clambering to the bottom of the wall, at a place where it was only twelve feet in height, fixed the iron crochet of their rope ladder on the crib-stone.4 Frank was the first who mounted, then fol lowed Sir Andrew Gray, next came Randolph himself, who was followed by the rest of the party. Before, however, all had got up, the sentinels, who had heard whispering and the clank of arms, attacked them, and shouted “ Treason ! “ They were soon, however, repulsed or slain; and the Scots, by this time on the parapet, leapt down, and rushed on to the keep, or principal strength. The whole garrison was now in arms, and a desperate conflict ensued, in which the English greatly outnumbered their assailants. But panic and surprise deprived them of their accustomed bravery; and, although the governor himself made a gallant defence, he was overpowered and slain, and his garrison immediately surrendered at discretion. Randolph liberated Sir Piers Luband from his dungeon, and the Gascon knight immediately entered the service 4 Barbour, pp. 207, 208.
1313-14.] ROBERT BRUCE. 113
of Bruce. The castle itself shared the fate of every fortress which fell into the hands of the Scottish king. It was instantly demolished, and ren dered incapable of military occupa tion. If we consider the small num ber of men which he led, and the difficult circumstances in which the assault was made, we shall probably be inclined to agree with the faithful old historian, who characterises this exploit of Randolph as one of the hardiest and most chivalrous which distinguished a chivalrous age.1
These great successes so rapidly succeeding each other, and an inva sion of Cumberland, which soon after followed, made the English king trem ble for the safety of Berwick, and in duced him to remove the unfortunate Countess of Buchan from her imprison ment there, to a place of more remote confinement. The conferences for a cessation of hostilities were again re newed, at the request of the French king; and Edward ostentatiously talked of granting a truce to his enemies, in compliance with the wishes of Philip,2 which, when it came to the point, his enemies would not grant to him.
Soon after this, the King of Scotland conducted, in person, a naval expedi tion against Man. To this island his bitter enemies, the Macdowalls, had retreated, after their expulsion from Galloway, their ancient principality; and the then Governor of Man appears to have been that same fierce chief who had surprised Thomas and Alex ander Bruce at Loch Ryan, Bruce landed his troops, encountered and routed the governor, stormed the castle of Russin, and completely sub dued the island.3 He then despatched
1 Harbour, pp. 207, 212. In Tyrol, vol. iii. p. 259, it is said, on the authority of Scala Chronicon, that the foreigners to whom the Scottish castles were committed would hazard nothing in their defence,—an erroneous as sertion, and arising out of national mortifica tion.
2 Rymer, Food. vol. iii. p. 411.
3 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1007. 11th June 1313. In the Chron. of Man he is called Dingaway Dowill. In the Annals of Ireland he is called the Lord Donegan Odowill.
VOL. I.
some galleys to levy contributions in Ulster, and returned to Scotland, where he found that his gallant and impetuous brother, Sir Edward Bruce, had made himself master of the town and castle of Dundee, for the preserva tion of which so many exertions had been made in a former year. After this success, Sir Edward laid siege to the castle of Stirling, nearly the last fortress of importance which now stood between Scotland and freedom. Its governor, Philip de Mowbray, after a long and successful defence, had begun to dread the failure of provi sions in the garrison, and made over tures for a treaty, in which he agreed to surrender the castle by the ensuing midsummer, if not relieved by an English army. This was evidently a truce involving conditions which ought on no account to have been accepted. Its necessary effect, if agreed to, was to check the ardour of the Scots in that career of success which was now rapidly leading to the complete de liverance of their country; it gave the King of England a whole year to assemble the strength of his domin ions; and such were the chivalrous feelings of that age, as to agreements of this nature, that it compelled the King of Scotland to hazard the for tunes of his kingdom upon the issue of a battle, which he knew must be fought on his side with a great dis parity of force. We need not wonder, then, that Bruce was highly incensed on hearing that, without consulting him, his brother had agreed to Mow bray’s proposals. He disdained, how ever, to imitate the conduct of Edward, who, in a former year, and in circum stances precisely similar, had infringed the treaty of Dundee;4 and keeping his word unbroken, he resolved, at all hazards, to meet the English on the appointed day.5
Edward, having obtained a partial reconciliation with his discontented barons, made immense preparations for the succour of the fortress of Stir ling. He summoned the whole mili tary force of his kingdoms to meet
4 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 108. 5 Earbour, pp. 216, 217. H
114 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
him at Berwick on the 11th of June.1 To this general muster ninety-three barons, comprehending the whole body of the great vassals of the crown, were commanded to repair with horse and arms, and their entire feudal service; whilst the different counties in England and Wales were ordered to raise a body of twenty-seven thousand foot soldiers; and although Hume, mistaking the evidence of the original record, has imagined that the numbers of this army have been exaggerated by Barbour, it is certain that the accumulated strength which the king commanded exceeded a hundred thou sand men, including a body of forty thousand cavalry, of which three thousand were, both horse and man, in complete armour, and a force of fifty thousand archers. He now ap pointed the Earl of Pembroke, a nobleman experienced, under his father, in the wars of Scotland, to be governor of that country, and de spatched him thither to make prepar ations for his own arrival. He ordered a fleet of twenty-three ves sels to be assembled for the invasion of Scotland;2 in addition to these, he directed letters to the mayor and authorities of the various seaport towns, enjoining them to fit out an additional fleet of thirty ships; and of this united armament he appointed John Sturmy and Peter Bard to have the command.3 He directed letters to 0’Connor, prince of Connaught, and twenty-five other Irish native chiefs, requiring them to place themselves, with all the military force which they could collect, under the orders of Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, and to join the army at the muster; he made the same demand upon the
1 Rymer, Fœclera, vol. iii. pp. 463, 464. The writs, summoning the great feudal force of his kingdom—namely, the cavalry—are directed to ninety-three barons. See Notes and Illustrations, letters AA.
2 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 116, 119. 7 Ed. II., m. 8. 18th March 1313-14. The writs are directed to twenty-three captains of vessels, of which the names are given. We have “the James, the Mary, the Blyth, the St Peter,” &c.
3 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 115. 12th March 1313.
English barons who possessed estates in Ireland. He requested the Bishop of Constance to send him a body of sixty mounted cross bowmen. He took care that store of provisions for the troops, and forage for the cavalry, should be collected from all quarters; he placed his victualling department under strict organisation ; he ap pointed John of Argyle, who, pro bably, had no inconsiderable fleet of his own, to co-operate with the Eng lish armament, with the title of High Admiral of the western fleet of Eng land ;4 and he took care that the army should be provided with all kinds of useful artisans — smiths, carpenters, masons, armourers—and supplied with waggons and cars for the transport of the tents, pavilions, and baggage, which so large a military array neces sarily included. The various writs, and multifarious orders, connected with the summoning and organisation of the army of England, which fought at Bannockburn, are still preserved, and may be seen in their minutest details; and they prove that it far exceeded, not only in numbers but in equipment, any army which was ever led by any former monarch against Scotland.5
With this great force, Edward pre pared to take the field, and having first made a pilgrimage with his queen and the Prince of Wales to St Albans, and with the accustomed offerings re quested the prayers of the Church, he held his way through Lincolnshire to York and Newcastle, and met his army at Berwick. He here found that the Earls of Warrene, Lancaster, Arundel, and Warwick refused to attend him in person, alleging that he had broken his word given to the lord ordinars; but they sent their feudal services, and the rest of the nobility mustered, without any absentees, and with great splendour; so that the monarch having reviewed his troops, began his march for Scotland in high spirits, and with confident anticipations of victory.
Meanwhile, Bruce, aware of the
4 Rotuli Scotiæ, p. 121, m. 7, p. 129. 25th March 1313-14. 5 Ibid. 7 Ed. II., vol. i. passim.
1314.1 ROBERT BRUCE. 115
mighty force which was advancing against him, had not been idle. He ap pointed a general muster of his whole army in the Torwood, near Stirling,1 and here he found that the greatest force which could be collected did not amount to forty thousand fighting men ; and that the small body of caval ry which he had could not be expected to compete for a moment, either in the temper of their arms, or the strength of their horses, with the heavy cavalry of the English. He at once, therefore, resolved to fight on foot,2 and to draw up his army in ground where cavalry could not act with effect, and where the English, from their immense num bers, would be cramped and confined in their movements. For this purpose he chose a field not far from Stirling, which was then called the New Park. It was studded and encumbered with trees, and the approach to it was pro tected by a morass, the passage of which would be dangerous to an enemy.3 Bruce, having carefully ex amined the ground, determined that his right wing should rest on the rivu let called Bannockburn, whose broken and wooded banks afforded him an excellent security against being out- flanked. His front extended to a vil lage called St Ninians; and his left wing, which was unprotected by the nature of the ground, was exposed to the garrison of Stirling in the rear—a dangerous position, had not the terms of the treaty with the governor pre cluded attack from that quarter. But Bruce did not leave the defence of his left to this negative security; for in a field hard by, so firm and level that it afforded favourable ground for cavalry, he caused many rows of parallel pits to be dug, a foot in breadth, and about three feet deep. In these pits he placed pointed stakes, with a number of sharp iron weapons, called in Scot-
1 Barbour, p. 221.
2 The Scala Chron., p. 142, says that Bruce determined to fight on foot, after the example of the Flemish troops, who a little before this had discomfited the power of France at the battle of Coutray. The same allusion to Coutray is made by the Monk of Malmesbury, p. 152.
3 Barbour, pp. 223, 224.
land calthrops, and covered them care fully with sod, so that the ground, apparently level, was rendered impas sable to horse.4 It does not appear, however, that the English cavalry at tempted to charge over this ground, although, in the subsequent dispersion of the army, many lost their lives in the pits and ditches.5
Having thus judiciously availed him self of every circumstance, the king reviewed his troops, welcomed all courteously, and declared himself well satisfied with their appearance and equipment. The principal leaders of the Scottish army were Sir Edward Bruce, the king’s brother, Sir James Douglas, Randolph, earl of Moray, and Walter, the High Steward of Scotland. These, with the exception of the last, who was still a youth, were experi enced and veteran leaders, who had been long trained up in war, and upon whom their master could place entire reliance; and having fully explained to them his intended order of battle, the king waited in great tranquillity for the approach of the enemy.
Soon after word was brought that the English army had lain all night at Edinburgh. This was on Satur day evening, the 22d of June, and early in the morning of Sunday the soldiers heard mass. It was stated by the contemporary historians that they confessed themselves with the solemnity of men who were resolved to die in that field, or to free their country; and as it was the vigil of St John, they took no dinner, but kept their fast on bread and water. Mean while the king, on Sunday, after hear ing mass, rode out to examine the pits which had been made, and to see that his orders had been duly executed. Having satisfied himself, he returned, and commanded his soldiers to arm. This order was promptly obeyed; and all cheerfully arrayed themselves un der their different banners. Bruce then caused proclamation to be made that all who did not feel fully resolved to win the field or to die with honour had at that moment free liberty to
4 Barbour, p. 226,1. 365.
5 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 246.
116 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
leave the army; but the soldiers raised a great shout, and answered with one accord that they were determined to abide the enemy.1
The baggage of the army was placed in a valley at some distance in the rear, and the sutlers and camp-follow ers, who amounted nearly to twenty thousand, were stationed beside it, and commanded to await the result of the battle. They were separated from the army by a small hill, which is yet called the Gilles, or Gillies’ Hill.
The king now arranged his army in a line consisting of three square columns, or battles, of which he in trusted the command of the vaward, or centre, to the Earl of Moray. His brother Edward led the right, and the left was given to Sir James Douglas and Walter, the Steward of Scotland.2 He himself took the command of the reserve, which formed a fourth battle, drawn up immediately behind the centre, and composed of the men of Argyle, Carrick, Kantire, and the Isles. Along with him was Angus of May, with the men of Bute ; and he had also under his command a body of five hundred cavalry, fully armed, and mounted on light and active horses.
Having thus disposed his order of battle, the king despatched Sir James Douglas and Sir Robert Keith to re connoitre, who soon after returned with the news that they descried the English host advancing in great strength, and making a very martial appearance. For this intelligence Bruce was well prepared; yet, dread ing its effect upon his soldiers, he directed them to give out to the army that the enemy, though numerous, were advancing in confused and ill- arranged order.3
Although this was not exactly the case, the rash character of Edward led him to commit some errors in the dis posal of his troops, which led to fatal consequences. He had hurried on to Scotland with such rapidity that the horses were worn out with travel and want of food, and the men were not
1 Barbour, pp. 226, 227.
2 Ibid. p. 225, 1. 344, compared with 1. 309.
3 Barbour, p. 229.
allowed the regular periods for halt and refreshment, so that his soldiers went into action under great disadvantage. Upon advancing from Falkirk early in the morning, and when the English host was only two miles distant from the Scottish army, Edward despatched an advanced party of eight hundred cavalry, led by Sir Robert Clifford, with orders to outflank the enemy and throw themselves into Stirling Castle. Bruce had looked for this movement, and had commanded Randolph, his nephew, to be vigilant in repelling any such attempt.4 Clifford, however, un observed by Randolph, made a circuit by the low grounds to the east and north of the church of St Ninians, and having thus avoided the front of the Scottish line, he was proceeding to wards the castle when he was detected by the piercing eye of Bruce, who rode hastily up to Randolph, and reproach ed him for his carelessness in having suffered the enemy to pass. "Oh, Randolph !“ cried his master, “ lightly have you thought of the charge com mitted to you ; a rose has fallen from your chaplet.”5 Stung by such words, the Earl of Moray, leaving the centre, at the head of a select body of infan try, hastened at all hazards to repair his error. As he advanced, Clifiord’s squadron wheeled round, and putting their spears in rest, charged him at full speed, but Randolph had formed his infantry in a square presenting a front on all sides, with the spears fixed before them;6 and although he had only five hundred men, he awaited the shock of Clifford with such firmness that many of the English were un horsed, and Sir William Daynecourt, an officer of note, who had been more forward in his attack than his com panions, was slain.7 Unable to make any impression upon Randolph’s square by this first attack, the English pro ceeded more leisurely to surround him on all sides, and by a second furious and simultaneous charge on each front, endeavoured to break the line; but
4 Barbour, p. 228. 5 Ibid. p. 231. 6 Ibid. p. 232. 7 Ibid. p. 234.
1314.] ROBERT BRUCE. 117
the light armour, the long spears, and the short knives and battle-axes of the Scottish foot proved a match for the heavy-armed English cavalry, and a desperate conflict ensued, in which Randolph’s little square, although it stood firm, seemed likely to be crushed to pieces by the heavy metal which was brought against it. All this passed in the sight of Bruce, who was sur rounded by his officers. At length Sir James Douglas earnestly requested to be allowed to go with a reinforcement to his relief. “You shall not stir a foot from your ground,” said the king, “ and let Randolph extricate himself as best he can ; I will not alter my order of battle, and lose my advan tage, whatever may befall him.“ “ My liege,” answered Douglas, “ I cannot stand by and see Randolph perish when I may bring him help; so by your leave I must away to his suc cour.” Bruce unwillingly consented, and Douglas immediately held his way towards Randolph,1
By this time the King of England had brought up his main army, and ordered a halt for the purpose of con sulting with his leaders whether it were expedient to join battle that same day, or take a night to refresh his troops. By some mistake, however, the centre of the English continued its march, not aware of this order, and on their approach to the New Park Bruce rode forward alone to make some new arrangements, which were called for by the absence of Randolph, and to take a final view of the dispo- sition of his army. He was at this time in front of his own line, meanly mounted on a hackney, but clad in full armour, with his battle-axe in his hand, and distinguished from his nobles by a small crown of gold sur mounting his steel helmet. On the approach of the English vaward, led by the Earls of Gloucester and Here ford, Sir Henry de Boune, an English knight, who rode about a bowshot in advance of his companions, recognised the king, and galloped forward to at tack him. Bonne was armed at all points, and excellently mounted on a 1 Barbour, pp. 233, 234.
heavy war-horse, so that the contest was most unequal, and Bruce might have retired; but for a moment he forgot his duties as a general in his feelings as a knight, and, to the sur prise of his soldiers, spurred his little hackney forward to his assailant. There was an interval of breathless suspense, but it lasted only a moment; for as the English knight came on in full career, the king parried the spear, and raising himself in his stirrups as he passed, with one blow of his battle- axe laid him dead at his feet, by al most cleaving his head in two.2 Upon this his soldiers raised a great shout, and advanced hardily upon the Eng lish centre, which retreated in confu sion to the main army; and Bruce, afraid of disorder getting into his line of battle, called back his men from the pursuit, after they had slain a few of the English soldiers. When they had time to recollect themselves, the Scottish leaders earnestly remonstrated with the king for the rash manner in which he exposed himself; and Bruce, somewhat ashamed of the adventure, changed the subject, and looking at the broken shaft which he held in his hand, with a smile replied, “ He was sorry for the loss of his good battle- axe.” 3
All this passed so quickly, that the contest between Randolph and Clifford was still undecided; but Douglas, as he drew near to his friend’s rescue, perceived that the English had by this time begun to waver, and that dis order was rapidly getting into their ranks. Commanding his men, there fore, to halt, “ Let us not,” cried he, “ diminish the glory of so redoubtable an encounter, by coming in at the end to share it. The brave men that fight yonder without our help will soon dis comfit the enemy.” And the result was as Douglas had foreseen; for Ran dolph, who quickly perceived the same indications, began to press the English cavalry with repeated charges and in creasing fury, so that they at length entirely broke, and fled in great dis order. The attempt to throw suc-
2 Barbour, pp. 235, 236. 3 Ibid. p. 237.
118 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
cours into the castle was thus com pletely defeated; and Clifford, after losing many of his men, who were slain in the pursuit, rejoined the main body of the army with the scattered and dispirited remains of his squad ron.1 So steadily had the Scots kept their ranks, that Randolph had sus tained a very inconsiderable loss.
From the result of these two at tacks, and especially from the defeat of Clifford, Bruce drew a good augury, and cheerfully congratulated his sol diers on so fair a beginning. He ob served to them, that they had defeated the flower of the English cavalry, and had driven back the centre division of their great army; and remarked, that the same circumstances which gave spirit and animation to their hopes must communicate depression to the enemy.2 As the day was far spent, he held a military council of his leaders, and requested their advice, whether, having now seen the numbers and strength of their opponents, it was ex pedient to hazard a battle, declaring himself ready to submit his individual opinion to the judgment of the ma jority. But the minds of the Scottish commanders were not in a retreating mood; and although aware of the great disparity of force, the English army being more than triple that of Bruce, they declared their unanimous desire to keep their position, and to fight on the morrow. The king then told them that such was his own wish, and commanded them to have the whole army arrayed next morning by daybreak, in the order and upon the ground already agreed on. He ear nestly exhorted them to preserve the firmest order, each man under his own banner, and to receive the charge of the enemy with levelled spears, so that even the hindmost ranks of the English would feel the shock. He pointed out to them that everything in the approaching battle, which was to determine whether Scotland was to be free or enslaved, depended on their own steady discipline and deliberate valour. He conjured them not to
1 Barbour, pp. 238, 239. 2 Ibid. pp. 240. 241.
allow a single soldier to quit his ban ner or break the array ; and, if they should be successful, by no means to begin to plunder or to make prisoners, as long as a single enemy remained on the field. He promised that the heirs of all who fell should receive then- lands free, and without the accustomed feudal fine; and he assured them, with a determined and cheerful coun tenance, that if the orders he had now given were obeyed they might con fidently look forward to victory.3
Having thus spoken to his leaders, the army were dismissed to their quarters. In the evening they made the necessary arrangements for the battle, and passed the night in arms upon the field. Meanwhile the Eng lish king and his leaders had resolved, on account of the fatigue undergone by the troops, and symptoms of dis satisfaction which appeared amongst them, to delay the attack, and drew off’ to the low grounds to the right and rear of their original position, where they passed the night in riot and disorder.4 At this time, it is said, a Scotsman, who served in the Eng lish army, deserted to Bruce, and in formed him he could lead him to the attack so as to secure an easy victory. Robert, however, was not thus to be drawn from his position, and deter mined to await the enemy on the ground already chosen.
On Monday, the 24th of June, at the first break of day, the Scottish king confessed, and along with his army heard mass. This solemn ser vice was performed by Maurice, the Abbot of Inchaffray, upon an emi nence in front of their line, and after its conclusion the soldiers took break fast, and arranged themselves under their different banners. They wore light armour, but of excellent temper. Their weapons were, a battle-axe slung at their side, and long spears, besides knives or daggers, which the former affair of Randolph had proved to be highly effective in close combat. When the whole army was in array, they proceeded, with displayed banners,
3 Barbour, pp. 243, 244.
4 Thomas de la More, apud Camden, p. 594.
1314.] ROBERT BRUCE. 119
to make knights, as was the custom before a battle. Bruce conferred that honour upon Walter, the young Steward of Scotland, Sir James Doug las, and many other brave men, in due order, and according to their rank.1
By this time the van of the English army, composed of archers and lances, and led by the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, approached within bow shot; and at a little distance behind the remaining nine divisions, which, confined by the narrowness of the ground, were compressed into a close column of great and unwieldy dimen sions.2 This vast body was conducted by the King of England in person, who had along with him a bodyguard of five hundred chosen horse. He was attended by the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Ingelram Umfraville, and Sir Giles de Argentine, a knight of Rhodes, of great reputation.3 When Edward ap proached near enough, and observed the Scottish army drawn up on foot, and their firm array and determined countenance, he expressed much sur prise, and turning to Umfraville, asked him, “ If he thought these Scots would fight ? “ Umfraville replied that they assuredly would ; and he then advised Edward, instead of an open attack, to pretend to retreat behind his encamp ment, upon which he was confident, from his old experience in the Scot tish wars, that the enemy would break their array, and rush on without order or discipline, so that the English army might easily attack and overwhelm them. Umfraville, an Anglicised Scot tish baron, who had seen much ser vice against Edwards father, and had only sworn fealty in 1305, spoke this from an intimate knowledge of his countrymen; but Edward fortunately disdained his counsel. At this moment the Abbot of Inchaffray, barefooted, and holding a crucifix aloft in his hand, walked slowly along the Scottish line; and as he passed, the whole army knelt down,4 and prayed for a moment with
1 Barbour, p. 248.
2 Walsingham, p. 105.
3 Fœdera, vol. in. p. 441. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 295.
4 Fordun a Gooldal, vol. ii. p. 250.
the solemnity of men who felt it might be their last act of devotion. “ See,” cried Edward, “they are kneeling— they ask mercy ! “ “ They do, my liege,” replied Umfraville, “but it is from God, not from us. Trust me, yon men will win the day, or die upon the field.” 5 “ Be it so then,” said Ed ward, and immediately commanded the charge to be sounded. The Eng lish van, led by Gloucester and Here ford, now spurred forward their horses, and at full gallop charged the right wing of the Scots, commanded by Edward Bruce; but a dispute between the two English barons as to prece dency caused the charge, though rapid, to be broken and irregular. Glou cester, who had been irritated the day before by some galling remarks of the king, insisted on leading the van, a post which of right belonged to Hereford, as Constable of England. To this Hereford would not agree; and Glou cester, as they disputed, seeing the Scottish right advancing, sprung for ward at the head of his own division, and, without being supported by the rest of the van, attacked the enemy, who received them with a shock which caused the noise of the meeting of their spears to be heard a great way off, and threw many knights from their saddles, whose horses were stabbed and rendered furious by their wounds.6 While the right wing was thus engaged, Randolph, who com manded the centre division, advanced at a steady pace to meet the main body of the English, whom he con fronted and attacked with great in trepidity, although the enemy out numbered him by ten to one. His square, to use an expression of Bar- bours, was soon surrounded and lost amidst the English, as if it had plunged into the sea; upon which Sir James Douglas and Walter the Steward brought up the left wing ; so that the whole line, composed of the three battles, was now engaged, and the battle raged with great fury.7 The
5 Barbour, p. 250, and Chronicle of Laner- cost, p. 225.
6 Barbour, p. 251.
7 Ibid. pp. 252, 253,
120 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
English cavalry attempting, by re peated charges, to break the line of the Scottish spearmen, and they standing firm in their array, and pre senting on every side a serried front of steel, caused a shock and melee which is not easily described; and the slaughter was increased by the re membrance of many years of grievous injury and oppression, producing, on the part of the Scots, an exasperation of feeling and an eager desire of re venge. At every successive charge the English cavalry lost more men, and fell into greater confusion than before; and this confusion was in finitely increased by the confined na ture of the ground and the immense mass of their army. The Scottish squares, on the other hand, were light and compact, though firm; they moved easily, altered their front at pleasure, and suited themselves to every emer gency of the battle. They were, how ever, dreadfully galled by the English bowmen; and Bruce, dreading the effect of the constant and deadly showers of arrows, which fell like hail upon them, directed Sir Robert Keith, the marshal, to make a circuit, with the five hundred horse which were in the reserve, round the morass called Miltown Bog, and to charge the archers in flank. This movement was executed with great decision and rapidity ; and such was its effect that the whole body of the archers, who had neither spears nor other weapons to defend themselves against cavalry, were in a short time overthrown and dispersed, without any prolonged attempt at resistance.1 Part of them fled to the main army, and the rest did not again attempt to rally or make head during the continuance of the battle. Al though such was the success of this judicious attack, the English still kept fighting with great determination; but they had already lost some of their bravest commanders, and Bruce could discern symptoms of exhaustion and impatience. He saw, too, that his own infantry were still fresh and well- breathed ; and he assured his leaders that the attack, continued but for a 1 Barbour, pp. 255, 256,
short time, and pushed with vigour, must make the day their own. It was at this moment that he brought up his whole reserve, and the four battles of the Scots were now completely engaged in one line.2 The Scottish archers, unlike the English, carried short battle-axes; and with these, after they had exhausted their arrows, they rushed upon the enemy, and made great havoc. The Scottish com manders, too, the king, Edward Bruce, Douglas, Randolph, and the Steward, were fighting in the near presence of each other, and animated with a gene rous rivalry. At this time Barbour, whose account of the battle is evi dently taken from eye-witnesses, de scribes the field as exhibiting a terrific spectacle. “It was awful,” says he, “ to hear the noise of these four battles fighting in a line,—the clang of arms, the shouts of the knights as they raised their war-cry; to see the flight of the arrows, which maddened the horses; the alternate sinking and rising of the banners, and the ground slippery with gore, and covered with shreds of armour, broken spears, pennons, and rich scarfs, torn and soiled with blood and clay; and to listen to the groans of the wounded and the dying.” The wavering of the English lines was now discernible by the Scottish soldiers themselves, who shouted when they saw it, and calling out, “ On them, on them—they fail! " pressed forward with renewed vigour, gaining ground upon their enemy.3 At this critical mo ment there appeared over the little hill, which lay between the field and the baggage of the Scottish army, a large body of troops marching ap parently in firm array towards the field. This spectacle, which was in stantly believed to be a reinforcement proceeding to join the Scots, although it was nothing more than the sutlers and camp-boys hastening to see the battle, spread dismay amidst the ranks of the English; and King Robert, whose eye was everywhere, to perceive and take advantage of the slightest
2 Barbour, p. 258. Chronicle of Lanercost, p. 225. 3 Ibid. p. 259.
1314.] ROBERT BRUCE. 121
movement in his favour, put himself at the head of his reserve, and raising his ensenye, or war-cry, furiously pressed on the enemy.1 It was this last charge, which was followed up by the advance of the whole line, that decided the day; the English, who hitherto, al though wavering, had preserved their array, now broke into disjointed squadrons; part began to quit the field, and no efforts of their leaders could restore order. The Earl of Gloucester, who was mounted on a spirited war-horse, which had lately been presented to him by the king,2 in one of his attempts to rally his men, rode desperately upon the divi sion of Edward Bruce; he was instantly unhorsed, and fell pierced by numer ous wounds of the Scottish lances. The flight now became general, and the slaughter great. The banners of twenty-seven barons were laid in the dust, and their masters slain. Amongst these were Sir Robert Clifford, a vete ran and experienced commander, and Sir Edmund Mauley, the Seneschal of England. On seeing the entire route of his army, Edward reluctantly al lowed the Earl of Pembroke to seize his bridle, and force him off the field, guarded by five hundred heavy-armed horse. Sir Giles de Argentine accom panied him a short way, till he saw the king in safety. He then reined up, and bade him farewell. “ It has never been my custom,” said he, “ to fly; and here I must take my fortune.” Saying this, he put spurs to his horse, and crying out “ An Argentine ! “ charged the squadron of Edward Bruce, and, like Gloucester, was soon borne down by the force of the Scottish spears, and cut to pieces.3 Multitudes of the English were drowned when attempt ing to cross the river Forth. Many, in their flight, got entangled in the pits, which they seem to have avoided in their first attack, and were there
1 Barbour, p. 261.
2 Hutchinson’s Hist, and Antiquities of the Palatinate of Durham, p. 261. “The Bishop of Durham, Richard Kellow, had a short time before presented this war-horse, an animal of high price, along with one thousand marks, to King Edward.”
3 Barbour, p. 263,
suffocated or slain; others, who vainly endeavoured to pass the rugged banks of the Bannockburn, were slain in that quarter; so completely was this little river heaped up with the dead bodies of men and horses, that the pursuers passed dry over the mass as if it were a bridge. Thirty thousand of the English were left dead upon the field, and amongst these two hundred knights and seven hundred esquires. A large body of Welsh fled, under the com mand of Sir Maurice Berklay, but the greater part of them were slain, or taken prisoners, before they reached England.4
Such also might have been the fate of the King of England himself, had Bruce been able to spare a sufficient body of cavalry to follow up the chase. But when Edward left the field, with his five hundred horse, many straggling parties of the enemy still lingered about the low grounds, and numbers had taken refuge under the walls, and in the hollow recesses of the rock on which Stirling castle is built,5 These, had they rallied, might have still created much annoyance, a part of the Scottish army being occupied in plun dering the camp; and it thus became absolutely necessary for Bruce to keep the more efficient part of his troops together. When Douglas, therefore, proposed to pursue the king, he could obtain no more than sixty horsemen. In passing the Torwood, he was met by Sir Laurence Abernethy, hastening with a small body of cavalry to join the English, This knight immediately deserted a falling cause, and assisted in the chase. They made up to the fugitive monarch at Linlithgow, but Douglas deemed it imprudent to hazard an attack with so inferior a force. He pressed so hard upon him, however, as not to suffer the English to have a moment’s rest; and it is a strong proof of the panic which had seized them that a body of five hundred heavy horse, armed to the teeth, fled before eighty Scottish cavalry, without attempting to make a stand. But it is probable they believed .Douglas to
4 Barbour, pp. 266, 267. 5 Ibid.
122 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. III.
be the advance of the army.1 Edward at last gained the castle of Dunbar, where he was hospitably received by the Earl of March, and from which he passed by sea to Berwick. In the meantime, Bruce sent a party to attack the fugitives who clustered round the rock of Stirling. These were imme diately made prisoners, and having ascertained that no enemy remained, the king permitted his soldiers to pursue the fugitives, and give them selves up to plunder. The unfortunate stragglers were slaughtered by the peasantry, as they were dispersed over the country; and many of them, casting away their arms and accoutre ments, hid themselves in the woods, or fled almost naked from the field.2 Some idea of the extent and variety of the booty which was divided by the Scottish soldiers may be formed from the circumstance mentioned by an English historian, “That the chariots, waggons, and wheeled carriages, which were loaded with the baggage and military stores, would, if drawn up in a line, have extended for twenty leagues.”3
These, along with numerous herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep and swine; store of hay, corn, and wine; the vessels of gold and silver belonging to the king and his nobility; the money- chests holding the treasure for the payment of the troops ; a large assem blage of splendid arms, rich wearing apparel, horse and tent furniture, from the royal wardrobe and private reposi tories of the knights and noblemen who were in the field; and a great booty in valuable horses, fell into the hands of the conquerors, and were distributed by Bruce amongst his soldiers with a generosity and im partiality which rendered him highly popular. Besides all this, Edward had brought along with him many instruments of war, and machines employed in the besieging of towns, such as petronels, trebuchets, man gonels, and battering rams, which,
1 Henry Knighton, p. 2533. Walsingham, p. 105. 2 Monachi Malmesbur. p, 151. 3 Ibid. p. 147.
intended for the demolition of the Scottish castles, now fell into the hands of Bruce, to be turned, in future wars, against England. The living booty, too, in the many prisoners of rank who were taken, was great. Twenty-two barons and bannerets, and sixty knights, fell into the hands of the Scots. Considering the grievous injuries which he had personally sus tained, the King of Scotland evinced a generous forbearance in the uses of his victory, which does him high honour : not only was there no unnecessary slaughter, no uncalled-for severity of retaliation, but, in their place, we find a high-toned courtesy, which has called forth the praises of his enemies.4 The body of the young and noble Earl of Gloucester was reverently carried to a neighbouring church, and every holy rite duly observed. It was afterwards sent to England, along with the last remains of the brave Lord Clifford, to be interred with the honours due to their rank. The rest of the slain were reverently buried upon the field.5 Early next morning, as the king examined the ground, Sir Marmaduke de Twenge, who had lurked all night in the woods, presented himself to Bruce, and, kneeling down, delivered himself as his prisoner. Bruce kindly raised him, retained him in his com pany for some time, and then dismissed him, not only without ransom, but enriched with presents.6
It happened that one Baston, a Carmelite friar, and esteemed an excellent poet, had been commanded by Edward to accompany the army, that he might immortalise the ex pected triumph of his master. He was taken; and Bruce commanded him, as an appropriate ransom, to celebrate the victory of the Scots at Bannockburn—a task which he has accomplished in a composition which still remains an extraordinary relic of the Leonine, or rhyming hexameters.7
On the day after the battle, Mow- bray, the English governor of Stirling,
4 Joh. de Trokelowe, p. 28. 5 Barbour, p. 273.
6 Ibid. p. 269.
7 Fordun a Goodal, p. 251.
1314.] ROBERT BRUCE. 123
having delivered up that fortress, according to the terms of the truce, entered into the service of the King of Scotland; and the Earl of Hereford, who had taken refuge in Bothwell castle, then in the hands of the Eng lish, capitulated, after a short siege, to Edward Bruce. This nobleman was exchanged for five illustrious prisoners, Bruce’s wife, his sister Christian, his daughter Marjory, Wishart, the bishop of Glasgow, now blind, and the young Earl of Mar, nephew to the king. John de Segrave, made prisoner at Bannockburn, was ransomed for five Scottish barons; so that, in these ex changes, the English appear to have received nothing like an adequate value. The riches obtained by the plunder of the English, and the subse quent ransom paid for the multitude of prisoners, must have been great. The exact amount cannot be easily estimated, but some idea of it may be formed from the tone of deep lamen tation assumed by the Monk of Malmes- bury. “O day of vengeance and of misfortune!” says he, “day of dis grace and perdition ! unworthy to be included in the circle of the year, which tarnished the fame of England, and enriched the Scots with the plun der of the precious stuffs of our nation, to the extent of two hundred thousand pounds. Alas! of how many noble barons, and accomplished knights, and high-spirited young soldiers,— of what a store of excellent arms, and golden vessels, and costly vestments, did one short and miserable day deprive us.”1 Two hundred thousand pouds of money in those times, amounts to about six hundred thousand pounds weight of silver, or nearly three millions of our present money. It is remarkable that Sir William Vipont, and Sir Walter Ross, the bosom friend of Edward Bruce, were the only persons of note who were slain on the side of the Scots, whose loss, even in common men, was small; proving how effec tually their squares had repelled the English cavalry.
Such was the great battle of Ban- nockburn, interesting above all others which have been fought between the then rival nations, if we consider the issue which hung upon it; and glorious to Scotland, both in the determined courage with which it was disputed by the troops, the high military talents displayed by the king and his leaders, and the amazing disparity between the numbers of the combatants. Its consequences were in the highest degree important. It put an end for ever to all hopes upon the part of England of accomplishing the conquest of her sister country. The plan, of which we can discern the foundations as far back as the reign of Alexander III., and for the furtherance of which the first Edward was content to throw away so much of treasure and blood, was put down in the way in which all such schemes ought to be defeated— by the strong hand of free-born men, who were determined to remain so; and the spirit of indignant resistance to foreign power, which had been awakened by Wallace, but crushed for a season by the dissensions of a jealous nobility, was concentrated by the master-spirit of Bruce, and found fully adequate to overwhelm the united military energies of a kingdom, far superior to Scotland in all that con stituted military strength. Nor have the consequences of this victory been partial or confined. Their duration throughout succeeding centuries of Scottish history and Scottish liberty, down to the hour in which this is written, cannot be questioned; and without launching out into any inap propriate field of historical speculation, we have only to think of the most obvious consequences which must have resulted from Scotland becoming a conquered province of England; and if we wish for proof, to fix our eyes on the present condition of Ireland, in order to feel the reality of all that we owe to the victory at Bannockburn, and to the memory of such men as , Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas.
1 Mon. Malmesburiensis, p. 152.
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