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CHAPTER V.
DAVID THE SECOND.
1329—1346,
On the death of Bruce, Scotland, de livered from a long war by a treaty equally honourable and advantageous, was yet placed in perilous circum stances. The character of Edward the Third had already begun to de velop those great qualities, amongst which a talent for war, and a thirst for conquest and military renown were the most conspicuous. Compelled to observe the letter of the recent treaty of Northampton, this prince soon shewed that he meant to infringe its spirit and disregard its sanctions, by every method of private intrigue and concealed hostility. With a greater regard for public opinion than his 1 Chamberlain Accounts, vol. i. p. 101.
grandfather, Edward the First, he was yet as thoroughly bent upon the ag grandisement of his dominions. Un willing to bring upon himself the odium of an open breach of so recent and solemn a treaty, cemented as it was by a marriage between King David and his sister, Edward’s policy was to induce the Scots themselves to infringe the peace by the private en couragement which he gave to their enemies, and then to come down with an overwhelming force and reduce the
2 See an interesting Report of the discovery of the Tomb, and the reinterment of the body of Robert Bruce, drawn up by Sir Henry Jar- dine, in the second volume of the Transac tions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, part ii. p. 435.
1329-30.] DAVID II. 161
kingdom.1 Against these designs there were many circumstances which pre vented Scotland from making an effec tual resistance. Randolph was indeed nominated regent, and the talents of this great man in the arts of civil government appear to have been as conspicuous as in war; but he was now aged, and could not reasonably look to many more years of life. Douglas, whose genius for military affairs was, perhaps, higher than even that of Randolph, was soon to leave the kingdom on his expedition to the Holy Land; and the powerful faction of the Comyns still viewed the line of Bruce with persevering enmity, and shewed themselves ready to rise upon the first opportunity against the go vernment of his son. Nor was it long before this opportunity presented itself. Edward, the eldest son of John Baliol, had chiefly resided in France since his father’s death; but he now came to England, and with the private con nivance of Edward the Third began to organise a scheme for the recovery of the Scottish crown. Dornagilla, the mother of Baliol, was sister-in- law to the Red Comyn, whom King Robert Bruce had stabbed at Dum fries, so that the rights of the new claimant were immediately supported by the whole weight of the Comyns ; and, no longer awed by the com manding mind of Bruce, disputes and heart-burnings arose amongst the Scottish nobility, at a time when a concentration of the whole strength of the nation was imperiously re quired.
To return to the course of our nar rative, Randolph, upon the death of Bruce, immediately assumed the office of regent, and discharged its duties with a wise and judicious severity. He was indefatigable in his application to business, and his justice was as bold and speedy as it was impartial. An instance of it has been preserved by
1 It is unfortunate that the Rotuli Scotiæ, from which some of the most authentic and valuable materials for Scottish history are to be drawn, are wanting from the first year to the seventh of the reign of Edward the Third. Rotuli Scotiæ, p. 224. From 22d January 1327-8 to 1st April 1333. VOL. I.
Bower.2 A priest was slain; and the murderer, having gone to Rome and obtained the Papal absolution, had the audacity to return openly to Scotland. He was seized and brought before Randolph, who was then holding his court at Inverness, during a progress through the country. He pleaded the absolution ; but was tried, con demned, and instantly executed. The Pope, it was remarked by the Regent Randolph, might absolve him from the spiritual consequences of the sin, but it was nevertheless right that he should suffer for the crime committed against the law. Aware of the important in fluence of the local magistrates and judges, he made every sheriff respon sible for the thefts committed within his jurisdiction; so that, according to the simple illustrations of the chro nicles of those times, the traveller might tie his horse to the inn-door, and the ploughman leave his plough share and harness in the field, without fear; for if carried away, the price of the stolen article came out of the pocket of the sheriff. Anxious for the continuance of peace, Randolph sent Roger of Fawside on an amicable mis sion to the English king, whilst he took care at the same time to strengthen the borders, to repair the fortifications of the important town of Berwick, and commanded John Crab, the expe rienced Flemish mercenary, whom he retained in the pay of Scotland, to re main in that city, and keep a watch upon the motions of England.3
In the meantime, as soon as the season of the year permitted, Douglas, having the heart of his beloved master under his charge, set sail from Scot land, accompanied by a splendid re tinue, and anchored off Sluys in Flanders, at this time the great sea port of the Netherlands.4 His object was to find out companions with whom he might travel to Jerusalem; but he declined landing, and for twelve days received all visitors on board his ship
2 Forduni Scotichron a Goodal, chap, xviii. book xiii. vol. ii. p. 297.
3 Fordun a Groodal, vol. ii. p. 297. Winton, vol. ii. p. 139. Chamberlain’s Accounts, pp. 171, 227, 228. See Illustrations, CC. 4 Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 400.
L
162 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
with a state almost kingly. He had with him seven noble Scottish knights, and was served at table by twenty- eight squires of the first families in the country. “ He kept court,” says Froissart, “ in a royal manner, with the sound of trumpets and cymbals; all the vessels for his table were of gold and silver; and whatever persons of good estate went to pay their re spects to him were entertained with the richest kinds of wine and spiced bread.1 At Sluys he heard that Alon- zo, the king of Leon and Castile, was carrying on war with Osmyn, the Moorish governor of Granada. The religious mission which he had em braced, and the vows he had taken be fore leaving Scotland, induced Douglas to consider Alonzo’s cause as a holy warfare; and before proceeding to Jerusalem, he first determined to visit Spain, and to signalise his prowess against the Saracens. But his first field against the infidels proved fatal to him, who, in the long English war, had seen seventy battles.2 The cir cumstances of his death were striking and characteristic. In an action near Theba, on the borders of Andalusia, the Moorish cavalry were defeated; and after their camp had been taken, Douglas, with his companions, engaged too eagerly in the pursuit, and being separated from the main body of the Spanish army, a strong division of the Moors rallied and surrounded them. The Scottish knight endeavoured to cut his way through the infidels; and in all probability would have suc ceeded, had he not again turned to rescue Sir William Saint Clair of Roslin, whom he saw in jeopardy. In attempting this, he was inextricably involved with the enemy. Taking from his neck the casket which con tained the heart of Bruce, he cast it before him, and exclaimed with a loud voice, “ Now pass onward as thou wert wont, and Douglas will follow thee or die!"3 The action and the sentiment were heroic; and they were the last words and deed of a heroic
1 Froissart, p. 117, vol. i. Ed. de Buchon.
2 Fordim a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 302.
3 Barbour a Pinkerton, vol. iii. p. 171.
life, for Douglas fell, overpowered by his enemies; and three of his knights, and many of his companions, were slain along with their master.4 On the succeeding day, the body and the cas ket were both found on the field, and by his surviving friends conveyed to Scotland. The heart of Bruce was de posited at Melrose, and the body of the “ Good Sir James,” the name by which he is affectionately remembered by his countrymen, was consigned to the cemetery of his fathers in the parish church of Douglas.
Douglas was the model of a noble and accomplished knight, in an age when chivalry was in its highest splen dour. He was gentle and amiable in society, and had an open and delight ful expression in his countenance, which could hardly be believed by those who had only seen him in battle. His hair was black, and a little grizzled; he was broad-shouldered, and somewhat large-boned; but his limbs were cast in the mould of fair and just proportion. He lisped a little in his speech; but this defect, far from giving the idea of effeminacy, became him well, when contrasted with his high and warlike bearing.5 These minute touches, descriptive of so great a man, were communicated by eye-witnesses to Barbour, the his torian of Bruce.
The Good Sir James was never married; but he left a natural son, William Douglas, who inherited the military talents of his father, and with whom we shall soon meet, un-
4 The three knights were Sir William Sin clair of Roslin, Sir Robert and Sir Waiter Logan. Boece, who might have consulted Bower in his continuation of Fordun, or Bar- boar, prefers his own absurd inventions, which he substitutes at all times in the place of au thentic history. Buchanan, b. viii. c. 58, erro neously states that Douglas went to assist the King of Arragon, and that he was slain “post aliquot prosperas pugnas.” In Buchon’s Notes to Froissart, vol. i. p. 118, we find “that the object of the Moors was to raise the siege of Gibraltar, then straitly invested by the Spaniards. On their approach, Alonzo raised the siege, and marched against the enemy.” Hume of Godscroft, in his Hist, of Douglas and Angus, vol. i. p. 96, adopts Boece’s fable as to Douglas having been thirteen times victorious over the Saracens.
5 Barbour, p. 15.
1331-2.] DAVID II. 163
der the title of the Knight of Liddes- dale.
Soon after this disaster, which de prived Scotland of one of its best defenders, David, then in his eighth year, and his youthful queen, were crowned with the usual solemnities at Scone,1 on which occasion the royal boy, after having been himself knight ed by Randolph the regent, surrounded by his barons and nobles, conferred knighthood on the Earl of Angus, Thomas, earl of Moray, Randolph's eldest son, and others of his nobles. His father Robert, in consequence of his disagreement with the court of Rome, had never been anointed King;2 but in virtue of a special bull from the Pope, the Bishop of St Andrews poured the holy oil on the head of his successor.3
Notwithstanding the wise adminis tration of Randolph, the aspect of public affairs in Scotland began to be alarming, and the probability of a rup ture with England became every day more apparent. The designs of Ed ward Baliol, and the dissembling con duct of Edward the Third, have been al ready alluded to; and it unfortunately happened that there were circum stances in the present state of Scotland which gave encouragement to these schemes of ambition. During the wars of King Robert, many English barons who had been possessed of estates in that country, and not a few Scottish nobles who had treacherously leagued with England, were disinherited by Bruce, and the lands seized by the crown. By the treaty of Northamp ton, it was expressly provided that the Scottish estates of three of those English barons, Henry Percy, Thomas Lord Wake, and Henry Beaumont, should be restored. Percy was accord ingly restored, but, notwithstanding
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 302.
2 Winton, book viii. chap. 24, p. 137, vol. ii.
3 The coronation oath, in its full extent, is not given by any ancient historian ; but in one part of it the king solemnly swore that he would not alienate the crown lands, or any of the rents of the same; and that whatever lands and revenues fell to the crown, should not be bestowed upon subjects without mature advice.—Robertson’s Parl. Records of Scot land, p. 97.
the repeated requisitions of the English king, the Scottish regent delayed per formance of the stipulations in favour of Wake and Beaumont, and there were strong reasons both in justice and expediency for this delay.4 Wake claimed the lordship of Liddel, which would have given him an entrance into Scotland by the Western Marches, while Beaumont, one of the most powerful barons in England, who, in right of his wife, claimed the lands and earldom of Buchan, might have excited disturbances, and facilitated the descent of an enemy upon the coast. These were not the only con siderations which induced Randolph to suspend performance of this part of the engagement. Henry de Beaumont and Lord Wake had violently opposed the whole treaty of Northampton, and declared themselves enemies to the peace with Scotland; they had leagued with the disinherited Scottish barons, and had instigated Baliol to an inva sion of that country, and an assertion of his claim to the crown. The Eng lish king, on the other hand, although speciously declaring his intention to respect that treaty,5 extended his pro tection to Edward Baliol; and when he was perfectly aware that a secret conspiracy for the invasion of Scotland was fostered in his court, of which Baliol, Wake, and Beaumont, were the principal movers, he yet preposter ously demanded of Randolph to restore Beaumont and Wake to their estates in that country.6
The power and opulence of Beau mont induced the whole body of the disinherited barons 7 to combine their strength; and, aware that no effectual measures for suppressing their attempt would be used by Edward,8 they openly put themselves at the head of three
4 Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 461.
5 Rymer, vol. iv. p. 470.
6 Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 445, 452, 511, and 518.
7 Their names and titles are given by Le- land, Collect, vol. i. pp. 552, 553. The an cestors of Lord Ferrers, one of these disin herited lords, were settled in Scotland as far back as 1288. See Excerpta ex Rotulis Com- pot. Temp. Alex. III. p. 56, Chamberlain’s Accounts.
8 Rapin’s Acta Regia, vol. i. p. 201. Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 590.
164 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
hundred armed horse and a small body of infantry, and declared their design of subverting the government of Bruce, and placing Baliol on the throne. It was their first intention to invade Scotland by the marches, but to this the King of England would not con sent : he allowed them, however, with out any offer of opposition, to embark at Ravenshire, near the mouth of the Humber, with the design of making a descent on the coast, while, to pre serve the appearance of the good faith which he had broken, he published a proclamation, enjoining his subjects strictly to observe the treaty of North ampton.1 In the meantime, Randolph the regent, who, with his wonted acti vity, had put himself at the head of an army to resist these hostile designs. died suddenly, without any apparent cause,2 and not without the strongest suspicion of his having been poisoned. Winton and Barbour, both historians of high credit, and the last almost a contemporary, assert that he came by his death in this foul manner, and that the poison was administered to him at a feast held at his palace of the Wemyss, by a friar who was suborned by the faction of Beaumont.3 It is certain, at least, that the friar took guilt to him self, by a precipitate flight to England. In the Earl of Moray Scotland lost the only man whose genius was equal to manage the affairs of the nation, under circumstances of peculiar peril and difficulty. In his mind we can discern the rare combination of a cool judgment with the utmost rapidity and energy of action; and his high and uncorrupted character, together with his great military abilities, kept down the discordant factions which began to shew themselves among the nobility, and intimidated the conspira tors who meditated the overthrow
1 Rymer, vol. iv. pp. 518, 529.
2 He died at Musselburgh, and was buried at Dunfermline, Bower’s Continuat. Fordun, vol. ii. p. 300. Hailes seems to have bor rowed his scepticism on Randolph’s death from Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 372, who gives no ground for his opinion. See Remarks on this subject, Illustrations, letters DD.
3 Winton, vol. ii. p. 146. Barbour a Pink- erton, vol. iii. p. 179. Fordun a Groodal, vol. ii. p. 299.
or the government. Upon his death, a parliament assembled at Perth for the election of his successor, and the spirit of civil disunion broke out with fatal violence. After great contention amongst the nobility, Donald, earl of Mar, nephew to the late king, was chosen regent.4 This nobleman was in every way unfitted for so arduous a situation. When a child, he had been carried into England by Edward the First, and on being released from captivity, had continued to reside in that country, and had even carried arms in the English army against Scotland. Although he was after wards restored to his country, and employed by Bruce, it was in a sub ordinate military command. The king appears to have considered his talent for war as of an inferior order, and the result shewed how well Bruce had judged.5 In the meantime, on the very day that the reins of the state fell into this feeble hand, word was brought that the fleet of Edward Baliol, and the disinherited barons, had appeared in the Forth. They landed soon after with their army at Wester Kinghorn, where the ground was so unfavourable for the disem barking of cavalry, that a small force, led by any of the old captains of Bruce, would have destroyed the daring en terprise in its commencement. But Mar, who was at the head of a Scottish army more than ten times the strength of the English, lingered at a distance, and lost the opportunity; whilst Alex ander Seton threw himself, with a handful of soldiers, upon the English, and was instantly overpowered and cut to pieces.6 Baliol immediately ad vanced to Dunfermline, where he found a seasonable supply for his small army in five hundred spears, and a quantity of provisions, laid up there by the or ders of Randolph, then recently dead.7
4 Winton, vol. ii. p. 147. Fordun a Hearne, p. 1018.
5 Barbour, pp. 387, 389. llotuli Scotiæ, 13 Ed. II. m. 3.
6 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. pp. 1018, 1019. Scala Chronicle, p. 159.
7 Leland, Collect, vol. i. p. 553. Randolph had died twelve days before. Knighton, p. 2560.
1332.] DAVID II. 165
When he first effected a landing, he had with him only four hundred men; but by this time he had collected a force of about two thousand foot sol diers ; 1 and feeling more confident, he commanded his fleet to sail round the coast, and anchor in the mouth of the Tay, while he himself pushed on to Perth, and encamped near Forteviot, having his front defended by the river Earn. On. the opposite bank lay the extensive tract called Dupplin Moor, upon which the Earl of Mar drew up his army, consisting of thirty thousand men, excellently equipped, and com manded by the principal nobility of Scotland. Eight miles to the west of Forteviot, at Auchterarder, was the Earl of March, at the head of an army nearly as numerous, with which he had advanced through the Lothians and Stirlingshire, and threatened to attack the English in flank.
Nothing could be imagined more perilous than the situation of Baliol; but he had friends in the Scottish camps.2 Some of the nobility, whose relatives had suffered in the Black Parliament, were decided enemies to the line of Bruce, and secretly favoured the faction of the disinherited barons; so that, by means of the information which they afforded him, he was en abled, with a force not exceeding three thousand men, to overwhelm the army of Mar at the moment that his own destruction appeared inevitable.3
It is asserted by an English histo rian, on the authority of an ancient manuscript chronicle, that the newly elected regent had entered into a secret correspondence with Baliol; but the conduct of that ill-fated nobleman appears to have been rather that of weakness and presumption than of treachery.4 Aware of the near pre-
1 Knighton, p. 2560. Leland, Col. vol. i. p. 553. Walsingham, p. 131. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 307, says, “six hundred was the original number.”
2 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 304.
3 Bower’s Continuat. Fordun, vol. ii. p. 301. “ Annon audivisti de internecione no- bilium in Nigro Parliamento ? Generatio eorum tibi adstabit.” Winton, vol. ii. p. 151. The place where the disinherited lords en camped was called “Millei’s Acre.”
4 Barnes’ Hist of Ed. III., p. 60.
sence of the enemy, he kept no watch, and permitted his soldiers to abandon themselves to riot and intemperance. Andrew Murray of Tullibardine, a Scottish baron, who served in the army of March, basely conducted the English to a ford in the river, which he had marked by a large stake driven into its channel.5 Setting off silently at midnight, Baliol passed the river, and marching by Gask and Dupplin, suddenly broke in upon the outposts of the Scottish camp, and commenced a dreadful slaughter of their enemies, whom they mostly found drunken and heavy with sleep.6 The surprise, al though unfortunate, was not at first completely fatal. Young Randolph, earl of Moray, Murdoch, earl of Men- teith, Robert Bruce, a natural son of King Robert, and Alexander Fraser, hastily collected three hundred troops, and with the desperate courage of men who felt that all hung upon gaining a few moments, checked the first onset and drove back the English soldiers. This gave time for the main body of the Scots to arm, and as the morning had now broke, the small numbers of the assailants became apparent. But the military incapacity of the regent destroyed the advantage which might have been improved, to the total dis comfiture of Baliol. Rushing down at the head of his army, without order or discipline, the immense mass of soldiers became huddled and pressed together; spearmen, bowmen, horses, and infantry, were confounded in a heap, which bore down headlong upon the English, and in an instant over whelmed Randolph and his little phalanx.7 The confusion soon be came inextricable : multitudes of the Scottish soldiers were suffocated and trodden down by their own men ; and the English, preserving their discipline, and under brave and experienced leaders, made a pitiless slaughter.
The rout now became total, and the carnage, for it could not be called a battle, continued from early dawn till nine in the morning, by which
5 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 307.
6 Ibid. p. 305.
7 Winton, vol. ii. pp. 152, 153.
166 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
time the whole of the Scottish army was slain, dispersed, or taken prisoners. So rapid and easy had been the victory, that the English ascribed it to a mi raculous interference for their preser vation, and the Scots to a sudden in fliction of divine vengeance. But the military incapacity of Mar, and the treachery of Murray, sufficiently ac count for the disaster.
On examining the field it was found that multitudes had perished without stroke of weapon, overridden by their own cavalry, suffocated by the pres sure and weight of their armour, or trod under foot by the fury with which the rear ranks had pressed upon the front.1 On one part of the ground the dead bodies lay so thick that the mass of the slain was a spear’s length in depth.2 It is difficult to estimate the numbers of those who fell; but amongst them were some of the bravest of the Scottish nobility. The young Randolph, earl of Moray, whose conduct that day had been worthy of his great father ; Robert, earl of Car- rick, a natural son of King Edward Bruce; Alexander Fraser, Chamber lain of Scotland, who had married the sister of the late king ; Murdoch, earl of Menteith, and the Regent Mar him self, were amongst the slain. In addi tion to these, there fell many Scottish knights and men-at-arms, and probably not less than thirteen thousand infan try and camp followers.3 Duncan, earl of Fife, was made prisoner after a brave resistance, in which three hun dred and sixty men-at-arms, who fought under his banner, were slain. Of the English the loss was incon siderable : besides those of less note, it included only two knights and thirty-three esquires, a disparity in the numbers which, although very great, is not without parallel in his tory.4 There does not occur in our Scottish annals a greater or more calamitous defeat than the rout at Dupplin, even when stripped of the
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 305.
2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 155. Laner. Chron. p. 268.
3 Walsingham, p. 131. Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1019.
4 At Cressy, the English lost only three knights and one esquire.
additions of some English historians.5 It was disgraceful, too, as its cause is to be found in the military incapacity of Mar the leader, and in the acknow ledged treachery of one, and probably of more than one, of the Scottish barons. The principal of these, Mur ray of Tullibardine, was speedily over taken by the punishment which he deserved: he was made prisoner at Perth, tried, condemned, and exe cuted.6
After the battle of Dupplin, Baliol instantly pressed forward and took possession of Perth, which he fortified by palisades, with the intention of abiding there the assault of the enemy, for the Earl of March was still at the head of a powerful army of thirty thousand men. March was a baron of great landed power, but lightly esteemed by all parties;7 timid, and intent upon his own interest, unwill ing to peril his great estates by an adherence to the losing side, and pos sessed of no military talents. Upon hearing the account of the defeat at Dupplin, he passed with his army over the field of battle, which presented a ghastly confirmation of the tale ; and on reaching Lammerkin Wood, com manded the soldiers to cut fagots and branches to be used in filling up the fosse, should they assault Perth, against which town he now advanced. The near approach of so great an army alarmed the citizens, who began to barricade the streets and the approach to their houses. But on reaching the high ground immediately above the town, March commanded his men to halt. Beaumont, who intently watched his operations, observing this, called out “to take courage, for he knew they had friends in that army, and need fear no assault.”8 It is probable that, in the halt made by March, Beaumont recognised a sign of his friendly intentions, which had been previously agreed on. It is probable,
5 Echard, p. 145. Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 372.
6 Fordun a Hearno, vol. iv. p. 1020. For- dun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 307.
7 Scala Chron. p. 161. Hailes, vol. ii. p. 189. 8vo edition.
8 Winton, vol. ii. p. 156. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 306.
1332.] DAVID II 167
at least, that this powerful baron himself, and certain that some of his leaders, had engaged in a correspond ence with Baliol; as the intended as sault was delayed, and the protracted measure of a blockade preferred; a change which, in the mutual situation of the two parties, can be accounted for on no ground but that of a friendly feeling to Baliol. At this moment, Crab, the Flemish mercenary, appeared with his fleet in the Tay, and attacked the English ships. He was at first successful, and made a prize of the Beaumondscogge, Henry de Beau- mont’s vessel; but the rest of the squadron defended themselves with such resolution, that in the end Crab was defeated, and compelled to fly to Berwick.1 This disaster gave March a plausible pretext for deserting. The blockade was changed into a retrograde movement, which soon after ended in the total dispersion of the Scottish army, and, after a decent interval, in the accession of the Earl of March to the English interest.2
1 Walsingham, p. 130. The Cogga de Ben- mond, or Beaumondscogge. was purchased by the State in 1337. It had become the property of Reginald More, Chamberlain of Scotland, who sold it to the king for two hundred pounds. Chamberlain’s Accounts, p. 256.
2 Lord Hailes, Ann. vol. ii. p. 155, in a note, exculpates March, and softens his ac cession to the English lords. He tries to shew that March raised the leaguer of Perth not from treachery but necessity. It is evi dent that much of the question as to March’s treachery, and that of the “noble persons” who acted along with him, hangs on Beau- mont’s speech. Now, Hailes has curtailed it. Beaumont really said, “Take courage, for that army, as I conjecture, will not hurt us, because I perceive, without doubt, our friends and well-wishers amongst them.” The author of the Annals makes him say, “Take cour age, these men will not hurt us ;“ and he then observes, “Whether he said this merely to animate the English, or whether he formed his conjecture from the disordered motions of the enemy, or whether he indeed discerned the banners of some noble persons who secretly favoured Baliol, is uncertain.” Now there is really no uncertainty about the speech. Beaumont, in the part of the pas sage which Hailes has overlooked, expressly affirmed that he perceived friends in March’s army. Had he consulted Winton, he would have found that this old and authentic chronicler, vol. ii. p. 156, makes Beaumont gay—
Baliol, secure from all opposition for the present, now repaired to Scone, and in the presence of many of the gentry from Fife, Gowry, and Strathern, was crowned King of Scotland.3 Duncan, earl of Fife, who had joined the Eng lish party, and Sinclair, bishop of Dun- keld, officiated at the solemnity.
The chief causes which led to this remarkable revolution, destined for a short time to overthrow the dynasty of Bruce, are not difficult of discovery. The concluding part of the late king’s reign, owing to the severity with which he punished the conspiracy of Brechin, had been unpopular; and part of the discontented nobility were not slow in turning their eyes from the line of Bruce, which his great energy and military talents had compelled them to respect, to the claims of Baliol, weak in personal power, but, as they imagined, better supported in right and justice. A party of English barons, headed by Henry Beaumont, one of the most influential subjects in England, having been dispossessed by Bruce of their estates in Scotland, determined to recover them by the sword, and united themselves with Baliol, concealing their private ambi tion under the cloak of re-establishing the rightful heir upon the throne. They were mostly men of great power, and were all of them more or less con nected with the numerous sept of the Comyns, the inveterate enemies of Bruce. They received private encour agement and support from the King of England, and they began their en terprise when the civil government in Scotland, and the leading of its armies, was in the hands of Mar and March: the first a person of no talents or energy, and suspected of being in clined to betray his trust; the second undoubtedly a favourer of the Eng lish party.
There was nothing, therefore, extra ordinary in the temporary recovery of the crown by Baliol; but a short time shewed him how little dependence was
“Look that ye be Merry and glad, and have no doubt, For we have friends in yon rout.” 3 Winton. vol. ii. p. 157.
168 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
to be placed on such a possession. The friends of the line of Bruce were still numerous in the country: amongst them were the oldest and most ex perienced soldiers in Scotland; and the feelings of the nation were en tirely on their side. Their first step was a decided one. Anxious for the safety of the young king, then a boy in his ninth year, they sent him and his youthful queen with speed to the court of France, where they were hon ourably and affectionately received by Philip the Sixth.1
Perth had been fortified by the dis inherited lords; after which Baliol made a progress to the southern parts of Scotland, and committed the cus tody of the town to the Earl of Fife. It was soon after attacked and stormed by Sir Simon Fraser and Sir Robert Keith, who destroyed the fortifica tions, and took the constable Fife and his daughter prisoners. Upon this first gleam of success, Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, who had married Christian, the sister of the late king, was chosen regent. Meanwhile Baliol, with ready pusillanimity, hastened to surrender to Edward the liberties of Scotland; and the English king moved on to the borders with the declared purpose of attending to the safety of that divided country. The transac tions which followed at Roxburgh throw a strong light upon the charac ters of both sovereigns.
After his many hypocritical declara tions as to the observation of the treaty of Northampton, the English king now dropt the mask, and de clared that the successes of Baliol in Scotland were procured by the assist ance of his good subjects, and with his express permission or sufferance.2 In return for this assistance, Baliol ac knowledged Edward as his feudal lord, and promised that he would be true and loyal to the English king and to his heirs, the rightful sovereigns of the kingdom of Scotland. In addition to this, he agreed to put Edward in
1 Winton, vol. ii.p. 158. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 307.
2 Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 538. The deed is dated Roxburgh, 23d November 1332.
possession of the town, castle, and territory of Berwick, and of other lands upon the marches, extending to the value of two thousand pounds; and, affecting to consider the Princess Joanna of England as only betrothed to King David Bruce, he proposed himself as a more convenient match, and offered to provide for David Bruce in whatever way Edward should think fit. He lastly promised to assist the English king, in all his wars, with two hundred men-at-arms, maintained at his own charges; and he engaged that his successors should furnish a hun dred men-at-arms for the same service. The penalty affixed to the breach of this agreement was a fatal part of the treaty. If Baliol, or his successors, neglected to appear in the field, they became obliged to pay to England the enormous sum of two hundred thou sand pounds sterling; and if this money could not be raised, it was agreed that Edward should take possession of the “ remainder of Scotland and the isles.” This last obligation, which was to be perpetually in force, evidently gave Edward the power of draining Scot land of its best soldiers, and, in the event of resistance, of at once seizing and appropriating the kingdom.3
Thus, in a moment of sordid selfish ness, were the chains, which had cost Robert Bruce thirty years’ war to break, again attempted to be fixed upon a free country, and this by the degenerate hands of one of her own children. But Baliol’s hour of pros perity was exceeding brief. Strong, as he imagined, in the protection of the King of England, and encouraged in his security by the readiness with which many of the Scottish barons had consented to recognise his title,4 the new king lay carelessly encamped at Annan, not aware of the approach of a body of armed horse, under the command of the Earl of Moray, the second son of the great Randolph, along with Sir Simon Fraser and Archibald Douglas, brother to Bruce’s old companion-in-arms, the Good Sir
3 Fœdera, vol. iv. pp. 536 and 548. 4 Fordun a Hearne, pp. 1020, 1021. Win- ton, vol. ii. p. 159.
1332-3.] DAVID II. 169
James. These barons, informed of the new king’s remissness in his disci pline, made a sudden and rapid march from Moffat, in the twilight of a De cember evening, and broke in upon him at midnight. Taken completely by surprise, the nobles who were with him, and their vassals and retainers, were put to the sword without mercy. Henry Baliol, his brother, after a gallant resistance, was slain; and Walter Comyn, Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir Richard Kirby, met their deaths along with him. Alexander, earl of Carrick, was made prisoner; and Baliol, in fear of his life, and almost naked, threw himself upon a horse, and with difficulty escaped into England.1 Carrick, the natural son of King Edward Bruce, would have been executed as a traitor, but young Ran dolph interfered and saved his life. With the assistance of strangers and mercenary troops, it had cost Baliol only seven weeks to gain a crown : in less than three months it was torn from his brow, he himself chased from Scotland, and cast once more a fugitive and an exile upon the charity of Eng land.2
Encouraged by this success, and incensed at the assistance given by Edward to Baliol and the disinherited lords, the Scottish leaders began to retaliate by breaking in upon the English borders. It is a singular in stance of diplomatic effrontery that the English king, on hearing of this in vasion, accused the Scots of having violated the treaty of Northampton ;3 in his correspondence with the King of France and the court of Rome, he does not hesitate to cast upon that nation the whole blame of the recom mencement of the war ;4 and as if this
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 161. Lanercost Chron. p. 271.
2 He landed 31st July, and was crowned 24th Sept. He was surprised and chased into England on 16th December.
3 Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 552.
4 During the whole period of his intrigues and alliance with Baliol, both before and after his successes in Scotland, Edward had taken especial care, in his correspondence with Rome, to keep the Pope ignorant of the real state of Scottish affairs ; and the cause of this sedulous concealment was the dread of
was not enough, the English historians accuse them, in broad terms, of having attacked Baliol at Annan during the existence of a truce. Both the one and the other assertion appear to be unfounded.5
Hostilities having again broke out between the two nations, the border inroads recommenced with their accus tomed fury; but at first were attended with circumstances disastrous for Scot land. It happened that Baliol, after his flight from Annan, had experienced the Christmas hospitality of Lord Dacres; in return for which kindness, Archibald Douglas, at the head of a small army of three thousand men, broke in upon Gillsland, and wasted the country belonging to Dacres with fire and sword, spreading desolation for a distance of thirty miles, and carrying off much booty. To revenge this, Sir Anthony Lucy of Cocker- mouth, and William of Lochmaben, with eight hundred men, penetrated into Scotland; but on their return were encountered by Sir William Douglas, commonly called the Knight of Liddesdale, and at that time keeper of Lochmaben castle. After a conflict, in which Lucy was grievously wounded, Douglas was totally defeated. Of the Scots, a hundred and sixty men-at-arms, including Sir Humphrey Jardine, Sir Humphrey Boys, and William Carlisle, were left on the field, and the best of the chivalry of Annandale were either slain or made captive.6 Amongst the prisoners were Douglas himself, Sir William Baird, and a hundred other knights and gentlemen.
So anxious was Edward to secure the prize he had won in the Knight of Liddesdale, a natural son of the Good Sir James, who inherited his father’s remarkable talents for war, that he issued orders for his strict
being subjected in the payment of two thousand pounds, the stipulated fine in case he infringed the treaty. Knighton, p. 256.
5 Lingard’s Hist, of England, vol. iv. p. 23. The passage in Knighton, p. 2562, does not seem to me conclusive ; for neither March nor Douglas were at the head of affairs, but Sir Andrew Moray.
6 Walsingham, p. 132.
170 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
confinement in iron fetters;1 and Baliol having, a short time before this success, again entered Scotland, and established himself in the castle of Roxburgh, endeavoured to confirm his authority in Annandale, by bestowing the lands of the knights who were slain upon his English followers.2
Another disaster followed hard upon the defeat of Douglas at Lochmaben. The regent, Sir Andrew Moray, with a strong body of soldiers, attacked and attempted to storm the castle of Rox burgh, where Baliol then lay. A severe conflict took place on the bridge; and in the onset, Ralph Golding, an esquire in the regent’s service, pushing on far before the rest, was overpowered by the English. Moray, in the ardour of the moment, more mindful of his duty as a knight than a loader, at tempted singly to rescue him, and instantly shared his fate.3 Disdaining to surrender to any inferior knight, he demanded to be led to the King of England; and being brought to Ed ward, was thrown into prison, where he remained for two years. The Scots, who at their greatest need had lost in Douglas and Moray two of their best soldiers, endeavoured to supply their place by conferring the office of regent upon Archibald Douglas, lord of Gal loway, the brother of the Good Sir James.4
In consequence of these advantages, Edward determined to carry on the war with renewed spirit. He as sembled a powerful army, besought the prayers of the Church for his suc cess, and wrote to the Earl of Flanders, and to the magistrates of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres, requesting them to abstain from rendering assistance to the Scots.5 He informed the King of France, who had interposed his good offices in behalf of his ancient allies, that, as they had repeatedly broken the peace, by invading and despoiling his country, he was necessi-
1 Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 552.
2 Rotuli Scotiæ, 8 Ed. III., 18th Nov. vol. i. p. 294.
3 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 309, 310. 4 Ibid. p. 310.
5 Itotuli Scotiæ, 7 Ed. III., vol. i. pp. 233, 204. Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 556.
tated to repel such outrages by force of arms ; 6 and having taken these pre liminary steps, he put himself at the head of his army, and sat down before Berwick.
The Scots, on their side, were not unprepared to receive him. Although Crab’s disaster, in the former year, had weakened their strength by sea, they still possessed a fleet of ships of war, which committed great havoc on the English coasts, and plundered their seaports;7 and Douglas, the regent, exerted himself to raise an army equal to the emergency. The defence of the castle of Berwick was imprudently committed to the Earl of March, whose conduct, after the battle of Dupplin, had evinced already the strongest lean ing to the English interest; the com mand of the town was intrusted to Sir Alexander Seton.8 The garrison ap pears neither to have been numerous nor well supplied; but for some time they made a gallant defence, and suc ceeded in sinking and destroying by fire a great part of the English fleet. Edward at first attempted to fill up the ditch with hurdles, and to carry the town by assault; but having been repulsed, he converted the attack into a blockade ; and as the strength and extent of his lines enabled him to cut off all supplies, it became apparent that, if not relieved, Berwick eventually must fall. After a protracted block ade, a negotiation took place, by which the besieged agreed to capitulate by a certain day, unless succours were thrown into the town before that time; and for the performance of the stipulations, the Scots delivered host ages to Edward, amongst whom was a son of Seton, the governor.9 The pe riod had nearly expired, when, one morning at the break of day, the citi zens, to their great joy, saw the army of Scotland, led by the regent in per son, approach the Tweed, and cross the river at the Yare ford. They ap proached Berwick on the south side of
6 Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 557.
7 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 233. 249, and 252.
8 Scala Chron. pp. 162, 163, and Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 272. Compot. Camerarii Scotiæ, p. 255.
9 Ibid.
1333.] DAVID II. 171
the river; and although the English endeavoured to defend every passage, Sir William Keith, Sir William Pren- dergest, and Sir Alexander Gray, with a body of Scottish soldiers, succeeded in throwing themselves into the town. The main body of the Scots, after hav ing remained drawn up in order of battle, and in sight of the English army, for a day and a half, struck their tents at noon of the second day, and, with the hope of producing a diversion, entered Northumberland, and wasted the country. But although they menaced Bamborough Castle, where Edward had placed his young queen, that monarch, intent upon his object, continued before Berwick; and on the departure of the Scottish army, peremptorily required the town to be given up, as the term stipulated for their being succoured had expired. With this demand the besieged refused to comply : they asserted that they had received succours, both of men and of provisions; the knights, they said, who had led these succours, were now with them; out of their number they had chosen new governors, of whom Sir William Keith was one; and they declared their intention of defend ing the city to the last extremity.1 Edward upbraided the citizens, ac cused them of duplicity, and requested the advice of his council with regard to the treatment of the hostages. It was their opinion that the Scots had broken the stipulations of the treaty, and that their lives were forfeited. The king then commanded the son of the late governor to prepare for death, expecting that the threatened severity of the example, and the rank and in fluence of his father, would induce the townsmen to surrender. But he was disappointed; and Thomas Seton, a comely and noble-looking youth, was hanged before the gate of the town,’2 so near, it is said, that the unhappy father could witness the execution from the walls.3 Immediately after this, the citizens became alarmed for the lives of the rest of the hostages,
1 Scala Chron. pp. 163, 164.
2 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1022.
3 See Illustrations, letters EE.
and from affection for their children, renewed the negotiations for surren der, unless succoured before a certain day. To this resolution Keith, their governor, encouraged them, by holding out the sure hope of the siege being raised by the Scottish army, which he represented as superior to that of Eng land.4 Unhappily they embraced his advice. It was stipulated, in a solemn instrument yet preserved, and with a minuteness which should leave no room for a second misunderstanding, that Berwick was to be given up to the English, unless the Scots, before or on the 19th of July, should succeed in throwing two hundred men-at-arms into the town by dry land, or should overcome the English army in a pitched field.5
Keith, the governor of the town, was permitted, by the treaty of capi tulation, to have an interview with the regent, Archibald Douglas. He repre sented the desperate situation of the citizens; magnified the importance of the town, which must be lost, he said, unless immediately relieved; and per suaded the regent to risk a battle. The resolution was the most imprudent that could have been adopted. It was contrary to the dying injunctions of Bruce, who had recommended his cap tains never to hazard a battle if they could protract the war and lay waste the country; and especially so at this moment, as desertion and mutiny now began to shew themselves in the Eng lish army, which all the endeavours of Edward had not been able to suppress.6 Notice, too, had reached the camp,
4 Scala Chron. in Hailes, pp. 163, 164. Ad Murimuth, p. 80. Hailes says, and quotes Fordun, book xiii. chap, xxvii. as his autho rity, that during a general assault the town was set on fire, and in a great measure con sumed ; and that the inhabitants, dreading a storm, implored Sir William Keith and the Earl of March to seek terms of capitulation. Neither Fordun, nor his continuator, Bower, nor Winton, say anything of the town having been set on fire. The English historians, Walsingham and Hemingford, indeed assert it; but it is not to be found in the narrative of the Scala Chronicle, which appears to be the most authentic ; I have therefore omitted it,
5 Fœdera, vol. iv. pp. 566, 567.
6 Rotuli Scot. 7 Ed. III. in. 26, dorso, vol. i. p. 235.
172 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
of illegal meetings and confederations having taken place in London during the king’s absence, and the people of the northern shires had peremptorily refused to join the army; so that there was every probability that it must soon have been disbanded.1
It was in expectation of this result, Seton, the former governor, had de termined to hold out the town to the last extremity, and sternly refused to capitulate, although the life of his son hung upon the issue. But his resolu tion was counteracted by the rashness of Keith, the new governor of the town, as well as by the excusable affection of the citizens for their sons, who were hostages. The regent suf fered himself to be overruled ; and on the day before the festival of the Virgin, being the 18th of July, the Scottish army crossed the Tweed, and encamped at a place called Dunsepark. Upon this, Edward Baliol and the King of England drew up their forces on the eminence of Halidon Hill, situated to the west of the town of Berwick. Nothing could be more advantageous than the position of the English. They were divided into four great battles, each of which was flanked by choice bodies of archers. A marsh separated the hill on which they stood from the opposite emi nence, and on this rising ground the Scottish commanders halted and ar ranged their army.2 It consisted also of four divisions, led respectively by the regent Douglas; the Steward of Scotland, then a youth of seventeen, under the direction of his uncle, Sir James Stewart; the Earl of Moray, son of Randolph, assisted by two veteran leaders of approved valour, James and Simon Fraser; and the Earl of Ross. The nature of the ground rendered it impossible for the English position to be attacked by
1 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 234, 244.
2 I take this from an interesting and curi ous manuscript preserved in the British Museum, Bib. Harleiana, No. 4690, of which I find a transcript by Macpherson, the editor of Winton, and an accurate investigator into Scottish history, in his MS. Notes on Lord Hailes’ Annals. As it has never been printed, I have given it in the Illustrations, letters FF. Winton, vol. ii. p. 169.
cavalry. Their adversaries accordingly fought on foot, and the leaders and heavy-armed knights having dis mounted, delivered their horses to be kept by the camp-boys in the rear. Before reaching their enemy, it was necessary for the Scottish army to march through the soft and unequal ground of the marsh; an enterprise which required much time, and was full of danger, as it inevitably exposed the whole host to the discharge of the English archers, the fatal effects of which they had experienced in many a bloody field. Yet, contrary to the advice of the elder officers, who had been trained under Bruce and Ran dolph, this desperate attempt was made; and the Scots, with their characteristic impetuosity, eagerly advanced through the marsh. The consequence was what might have been expected: their ranks, crowded together, soon fell into confusion; their advance was retarded; and the English archers, who had time for a steady aim, plied their bows with such deadly effect, that great numbers were every instant slain or disabled. An ancient manuscript says that the arrows flew as thick as motes in the sunbeam, and that their enemies fell to the ground by thousands.3 It could not indeed be otherwise; for from the nature of the ground it was impossible to come to close fighting; and having no archers, they were slaughtered without resistance—the English remaining in the meantime uninjured, with their trumpets and nakers sounding amid the groans of their dying opponents. Upon this dreadful carnage many of the Scots began to fly ; but the better part of the army, led on by the nobility, at last extricated themselves from the marsh, and pressing up the hill, attacked the enemy with great fury. It was difficult, however, for men, breathless by climbing the ac clivity, and dispirited by the loss sustained in the marsh, to contend against fresh troops admirably posted, and under excellent discipline; so
3 MS. Harleian, Illustrations, letters GG. Ad Murimuth. p. 80.
1333-4.] DAVID II. 173
that, although they for a little time fiercely sustained the battle, their efforts being unconnected, the day, in spite of all their exertions, went against them.
The Earl of Ross, in leading the reserve to attack the wing where Baliol commanded, was driven back and slain. Soon after, the Regent Douglas was mortally wounded and made prisoner. The Earls of Lennox, Athole, Carrick, and Sutherland, along with James and Simon Fraser, were struck down and killed; while the English, advancing in firm array with their long spears, entirely broke and drove off the field the remains of the Scottish army. In the pursuit which succeeded, the carnage was great. Besides the nobles and barons already mentioned, John Stewart and James Stewart, uncles of the Steward of Scotland, were mortally wounded, Malise, earl of Strathern, John de Graham, Alexander de Lindesay, and other barons, were also slain; and with them fell, on the lowest calcula tion, fourteen thousand men. Such was the disastrous defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill.1 The battle was fought on the 20th day of July, and the English monarch immediately addressed letters to the archbishops and bishops of his dominions, directing them to return thanks to God for so signal a victory.2
In the conflicting accounts of the various annalists, the exact number of the two armies, and the extent of the
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 170. Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1021. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 311.
2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 166, says the Scots had an army fully sixty thousand strong. It is observed by Edward, in his letters ordaining a public thanksgiving, that the victory was obtained without great loss upon his side ; an expression proving the inaccuracy of the assertion of the English historians, that of their army only thirteen foot soldiers, with one knight and one esquire, were slain. Nor is it unworthy of remark that the king makes no allusion to any inferiority of force upon the English side ; which, had such been the case, he could scarcely have failed to do, if we consider the subject of his letter. When the English historians inform us that the Scots were five times more numerous than their opponents, we must consider it as exag geration.
loss on either side, cannot be easily ascertained. It seems probable that nearly the whole of the men-at-arms in the Scottish ranks were put to the sword either in the battle or in the pursuit; and that of the confused multitude which escaped, the greater part were pages, sutlers, and camp followers. So great was the slaughter of the nobility, that, after the battle, it was currently said amongst the English that the Scottish wars were at last ended, since not a man was left of that nation who had either skill or power to assemble an army or direct its operations.3
The consequences of the battle of Halidon were the immediate delivery of the town and castle of Berwick into the hands of the English, and the subsequent submission of almost the whole kingdom to Baliol, who tra versed it with an army which found no enemy to oppose it.4 Five strong castles, however, still remained in possession of the adherents of David, and these eventually served as so many rallying points to the friends of liberty. These fortresses were Dum barton, which was held by Malcolm Fleming ; Urquhart, in Inverness- shire, commanded by Thomas Lauder; Lochleven, by Alan de Vipont; Kil- drummie, by Christian Bruce, the sister of Robert the First; and Loch- maben, by Patrick de Chartres.5 A stronghold in Lochdon, on the borders of Carrick, was also retained for David Bruce by John Thomson, a brave soldier of fortune, and probably the same person who, after the fatal battle of Dundalk, led home from Ireland the broken remains of the army of King Edward Bruce.6
Patrick, earl of March, who had long been suspected of a secret leaning to the English, now made his peace with them, and swore fealty to Ed ward, and along with him many per sons of rank and authority were com pelled to pay a temporary homage; but the measures which this monarch
3 Murimuth, p. 81.
4 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 311.
5 Rotuli Scotiæ, 8 Ed. III. vol. i. p. 274. 6 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 311.
174 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
adopted on making himself master of Berwick were little calculated to con ciliate the minds of those whom he somewhat prematurely considered as a conquered people. He seized and forfeited the estates of all the barons in the county of Berwick who held their property by charter from King Robert; in giving leases of houses within the town, or of lands within the shire, he prohibited his tenants and vassals from subleasing them to any except Englishmen;1 he directed the warden of the town to transport into England all the Scottish monks whom he suspected of instilling rebel lious principles into their countrymen, to be there dispersed amongst the monasteries of their respective orders on the south side of the Trent; and he commanded the chiefs of the dif ferent monastic orders in that country to depute to Scotland some of their most talented brethren, who were capable of preaching pacific and salu tary doctrines to the people, and of turning their hostility into friendship. Orders were also transmitted to the magistrates of London and other prin cipal towns in the kingdom, directing them to invite merchants and traders to settle in Berwick, under promise of ample privileges and immunities ; and, in the anticipation that these measures might still be inadequate to keep down the spirit of resistance, he emptied the prisons throughout his dominions of several thousands of criminals con demned for murder and other heinous offences, and presented them with a free pardon, on the condition of their serving him in his Scottish wars.2
Baliol having thus possessed himself of the crown by foreign assistance, seemed determined to complete the humiliation of his country. An as sembly of his party was held at Edin burgh on the 10th of February. Lord Geoffrey Scrope, High Justiciar of England, attended as commissioner from Edward, along with Sir Edward Bohun, Lord William Montague, Sir Henry Percy, and Ralph Neville,
1 Rotuli Scotiæ, 8 Ed. III. vol. i. pp. 272, 275. 2 Ibid. 7 Ed. III. vol. i. p. 254.
seneschal of England. As was to be expected, everything was managed by English influence. Lord Henry Beau mont, the Earl of Athole, and Lord Richard Talbot, were rewarded with the extensive possessions of the Co- myns in Buchan and Badenoch. The vale of Annandale and Moffatdale, with the fortress of Lochmaben, were bestowed upon Lord Henry Percy; and the Earl of Surrey, Ralph Lord Neville, of Raby, Lord John Mow- bray, and Sir Edward Bohun, were remunerated for their labours in the Scottish war by grants of the estates of those who had fallen at Halidon, or who were forfeited for their adherence to David Bruce. To his royal patron more extensive sacrifices were due. Not only was the town, castle, and extensive county of Berwick surren dered to the King of England, but the forests of Jedburgh, Selkirk, and Ettrick, the wealthy counties of Rox burgh, Peebles, Dumfries, and Edin burgh ; the constabularies of Liniith- gow and Haddington, with the j towns and castles situated within these ex tensive districts, were, by a solemn instrument, annexed for ever to the kingdom of England.3
To complete the dismemberment of the kingdom, there was only wanting a surrender of the national liberties. Baliol accordingly appeared before Edward at Newcastle, acknowledged him for his liege lord, and swore fealty for the kingdom of Scotland and the Isles. Edward, thus rendered master of the fairest and most populous part of Scotland, hastened to send English governors to his new dominions;4 while the friends of the young king once more retired into the mountains and fastnesses, and waited for a favour able opportunity of rising against their oppressors. Nor was it long ere an occasion presented itself. Dissen sions broke out amongst those English barons to whose valour Baliol owed his restoration; and a petty family quarrel gave rise to an important counter-revolution.
3 Rymer, Fœdera, vol. iv. pp. 614, 616. Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 261, 262. 4 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 263.
1334.] DAVID II. 175
The brother of Alexander de Mow- bray died, leaving daughters; but no male heirs; upon which Mowbray claimed the estate, in exclusion of the heirs-female, and, by a decision of Baliol, was put in possession:1 an award the more extraordinary as it went to destroy his own title to the crown. The cause of the disinherited daughters was warmly espoused by Henry de Beaumont, Richard Talbot, and the Earl of Athole, all of them connected by marriage with the power ful family of the Comyns; and, upon the denial of their suit by Baliol, these fierce barons retired in disgust from court. Beaumont, taking the law into his own hands, retreated to his strong castle of Dundarg in Buchan, and seized a large portion of the disputed lands which lay in that earldom. Athole removed to his strongholds in the country of Athole; and Talbot, who had married the daughter of the Red Comyn slain by Bruce,2 collected his vassals and prepared for war.
Encouraged by this disunion amongst their enemies, the old friends of the dynasty of Bruce began again to reap pear from their concealment; and, at this favourable conjuncture, Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell3 was released from his captivity, and returned to Scotland. At the same time some Scottish ships of war, assisted by a fleet of their allies laden with provisions and arms, and well manned with soldiers, hov ered on the coast, and threatened to intercept the English vessels which had been sent by Edward with supplies for his adherents.4 Baliol, in the meantime irresolute and alarmed, re treated to Berwick, and reversed his decision in favour of Mowbray. But this step came too late to conciliate Beaumont, and it entirely alienated Mowbray, who, eager to embrace any method of humbling his rivals, went over with his friends and vassals to
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 312. Winton, vol. ii. p. 175.
2 Macpherson’s Notes on Winton, vol. ii. pp. 506, 509. Scala Chron. p. 165.
3 Erroneously called by Maitland, vol. i. p. 520, the Earl of Bothwell.
4 Rotuli Scot, vol. i. p. 279. 20th Sept, 1334.
the party of David Bruce, and cordi ally co-operated with Moray, the late regent.
And now the kingdom which Ed ward so lately believed his own, on the first gleam of returning hope, was up in arms, and ready again to become the theatre of mortal debate. Talbot, in an attempt to pass with a body of soldiers into England, was attacked and taken prisoner by Sir William Keith of Galston; six of the knights who accompanied him, and many of his armed vassals, being put to the sword.5 He was instantly shut up in the strong fortress of Dumbarton; and one of their most powerful oppo nents being disposed of, Moray and Mowbray hastened to besiege Beau mont in the castle of Dundarg. This, however, was no easy enterprise. Situated on a precipitous rock over hanging the Moray Firth, the strong retreat which the English baron had chosen was connected with the main land by a neck of land so narrow, that a few resolute men could defend it against a multitude. To attempt to storm it would have been certain de feat ; and Moray chose rather, by a strict blockade, to compel a surrender. An unexpected circumstance accele rated his success. Having discovered the situation of the pipes which sup plied the garrison with water, he mined the ground, cut them through, and reduced the besieged to extre mity. Beaumont capitulated, and, upon payment of a high ransom, was per mitted to retire into England.6
Amongst the numerous confiscations which followed his brief possession of power, Baliol had conferred the exten sive possessions of Robert, the Steward of Scotland, upon the Earl of Athole; while this young baron, stript of his lands, and compelled to be a wanderer, had lain concealed in Bute since the defeat at Halidon Hill, and escaped the search of his enemies. With a prudence and determination superior
5 Walsingham, p. 134. Leland, Collect, vol. i. p. 554. Eordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 325.
6 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 312. Stat. Acc. of Scotland, vol. xii. p. 578.
176 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
to his years, he now organised a plan for escaping to the castle of Dumbar ton, in which he happily succeeded. Two old vassals of the family, named Gibson and Heriot, brought a boat to Rothesay late in the evening, and the Steward, accompanied only by a cham ber-boy and two servants, threw himself into it, and rowed that night to Over- tunnock, from which they crossed to Dumbarton, where they were joyfully welcomed by Malcolm Fleming, the governor.1 Here he did not long re main inactive; but assembling his scat tered vassals, with the assistance of Co lin Campbell of Lochow, attacked and stormed the castle of Dunoon in Cowal,
The news of this success soon flew to Bute; and there the hereditary vassals of the young patriot instantly rose upon the English governor, Alan de Lyle, put him to death, and pro ceeded, carrying his head in savage triumph along with them, to join their master. The castle of Bute soon after fell into the hands of the insurgents.2
The country of Annandale, as we have already stated, was presented by Baliol to Henry Percy; but its moun- tains and fastnesses had given refuge to many brave men who obstinately refused to submit to the English king. On the first intelligence that the Stew ard had displayed open banner against the English, these fugitives, says an ancient historian, came suddenly, like a swarm of hornets, from the rocks and woods, and warred against the common enemy. The chief amongst them was William de Carruthers, who, since the success of Baliol, had pre ferred a life of extremity and hardship, as a fugitive in the woods, to the igno miny of acknowledging a yoke he de tested. He now left his strongholds, and with a considerable force united
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 178. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 313.
2 Winton calls the vassals of the young Steward “The Brandanys of Bute;” and in describing the battle in which Lyle was slain, tells us they overwhelmed him with showers of stones, hence
“ Amang the Brandanis all The Batayle Dormang they it call.”
“The battle Dormang is evidently,” Mac- pherson remarks, “a corruption of the Batail
himself to the Steward.3 Thomas Bruce, with the men of Kyle, next joined the confederacy; and soon after Randolph, earl of Moray, who had escaped to France after the defeat at Halidon Hill, returned to his native country, and, with the hereditary val our of his house, began instantly to act against the English. Strengthened by such accessions, the Steward in a short time reduced the lower division of Clydesdale; compelled the English governor of Ayr to acknowledge King David Brace; and expelled the adhe rents of Baliol and Edward from the districts of Renfrew, Carrick, and Cun ningham.
The Scottish nobles of his party now assembled, and preferred this young patriot and the Earl of Moray to the office of joint regents under their exiled king. The choice was in every respect judicious. The Steward, although now only in his nineteenth year, had early shewn great talents for war; he was the grandson of Robert the First, and had been already de clared by parliament the next heir to the crown : Moray, on the other hand, was the son of the great Randolph; so that the names of the new gover nors were associated with the most heroic period of Scottish history : a circumstance of no trivial importance at a period when the liberties of the country were threatened with an utter overthrow. About the same time, the friends of liberty were cheered by the arrival of a large vessel laden with arms, besides wines and merchandise, in the port of Dumbarton; a circum stance which Edward considered of so much importance, that he directed his writs to the magistrates of Bristol and Liverpool, commanding them to fit out some ships of war to intercept her on her return.4
The first enterprise of the regents was against the Earl of Athole, who now lorded it over the hereditary estates of the Steward, and whose im- nan dornaig;” Dorneag being a round stone : a proof that, in Bute, the Gaelic was then the common language. Winton, vol. ii. p. 186. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 316. 3 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 316 4 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 320.
1334-5.] DAVID II. 177
mense possessions, both in Scotland and England, rendered him the most formidable of their enemies.1 Moray, by a rapid march into the north, at tacked the earl before he had time to assemble any considerable force, drove him into the wild district of Locha- ber, and compelled him to surrender. Thus, by the overthrow of Beaumont, Talhot, and Athole, the most power ful branch in the confederacy of the disinherited barons was entirely de stroyed ; and Baliol, once more a fugi tive, passed into England, and implored the protection and assistance of Ed ward.
On being informed of the revolution in Scotland, this monarch, although it was now the middle of November, determined upon a winter campaign, and issued writs for the attendance of his military vassals. The expedition, however, proved so unpopular, that fifty-seven of the barons who owed suit and service, absented themselves;2 and, with an army enfeebled by deser tion, Edward made his progress into Lothian, where, without meeting an ene my, if we except some obscure malefac tors who were taken and executed, he ruled over a country which the Scots, following the advice of Bruce, aban doned for the time to his undisturbed dominion.3 Baliol, as usual, accom panied Edward, and with a portion of his army ravaged Avondale, and laid waste the districts of Carrick and Cun ningham. The vassal king then passed to Renfrew, and affected a royal state in his Christmas festivities, distribut ing lands and castles to his retainers, and committing the chief management of his affairs to William Bullock, a warlike ecclesiastic, whom he created chamberlain of Scotland, and governor of the important fortresses of St An drews and Cupar.4 Such castles as he possessed were garrisoned with English soldiers; and John de Strivelin, with a large force, commenced the siege of Lochleven, which was then in the hands of the friends of David Bruce.
1 Douglas’ Peerage, vol. i. p. 133.
2 Rotuli Scotrae, 8 Edward III., vol. i. p. 293.
3 Hemingford, vol. ii. p. 277.
4 Winton, vol. ii. p. 177.
VOL. I.
From its insular situation this proved a matter of difficulty. A fort, however, was built in the churchyard of Kin ross, on a neck of land nearest to the castle; and from this point frequent boat attacks were made, in all of which the besiegers were repulsed. At last Alan Vipont, the Scottish governor, seizing the opportunity when Strivelin was absent on a religious pilgrimage to the shrine of St Margaret at Dun fermline, attacked and carried the fort, “ put part of the English garrison to the sword, and raised the siege. He then returned to the castle with his boats laden with arblasts, bows, and other instruments of war,5 besides other booty, and many prisoners.
Encouraged by this success, and anxious to engage in a systematic plan of military operations, the Scottish regents summoned a parliament to meet at Dairsay. It was attended by Sir Andrew Moray, the Earl of Athole, the Knight of Liddesdale, lately re turned from captivity, the Earl of March, who had embraced the party of David Bruce, and renounced his allegiance to Edward, Alexander de Mowbray, and other Scottish barons. But at a moment when unanimity was of infinite importance in the national councils, the ambition and overween ing pride of Athole embroiled the de liberations, and kindled animosities amongst the leaders. His motives cannot easily be discovered. It is probable that, as he became convinced that Baliol would never be suffered to reign in Scotland, his own claims to the crown became uppermost in his mind, and that he was induced to re nounce the allegiance which he had sworn to Edward, in the hope that, if Baliol were set aside, he might have a chance, amid the confusions of war, to find his way to the throne. He ap peared accordingly at the parliament, with a state and train of attendants almost kingly; and, having gained an ascendancy over the young Steward,
5 Winton, book viii. chap. xxix. vol. ii. p. 183. I have rejected the story of the attempt to drown the garrison by damming up the lake as physically improbable, and unnoticed by Winton. See Macpherson’s Notes on Winton, vol. ii. p. 507.
M
178 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
treated Moray and Douglas with such haughtiness, that the assembly became disturbed by mutual animosities and heartburnings, and at length broke up in confusion.1 Ambassadors soon after this arrived in England from Philip of France, earnestly recommending a cessation of hostilities between his ancient allies the Scots and the King of England; but Edward, intent upon his scheme of conquest, although he consented to a short truce, continued his warlike preparations, and, despising all mediation, determined again to in vade his enemies, and dictate the terms not of peace, but of absolute sub mission.
About midsummer, the English king, accompanied by Baliol, joined his army at Newcastle, having along with him the Earl of Juliers, with Henry, count of Montbellegarde, and a large band of foreign mercenaries.2 Meanwhile his fleet, anticipating the movements of the land forces, entered the Firth of Forth; and while Edward, with one part of his army, advanced by Carlisle into Scotland, Baliol, having along with him those English barons upon whom he had bestowed estates, and assisted by a numerous body of Welsh soldiers, remarkable for their ferocious manners, proceeded from Berwick.
But, notwithstanding the great pre parations, the campaign was one of little interest. Having penetrated to Glasgow, the two kings united their forces, and advanced to Perth without meeting an enemy. By an order of the regents, the Scots drove their cattle and removed their goods from the plain country to inaccessible fastnesses among the mountains, so that the English only wasted a country already deserted by its inhabitants.3 They did not, however, entirely escape mo lestation; for the Scottish barons, although too prudent to oppose them in a pitched field, hovered round their line of march, and more than once caught them at a disadvantage, sud denly assaulting them from some con-
1 Fordun a Goodal, book xiii. chap. xxiv. vol. ii. p. 317. 2 Leland, Collect, vol. i. p. 555. 3 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1025.
cealed glen or ambush, and cutting off large bodies who had separated them selves from the main army. In this way, a party of five hundred archers were attacked and cut to pieces by Moray the regent, and Sir William Douglas.4 On another occasion, the Earls of March and Moray fell upon the Earl of Namur, as he was leading his band of foreign knights to join Edward at Perth. The two parties met on the Borough Muir; for the foreign troops, imagining that the country was wholly in possession of the English, had advanced fearlessly towards Edinburgh. The mercenaries, however, clad in complete steel, and strongly mounted, made a desperate defence ; nor was it till the appearance of the Knight of Liddesdale, with a reinforcement, that they found them selves compelled to retreat into the town. Confined within the streets and lanes, the conflict now changed into a series of single combats ; and it is interesting to remark the warm spirit of chivalry which diffuses itself into the details of our ancient histo rians, in their descriptions of this event. They dwell with much com placency on a famous stroke made by Sir David de Annand, a Scottish knight, who, enraged by a wound from one of the mercenaries, raised himself in his stirrups, and wielding a pon derous battle-axe with both hands, hewed down his opponent with such force, that the weapon cut sheer through man and horse, and was only arrested by the stone pavement, where the mark of the blow was shewn in the time of the historian.5 The foreign soldiers were at last driven up the High Street to the castle. This for tress had been dismantled, but Namur and his knights took their stand on the rock, and having killed their horses, piled their bodies into a mound, be hind which they, for a while, kept the Scots in check. They were at last compelled to surrender; and Moray and Douglas treated their noble pris oner, who was near kinsman to their
4 Knighton, p. 2567.
5 Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiæ, folio 197. Fordun. vol. ii. p. 519. Scala Chron., p. 165.
1335.] DAVID II. 179
ally the King of France, with much generosity. l He and his brother knights and soldiers were set at liberty without ransom, and their captors ac companied them with an escort across the English border. But this act of courtesy cost Moray dear; for, on his return, his little party was attacked by the English, under William de Pressen, warden of Jedburgh Forest, and entirely routed. The regent was taken prisoner and instantly ironed, and shut up in the strong castle of Bamborough; Douglas, however, had the good fortune to escape a second captivity in England, but his brother James Douglas was slain.2
From Perth, Edward and Baliol made a destructive progress through the north of Scotland; and soon after the Earl of Cornwall, brother to the King of England, along with Sir An thony Lucy, ravaged the western dis trict of the kingdom, not even sparing the religious houses, but razing the churches to the ground, and burning along with them the unhappy wretches who had there taken sanctuary. After this he marched to Perth, and joined his forces to those of the king, who had returned from his northern expe dition.3
At this melancholy crisis, when, to use an expression of an ancient his torian, none but children in their games dared to call David Bruce their king,4 the Earl of Athole shewed his versatile and selfish character. The captivity of Moray the regent had de livered him from a formidable oppo nent, and his ambition now prompted him to aspire to the vacant office of regent, for the purpose, as was shewn by the result, of gratifying his rapa city and his revenge. He accordingly informed Edward that he and his friends were willing to make their final submission; and he despatched five deputies, who concluded a treaty at Perth, in which the English mon arch agreed that “ the Earl of Athole,
1 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1026. 2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 194.
3 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 323. Scala Chron. pp. 165, 166.
4 Winton, vol. ii. p. 184.
and all other Scottish barons who came under his peace, should receive a free pardon, and have their estates in Scotland secured.”5 By another article, the large English estates of this powerful baron were restored to him; and to give a colour of public zeal to an agreement essentially selfish, it was stipulated that the franchises of the Scottish Church, and the ancient laws of Scotland, should be preserved as they existed in the reign of Alexander the Third.6 As the price of this pacification, Athole was im mediately appointed governor in Scot land under Baliol; Edward having repaired the fortifications of Perth, returned to England, and the new go vernor, anxious to distinguish himself in the service of his master, began to slay or imprison the friends of Bruce, and to confiscate their estates, with a rapacity which filled the hearts of the people with an eager desire of ven geance.7
Nor was it long before this feeling was gratified. The handful of brave men, who still obstinately supported their independence, chose for their leader Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, in early life the pupil of Wallace, a soldier of great experience, and of undoubted integrity. This hardy vete ran did not long remain inactive, and his first enterprise was eminently suc cessful. It happened that within Kildrummie, a strong castle in the north, his wife, a noble matron, sister of Robert Bruce, had taken refuge during the insolent administration of Athole, who, eager to make himself master of so valuable a captive, in stantly attacked it. Moray hastily collected a small army, and burning with a resentment which was kindled by a sense both of public and private wrongs, flew to raise the siege : he was accompanied by the Knight of Liddes- dale and the Earl of March. Their troops encountered those of Athole in the Forest of Kilblene, and, after a
5 Knighton, p. 2566. This indemnity was declared not to extend to those who, by com mon assent, should be hereafter excepted from it.
6 Tyrrel, vol. iii. p. 387.
7 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1026.
180 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
short resistance, entirely dispersed them: Athole himself, with five knights who attended him, was slain in the wood.1 He died young in years, but old in political intrigue and ambi tion, and successively the friend of every party which promised him most personal advantage. Insolent and un steady, he yet possessed, from his im mense estates and noble birth, a great capacity of doing mischief ; and not only his last agreement with Edward, but the indiscriminate cruelty with which he was at that moment hunting down the few remaining friends of liberty, rendered his death, at this crisis, little less than a public benefit. It was followed by the election of Sir Andrew Moray to the regency of the kingdom, in a parliament held at Dun- fermline.2
It might have been evident to Ed ward long before this that although it was easy for him to overrun Scotland, and destroy the country by the im mense military power which he pos sessed, yet the nation itself was further than ever from being subdued. The people were strong in their love of liberty, and in their detestation of Baliol, whom they now regarded with the bitterest feelings of contempt. It was true, indeed, that many of their highest nobles, swayed by private am bition, did not hesitate to sacrifice their patriotism to the lust of power; yet, amongst the barons and gentry, there was a remnant left animated by better feelings, and kept up the spirit of resistance against the power of England.
This was remarkably shewn in the history of the present period. The death of Athole was followed by the reappearance of Edward in Scotland, at the head of a formidable army, strengthened by the accession of the Anglicised Scottish barons and their numerous vassals. Alarmed at the declaration, now openly made by the French king, of his intention to assist his ancient allies,3 and prompted by
1 Winton, book viii. chap. xxxi. vol. ii. p. 201. Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1027.
2 Fordun a Hearne, p. 1028.
3 Rymer. vol. iv. pp. 704-0.
the restless desire, so often formed, and so constantly defeated, of com pleting the subjugation of the country, the English monarch penetrated first to Perth, and afterwards into the more northern parts of the kingdom. His march was, as usual, marked by the utter destruction of the dis tricts through which it lay. The counties of Aberdeen, Nairn, and In verness, with their towns and villages, were wasted by fire and sword; but he in vain endeavoured to bring the regent, Sir Andrew Moray, to a battle.4 Under the command of this leader, the Scots, intimately acquainted with the country, were ever near their enemy, and yet always invisible to them ; and an anecdote of a masterly retreat, made during this northern campaign, has been preserved, which is characteristic of the cool discipline of Moray. On one occasion, word being brought to Edward that the regent was encamped in the wood of Stronkaltere,5 he instantly marched against him. The intelligence was found to be true ; the English and Scottish outposts came in sight of each other, in a winding road leading through the wood, and after some skirmishing, the Scots fell back to in form Moray of the near approach of the English army. The general was then at mass, and although the danger was imminent, none dared to interrupt him till the service was concluded. On being told that Edward and his army were at hand in the forest, he observed there was no need of haste; and, when the squires brought him his horse, be gan quietly to adjust its furniture, and to see that the girths were tight and secure. When this was going on, the English every moment came nearer, and the Scottish knights around Moray shewed many signs of impatience. This, it may be imagined, was not lessened when one of the straps which braced his thigh armour snapt as he buckled it; and the regent, turning to
4 Fordun a Hearne, p. 1028.
5 The exact position of this ancient wood cannot now be discovered. I conjecture it was in Perthshire, somewhere between Dun- keld and Blair.
1335-8.] DAVID II. 181
an attendant, bade him bring a coffer from his baggage, from which he took a skin of leather, and, sitting down leisurely on the bank, cut off a broad strip, with which he mended the frac ture. He then returned the box to its place, mounted his horse, arrayed his men in close column, and com menced his retreat in such order that the English did not think it safe to attack him ; and having at last gained a narrow defile, he disappeared from their view without losing a man. “ I have heard,” says Winton, “from knights who were then present, that in all their life they never found time to go so slow as when their old com mander sat cutting his leather skin in the wood of Stronkaltere.”1
The widow of Athole was, soon after this, shut up by the army of Moray in the castle of Lochendorb : she was the daughter of Henry Beaumont, who, forgetful of the conditions under which he had obtained his freedom at Dun darg, had accompanied Edward into Scotland, and she now earnestly im plored the king and her father to have compassion on her infant and herself, and to raise the siege. It was an age in which the ordinary events of the day assumed a chivalrous and romantic character. A noble matron in sorrow for the slaughter of her husband, be leaguered in a wild mountain fortress, and sending for succour to the King of England and his barons, is an inci dent similar to what we look for in Amadis or Palmerin. The monarch obeyed the call, and hastened to her rescue. On his approach, the regent again retired into the woods and morasses; and the king, having freed the countess from her threatened cap tivity, wasted with fire and sword the rich province of Moray. Unable, how ever, to dislodge the Scottish com mander from his strengths, he was at last compelled to leave the country, with the conviction that every forest or mountain-hold which he passed afforded a shelter for his enemies, who would reappear the instant he retreated. He endeavoured, however, more effectually to overawe the spirit 1 Winton, vol. ii. pp. 204, 205.
of resistance, by having a powerful fleet in the Firth of Forth, and on the eastern and western coasts of the kingdom;2 and before he retired he repaired and garrisoned anew the most important fortresses in the kingdom. He then left a reinforcement of troops with his army at Perth, intrusted the command to his brother, the Earl of Cornwall, and returned to England.
On his departure, Sir Andrew Moray instantly appeared from his fastnesses. Sir William Douglas, the knight of Liddesdale, Sir William Keith, and other patriot barons, assembled their vassals : and the castles of Dunnottar, Kinclevin, and Laurieston, were wrested from the English, after which, accord ing to Bruce’s old practice, they were broken up and dismantled.3 Soon after, the regent made himself master of the tower of Falkland and the castles of St Andrews, Leuchars, and Both well, which he razed and destroyed.4
A grievous famine, occasioned by the continued ravages of war, and the cessation of all regular agricultural labour, had for some time desolated Scotland; and the regent, anxious to obtain subsistence for his army in the enemy’s country, made various predatory expeditions into England.5 On his return, he reduced the whole of the Lothians, and laid siege to the castle of Edinburgh. The lords marchers of England hastened with a strong body of troops to relieve it. They were encountered by William Douglas, the knight of Liddesdale, near Crichton castle, and, after much hard fighting, were compelled to retire across the Tweed. But Douglas was grievously wounded, and his little army so crippled with the loss which
2 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 318, 322.
3 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1030. Leland, Coll. vol. i. p. 556. Winton, vol. ii. p. 214.
4 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1031. It is stated by this historian that after this, Moray commenced the siege of Stirling ; but that the English monarch, advertised of these disasters, again flew to his army in Scotland ; while his wary antagonist, as was his custom, retired before a superior force, and awaited the return of Edward to his own dominions. This event, however, belongs, I suspect, to a later year.
5 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 324. llotuli Scotiæ, 2 Edward III., vol. i. p. 507.
182 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
he sustained, that Moray deemed it expedient to abandon the siege.l
During the whole of this obstinate war, the French king had never ceased to take a deep interest in the affairs of his allies. Before David had been compelled to take refuge in his king dom, he had sent him a seasonable present of a thousand pounds.2 By his earnest remonstrances he had suc ceeded in procuring many truces in favour of the Scots; and, as the breach between France and England gradually grew wider, the French ships had occa sionally assisted the Scottish privateers in infesting the English coast, and had supplied them with stores, arms, and warlike engines.3 Against these mari time attacks, it was the policy of Ed ward to arm the vessels of the petty sea-kings, who were lords of the nume rous islands with which the western sea is studded; and for this purpose he had entered into an alliance with John of the Isles,4 one of the most powerful of these island chiefs. But his efforts in the Scottish war began at length to languish; occupied with his schemes of continental ambition, he found himself unable to continue hostilities with his usual energy; and, after four successive campaigns in Scotland, which he had conducted in person, at the head of armies in finitely more numerous than any which could be brought against them, he had the mortification to discover that the final conquest of that country was as remote as ever. He now endeavoured to gain time, by amusing the Scots with the hopes of a general peace ; but the barons who led the opposition against England were well informed of the approaching rupture with France, and, aware that the oppor tunity was favourable for the entire
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 332. Scala Chron. p. 167. Leland’s Coll. vol. i. p. 556.
2 Chamberlain Accounts, Compot. Came- rarii Scotiæ, p. 253. Et de 56 lb. 13 sh. 4d. recept, de Dno Com. Moravie illis mille libris, concess. Dno nostro regi per regem Franciæ ante adventum suam in Franciam. Ibid. p. 261.
3 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 513.
4 Rymer, Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 711. Rotuli Scotiæ, 11 Edward III., p. 516.
expulsion of the English, they rejected all overtures for a pacification, and pushed on the war with vigour.
The event shewed the wisdom of such conduct; for the English mon arch had advanced too far in his quarrel with Philip to withdraw, or even postpone his pretensions, and to the great joy of the Scots, war between the two countries was declared, by Edward making his public claim to the crown of France on the 7th of October 1337.5
The Earls of Arundel, Salisbury, and Norfolk, with Edward Baliol, were now left in command of the army in Scotland; and on the failure of the negotiations for peace, Salisbury laid siege to the castle of Dunbar, a place of great importance, as the key to Scotland on the south-east border.6
The Earl of March, to whom this fortress belonged, was not then on the spot; but his wife, a daughter of the famous Randolph, earl of Moray, with the heroic spirit of her family, under took the defence of the castle.7 For five months, in the absence of her lord, Black Agnes of Dunbar, as she was called by the vulgar from her dark complexion, maintained an intrepid stand against the assault of the Eng lish army, and with many fierce wit ticisms derided them from the walls. When the stones from the engines of the besiegers struck upon the battle ments, she directed one of her maidens to wipe off the dust with a white napkin, a species of female defiance which greatly annoyed the English soldiers. Perpetually on the ram parts, or at the gate, she exposed her person in every situation of danger, directing the men at arms and the archers, and extorting even the praise of her enemies by her determined and warlike bearing. It happened that an arrow from one of the Scottish archers struck an English knight, who stood beside the Earl of Salisbury, through his surcoat, and, piercing the habergeon, or chained mail-coat, which
5 Rapin’s Acta Regia, vol. i. p. 239. Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. iv. p. 818.
6 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 325.
7 Winton, vol. ii. p. 208.
1338.] DAVID II. 183
was below it, made its way through three plicatures of the acton which he wore next his body, and killed him on the spot. “There,” cried Salisbury, “ comes one of my lady’s tire-pins : Agnes’s love-shafts go straight to the heart.” At length the English, foiled in every assault, and finding that the strength of the walls defied the efforts of their battering engines, judged it necessary to convert the siege into a blockade. This had nearly succeeded. A fleet, amongst which were two large Genoese ships, entirely obstructed all communication by sea; and the garri son began to suffer dreadfully from want of provisions, when Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie sailed at mid night with a light vessel, from the Bass. Favoured by the darkness, he passed unobserved through the line of the enemy’s fleet, and ran his ship, laden with provisions, and with forty stout soldiers on board, close under the wall of the castle. This last suc cess deprived Arundel and Salisbury of their only hope of making them selves masters of this important for tress ; and, mortified by repeated fail ure, they withdrew the army, and retired with the disgrace of having been foiled for five months, and at last entirely defeated, by a woman.1
Edward now began to experience the distress which the expense of a double war, and the necessity of maintaining an army both in Franco and Scotland, necessarily entailed upon him. Ani mated by the fiercest resentment, the Scots, under the guidance of such able soldiers as the regent, the Knight of Liddesdale, and Ramsay of Dalhousie, were now strong enough to keep the open country, which they cleared of their enemies, compelling the English to confine themselves within the walls of their castles. Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, Cupar, and Roxburgh were still in their hands, and the king com manded large supplies of provisions to be levied upon his English subjects, and transported into Scotland; but this occasioned grievous discontent, and in
1 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1032. For- dun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 325. MS. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiæ, folio, p. 201.
some cases the commissaries were attacked and plundered.2 Nor even when the supplies were procured was it an easy matter to carry them to their destination ; for the enemy watched their opportunity, and be came expert in cutting off convoys, and assaulting foraging parties; so that the war, without any action of great consequence, was occupied by perpetual skirmishes, concluding with various success, but chiefly on the side of the Scots. Sir William Douglas, the knight of Liddesdale, whose bra very procured him the title of the Flower of Chivalry, expelled the Eng lish from Teviotdale ; overpowered and took prisoner Sir John Stirling, at the head of five hundred men-at-arms; intercepted a convoy near Melrose as it proceeded to the castle of Hermitage, which he soon after reduced; attacked and defeated Sir Roland de Vaux; and routed Sir Laurence Abernethy, after a conflict repeatedly renewed, and ob stinately contested.3
Meanwhile, in the spirit of the age, these desperate encounters were some times abandoned for the more pacific entertainments of jousts between the English and Scottish knights, the re sult of which sometimes proved little less fatal than in the conflicts of actual war; whilst to a modern reader they throw a strong light on the man ners of the times. Henry de Lancas ter, earl of Derby, with great courtesy, sent a herald to request the Knight of Liddesdale to run with him three courses; but in the first Douglas was wounded by a splinter of his own lance in the hand, and compelled to give up the contest. The English earl then entreated Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie to hold a solemn jousting for three days at Berwick, twenty against twenty; a proposition which was instantly accepted, but it turned out a sanguinary pastime. Two English knights were slain; and Sir William Ramsay was struck through the bars of his aventaile by a spear, which penetrated so deep that
2 Rotuli Scotiæ, 12 Ed. III.. Oct. 12th, vol. i. p. 546. See also pp. 438, 451. 3 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 329.
184 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
it was deemed certain he would expire the moment it was extracted. He was confessed, therefore, in his armour; and as the knights crowded round, “So help me, Heaven,” said Derby, who stood hard by, “ I would desire to see no fairer sight than this brave baron thus shrived with his helmet on; happy man should I be could I insure myself such an ending.” Upon this, Sir Alexander Ramsay placed his foot upon his kinsman’s helmet, and by main force pulled out the broken truncheon, when the wounded knight started on his feet, and declared he should soon ail nothing. He died, however, immediately in the lists.1 “ What stout hearts these men have ! " was Derby’s observation; and with this laconic remark the jousting con cluded. On another occasion, Sir Pa trick de Graham, a Scottish knight, having arrived from France, Lord Richard Talbot begged to have a joust with him, and was borne out of his saddle and wounded, though not dangerously, through his habergeon. Graham was then invited to supper; and in the midst of the feast an Eng lish knight, turning to him, courteously asked him to run with him three courses. “Sir knight,” replied Gra ham, “if you would joust with me, I advise you. to rise early and confess, after which you will soon be delivered.” This was said in mirth, but it proved true; for in the first course, which took place , next morning, Graham struck the English knight through the harness with a mortal wound, so that he died on the spot.2
Such were the fierce pastimes of those days of danger and blood. On resuming the war, the tide of success still continued with the Scots, and Sir Alexander Ramsay rivalled the fame of the Knight of Liddesdale. At the head of a strong band of soldiers, he infested the rocky and wooded banks of the Esk; and concealing him self, his followers, and his booty, in the caves of Hawthornden, sallied from their recesses, and carried his
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. i. p. 329. Winton, vol. ii. pp. 220, 223. 2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 224.
depredations to the English borders, cruelly ravaging the land, and leading away from the smoking hamlets and villages many bands of captives. In these expeditions his fame became so great that there was not a noble youth in the land who considered his military education complete unless he had served in the school of this brave captain.3 On one occasion he was pursued and intercepted by the lords marchers in a plain near Werk Castle ; but Ramsay attacked and routed the enemy, took Lord Robert Manners prisoner, and put many to the sword.4 About this time Scotland lost one of its ablest supporters. Sir Andrew Moray, the regent, sinking under the weight of age, and worn out by the constant fatigues of war, retired to his castle at Avoch, in Ross, where he soon after died ; upon which the High Steward was chosen sole governor of Scotland. Moray, in early life, had been chosen by Wallace as his partner in command; and his subsequent mili tary career was not unworthy of that great leader. His character, as it is given by Winton, possesses the high merit of having been taken from the lips of those who had served under him, and knew him best. He was, says he, a lord of great bounty; of sober and chaste life; wise and upright in council; liberal and generous; devout and charitable; stout, hardy, and of great courage.5 He was endowed with that cool and somewhat stern and in flexible character of mind which pecu liarly fitted him to control the fierce temper of the feudal nobility at a period when the task was especially difficult; and it may be added that, when the bravest, despairing for their country, had, by the sacrifice of its in dependence, saved their estates, Moray scorned to follow such examples; and, imitating his old master in arms, Wal lace, appears never to have sworn fealty to any king of England. He was buried in the little chapel of Rose- martin ; but his body was afterwards raised and carried to Dunfermline,
3 Fordun a Goodal. vol. ii. p. 333. 4 Ibid. Scala Chron. p. 168. 5 Winton, vol. ii. p. 217.
1338-41.] DAVID II. 185
where it now mingles with the heroic dust of Bruce and Randolph.1
The first act of. the Steward was to despatch the Knight of Liddesdale Upon a mission to the court of France to communicate with King Philip, and to procure assistance. He then assem bled his army and commenced the siege of Perth, upon the fortifications of which the English, considering it a station of the first importance, had expended vast sums of money. Mean while Baliol, universally hated by his countrymen, became an object of sus picion to the English; and leaving Perth, in obedience to the orders of Edward, retired a pensioned dependant into England. Ughtred, a baron who had long served in the Scottish war, undertook its defence, and for ten weeks the town resisted every effort of the besiegers, so that the army of the Steward began to meditate a re treat, when there suddenly appeared in the Tay five French ships of war.
This squadron was commanded by Hugh Hautpile, a skilful naval officer, and had on board a strong party of men-at-arms, under the leading of Ar nold Audmeham, afterwards a mares- chal of France;2 the Lord of Garen- cieres, who had formerly been engaged in the Scottish wars; and two esquires, Giles de la Huse, and John de Bracy. Along with them came the Knight of Liddesdale; and immediately, all idea of relinquishing the siege being aban doned, hostilities recommenced by the French ships seizing the English vic tualling vessels, and effectually cutting off every supply from the garrison.
At this time William Bullock, Ba- liol’s chancellor, who commanded in the castle of Cupar, which had baffled the attack of the late regent, betrayed his master, and joined the army be fore Perth. This military ecclesiastic was one of those extraordinary indi viduals whom the troubled times of civil disorder so frequently call out from the quiet path to which more ordinary life would have confined
1 Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1032.
2 Froissart par Buchon, vol. i. p. 211. Corn- pot. Camerarii Scotiae, pp. 255, 277. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 330.
them. His talents for state affairs and for political intrigue were great ; yet we are told by the historians of the time that his ability in these matters was exceeded by his uncommon genius for war; and we cannot wonder that these qualities made him to be dreaded and courted by all parties. In addi tion to this, he was ambitious, selfish, and fond of money: passions which could not be gratified if he continued attached to a falling cause. Accord ingly, the arrival of the French auxi liaries, the desertion of Scotland by Baliol, with the bribe of an ample grant of lands,3 induced him to re nounce the English alliance, and deliver up the castle where he commanded. He then joined the army besieging Perth, and his military experience was soon shewn by the success of the opera tions which he directed. Although the Knight of Liddesdale was griev ously wounded by a javelin, thrown from one of the springalds, and the two captains of the Scottish archers slain, yet Bullock insisted in continuing and pressing the siege ;4 and the Earl of Ross, with a body of miners, having contrived to make a subterranean ex cavation under the walls, drew off the water from the fosse surrounding the town, and rendered an assault more practicable. The minuteness of one of our ancient chronicles has preserved a striking circumstance which occurred during the siege. In the midst of the military operations the sun became suddenly eclipsed, and as the darkness gradually spread over all, the soldiers of both armies forgot their duties, and, sinking under the influence of super- stitious terror, gazed fearfully on the sky.5 Bullock, however, unintimidated
3 It must have been ample, for Bullock re nounced a considerable property conferred on him by Edward. See Rotuli Scotiæ, 28th July, 13 Edw. III. vol. i. p. 571.
4 Fordun a Groodal, vol. ii. p. 330. Winton, vol. ii. p. 234.
5 Winton, vol. ii. p. 234. I find, by the re sult of a computation, politely and kindly communicated to me by its distinguished author, Professor Henderson, that the eclipse took place on the 7th July, commencing at twelve minutes after noon, the greatest ob servation being at twenty-eight minutes after one, when eleven one-third digits of the sun’s disc were eclipsed, leaving only two-thirds of
186 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
by what was then considered an omen of wrath, gave orders for the tents to be struck and pitched nearer the town, previous to his attempt to storm; but the English governor had now lost re solution ; and, seeing his provisions exhausted, his hope of supplies cut off, and his fosse dry and ready to be filled by the fagots of the besiegers, capitu lated upon honourable terms. The soldiers of the garrison and the gover nor Ughtred were instantly shipped for England, where his conduct be came the subject of parliamentary in quiry.1 Thus master of Perth, the Steward, according to the wise policy of Bruce, cast down the fortifications,2 and proceeded to the siege of Stirling. It is difficult to imagine a more lamentable picture than that presented by the utter desolation of Scotland at this period. The famine, which had been felt for some years, now raged in the land. Many had quitted their country in despair, and taken refuge in Flanders; others, of the poorer sort, were driven into the woods, and, in the extremities of hunger, feeding upon the raw nuts and acorns which they gathered, were seized with dis eases which carried them off in great agony.3 The continued miseries of war reduced the district round Perth to the state of a desert, where there was neither house for man nor har bour for cattle; and the wild deer coming down from the mountains, resumed possession of the desolate region, and ranged in herds within a short distance of the town. It is even said that some unhappy wretches were driven to such extremities of want and misery, as to prey upon human flesh ; and that a horrid being, vulgarly called Cristicleik, from the iron hook with which he seized his victims, took up his abode in the mountains, and, assisted by a feroci ous female, with whom he lived, lay in ambush for the travellers who passed near his den, and methodically
a digit uneclipsed. The eclipse ended at forty-two minutes after two.
1 Fœdera, vol. v. p. 181.
2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 236.
3 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 324. Winton, vol. ii. p. 236.
exercised the trade of a cannibal.4 The story is perhaps too dreadful for belief; yet Winton, who relates it, is in no respect given to the marvel lous; and a similar circumstance is recorded as late as the reign of James the Second.
In the midst of this complicated national distress, the Steward con tinued to prosecute the siege of Stir ling with much vigour and ability; and Rokesbury, the governor, after a long and gallant defence, was at last compelled by famine to give up the castle, which, being found too strong in its mason work and bastions to be easily dismantled, was intrusted to the keeping of Maurice of Moray.5 In this siege, the Scots had to lament the loss of Sir William Keith, a brave and experienced soldier, who had done good service in these wars. As he mounted the ladder in complete ar mour, he was struck down by a stone thrown from the ramparts, and, fall ing heavily and awkwardly, was thrust through by his own spear.6 It is related by Froissart that cannon were employed at the siege of Stirling; but the fact is not corroborated by con temporary historians.
Scotland had of late years suffered severely from famine, and had owed its support more to provisions surrep titiously imported from England, than to the fruits of native industry.7 But the exertions of the High Steward, and his fellow soldiers Douglas and Ramsay, had now expelled the Eng lish from nearly the whole country; the castles of Edinburgh, Jedburgh, Lochmaben, and Roxburgh, with some
4 Winton, vol. ii. p. 236. Fordun a Groodal, vol. ii. p. 331.
5 Lord Hailes seems to have antedated the siege of Stirling, when he places it in the year 1339. We find, from the llotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 600, 14 Edw. III. m. 15, that Stir ling was in possession of the English as late as 1340 ; and that in June 1341 the Scots were employed in the second siege of Stir ling. What was the exact date of the first siege is uncertain, but it seems to have been interrupted by an armistice. Fordun a Hearne, p. 1031, asserts that Sir William Keith was slain at the siege of Stirling in 1337 ; but the date is an error.
6 Winton, vol. ii. p. 237.
7 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 541.
1341-2.] DAVID II. 187
inferior strengths in their vicinity, were all that remained in the hands of Edward ; and the regent seized a short interval of peace to make a pro gress through the country, for the re- establishment of order and the distri bution of justice.1 The good effects of this were soon observable in the gra dual revival of regular industry : to use the strong language of Bower, the kingdom began to breathe anew; husbandmen once more were seen at the plough, and priests at the altar ; but the time which was allowed proved too short to give permanency to these changes. War suddenly re commenced with great fury; and the castle of Edinburgh, commanded by Limosin, an English knight, fell into the hands of the enemy. The Scots owed the possession of this fortress to a stratagem of Bullock, the late go vernor of Cupar, executed with ad dress and boldness by the Knight of Liddesdale.
The castle was strongly fortified both by art and nature; and, as its garrison scoured and commanded the country round, they gave great annoy ance to the Scots. Douglas, who lurked in the neighbourhood with two hundred soldiers, procured Wal ter Curry, a merchantman of Dundee,2 to run his ship into the Forth, under pretence of its being an English victualling vessel, and to make an offer to supply the garrison with wine and corn. The device succeeded; and the porter, without suspicion, opened the outer gate and lowered the drawbridge to the waggons and hampers of the pretended merchant and his drivers, who, throwing off the gray frocks which covered their ar mour, stabbed the warder in an in stant, and sounded a horn, which called up Douglas and his men from their ambush at the foot of the hill. All this could not be so rapidly executed but that the cry of treason
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 331, 332.
2 Curry seems to have been assisted by another person, named William Fairley. Chamberlain Accounts. Compotum Came- rarii Scotiæ, p. 278. They received a grant of 100 lbs. reward from a parliament held at Scone. Ibid.
alarmed the governor; and the sol diers arming in haste, and crowding to the gates, began a desperate con flict. The waggons, however, had been so dexterously placed, that it became impossible to let down the portcullis; and Douglas rushing in with his men, soon decided the affair. Of the garri son, only the governor, Limosin, and six esquires, escaped ;3 the rest were put to the sword, and the command of the castle was intrusted to a natural brother of the Knight of Liddesdale.
There are two particulars regarding this spirited enterprise which are worthy of remark. Curry was a Scots man, yet it seems he found no diffi culty in introducing himself as an English merchant, from which there arises a strong presumption that the languages spoken in both countries were nearly the same; and both he and his followers, before they engaged in the enterprise, took the precaution of shaving their beards, a proof that the Norman fashion of wearing no beard had not been adopted in Scot- land in the fourteenth century.4 Soon after this success, the regent and the Estates of Scotland, considering the kingdom to be almost cleared of their enemies, sent an embassy to France, requesting that their youthful sove reign would return to his dominions. David accordingly, who had now for nine years been an exile in a foreign land, embarked with his queen; and, although the English ships had al ready greatly annoyed the Scots, and still infested the seas, he had the good fortune to escape all interrup tion, and to land in safety at Inner- bervie on the 4th of June, where he was received with the utmost joy by all classes of his subjects,5
The young king was now in his eighteenth year, and began to betray a character violent in its passions and resentments, and of considerable per sonal intrepidity; but his education at the French court had smitten him
3 Froissart, vol. i. p. 359. Edition de Buchon.
4 Winton, vol. ii. pp. 240, 243. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 332.
5 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 334. Winton, vol. ii. p. 250.
188 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
with an immoderate love of plea sure : he possessed few of the great qualities necessary for the govern ment of a kingdom so perilously cir cumstanced as Scotland ; and he ap pears to have been totally unacquainted with the dispositions of the fierce and independent nobility over whom he ruled. This was the more to be regretted, as the circumstances in which he found the country upon his arrival were such as, to manage suc cessfully, required a union of great prudence and firmness. In the mi nority which had taken place since the death of Bruce, and in the absence of the name and power of a king, a race of fierce and independent barons had grown up, who ruled at will over their own vast estates, and despised the authority of the laws. Between the king and the Steward of Scotland, who now laid down his office of regent, there does not appear to have been any cordial feelings; and it is proba ble that David never forgot the con spiracy of Athole in 1334, by which this fickle and ambitious baron, and the Steward, then a young man, ac knowledged Baliol, and made their peace with Edward. Athole indeed was slain, and the subsequent conduct of the Steward had been consistent and patriotic ; but the king could not fail to regard him with that jealousy which a monarch, without children, is apt to feel towards the person whom the parliament had declared his suc cessor, and who had already, on one occasion, shewn so little regard for his allegiance.
As for the other powerful barons, the Knight of Lidclesdale, his kinsman Lord William Douglas, the Earl of Moray, Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dal- housie, and Bullock, who soon after became chamberlain, they were indeed unanimous in their opposition to Eng land; but a long possession of military power made them impatient of the control of a superior, and it was al most impossible for a sovereign to confer his favours upon them without exciting jealousy and dissension. All this, in a short time, became apparent; and a thoughtless measure, which the
monarch adopted soon after his arrival, evinced his ignorance aud want of judgment in a fatal manner. Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie had distinguished himself in the Scottish wars, and was universally beloved in the country for his brave and patriotic qualities. Scarcely had the young king arrived in his dominions when word was brought him that Roxburgh castle, a fortress of great strength and importance, had been taken in a night escalade by this baron, upon whom, in the first ardour of his gratitude, David conferred the government of the place, and along with it the sheriffship of Teviotdale.1 This was a generous but thoughtless act, and certainly unjust, for the Knight of Liddesdale then held the office of sheriff; and a fierce and deadly enmity arose in the breast of Douglas against Ramsay, his old companion in arms. His way of re venging himself affords a melancholy proof of the lawless independence of these feudal nobles, as well as of the treachery of his disposition. He first pretended to be reconciled to Ramsay; and, having silenced suspicion by treating him with his usual friend ship, led a band of soldiers to Hawick, where he knew that the new sheriff held his court in the open church. It is said that Ramsay was warned of his intention, but, trusting to the recon ciliation which had taken place, dis credited the story. On Douglas en tering the church, Ramsay invited him to take his place beside him, on which that fierce baron drew his sword, seized his victim, who was wounded in at tempting a vain resistance, and throw ing him bleeding across a horse, carried him off to his castle of Hermitage, where he thrust him into a dungeon. It happened that there was a granary above his prison, and some particles of corn fell through the chinks and crevices of the floor, upon which he supported a miserable existence for seventeen days, and at last died of hunger.2
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 252.
2 Winton, vol. ii. p. 254. More than four hundred years after this, a countryman, in excavating round the foundation of Hermit
1342-6.] DAVID II. 189
It is a melancholy reflection that a fate so horrid befell one of the bravest and most popular leaders of the Scot tish nation ; and that the deed did not only pass unrevenged, but that its perpetrator received a speedy pardon, and was rewarded by the office which had led to the murder. Douglas be came governor of Roxburgh castle, sheriff of Teviotdale, and protector of the middle marches, and owed his pardon and preferment to the inter cession of the High Steward of Scot land. In attempting to form an esti mate of the manners of the age, it ought not to be forgotten that this savage murder was perpetrated by a person who, for his knightly qualities, was styled the “ Flower of Chivalry.” It was an invariable effect of the prin ciple of vassalage in the feudal sys tem that the slaughter of any of the greater barons rendered it an impera tive duty in every one who followed his banner to revenge his death upon all who were in the most remote de gree connected with it; so that we are not to wonder that the assassina tion of Ramsay was followed by inter minable feuds, dissensions, and con spiracies, not only amongst the higher nobility, but amongst the lesser barons. It was probably one of these plots, of which it is impossible now to detect the ramifications, that accelerated the fate of Bullock, the able and intrigu ing ecclesiastic renegade, who had de serted Baliol to join the king. Having become suspected by his master, he was suddenly stript of his honours, deprived of the high offices in which he had amassed immense wealth, and cast amongst the meanest criminals, into a dungeon of the castle of Loch- endorb, in Moray, where he was starved to death. The probable truth seems to be, that Bullock, a man of high talents, but the slave of ambition and the love of intrigue, had been tampering with the English, and that
age castle, laid open a stone vault, in which, amid a heap of chaff and dust, lay several human bones, along with a large and power ful bridle-bit, and an ancient sword. These were conjectured, and with great probability, to have belonged to the unfortunate victim of Douglas
his fate, though cruel, was not un merited.1
The period immediately following the arrival of David in his dominions till we reach the battle of Durham2 is undistinguished by any events of importance. The Scots, with various success, invaded and ravaged the Border counties of England; but a revolt of the Island chief, John of Argyle, and other northern barons,3 recalled the king’s attention to the unsettled state of his affairs at home, and made him willing to accede to a two-years’ truce with England. This interval was employed by Edward in an attempt to seduce the Knight of Liddesdale from his allegiance, and there seems reason to think that a conspiracy, at the head of which was this brave but fickle soldier, and which had for its object the restora tion of Baliol to the crown, was orga nising throughout Scotland, and that Bullock, whose fate we have just re- counted, was connected with the plot.4 It is certain, at least, that Douglas had repeated private meetings with Baliol and the English commissioners; that he had agreed to embrace the friend ship of the King of England, and to receive a reward for his services.5 These treacherous designs, however, came to nothing. It may be that the stipulated reward was not duly paid ; or, perhaps the fate of Bullock was a timely warning to Douglas ; and, anxious to wipe away all suspicion of treachery, the Knight of Liddesdale, regardless of the truce, broke across the Borders at the head of a numerous army, burnt Carlisle and Penrith, and after a skirmish, in which the Bishop of Carlisle was unhorsed, retreated precipitately into Scotland.
1 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 336.
2 From 1342 to 1346.
3 Knighton, p. 2581.
4 This may be inferred, I think, from the circumstance that Bullock was seized by David de Berklay ; and Berklay himself was, not long after, waylaid and assassinated by John de Saint Michael, at the instigation of the Knight of Liddesdale. Fordun a Hearne, pp. 1035 and 1940. See also Hume’s Douglas and Angus, vol. i. pp. 142, 143.
5 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 637, 640. April 10, 1343. Foedera, vol. v. p. 379.
100 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [Chap. V.
After this recommencement of hos tilities, the mortal antipathy between the two countries broke out with greater violence than before; and the young king, believing Edward to be entirely occupied with his war on the continent, and anxious to produce a diversion in favour of his ally, Philip of France, gave orders for assembling an army, and resolved to invade Eng land in person.1 The muster took place at Perth, and was greater than any known for a long period; troops were drawn from the islands of Scot land, as well as the mainland ; but the Highland chiefs brought their deadly feuds along with them, and these soon broke out into bloodshed. The Earl of Ross assassinated Ranald of the Isles in the monastery of Elcho, and dreading the royal vengeance, led his men back to their mountains—a cir cumstance which, in those days of superstition, was considered by the rest of the army a bad omen of suc cess. In one respect it was worse than ominous; for not only Ross’s men left the army, but the soldiers of the Isles, deprived of their leader, dispersed in confusion; whilst many of the inferior Highland lords, anxious for the pre servation of their lands, privately deserted, and returned home; so that the king found his forces greatly re duced in number.
Inheriting, however, the bravery of his father, but, as the event shewed, little of his admirable judgment and military skill, David pressed forward from Perth; and, after rapidly tra versing the intervening country, on reaching the Border, sat down before the castle of Liddel, then commanded by Walter Selby. Selby was that fierce freebooting chief whose services we have seen successfully employed by King Robert Bruce to waylay and plunder the Roman cardinals in their ill-fated attempt to carry the bulls of excommunication into Scotland. Since that time, he had lent himself to every party which could purchase his sword at the highest rate, and had lately espoused the quarrel of Edward Baliol, from whom he received a grant 1 Walsingham, pp. 165, 516.
of lands in Roxburghshire.2 David brought his military engines to bear upon the walls, which, after six days’ resistance, were demolished.3 Hethen stormed the castle, put the garrison to the sword, and ordered Selby to in stant execution.
After this success, the veteran ex perience of the Knight of Liddesdale advised a retreat. Douglas was, no doubt, aware of the strength of the northern English barons, and the over whelming force which soon would be mustered against them; but his salu tary counsel was rejected by the youth ful ardour of the king, and the jealousy of the Scottish nobles. “You have filled,” said they, “your own coffers with English gold, and secured your own lands by our valour; and now you would restrain us from our share in the plunder, although the country is bare of fighting men, and none but cowardly clerks and mean mechanics stand between us and a march to Lon don.”4
This, however, was a fatal mistake; for although Edward, with the army which had been victors at Cressy, lay now before Calais, yet Ralph Neville of Raby, Lord Henry Percy, Edward Baliol, the ex-king of Scotland, the Earl of Angus, and the Border lords, Musgrave, Scrope, and Hastings, with many other barons, instantly sum moned their strength to repel the in vasion; and a body of ten thousand men, who were ready to embark for Calais, received counter orders, and soon joined the muster. Besides this, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Prelates of Durham, Carlisle, and Lincoln, assumed their temporal arms, and with such of their church troops and vassals as had not accompanied the king, assembled to defend the country, so that an army of thirty thousand men, including a large body of men-at-arms, and twenty thousand English archers,5 were speedily on their march against the Scots.
2 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. p. 820.
3 Robert of Avesbury, a Hearne, p. 145.
4 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 340.
5 Winton, vol. ii. pp. 260, 261. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii.;p. 341.
1346.] DAVID II. 191
David, meanwhile, advanced to Hex- ham, and for fourteen days plundered and laid waste the country, leaving his route to be traced through the bishopric of Durham by the flames of villages and hamlets. It seems to have excited unwonted resentment and horror that he did not spare even the sacred territory of St Cuthbert, although, if we may believe a monkish historian, the venerable saint visited the slumbers of the king, and implored him to desist from the profanation. Satiated at length with plunder, the Scottish army encamped at a place called Beaurepair, now Bear Park, within a short distance of Durham. By this time, the English army had taken up their ground in the park of Bishop Auckland, not six miles distant from Beaurepair. The Scots’ position was ill chosen. It was a plain or com mon, much intersected with ditches and hedges, which separated the divi sions, and hindered them from sup porting each other; and the country round was of that undulated kind, that, unless the scouts were active, an enemy might approach within a few miles without being discovered. This was, in truth, the very event which happened; and it gave melancholy proof that there were no longer such leaders as Bruce, or the Good Sir James, in the Scottish army.
At daybreak, the Knight of Liddes- dale pushed on before the rest of the Scots. He led a strong squadron of heavy-armed cavalry, and, advancing for the purpose of forage through the grounds near Sunderland, suddenly found himself in presence of the whole English army. The proximity of the enemy rendered a retreat as hazardous as a conflict; yet Douglas attempted to retire; but his squadron was over taken, and driven back, with the loss of five hundred men, upon the main body of the Scots. David instantly drew up his army in three divisions. He himself led the centre; the right wing was intrusted to the Earl of Moray, while the Knight of Lid- desdale, and the Steward, with the Earl of Dunbar, commanded the left. These dispositions were made in great
haste and alarm, and scarcely com- pleted, when the English archers had advanced almost within bowshot.1 Sir John de Graham, an experienced soldier, at this moment rode up to the king, and earnestly besought him to command the cavalry to charge the archers in flank. It was the same manoeuvre which had been successful at Bannockburn, but from ignorance, or youthful obstinacy, David was deaf to his advice. “Give me,” cried Graham, in an agony of impatience, as the fatal phalanx of the archers advanced nearer and nearer; “give me but a hundred horse, and I engage to disperse them all.”2 Yet even this was unaccountably denied him, and the brave baron, seconded by none but his own followers, threw himself upon the bowmen; but it was too late; time had been given them to fix their arrows, and the deadly shower was sped. Graham’s horse was shot under him, and he himself with difficulty escaped back to the army.
It was now nine in the morning, (17th Oct. 1346,) and the whole Eng lish force had come up. A large crucifix was carried in the front of the line, around it waved innumerable banners and pennons, gorgeously em broidered, belonging chiefly to the Church, and the close battle imme diately began, under circumstances discouraging to the Scots. The dis charge of the archers had already greatly galled and distressed them, the division commanded by the Earl of Moray was fiercely attacked by the English men-at-arms, the ditches and hedges which intersected the ground broke his array and impeded his move ments, and the English cavalry charged through the gaps in the line, making a dreadful havoc. At last Moray fell, and his division was entirely routed. The English then attacked the main centre of the Scots, where David com manded in person : and as it also was drawn up in the same broken and enclosed ground, the various leaders and their vassals were separated, and
1 Winton, vol. ii. pp. 261, 262.
2 Ibid., book viii. chap. xl. vol. ii. p. 262 Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 342.
192 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND: [Chap. V.
fought at a serious disadvantage.1 Their flank, too, was exposed to the discharge of a body of ten thousand English bowmen; and, as the distance diminished, the arrows, flying with a truer aim and more fatal strength, told fearfully against the Scots. Yet the battle raged for three hours with great slaughter; 2 and the young king, although he had evinced little military judgment in the disposition of his army, fought with obstinate and here ditary valour. He was defended by a circle of his nobility, who fell fast around him. The Constable David de la Haye, Keith the Marshal, Chartres the High Chancellor, and Peebles the Lord Chamberlain, with the Earls of Moray and Strathern, and thirty barons belonging to the principal families in Scotland, were slain. The king him self, although grievously wounded by two arrows, one of which pierced deep, and could not be extracted without great agony, long continued to resist and encourage the few that were left around him. An English knight, named Copland, at last broke in upon him, and after a hard struggle, in which two of his teeth were knocked out by the king’s dagger,3 succeeded in over powering and disarming him.
On the capture of the king, the High Steward and the Earl of March, whose division had not suffered so severely, judging probably that any attempt to restore the day would be hopeless, drew off their troops, and escaped from the field;4 for the English were for tunately too much occupied in plunder and making prisoners, to engage in a pursuit which might have been so fatal. Amongst the prisoners, besides the king, were the Knight of Liddesdale, the Earls of Fife, Menteith, Suther land, and Wigton, and fifty other barons and knights. It is not too high a com putation if we estimate the loss of the Scots in this fatal battle at fifteen
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 263.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid. p. 264. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 342.
4 Fordun a Hearne, p. 1038. See observa tions on Lord Hailes’ account of the battle of Durham, Illustrations, GG. Chronicle of Lan- ercost, pp. 348, 351.
thousand men.5 That of the English was exceedingly small, if we consider how long the conflict lasted. Frois- sart has asserted that the English Queen, Philippa, was in the field, and harangued the troops, mounted on a white charger. The story is contra dicted by all the contemporary histo rians, both English and Scottish.
A defeat so calamitous had not been sustained by Scotland since the days of Edward the First. Their best officers were slain or taken, and their king a captive. David, with the rest of the prisoners, was, after a short time, conveyed to London, and led in great state to the Tower, amid a guard of twenty thousand men-at-arms. The captive prince was mounted on a tall black courser, so that he could be seen by the whole people; and the mayor and aldermen, with the various crafts of the city, preceded by their officers, and clothed in their appropriate dresses, attended on the occasion, and increased the effect of the pageant.6 On being lodged in the tower, however, all ex pense and splendour were at an end; and Edward, with an ungenerous eco nomy, compelled his royal prisoner to sustain the expense of his establish ment,7 and imposed the same heavy tax upon his brother captives.8
Thus was David, after his tedious exile in France, and having enjoyed his kingly power but for six years, compelled to suffer the bitter penalty of his rashness, and condemned to a long captivity in England. The con duct of the Steward, in preferring the dictates of prudence, perhaps of ambi tion, to the feelings which would have led him to have sacrificed his life in an attempt to rescue the king, cannot be easily exculpated. He and the Earl of March, with the third division of the army under their command, made good their retreat; and their escape was ultimately fortunate for the coun try. But it excited a feeling of lasting
5 Knighton, p. 2591. Leland, p. 561, from the Scala Chronicle.
6 Knighton, p. 2592.
7 Rotuli Scotiæ, 21 Ed. III. vol. i. pp. 690, 696.
8 Rotuli Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. 705, 706.
1346.] DAVID II. 193
personal resentment in the bosom of the king; it was probably the cause of that determined opposition which he ever afterwards manifested to the Steward; and it is this unforgiving hostility, embittered by the conviction that he owed his eleven years’ captivity to the desertion at Durham, which can alone explain those extraordinary intrigues for substituting an English prince upon the throne, in which David, at a subse quent period, basely permitted himself to be involved. Meanwhile, the con sequences of the battle of Durham were brilliant to England, but not lasting or important.
Roxburgh castle, the key of the kingdom on the Borders, Surrendered to Henry Percy and Ralph Neville. and the English overran the districts of Tweeddale, the Merse, Ettrick, Annan- dale, and Galloway.1 Availing them selves of the panic and confusion which ensued upon the captivity of the king they pushed forward into Lothian, and boasted that the marches of the king dom were from Coldbrandspath to Soutra, and from thence to Carlops and Crosscryne.2
Baliol, who had acted a principal part in these invasions, now believed that the entire subjugation of Scot land, so long delayed, was at length to be accomplished, and the sceptre to be for ever wrested from the line of Bruce. He took up his residence at the castle of Caerlaverock, on the shores of the Solway ;3 and having collected a strong force of the savage freebooters of Gal loway, was joined by Percy and Neville, with a large body of men-at-arms and mounted archers. At the head of this army he overran the Lothians, scoured the country as far as Glasgow, wasted Cunningham and Niddesdale, and ren dered himself universally odious by the ferocity which marked his progress.
At this time, Lionel, duke of Ulster, the son of Edward the Third, became engaged in a mysterious transaction
1 Winton, vol. ii. p. 265. Scala Chron. quoted in Leland’s Collection, vol. i. p. 562. 2. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 848. 3 Knighton, p. 2592.
relative to the affairs in Scotland, upon which, unfortunately, no contempo rary documents throw any satisfac tory light. By an agreement entered into between this English prince and the Lords Henry Percy and Ralph Neville, these barons undertook to assist Baliol with a certain force of men-at-arms. Only the name of the treaty remains;4 but if a conjecture may be hazarded on so dark a subject, it seems probable that the ambition of Lionel began already to aspire to the crown of Scotland. Baliol was child less ; and the English prince may have proffered him his assistance under some implied condition that he should adopt him as his successor. We know for certain, that on Baliol being for ever expelled from Scotland, Lionel engaged in the same political intrigue with David the Second. But, although the precise nature of this transaction is not easily discoverable, it soon became apparent that the English king had no serious design of assisting Baliol in his recovery of the crown. At this con juncture, the nobles who had escaped from Durham conferred the guardian ship of the kingdom upon the High Steward;5 and whatever imputations his conduct at Durham might have cast upon his personal ambition, it is certain that, as the enemy of the am bitious designs of England, and the strenuous asserter of the liberty of his country, the grandson of Bruce did not shew himself unworthy of his high de scent. During a season of unequalled panic and confusion, he maintained the authority of the laws; the command of the castles and the government of the counties were intrusted to men of tried fidelity; and to procure a breathing time, negotiations were set on foot for a truce.
4 Ayloffe’s Ancient Charters, p. 299. “ In dentura tracfcatus inter Leonellum filium Ed- wardi tertii primogenitum, Comitem de Ulster, ex una parte, et Monsieur Henry Percy et Ranf. Neville, ex altera parte, per quam ipsi Henricus et Radulphus conveniunt se servi- turos in Scotia pro auxilio prestando Edwardo de Baliol Regi Scotiæ, cum 360 soldaris.’' 12 Ed. III.
5 Fordun a Heame. p. 1039.
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