King Robert the Bruce

CHAPTER IX
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.

As far back as December 23, Edward II. had summoned his army to assemble at Berwick on June 10, 1314, for the war against Scotland. In March, he was busily ordering his fleet for service on the east and west coasts, and hastening the muster of the Irish contingent under the Lord of Ulster. On May 27, from New Abbey, he issued an urgent reminder to the sheriffs and barons of the northern and midland counties to have their men at Wark by June 10. He has learnt, he tells them, that the Scots are massing great numbers of foot in strong positions protected by marshes and all but inaccessible to cavalry; and he fires their zeal by informing them of the agreement of Mowbray to surrender the castle of Stirling unless the siege be raised by midsummer day. Bruce, then, had already chosen his ground, and commenced his measures of defence.

The English and Welsh troops summoned on May 27, numbered together 21,540. The numbers of the Irish contingent are not preserved, but, on analogous cases, they can hardly be reckoned beyond 3000. The Gascons, Hainaulters, and other foreigners are not likely to have numbered more than the Irish. 'After allowing,' with Mr Bain, '10,000 light horsemen and 3000 heavy cavalry, the whole English army probably did not exceed 50,000'—at the very outside. The Earls of Lancaster, Warenne, Arundel, and Warwick did not join the expedition, on the ostensible ground that the King had not first consulted Parliament in conformity with the Ordinances, and thus they would be laid open to ecclesiastical censure; but they sent their feudal services. The outfit of the army was on the most ample, not to say magnificent, scale. 'The multitude of waggons, if extended one after another in file,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'would have stretched over twenty leagues.' In truth, he says, it was universally acknowledged that 'such an army did not go out of England in our time.' The Monk's testimony lends a sober colour to the assertion of Robert Baston, the Carmelite friar that went to celebrate an English victory and was captured and made to sing the Scottish triumph. 'Never,' he declared, 'was seen a more splendid, noble, or proud English army.'

There is no definite clue to the numbers of the Scots. 'But,' as Mr Bain says, 'in so poor and thinly populated a country, devastated by long war, 15,000 or 16,000 would be a fair estimate of the comrades of Bruce. The Scots, twenty years later, could raise no more for the almost equally important object of relieving Berwick.'

The estimates usually given follow Barbour, who says there were over 100,000 English—enough 'to conquer the whole world'—and some 50,000 Scots, of whom 30,000 were fighting men. No doubt Barbour includes in the English 100,000 the miscellaneous 'pitaille,' or rascalry, that swarmed about the baggage trains of mediæval armies. But Mr Bain's estimate seems to be as near as the authorities will admit. The proportion of English to Scots was most probably somewhere about three to one.

The army that mustered under Edward was indeed 'very fair and great,' yet, in the eye of the Church—probably enlightened by later events—there was one needful thing lacking. When Edward I. was on the warpath towards Scotland, says the Lanercost chronicler, 'he was wont to visit on his way the saints of England—Thomas of Canterbury, Edmund, Hugh, William, Cuthbert—and to offer them fair oblations, to commend himself to their prayers, and to dispense large gifts to the monasteries and the poor'; but his degenerate son, omitting these pious duties,' came with great pomp and circumstance, took the goods of the monasteries on his route, and, it was stated, did and said some things to the prejudice and injury of the saints,' by reason whereof 'certain religious of England prophesied' that no good would come of the expedition. To the same effect, Robert of Reading records that Edward permitted his troops, on their march, to ravage with violence the patrimony of 'religious' and other churchmen, as if they had been robbers (more prædonum). Still the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham, rehearsing the long list of Bruce's alleged enormities, officially enjoined all within their jurisdiction to pray for the success of the King's arms, offering an indulgence of forty days in reward of such patriotic piety.

The King was in high spirits over the splendour of his army. Apparently he anticipated an easy and complete triumph. He started from Berwick only a few days before the fateful day of St John. 'From day to day,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'he hastened to the place fixed on beforehand, not like a man leading an army to battle, but rather as if he were going on pilgrimage to Compostella. Short was the stay for sleep; shorter still the stay for food; in consequence of which the horses, horsemen, and foot were worn out by labour and fatigue.' On Friday, June 21, the English army lay at Edinburgh; and on Saturday it lay at Falkirk, little more than ten miles from Stirling.

The problem for Bruce was to keep the English out of Stirling till St John's day had passed. In good time he had selected and laid out the inevitable field of battle with military prescience of the first order. He had mustered his forces in the Torwood, in a position commanding the approach to Stirling from the south; and on the morning of Saturday, the 22nd of June, on news of the approach of the English, he marched them to the chosen spot on a plain some two miles south of Stirling within the last large loop of the Bannock Burn, called the New Park—a hunting-ground of the Scots kings. The Park was a piece of firm ground rising on the north and west into the swelling ridges of Coxet Hill near St Ninian's, and Gillies Hill on the left of the Bannock above the bend towards the Forth. Eastwards it fell away into a marshy tract filling the angle of the two rivers and intersected by watercourses. Southwards, too, the hard ground was broken by two morasses—Halbert's Bog and Milton Bog—between the Park and the Bannock. Bruce rested his right wing on the steep bank of the Bannock below Gillies Hill; his left wing stretched away past St Ninian's nearly to the gates of Stirling; his rear was protected by Gillies Hill and the Bannock behind. The English would be compelled to advance either across the Bannock between Parkmill and Beaton's Mill—a breadth of a short mile, free from precipitous banks—to the line of hard ground, with a contracted front, to be immediately divided by the intervening bogs; or else along the line of low and marshy flat between the Park and the Forth. To reduce the superiority of the English cavalry, Bruce had industriously dug pits along the parts of the firm route by which they would probably, if not inevitably advance—pits a foot wide, round, and deep as a man's knee, honeycombing the ground; and these holes he covered loosely with a disguise of brushwood, turf, and grass. He is also said to have inserted in them stakes shod with iron points. Sir Thomas de la Moore mentions long transverse trenches, similarly covered so as to bear men aware of them, but not horses. Later writers add that Bruce strewed the ground with calthrops, or metal spikes, to cripple the English horses. He himself had determined to fight on foot.

Bruce marshalled his troops in four divisions, facing south-eastwards. The van was led by Randolph. The second and third divisions were ranged behind the wings of the van; the former, to the right and resting on the Bannock, led by Sir Edward Bruce, the latter by Walter the Steward ('that then was but a beardless hyne') and Douglas. The rearguard, consisting of the men of Carrick, Argyll, Cantyre and the Isles, was stationed right behind the van at some interval, under the immediate command of Bruce himself. All the divisions could thus be promptly massed on the English whether they should select the higher or the lower line of advance. It was of the very first importance that no detachment of the English should be allowed to outmanœuvre the main body of the Scots and throw themselves into Stirling; and Randolph, who held the most advanced position, was especially charged to guard against this fatal contingency. The non-combatants retired behind the hill in the rear, afterwards named from them the Gillies' (that is, Servants') Hill.

The dispositions of the English army are not known in certain detail. There is little help in Barbour's statement that it was divided into ten companies of 10,000 each. We know that the van was led by the Earl of Gloucester; and that, if Robert of Reading and the Monk of Malmesbury may be relied on, the appointment of Gloucester was hotly resented by the hereditary constable, the Earl of Hereford. The King's bridle was attended by Sir Aymer de Valence and Sir Giles d'Argentine, the latter of whom was regarded as the third knight in Christendom, and had been released from captivity at Salonica in the end of the preceding year through Edward's urgent representations to the Emperor, and even to the Empress, of Constantinople.

At sunrise on Sunday, June 23—the eve of St John—the Scots heard mass. Bruce then devoted special attention to the pits that were still preparing. After midday—the Scots observed the fast on bread and water—the English were reported to be advancing from the fringe of the Torwood. Bruce issued his final orders. Then he is said to have addressed his men in terms of high resolution, bidding every man depart that was not ready for either alternative—to conquer or to die. Not a man moved from the ranks. More than five centuries later, at Balaclava, 'Men,' cried Sir Colin Campbell, 'you must die where you stand.' 'Ay, ay, Sir Colin, we'll do that,' was the cheery response. Such, too, was the spirit of the same race on the field of Bannockburn.

At this point, according to Barbour, Douglas and Sir Robert de Keith (hereditary marshal) proceeded, by order of Bruce, to reconnoitre the enemy's advance. They returned with such a report of the numbers and equipment of the English as they deemed it prudent to render to Bruce only 'in great privity.' Bruce, however, put a bold face on the situation, and directed them, says Barbour, to spread a depreciatory account of the enemy.

The main body of the English appears to have halted while the leaders should take counsel. But Gloucester, with the vanguard, ignorant of this and ardent for the fray, dashed through the Bannock and advanced on the Park, where Sir Edward Bruce was ready to receive him. King Robert himself was riding in front of Sir Edward's division on a small palfrey, with only a battle-axe in hand. On his basnet, according to Barbour's haberdashery, he wore a hat of jacked leather, surmounted by 'a high crown, in token that he was a king.' Some of the English knights, says the Monk of Malmesbury, rode out between the lines and flung their challenges to the Scots. Sir Henry de Bohun, a knight of the house of Hereford, spurred at Bruce himself, and Bruce, swerving at the critical moment of attack, rose in his stirrups as de Bohun passed and clove his head at a stroke, the shaft of his axe shivering in his hand. It may be remarked incidentally that Gray calls the luckless knight Sir Piers de Mountforth. The Scots pressed forward; the English fell back; but Bruce prudently soon recalled his men from the conflict. The Monk of Malmesbury, however, acknowledges that there was 'sufficiently keen fighting, in which Gloucester was unhorsed.' It is not surprising that the leading Scots remonstrated earnestly with Bruce for exposing himself to such an unequal chance. According to Barbour, he made no answer, only regretting the breaking of his good axe-shaft. There can hardly be any doubt that Bruce took the risk deliberately, in calculated reliance on his dexterity and strength, and not without a judicious eye to the moral effect on both armies. The feat, in any case, damped the ardour of the English and raised the spirit of the Scots.

Almost contemporaneously with the advance of Gloucester, Clifford and Beaumont, with 300 men-at-arms—Gray, whose father rode with them, says 300, while Barbour makes them 800—hurried along the lower ground on the English right towards Stirling. Their evident object, as Barbour says, was to relieve the castle; but the Lanercost chronicler ingenuously explains that it was to prevent the Scots from escaping by flight. Randolph, strangely ill-served by his scouts and by his eyes, if Barbour be right, is said not to have been aware of the movement till he received a sharp message from Bruce (as if Bruce's attention was not fully engaged elsewhere), telling him significantly that a rose had fallen from his chaplet. This is sheer monkish imagination. Gray makes no mention of this incredible inadvertence, but represents Randolph as fired by the news of Bruce's repulse of the English van; and the Lanercost chronicler states that the Scots deliberately allowed the advance of the party. Of course they did; Randolph undoubtedly descried them the moment they debouched on the carse. To do so was no less important than it was for Sir Edward to be ready for Gloucester's onset. The next step for Randolph was to tackle his enemy at the right spot and not elsewhere. With a strong detachment he rapidly traversed the wooded edge of the Park, so as to converge upon the English horsemen at the narrow neck between St Ninian's and the Forth—the only point, in fact, where he could calculate upon holding them without moving his whole division down into the low-lying ground (if even that would have done it), and deranging the order of battle. When they were 'neath the kirk,' he issued from the wood and menaced their further progress.

'Let us retire a little,' said Beaumont; 'let them come; give them the fields.'

'Sir,' remarked Sir Thomas Gray, the elder, 'I suspect if you give them so much now, they will have all only too soon.'

'Why,' rejoined Beaumont tartly, 'if you are afraid you can flee.'

'Sir,' replied Gray, 'it is not for fear that I shall flee this day.'

Whereupon Sir Thomas spurred his steed between Beaumont and Sir William d'Eyncourt and charged the Scots. Randolph, whose men were on foot, instantly threw them into a schiltron, 'like a hedgehog.' D'Eyncourt was slain at the first onset. Gray's horse was speared and he himself was taken prisoner. The horsemen were wholly unable to make the slightest impression on the schiltron: they could not ride down the Scots; they could only cast spears and other missiles into their midst. Occasionally, on the other hand, a Scot would leap out from the ranks and strike down horse or rider. Douglas, seeing the Scots surrounded, entreated Bruce to permit him to go to Randolph's aid. Bruce, however, sternly refused to disorder his array, but at last yielded to his importunity. The temporary absence of Douglas and a small party could not really matter at the moment, and it was wise to make doubly sure of the vital object dependent on Randolph's defence. On getting near, however, and perceiving that Randolph was holding his own, Douglas chivalrously halted his men. But his appearance was not without effect upon the English party. They gave up the contest. The movement had completely failed. Some of them straggled to Stirling Castle; the main body of the survivors fled back the way they had come; and Randolph returned in triumph. It may be, as Barbour says, that Bruce used the occasion to deliver to his men another rousing address. At any rate he had gained a marked success in each of the operations of the day.

Though Gloucester had retired, apparently he did not withdraw beyond the Bannock, but encamped for the night along the north bank. According to the unanimous testimony of the chroniclers, the English host was struck with serious discouragement. It may have been, as Barbour says, that they talked in groups disconsolately and forebodingly, and that the encouragement of the leaders predicting victory in the great battle on the morrow failed to shake off their depression. Still there was activity in the vanguard camp. Barbour says that at night efforts were made to render bad parts of the low-lying land in the angle of the rivers passable, and even that aid in this work was furnished by the Stirling garrison. According to the Malmesbury chronicler, the English anticipated attack in the night; and Gray states that they lay under arms, their horses being ready bridled. Bruce, however, had resolutely restricted himself to the tactics of defence; but the anticipation was a natural one enough. Some of the men, very probably, sought artificial means of consolation and courage. Sir Thomas de la Moore, following Baston, pictures the English camp as a lamentable and unwonted scene of drunkenness, men 'shouting "Wassail" and "Drinkhail" beyond ordinary'; and he sets forth, in forcible contrast, the quiet self-restraint and patriotic confidence of the Scots.

In all the circumstances, it would seem an inexplicable thing that the Scots should have been on the point of retiring in the night and making for the fastnesses of the Lennox. Yet Gray records that such was their intention. Sir Alexander de Seton, he says, came secretly from the English host to Bruce, and told him that they had lost heart, and would certainly give way before a vigorous onset next day; whereupon Bruce changed his plans and braced himself to fight on the morrow. The Scots had, indeed, 'done enough for the day,' but they had not done enough for the occasion. Stirling Castle might yet be relieved. It is likely enough that Seton visited Bruce, and that there were weak-kneed warriors in Bruce's lines; but that the matter of the interview is correctly reported by Gray seems absolutely incredible.

On the morning of St John's day, June 24, the Scots heard mass at sunrise, broke their fast, and lined up with all banners displayed. Bruce made some new knights, and created Walter the Steward and Douglas bannerets. He then made fresh dispositions of his troops, in view of the position of the English van along the Bannock. There, clearly, the battle would be fought. Accordingly, he brought forward Randolph's division from the wood, placing it probably by the north-west corner of Halbert's Bog, almost parallel to Sir Edward's division; while the third division lay across the south-east slopes of Coxet Hill. The formation was in echelon by the right, with unequal intervals. Behind the general line, the rear division stretched from the south-west slopes of Coxet Hill towards Gillies Hill.

The Scottish array appears to have made a deeper impression on the English veterans than on the English king. The Malmesbury chronicler states that the more experienced leaders advised that the battle should be postponed till the following day, partly because of the solemn feast, partly because of the fatigue of the soldiery. The advice was scorned by the younger knights. It was supported, however, by Gloucester, himself a youthful knight. On him, it is said, the King turned with vehement indignation, charging him even with treason and double-dealing. 'To-day,' replied the Earl, 'it will be clear that I am neither traitor nor double-dealer'; and he addressed himself to preparation for battle.

The Scots seem to have made but a paltry show in the eyes of Edward. 'What! Will yonder Scots fight?' he is said to have asked his attendant knights, incredulously. Sir Ingram de Umfraville assured him they would; at the same time suggesting that the English should feign to retire, and so draw the Scots from their ranks to plunder, when they would fall easy victims. Neither did this suggestion jump with the high humour of Edward. At the moment, he observed the Scottish ranks falling on their knees as the Abbot of Inchaffray passed along the lines, bearing aloft the crucifix.

'Yon folk kneel to ask for mercy,' he exclaimed.

'Sire,' said Umfraville, 'ye say sooth now; they crave mercy, but not of you; it is to God they cry for their trespasses. I tell you of a surety, yonder men will win all or die.'

'So be it!' cried Edward, 'we shall soon see.' And he ordered the trumpets to sound the charge.

At the very moment when the hostile armies were closing in stern conflict, says the Monk of Malmesbury, Gloucester and Hereford were in hot wrangle over the question of precedence; and Gloucester sprang forward, 'inordinately bent on carrying off a triumph at the first onset.' His heavy cavalry, though hampered for space and disconcerted by the treacherous pits, went forward gallantly, under the cover of a strong force of archers, who severely galled the Scots, and even drove back their bowmen. They crashed against Sir Edward Bruce's division, which received them 'like a dense hedge' or 'wood.' The great horses with their eager riders dashed themselves in vain against the solid and impenetrable schiltron. Those behind pressed forward, only to bite the dust, like their comrades, under the spears and axes of the Scots. 'There,' says the Monk of Malmesbury, 'the horrible crash of splintered spears, the terrible clangour of swords quivering on helmets, the insupportable force of the Scottish axes, the fearsome cloud of arrows and darts discharged on both sides, might have shaken the courage of the very stoutest heart. The redoubling of blow on blow, the vociferation of encouragements, the din of universal shouting, and the groans of the dying, could be heard farther than may be said.' The Lanercost writer goes near to justifying Scott's remarkable expression, 'steeds that shriek in agony.' Seldom in history has there been so fierce a turmoil of battle.

According to Barbour, Randolph, noting the strain upon the first division, bore down to Sir Edward's support and drew an equally heavy attack upon himself. Steadily the second division won ground, though they seemed lost in the swarms of the enemy, 'as they were plunged in the sea.' But not yet did victory incline to either side. Then Bruce threw into the scale the weight of the third division, the Steward and Douglas ranging themselves 'beside the Earl a little by.' With splendid tenacity, the English grappled with the newcomers in stubborn conflict, till, Barbour says, 'the blood stood in pools' on the field.

The engagement was now as general as the nature of the position allowed. Both sides settled down to steady hard pounding, and it remained to be seen which would pound the hardest and the longest.

The English were at enormous disadvantage in being unable to bring into action their whole force together. They could, indeed, supply the gaps in the narrow front with sheer weight of pressure from the rear, and they took bold risks on parts of the softer ground, especially along the north bank of the Bannock; but, even so, the fighting line was grievously hampered for space, and the wild career of wounded steeds defied the most strenuous efforts to preserve order. The archers, however, worked round to the right of Sir Edward's division, plying their bows with such energy and discrimination as greatly to disconcert Sir Edward's men. The moment had come for King Robert to order into action the marshal, Sir Robert de Keith, with his handful of 500 horsemen 'armed in steel.' Keith dashed upon the archers in flank, and scattered them in flight. This successful operation gave the Scots archers the opportunity to retaliate with effect, while it relieved the foremost division to reconcentrate their energies on the heavy cavalry steadily thundering on their front. But more English cavalry pressed to occupy the ground abandoned by the English archers. And now Bruce appears to have brought his rear division into action upon the English flank. It was his last resource. The Scots, says Barbour, 'fought as they were in a rage; they laid on as men out of wit.' But still the English disputed every inch of ground with indomitable resolution.

It was probably about this time that the gallant young Gloucester fell. After brilliant efforts to penetrate the impenetrable wedge of Scots, he had his charger slain under him, and was thrown to the ground. The mishap is said to have dazed his men, who 'stood as if astonied,' instead of aiding him to rise, burdened as he was with the weight of his armour, and possibly trammelled by his horse. He was thus slain in the midst of the 500 armed followers he had led into the front of the battle. The Monk of Malmesbury raises a loud lament over Gloucester's luckless fate: 'Devil take soldiery,' he exclaims in pious energy, 'whose courage oozes out at the critical moment of need.' It may be, however, that others are right in stating that Gloucester was slain in consequence of his rash and headlong advance at the very first onset.

The prolonged and doubtful struggle naturally wearied out the patience of the non-combatants behind Gillies Hill. Choosing a captain, says Barbour, they marshalled themselves—15,000 to 20,000 in number—improvised banners by fastening sheets on boughs and spears, and advanced over the brow of the hill in view of the battle raging below. The English, it is said, believing them to be a fresh army, were struck with panic. Bruce marking the effect shouted his war-cry and urged his men to their utmost efforts. The English van at last yielded ground, though not at all points. The Scots, however, seized their advantage, and pressed with all their might. The English line broke, falling back on the Bannock. Confusion increased at every step. Horsemen and foot, gentle and simple, were driven pell-mell into the Bannock, and but few of them were lucky enough to gain the south bank; the burn, Barbour says, was 'so full of horses and men that one might pass over it dry-shod.' The panic ran through the whole English army. The day was lost and won.

King Edward refused to believe the evidence of his senses, and obstinately refused to quit the field. But it is the merest bravado—though countenanced by Scott—when Trokelowe relates how the King, in the bitterness and fury of his wrath, 'rushed truculently upon the enemy like a lion robbed of whelps,' copiously shed their blood, and was with difficulty withdrawn from the orgy of massacre. Unquestionably he stood aloof from the battle, watching its progress at a safe distance. When the English gave way in hopeless rout, Valence and Argentine seized his rein and hurried him off the field in spite of all remonstrance. It was not a moment too soon, for already, says Gray, Scots knights 'hung with their hands on the trappings of the King's destrier' in a determined attempt to capture him, and were disengaged only by the King's desperate wielding of a mace. They had even ripped up his destrier, so that presently he had to mount another. Once the King was clear of immediate pursuers, Argentine directed him to Stirling Castle and bade him farewell. 'I have not hitherto been accustomed to flee,' he said, 'nor will I flee now. I commend you to God.' And striking spurs to his steed he charged furiously upon Sir Edward Bruce's division, but was quickly borne down and slain.

The turning of the King's rein was the signal for the general dispersal of the army in flight.

King Edward, attended by Valence, Despenser, Beaumont, Sir John de Cromwell, and some 500 men-at-arms, made for Stirling Castle. Mowbray, with the plainest commonsense—the suggestion of treachery is preposterous—begged him not to stay, for the castle must be surrendered; in any case, it would be taken. So the King was conducted in all haste round the Park and the Torwood towards Linlithgow; the Lanercost writer assigns as guide 'a certain Scots knight, who knew by what ways they could escape.' But for Bruce's anxious care to keep his men in hand in case of a rally, it seems quite certain that Edward would not have escaped at all. Douglas went in pursuit, but he had only some sixty horsemen. On the borders of the Torwood he met Sir Lawrence de Abernethy, who was coming to assist the English, but at once changed sides on learning the issue of the day, and joined Douglas in pursuit of the fugitive King. At Linlithgow Douglas came within bowshot of the royal party, but, not being strong enough to attack, hung close upon their rear, capturing or killing the stragglers. The pursuit was continued hot-foot through Lothian; Douglas

till at last Edward found shelter in Earl Patrick's castle of Dunbar. The King, with seventeen of his closest attendants, presently embarked on a vessel for Berwick (Barbour says Bamborough), 'abandoning all the others,' sneers the Lanercost writer, 'to their fortune,' These others, according to Barbour, had not even been admitted to Dunbar Castle; but Douglas let them go on to Berwick unmolested, and with a drove of captured horses speedily rejoined Bruce at Stirling. Sir Thomas de la Moore attributes the King's escape 'not to the swiftness of his horse, nor to the efforts of men, but to the Mother of God, whom he invoked,' vowing to build and dedicate to her a house for twenty-four poor Carmelites, students of theology. This vow he fulfilled, in spite of the dissuasion of Despenser, and the house is now Oriel College, Oxford.

Another party, headed by the Earl of Hereford, made for Carlisle. According to the Lanercost chronicler, it included the Earl of Angus, Sir John de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, and many other knights, and numbered 600 horse and 1000 foot. They appealed to the hospitality of Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert, who held Valence's castle of Bothwell for Edward with a garrison of sixty Scots. Fitz Gilbert admitted 'the more noble' of them—Barbour says fifty; the Meaux chronicler, 120; Walsingham, a still larger number. Fitz Gilbert at once secured them all as prisoners, and delivered them to Sir Edward Bruce, who was sent with a large force to take them over. Hereford and others were eventually exchanged for the Queen, the Princess Marjory, and the Bishop of Glasgow; the rest were held to heavy ransom. The main body of the party struggled forward to the Border, but many of them—Barbour says three-fourths—were slain or captured. Everywhere, in fact, the inhabitants, who 'had previously feigned peace' with the English, rose upon the hapless fugitives. Thus, Sir Maurice de Berkeley escaped with a great body of Welshmen, but, says Barbour, many were taken or slain before they reached England. A large number fled to Stirling Castle, where Barbour pictures the crags as covered with them; but these at once surrendered to a detachment of Bruce's force.

It is hopeless to number the slain that strewed the field of battle, choked the Bannock, or floated down the Forth. Barbour says roundly that 30,000 English were slain or drowned. The Meaux chronicler admits 20,000. Walsingham numbers no less than 700 knights and squires. Besides Gloucester and Argentine, the veteran Sir Robert de Clifford, Sir Pagan de Tybetot, Sir William the Marshal, Sir William de Vescy, Sir John Comyn (the son of the Red Comyn, slain at Dumfries), Sir Henry de Bohun, Sir William D'Eyncourt, and many other notable warriors, had fallen in the forefront of battle. Sir Edmund de Mauley, the King's seneschal, was drowned in the Bannock. The undistinguished many must remain uncounted. The Scots losses, which, though comparatively insignificant, must yet have been considerable, are equally beyond reckoning. The only men of note mentioned are Sir William Vipont and Sir Walter Ross.

In dealing with his prisoners, Bruce displayed a princely generosity. Trokelowe frankly acknowledges that his handsome liberality gained him immense respect 'even among his enemies.' Walsingham declares that it 'changed the hearts of many to love of him.' The Monk of Reading is fairly astonished. There was no haggling over exchanges or ransoms, though no doubt many of the ransoms were at a high figure. Sir Ralph de Monthermer, who was captured at Stirling, and was an old friend of Bruce's, was released without ransom, and carried back to England the King's shield, which Bruce freely returned. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, a relative of Bruce's, who yielded himself to the King personally on the day after the battle, was sent home, not only without ransom, but with handsome gifts. The bodies of Gloucester and Clifford were freely sent to Edward at Berwick with every token of respect for gallant foes; and, while the common men that fell on the field were interred in common trenches, the more noble were buried with noble ceremonial 'in holy places.'

The spoils collected by the victors were enormous. Walsingham ventures on an estimate of £200,000; 'so many good nobles, vigorous youths, noble horses, warlike arms, precious garments and napery, and vessels of gold—all lost!' Bruce made generous distribution among his valiant men. The individual ransoms largely increased the individual acquisitions. 'The whole land,' says Fordun, 'overflowed with boundless wealth.'

The chroniclers labour to assign reasons for the great disaster. The religious reason seems rather thin; for, if Edward and his barons broke the Ordinances, and also fought on a feast day, Bruce and his friends lay under multiplied excommunications. There is more substance in other allegations—presumptuous confidence on the part of the English leaders; discord in their councils; their impetuous and disorderly advance; the fatigue and hunger of the men by reason of the rapid march from Berwick. One would be unwilling to press a certain lack of enthusiasm for their King, or a suspicion of inadequate generalship. There is sufficient explanation in the skill, prudence, and iron resolution of Bruce, supported by able generals of division, and by brave and patriotic men. Had the result been otherwise, it would have been, for England, a greater disaster still.

'Yet'—and the word of honest sympathy and justification will not jar now on any generous mind—

CHAPTER X
INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND

The battle of Bannockburn might well have been the historical, as well as the dramatic, close of the struggle. But Edward refused to be taught by experience, and the desultory welter of war was miserably prolonged for nearly half a generation to come. The disaster rankled in Edward's mind, ever craving vengeance, impotently. With childish wilfulness, he would not even concede to Bruce the formal title of King of Scots, though the Lanercost chronicler admits that the victory at Bannockburn extorted a general recognition of his right by conquest.

Edward retired from Berwick to York. It was plain that Bruce would instantly follow up his victory, and already there was anxiety on the Border. Berwick was not only vexed by the Scots, but still more seriously menaced by the violence of the Northumbrians, who had been exasperated by the hanging of a number of their countrymen for alleged treachery; and the storm burst upon the north of England before Edward could send up reinforcements. Before the middle of July, Sir Andrew de Harcla, the constable of Carlisle, was in daily expectation of an attack, and complained that he was hampered by lack of promised support. Bishop Kellawe could not attend Parliament, so busy was he in preparations for the defence of his episcopate; 'all the people say that, if he now leave the district, they will not venture to stay behind.'

Immediately after the battle, Sir Philip de Mowbray surrendered Stirling Castle, and passed over to the side of the victor. Towards the end of July, Sir Edward Bruce and Douglas, with other Scots nobles, crossed the eastern Border and ravaged Northumberland, leaving the castles unassailed. They spared the episcopate of Durham from fire in consideration of a large sum of money. Crossing the Tees, they penetrated beyond Richmond, the people fleeing before them to the south, to the woods, to the castles. They turned up Swaledale, and on Stainmoor severely handled Harcla, who had seized the opportunity of quietness at Carlisle to make a luckless raid upon them. On their northward march they burnt Brough, Appleby, Kirkoswald, and other towns, and trampled down the crops remorselessly. Coupland bought off a visitation. They re-entered Scotland with many prisoners of price, and with great droves of cattle. They had met with no resistance, except Harcla's futile effort. 'The English,' says Walsingham dolefully, 'had lost so much of their accustomed boldness that a hundred of them fled from the face of two or three Scots.'

On September 9, Edward held a parliament at York. He readily confirmed the ordinances, changed ministers, even retired Despenser—anything for the military help of his barons. But further operations against Scotland were postponed till Hereford and the other prisoners of note could be ransomed home. About a week later, Edward had a communication from Bruce expressing a strong desire for accord and amity. Safe conducts were issued, and truce commissioners were appointed. Meantime, however, the negotiations were too slow for the Scots; for, on the very day that Edward appointed his commissioners, the Prior and Convent of Durham signed a bond for 800 marks to Randolph for a quiet life till the middle of January. Randolph, in fact, penetrated Yorkshire, committing the usual depredations. Still the negotiations, which apparently had been entered into at the instance of Philip of France, went forward. But in November the English envoys returned from Dumfries with empty hands, and with the news of the likelihood of another invasion of the Scots, 'owing to the lack of food in their country.' Already, indeed, a body of Scots had occupied Tyndale, and were pushing down towards Newcastle. About Christmas they again ravaged Northumberland, and let off Cumberland till midsummer day next year for the sum of 600 marks. The Archbishop of York, whose manor of Hexham had suffered, vigorously denounced the invaders; and at York Minster on January 17, barons and clergy resolved on making a stand at Northallerton three days later. But the only serious effort of the season was Harcla's valorous November raid on Dumfriesshire, where he was well punished, despite the local knowledge of his recreant lieutenant, Sir Thomas de Torthorwald. About the beginning of February, indeed, John of Argyll overpowered the Scots in the Isle of Man, and recovered it for Edward. But 'the terror that prevailed throughout the north of England,' as Canon Raine says, 'was something unexampled'; 'with the exception of a few fortresses, two or three of the northern counties were almost permanently occupied by the Scots.'

On April 26, 1315, a Parliament was held in the Parish Church of Ayr, to consider 'the condition, defence, and perpetual security of the Kingdom of Scotland.' The business was to settle the succession to the throne. It was enacted that, failing lawful male heirs of King Robert, Sir Edward and his lawful male heirs should succeed; failing these, Marjory; and failing Marjory, the nearest lineal heir of the body of Robert. In case the heir were a minor, Randolph was to be guardian of both heir and realm. Failing all these heirs, Randolph was to be guardian until Parliament should determine the succession. Presently Marjory married Sir Walter the Steward. She died in her first confinement on March 2, 1315–16, leaving a son, who became Robert II. of Scotland.

The settlement no doubt was influenced by the imminence of a large expansion of policy—the ill-starred Irish expedition. On May 25, 1315, Sir Edward Bruce landed at Carrickfergus with 6000 men. On his staff were some of the foremost Scots knights—Randolph, Sir Philip de Mowbray, Sir John de Soulis, Sir John the Steward, and many others. The true motives of the enterprise are by no means clear. There was no immediate object in dividing the English forces, and in any case there was involved a like division of the Scots forces. The suggestion of the discontentment of the Scots with their territorial boundaries, growing out of repeated successes in the field and a superfluity of money, seems to be a mere speculation of the Lanercost chronicler. There is more probability in Barbour's assertion that Sir Edward Bruce, 'who stouter was than a leopard, thought Scotland too small for his brother and himself.' It may be that this particular outlet for his restless and ambitious spirit was opened up by an offer of the crown of Ireland by independent Ulster kinglets either in the first place to King Robert or directly to Sir Edward himself. It is not improbable, however, that the movement may have been a serious attempt at a great flank attack on England. Walsingham mentions 'a rumour that, if things went well in Ireland, Sir Edward would at once pass over to Wales.' 'For these two races,' he says, 'are easily stirred to rebellion, and, taking ill with the yoke of servitude, they execrate the domination of the English.'

The Irish expedition despatched from Ayr, King Robert and his lieutenants again turned to the Border. In the end of May, a meeting of the clergy and magnates of the north had been convened at Doncaster by the Archbishop of York, at the instance of the Earl of Lancaster and other barons, who appear to have been in a conciliatory mood; and on June 30, Edward issued his summons for the muster at Newcastle by the middle of August. But already, on June 29, Douglas had entered the episcopate of Durham. Pushing on to Hartlepool, he occupied, but did not burn the town, the people taking refuge on the ships; and he returned laden with plunder. Sir Ralph Fitz William had given Edward a week's warning, but nothing had been done in consequence. It does seem odd, therefore, to stumble on an account of payment to nineteen smiths of Newcastle for 'pikois,' 'howes,' and other instruments sent to Perth in August.

On July 22, Bruce himself invested Carlisle, which was held by the redoubtable Harcla. His army was amply supplied by forays into Allerdale, Coupland, and Westmorland. Every day an assault was delivered upon one of the three gates of the city, and sometimes upon all at once; but the besieged replied manfully with showers of stones and arrows. On the fifth day of the siege, the Scots brought into action a machine that hurled stones continuously at the Caldew gate and the wall, but without effect; and the defenders answered with seven or eight similar machines, as well as with springalds for hurling darts and slings for hurling stones, 'which greatly frightened and harassed the men without.' The Scots next erected a wooden tower overtopping the wall; whereupon the besieged raised over the nearest tower on the wall a similar wooden tower overtopping the Scots one. But the Scots tower proved useless, for its wheels stuck in the mud of the moat, and it could not be got up to the wall. Nor could the Scots use their long scaling ladders, or a sow they had prepared to undermine the wall; they could not fill up the moat with fascicles; and, when they tried to run bridges of logs on wheels across the moat, the weight of the mass, as in the case of the tower, sank the whole construction in the mud. On the ninth day, Bruce abandoned his engines, and delivered a general assault; but still the besieged made manful defence. Next day the attack was renewed with special vigour on the eastern side, while Douglas with a determined band attempted to scale the wall on the west, at its highest and most difficult point, where an assault would not be expected. His men mounted the wall under the protection of a body of archers; but the English tumbled down ladders and men, killing and wounding many, and baffling the attack. On the morrow (August 1), the siege was raised. The Lanercost chronicler, who writes as if he had been present, affirms that only two Englishmen were killed and a few wounded during the eleven days' investment.

Whether Bruce was hopeless and disgusted, or had been informed of the approach of a relieving force under Valence, or had heard the false report of the defeat and death of Sir Edward in Ireland, at any rate he hurried back to Scotland. Harcla promptly sallied in pursuit, harassing flank and rear, and making two important captures—Sir John de Moray and Sir Robert Baird. Moray had been conspicuous at Bannockburn, and had been enriched by the ransom of twenty-three English knights, besides squires and others, who had fallen to his share. Baird is described as 'a man of the worst will towards Englishmen.' Harcla delivered the prisoners to Edward, receiving (November 8) a guerdon of 1000 marks; but the money was to be raised from wardships, and the accrual of it was spread over eight years. The King's treasury was low.

There is very little news of the Scots navy in those days, but it seems to have been reasonably active. On September 12, one bold mariner, Thomas Dunn, 'with a great navy of Scots,' followed an English ship into Holyhead harbour, and, in the absence of the master on shore, carried it off to Scotland. About the same time John of Argyll was in Dublin, impatiently expecting reinforcements from the Cinque Ports. Edward retained part of the squadron to assist the French king against the Flemings.

On January 15, 1315–16, Bruce and Douglas made a sudden attack on Berwick, by land and sea simultaneously, during the night. They hoped to effect an entrance from the sea, at a point between the Brighouse and the castle, where there was no wall. The attempt failed. It was bright moonlight, and the assailants were promptly observed and repulsed. Sir John de Landells was slain, and Douglas himself escaped with difficulty in a small boat.

The garrison of Berwick had only too much reason to complain. Writing on October 3, Edward's Chamberlain of Scotland had informed him that the provisions expected from Boston in the end of July had never been sent, and 'the town is in great straits, and many are dying from hunger.' Indeed, 'if the Mayor and himself had not promised the garrison food and clothing for the winter, they would have gone.' Two days later, Sir Maurice de Berkeley, the warden, wrote that the town and the inhabitants never were in such distress, 'and will be this winter, if God and the King don't think more of them,' and quickly. Unless money and provisions arrive by the end of the month, they will give up their posts and leave the town, to a man. On October 30, indeed, a vessel had brought in malt, barley and beans, but the master had had to throw overboard a great part of his cargo to escape the enemy. On November 26, Edward sent £300 by way of pay to the garrison; but he could not succour them effectually, and apparently Valence, who was warden north of Trent, had fallen into a lethargy. The repulse of Bruce was therefore signally creditable to the defence.

A series of four official despatches during the latter half of February and the first week in March exhibit the deplorable state of the town from famine. On February 14, part of the garrison, in the teeth of the warden's orders, had gone out on a foray, declaring it was better to die fighting than to starve. They had captured many prisoners and cattle, but Douglas, on the information of Sir Adam de Gordon, who had recently changed sides, caught them at Scaithmoor, slew their leader, and furiously broke up their schiltron, killing or capturing twenty men-at-arms and sixty foot. Considering that the men were struggling to keep the means of rescuing them from starvation, Barbour may well be right in declaring it to be the hardest fight that Douglas ever fought. The foray brought no relief to the garrison, except by diminution of mouths. The men were 'dying of hunger in rows on the walls.' 'Whenever a horse dies,' wrote Sir Maurice de Berkeley, 'the men-at-arms carry off the flesh and boil and eat it, not letting the foot soldiers touch it till they have had what they will. Pity to see Christians leading such a life.' He will remain warden no longer than his term, which expires a month after Easter.

Meantime Sir Henry de Beaumont, warden of the March, had gone to Lincoln to represent to the King and Council his conferences with some of the Scots leaders for a truce. On February 22, Edward appointed commissioners to treat with Bruce, Sir Maurice de Berkeley being one; and on April 28, 1316, he authorised safe conducts for the Scots envoys. But the business did not get forward, and the Mayor of Berwick, on May 10, sent urgent news to the King. Berwick has provisions for a month only; the enemy's cruisers have cut off supplies, and have just captured two vessels with victuals; the warden will serve an extended term till Whitsunday, but no longer; Bruce will be at Melrose in a fortnight with all his force. And all the time Edward was hampered in his measures against Scotland by the war in Ireland and by a rising in Wales.

At midsummer 1316, the Scots again crossed the Border with fire and sword, and penetrated to Richmond, where they were heavily paid to abstain from further burning in the town and neighbourhood. Then they headed west as far as Furness, burning and ravaging without opposition. They carried home immense booty, as well as many prisoners, men and women; and they were particularly delighted with the quantity of iron they found at Furness, there being very little iron in Scotland. The leader of this expedition is not named.

For many years there had been great scarcity in both countries, a natural consequence of predatory warfare. 'This year,' says the Lanercost chronicler, 'there was both in England and in Scotland a mortality of men from famine and pestilence unheard of in our times; and in the northern parts of England a quarter of corn sold at 40s.' Walsingham says the distress was worst in the north, where, he heard, 'the people ate dogs and horses and other unclean animals.'

In Ireland it was still worse; in these wretched years of intestine broils, it is said 'men were wont to devour one another.' Sir Edward Bruce had now been fighting there for a full year. With his Irish allies, he had raided the English adherents in Ulster; occupied Carrickfergus after a great fight, but failed to take the castle; captured and burnt Dundalk (June 29, 1315); defeated the joint forces of the Earl of Ulster and the King of Connaught at Connor (September 10); besieged Carrickfergus in vain (till December 6); marched down into Kildare, defeating first Sir Roger de Mortimer at Kenlis, and afterwards (January 26) Sir Edmund le Butler, the justiciar, at Arscott; and returned to the siege of Carrickfergus, which was starved into surrender some time in summer. On May 2, 1316, Sir Edward was crowned King of Ireland.

In autumn of 1315, and again in the following March, Randolph had returned to Scotland for reinforcements. On the latter occasion he brought Sir Edward's urgent request that King Robert would come in person, for then the conquest would be assured. In autumn, 1316, accordingly, Bruce appointed Douglas and the Steward Guardians in his absence, and sailed from Loch Ryan to Carrickfergus. His operations during the winter in Ulster do not appear to have advanced the cause materially, and in spring he set out on an adventurous expedition throughout Ireland.

Barbour's account, though considerably detailed, can be treated only with the greatest reserve. King Edward led the van, King Robert brought up the rear. The enemy lay in wait at Moyra Pass, 'the Gap of the North,' the immemorial route of invaders north and south, some three miles north of Dundalk. Edward, says Barbour, rode past the ambush. When the rear came up, two archers appeared in view, immediately suggesting the nearness of an enemy; and Bruce held back his men. Sir Colin Campbell, son of Sir Nigel and nephew of Bruce, pressed forward and killed one of them, but the other shot his horse; whereupon Bruce, in great wrath, felled Sir Colin with his truncheon for disobedience, which 'might be cause of discomfiting.' Emerging at length from the gorge, they found Richard de Clare with 40,000 men drawn up on the plain, whom they presently defeated: in all the Irish war 'so hard a fighting was not seen.' When Edward heard of it, 'might no man see a wrother man.' But only a cloistered ecclesiastic can be held responsible for such military procedure.

Advancing on Dublin, the Scots took Castle Knock on February 23; two days later they were at Leixlip; in four days more, they had reached Naas; and on March 12, they were at Callan in Kilkenny. The southernmost place they visited was Limerick, where they stayed two or three days. As they were starting northwards again, King Robert heard a woman's wail, and on inquiry learned that it was a poor laundress that had been seized with the pains of labour and was lamenting to be left behind; upon which he countermanded the march till she should be able to accompany the army. Such is Barbour's story; let us call it, after Scott, a 'beautiful incident.' The expedition then, somehow, passed back to Dublin, and on to Carrickfergus. It is an amazing narrative. Possibly the Bruces anticipated that they would gain over the tribes of the south and west; possibly they expected to tap ampler and more convenient sources of supplies; possibly they were trying the effect of a grand demonstration. At any rate they did not win any permanent support; 'in this march,' says Fordun, 'many died of hunger, and the rest lived on horse-flesh'; and the demonstration was utterly futile. Towards the end of the march, the English hung upon the Scots, but 'hovered still about them and did nothing.' Yet it seems unreasonable to blame the English commanders, for it cannot be doubted that they would have exterminated the Scots if they could. A change of Lord-Lieutenant was impending; and Sir Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore, who had been appointed to succeed Sir Edmund le Butler (November 23), was delayed by want of outfit and did not arrive in Ireland till April 7, when the expedition was practically over.

King Robert returned to Scotland in May 1317, after an absence of about half a year, bringing with him 'many wounded men.' Meantime his lieutenants had kept Scotland with a strong hand. During 1316, Edward's efforts to conduct an army against the Scots had been again and again thwarted, and towards the end of November negotiations were in progress for a truce. At the same time the redoubtable Harcla had been defeated and captured by Sir John de Soulis (Barbour says) in Eskdale, and was begging Edward for Sir John de Moray and Sir Robert Baird, his former prisoners, 'in aid of his ransom, as he does not see how he can free himself otherwise.' Truce or no truce, the Earl of Arundel, who was in command on the March, conceived the notion of sending a force to hew down Jedburgh Forest. Douglas, who was building himself a house at Lintalee on the Jed, took 50 men-at-arms and a body of archers and planted an ambush at a wooded pass. When the English—certainly nothing like 10,000, as Barbour estimates them—had well entered, the archers assailed them in flank, and Douglas struck upon the rear, killing their leader, Sir Thomas de Richmond, and routing them disastrously. A detachment that had taken possession of Douglas's quarters at Lintalee he surprised at dinner and slew almost to a man. Jedburgh Forest was left unfelled.

About the same time, it came to the ears of Douglas that Sir Robert de Neville, 'the Peacock of the North,' irritated by the recurrent praise of his deeds, had boasted at Berwick that he would fight him on the first chance. Douglas instantly took the road to Berwick, marching in the night, and in the early morning he displayed his broad banner, and lit up the landscape by firing several villages. Neville issued at the challenge and posted himself on a hill, expecting that the Scots would scatter in search of plunder. Douglas, however, impatiently advanced, and quickly met Neville, man to man. It was an unequal contest. Neville fell under the sword of Douglas. His troops fled. His three brothers, Alexander, John, and Ralph were among the prisoners captured, and were held to ransom for 2000 marks each.

The English, beaten at all points on the Border, made an attempt by sea, landing a force of 500 men near Inverkeithing to raid Fife. The Earl and the Sheriff of Fife, though apprised of their coming, had not the pluck or the numbers to prevent their landing, and retired. Bishop Sinclair of Dunkeld, however, rode up at the head of 60 horsemen, his episcopal cloak covering a suit of full armour. He scouted the Earl's excuse of superior numbers, and told him to his face that he deserved to have his gilt spurs hewn off his heels. 'Follow me,' he cried, 'and, in the name of the Lord, and with the aid of St Columba, whose land they are ravaging, we will take revenge.' Thereupon, casting off his cloak and wielding a formidable spear, he spurred right on the enemy, routed them, and drove them to their ships with great slaughter. So precipitate was their flight that one barge was overladen and sank with all on board. Ever after Sinclair was called by King Robert 'my own Bishop,' and popularly he was 'the Fechtin' Bishop.'

Bruce had now complete control of every part of his kingdom, excepting Berwick, and the northern counties of England lay open to him at his will. It was more than time for a final peace.

CHAPTER XI
CONCILIATION AMID CONFLICT

On January 1, 1316–17, the Pope declared a truce of two years between Edward and Bruce 'acting as King of Scotland' (gerentem se pro rege Scotiæ), and denounced excommunication against all breakers thereof. By a Bull dated March 17, he exhorted Edward to peace with Bruce 'now governing the realm of Scotland' (impraesentiarum regnum Scotiæ gubernantem), representing not only the waste of good lives and property but also the hindrance to the recovery of the Holy Land, and announcing the despatch of his nuncios, Guacelin d'Euse and Lucca di Fieschi, to effect a solemn concord. Presently he drew up two more Bulls, dated March 28—one, to certain English prelates, excommunicating all enemies of Edward invading England and Ireland; the other, to certain Irish prelates, excommunicating Robert and Edward Bruce—but these the Cardinals would hold in reserve till the issue of their mission should declare itself. In these Bulls, King Robert is 'late Earl of Carrick' (dudum Comes de Carrik); Edward, by profession of eagerness to go on a crusade—and otherwise—is the Pope's 'most dear son in Christ.' In view of the crusade, it was essential that Edward should also enjoy peace at home; and, on April 20, the Pope wrote to the chief magnates urging them to support their King with counsel and with help.

Towards the end of June 1317, the two Cardinals arrived in England, and were conducted with great ceremony to London. Edward had gone to Woodstock, where, on July 1, he summoned his parliament to meet at Nottingham on the 18th, to consider, before the Cardinals should come to his presence, the questions he would have to discuss with them. On July 27, he authorised safe conducts for the Cardinals' party, and assigned specially to the two prelates two officers of his personal staff. The Cardinals started for the north, 'as the manner of the Romans is,' with great pomp and circumstance. On the way, they were to consecrate the new Bishop of Durham, Louis de Beaumont, who proceeded in their train. They were also accompanied by Sir Henry de Beaumont, the brother of the Bishop elect, and other magnates. In the pride of ecclesiastical security, they contemned all warnings of danger. They had an unexpected welcome to the episcopate. On September 1, as they were passing Rushyford, within nine miles of Durham—if not at Aycliffe, three miles south of Rushyford—they were suddenly assailed by Sir Gilbert de Middleton and his robber band, and despoiled of all their valuables. The prelates and their personal attendants Sir Gilbert permitted to proceed to Durham, perhaps on foot, unharmed; the Bishop elect, Sir Henry, and the rest he consigned to Mitford Castle—the eyrie whence he swooped upon the country around, harrying as far as the Priory of Tynemouth. Arrived at Durham, the Cardinals, having duly adored St Cuthbert and venerated the venerable Bede, let loose upon their sacrilegious assailants all the powers of excommunication. The malison, says the Malmesbury chronicler, was efficacious; for, before the year was out, Middleton was captured and taken to London, where he was drawn, hanged, beheaded, and quartered.

The Cardinals' advance messengers, and their special envoys (praecursores)—the Bishop of Corbau and the Archdeacon of Perpignan—had reached the Border in safety. There the messengers had been stopped. The envoys, however, were met, about the beginning of September, by Douglas and Sir Alexander de Seton, and allowed to proceed, but only after handing over their letters for King Robert. They were conducted to Roxburgh Castle. There the King received them graciously, listened with reverent attention to the Pope's open letters in favour of peace, and replied that he would welcome a good and lasting peace, whether arranged by the mediation of the Cardinals or otherwise. He also listened respectfully to the Cardinals' open letters. But as for the close letters, he positively refused to break the seal of one of them. They were addressed to Robert de Brus, 'governing the realm of Scotland.' 'There are several others of the name of Robert de Brus,' he said, 'who take part with the other barons in the government of the realm of Scotland. These letters may be for one of them; they are not addressed to me, for they do not bear the title of King.' No; he would not risk opening other men's letters. Still, he would assemble his Council and consult with them whether he should nevertheless receive the Cardinals to audience; but, as his barons were engaged in various distant places, it would be impossible for him to give his decision till Michaelmas (September 29).

The envoys had their apology ready. They explained that it was the custom of Holy Mother Church, during the pendency of a question, not to say or write anything calculated to prejudice either party. 'If my Father and my Mother,' replied Bruce, holding up the Pope's letters, 'wished to avoid creating prejudice against the other party by calling me King, it seems to me that they ought not, while the question is still pending, create prejudice against me by withholding the title from me; especially when I am in possession of the realm, and everybody in it calls me King, and foreign kings and princes address me as King. Really, it appears to me that my Father and Mother are partial as between their sons. If you had presented a letter with such an address to another king, it may be that you would have received another sort of answer.' This caustic reply, the envoys reported, he delivered with a benign mien, 'always showing due reverence for his Father and Mother.'

The envoys passed to the next point. They requested him to cease meantime from further hostilities. 'That,' he replied, 'I can in no wise do without the consent of my barons; besides, the English are making reprisals upon my people and their property.'

In the confidence of authority, the envoys had taken with them one of the Cardinals' advance messengers, who had been sent on with a letter announcing the Pope's coronation, but had been stopped at the frontier. They now entreated King Robert to grant him a safe conduct; but he denied their request 'with a certain change of countenance,' not uttering a word.

Turning to Bruce's staff they inquired anxiously, Why was this? Why, simply because King Robert was not suitably addressed. But for this blunder, he would have willingly and promptly responded on every point.

So wrote the Cardinals to the Pope from Durham on September 7. They added that they expected nothing better than a refusal of an audience at Michaelmas; for, even if Robert were himself disposed to receive them, it was evident that his barons would offer opposition. The friends of Bruce had made no secret of their opinion that the reservation of the royal title was a deliberate slight at the instance of English intriguers—an opinion avowedly based on information from the papal court. The contrary assurances of the envoys had been worse than useless, and they despaired of further intercommunication unless and until the resentment of the Scots should be mollified by concession of the royal title. Some considerable time after Michaelmas, Bruce confirmed by letter the anticipations of the Cardinals. He must have his royal title recognised. At the same time he repeated his desire for peace, and his readiness to send representatives to negotiate; but when the bearer brought back the Cardinals' reply, he was stopped at the frontier, and had to take the letters back—no doubt because they were still improperly addressed.

Three days later (September 10), Edward wrote to the Pope from York, whither he had hastened on hearing of the assault on the Cardinals, assuring him that he would promptly 'avenge God and the Church,' and see that the prelates had their temporal losses made good.

To do the Pope justice, he had been anxious to keep clear of the difficulties obviously involved in the reservation of Bruce's royal title. In his letter of March 18, he had apologetically prayed Bruce not to take it ill that he was not styled King of Scotland. On October 21, he sends the Cardinals letters—one for Bruce explaining the former omission of the royal title, and apparently conceding it now; another for Edward, begging him not to be offended at his styling Bruce King; and a third for themselves, blaming them for not telling him whether or not they had Edward's consent that he (the Pope) should address Bruce as King. They are to request Edward to give way on the point; and they are to present or to keep back the letters as they may see expedient. The information of the Scots from Avignon was evidently well grounded.

Meantime the Cardinals made another attempt. They proclaimed the truce in London, and had it proclaimed by other ecclesiastics 'in other principal places of England and Scotland.' But they must bring it directly to the knowledge of Bruce. Accordingly they despatched Adam de Newton, the Guardian of the monastery of the Friars Minors in Berwick, to King Robert and the leading prelates of Scotland, to make the proclamation. Adam prudently left his papers in safe keeping at Berwick till he had provided himself with a safe conduct. On December 14, he set out for Old Cambus, twelve miles off, and found Bruce in a neighbouring wood hard at work, 'day and night, without rest,' preparing engines for the siege of Berwick. He at once obtained his safe conduct, and fetched his Bulls and other letters from Berwick to Old Cambus; but Sir Alexander de Seton refused to allow him to wait upon the King, and required him to hand over the letters. Seton took the letters to Bruce, or professed to do so, but presently brought them back, delivered them to Adam, and ordered him to be gone. Bruce would have nothing to do with Bulls and processes that withheld from him the title of King, and he was in any case determined, he said, to have the town of Berwick. Adam, however, was not to be baffled. He proclaimed the truce publicly before Seton 'and a great assembly of people.' The Scots, however, would not take it seriously. Not the most solemn adjurations could procure for Adam a safe conduct either back to Berwick or on to the Scots prelates, and he was summarily ordered to get out of the country with all speed. So he took his way to Berwick. But he was waylaid and stripped to the skin, and his Bulls and processes were torn in pieces. Still Adam was undaunted. 'I tell you, before God,' he wrote to the Cardinals on December 20, 'that I am still ready as ever, without intermission, to labour for the advancement of your affairs.'

From midsummer 1317, Edward's officers had been kept busy on the March. About the beginning of July, Sir John de Athy had taken the Scots sea-captain, Thomas Dunn, and killed all his men, except himself and his cousin, from whom Sir John had learned that Randolph was preparing to attack the Isle of Man, and even had designs on Anglesey, where English traitors were in league with him. Before January there had been large submissions to Bruce in the northern counties, partly from compulsion of arms, partly from starvation; and the chronic feuds between the town and the castle of Berwick were dangerously aggravated by the high-handedness of the constable, Sir Roger de Horsley, who hated all Scots impartially and intensely.

At last a burgess of Berwick, Peter (or Simon) de Spalding, exasperated by Horsley's supercilious harshness—bribed with ready money and promise of lands, the Lanercost chronicler says; corrupted by Douglas, says John of Tynmouth—entered into communication with the Marshal (or the Earl of March) for the betrayal of the town. By direction of the King, the Marshal (or March) ambushed at night in Duns Park, where he was joined by Randolph and Douglas. Advancing on foot, the Scots planted their ladders unperceived and scaled the wall at the point where Simon was in charge. The temptation to plunder upset the order of attack, two-thirds of the party scattering themselves over the town, breaking houses and slaying men. The opposition of the town's people was easily overcome, but when the garrison sallied, Randolph and Douglas were dangerously weak. Sir William de Keith, however, exerted himself conspicuously, as became a brand-new knight, in collecting the Scots, and after very hard fighting the garrison was driven in. Bruce presently came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held out tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine. The town was taken on March 28 (Fordun), or April 2 (Lanercost); the castle held out gallantly till past the middle of July, and even then Horsley marched out his famished garrison with the honours of war. Bruce installed as warden Sir Walter the Steward. Peter of Spalding, says John of Tynmouth, proved troublesome in insisting upon his promised reward; and, on an accusation of plotting against the life of King Robert, was put to death. The allegation recalls the case of Sir Peter de Lubaud.

Edward was extremely incensed at the Mayor and burgesses of Berwick, who had undertaken, for 6000 marks, to defend the town for a year from June 15, 1317. He ascribed the loss of it to their carelessness, and in the middle of April he ordered that their goods and chattels, wheresoever found, should be confiscated, and that such of them as had escaped into England should be imprisoned. On June 10, 1318, he summoned his army to meet him at York on July 26, to proceed against the Scots.

Meantime the Scots were proceeding with vigour against him. For soon after the capture of Berwick town, Bruce detached a strong force to ravage the northern counties. They laid waste Northumberland to the gates of Newcastle, starved the castles of Harbottle and Wark into surrender, and took Mitford Castle by stratagem. They sold immunity to the episcopate of Durham, excepting Hartlepool, which Bruce threatened to burn and destroy because some of its inhabitants had captured a ship freighted with his 'armeours' and provisions. Northallerton, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Otley and Skipton were guiding-points in the desolating track of the invaders. Ripon and Otley suffered most severely, and Ripon paid 1000 marks for a cessation of destruction. Fountains Abbey also paid ransom; Bolton Abbey was plundered; Knaresborough Parish Church bears to this day the marks of the fire that burnt out the fugitives. The expedition returned to Scotland laden with spoils, and bringing numerous captives and great droves of cattle. The Archbishop of York postponed misfortune by being too late with measures of resistance. But he energetically excommunicated the depredators, all and sundry.

On hearing of Bruce's reception of the envoys, the Pope had authorised the Cardinals, on December 29, to put in execution the two Bulls of excommunication prepared in the previous March. The Cardinals, however, would seem to have delayed. On June 28, 1318, when the Pope heard of the woeful adventures of Adam de Newton and of the capture of Berwick despite his truce, he ordered them to proceed. For Bruce, he said, had 'grievously' (dampnabiliter) 'abused his patience and long-suffering.' In September accordingly they excommunicated and laid under interdict Bruce himself, his brother Edward, and all their aiders and abettors in the invasion of England and Ireland. 'But,' says the Lanercost chronicler, 'the Scots cared not a jot for any excommunication, and declined to pay any observance to the interdict.' In October, Edward followed up his diplomatic success by pressing hard for the deposition of the Bishop of St Andrews, but the Pope easily found good technical pleas whereby to avoid compliance.