CHAPTER VI
THE TURN OF THE TIDE
In the midst of his new success, another severe family blow was impending on Bruce. On February 10, 1306–7—the first anniversary of the Dumfries tragedy—his brothers Thomas and Alexander made a raid on Galloway, with some 300 Scots and 700 Irish auxiliaries, landing at Loch Ryan, in the territory of Sir Dougal MacDowall. In a desperate fight, the force was completely crushed by MacDowall, who captured Thomas and Alexander, and Sir Reginald Crawford, Wallace's uncle, all 'wounded and half-dead.' Hemingburgh says the Scots were caught by surprise; Trevet adds 'in the night.' MacDowall delivered his chief prisoners, together with the heads of a baron of Cantyre and two Irish kinglets, to Prince Edward, at Wetheral, near Carlisle. These prisoners were all executed at Carlisle on February 17. Sir Thomas Bruce was drawn, hanged, and beheaded; Alexander Bruce, being a beneficed clergyman (Dean of Glasgow), was not drawn, but he and Sir Reginald Crawford, and apparently Sir Brice de Blair, were hanged and beheaded. Thomas's head was placed on the castle tower, and the heads of the others graced the three gates of the city. MacDowall was rewarded with the lands and possessions of Sir Robert de Boyd and Sir Brice de Blair, and on February 19, he received fifty marks and a charger; while on March 1, a profitable privilege was conferred, at his instance, upon his son.
According to Gray and Trevet, Bruce had sent his brothers to Nithsdale and Annandale 'to gain over the people.' It may be that the expedition was intended first to operate as a diversion, and then to join Bruce himself in Nithsdale. For Bruce, if not already in these parts, was moving thitherwards. On February 12, Sir John Botetourte, with a considerable force, including over a score of knights, started to make a raid on Bruce in Nithsdale; and on March 8, he was reinforced by 180 archers from Carlisle. The details, however, are not recorded.
It was probably in February, upon the landing of Bruce in Carrick, that Edward issued from Lanercost an ordinance intended to conciliate the Scots, while it graded carefully the degrees of punishment for the worst classes of delinquents. Contrary to the King's intention, the ordinance had been interpreted as too harsh and rigorous. On March 13, therefore, he materially modified it. A few days later, he directed steps to be taken for the repair and fortification of several castles on the east side beyond Forth, and ordered fresh levies from the northern counties of England to muster, 2300 strong, at Carlisle by a fortnight after Easter.
In a lull of the Nithsdale operations, Bruce is said to have reluctantly granted Douglas leave to proceed to Douglasdale, accompanied only by two yeomen. On arrival, Douglas disclosed himself to Tom Dickson of Hazelside, a stanch old warrior-tenant of his father's, who was overjoyed to see the youth, and introduced him to the other leal men of the land, one by one, at private conferences. It was quickly decided to fall upon the unsuspecting garrison of Douglas Castle in St Bride's Church on Palm Sunday (March 19). The countrymen would bring concealed weapons, and Douglas would appear, with his two men, in the guise of a corn-thresher, a threadbare mantle on his back and a flail on his shoulder. The moment he raised his war-cry, they would overpower the soldiers, and then the castle would offer no resistance. Everything fell out as planned, except that an over-eager friend prematurely raised the Douglas war-cry. Dickson instantly fell upon the English in the chancel, and a neighbour followed his example; but both were slain. At this moment Douglas came on the scene, raised his war-cry, and pressed hard on the English, who manfully defended themselves. About twenty were killed; the remaining ten were taken prisoners. At the castle, Douglas found only the porter and the cook; and so he barred the gates, and dined at leisure. After dinner, he packed up valuables, arms, and other portable things, and proceeded to destroy what he could not take away. He piled the wheat, flour, meal, and malt on the floor of the wine cellar, beheaded the prisoners on the pile, and broached the wine casks. This ghastly mess was locally designated 'the Douglas Larder.' He then spoilt the well by throwing in salt and dead horses. Finally, he set fire to the castle, and left nothing but stones. The party dispersed, and hid away their wounded. But Clifford, for whom the castle had been held, soon had it rebuilt and regarrisoned.
A later petition, by Lucas de Barry, represents that Lucas had been 'under Sir Robert de Clifford in Douglas Castle when Sir Robert de Brus and Sir James Douglas attacked it, the year when the late King died.' But this does not necessarily mean that either Clifford or Bruce was there in person.
On the same Sunday morning, Edward entered Carlisle with Peter, Cardinal Bishop of St Sabine, a papal legate, who had just arrived to arrange terms of peace between the English and French kings on the basis of a marriage between Prince Edward and Isabella, daughter of the King of France. On the Wednesday following, in the Cathedral, the legate explained the objects of his mission, and, with bell, book and candle, excommunicated the murderers of Comyn, with all their aiders and abettors. The like denunciation was busily repeated through the churches, especially of the north of England. On Friday, the peace was proclaimed.
Towards the end of March, Sir John Wallace is said to have been captured 'in the plain, pursued by the northeners,' and was taken to Carlisle. Edward sent him to London, 'fettered on a hackney,' to undergo the same barbarous death as his heroic brother. His head was fixed on London Bridge, 'raised with shouts,' says Langtoft, 'near the head of his brother, William the Wicked.' It could not have been more nobly honoured.
By the middle of April, Bruce had moved to Glen Trool, where he was hard beset for some three weeks by superior forces under a number of able knights, young Sir John Comyn among them. The incidents of the period have not been preserved. Barbour, indeed, tells how Valence and Clifford advanced stealthily on Bruce, with over 1500 against less than 300 men, and found him in a narrow pass, where horse could not reach him. Valence sent a woman, disguised as a beggar, to spy out the position; but Bruce saw through the dodge, and the spy confessed. The English had to advance on foot. Bruce dashed upon them with fury, seizing with his own hand their foremost banner. Some of his men, Barbour admits, had gone off, but came back on seeing how the fight went. The foremost English company being overpowered, the main body retreated; and a quarrel between Clifford and Vaux seems to point to a fruitless attempt of Clifford's to rally the fugitives. One can only say that some such incidents are probable enough. Anyhow, Bruce appears to have baffled all the attempts of the English in Glen Trool, and to have got away towards Lothian.
In Lothian, Bruce found friends. The people, Hemingburgh explains, had been exasperated during the preceding year by the justice of the English justiciars; and, therefore, 'as if unanimously, they rose and went with Bruce, willing rather to die than to be judged by the English laws.' Thus reinforced, Bruce turned back to meet Valence. Perhaps it was now that he over-ran Kyle and Cunningham. Valence, says Barbour, despatched from Bothwell 1000 men under Sir Philip de Mowbray, whom Douglas with 60 men met at Ederford, a narrow pass between two marshes, and, by skilful strategy, totally defeated. Stung by this ignominious reverse, Valence challenged Bruce, who lay at Galston, to meet him on May 10, at Loudon Hill—the scene of Wallace's father's death and of Wallace's first victory. Bruce accepted the challenge. Choosing his ground between two stretches of moss, he cut three deep trenches (with adequate gaps for the passage of his men) across the hard moor between, and marshalled his 600 followers, so that Valence's 3000 men could come into action only in detail. He ordered a fierce onset on the foremost, with the view of discouraging the rest—the successful tactic in Glen Trool; and Sir Edward and Douglas, as well as himself, are said to have performed prodigies of valour. The English gave way, and, despite his utmost efforts, Valence was driven from the field. Barbour says he retreated to Bothwell; Gray states that Bruce pursued him to Ayr. Three days later, Bruce also defeated the Earl of Gloucester with even greater slaughter (says Hemingburgh) than had reddened Loudon Hill, and besieged him in Ayr Castle.
From a letter, anonymous, dated May 15, we learn without surprise that Edward 'was much enraged that the Warden and his force had retreated before King Hobbe'—his familiar designation of Bruce. What does surprise one is to learn, on the same authority, that 'James of Douglas sent and begged to be received, but, when he saw the King's forces retreat, he drew back.' It would be quite intelligible that the hardships of his first terrible year of service had shaken the nerve of the youthful warrior. But there were now 'rumours of treasonable dealings between some of the English and the enemy,' and it seems far more probable that Douglas was engineering one of his ruses. It needs better evidence to stamp this solitary suggestion of a blot on the clear scutcheon of Douglas.
The news of Bruce's success, no doubt exaggerated and distorted, produced a great sensation in the northern parts of Scotland. A calendared letter, anonymous, written from Forfar to some high official under date May 15, graphically pictures the local feeling.
The writer hears that Sir Robert de Brus never had the goodwill of his own followers or the people at large, or even half of them, so much with him as now; and it now first appears that he was right, and God is openly with him, as he has destroyed all the King's power both among the English and the Scots, and the English force is in retreat to its own country not to return. And they firmly believe, by the encouragement of the false preachers who come from the host, that Sir Robert de Brus will now have his will. And these preachers are such as have been attached before the Warden and the justices as abettors of war, and are at present freed on guarantees and deceiving the people thus by their false preachment. For he (the writer) believes assuredly, as he hears from Sir Reginald de Cheyne, Sir Duncan de Frendraught, and Sir Gilbert de Glencairney, and others who watch the peace both beyond and on this side of the mountains (Mounth), that, if Sir Robert de Brus can escape any way 'saun dreytes' or towards the parts of Ross, he will find them all ready at his will more entirely than ever, unless the King will be pleased to send more men-at-arms to these parts; for there are many people living well and loyally at his faith provided the English are in power, otherwise they see that they must be at the enemies' will through default of the King and his Council, as they say. And it would be a deadly sin to leave them so without protection among enemies. And may it please God to keep the King's life, for when we lose him, which God forbid, say they openly, all must be on one side, or they must die or leave the country with all those who love the King, if other counsel or aid be not sent them. For these preachers have told them that they have found a prophecy of Merlin, how, after the death of the grasping King (le Roi Coueytous), the Scottish people and the Bretons shall league together, and have the sovereign hand and their will, and live together in accord till the end of the world.
It was probably reports of this tenor that drew Valence and Bevercotes on a hasty visit to the north immediately after Loudon Hill. They were both in Inverness on May 20.
The reverses sustained by Valence and Gloucester led to increased activity on the English side. The Bishop of Chester, with his successor as treasurer (the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry), was at Lanark on May 15, at Dumfries next day, and on May 18 he was back at Carlisle, having seen to the provisioning of the fortresses. Edward was 'so greatly pleased with his account that he kissed him—especially for his borrowing the castle of Cumnock from its owner, Earl Patrick, for a term, and garrisoning it with 30 men-at-arms under Sir Ingram de Umfraville and Sir William de Felton, besides 100 foot.' The Bishop went south next day to represent Edward at the funeral of the Countess of Gloucester, the King's daughter Joan.
Edward himself was too ill to travel. Besides, he was immersed in military preparations, summoning reinforcements and hurrying up supplies. Bruce, though unable to maintain the siege of Ayr, did considerable damage; for on June 1, Valence requisitioned masons and carpenters from Carlisle 'to repair the castle and houses.' At the same time, Valence added some 300 men to the garrison, 'to strengthen the castle and secure the country round, while he is on his foray towards Carrick and Glen Trool.' He was following up Bruce. Probably, too, he avenged Loudon Hill before the arrival of Edward's fresh levies, which had been summoned to be at Carlisle by the middle of July. Hemingburgh says the English 'defeated Bruce with great slaughter, so that he lurked thereafter in moors and marshes' with the ridiculous force of 'some 10,000 foot, and the English could not get at him, as he always slipped out of their hands.' Gray says that Bruce was so badly beaten 'that he retired on foot through the mountains, and from isle to isle, and sometimes he had not so much as a single companion with him.' One is inclined to give the credit of this defeat to Valence—if defeat there was. Bruce may have taken refuge again in Glen Trool; Gray's mention of the isles may result from a confusion with earlier events. This record of fresh disaster finds no mention in Barbour or in Fordun.
Sir Thomas Gray, professing to quote from 'the chronicles of his deeds,' relates how at this time Bruce came, all alone, to a passage between two islands, over which he was ferried by two boatmen. Had he heard any news of what had become of Bruce? they asked. 'None,' he replied. 'Certes,' said they, 'we would we had grip of him at this moment; he should die by our hands.' 'And why?' queried Bruce. 'Because he murdered John Comyn, our lord,' was the answer. They landed him. 'My good fellows,' said Bruce, 'you wanted to get hold of Robert de Bruce. Look at me!—that will give you satisfaction. And were it not that you have done me the courtesy of ferrying me over this narrow passage, you should rue your wish.' So he went on his way.
Barbour recounts various exploits of Bruce and Douglas between the landing in Carrick and the first retreat to Glen Trool; but, if they represent facts, they must clearly be spread over a longer period.
For example. Sir Ingram Bell, the governor of Ayr—Barbour writes Sir Ingram de Umfraville, who was probably in Cumnock Castle—intrigued with a personal attendant of Bruce's, a man of local importance, a one-eyed, sturdy rascal, nearly related to Bruce. The villain was promised a reward of £40 in land to compass the King's death. With his two sons, who were also trusted by Bruce, he lay in wait one morning for his master, when he had gone out with only a page in attendance. Bruce, suspecting the men, ordered them to stand. As they still came on, he drew his page's bow, and shot the father in the eye; and with his sword he cleft the skull of one son after the other. This may be one of half a dozen possible variants of the story of the Brooch of Lorn.
Not long afterwards, in the dusk of evening, Bruce with 60 men was attacked by over 200 Galwegians, who had brought a sleuth-hound to track him. Warned by his sentinels, he drew his men into a narrow pass in a bog, and, leaving Sir Gilbert de la Haye in charge, went out with two men to reconnoitre the position. Passing some way along the water side, he found the banks high and the water deep, and no ford but the one he had crossed. Here he sent his men back to camp, and watched alone. Presently he heard the deep baying of the hound, and soon the enemy appeared, under a bright moon. He determined to stand; they must come on singly in the strait passage. They plunged confidently into the water, but Bruce bore down the foremost with his spear, and stabbed the horse, which fell in the ascent from the water and impeded the others. He kept the ford; and, when his men came up, they found fourteen slain, and the rest in retreat. The rumour of this exploit drew many to his side.
Again Douglas repaired to Douglasdale and set an ambush near Sandilands. With a small party he then took some cattle near the castle of Douglas and drove them off. Thirlwall, the constable, sallied out and pursued the party past the ambush. Attacked suddenly, he was slain in attempted defence, together with most of his men. The survivors fled to the castle, barred the gate, and manned the walls. Douglas had to content himself with what booty he could find about the castle.
Presently Douglas, hearing of the approach of Valence with a strong force, joined the King in a narrow pass near Cumnock. Bruce had but 300 men. Valence was accompanied by John of Lorn, who headed over 800 and had a sleuth-hound, said to have been once a favourite of Bruce's. On finding himself caught between the two bodies, Bruce divided his men into three companies, anticipating that the enemy would follow his own track, and that so his other two companies would escape. The hound followed Bruce, who gradually dispersed his company, at last keeping only his foster-brother with him. Still the hound persisted. John of Lorn then sent forward five of his stoutest men to take Bruce. Three attacked Bruce; two assailed his foster-brother. Bruce killed one of his opponents, and, marking the dismay of the others, jumped aside to help his foster-brother, and smote off the head of one of his assailants. He then killed his own two pursuers, while his foster-brother despatched the only one remaining. Meantime Lorn closed up with the hound. Bruce, with his companion, made for a wood, and threw himself down by a stream, declaring he could go no farther; but, yielding to his friend's remonstrances, he got up, and they waded together some way down the stream, thus baffling the hound and escaping further pursuit. Another account, according to Barbour, was that the King's companion lurked in a thicket and shot the hound with an arrow. Anyhow, Bruce escaped. It is said that Randolph captured Bruce's banner in the pursuit, much to the satisfaction of the English King.
Having cleared the forest, Bruce and his companion were crossing a moor, when they came on three men, armed with swords and axes, one of them carrying a sheep on his shoulder. The men said they wished to join Bruce, and Bruce said he would take them to him. They perceived that he was Bruce, and he perceived that they were foes. Bruce insisted that, till better acquaintance, they should go separate and in front of him. Coming to an empty house at night, they killed the sheep, roasted it, divided it, and dined at opposite ends of the room. Bruce, tired and hungry as he had been, must sleep, his man promising to keep watch. His man, however, fell asleep too; he 'might not hold up an e'e.' The men then attacked Bruce, who instantly awoke, grasped his sword, and trod heavily on his man. Bruce slew the three, but lost his companion, who was killed in his sleep.
Bruce now made for the rallying-point of his dispersed companies. Here he found the goodwife of the house 'sitting on a bink.' In answer to her exhaustive inquiries, he said he was a wayfarer. 'All wayfarers,' said she, 'are welcome for the sake of one—King Robert the Bruce.' Then the King revealed himself. Where were his men? He had none. Thereupon the gallant woman declared her two big sons should become his men. As he sat at meat, he heard the tread of soldiers, and started up to offer defence. It was Douglas and Sir Edward Bruce with 150 men.
Bruce now suggested that the enemy, confident that his force was dissipated, would lie open to surprise. He made a forced march overnight, and at daylight caught a large detachment—certainly nothing like 2000 (Barbour's figures)—in some town, and slew two-thirds of them. He retreated before the main body began to stir, and Valence did not pursue.
On another occasion Bruce went a-hunting alone, with two hounds. He had his sword, but had laid aside his armour. Presently he saw three men with bows approaching—men that had in fact been watching for such an opportunity to take vengeance for Comyn. Bruce taunted them for attacking with arrows, three to one, and they chivalrously threw down their bows and drew their swords. Bruce struck down one; a hound fixed in another's throat and brought him to the ground, when Bruce cut his back in two; and the third, fleeing to the wood, was seized and pulled down by a hound and despatched by Bruce.
These stories represent early traditions and may easily be true, though they may be merely imaginary. The three-men stories may be variants of a single original, but by no means necessarily.
On July 7, 1307, Edward I. died at Burgh-on-Sands, some three miles from Carlisle. Owing to the poor success of his lieutenants, the gallant King had determined to move forward in person. On Monday, July 3, he is said to have advanced from Carlisle; but it was Thursday before he reached Burgh-on-Sands. On Friday, as his attendants raised him up in bed to eat, he died in their hands. On his sick-bed—or, as Walsingham says, on his death-bed—Edward had again charged the Prince to persist steadily in the war against Bruce, taking his bones with him in a casket. 'For,' said the dying King, with heroic confidence, 'no one will be able to overcome you while you have my bones borne with you.' But all his dying advice and solemn charges the Prince eventually disregarded.
The body of the late King was conveyed south in great state, to lie in the church at Waltham till a definite settlement was attained in Scotland. The Prince attended the cortège several stages, and then returned to Carlisle. Edward was buried at Westminster on October 28.
Edward I. was not only the greatest of English Kings, but one of the greatest of Englishmen. His treatment of Scotland, however he may have reasoned out the justice of it, must always remain a very dark blot on his memory. Never was his military ardour or his personal resolution more signally manifested than in the last months and days of his latest expedition. He died in harness, his valiant spirit shining undimmed till the moment it was quenched by death itself. The virile judgment and stern purpose of Edward I. was succeeded by the childish incompetence and obstinacy of Edward II. The death of the great King assured the eventual triumph of Bruce. The moment anticipated by nationalists with hope and by anti-nationalists with dread was come. It was the turn of the tide.
CHAPTER VII
RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY
While the great Edward was passing south on his last march, Valence was actively engaged in strengthening the English positions in Kyle and Carrick. Percy held Ayr Castle, and John of Argyll guarded Ayr town and neighbourhood with a large force, which was presently joined by half a score of redoubtable Scots knights with their followings.
The young King started from Carlisle on July 31, 1307, for Dumfries, where many Scots nobles obeyed his summons to do homage and fealty. Advancing up the valley of the Nith, he was at Cumnock on August 21, and stayed there fully a week. At Tinwald, on August 30, he confirmed Valence in the office of Warden of Scotland. He offered to receive to his peace all Scotsmen not implicated in the murder of Comyn. The Lanercost chronicler says he divided his army into three bodies to pursue Bruce, but the pursuit was unsuccessful, and on September 4 he returned to Carlisle with empty hands.
The effects of the accession of Edward II. were quickly apparent. No sooner had he retired than the whole Border was ablaze. Even the faithful men of Selkirk and Tweeddale and of the Forest, tenants of the Warden himself, rose in force, and on September 12 the Sheriff of Roxburgh reported that 'the poor tenants' of his district had fled into England with their goods for fear of the enemy. The weight of the Scots attack, however, was thrown upon Galloway and the MacDowalls. The English settlers fled in numbers; for, on September 25, Edward ordered Clifford, the justiciar of the forest beyond Trent, 'to allow the men of Galloway to feed their flocks and herds in Englewood Forest, whither they have come to take refuge for fear of Robert de Brus and his accomplices.' On the same day he directed Sir Thomas de Multon of Egremont and four other northern barons to hasten to Lancashire, Cumberland, and Westmorland, to assist John, baron of Wigton, and Richard le Brun, his justices there, 'for the salvation and quiet of the men of those parts,' and to redress the wrongs and losses they sustained, and to repel the incursions of the Scots. It looks as if a swift foray had been executed by the men of Selkirk and Tweeddale. On September 30, Edward, who had now learned further from St John, MacDowall, and other officers in Galloway, that Bruce was 'burning and plundering, and inciting and compelling the inhabitants to rebel,' commanded Sir John de Bretagne, who had just succeeded Valence, to march against the enemy. At the same time he summoned to the Warden's assistance Earl Patrick and half a dozen other powerful Scots, as well as the baron of Wigton and Richard le Brun, apparently already relieved of their Selkirk visitors, and the keepers of the peace of Northumberland and Tyndale. The Lanercost chronicler admits that the Galwegians purchased peace, being unable to resist the forces of Bruce.
Sir Thomas Gray also bears testimony to Bruce's activity, and explains the favour he steadily gained, in part at least, by the harsh conduct of English officials 'for purposes of individual advantage.' We have already seen that as early as May Scotland beyond the Forth was ready for the advent of Bruce, and the English officers were looking forward with dread to the death of Edward I. And now Bruce turned from Galloway to the north.
According to Fordun, Bruce advanced as far as Inverness, where he took the castle and levelled it with the ground, slaying the garrison; and the other fortresses of the north he dealt with in like drastic fashion. In this expedition, no doubt, it was—in late October and November 1307—that Bruce overran Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, and compelled the Earl of Ross to take truce. The Earl's apologetic petition to Edward explains how Bruce came against him with 3000 men and subjugated these counties, 'and would have destroyed them utterly if we had not taken truce with him at the entreaty of the good people, both religious and other, till Whitsunday next.' Ross declares that he could get no help from the Warden of Moray. The Bishop of Moray, who had taken refuge in Orkney for about a year and whose lands had been loyally raided by Ross, had by this time returned to Edward's peace, and was demanding damages for the wasting of his lands. He, at any rate, was not likely to have moved a finger against Bruce; on the contrary, he no doubt privately aided him. Ross's apologies were accepted; for in May 1308 he appears as Lieutenant of the Warden of Scotland, and is requested to remain in office till midsummer. But on October 31, he submitted to Bruce, who reinstated him in his lands (with fresh additions), and his name heads the roll of Bruce's Parliament at St Andrews on March 16, 1308–9.
Barbour, making no mention of these exploits, brings Bruce north of the Mounth and on to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. Bruce is joined by Sir Alexander Fraser and Simon Fraser—the famous Sir Simon's brother and son—who had apparently been acting in his interests in the north, opposed mainly by Comyn (Earl of Buchan), Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir David de Brechin. At Inverurie Bruce fell very sick. He could neither eat nor drink; no medicine did him any good; he became too weak to ride or to walk. Sir Edward Bruce, says Barbour, tried to comfort the men, but it seems much more likely that Sir Edward remained in command in Galloway, while Douglas made excursions towards the eastern border. At any rate, Bruce's men would not fight while their chief was ill, or Bruce had too much prudence to allow them; so they placed him on a litter and carried him into the Slevach (mountain fastnesses). Comyn, hearing of Bruce's serious illness, advanced against him with Mowbray and Brechin, and with a largely superior force. The time, says Barbour, was 'after Martinmas, when snow covered all the land.' Bruce quietly awaited attack. On three successive days there occurred skirmishes between bodies of archers, Buchan's men getting the worst of the encounter day after day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously obtaining additions, while Bruce was getting pinched with hunger. Placing the King in his litter again, Bruce's men changed quarters, marching slowly in fighting order, with their sick chief in the centre, and restricting themselves rigidly to defence. They took up a position in Strathbogie, a little further north, and Buchan's force abandoned the pursuit and dispersed.
The King gradually regained strength and returned to Inverurie, 'to be in the plains for the winter,' for the better chances of food. Again Buchan proceeded to attack him, reaching Oldmeldrum 'on the evening before Yule even' (January 4) 1307–8, with about 1000 men. Next day Brechin made a dash at Inverurie; whereupon Bruce, in spite of remonstrances, determined to mount and fight, though, says Fordun, 'he could not go upright, but with the help of two men to prop him up.' He is said to have had 'near 700 men.' He advanced towards Oldmeldrum, and as the enemy retreated, pressed steadily upon them, pushing their retreat into flight, and pursuing them, Fordun says, as far as Fyvie. Buchan and Mowbray fled to England, while Brechin stood a siege in his own castle of Brechin. Bruce's 'herschip' (harrying) of the district of Buchan is said to have been so exemplary that men lamented it for half a century afterwards.
There are discrepancies between Barbour's account and Fordun's. Fordun dates Buchan's retirement from the Slevach on Christmas day (on which Barbour fights at Inverurie and Oldmeldrum), and he arranges a truce on the occasion. It is in the Slevach that he makes Bruce's illness commence. He dates the battle of Inverurie, without mention of Oldmeldrum, vaguely in 1308. He also calls Mowbray Philip, not John, and he says nothing of Brechin. Buchan and Mowbray, if they did not then flee to England, at any rate went south not very long after this time; and if Brechin surrendered his castle, it was certainly not, as Barbour says it was, to David, Earl of Athol, who was on the English side. On May 20, 1308, Edward writes to thank a great number of his officers in Scotland, including Athol, Buchan, Brechin, John de Mowbray, and others, for their faithful service, and he requests Buchan to remain 'in the district committed to him' till August 1. This may mean that up to May he had remained in command in the north, though keeping clear of Bruce's devastating track.
Having reduced the country beyond the Grampians ('benorth the Mounth'), Bruce descended upon Angus. Barbour says nothing of an attack on Brechin Castle, having already recorded its capture and the submission of Sir David to Bruce; but, as we have seen, Sir David was still—and, indeed, for several years to come—on the English side; and Barbour was evidently misinformed. Forfar Castle was taken by Philip the Forester, of Platter; the watch had not been vigilant, and Philip scaled the walls. Bruce demolished the castle; whether because it was of the old ineffective type, or because he had no means of holding it. He then, according to Barbour, invested Perth, which was strongly fortified, and was held by Moffat and Oliphant—Sir William Oliphant, the gallant defender of Stirling, who had been released from the Tower on May 24, 1308, having lain rusting there for nearly four years. The Earl of Strathearn, says Barbour, was also in the garrison, while his son and his men were in Bruce's camp; but Barbour is mistaken, for though Strathearn had been transferred from Rochester Castle to York Castle in the preceding November, he does not appear to have been released till November 18 of this year. Frequent skirmishes took place during a six weeks' siege, when Bruce suddenly decamped, amid the premature jeers of the garrison. After eight days he returned suddenly in the night, and, finding the English lulled in security, plunged into the moat up to his neck, mounted the walls by ladder, and surprised the sentinels. His men, dispersed in groups, gave the garrison no chance to marshal for effective defence. The English leaders were taken; but few men were slain, in consideration of their decent treatment of Scots. There was much booty for the victors. Bruce demolished the walls and the towers. 'Was none that durst him then withstand.' Whether this capture of Perth be fact or not—and probably it should be placed at a later date—Bruce now had the upper hand north of Forth.
While Bruce was re-conquering his kingdom in the north, Edward II. had married Isabella of France at Boulogne on January 28, 1307–8, and had been crowned at Westminster on February 25. He had at once plunged himself in difficulties with his barons by his infatuation for Piers de Gaveston. In June some purpose of accommodation with Bruce appears to have been pressed upon the English king. There exists a memorandum dated June, without the year, which Mr Bain rightly, it seems, assigns to 1308. It sets out that the levies summoned to meet the King at Carlisle on August 23 shall be countermanded; and that the King shall take no truce or sufferance from Bruce, but the Wardens of Scotland—Sir Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Sir William de Ros of Hamelake (appointed on June 21)—'may take such, for as long time as possible, as they have done hitherto of their own power or by commission, so that the King, however, may furnish his castles with men and victuals, and that no one be taken or other "mesprision" made during such truce.' Then the wardens of districts are arranged. The Earl of Buchan, Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir Ingram de Umfraville are to be wardens of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick respectively; Sir Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Edmund de Hastings, and Sir John Fitz Marmaduke, are to be wardens beyond the Forth. The endorsement bears that the Wardens of Scotland shall 'take truce from Robert de Brus as from themselves, as long as they can, but not beyond the month of Pasques' (April), and—curiously enough—that 'the King may break the truce at pleasure if the others will yield this point, but, if they will not, the truce may be made without it.' The memorandum testifies to the strength of Bruce's hold on the country, and to the recalcitrance of Edward's barons. Still Edward struggled on. On June 21, he requested a large number of officers to retain their posts till specified dates, and to join the Scottish expedition at Carlisle on August 23. On July 10, he requisitioned ships and men from Shoreham all round to Bristol, for the King 'needs a great fleet.' But on August 11, he countermanded the order for these ships and men, 'the King having deferred his expedition for the present.' The English barons were too strong for the young King.
It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce Argyll. Probably, however, he undertook the expedition immediately after the reduction of the north. If he conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth, and Sir William Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have been free to go west till the very end of July 1308. Fordun states that, within a week after August 15, Bruce defeated the men of Argyll and subdued the whole land; that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll 'for some time' in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban); and that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but was allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to England. Barbour tells how Lorn—John, the son of Alexander—gathered some 2000 men and opposed Bruce in a narrow pass between a steep mountain and the sheer bank of a loch—perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe. Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on the ridge commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched Douglas, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of archers, to fetch a circuit above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the pass. Lorn's men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a bridge crossing the river at one end of the loch, and, having crossed, attempted to break down the bridge. Bruce was upon them before they could effect their purpose, and completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun Lorn's country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was wont to be,' escaped by water. Bruce then received the homage of all the men of Argyll, and returned to Perth.
But these events must have been spread over a considerable time, and they may not have been continuous. The record of Bruce's Parliament at St Andrews on March 16, 1308–9, places it beyond doubt that Alexander of Argyll came to Bruce's peace; it states that Alexander himself and 'the barons of the whole of Argyll and Inchegall' were present as liegemen of Bruce. Again, on June 16, 1309, both Alexander and John of Lorn were present at Edward's council at Westminster as liegemen of the English king. Further, we have a letter of Lorn's, undated, but replying to a letter of Edward's dated March 11, in which he says that he had been on sick-bed for half a year; that Bruce 'had approached his territories with 10,000 or 15,000 men, it was said, both by land and sea,' while he 'had no more than 800 to oppose him,' and 'the barons of Argyll gave him no aid'; that a truce had been made, at the instance of Bruce; that 'he hears that Bruce, when he came, was boasting that he (Lorn) had come to his peace,' 'which God and he (Lorn) knows is not true'; that, on the contrary, 'he is, and will ever be, ready to serve him (Edward) to the utmost of his power'; that 'he has three castles to guard, and a loch twenty-four leagues long, on which he has vessels properly manned, but is not sure of his neighbours'; and that 'so soon as the King or his power arrives, he will be ready with lands, ships, and others to aid him,' either in person (if he be not sick), or by his son. Neglecting minor discrepancies, one may safely accept Mr Bain's reconciliation of the various accounts. Alexander came to Bruce's peace after the affair of Loch Awe; John was still holding out in March, but was driven from Dunstaffnage within the next two months; and Alexander thereupon retired, with John, to England. Alexander died in Ireland in the end of 1310. John lived to fight for Edward some seven or eight years more; but, as Mr Bain gently remarks, 'Barbour has strangely misrepresented his later career.'
Bruce was now master in the west as well as in the north. Beyond Forth, however, Perth, if ever captured, must soon have been recovered; and Dundee—and even Banff—remained in English hands, as well as the key-fortress of Stirling on the south bank of the dividing river. Still Bruce was master of the country, and he was free to turn his attention to the south.
Sir Edward Bruce, after an arduous struggle, had taken a firm grip of Galloway by the end of 1308. With Lindsay, Boyd, and Douglas he had attacked the Galwegians—'notwithstanding the tribute they received from them,' says the Lanercost chronicler, who also admits that they 'subdued almost all that land.' According to Barbour, Sir Edward met the English near Cree, routed them, slew some 1200, and pursued Umfraville and St John to Buittle Castle. St John then rode to England and brought up over 1500 men; on hearing which, Sir Edward instantly mounted, with 50 men, followed up the trail of the enemy in the morning mist, and, when the day cleared and he found himself within bowshot, charged with his usual reckless audacity. The English believed there must be more men with Sir Edward than they saw. At the third charge he routed them, slaying or taking many; St John, however, escaping. Sir Allan de Cathcart, Barbour affirms, 'told me this tale.' Sir Edward had all Galloway at the King's peace.
Fordun, again, relates that Sir Edward, on November 18, inflicted a crushing defeat on Donald of the Isles and the Galwegians on the river Dee (not Cree), taking Donald prisoner in his flight, and slaying 'a knight named Roland, with many of the nobles of Galloway.' Whatever the dates and the details, Sir Edward must have done some stern fighting. The Lanercost chronicler even records that it was said that the English king would have liked, if he could, to give Bruce peace on terms of aiding him against his earls and barons.
No doubt the MacDowalls were uprooted. But Mr Bain seems somewhat lax in stating that 'before April 1, 1309, Sir Dougal, their head, had been driven into England, where for thirty years he and his family were obliged to remain to escape the vengeance of the Bruces.' On April 1, 1309, it is true, Sir Dougal received as a reward for his services, 'whereby he has become hated by the enemy,' the manor of Temple Couton, in Yorkshire, 'for the residence and support of his wife and children.' But he himself was constable of Dumfries Castle in 1311, sheriff also in 1312, and he had the mortification of surrendering the castle to Bruce on February 7, 1312–13. Edward made provision for him from time to time till his death (before January 27, 1327–28). A petition by his son and heir Duncan, dated 1347, represents that Sir Dougal lost £100 in land for his allegiance to Edward I. and Edward II.; that Sir Dougal's brother was slain (in revenge for Bruce's two brothers); that the petitioner's eldest brother had been slain at Bannockburn; and that he and his six brothers were destitute. It shows a dark glimpse of the losing side.
In the meantime, according to Barbour, Douglas had done some useful work on his account. Some time after Bruce went north, he proceeded to Douglasdale again and placed an ambush near his ancestral castle. He sent fourteen men with sackfuls of grass on horses' backs to pass along as if bound for Lanark fair. Sir John Webton, the constable, sallied upon them; whereupon they cast down the sacks, threw off their frocks, and, mounting their horses, showed fight. Douglas now broke ambush and cut off Webton from the castle, eventually slaying him and all his men. Barbour relates that there was found in Webton's pouch a letter from a lady engaging to marry him if he kept 'the auenturous castell of Douglas' for a year—a story worked up by Sir Walter Scott in his boldly unhistorical 'Castle Dangerous.' Douglas took the castle and demolished it.
Douglas also, Barbour says, did a great deal of hard fighting in Selkirk Forest. On one occasion, in a house on the Water of Lyne (which joins the Tweed a few miles above Peebles), he lighted upon Sir Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, whose father, Sir John, distinguished himself so brilliantly at Falkirk, Randolph, Bruce's nephew, Sir Adam de Gordon, and others, who were really in search of himself. He surrounded the house, and a fierce fight resulted. Gordon got away safe, but Douglas captured Stewart, who was wounded, and Randolph, and took them next morning to the King—who, in that case, must already have returned south. Barbour tells of the proud bearing of Randolph, and how Bruce put him 'in firm keeping' till he acknowledged his authority. This must have taken place before March 4, 1308–9, when Edward conferred on Sir Adam de Gordon Randolph's forfeited manor of Stichill, in Roxburghshire. Never afterwards did Randolph swerve from his uncle's allegiance.
Early in 1308–9 (January 14, Hemingburgh; February 12, Lanercost chronicle), there came papal envoys to Edward and Bruce, at the instance of the French king, and a truce was made, to run to November 1. But Bruce is said to have ignored it in practice, and perhaps that is why a new sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him and his adherents in the summer of 1309. On June 18, Edward summoned his array; and, on July 30, he renewed the summons, requiring his army to muster at Newcastle at Michaelmas, and declaring that the Scots had 'notoriously broken' the truce. Yet, only three days later (August 2), he authorised the Earl of Ulster to treat with Bruce for peace; and, on August 21, he renewed the commission, and granted safe-conducts for Bruce's envoys, Sir Nigel Campbell and Sir John de Menteith—the captor of Wallace, who must have joined Bruce before March 16, when he was present at the St Andrews parliament. Still Edward hurried on his preparations. He had summoned auxiliaries from Wales (August 5), and filled afresh the chief offices in Scotland (August 16); and presently he appointed the Earl of Gloucester captain of the army of Scotland (September 14), and despatched fresh wardens to the Marches (about October 18). Again, however, the Pope intervened, and on November 29, Edward granted full powers to four of his magnates to treat in his name for a truce. The Wardens of the Marches, according to the Lanercost chronicle, had just forestalled the step by taking provisional truce till the middle of January; and Edward extended the period to March 8, and afterwards 'to summer,' 1310—for, says the chronicler, 'the English do not like to enter Scotland to war before summer, especially because of the lack of fodder for their horses.' Probably the extension to summer was arranged by the commission of seven appointed on February 16, headed by the Bishop of St Andrews.
There had been a round year of peace negotiations and futile truces, with warlike preparation in the background. On February 24, 1309–10, Bruce's position was strengthened by a formal recognition of his royal title by a special meeting of the prelates and other clergy at Dundee. In the beginning of June 1310, there was an outbreak on the Border, the Priory of Coldstream being sacked, and the prioress and nuns dispersed; and in the middle of the month the English fleet was ordered north to strengthen Perth and to harass the eastern seaboard. Then, on August 15, Edward again mustered his army at Newcastle (Hemingburgh), or at Berwick (Lanercost chronicle). The Earls of Lancaster, Pembroke (Valence), Warwick, and Hereford would not accompany him, displeased with his favour for Gaveston, though professing to be absorbed in their duties as 'Ordainers'; but they sent their feudal services. The Earls of Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall (Gaveston), with Percy, Clifford, and many other magnates, did attend the muster. The expedition, according to Walsingham, was said to be a mere pretext to excuse the King from going to France to do fealty for his French possessions. He dreaded to leave Gaveston 'among his enemies,' lest that troubler of the realm should 'meet death, prison, or worse.' 'Such things were said among the people; whether true or false,' says the chronicler, 'God knows, I don't.' The expedition crossed the Border early in September, and passed by Selkirk, Roxburgh, Biggar, Lanark, Glasgow, to Renfrew, back to Linlithgow, and thence to Berwick. The progress occupied just over two months. Bruce stood aloof; on October 6, when Edward was at Biggar, he was reported to be with his forces 'on a moor near Stirling.' Fordun says there was famine in Scotland this year, many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of horses and other unclean cattle.' But Edward was liberally supplied by the religious houses with 'oxen, cows, wethers, wheat, oats, barley, malt, beans, and peas,' besides friendly contributions from other quarters. On November 22, he issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of provisions from England.
When Edward withdrew from Linlithgow, Bruce hung upon his rear through Lothian, severely harassing the army, and all local sympathisers. Walsingham records an instance. A party of English and Welsh had gone out to plunder, supported by cavalry. Bruce suddenly attacked from ambush, and, though aid quickly arrived, he killed 300, and retired as suddenly as he had advanced. 'Indeed,' says the chronicler, 'I should extol Bruce, whose policy was to fight thus and not in open field, but for his lying under the charge of homicide and the brand of treachery.'
Edward wintered at Berwick. Bruce seems to have actively developed offensive operations on the west coast, to draw him home by a flank attack, as well as to obtain supplies. For, on December 15 and 16, Edward roused his officers in the north-western counties, and in Wales and Ireland, to counteract Bruce's reported purpose 'to send his whole fleet in the present winter to take the Isle of Man, and seize all the supplies therein for the sustenance of his men.' Bruce's adherents in Man are stated to have caused much trouble and mischief. A week before Christmas, Clifford and Sir Robert Fitz Pain met Bruce at Selkirk to discuss terms of peace, and another interview was arranged with the Earls of Gloucester and Cornwall near Melrose; but 'it was said,' writes a high official on February 19, 'that Bruce had been warned by some that he would be taken, and therefore departed, so that they have had no parley.'
A memorandum, undated, but assignable to 1307–10, addressed by the 'Commune' of Scotland to Edward and his great officers in the country, affords a glimpse of the English high-handedness that always did—and does—so much to thwart the English policy. The Commons represent that 'though they have purchased a truce for the safety of the country and their allegiance, and included the castles and towns in their bounds—namely, the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh,' yet 'some of the sheriffs allow no goods to leave their castles, or their garrisons to pay for what they buy'—the sheriff of Edinburgh, in particular—'and the country is so poor that they cannot get on without ready money.' Again, 'when the enemy's people come to bargain under the truce, their goods are taken by some of the castellans and King's officers, endangering the truce, as the robbers are harboured in the castles.' They earnestly plead for redress of such oppressions, and complain that the King's former letters on the subject have been suppressed by the officers inculpated. Only an occupation in overwhelming force could stand against such a course of official misconduct. Meantime this fatal administrative weakness was greatly counterbalanced by the political divisions among the Scots.
In 1310–11, Gaveston, for whom Edward could find no resting-place elsewhere, was established as lieutenant north of Forth and warden of Dundee and Perth. 'It is said,' writes a high official, anonymous, on April 4, 1311, 'that Bruce meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall' (Gaveston): but either he was unable to do so, or deemed it prudent to weary out the enemy by harassing evasion. On April 9, Edward issued instructions hastening the outfit of the fleet destined for the coast of Argyll under Sir John of that ilk—'seeing it is one of the greatest movements of the Scottish war'; and throughout May and June great pressure was brought to bear upon the ports of England and Ireland, though not always with effect. On July 14, the muster of the army at Roxburgh was postponed to the 1st of August. 'This expedition,' said Edward, 'lies especially close to our heart.'
Edward, however, was in deep trouble with his 'Ordainers,' and Bruce was beforehand with him. On August 12, Bruce burst into England at the Solway, burned the whole of Gilsland, the town of Haltwhistle, and great part of Tyndale, returning to Scotland in eight days with great droves of cattle. The Lanercost chronicler admits that he killed few besides those that offered resistance, and that, though he took several of the canons, and did infinite mischief during the three days he made the monastery his headquarters, yet he released the canons of his own accord. The latter episode is recorded as a separate foray, but probably it belongs to the August operations.
The same chronicler gives an account of a more serious raid on September 8, by Harbottle, Holystone and Redesdale, down to Corbridge and back through Tyndale, occupying fifteen days. The Wardens of the Marches, he says, could offer no resistance, and confined their efforts to wasting the country in anticipation of the Scots, only 'they did not burn houses or slay men.' The stress of opposition fell upon the Bishop of Durham. Both Edward and the Bishop paint the invasion in the usual lurid colours. At the same time the people had certainly not been handled with tenderness. The Northumbrians protected themselves by payment of £2000 for a respite till February 2, 1311–12. In the middle of December Bruce appears to have made another raid into England; and on January 26, 1311–12, Edward appointed six commissioners to treat in his name for truce with the Scots.
The rising power of Bruce is variously testified otherwise than by the progress of his army. The Lanercost chronicler admits that, in spite of the adherence of so many Scots to the English side, 'their hearts, though not their persons, were always with their countrymen.'
An inquisition at Edinburgh on February 20, mentions seven landed knights and others that had gone over to Bruce in the past three or four years, including Sir Robert de Keith, Sir Thomas de la Haye, and Sir Edmund de Ramsay. Again, a list of land rewards to Sir Robert de Hastang on March 20 mentions twelve, among whom are Sir David de Brechin (who, however, is made warden of Berwick on April 20, though Sir Edmund de Hastings receives the post on May 3), Sir Alexander de Lindsay, Sir Geoffrey de Mowbray, and Sir Herbert de Maxwell. In five hard years Bruce had recovered three parts of his kingdom, and carried fire and sword through the English March.
CHAPTER VIII
RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES
Bruce was now in a position to turn his main energies against the strongholds still in English occupation.
Towards the end of March 1312 he was preparing to besiege Berwick with an unusually large force. But the operations are not known; and, in any case, they were soon postponed. On April 26, he held a parliament at Ayr, and carefully settled the succession to the throne.
The dissensions between Edward and his barons appear to have induced Bruce to carry the war into the enemy's territory. While the incensed barons were hunting down Gaveston, he raided the March again, took tribute, burned Norham, and carried off prisoners and booty. Again, in the end of June, after Gaveston was beheaded, Bruce made another foray into the episcopate of Durham. He burnt Hexham, and dealt so severely with the Priory, that even in 1320, it is said, the canons were unable to return, while their collectors were still 'wandering about in the country in 1326, with the archbishop's brief, in quest of funds for the canons and their church.' It may have been on this occasion that Bruce sent Douglas to pillage the region of Hartlepool. It is, no doubt, in reference to a subsequent raid, that the Lanercost chronicler tells how a detachment entered Durham on market day, burned most of the town, and slew all that resisted, but did not touch the castle or the abbey. The episcopate compounded for peace till next midsummer at £2000, the Scots bargaining for free passage 'whenever they wanted to ride further into England!' The Palatinate Register records the date as August 16. The Northumbrians, too, paid down £2000; Westmorland, Coupland, and Cumberland also paid ransom—money in part, and for the rest hostages, 'sons of the greater lords of the country.' And meantime Edward was squabbling with his barons. It was enough to make his martial father rise from his grave.
At last, on December 6, the Lanercost chronicle relates, Bruce suddenly pounced upon Berwick. His men had placed two ladders, and 'he would soon have had the castle, as is believed,' had the garrison not been warned by the barking of a dog. The ladders, says the chronicler, 'were of a remarkable make, as I myself, who write this, witnessed with my own eyes.' He describes ladders of ropes, with wooden steps, and iron hooks to grip the wall top. The alarm being raised, Bruce retired, leaving the two ladders for the monk's inspection. 'So a dog on that occasion saved the town, as once geese by their cackling saved Rome.'
Bruce turned north to Perth. According to the Lanercost chronicle, he took the town by surprise in the night of January 10 (Fordun says January 8), 1312–13. The governor, Sir William Oliphant—probably this is the capture of Perth antedated by Barbour—'was bound and sent to the islands afar'; but, if so, he did not stay long there, for he was in England within two months, and on October 21, he obtained a safe-conduct to return to Scotland. The chronicler says that Bruce slew the better Scots burgesses, but permitted the English to go free; while Fordun records that he put 'the disloyal people, Scots and English alike,' to the sword. 'In his clemency,' adds Fordun, 'he spared the rabble, and granted forgiveness to such as asked it; but he destroyed the walls and dykes, and consumed everything else with fire.'
Bruce next swept down upon Dumfries. Here his old enemy, Sir Dougal MacDowall, constable of the castle, had experienced much difficulty all through summer and autumn in obtaining adequate supplies. He gave up the castle to Bruce on February 7, the short siege probably indicating that he was starved into surrender. It is likely, as Mr Bain surmises, that Buittle, Dalswinton, Lochmaben, and Carlaverock were all recovered about the same time.
The Scots appear to have derived considerable supplies from Flanders. On February 15, 1312–13, Edward remonstrated with the Count of Flanders, begging him to restrain his subjects from all intercourse with Scotsmen. The Count seized the occasion to demand compensation for losses and injuries inflicted on his subjects by Englishmen. An English commission, much to the disgust of the Flemish envoys, rejected the claims; and presently Flemish seamen plundered English vessels, the chief depredator being the ingenious John Crab, whom we shall meet again. On May 1, 1313, Edward invited the Count to send his aggrieved subjects back to London; but 'now,' he added, 'we hear that thirteen ships of your power, laden with arms and victuals, quite lately crossed from the port of Swyn to Scotland—whereat we very much marvel.' The Flemish quarrel went on; but on May 17, at the instance of the French king, Edward appointed four commissioners 'to negotiate a truce or sufferance with the Scots.'
Within a week, however, as Edward was on the point of embarking for France to confer with Philip about Gascony, he learned from a special messenger from the lieges of Cumberland that the Scots were again upon them. He could only tell them to do their best, and he would hasten back to take order for their safety. On June 6, Bishop Kellawe of Durham testifies to the forlorn state of the nuns of Halistan on the March; there are hostile incursions daily, goods and cattle are reived, and the very nuns are insulted and persecuted by the robbers, and driven from their homes suffering miserably. Such are examples of the state of affairs in the mind of the Lanercost chronicler when he records that 'the people of Northumberland, Westmorland, and Cumberland, and other men of the Marches, neither having nor hoping from their King defence or aid, he being then in the remote parts of England and not appearing to trouble himself about them, offered no moderate amount—nay, a very large amount—of money to Robert for truce till September 29, 1314.' Bruce was striking hard and persistently, and Edward was giving way all along the line of war.
On his return, indeed, Edward at once took measures of retaliation. As early as April 2, he had answered applications from Northumberland for aid by a promise of relief before midsummer—a promise that remained unfulfilled. On July 6, he demanded a subsidy from the bishops, and on August 13 he made a like appeal to the abbots and convents. In warlike mood, in the end of July, he had ordered something like a press-gang muster of boats at the ports from the Wash round to Plymouth. It was but a spasmodic effort of weakness. About the beginning of October, Sir Ralph Fitz William reported that 'they are grievously menaced with treason at Berwick, but, if the garrison are loyal, they will defend it against the King of France and the King of Scotland for a while till succour reaches them.' In the end of next month, the Bishop of St Andrews proceeded to France in the interest of Edward, no doubt with the object of detaching Philip from co-operation with Bruce. It was a fatuous choice of an envoy.
The wretched inefficiency of Edward had by this time rendered the position of his adherents in Scotland all but insupportable. In November they despatched the Earl of March and Sir Adam de Gordon to lay their grievances before him. Their petition recounts their heavy losses at the hands of the enemy during the past three years; their costly purchase of truce; and especially their intolerable sufferings from the lawless outrages committed upon them by the garrisons of Berwick and Roxburgh, who are alleged to have plundered, killed, and held them to ransom at will, as if they had been enemies. Here is a substantial repetition of the memorandum of 1307–10. Sir Adam de Gordon could tell how he had himself been arrested by the constable of Roxburgh Castle and required to find security for his good behaviour. The King, replying on November 28, could only give them the cold comfort of an assurance of his intention to march to their relief at next midsummer. It is quite natural that such slackness of the central authority should have given head to such marauding scoundrels on the Border as Sir Gilbert de Middleton and Thomas de Pencaitland. That notorious knight of the road, Sir Gilbert, will cross our path again.
It could not have been earlier than autumn 1313 that Bruce recovered the Peel of Linlithgow, which was held by Sir Archibald de Livingstone, under the orders of Sir Peter Lubaud, warden and sheriff of Edinburgh. Barbour makes it harvest time. The peel garrison had cut their hay, and engaged William Bunnock, a neighbouring farmer, who hated them patriotically, to 'lead' it for them. Bunnock conceived the notion of elevating the familiar harvesting process to an operation of war, and arranged the strategic details with his friends. He planted an ambush in the early morning, and let the hay lie till the peel men had gone out to cut their crop. Loading the hay, with eight men hid in it, he set a hardy yeoman, with a hatchet under his belt, to drive the waggon, himself walking idly beside. When the waggon was half-way through the gate, Bunnock shouted the signal, 'Thief! Call all! Call all!' The driver instantly severed the traces, stopping the waggon; Bunnock slew the porter; the eight men leapt down from the midst of the hay, and the ambush swarmed up. They slew the men they found in garrison, and pursued those that were in the fields towards Edinburgh and Stirling, killing some in their flight. For this exploit Bruce rewarded Bunnock worthily. The peel he at once demolished. The story of Bunnock rests on the sole authority of Barbour.
The next castle to fall was Roxburgh. Douglas had been keeping the Forest, and harassing Roxburgh and Jedburgh castles. Resolving to win Roxburgh, he got a handy man, Simon of the Leadhouse, to make him ladders of hempen ropes, with strong wooden steps and iron hooks, after the Berwick pattern. Then gathering some sixty men, he approached the castle on Fastern's Even (Shrove Tuesday), February 27, 1313–14, and waited till dark. The party left their horses, put black frocks over their armour, and crept forward on all fours like cattle. The deception succeeded; Barbour says they overheard the garrison jesting at the expense of the neighbouring farmer, who, they imagined, had left his cattle at large to be carried off by the Douglas. The click of a hook on the wall attracted a sentinel, but Simon, who had mounted first, stabbed the man dead, and the party quickly scaled the wall. The garrison were making merry in the hall, when the Scots burst in upon them with the Douglas war-cry. A sharp conflict ensued. At length Sir William de Fiennes, the constable, a valorous Gascon, retreated to the great tower. With daylight, the Scots plied the tower with arrows, and eventually wounded Sir William so badly in the face that he yielded, on terms that he and his men should pass safe to England. Douglas conducted them over the Border, and Sir William soon afterwards died of his wound. Bruce sent his brother Sir Edward to demolish the castle. Sir Edward, says Barbour, secured all Teviotdale except Jedburgh and other places near the English border. On main points Barbour is corroborated by Sir Thomas Gray and the Lanercost chronicler.
The news of the capture of Roxburgh stimulated the rivalry of Randolph, who was besieging Sir Peter Lubaud in Edinburgh Castle. Hopeless of taking the place by assault, Randolph cast about for some likely stratagem, when William Francis (or William the Frenchman), one of his men, suggested a plan of extreme boldness. Francis, according to Barbour, stated that he had at one time lived in the castle, and, having a sweetheart in the town, had been accustomed to climb the sheer rock in the darkest nights. All that was needed was good nerve, and a twelve-foot ladder for the wall on the top. So, on a dark night—Fordun gives March 14, 1313–14—Randolph, with thirty picked men, essayed the adventurous ascent. About half way up they stopped to rest. Here their nerves were dramatically tested. One of the watch overhead threw down a stone, exclaiming 'Away! I see you well.' It was a mere joke, the sentry saw nothing; and the stone passed harmlessly over them. The watchmen passed on without suspicion, and Randolph with his men hastened up the steeper and steeper crag to the foot of the wall. Instantly the ladder was fixed, Francis mounting first, then Sir Andrew Gray, and Randolph himself third. Before all the party got over the watch was alarmed, the cry of 'Treason! Treason!' resounded through the castle, and a desperate struggle ensued. Randolph himself was very sorely bested, but he succeeded in killing the commandant; whereupon the garrison gave in. The Lanercost chronicler states that a strong assault was made on the south gate—the only point reasonably open to assault—where the garrison offered a vigorous resistance; and that the party mounting the rock on the north side under cover of this front attack, having surprised and overcome the defenders, opened the gate to their comrades. Sir Peter Lubaud, the warden, says Barbour, had been deposed from the command of the garrison on account of some suspicious intercourse with the enemy, and was found by Randolph in prison in fetters. He became Bruce's man, but soon afterwards he fell under suspicion of treason, and, by Bruce's order, was drawn and hanged (Gray)—or at any rate put in prison, where he died miserably (John of Tynmouth). The Lanercost writer states that the victors 'slew the English,' probably meaning the garrison; but the extant rolls show that there were many Scotsmen in the garrison, 'two of them,' as Mr Bain remarks, even 'bearing the surname of Douglas.' Bruce demolished the castle.
Barbour states that Sir Edward Bruce, having won all Galloway and Nithsdale, and taken Rutherglen Peel and Dundee Castle, laid siege to Stirling Castle from Lent to midsummer, 1313; and that then Sir Philip de Mowbray, the constable, agreed to yield the castle, provided it were not relieved by midsummer 1314. The most recklessly chivalrous terms are indeed consonant with Sir Edward's character. But if, as Barbour and the Monk of Malmesbury agree, Mowbray was influenced by a threatened failure of provisions, the period must have been much less. He in Stirling would hardly be in any better case for supplies than was MacDowall in Dumfries. Immediately on investment of the castle, he would begin to feel the pinch; and the fall of Edinburgh would at once intimate the hopelessness of his position. But, further, we have seen Sir Edward demolishing Roxburgh Castle in early March, and it does not seem likely that he would have left a substitute to look after Stirling. Besides, the Lanercost chronicler can hardly be mistaken when he says that Sir Edward entered England on April 17, taking up his headquarters at the Bishop's manor house at Rose, and sending his army as far as Englewood Forest, south and west, for three days to burn and plunder—because the tribute had not been duly paid. Once more, the Monk of Malmesbury represents that it was after the fall of the other castles that Mowbray carried to Edward the news of his agreement for surrender. On the whole, it may be seriously doubted whether the respite extended beyond a couple of months, or even six weeks. It is not, apparently, till May 27, that Mowbray's conditional agreement for surrender is mentioned in any existing official document.
Besides Stirling, the only fortresses of any importance that now remained in the hands of the English were Berwick, Jedburgh, and Bothwell. But the immediate interest centres in the fateful attempt to relieve the castle of Stirling.