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A miserable destiny awaited
the friends and partisans whom Bruce had left in Scotland. Immediately
after the rout at Methven, Edward issued a proclamation by which search
was commanded to be made after all those who had been in arms against the
English government, and they were ordered to be delivered up dead or
alive. It was ordained, that all who were at the slaughter of Comyn, or
who had harboured the guilty persons or their accomplices, should be drawn
and hanged: that all who were already taken, or might hereafter be taken
in arms, and all who harboured them, should be hanged or beheaded; that
those who had voluntarily surrendered themselves, should be imprisoned
during the king’s pleasure: and that all persons, whether of the
ecclesiastical order or laymens, who had willingly espoused the cause of
Bruce, or who had procured or exhorted the people of Scotland to rise in
rebellion, should, upon conviction, be imprisoned during the king’s
pleasure. With regard to the common people, a discretionary power of
fining and ransoming them, was committed to the guardian.
This ordinance was inforced
with a rigour corresponding to the spirit in which it was framed; and the
dread of Edward’s vengeance became general throughout the kingdom. The
castle of Kildrummie being threatened by the English forces in the north,
Elizabeth, Bruce’s queen, and Marjory his daughter, with the other
ladies who had there taken refuge, to escape the hardships and dangers of
a siege, fled to the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain in Ross—shire. The
earl of Ross violated the sanctuary, and making them prisoners, sent them
into England. Certain knights and squires by whom they had been escorted,
being taken at the same time, were put to death. The queen and her
daughter, though doomed to experience a long captivity, appear to have
been invariably treated with becoming respect. Isabella, countess of
Buchan, who had signalized her patriotism on the occasion of Robert’s
coronation, had a fate somewhat different. Feeling repugnant to the
infliction of a capital punishment, the English king had recourse to an
ingenious expedient by which to satisfy his royal vengeance upon this
unfortunate lady. By a particular ordinance she was ordered to be confined
in a cage to be constructed in one of the towers of Berwick castle ; the
cage bearing in shape the resemblance of a crown: and the countess was
actually kept in this miserable durance, with little relaxation of its
severity, for the remainder of her life. Mary, one of Bruce’s sisters,
was committed to a similar custody in one of the towers of Roxburgh castle
; and Christina, another sister, was confined in a convent.
Lamberton, bishop of St
Andrews, and Wisheart bishop of Glasgow, and the abbot of Scone, who had
openly assisted and favoured Robert’s cause, owed their lives solely to
the inviolability of clerical character in those days. Lamberton and the
abbot of Scone were committed to close custody in England. Wisheart having
been seized in armour, was, in that uncanonical garb, carried a prisoner
to the castle of Nottingham, where he is said to have been confined in
irons. Edward earnestly solicited the pope to have these rebellious
ecclesiastics deposed—a request with which his holiness does not seem to
have complied.
The castle of
Kildrummie was besieged by the earls of Lancaster and Hereford. Being a
place of considerable strength, it might have defied the English army for
a length of time ; had not the treachery of one of the garrison, who set
fire to the magazine of grain and provisions, constrained it to surrender
at discretion. Nigel Bruce, by whom the castle had been defended, was
carried prisoner to Berwick ; where, being tried by a special commission,
he was condemned, hanged, and afterwards beheaded. This miserable fate of
the kings brother, excited a deep and universal detestation among the
Scots towards the unrelenting cruelty of Edward. Christopher Seton, the
brother—in—law of Bruce, and Alexander Seton, suffered under a similar
sentence, the one at Dumfries, and the other at Newcastle. The earl of
Athole, its attempting to make his escape by sea, was discovered and
conducted to London ; where he underwent the complicated punishment then
commonly inflicted on traitors, being hanged till only half dead,
beheaded, disemboweled, "and the trunk of his body burnt to ashes
before his own face." He was not drawn, that point of
punishment being remitted. Edward, we are told, although then grievously
sick, endured the pain of his disease with greater patience, after hearing
of the capture of the earl of Athole. Simon Frazer of Olivar Castle, the
friend and companion in arms of Wallace, being also taken at this time,
suffered capitally at London; his head being placed on the point of a
lance, was set near to that of his old friend and leader. Along with this
brave man, was likewise executed Herbert de Norham. Among so many persons
of note, others of inferior distinction did not escape; and Edward might,
indeed, be said by his tyranny, to have even now effected that critical
though unperceived change in popular feeling, which, only requiring
commencement of action and a proper direction, would be, in its
progressive energy, equal to the destruction of all his past schemes, and
of all his future projects and hopes.
At all events, the effect of his extreme justice in avenging the death of
Comyn, was of that kind, where, by the infliction of an unnecessary or
disproportionably cruel punishment, detestation of the crime is lost sight
of, in a just and natural commiseration for the criminal. That Edward’s
was but an assumed passion for justice, under which was cloaked a selfish
and despotic vengeance, rendered it the more odious; and tended to abate
the rancour of those who, on more allowable grounds, desired the ruin of
the Scottish king.
To complete the
measure of Robert’s misfortunes, he and all his adherents were solemnly
excommunicated by the pope’s legate at Carlisle. The lordship of
Annandale was bestowed on the earl of Hereford; the earldom of Carrick on
Henry de Percy; and his English estates were disposed of in like manner.
During this period Bruce, fortunately, out of the reach and knowledge of
his enemies in the solitary island of Rachrin, remained ignorant of the
fate of his family and friends in Scotland. Fordun relates that, in
derision of his hopeless and unknown condition, a sort of ribald
proclamation was made after him through the churches of Scotland, as lost,
stolen, or strayed.
The approach of spring, and
a seasonable supply, it is said, of money which he received from Christina
of the Isles, again roused the activity of Robert and his trusty
followers. Sir James Douglas, with the permission of his master, first
passed over to Arran where, shortly after his landing, he and the few men
with him, surprised a party belonging to Brodick castle, in act of
conveying provisions, arms, and clothing to that garrison, and succeeded
in making seizure of the cargo. Here he was in a few days joined by the
king, who arrived from Rachrin with a small fleet of thirty—three
galleys. Having no intelligence respecting the situation or movements of
the enemy, a trusty person named Cuthbert was despatched by the king to
the opposite shore of Carrick, with instructions to sound the dispositions
of the people ; and, if the occasion seemed favourable for a descent among
them, to make a signal, at a day appointed, by lighting a fire upon an
eminence near the castle of Turnberry. The country, as the messenger
found, was fully possessed by the English; the castle of Turnberry in the
hands of Percy, and occupied by a garrison of near three hundred men ; and
the old vassals of Bruce dispirited or indifferent, and many of them
hostile. Appearances seemed, altogether, so unfavourable, that Cuthbert,
without making himself known to any person, resolved to return to the king
without making the signal agreed upon.
From the dawn of the
day on which he was to expect the appointed signal, Robert watched
anxiously the opposite coast of Carrick, at the point from which it should
become visible. He was not disappointed, for when noon had already passed,
a fire was plainly discerned on the rising ground above Turnberry. Assured
that this could be no other than the concerted signal of good tidings, the
king gave orders for the instant embarkation of his men, who amounted to
about three hundred in number. It is reported that, while the king was
walking on the beach, during the preparations making for setting to sea,
the woman at whose house he had lodged requested an audience of him.
Pretending to a knowledge of future events, she confidently predicted that
he should soon be king of Scotland ;. but that he must expect to encounter
many difficulties and dangers in the course of the war. As a proof of her
own confidence in the truth of her prediction, she sent her two sons along
with him. Whether this incident was concerted by the king himself, or was
simply an effect of that very singular delusion, the second sight, said to
be inherent among these islanders, is of little consequence. Either way,
it could not fail of impressing on the rude and superstitious minds to
which it was addressed, a present reliance upon their leader, and a useful
confidence in the ultimate success of his arms.
Towards evening the king
and his associates put to sea; and when night closed upon them, they were
enabled to direct their course across the firth by the light of the
beacon, which still continued to burn on the heights of Turnberry. On
landing they were met by the messenger, Cuthbert, with the unwelcome
intelligence, that there was no hope of assistance from the people of
Carrick. "Traitor," cried Bruce, "why made you then the
fire ?" "I made no signal," replied the man, "but
observing a fire upon the hill, I feared that it might deceive you, and I
hasted hither to warn you from the coast." In the perilous dilemma in
which he found himself placed, Bruce hesitated upon what course he should
adopt; but, urged by the more precipitate spirit of his brother Edward,
and yielding at length to the dictates of his own more considerate valour,
he resolved to persevere in the enterprise which, under such desperate and
unexpected circumstances, had opened upon him.
The greater part of the
English troops under Percy were carelessly cantoned in the town, situated
at some little distance from the castle of Turnberry. Before morning their
quarters were taken by surprise, and nearly the whole body, amounting to
about two hundred men, put to the sword. Percy and his garrison heard from
the castle the uproar and tumult of the night attack; but ignorant alike
of the enemy and their numbers, and fearing a similar fate, they dared not
attempt the rescue of their unfortunate companions. Bruce made prize of a
rich booty, amongst which were his own war-horses and household plate.
When the news of this bold and successful enterprise became known, a
detachment of above a thousand men, under the command of Roger St John,
were despatched from Ayr to the relief of Turnherry; and Robert, unable to
oppose such a force, and expecting to be speedily joined by succours from
Ireland, thought proper to retire into the mountainous parts of Carrick.
The king’s brothers,
Thomas and Alexander, had been, previously to Robert’s departure from
Rachrin, sent over into Ireland and the adjacent isles to procure
assistance. They succeeded in collecting a force of about seven hundred
men, with whom they endeavoured to effect a landing at Loch Ryan in
Galloway, intending from thence to march into the neighbouring district of
Carrick, and join themselves to the king’s standard. They fatally
miscarried, in the accomplishment of this object; Macdowal, a powerful
chieftain of Galloway, having hastily collected his vassal; attacked the
invading party before they had time to form, routed, and put many of them
to the sword. The two brothers of the king and Sir Reginald Crawford, all
of them wounded, were made prisoners; and Malcolm Mackail, lord of Kentir,
and two Irish reguli or chieftains were slain. Macdowal cut off the heads
of the principal persons who had fallen; and along with these bloody
tokens of his triumph, presented his prisoners to king Edward, then
residing at Carlisle. The two brothers and their associate, supposed by
some to have been a near relation of Wallace, were ordered to immediate
execution.
This disaster, coupled as
it was with the insured enmity of the Gallovidians, and the near approach
of the English, rendered for a time the cause of Bruce entirely hopeless,
and even subjected his individual safety to the extremest hazards. His
partizans either fell off or were allowed to disperse themselves for
safety; while he himself often wandered alone or but slightly accompanied,
among woods and morasses, relying for defence or security, sometimes on
his own great personal prowess, or his intimate knowledge of that wild
district, in which he had been brought up, or on the fidelity of some old
attached vassal of his family. Almost all the incidents relating to Bruce,
at this period of his fortunes, partake strongly of the romantic; and were
it not that the authority from which they are derived, has been found to
be generally correct in its other particulars, so far as these could be
substantiated, some of them might well be deemed fabulous, or grossly
exaggerated. The perilous circumstances in which the deserted and outlawed
sovereign was placed, and his undaunted and persevering courage which none
ever called in question, furnished of themselves ample scope for the
realization of marvellous adventure; and which, because marvellous or
exaggerated, ought not, on that account, to be altogether, or too hastily
rejected. It may have been no easy task for even the contemporary
historian, in that rude age, to discover the amplifications and falsities
of popular statement; and, there can be no doubt, that in transmitting
these statements simply, as he found them, he left the truth of more easy
attainment to posterity, than would have been the case had he exercised
his own critical skill in reducing them to a standard of probability and
consistency. One of those adventures, said to have befallen the king at
this time, is so extraordinary that we cannot omit taking notice of it.
While Robert was wandering
among the fastnesses of Carrick, as has been described, after the defeat
of his Irish auxiliaries at Lochryan, the numbers of his small army so
reduced as not to amount to sixty men; the Gallovidians chanced to gain
such intelligence of his situation, as induced them to attempt the
surprisal, and, if possible, the destruction of the party. They raised,
for this purpose, with great secrecy a body of more than two hundred men,
and provided themselves with bloodhounds to track the fugitives through
the forests and morasses. Notwithstanding the privacy of their
arrangements, Bruce had notice of his danger; but knew not at what time to
expect the attack of the enemy. Towards night, he withdrew his men to a
position protected by a morass on the one side, and by a rivulet on the
other, which had only one narrow ford, over which the enemy must needs
pass. Here leaving his followers to their rest, the king, accompanied by
two attendants returned to the ford in order to satisfy himself, that his
retreat had not been discovered by the enemy, whom he knew to be at no
great distance. After listening at this place for some time, he could at
length distinguish, in the stillness which surrounded him, the distant
sound of a hound’s questing, or that eager yell which the animal is
known to make when urged on in the pursuit of its prey. Unwilling for this
cause alone, to disturb the repose of his fatigued followers, Robert
determined, as it was a clear moonlight night, and the post he occupied
favourable for observation, to ascertain more exactly the reality of the
danger. He soon heard the voices of men urging the hound forward, and no
longer doubtful but that his enemies had fallen upon the track, and would
speedily be upon him, he dispatched his two attendants to warn his men of
the danger. The blood-hounds, true to their instinct, led the body of
Gallovidians directly to the ford where the king stood, who then hastily
bethought himself of the imminent danger there was of the enemy gaining
possession of this post before his men could possibly come to its defence.
Should this happen, the destruction of himself and his whole party was
nearly inevitable. So circumstanced, Robert boldly determined, till
succour should arrive, to defend the passage of the ford, which was the
more possible, as, from its narrowness, only one assailant could pass over
at a time. The Galloway men coming in a body to the spot, and seeing only
a solitary individual posted on the opposite side to dispute their way,
the foremost of their number rode boldly into the water; but in attempting
to gain the other bank of the stream, Bruce with a thrust of his spear
laid him dead on the spot. The same fate awaited four of his companions,
whose bodies became a sort of rampart of defence against the theirs; who,
dismayed at so unexpected and fatal a reception, fell back for a moment in
some confusion. Instantly ashamed that so many should be baffled by the
individual prowess of one man, they returned furiously to the attack; but
were so valiantly met and opposed by the king, that the post was still
maintained, when the loud shout of Robert’s followers advancing to his
rescue, warned the Gallovidians to retire, after sustaining in this
unexampled combat the loss of fourteen of their men. The danger to which
the king had been exposed on this occasion, and the great daring and
bravery which he had manifested, sensibly roused the spirits of his party,
who now began, with increasing confidence and numbers, to flock to his
standard. Douglas, who had been successfully employed against the English
in his own district of Douglas-dale, also about this time, joined the king
with what followers he had been able to muster among the vassals of his
family.
Pembroke, the guardian, at
the head of a considerable body of men, now took the field against Robert;
and was joined by John of Lorn, with a body of eight hundred Highlanders,
men well calculated for that irregular species of warfare to which Bruce
was necessitated to have recourse. Lorn is said to have had along with him
a blood-hound which had once belonged to the king, and which was so
strongly attached to its old master, and familiar with his scent, that if
once it got upon his track it would never part from it for any other.
These two armies advanced separately, Pembroke carefully keeping to the
low and open country, where his cavalry could act with effect; while Lorn,
by a circuitous rout, endeavoured to gain the rear of the king’s party.
The Highland chieftain so well succeeded in this manouvre, that before
Robert, whose attention had been wholly occupied by the forces under
Pembroke, was aware of his danger, he found himself environed by two
hostile bodies of troops, either of which was greatly superior to his own.
In this emergency, the king, having appointed a place of rendezvous,
divided his men into three companies, and ordered them to retreat as they
best might, by different routes, that thus, by distracting the attention
of the enemy, they might have the better chance of escape.
Lorn arriving at the place
where the Scottish army had separated, set loose the blood-hound, which,
falling upon the king’s scent, led the pursuers immediately on the track
which he had taken. The king finding himself pursued, again subdivided his
remaining party into three, but without effect, for the hound still kept
true to the track of its former master. The case now appearing desperate,
Robert ordered the remainder of his followers to disperse themselves; and,
accompanied by only one person, said to have been his foster-brother,
endeavoured by this last means to frustrate the pursuit of the enemy. In
this he was of course unsuccessful; and Lorn, who now saw the hound choose
that direction which only two men had taken, knew certainly that one of
these must be the king; and despatched five of his swiftest men after them
with orders either to slay them, or delay their fight till others of the
party came to their assistance. Robert, finding these men gaining hotly
upon him, faced- about, and, with the aid of his companion, slew them all.
Lorn’s men were now so close upon him that the king could perceive they
were led on by means of a blood-hound. Fortunately, he and his companion
had reached the near covert of a wood, situated in a valley through which
ran a brook or rivulet. Taking advantage of this circumstance, by which
they well knew the artifice of their pursuers would be defeated, Bruce and
his foster-brother, before turning into any of the surrounding thickets
for shelter, travelled in the water of the stream so far as they judged
necessary to dissipate and destroy the strong scent upon which the hound
had proceeded. The highland chieftain, who was straightway directed to the
rivulet, along which the fugitives had diverged, here found that the hound
had lost its scent; and aware of the difficulty and fruitlessness of a
further search, was reluctantly compelled to quit the chase and retire. By
another account, the escape of Bruce from the blood--hound is told thus:
An archer who had kept near to the king in his flight, having discovered
that by means of the hound Robert’s course had been invariably tracked,
stole into a thicket and from thence despatched the animal with an arrow;
after which he made his escape undiscovered into the wood which the king
had entered.
Bruce reached in safety the
rendezvous of his party, after having narrowly escaped from the treachery
of three men by whom, however, his faithful companion and foster-brother
was slain. The English, under the impression that the Scottish army was
totally dispersed, neglected, in a great measure, the precautions
necessary in their situation. Robert having intelligence of the state of
security in which they lay, succeeded in surprising a body of two hundred,
carelessly cantoned at some little distance from the main army, and put
the greater part of them to the sword. Pembroke, shortly after, retired
with his whole forces, towards the borders of England, leaving spies
behind him to watch the motions of his subtle enemy. By means of these he
was not long in gaining such information as led him to hope the surprisal
of the king and his party. Approaching with great secrecy a certain wood
in Glentruel, where Robert then lay, he was on the point of accomplishing
his purpose; when the Scots happily in time discovering their danger,
rushed forth unexpectedly and furiously upon their assailants and put them
completely to flight. Pembroke, upon this defeat, retreated with his army
to Carlisle.
Robert encouraged by these
successes, and by the general panic which he saw to prevail among the
enemy, now ventured down upon the low country; and was soon enabled to
reduce the districts of Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham to his obedience.
Sir Philip Mowbray having been dispatched with a thousand men to make head
against this rapid progress, was attacked at advantage by Douglas with so
much spirit that, after a loss of sixty men, his whole force was routed,
himself narrowly escaping in the pursuit.
Pembroke, by this time
alarmed for the safety and credit of his government, determined again to
take the field in person. Putting himself at the head of a strong body of
cavalry, he advanced into Ayrshire, and came up with the army of Bruce
then encamped on Loudon-hill. The Scottish king, though his forces were
still greatly inferior in number, and consisted entirely of infantry,
determined on the spot on which he had posted himself, to give battle to
the English commander. He had selected his ground on this occasion with
great judgment, and had taken care, by strongly entrenching the flanks of
his position, to render as ineffectual as possible the numbers and cavalry
of the enemy. His force amounted in all to about six hundred men who were
entirely spearmen; that of Pembroke did not amount to less than three
thousand well mounted and armed soldiery, displaying an imposing contrast
to the small but unyielding mass who stood ready to oppose them. Pembroke,
dividing his army into two lines or divisions, ordered the attack to be
commenced; when the van, having their lances couched, advanced at full
gallop to the charge. The Scots sustained the shock with determined
firmness, and a desperate conflict ensuing, the English van was at length
driven fairly back upon the rear or second division. This vigorous repulse
decided the fortune of the day. The Scots, now the assailants, followed up
closely the advantage which they had gained, and the rear of the English,
panic struck and disheartened, began to give way, and finally to retreat.
The confusion and rout soon becoming general, Pembroke’s whole army was
put to flight; a considerable number being slain in the battle and
pursuit, and many made prisoners. The loss on the part of the Scots is
said to have been extremely small.
Three days after the battle
of Loudon-hill, Bruce encountered Monthermur at the head of a body of
English, whom he defeated with great slaughter, and obliged to take refuge
in the castle of Ayr. He, for some time, blockaded this place; but retired
at the approach of succours from England. These successes, though in
themselves limited, proved, in effect, of the utmost importance to Robert’s
cause, by conferring upon it that stability of character in men’s minds
which, hitherto, it had never attained. The death of Edward I., at this
period, was another event which could not but favourably affect the
fortunes of Scotland, at the very moment when the whole force of England
was collected for its invasion. That great monarch’s resentment and
hatred towards Bruce and his patriotic followers did not die with him.
With his last breath, he gave orders that his dead body should accompany
the army in its march into Scotland, and remain unburied until that
country was totally subdued. Edward II. disregarded this singular
injunction, and had the body of his father more becomingly disposed of in
the royal sepulchre at Westminster. |
