LEAVING Dundaff, Wallace proceeded, in April 1297, to
Lanark, attended by nine men. He joined his wife in a house just outside the
gate, and here Sir John the Graham came to him, with fifteen followers. Sir
William de Hazeirig, [Bower calls him William de Heslope (Hislop). The
indictment of Wallace has William de Hesebregg (Hazelrig); the b apparently
a clerical blunder for l. Mr. Joseph Bain (Cal. ii. p. xxvii.)
suggests Andrew de Livingstone, not convincingly. Livingstone preceded
Hazelrig.] the Sheriff, the oppressor of his wife's family, and Sir Robert
Thorn, presumably the Captain, soon devised a plan for taking him at
disadvantage. As Wallace was returning from mass one May morning with his
companions, not in armour, but pranked out in the civilian 'goodly green' of
the season, he was ostentatiously insulted by an English soldier—'the
starkest man that Hazelrig then knew.' He tried to get away without a
disturbance; but the arrival of Thorn and Hazeirig with some 200 men in
harness at once precipitated a conflict. The odds were overwhelming, and the
Scots retired through the gate, Wallace and Sir John doughtily defending the
rear. Reaching Wallace's house, they were let in by his wife, and passed out
by a back door, while she held the enemy in parley. They at once sought the
shelter of Cartland Crags.
According to Harry, the English, enraged at being baffled, put Wallace's
wife to death; but Harry professes himself unable to state the
circumstances. Wyntoun, whose account is extremely similar to Harry's, says
the Sheriff came to Lanark after the disturbance, and then caused her to be
put to death. He adds that Wallace secretly, but helplessly, beheld her
execution; an absolutely incredible assertion. Harry's version is certainly
nearer the facts. The English had killed Wallace's father; they had
persecuted his mother; now they had inhumanly murdered his wife. The cup was
running over.
The distress of
Wallace and his friends is finely depicted by Harry. It inflamed them to a
desperate and exemplary revenge. Reinforced by Auchinleck with ten men,
Wallace and his party entered Lanark at night by different gates in twos and
threes, without exciting remark. Wallace made for Hazeirig; Sir John, for
Thorn. Dashing in the door with his foot, Wallace found Hazeirig in his
bedroom, and slew him on the spot, while Auchinleck, gave himself the
satisfaction of 'making sikkar' with three thrusts of his knife. Young
Hazelrig, rushing to the aid of his father, was also instantly slain.
Meantime Sir John had burnt Thorn in his house.
Wallace drew off to Clydesdale for aid. His terrible
wrongs and his signal revenge brought him troops of friends, and the hopes
of patriotic Scotsmen rose high. Sir John the Graham and Auchinleck were at
his side. Adam of Riccarton, Sir John of Tynto, Robert Boyd, and Crawford
(not Sir Reginald, who was in England), hastened to him. From Kyle and
Cunningham came 1000 horse. Presently Wallace found himself at the head of
3000 'likely men of war,' besides many footmen, who 'wanted horse and gear.'
One notable recruit deserves especial mention—Gilbert
de Grimsby, whom Wallace's men rechristened Jop. J op was a man 'of great
stature,' and already 'some part grey.' He was a Riccarton man by birth, and
had travelled far in Edward's service as 'a pursuivant in war,' though,
Harry says, he consistently refused to bear arms. No doubt he was the
'Gilbert de Grimmesby' that carried the sacred banner of St. John of
Beverley in Edward's progress through Scotland after Dunbar, a distinguished
service for which Edward on October 13, 1296, directed Warenne to find him a
living worth about 20 marks or pounds a year.
The news of the Lanark affray having reached Edward,
Harry marches up to Biggar an 'awful host' of 60,000 men under the 'awful
king' Edward, and scatters it like chaff before Wallace, killing thousands,
a fabulous number of the slain being near kinsmen of the King. But Edward
was certainly in England at the time, busily struggling with adversity in
his preparations 'to cross seas' to Flanders. He had, indeed, one eye on the
Scots. In the beginning of May he was having his 'engines' overhauled at
Carlisle; on May 24 he addressed a circular order to his leading liegemen in
Scotland to hear personally from certain high officers of 'certain matters
he had much at heart' in view of his intended departure to Flanders; and
through May and June he received the oaths of several Scots barons to serve
him 'in Scotland against the King of France.' But, so far as authentic
documents show, those preparations led elsewhere, not to Biggar. As there
exists no historical record of this Biggar expedition, and the local
tradition is most likely a mere echo of Harry's trumpet, the Marquess of
Bute and Dr. Moir may be right in the suggestion that Harry's battle of
Biggar is a duplicate of the later battle of Roslin. In any case, it must be
seriously modified both in dimensions and in details.
Harry's account of Wallace's subsequent doings in the
south-west must at present be left in a tangle of misconceptions. The
dreadful story of the Barns of Ayr, however, claims notice. The details of
the treacherous preparations must be rejected, or at least held in grave
suspense. The alleged result was that some 360 of the leading Scots of the
district-Sir Reginald Crawford, Sir Brice Blair, Sir Niel Montgomery,
Crawfords, Kennedys, Campbells, Barclays, Boyds, Stewarts, and so
forth—being summoned to attend an eyre at Ayr on June 18, were hanged as
they entered, one by one, in the 'Barns,' or barracks, where the meeting was
convened. Wallace, who had been specially aimed at, escaped by an accident.
Gathering what men he could muster on the spur of the moment—some 300—he
came to the Barns at night, fired them, and burnt and slew all the English
there. Next he took the castle, but there were only a handful of men in it.
Supplementary to the revenge taken by Wallace was 'the Friars' Blessing of
Ayr'; for Friar Drumlay, the Prior, who had 140 English quartered with him,
simultaneously rose with seven of his brethren, donned harness, and took
arms, and slew most of his guests, the few that escaped being drowned. Harry
reckons the whole slaughter bill at 5000.
What may be the kernel, or fragments, of truth in the
story cannot now be stated. Certainly Sir Reginald Crawford was alive after
June 18. Arnuif the Justice may, as the Marquess of Bute suggests, stand for
Ormsby the Justiciar, who was attacked by Wallace at Scone. The Marquess
looks for explanation to the occasion of Edward's visit to Ayr on August 26,
1298, when the English found Ayr Castle burnt and abandoned. Lord Hailes
supposes the story may have taken origin in the pillaging of the English
quarters at Irvine in July 1297. Possibly there is a jumble and an
exaggeration and distortion of all these facts. But there must be something
deeper. The event is mentioned as well known, not only by Harry, but also by
Barbour and Major, and in the Gomplayni of Scotland. The story, as it
stands, does not fit into the known history of the time and place alleged,
and must be reserved for more adequate examination.
Wallace, according to Harry, proceeded straight to
Glasgow, fearing that Bek and Percy might be perpetrating a similar atrocity
at the eyre of justice they were holding for Clydesdale. He defeated the
English in a stiff combat, killing Percy quite unhistorically. Bishop Bek,
with an escort, escaped to Bothwell, whither Wallace pursued him, but
apparently he could not take him out of the hands of Sir Aymer de Valence.
Bek was no doubt in Scotland somewhere about this time—perhaps two or three
months later than Harry supposes; for Edward had sent him to report
personally on the state of affairs, concerning which various unwelcome
indications had reached him.
One especially unwelcome report, which the chroniclers specify as the
immediate reason for despatching Bek, informed the King of a daring attack
upon Ormsby, his Justiciar, at Scone, by Wallace and Douglas. Ormsby
demanded homage and fealty, and visited non-performance with the utmost
severity. 'The temper of Scotland at that season,' says Lord Hailes,
'required vigilance, courage, liberality, and moderation in its rulers. The
ministers of Edward displayed none of these qualities. While other objects
of interest or ambition occupied his thoughts, the administration of his
officers became more and more abhorred and feeble.' This is true of Ormsby,
and true generally. Ormsby, forewarned of the approach of Wallace, just
managed to escape, leaving all his goods and chattels to the spoilers.
Wallace and Douglas, it is said, killed a great many Englishmen, and laid
siege to several castles; but the details are not available.
The date of the attack on Ormsby is given by the
chroniclers as May; but the seriousness of the situation must have impressed
Edward before then, for we have seen that by this time he was preparing for
a 'Scottish war.' The insurrectionary feeling was certainly stirring all
over the country, and not merely within the range of Wallace's known
operations. About this time, or a little later, Macduff had made an
ineffectual rising in Fife; on August 1, Warenne reports from Berwick that
the Earl of Strathearn had captured Macduff and his two sons, and 'they
shall receive their deserts when they arrive.' About this time, or very
little later, Sir Alexander of Argyll was reported to have taken the
Steward's castle of Glasrog, and to have invaded Alexander of the Isles, a
liegeman of Edward. Has this anything to do with the expedition that Harry
sends Wallace on to Argyll for the rescue of Campbell of Lochawe from
MacFadyen, whom Edward had made Lord of Argyll and Lorn? After giving over
the pursuit of Bek, Wallace had retired to Dundaff, where Duncan of Lorn
found him and besought his aid. Wallace promptly responded to the call of
his old schoolfellow, defeated MacFadyen, and established Campbell and
Duncan in their lands. At Ardchattan many men rallied to his standard,
including Sir John Ramsay of Auchterhouse, who had long held out in
Strathearn; and with them he proceeded to attack St. Johnston. Whatever the
blunders in Harry's details, it is quite certain that there now was revolt
against English supremacy in Argyll.
The chroniclers join Douglas with Wallace in the
attack on Ormsby. Harry does not mention the episode at all; and if he
confuses it with the Barns of Ayr, he does not mention Douglas as present.
It may be supposed that Douglas had come south from Scone, and was engaged
on a separate enterprise. Harry first puts him in independent action at a
much later—and impossible—period. He makes Douglas attack and capture
Sanquhar Castle; whereupon the captain of Durisdeer raised the Enoch,
Tibbermoor, and Lochmaben, and besieged him in Sanquhar. Douglas, in
distress, sent for aid to Wallace, then in the Lennox. May it be Argyll, and
not the Lennox? Or did Wallace go to the Lennox after driving Bek out of
Glasgow? The event must have been about this time, if ever. At any rate,
Wallace promptly relieved him; defeated the English at Dalswinton, slaying
500; and made Douglas keeper from Drumlanrig to Ayr. Be all this as it may,
Edward on June 12 confiscated all Douglas's lands and goods in Essex and
Northumberland; which seems to indicate that by that date he had learned
that Douglas had forsworn his liege lord.
In Galloway, Edward had further trouble with the
shifty Bruce of Carrick. When the disturbance took place at Scone, the
Bishop of Carlisle, acting with Edward's other high officers in these parts,
summoned Bruce to appear, and exacted from him an oath that he would lend
faithful aid to the King against the Scots. This may have had nothing
whatever to do with the Scone attack, but may have been simply a part in the
regular preparations that were going on for the 'Scottish war.' Bruce is
supposed to have made a display of his fidelity by the raid he presently
made upon the lands of Douglas, which he harried with fire and sword,
carrying off Douglas's wife and children to Annandale. It is, however, an
obvious suggestion that this vicious foray was a counterblow for the burning
of Turnberry Castle in the Biggar campaign, if Douglas was with Wallace in
that enterprise, as, on Harry's story, he probably was. Such an
interpretation of Bruce's action would tend to confirm Harry on the point;
and there was no clear need for Bruce to signalise his fidelity in that
particular fashion.
At the
same time, Bruce may have done it in order to cloak the conspiracy he was
hatching in concert with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Steward, and the
Steward's brother John. When the scheme was ripe, Bruce attempted in vain to
raise his father's men of Annandale, but he was supported by his own men of
Carrick. His party at once fell on burning and slaying, and the chroniclers
specially mention the expulsion and contumelious treatment of the English
ecclesiastics. If such expulsion was in furtherance of the execution of the
edict of April 1296, hitherto held in abeyance by the English domination,
that was but a very subordinate consideration. The popular view seems to
have been that Bruce was aspiring to the throne. Probably enough, at any
rate, he thought that he might lead the nobles to the success that was
likely otherwise to crown Wallace. There is no trace of any direct personal
connection of Wallace with this movement—no trace except a blunder of
Rishanger's, who mentions both Wallace and Andrew de Moray, (?Thomas or
Herbert de Morham), but Walter of Hemingburgh rightly gives Douglas in place
of Wallace, and omits Moray. Bruce, of course, could not have been expected
to put himself under the leadership of a mere landless squire, whose proper
place he would have considered to be that of a henchman of his own—a squire,
moreover, that consistently professed to act as the liegeman of King John.
No; the rising most probably represents an independent attempt of Bruce's
party, on the suggestion of Wallace's successes.
Burton is not unnaturally surprised to find Sir
William Douglas in Bruce's party. It would be easier for the Douglas pride
to bow to Bruce than to Wallace; and the raid on the Douglas estates might
be held to cancel the burning of Turnberry, or might otherwise receive a
large atonement. In any case, there is barely room for doubt that Douglas
eventually, if not from the first, cast in his lot with Bruce. The plot
proved a complete fiasco. An English army was upon them. In the first days
of June, Edward had appointed Percy and Clifford 'to arrest, imprison, and
"justify" all disturbers of the peace in Scotland and their resetters.'
Having at length, with great difficulty, raised an army of 300 mounted
men-at- arms and 40,000 foot in England north of Trent, Percy and Clifford
entered Annandale early in July. Pushing on to Ayr, they learned that the
Scots force was near Irvine. The Scots barons are represented at sixes and
sevens; so selfishly at strife, that Sir Richard de Lundy, who had never
done homage to Edward, passed over to Percy in open disgust at their
discord. At any rate, they had neither men nor military capacity nor
patriotic ardour to stand up against the English army. They at once sued for
terms. On July 7, at Irvine, Percy and Clifford received them to Edward's
peace, provisionally promising them their lives, property, and personal
liberty, but requiring hostages. Such a pusillanimous collapse of the joint
enterprise of half a dozen of the most powerful Scots nobles, the natural
leaders of the nation, with young Bruce himself at their head, may suggest
some measure of the courage, resource, and patriotism of the youthful and
obscure Wallace—especially if we look but two months ahead to the signal
victory of Stirling.
The
craven spirit of these barons is pilloried in the ignominious document
recording their appeal to Warenne to support the convention with Percy.
There they stated shamelessly that they had been afraid lest Edward's coming
army should harry their lands, and that they had been surely informed that
the King would impress 'all the middle people of Scotland' for his war over
sea. They had accordingly taken up arms in defence, until they could protect
themselves by treaty from such a grievance and dishonour. 'And therefore,
when the English army entered within the land, they came to meet them, and
had such a conference that all of them came to the peace and the fealty of
our lord the King.' Yet their disgraceful treaty, negotiated by the Bishop
of Glasgow, acknowledges that they had committed 'acts of arson, slaughter,
and plunder.' They had to put the best face upon a weak case. There was
vastly more spirit in the nameless Scots and Glaswegians that plundered the
English baggage in Irvine, slaying over 500 of the enemy, while their
betters were grovelling to Percy and Clifford for admission to the peace of
the usurper.
On July 15,
Percy and Clifford reached Roxburgh, where they found Cressingham with 300
covered horses and Io,000 foot soldiers, ready to march to their aid next
morning. Cressingham's report to the King on July 23 throws interesting
side-lights on the situation. Percy and Clifford appear to have thought that
the whole object of the expedition had been accomplished. Cressingham,
however, urged that 'even though peace had been made on this side the Scots
water, yet it would be well to make a chevachie on the enemies on the other
side'; or, at any rate, 'that an attack should be made upon William Wallace,
who lay then with a large company—and does so still—in the Forest of
Selkirk, like one that holds himself against your peace.' We shall presently
see that the Scots north of Forth were tolerably active. Meantime
Cressingham's reference to Wallace, as well as the formal treaty, appears to
indicate all but conclusively that Wallace was no partner of the barons in
the fiasco of Irvine. In the result Percy and Cressingham concluded to make
no expedition until Warenne should arrive from England.
The next day both Cressingham and Spaldington wrote
further particulars to Edward. Spaldington informed him that 'because Sir
William Douglas has not kept the covenants he made with Sir Henry de
Percy'—that is, had failed to provide hostages or guarantors-'he is in your
castle of Berwick, in my keeping, and he is still very savage and very
abusive; but,' he added with dutiful zest, 'I will keep him in such wise
that, please God, he shall by no means get out.' Douglas was put in irons.
On October 12, he was consigned to the Tower of London, and on January 20,
1298-99, he is reported as 'with God.' Again, Cressingham's letter of July
24 shows the irksomeness of the English position. Edward, who had met almost
insuperable difficulties in fitting out his Flanders expedition, had urged
him to raise money from the issues and the rents of the realm of Scotland to
aid Warenne and Percy in their military operations. 'Not a penny could be
raised,' says Cressingham, 'until my lord the Earl of Warenne shall enter
into your land and compel the people by force and sentence of law.' More
than that
'Sire, let it not
displease you, by far the greater part of your counties of the realm of
Scotland are still unprovided with keepers, as well by death, sieges, or
imprisonment; and some have given up their bailiwicks, and others neither
will nor dare return; and in sonic counties the Scots have established and
placed bailiffs and ministers, so that no county is in proper order,
excepting Berwick and Roxburgh, and this only lately.'
After all, Harry may not be far wrong in stating that
Wallace appointed sheriffs and captains from 'Gamlispath' to Urr Water, and
controlled Galloway, after the alleged battle of Biggar. It may be also, as
he says, that Douglas came to Wallace's peace at that time, and ruled from
Drumlanrig to Ayr as his lieutenant. In any case, Cressingham's letter marks
emphatically the strength of the silent, as well as of the active,
resistance of the people of Scotland. The impecunious and helpless Treasurer
could qualify his rueful report by only one vague crumb of comfort. 'But,
sire, all this will be speedily amended, by the grace of God, by the arrival
of the said lord the Earl, Sir Henry de Percy, and Sir Robert Clifford, and
the others of your Council.'
The alleged delay of the barons in giving hostages is attributed by the more
trusted chroniclers to the urgency of Wallace. First Douglas, and then the
Bishop, surrendered their liberty, pricked (it is said) by insulting
suspicions of their honour. But this seems to be matter of inference, not of
fact. For on August i, Warenne wrote to Edward: 'Sir William de Douglas is
in your castle of Berwick, in good irons and in good keeping, for that he
failed to produce his hostages on the day appointed him, as the others did.'
As for the Bishop, Edward's own theory, based (he said) on intercepted
correspondence of Wishart, was, that he had voluntarily submitted to
internment in Roxburgh Castle, in order to plot for its betrayal to the
Scots. One would like to see that correspondence. No doubt the compulsion in
both cases was altogether external. At any rate, we are told that Wallace
was extremely angry when he heard of their surrender; and that, in his rage,
he harried the Bishop's house, carrying off his furniture, arms, and horses.
Possibly he did; possibly, too, the true story may be that this was the
harrying of Bishop Bek, not of Bishop Wishart, in Glasgow. It is further
admitted that his followers increased to an immense number, the community of
the land following him as their leader and chief, and the whole of the
retainers of the magnates adhering to him; 'and although the magnates
themselves were with our King in the body, yet their heart was far from
him.' This picture agrees fully with the lamentable report of Cressingham.
The trouble in the north was certainly not to be
ignored, as Cressingham well knew. Andrew de Moray, son of Sir Andrew de
Moray (since Dunbar a prisoner in the Tower), was at the head of an
insurrection of considerable magnitude. The Bishop of Aberdeen, and Gartnet,
the son of the Earl of Mar, had proceeded to quell it; and early in June
Edward had despatched to their aid the Earl of Buchan, and later the Earl of
Mar. Mar, Comyn, and Gartnet reported on July 25, that on July 17 at Launoy
(?) on the Spey 'met us Andrew de Moray with a great body of rogues,' and
'the aforesaid rogues betook themselves into a very great stronghold of bog
and wood, where no horseman could be of service.' They mention 'the great
damage which is in the country,' and send Sir Andrew de Rathe to inform him
particularly. It is instructive to observe that, when Sir Andrew showed his
credence to Cressingham at Berwick, Cressingham warned Edward (August ) to
give little weight to it, for it 'is false in many points, and obscure, as
will be well known hereafter, I fear.' On the same date the Constable of
Urquhart reported how Moray had besieged his castle; and about the same time
Sir Reginald Ic Cheyne informed Edward how Moray and his 'malefactors' had
spoiled and laid waste his goods and lands. Apparently a peace had been
patched up somehow; for on August 28 letters of safe-conduct were issued in
favour of Andrew de Moray, and of Hugh, son of the Earl of Ross, whose
Countess had brought material aid to the English party against Andrew de
Moray, to enable both men to visit their fathers in the Tower of London.
Andrew de Moray, however, could not have used his safe-conduct, for he
fought at Stirling Bridge. By this time Aberdeen was also in revolt. On
August 1, Warenne reports that 'we have sent to take Sir Henry de Lazom, who
is in your castle of Aberdeen, and there makes a great lord of himself.'
Warenne has not yet heard of Lazom's fate; but he can promise that 'if he be
caught he shall be honoured according to his deserts.'
Wallace, whatever his strength in Selkirk Forest,
evidently felt it inexpedient to offer direct opposition to the troops under
Percy and Cressingham at Roxburgh, and under Spaldington at Berwick. He went
north, no doubt by Glasgow, if it be true that it was now he harried the
facile bishop—or the astute one either. His force augmented steadily as he
marched onward. It may have been at this time that he made the expedition
into Argyll and Lorn; it may have been at the earlier date previously
mentioned. For some little space we must again fall back on the guidance of
Harry, who, as we have just seen, brings him from Ardchattan to the siege of
St. Johnston. The details that Harry supplies give an air of verisimilitude
to his narrative. He tells how Sir John Ramsay had 'bestials' of wood made
in the forest, and floated them down the river; how the troops filled the
dykes with earth and stone, and advanced the 'bestials' to the walls; and
how Wallace, Ramsay, and Graham at last sacked the town, slaying 2000.
Ruthven, who had joined with thirty men, and distinguished himself in the
siege, Wallace installed as Captain and Sheriff,with the hereditary
lieutenancy of Strathearn.
'Then to the north good Wallace made him boun.'
Having first made a flying visit to Cupar, whence the
English abbot had fled, Wallace swept over the north country with his
accustomed energy. At Glammis he was joined by Bishop Sinclair; Brechin was
reached the same night. Next morning Wallace displayed 'the banner of
Scotland,' and rode through the Mearns 'in plain battle' to Dunnottar
Castle, where some 4000 English had taken refuge. He destroyed them all,
even burning down the church, which was full of refugees; not even the
intercession of the bishop could save them, for Wallace had fresh on his
mind the atrocities of the Barns of Ayr.
Hastening to Aberdeen, Wallace suddenly fell upon the
shipping, and destroyed it. Harry mentions no difficulty with the garrison.
Wallace at once swept through Buchan, and then round the further north. It
is impossible to say how the tour was affected by the results of the recent
operations of Andrew de Moray west of the Spey. On August i—a rather early
date—Wallace was back in Aberdeen, making arrangements for the
administration of the north. He immediately passed south to the siege of
Dundee. There are some historical blunders in Harry's sketch of Wallace's
northern expedition. Thus, Sinclair, though a good patriot, was not Bishop
of Dunkeld till 1308, at any rate, not 'with the Pope's consent'; Matthew de
Crambeth was bishop from 1288 to 1304 at least. Sir Henry de Beaumont, too,
whom Harry drives out of Buchan, was not earl till some ten years later.
Again, if Wallace was in Selkirk Forest on July 23, as Cressingham reported,
he could not, with all his celerity, have overrun the north and been back in
Aberdeen by August 1. It does not, however, by any means follow that Harry's
account is not fairly right in substance. In any case, it seems certain that
the whole of Scotland north of the Forth—except Dundee and Stirling—was
under the sway of Wallace just before the battle of Stirling Bridge.
On August 22, Edward embarked for Flanders, and did
not return to England till March 14. A few days before sailing (August 14),
he had designated Sir Brian Fitz Alan to succeed Warenne as Governor of
Scotland, Warenne being ill and anxious to be relieved. In obedience to
urgent orders to remain at his post, however, Warenne had gone north at the
head of the English army, and was making for Stirling. On hearing of his
approach, Wallace left one of his lieutenants to carry on the siege of
Dundee, and hastened to dispute the passage of the Forth. He could not
occupy Stirling Castle, for the castle was not, as Harry says, in the hands
of Earl Malcolm (who, on the contrary, was in the English camp), but had
been in the hands of Sir Richard de Waldegrave, the English Constable, since
September 8, 1296. Wallace chose his position with the instinct of military
genius. With his back to the Abbey Craig and the Ochils above the Abbey of
Cambuskenneth, and with a loop of the Forth protecting him in front, he
commanded at his will the head of the bridge that lay between him and the
enemy. He is said to have had 18o horse and 40,000 foot, while Warenne had
1000 horse and 50,000 foot; but little reliance can be placed on the
figures. Cressingham, it is said, had directed Percy to disband his army of
the west, believing that the force under Warenne was amply sufficient for
the campaign.
As the armies
lay in view of each other, with the river rolling between them, negotiations
took place with a view to some accommodation. The Steward of Scotland and
Earl Malcolm of the Lennox readily obtained Warenne's permission to try what
they could do in representations to Wallace. Wallace, however, was
absolutely irreconcilable. Warenne next despatched two friars to Wallace, to
invite him and his men to come to the King's peace, promising impunity for
all past offences. 'Take back for answer,' said Wallace, 'that we are not
here to sue for peace, but are ready to fight for the freedom of ourselves
and of our country. Let the English come on when they please, they shall
find us ready to meet them to their beards.' The reply might have been
anticipated.
In the English
camp the report of the friars was correctly interpreted as a plain defiance,
and strengthened the clamour of Cressingham and his friends for an immediate
attack on the presumptuous Scots. Warenne, ill, and anxious to reach an easy
settlement, was unable to withstand 'the ignorant impetuosity' of the
overbearing churchman. Sir Richard de Lundy, whom Harry mistakenly ranges on
the side of Wallace, interposed with a wise suggestion. He pointed out the
fatal folly of attempting to advance over the bridge, which allowed only two
to pass abreast; by that way 'we are dead men.' He offered to take a party
of 500 horse and a detachment of infantry across a ford—'probably the ford
of Maner,' Hailes thinks—and catch the enemy in the rear. Lundy's proposal
was declined, on the flimsy ground that it would divide the army, the real
ground probably being doubt of his fidelity. Still Warenne hesitated. 'Why
do we drag out the war in this fashion,' urged the Treasurer, 'and waste the
King's treasure? Let us fight, as is our bounden duty.' Warenne at last gave
way.
On the morning of
September 11, Cressingham led the English van across the narrow bridge of
Stirling. From the slopes of the Abbey Craig—over which now towers the
imposing National Monument—Wallace sternly watched them defiling in steady
movement all the morning till eleven o'clock. At the critical moment he sent
the blast of his horn thrilling through the valley, the signal to launch his
eager men upon the English van. While the main bodies of the combatants met
in deadly shock, a company of Scots seized and held the head of the bridge.
This movement was no sooner realised than it embarrassed and disordered the
advancing English, and struck apprehension into the hearts of such as had
passed over. Hopeless confusion passed into irretrievable disaster. The
English vanguard was cut to pieces or driven into the Forth. Cressingham
himself was slain. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, who had been among the first to
cross, seeing the inevitable rout, cut his way back to the bridge with
conspicuous valour, and effected his escape. This remarkable exception
indicates forcibly the plight of the rest. As the English drew back from the
bridge, the Scots pressed vehemently upon them. Warenne, who had not crossed
the river, promptly took to horse, and, ill as he was, did not draw bridle
till he reached Berwick, and did not rest till he was safe on the English
side of the Border.
It is
said that the Scots flayed Cressingham's body and distributed the skin in
strips. So deeply was he detested in life, that it is far from unlikely that
his enemies took a morbid revenge upon him in death. After all, it is only
sentimentally worse than the fate he narrowly escaped at the hands of his
own men, who were incensed almost to the point of stoning him to death for
declining the aid of Percy's force. Still the fact, if a fact, is to be
regretted; although the Furies were let loose.
The Steward and Earl Malcolm are represented as
playing a double part, at which the Steward, at any rate, was getting well
practised. Having failed to arrange an accommodation with Wallace, they had
promised Warenne to bring him some forty more horse on the day of battle.
They discreetly waited to see how the event would declare itself, and then
calmly stood on the winning side with contemptible judiciousness.
The Scots at once entered upon an eager pursuit of
Warenne's flying army. Harry traces the English flight through the Tor Wood,
and on to Haddington and Dunbar, marking the route by large chronicles of
the slain. Wallace at once returned to Stirling. The Constable of the
castle, Sir Richard de Waldegrave, and great part of the garrison, had been
killed at the bridge; and Warenne had given the command to Sir William de
Fitz Warin, with whom was the redoubtable Sir Marmaduke de Twenge, and
'other good soldiers.' The castle was quickly reduced 'from want of
victuals.' Sir William de Ros, by his own account, was one of the captives,
and 'William le Waleys spared his life from being Sir Robert's brother (?
cousin); but as he would not renounce his allegiance, sent him a prisoner to
Dumbarton Castle, where he lay in irons and hunger till its surrender to the
King after the battle of Falkirk.' On April 7, 1299, Edward authorised
negotiations for the exchange of a number of prisoners, including Fitz Warm,
Twenge, and Ros. Fitz Warin died the same year (before Dec. 23). The fate of
the rest of the garrison was probably similar.
Harry tells how Wallace received all the barons that
were willing to come to him, requiring them all to swear 'a great oath' to
be loyal to himself and to Scotland, with the alternative of death or
imprisonment. Sir John de Menteith he mentions specifically as having taken
the oath. But this subordination of the 'barons'—in spirit at least—is to be
accepted with some reserve; though an English annalist also tells us that
the Scots adhered to Wallace, 'from the least to the greatest'; and the
papers about 'ordinances and confederations,' found on Wallace's person when
he was captured, point to a concordat of some sort. Dundee was at once
evacuated; and in ten days not an English captain was left in Scotland,
except in Berwick and Roxburgh. Wallace had at length achieved the
deliverance of Scotland.
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