At the coronation of
Bruce at Scone, March 27, 1306, Renfrewshire, if it was represented at
all, was represented by the Earl of Lennox, a descendant of Walter fitz
Alan. The Steward was not present. Less versatile than Bruce, and less
perjured than Wishart the Bishop of Glasgow, while Bruce was fighting
for Edward he was steadily supporting Wallace. His Renfrewshire and
other estates had been given to the Earl of Lincoln. But on February 9,
1304, he made his peace with Edward, and on November, 1305, appeared in
Westminster Hall before the Lord High Chancellor of England, confessed
his broken faith to the King, and submitted himself and his lands in
Scotland and elsewhere to his will. A year later, November 22, 1306, the
Earl of Lincoln restored the Steward’s estates in Scotland into the
King’s hands for the sum of four thousand merks. Three months before
this, Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, was accused of handing over to
Robert de Bruce the Steward’s son and heir, Andrew; but denied it.
Apparently the charge was not well founded, for on the 25th of the same
month (August, 1306) Malise Earl of Strathearn and John Inchmartyne
undertook to produce him bodily to the King under pain of forfeiture of
their lives and goods.8 Whether they did produce him is uncertain.
Nothing further is heard of him. The Steward continued to hold aloof
from Bruce. Perhaps he was not sure of him, or he was hopeless of his
success; or perhaps he preferred to make sure, whatever might happen to
Bruce or to Scotland, of his estates.
His son and successor,
Walter, the sixth Steward, threw himself on the side of Bruce with
enthusiasm. At Bannockburn, according to Barbour,
“Valtir, Steward of
Scotland, syne,
That than we bot ane berdle hyne,
Com with a rout of nobill men,
That all be contynans mycht ken.”
Though but a youth of
seventeen or eighteen years, he was given, along with Sir William
Douglas, the command of the third battle or division of the Scots army,
and, by his gallant bearing in the fight, commended himself to the
favour of the King.
After the battle, when “
it rained ransoms in Scotland,” and the Earl of Essex was exchanged for
the Scots Queen, her sister, the princess Marjorie, and the Bishop of
Glasgow, the King entrusted their safe conduct from the border to the
young Steward. Soon after, Marjorie was wedded to the Steward, and
became the mother of Robert, later Robert II.
During Bruce’s quixotic
expedition in Ireland, Walter was appointed joint Regent of the Kingdom
with Douglas. In 1316, his son was acknowledged by Parliament heir to
the crown in the event of the King dying without male issue. Berwick was
surprised and captured on March 28 in the same year, and after holding
out sixteen weeks longer, the castle surrendered. Anticipating that
Edward would endeavour to recapture both town and castle, the King
entrusted the keeping of them to his son-in-law, the Steward.
Edward was not long in
making the expected attempt. He summoned his forces to meet him at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, on July 24, 1319, and began the siege of the town on
September 7. Walter was materially assisted in the defence by John
Crabbe, the Flemish engineer, whose doings, as well as
those of the Steward, are
described in vigorous language by Barbour. In order to create a
diversion in favour of the besieged, the Scots King sent Douglas and
Randolph with a force of 15,000 men by another route into England. They
advanced, laying waste the country, as far as Ripon, and thence to
Boroughbridge, without meeting with resistance. At Myton-on-Swale, the
Archbishop of York had
“ . . . gaderit in-till
full gret hy
Archeria, burgess, with yhemenry,
Prestis, clerkis, monkis and freris,
Husbandis, and men of all mysteris,
Quhill at thai sammyn assemmyllit var
Weill tuenty thousand men and mair.”
In the battle which
followed, called by the Archdeacon of Aberdeen The Chapter of Mitton,
because of the number of priests slain, the English were utterly routed.
On hearing of the disaster, Edward at once raised the siege, and was
forced to consent to a truce for two years.
At the Parliament held at
Arbroath, April 6, 1320, Walter the Steward signed the celebrated letter
to the Pope from the barons and lay community of Scotland, in which they
accused Edward in much the same terms as he had accused them, protested
against the attitude which His Holiness had taken up against them, and
maintained their right to live without molestation as a free and
independent nation.
On March 16, 1322, the
Earl of Lancaster, who was aiming at the English crown, and had entered
into a secret league with Douglas and Randolph, was defeated at
Boroughbridge before the Scots could join hands with him, by Sir Andrew
Harcla, governor of Carlisle. When the two years’ truce had expired,
encouraged apparently by his success over Lancaster and his adherents,
Edward resolved to resume hostilities against Scotland, and, as it
turned out, for the last time. While his army was mustering at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Scots, under Douglas and Randolph, entered
England by the western marches, and, penetrating beyond Preston, did
enormous damage. Their raid began on July 3. On the 12th of the month,
after burning the town and castle of Lancaster to the ground, they
returned by Carlisle, At Carlisle, they lay for five days, and left it
on the 24th, after an inroad lasting three weeks and three days, during
which they apparently encountered little or no opposition.
Early in August, Edward
entered Scotland1 with his army, and marching up Lauderdale, descended
upon Edinburgh. There he found no one to oppose him. The Scots King had
adopted the old plan of clearing the country of provisions and retiring
before the invader, and had fixed his camp beyond the Forth at Culross.
The invaders, many of whom perished from hunger, were soon compelled to
retreat. The Scots lost no time in following them. By September 17, when
Edward was at Newcastle, they appeared before Norham with a small force
of 200 men. Edward pressed on from Newcastle, which he left on the 25th,
by Durham and Barnard Castle to Rievaux Abbey, whence he despatched a
letter, on October 13, to Aymer de Valence, ordering him to join the
Earl of Richmond and Henry Beaumont at Byland on the following day. The
main army of the Scots had gone round by Carlisle3 and by a rapid march
surprised Edward at Rievaux on October 14, the day after the despatch of
the letter to Aymer de Valence. Edward’s baggage was captured, many
prisoners were taken, but the King escaped, though hard pressed by the
Steward, who followed him, at the head of 500 men, almost up to the
gates of York.4 This was Walter’s last achievement.
The war with Scotland was
resumed by Edward III. after the deposition of his father, Edward II.,
but a treaty was soon concluded by which England undertook to
acknowledge Scotland as an independent country, and a marriage was
arranged between David, Bruce’s infant son, and Joanna, Princess of
England and sister to the King. Before the treaty was concluded, Walter
was dead. He died at Bathgate, April 9, 1326, ten years after his wife
Marjorie, and left behind him a boy of ten, who afterwards became Robert
II. Walter was a great favourite with both King and people. His death
was universally lamented. “ Than,” says Barbour,
“Than mycht men heir folk
gret and cry,
And mony a knycht and ek lady
Mak in [apert] richt evill cher ;
Sa did thai all that evir thair wer.
All men hym menyt comonly ;
For of hia elde he wea worthy.
Quhen thai lang tyme thar dule had maid,
The coraa to Paalay haf thai had,
And thar, withe gret aolempnite
And with gret dule, entyrit wea he,
God for hia mycht his saull he bring
Quhar ioy ay leatia but endyng—Amen.”
Wallace, James the
Steward, and Walter—Renfrewshire had a large hand in the wars against
Edward I. and Edward II., and in freeing the country from their yoke.
Wallace revived the drooping spirit of his countrymen in their darkest
hour, and gave them their first victory over their foes. James the
Steward, after vacillating for a time, threw in his lot with the popular
party. Until the ranks of the magnates, his companions in arms, were
thinned by death and desertion, and he and the remnant of them were
forced to yield, he fought steadily against the Plantagenet; and when at
last he was obliged to sue for peace, he was among those who were
excepted from the treaty as deserving to be more severely dealt with
because of the more stubborn character of their resistance. Walter came
in on the full tide of victory, and though but a boy in his teens when
he began, did brilliant service in the cause of his country at
Bannockburn and Berwick, and in the campaign in which the power of the
Second Edward was completely broken.
The name of one other
deserves to be added to theirs—that of
“Yorthy and vicht,
stahvard and stout Curtass and fair, and of gude fame Schir Alane of
Catcart.”
Sir Alan Cathcart was a
comrade of Edward Bruce, and accompanied him and Bruce during their
wanderings in Scotland, when their fortunes were lowest. From the way in
which he speaks of him, Barbour was evidently acquainted with him. It
was from him, he tells us, that he obtained the story of the
discomfiture by Edward Bruce with fifty men of Sir John St. John with
fifteen hundred men in Galloway, at which feat of arms Sir Alan was
present.
Among the defenders of
the Castle of Stirling when it capitulated to the English, July 24,
1304, were Fergus de Ardrossan and his brother Robert, whose family,
though not then connected with Renfrewshire, was afterwards. Another
name in the same list is that of Robertus de Ranfru (Renfrew). Among
those belonging to the county who are said to have fought on the
patriotic side during these wars, were Robert de Semple of Castle
Semple, and Matthew of Renfrew. The latter was a prisoner first in the
castle of the High Peak, Derbyshire, and afterwards in Nottingham
Castle. Robert of Renfrew was imprisoned in Salisbury and then in Old
Sarum, where he died, December 22, 1306. For his conduct at Bannockburn,
Sir Reginald Crawfurd of Crosbie received from Bruce a grant of the
lands of Auchinames in the parish of Kilbarchan; and, for his services
on the same field, Semple was rewarded with a grant of part of the lands
of Balliol in the parish of Largs.
Renfrewshire stands a
little apart from the main road leading from England by the west into
the centre of Scotland, and hence during the various marching and
counter-marchings of the English armies in the country, they seldom
passed through or were present in it. Yet the English troops were by no
means unknown in the shire. The strong castle of Inverkip early fell
into their hands, and, as Barbour puts it,'* ves then stuffit all with
Ynglis men.” Sir Philip de Mowbray escaped to it after the battle of
Loudon Hill, May 10, 1307. The Renfrewshire estates of the Steward, as
already mentioned, were given by Edward I. to the Earl of Lincoln. The
people were restive, and the patriot army lay about. In 1299, John the
Mareschal, bailiff of the Earl of Lincoln, wrote to the King in great
trepidation, pleading for help. The Guardian of Scotland, he reported,
with three hundred men-at-arms and a multitude of foot, who had been
lurking in Galloway, had entered Cunningham after the King’s son,
afterwards Edward II., had left, and taken his bailiffs, and totally
rebelled against their late fealty. He prays for immediate aid, and says
that without the King’s help he cannot defend the barony against so many
Scots. Five years later things were no better. The King’s escheators had
to be escorted through the county by an armed force. Their names were
James de Dalileye and John de Westons. Ten foot soldiers were required
to escort them from Dumbarton to the town of Renfrew, Sir John Wallace
and Robert Boyd assisting them with ten men-at-arms. The same escort was
required to convey them from Renfrew to Ayr. Without such escort, it is
said, “ they could no ways have done their work.”
In 1307 the monastery of
Paisley was burned almost to the ground, and in 1310 Edward II.
penetrated to Renfrew with his army. The leaders of those who set fire
to the monastic buildings are not known. The town of Paisley was
probably burned at the same time. Edward seems to have entered and left
Renfrew on the same day, though it is not improbable that his stay in
the royal burgh extended over one or more days. Some of his writs were
attested at Lanark on October 15, and others at Renfrew on the same day.
The next that occur are tested at Linlithgow on October 23 and 28. On
the other hand, his lieutenant was at Lanark on October 15, and he
himself appears to have reached Biggar on the 16th.
Altogether, though a
number of the inhabitants had signed the Ragman Roll, the county
suffered and did much in the cause of freedom.
On the death of Robert
I., Randolph Earl of Moray became Regent. Douglas died in Spain, when on
his way to the Holy Land with the heart of Bruce. Soon after this
disaster, David II., then in his eighth year, was both crowned and
anointed at Scone, November 24, 1331. The heir-apparent to the crown was
the Steward, then about seventeen years of age. David married an English
princess. The early part of his reign he spent in France. Twice he was a
captive in England. After his release he became little better than a
tool of the English court, and would have handed down the crown his
father had won to an English successor. Towards the end, the war between
Scotland and England virtually resolved itself into a conflict between
the Steward and the Plantagenet.
Of the Steward’s earliest
days, nothing is known. The first notice we have of him occurs in the
beginning of David II.’s reign Probably he was at Dupplin Moor, August
12, 1332, when Balliol and the disinherited nobles won their remarkable
victory over the forces of the Crown under Donald Earl of Mar, the
successor of Randolph in the Regency.
From Dupplin, Balliol
went to Perth, and thence to Scone, where he was crowned. Returning to
Perth, he set out for Galloway ; going by “Coil” and “ Conyngham,”
probably after passing through Renfrewshire. He then crossed Crawford
Moor to Roxburgh, where he swore fealty to Edward III. and covenanted to
give him Berwick and lands of the value of £2000 on the Border. Near
Jedburgh, he defeated Archibald Douglas, who was lying in ambush to
attack him. At Roxburgh bridge he captured Sir Andrew Moray, the son of
Wallace’s friend, who was now Regent, and sent him to England, where he
remained till he was ransomed. Balliol then returned to the West March,
near Annan. It is here that we first meet with the young Steward. About
daybreak, on December 16, along with the Earl of Mar and Archibald
Douglas, he suddenly fell upon the sleeping court of Balliol, killed
about a’ hundred of his men, and nearly captured Balliol himself, who
with difficulty escaped half naked to Carlisle.
The Scots now raided
across the Border. Edward accused them of infringing the Treaty of
Northampton, which he himself, by his encouragement of Balliol, had
helped to turn into waste paper. Balliol re-crossed the Border, and
Edward summoned his levies to meet him at Newcastle on March 21,1333,
preparatory to laying siege to Berwick, which, though ceded to him, was
still in the hands of the Scots. He was joined by Balliol, and the two
sat down before Berwick, the King of England and the titular king of the
country fighting together against it.
The Guardian of Scotland
was now Archibald Douglas, youngest brother of the “ Good ” Sir James.
By a raid into England, in which he threatened to carry off Edward’s
Queen from Bamborough Castle, he tried to divert the English army from
its immediate object, but failed. Re-crossing the Tweed, he found the
English army drawn up on the slope of Halidon Hill. The positions at
Bannockburn were here reversed. The front protected by the moss was that
of the English army, not that of the Scots. The battle was won by the
English archers, and the defeat of Bannockburn was avenged. The whole of
the Scots army of nearly 15,000 men were either slain or made prisoners.
The Regent Douglas fell mortally wounded, and six earls—Ross,
Sutherland, Menteith, Lennox, Carrick, and Atholl (John
Campbell)—besides many others, some of them veterans in the wars of the
Bruce Randolph, who led the first line, escaped to France; the Steward,
who led the second, found refuge in Bute. The Earl of March, one of the
defenders of Berwick, joined Edward, and was rewarded by the English
King with a grant of £100 of land to himself and his wife, “Black” Agnes
Randolph ; John Crabbe, the Flemish engineer, having, it is said, been
badly treated by the Scots, also changed sides, and distinguished
himself in the siege of the town, which, fifteen years before, he had so
skilfully defended.
The whole country now
seemed to be at the feet of the conqueror. A few places of strength were
in the hands of a number of resolute men, but so precarious was the
condition of affairs that it was deemed advisable to send the young King
and his Queen to France lest they should fall into the hands of the
invader. Balliol held a Parliament at Edinburgh in February, 1333-34, at
which were ratified all the promises he had made to Edward at Roxburgh.
Among the Bishops at this Parliament were Aberdeen, Brechin, Ross,
Galloway, the “ King’s own Bishop ” William Sinclair, who in Bruce’s day
had rallied a Scottish army and routed an English force, and the
scarcely less famous Bishop of Dunblane, who, as the Abbot of Inchaffray,
had marched barefoot, cross in hand, down the ranks of the Scots before
Bannockburn. Among the barons were the English Earl of Atholl, Beaumont
of Buchan, Talbot Earl of Mar, Alexander de Mowbray, Alexander de Seton,
William de Keith, and the lately converted Earl of March, who had held
Berwick against Balliol and his master Edward. At Newcastle, on June 12,
1334, Balliol by a formal instrument made over to the English Crown the
forests of Jedburgh, Selkirk, Ettrick, and the counties of Roxburgh,
Peebles, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Haddington, and Dumfries, with their
burghs and castles.1 Over this new domain Edward appointed his own
officials, but gave instructions that the laws of Scotland should be
preserved and maintained in it.
Fortunately, dissensions
soon, broke out amongst the adherents of Balliol, and Mowbray, one of
the most prominent of their number, joined Sir Andrew Moray, who had
been ransomed ; and the two sat down to besiege Beaumont’s Castle of
Dundearg in Buchan. The castle was taken and Beaumont sent to England.
Talbot also was made a prisoner.2 Watching his opportunity, the young
Steward, whose estates had been forfeited and conferred upon the Earl of
Atholl, crossed over from Bute under cover of night to Inverkip. Here
horses were waiting for him, and hastily mounting he pressed on to
Over-cumnock, from whence he re-crossed the Clyde to Dumbarton, where he
was heartily welcomed by Malcolm Fleming, the governor. With the
assistance of Colin Campbell of Lochow, he stormed Dunoon Castle in
Cowal. As soon as this was known in Bute, his vassals there rose against
the English governor, Alan de Lyle, put him to death, and carrying his
head before them, proceeded in savage triumph to join their chief.
Rothesay Castle was soon in the hands of the insurgents. Thomas Bruce
co-operated with the Steward in Carrick; William Carruthers was active
on the same side in Annandale. Randolph Earl of Moray returned from
France and joined the Steward. Renfrew with Kyle and Carrick was cleared
of the invaders. The Earl of Atholl (David of Strathbogie), hitherto one
of the most notable of the English party, was won over to the popular
side; and Balliol had again to flee across the border. But late as the
season was, Edward at once marched northward. About the beginning of
November he joined Balliol at Berwick, and then proceeded to overrun the
south of Scotland. Christmas
he spent at Roxburgh,
strengthening the fortifications of both town and castle, and then
returned to Newcastle to meet the French Ambassadors who had come on
behalf of Philip to arrange for peace with the Scots. Balliol came west
to spend his Christmas at Renfrew, and in the castle of the Steward held
high court and festival, distributing gifts among his friends, and
doubtless causing many searchings of heart in the neighbouring
monastery, where the Abbot had just received from Benedict XII. the
right to wear the mitre and the ring and other coveted privileges.
Balliol did not remain long in the Steward’s castle at Renfrew. He knew
that he was in the midst of enemies, and preferring the better part of
valour, made haste to follow Edward across the Border.
The Steward and Sir
Andrew Moray were now made Guardians of the Kingdom. In April they held
a meeting of Parliament at Dairsie in Fife. To this Parliament came the
Earls of Moray, Atholl, and March, who by this time had renounced his
allegiance to Balliol and joined the popular party. Atholl is said to
have caused a misunderstanding between the two Regents, but the
statement may be doubted. Assuming, however, that he did, the
misunderstanding cannot have been of much importance. It did not prevent
them from settling their military policy and working it out in harmony.
Edward rejected the
overtures of Philip. Their only effect was to harden his resolution to
conquer the Scots. In the beginning of July he sent a fleet of 180 ships
to the Forth with supplies. On the 2nd of the month he was at Carlisle,
and thence led an army into Scotland by the west. Balliol led another
from Berwick, and the two met at Glasgow, when a great riot occurred.
The united forces reached Perth by August 13, devastating the country as
they went, and sending parties out in all directions to carry fire and
sword among the people. Edward returned to Berwick by way of Edinburgh,
where he was from the 10th to the 18th of September.10 In November, the
Castle of Kildrummy was besieged by Atholl, who had been left as
Balliol’s regent, and was bravely defended by Christina Bruce, the wife
of Sir Andrew Moray. Moray went to her relief. Atholl raised the siege
to meet him, and was slain. Moray used his victory to bring back the
whole of the country north of the Mounth to the side of King David. Then
he came south and laid siege to Cupar, in Fife, which was strongly held
by William Bullock, the priest, and a number of Balliol’s .adherents. At
the request of the French ambassadors, the siege was raised. A
Parliament was held by the patriots at Dunfermline, and then Moray went
north to lay siege to Atholl’s Castle of Lochindorb.
In May (1336) Edward
despatched Balliol and Henry of Lancaster to Perth with a large army,
and in June he followed them. After fortifying Perth, he marched
northward with a picked body of men to relieve Lochindorb and to punish
Moray. On his way, he heard that Moray was lurking in the wood of
Stronkalterc, and turned aside to pursue him. His approach was seen, and
Moray and his troops vanished, and eluded all his efforts to overtake
them.4 After relieving Lochindorb, Edward laid waste the fertile lands
to the north of the Mounth, burning towns, castles, and cornfields.
Turning eastwards, he sacked and burned Aberdeen, and then returned to
Perth, strengthening the garrisons on his way. About the beginning of
September he left Balliol with a strong force in the Fair City and took
his way south, believing that at last he had overawed the country and
broken its spirit; but he was soon to learn that he was wrong.
His back was scarcely
turned when Moray issued from his fastnesses, and re-took castle after
castle. Before June (1336) he had taken Falkland, Leuchars, and St.
Andrews in Fife; but in his attack upon Cupar he failed. It was defended
by Bullock, the ecclesiastic, and was effectively relieved by Sir John
Stirling, warden of Edinburgh. After paying a passing visit to his own
castle of Bothwell, which had been captured in the preceding March,
Moray made a foray into Cumberland, and then turning back, laid siege to
Edinburgh, till the approach of an English force compelled him to
retire. In April and May, 1337, he was besieging Stirling. Edward
hurried to the rescue, and Moray once more drew off into the Highlands,6
where he waited until the English army had withdrawn. He then swept down
into the Lowlands, conquered Lothian, again laid siege to Edinburgh,
routed an English force advancing to its relief at Crichton, and pursued
the fugitives to Galashiels. This was his last exploit. He withdrew to
Avoch, and died. He was the son of Wallace’s friend, Andrew de Moray,
who fell wounded at Falkirk in 1297, and was about forty years of age.
The Steward, afterwards
Robert II., a young man of about twenty-three, now became Regent. The
patriotic party rallied round him, and the battle for independence went
on as vigorously as ever. Fortunately for the Scots, Edward became more
and more embroiled with France, and while his hands were full of affairs
there, he was obliged to leave matters in Scotland to his lieutenants.
In 1337, the Earl of Salisbury was besieging Dunbar Castle, but in the
following year, owing to its heroic defence by Black Agnes of Dunbar and
its timely relief by Sir Alexander Ramsay, the siege was raised.
The Steward first sent
the Knight of Liddesdale for French aid, and then, having assembled a
force, laid siege to Perth. He is said to have been assisted in the
siege by the ecclesiastic Bullock, Constable of Cupar, but as Bullock
received pay from the English as Constable of Cupar as late as December
12, 1339, that is not likely. The Governor of Perth was Sir Thomas
Ughtred. He was badly provisioned, and after holding out as long as he
was able, surrendered the place to the Steward, August 17, 1339.
Following the example of Robert I., the Steward levelled its walls with
the ground. He then marched to Stirling, but after an attempt to take
the castle by assault, he appears to have left it aside.
In 1340 a foray was made
into England under the leadership of the Earls of March and Sutherland.
Much damage was done in the northern counties, but the raiders were
obliged to beat a speedy retreat across the Border. On April 16, 1341,
Edinburgh Castle was captured by a clever stratagem, said to have been
devised by the ecclesiastic Bullock, who by this time must have come
over to the Scots side, and carried out by the Knight of Liddesdale. The
portcullis of the castle was blocked by the waggon of pretended wine
merchants, who were Scots men-at-arms in disguise; the Knight then
rushed in with a chosen band, and the castle was taken.
The country being now
regarded as sufficiently cleared of its enemies to admit of the King’s
return, an invitation was sent to him, and on June 2, he landed with his
Queen at Inverbervie, and thence proceeded to Aberdeen. The King was a
lad of eighteen years of age. The Steward, as in duty bound, surrendered
the kingdom into his hands.
During the Stewards
regency, Edward of England had been fully occupied in France in a vain
attempt to make good his claims to the French crown. Towards the end of
the year of David’s return, he unwillingly agreed to a truce for nine
months with the French King, and was expected to spend the winter in
Ghent. But he suddenly landed in England, and coming north, marched
through Ettrick forest in an extremely bad season, and then spent
Christmas at Melrose. But affairs in France were of more interest to him
now than those of Scotland, and instead of prosecuting the war against
the Scots, he went south to raise money for his French wars.
On March 30, 1342, the
castle of Roxburgh was taken. Its garrison numbered about one hundred
and thirty, among whom were twenty-three Scotsmen. Sir Alexander Ramsay
is said to have won it by escalade. According to the Scalacronica, “ al
they that were captyne of this covyne dyed after an il death.” This was
the case with the gallant Ramsay, who was starved to death in Hermitage
Castle, “ through envy that William Douglas bare hym.”5 The next castle
to fall was Stirling, which surrendered “ from defect of victual,” as
Sir Thomas Rokeby says, April 10. On June 2, the Earl of Moray was
released from his six years’ captivity in England in exchange for the
Earl of Salisbury, a prisoner with the French, and David and he are said
to have led several forays into England.
After Edward III. had
again declared war against the French, on April 24, 1345, David, in an
evil hour for himself and his country, resolved, at the instigation of
France, to invade England. An army was assembled at Perth. About the 9th
of October,9 while Edward was besieging Calais, it entered England by
the west marches under the leadership of the King and the Knight of
Liddesdale. The peel of Liddel was taken by assault, and its constable,
Sir Walter Selby, beheaded. Contrary to the advice of Douglas, who
counselled a return, the King marched through Gilsland, skirting
Tyndale, to Hexham, where he is said to have numbered his forces,
consisting of two thousand men-at-arms and a great number of
light-horsemen and light-armed foot. At Bishop-Auckland, to the
south-west of Durham, the Archbishop of York and other English leaders
had assembled their forces. While marching to intercept David’s further
progress they unexpectedly encountered a foraging party under Douglas,
who was put to flight. An attack was then made upon the main army. The
Steward led the second division. Twice he drove back the English archers
and footmen ; but the Bishop of Durham coming up to their rescue, the
Steward’s lines were broken and his troops dispersed. The rest of the
Scots with the exception of the King’s division had, by this time, been
scattered or taken prisoners. The King fought bravely, but was at last
forced to yield. The Steward and the Earl of March, who led the third
division of the army, escaped unhurt, but the loss on the Scots side,
both in killed and prisoners, was enormous. Five hundred and forty
knights and men-at-arms were slain, and over twelve thousand common
soldiers. These numbers were swelled by Lord Lucy, who, arriving too
late to take part in the battle, took up the pursuit of the fugitives,
who were also exposed to attack by the garrison of Berwick. Thus ended
the battle of Durham or of Neville’s Cross —a tremendous calamity to
Scotland, and a proof that, however great the personal courage of David
Bruce may have been, he had neither the military skill nor the prudence
of his father.
The Steward had again to
take the leading part in the management of the affairs of the country,
and to do his best to repair its misfortunes. Fortunately “King Edwarde
was so distresid with his afferes beyound the se that he toke litle
regard to the Scottisch matiers.” Still the task of the Steward was not
easy. By the defeat at Neville’s Cross and the loss of its King and the
flower of its nobility, the country had been thoroughly stunned; it was
greatly impoverished ; Berwick and Roxburgh were already in the hands of
the English, and in the summer of 1347 two English armies crossed the
borders. With twenty thousand men Lord Percy harried Tweeddale, the
Merse, Teviotdale, and Ettrick, and then swept down upon the Lothians.
Balliol, starting from Carlisle, raided Annandale and Galloway, and then
pushing northward, effected a junction with Percy. Turning westward, the
united armies marched by Falkirk to Glasgow, and then through
Renfrewshire into the counties of Ayr and Dumfries, devastating the
country as they went. Balliol had hoped to hold his court in Perth, but
was fain to rest in the castle of Caerlaverock on the Solway, within
easy reach of Carlisle.
But the Scots were by no
means subdued. In the following year, 1348, Lord William Douglas, son of
Sir Archibald Douglas, and nephew of the good Lord James, returned from
France. The Steward appointed him Governor of Edinburgh Castle, in
succession to Sir David Lyndsay. After chasing the English out of
Douglasdale, he collected a large force in Ettrick forest and continued
his operations in Tweeddale and Teviotdale. Other Scottish lords
co-operated with him, and “ a little by a little,” they “ won al that
they had lost at the bataille of Duresme.” Calais was taken, and a
truce, in which Scotland was included, was arranged between the English
and French, on October 22, and renewed from time to time during the next
six years.
During the peace, the
Steward was mainly occupied in arranging for the King’s ransom. Edward
was in no hurry to set him free, and David was not impatient of his
captivity. In the beginning of 1352, he was allowed, after leaving
pledges for his return, to visit Scotland, in order to persuade the
Scottish nobles to accept Edward’s terms.* The Knight of Liddesdale
bound himself to serve Edward in all his wars, “except against the
Scots, unless at his own pleasure,” on condition that he received the
Hermitage and lands in Annan-dale and Moffatdale. There were secret
negotiations also between David and Edward, in which David acknowledged
Edward as his Lord Paramount. Edward’s terms indeed were the same as his
grandfather’s—the recognition of his supremacy over Scotland. In July,
1354, negotiations for David’s ransom were begun at Newcastle. The Scots
were to pay 90,000 merks sterling in nine years and twenty hostages were
to be given. The negotiations, however, were suddenly broken off. A
French knight arrived with sixty French cavaliers and 40,000 moutons,
worth four shillings a piece, or about £8,000, equal to about £300,000
of present money. The moutons were accepted, and a raid was made across
the border. Norham and the surrounding district were plundered, and as
the raiders were retreating with their booty, Sir Thomas Gray, the
governor of Norham Castle, set upon them. He and his son were taken
prisoners, and to their subsequent enforced leisure in Edinburgh Castle
we owe the ScaLctcronica, one of the best contemporary records. The
Scots and French took Berwick town, after which the latter were
thankfully dismissed to their homes.
In the following year,
Edward, whose finances had been amply replenished, came north with an
army of 80,000 men. Berwick town was won back and the castle relieved.
Balliol went to Roxburgh, and there resigned into the hands of his
master the crown and kingdom, which had never been his. Edward then
advanced to Edinburgh, finding the country everywhere wasted before him.
His fleet with provisions never reached him, and he was forced to
retreat with the Scots hanging either on his rear or on his flanks.
Satisfied, apparently, that the reduction of the country was impossible,
he consented to a truce. Negotiations were opened for the ransom of
David, and in October, 1357, the treaty of ransom was ratified. The
Scots were to pay 10,000 merks in ten years. Hostages were given for its
payment, the Steward’s eldest son being one of them. One of the
commissioners who arranged the treaty was Barbour, the author of The
Brus.
On the return of David,
the Steward resigned his office into his hands, as did also William Lord
Douglas, who had been appointed joint Regent with him. The rough
congratulations of his subjects were not much to the taste of David, and
he made no secret of his dislike for them.3 Nevertheless, when the
Estates met at Scone, November 6, 1357, everything was done to raise the
money due as his ransom.4 Complaints were soon made, however, that the
sums collected were mainly absorbed by David’s private expenses, and in
the spring of 1363 the Earl of Douglas, thinking that David “was not a
good lord to him,” took up arms, seized Dirleton Castle, then in the
King’s hands from ward, and entered into a formal bond with the Earl of
March, the Steward, and the eldest and second sons of the latter, to
compel their sovereign to change his counsellors. The rising was
promptly suppressed by the King. The Steward swore fealty at Inchmurdach
on May 4, 1363, and the Earls of March and Douglas made submission
separately. Immediately after this David married Dame Margaret Logy, a
widow and an old friend, “ solely through the force of love.”
In the following October
David repaired to London, where a plan was matured for setting aside the
parliamentary rights of the Steward and for bringing about a union of
the Crowns of England and Scotland. According to the scheme as agreed to
November 27, 1363, the ransom money was to be immediately discharged on
condition of the crown of Scotland being settled on Edward III. in
default of David’s male issue, careful and elaborate provision being
made for preserving the separate uses and institutions of the kingdom.
David was jealous of his nephew and apparent heir, and probably expected
that the prospect of being relieved of the taxes for his ransom would
commend the scheme to the body of the nation. When the proposal was laid
before Parliament at Scone, March 4 following, it met with a decided and
peremptory rejection.
The ill-will of the King
towards the Steward was fomented by the Queen, who, soon after her
marriage (it was her fourth) seems to have placed herself at the head of
a political faction formed specially to oppose the Steward and the Earls
of March and Douglas. Under her influence, the extravagant expenditure
of the Court continued. David is also said to have been incensed against
the Steward because of some supposed failure in his duty at the battle
of Neville’s Cross, and at what he regarded as encroachments upon his
royal prerogatives by the Steward while Regent. Bower asserts that, at
the instigation of the Queen, the Steward and his three oldest sons were
each confined in separate fortresses. That the Steward himself and the “
Wolf of Badenoch ”—Alexander, his third son—were thrown into prison, is
certain, but whether it was at the instigation of Margaret, is not.
Alexander was kept in the Castle of Lochleven for three weeks before the
audit of January 20, 1368-69, and possibly for some time longer. The
Steward’s imprisonment, which was in the same place, ended before the
said audit and began after the Parliament of June, 1368. It is possible,
if not probable, that the incarceration of both was connected with the
troubles in the Highlands. The prominent offender there was John of the
Isles, the Steward’s son-in-law, and the two were suspected of acting
together.
On February 22, 1370-71,
David died in Edinburgh Castle, when, in accordance with the settlement
of 1318, the Steward became King under the title of Robert II. |