I perceive, in one of the recent interesting communications made to the
"NOTES AND QUERIES," by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, that he has given,
from a wardrobe roll in the Surrenden collection, a couple of extracts,
which show that Bruce's Queen was in 1314 in the custody of the Abbess
of Barking. To that gentleman our thanks are due for the selection of
documents which had escaped the careful researches of Lysons, and which
at once throw light on the personal history of a royal captive, and
illustrate the annals of a venerable Abbey. I am glad to be able to
answer the concluding query as to the exact date when the unfortunate
lady, (Bruce's second wife,) left that Abbey, and to furnish a few
additional particulars relative to her eight years' imprisonment in
England. History relates that in less than three months after the crown
had been placed upon the head of Bruce by the heroic Countess of Buchan,
sister of the Earl of Fife (29th March, 1306), he was attacked and
defeated at Methven, near Perth, by the English, under Aymer de Valence,
Earl of Pembroke. After this signal discomfiture, the king fled into the
mountains, accompanied by a few faithful followers: his Queen, daughter,
and several other ladies, for awhile shared his misfortunes and dangers;
but they at length took refuge at the Castle of Kildrummie, from whence
they retreated, in the hope of greater security, to the sanctuary of St.
Duthae, at Tain, in Ross-shire. The Earl of Ross, it is said, violated
the sanctuary, and delivered the party up to the English, who (as sings
Chaucer's contemporary, Barbour, in his not very _barbarous_ Scottish
dialect) straightway proceeded to
--"put the laydis in presoune,
Sum in till castell, sum in dongeoun."
Among the captives were three ecclesiastics, who had taken a prominent
part at the king's coronation--the Bishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews
and the Abbot of Scone, arrayed in most uncanonical costume.[1] Peter
Langtoft pathetically bewails their misfortune:--
"The Bisshop of Saynt Andrew, and the Abbot of
Scone,
The Bisshop of Glascow, thise were taken sone;
Fettred on hackneis, to Inlond ere thei sent,
On sere stedis it seis, to prison mad present."
An instrument in Norman French, printed in Rymer's great collection
(_Foedera_, vol. i. part ii. p. 994, new ed.), directs the manner in
which the prisoners were to be treated. As this document is curious, I
will give that portion which refers particularly to Bruce's wife, the
"Countess of Carrick:"--
"A.D. 1306. (34 Edw. 1.) Fait a remembrer, qi, quant la Femme le
Conte de Carrik sera venue au Roi, ele soit envee a _Brustewik_
[on Humber], & qe ele eit tieu mesnee, & sa sustenance ordenee
en la manere desouz escrite: cest asavoir,
"Qe ele eit deux femmes du pays oversqe li; cest asaver, une
damoisele & une femme por sa chambre, qi soient bien d'age &
nyent gayes, & qi eles soient de bon & meur port; les queles
soient entendantz, a li por li servir:
"Et deux vadletz, qi soient ausint bien d'age, & avisez, de
queux l'un soit un des vadletz le Conte de Ulvestier [the Earl
of Ulster, her father], cest asaver Johan de Benteley, ou autre
qil mettra en lieu de li, & l'autre acun du pays, qi soit por
trencher devant li:
"Et ausant eit ele un garzon a pee, por demorer en sa chambre,
tiel qi soit sobre, & ne mie riotous, por son lit faire, & por
autres choses qe covendront por sa chambre:
"Et, estre ce, ordenez est qeele eit un Vadlet de mestier, qe
soit de bon port, & avisez, por port ses cleifs, por panetrie, &
botellerie, & un cu:
"Et ele deit ausint aver trois leveriers, por aver son deduyt en
la garrene illueques, & en les pares, quant ele voudra:
"Et qe ele eit de la veneison, & du peisson es pescheries,
selene ce qe master li sera:
"Et qe ele gisse en la plus bele maison du manoir a sa volunte:
Et, qe ele voit guyer es pares, r'aillois entor le manoir, a se
volunte."
These orders are apparently not more severe than was necessary for the
safe custody of the Queen; and, considering the date of their issue,
they seem to be lenient, considerate, and indulgent. Not so, however,
with the unfortunate Countess of Buchan, who was condemned to be encaged
in a turret of Berwick Castle ("en une _kage_ de fort latiz, de fuist &
barrez, & bien efforcez de ferrement;" i.e. of strong lattice-work of
wood, barred, and well strengthened with iron[2]), where she remained
immured seven years. Bruce's {291} daughter, Marjory, and his sister
Mary, were likewise to be encaged, the former in the Tower of London,
the latter in Roxburghe Castle. The young Earl of Mar, "L'enfant qi est
heir de Mar," Bruce's nephew, was to be sent to Bristol Castle, to be
carefully guarded, "qil ne puisse eshcaper en nule manere," but not to
be _fettered_--"mais q'il soit hors de fers, _tant come il est de si
tendre age_."
In 1308 (1 Edw. 2.), the Bailiff of Brustwick is commanded to deliver up
his prisoner, to be removed elsewhere, but to what place it does not
appear. A writ of the 6th Feb. 1312, directs her to be conveyed to
Windsor Castle, "cum familia sua." In October of the same year, she was
removed to "Shaston" (Shaftesbury), and subsequently to the Abbey of
Barking, where she remained till March, 1314, when she was sent to
Rochester Castle, as appears by the following writ (Rymer, vol. ii. part
i. p. 244.):--
"(7 Edw. 2.) _De ducendo Elizabetham uxorem Roberti de Brus,
usque ad Castrum Rossense._
"Mandatum est Vicecomitibus London quod Elizabetham. Uxorem
Roberti de Brus, quæ cum Abbatissà de Berkyngg' stetit per
aliquot tempus, de mandato Regis, ab cadem Abbatissà sine
dilatione recipiant, eam usque Ross' duci sub salvâ custodia
faciant, Henrico de Cobeham, Constabulario Castri Regis ibidem
per Indenturam, indè faciendam inter ipsos, liberandam; et hoc
nullatenus omittant.
"Teste Rege, apud Westm. xii. die Martii,
"Per ipsum Regem.
"Et mandatum est præfatæ Abbatissæ, quod præfatam Elizabetham,
quam nuper, de mandato Regis, admisit in domo suâ de Berkyng'
quousque Rex aliud inde ordinâsset, moraturam, sine dilatione
deliberet præfatis Vicecomitibus, ducendam pront eis per Regem
plenius est injunctum, et hoc nullatenus omittat.
"Teste Rege ut supra,
"Per ipsum Regem.
"Et mandatum est dicto Henrico, Constabulario Castri Regis
prædicti, quod ipsam Elizabetham de prædictis Vicecomitibus, per
Indenturam hujus modi, recipiat, et ci cameram, infra dictum
Castrum competentem pro mora suâ assignari:
"Et viginti solidos, de exitibus Ballivæ suæ, ei per singulas
septimanas, quamdiu ibidem moram fecerit, pro expensis suis,
liberari faciat:
"Eamque, infra Castrum prædictum, et infra Prioratum Sancti
Andreæ ibidem, opportunis temporibus spatiari sub salva custodia
(ita quod securus sit de corpore suo), permittat:
"Et Rex ei de prædictis viginti solidis, præfatæ Elizabethæ
singulis septimanis liberandis, debitam allocationem, in compoto
suo ad Scaccarium Regis, fieri faciet.
"Teste ut supra,
"Per ipsum Regem."
But the day of deliverance was close at hand: the battle of Bannockburn,
so fatal to the English, was fought on the 24th June; and on the 2nd of
October the Constable of Rochester Castle is commanded to conduct the
wife, sister, and daughter of Robert Bruce to Carlisle (_usque
Karliolum_), where an exchange of prisoners was made. Old Hector Boece,
who, if Erasmus can be trusted, "knew not to lie," informs us, that
"King Robertis wife, quhilk was hald in viii. yeris afore in Ingland,
was interchangeit with ane duk of Ingland"[3] [Humphrey de Bohun, Earl
of Hereford]. And the aforesaid Barbour celebrates their restoration in
the following lines:--
"Quhill at the last they tretyt sua,
That he[4] till Inglond hame suld ga,
For owtyn paying of ransoune, fre;
And that for him suld changyt be
Byschap Robert[5] that blynd was mad;
And the Queyne, that thai takyn had
In presoune, as befor said I;
And hyr douchtre dame Marjory.
The Erle was changyt for thir thre."