ACCESSION OF BALIOL--SIEGE OF BERWICK--BATTLE OF DUNBAR.
1292. The submission respecting the succession to the crown of Scotland
was now drawing near a close. There is reason to believe, that the
knowledge of many of the humiliating circumstances, which had occurred
during its progress, had been confined, in a great measure, to the
parties engaged in it. Enough, however, had transpired to excite
the jealousy of the poorer gentry, who, having no possessions out
of Scotland, considered their honour as inseparably connected with
its independence. When the edict, therefore, was proclaimed for a
general homage to the King of England, the national degradation became
apparent, and the servility of their more powerful representatives was
regarded with undissembled mortification. The dangerous practice of
allowing the influential barons to hold lands in England, might now
be regretted; but the fatal effects were, for the present, beyond the
power of remedy. Eager for the removal of the English garrisons, and
desirous for the establishment of something like a regular government,
the body of the Scottish nation, concealing their chagrin at the
conduct of Edward, became anxious for the decision. The machinations of
Frazer, and the influence of the Bishop of Durham, at last determined
the English King to declare in favour of John Baliol, who received
the crown with all humility, and swore fealty to the royal arbiter,
as his liege-lord, at Norham, on the 20th November 1292. On the 30th
of the same month, he was crowned at Scone; and, on the 26th December
following, he again repeated his oath of allegiance at Newcastle.
1293. John, though he had not made a greater sacrifice of the national
dignity than the other candidates were prepared to agree to, soon
found, on his return to Scotland, that the station he had been so
desirous to attain, was surrounded by cares and difficulties of no
ordinary description. The conduct of Edward, too, in continually
harassing Baliol with summonses to attend complaints instituted against
him in the English courts, on very trifling occasions, was a source of
unceasing annoyance; and while the latter reflected on the indignities
he had already submitted to, he was conscious of having forfeited every
claim to the sympathy or respect of his people, by the sacrifice he had
made of their independence. It seemed evident, indeed, that the only
chance which remained of recovering their favour, was to renounce the
fealty he had sworn, and to afford them an opportunity of effacing,
by force of arms, the stigma that had been affixed to their national
character.
That this was the feeling of the Scots, is manifest from the alacrity
with which they came forward, when Baliol, stung almost to madness by
the repeated insults received from his liege-lord, had determined to
throw off his allegiance. Levies of Scottish troops had been ordered
by Edward to be made and sent to him, in order to be employed in an
expedition which he meditated against France. This, the newly crowned
vassal had neither the inclination nor the ability to perform; on the
contrary, he secretly negociated an alliance with the French King.
1294. The Scots assembled in parliament at Scone; and, “under the
specious pretence of diminishing the public charge, they prevailed
on Baliol to dismiss all the Englishmen whom he maintained at his
court.” “They then appointed a committee of twelve--four bishops, four
earls, and four barons--by whose advice all national affairs were to
be regulated. If we may credit the English historians, they had a
watchful eye over Baliol himself, and detained him in an honourable
captivity.”[49] This latter circumstance, more than any other, evinces
the feelings of the people on the occasion.
It would be difficult to say how Wallace was employed at this
particular period. It seems probable, that, relieved by the removal
of the English from the apprehensions he might have entertained
of the consequences of the act of outlawry, he became permanently
resident among his relations. In a charter of _James, Lord High
Steward of Scotland_, dated in 1294, confirming the donation of the
predecessors of Sir Arthur de Denoon[50] to the monastery of Paisley,
the witnesses are, _Robert, Bishop of Glasgow_, _John, the brother of
the Lord High Steward_, Sir Arthur de Denoon, _Sir Nicolas Campbell_,
_and Sir Reginald Crawford_, Knights; William de Shaw, Alexander de
Normanville, Esquires. Though Wallace is not mentioned here, yet we
have the names of five of his future companions in arms; and it may
be doubted if Sir Nicolas Campbell, whose patrimony lay at such a
distance, would have made a journey to Paisley for the mere purpose
of witnessing a charter in which he had no personal interest, had
objects of greater moment not attracted him to the spot;--and possibly,
a wish to visit Wallace at Elderslie, of whom, as has been already
stated, he was a school-companion and intimate associate, may in a
more satisfactory manner account for his appearance on that occasion,
while the presence of Sir Reginald Crawford, the uncle of Wallace,
rather increases the probability of this conjecture. The association
of the names of so many parties with whom he was afterwards so closely
connected, is at all events a very singular circumstance. The fame he
had acquired by the exploits already narrated, and the dangers he had
escaped, would no doubt have excited the curiosity and the sympathy of
his friends.
1295. The treaty which Baliol negociated with France was peculiarly
offensive to Edward. After stating that the King of Scotland,
“grievously affected at the undutiful behaviour of Edward to the King
of France his liege-lord,” he bound himself to assist King Philip with
all his power, and at his own charge, in the event of Edward invading
France. Philip also agreed to aid the Scots, if attacked by England,
either by making a diversion in their favour, or by sending succours.
In this treaty were included the prelates, earls, barons, and other
nobles of Scotland, as well as the Universities and distinguished
public bodies of that kingdom, who were thereto required to affix their
seals.[51] Indeed it may be considered as truly a national treaty,
shewing the degree of _surveillance_ which the Scots exercised over the
conduct of Baliol.
1296. The treaty was soon followed by a solemn renunciation of the
homage exacted by Edward; and a numerous army was collected for the
invasion of his northern counties. The Scots, though thus eager to
come to blows, were by no means in a state of discipline that would
enable them successfully to contend with the experienced veterans of
England, who had been inured to martial habits in their wars with
France, and possessed many advantages over troops that had never
seen the face of a foreign enemy. Thirty-three years had elapsed
since the battle of Largs; and the residue of those warriors who had
distinguished themselves on that occasion, could not now be either
very numerous or effective. The country, it is true, teemed with men
in the vigour of life, panting to restore the tarnished glory of their
country; but although individually brave, and not unacquainted with
their weapons, yet, unaccustomed to act in concert, they could neither
fully understand their own deficiency, nor sufficiently appreciate
the advantages of that discipline which gave the enemy so great a
superiority. Under these circumstances, and guided more by the hasty
dictates of their own passion than the commands of their leaders, the
army of the Scots burst into Cumberland, on 26th March 1296. The injury
done, however, was not very extensive. They assaulted Newcastle, and
set fire to the town, but were eventually compelled to a dishonourable
retreat.
On the 8th April they also entered Northumberland, plundered Lanercoste
and Hexham, and retired in disorder from before Harbottle.
At this time, a circumstance of rather a curious nature took place.
An English nobleman, Sir Robert de Ros, lord of the Castle of Werk,
had become deeply enamoured of a Scottish lady, and, influenced by the
violence of his passion, he deserted the standard of his country, and
went over to the Scots. With the intention of gaining the affections of
the object of his desire, he endeavoured to seduce his kinsman, William
de Ros, from his allegiance. In this, however, he was unsuccessful;
for William, after upbraiding him with his baseness, proceeded to the
camp at Berwick to inform Edward of the treason, who furnished him with
1000 men, to garrison the Castle of Werk. Robert, in the mean time,
had joined the Scots; and learning that the troops sent by Edward were
to quarter the following night at Prestfen, on their way, he procured
a body of Scots from Roxburgh, and secretly surrounded the village.
To enable his followers to recognise each other, he gave them, as a
password, “_Tabard and Surcoat_;”[52] commanding, that whoever named
the first of these words, if the person to whom he expressed it did not
reply by giving the other, he should instantly kill him. With this
understanding they entered Prestfen at midnight, and, setting fire to
the houses, surprised and cut off the enemy.
Edward, who had now reached Berwick with an army equal in numbers to
that of the Scots, and more formidable from its superior discipline,
determined to attack the town both by sea and land. His navy was,
however, found unequal to the task, and eighteen of his ships were
either burnt or disabled. The exasperation[53] which this discomfiture
occasioned in the mind of Edward, increased, if possible, the natural
ferocity of his temper, and determined him to lead in person his army
to the assault.[54]
The first attack of the English was repulsed. On the second, a
well-concerted stratagem put them in possession of the town, which was
given over to pillage, and a frightful and unsparing massacre ensued.
Some English writers state, that no less than forty thousand of the
inhabitants[55] were immolated, to assuage the wrath of the victor.
Wyntown, however, may be considered nearer the truth, when he fixes
the amount of the carnage at seven thousand five hundred. Barons and
burgesses, nuns and friars, women and children,--_all_ were involved
in one indiscriminate and appalling butchery, which continued through
the day, and only subsided when the following occurrence rekindled
the spark of humanity, which had become extinct in the breast of the
unprincipled usurper.
“Thus thai slayand ware sá fast
All the day, qwhill at the last
This Kyng Edward saw in that tyde
A woman slayne, and of hyr syde
A barne he saw fall out, sprewland
Be-syd that woman slayne lyand.
‘_Lasses, Lasses_,’ than cryid he;
‘Leve off, leve off,’ that word suld be.”
_Wyntown_, vol. ii. p. 83.
This catastrophe, from which Berwick never entirely recovered, took
place on _Good Friday_, while the people were preparing for the
celebration of that high festival--a circumstance which sufficiently
proves that the Scots were taken by surprise. Edward remained at
Berwick from the 30th of March till the 27th April, during which time
he received the formal renunciation of the allegiance of Baliol, who
also published an edict, ordering all English ecclesiastics holding
benefices in Scotland to quit the country.
On the 27th April, regardless of the atrocities resulting from his
guilty ambition, Edward left the shambles at Berwick, and proceeded
northward on his desolating career, having previously despatched the
Earl of Warren, with ten thousand chosen troops, to reduce the Castle
of Dunbar. This fortress, from its strong position, was considered as
one of the keys to the kingdom, and had belonged to the Earl of March,
a disappointed candidate for the crown, who had now attached himself to
the banner of England. His wife, however, possessing more patriotism
than her husband, delivered it over, in his absence, to be garrisoned
by the King of Scotland. Aware of its importance, Baliol led the army
he had collected, amounting to upwards of 40,000 men, to its defence.
In the meantime, Sir Richard Siward, the governor, had agreed to
deliver it up to Warren in three days, if not relieved. On the third
day, the army of Scotland appeared on the heights, and took up a strong
position on Downhill, above Dunbar. Warren advanced to attack them;
and from having a difficult line of road to traverse, his ranks became
irregular. The Scots, from their elevated station, saw the momentary
confusion, and foolishly imagined that the English were on the retreat.
Under this impression, they abandoned their strong and well-chosen
position, and rushed down on the enemy. The English received their
disorderly charge with firmness, and repulsed them with slaughter.
Broken, and dismayed at their unexpected reception, a great part of
the Scots betook themselves to flight. Sir Patrick Graham, however, and
a few chivalrous spirits, maintained the unequal contest; and, though
mostly cut to pieces, yet the heroism and self-devotion they displayed,
extorted the applause, and excited the regret, of their adversaries.
Though there be no direct evidence of the fact, yet there is reason
to conjecture, that both Wallace and his brother were present at
the battle of Dunbar. It has already been shown, from respectable
authority, that Sir Malcolm outlived his father; and, in the work
of the Minstrel, we have an account, though rather obscure, of the
manner in which he met his death. He is represented as surrounded by a
multitude of enemies, and bravely defending himself on his knees, with
all the energy of despair, after he had been hamstrung, in order to
prevent his escape. Being at last borne down by a mass of spearmen, he
was unmercifully put to death.[56] Though Henry does not mention when
this took place, yet, from the previous comparative tranquillity which
reigned in the country, the conflict of Dunbar appears most likely to
have been the scene of so deadly a struggle; and the close intimacy
which Wallace afterwards maintained with the family of Graham, may
have originated in the circumstance of his brother and himself having
been among the few who stood by their chief, Sir Patrick,[57] on this
disastrous occasion.
The banner of Sir Richard Siward (_black, with a white cross flowered
at the ends_)[58] still floated on the battlements of the Castle of
Dunbar. To this place many of the Scottish barons fled for refuge.
The protection they received, however, was of short duration. The
fortress, according to agreement, was surrendered to Warren. On this
Lord Hailes remarks, “Our historians impute this also to treachery;
and they accuse the Governor, Richard Siward. But this charge is
manifestly unjust. Siward had agreed to surrender the castle, if it
was not relieved within three days; and it was not relieved.” His
Lordship is sometimes rash in bringing charges against the historians
of his country. The treason of Siward did not consist in delivering
the castle, according to agreement, but in _making that agreement_.
There is enough in the fact of his consenting to surrender one of the
strongest and most commanding fortresses in the country, in so short a
time, to warrant the charge they have made against him. That the Scots
nobles were ignorant of the terms, is evident from their flying to it,
after the battle, as to a place of safety, which they would not have
done, had they known that they were instantly to be delivered over in
chains to the mercy of the enemy. Siward could have no certainty of
his being succoured in three days, as the Scottish army, according to
his Lordship’s account, only came in sight “on the _third_ day;” and
if any accident had detained it, Dunbar must have been surrendered on
the day following. Besides, if Lord Hailes had referred to Vol. II.
p. 274, 275, of the Chronicle of Peter Langtoft, an Englishman, and
a favourite authority of his own, he would have found not only the
statement of Scottish authors confirmed, but a regular detailed account
of the treason. That his Lordship, in the face of such evidence, should
have charged the Scottish historians with doing what was “_manifestly
unjust_,” can only be imputed to that singular predilection towards
white-washing the Negro, which his Lordship has displayed on so many
occasions.
1296. Ten thousand Scots were slain at this memorable battle, and a
vast number were made prisoners, among whom were many of the principal
nobility of the kingdom, who were sent to the South in chains, and
distributed among the prisons of England and Wales. Baliol, after
performing a most degrading feudal penance, and imploring the clemency
of his conqueror, was sent prisoner, along with his son Edward, to the
Tower of London, having previously resigned the kingdom and the people
of Scotland into the hands of Edward. Thus terminated the brief and
unfortunate reign of John Baliol, who had aspired to a sceptre he had
neither the judgment nor the energy to wield. With a spirit subdued
before the commanding genius of Edward, any efforts he made to regain
the independence he had relinquished, were rather forced upon him, by
the impatience of his people to the English yoke, than the result of
any magnanimous resolution of his own. Though possessing qualities that
might have graced the seclusion of private life, he was destitute of
those talents which were required in the discharge of the duties of a
sovereign.
Selected by Edward from the other competitors, more on account of the
natural timidity of his character than the superior justice of his
claim, it is impossible to look on the degradation that was inflicted
on him, without feeling disgusted at the total want of generosity
which marked the character of the English monarch. Listening to the
_interested_ advice of the Bishop of Durham,[59] who counselled him
to set aside the claim of Bruce, because the talents and spirit of
the latter might be troublesome, he arrayed Baliol in the trappings
of royalty; and, while he insulted the tame unresisting puppet he had
created, he fancied himself trampling with impunity on the hitherto
unsullied majesty of a free people.
The destruction of Berwick, and the discomfiture at Dunbar, laid
Scotland prostrate at the feet of her invader, who marched triumphantly
through the kingdom, receiving the homage of the terrified chieftains,
and placing garrisons in the deserted fortresses; while churchmen of
all grades, Earls, Barons, Knights and Esquires, hastened to avert
his displeasure, by taking the oath of allegiance, and renouncing the
French alliance.
On the 6th June,[60] Edward besieged and took the Castle of Edinburgh,
in which he found the regalia, consisting of the crown, sceptre, and
cloth of gold. On the 14th, he was at Stirling and Linlithgow. On the
24th July, he encamped on the banks of the Spey. He was at Elgin on
the 26th, where he remained two days. He was at Aberbrothick on the
5th August, and again at Stirling on the 14th, at Edinburgh on the
17th, and at Berwick on the 22d, having spent twenty-one weeks in his
progress of subjugation.[61] For the final settlement of his conquest,
he appointed John, Earl of Warren, Lieutenant or Guardian of the
kingdom; Hugh de Cressingham, an avaricious ecclesiastic, treasurer;
William Ormsby, justiciary; Henry de Percy, keeper of the county of
Galloway and sheriffdom of Ayr; while Robert de Clifford had charge of
the eastern districts. The ancient Great Seal of Scotland, surrendered
by Baliol at Brechin, was broken in pieces, and a new seal in place of
it, was presented to Walter de Agmondesham, as chancellor.
The conduct of these ministers was ill calculated to secure the
conquest which the policy and talents of their master had achieved.
Haughty and rapacious themselves, they imposed little restraint on the
licentious soldiery, who lorded it over the wretched inhabitants with
the most intolerable brutality. While property of every description was
held by the frail tenure of the will of the usurpers, outrages were
committed on the domestic feelings of the oppressed, which the delicacy
of modern writers have withdrawn from the page of history. Neither
was this galling oppression confined to the common people; the cup of
misery went round; and the noblest of the land partook of its unmingled
bitterness. The unlimited exactions of Cressingham, and the little
controul he exercised over his underlings, soon banished commerce from
the Scottish shores. Deprived, by his impolitic proceedings, of this
lucrative branch of the national resources, with whetted appetite
for plunder, he turned upon the wretched and already impoverished
inhabitants, who looked in vain to their nobles for that protection
afforded them in times past. Those chieftains who would have stepped
forward in their defence, had either fallen beneath the axe of the
executioner, or were languishing out the prime of their existence in
the distant dungeons of the invader.
The fiendish policy that instigated the massacre of the Minstrels of
Wales, lest their strains should animate their countrymen to revolt,
had also suggested the idea of depriving the Scots of the monuments[62]
of their ancient glory. The nobility still remained tame spectators
of this fresh outrage, and relaxed not in their supple assiduities
to conciliate the favour of the tyrant. Thus abandoned by those who
ought to have been her protectors, the distracted country, crushed
and bleeding at every pore, lay convulsed within the _coils_ of this
human _Boa_. But that Providence which “ruleth in the kingdoms of men,”
had foreseen her calamity, and prepared a deliverer, with personal
qualifications beyond the common lot of men, and a mind endowed with
every requisite for the mighty undertaking.