WALLACE JOINED BY A NUMBER OF THE BARONS.--EXPEDITION TO THE WEST
HIGHLANDS--BATTLE OF BRADHER, AND DEATH OF M’FADYAN.--AFFAIR OF
GLASGOW.--DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF BISHOP BEK.
A.D. 1297. About this time Sir William Douglas took the Castles of
Dresdier and Sanquhair, as already stated in the short notice we
have given of his exploits. In conjunction with Wallace, this active
and powerful baron, assuming the sanction of the name of Baliol,
endeavoured to enforce the edict for the expulsion of the English
ecclesiastics holding benefices in Scotland. This edict, issued between
the time of the taking of Berwick and the Castle of Dunbar, had been
rendered nugatory by the suppression of Scottish independence. It was
now, however, executed with the utmost rigour, wherever the influence
of the insurgents extended. In pursuance of this object, Wallace, at
the head of three hundred choice cavalry, proceeded to Glasgow to
dislodge Bishop Bek, who, with a garrison of one thousand men, kept
possession of the town and episcopal castle, belonging to Robert
Wishart, the Scottish Bishop of that place.
As the Scots drew near the spot against which their operations were
directed, Wallace divided his followers into two bands. Taking the
command of one himself, he committed the other to the guidance of
his uncle, the Laird of Auchinleck. “_Whether_,” said our hero to
his gallant kinsman, “_do you choose to bear up the Bishop’s tail,
or go forward and take his blessing._” Auchinleck at once understood
the intended plan of attack, and proposed assailing the rear of
the English, resigning the more honourable post to the merits of
his nephew, “_who_,” as he jocularly observed, “_had not yet been
confirmed_.”
Having received the necessary instructions, Wallace enjoined him to
be diligent; “for,” said he, “the men of Northumberland are all good
warriors.” The parties separated; that under Auchinleck to make a
compass round the town, so as to get in rear of the enemy; and the
other, under the conduct of Wallace, advanced up the principal street
leading to the castle. Their approach, however, had been discovered;
for, when near the present site of the college church, the Scots came
in contact with the English, and the inhabitants had scarcely time
to shelter themselves in their houses, before a dreadful conflict
commenced. The powerful and warlike prelate with whom our patriots
had to contend, possessed a feudal following of knights and esquires,
inferior only to that of Edward himself. The narrow street, however,
in which they were engaged was in favour of the Scots; and the sword
of Wallace told dreadfully on the helmets and headpieces of the enemy.
The manner in which he swept his antagonists before him, is still a
matter of tradition among the descendants of the early inhabitants of
Glasgow. Though the enemy fought with obstinacy, the gallantry of the
Scots sustained them against the efforts of their numerous opponents;
and in the heat of the engagement, Wallace having unhorsed Henry of
Hornecester, a stout monk, who carried the banner of the Bishop,[93]
this circumstance damped the ardour of some of the superstitious
vassals of the prelate, who now fell back before a vigorous charge of
the Scots. At this juncture, those under Auchinleck having reached the
elevated ground in the rear of the English, and seeing the turmoil
of battle that was raging below, hastily arranged themselves for the
charge, and, before the enemy were fully apprised of their danger,
the torrent of spears came rushing down upon them with overwhelming
impetuosity. Their dismay was now complete. A hasty and disordered
retreat ensued, and the by-ways leading from the High-street were so
choked up by the fugitives, that a number of them were trampled to
death by their companions. Bek[94] effected his escape, with about
three hundred horse, and directed his flight towards England, carrying
with him, it is supposed, the sacred banner of St Cuthbert and that of
St John of Beverly.[95]
While Wallace was thus employed in expelling the English ecclesiastics
from the west of Scotland, Sir William Douglas was engaged in
forwarding the same object in the south. In these proceedings they
are charged by the English authors with extreme cruelty. “The unhappy
priests,” says Knighton, “had their hands tied behind their backs,
and in this helpless state were thrown from high bridges into rivers,
their dying agonies affording sport to their merciless captors.” Fordun
merely says, that Wallace pretended to execute the edict of 1296, which
appointed all English ecclesiastics to be expelled from Scotland. On
which Lord Hailes remarks, “I hope this is not true; it has too much
the appearance of a political pretext, by which defenceless individuals
might be persecuted.”[96] There was little occasion for his Lordship’s
sympathy. The thirteenth century was not the period when _churchmen_
were the objects of _causeless_ persecutions. Their expulsion appears
to have been the result of their political intrigues and criminal
interference with the records of the country intrusted to their charge.
And from their placing these documents in the hands of Edward at
Norham, he was enabled to give a colouring of justice to his attempts
upon the independence of Scotland. The evidence which these falsified
muniments afforded is mentioned by Langtoft,[97] as being submitted
by Edward to the English barons for their advice before the business
of the submission respecting the Scottish crown was entered upon. When
the Scots reflected on the many thousands of their nation, of all ages,
who had already been butchered at Berwick and Dunbar,--the oppressions
that had followed,--the apparently interminable war entailed upon
them in support of the pretended proofs of the supremacy of England;
it is not to be wondered at, that they should attempt to get rid of
those canker-worms who had nestled in their country, and ungratefully
betrayed its sacred and most invaluable interests. The edict was early
published, and at a time when it could serve no other purpose than a
protest against the baseness of their conduct. When the insurrection,
therefore, broke out under Wallace, it was not to be expected that
individuals who had rendered themselves so deservedly obnoxious, would
be treated with much lenity, if they still attempted to retain their
temporalities at the expense of the people they had endeavoured to
enslave.[98]
Wallace, uniting his forces with those under Douglas, now made a rapid
march upon Scone, expecting to surprise Ormsby, the Justiciary of
Edward, who was holding his courts in that place. The attempt was
all but completely successful. They came unexpectedly on the enemy, a
great many of whom were either killed or taken prisoners, and a rich
booty fell into the hands of the Scots. Ormsby narrowly escaped; and,
impressed with terror at the late dreadful acts of retaliation, fled
with precipitation to England. Encouraged by these successes, a number
of the aristocracy joined the banner of our hero, among whom were the
Steward of Scotland, his brother the Knight of Bonkill, Alexander de
Lindsay, Sir John Stewart of Rusky (or Menteith), Sir Richard Lundin,
and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, whom he had so lately relieved
from the obnoxious interference of the Bishop of Durham. In consequence
of this timely assistance, Wallace was enabled to undertake an
enterprise of considerable importance.
The reader will perceive, by the annexed note,[99] that though Edward
had made a triumphal march with his army from Berwick to Elgin; yet
that interesting and extensive portion of Scotland, comprising the West
Highlands and Islands, had never been profaned by the foot of the
usurper. This may have been partly averted, by most of the chieftains
coming forward and taking the oath of allegiance, and partly by the
extreme difficulty of leading a numerous army through a country so
intersected by arms of the sea, and rendered almost inaccessible by its
rocky and mountainous barriers. In order to have some control over a
people so isolated, the policy of Edward at first suggested the idea of
carrying along with him those chieftains whose influence was considered
the most extensive. This measure, however, he soon perceived was not so
effectual as he anticipated, and he accordingly determined on sending a
colony of Irish to fix themselves in some central part of the country
he wished to overawe. With this view he compelled MacDougal of Lorn,
whom he had carried with him to London, to exchange his patrimony for
an equivalent of lands belonging to himself.
Having effected this, he gave a grant,[100] of no very certain limits,
to a creature of his own named M’Fadyan, who, with a tumultuous
horde of Anglo-Irish and renegade Scots, amounting to about fifteen
thousand, landed in Lorn, and proceeded to ravage the country with
fire and sword,--committing the most revolting atrocities on such of
the inhabitants as refused to join them. Much obscurity hangs over
the birth, connections, and character of the leader of this cloud of
locusts. According to Blind Harry, his origin was low, although high
in favour at the English court. He seems to have held some situation
of importance in Ireland, as the Minstrel, referring to those Irish
refugees who took shelter in Scotland under Wallace, says,
“Sum part off tham was in to Irland borne,
That Makfadyan had exilde furth beforne:
King Eduuardis man he was suorn of Ingland,
Off rycht law byrth, supposs he tuk on hand.”
_Buke Feyrd_, 180.
Having talents and ambition he allied himself to the enemies of his
country, and, like other mushrooms, throve amid the rankness of that
corruption with which he had surrounded himself. A wretch that had
risen by oppressing and assisting to bind the necks of his free-born
countrymen to the yoke of slavery, was a very fit instrument to employ
in forwarding the views of Edward in the subjugation of Scotland.
He had not, however, proceeded far before the _Crann-tàir_, or fiery
cross, was seen hurrying on, by hill and glen, to gather the children
of the Gaël to repel their savage assailants. Duncan of Lorn, the
uncle, or, according to some, the younger brother of the chief,
unable to withstand the superior force of the enemy, had retreated
towards Loch-Awe, to obtain the protection of Sir Niel Campbell. This
brave man, along with his brother _Donnchadh dubh nan Caisteal_,
(Black Duncan of the Castles), had collected a body of three hundred
_Gall-oglaich_ (well armed warriors) part of whom were the vassals of
Malcolm MacGregor of Glenurchy.[101] With this force he continued to
embarrass the enemy, by attacking their foraging parties and cutting
off their supplies. This determined MacFadyan to follow him through
the fastnesses of the country, and endeavour to overwhelm him by his
superior numbers. Sir Niel managed his retreat with great dexterity.
After leading his unwary adversary round by the head of Bradher Pass,
he hurried down that dangerous and difficult defile, and, crossing the
narrow and ill constructed fabric which served for a bridge, he broke
it down; and thus being secure from immediate pursuit, found himself
in one of the strongest positions imaginable. His front was defended
by a castle, which commanded the only approach by which he could be
assailed; while his rear was protected by the Awe, a deep and rapid
river, running out of a loch of the same name. The almost perpendicular
barrier of rocks which lined the side of the Awe--down which, as has
already been mentioned, Sir Niel and his party had to make their way,
before they could place the river between them and their pursuers--was
of such a nature, that a man could not get on without the assistance of
his hands, to prevent him from slipping down into the deep and eddying
abyss below; and even with this assistance, at the present day, it is
a passage of considerable danger, from the enormous masses of loose
stones with which the sloping face of the rocks is covered, from the
brink of the water to their summits, which are of great elevation.
The least accidental derangement of the stones at the bottom, never
fails to put those above in motion, when an immense rush takes place,
attended often with serious consequences to the parties underneath.
The reader may readily conceive the facility, therefore, with which,
thus circumstanced, Sir Niel and his followers could, from the opposite
side of the river, retard the advance of even a larger army than that
of M’Fadyan. The difficulty of the pass is not perceptible till the
angle of the rock is fairly turned, consequently the Irish army had no
opportunity of covering their advance by discharging their missiles.
They were obliged to follow each other singly; thus affording, as they
came creeping along, fair marks for the arrows of the Scots, part of
whom plied their deadly shafts, while others were engaged in throwing
stones from their slings against the face of the rocks, and thus
bringing down masses of the loose fragments upon the heads of their
already embarrassed pursuers.
The castle to which Sir Niel retired, though small, possessed great
natural advantages. Situated on a rocky knoll at the edge of a deep
ravine, it could only be approached from the road through which
M’Fadyan had to advance, and that by means of a ladder which the party
within always kept on their own side. When they wished to admit any
one, a rope was thrown over that he might pull the ladder towards him;
he then descended to the bottom of the ravine, when, placing the ladder
against the opposite rock, in this manner he ascended and reached the
castle.[102]
When Sir Niel Campbell had determined on his line of retreat, he
despatched Duncan of Lorn, and an old, but swift-footed Highlander,
named Michael or Gillemichel, to acquaint Wallace of his perilous
situation, and to crave his aid in driving the invaders from
the country. Wallace, aware of the importance of preventing the
establishment intended by Edward, lost no time in complying with the
request of his old confederate; and Sir Richard Lundin having joined
him with five hundred men, he now found himself enabled to march to the
relief of the West Highlanders, at the head of two thousand soldiers.
In Duncan of Lorn and his servant, Wallace had sure and intelligent
guides. At that time nothing but intricate footpaths, known only to the
natives, existed in the Highlands; and as they were often formed by
deer-stalkers, while tracing their game, they frequently led through
places both perilous and perplexing to the stranger.
By the time the Scottish army had reached the Chapel of St Phillan,
part of the foot soldiers began to flag, and get disordered in their
ranks. Wallace, therefore, stopped, and thus addressed them. “Good
men,” said he, “this will never do. If we come up with the enemy in
such broken array, we may receive serious injury ourselves, but can
do them very little hurt in return. It is also necessary that we
should be up with them as soon as possible; for if they hear of our
approach, they may choose a plain field, where their numbers will give
them advantage. To prevent this, I will go forward with those who are
able, and leave the rest to follow at more leisure.” Accordingly,
taking with himself two hundred of the tried veterans of Ayrshire, and
placing another hundred under the command of Sir John Graham, with
Sir Richard Lundin at the head of his own followers, they crossed a
mountain in their front, and descended into Glendouchar. Here they
met a scout, whom they had previously sent forward, acting as guide
to Sir Niel Campbell and his three hundred Highlanders. This wary
leader, on hearing of the advance of Wallace, thought it proper to
retire towards him, and leave the passage free to M’Fadyan, who, he
knew, if he followed, could make choice of very few positions where
his numbers would be of any advantage. Having given our hero a detail
of what information he possessed respecting the state of the invaders,
Gillemichel was again sent forward to watch the motions of the enemy;
and the tough old mountaineer having fallen in with a scout from
M’Fadyan, who had been sent to tract the route of Sir Niel, managed to
despatch him with his _claidh mòr_, and returned with the intelligence
to his chief.
The ground having now become impassable for cavalry, the Scots
dismounted, and proceeded on foot. Their march had not been perceived
by the enemy, and, from the superior knowledge they had of the country,
they managed to surprise the Irish in a situation where flight was
almost impracticable, and the superiority of their numbers became
rather a disadvantage. The conflict continued for two hours, with
unexampled fury on both sides. Multitudes of the Irish were forced over
the rocks into the gulf below. Many threw themselves into the water to
escape the swords of the Scots; while various bands of Highlanders,
stationed among the rocks, sent down showers of stones and arrows where
the enemy appeared most obstinate in the strife. Wallace, armed with
a steel mace, at the head of his veterans, now made a charge, which
decided the fate of the day. Those Scots who had joined the Irish,
threw away their arms, and on their knees implored mercy. M’Fadyan,
with fifteen of his men, having made his way over the rocks, and
attempted to conceal himself in a cave “wndyr cragmòr,” Duncan of
Lorn requested permission of Wallace to follow and punish him for the
atrocities he had committed; and it was not long before he returned,
bringing his head on a spear, which Sir Niel Campbell caused to be
fixed on the top of the rock in which he had taken shelter.
After the defeat of M’Fadyan, Wallace held a meeting of the chiefs of
the West Highlands, in the priory of Ardchattan; and having arranged
some important matters respecting the future defence of the district,
he returned to his duties in the Low Country, having received an
accession to his numbers, which covered any loss he had sustained in
the late engagement. The spoil which the Scots collected after the
battle is said to have been very considerable; any personal share in
which, our hero, as usual, refused.[103]