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In Freedom's Cause
G. A. Henty
CONTENTS
I Glen Cairn
II Leaving Home
III Sir William Wallace
IV The Capture of Lanark
V A Treacherous Plot
VI The Barns of Ayr
VII The Cave in the Pentlands
VIII The Council at Stirling
IX The Battle of Stirling Bridge
X The Battle of Falkirk
XI Robert The Bruce
XII The Battle of Methven
XIII The Castle of Dunstaffnage
XIV Colonsay
XV A Mission to Ireland
XVI An Irish Rising
XVII The King's Blood Hound
XVIII The Hound Restored
XIX The Convent of St. Kenneth
XX The Heiress of the Kerrs
XXI The Siege of Aberfilly
XXII A Prisoner
XXIII The Escape from Berwick
XXIV The Progress of the War
XXV The Capture of a Stronghold
XXVI Edinburgh
XXVII Bannockburn
PREFACE.
MY DEAR LADS,
There are few figures in history who have individually exercised
so great an influence upon events as William Wallace and Robert
Bruce. It was to the extraordinary personal courage, indomitable
perseverance, and immense energy of these two men that Scotland
owed her freedom from English domination. So surprising were the
traditions of these feats performed by these heroes that it was at
one time the fashion to treat them as belonging as purely to legend
as the feats of St. George or King Arthur. Careful investigation,
however, has shown that so far from this being the case, almost
every deed reported to have been performed by them is verified by
contemporary historians. Sir William Wallace had the especial bad
fortune of having come down to us principally by the writings of
his bitter enemies, and even modern historians, who should have
taken a fairer view of his life, repeated the cry of the old English
writers that he was a bloodthirsty robber. Mr. W. Burns, however,
in his masterly and exhaustive work, The Scottish War of Independence,
has torn these calumnies to shreds, and has displayed Wallace as
he was, a high minded and noble patriot. While consulting other
writers, especially those who wrote at the time of or but shortly
after the events they record, I have for the most part followed
Burns in all the historical portions of the narrative. Throughout
the story, therefore, wherein it at all relates to Wallace, Bruce,
and the other historical characters, the circumstances and events
can be relied upon as strictly accurate, save only in the earlier
events of the career of Wallace, of which the details that have
come down to us are somewhat conflicting, although the main features
are now settled past question.
Yours sincerely,
G.A. HENTY.
Chapter I
Glen Cairn
The village of Glen Cairn was situated in a valley in the broken
country lying to the west of the Pentland Hills, some fifteen miles
north of the town of Lanark, and the country around it was wild
and picturesque. The villagers for the most part knew little of
the world beyond their own valley, although a few had occasionally
paid visits to Glasgow, which lay as far to the west as Lanark was
distant to the south. On a spur jutting out from the side of the
hill stood Glen Cairn Castle, whose master the villagers had for
generations regarded as their lord.
The glory of the little fortalice had now departed. Sir William
Forbes had been killed on his own hearthstone, and the castle had
been sacked in a raid by the Kerrs, whose hold lay to the southwest,
and who had long been at feud with the Forbeses. The royal power
was feeble, and the Kerrs had many friends, and were accordingly
granted the lands they had seized; only it was specified that Dame
Forbes, the widow of Sir William, should be allowed to reside in
the fortalice free from all let or hindrance, so long as she meddled
not, nor sought to stir up enmity among the late vassals of her
lord against their new masters.
The castle, although a small one, was strongly situated. The spur
of the hill ran some 200 yards into the valley, rising sharply
some 30 or 40 feet above it. The little river which meandered down
the valley swept completely round the foot of the spur, forming a
natural moat to it, and had in some time past been dammed back, so
that, whereas in other parts it ran brightly over a pebbly bottom,
here it was deep and still. The fortalice itself stood at the
extremity of the spur, and a strong wall with a fortified gateway
extended across the other end of the neck, touching the water on
both sides. From the gateway extended two walls inclosing a road
straight to the gateway of the hold itself, and between these walls
and the water every level foot of ground was cultivated; this garden
was now the sole remains of the lands of the Forbeses.
It was a narrow patrimony for Archie, the only son of Dame Forbes,
and his lady mother had hard work to keep up a respectable state,
and to make ends meet. Sandy Grahame, who had fought under her
husband's banner and was now her sole retainer, made the most of the
garden patches. Here he grew vegetables on the best bits of ground
and oats on the remainder; these, crushed between flat stones,
furnished a coarse bread. From the stream an abundance of fish could
always be obtained, and the traps and nets therefore furnished a
meal when all else failed. In the stream, too, swam a score and more
of ducks, while as many chickens walked about the castle yard, or
scratched for insects among the vegetables. A dozen goats browsed
on the hillside, for this was common ground to the village, and
Dame Forbes had not therefore to ask for leave from her enemies,
the Kerrs. The goats furnished milk and cheese, which was deftly
made by Elspie, Sandy's wife, who did all the work indoors, as her
husband did without. Meat they seldom touched. Occasionally the
resources of the hold were eked out by the present of a little
hill sheep, or a joint of prime meat, from one or other of her old
vassals, for these, in spite of the mastership of the Kerrs, still
at heart regarded Dame Mary Forbes as their lawful mistress, and
her son Archie as their future chief. Dame Mary Forbes was careful
in no way to encourage this feeling, for she feared above all things
to draw the attention of the Kerrs to her son. She was sure that
did Sir John Kerr entertain but a suspicion that trouble might ever
come from the rivalry of this boy, he would not hesitate a moment
in encompassing his death; for Sir John was a rough and violent
man who was known to hesitate at nothing which might lead to his
aggrandizement. Therefore she seldom moved beyond the outer wall
of the hold, except to go down to visit the sick in the village.
She herself had been a Seaton, and had been educated at the nunnery
of Dunfermline, and she now taught Archie to read and write,
accomplishments by no means common even among the better class in
those days. Archie loved not books; but as it pleased his mother,
and time often hung heavy on his hands, he did not mind devoting
two or three hours a day to the tasks she set him. At other times
he fished in the stream, wandered over the hills, and brought in
the herbs from which Dame Forbes distilled the potions which she
distributed to the villagers when sick.
Often he joined the lads of the village in their games. They
all regarded him as their leader; but his mother had pressed upon
him over and over again that on no account was he to assume any
superiority over the others, but to treat them strictly as equals.
Doubtless the Kerrs would from time to time have news of what was
doing in Glen Cairn; and while they would be content to see him
joining in the sports of the village lads, with seemingly no wish
beyond that station, they would at once resent it did they see
any sign on his part of his regarding himself as a chief among the
others.
No inconsiderable portion of Archie's time was occupied in acquiring
the use of arms from Sandy Grahame. His mother, quiet and seemingly
resigned as she was, yet burned with the ambition that he should
some day avenge his father's death, and win back his father's lands.
She said little to him of her hopes; but she roused his spirit by
telling him stories of the brave deeds of the Forbeses and Seatons,
and she encouraged him from his childhood to practise in arms with
Sandy Grahame.
In this respect, indeed, Archie needed no stimulant. From Sandy
even more than from his mother he had heard of his brave father's
deeds in arms; and although, from the way in which she repressed any
such utterances, he said but little to his mother, he was resolved
as much as she could wish him to be, that he would some day win
back his patrimony, and avenge his father upon his slayers.
Consequently, upon every opportunity when Sandy Grahame could spare
time from his multifarious work, Archie practised with him, with
sword and pike. At first he had but a wooden sword. Then, as his
limbs grew stronger, he practised with a blunted sword; and now
at the age of fifteen Sandy Grahame had as much as he could do to
hold his own with his pupil.
At the time the story opens, in the springtime of the year 1293,
he was playing at ball with some of the village lads on the green,
when a party of horsemen was seen approaching.
At their head rode two men perhaps forty years old, while a lad of
some eighteen years of age rode beside them. In one of the elder
men Archie recognized Sir John Kerr. The lad beside him was his
son Allan. The other leader was Sir John Hazelrig, governor of
Lanark; behind them rode a troop of armed men, twenty in number.
Some of the lads would have ceased from their play; but Archie
exclaimed:
"Heed them not; make as if you did not notice them. You need not
be in such a hurry to vail your bonnets to the Kerr."
"Look at the young dogs," Sir John Kerr said to his companion.
"They know that their chief is passing, and yet they pretend that
they see us not."
"It would do them good," his son exclaimed, "did you give your
troopers orders to tie them all up and give them a taste of their
stirrup leathers."
"It would not be worth while, Allan," his father said. "They will
all make stout men-at-arms some day, and will have to fight under
my banner. I care as little as any man what my vassals think of
me, seeing that whatsoever they think they have to do mine orders.
But it needs not to set them against one needlessly; so let the
varlets go on with their play undisturbed."
That evening Archie said to his mother, "How is it, mother, that
the English knight whom I today saw ride past with the Kerr is
governor of our Scottish town of Lanark?"
"You may well wonder, Archie, for there are many in Scotland
of older years than you who marvel that Scotsmen, who have always
been free, should tolerate so strange a thing. It is a long story,
and a tangled one; but tomorrow morning I will draw out for you
a genealogy of the various claimants to the Scottish throne, and
you will see how the thing has come about, and under what pretence
Edward of England has planted his garrisons in this free Scotland
of ours."
The next morning Archie did not forget to remind his mother of her
promise.
"You must know," she began, "that our good King Alexander had three
children--David, who died when a boy; Alexander, who married a
daughter of the Count of Flanders, and died childless; and a daughter,
Margaret, who married Eric, the young King of Norway. Three years
ago the Queen of Norway died, leaving an only daughter, also named
Margaret, who was called among us the 'Maid of Norway,' and who,
at her mother's death, became heir presumptive to the throne, and
as such was recognized by an assembly of the estates at Scone. But
we all hoped that the king would have male heirs, for early last
year, while still in the prime of life, he married Joleta, daughter
of the Count of Drew. Unhappily, on the 19th of March, he attended
a council in the castle of Edinburgh, and on his way back to his
wife at Kinghorn, on a stormy night, he fell over a precipice and
was killed.
"The hopes of the country now rested on the 'Maid of Norway,' who
alone stood between the throne and a number of claimants, most of
whom would be prepared to support their claims by arms, and thus
bring unnumbered woes upon Scotland. Most unhappily for the country,
the maid died on her voyage to Scotland, and the succession therefore
became open.
"You will see on this chart, which I have drawn out, the lines by
which the principal competitors--for there were nigh upon a score
of them--claimed the throne.
"Before the death of the maid, King Edward had proposed a marriage
between her and his young son, and his ambassadors met the Scottish
commissioners at Brigham, near Kelso, and on the 18th of July, 1290,
the treaty was concluded. It contained, besides the provisions of
the marriage, clauses for the personal freedom of Margaret should
she survive her husband; for the reversion of the crown failing
her issue; for protection of the rights, laws, and liberties of
Scotland; the freedom of the church; the privileges of crown vassals;
the independence of the courts; the preservation of all charters
and natural muniments; and the holding of parliaments only within
Scotland; and specially provided that no vassal should be compelled
to go forth of Scotland for the purpose of performing homage or
fealty; and that no native of Scotland should for any cause whatever
be compelled to answer, for any breach of covenant or from crime
committed, out of the kingdom.
"Thus you see, my boy, that King Edward at this time fully recognized
the perfect independence of Scotland, and raised no claim to any
suzerainty over it. Indeed, by Article I it was stipulated that
the rights, laws, liberties, and customs of Scotland should remain
for ever entire and inviolable throughout the whole realm and its
marches; and by Article V that the Kingdom of Scotland shall remain
separate and divided from England, free in itself, and without
subjection, according to its right boundaries and marches, as
heretofore.
"King Edward, however, artfully inserted a salvo, 'saving the rights
of the King of England and of all others which before the date of
this treaty belong to him or any of them in the marches or elsewhere.'
The Scottish lords raised no objection to the insertion of this
salvo, seeing that it was of general purport, and that Edward
possessed no rights in Scotland, nor had any ever been asserted
by his predecessors--Scotland being a kingdom in itself equal to
its neighbour--and that neither William the Norman nor any of his
successors attempted to set forward any claims to authority beyond
the Border.
"No sooner was the treaty signed than Edward, without warrant
or excuse, appointed Anthony Beck, the warlike Bishop of Durham,
Lieutenant of Scotland, in the name of the yet unmarried pair; and
finding that this was not resented, he demanded that all the places
of strength in the kingdom should be delivered to him. This demand
was not, however, complied with, and the matter was still pending
when the Maid of Norway died. The three principal competitors--Bruce,
Baliol, and Comyn--and their friends, at once began to arm; but
William Fraser, Bishop of St. Andrews, a friend of Baliol, wrote to
King Edward suggesting that he should act as arbitrator, and more
than hinting that if he chose Baliol he would find him submissive
in all things to his wishes. Edward jumped at the proposal, and
thereupon issued summonses to the barons of the northern counties
to meet him at Norham on the 3d of June; and a mandate was issued
to the sheriffs of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, York,
and Lancaster, to assemble the feudal array at the same rendezvous.
"Now, you know, my son, that, owing to the marriages between royal
families of England and Scotland, there has been a close connection
between the countries. Many Scotch barons have married English
heiresses, and hold lands in both countries, while Scottish maidens
have married English knights. Thus it happens that a great number
of the Scotch nobility are as much Englishmen as Scotchmen, and are
vassals to England for lands held there. Four of the competitors,
John Baliol, Robert Bruce, John Comyn, and William Ross, are all
barons of England as well as of Scotland, and their lands lying
in the north they were, of course, included in the invitation. In
May, Edward issued an invitation to the Bishops of St. Andrews,
Glasgow, and other Scotch nobles to come to Norham, remain there,
and return, specially saying that their presence there was not to
be regarded as a custom through which the laws of Scotland might
in any future time be prejudiced. Hither then came the whole power
of the north of England, and many of the Scotch nobles.
"When the court opened, Roger Brabazon, the king's justiciary,
delivered an address, in which he stated that Edward, as lord
paramount of Scotland, had come there to administer justice between
the competitors for the crown, and concluded with the request that
all present should acknowledge his claim as lord paramount. The
Scottish nobles present, with the exception of those who were
privy to Edward's designs, were filled with astonishment and dismay
at this pretension, and declared their ignorance of any claim of
superiority of the King of England over Scotland. The king, in a
passion, exclaimed:
"'By holy Edward, whose crown I wear, I will vindicate my just
rights, or perish in the attempt.'
"However, he saw that nothing could be done on the instant, and
adjourned the meeting for three weeks, at the end of which time the
prelates, nobles, and community of Scotland were invited to bring
forward whatever they could in opposition to his claim to supremacy.
"At the time fixed the Scotch nobles again met, but this time on
the Scottish side of the Border, for Edward had gathered together
the whole of the force of the northern counties.
"Besides the four claimants, whose names I have told you, were Sir
John Hastings, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, William de Vesci,
Robert de Pinkeny, Nicholas de Soulis, Patrick Galythly, Roger de
Mandeville, Florence, Count of Holland, and Eric, King of Norway.
With the exception of Eric, the Count of Holland, Dunbar, and
Galythly, all of these were of Norman extraction, and held possessions
in England. When the meeting was opened the prelates and nobles
present advanced nothing to disprove Edward's claim to supremacy.
The representatives of the commons, however, did show reason against
the claim, for which, indeed, my son, as every man in Scotland
knows, there was not a shadow of foundation.
"The king's chancellor declared that there was nothing in these
objections to Edward's claim, and therefore he resolved, as lord
paramount, to determine the question of succession. The various
competitors were asked whether they acknowledged Edward as lord
paramount, and were willing to receive his judgment as such; and
the whole of these wretched traitors proceeded to barter their
country for their hopes of a crown, acknowledged Edward as lord
paramount, and left the judgment in his hands.
"Bruce and Baliol received handsome presents for thus tamely
yielding the rights of Scotland. All present at once agreed that
the castles and strongholds of Scotland should be surrendered into
the hands of English commanders and garrisons. This was immediately
done; and thus it is, Archie, that you see an English officer
lording it over the Scotch town of Lanark.
"Then every Scotchman was called upon to do homage to the English
king as his lord paramount, and all who refused to do so were
seized and arrested. Finally, on the 17th of November last, 1292--the
date will long be remembered in Scotland--Edward's judgment
was given at Berwick, and by it John Baliol was declared King of
Scotland.
"Thus for eighteen months Scotland was kept in doubt; and this was
done, no doubt, to enable the English to rivet their yoke upon our
shoulders, and to intimidate and coerce all who might oppose it."
"There were some that did oppose it, mother, were there not?--some
true Scotchmen who refused to own the supremacy of the King of
England?"
"Very few, Archie. One Sir Malcolm Wallace, a knight of but small
estate, refused to do so, and was, together with his eldest son,
slain in an encounter with an English detachment under a leader
named Fenwick at Loudon Hill."
"And was he the father of that William Wallace of whom the talk was
lately that he had slain young Selbye, son of the English governor
of Dundee?"
"The same, Archie."
"Men say, mother, that although but eighteen years of age he is of
great stature and strength, of very handsome presence, and courteous
and gentle; and that he was going quietly through the streets when
insulted by young Selbye, and that he and his companions being set
upon by the English soldiers, slew several and made their escape."
"So they say, Archie. He appears from all description of him
to be a remarkable young man, and I trust that he will escape the
vengeance of the English, and that some day he may again strike
some blows for our poor Scotland, which, though nominally under
the rule of Baliol, is now but a province of England."
"But surely, mother, Scotchmen will never remain in such a state
of shameful servitude!"
"I trust not, my son; but I fear that it will be long before we
shake off the English yoke. Our nobles are for the most part of
Norman blood; very many are barons of England; and so great are the
jealousies among them that no general effort against England will
be possible. No, if Scotland is ever to be freed, it will be by
a mighty rising of the common people, and even then the struggle
between the commons of Scotland and the whole force of England aided
by the feudal power of all the great Scotch nobles, would be well
nigh hopeless."
This conversation sank deeply into Archie's mind; day and night
he thought of nothing but the lost freedom of Scotland, and vowed
that even the hope of regaining his father's lands should be
secondary to that of freeing his country. All sorts of wild dreams
did the boy turn over in his mind; he was no longer gay and light
hearted, but walked about moody and thoughtful. He redoubled his
assiduity in the practice of arms; and sometimes when fighting with
Sandy, he would think that he had an English man-at-arms before him,
and would strike so hotly and fiercely that Sandy had the greatest
difficulty in parrying his blows, and was forced to shout lustily
to recall him from the clouds. He no longer played at ball with the
village lads; but, taking the elder of them aside, he swore them
to secrecy, and then formed them into a band, which he called the
Scottish Avengers. With them he would retire into valleys far away
from the village, where none would mark what they were doing, and
there they practised with club and stake instead of broadsword
and pike, defended narrow passes against an imaginary enemy, and,
divided into two parties, did battle with each other.
The lads entered into the new diversion with spirit. Among the
lower class throughout Scotland the feeling of indignation at the
manner in which their nobles had sold their country to England was
deep and passionate. They knew the woes which English domination
had brought upon Wales and Ireland; and though as yet without a
leader, and at present hopeless of a successful rising, every true
Scotchman was looking forward to the time when an attempt might be
made to throw off the English yoke.
Therefore the lads of Glen Cairn entered heart and soul into
the projects of their "young chief," for so they regarded Archie,
and strove their best to acquire some of the knowledge of the use
of sword and pike which he possessed. The younger lads were not
permitted to know what was going on--none younger than Archie
himself being admitted into the band, while some of the elders were
youths approaching man's estate. Even to his mother Archie did not
breathe a word of what he was doing, for he feared that she might
forbid his proceedings. The good lady was often surprised at the
cuts and bruises with which he returned home; but he always turned
off her questions by muttering something about rough play or a
heavy fall, and so for some months the existence of the Scottish
Avengers remained unsuspected.