KING ROBERT
THE BRUCE:
FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
_The following Volumes are now ready_:--
THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.
JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.
ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.
THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.
RICHARD CAMERON. By PROFESSOR HERKLESS.
SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.
THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE.
JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
NORMAN MacLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ.
ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MacLACHLAN.
DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK.
THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON.
ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON.
JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE.
KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON.
[Illustration]
KING ROBERT
THE BRUCE
BY
A. F.
MURISON
FAMOUS
SCOTS
SERIES
PUBLISHED BY
OLIPHANT ANDERSON
& FERRIER · EDINBURGH
AND LONDON
The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and
the printing from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.
_July 1899._
ALMAE MATRI
VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI
"O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay--
De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices;
It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices,
As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray.
Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie;
But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion,
While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean,
Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die:
They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime
By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time."
PREFACE
The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the historical
complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together they
outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and
successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of
Edward I. and Edward II.--the most memorable episode in the history of
Scotland.
As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the narrative
is based on the primary authorities. Happily State records and
official papers supply much trustworthy material, which furnishes
also an invaluable test of the accuracy of the numerous and wayward
race of chroniclers. Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact
and deflections of judgment, is eminently useful--in spite of the
indulgence of historical criticism.
There is no space here to set forth the long list of sources, or to
attempt a formal estimate of their comparative value. Some of them
appear incidentally in the text, though only where it seems absolutely
necessary to name them. The expert knows them; the general reader will
not miss them. Nor is there room for more than occasional argument on
controverted points; it has very frequently been necessary to signify
disapproval by mere silence. The writer, declining the guidance of
modern historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent
study of the available materials.
After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of Patriotism reared
for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if not time-serving, eulogies
of Barbour and Fordun, and maintained for some five centuries, the
figure of the Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
deliverance.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE 11
CHAPTER II
OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION 18
CHAPTER III
THE CORONATION OF BRUCE 26
CHAPTER IV
DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY 36
CHAPTER V
THE KING IN EXILE 53
CHAPTER VI
THE TURN OF THE TIDE 58
CHAPTER VII
RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY 69
CHAPTER VIII
RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES 84
CHAPTER IX
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN 92
CHAPTER X
INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND 108
CHAPTER XI
CONCILIATION AND CONFLICT 119
CHAPTER XII
PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT 134
CHAPTER XIII
THE HEART OF THE BRUCE 149
KING ROBERT THE BRUCE
CHAPTER I
THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE
When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of Scottish
independence, died at the foot of the gallows in Smithfield, and was
torn limb from limb, it seemed that at last 'the accursed nation' would
quietly submit to the English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching
bones of the heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of
his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations after national
freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In fifteen years of arduous
diplomacy and warfare, with an astounding expenditure of blood and
treasure, Edward I. had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources
of Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of the
nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in arms. It is of the
irony of fate that the very man destined to bring Edward's calculations
to naught had been his most zealous officer in his last campaign, and
had, in all probability, been present at the trial--it may be at the
execution--of Wallace, silently consenting to his death. That man of
destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale and Earl of Carrick.
* * * * *
The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory of a Norse origin
in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who established himself in the
diocese of Coutances in Manche, Normandy, though not improbable, is but
vaguely supported. The name is territorial; and the better opinion is
inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and Valognes.
The first Robert de Brus on record was probably the leader of the
Brus contingent in the army of the Conqueror. His services must have
been conspicuous; he died (about 1094) in possession of some 40,000
acres, comprised in forty-three manors in the East and West Ridings of
Yorkshire, and fifty-one in the North Riding and in Durham. The chief
manor was Skelton in Cleveland.
The next Robert de Brus, son of the first, received a grant of
Annandale from David I., whose companion he had been at the English
court. This fief he renounced, probably in favour of his second son,
just before the Battle of the Standard (1138), on the failure of his
attempted mediation between David and the English barons. He died in
1141, leaving two sons, Adam and Robert.
This Robert may be regarded as the true founder of the Scottish branch.
He is said to have remained with David in the Battle of the Standard,
and, whether for this adherence or on some subsequent occasion, he was
established in possession of the Annandale fief, which was confirmed
to him by a charter of William the Lion (1166). He is said to have
received from his father the manor of Hert and the lands of Hertness in
Durham, 'to supply him with wheat, which did not grow in Annandale.' He
died after 1189.
The second Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of the preceding lord,
married (1183) Isabel, daughter of William the Lion, obtaining as her
dowry the manor of Haltwhistle in Tyndale. His widow married Robert de
Ros in 1191. The uncertainty as to the dates of his father's death and
his own has suggested a doubt whether he ever succeeded to the lordship.
William de Brus, a brother, the next lord, died in 1215.
The third Robert de Brus of Annandale, son of William, founded the
claim of his descendants to the crown by his marriage with Isabel,
second daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, younger brother of
William the Lion. He died in 1245.
The fourth Robert de Brus of Annandale, eldest son of the preceding
lord, was born in 1210. In 1244, he married Isabel, daughter of Gilbert
de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Next year he succeeded to Annandale,
and, on his mother's death in 1251, he obtained ten knight's fees in
England, her share of the Earldom of Huntingdon. He took an active
part in public affairs. In 1249-50 he sat as a Justice of the King's
Bench, and in 1268 he became Chief Justice of England, but Edward, on
his accession (1272), did not reappoint him. He served as Sheriff of
Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle Castle in 1254-55, and in 1264 he
fought for Henry at Lewes, and was taken prisoner.
At the same time, de Brus was a prominent figure in the baronage of
Scotland. The alleged arrangement of 1238 whereby Alexander II., with
the consent of the Scots parliament, appointed de Brus his successor in
the event of his dying childless, was frustrated by the King's second
marriage (1239), and the birth of a son, Alexander III. (1241). As one
of the fifteen Regents (1255) during the minority of Alexander III.,
he headed the party that favoured an English alliance, cemented by the
young King's marriage with Margaret, daughter of Henry III. At the
Scone convention on February 5, 1283-84, he was one of the Scots lords
that recognised the right of Margaret of Norway. The sudden death of
Alexander III., however, in March 1285-86, and the helplessness of the
infant Queen, put him on the alert for the chances of his own elevation.
On September 20, 1286, de Brus met a number of his friends at Turnberry
Castle, the residence of his son, the Earl of Carrick. There fourteen
Scots nobles, including de Brus and the Earl of Carrick, joined in a
bond obliging them to give faithful adherence to Richard de Burgh,
Earl of Ulster, and Lord Thomas de Clare (de Brus's brother-in-law),
'in their affairs.' One of the clauses saved the fealty of the parties
to the King of England and to 'him that shall obtain the kingdom of
Scotland through blood-relationship with King Alexander of blessed
memory, according to the ancient customs in the kingdom of Scotland
approved and observed.' The disguise was very thin. The instrument
meant simply that the parties were to act together in support of de
Brus's pretensions to the crown when opportunity should serve. It
'united the chief influence of the West and South of Scotland against
the party of John de Balliol, Lord of Galloway, and the Comyns.' There
need be no difficulty in connecting this transaction with the outbreak
of 1287-88, which devastated Dumfries and Wigton shires. The party of
de Brus took the castles of Dumfries, Buittle and Wigton, killing and
driving out of the country many of the lieges. There remains nothing
to show by what means peace was restored, but it may be surmised that
Edward interfered to restrain his ambitious vassal.
For, by this time, Edward was full of his project for the marriage
of the young Queen with his eldest son, Prince Edward. The Salisbury
convention, at which de Brus was one of the Scottish commissioners,
and the Brigham conference, at which the project was openly declared,
seemed to strike a fatal blow at the aspirations of de Brus. But the
death of the Queen, reported early in October 1290, again opened up a
vista of hope.
When the news arrived, the Scots estates were in session. 'Sir Robert
de Brus, who before did not intend to come to the meeting,' wrote the
Bishop of St Andrews to Edward on October 7, 'came with great power,
to confer with some who were there; but what he intends to do, or
how to act, as yet we know not. But the Earls of Mar and Athol are
collecting their forces, and some other nobles of the land are drawing
to their party.' The Bishop went on to report a 'fear of a general
war,' to recommend Edward to deal wisely with Sir John de Balliol,
and to suggest that he should 'approach the March for the consolation
of the Scots people and the saving of bloodshed.' The alertness of de
Brus and his friends is conspicuously manifest, and the foremost of the
party of Balliol is privately stretching out his hands for the cautious
intervention of the English King.
The Earl of Fife had been assassinated; the Earl of Buchan was dead;
and the remaining four guardians divided their influence, the Bishop of
St Andrews and Sir John Comyn siding with Balliol, and the Bishop of
Glasgow and the Steward of Scotland with de Brus. Fordun thus describes
the balance of parties in the early part of 1291:
The nobles of the kingdom, with its guardians, often-times
discussed among themselves the question who should be made their
king; but they did not make bold to utter what they felt about
the right of succession, partly because it was a hard and knotty
matter, partly because different people felt differently about
such rights and wavered a good deal, partly because they justly
feared the power of the parties, which was great, and partly
because they had no superior that could, by his unbending power,
carry their award into execution or make the parties abide by
their decision.
The most prominent competitors were liegemen of Edward, and, whether
they appealed to warlike or to peaceful methods, the decision must
inevitably rest with him.
At the Norham meeting of June 1291, de Brus, as well as the other
competitors, fully acknowledged the paramount title of Edward. He had
no alternative; he had as large interests in England as in Scotland,
and armed opposition was out of the question. Availing himself of his
legal experience, he fought the case determinedly and astutely. If
Fordun correctly reports the reformation of the law of succession by
Malcolm, de Brus was, in literal technicality, 'the next descendant';
as son of David of Huntingdon's second daughter, he was nearer by one
degree than Balliol, grandson of David's eldest daughter. But the
modern reckoning prevailed. De Brus's plea that he had been recognised
both by Alexander II. and by Alexander III. was not supported by
documentary evidence, and his appeal to the recollection of living
witnesses does not seem to have been entertained. His third position,
that the crown estates were partible, was but a forlorn hope. He must
have seen, long before November 1292, that an adverse decision was a
foregone conclusion. He entered a futile protest. Already, in June,
he had concluded a secret agreement with the Count of Holland, a
competitor never in the running, but a great feudal figure, for mutual
aid and counsel; he had also an agreement with the Earl of Sutherland,
and, probably enough, with others. But an active dissent was beyond the
powers of a man of eighty-two. Accordingly, he resigned his claims in
favour of his son, the Earl of Carrick, and retired to Lochmaben, where
he died on March 31, 1295, at the age of eighty-five.
The fifth Robert de Brus of Annandale, the eldest son of the
Competitor, was born in 1253. On his return from the crusade of 1269,
on which he accompanied Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I., he married
Marjory (or Margaret), Countess of Carrick, and thus became by the
courtesy of Scotland Earl of Carrick. Marjory was the daughter and
heiress of Nigel, the Keltic (if Keltic be the right epithet) Earl of
Carrick, grandson of Gilbert, son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway, and
she was the widow of Adam of Kilconquhar, who had died on the recent
crusade. De Brus is said to have met her accidentally when she was out
hunting. Fordun gives the romance as follows:--
When greetings and kisses had been exchanged, as is the wont of
courtiers, she besought him to stay and hunt and walk about; and,
seeing that he was rather unwilling to do so, she by force, so
to speak, with her own hand made him pull up, and brought the
knight, though very loth, to her castle of Turnberry with her.
After dallying there with his followers for the space of fifteen
days or more, he clandestinely took the Countess to wife, the
friends and well-wishers of both parties knowing nothing about
it, and the King's consent not having been obtained. And so the
common belief of all the country was that she had seized--by
force, as it were--this youth for her husband. But when the
news came to the ears of King Alexander, he took the castle
of Turnberry and made all her other lands and possessions be
acknowledged as his lands, for the reason that she had wedded
with Robert de Brus without consulting his royal majesty. Through
the prayers of friends, however, and by a certain sum of money
agreed upon, this Robert gained the King's goodwill and the whole
domain.
It may be, of course, that the responsibility was thrown on the lady
in order to restrain the hand of the incensed king. But she was half
a dozen years older than de Brus, who was still in his teens and was
never distinguished for enterprise. In any case, she acted only with
the legitimate frankness of her time, and the marriage put a useful
dash of lively blood into the veins of the coming king.
In every important political step, de Brus followed with docility his
father's lead. He stood aloof from Balliol, and, in spite of marked
snubbing, steadily adhered to Edward. From October 1295, he was for two
years governor of Carlisle Castle. After the collapse of Balliol at
Dunbar, he is said to have plucked up courage to claim fulfilment of
a promise of Edward's, alleged to have been made in 1292 immediately
after the decision in favour of Balliol, to place his father eventually
on the Scottish throne. The testy reply of 'the old dodger' (_ille
antiquus doli artifex_), as reported by Fordun, is at any rate
characteristic: 'Have I nothing else to do but to win kingdoms to
give to you?' The story, though essentially probable, is discredited
by the chronicler's assertion that the promise was accompanied by an
acknowledgment on the part of Edward that his decision of the great
cause was an injustice to de Brus, the Competitor.
But while de Brus took nothing by his loyalty to Edward, he suffered
for his disloyalty to Balliol. He had, of course, ignored the summons
of Balliol 'to come in arms to resist the King of England,' and
consequently Balliol's council had declared him a public enemy and
deprived him of his lands of Annandale, giving them to Comyn, Earl of
Buchan. At the same time, and for the like reason, his son Robert was
deprived of the Earldom of Carrick, which de Brus had resigned to him
on November 11, 1292. Annandale, indeed, was restored to de Brus in
September 1296, but the state of Scotland was too disturbed for his
comfort, and he retired to his English possessions, where, for the most
part at least, he lived quietly till Edward had settled matters at
Strathord. He then set out for Annandale, but died on the way, about
Easter, 1304, and was buried at the Abbey of Holmcultram in Cumberland.
De Brus left a large family of sons and daughters, most of whom will
find conspicuous mention in the story of the eldest brother, Robert,
Earl of Carrick, the future King of Scotland.