RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY
While the great Edward was passing south on his last march, Valence was
actively engaged in strengthening the English positions in Kyle and
Carrick. Percy held Ayr Castle, and John of Argyll guarded Ayr town and
neighbourhood with a large force, which was presently joined by half a
score of redoubtable Scots knights with their followings.
The young King started from Carlisle on July 31, 1307, for Dumfries,
where many Scots nobles obeyed his summons to do homage and fealty.
Advancing up the valley of the Nith, he was at Cumnock on August 21,
and stayed there fully a week. At Tinwald, on August 30, he confirmed
Valence in the office of Warden of Scotland. He offered to receive
to his peace all Scotsmen not implicated in the murder of Comyn. The
Lanercost chronicler says he divided his army into three bodies to
pursue Bruce, but the pursuit was unsuccessful, and on September 4 he
returned to Carlisle with empty hands.
The effects of the accession of Edward II. were quickly apparent.
No sooner had he retired than the whole Border was ablaze. Even the
faithful men of Selkirk and Tweeddale and of the Forest, tenants of
the Warden himself, rose in force, and on September 12 the Sheriff of
Roxburgh reported that 'the poor tenants' of his district had fled
into England with their goods for fear of the enemy. The weight of the
Scots attack, however, was thrown upon Galloway and the MacDowalls.
The English settlers fled in numbers; for, on September 25, Edward
ordered Clifford, the justiciar of the forest beyond Trent, 'to allow
the men of Galloway to feed their flocks and herds in Englewood Forest,
whither they have come to take refuge for fear of Robert de Brus and
his accomplices.' On the same day he directed Sir Thomas de Multon
of Egremont and four other northern barons to hasten to Lancashire,
Cumberland, and Westmorland, to assist John, baron of Wigton, and
Richard le Brun, his justices there, 'for the salvation and quiet of
the men of those parts,' and to redress the wrongs and losses they
sustained, and to repel the incursions of the Scots. It looks as if
a swift foray had been executed by the men of Selkirk and Tweeddale.
On September 30, Edward, who had now learned further from St John,
MacDowall, and other officers in Galloway, that Bruce was 'burning and
plundering, and inciting and compelling the inhabitants to rebel,'
commanded Sir John de Bretagne, who had just succeeded Valence, to
march against the enemy. At the same time he summoned to the Warden's
assistance Earl Patrick and half a dozen other powerful Scots, as
well as the baron of Wigton and Richard le Brun, apparently already
relieved of their Selkirk visitors, and the keepers of the peace of
Northumberland and Tyndale. The Lanercost chronicler admits that the
Galwegians purchased peace, being unable to resist the forces of Bruce.
Sir Thomas Gray also bears testimony to Bruce's activity, and explains
the favour he steadily gained, in part at least, by the harsh conduct
of English officials 'for purposes of individual advantage.' We have
already seen that as early as May Scotland beyond the Forth was ready
for the advent of Bruce, and the English officers were looking forward
with dread to the death of Edward I. And now Bruce turned from Galloway
to the north.
According to Fordun, Bruce advanced as far as Inverness, where he took
the castle and levelled it with the ground, slaying the garrison;
and the other fortresses of the north he dealt with in like drastic
fashion. In this expedition, no doubt, it was--in late October and
November 1307--that Bruce overran Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness,
and compelled the Earl of Ross to take truce. The Earl's apologetic
petition to Edward explains how Bruce came against him with 3000 men
and subjugated these counties, 'and would have destroyed them utterly
if we had not taken truce with him at the entreaty of the good people,
both religious and other, till Whitsunday next.' Ross declares that
he could get no help from the Warden of Moray. The Bishop of Moray,
who had taken refuge in Orkney for about a year and whose lands had
been loyally raided by Ross, had by this time returned to Edward's
peace, and was demanding damages for the wasting of his lands. He,
at any rate, was not likely to have moved a finger against Bruce;
on the contrary, he no doubt privately aided him. Ross's apologies
were accepted; for in May 1308 he appears as Lieutenant of the Warden
of Scotland, and is requested to remain in office till midsummer.
But on October 31, he submitted to Bruce, who reinstated him in his
lands (with fresh additions), and his name heads the roll of Bruce's
Parliament at St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9.
Barbour, making no mention of these exploits, brings Bruce north of
the Mounth and on to Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. Bruce is joined by
Sir Alexander Fraser and Simon Fraser--the famous Sir Simon's brother
and son--who had apparently been acting in his interests in the north,
opposed mainly by Comyn (Earl of Buchan), Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir
David de Brechin. At Inverurie Bruce fell very sick. He could neither
eat nor drink; no medicine did him any good; he became too weak to ride
or to walk. Sir Edward Bruce, says Barbour, tried to comfort the men,
but it seems much more likely that Sir Edward remained in command in
Galloway, while Douglas made excursions towards the eastern border.
At any rate, Bruce's men would not fight while their chief was ill,
or Bruce had too much prudence to allow them; so they placed him on a
litter and carried him into the Slevach (mountain fastnesses). Comyn,
hearing of Bruce's serious illness, advanced against him with Mowbray
and Brechin, and with a largely superior force. The time, says Barbour,
was 'after Martinmas, when snow covered all the land.' Bruce quietly
awaited attack. On three successive days there occurred skirmishes
between bodies of archers, Buchan's men getting the worst of the
encounter day after day. Buchan's force, however, was continuously
obtaining additions, while Bruce was getting pinched with hunger.
Placing the King in his litter again, Bruce's men changed quarters,
marching slowly in fighting order, with their sick chief in the
centre, and restricting themselves rigidly to defence. They took up a
position in Strathbogie, a little further north, and Buchan's force
abandoned the pursuit and dispersed.
The King gradually regained strength and returned to Inverurie, 'to
be in the plains for the winter,' for the better chances of food.
Again Buchan proceeded to attack him, reaching Oldmeldrum 'on the
evening before Yule even' (January 4) 1307-8, with about 1000 men.
Next day Brechin made a dash at Inverurie; whereupon Bruce, in spite
of remonstrances, determined to mount and fight, though, says Fordun,
'he could not go upright, but with the help of two men to prop him up.'
He is said to have had 'near 700 men.' He advanced towards Oldmeldrum,
and as the enemy retreated, pressed steadily upon them, pushing their
retreat into flight, and pursuing them, Fordun says, as far as Fyvie.
Buchan and Mowbray fled to England, while Brechin stood a siege in his
own castle of Brechin. Bruce's 'herschip' (harrying) of the district of
Buchan is said to have been so exemplary that men lamented it for half
a century afterwards.
There are discrepancies between Barbour's account and Fordun's. Fordun
dates Buchan's retirement from the Slevach on Christmas day (on
which Barbour fights at Inverurie and Oldmeldrum), and he arranges
a truce on the occasion. It is in the Slevach that he makes Bruce's
illness commence. He dates the battle of Inverurie, without mention
of Oldmeldrum, vaguely in 1308. He also calls Mowbray Philip, not
John, and he says nothing of Brechin. Buchan and Mowbray, if they did
not then flee to England, at any rate went south not very long after
this time; and if Brechin surrendered his castle, it was certainly
not, as Barbour says it was, to David, Earl of Athol, who was on the
English side. On May 20, 1308, Edward writes to thank a great number
of his officers in Scotland, including Athol, Buchan, Brechin, John de
Mowbray, and others, for their faithful service, and he requests Buchan
to remain 'in the district committed to him' till August 1. This may
mean that up to May he had remained in command in the north, though
keeping clear of Bruce's devastating track.
Having reduced the country beyond the Grampians ('benorth the Mounth'),
Bruce descended upon Angus. Barbour says nothing of an attack on
Brechin Castle, having already recorded its capture and the submission
of Sir David to Bruce; but, as we have seen, Sir David was still--and,
indeed, for several years to come--on the English side; and Barbour was
evidently misinformed. Forfar Castle was taken by Philip the Forester,
of Platter; the watch had not been vigilant, and Philip scaled the
walls. Bruce demolished the castle; whether because it was of the old
ineffective type, or because he had no means of holding it. He then,
according to Barbour, invested Perth, which was strongly fortified,
and was held by Moffat and Oliphant--Sir William Oliphant, the gallant
defender of Stirling, who had been released from the Tower on May
24, 1308, having lain rusting there for nearly four years. The Earl
of Strathearn, says Barbour, was also in the garrison, while his son
and his men were in Bruce's camp; but Barbour is mistaken, for though
Strathearn had been transferred from Rochester Castle to York Castle in
the preceding November, he does not appear to have been released till
November 18 of this year. Frequent skirmishes took place during a six
weeks' siege, when Bruce suddenly decamped, amid the premature jeers
of the garrison. After eight days he returned suddenly in the night,
and, finding the English lulled in security, plunged into the moat up
to his neck, mounted the walls by ladder, and surprised the sentinels.
His men, dispersed in groups, gave the garrison no chance to marshal
for effective defence. The English leaders were taken; but few men were
slain, in consideration of their decent treatment of Scots. There was
much booty for the victors. Bruce demolished the walls and the towers.
'Was none that durst him then withstand.' Whether this capture of Perth
be fact or not--and probably it should be placed at a later date--Bruce
now had the upper hand north of Forth.
While Bruce was re-conquering his kingdom in the north, Edward II.
had married Isabella of France at Boulogne on January 28, 1307-8,
and had been crowned at Westminster on February 25. He had at once
plunged himself in difficulties with his barons by his infatuation
for Piers de Gaveston. In June some purpose of accommodation with
Bruce appears to have been pressed upon the English king. There exists
a memorandum dated June, without the year, which Mr Bain rightly, it
seems, assigns to 1308. It sets out that the levies summoned to meet
the King at Carlisle on August 23 shall be countermanded; and that the
King shall take no truce or sufferance from Bruce, but the Wardens of
Scotland--Sir Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, and Sir William de
Ros of Hamelake (appointed on June 21)--'may take such, for as long
time as possible, as they have done hitherto of their own power or by
commission, so that the King, however, may furnish his castles with
men and victuals, and that no one be taken or other "mesprision" made
during such truce.' Then the wardens of districts are arranged. The
Earl of Buchan, Sir John de Mowbray, and Sir Ingram de Umfraville are
to be wardens of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick respectively; Sir
Alexander de Abernethy, Sir Edmund de Hastings, and Sir John Fitz
Marmaduke, are to be wardens beyond the Forth. The endorsement bears
that the Wardens of Scotland shall 'take truce from Robert de Brus
as from themselves, as long as they can, but not beyond the month of
Pasques' (April), and--curiously enough--that 'the King may break
the truce at pleasure if the others will yield this point, but, if
they will not, the truce may be made without it.' The memorandum
testifies to the strength of Bruce's hold on the country, and to the
recalcitrance of Edward's barons. Still Edward struggled on. On June
21, he requested a large number of officers to retain their posts till
specified dates, and to join the Scottish expedition at Carlisle on
August 23. On July 10, he requisitioned ships and men from Shoreham all
round to Bristol, for the King 'needs a great fleet.' But on August 11,
he countermanded the order for these ships and men, 'the King having
deferred his expedition for the present.' The English barons were too
strong for the young King.
It is not clear at what date Bruce proceeded to reduce Argyll.
Probably, however, he undertook the expedition immediately after the
reduction of the north. If he conducted a six weeks' siege of Perth,
and Sir William Oliphant was one of the defenders, he could not have
been free to go west till the very end of July 1308. Fordun states
that, within a week after August 15, Bruce defeated the men of Argyll
and subdued the whole land; that he then besieged Alexander of Argyll
'for some time' in Dunstaffnage Castle (some three miles from Oban);
and that Alexander, on surrendering, refused to do homage, but was
allowed a safe-conduct for himself and his followers to England.
Barbour tells how Lorn--John, the son of Alexander--gathered some 2000
men and opposed Bruce in a narrow pass between a steep mountain and
the sheer bank of a loch--perhaps between Ben Cruachan and Loch Awe.
Lorn held the loch in his boats, and ambushed a party on the ridge
commanding the pass. Bruce, having despatched Douglas, Sir Alexander
Fraser, Sir William Wiseman, and Sir Andrew Gray, with a body of
archers, to fetch a circuit above Lorn's ambush, boldly advanced up the
pass. Lorn's men attacked, tumbling stones down the slope; but, finding
themselves caught in the rear, they fled down hill to a bridge crossing
the river at one end of the loch, and, having crossed, attempted to
break down the bridge. Bruce was upon them before they could effect
their purpose, and completely defeated them. Having rapidly overrun
Lorn's country, he took Dunstaffnage, and received to his peace
Alexander of Argyll, while John of Lorn, 'rebel as he was wont to be,'
escaped by water. Bruce then received the homage of all the men of
Argyll, and returned to Perth.
But these events must have been spread over a considerable time, and
they may not have been continuous. The record of Bruce's Parliament at
St Andrews on March 16, 1308-9, places it beyond doubt that Alexander
of Argyll came to Bruce's peace; it states that Alexander himself and
'the barons of the whole of Argyll and Inchegall' were present as
liegemen of Bruce. Again, on June 16, 1309, both Alexander and John of
Lorn were present at Edward's council at Westminster as liegemen of
the English king. Further, we have a letter of Lorn's, undated, but
replying to a letter of Edward's dated March 11, in which he says that
he had been on sick-bed for half a year; that Bruce 'had approached his
territories with 10,000 or 15,000 men, it was said, both by land and
sea,' while he 'had no more than 800 to oppose him,' and 'the barons of
Argyll gave him no aid'; that a truce had been made, at the instance of
Bruce; that 'he hears that Bruce, when he came, was boasting that he
(Lorn) had come to his peace,' 'which God and he (Lorn) knows is not
true'; that, on the contrary, 'he is, and will ever be, ready to serve
him (Edward) to the utmost of his power'; that 'he has three castles
to guard, and a loch twenty-four leagues long, on which he has vessels
properly manned, but is not sure of his neighbours'; and that 'so soon
as the King or his power arrives, he will be ready with lands, ships,
and others to aid him,' either in person (if he be not sick), or by his
son. Neglecting minor discrepancies, one may safely accept Mr Bain's
reconciliation of the various accounts. Alexander came to Bruce's peace
after the affair of Loch Awe; John was still holding out in March, but
was driven from Dunstaffnage within the next two months; and Alexander
thereupon retired, with John, to England. Alexander died in Ireland in
the end of 1310. John lived to fight for Edward some seven or eight
years more; but, as Mr Bain gently remarks, 'Barbour has strangely
misrepresented his later career.'
Bruce was now master in the west as well as in the north. Beyond Forth,
however, Perth, if ever captured, must soon have been recovered; and
Dundee--and even Banff--remained in English hands, as well as the
key-fortress of Stirling on the south bank of the dividing river. Still
Bruce was master of the country, and he was free to turn his attention
to the south.
Sir Edward Bruce, after an arduous struggle, had taken a firm grip
of Galloway by the end of 1308. With Lindsay, Boyd, and Douglas
he had attacked the Galwegians--'notwithstanding the tribute they
received from them,' says the Lanercost chronicler, who also admits
that they 'subdued almost all that land.' According to Barbour, Sir
Edward met the English near Cree, routed them, slew some 1200, and
pursued Umfraville and St John to Buittle Castle. St John then rode
to England and brought up over 1500 men; on hearing which, Sir Edward
instantly mounted, with 50 men, followed up the trail of the enemy
in the morning mist, and, when the day cleared and he found himself
within bowshot, charged with his usual reckless audacity. The English
believed there must be more men with Sir Edward than they saw. At the
third charge he routed them, slaying or taking many; St John, however,
escaping. Sir Allan de Cathcart, Barbour affirms, 'told me this tale.'
Sir Edward had all Galloway at the King's peace.
Fordun, again, relates that Sir Edward, on November 18, inflicted a
crushing defeat on Donald of the Isles and the Galwegians on the river
Dee (not Cree), taking Donald prisoner in his flight, and slaying 'a
knight named Roland, with many of the nobles of Galloway.' Whatever the
dates and the details, Sir Edward must have done some stern fighting.
The Lanercost chronicler even records that it was said that the English
king would have liked, if he could, to give Bruce peace on terms of
aiding him against his earls and barons.
No doubt the MacDowalls were uprooted. But Mr Bain seems somewhat lax
in stating that 'before April 1, 1309, Sir Dougal, their head, had been
driven into England, where for thirty years he and his family were
obliged to remain to escape the vengeance of the Bruces.' On April 1,
1309, it is true, Sir Dougal received as a reward for his services,
'whereby he has become hated by the enemy,' the manor of Temple Couton,
in Yorkshire, 'for the residence and support of his wife and children.'
But he himself was constable of Dumfries Castle in 1311, sheriff also
in 1312, and he had the mortification of surrendering the castle to
Bruce on February 7, 1312-13. Edward made provision for him from time
to time till his death (before January 27, 1327-28). A petition by
his son and heir Duncan, dated 1347, represents that Sir Dougal lost
£100 in land for his allegiance to Edward I. and Edward II.; that Sir
Dougal's brother was slain (in revenge for Bruce's two brothers); that
the petitioner's eldest brother had been slain at Bannockburn; and that
he and his six brothers were destitute. It shows a dark glimpse of the
losing side.
In the meantime, according to Barbour, Douglas had done some useful
work on his account. Some time after Bruce went north, he proceeded to
Douglasdale again and placed an ambush near his ancestral castle. He
sent fourteen men with sackfuls of grass on horses' backs to pass along
as if bound for Lanark fair. Sir John Webton, the constable, sallied
upon them; whereupon they cast down the sacks, threw off their frocks,
and, mounting their horses, showed fight. Douglas now broke ambush and
cut off Webton from the castle, eventually slaying him and all his
men. Barbour relates that there was found in Webton's pouch a letter
from a lady engaging to marry him if he kept 'the auenturous castell
of Douglas' for a year--a story worked up by Sir Walter Scott in his
boldly unhistorical 'Castle Dangerous.' Douglas took the castle and
demolished it.
Douglas also, Barbour says, did a great deal of hard fighting in
Selkirk Forest. On one occasion, in a house on the Water of Lyne
(which joins the Tweed a few miles above Peebles), he lighted upon Sir
Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, whose father, Sir John, distinguished
himself so brilliantly at Falkirk, Randolph, Bruce's nephew, Sir
Adam de Gordon, and others, who were really in search of himself. He
surrounded the house, and a fierce fight resulted. Gordon got away
safe, but Douglas captured Stewart, who was wounded, and Randolph, and
took them next morning to the King--who, in that case, must already
have returned south. Barbour tells of the proud bearing of Randolph,
and how Bruce put him 'in firm keeping' till he acknowledged his
authority. This must have taken place before March 4, 1308-9, when
Edward conferred on Sir Adam de Gordon Randolph's forfeited manor of
Stichill, in Roxburghshire. Never afterwards did Randolph swerve from
his uncle's allegiance.
Early in 1308-9 (January 14, Hemingburgh; February 12, Lanercost
chronicle), there came papal envoys to Edward and Bruce, at the
instance of the French king, and a truce was made, to run to November
1. But Bruce is said to have ignored it in practice, and perhaps that
is why a new sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him and
his adherents in the summer of 1309. On June 18, Edward summoned his
array; and, on July 30, he renewed the summons, requiring his army to
muster at Newcastle at Michaelmas, and declaring that the Scots had
'notoriously broken' the truce. Yet, only three days later (August 2),
he authorised the Earl of Ulster to treat with Bruce for peace; and,
on August 21, he renewed the commission, and granted safe-conducts
for Bruce's envoys, Sir Nigel Campbell and Sir John de Menteith--the
captor of Wallace, who must have joined Bruce before March 16, when he
was present at the St Andrews parliament. Still Edward hurried on his
preparations. He had summoned auxiliaries from Wales (August 5), and
filled afresh the chief offices in Scotland (August 16); and presently
he appointed the Earl of Gloucester captain of the army of Scotland
(September 14), and despatched fresh wardens to the Marches (about
October 18). Again, however, the Pope intervened, and on November 29,
Edward granted full powers to four of his magnates to treat in his name
for a truce. The Wardens of the Marches, according to the Lanercost
chronicle, had just forestalled the step by taking provisional truce
till the middle of January; and Edward extended the period to March
8, and afterwards 'to summer,' 1310--for, says the chronicler, 'the
English do not like to enter Scotland to war before summer, especially
because of the lack of fodder for their horses.' Probably the extension
to summer was arranged by the commission of seven appointed on February
16, headed by the Bishop of St Andrews.
There had been a round year of peace negotiations and futile truces,
with warlike preparation in the background. On February 24, 1309-10,
Bruce's position was strengthened by a formal recognition of his royal
title by a special meeting of the prelates and other clergy at Dundee.
In the beginning of June 1310, there was an outbreak on the Border, the
Priory of Coldstream being sacked, and the prioress and nuns dispersed;
and in the middle of the month the English fleet was ordered north to
strengthen Perth and to harass the eastern seaboard. Then, on August
15, Edward again mustered his army at Newcastle (Hemingburgh), or
at Berwick (Lanercost chronicle). The Earls of Lancaster, Pembroke
(Valence), Warwick, and Hereford would not accompany him, displeased
with his favour for Gaveston, though professing to be absorbed in their
duties as 'Ordainers'; but they sent their feudal services. The Earls
of Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall (Gaveston), with Percy, Clifford,
and many other magnates, did attend the muster. The expedition,
according to Walsingham, was said to be a mere pretext to excuse the
King from going to France to do fealty for his French possessions. He
dreaded to leave Gaveston 'among his enemies,' lest that troubler of
the realm should 'meet death, prison, or worse.' 'Such things were
said among the people; whether true or false,' says the chronicler,
'God knows, I don't.' The expedition crossed the Border early in
September, and passed by Selkirk, Roxburgh, Biggar, Lanark, Glasgow,
to Renfrew, back to Linlithgow, and thence to Berwick. The progress
occupied just over two months. Bruce stood aloof; on October 6, when
Edward was at Biggar, he was reported to be with his forces 'on a moor
near Stirling.' Fordun says there was famine in Scotland this year,
many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of horses and other unclean
cattle.' But Edward was liberally supplied by the religious houses with
'oxen, cows, wethers, wheat, oats, barley, malt, beans, and peas,'
besides friendly contributions from other quarters. On November 22, he
issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of provisions from
England.
When Edward withdrew from Linlithgow, Bruce hung upon his rear through
Lothian, severely harassing the army, and all local sympathisers.
Walsingham records an instance. A party of English and Welsh had gone
out to plunder, supported by cavalry. Bruce suddenly attacked from
ambush, and, though aid quickly arrived, he killed 300, and retired as
suddenly as he had advanced. 'Indeed,' says the chronicler, 'I should
extol Bruce, whose policy was to fight thus and not in open field, but
for his lying under the charge of homicide and the brand of treachery.'
Edward wintered at Berwick. Bruce seems to have actively developed
offensive operations on the west coast, to draw him home by a flank
attack, as well as to obtain supplies. For, on December 15 and 16,
Edward roused his officers in the north-western counties, and in Wales
and Ireland, to counteract Bruce's reported purpose 'to send his whole
fleet in the present winter to take the Isle of Man, and seize all the
supplies therein for the sustenance of his men.' Bruce's adherents in
Man are stated to have caused much trouble and mischief. A week before
Christmas, Clifford and Sir Robert Fitz Pain met Bruce at Selkirk to
discuss terms of peace, and another interview was arranged with the
Earls of Gloucester and Cornwall near Melrose; but 'it was said,'
writes a high official on February 19, 'that Bruce had been warned by
some that he would be taken, and therefore departed, so that they have
had no parley.'
A memorandum, undated, but assignable to 1307-10, addressed by the
'Commune' of Scotland to Edward and his great officers in the country,
affords a glimpse of the English high-handedness that always did--and
does--so much to thwart the English policy. The Commons represent that
'though they have purchased a truce for the safety of the country
and their allegiance, and included the castles and towns in their
bounds--namely, the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Edinburgh,'
yet 'some of the sheriffs allow no goods to leave their castles, or
their garrisons to pay for what they buy'--the sheriff of Edinburgh,
in particular--'and the country is so poor that they cannot get on
without ready money.' Again, 'when the enemy's people come to bargain
under the truce, their goods are taken by some of the castellans and
King's officers, endangering the truce, as the robbers are harboured
in the castles.' They earnestly plead for redress of such oppressions,
and complain that the King's former letters on the subject have
been suppressed by the officers inculpated. Only an occupation in
overwhelming force could stand against such a course of official
misconduct. Meantime this fatal administrative weakness was greatly
counterbalanced by the political divisions among the Scots.
In 1310-11, Gaveston, for whom Edward could find no resting-place
elsewhere, was established as lieutenant north of Forth and warden of
Dundee and Perth. 'It is said,' writes a high official, anonymous, on
April 4, 1311, 'that Bruce meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall'
(Gaveston): but either he was unable to do so, or deemed it prudent
to weary out the enemy by harassing evasion. On April 9, Edward
issued instructions hastening the outfit of the fleet destined for
the coast of Argyll under Sir John of that ilk--'seeing it is one of
the greatest movements of the Scottish war'; and throughout May and
June great pressure was brought to bear upon the ports of England and
Ireland, though not always with effect. On July 14, the muster of the
army at Roxburgh was postponed to the 1st of August. 'This expedition,'
said Edward, 'lies especially close to our heart.'
Edward, however, was in deep trouble with his 'Ordainers,' and Bruce
was beforehand with him. On August 12, Bruce burst into England at
the Solway, burned the whole of Gilsland, the town of Haltwhistle,
and great part of Tyndale, returning to Scotland in eight days with
great droves of cattle. The Lanercost chronicler admits that he killed
few besides those that offered resistance, and that, though he took
several of the canons, and did infinite mischief during the three days
he made the monastery his headquarters, yet he released the canons of
his own accord. The latter episode is recorded as a separate foray, but
probably it belongs to the August operations.
The same chronicler gives an account of a more serious raid on
September 8, by Harbottle, Holystone and Redesdale, down to Corbridge
and back through Tyndale, occupying fifteen days. The Wardens of the
Marches, he says, could offer no resistance, and confined their efforts
to wasting the country in anticipation of the Scots, only 'they did
not burn houses or slay men.' The stress of opposition fell upon the
Bishop of Durham. Both Edward and the Bishop paint the invasion in the
usual lurid colours. At the same time the people had certainly not been
handled with tenderness. The Northumbrians protected themselves by
payment of £2000 for a respite till February 2, 1311-12. In the middle
of December Bruce appears to have made another raid into England; and
on January 26, 1311-12, Edward appointed six commissioners to treat in
his name for truce with the Scots.
The rising power of Bruce is variously testified otherwise than by the
progress of his army. The Lanercost chronicler admits that, in spite
of the adherence of so many Scots to the English side, 'their hearts,
though not their persons, were always with their countrymen.'
An inquisition at Edinburgh on February 20, mentions seven landed
knights and others that had gone over to Bruce in the past three or
four years, including Sir Robert de Keith, Sir Thomas de la Haye, and
Sir Edmund de Ramsay. Again, a list of land rewards to Sir Robert
de Hastang on March 20 mentions twelve, among whom are Sir David de
Brechin (who, however, is made warden of Berwick on April 20, though
Sir Edmund de Hastings receives the post on May 3), Sir Alexander de
Lindsay, Sir Geoffrey de Mowbray, and Sir Herbert de Maxwell. In five
hard years Bruce had recovered three parts of his kingdom, and carried
fire and sword through the English March.