CONCILIATION AMID CONFLICT
On January 1, 1316-17, the Pope declared a truce of two years between
Edward and Bruce 'acting as King of Scotland' (_gerentem se pro
rege Scotiæ_), and denounced excommunication against all breakers
thereof. By a Bull dated March 17, he exhorted Edward to peace with
Bruce 'now governing the realm of Scotland' (_impraesentiarum regnum
Scotiæ gubernantem_), representing not only the waste of good lives
and property but also the hindrance to the recovery of the Holy
Land, and announcing the despatch of his nuncios, Guacelin d'Euse
and Lucca di Fieschi, to effect a solemn concord. Presently he drew
up two more Bulls, dated March 28--one, to certain English prelates,
excommunicating all enemies of Edward invading England and Ireland; the
other, to certain Irish prelates, excommunicating Robert and Edward
Bruce--but these the Cardinals would hold in reserve till the issue of
their mission should declare itself. In these Bulls, King Robert is
'late Earl of Carrick' (_dudum Comes de Carrik_); Edward, by profession
of eagerness to go on a crusade--and otherwise--is the Pope's 'most
dear son in Christ.' In view of the crusade, it was essential that
Edward should also enjoy peace at home; and, on April 20, the Pope
wrote to the chief magnates urging them to support their King with
counsel and with help.
Towards the end of June 1317, the two Cardinals arrived in England,
and were conducted with great ceremony to London. Edward had gone to
Woodstock, where, on July 1, he summoned his parliament to meet at
Nottingham on the 18th, to consider, before the Cardinals should come
to his presence, the questions he would have to discuss with them. On
July 27, he authorised safe conducts for the Cardinals' party, and
assigned specially to the two prelates two officers of his personal
staff. The Cardinals started for the north, 'as the manner of the
Romans is,' with great pomp and circumstance. On the way, they were to
consecrate the new Bishop of Durham, Louis de Beaumont, who proceeded
in their train. They were also accompanied by Sir Henry de Beaumont,
the brother of the Bishop elect, and other magnates. In the pride
of ecclesiastical security, they contemned all warnings of danger.
They had an unexpected welcome to the episcopate. On September 1, as
they were passing Rushyford, within nine miles of Durham--if not at
Aycliffe, three miles south of Rushyford--they were suddenly assailed
by Sir Gilbert de Middleton and his robber band, and despoiled of all
their valuables. The prelates and their personal attendants Sir Gilbert
permitted to proceed to Durham, perhaps on foot, unharmed; the Bishop
elect, Sir Henry, and the rest he consigned to Mitford Castle--the
eyrie whence he swooped upon the country around, harrying as far as
the Priory of Tynemouth. Arrived at Durham, the Cardinals, having duly
adored St Cuthbert and venerated the venerable Bede, let loose upon
their sacrilegious assailants all the powers of excommunication. The
malison, says the Malmesbury chronicler, was efficacious; for, before
the year was out, Middleton was captured and taken to London, where he
was drawn, hanged, beheaded, and quartered.
The Cardinals' advance messengers, and their special envoys
(_praecursores_)--the Bishop of Corbau and the Archdeacon of
Perpignan--had reached the Border in safety. There the messengers
had been stopped. The envoys, however, were met, about the beginning
of September, by Douglas and Sir Alexander de Seton, and allowed to
proceed, but only after handing over their letters for King Robert.
They were conducted to Roxburgh Castle. There the King received them
graciously, listened with reverent attention to the Pope's open
letters in favour of peace, and replied that he would welcome a good
and lasting peace, whether arranged by the mediation of the Cardinals
or otherwise. He also listened respectfully to the Cardinals' open
letters. But as for the _close_ letters, he positively refused to
break the seal of one of them. They were addressed to Robert de Brus,
'governing the realm of Scotland.' 'There are several others of the
name of Robert de Brus,' he said, 'who take part with the other barons
in the government of the realm of Scotland. These letters may be for
one of them; they are not addressed to me, for they do not bear the
title of King.' No; he would not risk opening other men's letters.
Still, he would assemble his Council and consult with them whether he
should nevertheless receive the Cardinals to audience; but, as his
barons were engaged in various distant places, it would be impossible
for him to give his decision till Michaelmas (September 29).
The envoys had their apology ready. They explained that it was the
custom of Holy Mother Church, during the pendency of a question, not
to say or write anything calculated to prejudice either party. 'If my
Father and my Mother,' replied Bruce, holding up the Pope's letters,
'wished to avoid creating prejudice against the other party by calling
me King, it seems to me that they ought not, while the question is
still pending, create prejudice against me by withholding the title
from me; especially when I am in possession of the realm, and everybody
in it calls me King, and foreign kings and princes address me as King.
Really, it appears to me that my Father and Mother are partial as
between their sons. If you had presented a letter with such an address
to another king, it may be that you would have received another sort of
answer.' This caustic reply, the envoys reported, he delivered with a
benign mien, 'always showing due reverence for his Father and Mother.'
The envoys passed to the next point. They requested him to cease
meantime from further hostilities. 'That,' he replied, 'I can in no
wise do without the consent of my barons; besides, the English are
making reprisals upon my people and their property.'
In the confidence of authority, the envoys had taken with them one
of the Cardinals' advance messengers, who had been sent on with a
letter announcing the Pope's coronation, but had been stopped at the
frontier. They now entreated King Robert to grant him a safe conduct;
but he denied their request 'with a certain change of countenance,' not
uttering a word.
Turning to Bruce's staff they inquired anxiously, Why was this? Why,
simply because King Robert was not suitably addressed. But for this
blunder, he would have willingly and promptly responded on every point.
So wrote the Cardinals to the Pope from Durham on September 7.
They added that they expected nothing better than a refusal of an
audience at Michaelmas; for, even if Robert were himself disposed to
receive them, it was evident that his barons would offer opposition.
The friends of Bruce had made no secret of their opinion that the
reservation of the royal title was a deliberate slight at the instance
of English intriguers--an opinion avowedly based on information from
the papal court. The contrary assurances of the envoys had been worse
than useless, and they despaired of further intercommunication unless
and until the resentment of the Scots should be mollified by concession
of the royal title. Some considerable time after Michaelmas, Bruce
confirmed by letter the anticipations of the Cardinals. He must have
his royal title recognised. At the same time he repeated his desire for
peace, and his readiness to send representatives to negotiate; but when
the bearer brought back the Cardinals' reply, he was stopped at the
frontier, and had to take the letters back--no doubt because they were
still improperly addressed.
Three days later (September 10), Edward wrote to the Pope from York,
whither he had hastened on hearing of the assault on the Cardinals,
assuring him that he would promptly 'avenge God and the Church,' and
see that the prelates had their temporal losses made good.
To do the Pope justice, he had been anxious to keep clear of the
difficulties obviously involved in the reservation of Bruce's royal
title. In his letter of March 18, he had apologetically prayed Bruce
not to take it ill that he was not styled King of Scotland. On October
21, he sends the Cardinals letters--one for Bruce explaining the former
omission of the royal title, and apparently conceding it now; another
for Edward, begging him not to be offended at his styling Bruce King;
and a third for themselves, blaming them for not telling him whether or
not they had Edward's consent that he (the Pope) should address Bruce
as King. They are to request Edward to give way on the point; and they
are to present or to keep back the letters as they may see expedient.
The information of the Scots from Avignon was evidently well grounded.
Meantime the Cardinals made another attempt. They proclaimed the
truce in London, and had it proclaimed by other ecclesiastics 'in
other principal places of England and Scotland.' But they must bring
it directly to the knowledge of Bruce. Accordingly they despatched
Adam de Newton, the Guardian of the monastery of the Friars Minors in
Berwick, to King Robert and the leading prelates of Scotland, to make
the proclamation. Adam prudently left his papers in safe keeping at
Berwick till he had provided himself with a safe conduct. On December
14, he set out for Old Cambus, twelve miles off, and found Bruce in
a neighbouring wood hard at work, 'day and night, without rest,'
preparing engines for the siege of Berwick. He at once obtained his
safe conduct, and fetched his Bulls and other letters from Berwick to
Old Cambus; but Sir Alexander de Seton refused to allow him to wait
upon the King, and required him to hand over the letters. Seton took
the letters to Bruce, or professed to do so, but presently brought
them back, delivered them to Adam, and ordered him to be gone. Bruce
would have nothing to do with Bulls and processes that withheld from
him the title of King, and he was in any case determined, he said,
to have the town of Berwick. Adam, however, was not to be baffled.
He proclaimed the truce publicly before Seton 'and a great assembly
of people.' The Scots, however, would not take it seriously. Not the
most solemn adjurations could procure for Adam a safe conduct either
back to Berwick or on to the Scots prelates, and he was summarily
ordered to get out of the country with all speed. So he took his way to
Berwick. But he was waylaid and stripped to the skin, and his Bulls and
processes were torn in pieces. Still Adam was undaunted. 'I tell you,
before God,' he wrote to the Cardinals on December 20, 'that I am still
ready as ever, without intermission, to labour for the advancement of
your affairs.'
From midsummer 1317, Edward's officers had been kept busy on the March.
About the beginning of July, Sir John de Athy had taken the Scots
sea-captain, Thomas Dunn, and killed all his men, except himself and
his cousin, from whom Sir John had learned that Randolph was preparing
to attack the Isle of Man, and even had designs on Anglesey, where
English traitors were in league with him. Before January there had
been large submissions to Bruce in the northern counties, partly from
compulsion of arms, partly from starvation; and the chronic feuds
between the town and the castle of Berwick were dangerously aggravated
by the high-handedness of the constable, Sir Roger de Horsley, who
hated all Scots impartially and intensely.
At last a burgess of Berwick, Peter (or Simon) de Spalding, exasperated
by Horsley's supercilious harshness--bribed with ready money and
promise of lands, the Lanercost chronicler says; corrupted by Douglas,
says John of Tynmouth--entered into communication with the Marshal (or
the Earl of March) for the betrayal of the town. By direction of the
King, the Marshal (or March) ambushed at night in Duns Park, where
he was joined by Randolph and Douglas. Advancing on foot, the Scots
planted their ladders unperceived and scaled the wall at the point
where Simon was in charge. The temptation to plunder upset the order
of attack, two-thirds of the party scattering themselves over the
town, breaking houses and slaying men. The opposition of the town's
people was easily overcome, but when the garrison sallied, Randolph and
Douglas were dangerously weak. Sir William de Keith, however, exerted
himself conspicuously, as became a brand-new knight, in collecting
the Scots, and after very hard fighting the garrison was driven in.
Bruce presently came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held
out tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine. The town was taken
on March 28 (Fordun), or April 2 (Lanercost); the castle held out
gallantly till past the middle of July, and even then Horsley marched
out his famished garrison with the honours of war. Bruce installed
as warden Sir Walter the Steward. Peter of Spalding, says John of
Tynmouth, proved troublesome in insisting upon his promised reward;
and, on an accusation of plotting against the life of King Robert, was
put to death. The allegation recalls the case of Sir Peter de Lubaud.
Edward was extremely incensed at the Mayor and burgesses of Berwick,
who had undertaken, for 6000 marks, to defend the town for a year
from June 15, 1317. He ascribed the loss of it to their carelessness,
and in the middle of April he ordered that their goods and chattels,
wheresoever found, should be confiscated, and that such of them as
had escaped into England should be imprisoned. On June 10, 1318, he
summoned his army to meet him at York on July 26, to proceed against
the Scots.
Meantime the Scots were proceeding with vigour against him. For soon
after the capture of Berwick town, Bruce detached a strong force to
ravage the northern counties. They laid waste Northumberland to the
gates of Newcastle, starved the castles of Harbottle and Wark into
surrender, and took Mitford Castle by stratagem. They sold immunity to
the episcopate of Durham, excepting Hartlepool, which Bruce threatened
to burn and destroy because some of its inhabitants had captured a ship
freighted with his 'armeours' and provisions. Northallerton, Ripon,
Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Otley and Skipton were guiding-points in
the desolating track of the invaders. Ripon and Otley suffered most
severely, and Ripon paid 1000 marks for a cessation of destruction.
Fountains Abbey also paid ransom; Bolton Abbey was plundered;
Knaresborough Parish Church bears to this day the marks of the fire
that burnt out the fugitives. The expedition returned to Scotland
laden with spoils, and bringing numerous captives and great droves of
cattle. The Archbishop of York postponed misfortune by being too late
with measures of resistance. But he energetically excommunicated the
depredators, all and sundry.
On hearing of Bruce's reception of the envoys, the Pope had authorised
the Cardinals, on December 29, to put in execution the two Bulls
of excommunication prepared in the previous March. The Cardinals,
however, would seem to have delayed. On June 28, 1318, when the Pope
heard of the woeful adventures of Adam de Newton and of the capture
of Berwick despite his truce, he ordered them to proceed. For Bruce,
he said, had 'grievously' (_dampnabiliter_) 'abused his patience and
long-suffering.' In September accordingly they excommunicated and
laid under interdict Bruce himself, his brother Edward, and all their
aiders and abettors in the invasion of England and Ireland. 'But,'
says the Lanercost chronicler, 'the Scots cared not a jot for any
excommunication, and declined to pay any observance to the interdict.'
In October, Edward followed up his diplomatic success by pressing hard
for the deposition of the Bishop of St Andrews, but the Pope easily
found good technical pleas whereby to avoid compliance.
The Irish expedition came to a disastrous close on the fatal field of
Faughart, near Dundalk, on October 5 (or 14), 1318. A vastly superior
English army, under Sir John de Bermingham, moved against the Scots;
and King Edward the Bruce, wrathfully overruling the counsels of his
staff, disdaining to wait for the approaching reinforcements from
Scotland, and despising the hesitations of his Irish allies, dashed
against the tremendous odds with his native impetuosity.
'Now help quha will, for sekirly
This day, but mair baid, fecht vill I.
Sall na man say, quhill I may dre,
That strynth of men sall ger me fle!
God scheld that ony suld vs blame
That we defoull our nobill name!'
Barbour gives the numbers at 2000 against 40,000, no doubt with
generous exaggeration. King Edward fell at the first onset, killed by
a gigantic Anglo-Irish knight, Sir John de Maupas, who was found lying
dead across his body. Sir John the Steward, Sir John de Soulis, and
other officers were slain. Barbour tells how Sir Philip de Mowbray,
stunned in action, was led captive by two men towards Dundalk; how he
recovered his senses sufficiently to realise his position, shook off
his captors, drew his sword and turned back towards the battle-field,
and how he cleared a hundred men out of his way as he went. John
Thomasson, the leader of the Carrick men, took him in charge, and
hurried him away towards Carrickfergus. But the brave defender
of Stirling had received a mortal wound. King Edward's body was
dismembered, the trunk buried at Faughart, and the limbs exposed in
Irish towns held by the English. The head is said to have been sent to
England to Edward; but Barbour tells how King Edward the Bruce had that
day exchanged armour with Gilbert the Harper, as he had done before
at Connor, and how it was Gilbert's head that had been mistakenly
struck off and despatched to England. The remnants of the Scots army
reached Carrickfergus with the utmost difficulty, and hastily took
ship for Scotland, where the news was received with great lamentation.
Bermingham was created Earl of Louth for his victory. It is curious to
observe that his wife was a sister of the Queen of Scotland.
The death of Edward Bruce disturbed the settlement of the succession,
which was again brought under consideration of Parliament, on December
3, at Scone. Robert, the son of Sir Walter the Steward and the late
Princess Marjory, was recognised as heir, with a proviso saving the
right of any subsequent male issue of King Robert. In case of a
minority, Randolph was to be guardian; and failing Randolph, Douglas.
No sooner had the sentences of excommunication been promulgated than
King Robert took measures to have them revoked or mitigated. He had
good friends at Rome. Letters from these had fallen accidentally into
the hands of Edward, who, on January 12, 1318-19, sent them to the
Pope by the hands of Sir John de Neville, and asked His Holiness to
deal suitably with the writers. A few days before, he had urged the
two Cardinals to press the Pope to reject the applications that he
heard were being made on behalf of Bruce and his friends, and stated
that he would presently send envoys to the Pope himself. Neville was
graciously received, and the Pope ordered the Scots and their abettors
at his court to prison. On April 24, the Pope granted Edward's request
for a Bull permitting him to negotiate for peace with the Scots
notwithstanding their excommunication. But the pressure was not all on
one side; the nuncios in England boldly exercised their powers, and had
often to be restrained even by royal menace, while every ecclesiastical
office was steadily claimed for the papal nominee. Bruce appears to
have deemed it prudent to raise little formal objection to the papal
appointment of ecclesiastics up and down Scotland, though some of them
evidently had but a seat of thorns.
From March to May there was an interesting correspondence between
Edward and some minor states and municipalities on the other side of
the North Sea, whose people, Edward understood, had harboured, or
even assisted, his Scots enemies. They all denied the allegation. The
statesmanlike answer of the Count of Flanders, however, is peculiarly
notable. 'Our land of Flanders,' he wrote, 'is common to all men, of
whatever country, and freely open to all comers; and we cannot deny
admission to merchants doing their business as they have hitherto been
accustomed, for thereby we should bring our land to desolation and
ruin.'
But Berwick must be recaptured. On the loss of Berwick town, Edward
had angrily summoned his forces to muster at York on July 26, 1318.
So few of them appeared, however, that he was forced to postpone the
expedition. On June 4, 1319, he ordered the Welsh levies to be at
Newcastle by July 24 at latest; and, two days after, he wrote to the
Pope that he hoped now 'to put a bit in the jaws of the Scots.' But
another postponement was forced on him. On July 20, however, he issued
a peremptory order for a muster at Michaelmas. His May parliament at
York had granted him certain taxes, his treasury being 'exhausted more
than is believed'; and his good friend the Pope had added a material
contribution. But the levy could not be collected till Michaelmas,
and meantime the King appealed for an advance. There must have been
a favourable response, for early in September he encamped before
Berwick with some 10,000 or 12,000 men, his fleet occupying the
harbour. Having entrenched his lines, he delivered a general assault on
September 7. The besiegers hastily filled the dykes and placed their
scaling-ladders, but the garrison threw them down as fast as they
were raised. The lowness of the wall was not altogether in favour of
the assailants, for the besieged on the top could easily thrust their
spears in their faces. In the course of the afternoon the English
brought a ship on the flood-tide up to the wall, with a boat lashed to
midmast, whence a bridge was to be let down for landing a storming
party. They were embarrassed in their efforts, however, and the ship,
being left aground by the ebb-tide, was burned by the Scots, the
sallying party with difficulty regaining the town. The fight went on
briskly till night, when the combatants agreed to postpone its renewal
for five days.
Though King Robert had mustered a considerable force, probably as large
as Edward's, he deemed it more prudent to despatch it on a raid into
England than to launch it directly against the English entrenchments.
He had, indeed, good reason to rely upon the skill and energy of the
Steward. The five days' truce over, the English, on September 13, moved
forward on wheels an immense sow, not only covering a mining party,
but carrying scaffolds for throwing a storming party on the wall. By
this time, John Crab, whom we have already met as a sea-captain or
pirate, and whom the Count of Flanders presently assured Edward he
would break on the wheel, if he could only get hold of him, had proved
himself engineer enough to devise a 'crane,' which must have been of
the nature of a catapult; and this engine he ran along the wall on
wheels to encounter the sow. The first shot passed over the monster;
the second just fell short; the third crashed through the main beam,
and frightened the men out. 'Your sow has farrowed,' cried the Scots.
Crab now lowered blazing faggots of combustible stuff upon the sow, and
burnt it up. But presently another attempt was made from the harbour,
and Crab's engine was hurried up to fight ships with top-castles
full of men, and with fall-bridges ready at midmast. The first shot
demolished the top gear of one of the ships, bringing down the men; and
the other ships kept a safe distance.
Meantime the general attack raged all along the wall. Sir Walter the
Steward rode from point to point, supplying here and there men from
his own bodyguard, till it was reduced from a hundred to a single
man-at-arms. The severest pressure was at Mary Gate. The besiegers
forced the advance barricade, burned the drawbridge, and fired the
gate. Sir Walter drew reinforcements from the castle, which had not
been attacked, threw open Mary Gate and sallied upon the foe, driving
them back after a very hard struggle, and saving the gate. Night
separated the combatants. Barbour tells how the women and children of
the town had carried arrows to the men on the walls, and regards it as
a miracle that not one of them was slain or wounded. But clearly the
Steward could not sustain many days of such heavy fighting.
The Scots army under Randolph and Douglas had meanwhile followed the
familiar track through Ripon and Boroughbridge, harrying and burning
and slaying. They appear to have made a serious attempt to capture
Edward's Queen, who was then staying near York; but the Archbishop,
learning this intention from a Scots spy that had been taken prisoner,
sallied forth and brought her into the city, and sent her by water
to Nottingham. Trokelowe speaks of certain 'false Englishmen' that
had been bribed by the Scots, and Robert of Reading specifies Sir
Edmund Darel as the guide of the invaders in the attempt. Next day the
Archbishop, with Bishop Hotham of Ely, the Chancellor of England, and
an unwieldy multitude of clergy and townspeople numbering some 10,000,
advanced against the Scots between Myton and Thornton-on-Swale, about
twelve miles north of York. 'These,' said the Scots, 'are not soldiers,
but hunters; they will not do much good.' For the English 'came through
the fields in scattered fashion, and not in united order.' The Scots
formed a schiltron, and set fire to some hay in front, the smoke from
which was blown into the faces of the English. As they met, the Scots
raised a great shout, and the enemy, 'more intent on fleeing than on
fighting,' took to their heels. The Scots mounted in pursuit, killing
(says the Lanercost chronicle) clergy and laymen, about 4000, including
Nicholas Fleming, the Mayor of York, while about 1000, 'as was said,'
were drowned in the Swale. Many were captured and held to heavy ransom.
The Archbishop lost, not only his men, his carriages, and his equipment
generally, but all his plate, 'silver and bronze as well,' which his
servants had 'thoughtlessly' taken to the field; and yet the blame may
rest elsewhere, for the York host appears to have fully anticipated
that the Scots would flee at sight of them. The Primate's official
cross was saved by the bearer, who dashed on horseback through the
Swale and carefully hid it, escaping himself in the dusk of the
evening. Then a countryman, who had observed the cross and watched the
bearer's retreat, discovered it, wound wisps of hay about it, and kept
it in his hut till search was made for it, whereupon he restored it to
the Archbishop. Such is John of Bridlington's story. The whole episode
contrasts markedly with the exploit of Bishop Sinclair in Fife. It
was contemptuously designated, from the number of ecclesiastics, 'the
Chapter of Myton.'
The Myton disaster occurred on September 20, and on September 24 Edward
raised the siege of Berwick. Certain chroniclers speak of intestine
dissensions, and particularly of a quarrel with Lancaster over the
appointment of wardens of town and castle once Berwick was taken. The
Lanercost chronicler says Edward desired to detach a body to intercept
the Scots, and with the rest to carry on the siege; but his magnates
would not hear of it. He accordingly abandoned the siege, and marched
westward to cut off the retreat of the Scots. Randolph had penetrated
to Castleford Bridge, near Pontefract, and swept up Airedale and
Wharfdale; and, passing by Stainmoor and Gilsland, he eluded Edward's
army, and carried into Scotland many captives and immense plunder. It
remained for Edward but to disband his troops, and go home, as usual,
with empty hands.
About a month later (November 1), when the crops were harvested in
northern England, Randolph and Douglas returned with fire and sword.
They burnt Gilsland, and passed down to Brough (Burgh) under Stainmoor;
turned back on Westmorland, which they ravaged for ten or twelve days,
and went home through Cumberland. They mercilessly burnt barns and the
stored crops, and swept the country of men and cattle.
Edward began to think of truce. In his letter of December 4 to the
Pope, he represents that urgent proposals for peace had come to
him from Bruce and his friends. In any case, the step was a most
sensible one. On December 21, terms were agreed on, and next day Bruce
confirmed them. This truce was to run for two years and the odd days
to Christmas. Bruce agreed to raise no new fortresses within the
counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, and Dumfries. He delivered the castle
of Harbottle to Edward's commissioners, 'as private persons,' with the
proviso that, unless a final peace were made by Michaelmas, it should
be either redelivered to him or demolished. On August 25, 1321, Edward
commanded that it should be destroyed 'as secretly as possible.'
In autumn 1319, the Pope, at the instance of Edward, had given orders
for a revival of the excommunications against Bruce and his friends;
but on January 8, 1319-20, he cited Bruce and the Bishops of St
Andrews, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, and Moray, to compear before him by May
1. The summons went unheeded; he had not addressed Bruce as King.
Excommunications were again hurled at Bruce and his bishops, and
Scotland was laid under ecclesiastical interdict. Meanwhile, however,
the Scots 'barons, freeholders, and all the community of the realm'--no
churchmen, be it observed--assembled at Arbroath Abbey on April 6, and
addressed to his Holiness a memorable word in season. First, as to
their kingdom and their King:
Our nation continued to enjoy freedom and peace under the
protection of the Papal See, till Edward, the late King of the
English, in the guise of a friend and ally, attacked our realm,
then without a head, and our people, then thinking no evil or
deceit, and unaccustomed to war or aggression. The acts of
injury, murder, violence, burning, imprisonment of prelates,
burning of abbeys, spoliation and slaying of ecclesiastics, and
other enormities besides, which he practised on our people,
sparing no age or sex, creed or rank, no man could describe or
fully understand without the teaching of experience. From such
countless evils, by the help of Him that woundeth and maketh
whole, we have been delivered by the strenuous exertions of
our Sovereign Lord, King Robert, who, for the deliverance of
his people and his inheritance from the hands of the enemy,
like another Maccabeus or Joshua, cheerfully endured toils and
perils, distress and want. Him the Divine Providence, that legal
succession in accordance with our laws and customs, which we are
resolved to uphold even to death, and the due consent of us all,
made our Prince and King. To him, as the man that has worked out
the salvation of the people, we, in maintenance of our freedom,
by reason as well of his merits as of his right, hold and are
resolved to adhere in all things. If he should abandon our cause,
with the intention of subjecting us or our realm to the King
of England or to the English, we should instantly strain every
nerve to expel him as our enemy and the subverter of both his own
rights and ours, and choose another for our King, such a one as
should suffice for our defence; for, so long as a hundred of us
remain alive, never will we be reduced to any sort of subjection
to the dominion of the English. For it is not for glory, or
riches, or honours, that we contend, but for freedom alone, which
no man worthy of the name loses but with his life.
With this noble and resolute declaration, they appealed to the Pope
to 'admonish' Edward, who ought to be content with his own dominions,
anciently held enough for seven kings, and 'to leave in peace us
Scotsmen, dwelling in our poor and remote country, and desiring nothing
but our own,' for which 'we are ready and willing to do anything we can
consistently with our national interests.' But, further, as to the Pope
himself:
If, however, your Holiness, yielding too credulous an ear to the
reports of our English enemies, do not give sincere credit to
what we now say, or do not cease from showing them favour to our
confusion, it is on you, we believe, that in the sight of the
Most High, must be charged the loss of lives, the perdition of
souls, and all the other miseries that they will inflict on us
and we on them.
This memorable declaration was not without effect. On August 13, the
Pope earnestly impressed Edward with the duty of keeping on good terms
with Bruce. And on August 18, he wrote that, on the prayer of Bruce by
his envoys, Sir Edward de Mambuisson and Sir Adam de Gordon, he had
granted suspension of the personal citation and of the publication of
the sentences till the 1st of April next year.