THE DELIVERANCE OF SCOTLAND
'Our power for to knaw,
We will tak feild, and wp our baner rais
Off rycht Scotland, in contrar off our fais.
We will no mar now ws in covert hid;
Power till ws will sembill on ilk syd.'
HARRY, xi. 702-6.
'The rycht is ouris, we suld mor ardent be;
I think to freith this land, or ellis de.'
HARRY, ix. 821-2.
'The Inglis men owt of owre land
He gert be put wyth stalwart hand.'
WYNTOUN, viii. 13, 127-8.
Leaving Dundaff, Wallace proceeded, in April 1297, to Lanark, attended
by nine men. He joined his wife in a house just outside the gate,
and here Sir John the Graham came to him, with fifteen followers.
Sir William de Hazelrig,[1] the Sheriff, the oppressor of his wife's
family, and Sir Robert Thorn, presumably the Captain, soon devised a
plan for taking him at disadvantage. As Wallace was returning from mass
one May morning with his companions, not in armour, but pranked out
in the civilian 'goodly green' of the season, he was ostentatiously
insulted by an English soldier--'the starkest man that Hazelrig then
knew.' He tried to get away without a disturbance; but the arrival of
Thorn and Hazelrig with some 200 men in harness at once precipitated
a conflict. The odds were overwhelming, and the Scots retired through
the gate, Wallace and Sir John doughtily defending the rear. Reaching
Wallace's house, they were let in by his wife, and passed out by a
back door, while she held the enemy in parley. They at once sought the
shelter of Cartland Crags.
[1] Bower calls him William de Heslope (Hislop). The
indictment of Wallace has William de Hesebregg
(Hazelrig); the _b_ apparently a clerical blunder for
_l_. Mr. Joseph Bain (_Cal._ ii. p. xxvii.) suggests
Andrew de Livingstone, not convincingly. Livingstone
preceded Hazelrig.
According to Harry, the English, enraged at being baffled, put
Wallace's wife to death; but Harry professes himself unable to state
the circumstances. Wyntoun, whose account is extremely similar to
Harry's, says the Sheriff came to Lanark after the disturbance, and
then caused her to be put to death. He adds that Wallace secretly, but
helplessly, beheld her execution; an absolutely incredible assertion.
Harry's version is certainly nearer the facts. The English had killed
Wallace's father; they had persecuted his mother; now they had
inhumanly murdered his wife. The cup was running over.
The distress of Wallace and his friends is finely depicted by Harry.
It inflamed them to a desperate and exemplary revenge. Reinforced by
Auchinleck with ten men, Wallace and his party entered Lanark at night
by different gates in twos and threes, without exciting remark. Wallace
made for Hazelrig; Sir John, for Thorn. Dashing in the door with his
foot, Wallace found Hazelrig in his bedroom, and slew him on the spot,
while Auchinleck, gave himself the satisfaction of 'making sikkar' with
three thrusts of his knife. Young Hazelrig, rushing to the aid of his
father, was also instantly slain. Meantime Sir John had burnt Thorn in
his house.
Wallace drew off to Clydesdale for aid. His terrible wrongs and
his signal revenge brought him troops of friends, and the hopes of
patriotic Scotsmen rose high. Sir John the Graham and Auchinleck were
at his side. Adam of Riccarton, Sir John of Tynto, Robert Boyd, and
Crawford (not Sir Reginald, who was in England), hastened to him. From
Kyle and Cunningham came 1000 horse. Presently Wallace found himself
at the head of 3000 'likely men of war,' besides many footmen, who
'wanted horse and gear.'
One notable recruit deserves especial mention--Gilbert de Grimsby,
whom Wallace's men rechristened Jop. Jop was a man 'of great stature,'
and already 'some part grey.' He was a Riccarton man by birth, and had
travelled far in Edward's service as 'a pursuivant in war,' though,
Harry says, he consistently refused to bear arms. No doubt he was the
'Gilbert de Grimmesby' that carried the sacred banner of St. John
of Beverley in Edward's progress through Scotland after Dunbar, a
distinguished service for which Edward on October 13, 1296, directed
Warenne to find him a living worth about 20 marks or pounds a year.
The news of the Lanark affray having reached Edward, Harry marches
up to Biggar an 'awful host' of 60,000 men under the 'awful king'
Edward, and scatters it like chaff before Wallace, killing thousands,
a fabulous number of the slain being near kinsmen of the King. But
Edward was certainly in England at the time, busily struggling with
adversity in his preparations 'to cross seas' to Flanders. He had,
indeed, one eye on the Scots. In the beginning of May he was having his
'engines' overhauled at Carlisle; on May 24 he addressed a circular
order to his leading liegemen in Scotland to hear personally from
certain high officers of 'certain matters he had much at heart' in view
of his intended departure to Flanders; and through May and June he
received the oaths of several Scots barons to serve him 'in Scotland
against the King of France.' But, so far as authentic documents show,
those preparations led elsewhere, not to Biggar. As there exists no
historical record of this Biggar expedition, and the local tradition is
most likely a mere echo of Harry's trumpet, the Marquess of Bute and
Dr. Moir may be right in the suggestion that Harry's battle of Biggar
is a duplicate of the later battle of Roslin. In any case, it must be
seriously modified both in dimensions and in details.
Harry's account of Wallace's subsequent doings in the south-west must
at present be left in a tangle of misconceptions. The dreadful story
of the Barns of Ayr, however, claims notice. The details of the
treacherous preparations must be rejected, or at least held in grave
suspense. The alleged result was that some 360 of the leading Scots
of the district--Sir Reginald Crawford, Sir Brice Blair, Sir Niel
Montgomery, Crawfords, Kennedys, Campbells, Barclays, Boyds, Stewarts,
and so forth--being summoned to attend an eyre at Ayr on June 18, were
hanged as they entered, one by one, in the 'Barns,' or barracks, where
the meeting was convened. Wallace, who had been specially aimed at,
escaped by an accident. Gathering what men he could muster on the spur
of the moment--some 300--he came to the Barns at night, fired them,
and burnt and slew all the English there. Next he took the castle, but
there were only a handful of men in it. Supplementary to the revenge
taken by Wallace was 'the Friars' Blessing of Ayr'; for Friar Drumlay,
the Prior, who had 140 English quartered with him, simultaneously rose
with seven of his brethren, donned harness, and took arms, and slew
most of his guests, the few that escaped being drowned. Harry reckons
the whole slaughter bill at 5000.
What may be the kernel, or fragments, of truth in the story cannot
now be stated. Certainly Sir Reginald Crawford was alive after June
18. Arnulf the Justice may, as the Marquess of Bute suggests, stand
for Ormsby the Justiciar, who was attacked by Wallace at Scone. The
Marquess looks for explanation to the occasion of Edward's visit to
Ayr on August 26, 1298, when the English found Ayr Castle burnt and
abandoned. Lord Hailes supposes the story may have taken origin in the
pillaging of the English quarters at Irvine in July 1297. Possibly
there is a jumble and an exaggeration and distortion of all these
facts. But there must be something deeper. The event is mentioned as
well known, not only by Harry, but also by Barbour and Major, and in
the _Complaynt of Scotland_. The story, as it stands, does not fit into
the known history of the time and place alleged, and must be reserved
for more adequate examination.
Wallace, according to Harry, proceeded straight to Glasgow, fearing
that Bek and Percy might be perpetrating a similar atrocity at the
eyre of justice they were holding for Clydesdale. He defeated the
English in a stiff combat, killing Percy quite unhistorically. Bishop
Bek, with an escort, escaped to Bothwell, whither Wallace pursued
him, but apparently he could not take him out of the hands of Sir
Aymer de Valence. Bek was no doubt in Scotland somewhere about this
time--perhaps two or three months later than Harry supposes; for Edward
had sent him to report personally on the state of affairs, concerning
which various unwelcome indications had reached him.
One especially unwelcome report, which the chroniclers specify as the
immediate reason for despatching Bek, informed the King of a daring
attack upon Ormsby, his Justiciar, at Scone, by Wallace and Douglas.
Ormsby demanded homage and fealty, and visited non-performance with the
utmost severity. 'The temper of Scotland at that season,' says Lord
Hailes, 'required vigilance, courage, liberality, and moderation in
its rulers. The ministers of Edward displayed none of these qualities.
While other objects of interest or ambition occupied his thoughts,
the administration of his officers became more and more abhorred and
feeble.' This is true of Ormsby, and true generally. Ormsby, forewarned
of the approach of Wallace, just managed to escape, leaving all his
goods and chattels to the spoilers. Wallace and Douglas, it is said,
killed a great many Englishmen, and laid siege to several castles; but
the details are not available.
The date of the attack on Ormsby is given by the chroniclers as May;
but the seriousness of the situation must have impressed Edward before
then, for we have seen that by this time he was preparing for a
'Scottish war.' The insurrectionary feeling was certainly stirring all
over the country, and not merely within the range of Wallace's known
operations. About this time, or a little later, Macduff had made an
ineffectual rising in Fife; on August 1, Warenne reports from Berwick
that the Earl of Strathearn had captured Macduff and his two sons, and
'they shall receive their deserts when they arrive.' About this time,
or very little later, Sir Alexander of Argyll was reported to have
taken the Steward's castle of Glasrog, and to have invaded Alexander
of the Isles, a liegeman of Edward. Has this anything to do with the
expedition that Harry sends Wallace on to Argyll for the rescue of
Campbell of Lochawe from MacFadyen, whom Edward had made Lord of Argyll
and Lorn? After giving over the pursuit of Bek, Wallace had retired to
Dundaff, where Duncan of Lorn found him and besought his aid. Wallace
promptly responded to the call of his old schoolfellow, defeated
MacFadyen, and established Campbell and Duncan in their lands. At
Ardchattan many men rallied to his standard, including Sir John Ramsay
of Auchterhouse, who had long held out in Strathearn; and with them
he proceeded to attack St. Johnston. Whatever the blunders in Harry's
details, it is quite certain that there now was revolt against English
supremacy in Argyll.
The chroniclers join Douglas with Wallace in the attack on Ormsby.
Harry does not mention the episode at all; and if he confuses it with
the Barns of Ayr, he does not mention Douglas as present. It may be
supposed that Douglas had come south from Scone, and was engaged on
a separate enterprise. Harry first puts him in independent action at
a much later--and impossible--period. He makes Douglas attack and
capture Sanquhar Castle; whereupon the captain of Durisdeer raised
the Enoch, Tibbermoor, and Lochmaben, and besieged him in Sanquhar.
Douglas, in distress, sent for aid to Wallace, then in the Lennox.
May it be Argyll, and not the Lennox? Or did Wallace go to the Lennox
after driving Bek out of Glasgow? The event must have been about this
time, if ever. At any rate, Wallace promptly relieved him; defeated
the English at Dalswinton, slaying 500; and made Douglas keeper from
Drumlanrig to Ayr. Be all this as it may, Edward on June 12 confiscated
all Douglas's lands and goods in Essex and Northumberland; which seems
to indicate that by that date he had learned that Douglas had forsworn
his liege lord.
In Galloway, Edward had further trouble with the shifty Bruce of
Carrick. When the disturbance took place at Scone, the Bishop of
Carlisle, acting with Edward's other high officers in these parts,
summoned Bruce to appear, and exacted from him an oath that he would
lend faithful aid to the King against the Scots. This may have had
nothing whatever to do with the Scone attack, but may have been simply
a part in the regular preparations that were going on for the 'Scottish
war.' Bruce is supposed to have made a display of his fidelity by the
raid he presently made upon the lands of Douglas, which he harried with
fire and sword, carrying off Douglas's wife and children to Annandale.
It is, however, an obvious suggestion that this vicious foray was a
counterblow for the burning of Turnberry Castle in the Biggar campaign,
if Douglas was with Wallace in that enterprise, as, on Harry's story,
he probably was. Such an interpretation of Bruce's action would tend to
confirm Harry on the point; and there was no clear need for Bruce to
signalise his fidelity in that particular fashion.
At the same time, Bruce may have done it in order to cloak the
conspiracy he was hatching in concert with the Bishop of Glasgow, the
Steward, and the Steward's brother John. When the scheme was ripe,
Bruce attempted in vain to raise his father's men of Annandale, but
he was supported by his own men of Carrick. His party at once fell
on burning and slaying, and the chroniclers specially mention the
expulsion and contumelious treatment of the English ecclesiastics. If
such expulsion was in furtherance of the execution of the edict of
April 1296, hitherto held in abeyance by the English domination, that
was but a very subordinate consideration. The popular view seems to
have been that Bruce was aspiring to the throne. Probably enough, at
any rate, he thought that he might lead the nobles to the success that
was likely otherwise to crown Wallace. There is no trace of any direct
personal connection of Wallace with this movement--no trace except a
blunder of Rishanger's, who mentions both Wallace and Andrew de Moray,
(? Thomas or Herbert de Morham), but Walter of Hemingburgh rightly
gives Douglas in place of Wallace, and omits Moray. Bruce, of course,
could not have been expected to put himself under the leadership of a
mere landless squire, whose proper place he would have considered to be
that of a henchman of his own--a squire, moreover, that consistently
professed to act as the liegeman of King John. No; the rising most
probably represents an independent attempt of Bruce's party, on the
suggestion of Wallace's successes.
Burton is not unnaturally surprised to find Sir William Douglas in
Bruce's party. It would be easier for the Douglas pride to bow to
Bruce than to Wallace; and the raid on the Douglas estates might be
held to cancel the burning of Turnberry, or might otherwise receive
a large atonement. In any case, there is barely room for doubt that
Douglas eventually, if not from the first, cast in his lot with Bruce.
The plot proved a complete fiasco. An English army was upon them.
In the first days of June, Edward had appointed Percy and Clifford
'to arrest, imprison, and "justify" all disturbers of the peace in
Scotland and their resetters.' Having at length, with great difficulty,
raised an army of 300 mounted men-at-arms and 40,000 foot in England
north of Trent, Percy and Clifford entered Annandale early in July.
Pushing on to Ayr, they learned that the Scots force was near Irvine.
The Scots barons are represented at sixes and sevens; so selfishly
at strife, that Sir Richard de Lundy, who had never done homage to
Edward, passed over to Percy in open disgust at their discord. At any
rate, they had neither men nor military capacity nor patriotic ardour
to stand up against the English army. They at once sued for terms.
On July 7, at Irvine, Percy and Clifford received them to Edward's
peace, provisionally promising them their lives, property, and personal
liberty, but requiring hostages. Such a pusillanimous collapse of the
joint enterprise of half a dozen of the most powerful Scots nobles, the
natural leaders of the nation, with young Bruce himself at their head,
may suggest some measure of the courage, resource, and patriotism of
the youthful and obscure Wallace--especially if we look but two months
ahead to the signal victory of Stirling.
The craven spirit of these barons is pilloried in the ignominious
document recording their appeal to Warenne to support the convention
with Percy. There they stated shamelessly that they had been afraid
lest Edward's coming army should harry their lands, and that they had
been surely informed that the King would impress 'all the middle people
of Scotland' for his war over sea. They had accordingly taken up arms
in defence, until they could protect themselves by treaty from such a
grievance and dishonour. 'And therefore, when the English army entered
within the land, they came to meet them, and had such a conference that
all of them came to the peace and the fealty of our lord the King.'
Yet their disgraceful treaty, negotiated by the Bishop of Glasgow,
acknowledges that they had committed 'acts of arson, slaughter, and
plunder.' They had to put the best face upon a weak case. There was
vastly more spirit in the nameless Scots and Glaswegians that plundered
the English baggage in Irvine, slaying over 500 of the enemy, while
their betters were grovelling to Percy and Clifford for admission to
the peace of the usurper.
On July 15, Percy and Clifford reached Roxburgh, where they found
Cressingham with 300 covered horses and 10,000 foot soldiers, ready
to march to their aid next morning. Cressingham's report to the King
on July 23 throws interesting side-lights on the situation. Percy and
Clifford appear to have thought that the whole object of the expedition
had been accomplished. Cressingham, however, urged that 'even though
peace had been made on this side the Scots water, yet it would be well
to make a chevachie on the enemies on the other side'; or, at any rate,
'that an attack should be made upon William Wallace, who lay then with
a large company--and does so still--in the Forest of Selkirk, like one
that holds himself against your peace.' We shall presently see that
the Scots north of Forth were tolerably active. Meantime Cressingham's
reference to Wallace, as well as the formal treaty, appears to indicate
all but conclusively that Wallace was no partner of the barons in the
fiasco of Irvine. In the result Percy and Cressingham concluded to make
no expedition until Warenne should arrive from England.
The next day both Cressingham and Spaldington wrote further
particulars to Edward. Spaldington informed him that 'because Sir
William Douglas has not kept the covenants he made with Sir Henry de
Percy'--that is, had failed to provide hostages or guarantors--'he is
in your castle of Berwick, in my keeping, and he is still very savage
and very abusive; but,' he added with dutiful zest, 'I will keep him in
such wise that, please God, he shall by no means get out.' Douglas was
put in irons. On October 12, he was consigned to the Tower of London,
and on January 20, 1298-99, he is reported as 'with God.' Again,
Cressingham's letter of July 24 shows the irksomeness of the English
position. Edward, who had met almost insuperable difficulties in
fitting out his Flanders expedition, had urged him to raise money from
the issues and the rents of the realm of Scotland to aid Warenne and
Percy in their military operations. 'Not a penny could be raised,' says
Cressingham, 'until my lord the Earl of Warenne shall enter into your
land and compel the people by force and sentence of law.' More than
that:--
'Sire, let it not displease you, by far the greater part of
your counties of the realm of Scotland are still unprovided
with keepers, as well by death, sieges, or imprisonment;
and some have given up their bailiwicks, and others neither
will nor dare return; and in some counties the Scots have
established and placed bailiffs and ministers, so that no
county is in proper order, excepting Berwick and Roxburgh, and
this only lately.'
After all, Harry may not be far wrong in stating that Wallace appointed
sheriffs and captains from 'Gamlispath' to Urr Water, and controlled
Galloway, after the alleged battle of Biggar. It may be also, as he
says, that Douglas came to Wallace's peace at that time, and ruled
from Drumlanrig to Ayr as his lieutenant. In any case, Cressingham's
letter marks emphatically the strength of the silent, as well as of
the active, resistance of the people of Scotland. The impecunious and
helpless Treasurer could qualify his rueful report by only one vague
crumb of comfort. 'But, sire, all this will be speedily amended, by the
grace of God, by the arrival of the said lord the Earl, Sir Henry de
Percy, and Sir Robert Clifford, and the others of your Council.'
The alleged delay of the barons in giving hostages is attributed by
the more trusted chroniclers to the urgency of Wallace. First Douglas,
and then the Bishop, surrendered their liberty, pricked (it is said)
by insulting suspicions of their honour. But this seems to be matter
of inference, not of fact. For on August 1, Warenne wrote to Edward:
'Sir William de Douglas is in your castle of Berwick, in good irons
and in good keeping, for that he failed to produce his hostages on the
day appointed him, as the others did.' As for the Bishop, Edward's own
theory, based (he said) on intercepted correspondence of Wishart, was,
that he had voluntarily submitted to internment in Roxburgh Castle, in
order to plot for its betrayal to the Scots. One would like to see that
correspondence. No doubt the compulsion in both cases was altogether
external. At any rate, we are told that Wallace was extremely angry
when he heard of their surrender; and that, in his rage, he harried
the Bishop's house, carrying off his furniture, arms, and horses.
Possibly he did; possibly, too, the true story may be that this was
the harrying of Bishop Bek, not of Bishop Wishart, in Glasgow. It is
further admitted that his followers increased to an immense number, the
community of the land following him as their leader and chief, and the
whole of the retainers of the magnates adhering to him; 'and although
the magnates themselves were with our King in the body, yet their heart
was far from him.' This picture agrees fully with the lamentable report
of Cressingham.
The trouble in the north was certainly not to be ignored, as
Cressingham well knew. Andrew de Moray, son of Sir Andrew de Moray
(since Dunbar a prisoner in the Tower), was at the head of an
insurrection of considerable magnitude. The Bishop of Aberdeen, and
Gartnet, the son of the Earl of Mar, had proceeded to quell it; and
early in June Edward had despatched to their aid the Earl of Buchan,
and later the Earl of Mar. Mar, Comyn, and Gartnet reported on July 25,
that on July 17 at Launoy (?) on the Spey 'met us Andrew de Moray with
a great body of rogues,' and 'the aforesaid rogues betook themselves
into a very great stronghold of bog and wood, where no horseman
could be of service.' They mention 'the great damage which is in the
country,' and send Sir Andrew de Rathe to inform him particularly. It
is instructive to observe that, when Sir Andrew showed his credence to
Cressingham at Berwick, Cressingham warned Edward (August 5) to give
little weight to it, for it 'is false in many points, and obscure, as
will be well known hereafter, I fear.' On the same date the Constable
of Urquhart reported how Moray had besieged his castle; and about
the same time Sir Reginald le Cheyne informed Edward how Moray and
his 'malefactors' had spoiled and laid waste his goods and lands.
Apparently a peace had been patched up somehow; for on August 28
letters of safe-conduct were issued in favour of Andrew de Moray, and
of Hugh, son of the Earl of Ross, whose Countess had brought material
aid to the English party against Andrew de Moray, to enable both men to
visit their fathers in the Tower of London. Andrew de Moray, however,
could not have used his safe-conduct, for he fought at Stirling Bridge.
By this time Aberdeen was also in revolt. On August 1, Warenne reports
that 'we have sent to take Sir Henry de Lazom, who is in your castle
of Aberdeen, and there makes a great lord of himself.' Warenne has not
yet heard of Lazom's fate; but he can promise that 'if he be caught he
shall be honoured according to his deserts.'
Wallace, whatever his strength in Selkirk Forest, evidently felt it
inexpedient to offer direct opposition to the troops under Percy and
Cressingham at Roxburgh, and under Spaldington at Berwick. He went
north, no doubt by Glasgow, if it be true that it was now he harried
the facile bishop--or the astute one either. His force augmented
steadily as he marched onward. It may have been at this time that he
made the expedition into Argyll and Lorn; it may have been at the
earlier date previously mentioned. For some little space we must again
fall back on the guidance of Harry, who, as we have just seen, brings
him from Ardchattan to the siege of St. Johnston. The details that
Harry supplies give an air of verisimilitude to his narrative. He tells
how Sir John Ramsay had 'bestials' of wood made in the forest, and
floated them down the river; how the troops filled the dykes with earth
and stone, and advanced the 'bestials' to the walls; and how Wallace,
Ramsay, and Graham at last sacked the town, slaying 2000. Ruthven,
who had joined with thirty men, and distinguished himself in the
siege, Wallace installed as Captain and Sheriff, with the hereditary
lieutenancy of Strathearn.
'Then to the north good Wallace made him boun.'
Having first made a flying visit to Cupar, whence the English abbot had
fled, Wallace swept over the north country with his accustomed energy.
At Glammis he was joined by Bishop Sinclair; Brechin was reached the
same night. Next morning Wallace displayed 'the banner of Scotland,'
and rode through the Mearns 'in plain battle' to Dunnottar Castle,
where some 4000 English had taken refuge. He destroyed them all, even
burning down the church, which was full of refugees; not even the
intercession of the bishop could save them, for Wallace had fresh on
his mind the atrocities of the Barns of Ayr.
Hastening to Aberdeen, Wallace suddenly fell upon the shipping, and
destroyed it. Harry mentions no difficulty with the garrison. Wallace
at once swept through Buchan, and then round the further north. It
is impossible to say how the tour was affected by the results of the
recent operations of Andrew de Moray west of the Spey. On August 1--a
rather early date--Wallace was back in Aberdeen, making arrangements
for the administration of the north. He immediately passed south to the
siege of Dundee.
There are some historical blunders in Harry's sketch of Wallace's
northern expedition. Thus, Sinclair, though a good patriot, was
not Bishop of Dunkeld till 1308, at any rate, not 'with the Pope's
consent'; Matthew de Crambeth was bishop from 1288 to 1304 at least.
Sir Henry de Beaumont, too, whom Harry drives out of Buchan, was not
earl till some ten years later. Again, if Wallace was in Selkirk
Forest on July 23, as Cressingham reported, he could not, with all his
celerity, have overrun the north and been back in Aberdeen by August
1. It does not, however, by any means follow that Harry's account is
not fairly right in substance. In any case, it seems certain that the
whole of Scotland north of the Forth--except Dundee and Stirling--was
under the sway of Wallace just before the battle of Stirling Bridge.
On August 22, Edward embarked for Flanders, and did not return to
England till March 14. A few days before sailing (August 14), he had
designated Sir Brian Fitz Alan to succeed Warenne as Governor of
Scotland, Warenne being ill and anxious to be relieved. In obedience to
urgent orders to remain at his post, however, Warenne had gone north at
the head of the English army, and was making for Stirling. On hearing
of his approach, Wallace left one of his lieutenants to carry on the
siege of Dundee, and hastened to dispute the passage of the Forth. He
could not occupy Stirling Castle, for the castle was not, as Harry
says, in the hands of Earl Malcolm (who, on the contrary, was in the
English camp), but had been in the hands of Sir Richard de Waldegrave,
the English Constable, since September 8, 1296. Wallace chose his
position with the instinct of military genius. With his back to the
Abbey Craig and the Ochils above the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, and with
a loop of the Forth protecting him in front, he commanded at his will
the head of the bridge that lay between him and the enemy. He is said
to have had 180 horse and 40,000 foot, while Warenne had 1000 horse
and 50,000 foot; but little reliance can be placed on the figures.
Cressingham, it is said, had directed Percy to disband his army of the
west, believing that the force under Warenne was amply sufficient for
the campaign.
As the armies lay in view of each other, with the river rolling between
them, negotiations took place with a view to some accommodation. The
Steward of Scotland and Earl Malcolm of the Lennox readily obtained
Warenne's permission to try what they could do in representations to
Wallace. Wallace, however, was absolutely irreconcilable. Warenne next
despatched two friars to Wallace, to invite him and his men to come to
the King's peace, promising impunity for all past offences. 'Take back
for answer,' said Wallace, 'that we are not here to sue for peace, but
are ready to fight for the freedom of ourselves and of our country. Let
the English come on when they please, they shall find us ready to meet
them to their beards.' The reply might have been anticipated.
In the English camp the report of the friars was correctly interpreted
as a plain defiance, and strengthened the clamour of Cressingham and
his friends for an immediate attack on the presumptuous Scots. Warenne,
ill, and anxious to reach an easy settlement, was unable to withstand
'the ignorant impetuosity' of the overbearing churchman. Sir Richard de
Lundy, whom Harry mistakenly ranges on the side of Wallace, interposed
with a wise suggestion. He pointed out the fatal folly of attempting
to advance over the bridge, which allowed only two to pass abreast; by
that way 'we are dead men.' He offered to take a party of 500 horse and
a detachment of infantry across a ford--'probably the ford of Maner,'
Hailes thinks--and catch the enemy in the rear. Lundy's proposal was
declined, on the flimsy ground that it would divide the army, the real
ground probably being doubt of his fidelity. Still Warenne hesitated.
'Why do we drag out the war in this fashion,' urged the Treasurer,
'and waste the King's treasure? Let us fight, as is our bounden duty.'
Warenne at last gave way.
On the morning of September 11, Cressingham led the English van
across the narrow bridge of Stirling. From the slopes of the Abbey
Craig--over which now towers the imposing National Monument--Wallace
sternly watched them defiling in steady movement all the morning till
eleven o'clock. At the critical moment he sent the blast of his horn
thrilling through the valley, the signal to launch his eager men upon
the English van. While the main bodies of the combatants met in deadly
shock, a company of Scots seized and held the head of the bridge. This
movement was no sooner realised than it embarrassed and disordered the
advancing English, and struck apprehension into the hearts of such as
had passed over. Hopeless confusion passed into irretrievable disaster.
The English vanguard was cut to pieces or driven into the Forth.
Cressingham himself was slain. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, who had been
among the first to cross, seeing the inevitable rout, cut his way back
to the bridge with conspicuous valour, and effected his escape. This
remarkable exception indicates forcibly the plight of the rest. As the
English drew back from the bridge, the Scots pressed vehemently upon
them. Warenne, who had not crossed the river, promptly took to horse,
and, ill as he was, did not draw bridle till he reached Berwick, and
did not rest till he was safe on the English side of the Border.
It is said that the Scots flayed Cressingham's body and distributed
the skin in strips. So deeply was he detested in life, that it is far
from unlikely that his enemies took a morbid revenge upon him in death.
After all, it is only sentimentally worse than the fate he narrowly
escaped at the hands of his own men, who were incensed almost to the
point of stoning him to death for declining the aid of Percy's force.
Still the fact, if a fact, is to be regretted; although the Furies were
let loose.
The Steward and Earl Malcolm are represented as playing a double part,
at which the Steward, at any rate, was getting well practised. Having
failed to arrange an accommodation with Wallace, they had promised
Warenne to bring him some forty more horse on the day of battle. They
discreetly waited to see how the event would declare itself, and then
calmly stood on the winning side with contemptible judiciousness.
The Scots at once entered upon an eager pursuit of Warenne's flying
army. Harry traces the English flight through the Tor Wood, and on
to Haddington and Dunbar, marking the route by large chronicles of
the slain. Wallace at once returned to Stirling. The Constable of the
castle, Sir Richard de Waldegrave, and great part of the garrison, had
been killed at the bridge; and Warenne had given the command to Sir
William de Fitz Warin, with whom was the redoubtable Sir Marmaduke
de Twenge, and 'other good soldiers.' The castle was quickly reduced
'from want of victuals.' Sir William de Ros, by his own account, was
one of the captives, and 'William le Waleys spared his life from being
Sir Robert's brother (? cousin); but as he would not renounce his
allegiance, sent him a prisoner to Dumbarton Castle, where he lay in
irons and hunger till its surrender to the King after the battle of
Falkirk.' On April 7, 1299, Edward authorised negotiations for the
exchange of a number of prisoners, including Fitz Warin, Twenge, and
Ros. Fitz Warin died the same year (before Dec. 23). The fate of the
rest of the garrison was probably similar.
Harry tells how Wallace received all the barons that were willing to
come to him, requiring them all to swear 'a great oath' to be loyal to
himself and to Scotland, with the alternative of death or imprisonment.
Sir John de Menteith he mentions specifically as having taken the
oath. But this subordination of the 'barons'--in spirit at least--is
to be accepted with some reserve; though an English annalist also
tells us that the Scots adhered to Wallace, 'from the least to the
greatest'; and the papers about 'ordinances and confederations,' found
on Wallace's person when he was captured, point to a concordat of some
sort. Dundee was at once evacuated; and in ten days not an English
captain was left in Scotland, except in Berwick and Roxburgh. Wallace
had at length achieved the deliverance of Scotland.