Archive for the ‘Great Figures of Medieval Scotland’ Category

England’s Claim to Be Overlords of Scotland

Central to Robert Bruce’s struggles, and Scotland’s Wars of Independence which form the backdrop of The Blue Bells Trilogy, is England’s claim to be overlords of Scotland.

Why Edward I claimed, in the late 1200′s, to be overlord of Scotland requires a trip back to 1174.  (Fasten your seatbelts, our time machine is revving its engines!)  David I is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s greatest kings.  I will quote a historian who says it well: “‘He had found Scotland an isolated cluster of small half-united states, barely emergent from the Dark Ages; he left her a kingdom, prosperous, organised, in the full tide of medieval life, and fully part of Europe, as she remained through the rest of the middle ages and some time after.”

David’s son, Henry, died before David.  He left three sons, two of whom became kings of Scotland.  Malcolm IV reigned only twelve years and died without an heir.  William the Lion, his younger brother, took the throne on December 9, 1165.  In contrast to his brother, he was a strong king and a man of action.  He is said to have been powerfully built, with red hair, and very headstrong.  The title ‘the Lion,’ however, refers not to his strength or character, but to the fact that it is he who adopted the Lion Standard, the rearing red lion on a field of gold, which Robert the Bruce would carry 150 years later, and is still the royal standard of Scotland today.

One of William’s goals was to regain control of Northumberland, in the north of England.  This had long-lasting consequences on Scotland’s future. 

In the early years of his reign, he had something of a friendship with Henry II of England.  He went to Normandy with him in 1166 and spent Easter 1170 as his guest.  However,  not entirely trusting Henry, he also joined an early  incarnation of the Auld Alliance, a mutual pact of protection between Scotland, France, and Norway.  When Henry’s three sons and wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, revolted against him in 1173, William stepped into the conflict, agreeing to help Eleanor in exchange for Northumberland. 

In a stunning display of over-confidence at the ensuing Battle of Alnwick (which castle is better known today as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies!), William single-handedly charged the English troops, shouting, “Now we shall see which of us are good knights.”  Apparently, given the odds, the English were.  They captured William, and led him in chains to Newcastle, Northampton, and finally, Falaise, in Normandy.

He remained a prisoner for five months, obtaining his release only by signing the Treaty of Falaise on December 8, 1174.  The treaty stated that Scots would be taxed to pay the cost of the occupying English armies, England would control Edinburgh, Stirling, and other key castles, and, most importantly to the events that would follow more than a hundred years later, that William recognize Henry as his feudal overlord.  In 1175, he swore fealty to Henry at York.

In 1189, Richard I became king and launched his Crusades.  By the third, he needed money, and so, sold back to Scotland, for 10,000 silver marks,  the rights signed away by the Treaty of Falaise.  Thus, for 15 years, England’s king was the overlord of Scotland.

Jump back to the reign of Alexander III in the 1200′s.  Alexander became king at the age of 8.  Henry III, now king of England, saw an opportunity in the youth of Scotland’s new king.  At age 10, Alexander married Henry’s daughter, Margaret, and Henry began pressuring Alexander to swear fealty to Henry and England.  Alexander sidestepped the demands, until after Edward I succeeded Henry III, when, with carefully chosen words, he swore this: “I become your man for the lands I hold of you in the Kingdom of England for which I owe homage, saving my Kingdom.”

Edward did not give up dreams of being overlord, like Henry II.  His opportunity came in 1290.  Four years earlier, Alexander III had died in a fall over a cliff, while trying to get home to his bride.  His granddaughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, was his only heir, but on her journey to Scotland to claim the throne, she, too, died, leaving Scotland a kingdom without a king.

Into the void stepped thirteen men claiming to be the rightful heir.  Fearful of civil war, the Scottish nobles asked Edward to choose.  Edward agreed on the stipulation that he be recognized as overlord.  The Scots, not surprisingly, rejected his kind offer, saying that, as there was no king, no one in their realm had the authority to agree to such a thing.  They countered with the offer that he could be overlord until he chose a king.

The real choice was between Robert the Bruce (the Competitor, grandfather of the Robert the Bruce) and John Balliol.  While some believe that Balliol did indeed have the stronger claim to the throne, it is generally accepted that Edward chose him more because he regarded him as the weakest man, one whom he could control and thus effectively rule Scotland.  Thus, even after Balliol was crowned on November 30, 1292, Edward continued to act as overlord.  Balliol soon refused to comply, leading to his forced abdication on July 10, 1296.

At issue remained Edward’s claim to be overlord of Scotland, stemming from the days of William the Lion more than a century prior.  The Scots of course objected strongly, and it is at this stage that William Wallace rose, fighting for Scotland’s freedom.  After his death in August of 1305, Robert the Bruce (grandson of the Competitor) took the throne of Scotland (that story is told elsewhere in my blog).  From his crowning in March 1306, he fought against the English armies that occupied his country, leading steadily to the Battle of Bannockburn in June, 1314, in which Bruce pitted his own small army against the might of England, an army two to three times the size of his own. 

It is this battle, stemming from years of England’s claim to sovereignty over Scotland, for which Niall, in Blue Bells of Scotland, is meant to make his cross-country trip to raise men, and this situation into which Shawn inadvertently wakes up, finding himself making the mission in Niall’s place.

Sources:  Electric Scotland, Undiscovered Scotland, BritRoyals, and more.

13 Aug 2010
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Posted in Alexander III, David I, Edward I, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Malcolm IV, Politics, Treaty of Falaise, William the Lion | No Comments »

Battle of Methven

A battle which begins with the Oath of the Swans and ends with a full commitment to guerrilla tactics: this is the Battle of Methven, a disaster in the short run for Robert the Bruce, but perhaps a learning experience for him that eventually led to much greater disaster for England. 

On February 10, 1306, Bruce killed John Comynbefore the altar of Greyfriars Kirk.  (To be absolutely accurate, he struck the first blow, but his followers went in to finish the job.)  In a race against time, he sped to Scone to be crowned King of Scots before messengers could reach the Pope and the Pope’s ex-communication decree could reach Scotland.  This was vital, as an ex-communicated man could not be crowned King.  Thirteen days after the event, word of the murder reached Edward I at Winchester. 

Within two months, on April 5, 1306, Edward I, now 67 years old, suffering partial loss of use of his limbs, and unable to lead his army himself, appointed Aymer de Valence, a major English player in the Wars of Independence and later Earl of Pembroke, as his representative, with full powers, to Scotland, including the power to ‘raise the Dragon Banner.’  The dreaded raising of the Dragon Banner meant that no quarter would be given.

On May 20, Edward held a banquet at Westminster, in which two decorated swans were served to the King and 250 new knights, including the Prince of Wales.  Edward vowed ‘by the God of Heaven and these swans’ to avenge the death of John Comyn, and what he called the treachery of the Scots.  Each of the 250 new knights took a similar oath.  (A note here that other sources put the number at 300 new knights.)

By summer, de Valence had his army in Perth, north of Stirling and Edinburgh, where friends of the murdered John Comyn joined him in waiting for Bruce to come from the west.  When Bruce arrived with 4,500 men, still ready to fight by conventional standards, he challenged Valence to battle.  Valence refused, saying the night was too far gone, but that they would fight in the morning.

Bruce took his army several miles away to the woods of Methven to camp for the night.  Valence, however, had not planned on meeting Bruce in conventional battle, and what happened next can only be accounted for by Bruce implicitly trusting the word of his enemy that battle would occur the next morning.  Rather, before dawn on June 19, he attacked Bruce’s camp.  (History of Scotland, published in 1841 by Patrick Fraser Tytler, reports that Valence attacked in the evening while Bruce’s men were making their dinner.)

Valence’s army, according to Tytler, outnumbered Bruce’s by 1,500.  Other sources state that it was the Scots who outnumbered the English by that number.  The battle was nearly a rout from the start.  Bruce went straight for Valence, killing his horse, but afterward, was unhorsed three times himself, and nearly captured by Philip de Mowbray.  Sir Christopher Seton, Bruce’s brother-in-law, felled de Mowbray, and got Bruce back on his horse, thus saving his life.

The men rode from the field, to Loch Doon Castle.  There, the commanding governor, Gilbert de Carrick, handed Seton over to the English.  Christopher Seton, like many Scots in the aftermath of Methven, was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

Bruce and his brother Edward, the Earl of Atholl,  James Douglas, Gilbert de la Haye, the historical Niel (or Nigel) Campbell (as opposed to Niall Campbell of The Blue Bells Trilogy), Sir William de Barondoun, and some 500 men escaped.   Many of Bruce’s close friends and loyal followers were not so fortunate.  Sir David Berklay, Sir Hugh de la Haye, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir John de Somerville, Sir David Inchmartin,  and Thomas Randolph, Bruce’s nephew, were all captured.  Despite orders from Edward to execute them all immediately, Valence did not do so.  Thomas Randolph was pardoned and for a time deserted Bruce.  (He would later return to Bruce’s peace and become one of the heroes of Bannockburn, fighting for the Scots.)

Bishops Lamberton and Wishart, the great Scots patriots and fighting prelates, were seized after this battle, and taken to England in chains.  Their status in the Church saved them from hanging. 

Bruce himself fled into the Highlands.  One source says they were guided by monks sent by Abbot Maurice of the Inchaffray Abbey.  For a time, he and his few surviving followers were reduced to living in the caves of Deeside, Atholl, Breadalbane, and Argyll, finally making their way to Rathlin Island, where the story continues.

Methven was one of Bruce’s first battles as King of the Scots, occurring just three months after his crowning at Scone.  It was perhaps the most disastrous of his career, and a great encouragement in future to use William Wallace’s methods of warfare, what we now call guerrilla warfare.  He succeeded from that time  in fighting the English with ambushes, surprise attacks, scorched earth policies, and destroying enemy strongholds–and avoiding pitched battle until the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

1 Aug 2010
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Posted in Battles, Bishop William Lamberton, Bishop Wishart, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Medieval Weapons and Warfare, Robert Bruce, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History, Thomas Randolph | 4 Comments »

St. Columba

A friend of mine once said she loved her Catholic faith because ‘it has all the cool stuff.’  She was talking about the many mystical and miraculous events throughout Catholic history and the lives of the Saints.  St. Columba, 521-597, definitely falls into the category of mystical and miraculous.  His life story contains at least a hundred miracles: walking on water, raising the dead, driving out serpents, controlling wind and storms, purifying springs, prophesying the future as well as ‘seeing’ current but distant events.  In an event that could only take place in Scotland, he is credited with being the first recorded observer of the Loch Ness monster.

… when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.” Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled… And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.

Columba hailed from Ireland, a royal descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages.  After a basic education, he entered a monastic school under the tutorship of St. Finian, who had studied in Galloway with St. Ninian.  Even as a student at Moville, he began performing miracles.  One was turning water into wine for the Mass.  He spent fifteen years in Ireland, setting up religious houses in Derry, Durrow, and Kells.

Writing of St. Columba in the Cathac

In his early 40′s, Columba made his move to Scotland.  Some sources attribute this to King Dermot disliking Columba’s zeal against public vices.  More often, it is linked to a family feud that ended with the death of 3,000 men, and for which Columba felt some responsibility.  Still other stories concern a judgement made against Columba for making a secret copy of St. Finian’s psalter.  And some versions state that the battle was, in fact, the result of the dispute over copying the book.  The Cathac, or Book of the Battle, the book of Psalms copied by Columba in the 6th century, still exists today, after a long and interesting history, and is preserved by the Royal Irish Academy.  

The earliest sources, those closest to Columba’s own time, do not mention the book or battle as Columba’s reason for leaving, but simply ascribe to him the desire to win souls for God, and this reason is accepted by some. 

Whatever the reasons, Columba established himself and his followers on the island of Iona, founded a monastic rule that was followed until St. Benedict, and from Iona, set about converting, or in cases re-converting, Scotland. 

Among his most famous encounters is that with the Pictish chief, Brude, who is thought to have lived where Urqhart Castle now stands, on the north shore of Loch Ness.  Brude, having no desire to meet with Columba, or Saints Comgall or Canice who traveled with him, closed and locked the gates.  Columba lifted his hand and made the sign of the cross, at which point the bolts holding the gates fell away.  The three saints walked into the castle unhindered.  Brude stood in awe of the miracle.  He not only listened to the Saints, but was baptized by them.  His people soon followed, and much of Caledonia was converted.

Columba lived austerely, sleeping on floors and using stones for pillows.  At least one of those stones is today credited with miraculous powers.  Despite his austerity, he was cheerful, joyful, mild-mannered, and charitable in his thoughts and dealings with others.  Yet he also commanded great authority, such that even kings consulted with him before acting.  

Columba lived into his 70′s, spending his time traveling around Scotland, and occasionally back to Ireland.  He primarily spent his last years, however, on Iona.  In the summer of 597–or 592 according to the Annals of the Four Masters, the discrepancy in years possibly being due to the change in calendars–Columba was already regarded as a saint.  He knew his death was approaching, and climbed the hill above the monastery to give it one last blessing.  He returned to his cell to continue transcribing a psalter, and died there in the earliest hours of Sunday, June 9.

The full text of Adaman’s Life of St. Columba can be read online, detailing Columba’s life and many more miracles and prophecies.

16 Jul 2010
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Posted in Faith, Religion, St. Columba | 2 Comments »

Happy Birthday, Robert the Bruce

Today in history, in 1274, Robert the Bruce was born, most likely at Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire.

The third of ten children, he was the oldest of five sons.  His older sister, Isabel, became the queen of Norway.  His younger brother, Edward, briefly took the throne of Ireland during the Scottish Wars of Independence.  His other three other brothers, Neil, Thomas, and Alexander, all died at the hands of the English, being brutally executed. 

Bruce remains today one of Scotland’s greatest heroes, alongside William Wallace of Braveheart fame.  In the wake of Edward Longshanks of England’s invasion of Scotland, he eventually became King of Scots and led Scotland to victory against a much stronger army at Bannockburn on June 24, 1314.

For more posts on Robert the Bruce, click here. 

In the meantime, if you’d like to celebrate Bruce’s birthday in style, party like it’s 1329, may I suggest a suckling pig, venison, a stuffed swan, plenty of other meat and grains, and a fountain of flowing wine.  Lots of mead and ale, too.  For entertainment, jousting, jugglers, bards, and hunting are always good.  Stock your forest with plenty of wild boar and deer, and a fine time will be had by all!

Birthday cakes date back to the middle ages, with the tradition of baking a coin or treasure into it.  Whoever gets the slice with a coin gets a prediction of their future.  I’m sorry to say that we did not have time to bake a birthday cake today, but with only eleven birthdays a year in my family, we seem to have skipped over July.  So tonight, we will be having ice cream, since the local grocery store has failed to stock suckling pig and we’re not allowed to hunt wild boar in our neighborhood.  But in spirit, we’re right there!

Happy Birthday to Scotland’s great hero!

11 Jul 2010
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Posted in Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Robert Bruce, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History | 6 Comments »

The American Revolution and Robert the Bruce

Happy Birthday, America!

 It is believed that at least 21 signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent.  Two of them, John Witherspoon and James Wilson, were born in Scotland.  More importantly, many have drawn a connection between the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Arbroath, written during the reign of Robert the Bruce in 1320, in response to the ongoing fight for freedom from the English and the American Declaration of Independence written more than 400 years later during difficulties with the English.  Michael Bruce, author of A Scottish Miscellany, states:  ”The document is the first formal declaration of independence by any nation, and it was used as a model for the American Declaration of Independence.”

Although originally written in Latin, most likely by Bernard de Linton, Abbot of Arbroath and Chancellor of Scotland, the English translation is given here:

To the most Holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord John, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman and Universal Church, his humble and devout sons Duncan, Earl of Fife, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Lord of Man and of Annandale, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, William, Earl of Ross, Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, and William, Earl of Sutherland; Walter, Steward of Scotland, William Soules, Butler of Scotland, James, Lord of Douglas, Roger Mowbray, David, Lord of Brechin, David Graham, Ingram Umfraville, John Menteith, guardian of the earldom of Menteith, Alexander Fraser, Gilbert Hay, Constable of Scotland, Robert Keith, Marischal of Scotland, Henry St Clair, John Graham, David Lindsay, William Oliphant, Patrick Graham, John Fenton, William Abernethy, David Wemyss, William Mushet, Fergus of Ardrossan, Eustace Maxwell, William Ramsay, William Mowat, Alan Murray, Donald Campbell, John Cameron, Reginald Cheyne, Alexander Seton, Andrew Leslie, and Alexander Straiton, and the other barons and freeholders and the whole community of the realm of Scotland send all manner of filial reverence, with devout kisses of his blessed feet.

Most Holy Father and Lord, we know and from the chronicles and books of the ancients we find that among other famous nations our own, the Scots, has been graced with widespread renown. They journeyed from Greater Scythia by way of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Pillars of Hercules, and dwelt for a long course of time in Spain among the most savage tribes, but nowhere could they be subdued by any race, however barbarous. Thence they came, twelve hundred years after the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, to their home in the west where they still live today. The Britons they first drove out, the Picts they utterly destroyed, and, even though very often assailed by the Norwegians, the Danes and the English, they took possession of that home with many victories and untold efforts; and, as the historians of old time bear witness, they have held it free of all bondage ever since. In their kingdom there have reigned one hundred and thirteen kings of their own royal stock, the line unbroken a single foreigner. The high qualities and deserts of these people, were they not otherwise manifest, gain glory enough from this: that the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His Passion and Resurrection, called them, even though settled in the uttermost parts of the earth, almost the first to His most holy faith. Nor would He have them confirmed in that faith by merely anyone but by the first of His Apostles — by calling, though second or third in rank — the most gentle Saint Andrew, the Blessed Peter’s brother, and desired him to keep them under his protection as their patron forever.

The Most Holy Fathers your predecessors gave careful heed to these things and bestowed many favours and numerous privileges on this same kingdom and people, as being the special charge of the Blessed Peter’s brother. Thus our nation under their protection did indeed live in freedom and peace up to the time when that mighty prince the King of the English, Edward, the father of the one who reigns today, when our kingdom had no head and our people harboured no malice or treachery and were then unused to wars or invasions, came in the guise of a friend and ally to harass them as an enemy. The deeds of cruelty, massacre, violence, pillage, arson, imprisoning prelates, burning down monasteries, robbing and killing monks and nuns, and yet other outrages without number which he committed against our people, sparing neither age nor sex, religion nor rank, no one could describe nor fully imagine unless he had seen them with his own eyes.

But from these countless evils we have been set free, by the help of Him Who though He afflicts yet heals and restores, by our most tireless Prince, King and Lord, the Lord Robert. He, that his people and his heritage might be delivered out of the hands of our enemies, met toil and fatigue, hunger and peril, like another Macabaeus or Joshua and bore them cheerfully. Him, too, divine providence, his right of succession according to or laws and customs which we shall maintain to the death, and the due consent and assent of us all have made our Prince and King. To him, as to the man by whom salvation has been wrought unto our people, we are bound both by law and by his merits that our freedom may be still maintained, and by him, come what may, we mean to stand. Yet if he should give up what he has begun, and agree to make us or our kingdom subject to the King of England or the English, we should exert ourselves at once to drive him out as our enemy and a subverter of his own rights and ours, and make some other man who was well able to defend us our King; for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Therefore it is, Reverend Father and Lord, that we beseech your Holiness with our most earnest prayers and suppliant hearts, inasmuch as you will in your sincerity and goodness consider all this, that, since with Him Whose vice-gerent on earth you are there is neither weighing nor distinction of Jew and Greek, Scotsman or Englishman, you will look with the eyes of a father on the troubles and privation brought by the English upon us and upon the Church of God. May it please you to admonish and exhort the King of the English, who ought to be satisfied with what belongs to him since England used once to be enough for seven kings or more, to leave us Scots in peace, who live in this poor little Scotland, beyond which there is no dwelling-place at all, and covet nothing but our own. We are sincerely willing to do anything for him, having regard to our condition, that we can, to win peace for ourselves. This truly concerns you, Holy Father, since you see the savagery of the heathen raging against the Christians, as the sins of Christians have indeed deserved, and the frontiers of Christendom being pressed inward every day; and how much it will tarnish your Holiness’s memory if (which God forbid) the Church suffers eclipse or scandal in any branch of it during your time, you must perceive. Then rouse the Christian princes who for false reasons pretend that they cannot go to help of the Holy Land because of wars they have on hand with their neighbours. The real reason that prevents them is that in making war on their smaller neighbours they find quicker profit and weaker resistance. But how cheerfully our Lord the King and we too would go there if the King of the English would leave us in peace, He from Whom nothing is hidden well knows; and we profess and declare it to you as the Vicar of Christ and to all Christendom. But if your Holiness puts too much faith in the tales the English tell and will not give sincere belief to all this, nor refrain from favouring them to our prejudice, then the slaughter of bodies, the perdition of souls, and all the other misfortunes that will follow, inflicted by them on us and by us on them, will, we believe, be surely laid by the Most High to your charge.

To conclude, we are and shall ever be, as far as duty calls us, ready to do your will in all things, as obedient sons to you as His Vicar; and to Him as the Supreme King and Judge we commit the maintenance of our cause, casting our cares upon Him and firmly trusting that He will inspire us with courage and bring our enemies to nought. May the Most High preserve you to his Holy Church in holiness and health and grant you length of days.

Given at the monastery of Arbroath in Scotland on the sixth day of the month of April in the year of grace thirteen hundred and twenty and the fifteenth year of the reign of our King aforesaid.

And just to highlight the most beautiful part:

For, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Today is wonderful day not only for fireworks, but to remember how blessed so many of us are today, to live in the freedom that many have spent their entire lives fighting for.  Enjoy the fireworks!

4 Jul 2010
Posted in Bernard de Linton, Declaration of Arbroath, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Robert Bruce, Scottish History | 3 Comments »

Today in History: Aftermath of Bannockburn

Blue Bells of Scotland is being featured today by Alistair Forrest, author of the debut historical fiction Liberatas, at Qhistorical, his online history quiz.  He reserves the right to offer amazing prizes, such as cars and luxury homes, when the sponsorship money rolls in.  So just in case the money rolled in last night, hurry over to his quiz and give the right answer!

Yesterday was the 696th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, the Scots’ greatest victory against a much larger and better equipped force, a true David and Goliath story.  The issue behind the battle was that Edward I of England, also known as Longshanks, or Hammer of the Scots, had declared himself Lord Paramount of Scotland some years earlier.  Even after his death in July, 1307, his son Edward II pursued the claim.  From 1307 until 1314, the Scots steadily regained, under Robert the Bruce’s leadership, what Edward I had taken, till only Stirling and Berwick remained in English hands.  Edward Bruce, Robert’s younger brother, led a siege against Stirling Castle, during which he made an agreement with the commander there, Philip de Mowbray, that if Edward II did not send relief troops by Midsummer’s Day, Mowbray would surrender Stirling to Scotland.  Edward II gathered ‘the largest army the world had ever seen’ and marched north.  Bruce gathered his troops and arrived first, choosing his ground and preparing it, so that his small force, on the appointed day, not only defeated, but routed, England’s great army.  Edward II ran from the field, pursued by the great James Douglas.

A great deal has been written about the Battle of Bannockburn, in books, articles, web pages.  There is an entire museum devoted to it at the site of the battle itself (well worth seeing, in my opinion).  So today I post about the lesser known aftermath of the battle.

Put yourself in the scene.  Tensions have been high for years.  A stronger nation has taken control of yours by force of arms.  For seven years, you have been steadily leading small groups of men against its large armies, bit by bit taking back your country, but only through the stealthier moves of guerrilla warfare, laying traps, using the land against them, striking fast and fleeing into the hills where they cannot pursue.  You have accomplished this re-taking of your country largely by avoiding face to face battle.  Their numbers are simply too great.  But some months ago, your rash and hot-headed brother forced you into exactly what you’ve so far avoided.  What have you felt all these months, knowing you must finally face this great force in pitched battle, knowing you do not have the numbers?

Bruce announced before the battle that any man might choose then and there to leave the battle and go to the aid of his family, that it would not be held against him.  To me, this sounds like a man very realistic in his assessment of what might happen to Scotland that day.   He’d used everything he had to give his men and his country the best possible chance.  He also knew it might not be enough.  He knew Edward II and the English armies would ravage, rape, pillage, and murder throughout his country if they were not stopped at Bannockburn. 

So what was he feeling on the evening of June 24, as he watched Edward II fly from the field under his banner of three lions, shielded by his advisors?  As the reports must have come back to him, perhaps standing where the borestone stands today, of English knights and foot soldiers drowning as they tried to retreat back across the Bannock Burn, till the bodies piled so high that the rest could walk across?  Elation at his victory?  Plans to celebrate all night?  Gloating at driving out the invaders who had caused his country, his family, and himself, so much sorrow and pain?  Hatred?  A thirst for vengeance?  Plans already formulating to pursue Edward and do to England what Edward would have done to his people?

The Bruce, by all accounts, was a man of deep faith, though, sadly, very little is written specifically on this aspect of his life.  Knowing this, however, it is not surprising that the great Robert the Bruce met the dawn of June 25, 1314, with exhaustion.  He had spent weeks training his men and preparing the ground for England’s invasion; and two days fighting the greatest army ever seen, with probably a relatively sleepless night of planning and prayer in between.  But he spent the night of June 24-June 25, after the battle, in the chapel of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, a mile from the field, giving thanks to God and paying his respects by keeping vigil over the body of Gilbert St. Clare of Gloucester: his cousin and his enemy who had fought against him.  This event alone speaks volumes about the character of the Bruce.

On June 25, despite his exhaustion, he returned to work.  Scotland, by this point, was poverty-stricken from the constant wars with England.  Not only was the battle the previous day a military success, and a great boost to the morale and hope of the struggling country, but it provided a much-needed infusion of wealth.  Edward II liked to travel in style.  When he and his knights fled, they naturally had no time to carry their wealth.  On June 25, Bruce and his chancellor, Abbot Bernard, Bernard de Linton, and an army of monks and priests manned tables at Cambuskenneth Abbey, accounting for the wealth brought in off the field: gold and silver vessels, plate, jewelry, ceremonial weapons encrusted with jewels, crosses, saddle cloths, banners, banners, harnesses, clothing worked in gold, armor, helmets and shields often encrusted or worked in gold and silver.  200 pairs of gold spurs, left behind by English knights, were brought in.  King Edward’s own shield and his royal seal both found their way to Cambuskenneth, rather than returning to England.  The wealth has been calculated at more than 200,000 pounds, a fortune even by today’s standards.

And what were other actors in this great drama doing on June 25, in the wake of the great battle?  Some of the Scottish army was rising with headaches from the previous night’s drunken celebrations.  Most of the army and virtually none of the town and castle had slept the previous night, for the ringing of bells throughout the countryside, deep tolling carrilons and higher, ringing pitches shouting with joy.  Much of the army was scouring the field, stripping the dead of their weapons and treasures.  The bodies of the great English lords and knights were carried off the field with respect.  Normally, the knights and lords in medieval battles were taken hostage and held for ransom.  At Bannockburn, in the confusion and pressure of fighting so many, in addition to at least one incident of an English knight rushing to battle so quickly that he didn’t take time to don his identifying tabard, many knights and lords were killed, so that on June 25, the Earl of Gloucester, 200 knights, and 6 barons lay dead.

England’s Sir Aymer de Valence was riding hard for his life, at the side of Edward II.  They headed for Dunbar Castle on the coast, held by their supporter and Bruce’s cousin, Patrick Cospatrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar; they had been turned away from Stirling Castle by Mowbray.  Some accounts report that as they fled south, they passed their own great army’s wagon train still heading north.

Mowbray’s life, on June 25, hung in the balance.  He was brought before Bruce, a man who had caused Bruce and Scotland no end of trouble over the years.  Some advised Bruce to hang him.  Thomas Randolph, Bruce’s nephew, is said by Nigel Tranter, the novelist, to have advocated, “Do with him as you did with me.”  That is, show him mercy, offer him the chance to come into the peace of the Bruce.  Thomas Randolph claimed, as the reward Bruce had promised him the previous day, the life of Mowbray.  Mowbray chose to come into Bruce’s peace that day, and thereafter served him and Scotland faithfully.

One of the greatest medieval knights, Giles de Argentan, lay dead on the field of Bannockburn.  He had bought time for Edward II’s escape with the words, “It is not my custom to fly,” before returning to the battle.  They were most likely among his last words.

James Douglas and his men spent the day pursuing Edward II.  One of their number, lucky or unlucky enough, as the case may be, to have gotten close enough to grasp the king’s reins, lay dead on this day, having been bludgeoned to death by Edward Plantagenet’s mace.

Edward Bruce, for his part, along with Robert Boyd, also pursued fleeing English knights.  They returned to Bruce with a small army of nobles captured at Lanarkshire’s Bothwell Castle, to hand over as prisoners: Henry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Lord High Constable of England; Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus; Sir Ingram de Umfraville, former Guardian of Scotland; Maurice, Lord Berkeley; John, Lord Segrave; Hugh, Lord Despenser who makes later appearances in history; John, Lord Ferrers; John, Lord Rich; Edmund, Lord Abergavenny; and Sir Anthony de Lucy of the great Lucy family, plus many lesser men.  It must have been quite a crowded hall.  On June 25, they began their time in the dungeons of Stirling.  Several of them would be held for ransom, and some traded, in future weeks, for the release of Bruce’s wife, sisters, and daughter, and Isabel MacDuff. 

Sir Ralph de Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester, Herford and Atholl; John Comyn, Earl of Angus, son of the Red Comyn killed by Bruce  in 1306, and some 70 other knights also spent the day waiting to hear their fate as captives of the Bruce and Scotland.  In another enlightening glimpse of Bruce’s character, and much to the dismay of many in Scotland, several of these great knights were sent home without ransom.

Sir Marmaduke Tweng was one of these.  His reputation for goodness survives even now, nearly 700 years after his death.  As pertains to the Battle of Bannockburn and June 25, however, Sir Marmaduke, one of the most respected knights of Christendom, renowned for honor, chivalry, and goodness, was unhorsed, though unwounded.  He spent the night of June 24 in hiding, and on June 25 wandered the bloody field, searching for Bruce, determined to surrender to none other than the king.  The incident is recorded, among others, by Nigel Tranter, a novelist with a reputation for thorough research, and David Cornell in Bannockburn: The Triumph of Robert the Bruce.  On recognizing Sir Marmaduke, who fell on his knee to surrender, Bruce bid him rise, and in respect to his reputation for goodness, valor, and honor, offered him refreshment in his own tent, and sent him on his way home to England, rather than claim the great ransom he would have received for this great knight.

June 24 was a significant day in Scottish history.  June 25 was a significant day in the personal lives of hundreds of men who fought there, when decisions were made and fates decided.  What was your June 25th like?

25 Jun 2010
Posted in Edward Bruce, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Robert Bruce, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History, Sir Giles de Argentan, Sir Marmaduke Tweng, Thomas Randolph | 6 Comments »

Researching Today: Melrose Abbey

As I research a sequence of hiking scenes today, I find myself in the midst of some of Scotland’s great and picturesque medieval ruins.
Castle Campbell

 There’s Castle Campbell, high in the Ochil Hills between the Burn of Care and the Burn of Sorrow, and once called Castle Gloom. How much more evocative can you get? If you have ten minutes, take a virtual walk through Dollar Glen and up to the castl now!

There is simply no choice but to write a scene–any scene!–in such a setting!  Whether that will be today, I don’t know, because there are so many wonderful sites that might work better for the underlying themes in the scene.

I moved on to abbeys, in particular, those along the “Four Abbeys Cycle Route,” a ride I fully intend to make some day.  There’s Jedburgh, in the haunts of the great James Douglas, Bruce’s close friend and loyal knight.  It’s tempting to set a scene here, as Douglas appears in Book 2 of the Trilogy.  There’s Dryburgh, secluded on ten acres in a loop of the River Tweed, and Kelso,  known as one of the grandest.

But for sheer picturesque beauty and mystique, Melrose stands out.  It is no wonder it has been lauded by several poets, including Walter Scott, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel:

If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins grey.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light’s uncertain shower
Streams on the ruin’d central tower;
When buttress and buttress, alternately,
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
When silver edges the imagery,
And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When distant Tweed is heard to rave,
And the owlet to hoot o’er the dead man’s grave,
Then go–but go alone the while–
Then view St. David’s ruin’d pile;
And, home returning, soothly swear,
Was never scene so sad and fair!

and further in the poem:

Spreading herbs, and flowerets bright,
Glisten’d with the dew of night;
Nor herb, nor floweret, glisten’d there,
But was carved in the cloister-arches as fair.
The monk gazed long on the lovely moon, 
Then into the night he looked forth; 
And red and bright the streamers light 
Were dancing in the glowing north.
 

Melrose is widely considered the most beautiful of religious houses in all of the United Kingdom, noted particularly for its Gothic architecture and its many detailed carvings of saints, gargoyles, plants, and dragons.  Notable among the sculptures is the bagpipe playing pig. 

Like all ancient churches, it is built in the shape of a cross, facing east and west.  It features 50 windows, more than 50 buttresses, and a number of side chapels, many containing tombs.  On one of its stairways, is carved the motto of the town of Melrose: “Be halde to ye hende.”  Meaning, Keep in mind, the end, your salvation. 

At the request of David I of Scotland, so renowned for his piety that he was sometimes called St. David, the  Cistercian monks founded this beautiful abbey in 1136.  They selected the site, two miles west of a former monastery on the River Tweed, preferring the better farm there, over the site of the former monastery.  Early records, recorded in the Melrose Chronicle, show grants of land to the abbey by Roger de Skelbrooke of Grennan, about 1193; and grants of Maybole and Beath to the Abbey by Duncan, Earl of Carrick.  Other lands came from Raderic mac Gillescop and his wife Christina (daughter of Roger de Skelbrooke), and from Walter Campania in the mid-1200′s.

The town of Melrose grew up around the abbey.  Through the years, the English attacked both town and abbey.  In 1322, 8 years after the Blue Bells Trilogy begins, Edward II destroyed much of the abbey.  Robert the Bruce rebuilt.  Richard II attacked in 1384, while driving Robert II of Scotland and his army back to Edinburgh.  It took more than a hundred years to rebuild, and in fact was still not finished in 1504 when James IV visited. 

Barely completed, it was once again attacked by Sir Ralph Evers during the “Rough Wooing” of 1544, in which Henry VIII demanded, rather forcefully, the infant  Mary, Queen of Scots, as his son’s bride.  The English, this time, vented special rage upon the tombs of the Douglases, some of whom are buried there.  The following year, in 1545, the English were back, under the Earl of Hertford, to wreak more damage. 

Melrose Abbey was never completely repaired after this, and it declined as a working monastery.  Its last abbot died in 1559, and its last monk some 31 years later in 1590.  Not quite content, the English assaulted one last time, under Oliver Cromwell, in the mid-1600′s. 

Although it was disestablished in 1609, it was partially re-roofed and continued, even in its semi-ruined state, to be used as a parish church from 1618 until 1810.  For years, nearby residents used the church as a quarry to build their own homes, further destroying its former grandeur.

Bruce’s Association with Melrose

Through the Arches

The Bruce seems to have had a place in his heart for Melrose.  (A little historical humor, as there is now a place in Melrose for his heart, but I suppose one logically follows from the other.)  On March 11, 1302, the 27-year-old Bruce wrote to ‘the anxious monks of Melrose Abbey’ that, despite being called to his Carrick army in previous years, he was now ‘troubled in conscience’ and thus promised never again to do so, ‘unless the common army of the whole realm is raised for its defense.’  (An echo, perhaps, of his own father granting certain freedoms to the men of Melrose Abbey in 1285?)

Around March of 1309, he made a royal grant of the lands of Eksdale to the abbey. 

In 1316, in the wake of his success against the English at Bannockburn, Bruce maintained especially close ties to Melrose Abbey.  He signed a charter there on June 8 of that year; 20 days later, from Kilwinning, he granted letters patent to Melrose.  On October 6, it was the Abbot of Melrose who was given safe-conduct to England, presumably to deliver Bruce’s own guarantees of safe-conduct for English negotiators to come north.  Those negotiators arrived at Jedburgh on November 21, and on that same day, once again from Melrose, Bruce signed a writ to James Douglas.

In 1322, Edward II pushed all the way to the gates of Edinburgh.  However, frustrated at the Scots’ harassment of his army (imagine that!), he retreated, attacking Scottish abbeys on the way.  The men of Melrose fought back, resulting in the English killing Melrose’s Prior William Peebles and three invalids  (what a glorious victory)  and going on to descrate, loot and seriously damage the abbey. 

 In January 1326, Bruce granted the abbey a hundred pounds per year to serve each monk “The King’s Dish” each day, a supplement to the standard rations.  The money was to come from Berwick, Edinburgh, and Haddington; James Douglas was charged with enforcing the payment, and as soon as August, had to do so, threatening the sheriff of Berwick with a 10 pound fine.  Several months later, Bruce gave 2,000 sterling, the equivalent of $50,000 today, to Melrose for repairs.  Those repairs are credited with making the abbey so particularly beautiful, as Gothic architecture was at that time at its height. 

In his last written requests as he lay dying at Cardross, on May 13, 1329, Bruce asked that his heart be buried at Melrose Abbey.  Does his request have anything to do with the fact that his own father was buried at Holm Coultram, a daughter house of Melrose, in England?  After Bruce’s death, as per another request, Bruce’s heart made a brief trip to Spain to fight the Crusades, embalmed in a silver casket.  On its return, it was buried at Melrose as requested.

The abbey became the burial place of many important figures.  An 1890 guidebookto Melrose Abbey, by J. Wass, lists William Douglas, “The Dark Knight of Liddesdale,”  and hero of Otterburn and Chevy Chase and many of his descendants; Alexander II and his queen Johanna; many of the Karr family; and the heart of Robert the Bruce, on its recovery from the Crusades, to which James Douglas carried it. 

Among the most interesting stories of the dead at Melrose Abbey is that of Michael Scot, “The Scottish Wizard.”  His life straddled the 12th and 13th Centuries,  and some believe he retired in old age to Melrose, and is buried there.  Sacred-destinations.com claims this is authenticated, while other sites call it conjecture and put forth other places as his retirement and burial.  Nonetheless, it is said that in 1812, roughly 600 years after his death, his stone coffin was found in the aisle of Melrose’s south chancel.

Got Ghosts?

Like all good ruins, Melrose is home to a few ethereal presences.  Michael Scott is reputed to be one of them.  Many people report a chill in the air near his grave.  A group of ghostly monks likes to walk the grounds, while another, unnamed figure ‘slides’ through the ruins like a snake, close to the ground. 

Cemetery at Melrose

A fourth story tells of  a vampire.  Answers.com gives a fairly detailed account, calling this an ‘actual vampire,’ and reporting that the case was chronicled by William of Newburgh, author of Historia rerum Anglicarum, in the 1100′s.  It is worth noting that William of Newburgh comes down through history with the reputation of a ‘careful historian,’ and that he reports his case on the authority of ‘reputable’ clerics who experienced the events firsthand.  The story is also recounted in Stories of the Border Marches, by John Lang.

These reputable clerics tell of  a priest of Melrose who neglected his vows for frivolous activity.  Other sources state more forcefully that he was given to all manner of sin and vices, and called Hundeprest, Dog Priest, for his love of hunting on horseback with a pack of hounds at his heels.  On his death, he rose from his grave and made several attempts at entering the cloister.  Failing this, he wandered the countryside, entering the home of a woman to whom he had been chaplain.  Apparently not caring for her dead chaplain’s nighttime visits, she reported him to the abbey. 

Several of the monks sat watch by his grave.  Most of them went to warm themselves by a fire, leaving only one witness to the nightly rising.  This monk struck the dead–or not so dead–with a battle axe and forced him back into the grave.  When the other monks returned, the earth appeared undisturbed.  They dug up the corpse to find it marked with the wounds of a battle axe, in accord with the monk’s story, and the coffin full of blood.  They burned the body and scattered the ashes over the Lammermuir Hills, but the story of the undead priest, and many say his presence, too, remain at Melrose.

The rumors of vampirism and other crimes are often linked back either to Michael Scott or to the delinquent priest, and the sliding presence is said to possibly be a manifestation of the evil spirits left behind by one or the other of them.

Today

Melrose Abbey stands today as a top attraction in the Borders region of Scotland, including the ruins, the old cemetery, and the Commendator’s House Museum, containing a variety of medieval objects.  If you’re interested in learning more about it, there is a fascinating and detailed guidebook from the 1800′s available online.

29 May 2010
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Posted in Architechture, Dryburgh Abbey, Faith, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Jedburgh Abbey, Kelso Abbey, Melrose Abbey, Religion, Research, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History | 26 Comments »

The Bruce Children

Robert the Bruce had at least two wives, undoubtedly several mistresses, and eleven children.  Of several, a great deal is known; of others, very little and even that is sometimes uncertain.

Robert first married Isabella of Mar, daughter of Helen of Wales and the Earl of Mar, one of the seven guardians of Scotland.  What little is known of her suggests she was beautiful, educated, and wealthy, heiress to a large section of northeastern Inverness. She spoke both Gaelic and High English.  Moreover, she and Robert were in love, an unusual thing in the arranged marriages of the time.  She was 18.  In December 1996, at the age of 19, she died shortly after giving birth to their daughter Marjory. 

Of dozens of sites I’ve read on Bruce, only one mentions a ‘second’ marriage license, dated September 19, 1295 to Maud Fitz Alan.  The source reports that this marriage ended, without children, in divorce or annulment, probably due to their having a blood relationship.  However, since Bruce married Isabella in 1295, and she lived through most of 1296, it is impossible to imagine how a second marriage could have occurred that year.  Was it a first proposed marriage that fell through?

Six years after Isabella’s death, in 1302, Robert married another beautiful and wealthy young woman, Elizabeth de Burgh.  Records of her birth date vary greatly, but she may have been as young as 18.  Their early marriage was hardly a honeymoon, much of it being spent in hiding from the English.  In 1306, Elizabeth was captured at Tain with Marjory and several others.  She was imprisoned in a convent until after Bannockburn, in 1314.  Her children were born in the years following Bannockburn: David, Matilda, Margaret, and John.

Marjory, Bruce’s eldest daughter, is a story of triumph and tragedy.  Most sources agree she was born in December of 1296, the same month Longshanks invaded Scotland and took Berwick.  As an author, I could hardly write better foreshadowing for the life Marjory would lead.  In June 1306, at the age of 9, she was captured at St. Duthac in Tain, north of Inverness, while trying to escape to safety in Orkney.  It is all too easy to imagine the terror of a 9 year old girl, separated from her father, who she knows is fighting not just for his kingdom, but for his life, seeking safety in a church with her aunts and step-mother, and seeing armed men storm into what should have been a place of refuge and safety.  It is easy to imagine the terror of wondering what had become of her Uncle Nigel who had tried to protect them,  still under attack back at Kildrummy; or what would become of Sir John of Atholl, who had whisked them away from Kildrummy for safety, or her aunts and step-mother. 

We know that two of the women captured in the church that day–Isobel MacDuff and Mary Bruce, Marjory’s aunt–would spend years living in cages hung on castle walls.  Edward I had a similar cage built for Marjory at the Tower of London, but in a rare moment of softness, reconsidered and instead ordered her held in solitary confinement in the nunnery at Watton.  There, the young Marjory lived, virtually alone, for 8 years.  She was released after Bannockburn in 1314, when she was still 17, in exchange for English prisoners held by the Scots. 

 The following year, she married Walter, the 6th High Steward of Scotland, who was only 22 himself at the time, but one of the heroes of Bannockburn.  She very quickly became pregnant.  The following March, she rode her horse in the late stages pregnancy, fell when it reared, and delivered the future Robert II by c-section on March 2, 1316, according to Electric Scotland. 

The tragedy of her life is that she died at the age of barely 19, having spent close to half her life in near-solitary confinement.  It hardly gets more tragic than this.   

Marjory’s triumph is that, despite a tragically short and difficult life, spent mostly alone, she became the mother of the Stewart Dynasty and ultimately, all future monarchs of Scotland, and England since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, right down to the present day!  A partial list of her descendents: Robert II of Scotland, Robert III of Scotland, James I, James II (James of the Fiery Face), James III, James IV (who married Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII), James V, Mary Queen of Scots, mother of James VI of Scotland who was also James I of England, father of King Charles I of England, Charles II of England, James II of England (VII of Scotland), father of Mary (wife of William of Orange) and Anne. 

Of Marjory’s half-siblings, Margaret, Matilda, and John, we know very little.  John died in childhood.  Margaret married the 5th Earl of Sutherland and died in 1358.  Matilda married a Thomas Isaac, with whom she had two daughters, Joan and Katherine.  She died on July 20, 1353.  

David II, King of Scotland, like his half-sister Marjory, is a lesson to those who wish they’d been born kings and queens.  History says it is rarely a pleasant or easy life.  He was born March 5,1324,  and married Joan of the Tower, the daughter of Edward II of England, on July 17, 1328, as per the treaty of Northampton.  Yes, he was 4.  He succeeded to the throne on his father’s death in 1229, at the age 5.  He was already an orphan.

 He and Joan were crowned at Scone in November of 1331, when he was 7.  A series of guardians ruled while he was a minor, one after another being lost to death in battle or capture and captivity.  He spent much of his youth in France, safely away from Edward Baliol, who was trying to claim (or reclaim as he saw it) his father’s brief kingship of Scotland.  David ruled Scotland in his own right from June 1341 until he was captured at the Battle of Neville’s Cross in October 1346, and held prisoner in England for 11 years.  He returned to Scotland in 1357, promising to pay his ransom money to England.  Instead, he returned to a poverty-stricken kingdom, a third of its population decimated by the Black Plague while he’d been imprisoned in the Tower of London.  Payment to England was impossible.  He tried to trade the inheritance rights to the throne of Scotland for remission of his debt to England.  The Scots nobles did not particularly care for this plan.  He died unexpectedly at Edinburgh Castle February 22, 1371, without children, and is buried at Holyrood Abbey.

Robert Bruce also had a number of children termed, in medieval terms, ‘natural,’ or, in our words, illegitimate.  Historical sources state their mothers as unknown.  Others, primarily genealogical sites, claim they are all the children of Robert’s wife, Elizabeth de Burgh.

Robert Bruce of Liddesdale was born about 1303, although his birth dates range from 1299 onward.  He was killed at the battle of Dupplin Moor, August 12, 1332.  Prior to this, he had led an unsuccessful attempt at preventing Edward Baliol from landing in Scotland.  One site mentions that Clan Elliott made an unusual move from Glenshire in the north to the Teviotdale in the Scottish Borders, in order to protect Robert Bruce of Liddesdale, whom Robert Bruce (king), had made lord of Liddesdale, as the previous lord, William de Soulis, had been imprisoned for treason.  Does this mean Robert Bruce of Liddesdale had a connection with the Elliott family?  Little more is said of this son, except that he made a gift of 20 pounds to St. Fillan’s Church, in the year his father died.  (Robert Bruce had greatly venerated St. Fillan.)  One site lists his mother as Matilda, and another lists his mother as a woman who, according to all my other research, never existed and is unlikely to have, and if she did, was certainly not Bruce’s wife as that site claims.

Of Bruce’s remaining children, Sir Neil Bruce of Carrick died at the Battle of Neville’s Cross on Oct 17, 1346.  His half-brother, King David II, commanded the army at this battle.  Of the rest, we know little beyond names.  Walter Bruce of Odistoun on the Clyde, pre-deceased his father; he is not mentioned at all in some genealogies.  Christina Bruce of Carrick died after 1329, at which point there is a record of her receiving a pension.  Of Margaret Bruce, we know only that she was born before 1327–one site tells me Dunfermline in 1307–was alive as of the 29 February, 1364, and married Robert Glen.  Elizabeth Bruce, the youngest, married Walter Oliphant of Gask.  Sources suggest that these children, though illegitimate, were treated with love by Bruce.  Elizabeth, for instance, is called Princess Elizabeth in a site on Clan Oliphant.  Robert Bruce of Liddesdale was made a lord and given lands by Bruce.  And Neil Bruce was knighted.

14 Apr 2010
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Posted in Clan History, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Research, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History, Uncategorized | 18 Comments »

The Bruce Brothers

While sources disagree on the numbers and names of Bruce’s younger sisters, there is widespread agreement on his brothers.  Only one leaves out Alexander, the youngest.  Nobody could argue that Bruce’s sisters had easy lives.  Much less so he and his brothers.  Of the five, Bruce, Neil, Edward, Thomas, and Alexander, only Bruce died peacefully, though he hardly was able to live so.

Bruce himself was born in 1274, the first son and third child.  Neil–also known as Niall or Nigel–arrived soon after in 1276, followed by Edward around 1279, Thomas i 1284, and Alexander, the youngest, in 1285. 

War with England shaped, and eventually took, the lives of all Robert Bruce’s brothers.  As a novelist, asking what if is important.  No doubt we all do it in our lives, and it is easy to ask of the Bruce family, what if?  What if Alexander III had not died, trying to get home to his bride on that dark and stormy night?  What if his young widow had in fact been pregnant with an heir to the throne, as she first claimed?  What if his granddaugther, the Maid of Norway, had survived her journey to Scotland to claim the throne?  What if the lords of Scotland could have agreed on a successor instead of, fearing internal war, asking Edward I (Longshanks) to choose?  Had any of these things been different, perhaps the Bruces would have lived a relatively peaceful life; perhaps more of the five brothers would have had families and lived to old ages. 

But the fact is, Alexander was determined to get home to his bride, andgiven the personalities involved, it led inexorably, step by step, to prolonged war with England, in which Bruce, and thus his brothers, were major players.

Neil, the second brother, was the first to die at England’s hands.  The beginning of the end, for him, were Bruce’s defeats at Methven in June 1306 and Strathfillan two months later in August.  At the time, Bruce was a newly-crowned king with no power, and in fact no home, in his own kingdom.  His wife, daughter, and sisters had been traveling with  him and his men, but his defeats at Methven and Strathfillan raised concerns for their safety.  So he sent them, under the protection of most of his men, including Neil and the Lord of Atholl, to Kildrummy Castle for safety.  Bruce, along with Edward, Thomas, and Alexander, and a few close followers, headed into hiding on Rathlin Island off the northern shore of Ireland.

Ruins of Kildrummy

When the English marched against Kildrummy, the women were sent further north on their way to Orkney, under the protection of the Earl of Atholl.  Neil defended Kildrummy admirably against the younger Edward.  Unfortunately, he was betrayed from within by a blacksmith bribed with ‘all the gold he could carry’ to set fire to the grain stores.  With no food, the men of Kildrummy were forced to surrender.  Neil was captured, and in September 1306, hanged, drawn, and quartered at Berwick-on-Tweed.  (The blacksmith, on being caught by the Scots, did indeed receive his reward for betraying the King’s brother: all the gold he could carry was melted and poured down his throat.  I’m thinking he would have done better to remain gold-less but loyal.)  

Neil (or Nigel) would have been about 30 at the time of his death.  (The year or his birth is given as circa 1276, and so far in my research, without a month.)

The death of his brother Neil, the first of the five brothers to die at England’s hands, was a devastating blow to Bruce, both personally and in his quest to reclaim his country.  The sickening feeling to all of them, Robert, Edward, Thomas, and Alexander, on hearing of the vicious torture, mutilation, and execution of their own brother, can only be imagined.  Bruce, who, as the eldest brother, ultimately had made the decision for all of them, to fight, had known from the start that he risked bringing this on his own family.  Of course, succumbing to Longshanks’ brutal rule was no guarantee of a long and peaceful life, either.  In fact, knowing how Longshanks treated Scotland, it was a guarantee of the opposite.  Still, the death of his brother, resulting from his decisions, is believed to have weighed heavily on Bruce’s heart.

One can imagine the thoughts of all the Bruce brothers, knowing any of them could be next.  And, indeed, it was less than a year later–on February 9, 1307, that Thomas and Alexander would die at Carlisle the same way Neil had.  During the winter months of 1306-1307, many believe Bruce and his company rested and re-grouped in the western islands under the hospitality and protection of Christina MacRuairi.  It is from there that Bruce and his followers launched their two-pronged return to the mainland of Scotland in February 1307. 

Robert and Edward landed at Turnberry Castle in the southwest, while Thomas and Alexander led 18 galleys in the landing further south still, at Loch Ryan.  They were immediately overwhlemed by the local forces of Dougal MacDougal, a supporter of the Comyns.  Keep in mind that Robert Bruce killed John Comyn at the altar of Greyfriars Kirk not quite a year prior to this, on February 10, 1306.  Alexander would most likely have been short of his 22nd birthday, and Thomas short of his 23rd. 

Thus, within six months, the English executed three of Bruce’s four brothers, leaving himself and the third of the five brothers, Edward.  It is easy to imagine that they felt the executioner’s rope heavy around their own necks at that point.  It is easy enough, reading history 700 years later, and knowing they would live for many years to come–especially Robert–but they did not have the comfort of such foreknowledge.  They could only push on, most likely feeling that, with all their brothers so quickly captured and executed, the odds were heavily against them.  Still, they did push on.

Edward Bruce comes down through history as forceful, hot-headed, and willful.  Because he lived much longer, the historical record is full of stories of Edward Bruce.  In brief, he fought beside Robert through the years leading up to Bannockburn, a loyal supporter and a thorn in his side.  On the one hand, he re-captured many of the castles taken by Edward I.  On the other, he made the rash agreement with Phillip de Mowbray, the English commander of Stirling Castle, which led to exactly the pitched, face to face battle with the English which Robert had always tried to avoid.

(Again, ask what if?  What if Bruce had chosen Edward to lead the attack on Loch Ryan?  I have not done the research to know if history tells us why Bruce chose as he did, but years of reading on Edward makes it easy to guess that he may have kept Edward at his side exactly to keep his rashness under control.  What if the more level-headed Thomas or Alexander had survived and been sent to conduct the siege at Stirling?  The Battle of Bannockburn likely never would have happened. 

It was a huge, but unavoidable, risk at the time, once Edward Bruce opened his mouth and put Robert into that unenviable position.  It is probably not completely possible for most of us to imagine marching to battle with a force three times the size of our own.  But Robert was thrown into that position, and turned it into Scotland’s greatest moment.  Does this make Edward Bruce the villain and fool of the story or the accidental hero?  Or the full-blown hero for having the courage to face the largest army the world had ever seen?

Edward Bruce commanded the men of Galloway in one of four schiltrons (rings of spears, against which even knights on warhorses could not stand) at the Battle of Bannockburn, on June 23 and 24, 1314.  After Bannockburn, Edward was among those who pushed for continued attacks on England, in order to force England to acknowledge Scotland once again as an independent nation and Robert Bruce as its rightful king. 

To this end, Edward Bruce also pushed Robert to lead the Irish in rebelling against their English overlords.  His argument was that a few thousand Scots, with the aid of the Irish who also disliked England’s rule, could harry England further, harassing them on so many fronts that they must finally give in to Scotland’s very minimal demands.

Due to Edward’s manipulations behind his back, Robert was somewhat forced to agree to Edward’s plan, and on May 26, 1315, Edward’s fleets landed in Ireland.  In 1316, he was crowned King of Ireland.  His brief reign ended with his death at the battle of Faughart on October 14, 1318.  De Birmingham, the opposing commander, had his body quartered, and the pieces sent to various towns in Ireland.  His head was delivered to Edward II. 

He was about 39 years old.  He left behind at least one son, Alexander de Brus, fathered with his probable wife, Isabelle, daughter of John de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl.  Records suggest an intended second marriage, after Isabelle’s death, to Isabella Ross, and a second son, Thomas, by this other Isabelle.  Many historians doubt the marriage actually took place.

This left Robert, the eldest, as the sole survivor of his father’s five sons.  He spent the rest of his years working to ensure Scotland’s freedom from England.  He died on June 7, 1329, at the age of 54, at his new manor of Cardross.  He had suffered for years from a painful skin ailment, that has been called everything from psoriasis to leprosy.  He is buried at Dunfermline Abbey.  At his request, however, James Douglas, his closest friend and companion, removed his heart, embalmed and enclosed it in a silver casket, and carried it to the Crusades, to atone for his murder of John Comyn 23 years earlier.  James Douglas died in the Crusades, but the silver casket with Bruce’s heart was recovered and buried at Melrose Abbey.

9 Apr 2010
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Posted in Clan History, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Medieval Weapons and Warfare, Politics, Robert the Bruce, castles | 7 Comments »

The Bruce Sisters

It is a shame that only the broadest strokes of Bruce’s family portrait have come down through history, because with an abundance of brothers, sisters, and, later, children, there must have been many wonderful stories to tell of their younger years.  What remains, however, is a list of names and fates, and a few sketchy ideas of a few of the individuals.

Bruce was Scoto-Norman and Franco-Gaelic, and a direct descendant of David I of Scotland on his father’s side.  It is believed that, as a result, he spoke the several languages of his heritage, in addition to Latin.  He was the third child, but oldest boy, of 10, 11 or 12 siblings, depending on the source.  The confusion seems to lie in the fact that multiple names are often attributed to the same person, much like our Roberts and Bobs, Williams and Bills.  For instance, one source lists seven sisters for Robert Bruce: Isabella, Christina, Maud, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Marjory, while another source lists Isabella, Christina,  Elizabeth, Mary, and Margaret, but calls the sixth and last daughter Matilda/Marjory.  Yet another source lists only five sisters, leaving out Elizabeth, and listing Isabella, Christina, Margaret, Matilda, and Mary. Undiscovered Scotland says there were ten Bruce siblings.  There is no confusion about his brothers, Niel/Nigel, Edward, Thomas, and Alexander, perhaps because, being deeply involved in politics and warfare, there are clearer records of them.

 The older Bruce siblings may have remembered the time of peace before Alexander III’s death, but for the most part, they would have grown up in a world of turmoil, as Scotland fought Edward Longshanks’ continued efforts to subdue and control Scotland.  This was perhaps the motivating force on all their lives.  Only Isabella could be said to have had anything like a peaceful life, as queen of Norway.  (And I say that in comparison to the harsh fates of so many of her siblings.)

Bruce himself, spent years living in conditions most of us will never suffer, in caves and hunted both by the English and various Scottish clans who for various reasons sided with the English (or against Bruce, which of course had the same effect, if different motives) and fighting battles.  His sisters did not routinely fight battles, but they did suffer for his stand against the English.

Christina, or Christian, the second child and daughter, was betrayed and captured, along with Bruce’s wife and daughter, at Kildrummy, shortly after Bruce’s crowning at Scone in defiance of Longshanks.  She was ‘lucky’ enough to only be held in a convent from 1306 until after the Scots’ victory at Bannockburn in 1314.  But life was hard, and she lost three husbands.  Her first, Gartnait Earl of Mar, died of natural causes in 1305.  Her second, Christopher Seton, was brutally executed by the English in 1306.  Not the long marriage she had perhaps hoped for.  Her third, Andrew Murray, spent his life in battle against the English and serving Scotland.  Deborah Richmond Foulkes, in her novelized and very detailed account of James Douglas and his family, does an excellent job of portraying life for the wives and children left behind throughout countless battles and years of warfare, highlighting the fear and waiting which must have colored so much of Christina’s life.

She had three children, at least as recorded by history: Donald Earl of Mary and Helen with Gartnait and Lord John and Sir Thomas with Andrew Murray. 

Even apart from her sufferings on behalf of her brother’s and husbands’ politics, Christina must have been yet another remarkable woman in her own right.  Of course, this would undoubtedly come from her mother’s forceful personality, which deserves an article of its own.  But one of the few things that is remembered about Christina is that she successfully commanded the defending forces of Kildrummy Castle in Aberdeenshire, against David de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl, leader of the English forces, in 1335.  She was in her 60′s.  It is unusual enough for a woman in medieval times to command an army; it is unusual in any time for a woman in her 60′s to do so.  It is a brief story that speaks volumes about who Christina must have been.  She lived to be 84.

Little enough is said of Mary Bruce, but we do know she was one of the younger sisters.  Along with Christina, Isabella MacDuff, Robert’s wife Elizabeth and daughter Marjory, Mary was betrayed and captured by the Earl of Ross.  Not treated so well as Christina, she and Isabella MacDuff were both held prisoner in wooden or iron cages, suspended from castle walls, for the amusement of crowds who mocked and threw things.  Mary lived like this, exposed to all seasons, from 1306 until 1310 on the walls of Roxburgh Castle.  She was kept in captivity even afterward, only being set free in exchange for English prisoners after Bannockburn in 1314.  Shortly after, she married one of Bruce’s closest companions and most loyal supporters, Neil Campbell.  He died very soon afterward, in 1316, and she later married Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie (how would you like to fill that name out on your children’s school and medical forms!) 

Like so many, very few details of Mary have survived, but Nigel Tranter, the historian and novelist, paints her as a forceful and colorful personality.  Given her family background, it seems likely.

Virtually nothing has come to us of Bruce’s other sisters.  It is not even clear how many of them there were.  Is it because they were the younger siblings and so less involved in the immediate events of the time?  Perhaps more sheltered?  Given how long the wars of independence lasted, it seems unlikely they were that fortunate.  Is it because their names, Elizabeth, Marjory, Maud, and Matilda, are so easily confused with Bruce’s wife and daughters?  Were they less forceful or colorful personalities such that they left no records?  At this point in my research, it is impossible to say, but if anyone knows more of Bruce’s youngest sisters, I would very much welcome the information. 

Tomorrow, Bruce’s brothers.  Next week, his wives and children.

8 Apr 2010
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Posted in Clan History, Great Figures of Medieval Scotland, Research, Robert the Bruce, Scottish History | 36 Comments »

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