In July, Blue Bells of Scotland went on a virtual book tour.  Stops included: Cate Masters, Louise Wise, Fiona Ingram, Amy Blackwelder, Literary Magic, and A Moment With Mystee.  Stops include interviews, guest posts, or both.  Please stop by and say hello!

July and August were good months for the Night Writers.  Jointly or individually, we had book signings at the Maple Grove Arts Center, the Two Rivers Music Festival, and Buffalo Books.  We were also pleased to have Cyd Haynes join us for our weekly meeting.  She has written an article that will be featured soon in Maple Grove Magazine.  If you’d like to learn more about the Night Writers, or get updates on our writing and book signings, please join us at our Facebook Page.  We are just about to have a drawing for a free book, so come by and click LIKE quickly!

In September, I’ll be having two guests at The World of the Blue Bells Trilogy.  Joan Szechtman, author of This Time, will be blogging on September 15 about time travel.  On September 27, Jeri Westerson, author of the Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series will be paying a visit.  I’m looking forward to both their posts.

In September and October, Blue Bells of Scotland will be going on another, much larger virtual tour, with a new book trailer.  Details will be posted here.  Check back to read interviews, guest blogs, and sign up for chances to win a copy of Blue Bells of Scotland!

Enjoy the trailer!

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.

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.

Once upon a time the Celtic speaking world was vast. As peoples migrated west from other lands, their languages slowly took over, leaving the Celtic languages in pockets in parts of western Europe: northern Spain, Brittany, the British Isles. The Celtic peoples’ music left an indelible impression longer than their languages, so you will find bagpipes and familiar melodies and rhythms where you least expect it.

–Radio de Danann

If you love the Celtic world and you love music, if you love either one, chances are great you’ll love Radio de Danann, the on-line station run by Nan Hawthorne, author and musician.  Nan puts a lot of work and research into her play lists, searching out music not only from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but from Cornish, Breton, Galician, and Asturian traditions, and from the Isle of Man, the Orkneys, and Hebrides. 

I love the variety on the station, ranging from the well-known groups like The Irish Rovers to independent artists doing covers of well-known traditional pieces, or their own original music in Celtic styles.  You’ll hear instrumentals and vocals, lively and slow, fiddles, drums, flutes, harp, pipes, and more; large groups and soloists.  You’ll hear some of the Celtic favorites, like Nancy Whiskey and Danny Boy, and newer and lesser-known pieces, including Nan’s own Ballad of Rory McGuinness. And you’ll hear twenty-first century rock from the Celtic countries.  Nan puts up a new playlist each Sunday,

I also like Nan’s creativity.  She has recently instituted her “The Same Difference” hour, in which she plays the same song, as performed by a variety of musicians.  I love the concept and the experience of hearing how so many people have interpreted the same melody.  Recent pieces include Whiskey in the Jar, Rising of the Moon, and The Foggy Dew.   

Radio de Danann, in short, is a station you can simply turn on as pleasant and relaxing background music.  Or, thanks to Nan’s research and creativity, both in programming and seeking out new music, you may find this a wonderful and, dare I say, educational excursion into the Celtic world and Celtic and musical history.  A recent playlist, for example, featured all Scottish music, including a number of pieces about Scotland’s great battle at Bannockburn.

Among performers you’ll hear are Druidsong, aka Bruce Golightly.  Druidsong has been performing since the 1960′s on 6 and 12 string guitar, bodhran (a Celtic hand drum), and tin whistle.  He plays solo and also with the groups Twisted Knickers and Hiraeth.  His music spans the range from pieces dating back to the 17th century or earlier, up to the 20th century, all reflecting the Celtic musical tradition, world view, and patterns.

Bruce currently has 3 albums out: DruidSong, Johnny Jump Up, and Rebels and Rogues, which includes Nan Hawthorne’s Balld of Rory McGuinness.  It is his Rebels and Rogues that is being offered as our giveaway today.  To enter, please leave a comment, including an e-mail address where you can be contacted, if you win.  For fun, tell us your favorite piece of music or novel connected with the Celtic world, or one fact about the history of the Celtic world.

Below is an interview with the multi-talented Nan Hawthorne.

Laura: Ironically, my own interest in the Celtic world came about through music.  What brought about your interest in Celtic music?

Nan: I grew up with a father who was a fine tenor and even did a stint in live radio in the 1940s under the  name “Danny Shannon”.  However, we were not really encouraged to compete with him, er ah, develop musical interests of our own.  So I suppose it went hand in hand with my interest in Ireland specifically and my later gleeful awareness that “Celtic” meant a lot more than Irish.  When I was about fourteen I saw the movie “Fighting Prince of Donegal” and fell head over heels in love with Irish history.  That’s when I created the two Irish bards who are characters in my first novel, An Involuntary King.  I went nuts for everything Irish, even convinced my tightwad father to send me to Ireland for a couple weeks, and while my mad burst of passion for Celtic music really came later, I was well on my way.

Laura:  How long have you been running the station?

Nan: I actually started out doing an hour long show on the Phoenix State College Internet radio station a couple three years ago.  Their faculty adviser, Miguel Fernandez, was very positive about the music I sent to one of his broadcasters for her Society for Creative Anachronism show, so even though I was nowhere near Phoenix, Arizona, he encouraged me to do my own program.  That was the Shannon O’Neill Memorial Celtic Music Hour.  When the school dropped the station, I decided to go 24/7.  The station on Live365.com was my husband’s Christmas present to me in 20o8.  I have been running the station, Radio Dé Danann now since January 2009.  Though I am constantly involved in wonderful projects like writing novels and blogging and other artistic pursuits, I would say I get the most fun out of doing the station.

Laura: Where do you find your music?

Nan: I take every opportunity to buy music, whether on CDs at stores or as single downloads on Amazon MP3 Downloads.. the latter is nice because if I want to do my Same Difference program of the same song played by a dozen or so different artists I don’t have to buy a whole album to get one track.  As much as I would like to have the whole album, I can’t afford 12 albums to get 12 tracks.  I also encourage unsigned acts, small local bands, for instance, to send me their mp3s for me to play on RDD.  I can’t pay them but they get airplay they might not otherwise get.  I love that people tell me about musicians they enjoy.. that is how I learned about Hevia, the Iberian Celtic bagpiper and many other artists.  The proceeds of my medieval-novels.com web site goes entirely to purchasing more music.

Laura: What is your favorite group?

Nan: My two favorite artists at this point are Hevia, whom I mentioned above, and an Irish singer named Eugene McEldowney, who sings a lot of great rebel songs.  I love rebel songs.

Laura: What is your favorite piece?

Nan: I could give you a different answer every time you ask that.  Overall probably the version of The Foggy Dewperformed by Sinéad O’Connor with The Chieftains…she is so passionate in that song.  I also love The Lark in the Clear Airperformed by just about anyone, but this is for an odd reason.  I think of my Irish bard character Rory McGuinness singing it.  Of course that brings me to my own published song, Ballad of Rory McGuinness, which is on the album you are giving away!

Laura: I also love The Foggy Dew.  It’s one of the pieces my daughter loves to sing while I play it on harp.  It’s a beautiful piece about Irish history.  Tell us about some of the interesting people you’ve met through your interest in music.

Nan: Well, obviously, Bruce Golightly, who performs as Druidsong, the Pennsylvania based guitarist and singer.  Last year at a Renaissance Fair I met Gareth Davis of the Celtic Band Celt Check! who is himself a terrific solo act and will be doing a special program on RDD soon.  Mick Hurray of  The Mickeys in Akron, Ohio, has a rock beat to his Celtic music that I really enjoy.  I have just been making some contacts in the gay and lesbian musicians community and have a song called Irish Lass by a woman with a lovely voice named Linq on my current play list.  I can’t forget to mention Marc Gunn, who is sort of the godfather of Celtic music on the Internet with his Songhenge and other sites.  He has a couple albums of “Irish drinking songs for cat lovers” with tracks like “Whiskers in the Jar” and “Wild Kitty”.  He’s brilliant and a wonderful fellow and is based in Austin Texas.  One of the singers in a British folk group, Pig’s Ear, is Sue Rule, a historical novelist like you and I, and since I pepper my Celtic tracks with British folk and some Renaissance tracks, I get to play their songs.

Laura: How often do you change the music on the station?

Nan: I upload about 4 hours of music every weekend.  I have about 1500 tracks to choose from, and 4 hours is about 85 tracks.

Laura: That’s a lot of music!  What is it you are trying to do with your station?

Nan: Primarily I want to offer play lists with as diverse a scope as possible.  I don’t just play Irish and Scottish music, but also Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Asturian and Galician, not to mention Cape Breton in Canada.  I also try to play different genres, so you will get folk music, music hall songs, rock music, and a lot more.  I want to offer airplay to unsigned bands if only so they can hear their work played to the world but hopefully to spark interest in their work.  I love any excuse to buy more Celtic music.

Laura: Is there anything you think would surprise my readers about you?

Nan: Um, yeah, I don’t like Celtic Woman and I don’t like the Irish Tenors, yet whenever I tell someone about Radio Dé Danann they instantly tell me how much they enjoy those two!  They are OK but just not my cup of mead.

Laura: So you mentioned special programs like Same Difference.  Are you planning more of these?  And how can people keep up to date?

Nan: Oh definitely, not only Same Difference but the Gareth Davis show and I am hoping to get permission to rebroadcast a particular podcast.  I want to branch out more into the less well known Celtic cultures, like Cornish and Iberian, and also find music by bands in places like Australia and New Zealand and especially Japan.

To keep up, visit our web site www.radiodedanann.com, our blog at www.radiodedanann.blogspot.com,  and also join our Yahoogroup at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radio_de_danann.

Laura: Thanks for being here, Nan!

To my readers, a copy of DruidSong’s new album is being given away.  To enter, leave a comment with an e-mail address where I can reach you.  This is the only requirement, but for fun, please also tell us your favorite song or novel or historical fact about the Celtic world.

The winner will be chosen on July 28 approximately 9 p.m.

We all like to think, of course, that our books are beloved, but we were very flattered when visitors came from as far as the Caribbean. 

Yes, Jack Sparrow stopped by to browse Lyn LaCoursiere Miller’s Lindy Lewis Mysteries. 

And it appears he was overcome to get a signed copy of Blue Bells of Scotland!

Also present today to sign books:

Genny Zak Kieley, author of Hot Stamps and Green Pants: Growing Up in the 50′s and 60′s and three books on Northeast Minneapolis.

Ross Tarry, author of four mysteries.

Many thanks to Lorrie Link at the Maple Grove Arts Center for a good day!

Stay tuned for Monday’s announcement of the giveaway of Druidsong’s Rebels and Rogues.

… 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.

I am lucky enough to have Druidsong’s latest CD, Rebels and Rogues, courtesy of Druidsong and Radio de Danann, available as a give-away.  Druidsong, aka Bruce Golightly, does Celtic music primarily of Ireland and Scotland, on 6 and 12 string guitar, bodhran, and tin whistle.  He has been performing since the 1960′s in and around Pittsburgh.  He currently has three albums out, Johnny Jump Up, Druidsong, and Rebels and Rogues.  Rebels and Rogues includes The Ballad of Rory McGuinness, written by Nan Hawthorne, host of Radio de Danann and author of the medieval novel, An Involuntary King.

Stay tuned for your chance to win!

Blue Bells of Scotland is currently on a virtual book tour.  This past week, I ‘appeared’ at:

• Fiona Ingram’s Word Magic: Articles and Tips for Authors.  Fiona is the author of the children’s book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab.
• Ami Blackwelder’s Hot Gossip, Hot Reviews  Ami writes science fiction, paranormal, and romance, including the recent The Hunted of 2060.
• Louise Wise’s Wise Words.  Louise is the author of Eden and many other novels and short stories.

Please stop by and leave a comment, and check out their books and the many great books they’ve reviewed and promoted!

Future stops are:

• Cate Masters, July 19
• Literary Magic, July 28
• A Moment With Mystee, July 29 and 30

If you happen to live in the Twin Cities area, stop by the Maple Grove Arts Center this Saturday, July 17, say hello, and pick up a signed copy of Blue Bells of Scotland.  I will be there between 10 and 2 with Night Writers authors, Ross Tarry, John Stanton, Genny Kieley, and Lyn Miller LaCoursiere.  We have a variety of books, including non-fiction, mystery, adventure, science fiction, and more. 

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!

 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!

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?