History Of Scotland Vol. 1 - Part 11

( Originally Published 1909 )

Consequences of the Victory of Bannockburn—Depression of the Military Spirit of England—Ravages on the Border—Settlement of the Scottish Crown—Marriage of the Princess Marjory with the Steward of Scotland—Edward Bruce invades Ireland: his Success: is defeated and slain at the Battle of Dundalk—Battle of Linthaughlee; Douglas defeats Sir Edmund Caillou, and Sir Robert Neville—Invasion of Fife, and Gallantry of the Bishop of Dunkeld—Embassy from the Pope: the Cardinals who bear it are stripped upon the Borders: Bruce refuses to receive their Letters—Father Newton's Mission to Bruce, which totally fails —Berwick surprised by the Scots, and besieged by the English: relieved by Robert Bruce—Battle of Mitton—Truce of Two Years—Succession of the Crown further regulated—Assize of Arms—Disputes with the Pope—Letter of the Scottish Barons to John XXII.—Conspiracy of William de Soulis—Black Parliament—Execution of David de Brechin

THE victory of Bannockburn was followed by a series of consequences which serve to show how entirely the energies of a kingdom, its wisdom, its skill, its bravery, and its success, depend upon the manner in which its government is administered and its resources directed. The indolence with which Edward II. had managed the affairs of England, his neglect of the Scottish war, while supported almost in spite of every species of superiority by the talents of Bruce and those whom his genius had summoned to arms this original error, followed by the great and decisive failure which the English king had experienced in his final attempt to crush the enemy after he had become too strong for his efforts, produced an effect on the public mind through England, which, did we not find it recorded by her own historians, we could hardly reconcile to the triumphs of the same people in the past reign of Edward I., and the subsequent one of Edward III. "A hundred English," says Walsingham, "would not be ashamed to fly from three or four private Scottish soldiers, so much had they lost their national courage."

Thrice within twelve months Scottish armies, commanded by James Douglas and Edward Bruce, broke into the English frontiers, and ravaged them with fire and sword, executing great cruelties on the unfortunate inhabitants, forcing the few who could so escape to take shelter under the fortifications of Berwick, Newcastle, or Carlisle, all strong towns, carefully fortified, and numerously garrisoned.

Meantime commissioners on both sides had met with a proposal for peace; but the Scots, on the one hand, were elated with success, and, on the other, the national spirit of the English would not agree to the conditions which they proposed, and the negotiation was therefore broken off. The war continued with mutual animosity, though much more effectually carried on by the Scots, who wasted the northern frontiers with unceasing ravages, which were hardly encountered or repaid either by resistance or retaliation. In the meantime a famine spread its ravages through both countries, and added its terrors to those of the sword, which, by scaring away the peasants and destroying the agricultural produce, had done much to create this new scourge.

In 1315 the estates or parliament of Scotland, bethinking themselves of the evils sustained by the nation at the death of Alexander III., through the uncertainty of the succession to the crown, entered into an act of settlement, by which Ed-ward, the king's brother, we may suppose upon the ancient principles of the Scottish nation, was called to the throne in ease of Robert's decease without heirs male; and Edward or his issue failing, the succession was assured to King Robert's only child, Marjory, and her descendants. The princess was immediately married to Walter, the high-steward of Scotland, and the heir of that auspicious marriage having succeeded in a subsequent generation to the throne of Scot-land, their descendants now sit upon that of Britain.

It is probable that Robert's acquaintance with his brother Edward's martial character and experience in war inclined him to give his assent that he and his issue should occupy the throne, rather than expose the unsettled state to the government of a female, by devolving it upon his own daughter. But there is also reason to believe that the monarch was suspicious that the fiery valor and irregular ambition of Edward would lead him to dispute the right of his daughter; and King Robert was willing to spare Scotland the risk of a disputed claim to the throne, found by experience to be the in-let of so many evils, even at the sacrifice of postponing the right of his own daughter. If this be the ground of the arrangement, it is an additional instance of the paternal regard which the great Bruce bore to the nation whose monarchy he had restored, and whose independence he had asserted.

But Edward Bruce's ambition was too impatient to wait till the succession to the Scottish crown should become open to him by the death of his brother, when an opportunity seemed to offer itself which offered a prospect of instantly gaining a kingdom by the sword. This occurred when a party of Irish chiefs, discontented with the rule of the English invaders, sent an invitation to Edward Bruce to come over with a force adequate to expel the English from Ire-land, and assume the sceptre of that fair island. By con-sent of King Robert, who was pleased to make a diversion against England upon a vulnerable point, and not, perhaps, sorry to be rid of a restless spirit, which became impatient in the lack of employment, Edward invaded Ireland at the head of a force of six thousand Scots. He fought many battles, and gained them all. He became master of the province of Ulster, and was solemnly crowned king of Ireland; but found himself amid his successes obliged to entreat the assistance of King Robert with fresh supplies; for the impetuous Edward, who never spared his own person, was equally reckless of exposing his followers; and his successes were misfortunes, in so far as they wasted the brave men with whose lives they were purchased.

Robert Bruce led supplies to his brother's assistance, with an army which enabled him to overrun Ireland, but without gaining any permanent advantage. He threatened Dublin, and penetrated as far as Limerick in the west, but was compelled, by scarcity of provisions, to retire again into Ulster, in the spring of 1317. He shortly after returned to Scot-land, leaving a part of his troops with Edward, though probably convinced that his brother was engaged in a desperate and fruitless enterprise, where he could not rely on the faith of his Irish subjects, as he termed them, or the steadiness of their troops, while Scotland was too much exhausted to sup-ply him with new armies of auxiliaries.

After his brother's departure, Edward's career of ambition was closed at the battle of Dundalk, where, October 5, 1318, fortune at length failed a warrior who had tried her patience by so many hazards. On that fatal day he encountered, against the advice of his officers, an Anglo-Irish army ten times more numerous than his own. A strong champion among the English, named John Maupas, singling out the person of Edward, slew him, and received death at his hands : their bodies were found stretched upon each other in the field of battle. The victors ungenerously mutilated the body of him before whom most of them had repeatedly fled. A general officer of the Scots, called John Thomson, led back the remnant of the Scottish force to their own country. And thus ended the Scottish invasion of Ireland, with the loss of many brave soldiers, whom their country after-ward severely missed in her hour of need.

Meanwhile, in 1315, some important events had taken place in Scotland while these Irish campaigns were in progress. The king, whose attention was much devoted to nautical matters, had threatened the English coast with a disembarkation at several points. He had also destroyed what authority his ancient and mortal foe, John of Lorn, still retained in the Hebrides, made him prisoner, and consigned him to the castle of Loch Leven, where he died in captivity. New efforts to disturb the English frontiers revived the evils of those unhappy countries. In 1316, Robert, at the head of a considerable army, penetrated into Yorkshire, and destroyed the country as far as Richmond, which only escaped the flames by paying a ransom. But an assault upon Berwick, and an attempt to storm Carlisle, were both successfully resisted by the English garrisons.

During the time that Robert Bruce was in Ireland with his brother, the English on their side made several attempts on the borders. But though the king was absent, Douglas and Stewart defended the frontiers with the most successful valor.

A remarkable action was fought near a manor called Linthaughlee, about two miles above Jedburgh. James Douglas was lying at this place, which is on the banks of the Jed, and then surrounded by the forest land called Jed Wood, which stretches away toward the English border. Here he heard that the Earl of Arundel, having in his company Sir Thomas de Richmond, earl of Brittany, with an English force of ten thousand men, was advancing from Northumberland to take him by surprise. Douglas (as had been said of one of his ancestors) was never found asleep by his enemies, being as vigilant as he was sagacious and brave. He immediately resolved to be beforehand with the invaders. Having selected a strait passage in the line of march of the English earls, he caused the copse-wood on each side to be wrought into a sort of empalement or stockade, forming a defile, through which the road must pass, and greatly adding to its natural difficulties. He placed his archers in ambush near this place; and when the English had engaged themselves in the narrow pathway, he poured on them a volley of arrows, and charged them with the utmost fury. As the English could not form themselves into order, either for advance or for retreat, they were thrown into confusion, and compelled to fly. It was the peculiarity of Douglas to unite the personal courage and adventurous spirit of a knight-errant with the calm skill and deliberation of an accomplished leader. He threw himself headlong into the melée, singled out the Earl of Brittany, and, grappling with him, stabbed him to the heart with his dagger. Douglas carried off a fur hat which the unfortunate earl wore above his helmet, as a trophy of his valor and success. The House of Douglas still wreathe the escutcheon of their family with the representation of an empalement or barrier of young trees, in memory of the stratagem successfully employed by the good Lord James at Linthaughlee.

Edmund de Caillou, a French knight, lay about the same time (1317), in the garrison of Berwick, being created governor of that town. With the enterprise of his countrymen, he boasted he would drive a prey from Scotland. Accordingly he sallied forth with a band of Gascons like himself; but as they were returning with a great spoil they were intercepted by Douglas, and Caillou lost his booty and life. Sir Robert Neville was also in Berwick. He upbraided such of the Gascons as escaped from the field with cowardice; and as the crestfallen Frenchmen pleaded the irresistible prowess of Douglas, Neville proudly expressed a wish to see the Scottish chieftain's banner displayed, averring he would himself give battle wherever he beheld it. This vaunt reached the ears of Douglas, and shortly after the formidable banner was seen in the neighborhood of Berwick, where the smoke of blazing hamlets marked its presence. Robert Neville collected his forces, and sallied out to make good, like a true knight, the words that he had spoken. Douglas no sooner saw him issue from the town, than he went straight to the encounter. Neville and his men fought bravely, and the English champion met Douglas hand to hand. But the skill, strength, and fortune of the Scottish hero were predominant. Neville fell by the sword of Douglas, and his men were defeated.

Another military incident shows that the spirit of the king, which called forth and animated the talents of Douglas, could awaken a congenial desire of honor even in men whose profession removed them from arms or battle. An attempt of Edward II. to retaliate the aggressions of the Scots, was made by sending a fleet into the Firth of Forth, and disembarking a considerable body of troops at Duniebrissle on the Fife coast. The sheriff collected about five hundred Scottish horse, who went to reconnoitre the invaders; but, thinking themselves unequal to the task of resisting, they retreated precipitately. They were met, as they were riding off in disorder, by William Sinclair, bishop of Dunkeld, a man hardy of heart and tall of person, who resided near the coast. "Out upon you for false knights, whose spurs should be stricken from your heels!" said the prelate to the fugitive sheriff and his followers; then catching a spear from the soldier next him, "Who loves Scot-land," he said, "let him follow me!" The daring bishop then led a desperate charge against the English, who had not completed their disembarkation, and were driven back to their ships with loss. When Bruce heard of the prelate's gallantry, he declared Sinclair should hereafter be his bishop, and by the name of the king's bishop he was long distinguished.

Our history has so long conducted us through an unvarying recital of scenes of war and battle, that we feel a relief in being called to consider some intrigues of a more peaceful character, which place the sagacity of Robert Bruce in as remarkable a point of view as his bravery. The king of England, suffering by the continuation of a war which distressed him on all points, yet unwilling to purchase peace by the sacrifices which the Scots demanded, fell on the scheme of procuring a truce without loss of dignity by the intervention of the pope. John XXII., then supreme pontiff, was induced, by the English influence, assuming, it is said, the interesting complexion of gold, to issue a bull, commanding a two years' peace between England and Scotland. Two cardinals were intrusted with this document, with orders to pass to the nations which it concerned, and there make it known. These dignitaries of the Church had also letters, both sealed and patent, addressed to both kings. And privately they were invested with powers of fulminating a sentence of excommunication against the king of Scots, his brother Edward, and any others of their adherents whom they might think fit. The cardinals, arrived in England, despatched two nuncios to Scotland, the bishop of Corbeil and a priest called Aumori, to deliver the pope's letters to the Scottish king. For comfort and dignity in their journey, these two reverend nuncios set out northward, in the train of Lewis de Beaumont, bishop-elect of Durham, who was passing to his diocese to receive consecration. But within a stage of Durham the whole party was surprised by a number of banditti, commanded by two robber knights, called Middleton and Selby, who, from being soldiers, had become chiefs of outlaws. Undeterred by the sacred character of the churchmen, they rifled them to the last farthing, and dismissing the nuncios on their journey to Scotland, carried away the bishop-elect, whom they detained a captive, till they extorted a ransom so large that the plate and jewels of the cathedral were necessarily sold to defray it.

Disheartened by so severe a welcome to the scene of hostilities, the nuncios at length came before Bruce, and presented the pope's letters. Those which were open he commanded to be read, and listened to the contents with much respect. But, ere opening the sealed epistles, he observed that they were addressed not to the king, but to Lord Robert Bruce, governor in Scotland. "These," he said, "I will not receive nor open. I have subjects of my own name, and some of them may have a share in the government. For such the holy father's letters may be designed, but they cannot be intended for me, who am sovereign of Scotland." The nuncios endeavored to apologize, by alleging it was not the custom of the Church to prejudice' the right of either party during the dependency of a controversy, by any word or expression. "It is I, not Edward," said Bruce, "who am prejudiced by the conduct of the holy Church. My spiritual mother does me wrong in refusing to give me the name of king, under which I am obeyed by my people; and but that I reverence our mother Church, I should answer you differently." The nuncios had no alternative but to retire and report their answer to the cardinals. These dignitaries resolved, at all risks, to execute the pope's commission, by publishing the bulls and instruments. But not caring to trust their reverend persons across the border, they confided to Adam Newton, father guardian of the Friars Minorite of Berwick, the momentous and somewhat perilous task of communicating to Robert Bruce what they had no reason to think would be agreeable tidings.

Father Newton acted as a man of due caution. He did not intrust himself or the documents within Scottish ground until he had obtained an especial safe-conduct. The bulls and papal instruments were then produced to Bruce and his council; but finding the title of king was withheld from him, Robert refused to listen to or open them, and returned them to the bearer with the utmost contempt. The father guardian next attempted to proclaim the papal truce for two years. But the military hearers received the intimation with such marks of anger and contempt that Newton began to fear they would not confine the expressions of their displeasure to words or gestures. He prayed earnestly that he might either have license to pass forward into Scotland for the purpose of holding conference with some of the Scottish prelates, or at least that he might have safe-conduct for his return to Berwick. Both requests were refused, and the unlucky father guardian was commanded to be gone at his own proper peril. The reader will anticipate the consequences. The friar on his return fell into the hands of four outlaws, who stripped him of his papers and despatches, tore, it is said, the pope's bull, doubtless to pre-vent that copy at least from being made use of, and sent him back to Berwick unhurt, indeed, but sorely frightened. It is diverting enough to find that the guardian surmised that, by some means or other, the documents he was in-trusted with had fallen into the hands of the Lord Robert Bruce and his accomplices. It was thus that with a mixture of firmness and dexterity Bruce eluded a power which it would not have been politic to oppose directly, and baffled the attempts of this servile pontiff to embarrass him by spiritual opposition.

When Father Adam Newton delivered his message, or rather proffered to deliver it, to Robert Bruce, the Scottish king was lying with a body of troops in the wood of Old Cambus, where he was secretly maturing an important enterprise. Of all Edward's northern conquests, Berwick alone remained with his unfortunate son. Its importance as a commercial depot was great; as a garrison and frontier town, greater still, since it gave whichever kingdom possessed it the means of invading the other at pleasure. For this reason Edward I. had secured and garrisoned the town and castle with great care; and Edward II., careless of his father's precepts and policy in many respects, had adhered to his example in watching the security of Berwick with a jealous eye. A governor was placed in the town, who exercised such rigorous discipline as gave offence to the citizens of Berwick. A burgess named Spalding, of Scottish extraction probably, if we may judge by his name, and certainly married to a Scottish woman, was so much offended at some hard usage which he had received from the English governor, that he resolved, in revenge, to betray the place to Robert Bruce. For this purpose he communicated his plan to the Earl of March, who had abandoned the English interest and become a good Scotsman. His correspondent carried the proposal to the king. "You did well to let me know this," said the Bruce, with a shrewdness which shows his acquaintance with the nature of mankind and the character of his generals; "Douglas and Randolph are emulous of glory, and if you had intrusted one of them with the secret, the other would have thought himself neglected; but I will employ the abilities of both." Accordingly he commanded his two celebrated generals to undertake the enterprise. By agreement with Spalding they came beneath the walls of the town on a night when he was going the rounds, and received his assistance in the escalade. Some of their men, when they had entered the town, broke their ranks to plunder, and afforded the governor of the castle the opportunity of a desperate sally, which very nearly cost the assailants dear. But Douglas, Randolph, and a young knight, called Sir William Keith of Galston, drove back the English, after some hard fighting, into the precincts of the castle, which soon after surrendered when the king appeared in person before it. Bruce, delighted with this acquisition, placed the town and castle in charge of his brave son-in-law, Walter, the high-steward of Scotland. He caused the place to be fully victualled for a year; five hundred gentlemen, friends and relations of the steward, having volunteered their services to augment the garrison.

Having thus made sure of his important acquisition, Bruce anew resumed his destructive incursions into the northern provinces of England, burned Northallerton, Boroughbridge, and Skípton in Craven, forced Rippon to ransom itself for a thousand marks, and returned from this work of ravage uninterrupted and unopposed, his soldiers driving their prisoners before them "like flocks of sheep." Such passages, quoted from English history, recall to the reader the invasion of the Picts and Scots upon the unwarlike South Britons. But the ascendency asserted by the Scots over the English during this reign did not rest so much on any superiority of courage on the part of the former, though doubtless repeated victory had given them confidence, and depressed for the time the martial spirit of the enemy : it was to the conduct of the leaders, and to the persevering unity of plan which they pursued, that the Scottish successes may be justly attributed. The feuds among the nobility of England ran high, and the public quarrels between the king and his barons distracted the movements of the government and the military defence of the kingdom. The six northern counties had been so long and so dreadfully harassed, that they lost all habit of self-defence, and were willing to compound, by payment of ransom and tribute, with the Scots, rather than await the reluctant and feeble support of their countrymen. Many of them, as the allegiance of borderers usually hung light on them, chose rather to join the enemy in preying on more southern provinces, than to defend their own; and the whole country was in that state of total discontent, division, and misrule, that it was found impossible to combine the national forces for one common object.

Omitting for the present some civil affairs of considerable importance, that we may trace the events of the war, we have now to mention that Edward II., stung with resentment at the loss of Berwick, determined on a desperate effort to regain that important town. Having made a temporary agreement with his discontented barons, at the head of whom was his relation, Thomas, earl of Lancaster, the English king was able to assemble a powerful army, with which he invested the place, 24th July, 1319.

As the walls of Berwick were so low that a man standing beneath might strike with a lance a defender on the battlements, a general attack was resolved upon on all sides. At the same time an English vessel entered the mouth of the river, which was filled with soldiers, intended to board the battlements from its yards and rigging. But as the ship approached the walls with its yards manned for the proposed attempt, she grounded on a shoal, and was presently set on fire by the Scots. The land attack, after having been sup-ported with courage and resisted with obstinacy for several hours, was found equally void of success. The besiegers then retired to their trenches, having lost many men. Next day, a tremendous engine was brought forward, called a sow, being a large shed composed of very strong timbers, and having a roof sloping like the back of the animal from which it took its name. Like the Roman testudo, the sow, or movable covert, was designed to protect a body of miners beneath its shelter, while, running the end of the engine close to the wall, they employed themselves in undermining the defences of the place. The Scots had reposed their safety in the skill of a mercenary soldier, famed for his science as an engineer. This person, by name John Crab, and a Fleming by birth, had erected a huge catapult, or machine for discharging stones, with which he proposed to destroy the English sow. The event of the siege was like to depend on his skill, for the number of the besiegers was so great as to keep the defenders engaged on every point at once, so that if a part of the walls were undermined by favor of the sow it would have been difficult to collect soldiers to man the breach. The huge engine moved slowly toward the walls; one stone, and then a second, was hurled against it in vain, and amid the shouts of both parties the massive shed was approaching the bulwark. Crab had now calculated his distance and the power of his machine, and the third stone, a huge mass of rock, fell on the middle of the sow, and broke down its formidable timbers. "The English sow has farrowed!" shouted the exulting Scots, when they saw the soldiers and miners who had lain within the machine running headlong to save themselves by gaining the trenches. The Scots, by hurling lighted combustibles, of which they had a quantity prepared, consumed the materials of the English engine. The steward, who, with a hundred men of reserve, was going from post to post distributing succors, had disposed of all his attendants except one, when he suddenly received the alarming intelligence that the English were in the act of forcing the gate called St. Mary's. The gallant knight, worthy to be what fate designed him, the father of a race of monarchs, rushed to the spot, threw open the half-burned gate, and making a sudden sally, beat the enemy off from that as well as the other points of attack.

Bruce, although the garrison of Berwick had as yet made a successful defence, became anxious for the consequences of its being continued, and resolved to make an attempt to relieve his son-in-law. To attack the besiegers was the most obvious mode; but in this case the attempt must have proved a precarious and hazardous operation, as the English were defended in their position before Berwick by strong intrenchments, were brave, besides, and numerous; and it was against Bruce's system of tactics to hazard a general action where it could be avoided, unless recommended by circumstances of advantage which could not exist in the present case.

But he resolved to accomplish the relief of Berwick, by making such a powerful diversion as should induce Edward to raise the siege. With this view, fifteen thousand men, under Douglas and Randolph, entered England on the west marshes, and turning eastward, made a hasty march toward York, for the purpose of surprising the person of the queen of England, who then resided near that city. Isabella received notice of their purpose, and fled hastily southward. It may be observed in passing that her husband was little indebted to those who supplied her with the tidings which enabled her to make her escape.

The Scots proceeded, as usual, to ravage the country. The archbishop of York, in the absence of a more professional leader, assumed arms, and assembled a large but motley army, consisting partly of country people, ecclesiastics, and others, having little skill or spirit save that which despair might inspire. The Scots encountered them with the advantage which leaders of high courage and experience possess over those who are inexperienced in war, and veteran troops over a miscellaneous and disorderly levy. The conflict took place near Mitton, on the river Swale, 20th September, 1319. By the simple stratagem of firing some stacks of hay, the Scots raised a dense smoke, under cover of which a division of the army turned unperceived around the flank of the archbishop's host, and got into their rear. The irregular ranks of the English were thus attacked in front and rear at once, and instantly routed with great slaughter. Three hundred of the clerical order fell in the action, or were slain in the rout, while many of the fugitives were driven into the Swale. In the savage pleasantry of the times, this battle, in which so many clergymen fell, was called the white battle, and the Chapter of Mitton.

The tidings of this disaster speedily obliged Edward to raise the siege of Berwick, and march to the south in hope to intercept the Scots on their return from Yorkshire. In-deed, the northern barons, with the Earl of Lancaster at their head, knowing their estates were exposed to a victorious and active enemy, left Edward no alternative, but drew off with their vassals without waiting his leave. It was not the business of Randolph and Douglas to abide an encounter with the royal array of England, at the head of an army of light troops. They eluded the enemy by retreating to their own country through the west marshes, loaded with prisoners and spoil. They had plundered in this incursion eighty-four towns and villages. About the close of the same year, Douglas renewed the ravage in Cumberland and Westmoreland, and again returned with a great prey of captives and cattle, destroying at the same time the harvest which had been gathered into the farmyards. It was said that the name of this indefatigable and successful chief had become so formidable that women used, in the northern counties, to still their froward children by threatening them with the Black Douglas.

These sinister events led to a truce between the two countries for the space of two years, to which Bruce, who had much to do for the internal regulation of his kingdom, willingly consented. The determination of the royal succession, the uncertainty of which had caused so much evil, and the accomplishment of a reconciliation with the pope, were the principal civil objects to be obtained. The former, indeed, with some other important matters, had already been in part accomplished; but the death of Edward Bruce rendered some alterations necessary.

In 1318 a parliament was convoked at Scone, whose first act was an engagement for solemn allegiance to the king, and for aiding him against all mortals who should menace the liberties of Scotland, or impeach his royal rights, how eminent soever might be the power, authority, and dignity of the opponent; peculiar expressions by which the pope was indicated. Whatever native of Scotland should fail in his allegiance was denounced a traitor, without remission. Edward Bruce being dead without heirs of his body, and Marjory, at that time the Bruce's only child, being also deceased, the infant prince Robert, son of the late princess and her husband the steward of Scotland, and grandson of Robert, was proclaimed heir, in default of male issue of the king's body. The regency of the kingdom was settled on Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray, and failing him, upon James, Lord Douglas. Rules were laid down for the succession to the kingdom, the import of which bears that the male heir nearest to the king in the direct line of descent should succeed, and failing him, the nearest female in the direct line; and failing the whole direct line, the nearest male heir in the collateral line, respect being always held to the right of blood by which King Robert himself had succeeded to the crown. Mr. Kerr, in a respectable history of Robert Bruce, remarks that these provisions were in some supposed cases of difficult interpretation. It seems that they were intentionally left ambiguous, since to have adopted distinctly the modern rules of succession would have thrown a slur on the title by which the king's grandfather, Robert the Competitor, claimed the throne, and the king himself held it.

An assize of arms was next enacted. Every man being liable to serve in defence of his country, all Scottish natives were required to provide themselves with weapons according to their rank and means. Every man worth ten pounds a year of land was enjoined to have in readiness a buff jacket and head-piece of steel; those whose income was less might substitute iron for the back and breast-piece, and the knapscap or helmet. All these were to have gloves of plate and a sword and spear. Each man who possessed a cow was to be equipped with a bow and sheaf of arrows, or a spear. No provisions are made for horsemen. The royal tenants in chief, doubtless, came forth as men-at-arms; but the policy of Robert Bruce rested the chief defence of Scotland on its excellent infantry. Prudent and humane rules were laid down for providing for the armed array, when passing to and from the king's host, directed to the end of rendering them as little burdensome as possible to the country which they traversed in arms. At the same time they were to be supplied with provisions on tender of payment. The supplying warlike weapons or armor to England was strictly prohibited, under pain of death.

The rights and independence of the Scottish Church were dauntlessly asserted, in resentment, probably, of the pope's unfriendly aspect toward Bruce. Ecclesiastics were prohibited from remitting money to Rome. Native Scotsmen re-siding in a foreign country were not permitted to draw their revenues from Scotland. Such were the patriotic measures adopted by the parliament of Scotland held at Scone in 1318.

The haughty pontiff, John XXII., had been highly of-fended with the manner in which the Bruce had neglected his injunctions for a truce, and refused to receive the letters which his holiness had addressed to him. In 1318 he en-joined the two cardinals to publish the bulls of excommunication against Bruce and his adherents. The reasons alleged were that the Scottish governor, as he affected to term him, had taken Berwick during the papal truce; that he had re-fused to receive the nuncios of the legates; and certain secret reasons were hinted at, which his holiness for the present kept private. Perhaps the most powerful of those were pensions granted by Edward to the pope's brother and nephews, and some other influential cardinals, who enjoyed the pontiff's favor and confidence. Neither the Church nor people of Scotland paid any attention to these bulls, though published by the legates in all solemnity. The flame of national freedom and independence burned too clear and strong to be disturbed by the breath of Rome.

Edward in vain attempted to prevail on other princes and countries to partake with him and the pope in the common cry which they endeavored to raise against Robert Bruce and his kingdom. He applied to the Count of Flanders and other princes and states of the Netherlands, praying them to break off all commercial intercourse with the Scots as a rebellious and excommunicated people. But the Dutch, who prospered by countenancing a free trade with all men, coolly and peremptorily rejected the proposal.

The- pope continued obstinate in his displeasure, and as it broke forth anew just after the retreat of King Edward and the truce he had made with Scotland (1319), there is reason to believe that the holy father resumed his severe measures in compliance with the desires of the English king, who endeavored thus to maintain a spiritual war against Bruce after having laid down his temporal weapons. In-deed, it will afterward appear that Robert alleged the machinations of Edward II. at Rome as an apology for his own breach of the truce. These intrigues were, however, successful; the pope once more renewed the thunders of his excommunication against Bruce and his adherents, in a bull of great length; and the inefficacy that had hitherto attended these efforts of his spleen had offended the pope so highly that the prelates of York and London were ordered to repeat the ceremony, with bell, book, and candle, every Sunday and festival day through the year.

The parliament of Scotland now took it upon them to reply to the pope in vindication of themselves and their sovereign. At Aberbrothock or Arbroath, on the 6th of April, 1320, eight earls and thirty-one barons of Scotland, together with the great officers of the crown, and others, in the name of the whole community of Scotland, placed their names and seals to a spirited manifesto or memorial, in which strong sense and a manly spirit of freedom are mixed with arguments suited to the ignorance of the age.

This celebrated document commences with an enumeration of proofs of the supposed antiquity of the Scottish nation, detailingits descent from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, its conversion to the Christian faith by Saint Andrew the Apostle, with the long barbarous roll of baptized and unbaptized names, which, false and true, filled up the line of the royal family. Having astounded, as they doubt-less conceived, the pontiff with the nation's claim to antiquity, of which the Scots have been at all times more than sufficiently tenacious, they proceeded in a noble tone of independence. The unjust interference of Edward I. with the affairs of a free people, and the calamities which his ambition had brought upon Scotland, were forcibly described, and the subjection to which his oppression had reduced the country was painted as a second Egyptian bondage, out of which their present sovereign had conducted them victoriously by his valor and prudence, like a second Joshua or Maccabaeus. The crown they declared was Bruce's by right of blood, by the merit which deserved it, and the free con-sent of the people who bestowed it. But yet they added in express terms, that not even to this beloved and honored monarch would they continue their allegiance, should he show an inclination to subject his crown or his people to homage or dependence on England, but that they would in that case do their best to resist and expel him from the throne; "for," say the words of the letter, "while a hundred Scots are left to resist, they will fight for the liberty that is dearer to them than life." They required that the pope, making no distinction of persons, like that Heaven of which he was the vicegerent, would exhort the king of England to remain content with his fair dominions, which had formerly been thought large enough to supply seven kingdoms, and cease from tormenting and oppressing a poor people, his neighbors, whose only desire was to live free and unoppressed in the remote region where fate had assigned them their habitation. They reminded the pope of his duty to preserve a general pacification throughout Christendom, that all nations might join in a crusade for the recovery of Palestine, in which they and their king were eager to en-gage, but for the impediment of the English war. They concluded by solemnly declaring, that if his holiness should, after this explanation, favor the English in their schemes for the oppression of Scotland, at his charge must lie all the loss of mortal life and immortal happiness which might be forfeited in a war of the most exterminating character. Lastly, the Scottish prelates and barons declared their spiritual obedience to the pope, and committed the defence of their cause to the God of Truth, in the firm hope that he would endow them with strength to defend their right, and con-found the devices of their enemies.

The popish excommunication being thus set at naught and defied by the voice of the people of Scotland, and the nobles proving themselves resolute in asserting the right of their monarch and the justice of their cause, the pontiff showed himself more accessible to the Scottish ambassadors, who were sent to confer with him; and as the king of France also offered his mediation, his holiness began to make more equitable proposals for peace between England and Scotland. It is probable, however, that the sovereigns principally concerned were each of them desirous to await the issue of certain dark and mysterious intrigues, which Edward and Robert respectively knew to have existence in the court of the enemy.

And, first, for the internal discontents of Scotland. Not-withstanding the great popularity of Bruce, astis evinced by the letter of the barons which we have just analyzed, there had been so many feuds, separate interests, and quarrels previous to his accession, and his destruction of the power of the Anglicized barons had given so much offence, that we can-not be surprised that there should be some throughout the nation who nourished sentiments toward their king very different from those of love and veneration, which prevailed in the community at large. These sentiments of envy and ill-will led to a conspiracy, in which David de Brechin, the king's nephew, with five other knights and three esquires, men of rank and influence, were secretly combined to a highly treasonable purpose. They had. agreed, it would seem, to put the king to death, and place on the throne William de Soulis, hereditary butler of Scotland. This ambitious knight's grandfather, Nicolas de Soulis, had been a competitor for the crown as grandson of Marjory, daughter of Alexander II., and wife of Alan Dureward; an undeniable claim, had his ancestress been legitimate. Sir William had himself been lately employed as a conservator of the truce upon the borders, and it is probable he had been then tampered with by the agents of Edward, and disposed to enter into this flagitious, and it would seem hopeless conspiracy.

The Countess of Strathern, to whom the guilty secret was intrusted, betrayed it through fear or remorse. The conspirators were seized and brought to trial before Parliament. Sir William de Soulis and the Countess of Strathern were condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Sir David de Brechin, Sir William Malherbe, Sir John Logia, and an esquire, named Richard Brown, were condemned to death, which they accordingly suffered. Four others of the principal conspirators were tried for their lives, and acquitted. Though the acquittal of these persons, and the clemency extended to the principal conspirator, afford every reason to believe that the trials were equitably if not favorably conducted, yet so little were men accustomed to consider the meditation of a mere change of government or innovation in the state as anything worthy of death, that the punishment seems to have been generally regarded as severe, and the common people gave the name of the Black Parliament to that by whose decrees so much noble blood had been spilled. The age, however accustomed to slaughter in the field, was less familiar with capital punishments which followed on the execution of the laws.

David de Brechin's fate excited much public sympathy. He was young, brave, connected with the blood royal, and had distinguished himself by his feats against the infidels in the Holy Land. These accomplishments were to the noble sufferer in those days a general charm which interested the populace in his favor, and blinded them to a sense of his crime, as the goodly person of the "proper young man" who suffers for a meaner cause fascinates a modern group of spectators. But, excepting the bewitching attributes of high birth, youth, and valor, there is little to interest readers of the present day in the deserved fate of David de Brechin. He had been early attached to the English cause, and had assisted Comyn, earl of Buchan, in his close and vindictive pursuit of Robert the Bruce through Aberdeenshire, in 1308. If, indeed, he joined his uncle after the battle of Old Mel-drum, as is alleged by Barbour, he must have again apostatized, for in 1312 David de Brechin held an English pension, and was governor of Dundee in Edward's service. He was a prisoner of war in Scotland in 1315 ; and though he probably afterward submitted to his uncle's allegiance, yet in none of those heroic exploits which render illustrious the warfare of the subsequent years does the name of David de Brechin appear. It is probable that his uncle did not trust him ; which may explain, but cannot excuse, his entering into an enterprise against the life of a near relative, the restorer of his country's freedom. So it befell, however, that this young man's death was much lamented. Sir Ingram de Umfraville gave upon the occasion an example of what we have above stated concerning the light manner in which the chivalry of the period exchanged their allegiance and country from one land and sovereign to another. "I will not remain in a land," said Sir Ingram, "in which so noble a knight is put to a shameful and pitiful death for such a slight cause." He left Scotland accordingly, and transferred his services and loyalty to England, having previously asked and obtained leave of Robert Bruce to dispose of his Scottish estates, which was generously granted to him. It is difficult to conceive how far Sir Ingram de Umfraville conceived the immunities of a noble knight to extend. This was the fourth time he himself had changed sides. He had borne arms under Wallace, and under the subsequent Scottish regency; he had become English, and was one of the knights appointed to keep King Edward's rein at the battle of Bannockburn. That victory reconverted Sir Ingram to the Scottish allegiance, which he finally renounced out of pity and tenderness for the fate of Sir David de Brechin, and, perhaps, some lurking anxiety concerning what might be ultimately reserved for himself when traitors were receiving payment at the hands of the executioner.

As the conspiracy of Sir William de Soulis and his accomplices was probably known to Edward of England, so there can be no doubt that Robert Bruce was participant of that which Thomas, earl of Lancaster, was carrying on against the former monarch in 1321. To this, perhaps, it was owing that commissioners appointed by both nations broke up their convention without being able to settle the grounds on which the truce should be exchanged for a lasting peace. Edward endeavored on this occasion once more to animate the resentment of the pope against Scotland; but whether the pontiff was moved by the high-spirited manifesto of the Scottish barons, or whether he deemed it inexpedient to bring his spiritual artillery into contempt by using it when it produced no effect, it is certain that he adopted a more impartial tone in the controversy, and more conciliatory toward the weaker kingdom.

The history of England must now be referred to. The chief vice in Edward's feeble government was a disposition to favoritism, with the sovereign's indolence, love of pleasure, and negligence of public business. The first troubles of his reign had been occasioned by his excessive partiality for a knight of Gascony named Piers Gaveston. The power of this minion being destroyed, and he himself put to death, by a league of the nobility headed by Thomas, earl of Lan-caster, for some time the king seemed disposed to live in harmony with his subjects. Edward's ill stars, however, led him to find another Gaveston in Hugh Despenser, who engrossed, like the Gascon, and like him misused, the good graces of his facile master. Sensible that he was as much detested by the nobility as ever Gaveston had been, Despenser contrived to whet the king's vengeance against the nobles by whom that favorite had been put to death, and especially against Lancaster. The earl, on the other hand, knowing that he stood in danger from the deadly hatred of his sovereign, was led into the unjustifiable step of caballing with strangers and enemies against his native prince, and contrary to his sworn allegiance.

A treaty offensive and defensive was entered into between the earl and the Scottish nobles, Randolph and Douglas, stipulating that the Scots, on the one part, should invade England, to facilitate the operations of the Earl of Lancaster; and, on the other part, that the English, in return for this brotherly support, should use their interest to obtain an equitable peace between England and Scotland. If there were, as seems probable, other stipulations, they remained secret.

The Earl of Lancaster convoked his friends, and rose in insurrection; but his measures had not been combined with those of the Scots. There appears to have been, as is frequently the case, mutual jealousy between the native conspirators and the foreign auxiliaries. Disconcerted by hearing that the king was on the march toward them, the insurgents threw themselves into the town of Pontefract, 1323. As the Earl of Lancaster endeavored to make his way from thence to his castle of Dunstanborough in the north, he was attacked by Sir Andrew Hartcla, warden of the western marches, and Sir Simon Ward, sheriff of York-shire. The Earl of Lancaster was tried and beheaded, and afterward worshipped as a saint, though he had died in an act of high treason.