After Bannockburn

by H A CULLEY

  ‘I saw what happened, Sire. This man just saved your life; it is the other man who tried to kill you.’

  The guards hauled the putative assassin to his feet and, on instructions from de Valois, they hustled him away for questioning. Simon was left wondering why, if Philip de Valois had seen what was happening, he hadn’t shouted a warning as soon as he saw the dagger, but he didn’t say anything. King Charles got up and embraced him, thanking him profusely.

  ‘What made you suspicious? You acted so quickly you were presumably watching him?’ Philip asked.

  Simon nodded. ‘Yes, milord, my squire thought he looked shifty and suspected that he was up to something, he alerted me and I kept an eye on him.’

  ‘Then I must also thank your squire.’ The king cut in.

  Simon motioned for Ian to come forward, which he did, going down on one knee. Charles raised him up and planted a kiss on his cheek whilst thanking him for his vigilance. Ian blushed. Whilst he was pleased to be honoured by the King of France, he knew that his fellows wouldn’t let him forget that he had been kissed in public by a man. He cringed when he thought of the teasing he would have to endure.

  The next day the Scottish delegation were packing up ready for the long journey back to Scotland when Philip de Valois rode into the courtyard accompanied by a small escort.

  ‘I’m glad I’ve caught you; where is Simon de Powburn?’

  Simon walked over to where the French count was dismounting, curious about what he wanted him for.

  ‘Good morning, milord. You came looking for me?’

  ‘Yes, and your squire. The king wishes to honour you both for saving his life yesterday evening.’ Someone handed Philip a scroll and something wrapped in red velvet. The scroll proved to be the deeds to Clécy, a manor in Normandy. When Ian revealed the item covered in red velvet, he gasped. It was a dagger in a sheath decorated with gold leaf, pearls and small gems.

  ‘His Highness is too generous. Please thank him for his thoughtful gifts. It was enough of a reward to be of service to him but we do appreciate his kindness.’

  ‘You should become a courtier, Sir Simon.’ Philip smiled and turned to the Earl of Moray. ‘I wish you a safe and speedy return to Scotland, my lord.’

  As he was mounting his horse Simon asked him whether they had found out who had employed the assassin.

  ‘Alas, he died under torture without saying anything of value.’

  I bet he did, thought Simon. He would have wagered his new manor that Philip was behind it, no doubt wanting to secure the throne before King Charles could sire a son.

  Simon had arranged for his ships to meet them at Ouistreham but not for another two weeks. Whilst Randolph and the abbot travelled to Caen via Rouen, where the abbot wanted to visit an old friend and explore the library there, Simon, Rollo and their squires set off to visit Simon’s new manor at Clécy on the River Orne. It lay in the rugged Armorican massif, through which the Orne flowed. There was an area of level cultivated land with fields that were now bare but the soil looked rich and fertile. Behind the village the hills were given over to pasture and woods. The village itself was larger than Lamberton and there was a small castle, consisting of a square stone keep and a palisade, at one end.

  As they rode through the village the people came out to stare at the four riders, in curiosity rather than fear. Simon noted that they were all women and children; he presumed the men were away somewhere.

  As they rode into the bailey a sleepy urchin stared at them, picking his nose as he did so. Simon dismounted and Ian ran up to take his horse, then yelled at the urchin in French, asking him where the stables were. The boy stopped what he was doing to his nose and ran to help with the horses, nodding with his head towards a lean-to building against the palisade.

  Simon and Rollo used their gauntlets to beat the dust from their surcoats and walked towards the door into the keep. As they did so a portly middle-aged man dressed in a long green robe down to his feet appeared in the doorway and glared at the two knights.

  ‘What do you want?’ he challenged them belligerently. ‘This is a royal manor and I don’t welcome visitors.’

  Two scruffy looking men-at-arms appeared behind him, nervously fingering the hilts of their swords. A third, who presumably should have been guarding the gate, appeared from the direction of the midden heap beside the keep doing up the points of his hose, having just added to the noxious pile. Simon produced the scroll that Philip de Valois had given him and waved it at him.

  ‘Not any more,’ he replied in Norman French. ‘I am now the lord of Clécy, and you are?’

  ‘Gaston de Falaise. I have not been notified that the king has given the manor to another,’ he added suspiciously.

  ‘Then read it for yourself, Gaston.’

  He tossed the scroll at the man, who caught it with difficulty. He stood there holding it, looking helpless and then yelled ‘Jean’ into the keep behind him. A youth dressed in a black robe stained with food appeared and, taking the scroll, started to read it.

  ‘It’s as he says. Good morning, Seigneur.’ With that he wandered back into the keep, leaving Simon and Rollo looking somewhat bemused.

  ‘I see. I’m sorry, Seigneur, but I had no way of knowing who you were. I’m the bailiff.’

  ‘Are you now? So you are responsible for the filthy state of my castle and for these idle oafs, are you? If you are the bailiff, I’m surprised that you evidently can’t read.’

  ‘I have a clerk for that,’ the man stated, offended.

  ‘Not any more. You have two hours to pack your belongings and leave; take your clerk and these scruffy so-called men-at-arms with you. I have no use for them.’

  The three soldiers looked at each other as if they couldn’t believe their ears.

  ‘You can’t do that!’

  ‘The king has made me the lord of this manor and I think you will find I am quite at liberty to hire and discharge the bailiff, servants and soldiers at will.’

  One of the men-at-arms pulled his sword from its scabbard and started towards Simon, who folded his arms and glared at him. The other two drew their swords to back up their comrade.

  ‘I wouldn’t if I were you. There is a crossbow pointed at you.’

  The three men turned and saw both Ian and Duncan standing outside the stables holding small hunting crossbows, whilst the slack-jawed stable boy stared at them uncomprehendingly. Simon and Rollo disarmed the three soldiers and threw them in the hole in the ground that served as the castle’s dungeon.

  ‘Now, do you want to fight me too?’ This was addressed to Gaston and Jean, who had reappeared to see what was going on.

  Muttering imprecations, the bailiff went inside the keep and started yelling for his wife to start to pack. Two hours later a cart drawn by the old horse that was the only occupant of the stables before Simon’s arrival, departed piled high with the bailiff’s possessions. Jean drove the cart with the former bailiff sitting beside him. His family: a woman and four filthy children, followed it.

  A man came up from the village and watched their departure with some satisfaction.

  ‘Good afternoon, Seigneur. I’m the reeve, Aumary de Clécy. I can’t say I’m sorry to see the back of that lazy rogue. What have you done with the ruffians who enforced his will here?’

  ‘Good afternoon, Aumary. I’m Simon de Powburn, the new lord of Clécy.’

  ‘From your accent you’re not French or a Norman?’

  ‘No, I’m an Anglo-Scot who managed to do your king some small service.’

  ‘I see. Will you be living here from now on, Seigneur?’

  ‘No, I have two manors in Scotland. I will try and visit and perhaps bring my family from time to time but I need to find a good man to manage Clécy for me. It was at that moment that Simon had an idea. He kept it to himself for now whilst he considered the ramifications.

  During the week that Simon spent at Clécy he managed to get the stinking midden heap moved to a hollow outside the castle, go
t it cleaned from top to bottom by the servants and inspected the estate with Aumary. It was a delightful spot and in some ways he was tempted to move there with his family.

  He spent one day travelling over to the abbey at St. Pierre-sur-Dives. When he came back he brought a young lay cleric with him who he had recruited as the new bailiff. Rollo had spent the day travelling to Falaise to hand the three erstwhile men-at-arms over to the authorities with a statement of complaint against them.

  Simon had recruited four youths in the village and they had started their military training under an old soldier with one arm. They would replace the guards now residing in the viscount’s cells in Falaise.

  On the last day before they were due to leave to meet up with Thomas Randolph at Ouistreham he, Rollo and the boys went hunting with some men from the village and their dogs. They struck lucky and found the spoor of a boar after about an hour. Simon let Rollo have the honour of making the kill and Simon presented the boar to the village. It was a clever move. Peasants rarely got to eat a lot of meat and, although there we sixty families in Clécy, there should be enough for everyone to have a slice. It ensured that Simon would be regarded as a good lord, even if he wasn’t planning on being there overmuch.

  ‘So you’ll leave the new bailiff in charge and just take the income?’ Rollo asked him on their last night there.

  ‘Not quite. Oh, both he and Aumary are good men but I would rather leave someone I really knew and trusted in charge.’ He paused. ‘Would you like to be my constable here?’

  Rollo’s eyes lit up. ‘You mean it? Yes, I would really like to stay. Much as I love Scotland, it’s a lot warmer here and it would be better being the constable here than just another household knight over there.’

  ‘Good. You had better tell Duncan then. The last time I saw him he was busy packing.’

  Chapter Fifteen – The Abdication of Edward II

  November 1326 to July 1327

  When they got back to Berwick in November 1326 they found the king there. He welcomed them home, and threw a feast in their honour. Edgar rode over for it with Bridget and Catriona and he couldn’t wait to tell Simon all that happened whilst he’d been away. Most of it had to do with business and the family, however more momentous news arrived the following day.

  For the last few years the marriage between King Edward and his wife, Isabella of France, had become increasingly troubled. The root cause of the problem was Edward’s relationship with Hugh Despenser. Her detestation of the man had little to do with his sexual relationship with her husband but much more to do with the power he exercised over the weak king and the evil purposes to which he put that power.

  Hugh Despenser the Younger effectively ruled through Edward, and did so openly, playing a leading role in Edward's government, and executing policy through a wide network of influential friends including the chancellor and the treasurer. Both Hugh and his father accumulated land and wealth, using their position in government to provide superficial cover for what was little more than fraud, violence and corrupt legal practices. This began to undermine the system of law and order and many of the barons became seriously alarmed at the situation.

  Matters came to a head in 1326 when Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, one of the most powerful of the marcher lords on the Welsh border, fled to France and, whilst there, started an affair with Queen Isabella, who had left her husband and taken refuge there with her son, Prince Edward.

  Simon had been aware that Queen Isabella had been in Paris as a guest of her brother, King Charles, but he had not seen her whilst he was there and he hadn’t been aware before now how great the rift between her and her husband had become. Edgar had filled him in on the background to the news that had just reached King Robert.

  Conditions in England had apparently descended into chaos when Queen Isabella, Prince Edward and Roger Mortimer had landed in England with troops provided by the Count of Hainault. The latter’s daughter, Phillipa, was betrothed to the fourteen year old Prince Edward. London had then risen in revolt against the King Edward and the Despensers. At the time that King Robert’s agent in London had despatched his messenger, King Edward had fled to Gloucester and was rallying an army to oppose Isabella and Mortimer.

  The next day Simon and Bridget returned to Lamberton and Edgar and Catriona to Ayton, so they didn’t hear of the developing situation in England until Thomas Randolph came to stay at Duns in early December on his way from Moray to Jedburgh to celebrate Christmas with the king. He sent a squire over with a message inviting the two brothers and their wives to join him for dinner the following afternoon.

  They were expecting Thomas to tell them what was happening in England but his first tidings were about Ireland.

  ‘We have just heard that Richard de Clare, Earl of Ulster and the queen’s father, died at the end of July. Robert is terribly excited about this and seems to think that his death will create a power vacuum in Ireland and he is busy planning an expedition there next year.’

  ‘Why should there be a power vacuum? Doesn’t de Clare have an heir?’

  ‘Yes, his grandson, but he is only fourteen.’

  ‘Will King Robert lead the expedition himself?’ Simon wanted to know.

  ‘I believe so.’

  Simon wondered gloomily if he would be required to join the king on what sounded to him to be a dangerous adventure with little gain for Scotland.

  ‘What about King Edward? Is there any news from England.’

  ‘Yes but what we’ve been told is conflicting. I suspect the situation is very confused. What does seem clear is that Mortimer has chased Edward into Wales where he is busy raising another army. The elder Despenser took refuge in Bristol but he was arrested, tried and found guilty of numerous crimes but nobody seems quite sure what they were. He was taken outside immediately afterwards and was hanged, drawn and quartered. That’s all I know.’

  The rest of the meal was spent in idle speculation about King Robert’s policy in Ireland and the likely outcome of the civil war in England. The next morning Thomas’ guests returned to their respective homes and he left for Jedburgh.

  Neither Simon nor Edgar heard any more until after Christmas when Simon went into Berwick on one of his routine visits to manage his commercial affairs. The rumour going around was that Edward and Hugh Despenser had been captured in Wales and taken to Kenilworth Castle. There Despenser had been put on trial and subsequently, hanged, cut down whilst still alive, castrated, disembowelled and finally quartered. Edward’s chancellor had died in prison and one of the king’s few remaining supporters, the Earl of Arundel, was beheaded as a traitor. No-one seemed to know what had happened to the king.

  It wasn’t until late February that further news reached Berwick. This time Simon was visiting William Keith in the castle to discuss hiring him some ships to ferry stone to Berwick for repairs to the castle.

  ‘I suppose you have heard the latest from England?’

  ‘Not since their king was imprisoned at Kenilworth and Despenser killed, no.’

  ‘A messenger arrived two days ago from King Robert with the tidings that Queen Isabella and Mortimer called a parliament early last month. It declared that Edward was unfit to rule the country and the barons and the clergy both agreed that the king should be replaced by his fourteen year old son, Prince Edward, with Queen Isabella as regent. However, as King Edward refused to attend the parliament and there is no procedure to remove a reigning monarch, the situation remains unclear.’

  Simon returned to Lamberton and had heard nothing further before he had to leave for Ayr. Seeing the chaos that existed south of the border as an excellent opportunity to play a further hand in the affairs of Ireland, Robert began to assemble an expedition which John of Islay would transport over to Larne in Ulster. As a tenant-in-chief of the king, Simon was summoned to accompany him and he set off with his retinue to join him.

  Bridget had not been best pleased when her husband had returned from France without Rollo and she had reminded him
of his promise to build up a small mesnie. He had made a start by engaging two young men who had recently been knighted by the Earl of Moray on reaching the age of twenty one but for whom he had no place in his own mesnie. One was called Michael of Kelso and the other Alistair Hamilton. Sir Michael had recruited a squire called Nicholas Sutherland, who had just turned fourteen, from the pages in the service of Thomas Randolph’s countess but Sir Thomas was still trying to find one.

  Despairing of her husband finding her more pages, Bridget had decided to do something about the situation herself whilst Simon was in France, especially as, by taking Ian Logan to be Rollo’s squire, she was left with just the twelve year old Lachlan. She had eventually managed to find three more, which was just as well she thought, suspecting that Lachlan, who had now turned thirteen was the obvious solution to Alistair Hamilton’s problem, and so it proved.

  Simon set off for Ayr at the start of March with his two knights, three squires, two serjeants and fifteen mounted hobelars from Lamberton and Foulden. The men had brought along another four boys to look after them and their horses and, with the pack animals, Simon thought that they made quite an impressive sight as they wound their way via Selkirk and Ettrick Forest towards the west. They arrived at Ayr two weeks later and there they sat for another two weeks until the rest of the force had arrived.

  This time Robert’s aim was not the conquest of Ireland but to seek an alliance with the Anglo-Norman lords. His agents had led him to believe that those advising the new Earl of Ulster, a boy of fourteen, might be amenable to an alliance with him instead of accepting rule from England.

  Ian could see the Irish coast before the Scottish mainland had disappeared behind them. The sea was calm and the wind light, so the rowers added their muscle to the pulling power of the sail and they picked up speed over the water. Nicholas and Lachlan came and joined him in the bows. They hadn’t been sick but even the gentle rolling motion of the galley had made both boys feel a little queasy and they were jealous of the obvious enjoyment Ian derived from being at sea.