After Bannockburn

by H A CULLEY

  Further back Simon was standing with Michael and Alistair when one of the other knights came up to them.

  ‘Have you heard? The king is sick and is unable to rise from his cot,’ he told them, nodding in the direction of John of Islay’s galley, in which the king was travelling.

  ‘What’s wrong with him.’

  The man shrugged. ‘No-one seems to know. He hasn’t got a fever, apparently, just a pain in his chest and he is unable to move much.’

  ‘Let’s hope it’s a temporary affliction,’ Simon replied but he suspected that the king might be seriously ill. That was worrying, especially as Prince David was only three years old.

  Within a week of arriving at Larne Robert had recovered enough to meet a delegation from the barons of Ulster. Simon wasn’t privy to the discussions and spent his days hunting with his fellow knights and the local Irish chiefs. It was on his way back from an unsuccessful hunt that he heard the latest news from England when Ian came riding out with Nicholas and Lachlan in tow. As they approached he thought to himself how inseparable those three had become.

  ‘Sir Simon, have you heard?’ It was a breathless Lachlan who had piped up first, earning him an annoyed look from his elder brother.

  ‘Let me.’ Ian snapped before turning back to Simon and the other members of the hunting party, who had now ridden up. ‘King Edward of England has been forced to abdicate.’ He stumbled over the unfamiliar word before continuing. ‘He’s to be known as Edward of Caernarvon from now on and his son has been crowned in Westminster Abbey as King Edward the Third.’

  There was a stunned silence at this news.

  One of the knights asked what ‘abdicate’ meant.

  ‘I think it means that he voluntarily gave up his throne, unlike John Baliol who was forcibly deposed as our king by Edward Longshanks.’

  ‘Why would King Edward do that?’ another of the knights wondered.

  ‘Perhaps he was forced to, whatever fancy word they use for it.’

  In fact, Edward had been given a stark choice by the delegation of barons who visited him in his cell in Kenilworth Castle. Either he signed the deed of abdication willingly, and thus allowed his son to succeed him, or he would be attained. This would effectively strip him and his heirs of all his titles and property. In that event his son would be barred from becoming king. In that event Edward’s brother, Thomas, Earl of Norfolk, would succeed instead. He wept but he signed.

  Robert’s negotiations with the Anglo-Irish barons of Ulster were only partially successful. They refused to support him against the new King Edward the Third, even when he, to their surprise, suggested that they help him to restore Edward of Caernarvon to the throne. What they didn’t know was that Edward’s supporters had approached him secretly with an offer to cede Cumbria and Northumberland to Scotland if Bruce would help the elder Edward to defeat Isabella and Mortimer.

  However, he did manage to get them to sign a truce for a year whereby both sides promised not to attack the other. Furthermore, in exchange for his promise to return to Scotland immediately, they paid him a sizeable bribe in wheat and barley.

  Simon and his men returned to Scotland at the end of July 1327 without having struck a blow in anger. However, when he got back to Lamberton, he discovered that things had been far from peaceful in his absence.

  Chapter Sixteen – The Last Battle

  Summer 1327

  When Edward the Third had been crowned on the second of February 1327 King Robert had hoped that the truce agreed with the boy king’s father would hold but the indications were not encouraging. Attacks on Scottish shipping started and the culprits appeared to be English pirates. Then in April reports began to filter northwards that the English had started to assemble an army at York. There could only be one reason for that, another attempt to subjugate Scotland.

  By this time Robert was on his way to Ulster and the defence of the realm had been left in the hands of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and Lord James Douglas. In consultation with the Earls of Mar and Dunbar, they decided that the sensible thing to do was to launch a pre-emptive strike into England so that the war was fought on their land and not in Lothian.

  Edgar had joined the Earl of Dunbar’s contingent and they had made their way through the Cheviot Hills before rampaging down Coquetdale, then turning south into County Durham. There they met up with James Douglas, Thomas Randolph and Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer. The latter was acting as High Steward of Scotland following the death of Walter Stewart in April. Walter’s heir, Robert, was only eleven, and so James Stewart had been appointed as his guardian.

  As they crossed into North Yorkshire and made their way towards Appleby, Donald, Earl of Mar and brother of King Robert’s first wife, Isabella, joined them. Sir Archibald Douglas, like Malcolm a half-brother of James, also joined him with the men of Buchan. The Scots army now numbered ten thousand.

  By this time Isabella and Mortimer had gathered an army forty thousand strong at York and they joined it with her son, King Edward, as the figurehead leader. However, they kept getting conflicting reports as to the location of the Scots. The army made his way north to Durham, only to find death and destruction everywhere and the Scots long gone further south.

  July was a wet month that year and the incessant rain and a perpetual shortage of provisions wore away at the English army’s morale. Edward the Third forded the River Tyne at Haltwhistle intending to cut off the Scottish army’s retreat back to their homeland but the rain had swollen the river and many men were swept away to their deaths crossing the ford. This did nothing to improve his men’s spirits. Eventually he heard that they were still in North Yorkshire and headed south again.

  Edward eventually discovered the Scots camped on a ridge above the south bank of the river in Weardale. The English army couldn’t cross the swollen river to attack them and so he sent a herald to invite his enemies to cross over and form up on the north side so that they could fight. It was a naïve offer and, unsurprisingly, Randolph and Douglas weren’t tempted to accept.

  The Scots seemed to have plenty of plundered food and continued to taunt the English on the other side, who were starving. On the second day, a thousand English archers came forward to the river bank and started to fire up at the Scots. They were some distance from their camp and so, when James Douglas suddenly appeared on their right flank, having swum five hundred horsemen over the Wear further upstream where the current wasn’t so fierce, they were unprotected. By the time that cavalry and infantry from the English camp had reached them the Scots had gone, leaving behind three hundred dead archers.

  When Edward awoke on the third of August the Scots had gone. It took half the day before his scouts managed to locate them again. They had moved two miles along Weardale to Stanhope Park, an even better defensive position. He followed them along Weardale and camped about a mile away, still on the south bank of the river.

  That night the Earl of Dunbar woke Edgar and told him to get dressed in armour, Doulas intended to lead a night raid on the English camp. Rousing Patrick Graham to help him into his armour and fetch his destrier, he joined Dunbar at the assembly point just outside the Scottish position. There were about forty other knights there, perhaps sixty serjeants - all of whom seemed to be carrying crossbows in addition to horseman’s axes and swords – and several hundred hobelars and mounted borderers.

  ‘We are going to charge into the English camp and make for the large red and yellow striped pavilion in the centre. It will probably look black and white in the moonlight but it will be obvious in any case. This is a cut and run raid. If we manage to capture the English king we can dictate our own terms. But I don’t want to risk your lives. As soon as the English organise themselves, then you get out of there as fast as your horse can carry you. Understand? Good. Let’s go but keep silent.’

  The rain had stopped three days previously and the river level was beginning to go down. Douglas led them to a ford a few miles upstream and they crossed over in silence, having
sent the vanguard over to secure the far bank first. Edgar was with the vanguard and crossed immediately after Earl Patrick. Once everyone was safely over the river, Douglas joined the earl at the head of the column and they set off again. Edgar found himself riding beside Malcolm Douglas immediately behind the two leaders.

  The column halted when they came near the camp and Edgar and Malcolm were sent forward to look for outlying sentries. After half an hour they couldn’t find any, just those sitting around camp fires inside the camp perimeter.

  ‘Bloody fools,’ Douglas muttered when Edgar reported to him. ‘We might just get away with this. Mount up again.’

  The first the English army knew of the Scots presence was when they charged in wedge formation into the camp, yelling at the tops of their voices. Panic ensued as men ran hither and thither, wondering what was happening. Some men had tents but others were sleeping in the open. The latter had the better chance of escaping the pounding hooves and many of those in tents which were in the path of the Scots were trampled to death.

  Few thought to grab their weapons or form up in their sections during those vital initial minutes. By the time that commanders at all levels were yelling to instil some sort of order, James Douglas and the Earl of Dunbar had reached the large stripped pavilion. Predictably, it was well guarded and the sentries engaged the first knights to reach it. As Edgar arrived he saw a boy wearing hose and an under-tunic dash out of the pavilion gripping a sword. At first he thought he was a squire but then a man followed him out yelling ‘Sire; come back. You must hide.’

  This, then, was King Edward himself. Edgar spurred his horse towards him and, with a well-aimed blow from his own sword, he sent the king’s weapon spinning out of his hand. He circled around the boy and, reaching down, grasped him around the waist and hoisted him across his horse’s neck. For one glorious moment he thought that he had succeeded in capturing the English king but he hadn’t gone very far before he was surrounded by soldiers, some of whom were bowmen. He had so nearly gotten away but, with a sigh, he let Edward go and yielded to a knight who turned out to be Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.

  ~#~

  When Simon got back from Ireland the Scots army was still in Weardale. It was only when they returned in the middle of August that he learned about Edgar’s capture. Earl Patrick came over to Ayton to tell Catriona what had happened. He had seen Edgar seize King Edward but he had been attacked by two men at that point and had trouble extricating himself. By then Douglas had ordered the retreat and the Scots were busy fighting their way out of the camp. When they got back to the ford and crossed over, Douglas had done a head count. Ten men were missing and Edgar was one of them. That’s all he knew.

  The Scottish army had remained in place for four more nights, during which time Douglas sent a herald to King Edward to ask for news about Malcolm Douglas, Edgar de Powburn and the other missing Scots. Eventually he managed to arrange for the release of the bodies of those who had been killed in return for some provisions for the starving English army. Edgar wasn’t amongst them but James Douglas wept openly when he saw that his half-brother Malcom was. He had been hit in the leg and shoulder by two arrows and then stabbed through the eye.

  On the night of the sixth of August the Scots had crossed the ford, where the water was now barely knee deep, and made their way back up Weardale. They had left their camp fires burning and it wasn’t until the next morning that the English found that they had slipped away. Edward didn’t pursue them.

  Simon tried to find out what had happened to Edgar but no-one had heard anything.

  At that moment Edgar was sitting in a cell in Berkley Castle. He was being fairly treated, though the food was foul, but not knowing what was to happen to him was the worst form of torture. He had asked about being ransomed but he was told that wasn’t being considered at the moment.

  He was aware that there was another man in the cell next to his. His treatment was rather different to Edgar’s. He was being abused regularly, both verbally and physically. Phrases like ‘dirty old sodomite’ and ‘not fit to rule a pig sty’ gave him a clue and by the end of a week he was fairly certain that the man next door was the former King Edward the Second.

  After he had been there about a month he suddenly heard one of the jailors cry out when they went in to exchange slop buckets. It sounded like ‘the bastard’s dead’ but he couldn’t be certain. The next words came from the corridor and were clearer: ‘we’d better tell Mortimer.’

  Another month went past and then he was cleaned up, given fresh hose and a tunic and taken up to the great hall.

  ‘Well, Sir Edgar de Powburn, it seems that this is your lucky day. I have here an arraignment for your trial for high treason, in that you laid your filthy hands on the person of your sovereign lord, King Edward,’ he was told by a man he hadn’t seen before.

  ‘He may be your king but he’s not mine,’ Edgar retorted.

  ‘Yes, there we have the nub of the problem. It seems that, after so many years, decades even, the question of the sovereignty over Scotland may be finally nearing resolution. The king was looking forward to seeing you hanged, cut down whilst still living, disembowelled and then quartered.’

  He paused watching for the prisoner’s reaction. Edgar tried to keep his face impassive but inside his guts had turned to water and his legs were having trouble supporting him.

  ‘Hmm, however, Robert Bruce seems to put a high value on your continued existence. He has asked that you be released - for a sizeable ransom of course - as a pre-condition to starting peace negotiations between our two countries. The ransom has been set at one thousand marks. I know it is a trifle steep for a mere knight but I think that the king is hoping, nay counting on the fact, that you will be unable to pay it. You have one month to find the ransom or your trial will commence and you will be executed immediately afterwards.’

  Edgar knew that, between them, he and Simon should be able to raise the sum needed. The problem was getting it to wherever it had to be paid in time. That afternoon he asked for a quill and paper so that he could write to Simon but he was told that Robert Bruce already knew the amount and had agreed that it was to be paid to the Earl of March at Newcastle, where the peace negotiations were due to start in mid-October.

  ~#~

  When Simon heard about the ransom he was overjoyed and set about raising the money. Catriona insisted on handing him the eight hundred marks she had to hand so he only had to find two hundred.

  ‘Where on earth did you get eight hundred marks?’

  ‘Edgar doesn’t believe in depositing his coin with money-lenders so he kept his share of the ransom paid by the Earl of Richmond, and another hundred we had managed to save, in a coffer in our solar.’

  ‘That’s lucky! I can probably lay my hands on a hundred marks pretty quickly but I’ll have to sell one of our ships to get the other hundred. Geoffrey,’ he turned to his steward, ‘go and check exactly how much coin we have in the strongbox.’

  Fortuitously, Simon didn’t have to go into Berwick to sell one of the trading cogs. There was a merchant in Eyemouth who was looking for one and Simon managed to agree a price of one hundred and ten marks with him without too much haggling. Just as he was leaving his premises with a fat purse hanging from his belt, he bumped into a youth. They apologised to one other and then Simon was startled to be addressed by name.

  ‘Sir Simon, do you remember me?’

  It was then that Simon realised that it was the apprentice who had worked with his mother’s second husband. As the young man was now twenty one, it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t recognised him at first.

  ‘Have you now completed your apprenticeship?’

  ‘Yes, my master died last year and I have taken over his business. Didn’t Geoffrey tell you?’

  ‘Geoffrey? No, why…’ Then he realised that Geoffrey would have been collecting the rent on the premises he had bought when his mother had moved to Eyemouth.

  ‘How are you managing on your
own?’

  ‘Very well, there’s not a great deal of demand for new clothes in Eyemouth but I travel to get orders and do fittings. I’ve an apprentice of my own now.’

  Simon was just thinking that he had better move on before the man got too involved in what he was doing when he said something that made him stop.

  ‘I often see Geoffrey on Wednesdays in the tavern for a game of chess but last week he made some excuse and spent an hour or more closeted with a man I hadn’t seen before. It was a little puzzling really, the man gave him a heavy purse before he left but I don’t think he was one of your tenants.’

  After the tailor had left, Simon thought about what he had said. He was right, it was puzzling. It wasn’t like Geoffrey to collect money owed to the estate in a tavern at night for a start. Then he had a disturbing thought. His steward was one of the few people who knew that he would be transporting a thousand marks – a fortune to most people – to Newcastle next week. Could Geoffrey have betrayed him? He would have staked his life on the man’s loyalty, especially as he was married to Simon’s sister but then he hadn’t known that he frequented the tavern in Eyemouth.

  He decided not to say anything but to make some arrangements without Geoffrey knowing.

  ~#~

  King Robert was distraught. His own health was giving cause for concern but Elizabeth had always seemed so strong and never seemed to have had a moment’s illness. When he was told that she had died at Cullen in Moray, he didn’t believe it at first. She was only thirty eight.

  The last time he had seen her had been before he had embarked for Ireland. It was Thomas Randolph who had invited her to stay in his earldom for safety when he had heard that King Edward the Third was mustering forces for another foray into Scotland but she hadn’t returned south after the humiliation of those forces in Weardale.