Killing Fields of Scotland

by R J M Pugh

  By 1327 the troubled but triumphant reign of Robert Bruce was nearing its end. His stubborn enemy Edward II had been dethroned in 1326 by his disaffected Queen Isabella and her supporters, then murdered by her and her lover, Roger Mortimer, who governed England during the minority of Edward and Isabella’s son, the future Edward III. The young king was only fifteen when he ascended the throne in 1327; from the outset his reign was beset by difficulties, not just those caused by Scotland but within his own kingdom. Edward III’s advisers felt that, as far as Scotland was concerned, there was only one course open to him. In December 1327 Edward’s counsellors opened negotiations with Bruce; these talks resulted in the Treaty of Northampton in May 1328 which brought Bruce his reward for years of struggle and deprivation to achieve the freedom of Scotland from English rule. The treaty recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom, her king as rightful sovereign. As a pledge of friendship it was agreed that Bruce’s son David would marry Edward III’s sister Joanne.

  The end was nearing for Bruce, his health rapidly failing. On 7 June 1329 Bruce died at Cardross, Dunbartonshire, of a disease which is unrecorded but was possibly leprosy. His relatively short reign of twenty-three years was one of momentous importance to Scotland. He was undoubtedly the greatest King of Scotland. The word Bannockburn should have been carved on his headstone – if it had been raised. Bruce’s remains were buried in Dunfermline Abbey, although his heart was removed for burial in the Holy Land; it never reached there as we shall see in the following chapter.

  The deliverance of Scotland by Bruce from the ambitions of Edward I and Edward II would have gladdened the heart of William Wallace, a man Bruce admired but did little to help during the former’s struggles between 1297 – 98. It would be comforting if the words spoken at the end of the film Braveheart by the actor playing Bruce at Bannockburn were fact: You have bled with Wallace. Now bleed with me.

  Notes

  1 CDS, vol.v, No.472.

  2 CDS, vol.ii, No.1236.

  3 CDS, vol.iii, No. 337 dated October/November 1313.

  4 Rot. Scot., vol.i, No.446.

  5 Pugh, Swords, Loaves and Fishes: A History of Dunbar,p.98; Cornell, Bannockburn, p.106.

  6 CDS, vol.ii, No.1923.

  7 Cornell, op.cit., p.146.

  8 Oliver, A History of Scotland, p.122.

  9 Lynch, A New History of Scotland, p.124

  10 Hume Brown, History of Scotland, vol.ii note to p,157 doubts 100,000; Brotchie, The Battlefields of Scotland also doubts this figure given in Barbour, Bruce.

  11 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1216 et seq.

  12 Hume Brown, op.cit. p.408; Vita, pp52-3; Chron. Lanercost, p.206.

  13 Quoted in Brotchie, op.cit., p.77.

  14 Brotchie, op.cit. p.78.

  15 Lynch, op.cit., p.124.

  16 Cornell, op.cit., p.152.

  17 Scalacronica, p.73.

  18 Vita, op.cit., p.51.

  19 Oliver, op.cit., p.123.

  20 Barbour, op.cit., p.432; Chron. Lanercost, p207; Scalacronica, pp.73 – 5.

  21 Scalacronica, p.75. This was written by his son, Sir Thomas Gray of Heton while in captivity after the battle of Nesbit Moor, 1335 (see Chapter 6).

  22 Barbour, op.cit., p.506.

  23 Scalacronica, p.75.

  24 Ibid.

  25 Barbour, op.cit., pp.470 – 2.

  26 Vita, pp.51 – 2.

  27 Ibid., p.52.

  28 Ibid., p.52 – 3.

  29 Ibid., p.54.

  30 Scalacronica, p.77; Barbour op.cit., pp.494 – 6.

  31 Scalacronica, p.79. Chron.

  32 Walsingham (Historia Anglicana).

  33 Barbour, Bruce gives 30,000; this figure is disputed by Hume Brown op.cit., p.160 and Brotchie, op.cit., pp.85 – 6.

  34 See note 33.

  35 Dunbar’s lands were in Beanley, Northumberland. About three years after Bannockburn, Edward II issued a writ in favour of his clerk, Stephen de Blount; the lordship of Dunbar was Edward’s gift to Blount ‘by rebellion of Patrick de Dunbar, a Scotsman’. (CDS, vol. iii No.536 dated 2 February 1317). Of course, Blount had little chance of realizing the income from his gift until Scotland was once more subjugated.

  36 APS, vol. I, p.464.

  37 Chron. Walsingham, pp.141 – 2.

  38 Scalacronica; Pugh op.cit., p.100.

  39 Quoted from Pugh, op.cit., p.100.

  Chapter 6

  The Wars of Independence: 1329 – 1371

  Before the Treaty of Northampton was signed on 4 May 1328, Edward III declared in a written statement that:

  we will concede for us and all our heirs and successors … that the kingdom of Scotland shall remain forever separate in all respects from the kingdom of England, in its entirety, free and in peace, without any kind of subjection, servitude, claim or demand, with its rightful boundaries as they were held and preserved in the times of Alexander [III] of good memory king of Scotland last deceased, to the magnificent prince, the lord Robert, by God’s grace illustrious king of Scots, our ally and very dear friend, and to his heirs and successors.1

  If only these words had been true. Within three years of Bruce’s death, war was resumed.

  Bruce’s victory at Bannockburn had brought him recognition among his own people as their rightful king; the need to establish his authority once and for all had been the prime reason for fighting the battle. Once he consolidated his rule and convinced his detractors that his claim to the throne was legitimate the civil war in Scotland had come to an end at long last. Although he had made provision for his successor – his brother Edward in the event of his dying without a male heir – his son David born in 1324 succeeded him. (The birth of a son was fortuitous, as Edward Bruce had been killed fighting the English in Ireland in October 1318.) Apart from a half-hearted plot by Balliol’s residual supporters in 1320 to unseat Bruce, the remainder of his reign was peaceful. The authority of Bruce as King of Scotland was established not by the Treaty of Northampton but by his victory in 1314. The treaty of 1328 simply gained Bruce the formal recognition of his legitimate right to be King of Scotland. For this reason Bannockburn was and remains the most iconic battle in the entire history of Scotland.

  The body of Bruce was scarcely laid to rest in Dunfermline Abbey when Edward III found an excuse to denounce the Treaty of Northampton. Even so, the proposed marriage between Joanne or Joan, Edward’s six-year-old sister and Bruce’s four-year-old son David took place on 12 July 1328. Pope John XXII also let it be known that he recognized Bruce as King of Scotland and that the ban of excommunication had been lifted from him.

  Before we examine the reigns of David II (1329 – 71) and Edward III (1327 – 77), there is a postscript to Bruce’s death on 7 June 1329. His remains were laid to rest beneath a tomb of Parisian marble in Dunfermline Abbey; however, at his own request, Bruce’s heart was removed, embalmed and placed in a locked casket and given into the custody of the ‘Good Sir James’ the Black Douglas. (The custodian of the key to the casket was an Ayrshire knight, Sir Simon of Lee, whose family later adopted the name of Lockhart for obvious reasons. Today Simon of Lee’s descendants are known as the Lockharts of Lee.) Bruce wished that his heart be carried to the Holy Land for interment. Douglas, ever the dutiful and faithful servant, set off for Jerusalem in 1330 by way of Spain. That country was occupied in part by Moorish Saracens against whom King Alphonso XI of Castile was waging a war to oust them from his country. Douglas was invited to lead a division of the Castilian army – a Christian force containing both Scottish and English knights – which being the man he was, he could not resist. Douglas and his force were surprised by a Moorish army at Teba, Andalusia, on 25 August 1330. Douglas led his men into battle, reputedly throwing the casket containing Bruce’s heart in front of him, rallying his Scottish comrades with the cry that Robert Bruce was once again leading them to victory. Nearly every knight in Douglas’s command was slain; the casket was later retrieved and brought back to Scotland – possibly by Sir Simon of Lee – to b
e interred in the grounds of Melrose Abbey where it rests today.

  The legacy Robert Bruce passed on to his young son David was a Scotland united behind the Bruce family. David II, aged seven, was crowned at Scone on 24 November 1331. As provided for in his father’s will, Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray was appointed regent of Scotland. Under the Treaty of Northampton, those barons of Scotland described as the Disinherited by Bruce in an act of parliament on account of their absence from the field of Bannockburn were to have their lands restored. Randolph refused to implement that clause of the treaty. Certain of these barons enjoyed a special relationship with the English Crown which gave Edward III the excuse to interfere in the business of those who administered Scotland. With Bruce dead and his son a mere boy on the throne, Edward made no secret of his intentions; he was resolved to take advantage of the claims of the Disinherited, which would lead to further unrest in Scotland and would not cost his treasury a penny. Edward cultivated a special friendship with Edward Balliol, son of the deposed King John. Early in 1332 the confused and parlous state of Scotland was being used by England to justify a third war of independence. Edward III took it upon himself to encourage the ambitions of Edward Balliol to regain the Scottish crown on behalf of his disgraced father. In Edward III’s mind, Edward Balliol would resolve his problem with Scotland if Balliol became king there; Balliol’s takeover would cost Edward III little and he would have Balliol in his pocket. Balliol had promised Edward his allegiance and fealty were he to be crowned king of Scotland; he would also offer Edward vast tracts of land in Scotland, the inhabitants of which would be required to swear fealty to England.

  After their alienation by Bruce the Disinherited had lived in exile in England, swearing fealty to Edward Balliol. The majority were Scotsmen but among them were English knights who had also lost their Scottish estates and were excluded from the terms of the Treaty of Northampton. These men were intent on recovering their lands; in return they would recognize Edward Balliol as rightful king of Scotland. For his part, Balliol easily convinced Edward III of the justness of his demands; Edward, an impetuous but politically astute monarch, disguised his political motives under the cloak of chivalry – as had his grandfather, Edward I, during the constitutional crisis known as the Great Cause of 1291. Not yet strong enough in his own kingdom to launch an all-out invasion of Scotland, Edward’s support for Balliol and the Disinherited was a cheap option in perpetuating the war.

  So Edward Balliol, with Edward III’s clandestine agreement – the English king had made a public show of his opposition to Balliol’s proposals but was happy to take advantage of it – began his invasion of Scotland in the summer of 1332. With a pitifully small force of between 1,500 and 2,000 he sailed into the Firth of Forth in August. Landing at Kinghorn, Fife, Balliol marched unopposed to Perth.2 Chief among his lieutenants was David de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl, who would later become Balliol’s representative in Scotland.3 The Good Regent, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray died in Musselburgh on 20 July and was succeeded by the less popular Donald, Earl of Mar. There is good reason to believe that Balliol anticipated covert assistance from Mar who was known to sympathize with the plight of some of the disinherited Scottish nobles.4 War was about to break out.

  Dupplin Moor

  The Earl of Mar took up his position near the river Earn, on the heights of Dupplin Moor, south-west of Perth. On the night of 11 August the Scots were so confident of victory they began drinking heavily. At midnight one of Balliol’s lieutenants,Sir Alexander de Mowbray, led a handpicked force over the Earn at a ford shown to him by Murray of Tulliebardine, a traitor in Mar’s army.

  The ensuing battle on 12 August was a total disaster. As the Scots advanced, Balliol’s knights dismounted to form a solid line at the end of the narrow glen through which Mar’s men would have to pass. Balliol’s foot soldiers contained many archers whose relentless showers of arrows took their toll. Mar’s men, also on foot, closed with Balliol’s knights and men-at-arms in vicious close-quarter combat. The Scots pressed hard on Balliol’s front line, the attack losing momentum as men bunched together, unable to manoeuvre. The main Scottish division or battle marched into this sprawling, heaving melee, falling in their hundreds and crushed underfoot by the lines of their own men following behind. Those who managed to extricate themselves from this undisciplined mess fled, pursued by a small force of Balliol’s knights who remounted their war-horses. Of the five loyal Scottish earls who took part in the battle, three were killed and over 2,000 of their men lay dead in the glen. The English casualties were surprisingly light. Edward Balliol had won a spectacular victory against all the odds stacked against him. Mar’s superiority in numbers proved his undoing, along with poor choice of terrain and leadership. His position, lacking the cover of woods, offered prime targets to Balliol’s archers. Among the dead was a natural son of Robert the Bruce who had openly accused Mar of treachery, then spurred his horse to charge Balliol’s men alone; he was killed instantly. Estimates of Scottish casualties range from between 2,000 to 13,000 to Balliol’s thirty-five killed. It was said that the Scottish dead were piled as high as the length of a spear; among them were Donald, Earl of Mar and Hugh, 4th Earl of Ross whose daughter Euphemia married Robert the Steward, the future King Robert II. Dupplin Moor was the worst defeat of Scottish arms since Wallace’s disaster at Falkirk in 1298.5 The numerically superior Scottish army was beaten by confusion, abysmal leadership and drunkenness. Honesty, loyalty, determination and national pride were the real casualties at Dupplin Moor.

  Despite his victory at Dupplin, Balliol’s situation was precarious; he knew that escape or reinforcement lay in the Firth of Tay, where his fleet of ships was commanded by Henry de Beaumont, the effective commander of his forces. De Beaumont, a survivor of Bannockburn nearly twenty years earlier, was ready to repel any attempts on his small fleet by the Scots loyal to David II.

  The crews commanded by de Beaumont were raised chiefly by those English lords who had lost lands granted to them by English kings before and since Bannockburn, along with those native Scottish lords Bruce had disinherited in 1314 on account of their absence from Bannockburn. The Disinherited army of 1332 hardly deserved the name, consisting of 500 mounted knights and men-at-arms and possibly 1,000 infantry. Balliol’s chances of success in gaining the throne of Scotland did not look in the least promising. The fleet commanded by Henry de Beaumont lying off the Firth of Tay was Balliol’s means of escape should he be defeated at or near Perth, which he intended to occupy after his victory at Dupplin Moor. De Beaumont’s evacuation fleet was attacked by John Crabb, a Flemish sailor and engineer in the pay of David II; Crabb captured de Beaumont’s flagship, only to be repulsed by the remainder of Balliol’s ships, which destroyed Crabb’s entire fleet and secured Balliol’s escape route by sea.

  The Scots abandoned Perth, from where Balliol proceeded to Scone and had himself crowned King of Scotland by the Earl of Fife and the Bishop of Dunkeld. Balliol marched his small force from Scone to Roxburgh, where on 23 November he formally recognized Edward III as his lord and feudal superior. During his brief period as pretender to the Scottish throne, Balliol issued charters which declared the country a vassal state of England. However, the nationalists loyal to David II had recovered from the confusion which followed Dupplin Moor. A force was gathered by John, second son of the late regent, Randolph, Sir Archibald Douglas and his kinsman William Douglas, the ‘Knight of Liddesdale’; in December 1332, they surprised Balliol at Annan, killing his younger brother and cutting off his followers. ‘King’ Edward Balliol narrowly avoided capture, escaping over the Border partially clothed and riding an unbridled horse.

  Matters deteriorated in 1333 when Edward III, taking counsel from his nobles, received unqualified support for an invasion of Scotland and the occupation of Berwick, a Scottish royal burgh since 1318. Edward ordered his nobles to assemble with their followers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in May 1333; his army included Earls Percy and Neville of Northumberland and Lords L
ucy and Mowbray.

  In the spring of 1333, Edward III bypassed Berwick and entered southern Scotland, marching as far as Scone, taking Edinburgh Castle, then the castle of Dalkeith, home of the Earl of Douglas. By summer Edward had made his headquarters at Roxburgh to prepare for his siege of Berwick. Around this time the Scots suffered a double disaster; the regent Sir Andrew Murray and his kinsman William Douglas, the ‘Knight of Liddesdale’ were taken prisoner by the English in separate engagements. Balliol, still smarting from his ignominious flight from Annan the year before began the siege of Berwick in March. In May Edward III joined Balliol who had dug trenches, destroyed the conduits supplying the town’s water and cut all communications with the Scots. The engineer John Crabb who had failed to destroy Balliol’s fleet the year before near Dupplin had changed sides; Crabb knew the defence systems at Berwick intimately, having assisted Robert Bruce in his siege of Berwick in 1318.