The Path to the Throne

by H A CULLEY

  ‘You have a proposal in mind?’ Andrew Murray asked, curious about the older man’s change of demeanour.

  ‘Aye, I have. Who’s to know how intense the battle was here but us? The good bishop will do as he’s told and will write an account of the great fight we had here today. You withdraw back to your bogs and hills and we’ll withdraw back to Aberdeen to lick our wounds. Who will know any different? Edward will hear what he wants to hear and no Scots blood with have been spilled. What do you say?’

  Andrew grinned at him and nodded, turned his horse and led his men back to their camp whilst Buchan held a hurried conference with his commanders and the bishop before they too returned whence they had come.

  Hugh Cressingham, the English Treasurer of Scotland, didn’t believe a word of the Bishop of Aberdeen’s letter to King Edward, especially as Murray’s rampage through the North continued, but he could not prove that Henry Cheyne was lying. But soon he had other things to worry about. The sparsely populated and impecunious north of Scotland was not an area of vital importance to his king, the central belt and the south of Scotland was. James, the High Steward, Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, and Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, had joined the general rebellion against English rule.

  ~#~

  ‘Are you out of your mind, Robert?’ The Earl of Carrick’s father was incredulous. ‘Just because some outlaw is rampaging through the southwest and Andrew Murray has booted the English out of the Far North, there’s no need to join in the madness. Edward may be busy in Flanders at the moment but it won’t be long before an English army crushes these insurrections and punishes the miscreants. Look what happened when Balliol revolted.’

  ‘The English can’t be everywhere, father. Balliol’s a prisoner and had abdicated the throne. You are now the king-in-waiting. We can’t just sit on our hands whilst the rest of our countrymen fight our battles for us.’

  ‘Countrymen? Fight our battles? They’re not our countrymen, we’re Normans and we’re as much English as we are Scots. Or have you forgotten that we have extensive estates in England. You risk their confiscation by your stupid alliance with James Stewart and Robert Wishart.’

  ‘They’re not my lands. They’re yours. Mine are all in Scotland now. You stick with Edward Longshanks then they’ll be safe.’ Robert shot back.

  ‘Oh, I will. Make no mistake about that; even if it means fighting you on the field of battle. However, you seem to have overlooked one vital factor.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘You are my heir and I’m not getting any younger. One day they’ll be yours. If you persist with this folly I’ll make Edward or one of your other brothers my heir instead.’

  ‘That’s hardly a threat. You’ve never taken the trouble to get to know any of them. I have knighted both Neil and Edward and they are now members of my mesnie. Thomas is now Neil’s squire. Alexander is being educated by the monks at Paisley in preparation for ordination. Just who did you have in mind to replace me as your heir, father?’

  ‘Don’t sneer, Robert. It isn’t attractive.’ He sighed. ‘Very well, since you are determined to pursue this foolishness, I shall remain close to Edward and try and mitigate the damage you and your brothers are causing the family.’

  Robert had heard of the injustices perpetrated by William Ormsby, the Chief Justicar for Scotland, appointed by Edward and so he and James Stewart took their army to Scone where the Justicar was holding court at the time. They quickly routed Ormsby’s troops but Ormsby himself managed to escape and fled south into England.

  However the success of Robert’s part of the rebellion was short lived. Their small army was joined by William Wallace and his men near Irvine in Ayrshire. Together their two armies were equal in numbers to the English force led by Lord Percy of Alnwick. The two protagonists camped on opposite sides of a small loch and settled down for the night, warily watching each other.

  That evening Wallace, Bruce, Bishop Wishart and the High Steward met to discuss tactics for the coming battle. Wallace immediately started to take control and advocated a night attack on the English camp.

  ‘That may be the way that you fight, Wallace, but it’s not mine. It’s just not honourable,’ James Stewart told him.

  ‘Look where honour got John Balliol. You won’t defeat the English by being honourable, you’ll do it by using every trick in the book to undermine their morale, cut their supply lines and destroy their bases of operations. They’re scared of me; they’re not scared of you or any other noble.’

  ‘Mind your tongue, Wallace, you’re still my vassal.’

  ‘Am I now? Well you can take my oath of fealty and stick it up your arse. Ellerslie is lost to me and, in any case, I’m fighting for a much bigger cause now: Scotland’s independence from England.’

  Bruce tried to intervene but the damage was done. Wallace left that night, taking his men with him. That left Bruce and the others facing an English army over twice their strength. He realised too late that they should have slipped away under cover of darkness when Wallace did. Now in the dawn it was impossible to withdraw. The English cavalry would ride them down and kill them like spearing fish in a barrel.

  Bruce, Wishart and Stewart rode around to the head of the loch and waited for Lord Henry Percy and another English knight called Robert Clifford to join them. The meeting was short and to the point. Both sides agreed to disband their armies on condition that they met again to draw up terms for their surrender and the renewal of the three rebels’ oaths to King Edward. Eventually the treaty known as the Capitulation of Irvine was drawn up whereby the three were pardoned in return for their renewed fealty, the payment of a fine and the surrender of hostages. In Bruce’s case this was to be his baby daughter, Marjorie; however, he had no intention of honouring this clause.

  One positive result was that Percy and Clifford told John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey and the English Lieutenant of Scotland, who was busy raising troops in the North of England ready for an invasion to deal with the rebellious Scots, that they had succeeded in defeating the rebellion. Surrey disbanded his army, thus allowing Wallace and Murray to continue their respective campaigns without hindrance. More and more Scots flocked to their banners and in August the two rebel leaders decided to besiege Stirling Castle and starve out the English garrison.

  By the end of August only Dundee Castle remained in English hands north of Stirling and that was under siege by some of Murray’s men. The Earl of Surrey came under significant pressure from Edward Longshanks in Flanders to defeat the revolt and restore his rule. The earl hastily began to recall his army and they mustered at the re-built town of Berwick, now the administrative centre of English rule in Scotland. He marched from there towards Stirling in early September with ten thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry.

  He was supremely confident. His spies had led to believe that the Scots numbered no more than two thousand infantry and a few hundred horsemen of varying types, few of them knights. Furthermore, his experience of the Scots as fighting men at Dunbar led him to believe that they were a rabble.

  He was in for a shock.

  Chapter Seven – The Battle of Stirling Bridge – 11th September 1297

  Robert Bruce retired to Turnberry Castle to lick his figurative wounds. He felt humiliated by the failure of his rebellion, especially when compared to the success that Wallace and Murray were enjoying. William Wallace, a minor laird, and Andrew Murray, the son of a baron, were leading their countrymen against the hated English whereas he, the son of the true King of Scots, felt a failure; no better a leader than Toom Tabard had proved to be.

  Robert was so discouraged by the disaster at Irvine that he decided to distance himself from the action for a while and just see what happened. Another thing that depressed him was his father’s inevitable reaction and he dreaded his next meeting with him. He could just imagine him saying that he had told him that it would be a catastrophe. That was the last thing he needed at the moment and so he did his best to avoid him, refus
ing invitations to Carlisle for Christmas and visiting Lochmaben as soon as he heard that his father was on his way to Turnberry.

  He realised that he was acting like a coward, but he just wanted to put the fiasco behind him. Eventually he decided that he had to stop running away and face up to the consequences of his actions so he went down to Carlisle voluntarily.

  ‘So you’ve finally done me the courtesy of coming to apologise, have you? About time too!’ His father glowered at him.

  ‘Yes, you were right, father. I seem to have failed where Wallace and Murray have succeeded,’ he acknowledged despondently.

  ‘I wouldn’t let that worry you. They have become enough of a pain in Edward’s side that he’s sent an army north to squash them, like the insignificant bugs that they are. I hear that John de Warenne has already left Berwick to confront them.’ He sniffed to show his contempt.

  At that moment William Wallace and Andrew Murray were watching as the English host spilled on the boggy plain below Stirling Castle. The latter very soon realised that they could only make slow and laborious progress away from the muddy road that bisected the plain. This led to a narrow wooden bridge over the River Forth and it was on the north bank of the river that the Scots had drawn up their meagre forces.

  Wallace and Murray waited until nearly half of the English had crossed before they launched their attack. At this stage Hugh Cressingham, the Treasurer, was with the advance guard of about five hundred knights and five thousand infantry had reached the far bank, whilst the Earl of Surrey with the main body was still south of the river. The Scots were armed with long pikes and advanced steadily in schiltron formation. Schiltrons were large circles several ranks deep and consisted of one to two thousand men carrying twelve foot long pikes. They resembled hedgehogs and were almost invulnerable to attack except by archers. Unfortunately for the English, their archers were still on the far bank and couldn’t shoot for fear of hitting their own men.

  The knights couldn’t charge into them because the pikes would kill their horses before their riders could get within range to use their lances and the infantry had the same problem with their spears and halberds. They were just too short.

  Gradually the Scots forced the English back. The pikes were unwieldy but moving slowly enabled the Scots to keep formation, even when they were treading on the bodies of dead horses and men. Some were only wounded and managed to wound or kill the odd Scot before they had their throats cut. Soon there was nowhere for the English to go so they were either forced into the River Forth, where many of them drowned, or else they attempted to fight their way back over the bridge against the tide of men still trying to join in the battle. Eventually the weight of numbers on the wooden bridge was too much for it and the central span gave way, spilling hundreds of men in armour into the swirling waters of the Forth.

  Seeing this the remainder of the knights caught on the wrong side of the river tried to flee but the Scots cavalry, more lightly armoured and mounted on more agile steeds in the boggy conditions, soon caught up with them and killed or captured many before the rest reached the ford two miles further upstream and splashed across the river to safety. One of those killed was Longshanks’ Treasurer of Scotland, Sir Hugh Cressingham.

  Eventually John de Warenne acknowledged that the day was lost and led his remaining men back to Edinburgh. It was a tremendous victory for Wallace. Some five thousand of Warenne’s men had been killed or badly wounded, including two hundred knights, whereas the Scots had few casualties. The one thing that put a damper on the Scots’ celebrations of their great victory was the fact that one of their wounded was Andrew Murray, who had been speared in the chest when the knight he was chasing suddenly turned and levelled his lance at him. Murray had no lance and only a small buckler as his shield. The point of the lance drove through his chain mail and padded gambeson. The point broke off and remained lodged in his chest as he flew over his horse’s rear to land heavily on the ground.

  He never recovered and died of his wounds at Fortrose just north of Inverness on the Moray Firth two months later. His death was a sad blow to those fighting for an independent Scotland.

  ~#~

  The sentries guarding the entrance to Wallace’s camp were alarmed to see a party of knights and serjeants approaching down the track in the middle of the day. Then one of them recognised the banner of a red chief and saltire on a yellow field being carried by one of the knights.

  ‘It’s the Earl of Carrick. Quick lad, run and tell Wallace.’ The youth to whom he had spoken nodded and sprinted away to the centre of the camp.

  The man then held his hand up, indicating to the approaching party that they should halt.

  ‘What do you want here, my lord?’ he asked.

  ‘To meet with William Wallace; is he here?’

  ‘If you wait there, my lord, I’ve sent a messenger to see if he wants to meet you.’

  Robert bridled at the man’s rudeness but he wasn’t about to trade insults with a common soldier so he bit his tongue and waited impatiently. Ten minutes later the boy returned and whispered in the man’s ear.

  ‘My lord, if your men would like to camp here, I’ll escort you to meet William Wallace.’ As Robert started to ride his destrier forward the man added. ‘On foot please.’

  Robert dismounted and handed the reins to Gavin, then followed the man through the camp to a small pavilion at the centre, There, standing by a fire in front of the pavilion, was a man at least six inches taller than Robert. He recognised him from the time they had met briefly near Irvine a few months previously. Beside him stood an ugly man with red hair, Malcolm Cowan. Standing close to him on his other side was a red haired girl who had similar features to the other man, but on her they were more muted and he realised that she was actually very pretty. He was surprised at how subtle differences to similar features could change the ugliness of one face to attractiveness on the other. He wondered who she was.

  ‘I didn’t expect you, of all people, to come looking for me.’ Wallace began when they were both seated at the table inside the pavilion. ‘After the Capitulation of Irvine I heard that you had withdrawn to Carrick to lay low for a while.’

  Bruce shifted uncomfortably in his chair at the hint of a sneer in Wallace’s voice.

  ‘Whatever you might think of the nobility of Scotland you won’t achieve your aims without our support.’

  ‘Perhaps, but the nobility of Scotland are far from united. Most of them have estates south of the border and so they are untrustworthy. They played no part in the victory at Stirling.’

  ‘Really, so I’m wrong in thinking that Andrew Murray was related to the Earl of Moray then?’

  ‘He is, or was, God rest his soul, the one exception to the rule. Look, we are wasting time; why did you come here, Bruce?’

  ‘Despite your rudeness and your obvious dislike of me, I came here because you are the only man who can lead Scotland’s fight for independence from England.’

  ‘I don’t know you well enough to dislike you, I just think you’ve got to do a lot more, and do it successfully, to earn the respect of me and my fellow Scots.’

  ‘Well, I want to make a start.’

  ‘And how do you plan to do that?’ William Wallace asked curiously.

  ‘By knighting you; you may be a popular leader amongst the ordinary folk but you are not noble and that means that most of the earls and barons won’t accept you. As a knight, they are much more likely to listen to you.’

  ‘I could have been a knight when I left the service of the High Steward, had I wanted that. I didn’t.’

  ‘So what is your aim? Edward is not likely to let his humiliation at Stirling stand. He will invade again just as soon as he can extricate himself from Flanders. How do you intend to oppose him with the couple of thousand men you have here?’

  ‘My aim is to see a Scottish king on our throne again.’

  He seemed to sense what Robert was thinking.

  ‘No. not you or your father, who is
still tied to Edward’s purse strings in any case. I’m talking about the restoration of our present king – John Balliol. His abdication is not valid as it was forced on him by Longshanks. If only you would set aside your family’s selfish ambition for the crown and support Balliol and the Comyns we could unite Scotland and throw out the English once and for all.’

  ‘You seem to be forgetting two things.’ It was Robert Bruce’s turn to be scornful. ‘Balliol and his son are prisoners in England and when he was king he was indecisive and weak. He’s not the man to lead Scotland at this time.’

  ‘Nevertheless, he is the only figurehead that we’ve got,’ William said stubbornly. ‘Let’s hear this plan of yours then,’ he said after a pause.

  ‘It’s quite simple. I’ll knight you here in front of all your men and mine so no-one can claim that you are not a knight and then we’ll call a parliament at Stirling, now that the castle is back in our hands. I’ll then propose that you are appointed as sole Guardian of Scotland. You’d then have the authority to lead the Scots, nobles and commons alike, and hopefully defeat Edward when he marches north of the border again.’

  Wallace thought about it for a long time before taking the red headed girl and the man, neither of whom had been introduced to Robert, to the back of the tent for a whispered conversation.

  When he came back he asked ‘do you think it’ll work; I mean about the Guardianship?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.’

  As he was being escorted out of Wallace’s camp he asked who the girl and the man with him had been.

  ‘Oh that’s Mary Cowan, William’s wife, and her brother Malcolm Cowan.’ Robert hadn’t associated the man with the cheeky twins who had pelted William with clods of earth all those years ago when they had first met but he was surprised that he consulted his wife. He clearly relied on her opinion. Robert would never have dreamed of consulting his own wife about anything important. As far as he was concerned a wife’s place was running her husband’s home and providing him with children. Wallace, he reflected, was unconventional in more ways than he had suspected.