After Bannockburn

by H A CULLEY

  Chapter 10 – Civil War in England

  January to March 1322

  With the end of the truce between the two countries in January 1322, Robert decided to take advantage of the civil war that had raged in England for the past year or so and launch another major raid. Despite the Pope’s entreaty that Edward make peace with Scotland, the English king had angrily rejected the suggestion and re-iterated his claim to be the overlord of Scotland.

  ‘It just shows what a pig-ignorant and stupid man he is,’ Thomas Randolph told Robert. ‘He has enough problems, mainly of his own creation, ruling his own realm without adding to them.’

  Robert was angry. He had thought that the Pope’s response to the Declaration of Arbroath had put an end to the problem of Edward’s ambitions towards his northern neighbour.

  ‘It seems that the only thing that will settle the matter is the death of one or the other of us’ Robert gloomily predicted.

  ‘Well, perhaps his rebel barons will solve the problem for us,’ Thomas said brightly.

  ~#~

  After the end of the siege of Berwick in 1319, Simon and Edgar had continued to prey on the depleted English shipping in the North Sea by pretending to be Flemish privateers. This had caused a major row between the Count of Flanders and Edward of England and real Flemish ships started to prey on English merchantmen.

  When the truce with England had been negotiated, Simon’s fleet had been stood down and many of his cogs had been sold to merchants in Berwick and Leith. As Walter Stewart, the High Steward explained to the two brothers, maintaining even one warship with no war to fight was an expensive luxury. What he didn’t add was that Scotland had come to depend on the income that raids on northern England brought in and, without them, Robert Bruce had to prune his expenditure.

  Neither Catriona nor Bridget were sorry to see the end of the brothers’ maritime adventures, at least for now, and by January 1322 both had got used to the life of lairds. When Sir John Forbes died a month later, William Keith knighted the twenty year old Niall and he returned to look after his ageing mother and to take over the manor. He and Simon had always got on and the two of them and Edgar often went hunting together. Bridget and Catriona had also become good friends and, whilst the men went hunting, they went hawking.

  Unfortunately two things brought this idyllic existence to an end. The first was a hunting accident when the three men were hunting deer in the Lammermuir Hills as the guests of Thomas Randolph Earl of Moray, who had recently built a castle at Duns to protect his estate there. They and four other knights had set off in two groups to search the nearby hills for deer, accompanied by Moray’s huntsmen with aulants and greyhounds. The latter had picked up the scent of a herd and, as they crested a ridge, they saw about thirty deer grazing the opposite hillside with a proud stag with a magnificent pair of antlers guarding them.

  As the wind was coming from the east, the hunting party worked its way round to the west. When they got within two hundred yards of the stag, one of the aulants started to bark in excitement. The deer were off immediately and the huntsmen released the dogs to track the stag. It was the job of the greyhounds to chase it and tire it out, then the aulants would bring it to bay before one of the knights went in for the kill.

  The stag was eventually brought down by the dogs in a steep, narrow defile where a burn trickled down over stones. The huntsmen called them off and put them back on the leash whilst the exhausted stag staggered back to its feet, blood dripping from its haunches where the aulants had clawed and bitten it. Niall Forbes was given the honour of going in for the kill and he rode forward on his palfrey, confidently hefting his spear in his right hand. All he had to do was the plunge the point into the deer’s heart to make a clean kill but, unfortunately, his horse slipped on the slippery, wet stones underfoot and fell to its knees, throwing Niall over its head. At that moment the stag made a final effort and stepped forward tossing his head in the air in defiance. Niall landed on the right hand antler just as the stag’s head came up and one prong embedded itself in the young knight’s chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.

  It was a very sombre hunting party that returned to Duns Castle and then carried Niall’s body back to Foulden for burial in the family plot in the churchyard. Bridget was distraught at her brother’s untimely death so soon after her father, but it affected her mother even more. Cara had always struck Simon as something of a harridan but he felt nothing but sympathy for her when he saw how grief-stricken she was over Niall’s death. She went into decline, and although she lived for another year, she never recovered and slowly wasted away.

  As Bridget was now the heiress of Foulden, it automatically became her husband’s responsibility. Geoffrey of Wooler was now well established as the bailiff at Lamberton but it was evident that the role didn’t exactly tax him. He was no longer a boy but a young man of twenty and Simon decided to make him his steward so that he could look after both manors. As his steward, he could also look after Simon’s other commercial interests, such as the three merchant ships he owned in Berwick and the loans that he had made to people, both noble and merchants. He had made a great deal of money from his days at sea and, up to now, this had been managed by a merchant in Berwick, acting as his agent. However, he didn’t entirely trust the man, whereas he had utter confidence in Geoffrey’s loyalty and probity. He had tried to discuss his idea with Bridget but she was still mourning her brother and wasn’t interested.

  He would need to appoint another bailiff for Lamberton and went over to see Edgar about a fortnight after Niall’s funeral. The bailiff at Ayton had two sons, one now twenty two and the other sixteen. He had been training the elder up to succeed him but, when Simon suggested to him and Edgar that he took over at Lamberton, they both thought it was a good idea. His father had thought that he might buy a place for his younger son as a monk at Coldingham but the boy was adamantly against the idea. The bailiff could now train the boy up to succeed him instead of his brother and so Simon’s proposal solved the problem of what to do with the boy.

  The need for Bridget to take care of her son and daughter gradually brought her out of the lethargy she had fallen into after the death of Niall but Simon had a nasty feeling that she somehow blamed him for her brother’s death. Certainly she behaved more coolly towards him and she found excuses when he wanted to make love to her.

  ‘What’s wrong, Bridget. Anyone would think that you don’t love me anymore.’

  When she said nothing in reply, he began to lose his temper.

  ‘What is it? Do you blame me for Niall’s death? Is that it?’

  ‘Well you certainly seem to have done well out of it! Now you are lord of his manor as well and can proudly boast that you have a steward. Aren’t you the grand man.’

  ‘You think I caused his death deliberately? How could you!’ He was now really angry. ‘It was an accident, pure and simple; tragic of course but an accident nevertheless, and there was nothing I, nor anyone else, could have done to prevent it.’

  The more he thought about his wife’s unjust accusation, the angrier he became.

  ‘If that’s the way you feel, I suggest you pack up your possessions and move back to the hall at Foulden. The bailiff won’t like having to move his family out, but tough. You can take your maid with you but the pages stay here so that they can continue their training.’

  Bridget looked alarmed. ‘I’m sorry…’ she started to say.

  ‘Yes, so am I. I thought you loved me but by more or less accusing me of Niall’s murder, you have proved that you don’t, and I can’t forgive you for that. Our son stays here with me until he is old enough to go away to be a page in a few years’ time but you can take our daughter with you.’

  Bridget broke down in tears. For the first time she realised what a hard man her husband could be. By nightfall she had left.

  Edgar came over as soon as he heard what had happened and told Simon that he had been a bloody fool. That nearly caused the two of them to
fall out as well but Simon held himself in check and just refused to discuss it

  ‘Don’t you love her, Simon? Heavens above, I thought you two had the ideal marriage.’

  ‘I thought she loved me but she can’t do, can she?’

  Edgar went over to Foulden to see Bridget and found her in tears. She had become a broken woman.

  ‘Oh, Edgar I’ve been so stupid. I was so upset by Niall’s death that I needed someone to blame, and Simon was closest. I know now that I still love him but I fear I have lost him forever, and he won’t let me see my son.’

  ‘Time’s a great healer. Let’s just wait and see what happens.’ It sounded like a platitude but he couldn’t think what else to say.

  Eventually he persuaded Bridget to bring her daughter over to Ayton so that Catriona could look after them. He suspected that Simon would be angry when he found out, as it looked as if Edgar was taking sides but he realised that he didn’t care.

  ~#~

  Edward hadn’t learned the lesson of Piers Gaveston, it seemed. He had become infatuated again, this time with a young man called Hugh Despenser. In 1318 Edward had made Despenser his chamberlain and allowed him to seize lands on the Welsh Marches which were contested between his wife, Eleanor de Clare, and other members of her family. Edward bestowed castles, lands and honours on him, and on his father, Lord Despenser. Seeing a return of the greed of Gaveston, only worse if anything, the magnates of England and Edward’s queen, Isabella, forced the king to exile father and son in August 1321 by threatening him with civil war.

  Edward relied on the advice of the Despensers and was lost without them, so he started to plot their return. Once he was made aware of this, the Earl of Lancaster, Edward’s most obdurate opponent, called a meeting of Marcher lords and northern magnates at Doncaster in November. Fearing a plot to overthrow him, Edward decided to act and in January 1322 he crossed the River Severn and, taking them unawares, forced the rebel Marcher lords to surrender to him one by one.

  In March the king came face to face with his nemesis at Burton-on-Trent. Whilst Lancaster held the bridge, Edward left a force there to make him think that he was too frightened to attempt to seize the crossing. Meanwhile he took his main body across the Trent via the ford at Walton and surprised Lancaster by attacking him on his flank.

  Seeing that he was outnumbered and being attacked across the bridge as well as on his flank, Lancaster staged a fighting withdrawal to the north. When he reached the town of Boroughbridge, a knight called Sir Andrew Harclay and levies from Cumbria had already occupied the bridge across the River Ure. The rebel forces numbered no more than 700 knights and men-at-arms by now, due to desertions and defections to the king’s side. Against them were ranged several thousand, taking Harclay’s men and the royal army together. Lancaster initially tried to negotiate but Harclay refused. Since there was no realistic alternative place to cross the river, and with the royal forces in pursuit from the south, Lancaster had no choice but to fight.

  Harclay had deployed his men on foot to hold the bridge from the northern side and he placed additional forces to hold a nearby ford. His levies were armed with pikes and he deployed them in a schiltron formation, a tactic learned from the Scots to defeat cavalry.

  Lancaster deployed his men in two divisions. The one led by the Earl of Hereford attacked the bridge on foot and the other, cavalry led by Lancaster, tried to charge across the ford.

  It proved to be a disaster. Hereford was killed by a man hiding under the bridge with a pike. When he saw a man above him, he thrust his pike upwards and into the man’s unprotected crotch without having a clue as to the man’s identity. So died the mighty and puissant Earl of Hereford. When they saw him killed, his men fled.

  Lancaster's cavalry charge fared little better. The ford was defended by Harclay’s archers and they brought the charge across the river to a halt before it had reached the far bank, killing and wounding many in the first few ranks. Lancaster’s knights and serjeants fell back in disarray and he failed to persuade them to try again.

  Lancaster withdrew to Boroughbridge and during the night most of his remaining men deserted. When the king’s army arrived the next day Lancaster, now greatly outnumbered and surrounded, had no choice but to surrender. He was put on trial at Pontefract Castle, found guilty of treason, and beheaded just five days after he had surrendered. Some thirty of his fellow rebels followed him to the scaffold.

  With Lancaster out of the way and most of the disaffected barons either dead or keeping a low profile, Edward recalled the Despensers from exile. Hugh the elder had spent his time in Bordeaux but his avaricious son had found gainful employment as a pirate in the English Channel, preying on French and English shipping alike.

  Edward was so encouraged by his success that he wrote to the Pope to tell him that he need not trouble himself about the problem of Scotland any longer. The obstacles to the Scots subjugation to his rule had now been removed. He then began to plan his conquest of the country.

  Sir Andrew Harclay was created Earl of Carlisle for his services but his enjoyment of the title was to prove remarkably short lived.

  Chapter Eleven – Invasion of the Wasteland

  July to August 1322

  After Bridget had departed in March 1322 Simon tried to convince to himself that he had ceased to love her but the truth was he missed her more and more with each passing day. For her part, Bridget deeply regretted her stupidity in blaming Simon for Niall’s death. Things might have continued that way but fate conspired to give them a chance at reconciliation.

  The first intimation of the end of his quiet life as a rural laird came when he heard that Count Robert of Flanders had died. Robert had an abiding hatred of the English but his successor, his grandson Louis, was a very different animal. He was first and foremost a merchant and he had long opposed his grandfather’s arrangement with the Scots. He knew that the wool trade with England was worth five times the trade with Scotland. By the summer of 1322 he had signed a treaty with England and directed his privateers to harass Scottish shipping instead of the English.

  King Robert immediately responded by concluding a trade agreement with the Hanseatic ports of Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltic states. However, he realised that he would need to protect his merchantmen sailing out of Berwick and Leith again. Having allowed his east coast fleet of fighting cogs to dwindle to five, he needed to bolster the fleet, and quickly. He therefore wrote to Simon and Edgar and to John of Islay, Lord of the Isles, who had recently succeeded his father, Angus Og.

  He asked Edgar to take what ships he had to sea to protect the shipping routes from the Flemings and tasked Simon with raising another fleet. He told them that John of the Isles had been asked to send a dozen galleys around the northern tip of Scotland to join them. However, he didn’t say who would be commanding the fleet of galleys, nor did he say who would be in overall charge of directing naval operations.

  Simon very quickly discovered that, if he wanted more war ships, he would have to build them. He reluctantly decided that, as the king hadn’t furnished him with any funds to do this, he would have to rely on Edgar taking some prizes. In the meantime, he converted one of his own ships to a fighting cog and used it to escort his other two ships across the North Sea.

  Then in early August he heard that Edward of England had launched another invasion. As he advanced into Scotland from Cumbria, heading for Edinburgh, Robert decided on a scorched earth policy to deny Edward’s army food. At the same time he ordered Simon to prevent any re-supply by sea along the east coast.

  Both Simon and Edgar found themselves in something of a quandary. They didn’t have enough ships to tackle the large fleet that Edward had assembled. At the same time they needed to evacuate their families and all the inhabitants of three large villages, with their livestock, out of Lothian. The crops were also a problem. The harvest had started but it was far from complete.

  ‘What do we do, Simon?’ Edgar and he were sitting in the small aft cabin of Edg
ar’s flagship, which was anchored in the middle of the Tweed off Berwick.

  ‘Well, it doesn’t need two of us to command six cogs. I suggest you take five and patrol to the south. I don’t suppose that they will be arriving soon as Edward is still near Selkirk, the last I heard.’

  ‘What about our people?’

  I’ll take my two merchantmen and my fighting cog north to Eyemouth and load what grain we have ready. The rest we will have to burn in the fields but at least what we have should give us seed corn for next year. I’ll get everyone moving into the hills with all the livestock. Hopefully they’ll be safe in the Lammermuirs.’

  ‘It’s probably the best solution for the villagers but I’m not happy abandoning Catriona and our two month old baby in the wilds.’

  ‘I agree. I don’t want to leave Bridget, John and Cara there either.’

  They had named their children after Bridget’s parents, Simon hadn’t been keen on naming their daughter after the old harridan but he felt that it should be a mother’s prerogative to name the children.

  ‘What about Dunbar? I can’t see Earl Patrick turning them away.’

  ‘It’s worth a try. They’ll have to take their maids and the pages too. I hope that’s not imposing too much.’

  Edgar suddenly had a thought. ‘The earl will expect me to join him! After all, I hold Ayton in return for military service. I need to provide two mounted serjeants and eight foot soldiers too.’