by G. A. Henty
Chapter XII
The Battle of Methven
Bruce had, during the previous week, sent messages saying to severalof his friends in Annandale and Carrick that he might at any timebe among them, and at Dumfries he found many of them prepared tosee him. The English justiciaries for the southern district of theconquered kingdom were holding an assize, and at this most of thenobles and principal men of that part were present. Among thesewere, of course, many of Bruce's vassals; among them also was JohnComyn of Badenoch, who held large estates in Galloway, in virtueof which he was now present.
As soon as the news that Bruce had arrived in the town spread, hisadherents and vassals there speedily gathered round him, and as,accompanied by several of them, he went through the town he metComyn in the precincts of the Grey Friars. Concerning this memorablemeeting there has been great dispute among historians. Some havecharged Bruce with inviting Comyn to meet him, with the deliberateintention of slaying him; others have represented the meeting asaccidental, and the slaying of Comyn as the result of an outburstof passion on the part of Bruce; but no one who weighs the facts,and considers the circumstances in which Comyn was placed, can feelthe least question that the latter is the true hypothesis.
Bruce, whose whole course shows him to have been a man who actedwith prudence and foresight, would have been nothing short of mad hadhe, just at the time when it was necessary to secure the goodwillof the whole of the Scotch nobles, chosen that moment to slay Comyn,with whom were connected, by blood or friendship, the larger halfof the Scotch nobles. Still less, had he decided upon so suicidala course, would he have selected a sanctuary as the scene of thedeed. To slay his rival in such a place would be to excite againsthimself the horror and aversion of the whole people, and to enlistagainst him the immense authority and influence of the church.Therefore, unless we should conclude that Bruce--whose earlycareer showed him to be a cool and calculating man, and whose futurecourse was marked throughout with wisdom of the highest character--wassuffering from an absolute aberration of intellect, we mustaccept the account by those who represent the meeting as accidental,and the slaying as the result of an outburst of passion provokedby Comyn's treachery, as the correct one.
When Bruce saw Comyn approaching he bade his followers stop wherethey were and advanced towards Comyn, who was astonished at hispresence.
"I would speak with you aside, John Comyn," Bruce said; and thetwo withdrew into the church apart from the observation of others.
Then Bruce broke into a torrent of invective against Comyn for hisgross act of treachery in betraying him by sending to Edward a copyof their agreement.
"You sought," he said, "to send me to the scaffold, and so clearthe way for yourself to the throne of Scotland."
Comyn, finding that dissimulation was useless, replied as hotly.Those without could hear the voices of the angry men rise higherand higher; then there was a silence, and Bruce hurried out alone.
"What has happened?" Archie Forbes exclaimed.
"I fear that I have slain Comyn," Bruce replied in an agitatedvoice.
"Then I will make sure," Kirkpatrick, one of his retainers, said;and accompanied by Lindsay and another of his companions he ran inand completed the deed.
Scarcely was this done than Sir Robert Comyn, uncle of the earl,ran up, and seeing what had taken place, furiously attacked Bruceand his party. A fierce fray took place, and Robert Comyn andseveral of his friends were slain.
"The die is cast now," Bruce said when the fray was over; "butI would give my right hand had I not slain Comyn in my passion;however, it is too late to hesitate now. Gather together, myfriends, all your retainers, and let us hurry at once to attackthe justiciaries."
In a few minutes Kirkpatrick brought together those who hadaccompanied him and his companions to the town, and they at oncemoved against the courthouse. The news of Bruce's arrival and ofthe fray with the Comyns had already reached the justiciaries, andwith their retainers and friends they had made hasty preparationsfor defence; but seeing that Bruce's followers outnumbered them,and that a defence might cost them their lives, they held parleyand agreed to surrender upon Bruce promising to allow them todepart at once for England. Half an hour later the English had leftDumfries.
Bruce called a council of his companions.
"My friends," he said, "we have been hurried into a terrible strife,and deeply do I regret that by my own mad passion at the treacheryof Comyn I have begun it by an evil deed; but when I tell you of theway in which that traitor sought to bring me to an English block,you will somewhat absolve me for the deed, and will grant that,unhappy and unfortunate as it was, my passion was in some degreejustified."
He then informed them of the bond into which he and Comyn hadentered, and of its betrayal by Comyn to Edward.
"Thus it is," he said, "that the deed has taken place, and itis too late to mend it. We have before us a desperate enterprise,and yet I hope that we may succeed in it. At any rate, this timethere can be no drawing back, and we must conquer or die. It wascertain in any case that Comyn and his party would oppose me, butnow their hostility will go to all lengths, while Edward will neverforgive the attack upon his justiciaries. Still we shall have somebreathing time. The king will not hear for ten days of events here,and it will take him two months at least before he can assemblean army on the Border, and Comyn's friends will probably do noughttill the English approach. However, let us hurry to LochmabenCastle; there we shall be safe from any sudden attack by Comyn'sfriends in Galloway. First let us draw out papers setting forththe cause of my enmity to Comyn, and of the quarrel which led tohis death, and telling all Scotchmen that I have now cut myselfloose for ever from England, and that I have come to free Scotlandand to win the crown which belongs to me by right, or to die inthe attempt."
Many of these documents being drawn out, messengers were despatchedwith them to Bruce's friends throughout the country, and he andhis followers rode to Lochmaben.
Archie Forbes went north to his own estate, and at once gavenotice to his retainers to prepare to take the field, and to marchto Glasgow, which Bruce had named as the rendezvous for all welldisposed towards him. From time to time messages came from Bruce,telling him that he was receiving many promises of support; thewhole of the vassals of Annandale and Carrick had assembled atLochmaben, where many small landowners with their retainers alsojoined him. As soon as his force had grown to a point when heneed fear no interruption on his march toward Glasgow, Bruce leftLochmaben. On his way he was joined by the first influentialnobleman who had espoused his cause; this was Sir James Douglas,whose father, Sir William, had died in an English prison. At thetime of his capture his estates had been bestowed by Edward uponLord Clifford, and the young Douglas, then but a lad, had soughtrefuge in France. After a while he had returned, and was livingwith Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, who had been one of Wallace'smost active supporters.
The young Douglas, on receiving the news that Bruce was marchingnorth, at once mounted, rode off, and joined him. He was joyfullyreceived by Bruce, as not only would his own influence be greatamong his father's vassals of Douglasdale, but his adhesion wouldinduce many others to join. Receiving news of Bruce's march,Archie moved to Glasgow with his retainers. The English garrisonand adherents in Glasgow fled at his approach. Upon arriving thereBruce solemnly proclaimed the independence of Scotland, and sentout notices to all the nobles and gentry, calling upon them to joinhim.
Fortunately the Bishop of St. Andrews, and Wishart, Bishop ofGlasgow, another of Wallace's friends, at once declared stronglyfor him, as did the Bishop of Moray and the Abbot of Scone. Theadhesion of these prelates was of immense importance to Bruce, asto some extent the fact of their joining him showed that the churchfelt no overwhelming indignation at the act of sacrilege which hehad committed, and enabled the minor clergy to advocate his causewith their flocks.
Many of the great nobles hostile to the Comyn faction also joinedhim; among these were the Earls of Athole, Lennox, Errol, andMenteith; Christoph
er Seaton, Sir Simon Fraser, David Inchmartin,Hugh de la Haye, Walter de Somerville, Robert Boyd, Robert Fleming,David Barclay, Alexander Fraser, Sir Thomas Randolph, and SirNeil Campbell. Bruce's four brothers, Edward, Nigel, Thomas, andAlexander, were, of course, with him. Bruce now moved from Glasgowto Scone, and was there crowned King of Scotland on the 27th ofMarch, 1306, six weeks after his arrival at Dumfries. Since thedays of Malcolm Canmore the ceremony of placing the crown on thehead of the monarch had been performed by the representative ofthe family of Macduff, the earls of Fife; the present earl was inthe service of the English; but his sister Isobel, wife of Comyn,Earl of Buchan, rode into Scone with a train of followers upon theday after the coronation, and demanded to perform the office whichwas the privilege of the family. To this Bruce gladly assented,seeing that many Scotchmen would hold the coronation to be irregularfrom its not having been performed by the hereditary functionary, andthat as Isabel was the wife of Comyn of Buchan, her open adhesionto him might influence some of that faction. Accordingly on thefollowing day the ceremony was again performed, Isobel of Buchanplacing the crown on Bruce's head, an act of patriotism for whichthe unfortunate lady was afterwards to pay dearly. Thus, althoughthe great majority of the Scotch nobles still held aloof, Bruce wasnow at the head of a considerable force, and he at once proceededto overrun the country. The numerous English who had come acrossthe Border, under the belief that Scotland was finally conquered,or to take possession of lands granted them by Edward, were allcompelled either to take refuge in the fortified towns and castlesheld by English garrisons, or to return hastily to England.
When the news of the proceedings at Dumfries and the generalrising in the south of Scotland reached Edward he was at the cityof Winchester. He had been lately making a sort of triumphantpassage through the country, and the unexpected news that Scotlandwhich he had believed crushed beyond all possibility of furtherresistance was again in arms, is said for a time to have drivenhim almost out of his mind with rage.
Not a moment was lost. Aylmer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, was atonce commissioned to proceed to Scotland, to "put down rebellionand punish the rebels," the whole military array of the northerncounties was placed under his orders, and Clifford and Percy wereassociated with him in the commission. Edward also applied to thepope to aid him in punishing the sacrilegious rebels who had violatedthe sanctuary of Dumfries. As Clement V was a native of Guienne,and kept his court at Bordeaux within Edward's dominions, hisrequest was, of course, promptly complied with, and a bull issued,instructing the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle toexcommunicate Bruce and his friends, and to place them and theirpossessions under an interdict. It was now that the adhesion ofthe Scottish prelates was of such vital consequence to Bruce. Hadthe interdict been obeyed, the churches would have been closed,all religious ceremonies suspended, the rites of the church wouldhave been refused even to dying men, and the dead would have beenburied without service in unconsecrated ground. So terrible a weaponas this was almost always found irresistible, and its terrors hadcompelled even the most powerful monarchs to yield obedience tothe pope's orders; but the Scotch prelates set the needs of theircountry above the commands of the pope, and in spite of repeated bullsthe native clergy continued to perform their functions throughoutthe whole struggle, and thus nullified the effect of the popishanathema.
King Edward was unable himself to lead his army against the Scots,for he was now sixty-seven years old, and the vast fatigues andexertions which he had undergone in the course of a life spent almostcontinually in war had told upon him. He had partially lost theuse of his limbs, and was forced to travel in a carriage or litter;but when he reached London from Winchester a grand ceremony washeld, at which the order of knighthood was conferred by the kingupon the Prince of Wales, and three hundred aspirants belonging tothe principal families of the country, and orders were given thatthe whole military array of the kingdom should, in the followingspring, gather at Carlisle, where Edward himself would meet themand accompany them to Scotland. The Earl of Pembroke, with Cliffordand Percy, lost no time in following the orders of Edward, and withthe military power of the northern counties marched into Scotland.They advanced unopposed to the Forth, and crossing this river proceededtowards Perth, near which town the Scottish army were gathered.Archie Forbes, who stood very high in favour with Bruce, had urgedupon him the advantage of carrying out the tactics formerly adoptedby Wallace, and of compelling the enemy to fall back by cuttingoff all food supplies, but Bruce would not, in this instance, beguided by his counsel.
"When the king advances next spring with his great army, Sir Archie,I will assuredly adopt the course which you point out, seeingthat we could not hope to withstand so great an array in a pitchedbattle; but the case is different now. In the first place all thecastles and towns are in the hands of the English, and from themPembroke can draw such provision as he needs. In the second placehis force is not so superior to our own but that we may fight himwith a fair hope of victory; and whereas Wallace had never anycavalry with him, save at Falkirk when they deserted him at thebeginning of the battle, we have a strong body of mounted men-at-arms,the retainers of the nobles with me, therefore I do not fear togive them battle in the open field."
In pursuance of this determination Bruce sent a challenge to Pembroketo meet him with his army in the open field next day. Pembrokeaccepted the challenge, and promised to meet his opponent on thefollowing morning, and the Scotch retired for the night to thewood of Methven, near Perth. Here many of them set out on foragingexcursions, the knights laid aside their armour, and the armyprepared for sleep.
Archie Forbes was much dissatisfied at the manner in which Bruce hadhazarded all the fortunes of Scotland on a pitched battle, therebythrowing away the great advantage which their superior mobility andknowledge of the country gave to the Scots. He had disarmed likethe rest, and was sitting by a fire chatting with William Orr andAndrew Macpherson, who, as they had been his lieutenants in theband of lads he had raised seven years before, now occupied thesame position among his retainers, each having the command of ahundred men. Suddenly one who had been wandering outside the linesin search of food among the farmhouses ran hastily in, shoutingthat the whole English army was upon them.
A scene of the utmost confusion took place. Bruce and his knightshastily armed, and mounting their horses rode to meet the enemy.There was no time to form ranks or to make any order of battle.Archie sprang to his horse. He bade his lieutenants form the meninto a compact body and move forward, keeping the king's bannerever in sight, and to cut their way to it whenever they saw it wasin danger. Then, followed by his two mounted squires, he rode afterthe king. The contest of Methven can scarce be called a battle, forthe Scots were defeated before it began. Many, as has been said,were away; great numbers of footmen instantly took flight anddispersed in all directions. Here and there small bodies stood andfought desperately, but being unsupported were overcome and slain.The king with his knights fought with desperate bravery, spurringhither and thither and charging furiously among the Englishmen-at-arms. Three times Bruce was unhorsed and as often remountedby Sir Simon Fraser. Once he was so entirely cut off from hiscompanions by the desperation with which he had charged into themidst of the English, that he was surrounded, struck from his horse,and taken prisoner.
"The king is taken!" Archie Forbes shouted; "ride in, my lords,and rescue him."
Most of the Scotch knights were so hardly pressed that they coulddo nothing to aid the king; but Christopher Seaton joined Archie,and the two knights charged into the midst of the throng of Englishand cut their way to Bruce. Sir Philip Mowbray, who was besidethe captured monarch, was overthrown, and several others cut down.Bruce leapt into his saddle again and the three for a time kept atbay the circle of foemen; but such a conflict could have but oneend. Archie Forbes vied with the king in the strength and power ofhis blows, and many of his opponents went down before him. Therewas, however, no possibility of extricating themselves from themass of their foes, and Bruce,
finding the conflict hopeless, wasagain about to surrender when a great shout was heard, and a closebody of Scottish spearmen threw themselves into the ranks of theEnglish horse. Nothing could withstand the impetuosity of theassault. The horsemen recoiled before the levelled spears, and thepikemen, sweeping onward, surrounded the king and his companions.
"Well done, my brave fellows!" Archie cried; "now keep together ina close body and draw off the field."
The darkness which had at first proved so disastrous to the Scotswas now favourable to them. The English infantry knew not what wasgoing on. The cavalry tried in vain to break through the ranks ofthe spearmen, and these, keeping closely together, regained theshelter of the wood, and drew off by way of Dunkeld and Killiecrankieto the mountains of Athole. On their way they were joined by EdwardBruce, the Earl of Athole, Sir Neil Campbell, Gilbert de la Haye,and Douglas, and by many scattered footmen.
To his grief Bruce learned that Randolph, Inchmartin, Somerville,Alexander Fraser, Hugh de la Haye, and others had been captured,but the number killed had been small. When once safe from pursuita council was held. It was agreed at once that it was impossiblethat so large a body could find subsistence in the mountains ofAthole, cooped up as they were by their foes. The lowlands swarmedwith the English; to the north was Badenoch, the district of theirbitter enemies the Comyns; while westward lay the territory ofthe MacDougalls of Lorne, whose chieftain, Alexander, was a nephewby marriage of the Comyn killed by Bruce, and an adherent of theEnglish.
Beyond an occasional deer, and the fish in the lochs and streams,the country afforded no means of subsistence, it was thereforedecided to disband the greater portion of the force, the knightsand nobles, with a few of their immediate retainers, alone remainingwith the king, while the main body dispersed and regained theirhomes. This was done; but a few days later a messenger came sayingthat the queen, with the wives of many of the gentlemen, had arrivedat Aberdeen and sought to join the king. Although an accessionof numbers was by no means desirable, and the hardships of sucha life immense for ladies to support, there was no other resourcebut for them to join the party, as they would otherwise have speedilyfallen into the hands of the English. Therefore Bruce, accompaniedby some of his followers, rode to Aberdeen and escorted the queenand ladies to his mountain retreat.
It was a strange life that Bruce, his queen, and his little courtled. Sleeping in rough arbours formed of boughs, the party supportedthemselves by hunting and fishing.
Gins and traps were set in the streams, and Douglas and Archiewere specially active in this pursuit; Archie's boyish experienceat Glen Cairn serving him in good stead. Between him and Sir JamesDouglas a warm friendship had sprung up. Douglas was four yearshis junior. As a young boy he had heard much of Archie's feats withWallace, and his father had often named him to him as conspicuousfor his bravery, as well as his youth. The young Douglas thereforeentertained the highest admiration for him, and had from the timeof his joining Bruce become his constant companion.
Bruce himself was the life and soul of the party. He was everhopeful and in high spirits, cheering his followers by his gaiety,and wiling away the long evenings by tales of adventure and chivalry,told when they were gathered round the fire.
Gradually the party made their way westward along Loch Tay andGlen Dochart until they reached the head of Strathfillan; here, asthey were riding along a narrow pass, they were suddenly attackedby Alexander MacDougall with a large gathering of his clansmen.Several of the royal party were cut down at once, but Bruce withhis knights fought desperately. Archie Forbes with a few of theothers rallied round the queen with her ladies, and repelled everyeffort of the wild clansmen to break through, and continued to drawoff gradually down the glen. Bruce, with Douglas, De la Haye, andsome others, formed the rearguard and kept back the mass of theiropponents. De la Haye and Douglas were both wounded, but the littleparty continued to show a face to their foes until they reacheda spot where the path lay between a steep hill on one side andthe lake on the other. Then Bruce sent his followers ahead, andhimself covered the rear. Suddenly three of the MacDougalls, whohad climbed the hillside, made a spring upon him from above. Oneleapt on to the horse behind the king, and attempted to hold hisarms, another seized his bridle rein, while the third thrust hishand between Bruce's leg and the saddle to hurl him from his horse.The path was too narrow for Bruce to turn his horse, and spurringforward he pressed his leg so close to the saddle that he imprisonedthe arm of the assailant beneath it and dragged him along withhim, while with a blow of his sword he smote off the arm of himwho grasped the rein. Then, turning in his saddle, he seized hisassailant who was behind him and by main strength wrenched him roundto the pommel of the saddle and there slew him. Then he turned andhaving cut down the man whose arm he held beneath his leg, he rodeon and joined his friends.
In the course of the struggle the brooch which fastened his cloakwas lost. This was found by the MacDougalls and carried home asa trophy, and has been preserved by the family ever since, withapparently as much pride as if it had been proof of the fidelityand patriotism of their ancestors, instead of being a memento ofthe time when, as false and disloyal Scotchmen, they fought withEngland against Scotland's king and deliverer.