Killing Fields of Scotland

by R J M Pugh

  Renfrew

  Somerled’s bile had been quietly simmering away for the past eight years despite the release of Malcolm and Donald MacHeth from imprisonment in Roxburgh. More powerful than ever, Somerled, styling himself King of the Western Isles and Lord of Argyle, gathered an army of Western Islesmen reinforced by troops from Ireland and landed at Renfrew. Supported by a fleet of 100 galleys, Somerled threw down a gauntlet which Malcolm IV accepted. However, the young king was spared a battle. Sailing up the Clyde to Renfrew, Somerled had hardly disembarked when he and his son Gillecolm were slain in an act of treachery at the ‘Bloody mire of Renfrew’.14 Hardly a bloody battle, the men of Glasgow who opposed Somerled offered thanks for their victory to their patron saint, Kentigern.

  So what was the significance of Renfrew? The historian T. C. F. Brotchie contends that the Highland Celts and the Galloway Irish – meaning the Gallgaels or descendants of the old Dalriadic Scots – never fully recovered from Renfrew.15 The event does not support Brotchie’s claim that it was a major battle. More of a raid, Renfrew’s importance lay in the fact that it would be a century before the reign of a Scottish monarch was threatened again.

  The reign of Alexander III (1249 – 86) was unmarked by any major battle save one action, more running fight than battle. Known as ‘the peaceful king’, like his father, Alexander II (1214 – 49), Alexander III attempted to purchase the Western Isles16 from Haakon IV of Norway. He sent a diplomatic mission to Norway in 1262, hoping that Haakon would respond favourably to his offer. The Norwegian king had not changed in his resolve since the death of Alexander II thirteen years earlier, nor was he in the mood to submit to the overtures of a mere stripling whose offer he regarded as derisory as his father’s had been. Besides, around 1260, Haakon’s subject peoples on Skye had been attacked by the Earl of Ross, no doubt with the knowledge and agreement of Alexander. The Earl of Ross had indiscriminately slaughtered men, women and children; accounts of this lurid episode appear in the Norwegian sagas.17

  Haakon detained the Scottish royal envoys under house arrest until he was pressurized by Henry III of England – Alexander’s father-in-law – to release the hostages. Haakon complied, informing Henry that he had no hostile intentions towards Scotland, but this was simply a delaying tactic. In the spring of 1263 Haakon commanded all his peoples to meet him at Bergen where he assembled a fleet of 120-160 war galleys – the precise figure is disputed – and set sail for Orkney in the summer of that year. While anchored in Ronaldsvoe, Orkney, a strange sight was seen in the heavens – that of a lunar eclipse of the sun.18 Despite this unfavourable portent, Haakon was undeterred; his fleet proceeded down the west coast of Scotland, sweeping round the Mull of Kintyre and anchored off Arran and in the bay of Ayr.

  Largs

  News of Haakon’s ‘invasion’ reached Alexander who immediately gathered an army which he assembled near the coast at Kilbirnie, Ayrshire. Word reached him that sixty of the war-galleys had detached from the main fleet, making their way up the Firth of Clyde to disappear into Loch Long. At Kilbirnie, Alexander watched Haakon’s main fleet closely.

  On his route along the west coast, Haakon had proceeded to Arran, visiting several islands and receiving homage from their chieftains. Lying off Arran, Haakon invited Alexander to the negotiating table. The Scottish king then played a waiting game; he sent his negotiators to Haakon to ascertain the Norwegian’s intentions. Haakon informed the royal envoys that his minimum demand was the unconditional surrender of the Western Isles to Norway in perpetuity. He sailed to the Cumbrae Islands and prepared to invade mainland Scotland near Ayr. Meanwhile, the Scottish army decamped from Kilbirnie during the continuing negotiations, encamping on the heights of the bay of Largs. It was late in the season. The notoriously fierce gales of autumn were due. Save for the severity of the weather, the events which followed on 2 October 1263 are far from clear and there are contradictory accounts of the action in the Norwegian sagas and the Scottish chronicles.19

  That day the long-awaited gales arrived. The tempest of hail and rain created havoc in the Norwegian fleet. After the storm abated the Scots looked down on the grey beaches between Largs and Fairlie. They saw five galleys beached while, in the bay of Ayr, many others were dismasted, labouring at their anchor cables. Haakon ordered his dispirited warriors ashore. Drawn up in battle order, his men were determined to rescue the beached galleys. Sensing victory, the Scots charged down from the heights, scattering the Norsemen. In the ensuing skirmish the Norsemen lost heart. Accounts of the battle of Largs – if it may be called that – differ greatly, depending on which side the protagonists fought. The Norwegian accounts glorify the brave stand of their countrymen, defiant and heroic in the face of defeat. The Scottish annals tell a different story, proving that accepted history is written by the victorious. Largs conforms to this rule. We must concede that the victory was not won by Alexander III; it was achieved by Nature. Haakon’s mighty fleet was neutralized by Scottish weather. The few Norsemen engaged in battle with the Scottish army had little choice but to return to their longships and make their escape. In the stormy seas, many of the disabled vessels foundered, their crews drowned.

  A dispirited Haakon withdrew to Orkney where he took ill at the end of October, dying at Kirkwall in December. In itself Largs achieved nothing for Scotland. However, in 1264, Haakon’s successor Magnus ‘The Law-Maker’ came to the negotiating table. But it would be a further two years before the Western Isles question would be resolved for once and for all. Under the Treaty of Perth in 1266 Norway sold the Western Isles to the Scottish Crown. The settled price was 4,000 merks (about £2,666) with an annuity of 1,000 merks (£66) paid indefinitely; the annuity was paid until the fourteenth century on condition that Norway would continue to occupy Orkney and Shetland. In 1281, in a gesture of friendship, Alexander III gave his daughter Margaret in marriage to King Eric of Norway, the successor to Magnus, the wedding taking place at Roxburgh.

  Largs was the highwater mark of Norwegian aspirations in offshore Scotland.20 The Scandivanian presence was limited to Orkney and Shetland and even that would soon disappear. All that is left today to mark the Viking occupation are place names such as Brodick (Norwegian brodvick, meaning a broad bay) on the island of Arran. After Largs, Scotland would enjoy over two decades of peace. Alexander’s untimely and tragic death in 1286 without an heir to his throne would plunge Scotland into chaos for years, as we shall presently see.

  Notes

  1 Hume Brown, History of Scotland, vol. i, p.40.

  2 Lynch, Scotland: A New History, p.47.

  3 Hume Brown, op. cit., p.43.

  4 Hume Brown, op. cit., p.52.

  5 Oliver, A History of Scotland, p.60.

  6 Hume Brown, op. cit., p.54.

  7 Marshall, R. K., Scottish Queens, p.3; also, Duncan’s brother Maldred married Algatha, daughter of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland before Siward (Pugh, Swords, Loaves and Fishes: A History of Dunbar, p.58)

  8 Lynch, op. cit., p.50.

  9 Lynch, op. cit., p.49.

  10 Hume Brown, op. cit., pp.54 – 55.

  11 Hume Brown, op. cit., p54.

  12 Lynch, op, cit., p.50.

  13 Notably Hume Brown, op. cit., p.61.

  14 Brotchie, The Battlefields of Scotland, p.27. Brotchie states there is reason to believe that Somerled and his son were slain in an act of treachery.

  15 Brotchie, op. cit., p.28.

  16 The Hebrides (Western Isles) consist of Lewis, Harris, Benbecula, North and South Uist, Barra, Skye, Mull, Islay, Jura, Coll, Rum, Tiree and Colonsay. (Arran, Bute and the Great and Little Cumbrae islands are not considered part of the Hebrides.)

  17 The Surlunga Saga (1260) and the Flateyan and Frisian MSS (quoted in Brotchie, op. cit., p.38.)

  18 Brotchie, op. cit., p.40.

  19 The Scottish version of events are to be found in the Chronicle of Melrose and Andrew Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronikyl of Scotland.

  20 However, although after Largs, Alexander effective
ly annexed the Western Isles, in 1346, a chief of the Clan MacDonald descended from Somerled assumed the title ‘Lord of the Isles’. This MacDonald may have been Angus Mor MacDonald, great-grandson of Somerled. Angus MacDonald’s successors affected to be semi-independent from Scotland until King James V annexed the Western Isles into Scotland in 1540.

  Chapter 4

  The Wars of Independence: 1296 – 1313

  The Wars of Independence justifiably occupy a defining place in the history of Scotland. Before embarking on a record of the events which took place during the long, dour Wars of Independence, let us first examine the condition of the country in the remaining years of the reign of Alexander III (1249 – 86). In the latter half of the thirteenth century Scotland’s population was about 500,000. The majority of the people lived and worked in the countryside, earning their daily bread from the land. However, the royal burghs which David I established in the twelfth century in the interests of trade – both domestic and overseas – had increased in number, attracting a significant percentage of the working population to settle in towns on the east coast like Berwick-upon-Tweed. Others such as Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Elgin, Inverness and Perth were not only trading with their less privileged neighbours but Europe as well; we know that by the thirteenth century, Scottish royal burghs were engaged in commerce with towns such as Lübeck and Hamburg, two of the Hanseatic League of trading ports. In the west, Ayr, Dumfries, Glasgow, Irvine and Renfrew exchanged trade with Ireland and even western England.

  The country’s wealth lay chiefly in wool; the great Abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and others grew rich on the wool-clip from the vast flocks of sheep pastured not only in their own immediate vicinity of the Merse but through the Lammermuir Hills and into East Lothian. (The name Lammermuir derives from the old Celtic lamber-mohr meaning great sheep hills.) Trade in fish, timber and animal hides was also profitable and, like wool, these were exported to the Continent.

  As we have seen, Alexander III had made a good marriage to Margaret, daughter of Henry III. Among the honoured guests at their wedding was a prince who would earn the epithet ‘Hammer of the Scots’ when he became Edward I (1272 – 1307). Alexander was determined to present his kingdom as a free, independent nation to the English crown, an equal partner as well as an equally important realm.

  Alexander III’s marriage to Margaret of England had produced three children, two sons, Alexander and David and a daughter, Margaret, before she died in 1275. The succession seemed secure. As we saw in the previous chapter, Alexander gave his daughter Margaret in marriage to King Eric II of Norway to cement the new-found friendship between the two countries following the Norwegian debacle at the battle of Largs. However, before the wedding took place, the young Prince David died. A year later, Margaret and Eric produced their only child, a daughter named after her mother; sadly Queen Margaret died giving birth to her daughter. At least Alexander’s remaining son, Prince Alexander, was healthy; he married in 1283 and there seemed every likelihood that his marriage would produce a son and heir. However, Prince Alexander fell ill and died in January 1284.

  Immediately after the death of his last male heir, Alexander convened a council at Scone to settle the succession on his granddaughter, known to Scottish history as ‘The Fair Maid of Norway’. His nobles agreed to this, albeit reluctantly, as many held the view that only a male heir should succeed to the throne. However, aged forty-three, Alexander could still produce heirs and to this end he married Yolande, the young and fertile daughter of Robert IV, Comte de Dreux, Dreux being a town near Chartres in France. It was highly likely that Yolande would give Alexander the male heir he wanted. This was not to be.

  On 19 March 1286 Alexander held a council in Edinburgh Castle. It was a wild, tempestuous day, with equinoctial gales that brought sleet and hail. It was nightfall before Alexander completed consultations with his nobles. Despite the atrocious weather and against the advice of his counsellors, Alexander insisted on taking horse to join Queen Yolande at Kinghorn. While, to modern eyes, his decision seems foolhardy, we must judge Alexander on the prevailing issue uppermost in his mind – his need for a male heir.

  When he reached the Firth of Forth, even the ferryman who would row him to Inverkeithing argued against the journey. Alexander was adamant and disembarked with his small retinue. When the party reached Inverkeithing the night was so dark that his companions could distinguish each other only by their voices and even their words were carried away on the fierce winds. Alexander pressed on with only two guides, trusting on the instincts of their horses to make safe passage. Just before reaching Kinghorn, Alexander’s horse stumbled in the dark and plunged over a steep cliff on to the sands below. The next morning, the King was found dead, his neck broken. When news of his death was broadcast the nation was plunged into despair.

  Alexander left Scotland a prosperous and consolidated kingdom but his failure to produce a male heir to succeed him was as tragic as his untimely death. An assembly was convened at Scone on 11 April to discuss the late king’s successor. The sole legitimate descendant of Alexander, his granddaughter Margaret, ‘The Fair Maid of Norway’, an infant in a foreign country, could hardly be expected to rule the country. A regency of six lords spiritual and temporal was appointed to govern Scotland. This unhappy council faced insurmountable problems. An infant female heir was bad enough; quarrels broke out among the nobility which formed into factions and there was a band of competitors eager to profit from the Fair Maid’s death should that occur before she reached her majority, which was years away. Also, hovering in the wings was a ruthless English king who was hell-bent on annexing Scotland and making it his feudal fiefdom. Trouble came in the person of Robert the Bruce of Annandale. In 1238 Alexander II had designated him as his successor before Alexander III was born. Bruce, known in this account as Bruce the Competitor, was in advanced years but his claim to the throne would be supported by his son Robert, known as Bruce the Elder and his grandson, also Robert, known as Bruce the Younger until he became King Robert the Bruce in 1306.

  It was in the year 1289 that events began to develop at an ever-increasing pace. In that year Eric II of Norway sent commissioners to England concerning the affairs of his daughter, the Fair Maid and lawful heir to the throne of Scotland. Eric was hardly in a position to act independently of the council of six guardians appointed to rule Scotland during his daughter’s minority. That council was comprised of two clergymen, William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, Alexander Comyn, 2nd Earl of Buchan, Duncan MacDuff, Earl of Fife and two barons, John Comyn, 2nd Lord of Badenoch and James the Steward. Together, the six represented the major political parties – the Bruce/Stewart and the Comyn/Balliol factions. (John Balliol, Lord of Galloway had family ties with the Comyns in the north as his sister had married into the Comyn family.)

  At the request of Edward I and apparently with the unanimous agreement of the six guardians, four commissioners from Scotland were sent to England to support King Eric of Norway’s claim on behalf of his daughter as rightful queen of Scotland. Three of the commissioners were guardians – Wishart, Fraser and Comyn, 2nd Lord of Badenoch; the fourth was Bruce the Competitor. These commissioners were charged with the task of assenting to whatever King Eric of Norway’s representatives proposed. The resulting treaty did not mince matters; the Scots would receive their young queen only on condition that order would be established in the country and that the council of guardians were to be no more than in nominal command and appointed by Edward I. A further condition was that the young queen could not be married without the consent of her father, advised by Edward. One does not have to be a genius to understand the motives behind these conditions; Edward had his mind set on the subjugation of Scotland and expected her monarch – whoever that would be – to pay homage to him as Scotland’s feudal superior.

  Edward I had already decided that the Fair Maid of Norway should marry none other than his son Edward of Caernarfon. Edward submitted no
formal overture to the Scottish Council of Guardians, nor to Eric of Norway but by 1290 his intentions became known to the Scots. In March 1290 the Scottish parliament met at Brigham-on-Tweed; it was attended by Scotland’s nobles, clergy and the Community of the Realm. The parliament engrossed a charter signed by twelve earls giving their consent to the marriage of the Fair Maid of Norway to Edward’s son, the future Edward II. This decision was relayed to Eric of Norway and Edward I, both of whom accepted it; a ‘Solemn Treaty’ between the Scottish parliament and Edward’s commissioners was drawn up at Brigham-on-Tweed on 18 July 1290 ratifying the proposed marriage while preserving Scotland’s sovereignty. The treaty also stipulated that no vassal of the Scottish crown would be required to pay homage for their Scottish lands to Edward I; further, Scotland’s laws, rights and ancient liberties would continue entire and inviolate. Eric of Norway was also required to send the Fair Maid of Norway to England at the earliest possible moment.