by R J M Pugh
On the battlefield the Scots rounded up the important prisoners who would be ransomed, or become hostages to allow Bruce to negotiate for the release of his queen and family who had remained in English custody since 1307. This occurred in due course. Among the first of Bruce’s womenfolk to be released were his queen, Elizabeth de Burgh, his daughter Marjorie and his sister Christian. But that was in the future; Bruce was anxious to crown his spectacular victory with the ultimate prize – Edward II himself.
The terrified and frustrated king forced his way through the shattered remnants of his army with 500 horse, galloping to the one place he could expect refuge, the castle of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar. Edward was hotly pursued by the ‘Good Sir James’ (the Black Douglas), with only eighty light horse. Edward could have easily turned and stood against Douglas but he believed Sir James was only the vanguard of a much larger force of Scottish cavalry. Douglas pressed the fleeing English so relentlessly that they were unable to ‘make water’ i.e. attend to the call of nature.
With a greatly reduced escort – many of his men had deserted en route to Dunbar – Edward managed to reach the safety of Dunbar Castle, vanishing within its walls where Patrick Dunbar received him ‘full gently’. However, shocked by and apprehensive about Edward’s defeat, Dunbar could only offer the king a boat to take him to safety in Berwick. It is fruitless to speculate on the conversation which took place between Edward and Dunbar that day. Scalacronica, Sir Thomas de Gray’s account of Bannockburn written forty-two years later, stated that those closest to Edward who escaped with him to Dunbar were saved but the rest came to grief. Patrick Dunbar received the king honourably and, under feudal law, offered Edward his castle, even removing his own family and household. This was no altruistic gesture on Dunbar’s part; there was no doubt nor suspicion that Dunbar would do anything less than his ‘devoir [duty], for at that time he was Edward’s liegeman’.31 From Dunbar, Edward sailed to Berwick, then south. Even after Edward’s defeat the Earl of Dunbar briefly remained loyal to England; he would soon discover how lightly Edward valued his loyalty.
A contemporary account of Bannockburn stated that:
Our costly belongings were ravished to the value of £20,000; so many fine noblemen and valiant youth … all lost in one unfortunate day, one fleeting hour … Assuredly the proud arrogance of our men made the Scots rejoice in their victory.32
The precise number of casualties on both sides at Bannockburn is difficult to quantify. One near contemporary account gives 30,000 English dead, a ridiculously over-inflated figure which has been challenged by historians closer to our own time.33 A recent excellent account of Bannockburn by David Cornell lists forty-seven men of the rank of knight and above in an appendix to his book Bannockburn: The Triumph of Robert the Bruce; among these are Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, Sir Giles d’Argentan, John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, William Deyncourt, Sir Edmund de Mauley, Steward in Edward II’s household, and Sir Henry de Bohun. Among the prominent captives were Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, Ingram de Umfraville, Sir Thomas Gray of Heton, Marmaduke Twenge and Gibert de Bohun. In addition there were 700 minor nobles and several clergymen. (Most important of all the prisoners was the Earl of Hereford; he was exchanged for Bruce’s ladies, as mentioned earlier, and the elderly Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow.) Scottish casualties of the rank of knight and above were light; the only nobles slain were Sir William de Vieuxpont (Vipont) and Sir Walter de Ross.34 Cornell states that the number of casualties among the ranks of ordinary spearmen is impossible to estimate; he also points out that the majority of casualties suffered by the English were not in terms of those killed but taken prisoner although in his view an ‘unprecedented number of English bannerets (men knighted on the field) and long-established knights were slain in the engagement’ (page 234, Bannockburn). It would be a pointless exercise to attempt to quantify the number of dead on both sides; a conservative ‘guesstimate’ of ten per cent for both sides would produce fatal casualties of English at 2,500 and between 600 and 800 Scots. But this is pure conjecture on the part of the author. The bulk of the English casualties were lost not in battle but in the frenzied attempts of men to escape the field, many coming to grief in the waters of the Bannock Burn and the surrounding marshland.
Safe in England, Edward’s response to the Earl of Dunbar’s courtesy was swift and callous. Possibly persuaded by his court favourites that, in writing to the king in the autumn of 1313, Dunbar’s letter begging Edward to come north to restore order was part of Bruce’s strategy to lure Edward north and that Dunbar was in fact a traitor in English eyes. Edward was not noted for his political acumen and relied to an almost criminal degree on the advice of favourites such as Piers Gaveston, the Gascon adventurer who was murdered by Edward’s nobles in 1312 for his overbearing attitude, his influence on Edward and that king’s generosity to a man who was hated for his arrogance and undeserved wealth.
Edward II declared Patrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar a traitor to the English crown on 25 June – the day after his flight from Bannockburn. Dunbar’s English lands were declared forfeit.35 Dunbar was now reviled by both Scots and English; in desperation the luckless earl had no choice but to seek peace with Robert the Bruce. It says much for Bruce that he waived his own rule that the Scottish lands of every Scottish noble absent from the field of Bannockburn would be declared forfeited. For some reason we can only guess at, Dunbar was allowed to keep his titles and lands in East Lothian, Berwickshire and elsewhere; he was even made welcome at Bruce’s court.
Robert Bruce’s period of probation was now at an end. Even the English Chronicle of Lanercost described him as King of Scotland, which Edward II still refused to do. In November 1314, at Cambuskenneth Abbey, King Robert declared that those earls, barons and knights not present on the field of Bannockburn and whose fealty to England remained intact would lose their Scottish estates. These men became known as The Disinherited. That day, Bruce’s words were uncompromising; all who
had not come into his faith and peace … are to be disinherited forever of lands and tenements and all other status in the Realm of Scotland. And they are to be held in future as foes of the king and the kingdom, debarred forever from all claims of hereditary right … on behalf of themselves and their heirs.36
Bruce also extended his decree to include the English lands held by Scottish nobles from Edward II so that no Scottish male (or female) could thereafter be subject to dual allegiance to Scotland and England. (This is an important point which to a great extent challenges the view of many modern historians that ownership of English lands was never a major factor in the occasional lapses of loyalty in some Scottish nobles. It must be said that Bruce had scarcely a knight or noble in his army at Bannockburn who at one time or another had not sworn allegiance to England for possessions they held south of the Border.)
The English commentators on the reasons for the defeat at Bannockburn clutched at every straw borne on the wind they could imagine. It was the drunken Welsh foot soldiers, it was poor discipline, it was over-confidence, it was unchivalric quarrelling among Edward’s commanders. The anonymous author of Vita Edwardi Secundi demanded to know why knights unconquered through the ages had run away from mere foot soldiers. The apologists did not – or would not – acknowledge the fact that it was Bruce’s excellent choice of ground and his careful preparations which had won the day; Bannockburn was the prime example of Bruce’s eye for ground favourable to him, a genius he shared with the Duke of Wellington. The terrain at Bannockburn was heavily wooded, offering cover from the English archers as well as boggy ground which reduced the effectiveness of the English heavy cavalry. Bruce was now acknowledged in Scotland as her true King.
As for Edward, he was fortunate to escape from Bannockburn, then Dunbar but this eleventh hour blessing was mixed. Departing from Dunbar by ship he was probably accompanied by Aymer de Valence and Henry de Beaumont, the future leader of Bruce’s Disinherited who would cause much trouble for
Scotland in the years to come. From Berwick the three men proceeded to York where they tried to come to terms with the calamity of Bannockburn, news of which quickly spread in England, then Europe, creating shockwaves that reverberated long after the defeat. Edward’s only consolation was that his personal shield and privy seal, both lost at Bannockburn, were returned to him by the magnanimous Bruce.37 In doing this Bruce was exercising his diplomatic skills; having beaten Edward in open conflict, he was intent on reaching a peaceful settlement with Edward and had no desire to further ruffle the English king’s bedraggled feathers. Bruce knew that, despite his spectacular military and political success, he was in no position to dictate terms to Edward. England was still a formidable adversary and could easily raise another army against Scotland – providing Edward enjoyed the support of the English parliament which met in September 1314. That parliament was presided over by the powerful Earl of Lancaster who had not supported Edward’s invasion of Scotland. The list of prominent names of those killed or ‘missing in action’ grew (as the records of the Great War of 1914 – 18 euphemistically described those killed without trace on the Western Front) those missing after Bannockburn were thankfully found to be Bruce’s prisoners. At least that was a consolation to their families.
After Bannockburn, Edward II never again enjoyed the power he had inherited from his father Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots. After a lacklustre rule of another thirteen years, Edward II was horribly murdered by his French Queen Isabella and her lover, the Earl of Mortimer at Berkeley Castle in 1327.
Before that, Bruce now in his late forties suffered from ill health, mainly due to years of living rough and endless fighting. As yet he had produced no heir to succeed him so, to avert the chaos which followed the death of Alexander III in 1286, an assembly was convened at Ayr in April 1315 to settle the succession question. Should Bruce die without a male heir it was agreed that he would be succeeded by his brother Edward and his heirs male. As a contingency, in the event of a ruler in his minority, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray would be appointed regent to administer the country. In 1315 Bruce’s daughter Marjorie by his first wife took as husband Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Pregnant in 1316, Marjorie died after a fall from her horse but her baby survived. Named Robert after his grandfather the King, the baby was declared heir presumptive to the throne of Scotland in 1318. The succession question was resolved in 1324 when Bruce’s queen, Elizabeth, gave birth to their son David.
Bruce carried the war to England yet again hoping to bring Edward II to the negotiating table and acknowledge him as rightful king of a free and independent Scotland. At the same time the Irish in Ulster opened negotiations with Bruce to assist them in their struggle with England; this gave Bruce yet another opportunity to carry his war against another part of Edward II’s empire. (It was announced that if Ireland fell to the Scots, Wales would be next.) In May 1315 Bruce’s brother Edward landed at Carrickfergus with an army of 6,000; he had varying successes against the English there, although he was crowned King of Ireland in 1316. During that year and the next Robert Bruce was in Ireland supporting his brother.
Inverkeithing I
During Bruce’s absence in Ireland conflict was never far away. In 1317 Edward II sent a fleet north to attempt a landing in Fife. The English ships landed an army, intent on establishing a bridgehead at Inverkeithing on the north side of the Forth estuary. Word reached Robert, Earl of Fife, one of Bruce’s loyal followers, who hastened to Inverkeithing to confront the invaders. At first the English onslaught was successful, driving Fife and his men back. However, William Sinclair, Bishop of Dunkeld rallied the Scots who then forced the English back to their ships.
By the year 1317 Bruce controlled the whole of Scotland. King of a united country he now felt strong enough to challenge Pope John XXII who was meddling in Scottish affairs in the interests of England. The Pope had sent two cardinals to England to proclaim a truce between Scotland and England; if Bruce proved refractory, he was to be excommunicated again, along with any of his supporters who were troublesome. Messengers bearing letters for Bruce arrived; the letters did not address him as king, so Bruce informed the envoys that he could not possibly be the man they were addressed to! A second attempt to proclaim the papal truce in Scotland failed for the same reason. Bruce’s second excommunication along with those of his supporters in general and the bishops of Scotland in particular did not weaken Scottish resolve. Bruce’s next attempt to bring Edward II to the negotiating table and recognize him as king of an independent Scotland came in1318 when he retook Berwick. The Black Douglas, Randolph and Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, were in the forefront of the siege; according to one account ‘James de Douglas with the assistance of Patrick, Earl of March, captured Berwick from the English by means of treason by one of the town, Piers Spalding’.38 The loss of Berwick was the severest blow to England since Bannockburn. However, that year was tinged with sadness for the Scottish king; his brother Edward Bruce bit off more than he could chew in Ireland by engaging an English army at the battle of Faughart, Dundalk, where he was defeated and killed. The succession to the Scottish throne was again at risk. However, Edward Bruce’s campaign had not been in vain; he broke the power of the English in Ireland.
Edward II attempted to recapture Berwick in 1319 by laying siege to the garrison of Berwick Castle. Bruce responded by sending the Black Douglas and Thomas Randolph into Yorkshire with the somewhat farcical intention of seizing Isabella, Edward’s queen, who was then living near York. Although this venture came to nothing, Randolph and Douglas routed a raggle-taggle ‘army’ cobbled together by the Archbishop of York at Myton-on-Swale. The motley band of clergy and countryfolk was no match for Randolph and Douglas. There were so many clergymen among the slain that the encounter was known by the Scots as the Chapter of Myton. This action threw the English besieging Berwick into confusion, Edward’s nobles quarrelling and finally abandoning the siege.
And then on 6 April 1320, almost six years after Bannockburn, a battle which should have brought England’s recognition of the sovereignty and independence of Scotland, the Declaration of Arbroath was drafted and sent to Pope John XXII. The Declaration ranks among the most significant documents in the Western world, let alone Scotland. The document is unique not only because it asserts a nation’s right to independence, it proclaims that right to the international community of the day. It is also remarkable for its economy of words and therefore its clarity. The Declaration of Arbroath has been favourably compared with that other statement asserting personal freedom, the American Declaration of Independence, in that it affirms the protest of a small nation against the illegal and undemocratic aggression of a larger one. Arbroath is an eloquent declaration of Scottish independence as well as the presentation of Robert Bruce as Scotland’s legitimate king. It is memorable for its unequivocal statement that
for as long as a hundred of us are left alive, we will never be subject to the domination of England. It is not for glory, riches or honour that we fight, but for that liberty, which no good man will consent to lose but with his life.39
Even today these defiant words inspire us and rank alongside the stirring speeches of Winston Churchill when Britain was fighting for its very survival in 1940. What is striking about the document is that there is no mention of God, nor of the divine right of a king to rule. Propaganda and a surrogate Scottish constitution it may be; rhetorical it certainly is, but the text is free from judicial, legalistic and bureaucratic language, all of which would have detracted from the immediacy and directness of its message. If the Marsellaise comes closest to expressing the comradeship of ordinary citizens in arms against tyranny, the Declaration of Arbroath is the response of the soldier-nobles of Scotland who had sworn to defend the rights of the common man. Well, up to a point. Modern university degree students of Scotland’s history would be penalized for ignoring the fact that both the Scottish Church and the magnates who ruled their tenants and workers were not acting solely out of altruism; both wished to
preserve their standard of living at the expense of the common working men who stood shoulder to shoulder at Bannockburn, bleeding for Bruce and the nobility.
Sadly, the impact of the Declaration of Arbroath was lost on England; it did nothing to discourage Edward II’s ambitions in Scotland. Neither did the document achieve its other purpose – that of persuading the Pope to remove the sentence of excommunication from Bruce, his chief supporters and the Scottish clergy. Nor did it persuade Edward II ‘to think again’ as the ‘National Anthem’ Flower of Scotland assures us today. However, some who counselled Edward II did indeed pause to think again which led to the signing of a thirteen-year truce at York on 30 May 1323. Bruce was thereby given a breathing space; he sent Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, to Rome to petition for papal recognition of his title and the removal of his excommunication and that imposed on his chief advisers, including the scions of the Scottish Church. Randolph was informed that excommunication would be rescinded only on the restoration of Berwick to the English crown. (Who was it that said that the Church of Rome is more preoccupied with politics than religious belief?) Bruce refused to give up Berwick and continued to suffer the Pope’s displeasure.
The year 1327 was memorable in the constitutional history of Scotland. On 15 July the Scottish parliament convened at Cambuskenneth Abbey; it was distinguished by the appearance for the first time of the representatives of the burghs – royal, regal and barony – thus giving the merchant-trading classes a voice in the running of the country. From that day on Scottish parliaments would be comprised of the Three Estates – the Lords spiritual, temporal and secular members of the community of the realm. It was the first attempt to give the ordinary people of Scotland a vote.