In the Footsteps of William Wallace

by Alan Young

  It is important to be aware that through their military successes before Stirling Bridge, but principally in the battle there, Moray and Wallace had eclipsed the traditional ruling families of Scotland. The events after Stirling Bridge cause us to question the strongly held view that is expressed through the Guisborough Chronicle and the Lanercost Chronicle: that Wallace was merely the military arm of the political resistance masterminded by Bishop Robert Wishart and Wallace’s feudal lord, James Stewart.

  If this had been the case, why did Wallace after Stirling Bridge not hand over the reigns of political power to James Stewart and Robert Wishart, who had clearly seen themselves, with Robert Bruce, as the leaders of the Scottish political community in early July 1297? Why did Andrew Moray not defer to his kinsmen, the Comyns, who had returned to Scotland by this time, although they were still not openly backing Scottish resistance? Of the traditional aristocratic ruling elite in Scotland, the Comyns appear to have been the least involved in the Battle of Stirling Bridge and its aftermath. They had pledged to put down the rebellion in the north of Scotland and, despite the doubts of Hugh Cressingham, were still believed to be loyal to Edward I as late as 26 September 1297. The presence of John Comyn, the younger, heir of the main Badenoch branch of the family, in Edward I’s army in Flanders may have dissuaded the Comyns from an open position. Their attitude may have changed by March 1298 when John Comyn, the younger, was among the Scots who deserted Edward’s army and sought help at the French court. Robert Wishart, imprisoned in Roxburgh Castle, which was still in English hands, was unable to assume political control, even if asked. Yet James Stewart had, after the Battle of Stirling Bridge had been won, joined in with the attack on the English army’s baggage train. He would have been the natural, experienced political leader, a former Guardian. However, it is clear that before Stirling Bridge, the traditional Scottish political leaders, such as Stewart, had lost the support of their retainers because of their cautious political (and military) stance. Moray and Wallace had the backing of the retainers and chief military adherents of the major Scottish nobles.

  Moray and Wallace were certainly competent enough to assume the political mantle that Stirling Bridge brought them. However, their judgements have tended to be overshadowed, especially in English eyes, by Wallace’s invasion of northern England between mid-October and 22 November 1297. Some of their early decisions included negotiations with foreign ports, the replacement of a key figure in the political as well as ecclesiastical life of Scotland following the death (in France) of the Bishop of St Andrews, William Fraser, in 1297 – William Lamberton was elected at Wallace’s behest on 3 November – and the holding of parliaments.

  The Scottish invasion of northern England is perhaps the best-documented episode of William Wallace’s career and is discussed in depth in C.J. McNamee, ‘William Wallace’s Invasion of Northern England in 1297’, Northern History XXXVI (1990), 40–58, to which the following section is greatly indebted. The earliest reference to Scottish activity in northern England concerns the burning of Felton Mill (about 7 miles from Rothbury) on about 13 October. The Guisborough chronicler refers to Scottish raids in Northumberland on 18 October but the major incursion did not take place until 11 November. This date probably marks the involvement of William Wallace and a more organised invading force after scattered raids by Scots caught up in the euphoria of the victory at Stirling Bridge. Another possible motive for the random assaults and the more regulated invasion was the lack of provisions in Scotland. The fifteenth-century Scottish chronicler, Walter Bower, refers to the shortage of corn in Scotland as a result of poor weather. Perhaps, too, the harvesting season in Scotland had been badly disrupted by the fighting as Moray and Wallace had gathered large numbers of men willing to fight for their cause. Wallace and Moray would have known that Edward I was out of the country and not able, for a while, to mount a counter-offensive to avenge Stirling Bridge. Warenne had, in fact, retreated from Berwick to York. There could not be a better opportunity for plunder and to consolidate assets for the battles ahead. An outline of the invasion route is given in the Lanercost Chronicle:

  Newcastle, the castle. Newcastle prepared to be attacked on several occasions in 1297 but it was too strong for Wallace’s forces. The castle site was considerably affected by the arrival of the railway in 1849. The main medieval remains comprise the keep (late twelfth century) and the gatehouse, Black Gate (mid-thirteenth century).

  Newcastle walls. Little remains of the 2-mile circuit (started in 1265) that was praised for its strength and magnificence in the sixteenth century. Newcastle was not fully enclosed by walls in 1297 and no doubt this fact caused panic at the time and ensured that the work was speedily completed.

  Alnwick Castle. The garrison here seemed to offer William Wallace’s invasion force at least some opposition in 1297. Perhaps, as a result, the Scots devastated the town. Alnwick’s defensive fortifications were considerably developed under the Percy family in the fourteenth century but were still strong enough in 1297 to resist Wallace. The castle was not taken by Wallace’s forces.

  Carlisle Castle, which defied William Wallace in 1297 and Robert Bruce in 1315. Given Wallace’s army’s lack of experience in siege warfare, castles could only be taken through either surprise or subterfuge. Usually, Wallace avoided well-defended strongholds such as Newcastle or Carlisle.

  After these events the Scots entered Northumberland in strength, wasting all the land, committing arson, pillage, and murder, and advancing as far as the town of Newcastle; from which, however, they turned aside and entered the county of Carlisle. They there did as they had done in Northumberland, destroying everything, then returned into Northumberland to lay waste more completely what they had left at first; and re-entered Scotland on the feast of St Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr, without, however, having been able to capture any castle either in England or Scotland.

  Cockermouth. Scottish raids reached almost to Cockermouth Castle in the west during 1297. Again Wallace tended to avoid besieging strongholds.

  Brough Castle. It is probable that William Wallace bypassed this castle and reached as far as Bowes before abandoning his march into the bishopric of Durham.

  Once again rather more detail about the Scottish invasion is to be obtained from the Guisborough Chronicle. The Scots are described as:

  . . . splitting up into separate troops, and sending out scouts before them, came suddenly and secretly into Northumberland . . . whose inhabitants, thinking that the enemy would not now come, had foolishly returned to their homes. Quickly spreading all over the county, they slew many and carried off much spoil: they set up a camp in Rothbury Forest (near the border) and came and went just as they liked, for there was no one to scare them off. At that time the service of God totally ceased in all the monasteries and churches between Newcastle and Carlisle, for all the monks, canons and priests fled before the face of the Scots as did nearly all the people. And thus the enemy went on plundering and burning . . . with no opposition save from our men in Alnwick castle and a few other strong places . . . until about 11 November, when they gathered themselves together and moved off, harrying as they went.

  Derwentwater. Wallace’s army did cause some damage in the area of Bassenthwaite Lake and may have passed by Keswick and Derwentwater on the way to Stainmore and the bishopric of Durham before this expedition was abandoned.

  The ancient stone circle at Castlerigg, Keswick, would have overlooked the probable route taken by William Wallace as he passed through this area.

  The Scots progressed into northern Cumbria and approached Carlisle, recently repaired and too strong for an army lacking in siege weaponry. According to the Guisborough chronicler, Wallace sent in:

  . . . some shameless priest who said, ‘William the Conqueror, whom I serve, commands you to give up this town and castle without bloodshed: then you may leave unharmed with all your goods. But if you do not instantly obey him, he will attack and kill you all.’

  In this case, Wallace was not
a ‘conqueror’ at Carlisle and instead moved through Inglewood Forest almost as far as Cockermouth. The Scots did not reach Westmorland but did contemplate advancing into the bishopric of Durham. This suggests that they reached a point near Bowes on Stainmoor where they were stopped (as many travellers have been) by snow storms, but also the rumour (probably false) that ‘an immense number of Durham folk were ready to meet them in arms’ (Guisborough Chronicle). The Scots then, perhaps on about 18 November, decided to march back to Scotland via Tynedale. Now joined by the notoriously independent and undisciplined men of Galloway, Wallace used Hexham Priory as his base for two days while his men ravaged the lower Tyne valley almost to the gates of Newcastle itself. Just as Berwick’s town walls had not been completed by Hugh Cressingham, so the town walls around Newcastle were unfinished. Its castle, rather than the walls, remained its greatest strength and a garrison was maintained at the castle from 6 November until February – it consisted of 6 men at arms, 60 crossbowmen and 40 archers. The Scots did not attack, Wallace’s forces returning north to Scotland while the men from Galloway, having received their share of the plunder, probably returned home through Tynedale.

  The South Tyne valley was ravaged by William Wallace’s army in 1297 from their base in Hexham. Bywell and Corbridge were particularly affected.

  The degree of estimated devastation in northern England has tended to depend on the location of the English chronicle source – the further south the chronicler, the more extreme the horrors of the Scottish invasion of 1297. William Rishanger reports that:

  Driving together English men and women, the vile Scots tied them with whips and scorpions until they dropped. They even snatched up babes from the cradle or their mothers’ breasts and cut them open, and they burned alive many children in schools and churches.

  The site of Newminster Abbey. In the absence of English military assistance, Newminster Abbey, a Cistercian daughter-house of Fountains Abbey (Yorkshire), tried to bargain with the Scottish forces under Wallace but the abbey was looted after their promise of gifts was not fulfilled.

  The author of Song on the Scottish Wars wrote, in similar tone, of Scottish atrocities:

  . . . the troops of the Scots reduce the estates of many to cinders, William Wallace is the leader of these savages; the rejoicings of fools breed increase of griefs. – To increase the wickedness which they had hitherto perpetrated, these wicked men deliver Alnwick to the flames, they run about on every side like madmen . . . Many ask each other how it happened, that Newminster was not touched by the fire. The monks promise gifts, but they do not fulfil their promise; as there was need, so was the thing carried into effect. – On this account they led away captive the prior of the monastery, whom they then found; having carried away the goods, they left the houses empty.

  Songs recorded in the Lanercost Chronicle reflect contemporary opinion on raids on Lanercost Priory and also Hexham Priory:

  Of the Impiety of the Scots

  O Scottish race! God’s holy shrines have been defiled by thee,

  His sacred temples thou hast burnt, O crying shame to see!

  Think not that thou for these misdeeds shalt punishment avoid,

  For Hexham’s famous sanctuary polluted and destroyed.

  The pillaged house of Lanercost lies ruined and defaced;

  The doers of such sacrilege must cruel vengeance taste.

  Let irons fire and famine now scourge the wicked race,

  With whom henceforth nor fame nor faith nor treaty can have place.

  The Scottish nation, basely led, hath fallen in the dust;

  In those who forfeit every pledge let no man put his trust

  Hexham Priory. Wallace used the priory as a base for two days and it proved difficult to control the notoriously wild men of Galloway. There was some looting at the priory.

  It is perhaps unfortunate that the Scottish invasion of 1297, an episode that gives us more information on Wallace’s career than any other part of his life, does not show him in the best of lights. An incident recorded in the Guisborough Chronicle, however, shows the difficulties he had in preventing his troops from plundering, and also the respect he had for the Church:

  The Scots came to Hexham Priory . . . some Scots spearmen broke in there, shaking their weapons and shouting, ‘Bring out the treasures of your church or we’ll kill you at once’ . . . At that moment William Wallace himself entered, and abusively ordered his men to get out: then he requested the canons to celebrate a Mass, and straightway they began to do so. After the elevation of the Host, Wallace left the church to remove his armour, while the priest made ready to distribute the bread and wine, with the Scots soldiers crowding round him in hopes of stealing the chalice. Indeed when he returned from washing his hands in the sacristy, he found that not only the chalice but all the ornaments of the altar had been pilfered . . . so that he could not finish the Mass he had begun, because everything had been stolen. And while he stood wondering what to do, Wallace returned, saw what had happened, and told his followers to pursue the men who had done that sacrilege and hang them: but of course they were never found, for the soldiers only pretended to seek them . . . before he left Wallace gave them his letters of protection . . .

  Lanercost Priory. Much damage was inflicted here as Wallace’s raiding party moved into Cumberland. No doubt the priory suffered partly as a result of the lack of success of the Scots at the siege of Carlisle 10 miles to the west of Lanercost.

  The Scottish invasion of northern England in 1297 was in many ways an unsavoury affair showing all the savagery and destructiveness of war. Tax records, rather more independent than the biased and sometimes lurid chronicle accounts, tend to corroborate the references to destruction along the Scottish invasion route. They record particular areas of ruination through evidence of sharply declining tax revenues, for example, in the parishes of north-east Northumberland. There were particularly heavy attacks around the Cheviot Hills and Alnwick seems to have suffered, perhaps as a result of the unexpected assaults on the Scots from men from the castle. There was also a great deal of activity in Tynedale where Bywell and Corbridge were laid waste. John of Fordun gives a terse description of Wallace’s progress in Cumberland: ‘. . . after having burnt up the whole land of Allerdale, and carried off some plunder, he and his men went back safe and sound’. This seems to be supported by tax records: fourteen parishes in the diocese of Carlisle were exempted from the triennial crusading tenth of 1301 because of war damage four years earlier.

  Wallace’s invasion of Northumberland and Cumberland, 1297.

  Bywell Castle on the River Tyne. Wallace’s army caused much destruction in Tynedale and Bywell and Corbridge were laid waste.

  At the end of 1297 and the beginning of 1298, William Wallace’s reputation stood at its highest. His military and political success can be judged partly by the bitterness of English invective against him. The Song on the Scottish Wars portrays a particularly stark image of him:

  Now the malignant people return to Scotland; and the honour of knighthood is given to William; from a robber he becomes a knight, just as a swan is made out of a raven, an unworthy man takes the seat when a worthy man is not by . . .

  However, the English could not yet take away from William Wallace the position he had earned by early 1298, as recorded in the Charter of William Wallace to Alexander Scrymgeour:

  William Wallace, knight, Guardian of the kingdom of Scotland and commander of its army, in the name of the famous prince the lord, John, by God’s grace illustrious king of Scotland, by consent of the community of that realm.

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  WALLACE, GOVERNOR OF SCOTLAND

  When Edward I’s expeditionary force sailed to Flanders on 24 August 1297, the English King did not anticipate a military disaster such as that which occurred at Stirling Bridge on 11 September. Despite worrying messages, in early August, from Hugh Cressingham that ‘peace on the other side of the Scottish sea is still in obscurity’, and English administrative control over wide a
reas of Scotland was poor, Edward I did not feel that the Scots posed a threat. He had, after all, been told in early August that ‘your enemies of Scotland were dispersed and frightened from their foolish enterprise’ (letter of Hugh Cressingham to Edward I, 4 August 1297) and seems to have believed that the only danger to him came from Stewart, Wishart and Bruce and that this had ended at Irvine. Wishart had, in August, written to Hugh Cressingham apologising for his conduct. Edward, no doubt, still had confidence in the Comyns being able to re-exert their influence over Scottish rebels. The safe conduct, to come to visit his father, issued to Andrew Moray, the younger, on 28 August (four days after Edward’s departure to Flanders) was another sign that the English King felt that he had the means to control Scottish nobles (and therefore Scotland) – Andrew’s father was still detained in the Tower of London. Edward certainly did not consider that Wallace was a major threat.

  Edward’s complacency was dispelled after he heard about Stirling Bridge, sometime before 24 September, when he ordered Robert Clifford and Brian Fitz Alan to join forces with the Earl of Warenne and proceed towards Scotland. Walter Bower reports that:

  King Edward, ablaze with mad anger and unable to contain himself through sorrow . . . wrote a threatening letter to William the guardian of Scotland, stating among other matters that if the king himself had remained in his kingdom, Wallace would not have dared to attempt such deeds; but if he dared to invade England again, he would at once realise that the avenging hands of the king himself were seeking retribution upon him and his men for their presumption. In short, when Wallace heard of the impudence and threatening boasting of the king, he sent a message back to him to say that he would revisit his kingdom once more before the celebration of Easter.