Is Bruces face the fairer for that gesture? Comyn barked.
To have yielded his own castle, without a blow I To the man who paid
his debts …!
Gods mercycan you see no further than your nose, man?
At least I did win my siege of Lochmaben. While you sit still around Stirling!
My lords! Such talk is unprofitable and ill becomes you.
Now that he was Guardian himself, Lamberton could and did speak with a greater authority. He picked up the parchment.
My lord of Carrick is right. This is carefully worded. Edward would be wise to read it as carefully, before he throws it in his fire! As device to cool the suddenly risen temperature, he commenced to read the preamble:
To the Lord Edward, by Gods grace king of England, by the Guardians and community of the realm of Scotlandgreeting.
William by divine mercy bishop of St. Andrews, Robert Bruce earl of Carried and John Comyn the younger, Guardians of the kingdom of Scotland in the name of the famous prince the lord John, by Gods grace illustrious King of Scotland, appointed by the community of that realm, together with the community of the realm itself … A spate of words I Vain puffing words! Comyn scoffed.
Sound and repetition. To bring me from Stirling, for this!
Words, in affairs of state, may speak as loud as a drawn sword, my lord. We declare hereafter that King Philip of Frances truce with Edward, signed at the Peace of Paris, required that all prelates, barons, knights, towns, communities and inhabitants of Scotland should be included in the truce, and all hostages given up. We declare this clause has been broken. We therefore request King Edward to comply with these terms forthwith. To retire from Lochmaben and from Scottish soil. And to enter into a collateral truce with this realm. If he does so we are willing to desist from all aggression of England during the period stipulated.
The Primate waved the parchment.
We know that he has, in fact, already withdrawn from Lochmaben Castle, though leaving an English garrison. So now he will seem to have carried out this demand. He is no longer on Scottish soil, nor like to be for six months at least. He has now wed the King of Frances sister. Therefore he cannot declare the Peace of Paris void. I saw mat he may burn this letterbut in the eyes of the world he will seem to have heeded it. Is this not sufficient merit to bring a Guardian of Scotland eight miles from Stirling, my lord?
Comyn shrugged, for once at a loss. But only for moments.
That is as may be, he jerked.
We shall see how tender is Edward to empty words. But … you have your paper and my signature. Let us have it sealed and be done. For I have more important business. At Stirling.
What do you do at Stirling, these long months? Bruce asked, as though interested.
Is it not something tedious? Sitting there?
Sitting I Who sits? Stirling is not some defenceless, decrepit hold I It is the greatest fortress in Scotland. Or England. A-top a rock four hundred feet high. But… I have it in my grasp now. It will not be long. Now that Edward has turned back, they will not survive. No food has reached them for five months. I promise you they will yield before the years end. Our next meeting, I say, will be held where it ought to be. Not in this rats-hole but in the palace of Stirling.
Without further leave-taking than the Lord of Badenoch stormed out of Tor Woods hall.
His fellow-Guardians eyed each other.
I cannot, longer bear with this, Bruce said slowly.
You will have to find another Guardian for Scotland, my friend.
And leave Comyn in power? Over you?
I cannot bear with him longer. You must find a way out, my lord Bishop. And quickly. Before one of us slays the other …!
The corporate sigh that swept over the crowded Great Kirk of Rutherglen sunny May morning of 1300 was eloquent, however disparate were the elements of which it was composed -regret, satisfaction, alarm, I-told-you-so. Men had long seen this coming, in one form or another; indeed had come to this parliament expecting no less. But the significant and ominous implications for Scotland could be lost on none.
The Earl of Carrick, standing in front of the right hand of the three Guardians chairs set facing the nave, at the chancel steps, raised his hand for quiet.
Therefore, I say I can no longer, in honest and good faith, serve this kingdom as Guardian. I do hereby lay down that burden and duty, to this parliament. For the better rule and governance of the realm. Turning, he bowed stiffly to Bishop Lamberton beside him, and stepped a little way apart.
The Red Comyn smiled thinly, and played with his jewelled dirk-hilt.
Heavily the Primate spoke, from the central chair.
This decision is to Scotlands loss. My lords mind is made up, and we must needs accept it. But… since the Earl of Carrick remains what he is, head of the greatest house south of Forth, and an aspirant to the throne when it shall become vacant, it is, I say, inconceivable that he should be esteemed of lesser rank than the Guardians. The SouthWest cannot be governed lacking Bruces aid and participation.
Accordingly I move that my lord retains the style and title of a Guardian, while not actively sustaining the office. This for the benefit of all.
There was no lack of reaction to that, acclaim from the Bruce supporters and the churchmen, dissent and scowls from the opposing faction. Comyn himself did not scowl, but he did look very keenly, thoughtfully, from Lamberton to Bruce, and then flicked a hand.
Here we are in strange case, he said.
Bruce, it seems, desires to retain the benefits of office, without the cares and responsibilities.
What benefits? Bruce jerked.
Not so, Lamberton declared. It is a matter of seemliness.
The Guardianship represents the throne. It is seemly that the Earl of Carrick should remain in name therein. To the greater authority of the office as a whole.
Words again I Forms I Styles! When what the realm needs are swords.
And deeds!
Your own party have a new nomination for such form and style, have they not, my lord?
Ha! Comyn said slowly.
You would deal and chaffer, my lord Bishop! Is that it? You offer substance for this shadow? Very well. Accept Sir Ingram de Umfraville as third Joint Guardian, in Bruces place. And my lord of Carrick may keep such style and title as pleases him!
I desire no such empty style, Bruce ground out.
I retire from the Guardianship. And do commend to this parliament Sir John de Soulis, Warden of the Middle March, in my place.
Wait! Wait, I beg of you, Lamberton said, though his tone held authority rather than begging.
Here is cause for closer consideration than this. We esteem Sir John and Sir Ingram. But the status of the Guardianship is here involved. The name of an earl of Scotland should grace the office still…
It did not when Wallace was Guardian, somebody pointed
Wallace was sole Guardian. And had to give it up because he lacked sufficient authority.
My cousin of Buchan is earl, as well as Constable. And would serve suitably, Comyn observed lightly.
No! Not that, the Lord of Crawford cried.
Two Comyns we can never accept.
There was uproar in the church.
Comyn stood up, to quell it, I say then, he shouted, glaring menacingly around, appoint Sir Ingram de Umfraville third Guardian, and allow the Earl of Carrick the style but not the power. And then, a Gods name, have done with it! There is more important matter to decide. And to do. Edward has rejected our truce, and musters again at York. Galloway has risen in civil war. And the Earl of Carrick has done little to quell it. There is mans work to be done-not clerkly bickering over titles! Have done, I say. He sat down.
It was cleverly done, the vigorous lead of a practical soldier.
Many cheer
ed it. Yet it gave Comyn what he desired, while seeming to go along with Lambertons suggestion. De Umfraville was a valiant and influential knight, cousin to the Earl of Angus and a kinsman of both Baliol and Comyn. He was firmly of the Comyn faction. Bruce, having word that Umfravilles name was to be put forward, had nominated Sir John de Soulis, an equally renowned warrior, Lord of Liddesdale and one of his own supporters. On a vote, with the churchmen supporting Bruce, de Soulis might have won. Now, in order to have Bruce merely retain the name of Guardian, Lamberton was seemingly bartering away the effective power. Bruce doubted the wisdom of it-although he was only too well aware of the advantages to himself of keeping equal rank with Comyn.
The thing was accepted, since most were prepared to trust Lambertons judgement. Sir Ingram de Umfraville was appointed Guardian, and came up to the chancel to sit in Bruces vacated chair. The other remained standing, a little way off.
Comyn was not long in showing his hand. After some formal business, he
announced that the internal strife in Galloway must be put down, since
it endangered the security of the realm and invited English aggression
there. Stirling Castle being now in his hands, and his forces freed
from that important task, he would now personally lead a campaign of
pacification in Galloway. With de Umfraville, of course. And added, as a cynical afterthought.
… where my lord Constable has already preceded me, on a reconnaissance.
That explained the absence of the Earl of Buchan from the parliament.
Bruce stood silent. Comyn intended to take over the South West, that was clear. Galloway had always been in the Bruce sphere of influencealthough Buchan did own land there, the barony of Cruggleton The man was utterly unscrupulous, ruthless, unrelenting. And cunning. It was not beyond him to have engineered the Galloway disturbances himself, for this very purpose.
He implied that Bruce should have put down the trouble himselfwhen he knew only too well that Bruces forces were spread right along the eighty miles of the borderline, watching England. And had been for six weeks.
William Lamberton looked understandingly, sympathetically, over towards the younger man, but shook a warning head.
How much could a man take?
The parliament broke up. Men had come to it fearing civil war. That it had not come to this, as yet, was to Bruces credit.
But Comyn was in the ascendant now, for all to see.
Sick at heart Bruce rode south again to rejoin his brothers commanding the long slender line that watched the Border.
Chapter Fourteen
The campaign of 1300 was all fought in Galloway and the SouthWest. That it reached no further was the measure of the Scots success; but it left that great area in ruins once more. The English invaded from Carlisle, on Midsummers Day, after a delay which almost certainly was partly accounted for by the Popes remonstrances on the rejection of the Scots truce offer, reinforced by Wallaces representations at Rome. But Edwards fears of excommunication were at length overborne by his consuming hatred of the Scots, and when he marched, he did so with a magnificent army of over 60,000. Bruce had 8,000, but they were strung along the borderline; Comyn had 15,000 in Galloway, where he had been hanging men by the score, mostly Bruces adherents; and Scrymgeour had the absent Wallaces peoples army of some 13,000 more waiting in reserve on the north side of Forth.
Edward stormed through lower Annandale for Dumfries. Once again that fair vale became a blackened wilderness, while Bruce dared do no more than harass the English flanks and rear. Then with the early fall of Dumfries and Caerlaverock Castles, the Plantagenet turned west across Nith and entered Galloway. It seemed that he was intent on defeating the Scots in the field rather than on merely gaining territory.
In the past Comyn had talked boldly about the need to confront Edward with the chivalry of Scotland, to gain any lasting success; just as he had talked slightingly of Wallaces guerilla warfare and Bruces caution about pitched battle, and his scorched earth strategy. But now, faced with four times his own numbers, and the huge preponderance of bowmen, he pursued similar tactics himself, and played them skilfully. He fell back deeper and deeper into Galloway, a difficult country for campaigning, cut up with great estuaries, rivers and hill ranges, extending Edwards lines of communication even further without committing himself to battle. These lines of communication Bruce made it his business to assail.
Once again the strategy paid off, although at terrible cost to the countryside involved. The proud Plantagenet, with his vast and splendid array of armoured and bannered chivalry, and corps of archers unequalled in all the world, found all food and forage burned before him, and his supply lines constantly cut behind him.
He ground to a halt at Kirkcudbright. He had, out of past experience, arranged for a shadowing supply fleet to keep his army serviced from the sea; but he had not understood how shelving and shallow were the estuaries of the wide Solway Firth, and at how few points might shipping approach land.
That Edward actually agreed to parley with Comyn and Buchan, at this stage, was indication of his supply embarrassments.
But the Scots proposalsthe restoration of King John to his throne, a mutual non-aggression treaty, and the right of the Scots-Norman nobles to redeem their English estates from those to whom Edward had granted them-the Plantagenet brusquely brushed aside. He promised mercy, but demanded unconditional surrender.
Comyn, Buchan and Umfraville withdrew, angrily, and against the advice of many, decided to make a stand at the River Cree, near Creetown.
Disaster followed, in the first pitched battle since Falkirk. Although Comyn had chosen the mud-flats of the Cree estuary as battlefield, where Edwards heavy cavalry were at a disadvantageindeed most knights fought on footthe terrible host of long bowmen decimated the Scots from afar before ever a single blow was struck. It was the cloth yard-shaft once more which won the day, rather than the knightly lance and sword. Themselves horseless, the Scots leaders fled across the quaking tidelands, to escape into the hillssuch as did not remain lying in Cree mud.
Edward turned back to deal with Bruce. It was mid-August.
Bruce had no intention of emulating Comyns recent folly. He drew in his harassing forces and retired before the returning English, laying waste the land as he wentvery soon his own land, again. Northwards he turned, from Dumfries, up Nithsdale and through the hill passes to Carrick and the plain of Ayr, Edward pressing hard after hima most trying retreat, but keeping at arms length from the enemy advance-guard, burning rather than fighting. And though, at length, Edwards ships were able to supply him at the port of Irvine, it was now late in September and the English army was in a state bordering on mutiny, magnificent no longer. The road back to England lay a smoking menace behind it. Moreover, Scrymgeour had now brought a large guerilla contingent to aid Bruce, and the Church army was standing at Stirling, with Comyn, to hold the vital waist of Scotland.
Edward made a virtue of a necessity. He sent offer to Bruce of a six months truce. This to enable him to withdraw unmolested over the burned-out terrain to England again, without serious loss from guerilla attack. Lamberton advised acceptance. It had little practical value to the Scots; but it did concede to them the status of combatants with whom the King could deal, instead of the rebels he named them. By the end of October his forces were back in their own land, save for the garrisons in such castles as Lochmaben and Roxburgh. But he swore a great oath, as he crossed the Border, that he would return and lay waste the whole of Scotland from sea to sea, and force its rebellious people into submission or death.
If Edward had little cause for satisfaction from it all, no more had the Scots. The SouthWest was again devastated. The only real battle fought had been a bad, almost shameful, defeat, and Comyns military reputation had suffered seriously. If Bruces had not, he was nevertheless becoming known as a leader who could only burn and destroy his own territories. This
situation could not go on and on. And the truce, whatever status it might give them, was only until the next campaigning season.
Morale in Scotland sank low, that winter. If only Wallace would return, men sighed. If only Comyn and Bruce would cut each others throats, others muttered. If only Lamberton was allowed to run the country unhindered, the churchmen prayed.
But none of these things happened.
Lamberton was now an unhappy man, indeed. He obtained no cooperation from the other two Guardians, and most of his proposals were automatically outvoted two to one. Comyn was in his vilest frame of mind, soured by his debacle on the Cree, and for once aware of his unpopularity amongst the people. Umfraville proved to be no statesman, and completely under the younger mans influence. The government of the land sank to new low levels.
It was an open winter, fortunately. The Primate-Guardian besought the Earl of Carrick to come to his manor of Stobo, in the Forest, there to pass Yuletide with him. Bruce was concerned at the appearance of his friend, when he reached Stobo from Turnberry. He had aged grievously in these last months, and there was a strain, tension and brittleness about him unknown previously.
This cannot continue, he told the younger man, when they were alone before a fire in the Bishops private sanctum.
To all intents the ship of state is rudderless, drifting helpless. I can do little or nothing. The Comyns would have me out of the Guardianshipand I would thank God to be free of it! But if I go, John Comyn reigns supreme. Now. As he hopes to reign from the throne, one day. I say this would be disaster for Scotland. But we can no longer make pretence to work together.
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