966 



BRUCE, ROBERT. 



BRUCE, ROBERT. 



970 



of knighthood amidst a pomp and magnificence well calculated to 

 rouse the ardour of the nation. He made also a splendid banquet in 

 honour of the new-created knights, at which he uttered a solemn vow 

 to execute vengeance upon Bruce and his adherents. Bruce, on the 

 other hand, had prepared no system of offensive warfare nor even of 

 defence ; his followers were few, and when he first resolved to assert 

 his claim to the crown, he had no fortress at his command save his 

 two patrimonial ones of Lochmaliu and Kildrummie. He had seen 

 however the success of Wallace in less happy circumstances, and he 

 witnessed an enthusiasm for his person which he believed the prospect 

 of success would kindle into a wide and irresistible flame. Prompted 

 therefore perhaps by the hope of striking an early and effectual blow, 

 he sent a challenge to Pembroke, who had established his head- 

 quarters at Perth, defying him to battle. Pembroke returned for 

 answer he would meet him on the morrow. Satisfied with this accept- 

 ance Bruce drew off his little baud to the neighbouring wood of 

 Methven, with a view to encamp there for the night; but the customary 

 watches were omitted or insufficiently attended to. Pembroke having 

 intelligence of this, called out his forces towards the close of the day, 

 and gaining the unguarded encampment without observation, succeeded 

 in throwing the whole body of the Scots into complete disorder. 



From the defeat of Methveu Bruce retired with the remains of Bis 

 army to the mountains of Athol, whence however they were at length 

 compelled by want and the rigour of the season to descend into the 

 low country of Aberdeenshire ; but on the advance of a superior body 

 of English, they took refuge in the mountainous district of Breadal- 

 bane. Nor was the party safe from attack even here. The Lord of 

 Lorn, who was an adherent of Edward, and closely connected by 

 marriage with the family of the murdered Comyn, hearing of the 

 approach of Bruce, collected his dependants to the number of about 

 1000, an 1 having beset the passes, obliged the Scots to come to battle 

 iu a narrow defile where the horse of the party were an incumbrance 

 rather than a service. The consequence was inevitable ; and had not 

 the king ordered a retreat, and himself taking post in the rear, by 

 desperate courage, strength, and activity, succeeded in checking the 

 fury of the pursuers, and extricating his men, they would have been 

 utterly exterminate d. 



Having at last rallied his men, Bruce used every means in his power 

 to re-animate their hope and to inspire them with fortitude and perse- 

 verance. After sending away his queen, the ladies who accompanied 

 her, and some others of the party under an escort to his strong castle 

 of Kildrummie, he determined with his remaining followers, amounting 

 to about 200 only, to force a passage into Kintyre, and thence cross 

 over into the north of Ireland, with the hope, as has baen supposed, 

 of receiving assistance from the Earl of Ulster, or of eluding for a time 

 the hot pursuit of his enemies. On arriving at the banks of Loch 

 Lomond there appeared no mode of conveyance across the loch ; but 

 after much search, Sir James Douglas discovered a small crazy boat, 

 by means of which they effected a passage. The party were a night 

 and a day in getting over, the boat being able to carry only three 

 persons at a time ; but Robert beguiled the tedious hours by reciting 

 the story of the siege of Egrymor from the romance of Ferembras. 

 The king soon afterwards fell in with the Earl of Lennox, ignorant till 

 then of the fate of his sovereign, of whom he had received no intel- 

 ligence since the defeat of Methven ; and by his exertions the royal 

 party were amply supplied with provisions, and enabled to reach in 

 safety the castle of .Uunaverty in Kintyre, whence, after recruiting the 

 strength and spirits of his companions, the king and a few of his most 

 faithful adherents passed over to the small island of Rathlin, on the 

 north coast of Ireland, where they remained during the winter. In 

 this remote situation Bruce was long ignorant of the unrelenting 

 cruelty showed by Edward to his queen, family, and friends ; the 

 confiscation of all his estates ; and the solemn excommunication of 

 himself and his adherents by the pope's legate at Carlisle. Fordun 

 indeed relates that in derision of his forlorn and unknown condition, 

 a sort of ribald proclamation was made after him in all the towns of 

 Scotland as lost, stolen, or strayed. 



On the approach of spring, Sir James Douglas and Sir Robert Boyd 

 left the king and passed over to Arran, where they were joined in a 

 few days by Bruce, from Rathlin, with a fleet of thirty-three small 

 galleys. The party made a descent upon the opposite coast of Carrick, 

 which was in the possession of the English, and finding the troops 

 under Percy carelessly cantoned, they rushed in among them and 

 put nearly the whole body, consisting of about 200 men, to the sword. 

 When the news of this enterprise became known, a detachment of 

 above 1000 men, under the command of Roger St. John, was despatched 

 from Ayr to the relief of Turnberry, when Bruce, unable to oppose 

 such a force, retired into the mountainous district of Carrick. The effect 

 of his success was still further counteracted by the fatal miscarriage 

 of his brothers Thomas and Alexander, in their attempt to secure a 

 landing at Loch Ryan in Galloway, where the whole party were routed, 

 several persons of note slain, and the two brothers of Bruce taken 

 prisoners and ordered to instant execution. When Bruce wandered 

 among the fastnesses of Carrick, after the defeat of his auxiliaries at 

 Loch Ryan, his army did not amount to sixty men. His own personal 

 prowess however in an encounter with a force sent against him by the 

 people of Qalloway, in which it was related that single-handed he had 

 for some time kept at bay a body of about 200 men, with bloodhounds 



who had been sent to track the fugitives through thi forests and 

 morasses, roused the spirits of his party, and called many to his 

 standard. Bruce indeed required all the aid he could receive; for 

 Pembroke, the English guardian, was already advancing upon him 

 with a great body of men, having also obtained the assistance of 

 John of Lorn, whose followers were well acquainted with that species 

 of irregular warfare to which Bruce was obliged to have recourse. 

 Lorn had with him a bloodhound which it is said had belonged to 

 the king, and was so familiar with his scent, that if once it got upon 

 his track nothing could divert it from its purpose. This Bruce found 

 to his experience, and well nigh fatally; for having arrived at the 

 place where Bruce and his army lay, the bloodhound was let loose, 

 and notwithstanding every stratagem that could be devised to elude 

 it, the animal singled him out and led on the enemy in his pursuit, 

 till at length Bruce and his companion (for to these two only had he 

 successively subdivided his men) reached a rivulet, into which they 

 plunged, and, after destroying iu this way the strong scent upon 

 which the hound had proceeded, turned into the adjoining thicket, 

 whence he regained in safety the rendezvous of his followers. Here, 

 having learnt the state of security into which the English had fallen] 

 under the impression that the Scottish army was totally dispersed, 

 Bruce collected a few men, and dashing upon a detachment of about 

 200 of the enemy, put the greater part of them to the sword. Pem- 

 broke shortly afterwards retired with his whole forces towards 

 England, and after another disaster, similar to that just mentioned, 

 retreated to Carlisle. 



Bruce, encouraged by success, ventured down upon the low country, 

 and reduced to his obedience the districts of Kyle, Carrick, and 

 Cuninghame. Pembroke thereupon determined again to take the 

 field ; and putting himself at the head of a strong body of cavalry, 

 he advanced into Ayrshire, and came up with the army of Bruce when 

 encamped on Loudon Hill. Here, though his army was greatly infe- 

 rior to the English, and consisted wholly ot infantry, Bruce gave 

 Pembroke battle; and so well conducted was the conflict by Bruce, 

 that while the loss of the Scots was extremely small, Pembroke's 

 whole forces were put to flight, a considerable number being slain and 

 many made prisoners. Three days after this Bruce encountered 

 another considerable body of English, whom he also defeated with 

 great slaughter. These successes proved of the greatest consequence 

 to Bruce's cause, which was still further strengthened by the death 

 of Edward, who died at Burgh-on-the-Sands, iu Cumberland, on the 

 7th of July 1307, in his progress towards Scotland. With his last 

 breath he commanded that his body should accompany the army 

 in its march, and remain uu buried till the country was wholly 

 subdued ; but his son, disregarding the injunction, had his father's 

 remains deposited at Westminster. The son indeed was incapable 

 of conducting the enterprise which had devolved upon him ; and 

 after a useless and inglorious campaign he retired from the contest. 

 For three years after this Bruce had to contend with the governors 

 despatched by Edward, and with his other enemies in different 

 parts of Scotland. He triumphed over all : and early in the year 1310 

 the clergy of Scotland assembled in a provincial council, and issued 

 a declaration to all the faithful that the Scottish nation, seeing the 

 kingdom betrayed and enslaved, had assumed Robert Bruce for 

 their king, and that the clergy willingly did homage to him in that 

 character. 



Finding at length his authority established at home, and that 

 Edward was sufficiently employed by the dissensions which had 

 sprung up in his own country, Bruce resolved by an invasion of 

 England to retaliate in some measure the miseries which it had 

 inflicted on his kingdom. He advanced accordingly as far as the 

 bishopric of Durham, laying waste the country with fire and sword, 

 and giving up the whole district to the unbounded licence of tl>8 

 soldiery. Edward at first complained to the pope, but soon afterwards 

 made advances towards negociating a truce with Scotland. Robert 

 however, knowing the importance of following up the successful career 

 which had opened on him, refused to accede to his proposals, and 

 again invaded England. In the same year also he took various 

 fortresses in his kingdom which hitherto remained in the possession 

 of the enemy. The last of these fortresses was the castle of Stirling, 

 upon which the hope of the English now depended, and Edward 

 accordingly collected all his forces for its defence. It was on this 

 occasion the famous battle of Bannockburn was fought, 24th of June 

 1314, when a complete victory was obtained by Bruce. By this event 

 the sovereignty of Bruce was established, and the remainder of his 

 public life was occupied in alternately invading England and defending 

 himaelf from English attacks, in negociating treaties with that king- 

 dom, and framing laws for the ordering and consolidating the power 

 which he had acquired. In April 1323 a parliament was held at 

 Northampton, to conclude between the two kingdoms of England and 

 Scotland a treaty of permanent peace, the principal articles of which 

 were the recognition of Bruce's titles to the crown, the sovereignty of 

 the kingdom, and the marriage of Johanna, the sister of the king of 

 England, to David, the son and heir of the king of Scots. 



Bruce did not long survive this event. The hardships and sufferings 

 he had encountered brought upon him a disease, in those days called 

 a leprosy, which the ardour of enterprise and a naturally strong con- 

 stitution had hitherto enabled him to triumph over. The last two 



