The Bishop of Dunkeld repulses the English at Dunybristle
Repulsed with so much disgrace in these attempts by land, the English monarch fitted out a fleet, and invaded Scotland, sailing into the Firth of Forth, and landing his armament at Dunybirstle. The panic created by the English was so great, that the sheriff of the county had difficulty in assembling five hundred cavalry, and these, intimidated by the superior numbers of the enemy, disgracefully took to flight. Fortunately, however, a spirited prelate, Sinclair bishop of Dunkeld, who had more in him of the warrior than the ecclesiastic, received timely notice of this desertion. Putting himself at the head of sixty of his servants, and with nothing clerical about him, except a linen frock, or rochet, cast over his armour, he threw himself on horseback, and succeeded in rallying the fugitives, telling their leaders that they were recreant knights, and deserved to have their gilt spurs hacked off. "Turn," said he, seizing a spear from the nearest soldier, " turn, for shame, and let all who love Scotland follow me!" With this he furiously charged the English, who were driven back to their ships with the loss of five hundred men, besides many who were drowned by the swamping of one of the vessels. On his return from Ireland, Bruce highly commended his spirit, declaring that Sinclair should be his own bishop; and by the name of the King's Bishop this hardy prelate was long remembered in Scotland.Unable to make any impression with temporal arms, the King of England next had recourse to the thunders of spiritual warfare; and in the servile character of Pope John the Twenty-second, he found a fit tool for his purpose. By a bull, issued from Avignon, in the beginning of 1317, the pope commanded the observance of a truce between the hostile countries for two years ; but the style of this mandate evinced a decided partiality to England. Giving the title of King of England to Edward, he only designated Bruce as his beloved son, " carrying himself as King of Scotland;"and when he despatched two cardinals as his legates . into Britain, for the purpose of publishing this truce upon the spot, they were privately empowered, in case of any opposition, to inflict upon the King of Scotland the highest spiritual censures.