At this crisis, when they had effectually succeeded in diminishing, if not destroying, the English influence, the Comyns lost the leader whose courage and energy were the soul of their councils. Walter Comyn earl of Menteith died suddenly. It was reported in England that his death was occasioned by a fall from his horse ; but a darker story arose in Scotland. The Countess of Menteith had encouraged a criminal passion for an English baron named. Russel, and was openly accused of having poisoned her husband to make way for her paramour, whom she married with indecent haste. Insulted and disgraced, she and her husband were thrown into prison, despoiled of their estates, and at last compelled to leave the kingdom.* Encouraged by the death of his opponent, and anxious to regain his lost influence, the English king now became desirous that Alexander and his queen should pay him a visit at London; and for this purpose he sent William de Horton, a monk of St Albans, on a secret mission into Scotland. Horton arrived at the period when the king and his nobles were assembled in council, and found them jealous of this perpetual interference of England.
They deemed these visits incompatible with the independence of the country; and the messenger of Henry met with great opposition.The nature of the message increased this alarm. It was a request that Alexander and his queen should repair to London, to treat of matters of great importance, but which were not communicated to the parliament; and it was not surprising that the nobility, profiting by former experience, should have taken precautions against any sinister designs of Henry. Accordingly, the Earl of Buchan, Durward the Justiciar, and the Chancellor Wishart, were in their turn despatched upon a secret mission into England; and the result was, that Alexander and his queen consented to visit London, under two conditions: first, an express stipulation was made that, during their stay at court, neither the king, nor any of his attendants, were to be required to treat of state affairs; and, secondly, an oath was to be taken by the English monarch, that if the Queen of Scotland became pregnant, or if she gave birth to a child during her absence, neither the mother nor the infant should be detained in England; so great, at this moment, in the minds of the Scottish nobility, was the jealousy of English ambition and intrigue.
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In fulfilment of this promise", the King of Scotland repaired with a concourse of his nobility to the court of England; and left his queen, whose situation now speedily promised an heir to the Scottish throne, to follow him, by slow stages, with the Bishop of Glasgow. On her approach to St Albans, she was met by her younger brother Edmund, who received her with a splendid retinue, and conducted her in the morning to London. The object of this visit of Alexander was not solely to gratify the King of England. He was anxious to exercise his rights over the territory of Huntingdon, which he held of the English crown; and the payment of his wife's portion had been so long delayed, that he wished to reclaim the debt.
The reception of the royal persons appears to have been unusually magnificent; and the country round the court was greatly exhausted by the sumptuous entertainments, and the intolerable expenses which they demanded.f In the midst of these festivities, the queen drew near her time; and, at the pressing instance of her father, it was agreed that she should lie-in at the court of England: not however without a renewed stipulation, sworn upon the soul of the king, that the infant, in the event of the death of its mother or of Alexander, should be delivered to an appointed body of the Scottish nobility.
Having secured this, Alexander returned to his kingdom; and in the month of February 1261, his young queen was delivered at Windsor of a daughter, Margaret, afterwards married to Eric king of Norway.
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Having secured this, Alexander returned to his kingdom; and in the month of February 1261, his young queen was delivered at Windsor of a daughter, Margaret, afterwards married to Eric king of Norway.
In the beginning of the following year, Henry seems to have interposed his good offices, to prevent a rupture between Alexander and Haco king of Norway, regarding the possession of the western islands, the petty chiefs of which had for a long period been feudatory to the Norwegian crown." Their habits of constant war and piratical excursion had at this time rendered the Norwegians a formidable people; and their near vicinity to Scotland enabled them, at a very early period, to overspread the whole of the Western Archipelago. The little sovereignties of these islands, under the protection of a warlike government, appear to have been in a flourishing condition. They were crowded with people; and the useful and ornamental arts were carried in them to a higher degree of perfection than in the other European countries. A poet of the north, in describing a dress unusually gorgeous, adds, that it was spun by the Sudreyans. And even in science and literature, this remarkable people had, in their colonies especially, attained to no inconsiderable distinction.
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The vicinity of such enterprising neighbours was particularly irksome to the Scottish kings, and they anxiously endeavoured to get possession of these islands. When treaty failed, they encouraged their subjects of Scotland to invade them; and Alan lord of Galloway, assisted by Thomas earl of Athole, about thirty years before this, carried on a successful war against the isles, and expelled Olaf the Black, King of Man, from his dominions.* These Scottish chiefs had collected a large fleet, with a proportionably numerous army; and it required all the exertions of the Norwegian king to re-establish his vassal on his island throne. After this, the authority of Norway became gradually more and more precarious throughout the isles. Some of the chiefs were compelled, others induced by motives of interest, to renounce their allegiance, and to embrace the nearer superiority of Scotland: some, who held lands of both crowns, were uncertain to whom they should pay their paramount allegiance; and Alexander the Second, the immediate predecessor of Alexander the Third, after an unsuccessful attempt at negotiation, prepared an expedition for their complete reduction. The expressions used in threatening this invasion, may convince us that the Norwegians had not only acquired the sovereignty of the isles, but had established themselves upon the mainland of Scotland; for the Scottish king declares, "that he will not desist till he hath set his standard upon the cliffs of Thurso, and subdued all that the King of Norway possessed to the westward of the German Ocean."f Alexander the Second, however, lived only to conduct his fleet and army to the shores of Argyleshire; and, on the king's death, the object of the expedition was abandoned.
During the minority of Alexander the Third, all idea of reducing the isles seems to have been abandoned; but when the king was no longer a boy, the measure was seriously resumed: and after an unsuccessful embassy to the Norwegian court,the Earl of Ross and other island chiefs were induced to invade the reguli, or petty kings of the Hebrides, in the western seas. Their expedition was accompanied with circumstances of extreme cruelty. The ketherans and soldiers of the isles, if we may believe the Norwegian Chronicles, not content with the sack of villages and the plunder of churches, in their wanton fury raised the children on the points of their spears, and shook them till they fell down to their hands: barbarities which might be thought incredible, were we not acquainted with the horrid atrocities which, even in our own days, have accompanied piratic warfare.
Such conduct effectually roused Haco, the Norwegian king. He determined to revenge the injuries offered to his vassals, and immediately issued orders for the assembling of a fleet and army, whilst he repaired in person to Bergen to superintend the preparations for the expedition. The magnitude of these spread an alarm even upon the coasts of England. It was reported, that the Kings of Denmark and Norway, with an overwhelming fleet, had bent their course against the Scottish islands ; and although the apparent object of Haco was nothing more than the protection of his vassals, yet the final destination of so powerful an armament was anxiously contemplated.
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On the 7th of July, the fleet set sail from Herlover. The king commanded in person. His ship, which had been built at Bergen, was entirely of oak, of great dimensions, and ornamented with richly-carved dragons, overlaid with gold. Every thing at first seemed to favour the expedition. It was midsummer, the day was fine, and innumerable flags and pennons flaunted in the breeze; the decks were crowded with knights and soldiers, whose armour glittered in the sun; and the armament, which was considered as the most powerful and splendid that had ever sailed from Norway, bore away with a light wind for Shetland, which it reached in two days. Haco thence sailed to Orkney, where he proposed to separate his forces into two divisions, and to send one of these to plunder in the Firth of Forth; whilst he himself, remained in reserve, with his largest ships and the greater part of his army, in Orkney.
It happened, however, that the higher vassals and retainers, who appear to have had a powerful influence in the general direction of the expedition, refused to go any where without the king himself; and this project was abandoned. The fleet, therefore, directed its course to the south; and, after being joined by a small squadron which had previously been despatched to the westward, Haco conducted his ships into the bay of Ronaldsvoe, and sent messengers to the neighbouring coast of Caithness to levy contributions. This country, exposed from its situation to perpetual piratic invasions, was, as we have seen, in 1249 under the dominion of Norway. But this did not long continue. The exertions of the Scottish government had succeeded in reducing the inhabitants; hostages were exacted for their fidelity; and now we find this remote district in the state of a Scottish province, exposed to the exactions of Norway.
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No aid, however, appeared from Scotland; and the Caithnesians quietly submitted to the tribute which Haco imposed upon them. It is remarked by the Norwegian Chronicle, that when their king lay with his fleet in Ronaldsvoe, "a great darkness drew over the sun, so that only a little ring was bright round his orb." The ancient historian thus unconsciously afforded to modern science the means of exactly ascertaining the date of this great expedition. The eclipse was calculated, and it was found to have taken place on the 5th of August, 1263,and to have been annular at Ronaldsvoe in Orkney: a fine example of the clear and certain light reflected by the exact sciences upon history. Early in August, the king sailed across the Pentland Firth, having left orders for the Orkney men to follow him when their preparations were completed; thence he proceeded by the Lewes to the Isle of Sky, where he was joined by Magnus, the Lord of Man; and from this holding on to the Sound of Mull, he met Dugal and other Hebridean chiefs with their whole forces.
The united armament of Haco now amounted to above a hundred vessels, most of them large, all well provided with men and arms; and, on the junction of the fleet, the business of piracy commenced. A division of the forces first took place. A squadron of fifty ships, under Magnus and Dugal, was sent to plunder in the Mull of Kentire; five ships were despatched for the same purpose to Bute; and the king himself, with the rest of the fleet, remained at Gigha, a little island between the coast of Kentire and Isla. He was here met by King John, one of the island chiefs, whom Alexander the Second had in vain attempted to seduce from his fidelity to Norway. John was now, however, differently situated; and a scene took place which is strongly illustrative of feudal manners. Haco desired him to follow his banner, as was his duty; upon which the island prince excused himself. He affirmed that he had taken the oaths as a vassal of the Scottish king; that he held of him more lands than of his Norwegian master; and he entreated Haco to dispose of all those estates which he had conferred on him. This reasoning, although not agreeable to his powerful superior, was apparently such as Haco could not dispute; and after a short time John was dismissed, not only uninjured, but with presents.
Many of these island chiefs found themselves, during this northern invasion, in a very distressing situation. On one hand, the destroying fleet of Haco lay close to the shores of their little territories, eager to plunder them should they manifest the slightest resistance. On the other, they had given hostages for their loyal behaviour to the King of Scotland; and the liberty, perhaps the lives, of their friends or their children were forfeited if they deserted to the enemy. In this cruel dilemma was Angus lord of Kentire and Isla, apparently a person of high authority in these parts, and whose allegiance the Scottish king seems to have adopted every method to secure. He held his infant son as a hostage; an instrument had been drawn out, which declared his territories subject to instant forfeiture if he deserted; and the barons of Argyle were compelled to promise that they would faithfully serve the king against Angus of Isla, and unite in accomplishing his ruin, unless he continued true to his oaths. But the power of the King of Scotland was remote; the vengeance of piratical warfare was at his door; and Angus, with another island prince, Murchad of Kentire, submitted to Haco, and delivered up the whole lands which they held of Alexander. A fine of a thousand head of cattle was esteemed a proper punishment for their desertion from Norway; and when they renewed their oaths to Haco, he promised, what he did not live to perform, to reconcile them to the offended majesty of Scotland.
In the meantime, the squadron which had been despatched towards the Mull of Kentire, made a desolating descent upon the peninsula; but in the midst of their havoc, and when they were proceeding to attack the greater villages, they received letters from Haco, forbidding them to plunder, and commanding them to rejoin the king's fleet at Gigha. Haco next despatched one of his captains, with some small vessels, to join the little squadron which had sailed against Bute; and intelligence soon after reached him, that the castle of Rothesay, in that island, had been taken by his soldiers, and that the Scottish garrison had capitulated. A pirate chief, named Roderic, who claimed Bute as his inheritance, but who had been opposed by the islanders and outlawed by Alexander, was at this time with Haco. His knowledge of the seas in these quarters made him useful to the invaders, and the power of Haco enabled him to gratify his revenge. He accordingly laid waste the island, basely murdered part of the garrison of Rothesay, and leading a party of plunderers from Bute into Scotland, carried fire and sword into the heart of the neighbouring country.
While the king's fleet lay at Gigha, Haco received messengers from the Irish Ostmen, with proposals of submitting themselves to his power; under the condition that he would pass over to Ireland with his fleet, and grant them his protection against the attacks of their English invaders, who had acquired the principal towns upon the coast. In reply to this proposal, the king despatched Sigurd, one of his chief captains, to communicate with the Ostmen ;-fand in the meantime, he himself, with the whole fleet, sailed round the point of Kentire, and, entering the Firth of Clyde, anchored in the sound of Kilbrannan, which lies between the island of Arran and the mainland.
Hitherto the great body of the Norwegian fleet had remained in the Hebrides, and Scotland was only made acquainted with this formidable invasion by the small squadrons which had been despatched for the purposes of plunder. But the whole naval armament of Haco, amounting to a hundred and sixty ships, as it entered the Firth of Clyde, became conspicuous from the opposite shores of Kyle, Carrick, and Wigtown; and the more immediate danger of a descent, induced the Scottish government to think seriously of some terms of pacification. Accordingly, there soon after arrived from Alexander a deputation of Praedicant, or Barefooted Friars, whose object was to sound Haco regarding the conditions upon which a peace might be concluded; and, in consequence of these overtures, five Norwegian commissioners were sent to treat with the King of Scotland. They were honourably received by Alexander, and dismissed with a promise, that such terms of accommodation as the Scottish king could consent to, should be transmitted to Haco within a short time; and in the meanwhile a temporary truce was agreed on.
This was wise: for to delay any pacification, without irritating their enemy, was the manifest policy of Scotland. Every day gave them more time to levy and concentrate their army; and as the autumn was drawing to a close, it brought the Norwegians a nearer prospect of wreck and disaster from the winter storms. Envoys were now despatched from Alexander to Haco; and the moderate demands of the King of Scotland made it apparent, that, at this moment, he was not prepared to resist the fleet and army of Norway. He claimed Bute, Arran, and the two islands of the Cumrays, all lying in the Firth of Clyde, as the property of Scotland; but it appears that he was willing ta have given up to Norway the whole of the Isles of the Hebrides. These terms, so advantageous to Haco, were, fortunately for Scotland, rejected: no pacification took place; and the fleet of Norway bore in through the narrow strait between the larger and the lesser Cumray, thus menacing a descent upon the coast of Ayrshire, which is scarcely two miles distant.
The crews had now run short of provisions, the weather was daily becoming more threatening, a strong Scottish force of armed peasants had gathered on the shore, and Haco was anxiously exhorted by his officers to give orders for a descent on the coast, were it only to recruit, by plunder, the exhausted state of their provisions.This measure, it seems, he was unwilling to adopt, without a last message to the King of Scotland; and for this purpose he sent an ambassador to Alexander, whose commission was worded in the true style of ancient chivalry. He was to propose, "That the sovereigns should meet amicably at the head of their armies, and treat regarding a peace, which if, by the grace of God, it took place, it was well; but if the attempt at negotiation failed, he was to throw down the gauntlet from Norway, to challenge the Scottish monarch to debate the matter with his army in the field, and let God, in his pleasure, determine the victory." Alexander, however, would agree to no explanation; but "seemed," says the Norse Chronicle, "in no respect unwilling to fight ;" upon which the envoy returned from his unsatisfactory mission, and the truce was declared at an end.
Haco next despatched a fleet of sixty ships up the Clyde, into Loch Long, under the command of Magnus king of Man, and with him four Hebridean chiefs, and two principal Norwegian officers. They penetrated and plundered to the head of Loch Long; they then took to their boats, and dragging them across the narrow neck of land between Arrochar and Tarbet, launched them inte Loch Lomond, the islands of which lake were then full of inhabitants. To these islands the Scots, had retreated for security, no doubt; little anticipating the measure, which the lightness of the Norwegian craft, and the active perseverance of that bold people, enabled them to carry into execution. Their safeholds now became the scenes of plunder and bloodshed; the islands were wasted with fire, the shores of this beautiful lake completely ravaged, and the houses on its borders burnt to the ground, After this, one of the Hebridean chiefs made an expedition into the rich and populous county of Stirling, in which he slew great numbers of the inhabitants and returned, driving herds of cattle before him, and loaded with booty.
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But the measure of Norwegian success was now full: the spirit of the Scottish nation was highly exasperated—time had been given them to collect their forces—and, as had been foreseen, the elements began to fight on their side. Upon returning to their ships in Loch Long, the invaders encountered so dreadful a storm, that ten of their vessels were completely wrecked. King Haco still lay with the rest of the fleet in the Firth of Clyde, near the little islands of the Cumrays, when, on Monday the 1st of October, a second tempest came on, accompanied with such torrents of hailstones and rain, that the Norwegians ascribe its extreme violence to the powers of enchantment—a prevalent belief at this period. The wind blew from the south-west, making the coast of Ayrshire a lee-shore to the fleet, and thus infinitely increasing its distress.
At midnight a cry of distress was heard in the king's ship; and before assistance could be given, the rigging of a transport, driven loose by the storm, got entangled with the royal vessel, and carried away her head. The transport then fell alongside, so that her anchor grappled the cordage of the king's ship; and Haco, perceiving the storm increasing, and finding his own ship beginning to drag her anchors, ordered the cable of the transport to be cut, and let her drift to sea. When morning came, she and another vessel were seen cast ashore. The wind still " increased; and the king, imagining that the powers of magic might be controlled by the services of religion, rowed in his long boat to the islands of the Cumrays, and there, amid the roaring of the elements, ordered mass to he celebrated. But the tempest increased in fury. Many vessels cut away their masts; his own ship, although secured by seven anchors, drove from her moorings; five galleys were cast ashore, and the rest of the fleet violently beat up the channel towards Largs.
Meanwhile, Alexander had neglected no precaution which was likely to ensure the -discomfiture of this great armament. Before it appeared on the coast, the warders in the different castles which commanded a view of the sea, were directed to keep a strict lookout; a communication by beacons was established with the interior of the country ;f and now, when the tempest seemed to threaten the total destruction of their enemies, a multitude of armed peasants hovered on the surrounding heights observing every motion of the Norwegian fleet, and ready to take instant advantage of its distress. Accordingly, when the five galleys, with their armed crews, were cast ashore, the Scots rushed down from the heights, and attacked them. The Norwegians defended themselves with great gallantry; and the king, as the wind had somewhat abated, succeeded in sending in boats with reinforcements; but as soon as their crews landed, the Scots retired, satisfying themselves with returning during the night, to plunder the transports.
When morning broke, Haco came on shore with a large reinforcement, and ordered the transports to be lightened, and towed to the ships. Soon after, the Scottish army appeared at a distance, upon the high grounds above the village of Largs; and as it advanced, the sun's rays glancing from the lines, made it evident to the Norwegians, that a formidable body of troops were about to attack them. The cavalry, although they only amounted to fifteen hundred horsemen, had a formidable appearance on the heights, most of them being. knights or barons from the neighbouring counties, armed from head to heel, and mounted on Spanish horses, which were clothed in complete armour. All the other horses were defended with breastplates; and besides this cavalry, there was a numerous body of foot soldiers, well accoutred, and for the most part armed with spears and bows. This force was led by the king in person, along with Alexander the High Steward of Scotland.
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On the shore, at this time, was a body of nine hundred Norwegians, commanded by three principal leaders; two hundred men occupied in advance a small hill which rises behind the village of Largs, and the rest of the troops were drawn up on the beach. With the advance also was the king, whom, as the main battle of the Scots approached, his officers anxiously entreated to row out to his fleet, and send them farther reinforcements. Haco, for some time, pertinaciously insisted on remaining on shore; but as he became more and more exposed, the barons would not consent to this, and at last prevailed on him to return in his barge to his fleet at the Cumrays. The Van of the Scottish army now began to skirmish with the advance of the Norwegians, and greatly outnumbering them, pressed on both flanks with so much fury, that, afraid of being surrounded and cut to pieces, they began a retreat, which soon changed into a flight. At this critical moment, when everything depended on Haco's returning with additional forces before the main body of the Scots had time to charge his troops on the beach, a third storm came on, which completed the ruin of the Norwegian fleet, already shattered by the former furious gales.
This cut off all hopes of landing a reinforcement, and they were completely routed. Indeed, without a miracle, it could not have been otherwise. The main body of the Scots far outnumbered the force of the Norwegians; and their advance, under Ogmund, flying back in confusion, threw into disorder the small squadrons which were drawn up on the beach. Many of these attempted to save themselves, by leaping into their boats and pushing off from land; others endeavoured to defend themselves in the transport which had been stranded; and, between the anger of the elements, the ceaseless showers of missile weapons from the enemy, and the impossibility of receiving succour from the fleet, their army was greatly distressed. Their leaders, too, began to desert them; and their boats became overloaded and went down.The Norwegians were now driven along the shore, but they constantly rallied, and behaved with their accustomed national bravery. Some had placed themselves in and round the stranded vessels; and while the main body retreated slowly, and in good order, a conflict took place beside the ships, where Piers de Curry, a Scottish knight, was encountered and slain. Curry appears to have been a person of some note, for he and the Steward of Scotland are the only Scottish soldiers whose names have come down to us as acting a principal part upon this occasion. His death is minutely described in the Norwegian Chronicle. Gallantly mounted, and splendidly armed, his helmet and coat of mail being inlaid with gold, Sir Piers rode fearlessly up to the Norwegian line, attempting, in the chivalrous style of the times, to provoke an encounter.
In this he was soon satisfied; for a Norwegian, who conducted the retreat, irritated by his defiance, engaged him in single combat; and after a short resistance, killed him by a blow which severed his thigh from his body, the sword cutting through the cuisses of his armour, and penetrating to his saddle.* A conflict now took place round the body of this young knight, the plunder of whose rich armour the retreating Norwegians could not resist; their little square was thrown into confusion; and, as the Scots pressed on, the slaughter became great. Haco, a Norse baron, and near in blood to the king, was slain, along with many others of the principal leaders; and the Norwegians would have been entirely cut to pieces, if they had not at last succeeded in bringing a reinforcement from the fleet, by landing their boats through a tremendous surf.
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