History of Scotland by Patrick Tytler 2
Judicious policy of Bruce
All things being ready, Edward invaded Scotland at the head of an army of a hundred thousand men ; but the result of the expedition was lamentably disproportionate to the magnitude of his promises and his preparations; and manifested, in a striking manner, the superior talents and policy of Bruce.Retreat and loss of the English
The cattle and the sheep, the stores of corn and victuals, and the valuable effects of every kind, throughout the districts of the Merse, Teviotdale, and the Lothians, had entirely disappeared; the warlike population, which were expected to debate the advance of the army, had retired under the command of the King of Scotr land to Culross, on the north side of the Firth of Forth; and Edward having in vain waited for supplies by his fleet, which contrary winds prevented entering the Firth, was compelled by famine to give orders for a retreat. The moment the English began their march homewards, the Scots commenced the fatal partisan warfare in which Douglas and Randolph were such adepts; hung upon their rear, cut off the stragglers, and were ready to improve every advantage, An advanced party of three hundred strong, were putto the sword by Douglas at Melrose; but the main army, coming up, plundered and destroyed this ancient monastery, spoiled the high altar of its holiest vessels, sacrilegiously casting out the consecrated host, and cruelly murdering the prior, and some feeble monks, who, from affection or bodily infirmity, had refused to fly. Turning off by Dryburgh, the disappointed invaders left this monastery in flames, and hastening through Teviotdale, were overjoyed once more to find themselves surrounded by the plenty and comfort of their own country. Yet here a.new calamity awaited them; for the scarcity and famine of an unsuccessful invasion induced the soldiers to give themselves up to unlimited indulgence; and they were soon attacked by a mortal dysentery, which rapidly carried off immense numbers, and put a finishing stroke to this unhappy expedition, by the loss of sixteen thousand men.
Defeat of Edward II.at Biland Abbey
But Edward was destined to experience still more unhappy reverses. Having collected the scattered remains of his army, and strengthened it by fresh levies, he encamped at Biland Abbey, near Malton, in Yorkshire; and when there, was met by the intelligence that King Robert, having sat down before Norham castle with a powerful force, after some time fruitlessly spent in the siege, had been compelled to retire. Scarce, however, had this good news arrived, when the advanced parties of the Scottish army were descried; and the English had only time to secure a strong position on the ridge of a hill, before the king was seen marching through the plain with his whole forces, and it became manifest that he meant to attack the English. This, however, from the nature of the ground, was no easy matter. Their soldiers were drawn up along the ridge of a rugged and steep declivity, assailable only by a single narrow pass, which led to Biland Abbey. This pass, Sir James Douglas, with a chosen body of men, undertook to force; and as he advanced his banner, and the pennons of his knights and squires were marshalling and waving round him, Randolph, his friend and brother in arms, with four squires, came up, and joined the enterprise as a volunteer.The Scottish soldiers attacked the enemy with the utmost resolution, but they were received with equal bravery by Sir Thomas Ughtred and Sir Ralph Cobham, who fought in advance of the column which defended the pass, and encouraged their men to a desperate resistance. Meanwhile, stones and other missiles were poured down upon the Scots from the high ground; and this double attack, with the narrowness of the pass, caused the battle to be exceeding obstinate and bloody. Bruce, whose eye intently watched every circumstance, determined now to repeat the manoeuvre, by which, many years before, he entirely defeated the army of the Lord of Lorn, when it occupied ground similar to the present position of the English. He commanded the men of Argyle and the Isles to climb the rocky ridge, at some distance from the pass, and to attack and turn the flank of the force which held the summit. These orders the mountaineers, trained in their own countrv to this species of warfare, found no difficulty in obeying; and the enemy were driven from the heights with great slaughter, whilst Douglas and Randolph carried the pass, and made way for the main body of the Scottish army.
So rapid had been the succession of these events, that the English king, confident in the strength of his position, could scarcely trust his eyes, when he saw his army entirely routed, and flying in all directions; himself compelled to abandon his camp equipage, baggage, and treasure, and to consult his safety by a precipitate flight, pursued by the young Steward of Scotland, at the head of five hundred horse. It was with difficulty he escaped to Bridlington, having lost the privy seal in the confusion of the day.f This was the second time during this weak and inglorious reign, that the privy seal of England had been lost amid the precipitancy of the king's flight from the face of his enemies. First, in the disastrous flight from Bannockburn, and now in the equally rapid decampment from the Abbey of Biland.J In this battle John of Bretagne earl of Richmond, Henry de Sully grand butler of France, and many other prisoners of note, fell into the hands of the enemy. Richmond was treated by the king with unusual severity, commanded into strict confinement, and only liberated after a long captivity, and at the expense of an enormous ransom. The cause of this is said to have been the terms of slight and opprobrium with which he had been heard to express himself against Bruce.§ To Sully and other French knights, who had been taken at the same time, the king demeaned himself with that chivalrous and polished courtesy for which he was so distinguished; assuring them that he was well aware they had been present in the battle, not from personal enmity to him, but from the honourable ambition that good knights, in a strange land, must ever have, to show their prowess ; wherefore he entreated them, as well for their own sake, as out of compliment to his friend, the King of France, to remain at head-quarters. They did so accordingly; and after some time, on setting out for France, were dismissed, not only free of ransom, but enriched with presents.
Truce of thirteen years
After this decisive defeat, the Scots plundered the whole country to the north of the Humber, and extended their ravages to Beverley, laying waste the East Riding with fire and sword, and levying from the towns and monasteries, which were rich enough to pay for their escape from plunder, large sums of redemption money.The clergy and inhabitants of Beverley purchased their safety at the rate of four hundred pounds, being six thousand pounds of our present money. Loaded with booty, driving large herds of cattle before them, and rich in multitudes of captives, both of low and high degree, the Scottish army at length returned to their own country .The councils of the King of England continued after this to be weakened by dissension and treachery amongst his nobility. Hartcla, who, for his good service in the destruction of the Lancastrian faction, had been created Earl of Carlisle, soon after, imitating the example of Lancaster, entered into a correspondence with Bruce, and organized an extensive confederacy amongst the northern barons, which had for its object, not only to conclude a truce with the Scots, independent of any communication with the king, but to maintain Robert Bruce and his heirs in the right and possession of the entire kingdom of Scotland. On the discovery of the plot, he suffered the death of a traitor, after being degraded from his new honours, and having his gilt spurs hacked off his heels. Henry de Beaumont, one of the king's councillors, was soon after this disgraced, and committed to the custody of the marshal, on refusing to give his advice in terms of insolence and audacity;so that Edward, unsupported by an army, disgraced by personal flight, and betrayed by some of his most confidential nobility, whilst his kingdom had been incalculably weakened by a long and disastrous war, began to wish seriously for a cessation of hostilities. Nor was Bruce unwilling to entertain pacific overtures. He repelled, indeed, with becoming dignity, a weak attempt to refuse to acknowledge him as the principal leader and party in the truce, and insisted on his recognition as chief of his Scottish subjects; but he consented, by the mediation of his friend, Henry de Sully, to a thirteen-years' truce.
This truce, however, he ratified under the style and title of King of Scotland, and this ratification Edward agreed to accept;thus virtually acknowledging the royal title which he affected to deny. But although desirous of peace, the conduct of the English monarch at this time was marked by dissimulation and bad faith. While apparently anxious for a truce, he employed his ambassadors at the papal court to irritate the Holy Father against Bruce, and to fan the dissensions between them; he summoned an array of the whole military service of England during the negotiations; and he recalled Edward Baliol, the son of the late King of Scots, from his castle in Normandy, to reside at the English court, with the design, as afterwards appeared, of employing him to excite disturbances in Scotland.
Mission of Randolph to the papal court
While apparently anxious for a truce, he employed his ambassadors at the papal court to irritate the Holy Father against Bruce, and to fan the dissensions between them; he summoned an array of the whole military service of England during the negotiations; and he recalled Edward Baliol, the son of the late King of Scots, from his castle in Normandy, to reside at the English court, with the design, as afterwards appeared, of employing him to excite disturbances in Scotland. To counteract these intrigues of England, Bruce despatched his nephew, Randolph, to the papal court; and the result of his negotiations was in a high degree favourable to Scotland. Flattered by the judicious declarations of his master's devotion to the Holy See; soothed by the expression of his anxiety for a peace with England, and an entire reconciliation with the church; and delighted with the ardour with which Bruce declared himself ready to repair in person to the Holy War, the pontiff consented, under the influence of these feelings, to remove all cause of quarrel, by addressing a bull to Bruce, with the title of king.
It has been justly observed, that the conduct of this delicate negotiation presents Randolph to us in the new character of a consummate politician. Against this unexpected conduct of the Holy See, Edward entered a spirited remonstrance, complaining, with great show of reason, that although the pope maintained that Bruce's claim could not be strengthened, nor that of the King of England impaired, by his bestowing on his adversary the title of king, yet the subjects of both kingdoms would naturally conclude that his Holiness intended to acknowledge the right where he had given the title; and he reminded him, that it was against an established maxim of papal policy, that any alteration in the condition of the parties should be made during the continuance of the truce. At the same time, Randolph, previous to his return, repaired to the court of France, and there renewed the ancient league between that kingdom and Scotland.
A son afterwards David II , born to Buce
During these negotiations with the papal court, a son was born to King Robert at Dunfermline,J who, after a long minority, succeeded his father, under the title of David the Second. It was an event of great joy to the country; and the court poets of the day foretold that, like his illustrious father, the royal infant would prove a man strong in arms, "who would hold his warlike revels amid the gardens of England a compliment, unfortunately, not destined to be prophetic.Abortive negotiations for peace with England
During these negotiations with the papal court, a son was born to King Robert at Dunfermline,J who, after a long minority, succeeded his father, under the title of David the Second. It was an event of great joy to the country; and the court poets of the day foretold that, like his illustrious father, the royal infant would prove a man strong in arms, "who would hold his warlike revels amid the gardens of England a compliment, unfortunately, not destined to be prophetic^ Meanwhile, the conferences for a lasting peace between the two kingdoms proceeded; but the demands made by the Scottish commissioners were considered too degrading to be accepted by England, even in her present feeble and disordered state. The discussions were tedious and complicated, but their particulars do not appear in the state papers of the time.
If we may believe an ancient English historian, it was insisted, that all demand of feudal superiority was for ever to be renounced by England; the fatal stone of Scone, as well as certain manors in England, belonging to the King of Scots, which had been seized by Edward the First, were to be delivered to their rightful owner. A marriage between the royal blood of England and Scotland was to guarantee a lasting peace between the two kingdoms; and, finally, the whole of the north of England, as far as to the gates of York, was to be ceded to Scotland. This last demand, if really made, must have proceeded from an intention upon the part of the Scots to break off all serious negotiation. As soon, indeed, as Bruce became assured of the disingenuous conduct of Edward, in continuing his machinations at the papal court, for the purpose of preventing the promised grant of absolution to him and to his people, it was natural that all thoughts of a cordial reconciliation should cease, more especially as the intrigues of England appear in this instance to have been successful.