Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence/Expedition of Douglas. His Death, and that of Moray

by Herbert Maxwell

Thomas, Earl of Lancaster.	Sir Richard Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel.

CHAPTER XVII.

EXPEDITION OF DOUGLAS: HIS DEATH, AND THAT OF MORAY.

A.D. 1329-1332.

THE service which King Robert had laid upon the Lord of Douglas, was one which not only removed from the defence of Scotland her most experienced soldier and perhaps the coolest head in her council, but also exposed him to mortal peril. Not the less would he relish it on that account; but one is tempted to impute to King Robert a selfish anxiety for the safety of his soul and the renown of his name, in thus depriving the boy king and the Scottish nation of the presence of such a valuable counsellor, and of ingratitude in adding such an onerous and perilous task to the long list of duties already done. But the character of the mission, futile and superfluous as it seems in the cold light of modern days, must be judged according to the doctrine of crusading times.

MELROSE ABBEY, FROM SOUTH-EAST.
(From a photograph by Valentine Bros., Dundee.)

Not only was it held incumbent on every true Christian to take no rest till the Saracens were expelled from the holy city, but King Robert and his subjects firmly believed that the guilt which lay upon his conscience could only be atoned for by some signal service done to the Cross. Both Barbour and Froissart, in their accounts of the King's dying words, dwell on the emphasis he laid on this.

"For throu me and my warraying
Of blud thar has bene gret spilling,
Quhar mony sakless^[1] men was slane."

So that the King believed that, besides the jeopardy of his own salvation, unknown evils might descend upon his beloved people if no special act of atonement were undertaken. This enterprise, then, which seems quixotic, or, at best, romantic, in our eyes, partook in the fourteenth century of the nature of State policy.

There may have been this further thought in the dying King's mind. Thomas, Earl of Moray, and James, Lord of Douglas, had long been generous rivals in the service of King and country. It had required a little tact, sometimes, to keep this rivalry within bounds; witness that little scene between Ring Robert and Lyn of Spalding, before the successful assault on Berwick. When Lyn revealed the plan by which he proposed to deliver the town, the King said:

"Certes thou wrocht has wis,
That thou discoverit the first to me,
For, gif thou had discoverit the
Io my nevo the erl Thomas
Thou suld disples the lord Douglas,
And him alsua in the contrer;
Bot I sail wirk on sic maner
That thou at thyn entent sall be
And haf of nane of tham magre."^[2]

The dying King may have reflected that, after he should pass away, there would be no one to keep these fiery spirits in harmony. Moray would at once, as Parliament had enacted, assume the Regency, and it might be well that Douglas should have his hands full elsewhere.

Lastly, and perhaps most pressing of all, there was the King's unfulfilled oath to make war on the Infidel. Official oaths of fealty might be broken without loss of honour, a doctrine in which King Robert had proved his belief; but a knight's vow must be fulfilled at all cost and hazard.

Thus widely different must we esteem the motives which guided him in his latest act from any that would influence a modern statesman.

In conformity with the Act of Settlement of 1318, the Earl of Moray entered upon the Regency of the kingdom, and applied himself to the affairs of government, leaving Douglas free to prepare for his expedition. This was set about leisurely, on a scale befitting such a renowned chevalier and such a solemn occasion.

The material interests of the Church, as was usual, were not forgotten. Douglas commended himself to her prayers, and especially to the protection of his patron saint, St. Bride, on whose commemoration day, February 1, 1330, he bestowed lands on the Abbey of Newbottle. The intention of this gift is made clear in the Register of Newbottle, where it is recorded. It was made in the personal interest of Douglas, to secure the special intercession of St. Bride with the Almighty for himself, and by her merits and prayers purchase what was needful for his body and soul. A choral mass was to be performed at the altar of St. Bride within the monastery on each anniversary of the saint, and thirteen poor people were to be entertained on the same day. On September 1, 1329, Edward III. issued letters of protection to James Lord of Douglas, on his way to the Holy Land with the heart of the late King of Scots in aid of the Christians against the Saracens.^[3]

The difficulty and magnitude of the enterprise were not under-estimated, for the protection was made to cover seven years. On the same day King Edward wrote a letter commending Douglas to Alfonso, King of Castile and Leon.

In the spring of 1330 the Lord of Douglas embarked, at Berwick according to Barbour, but more probably at Montrose as Froissart states, having in charge the King's heart in

"——ane cas of silver fyn
Enamalit throu subtilite,"

and accompanied by a knight banneret, seven other knights, twenty-six esquires, and a very large retinue.

The flotilla remained twelve days at Sluys, in order to give other knights-errant the opportunity of joining in the adventure, but Douglas never left his ship. He received many visitors on board in princely fashion, keeping open table, and treating his guests with wines of two kinds and different kinds of spice.

Alfonso XI., King of Castile, being then at war with Osmyn, the Moorish Prince of Granada, Douglas before leaving Scotland had resolved to take part in that holy war, as it was considered, on his way to Jerusalem. So he sailed as far south as Seville, where, after resting awhile to restore men and horses from the fatigue of a stormy passage, he rode to King Alfonso's camp on the frontiers, and was received with much honour.

There were knights from many lands serving under the King of Castile, for the chivalry of Europe desired no better quarrel than that of a Christian monarch against the Paynim, wherein renown and ransom might be secured to make this life worth living, as well as salvation ensured for the life to come. By none of these foreign cavaliers was Douglas welcomed more heartily than by the English. Among these soldiers of fortune and the Cross there was one of wide-spread fame for his deeds of arms. Now it had been the fortune of this knight to receive so many wounds that his face was all hacked to pieces. He expressed a great desire to see Douglas, of whose renown he had heard so much, in order to compare notes on mutilation. Great was his surprise to find that there was not a single scar on the Scottish knight's visage. "Praised be God!" exclaimed Douglas, "I have always had hands to protect my head."

On August 25, 1330, the Spanish host was drawn up near Theba on the frontier of Andalusia: opposite to them, on the territory of Granada, lay the Moors. King Alfonso ordered a forward movement, which Douglas, who rode with his Scottish squadron, on one of his flanks, mistook for a general attack. He carried the silver casket containing the heart of the Bruce slung round his neck, and, being thus distinguished, his zeal for the foremost place overbore the cool prudence with which he had saved so many fields. "A Douglas! a Douglas!" he cried, and made his trumpets sound the charge. Away went the Scottish squadron, determined to be the first to draw blood, and believing that the Spanish men-at-arms were charging too. But, unknown to Douglas, these had been ordered to halt, while the Scots rode on.

Now on the face of God's earth there were no more dangerous fighters than the Moslem cavalry. Many a time had Douglas's battle fury and sinewy arm turned the scale against tremendous odds, but these lithe Saracens swarmed around him like wasps. The little company of Scots were engulfed among them; weaker and weaker sounded the well-known battle-cry, "A Douglas!" It is said that Douglas might have made good his escape but that, seeing Sir William de St. Clair hardly pressed, he spurred to his rescue. Douglas fell, and with him many of his brothers in arms.

In the above brief recital of the death of Robert de Brus's most faithful subject, reliance has been placed chiefly on the narrative of Froissart. Barbour gives a slightly different account of it, placing Douglas in command of the whole vanguard of the Spanish army. It is not likely that he was responsible for more than his immediate following, if for no other reason than because of the difficulty of conveying accurate commands in a foreign language. Boece has followed Holland, an allegorical writer of the fifteenth century, and Hume of Godscroft has followed both, in drawing a romantic picture of Douglas flinging the heart of the Bruce among the Saracens before he charged them, exclaiming—"Now pass thou forth before, as thou wert ever won't to be in the field, and I shall follow thee or die!"

But this is myth of that nature, of which, if history is to be written at all, it must be scrupulously purged.

After the fray the heart of the King of Scots was recovered and having been taken back to Scotland by some of Douglas's sorrowing comrades was buried in Melrose Abbey. They brought home, too, the body of the Black Douglas, and laid it in the chapel of St. Bride at Douglas. The tomb stands on the north side of the aisle and is believed to have been erected some years after his death by his son, Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway.

"The effigy," says Blore, "is of dark stone, cross-legged. The right hand has been represented in the act of drawing the sword, the scabbard of which is held by the left. Owing, however, to injury the figure has sustained, the right arm and hand are broken off and lost, from the shoulder downwards, as in the corresponding leg from the knee. The long pointed shield which he bears on his left arm is

TOMB OF SIR JAMES DOUGLAS, IN ST. BRIDE'S CHAPEL OF DOUGLAS.

(From Fraser's "The Douglas Book," Edinburgh, 1895.)

without armorial bearing^[4] and much broken. The general style of the figure is rather rude, with the exception of the folds of the drapery of the surcoat which, in many parts, are simple and well arranged. The armour is destitute of the slightest indication of chain-work; and it is therefore probable that a different material was intended to be represented, or that the chain-work was represented by colours now obliterated. The feet rest against the mutilated remains of an animal, probably a lion ... The arch, under which the effigy is placed, appears to be of rather more modern workmanship ... The shield under the canopy of the arch contains the heart, in addition to the armorial bearings of the family, granted in consequence of his mission to the Holy Land, but the three mullets are now completely obliterated."^[5]

Cromwell and his soldiers have been popularly credited with the defacement of this and other monuments in St. Bride's Chapel of Douglas, while they were besieging the castle in 1651. But in truth the ecclesiastical monuments of Scotland passed into such sorry plight during and after the Reformation, that it would be difficult, especially in this, the heart of the Covenanting district, to assign to any persons in particular the discredit of wrecking this historic shrine. The present Earl of Home, upon whom, through the female line, have descended the honours and possessions of the House of Douglas, has reverently repaired the chancel of St. Bride's Chapel, and this tomb and the other relics of a great race preserved there are safe, let it be hoped, from further desecration.

Enclosed in stone and glass on the altar steps may be seen two heart-shaped leaden caskets, one of which is reputed to contain the heart of the Black Douglas. But it is more probable that they hold the hearts of the fifth and eighth Earls of Angus, the former of whom—Archibald "Bell-the-Cat"—lies in St. Ninian's church at Whithorn.

The personal appearance of the greatest of Bruce's subjects has been portrayed by Barbour, writing from the description of those who knew the Black Douglas in life.

"Bot he was nocht sa far^[6] that we
Suld spek gretly of his beaute.
In visage was he sumdele gray,
And had blak har, as I herd say;
Bot of limmis he was wele mad,
With banis^[7] gret and schuldris brad;
His body was wele mad and lenyhe^[8]
As tha that saw him said to me.
Quhen he was blith he was lufly,
And mek and suet in cumpany,
But quha in battale micht him se,
All othir contenans had he,
And in spek ulispit^[9] he sumdele,
Bot that sat him richt wondir wele."

The fierceness of the countenance of Douglas in battle seems to have been a quality transmitted to his natural son, Archibald "the Grim," who, in later years, succeeded to the Douglas honours and estates as third Earl of Douglas. He obtained his popular sobriquet, not, as might be imagined, from cruel or rigorous behaviour, for he was a wise and painstaking ruler of Douglasdale and Galloway, but, says Sir Richard Maitland, he "was callit Archibald Grym be the Englismen, becaus of his terrible countenance in weirfair."^[10] The same writer adds that Robert II. conferred the lordship of Galloway on Archibald, "becaus he tuke grit trawell to purge the country of Englis blude."

Among the heirlooms preserved in Douglas Castle is a sword, said to have been given by King Robert as he lay dying to "good Sir James." The blade, very likely, is genuine, but the legend bitten into it with acid is certainly of later date, as attested not only by the characters, which are not earlier than the sixteenth century, but the reference to the number of distinguished subjects of the name of Douglas. The lines run as follows:

SO MONY GVID AS OF THE DOVGLAS BEINE,
OF ANE SVRNAME, WAS NEVER IN SCOTLAND SEINE.

I WIL YE CHARGE, EFTER THAT I DEPART,
TO HOLY GRAVFE, AND THAIR BVRY MY HART:

LET IT REMAIN EVER, BOTH TYME AND HOVR,
TO THE LAST DAY I SIE MY SAVIOVR.

SO I PROTEST IN TYME OF AL MY RINGE,
YE LYK SUBIECTIS HAD NEVER ONY KEING.

The royal arms of Scotland are graven on one side of the blade, surmounted with a crown; on the other side is represented a heart, towards which two hands point, over one of which are the letters, K. R. B. (King Robert Bruce), over the other, I. L. D. (James Lord Douglas).^[11] It will be perceived that these initials are quite inconsistent with fourteenth century practice.

Before taking final leave of Douglas Castle and its associations with Robert the Bruce, it may not be out of place to add to its memories one connected with another great Scotsman. When Sir Walter Scott, broken in health and fortune, travelled thither to study the scenery of his last romance, Castle Dangerous, he gazed on the landscape till, it is said, his eyes filled with tears, and he repeated the words, spoken by a descendant of the Black Douglas, as he lay dying at Otterburn.

"My wound is deep, I fain would sleep;
Take thou the vanguard of the three,
And hide me by the bracken bush,
That grows on yonder lilye lee.

"Oh! bury me by the bracken bush,
Beneath the blooming brier,
And never let living mortal ken
That e'er a kindly Scott lies here."

There remains to be told, in a few words, the remaining acts of King Robert's other great servant, Randolph, Earl of Moray.

David II. and his consort Johanna, sister of Edward III., were crowned at Scone, on November 24, 1331. Moray, from the first, vigilantly and sagaciously discharged the duties of Regent. One of his first recorded acts was one of considerable moment in respect of future relations with the Church of Rome. Ecclesiastical interference was not only the rule in the politics of the fourteenth century; it extended to arbitrary dislocation of the course of civil justice. It is said that a certain man, who had murdered a priest, went to the Papal court, purchased his absolution, and returned confidently to Scotland. Moray ordered him to be arrested and tried. The assassin was convicted, and notwithstanding the Pope's absolution, was hanged. "For," said the Regent, "though his Holiness may free a man from his guilt, he cannot interfere with punishment for the offence."

Wyntown, in recording this incident, says that by this strict administration of law, and by making local magistrates responsible for crimes committed within their jurisdiction, Moray caused the whole country to become as secure as a man's own house.

But beyond the limits of the realm fresh trouble was brewing.

The treaty of Northampton had been the work of Mortimer, the husband of the Queen-Mother of England. The article under which Henry de Percy, Lord Wake of Liddel, and Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan, were guaranteed the restoration of their ancient possessions in Scotland, to the exclusion of the other lords who had been dispossessed, had been fulfilled only in the case of Percy. The delay in the cases of Wake and de Beaumont does not admit of easy explanation.

Meanwhile, de Beaumont, who had been among the foremost in action against the Despensers in the reign of Edward II., had suffered imprisonment and exile for his share in the events of that period, and had warmly espoused the cause of Queen Isabella and Mortimer, took part in the conspiracy to effect Mortimer's downfall.

Mortimer was executed on November 29, 1330. De Beaumont then put forward a claim, not only for the restoration of his own lands in Scotland, but for that of the lands of all the other dispossessed barons—les querelleurs, as they came to be termed.

On December 1st, King Edward demanded the fulfilment of the treaty by the restoration of their lands to de Beaumont and Wake. Moray still delayed compliance. He could not be deaf to the reports that while the King was urging the fulfilment of a single clause in the treaty, de Beaumont was fomenting an agitation against the whole of it, on the ground of its injustice to all the disinherited lords. Revolutions had followed each other so swiftly in England that nothing was more likely than that de Beaumont and his party should get the upper hand. It boded no good that Edward de Balliol, son of the ex-King John, had been taken under the protection of the English court on October 10, 1330.

Edward III. desired peace, for on March 24, 1332, he issued a proclamation against certain men of his kingdom and others (et alii, meaning Edward Balliol and his following) who, as many persons had told him, were conspiring to break the peace made with Robert de Brus, late King of Scots, and preparing an invasion of the Scottish Marches. But Edward was young and weak in the hands of these powerful lords. Within a month he signed a demand on the Scottish Regent for the restoration of the lands of Lord Wake, one of these very diversi homines whose action he had condemned.

Nevertheless King Edward was honorably determined to keep the peace as long as he could. He would not allow the Marches to be violated; so de Beaumont, having with him Edward de Balliol, 400 men at arms and 3000 infantry, adopted the expedient of embarking at the mouth of the Humber for the invasion of Scotland. The other barons with him were Gilbert de Umfraville, Thomas Lord Wake, Henry de Ferrers and his two brothers, David de Strathbogie, Richard Talbot, Henry, the brother of Edward de Balliol, four knights named de Moubray, Walter Comyn, Fulke Fitz Warine, and Roger de Swinerton.

The Regent, who was suffering grievously from stone, advanced at the head of an army to repel the invasion. He moved first to Cockburnspath, in East Lothian, but, hearing that the enemy was approaching by sea, he turned northward to protect the Forth. His malady grew worse, and he died at Musselburgh on July 20th. Barbour and Fordun allege that he died by poison, which, like much other idle contemporary gossip, was expanded by Boece into an elaborate story, to the effect that the poison was administered by a monk, who undertook to treat Moray for his painful malady. Having done so, the monk returned to Edward III., whose agent he was, to report that the slow poison was doing its work. This fable having thus found its way into Scottish history, was diligently repeated by one authority after another, till Lord Hailes exposed its baselessness, exclaiming, "Must the King of England be answerable for all the murders committed by English quacks, even in foreign parts?"

It is not, indeed, necessary to assume malevolence on the part of anyone. There was quite enough in Moray's disease to account for his death by natural causes, under circumstances when it was not possible for him to receive the care and rest needful for a cure.

Of Moray's personal appearance Barbour has left but a short note, probably drawn from his own observation. He says that he was of middle stature and compactly built, with a pleasant, open countenance and gentle manners. Of his capacity as a military commander the best evidence is found in the uniform success which he achieved in many years of warfare, generally against greatly superior numbers while his wisdom as a ruler perhaps may best be realized by comparing the state of affairs in Scotland under his government with that which prevailed under another nephew of King Robert who succeeded Moray in the Regency—Donald, Earl of Mar.

Sir Simon de Fraser.

1. Innocent.
2. Magre, displeasure (The Brus, cxxv., 88).
3. Bain, iii., 179.
4. The arms were probably painted on it when new.
5. Blore's Monumental Remains.
6. Fair.
7. Bones.
8. Lean.
9. Lisped.
10. Warfare.
11. In 1745, some of the Highlanders, retreating from England, under Prince Charles Edward, were quartered at Douglas Castle and carried off the Bruce sword when they moved north. It cost some troublesome negociation to get it back again.