Translation.
“Andrew Murray and William Wallace, commanders of the army of the kingdom of Scotland, and the community of the same kingdom—To the prudent and discreet men, and well-beloved friends, the Mayors and Commonwealths of Lubeck and of Hamburg, greeting, and perpetual increase of sincere friendship.
“To us it has been intimated, by trust-worthy merchants of the said kingdom of Scotland, that, as a mark of your regard, you have been favourable to, counselling and assisting in, all matters and transactions relating to us and said merchants, though [such good offices] may not have been preceded by our deserts, and on that account we are the more bound to tender you our thanks, and a suitable return. This we have willingly engaged ourselves to [perform towards] you, requesting, that in so far you would cause your merchants to be informed, that they will now have safe access to all the ports of the kingdom of Scotland with their merchandise, as the kingdom of Scotland, thanks to God, has during the war been recovered from the power of the English. Farewell.—Given at Badsington [Haddington?[86]], in Scotland, this eleventh day of October, in the year of grace one thousand twelve hundred and ninety-seven.—We have moreover to request, that you would condescend to forward the interests of our merchants John Burnet and John Frere in their business, in like manner as you may wish us to act towards your merchants in their commercial transactions. Farewell.—Dated as above.”
Dr Lappenberg, in his valuable communication, remarks, that this letter “appears to be the oldest document existing relative to the intercourse of Hamburg and Lubec, or other Hanseatic cities, with Scotland.”[87] As the reader will perceive,—a mistake had occurred in the date, and also in the name of Wallace.
From the above interesting muniment, various important points in our history may be established. In the first place, it seems evident, that Wallace and Murray, up to the 11th October 1297, acted only as “duces exercitus regni Scotie,” in behalf of the community of said kingdom; and that the commission from John Baliol, authorizing them to act under his sanction, must have been received by them on their march to England, or during the time the devastation of that country was going forward; that is to say, between the 11th October and 7th November, on which day the charter was granted to the monks of Hexham,[88] where we find “the name of the illustrious Prince John, by the Grace of God King of Scotland,” is added to the authorities mentioned in the above letter. And again, that between the 7th November 1297, and the 29th March 1298, another commision must have been forwarded from Baliol to Wallace constituting him the sole Regent of the Kingdom of Scotland, as we find him on that day at Torphichen granting, in that capacity, a charter to Alexander Scrimgeor, and affixing to it the seal of Baliol; which circumstance is mentioned in the charter, while no mention is made of any seal being used in that at Hexham.[89]
From the circumstance of Andrew Murray’s name having precedence in the letter to the Hanse Towns, and in the charter of Hexham, it may with great probability be inferred, that these two documents were either written by Wallace himself, or under his direction. That he was qualified for the task is evident, from the care which had been bestowed on his education; first by his uncle, and afterwards at the seminary of Dundee. If Murray had either written them, or ordered them to be written, it is not likely that he would have placed his own name before one whose merits were so generally acknowledged, as to procure him the appointment of Regent in so short a time afterwards; while Wallace, in placing, or causing the name of Murray to be placed, before his own, appears acting in perfect consistency with those amiable traits in his character which we have already noticed. As these writings are also free from that monkish pedantry, and mystification which pervades in the literature of that age, they may with great probability be considered as the composition of the talented Liberator.[90]
It may be remarked, that the envy which a number of the magnates of Scotland entertained towards the Guardian, seems to have arisen after his appointment to the Regency. How Sir Andrew Murray demeaned himself on the occasion, does not appear; but the conduct and feelings of Cumyn, his near relation,[91] were too unequivocally expressed to be misunderstood.
The above letter, besides affording a good specimen of the diplomatic talents of our hero, is at the same time highly complimentary to the friendly feelings and mercantile integrity of the merchants of the two Hanse cities, and exhibits a singular contrast to the policy of Philip, who, though bound by treaties, allowed his allies to struggle on against their powerful adversary, without affording them the slightest assistance.
B.
MEMOIR OF PATRICK EARL OF DUNBAR.[92] [Page 13.]
This powerful and warlike baron was descended from Gospatrick, the Governor of Northumberland, in the time of William the Norman, who deprived him of that office in consequence of his joining the Danes in 1069, on their invasion of England. He afterwards retired to Scotland, and sought the protection of Malcolm III., who conferred on him the Castle of Dunbar and the lands adjoining. In virtue of this grant, his descendants were styled Earls of March, and sometimes of Dunbar; the former title being derived from the lands, the latter from the name of the principal castle belonging to the family. They were also possessed of the castle of Coldbrands-path, a fortress of almost equal importance.
Patrick, or (Corspatrick, as he is sometimes called), the subject of the present notice, was the eighth Earl of Dunbar; he succeeded to his father in 1289, being then about forty-seven years of age. He was one of the nobles who consented to the projected marriage between prince Edward and Margaret the young Queen of Scotland. In 1291, he put in his claim to the crown, among the other competitors, founding his right on being the great-grandson of Ilda or Ada, the daughter of William king of Scots. On the commencement of hostilities between Edward and Baliol, he adhered to the former; but his castle of Dunbar being left in possession of his wife Margery, daughter of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, she delivered it over to Baliol—conceiving the duties she owed her country paramount to the injunctions of her husband.
Whatever blame may be attached to this Earl, for the active part he took against the interest of Scotland, still the merit of consistency must be awarded to him in the crooked line of policy he adopted; for, having sworn fealty to Edward in 1291, he adhered to the interests of his over-lord with zeal and fidelity. The answer[93] which he returned to Wallace and the Scottish barons assembled at Perth, is quite in accordance with that tone of independence assumed by the family, and which, according to Lord Hailes, was so prejudicial to Scotland.
After being driven from Scotland, as has already been stated, he continued to molest his countrymen as he found occasion. In 1298, he was actively engaged in the Scottish wars, and in November was appointed one of Edward’s Lieutenants in Scotland. In 1300, he and his son,[94] a youth at that time about 15 years of age, were present at the siege of Carlaverock castle, when he must have been at least 58 years old. In 33d Edward I., he was to have attended the parliament as one of the representatives of the Commons of Scotland; but from some reason or other, he did not appear. On the 30th September 1308, he was commanded by Edward II. to assist in suppressing the insurrection of Bruce, but what efforts he made, cannot well be ascertained. In the following year he died, and was succeeded by Patrick, his son by the daughter of the Earl of Buchan.
C.
CHARTER OF PROTECTION GRANTED TO THE PRIOR AND CONVENT OF HEXCELDSHAM. [Page 19.]
“Andreas de Moravia et Willelmus Wallensis, Duces exercitûs Scotiæ, nomine præclari Principis Domini Johannis, Dei gratiâ, Regis Scotiæ illustris, de consensu communitatis regni ejusdem, omnibus hominibus dicti regni ad quos præsentes literæ pervenerint, salutem. Sciatis, nos, nomine dicti Regis, Priorem et Conventum de Hexhildesham in Northumbria, terras suas, homines suos, et universas eorum possessiones, ac omnia bona sua, mobilia et immobilia, sub firma pace et protectione ipsius Domini Regis, et nostra, justè suscepisse. Quare firmiter prohibemus, ne quis eis in personis, terris, seu rebus, malum, molestiam, injuriam, seu gravamen aliquod, inferre præsumat, super plenaria forisfactura ipsius Domini Regis, aut mortem eis, vel alicui eorum, inferat, sub pœna amissionis vitæ et membrorum; præsentibus post annum minimè valeturis. Dat. apud Hexhildesham, vii. die Novembris.”—W. Hemingford, t. i. p. 135.[95]
D.
[Page 21.]
The intentions of Edward to curtail the power of his barons, and render them more subservient to his will, were most unequivocally displayed in his proceedings towards Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, immediately after his return from the conquest of Scotland. The imperious language of the tyrant, and the bold and determined conduct of the vassal, the reader will find narrated in the extracts from Dr Lingard, inserted in the concluding chapter of the narrative. The plans of Edward for the extinction of British freedom, were such as have been generally resorted to by other despots, who have encroached upon the rights of their subjects or neighbours. While the Scots were summoned to fight his battles in France, the Welsh were marched to Scotland to assist in the subjugation of that country; and had the former remained passive under the yoke, there is every reason to believe that they would soon, in their turn, have been employed to enforce the arbitrary measures of the ambitious monarch upon the subjects of his native kingdom. Thus Scotland, England and Wales, would have mutually assisted in rivetting the fetters of each other.
E.
THE SETONS. [Page 26.]
With respect to the fate of Christell of Seyton, some little inquiry may be necessary. It is well known, that a person of his name appears to great advantage in the history of the struggles of Bruce, and afterwards became a martyr in his cause; of course, he could not have been the individual mentioned in the text. It appears from various sources, that there were three of the Seyton family, of the name of Christell, grandfather, father, and son. If any of these were killed in the above battle, it must have been the second, for the first, “a man given more to devotion nor worldliness,” died in the reign of Alexander III. As the other two were both engaged in the contest for independence along with Wallace, the following account of them may be interesting to the reader. It is taken from the History of the House of Seyton, by Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, and lately printed by the Maitland Club, from the MS. in the Advocates’ Library.
“OFF CHRISTELL SEYTOUN,
THE SECUND OF THAT NAME.
“Christell the secund of that name succedit to Christell the first, his father, in the tyme of Allexander the Thryd, and was ane nobill man, and did mony gud actis aganis the Inglismen, quhen the Crowne was desolat and in pley betuix the Bruce and the Balioll. Quhilk Christell, quhen he micht nocht brouk the lawland of Lowthyane, quhair was his duelling place, duelt and remainit wyth his kyn and freyndis in Jedburgh forrest, ay awating his tyme contrare the Inglismen; and deit in the tyme of William Wallace.”
“OFF CHRYSTELL SEYTOUN,
THE THRYD OF THAT NAME.
“Christell the thryd succedit to Christell the secund, his father, in the tyme of Williame Wallace; quhilk Christell was efter maid knycht be King Robert Bruce, and for his monye gude actis done againis the Inglismen, was callit Gud Sr Christell. Quha quhen King Robert Bruce was tane presonare in handis be the Inglismen at ane feild besyde Methven, and thay that tuke him cryit in scorne and derisioun, Quha will help the new maid King? quhilk cry the said Sr Chrystell hard, and come in all haist and straik at erd him that had the king in handis; and thair he and his freindis reskewit the said King Robert, and pat him to libertie. This Chrystell maryit the said King Robert Bruce sister, and thairfor the said King Robert gaif to the said Sr Chrystell the dowbil tresour of flour de lycis, to be worne about his armes and the armes of his posterité, lyk as the King weris thame. Efter mony grit and notabill actis done be the said Sr Chrystell contrair Ingland, he was tane at the last, and had to Londoun, and thair put to deid in maist cruell maner. In this mene tyme, King Robert Bruce hapnit to be in the toun of Dunfreis, and passand furth till ane lytill knoll besyd the said toun to tak the air, quhair the word and tythingis come to him of the crewell slauchter of the said Sr Chrystell, quhilk the king heirand maid grit lamentatioun wyth sum teiris, saying, It is ane pieté that sa nobill ane knycht suld die sa crewell ane deid. And incontinent, in the samin place quhair he wes standand quhen the tythingis come to him, gart found ane chapell in honour of the Virgene Marie; and in remembrance of the said Sr Chrystell foundit ane preist to do devyne service thairin perpetuallie, and pray for the said Schir Chrystell; and gaif to the said preist and his successouris the sowme of fyve pundis Streviling, to be tane of the baronie of Carlauerok, for thair sustentatioun. Quhilk fundatioun I haue had oft in my handis, and red it sindrie tymes. The quhilk chapell was standand haill and vndecayit in the yeir of God Jm vc lii yeiris, as I saw my self; and as I beleve standis yit in the samin maner, and is callit be all the inhabitaris in that cuntre Christallis chapell.
“ANE EIK OF SR CHRISTOPHER OF SETOUN,
THE THRID OF THAT NAME.
“It is to wit that efter that I had wryttin the Historie of the Hous of Setoun, I haue fund in the greit Cronicles of Ingland, set furth sen I wret the historie of Setoun, quhilk ar as efter followis:
“Efter this was the castell of Lochdore taiken, and wythin it Christopher Seitoun, that had maried the sister of Robert le Bruce; [and bicause he was no Scot, but an Englishman borne,] the King of Ingland commandit that he suld be led wnto Dunfreis, quhar he had killit on of the Kingis knychtis, and thair to be hangit drawin and quarterit: The wyf of this Christopher Seitoun he apoyntit to be keipit in the monesterie of Thixell in Lyndsay.”—“Morouer, the manor of Seitoun, in Quhytbestroud, he gaue wnto the Lord Edmonde de Mawlay, and those wther landis that belongeth to the said Christopher Seitoun in Northumberland he gaue wnto the Lord Williame Latemer.”
“And howbeit that I wret of before as I was informit for the tyme, That the first tyme that King Robert the Bruce com to Dunfreis efter that Sr Christopher Setoun was crewellie slane in Ingland, that in the sam place quhar the King was quhen the thydingis com till him he garde bige ane chapell, and dottit the samyng perpetuallie to pray for the said Sr Christopher; bot now it apeiris be the Inglis Cronicles, That quhan the said King com to Dunfreis, that quhan it was reportit till him be the inhabeturis of the said toun the crewell marterdome of the said Sr Christopher, that he garde bige the said chapell in the samyng place quhar the said Sr Christopher was pute to deid and executtit. Of the quhilk chapell I haue red the foundatioun and infythment of ane priest onder the saidis kingis greit seill; and hes hard Mes in the samyng chapell, quhilk standis as I beleif to this present day.”—P. 18–21.
F.
MEMOIR OF FITZ-MARMADUKE. [Page 33.]
“This stern soldier was the eldest son of Marmaduke Fitz-Geoffrey, Lord of Hordene, in the bishoprick of Durham, who, in the 45th Henry III., 1260–1, obtained the King’s license to embattle his mansion-house there. In August 1282, John Fitz-Marmaduke, with nine other knights, performed services due from the Bishop of Durham, who styled him, on another occasion, “Nostre tres cher bachelier, Monsr. Jehan le Fitz-Marmaduk;” but from that time nothing is recorded of him, until February 1301, when he was a party to the Letter from the Barons to the Pontiff, in which he is called “Lord of Hordene,” excepting that he was at the siege of Carlaverock in June 1300, where his bravery was particularly conspicuous. He came, we are told, to assail the castle with a great and full troop of good and select bachelors, and stood as firm as a post, and his banner received many a rent difficult to mend.
“It is most extraordinary, that for nearly twenty years, no notice can be found in the records of an individual who, at the end of that period, was a party to an instrument from the Baronage of the realm; and it was from this circumstance, the similarity of their arms, and his surname, that he was confounded with Marmaduke de Thweng in the “Synopsis of the Peerage.”
“In the 31st Edward I., Fitz-Marmaduke was commanded to appear before the King on the first Sunday in Lent, with full powers from the community of the Bishoprick of Durham, to accept his Majesty’s mediation between them and the Bishop; and, in April in the same year, he was appointed a Commissioner of Array. On the 30th September, 1st Edward II. 1307, he was ordered, with others, to proceed to Galloway, to repress the rebellion of Robert de Brus; and, in October following he was commanded to serve with horse and arms against the Scots; after which time his name does not occur among the writs of service. He continued in the wars of Scotland, “comme une estache;” and, on the 21st June 1308, was again enjoined to oppose the attempts of Bruce. On the 16th February, 3d Edward II., 1310, he was authorized, with others, to treat with the Scots for a truce. Fitz-Marmaduke died in 1311, at which time he was governor of St John’s Town of Perth; and a very curious fact is recorded respecting his funeral. He particularly requested to be interred within the precincts of the cathedral of Durham, but, as the state of the country prevented the removal of his corpse in the usual manner, his domestics adopted the expedient of dismembering the body, and then boiling the flesh from the bones; by which means they preserved his reliques, until an opportunity offered of transmitting them with safety across the border. For this outrage against an ecclesiastical canon, which had been promulgated in consequence of the frequency of the practice, Cardinal Berengarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, imposed on the offenders the mild penance of attending their master’s obsequies in the cemetery of the cathedral of Durham, having first used the authority of the church to ensure the quiet transportation of his remains.
“Fitz-Marmaduke was twice married; first, to Isabella, sister, and heiress of Robert Brus of Stanton, by whom he had Richard, his son and heir, and a daughter, Mary, who married —— Lumley; and, secondly, Ida, who survived him, and was living his widow in 1313. Richard Fitz-Marmaduke was Seneschal of the Bishoprick of Durham, and was slain, in 1318, by his kinsman Robert Neville, on the Old Bridge of Durham, as he was riding to hold the county court, which event is described as “a most strange and detestable action.” Though married to Alianora ——, he died without children, when Mary, his sister, became his heiress. She left issue Robert Lumley of Ravensholm, who married Lucia, the daughter and co-heiress of Marmaduke de Thweng. They had issue a son, Marmaduke Lumley, whose representative is the present Earl of Scarborough.”
Siege of Carlaverock.
G.
MEMOIR OF BRIAN FITZ-ALAN. [Page 38.]
“Brian Fitz-Alan succeeded his father Brian before the 5th Edward I., and on the 6th April, 10th Edward I. 1282, and 14th June 1287, was summoned to serve with horse and arms in Wales. In the 19th Edward I., he obtained permission to make a castle of his house at Kilwardeby in Yorkshire; and in the following year, being one of King Edward’s vicegerents in Scotland, he, with others, received that monarch’s precept to give John de Balliol possession of the kingdom. He was a witness to that personage’s surrender of his crown on the 10th July 1296, about which time he was constituted the King’s Lieutenant in Scotland. Fitz-Alan was present at the siege of Carlaverock in June 1300; and in the ensuing February, was a party to the Letter from the Barons to Pope Boniface, in which he is styled, “Lord of Bedale.” His seal affixed to that document has been the subject of remark, for instead of containing his arms, it presents a whimsical assemblage of animals, apparently consisting of two birds, a rabbit, a stag, and a pig or boar, all of which are looking to the dexter excepting the latter, which is regarding the chief, and is inscribed with this curious legend,
TOT.CAPITA.TOT.SENTENCIE.
“The inference to be drawn from this singular seal tends to establish, that its owner was eccentric or satirical; for it must either have been used from unmeaning caprice, or with the intention of ridiculing the devices in the signets of his contemporaries. The allusion in the poem (The siege of Carleverock) to the arms of Fitz-Alan, is too important to be allowed to pass unnoticed. It not only informs us of an event in his life, by proving that he had been involved in a dispute with Hugh Poyntz, but shows that it was always one of the fundamental laws of arms, that no two persons should bear the same ensigns, and that there was then sufficient pride felt on the point to resent its infringement.
“All that is farther known of Fitz-Alan is, that he was summoned to Parliament from the 23d June 23d Edward I. 1295, to the 22d January, 33d Edward I. 1305, though he died in 1302. The name of his wife is not stated, but it is almost certain that he married late in life; for, according to a note of the inquisition held on his death, Maud his daughter was his heir; though, at the death of his brother Theobald Fitz-Alan, on the 1st Edward II. 1307–8, his heirs are said to have been Maud and Katherine, the daughters of his brother Brian Fitz-Alan, the former of whom was then aged seven years, and the latter five; so that Katherine, who made proof of her age on the 12th Edward II., was probably a posthumous child. A discrepancy, however, exists on the subject; for, agreeable to a note of the inquisition on the death of this baron, his daughter Maud was then eight years old, and Dugdale says that Katherine was at the same time aged six, which, if the other statement be correct, was impossible. Of these daughters, Maud married Sir Gilbert Stapleton, and, according to a pedigree in Dodsworth’s MSS., secondly Thomas Sheffield; and Katherine became the wife of John Lord Grey of Rotherfield. Brian Fitz-Alan was buried in the south aisle of Bedale church in Yorkshire, and a sumptuous monument was there erected to his memory, a beautiful engraving and accurate description of which are given in Blore’s “Monumental Remains.” Sir Brian is said to have possessed a very elegant figure, and manners highly polished for the age.”
Siege of Carlaverock.
H.
MEMOIR OF AYMER DE VALENCE, EARL OF PEMBROKE. [Page 71.]
“Aymer de Valence was the third son of William de Valence, who was created Earl of Pembroke by his uterine brother King Henry the Third. He was born about 1280, and succeeded his father in his honours on the 13th June 1296, both of his elder brothers having previously died without issue. The earliest notice of him which is recorded, is, that on the 26th January, 25th Edward I., 1297, he was summoned to Parliament as a baron, though, according to modern opinions on the subject, he was fully entitled to the earldom of Pembroke, nor was the title ever attributed to him in public records, until the 6th November, 1st Edward II. 1307; and the first writ to Parliament addressed to him as “Earl of Pembroke,” was tested on the 18th of the following January. Upon this remarkable circumstance, some observations have been recently made; but it is wholly impossible to explain the cause of the anomaly in a satisfactory manner. Although never styled “Earl of Pembroke” until the accession of Edward II., it is manifest, that from the death of his father, he ranked above all barons excepting Henry of Lancaster, who being of the blood royal, is uniformly mentioned next to Earls; hence it appears, that notwithstanding his claim was not positively acknowledged, he was considered to be entitled to a higher degree of precedency than belonged to the baronial dignity. In the 25th Edward I., he was in the expedition into Flanders, and, in the same year, was appointed a commissioner to ratify an agreement between the King and Florence, Count of Holland, relative to some auxiliaries from the Count in that war; and was likewise one of the ambassadors sent by Edward to treat for a truce between England and France. In the 26th and 27th Edward I., he was in the Scottish wars, and in June 1300, in the 28th Edward I., was present at the siege of Carlaverock, when he must have been about twenty-one years of age; but the poet pays him no other compliment than what a pun upon his name suggested.
“Le Valence Aymars li Vaillans.”
“In the following year, he was a party to the Barons’ letter to the Pope, in which, though his name occurs immediately after that of the Earl of Arundel, and before Henry de Lancaster’s, he is only styled ‘Lord of Montiniac.’ Shortly afterwards, he was appointed to treat with the ambassadors of the King of France on the subject of peace. In the 31st Edward I., he was again in the wars of Scotland; and, in the same year, received permission to leave the realm upon his own affairs. He obtained a grant, in 1305, of the Castles of Selkirk and Traquair, and of the borough of Peebles in Scotland, to hold by the service of one knight’s fee, together with other possessions in that kingdom; and, in the 34th Edward I., was constituted Guardian of the Marches of Scotland towards Berwick, when he was intrusted with the sole command of the English forces which had been levied against Robert Bruce. In the instrument by which he was appointed to that important duty, as well as in most others, he is styled “Dilectum consanguineum et fidelum nostrum.” The appellation of “Cousin” was not then a mere title of honour, when addressed to a peer, but was used in its most literal sense; and Aymer de Valence’s claim to it is shown by the following slight pedigree.
Hugh le Brun, == Isabel, daughter, and heiress == King John,
Count of the | of Aymer, Count of | ob. 1216,
Marches of the | Angouleme. | 1st husband.
Aquitaine, 2d | |
husband. | |
| |
+--------+ +------------+
| |
William de Valence, created == K. Henry III. ob. 1272. ==
Earl of Pembroke, ob. 1296. | |
| |
+----------------------+ +---------------+
| |
Aymer de Valence, Earl == King Edward I. ob. 1307 ==
of Pembroke, ob. 1323. |
+-----------------+
|
King Edward II.
“The successes which attended this nobleman against Robert Bruce, are described by a contemporary chronicler; and it is said that Valence, after a severe contest, pursued Bruce, and presuming that he would take refuge in Kildrummie castle, he gained possession of that place, but finding only Nigel de Bruce, brother of Robert, there, he caused him and all who were with him, to be immediately hung. This action has given rise to some pertinent remarks by the able biographer of the Earl in the beautiful work before noticed,[96] who has satisfactorily shown that Nigel was not put to death by him, but that at least the forms of law were practised on the occasion. On the deathbed of Edward I., Pembroke, with some other personages, received the King’s dying injunctions to afford his son their counsel and support, and not to permit Piers de Gaveston to return into England. His strict adherence to this command, naturally excited the favourite’s displeasure; and he is said, in derision of his tall stature and pallid complexion, to have termed him “Joseph the Jew.” In the first year of the young monarch’s reign, Valence was, as has been before observed, allowed and summoned to Parliament by his proper title of Earl of Pembroke; and at the coronation of that monarch, he carried the King’s left boot, but the spur belonging to it was borne by the Earl of Cornwall. In the same year, after performing homage upon the death of his mother for her lands, he was joined with Otho de Grandison in an embassy to the Pope; and in the 3d Edward II., was found heir to his sister Agnes, or more probably Anne. It has been considered, from the circumstance of the Earl being a witness to the instrument by which the King recalled Gaveston, and bestowed the possessions of the Earl of Cornwall upon him, that he approved of, or at least consented to, those acts; but this idea rests upon far too uncertain evidence to be relied upon; and if he ever changed his opinion it was of short duration, for in the 3d Edward II., he joined the Earl of Lancaster against Gaveston, and when he was banished the realm in 1311, the Earl of Pembroke was one of the persons deputed to petition the King that he should be rendered incapable of ever holding any office.
“In the 6th Edward II., he was again sent on a mission to Rome, and in the same year obtained a grant of lands in London, in which was included the New Temple. In the 7th Edward II. he was appointed Custos and Lieutenant of Scotland, untill the arrival of the King, and was present at the fatal battle of Bannockburn. Two inedited MSS. cited in the “Monumental Remains,” allude to the Earl’s conduct on that occasion, in words fatal either to his loyalty or his courage: the one stating that “Insuper Comes de Pembrok, Henricus de Bellomonte, et multi magnates, cordetenus Pharisei, a certamine recesserunt;” and the other, that “in pedibus suis evasit ex acie et cum Valensibus fugientibus se salvavit.” In all probability, however, the language was in both instances that of an enemy, and deserves but little credit; though, even if it were true, “there is no great disgrace,” as the learned biographer, from whose memoir these extracts are taken, has truly remarked, “in seeking safety by flight when defeat was inevitable, and the whole army pursued a similar course.”
“In the 9th Edward II., the Earl was a commissioner for holding a Parliament in the King’s absence, and he took an active part in the proceedings therein. Being sent to Rome on a mission to the Pontiff, a singular misfortune befel him, as he was taken prisoner on his return by a Burgundian called John de Moiller with his accomplices, and sent to the Emperor, who obliged him to pay a ransom of 20,000 pounds of silver, upon the absurd pretence that Moiller had served the King of England without being paid his wages. Edward used every exertion to procure the Earl’s liberty, and wrote to several sovereign princes, soliciting them to interfere on the subject; but he did not immediately succeed. In the 11th Edward II., Pembroke was once more in the Scottish wars, and was appointed governor of Rockingham castle; and upon the King’s purposed voyage in the 13th Edward II., to do homage to the King of France for the Duchy of Acquitaine, he was constituted Guardian of the realm during his absence, being then also Custos of Scotland. In the 15th Edward II., he sat in judgment on the Earl of Lancaster at Pontefract; and for his conduct on the occasion, was rewarded with the grant of several manors.
“In March 1309, the Earl of Pembroke was one of the peers appointed to regulate the royal household; in the 5th Edward II., he was commanded not to approach the place where the Parliament was held with an armed retinue, or in any other manner than was observed in the time of the late King; in the 8th Edward II., he was a commissioner to open and continue a parliament at York; in the 12th Edward II., he was sent to Northampton with others to treat with the Earl of Lancaster, for the better government of the realm, and was one of the peers then appointed to be about the King’s person, at which time he signed the agreement between the King and that Earl; he advised the reversal of the judgment against Hugh le Despencer the younger; by writ tested on the 19th January, 14 Edward II. 1321, he was appointed a commissioner to treat for peace with Robert de Brus; and in the 18th Edward II., the Earl, as Justice in Eyre of the Forest of Essex, claimed the appointment of Marshal thereof.
“The Earl of Pembroke accompanied Isabel, Queen of England to France in 1323; and is said to have lost his life in that year, at a tournament given by him, to celebrate his nuptials with his third wife, Mary, daughter of Guy de Chastillon, Count of St Paul’s; though, from the obscure manner in which his death is mentioned by some chroniclers, and the attempt which they have made to consider it as a mark of the vengeance of Heaven for his conduct relative to the Earl of Lancaster, Dugdale asserts that he was murdered on the 23d June 1324, “by reason he had a hand” in that affair. But the former statement his recent biographer considers to be corroborated by the following lines in a long MS. poem, containing a life of the Earl, in the Cottonian collection, written by Jacobus Nicholaus de Dacia, who calls himself a scholar of Mary de St Paul, Countess of Pembroke; by which he probably meant that he belonged to Pembroke Hall, which she had founded.
Mors Comitem Comitum necuit, mors ipsa cruenta
Ipsa cruore rubrum campum facit et rubicundum.
“From the annexed account of the Earl’s death, however, by another contemporary writer, it would appear that he died of apoplexy:
“Ea vero tempestate primorum consultu direxit ad partes transmarinas Rex Almaricum de Valencia Comitem de Penbrokia, virum siquidem ad queque nepharia peragenda iuxta sue propinquitatis nequiciam continue paratum, regis Francorum presencie nuncium super dictis negocüs assistendum vt eiusdem regis Francorum animum ab inceptis, revocaret, ut ipsius benevolenciam affectum regis Anglorum varijs blandiciis inclinaret. Quo perveniente, ac iuxta proposita suorum verborum responsis acceptis, per Pykardiam rediens, ad quoddam municipium mi. villa, id est, dimidia villa, nuncupatum, tribus leucis a Compyne distans, in vigilia Sancti Johannis, declinavit pransurus, ubi Christus voluit virum sanguineum et dolosum non dimidiare dies suos. Sed finita refectionis hora thalamum ingreditur, deambulando statim in atrio corruit, ac sine confessione et viatico salutari infelicem animam subito in solo sufflavit.”[97]
The following account of the Earl of Pembroke is from the pen of Hutchinson. “This Earl” (Adomer de Valence) “seemed to have a divine interdict depending over him, and the immediate vindictive hand of Providence to be upon him and his posterity for his atrocious deeds. He was a tool to his prince, and servilely submitted to the mandate of the crown, contrary to the dictates of humanity, honour, and justice. He sat in judgment on Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and impiously acquiesced in his sentence. He was a chief instrument in apprehending the famous Scottish patriot Wallace in 1305; accomplishing his capture by the treachery of his most intimate associates, and those in whom he placed his utmost confidence, Sir John Menteith and others of infamous memory. Adomer, on his bridal day, was slain in a tournament, held in honour of his nuptials; and left a wife at once a maiden, bride and widow. It is said that, for several generations of this family, a father was never happy enough to see his son, the proscribed parent being snatched off by the hand of death before the birth of his issue.” (Hutchinson’s History of Northumberland.)
It may be also remarked as a singular coincidence, the fatality which attended the Stuarts after they came to the throne, not one of whom, for many generations, died a natural death. John Menteith was the son of Walter Stuart, Earl of Menteith, and of the same family which afterwards swayed the Scottish sceptre.
Aymer, or Adomer de Valence, is likewise charged by the Minstrel, as being the instrument made use of for corrupting the fidelity of Menteith; and he mentions, that the infamous bargain was finally concluded in “Ruglyne Kirk,” where the two met by appointment, and that Menteith received from Valence three thousand crowns of gold as the price of his friend. “Ruglyne” is situated nearly mid-way between Bothwell and Dumbarton castles; the former being the place where the Earl of Pembroke usually resided when in Scotland, and was quite convenient for his keeping an appointment at “Ruglyne” with the governor of Dumbarton Castle. When it is recollected, that John Comyn, who, according to “Douglas’s peerage,” married a sister of Valence, was hatching the treason which he afterwards put in practice against Bruce, at the time when his brother-in-law was tampering with the friend of Wallace, it will not be doing him great injustice, if we suppose him at least in the secret of the infamous transaction with Menteith. In fact, both of these deeds of darkness appear to have been part of the same plan for placing Comyn, and consequently the sister of the Earl of Pembroke, on the Scottish throne.
The Earl was thrice married; first, to Beatrix, daughter of Ralph de Noel, Constable of France; secondly, to a daughter of the Earl of Barre; and thirdly, to Mary, daughter of Guy de Chastillon, Count of St Paul; but he had no issue; and the descendants of his sisters, Isabel, the wife of John Baron Hastings, and Joan, who married John Comyn of Badenoch, are consequently his representatives. His eldest sister, Anne, married, first, Maurice Fitz-Gerald; secondly, Hugh de Balliol; and, lastly, John de Avennes; and probably died, S. P. in the 3d Edward II.
Mary, Countess of Pembroke, is chiefly known to the present age by an action, which seldom fails to ensure immortality. She was the foundress of a College for the purposes of learning and religion, which still bears the name of Pembroke Hall; and was likewise a benefactress to several religious houses. She died about 1376; and on the 13th March in that year made her will at Braxted, in Essex, by which she ordered her body to be buried in the church of the sisters of Denny, where she had caused her tomb to be made; and bequeathed to the church of the Abbey of Westminster, where her husband was interred, a cross, with a foot of gold and emeralds, which Sir William de Valence, Knight, brought from the Holy Land.
The body of the Earl of Pembroke was conveyed to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey; but upon the beautiful tomb erected to his memory, it is unnecessary to say a single word, ample justice having been done to it by the artist and the author of a biographical notice, which accompanies a recent engraving of his tomb.
Siege of Carlaverock.
I.
MEMOIR OF HENRY DE LACY, EARL OF LINCOLN. [Page 86.]
“Henry de Lacy was the eldest son of Edmund de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, by Alice, the daughter of the Marquess of Saluces in Italy. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1257, at which time he was probably about nine years of age, his parents having been married in May 1247. The first circumstance relating to the Earl after his birth, of which we have any notice, was his marriage, in 1256, to Margaret, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of William de Longespee, the covenants of which are given by Dugdale. In 1269, the Earl became involved in a dispute about some lands with John Earl Warren, and each party prepared to establish his claim by force of arms; but their intention becoming known to the King, he commanded his Justices to hear and determine the cause, who decided it in favour of the Earl of Lincoln. William de Longespee, his wife’s father, died in the 52d Henry III.; and soon afterwards the Countess and her husband performed homage for, and obtained livery of, all the lands which had in consequence devolved upon her. In her right he is considered to have become Earl of Salisbury, the said William de Longespee having been entitled to that dignity, though he was never allowed it, as son and heir of William de Longespee, the natural son of King Henry II., by the well-known Rosamond Clifford, who obtained the Earldom of Salisbury by his marriage with Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of William d’Evereux. On the feast of St Edward, 18th March 1272, the Earl of Lincoln received the honour of knighthood, and in the same year was appointed Governor of Knaresborough Castle. In 5th Edward I. he had livery of the fee which his ancestors had usually received ‘nomine comitatûs Lincoln’ with all the arrears from the time he was invested by King Henry III. with the sword of that earldom. Upon several occasions, between the 6th and 10th Edward I., he obtained grants of fairs, markets, and free-warrens in different parts of his domains; and in the year last mentioned, he accompanied the expedition then sent into Wales. Leland asserts that the Earl built the town of Denbigh, the land of which had been granted to him “from his having married into the blood of those princes, and that he walled it, and erected a castle, on the front of which was a statue of him in long robes; and that anciently prayers were offered in Saint Hillary’s chapel in that place, for Lacy and Percy.”
“Dugdale considers, that his surrender of the castle and barony of Pontefract to the King, with all the honours thereto belonging, in the 20th Edward I., arose from his “having been long married, and doubting whether he should ever have issue, but upon condition, as it seems,” for the king, by his charter, dated at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 28th December, 21. Edward I., re-granted the same to him and to the heirs of his body, with remainder to Edmund Earl of Lancaster, the King’s brother, and to the heirs of his body, failing which, to the king and his heirs. In almost the next paragraph, however, that eminent writer says, “that in the 22d Edward I., the Earl received a grant of several manors from the King, with remainder to Thomas, the son of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, and Alice his wife, sole daughter of the Earl, and to the heirs of their two bodies lawfully begotten, and failing such issue, to the right heirs of the said Thomas” from which it would appear, that, at the time of the surrender by the Earl of Lincoln to the King, the said Alice was living; and which is further confirmed by his saying, in a subsequent page, that she was 28 years of age at the death of her father in 1312, in which case she must have been above seven at the time in question. In the 20. Edward I., the Earl was sent as ambassador to the King of France, to treat on the subject of the restraint of those pirates who robbed some French merchants; and in the 22d year of that monarch he again attended him into Wales, and was likewise in the expedition sent into Gascony. He accompanied the Earl of Lancaster, in the 24. Edward I., into Brittany, and was present at various successes of the English forces. On the death of that nobleman, he succeeded him in his command, and besieged the town of Aux with great vigour, though without success, and was forced to retreat to Bayonne; from which place he marched, with John de St John, towards Bellegard, which was then besieged by the Count d’Artois. The engagement which took place in the vicinity of that town, does not, from Dugdale’s relation of it, appear to have added to the reputation of the Earl, as he informs us, upon the authority of Walsingham, that “approaching a wood about three miles from Bellegard, he divided his army into two parts, whereof the van was led by John de St John, and the rear by himself; but having past the wood where St John, meeting the enemy, began the fight, discerning their strength, he retreated to Bayonne, leaving the rest to shift for themselves, so that St John and many others were by reason thereof taken prisoners.” Whatever stain this circumstance might have cast upon his military character, seems to have been partially removed towards the end of that year, by his having obliged the enemy to raise the siege which they had laid to St Katherine’s, in Gascony; soon after which he proceeded into Flanders, and thence returned to England. In the ensuing year, 27. Edward I., he was summoned by writ, tested 17th September, 27. Edward I., 1299, to be at York, with horse and arms, on the morrow of the Feast of St Martin, to serve against the Scots; and, in the next year, he is stated to have been sent to the Pope, with Sir Hugh Spencer, to complain of injuries received from the Scots; and about the same time he was appointed Lieutenant of Gascony. In the 29. Edward I., he was made Governor of Corfe Castle, from which year until the 31. Edward I., when he was joined in commission with the Bishop of Winchester to treat of peace between England and France, Dugdale gives no account of him.
“It was, however, on the 24th June, in the 29. Edward I., anno 1300, when the Earl must have been above 50 years of age, that he commanded the first division of the army which besieged Carlaverock Castle. The only characteristic trait recorded of him by the poet, is that of valour, which, we are told, was the principal feeling that animated his heart, and in so rude an age, this attribute was perhaps the highest and most gratifying praise that could be imagined. His name does not afterwards occur in that production, from which we may conclude, that his services at the siege and assault were not very conspicuous. In 1305, the Earl was again employed on a mission to the Pope, being deputed with the Bishops of Lichfield and Worcester to attend the inauguration of the Pontiff at Lyons, and to present him, in the name of the King, with several vessels of pure gold. After having executed this command, it appears that he was once more in the wars in Gascony, and in the ensuing year was similarly employed in Scotland. Upon the death of the King, at Burgh in Cumberland, the Earl was one of the Peers who attended him in his last moments, and received his solemn request to be faithful to his son, and not to allow Piers de Gaveston to return into England. Immediately after Edward’s demise, he joined some Earls and Barons in a solemn engagement to defend the young King, his honour and authority; and at his coronation he is recorded to have carried one of the swords borne at that ceremony; shortly after which he was appointed Governor of Skipton Castle. His conduct seems to have secured the confidence of the new monarch, for, upon his expedition towards Scotland in the 3d and 4th years of his reign, the Earl of Lincoln was constituted Governor of the realm during his absence.
“The preceding account of this personage has been almost entirely taken from Sir William Dugdale’s Baronage. The only facts which have been ascertained relating to him, not stated in that work, are, that he was one of the Mainpernors for the Earl of Gloucester in 1292; that he was a Receiver and Trier of Petitions in 1304; that he was present in the parliament held at Carlisle in February, 35th Edward I., 1307; and that he was one of the Peers appointed to regulate the King’s household in May, 3d Edward II., 1309.
“His works of piety were proportionate to his extensive possessions, and, adopting this criterion of his religious sentiments, we may conclude that he was not behind his contemporaries in superstition or devotion. Amongst his more substantial gifts to the church, was his large contribution to the “new work” at St Paul’s Cathedral in London; and three gilt crosses and a carbuncle, and a cup of silver gilt, which was said to have belonged to the shrine of St Edmund, in the abbey of Salley.
“The Earl of Lincoln closed a long and active career in 1312, at Lincoln’s Inn,[98] in the suburbs of London, being then about sixty-three or sixty-four years of age, and he is reported to have called his son-in-law, the Earl of Lancaster, to him, upon his death-bed, and, after representing how highly “it had pleased God to honor and enrich him above others,” he told him that “he was obliged to love and honor God above all things;” and then added, “See’st thou the Church of England, heretofore honourable and free, enslaved by Romish oppressions, and the King’s wicked exactions? See’st thou the common people, impoverished by tributes and taxes, and, from the condition of freemen, reduced to servitude? See’st thou the nobility, formerly venerable throughout Christendom, vilified by aliens, in their own native country? I therefore charge thee, by the name of Christ to stand up like a man for the honor of God and his church, and the redemption of thy country, associating thyself to that valiant, noble, and prudent person, Guy, Earl of Warwick, when it shall be most proper to discourse of the public affairs of the kingdom, who is so judicious in counsel, and mature in judgment. Fear not thy opposers who shall contest against thee in the truth, and if thou pursuest this my advice, thou shalt gain eternal honour!” This patriotic speech, which is attributed to him by Walsingham, who wrote in the fifteenth century, is worthy of attention, as conveying the view taken of the affairs of the period by a monk about one hundred years afterwards; for it would require extraordinary credulity to consider that it was really uttered by the dying Earl, whose whole life does not appear to present a single action indicative of the sentiments there attributed to him. His body was buried in the eastern part of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, between the chapel of our Lady and that of St Dunstan.
“The Earl of Lincoln was twice married, first to Margaret de Longespee before-mentioned, by whom he had a son, Edmond de Lacy, who was drowned in a well in a high tower, called the Red Tower, in Denbigh Castle, in his father’s lifetime; and a daughter, Alice, the wife of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, who was his sole heiress, and, at the Earl’s death, was twenty-eight years of age. His second wife was Joan, sister and heiress of William Baron Martin, who survived him, and was remarried to Nicholas Baron Audley.
“Alice, Countess of Lancaster, whose romantic life has been made the subject of a popular novel, styled herself, as sole inheritrix of the extensive possessions of her father and mother, Countess of Lincoln and Salisbury. She was thrice married; first to the Earl of Lancaster; secondly, to Eubolo le Strange; and, thirdly, to Hugh le Frenes; but died without issue on the Thursday next after the feast of St Michael, 22d Edward III., i. e. 2nd October 1348, when the representation of the powerful house of Lacy became vested in the descendants of Maud, the sister of Henry Earl of Lincoln, who married Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester.”
Siege of Carlaverock.
K.
MEMOIRS OF RICHARD SIWARD, AND WALTER DE HUNTERCOMBE. [Page 97.]
We shall here insert some account of Richard Siward and Walter de Huntercombe, two characters who appeared on this occasion. The latter, besides being at the siege of Carlaverock, where he attracted the notice of the poet, who mentions him as the handsome Huntercombe, bearing “ermine with two red gemmells,” was also governor of Edinburgh castle, and engaged in almost every campaign which Edward made in Scotland. The following notice, therefore, abridged from Mr Nicolas, will be useful in supplying that information respecting him which it has been inconvenient to give in the course of the narrative. It is also the more necessary, from the circumstance of the writer being pledged, in the advertisement of the “Life of Wallace,” to furnish “biographical notices of contemporary English and Scottish warriors” who figured in the contest between the two countries.
Richard Siward.—“Though this individual is frequently spoken of in the records of his day, yet very few particulars are known that can throw much light on his family pedigree. It has been conjectured, that he was descended from Syward, the great Saxon Earl of Northumberland; but of this, however, there is little certainty. His importance appears to have been considerable; for we find that, on 18th November 1292, he was appointed by Edward I. (in his character of Umpire on the question of the Succession) to act as Governor of the Castles of Dumfries, Wigton, and Kirkcudbright. On the 22d April, 1294, he obtained a grant of the marriage of the widow of Simon Fresel, or Frazer; and on the 15th October, in the same year, he was summoned to attend the English monarch, with all his retainers, in the expedition to Wales. Towards the end of 1295, he affected to unite with the Scottish Barons in their attempt to restore their King to the dignity of an independent sovereign, and, in consequence, had the defence of the Castle of Dunbar assigned to him. How he conducted himself on that occasion, has already been noticed. His subsequent confinement in the Tower, has been adduced by some writers as a powerful argument against the charge of treason brought against him by his countrymen. We cannot, however, see it in that light. His treachery was of the most profligate description. By negociating the surrender of a fortress, which, from its strength and importance, was reckoned in those days the key of the kingdom, and also using it, at the same time, as a trap to ensnare the greater part of the nobility, was conduct that required the exercise of some ruse in order to lessen the odium it was calculated to excite even in the estimation of the English nobility, who must otherwise have looked with disgust on a man who could have acted in so base a manner towards his own countrymen. By the following lines of Peter Langtoft, Siward appears to have had for some time a private understanding with the enemy:—
“A knycht was tham among, Sir Richard Seward,
Tille our faith was he long, & with kyng Edward.
Tille our men he com tite, & said, ‘the Scottis wilde
Thre dayes haf respite, & than the castelle zelde.
To the Baliol suld thei send, ther castelle to rescue,
Bi that bot he vs mend with for zow to remue
The castelle ze salle haue, without any delay.’”
Vol. ii. p. 274–5.
“For the performance of this agreement, hostages were given to the English, and a messenger despatched to acquaint Baliol that a truce had been obtained; which he was instructed to say, was effected entirely by the dexterity of Siward, and his personal influence with a number of the English nobles. Baliol was also advised to advance and attack the English army while “at meat,” and that, at the same time, Siward would make a sally to assist him in destroying the enemy—which the messenger spoke of as a matter of certainty, and moreover counselled Baliol to proceed immediately afterwards and plunder Northumberland.
“On the third day, Siward, from the battlements of Dunbar, discovered the Scottish army rapidly approaching towards him; he therefore hastily sought the English head-quarters, and proffered to go personally and retard the advance of the Scots till the expiry of the time stipulated for by the agreement. The English, however, were not inclined to believe that he would carry his treason quite so far, and refused him permission to proceed to the Scottish lines.[99]
“Siward, on being relieved from his confinement in the Tower, rose high in the confidence of Edward. On 26th September 1298, 7th May and 16th June 1299, he was summoned, by the title “Baron,” to serve in Scotland. His name appears on several occasions in the Wardrobe Account of 28th Edward I. In that year he received 41l. 5s. for the services of himself and his followers in the garrison of Lochmaben. Also an allowance of 2l. 13s. 4d. for the value of a horse killed at Kirkcudbright; eight merks for a winter dress (robe); and the like sum appears to have been paid to him for a summer dress. In the same year he was again summoned for the Scottish war, and also in 1301. He was made sheriff of Dumfries-shire in 1305, and was also aiding in the suppression of Robert Bruce in 1308; in which year he was appointed to the charge of a district in Galloway, under Edward II. In 1309 he was governor or constable of Dumfries, and is supposed to have died in 1310.
By his wife Mary he had two sons, Richard and John. They both attained the age of manhood; and John, in particular, appears to have followed the crooked anti-patriotic policy of his father. He accompanied the Earl of Pembroke in his invasion of Fife, as has been already mentioned, and was rewarded by Edward with an appointment as Governor of Perth. Little appears to have been known of Richard. He was married to Elizabeth —— in 1296. The arms of Siward, as has been already noticed, were sable, a cross fleury, argent.
“Walter de Huntercombe succeeded his father in his lands in the 55. Henry III., at which time he was of full age; and shortly afterwards married Alice, third daughter and co-heiress of Hugh de Bolebec, and who, in the 2d Edward I., was found to be one of the co-heirs of Richard de Muntfichet, in right of her grandmother Margery, his sister. In the 5th Edward I. he paid 50l. for his relief of the barony of Muschamp; and on the 12th December in that year, was summoned to serve with horse and arms against the Welsh: he received similar writs tested 6th April and 24th May, 10th Edward I., and 14th June, 15th Edward I. He was one of the peers who were present in parliament in the 18th Edward I., when a grant was made to the King, for the marriage of his eldest daughter, of the same aid as had been given to Henry III. for the marriage of his daughter the Queen of Scotland; and shortly afterwards the Isle of Man was intrusted to his charge, but which he only held three years, as, in obedience to the King’s commands, he surrendered his trust to John de Baillol in the 21st Edward I. In the 19th Edward I., by writ tested the 16th April at Darlington, he was ordered to be at Norham, equipped for the field by the ensuing Easter; and obtained a charter of free-warren in all his demesne lands in the county of Northumberland before the end of that year. On the 26th June 1294, Huntercombe was ordered to join the expedition then made into Gascony. His military services, during the remainder of the reign of Edward I. were incessant, for he was in the Scottish wars in the 25th, 26th, 28th, 31st, and 34th years of that monarch; was Governor of Edinburgh Castle in the 26th; Lieutenant of Northumberland in the 27th Edward I.; and afterwards Warden of the Marches there. In the 28th Edward I. we find that he was at the siege of Carlaverock; and in the next year he was a party to the letter to Pope Boniface, in which he is called “Walter Lord of Huntercombe.” It appears from the Wardrobe accounts of the 28th Edward I., that he was allowed 10l. as a compensation for a black nag which was killed by the Scots at Flete, on the 6th August 1299. But the nature and extent of Huntercombe’s services are best shown by his own statement of them in his petition to the King in the 35th Edward I., praying a remission of his scutage for the expeditions in which he had been engaged, with which prayer the crown complied. He says, that he had been in all the wars of Scotland up to that time; namely, in the first war at Berwick with twenty horse; then at Stirling with thirty-two horse, in the retinue of the Earl of Warren; then at Le Vaire Chapelle with thirty horse in the retinue of the Bishop of Durham; afterwards at Gaway with sixteen horse; and that he sent eighteen horse to the last battle, though he was not present himself, being then Warden of the Marches of Scotland and Northumberland. From that year nothing more is known of this Baron, excepting that he was summoned to parliament from the 23d June, 23d Edward I., 1295, to the 16th June, 14th Edward II., 1311, and died in 1312; but after the 25th Edward I. he was probably prevented by age from taking an active part in public affairs, for even allowing him to have been but twenty-one in the 55th Henry III., he must have been above sixty in 1307; which calculation makes him to have been about fifty when he was at Carlaverock, and sixty-four at his decease. Though he was twice married he died without issue. His first wife was Alice de Bolebec, before mentioned; but we only know that the Christian name of his second was Ellen, and that she survived him. Nicholas Newbaud, his nephew, son of his sister Gunnora, was found to be his heir.
“The arms of Huntercombe were ermine, two bars gemells, gules.”
L.
MEMOIR OF SIR SIMON FRASER. [Page 113.]
This warrior appears to have been most actively engaged in the battle of Roslin; and the renown which has in consequence attached itself to his name, will perhaps render the following notice of him acceptable.
* * * * *
Simon de Fraser was the eldest son of Simon de Frazer, the ancestor of the baronial houses of Saltoun and Lovat; and is supposed to have been a near connexion of William Frazer, Bishop of St Andrew’s, whose politics he appears in his early years to have adopted; for, when he was taken prisoner on the surrender of the castle of Dunbar in 1296, he swore fealty to Edward, and remained faithful to the English interest till 1302. He was repeatedly summoned to fight against his countrymen, particularly on 26th September 1298, and 7th May 1299. He also figured at the siege of Carlaverock in 1300 as a Baron;—in the same year, he was appointed Warden of the Forest of Selkirk, and, by that designation, the truce between the two countries was announced to him on the 30th October. In the same year, the sum of 64l. 18s. is charged in the Wardrobe Account, as having been paid him as the wages of himself and a retinue of three knights and twelve esquires, from 13th July till 3d September, at which time his horses were valued, and hire for 59 days allowed him. There is also an allowance of 17l. 6s. 8d. for the maintenance of his wife Lady Mary, her daughters and family, living in the castle of Jedworth, by the grant of the King, from Christmas till St John Baptist’s day, 26 weeks, at a merk per week, as per agreement with the Steward of Berwick-upon-Tweed.[100] On his withdrawing from Edward, he joined Comyn, and gained the battle of Roslin, as has already been observed. When the English afterwards succeeded in subduing Scotland, a severe penalty was inflicted upon him; he was banished from all the territories belonging to, or under the influence of England, for three years, and his rents for that time forfeited. In 1306 he joined Bruce; but having unfortunately fallen into the hands of the enemy, he was conveyed to London and ordered by Edward for execution;—after being drawn and quartered, his head was fixed upon London Bridge. “But,” says Mr Nicholas, “a much more minute and curious account is given of the tragical termination of Frazer’s life in a fragment of an inedited chronicle in the British Museum of the 15th century,[101] from which Mr Ritson printed the subjoined extract in illustration of a poem which will be more fully noticed.
“The fryday next before assumpcioun of oure lady, King Edeward mette Robert the Brus bisides seynt Johns toune in Scotland and with his companye, of whiche companye King Edewarde quelde sevene thowsand. When Robert the Brus saw this myschif, and gan to flee, and hovd hym that men mygte nougt hym fynde, but Sr Simond Frisell pursuede hym socore, so that he turnede ayen and abode bataille, for he was a worthy knyght and a bolde of body, and the Englisshe men pursuede hym sore yn every syde, and quelde the stede that Sr Symond Frisell rood uppon, and ther toke hym and lad hym to the host. And Sr Symond began for to flater and speke faire, and saide, Lordys, I shall yeve you iiij thousand marke of sylver, and myne hors and harneys, and all my armure and vicome. Tho answerd Theobaude of Pevenes, that was the Kinge’s archer, Now God me so helpe hit is for nougt that thou spexte, for alle the gold of Engelonde I wold the noght lete gone withoute commaundement of King Edeward. And tho was he lad to the King. And the King wolde not see hym, but commaunded to lede hym awey to his dome to London on our Ladyes even nativite, and he was honge and drawe, & his heede smyten of, and honged ayene with chynes of jren oppon the galwes, and his hede was sette oppon London brug on a sper. And ayens Cristesmasse the body was brent, for enchesoun that the men that kepte the body by nyghte sawe menye devellis rampande with jren crokes, rennynge uppon the gallews, and horribliche tormented the body; and meny that ham sawe, anoon after thei deied for dred, or woxen mad, or sore sykenesse thei had.”
In one of the Harleian manuscripts,[102] there is a ballad written on the subject, a few years after the circumstance took place, and which was published by Ritson.[103] The following stanzas are so extremely interesting, from the manner in which Frazer is alluded to, that, notwithstanding the length to which they extend, it is impossible to avoid inserting them. After noticing the capture and the fate of his unfortunate companions, the poet says:
“Thenne saide the iustice that gentil is ant fre,
Sire Simond Frysel, the Kynges traytour hast thou be,
In water ant in londe that monie myhten se,
What sayst thou thareto, how wolt thou quite the?
Do say.
Sa foul he him wiste,
Nede waron truste
Forto segge nay.
Ther he was ydemed, so hit wes londes lawe,
For that he wes lordswyk furst he wes to drawe,
Upon a retheres hude forth he wes ytuht,
Sum while in ys time he wes a modi knycht,
In huerte.
Wickednesse and sunne
Hit is lutel wunne,
That maketh the body smerte.
For al is grete poer yet he wes ylaht,
Falsnesse and swykedom al hit g’eth to nacht,
Tho he wes in Scotlond lutel wes ys thoht,
Of the harde iugement that him wes bysocht
In stounde.
He wes foursithe forswore
To the King ther bifore,
And that him brohte to grounde.
With feteres and with gyves ichot he wes to drowe,
From the tour of Londone, that monie myhte knowe,
In a curtel of burel aselkethe wyse,
Ant a gerland on ys heued of the newe gwyse,
Thurh Cheepe
Moni mon of Engelonde,
For to se Symond,
Thideward con lepe.
Tho he come to galewes furst he wes an honge,
Al quick byheueded, thah him thohte longe,
Seth the he wes yopened, is boweles ybrend,
The heued to Londone brugge wes send,
To shonde:
So ich ever mote the
Sum while wende he
Thes lutel to stonde.
He rideth thourh the site as y telle may,
With gomen and wyth solas, that wes here play,
To Londone brugge hee nome the way,
Moni wes the wyves chil that ther on laketh a day,
Ant seide alas
That he was ibore,
And so villiche forlore,
So feir mon ase he was.
Now stont the heued above the tubrugge,
Faste bi Waleis, soth forte sugge,
After socour of Scotlond longe he mowe prye,
Ant after help of Fraunce, met halt hit to lye,
Ich wene.
Betere him were in Scotlond,
With is ar in ys hond,
To pleyen othe grene.
Ant the body hongeth at the galewes faste
With yrnene claspes longe to laste,
Forte wyte wel the body, and Scottysh to garste,
Foure and twenti the beoth to sothe ate laste,
By nychte,
Yef eny were so hardi
The body to remny,
Also to dyhte.”
Fraser left two daughters, his co-heirs, one of whom married Sir Patrick Fleming, ancestor of the Earls of Wigton; and the other named Mary, was the wife of Sir Gilbert Hay, ancestor of the Marquess of Tweedale. From Alexander Fraser his brother the Barons Saltoun and Lovat descended.
The arms of Simon Frazer were, sable, semée of roses argent; but the descendants of his brother bear, azure, three cinque foils argent.
After this notice of so distinguished a leader among the Scots, the reader may reasonably be supposed to feel some curiosity respecting the English general,