till at last Edward found shelter in Earl Patrick's castle of Dunbar. The King, with seventeen of his closest attendants, presently embarked on a vessel for Berwick (Barbour says Bamborough), 'abandoning all the others,' sneers the Lanercost writer, 'to their fortune,' These others, according to Barbour, had not even been admitted to Dunbar Castle; but Douglas let them go on to Berwick unmolested, and with a drove of captured horses speedily rejoined Bruce at Stirling. Sir Thomas de la Moore attributes the King's escape 'not to the swiftness of his horse, nor to the efforts of men, but to the Mother of God, whom he invoked,' vowing to build and dedicate to her a house for twenty-four poor Carmelites, students of theology. This vow he fulfilled, in spite of the dissuasion of Despenser, and the house is now Oriel College, Oxford.
Another party, headed by the Earl of Hereford, made for Carlisle. According to the Lanercost chronicler, it included the Earl of Angus, Sir John de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy, Sir Ingram de Umfraville, and many other knights, and numbered 600 horse and 1000 foot. They appealed to the hospitality of Sir Walter Fitz Gilbert, who held Valence's castle of Bothwell for Edward with a garrison of sixty Scots. Fitz Gilbert admitted 'the more noble' of them—Barbour says fifty; the Meaux chronicler, 120; Walsingham, a still larger number. Fitz Gilbert at once secured them all as prisoners, and delivered them to Sir Edward Bruce, who was sent with a large force to take them over. Hereford and others were eventually exchanged for the Queen, the Princess Marjory, and the Bishop of Glasgow; the rest were held to heavy ransom. The main body of the party struggled forward to the Border, but many of them—Barbour says three-fourths—were slain or captured. Everywhere, in fact, the inhabitants, who 'had previously feigned peace' with the English, rose upon the hapless fugitives. Thus, Sir Maurice de Berkeley escaped with a great body of Welshmen, but, says Barbour, many were taken or slain before they reached England. A large number fled to Stirling Castle, where Barbour pictures the crags as covered with them; but these at once surrendered to a detachment of Bruce's force.
It is hopeless to number the slain that strewed the field of battle, choked the Bannock, or floated down the Forth. Barbour says roundly that 30,000 English were slain or drowned. The Meaux chronicler admits 20,000. Walsingham numbers no less than 700 knights and squires. Besides Gloucester and Argentine, the veteran Sir Robert de Clifford, Sir Pagan de Tybetot, Sir William the Marshal, Sir William de Vescy, Sir John Comyn (the son of the Red Comyn, slain at Dumfries), Sir Henry de Bohun, Sir William D'Eyncourt, and many other notable warriors, had fallen in the forefront of battle. Sir Edmund de Mauley, the King's seneschal, was drowned in the Bannock. The undistinguished many must remain uncounted. The Scots losses, which, though comparatively insignificant, must yet have been considerable, are equally beyond reckoning. The only men of note mentioned are Sir William Vipont and Sir Walter Ross.
In dealing with his prisoners, Bruce displayed a princely generosity. Trokelowe frankly acknowledges that his handsome liberality gained him immense respect 'even among his enemies.' Walsingham declares that it 'changed the hearts of many to love of him.' The Monk of Reading is fairly astonished. There was no haggling over exchanges or ransoms, though no doubt many of the ransoms were at a high figure. Sir Ralph de Monthermer, who was captured at Stirling, and was an old friend of Bruce's, was released without ransom, and carried back to England the King's shield, which Bruce freely returned. Sir Marmaduke Twenge, a relative of Bruce's, who yielded himself to the King personally on the day after the battle, was sent home, not only without ransom, but with handsome gifts. The bodies of Gloucester and Clifford were freely sent to Edward at Berwick with every token of respect for gallant foes; and, while the common men that fell on the field were interred in common trenches, the more noble were buried with noble ceremonial 'in holy places.'
The spoils collected by the victors were enormous. Walsingham ventures on an estimate of £200,000; 'so many good nobles, vigorous youths, noble horses, warlike arms, precious garments and napery, and vessels of gold—all lost!' Bruce made generous distribution among his valiant men. The individual ransoms largely increased the individual acquisitions. 'The whole land,' says Fordun, 'overflowed with boundless wealth.'
The chroniclers labour to assign reasons for the great disaster. The religious reason seems rather thin; for, if Edward and his barons broke the Ordinances, and also fought on a feast day, Bruce and his friends lay under multiplied excommunications. There is more substance in other allegations—presumptuous confidence on the part of the English leaders; discord in their councils; their impetuous and disorderly advance; the fatigue and hunger of the men by reason of the rapid march from Berwick. One would be unwilling to press a certain lack of enthusiasm for their King, or a suspicion of inadequate generalship. There is sufficient explanation in the skill, prudence, and iron resolution of Bruce, supported by able generals of division, and by brave and patriotic men. Had the result been otherwise, it would have been, for England, a greater disaster still.
'Yet'—and the word of honest sympathy and justification will not jar now on any generous mind—
'Yet mourn not, Land of Fame!
Though ne'er the leopards on thy shield
Retreated from so sad a field
Since Norman William came.
Oft may thine annals justly boast
Of battles stern by Scotland lost;
Grudge not her victory,
When for her freeborn rights she strove—
Rights dear to all who Freedom love,
To none so dear as thee!'