From Engraving by Captain John Slezer, circa 1693.
Stirling Castle surrendered on the following day, and Sir Philip Mowbray transferred his allegiance to the King of Scots when he handed over the keys of the fortress. Bruce, in accordance with his policy of dismantling all strongholds that might harbour English garrisons, destroyed the fortifications, but in his later years he sometimes resided within its weakened walls.
Although the War of Independence is usually regarded as having been brought to a close at Bannockburn, it is more correct to consider the latter part of Bruce’s reign as a break in the long-enduring struggle. After King Robert had been laid to rest, Edward Balliol saw his chance of winning his father’s crown, and soon the King of England advanced the old claim put forward by his grandfather, The Hammer of the Scots. Balliol’s victory at Dupplin in 1332 was followed a year later by the Battle of Halidon Hill, the English revenge of Bannockburn. Edward III. garrisoned the defenceless castle of Stirling in 1336, placing Sir Thomas de Rokeby in command. The work of renovation was straightway begun. New walls were at once constructed, two wells—one in the castle proper, the other in the nether bailey—were cleared out and deepened;[21] hall, pantry, kitchen, larder, etc., were all repaired, and men were employed in Gargunnock Wood in hewing down trees for the timber-work of the fortress. The Scots were not long in attacking the strengthened castle, but before the defenders were reduced to their last extremity, the King of England appeared upon the scene and immediately raised the siege. Wyntoun and Fordun tell of a Scottish knight named Keith, who, when attempting to scale the wall, lost his footing and was killed by falling on his spear. Quantities of provisions were thereafter sent to Sir Thomas de Rokeby, lest the Scots should again surround the rock and cut off his supplies.[22] These precautions were indeed necessary, for the patriots under Robert the Steward renewed the siege towards the end of 1341, but so well had the garrison been victualled that not until April of the following year was it compelled by hunger to capitulate. The English garrison consisted of Sir Thomas de Rokeby, Sir Hugh de Montgomery, fifty-seven esquires, ten watchmen and sixty-two archers.[23]
According to Froissart, cannon were employed during this investiture of Stirling. His statement is not substantiated by any other authority, but as he was in the habit of enquiring eagerly for details about the events of which he wrote, and as he visited Scotland before the generation had passed away that had taken part in these wars, it is probable that his information is correct. This seems to have been the first occasion on which gunpowder was used in Scotland, for Barbour mentions that the town of Berwick was not provided with “gynis for crakkis” when the English laid siege to it in 1319, but he says that during the invasion of England in 1327 the Scots saw for the first time the mysterious “crakkis of wer.”
No further attempts were made by King Edward to regain possession of Stirling Castle. His efforts to win the crown of France diverted his attention, and the Hundred Years’ War had already broken out. No second Bannockburn closed the latter portion of the War of Independence; such a triumph could not take place under so unpatriotic and degenerate a King as the son of the valiant Bruce. Yet Scotland wrestled through the storm, though not until the High Steward had succeeded his worthless uncle on the throne was the nation safe from the grasping hand of her more powerful neighbour.
CHAPTER III.
THE EARLY STEWARTS.
On the death of David II. in 1371, the crown passed to Robert the Steward, grandson of the Bruce, in accordance with the succession settlement made at the Parliament of 1318. The first of the Stewarts was past middle life when he mounted the Scottish throne, and although he had been a man of war in his youth, he longed to spend his later years in the enjoyment of repose. To some extent his desire was fulfilled, for the war with England—which continued in spite of a truce—was of a fitful nature and not a desperate struggle for freedom. The King’s favourite seat was the Castle of Rothesay, but he occasionally made Stirling his place of residence, finding it a convenient resting-place between Bute and St. Andrews or Perth.
For a number of years Sir Robert Erskine had been keeper of Stirling Castle, and in 1373 the sovereign’s son Robert, Earl of Menteith and Fife, and afterwards Duke of Albany, was appointed to fill the office. For the maintenance of this important position the Earl received an annual grant of fourteen chalders of corn and twelve chalders of oatmeal from the lands of Bothkennar, as well as an income of two hundred merks from the Lord Chamberlain of Scotland.[24] The money was to be levied from the crown lands and from feudal dues in the shire of Stirling; but this arrangement did not long hold good, as a few years afterwards the fee was paid from the Treasury. It was in the power of the keeper to appoint and dismiss the constable and janitors of the castle. The Earl of Fife did not neglect the duties of his office, for the Exchequer Rolls bear witness to much strengthening and repairing of the fortress; alterations doubtless rendered necessary by the use of gunpowder in war. If Froissart is to be trusted, these fortifications served their purpose well, as he declares that an unsuccessful attack was made upon the castle by the soldiers of Richard II. Other chroniclers, however, do not refer to Stirling in connection with the invasion of 1385; they imply that the English army advanced little further than Edinburgh, being compelled by the wasted condition of the country to retreat across the Border.