THE HIGHLANDS FROM STIRLING CASTLE.
After reigning for nearly fifty years William the Lion began to realise that his powers were beginning to fail. During an expedition into the district of Moray his health completely broke down, but he felt that he might recover his strength if he were to breathe the invigorating air of Stirling. Slowly he made his journey southward, and succeeded in reaching his favourite seat, but the breezes of the Forth were no more restorative than the winds of the Spey or the Findhorn.[8] The aged monarch expired in the castle in December, 1214, bequeathing an independent kingdom to the youthful Alexander II., his only son by Ermengarde de Beaumont.
Under the new King Stirling continued to benefit by the presence of the Court, and although no stirring history connected with the castle falls to be recorded of this prosperous reign, it should be mentioned that the King more than once held his Council or Parliament at Stirling, and doubtless the assembly met in a hall of the royal castle. Alexander III. followed his predecessors in making the lofty fortress one of his chosen homes, and once indeed, in the troubles of his early reign, he was compelled to take up residence within its walls. That incident occurred in 1257, during Alexander’s minority, when two hostile parties of nobles struggled to obtain the control of the state. The Comyns—more patriotic than their opponents, who were ruling in the English interest—resolved to effect a change of government for their country’s sake and their own. Seizing the young King in his bedchamber at Kinross, they carried him to Stirling Castle, whereupon the unpopular Anglophile lords, having lost possession of the sovereign, broke up and sought refuge in flight.[9]
Alexander showed his predilection for Stirling by laying out an extensive pleasure-ground, known as the New Park, and by setting in order the older royal chase, which apparently had suffered from neglect.[10] Just about this time, however, more serious affairs claimed attention. King Haakon of Norway in 1263 set sail with his Viking Armada in order to oppose Alexander’s designs of annexing the western islands. The fury of the autumn winds and the opposition of the Scots at Largs broke the Norse King’s power; but the devastation of the Lennox was sufficient warning that the invaders might carry their depredations further inland; consequently Stirling Castle was provided with a special garrison till King Haakon had withdrawn his shattered fleet from the Clyde.[11] This is the only instance in historical times of the stronghold’s being prepared for defence against a foe that had come across the sea.
The last of the Celtic Kings of Scots was not to draw his final breath in the castle beloved by his line, where Alexander I. and William the Lion had laid themselves down to die. The third Alexander’s fall from the cliff near Kinghorn in 1286 was followed by years of grievous distress, in sad contrast to the flourishing days which had suddenly come to an end. Yet in the time of national prosperity, the King’s own later years were clouded by misfortune. His Queen, the sister of Edward I., died unexpectedly in 1275, his daughter Margaret predeceased him, as did his two sons, Alexander and David, the latter of whom expired in Stirling Castle at the early age of ten. Four years after the King’s fatal ride, his granddaughter, the Maid of Norway, passed away, her death giving rise to the disputed succession and the subsequent struggle with England.
Had this infant princess survived, she would have become the wife of the King of England’s heir; and the Union of the Crowns would thus have taken place more than three hundred years before it actually occurred. The death of the Maid of Norway ruined the plans of Edward I.; he had now to devise a less straightforward scheme for bringing Scotland under his control.
CHAPTER II.
THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.
The county of Stirling has aptly been called the “Battlefield of Scotland,” for no less than six memorable conflicts have taken place in this district within historical times. During the wars with England, in the period of the Stewart sovereigns, the Borders and the neighbourhood of Edinburgh were the principal scenes of operations; but Stirling Castle was the centre of hostilities in the stirring days of Wallace and Bruce. Edinburgh, though an important fortress and town, was not the capital of the country at the time of the War of Independence. In later years, the armies of England did not need to advance any further than Lothian. The heart of Scotland lay south of the Firth of Forth; a blow struck there was felt throughout the kingdom. But in the beginning of the fourteenth century no fixed seat of government existed; and thus the chief aim of the leaders of both nations was to occupy the place of greatest strategic value. The strong position of Stirling Castle, near the head of the country’s most important estuary, guarding the fords of the River Forth, and keeping watch over the passes leading to the Highlands, made the castle the focus of the military operations of both the English and the Scots. Seven times in half a century the veteran fortress changed hands.