CHAPTER X.
WALLACE JOINED BY A NUMBER OF THE BARONS.—EXPEDITION TO THE WEST HIGHLANDS—BATTLE OF BRADHER, AND DEATH OF M’FADYAN.—AFFAIR OF GLASGOW.—DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF BISHOP BEK.
A.D. 1297. About this time Sir William Douglas took the Castles of Dresdier and Sanquhair, as already stated in the short notice we have given of his exploits. In conjunction with Wallace, this active and powerful baron, assuming the sanction of the name of Baliol, endeavoured to enforce the edict for the expulsion of the English ecclesiastics holding benefices in Scotland. This edict, issued between the time of the taking of Berwick and the Castle of Dunbar, had been rendered nugatory by the suppression of Scottish independence. It was now, however, executed with the utmost rigour, wherever the influence of the insurgents extended. In pursuance of this object, Wallace, at the head of three hundred choice cavalry, proceeded to Glasgow to dislodge Bishop Bek, who, with a garrison of one thousand men, kept possession of the town and episcopal castle, belonging to Robert Wishart, the Scottish Bishop of that place.
As the Scots drew near the spot against which their operations were directed, Wallace divided his followers into two bands. Taking the command of one himself, he committed the other to the guidance of his uncle, the Laird of Auchinleck. “Whether,” said our hero to his gallant kinsman, “do you choose to bear up the Bishop’s tail, or go forward and take his blessing.” Auchinleck at once understood the intended plan of attack, and proposed assailing the rear of the English, resigning the more honourable post to the merits of his nephew, “who,” as he jocularly observed, “had not yet been confirmed.”
Having received the necessary instructions, Wallace enjoined him to be diligent; “for,” said he, “the men of Northumberland are all good warriors.” The parties separated; that under Auchinleck to make a compass round the town, so as to get in rear of the enemy; and the other, under the conduct of Wallace, advanced up the principal street leading to the castle. Their approach, however, had been discovered; for, when near the present site of the college church, the Scots came in contact with the English, and the inhabitants had scarcely time to shelter themselves in their houses, before a dreadful conflict commenced. The powerful and warlike prelate with whom our patriots had to contend, possessed a feudal following of knights and esquires, inferior only to that of Edward himself. The narrow street, however, in which they were engaged was in favour of the Scots; and the sword of Wallace told dreadfully on the helmets and headpieces of the enemy. The manner in which he swept his antagonists before him, is still a matter of tradition among the descendants of the early inhabitants of Glasgow. Though the enemy fought with obstinacy, the gallantry of the Scots sustained them against the efforts of their numerous opponents; and in the heat of the engagement, Wallace having unhorsed Henry of Hornecester, a stout monk, who carried the banner of the Bishop,[93] this circumstance damped the ardour of some of the superstitious vassals of the prelate, who now fell back before a vigorous charge of the Scots. At this juncture, those under Auchinleck having reached the elevated ground in the rear of the English, and seeing the turmoil of battle that was raging below, hastily arranged themselves for the charge, and, before the enemy were fully apprised of their danger, the torrent of spears came rushing down upon them with overwhelming impetuosity. Their dismay was now complete. A hasty and disordered retreat ensued, and the by-ways leading from the High-street were so choked up by the fugitives, that a number of them were trampled to death by their companions. Bek[94] effected his escape, with about three hundred horse, and directed his flight towards England, carrying with him, it is supposed, the sacred banner of St Cuthbert and that of St John of Beverly.[95]
While Wallace was thus employed in expelling the English ecclesiastics from the west of Scotland, Sir William Douglas was engaged in forwarding the same object in the south. In these proceedings they are charged by the English authors with extreme cruelty. “The unhappy priests,” says Knighton, “had their hands tied behind their backs, and in this helpless state were thrown from high bridges into rivers, their dying agonies affording sport to their merciless captors.” Fordun merely says, that Wallace pretended to execute the edict of 1296, which appointed all English ecclesiastics to be expelled from Scotland. On which Lord Hailes remarks, “I hope this is not true; it has too much the appearance of a political pretext, by which defenceless individuals might be persecuted.”[96] There was little occasion for his Lordship’s sympathy. The thirteenth century was not the period when churchmen were the objects of causeless persecutions. Their expulsion appears to have been the result of their political intrigues and criminal interference with the records of the country intrusted to their charge. And from their placing these documents in the hands of Edward at Norham, he was enabled to give a colouring of justice to his attempts upon the independence of Scotland. The evidence which these falsified muniments afforded is mentioned by Langtoft,[97] as being submitted by Edward to the English barons for their advice before the business of the submission respecting the Scottish crown was entered upon. When the Scots reflected on the many thousands of their nation, of all ages, who had already been butchered at Berwick and Dunbar,—the oppressions that had followed,—the apparently interminable war entailed upon them in support of the pretended proofs of the supremacy of England; it is not to be wondered at, that they should attempt to get rid of those canker-worms who had nestled in their country, and ungratefully betrayed its sacred and most invaluable interests. The edict was early published, and at a time when it could serve no other purpose than a protest against the baseness of their conduct. When the insurrection, therefore, broke out under Wallace, it was not to be expected that individuals who had rendered themselves so deservedly obnoxious, would be treated with much lenity, if they still attempted to retain their temporalities at the expense of the people they had endeavoured to enslave.[98]
Wallace, uniting his forces with those under Douglas, now made a rapid march upon Scone, expecting to surprise Ormsby, the Justiciary of Edward, who was holding his courts in that place. The attempt was all but completely successful. They came unexpectedly on the enemy, a great many of whom were either killed or taken prisoners, and a rich booty fell into the hands of the Scots. Ormsby narrowly escaped; and, impressed with terror at the late dreadful acts of retaliation, fled with precipitation to England. Encouraged by these successes, a number of the aristocracy joined the banner of our hero, among whom were the Steward of Scotland, his brother the Knight of Bonkill, Alexander de Lindsay, Sir John Stewart of Rusky (or Menteith), Sir Richard Lundin, and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, whom he had so lately relieved from the obnoxious interference of the Bishop of Durham. In consequence of this timely assistance, Wallace was enabled to undertake an enterprise of considerable importance.
The reader will perceive, by the annexed note,[99] that though Edward had made a triumphal march with his army from Berwick to Elgin; yet that interesting and extensive portion of Scotland, comprising the West Highlands and Islands, had never been profaned by the foot of the usurper. This may have been partly averted, by most of the chieftains coming forward and taking the oath of allegiance, and partly by the extreme difficulty of leading a numerous army through a country so intersected by arms of the sea, and rendered almost inaccessible by its rocky and mountainous barriers. In order to have some control over a people so isolated, the policy of Edward at first suggested the idea of carrying along with him those chieftains whose influence was considered the most extensive. This measure, however, he soon perceived was not so effectual as he anticipated, and he accordingly determined on sending a colony of Irish to fix themselves in some central part of the country he wished to overawe. With this view he compelled MacDougal of Lorn, whom he had carried with him to London, to exchange his patrimony for an equivalent of lands belonging to himself.
Having effected this, he gave a grant,[100] of no very certain limits, to a creature of his own named M’Fadyan, who, with a tumultuous horde of Anglo-Irish and renegade Scots, amounting to about fifteen thousand, landed in Lorn, and proceeded to ravage the country with fire and sword,—committing the most revolting atrocities on such of the inhabitants as refused to join them. Much obscurity hangs over the birth, connections, and character of the leader of this cloud of locusts. According to Blind Harry, his origin was low, although high in favour at the English court. He seems to have held some situation of importance in Ireland, as the Minstrel, referring to those Irish refugees who took shelter in Scotland under Wallace, says,