“It was also a fine sight to see the good brothers of Berkeley receiving numerous blows; and the brothers Basset likewise, of whom the eldest bore thus,—ermine, a red chief indented, charged with three gold mullets; the other, with three shells; found the passages straitened. Those within continually relieved one another; for always as one became fatigued, another returned fresh and stout; and, notwithstanding such assaults were made upon them, they would not surrender, but so defended themselves, that they resisted those who attacked, all that day and night, and the next day until tierce. But their courage was considerably depressed during the attack, by the brother Robert, who sent numerous stones from the robinet, without cessation, from the dawn of the preceding day until the evening. Moreover, on the other side, he was erecting three other engines, very large, of great power, and very destructive, which cut down and cleave whatever they strike. Fortified town, citadel, nor barrier—nothing is protected from their strokes. Yet those within did not flinch, until some of them were slain; but then each began to repent of his obstinacy, and to be dismayed. The pieces fell in such manner, wherever the stones entered, that when they struck either of them, neither iron cap nor wooden target could save him from a wound.
“And when they saw that they could not hold out any longer, or endure more, the companions begged for peace, and put out a pennon; but he that displayed it was shot with an arrow, by some archer, through the hand into the face; then he begged that they would do no more to him, for they will give up the castle to the King, and throw themselves upon his mercy. And the marshal and constable, who always remained on the spot, at that notice forbad the assault, and these surrendered the castle to them.”
The besieged, who had thus retarded the progress of this mighty host, were now passed in review before Edward, and, including all ranks, were found to amount to “sixty men,” “who were,” says our author, “beheld with much astonishment.”—“They were all kept and guarded, till the King commanded that life and limb should be given them, and ordered to each of them a new garment:” “But this account of the treatment of the prisoners,” says Mr Nicolas, “differs entirely from that in the Chronicle of Lanercost, where it is said that many of them were hung.”
The banner of Edward now waved on the battlement of Carlaverock Castle, along with those of St Edmond, St George, St Edward, Sir John Segrave, the Earl of Hereford, and that of Lord Clifford, to whom Edward had given it in charge. The army then proceeded on their march.[43]
CHAPTER VII.
WINCHELSEA, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, READS A BULL FROM THE POPE, IN THE ENGLISH CAMP BEFORE CARLAVEROCK.—EDWARD’S ANSWER.—EARL WARREN ADVANCES TO IRVINE.—CRUELTY OF THE ENGLISH AT LESMAHAGO.—EDWARD AGREES TO A TRUCE.—WALLACE VISITS FRANCE.—CAPTURES A FRENCH PIRATE.—NOTICES OF LONGUEVILLE.
While the English army were encamped before Carlaverock, Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived with a bull, directed to Edward, from the Pope.
The application which, as has already been stated, the Scottish commissioners were instructed to make to King Philip for the stipulated assistance having at first been evaded, and afterwards finally refused—the embarrassing situation of his own affairs affording him a plausible pretext for withholding the aid necessary for the relief of his allies—the Scots, according to their instructions, proceeded to lay their complaints before the Court of Rome. Boniface listened with complacency to their grievances, and readily undertook to interpose his authority in their behalf. For this purpose, he addressed to Edward a letter of admonition, exhorting him to desist from any further attempts to subvert the liberties of a kingdom over which he had no lawful claim. The groundless nature of the pretensions he had set up, the Pontiff proceeded, at considerable length, to explain—being, no doubt, enabled to do so, from the information furnished him by the commissioners. Among other matters, he reminded him, that the mere circumstance of his having negotiated with the Scots, for the marriage of his son with the heiress of Scotland, must prove fatal to any plea he might advance in favour of his being the feudal lord of that kingdom, as he would find no one weak enough to believe that he would have submitted to negociate, when he had a right to command. “He also,” says a respectable historian, “mentioned several striking facts which fell within the compass of Edward’s own knowledge, particularly that Alexander, when he did homage to the King, openly and expressly declared in his presence, that he swore fealty not for his crown, but for the lands which he held in England; and the Pope’s letter might have passed for a reasonable one, had he not subjoined his own claim to be liege lord of Scotland, a claim which had not once been heard of, but which, with a singular confidence, he asserted to be full and entire, and derived from the most remote antiquity.” This letter Boniface concluded, by exhorting him, in his name, to set at liberty all those ecclesiastics and others belonging to the country whom he had imprisoned, and to remove all officers he had appointed to places of trust in the kingdom, contrary to the wishes of the people; directing him, if he conceived he had still any reasons to allege in support of his pretensions, to send persons properly authorized to Rome, where he, the Pope, would hear the case, and within six months give an impartial decision. To these exhortations the Archbishop added his own, urging, among other things, the propriety of his yielding obedience to so sacred an authority, observing, that Jerusalem would not fail to protect her citizens, and to cherish, like Mount Zion, those who trusted in the Lord. At the conclusion of this address, which was made in the presence of Prince Edward and the assembled nobles, the King became furious, and with a great oath exclaimed, “I will not be silent or at rest, either for Mount Zion or for Jerusalem, but, as long as there is breath in my nostrils, I will defend what all the world knows to be my right.” On calmer reflection, however, he saw the necessity of returning a milder answer to the admonition of his adviser, in which he promised to consult his parliament, and send messengers to Rome to acquaint his Spiritual Father with the result of their deliberations.
In a parliament assembled some time after at Lincoln, the Pope’s bull was submitted to the consideration of the English Barons; and in his reply, Edward attempted to prove the superiority of England by historical facts, deduced from the period of Brutus the Trojan, who, he said, founded the British monarchy in the age of Eli and Samuel. He then supports his position by all the events which passed in the island before the arrival of the Romans: And, after laying great stress on the extensive dominions and the heroic victories of King Arthur, he vouchsafes at last to descend to the time of Edward the Elder, from which period he has chosen to begin his claim of superiority. He asserts it as a fact notorious, and confirmed by the records of antiquity, that the English monarchs had often conferred the kingdom of Scotland on their own subjects—had dethroned those vassal-kings when unfaithful to them, and had substituted others in their stead. He displays, with great pomp, the full and complete homage which William had done to Henry II.—without mentioning the formal abolition of that extorted deed by King Richard, and the renunciation of all future claims of the same nature. Yet in this paper he begins with a solemn appeal to the Almighty, the searcher of hearts, for his own firm persuasion of the justice of his claim; and no less than a hundred and four barons, assembled in parliament at Lincoln, concurred in maintaining before the Pope, under their seals, the validity of the pretensions. At the same time, they took care to inform Boniface, that although they had justified their cause before him, they did not acknowledge him as their judge: the crown of England was free and sovereign: they had sworn to maintain all its prerogatives; and would never permit the King himself, were he willing, to relinquish its independence.