Respecting the events of this day of triumph for the Scottish arms, the historians of the two countries are not exactly agreed. According to Langtoft, Sir John de Segrave, with his son and brother, were surprised in their beds by the Scots, who captured sixteen knights, among whom were Sir Thomas Neville and Sir Ralf de Cofferer, the treasurer of Edward, who, on interceding with Sir Simon Frazer for his life, was sternly reminded by him of the defalcations he had committed in his office, by defrauding himself and others of their wages. Having upbraided him with his unpriestly conduct, he struck off his hands, as being polluted with the wages of iniquity, and afterwards severed his head from his body, by a blow with his sword.
CHAPTER IX.
SECOND VISIT OF WALLACE TO THE FRENCH COURT.—ENCOUNTERS AN ENGLISH PIRATE.—THE ENGLISH AGAIN ENTER SCOTLAND.—SUBMISSION OF THE NOBLES.—WALLACE RETURNS.—CONFLICTS WITH THE ENGLISH.—EDWARD DESTROYS AND CARRIES OFF THE RECORDS OF THE MONASTERIES.—MARCHES THROUGH THE COUNTRY.—WALLACE FOLLOWS THE INVADERS.
There is no certain account of Wallace having been present at the battle of Roslin:—if he was, it must have been only in a private capacity, he not being mentioned by any author as holding a command on that occasion. According to some, he was absent from the country at the time; but this, however, seems to be contradicted by the Scotichronicon, where it is said, that, after the battle of Roslin, he went on board of a merchant vessel, and, with a few companions, again sailed for France. Henry, whose strong partiality would not have omitted so excellent an opportunity for aggrandizing his hero, had there been any authority in the narrative of Blair for so doing, passes over the circumstance in silence. This conduct in an author so strongly biassed in favour of the subject of his biography, is not only a proof of the absence of Wallace from the field of Roslin, but a strong argument in favour of the general accuracy of his own details. The laurels, therefore, that were gathered at Roslin, will fall to be divided between Sir Simon Frazer and the lord of Badenoch.
That Wallace returned a second time to the court of France, is asserted in the most positive manner by the Minstrel, and is in part corroborated by the Scotichronicon. The particular periods of his history, however, which those visits occupied, it is rather difficult to ascertain. That the first occurred after the battle of Falkirk is without doubt; and the second immediately before, or soon after the affair of Roslin, is almost equally certain. As, in the first voyage, Wallace is said to have fallen in with and captured a French pirate, in the second, he is represented as having a similar rencounter with an Englishman of the same profession, who earned on his depredations principally against the Scottish vessels. Had the Minstrel’s work been one of pure fancy, this sameness of incident, we presume, would not have occurred;—for the judgment of the poet would no doubt have suggested the propriety of a change of adventure. The English pirate, who is called John of Lyn, is first seen by the Scots, making his way out of the Humber, displaying a red sail, and a flag at his mast-head bearing three leopards courant, the well-known insignia of Edward. The Scottish merchants, who knew his ferocious disposition, were appalled at first; but encouraged by Wallace and his companions, they prepared themselves for action, by stuffing sheep-skins with wool, which appears to have been their cargo; and thus making a kind of defensive armour, to protect them against their better equipped assailants. On their refusing to surrender, the battle commenced by a heavy discharge from bows and cross-bows on the part of the English; and the Scots, who were not so well supplied with missiles, kept themselves as much as possible out of the way of the shot, till it was nearly expended;—when, laying their vessel along side of the enemy, Wallace and his companions threw themselves on board the pirate, and attacked the crew with the greatest fury. The commander, seeing the desperation of the Scots, and the havoc they were making amongst his men, would gladly have made off; but the sword of Wallace was not to be evaded. The two leaders, therefore, engaged, and after a short rencounter, John of Lyn was cut down by his opponent, and his men submitted to the conqueror. In this conflict none distinguished themselves more than Longueville, and John Blair, the chaplain of Wallace—the latter of whom, with three successive arrows, shot three of the enemy, and otherwise conducted himself with the greatest heroism. As it would not have been becoming in Blair to have narrated such deeds of himself, we are told by Henry, that the account of them was inserted in the memoir of Wallace by Thomas Gray, who acted as steersman on the occasion. In this there is consistency, as we are elsewhere informed, that Gray occasionally assisted in writing the achievements of the champion of the Scots.[54]
On arriving “in the Sloice-hawyn,” says Henry, Wallace made a division of the spoil among his followers, and, presenting the merchants with the ship, took his departure for Paris.
The reception he met with from Philip is reported to have been highly flattering; and our hero soon became involved in a number of adventures, all sufficiently romantic; but as the French historians appear, from their silence, to have been ignorant of them, we must refer the curious reader to the pages of the Minstrel. We shall only remark, that it has been asserted by various writers, that the name of Wallace was frequently found in the songs of the ancient Troubadours. This, however, may have arisen as much from the fame he had acquired in his own country, as from any chivalrous exploits he had performed in France. But in whatever manner he was employed in the service of Philip, the proceedings of Edward soon recalled him to his native land.
The mortification which the reverses at Roslin occasioned the King of England, was greatly increased by the praises that were every where bestowed upon the gallantry of the Scots; and the noise which their triple victory made at the different courts of Europe, excited a deeper and more determined inveteracy in his mind. It is probable, that, but for the discomfiture at Roslin, the resolution which he had so long displayed, of reducing Scotland to subjection, might have gradually given way before the reflections occasioned by the immense losses which he had sustained in his various expeditions;[55] and perhaps he would have contented himself with retaining possession of that part of Scotland which bounded his own kingdom. The defeat, however, of his lieutenant, and the subsequent proceedings of the victors, awakened afresh all the rancorous hostility of his ambitious and unprincipled mind; and he resolved, by one mighty effort, to overwhelm the Scots, and efface their name from the number of the nations. In order to accomplish this project, all the ultramarine vassals of his crown were summoned to his standard. In his own kingdom of England, large levies of men and horses were raised, and the din of preparation was heard from one extremity of the land to the other. A powerful fleet was also equipped, to attend the motions of the land army, and prevent the chance of scarcity from interfering with that work of destruction he had in contemplation.
1303. Wallace heard with sorrow, of the mighty preparations that were making for the annihilation of his country’s independence; and he resolved again to join his old associates, and brave along with them the fury of the storm that was about to burst upon their heads. To his friends, who listened with increasing apprehension to the progress of the coming war, the hope of his return came like a sunbeam through the tempest that was blackening around them. Before, however, the French monarch would permit his departure, the countless host of the invader had crossed the Tweed, and spread its desolating squadrons over the adjacent country;[56] and those places which manifested the slightest disposition to defend their liberties, were consigned to indiscriminate carnage. Among the few which made any resistance, the castle of Brechin appeared eminently conspicuous. Under the command of the governor, Sir Thomas Maule, this garrison maintained a most heroic defence, and did not give in till the death of their commander obliged them to surrender.