CHAPTER IV.
THE INDEPENDENT KINGDOM.
Robert I. (1)—Chapter of Mitton (2)—Peace of Northampton (3)—Robert's parliaments (4)—his death (5)—David II. (6)—Edward Balliol's invasion (7)—battle of Halidon Hill (8)—capture of the King (9)—Robert II. (10)—the French allies (11)—Raid of Otterburn (12)—Robert III. (13)—Clan battle on the North Inch (14)—relations with England (15)—Albany's regency (16)—battle of Harlaw (17)—Scots in France (18)—death of Albany (19)—summary (20).
1. Robert I., 1314-1329.—The independence which Scotland had lost was won back on the field of Bannockburn. She was to live on as an independent kingdom, not to sink into a mere province of England; but, as the English refused to acknowledge her independence, the war was carried on by repeated invasions and cruel wastings of the northern counties. Douglas, who was so popular that he was called the Good Lord James, and Randolf, whom Bruce created Earl of Moray, were the chief heroes of these raids. Edward was attacked too in another quarter, in Ireland, whither, at the call of the Celtic chiefs, Edward Bruce had gone, like his brother Robert, to win himself a crown by valour and popularity. King Robert himself took over troops to help him. Edward was crowned King of Ireland, but he was killed soon after. Meanwhile the war on the Border still went on. Each side was struggling for Berwick. The Scots won it back, and the English did all they could to retake it, but in vain.
2. Chapter of Mitton.—While the siege went on, the Border counties were so sorely harried by the Scots that at last the Archbishop of York and the clergy took up arms in their defence. But they were thoroughly beaten, and this battle was called the Chapter of Mitton, from the number of clerks left dead on the field. Edward could have ended all this by acknowledging Robert as King, but he would not. A two years' truce was made in 1319, but, as soon as it was ended, he once more invaded Scotland with a large army. He found nothing but a wasted country, for the Scots had carried both provisions and cattle to the hills, nor would they come out to fight, though they harassed the rear of the retreating army. At last the people of the northern counties of England grew weary of the constant struggle. They had suffered so much loss from the inroads of the Scots that they at last resolved that, if the King would not make peace for them, they must come to terms with the enemy on their own account. Edward, who feared that he might thus lose a part of his kingdom, agreed to a thirteen years' truce, which was concluded in 1323. In this treaty Robert was allowed to take his title of King, though the English would not give it him. But when a few years later Edward was deposed and his son Edward the Third placed in his stead, his government would not confirm the truce in the form at first agreed on. The Scots upon this made another raid upon England, swept the country, and carried off their spoil before the eyes of a large English army. The Scots had in their plundering expeditions a great advantage over the English in the greater simplicity of their habits. They were mounted on small light horses, which at night were turned out to graze. They carried no provisions, except a small bag of oatmeal, which each man bore at his saddle, together with a thin iron plate on which he baked his meal into cakes. For the rest of their food they trusted to plunder. They burned and destroyed everything as they passed, and, when they seized more cattle than they could use, they slew them and left them behind on the place where their camp had been.
3. Peace of Northampton.—As by this time Robert's title had, after much strife, been recognized by the Pope and other foreign powers, the English saw that they must acknowledge it too. Therefore a treaty was confirmed at Northampton in 1328 between Robert, King of Scots, and the English King. The terms of this treaty were, that Scotland as far as the old boundary lines should be perfectly independent; that the two Kings should be faithful allies, and that neither should stir up the troublesome Celtic subjects of the other, either in Ireland or in the Highlands. As a further proof of good will, Joan, Edward's sister, was betrothed to Robert's infant son. By this treaty the original Commendation of 924, and all the subsequent submissions to England, whether real or pretended, were done away with. It placed the kingdom on quite a new footing, for now Lothian and Strathclyde were as independent of England as the real Scotland had originally been. The long time of common suffering and common struggles had done for the nation what the good time before it had failed to do. It had knit together the three strands of the different races into one cord of national unity too strong for any outer influence again to sever. But during the long war there had also arisen that intense hatred of everything English which warped the future growth of the nation. This hatred drove Scotland to seek in France the model and ally that she had hitherto found in England, and the influence of France can from this period be distinctly traced in the laws, the architecture, and the manners of the people. Robert's treaty with France was the beginning of the future foreign policy of Scotland. This was to make common cause with France against England, which country Scotland pledged herself to invade whenever France declared war against it.
4. Robert's Parliaments.—Two of the meetings of the Estates or Parliaments of this reign deserve notice. That of 1318 settled the succession to the crown: first, on the direct male heirs in order of seniority; next on the direct female heirs; failing both, on the next of kin. An Act was also passed by this parliament forbidding all holders of estates in Scotland from taking the produce or revenues of these lands out of the kingdom. This law acted as a sentence of forfeiture on the so-called Scottish barons who had larger estates in England than in Scotland, and who preferred living in the richer country. In the parliament of 1326, held at Cambuskenneth, the third Estate, that is, the members from the burghs, was first recognized as an essential part of the National Assembly.
5. His Death.—King Robert owed his crown to the people and to the clergy; of the nobles but few were with him. His reign made a great change in the baronage, for with the forfeited estates of his opponents he laid the foundation of other families, the Douglases for instance, who in after-times proved the dangerous rivals of his own descendants. This was partly owing to his mistaken policy in granting royalties or royal powers within their own domains to certain of his own kindred and supporters. This practice, though at the time it strengthened his own hands, in the end weakened the power of the Crown. He died at Cardross in 1329, leaving one son. He was greatly mourned by the people, for he had won their sympathy by the struggles of his early career, and had become their pride by his final victories. They were justly proud of having a king who was no mere puppet in the hands of others, fit only to wear a crown and to spend money, but a brave, wise man, who had shown himself as able to suffer want and to fight against ill-fortune as the best and bravest among themselves. After King Robert's death, Douglas, to fulfil his last wish, set out with his heart for Spain with a gallant following of the best gentlemen in Scotland. In a skirmish with the Moors, he was surrounded by the enemy, while hastening to the help of a brother knight. When he saw his danger, he took from his neck the silken cord from which hung the Bruce's heart, cast it on before him into the thickest of the fight, crying out, "Pass first in fight as thou art wont to do, and Douglas will follow thee or die." True to his word, he fell fighting valiantly, and his body was found near the casket, which held the heart of the friend and leader whom in life he had loved so well. Douglas was tall and strong, and his dark skin and black hair won him the nickname of the "Black Douglas." The English hated and feared him, but his own people loved him well and remembered him long after his death.