13 It is thus only the early part of Fordun's work which is tainted with this artificially constructed history. With the reign of Kenneth mac Alpin the historical period of Scottish history, in the true sense of the term, may be said to commence, and he had little motive to pervert the history of his successors, while that part of his history which is based upon the work he originally compiled, extending from the accession of Malcolm Canmore to the year 1363 when he put it together, and contained in his fifth book, and in the annals which follow, is one of great value and authority, and must form the basis of any continuous narrative of the history of that period.—Skene, Introduction to Fordun, vol. ii., p. lxxviii.

14 The Brus is a poem, but not a fiction. We conceive that the author has worked up into epic shape and form the proud traditions of an emancipated people, the numberless stories of suffering and success that were then floating about in hall and hut, in monastery and burg. Sometimes he had even conversed with hoary veterans who had survived the agony of the strife.-J. M. Ross, Scottish History and Literature, p. 55.

15 It is difficult from our point of view to approach Blind Harry's poem seriously; but it would certainly be a mistake to consider it a mere fabricated romance of a peasant minstrel. It is much more than that. It is the garner into which has been gathered all that harvest of popular legend about Wallace which had been ripening for nearly two centuries. We do not suppose that the author was at all scrupulous in his treatment of traditions, or that he shrank from contributing his quota to the general sum of patriotic fiction. Everywhere in the work there is evidence of more than poetical license; but we are convinced that in the main it recites and re-echoes the "gests" that had enraptured and amazed successive generations of his countrymen. This, we have seen, was the opinion of the learned and critical Major, in whose boyhood Blind Harry wrote; but no criticism can possibly determine to what extent its “gests" are genuine deeds, or where its history ends and mythology begins. Its outrageous perversions of public and ascertained facts throw a cloud of suspicion over every incident and circumstance in the poem, even when they are of such a nature as not to forbid belief.-J. M. Ross, Scottish History and Literature, p. 76.

CHAPTER XXIV

JOHN OF FORDUN'S ANNALS OF WALLACE AND BRUCE

THE

XCVIII

RISE AND FIRST START OF WILLIAM WALLACE

HE same year [1296] William Wallace lifted up his head from his den— as it were and slew the English sheriff of Lanark, a doughty and powerful man, in the town of Lanark. From that time, therefore, there flocked to him all who were in bitterness of spirit, and weighed down beneath the burden of bondage under the unbearable domination of English despotism; and he became their leader. He was wondrously brave and bold, of goodly mien, and boundless liberality; and, though, among the earls and lords of the kingdom, he was looked upon as low born, yet his fathers rejoiced in the honour of knighthood. His elder brother, also was girded with the knightly belt, and inherited a landed estate which was large enough for his station, and which he bequeathed, as a holding, to his descendants. So Wallace overthrew the English on all sides; and gaining strength daily, he, in a short time, by force, and by dint of his prowess, brought all the magnates of Scotland under his sway, whether they would or not. Such of the magnates, moreover, as did not thankfully obey his commands, he took and browbeat, and handed over to custody, until they should utterly submit to his good pleasure. And when all had thus been subdued, he manfully betook himself to the storming of the castles and fortified towns in which the English ruled; for he aimed at quickly and thoroughly freeing his country and overthrowing the enemy.

XCIX

BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE

In the year 1297 the fame of William Wallace was spread all abroad, and, at length, reached the ears of the king of England; for the loss brought upon his people was crying out. As the king, however, was intent upon many troublesome matters elsewhere, he sent his treasurer, named Hugh of Cressingham, with a large force to repress this William's boldness, and to bring the kingdom of Scotland under his sway. When, therefore, he heard of this man's arrival, the aforesaid William, then busy besieging the English who were in Dundee Castle, straightway intrusted the care and charge of the siege of the castle to the burgesses of that town on pain of loss of life and limb, and with his army marched on, with all haste, towards Strivelyn [Stirling] to meet this Hugh. A battle was then fought, on the 11th of September near Strivelyn, at the bridge over the Forth. Hugh of Cressingham was killed, and all his army put to flight; some of them were slain with the sword, others taken, others drowned in the waters. But, through God, they were all overcome; and the aforesaid William gained a happy victory, with no little praise. Of the nobles, on his side, the noble Andrew of Moray alone, the father of Andrew, fell wounded.

с

WILLIAM WALLACE WINTERS IN ENGLAND

The same year, William Wallace, with his army, wintered in England, from Hallowmas to Christmas; and after having burnt up the whole land of Allerdale, and carried off some plunder, he and his men went back safe and sound. The same year, moreover, on the 20th of August, all the Englishregular and beneficed clergy, as well as laymen-were, by this same William, again cast out from the kingdom of Scotland. And the same year, William of Lamberton was chosen bishop of Saint Andrews.

CI

BATTLE OF FALKIRK

In the year 1298, the aforesaid king of England, taking it ill that he and his should be put to so much loss and driven to such straits by William Wallace, gathered together a large army, and, having with him, in his company, some of the nobles of Scotland to help him, invaded Scotland. He was met by the aforesaid William, with the rest of the magnates of that kingdom; and a desperate battle was fought near Falkirk, on the 22nd of July. William was put to flight, not without serious loss both to the lords and to the common people of the Scottish nation. For, on account of the ill-will, begotten of the spring of envy, which the Comyns had conceived. towards the said William, they, with their accomplices, forsook the field, and escaped unhurt. On learning their spiteful deed, the aforesaid William, wishing to save himself and his, hastened to flee by another road. But alas! through the pride and burning envy of both, the noble Estates [communitas] of Scotland lay wretchedly overthrown throughout hill and dale, mountain and plain. Among these, of the nobles, John Stewart, with his Brendans; Macduff, of Fife; and the inhabitants thereof, were utterly cut off. But it is commonly said that Robert of Bruce,-who was afterwards king of Scotland, but then fought on the side of the king of England-was the means of bringing about this victory. For, while the Scots stood invincible in their ranks, and could not be broken by either force or stratagem, this Robert of Bruce went with one line, under Anthony of Bek, by a long road round a hill, and attacked the Scots in the rear; and thus these, who had stood invincible and impenetrable in front, were craftily overcome in the rear. And it is remarkable that we seldom, if ever, read of the Scots being overcome by the English, unless through the envy of lords, or the treachery and deceit of the natives, taking them over to the other side.

CII

WILLIAM WALLACE RESIGNS THE OFFICE OF GUARDIAN

But after the aforesaid victory, which was vouchsafed to the enemy through the treachery of Scots, the aforesaid William Wallace, perceiving, by these and other strong proofs, the glaring wickedness of the Comyns and their abettors, chose rather to serve with the crowd, than to be set over them, to their ruin, and the grievous wasting of the people. So, not long after the battle of Falkirk, at the water of Forth, he, of his own accord, resigned the office and charge which he held, of guardian.

CIII

JOHN COMYN BECOMES GUARDIAN OF SCOTLAND

The same year, John Comyn, the son, became guardian of Scotland; and remained in that office until the time when he submitted to the king of England -to-wit., the next year after the struggle at Roslyn. But, within that same time, John of Soulis was associated with him, by John of Balliol, who had then been set free from prison, and was dwelling on his lands of Balliol. Soulis did not long keep his charge and governance; but as he was simple-minded, and not firm enough, bearing many a rebuff, he was looked down upon; so he left Scotland, and withdrew to France, where he died.

CIV

TRUCE GRANTED AT THE INSTANCE OF THE KING OF FRANCE TO THE ESTATES OF THE KINGDOM OF SCOTLAND

In the year 1300, Philip, king of France, sent a cleric, named Pierre de Muncy, and one knight, Jean de Barres, to Edward, king of England, to obtain a truce between Edward himself and the Estates of Scotland. At his instance, the king of England granted a truce to the kingdom of Scotland, from Hallowmas, in the above mentioned year, to the next following Whitsunday. And it was at the instance of the king of France, not as in any way the ally of the kingdom of Scotland, but as his cousin and particular friend, and the friendly peacemaker between the two sides, that he granted this truce. This, moreover, he forced the aforesaid ambassadors to own before he granted the truce.

CV

JOHN OF SOULIS

The same year, John of Soulis, the guardian of Scotland, without mentioning the other guardian, with the advice of the prelates, earls, barons, and other nobles of the Estates of the kingdom of Lothian, despatched the Lord William, Archdeacon of Lothian, Master Baldred Bisset, and William of Eglisham, as commissioners and special envoys to Boniface VIII., then sovereign Pontiff, to break and lay bare unto him the sundry and manifold hardships brought upon the kingdom of Scotland by the enmity of the said king of England; and to get meet relief against his harassing outrages—as is more fully contained in the commission of those ambassadors, a copy whereof, together with that Baldred's pleading against the king of England, and many letters bearing on that lawsuit, is in a pamphlet written by Alan of Montrose.

CVI

THE KING OF ENGLAND SUMMONED TO THE COURT OF ROME

Now the king of England, having been summoned by the Pope, in the year 1301, sent two proofs patent to that same sovereign Pontiff, in order to give him a clear insight into the right which he averred was vested in him,

from days of old, to the throne of Scotland. But Baldred, in a lucid discourse, shortly answered all his arguments, plainly showing, by strong proofs and very clear evidence, that they were utterly devoid of truth-as may be seen in his pleading. The same year, a castle, viz., the Pel de Lithcu [Peel of Linlithgow], was built by the king of England.

CVII

CONFLICT OF ROSLYN

On the 27th of July, 1302, took place the great and famous engagement between the Scots and English, at Roslyn, where the English were defeated, though with great difficulty. From the beginning of the first war which ever broke out between the Scots and English, it is said, there never was so desperate a struggle, or one in which the stoutness of knightly prowess shone forth so brightly. The commander and leader in this struggle was John Comyn, the son. Now this was how this struggle came about, and the manner thereof. After the battle fought at Falkirk, the king of England came not in person, for the nonce, this side of the water of Forth; but sent a good large force, which plundered the whole land of Fife, with all the lands lying near the town of Perth, after having killed a great many of the dwellers in those lands. On the return of this force, with countless spoils, that king hied him home again with his host. Now this was brought about, doubtless, by God's agency: for had he made a lengthened stay then, or after the battle of Dunbar and the seizure of King John, he would either have subjugated the whole land of Scotland, and the dwellers therein, to his sway, or made it a waste with naught but floods and stones. But the goodness of God, Who alone tends and heals after wounds, so governed the actions and time of that king, that, being stirred up to battle, and engrossed with sundry wars, he could not put off all other matters, and give himself up to subduing this kingdom. So that king of England went back with his men, having first appointed the officers of the sheriffdoms, and the wardens of the castles, in the districts beyond the water of Forth, which were then fully and wholly subject unto his sway-with the exception of a few outlaws (or, indeed, robbers) of Scottish birth, who were lurking in the woods, and could not, because of their misdeeds, submit to the laws. But John Comyn, then guardian of Scotland, and Simon Fraser, with their followers, day and night did their best to harass and annoy, by their great prowess, the aforesaid king's officers and bailiffs; and from the time of that king's departure, four years and more, the English and the Anglicized Scots were harried by them, in manifold ways, by mutual slaughter and carnage, according to the issue of various wars.

CVIII

When the aforesaid king had got news of this, he sent off a certain nobleman, Ralph Confrere, his treasurer [Ralph de Manton, the Cofferer], a man stout in battle, and of tried judgment and wisdom, with a certain body of chosen knights, thoroughly well armed, to seek out, in every hole and corner, those who troubled and disturbed the king's peace, and not to forbear punishing them with the penalty of death. So they entered Scotland, and went about ranging through the land, until they, at Roslyn, pitched their