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"The castle of Bothwell was besieged. The Earl of Hereford, who had taken refuge there after the rout at Bannockburn, capitulated.

“Edward Bruce, and Douglas, wasted Northumberland, laid the bishopric of Durham under contribution, penetrated to Richmond in Yorkshire, burnt Appleby, etc., and returned home loaded with plunder.

“August 1. Edward II. summoned a parliament at York, in order to concert measures for the public security.

"August 10. He appointed the Earl of Pembroke, late guardian of Scotland, to be guardian of the country between Tweed and the Trent.

"September 18. Bruce having made overtures for peace, Edward II. appointed commissioners to treat with the Scots.

"October 17. The Scots again invaded England, and levied contributions.

"John Baliol died, leaving his son Edward heir to his fatal pretensions."-Hailes, Anno 1314.

LIBRARY

OF THE

UNIVERSITY
OF

CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER XXV

FROM BRUCE TO FLODDEN

ING ROBERT BRUCE was succeeded by his son David, then a boy

K' seven years of age, who was crowned at Scone November 24, 1331.

Randolph, Earl of Moray, became regent, in accordance with King Robert's settlement. He died, however, in July, 1332, and was followed in the regency by the Earl of Mar, a man of vastly inferior ability.

During his rule, Edward Baliol, a son of the deposed King John, secured the assistance of England and laid claim to the Scottish throne for himself. He landed in Fifeshire with an army of 4400. Through the inefficiency of the regent and his associates, the Scotch armies failed to oppose this invader, and Baliol was actually crowned as king, at Scone, less than two months later. Seven years of civil war followed his usurpation, largely fomented and encouraged by the English king, Edward III., who, during this time, made four successful invasions of Scotland.

Sir Andrew Moray, of Bothwell, succeeded to the regency in 1334. He was an honest and successful leader, and in 1335 defeated and killed the Earl of Athole in Aberdeenshire. After a long struggle against his country's enemies, he died in 1338, and was succeeded by the Steward of Scotland, a son of King Robert Bruce's daughter Marjory, and of Walter, the sixth Steward. In 1337, Edward III. advanced his claim to the throne of France. Baliol, being left to his own resources, became an object of suspicion and hatred among the Scotch. In 1339, he fled to and became a pensioner of England.

The Steward thereupon laid siege to Perth, where Baliol's forces were quartered, and in August, 1339, it capitulated. During that year, Stirling and all the northern castles were recovered, but those of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Berwick, and others remained in the hands of the English. Edinburgh Castle was retaken in April, 1341.

In 1346, King David assembled an army at Perth, and, marching south of the Border, fought the English near Durham on October 17th. In this battle the Scots were defeated, and most of their leaders captured — the King among the number; but the Steward escaped with a portion of his army. The prisoners were taken to London, where the Earl of Menteith was executed as a traitor.

King David continued a prisoner in England until 1357, when he was permitted to return, the Scotch having agreed to pay the English for his ransom the sum of 100,000 merks. David II. had had no children by his wife. His long residence in England, together with the natural weakness of his character, brought him readily under English influence, and led him,

in 1363, to suggest to the Scottish Parliament that it should choose as his successor one of the sons of the king of England. Parliament rejected this proposition with contempt, as well as a later one inimical to Scottish independence which was submitted by David in 1366.

David died in 1371, and was succeeded by his nephew, the Steward, who was crowned at Scone, March 26, 1371, as Robert II. During the next ten or twelve years the Scots succeeded in driving the English invaders completely out of the kingdom. The Ancient League between Scotland and France was renewed in 1371. In 1385 the French sent a force of 2000 men to Scotland to assist the Scots in an invasion of England. The French and Scottish ideas of politeness and methods of warfare differed so widely, however, that their leaders soon became involved in disputes, and the French returned to their own land.

A truce was concluded with England in 1389 by the Scots and French, which continued for ten years.

Robert II. died in April, 1390, and was succeeded by his oldest son, John, who was crowned under the title of Robert III. A younger son of Robert II. was the Earl of Fife, afterwards known as the Duke of Albany, who had acted as regent during the later years of his father's reign, and retained his power under the name of Governor of the Kingdom, after his brother came to the throne. A third brother, the Earl of Buchan, known in history as the Wolf of Badenoch, ruled the northern provinces, and became notorious for his cruelty. The king was of too timid and peaceful a nature to restrain the lawlessness of his nobles. Indeed, he found it necessary to enter into bonds with many of them for the protection of himself and his heirs, and to purchase immunity and allegiance from them by grants of money. The Duke of Albany, Lord Stuart of Brechin, Lord Murdoch Stuart, Sir William Lindsay, Sir John Montgomery, and many others were parties to bonds of this character with the King.

In 1398, by reason of the infirmity or imbecility of King Robert III., Parliament appointed his oldest son, the Duke of Rothesay, as regent for three years, under the title of Lieutenant of the Kingdom. Rothesay's uncle, the Duke of Albany, plotted to destroy that prince, and in 1401 had him seized and imprisoned in the castle of Falkland, where he died of starvation. Albany then resumed his former position as Governor of the Kingdom.

The king's second son, James, then fourteen years of age, was sent to France for safety. He sailed in March, 1405, but his vessel was captured by an English ship, and he was carried to London and imprisoned in the Tower. Robert III. died April 4, 1406. Albany was elected as regent and continued to rule the kingdom until his death, in September, 1419. His son, Murdoch Stuart, then succeeded to the office of Governor.

King James remained a prisoner in England until 1424, when, Scotland having agreed to pay for his ransom the sum of 40,000 pounds, he was permitted to return.

James I. entered Scotland on April 1, 1424, and was crowned king at Scone on the 21st day of the following month. He immediately began to lay plans for breaking the power of the nobles, and within a year proceeded to carry them into execution.

He assembled a Parliament at Perth, March 12, 1425. For eight days it was engaged in passing laws designed to restrain the nobles. On the ninth day the Duke of Albany was seized and imprisoned, with many of the chief nobles. A court was held at Stirling on the 24th of May. Walter Stuart, the eldest son of the Duke of Albany, was accused of robbery, convicted, condemned, and beheaded. The next day, Albany himself, with his second son and the Earl of Lennox, was tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed.

In 1427, James, having restored order in the Lowlands, proceeded north to Inverness, where he summoned the Lord of the Isles and fifty of the Highland chiefs to attend his Parliament. They attended, were instantly seized and imprisoned, and many of them were executed. The Lord of the Isles, having made submission, was released. But immediately after the departure of the king he revolted, and attacked Inverness. The king returned, fought and defeated him in Lochaber, and kept up such a vigorous warfare against him that the insurgent was obliged to surrender. In 1429 he was imprisoned in the castle of Tantallon.

James sought to restrain his nobles from oppressing the people, to make them more dependent upon the Crown, and to rule the kingdom through Parliament. In his short reign Parliament was assembled fifteen times and over one hundred and sixty statutes were passed, many of them dealing with the reform of the administration of justice.

In 1431, James, continuing his purpose of reducing the power of the nobles, appropriated to the Crown certain lands which had been alienated by Albany; and in 1435 confiscated the estates of the Earl of March, whose title was tainted on account of his father's treason. The dispossessed earl and his family retired to England.

About this time, Duncan Stuart, Earl of Mar, died, and his estates were seized by the Crown, on the ground of his illegitimacy. The Scottish nobles were now alarmed and enraged at the proceedings of the king. They formed a plot to murder him. The chief actor in the conspiracy was one Sir Robert Graham. He had once proposed in open Parliament that the king be seized and put into confinement; and he suffered the loss of all his lands as a punishment. Graham's partners in this plot were Walter Stuart, Earl of Athole, a son of Robert II., and Robert Stuart, a grandson of Athole's, who was then chamberlain to the king.

The Court had gone to hold Christmas at Perth, in the Monastery of the Dominicans, or Black Friars. Here, about midnight, on February 20, 1437, the king prepared to retire to rest. He was standing at the fire in his gown, talking with the queen and the other ladies, who had not yet withdrawn.

Stuart, the false chamberlain, had removed the bolts of the doors, which made communication in the interior of the building easy.

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When about to retire, James "harkyned and hard grete noise without, and grete clateryng of harnych, and men armyd, with grete sight of torches. And, sodenly, the Quene, with all the other ladis and gentilwomen, rane to the chaumber dure, and fonde hit opyne; and they wold have shutt hit, but the lokes wer so blundrid that thay nethir cowth ne myght shutt hit." The king besought the women to obstruct all entrance as long as they were able. Running to the window he found that it was too strongly barred by iron rods to permit of egress. He then seized the fire tongs, pried up a flag-stone, and descended to a private vault beneath the floor. The assassins rushed through the halls, fearing their victim had escaped. But one, Thomas Chambers, who was familiar with the building, remembered the vault, and going to the place, saw that the floor had been newly broken. Raising the flagging and holding his torch down into the vault, he descried the king. Sir John Hall, knife in hand, leaped down into the vault, and was followed by his brother, but the king overpowered them both by main strength, and threw them beneath his feet. Sir Robert Graham followed the Halls, with drawn sword. The king, now much weakened by his struggles with the others, begged for mercy, or at least for a confessor. Graham denounced him as a tyrant, and passed his weapon through the king's body, adding, "Thou shalt never have other confessor but this same sword." The two Halls then stabbed him repeatedly as he lay prostrate. Thus perished the ablest and best king of all the Stuart line.

Within forty days from the time of James's death, his murderers were all captured and barbarously executed. Athole's punishment was continued for three days. On the first day, he was put into a cart containing a high crane, with ropes passing through pulleys and tied to his body; so that being hoisted up, and suddenly allowed to fall, without reaching the floor of the cart, he was racked with intolerable pains. Then he was placed in a pillory, and a red-hot iron crown was set upon his head. The next day, he was bound upon a hurdle, and drawn at a horse's tail through the principal streets of Edinburgh. The third day, he was bound upon a plank in a conspicuous place, and his bowels being cut out whilst he was yet alive, were cast into a fire and burned before his face; as was also his heart. Then his head was taken off and exposed to public view, being set upon a pole in the highest part of the city. Robert Graham, the actual murderer, was carried in a cart through the town of Stirling, his right hand nailed to a gallows post that had been set up in the cart. Then the hangman took Graham's sword, and with it cut off the offending hand. Stripped naked and still fastened to the gallows, he was again driven through the streets, accompanied by two executioners, who continually ran red-hot iron spikes into his thighs, shoulders, and other least vital parts, and with red-hot pincers burned and tore the flesh until his body was a mass of charred and bleeding wounds.

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