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LIBRARY
THE
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND,
FROM THE
ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER III. TO
THE UNION.
BY
PATRICK FRASER TYTLER,
F.R.S.E. AND F.A.S.
NEW EDITION.
IN TEN VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM P. N I M M
1866.
MURRAY AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
CHAP. I.
ROBERT THE SECOND.
1370-1390.
Page
Accession of Robert the Second, 1
Unexpected opposition by the Earl of Douglas, ... ib.
Obscurity of the motives which guided him, ... 2
Spirited conduct of Sir Robert Erskine, and the Earls of March
and Moray, ib.
Douglas renounces his opposition, ib.
Coronation of the king, 3
Indolent character of the new monarch, .... 4
Situation of the country, 5
Condition of England, 6
Same subject continued, 7
Scotland enters into a new treaty with France, ... 8
Symptoms of hostility on the part of England, ... 9
Parliament held at Scone, March 2, 1371, . . . 10
Death of the Black Prince, 11
And of Edward Third, ib.
Causes of animosity between the two countries, . . . 12
The Earl of March sacks and burns the town of Roxburgh, 13
The Borderers fly to arms, ib.
Warden raid by Hotspur, 14
Singular dispersion of the English army, . . . . ib.
Mercer, a Scottish naval adventurer, infests the English shipping, IT
The fleet consists of Scottish, French, and Spanish privateers, ib.
Mercer is taken by Philpot, a London merchant, . . 16
Observations on the mutual situation of the two countries, ib
634.00
VJ CONTENTS
Perpetual infringements of the truce, 17
Berwick taken by Sir Alexander Ramsay, .... ib.
Retaken by the Earl of Northumberland, . . . . 18
Conflict between Sir Archibald Douglas and Sir Thomas Musgrave, ib.
Invasion of Scotland by John of Gaunt, . . . . 19
Cessation of hostilities, ib.
Insurrection of Tyler, during which the Earl of Lancaster finds
a retreat in Scotland, 20
New treaty with France, ib.
Truce with England expires, and war recommences, . . 21
John of Gaunt again invades Scotland, .... ib.
He advances to Edinburgh, ib.
Truce between France and England notified in Scotland, . 22
A party of French knights arrive in Scotland, and Lancaster
retreats to England, ib.
The king desirous for peace, but the nobles determine to continue
the war, 23
They break the truce and invade England, .... ib.
Parliament meets at Edinburgh, 24
Its various provisions, 25
Same subject continued, ....... 26
Expedition of John de Vienne, admiral of France, into Scotland, 27
The French determine to attack England at the same time by sea, 28
Vienne's fleet arrives in Scotland, 29
Difficulty of finding them quarters — discontent of the Scots, ib.
Scottish peasantry rise against them, 30
Scottish king arrives at Edinburgh, ib.
He is anxious for peace, but is overruled, .... 31
An army of thirty thousand horse assembled near Edinburgh, ib.
Council of war, and regulations for the conduct of the army, ib.
Commencement of the campaign, 32
King of England assembles a great army, .... 33
Tactics of the Scots and French, 34
Disadvantages under which the English made war in Scotland, ib.
Discontent of the French, in not being allowed to fight, . 35
Anecdote of Vienne and Douglas, ib.
Richard the Second pushes on to the capital, ... ib.
Devastations committed by the English, .... ib.
Edinburgh burnt, ........ ib.
Dreadful distress of the army, ...... 36
Richard compelled to retreat, ...... ib.
Scots and French break into England by the western marches, ib.
CONTENTS. VU
Page
Ravage Cumberland, 36
Return to Scotland, 37
Discontent of the Scots, who refuse to furnish transports for the
French, ib.
Miserable condition of the army of Vienne, .... 38
The French admiral at length obliges himself to pay all da-
mages, and his knights are allowed to return, . . ib.
Reflections upon the expedition, 39
Continuation of the war, and invasion of England, . , 40
Scottish descent upon Ireland, ...... 41
Character of Sir William Douglas, ib.
He assaults and plunders Carlingford, and ravages the Isle of Man, 42
Lands at Lochryan, and joins his father and the Earl of Fife in
the west of England, ib.
Great invasion of England determined on in a parliament held
at Edinburgh, • . . 43
Description of the army, ib.
Plan of the campaign, ib.
Army separates into two divisions, 44
Second division, under the Earl of Douglas, pushes on to Durham, ib.
Hotspur and the barons of Northumberland assemble their
power, and occupy Newcastle, 45
The Scots present themselves before the town, ... ib.
Skirmish between the knights, in which Douglas wins the pennon
of Hotspur, 46
Defiance of Hotspur, * ib.
The Scots are sufiered to continue their retreat, ... ib.
Encamp in Redesdale, near Otterburn, .... 47
Douglas prevails on the Scottish barons to interrupt their retreat,
and assault the castle of Otterburn, .... ib.
His motives for this, ib.
His judicious choice of the ground, ib*
Hotspur pursues Douglas at the head of eight thousand foot
and six hundred lances, 48
Battle of Otterburn, and death of Douglas, .... 49
English totally defeated — captivity of Hotspur, ... 50
Reflections upon the battle, 51
Causes of the defeat of the English, ib.
Distinguished prisoners, 52
No important consequences result from this defeat, . . 53
State of Scotland — age and infirmities of the king, . . 54
The Earl of Fife chosen regent — ^his character, ... ib.
Vlll CONTENTS.
Pag:8
His injudicious administration,
55
Three years' truce,
56
Death of Robert the Second,
ib.
Ilis character,
ib.
Commerce of Scotland,
57
CHAP. II.
ROBERT THE THIRD.
1390-1424.
Coronation of John earl of Carrick, 59
He assumes the name of Robert the Third, ... ib.
Character of the new king, 60
State of the country, ib.
Earls of Fife and Buchan, their great power, . . . 61
Anecdote illustrative of the times, 62
Indolence of the king — intrusts the Earl of Fife with the man-
agement of the government, 63
Mutual situation of the two countries, . . . ' ib.
Truce of eight years, 64
Atrocious conduct of the Earl of Buchan, .... ib.
His natural son, Duncan Stewart, ravages Aberdeenshire, . ib.
Combat at Gasklune — the ketherans defeat the lowland barons, 65
Disorganized state of the country, ..... 66
Combat on the North Inch of Perth between the clan Kay and
the clan Quhete, ■ . . 67
Its results, 68
Government of the northern parts of the kingdom committed
to the king's eldest son, David earl of Carrick, . . ib.
State of the two countries, ib.
Prevalence of chivalry and knight-errantry, ... 69
Anecdotes connected with this, ..... 70
Parliament at Perth, April 28, 1398, .... 71
David earl of Carrick, created Duke of Rothesay, . . ib.
His character, 72
Bands entered into between the king and his nobles, . ib.
Same subject, * 73
Observations on the state of the country. . . , . 74
CONTENTS.
IX
Albany resigns the office of governor,
Parliament held at Perth, January 27, 1398,
Its proceedings,
Duke of Rothesay made king's lieutenant, and a council ap
pointed to advise him, . * . . .
Further proceedings of the parliament.
Same subject continued,
Accession of Henry the Fourth, and reported murder of Kin
Richard,
Revolution in England, and deposition of Richard the Second
Reports arise that Richard is still alive,
A real or pretended Richard appears in Scotland,
Situation of that country,
Contentions between the Earls of March and Douglas, regard
ing the marriage of the Duke of Rothesay, .
Rothesay is married to Elizabeth Douglas,
The Earl of March enters into a correspondence with England,
Flies to the English court,
Borderers recommence their ravages, ....
March, along with Hotspur, invades Scotland,
Expedition of Henry the Fourth into Scotland,
Details of this invasion,
Henry's moderation,
Same subject continued,
Meeting of the Scottish parliament, February 21, 1401,
Its proceedings,
Same subject continued,
Wild and reckless character of the Duke of Rothesay,
Contrast between his character and that of his uncle Albany
Death of the queen and the Earl of Douglas,
Intrigues of Sir John de Ramorgny, ....
Character of this intimate of the prince,
Albany and Ramorgny form a plot for the destr action of the
prince,
He is murdered by their contrivance,
Conduct of the Scottish parliament, ...
Albany resumes his situation as governor,
Conflict at Nesbit Moor — Scots defeated,
Scots invade England, ......
Battle of Homildon Hill,
Scots entirely defeated, ......
Causes of this,
Page
75
ib.
76
ib.
77
78
80
79
81
82
ib.
83
84
ib.
ib.
ib.
86
ib.
87
ib.
88
89
90
91
101
102
103
104
ib.
105
106
108
ib.
109
110
112
114
115
X CONTENTS.
Page
Events which followed the defeat, 116
Cruelty of Hotspur, . 117
Conspiracy of the Percies, . . . . . . 118
Its connexion with Scotland, . . . . . . 119
Battle of Shrewsbury, 120
Able conduct of the Earl of March, 121
Death of Hotspur, 122
The Duke of Albany retreats, ib.
Murder of Sir Malcolm Drummond, 123
Alexander Stewart seizes Kildrummie, and marries the Coun-
tess of Mar, ib.
Extraordinary proceedings at the castle of Kildrummie, . 124
State of Scotland, 125
The heir of the throne is committed to the charge of the Bishop
of St Andrews, 126
Effects of the captivity of the nobles on the state of the country, ib.
Reports that Richard the Second is kept in Scotland, . 127
Conspiracy of the Countess of Oxford, . . . . 128
Conspiracy of Scrope and Northumberland, . . . 129
Scrope and Mowbray seized and beheaded, . . . 130
Percy and Lord Bardolf fly into Scotland, ... ib.
Albany's administration becomes unpopular with some of the
nobles, 131
They determine to send the heir of the throne to France, . 1 32
The prince on his passage is treacherously captured by the
English, 133
And confined in the Tower, ib.
Albany's satisfaction at this event, ib.
Skirmish at Lang-Hermandston, and death of Sir David
Fleming, 134
Death of Robert the Third, 135
Character of this monarch, ib.
Meeting of the parliament at Perth, 137
Declaration that James the First is king, and nomination of the
Duke of Albany as regent, ib.
Political condition of the country in its relations with France
and England, ib.
Piracies of the English cruisers, . . . . . 1 38
Scots retaliate under Logan, but are defeated, . . . 139
Stewart earl of Mar becomes a naval adventurer, . . ib.
The Earls of Douglas and March return to Scotland, . 140
Doctrines of Wickliff appear in Scotland, . . . . 141
CONTENTS.
XI
History and fate of John Resby,
He is burnt for heresy,
Consequences of this persecution, .....
Expiration of the truce, .......
Teviotdale Borderers recommence hostilities,
Henry the Fourth complains of the Earl of Douglas neglecting
to return to his captivity,
Douglas is finally ransomed,
Fast castle taken, and Roxburgh burnt by the Scots,
Sir Robert Umfraville, admiral of England, seizes fourteen
Scottish ships, and ravages the country.
Rebellion of the Lord of the Isles,
Causes of his discontent, ....
Assembles his army at Inverness, and ravages Moray,
The Earl of Mar advances against him,
Great battle at Harlaw,
Particulars of the battle,
Severe loss of the lowlanders, ....
Lord of the Isles retires,
Statute in favour of the heirs of those slain at Harlaw,
Albany's northern expedition, ....
His negotiations for the return of his son from captivity.
Death of Henry the Fourth, . . , .
Policy of England to maintain pacific relations with Scot-
land,
Foundation of the University of St Andrews,
Same subject,
Policy of Henry the Fifth with regard to Scotland,
Albany's profligate administration,
He procures the return of his son Murdoch,
And succeeds in detaining James the First in captivity.
Resolves to assist France, and to invade England,
Parallel between the policy of Edward the Third and
the Fifth, as to Scotland, ....
Albany sacrifices the national happiness to his own ambition.
His expedition into England, called the " Foul Raid,"
Exploits of Sir Robert Umfraville,
Embassy of the Duke of Vendome to Scotland,
Seven thousand Scots sent to France under the Earls of Buchan
and Wigtown,
Albany the governor dies at Stirling,
His character,
Henry
Page
141
142
ib.
143
ib.
144
ib.
145
ib.
146
ib.
148
149
150
ib.
151
ib.
152
153
154
ib.
ib.
155
156
157
158
159
ib.
160
16i
162
163
ib.
164
ib.
ib.
165
XII
CONTENTS.
Page
His son Murdoch succeeds to his power, and assumes the office
of governor, 165
His weak administration, ib.
Henry the Fifth carries James the First with him to France, 166
James refuses to command the Scots auxiliaries to cease fight-
ing against the English, ...... ib.
Intrigues of James tlie First fur his return, and his communi-
cations with Scotland, ib.
Death of Henry the Fifth, 167
Regency of Bedford and Gloucester, ib.
Negotiations for the return of James the First, . . . 168
Marriage of James the First to the daughter of the Earl of
Somerset, 169
Seven years' truce, ib.
James returns to his dominions, 170
CHAP. III.
JAMES THE FIRST.
1424-1437.
Character of James the First, 171
Advantages of his education in England, .... 172
His coronation at Scone, 173
His caution in his first proceedings, 174
Assembles his parliament, ib.
Lords of the Articles, 175
Proceedings of the parliament, ib.
Proclamation against private wars and feuds, ... ib.
Against riding with too numerous an attendance, . . ib.
Appointment of oflicers or ministers of Justice, . . . 176
Laws against sturdy mendicants, ib.
Statutes regarding the "Great Customs," and the dilapidations
of the crown lands, 177
Tax upon the whole lands of the kingdom, . . . 178
Mode of its collection, 179
Same subject continued, . . . . . . , 180
Taxation of ecclesiastical lands, ...... ib.
State of the fisheries, 181
CONTENTS.
Xlll
IVIines of gold and silver,
Impolitic restrictions upon commerce,
Enactment against the purchase of pensions and ecclesiastical
benefices,
Against rookeries,
Statute for the encouragement of archery, .
Reflections upon James's first parliament, . .
His measures for the destruction of the house of Albany,
Difficulty of tracing his project, ....
Mode in which he proceeds against Murdoch and the princi-
pal nobles,
Parliament summoned to meet at Perth, March 12, 1424,
James imprisons Duke Murdoch, along with twenty-six of the
principal nobility,
Possesses himself of the strongest castles in the country.
Trial and condemnation of Walter Stewart, eldest son of Al
bany,
He is executed,
Trials of the Duke of Albany, Alexander his second son, and
the Earl of Lennox,
They are condemned and executed, ....
Their fate excites pity,
James's unnecessary cruelty,
Forfeiture of the estates of Albany and Lennox,
The imprisoned nobles are liberated, ....
Deliberations of the parliament proceed.
Symptoms of the decay of the forest timber.
Regulations concerning commerce, ....
Administration of justice,
Striking statute as to the dispensing justice " to the poor,'
State of the highlands,
Statutes against the growth of heresy,
Reflections upon this subject,
Reflections upon the destruction of the house of Albany,
The queen is delivered of a daughter,
Projected marriage between the Dauphin of France and the
infant princess,
State of France, .......
Embassy of the Archbishop of Rheims and the Lord Aubigny
to Scotland,
Embassy from the court of Scotland to France, .
Embassy from the States of Flanders to Scotland,
Page
182
183
184
ib.
185
186
187
ib.
188
189
190
ib.
191
192
ib.
193
ib.
194
195
ib.
ib.
196
ib.
197
ib.
198
ib.
199
200
201
202
ib.
ib.
203
204
XIV CONTENTS.
Page
James procures ample privileges for the Scottish merchants
who trade to Flanders, 204
The king and nobles of Scotland engage in commercial adven-
ture, ib
Tax of twelve pennies upon every pound, .... 205
Rude estimate of the annual income of the people of Scotland, ib.
Meeting of the parliament at Perth, March 11, 1425, . 206
Picture of the condition of the country, conveyed by its regu-
lations, ib.
Institution of the " Session," 207
Register for all charters and infeftments, .... ib.
Committee appointed to examine the books of the law, . 208
Directions for the transcription and promulgation of the acts
of the legislature, 209
Defence of the country, . ib.
Commerce of the country, 210
Singular statute as to hostillars, or innkeepers, . . . 211
Regulations of weights and measures, .... 212
James concludes a treaty with Denmark, . . . . 213
He determines in person to bring his northern dominions under
legitimate rule, ib.
Summons his parliament to meet at Inverness, . . . 214
Condition of the highlands, ib.
Same subject continued, 215
James repairs in person to Inverness, ib.
His seizure of the northern chiefs, 216
Some are instantly executed, 217
James's clemency to the Lord of the Isles, . . . ib.
Rebellion of this prince, 218
James's active measures against him, ..... ib.
Alexander's penance, 219
James imprisons the Lord of the Isles in Tantallon castle, . ib.
The Countess of Ross, his mother, confined'in the monastery
of Inchcolm, ib.
Anecdote illustrative of the disordered state of the highlands, 220
Same subject continued, 221
The king again assembles his parliament, .... 222
Provisions against the barons sending procurators to attend
in their place, ........ ib.
Indications of James's government becoming unpopular, . 223
Statutes regarding the prices of work, .... ib.
And the encouragement of agriculture, .... ib.
CONTENTS. XV
Rebuilding of the castles beyond the " Mounth," . . . 224
Against carrying the gold out of the country, ... lb.
Regarding judges and the administration of justice, . . 225
Important change as to the attendance of the smaller barons
in parliament, 226
Principle of representation introduced, .... ib.
Speaker of the commissaries, ib.
Reflections on this change, and the causes of its introduction, 227
Statutes regarding the destruction of wolves, . . . 228
Regarding the fisheries, ib.
Foreign commerce, ib.
Lepers, ib.
Against simony, or " Barratrie," 229
Prices of labour, .....*.. ib.
This meeting of the three Estates denominated a General
Council, 230
Difficult to understand the distinction between a Parliament
and a General Council, ib.
Embassy of the Archbishop of Rheims to Scotland, . . 231
Conditions of the marriage between the Princess Margaret
and the Dauphin finally agreed on, .... ib.
Cardinal Beaufort requests a meeting with James, which is
declined, 232
Benevolent law as to the labourers of the soil, ... ib.
Sumptuary laws as to dress, 233
Laws as to the arming of the lieges, 234
Arms of gentlemen, ib.
Of yeomen, * ib.
Of burgesses, ib.
State of the navy, 235
Tax of providing vessels laid on barons possessing lands within
six miles of the sea, ib.
The queen is delivered of twin sons, 236
Truce between the kingdoms renewed for five years, . . ib.
State of the highlands, 237
Rebellion of Donald Balloch, ib.
He defeats the Earl of Mar at Inverlochy, .... ib.
Desperate combat between Angus Dow Mackay and Angus
Murray, at Strathnaver, 238
The king assembles an army, and undertakes an expedition
into the highlands, . • 239
Three hundred robbers hanged, ib.
XVI CONTENTS.
Page
Donald Balloch betrayed, and his head sent to James, . 239
Pestilence breaks out, 240
Its symptoms — and effects on the popular mind, ... ib.
Total eclipse of the sun, called the " Black Hour," . . 241
Advantageous offers of the English government for the estab-
lishment of peace, ib.
The Estates of the realm meet in a General Council, . . ib.
The treaty, to which the temporal barons had consented, un-
fortunately is broken off by disputes amongst the clergy, 242
Trial and condemnation of Paul Crawar for heresy, . . ib.
His doctrines, 243
Conduct of the king, 244
James pursues his plan for weakening the aristocracy, . 245
His designs against the Earl of Dunbar, .... ib.
He determines to resume the immense estates of March, . 246
Parliament assembled at Perth, January 10, 1434, . . 247
The cause between the king and the Earl of March solemnly
pleaded, 248
March is deprived of his estates, ib.
He is created Earl of Buchan, 249
And retires in resentment to England, .... ib.
Before separating, James requires the barons to give their
bonds of adherence and fidelity to the queen, . . 250
The king acquires the large estates of Alexander earl of
Mar, on the death of this baron, ib.
Sir Robert Ogle invades the Scottish marches, . . , 251
He is defeated at Piperden by the Earl of Angus, . . ib.
The Princess ISIargaret sent to France with a splendid suite, ib.
The English attempt to interrupt her, but are unsuccessful, 252
The king deeply resents this, ib.
The marriage is celebrated at Tours, 253
King James renews the war, and lays siege to Roxburgh, ib.
He abruptly dismisses his forces, 254
Assembles a General Council at Edinburgh, ... ib.
Its provisions, 255
Conspiracy formed against the king by Sir Robert Graham
and the Earl of Athole, ib.
Character of Graham, ib.
Probable causes of the conspiracy, 256
The nobles readily enter into Graham's designs, . . 257
Their object merely to abridge the royal prerogative, . . ib.
They select Graham to present their remonstrances to the king, 258
CONTENTS. XVll
Page
He exceeds his commission, and is imprisoned, . . . 268
He is afterwards banished, and his estates confiscated, . ib.
Retires to the highlands, and sends to James a letter of defiance, 259
James fixes a price upon his head, ib.
Graham communicates with the discontented nobles, . . ib.
Induces the Earl of Athole and Sir Robert Stewart to conspire
against the king, 260
James determines to keep his Christmas at Perth, . . 261
Facilities which this afibrds to the conspirators, . . ib.
Stopt on his journey by a highland woman, ... ib.
Neglects her warning, ib.
Conspirators determine to murder the king on the night of 20th
February, 262
Sir Robert Stewart, the chamberlain, removes the bolts of the
king's bed-chamber, ib.
James unusually cheerful, ib.
Heroic conduct of Catherine Douglas, 264
The murder, 265
James makes a desperate resistance, ..... 266
He is overpowered and slain, 267
The murderers escape to the highlands, .... ib.
But are soon taken, 268
They are tortured and executed, ib.
Audacious defence of Sir Robert Graham, .... 269
Character of James the First, ' 270
Prominent features in his reign, 271
Causes which produced his inexorable firmness and occasional
cruelty, 272
His conduct towards the house of Albany, .... ib.
His encouragement of his clergy, 273
His personal accomplishments, 274
And excellence in all knightly exercises, .... ib.
His children, 275
END OF THE REIGN OF JAKES THE FIRST.
VOL. IIT.
XVIU
CONTENTS.
HISTORICAL REMARKS
ON THE
DEATH OF RICHARD THE SECOND.
Obscurity which hangs over the accounts of Richard's death, 279
Reports of his having escaped to Scotland, .... ib.
Statement of the author's views on this point, . . . 280
Proofs of his escape to Scotland, ib.
Evidence of Bower, ib.
Same subject, 281
Evidence of Winton, 283
Same subject continued, 284
Opinion as to Winton's testimony, 285
His caution accounted for, ib.
Corroborations of his evidence as to Swlnburn and Waterton, 286
Proofs from a MS. in Advocates' Library, .... 288
Conclusions from the above evidence, 289
Passages from the Chamberlain Accounts, .... ib.
Same subject, 290
Their unquestionable authenticity, ib.
Inferences to be deduced from them, ... . . . 291
Proofs from contemporary English writers, .... ib.
From Walsingham, 292
From Otterburn, ib.
From a contemporary French MS., 293
Chronicle of Kenilworth, ib.
Of Peter de Ickham, ib.
Assertions of the king's escape by contemporary writers, . 294
Conspiracy of the Earls of Kent, Surrey, and Salisbury, . ib.
Passage as to Maudelain personating the king, . . . 295
Observations on this, 296
Richard's reported death at Pontefract, .... 298
Exposition of the body, and funeral service at St Paul's, . 299
Passage descriptive of the ceremony, from a contemporary
French MS., ib.
Observations upon this, 300
Assertions in a contemporary French MS. that it was not the
body of the king, ib.
CONTENTS. XIX
Page
But of Maudelain the priest, 301
Arguments to show it was not the body of the king which was
exposed, 302
Burial at Langley, 303
Froissart's account of Richard's deposition extremely inaccurate, 304
Reports of Richard's escape, which arose soon after this expo-
sition, ib.
Frequent conspiracies against Henry, always accompanied with
the assertion that Richard is alive, .... ib.
Eight Franciscan friars hanged in London for asserting this, 305
Prior of Launde executed for the same offence, ... ib.
And Sir Roger de Clarendon, ib.
Proofs of this from Henry's proclamations in the Fcedera Anglise, ib.
Reports in 1402, . 306
Rebellion of the Percies in 1403, 307
Evidence in their letter of defiance in 1403, contradicted by
their manifesto in 1405, 308
Conspiracy of Serle and the Countess of Oxford in 1404, . 309
Opinion as to Serle having procured Warde to personate the
king, ib.
Henry's assertion not to be credited — contradicted by the
silence of Walsingham and Otterburn, . . . 310
Proofs from the conduct of Henry after this conspiracy, . 311
King believed to be alive by the French, .... ib.
Epistle by Creton, addressed to Richard in 1405, . . 312
Conspiracy of Scrope and Northumberland in 1405, . . 313
Proofs from this conspiracy, ib.
Letter of Northumberland to the Duke of Orleans, . . 314
State of parties in Scotland at this time, .... 315
Same subject continued, 316
Prince James taken prisoner by the English, ... ib.
Consequences of Henry becoming possessed of James the First,
at the same time that Albany gets possession of Richard, 317
Conspiracy by Northumberland and Lord Bardolf in 1407, . 318
Suppression of this conspiracy, ib.
Conspiracy of the Earl of Cambridge and Lord Scroop, in 1415, 319
Proofs arising out of this conspiracy that Richard is alive, . 320
Evident contradiction and falsehood of the account given in the
Parliamentary Rolls, 321
Same subject, 322
Explanation of the real object of the conspirators, . . 323
Same subject, 324
XX CONTENTS
Page
Conspiracy of 1417, 325
Alleged plot of the Duke of Orleans to bring in the " Mamuet"
of Scotland, ib.
Evidence of Lord Cobham that Richard is alive in 1417, . 326
Observations on this evidence, 327
Conclusion, . . 328
Notes and Illustrations, 333
HISTORY
OF
SCOTLAND.
CHAP. I.
ROBERT THE SECOND.
1370—1890.
Kings of Eivjland. I K ings of France.
Kdward III. Charles V
Richard 11. I Charles VI.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Rome. (Popes.) Avignon.
Gregory XI. I
Urban Vl. Clement VII.
David the Second, the only son of Robert the First,
dying without children, the succession to the throne
opened to Robert the High Steward of Scotland, in
consequence of a solemn act of the parliament, which
had passed during the reign of his grandfather, Robert
the First, in the year 1318.* The High Steward was
the only child of the Lady INIarjory Bruce, the eldest
daughter of Robert the First, and of Walter the High
Steward of Scotland ; and his talents in discharging
the difficult duties of regent, had already shown him
to be worthy of the crown, to which his title was
unquestionable. Previous, however, to his coronation,
opposition arose from an unexpected quarter. William
earl of Douglas, one of the most powerful of the
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 290.
VOL. III. A
2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1370.
Scottish nobles, boino; at Linlitligow at tlie time of
the kiiig\s deatli, publicly proclaimed his intention of
(questioning the title of the Steward to the throne ;
but the motives which induced him to adopt so pre-
cipitate a resolution arc exceedingly obscure. It is
certain that Douirlas could not himself lav claim to the
throne upon any title preferable to that of Robert ;
but that the common story of his uniting in his per-
son the claims of Comyu and of Baliol is entirely
erroneous, seems not so apparent.* Some affront,
real or imaginary, by which offence was given to the
pride of this potent baron, was probably the cause of
this hasty resolution, which, in whatever feeling it
originated, was abandoned as precipitately as it was
adopted. Sir Robert Erskine, who, in the former
reign, had risen into great power, and then commanded
the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton,
instantly advanced to Linlithsrow at the head of a
large force. He was there joined by the Earls of
March and Moray ; and a conference having taken
place with Douglas, he deemed it prudent to declare
himself satisfied with their arguments, and ready to
acknowledo'e a title which he discovered he had not
strength to dispute. ■[- It was judged expedient, how-
ever, to conciliate so warlike and influential a person
as Douglas, and to secure his services for the support
of the new government. For this purpose the king"'s
daughter, Isabella, was promised in marriage to his
eldest son, upon whom an annual pension was settled;
and the earl himself was promoted to the high offices
* The story is to be found in Bower, the continuator of Fordun, vol. ii.
p. 382 ; and in the MS. work, entitled, Extracta ex Chronicis Scotia?, fol.
22.5, It was repeated by Buchanan, attempted to be proved to be erroneous
bv the learned Ruddiman, and again revived l)y Pinkerton, in his History
of Scotland, vol. i. p. 10. See Illustrations, letter A,
+ AVintou, vol. ii. pp. SO-i and 514.
1371. ROBERT II. 3
of King's Justiciar on the south of the Forth, and
Warden of the East Marches.* To the rest of the
barons and nobles who supported him, the High
Steward was equally generous. The promptitude of
Sir Robert Erskine was rewarded by the gift of three
hundred and thirty-three pounds, an immense present
for that time ; whilst the services of March and Moray,
and of Sir Thomas Erskine, were proportionably ac-
knowledged and requited. i"
This threatened storm having passed, the Hioli
Steward, accompanied by a splendid concourse of his
nobility, proceeded to the Abbey of Scone, and was
there crowned and anointed king, on the 26th of
March, 1371, by the Bishop of St Andrews, under
the title of Robert the Second. J To confer greater
solemnity on this transaction, w^hich gave a new race
of monarchs to the throne, the act of settlement by
Robert the First was publicly read ; after which, the
assembled prelates and nobles, rising in their places,
separately took their oaths of homage. The king him-
self then stood up, and declaring that he judged it
right to imitate the example of his illustrious grand-
father, pronounced his eldest son, the Earl of Carrick
and Steward of Scotland, to be heir to the crown, in
the event of his own death. This nomination was
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 26. Ibid. pp. 9, 10,
+ Ibid. vol. ii, pp. 26, 27.
" Et in solucione facta Domino Willelmo Comiti de Douglas, circa con-
tractum matrimoniale inter tilium ipsius Comitis, et Isabellam tiliam regis,
ut patet per literas regis de predicto, et ipsius Comitis de re, ons^. super com-
putum, Vc. Ii:
" Et in soluc: facto dno, Robto. de Erskine et de dono regis concess: sibi
per literam ons. et cancellat. sr. compotum et ipsius Dni. Roberti de re. ons.
super computum 111°, xxxiii Ii. vi s. viii d."
X Robertson''s Records of the Parliament of Scotland, p. 119, sub anno
1371. It is there stated, that all the barons and prelates took the oaths
of homage, except the Bishop of Dumblane and Lord Archibald de Douglas,
who only took the oath of hdelity. Yet this seems contradicted by the " Act
of Settlement."
4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1371.
immediately and unanimously ratified by consent of
the clergy, nobility, and barons, who came forward
and took the same oaths of homage to the Earl of
Carrick, as their future king, which they had just
oft'ered to his father ; and upon proclamation of the
same being made before the assembled body of the
people, who crowded into the abbey to witness the
coronation, the resolution of the king was received by
continued shouts of loyalty, and the waving of thou-
sands of hands, which ratified the sentence. An in-
strument, reciting these proceedings, was then drawn
up, to which the principal nobles and clergy appended
their seals, and which is still preserved amongst our
national muniments : a venerable record, not seriously
impaired by the attrition of four centuries and a half,
and constituting the charter by which the house of
Stewart lon^: held their title to the crown.*
Robert the Hiofh Steward, who now succeeded to
the throne, had reached his fifty-fifth year, a period
of life wheu the approaches of age produce in most
men a love of repose, and a desire to escape from the
care and annoyance of public life. This effect was to
be seen in the character of the king. The military
and ambitious spirit, and the promptitude, resolution,
and activity which we observe in the High Steward
during his regency, had softened down into a more
pacific and quiet nature. He possessed strong good
sense, and a judgment in state affairs matured by ex-
perience; but united to this was a love of indolence and
retirement, little suited to the part which he had to act,
as head of a fierce and lawless feudal nobility, and the
* Robertson's Index to the Charters, Appendix, p. 11, " Clamore con-
6ono ac manu levata in signum fidei dationis." A fac-simile of this deed
lias been engraved, and will be found in the first volume of the Acts of the
Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1371.
1371. ROBERT II. 5
guardian of tlie liberty of the country, against the un-
remitting attacks of England. Yet, to balance this
inactivity of mind, Robert enjoyed some advantages.
He was surrounded by a family of sons grown to
manhood. The Earl of Carrick, Robert earl of Fife
afterwards Duke of Albany, and Alexander lord of
Badenoch, were born to him of his first marriage with
Elizabeth More, daughter to Sir Adam More of Row-
allan;* David earl of Strathern, and Walter lord of
Brechin, blest his second alliance with Euphemia Ross,
the widow of Randolph earl of Moray ; whilst seven
daughters connected him by marriage with the noble
families of the Earl of March, the Lord of the Isles,
Hay of Errol, Lindsay of Glenesk, Lyon, and Dou-
glas. To these legitimate supports of the throne
must be added, the strength which he derived from
a phalanx of eight natural sons, also grown to man''s
estate, and who, undepressed by a stain then little
regarded, held their place among the nobles of the
land.-f- Although, after his accession to the throne,
the king was little affected with the passion for mili-
tary renown, and thus lost somewhat of his popularity
amongst his subjects, he possessed other qualities
which endeared him to the people. He was easy of
access to the meanest suitor ; affable and pleasant in
his address ; and while possessing a person of a com-
manding stature and dignity, his manners were yet so
tempered by a graceful and unaffected humility, that
what the royal name lost in pomp and terror, it gained
in confidence and affection. ;J:
In the political situation of the country at this
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, p. 119, sub anno 1371.^
+ Duncan Stewarf s History of the Royal Family of iScotland, pp. 56,57, 58.
X Forduu a (jroodal, vol. ii. p. 383.
6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. KiTl.
period, there Avere some difliculties of a formidable
nature. A large portion of the ransom of David the
Second, amounting to fifty-two thousand marks, was
still unpaid ;* and if the nation had been reduced to
the brink of bankruptcy, by its efforts to raise the
^um already collected, the attempt to levy additional
instalments, or to impose new taxes, could not be
contemplated without alarm. The English were in
possession of a large portion of Annandale, in which
Edward continued to exercise all the rights of a feudal
sovereign ; they held, besides, the castles of Roxburgh
and Lochmaben, with the town and castle of Berwick ;-|-
so that the seeds of war and commotion, and the ma-
terials of national jealousy, were not removed ; and
however anxious the Enolish and Scottish wardens
might show themselves to preserve the truce, it was
scarcely to be expected that the fierce borderers of both
nations would be lonir controlled from breakinn^ out
into their accustomed disorders. In addition to these
adverse circumstances, the kingdom, during the years
immediately following the accession of Robert the
Second, was visited bv a irricvous scarcity. The whole
nobility of Scotland appear to have been supported
by grain imported from England and Ireland; and a
famine which fell so severely upon the higher classes,
must have been still more intensely experienced by the
great body of the people. J
But Scotland, although, as far as her political cir-
cumstances are considered, undoubtedly not in a pros-
perous condition, enjoyed a kind of negative security,
from the weakness of England. Edward the Third
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, suh anno 1371, p. 120.
t Rotuli Scotisc, vol. i. pp. 944, .047, .%1, 958, %'^, 965.
X Ibid. vol. i. pp. 963, 9(i5, 9G<), 967, 968. The evidence of the Rotuli
Scotite contradicts the assertions of Bower, vol. ii. Fordun a Goodal, p. 383.
1371. ROBERT II. 7
was no longer the victorious monarch of Cressy and
Poictiers. His celebrated son, the Black Prince, a
few years before this, had concluded his idle though
chivalrous expedition against Spain; and after having
been deceived by the monarch whom his valour had
restored to the throne, again returned to France,
drowned in debt, and broken in constitution. Prince
Lionel, whom Edward had hoped to make King of
Scotland, was lately dead in Italy, and still severer
calamities were behind. Charles the Fifth of France,
a sovereign of much wisdom and prudence, had com-
mitted the conduct of the war aojainst Enoland to the
Constable de Guesclin, a captain of the greatest skill
and courage; and Edward, embarrassed at the same
time with hostilities in Flanders and Spain, saw% with
deep mortification, the fairest provinces, which were
the fruits of his victories, either wrested from him by
force of arms, or silently lost, from inactivity and
neglect. In his attempts to defend those which re-
mained, and to regain what was lost, the necessity of
fitting out new armies called for immense sums of
money, which, though at first willingly granted by
parliament, weakened and impoverished the country;
and the loss of his greatest captains, his own feeble
health, and the mortal illness of the Black Prince,
rendered these armies unavailable, from the want of
experienced generals.
From this picture of the mutual situation of the
two countries, it may be imagined that both were well
aware of the benefits of remaining at peace. On the
part of Scotland, accordingly, it was determined to
respect the truce, which in 1369 had been prolonged
for a period of fourteen years, and to fulfil the obliga-
tions as to the punctual payment of the ransom ; whilst
8 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. lo7l.
England continued to encourage the commercial and
friendly intercourse which had subsisted under the
former monarch.* Yet, notwithstanding all this, two
events soon occurred, which must have convinced the
most superficial observer that the calm was fallacious,
and would be of short duration. The first of these
was a new treaty of amity with France, the determined
enemy of England, which was concluded by the Scot-
tish ambassadors, Wardlaw bishop of Glasgow, Sir
Archibald Douglas, and Tynninghame dean of Abei-
deen, at the castle of Vincennes, on the SOth June,
1371; in which, after an allusion to the ancient alli-
ances between France and Scotland, it w^as stipulated
that, in consideration of the frequent wrongs and in-
juries which had been sustained by both these realms
from England, they should be mutually bound, as
faithful allies, to assist each other against any aggres-
sion made by that country. After some provisions
calculated to prevent any subjects of the allied king-
doms from serving in the English armies, it was de-
clared that no truce was henceforth to be concluded,
nor any treaty of peace agreed on, by either kingdom,
in which the other was not included; and that in the
event of a competition at any time taking place for the
crown, the King of France should maintain the right
of that person who was approved by a majority of the
Scottish Estates, and defend his title if attacked bv
England. Such was the treaty, as it appears ratified
by the Scottish kins; at EdinburfT:h, on the 28th Octo-
ber, 1371 ;i* but at the same time certain secret articles
were proposed, upon the part of France, of a still more
decisive and hostile character. By these the French
* Rotuli Scotia', vol. i. sub, annis 1372, 1373,
T Kecords of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1371, pp. 122, 124.
1371. ROBERT II. f)
monarch engaged to persuade the pope to annul the
existing truce between England and Scotland; to pay
and supply with arms a large body of Scottish knights ;
and to send to Scotland an auxiliary force of a thou-
sand men-at-arms, to co-operate in a proposed invasion
of England. These articles, however, which would again
have plunged the kingdoms into all the horrors of war,
do not appear to have been ratified by Robert.*
The other event to which I allude, afforded an
equally conclusive evidence of the concealed hostility
of England. When Biggar, High Chamberlain of
Scotland, repaired to Berwick to pay into the hands
of the English commissioners a portion of the ransom
which was still due, it was found that the English
king, in his letters of discharge, had omitted to bestow
his royal title on Robert. The chamberlain, and the
Scottish lords who accompanied him, remonstrated in
vain against this unexpected circumstance. They
declared that they paid the ransom in the name and
by the orders of their master the King of Scotland;
and unless the dischart^e ran in the same stvle, it was
null, and could not be received. Edward, however,
continued obstinate: he replied, that if David Bruce
had been content to accept the discharge without the
addition of the kingly title, there was no good reason
why his successor should quarrel with it for this omis-
sion; and he drew up a deed declaring that the letter
complained of was, in every respect, as full and un-
challenoeable as if Robert had been therein desifrned
the King of Scotland. -[- With this the Scottish com-
missioners were obliged for the present to be satisfied;
and having paid the sum under protest, they returned
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1371, p. 122.
■^ Rotuli Scotite, vol- i. p. 953.
10 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. lo7l.
home, aware from what had passed, tliat however en-
feebled by his continental disasters, Edward still clung
to the idea that, in consequence of the resignation of
]3aliol, he himself possessed the title to the kingdom
of Scotland, and might yet live to make it good.*
Notwithstanding these threatening appearances, the
country continued for some years to enjoy the bless-
ings of peace ; and the interval was wisely occupied by
the sovereign in providing for the security of the suc-
cession to the crown; in regulating the expenses of
the royal household, by the advice of his privy coun-
cil ; in the enactment of wise and useful laws for the
administration of justice, and the punishment of op-
pression. For these purposes, a parliament was held
at Scone, on the 2d of March, 1371, and another meet-
ing of the Estates took place in April, 1373, in which
many improvements w^re introduced, and some abuses
corrected. -|- It seems at this period to have been cus-
tomary for the lords of the king''s council to avail
themselves of the advice of private persons, who sat
alon^r with them in deliberation, althous^h not elected
to that office. This practice was now abolished. She-
rilFs and other judges were prohibited from asking or
receiving presents from litigants of any part of the sum
or matter in dispute; several acts w^ere passed relative
to the punishment of murder, in its various degrees of
criminality; ketherans, or masterful beggars, were
declared not only liable to arrest, but, in case of resis-
tance, to be slain on the spot; and all malversation
by judges was pronounced cognizable by a jury, and
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, pp. 126, 127, sub anno 1372.
Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 3.
t Records of the Parliament of Scotland, p. 124. The parliament con-
sisted of the dignified clergy, the earls, barons, and free tenants in capite,
Avith certain burgesses summoned from each burgh.
1376. ROBERT IL 11
punishable at the king'^s pleasure. These enactments
point to a state of things in which it was evidently far
easier to make laws than to carry them into execution.*
In the meantime, England was visited with two
great calamities. Edward prince of AVales, commonly
called the Black Prince, to the universal resfret of the
nation, and even of his enemies, died at Westminster;
and his illustrious father, broken by the severity of
the stroke, and worn out with the fati^rues of war,
survived him scarcely a year. Anxious for the tran-
quillity of his kingdom, it had been his earnest wish
to conclude a peace with France; but even this was
denied him; and he died on the 1st of June, 1377,
leaving the reins of government to fall into the hands
of a boy of eleven years of age, the eldest son of the
Black Prince, who was crowned at Westminster, on
the 11th July, 1377, by the title of Richard the
Second. J]dward the Third was a monarch deservedly
beloved by his people, and distinguished for the wisdom
and the happy union of firmness and lenity which
marked his domestic administration ; but his passion
for conquest and military renown, which he gratified
at an immense expense of money and of human life,
whilst it served to throw that dano^erous and fictitious
splendour over his reign which is yet scarcely dissi-
pated, was undoubtedly destructive of the best and
highest interests of his kingdom. Nothing, indeed,
could afford a more striking lesson on the vanity of
foreign conquest, and the emptiness of human gran-
deur, than the circumstances in which he died: stript
of the fairest provinces which had been the fruit of his
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, pp. 124, 125, sub anno 1371. A
parliament was held by Robert the Second at Scone, on the 3d of April, 1373,
of Avhich an important document has been preserved, touching the succession
to the crown. Ibid, sub anno 1373.
12 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1377.
victories, the survivor of liis brave son and liis best
captains, and at last pilla2,ed and deserted in his last
moments bv his faithless mistress and unij-rateful do-
mestics. His death delivered Scotland for the time
from apprehension, and weakened in a great measure
those causes of suspicion and distrust which have
already been described.
But, although the action of these was suspended,
there were other subjects of mutual irritation, which
could not be so easily removed. The feudal system,
which then existed in full vigour in Scotland, con-
tained within itself materials the very reverse of pa-
cific. The power of the barons had been decidedly
increasing since the days of Robert the First; the
right of private war was exercised by them in its full
extent; and, on the slightest insult or injury offered
to one of their vassals by the English Wardens of the
Border, they were ready to take the law into their own
hands, and, at the head of a force, which for the time
defied all resistance, to invade the country, and inflict
a dreadful vengeance. In this manner, the king was
frequently drawn in to support, or at least to connive
at, the atrocities of a subject too powerful for him to
control or resist; and a spark of individual malice or
private revenge would kindle those materials, which
were ever ready to be inflamed, into the wide confla-
jrration of a ij-eneral war.
The truth of these remarks was soon shown. At
the fair of Roxburgh, a gentleman, belonging to the
bedchamber of the Earl of March, was slain in a brawl
by the English, who then held the castle in their hands,
^larch, a grandson of tlie great Randolph, was one of
the most powerful of the Scottish nobles. He instantly
demanded redress, adding, that, if it was not given, he
1377. ROBERT II. 13
would not continue to respect the truce; but his repre-
sentation was treated with scorn, and, as the earl did
not reply, it was imagined he had forgotten the aiOfront.
Time passed on, and the feast of St Laurence arrived,
which w^as the season for the next fair to be held, when
the town was again filled with the English, who, in
unsuspicious security, had taken up their residence for
the purposes of traffic or pleasure. Early in the morn-
ing, JNlarch, at the head of an armed force, surprised
and stormed the town, set it on fire, and commenced
a pitiless slaughter of the English, sparing neither age
nor infancy. Many who barricaded themselves in the
booths and houses, were drasr^ed into the streets and
murdered, or met a more dreadful death in the flames ;
and the earl, at his leisure, drew off his followers,
enriched wdth plunder, and glutted with revenge.*
This atrocious attack proved the commencement of
a series of hostilities, which, although unauthorized by
either government, were carried on with obstinate and
s^^stematic cruelty. The English borderers flew to
arms, and broke in upon the lands of Sir John Gordon,
one of March''s principal assistants in the recent attack
upon Roxburgh. Gordon, in return, having collected
his vassals, invaded England, and carried away a large
booty in cattle and prisoners ; but, before he could
cross the Border, was attacked in a mountain-pass by
Sir John Lilburn, at tlie head of a bodv of kni<xhts
and men-at-arms, double the number of the Scots.
The skirmish was one of great obstinacy, and consti-
tuted what Froissart delights in describins: as a fair
point of arms, in which there were many empty saddles,
and many torn and trampled banners ; but, although
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 3o4. "NVinton, vol. ii. p. 306. Walsingham,
p. 108.
14 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1377.
grievously wouiulcd, Gordon made good liis retreat,
took Lilburii prisoner, and secured his plunder.*
This last insult called down the wrath of the English
warden, Henry Percy earl of Northumberland, who,
loudly accusing the Scots of despising the truce, at
the head of an army of seven thousand men, broke
across the Border, and encamped near Dunso, with
the design of laying waste the extensive possessions of
the Earl of March, which were situated in that quarter.
But this " Warden Raid," which involved such great
preparations, ended in a very ridiculous manner. The
great proportion of the English consisted of knights
and men-at-arms, whose horses were picketed on the
outside of the encampment, under the charge of the
sutlers and camp-boys, whilst their masters slept on
their arms in the centre. It w^as one of the injunc-
tions of the good King Robert's testament, to alarm
the encampments of the English
" By wiles and wakening in the nyclit,
/ And meikil noise made on hyclit ;i"
and in this instance Percy suffered under its success.
At the dead of night, his position was surrounded, not
by an army, but by a multitude of the common serfs
and varlets, who were armed only with the rattles
which they used in driving away the wild beasts from
their flocks ; and such was the consternation produced
amongst the horses and their keepers, by the sounding
of the rattles, and the yells and shouting of the
assailants, whose numbers were magnified by the dark-
ness, that all was thrown into disorder. Hundreds
of horses broke from the stakes to which they were
picketed, and fled mastcrless over the country; num-
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 309. + Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 232.
1378. ROBERT TI. 15
bers galloped into the encampment, and carried a panic
amongst the knights, who stood to their arms, and
every moment expected an attack: but no enemy ap-
peared; and when morning broke, the Earl of North-
umberland had the mortification to discover at once
the ridiculous cause of the alarm, and to find that a
great proportion of his best soldiers were unhorsed,
and compelled, in their heavy armour, to find their
way back to England. A retreat was ordered; and,
after pillaging the lands of the Earl of March, the
warden recrossed the border.*
It was unfortunate, that these infractions of the
truce, which were decidedly injurious to the best in-
terests of both countries, were not confined to the
eastern marches. The Baron of Johnston, and his
retainers and vassals, harassed the English on the
western border ;-|- while at sea, a Scottish naval adven-
turer, of great spirit and enterprise, named Mercer,
infested the English shipping, and, at the head of a
squadron of armed vessels, consisting of Scottish,
French, and Spanish privateers, scoured the channel,
and took many rich prizes. The father of this bold
depredator is said by Walsingham to have been a
merchant of opulence, who resided in France, and was
in hi oh favour at the French court. Durinsr one of
his voyages, he had been taken by a Northumbrian
cruiser, and carried into Scarborough;! in revenge of
which insult, the son attacked this sea-port, and plun-
dered its shipping. Such was the inefficiency of the
government of Richard, that no measures were taken
against him; till at last Philpot, a wealthy London
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. i. p. 385. W^inton, vol. ii. p. 300.
't" Winton, vol. ii. p. 311.
X Rotuli Scotise, vol. ii. p. 16, 20th June, 2 Rich. II.
J 6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1378.
merchant, at his own expense fitted out an armament
of several large ships of war, and attacking Mercer,
entirely defeated him, took him prisoner, and captured
his whole squadron, among which were fifteen Spanish
vessels, and many rich prizes.*
It would be tedious and uninstructive to enter into
any minute details of the insulated and unimportant
hostilities which, without any precise object, continued
for some years to agitate the two countries : committed
during the continuance of a truce, which was publicly
declared to be respected by both governments, they
are to be regarded as the outbreakings of the spirit of
national rivalry engendered by a long war, and the
effects of that love of chivalrous adventure which was
then at its height in Europe. Tiie deep-laid plans of
Edward the Third, for the entire subjugation of Scot-
land, were now at an end; the character of the govern-
ment of Richard the Second, or rather of his uncles,
into whose hands the manairement of the state had
fallen, was, with regard to Scotland, decidedly just and
pacific; and the wisest policy for that country would
have been, to have devoted her whole attention to
the regulation of her internal government, to the re-
cruiting of her finances, and the cultivation of those
arts which form the true sources of the prosperity and
greatness of a kingdom. Had the king been per-
mitted to follow the bent of his own disposition, there
is reason to think that these principles would have
been adopted; but the nobility was still too power-
ful and independent for the individual character of
the sovereign to have much influence ; and the de-
sire of plunder, and the passion for military adven-
* Walsingham, p. -11.
1.378. ROBERT II. 17
ture, rendered it impossible for such men to remain at
peace.
Another cause increased these hostile feelinos. Al-
though the alliance with France was no lon2:er essen-
tially advantageous to Scotland, yet the continuance
of the Scottish war was of importance to France, in
the circumstances in which that country was then
placed ; and no means were left unemployed to secure
it. The consequence of all this was the perpetual in-
fringement of the truce by hostile invasions, and the
reiterated appointment of English and Scottish com-
missioners, who were empowered to hold courts on the
Borders for the redress of grievances. These repeated
Border raids, which drew after them no important re-
sults, are of little interest. They had the worst effect,
as they tended greatly to increase the exasperation
between the two countries, and to render more distant
and hopeless the prospect of peace; and they become
tedious when we are obli2:e^o reo-ard them as no lono-er
the simultaneous efforts of a nation in defence of their
independence, but the selfish and disjointed expedi-
tions of an aristocracy, whose principal objects were
plunder and military adventure. It was in one of
these that the castle of Berwick was stormed and taken
by a small body of adventurers, led by Alexander
Ramsay, who, when summoned by the Scottish and
English wardens, proudly replied, " that he would give
up his prize neither to the monarch of England nor of
Scotland, but would keep it while he lived for the King
of France." Some idea may be formed of the igno-
rance of the mode of attacking fortified towns in those
days, from the circumstance that the handful of Scot-
tish borderers, who were led by this intrepid soldier,
defended the castle for some time against the Earl of
VOL. HI.. B
18 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1378.
Nortliiiinbcrland, at the head of ten thousand men,
assisted by miners, mangonels, and all the machinery
for carryins: on a sies^e.*
It was in this sief>e that Ilenrv Percy, afterwards
so famous under the name of Hotspur, first became
acquainted with arms; and a quarrel, which had begun
in a private plundering adventure, ended in a more
serious manner. After making: himself master of Ber-
wick, the Earl of Northumberland, along with the Earl
of Nottingham, and Sir Thomas Musgrave, the gover-
nor of Berwick, invaded the southern parts of Scot-
land; and Sir Archibald Douglas, having under him
a considerable force, had advanced against him; but
being unable to cope with the army of Percy, he re-
tired, and awaited the result. As he had probably
expected, JNIusgrave, who enjoyed a high reputation
for military enterprise, pushed on to Melrose, at the
head of an advanced division; and suddenly on the
march found himself in the presence of Douglas and
the Scottish army : a conflict became unavoidable, and
it was conducted with much preparatory pomp and
formality. Douglas called to him two sons of King
Robert, who were then under his command, and
knighted them on the field; Musgrave conferred the
same honour on his son ; and although he was greatly
outnumbered by the Scots, trusting to the courage of
his little band, who were mostly of high rank, and to
the skill of the English archers, be2:an the fioht with
high hopes. But after a short and desperate conflict,
accompanied with a grievous slaughter, the English
were defeated. It was the custom of Sir Archibald
Douglas, as we learn from Froissart, when he found
the light becoming hot, to dismount, and attack the
* "Walsingham, p. 219. Froissart, par Buchon, vol. vii. pp. 44, 48.
1380. ROBERT II. 19
enemy with a large two-handed sword; and on this
occasion, such was the furv of his assault, that nothing
could resist it.* Musgrave and his son, with many
other knights and esquires, were taken prisoners; and
Douglas, who felt himself unequal to oppose the main
army of Percy and the Earl of Nottingham, fell back
upon Edinburgh. The succeeding years were occu-
pied in the same course of Border hostilities; whilst
in England, to the miseries of invasion and plunder,
was added the calamity of a pestilence, which swept
away multitudes of her inhabitants, and by weakening
the power of resistance, increased the cruelty of her
enemy.-]-
At length, John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster,
who at this time directed the counsels of his nephew
Richard the Second, approached Scotland at the head
of a powerful army, although he declared his object to
be solely the renewal of the truce, and the establish-
ment of peace and good order between the two coun-
tries. Sir Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, along
with the Bishops of Dunkeld and Glasgow, and the
Earls of Douglas and March, were immediately ap-
pointed commissioners to open a negotiation; and hav-
ing consented to a cessation of hostilities, Lancaster
disbanded his army, and agreed to meet the Scottish
envoys in the following summer in a more pacific guise,
at the head of his usual suite. The conference accord-
ingly took place, and the Earl of Carrick, the heir of
the throne, managed the negotiations on the part of
Scotland; which concluded in an agreement to renew
the truce for the space of three years, during which
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. vii. p. hi.
+ Rotuli Scotiae, June 7, 2 Rich. II., and March 5, 5 Rich. II., vol. ii.
pp. 10", 42.
20 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1380-1.
time the English monarch consented to delay the ex-
action of the remaining penalty of the ransom of David
the Second, of which twenty-five thousand marks w^ere
still due.*
It was at this time that the famous popular insur-
rection, which was headed by Wat Tyler, had arrived
at its height in England; and Lancaster, who was
suspected of having given countenance to the insur-
gents, and who dreaded the violence of a party which
had been formed against him, found himself in an
awkward and perilous dilemma. He begged permis-
sion of the Earl of Carrick to be permitted to retreat
for a short season into Scotland ; and the request was
not only granted, but accompanied with circumstances
which marked the courtesy of the age. The Earl of
Doudas, alono^ with Sir Archibald Doudas lord of
Gallow^ay, conducted him with a brilliant retinue to
Haddington; from which they proceeded to Edin-
burgh, where the Abbey of Holyrood was fitted up for
his reception. Gifts and presents were made to him
by the Scottish nobles; and here he remained till the
fury of the storm was abated, and he could return in
safety, escorted by a convoy of eight hundred Scottish
spears, to the court of his nephew.-f- This friendly
conduct, and the desire of remaining at peace, which
was felt by both monarchs, might have been expected
to have averted hostilities for some time; yet such was
the influence of a restless aristocracy, that previous to
the expiry of this truce, Scotland again consented to
be involved in a nesfotiation with the French kin^:,
which eventually entailed upon the nation the calami-
ties of a war, undertaken with no precise object, and
carried on at an immense expense of blood and treasure.
* Rymer, vol. vii. p. 312. f Winton, vol. ii. pp. 315, 316.
ISSl-S. ROBERT II. 21
The foundation of this new treaty appears to have
been those secret articles resrardino* an invasion of Ens-
land, which have been already mentioned. A prospect
of the large sura of forty thousand franks of gold, to
be distributed amongst the Scottish nobles, and an
engagement to send into Scotland a body of a thousand
men-at-arms, with a supply of a thousand suits of
armour, formed a temptation wdiich could not easily
be resisted; and although no definite agreement was
concluded, it became evident to England, that her
enemy had abandoned all pacific intentions.*
When the truce expired, the war was renewed with
increased rancour. Lochmaben, a strong castle, which
had been long in the hands of the English, was taken
by Sir Archibald Douglas ;■[• and the Duke of Lan-
caster invaded Scotland at the head of a numerous
army, and accompanied by a fleet of victualling ships,
which anchored in the Forth near Queensferry. But
the expedition w^as singularly unfortunate. Although
it was now the month of March, the Scottish winter
had not concluded, and the cold was intense. Lan-
caster, after exhausting the English northern counties
in the support of his host, puslied on to Edinburgh,
which his knights and captains were eager to sack and
destroy. In this, however, they were disappointed;
for the English commander, mindful of the generous
hospitality which he had lately experienced, commanded
the army to encamp at a distance from the town, and
issued the strictest orders that none should leave the
ranks. For three days, parties of the Scots could be
seen carrying off" everything that was valuable, and
transporting their goods and chattels beyond the Forth.
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1383, p. 131.
+ Winton, vol. ii. p. 317.
22 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1384.
Numbers of the Ens^lisli soldiers, in tlie meantime,
began to be seized with sickness, occasioned by ex-
halations from the marches; and within a short time,
five hundred horses died of cold. When at length
permitted to advance to Edinburgh, the soldiers, as
was to be expected, found nothing to supply their
uru'cnt wants : the Scots had even carried oft" the straw
roofs of their wooden houses; and having retreated
into the woods and strongholds, quietly awaited the
retreat of the English; and began their usual mode of
warfare, by cutting oft" the foraging parties which, dis-
regarding the orders of Lancaster, were compelled, by
the calls of hunger, to leave the encampment.* In
the meantime, Sir Alexander Lindsay had attacked
and put to the sword the crew of one of the English
ships, which had made good a landing on the ground
above Queensferry; and the King of Scotland had
issued orders to assemble an army, for the purpose of
intercepting Lancaster in his retreat to England.
At this crisis, ambassadors arrived from France, to
notify the truce lately concluded between that country
and England; whilst, at the same time, in the spirit
of military adventure, then so prevalent, a party of
French knights and esquires, tired of being idle at
home, took shipping for Scotland; and, on their arrival
at Edinburgh, found the Scottish parliament deliberat-
ing on the propriety of prosecuting the war. The king
and the nobles were divided in their opinion. Robert,
with true wisdom, and a desire to promote the best
interests of his people, desired peace; and whilst he
received the French knights with kindness and cour-
tesy, commanded them and his nobles to lay aside all
thoughts of hostilities. Meanwhile Lancaster had pro-
* Walsingham, pp. 308, 309.
1384. ROBERT II. 23
fited.by the interval allowed him, and made good his
retreat; which was accompanied, as usual in these
expeditions, with the total devastation of the country
through which he passed, and the plunder of the im-
mense estates of the Border earls. To them, and to
the rest of the nobility, tlie king''s proposal was par-
ticularly unsatisfactory; nor are we to wonder, that
when their fields and woods, their manors and vilWes,
were still blackened with the fires of the English, and
their foot had been in the stirrup to pursue them, the
counter order of the kin^;, and the messaire of the
French envoys regarding the truce, came rather un-
seasonably.
These, however, were not the days when Scottish
barons, having resolved upon war, stood upon much
ceremony, either as to the existence of a truce, or the
commands of a sovereign. It was, accordingly, privately
determined by the Earls of Mar and Douglas, along
with Sir Archibald the lord of Galloway, that the
foreign knights who had travelled so far to prove their
chivalry, should not be disappointed; and after a short
stay at Edinburgh, they were surprised by receiving
a secret message from Douglas, requiring them to re-
pair to his castle at Dalkeith, where they were warmly
welcomed; and, again taking horse, found themselves,
in three days'* riding, in the presence of an army of
fifteen thousand men, mounted on active hackneys,
and lightly armed, after the fashion of their country.*
With this force they instantly broke into the northern
counties of England; wasted the towns and villages
with lire and sword; wreaked their vengeance upon
* Froissart, vol. ix, p. 27. Walsingham, p. 309. About this time, the
remaining part of Teviotdale, which, since the battle of Durham, had been
in the hands of the English, was recovered by the exertions of the Earl of
Douglas. Winton, vol. ii. p. 322.
24 Hl^STV^RY OF SCOTLAND, 1SS4-^,
the e$Ut^ of the EarU of ^voriimmWrlaiul a:\l Not-
tiu^r):uui; aiul rvtunuxl widi ;» lar^> booty in prisoners
mad cattle. We K\iru frv>m Frvn«$iirt, thjit the Kin^
of Scotland was i^uoraut of this iufraotiou of the truce;
and iu much conot>jru immediately deis^Kitohed a herald
ta explain the oirvumstauee«s to the English court.*
But it is moiv {lurohabK that> knowing of the intended
expedition, he was unaUe to prevent it. However
this might be> its consequences weiie calamitous; for,
as usual, it hrv»ught an instantaneous retaliation upcm
the [Kurt of the Earl of Northumberland; and the
Fr^Jich knights, on their return to their own country.
spoke so highly in feivour of the pleasures of a Scottish
"^raid,"^ and the Bicilitiess offered to an attack upon
Engbud in this quarter, that the King of France be-
gan to think seriously of carrving the projected treaty,
to which we have already alluded, into immediate exe-
cution, and of sending an army into Scotland.
An interval, which cannot be said to belong either
to peace or to war, succeeded these events, and olfers
little of general interest : the Border inroads bein«r con-
tinned with equal and unvaried cruelty ; but in a meet-
ing of the parliament, which took place at Edinburgh,
a few provisions were passed regarding the state of the
ooontry, which ai« not unworthy of notice,+ It was
detomined that those greater and lesser barons to
whom the sovereign, in the event of war, had com-
mitted certain divisions of the kingdom should have
tlmr anav of men-at-anus and archers in such readi-
ness, that, as soon as required, they should be ready to
pa^ to the Borders in warlike aj^arel, with horse, arms.
1^5. fiOBEST IL 25
and prorbionj;; so that the landj throng wfaidli the
ho«t inarched «hoald not he waistedhj their exaetkms.
It appears that grierous injnrj had heen raffiered,
owing to the total want of all law and jnstiee in the
northern dhsiriet» of the kingdom. Troops of hutdsl
robhens, ehie& who lired bj plunder, *and owned no
allegiance either to king or earl, trarersed the Hi^i-
land disiriets^ and enlisted into their service mal^ie-
tors and keth.eram^ who, without respeet to rank or
aathoritv, burnt, slew, and plundered, wherever ibesr
master chose to lead« Thiis dreadful state of thing?
called for immediate attention; and to the Earl of
Carrick, the heir to the throne, was the arduous affiur
intrusted. He was commanded to repair instantlj to
the disordered districts, at the head of a fotree which
might ensure obedience; to call a meeting of the wisest
landholders of these northern parts ; and, baring taken
their advice, to adopt such speedj measures as should
strike terror into the guiltj, and restore order and good
goremment throughout the land.*
The large district of TeTiotdale, which had long been
in the possession of the English, having been now
cleared of these intruders, and restored to the kingdom
by the arms of the Earl of Douglas, it became neees-
HSLTj to adopt measures for the restoration of their
lands to those proprietors who had been expelled from
them during the occupation of the eountry bj the
enem J. It was ordered, that all persons in Teriotdale
who had lately transferred their allegianoe from the
King of England to the King of Scotland, should,
within eight days, exhibit to the Chancellor their
charters, containing the names of the lands and pos-
sessions which they claimed as their hereditary right,
* Caitnbzy (rf AbodecB, AdToc Ubaxj, pp. 101^ lOSt
26 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 18S5.
wherever they liappened to be situated; along with the
names of those persons wlio now possessed tliern, and
of the shcrilfdonis within wliose jurisdiction they were
situated. The object of this was to enable all those
persons, who, on the part of the claimants in Teviot-
dale, were about to receive letters of summons from the
Chancellor, to present their letters with such diligence
to the sherifl's, as to enable these officers within eii>ht
days to expedite the proper citations. It was besides
ordained, that the Chancellor should direct the king^s
letters to the various sheriffs, commanding them to
summon all persons who then held, or asserted their
right to hold, any lands, to appear before the king and
council, brinoino' with them their charters and title-
deeds, that thev mi "lit hear the final decision on the
subject.*
The next provision of the parliament introduces us
to a case of feudal oppression, strikingly characteristic
of the times; and evinces how feeble and impotent was
the arm of the law against the power of the aristocracy.
William de Fentoun complained, that he had been
unjustly expelled from his manor of Fentoun, by a
judgment pronounced in the court of the baron of
Dirleton. He immediately appealed to the Sheriff of
Edinburnfh, and was restored. Airain was he violently
thrust out: upon which he carried his cause before the
king*'s privy council; and by their solemn award his
lands were once more restored. In the face of this
last decision by the sovereign and his council, this un-
fortunate person continued to be excluded from his
property by the Baron of Dirleton, who, against all
law, violently kept him down; so that he was com-
pelled, in extreme distress, to appeal to the parliament.
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1 385, p. 1 33.
1385. ROBERT II. 27
This case of reiterated tyranny and oppression having
been proved by the evidence of the slieriff, it was
resolved that Fentoun, without delay, should be rein-
stated by the royal power; and that the rents due
since the period of his expulsion should be instantly
restored to him. Whether this final judgment by the
court of last resort was more successful than the former
sentences against this feudal tyrant, cannot now be
discovered; but it is very possible that Fentoun never
recovered his property. The remaining provisions of
the parliament are of little moment, and relate chiefly
to the amicable arrangement of some disputes which
had arisen between the Earls of Buchan and of Strath-
ern, both of them sons of the king.
An event of great interest and importance now claims
our attention, in the expedition of John de Vienne,
the Admiral of France, into Scotland. It is one of
the miserable consequences of war, and the passion for
conquest, that they almost indefinitely perpetuate the
evils which they originally produce. A nation once
unjustly attacked, and for a time treated as a con-
quered people, is not satisfied with the mere defence
of its rights, or the simple expulsion of its invaders :
wounded pride, hatred, the desire of revenge, the love
of plunder, or of glory, all provoke retaliation; and
man delights to inflict upon his enemy the extremity
of misery from which he has just escaped himself.
France accordingly began to ponder upon the best
mode of carrying the war into England; and the re-
presentations of the knights who had served in the late
expedition of Douglas, had a strong effect in recom-
mending an invasion through Scotland. They remarked,
that the English did not fidit so well in their own
28 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
country as on the continent;* and without adverting
to the true cause of Doui'las''s success in the skill
o
with which he seized the moment when Lancaster''s
army had dispersed, and his rapid retreat before the
English wardens could assemble their forces, they con-
trasted the obstinacy with which the English disputed
every inch of ground in France, with the facility with
which they themselves had been permitted to march
and plunder in England.
It was accordingly determined to fulfil the stipula-
tions of the last treaty, and to attack the English
king upon his own ground, by sending a large body of
auxiliaries into Scotland, and co-operating with that
nation in an invasion. For this purpose, they selected
John de Vienne, Admiral of France, and one of the
most experienced captains of the age; who embarked
at Sluys, in Flanders, with a thousand knights,
esquires, and men-at-arms, forming the flower of the
French army, besides a body of cross-bowmen and
common soldiers, composing altogether a force of two
thousand men. He carried along with him fourteen
hundred suits of armour for the Scottish knights, and
fifty thousand franks of gold,-[- to be paid, on his
arrival, to the king and his barons. It was deter-
mined to attack England at the same time by sea; and
a naval armament for this purpose had been prepared
at a great expense by the French: but this part of
the project was unsuccessful, and the fleet never sailed.
Meanwhile all seemed to favour the expedition of
Vienne. The wind was fair, the weather favourable,
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. ix. p. 1G2.
+ Winton, vol. ii. p. 324. He says there were eight hundred knights, of
•which number a hundred and four were knights-bannerets ; and besides
this, four hundred arblasts, or crossbows.
1385. ROBERT II. 29
for it was in the month of May; and the transports,
gleaming with their splendid freight of chivalry, and
gay with innumerable banners, were soon wafted to
the Scottish coast, and cast anchor in the ports of Leith
and Dunbar. They were warmly welcomed by the
Scottish barons; and the sight of the suits of foreign
armour, then highly prized, with the promise of a libe-
ral distribution of the French gold, could not fail to
make a favourable impression.* On the arrival of the
admiral at Edinburgh, he found that the king was then
residing in the district which Froissart denominates
the wild of Scotland; meaning, perhaps, his palace of
Stirling, which is on the borders of a mountainous
country. His speedy arrival, however, was looked
for; and till then the Earls of Moray and Douglas
took charge of the strangers. To provide lodgings for
them all in Edinburgh was impossible; and in the
efforts made to house their fastidious allies, who had
been accustomed to the hotels of Paris, we are pre-
sented with a striking picture of the poverty of this
capital, when contrasted with the wealth and magni-
tude of the French towns. It became necessary to
furnish quarters for the knights in the adjacent vil-
lages; and the necessity of billeting such splendid
guests upon the burgesses, farmers, and yeomen, occa-
sioned loud and grievous murmurs. Dunfermline,
Queensferry, Kelso, Dunbar, Dalkeith, and many
other towns and villages not mentioned by Froissart,
were filled with strangers, speaking a foreign language,
appropriating to themselves, without ceremony, the
best of everything they saw, and assuming an air of
* The proportion in which the French money was distributed amongst
the Scottish nobles, gives us a pretty correct idea of the comparative conse-
quence and power of the various members of the Scottish aristocracy. See
Rymer, vol. vii. pp. 484, 485.
oO HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 138.5
superiority which the Scots could not easily tolerate.
Mutual (lissatisfiiction and hatred naturally arose;
and although the Earls of Douglas and Moray, who
were well contented with an expedition which promised
them the money of France, as well as the plunder of
EnMand, continued to treat the French with kindness
and courtesy, the people and the lesser barons began
to quarrel with the intruders, and to adopt every
method for their distress and annoyance. All this is
feelingly described by the delightful and garrulous liis-
torian of the period: " What evil spirit hath brought
you here ? was,"''' he tells us, " the common expression
employed by the Scots to their allies. Who sent for
you ? Cannot we maintain our war with England
well enough without your help ? Pack up your goods
and begone ; for no good will be done as long as ye are
here ! We neither understand you, nor you us. We
cannot communicate together; and in a short time we
shall be completely rilled and eaten up by such troops
of locusts. What signifies a war with England I the
English never occasioned such mischief as ve do. Thev
burned our houses, it is true: but that was all; and
with four or five stakes, and plenty green boughs to
cover them, they were rebuilt almost as soon as they
were destroyed." It was not, however, in words only
that the French were thus ill-treated. The Scottish
peasants rose against the foraging parties, and cut them
off. In a month, more than a hundred men were slain
in this manner; and, at last, none ventured to leave
their quarters.*
At Icni'th the kins: arrived at Edinburiih, and a
council was held by the knights and barons of both
nations, on the subject of an immediate invasion of
* Froissart, par Buclion, vol. ix. pp. 155, 157.
1385. ROBERT II. 31
England. And here new disputes and heartburnings
arose. It was soon discovered that Robert was averse
to war. " He was," says Froissart, whose information
regarding this expedition is in a high degree minute
and curious, " a comely tall man, but with eyes so
bloodshot, that they looked as if they were lined with
scarlet ; and it soon became evident that he himself
preferred a quiet life to war; yet he had nine sons
who loved arms." The aro;uments of his barons,
joined to the remonstrances of Vienne, and the distri-
bution of the French gold, in the end overcame the
repugnance of the king ; and the admiral had soon the
satisfaction of seeing an army of thirty thousand horse
assembled in the fields near Edinburgh.
Unaccustomed, however, to the Scottish mode of
carrying on war, and already disposed to quarrel on
account of the injuries they had met with, the French
were far from cordially co-operating with their allies;
so that it was found necessary to hold a council of
officers, and to draw up certain regulations, for the
maintenance of order during the expedition, which were
to be equally binding upon the soldiers of both nations.
Some of these articles are curious and characteristic:
No pillage was permitted in Scotland under pain of
death; the merchants and victuallers who followed or
might resort to the camp, were to be protected, and
have prompt payment; any soldier who killed another
was to be hanged; if any varlet defied a gentleman,
he was to lose his ears ; and if any gentleman chal-
lenged another, he was to be put under arrest, and
justice done according to the advice of the officers. In
the case of any riot arising between the French and
the Scots, no appeal to arms was to be permitted; but
care was to be taken to arrest the ringleaders, who
32 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
were to be punished by tlio council of the officers.
When ridins: airainst the enemy, if a French or a Scot-
tish man-at-arnis should bear an Englishman to the
earth, lie was to have half his ransom ; no burning of
churches, ravishing or slaughter of women or infants,
was to be suffered; and every French and Scottish
soldier was to wear a white St Andrew'*s cross on his
back and breast ; which, if his surcoat or jacket was
white, was to be broidered on a division of black cloth.*
It being now time to commence the campaign, the
army broke at once across the marches, and after a
destructive progress, appeared before the castle of
Roxburgh. The king^s sons, along with De Vienne
the admiral, and the Earls of Douglas, Mar, !Moray,
and Sutherland, were the Scottish leaders ; but Robert
himself, unwieldy from his age, remained at Edinburgh.
Roxburo'h castle, strons: in its fortifications, and ex-
cellently situated for defence, offered little temptation
to a siege. For many months it might have been
able to defy the most obstinate attacks of the united
powers of France and Scotland ; and all idea of mak-
ins: themselves masters of it beins; abandoned, the
army pushed on towards Berwick, and with difficulty
carried by assault the two smaller fortalices of Ford
and Cornal, which were bravely defended by an Eng-
lish knight and his 8on.-(- Wark, one of the strongest
Border castles, commanded by Sir John Lusborn, was
next assaulted; and, after a severe loss, stormed and
taken, chiefly, if we may believe Froissart, by the
bravery of the French ; whilst the country was miser-
ably wasted by fire and sword, and the plunder and
the prisoners slowly driven after the host, which ad-
* Records of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1385, pp. 135, 13G.
t Winton, voL ii. p. 3"24.
1385. ROBERT 11. S3
vanced by Alnwick, and carried their rava^^es to tlie
gates of Newcastle. Word was now brought that the
Duke of Lancaster, and the barons of the bishoprics
of York and Durham, with the Earls of Northumber-
land and Nottingham, had collected a powerful force,
and were advancing by forced marches to meet the
enemy; and here it became necessary for the captains
of the different divisions to deliberate whether they
should await them where they were, and hazard a
battle, or fall back upon their own country. This last
measure the Scots naturally preferred. It was their
usual mode of proceeding to avoid all great battles ;
and the result of the war of liberty had shown the
wisdom of the practice. Indeed, outnumbered as they
always were by the English, and far inferior to them
in cavalry, in archers, in the strength of their horses,
and the temper of their arms, it would have been folly
to have attempted it. But Vienne, one of the best
and proudest soldiers in Europe, could not enter into
this reasoning. He and his splendid column of knights,
esquires, and archers, were anxious for battle ; and
it was with infinite reluctance that he suffered him-
self to be overpersuaded by the veteran experience of
Douglas and Moray, and consented to fall back upon
Berwick.
In the meantime, the King of England assembled
an army more potent in numbers and equipment than
any which had visited Scotland for a long period. It
was the first field of the young monarch; and his
barons, eager to demonstrate their loyalty, attended
with so full a muster, that, according to a contem-
porary English historian, three hundred thousand
horses were employed.* The unequal terms upon
* "Walsingham, pp. 31G, 537. Otterburn, p. 161.
VOL. III. C
34 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
which a richer and a poorer country make war on each
otlier, were never more strikingly evinced tlian in the
result of these English and Scottish expeditions. The
Scots, breaking in upon the rich fields of England,
mounted on their hardy little hackneys, which lived
on so little in their own country, that any change was
for the better; carrying nothing with them but their
arms ; inured to all weathers, and fearlessly familiar
with danger, found war a pastime, rather than an
inconvenience; enriched themselves with plunder,
which they transported with wonderful expedition from
place to place, and at last safely landed it at home.
Intimately acquainted with the seat of war, on the
approach of the English, they could accept or decline
battle, as they thought best : if outnumbered, as was
generally the case, they retired, and contented them-
selves with cutting off the convoys or foraging parties,
and securing their booty; if the English, from want
of provisions, or discontent and disunion amongst the
leaders, commenced their retreat, it was infested by
their unwearied enemy, who instantly pushed forward,
and, hovering round their line of march, never failed
to do them serious mischief. On the otlier hand, the
very strength, and warlike and complicated equipment
of the English army, proved its ruin, or at least totally
defeated its object ; and this was soon seen in the
result of Richard''s invasion. The immense mass of
his host slowly proceeded through the border counties
by Liddesdale and Teviotdale,* devouring all as they
passed on, and leaving behind them a black desert. In
no place did they meet an enemy; the Scots hadstript
the country of everything but the green crops on the
* In the Archaeologia, vol. xxii., Part i., p. 13, -will be found an interest-
ing paper, describing the army of Ricliard and its leaders, printed from a
JIS. in the British Museum, and communicated by Sir Harris Nicolas.
1385. ROBERT II. o5
ground; and empty villages, which were given to the
flames, and churches and monasteries, razed and plun-
dered, formed the only triumphs of the campaign.
One event, however, is too characteristic to be omit-
ted. When the news of this great expedition reached
the camp of Douglas and Vienne, who had fallen back
towards Berwick, the Scots, although aware of the
folly of attempting to give battle, yet deemed it pru-
dent to approach nearer, and watch the progress ot
their enemy. Here, again, the impatient temper of
the French commander broke out, and he insisted that
their united strength was equal to meet the English;
on which the Earl of Douglas requested him to ride
with hmi to a neig-hbourins; eminence, and reason the
matter as they went. The admiral consented, and was
surprised when they arrived there to hear the tramp
of horse, and the sound of martial music. Douglas
had, in truth, brought him to a height which hung
over a winding mountain-pass, through which the
English army were at that moment defiling, and from
whence, without the fear of discovery, they could count
the banners, and perceive its strength. The argument
thus presented was not to be questioned ; and Vienne,
with his knights, permitted themselves to be directed
by the superior knowledge and military skill of the
Scottish leaders.*
Meanwhile, King Richard pushed on to the capital.
The beautiful Abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh were
given to the flames; Edinburgh was burned and plun-
dered, and nothing spared but the Monastery of Holy-
rood. It had lately, as we have seen, afi*orded a retreat
to John of Gaunt, the king's uncle, who now accom-
panied him, and, at his earnest entreaty, was excepted
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. ix. p. 144.
36 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
from tne general ruin. But the formidable expedition
of the king was lierc concluded, and that unwise and
selfish spirit of revenge and destruction, which had
wasted the country, began to recoil upon the heads of
its authors.* ^lultitudes perished from want, and
provisions became daily more scarce in the camp. In
such circumstances, the Duke of Lancaster advised
that they should pass the Forth, and, imitating the
example of Edward the First, attack and overwhelm
the northern counties. But Richard, who scrupled
not to accuse his uncle of treasonable motives, in pro-
posing so desperate a project, which was, in truth,
likely to increase the dijfficulties of their situation, re-
solved to retreat instantly by the same route which he
had already travelled.
Before this, however, could be effected, the Scottish
army, with their French auxiliaries, broke into Eng-
land by the western marches ; and, uniting their forces
with those of Sir Archibald Douglas lord of Galloway,
ravaged Cumberland with a severity which was in-
creased by the accounts of the havoc committed by
the English. Towns, villages, manors, and hamlets,
were indiscriminately plundered and razed to the
ground; crow^ds of prisoners, herds of cattle, wagons
and sumpter-horses, laden with the wealth of burghers
and yeomen, were driven along; and the parks and
pleasure grounds of the Earls of Nottingham and Staf-
ford, of the Mowbrays, the Musgraves, and other Bor-
der barons, swept of their wealth, and plundered with
a merciless cruelty, which increased to the highest
pitch the animosity between the two nations, andren-
* Froissart, vol, ix. p. 147, asserts, that the English burnt St Johnston,
Dundee, and pushed on as far as Aberdeen ; but I have followed Walsintr-
ham and Fordun, who give the account of their ravages as it is found in the
text.
1385. ROBERT II. 87
dered the prospect of peace remote and almost hopeless.
After this destruction, the united armies made an un-
successful assault upon the city of Carlisle,* the forti-
fications of which withstood their utmost efforts ; and
upon this repulse, which seems to have renewed tlie
heartburning between the French and Scots, they
again crossed the Border, the French boasting that
they had burnt, destroyed, and plundered more in the
bishoprics of Durham and Carlisle than was to be
found in all the towns of Scotland put together. -[-
When the army reached their former quarters, and
proceeded to encamp in Edinburgh and the adjacent
country, an extraordinary scene presented itself. The
land, so late a solitary desert, was in a few hours alive
Avith multitudes of the Scots, who emerged from the
woods and mountain passes, driving their flocks and
cattle before them, accompanied by their wives and
children, and returning with their chattels and furni-
ture to the burnt and blackened houses which they
had abandoned to the enemy. The cheerfulness with
which they bore these calamities, and set themselves
to repair the havoc which had been committed, appears
to have astonished their refined allies; but the presence
of two thousand Frenchmen, and the difficulty of find-
ing them provisions, was an additional evil Vv^hich they
were not prepared to bear so easily; and when the
Admiral of France, to lighten the burden, abandoned
his design of a second invasion of England, and per-
mitted as many as chose to embark for France, the
Scots refused to furnish transports, or to allow a single
vessel to leave their ports, until the French knights
had paid them for the injuries they had inflicted by
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 325, affirms they would not assault Carlisle, for " thai
dred tynsale of men."
j- Fordun aGoodal, vol. ii. p. 401. Froissart, par Buchon, vol. ix. p. 155,
38 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
riding througlitlicir country, trampling and destroying
their crops, cutting down their woods to build lodgings,
and plundering their markets. To these conditions
Vienne was compelled to listen; indeed, such was the
miserable condition in which the campaign had left his
knights and men-at-arms, who were now for the most
])art unhorsed, and dispirited by sickness and priva-
tion, that, to have provoked the Scots, might have led
to serious consequences. He agreed, therefore, to dis-
charge the claims of damage and reparation which were
made against his soldiers; and for himself came under
an obligation not to leave the country till they were fully
satisfied, his knights being permitted to return home.
These stipulations were strictly fulfilled. Ships
were furnished by the Scots, and, to use the expressive
language of Froissart, "divers knights and squires had
passage, and returned into Flanders, as wind and
weather drove them, with neither horse nor harness,
right poor and feeble, cursing the day that ever they
came upon such an adventure; and fervently desiring
that the Kino-s of France and En2:land would con-
elude a peace for a year or two, were it only to have
the satisfaction of uniting their armies, and utterly
destroying the realm of Scotland."' Some knights who
were fond of adventure, and little anxious to return to
France in so miserable a condition, passed on to Den-
mark, Norway, and Sweden; others took shipping for
Ireland, desirous of visiting the famous cavern known
by the name of the purgatory of St Patrick;* and
Vienne himself, after having corresponded with his
government, and discharged the claims which were
brought against him, took leave of the king and nobles
of Scotland, and returned to Paris.
* See Rjiner, Foedera, vol. viii. p, 14.
1385. ROBERT II. 39
Such was the issue of an expedition, fitted out by
France at an immense expense, and which, from being
hastily undertaken, and only partially executed, con-
cluded in vexation and disappointment. Had the naval
armament which was to have attacked England on the
south been able to effect a descent, and had the Con-
stable of France, according to the original intention,
co-operated with Vienne, at the head of a large body
of Genoese cross-bowmen and men-at-arms,* the result
might perhaps have been different; but the great causes
of failure are to be traced to the impossibility of recon-
ciling two systems of military operations so perfectly
distinct as those of the Scots and the French, and of
supporting, for any length of time, in so poor a coun-
try as Scotland, such a force as was able to offer battle
to the English with any fair prospect of success. One
good effect resulted from the experience gained in this
campaign. It convinced the Scots of the superior
excellence of their own tactics, which consisted in em-
ploying their light cavalry solely in plunder, or in
attacks upon the archers when they were forced to
fight, and in opposing to the heavy-armed cavalry of
the English their infantry alone, with their firm squares
and long spears. It also taught them, that any foreign
auxiliary force of the heavy-armed cavalry of the con-
tinent was of infinitely greater encumbrance than assis-
tance in their wars with England, as they must either
be too small to produce any effect against the over-
whelming armies of that country, or too numerous to
be supported, without occasioning severe distress.
Upon the departure of the French, the war conti-
nued with great spirit ; and from the imbecility of the
government of Richard the Second, a feeble opposition
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. ix. p. 162.
40 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1385.
was made asraiiist the successes of tlie Scots. The
systematic manner in which their invasions were con-
ducted, is apparent from the pLan and details of that
which immediately succeeded the expedition of Vienna.
It was remembered by the Scottish leaders, that in the
[general devastation which had been lately inflicted upon
the English Border counties, that portion of Cumber-
land, including: the rich and fertile district of Cocker-
mouth and the adjacent country, had not been visited
since the days of Robert Bruce; and it was judged
proper to put an end to this exemption. Robert earl
of Fife, the king"'s second son, James earl of Douglas,
and Sir Archibald Douglas lord of Galloway, at the
head of thirty thousand light troops, passed the Sol-
way, and for three days* plundered and laid waste the
whole of this beautiful district; so that, to use the ex-
pression of Fordun, the feeblest in the Scottish host
had his hands full : nor do they appear to have met
with the slightest opposition. A singular and charac-
teristic anecdote of this expedition is preserved by
this historian. Amid the plunder, an ancient Saxon
charter of King Athelstane, with a waxen seal appended
to it, was picked up by some of the soldiers, and carried
to the Earl of Fife, afterwards the celebrated Regent
Albany. Its lucid brevity astonished the feudal ba-
ron : " I, King Adelstane, giffys here to Paulan, Oddam
and Roddam, als gude and als fair, as ever thai myn
war; and thairto witnes Maid my wyf.'"* Often, says
the historian, after the earl became Duke of Albany
and Governor of Scotland, when the tedious and wordy
charters of our modern davs were recited in the causes
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p, 403. " Exercitum caute et quasi imper-
ceptibi liter ducebat usque ad Cokirmouth, * * per terrain a diebus Domin
Koberti de Bruce regis a Scotis non iuvasam.'"
1387. ROBERT II. 41
which came before him, he would recall to memory
this little letter of King Athelstaue, and declare there
was more truth and good faith in those old times than
now, when the new race of lawyers had brought in such
frivolous exceptions and studied prolixity of forms.*
It is singular to meet with a protestation against the
unnecessary multiplication of words and clauses in legal
deeds at so remote a period.
At the time of this invasion, another enterprise took
place, which nearly proved fatal to its authors : a de-
scent upon Ireland by Sir William Douglas, the natu-
ral son of Sir Archibald of Galloway, commonly called
the Black Douglas. This young knight appears to
have been the Scottish Paladin of those days of chi-
valry. His form and strength were almost gigantic ;
and what gave a peculiar charm to his w^arlike prowess,
was the extreme gentleness of his manners: sweet,
brave, and generous, he was as faithful to his friends
as he was terrible to his enemies. These qualities had
"•ained him the hand of the kind's dauohter E^idia:
a lady of such beauty, that the King of France is said
to have fallen in love with her from the description of
some of his courtiers, and to have privately despatched
a painter into Scotland to bring him her picture; when
he found, to his disappointment, that the princess had
disposed of her heart in her own country. -(-
At this time the piracies of the Irish on the coast
of Galloway provoked the resentment of Douglas, who,
at the head of five hundred lances, made a descent
upon the Irish coast at Carlingford, and immediately
assaulted the town with only a part of his force, find-
ing it difiicult to procure small boats to land the whole.
Before, however, he had made himself master of the
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 403. f Ibid.
42 IIItSTOllY OF SCOTLAND. lo87.
outworks, the citizens, by the promise of a large sum
of money, procured an armistice ; after which, under
cover of night, they despatclied a messenger to Dun-
dalk for assistance, who represented the small number
of the Scots, and the facility of overpowering them.
Douglas, in the meantime, of an honest and unsuspi-
cious temper, had retired to the shore, and was busied
in superintending the lading of his vessels, when he
discerned the approach of the English, and had scarce
time to form his little phalanx, before he was attacked
not only by them but by a sally from the town. Yet^
this treacherous conduct was entirely unsuccessful :
although greatly outnumbered, such was the superior
discipline and skill of the Scots, that every effort failed
to pierce their columns, and they at length succeeded
in totally dispersing the enemy; after which the town
was burnt to the ground, the castle and its works
demolished, and fifteen merchant ships, which lay at
anchor, laden with goods, seized by the victors.* They
then set sail for Scotland, ravaged the Isle of Man as
they returned, and landed safely at Lochryan in Gal-
loway; from which Douglas took horse and joined his
father, who, with the Earl of Fife, had broken across
the Border, and was then engaged in an expedition
against the western districts of England.
The origin of this invasion requires particular notice,
as it led to important results, and terminated in the
celebrated battle of Otterburn. The Scots had not
forgotten the miserable havoc which was inflicted upon
the country by the late expedition of the King of Eng-
land ; and as this country was now torn by disputes
between the weak monarch and his nobility, it was
deemed a proper juncture to retaliate. To decide upon
* Forduna Hearne, pp. 1073, 1074. Winton, vol. ii. p. 335, 330".
1388. ROBERT II. 43
this a council was held at Edinburgh. The kingf was
now infirm from age, and wisely anxious for peace ;
but his wishes were overruled, and the manairement
of the campaign intrusted by the nobles to his second
son, the Earl of Fife, upon whom the hopes of the
warlike part of the nation chiefly rested, his elder
brother, the Earl of Carrick, who was next heir to the
crown, being of a feeble constitution, and little able to
endure the fatigues of the field. It was resolved that
there should be a general muster of the whole military
force of the kingdom at Jedburgh, preparatory to an
invasion, upon a scale likely to ensure an ample retri-
bution for their losses.*
The rumour of this great summons of the vassals
of the crown soon reached England ; and the barons,
to whom the care of the Borders was committed, began
to muster their feudal services, and to prepare for
resistance. On the day appointed, the Scots assem-
bled at Yetholm, a small town not far from Jedburoh,
and situated at the foot of the Cheviot Hills. A more
powerful army had not been seen for a long period.
There were twelve hundred men-at-arms and forty
thousand infantry, including a small body of archers,
a species of military force in which the Scots were still
little skilled, when compared with the formidable power
of the English bowmen. It was now necessary to deter-
mine in what manner the war should begin, and upon
what part of the country its fury should first be let
loose ; and, when the leaders were deliberating upon
this, a prisoner was taken and carried to head-quarters,
who proved to be an English gentleman, despatched
by the Border lords for the purpose of collecting infor-
mation. From him they understood that the wardens
* Froissart, par Buclion, vol. xi. p. 363.
44 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1388.
of the marches did not deem themselves strong enough
at that time to oftcr battle, but that, having collected
tlicir power, they had determined to remain quiet till
it was seen in what direction the Scottish invasion was
to take place, and then to make a counter expedition
into Scotland; thus avoiding all chance of being at-
tacked, and retaliating upon the Scots by a system of
simultaneous havoc and plunder.
Upon receiving this information, which proved to be
correct, the Earl of Fife determined to separate his
force into two divisions, and for the purpose of frus-
tratinsr the desiirns of the Eno^lish, to invade the coun-
tr}^ both by the w^estern and eastern marches. He
himself, accordingly, with Archibald lord of Galloway,
and the Earls of Sutherland, Menteith, Mar, and
Strathern, at the head of a large force, being nearly
two-thirds of the whole army, began their march
through Liddesdale, and passing the borders of Gallo-
way, advanced towards Carlisle. The second division
was chiefly intended to divert the attention of the
English from opposing the main body of the Scots; it
consisted of three hundred knights and men-at-arms,
and two thousand foot, besides some light-armed
prickers and camp-followers,* and was placed under
the command of the Earl of Douglas, a young soldier,
who, from his boyhood, had been trained to war by his
father, and who possessed the hereditary valour and
military talent of the family. Along with him went
the Earls of March and Moray ; Sir James Lindsay,
Sir Alexander Ramsay, and Sir John St Clair, three
soldiers of great experience ; Sir Patrick Hepburn
* Winton, vol. ii, p, 337, gives a much higher numher ; hut we may here
trust rather to Froissart, who affirms that he had no more than " three hun-
dred men-at-arms, and two thousand infantrj-."
1 38a ROBERT II. 45
with his two sons, Sir John Haliburton, Sir John
Maxwell, Sir Alexander Fraser, Sir Adam Glendin-
ning, Sir David Fleming, Sir Thomas Erskine, and
many other knights and squires.
With this small army, the Earl of Douglas pushed
rapidly on through Northumberland, having given
strict orders that not a house should be burnt or plun-
dered till they reached the Bishopric of Durham.
Such was the silence and celerity of the march, that
he crossed the Tyne near Branspeth, and was not dis-
covered by the English garrisons to be in the heart of
this rich and populous district, until the smoke of the
flaming villages, and the terror of the people, carried
the first news of his arrival to the city of Durham.
Nor did the English dare at present to oppose him,
imagining his force to be the advanced guard of the
main army of the Scots : a natural supposition, for the
capture of their spy had left them in ignorance of the
real designs of the enemy. Douglas, therefore, plun-
dered w^ithout meeting an enemy; whilst Sir Henry
Percy, better known by his name of Hotspur, and his
brother Ralph, the two sons of the Earl of Northum-
berland, along with the Seneschal of York, the Cap-
tain of Berwick, Sir Mathew Redman, Sir Ralph Mow-
bray, Sir John Felton, Sir Thomas Grey, and numer-
ous other Border barons, kept themselves, with their
whole power, within the barriers of Newcastle,* and
the Earl of Northumberland collected his strenath at
Alnwick.
Meanwhile, having wasted the country as far as the
gates of Durham, the Scottish leaders returned to
Newcastle with a rapidity equal to their advance, and
in the spirit of the times, determined to tarry there
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 338. Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 377.
46 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1388.
two days, and try the courage of tlie Englisli knights.
The names of Percy and of Doughas were at this time
famous: Hotspur having the reputation of one of the
hravest soldiers in England, and the Earl of Douglas,
although his younger in years, being little inferior in
the estimation in which his military prowess was held
amongst his countrymen. In the skirmishes which
took place at the barriers of the town, it happened that
these celebrated soldiers came to be personally opposed
to each other; and after an obstinate contest, Douglas
won the pennon of the English leader, and boasted
aloud, before the knights who were present, that he
would carry it to Scotland, and plant it, as a proof of
his prowess, on his castle of Dalkeith. " That, so help
me God!" cried Hotspur, "no Dougl?.s shall ever do;
and ere you leave Northumberland you shall have small
cause to boast.'''' — " Well, Henry,'" answered Douglas,
" your pennon shall this night be placed before my
tent; come and win it if you can V*
Such was the nature of this defiance ; and Douglas
knew enough of Percy to be assured that, if possible,
he would keep his word. He commanded, therefore,
a strict watch to be maintained; struck the pennon
into the ground in front of his tent, and awaited the
assault of the Enfrlish. There were occasions, how-
ever, in which the bravadoes of chivalry gave way to
the stricter rules of war; and as the English leaders
still entertained the idea that Douglas only led the van
of the main army, and that his object was to draw them
from their entrenchments, they insisted that Percy
should not hazard an attack which might bring them
into jeopardy. The Scots, accordingly, after in vain
expecting an attack, left their encampment, and pro-
* Froissart, par Buohon, vol. xi. pp. 377.
13SS. ROBERT II. 47
ceeded on their way. Passing by the tower of Ponte-
land, they carried it by storm, razed it to the ground,
and still continuing their retreat, came, on the second
day, to the village and castle of Otterburn, situated
in Redesdale,* and about twelve miles from Newcastle.
This castle was strongly fortified, and the first day
resisted every attack; upon which most of their leaders,
anxious not to lose time, but to carry their booty across
the Borders, proposed to proceed into Scotland.
Douglas alone opposed this, and entreated them to
remain a few days and make themselves masters of the
castle, so that in the interval they might give Henry
Percy full time, if he thought fit, to reach their en-
campment, and fulfil his promise. This they at length
agreed to ; and having skilfully chosen their encamp-
ment, they fortified it in such a way as should give
them oreat advantage in the event of an attack. In
its front, and extending also a little to one side, was a
marshy level, at the narrow entrance of which were
placed their carriages and wagons laden with plunder
and behind them the horses, sheep, and cattle which
they had driven away with them. These were com-
mitted to the charge of the sutlers and camp-followers,
who, although poorly armed, were able to make some
resistance with their staves and knives. Behind these,
on firm ground, which was on one side defended by the
marsh, and on the other flanked by a small w^ooded
hill, were placed the tents and temporary huts of the
leaders and the men-at-arms; and having thus taken
every precaution against a surprise, they occupied them-
selves during the day in assaulting the castle, and at
night retired within their encampment. "|* But this
* Winton, vol. li. pp. 339, 340.
f Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 385.
48 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 138S.
did not long continue. By tliis time it became gene-
rally known that Douglas and his little army were
wholly unsupported; and the moment that Percy as-
certained the fact, and discovered that the Scottish
earl lay encamped at Otterburn, he put himself at the
head of six hundred lances, and eight thousand foot,
and, without waiting for the Bishop of Durham, who
was advancing with his power to Newcastle, marched
straight to Otterburn, at as rapid a rate as his infantry
could bear.*
Hotspur had left Newcastle after dinner, and the
sun was set before he came in sight of the Scots en-
campment. It was a placid evening in the month of
August, which had succeeded to a day of extreme heat,
and the greater part of the Scots, worn out with an
unsuccessful attack upon the castle, had taken their
supper and fallen asleep. In a moment they were
awakened by a cry of " Percy, Percy !" and the Eng-
lish, trusting that they could soon carry the encamp-
ment from the superiority of their numbers, attacked
it with the greatest fury. They were checked, how-
ever, by the barrier of wagons, and the brave defence
made by the servants and camp-followers, which gave
the knights time to arm, and enabled Douglas and the
leaders to form the men-at-arms before Hotspur could
reach their tents. The excellence of the position chosen
by the Scottish earl was now apparent ; for, taking
advantage of the ground, he silently and rapidly defiled
round the wooded eminence already mentioned, which
completely concealed his march, and when the greater
part of the English were engaged in the marsh, sud-
denly raised his banner, and set upon them in flank.
It was now night; but the moon shone brightly, and
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 384.
1388. ROBERT II. 49
the air was so clear and calm, that the light was almost
equal to the day. Her quiet rays, however, fell on a
dreadful scene ; for Percy became soon convinced that
he had mistaken the iodgings of the servants for those
of their masters; and, chafed at the disappointment,
drew back his men on firm ground, and encountered
the Scots with the utmost spirit. He was not, indeed,
so w^ell supported as he might have been, as a large
division of the English under Sir Mathew Redman
and Sir Robert Ogle,* having made themselves mas-
ters of the encampment, had begun to plunder, and
his own men were fatigued with their march; whilst
the Scots, under Douglas, Moray, and March, were
fresh and well-breathed. Yet- with all these disadvan
tages, the English greatly outnumbered the enemy;
and in the temper of their armour and their weapons
were far their superior. -[-
For many hours the battle raged with undiminished
fury; banners rose and fell; the voices of the knights
shouting their war-cries, were mingled with the shrieks
and groans of the dying, whilst the ground, covered
with dead bodies and shreds of armour, and slipperv
with blood, scarce afforded room for the combatants,
so closely were they engaged, and so obstinately was
every foot of earth contested. It was at this time that
Douglas, wielding a battle-axe in both hands, and fol
lowed only by a few of his household, cut his way
into the press of English knights, and throwing him-
self too rashly upon the spears, was borne to the eartli,
and soon mortally wounded in the head and neck.
Yet at this time none knew who had fallen, for the
English pressed on ; and a considerable interval elapsed
■* Winton, vol. ii. p. 340.
+ Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 389.
VOL. III. D
50 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1388.
before the Earls of March and Moray again forced
them to 2,ive back, and cleared the spot vvhere Douglas
lay bleeding. Sir James Lindsay was the first to dis-
cover his kinsman ; and, running up hastily, eagerly
inquired how it fared with him. " But poorly,"" said
Douglas. " I am dying in my armour, as my fathers
have done, thanks be to God, and not in my bed ; but
if you love me, raise my banner and press forward, for
he who should bear it lies slain beside me." Lindsay
instantly obeyed ; and the banner of the crowned heart
aixain rose amid the cries of " DouMas ! "" so that the
Scots believed their leader was still in the field, and
pressed on the English ranks with a courage which at
last compelled them to give way.* Hotspur, and his
brother Sir Ralph Percy, surrendered after a stout
resistance ; and along with them nearly the whole
chivalry of Northumberland and Durham were either
slain or taken. Amongst the prisoners w^ere the Sene-
schal of York, the Captain of Berwick, Sir Mathew
Redman, Sir Ralph Langley, Sir Robert Ogle, Sir
John Lilburn, Sir Thomas Walsingham, Sir John
Felton, Sir John Copland, Sir Thomas Abingdon, and
many other knights and gentlemen,-f- whose ransom
was a source of great and immediate wealth to the
Scots. There were slain on the English side about
eighteen hundred and sixty men-at-arms, and a thou-
sand were grievously wounded. J We are informed by
Froissart, that he received his account of this expedi-
tion from EnMish and Scottish kniohts who were
engaged in it ; and " of all the battles," says he, "which
I have made mention of heretofore in this history, this
* Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. pp. 393, 394, 395. Winton, vol. ii. pp.
3-iO, 341, 34-_'.
t Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 398. + Ibid. vol. xi. p. 420.
1.388. ROBERT II. 51
of Otterburn was the bravest and the best contested;
for there was neither knight nor squire but acquitted
himself nobly, doing well his duty, and fighting hand
to hand, without either stav or faintheartedness."
And as the English greatly outnumbered the Scots,
so signal a victory was much talked of, not only in both
countries, but on the continent.*
The joy which was naturally felt upon such an occa-
sion, was greatly overclouded by the death of Douglas.
His conduct became the theme of universal praise;
and his loss was the more lamented, as he had fallen
in this heroic manner in the prime of manhood. All
the soldiers mourned for him as their dearest friend;
and the march to Scotland resembled more a funeral
procession than a triumphant progress, for in the
midst of it moved the car in which was placed the body
of this brave man. In this manner was it conveyed by
the army to the Abbey of Melrose, where they buried
him in the sepulchre of his fathers, and hung his banner,
torn and soiled with blood, over his grave.*!"
The causes of this defeat of Hotspur, by a force
greatly his inferior, are not difficult to be discovered.
They are to be found in the excellent natural position
chosen by Douglas for his encampment; in the judi-
cious manner in which it had been fortified; and in the
circumstance of Percy attempting to carry it at first by
a coup-de-main; thus rendering his archers, that por-
tion of the Enoiish force which had ever been most
decisive and destructive in its effects, totally useless.^
The difficulties thrown in the way of the English by
the intrenchment of wagons, and the defence of the
* Froissart, par Buclion, vol. xi. p. 401. \ Ibid. vol. xi. p. 422.
X Ibid. vol. xi. p. 38.9. " Et etoient si joints Pun a I'autre et si attaches,
que trait d''archers de nul cote ny avoit point de lieu."
52 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. J 388.
camp followers, were of the utmost consequence in
gaining: time; and the subsequent victory forms a
striking* contrast to the dreadful defeat sustained by
the Scots at Dupplin, in consequence of the want of
any such precaution.* Even at Otterburn, the leaders,
who were sittinjr in their gowns and doublets at sup-
per when the first alarm reached them, had to arm in
extreme haste; so that Douglas\s harness was in many
places unclapsed, and the Earl of Moray fought all night
without his helmet ;-|- but minutes, in such circum-
stances, were infinitely valuable, and these were gained
by the strength of the camp. One circumstance con-
nected with the death of Douglas is too characteristic of
the times to be omitted. His chaplain, a priest of the
name of Lundie, had followed him to the war, and fought
during the whole battle at his side. When his body
was discovered, this warrior clerk was found bestriding
his dying master, wielding his battle-axe, and defending
him from injury. He became afterwards Archdeacon
of North Berwick. J
On hearing of the defeat at Otterburn, the Bishop
of Durham, who, soon after Percy\s departure, had
entered Newcastle with ten thousand men, attempted,
at the head of this force, to cut off the retreat of the
Scots ; but, on coming up with their little army, he
found they had again intrenched themselves in the
same strong position, in which they could not be
attacked without manifest risk ; and he judged it
prudent to retreat, § so that they reached their own
country without further molestation. So many noble
prisoners had not been carried into Scotland since the
days of Bruce ;|| for although Hotspur''s force did not
* Historj', supra, vol. ii. p. 12. "j- Winton, vol, ii. p. 38.9.
X Froissart, par Buchon, vol. xi. p. 3.93. § Ibid. vol. xi. p. 419.
II Winton, vol. ii. p. 343,
1388. ROBERT 11. 5.3
amount to nine tliousand men, it included tlie flower
of the EnMish Border baronao-e. The reniainino: divi-
sion of the Scots, under the Earl of Fife, amounting,
as we have seen, to more than a third part of the whole
army, broke into England by the west marches, accord-
ing to the plan already agreed on ; and after an inroad,
attended by the usual circumstances of devastation and
plunder, being informed of the successful conclusion of
the operations on the eastern border, returned without
a check to Scotland.
It is impossible not to agree with Froissart, that
there never was a more chivalrous battle than this of
Otterburn : the singular circumstances under which it
was fought, in a sweet moonlight night;* the heroic
death of Douglas; the very name of Hotspur; all con-
tribute to invest it wdth that character of romance, so
seldom coincident with the cold realities of history; and
we experience, in its recital, something of the sentiment
of Sir Philip Sidney, "who never could hear the song of
the Douglas and Percy without having his heart stirred
as with the sound of a trumpet.*'*' But it ought not to be
forgotten, that it was solely a chivalrous battle: it had
nothing great in its motive, and nothing great in its
results. It differs as widely, in this respect, from the
battles of Stirling and Bannockburn, and from the
many contests which distinguish the war of liberty, as
the holy spirit of freedom from the petty ebullitions of
national rivalry, or the desire of plunder and revenge.
It was fought at a time when England had abandoned
all serious designs against the independence of the
neighbouring country; when the king, and the great
body of the Scottish people, earnestly desired peace;
* It was fought on "Wednesday, 5th August. Macpherson's Notes on "Win -
ton, voL ii. p. 516.
54> IIISTOIIY OF SCOTLAND. 1389.
and when the accomplishment of this desire would have
been a real blessinc: to the nation: but this blessinor
the Scottish nobles, who, like their feudal brethren of
England and France, could not exist without public
or private war, did not appreciate, and had no ambition
to see realized. The war oriijinated in the character
of this class, and the principles which they adopted;
and the power of the crown, and the influence of the
commons, were yet infinitely too feeble to check their
authority: on the contrary, this domineering power
of the great feudal families was evidently on the in-
crease in Scotland, and led, as we shall see in the
sequel, to dreadful results.
But to return from this digression. The age and
indolence of the king, and his aversion to business,
appear to have now increased to a height which ren-
dered it necessary for the parliament to interfere ; and
the bodily weakness of the Earl of Carrick, the heir-
apparent, who had been injured by the kick of a horse,
made it impossible that much active management
should be intrusted to him. From necessity, more
than choice or affection, the nation next looked to
Robert's second son, the Earl of Fife; and in a meet-
ins: of the three Estates, held at Edinburo-h in 1389,
the king willingly retired from all interference with
public affairs, and committed the office of governor of
the kingdom to this ambitious and intriguing man,
who, at the mature age of fifty, succeeded to the com-
plete management of the kingdom.* A deep selfishness,
which, if it secured its own aggrandizement, little re-
garded the means employed, was the prominent feature
in the character of the new regent. His faults, too,
•were redeemed by few great qualities, for he possessed
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 414. lie died in 1419, aged eighty.
1389. ROBERT II. 55
little military talent ; and although his genius forciyil
government has been extolled bj our ancient historians,
his first public act was one of great weakness.
Since the defeat at Otterburn, and the capture of
Hotspur, the Earl Marshal, to whom the English king
had committed the custody of the marches, had been
accustomed to taunt and provoke the Scottish Bor-
derers to renew the quarrel, and had boasted, that he
would be ready to give them battle, if they would meet
him in a fair field, thousfh their numbers should double
his. These were the natural and foolish ebullitions
that will ever accompany any great defeat, and ought
to have been overlooked by the governor; but, instead
of this, he affected to consider his knightly character
involved; and prepared to sacrifice the true interests
of the country, which loudly called for peace, to his
own notions of honour. An army was assembled,
which Fife conducted in person, having along with him
Archibald Douglas, and the rest of the Scottish nobles.
With this force they passed the marches, and sent
word to the Earl Marshal, that they had accepted his
challenge, and would expect his arrival; but, with
superior wisdom, he declined the defiance ; and, hav-
ing intrenched himself in a strong position, refused to
abandon his advantage, and proposed to wait their
attack. This, however, formed no part of the project
of the Scots, and they returned into their own coun-
try.* In such absurd bravadoes, resembling more the
quarrels of children than any grave or serious contest,
did two great nations employ themselves, misled by
those ridiculous ideas which had arisen out of the sys-
tem of chivalry, whose influence was now paramount
throughout Europe.
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 414. Winton, vol. ii. p. 34G.
56 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390.
Not long after tliis, a three-years'' truce having been
concluded at Boulogne between England and France,
a mutual embassy of French and English knights
arrived in Scotland, and, having repaired to the court,
wliich was then held at Dunfermline, prevailed upon
the Scots to become parties to this cessation of hosti-
lities; so that the king, who, since his accession to the
throne, had not ceased to desire peace, enjoyed the
comfort of at last seeing it, if not permanently settled,
at least in the course of being established.* He re-
tired, soon after, to one of his northern castles at Dun-
donald, in Ayrshire, where, on the thirteenth JNIay,
1390, he died at the age of seventy-four, in the twen-
tieth year of his reign."!- The most prominent features
in the character of this monarch have been already
described. That he was indolent, and fond of enjoy-
ing himself in the seclusion of his northern manors,
whilst he injudiciously conferred too independent a
power upon his turbulent and ambitious sons, cannot
be denied; but it ought not to be forgotten, that, at a
time when the liberties of the country w^ere threatened
with a total overthrow, the Steward stood forward in
their defence, with a zeal and energy which w^ere emi-
nently successful, and that he was the main instru-
ment in defeating the designs of David the Second
and Edward the Third, when an English prince was
attempted to be imposed upon the nation. The policy
he pursued, after his accession, so far as the character of
the king was then allowed to influence the government,
were essentially pacific; but the circumstances in which
the nation was placed were totally changed; and to
* Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. pp. 89, 99.
+ Winton, vol. ii, pp. 3.50, 351. Some fine remains of this ancient castle
still exist. Stat. Account, vol. vii. p. G19.
1390. ROBERT II. 57
maintain peace between the two countries became then
as much the object of a wise governor, as it formerly
had been his duty to continue the war. Unfortunately,
the judgment of the king was not permitted to have
that influence to which it was entitled: and many years
were yet to run before the two nations had their eyes
opened, to discern the principles best calculated to pro-
mote their mutual prosperity.
Durins: the whole course of this reio^n, the as^riculture
of Scotland appears to have been in a lamentable con-
dition; a circumstance to be traced, no doubt, to the
constant interruption of the regular seasons of rural
labour; the ravages committed by foreign invasion, and
the havoc which necessarily attended the passage even
of a Scottish army from one part of the country to an-
other. The proof of this is to be found in the frequent
licenses which were granted by the English king, allow-
ing the nobles and the merchants of Scotland to import
grain into that country, and in the fact that the grain
for the victualling of the Scottish castles, then in the
hands of the English, was not unfrequently brought
from Ireland.* But the commercial spirit of the coun-
try during this reign was undoubtedly on the increase ;
and the trade which it carried on with Flanders appears
to have been conducted with much enterprise and acti-
vity. Mercer, a Scottish merchant, during his residence
in France, was, from his great w^ealth, admitted to the
favour and confidence of Charles the Sixth; and, on
one occasion, the cargo of a Scottish merchantman,
which had been captured by the English, was valued
as high as seven thousand marks, an immense sum for
those remote times. '[• The staple source of export
* Rotuli Scotice, vol. i. pp. 963, 965, 966, 968, 975.
i" Walsingham, p. 239.
58 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390.
wealth continued to consist in wool, hides, skins, and
wool-fells. We have the evidence of Froissart, who
had himself travelled in the country, that its homo
manufactures were in a very low condition.
U9Q.
ROBERT III.
59
CHAP. IL
llOBERT THE THIED.
1390—1424.
Kinjs of England.
Richard II.
Henry IV.
Henry V.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Kings of France.
Charles VI.
Charles VII.
Rome. (Popes.) Avigiion.
Boniface IX.
Innocent VII.
Gregory XII.
Alexander V.
John XXIII.
Martin V.
Clement VII.
Benedict XIII.
The remains of Robert the Second were committed to
the sepulchre in the Abbey of Scone; and on the 14th
August, 1390, being the morning succeeding the funeral,
the coronation of his successor, John earl of Carrick,
took place, with circumstances of great pomp and so-
lemnity.* Next day, which was the Assumption of
the Virgin, his wife, Annabella Drummond countess
of Carrick, a daughter of the noble house of Drum-
mond, was crowned queen; and on the following morn-
ing, the assembled prelates and nobles, amidst a great
concourse of the people, took their oaths of allegiance,
when it was agreed that the king should change his
name to that of Robert the Third; the appellative
* Winton, vol. ii. pp. 361 , 362. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 41 8. Chara-
beriam Accounts, vol. ii, p. 196. The funeral expenses amounted to £253,
19s. 9d.
60 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1:390.
John, from its associations witli l^aliol, being con-
sidered ominous and unpopular.
The character of the monarch was not essentially
different from that of liis predecessor. It was amiable,
and far from wanting in sound sense and discretion ;
but the accident which had occasioned his lameness, un-
fitted him for excelling in those martial exercises which
were then necessary to secure the respect of his no-
bility, and compelled him to seek his happiness in pacific
pursuits, and domestic endearaients, more likely to
draw upon him the contempt of his nobles, than any
more kindly feelings. The name of king, too, did not
bring with it, in this instance, that high hereditary
liouour which, had Robert been the representative of
a long line of princes, must necessarily have attached
to it. He was only the second king of a new race ;
the proud barons who surrounded his throne had but
lately seen his father and himself in their own rank ;
had associated with them as their equals, and were
little prepared to surrender, to a dignity of such recent
creation, the homage or the awe which the person on
whom it had fallen did not command by his own vir-
tues. Yet the king appears to have been distinguished
by many admirable qualities. He possessed an in-
flexible love of justice, and an affection for his people,
which were evinced by every measure where he was
suffered to follow the dictates of his own heart; he was
aware of the miseries which the country had suffered
by the long continuance of war, and he saw clearly that
peace was the first and best blessing which his govern-
ment could bestow, and for the establishment and
continuance of which almost every sacrifice should be
made. The soundness of these views could not be
doubted. They were the db.'tates of a clear and correct
J. 3.90. ROBERT III. 61
thinking mind, which, confined by circumstances to
thoiiahtfulness and retirement, had discovered the most
judicious Hne of policy, when all around it was turbu-
lence and error, and a few centuries later they would
have been hailed as the hio-hest virtues in a sovereii^n.
But Robert was w^antins: in that combination of
qualities which could alone have enabled him to bring
these higher principles into action ; and this is ex-
plained in a single word, when it has been said he was
unwarlike. The sceptre required to be held in a firm
hand ; and to restrain the outrages of a set of nobles so
haughty as those who then domineered over Scotland,
it w^as absolutely necessary that the king should possess
somewhat of that fierce energy w^hich distinguished
themselves. Irresolution, timidity, and an anxious
desire to conciliate the affection of all parties, induced
him to abandon the most useful designs, because they
opposed the selfishness, or threatened to abridge the
power, of his barons ; and this weakness of character
was ultimately productive of fatal effects in his o^vn
family, and throughout the kingdom. It happened
also, unfortunately for the peace of the community,
that his father had delegated the chief power of the
state to his brothers, the Earls of Fife and of Buchan,
committingthe general management of all public affairs,
with the title of Governor, to the first ;* and permit-
ting the Earl of Buchan to rule over the northern parts
of the kingdom, with an authority little less than regal.
The first of these princes had long evinced a restless am-
bition, which had been increased by the early possession
of power ; but his character began now to discover those
darker shades of crime, which grew^ deeper as he
advanced in years. The Earl of Buchan, on the other
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. pp. 165, 192.
62 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390.
hand, was little less tlian a cruel and ferocious savan-e,
a species of Celtic Attila, whose common appellation
of the " Wolf of Badenoch,"" is sufficiently characteristic
of the dreadful attributes which composed his character,
and who issued from his lair in the north, like the devoted
instrument of the divine wrath, to scourire and afflict
the nation.
On the morning after the coronation, a little incident
occurred, which is indicative of the gentle character of
the king, and illustrates the simple manners of the times.
The fields and inclosures round the monastery had been
destroyed by the nobles and their retinue ; and as it
liappened during the harvest, when the cj;ops were ripe,
the mischief fell heavily on the monks. A canon of
the order, who filled the office of storekeeper, demanded
an audience of the king, for the purpose of claiming
gome compensation; but on announcing his errand the
chamberlain dismissed him with scorn. The mode in
which he reven^^ed himself was whimsical and extra-
ordinarv. Earlv on the morninsr after the coronation,
before the king had awoke, the priest assembled a mot-
ley multitude of the farm-servants and villaoei-s belon;r-
ing to the monastery, who, bearing before them an image
stuffed with straw, and armed with the drums, horns,
and rattles which they used in their rustic festivals,
took their station under the windows of the royal bed-
chamber, and at once struck up such a peal of yells,
horns, rattles, and dissonant music, that the court awoke
in terror and dismay. The priest who led the rout was
instantly dragged before the king, and asked what he
meant. " Please your majesty," said he, " what you
have just heard are our rural carols, in which we indulge
when our corps are brought in ; and as you and your
nobles have spared us the trouble and expense of cutting
them down this season, we thought it grateful to give
1390. ROBERT III. 63
you a specimen of our harvest jubilee." The freedom
and sarcasm of the answer would have been instantly
punished by the nobles ; but the king understood and
pardoned the reproof, ordered an immediate inquiry
into the damage done to the monastery, and not only
paid the full amount, but applauded the humour and
coura2:e of the ecclesiastic*
ID
It was a melancholy proof of the gentle and indolent
character of this monarch that, after his accession to
the throne, the general management of affairs, and
even the name of Governor,*!- were still intrusted to
the Earl of Fife, who for a while continued to pursue
such measures as seemed best calculated for the pre-
servation of the public prosperity. The truce of
Leilinghen, which had been entered into between
France and England, in 1.389, and to which Scotland
had become a party, was again renewed, J and at the
same time it was thought expedient that the league
with France, concluded between Charles the Sixth and
Robert the Second, in 1371, should be prolonged and
ratified by the oath of the King,§ so that the three
countries appeared to be mutually desirous of peace.
Upon the part of England, every precaution seems to
have been taken to prevent any infractions of the truce.
The Scottish commerce was protected ; all injuries
committed upon the Borders were directed to be inves-
tigated and redressed by the Lords Wardens ; safe
conducts to the nobles, the merchants, and the students
of Scotland, w^ho were desirous of residino: in or tra-
veiling through England, were readily granted ; and
every inclination was shown to pave the way for the
* Fordnn a Heame, vol. iv. pp. 1111, 1112.
+ ChamberIainAccounts,Yol.ii.p.l 65. " Et Comiti de Fyf: Custodiregni
pro officio Custodis percipient : mille marcasper annum." Ibid. pp. 261, 267.
J Rymer, Foedera, vol. vii. p. 622. Rotuli Scotite, vol. ii. pp. 103, 105.
§ Records of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1390, p. 136, Rotuli
Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 98.
64 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390-8
settlement of a lasting peace.* Upon the part of
Scotland, these wise measures were met by a spirit
equally conciliatory; and for eight years, the period
for which tlie truce was prolonged, no important
warlike operations took place : a blessed and unusual
cessation, in which the country began to breathe anew,
and to devote itself to the pursuits of peace.
So happy a state of things was first interrupted by
the ferocity of the " Wolf of Badenoch," and the dis-
orders of the northern parts of the kingdom. On
some provocation given to Buchan by the Bishop of
Moray, this chief descended from his mountains, and,
after laying waste the country, with a sacrilege which
excited unwonted horror, sacked and plundered the
cathedral of Elgin, carrying off its chalices and vest-
ments, polluting its shrines with blood, and, finally,
setting fire to the noble pile, which, wdth the adjoining
houses of the canons, and the neighbouring town, were
burnt to the ground.-|- This exploit of the father, was
only a signal for a more serious incursion, conducted
by his natural son, Duncan Stewart, whose manners
were worthy of his descent, and who, at the head of a
wild assemblao-e of ketherans, armed only with the
sword and target, broke across the range of hills which
divide the counties of Aberdeen and Forfar, and began
to destroy the country, and murder the inhabitants,
with reckless and indiscriminate cruelty. Sir Walter
Ogilvy, then Sheriff of Angus, along with Sir Patrick
Gray, and Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, instantly
collected their power, and, although far inferior in
numbers, trusting to the temper of their armour,
* Rotuli Scotis, vol. ii. pp. 99, 100, 101, 103, 105.
+ Winton, vol. ii. p. 3GiJ. Keith's Catalogue, p. 83. See ChamberlaJn
Accounts, vol. ii. p. '655
1S90-8. ROBERT III. 65
attacked the mountaineers at Gasklune, near the
Water of Ila.* But they were almost instantly
overwhelmed, the Highlanders fio:htins with a ferocity,
and a contempt of life, which seem to have struck a
panic into their steel-clad assailants. Ogilvy, with
his brother, Wat of Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony,
the Lairds of Cairncross, Forfar, and Guthry, were
slain, and sixty men-at-arms along with them ; whilst
Sir Patrick Gray and Sir David Lindsay were griev-
ously wounded, and with difficulty carried off the field.
The indomitable fierceness of the mountaineers is
strikingly shown by an anecdote preserved by Winton.
Lindsay had pierced one of these, a brawny and
powerful man, through the body with his spear, and
thus apparently pinned him to the earth ; but al-
though mortally wounded, and in the agonies of
death, he writhed himself up by main strength, and,
with the weapon in his body, struck Lindsay a des-
perate blow with his sword, which cut him through
the stirrup and steel-boot into the bone, after which
his assailant instantly sunk down and expired. *["
These dreadful excesses, committed by a brother
and nephew of the king, called for immediate redress ;
and it is a striking evidence of the internal weakness
of the government, that they passed unheeded, and
were succeeded by private feuds amongst the nobility,
with whom the most petty disputes became frequently
the causes of cruel and deadly revenge. A quarrel of
this kind had occurred between the Lady of Fivy,
wife to Sir David Lindsay, and her nephew Robert
* Winton, Chron. vol. ii. pp. 368, 369. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 420.
Glenbreret, where this "writer affirms the battle to have been fought, is Glen-
brierachan, about eleven miles north of Gasklune. Macpherson's Notes on
Winton, p. 517.
f Winton, vol. ii. p. 369. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiae, MS. folio 240
VOL. III. E
66 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390-8.
Keith, a baron of great power. It arose from a trifling
misunderstanding between some masons and the
servants of Kcitli regarding a water-course, but it
concluded in tliis fierce chief besieo-insr his aunt in her
castle ; upon which Lindsa}'', who was then at court,
flew to her rescue, and encounterino; Keith at Garvv-
ach, compelled him to raise the siege, with the loss of
sixty of his men, who were slain on the spot.*
Whilst the government was disgraced by the occur-
rence of such deliberate acts of private war in the
low country, the Highlanders prepared to exhibit an
extraordinary spectacle. Two numerous clans, or
septs, known by the names of the clan Kay, and the
clan Quhete,"!" having long been at deadly feud, their
mutual attacks were carried on with that ferocity,
which at this period distinguished the Celtic race from
the more southern inhabitants of Scotland. The ideas
of chivalry, the factitious principles of that system of
manners from which we derive our modern code of
honour, had hitherto made little progress amongst
them ; but the more intimate intercourse between the
northern and southern portions of the kingdom, and
the residence of the lowland barons amongst them,
appear to have introduced a change ; and the notions
of the Norman knights becoming more familiar to the
mountaineers, they adopted the singular idea of decid-
ing their quarrel by a combat of thirty against thirty.
This project, instead of discouragement, met with the
approval of the government, who were happy that a
scheme should have suggested itself, by which there
was some prospect of the leaders in those fierce and
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 372,
+ Clan Quete or clan Chattan. The clan Kay is thought to have been the
clan Dhai — the Davidsons, a sept of the M'Pherson.
1390-8. ROBERT III. 67
endless disputes being cut off. A day having been
appointed for the combat, barriers were raised in the
level ground of the North Inch of Perth, and in the
presence of the king and a large concourse of the no-
bility, sixty tall athletic Highland soldiers, armed in
the fashion of their country, with bows and arrows,
sword and target, short knives and battle-axes, entered
the lists, and advanced in mortal array against each
other ; but at this trying moment the courage of one
of the clan Chattan faltered, and, as the lines w^re
closing, he threw himself into the Tay, swam across
the river, and fled to the woods. All was now at a
stand : with the inequality of numbers the contest
could not proceed ; and the benevolent monarch, who
had suffered himself to be persuaded against his better
feelings, was about to break up the assembly, when a
stout burgher of Perth, an armourer by trade, sprung
within the barriers, and declared, that for half a mark
he would supply the place of the deserter. The offer
was accepted, and a dreadful contest ensued. Unde-
fended by armour, and confined within a narrow space,
the Hio;hlanders fouo;ht with a ferocitv which nothin";
could surpass ; whilst the gashes made by the daggers
and battle-axes, and the savage yells of the combatants,
composed a scene altogether new and appalling to many
French and Enolish knio-hts, who were amono-st the
spectators, and to whom, it may be easily imagined,
the contrast between this cruel butchery, and the more
polished and less fatal battles of chivalry, was striking
and revolting. At last a single combatant of the clan
Kay alone remained, whilst eleven of their opponents,
including the bold armourer, were still able to wield
their weapons ; upon which the king threw down his
gage, and the victory was awarded to the clan Quhete.
68 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1390-8.
The leaders in this savage combat, arc said to have
been Shaw, the son of Farquhard, who headed the
clan Kay, and Cristijohnson, wlio headed the victors;*
but these names, which have been preserved by our
contemporary chroniclers, are in all probability cor-
rupted from the original Celtic. After this voluntary
immolation of their bravest warriors, the Highlanders
for a long time remained quiet within their mountains;
and the Earl of INIoray and Sir James Lindsay, by
whom this expedient for allaying the feuds is said to
Iiave been encouraged, congratulated themselves on
the success of their project. Soon after this, the ma-
nagement of the northern parts of the kingdom-f* w^as
committed to the care of David earl of Carrick, the
king's eldest son, who, although still a youth in his
seventeenth year, and with the faults incident to a
proud and impatient temper, evinced an early talent
for government, which, under proper cultivation might
have proved a blessing to the country.
For some years after this, the current of events is of
that quiet character which oSers little prominent or
interestins;. The weakness of the o-overnment of
Richard the Second, the frenzy of the French King,
the pacific disposition of the Scottish monarch, and the
character of the Earl of Fife, his chief minister, who,
although ambitious and intriguing, w^as unwarlike, all
contributed to secure to Scotland the blessing of peace.
The truce with Enoland was renewed from year to year,
and the intercourse between the two countries warmly
encouraged; the nobility, the merchants, the students
* Winton, vol. ii. pp. 373, 374, and Notes p. 518, Fordun a Goodal, vol.
ii. p. 420.
"f Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 349. " Et Dno. Comiti de Carrick de
donacione regis pro expensis suis factis in partibus borealibus per tempus
compoti : ut patet per literas regis concessas super bas, testante clerico pro-
bacionis, 40 Ii."
]S90-8. ROBERT III. 69
of Scotland, received safe conducts, and travelled into
England for the purposes of pleasure, business, or study,
or to visit the shrines of the most popular saints ; and
the rivalry between the two nations was no longer called
forth in mortal combats, but in those less fatal contests,
by which the restless spirits of those times, in the ab-
sence of real war, kept up their military experience
by an imitation of it in tilts and tournaments. An
enthusiastic passion for chivalry now reigned in both
countries, and, unless we make allowance for the uni-
versal influence of this singular system, no just estimate
can be formed of the manners of the times. Barons
who were sage in council, and high in civil or military
office, would leave the business of the state, and inter-
rupt the greatest transactions, to set off upon a tour of
adventures, having the king''s royal letters, permitting
them to " perform points of arms, and manifest their
prowess to the world."' Wortley, an English knight
of great reputation, arrived in Scotland; and, after a
courteous reception at court, published his cartel of
defiance, which was taken up by Sir James Douglas of
Strathbrock, and the trial of arms appointed to be held
in presence of the king at Stirling ; but after the lists
had been prepared, some unexpected occurrence appears
to have prevented the duel from taking place.* Sir
David Lindsay of Glenesk, who was then reputed one
of the best soldiers in Scotland, soon after the accession
of Robert the Third sent his cartel to the Lord Wells,
an English knight of the court of Richard the Second,
which having been accepted, the duel was appointed
to take place in London in presence of the king. So
important did Lindsay consider the afiair, that he
* Chamberlain Acco'ints, vol. ii. p. 366. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 421,
70 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1890-8.
freighted a vessel belonging to Dundee* to bring him
from London a new suit of armour; and, when the day
arrived, at the head of a splendid retinue he entered
the lists, which were crowded by the assembled nobles
and beauties of the court. In the first course the Eng-
lish knight was borne out of his saddle; and Lindsay,
although rudely struck, kept his seat so firmly, that a
cry rose amongst tlie crowd, who insisted he was tied
to his steed, upon wdiich he vaulted to the ground, and,
although encumbered by his armour, without touching
the stirrup, again sprung into the saddle. Both the
knights, after the first course, commenced a desperate
foot combat with their da2:2:ers, which concluded in the
total discomfiture of Lord Wells. Lindsay, who was
a man of great personal strength, having struck his
dagger firmly into one of the lower joints of his armour,
lifted him into the air, and gave him so heavy a fall,
that he lay at his mercy. He then, instead of putting
him to death, a privilege which the savage laws of these
combats at entrance conferred upon the victor, cour-
teously raised him from the ground, and, leading him
below the ladies'* gallery, delivered him as her prisoner
to the Queen of England. *!-
Upon another occasion, in one of those tournaments,
an accomplished baron, named Piers Courtney, made
his appearance, who bore upon his surcoat a falcon, with
the distich, — " I bear a falcon fairest in flycht, wlioso
prikketh at her his death is dicht, in graith." To his
surprise he found in the lists an exact imitation of him-
self in the shapeof a Scottish knight, with the exception,
that instead of a falcon, his surcoat bore a jay, with
* Rotuli Scotia?, vol. ii. p, 104.
+ Winton, vol. ii. pp. 355, 350, 357. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 422.
Lindsay, in gratitude lor his victory, founded an altar in the parish church
of Dundee. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiae, MS. fol. 243.
1398. ROBERT III. 71
an inscription ludicrously rhyming to the defiance
of Courtney, — " I bear a pyet peikand at ane pees,*
quhasa pykkis at her I sail pyk at his nees,-|- in faith."
The challenge could not be mistaken; and the knights
ran two courses as^ainst each other, in each of which
the helmet of the Scot, from being loosely strapped,
gave way, and foiled the attaint of Courtney, who,
having lost two of his teeth by his adversary's spear,
loudly complained of the occurrence, and insisted that
the laws of arms made it imperative on both knights
to be exactly on equal terms. " I am content," said
the Scot, " to run six courses more on such an agree-
ment, and let him who breaks it forfeit two hundred
pounds." The challenge was accepted ; upon which he
took off his helmet, and, throwing back his thick hair,
showed that he was blind of an eye, which he had lost
by a wound in the battle of Otterburn. The agreement
made it imperative on Courtney to pay the money, or
to submit to lose an eye ; and it may readily be imagined
that Sir Piers, a handsome man, preferred the first to
the last alternative. J
The title of duke, a dignity originally Norman, had
been brought from France into England ; and we now
find it for the first time introduced into Scotland in a
parliament held by Robert the Third at Perth, on the
28th of April, 1398.S At this meeting of the Estates,
the king, with great pomp, created his eldest son David
earl of Carrick, Duke of Rothesay, and at the same time
bestowed the dignity of Duke of Albany upon the Earl
of Fife, to whom, since his accession, he had intrusted
almost the whole management of public afi'airs.|| The
* Pees — piece. + Nees — nose. J Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 423.
§ Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 422.
II Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 421. Et libat: Clerico libacionis,
domus Dni nostri Regis, ad expensas ipsius domus " factas apud Sconam, et
apud Perth tempore quo tentum fuit Scaccarium, quo eciam tempore tentura
72 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
age of tlic hcir-apparent rendered any further con-
tinuance of his delegated authority suspicious and un-
necessary. Rothesay was now past his twentieth year ;
and his character, although exhibiting in an immo-
derate degree the love of pleasure natural to his time
of life, was yet marked by a vigour which plainly indi-
cated that he would not long submit to the superiority
of his uncle Albany. From his earliest years he had
been the darling of his father, and, even as a boy, his
household and establishment appear to have been kept
up with a munificence which was perhaps imprudent ;
yet the affectionate restraints imposed by his mother
the queen, and the control of William de Drummond,
the governor to whose charge his education seems to
have been committed, might have done much for the
formation of his character, had he not been deprived
of both at an early age. It is a singular circumstance,
also, that the king, although he possessed not resolu-
tion enough to shake off his imprudent dependence
upon Albany, evidently dreaded his ambition, and had
many misgivings for the safety of his favourite son,
and the dangers by which he wms surrounded. This
may be inferred from the repeated bands or covenants
for the support and defence of himself and his son and
lieir the Earl of Carrick, which were entered into be-
tween this monarch and his nobles, from the time the
prince had reached his thirteenth year.*
These bands, although in themselves not unknown
to the feudal constitution, yet were new in so far as they
were agreements, not between subject and subject, but
fuit consilium Reg: ibidem super multis punctis et articulis necessariis pro
negotiis regni, et reipublicae, £119, Cs. 4(1," The account goes on to notice
the creation of the Earl of Carrick as Duke of Rothesay, of Fife as Duke of
Albany, and of David Lindsay as Earl of Crawford.
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 197.
1398. ROBERT III. 73
between the kins; and those f^reat vassals who oufrht
to have been sufficiently bound to support the crown
and the heir-apparent by the ordinary oaths of homage.
It is in this light that these frequent feudal covenants,
by which any vassal of the crown, for a salary settled
upon him and his heirs, becomes bound to give his
" service and support" to the sovereign and his eldest
son the Earl of Carrick, are to be regarded as a new
feature in the feudal constitution of the country,
importing an increase in the power of the aristocracy,
aad a proportional decrease in the strength of the
crown. There seems, in short, throughout the whole
reign of David the Second and his successor, to have
been a gradual dislocation of the parts of the feudal
government, which left the nobles, far more than they
had ever yet been, in the condition of so many inde-
pendent princes, whose support the king could no longer
compel as a right, but was reduced to purchase by
pensions. In this way, there was scarce a baron of
any power or consequence whom Robert had not at-
tempted to bind to his service, and that of his son.
The Duke of Albany, Lord Walter Stewart of Brechin
his brother. Lord Murdoch Stewart, eldest son of
Albany, and afterwards regent of the kingdom ; Sir
John Montgomery of Eaglesham, Sir William de Lind-
say, Sir William Stewart of Jedburgh, and Sir John
de Ramorgny, were all parties to agreements of this
nature, in which the king, by a charter, grants to
them, and in many instances to their children, for the
whole period of their lives, certain large sums in an-
nuity, under the condition of their defending the king
and the Earl of Carrick, in time of peace as well as war.*
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. pp. 281, 310, 332, 197, 206, 207, 370,
495 219.
74? HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
We shall soon have an opportunity of observing how
feeble were such agreements to ensure to the crown the
support and loyal attachment of the subjects, where
they happened to counteract any schemes of ambition
and individual as^sjrandizement.
In the meantime, the character of that prince, for
whose welfare and security these alliances were under-
taken, had begun to exhibit an increasing impatience
of control, and an eager desire of power. Elegant in
his person, with a sweet and handsome countenance,
excelling in all knightly accomplishments, courteous
and easy in his manners, and a devoted admirer of
beauty, Rothesay was the idol of the populace ; whilst
a fondness for poetry, and a considerable acquaintance
with the literature of the age, gave a superior refine-
ment to his character, which, as it was little appre-
ciated by a fierce nobility, probably induced him, in
his turn, to treat their savage ignorance with contempt.
He had already, at an early age, been familiarized to
the management of public business, and had been
en^ao-ed in the settlement of the disturbed northern
districts, and employed as a commissioner for compos-
insr the difterences on the Borders.* His mother, the
queen, a woman of great sense and spirit, united her
influence to that of her son; and a strong party was
formed for the purpose of reducing the power of
Albany, and compelling him to retire from the chief
management of affairs, and resign his power into the
hands of the prince.
It was represented to the king, and with perfect
truth, that the kingdom was in a frightful state of
anarchy and disorder; that the administration of the
laws was suspended; those who loved peace, and were
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 349. Winton, vol. ii. pp. 376, 377.
1398. ROBERT III. 75
friends to good order, not knowing where to look for
support ; whilst, amid the general confusion, murder,
robbery, and every species of crime, prevailed to an
alarming and dreadful excess. All this had taken
place, it was affirmed, in consequence of the misplaced
trust which had been put into the hands of Albany,
who prostituted his office of governor to his own selfish
designs, and purchased the support of the nobles by
ofi'ering them an immunity for their offences. " If,"
said the friends of the prince, " if it is absolutely
necessary, from the increasing infirmities of the king,
that he should delegate his authority to a governor or
lieutenant, let his power be transferred to him to whom
it is justly due, the heir-apparent to the throne ; so that
the country be no longer torn and endangered by the
ambition of two contending factions, and shocked by
the indecent and undignified spectacle of perpetual
disputes in the royal household." These representa-
tions, and the increasing strength of the party of the
prince, convinced Albany that it would be prudent for
the present to give way to the secret wishes of the
king and the open ambition of Rothesay, and to resign
that office of governor, which he could no longer retain
with safety.
A parliament was accordingly held at Perth on the
27th of January, 1398, of which the proceedings are
interesting and important; and it is fortunate that a
record has been lately discovered,* which contains a
full account of this meetino; of the three Estates. It
is declared, in the first place, that the " misgovernance
* This valuable manuscript Record of the Parliament 1398, was politely
communicated to me by Mr Thomson, Deputy-clerk Register, to whom we
owe its discovery. It will be printed in the tirst volume of the Acts of the
Parliaments of Scotland. It appears not to be an original record, but a con-
♦-tmporaneous translation from the Latin original, now lost.
76 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
of the realm, and the defaults in the due administration
of the laws, are to be imputed to the kini^ and his mi-
nisters;* and, if, therefore, the king chooses to excuse
his own mismanagement, he is bound to be answerable
for his oflicers, whom he must summon and arraign
before his council, whose decision is to be given after
they have made their defence, seeing no man ought to
be condemned before he is called and openly accused.""
After this preamble, in which it is singular at this
early period to see clearly announced the principle of
the king"'s responsibility through his ministers, it is
declared, that since the king, for sickness of his person,
is not able to labour in the government of the realm,
norto restrain "tresspassours," the council have judged
it expedient that the Duke of Rothesay should be the
king"'s lieutenant generally throughout the land for the
term of three years, having full power in all things,
equally as if he were himself the king, under the con-
dition that he is to be obliged, by his oath, to admi-
nister the office accordins; to the directions of the
Council General; or, in absence of the parliament,
with the advice of a council of experienced and faithful
men, of whom the principal are to be the Duke of
Albany, and Walter Stewart lord of Brechin, the
Bishops of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, and
the Earls of Douglas, Ross, Moray, and Crawford.
To these were added, the Lord of Dalkeith, the Con-
stable Sir Thomas Hay, the Marshal Sir William
Keith, Sir Thomas Erskine, Sir Patrick Graham, Sir
John Levingston, Sir William Stewart, Sir John of
Ramorgny, Adam Forester, along with the Abbot of
* Skene, in his statutes of Robert the Third, p. 59, has suppressed the
words, " sulde be imputyt to the kyng." His words are, " sulde be imput to
the king's otEciars."
■J 398. ROBERT III. 77
Holyrood, the Archdean of Lothian, and Mr Walter
Forester. It was next directed, that the different mem-
bers of this council should take an oath to give to the
young regent " lele counsail, for the common profit of
the realm, nocht havande tlierto fede na frendschyp ;"
and that the duke himself be sworn to fulfil everything
which the king, in his coronation oath, had promised
to Holy Kirk and the people. These duties of the
king w^ere summarily explained to consist in the up-
right administration of the laws; the maintenance of
the old manners and customs for the people; the re-
straining and punishing of all manslayers, reifars,
brennars, and generally all strong and masterful mis-
doers; and more especially in the seizing and putting
down of all cursed or excommunicated men and heretics.
Such being the full powers committed to the regent,
provision was made against an abuse very common in
those times : The king, it was declared, shall be obliged
not to " let or hinder the prince in the execution of his
office by any counter orders, as has hitherto happened ;
and, if such were given, the lieutenant was not to be
bound either to return an answer, or to obey them. It
was next directed by the parliament, that whatever
measures were adopted, or orders issued, in the execu-
tion of this office, should be committed to writing, with
the date of the day and place, and the names of the
councillors by whose advice they were adopted; so that
each councillor may be ready to answer for his own
deed, and, if necessary, submit to the punishment,
which, in the event of its being illegal, should be ad-
judged by the council-general. It was determined in
the same parliament, that the prince, in the discharge
of his duties as lieutenant, was to have the same salary
allowed him as that given to the Duke of Albany, his
78 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398
predecessor, in the office of Regent, at the last council-
*;-eneral held at Stirling. With regard to the relations
with foreign powers, it was resolved that an embassy,
or, as it is singularly called, " a great message," be
despatched to France; and that commissioners should
be appointed to treat at Edinburgh of the peace with
England, to determine whether the truce of twenty-
eight years should be accepted or not.
On the subject of finance, a general contribution of
eleven thousand pounds was raised for the common
necessities of the kingdom, of which the clergy agreed
to contribute their share, under protestation that it did
not prejudice them in time to come; and the said con-
tribution was directed to be levied upon all goods, cattle,
and lands, as well demesne as other lands, excepting
white sheep, riding-horses, and oxen for labour. With
regard to the burgesses who were resident beyond the
Forth, it was stated that they must contribute to this
tax, as well as those more opulent burghers wdio dwelt
in the south, upon protestation that their ancient laws
and free customs should be preserved; that they should
be required to pay only the same duties upon wool,
hides, and skins, as in the time of King Robert last
deceased, and be free from all tax upon salmon. The
statutes which were passed in the council held at Perth,
in April last, regarding the payment of duties upon
English and Scots cloth, salt, flesh, grease, and butter,
as well as horse and cattle, exported to England, were
appointed to be continued in force; and the provisions
of the same parliament went on to declare, that, con-
sidering the "great and horrible destructions, herschips,
burning, and slaughter, which disgraced the kingdom,
it was ordained, by consent of the three Estates, that
every sheriff should make proclamation, that no man
1398. ROBERT III. 79
riding or going through the country be accompanied
with more attendants than they are able to pay for;
and that, under penalty of the loss of life and goods,
no man disturb the country by such slaughters, burn-
ings, raids, and destructions, as had been common under
the late governor." The act also declared, that, " after
such proclamation has been made, the sheriff shall use
all diligence to discover and arrest the offenders, and
shall bind them over to appear and stand their trial at
the next Justice ayre: if unable to find bail, they were
immediately to be put to the knowledge of an assize;
and, if found guilty, instantly executed."
With regard to those higher and more darinsr offend-
ers, whom the power of the sheriff, or his inferior officers,
was altogether unable to arrest, (and there can be little
doubt that this class included the greater portion of the
nobles.) it was provided, that this officer •■' should pub-
licly declare the names of them that may not be arrested,
enjoining them within fifteen days to come and find
bail to appear and stand their trial, under the penalty,
that all who do not obey this summons shall be put to
the king''s horn, and their goods and estate confiscated."
The only other provision of this parliament regarded
a complaint of the queen-mother, stating, that her pen-
sion of two thousand six hundred marks had been re-
fused by the Duke of Albany, the chamberlain, and
an order by the king that it be immediately paid: a
manifest proof of the jealousy which existed between
this ambitious noble and the royal family.*
Whilst such was the course of events in Scotland,
and the ambition of Rothesay, in supplanting his uncle
Albany, was crowned with success, an extraordinary
event had taken place in'Engiand, which seated Henry
* MS. Record of Parliameut 1 398, ut supra.
80 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
of Lancaster upon the throne, under tlie title of Henry
the Fourth, and doomed Richard the Second to a per-
petual prison. It was a revolution having, in its com-
mencement, perhaps no higher object than to restrain
within the limits of law the extravagant pretensions
of the king; but it was hurried on to a consummation
by a rashness and folly upon his part, which alienated
the whole body of his people, and opened up to his rival
an avenue to the throne, which it was difficult for
human ambition to resist. The spectacle, however, of
a king deposed by his nobles, and a crown forcibly
appropriated by a subject who possessed no legitimate
title, was new and appalling, and created in Scotland
a feeling of indignant surprise, which is apparent in
the accounts of our contemporary historians. Nor was
this at all extraordinary. The feudal nobility consi-
dered the kingdom as a fee descendible to heirs, and
regarded the right to the throne as something very
similar to their own right to their estates ; so that
the principle, that a kingdom might be taken by con-
quest^ on the allegation that the conduct of the king
was tyrannical, w^as one which, if it gave Henry of
Lancaster a lawful title, might afford to a powerful
neighbour just as good a right to seize upon their pro-
perty. It w^as extraordinary for us to hear, says
Winton, with much simplicity, that a great and power-
ful king, who was neither pagan nor heretic, should
yet be deposed like an old abbot, who is superseded
for dilapidation of his benefice ;* and it is quite evident,
from the terms of the address which Henry used at his
coronation, and his awkward attempt to mix up the
principle of the king having vacated the throne by set-
ting himself above the laws, with a vague hereditary
* AVinton. vol, ii. p. 386.
1398. ROBERT III. 81
claim upon his own side, that the same ideas were pre-
sent to his mind, and occasioned him uneasiness and
perplexity.*
It is well known, that he was scarce seated on the
throne, when a conspiracy for the restoration of the de-
posed monarch was discovered, which was soon after
followed by the news that Richard had died in Ponte-
fract castle, and by the removal of a body declared to
be that of the late king from Pomfret to St PauFs,
where, as it lay in state in its royal shroud, Henry
himself, and the whole of the nobility, officiated in the
service for the dead. A report, however, almost imme-
diately arose, that this was not the body of the king,
who, it was affirmed, was still alive, but that of Mau-
delain, his private chaplain, lately executed as one of
the conspirators, and to whom the king bore a striking
resemblance. -|* After the funeral service, it is certain
that Henry did not permit the body to be deposited in
the tomb which Richard had prepared for himself and
his first wife, at Westminster, but had it conveyed to
the church of the preaching friars at King's Langley,
where it was interred with the utmost secrecy and de-
spatch.J
Not long after this an extraordinary story arose
in Scotland. King Richard, it was affirmed, having
escaped from Pontefract, had found means to convey
himself, in the disguise of a poor traveller, to the Wes-
tern, or out Isles of Scotland, where he was acciden-
tally recognised by a lady who had known him in Ire-
land, and who was sister-in-law to Donald lord of the
Isles. Clothed in this mean habit, the unhappy mon-
* Fordan a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 427.
•{• Metrical Hist, of the Deposition of Richard the Second. Archseologia,
Tol. XX. p. 220,
X Otterburn, p. 229. Walsingham, p. 363. Gough's Sepulchral ]Monn-
ments, vol. i, p. 1C8.
VOL. III. P
82 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1308.
arch sat down in the kitchen of the castle belonfrins:
to this island prince, fearful, even in this remote region,
of being discovered and delivered up to Henry. He
was treated, however, with much kindness, and given
in charge to Lord Montgomery, who carried him to the
court of Robert the Third, where he was received with
honour. It was soon discovered, that whatever was
the history of his escape, either misfortune for the time
had unsettled his intellect, or that, for the purpose of
safety, he assumed the guise of madness; for although
recognised by those to whom his features were familiar,
he himself denied that he was the king; and AVinton
describes him as half mad, or wild. It is certain, how-
ever, that during: the continuance of the reiijn of Ro-
bert the Third, and, after his death, throughout the
regency of Albany, a period of nineteen years, this
mysterious person was treated with the consideration
befittinc; the rank of a kins:, althouo;h detained in a
sort of honourable captivity; and it was constantly
asserted in England and France, and believed by many
of those best able to obtain accurate information, that
King Richard was alive, and kept in Scotland. So
much, indeed, was this the case, that, as we shall im-
mediately see, the reign of Henry the Fourth, and of
his successor, was disturbed by repeated conspiracies,
which were invariably connected with that country, and
which had for their object his restoration to the throne.
It is certain also, that in contemporary records of un-
questionable authenticity, he is spoken of as Richard the
Second king of England; that he lived and died in the
palace of Stirling; and that he was buried with the
name, state, and honours, of that unfortunate monarch.*
A cloud now began to gather over Scotland, which
* See Appendix, at the end of this volume.
1398. ROBERT III. 83
threatened to interrupt the quiet current of public pro-
sperity, and once more to plunge the country into war.
It was thought proper that the Duke of Rothesay, the
heir-apparent to the throne, should no longer continue
unmarried; and the Earl of March, one of the most
powerful nobles in the kingdom, proposed his daughter,
with the promise of a large dowry, as a suitable match
for the young prince. The offer was accepted; but,
before the preliminaries were arranged, March found
his designs traversed and defeated by the intrigues and
ambition of a family now more powerful than his own.
Archibald earl of Douglas loudly complained, that the
marriage of the heir to the crown w^as too grave a mat-
ter to be determined without the advice of the three
Estates, and, with the secret design of procuring the
prince's hand for his own daughter, engaged in his in-
terest the Duke of Albany, who still possessed a great
influence over the character of the kino;. What were
Rothesay ''s own Welshes upon the occasion is not easily
ascertained. It is not improbable, that his gay and
dissipated habits, which unfortunately seem not to have
been restrained by his late elevation, would have in-
duced him to decline the proposals of both the earls ;
but he was overruled: the splendid dowry paid down
by Douglas, which far exceeded the promises of March,
was perhaps the most powerful argument in the esti-
mation of the prince and the king; and it was deter-
mined that the daughter of Douglas should be preferred
to Elizabeth of Dunbar.
In the meantime, the intrigue reached the ears of
March, who was not of a temper to sufi'er tamely so
disgraceful a slight; and, little able or caring to con-
ceal his indignation, he instantly sought the royal pre-
sence, and upbraided the king for his breach of agree-
84 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
mont, demanding redress, and the restoration of the
sum which he had paid down. Receiving an cvasivo
reply, his passion broke out into the most violent lan-
guage; and he left the monarch with a threat, that he
would either see his daujjhter riijhted, or take a revencfe
which should convulse the kingdom. The first part of
the alternativ^e, however, was impossible. It was soon
discovered that Rothesay, with great speed and secrecy,
had rode to Bothwell, where his marriasfo with Eliza-
betli Douglas had been precipitately concluded ; and the
moment that this intellifrence reached him, March com-
mitted the charge of his castle of Dunbar to Maitland
his nephew, repaired to the English court, and entered
into a correspondence with the new king.
His fli2:ht w^as the si2:nal for the Dous^lasses to wrest
his castle out of the hands of the weak and irresolute
youth to whom it had been intrusted, and to seize upon
his noble estates; so that, to the insult and injustice
with which he had already been treated, was added an
injury which left him without house or lands, and
compelled him to throw himself into the arms of Eng-
land.*
On ascendins: the throne, the Duke of Lancaster,
known henceforth by the title of Henry the Fourth,
was naturally anxious to consolidate his power, and
would willingly have remained at peace; but the ex-
piration of the truce which had been concluded with his
predecessor seems to have been hailed with mutual sa-
tisfaction by the fierce Borderers; and careless of the
pestilence which raged in England, the Scots broke
acrossthe marches in great force, and stormed the castle
of Wark, during the absence of Sir Thomas Gray, the
* Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 153. RjTner, Foedera, voL viii. p. 153.
1S98. ROBERT III. 85
governor,* who, hurrying back to defend his charge,
found it razed to the foundation. These inroads were
speedily revenged by Sir Robert Umfraville, who de-
feated the Scots in a skirmish at Fullhopelaw, which
was contested with much obstinacy. Sir Robert Ru-
therford wdth his five sons, Sir WilKam Stewart, and
John Turnbull, a famous leader, commonly called "Out
w^yth Swerd," were made prisoners ;"t* and, the ancient
enmity and rivalry between the tw'o nations being again
excited, the Borderers, on both sides issued from their
woods and marshes, and commenced their usual system
of cruel and unsparing ravage.
For a while these mutual excesses were overlooked,
or referred to the decision of the march- wardens ; but
Henry was well aware that the secret feelings both of
the king and of Albany were against him : he knew
they w^ere in strict alliance with France, which threat-
ened him with invasion ; and the story of the escape
of the real or pretended Richard, whom he of course
branded as an impostor, wdiile the Scots did not scruple
to entertain him as king, was likely to rouse his keen-
est indignation. He accordingly received the Earl
of March with distinguished favour; and this baron,
whose remonstrances reo^arding: the restoration of his
castle and estates had been answered with scorn, re-
nounced his allegiance to his lawful sovereign, and
agreed to become henceforw^ard the faithful subject of
the King of England ; J upon wdiich that monarch
publicly declared his intention of instantly invading
the country, and prepared, at the head of an army,
to chastise the temerity of his vassal in the assumed
* Walsingham, p. 362.
'\' Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 162. "This expressive appellative" ap-
pears in R}Tner, " Joannus TournebuU Out wyth Swerd."
X R)Tner, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 153.
86 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1398.
character of Lord Superior of Scotland. In so ludi-
crous a light did tlie revival of this exploded claim
appear, that, with the exception of a miserable pas-
quinade, it met with no notice whatever. March, in
the meantime, in conjunction with Hotspur and Lord
Thomas Talbot, at the head of two thousand men,
entered Scotland throu2:h the lands which he could no
longer call his own, and wasting the country as far as
the village of Popil, twice assaulted the castle of Hailes,
but found himself repulsed by the bravery of the gar-
rison ; after which, they burnt and plundered the vil-
lages of Traprain and Methill, and encamped at Linton,
where they collected their booty, kindled their fires,
and, as it was a keen and cold evening in November,
proposed to pass the night. So carelessly had they
set their watches, however, that Archibald Douglas,
the earFs eldest son, by a rapid march from Edin-
burMi, had reached the hill of Pencrao; before the
English received any notice of his approach ; upon
which they took to flight in the utmost confusion, pur-
sued by the Scots, who made many prisoners in the
wood of Coldbrandspath, and continued the chase to
the walls of Berwick, where they took the banner of
Lord Talbot.*
Soon after this, Henry determined to make good
his threats ; and, at the head of an army far superior
in number to any force which the Scots could oppose
to him, proceeded to Newcastle; and from thence sum-
moned Robert of Scotland to appear before him as his
liegeman and vassal. ■[- To this ridiculous demand no
answer was returned, and the king advanced into Scot-
land, directing his march towards the capital. Rothe-
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 429.
+ Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. pp, 157, 158.
1400. ROBERT III. 87
say, the governor, now commanded the castle of Edin-
burgh, and, incensed at the insolence of Henry, sent
him his cartel, publicly defying him as his adversary
of England; accusing him of having invaded, for the
sole love of plunder, a country to which he had no
title whatever; and offering to decide the quarrel, and
spare the effusion of Christian blood which must fol-
low a protracted war, by a combat of one hundred,
two hundred, or three hundred nobles on each side.*
This proposal Henry evaded, and proceeded without
a check to Leith, from which he directed a monitory
letter to the king, which, hke his former summons,
was treated with silent scorn.
The continuance of the expedition is totally deficient
in historical interest, and is remarkable only from the
circumstance, that it was the last invasion which an
Eno'lish monarch ever conducted into Scotland. It
possessed, also, another distinction highly honourable
to its leader, in the unusual lenity which attended the
march of the army, and the absence of that plunder,
burning, and indiscriminate devastation, which had
accompanied the last great invasion of Richard, and,
indeed, almost every former enterprise of the English.
After havino^ advanced to Leith, where he met his
fleet, and reprovisioned his army, Henry proceeded
to lay siege to the castle of Edinburgh, which was
bravely defended by the Duke of Rothesay. Albany,
in the meantime, having collected a numerous army,
pushed on, by rapid marches, towards the capital, with
the apparent design of raising the siege, and relieving
the heir to the throne from the imminent danger to
which he was exposed. On reaching Calder-moor,
however, he pitched his tents, and showed no inclina-
* Eymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 158.
88 HISTORY or Scotland. 1400.
tion to proceed ; whilst public rumour loudly accused
liim of an intention to betray the prince into the hands
of the enemy, and clear for himself a passage to the
throne. Yet, although the prior and subsequent con-
duct of Albany gave a plausible colour to such re-
proaches, it is not impossible that the Duke might
liave avoided a battle without any such base intentions.
The season of the year was far advanced, and the
numerous host of the English king w^as already suffer-
ing grievously, both from sickness and want of provi-
sions. Rothesay, on the contrary, and his garrison,
were well provisioned, in high spirits, and ready to
defend a fortress of great natural strenglh to the last
extremity. The event showed the wisdom of these
calculations ; for Henry, after a short experience of
the strength of the castle, withdrew his army from the
siege; and receiving, about the same time, intelligence
of the rebellion of the Welsh, commenced his retreat
into En2:land.
It was conducted with the same discipline and mode-
ration which had marked Jiis advance. Wherever a
castle or fortalice requested protection, it was instantly
granted, and a pennon, with the arms of England,
was hung over the battlements, which w^as sacredly
respected by the soldiers. Henry's reply to two canons
of Holyrood, who besought him to spare their monas-
tery, was in the same spirit of benevolence and cour-
tesy: "Never," said he, "while I live, shall I cause
distress to any religious house whatever : and God
forbid that the monastery of Holyrood, the asylum of
my father when an exile, should suffer aught from his
son ! I am myself a Cumin, and by this side half a
Scot ; and I came here with my army, not to ravage
the land, but to answer the defiance of certain amongst
1400. ROBERT III. 89
you who have branded me as a traitor, to see whether
tlicy dare to make good the opprobrious epithets with
which I am loaded in their letters to the French king,
which were intercepted by my people, and are now
in my possession. I sought him"' (he here probably
meant the Duke of Albany) " in his own land, anxious
to give him an opportunity of establishing his inno-
cence, or proving my guilt ; but he has not dared to
meet me/'*
That these were not the real motives which led to
an expedition so pompous in its preliminaries, and so
inglorious in its results, Henry himself has told us,
in the revival of the claim of homage, the summons to
E/obert as his vassal, and his resolution to punish his
contumacy, and to compel him to sue for pardon ; but
when he discovered that any attempt to effect this
would be utterly futile, and the rumours of the rebel-
lion of Glendower made him anxious to return, it was
not impolitic to change his tone of superiority into
more courteous and moderate language, and to repre-
sent himself as coming to Scotland, not as a king to
recover his dominions, but simply as a knight to avenge
his injured honour. He afterwards asserted, that, had
it not been for the false and flattering promises of Sir
Adam Forester, made to him when he was in Scotland,
he should not have so readily quitted that country ;
but the subject to which the king alluded is involved
in great obscurity.-]- It may, perhaps, have related
to the delivery into his hands of the mysterious cap-
tive who is supposed to have been Richard the Second.
The condition of the country now called for the at-
tention of the great national council; and, on the 21st
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii, p. 430.
t Parliamentary Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 72,
90 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1101.
of February, 1401, a parliament was held at Scone,* in
which many wise and salutary laws were passed. To
some of these, as they throw a stronir and clear li^-ht
upon tlie civil condition of the country, it will be neces-
sary to direct our attention; nor will the reader, per-
haps, regret that the stirring narrative of war is thus
sometimes broken by the quiet pictures of peace. The
parliament was composed of the bishops, abbots, and
priors; with the dukes, earls, and barons, and the free-
holders and buriresses, who held of the kins: in chief.
Its enactments appear to have related to various subjects
connected with feudal possession : such as the brief of
inquest; the duty of the chancellor in directing a pre-
cept of seisin upon a retour; the prevention of distress
to vassals from all improper recognition of their lands
made by their overlords; the retrulation of the laws
regarding the succession to a younger brother dying
without heirs of his body; and the prevention of a
common practice, by which, without consent of the
vassal, a new superior was illegally imposed upon him.
Owing to the precarious condition of feudal property,
which, in the confusions incident to public and private
war, was [constantly changing its master, and to the
tyranny of the aristocracy of Scotland, it is not sur-
prising that numberless abuses should have prevailed,
and that, to use the expressive language of the record
itself, " divers and sindrie our soverane lordis lieges
should be many wayes unjustlie trubled and wexed in
their lands and heritage be inquisitions taken favorably,
and be ignorant persons." To remedy such malversa-
tion, it was enacted, that no sheriff or other judge
should cause any brief of inquest to be served, except
in his own open court ; and that the inquest should be
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p, 51. Regiam Majestatem.
1401. ROBERT III. 91
composed of the most sufficient and worthy persons
resident within his jurisdiction, whom he was to sum-
mon upon a premonition of fifteen days. When an
inquest had made a retour, by which the reader is to
understand the jury giving their verdict or judgment,
the chancellor was prohibited from directing a precept
of seisin, or a command to deliver the lands into the
hands of the vassal, unless it appeared clearly stated
in the retour that the last heir was dead, and the lands
in the hands of the kins: or the overlord.
It was enacted, at the same time, that all barons and
freeholders who held of the king, should provide them-
selves with a seal bearing their arms, and that the re-
tour should have appended to it the seals of the sheriff,
and of the majority of the persons who sat upon the
inquest. It appears to have been customary in those
unquiet times, when " strongest might made strongest
right,"*** for the great feudal barons, upon the most fri-
volous pretences, to resume their vassals'* lands, and to
dispose of them to some more favoured or more power-
ful tenant. This great abuse, which destroyed all the
security of property, and thus interrupted the agricul-
tural and commercial improvement of the country, called
for immediate redress; and a statute was passed, by
which all such " gratuitous recognitions or resumptions
of lands which had been made by any overlord, are
declared of none effect, unless due and lawful cause be
assigned for such having taken place.'' It was pro-
vided, also, that no vassal should lose possession of his
lands in consequence of such recognition, until after
the expiration of a year, provided he used diligence to
repledge his lands within forty days thereafter.* The
mode in which this ceremony is to be performed, is
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, pp. 52, 55.
02 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
briefly but clearly pointed out: the vassal bein^^ com-
manded to pass to the principal residence of his over-
lord, and, before witnesses, to declare liis readiness to
perform all feudal services to which he is bound by law,
requesting the restoration of his lands upon his finding
proper security for the performance of his duties as
vassal; and in order to the^prevention of all concealed
and illegal resumptions, it is made imperative on the
overlord to give due intimation of them in the parish
church, using the common language of the realm;
whilst the vassal is commanded to make the same pro-
clamation of any offer to repledge, in the same public
manner. In the event of a younger brother dying
without heirs of his body, it is declared that his " con-
quest lands," — that is, those acquired not by descent,
but by purchase, or other title, — should belong to the
immediate elder brother, according to the old law upon
the subject; and it is made illegal for any vassal hold-
ing lands of the king, to have a new superior imposed
upon him by any grant whatever, unless lie himself
consent to this alteration.
In those times of violence, it is interesting to observe
the feeble attempts of the legislature to introduce these
restraints of the law. In the event of a baron having
a claim of debt against any unfortunate individual, it
seems to have been a common practice for the creditor,
on becoming impatient, to have proceeded to his house
or lands, and there to have helped himself to an equi-
valent, or, in the language of the statute-book, " to have
taken his poynd." And in such cases, where a feudal
lord, with his vassals at his heel, met with any attrac-
tive property, in the form of horses or cattle, or rich
household furniture, it may easily be believed that he
would stand on little ceremony as to the exact amount
1401. ROBERT III. 93
of the debt, but appropriate what pleased him without
much compunction. This practice was declared illegal,
"unless the seizure be made within his own domi-
nions, and for his own proper debtf"* an exception,
proving the extreme feebleness of the government; and
in truth, when we consider the immense estates pos-
sessed at this period by the great vassals of the crown,
amountino; almost to a total annulment of the law.*
In somewhat of the same spirit of toleration, a law was
made against any one attempting, by his own power
and authority, to expel a vassal from his lands, on the
plea that he is not the rightful heir; and it was declared,
that, whether he be possessed of the land lawfully or
unlawfully, he shall be restored to his possession, and
retain the same until he lose it by the regular course
of law; whilst no penalty was inflicted on him who
thus dared, in the open defiance of all peace and good
government, to take the execution of the law into his
own hands.
It was next declared unlawful to set free upon bail
certain persons accused of great or heinous crimes; and
the offenders thus excepted were described to be those
taken for manslaughter, breakers of prison, common
and notorious thieves, persons apprehended for fire-
raising or felony, falsifiers of the king's money, or of his
seal; such as have been excommunicated, and seized
by command of the bishop; those accused of treason,
and bailies who are in arrears, and make not just ac-
counts to their masters.*[- Any excommunicated per-
son who complains that he has been unjustly dealt with,
was empowered within forty days to appeal from his
judge to the conservator of the clergy, who, being ad-
vised by his counsel, must reform the sentence; and, if
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 54. f Ibid.
94 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. UOl.
the party still conceived himself to be aggrieved, it was
made lawful for him to carry his appeal, in the last in-
stance, to the General Assembly of the Church. With
regard to the trial of cases by " singular combat,'" a
wise attempt seems to have been made in this parlia-
ment to limit the circumstances under which this savage
and extraordinary mode of judgment was adopted; and
it is declared, that there must befour requisites in every
crime before it is to be so tried. It must infer a capital
punishment — it must have been secretly perpetrated —
the person appealed must be pointed out by public and
probable suspicionas its author — and it must be of such
a nature as to render a proof by written evidence or
by w^itnesses impossible. It was appointed that the
king"'s lieutenant, and others the king''s judges, should
be bound and obliged to hear the complaints of all
churchmen, widows, pupils, and orphans, regarding
whatever injuries may have been committed against
them ; and that justice should be done to them speedily,
and without taking from them any pledges or securities.
Strict regulation was made, that all widows, who, after
the death of their husbands, had been violently ex-
pelled from their dower lands, should be restored to
their possession, with the accumulated rents due since
their husbands'' death; and it was specially provided,
that interest or usury should not run against the debts
of a minor until he is of perfect age, but that the debt
should be paid with the interest which was owing by
his predecessor, previous to his decease.*
Some of the more minute regulations of the same
parliament were curious: a fine of a hundred shillings
was imposed on all who catch salmon within the for-
bidden time; a penalty of six shillings and eight pence
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 56,
]401. ROBERT III. 95
on all who slay hares in time of snow; and it was
strictly enjoined, as a statute to be observed through
the whole realm, that there should be no muir-burning,
or burning of heath, except in the month of March ;
and that a penalty of forty shillings should be imposed
upon an}^ one who dared to infringe this regulation,
which should be given to the lord of the land where the
burning had taken place.* With regard to a subject of
great importance, "the assizeof weightis and measuris,'"*
it is to be regretted that the abridgment of the pro-
ceedings of this parliament, left by Skene, which is all
that remains to us, is in many respects confused and un-
intelligible. The original record itself is unfortunately
lost. The chapter upon weights and measures com-
mences with the declaration, that King David's com-
mon elne, or ell, had been found to contain thirty-seven
measured inches, each inch being equal to three grains
of bear placed lengthways, without the tail or beard.
The stone, by which wool and other commodities were
weighed, was to contain fifteen pounds; but a stone of
wax, only eight pounds: the pound itself being made
to contain fifteen ounces, and to weigh twenty-five shil-
lings. It is observed in the next section of this chapter,
that the pound of silver in the days of King Robert
Bruce, the first of that name, contained twenty-six
shillings and four pennies, in consequence of the dete-
rioration of the money of this king from the standard
money in the days of David the First, in whose time
the ounce of silver was coined into twenty pennies.
The same quantity of silver under Robert the First
was coined into twenty-one pennies; " but now," adds
the record, "in our days, such has been the deteriora-
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, pp. 53, 54.
96 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
tion of the money of the reahii, that the ounce of silver
actually contains thirty-two pennies."'"'
It was enacted, that the boll should contain twelve
gallons, and should be nine inches in depth, including
the thickness of the tree on both the sides. In the
roundness or circumference above, it was to be made to
contain threescore and twelve inches in the middle of
the " ower tree;"" but in the inferior roundness, or cir-
cumference below, threescore eleven inches. The gal-
lon was fixed to contain twelve pounds of water, four
pounds of sea water, four of clear running water, and
four of stagnant water. Its depth was to be six inches
and a half, its breadth eight inches and a half, includ-
ing the thickness of the wood on both sides; its cir-
cumference at the top twenty-seven inches and a half,
and at the bottom twenty-three inches.* Such were
all the regulations wdth regard to this important subject
which appear in this chapter, and they are to be regarded
as valuable and venerable relics of the customs of our
ancestors; but the perusal of a single page of the Cham-
berlain Accounts will convince us how little way they
go towards making up a perfect table of w^eights and
measures, and how difficult it is to institute anything
like a fair comparison between the actual wealth and
comfort of those remote ages, and the prosperity and
opulence of our own times.
The parliament next turned its attention to the pro-
viding of checks upon the conduct and administration
of judges: a startling announcement, certainly, to any
one whose opinions are formed on modern experience,
but no unnecessary subject for parliamentary interfer-
ence durin": these dark times. It was enacted, that
every sheriff should have a clerk appointed, not by the
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 5G.
1401. ROBERT III. 97
sheriff, but by the king, to whom alone this officer was
to be responsible ; and that such clerk should be one
of the king''s retinue and household, and shall advise
with the kins: in all the affairs which were intrusted
to him.* The sheriffs themselves were to appear
yearly, in person or by deputy, in the king'^s Court of
Exchequer, under the penalty of ten pounds, and re-
moval from office; their fees, or salaries, were made
payable out of the escheats in their own courts, and
were not due until an account had been given by them
in the Exchequer; and it was specially ordained, that
no sheriff should pass from the king's court to execute
his various duties in the sheriffdom, without having
along with him for his information the "Acts of Par-
liament, and certain instructions in writ, to be given
him by the king'*s Privy Council."*'' It w^as enacted,
that justiciars should be appointed upon the south side
and north side of the water of Forth ; it was made im-
perative upon these high judges to hold their courts
twice in the year in each sheriffdom within their juris-
diction; and if any justiciar omitted to hold his court
without being able to allege any reasonable impediment,
he was to lose a proportion of his salary, and to answer
to the king for such neglect of duty.
The process of all cases brought before the justiciar
was appointed to be reduced into writing by the clerk;
and a change was introduced from the old practice with
regard to the circumstances under which any person
summoned before the justiciar should be judged and
punished as contumacious for not appearing. Of old,
the fourth court, that is, the court held on the fourth
day, was peremptory in all cases except such as con-
cerned fee and heritage ; but it was now appointed that
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 57.
VOL. III. G-
98 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
the second court, or the court held on the second day,
and on the last day, should be peremptory ; and any
person uho, being lawfully summoned, neglected to
appear on either of these days, was to be denounced a
rebel and put to the horn, as was the custom in "auld
times and courts."* The office of the coroner was to
arrest persons thus summoned ; and it was declared
lawful for such officers to make such arrests at any
time within the year, either before or after the procla-
mation of the Justice Ayre. All lords of regality —
by which the reader is to understand such feudal barons
as possessed authority to hold their own courts within
a certain division of property, all sheriffs, and all
barons, who have the powerof holding criminal courts —
were strictly enjoined to follow the same order of pro-
ceeding as that which has been laid down for the
observance of the Justiciars. These supreme judges
were also commanded, in their annual courts, to inquire
rigidly into the conduct of the sheriffs and other
inferior officers; to scrutinize the manner in which
they have discharged the duties committed to them ;
and, if they found them guilty of malversation, to
remove them from their offices until the meetins: of the
next parliament. Any sheriff or inferior officer thus
removed, was to find security for his appearance before
the parliament, who, according to their best judgment,
were to determine the punishment due for his offence,
whether a perpetual removal from his office, or only a
temporary suspension; and, in the meanwhile, the
person so offending was ordained to lose his salary for
that year, and another to be substituted by the Justi-
ciar in his place.
With re^rard to such malefactors as were found to
* Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 57.
1401. ROBERT III. 99
be common destroyers of the land, wasting the king's
lieges with plundering expeditions, burning, and con-
suming the country in their ruinous passage from
one part to another, the sheriffs were commanded to
do all diligence to arrest them, and to bind them over
to appear at the next court of the Justiciar on a
certain day, under a penalty of twenty pounds for each
offender, to be paid in case of contumacy, or non-
appearance, by those persons who were his sureties ;
and it was strictly enjoined that no person, in riding
through the country, should be attended by more
persons than those for whom he makes full payment,
under the penalty of loss of life and property. In all
time coming, no one was to be permitted with im-
punity to commit any slaughter, burning, theft, or
"herschip;"" and if the offender guilty of such crimes
be not able to find security for his appearance to stand
his trial before the Justiciar, the sheriff was enjoined
instantly to try him by an assize, and, if the crime be
proved against him, take order for his execution. In
the case of thieves and malefactors who escaped from
one sheriffdom to another, the sheriff, within whose
jurisdiction the crime had been committed, was bound
to direct his letters to the sheriff in whose county the
delinquent had taken refuge. It was made imperative
on such officer, with the barons, freeholders, and
others the king's lieges, to assist in the arrest of such
fugitives, in order to their being brought to justice ;
and this in every case, as well against their own vassals
and retinue as against others ; whilst any baron or
other person who disobeyed this order, and refused
such assistance, was to pay ten pounds to the king,
upon the offence being proved against him before a
jury.
100 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
It was made lawful for any tenant or farmer, who
possessed lands under a lease of a certain endurance,
to sell or dispose of the lease to whom he pleased, any-
time before its expiry. Any vassal or tenant who was
found guilty of concealing the charter by which he
held his lands, when summoned by his overlord to
exhibit it, was to lose all benefit he might claim upon
it ; and in the case of a vassal having lost such charter,
or of his never having had any charter, a jury was to
be impannelled, in the first event, for the purpose of
investigating by witnesses whether the manner of
holding corresponds with the tenor of the charter
which had been lost ; and, in the second case, to estab-
lish by what precise manner of holding the vassal was
in future to be bound to his overlord, which determina-
tion of the assize was in future to stand for his charter.
If any person, in consequence of the sentence of a jury,
had taken seisin or possession of land which was then
in the hands of another, who affirmed it to be his
property, it was made lawful for this last to retain
possession, and to break the seisin, by instituting a
process for its reduction within fifteen days, if the
lands be heritage, and forty days if they be conquest.
If any pork or bacon, which was unwholesome from
any cause, or salmon spoilt and foul from being kept
too long, was brought to market, it was to be seized
by the bailies, and sent immediately to the " lipper
folk,'*''* — a species of barbarous economy which says
little for the humanity of the age ; the bailies, at the
same time, were to take care that the money paid for
it be restored, and " gif there are no lipper folk," the
obnoxious provisions were to be destroyed.t
Such is an outline of the principal provisions of this
* Leprous folk. + Statutes of King Robert the Third, p. 5U
1401. ROBERT III. 101
parliament, which I have detailed at some length, as
thej are the only relics of our legislative history which
we shall meet with, until the reign of the first James;
a period when the light reflected upon the state of the
country, from the parliamentary proceedings, becomes
more full and clear. Important as these provisions
are, and evincing no inconsiderable wisdom for so
remote a period, it must be recollected, that in such
days of violence and feudal tyranny, it was an easier
thing to pass acts of parliament than to carry them into
execution. In all probability, there was not an inferior
baron, who, sitting in his own court, surrounded by
his mail-clad vassals, did not feel himself strong enough
to resist the feeble voice of the law ; and as for the
greater nobles, to whom such high offices as Justiciar,
Chancellor, or Chamberlain, w^ere committed, it is
certain, that instead of the guardians of the laws, and
protectors of the rights of the people, they were them-
selves often their worst oppressors, and, from their
immense power and vassalage, able in frequent instances
to defy the mandates of the crovv^n, and to resist all
legitimate authority.
Of this prevalence of successful guilt in the higher
classes, the history of the country during the year in
which this parliament assembled, afibrded a dreadful
example, in the murder of the Duke of Rothesay, the
heir-apparent to the throne, by his uncle the Duke of
Albany. Rothesay^s marriage, which in all probability
was the result of political convenience more than of
inclination, does not appear to have improved his
character. At an age when better things were to be
expected, his life continued turbulent and licentious ;
the spirit of mad unbridled frolic in which he indulged,
the troops of gay and dissipated companions with
102 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
whom he associated, gave just cause of offence to his
friends, and filled the bosom of his fond and weak
father with anxiety and alarm. Even after his assum-
ing the temporary government of the country, liis
conduct was wild and unprincipled ; he often employed
the power intrusted to him against, rather than in
support of, the laws and their ministers ; plundered
the collectors of the revenue;* threatened and over-
ruled the officers to whose management the public
money was intrusted ; and exhibited an impatience
for uncontrolled dominion.
Yet amid all his recklessness, there was a high
honour and a courageous openness about Rothesay,
which were every now and then breaking out, and
giving promise of reformation. He hated all that was
double, whilst he despised, and delighted to expose,
that selfish cunning; which he had detected in the
character of his uncle, whose ambition, however care-
fully concealed, could not escape him. Albany, on the
other hand, was an enemy whom it was the extremity
of folly and rashness to provoke. He was deep, cold,
and unprincipled ; his objects were pursued w^ith a
pertinacity of purpose, and a complete command of
temper, which gave him a great superiority over the
wild and impetuous nobility by whom he was sur-
rounded ; and when once in his power, his victims had
nothing to hope for from his pity. Rothesay he detested,
and there is reason to believe had long determined on
his destruction, as the one great obstacle which stood
in the path of his ambition, and as the detector of his
deep-laid intrigues ; but he was for a while controlled
and overawed by the influence of the queen, and of her
two principal friends and advisers, Trail bishop of St
* Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. pp. 512, 520, 476.
1401. ROBERT III. 103
Andrews, and Archibald the Grim earl of DouMas.
' CD
Their united wisdom and authority had the happiest
effects in restraining the w ildness of the prince ; sooth-
in<j the irritated feelinj^s of the kins;, whose ao:e and
infirmity liad thrown him into complete retirement ;
and counteracting the ambition of Albany, who pos-
sessed too great an influence over the mind of the
monarch. But soon after this the queen died ; the
Bishop of St Andrews and the Earl of Douglas did
not long survive her ; and, to use the strong expression
of Fordun, it was now said commonly through the
land,* that the glory and the honesty of Scotland were
buried with these three noble persons. All began to
look with anxiety for what was to follow ; nor were
they long kept in suspense. The Duke of Rothesay,
freed from the gentle control of maternal love, broke
into some of his accustomed excesses ; and the king,
by the advice of Albany, found it necessary to subject
him to a control which little agreed with his impetuous
temper.
It happened, that amongst the prince"'s companions
was a Sir John de Ramorgny, who, by a judicious
accommodation of himself to his capricious humours,
by flattering his vanity and ministering to his plea-
sures, had gained the intimacy of Rothesay. Ramorgny
appears to have been one of those men in whom extra-
ordinary, and apparently contradictory qualities were
found united. From his education, which was of the
most learned kind, he seems to have been intended for
the church ; but the profligacy of his youth, and the
bold and audacious spirit which he exhibited, unfitted
him for the sacred office, and he became a soldier and
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 431. Extracta ex Chronicia Scotiae, MS.
p. 248.
104 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
a statesman. His great talents for business bcino: soon
discovered by Albany, lie was repeatedly employed in
diplomatic negotiations both at home and abroad; and
this intercourse with foreign countries, joined to a
cultivation of those elegant accomplishments to which
most of the feudal nobility of Scotland were still
strangers, rendered his manners and his society ex-
ceedingly attractive to the young prince. But these
polished and delightful qualities were superinduced
upon a character of consummate villany, as unprin-
cipled in every respect as that of Albany, but fiercer,
more audacious, and, if possible, more unforgiving.
Such was the person whom Rothesay in an evil mo-
ment admitted to his confidence and friendship, and to
whom, upon being subjected to the restraint imposed
upon him by Albany and his father, he vehemently
complained. Ramorgny, with all his acuteness, had
in one respect mistaken the character of the prince;
and, deceived by the violence of his resentment, he
darkly hinted at a scheme for ridding himself of his
difficulties, by the assassination of his uncle. To his
astonishment, the proposal was met by an expression
of scorn and abhorrence ; and whilst Rothesay disdained
to betray his profligate associate, he upbraided him in
terms too bitter to be foro'iven. From that moment
Ramorgny was transformed into his worst enemy ; and
throwing himself into the arms of Albany, became
possessed of his confidence, and turned it with fatal
revenge against Rothesay.* It was unfortunate for
this young prince, that his caprice and fondness for
pleasure, failings which generally find their punish-
ment in mere tedium and disappointment, had raised
* Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiac, MS. Advocates' Library, Edinburgh,
1.. 248.
1101. ROBERT III. 105
against him two powerful enemies, who sided with
Albany and Ramorgny, and, stimulated by a sense of
private injury, readily lent themselves to any plot for
his ruin. These were, Archibald earl of Douglas
the brother of Rothesay ""s wife, Elizabeth Douglas, and
Sir William Lindsay of Rossy, whose sister he had
loved and forsaken. Ramorgny w^ell knew that
Douglas hated the prince for the coldness and incon-
stancy with which he treated his wife, and that Lindsay
had never forgiven the slight put upon his sister; and
w^ith allthedissimulation in which hew^as so great a mas-
ter, he, assisted by Albany, contrived, out of these dark
elements, to compose a plot which it would have required
a far more able person than Rothesay to have defeated.
They began by representing to the king, whose age
and infirmities now confined him to a distant retire-
ment, and who knew nothing but through the repre-
sentations of Albany, that the wild and impetuous
conduct of his son required a more firm exertion of
restraint, than any which had yet been employed
a2:ainst him. The bearers of this unwelcome news to
the king were Ramorgny and Lindsay ; and such was
the success of their representations, that they returned
to Albany w^ith an order under the royal signet, to
arrest the prince, and place him in temporary confine-
ment. Secured by this command, the conspirators
now drew their meshes more closely round their victim ;
and the bold and unsuspicious character of the prince
gave them every advantage. It was the custom in those
times, for the castle or palace of any deceased prelate
to be occupied by the king, until the election of his
successor ; and although the triennial period of the
prince''s government was now expired, yet probably
106 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1401.
jealous of the resumption of his power by Albany, he
determined to seize the castle of St Andrews, belonirinc:
to Trail the bishop, lately deceased, before he should
be anticipated by any order of the kin^. Tlic design
was evidently illegal ; and Albany, who had received
intimation of it, determined to make it the occasion of
carrying his purpose into execution. He accordingly
laid his plan for intercepting the prince ; and Rothesay,
as he rode towards St Andrews, accompanied by a small
retinue, was arrested near Stratyrum, by Ramorgny
and Lindsay, and subjected to a strict confinement in
the castle of St Andrews, until the duke and the Earl
of Douglas should determine upon his fate.
This needed little time, for it had been long resolved
on ; and when once masters of his person, the cata-
strophe was as rapid as it was horrible. In a tempestu-
ous day, Albany and Douglas, with a strong party of
soldiers, appeared at the castle, and dismissed the few
servants who waited on him. They then compelled
liim to mount a sorry horse, threw a coarse cloak over
his splendid dress, and hurrying on, rudely and with-
out ceremony, to Falkland, thrust him into a dungeon.
The unhappy prince now saw that his death was
determined, but he little anticipated its cruel nature.
For fifteen days he was suffered to remain without
food, under the charge of two ruffians named Wright
and Selkirk,* whose task it was to watch the agony
of their victim till it ended in death. It is said that,
for a while, the wretched prisoner was preserved in a
remarkable manner, by the kindness of a poor woman,
* John "Wright and John Selkirk are the names, as given hy Fordun a
Goodal, vol. ii. p. 431. In the Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 6G6, sub
anno 1405, is the following entry, which perhaps relates to this infamous
person: "Johanni Wright uni heredum quondam Kicardi Ranulphi, per
infeodacionem antiquam regis Roberti primi percipient! per annum heredi-
taria quinque libras de firmis dicti burgi (Aberdeen.)"
1401. ROBERT in. 107
who, in passing through the garden of Falkland, and
attracted by his groans to the grated window of his
dungeon, which was level with the ground, became
acquainted with his story. It was her custom to steal
thither at night, and bring him food by dropping small
cakes through the grating, whilst her own milk, con-
ducted through a pipe to his mouth, was the only way
he could be supplied with drink. But Wright and
Selkirk, suspecting from his appearance, that he had
some secret supply, w^atched and detected the chari-
table visitant, and the prince was abandoned to his fate.
When nature at last sunk, his body was found in a
state too horrible to be described, but which showed
that, in the extremities of hunger, he had gnawed and
torn his own flesh. It was then carried to the monas-
tery of Lindores, and there privately buried, while a
report was circulated that the prince had been taken
ill and died of a dysentery.*
The public voice, however, loudly and vehemently
accused his uncle of the murder ; the cruel nature of
his death threw a veil over the folly and licentiousness
of his life ; men began to remember and to dwell upon
his better qualities ; and Albany found himself daily
becoming more and more the object of scorn and
detestation. It was necessary for him to adopt some
means to clear himself of such imputations ; and the
skill with which the conspiracy had been planned was
now apparent : he produced the king''s letter command-
ing the prince to be arrested ; he affirmed that every-
thing which had been done was in consequence of the
orders he had received, defying any one to prove that
the slightest violence had been used; and he appealed
to and demanded the judgment of the parliament.
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p, 431. Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 51 1.
108 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1102.
This great council was accordingly assembled in the
monastery of Ilolyrood, on the 16th of May, 1402;
and a solemn farce took place, in which Albany and
Douglas were examined as to the causes of the prince'^s
death. Unfortunately, no original record of the ex-
amination, or of the proceedings of the parliament, has
been preserved. The accused, no doubt, told the story
in the manner most favourable to themselves, and none
dared to contradict them ; so that it only remained
for the parliament to declare themselves satisfied, and
to acquit them of all suspicion of a crime which they
had no possibility of investigating. Even this, how-
ever, was not deemed sufficient, and a public remission
was drawn up, under the king^s seal, declaring their
innocence, in terms which are quite conclusive as to
their guilt.*
The explanation of these unjust and extraordinary
proceedings is to be found in the exorbitant power of
Douglas and Albany, and the weakness of the unhappy
monarch, who bitterly lamented the fate of his son,
and probably well knew its authors, but dreaded to
throw the kini]:dom into those convulsions which must
have preceded their being brought to justice. Albany,
therefore, resumed his situation of governor ; and the
fate of Rothesay was soon forgotten in preparations for
continuing the war with England.
The truce, as was usual, had been little respected
by the Borderers of either country ; the Earl of Dou-
glas being accused of burning Bamborough castle, and
that baron reproaching Northumberland for the ra-
vasres committed in Scotland. The eastern marches
especially were exposed to constant ravages by the
* Tliis deed "was discovered by Mr Astle, and communicated by him to
Lord Ilailes, who printed it in his Remarks on the History of Scotland.
1402. ROBERT III. 109
Earls of March and the Percies ; nor was it to be
expected that so powerful a baron as March would
bear to see his vast possessions in the hands of the
house of Douglas, without attempting either to recover
them himself, or by havoc and burning to make them
useless to his enemy. These bitter feelings led to
constant and destructive invasions ; and the Scottish
Border barons, — the Haliburtons, the Hepburns, Cock-
burns, and Landers, — found it necessary to assemble
their whole power, and intrust the leading of it by
turns to the most warlike amongst them, a scheme
which rendered every one anxious to eclipse his pre-
decessor by some exploit, or successful point of arms,
termed, in the military language of the times, chevan-
cJies. On one of these occasions, the conduct of the
little army fell to Sir Patrick Hepburn of Hailes,
whose father, a venerable soldier of eighty years, was
too infirm to take his turn in command. Hepburn
broke into England and laid waste the country ; but
his adventurous spirit led him too far on, and Percy
and March had time to assemble their power, and to
intercept the Scots at Nesbit Moor, in the Merse,
where a desperate conflict took place. The Scots were
only four hundred strong, but they were admirably
armed and mounted, and had amongst them the flower
of the warriors of the Lothians ; the battle was for
a long time bloody and doubtful, till the Master of
Dunbar, joining his father and Northumberland, with
two hundred men from the garrison at Berwick, decided
the fortune of the day.* Hepburn was slain, and his
bravest knio-hts either shared his fate or were taken
prisoners. The spot where the conflict took place, is
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 433.
110 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1402.
still known by the name of Slaughter Hill.* So
important did Henry consider this success, probably
from the rank of the captives, that, in a letter to his
privy council, he informed them of the defeat of the
Scots; complimented Northumberland and his son on
their activity; and commanded them to issue their
orders for the array of the different counties, as their
indefati<2:able enemies, in i^reat strength, had already
ravaged the country round Carlisle, and were meditat-
ing a second invasion.
Nor was this inaccurate intelligence ; for the desire
of revenoinfj the loss sustained at Nesbit Moor, and
the circumstance of the King of England being occupied
in the suppression of the Welsh rebellion under Glen-
dower, encoura2:ed the Earl of Douirlas to collect his
whole strength; and Albany, the governor, having
sent his eldest son, Murdoch, to join him with a strong
body of archers and spearmen, their united force was
found to amount to ten thousand men. The Earls of
IMoray and Angus ; Fergus Macdowall, with his
fierce and half-armed Galwegians ; the heads of the
noble houses of Erskine, Grahame, Montgomery, Seton,
Sinclair, Lesley, the Stewarts of Angus, Lorn, and
Durisdeer, and many other knights and esquires,
embracing the greater part of the chivalry of Scotland,
assembled under the command of the Earl of Douglas;
and, confident in their strength, and eager for revenge,
pushed on, without meeting an enemy, to the gates of
Newcastle. But althou2:h Henry was himself person-
ally engaged in his Welsh war, he had left the veteran
Earl of Northumberland, and his son Hotspur, in
charge of the Borders ; and the Scottish Earl of March,
who had renounced his fealty to his sovereign, and
+ Hume's Douglas and Angus, vol. i. p. 218.
1402. ROBERT III. Ill
become the subject of England, joined tlie Percies,
with his son, Gawin of Dunbar.
Douglas, it may be remembered, had risen upon the
ruins of March, and possessed his castle and estates ;
so that the renegade earl brought with him, not only
an expe. ience in Scottish war, and an intimate know-
ledge of the Border country, but that bitter spirit of
enmity which made him a formidable enemy. It w^as
probably by his advice that the Scots were allowed
to advance without opposition through the heart of
JN^orthumberland ; for the greater distance they were
from home, and the lono^er time allowed to the EnMish
to collect their force, it was evidently the more easy to
cut off their retreat, and to fight them at an advantage.
The result showed the correctness of this opinion.
The Scottish army, loaded with plunder, confident in
their own strength, and secure in the apparent panic
of the enemy, retreated slowly and carelessly, and had
encamped near Wooler, when they were met by the
intelligence that Hotspur, with a strong army, had
occupied the pass in their front, and was advancing to
attack them. Douglas immediately drew up his force
in a deep square, upon a neighbouring eminence, called
Homildon Hill ; an excellent position, had his sole
object been to repel the attacks of the English cavalry
and men-at-arms, but in other respects the worst that
could have been chosen , for the bulk of Percy's force
consisted of archers, and there were many eminences
round Homildon by which it was completely command-
ed, the distance beins; within arrow-flia-ht. Had the
Scottish knights and squires, and the rest of their
light-armed cavalry, who must have composed a body
of at least a thousand men, taken possession of the
rising ground in advance, they might have charged the
112 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1402.
English archers before they came within bowshot, and
the subsequent battle would liave been reduced to a
close-hand encounter, in wliich the Scots, from the
strong ground which tliev occupied, must have fought
to irreat advanta2;e ; but from the mode in which it
was occupied by Douglas, who crowded his whole
army into one dense column, the position became the
most filial that could have been selected.
The English army now rapidly advanced, and on
coming in sight of the Scots, at once occupied the
opposite eminence, which, to their surprise, they were
permitted to do, without a single Scottish knight or
horseman leaving their ranks; but at this crisis, the
characteristic impetuosity of Hotspur, who, at the head
of the men-at-arms, proposed instantly to charge the
Scots, had nearly thrown away the advantage. March,
however, instantly seized his horse''s reins and stopt
him. His eye had detected, at the first glance, the
danger of Douglases position ; he knew from experience
the strength of the long-bow of England ; and, by his
orders, the precedence was given to the archers, who,
slowly advancing down the hill, poured their volleys
as thick as hail upon the Scots, whilst, to use the
words of an ancient manuscript chronicle, they were
so closely wedged together, that a breath of air could
scarcely penetrate their files, making it impossible for
them to wield their weapons. The effects of this were
dreadful, for the cloth-yard shafts of England pierced
with ease the lii^ht armour of the Scots, few of whom
were defended by more than a steel-cap and a thin
jack, or breast-plate, whilst many wore nothing more
than the leather acton, or quilted coat, which afforded
a feeble defence against such deadly missiles. Even
the better-tempered armour of the knights was found
I'i02. ROBERT III. lis
atterly unequal to resistance, -when, owing to the
gradual advance of their phalanx, the archers took a
nearer and more level aim, whilst the Scottish bowmen
drew a wavering and uncertain bow, and did little
execution.* Numbers of the bravest barons and gen-
tlemen were mortally wounded, and fell down on the
spot where they were first drawn up, without the
possibility of reaching the enemy; the horses, goaded
and maddened by the increasing showers of arrows,
reared and plunged, and became altogether unmanage-
able ; whilst the dense masses of the spearmen and
naked Galwegians presented the appearance of a huge
hedgehog, (I use the expression of a contemporary
historian,) bristled over with a thousand shafts, whose
feathers were red with blood. This state of things
could not long continue. " My friends," exclaimed
Sir John Swinton, " why stand we here to be slain
like deer, and marked down by the enemy ? Where
is our wonted courage ? Are w^e to be still, and have
our hands nailed to our lances ? Follow me, and let
us at least sell our lives as dearly as we can."-(-
Saying this, he couched his spear, and prepared to
gallop down the hill; but his career was for a moment
interrupted by a singular event. Sir Adam de Gordon,
with whom Swinton had long been at deadly feud,
threw himself from his horse, and kneeling at his feet,
beofSfed his foro:iveness,andthe honourof bein2:knifi'hted
by so brave a leader. Swinton instantly consented;
and, after giving him the accolade, tenderly embraced
him. The tw^o warriors then remounted, and at the
head of their followers, forming a body of a hundred
* Walsingham, p. 366. Otterburn, p. 237. Fordun and Vv'inton do not
even mention the Scottish archers.
t Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 434. "Winton, vol. ii. p. 401.
VOL. III. H
114 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1402.
liorse,made a desperate attack upon the English, which,
had it been followed by a siiniiltaiieous charge of the
great body of the Scots, might still have retrieved the
fortune of the day. But such was now the confusion
of the Scottish lines, that Swinton and Gordon were
slain, and their men struck down or dispersed, before
the Earl of Douglas could advance to support them;
and when he did so, the English archers, keeping their
ranks, fell back upon the cavalry, pouring in volley
after volley, as they slowly retreated, and completing
the discomfiture of the Scots by an appalling carnage.
If we may believe Walsingham, the armour worn by
the Earl of Douglas on this fatal day was of the most
exquisite workmanship and temper, and cost the artisan
who made it three years' labour; yet he was wounded
in five places, and made prisoner along with Lord Mur-
doch Stewart, and the Earls of Moray and Angus.
In a short time the Scottish army was utterly routed;
and the archers, to whom the whole honour of the day
belonged, rushing in with their knives and short swords,
made prisoners of almost every person of rank orstation.
The number of the slain, however, was very great ;
and multitudes of the fugitives — it is said nearly fifteen
hundred — were drowned in an attempt to ford the
Tweed. Amongst those who fell, besides Swinton and
Gordon, were Sir John Levingston of Calendar, Sir
Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie, Sir Roger Gordon,
Sir Walter Scott, and Sir Walter Sinclair, with many
other knights and esquires, whose followers mostly
perished with their masters. Besides the leaders, Dou-
glas and Lord Murdoch, eighty knights were taken
prisoners, and a crowd of esquires and pages, whose
names and numbers are not ascertained. Amono; the
first were three French knights, Sir Piers de Essars,
1402. ROBERT III. 115
Sir James de Helsey, and Sir John Darni;* Sir Ro-
bert Erskine of Alva, Lord Montgomery, Sir James
Douglas master of Dalkeith, Sir William Abernethy
of Salton, Sir John Stewart of Lorn, Sir John Seton,
Sir George Lesley of Rothes, Sir Adam Forester of
Corstorphine, Sir Walter Bickerton of LufFness, Sir
Robert Stewart of Durisdeer, Sir William Sinclair of
Hermandston, Sir Alexander Home of Dunglas, Sir
Patrick Dunbar of Bele, Sir Robert Logan of Restal-
rig, Sir Lawrence Ramsay, Sir Helias Kinmont, Sir
John Ker, and Fergus Macdowall of Galloway, with
many others whose names have not been as certain ed.-f*
The fatal result of this day completely proved the
dreadful power of the English bowmen; for there is not
a doubt that the battle was gained by the archers. Wal-
singham even goes so far as to say, that neither earl,
knight, nor squire, ever handled their weapons, or camo
into action, but remained idle spectators of the total
destruction of the Scottish host; nor does there seem
any good reason to question the correctness of this fact,
although, after the Scots were broken, the English
knights and horsemen joined in the pursuit. It was in
every way a most decisive and bloody defeat, occasioned
by the military incapacity of Douglas, whose pride was
probably too great to take advice, and his judgment and
experience in war too confined to render it unnecessary.
Hotspur might now rejoice that the shame of Otter-
burn was effectually defaced; and March, if he could
be so base as to enjoy the triumph, must have been
amply satiated with revenge: for his rival, Douglas,
was defeated, cruelly w^ounded, and a captive.J
* Walsingham, pp. 407, 408. Otterburn, pp. 236, 7, 8.
+ Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 434, 435.
t Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 434, 435. R}Tner, Foedera, vol. ix. p. 26. Walsinjf
ham, p. 366. Extracta ex Chronicis ScotisE, MS. p. 250.
116 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1402.
Tlie battle was fought on the day of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross, being the 14th September, in the year
1402 ; and the moment that the news of the defeat was
carried to Westminster, the Kinij of Enoland directed
liis letters to the Earl of Northumberland, with his son
Henry Percy, and also to the Earl of March, command-
ing them, for certain urgent causes, not to admit to
ransom any of their Scottish prisoners, of whatever
rank or station, or to suffer them to be at liberty under
any parole or pretext, until they should receive further
instructions upon the subject. To this order, which
w^as highly displeasing to the pride of the Percies, as it
went to deprive them of an acknowledged feudal right
which belonged to the simplest esquire, the monarch
subjoined his pious thanks to God for so signal a vic-
tory, and to his faithful barons for their bravery and
success ; but he commanded them to notify his orders
regarding the prisoners to all who had fought at Ho-
mildon, concluding with an assurance, that he had no
intention of ultimately depriving any of his liege sub-
jects of their undoubted rights in the persons and- pro-
perty of their prisoners; a declaration which would not
be readily believed.* If Henry thus defeated the ob-
jects, Avhich the victory might have secured him, by
his precipitancy and imprudence. Hotspur stained it by
an act of cruelty and injustice. Teviotdale, it may
perhaps be remembered, after having remained in the
partial possession of the English for a long period, under
Edward the Third, had at last been entirely wTcsted
from them by the bravery of the Douglases; and as
the Percies had obtained large grants of land in this
district, upon which many fierce contests had taken
place, their final expulsion from the country they called
* RjTuer, Fcedera, vol. viii. p. 278.
1402. ROBERT III. 117
their own, was peculiarly irritating. It happened, that
amongst the prisoners was Sir William Stewart of
Forrest, a knight of Teviotdale, who was a boy at the
time the district "was Anglicised," and, like many
others, had been compelled to embrace a virtual alle-
giance to England, by a necessity which he had neither
the power nor the understanding to resist. On the
miserable pretence that he had forfeited his allegiance,
Hotspur accused him of treason, and had him tried by
a jury; but the case was so palpably absurd and tyran-
nical, that he was acquitted. Percy, in great wrath,
impannelled a second jury, and a second verdict of
acquittal showed their sense and firmness; but the
fierce obstinacy of feudal revenge was not to be so
bafiled, and these were not the days when the laws
could check its violence. A third jury was summoned,
packed, and overaw^ed, and their sentence condemned
Sir William Stewart to the cruel and complicated death
of a traitor. It was instantly executed ; and his quar-
ters, with those of his squire, Thomas Ker, who suffered
along with him, were placed on the gates of York ;
the same gates upon which, within a year, were exposed
the mangled remains of Percy himself.* The avidity
with which Hotspur seems to have thirsted for the blood
of this unhappy youth, is only to be accounted for on
the supposition of some deadly feud between the fami-
lies; for on no other occasion did this celebrated sol-
dier show himself naturally cruel, or unnecessarily
severe.*[*
The events which followed the defeat of the Scots
at Homildon are of an interesting nature, and merit
particular attention. Not long after the victory, the
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 403.
i* Fordun a Hearne, pp. 1150, 1151.
118 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1403.
Percics began to orixanizc that celebrated conspiracy
a^jainst Henrv the Fourth, the monarch whom their
own hands had placed on the throne, wliich ended in
the battle of Shrewsbury, and the defeat and death of
Hotspur ; but as the plot was yet in its infancy, an
immediate invasion of Scotland was made the pretext
for assembling an army, and disarming suspicion;
whilst Percy, in conjunction with the Earl of Marcli,
talked boldly of reducing the whole of the country as
far as the Scottish sea.* It is probable, indeed, that
previous to this, the defeat at Homildon had been
followed by the temporary occupation of the immense
Border estates of the Earl of Douglas by the Earl of
Northumberland ; as, in a grant of the earldom of
DouHas, which was about this time made to North-
umberland by the King of England, the districts of
Eskdale, and Liddesdale, with the forest of Ettrick
and the Lordship of Selkirk, are noticed as being in
the hands of the Percies ; but so numerous were the
vicissitudes of war in these Border districts, that it is
difficult to ascertain who possessed them with preci-
sion \-\ and it is certain, that the recovery of the
country by the Scots was almost simultaneous with its
occupation. In the meantime, the combined army of
March and the Percies took its progress towards
Scotland ; and commenced the siege of the tower of
Cocklaws, commanded by John Greenlaw, a simple
esquire, J and situated on the Borders. The spectacle
of a powerful army, commanded by the best soldier in
* The Firth of Fourth usually -went by this name.
+ Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. p, 163.
X Ibid. vol. ii. p. 172. It appears by a MS. letter of the Earl of North-
umberland, that on 30th May, he and his son had indentures for the delivery
of Oriniston Castle on the 1st of August, if not delivered by battle. Pink-
erton's History, vol. i. p. 77.
1403. ROBERT III. 119
England, proceeding to besiege a paltry march-tower,
might have been sufficient to convince Henry, that the
real object of the Percies was not the invasion of Scot-
land; and their subsequent proceedings must have
confirmed this opinion. Assaulted by the archers,
and battered by the trebuchets and mangonels, the
little tower of Cocklaws not only held its ground, but
its master, assuming the air of the governor of a for-
tress, entered into a treaty with Hotspur, by which he
promised to surrender at the end of six weeks, if not
relieved by the King of Scotland, or Albany the
governor.* A messenger was despatched to Scotland
with the avowed purpose of communicating this agree-
ment to Albany, but whose real design was evidently
to induce him to become a party to the conspiracy
against Henry, and to support the Percies, by an im-
mediate invasion of Endand. Nor w^as the mission
unsuccessful; for Albany, anxious to avenge the loss
sustained at Homildon, and irritated by the captivity
of his eldest son, at once consented to the proposal, and
assembled a numerous army, with which he prepared
to enter England in person. -f* In the meantime, the
Earl of Douglas, Sir Robert Stewart of Durisdeer, and
the greater part of the barons and men-at-arms, who
were made prisoners at Homildon, eagerly entered into
the conspiracy, and joined the insurgents with a large
force ; but the Earl of March continued faithful to the
King of England, actuated more, perhaps, by his
mortal enmity to the Douglases, than by any great
affection for Henry. Another alarming branch of the
rebellion was in Wales, where Owen Glendower had
raised an army of ten thousand men, and besides this,
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 435, 436.
+ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 436.
120 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1403.
nianv of the Enirlisli barons had entered into a corre-
spondonce "with Percy, and bound themselves to join
him with their power, although at the last most
deserted him, and thus escaped his ruin.
All things being thus prepared, Henry Percy and
the Earl of Douglas at once broke off the prosecution
of their Scottish expedition ; and, having joined the
Earl of Worcester, began their march towards Wales,
giving out at first that it was their design to assist the
king in putting down the rebel Glendower. Henry,
however, was no longer to be deceived ; and the repre-
sentations of the Earl of March convinced him of the
complicated dangers w4th which he was surrounded.
It was his design to have delayed proceeding against
the insurgents, until he had assembled such an over-
whelming force as he thought gave a certainty of
victory ; but the Scottish earl vehemently opposed all
procrastination, maintaining the extreme importance
of giving battle to Percy before he had formed a
junction with Glendower ; and the king, following his
advice, pushed on by forced marches, and entered
Shrewsbury at the moment that the advance of Percy
and Douglas could be seen marching forward to occupy
the same city. On being anticipated by their opponent,
they retired, and encamped at Hartfield, within a mile
of the town. Henry immediately drew out his army
by the east gate ; and after a vain attempt at treaty,
which was broken off by Percy's uncle the Earl of
Worcester, the banners advanced, cries of St George
and Esperance, the mutual defiances of the king and
Percy, rent the air ; and the archers on both sides
made a pitiful slaughter, even with the first discharge.
As it continued, the ranks soon became encumbered
v/ith the dead, "who lay as thick," says Walsingham,
1403. ROBERT III. 121
"as leaves in autiiiiin;" and the knights and men-at-
arms getting impatient, Perey^s advance, which was
led by Douglas, and consisted principally of Scottish
auxiliaries, made a desperate charge upon the king's
party, and had almost broken their array, when it was
restored by the extreme gallantry of Henry, and his
son the Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry the Fifth.
After this, the battle continued for three hours to be
obstinately contested, English fighting against English,
and Scots against Scots, with the utmost cruelty and
determination. It could not indeed be otherwise. The
two armies were fourteen thousand strong on each
side, and included the flower not onlv of the En owlish
chivalry, but of the English yeomen. Hotspur and
Douglas were reckoned two of the bravest knights
then living, and if defeated, could hope for no mercy ;
whilst Henry felt that, on his part, the battle must
decide whether he was to continue a king, or to have
the diadem torn from his brow, and be branded as a
usurper. At one time he was in imminent danger; for
Hotspur and Douglas, during the heat of the battle,
coming opposite to the royal Standard, made a desper-
ate attempt to become masters of the person of the
king ; and had so nearly succeeded, that the Scottish
Earl slew Sir Walter Blunt, the standard-bearer,
struck down the Earl of Stafibrd, and had penetrated
within a few yards of the spot where Henry stood,
when the Earl of March rushed forward to his assis-
tance, and prevailed on him not to hazard himself so
far in advance. On another occasion, when unhorsed,
he was rescued by the Prince of Wales, who this day
gave promise of his future military genius ; but with
all his efi'orts, seconded by the most determined cour-
age in his soldiers, the obstirate endurance of the Scots»
122 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1403.
and the unwearied gallantry and military skill of
Hotspur were gradually gaining ground, when this
brave leader, as he raised his visor for a moment to get
air, was pierced through the brain by an arrow, and
fell down dead on the spot. His fall, whicli was seen
by both sides, seems to have at once turned the fortune
of the day. The rebels were broken and dispersed, the
Scots almost entirely cut to pieces. Sir Robert Stewart
slain, and the Earl of Douglas once more a captive,
and severely wounded.*
In the meantime, whilst the rebellion of the Percies
was thus -successfully put down, Albany, the governor,
assembled the whole strength of the kingdom ; and, at
the head of an army of fifty thousand men, advanced
into England. His real object, as discovered by his
subsequent conduct, was to second the insurrection of
Hotspur ; but, ignorant as yet that the rebellion had
openly burst forth, he concealed his intention, and
gave out to his soldiers that it was his intention to
give battle to the Percies, and to raise the siege of
Cocklaws."!* On arriving before this little Border
strength, instead of finding Hotspur, he was met by
the news of his entire defeat and death in the battle of
Shrewsbury ; and, after ordering a herald to proclaim
this to the army, he at once quietly retired into Scot-
land. Discouraged by the inactivity of the Welsh,
by the death of Percy, the captivity of Douglas, and
the submission of the Earl of Northumberland, Albany
judiciously determined that this was not the most
favourable crisis to attack the usurper, and for the
present resumed a pacific line of policy. In their ac-
count of the rebellion of the Percies, and the expedition.
* Walsingham, pp. 3G8, 3G9.
t Forduu a Ilearne, pp. 1158, 1159, 1160.
1403. ROBERT III. 123
of Albany, our ancient Scottish historians exhibit a
singular instance of credulity in describing the investing
of the Border fortalice by Hotspur, and the subsequent
progress of Albany to raise the siege, as really and
honestly engaged in by both parties ; and it is difficult
not to smile at the importance which the tower of
Cocklaws and its governor assume in their narrative.
If Albany ""s government seemed destined to be in-
glorious in war, his civil administration was weak and
vacillating, disgraced by the impunity, if not by the
encouragement, of feudal tyranny and unlicensed op-
pression. Of this a striking instance occurred a little
prior to the rebellion of the Percies. Sir Malcolm
Drummond, brother to the late Queen of Scotland, had
married Isabella countess of Mar in her own right,
whose estates were amongst the richest in Scotland.
When resident in his own castle, this baron was
attacked by a band of armed ruffians, overpowered, and
cast into a dungeon, where the barbarous treatment he
experienced ended in his speedy death. The suspicion
of this lawless act rested on Alexander Stewart, a
natural son of the Earl of Buchan, brother to the king,
who emulated the ferocity of his father, and became
notorious for his wild and unlicensed life. This chief,
soon after the death of Drummond, appeared before
the strong castle of Kildrummie, the residence of the
widowed countess, with an army of JcetJierans^ stormed
it in the face of every resistance, and, whether by
persuasion or by violence is not certain, obtained her
in marriage. To murder the husband, to marry the
widow, and carry off the inheritance from her children,
were deeds which, even under the misgovernment of
Albany, excited the horror of the people, and called
loudly for redress ; but before this could be obtained,
124 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1403
an extraordinary scene was acted at Kildrummie.
Stewart presented himself at the outer gate of the
castle, and there, in presence of the Bishop of Ross
and the assembled tenantry and vassals, was met by
the Countess of Mar, upon which, with much feudal
pomp and solemnity, he surrendered the keys of the
castle into her hands, declaring that he did so freely
and with a good heart, to be disposed of as she pleased.
The lady then, who seems to have forgotten the rugged
nature of the courtship, holding the keys in her hands,
declared that she freely chose Alexander Stewart for
her lord and husband, and that she conferred on him
the earldom of Mar, the castle of Kildrummie, and all
other lands which she inherited. The whole proceed-
ings were closed by solemn instruments or charters
being taken on the spot; and this remarkable transac-
tion, exhibiting in its commencement and termination
so singular a mixture of the ferocity of feudal manners
and the formality of feudal law, was legalized and
confirmed by a charter of the king, which ratified the
concession of the countess, and permitted Stewart to
assume the titles of Earl of Mar, and Lord of Garvy-
ach.* Yet he who was murdered, to make way for
this extraordinary intrusion of the son of Buchan, was
the kinir's brother-in-law; and there seems to have been
little doubt that the successful wooer, and the assassin
of Drummond, were one and the same person. Nothing
could give us a more striking proof of the pusillanimity
of the sovereign, the weakness of the law, and the gross
partialities of Albany.
The unquiet and suspicious times of Henry the
Fourth, whose reign was marked by an almost unin-
terrupted succession of conspiracies, rendered it an
* Sutherland Case, by Lord Hailes, chap. v. p. 43. Winton, vol. ii. p. 404
1403. ROBERT III. 125
object of great moment with him to keep at peace with
Scotland ; and it was evidently the interest of that
kino^dom to cultivate an amicable relation with Ensr-
land. Its present danger consisted not so much in
any fears of invasion, or any serious attempts at
conquest, as in the dread of civil commotion and
domestic tyranny under the partial administration of
Albany. The murder of the Duke of Rothesay, and
the impunity permitted to the worst crimes committed
by the nobles, clearly proved that the governor would
feel no scruples in removing any further impediment
which stood in the way of his ambition ; and that he
looked for indulgence from the favour with which he
treated similar crimes and excesses in the barons who
composed his court, and with whom he was ready to
share the spoils or the honours which he had wrested
from their legitimate possessors.
Under a government like this, the king became a
mere shadow. Impelled by his natural disposition,
wdiich w^as pacific and contemplative, he had at first
courted retirement, and willingly resigned much of
the management of the state to his brother ; and now
that the murder of Rothesay had roused his paternal
anxieties, that the murmurs of the people loudly ac-
cused this brother of so dreadful a crime, and branded
him as the abettor of all the disorders which distracted
the country, he felt, yet dreaded, the necessity of
interference ; and, while he trembled for the safety of
his only remaining son, he found himself unequal to
the task of instituting proper measures for his security,
or of reassuming, in the midst of age and infirmi-
ties, those toils of government, to which, even in his
younger years, he had experienced an aversion. But
although the unfortunate monarch, thus surrounded
126 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1403.
with difficulties, found little help in his own energy
or resources, friends were still left who pitied his con-
dition, and felt a just indignation at the successful
tyranny of the governor. Of these, the principal was
Henry AV^ardlaw bishop of St Andrews, a loyal and
generous prelate, nephew to the Cardinal Wardlaw,
and, like him, distinguished for his eminence as a
scholar, and his devotion to literature. To his charge
was committed the heir of the throne, James earl of
Carrick, then a boy in his fourteenth year, who was
educated in the castle of St Andrews, under the
immediate eye of the prelate, in the learning, and
accomplishments befitting his high rank, and already
promising abilities.
In the meantime, the captivity of so many of the
nobles and gentry, who had been recently taken at
Nesbit Moor, and in the battles of Homildon Hill and
Shrewsbury, had a manifest effect in quieting Scot-
land, encouraging its pacific relations, and increasing
its commercial enterprise. The years which succeeded
these fatal conflicts, were occupied with numerous
expeditions of the Scottish captives, who, under
the safe conducts of Henry, travelled into their own
country, and returned either with money, or with
cargoes of wool, fish, or live stock, with which they
discharged their ransom and procured their liberty.*
The neirotiations also, concernino- the ransom of IMur-
doch the son of Albany, the Earl of Douglas, and other
eminent prisoners, promoted a constant intercourse ;
whilst the poverty of Scotland in its agricultural pro-
duce, is seen in the circumstance, that any English
captives are generally redeemed in grain, and not in
money. Some Norfolk fishermen, who had probably
* Rotuli Scotiscjvol. ii. pp. 1C4, 166, 1G7, 172, 173, 177.
1403-4. ROBERT III. 127
been pursuing their occupation upon the Scottish
coast, having been captured and imprisoned, Henry
permitted two mariners of Lynne to carry six hundred
quarters of grain into Scotland for their redemption ;
and, at the same time, granted a license to an Irish
merchant to import corn, flour, and other victuals and
merchandise, into that country, during the continu-
ance of the truce.* Upon the whole, the commercial
intercourse between the two countries appears to have
been prosecuted with great activity, although inter-
rupted at sea by the lawless attacks of the English
cruisers,"!* and checked by the depredations of the
Borderers, and broken men of both nations.
One cause, however, for jealousy and dissatisfaction
upon the part of Henry still remained, in the perpetual
reports which proceeded from Scotland, with regard to
Richard the Second being still alive in that country,
where, it was said, he continued to be treated with kind-
ness and distinction. That these assertions, as to the
reappearance of the dethroned monarch, long after his
reputed death, had some foundation in truth, there
seems reason to believe ;l but, whether true or not, it
w^as no unwise policy in Albany to abstain from giving
any public contradiction to the rumour, and at times
even to encourage it, as in this manner he essentially
weakened the government of Henry; and, by affording
him full employment at home, rendered it difficult for
him to engage in any schemes for the annoyance of his
neio'hbours.
In 1404, a gentleman named Serle, who had formerly
* Rotuli Scotise, vol. ii. p. 172.
t Foedera, vol. viii. pp. 411, 420, 450 ; and i\IS. Bibl. Cot. F. vii. No.
22, 89, 110", 117, 118, quoted in M'Pherson''s Annals of Commerce, vol. i.
p. 615.
J See Appendix, at the end of the volume.
J 28 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1404-5.
been of llicliard''s bedchamber, repaired secretly to Scot-
land, and, on his return, positively affirmed that he had
seen the king. The old Countess of Oxford, mother
to Robert de Vere duke of Ireland, the favourite of
Richard, easterly save credit to the story ; and, bv the
production of letters, and the present of little silver
liarts, the gifts which the late king had been fond of dis-
tributing amongst his favourites, she had already con-
trived to persuade many persons to credit the report,
when her practices were discovered, and the execution
and confession of Serle put an end to the rumour for the
present. It was asserted, that Serle had actually been
introduced, when in Scotland, to a person whom he
declared to bear so exact a resemblance to Richard the
Second, that it was not astonishing many should be
deceived by it ; and it was evident, that if Albany had
not lent himself in any open manner to encourage, he
had not, on the other hand, adopted any means to ex-
pose or detect the alleged impostor.*
But this plot of Serle and the Countess of Oxford
was followed by a conspiracy of greater moment, in
which Scotland was deeply concerned, yet whose rami-
fications, owino; to the extreme care with which all
written evidence, in such circumstances, was generally
concealed or destroyed, were extremely difficult to be
detected. Its principal authors appear to have been
the Earl of Northumberland the father of Hotspur,
Scrope the Archbishop of York, whose brother Henry
had beheaded, and the Earl Marshal of England, with
the Lords Hastings, Bardolf, and Faulconbridge; but
it is certain that they received the cordial concurrence
of some party in the Scottish state, as Northumber-
land enjraired to meet them at the "general rendezvous
* Walsingham, p. 371.
1405. ROBERT III. 129
at York, not only with his own followers, but with a
large reinforcement of Scottish soldiers, and it was cal-
culated that they would be able 'to take the field with
an army of twenty thousand men.* Besides this, they
had engaged in a correspondence with the French king,
who promised to despatch an expedition, which, at the
moment they took up arms in England, was to make
a descent on Wales, where Owen Glendow^r, the fierce
and indefatigable opponent of Henry, had promised to
join them; and this formidable opposition w^as to be
further strengthened by a simultaneous invasion of the
Scots.
Northumberland's intentions in this conspiracy are
very clearly declared, in an intercepted letter, which
he addressed to the Duke of Orleans, and which is pre-
served in the Parliamentary Rolls. '' I have embraced,""
says he, " a firm purpose, with the assistance of God,
with your aid, and that of my allies, to sustain the just
quarrel of my sovereign lord King Richard, if he is
alive; and, if he is dead, to avenge his death; and,
moreover, to sustain the right and quarrel, which my
redoubted ladv the Queen of Ens-land, vour niece, mav
have to the kingdom of England; for which purpose I
have declared war against Henry of Lancaster, at pre-
sent Regent of England. """-I-
A rebellion, so ably planned that it seemed almost
impossible that it should not succeed, and hurl Henry
from the throne, was ruined by the credulity of the
Earl Marshal and the Archbishop, who became the vic-
tims of an adherent of the king''s, Neville earl of West-
moreland. This nobleman, who had received intelligence
* Hall's Chronicle, p. 35. Edition 1809. London, 4to. Ilardyng's
Chronicle, p. 36*2. Edition 1812. London, 4to.
+ Rolls of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 605. The original is in French.
VOL. Ill, I
loO HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 140o.
of the plot, artfully represented himself as warmly
interested in its success; and, having prevailed upon
Scrope and Mowbray to meet him in a private confer-
ence, seized them both as they sat at his table, and
hurried them to the king at Pontefract, by whose orders
they were instantly beheaded. Northumberland, how-
ever, with his little grandson Henry Percy, and the
Lord Bardolf, had the good fortune to escape into Scot-
land, where they were courteously received by Albany.
In this country, notwithstanding; his advanced a^je
and frequent failures, Percy continued to organize an
opposition to the government of Henry; visiting, for
this purpose, the court of France, and the Flemish
States, and returning to stimulate the exertions of his
Scottish friends. Althoudi unsuccessful in his conti-
nental negotiations, it is evident, from the orders issued
by Henry for the immediate array of the fighting men
in the counties of York and Lancaster, as well as in
Derby, Lincoln, and Nottingham, that Albany had
been induced to assemble an army, and that the king
had received intelligence of an intended invasion by
the Scots, to be led, as the king expresses it, " l)y his
common adversary, Robert duke of Albany, the pre-
tended governor of Scotland.*"* Previous, however, to
any such expedition, an event took place which effectu-
ally altered the relations between the governor and the
English monarch, and introduced material changes into
the state of the different parties in Scotland.
The continuance of his own power, and the adoption
of every means by which the authority of the king, or
the respect and affection due to the royal family, could
be weakened or destroyed, was the principle of Albany's
government: a principle which, although sometimes
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii, p. 414.
1405. ROBERT III. 131
artfully concealed, was never for a moment forgotten
by this crafty statesman. In his designs, he had been
all along supported by the Douglases : a family whom
he attached to his interest by an ample share in the
spoils with which his lawless government enabled him
to gratify his creatures. Archibald earl of Douglas,
the head of the house, we have seen become his part-
ner in the murder of the Duke of E-othesav, and re-
warded by the possession of the immense estates of the
Earl of March, — a baron next to Douglas, — the most
powerful of the Scottish aristocracy, but compelled, by
the affront put upon his daughter, to become a fugitive
in England, and a dependant upon the bounty of a
foreign prince.
The battle of Homildon Hill made Douglas a cap-
tive; whilst many of his most powerful adherents shared
his fate: and Albany, deprived of the countenance of
his steadiest supporters, found the friends of the old
king gradually gaining ground. A natural jealousy of
the designs of the governor, against a youth who formed
the only impediment between his own family and the
succession to the crown, induced these persons to adopt
measures for the security of the Earl of Carrick, now
an only son . It was with this view that they had placed
him under the charge of the Bishop of St Andrews, a
man of uncorrupted honour and integrity ; and, whilst
the studies of the young prince were carefully conducted
by this prelate, whose devotion to literature well fitted
him for the task, the presence of the warlike Earl of
Northumberland, who, with his grandson, young Henry
Percy, had found an asylum in the castle of the bishop,
was of great service to the young prince in his chival-
rous exercises. It was soon seen, however, that, with
all these advantages, Scotland was then no fit place for
132 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1405.
the residence of the youthful heir to the throne. The
intric^ues of Albany, and the unsettled state of the coun-
try, filled the bosom of the timid monarch with constant
alarm. lie became anxious to remove him for a season
from Scotland; and, as France was at this time con-
sidered the best school in Europe for the education of
a youth of his high rank, it was resolved to send the
prince thither, under the care of the Earl of Orkney,*
and Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld, an intimate
friend and adherent of the exiled Earl of Northumber-
land.
At this crisis, a secret negotiation took place between
the English monarch and the Duke of Albany, re^jard-
ing the delivery of Northumberland and Lord Bardolf ;
and it appears, that the party of the governor and the
Douglases had embraced the treacherous plan of sacri-
ficing the lives of two unfortunate exiles, who had
found an asylum in Scotland, to procure in return the
liberty of Murdoch, the son of the governor, the Earl
of Douglas, and other captives who had been taken at
Homildon. A baser project could not well be ima-
gined; but it was accidentally discovered by Percy's
friend, David Fleming, who instantly revealed it to the
exiled noblemen, and advised them to consult their
safety by flight.
This conduct of Albany, which afforded a new light
into the treachery of his character, accelerated the pre-
parations for the young prince''s departure; and all
being at length ready, the Earl of Carrick, then a boy
in his fourteenth year, took his progress through Lo-
thian to North Berwick, accompanied by the Earl of
Orkney, Fleming of Cumbernauld, the Lords of Dirle-
ton and Hermandston, and a strong party of the barons
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 415.
1405. ROBERT III. 133
Df Lothian. The ship which was to convey him to
France lay at the Bass; and having embarked along
with the Earl of Orkney and a small personal suite,
they set sail with a fair wind, and under no apprehen-
sions for their safety, as the truce between Eno-land
and Scotland was not yet expired, and the only vessels
they were likely to meet were English cruisers. But
the result showed how little was to be trusted to the
faith of truces, or to the honour of kings ; for the prince
had not been a few days at sea, when he was captured
off Flamborou!ih Head, by an armed merchantman
belonging to the port of Wye, and carried to London,
where the king instantly committed him and his atten-
dants to the Tower.* »
In vain did the guardians of theyoung prince remon-
strate against this cruelty, or present to Henry a letter
from the king his father, which, with much simplicity, re-
comm ended him to the kindness of the English monarch,
should he find it necessary to land in his dominions.
In vain did they represent that the mission to France
was perfectly pacific, and its only object, the education
of the prince at the French court. Henry merely an-
swered by a poor witticism, declaring that he himself
knew the French language indifferently well, and that
his father could not have sent him to a better master.*!*
So flagrant a breach of the law of nations, as the seizure
and imprisonment of the heir-apparent during the time
of truce, would have called for the most violent remon-
strances from any government except that of Albany.
But to this usurper of the supreme power, the capture
of the prince was the most grateful event which could
have happened ; and to detain him in captivity became,
* Walsingham, p. 375. Winton, vol. ii. pp. 415, 416.
"j" Walsingham, p. 375. Extracta ex Chrouicis Scotise, p. 253.
134 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 14-05.
from this moment, one of the principal objects of his
future life; we are not to wonder, then, tliat the con-
duct of Henry not only drew forth no indignation from
the governor, but was not even followed by any request
that the prince should be restored to liberty.
Whilst Albany"*s satisfaction was great at this un-
fortunate event, his indignation, and that of the Dou-
glases, at the conduct of Sir David Fleming, in at-
tempting to convey the heir apparent to a place of
safety, and in facilitating the escape of Northumber-
land, was proportionably fierce and unforgiving; nor
was it quenched until they had taken a bloody revenge.
At the moor of Lang-Hermandston, the party which had
accompanied the prince to North Berwick were attacked
by James Douglas of Abercorn, second son of the Earl
of Douglas, and Alexander Seton, where, after a fierce
conflict, Fleming was slain, and the most of the barons
who accompanied him made prisoners. A procession,
which passed next day through Edinburgh, conveying
to Holyrood the body of this noble knight, wlio was
celebrated for his courage, tenderness, and fidelity, ex-
cited much commiseration; but the populace did not
dare to rise against the Douglases, and Albany openly
protected them. Those bitter feelings of wrath, and
desires of revenge, which so cruel an attack excited,
now broke out into interminable feuds and jealousies,
and, ramifying throughout the whole line of the vas-
sals of these two powerful families, continued for many
years to agitate the minds of the people, and disturb
the tranquillity of the country.*
The aged king, already worn out by infirmity, and
BOW broken by disappointment and sorrow, did not
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 413. Fordun aGoodal, vol. ii. p. 439. Extracta ex
Chronicis Scotiae, p. 153.
1406. ROBERT III. 135
long survive the captivity of his son. It is said, the
melancholy news were brought him as he was sitting
down to supper in his palace of Rothesay in Bute ; and
that the eflfect was such upon his affectionate but feeble
spirit, that he drooped from that day forward, refused
all sustenance, and died soon after of a broken heart.
His death took place on the 4th of April, 1406, in the
sixteenth year of his reign; and Albany, his brother,
immediately succeeded to the prize which had so long
been the paramount object of his ambition, by becom-
ins: the unfettered o-overnor of Scotland. The character
of this monarch requires little additional development.
It was of that sweet, pacific, and indolent nature which
unfitted him to subdue the pride, or overawe and con-
trol the fierce passions and resentments of his barons ;
and although the generosity and affectionate feelings
of his heart inclined him, on every occasion, to be the
friend of the poorer classes of his subjects, yet energy
and courage w^ere wanting to make these good wishes
eff'ectual; and it might almost be said, that in the dread
of making anyone his enemy, he made no one his friend.
All the virtues of domestic life he possessed in a high
degree; but these, as well as his devotion to intellec-
tual accomplishments, were thrown away upon the rude
times in which he lived. His wisdom, which was far
before his age, saw clearly that the greatest blessing
which could be conferred upon the country was peace;
but it required firmness, and almost violence, to carry
these convictions into the active management of the
government, and these were qualities which Robert
could not command. Had he been born in the rank of
a subject, he would have been among the best and wisest
men in his dominions; but as a king, his timidity and
irresolution rendered all his virtues of none avail, and
136 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1406.
permitted the government to fall into the hands of an
usurper, ulio systematically ahused his power for the
purposes of his own aggrandizement.
In person, Robert was tall, and of a princely pre-
sence; his countenance was somewhat florid, but pleas-
ing and animated ; whilst a beard of great length, and
silvery whiteness, llowed down his breast, and gave a
look of sanctity to his appearance. Humility, a deep
conviction of the vanity of human grandeur, and aspira-
tions for the happiness of a better world, were senti-
ments which he is said to have deeply felt, and fre-
quently expressed; and nothing could prevail on him,
in the custom of the age, and after the example of his
father and grandfather, to provide a monument for
himself. It is said, that his queen, Annabella, remon-
strated with him on this occasion, when he rebuked her
for speaking like one of the foolish women : " You con-
sider not," said he, " how little it becomes a WTctched
worm, and the vilest of sinners, to erect a proud tomb
for his miserable remains : let them who delight in
the honours of this world so employ themselves. As
for me, cheerfully would I be buried in the meanest
shed on earth, could I thus secure rest to my soul in
the day of the Lord."* He was interred, however, in
the Abbey church of Paisley, before the high altar.
It has hitherto been believed by our Scottish his-
torians, that there were born to him only two sons,
David duke of Rothesay, and James earl of Carrick,
who succeeded him in the throne. It is certain, how-
ever, that the king had a third son, Robert, who pro-
bably died very young, but whose existence is proved
by a record of unquestionable authority.-]-
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 440.
+ Chamberlain Accounts, vol. ii. p. 231. " Et Dno David Comiti de Car-
1407. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 137
Upon the king's death, the three Estates of the realm
assembled in parliament at Perth; and, having first
made a solemn declaration that James earl of Carrick,
then a captive in England, was their lawful king, and
that the crown belon2:ed of undoubted rio:ht to the heirs
of his body, the Duke of Albany, being the next in
succession, was chosen Regent;* and it was determined
to send an embassy to the French court, for the purpose
of renewins: the leao:ue of mutual defence and alliance
which had so lono- subsisted between the two countries.
For this purpose, Sir Walter Stewart of Ralston, Law-
der archdeacon of Lothian, along with two esquires,
John Gil and John de Leth, were selected to negotiate
with France ; and their mission, as was to be expected
from the exasperated feelings which were common to
both countries with regard to their adversary of Eng-
land, was completely successful. Charles the Sixth
king of France, Louis his brother Duke of Anjou, and
the Duke of Berry, by three separate deeds, each act-
ing in his own name, ratified and confirmed the treaties
formerly entered into between their country and the late
Kino' of Scotland; and assured the Duke of Albanv,
then reo:ent of that kinodom, of their resolution to
maintain the same firm and inviolate in all time to
come.-(*
With regard to England, Albany now earnestly
desired the continuance of peace ; and it was fortunate
that the principles which influenced his government,
although selfish, and calculated for the preservation
of his own power, proved, at this moment, the best for
the interests of the country; whilst the English king,
rick percipient! pro se et heredibus suis de corpore suo legitime procreandis,
qui bus forte deficientibus, Roberto seneschallo fratri ipsius, et heredibus suis."
* Winton, vol. ii, p. 418.
•f Records of the Parliament of Scotland, pp. 137, 138.
138 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1407
in the possession of the young heir to the throne, and
master, also, of the persons of the cliief nobility who
liad remained in captivity since the battle of Ilomildon
Hill, was able to assume a decided tone in his negoti-
ations, and exerted an influence over the governor,
which he had not formerly enjoyed. A short time
previous to the king^s death, negotiations had been
renewed for the continuance of the truce, and for the
return of the Earl of Douirlas to Scotland. The hiMi
value placed upon this potent baron, and the power of
weakening Scotland which the English king possessed
at this time, may be estimated from the circumstance,
that he would not permit his return, nntil thirteen
hostages, selected from the first families in the country,
liad repaired to Westminster and delivered themselves
to the king.* It was one happy effect of the power
and wealth which the capture of many noble prisoners
necessarily conferred on those to whom they surren-
dered, that it softened the atrocities of war and dimi-
nished the effusion of blood. The only impediments
to the continuance of peace arose out of the piracies of
English cruisers and armed merchantmen, which, on
the slightest provocation, were ready to make prize of
any vessels they met, — French, Flemish, Genoese, or
Scottish ; and it is a singular circumstance, that, at
this early period, we find the English ships beginning
to insist on their superior right to the dominion of the
seas, which they afterwards so proudly maintained.
In 1402, a formal complaint was presented to Henry
the Fourth by the magistrates of Bruges, which stated
that two fishermen, one belonging to Ostend and the
other to Briel, when ens-aired in the herrins: fisherv of
the North Sea, had been captured by the English and
* Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 177.
1408. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 1S9
carried into Hull, although they lowered their sails
the moment they were hailed.*
On the other hand, the Scots were not slow to make
reprisals ; although their power at sea, which we have
seen so formidable durino- the reio-ns of Edward the
Second and Third, appears to have experienced a sen-
sible diminution. In 1404, the fishery on the coast
of Aberdeenshire, — a source of considerable wealth, —
had been invaded by the English: a small fleet of
Scottish ships was immediately fitted out by Sir
Robert Logan, who attacked and attempted to destroy
some English vessels ; but his force was insufficient,
his ships were taken, and he himself carried prisoner
into the port of Lynne in Norfolk.-f* Stewart earl of
Mar, with whose singular courtship and marriage we
are already acquainted, after amusing his taste for ad-
ventures in foreign war,J leading the life of a knight-
errant, and dividins: his time between real fialitintr
and the recreations of tilts and tournaments, became
latterly a pirate, and with a small squadron infested
the coast between Berwick and Newcastle, destroying
or making prizes of the English vessels.
These hostile invasions, which appear to have been
mutually committed on each other by the English and
the Scottish merchantmen, were not openly counte-
nanced by either government. No regular maritime
laws for the protection of trade and commerce had as
yet been practically established in Europe ; the vessels
which traded from one country to another, were the
property not of the nation, but of individuals, who, if
their own gain or interest interfered, did not consider
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 274, " quanquam ad primam vocem ipsorum
Anglicorum idem Johannes Willes, velum suum declinavit." M-'Pherson's
Annals of Commerce, vol. i. p. 612.
+ Walsingham, p. 364.
:J: Juvenal des Ursins, Histoire de Charles VI., p. 196.
140 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1408
themselves bound by treaties or truces ; and when a
ship of greater strength met a small merchantman
richly laden, and incapable of resistance, the temptation
to make themselves master of her cari>o ^vas ircnerallv
too strong to be resisted.* Henry, however, showed
himself willins; to redress the irrievances suffered bv
the Scottish merchants, as well as to put an end to the
frequent infractions of the truce which were committed
by the Borderers of both nations; and the perpetual
grants of letters of safe conduct to natives of Scotland
travelling through England on purposes of devotion,
commerce, or pleasure, and eager to show their prowess
in deeds of arms, or to seek for distinction in conti-
nental war, evinced a sincere anxiety to keep up an
amicable relation between the two countries, and to
pave the way for a lasting peace. ■[-
The return to their country of the two most power-
ful barons in the state, — the Earls of Douglas and of
^iarch, — with the "stanching of that mortal feud which
had long continued between them,"" was another event
that promised the best effects. The immense estates
of March, which during his exile had been occupied by
Douglas, were restored to him, with the exception of
the lordship of Annandale,and the castle of Lochmaben.
These w^ere retained by Douglas ; and, in addition to
the thirteen noble persons who were compelled to
remain in England as hostages for his return, Henry
extorted from him a ransom of a thousand marks
before he consented to his departure. J Amongst the
hostages were Archibald Douglas, eldest son of the
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. pp. 203, 420.
fRotuli Scotiae, pp. 176, 177, 178, 179, 180. RjTner, vol. viii. pp. 416,
430, 445, 450.
X Rotuli Scotiffi, vol. ii. pp. 182, 184. Harl. MS. 381. f. 212, quoted in
Pinkerton's History, vol. i. p. 87. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 444.
1408. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 141
earl, and James his son ; James, the son and heir of
James DouMas lord of Dalkeith : Sir William Dous-las
of Niddesdale, Sir John Seton, Sir Simon Glendinning,
Sir John Montgomery, Sir John Stewart of Lorn,
Sir William Graham, Sir William Sinclair of Her-
mandston, and others of the first rank and conse-
quence.* The residence of these persons in England,
and the care which Henry bestowed upon the education
of their youthful monarch, who, though still retained
in captivity, was provided with the best masters, treated
with uniform kindness, and waited on with the honours
due to his rank, contributed to increase the amicable
intercourse betw^een the two countries, and to give to
both a short and happy interval of peace.
It was in the midst of this pacific period that the
doctrines of WicklifF for the first time appeared in
Scotland ; and the flames of war had scarcely ceased,
when the more dreadful flames of religious persecution
were kindled in the country. John Resby, an English
priest of the school of this great reformer, in whose
remarkable works are to be found the seeds of almost
every doctrine of Luther, had passed into Scotland,
either in consequence of the persecutions of Wickliff'^s
followers, which arose after his death, or from a desire
to propagate the truth. After having for some time
remained unnoticed, the boldness, and the novelty of
his opinions at length awakened the jealousy of the
church ; and it was asserted that he preached the most
dangerous heresies. He was immediately seized by
Laurence of Lindores, an eminent doctor in theology,
and compelled to appear before a council of the clergy,
where this inquisitor presided. Here he was accused
of maintaining no fewer than forty heresies, amongst
* Roluli ScoticB, vol. ii. pp. 181, 182.
142 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1408.
Avhich the principal were, a denial of the authority of
the pope, as the successor of St Peter ; a contemp-
tuous opinion of the utility of penances and auricular
confession ; and an assertion that an absolutely sinless
life was necessary in any one who dared to call himself
the Vicar of Christ.*
Although Ilesby was esteemed an admirable preacher
by the common people, his eloquence, as may easily
be supposed, had little effect upon the bench of eccle-
siastical judges before whom he defended himself.
Laurence of Lindores was equally triumphant in his
confutation of the written conclusions, and in his
answers to the spoken arguments by which their
author attempted to support them ; and the brave but
unfortunate inquirer after the truth, was barbarously
condemned to the flames, and delivered over to the
secular arm. The cruel sentence was carried into im-
mediate execution ; and he was burnt at Perth in the
year 1407, his books and writings being consumed in
the same fire with their master. It is probable that
the church was stimulated to this unjustifiable severity
by Albany the governor, whose bitter hatred to all
Lollards and heretics, and zeal for the purity of the
Catholic faith, are particularly recorded by Winton.-f
And here, in the first example of persecution for
religious opinions which is recorded in our history, the
inevitable effects of such a course were clearly discerni-
ble in the increased zeal and affection which were
evinced for the opinions which had been sealed by the
blood of the preacher. The conclusions and little
pamphlets of this early reformer were carefully con-
cealed and preserved by his disciples ; and any who
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 442, 443.
■f Winton's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 419.
1408. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 143
had imbibed his opinions evinced a resolution and
courao-e in maintainins: them, which resisted every
attempt to restore them to the bosom of the church.
They did not dare, indeed, to disseminate them openly,
but they met, and read, and debated in secret ; and the
doctrines which had been propagated by Resby, re-
mained secretly cherished in the hearts of his disci-
ples, and reappeared after a few years in additional
strength, and with a spirit of more active and deter-
mined proselytism.* It is not improbable also, that
amono^st Resbv^s forty heretical conclusions were in-
eluded some of those doctrines regarding the origin
and foundation of the power of the civil magistrate and
the rights of the people, which, being peculiar to the
Lollards, were regarded with extreme jealousy by the
higher orders in the state ; and Albany's persecution
of the heretics may have proceeded as much upon civil
as on relio;ious oTounds.
Since the fatal battle of Durham, the castle of Jed-
burgh had been kept by the English. In its masonry,
it was one of the stronsfest built fortresses in Scotland ;
and its garrison, by their perpetual attacks and plun-
dering expeditions, had given great annoyance to the
adjacent country. The moment the truce expired
the Teviotdale Borderers recommenced the war, by
reducing this castle; but on attempting to destroy
the fortifications, it was found, that such was the in-
duration and tenacity of the mortar, that the whole
walls and towers seemed one mass of solid stone ; and
that the expense of razing and levelling the works
would be great. In a parliament held at Perth, a
proposal was made to raise the sum required by a
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 442. Appendix to Dr M'Crie's Life of
Melville, vol. i. p. 418.
144 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1409.
general tax of two pennies upon every hearth in the
kingdom. But tliis the governor opposed, observing,
that during the wliole course of liis administration, no
such tax ever had been, or ever should be, levied; and
that they who countenanced such an abuse, merited
the maledictions of the poor. He concluded by giving
orders tluit the sum required should be paid to the
lords marchers out of the royal customs, — a liberality
which was much extolled, and gained him high credit
with the people.*
In the following year, a violent remonstrance was
addressed by the English monarch to the Duke of
Albany, complaining of the delay of the Earl of Dou-
glas to fulfil his knightly word, by which he had so-
lemnly engaged to return to his captivity; and threaten -
ins: to use his hostasfes accordins; to the laws of war,
and to pursue the earl himself as a perjured rebel, if
within a month he did not re-enter his person in ward.
Douglas had, in truth, delayed his return to England
a year beyond the stipulated period ; and as the castle
of Jedburgh was situated within his territories, it
was naturally supposed by Henry that he had not
been over scrupulous in observing the strict conditions
of amity, and adherence to the " party of the King of
England," to which he had set his hand and seal before
regaining his liberty. Matters, however, were amica-
bly composed between the offended monarch and his
prisoner; and Douglas, having permanently purchased
his liberty by the payment of a high ransom, once
more returned to assume his wonted authority in the
councils of the country. -j*
For some time after the reduction of Jedburgh, the
war presented few features of interest or importance.
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 444. + Ryraer, Fcedera, vol. viii. p. 478
1410. KEGENCY OF ALBANY. 145
Fast castle, a strength considered impregnable from
its peculiar situation, had been occupied, during the
convulsions of the times, bj an English adventurer
named Holder, who, combining the avocations of a
freebooter on shore and a pirate at sea, became the
terror of the country round his retreat. For such
purposes the castle was admirably adapted. It was
built upon a high rock overhanging the German ocean,
so rugged and precipitous, that all attack on that side
was impossible; and it communicated with the adjoin-
ing country by a narrow neck of land, defended by a
barbican, where a handful of resolute men could have
defied an armv. Notwithstandino; these difficulties,
Patrick Dunbar, son of the Earl of March, made him-
self master of the castle, and delivered the country
from the depredations of its ferocious lord ; but the
particulars of the enterprise are unfortunately lost,
and we only know that it was distinguished by the
utmost address and couraa'e.*
About the same time Gawin Dunbar, IMarclfs second
son, and Archibald Douglas of Drumlanrig, attacked
and gave to the flames the town of Roxburgh, then in
possession of the English ; but these partial successes
were more than counterbalanced by the losses sus-
tained by the Scots. Sir Robert Umfraville, vice-
admiral of England, with a squadron of ten ships of
w^ar, broke into the Forth, rava^'ed the countrv on both
sides, and collected an immense boot}^, after which
he swept the seas with his fleet, and made prizes of
fourteen Scottish merchantmen. At the time of Um-
fraville''s invasion, there happened to be a grievous
dearth of grain in England, and the quantity of corn
which he carried ofl" from Scotland so materially re-
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii, p. 444. " Non minus subtlliter quam viriliter."
VOL. III. K
146 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1410.
duced tlio prices of provisions, that it procured him
the popular surname of Kobin Mendmarket. On an-
other occasion, the same experienced leader, who had
charge of the military education of Gilbert Umfra-
ville, titular Earl of Angus, determined to hold a
military array in honour of his youthful pupil, who
had just completed his fourteenth year. His banner,
accordingly, was raised for the first time amidst the
shouts of his vassals ; and the festivities were con-
cluded by a Border " raid,"" in which Jedburgh was
sacked during its public fair, and reduced to ashes.
But the attention of the country was soon after this
diverted from such brief and insulated hostilities to an
event of a more serious and formidable nature, which
shook the security of the government, and threatened
to dismember a portion of the kingdom. Tliis was
the rebellion of Donald lord of the Isles, of which the
origin and the effects merit particular consideration.
The ancient line of barons, which for a long period of
years had succeeded to the earldom of Ross, ended at
length in a female, Euphemia Ross, married to Sir
Walter Lesley. Of this marriage there were two chil-
dren : Alexander, afterwards Earl of Ross, and j\Iar-
garet, married to Donald lord of the Isles. Alexander
earl of Ross, married a daughter of the Duke of Al-
bany, and had by her an only daughter, Euphemia
countess of Ross, who became a nun, and resigned the
earldom of Ross in favour of her uncle, John earl of
Buchan. This destination of the property, the Lord
of the Isles steadily and haughtily resisted. He con-
tended, that by Euphemia taking the veil, she became
civillv dead; and that the earldom of Ross belon^-ed
lawfully to him, in right of Margaret his wife.* His
* Sutherland Case, by Lord Ilailes, chap. v. § 7.
1411. REGENCv OF ALBANY. 147
plea was at once repelled by the governor; and this
noble territory, which included the Isle of Skye, and
a district in the mainland equal in extent to a little
kingdom, was declared to be the property of the Earl
of Buchan. But the island prince, wdio had the pride
and the power of an independent monarch, derided the
award of Albany, and, collecting an army of ten thou-
sand men, prepared not only to seize the disputed
county, but determined to carry havoc and destruction
into the heart of Scotland. Nor, in the midst of these
ferocious desiizins, did he want somewhat of a states-
manlike policy, for he engaged in repeated alliances
with England; and, as the naval force which he com-
manded was superior to any Scottish fleet which could
be brought against him, his co-operation with the Eng-
lish in their attacks upon the Scottish commerce, was
likely to produce very serious eflects.*
When his preparations were completed, he at once
broke in upon the earldom at the head of his fierce
multitudes, who were armed after the fashion of their
country, with swords fitted both to cut and thrust,
pole-axes, bows and arrows, short knives, and round
bucklers formed of wood, or strong hide, with bosses of
brass or iron. The people of the country readily sub-
mitted to him — to have attempted opposition, indeed^
was impossible; and these northern districts had for
many centuries been more accustomed to pay their
allegiance to the Norwegian yarls, or pirate kings,
whose power was at their door, than to acknowledge
the remote superiority of the Scottish crown. At
Dingwall, however, he was encountered by a formi-
dable opponent in Angus Dim, or Black Angus, who
attacked him with great fierceness, but was over-
* Rymer, Fcedera, vol. viii. pp. 418, 527.
U8 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1411.
powered and made prisoner, after liis brother Roderic
(lald and the greater part of his men liad been cut to
pieces.
The Lord of the Isles then ordered a general ren-
dezvous of his army at Inverness, and sent his sum-
mons to levy all the fighting men in Boyne and Enzie,
who were compelled to follow his banner and to join
the soldiers from the Isles; with this united force, con-
sisting of the best levies in the islands and the north,
lie swept through Moray, meeting with none, or the
most feeble resistance; whilst his soldiers covered the
land like locusts, and the plunder of money, arms, and
provisions, daily gave them new spirits and energy.
Strathboo'ie was next invaded; and the extensive dis-
trict of Garvyach, which belonged to his rival the Earl
of Mar, was delivered up to cruel and indiscriminate
havoc. It had been the boast of the invader that he
would burn the rich burgh of Aberdeen, and make a
desert of the country to the shores of the Tay; and as
the smoke of his camp-fires was already seen on the
banks of the Don, the unhappy burghers began to
tremble in their booths, and to anticipate the realiza-
tion of these dreadful menaces.* But their spirits
soon rose when the Earl of Mar, wdiose reputation as
a military leader was of the highest order, appeared at
the head of an army, composed of the bravest knights
and gentlemen in Angus and the Mearns, and declared
his resolution of instantly advancing against the in-
vader. Mar had the advantaii'e of having: been bred
up in the midst of highland war, and at first distin-
guished himself, as we have seen, by his predatory
expeditions at the head of the highlanders. But his
marriage with the Countess of Mar, and his reception
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p, 445.
1411. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 149
at court, appear to have effectually changed his char-
acter: the savage habits of his early life were softened
down, and left behind them a talent for war, and an
ambition for renown, which restlessly sought for em-
ployment wherever there was a chance of gaining dis-
tinction. When on the continent, he had oiFered his
services to the Duke of Burgundy; and the victory at
Liege was mainly ascribed to his skill and courage, so
that his reputation abroad was as distinguished as at
home. In a short time he found himself at the head
of the whole power of Mar and Garvyach, in addition
to that of Angus and the Mearns ; Sir Alexander
Ogilvy sheriff of Angus, Sir James Scrymgeour con-
stable of Dundee and hereditary standard-bearer of
Scotland, Sir Alexander Irvine, Sir Robert Melville,
Sir William de Abernethy, nephew to Albany, and
many other barons and esquires, with their feudal ser-
vices, joined him with displayed banner; and Sir Ro-
bert Davidson, the provost of Aberdeen, and a troop
of the stoutest burgesses, came forward to defend their
hearths and their stalls from the ravages of the Lord
of the Isles.
Mar immediately advanced from Aberdeen, and,
marching by Inverury, came in sight of the highlanders
at the village of Harlaw, on the water of Ury, not far
from its junction with the Don. He found that his
little army was immensely outnumbered, it is said, by
nearly ten to one; but it consisted of the bravest ba-
rons in these parts ; and his experience had taught him
to consider a single knight in steel as a fair match
against a whole troop of ketherans. Without delay,
therefore, he intrusted the leading of the advance to
the Constable of Dundee and Oailvv the sheriff of
Angus, who had with them a small, but compact, bat-
150 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1411.
talion of men-at-arms ; whilst lie himself followed with
the rearward, composed of the main strength of his
army, including the Irvings, the Maules, the Morays,
the Straitons, the Lesleys, the Stirlings, the Lovels,
headed by their chiefs, and with their banners and
penoncelles waving amid their grove of spears. Of the
islesmen and highlanders, the principal leaders were
the Lord of the Isles himself, with Macintosh and
Maclean, the heads of their respective septs, and innu-
merable other chiefs and chieftains, animated by the
old and deep-rooted hostility between the Celtic and
Saxon race.*
The shock between two such armies may be easily
imaoined to have been dreadful : the hiijhlanders, who
were ten thousand strons;, rushinsr on with the fierce
shouts and yells which it was their custom to raise in
comino; into battle, and the knights meetino: them with
levelled spears, and ponderous maces and battle-axes.
In his first onset, Scrymgeour, and the men-at-arms
who fought under him, with little difficulty drove back
the mass of Islesmen, and, cutting his way through
their thick columns, made a cruel slaughter. But,
though hundreds fell around him, thousands poured in
to supply their place, more fierce and fresh than their
predecessors ; whilst Mar, who had penetrated with his
main army into the very heart of the enemy, found
himself in the same difficulties, becoming every moment
more tired with slaughter, more encumbered with the
numbers of the slain, and less able to resist the increas-
ins: and reckless ferocitv of the masses that still veiled
and fought around him. It was impossible that this
* In one of the Macfarlane MSS., preserved in the Advocates' Lihrary,
entitled, "A Geographical Description of Scotland," (vol. i. pp. 7, 20,) will
be found a minute description of the locality of this battle. See Illustra-
tions, iJ.
Un. REGEXCY OF ALBANY. ]f;l
should coFAtinue much longer without making a fatal
impression on the Scots ; and the effects of fatigue were
soon seen. The Constable of Dundee was slain; and
the highlanders, encouraged by his fall, wielded their
broadswords and Lochaber axes with murderous effect;
seizing and stabbing the horses, and pulling down their
riders, whom they despatched with their short daggers.
In this way were slain some of the best soldiers of these
northern districts. Sir Robert Davidson, with the
greater part of the burgesses who fought around him,
were amongst the number; and many of the families
lost not only their chief, but every male in the house.
Lesley of Balquhain, a baron of ancient lineage, is said
to have fallen with six of his sons slain beside him. The
Sheriff* of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy,
Sir Alexander Irving of Drum,* Sir Robert Maule,
Sir Thomas Moray, William Abernethy, Alexander
Straiton of Lauriston, James Level, Alexander Stir-
ling, and above five hundred men-at-arms, including
the principal gentry of Buchan, shared their fate;-|-
whilst Mar himself, and a small number of the sur-
vivors, still continued the battle till nightfall. The
slaughter then ceased; and it was found in the morn-
ing that the island lord had retreated by Inverury and
the hill of Benochie, checked and broken certainly by
the desperate contest, but neither conquered nor very
effectually repulsed. Mar, on the contrary, although
he passed the night on the field, did so, not in the
* There is a tradition in the family of Irvine: of Drum, that the Laird of
Maclean was slain by Sir Alexander Irving. Genealogical Collections, MS.
Adv. Library, Jac. V. 4, 16". vol. i. p. 180. Irving was buried on the field,
■where in ancient times a cairn marked the place of his interment, which was
long known by the name of Drum's Cairn. Kennedy's Annals of Aberdeen,
vol. i. V. 51.
+ Fordun a Ilearne, pp. 1 1 75, 6. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotioe, MS.
fol. 257.
152 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1411.
trlmiij)hant assertion of victory, but from tlie efi'ects of
w(Minds and exlianstion: tlie best and bravest of his
friends were stretclied around him; and he found him-
self totally unable to pursue the retreat of the isles-
men. Amonii-si those of the higlilanders who fell were
the chiefs of jNIaclean and Macintosh, with upwards
of nine hundred men: a small loss compared with that
sustained by the lowlanders. The battle was foui^lit
on St Jamcs"'s Eve, the twenty-fourth of July; and
from the ferocity with which it was contested, and the
dismal spectacle of civil war and bloodshed exhibited to
the country, it appears to have made a deep impression
on the national mind. It fixed itself in the music and
the poetry of Scotland. A march, called the Battle
of Harlaw, continued to be a popular air down to the
time of Drummond of Hawthornden; and a spirited
ballad, on the same event, is still repeated in our own
aire, describinjx the meeting; of the armies, and the deaths
of the chiefs, in no ignoble strain.* Soon after the
battle, a council-ireneral was held by the i]:overnor, in
which a statute was passed, in favour of the heirs of
those who had died in defence of the country, exempt-
ing them from the feudal fines usually exacted before
they entered upon possession of their estates, and per-
mitting them, although minors, immediately to serve
lieirs to their lands. It will, perhaps, be recollected,
that Bruce, on the eve of the battle of Bannockburn,
encouraged his troops by a promise of the like nature.*f-
It was naturally suspected by Albany, that the chief
of the Isles, who was crippled rather than conquered,
* Battle of Harlaw. Laing's Early ^Metrical Tales, p. 22,0.
•)• History, supra, vol. i. p. 2b'8. Tlie fact mentioned in the text is proved
by a Ketour in the Cartulary of Aberdeen, fol. 121, in favour of Andrew de
Tulidef, whose father, AVilliam de Tulidef, was slain at Harlaw. It was
pointed out to me by my friend Mr Thomson, Deputy Clerk- Register, to
whom this volume is under repeated obligations. See Illustrations, letter C.
1412. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 153
had only fallen back to refresh his men and procure re-
inforcements from Ross-shire and the Hebrides; and
as the result of the battle had shown that, however in-
ferior in arms or in discipline, the highlanders could
make up for these disadvantages in numbers and ferocity,
a renewal of the invasion was anticipated with alarm ;
and Albany determined to prevent it by an unwonted
display of military spirit and activity. He collected
an army in the autumn; marched in person to Ding-
wall, one of the principal castles of the ancient Earls
of Ross, situated at the west end of the Cromarty Firth ;
and, having made himself master of it, appointed a go-
vernor, and proceeded to repossess himself of the whole
county of Ross. Donald, however, fell back upon his
island strengths, and durins; the winter defied his ene-
mies ; but as soon as the summer permitted the resump-
tion of hostilities, Albany again attacked him; and,
after a war conducted with various success, the island
king was compelled to lay down his assumed indepen-
dence, and give up all claim to the earldom of Ross ;
to consent to become a vassal of the Scottish crown;
and to deliver hostaoes for his future 2:ood behaviour.
The treaty was concluded at Polgilbe or Polgillip, now
Loch Gilp, an arm of the sea running into the district
of Knapdale in Argyle.* This successful termination
of a rebellion, which appeared so formidable in its com-
mencement, was followed by a truce with England, in
which it was declared, that from the river vSpey in Scot-
land to the mount of St Michael in Cornwall, all hos-
tilities between the two countries should cease after the
17th of May, 1412, for the period of six years.-f-
* Fordun a Ilearne, p. 1177. Macplierson's Geographical Illustrations,
voce PoJgylbe.
f Rymer, Foedera, aoI. viii. p. 737.
154 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1413.
Albany now became impatient for the return of his
oklest son, who had remained a captive in England since
the battle of Homildon. As he felt the approach of age,
he was desirous of making a quiet transfer of his power
in the government into the hands of his own family;
and various neo-otiations re^^ardins: the hostasres to be
delivered for Murdoch, and the ransom which was claim-
ed, had already taken place, but without success ; whilst
the total indifference evinced by the governor to tlie
prolonged captivity of the sovereign, clearly showed,
that if age had impaired his strength, it had in no de-
gree awakened his remorse, or stilled his ambition. It
was evident that he intended his son to succeed him in
the high authority which he had so long usurped; and
Sir Walter Stewart of Ralston, and John de Leith,
were en2:a2:ed in a final treatv for the return of the fu-
ture governor, when their proceedings were suddenly
interrupted by the death of Henry the Fourth, and the
accession of a new sovereifrn to the Enirlish throne.*
The uncertain tenure by which the crown had been
held by Henry the Fourth, and his consequent anxiety
to ward off all foreign attack when his attention was
required in suppressing conspiracy at home, had contri-
buted greatly to preserve the peace with Scotland; and
under liis successor, Henry the Fifth, the great designs
of this youthful conqueror against France, and his sub-
sequent invasion of that kingdom, rendered it as ma-
terially his interest, as it had been that of his prede-
cessor, to maintain pacific relations with that country.
In this view, the possession of the King of Scotland,
and the eldest son of the Regent, gave him a hold over
the politics of the country, which he employed with
great skill and eftect in weakening the enmity and neu-
* Rymer, Fcedera, vol. vili. pp. 708, 7^5, 775.
1413. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 155
tralisiiig the hostile schemes of those parties which were
opposed to his wishes, and inclined to renew the war.
But it is necessary here, for a moment, to interrupt
the narrative, in order to fix our attention upon a spec-
tacle, which, amid the gloomy pictures of foreign or
domestic war, offers a refreshing and pleasing resting
place to the mind. This was the establishment of the
University of St Andrews, by Henry Wardlaw, the
bishop of that see, to whom belongs the unfading ho-
nour of beins: the founder of the first university in Scot-
land, the father of the infant literature of his country.
Before this time, the generosity of the Lady Devor-
guilla, the wife of John Baliol, had established Baliol
College in Oxford, in the end of the thirteenth century ;
and we have seen the munificence of a Scottish prelate,
the Bishop of Moray, distinguishing itself by the in-
stitution of the Scottish College of Paris in 1826; but
it was reserved for the enlightened spirit of Wardlaw
to render unnecessary the emigration of our Scottish
youth to these and other foreign seminaries, by opening
the wells of learning at home ; and, in addition to the
various schools which were connected with the monas-
teries, by conferring upon his country the distinction
of a university, protected by papal sanction, and de-
voted to the cultivation of what were then esteemed
the higher branches of science and philosophy. The
names of the first professors in this early institution
have been preserved. The fourth book of the Sentences
of Peter Lombard was explained by Laurence of Lin-
dores : a venerable master in theology, whose zeal for the
purity of the Catholic faith had lately been displayed
in the condemnation of John Resby the Wickliffite at
Perth. The importance then attached to an education
in the canon law, was shown by its being taught and
156 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1413.
cxpoundedby four difterent masters, who conducted their
pupils from its simplest elements to its most profound
reasoninirs. These were Richard Cornel archdeacon of
Lothian, John Litstar canon of St Andrews, John
Shevez official of St Andrews, and AVilliam Stevens
afterwards bishop of Dumblane; whilst in philosophy
and logic the lectures were delivered by John Gill,
William Fowlis, and William Crosier. These learned
persons commenced their prelections in 1410, imme-
diately after the feast of Pentecost, and continued their
labours for two vears and a half. But althou2:li a com-
munieation with Rome had taken place, the establish-
ment was yet unsanctioned by that authority, without
which all such institutions were then considered im-
perfect.*
At length, on the Sd of February, 1413, Henry
Ogilvy, master of arts, made his entry into the city,
bearing the papal bulls, which endowed the infant
seminary with the high and important privileges of a
university; and his arrival was welcomed by the ring-
ing of bells from the steeples, and the tumultuous joy
of all classes of the inhabitants. On the following
day, being Sunday, a solemn convocation of the clergy
was held in the refectory; and the papal bulls having
been read in presence of the bishop, the chancellor of
the university, they proceeded in procession to the
high altar, where Te Deum was sung by the whole
assembly; the bishops, priors, and other dignitaries,
being arrayed in their richest canonicals, whilst four
hundred clerks, besides novices and lay-brothers, pros-
trated themselves before the altar, and an immense
multitude of spectators, bent their knees in gratitude
and adoration. High mass was then celebrated; and
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 445, 446.
1413. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 157
when the service was concluded, the remainder of the
day was devoted to mirth and festivity. In the even-
ing, bonfires in the streets, peals of bells, and musical
instruments, processions of the clergy, and joyful as-
semblies of the people, indulging in the song, the dance,
and the wine-cup, succeeded to the graver ceremonies
of the morning; and the event was welcomed by a
boisterous enthusiasm, more befittino- the brilliant
triumphs of war, than the quiet and noiseless conquests
of science and philosophy.
The first act of Henry the Fifth which affected Scot-
land, seemed to indicate an extremity of suspicion, or
a promptitude of hostility, which were equally alarm-
ing. His father died on the twentieth of March, and
on the succeeding day the king issued orders, that
James king of Scotland, and Murdoch earl of Fife,
should be committed to the Tower.* It would appear,
however, by the result, that this was more a measure
of customary precaution, enforced upon all prisoners
upon the death of the sovereign to whom their parole
had been given, than of any individual hostility. It
was believed that the prisoners might avail themselves
of a notion, that during the interval between the death
of one king and the accession of another, they were
not bound by their parole, but free to escape ; and this
idea is confirmed by the circumstance of their being-
liberated from the Tower within a short time after
their commitment.
Henry's great designs in France rendered it, as we
have already remarked, absolutely necessary for him
to preserve his pacific relations with Scotland; and,
under a wise and patriotic governor, the interval of
rest which his reign aff'orded to that country might
* Foedera, vol. ix. p. 2.
158 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1414-15.
Iiave been improved to the furtherance of its best inte-
rests. But Albany, had lie even been willing, did not
dare to employ in this manner the breathing time
allowed him. As a usurper of the supreme power, he
was conscious that he continued to hold it only by the
sufferance of the nobles ; and in return for their sup-
port, it became necessary for him to become blind to
their excesses, and to pass over their repeated delin-
quencies. Dilapidation of the lands and revenues of
the crown, invasions of the rights of private property,
frequent murders arising from the habit of becoming
the avengers of their own quarrel, and a reckless sacri-
fice of the persons and liberties of the lower classes in
the community, were crimes of perpetual recurrence,
wdiich not only escaped with impunity, but wdiose
authors were often the very dignitaries to whom the
prosecution and the punishment belonged; whilst the
conduct of the governor himself, in his unremitting
efforts for the aggrandizement of his own family, in-
creased the evil by the weight of his example; and the
pledge which it seemed to furnish that no change for
the better would be speedily attempted.
During the few remaining years of Albany''s admi-
nistration, two objects are seen to be constantly kept
in view: the restoration of his son, Murdoch Stewart,
and the retention of his sovereign, James the First, in
captivity; and in both, his intrigues were successful.
It was impossible for him, indeed, so effectually to
keep down the hereditary animosity between the two
nations, as to prevent it from breaking forth in Border
inroads and insulated acts of hostility; but a constant
succession of short truces, and a determination to dis-
courage every measure which might have the effect of
again plunging the country into war, succeeded in con-
1416. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 159
ciliatiiig the English king, and rendering liini willing
to aofree to tlie return of his son to Scotland. In con-
sequence of this an exchange was negotiated: youns:
Henry Percy, the son of the illustrious Hotspur, who,
since the rebellion and death of his grandfather the
Earl of Northumberland, had remained in Scotland,
returned to England, and was reinstated in his honours ;
whilst Murdoch Stew^art was finally liberated from his
captivity, and restored to the desires rather of his father
than of his country. It was soon, however, discovered
that his character was of that unambitious and feeble
kind, which unfitted him for the purposes which had
made his return so anxiously expected by the governor.
In his attempts to accomplish his second object,
that of detaining his sovereign a prisoner in England,
Albany experienced more serious difiiculties. Jameses
character had now begun to develop those great qua-
lities, which durinoj his future reio^n so hio-hlv distin-
guished him. The constant intercourse with the court
of Henry the Fourth, which was permitted to Scottish
subjects, had enabled many of his nobility to become
acquainted with their youthful sovereign ; these per-
sons he found means to attach to his interest ; and,
upon their return, they employed their utmost efforts
to traverse the desims of Albanv. Owinof to their
influence, a negotiation for his return to his dominions
took place in 1416, by the terms of which the royal
captive was to be permitted to remain for a certain
time in Scotland, upon his leaving in the hands of the
English king a sufiicient number of hostages to secure
the payment of a hundred thousand marks, in the
event of his not delivering himself within the stipu-
lated period.* To the Bishop of Durham, and the
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. ix. pp. 341, 417.
I GO HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 141 G.
Ivirls of Nortliuniberlaiul and Westmoreland, was in-
trusted the task of receiving the oaths of the Scottish
king and his hostages; whilst the treaty had been so
far successful, that letters of safe conduct w^re granted
to the Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, the Earls
of Crawford, Douglas, and Mar, Murdoch Stewart,
Albany's eldest son, and John his brother. Earl of
Buchan, to wdiom the final adjustment was to be com-
mitted. J5ut from what cause cannot now be dis-
covered, the treaty, when on the eve of being concluded,
mysteriously broke off. Whether it was owing to the
intrigues of the governor, or the jealousy of Scottish
influence in the aflairs of France, Henry became sud-
denly cool, and interrupted the negotiation, so that
the unfortunate prince saw himself at one moment on
the eve of regaining his liberty, and being restored to
the kina'dom which was his riirhtful inheritance, and
the next remanded back to his captivity, and con-
demned to the misery of that protracted hope which
sickens the heart. Are w^e to wonder that his resent-
ment against the man whose base and selfish intrigues
he well knew to be the cause of the failure of the nego-
tiation, should have assumed a strength and a violence
which, at a future period, involved not only himself
but his whole race in utter ruin?
In the meantime, however, the power of the state
was fixed too firmly in the hands of Albany for the
friends of the vounc: kin;:: to defeat his schemes; and
as the governor began to suspect that a continuance of
peace encouraged intrigues for the restoration of James
and his own deposition, he determined, as soon as the
last short truce had expired, not only to invade Eng-
land, but to send over an auxiliary force to the assis-
tance of France. The object of all this was apparent:
1416. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 161
a war gave immediate employment to the restless spi-
rits of the nobility; it at once interrupted their inter-
course with their captive sovereign ; it necessarily
incensed the English monarch ; put an end to that
kind and conciliatory spirit with which he had con-
ducted his correspondence with that country; and ren-
dered it almost certain that he would retain the royal
captive in his hands.
The baseness of Albany in pursuing this line of
policy cannot be too severely condemned. If ever
there was a period in which Scotland could have en-
joyed peace with security and with advantage, it was
the present. The principles upon which Henry the
Fifth acted with regard to that country were those of
perfect honour and good faith. All those ideas of
conquest, so long and so fondly cherished by the Eng-
lish kings since the days of Edward the First, had
been renounced, and the integrity and independence of
the kingdom completely acknowledged. In this re-
spect, the reigns of Edvrard the Third and Henry the
Fifth offer as striking a contrast in the conduct pur-
sued by these two monarchs towards Scotland, as they
present a brilliant parallel in their ambitious attacks
upon France. The grasping and gigantic ambition of
Edward the Third was determined to achieve the con-
quest of both countries, and it must be allowed that
he pursued his object with great political ability ; but
his failure in this scheme, and the unsuccessful result
of the last invasion by Henry the Fourth, appear to
have convinced his warlike son that two such miahtv
designs were incompatible, and that one of the first
steps towards ultimate success in his French war must
be the complete restoration of amity with Scotland.
It was now, therefore, in the power of that country
VOL. III. li
162 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1416.
to enjoy ta permanent peace, established on the basis
of independence. Tlie King of England was ready to
deliver to her a youthful sovereign of great talents and
energy, who, although a captive, had been educated at
his father''s court with a liberality which had opened
to Iiim every avenue to knowledge; and under such a
reign, what might not have been anticipated, in the
revival of good order, the due execution of the laws,
the progress of commerce and manufactures, the
softening the harshness and tyranny of the feudal
aristocracy, and the 2:radual amelioration of the middle
and lower classes of the community ? Yet Albany
hesitated not to sacrifice all this fair prospect of
national felicity to his individual ambition ; and once
more plunged the country into war, for the single
purpose of detaining his sovereign in captivity, and
transferring the power which he had so long usurped
into the hands of his son. For awhile he succeeded;
but he little anticipated the dreadful reckoning to which
those w^ho now shared his guilt and his triumph were
so soon to be called.
His talents for war, however, were of a very inferior
description. An expedition which he had meditated
against England in a former year, in which it was
commonly reported that he was to besiege Berwick at
the head of an army of sixty thousand men, and that
the cannon and warlike machines to be employed
in the enterprise had already been shipped on board
the fleet, concluded in nothing, for neither army nor
artillery ever appeared before Berwick.* Nor was
his second invasion much more successful. He laid
sieiie indeed to Roxburirh, and the miners had com-
menced their operations, when news was brought to
* Walsingham, p. 399. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 449.
1419. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 163
his camp, that the Duke of Bedford, to whom Henry,
during his absence in France, had intrusted the pro-
tection of the Borders, was advancing, b j rapid marches,
at the head of an army of forty thousand men. Albany
had fooHshly imaoined that the whole disposable force
of England was then in France with the king ; but,
on discovering his mistake, he precipitately abandoned
the siege ; and, without having achieved anything in
the least degree correspondent to his great preparations,
retreated into Scotland. The invasion, from its in-
glorious progress and termination, was long remem-
bered in the country by the contemptuous appellation
of " The Foul Raid."*
But if the war was carried on in this feeble manner
by Albany, the English cannot be accused of any such
inglorious inactivity. On the contrary, Henry had left
behind him as guardians of the marches, some of his
bravest and most experienced leaders ; and amongst
these. Sir Robert Umfraville governor of Berwick,
eager to emulate the exploits of his countrymen in
France, invaded Scotland by the east marches, and
committed dreadful havoc and devastation. The whole
country was reduced into one wide field of desolation,
and the rich Border towns of Hawick, Selkirk, Jed-
burgh, Lauder, Dunbar, with the numerous villages,
hamlets, and granges of Teviotdale and Liddesdale,
were burnt to the ground ; whilst the solitary success
upon the part of Scotland seems to have been the
storming of Wark castle by William Haliburton,
which, however, was soon afterwards retaken by Sir
Robert Ogle, and the whole of the Scottish garrison
put to the sword.-f-
* Rjmer, Foedera, vol. ix. p. 307. A. D. 1415.
t Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 458. Hardyng's Chronicle, p. 382.
16-i HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1419.
It was not long after this that the Dauphin de-
spatched the Duke of Vendome on an embassy to the
Scottish court. Its object was to request assistance
against the English; and a parliament having been
immediately assembled, it was determined by the
srovernor to send into France a lar<Te auxiliary force,
under the conduct of his second son, Sir John Stewart
earl of Buchan, and the Earl of Wigtown. The vessels
for the transport of these troops were to be furnished
by France; and the King of Castile, with the Infanta
of Arragon, who were in alliance with the Scots, had
promised to fit out forty ships for the emergency.
Alarmed at a resolution which might produce so seri-
ous a diversion in favour of his enemies, Henry in-
stantly despatched his letters to his brother the Duke
of Bedford, on whom, during his absence in France, he
had devolved the p-overnment, directina; him to seize
and press into his service, in the various seaports
where they could be found, a sufficient number of
ships and galleons, to be armed and victualled with all
possible despatch, for the purpose of intercepting
the Scottish auxiliaries ; but the command was either
disregarded, or came too late; for an army of seven
thousand troops, amongst whom were the flower of
the Scottish nobles, were safely landed in France, and
were destined to distin2:uish themselves in a sio^nal
manner in their operations against the English.*
For a year, however, they lay inactive, and during
this period important changes took place in Scotland.
Albany the governor, at the advanced age of eighty,
died at the palace of Stirling, on the 3d of September,
1419. If we include the period of his management of
the state under his father and brother, he may be said
* Extracta ex Chronicis Scotise, MS. p. 2G2. See Illustrations, D.
141.9. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 165
to have governed Scotland for thirty-four years ; but
his actual regency, from the death of Robert the Third
to his own decease, did not exceed fourteen years.'*
So effectually had he secured the interest of the nobi-
lity, that his son succeeded, without opposition, to the
power which his father had so ably and artfully con-
solidated. No meeting of the parliament, or of any
council of the nobility, appears to have taken place;
and the silent assumption of the authority and name
of governor by Duke Murdoch, during the continued
captivity of the king, was nothing else than a bold act
of treason.-)- It was soon apparent, however, that the
dangerous elevation was rather thrust upon him by his
party than chosen by himself; and that he possessed
neither the talents nor the inclination to carry on that
system of usurpation, of which his father had raised
the superstructure, and no doubt flattered himself that
he had secured the foundations. Within four years,
under the weak, gentle, and vacillating administration
of Murdoch, it crumbled aw^ay, and gave place to a
state of rude and unlicensed anarchy. The nobility,
although caressed and flattered by Albany, who, in
his desire to attain popularity, had divided amongst
them the spoils of the crown lands, and permitted an
unsafe increase of individual power, had yet been par-
tially kept within the limits of authority; and if the
laws were not conscientiously administered, they were
not openly outraged. But under the son all became,
within a short time, one scene of rude unlicensed
anarchy ; and it was evident that, to save the country
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 466. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiae, p.
263, MS.
t In Macfarlane's Genealogical Collections, MS. vol. i. p. 3, is a precept
of sasine by Duke [Murdoch to the Laird of Balfour, in which he styles him-
self "Regni Scotise Gubernator."
166 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1419.
from ruin, some change must speedily take place. In
tlie meantime, Henry the Fifth, alarmed at the success
of the strong auxiliary force which the Earls of Buchan
and Wigtown had conducted to France, insisted upon
his royal captive James the First accompanying him
in his expedition to renew the war in that country,
havinir first entered into an en2:ai2:ement with that
prince, by which he promised to permit him to revisit
his dominions for a stipulated period, and under the
condition of his delivering into the hands of England a
sufficient number of hostages for his return.*
Archibald earl of Douglas, the most powerful noble
in Scotland, appears at this time to have deeply inter-
ested himself in the return of James to his dominions.
He engaged to assist Henry in his French war with a
body of two hundred knights and squires, and two
hundred mounted archers ; and that prince probably
expected that the Scottish auxiliaries would be induced
to detach themselves from the service of the Dauphin,
rather than enfja2:e in hostilities with their rightful
soverei2:n. Accordins: to the Enolish historians, the
Scottish king, when requested by Henry to command
his subjects on their allegiance to leave the service of
France, replied, that as long as he remained a prisoner
it neither became him to issue, nor them to obey such
an order. But he added, that to win renown as a pri-
vate knij^ht, and to be instructed in the art of war
under so great a captain, was an opportunity he will-
ingly embraced. Of the particulars of his life at this
period, no account remains, but there is ample evidence
that he was in constant communication with Scotland.
His private chaplain William de Mirton, Alexander
de Seton lord of Gordon, William Fowlis secretary to
* Reiner, Foedera, vol. x. pp. 19, 125.
1420. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 167
the Earl of Douglas, and in all probability many others,
were eno-a^'ed in secret missions, which informed him of
the state of parties in his dominions, of the weak ad-
ministration of Murdoch, the unlicensed anarchy which
prevailed, and the earnest wishes of all good men for
the return of their sovereio-n.*
It was at this crisis, that Henry the Fifth closed
his heroic career, happier than Edward the Third in
his being spared the mortification of outliving those
brilliant conquests, which, in the progress of years
were destined to be as efi'ectually torn from the hand
of Eno'land. The Duke of Bedford, wdio succeeded to
the government of France, and the Duke of Gloucester,
who assumed the office of R,eo;ent in Enoiand, durinir
the minority of Henry the Sixth, appear to have been
animated with favourable dispositions towards the
Scottish king; and within a few months after the ac-
cession of the infant sovereign, a negotiation took place,
in which Alexander Seton lord of Gordon, Thomas de
Mirton, the chaplain of the Scottish monarch. Sir
John Forester, Sir Walter Ogilvy, John de Leith,
and William Fowlis, had a meeting wdth the privy
council of England upon the subject of the king's
return to his dominions. "[* It was determined, that on
the twelfth of May, 1423, James should be permitted
to meet at Pontefract with the Scottish ambassadors,
who should be empowered to enter into a negotiation
upon this subject wdth the ambassadors of the King of
England; and such a conference having accordingly
taken place, the final treaty was concluded at London
between the Bishop of Glasgow chancellor of Scotland,
the Abbot of Balmerinoch, George Borthwdck arch-
* Rymer, Fcedera, vol. x. pp. 166, 227. Ibid. pp. 174, 296.
+ Ibid. vol. X. p. 266.
168 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1423.
deacon of Glasi;ow, and Patrick Howston licentiate in
the laws, ambassadors appointed by the Scottish f^o-
vernor;* and the Bishop of Worcester and Stafford
the treasurer of Eni;land, W^illiam Alnwick keeper of
the privy seal, the Lord Cromwell, Sir John Pelham,
Robert Waterton, Esq., and John Stokes doctor of
laws, commissaries appointed by the English regency.
It will be recollected that James had been seized by
the English durina: the time of truce, and to have
CO '
insisted on a ransom for a prince, who by the law of
nations was not properly a captive, would have been
gross injustice. The English commissioners accord-
ingly declared that they should only demand the
payment of the expenses of the King of Scotland
which had been incurred during the long period of his
residence in England ; and these they fixed at the sum
of forty thousand pounds of good and lawful money of
England, to be paid in yearly sums of ten thousand
marks, till the whole was discharged." It was deter-
mined that the king should not only promise, upon his
royal word and oath, to defray this sum, but that cer-
tain hostages from the noblest families in the country
should be delivered into the hands of the En2:lish kins:,
to remain in England at their ow^n expense till the
whole sum was paid; and that, for further security, a
separate obligation should be given by the four principal
towns of Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Abcrdeen,"|-
by which they promised to defray the sum to the
English treasury, in the event of its not being paid by
their own sovereign.
In addition to this, the ambassadors of both coun-
tries were empowered to treat of a marriage between
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. x. p. 208. The commission by the governor is
dated Inverkeithing, August 19, 1423.
t Ibid. vol. X. p. 303.
1423. REGENCY OF ALBANY. 169
the Scottish king and some English lady ot noble
birth; and as James, during his captivity, had fallen
in love with the daughter of the Earl of Somerset, a
lady of royal descent by both parents, and of great
beauty and accomplishments, this part of their nego-
tiation was without difficulty concluded. Johanna
Beaufort had already given her heart to the royal
captive; and the marriage w^as concluded with the cus-
tomary feudal pomp in the church of St Mary Overy,
in Southw^ark,* after which the feast was held in the
palace of her uncle, the famous Cardinal Beaufort, a
man of vast wealth and equal ambition.-|- Next day,
James received as the dower of his w4fe, a relaxation
from the payment of ten thousand marks of the original
sum which had been agreed on. J A truce of seven
years was concluded; and, accompanied by his queen
and a brilliant cortege of the English nobility, to whom
he had endeared himself by his graceful manners and
deportment, he set out for his own dominions. At
Durham, he was met by the Earls of Lennox, Wig-
town, Moray, Crawford, March, Orkney, Angus, and
Strathern, with the Constable and Marshal of Scot-
land, and a train of the highest barons and gentry of
his dominions, amounting altogether to about three
hundred persons; from whom a band of twenty-eight
hostages were selected, comprehending some of the
most noble and opulent persons in the country. In
the schedule containing their names, the annual rent of
their estates is also set down, which renders it a docu-
ment of much Interest, as illustrating the wealth and
comparative influence of the Scottish aristocracy. §
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. x, pp. 321, 323.
+ Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. ii. p. 127, plate 41, p. 148. Dug-
dale's Barona^re, vol. ii. p. 122,
Z Rymer, Fifidera, vol. x. p. 323, dated 12th Feb. 1424.
§ Ibid. vol. X. pp. 307, 309. See Illustrations, E.
170 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
From Durham, James, still surrounded by his
nobles, and attended by the Earl of Northumberland,
the sheriflf of that county, and an escort under Sir
Robert Umfraville, Sir William Heron, and Sir Robert
Ogle, proceeded in his joyful progress, and halted, on
reaching the Abbey of ^lelrose, for the purpose of ful-
fillins: the obli<ration which bound him to confirm the
treaty by his royal oath, upon the Holy Gospels, within
four days after his entry into his own dominions.*
He was received by all classes of his subjects with
expressions of tumultuous joy and undissembled afi'ec-
tion; and the regent hastened to resign the govern-
ment into the hands of a prince who was in every way
worthy of the crown.
* Rymer, Foedera, vol. x. pp. 333, 343. Dated April 5, 1425.
1424. JAMRS I. J 71
CHAP. III.
JAMES THE FIRST
1424—1437.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Kinfj of England.
Ilenry VI.
King of France.
Charles VII.
Popes.
Martin V.
Eugene IV.
In James the First, Scotland was at length destined
to receive a sovereign of no common character and
endowments. We have seen, that when a boy of
fourteen, he was seized by the English, and from that
time till his return in 1424, twenty years of his life
embracing the period of all others the most important
and decisive in the formation of future character, had
been passed in captivity. If unjust in his detention,
Henry the Fourth appears to have been anxious to
compensate for his infringement of the law of nations
by the care which he bestowed upon the education of
the youthful monarch. He was instructed in all the
w^arlike exercises, and in the high-bred observances
and polished manners of the school of chivalry; he was
generously provided with masters in the various arts
and sciences; and as it was the era of the revival of
learning in England, the age especially of the rise of
poetic literature in Chaucer and Gower, his mind and
imagination became deeply infected with a passion for
172 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 1424
those elegant pursuits. But James, during his long
captivity, enjoyed far higher advantages. He was able
to study the arts of government, to make his observa-
tions on the mode of administering justice in England,
and to extract wisdom and experience from a personal
acquaintance with the disputes between the sovereign
and his nobility; whilst in the friendship and confi-
dence with which he appears to have been uniformly
treated by Henry the Fifth, who made him the partner
of his campaigns in France, he became acquainted with
the politics of both countries, received his education in
the art of war from one of the greatest captains whom
it has produced; and, from his not being personally en-
gaged, had leisure to avail himself to the utmost of the
opportunities which his peculiar situation presented.
There were other changes also, which were then gra-
dually beginning to manifest themselves in the political
condition of the two countries, which, to his acute and
discerning mind, must necessarily have presented a
subject of thought and speculation — I mean the re-
peated risings of the commons against the intolerable
tyranny of the feudal nobility, and the increased wealth
and consequence of the middle classes of the state;
events which, in the moral history of those times, are
of deep interest and importance, and of which the
future monarch of Scotland was a personal observer.
The school, therefore, in which James was educated
seems to have been eminently qualified to produce a
w^ise and excellent king; and the history of his reign
corroborates this observation.
On entering his kingdom, James proceeded to
Edinburgh, where he held the festival of Easter; and
on the twenty-first of IMay he and his queen were
solemnly crowned in the Abbey church of Scone.
1424. JAMES I. 17.3
According to an ancient hereditary right, the kino-
was placed in the royal seat by the late governor,
Murdoch duke of Albany and earl of Fife, whilst
Henry Wardlaw bishop of St Andrews, the same
faithful prelate to whom the charge of his early edu-
cation had been committed, anointed his royal master,
and placed the crown upon his head, amid a crowded
assembly of the nobility and clergy, and the shouts
and rejoicings of the people. The king then proceeded
to bestow the honour of knighthood upon Alexander
Stewart, the younger son of the Duke of Albany ; upon
the Earls of March, Angus, and Crawford; William
Hay of Errol constable of Scotland, John Scrymgeour
constable of Dundee, Alexander Seton of Gordon, and
eighteen others of the principal nobility and barons;*
after which he convoked his parliament on the twenty-
sixth of May, and proceeded to the arduous task of
inquiring into the abuses of the government, and
adopting measures for their reformation.
Hitherto James had been but imperfectly informed
regarding the extent to which the government of
Albany and his feeble successor had promoted, or
permitted, the grossest injustice and the most unli-
censed peculation. He had probably suspected that
the picture had been exaggerated ; and with that deli-
berate policy which constituted a striking part of his
character, he resolved to conduct his investio-ations in
person, before he gave the slightest hint of his ultimate
intentions. It is said, indeed, that when he first
entered the kingdom, the dreadful description given
by one of his nobles of the unbridled licentiousness
and contempt of the laws which everywhere prevailed,
* Extracta ex Chronicis Scotix, MS. fol. 2c9, 270. Fordun a Goodal,
vol. ii. p. 474.
174 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
threw him for a moment off his guard. "Let God but
grant me life," cried he, with a loud voice, " and there
shall not be a spot in my dominions where the key
shall not keep the castle, and the furze-bush the cow,
thoucfh I myself should lead the life of a dosr to ac-
complish it!"* This, however, was probably spoken
in confidence, for the object of the king was to inform
himself of the exact condition of his dominions without
exciting alarm, or raising a suspicion which might
foster opposition and induce concealment. The very
persons who sat in this parliament, and through whose
assistance the investiaation must be conducted, were
themselves the worst defaulters; an imprudent word
escaping him, and much more a sudden imprisonment
or a hasty, perhaps an unsuccessful, attempt at im-
peachment, would have been the signal for the nobles
to fly to their estates and shut themselves up in their
feudal castles, where they could have defied every effort
of the king to apprehend them; and in this way all his
plans might have been defeated or indefinitely pro-
tracted, and the country plunged into something
approaching to a civil war.
The three Estates of the realm having been assem-
bled, certain persons were elected for the determination
of the " Articles" to be proposed to them by the king,
leave of returning home being given to the other
members of the parliament. Committees of parliament
had already been introduced by David the Second, on
the cfround of aeneral convenience, and the anxietv of
the barons and landholders to be present on their
estates during the time of harvest. -f* From this period
to the present time, embracing an interval of more
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 511.
+ Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, sub anno 1424, History, supra, vol.
li. p. 234.
1424. JAMES I. 175
than half a century, the destruction of the records of
the parUaments of Robert the Second and Third, and
of the government of Albany and his son, renders it
impossible to trace the progress of this important
change, by which we now find the Lords of the Articles
'•'• certe persone ad articulos^'''' an acknowledged institu-
tion, in the room of the parliamentary committees of
David the Second; but it is probable that the king
availed himself of this privilege to form a small body
of the nobilit}^, clergy, and burgesses, of whose fidelity
he was secure, and who lent him their assistance in
the difficult task upon which he now engaged.
The parliament opened with an enactment, com-
manding all men to honour the Church, declaring that
its ministers should enjoy, in all things, their ancient
freedom and established privileges, and that no person
should dare to hinder the clergy from granting leases
of their lands or tithes, under the spiritual censures
commonly incurred by such prevention. A proclama-
tion followed, directed against the prevalence of private
war and feuds amongst the nobility, enjoining the
king''s subjects to maintain thenceforward a firm peace
throughout the realm, and discharging all barons,
under the highest pains of the law, from " moving or
making war against each other ; from riding through
the country with a more numerous following of horse
than properly belonged to their estate, or for which,
in their progress, due payment was not made to the
king's lieges and hostellars. All such riders or gang-
ars,"" upon complaint being made, were to be apprehen-
ded by the officers of the lands where the trespass had
been committed, and kept in sure custody till the king
declared his pleasure regarding them ; and in order to
the due execution of this and other enactments, it
176 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
was ordained that officers and ministers of the laws
should be appointed generally throughout the realm,
whose personal estate must be of wealth and sufficiency
uuough to be proceeded against, in the event of malversa-
tion, and from whose vigour and ability the "commons
of the land" should be certain of receiving justice.*
The penaltv of rebellion or treason airainst the kinf!i:''s
person was declared to be the forfeiture of life, lands,
and goods, whilst all friends or supporters of rebels
were to be punished according to the pleasure of the
sovereign. The enactments which followed regarding
those troops of sturdy mendicants, who traversed the
country, extorting charity where it was not speedily
bestowed, present us with some curious illustrations
of the manners of the times. The king commanded
that no companies of such loose and unlicensed persons
should be permitted to beg or insist on quarters from
any husbandman or churchman, sojourning in the
abbeys or on the farm granges, and devouring the
wealth of the country. An exception was made in
favour of " royal beggars,"" with regard to whom it is
declared, that the king had agreed, by advice of his
parliament, that no beggars or " thiggars'"* be permitted
to beir, either in the bur^h or throuohout the countrv,
between the a^es of fourteen and threescore and ten
years, unless it be first ascertained by the council of
the burgh that they are incapacitated from supporting
themselves in any other way. It was directed that
they who were thus permitted to support themselves
should wear a certain token, to be furnished them by
the sheriff, or the alderman and bailies ; and that
proclamation be made, that all beggars having no such
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotlarid, vol. ii. p. 2. Statute? of the Realm.
Rich, il., vol. ii. pp. i), 10. Statutes against Bonds or Confederacies.
1424. JAMES 1. 177
tokens, do immediately betake themselves to such
trades as may enable them to win their own living,
under the penalty of burning on the cheek and banish-
ment from the country.* It is curious to discern, in
this primitive legislative enactment, the first institution
of the kino^'s blue coats or bedesmen, a venerable order
of privileged mendicants, whose existence has only
expired within these few years.
During the weak administration of Robert the
Second and Third, and still more under the unprin-
cipled government of Albany, the "great customs,""
or the duties levied throughout the realm upon the
exportation or importation of merchandise, had been
diminished by various grants to private persons ; and,
in addition to this, the crown lands had been shame-
lessly alienated and dilapidated. It was declared
by the parliament, that in all time coming the great
customs should remain in the hands of the king for
the support of his royal estate, and that all persons who
made any claim upon such customs, should produce
to the sovereign the deed or grant upon which such a
demand was maintained.*!- With regard to the lands
and rents which were formerly in possession of the
ancestors of the king, it was provided, that special
directions should be given to the diiFerent sheriffs
throughout the realm, to make inquiries of the oldest
and worthiest officers within their sheriffdom, as to
the particular lands or annual rents wdiich belonged
to the king, or in former times were in the hands of
his royal predecessors, David the Second, Robert the
Second, and Robert the Third. In these returns by
the sheriffs, the names of the present possessors of
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 2, 8.
*t* See a statute of Richard the Second on the same subject, pp. 41, 42, vol.
ii. Statutes of the Realm.
VOL, III. M
178 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
these lands were directed to be included, and an inquest
Avas then to be summoned, who, after having examined
the proper evidence, were enjoined to return a verdict
under their seals, adjudging the property to belong to
the crown. To facilitate such measures, it w'as declared
that the king may summon, according to his free will
and pleasure, his various tenants and vassals to exhibit
their charters and holdings, in order to discover the
exact extent of their property.*
The next enactment related to a very important sub-
ject, the payment of the fifty thousand marks which
were due to England, and the deliverance of the host-
ages who WTre detained in security. Upon this sub-
ject it was ordained, that a specific sum should be raised
upon the whole lands of the kingdom, including regality
lands as well as others, as it would be grievous and
heavy upon the commons to raise the whole '''■finance'''
at once. For this purpose, an aid or donative, ex-
pressed in the statute by the old Saxon word a zelde^
and amounting to the sum of twelve pennies in every
pound, was directed to be raised upon all rents, lands,
and goods, belonging to lords and barons within their
domains, including both corn and cattle. From this
valuation, however, all riding horses, draught oxen, and
household utensils, were excepted. The burgesses, in
like manner, were directed to contribute their share out
of their goods and rents. In addition to this donative,
the parliament determined that certain taxes should
also be raised upon the cattle and the corn, the parti-
culars of which were minutely detailed in the record.
As to the tax upon all grain which was then housed,
excepting the purveyance of the lords and barons for
their own consumption, it was ordained that the boll
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 4.
1424. JAMES I. 179
of wheat should pay two sliillings; the boll of rye, bear,
and pease, sixteen pence; and the boll of oats six pence.
With regard to the green corn, all the standing crops
were to remain untaxed until brought into the barn.
As to cattle, it was determined that a cow and her calf,
or quey of two years old, should pay six shillings and
eight pence ; a draught ox the same ; every wedder and
ewe, each at the rate of twelve pennies ; every goat,
gymmer, and dynmont, the same; each wild mare, with
her colt of three year old, ten shillings; and lastly,
every colt of three years and upwards, a mark.*
For the purpose of the just collection of this tax
throughout the country, it was directed that every
sheriff should within his own sheriffdom summon the
barons and freeholders of the king, and by their advice
select certain honest and discreet men, who should be
ready to abide upon all occasions the scrutiny of the
sovereia'n as to their faithful discharo'e of their office
in the taxation ; and to whom the task of making an
" Extent,'"* as it was technically called, or, in other
words, of drawing up an exact inventory of the pro-
perty of the country, should be committed. These
officers, or '-'• extentoiirs^'' are directed to be sworn as to
the faithful execution of their office, before the barons
of the sheriffdom ; they are commanded, in order to
insure a more complete investigation, to take with them
the parish priest, who is to be enjoined by his bishop
to inform them faithfully of all the goods in the parish ;
and having done so, they are then to mark down the
extent in a book furnished for the purpose, in which
the special names of every town in the kingdom, and
of ever}^ person dwelling therein, with the exact amount
of their property, was to be particularly enumerated;
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, p. 4.
180 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
all wliich books were to be delivered into the bands of
the kino's auditors at Perth, upon the twelfth day of
July next. It is deeply to be regretted, that none of
these records of the property of the kingdom have
reached our time.
It was further declared upon this important subject,
that all the lands of the kin2:dom should be taxed ac-
cording to their present value, and that the tax upon
all goods and gear should be paid in money of the like
value with the coin then current in the realm. It was
specially enjoined, that no one in the kingdom, whether
he be of the rank of clerk, baron, or burgess, should be
excepted from payment of this tax, and that all should
have the money ready to be delivered within fifteen
days after the taxation had been struck, the officers
employed in its collection being empowered, upon failure,
to take payment in kind, a cow being estimated at five
shillings ; a ewe or wedder, at twelve pence ; a goat,
gymmer, or dynmont, at eight pence ; a three-year old
colt at a mark ; a w^ild mare and her foal at ten shil-
lings; a boll of wheat at twelve pennies; of rye, bear,
and pease, at eight pence; and of oats, at three pence.*
If the lord of the land, where such payment in kind
had been taken, chose to advance the sum for his ten-
ants, the sheriffs were commanded to deliver the goods
to him; if not, they were to be sold at the next mar-
ket cross, or sent to the king.
It was next determined by the parliament, that the
prelates should tax their rents and kirks in the same
manner, and at the same rate, as the baron^s land;
every bishop in each deanery of his diocese being di-
rected to cause his official and dean to summon all his
tenants and freeholders before him, and to select tax-
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 4.
1424. JAMES 1. 181
gatherers, whose duty it was to " extend" the ecclesi-
astical lands in the same way as the rest of the pro-
perty of the country; it being provided, in ever}" in-
stance where a churchman paid the whole value of his
benefice, that the fruits of his kirk lands should next
year be free from all imposition or exaction. In the
taxation of the rents and goods of the burgesses, the
sheriif was directed to send a superintendant to see
that the tax-gatherers, who were chosen by the alder-
men and bailies, executed their duty faithfully and
truly ; and it was directed, that the salary and expenses
of the various collectors in baronies, burghs, or church
lands, should be respectively determined by the sheriff,
aldermen, and prelates, and deducted from the whole
amount of the tax, when it was given into the hands
of the "auditors"''' appointed by the king to receive the
gross sum, on the twelfth day of July at Perth. The
auditors appointed were the Bishops of Dunkeld and
Dunblane, the Abbots of Balmerinoch and St Colm's
Inch, Mr John Scheves, the Earl of Athole, Sir Pa-
trick Dunbar, William Borthwick, Patrick Ogilvy,
James Douglas of Balveny, and William Erskine of
Kinnoul. I have been anxious to give the entire de-
tails of this scheme of taxation, as it furnishes us with
many interesting facts illustrative of the state of pro-
perty in the country at this early period of its history,
and as it is not to be found in the ordinary edition of
the Statutes of James the First.
After some severe enactments against the slayers of
salmon within the forbidden time, which a posterior
statute informs us was in the interval between the feast
of the Assumption of Our Lady and the feast of St
Andrew in the winter, it was declared, that all yairs
and C7'uves, (meaning certain mechanical contrivances
182 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
for the taking of fish by means of wattled traps placed
between two walls in the stream of the river,) which
have been built in fresh waters where the sea ebbs and
flows, should be put down for three years, on account
of tlie destruction of the spawn, or young fry, which
they necessarily occasion. This regulation was com-
mandcdtobe peremptorily enforced, even by those whose
charters included a ri^iht of "cruve fishinir," under the
penalty of a hundred shillings; and the ancient regu-
lation re2:ardin2: the removal of the cruve on Satur-
day night, known by the name of "Saturday's Slap,"
as well as the rules which determined the statutory
width of the '-''hecks,'''' or wattled interstices, were en-
joined to be strictly observed.* The extent to which
the fisheries had been carried in Scotland, and the
object which they formed even to the foreign fish-
curers, appeared in the statutory provisions regarding
the royal custom imposed upon all herring taken within
the realm, being one penny upon every thousand fresh
herring sold in the market. Upon every last of herring
which w' ere taken by Scottish fishermen and barrelled,
a duty of four shillings, and on every last taken by
strangers, a duty of six shillings was imposed; whilst,
from every thousand red herrings made within the
kingdom, a duty of four pennies w^as to be exacted.*!-
With regard to mines of gold or silver it was pro-
vided, that wherever such have been discovered within
the lands of any lord or baron, if it can be proved that
three half pennies of silver can be produced out of the
pound of lead, the mine should, according to the estab-
lished practice of other realms, belong to the king, a
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p, 5.
't' A last, according to Skene, contains twelve great barrels, or fourteen
imaller barrels, pp. 13'', 140.
1424. JAMES I. 183
species of property from wliicli there is no evidence that
any substantial wealth ever flowed into the royal ex-
chequer. It was enacted, that no gold or silver should
be permitted to be carried forth of the realm, except it
pay a duty of forty pence upon every pound exported ;
and in the event of any attempt to contravene this
provision, the defaulter was to forfeit the whole gold
or silver, and to pay a fine of forty-one pennies to the
king. It was moreover provided, that in every instance
wdiere merchant strangers have disposed of their goods
for money, they should either expend the same in the
purchase of Scottish merchandise, or in the payment
of their personal expenses, for proof of which, they must
brinir the evidence of the host of the inn where thev
made their abode; or, if they wished to carry it out of
the realm, they were to pay the duty upon exportation.*
It was determined, that the money in present circula-
tion throughout the realm, which had been greatly de-
preciated from the original standard, should be called
in, and a new coinage issued of like w^eight and fine-
ness with the money of England.
It haviuGT been found that a considerable trade had
been carried on in the sale and exportation of oxen,
sheep and horses, it was provided, in the same spirit of
unenlightened policy which distinguished the whole
body of the statutes relative to the commerce of the
country, that upon every pound of the price received
in such transactions, a duty of twelve pennies should
be levied by the king. Upon the same erroneous prin-
ciple, so soon as it was discovered that a considerable
trade was carried on in the exportation of the skins of
* In England, by a statute of Henry IV., merchant strangers -were per-
mitted to export one-half of the money received for their manufacrores.
Statutes of the Realm, vol. ii. p. 1::2.
184 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
harts and hinds, of martins, fumarts, rabbits, docs, roes,
otters, and foxes, it was provided, that a eheck should
be given to this flourishing branch of trade, by impos-
ing a certain tax or custom upon each of such commo-
dities, in the event of their being purchased for expor-
tation.* It appears that many abuses had crept into
the ecclesiastical state of the country by the frequent
purchase of pensions from the pope, against which prac-
tices a special statute was directed, declaring, that in
all time coming, no person should purchase any pension
payable out of any benefice, religious or secular, under
the penalty of forfeiting the same to the crown; and
that no clerk, without an express license from the king,
should either himself pass over the sea, or send procu-
I'ators for him upon any foreign errand.
A singular and primitive enactment followed regard-
ing rookeries; in which, after a preamble stating the
mischief to the corn which was occasioned by rooks
building in the trees of kirkyards and orchards, it was
provided, that the proprietors of such trees should, by
every method in their power, prevent the birds from
building; and, if this cannot be accomplished, that
they at least take special care that the young rooks, or
branchers, were not sufiered to take wing, under the
penalty, that all trees upon which the nests are found at
Beltane, and from which it can be established, by good
evidence, that the young birds have escaped, should
be forfeited to the crown, and forthwith cut down, un-
less redeemed by the proprietor. No man, under a
penalty of forty shillings, was to burn muirs from the
month of March till the corn be cut down; and if any
such defaulter was unable to raise the sum, he was com-
manded to be imprisoned for forty days.
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 6.
1424. JAMES I. 185
The great superiority of the English archers has
been frequently pointed out in the course of this his-
tory; and the importance of introducing a more frequent
practice of the long-bow appears to have impressed
itself deeply on the mind of the king, who had the best
opportunity, under Henry the Fifth, of witnessing its
destructive effects during his French campaigns. It
was accordingly provided, that all the male subjects
of the realm, after reaching the age of twelve years,
" busk them to be archers;'' that is, provide themselves
with the usual arms of an archer ; and that upon every
ten-pound land bow-marks be constructed, especially
in the vicinity of parish churches, where the people
may practice archery, and, at the least, shoot thrice
about, under the penalty of paying a wedder to the lord
of the land, in the event of neglecting the injunction.
To give further encouragement to archery, the pastime
of foot-ball, which appears to have been a favourite na-
tional game in Scotland, was forbidden, under a severe
penalty, in order that the common people might give
the whole of their leisure time to the acquisition of
a just eye and a steady hand, in the use of the long-
bow.*
S,*ch is an abstract of the statutory regulations of
the first parliament of James ; and it is evident that,
making allowance for the different circumstances in
which the two countries were situated, the most useful
provisions, as well as those which imply the deepest
ignorance of the true principles of commercial policy,
were borrowed from England. Those, for instance,
which imposed a penalty upon the exportation of sheep,
horses, and cattle; which implied so deep a jealousy of
the gold and silver being carried out of the realm. ; which
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6,
186 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424
forbade the riding armed, or \vith too formidable a band
of servants; which encouraired archery; which related
to mendicants and vagabonds; to the duties and quali-
fications of bailies and magistrates; which extended to
the privileges of the church, and forbade the interfer-
ence of the pope with the benefices of the realm, are,
w'ith a few chanjres, to be found amon^rst the statutes of
Kiehard the Second, and the fourth and fifth Henries;
and prove that the king, during his long detention in
England, had made himself intimately acquainted with
the legislative policy of that kingdom.
It admits of little doubt, that durins; the sittins: of
this parliament, James was secretly preparing for those
determined measures, by which, eight months after-
wards, he effectually crushed the family of Albany, and
compelled the fierce nobility, who had so long despised
all restraint, to respect the authority of the laws, and
tremble before the power of the crown. But in these
projects it was necessary to proceed with extreme cau-
tion; and the institution of the Lords of the Articles
seems to have furnished the kino; with an instrument
well suited for the purpose he had in view, which, with-
out creating alarm, enabled him gradually to mature
his plans, and conduct them to a successful issue. Who
were the persons selected for this committee it is, un-
fortunately, impossible to discover; but w^e may be cer-
tain that they enjoyed the confidence of the king, and
were prepared to support him to the utmost of their
power. With them, after the return of the rest of the
most powerful lords and barons to their estates, who,
from the warmth and cordiality with which they were
received, had little suspicion of the secret measures
meditated against them, James prepared and passed
into laws many statutes, which, from the proud spirit
l-i!>4. JAMES I. 187
of iiis nobles, he knew they would not hesitate to de-
spise and disobey, and thus furnish him with an oppor-
tunity to bring the offenders within the poAver of the
laws, which he had determined to enforce to the utmost
riofour aaainst them. Anion o-st the statutes which were
evidently designed to be the future means of coercino;
his nobility, those which regarded the resumption of the
lands of the crown, and the exhibition of the charters
by which their estates were held, may be at once re-
cognised; and to these may be added the enactments
aixainst the numerous assemblies of armed vassals with
which the feudal nobility of the time w^ere accustomed
to traverse the country, and bid defiance to the local
magistracy.
The loss of many original records, which might have
thrown some certain light upon this interesting portion
of our history, renders it impossible to trace the various
links in the projects of the king. Some prominent facts
alone remain ; yet from these it is not difficult to dis-
cover at least the outline of his proceedings.
He suffered eight months to expire before he con-
voked that celebrated parliament at Perth, at which he
had secretly resolved to exhibit his own strength, and
to inflict a signal vengeance upon the powerful family
of Albany. During this interval, he appears to have
gained to his party the whole influence of the clergy,
andtohave quietly consolidated his own power amongst
a portion of the barons. The Earl of Mar, and his son
Sir Thomas Stewart, William Lauder bishop of Glas-
gow and Chancellor, Sir Walter Ogilvy the Treasurer,
John Cameron provost of the Collegiate Church of Lin-
cluden and private secretary to the king. Sir John
Forester of Corstorphine chamberlain, Sir John Stewart
and Sir Robert Lauder of the Bass, Thomas Somerville
188 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
of Carnwath, and Alexander Levingston of Calendar,
members of the king's council, were, in all probability^
the only persons whom James admitted to his confi-
dence, and intrusted with the execution of his desiirns;*
whilst the utmost secrecy appears to have been observed
with regard to his ultimate purposes.
Meanwhile Duke Murdoch and his sons, with the
Earls of Douglas, March, and Angus, and the most
powerful of the nobility, had separated without any
suspicion of the blow which was meditated against them ;
and, once more settled on their own estates, and sur-
rounded bv their feudal retainers, soon foro"ot the sta-
tutes which had been so lately enacted ; and with that
spirit of fierce independence which had been nourished
under the government of Albany and his son, dreamt
little of producing their charters or giving up the crown
lands or rents which they had received, of abridging
their feudal state or dismissing their armed followers,
or, indeed, of yielding obedience to any part of the laws
which interfered with their individual importance and
authority. They considered the statutes in precisely
the same lioht in which there is reason to believe all
parliamentary enactments had been regarded in Scot-
land for a long period before this: as mandates to be
obeyed by the lower orders, under the strictest exac-
tions of penalty and forfeitures ; and to be attended to
by the great and the powerful, provided they suited
their own convenience, and did not offer any great vio-
lence to their feelings of pride or their possession of
power. The weak and feeble government of Robert
the Second and Third, with the indulgence to which
* See Hay's MS. Collection of Diplomata, vol. iii. p. 98, for a deed
dated 30th of December, 1424, which gives the members of the king's privy
couucil.
1-124<. JAMES I. 189
the aristocracy were accustomed under Albany, had
riveted this idea firmly in their minds ; and they acted
upon it without the suspicion, that a monarch might
one day be found not only with sagacity to procure the
enactment of laws which should level their indepen-
dence, but with a determination of character, and a
command of means, which should enable him to carry
these laws into execution.
On being summoned, therefore, by the king to attend a
parliament, to be held at Perth on the twelfth of March,
they obeyed without hesitation ; and as the first sub-
ject which appears to have been brought before the three
Estates w^as the dissemination of the heretical opinions
of the Lollards, which began to revive about this time
in the country, no alarm was excited, and the business
of the parliament proceeded as usual. It was deter-
mined that due inquiry should be made by the minis-
ters of the king, whether the statutes passed in his
former parliament had been obeyed ; and, in the event
of its being discovered that they had been disregarded,
orders were issued for the punishment of the offenders.
All leao;ues or confederacies amono;st the kino'"'s lieo-es
were strictly forbidden; all assistance afforded to rebels,
all false reports, or "leasing-makings," which tended to
create discord between the sovereign and his people,
were prohibited under the penalty of forfeiting life and
lands ; and in every instance where the property of the
church was found to have been illegally occupied, re-
storation was ordered to be made by due process of law.*
The parliament had now continued for eight days,
and as yet everything w^ent on without disturbance;
but on the ninth an extraordinary scene presented it-
self. Murdoch, the late governor, with Lord Alexander
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii, p. 7.
190 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
Stewart, his younger son, were suddenly arrested, and
immediately afterwards twenty-six of the principal
nobles and barons shared the same fate. Amongst these
were Archibald earl of Douglas, William Douglas earl
of Angus, George Dunbar earl of March, William Hay
of Errol constable of Scotland, Scr^nngeour constable
of Dundee, Alexander Lindesay, Adam Hepburn of
Hailes, Thomas Hay of Yester, Herbert Maxwell of
Caerlaverock, Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie, Alan
Otterburn secretary to the Duke of Albany, Sir John
Montgomery, Sir John Stewart of Dundonald, com-
monly called the lied Stewart, and thirteen others.
During the course of the same year, and a short time
previous to this energetic measure, the king had im-
prisoned Walter, the eldest son of Albany, along with
the Earl of Lennox and Sir Robert Graham : a man of
a fierce and vindictive disposition, w^ho from that mo-
ment vow^ed the most determined revenge, which he
lived to execute in the murder of his sovereis^n.* The
heir of Albany was shut up in the strong castle of the
Bass, belonirins: to Sir Robert Lauder, a firm friend of
the kinir : whilst Graham and Lennox were committed
to Dunbar; and the Duke of Albany himself confined
in the first instance in the castle of St Andrews, and
afterwards transferred to that of Caerlaverock. At the
same moment, the king took possession of the castles
of Falkland, and of the fortified palace of Doune, the
favourite residence of Albany. -|- Here he found Isa-
bella, the wdfe of Albany, a daughter of the Earl of
Lennox, whom he immediately committed to the castle
of Tantallon; and with a success and a rapidity which
can only be accounted for by the supposition cf the
* Fordun a Ileame, vol. iv. p. 12G.0,
f Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. sx. pji, 57, CO,
1424. JAMES I. J 91
utmost vigour in tlie execution of his plans, and a strong
military power to overawe all opposition, he possessed
himself of the strongest fortresses in the country; and,
after adjourning the parliament, to meet within the
space of two months at Stirling, upon the eighteenth of
May,* he proceeded to adopt measures for inflicting a
speedy and dreadful revenge upon the most powerful
of his opponents.
In the palace of Stirling, on the twenty-fourth of May,
a court was held with great pomp and solemnity for the
trial of Walter Stewart, the eldest son of the Duke of
Albany. The king, sitting on his throne, clothed with
the robes and insignia of majesty, with the sceptre in
his hand, and w^earing the royal crown, presided as
supreme judge of his people. The loss of all record of
this trial is deeply to be regretted, as it would have
thrown light upon an interesting, but obscure por-
tion of our history. We know only from an ancient
chronicle that the heir of Albany was tried for robbery,
" de rohoria?'' The jury was composed of twenty-one
of the principal nobles and barons ; and it is a remark-
able circumstance, that amonirst their names which have
been preserved, we find seven of the twenty-six barons
whom the king had seized and imprisoned two months
before at Perth, Avhen he arrested Albany and his sons.
Amongst these seven, were the three most powerful
lords in the body of the Scottish aristocracy — the Earls
of Douglas, March, and Angus ; the rest were Sir John
de Montgomery, Gilbert Hay of Errol the constable,
Sir Herbert Herries of Terregles, and Sir Robert Gun-
ingham of Kilmaurs.-J- Others who sat upon this jury
* Fordun a Heame, vol. iv. p. 1270.
+ Ibid. pp. r20'9, 1270, 12/1. See also Extracta ex Chronicis Scotioe,
MS. p. 272.
192 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
we know to have been the assured friends of the kins:,
and members of his privy counciL These were, Alex-
ander Stewart earl of Mar, Sir John Forester of Cor-
storphine. Sir Thomas Somerville of Carnwath, and Sir
Alexander Levingston of Callendar. It is probable
that the seven jurymen above mentioned were persons
attached to the party of Albany, and that the intention
of the king, in their imprisonment, was to compel them
to renounce all idea of supporting him, and to abandon
him to his fate. In this result, whatever were the
means adopted for its accomplishment, the king suc-
ceeded. The trial of Walter Stewart occupied a single
day. He was found guilty, and condemned to death.
His fate excited a deep feeling of sympathy and com-
passion in the breasts of the people; for the noble figure
and dis^nified manners of the eldest son of Albany were
peculiarly calculated to make him friends amongst the
lower classes of the community.
On the following day, Duke Murdoch himself, with
his second son Alexander, and his father-in-law the
Earl of Lennox were tried before the same jury. What
were the crimes alleged against the Earl of Lennox and
Alexander Stewart, it is now impossible to determine;
but it may be conjectured, on strong grounds, that the
usurpation of the government and the assumption of
supreme authority during the captivity of the king,
offences amounting- to hio-h treason, constituted the
principal charge against the late regent. His father
undoubtedly succeeded to the regency by the deter-
mination of the three Estates assembled in parliament;
but there is no evidence that any such decision was
passed which sanctioned the high station assumed by
the son; and if so, every act of his government was an
act of treason, upon which the jury could have no diffi-
1424. JAMES I 193
culty in pronouncing their verdict. Albany was accord-
ingly found guilty ; the same sentence was pronounced
upon his son, Alexander Stewart; the Earl of Lennox
was next condemned; and these three noble persons
were publicly executed on that fatal eminence, before
the castle of Stirling, known by the name of the Head-
ins: Hill. As the condemnation of Walter Stewart had
excited unwonted commiseration amongst the people,
the spectacle now afforded was calculated to raise that
feeling to a still higher pitch of distress and compassion.
Albany and his two sons were men of almost gigantic
stature,* and of so noble a presence, that it was im-
possible to look upon them without an involuntary
feeling of admiration ; whilst the venerable appearance
and white hairs of Lennox, who had reached his eisfhti-
eth year, inspired a sentiment of tenderness and pity,
which, even if they admitted the justice of the sentence,
was apt to raise in the bosom of the spectators a dis-
position to condemn the rapid and unrelenting severity
with which it was carried into execution. Even in their
days of pride and usurpation, the family of Albany had
been the favourites of the people. Its founder, the
regent, courted popularity; and although a usurper,
and stained with murders, seems in a great measure to
have gained his end. It is impossible indeed to recon-
cile the high eulogium of Bower and Winton-[* with
the dark actions of his life ; but it is evident, from the
tone of these historians, that the severity of James did
not carry along with it the feelings of the people. Yet,
* Albany and his sons vrere buried in the church of the Preaching Friars
at Stirling, on the south side of the high altar, " figuris et armis eorundem
depictis." — Extracta ex Chronicis Scotise, MS. p. 272. Fordun a Goodal,
vol. ii. p. 483. " Homines gigantese staturse."
f Fordun a Hearne, p. 1228. Winton, vol. ii. pp. 419, 420. See Illus-
trations, F.
VOL. III. N
194 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
looking at the state of things in Scotland, it is easy to
understand the object of the king. It was his inten-
tion to exhibit to a nation, long accustomed to regard
the laws with contempt and the royal authority as a
name of empty menace, a memorable example of stern
and inflexible justice, and to convince them that a great
change had already taken place in the executive part
of the government.
With this view another dreadful exhibition followed
the execution of the family of Albany. James Stew-
art, the youngest son of this unfortunate person, was
the only member of it who had avoided the arrest of
the king, and escaped to the Highlands. Driven to
despair, by the ruin which threatened his house, he
collected a band of armed freebooters, and, assisted
by Finlay bishop of Lismore, and Argyle his father's
chaplain, attacked the burgh of Dumbarton, with a fury
which nothing could resist. Tlie king's uncle. Sir John
of Dundonald, called the Red Stewart, was slain, the
town sacked and given to the flames, and thirty men
murdered, after which the son of Albany returned to
his fastnesses in the north. But so hot was the pur-
suit which w^as instituted by the royal vengeance, that
he, and the ecclesiastical bandit who accompanied him,
were dislodged from their retreats, and compelled to fly
to Ireland.* Five of his accomplices, however, were
seized, and their execution, which immediately suc-
ceeded that of Albany, was unpardonably cruel and
disgusting. They were torn to pieces by wild horses,
after which their warm and quivering limbs were sus-
pended upon gibbets : a terrible warning to the people
of the punishment which awaited those, who imagined
* Fordun a Ilearne, vol. iv. p. 1270.
1424. JAMES I. 195
that the fidelity which impelled them to execute the
commands of their feudal lord, was superior to the ties
which bound them to obey the laws of the country.
These executions were followed by the forfeiture to
the crown of the immense estates belonging to Albany
and to the Earl of Lennox ; a seasonable supply of
revenue, which, amid the general plunder to which the
royal lands had been exposed, was much wanted to sup-
port the dignity of the throne, and in the occupation
of a considerable portion of which, there is reason to
believe, the king only resumed w^hat had formerly
belonged to him. With regard to the conduct of the
Bishop of Lismore, James appears to have made com-
plaint to the pope, who directed a bull, addressed to
the Bishops of St Andrews and Dunblane, by wdiich
they were empowered to inquire into the treason of the
prelate, and other rebels against the king.*
The remaining barons, who had been imprisoned at
the time of Albany"'s arrest, appear to have been
restored to liberty immediately after his execution,
and the parliament proceeded to the enactment of
several statutes, which exhibit a singular combination
of wisdom and ignorance, some being as truly calculated
to promote, as others were fitted to retard, the im-
provement and prosperity of the country. It was
ordained, that every man, of such simple estate, as
made it reasonable that he should be a labourer or
husbandman, should either combine with his neighbour
to pay half the expense of an ox and a plough, or dig
every day a portion of land seven feet in length and
six feet in breadth. In every sheriflfdom within the
realm, " weaponschawmgs," or an armed muster of
* Innes' MS. Chronology, quoted by Chalmers in his Life of James the
First, p. 14, prefixed to the Poetic Remains.
196 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
the whole fighting men in the county for the purpose
of military exercise and an inspection of their weapons,
were appointed to be held four times in the course of
the year. Symptoms of the decay of the forest and
green wood, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, proofs
of the improved attention of the nobles to the enclosure
of their parks and the ornamental woods around their
castles, are to be discerned in the enactment, which
declared it to be a part of the duty of the Justice
Clerk to make inquiries regarding those defaulters,
who steal green wood, or strip the trees of their bark
under cover of night, or break into orchards to purloin
the fruit ; and provided, that where any man found
his stolen woods in other lords'* lands, it should be
lawful for him on the instant to seize both the goods
and the thief, and to have him brought to trial in the
court of the baron upon whose lands the crime was
committed.*
With regard to the commerce of the country, some
regulations were now passed, dictated by the same
jealous spirit which has been already remarked as
pervading the whole body of our commercial legislation.
It was strictly enjoined, that no tallow should be
exported out of the country under the penalty of
being forfeited to the king ; that no horses were to be
carried forth of the realm till they were past the
age of three years, and that no merchant was to be
permitted to pass the sea for the purposes of trade,
unless he either possess in property, or at least in
commission, three serplaiths of wool, or the value of
such in merchandise, to be determined by an inquest
of his neighbours, under a penalty of forty-one pounds
to the king, if found guilty of disobeying the law.
* Acts of tlie Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 7, 8.
1424?. JAMES I. 197
Upon the subject of the administration of justice to
the people in general, and more especially to such
poor and needy persons who could not pay an advocate
for conducting their cause, a statute was passed in this
parliament which breathes a spirit of enlarged huma-
nity. After declaring that all bills of complaints,
v.'hich, for divers reasons, affecting the profit of the
realm, could not be determined by the parliament,
should be brought before the particular judge of the
district to which they belong, to whom the king was
to give injunction to distribute justice, without fraud
or favour, as well to the poor as to the rich, in every
part of the realm, it proceeded as follows, in language
remarkable for its strength and simplicity: " And gif
thar be ony pur creatur,"' it observes, " that for defalte
of cunnyng or dispens, can nocht, or may nocht folow
his cans ; the king, for the lufe of God, sail ordane
that the juge before quhame the causs suld be determyt
purway and get a lele and wyss advocate to folow
sic creaturis cans. And gif sic cans be obtenyt, the
wrangar sail assythe the party skathit, and ye advocatis
costis that travale. And gif the juge refusys to doe the
lawe evinly, as is befor saide, ye party plenzeand sail haf
recours to ye king, ye quhilk sail sa rigorusly punyst
sic jugis, yat it be ane ensampill till all utheris.'''*
It was declared to be the intention of the sovereign
to grant a remission or pardon of any injury committed
upon person or property in the Lowland districts of
liis dominions, where the defaulter made reparation,
or, according to the Scottish phrase, " assythement,"'"'
to the injured party, and where the extent of the loss
had been previously ascertained by a jury of honest
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotlaud, vol. ii. p. 8.
198 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
and faithful men ; but from this rule, the Highlands,
or northern divisions of the country, were excepted,
where, on account of the practice of indiscriminate
robbery and murder which had prevailed, previous to
the return of the king, it was impossible to ascertain
correctly the extent of the depredation, or the amount
of the assythement. The condition of his northern
dominions, and the character and manners of his High-
land subjects, — if indeed they could be called his sub-
jects, whose allegiance was of so peculiar and capricious
a nature, — had given birth to many anxious thoughts
in the king, and led not long after this to a personal
visit to these remote regions, which formed an interest-
ing episode in his reign.
The only remaining matter of importance which
came under the consideration of this parliament, was
the growth of heresy, a subject which, in its connexion
as with the first feeble dawnings of reformation, is pecu-
liarly interesting and worthy of attention. It was
directed that every bishop within his diocese should
make inquisition of all Lollards and heretics, where
such were to be found, in order that they be punished
according to the laws of the holy Catholic church, and
that the civil power be called in for the support of the
ecclesiastical, if required.* Eighteen years had now
elapsed since John Resby, a follower of the great
Wickliff, was burnt at Perth. It was then known,
that his preaching, and the little treatises which he
or his disciples had disseminated tlirough the country,
had made a deep impression ; and the ancient historian
who informs us of the circumstance, observes, that
even in his own day, these same books and conclusions
were secretly preserved by some unhappy persons
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii, pp. 7, 8.
1424. JAMES I. 199
under the instigation of the devil, and upon the prin-
ciple that stolen waters are sweet.*
There can be no doubt, that at this period the con-
sciences of not a few in the country were alarmed as
to the foundations of a faith upon which they had
hitherto relied, and that they began to judge and
reason for themselves upon a subject of all others the
most important which can occupy the human mind, —
the grounds of a sinner''s pardon and acceptance with
God. An under current of reformation, which the
church denominated heresy, was beginning gradually
to sap the foundations upon which the ancient papal
fabric had been hitherto securely resting; and the
Scottish clergy, alarmed at the symptoms of spiritual
rebellion, and possessing great influence over the mind
of the monarch, prevailed upon him to interpose the
authority of a legislative enactment, to discountenance
the grow^th of the new opinions, and to confirm and
follow up the efforts of the church, by the strength
and terror of the secular arm. The education of James
in England, under the direction of two monarchs, who
had sullied their reign by the cruel persecution of the
followers of Wickliff, was little calculated to open his
mind to the convictions of truth, or to the principles
of toleration; and at this moment he owed so much to
the clergy, and was so engrossed with his efforts for
the consolidation of the royal power, that he could
neither refuse their request, nor inquire into the
circumstances under which it was preferred. The
statute, therefore, against Lollards and heretics was
passed ; the symptoms of rebellion, which ought to have
stimulated the clergy to greater zeal, purity, and
usefulness, w^ere put down by a strong hand; and the
* Fordun a Heame, vol. iv. p. 1169.
200 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1424.
reformation was retarded onlv to become more resist-
less at the last.
In the destruction of our national records many-
links in the history of this remarkable parliament have
been lost ; but the success with which the king con-
ducted this overthrow of the house of Albanv, ccrtainlv
gives us a high idea of his ability and courage ; and in
the great outlines enough has been left to convince us,
that the undertaking was of a nature the most delicate
and dangerous which could have presented itself to a
monarch recently seated on a precarious throne, sur-
rounded by a fierce nobility, to whom he was almost
a stranger, and the most powerful of whom were con-
nected by blood or by marriage with the ancient house
whose destruction he meditated. The example indeed
was terrible; the scaffold was flooded with royal and
noble blood ; and it is impossible not to experience a
feeling of sorrow and indignation at the cruel and un-
relenting severity of James. It seems as if his rage
and mortification at the escape of his uncle, the prime
offender, was but imperfectly satisfied with the punish-
ment of the feeble Murdoch; and that his deep revenge
almost delighted to slut itself in the extermination of
every scion of that unfortunate house. But to form
a just opinion, indeed, of the conduct of the king, we
must not forget the galling circumstances in which he
was situated. Deprived for nineteen years of his
paternal kingdom, by a system of unprincipled usur-
pation ; living almost within sight of his throne, yet
unable to reach it ; feeling his royal spirit strong
within him, but detained and dragged back by the
successful and selfish intrigues of Albany, it is not
surprising that when he did at last escape from his
bonds, his rage should be that of the chafed lion who
Ii24. JAMES I. 201
has broken the toils, and that the principle of revenge,
in those dark days esteemed as much a duty as a plea-
sure, should mingle itself with his more cool determi-
nation to inflict punishment upon his enemies.
But laying individual feelings aside, the barbarism
of the times, and the precarious state in which he found
the government, compelled James to adopt strong-
measures. Nothing but an example of speedy and in-
flexible severity could have made an impression upon
the iron-nerved and ferocious nobles, whose passions,
under the government of the house of Albanv, had been
nursed up into a state of reckless indulgence, and a
contempt of all legitimate authority; and there seems
reason to believe, that the conduct pursued by the king
was deemed by him absolutely necessary to consolidate
his own power, and enable him to carry into eff'ect his
ultimate designs for promoting the interests of the
country. Immediately after the conclusion of the
parliament, James despatched Lord Montgomery of
Eliotston, and Sir Humphrey Cunningham, to seize
the castle of Lochlomond,* the property of Sir James
Stewart, the vouno-est son of Albanv, who had fled to
Ireland along with his father''s chaplain, the Bishop
of Lismore. Such was the terror inspired by the
severity of James, that this fierce youth never after-
wards returned, but died in banishment ; so that the
ruin of the house of Albany appeared to be complete.
In the course of the preceding year the queen had
brought into the w^orld a daughter, her first-born, who
was baptized by the name of Margaret ; and, as the
policy of France led those who then ruled in her coun-
* " In the south end of the island Inchmurin, the ancient family of Len-
nox had a castle, but it is now in ruins." This is probably the castle
alluded to, Stat, Acct. vol. ix. p. 16. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotia;, fol. 273.
202 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1425.
cils to esteem the alliance of Scotland of great impor-
tance in her protracted struggle with England, it was
determined to ne2:otiate a marriaii'G between Louis of
Anjou, the heir to the throne, and the infimt princess.
In that kingdom the affairs of Charles the Seventh
were still in a precarious situation. Although tho
great military genius of Henry the Fifth no longer
directed and animated the operations of the campaign,
yet, under the Duke of Bedford, who had been ap-
pointed Regent of France, fortune still favoured the
arms of the invaders ; and the successive defeats of
Crevant and Verneuil, in which the auxiliary forces
of the Scots w^ere almost entirely cut to pieces, had
lent a vigour and confidence to the councils and con-
duct of the English, and imparted a proportionable
despondency to the French, wdiich seemed to augur a
fatal result to the efforts of that brave people. It be-
came necessary, therefore, to court every alliance from
which effectual assistance might be expected; and the
army of seven thousand Scottish men-at-arms, which
had passed over under the command of the Earls of
Buchan and Wigtown in 1420, with the additional
auxiliary force which the Earl of Douglas led to join the
army of Charles the Seventh, convinced that monarch
that the assistance of Scotland was an object, to attain
which no efforts should be spared. Accordingly, Stew-
art of Darnley, Lord of Aubigny and Constable of the
Scottish army in France, along with the Archbishop of
Rheims, the first prelate in the realm, were despatched
in 1425 upon an embassy to negotiate the marriage
between Margaret of Scotland and Louis the Dauphin,
and to renew the ancient leasfue which had so lon^
connected the two countries with each other.*
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 484.
1425. JAMES I. 203
James received the ambassadors with great distinc-
tion, agreed to the proposed alliance, and despatched
Leighton bishop of Aberdeen, with Lauder archdeacon
of Lothian, and Sir Patrick Ogilvy justiciar of Scot-
land, to return his answer to the Court of France. It
was determined, that in five years the parties should
be betrothed, after which, the Scottish princess was
to be conveyed with all honour to her royal consort.
About the same time the king appears to have sent
ambassadors to the Court of Rome, but it is difficult
to discover whether they merely conveyed those gene-
ral expressions of spiritual allegiance which it was usual
for sovereigns to transmit to the Holy See after their
coronation, or related to matters more intimately af-
fectino- the ecclesiastical state of the kinirdom. If we
may judge from the numbers and dignit}' of the envoys,
the communication was one of importance, and may,
perhaps, have related to those measures for the extir-
pation of heresy which we have seen occupying the
attention of the legislature under James''s second par-
liament. It was a principle of this enterprising monarch,
in his schemes for the recovery and consolidation of
his own power, to cultivate the friendship of the clergy,
whom he regarded as a counterpoise to the nobles; and
with this view he issued a commission to Lei2:hton the
Bishop of Aberdeen, authorizing him to resume all
alienations of the lands of the church which had been
made during the regencies of the two Albanys, com-
manding his justiciars and officers of the law to assist
in all proper measures for the recovery of the property
which had been lost, and conferring upon the prelate
the power of anathema in case of resistance.*
During the same year there arrived in Scotland an
* MS. in Harleian Coll. quoted in Pinkerton's History, vol. i. p. llCf.
201 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1425.
embassy from the States of Flanders, upon a subject
of great commercial importance. It appears that the
Flemings, as allies of England, had committed hosti-
lities against the Scottish merchants during the capti-
vity of the king, which had induced him to order the
staple of the Scottish commerce in the Netherlands to
be removed to Middelburgh in Zealand. The measure
had been attended with much loss to the Flemish
traders; and the object of the embassy was to solicit
the return of the trade. The king, who, at the period
of its arrival, was engaged in keeping his birthday, sur-
rounded by his barons at St Andrews, received the
Flemish envoys with distinction; and, aware of the
importance of encouraging the commercial enterprise
of his people, seized the opportunity of procuring more
ample privileges for the Scottish merchants in Flanders,
in return for which, he agreed that the staple should
be restored.*
At this period, besides the wealthy citizens and
burghers, who adopted commerce as a profession, it was
not uncommon for the richer nobles and gentry, and
even for the sovereign, to embark in mercantile adven-
tures. In 1408, the Earl of Douglas freighted a vessel,
with one or two super-cargoes, and a crew of twenty
mariners, to trade in Normandy and Rochelle; in the
succeeding year the Duke of Albany was the proprie-
tor of a vessel which carried six hundred quarters of
malt, and was navigated by a master and twenty-four
sailors; and, at a still later period, a vessel, the Mary
of Leith, obtained a safe conduct from the English mon-
arch to unship her cargo, which belonged to his dear
cousin James, the King of Scotland, in the port of Lon-
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 487, 509.
1425. JAMES I. 205
don, and expose the merchandise to sale.* At the same
time the Lombards, esteemed, perhaps, the most wealthy
and enterprising merchants in Europe, continued to
carry on a lucrative trade with Scotland; and one of
their large carracks, which, compared with the smaller
craft of the English and Scottish merchants, is distin-
guished by the contemporary chronicler as an " enor-
mous vessel," navis immanissima^ was wrecked by a
sudden storm in the Firth of Forth. The o^ale was
accompanied by a high spring-tide, against which the
mariners of Italy, accustomed to the Mediterranean
navigation, had taken no precautions; so that the ship
was driven from her anchors, and cast ashore at Gran-
ton, about three miles above Leith.*f-
The tax of twelve pennies upon every pound of rent,
and other branches of income, which was directed to be
levied in the first parliament held at Perth after the
king's return, has been already mentioned. The sum
to be thus collected was destined for the payment of the
arrears which the king had become bound to advance
to England, as the amount of expense incurred by his
maintenance during his captivity; and it appears by
the account of Walter Bower, the continuator of For-
dun, who was himself one of the commissioners for this
taxation, that during the first year, it amounted to four-
teen thousand marks; which would give nearly two
hundred and eighty thousand marks, or about three
millions of modern sterlino; monev, as the annual in-
come of the people of Scotland in 1424.
It must be recollected, however, that this does not
include the lands and cattle employed by landholders
in their own husbandry, which were particularly ex-
* Rotuli Scotis, vol. ii. p. 257. Ibid. 1st Sept. 9 Henry IV., p. 187,
'2d Dec. 11 Henry IV., p. 193.
i* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 487.
206 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1425.
cepted in the collection. The tax itself was an inno-
vation ; and in the second year the zeal of the people
cooled; they openly murmured against the universal
impoverishment it occasioned; and the collection was
far less productive. In those primitive times, all taxes,
except in customs, which became a part of the apparent
price of the goods on which they were charged, were
wholly unknown in Scotland. The people were accus-
tomed to see the king support his dignity, and discharge
his debts, by the revenues of the crown lands, which,
previous to the late dilapidations, were amply sufficient
for that purpose; and with equal prudence and gene-
rosity, although supported by a resolution of the three
Estates, James declined to avail himself of this invidi-
ous mode of increasing his revenue, and gave orders
that no further efforts should be made to levy the im-
position.*
Upon the eleventh of March, 1425, the king convoked
his third parliament at Perth, and the institution of the
Lords of the Articles appears to have been fully estab-
lished. The various subjects upon which the decision
of the great council was requested, were declared to be
submitted by the sovereign to the determination of
certain persons to be chosen by the three Estates from
the prelates, earls, and barons then assembled; and the
lejrislative enactments which resulted from their deli-
berations, convey to us an animated and instructive
picture of the condition of the country. After the usual
declaration, that the holy Catholic church and its mi-
nisters should continue to enjoy their ancient privileges,
and be permitted without hindrance to grant leases of
their lands, or of their teinds, there follows a series of
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 482. M'Pherson''s Annals of Commerce,
7oL i. p. 040.
]425. JAMES I. 207
regulations and improvements, both as to the laws
themselves and the manner of their administration,
which are well worthy of attention.
It was first announced, that all the subjects of the
realm must be governed by the statutes passed in par-
liament, and not by any particular laws, or any spiritual
privileges or customs of other countries; and a new
court, known by the name of the Session, was insti-
tuted for the administration of justice to the people. It
was declared, that the king, with the consent of his
parliament, had ordained, that his chancellor, and along
with him certain discreet persons of the three Estates,
who w^ere to be chosen and deputed by himself, should,
from this day forth, sit three times in the year at what-
ever place the sovereign may appoint them, for the
examination and decision of all causes and quarrels
which may be determined before the king's council ; and
that these judges should have their expenses paid by
the parties against whom the decision was given, out
of the fines of court, or otherwise as the monarch may
determine. The first session of this new court was
appointed to be held the day after the feast of St Michael
the Archangel, or on the thirtieth of September; the
second on the Monday of the first week of Lent ; and
the third on the morning preceding the feast of St John
the Baptist.*
A Register w^as next appointed, in which a record
was to be kept of all charters and infeftments, as well
as of all letters of protection, or confirmations of ancient
rights or privileges, which, since the king's return, had
been granted to any individuals ; and within four months
after the passing of this act, all such charters were to
be produced by the parties to whom they have been
*■ Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.
208 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1 125.
granted, and regularly marked in the book of record.
Any person who was a judge or officer of justice within
the realm, or any person who had prosecuted and sum-
moned another to stand his trial, was forbidden, under
a penalty of ten pounds, to sit upon his jury; and none
were to be allowed to practise as attorneys in the jus-
tice-ayrcs, or courts held by the king''s justiciars, or
their deputies, who were not known to the justice and
the barons as persons of sufficient learning and dis-
cretion. Six wise and able men, best acquainted with
the laws, were directed to be chosen from each of the
three Estates, to whom was committed the examina-
tion of the books of the law, that is to say, " Regiam
Majestatem," and " Quoniam Attachiamenta ;" and
these persons were directed by parliament, in language
which marked the simple legislation of the times, " to
mend the lawis that nedis mendyng,'*"' to reconcile all
contradictory, and explain all obscure enactments, so
that henceforth fraud and cunning may assist no man
in obtaining an unjust judgment against his neighbour.*
One of the greatest difficulties which at this early
period stood in the way of all improvement introduced
by parliamentary regulations, was the slowness with
which these rcijulations were communicated to the more
distant districts of the country; and the extreme igno-
rance of the laws which subsisted, not only amongst the
subjects of the realm and the inferior ministers of jus-
tice, but even amongst the nobles and barons, who, liv-
inir in their own castles in remote situations, rude and
illiterate in their habits, and bigoted in their attachment
to those ancient institutions under which they had so
long tyrannised over their vassals, were little anxious
to become acquainted with new laws; and frequently,
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.
1425. JAMES I. 209
when they did penetrate so far, pretended ignorance,
as a cover for their disobedience. To obviate, as far
as possible, this evil, it was directed by the parliament,
that all statutes and ordinances made prior to this,
should be first transcribed in the king''s register, and
afterwards, that copies of them should be given to the
diflerent sheriffs in the country. The sheriffs were then
strictly enjoined to publish and proclaim these statutes
in the chief and most notable places in the sheriffdom,
and to distribute copies of them to prelates, barons, and
burghs of bailiery, the expense being paid by those who
made the application. They were commanded, under
the penalty of being deprived of their office, to cause
all acts of the leoislature to be observed throuo-hout
their county, and to inculcate upon the people, whether
burghers or landholders, obedience to the provisions
made by their sovereign since his return from England;
so that, in time coming, no man should have cause to
pretend ignorance of the laws.*
The defence of the country was another subject which
came before this parliament. It w^as provided, that all
merchants of the realm passing beyond seas should,
along with their usual cargoes, bring home such a sup-
ply of harness and armour as could be stowed in the
vessel, besides spears, spear-shafts, bows, and bow-
strings; nor was this to be omitted upon any of their
voyages : particular injunctions were added with regard
to the regulation of " ii'eaponscliaicings^'' or the annual
county musters for the inspection of arms, and the en-
couragement of warlike exercises. Every sheriff was
directed to hold them four times in the year within his
county, upon which occasion it was his duty to see that
every gentleman having ten pounds value in land,
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.
VOL. III. O
210 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1425.
sliould be sufficiently harnessed and armed with steel
basnet, leg-harness, sword, spear, and dagger, and that
all gentlemen of less property sliould be armed accord-
ing to their estate. All yeomen of the realm, between
the ages of sixteen and sixty, were directed to be pro-
vided with bows and a sheaf of arrows. With re^iard
to the burghs, it was appointed that the weaponschaw-
inir should be held within them also, four times durinjx
the year, that all their inhabitants should be well armed,
and that the aldermen and the bailies were to be held
responsible for the due observance of this regulation ;
w^hilst certain penalties were inflicted on all gentlemen
and yeomen who may be found transgressing these
enactments.*
The regulations relating to the commercial prospe-
rity of the country, and its intercourse with other
nations, manifest the same jealousy and ignorance of
the true prosperity of the realm, which influenced the
deliberations of the former parliaments. Taxes were
repeated upon the exportation of money, compulsory
I'egulations promulgated against foreign merchants, by
Avhich they were compelled to lay out the money which
they received for their commodities, upon the purchase
of Scottish merchandise, directions were given to the
sheriffs, and other ministers of the law, upon the coasts
opposite to Ireland, to prevent all ships and galleys
from sailing to that country without special license of
the king''s deputes, to be appointed for this purpose in
every seaport ; no merchant or shipman was to be allowed
to give to any Irish subject a passage into Scotland,
unless such stranger could show a letter or passport
from the lord of the land from whence he came, declar-
ing the business for which he desired to enter the realm,
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 9, 10.
1425. JAMES I. 211
and all such persons, previous to their being allowed to
land, were to be examined by the king''s deputy of the
seaport where the ship had weighed anchor, so that it
might be discovered whether the business they had in
hand were to the profit or the prejudice of the king and
his estate. These strict enactments w^ere declared to
proceed from no desire to break or interrupt the good
understandino; which had been Ions: maintained betw^een
the King of Scotland " and his gud aulde frendis the
Erschry of Irelande;'" but because at that time the
open rebels of the king had taken refuge in that coun-
try, and the welfare and safety of the realm might be
endangered by all such unrestrained intercourse as
should give them an opportunity of plotting wdth their
friends, or alFord facilities to the Irish of becoming ac-
quainted with the private affairs of the government of
Scotland.*
A quaint and amusing provision was introduced in
this parliament, which is entitled, " Anent hostillaris
in villagis and burowyis." It informs us that hostlers,
or innkeepers, had made grievous complaints to the king
against a villanous practice of his lieges, who, in travel-
ling from one part of the country to another, were in
the habit of taking up their residence with their ac-
quaintances and friends, instead of going to the regular
inns and hostelries ; whereupon the sovereign, with
counsel and consent of the three Estates, prohibited
all travellers on foot or horseback from rendezvousing
at any station except the established hostelry of the
burgh or village; and interdicted all burgesses or vil-
lagers from extending to them their hospitality, under
the penalty of forty shillings. The higher ranks of the
nobles and the gentry would, however, have considered
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.
212 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1425.
this as an infrin2:ement upon their liberty; and it was
accordingly declared, that all persons whose estate
permitted them to travel with a large retinue in com-
pany, might quarter themselves upon their friends,
under the condition that they sent their attendants
and horses to be lodged at the common hostelries.*
The remaining enactments of this parliament related
to the regulation of the weights and measures, and to
the appointment of an established standard to be used
throughout the realm; to the obligation of all barons
or freeholders to attend the parliament in person; to
the offering up of regular prayers and collects, by all
priests religious and secular, throughout the kingdom,
for the health and prosperity of the king, his royal con-
sort, and their children ; and, lastly, to the apprehen-
sion of all stout, idle vagabonds, who possess the ability,
but not the inclination, to labour for their own living.
These were to be apprehended by the sheriff, and com-
pelled, within forty days, to bind themselves to some
lawful craft, so that they should no longer devour and
trouble the country. The regulation of the standard
size of the boll, firlot, half firlot, peck, and gallon, which
were to be used throuirhout the kin2:dom, was referred
to the next parliament; whilst it was declared, that
the water measures then in use should continue the
same; that with regard to weights, there should be
made a standard stone, which was to weigh exactly
fifteen legal troy pounds, but to be divided into sixteen
Scots pounds, and that, according to this standard,
weights should be made, and used by all buyers and
sellers throughout the realm.
James had already increased the strength and pro-
sperity of his kingdom by various foreign treaties of
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 10.
1426. JAMES I. 213
alliance and commercial intercourse : lie was at peace
with Enofland; the ancient ties between France and
Scotland were about to be more firmly drawn together
by the projected marriage between his daughter and
the Dauphin ; he had re-established his amicable rela-
tions with Flanders ; and the court of Rome, flattered
by his zeal against heresy, and his devotedness to the
Church, was disposed to support him with all its influ-
ence. To complete these friendly relations with foreign
powers, he now concluded by his ambassadors, William
lord Crichton his chamberlain, and William Fowlis
provost of the collegiate church of Bothwell his almo-
ner, a treaty with Eric king of Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden, in which the ancient alliances entered into
between Alexander the Third, Robert the First, and
the princes who in their days occupied the northern
throne, were ratified and confirmed; mutual freedom
of trade agreed upon, saving the peculiar rights and
customs of both kingdoms; and all damages, trans-
gressions, and defaults on either side, cancelled and
foroiven. James also consented to continue the annual
payment of a hundred marks for the sovereignty of the
little kingdom of Man and the Western Isles, wdiicli
Alexander the Third had purchased in 1266 for the
sum of four thousand marks.* Their allegiance, in-
deed, was of a precarious nature, and for a long time
previous to this the nominal possession of the Isles,
instead of an acquisition of strength and revenue, had
proved a thorn in the side of the country ; but the king,
with that firmness and decision of character for which
he was remarkable, had now determined, by an expe-
dition conducted in person, to reduce within the con-
trol of the laws the northern parts of his dominions,
* Fordun a Ilearne, vol. iv. pp. 1 355, 1 358.
214 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
and confidently looked forward to the time when these
islands would be esteemed an acquisition of no common
importance.
Meanwhile he prepared to carry his schemes into
execution. Having summoned his parliament to meet
him at Inverness, he proceeded, surrounded by his
principal nobles and barons, and at the head of a force
which rendered all resistance unavailing, to establish
his residence for a season in the heart of his northern
dominions.* It was their gloomy castles, and almost
inaccessible fastnesses, which had given refuge to those
fierce and independent chiefs, who neither desired his
friendship, nor deprecated his resentment, and who were
now destined at last to experience the same unrelenting
severity, which had fallen upon the house of Albany.
At this period the condition of the Highlands, so far
as it is discoverable from the few authentic documents
which have reached our times, appears to have been
in the hio-hest degrree rude and uncivilized. There
o o
existed a sin2;ular combination of Celtic and of feudal
manners. Powerful chiefs of Norman name and Nor-
man blood had penetrated into the remotest districts,
and ruled over multitudes of vassals and serfs, whose
strange and uncouth appellatives proclaim their differ-
ence of race in the most convincing manner.*[* The
tenure of lands by charter and seisin, the feudal services
due by the vassal to his lord, the bands of friendship
or of manrent which indissolubly united certain chiefs
and nobles to each other, the baronial courts, and the
complicated official pomp of feudal life, were all to be
found in full strength and operation in the northern
counties; but the dependence of the barons, who had
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 48n.
t MS. Adv. Lib. Coll. Diplom. a Macfarlane, vol. i. p. 245. MS. Cart.
Moray d. 262. See Illustrations. G.
1427. JAMES I. 215
taken up their residence in these wild districts, upon
the kins:, and their alledance and subordination to the
laws, were far less intimate and influential, than in the
lowland divisions of the countr}^ ; and as they experi-
enced less protection, we have already seen, that in
great public emergencies, when the captivity of the
sovereign, or the payment of his ransom, called for the
imposition of a tax upon property throughout the king-
dom, these great northern chiefs thought themselves
at liberty to resist its collection within their moun-
tainous principalities.*
Besides such Scoto-Norman barons, however, there
w^ere to be found in the Highlands and the Isles, those
fierce aboriginal chiefs, who hated the Saxon and the
Norman race, and ofiered a mortal opposition to the
settlement of all intruders within a country which they
considered their own. They exercised the same autho-
rity over the various clans or septs of which they were
the heads or leaders, which the baron possessed over
his vassals and their military followers ; and the dread-
ful disputes and collisions which perpetually occurred
between these distinct ranks of potentates, w^ere ac-
companied by spoliations, ravages, imprisonments, and
murders, which had at last become so frequent and so
far extended, that the whole country beyond the Gram-
pian range was likely to be cut ofl", by these abuses,
from all regular communication with the more pacific
parts of the kingdom.
This state of things called loudly for redress, and
the measures of the king, on reaching Inverness, were
of a prompt and determined character. He summoned
the most powerful chiefs to attend his parliament ; and
this command, however extraordinary it may appear,
* History, supra, vol. ii. pp. 151, 153.
21G HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
these ferocious leaders did not think proper to disobey.
It may be that lie employed stratagem, and held out
the prospect of pardon and reconciliation ; or perhaps
a dreadful example of immediate execution, in the
event of resistance, may have persuaded the Highland
nobles, that obedience gave them a chance for their
lives, whilst a refusal left them no hope of escape. But
by whatever method their attendance was secured, they
soon bitterly repented their facility; for instantly on
entering the hall of parliament, they were arrested,
ironed, and cast into separate prisons, where all com-
nmnication with each other, or with their followers,
was impossible. So overjoyed was James at the suc-
cess of his plan, and the apparent readiness with which
these fierce leaders seemed to rush into the toils which
had been prepared for them, that Bower described him
as turning triumphantly to his courtiers, whilst they
tied the hands of the captives, and reciting some leonine
or monkish rhymes, applauding the skill exhibited in
their arrest, and the deserved death which awaited
them. Upon this occasion, forty greater and lesser
chiefs were seized, but the names of the highest only
have been preserved: Alexander of the Isles; Angus
Dow, wdth his four sons, who could bring into the
field four thousand men from Strathnaver; Kenneth
More, with his son-in-lav/, Angus of IMoray and Mak-
mathan, who could command a sept of two thousand
strong; Alexander IMakreiny of Garmoran, and John
Macarthur, a potent chief, each of whom could muster
a thousand men ; along with John Ross, William
Lesley, and James Campbell, are those enumerated by
our contemporary historian; whilst the Countess of
lloss, the mother of Alexander of the Isles, and heiress
of Sir Walter Lesley, a rich and potent baron, was
1427. JAMES I. 217
apprehended at the same time, and compelled to share
the captivity of her son.*
Some of these, whose crimes had rendered them espe-
cially obnoxious, the king ordered to immediate execu-
tion. James Campbell was tried, convicted, and hanged,
for his murder of John of the Isles; Alexander Mak-
reiny and John Macarthur were beheaded, and their
fellow-captives dispersed and confined in different pri-
sons throuo-hout the kinicdom. Of these, not a few
were afterwards condemned and executed; whilst the
rest, against whom nothing very flagrant could be
proved, w^ere suffered to escape with their lives. By
some, this clemency was speedily abused, and by none
more than the most powerful and ambitious of them
all, Alexander of the Isles.
This ocean lord, half prince and half pirate, had
shown himself willing, upon all occasions, to embrace
the friendship of England, and to shake himself loose
of all dependence upon his sovereign ; whilst the im-
mense body of vassals whom he could muster under
his banner, and the powerful fleet with which he could
sweep the northern seas, rendered his alliance or his
enmity a matter of no inconsiderable consequence.
After a short confinement, the king, moved, perhaps,
by his descent from the ancient family of Lesley, a
house of high and hereditary loyalty, restored him to
liberty, after an admonition to change the evil courses
to which he had been addicted, and to evince his gra-
titude by a life of consistent attachment to the throne.
Alexander, however, after having recovered his liberty,
only waited to see the king returned to his lowland
dominions, and then broke out into a paroxysm of fury
and reven2:e. He collected the whole strensjth of Ross
* Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. pp. 1283, 1284.
218 HISTORY OF SCOTLANP. 1428.
and of the Isles, and at the liead of an army of ten
tliousand men, grievously Avastcd the country, direct-
ins: his principal vengeance against the crown lands,
and concluding his campaign by razing to the ground
the royal burgh of Inverness.*
James, however, with an activity for which his enemy
was little prepared, instantly collected a feudal force,
and flew, rather than marched, to the Highlands,
where, in Lochaber, he came up with the fierce, but
confused and undisciplined army of the island chief.
Although his army was probably far inferior in num-
bers, yet the sudden appearance of the royal banner,
the boldness with wdiich he confronted his enemy, and
the terror of the king^s name, gave him all the advan-
tage of a surprise; and before the battle began, Alex-
ander found himself deserted by the clan Chattan and
the clan Cameron, who, to a man, went over to the
royal army. It is deeply to be regretted that the
account of this expedition should be so meagre, even
in Bower, who was a contemporary. All those par-
ticular details, which would have given interest to the
story, and individuality to the character of the persons
who acted in it, and which a little pains miulit have
then preserved, are now irrecoverably lost. We know
only, that the Lord of the Isles, with his chieftains
and ketherans, was completely routed, and so hotly
pursued by the king, that he sent an embassy to sue
for peace. This presumption greatly incensed the
monarch; he derided the idea of an outlaw, w^ho
knew not where to rest the sole of his foot, and whom
his soldiers were then hunting from one retreat tc
other, arrogating to himself the dignity of an inde-
pendent prince, and attempting to open a correspon-
* Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1285.
1429. JAMES I. "' 219
dence by his ambassadors; and sternly and scornfully
refusing to enter into any negotiation, returned to his
capital, after giving strict orders to his officers to exert
every effort for his apprehension.
Driven to despair, and finding it every day more
difficult to elude the vigilance which was exerted, Alex-
ander resolved at last to throw himself upon the royal
mercy. Having privately travelled to Edinburgh, this
proud chief, who had claimed an equality with kings,
condescended to an unheard-of humiliation. Uj^on a
solemn festival, when the monarch and his queen, at-
tended by their suite, and surrounded by the nobles of
the court, stood in front of the high altar in the church
of Holyrood, a miserable-looking man, clothed only in
his shirt and drawers, holding a naked sword in his
hand, and with a countenance and manner in which
grief and destitution were strongly exhibited, suddenly
presented himself before them. It Avas the Lord of
the Isles, who fell upon his knees, and delivering up
his sword to the king, implored his clemency. James
granted him his life, but instantly imprisoned him in
Tantallon castle, under the charge of William earl of
Angus, his nephew. His mother, the Countess of
Ross, was committed to close confinement in the an-
cient monastery of Inchcolm, situated in an island in
the Firth of Forth.* She was released, however, after
little more than a year"'s imprisonment ; and the island
lord himself soon after experienced the royal favour,
and was restored to his lands and possessions.
This unbending severity, which in some instances
approached the very borders of cruelty, was, perhaps,
a necessary ingredient in the character of a monarch,
wiio, when he ascended the throne, found his kingdom.
* Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1286.
220 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1429.
to use the expressive language of an ancient chronicle,*
little else than a wide den of robbers. Two anecdotes
of this period have been preserved by Bower, the
iaithful contemporary historian of the times, which
illustrate, in a striking manner, both the character of
the king, and the condition of the country. In the
highland districts, one of those ferocious chieftains,
against whom the king had directed an act of parlia-
ment already quoted, had broken in upon a poor cot-
tager, and carried off two of her cows. Such was the
unlicensed state of the country, that the robber walked
abroad, and was loudly accused by the aggrieved party,
who swore that she would never put off her shoes again
till she had carried her complaint to the king in per-
son. "It is false," cried he; "Til have you shod my-
self before you reach the court;" and with a brutality
scarcely credible, the monster carried his threat into
execution, by fixing with nails driven into the flesh two
horse shoes of iron upon her naked feet, after which
he thrust her wounded and bleedins: on the hic^hwaY.
Some humane persons took pity on her; and, when
cured, she retained her original purpose, sought out the
king, told her story, and showed her feet, still seamed
and scarred by the inhuman treatment she had received.
James heard her with that mixture of pity, kindness,
and incontrollable indignation, which marked his char-
acter; and having instantly directed his writs to the
sheriff of the county where the robber chief resided,
had him seized within a short time, and sent to Perth,
where the court was then held. He >vas instantly tried
and condemned; a linen 'shirt was thrown over him,
upon which was painted a rude representation of his
* MS. Chronicon ab anno 1300 ad annum 1402. Cartular)' of Moray,
p. 220.
1429. JAMES I. 221
crime ; and, after being paraded in this ignominious
dress tlirou£:li the streets of the town, he was drao<red
at a horse'*s tail, and hanged on a gallows.* Such ex-
amples, there can be little doubt, had an excellent effect
upon the fierce classes, for a warning to whom they
were intended, and caused them to associate a deaTee
of terror with the name of the king ; which accounts,
in some measure, for the promptitude of their obedience
when he arrived among them in person.
The other story to which I have alluded is almost
equally characteristic. A noble of high rank, and nearly
related to the king, having quarrelled with another
baron in presence of the monarch and his court, so far
forgot himself, that he struck his adversary on the face.
James instantlv had him seized, and ordered him to
stretch out his hand upon the council table; he then
unsheathed the short cutlass which he carried at his
girdle, gave it to the baron who received the blow, and
commanded him to strike oiF the hand which had in-
sulted his honour, and was forfeited to the laws, threat-
ening him with death if he refused. There is little
doubt, from wdiat we know of the character of this
prince, that he was in earnest; but a thrill of horror
ran through the court, his prelates and council reminded
him of the duty of forgiveness, and the queen, who was
present, fell at his feet, implored pardon for the guilty,
and at last obtained a remission of the sentence. The
offender, however, was instantly banished from court. -[-
One of the most remarkable features in the govern-
ment of this prince, was the frequent recurrence of his
parliaments. From the period of his return from Eng-
land till his death, his reign embraced only thirteen
* Fordun aGoodal, vol. ii. p. 510.
+ Fordun a Hearue, vol. iv, pp. 1334, 1335.
222 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
years; and, in that time, tlie great conncil of the na-
tion -was thirteen times assembled. His object was
evidently to render the higher nobles more dependent
npon the crown, to break down tliat dangerous spirit
of pride and individual consequence which confined
them to their separate principalities, and taught them,
for year after ycvar, to tyrannise over their unhappy
vassals, without the dread of a superior, or the restraint
even of an equal, to accustom them to the spectacle of
the laws, proceeding not from their individual caprice or
authority, but from the collective wisdom of the three
Estates, sanctioned by the consent, and carried into
execution by the power, of the crown acting through
its ministers.
In a parliament, of which the principal provisions
have been already noticed, it had been made incumbent
upon all earls, barons, and freeholders, to attend the
meeting of the Estates in person ; and the practice of
sending procurators or attorneys in their place, which,
there seems reason to believe, had become not infre-
quent, was strictly forbidden, unless due cause of ab-
sence be proved. In two subsequent meetings of the
great council of the nation, the first of which appears to
have been held at Perth on the thirtieth of September,
] 426, and the second on the first of July, 1427, some im-
portant enactments occur, which evince the unwearied
attention of the king to the manufactures, the commerce,
the agriculture of his dominions, and to the speedy and
impartial administration of justice to all classes of his
subjects."" It is evident, from the tenor of a series of
regulations concerning the deacons of the trades, or
crafts, that the government of James, probably from its
extreme firmness and severity, had already become un-
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.
U27. JAMES I. 223
popular. It was first commanded, that the deacons of
the crafts should confine themselves strictly and sim-
ply to their duties, of ascertaining, hy an inspection
every fifteen days, whether the workmen be sufficiently
expert in their business, but it was added that they
should have no authority to alter the laws of the craft,
or to punish those who have offended against them;
and in the parliament of 1427, it was declared, that the
provisions regarding the appointment of deacons of the
crafts within the royal burghs having been found pro-
ductive of grievous injury to the realm, were henceforth
annulled; that no deacon be permitted after this to be
elected, whilst those already chosen to fill this office
were prohibited from exercising their functions, or hold-
ing their usual meetings, which had led to conspira-
cies.* It is possible, however, that these conspiracies
may have been combinations amongst the various work-
men, on subjects connected with their trade, rather than
any serious plots against government.
To the aldermen and council of the different towns
was committed the charge of fixing the prices of the
various kinds of work, which they were to regulate by
an examination of the value of the raw material, and
an estimate of the labour of the workman ; whilst the
same judges were to fix the wages given to wrights,
masons, and such other handicraftsmen, who contri-
buted their skill and labour, but did not furnish the
materials. Every farmer and husbandman who pos-
sessed a plough and eight oxen, was commanded to sow.
annually, a firlot of wheat, half a firlot of pease, and
forty beans, under a penalty of ten shillings, to be paid
to the baron of the land for each infrino^ement of the
law ; whilst the baron himself, if he either neglected to
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14.
224? HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
SOW the same quantity witliin his own demesnes, or
omitted to exact the penalty from an oftendini^ tenant,
was made liable in a fine of forty shillings for every
offence, to be paid to the king. The small quantity of
beans here mentioned, renders it probable that this is
the era of their earliest introduction into Scotland.*
It would appear, that although the castles of the low-
land barons, during the regencies of the two Albanys,
had been maintained by their proprietors in sufficient
strength; the houses of defence, and the various forta-
lices of the country, beyond that lofty range of hills,
known ancientlv bv the name of the Mounth, had ffra-
dually fallen into deca}", a state of things proceeding,
without doubt, from the lawless state of these districts,
divided amongst a few petty tyrants, and the extreme
insecurity of life and property to any inferior barons
who dared to settle within them. To remedy this evil,
it was determined by the parliament, that every lord
who had lands beyond the Mounth, upon which, in
" auld tymes,'** there were castles, fortalices, or manor
places, should be compelled to rebuild or repair them,
and either himself to reside therein, or to procure a
friend to take his place. The object of the statute is
described to be the gracious government of the lands by
good polity, and the happy effects which must result
from the produce of the soil being consumed upon the
lands themselves where it was grown ; an error, perhaps,
in civil policy, but which evinced, even in its aberra-
tion, an anxiety to discover the causes of national pros-
perity, which is remarkable for so remote a period.-|-
The extreme jealousy with which the transportation
of money, or bullion, out of the realm, had always been
regarded, was carried to an extraordinary height in the
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 13. f Ibid.
1427. JAMES I. 225
parliament of the first of July,1427; for we find an enact-
ment, entitled, " Anent the finance of clerks, by which
all such learned persons proposing to go beyond seas,
were strictly enjoined either to make change of their
money, which they had allotted for the expenses of their
travel, with the money changers within the realm, or
at least with the merchants of the country." The same
act was made imperative upon all lay travellers; and
both clerks and laymen were commanded not to leave
the country before they had duly informed the king's
chancellor of the exchange which they had transacted,
and of the object of their journey.
Some of the most important regulations in this par-
liament of July 1427 regarded the administration of
civil and criminal justice, a subject upon which the
king appears to have laboured with an enthusiasm and
assiduity which evinces how deeply he felt the disorders
of this part of the government. It was first declared,
that all persons who should be elected judges, in this
or any succeeding parliament, for the determination of
causes or disputes, should be obliged to take an oath
that they will decide the questions brought before them
to the best of their knowledge, and without fraud or
favour. In the settlement of disputes by arbitration,
it was enacted, that for the future, where the arbiters
consist of clerks, a churchman, having the casting vote,
was to be chosen by the bishop of the diocese, with ad-
vice of liis chapter; where the case to be determined
had arisen without burgh, between the vassals of a baron
or others, the oversman having the casting vote was to
be chosen by the sherifi*, with advice of the lord of the
barony; and if the plea took place between citizens
within burgh, the provost and his council were to select
the oversman, it being specially provided, that for the
VOL. III. P
226 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
future all arbitrations were to be determined, not by an
even but an uneven number of arbiters.* AVith regard
to the case of Scottish merchants dying abroad in Zea-
land, Flanders, or other parts of the continent, if it be
certain that they were not resident in these parts, but
liad merely visited them for the purposes of trade, all
causes or disputes regarding their succession, or their
other transactions, were declared cognizable by the
ordinary judge, within whose jurisdictions their testa-
ments were confirmed; even although it was proved
that part of the property of the deceased trader was at
that time in England, or in parts beyond seas.
In a general council held at Perth on the first of
March, 1427, a change was introduced relative to the
attendance of the smaller barons and free tenants in
parliament, which, as introducing the principle of re-
presentation, is worthy of particular attention. It was
determined by the king, with consent of his council
general, that the small barons and free tenants needed
not come hereafter to parliaments nor general councils,
provided that from each sheriffdom there be sent two
or more wise men, to be chosen at the head court of each
sheriffdom, in proportion to its size. An exception,
however, was introduced with regard to the sheriffdoms
of Clackmannan and Kinross, which were directed to
return each a single representative. It was next de-
clared, that by these commissaries in a body there
should be elected an expert man, to be called the Com-
mon Speaker of the Parliament, whose duty it should
be to bring forward all cases of importance involving
the rights or privileges of the commons; and that such
commissaries should have full powers intrusted to them
by the rest of the smaller barons and free tenants, to
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 14.
1427. JAMES I. 227
discuss and finally to determine what subjects or cases
it might be proper to bring before the council or par-
liament. It was finally ordained, that the expenses of
the commissaries and of the speaker should be paid by
their electors who owed suit and presence in the par-
liament or council, but that this new regulation should
have no interference with the bishops, abbots, priors,
dukes, earls, lords of parliament, and bannerets, whom
the king declared he would continue to summon by his
special precept.* It is probable that in this famous
law, James had in view the parliamentary regulations
which were introduced into England as early as the
reign of Henry the Third, relative to the elections of
knights of the shire, and which he had an opportunity
of observing in full force, under the fourth and fifth
Henries, during his long residence in England.i* As
far as we can judge from the concise, but clear, expres-
sions of the Act itself, it is evident that it contained
the rude draught or first embryo of a Lower House, in
the shape of a committee or assembly of the commis-
saries of the shires, who deliberated by themselves on
the proper points to be brought before the higher court
of parliament by their speaker.
It is worthy of remark, that an institution w^hich was
destined afterwards to become the most valuable and
inalienable right of a free subject, — that of appearing
by his representatives in the great council of the na-
tion, — arose, in the first instance, from an attempt to
avoid or to elude it. To come to parliament, was con-
sidered by the smaller barons who held of the crown
in capite^ an intolerable and expensive grievance; and
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16, cap. 2.
+ Rapin's Acta Regia, vol. i. p. 41, Statutes of the Realm, vol. ii. pp. 156,
170, 235.
22S HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1427.
the act of James was nothing else than a permission of
absence to this numerous body on condition of their
electing a substitute, and each paying a proportion of
his expenses.
In the same parliament, other acts were passed, strik-
ingly illustrative of the condition of the country. Every
baron, within his barony, was directed, at the proper
season, to search for and slay the wolves'* whelps, and
to pay two shillings a-head for them to any man who
brouirht them: the tenants were commanded to assist
the barons on all occasions when a wolf-hunt was held,
under the penalty of "a wedder"" for non-appearance;
and such hunts were to take place four times in the
year: no cruves, or machines for catching fish, were to
be placed in waters where the tide ebbed and flowed, for
three years to come : where the merchants trading to the
continent could not procure Scottish ships, they were
permitted to freight their cargoes in foreign vessels :
no lepers were to dwell anywhere but in their own hos-
pitals, at the gate of the town, or other places without
the bounds of the burgh ; strict inquiries were directed
to be made by the officials of the bishops, in their visi-
tations, with regard to all persons, whether lay or secu-
lar, who might be smitten with this loathsome disease,
so that they should be denounced, and compelled to
obey the statute; and no lepers were to be allowed to
enter any burgh, except thrice in the week, — on Mon-
days, Wednesdays, and Fridays, between the hours of
ten and two, for the purpose of purchasing their food ;
if, however, a fair or market happened to be held on
any of these days, they were to come in the morning,
and not to mix indiscriminately with the multitude.
If any clerk, whether secular or religious, were de-
sirous of passing beyond seas, it was made incumbent
1427. JAMES I. 229
on him first to come to his ordinary to show good
cause for his expedition, and to make faith that he
should not be guilty of any kind of simony or "^ar-
ratrie^'' — a word meaning the purchasing of benefices
by money. All such defaulters or " barratoures,''
were to be convicted, under the statute already made
against those who carried money out of the realm ; and
not only who were convicted of this crime in time to
come, but all now without the realm, beinsr auiltv of
it, were made liable to the penalties of the statute, and
none permitted either to send them money, or to give
them assistance, to whatever rank or dignity in the
church they may have attained.* It was enacted,
that no man should dare to interpret the statutes con-
trary to their real meaning, as understood by those
who framed them ; and that the litigants in any plea,
should attend at court simply accompanied by their
councillors and "forespeakers,"' and such sober retinue
as befitted their estate, and not with a multitude of
armed followers on foot or horseback.
In the same general council some strict regulations
occur regarding the prices charged by various crafts-
men, such as masons, smiths, tailors, weavers, and the
like, who had been in the practice of insisting upon a
higher price for their labour than they were by law
entitled to. Wardens of each craft w^ere directed to
be yearly elected in every burgh, who, with the advice
of other discreet and unsuspected men, were to examine
and estimate the materials and workmanship of every
trade, and fix upon it a certain price, not to be exceed-
ed by the artificer, under the forfeiture of the article
thus overcharged. In lands without the burgh the
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 16. Skene, De Verbo-
rum Significatione, voce' Barratrie.
230 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. U28
duty of the warden was to be performed by the baron,
and the sheriif to see that he duly performs it. The
council concluded by an act, imposing a penalty of
forty shillings upon all persons who should slay par-
tridges, plovers, black cocks, grey hens, muir cocks, by
any kind of instrument or contrivance between, "len-
trvn and Auo^ust.'*''
It may be remarked, that the meeting of the three
Estates in which these various enactments were passed,
is not denominated a parliament, but a General Coun-
cil, a term possibly implying a higher degree of
solemnity, and conferring perhaps upon the statutes
passed in it a more unchallengeable authority than the
word parliament. It is difficult, however, to under-
stand the precise distinction, or to discover wherein
this superior sanctity consists ; for, in looking to its
internal constitution, we find that the members who
composed the general council were exactly the same aa
those who sat in the parliament; the bishops, abbots,
priors, earls, barons, and free tenants who held of the
king in capite^ and certain burgesses from every burgh
in the kingdom, "some of whom were absent upon a
legitimate excuse, and others contumaciously, who,
on this account, were found liable in a fine of ten
pounds."* Within four months after the meeting of
this last General Council, the king convoked another
solemn assembly of the same description at Perth, on
the twelfth of July, 1428, in which it was determined
that all successors of prelates, and all the heirs of earls,
barons, and free tenants of the crown, should be bound
i)efore they were permitted to enter into possession ot
their temporalities or their estates, to take the same
oath of allegiance to the queen, which they had sworn
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 15.
1429. JAMES I. 231
to the sovereign, a regulation by which the king, in
the event of his death, prepared his subjects to regard
the queen as regent, and endeavoured to guard against
those convulsions which were too likely to arise during
a minority.*
It is time, however, to return from this history of
our early legislation to the course of our narrative.
Although gradually gaining ground, France was still
grievously oppressed by the united attacks of England
and Burgundy; and Charles the Seventh, esteeming it
of consequence to secure the friendship and assistance
of Scotland, followed up the betrothment between
Jameses only daughter and the Dauphin by a contract
of marriage, for which purpose the Archbishop of
Rheims, and Stuart lord of Darnley and count of
Dreux, again visited Scotland. Instead of a dower,
which Scotland was at that time little able to offer,
James was requested to send to France six thousand
soldiers; and the royal bride was, in return, to be
provided in an income as ample as any hitherto settled
upon the Queens of France. In addition to this, the
county of Xaintonge and the lordship of Rochfort were
to be made over to the Scottish Kinsr; all former alii-
ances were to be renewed and ratified by the mutual
oaths of the two monarchs; and the French monarch
engaged to send transports for the passage of the Scot-
tish soldiers to France.
The extraordinary rise and splendid military suc-
cesses of the Maid of Orleans, which occurred in the
year immediately following this embassy, rendered it
unnecessary for the French King to insist upon this
article in the treaty; but the jealousy and apprehen-
sions of England were roused by the prospect of so
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 16, 17.
232 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1429.
intimate an alliance, and the Cardinal Beaufort, the
uncle of Jameses queen, who, at this time, was one of
the leading directors in the government of England,
made proposals for an interview upon the marches,
between the Scottish monarch and himself, for the
purpose of consulting upon some affairs intimately con-
nected with the mutual weal and honour of the two
realms. James, however, seems to have considered it
beneath the dignity of an independent sovereign to
leave his kingdom and engage in a personal conference
with a subject, and the meeting never took place.*
The two countries, however, fortunately continued on
amicable terms with each other, and time was given to
the Scottish monarch to pursue his schemes of im-
provement, and to evince his continued zeal for every-
thing which affected the happiness of his subjects and
the internal prosperity of his kingdom.
It appears, that at this period the poor tenants and
labourers of the soil had been reduced to grievous dis-
tress by being dispossessed of their farms, and turned
out of their cottages, whenever their landlord chose to
grant a lease of the estate, or dispose of it to a new
proprietor; and such was then the enslaved condition
of the lower classes in Scotland, that the king, who was
bound to respect the laws which affected the rights of
the feudal lords, could not, of his own authority, ame-
liorate the condition of the labourers. He made it a re-
quest, however, to the prelates and barons of his realm,
in a parliament held at Perth on the twenty-sixth of
April, 1429, that they would not summarily and sud-
denly remove the husbandmen from any lands of which
they had granted new leases ; for the space of a year
after such transaction, unless where the baron to whom
* RjTner, vol. x. p. 410. Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 2G4.
142.9. JAMES I. 233
the estate belonged proposed to occupy the lands him-
self, and keep them for his own private use; a bene-
volent enactment, which perhaps may be regarded as
the first step towards that important privilege, which
was twenty years afterwards conceded to the great
body of the farmers and labourers, and which is known
in Scottish law under the name of the real ridit of
tack.*
A sumptuary law was passed at the same time, by
which it was ordered that no person under the rank
of knight, or having less than two hundred marks of
yearly income, should wear clothes made of silk,
adorned with the richer kinds of furs, or embroidered
with gold or pearls. The eldest sons or heirs of all
knights were permitted to dress as sumptuously as
their fathers; and the aldermen, bailies, and council
of the towns, to wear furred gowns ; whilst all others
were enjoined to equip themselves in such grave and
honest apparel as befitted their station, that is to say,
in " serpis, beltis, uches, and chenzies.'' In these regu-
lations, the apparel of the women w^as not forgotten.
The increasing wealth and luxury of the commercial
classes had introduced a corresponding, and, as it was
then esteemed, an unseemly magnificence in the habili-
ments of the rich burghers' wives, who imitated, and
in all probability exaggerated, the dresses of the ladies
of the court. It was commanded that neither com-
moners' wives nor their servants should wear lono- trains,
rich hoods or ruffs, purfled sleeves, or costly " curches''
of lawn ; and that all gentlemen's wives should take
care that their array did not exceed the personal estate
of their husband.-[-
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 17, 35.
t Ibid. 17, 18.
234 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1420.
A 11 persons who were possessed of property aftbrding
a yearly rent of twenty pounds, or of moveable goods
to the value of a hundred pounds, were to be well
horsed, and armed "from head to heel,'*'' as became
their rank as gentlemen; whilst others of inferior
wealth, extending only to ten pounds in rent, or fifty
pounds in goods, were bound to provide themselves
with a gorget, rerebrace,vambrace, breastplate, greaves,
and legsplints. and with gloves of plate, or iron gaunt-
lets. The arms of the lower classes were also minutely
detailed. Every yeoman, whose property amounted
to twenty pounds in goods, was commanded to arm
himself with a good doublet of fence, or a habergeon,
an iron hat, or knapscull, a bow and sheaf of arrows, a
sword, buckler, and dagger. The second rank of yeo-
men, who possessed only ten pounds in property, were
to provide for themselves a bow and sheaf of arrows, a
sword, buckler, and dagger ; whilst the lowest class of
all, who had no skill in archery, were to have a good
" suir'' hat, a doublet of fence, with sword and buck-
ler, an axe also, or at least a staff pointed with iron.
Every citizen, or burgess, possessing fifty pounds in
property, was commanded to arm himself in the same
fashion as a gentleman : and the bur^ress yeoman of
inferior rank, possessing property to the extent of
twenty pounds, to provide a doublet and habergeon,
with a sword and buckler, a bow and sheaf of arrows,
and a knife or dagger. It was finally made imperative
on the barons within their barony, and the bailies
within buroh, to carry these enactments into immediate
execution, under certain penalties or fines, which, in
the event of failure, were to be levied by the sheriff of
the county.*
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol, ii. p. 18.
1429. JAMES I. 235
In the late rebellion of the Lord of the Isles, the
want of a fleet had been severely felt, and these statutes
regarding the land force of the country, were followed
by other regulations of equal importance, concernino-
the establishment of a navy — a subject which we have
seen occupying the last exertions ^of Bruce.
All barons and lords possessing estates within six
miles of the sea, in the western and northern portions
of the kingdom, and opposite the isles, were commanded
to contribute to the building and equipment of galleys
for the public service, in the proportion of one oar to
every four marks worth of land,* and to have such
vessels ready to put to sea within a year. From this
obligation, all such barons as held their lands by the
service of finding vessels, were of course excepted, they
being still bound to furnish them according to the
terms of their charter. In the event of any merchant-
ships having been wrecked upon the coast, the confis-
cation of their cargoes to the king, or their preservation
for their owners, was made dependant upon the law
respecting wrecks in the country to which such vessels
belonged ; it being just that they should receive from
foreign governments the same protection which it was
the practice of their government to extend to foreign
vessels. It was enacted in the same parliament, that
all advocates, or forespeakers, who were employed in
pleading causes in any temporal court, and also the
parties litigant, if they happened to be present, should
swear, before they be heard, that the cause which they
were about to plead was just and true, according to
their belief; or, in the simple words of the act itself,
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 19. What is here the
precise value of an oar, cannot be discovered from any expression in the
act.
236 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1430.
"that they trow the cause is gude and lele that they
shall plead."
In the same year, to the great joy of the monarch
and the kingdom, his queen was delivered of twin sons,
whose baptism was celebrated with much solemnity,
one of them being named Alexander, probably after
Alexander the Third, whose memory was still dear
to the people, and the other James. At the font the
kincj created both these infants kniijhts, and conferred
the same honour on the youthful heirs of the Earl of
Douglas, the Chancellor, Lord Crichton, Lord Borth-
wick, Logan of Restalrig, and others of his nobility.*
The first of these boys died very young, but the
second, James, was destined to succeed his father in
the throne.
The truce with England was now on the point of
expiring, and the king, who was anxious to concentrate
his whole efforts upon the pacification of the northern
parts of his dominions, and whose unremitted attention
was required at home to carry his new laws into exe-
cution, felt equally disposed with Henry the Sixth,
to negotiate for a renewal of the armistice, and to dis-
cuss the possibility of concluding a permanent peace.
For this purpose, a meeting took place between com-
missioners from both nations, who concluded a truce
for five years, from the first of April, 1431, in the
provisions of which, an anxious desire was manifested
on both sides to adopt every possible expedient for
restraininjr the intolerable lawlessness of the Border
warfare. In the same truce, various rude accomoda-
tions to each other"'s commerce were agreed upon by
the governments of the sister kingdoms ; it was forbid
to seize merchants, pilgrims, and fishers of either
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 490.
1431. JAMES I. 237
country, when driven into strange ports by stress of
weather ; shipwrecked men were to be allowed to pass
to their own homes ; in cases of piracy, not only the
principal aggressors, but all who had encouraged the
adventure or received the plunder, were to be liable
in compensation, and amenable to punishment; and it
was lastly agreed, that no aggressions by the subjects
of either kingdom, should occasion a breach of the
truce.*
Having concluded this measure, James found him-
self at leisure to take into consideration the condition
of the highlands, wdiich, notwithstanding the severity
of the examples already made, called loudly for his
interference. Donald Balloch, a near relation of the
Lord of the Isles, enraged at w^hat he deemed the
pusillanimous submission of his kinsman, having col-
lected a fleet and an army in the Hebrides, ran his
galleys into the neck of sea which divides Morven
from the little island of Lismore, and, disembarking
at Lochaber, broke down upon that district with all
the ferocity of northern warfare, cutting to pieces a
superior force commanded by Alexander earl of ^Mar,
and Alan Stewart earl of Caithness, w^hom James had
stationed there for the protection of the highlands.
The conflict took place at Inverlochy ; and such was
the fury of the attack, that the superior discipline and
armour of the lowland knio-hts was unavailino: asfainst
the broadswords and battle-axes of the islesmen. The
Earl of Caithness, with sixteen of his personal retinue,
and many other barons and knights, w^ere left dead on
the field ; while Mar, with great difficulty, succeeded
in rescuing the remains of the royal army. From
* RjTner Fcedera, vol. x, p. 48L'. M'Pherson's Annals of Commerce, vol.
L p. G40".
238 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1431.
tlie result of this battle, as well as the severe loss
experienced at Harlaw, it was evident that the islesmen
and the ketherans were every day becoming more
formidable enemies, and that their arms and their
discipline must have been of late years essentially
improved. Donald Balloch, however, notwithstanding
the dispersion of the royal army, appears to have
considered it hazardous to attempt to follow up his
success ; and having ravaged Lochaber, and carried
off as much plunder as he could collect, re-embarked
in his galleys, and retreated first to the isles, and
afterwards to Ireland.*
About the same time, in the wild and remote coun-
try of Caithness, a desperate conflict took place between
Angus Dow Mackay and Angus IMurray, two leaders
of opposite septs or clans, which, from some domestic
quarrel, had arrayed themselves in mortal opposition.
They met in a strath or valley upon the water of
Naver; when such was the ferocity and exterminating
spirit with which the battle was contested, that out
of twelve hundred only nine are said to have remain-
ed alive ;-[- an event wdiich, considering the infinite
mischiefs lately occasioned by their lawless and undisci-
plined manners, was perhaps considered a subject rather
of congratulation than of regret to the kingdom.
These excesses, however, for the time, had the effect
of throwing the whole of the northern parts of the
country into a state of tumult and rebellion ; and the
king, having collected an army, summoned his feudal
barons to attend him, and determined to proceed
against his enemies in person. With some of the
* Foidun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1289. Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiae, p.
277.
f Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 491,
1431. JAMES I. 239
most powerful of the nobility, this northern expedition
seems to have been unpopular ; and the potent Earl
of Douglas, with Lord Kennedy, both of them nephews
to James, were committed to ward in the castles of
Lochleven and Stirling, probably from some disgust
expressed at the royal commands.* The rendezvous
was appointed at Perth, where, previous to his northern
expedition, a parliament was held on the fifteenth of
October ; and to defray the expenses of the under-
taking, a land-tax, or '' zelde,'' was raised upon the
whole lands in the kingdom, ecclesiastical as well as
temporal. Its amount was declared to be ten pennies
in every pound from those lands where, upon a former
occasion, the tax of two pennies had been levied, and
twelve pennies in the pound out of all lands which
had been excepted from the payment of this smaller
contribution. At the same time, the king directed
his justices to take proper measures for the punishment
of those vassals who had disobeyed his summons, and
absented themselves from the host; and, with the
intention of passing into the Western Isles, and in-
flicting exemplary vengeance against the pirate chiefs
who had joined Donald Balloch, he proceeded to Dun-
staffinch castle. Here he found himself in a short
time surrounded by crowds of suppliant island lords,
who, dreadino; the determined character of James,
were eao-er to make their submission, and to throw
the whole blame of the rebellion upon Balloch, whose
power they dared not resist. By their means three
hundred of the most noted thieves and robbers were
seized and led to immediate execution ; and soon after
Donald Balloch was himself betrayed by one of the
petty kings of Ireland, who, having entered into a
* Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1288.
240 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1431.
secret treaty with James, cut off his head, and sent it
to the king.*
It was at this period that tlic pestilence again broke
out in Scotland; but the visitation, although suffi-
ciently dreadful, appears to have assumed a less fatal
character than that which in 1348 carried off almost a
third part of the population of the kingdom. The
winter had been unusually severe and stormy, and the
cold so intense, that not only the domestic cattle, but
the hardier beasts of the chase, almost entirely perished.
It is difficult, in the meagre annals of contemporary
historians, to detect anything like the distinguishing
symptoms of this awful scourge. In contradistinction
to the pestilences which, in 1348, 1361, and 1378, had
committed such fatal ravages. Bower denominates this
the " pestilentia volatilis ;"■[- and we know that, havino^
first appeared at Edinburgh in the month of February
1430, it continued throughout the year 1432, at which
time it was prevalent in Haddington ; J while in the
year immediately preceding, (1431,) during the parlia-
ment which was held at Perth in October, the volatile
character of the disease seems to be pointed out by the
provision, that the collectors of the land-tax should be
obliired to arransie their accounts on the Feast of the
Purification of the Virgin, next to come, " at Perth,
provided the pestilence be not there, and if it is there,
at Saint Andrews."" § The inclemency of the season,
the poverty of the lower classes, and the dreadful rav-
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 20. Buchanan, book x.
chap, xxxiii. xxxvi. It is singular that James's expedition against his north-
ern rebels in 1431 is not mentioned either by Fordun, or Bower in his
Continuation ; yet that such an expedition took place the Acts of the Par-
liament held at Perth, fifteenth of October, 1431, afford undoubted evidence.
f Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 347, 3(J5, 391, 490.
Ij: Extracta ex Chronicis Scotiae, p. 277.
§ Acts of Parliament, vol. ii. p. 20.
1432. JAMES I. 241
ages occasioned by private war, and by the ferocity of
the northern clans, must have greatly increased the
distresses occasioned by such a calamity ; and it appears
from the accounts of our contemporary chroniclers, that
during the height of the ravages which the pestilence
occasioned, the popular mind, under the influence of ter-
ror andiirnorance, became ag-itated with frio-htful stories,
and wild and romantic superstitions. A total eclipse
of the sun, which occurred on the seventeenth of June,
1432, increased these terrors, the obscuration beginning
at three in the afternoon, and for half an hour causins:
a darkness as deep as midnight. It was long remem-
bered in Scotland by the name of the Black Hour.*
The continuance of the successes of the French, and
the repeated defeats which the English had experienced,
now rendered it of importance to the government of
Henry the Sixth to make a serious efi'ort for the estab-
lishment of a lasting peace with Scotland; and for this
purpose Lord Scrope proceeded as envoy to the court
of James, with proposals so decidedly advantageous,
that it is difficult to account for their rejection. The
English king, he declared, was ready to purchase so
desirable a blessing as a peace by the delivery of Rox-
burgh and Berwick into the hands of the Scots, and the
restitution of all that had anciently belonged to their
kingdom. Anxious to obtain the advice of his parlia-
ment upon so momentous an ofier, James appointed a
general council of the whole states of the realm to be
held at Perth in October, -f in which he laid before them
the proposals of England.
The whole body of the temporal barons agreed in the
* Fordun a Hearne, vol. iv. p. 1307.
+ Ibid. vol. iv. p, 1 308. I do not find in Rymer's Foedera, in the Acts
of the Parliament, or in the Rotuli Scotise, any deed throwing light upon
this transaction.
VOL. III. Q
242 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND 1432-3.
expediency of entering upon an immediate negotiation,
preparatory to a treaty of peace, and the majority of the
prelates and higher churchmen concurred in this propo-
sal ; hut amongst the minor clergy there existed a party
attached to the interests of France, which was headed
by the Abbots of Scone and Inchcolm. They warmly
contended, that considering^ the en2:airements with that
country, and the treaty of marriage and alliance which
the king had lately ratified, it was impossible to accept
the proposals of England, consistently with his honour,
and the regard due to a solemn agreement, which had
been examined by the University of Paris, and had
received the ratification of the pope. These arguments
were seconded by the Abbot of Melrose, and with much
violence opposed by Lawrence of Lindores, who, as the
great inquisitor of all heretical opinions, imagined that
he detected, in the propositions of his brethren of the
church, some tenets which were not strictly orthodox.
This led to a warm reply, and the debate, instead of a
temperate discussion of the political question which had
been submitted to the parliament, degenerated into a
theological controversy of useless length and bitterness,
which unfortunately led, in the first instance, to a delay
of the principal business, and ultimately to a rejection
of all proposals of peace.*
The succeeding year was barbarously signalized by the
trial and condemnation of Paul Crawar, a Bohemian,
who was burnt for heresy at St Andrews on the twenty-
third of July. He had been sent by the citizens of
Prague, who had adopted the tenets of WicklifF, to
open an intercourse with their brethren in Scotland.
Of these earnest inquirers after truth, there appears to
have been a small sect, who, undaunted by the dread-
* Fordun a Heame, vol. iv. pp. 1 309, 1 31 0.
1433. JAMES I. 243
ful fate of Resby, continued secretly to examine the
alleged errors of the Catholic church, and to dissemi-
nate what they contended were principles more ortho-
dox and scriptural. Crawar was a physician, and came
into Scotland with letters which spoke highly of his
eminence in his art ; but he seized every opportu-
nity of inculcating principles contrary to the estab-
lished doctrines of the church, and the Inquisitor,
Lawrence of Lindores, arraigned him before his court,
and entered into a laboured confutation of his opinions.
He found him, however, not only a courageous, but,
according to the admission of his enemies, a singularly
acute opponent. In theological controversy, in an
acquaintance with the sacred Scriptures, and in the
power of prompt and apposite quotation, the Bohemian
physician was unrivalled; but it was soon discovered
that he had adopted all the opinions of the disciples of
WicklifF, and of the heretics of Prague, and that his
profession of a physician was merely a cloak to conceal
his real character as a zealous reformer.
That he had made many converts, there can be no
doubt, from the expressions used by Bower; and the
laboured exposition and denunciation of his errors,
which is given by the historian, contains evidence that
his opinions were on some points those of Wickliff,
which had been propagated twenty-six years before by
Resby. He and his followers taught, that the Bible
ought to be freely communicated to the people; that,
in a temporal kingdom, the spiritual power should be
subservient to the civil; that magistrates had a right
to arraign, on trial, and to punish delinquent eccle-
siastics and prelates; that purgatory was a fable; the
efficacy of pilgrimages an imposition ; the power of the
" keys,"" the doctrine of transubstantiation and the
244 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1433.
ceremonies of absolution, a delusion and invention of
man. The historian adds, that this sect denied the
resurrection of the dead, recommended a community
of goods, and that their lives were gross and licen-
tious.* In the celebration of the Lord's Supper, they
departed entirely from the solemnities which distin-
guished this rite in the usa^e of the Catholic church.
They used no splendid vestments, attended to no cano-
nical hours or set form of words, but began the service
at once by the Lord's Prayer; after which, they read
the history of the institution of the Supper as con-
tained in the New Testament, and then proceeded to
distribute the elements, using common bread and a
common drinking cup or goblet.-|-
These practices and principles, in some of which we
can recognise not merely a dawning, but nearly a full
development of the tenets of Luther, excited a deep
alarm amongst the clergy, who found a warm supporter
in the king. James had been brought up in a cruel and
selfish school ; for both Henry the Fourth and his son
were determined persecutors, and the price which the}''
did not scruple to pay for the money and the influence
of the clergy, was the groans and tortures of those who
sealed their confession with their blood. A familiarity
with religious persecution, and an early habit of con-
founding it with a zeal for the truth, became thus fami-
liar to the mind of the youthful king; and the tempta-
tions to favour and encourage his clergy, as a check and
counterpoise to the power of his nobles, was not easily
resisted. When, accordingly, Lawrence of Lindores,
the Inquisitor of heresy, became ambitious to signalise
the same controversial powers against Crawar, which
he had already exerted in the confutation of Resby, he
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 495, 496. + Ibid, vol. ii. p. 495.
1433. JAMES I. 245
found no difficulties thrown in his way. The Bohe-
mian reformer was seized, arraigned, confuted, and
condemned; and as he boldly refused to renounce his
opinions, he was led to the stake, and gave up his life
for the principles he had disseminated, with the utmost
cheerfulness and resolution.* The great Council of
Basle, which was held at this time, had taken special
cognizance of the errors of WicklifF; and as the Bishops
of Glasgow and Moray, with the Abbot of Arbroath,
and many of the Scottish nobles, attended at this so-
lemn assembly of the church, it is probable that their
increased devotion to the Catholic faith, and anxiety
for the extermination of heretical opinions in their own
country, proceeded from their late intercourse with this
great theological convocation. -J-
In the midst of his labours for the pacification of
his northern dominions, and his anxiety for the sup-
pression of heresy, the king never forgot his great plan
for the diminution of the exorbitant power of the nobles;
and with this view he now disclosed a design of a bold
character, but which, how^ever expedient, was scarcely
reconcileable to the principles of justice. The strong
castle of Dunbar, and the extensive estate, or rather
principality, of the Earl of March, since the days of
David the First, had been a perpetual thorn in the
side of the Scottish government ; its situation having
enabled each successive earl to hold in his hands a
power far too great for any subject. It was a common
saying, that March held the keys of the kingdom at
his girdle. The possession of the various castles which
commanded the passes, permitted him to admit an
enemy at pleasure into the heart of the country, and
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. pp. 442, 495.
+ Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. pp. 276, 284.
246 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1433.
almost rendered the prosperity of the nation depen-
dent upon the fidelity of a single baron. These cir-
cumstances, accordingly, had produced the effects which
might have been anticipated; and the Earls of March
had shown themselves for many generations the most
ambitious and the most intrio^uinfj of the whole race
of Scottish nobles ; as pre-eminent in their power as
they were precarious in their loyalty.
The conduct of the father of the present earl had been
productive of infinite distress and misery to Scotland.
Disgusted at the affront offered to his daughter, by the
Duke of Rothesay ""s breach of his betrothed promise,
and by his subsequent marriage with the house of Dou-
glas, he had fled to England in 1401, and for eight years
had acted the part of an able and unrelenting renegade.
He had ravaged Scotland in company with Hotspur;
he had been the great cause of the disastrous defeat at
Homildon; his military talents were still more decidedly
displayed upon the side of Henry the Fourth at Shrews-
bury; and his son, the earl, against whom James now
resolved to direct his vengeance, had defeated the Scots
at West Nesbit. After the accession of Albany to the
kingdom, the elder March, in 1408, returned to his
native countrv ; and havinir been restored to his estates,
which had been forfeited to the crown in consequence
of his rebellion, he continued in the quiet possession of
them till his death, which happened in 1420.
He was succeeded by his son, George earl of March,
a baron, who, with the single exception of having fought
against the Scots at Nesbit, does not appear to have
inherited any part of his father's versatility; and who,
although arrested by James at the time when Duke
Murdoch was imprisoned, shared that fate in common
with many others of the nobility, who seem to have
] 43^. JAMES I. 247
purchased their peace with the king hy sitting upon the
jury which condemned his unfortunate cousin. It was
*a reraarkahle feature, however, in the character of this
monarch, that he retained his purposes with a steadiness
and patience, that gave Uttle alarm, while it enabled him
quietly to watch his opportunity: that he was calcu-
lating- upon the removal of obstacles, and smoothing
the road for the execution of his designs, when no
one suspected that such designs existed. In the par-
liament held at Perth, on the fifteenth of October,
1431, it had been declared by the three Estates,* that
the governor of the realm, during the period of his go-
vernment, had no power to alienate any lands, which,
by the decease of a bastard, might have fallen to the
crown; and that, on this ground, the donation of the
lands of Yetholm, which had been made by Albany,
when governor, to Adam Ker, was of none effect,
although it had been completed by feudal investiture.
It is very probable that, at this or a subsequent period,
other enactments may have been passed relative to the
power possessed by the king to resume such estates as,
having once been forfeited for treason, had been restored
by the crovernor. No record of such, however, remains ;
and we only know that James, having felt his way, and
being probably sure of his own strength, determined on
the resumption of the immense estates of March into
the hands of the crown.
A parliament was accordingly assembled at Perth,
on the tenth of January, 1434, and its first proceeding
was to select a committee of nine persons, including
three of the clergy, three of the barons, and three of
the burgesses, to determine all causes which might be
brou2:ht before them. The Abbots of Scone and of St
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 20.
248 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1434.
Colin,* the Provost of the collegiate cliurch of Metli-
ven, Sir Robert Stewart of Lorn, Sir Thomas Somer-
ville of Somerville, and Sir Walter Haliburton of
Dirleton, along with John Spens of Perth, Thomas
Chambers of Aberdeen, and James Parkle of Linlith-
gow, were the judges chosen upon this occasion; but
whether the important cause relating to the earldom
of March came before them, or was pleaded in presence
of the whole body of the parliament, is not easily ascer-
tained. It is certain that the question regarding the
forfeiture of the property, and its reversion to the crown,
in consequence of the treason of the late Earl of March,
was discussed with all due solemnity by the advocates
or prolocutors of the king, and of the earl then in pos-
session; after which, this baron and his counsel being
ordered to retire, the judges considered the reasons
which had been urged on both sides, and made up their
opinion upon the case. March and his prolocutors were
then re-admitted, and the doomster declared it to be
the decision of the parliament, that, in consequence of
the forfeiture of Lord Geor2:e of Dunbar, formerlv Earl
of March, all title of property to the lands of the earl-
dom of March and lordship of Dunbar, with whatever
other lands the same baron held of the crown, belonged
of right to the king, and might immediately be in-
sisted on.*f"
Against this measure, which in a moment reduced
one of the most powerful subjects in the realm to the
condition of a landless dependant upon the charity of
the crown, it does not appear that the earl or his friends
dared to offer any remonstrance or resistance. They
probably knew it would be ineffectual, and might bring
* Walter Bower, the excellent Continuator of Fordun.
't" Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 23.
1434. JAMES I. 249
upon them still more fatal consequences ; and James
proceeded to complete his plan for the security of the
kingdom, by taking possession of the forfeited estate,
and delivering the keeping of the castle of Dunbar,
which he had seized in the preceding year, to Sir Wal-
ter Haliburton of Dirleton. He then, to soften in some
degree the severity of his conduct, conferred upon March
the title of Earl of Buchan, and assigned to him, out of
the revenues of that northern principality, an annual
pension of four hundred marks. That noble person, how-
ever, full of resentment for the cruelty with which he
had been treated, disdained to assume a title w^hich he
regarded as only a mark of his degradation ; and almost
immediately after the judgment, bidding adieu to his
country, in company with his eldest son, retired to
England.* Although this extraordinary proceeding
appears not to have occasioned any open symptoms of
dissatisfaction at the moment, it is impossible to con-
ceive that it should not have roused the jealousy and
alarmed the minds of the great body of the feudal no-
bility. It cannot, perhaps, be pronounced strictly un-
just ; yet there was a harshness, it may almost be said,
a tyranny in the manner in which such princely estates
were torn from the family, after they had been pos-
sessed for twenty-six years, without challenge or re-
monstrance.
During the long usurpation of Albany, many of the
nobles had either acquired, or been permitted to retain
their lands, upon tenures in every respect as unsound
as that by which March possessed his earldom, and
none knew whether they might not be the next victims.
A dark suspicion that the life of the king was incom-
patible with their security and independence, began
* Rotuli Scotiae, vol. ii. p. 293.
250 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1434.
secretly to infuse itself into their minds; and from a
proceeding which took place before the dissolution of
the parliament, the monarch himself appears to have
been aware of the probability of conspiracy, and to have
contemplated the possibility of his being suddenly cut
off in the midst of his schemes for the consolidation of
his power. He did not allow them to separate and
return to their homes, before the whole lords of parlia-
ment, temporal and spiritual, as well as the commis-
saries of the burghs, had promised to give their bonds
of adherence and fidelity to their sovereign lady the
queen.*
About the same time, the king acquired a great ac-
ccsion of property and powder by the death of Alexander
Stewart, the famous Earl of Mar, and a natural son of
the Earl of Buchan, James's uncle. The estates of this
w^ealthy and potent person, who, from a rude and fero-
cious highland freebooter, had become one of the ablest
captains, and most experienced statesmen, in the na-
tion, -[• reverted upon his death to the crown, upon the
ground of his bastardy. The humiliation of the hated
race of Albany was now complete. Murdoch and his
sons, with the Earl of Lennox, had perished on the
scafibld, and their whole estates had reverted to the
crown; although the Earl of Buchan, wdio was slain
at Verncuil, had left an only daughter, to whom the
title belonged, by a stretch of power, bordering upon
injustice, the title had been bestowed upon the disin-
herited March, and now the immense estates of the
Earl of Mar, the natural son of Buchan, reverted to
the crown. The power of the king became thus every
* Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 23. The expression is,
" dare literas suas retenencije et fidelitatis Domine nostre Regine."
t Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 500.
1434. JAMES I. 251
day more formidable ; but it was built upon the oppres-
sion of his feudal nobility, a set of men with whom
it was considered a meanness to forget an injury, and
whose revenge was generally deep and terrible — and
so the result showed.
Entirely occupied with a vain and unsuccessful effort
to retain their conquests in France, the English govern-
ment evinced every anxiety to preserve inviolate the
truce with Scotland; but the spirit of Border hostility
could not be long restrained, and Sir Robert Ogle, from
some cause which is not easily discoverable, broke across
the marches, at the head of a strong body of knights
and men-at-arms. He was met, however, and totally
routed, near Piperden, by the Earl of Angus, Hepburn
of Hailes, and Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie, he
himself being taken captive, forty slain, and nearly the
whole of his party made prisoners.* James violently
remonstrated against this unprovoked infraction of the
truce, and, in his letters to the English regency, insisted
upon immediate redress; but his complaints were over-
looked or rejected, and the king was not of a temper
to bear such an affront with tameness, or to forget it
when an opportunity for retaliation occurred.
These indignant feelings were increased by an occur-
rence which followed soon after the conflict at Piperden.
The Dauphin of France, who had been betrothed to
Margaret, the daughter of the Scottish king, had now
attained his thirteenth year, and the princess herself
was ten years old : it was accordingly resolved to com-
plete the marriage ; and with this view, two French
envo3^s having arrived in Scotland, the youthful bride
was sent to the court of the king of France, accom-
panied by a splendid train of the nobility. The fleet
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 501.
252 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1434.
"which carried her to her future kingdom, where her
lot was singularly wretched, was commanded by the
Earl of Orkney, William Sinclair. The Bishop of
Brechin, Sir Walter Ogilvy the treasurer. Sir Herbert
Harris, Sir John Maxwell of Calderwood, Sir John
Campbell of Loudon, Sir John Wishart, and many
other barons, attended in her suite. They were waited
on by a hundred and forty youthful squires, and a
guard of a thousand men-at-arms; and the fleet con-
sisted of three large ships, and six barges.*
In defiance of the truce which then subsisted between
the two kingdoms, the English government determined,
if possible, to intercept the princess upon her passage
to France, and for this purpose fitted out a large fleet,
which anchored ofl" the coast of Bretagne, in order to
watch the motions of the Scots. It was impossible that
so flagrant an insult should fail to rouse the indigna-
tion of the Scottish king. It convinced him how little
was to be trusted to the honour of a government which
disreofarded a solemn truce the moment a favourable
opportunity for conquest, or annoyance, presented it-
self, whilst it reminded him of the treachery by w^hich
he had himself been seized, and brought all the bitter-
ness of his long captivity before him. The project,
however, was unsuccessful. The English were drawn
away from their watch by the appearance of a company
of Flemish merchantmen, laden with wine from Ro-
chelle, which they pursued and captured ; but the
triumph was of short duration; for almost immediately
after a Spanish fleet appeared in sight, and an engage-
ment took place, in which the English were beaten,
their Flemish prizes wrested from their hands, and
they themselves compelled to take to flight. In the
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 485.
U35. JAMES I. 253
midst of these transactions, the little Scottish squa-
dron, with the Dauphiness and her suite, safely entered
the port of Rochelle, and disembarked at Neville Priory,
where she was received by the Archbishop of Rheims
and the Bishop of Poictiers and Xaintonge. The mar-
riage was afterwards celebrated at Tours, with much
magnificence, in presence of the King and Queen of
France, the Queen of Sicily, and the nobility of both
kingdoms.* By the common practice of most feudal
states, an expensive ceremony of this kind was con-
sidered a proper occasion for the imposition of a general
tax throughout the kingdom; but James refused to
oppress the great body of his subjects by any measure
of this nature, and contented himself with those gifts
or largesses which the prelates and the chief nobility
of the court were wont to contribute upon such joyful
occurrences. •[*
The late infraction of the truce by Ogle, and the
insidious attempt upon the part of the English govern-
ment to intercept the Dauphiness, his daughter, had
inflamed the resentment of the Scottish king, and ren-
dered him not averse to the renewal of the war. It is
probable, however, that there were other causes for this
sudden resolution ; and these are perhaps to be sought
in the irritated feelings with which a portion of the
nobility began to regard the government of James. To
find excitement and employment for such dangerous
spirits, the monarch assembled the whole force of his
dominions ; and with an army, formidable indeed in
numbers, but weakened by intrigues and discontent
amongst the principal leaders, he commenced the siege
of Roxburgh. J
* Fordun a Goodal. vol. ii. pp. 485, 501. + Ibid.
X Ibid. p. 502. The king was engaged in the siege of Roxburgh, 10th
August, 1436. Rotuli Scotise, vol. ii. p. 295.
254 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 14S6.
The subsequent course of events is involved in much
obscurity, which the few original documents that remain
do not in any satisfactory manner remove. After hav-
ing spent fifteen days in the siege, during which time
the warlike engines for the attack were broken and
rendered useless, and the quarrels, arrows, and missiles,
entirely exhausted, the castle was on the eve of being
surrendered, when the queen suddenly arrived in the
camp, and James, apparently in consequence of the
secret information which she communicated, abruptly
put a period to the siege, disbanded his army, and with
a haste which implied some weighty cause of alarm,
returned ingioriously into the interior of his dominions.
For such an abrupt step no certain cause can be assigned,
but such, beyond question, was the fact; and it natu-
rally leads to the conjecture, that James w^as suddenly
informed of some treacherous designs against him, and
suspected that the conspirators lurked within his own
kingdom.*
This precipitate dismissal of his forces took place in
August, and two months afterwards the king held a
General Council at Edinburgh, on the twenty-second of
October, 1436, in whose proceedings we can discern
nothing intimating any continued suspicion of a con-
spiracy. Some commercial regulations were passed,
which, under the mistaken idea that they were encou-
ragements, proved, in reality, restrictions upon com-
merce. Exporters of wool were in future to give secu-
rity to bring home and deliver to the master of the mint
three ounces of bullion for every sack of wool, nine
* Bower (Forclun aGoodal, vol. ii. p. 502) says nothing of the arrival of
the queen at Roxburgh ; but the ancient MS., entitled Extracta ex Chronicis
ScoticB, p. 279, expressly states the fact : — " Per quindecim dies obsidioni
vacabant, et nihil laudis actum est veniens regina abduxit regem ; reliqui
sunt secuti et sic cessavit."
9.-;n
1436. JAMES I. ^oD
ounces for a last of hides, and three ounces for such
quantity of other goods as paid freight, equal to an an-
cient measure called a serplaith ; whilst, in addition to the
impolicy of restricting the merchants from importing
such goods as they esteemed most likely to increase
their profits, the delivery of the silver was regulated
by weight or measure, and not by value. Other
unwise restrictions were imposed. No English cloth
was permitted to be purchased by the Scottish mer-
chants, nor were English traders allowed to carry any
articles of Scottish trade or manufacture out of the
kingdom, unless such were specified particularly in
their letters of safe conduct.*
Yet, in the midst of these parliamentary proceedings,
more dark designs were in agitation amongst the
nobility; and the seeds of discontent and rebellion,
which the king imagined had been entirely eradicated
after the retreat from Roxburgh, were secretly ex-
panding themselves into a conspiracy, of which the
history and ramifications are as obscure as the result
was deplorable. Its chief actors, however, and the
temper and objects by which they were regulated,
may be ascertained on authentic evidence. The chief
promoters of the plot were Sir Robert Graham, brother
of Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine ; Walter Stewart
earl of Athole, a son of Robert the Second ; and his
grandson Sir Robert Stewart, who filled the ofiice of
chamberlain to the king, by wdiom he was much caress-
ed and favoured. Graham's disposition was one which,
even in a civilized age, would have made him a dan-
gerous enemy; but in those feudal times, when revenge
was a virtue, and forgiveness a weakness, it became,
♦ Acts of the Parliament of ScotL-jid, vol. ii. pp. 23, 24. M'Pherson's
Annals of Commerce, vol. i. p. 650.
256 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
under such nurture, peculiarly dark and ferocious. Un-
shaken courage, and a contempt of pain and danger,
a persuasive power of bending others to his purposes,
a dissimulation which enabled him to conceal his private
ambition under a zeal for the public good, and a cruelty
which knew neither hesitation nor remorse, were the
moral elements which formed the character of this darins:
conspirator.
Upon the return of the king from his detention in
England, and at the time that he inflicted his summary
vengeance upon the house of Albany, Sir Robert
Graham had been imprisoned, along with the other
adherents of that powerful family; but it seems probable
that he obtained his liberty, and for a while became
reconciled to the government. Another transaction,
however, was at hand, which, it is said, rekindled his
feelings into a determined purpose of revenge. This
was the seizure or resumption of the earldom of
Strathern by the king. David earl of Strathern, the
brother of the Earl of A thole, was the eldest son of
Robert the Second, by his second wife Euphemia Ross.
He left an only daughter, who married Patrick
Graham, son of Sir Patrick Graham of Kincardine,
and, in right of his wife. Earl of Strathern, to whose
children, as the transmission of these feudal dignities
through females was the acknowledged law of Scotland,
the title and estates undoubtedly belonged. James,
however, fixed his eyes upon this powerful earldom.
He contended that it was limited to heirs-male ; that
upon the death of David earl of Strathern it ought to
have reverted to the crown ; and that Albany the
governor had no power to permit Patrick Graham or
his son to assume so extensive a fief, which he resumed
as his own. Although, however, he dispossessed
1436. JAMES I. 257
Malise Graham, the son of the Earl of Strathern, of
his lands and dignity, James appears to have been
anxious to remove the appearance of injustice from
such conduct, and to conciliate the disinherited family.
For this purpose he conferred the liferent of the earldom
of Strathern upon Athole, and he created the new
earldom of Menteith in favour of Malise Graham.*
This attempt at conciliation, however, did not
succeed ; and indeed, notwithstandinor the dissfuise
which the king threw over it, it is easy to see that
his conduct must have appeared both selfish and ty-
rannical. It was selfish, because, from the extreme
age of Athole, James looked to the almost immediate
possession of the rich earldom which he had torn from
the Grahams ; and tyrannical, because there appears
no ground for the assertion that it was a male fief.
Malise Graham was now a youth, and absent in Enf^--
land ; but his uncle, Sir Robert Graham, remonstrated,
as the natural guardian of his rights ; and finding it
in vain to sue for redress, he determined upon revenge.
It was no difficult matter for a spirit like his to work
upon the jealousies and discontented feelings of the
nobles ; and there were yet remaining many friends
of Albany, who remembered the dreadful fate of that
unhappy house, and who considered themselves bound
by those strict ties of feudal vassalage then esteemed
sacred, to revenge it the moment an opportunity pre-
sented itself.
Amongst these persons, Graham, who himself felt
the influence of such feelings in the strongest possible
manner, found many ready associates; but although
the body of the higher nobility were sufficiently eager
to enter into his designs for the abridgment of the
* Hailes, Sutherland Case, chap. v. p. 57
VOL. III. K
258 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 14:36.
royal prerogative, and the resumption of the pc^ver
which they had lost, they appear at first to have shrunk
from anything beyond this.* It was determined,
meanwhile, that Graham, who was an eloquent speaker,
sliould detail their grievances in parliament, and that
his remonstrance should be seconded by the rest of the
nobles. The natural audacity of his character, how-
ever, made him exceed his commission. He spoke
with open detestation of the tyrannical conduct of the
government; pointed out in glowing language the ruin
of the noblest families in the state; and concluded by
an appeal to the barons who surrounded him, beseech-
ing them to save the authority of the laws, were it even
at the risk of laying a temporary restraint upon the
person of the sovereign. The temerity of this speech
confounded the barons who had promised to support
him: they trembled and hesitated; whilst James,
starting from his throne, commanded them instantly
to arrest the traitor, and was promptly obeyed.
Graham meanwhile loudly expressed the bitterest
contempt for the pusillanimity of his associates; but
he was hurried to prison, soon after banished from
court, and his estates confiscated to the crown.-f*
James, if not already sensible of the dangerous
character of Graham, must have now been fully aware
of it; and how he should have suffered so bold and
able a rebel to escape, is difficult to understand. It is
evident, I think, that the connexion betw^een Graham,
the Earl of Athole, and Sir Robert Stewart, had not
at this time proceeded to the formation of those atro-
cious designs which they afterwards carried into exe-
* Contemporary Account of " The dethe of the King of Scotis," first
printed by Pinkerton, Hist. vol. i. p. 4G'2.
t Ibid. p. 464.
1436. JAMES I. 259
cution, for we cannot doubt that the king must have
examined the whole affair with the utmost anxiety;
and his banishment of Graham only, may convince us
that, in this instance, he did not suspect him of plotting
with others of his nobility.
Enraged at the ruin of his fortunes, this audacious
man retreated to the highlands, and within their
gloomy recesses meditated a desperate revenge. But
the mode in which he proceeded had something great
about it, and showed that he was no hired or common
assassin. He sent a letter to James, in which he re-
nounced his allegiance ; he defied him, as a tyrant who
had ruined his family, and left him houseless and
landless ; and he warned him, that wherever he could
find opportunity, he would slay him as his mortal
enemy. These threats, coming from a vagabond
traitor, James despised; but he made proclamation
for his apprehension, and fixed a large sum of gold on
his head.*
In the meantime parliament met, and Graham,
although immured in his highland retreats, found
means to communicate with the discontented nobles,
and to induce the Earl of Athole, and his grandson
Sir Robert Stewart, to enter fully into his schemes for
the destruction of the king. He represented to this
baron, who, though now aged, inherited the v ^ud
ambition of his family, that Robert the Third was born
out of wedlock, and that the crown belonged to him,
as the lawful son of the second marrias:e of Robert the
Second, or, if he chose to decline it, to Stewart, his
grandson. The single life of a tyrant, who had de-
stroyed his house, and whose power was every day
becoming more formidable, was, he contended, all that
* Contemporary Account.
260 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436
stood between him and the throne, for James's son
was yet a boy in his sixth year, and might be easily
disposed of; and such was the unpopularity of the
""overnment, that the whole body of the nobility would
readily welcome a change. It is said, also, that Graham
worked upon Athole's ambition by the predictions of
a highland seer, who had prophesied that this earl
should be crowned in that same year; a story much
in the superstitious character of the times, and not
unlikely to be true, as the conspiracy was undoubtedly
brousrht to its hei2:ht within the hio-hlands. If Graham
was thus able to seduce the age and experience of
Athole, it is not surprising that the prospect of a
crown easily captivated the youthful ambition of Sir
Robert Stewart, his grandson ; and as he was cham-
berlain to the king, enjoyed his most intimate confi-
dence, and was constantly employed in offices about
his person, his accession to the plot may be regarded
as the principal cause of its success. Graham''s inferior
assistants were principally some obscure dependants
on the house of Albany, Christopher and Thomas
Chambers,* with Sir John Hall and his brother; but
his influence in the highlands had collected a body of
three hundred ketherans, without whose co-operation
it is not probable that he could have eftected his
purpose.
All things were now nearly ready, whilst the king,
naturally of a fearless and confident temper, and occu-
pied with his schemes for the amelioration of the com-
merce of the kingdom, and the better execution of the
laws, appeared to have forgotten the insolence of Gra-
ham, and to have been persuaded that the discontents
* Contemporary Account, p. 4()6. In the Rotuli Scotia;, vol. ii. p. 150,
•we find John del Chambre in the employment of Albany in 1401.
li.36. JAMES I. 261
amongst his nobility had passed away. Christmas
approaching, it was determined that the court should
keep the festival at Perth, in the monastery of the
Dominicans, or Black Friars, a noble edifice, which
gave ample room for the accommodation of the royal
retinue. This resolution gave an unlooked-for facility
to the traitors, for it brought their victim to the bor-
ders of the highlands. It was accordingly resolved
by Graham, that the murder should be committed at
this holy season ; and, after his preparations had been
made, he waited patiently for the arrival of the king.
It was impossible, however, that a plot which em-
braced so many agents should be kept completely
secret ; and a highland woman, who in those days of
superstition laid claim to prophetic skill, becoming
acquainted with the design, resolved to betray it to
the king. Accordingly, as the monarch and his nobles
were on their road to cross the Firth of Forth, then
called the Scottish sea, she presented herself before
the royal cavalcade, and addressing James, solemnly
warned him, " that if he crossed that water he should
never return a2:ain alive."* He was struck with her
wild appearance, and the earnestness of her manner,
stopt for a moment, and commanded a knight who
rode beside him to inquire what she meant. Whether
from stupidity or treachery is not certain, the com-
mission was hurriedly executed, and she had only time
to say that her information came from one Hubert;
when the same knioht observino:, that she was either
mad or intoxicated, the king gave orders to proceed,
and, having crossed the Firth, rode on to Perth.
James, as was expected, took up his residence in the
Dominican monastery, and the court was unusually
* Contemporary Account. Pinkei-ton, vol. i. p. 4G5.
262 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
brilliant and joyous. Day after day passed in every
species of feudal delight and revelry; and the conspi-
rators had matured their plan, and fixed the very hour
for the murder, whilst the unhappy prince dreamt of
nothing but pleasure.
It was on the niirht between the twentieth and the
twenty-first of February that Graham resolved to carry
his purpose into effect. After dark, he had procured
Sir Robert Stewart, whose office of chamberlain faci-
litated his treachery, and rendered him above all sus-
picion, to place wooden boards across the moat which
surrounded the monastery, over which the conspirators
might pass without disturbing the warder, and to de-
stroy the locks and remove the bolts of the doors by
which the royal bedchamber communicated with the
outer room, and this apartment with the passage. On
this fatal evening the revels of the court were kept up
to a late hour. The common sports and diversions of
the time, the game of tables, the reading romances,
the harp and the song, occupied the night; and the
prince himself appears to have been in unusually gay
and cheerful spirits. He even jested about a prophecy
which had declared that a king should that year be
slain; and when engaged in playing at chess with a
young knight, whom in his sport he was accustomed
to call the King of Love, warned him to look well to
his safety, as they were the only two kings in the
land.* In the midst of this playful conversation,
Christopher Chambers, one of the conspirators, being
seized with remorse, repeatedly approached the royal
presence, intending to warn James of his danger; but
either his heart failed him, or he was prevented by
the crowd of knights and ladies who filled the pre-
* Contemporary Account, p. 466.
1436. JAMES r. 263
sence chamber, and he renounced his purpose. It was
now long past midnight, and the traitors, Athole and
Stewart, who knew by this time that Graham and the
other conspirators must be near at hand, heard James
express his wishes for the conclusion of the revels with
secret satisfaction ; when, at this moment, a last effort
was made to save the unhappy prince, which had
almost succeeded. The faithful highland woman who
had followed the court to Perth, again presented herself
at the door of the chamber, and so earnestly implored
to see the king, that the usher informed him of her
wishes. It was a moment on which his fate seemed
to hang, but his evil genius presided; he bade her call
again and tell her errand on the morrow, and she left
the monastery, after solemnly observing that they
would never meet asrain.*
Soon after this James called for the parting cup, and
the company dispersed. The Earl of Athole, and Sir
Robert Stewart the chamberlain, were the last to leave
the apartment ; and the king, who was now partly un-
dressed, stood in his night-gown before the fire talking
gaily with the queen and her ladies of the bedchamber,
when he was alarmed by a confused clang of arms, and
a glare of torches in the outer court. A suspicion of
treason, and a dread that it was the traitor Graham,
instantly darted into his mind, and the queen and the
women flew to secure the door of the apartment, but
to their dismay found the locks destroyed and the
bolts removed. James thus became certain that his
destruction was resolved on ; but his presence of mind
did not forsake him, and commanding the women to
obstruct all entrance as long as they were able, he
/
* Contemporary Account, p. 467. " The said woman of Yreland that
cleped herself a dyvenourese."
2G4 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
rushed to the windows, but found them so firmly se-
cured by iron bars, that all escape was impossible.
The steps of armed men now came nearer and nearer,
and in utter despair he seized the tongs of the fire-
place in the apartment, and by main force wrenching
up one of the boards of the floor, let himself down into
a small vault situated below; he then replaced the
board, and thus completely concealed himself from
observation. From this incommodious retreat there
was a communication with the outer court by means
of a drain or square hole used for cleansing the apart-
ment, and of width enough to have permitted the king
to escape ; but it had unfortunately been built up only
three days before this by James's own direction, as the
tennis court was near it, and the balls had frequently
run in and been lost in the aperture.* Meanwhile,
Graham and his accomplices rushed towards the king's
bedchamber, and having slain Walter Straiten, a page,
whom they met in the passage, began to force open
the door amidst the shrieks of the queen and the
women, who feebly attempted to barricade it. One of
the ladies, named Catherine Douglas, with heroic reso-
lution thrust her arm into the staple from which the
bolt had been treacherously removed; but it was in-
stantly snapt and broken by the brutal violence of the
conspirators, who, with furious looks, and naked wea-
pons stained with blood, burst into the chamber, and
in their first attack had the cowardice to wound some
of the queen's women, as they tied screaming into the
corners of the apartment. The queen alone did not
move, but, wrought up to a pitch of horror and frenzy
which paralyzed every member, stood rooted to the
floor, her hair hanging loosely around her shoulders,
* Contemporary Account, p. 468.
14:36. JAMES I. 265
and with nothing on but her kirtle and mantle.* Yet
in this helpless state one of the villains, in the most
brutal manner, attacked and wounded her, and she
would assuredly have been slain had the deed not been
prevented by a son of Graham's, who peremptorily
commanded him to leave the women and join the search
for the king, whom the conspirators now perceived had
escaped them. Every part of the chamber was now
diligently examined, every place of probable conceal-
ment opened up without success ; and after a tedious
search, they dispersed through the outer rooms and
passages, and from thence extended their scrutiny to
the remoter parts of the building.
A considerable time had now elapsed since the first
alarm, and although Graham had secured the gates
and occupied the outer courts of the monastery by his
highlanders, yet the citizens, and the nobles who were
quartered in the town, already heard the noise of the
tumult, and were hastening to the spot. It seemed
exceedingly likely, therefore, that the king would still
be saved, for his place of concealment had totally
escaped the attention of the conspirators, and every
moment brought his rescue nearer. But he was ruined
by his own impatience. Hearing no stir, and imagining
that they who sought his life had left the place not to
return, he called to the women to bring the sheets from
the bed, and draw him up again into the apartment;
but in their attempt to effect this, Elizabeth Douglas,
one of the queen's women, fell down. The noise re-
called the conspirators, and at this moment Thomas
Chambers, one of Graham's accomplices, who knew the
monastery well, suddenly remembered the small closet
beneath the bed-chamber, and conceiving, if James
* Contemporary Account, p. 4G8.
266 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
had not escaped, that he must be there concealed,
quickly returned to the apartment. In a moment he
discovered the spot where the floor was broken, raised
up the plank, and looking in, by the light of his torch
perceived the king, and the unfortunate lady who had
fallen into the vault; upon which he shouted to his
fellows, with savage merriment to come back, for the
bride was found for whom they had sought and carolled
all night.* The dreadful scene was now soon com-
pleted; yet James, strong in his agony, although
almost naked, and without a weapon, made a desperate
defence. He seized Sir John Hall, who had leapt
down, by the throat, and with main strength threw
him under his feet ; another of the murderers, HalFs
brother, who next descended, met with the same fate;
and such was the convulsive violence with which they
had been handled, that at their execution, a month
after, the marks of the king"'s grasp were seen upon
their persons. But the villains being armed with large
knives, James''s hands and arms were dreadfully lacer-
ated in the struggle. Sir Robert Graham now entered
the chamber, and springing down with his drawn
sword, threw himself upon his victim, who earnestly
implored his mercy, and begged his life, should it be
at the price of half his kingdom. " Thou cruel tyrant,""*
said Graham, "never hadst thou compassion upon
thine own noble kindred, therefore expect none now."
— " At least," said James, "let me have a confessor
for the good of my soul." — " None," cried Graham,
" none shalt thou have but this sword !" upon which
he wounded him mortally in the body, and the unhappy
prince instantly fell down, and, bleeding and exhausted,
* Contemporary Account, p. 469. " Saying to his felows, Sirs, the spows
is foundon, wherfor we ben comne, and al this nycht haf carold here."
1436. JAMES I. 267
continued faintly to implore his life. The scene was
so piteous, that it is said at this moment to have shook
the nerves, and moved the compassion, of the ruffian
himself, who was about to come up, leaving the kinc
still breathing, when his companions above threatened
him with instant death if he did not finish the work.
He then obeyed, and, assisted by the two Halls, com-
pleted the murder by repeated wounds.*
In this atrocious manner was James the First cut
off in the prime of life, and whilst pursuing his schemes
for the consolidation of his own power, and the estab-
lishment of the government upon a just and equitable
basis, with a vigour and impetuosity which proved his
ruin. The shockins^ deed bein": thus consummated,
the traitors anxiously sought for the queen, but by
this time she had escaped; and, warned by the increas-
ing tumult in the town, and the alarm in the court,
they fled in great haste from the monastery, and were
descried crossing the outer moat, and making off in
the direction of the Highlands. Sir David Dunbar,
brother to the Earl of March, overtook and slew one
of their number, after being himself grievously wound-
ed ;-I* but he who fell was of inferior note, and the
principal conspirators made good their retreat to the
highlands.
On enterinsr the chamber where the murder hac'
been committed, a miserable spectacle presented itself,
— the king^'s naked body bathed in blood, and pierced
with sixteen wounds. The lamentable sight, by the
pity and execration which it universally inspired,
stimulated the activity of pursuit, and whetted the
appetite for revenge; and the queen, disdaining to
* Contemporary Account, p. 470.
t Ibid. p. 471. Fordun a Goodal,vol. ii. p. 503.
2^8 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
abandon herself to the helplessness of womanly grief,
used such unwearied efforts to trace and apprehend
the murderers, that in less than a month they were all
taken and executed. Little, however, is known as to
the exact mode of their apprehension. The principal
conspirator, Graham, and some of his accomplices,
appear to have escaped into the wilds of Mar ; but they
were traced to their concealments, and seized by two
highland chieftains, John Stewart Gorm, and Robert
Duncanson, the ancestor of the ancient family of
Robertson of Strowan.*
The shocking scenes of torture which preceded their
death must not be detailed, and are, it is hoped, chiefly
to be ascribed to the ferocity of the times. It must be
remembered that at this period the common death of
every traitor was accomplished by torture; and in the
present instance, the atrocity of the murder was thought
to call for a refinement and complication in the pun-
ishment. Sir Robert Stewart and Thomas Chambers
were first taken andbrought to Edinburgh, where, after
a full confession of their guilt, which unfortunately
does not remain, they were beheaded on a high scaffold
raised in the market-place, and their heads fixed upon
the irates of Perth. Athole, who had been seized bv
the Earl of Angus, was the next sufferer. After being
exhibited to the populace, tied to a pillar in the city,
and crowned with a paper diadem, upon which was
thrice written the name of traitor, his head was struck
off, adorned with an iron crown, and fixed upon the top
of a spear. He denied to the last that he was a party
• Chamber!. Accounts, sub anno 1 4 38. " Et per solucionem factam Johanni
Stewart Gorme pro arrestacione Roberti Grahaam traditoris, et suonim com-
plicum, ut patet per literas regis moderni, de precept, sub signeto, et dicti
Johannis Stewart de recept. concess. super compotum ofi lib. lo s. 4d. Com-
putum Dni Ade fanconar Camerarii Comitatus de Mar." See Illustrations, H.
H.36. JAMES I. 269
to the conspiracy, although he pleaded guilty to the
knowledge and concealment of it, affirming, that he
exerted every effort to dissuade his grandson ao-ainst
such atrocious designs, and believed that he had suc-
ceeded. As he was an old man, on the verge of seventy,
his fate was not beheld without pitj.
Very different were the feelings excited by the exe-
cution of the arch-traitor Graham, whose courage and
characteristic audacity supported him to the last. He
pleaded to his judges, that having renounced his alle-
giance under his hand and seal, and publicly challenged
and arraigned the king as his mortal enemy, he was no
longer his subject, but his feudal equal, and that it was
lawful for him to slay him wherever they met, without
being amenable to any court whatever; seeing, said he,
he did no wrong nor sin, but only slew God's creature
his enemy.* He knew well, he said, that his death was
resolved on, but that the time would come when they
would gratefully pray for the soul of him who hak
delivered them from a merciless tyrant, whose avarice
was so unbounded, that it ruined friends as well as
enemies, and preyed alike on the poor and the rich.
The firmness with which he endured his complicated
sufferings, was equal to the boldness of his defence.
Nailed alive and naked to a tree, dragged through the
city, followed by the executioners, who tore him with
pincers, whilst his son was tortured and beheaded before
his face, he bore all with amazing fortitude; and when
his sufferings became utterly insupportable, warned his
tormentors, that if his anguish should drive him to
blasphemy, the guilt would rest on their heads who had
thus destroyed his soul.f Graham was at last be-
* Contemi)orary Account, p. 473. f Ibid, p. 474.
270 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 1436.
lieaded: and this dreadful scene of feudal vengeance,
wliicli it is impossible to read in the original account
without sentiments of the utmost loathing and horror,
concluded with the execution of Thomas Hall, one who
had apparently belonged to the household of the Duke
of Albany, and who to the last vindicated the share he
liad taken in the king's death.
There was nothing little in the character of James
the First: his virtues and his faults were alike on a
great scale; and his reign, although it embraced only
a period of thirteen years, reckoning from his return
to his assassination, stands forward brightly and pro-
minently in the history of the country. Perhaps the
most important changes which he introduced, were the
publication of the acts of parliament in the spoken
language of the land ; the introduction of the principle
of representation by the election of the commissaries
for shires ; the institution of the court entitled the
"Session:" and the reoularitv with which he assem-
bled the parliament. Before his time it had been the
practice for the laws, the resolutions, and the judgments
of the parliament to be embodied in the Latin language;
a custom which evidently was calculated to retard im-
provement, and perpetuate the dominion of barbarism
and feudal oppression. Before his time the great body
of the judges, to whom the administration of the laws
was intrusted, the barons within their regalities, the
bailies, the sheriffs, mayors, sergeants, and other in-
ferior officers, were incapable of reading or understand-
ing the statutes; and the importance of the change
from this state of darkness and uncertainty, to that
which presented them with the law speaking in their
ow^n tonij-ue, cannot be too hiolilv estimated. It is of
itself enough to stamp originality upon the character
14.36. JAMES I. 271
of the king, and to cause us to regard his reign as an
era in the legislative history of the country.
Nor was the frequency in the assembling his parlia-
ments of less consequence. Of these convocations of
the legislature, no less than thirteen occurred during
his brief reign ; a striking contrast to their infrequency
under the government of his predecessors. His great
principle seems to have been, to govern the country
through the medium of his parliament; to introduce
into this august assembly a complete representation of
the body of the smaller landed proprietors, and of the
commercial classes ; and to insist on the frequent atten-
dance of the great temporal and spiritual lords, not, as
they were formerly wont, in the character of rivals of
the sovereign, surrounded by a little court, and backed
by numerous bands of armed vassals, but in their ac-
credited station, as forming the principal and essential
portion of the council of the nation, bound to obey their
summons to parliament upon the same principle which
obliged them to give suit and service in the feudal
court of their lieoe lord the kins:.
Another striking feature in Jameses reign, was his
institution of the " Session,''*' his constant anxiety for
the administration of justice amongst the middle ranks
and the commons, and the frequent and anxious legis-
lative enactments for the severe and speedy punish-
ment of offenders. His determination, that "he would
make the bracken-bush keep the cow,"" — that proverb
already alluded to, and still gratefully remembered in
Scotland,* — was carried into execution by an indefati-
gable activity, and a firmness so inexorable as some-
times to assume the appearance of cruelty; but in
estimating his true character upon this point, it is
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 511.
272 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 143G.
necessary to keep clearly before our eyes the circum-
stances in which he found the country, and the dreadful
misrule and oppression to which the weaker individuals
in the state were subjected from the tyranny of the
higher orders. It is impossible, however, to deny that
the king was sometimes cruel and unjust; and that
when Graham accused him of tyranny and oppression,
he had perhaps more to say in his vindication than
many of our historians are willing to admit. The
explanation, and, in some little measure, the excuse
for this, is to be found in the natural feelings of deter-
mined and undisguised hostility with which he un-
doubtedly regarded the family of Albany, and their
remotest connexions. James considered the govern-
ment of the father and the son in its true li2:ht — as one
long usurpation ; for although the first few ^^ears of
Albany's administration as governor had been sanc-
tioned by royal approval and the voice of the parlia-
ment, yet it is not to be forgotten, that the detention
of the youthful king in England extended through the
sickening period of nineteen years, during the greater
part of which time the return of this prince to his throne
and to his people was thwarted, as we have seen, by
every possible intrigue upon the part of Albany. This
base conduct was viewed by James with more unfor-
jrivinof resentment from its beins: crowned with success;
for the aged usurper by a quiet death escaped the me-
ditated vengeance, and transmitted the supreme autho-
rity in the state to his son, ransomed from captivity
for this very end, whilst his lawful prince beheld him-
self still detained in England. When he did return,
therefore, it was not to be wondered at that his resent-
ment was wrought to a high pitch; and deep and
bloody as was the retribution which he exacted, it was
J 436. JAMES I. 273
neither unnatural, nor, according to the feelings of
those times, wholly unjustifiable.
But making every allowance for the extraordinary
wrono's he had suffered, the determination which he
appears to have formed, of considering every single act
of Albany's administration, however just it may have
been in itself, as liable to be challenged and cut down,
necessarily led, when attempted to be acted upon, to a
stretch of power which bordered upon tyranny. The
dilapidation, indeed, of the crown lands, and the plunder
of the royal revenues which had taken place under the
government of Albany and his son, aflforded James a
sufficient ground for resuming a great part of what had
originally belonged to him ; but as far as we are able
to trace his schemes for the re-establishment of the
royal authority, and the diminution of the overgrown
power of the feudal aristocracy, there does appear about
them a stern rigour, and a love of power, little removed
from absolute oppression. It is not, therefore, a subject
of wonder, that this spirit, which was solely directed
against his nobles, incurred their bitterest hatred, and
ultimately led to his ruin.
If we except his misguided desire to distinguish him-
self as a persecutor of theWickliffites, James's love for
the church, as the best instrument he could employ in
disseminating the blessings of education, and of gene-
ral improvement throughout the country, was a wise
and politic passion. He found his clergy a superior
and enlightened class of men, and he employed their
power, their wealth, and their abilities, as a counter-
poise to his nobility: yet he was not, like David the
First, a munificent founder of new religious houses;
indeed, his income w^as so limited as to make this im-
possible. His efforts were directed to the preservation
VOL. III. S
274 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 143G.
of the discipline and learning of the church; to the
revival of the custom of holding general councils or
chapters, which had been discontinued during his deten-
tion in England, but of which three appear to have
been assembled during his brief reign; to a personal
inspection of the various monasteries and religious
establishments during his progresses through the
kingdom, and an affectionate reproval, if he found they
had dejxeneratcd from the strictness of their rule or
the sanctity of their deportment.*
It is well known that the personal accomplishments
of this prince were of a high character. After his re-
turn, indeed, his incessant occupation in the cares of
government left him little leisure for the cultivation
of literature or of the fine arts ; but his long detention
in England gave him ample opportunities of mental
cultivation, of which he appears to have anxiously
availed himself. He was a reformer of the language
and of the poetry of his country; he sang beautifully,
and not only accompanied himself upon the harp and
the organ, but composed various airs and pieces of sa-
cred music, in which there was to be recognised the
same original and inventive "genius which distino^uished
this remarkable man in everything to which he applied
his mind.+
In his person, James was of the middle size, of a
make rather powerful and athletic than elegant, and
which fitted him to excel in all martial feats and exer-
cises. Of these he was extremely fond; and we have
the testimony of a contemporary, that in drawing the
bow, in the use of the lance, in horsemanship, wrest-
* Innes, MS. Chronology, quoted by Chalmers in his Poetic Remains of
the Scottish kings, pp. 8, IG. Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 508.
+ Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 504.
1437. JAMES I. 275
ling and running, in throwing the hammer, and " put-
ting the stane,"*"* few of his courtiers could compete with
him. His great strength, indeed, was shown in the
dreadful and almost successful resistance which he
made to his murderers. He died in the forty-fourth
year of his age, and was buried in the church of the
Carthusians at Perth, which he had himself founded.
He left by his Queen Joanna, an only son, James, his
successor, then a boy in his seventh year, and five
daughters. To two of these, Margaret, who became
Queen of France, and Eleanor, who married Sigis-
mund duke of Austria, their father transmitted his
love of literature.*
Jameses remaining daughters were Isabella, married
to Francis duke of Bretagne ; Mary, who took to her
husband the Count de Boncquan, son to the Lord of
Campvere; and lastly, Jane, wedded to the Earl of
Angus, and subsequently to the Earl of Morton.
* The story of the Dauphiness and Alain Chartier is 'well known. Find-
ing this famous poet asleep in the saloon of the palace, she stooped down and
kissed him — observing to her ladies, who were somewhat astonished at the
proceeding, that she did not kiss the man, but the mouth which had uttered so
many fine things : a singular, and, as they perhaps thought, too minute a dis-
tinction. Menagiana, vol. ii. p. 130.
Eleanor, although equally fond of literature, confined herself to a more de-
corous mode of exhibiting her predilection, by translating the romance of
Ponthus et Sidoyne into German, for the amusement of her husband.
END OF THE REIGN OF JAMES THE FlRSTc
HISTORICAL REMARKS
0\ THE
DEATH OF RICHARD THE SECOND.
HISTORICAL EEMAUKS
ON THE
DEATH OF RICHARD THE SECOND.
It is generally known, that mucli obscurity hangs over
the common stories relative to the death of Richard
the Second, and that Henry the Fourth was greatly
annoyed by reports of the captive king having escaped
to Scotland ; reports which he, of course, invariably
treated as false, and which all our modern historians,
both of England and of Scotland, have been disposed
to consider fabulous : some contenting themselves
with a brief notice, that an impostor appeared under
the name of Richard the Second, and others passing
over the circumstance altogether.
In investigating this obscure part of our history, it
was lately my fortune to discover some very interesting
evidence, which induced me to believe that there was
much more truth in these reports than I w\as at first
disposed to admit. This led to an examination of
the whole proofs relative to Richard's disappearance
and alleged death in England ; and the result was, a
strong conviction that the king actually did make his
escape from Pontefract castle ; that he succeeded in
280 HISTORICAL REMARKS
conveying himself to Scotland, where he was discover-
ed, detained, and supported, by Robert the Third and
the Duke of Albany; and that he actually died in that
country, long after his reputed murder in England.
I am well aware that this is a startling proposition,
too broadly in the face of long-established opinion
to be admitted upon any evidence inferior almost to
demonstration. It is quite possible, also, that there
may exist, in the manuscript treasures of the public
libraries of England or of France, absolute proof that
Richard was murdered, or that he died in prison ; and
one great object of these observations will be attained,
if they have the effect of directing the attention of the
learned to the farther investigation of a subject still
very obscure. In the meantime, I trust I shall succeed
in showing, that my hypothesis, as to Richard's escape,
for it pretends to no higher name, is supported by a
body of direct as Avell as of negative evidence, superior
to that which could be adduced upon many other his-
torical facts, the truth of which has not be questioned
by the most fastidious and sceptical writers.
It is stated by Bower, or Bow-maker, the continuator
of Fordun, and one of the most ancient and authentic
of our early historians, that Richard the Second found
means to escape from Pontefract castle ; that he suc-
ceeded in conveying himself to the Scottish isles ; and,
travelling in disguise through those remote parts, was
accidentally recognised and discovered, when sitting
in the kitchen of Donald lord of the Isles, by a jester
who had been educated at the court of the kins:. The
same historian proceeds to say, that Donald of the
Isles sent him, under the charge of Lord Montgomery,
to Robert the Third, with whom, as long as the Scot-
tish monarch lived, he was supported as became his
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 281
rank ; and that, after the death of this king, the royal
fugitive was delivered to the Duke of Albany, then
governor of Scotland, by whom he was honourably
treated ; and he concludes this remarkable sentence,
which I have given nearly in his own words, by
affirming, that Richard at length died in the castle of
Stirling, and was buried in the church of the preach-
ing friars, on the north side of the altar.*
In another part of his history, the same writer,
in describing the devastations committed by Richard
in his expedition into Scotland, alludes in equally
positive terms, and almost in the same words, to his
subsequent escape into that country, and his being-
discovered by Donald of the Isles ;-|- and again, in the
passage in which he mentions the death of Robert the
Third, the same historian remarks, that about this
time many persons fled out of England from the face
of Henry the Fourth, and came to King Richard in
Scotland; amongst whom were Henry Percy the elder,
with his grandson, Henry Percy the younger, who had
come a little before this, and beinsr of the same aa'e
with James the First, had been brought up with him
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 427. " Isto modo rex Ricardus fuit regno
privatus et perpetuk carceribus, cito deficiendus deputatus ; sed subtiliter
abinde ereptus, et ad insulas Scotia3 transvectus, et in coquina Dovenaldi
domini Insularum, a quodam fatuo qui in curia Regis Ricardi dum floreret,
educatus fuerat cognitus et repertus, et a dicto domino Insularum ad Regem
Scotise Robertum Tertium per Dominum de Monte-Gomorry transmissus,
cum quo dum Rex Scotiae vixerat reverenter, ut decuit, procuratus, et post
mortem regis Duel Albanise gubernatori Scotise presentatus ; cum quo regi-
fice quoad statum honoratus, tandem in castro de Strivelyn mortuus, et in
ecclesia fratmm ejusdem ad aquilonare altaris cornu ejusdem tumulatus." —
" Hie Ricardus fuit filius Edwardi principis Wallise, filii Eduardi Windesor,
qui rexit annis viginti duobus ; mortuus sine liberis."
+ Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. 402. " Unde ad id deventum est, ut ipse
idem Rex Ricardus II,, qui olim in florenti majestate sua, stipatus, turmis
militum, et multitudine clientum, Salomoni magno in expensis aequiparaba-
tur, tandem carceres evadens, insulas Scotise petens, cognitus est a quodam
fatuo, qui in sua curia ante hoc educatus fuerat, et inventus in culina, tan-
quam vilis elixa, Dovenaldi domini Insularum."
282 HISTORICAL REMARKS
ill the castle of St Andrews. At the same time, he
continues, there came also the Lord Bardolph, two
Welsh prelates, the Bishops of St Asaph and of Bangor,
the Abbot of Welbeck, and other honourable persons;
but, he adds. King Richard would in nowise be per-
suaded, either by the governor, or by any other persons,
to have a private interview with the Earl of Northum-
berland.* Lastly, under the events of the year 1419,
the historian has this brief entry: " In this year died
Bichard king of England, on the Feast of St Luke, in
the castle of Stirling.""!- These passages are suffi-
ciently direct and positive : and in estimating the
weight to which they are entitled, it must be remem-
bered that Bower states them upon his own know-
ledge; that he was a contemporary engaged in the
collection of materials for his history at the period in
question ; and that, from his rank in the church, from
his employment in responsible offices of state, and his
connexion with those best able to give him information
upon this subject, his evidence is of an unexception-
able kind. It is indeed true, that in the remote annals
of the country, he may be convicted of error; but with
regard to events falling within the range of his own
personal observation. Bower is entitled to high credit ;
and he assuredly does not throw out the' slightest sus-
picion as to the identity of the king.
But the credit due to this passage is much strength-
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p, 441. " His diebus fugerunt multi de Ang-
lia a facie regis Henrici IV., et in Scotiam ad regem Ricardum venenint.
Venit enim Henricus Percy, senior, cum nepote suo Henrico juniore qui
paulo ante venerat et cum principe nostro Jacobo I. coa?vus in Castro Sancti
Andrea? extiterat. Venitque tunc temporis, dominus de Bardolf, cum diversis
honestis personis, et duo Episcopi AVallenses, viz. Dominus Griffinus Epis-
copus Bangorenus et alius episcopus, viz. Assavensis et Abbas de AVelbeck.
Quo in tempore rex Anglis Ricardus non potuit induci, nequc per gubema-
torem nee alios quoscunque ad habendum i'amiliare colloquium cum Comite
Northumbrise."
f Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 459.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 283
ened by the circumstance, that he is corroborated in
the greater part, if not in the whole of his story, by
another valuable original writer, Andrew Winton,
whose testimony cannot be regarded as borrowed from
Bower, as we know that his Chronicle was completed
before the history of Bower was begun.* It is stated
by this historian, in a passage of singular simplicity,
of the contents of which I now give a literal tran-
script, " that after Richard's deposition by King
Henry the Fourth, he was confined in the Tower of
London; they then (says he) brought him to Ponte-
fract, where he was delivered to two gentlemen of rank
and reputation, named Swinburn and Waterton, who
felt compassion for him, and spread a report of the
king's death ; after which there arose a rumour that
King Richard was still alive.'*' Winton then proceeds
to say, " that he will tell how this report arose, as he
heard, although he possesses no information as to the
manner in which the king efi'ected his escape from
Pontefract : But," says he, " at this time a poor tra-
veller appeared in the Oiite Isles of Scotland; and it
happened that he was met by a lady of the family of
Bisset, a daughter of an Irish lord, who was wedded to
the brother of the Lord of the Isles. She had before
seen the king in Ireland, and she immediately declared
to her husband, that this traveller was King Richard ;
* Winton, by Macpherson, preface, p. 22. " It was at his request (Sir John
of the Wemyss) that he undertook his Chronicle, 1 Prolog. 54, which was
finished between the third of September, 1420, and the return of King James
from England in 1424, as appears by Robert duke of Albany being mentioned
as dead, and the prayer for the prosperity of his children, ix. xxvi. 51." —
" Bower was born in 1385. In 1403, when eighteen years old, he put on the
habit ; he after^vards completed his theological studies at Paris ; and having
returned to Scotland, was elected Abbot of Inchcolm in 1418. After this, he
was employed in various offices of trust under the government ; and at length,
in 1441, began his continuation of Fordun, whose Collectanea he had in his
possession."" — Goodal's Preface to Fordun, p. 3.
284 HISTORICAL REMARKS
upon which he called him, and inquired whether this
was true ; but he denied it, and would not allow that
it was so. However,"" continues Winton, " they sent
this person to the Lord Montgomery in haste, and
afterwards he was kept by Robert king of Scotland;
then he was held for some time by the Lord of Cum-
bernauld; and lastly delivered to the Duke of Albany,
who kept him for a long time after this." The his-
torian then concludes his notice of this m3''sterious
person by the following observation : — " Whether he
had been the king or not, there were few who knew for
certain. He was little inclined to devotion, and sel-
dom showed a desire to hear mass ; from the manner
in which he conducted himself, it seemed likely that
he was half mad or wild."* Such is almost a literal
translation of Winton's testimony, who was Prior of
* After describing Richard's deposition, Winton thus proceeds — vol. ii. pp.
387,388,389:—
" Wythoutyn dout the court wes hard
W}i;h this forsaid King Richard,
For in the Toure of Londone syne
Haldyne he wes a quhile in pyne :
And eftyre that on purpos set
Thai brocht hym north on til Powmfret ;
Thare wes he delyverit then
Tyl twa wele trowit famous men,
S^vynhu^n and Wattyrton,
Men of gud reputacioune ;
Thare he bade, and wes hard stade,
Gret pite of h}'m thir gud men had.
The word in Yngland thai gert spred
That this Richard king wes dede,
Bot eftyr that thare ras tithand,
That this King Richard wes livand.
And quhon that rais, I will tel here
As I hard thare-of the manere.
Bot I can nocht tell the case
Oflf Poumfret as he chapit wase.
" Bot in the Owt-Ilys of Scotland than
Thare wes traveland a pure man,
A Lordis douchtyr of Ireland
Of the Bissetis, thare dwelland
Wes weddit wyth a Gentylman,
The Lord of the Ilys bruthir than,
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 285
Lochleven at the time of Richard's appearance, and
must have had the best opportunities of informing
himself of the truth of the story. He cautiously,
indeed, declines giving us his own opinion upon the sub-
ject, contenting himself with declaring, that few knew
for certain whether this mysterious person was the
king; but this, I think, may be accounted for, from his
high admiration of Albany, and his evident desire not
to reveal anything which might throw a stain upon his
government, or that of his son, Duke Murdoch.
We know, from his own words, that Winton re-
garded Henry the Fourth as an unprincipled usurper,
who had unjustly dethroned the rightful king ;* and to
have admitted that Albany detained Richard in an
honourable captivity, whilst he recognised the title of
Henry to the throne, would have little corresponded
In Ireland before quhen scho had bene,
And the King Richard thare had sene,
Quhen in the Islis scho saw this man,
Scho let that scho weil kend hym than,
Til hir Maistere sone scho past
And tauld thare til hym als-sa fast,
That he wes that King of Yngland
That scho be-fore saw in Ireland,
Quhen he wes therein before
As scho drew than to memore ;
Quhen til hir Mastere this scho had tauld,
That man rycht sone he tyl hym cald.
And askit hym, gyf it wes swa.
That he denyit ; and said nocht, Ya.
Syn to the Lord of Montgwmery
That ilke man wes send in hy ;
That ilke man syne eftyr that
Robert oure King of Scotland gat,
The Lord als of Cumbirnald
That man had a quhile to hald.
The Duke of Albany syne hym gat,
And held hym lang tyme eftyr that :
Quhethir he had bene king, or nane,
Thare wes hot few, that wj'st certane.
Of devotioune nane he wes
And seildyn will had to here Mes,
As he bare hym, like wes he
Oft half wod or wyld to be/'
* Winton, vol. ii. p. 386.
286 HISTORICAL REMARKS
with the high character which he has elsewhere given
of him. This disposition of the historian is strikingly
illustrated by the manner in which he passes over the
murder of the Duke of Rothesay. It is now established
by undoubted evidence, that the prince was murdered
by Albany and Douglas ; yet Winton omits the
dreadful event, and gives us only a brief notice of his
death.* And I may observe, that in his account of
the deposition of Henry, and the subsequent escape of
Richard into Scotland, he has introduced a remark
which is evidently intended as an apology to the reader
for the concealment of part of the truth. " Although,"
says he, " everything which you write should be true,
yet in all circumstances to tell the whole truth, is
neither needful nor speedful ."-f*
Yet although the cautious Prior of Lochleven did
not choose to commit himself by telling the whole truth,
he states two remarkable circumstances which do not
appear elsewhere. The first of these is the denial, by
the person in question, that he was the king, when he
w^as discovered by Donald of the Isles : a very extra-
ordinary step certainly to be. taken by an impostor, but
a natural one to be adopted by the fugitive king him-
self, for at this time Donald of the Isles was in strict
alliance with Henry the Fourth.^ The second is the
new fact, that Richard was delivered at Pontefract to
two trust-worthy and well-known gentlemen, Swinburn
and Waterton. Such strict secrecy was observed by
Henry as to the mode in which the dethroned monarch
* "Winton's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 397.
t Id. vol. ii. pp. 383, 384.
" And in al thing full suth to say
Is noucht neidful na speidful ay.
Bot quhat at suld writyn be
Suld be al suth of honeste."
Ij: Rotuli Scotise, vol. ii. pp. 155, 156.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 287
was conveyed to Pontefract, and the persons to whose
custody he was intrusted, that neither in the state
papers of the time, nor in the contemporary English
historians, is there any particular information upon
the subject. But it is certain, that Sir Thomas
Swinburn and Sir Robert Waterton were two knio:hts
in the confidence and employment of Henry, and that
Waterton, in particular, was steward of the honour of
Pontefract ;* a circumstance which tends strongly to
corroborate the account of Winton, and to show that,
although he did not think it prudent to tell the whole
truth, he yet possessed sources of authentic information.
There is no mention of Winton in Bower^s additions to
Fordun ; a strong proof, I think, that this last author
had never seen his Chronicle, so that we are entitled to
consider these two passages as proceeding from two
witnesses, who, being unconnected with each other, yet
concur in the same story. Nor is it difficult to account
for the more particular and positive account of Bower,
if we recollect that this author composed his history
under the reign of James the Second; twenty years
after Winton had completed his Chronicle, when all
were at liberty to speak freely of the actions and
character of Albany, and time had been given to this
writer to investigate and discover the truth.
^ Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete, p. 269. Waterton was Master of the
Horse to Henry the Fourth, who employed him in a foreign mission to the
Duke of Gueldres. Cottonian Catalogue, p. 245. No. 88, also p. 244. In
May 7, 1404, Sir Thomas Swinhorne was sent on a mission to the magis-
trates of Bruges. Ibid. p. 244. See also Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 428.
I have much pleasure in acknowledging the polite and friendly attention of
Sir John Swinburn, Bart, of Capheaton, to my inquiries upon this subject.
From his information I am enabled to state, that although in his own family
there is no evidence, either written or traditionary, on the subject of Richard
the Second, yet in the family of the present Mr Waterton of Walton Hall,
the descendant of Sir Robert Waterton, Master of the Horse to Henry the
Fourth, there is a long-established tradition, that his ancestor had the charge
of Richard the Second in Pontefract castle.
288 HISTORICAL REMARKS
In an ancient manuscript in the Advocates' Library,
which I conjecture to have been written posterior to
the time of Fordun, and prior to the date of Bower's
continuation, I have found three passages which cor-
roborate the accounts of this author and of Winton in
a striking manner. The manuscript is entitled, Extracta
ex Chronicis Scotioe, and at folio 254 has the following
passage : — " Henry Percy earl of Northumberland,
with his nephew Henry the younger, and many others
of the prelates and nobles of England, who fled from
the face of Henry the Fourth, came into Scotland to
Kins: Richard, at this time an exile, but well treated
by the governor."* In another part of the same manu-
script, the account given of the death of Richard, by
Bower, is thus briefly but positively confirmed, with
the valuable addition of the monkish or leonine epitaph
inscribed above his tomb : " Richard the Second king
of England, died in the castle of Stirling, in the afore-
said year, and was buried on the Feast of St Lucie the
Virgin, on the north side of the high altar of the Preach-
ing Friars ;" above whose royal image there painted,
it is thus written :
" Anglise Ricardus jacet hie rex ipse sepultus.
Loncaste quern Dux dejecit arte, mota prodicione
Prodicione potens, sceptro potitur iniquo.
Supplicium luit hunc ipsius omne genus.
Ricardum inferis hunc Scotia sustulit annis
Qui caustro Striveling vite peregit iter
Anno milleno quaterceno quoque deno
Et nono Christi regis finis fuit iste/'f'
The church of the Dominican friars at Stirling has
* " Percy Henricus Comes Northumbriae cum nepote suo Henrico minore
et multi alii nobiles Anglise ac praelati fugientes a facie Henrici quarti Regis
Anglise Scotiam venenint ad regem Ricardum exulem, per gubernatorem
bene tractati." — Extracta ex Chronicis Scotia;, folio 254. MS. Adv. Lib.
■f Extracta ex Chronicis Scotise, fol. 263, dorso.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 289
long since been destroyed, and other buildings erected
on its site. It existed, however, in the time of Boece,
who mentions the inscription over Richard's tomb as
being visible in his day.* Such being the clear and
positive statements of these respectable contemporary
writers ; whilst, as I shall afterwards show, the accounts
of the reputed death of the king by the English his-
torians were extremely vague and contradictory, and
the reports of his escape frequent, I certainly did not
feel disposed to follow Buchanan, and the wliole body
of English and Scottish historians who succeeded him,
in treating the story as fabulous, or in considering the
person whom Bower so positively asserts to have been
the king, as an impostor.
Having proceeded thus far in these researches, I
began the examination of that part of the Chamberlain
Accounts, which forms the continuation of those valu-
able unpublished records, of which I have already given
a description, in the appendix to the second volume of
this history. It contains the accounts of the great
chamberlains and other ministers of the crown during
the government of the Duke of Albany ; and in ex-
amining them with that deep interest which such
authentic documents demanded, I came upon the fol-
lowing extraordinary passages, which I shall translate
literally from the Latin. Tho first occurs at the end
of the accounts for the year 1408, and is as follows :
"Be it remembered also,, that the said lord governor,
down to the present time, has neither demanded nor
received any allowance for the sums expended in the
support of Richard king of England, and the messen-
gers of France and of Wales, at different times coming
into the country, upon whom he has defrayed much,
* Boece, Hist. p. 339.
VOL. III. T
290 HISTORICAL REMARKS
as is well known.*"* Again, at the conclusion of Ac-
counts for the year 1414, the following passage is to be
found : " Be it remembered also, that our lord the
duke, governor of the kingdom, has not received any
allowance or credit for the expenses of King Richard
incurred from the period of the death of his brother
our lord the king of good memory, last deceased. """f*
The same memorandum, in precisely the same words,
is inserted at the termination of the Chamberlain
Accounts for the year 1415; J and lastly, at the con-
clusion of the year, 1417, there is this passage : "Be
it remembered, that the lord governor has not received
any allowance for the expenses and burdens which he
sustained for the custody of King Richard of England
from the time of the death of the late king his brother
of good memory, being a period of eleven years, which
expenses the lords auditors of accounts estimate at
the least to have amounted annually to the sum of a
hundred marks, which for the past years makes in all
^733, 6s. 8d."§
The discovery of these remarkable passages in records
of unquestionable authenticity, was very satisfactory.
I considered them as affording a proof, nearly as con-
* " Et memorandum quod dictus Dominus Gubernator regni non peciit
neque recepit ad presens aliquam allocationem pro expensis suis factis super
Ricardum rcgem Angliac ; Nuncios Francia; vel Walliaj diversis vicibus in-
fra regnum venient : circa quos multa exposuit, ut est notum." Rotuli Com-
potorum, vol. iii. p. 18.
+ "Et memorandum quod dominus dux gubernator regni non recepit allo-
cationem aliquam pro expensis regis Ricardi, a tempore obitus bone memorie
Domini regis fratris sui ultimo, defuncti," Rotuli Compotorum vol. iii,
p. 69. .
X Id. vol. iii. p. 78.
§ " Et memorandum quod dominus gubernator non recepit allocacionem
pro expensis et oneribus quas sustinuit pro custodia regis Ricardi Anglie, a
tempore obitus bone memorie quondam domini regis fratris sui, jam per un-
decim annos. Quas expensas annuatim dni auditores compotorum estimant
ad minus fuisse in quolibet, anno centum marcas. Qua) summa se extendit
pro annis pra;teritis ad viic xxxiii lib. vi sb. viii d. qua) summa debetur do-
mino duci.^' Id. p. 95.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 291
vincing as the nature of the subject admitted, that the
story given b j Bower and by Winton was substantially
true; as establishing upon direct evidence, which
hitherto I can see no cause to suspect, the fact so posi-
tively asserted during the reign of Henry the Fourth
and Henry the Fifth, that Richard the Second had
escaped into Scotland, and lived there for many years
after his reputed death in England. That an impostor
should, as we learn from Winton, deny that he was
the king, or that, in the face of this denial, a poor
maniac should be supported at great expense, and de-
tained for more than eleven years at the Scottish court,
seems to me so extravagant a supposition, that I do
not envy the task of any one who undertakes to sup-
port it. It was due, however, to the respectable
historians who had adopted the common opinion
regarding the death of Richard in 1399, that the evi-
dence upon which they proceeded should be diligently
weighed and examined. This 1 have done, with an
earnest desire to arrive at the truth in this mysterious
story; and the result has been, the discovery of a body
of negative evidence, superior, I think, to that which
could be brought in support of most historical facts.
And here 1 may first remark, that there is no cer-
tain proof furnished by contemporary English writers,
that Richard the Second either died or was murdered
in Pontefract castle; the accounts of the best histo-
rians being not only vague and inconsistent w^ith each
other, but many of them such as can easily be proved
to be false by unexceptionable evidence. So much,
indeed, is this the case, that some ingenious English
authors have of late years attempted to clear up the
mass of obscurity and contradiction which hangs over
the fate of Richard, and after having done all which
292 HISTORICAL REMARKS
could be accomplished by erudition and acuteness, have
been compelled to leave the question, as to the manner
of his death, in nearly the same uncertainty in which
they found it.*
Walsingham, a contemporary historian of good au-
thority, although attached to the house of Lancaster,
affirms, that, according to common report, " ut fertur^''''
he died by a voluntary refusal of food, on the four-
teenth of February, 1 399. " Richard,'' says he, " the
former king of England, when he had heard of these
disasters, became disturbed in his mind, and, as is re-
ported, put an end to his life by voluntary abstinence,
breathing his last at Pontefract castle on St Valen-
tine's day."-|- Thomas of Otterburn, however, who
was also a contemporary, gives a story considerably
different : for he informs us that the kins:, althouofh
he at first determined to starve himself to death, after-
wards repented, and washed to take food, but that in
consequence of his abstinence, the orifice of the sto-
mach was shut, so that he could not eat, and died of
weakness. " When Richard," he observes, " the late
King of England, who w^as then a prisoner in Ponte-
fract castle, had learnt the misfortune of his brother
John of Holland, and the rest of his friends, he fell
into such profound grief, that he took the resolution
of starving himself, and, as it is reported, he so long
abstained from food, that the orifice of his stomach was
closed; so that when he was afterwards persuaded by
his keepers to satisfy the craving of nature, by attempt-
ing to take nourishment, he found himself unable to
* See the learned dissertations of Mr Webb and Mr Amyot, in the twentieth
volume of the Archaeologia.
t Walsingham, p. 3G3. " Ricardus quondam rex Anglige cum audisset haec
infortunia, mente consternatus, semetipsum extinxit inedia voluntaria, ut
fertur, clausitque diem extremum apud castrum de Pontefracto die Sancti
ValentinL
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 293
eat, and his constitution sinking under it, he expired
in the same place on St Valentine''s day."*
In direct opposition to this story of death by volun-
tary abstinence, (a mode of extinction which is pro-
nounced by an excellent historian to be inconsistent
with the previous character of the king,)-]- a completely
different tale is given by the author of a French manu-
script work, in the royal library at Paris, who seems
to be the first to whom we owe the introduction of Sir
Piers Exton, and his band of eight assassins, who
murdered Richard with their halberts and battle-axes.
This account has been repeated by Fabyan and Hall
in their Chronicles, by Hayward in his Life of Richard,
and, in consequence of its adoption by Shakspeare, has
become, and will probably continue, the general belief
of Europe. For a complete exposure of the falsehood
of this tale of assassination, I shall content myself
with a simple reference to Mr Amyot's paper on the
death of Richard the Second, which is printed in the
Archseologia. J
There is lastly a class of contemporary authorities
which ascribe the death of the king neither to volun-
tary abstinence, nor to the halbert of Sir Piers Exton
— but to starvation by his keepers. The manuscript
Chronicle of Kenilworth uses expressions which amount
to this : — " Fame et siti, ut putatur, dolenter consum-
matus." A Chronicle, in the Harleian collection, the
work of Peter de Ickham, is more positive : "A cibo
* Otterbum, pp. 228, 229. " Ricardus quondam rex Angliae in castro de
Pontefracto existens custoditus, cum audisset infortunium fratris sui Joannis
Holland, etceterorum, intantam devenit tristitiam, quodsemet inediavoluit
peremisse, et tantum dicitur abstinuise, quod clauso oriticio stomacbi, cum
ex post, consilio custodum, voluisset naturse satisfecisse comedendo, prse-
cluso omni appetitu comedere non valeret, unde factum est, ut natura de-
belitata, defecerit, et die Sancti Valentini, diem clausit supiemum ibidem."
+ Turner, Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 352.
J Archaeologia, vol. xx. pp, 427, 428.
294 HISTORICAL REMARKS
et potu per iv. aut v. dies restrictus, fame et inedia
expiravit." Hardyng, the chronicler, who was a con-
temporary, and lived in the service and enjoyed the
confidence of Hotspur and his father, repeats the same
story.* Whilst we thus see that the accounts of so
many writers who lived at the time are completely at
variance ; one saying that he starved himself, another
that he repented, and wished to eat, but found it too
late, and died ; a third, that it took all the efi'orts of
Exton and his accomplices, by repeated blows, to fell
him to the ground ; and the last class of writers, that
his death was occasioned by his keepers depriving him
of all nourishment, the proper inference to be drawn
from such discrepancies in the various accounts amounts
simply to this — that about this time the king disap-
peared, and no one knew what became of him.
It may be said, however, that all contemporary
writers agree that the king did die, although they
differ as to the manner of his death ; yet even this is
not the case : on the contrary, the belief that he had
escaped, and was alive, seems to have been entertained
in England by many, and those the persons most likely
to have access to the best information, almost imme-
diately after his being committed to Pontefract, and
apparently before there w^as time to have any commu-
nication with Scotland. This can be very convincingly
shown.
Some time after Richard had been conveyed with
great secrecy to his prison in Pontefract castle, and
previous to his reported death, a conspiracy was formed
against Henry the Fourth by the Earls of Kent,
Salisbury, and Huntingdon. -|- These noblemen, along
* Cron. Harl. MS. 4323, p. 68. Archseologia, vol. xx. p. 282.
t Walsingham, pp. 362, 363.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 295
with the Bishop of Carlisle and the Abbot of West-
minster, were the chief actors in the plot ; but they
had drawn into it many persons of inferior rank, and,
amongst the rest, Maudelain, a priest, who had been
a favourite of the king, and who resembled him so
completely in face and person, that it is said the
likeness might have deceived any one.* Their design
was to murder Henry at a tournament which they
were to hold at Windsor, and to restore King Richard.
After everything, however, as they supposed, had
been admirably organized, the plot was betrayed to
Henry by one of their own number ; and on arriving at
Windsor, they found that their intended victim had
fled to London. They now changed their purpose, and
marched to Sunning, near Reading, where Richard''s
youthful queen resided, who had not at this time
completed her ninth year. Here, according to the
accounts of Walsingham and Otterburn, the Earl of
Kent, addressing the attendants and friends of the
queen, informed them that Henry of Lancaster had
fled to the Tower of London, and that they were now
on their road to tneet King Richard, their lawful
prince, who had escaped from prison, and was then
at the bridge of Radcote with a hundred thousand
men.-j* The last part of the assertion was undoubtedly
false ; the first clause of the sentence contains the
first assertion of Richard's escape which I have met
with ; and I may remark, that with the exception of
the two dignified ecclesiastics, none of the conspirators,
* ^letrica! History of Deposition of Richard the Second, Archaeologia,
vol. XX. p. 213.
+ The expressions of Walsingham, p. 363, are slightly different from those
of Otterburn, Walsingham 's words are, " Quia jam evasit de carcere et jacet
ad Pontem-fractum cum centum millibus defensorum." Those of Otterburn
are, " Qui jam evasit carcere et jacet ad pontem de Radcote cum 100,000
hominum defensionis," pp. 225, 22b",
296 HISTORICAL REMARKS
whose testimony could have thrown light upon the
subject, were suffered to live. The Earls of Surrey
and of Salisbury were taken and executed at Cirences-
ter ; the Lords Lumley and Despencer shared the
same fate at Bristol ; the Earl of Huntingdon was
seized near London, and beheaded at Pleshy ; two
priests, one of them Maudelain, whose extraordinary
likeness to the king has been already noticed, with
another named Ferriby, were executed at London ;
Sir Bernard Brocas and Sir John Shelly shared their
fate ; and others, whose names Walsingham has not
preserved, suffered at Oxford.* Rapin has asserted,
that both the ecclesiastics who were involved in the
plot, the Abbot of Westminster and the Bishop of
Carlisle, died almost immediately, the abbot of a stroke
of apoplexy, and the bishop of absolute terror ;■[- but
this is an error. The Bishop of Carlisle, who was
tried and pardoned, undoubtedly lived till 1409. And
although the Abbot of Westminster appears to have
died of apoplexy, neither the cause nor the time of his
death agree with the story in Rapin.J It is quite
clear, however, that previous to Richard''s reported
death, it was asserted that he had escaped from Pon-
tefract castle.
A contemporary French manuscript, being a Metrical
History of the Deposition of Richard the Second, which
has been translated and published by Mr Webb in the
Archaeoloo^ia, whilst it confirms the storv of Richard's
alleged escape, adds, that to induce the people to believe
it, they brought Maudelain the priest with them, and
dressed him up to personate the king. The passage,
* Metrical Hist, of Deposition of Richard the Second, p. 215. Archseolo-
gia, vol. XX.
-f Rapin, vol. i. p. 490. Fol. ed. London, 1732.
X Godwin, p. 7C7.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 297
which is as follows, is amusing and curious: — "They,""
says this author, speaking of the conspirators, "had
many archers with them. They said that good King
E-ichard had left his prison, and was there with them.
And to make this the more credible, they had brought
a chaplain, who so exactly resembled good King Richard
in face and person, in form and in speech, that every one
who saw him certified and declared that he was the
old king. He was called Maudelain. Many a time
have I seen him in Ireland, riding through the country
with King Richard his master. I have not for a long
time seen a fairer priest. They armed the aforesaid
as king, and set a very rich crown upon his helm, that
it might be believed of a truth that the king was out
of prison."* I have given this passage from the me-
trical history, because I wish the reader to be possessed
of all the contemporary evidence which may assist him
in the discovery of the truth ; whilst 1 acknowledge
at the same time, that the additional circumstance as
to the personification of Richard by Maudelain the
priest, seems at first to militate against the accuracy
of the story as to Richard"'s escape. It ought to be
remembered, however, that Walsingham says nothing
of this personification ; and his evidence, which is that
of a contemporary in England, ought to outweigh the
testimony of the French Chronicle, which in this part
is avowedly hearsay. Neither does Otterburn mention
this circumstance, although it was too remarkable to
be omitted if it really occurred.
* Archseologia, vol. xx. pp. 213, 214. Translation of a French Metrical
History of the Deposition of Richard the Second, with prefatory ohservations,
notes, and an appendix, by the Rev. John Webb. Mr Webb's notes are
learned and interesting, and have furnished me with som evaluable corrobo-
rations of the truth of my theory as to Richard's fate. In the above passage,
Mr Webb translates " le roy ancien" " the old king:" "the former king"
would express the meaning more correctly.
298 HISTORICAL REMARKS
There is, however, another manuscript in the library
of the King of France, entitled, " Relation de la fjrise
de Richard Seconde, par Berry Roy d''Arines," which
in some measure enables us to reconcile this discre-
pancy. According to the account which it contains,
it was resolved at the meeting of the conspirators,
which was held in the house of the Abbot of West-
minster, that " Maudelain was to ride with them, to
represent King Richard;" but this plan was not after-
wards carried into execution. It appears from the
same manuscript, that Henry himself, when marching
against the conspirators, believed the story of Richard's
escape. This, I think, is evident from the following
passage: " Next morning Henry set out to meet his
enemies, with only fifty lances and six thousand arch-
ers; and drawing up his men without the city, waited
three hours for his reinforcements. Here he was re-
proached by the Earl of Warwick for his lenity, which
had brought him into this danger ; but he vindicated
himself for his past conduct, adding, ' that if he should
meet Richard now, one of them should die.'"* I do
not see how Henry could have expressed himself in
this way to the Earl of Warwick, unless he then be-
lieved that Richard had really escaped, and was about
to meet him in the field.
It was almost immediately after the suppression of
this conspiracy, and the execution of its authors, that
Richard was reported to have died in Pontefract castle ;
and we now come to the consideration of an extraordi-
nary part of the story, in the exposition of the dead
body by Henry, for the purpose of proving to the
* Archi3Dologia, vol. xx. pp. 218, 219. From this curious manuscript, which
belonged to the celebrated Baluze, large extracts -were made by Mr Allen,
Master of Duhvich College, a gentleman of deep research in English history,
and communicated to Mr Webb, from whose notes I have taken them.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 299
people that it was the very body of their late king.
Of this ceremony Otterburn gives the following ac-
count : " His body was carried and exposed in the
principal places intervening betwixt Pontefract and
London ; that part, at least, of the person was shown,
by which he could be recognised, I mean the face,
which was exposed from the lower part of the forehead
to the throat. Having reached London, it was con-
veyed to the church of St PauFs, where the king,
along with some of his nobles, and the citizens of Lon-
don, attended the funeral, both on the first and the
second day ; after the conclusion of the mass, the body
was carried back to Langley, in order to be there in-
terred amongst the preaching friars ; which interment
accordingly took place, being conducted without any
pomp, by the Bishop of Chester, and the Abbots of St
Albans and of Waltham.'*' * The manner in which
this funeral procession to St Paul's was conducted, is
minutely described in the following passage, extracted
by Mr Allen from the manuscript in the royal library
at Paris, already quoted : " In the year 1899-1400,
on the twelfth day of March, was brought to the church
of St Paul of London, in the state of a gentleman, the
body of the noble king Richard. And true it is, that it
was in a carriage which was covered with a black cloth,-|*
having four banners thereupon, whereof two were the
arms of St George, and the other two the arms of St
Edward ; to wit, Azure, over all a cross Or ; and there
* Otterburn, p. 229.
+ " There is a curious representation of this chariot in the fine illuminated
Froissart in the British Museum, from whence it appears, that the carriage
was drawn by two horses, one placed before the other, as the five horses were
placed in the French carriage of Henry VII., as described by Hall, vol. iii.
p. 800." — Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. iii. p. 166.
There is in the same MS. a portrait of Richard the Second when going to
arrest the Duke of Gloucester at Pleshy. — Archseologia, vol. vi. p. 315.
SOO HISTORICAL REMARKS
were a liundred men all clad in black; and each bore
a torch. And the Londoners had thirty torches and
thirty men, who were all clad in white, and they went
to meet the noble King Richard ; and he was brought
to St PauFs, the head church of London. There he
was two days above ground, to show him to those of
the said city, that they might believe for certain that
he was dead; for they required no other thing."*
This ceremony took place on the twelfth of March,
1899, nearly a month after the king'*s reputed death
on the fourteenth of February; and it would appear,
from the expressions which are employed, that the
citizens of London believed that Richard had escaped,
and was alive, and that the exposure of the body was
resorted to by Henry, as the most probable means of
putting down this dangerous report. The question
now immediately arises, if Richard was alive, accord-
ing to the theory which I entertain, in what manner
are we to account for this ceremony at St PauFs, and
for the body lying in state at the different churches
between Pontefract and London? My answer is, that
the whole was a deception, ingeniously got up for the
purpose of blinding the people, but when narrowly
examined, betraying the imposition in a very palpable
manner. It is accordingly positively asserted by the
contemporary author of the French metrical history
of Richard's deposition, that the body thus exposed in
London was not that of the king, but of Maudelain
the priest. I give the passage in Mr Webb's transla-
tion : " Then was the king so vexed at heart by this
evil news, that he neither ate nor drank from that
hour : and thus, as they say, it came to pass that he
died. But, indeed, I do not believe it ; for some de-
* French Metrical History. — Archaeologia, vol. xx. p. 221.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. ,S01
clare for certain that he is still alive and well, shut
up in their prison ; — which is a great error in them ;
although they caused a dead man to be openly carried
through the city of London, in such pomp and cere-
mony as becometh a deceased king, saying that it was
the body of the deceased King Richard. Duke Henry
there made a show of mourning, holding the pall after
him, followed by all those of his blood in fair array,
without regarding him, or the evils that they had done
unto him. * * Thus, as you shall hear, did they carry
the dead body to St PauFs, in London, honourably
and as of right appertaineth to a king. But I cer-
tainly do not believe that it was the old king ; but I
think it was Maudelain, his chaplain, who, in face,
size, height, and make, so exactly resembled him, that
every one firmly thought it was good King Richard.
And if it were he, morn and night I heartily make
my prayer to the merciful and holy God, that he will
take his soul to heaven." *
A late author, Mr Amyot, in an ingenious paper in
the Archseologia, considers that the circumstance of
Maudelain having been beheaded, rendered such decep-
tion impossible. To the support of my ideas as to
Richard's escape, it is of little consequence whether
Maudelain's remains were employed, or some other
mode of deception was resorted to — all that I contend
for is, that the body thus carried in a litter, or car, to
St Paul's, was not that of the king. Now, the mort
narrowly we examine the circumstances attending this
exposition of the body at St Paul's, the more com-
pletely shall we be convinced, I think, that the French
historian is correct, and that it was not the true
Richard. Of the king's person a minute description
* French Metrical Hist. pp. 219,220,221
302 HISTORICAL REMARKS
has been left us by the monk of Evesham. " He was
of the common or middle size, with yellow hair, his
face fair, round, and feminine, rather round than long,
and sometimes flushed and red."*
Keeping in mind this description of the person of
the real Richard, and comparing it with the manner in
which Henry conducted the exhibition at St PauFs, a
strong suspicion arises that he was not in possession
of the actual body of the king. Why was his head
entirely concealed, and the face only shown from the
lower part of the forehead to the throat ? Richard's
yellow hair was the very mark which would have
enabled the people to identify their late monarch ; and
so far from being concealed, we should have been led to
expect that it would have been studiously displayed.
Had the king, indeed, died by the murderous strokes
of Exton and his accomplices, inflicted on the head,
there mi2:ht have been p:ood cause for concealin": the
gashes ; but it will be recollected this cannot be pleaded,
as this story is now given up on all hands as a fable.
There is another circumstance, which in my mind
corroborates this suspicion of deception : Henry ""s wish
was to do public honour to the body of the late king.
He attended, we see, the service for the dead, and held
the pall of the funeral car; but no interment followed,
the body was not permitted to be buried in London at
all ; although there was then a tomb ready, which
Richard, previous to his deposition, had prepared for
himself in Westminster Abbey, and to which Henry
the Fifth afterwards removed the reputed remains of
the king.-|- It was conveyed, apparently, in the same
* Vita Ricardi II. p. 169.
+ Richard the Second's Will is to be found published amongst the Royal
and Noble Wills, p. 191. The king there directs his body to be buried in
" Ecclesia Sancti Petri Westmonasterii — in monmnento quod ad nostrum et
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 803
car in which it lay in state, to Langley, in Hertford-
shire, and there interred with great secrecy, and with-
out any funeral pomp. " When the funeral service,"
says Walsingham, "was concluded in the church of
St Paul, the kins; and the citizens of London beins:
present, the body was immediately carried back to
Lano-lev, to be interred in the church of the Preachins:
Friars ; the last offices being performed by the Bishop
of Chester, the Abbots of St Albans and of Waltham,
without the presence of the nobles, and unattended by
any concourse of the people, nor was there any one who,
after their labours, would invite them to dinner."'"' * It
must be evident to every one, that as Henry''s avowed
object was to convince the English people that Richard
their late king was dead and buried, the greater con-
course of people who attended his funeral, and the
more public that ceremony was made, the more likely
was he to attain his desire. In this light, then, the
sudden removal from London, the secret burial at
Langley, '•'• sine pompa^ sine magnatum prcesentia^ sine
populari turha!^'' are circumstances which, I own, create
in my mind a strong impression that Henry was not
in possession of the real body of the king ; that either
the head of Maudelain the priest, or some other spe-
cious contrivance, was employed to deceive the people,
and that the king did not think it prudent to permit
a public funeral ; because, however easy it may have
been to impose upon the .spectators, so long as they
were merely permitted to see the funeral car in which
the body lay covered up with black cloth, and having
nothing but the face exposed, the process of removing
inclitae recordacionis Annas dudum Reginse Anglise consortis nostroe, cujus
animae prospicietur altissimus erigi fecimus mcmoriam." A description and
engraving of this monument is to be seen in Gough''s Sepulchral Monuments,
* Walsingham, p. 3(i3. Otterburn, p. 229.
304} HISTORICAL REMARKS
from the litter, arraying it for the grave, and placing
it in the coffin, might have led to a discovery of the
deception which had been practised. It is clear, that
the evidciico of a single person who had known the
king, had he been permitted to uncover the head and
face, and to examine the person, would have been itself
worth the testimony of thousands who gazed for a
moment on the funeral car, and passed on ; and it is
for this reason that I set little value on the account
of Froissart, (whose history of the transactions con-
nected with Richard's deposition is full of error,)*
when he asserts that the body was seen by twenty
thousand persons, or of Hardyng, who relates that he
himself saw the "corse in herse rial;" and that the
report w^as, he had been "forhungred" or starved,
" and lapte in lede."
Another proof of the conviction of the country, that
this exhibition of the body of Richard was a deception
upon the part of Henry, is to be found in the reports
of his escape which not long afterwards arose in Eng-
land, and the perpetual conspiracies in which men of
rank and consequence freely hazarded, and in many
cases lost their lives, which were invariably accompanied
with the assertion that Richard was alive in Scotland.
It is a remarkable circumstance, that these reports and
conspiracies continued from the alleged year of his
death, through the whole period occupied by the reigns
of Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth. The year
1402 absolutely teemed with reports that Richard was
alive, as appears from Walsingham.. A priest of Ware
was one of the first victims of Henry ""s resentment.
He had, it seems, encouraged his brethren, by affirm-
* Webb's Translation of the Metrical Hist, of the Deposition of Richard
the Second, p. 7. Archseologia, vol. xx.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 305
ing that Richard was alive, and would shortly come
forward to claim his rights ; in consequence of which
he was drawn and quartered. Not long after, eight
Franciscan friars were hanged at London, for having
asserted that Richard was alive, one of whom, a doctor
of divinity, named Frisby, owing to the boldness and
obstinacy with which he maintained his loyalty, was
executed in the habit of his order. About the same
time, Walter de Baldock prior of Launde in Leices-
tershire, was hanged because he had published the same
story. Sir Roger de Clarendon, a natural son of the
Black Prince, and one of the gentlemen of the bed-
chamber to Richard the Second, along with his armour-
bearer and page, were condemned and executed for the
same offence.* In these cases there appears to have
been no regularly formed conspiracy, as in the instances
to be afterwards mentioned. The Franciscan friars, it
is well known, were in the habit of travellino- through
various countries, andw^ere in constant intercourse with
Scotland, where they had many convents. •[* They had
probably seen the king, or become possessed of certain
evidence that he was alive, and they told the story on
their return.
Of these reports, however, we have the best evidence
in a paper issued by Henry himself, and preserved in
the Fcedera Anglise. J It is a pardon under the privy
seal to John Bernard of Offely; and from it we learn
some interesting particulars of the state of public be-
lief as to the escape and existence of Richard. Ber-
nard, it seems, had met with one William Balshalf of
Lancashire, who, on being asked what news he had to
* Walsinghara, p. 365. Otterburn, p. 234. Nichors Leicestershire, voL
iii. pp. 2G0, 305.
•f Quetif et Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Prsedicatorum, pp. 10, 11.
X Rymer, Fcedera, vol. viii. p. 262. a.d. 1402, 1st June.
VOL. III. U
306 HISTORICAL REMARKS
tell, answered, "That King Richard, who had been
deposed, was alive and well in Scotland, and would
come into England upon the Feast of St John the
Baptist next to come, if not before it." Balshalf added,
" That Serlc, who was then with King Richard, had
arranged everything for his array and entrance into
England, and that they would have timely warning of
it; whilst he reported that Henry the Fourth, in fear
of such an event, had collected great sums of money
from his lieges with the intention of evacuating the
kingdom, repairing to Brittany, and marrying the
duchess of that country. Bernard then asked Bals-
half what was best to be done, — who bade him raise
certain men, and take his way to meet King Richard;
upon which he went to John Whyte and William
Threshire of OfFely, to whom he told the whole story,
and who immediately consented to accompany him to
Athereston, near the Abbey of Merivale, there to await
the king's arrival, and give him their support." This
conversation Bernard revealed to Henry, and having
offered to prove it on the body of Balshalf, who denied
it, the king appointed a day for the trial by battle, which
accordingly took place, and Balshalf was vanquished.
The consequence was a free pardon to Bernard, which
is dated on the first of June, 1402, and in which the
above circumstances are distinctly stated. The person
of the name of Serle here mentioned, as being with
Richard in Scotland, was undoubtedly William Serle,
o:entlcman of the bedchamber to Richard the Second,
and one of the executors of his will.* He was infam-
ous as one of the murderers of the Duke of Gloucester,
and was soon after engaged in a second plot to restore
the king. These transactions took place in 1402, and
* Richard's Will, in Nichols, p. 200. It is datevl IGth April, 1399
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 307
sufficiently prove the little credit given by the people
of England to the story of the king's death, and the
funeral service which was enacted at AVestminster.
Next year, in 1 403, occurred the celebrated rebellion
of the Percies, which ended in the battle of Shrews-
bury, and the death of Hotspur. Previous to the
battle, the Earl of Worcester and Henry Percy drew
up a manifesto, which was delivered to King Henry
upon the field by two squires of Percy, in which Henry
was charged with having caused Richard to perish
by hunger, thirst, and cold, after fifteen days and
nights of sufferings unheard of among Christians. Yet,
however broad and bold this accusation of murder, the
principal persons who made it, and the only ones who
survived its publication, afterwards altered their opi-
nions, and employed very different expressions. This
manifesto was drawn up in the name of the old Earl
of Northumberland, although he had not then joined
the armv which fought at Shrewsburv, and it was
sanctioned and approved by Richard Scrope archbishop
of York. It commences, " Nos Henricus Percy, comes
Northumbrie, constabularius Anglise;" and Hardyng
the chronicler, who was then wdth Hotspur and Wor-
cester in the field, as he himself informs us, adds, "that
their quarrel wasbe goode advyse and counseill of Mais-
ter Richard Scrope archebishope of Yorke." Now, it
will immediately be seen, that two years after this, in
1405, Scrope and the Earl engaged in a second con-
spiracy against Henry ; and in the articles which they
then published, the positive statement in the manifesto
as to Richard''s death, is materially changed.* I may
* We owe the publication of this curious and interesting manifesto to Sir
Henry Ellis. Archa;ologia, vol. xvi. p. 141. " Tu ipsum dominum nostrum
legem et tuum, prcditorie incastro tuo de Pountefreite, sine consensu suo, seu
judicio dominorum regni, per quindecim dies et tot noctes, c[uod horrendum
308 HISTORICAL REMARKS
here again use the words of Mr Amyot, in his paper on
the death of Richard the Second. " On turning," says
he, " from this letter of defiance in 1403, to the long
and elaborate manifesto of Archbishop Scrope and the
Yorkshire insurgents in 1405, we shall find a consider-
able diminution in the force of the charge, not indeed
that one single day is abated out of the fifteen allotted
to the starvation, but the whole story is qualified by
the diluting words, '■ ut xidgariter dicitur? So that in
two years, the tale, which had before been roundly
asserted as a fact, must have sunk into a mere ru-
mour."* The accusation of the Percies, therefore, which
is the only broad and unqualified charge brought against
Henry by contemporaries, is not entitled to belief, as
having been virtually abandoned by the very persons
to whom it owes its orioin.
This conspiracy of Hotspur having been put down
in 1403, in 1404 Henry was again made miserable by
new reports proceeding from Scotland regarding the
escape of Richard, and his being alive in that country.
These rumours, we learn from Otterburn, not only
prevailed amongst the populace, but were common even
in the household of the king.*]* Serle, one of the
gentlemen of Richard's bedchamber, who, as we have
already seen, had repaired to Scotland, returned from
that country, with positive assertions that he had been
with Richard, from whom he brought letters and com-
munications, addressed under his privy seal to his
friends in England.^ Maud, the old Countess of
est inter Christianos audiri, fame, scitu, et frigore interfici fecisti,et mtirdro
periri, unde perjuratus es, et falsus."
* Archceologia, vol. XX. p. 436.
+ Otterburn, p. 249. " Quo mortuo cessavit in regno de vita Regis Ric :
confabulatio quaj prius viguit non solum in vulgari populo sed etiam in ipsa
dominis regis domo."
X Walsingliam, p. 370.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 309
Oxford, a lady far advanced in life, and little likely to
engage, upon slight information, in any plot, "caused
it to be reported," say Walsingham, "throughout
Essex, by her domestics, that King Richard was alive,
and would soon come back to recover and assert his
former rank. She caused also little stags of silver and
gold to be fabricated, presents which the king w^as wont
to confer upon his most favourite knights and friends ;
so that, by distributing these in place of the king, she
might the more easily entice the most powerful men
in that district to accede to her wishes. In this way,''
continues Walsingham, "she compelled many to believe
that the king was alive; and the report was daily
brought from Scotland, that he had there procured an
asylum, and only w^aited for a convenient time, when,
with the strons: assistance of the French and the Scots,
he might recover the kingdom.''* Walsingham then
goes on to observe, that the plot of the countess was
not only favoured by the deception of Serle, but that
she had brouo-ht over to her belief several abbots of
o
that country, who were tried and committed to prison;
and that, in particular, a clerk, who had asserted that
he had lately talked with the king, describing minutely
his dress, and the place of the meeting, was rewarded
by being drawn and hanged. -f*
It is stated by Dr Lingard, in his account of this
conspiracy, J on the authority of Rymer's Foedera, and
the Rolls of Parliament, that Serle being disappointed
of finding his master alive, prevailed upon a person
named Warde to personate the king ; and that many
were thus deceived. Although, however, this per-
sonification by Warde is distinctly asserted in Henry's
proclamation, it is remarkable that it is not only
* Walsingham, p. 370. + Ibid. pp. 370, 371. J Vol. iv. p. 398.
510 HISTORICAL REMARKS
omitted by Walsingliani, but is inconsistent with his
story; and the total silence of this historian, as also
that of Otterburn, (both of them contemporaries,) in-
duces me to believe, that the story of Thomas Warde
personating King Richard, was one of those forgeries
which Henry, as I shall afterwards show, did not
scruple to commit when they could serve his purposes.
What became afterwards of Warde cannot be dis-
covered ; but Serle was entrapped, and taken by Lord
Clifford, and, according to Walsingham, confessed that
the person whom he had seen in Scotland was indeed
very like the king, but not the king himself, although,
to serve his own ends, he had persuaded many, both
in England and in Scotland, that it was Richard.* It
would be absurd, however, to give much w^eight to this
confession, made by a convicted murderer, and spoken
under the strono-est motives to conciliate the mind of
the king, and obtain mercy for himself. To obtain
this, the likeliest method was to represent the whole
story regarding Richard as a falsehood. It may be
remarked, also, that in Otterburn there is not a word
of Serle's confession, although his seizure, and subse-
quent execution, are particularly mentioned. -f-
The conduct of the king immediately after this is
well worthy of remark; as we may discern in it, I
think, a striking proof of his own convictions upon
this mysterious subject. He issued instructions to
certain commissioners, which contain conditions to be
insisted on as the basis of a treaty with Scotland ; J
and in these there is no article regarding the delivery
of this pretended king, although his proclamation, as
far back as the fifth June, 1402, § shows that he was
* Walsingham, p. 371. + Otterburn, p. 249.
X Rymer, Foedera, vol. viii. p. 384. § Ibid. vol. viii. p. 261.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD 11. 311
quite aware of his existence, and his constant inter-
course with that country must have rendered him
perfectly familiar with all the circumstances attending
it. Is it possible to believe that Henry, if he was
convinced that an impostor was harboured at the court
of the Scottish king, whose existence there had been
the cause of perpetual disquiet and rebellion in his
kingdom, would not have insisted that he should be
delivered up, as Henry the Seventh stipulated in the
case of Perkin Warbeck? But Warbeck was an im-
postor, and the seventh Henry never ceased to adopt
♦every expedient of getting him into his hands ; whilst
Henry the Fourth, at the very moment that he has
put down a conspiracy, which derived its strength from
the existence of this mysterious person in Scotland, so
far from stipulating as to his delivery, does not think
it prudent to mention his name. This difference in
the conduct of the two monarchs, both of them dis-
tinguished for prudence and sagacity, goes far, I think,
to decide the question ; for, under the supposition that
he who was kept in Scotland was the true Richard, it
became as much an object in Henry the Fourth to
induce the Scots to keep him where he was, as in Henry
the Seventh to get Perkin into his hands; and a wary
silence was the line of policy which it was most natural
to adopt.
There is a remarkable passage in Walsingham,
regarding an occurrence which took place in this same
year, 1404, which proves that, in France, although
Henry at first succeeded in persuading Charles the
Sixth that his son-in-law Richard was dead, the decep-
tion was discovered, and, in 1404, the French considered
the king to be alive. " The French,**' says this writer,
*' at the same time came to the Isle of Wi^ht with a
SI 2 HISTORICAL REMARKS
large fleet, and sent some of their men ashore, who
demanded supplies from the islanders in the name of
King Richard and Queen Isabella ; but they were met
by the answer that Richard was dead."*
An additional proof of the general belief in France
of Richard's escape and safety, is to be found in a
ballad composed by Creton, the author of the Metrical
History of the Deposition of Richard the Second, which
has been already quoted. We see, from the passage
giving a description of the exposition of the body at St
PauFs, that this author inclined to believe the whole
a deception, and gave credit to the report, even then
prevalent, that the king was alive. In 1405, however,
he no longer entertains any doubt upon the subject,
but addresses an epistle in prose to the king himself,
expressing his joy at his escape, and his astonishment
that he should have been able to survive the wretched
condition to which he had been traitorously reduced.
I am sorry that the learned author, from whose notes
I take this illustration, enables me only to give the
commencement of the epistle, and the first stanza of the
ballad; but even these, though short, are quite decisive.
His epistle is thus inscribed: "Ainsi come vraye
amour requiert a tres noble prince et vraye Catholique
Richart d'Engleterre, je, Creton ton liege serviteur te
renvoye ceste Epistre." The first stanza of the ballad
is equally conclusive.
"0 vous, Seignors de sang royal de France,
Mettez la main aux armes vistement,
Et vous avez certaine cognoissance
Du roy qui tant a souflfert de tourment
* Walsingliam,p. 370. "Gallici," says this writer, " circa tempus illud
venerunt ante Vectam insulam cum magna classe, miseruntque de suis quos-
dam qui peterent nomine regis Richardi et Isabellaj reginse tributum, vel
speciale subsidium ab insulanis. Qui responderunt regem Ricbardum fuisse
defunctum.^'
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 313
Par faulx Anglois, qui traiteusement
Lui ont tollu la domination ;
Et puis de mort fait condempnation.
Mais Dieu, qui est le vray juge es saintz cieulx,
Lui a sauve la vie. Main et tart
Chascun le dit par tut, jeunes et vieulx.
C'est d'Albion le noble Roy Richart."*
Not long after the plot of Serle had been discovered
and put down in 1404, there arose, in 1405, the con-
spiracy of the Earl of Northumberland and Archbishop
Scrope, to which I have already alluded. In their
manifesto, published before the battle of Shrewsbury,
they had accused Henry in unqualified terms of the
murder, whereas now, in the "Articles of Richard
Scrope against Henry the Fourth,"^- the addition of
the words '■^ut mdgariter dicitur^'' shows, as I have al-
ready observed, that the strong convictions of Henry's
guilt had sunk by this time into vague rumour ; but
the Parliamentary Rolls,J which give a minute and
interesting account of the conspiracy, furnish us with
a still stronger proof of Northumberland's suspicion of
Richard's being alive, and prove, by the best of all evi-
dence, his own words, that one principal object of the
conspirators was to restore him, if this was found to be
true.
It appears from these authentic documents, that in
the month of May, 1405, the Earl of Northumberland
seized and imprisoned Sir Robert Waterton, "esquire
to our lord the king," keeping him in strict confinement
in the castles of Warkworth, Alnwick, Berwick, and
elsewhere. The reader will recollect, that according
to the evidence of Winton, Richard was delivered
* Metrical History of the Deposition of Richard the Second, with notes by
Mr AVebb. Archjeologia, vol. xx. p. 189.
'I' Wharton''s Anglia Sacra, p. 362, pars. ii.
X Rolls of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 605.
r)14 HISTORICAL REMARKS
to two gentlemen of the name of Waterton and Swin-
biirn, who spread a report of his escape; and it is not
improbable that the object of Northumberland, in the
seizure of Waterton, was to arrive at the real truth re-
garding this story of his escape, to ascertain whether it
was a mere fable, and whether the king actually had died
in Pontefract castle, or might still be alive in Scotland,
as had been confidently reported. It is of consequence,
then, to observe Northumberland's conduct and expres-
sions reaardinir Richard, after havino- had Waterton
in his hands; and of both we have authentic evidence
in the Parliamentary Rolls. He, and the rest of the
conspirators, the Archbishop of York, Sir Thomas
Mowbray, Sir John Fauconberg, Lord Hastings, and
their accomplices, sent three commissioners, named
Lasingsby, Boynton, and Burton, into Scotland, to
enter into a treaty with Robert the Third, who died
soon after, and at the same time to communicate with
certain French ambassadors, who, it appears, were at
that time in Scotland; and the avowed object of this
alliance is expressly declared by Northumberland in his
letter to the Duke of Orleans. It is as follows — " Most
high and mighty prince, I recommend myself to your
lordship; and be pleased to know, that I have made
known by my servants, to Monsieur Jehan Chavbre-
liack, Mr John Andrew, and John Ardinguill, called
Reyner, now in Scotland, and ambassadors of a high
and excellent prince, the King of France, your lord
and brother, my present intention and wish, which I
have written to the king your brother. It is this, that
with the assistance of God, with your aid, and that of
my allies, I have embraced a firm purpose and inten-
tion to sustain the just quarrel of my sovereign lord
King Richard, if he is alive, and if he is dead, to avenge
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 315
his death; and, moreover, to sustain the right and
quarrel which my redoubted lady, the Queen of Eng-
land, your niece, may have to the kingdom of England,
and for this purpose I have declared war against Henry
of Lancaster, at present Regent of England." This
letter, which will be found at length in the note below,* is
written from Berwick, and although the precise date is
not given, it appears, by comparison with other deeds
connected with the same conspiracy preserved in the
Foedera and the llotuli Scotise, to have been written
about the tenth of June. The Parliamentary Rolls a'o
on to state, that in this same month of June, North-
umberland and his accomplices seized Berwick, and
traitorously gave it up to the Scots, the enemies of the
king, to be pillaged and burnt.
It is of importance to attend to the state of parties
in Scotland at this time. The persons in that country
with whom Northumberland confederated to sustain
* Rolls of Parliament, vol. iii. p. 605. " Tres haut et tres puissant prince,
jeo me recomance a vostre seigneurie ; a laquelle plese asavoir que jaynoti-
fie par mes gentz, a Mon^. Johan Chavbreliak, Meistre Jolian Andrew, et
Johan Ardinguill dit Reyner, ambassatours de tres haut et tres excellent
prince le Roy de France, vostre sieur et frere, esteantz en Escoce, mon en-
tencion et voluntee, laquelle je escriptz au roy vostre dit sieur et frere ;
laquelle est, que a Taide de Dieu, de le vostre et des plusours mes allies, j 'ay
entencion et ferme purpos de sustener le droit querelle de mon soverein
sieur le Roy Richard, s'il est vif, et si mort est, de venger sa mort, et aussi
de sustener la droit querele que ma tres redoubtedame le Royne d'Engleterre,
vostre niece, poit avoir reasonablement au Roiaeme d'Engleterre, et pur ceo
ay moeve guerre a Henry de Lancastre, a present regent d'Angleterre ; et
car jeo foy que vouz ames et sustenuz ceste querelle, et autres contre le dit
Henry jeo vous prie et require, que en ceo vous moi voilles aider et soccorer,
et ausi moi aider eius le tres haut et tres excellent prince le Roy de France,
vostre dit sieur et frere, que les choses desquelles jeo lui escriptz, et dont vous
enformeront au plain les ditz ambassatoui's,preignent bone et brief conclusion,
quar en vite, en tout ceo que jeo vous pourra servier a sustener de par decea
les ditz querelles encontre le dit Henry, jeo le ferra voluntiers de tout mon
poair. Et vous plese de croiere les ditz ambassatours de ceo qu'ils vous dir-
ront de par moy ; le Saint Esprit tres haut et tres puissant prince vous ait en
sa garde. Escript a Bersvyck, &c.
"A tres haut et tres puissant prince le Due d'Orleans, Count de Valois et
de Blois, et Beaumond et Sieur de Courcy." No date is given but it imme-
diately succeeds June 11, 1405.
316 IIISTOmCAL REMARKS
the quarrel of King Richard, were the loyal faction
opposed to Albany, and friends to Prince James, whom
that crafty and ambitious statesman now wished to
supplant. Albany himself was at this moment in strict
alliance with Henry the Fourth, as is shown by a
manuscript letter preserved in the British Museum,
dated from Falkland on the second of June, and by a
mission of Rothesay herald, to the same monarch, on
the tenth of July.* Wardlaw bishop of St Andrews,
Sinclair earl of Orkney, and Sir David Fleming of
Cumbernauld, to whose care, it will be recollected,
Winton informs us Richard of Ensrland had been com-
mitted, opposed themselves to Albany, and having
determined, for the sake of safety, to send Prince James
to France, entered, as we see, into a strict alliance with
the Earl of Northumberland, in his conspiracy for
overturning the government of Henry the Fourth.
The events which followed immediately after this
greatly favoured the usurpation of Albany. Prince
James was taken on his passage to France, probably
in consequence of a concerted plan between Albany and
Henry. David Fleming, according to Bower, -f- was
attacked and slain oji his return from accompanjnng
James to the ship, by the Douglases, then in alliance
with Albany ; and the old king, Robert the Third, died,
leaving the government to the uncontrolled manage-
ment of his ambitious brother, whilst his son, now king,
* PinkertoDjHist. vol. i, p. 82. In the Cottonian Catalogue, p. 498, No.
114, I find a letter from Robert duke of Albany to Henry the Fourth thank-
ing him for his good treatment of Murdoch his son, and the favourable audi-
ences given to Rothesay his herald, dated Falkland, June 4, 140.5.
f If "we believe Walsingham, pp. 374, 375, however the chronology is dif-
ferent. Fleming was not slain till some months afterwards, and lived to
receive Northumberland and Bardolph on their ilight from BerAvick ; after
which he discovered to them a plot of Albany's for their being delivered up
to Henry,and, by his advice they Hed into Wales, in revenge for which, Flem-
ing was slain by the party of Albany.iJ:
4: Ypodignia Neustria, p. 566.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 317
was a prisoner in the Tower. Meanwhile, Sinclair the
Earl of Orkney joined Northumberland at Berwick;*
but the rebellion of that potent baron and his ac-
complices having entirely failed, he and the Lord
Bardolph fled into Scotland, from which, after a short
while, discovering an intention upon the part of Albany
to deliver them into the hands of Henry, they escaped
into Wales. We know, from the Chamberlain Ac-
counts, that immediately after the death of Robert the
Third, Albany obtained possession of the person of
Richard. In this way, by a singular combination of
events, while the Scottish governor held in his hands
the person who, of all others, was most formidable to
Henry, this monarch became possessed of James the
First of Scotland, the person of all others to be most
dreaded by the governor. The result was, that Albany
and Henry, both skilful politicians, in their secret
negotiations could play off their two royal prisoners
against each other ; Albany consenting to detain
Richard solongas Henry agreed to keep hold of James.
The consequence of this policy was just what might
have been expected. Richard died in Scotland, and
James, so long as Albany lived, never returned to
his throne or to his kingdom ; although, during the
fifteen years of Albany's usurpation, he had a strong
party in his favour, and many attempts were made to
procure his restoration. It seems to me, therefore, that
this circumstance of Albany having Richard in his
hands, furnishes us with a satisfactory explanation of
two points, which have hitherto appeared inexplicable.
I mean, the success with which the governor for fifteen
* John, son of Henry, says, in a letter to his father, Vesp. F. vii. f. 95, No.
2, that Orkney had joined Northumberland and Bardolph at Berwick. The
letter is dated Sth June, in all appearance 1405, says Pinkerton, vol. i. p. 82.
The circumstances mentioned prove that it was, without doubt, in 1405.
318 HISTORICAL REMARKS
years defeated every negotiation for the return of James,
and the unmitigable severity and rage which this mon-
arch, on his return, and throughout his reign, evinced
towards every member of the family of Albany.
Even after this grievous disaster of Northumberland
in 1405, the reports regarding Richard being still alive
revived, and broke out in the capital; and Percy, the
indefatigable enemy of Henry, along with Lord Bar-
dolph, made a last attempt to overturn his government.
" At this time," says Walsingham, speaking of the
year 1407, "placards were fixed up in many places in
London, which declared that King Richard was alive,
and that he would soon come to claim his kingdom with
glory and magnificence; but not long thereafter, the
foolish inventor of so daring a contrivance was taken
and punished, which allayed the joy that many had
experienced in consequence of this falsehood."* Who
the person was whom Walsingham here designates as
the inventor of these falsehoods, does not appear from
any part of his own history, or from any of the public
papers in the Fcederaor the Parliamentary Rolls; but
we may connect these reports, on good grounds I think,
with Percy and Lord Bardolph, who, in 1408, pro-
ceeded from Scotland into Yorkshire, and after an
ineff"ectual attempt to create a general insurrection in
that country, w^ere entirely defeated, Northumberland
being slain, and Bardolph dying soon after of his
wounds. The reader will recollect, perhaps, a passage
already quoted from Bower,*]- in which this historian
states, that amongst other honourable persons who fled
with Northumberland and Lord Bardolph into Scot-
land, was the Bishop of Bangor; and I may mention
* Walsingham, p. 376.
+ Fordun a Goo(ial,vol. ii. p. 441,
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 819
it as a striking confirmation of the accuracy of this
account, that the Bishop of Bangor, according to Wal-
singham, was taken in the battle along with Percy,
and that, as the historian argues, he deserved to have
his Hfe spared because he was unarmed. His fellow
priest, the Abbot of Hayles, who was likewise in the
field, and had changed the cassock for the steel coat,
w^as hano'ed.* When Bower is thus found correct in
one important particular, I know not why we are en-
titled to distrust him in that other limb of the same
sentence, which mentions the existence of Richard in
Scotland.
It was originally my intention to have entered into
an examination of the diplomatic correspondence which
took place subsequent to this period between Albany
the governor of Scotland, and Henry the Fourth and
Fifth; in which, I think, it would not be difficult to
point out some transactions, creating a presumption that
Albany w^as in possession of the true King Richard.
The limits, however, within which I must confine these
observations, will not permit me to accomplish this ;
and any intelligent reader who will take the trouble to
study this correspondence as it is given in the Rotuli
Scotise, will not find it difficult to discover and arrange
the proofs for himself. I must be permitted, there-
fore, to step at once from this conspiracy of Northum-
berland, which took place in 1408, to the year 1415,
when Henry the Fifth was preparing for his invasion
of France. At this moment, when the king saw him-
self at the head of a noble army, and when everything
was ready for the embarkation of the. troops, a con-
spiracy of a confused and obscure nature was discovered,
which, like every other conspiracy against the govern-
* Walsingham, p. 377.
320 HISTORICAL REMARKS
ment of Henr}^ the Fourth and Henry the Fifth, in-
volved a supposition that Richard the Second might
still be alive. The principal actors in this plot were
Richard carl of Cambridge, brother to the Duke of
York, and cousin to the king, Henry lord Scroop of
Marsham, and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton in North-
umberland; and the only account which we can obtain
of it, is to be found in a confession of the Earl of Cam-
bridge, preserved in the Foedera Anglioe, and in the
detail of the trial given in the Rolls of Parliament,
both papers evidently fabricated under the eye of Henry
the Fifth, and bearing upon them marks of forgery
and contradiction.
According to these documents, the object of the con-
spirators was to carry Edmund the Earl of March
into Wales, and there proclaim him king, as being the
lawful heir to the crown, in place of Henry of Lancas-
ter, who was stigmatized as a usurper. This, how-
ever, was only to be done, provided (to use the original
words of the confession of the Earl of Cambridge)
" yonder manis persone, wych they callen Kyng Ri-
chard, had nauth bene alyve, as Y wot wel that he
wys not alyve."* The absurdity and inconsistency of
this must be at once apparent. In the event of Richard
being dead, the Earl of March was without doubt the
next heir to the crown, and had been declared so by
Richard himself; and the avowed object of the con-
spirators being to place this prince upon the throne,
why they should delay to do this, till they ascertain
whether the person calling himself King Bichard is alive,
is not very easily seen, especially as they declare, in
the same breath, that they are well aware this person
is not alive. Yet this may be almost pronounced con-
* Fcedera. vol. ix. p. 300.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. S21
f;istency, when compared with the contradiction which
follows : for we find it stated, in almost the next sen-
tence, by the Earl of Cambridge, that he was in the
knowledge of a plan entered into by Umfraville and
Wederyngton, for the purpose of bringing in this very
" persone wych they name Kyng Richard," and Henry
Percy, out of Scotland, with a power of Scots, with
whose assistance they hoped to be able to give battle
to the king, for which treasonable intention the earl
submits himself wholly to the king''s grace. It is dif-
ficult to know what to make of this tissue of incon-
sistency. The Earl of March is to be proclaimed
king, provided it be discovered that the impostor who
calls himself Richard is not alive, it being well known
that he is dead, and although dead, ready, it would
seem, to march out of Scotland with Umfraville and
Wederyngton, and give battle to Henry.*
The account of the same conspiracy given in the
Parliamentary Rolls is equally contradictory, and in
its conclusion still more absurd. It declares, that the
object of the conspirators was to proclaim the Earl of
March king, " in the event that Richard the Second
king of England was actually dead ;" and it adds,
that the Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey
had knowledo^e of a desiofn to brino- Thomas of Trum-
pyngton, an idiot, from Scotland, to counterfeit the
person of King Richard, Avho, with the assistance of
Henry Percy and some others, was to give battle to
Henry. -[• It was already remarked, in the account of
the conspiracy of the old Countess of Oxford, in 1404,
that the assertion then made by Henry the Fourth,
in a proclamation in Rymer, that Thomas Warde of
* Fcedera, vol. ix. p. 300.
•j" Parliamentary Rolls, vol. iv. p. 65.
VOL. III. X
322 HISTORICAL REMARKS
Trumpyugton '* pretended that lie was King Richard,"*^
■was one of those forgeries which this monarch did not
scruple to commit to serve his political purposes ; none
of the contemporary historians giving the least hint of
the appearance of an impostor at this time, and Serle,
in his confession, not having a word upon the suhject.
Besides, we hear nothing of Warde till 1404; and we
know, from Henry's own proclamation, that Richard
the Second was stated to be alive in Scotland as early
as June 1402;* whilst, in 1404, when Warde is first
mentioned, he comes before us as having personated
the king in England, or rather, as then in the act of
personating the king in England. Here, too, by
Henry the Fourth''s description of him in 1404, he is
an Englishman, and in his sound senses ; how then, in
1415, does he come to be a Scotsman, and an idiot?
The truth seems to be, that Henry the Fifth, in manu-
facturing these confessions of the Earl of Cambridge,
having found it stated by his father that Thomas Warde
of Trumpyngton, in 1404, pretended to be King
Richard, and that "there was an idiot in Scotland who
personated the king,"*"* joined the two descriptions into
one portentous person, Thomas of Trumpyngton, a
Scottish idiot, wdio was to enact Richard the Second,
and, at the head of an army, to give battle to the hero
of Agincourt. Most of my readers, I doubt not, will
agree with me in thinking, that, instead of an idiot,
this gentleman from Trumpyngton must have been a
person of superior powers.
It is impossible, in short, to believe for a moment
that the accounts in the Parliamentary Rolls and in
Rymer give us the truth, yet Cambridge, Scroop, and
Grey were executed; and the summary manner in
* Rymer, vol. viii. p. 2G1.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 323
which their trial was conducted, is as extraordinary as
the accusation. A commission was issued to John, Earl
JNIarshal, and eight others, empowering any two of
them, William Lasingsby, or Edward Hull, being one
of the number, to sit as judges for the inquiry of
all treasons carried on within the county by the oaths
of a Hampshire jury. Twelve persons, whose names
Carte observes were never heard of before, having been
impannelled, the three persons accused were found
guilty on the single testimony of the constable of South-
ampton castle, who swore, that having spoke to each
of them alone upon the subject, they had confessed
their guilt, and thrown tliemselves on the king's mercy.
Sir Thomas Grey was condemned upon this evidence,
of which, says Carte, it will not be easy to produce a
precedent in any former reign; but the Earl of Cam-
bridge and Lord Scroop pleaded their peerage, and
Henry issued a new commission to the Duke of Cla-
rence, who summoned a jury of peers. This, however,
was a mere farce; for the commission having had the
records and process of the former jury read before
them, without giving the parties accused an opportu-
nity of pleading their defence, or even of appearing
before their judges, condemned them to death, the sen-
tence being carried into instant execution.
It is obvious, from the haste, the studied concealment
of the evidence, the injustice and the extraordinary
severity of the sentence, that the crime of Cambridge,
Scroop, and Grey, was one of a deep dye; and, even in
the garbled and contradictory accounts given in the
Parliamentary Rolls, we may discern, I think, that
their real crime was not the design of setting up March
as king, but their having entered into a correspon-
dence with Scotland for the restoration of Richard the
324 HISTORICAL REMARKS
Second. That the story res^arding March was disbe-
lieved, is indeed shown by Henry himself, who in-
stantly pardoned him, and permitted him to sit as one
of the jury who tried Scroop and Cambridge; but that
Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, were in possession of
some important secret, and were thought guilty of
some dark treason which made it dangerous for them
to live, is quite apparent.*
It seems to me that this dark story may be thus
explained : Scroop and Cambridge, along with Percy,
Umfraville, and AVederyngton, had entered into a
correspondence with the Scottish faction who were
opposed to Albany, the object of which was to restore
Richard, and to obtain the return of James, Albany
himself being then engaged in an amicable treaty with
Henry, with the double object of obtaining the release
of his son Murdoch, who was a prisoner in England,
and of detaining James the First in captivity. At
this moment the conspiracy of Cambridge was disco-
vered; and Henry, in order to obtain full information
for the conviction of the principals, pardoned Percy,
and the two accomplices Umfraville and Wederyngton,
and obtained from them a disclosure of the plot. He
then agreed with Albany to exchange ^Murdoch for
Percy; but we learn, from the MS. instructions re-
garding this exchange, which are quoted by Pinker-
ton, -|- that a secret clause was added, which declared,
* We have seen, that Hemy directs that one of the two justices vrho are to
sit on the trial, shall be either Edward Hull or W^illiam Lasingsby ; and it
may perhaps be recollected, that William Lasingsby, Esq., was himself en-
faged with Northumberland in 1405, in the conspiracy for the restoration of
lichard, being one of the commissioners sent into Scotland to treat with Ro-
bert the Third and the French ambassadors. It is probable, therefore, that
he knew well whether Richard of Scotland was, or was not, the true Richard ;
and his being selected as one of the judges makes it still more probable, that
the real crime of the conspirators was a project for the restoration of the king.
+ Vol. i. p. 97.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 325
that the exchange was only to take place, provided
"Percy consent to fulfil what Robert Umfraville and
John Witherington have promised Henry in his name."
Percy's promise to Henry was, as I conjecture, to re-
veal the particulars of the plot, and renounce all inter-
course with Richard.
This conspiracy was discovered and put down in
1416, and the campaign which followed was distin-
guished by the battle of Agincourt, in which, amongst
other French nobles, the Duke of Orleans was taken
prisoner, and became a fellow captive with James the
First. In July, 1417, Henry the Fifth again em-
barked for Normandy; but when engaged in prepara-
tions for his second campaign, he detected a new plot,
the object of which was to bring in the '''• Mamuet'''' of
Scotland, to use the emphatic expression which he
himself employs. I need scarcely remark, that the
meaning of the old English word Mamuet, or Mam-
met, is a puppet, a figure dressed up for the purpose
of deception ; in other words, an impostor. The fol-
lowing curious letter, which informs us of this conspi-
racy, was published by Hearne, in his Appendix to the
Life of Henry the Fifth, by Titus Livius of Forojulii.
" Furthermore I wole that ye commend with my bro-
ther, with the Chancellor, with my cousin of Northum-
berland, and my cousin of Westmoreland, and that ye
set a good ordinance for my north marches ; and spe-
cially for the Duke of Orleans, and for all the remanent
of my prisoners of France, and also for the King of
Scotland. For as I am secretly informed by a man
of right notable estate in this lond, that there hath
bene a man of the Duke of Orleans in Scotland, and
accorded with the Duke of Albany, that this next
summer he shall bring in the Mamuet of Scotland, to
326 IIISTOmCAL REMARKS
stir wliat he may; and also, that there should he
foundin waves to tlie having away especially of the
Duke of Orleans, and also of the king, as well as of
the remanent of my forsaid prisoners, that God do de-
fend. Wherefore I wole that the Duke of Orleance
be kept -still within the castle of Pomfret, without
going to Robertis place, or any other disport. For it
is better he lack his disport, than we were disteyned
of all the remanent." * With regard to Albany's
accession to this plot, it is probable that Henry was
misinformed; and that the party which accorded with
Orleans, was the faction opposed to the governor, and
desirous of the restoration of James. The letter is
valuable in another way, as it neither pronounces the
Mamuet to be an idiot, nor identifies him with Tho-
mas of Trumpyngton.
There is yet, however, another witness to Richard's
being alive in 1417, whose testimony is entitled to the
greatest credit, not only from the character of the
individual himself, but from the peculiar circumstances
under which his evidence was given : I mean Lord
Cobham, the famous supporter of the Wickliffites, or
Lollards, who was burnt for heresy on the twenty-fiftli
of December, 1417. When this unfortunate noble-
man was seized, and brought before his judges to stand
his trial, he declined the authority of the court ; and
being asked his reason, answered, that he could ac-
knowledge no judge amongst them^ so long as his liege
lord King Richard was alive in Scotland. The passage
* Titi Livii Forojul. Vita Henrici V. p. 99. This letter, also, is the first in
that very interesting publication of Original Letters, which "\ve owe to Sir
Henry Ellis. Neither this writer, however, nor Hearne, have added any note
upon the expression, the Mamuet of Scotland, which must he obscure to an
ordinary reader. The letter itself, and the proof it contains in support of this
theory of Richard's escape, was pointed out to me by my valued and learned
friend, Adam Urquhart, Esq.
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 327
in Walsingliam is perfectly clear and decisive : " Qui
confestim cum summa superbia et abusione respondit,
se non habere judicem inter eos, vivente ligio Domino
suo, in regno ScotiaB, rege Richardo ; quo responso
accepto, quia non opus erat testibus, sine mora jussus
est trahi et suspendi super furcas atque comburi, pen-
dens in eisdem." * Lord Cobham, therefore, at the
trying moment when he was about to answer to a
capital charge, and when he knew that the unwelcome
truth which he told was of itself enough to decide his
sentence, declares that Richard the Second, his lawful
prince, is then alive in Scotland. It is necessary for
a moment to attend to the life and character of this
witness, in order fully to appreciate the weight due to
his testimony. It is not too much to say, that, in
point of truth and integrity, he had borne the highest
character during his whole life ; and it is impossible to
imagine for an instant, that he would have stated any-
thing as a fact which he did not solemnly believe to
be true. What, then, is the fair inference to be drawn
from the dying declaration of such a witness ? He
had sat in parliament, and had been in high employ-
ments under Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth,
and Henry the Fifth. He was Sheriff of Hereford-
shire in the eighth year of Henry the Fourth ; and
as a peer, had summons to parliament among the
barons in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth of that
king's reign, and in the first of Henry the Fifth. He
was, therefore, in high confidence and employment,
and could not have been iijnorant of the measures
adopted by Henry the Fourth to persuade the people
of England that Richard was dead. He sat in the
parliament of 1399, which deposed him; there is every
* Walsingham, p. 591.
S'2S HISTORICAL REMARKS
reason to believe he was one of the peers summoned
in council on the ninth of February, 1399-1400, only
four days previous to Richard's reputed death ; and
that he sat in the succeeding parliament, which met
on the twenty-first of January, 1 401. The exhibition
of the body at St PauFs, where all the nobility and
the barons attended; the private burial at Langley,
and the proclamations of Henry, declaring that Richard
was dead and buried, must have been perfectly well
known to him; and yet in the face of all this, he de-
clares in his dying words, pronounced in 1417, that
Richard the Second, his liege lord, is then alive in
Scotland. We have, therefore, the testimony of Lord
Cobham, that the reputed death of Richard in Ponte-
fract castle, the masses performed over the dead body
at St PauFs, and its burial at Langley, were all impu-
dent fabrications. It is, I think, impossible to con-
ceive evidence more clear in its enunciation, more
solemn, considering the time when it was spoken, and,
for the same reason, more perfectly unsuspicious.
I know not thS,t I can better conclude these remarks
upon this mysterious subject, than by this testimony
of Lord Cobham, in support of the hypothesis which
I have ventured to maintain. Other arguments and
illustrations certainly might be added, but my limits
allow me only to hint at them. It might be shown,
for instance, that not long after Sir David Fleming
had obtained possession of the person of Richard,
Henry the Fourth engaged in a secret correspondence
with this baron, and granted him a passport to have
a personal interview; it might be shown, also, that in
1404, Robert the Third, in his reply to a letter of
Henry the Fourth, referred the English king to David
Fleming for some particular information; that Henry
ON THE DEATH OF RICHARD II. 329
was about the same time carrying on a private nego-
tiation with Lord Montgomery, to whom the reader
will recollect Richard had been delivered; whilst there
is evidence, that with the lord of the isles, and with
the chaplain of that pirate prince in whose dominions
Richard was first discovered, the King of England had
private meetings, which appear to have produced a
perceptible change in the policy of Henry''s govern-
ment towards Scotland. I had intended, also, to point
out the gross forgeries of which Henry had conde-
scended to be guilty, in his public account of the depo-
sition of Richard, in order to show the very slender
credit which is due to his assertions reorardins: the
death and burial of this prince ; but I must content
myself with once more referrins: to ]Mr WebVs Notes
on the Metrical History of the Deposition of Richard,
from which I have derived equal instruction and amuse-
ment.
In conclusion, I may observe, that whatever side of
the question my readers may be inclined to adopt, an
extraordinary fact, or rather series of facts, is estab-
lished, which have hitherto been overlooked by preced-
ing historians. If disposed to embrace the opinion
which I have formed after a careful, and, I trust, im-
partial examination of the evidence, the circumstance
of Richard's escape, and subsequent death in Scotland,
is a new and interesting event in the history of both
countries. If, on the other hand, they are inclined
still to believe the ordinary accounts of the death of
this monarch in 1399, it must be admitted, for it is
proved by good evidence, that a mysterious person
appeared suddenly in the dominions of Donald of the
Isles ; that he was challenged by one who knew Rich-
ard, as being the king in disguise; that he denied it
330 HISTORICAL REMARKS, ETC.
steadily, and yet was kept in Scotland in an honourable
captivity for eighteen years, at great expense; that it
was believed in England by those best calculated to
have accurate information on the subject, that he was
the true Kino- Richard; and that, althoudi his beinf):
detained and recognised in Scotland was the cause of
repeated conspiracies for his restoration, which shook
the government both of Henry the Fourth and Henry
the Fifth, neither of these monarchs ever attempted
to get this impostor into their hands, or to expose the
cheat by insisting upon his being delivered up, in
those various negotiations as to peace or truce which
took place between the two kingdoms. This last hypo-
thesis presents to me difficulties which appear at pre-
sent insurmountable; and I believe, therefore, that the
chapel at Stirling contained the ashes of the true
Richard.
I entertain too much respect, however, for the opinion
of the many learned writers who have preceded me, and
for the public judgment which has sanctioned an oppo-
site belief for more than four hundred years, to venture,
without farther discussion, to transplant this romantic
sequel to the story of Richard the Second into the
sacred field of history. And it is for this reason that,
whilst I have acknowledged the royal title in the Ap-
pendix, I have expressed myself more cautiously and
hypothetically in the body of the work.*
* The critical reader is referred to an able answer to these " Remarks," by
Mr Amyot, in the twenty-third vol. of the " Archa^ologia,"" p. 277 ; to some
additional observations by the same gentleman, Archseologia, vol. xxv. p. 394 ;
to a critical " Note," by Sir James Macintosh, added to the first volume of his
" History of England ;" to a " Dissertation on the Manner and Period of the
Death of Richard the Second," by Lord Dover ; to observations on the same
historical problem, by Mr Kiddell, in a volume of Legal and Antiquarian
Tracts, published at Edinburgh in lU'do ; and to some remarks on the same
point by Sir Harris Nicolas in the Preface to the hrst volume of his valuable
work, the " Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England,"
Preface, p. 29 to iJ2.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Letter A, p. 2.
It is not conceivable, says IMr Thomson, from whom I hare pro-
cured some information on this obscure subject, that this claim of the
Earl of Douglas could have any other basis than a revival of the right
of the Baliol family, whose titles appear to have devolved at this
period on the Earl of Douglas. John Baliol, it is well known, left a
son, Edward, whom we have seen crowned King of Scotland in 1332,
who afterwards died in obscurity, and without children. (History,
vol. ii. pp. 16, 90.) The right of the Baliol family upon this reverted
to the descendants of Alexander de Baliol of Kavers, brother of King
John Baliol ;* and we find that, in the reign of David the Second,
the representative of this Alexander de Baliol was Isobel de Baliol,
Comitissa de Mar, who married Donald, twelfth Earl of Mar. This
lady, it appears, by a deed in the Rotuli Scotise, vol. i. p. 708, mar-
ried, secondly, William de Careswell, who during the minority of her
son, Thomas, thirteenth Earl of Mar, Lord of Garryach and Cavers,
obtained from Edward the Third " the custody of all the lands which
belonged to Isabella the late Countess of Mar, his consort." Thomas
earl of Mar died without issue, but he left a sister, Margaret, who
succeeded her brother, and became Countess of Mar in her own right.
She married for her first husband William earl of Douglas, who in her
right, became Earl of Mar ; and, as possessing through her the right
of the house of Baliol, upon this ground laid claim to the crown.
Winton, vol. ii. p. 304, does not mention the ground upon which the
Earl of Douglas disputed the throne with Robert the Second. But
the ancient manuscript, entitled " Extracta ex Chronicis Scotia), fol.
* Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 525.
334 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
225, is more explicit. Its words are, "Dovvglace Willmus Comes
maim valida militari, coram eis comparuit allegans jus corone et
successiouis in regnum ad se ex parte Cuminensium et Balliorum
pertinere." And this is corroborated by Bower, Fordun a Goodal,
vol. ii. p. 382. Douglas's right through his wife we have just
explained ; and I may refer to a paper on the ancient lordship of
Galloway, in the ninth volume of the Archaeologia, p. 49, by Mr Riddell,
for an explanation of his title through the Comyns.
Letter B, p. 150.
Site of the Battle of Harlavc.
In the manuscript geographical description of Scotland, collected
by Macfarlane, and preserved in the Advocates' Library, vol. i. p. 7,
there is the following minute description of the site of this battle : —
" Through this parish (the chapel of Garioch, called formerly, Capella
Beate Marise Virginie de Garryoch, Chart. Aberdon, p. 31) runs the
king's highway from Aberdeen to Inverness, and [from Aberdeen to
the high country. A large mile to the east of the church lies the
field of an ancient battle, called the battle of Harlaw, from a country
town of that name hard by. This town, and the field of battle, which
lies along the king's highway upon a moor, extending a short mile
from SE. to NW. stands on the north-east side of the water of Urie,
and a small distance therefrom. To the west of the field of battle,
about half a mile, is a farmer's house, called Legget's Den, hard by
in which is a tomb, built in the form of a malt steep, of four large
stones, covered with a broad stone above, where, as the country people
generally report, Donald of the Isles lies buried, being slain in the
battle, and therefore they call it commonly Donald's tomb." So far
the MS. It is certain, however, that the Lord of the Isles was not
slain. This may probably be the tomb of the chief of Maclean, or
of Macintosh, both of whom fell in the battle. In the genealogical
collections of the same industrious antiquary, (^IS. Advocates' Lib-
rary, Jac. V. 4, 16, vol. i. p. 180,) we find a manuscript account of the
family of Maclean, which informs us that Lauchlan Lubanich had, by
M'Donald's daughter, a son, called Eachin Rusidh ni Cath, or Hector
Rufus Bellicosus. He commanded as lieutenant-general under the
Earl of Ross at the battle of Harlaw in 1411, where he and Irving
of Drum, seeking out one another by their armorial bearings on their
shields, met and killed each other. He was married to a daughter
of the Earl of Douglas.
Sir Walter Ogilvy, on twenty-eighth January,'! 426, founded a chap-
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 335
lainry in the parish church of St Mary of Uchterhouse, in which
perpetual prayers were to be offered up for the salvation of King
James and his Queen Johanna ; and for the souls of all who died in
the battle of Harlaw, — Diplom. Regior. Indices, vol. i. p. 97.
Letter C, p. 152.
The Retour of Andrew de Tullidiff, mentioned in the text, will be
found in the MS. Cartulary of Aberdeen, preserved in the Advocates'
Library, folio 121. It is as follows : —
" Inquisitio super tercia parte
Ledintusche et Rothmais.
Hsec inquisitio facta fuit apud rane coram Willmo de Cadyhow Ballivo
Reverendi in Christo patris, et Dni Gilberti Dei gracia Episcopi
Aberdonen : die martis, nono die mensis Mail anno 1413, per probos
et fideles homines subscriptos, viz. Robertum de Buthergask, Johan-
nem Rous, Johannem Bisete, Robertum Malisei,Hugonem deKyncavil,
Duncanum de Curquhruny, Johannem Morison, Johm Yhung, Adam
Johannis, Johannem Thomson, Johannem de Lovask, Johannem Dun-
canson, Walterum Ranyson, et Johannem Thomson de Petblayne.
Qui magno Sacramento jurati dicunt, quod quondam Willmus de
Tulidef latoris prsesencium obiit vestitus et saysitus ut de feodo ad
pacem et fidem Dni nostri regis, de tercia parte terrarum de Ledyn-
tusche, et de Rothmais cum pertinenciis jacentium in schyra de Rane
infra Vicecom. de Aberden. Et quod dictus Andreas est leggitimus
et propinquior heres ejusdem quondam Willmi patris sui de dicta
tercia parte dictarum terrarum cum pertinenciis, et licet minoris
setatis existit tamen secundum quoddam statutum consilii generalis
ex priviligio concesso hseredibus occisorum in bello de Harelaw, pro
defensione patriae, est hac vice leggittime setatis, et quod dicta tercia
dictarum terrarum cum pertinenciis nunc valet per annum tres libras,
et viginti denarios, et valuit tempore pacis quatuor libras," &c. &c.
The remainder of the deed is uninteresting.
Letter D, p. 164.
Battles of Bauge and Verneuil.
The exploits of the Scottish forces in France do not properly belong
to the History of Scotland, and any reader who wishes for authentic
So6 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
information upon the subject will find it in Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii.
pp. 461, 463, and Monstrelet's Chronicle, by Johnes, vols. 5th and 6th.
There were three important battles in which the Scots auxiliaries
were engaged. First, that of Bauge, in Anjou, fought on twenty-
Becond March, 1421, in which they gained a signal victory over the
Duke of Clarence, who was slain, along with the " flower of his
chivalry and esquiredom," to use the words of Monstrelet. Secondly,
that of Crevant, which was disastrous to the Scots. And lastly, the
great battle of Verneuil, fought in 1424, in which John duke of
Bedford commanded the English, and completely defeated the united
array of the French and Scots.
There is a singular coincidence between the battle of Bauge, and
the battle of Stirling, in which Wallace defeated Surrey and Cress-
ingham. The two armies, one commanded by the Duke of Clarence,
and the other by the Earl of Buchan, were separated from each other
by a rapid river, over which was thrown a narrow bridge. Buchan
had despatched a party, under Sir Robert Stewart of Darnley, and
the Sieur de Fontaine, to reconnoitre, and they coming suddenly upon
the English, were driven back in time to warn the Scottish general
of the approach of Clarence. Fortunately, he had a short interval
allowed him to draw up his army, whilst Sir Robert Stewart of
Railston, and Sir Hugh Kennedy, with a small advanced body, de-
fended the passage of the bridge, over which the Duke of Clarence
with his best ofl&cers were eagerly forcing their way, having left
the bulk of the English army to follow as they best could. The
consequences were almost precisely the same as those which took
place at Stirling. Clarence, distinguished by his coronet of jewels
over his helmet, and splendid armour, was first fiercely attacked by
John Carmichael, who shivered his lance on him ; then wounded in
the face by Sir William de Swynton ; and lastly, felled to the earth
and slain by the mace of the Earl of Buchan.* His bravest knights
and men-at-arms fell along with him ; and the rest of the army, enraged
at the disaster, and crowding over the bridge to avenge it, being thrown
into complete disorder, as they arrived in detail, were slain or taken
by the Scots. Monstrelet + affirms, that two or three thousand Eng-
lish were slain. Bower limits the number who fell to sixteen hundred
and seventeen, and asserts that the Scots only lost twelve, and the
French two men. J It is well known that for this service Buchan was
rewarded with the baton of Constable of France. After the battle,
* Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 4G1. This John, or, as he is called by Dou-
gla?. Sir John Carmichael, was ancestor to the noble family of Hyndford, now
extinct. The family crest is still a shivered spear. — Douglas, vol. i. p. 752.
f Monstrelet, by Johnes, vol. v. p. 263. X Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 461.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. .337
Sir Robert Stewart of Darnley bought Clarence's jewelled coronet
from a Scottish soldier for 1000 angels.*
Having been thus successful at Bauge, the conduct of the Scots at
Crevant, considering the circumstances under which the battle was
fought, is inexplicable. On consulting Monstrelet,+ it will be found
that the river Yonne separated the two armies, over which there was
a bridge as at Bauge. The Scots occupied a hill near the river, with
the town of Crevant, to which they had laid siege, in their rear.
Over this bridge they suffered the whole English army to defile, to
arrange their squares, and to advance in firm order against them,
when they might have pre-occupied the tete-de-pont, and attacked
the enemy whilst they were in the act of passing the river. Either
the circumstances of the battle have come down to us in a garbled
and imperfect state, or it is the fate of the Scots to shut their eyes
to the simplest lessons in military tactics, lessons, too, which, it may
be added, have often been written against them with sharp pens and
bloody ink. The consequences at Crevant were fatal. They were
attacked in the front by the Earls of Salisbury and Sufiblk, and in
the rear by a sortie from the town of Crevant, and completely de-
feated.i
The battle of Verueuil was still more disastrous, and so decisive,
that it appears to have completely cooled all future desires upon the
part of the Scots to send auxiliaries to France. The account given
by Bower § is, at first sight, confused and contradictory ; but if the
reader will compare it with Monstrelet, vol. vi. pp. 90, 94, it becomes
clearer. It seems to have been lost by the Scots, in consequence of
the unfortunate dissension between them and their allies the French,
which prevented one part of the army from co-operating with the
other ; whilst, on the side of the English, the steadiness of the archers,
each of whom had a sharp double-pointed stake planted before him,
defeated the charge of .the Lombard cross-bowmen, although they
were admirably armed and mounted. I|
Letter E, p. 169.
In this treaty for the relief of James the First, which is to be found
in Rymer's Foedera, vol. x. p. 307, the list which contains the names
* Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. ii. p. 58.
t Vol. vi. p. 48.
X Monstrelet, vol. vi. pp. 48, 49.
§ Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 463.
II Ibid.
VOL. III. Y
338 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
of the hostages is not a little curious, as there is added to the name
of each baron a statement of his yearly income, presenting us with
an interesting picture of the comparative wealth of the members of
the Scottish aristocracy in 1423. The list is as follows : —
Thomas Comes Moravia, rcddituatus et possessionatus ad M. marc.
Alexander Comes CrauffurdisD, vel filius ejus et haeredes ad M.
marc.
Willielmus Comes Angusite, ad vi C marc.
Maletius Comes de Stratherne, ad v C marc.
Georgius Comes Marchiarum, vel filius ejus primogenitus ad viii C
marc.
David Filius Primogenitus Comitis Atholise, vel filius ejus et haeres
ad xii C marc.
Willielmus Constabularius Scotise, vel filius ethasres ad viii C marc.
Dominus Robertas de Erskyn, ad M. marc.
Robertas Marescallus Scotiaj, vel filius ejus et hoeres ad viii C marc.
Walterus Dominus de Drybtoun (Drylton) vel filius ejus et hccres
ad viii C marc.
Johannes Dominus de Cetoun, miles vel filius ejus et haires ad vi
C marc.
Johannis de INIontgomery, miles de Ardrossane, vel filius ejus et
hseres ad vii C marc.
Alexander Dominus de Gordonne, ad iv C marc.
Malcolmus Dominus de Bygare, ad vi C marc.
Thomas Dominus de Yestyr, ad vi C marc.
Johannis Kennady de Carryk, ad v C marc.
Thomas Boyde de Kylmernok, vel filius ejus et ha^res ad v C marc.
Patricius de Dounbarre Dominus de Canmok, vel filius ejus et
ha;res ad v C marc.
Jacobus Dominus de Dalketh, vel filius ejus primogenitus ad xv
C marc.
Duncanus Dominus de Argill, ad xv C marc*
Johannes Lyon de Glammis, ad vi C marc.
Letter F, p. 193.
It is not easy to account for the high character of Albany, which
is given both by Winton and by Bower. It is certain, because it is
proved by his actions, which are established upon authentic evidence,
* It may be conjectured, that there is some error both here and in the
preceding name.
NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 339
that he was a crafty and selfish usurper, whose hands were stained
with the blood of the heir to the crown— yet he is spoken of by both
these writers, not only without severity, but with enthusiastic praise.
Indeed, Wiuton's character of him might serve for the beau ideal of
a perfect king : — Vol. ii. p. 418.
Bower, though shorter, is equally complimentary, and throws in
some touches which give individuality to the picture. On one occa-
sion, in the midst of the tumult of war, and the havoc of a Border
raid, we find the governor recognised by his soldiers as a collector of
the relics of earlier ages, (Fordun a Goodal, vol. ii. p. 409,) and at
another time a still finer picture is presented of Albany sitting on
the ramparts of the castle of Edinburgh, and discoursing to his cour-
tiers, in a clear moonlight night on the system of the universe, and
the causes of eclipses. I am sorry I have neglected to mark the page
where this occurs, and cannot find it at the moment.
Letter G, p. 214.
A curious instrument, which throws some light on the state of the
Highlands in 1420, and gives an example of the mixture of Celtic
and Norman names, is to be found in a MS. in the Adv. Lib., Jac. V.
4. 22, entitled Diplomatum Collectio. It is as follows : —
"John Touch, be the grace of God Bishop of Rosse ; Dame Mary
of ye He, Lady of the Yles and of Rosse ; Hucheon Eraser, Lord of
the Lovat ; John Macloyde, Lerde of Glenelg ; Angus Guthrason of
the Ylis ; Schyr William Earquhar, Dean of Rosse ; Walter of Dou-
glas, ScherafF of Elgin ; Walter of Innes, Lord of that ilke ; John
Syncler, Lord of Deskford ; John ye Ross, Lord of Kilravache ; John
IM'Ean of Arnamurchan, with mony othyr,— Til al and syndry to the
knawledge of the quhilkis thir present lettres sal to cum, gretyng in
God ay listand. Syn it is needeful and meritabil to ber lele witness
to suthfastness to your Universitie, we mak knawyn throche thir
present lettres, that on Eriday the sextent day of the moneth of
August, ye yher of our Lord a thousand four hundreth and twenty
yher,into the kyrke yharde of the Chanonry of Rossmarkyng, compeirit
William the Grahame, the sone and the hayr umquhil of Henry the
Grame. In presence of us, befor a nobil Lorde and a mychty, Thomas
Earl of INIoreff, his ovyr lord of his lands of the Barony of Kerdale,
resignande of his awin free will, purly and symply, be fast and baston,
intill the hands of the sayde Lorde the Erie," &c. An entail of the
lands follows, which is uninteresting.
At page 263 of the same volume, we ^'ud a charter granted by
S40 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.
David IT., in the 30th year of his reign, entitled, "Carta reraissionis
ThomoD Man et multis aliis, actionis et sectoo regioe turn pro homicidiis,
combustionibus, furtis, rapinis," &c., in which the preponderance of
Celtic names is very striking. The names are as follows : — " Thomas
Man, Bridan filii Fergusi, Martino More, Maldoveny Beg Maldowny
Macmartican, Cristino filio Duncani, Bridano Breath, Alex™ Macron-
let Ada9 Molcndinario, Martini M'Coly, Fergusio Clerico Donymore,
^lichaeli Merlsway, Bridano M'Dor, Maldowny M'Robi, Colano M'Gil-
bride, Maldowny Macenewerker, et Adgc Fovetour latoribus presen-
cium, &c. Apud Perth, primo die Novemb. regni xxx. quinto.
Letter H, p. 268.
I am indebted for the communication of the following charter to
the Rev. Mr Macgregor Stirling, a gentleman intimately acquainted
with the recondite sources of Scottish History : —
Apud Edinburgh, Aug. 15, 1451, a. r. 15.
Rex [Jacobus II.] confirmavit Roberto Duncansoun de Strowane,
et heredibus suis, terras de Strowane, — terras dimidicatis de Rannach,
— terras de Glennerach, — terras de duobus Bohaspikis,-^terras de
Grannecht, cum lacu et insula lacus ejusdem, — terras de Carrie, —
terras de Innercadoune, — de Farnay, — de Disert, Faskel, de Kylkeve,
— de Balnegarde, — et Balnefarc, — et terras de Glengary, cum foresta
ejusdem, in comitatu Atholie, vie. de Perth, quas dictus Robertus, in
castrum \_sic'\ Regium de Blar in Atholia personaliter resignavit, et
quas rex in unam integram Baroniam de Strowane univit et incorpo-
ravit (pro zelo, fauore, amore, quas rex gessit erga dictum Robertum
pro captione nequissimi proditoris quondam Roberti de Grahame, et
pro ipsius Roberti Duncansoune gratuitis diligenciis et laboribus,
circa captionem ejusdem sevissimi proditoris, diligentissime et cordia-
lissime factis.) — (Mag. Sig. iv. 227.)
LND OF VOLUME THIRD.
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