The Campaign

Picture showing the remains of Elgin Castle By Anne Burgess

The last couple of posts have been background, so it is probably time to bring the details of the campaign up to date.
Having threatened Elgin castle, but failing to take it, Robert moved southward possibly planning to use his Garioch lands as a base to launch his assault on Buchan. At this point the King fell gravely ill, and his companions feared for his life. With Robert lying ill and his small band, possibly around 700, short of food, they encountered the Earl of Buchan’s force near Slioch. The royal force now under the command of Edward Bruce, assumed a defensive position in wooded country, with boggy ground protecting the approaches. There was apparently an inconclusive action on Christmas day, where the archers of both side “bickered”, with those of the royal army having the better of the exchanges. The Earl of Buchan withdrew, but returned again on New Year’s Eve. Edward Bruce had his brother placed in a litter and formed the force up and marched off. The earl was apparently so intimidated by this show of confidence that he made no effort to prevent the royal army leaving. They march to Strathbogie, present day Huntly, and from there to Inverurie where Robert was able to recover.
Some accounts have Robert lying sick in Inverurie, and only recovering in time for the decisive engagement at Barra, but others have him recovering and renewing the assault on the Comyn lands and menacing the Earl of Ross, during the spring of 1308.
It would appear that the early months of 1308, saw several strongholds captured, and destroyed by Robert or his followers, and a resumption of the mobile warfare that had characterised the campaign to date. Whether Robert was personally involved in actions as far a field as Dornoch and Elgin, is not clear, but undoubtedly the Bruce “Spin-doctors” would have tried to maximize his involvement.
Sometime in early April another attempt was made to take Elgin castle, but this was thwarted by the arrival of a force commanded by John de Moubray.
So by some time in May 1308 the royal army was encamped at Inverurie, and the stage was set for the final showdown.
The picture above is courtesy Anne Burgess, through a “creative commons license”.
The picture is from an excellent web site http://www.geograph.org.uk/ which is a collaborative site aiming to have pictures for every grid square on the OS map of Great Britain. Well worth a look.

So who were the bad guys?

Well !! - From earlier posts you may have the impression that the Bruces were, and that the Comyns, and their allies, were the patriots. However, later Bruce and Stuart histories eulogised Robert and vilified the Comyns, [More of them in a later post] which brings to mind a quotes from Winston Churchill:

“History is written by the victors.”

Setting aside the “spin” and the propaganda, we should judge the protagonists on their level of competence. To do this I would like to look at three letters written by Robert’s opponents between the summer of 1307 and the summer of 1308. They are presented by Dr. GWS Barrow in his Robert the Bruce.
#1
The first of these letters to Edward I, (RB p172), written by a Scottish noble supporting the English, which Dr. Barrow dates as May 15th 1307 and suggests Alexander Abernethy as the possible author.
The author tells how the “good will” of the people is with him [Robert], and that if he can cross the Mounth he will find support there. He goes on to say “…..unless King Edward can send more troops for there are many people living loyally in his peace so long as the English are in power”
He finally talks of false preachers and a prophesy of Merlin predicting a Scottish/Welsh alliance.

The remaining letters were written to Edward II.

#2
The second letter (RB p175), was written by the Earl of Ross, to which Dr. Barrow gives a probable date of November 1307.
He firstly speaks of Robert “coming with great power”, and despite mobilizing 3000 men for a fortnight, the Earl was powerless against him. Because the warden of Moray was away his men would not assist the Earl, so he, on the advice of “good men”, accepted a truce until June 1308.
He pleads for help – “May help come from you, our lord, if it please you, for in you, Sir, is all our hope and trust”…………..
He ends with – “Wherefore, dear lord, remember us and tell us what is your will on these matters of which we have given an account”
#3
The third letter (RB p179), was written by John of Lorn, which Dr. Barrow dates around March 1308, but details events which pre-date those in the Earl of Ross’ letter.
He firstly speaks of being ill, and then details Robert’s approach of his lands, with 10,000 or 15,000 men, but he only had only 800 men to face him. He then claims Robert asked for a truce for a short time, which he granted and “……and I have got a similar truce until you send me help”
He then asks Edward to ignore the rumors that he has come to “Robert’s peace”, and pledges his allegiance. He then boast about his castles and galleys, and being ready to serve Edward. He states he cannot trust any of his neighbours, but goes on to say, ……..” As soon as you or your army come, then, if my health permits, I shall not be found wanting where lands, ships or anything else is concerned, but will come to your service”…….

So what can we tell from the letters?

It is clear that Robert was very active and was inspiring confidence in his supporters and doubt in his enemies. The Scottish nobles are clearly intimidated by his actions and although the estimates of Robert’s forces were probably exaggerated, (especially John of Lorn) to excuse the acceptance of truces, the perception of being outnumbered, may also be a factor of Robert’s highly aggressive and mobile style of warfare, which gave the impression of a much larger force.
The other consistent theme is the request for aid from the English King, one can sense the feeling of helplessness from the letters, the nobles are powerless in the face of Robert.
These men had consistently fought for the Scottish cause, but had been “ weight, measured, and found wanting”. It is clear that they were now broken men, and when faced with this new force were unable to withstand it, and too ideologically opposed to join it.
They had failed in their feudal obligations to King and country and would consequently be judged harshly by history.
Robert, although undoubtedly driven by personal ambition, proved to be competent and able, thus taking his rightful place as Scotland’s hero king.

The Civil War

When Robert headed north in late 1307, the war became a civil war.
This raises the question – why was there so much opposition to Robert’s kingship from within Scotland.
Some answers to these questions can be found in the Competition for the vacant crown in the early 1290s. The main competitors were John Balliol and Robert Bruce (the future king’s grandfather). When Edward I eventually decided the case in favour of John Balliol, the Bruces remained aloof, and avoided recognition of John. When John with his Comyn advisors rebelled against Edward, the Bruces “flip-flopped” between support of Edward and sufficient support of the “Scottish” cause, to maintain the credibility of their claim to the throne. In contrast, from the start of the war with England to their final submission in 1304, the Comyn party had consistently supported the Scottish and Balliol cause. Another significant event during 1304 was the death of Robert’s father, and passing of the claim to the throne to him. The following year saw the capture and execution of Wallace.
There are various legends regarding what happened next, but it is an established fact that Robert met John (Red) Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries, and that there was a violent disagreement which resulted in the murder of John Comyn and his uncle, by Robert and his supporters. So he alienated, the Church, Edward I, the Comyns and their allies, at a stroke. With no other options left Robert was crowned King of Scots on March 25th 1306 at Scone. One of the great ironies was that he was crowned by Isabel of Fife, the wife of John Comyn Earl of Buchan.As mentioned, in an earlier post, the year following his coronation was a disaster, but now following his successes against the English he was taking the war to his Scottish enemies.

A New Kind of War

As stated, in yesterday’s post the launching of the “Northern Campaign” saw a new phase in the War, two aspects of which I would like to discuss.
The first was the change in the strategy and tactics employed, and these would remain central to the Scottish war effort for the duration of the war.
The second which I will look at in a later post, was the fact that this phase of the war was pretty much a “Scottish” affair, and amounted to a short but violent civil war.

Till now the war had had a depressing predictability;
Scottish defiance, accompanied with some success which was followed by a massive English response resulting in the defeat of the Scottish field army and the capture and garrisoning of the Scottish castles.

Warfare at this time was dominated by two things, the castle and the mounted knight, neither of which Robert possessed in any numbers, or quality. Whether he contemplated these factors whilst watching the spider, it is not clear, but by the time of the campaign in the south west, he appears to have perfected a mobile style of warfare, where like the modern guerrilla he declined engagement unless circumstances were heavily in his favour.
As he moved north he continued this highly mobile style of warfare which seems to have intimidated his opponents into accepting truces. To this he added the strategy of destroying the castles as they fell into his hands.
The effect of this was twofold, firstly it did not dilute the mobile force by the need leave a garrison, which would be easily overwhelmed in the event of an enemy response. Secondly it denied the enemy a base of operations. The medieval castle was somewhat like a modern carrier battle group, just by existing it could “project power” and dominate its surrounding area.
So by a mixture of intimidation, skillful maneuvering, and the destruction of the enemy’s means of persecuting the war Robert would bring about the conditions for a decisive engagement on his terms.
This would continue to be his method of operation throughout the war, and when he did bring on a major engagement, he was always decisive, aggressive and victorious.

Robert Moves North

Following his success in the south west, and the death of Edward I, Robert moved north and embarked on a new phase of Scotland’s War of Independence. Previously the war had been predominantly a struggle between the Balliol party, led by the Comyns, and for a brief period by Wallace, and the administration of Edward I. This earlier stage was characterised by much “side changing” and “fence sitting”, especially by the Bruces who had no wish to see a successful Balliol cause, which would effectively end their claims to the throne. Now the roles were reversed and the Comyns and their allies were firmly in the English camp, and vehemently opposed to the Bruce Kingship.
So as Robert launched his “break-out” northwards the MacDougalls of Lorn found themselves threatened by the Kings forces on land and by the MacDonald galleys on the sea. Faced with what he believed was overwhelming force John of Lorn agreed a truce with the king who was then able to move north to the Great Glen and take Inverlochy castle. He then move rapidly up the great glean taking Urquhart castle on Loch Ness, before taking Inverness and Nairn castles in quick succession. During this period he also intimidated the Earl of Ross into accepting a truce, before moving on to besiege Elgin castle. As the castes were taken they were destroyed, to deny their use to the enemy, this was the start of a strategy, which would be key to final victory.

The Comeback King

The “spider encounter”, has become an integral part of the story of Robert’s, and Scotland’s phoenix like rise from the ashes. However it probably has no basis in fact.
A Persian friend of mine recounted a similar tale of Genghis Khan, involving an ant carrying a grain of rice, and I noticed a similar reference on Wikipedia attributing it to Tamerlane.

But as the newspaper editor in the movie “The man who shot Liberty Valence” said:

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

However, whether inspired by a spider or not, Robert did not just blindly try, try and try again, he clearly understood the reasons for the successes and failures of both himself and other Scottish leaders, because in the coming years few of the failures were to be repeated. New tactics were employed to play to his strengths and to his enemies weaknesses and, a new winning strategy would lead to ultimate victory.

Following the deaths of his brothers in Galloway Robert was rightly cautious about returning to the mainland, but in February he sent an advance party to Carrick, with instructions to light a signal fire if it was safe for the main force to land. On seeing the fire the King and the main party landed, only to discover that the advance party had not set it, because they did not consider conditions suitable for a return. Having returned, the decision was made to stay, and the subsequent months must have been extremely perilous, as Edward urged his local commanders to capture Robert and end the “rebellion”. Although he was in his own Earldom few were prepared to join him, and those who were not against him were happy to “wait and see”.
Robert managed to elude the various forces seeking him, until some time in April, when he moved south to Glen Trool, where he ambushed and routed an English force sent to destroy him. He then move north to Loudon Hill where, on May 10th 1307, he occupied a prepared position, and defeated a second English force, under Aymer de Valence, the victor of Methven,
Much is often made of these victories, but some modern historians believe these were minor local actions which, caused little real damage to the English ability to administer Scotland, but were built up by the Bruce propaganda machine. Whatever the truth they were significant enough for Edward I to leave his sick-bed, for one last campaign in Scotland. On the way north Edward succumbed and died at Burgh-on sands on July the 7th 1307. The death of his greatest enemy gave a huge advantage to Robert, but I do not believe, as many do, that the final outcome would have been different, had Edward lived.
The task would have been much harder but Robert would still have ultimately prevailed.
Robert immediately took advantage of his opponents disarray following Edward’s death, and with a small force, he broke-out of the south west heading north for his ultimate rendezvous at Barra.

The King in the Heather

1306, had been a disaster for the Robert; his wife and daughter were captives of the English, his brother Nigel and many of his followers had met the same fate as Wallace.
The King himself was on the run, a fugitive from the English administration and a “blood enemy” of the Comyns, and their allies, arguably the most powerful party in Scotland.
Not the most auspicious start to a reign.

1307: However, inspired by the famous spider Robert returned to his lands in Carrick, early in 1307, determined to retake his Kingdom. He sent his brothers Thomas and Alexander to Galloway, but they were quickly defeated and killed. He survived several difficult months, but events were about to turn in his and Scotland’s favour

Robert and the Spider

For Scotland's and for freedom's right
The Bruce his part has played;--
In five successive fields of fight
Been conquered and dismayed:
Once more against the English host
His band he led, and once more lost
The meed for which he fought;
And now from battle, faint and worn,
The homeless fugitive, forlorn,
A hut's lone shelter sought.

And cheerless was that resting-place
For him who claimed a throne;--
His canopy, devoid of grace,
The rude, rough beams alone;
The heather couch his only bed--
Yet well I ween had slumber fled
From couch of eider down!
Through darksome night till dawn of day,
Absorbed in wakeful thought he lay
Of Scotland and her crown.

The sun rose brightly, and its gleam
Fell on that hapless bed,
And tinged with light each shapeless beam
Which roofed the lowly shed;
When, looking up with wistful eye,
The Bruce beheld a spider try
His filmy thread to fling
From beam to beam of that rude cot--
And well the insect's toilsome lot
Taught Scotland's future king.

Six times the gossamery thread
The wary spider threw;--
In vain the filmy line was sped,
For powerless or untrue
Each aim appeared, and back recoiled
The patient insect, six times foiled,
And yet unconquered still;
And soon the Bruce, with eager eye,
Saw him prepare once more to try
His courage, strength, and skill.

One effort more, his seventh and last!--
The hero hailed the sign!--
And on the wished-for beam hung fast
That slender silken line!
Slight as it was, his spirit caught
The more than omen; for his thought
The lesson well could trace,
Which even "he who runs may read,"
That Perseverance gains its meed,
And Patience wins the race.

By: Bernard Barton (1784-1849)