CHAPTER III

THE CORONATION OF BRUCE

Stirling surrendered and Wallace a fugitive, Edward went home and meditated measures for the government of the conquered country. While yielding no point of substance, he recognised the policy of conciliation in form. He took counsel with the Bishop of Glasgow, the Earl of Carrick, and Sir John de Mowbray; and, ostensibly guided by their suggestions, he appointed a meeting of ten Scots and twenty English representatives to be held in London in the middle of July. The meeting was subsequently postponed to September. On September 23, all the representatives were 'sworn on our Lord's body, the holy relics, and holy Evangels, each severally.' The joint commission settled ten points, which were embodied in an Ordinance--'not a logical or methodical document,' but 'mixing up the broadest projects of legislation and administration with mere personal interests and arrangements.' First, the official establishment was set forth: Sir John de Bretagne, junior, Edward's nephew, being appointed King's Lieutenant and Warden, Sir William de Bevercotes Chancellor, and Sir John de Sandale Chamberlain. Next, Justiciars were appointed, a pair for each of the four divisions of the country. Then a score of Sheriffs were named, nearly all Englishmen, though Scots were eligible. Thereafter, the law was taken in hand: 'the custom of the Scots and Brets' was abolished; and the King's Lieutenant, with English and Scots advisers, was 'to amend such of the laws and usages which are plainly against God and reason,' referring difficulties to the King. For the rest, the articles were mainly particular. One of them applied specifically to Bruce: 'The Earl of Carrick to place Kildrummy Castle in the keeping of one for whom he shall answer.' The King confirmed the Ordinance at Sheen. At the same time (October 26), apparently, the King's Council for Scotland--twenty members, including the Bishop of St Andrews, the Earls of Carrick, Buchan, and Athol, Sir John Comyn, and Sir Alexander of Argyll--was sworn in. Bretagne was unable to proceed to Scotland till Lent (and then till Easter), and meantime a commission of four was appointed to act for him, the first commissioner being the Bishop of St Andrews.

The King rejoiced at the sure prospect of peace in Scotland. The country was outwardly quiet. Edward had put on the velvet glove. He had restored submissive barons, knights, and lairds to their lands; he had that very day at Sheen doubled the periods within which they might pay their several fines; and he had displayed a general friendly consideration in his Ordinance. A fortnight before (October 14), he had instructed all the English sheriffs that he desired honourable and courteous treatment to be shown to all Scots passing through their jurisdictions. In a short time, he was contemplating a more complete assimilation of the two countries, to be arranged in a Union convention at Carlisle. But, in February next, the whole face of affairs was suddenly transformed by the report that Sir Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, had done sacrilegious murder on Sir John Comyn at Dumfries.

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The accounts of the train of events leading to the death of Comyn, though agreeing in essentials, vary considerably in details. The Scots story may be told first. Fordun, like his compatriots, colours his narrative deeply with the fanciful glow of Bruce's patriotism. He tells how Bruce 'faithfully laid before Comyn the unworthy thraldom of the country, the cruel and endless torment of the people, and his own kindly project for bringing them relief.' Bruce, he says, 'setting the public advantage before his own,' proposed to Comyn two alternatives: either take you the crown and give me your lands, or else take my lands and support my claim to the crown. Comyn chose the latter alternative; and the agreement was guaranteed by oaths and embodied in indentures duly sealed. Eventually, however, Comyn betrayed Bruce's confidence, 'accusing him again and again before the King of England, by envoys and by private letters, and wickedly revealing his secrets.' Edward acted with restraint: he sounded Bruce; he even showed him his adversary's letters; he feigned acceptance of his explanations. One evening, however, 'when the wine glittered in the bowl,' he expressed his definite determination to put Bruce to death on the morrow. On hearing this, the Earl of Gloucester at once sent Bruce a broad hint in the form of twelve pence and a pair of spurs. Bruce promptly mounted his horse, and rode day and night to his castle of Lochmaben. As he was nearing the Border, he met a messenger of Comyn's bearing to Edward the very bond he had made with Comyn. He struck off the man's head and hurried on his way. By appointment, he presently met Comyn in the church of the Friars Minorites at Dumfries. He charged Comyn with treachery. 'You lie!' replied Comyn. Whereupon Bruce stabbed him on the spot. The friars stretched Comyn on the floor behind the altar. 'Is your wound mortal?' he was asked. 'I think not,' he replied. The hopeful answer sealed his fate. 'His foes, hearing this, gave him another wound, and thus, on February 10,[1] was he taken away from the world.'

According to Barbour, the alternative proposal proceeded, not from Bruce, but from Comyn, which is far from likely; and it was made 'as they came riding from Stirling,' presumably--Blind Harry, indeed, expressly says so--when Edward and his barons were going home from the siege. Barbour goes beyond Fordun in stating that Comyn actually rode to Edward and placed in his hands the indenture with Bruce's seal. Thereupon, he says, the King 'was angry out of measure and swore that he would take vengeance on Bruce' for his presumption, summoned a council, produced the bond, and demanded of Bruce whether the seal was his; but Bruce obtained respite till next day in order to get his seal and compare it with the bond, and fled the same night with the document in his pocket. The embellishments of later writers--the conversion of Gloucester's twelve pence into other coins, the reversal of Bruce's horses' shoes because of the new-fallen snow, and so forth--need not be considered. Barbour makes no mention of an appointment: Bruce rode over to Dumfries, where Comyn was staying, and the tragedy was enacted. Barbour has the same outline of the interview as Fordun, but he remarks that other accounts were current in his time.

A picturesque tradition tells how Bruce, on striking the blow, hurried out of the church to his friends, whereupon Roger de Kirkpatrick and James de Lindsay, seeing his excitement, anxiously inquired how it was with him. 'Ill!' replied Bruce; 'I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn.' 'You doubt!' cried Kirkpatrick; 'I'll mak' siccar' (make sure). And they rushed into the church and buried their daggers in Comyn's body. But if the Justiciars were then sitting, and Roger de Kirkpatrick was still one of them--for he and Walter de Burghdon were appointed Justiciars for Galloway on October 25--there may be some difficulty in accepting the tradition.

The English story commences in Scotland, and it introduces a very important element wholly absent from the principal Scottish versions. The English authorities expressly allege a deliberate purpose on Bruce's part to rid himself of his rival. Both Hemingburgh and the Lanercost Chronicler state that Bruce sent two of his brothers, with guileful intent, to invite Comyn to an interview; Hemingburgh names Thomas and Nigel. The fullest account is given by Sir Thomas Gray, who wrote in 1355--just half a century later, but still twenty and thirty years earlier than Barbour and Fordun. Gray records that Bruce dispatched his brothers, Thomas and Nigel, from Lochmaben to Dalswinton, where Comyn was staying, to invite him to meet Robert in the church at Dumfries; and, moreover, that he instructed them to fall upon Comyn on the way and kill him--a purpose thwarted by the softening effect of Comyn's kindly reception of the youths. 'Hm!' said Bruce, on hearing their report, 'milk-sops you are, and no mistake; let me meet him.' So he advanced to Comyn, and led him up to the high altar. He then opened the question of the condition of Scotland, and invited Comyn's co-operation in an attempt at freedom on the terms already mentioned as contained in the alleged bond between them. 'For now is the time,' he said, 'in the old age of the King.' Comyn firmly refused. 'No?' cried Bruce, 'I had other hopes in you, by promise of your own and of your friends. You discovered me to the King by your letters. Since while you live I cannot fulfil my purpose, you shall have your guerdon!' On the word, he struck Comyn with his dagger, and some of his companions completed the crime with their swords before the altar.

Hemingburgh works up artistically the pacific bearing of Comyn in the face of Bruce's accusations; and this would be likely enough if it be true that Comyn was unarmed and attended by but a small escort. The writer of the Merton MS. of the _Flores Historiarum_, who says Comyn was unarmed, states that he endeavoured to wrest Bruce's weapon from his hand; that Bruce's men rushed up and freed their leader; that Comyn got away to the altar; and that Bruce pursued him, and on his persistent refusal to assent, slew him on the spot.

A distinct English variation occurs in at least five of the records. The Meaux Chronicle states that Bruce, on returning to Scotland after the settlement of the Ordinance, summoned the Scots earls and barons to Scone to consider the affairs of the realm, and put forward his hereditary claim. He received unanimous support, except that Comyn stood by his oath of fealty to Edward, rejected Bruce's claim with scorn, and at once left the council. The council was adjourned to a future day at Dumfries. Meantime Bruce sent Comyn a friendly invitation. Comyn appeared at Dumfries and was cordially received by Bruce, but still he maintained his objections, and again he left the council. Bruce drew his sword and followed him, and ran him through the body in the Church of the Friars Minorites. The Cambridge Trinity College MS., it may be noted, states that Bruce sent his two brothers to invite Comyn to meet him at the 'Cordelers' of Dumfries; and Geoffrey le Baker makes Bruce kill Comyn in the midst of the magnates. But these councils may safely be set aside as grounded on misconceptions.

The English allegation of Bruce's purpose of murder seems to invest with a special interest Blind Harry's casual story, with its coincidences and discrepancies. Bruce, says Harry, charged his brother Edward, whom he found at Lochmaben on his arrival, to proceed next day with an armed escort to Dalswinton, and to put Comyn to death, if they found him; but they did not find him.

On the fall of Comyn, his followers pressed forward and blows were hotly exchanged. Comyn's uncle, Sir Robert, assailed Bruce himself, but failed to pierce his armour (which, the Meaux Chronicler says, he wore under his clothes), and was cut down by Sir Christopher de Seton, probably in the cloister, not in the church. Barbour adds that 'many others of mickle main' were killed in the mêlée; and the statement is amply confirmed.

While this scene was enacting, the English Justiciars were in session in the Castle. Thither Bruce and his friends, having overpowered Comyn's adherents, at once proceeded. The Justiciars had prudently barricaded the doors, but, when Bruce called for fire, they instantly surrendered. Bruce spared their lives, and allowed them to pass over the Border without molestation. According to Hemingburgh, it was only after Bruce had got possession of the Castle that he learned that Comyn was still alive after his first wound; whereupon, by order of Bruce, the wounded man was dragged from the vestibule, where the friars were tending him, and slain on the steps of the high altar, which was bespattered with his blood.

Comyn was slain (according to the usually accepted date) on February 10. Less than two months later (April 5), Edward affirmed that he had placed complete confidence (_plenam fiduciam_) in Bruce. The profession may be accepted as sincere, for it is on record, under date February 8 (the order would have been made some days earlier), that Edward remitted scutage due by Bruce on succession to his father's estates. We may, therefore, put aside the English part of the Fordun and Barbour story and refuse to believe that Edward dallied with Comyn's allegations, or was such a simpleton as to let Bruce keep possession of the incriminating bond. But was there a bond at all? It is generally accepted that Edward did hold in his hands a bond of Bruce's; but this bond is usually taken to have been the Lamberton indenture, which is supposed to have come into Edward's possession through the instrumentality of Comyn. Still, there is nothing to show that this indenture was yet in Edward's hands. It may also be gravely doubted whether Comyn would ever have entered into any bond with Bruce. There is much significance in the silence of the English records. Nor is there more than a very slight English indication of any communication about Bruce from Comyn to Edward. It is likely enough, however, that Comyn informed Edward of Bruce's private pushing of his claims; and it may be that the details of the story of a bond were evolved on mere suppositions arising out of the Bruce-Lamberton compact.

The allegation that Bruce deliberately murdered Comyn is the most serious matter. But the English writers do not satisfy one that they had the means of seeing into Bruce's mind; and the allegation may be reasonably regarded as inference, not fact. There can scarcely be any doubt that Bruce resumed the active furtherance of his claims on observation of the declining health of Edward, but without any immediate intention of a rupture. He could hardly have found support enough to counterbalance the far-reaching power of Comyn, to say nothing of the power of Edward. Clearly it was of the very first importance that he should, if possible, gain over Comyn. He may have offered Comyn broad lands and high honours. But to expect the practical heir of the Balliol claims to support him was, on the face of it, all but hopeless; and to speak of patriotism to Comyn would have been nothing less than open insult. Comyn, of course, would stanchly reject Bruce's overtures. Despite all his prudence, Bruce had a hot and imperious temper; and Comyn's obstinacy--it may be Comyn's frank speech--most probably broke down his self-command. If it had been Bruce's deliberate purpose to kill his rival, he would scarcely have chosen a church for the scene, or have left the deed to be afterwards completed either by others or by himself. The mere fact that he was totally unprepared for a struggle with Edward tells almost conclusively against the theory of premeditation--unless there was a very clearly compromising bond with Comyn, which is wholly improbable. The bond with Lamberton--the only bond that certainly existed--was capable of easy explanation, and was a wholly insufficient reason to urge him to murder a rival, whose adherents would make up in bitterness what they lost in leadership.

Nor is there any reason to believe that Lamberton was implicated. True, he was charged, on his own bond, with complicity in the deed. There still exist letters patent, dated Scotland's Well, June 9, 1306, in which Lamberton declares to Sir Aymer de Valence, then Edward's lieutenant in Scotland, his anxious desire 'to defend himself in any way the King or Council may devise against the charge of having incurred any kind of guilt in the death of Sir John Comyn or of Sir Robert his uncle, or in relation to the war then begun'; and on August 9, at Newcastle, he acknowledged the Cambuskenneth indenture. But there is no necessary connection between the compact and the crime; and it is in the last degree improbable that Lamberton had any anticipation whatever of the Dumfries tragedy. His sympathy with Bruce's rising is quite a different consideration.

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Having garrisoned Dumfries Castle, Bruce sent out his messengers to raise adherents. The Galwegians having refused to join him, he ravaged their lands; and he took the castles of Tibbers, Durisdeer, and Ayr. But he was not strong enough to keep the castles for more than a very short period. After the first surprise, Comyn's men asserted their superior force; and aid arrived from Carlisle. The Lanercost chronicler records that Bruce pursued a Galwegian noble and besieged him in a lake, but that the Carlisle contingent raised the siege, compelling Bruce to burn his machines and 'ships,' and take to flight. Probably Carlaverock is meant.

Leaving the local struggle to lieutenants, Bruce hastened to Bishop Wishart in Glasgow. At Arickstone, in the upper end of Annandale, Barbour says, he was joined by James of Douglas, who had been staying with the Bishop of St. Andrews--a young man destined to play a great part in the history of Bruce. Bishop Wishart joyously received his visitor, cheerfully broke his sixth oath of fealty to Edward, pronounced absolution of Bruce for the murder of Comyn, and produced coronation robes and a royal banner. There was nothing half-hearted about the flexible prelate. Already the country was in eager expectation, and Bruce and the Bishop proceeded boldly to Scone.

On March 27, 1306, in the Chapel Royal of Scone, the immemorial scene of the inauguration of the Kings of the Scots, Robert Bruce was crowned King. The ceremony inevitably lacked certain of the traditional accessories that strangely influenced the popular mind. The venerable Stone of Destiny had been carried off by Edward ten years before. The crown--if crown there had been--was also gone; and the ancient royal robes--if such there had been--were no longer available. The prescient Bishop, however, had provided fresh robes, and a circlet of gold was made to do duty for a crown. Still, there was lacking an important functionary--the person whose office and privilege it was to place the crown on the head of the King. The proper official was the chief of the clan MacDuff; but Duncan, Earl of Fife, was in wardship in England, and again, as on the coronation of Balliol, arose the difficulty of finding an efficacious substitute. No substitute was forthcoming, and the coronation had to pass with maimed rites.

Two days later, however, this difficulty was dramatically solved. Isabella, Countess of Buchan, and sister of the Earl of Fife, had hastened south with an imposing retinue, and appeared to claim the honour and privilege of her house. A second coronation--not mentioned by the Scottish writers--was held on March 29. The wife of a Comyn, nearly related to the murdered Sir John, the Countess yet performed the mystic function. It would be an exceedingly interesting thing if one could now disentangle the extraordinary complication of ideas and influences involved in this remarkable ceremonial. The subsequent punishment of the Countess by Edward continued the romance of the occasion; and it may be added here that, on March 20, 1306-7, Edward, at the instance of his queen, pardoned one Geoffrey de Conyers for concealing the coronet of gold with which King Robert was crowned.

The coronation might have been expected to strike the imagination of the Scots, and to rally the spirit that cherished the memory of Wallace. Fordun asserts that Bruce's friends in Scotland, as compared with his collective foes, were but 'as a single drop compared with the waves of the sea, or as a single grain of seed compared with the multitudinous sand.' The hyperbole has a considerable basis of fact. Bruce, indeed, was supported at his coronation by the two chief prelates of Scotland, the Bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow, and by the Abbot of Scone; by strong-handed relatives--his four brothers, Edward, Thomas, Alexander, and Nigel; his nephew, Thomas Randolph of Strathdon (better known afterwards as Randolph, Earl of Moray), and his brother-in-law, Sir Christopher de Seton (husband of his sister Christian); by the Earls of Lennox, Athol, and Errol; and by such valorous men as James de Douglas, Hugh de la Haye (brother of Errol), David Barclay of Cairns, Alexander, brother of Sir Simon Fraser, Walter de Somerville of Carnwath, David de Inchmartin, Robert Boyd, and Robert Fleming. Apart from the episcopal influence, however, the array is not very imposing. Yet how vastly superior to the meagre beginnings of Wallace! Bruce, indeed, lacked one vital source of strength that his great predecessor had--intimate association and sympathy with the common folk; but, on the other hand, he was admitted, except by the Comyn interest, to be the legitimate sovereign, and 'is not the King's name twenty thousand names?' And so it would have been but for his inglorious record. It is only the servile adulation of later writers that has pictured Bruce as animated by patriotism. He was simply a great Anglo-Norman baron in quest of aggrandizement; and it took many years to satisfy the people generally that their interests were safe in his keeping. But he was a man with deep reserves of strength, freed at last from the paralysis of worldly prudence by a sudden shock, and compelled to defend his crown and his life with his back to the wall. Happily, if only incidentally, such self-defence involved the championship of the independence of Scotland.