CHAPTER X.

WALLACE JOINED BY A NUMBER OF THE BARONS.--EXPEDITION TO THE WEST HIGHLANDS--BATTLE OF BRADHER, AND DEATH OF M’FADYAN.--AFFAIR OF GLASGOW.--DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF BISHOP BEK.

A.D. 1297. About this time Sir William Douglas took the Castles of Dresdier and Sanquhair, as already stated in the short notice we have given of his exploits. In conjunction with Wallace, this active and powerful baron, assuming the sanction of the name of Baliol, endeavoured to enforce the edict for the expulsion of the English ecclesiastics holding benefices in Scotland. This edict, issued between the time of the taking of Berwick and the Castle of Dunbar, had been rendered nugatory by the suppression of Scottish independence. It was now, however, executed with the utmost rigour, wherever the influence of the insurgents extended. In pursuance of this object, Wallace, at the head of three hundred choice cavalry, proceeded to Glasgow to dislodge Bishop Bek, who, with a garrison of one thousand men, kept possession of the town and episcopal castle, belonging to Robert Wishart, the Scottish Bishop of that place.

As the Scots drew near the spot against which their operations were directed, Wallace divided his followers into two bands. Taking the command of one himself, he committed the other to the guidance of his uncle, the Laird of Auchinleck. “_Whether_,” said our hero to his gallant kinsman, “_do you choose to bear up the Bishop’s tail, or go forward and take his blessing._” Auchinleck at once understood the intended plan of attack, and proposed assailing the rear of the English, resigning the more honourable post to the merits of his nephew, “_who_,” as he jocularly observed, “_had not yet been confirmed_.”

Having received the necessary instructions, Wallace enjoined him to be diligent; “for,” said he, “the men of Northumberland are all good warriors.” The parties separated; that under Auchinleck to make a compass round the town, so as to get in rear of the enemy; and the other, under the conduct of Wallace, advanced up the principal street leading to the castle. Their approach, however, had been discovered; for, when near the present site of the college church, the Scots came in contact with the English, and the inhabitants had scarcely time to shelter themselves in their houses, before a dreadful conflict commenced. The powerful and warlike prelate with whom our patriots had to contend, possessed a feudal following of knights and esquires, inferior only to that of Edward himself. The narrow street, however, in which they were engaged was in favour of the Scots; and the sword of Wallace told dreadfully on the helmets and headpieces of the enemy. The manner in which he swept his antagonists before him, is still a matter of tradition among the descendants of the early inhabitants of Glasgow. Though the enemy fought with obstinacy, the gallantry of the Scots sustained them against the efforts of their numerous opponents; and in the heat of the engagement, Wallace having unhorsed Henry of Hornecester, a stout monk, who carried the banner of the Bishop,[93] this circumstance damped the ardour of some of the superstitious vassals of the prelate, who now fell back before a vigorous charge of the Scots. At this juncture, those under Auchinleck having reached the elevated ground in the rear of the English, and seeing the turmoil of battle that was raging below, hastily arranged themselves for the charge, and, before the enemy were fully apprised of their danger, the torrent of spears came rushing down upon them with overwhelming impetuosity. Their dismay was now complete. A hasty and disordered retreat ensued, and the by-ways leading from the High-street were so choked up by the fugitives, that a number of them were trampled to death by their companions. Bek[94] effected his escape, with about three hundred horse, and directed his flight towards England, carrying with him, it is supposed, the sacred banner of St Cuthbert and that of St John of Beverly.[95]

While Wallace was thus employed in expelling the English ecclesiastics from the west of Scotland, Sir William Douglas was engaged in forwarding the same object in the south. In these proceedings they are charged by the English authors with extreme cruelty. “The unhappy priests,” says Knighton, “had their hands tied behind their backs, and in this helpless state were thrown from high bridges into rivers, their dying agonies affording sport to their merciless captors.” Fordun merely says, that Wallace pretended to execute the edict of 1296, which appointed all English ecclesiastics to be expelled from Scotland. On which Lord Hailes remarks, “I hope this is not true; it has too much the appearance of a political pretext, by which defenceless individuals might be persecuted.”[96] There was little occasion for his Lordship’s sympathy. The thirteenth century was not the period when _churchmen_ were the objects of _causeless_ persecutions. Their expulsion appears to have been the result of their political intrigues and criminal interference with the records of the country intrusted to their charge. And from their placing these documents in the hands of Edward at Norham, he was enabled to give a colouring of justice to his attempts upon the independence of Scotland. The evidence which these falsified muniments afforded is mentioned by Langtoft,[97] as being submitted by Edward to the English barons for their advice before the business of the submission respecting the Scottish crown was entered upon. When the Scots reflected on the many thousands of their nation, of all ages, who had already been butchered at Berwick and Dunbar,--the oppressions that had followed,--the apparently interminable war entailed upon them in support of the pretended proofs of the supremacy of England; it is not to be wondered at, that they should attempt to get rid of those canker-worms who had nestled in their country, and ungratefully betrayed its sacred and most invaluable interests. The edict was early published, and at a time when it could serve no other purpose than a protest against the baseness of their conduct. When the insurrection, therefore, broke out under Wallace, it was not to be expected that individuals who had rendered themselves so deservedly obnoxious, would be treated with much lenity, if they still attempted to retain their temporalities at the expense of the people they had endeavoured to enslave.[98]

Wallace, uniting his forces with those under Douglas, now made a rapid march upon Scone, expecting to surprise Ormsby, the Justiciary of Edward, who was holding his courts in that place. The attempt was all but completely successful. They came unexpectedly on the enemy, a great many of whom were either killed or taken prisoners, and a rich booty fell into the hands of the Scots. Ormsby narrowly escaped; and, impressed with terror at the late dreadful acts of retaliation, fled with precipitation to England. Encouraged by these successes, a number of the aristocracy joined the banner of our hero, among whom were the Steward of Scotland, his brother the Knight of Bonkill, Alexander de Lindsay, Sir John Stewart of Rusky (or Menteith), Sir Richard Lundin, and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, whom he had so lately relieved from the obnoxious interference of the Bishop of Durham. In consequence of this timely assistance, Wallace was enabled to undertake an enterprise of considerable importance.

The reader will perceive, by the annexed note,[99] that though Edward had made a triumphal march with his army from Berwick to Elgin; yet that interesting and extensive portion of Scotland, comprising the West Highlands and Islands, had never been profaned by the foot of the usurper. This may have been partly averted, by most of the chieftains coming forward and taking the oath of allegiance, and partly by the extreme difficulty of leading a numerous army through a country so intersected by arms of the sea, and rendered almost inaccessible by its rocky and mountainous barriers. In order to have some control over a people so isolated, the policy of Edward at first suggested the idea of carrying along with him those chieftains whose influence was considered the most extensive. This measure, however, he soon perceived was not so effectual as he anticipated, and he accordingly determined on sending a colony of Irish to fix themselves in some central part of the country he wished to overawe. With this view he compelled MacDougal of Lorn, whom he had carried with him to London, to exchange his patrimony for an equivalent of lands belonging to himself.

Having effected this, he gave a grant,[100] of no very certain limits, to a creature of his own named M’Fadyan, who, with a tumultuous horde of Anglo-Irish and renegade Scots, amounting to about fifteen thousand, landed in Lorn, and proceeded to ravage the country with fire and sword,--committing the most revolting atrocities on such of the inhabitants as refused to join them. Much obscurity hangs over the birth, connections, and character of the leader of this cloud of locusts. According to Blind Harry, his origin was low, although high in favour at the English court. He seems to have held some situation of importance in Ireland, as the Minstrel, referring to those Irish refugees who took shelter in Scotland under Wallace, says,

“Sum part off tham was in to Irland borne, That Makfadyan had exilde furth beforne: King Eduuardis man he was suorn of Ingland, Off rycht law byrth, supposs he tuk on hand.”

_Buke Feyrd_, 180.

Having talents and ambition he allied himself to the enemies of his country, and, like other mushrooms, throve amid the rankness of that corruption with which he had surrounded himself. A wretch that had risen by oppressing and assisting to bind the necks of his free-born countrymen to the yoke of slavery, was a very fit instrument to employ in forwarding the views of Edward in the subjugation of Scotland.

He had not, however, proceeded far before the _Crann-tàir_, or fiery cross, was seen hurrying on, by hill and glen, to gather the children of the Gaël to repel their savage assailants. Duncan of Lorn, the uncle, or, according to some, the younger brother of the chief, unable to withstand the superior force of the enemy, had retreated towards Loch-Awe, to obtain the protection of Sir Niel Campbell. This brave man, along with his brother _Donnchadh dubh nan Caisteal_, (Black Duncan of the Castles), had collected a body of three hundred _Gall-oglaich_ (well armed warriors) part of whom were the vassals of Malcolm MacGregor of Glenurchy.[101] With this force he continued to embarrass the enemy, by attacking their foraging parties and cutting off their supplies. This determined MacFadyan to follow him through the fastnesses of the country, and endeavour to overwhelm him by his superior numbers. Sir Niel managed his retreat with great dexterity. After leading his unwary adversary round by the head of Bradher Pass, he hurried down that dangerous and difficult defile, and, crossing the narrow and ill constructed fabric which served for a bridge, he broke it down; and thus being secure from immediate pursuit, found himself in one of the strongest positions imaginable. His front was defended by a castle, which commanded the only approach by which he could be assailed; while his rear was protected by the Awe, a deep and rapid river, running out of a loch of the same name. The almost perpendicular barrier of rocks which lined the side of the Awe--down which, as has already been mentioned, Sir Niel and his party had to make their way, before they could place the river between them and their pursuers--was of such a nature, that a man could not get on without the assistance of his hands, to prevent him from slipping down into the deep and eddying abyss below; and even with this assistance, at the present day, it is a passage of considerable danger, from the enormous masses of loose stones with which the sloping face of the rocks is covered, from the brink of the water to their summits, which are of great elevation. The least accidental derangement of the stones at the bottom, never fails to put those above in motion, when an immense rush takes place, attended often with serious consequences to the parties underneath. The reader may readily conceive the facility, therefore, with which, thus circumstanced, Sir Niel and his followers could, from the opposite side of the river, retard the advance of even a larger army than that of M’Fadyan. The difficulty of the pass is not perceptible till the angle of the rock is fairly turned, consequently the Irish army had no opportunity of covering their advance by discharging their missiles. They were obliged to follow each other singly; thus affording, as they came creeping along, fair marks for the arrows of the Scots, part of whom plied their deadly shafts, while others were engaged in throwing stones from their slings against the face of the rocks, and thus bringing down masses of the loose fragments upon the heads of their already embarrassed pursuers.

The castle to which Sir Niel retired, though small, possessed great natural advantages. Situated on a rocky knoll at the edge of a deep ravine, it could only be approached from the road through which M’Fadyan had to advance, and that by means of a ladder which the party within always kept on their own side. When they wished to admit any one, a rope was thrown over that he might pull the ladder towards him; he then descended to the bottom of the ravine, when, placing the ladder against the opposite rock, in this manner he ascended and reached the castle.[102]

When Sir Niel Campbell had determined on his line of retreat, he despatched Duncan of Lorn, and an old, but swift-footed Highlander, named Michael or Gillemichel, to acquaint Wallace of his perilous situation, and to crave his aid in driving the invaders from the country. Wallace, aware of the importance of preventing the establishment intended by Edward, lost no time in complying with the request of his old confederate; and Sir Richard Lundin having joined him with five hundred men, he now found himself enabled to march to the relief of the West Highlanders, at the head of two thousand soldiers.

In Duncan of Lorn and his servant, Wallace had sure and intelligent guides. At that time nothing but intricate footpaths, known only to the natives, existed in the Highlands; and as they were often formed by deer-stalkers, while tracing their game, they frequently led through places both perilous and perplexing to the stranger.

By the time the Scottish army had reached the Chapel of St Phillan, part of the foot soldiers began to flag, and get disordered in their ranks. Wallace, therefore, stopped, and thus addressed them. “Good men,” said he, “this will never do. If we come up with the enemy in such broken array, we may receive serious injury ourselves, but can do them very little hurt in return. It is also necessary that we should be up with them as soon as possible; for if they hear of our approach, they may choose a plain field, where their numbers will give them advantage. To prevent this, I will go forward with those who are able, and leave the rest to follow at more leisure.” Accordingly, taking with himself two hundred of the tried veterans of Ayrshire, and placing another hundred under the command of Sir John Graham, with Sir Richard Lundin at the head of his own followers, they crossed a mountain in their front, and descended into Glendouchar. Here they met a scout, whom they had previously sent forward, acting as guide to Sir Niel Campbell and his three hundred Highlanders. This wary leader, on hearing of the advance of Wallace, thought it proper to retire towards him, and leave the passage free to M’Fadyan, who, he knew, if he followed, could make choice of very few positions where his numbers would be of any advantage. Having given our hero a detail of what information he possessed respecting the state of the invaders, Gillemichel was again sent forward to watch the motions of the enemy; and the tough old mountaineer having fallen in with a scout from M’Fadyan, who had been sent to tract the route of Sir Niel, managed to despatch him with his _claidh mòr_, and returned with the intelligence to his chief.

The ground having now become impassable for cavalry, the Scots dismounted, and proceeded on foot. Their march had not been perceived by the enemy, and, from the superior knowledge they had of the country, they managed to surprise the Irish in a situation where flight was almost impracticable, and the superiority of their numbers became rather a disadvantage. The conflict continued for two hours, with unexampled fury on both sides. Multitudes of the Irish were forced over the rocks into the gulf below. Many threw themselves into the water to escape the swords of the Scots; while various bands of Highlanders, stationed among the rocks, sent down showers of stones and arrows where the enemy appeared most obstinate in the strife. Wallace, armed with a steel mace, at the head of his veterans, now made a charge, which decided the fate of the day. Those Scots who had joined the Irish, threw away their arms, and on their knees implored mercy. M’Fadyan, with fifteen of his men, having made his way over the rocks, and attempted to conceal himself in a cave “wndyr cragmòr,” Duncan of Lorn requested permission of Wallace to follow and punish him for the atrocities he had committed; and it was not long before he returned, bringing his head on a spear, which Sir Niel Campbell caused to be fixed on the top of the rock in which he had taken shelter.

After the defeat of M’Fadyan, Wallace held a meeting of the chiefs of the West Highlands, in the priory of Ardchattan; and having arranged some important matters respecting the future defence of the district, he returned to his duties in the Low Country, having received an accession to his numbers, which covered any loss he had sustained in the late engagement. The spoil which the Scots collected after the battle is said to have been very considerable; any personal share in which, our hero, as usual, refused.[103]