Broken covenants

In August 1301 the English campaign in Scotland ground to a halt, scuppered once again by lack of money and supplies. There were also diplomatic pressures to contend with. Philip le Bel chose this moment to throw his weight behind the Guardians, and sent envoys to treat with the English at Glasgow.

Philip le Bel

The terms discussed expose the weakness of Edward’s position in Scotland at this time. His envoys agreed to a truce with the Scots, to commence on 26 January 1302 and end on 1 November. For the duration of the truce all of the lands and castles which he had taken in southwest Scotland during the summer of 1301 would be placed in the custody of Philip’s agents. When the truce expired, they would be handed back to the English. The Scots, apparently, didn’t get a look-in.

Edward had been burned like this before. In the negotiations over Gascony in 1294, he had agreed to hand over key towns and castles to Philip, who would then return them after a grace period of forty days. Instead the French king simply broke his own covenant and confiscated the duchy.

Now it was happening all over again. Except it wasn’t. Edward wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, and in the autumn of 1301 drew up new indentures for the supply of his garrisons in southwest Scotland. Massive purveyances of food were ordered from England and Ireland for the garrisons of Dumfries, Lochmaben and Ayr. This would not have happened if the English king meant to hand over his recent conquests to the French. Thus the peace talks at Glasgow were so much hot air: if Philip wanted those castles, he would have to send a French army to Scotland to take them.

Robert de Bruce

Everyone, the Scots included, must have been aware of Philip’s past behaviour, and that there was zero chance he would honour the terms of any truce. He may have toyed with the idea of turning Scotland into a permanent outpost of France. This idea had been suggested to him by the English traitor, Thomas Turberville, in 1295. In a secret letter to the French king, Tuberville advised him to send men to Scotland:

"Wherefore I counsel you forthwith to send great persons into Scotland; for if you can enter therein, you will have gained it for ever."

Another who had cause for concern was Robert de Bruce. To pile pressure on Edward, Philip dangled the threat of John Balliol’s return to Scotland. If this happened, it could spell the end of Bruce’s ambitions as well as Edward’s. As the English and French diplomats cut and parried at each other in Glasgow, Brucie had much to ponder.

Guardians at the gates

In early September 1301, at about the same time as King Edward marched against Bothwell, the Guardians headed to the south-west to attack the English garrison at Lochmaben.

Lochmaben

Possession of Lochmaben was of great strategic value to both sides. The port of Annan was only a short journey from the castle and the garrison could, like the one at Caerlaverock, be resupplied from the port at Skinburness. It also lay across an important road junction, controlling routes into Annandale and Nithsdale. This meant that the garrison at Lochmaben controlled access to Caerlaverock and Dumfries.

Back in September 1298, Edward captured Lochmaben after his victory at Falkirk and gave it to Sir Robert Clifford. It had previously been held by the Bruces, who for some reason chose not to build a stone castle on this important site. Instead Lochmaben was a timber fortification or ‘manerium’, and Clifford was tasked with strengthening it. Excavations in 1968 discovered evidence of a gateway and a palisade trench, dating from 1300 or thereabouts. Thus it would appear Clifford built an extra timber defence or pele, along with a large ditch to make approach from the landward side virtually impossible. Lochmaben was otherwise surrounded by water on three sides.

By autumn 1301 the English constable of Lochmaben was Sir Robert Tilliol. He had about 100 men in garrison, and was required to hold his wooden outpost against the combined strength of the Scottish field army. In early September he sent an urgent letter to the king, reporting that the Guardians were converging on him from the north and north-west. One part of the Scottish host, under Sir John Soules and the Earl of Buchan was camped at Loudon; the other was at Stonehouse near Strathaven under Simon Fraser, Sir Alexander Abernethy and Sir Herbert Morham.

Tilliol begged the king for reinforcements: 100 decent cavalry, led by a ‘good chieftain’, would do the trick. And he needed them in the next twenty-four hours. It is doubtful that his letter reached Edward in time - soon after Tilliol’s galloper went tearing up to Bothwell with his despatch, the Guardians were at the gates.

The road to Bothwell

In early September 1301 the war in Scotland shifted up a gear. King Edward left Glasgow on the 4 and arrived the next day outside the walls of Bothwell Castle, on the banks of the Clyde a few miles to the southeast.

Bothwell was the property of Walter of Moravia, or Walter of Moray, known as Walter ‘the Rich’ for reasons that were presumably obvious. Many of his kinsmen had been captured at the battle of Dunbar in 1296, including his younger brother Andrew, who died in the Tower in April 1298. His nephew Andrew earned fame as the chap who, along with Sir William Wallace, defeated the Earl of Surrey at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Andrew shortly afterwards died of his wounds.

The castle appears to have changed hands three times in five years, and by September 1301 was back in Scottish possession. William the Rich had died the previous year, and his nearest heir was the three-year old Andrew, son of the late Guardian. Edward seems to have identified the Morays as a specific threat, and took personal charge of the operations at Bothwell. This was part of his laborious step-by-step reconquest of Scotland; the Scots were never going to fold again as they did in 1296, so the thing had to be done piecemeal, one castle and chunk of territory at a time.

Prior to the siege, on 10 August, Edward granted the barony of Bothwell, including castle and lands to the value of £1000, to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke and John Comyn’s brother-in-law. At this stage the castle itself probably consisted of the main donjon tower, the prison tower, and the short connecting wall. The foundations of the remainder would have been protected by a timber palisade. 

The siege lasted from 5-22 September. While it was in progress a siege tower or ‘belfry’ was constructed at Glasgow and hauled seven miles along a corduroy road to the castle; this was a log road or timber trackway made by placing logs perpendicular to the direction of the road. It was a rough mode of transport, and a danger to horses due to shifting loose logs, but an improvement on impassable mud or dirt roads. On 6 September, mindful of desertions, Edward paid out wages to his 6800 infantry.

Whatever his failings elsewhere, the king was a dab hand at siegecraft. Possibly he inherited this trait from grandpa John, who also loved a siege. The Guardians made no attempt to rescue Bothwell, and by 22 September the garrison had surrendered.

Of alms and iron kings

August 1301. While his father trundled towards Glasgow, the Prince of Wales set about reducing Scottish castles in the west. He had already captured Ayr, and shortly afterwards seized Dalswinton. This was a Comyn castle - literally known as Comyn’s Castle - and lay six miles northwest of Dumfries. The castle was demolished in the late 18th century, though the ruin of a tower (pictured) stands on the site.

Prince Edward sent a tiny garrison of four men-at-arms, led by Sir John Botetourt, to hold Dalswinton. They were paid for their stay at the castle between 5-25 September. Botetourt was fresh from convalescence in Gascony, where he had been severely wounded defending two Franciscan brothers from the French. For centuries he was thought to be a bastard son of Edward I, until closer inspection revealed this was the result of some spilled ink on a genealogy roll. Perhaps bear that in mind, the next time someone claims to be the 27th great-great-grandson of Julius Caesar.

The prince marched on down the coast from Ayr to attack Robert de Bruce’s castle at Turnberry. Bruce was still fighting for the Scots at this point, even though the Guardians had sacked him the previous summer. To begin with, he may have watched events unfold with a certain detached amusement: his successor in office, Ingram d’Umfraville, had distinguished himself by running away from King Edward in Galloway.

Bruce would have been far less amused at the loss of Turnberry. The castle had fallen by 2 September when Edward senior, at Glasgow, received “good rumours” from his son. Sir Montasini de Novelliano, the Gascon knight recently installed as constable of Ayr, was gifted new robes at Turnberry on the same date. With an unusual touch of sensitivity, King Edward gave alms in thanks to Saint Kentigern, otherwise known as Mungo, the reputed founder and patron saint of Glasgow.

Some ghastly news - for Bruce and Edward both - then arrived from France. Over the summer, the papacy handed over custody of John Balliol to Philip le Bel, who allowed Balliol to reside in his ancestral of Bailleul in Picardy. Balliol might well have been kidnapped - just as Philip had previously kidnapped the daughter of Count Guy of Flanders - but the sequence of events is unclear.

Everyone now looked to Philip, to see which way the Iron King would jump. It was commonly believed that he would send Balliol to reclaim his throne in Scotland “with a great force” of French soldiers at his back. But Philip had a more subtle ploy in mind.

Gnarly old forwards

In late July 1301 Edward I led his army from Berwick and marched west through the borders, staying at Peebles for two weeks before pushing onto into Lanarkshire.

The Guardians had mustered their field army much further south, in the region of Lochmaben and Galloway. They seem to have kept a smaller force in Lanarkshire, sent to harass the English king’s army on his march towards Glasgow. On 28 July, the day on which Edward arrived at Peebles, one of his small squad of twenty crossbowmen was captured by the Scots. His name was Basculus - probably a Gascon - and the Scots took his bay horse, later valued at £12. It appears Basculus himself was released, since he later submitted the claim for compensation.

Edward slowly bulldozed his way through the central Lowlands, with the Scots hanging off him like a bunch of determined backs off a gnarly old prop forward. Unlike the Anglo-Celtic smorgasbord of his son’s army in the west, the majority of his men were English. In contrast to the previous summer in Galloway, they didn’t desert in large numbers. Or at least not at first: the number of 6800 infantry remained fairly consistent throughout July and August, and only started to drop off in September.

The king arrived at Glasgow on 21 August. Shortly after this date, while still at Glasgow, Edward sent men to garrison the castles of Carstairs and Kirkintilloch. These had probably been left empty, but now he wanted to strengthen his hold on southern Scotland. He appointed Sir Walter Burghdon, a Scot who held lands in Roxburghshire, as keeper of Carstairs.

Burghdon had the following men in garrison:

30 men-at-arms
2 knights
80 archers

A daily rate of pay for these men was calculated at £2 6 shillings. Kirkintilloch had been a private castle in the hands of John Comyn of Badenoch until 1296. At some point between 1296-1301 Edward granted it to Hugh Despenser, who showed little interest in the place. In the autumn of 1301 Sir William Francis was installed there with:

27 men-at-arms
2 smiths
1 nightwatchman
1 artillery maker
19 crossbowmen
20 archers

Cilmeri: another slant

Below is the well-known entry from the Brut describing the last days of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd:

“And then was effected the betrayal of Llywelyn in the belfry of Bangor by his own men. And then Llywelyn ap Gruffudd left Dafydd, his brother, guarding Gwynedd, and he himself and his host went to gain possession of Powys and Buellt. And he gained possession of them as far as Llanganten. And thereupon he sent his men and his steward to receive the homage of the men of Brycheiniog, and the prince was left with but a few men with him.”

This account was probably written about 1320, hence later than other chronicle sources for Llywelyn’s death. Yet it contains details not found elsewhere, such as Llywelyn’s march into Powys and the despatch of his steward to take the homage of the men of Brycheiniog. The fate of his steward or ‘distain’ (seneschal) is perhaps a neglected detail. Llywelyn’s previous distain, Tudur ab Ednyfed, had died in 1278 and the identity of his successor is uncertain. However in 1281 a man named Dafydd ab Einion appears at the head of a witness-list on a document issued by Llywelyn. This was the position usually reserved for the distain, who was normally preceded only by princes and important clerics.

Moreover, Dafydd was the son of Einion Fychan, a leading minister under Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Therefore there is nothing unlikely in the son of such a high-ranking individual being appointed to the rank of distain. The family hailed from Anglesey.

The distain sent to take the homage of the men of Brycheiniog in 1282 is not named by the Brut. In the ministers’s accounts of the fourteenth century, however, reference is made to an Anglesey man, Dafydd ab Einion Fychan, who died ‘against the peace’ - contra pacem - in South Wales. In other words, he died in arms against the English crown.

If the Dafydd who died ‘contra pacem’ can be identified as Llywelyn’s distain - and the evidence, while not conclusive, is quite strong - then this would make sense of the Brut account. It would also make sense of the army that allegedly ‘vanished’ at Cilmeri. Llywelyn’s army did not vanish, and nor do his men lie under a local golf course. Instead, according to the Brut, he sent the bulk of his force with Dafydd into Brycheiniog, while he and a few men went to their fatal meeting with the Mortimers and their allies near Builth.

The army thus met its Waterloo much further south, and Llywelyn’s men fell alongside Dafydd ab Einion; or were ‘swept away in flight’, as Peckham’s Register puts it. This would imply the plan to draw Llywelyn and his army to their doom was organised and widespread all along the line of the marches. Brycheiniog was Bohun territory, though Llywelyn, Clare and Mortimer all had a stake in it.

To conclude. English records of the 1290s refer to a Dafydd Fychan ap Dafydd ab Einion who held his father’s lands in Dindaethwy, Anglesey, for a fine of £5 per year. This is almost certainly the son of Dafydd Einion, Llywelyn’s probable distain. If his father had died in arms against the king, this would explain why he held his lands conditionally on payment of a ‘fine’ instead of rent.

Time for junior

The English king arrived at Berwick on 5 July 1301; by the 12 his army had mustered and consisted of around 6800 footsoldiers. The exceptions were a few mounted officers and light horse or foresters who had been drafted into the army to serve as hobelars. Edward himself was attended by a bodyguard of twenty men, while the rest of his army were all archers save for 20 crossbowmen, 20 miners and 20 masons.

This was even smaller than the army he had taken to Flanders in 1297, and the lack of heavy cavalry - or any cavalry - is notable. It seems the old king intended to play a minor role in the campaign, and wanted his son to have all the credit. Edward had admitted as much in March, when he declared the Prince of Wales should have “the chief honour of taming the pride of the Scots”.

Edward junior was in charge of the main army at Carlisle; about 7000 Welsh and Irish and 1000 English cavalry. This was his time to shine, though he was only in nominal command. His father had given him a minder in the shape of Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, a battle-hardened veteran who was there was to ensure junior didn’t invade the Irish Sea or lead his men over a cliff.

Edward II

Prince Edward probably set off from Carlisle in late July. His first target was the lordship of Ayr on the west coast. On 25 August the king received “good rumours” from Sir Malcolm Drummond, a Scottish knight captured by Sir John Segrave. Drummond presumably informed the king of junior’s success in Ayr. A Gascon knight with the interesting name of Sir Montasini de Novelliano was made constable of Ayr Castle, and Sir Edmund Hastings the sheriff. The keepership of the castle and sheriffdom was granted to Patrick, the pro-English Earl of Dunbar.

Whatever resistance the Cambro-Irish-English army encountered as it marched into Ayr is unknown. The capture of this region had taken three years, and was an important gain for the English: they now had control through to the west coast, and could import supplies from Ireland directly to Scotland.

Not much remains of Ayr Castle these days, so above is a pic of the dramatic ruins of Greenan Castle in Ayrshire, built for John Kennedy of Baltersan in 1603.