The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (6 page)

Besides Prince Edward and his intimate friend, Piers Gaveston, there were many men at the May 1306 knighting who would prove important in Roger’s life.
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John Maltravers was there, a man who would not only fight in Ireland and Scotland with Roger but who would become one of his most trusted captains in later years. Lord Berkeley was there with his son Maurice, representatives of the ancient lordship of Berkeley in Gloucestershire and cousins of the Mortimer family. Bartholomew de Badlesmere was present, known as Badlesmere the Rich, lord of Leeds Castle in Kent. He was one of the greatest examples of how dutiful service could raise a man up from the mere fringes of nobility to a position at the very heart of the court. And of course there were many lords of the Welsh Marches knighted, most of them in some way connected to the Mortimer family and together presenting one huge faction of powerful lords and knights. That day Prince Edward knighted men who would serve him and men who would denounce him, men who would betray him and take up arms against him, men whom he would put to death and men who would ultimately overthrow him. In Roger Mortimer he knighted the man who, in more than twenty years’ time, would force him to abdicate.
But all that was far off. The present was full of joy, celebration and thoughts of the war in Scotland which lay ahead.

After the mass knighting the newly created knights and their retainers filed out of the abbey to walk the short distance to the great hall of Westminster Palace. As the feast began, eighty minstrels (many picked specially by the prince and Gaveston) played exciting rhythms and tunes around the hall in small groups on drums or tambourines, English bagpipes, flutes, harps and rebecs. They stamped and danced, sang and laughed. Course after course, each one consisting of many different dishes, was brought for the lords and knights to pick at and savour as they talked and listened. Then, much later, the music died down. The last few murmurs of conversation gave way to astonished gasps as some of the musicians reappeared with a huge silver salver on which there were two motionless white swans apparently swimming in a net of gold. Slowly the swans were paraded around the hall and brought before the king. People waited as the old sovereign, now white-haired and bearded, and dressed in white, rose to his feet.

The king’s speech was the centre of the whole occasion. He spoke of knighthood’s virtues and purpose, and he spoke of the band of warriors now before him. And he spoke of Scotland.

No one in the hall needed reminding about Scotland. King Edward had been proclaimed overlord of that country in 1291, in an attempt to pacify rival factions for the Scottish throne, and had eventually chosen John Balliol to be king under him rather than Balliol’s rival, Robert Bruce of Annandale. When Balliol refused to act as Edward’s puppet, Bruce and a number of other Scottish lords successfully sought Edward’s support against Balliol, and forced his removal. When William Wallace raised the question of Scottish independence, and was executed in its cause, the grandson of Bruce, another Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, met with his rival claimant to the throne, John Comyn, in the Greyfriars’ church at Dumfries. These men were supposedly discussing respect for one another’s property after the death of the aged King of England. But what happened next shocked the Christian world. In front of the altar of the church, Robert Bruce drew a knife and stabbed John Comyn. As Comyn lay stricken and shrieking, his uncle Robert Comyn lunged forward and attacked Bruce. Seeing his lord under threat, Bruce’s brother-in-law Christopher Seton threw himself into the line of attack and killed Robert Comyn. Bruce then ordered his esquires to silence John Comyn for ever, which they did. A claimant to the throne of Scotland had been murdered in church, in blessed sanctuary, on holy ground. Nothing as shocking and as abhorrent to the laws of knighthood had happened since the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket before the altar of his own cathedral, over 130 years earlier.

That had been Robert Bruce’s offence to Christian humanity. His offence to King Edward had been just as extreme. Immediately upon killing Comyn, Bruce had seized control of Dumfries Castle and imprisoned the English judges gathered there. He had then set about obtaining the Kingdom of Scotland for himself. On 25 March he had himself crowned at Scone Abbey in the presence of the Bishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of St Andrews, the Earl of Atholl, the Earl of Lennox, and his mistress, Isabel of Fife, Countess of Buchan. It was a calculated and deliberate challenge to the King of England, a declaration of independence.

It was with this horror in mind, and the knowledge that the English army must go north to fight Bruce, that the new knights watched the old king step forward. ‘By the God of Heaven and these swans!’ he cried, ‘I will avenge the death of John Comyn and have vengeance on the perfidious Scots!’ Then turning to his son and his chief nobles, still standing at the high table, he demanded, ‘As soon as I have accomplished this task, and revenged the injuries done by Bruce to God and to the Church, I will go to the Holy Land and there end my days fighting the Infidel. But swear to me this: that if I die before the task is finished, you will carry my bones with the army and not bury them until full vengeance has been wrought on the Scots!’
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Immediately the hall was filled with shouts of assent and wrath against Bruce and his men. The Earl of Lincoln, one of the king’s oldest and most loyal knights, immediately went down on his knee and swore to fight beside the king for the remaining years of his life. The prince, swept up in the fervour of the moment, swore before all that he would not sleep two nights under the same roof until he reached Scotland to help his father fulfil his vow. Many other lords stepped forward and promised to do likewise. The hall was awash with solemn oaths and calls for the destruction of Robert Bruce.

The king was no doubt satisfied for the time being, but the support, however ecstatic, was merely what he had anticipated. The main force had already been ordered to march north. Aymer de Valence and Henry Percy, each in charge of an army, had already secured the border, and a few days before the Feast of the Swans the king had given de Valence overall command and ordered him to attack. What Edward was doing back in Westminster Hall was putting in place the army which would not fight Bruce this year, nor necessarily the next, but which would ultimately conquer Scotland, even if it should not happen in his lifetime. He was in effect planning a military conquest to take place after his death.

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After leaving London in early June, the royal army proceeded north slowly. Roger and the other men knighted at Westminster were still in England when they heard the news that Aymer de Valence had met Robert Bruce in battle on 26 June at Methven and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Scots. On 8 July, when de Valence established his headquarters at Perth, the royal army was at Carlisle. Over the subsequent days the prince’s advisers, such as Lord Mortimer of Chirk and the Earl of Hereford, guided the army up the western side of Scotland and brought them across the lowlands to back up de Valence’s advance. This took them to Lochmaben Castle, the birthplace of Robert Bruce, a target significant much more for its symbolism than its military strength. To the great delight of the prince, the castle garrison surrendered without a struggle on 11 July. The royal army accepted the surrender, and straightaway pushed on north towards Perth, ransacking and burning the villages in its path. They reached Forteviot on 1 August.

King Edward was not with the army. By the time the prince set off from Carlisle, the appointed mustering place, his father had only reached Nottingham. The old man was ill, and could only travel in a litter, but this did not mean that he played no part in the campaign. At Methven, Aymer de Valence had captured the Abbot of Scone and the Bishops of Glasgow and St Andrews, all of whom had attended Bruce’s coronation. These prisoners – and many others over the subsequent weeks – were sent to King Edward in irons. From his litter Edward provided not only the impetus for the campaign but also the justice to be inflicted on the Scottish rebels.

At Perth Aymer de Valence rode out to meet the prince, and to welcome the royal army. To young Roger it served further to cement him into the front rank of the nobility. Here he was with the prince, his distant cousin, and de Valence, another relation. His company could hardly be more eminent. De Valence’s career had been one of outstanding service: he had fought with the king from 1297, he was an internationally important aristocrat, known and respected throughout northern Europe, and capable of leading the most important diplomatic missions. Besides this, he was a first cousin of Edward I. Although de Valence knelt at the prince’s feet at their meeting, there was no doubt that it was he, not the prince, who was in charge.

The command of an experienced warrior like de Valence was an essential element of any campaign, and particularly one which was about to advance deep into Scotland. While the English were still at Perth, John McDougall of Argyll led a locally raised army against Bruce and met him in battle at Dalry, near Tyndrum, on the western border of Perthshire.
Bruce was again defeated, and this time his army was scattered. He sent his womenfolk, including his sister and mistress, northward with his brother Sir Neil Bruce, to Kildrummy Castle. The mission for de Valence and the prince was clear: to take Kildrummy and its precious occupants.

Leading the English army so far into Scotland, however, was a daunting task, especially with Bruce still at large. At any time their supply lines could be cut from behind, and the king would not have known where to send replenishments by sea. Also that summer was hot, and forcing the troops to march in arms over seventy miles of enemy highland was a significant challenge, requiring careful use of water and food supplies. It is to the credit of its commanders that the army entered Aberdeenshire without incident.

At Kildrummy itself they faced a problem. The castle was situated at the top of a ravine and very strongly defended, with curtain towers and high battlements. Being set on rock, the walls could not be destroyed by mining beneath the foundations, which was normally the most effective way of attacking a castle. Any siege would be dangerously protracted, as the castle was well stocked with provisions. To storm it would require siege engines to be built on-site, a lengthy and complicated process. It was the sort of castle which could well hold up an army at the very limit of its supply lines that little bit too long, until Bruce managed to raise an army and cut them off.

De Valence was an able strategist, however. First he secured his position by sending miners to undermine the walls of Dunaverty Castle, where Bruce was sheltering, driving him to seek shelter on the island of Rathlin. Simultaneously he sought a quick – if unchivalrous – solution to the siege of Kildrummy. It was found in the person of the castle blacksmith. He was prevailed upon to set light to the castle granary. With his food supply destroyed, Sir Neil Bruce had no option but to surrender. He did so thinking his brother’s womenfolk were safe, for in fact they were no longer at Kildrummy but had escaped north, to the sanctuary of St Duthus at Tain. Soon, however, the English had the women in their custody, despatched to them by the loyal Earl of Ross, in chains.

By mid-September the campaign in Scotland was effectively over. The king, now at Lanercost Priory, near Carlisle, had every reason to be well pleased. He had not captured Robert Bruce himself but he had in his custody the man’s wife, mistress, brother, sisters and daughter, as well as the major churchmen who had supported the rebellion and other notables such as Christopher Seton, Sir Simon Fraser and the Earl of Atholl. It was more than he had dared to hope for at the outset. Even during the campaign he had been plagued by worry that he would not live to see its
conclusion. His health and the war were increasingly becoming one and the same in his mind: his fight was as much against the forces of death as the Scots. But now, the range of prisoners allowed him his choice of punishments. Twelve knights captured at Methven were hanged at Berwick. Sir Simon Fraser and the Earl of Atholl were sent to London to die in the same way that William Wallace had, being drawn to the gallows, hanged and quartered, their parts being distributed around the realm. Christopher Seton, Bruce’s brother-in-law, who had killed Robert Comyn at Dumfries, was sent back there to be hanged and dismembered, along with Neil Bruce. His wife, Christina Seton, Bruce’s sister, was sent to England to be imprisoned, along with another sister, Elizabeth Siward, and his daughter. The three notable clergymen of the rebellion were all sent to England in fetters to begin lengthy terms in separate prisons. The most vindictive punishments of all were reserved for Bruce’s sister, Mary, and his mistress, Isabel, Countess of Buchan. These two women were incarcerated publicly in wooden cages at Roxburgh Castle and Berwick Castle respectively. The only privacy they were afforded was a toilet, a concession to decency which the king only begrudgingly allowed. Both women endured this for more than three years. The only person honourably treated was Bruce’s wife, Elizabeth, who did not approve of her husband’s rebellion. In her words, they had been ‘like children, playing at being kings and queens’.

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With the end of the campaign, the English army began to break up. Quite unofficially a few of the younger knights decided they would leave the royal command and head off to find some fighting at a tournament in France. Few of those eager young knights who had come north with Edward had seen much close action, and they and their boredom could be contained no longer. Despite the king’s orders to the contrary, twenty-two of the best-connected and most accomplished young tournament fighters deserted the army. Among them were Sir Piers Gaveston and Sir Roger Mortimer of Wigmore.
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The king was furious. Despite his frailty and age he raged against the deserters, and declared their estates forfeit. He issued orders for the men themselves to be arrested and to be declared traitors. Thus Roger found himself suddenly landless for the second time. Faced with such reproach there was nothing to be done except to make amends, and accordingly he and his fellow knights went to the prince at Wetheral Priory, near Carlisle, to ask him to intercede on their behalf with the king. The prince sought the best intercession he could, through his stepmother, the youthful and
kind Queen Margaret, who pleaded with her husband to forgive the young men. For Roger, as for most of the twenty-two, that forgiveness and the restoration of his estates was forthcoming the following January. To Piers Gaveston it was not.