dumfries-1920/04-035

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.

magnates dislays some instability. Eustace Maxwell of Caerlaverock had been shifty
in his loyalties while Robert Bruce was in the field. Now in 1332 he was a consenting
witness to the coronation of Edward Balliol, and, when Dumfries became English,
Maxwell as Sheriff attended to its royal revenues. But when Robert the Steward
initiated the final and successful effort to throw off the English yoke, Maxwell, after
receiving English munitions for Caerlaverock, reverted to his own country for a
twelvemonth or so, and then returned to activity on the other side. His nephew and
successor, Sir Herbert, carried on the tradition, and Caerlaverock, which he surrendered
to England in 1347, ¹ remained with that country till it was captured by Sir Roger
de Kirkpatrick in 1356.
But the times were a hard test for territorial lords in a district so near the enemy.
In March 1333 a successful English raiding party was opposed by Scots from Loch-
maben garrison on its return "near Dornock at the Sandyford." ² Thus befell the
battle of Dornock, which resulted in the capture of the "flower of the knighthood
of the whole vale of Annan." ³ Individual flowers were Sir Humphrey Jardine and
William Carlyle. Yet was there a gallant remnant which no misfortune could bend
to submission, namely, the brothers and other relatives of William de Carruthers,
who, scattered and in great straits, lurking and wandering "like wild men" (tanquam
silvestres), held out till the Steward in 1338 revived the national cause, and then
gathering like a swarm of bees (quasi examen apum congregantes), attached them-
selves to that leader. ⁴ Three years later the Earl of Moray, appointed by the
Scottish Guardian to the custody of the West March, was able to make himself
master of the open country and hold hostile movements in check. ⁵ The defeat at
Durham in 1346 and capture of David II. brought to Scotland another hard ten
years. But, in 1356, while William Douglas recovered Galloway, Roger Kirkpatrick
did a similar service as regards Nithsdale, possessing himself of Caerlaverock and
Dalswinton. John, son of the Steward, afterwards Robert III., took the field in
Annandale, and there remained till he had brought the whole district back to
Scottish Allegiance. ⁶ All this meant the recovery of the castles, and particularly
those on the Nithsdale line, which were credited with doing serious mischief to
the English. For this reason David, as a condition of his release in 1357, had to
promise their destruction, and so threw down Dalswinton, Dumfries, Morton,
and Durisdeer, with nine others in Nithsdale. ⁷ Lochmaben, however, as usual,
remained last in English hands, and did not fall till 1384 (see p.152).
In all these activities the eastern dales make no special figures. They were not,
however, indifferent. In the first year of the reign of King Edward Balliol (1332),
"Sir John de Lyndesey of Walghope knight" forfeited his lands by "rebellion," that
is, by supporting the regency. ⁸ Sir John de Orreton thus occupies Wauchopedale for
a term, having his charter confirmed by the English King as late as 1340. ⁹ And
Lindsay's example had imitators. In the spring of 1337 Edward III. was ordering
investigation by juries of Roxburgh and Dumfries shires for discovery of the persons
in "Eskedale, Ledelesdale, Ewithesdale, Walughopdale, and Bretallaughe" (i.e.
Canonbie) who assisted "the enemy," that is, the nationalist Scots. ¹⁰

1 Bain, iii. No. 1507.
2 "juxta villam de Drunnok apud Sandywathe," Chronicon de Lanercost.
3 Scotichronicon, lib. xiii. cap. 27. "The floure . . . off the West March men" is Wyntoun's
phrase. According to Bower and Wyntoun, they were captured at Lochmaben.
4 Scotichronicon, xiii. 32.
5 Ibid., xiii. 48.
6 Ibid., xiv. 15.
7 Ibid., xiv. 18.
8 Bain, iii. No. 1354.
9 Ibid., No. 1328.
10 Ibid., No. 1226.

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