stirling-1963-vol-1/05_215

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
or about the following year his brother and successor
David I, alludes to "my burgh of Stirling", which may
have stood at the gates of the Castle. In 1174 William the
Lion was captured at Alnwick and, as part of the price
exacted by Henry II for his release, delivered up Stirling
with four other Scottish castles, ¹ the Scottish Crown
bearing the costs of their occupation. Scottish independ-
ence was regained in 1189, and William died in the Castle
in 1214. It was William the Lion who first enclosed the
King's Park, that is, the Old Park of Stirling, taking in
some land which belonged to Dunfermline Abbey and
giving the monks other land in exchange ²; this park was
repaired in 1264, in which same year a new park was
constructed and partly fenced in. ³ By 1287 the rebuild-
ing of the castle had been begun; the construction was
partly in stone and lime, Master Richard, the mason,
and Master Alexander, the carpenter, being in charge. ⁴
During the 13th century Stirling Castle was at least an
occasional residence of the Royal family; about 1280
David, the second son of Alexander III, died there, ⁵
and after the King's own death in 1286 Queen Yolande
remained there for nearly a year. ⁶ Under the Treaty of
Birgham Edward I attempted, in 1290, to get delivery of
all the Scottish castles, on the plea that subjects in dispute
should be in the hands of the judge; they were handed
over in the following year, and in 1292 Edward instructed
his governors to deliver them to John Balliol, the success-
ful competitor. His governor of Stirling Castle at that
time was Sir Norman de Arcy, variously styled "con-
stable" and "castellan" of the Castle. ⁷ In 1296 Edward,
with a small force, moved up to Stirling from the siege of
Edinburgh Castle, to find Stirling Castle lying open and
empty but for some prisoners. ⁸ In 1297 Wallace secured
the Castle after his victory at Stirling Bridge; the
English constable and the greater part of the garrison
having fallen at the bridge, William de Ros, Sir William
le fiz Waryn and Sir Marmaduc de Thwenge, leader of
the English van along with Cressingham, threw them-
selves into the Castle but had to yield it for want of
victuals. ⁹ In the following year, however, after Wallace's
defeat at Falkirk by Edward I the remnants of the Scots
army fell back on Stirling; they were unable to hold it,
and set the town on fire. Edward, following up, ordered
the Castle to be repaired and garrisoned. ¹⁰ In the next
year, a Scots army encamped in the Tor Wood and
besieged the Castle from that base; Edward set out hot-
foot to the rescue, but, as his barons and their vasslas
would go no farther north than Berwick, he was left
with only a small force, described by a contemporary
as "petit -- et pover et descounsailé" ("small, poor and
disheartened"). ¹¹ He accordingly decided to return, and,
since it had proved impossible to relieve the English
garrison in Stirling, he authorised it to surrender. Thus
his constable, John Sampson, handed the Castle over to
Gilbert Malerbe "a Scottishman", ¹² and in the process lost
horses, armour, robes, etc., to the value of £61, 13s. 10d.,
in which sum was included the value of two horses and a
mare, which he and his companions had eaten, in default
of other food. The garrison numbered some ninety
persons in all. ¹³
By 1303 Stirling Castle was the last stronghold left to
the Scottish patriots. Once again Edward I had invaded
Scotland, advancing as far north as Moray. In November
of that year he retired to Dunfermline for the winter,
and there and then made his preparations to reduce
Stirling. Carpenters, ditchers and other workmen were
drawn from the Lothians and mustered at Dunfermline.
In the following March he was on his way to lay siege to
the Castle, which was still holding out against him; and
he ordered the Prince of Wales to provide lead for the
weights of his siege-engines by stripping it from roofs,
though in the case of churches he enjoined him to leave
the parts immediately above the altars intact. ¹⁴ Robert
Bruce, later King of Scots but then Earl of Carrick, had
just succeeded to and done homage for his father's
English estates, and was at this time among the foremost
in Edward's service. When he complained to Edward
that he could find no waggon in the country sufficient
to carry the frame of a certain great siege-engine, Edward
replied that he would send someone to help him, and
insisted on the frame being forwarded together with
the stones and lead; on the same day he ordered Sir John
Botetorte, an experienced soldier, to aid and advise the
Earl in the carriage of the engine in question, and like-
wise of timber and stones, together with all the lead that
he could procure. ¹⁵
Edward began the siege of Stirling Castle on 21st
April 1304, ¹⁶ He was accompanied by a brilliant array,
including the Earls of Gloucester, Lancaster and
Worcester, John de Bretagne, Aymer de Valence, Henry
de Percy and Hugh le Despenser. A contemporary
account of the siege is included in the Chronicle of Pierre
de Langtoft, who, however, was not himself present. As
translated from the Norman-French ¹⁷ this runs:

"The king after Easter takes his departure,
With his knighthood, to besiege Stirling.
When they are come there, they go and examine the
place,
And cause to be raised there thirteen great engines.
Two knights had the castle in ward,
Sir William Olifard was the first,
I heard the other named sir William of Dipplyn,
And twenty gentlemen, besides pages and porter,

1 Cal. of Docts., i, No. 139.
2 Dunfermline, No. 72.
3 Excheq. Rolls, i (1264-1359), 24.
4 Ibid., 40 f.
5 Scotichronicon, ii, 124.
6 Chron. de Lanercost, 118.
7 Cal. of Docts., ii, Nos. 522, 523, 533, 545, 586.
8 Chron. de Lanercost, 179.
9 Cal. of Docts., iv, No. 1835.
10 Ibid., ii, No. 1002.
11 The Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft, R.S., ii, 320 f.
12 Cal. of Docts., ii, No. 1949.
13 Ibid., ii, No. 1119.
14 Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland, ed.
Stevenson, ii, 475, 481.
15 Ibid., 482-4.
16 Bain, The Edwards in Scotland, 42.
17 R.S., ii, 355-9.

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