The Complete Kingdom Trilogy (153 page)

… for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself
.

KIRKPATRICK, Roger

Fictional character, but based on the real Sir Roger Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, whom I have as kin to the fictional one. This is because my Kirkpatrick is a staunch Bruce supporter from the outset and the real Sir Roger was not – he even fought for Clifford in the English retinue at Falkirk. My Kirkpatrick assumes the mantle of Bruce's henchman, prepared for any dirty work on behalf of his master's advancement, including murder. By 1314, Kirkpatrick has been elevated to Closeburn's barony and knighted, but he owes Hal of Herdmanston a great debt and feels bound to repay it. The Greyfriars murder both elevated and haunted the Kirkpatricks: in 1357, another Sir Roger Kirkpatrick of Closeburn was murdered by Sir James Lindsay in ‘a private quarrel'. Sir James was the son of the man I have with Kirkpatrick and Hal and Dog Boy in Greyfriars the day Red Comyn was murdered.

MACDUFF, Isabel

She is a real character whose life I have shamelessly stolen, investing her with a love affair with Bruce, which was almost certainly scurrilous propaganda of the time, and another with the fictional Hal of Herdmanston, which forms the cornerstone of this and the other books of the series. Their love affair, hagged by the vengeful husband, the Earl of Buchan, is also dogged by war and great events. A member of the powerful, though fragmented, ruling house of Fife, she acted as the official ‘crowner' of Robert Bruce in 1306, a role always undertaken by a MacDuff of Fife – but the only other one was her younger brother, held captive in England. In performing this, she not only defied her husband but the entire Comyn and Balliol families. Captured later, she was imprisoned, with the agreement of her husband, in a cage hung on the walls of Berwick Castle. Her husband died in 1308, harried and broken by Bruce's ethnic cleansing of the Buchan lands and the Buchan title passed to another, which means that, in between, the Earl had divorced his wife, or she had died. In my version, Isabel has hung in a cage from the Hog Tower of Berwick Castle, under the watchful eye of Malise Bellejambe, for seven years, waiting for the day of rescue …

PIMENTAL, Doña Beatriz Ruiz de Castor y

Fictional character, sister of a Knight of Alcántara, the Order which took over Templar commanderies in Castile and Leon and which was, at this time, commanded by the shrewd Ruy Vaz. Treacherous and beautiful, she is based – with absolutely no foundation other than the splendid name – on Doña Leonor Ruiz de Castro y Pimental, wife of Prince Felipe, who was the younger brother of King Alfonso the Wise of Castile and Leon – and a Knight Templar (clearly celibacy was not part of the Spanish Knights' tradition).

RANDOLPH, Sir Thomas

A Bruce supporter, he was captured at Methven and changed sides. Captured by the Scots later, he promptly changed sides again and, in 1314, he has just been raised to Earl of Moray. He is always described as a ‘nephew' of Robert the Bruce, though the exact relationship is uncertain. By this point, he and Sir James Douglas are great rivals, a fact Bruce promoted to his great advantage: no sooner has Douglas taken Roxburgh Castle by daring and stealth than Randolph takes Edinburgh Castle by subterfuge. He commanded one of the great spear blocks – Battles – at Bannockburn and, on the death of Bruce, became Regent for his young son, David II. He died three years later, ostensibly of poisoning, though this is now thought unlikely.

SETON, Sir Alexander

In 1306 there was a mutual indenture – one of those frequent chivalric oaths – made between Sir Gilbert Hay of Erroll, Sir Neil Campbell of Lochawe and Sir Alexander Seton of Seton at the Abbey of Lindores, to ‘defend King Robert Bruce and his crown to the last of their blood and fortune'. Alexander was the brother of Christopher Seton, who had not only helped save Bruce at the Battle of Methven, but paid the price for supporting the King when he was captured defending Loch Doon Castle, a Carrick stronghold, and hanged, drawn and quartered. Another kinsman, John de Seton, was captured while defending Tibbers Castle and was also hanged, drawn and quartered. It may have been that which drove Alexander to ignore his oath and join the ranks of the Disinherited, the lords with vested interest in an English victory. But, the night before the Battle of Bannockburn, Alexander Seton had had enough of the English. He defected and brought news to Bruce of the disarray in the English ranks, helping to persuade Bruce to stay and fight.

SIENTCLER of Herdmanston, Sir Henry

Known as Hal, he is the son and heir to Herdmanston, a lowly tower owing fealty to kin, the Sientclers of Roslin. He is typical of the many poor nobles of Lothian who became embroiled in the wars on both sides of the divide – except Hal has fallen in love with Isabel MacDuff (see above) and their ill-fated affair is shredded by war and her husband's hatred, culminating in the capture of them both. Isabel is condemned to life in a cage hung from the walls of Berwick; Hal is condemned to die – but Edward I's death in 1307 leaves him imprisoned and forgotten in Roxburgh Castle. In 1314, seven years later, he is freed when the castle falls to James Douglas. Despite age – he is around forty-seven in an era when fifty is the average for a man and thirty-five the life expectancy of a woman – and weakness, he is determined to free Isabel and, at last, find a measure of happiness, even if he has to fight his way through all the English at Bannockburn. The Sientclers of Herdmanston are a little-known branch of the Sientcler family, in actuality appearing prominently only for one brief moment in fifteenth-century history. Herdmanston is now an anonymous pile of stones in a corner of a ploughed field and any descriptions of it are pure conjecture on my part.

STRATHBOGIE, Sir David

The Earl of Atholl, son of the man hanged, drawn and quartered for supporting the Scots rebellion in 1306, he had been held by the English as a boy. Restored to the earldom by the English, he initially supported Bruce and then deserted him in 1307, only to return shortly before Bannockburn. Famously, on the very eve of Bannockburn, he turned coat again, almost certainly because of Edward Bruce's careless dalliance with his sister, Isabel. At the time he had been appointed Constable by Bruce, to keep him sweet, but it was clearly a title devoid of command, because the only thing Strathbogie controlled were the siege stores – which he sacked on the way out. This fatal decision eventually cost him his lands and title, appointed to the firmly loyal Neil Campbell.

THWENG, Sir Marmaduke

Lord of Kilton in Yorkshire, a noted knight and married to a Lucia de Brus, distant kin to Bruce himself, Sir Marmaduke is the chivalric, sensible face of English knighthood. A noted thief-taker – bounty hunter – in his own realm, he was also part of the tourney circuit with the young Robert Bruce. He fought at Stirling Bridge and was one of few to battle his way back to Stirling Castle, where he was eventually taken prisoner. He took part in subsequent campaigns against the Scots, including Bannockburn, where, in his sixties, he fought until he could surrender personally to Bruce and was subsequently released without ransom.

VALENCE, Sir Aymer de

Appointed the King's Lieutenant in Scotland and, in 1314, Earl of Pembroke, he was one of the leading supporters of Edward II against the Earl of Lancaster, mainly because of Piers Gaveston. Originally one of the Ordainers, de Valence had assisted in the capture and arrest of Gaveston but considered his dignity and honour outraged when Lancaster high-handedly seized Gaveston from de Valence's prison and summarily executed him. At Bannockburn, de Valence was one of the voices of reason and, when that failed, helped get the King to safety from the debacle of defeat. Subsequently, he supported Edward II against the rebel barons and, when Lancaster was eventually captured and put on trial following the Battle of Boroughbridge, de Valence had his revenge and assisted in the conviction and execution. In 1324, on an embassy to France, he collapsed and died in Picardy and was returned to be buried in Westminster Abbey. In the eighteenth century, looking for a place to install the hero of the moment, General Wolfe of Quebec fame, the Dean of Westminster wanted the de Valence monument removed; he mistakenly thought Aymer was one of the Knights Templars, whom he considered to be ‘a very wicked set of people'. When he found out that Aymer was not one of these he allowed the tomb to remain. The tomb was restored in the early nineteenth century.

VILLERS, Gerald de

Actually named after Gerard de Villiers, a named Templar Knight in the Crusades. One of the last of the dying Order.

VON ESBECK, Widikind

Fictional character, though a real von Esbeck was a Master of the Templars in Germany. With de Bissot, de Villers and de Grafton, Widikind is one of the last Templar Knights in Scotland.

As ever, the list of people who made this book possible is enough to form both sides at Bannockburn – but special mention must be made to:

Katie Espiner, who edited me to within an inch of my life.

Jim Gill, my agent, who spotted the potential and to whom I raise yet another glass.

My wife, Kate, who handles all the stuff I bodyswerve in order to selfishly write.

And the folk at the Bannockburn Heritage Centre. I am glad they are pulling it down – in order to build a spiffy new one in time for the 700th anniversary in 2014.

Hard on the heels of these has to come Nigel Tranter, whose books on Scotland's history, particularly the trilogy on Bruce, are hard acts to follow. I hope he is not birling in his grave too much.

I am also continually indebted to the members of The HWA (
http://www.thehwa.co.uk
), Glasgow Vikings (
www.glasgowvikings.co.uk
) and the rest of the Vikings, national and international (
www.vikingsonline.org.uk
) who have all contributed to shaping this trilogy one way and another.

The process of writing this has been encouraged by a firm band of fans, who have followed the Oathsworn and now want to carry on reading – so thanks to all the honest reviewers from all over the world with whom I have exchanged views.

Slainte mhath!

Rowallan House, Malvern, 2012

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while in some cases based on historical figures, are the work of the author's imagination.

HarperCollins
Publishers

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Published by HarperCollins
Publishers
2013

Copyright © Robert Low 2013

Map © John Gilkes 2013

Robert Low asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Source ISBN: 9780007481637

Ebook Edition © April 2013 ISBN: 9780007337958

Version 1

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The three books of the Kingdom Series, among other stories, reveal the agonies and transformation of a man quite literally born to be king. His father and grandfather before him all laid claim to the throne of Scotland and Robert Bruce grew up as an elder son imbued with the whole weight and expectation of that. In the process, it warped and twisted him, physically and mentally, and the sacrifices made by him and others to gain him a crown almost seem like a curse. It was not, as history reveals, far from the truth.

Robert Bruce died at Cardross on June 7 1329 and, technically, had been king for little more than a year: in May 1328 Edward III of England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, which recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Bruce as its king. Earlier still, in 1320, came the Declaration of Arbroath, that marvellous, stirring document which includes the much-quoted lines:

for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Like all matters to do with Bruce and kingship, it was not as it seemed. The Declaration was an elaborate piece of flummery designed to show the current Pope how Bruce was more legitimate than Balliol, the original king who was still in exile. It was a letter to Pope John XXII to get him to lift the excommunication on Bruce, imposed after he had murdered his rival in a chapel and it roundly asserts that the nobles of Scotland follow Bruce because he is the better man for the job, and if he isn't, they will remove him and make another king instead. You can see why that sort of rhetoric is said to have inspired the US Declaration of Independence some four hundred years later.

In the end, the Pope agreed. The ban was lifted and, when King Edward III reluctantly admitted he couldn't beat the Scots and that they could go their own way, Bruce, the Hero King, had a year to, at last, savour the victory of Bannockburn, some fifteen years after the event.