Conspiracy against Bruce
In the midst of these unsuccessful negotiations for peace, a conspiracy of an alarming and mysterious nature against the life of the King of Scots was discovered, by the confession of the Oountess of Strathern, who was privy to the plot. William de Soulis, the seneschal, or high-butler of Scotland; Sir David de Brechin, nephew to the king, an accomplished knight, who had signalized himself in the Holy War; five other knights, Sir Gilbert de Malherbe, Sir John Logie, Sir Eustace de Maxwell, Sir Walter de Berklay, and Sir Patrick de Graham; with three esquires, Richard Brown, Hameline de Troupe, and Eustace de Rattray, are the only persons whose names have come down to us as certainly implicated in the conspiracy. Of these, Sir David de Brechin, along with Malherbe, Logie, and Brown, suffered the punishment of treason.The destruction of all record of their trial renders it difficult to throw any light on the details of the plot; but we have the evidence of a contemporary of high authority, that the design of the conspirators was to slay the king, and place the crown on the head of Lord Soulis, a Jineal descendant of the daughter of Alexander II and who, as possessing such a claim, would have excluded both Bruce and Baliol, had the legitimacy of his mother been unquestioned.There is evidence in the records of the Tower, that both Soulis and Brechin had long tampered with England, and been rewarded for their services.In the case of Brechin, we find him enjoying special letters of protection from Edward. In addition to these he was pensioned in 1312, was appointed English warden of the town and castle of Dundee, and employed in secret communications, having for their object the destruction of his uncle's power in Scotland, and the triumph of the English arms over his native country. It is certain that he was a prisoner of war in Scotland in the year 1315, having probably been taken in arms at the battle of Bannockburn. In the five years of glory and success which followed, and in the repeated expeditions of Randolph and Douglas, we do not once meet with his name; and now, after having been received into favour, he became connected with, or at least connived at, a conspiracy, which involved the death of the king. Such a delinquent is little entitled to our sympathy. There was not a single favourable circumstance in his case; but he was young and brave, he had fought against the infidels, and the people who knew not of his secret treasons, could not see him suffer without pity and regret. Senilis, who, with a retinue of three hundred and sixty esquires, had been seized at Berwick, was imprisoned in Dumbarton, where he soon after died; and Maxwell, Berklay, Graham, Troupe, and Rattray, were tried and acquitted. The parliament in which these trials and condemnations took place, was held at Scone in the beginning of August, 1320, and long remembered in Scotland under the name of the Black Parliament.
A brief gleam of success now cheered the prospects of Edward, and encouraged him to continue the war with Scotland. The Earl of Lancaster, who, along with the Earl of Hereford and other English barons, had entered into a treaty of alliance with Bruce, and concerted an invasion of England, to be conducted by the King of Scotland in person, j was defeated and taken prisoner by Sir Andrew Hartcla and Sir Simon Ward, near Pontefract; his army was totally routed, and he himself soon after executed for treason.
In the battle the Earl of Hereford was slain, others of the discontented nobility shared the fate of Lancaster, and the dangerous faction which had for so many years been a thorn in the side of the king, was entirely broken and put down. Exulting at this success, Edward determined to collect an army which should at once enable him to put an end to the war, and in a tone of premature triumph, wrote to the pope, who "was ignorant of Brechin's connexion with Edward, laments over Brechin, and creates an impression in the reader's mind, that Bruce was unnecessarily rigorous, and might have pardoned him ; yet, it seems to me, his case, instead of being favourable, was peculiarly aggravated. Brace's generous nature had passed over manifold attempts by Brechin against the liberty of his country: in the conspiracy of Soulis, any extension of mercy would have been weak, if not criminal."requesting him to give himself no farther trouble about a truce with the Scots, as he had determined to establish a peace by force of arms."
In furtherance of this resolution, he proceeded to issue his writs for the attendance of his military vassals; but so ill were these obeyed, that four months were lost before the force assembled; and in this interval the Scots, with their usual strength and fury, broke into England, led by the king in person, wasted with fire and sword the six northern counties, which had scarcely drawn breath from a visitation of the same kind by Randolph, and returned to Scotland, loaded with booty, consisting of herds of sheep and oxen, quantities of gold and silver, ecclesiastical plate and ornaments, jewels, and table equipage, which they piled in waggons, and drove off at their pleasure.