Bruce took him at his word and withdrew to Methven some six miles away to bivouac his troops for the night, neglecting in his confidence to set out pickets – an omission he came to regret. Working on the unprincipled advice given him by veteran Scottish commander, Ingram Umfraville, who now pledged himself to the English, Valence fell on Bruce’s men during the night of 18/19 June when they were either sleeping or dispersed. Bruce’s force was destroyed, although he and a group of knights managed to escape. Many of his bravest and devoted supporters were captured and under Edward’s orders sixteen were executed without trial, of whom two were drawn and quartered. Of the senior men only Thomas Randolph, a close friend of Valence, was pardoned on condition he promised to fight for the English. This was not all: at the same time the Prince of Wales moved north from Carlisle, subjecting the southwest lowlands to a reign of terror that cowed the inhabitants in an area where Bruce might normally have expected considerable support. In less than three months as king, Bruce’s army had been wiped out and many of his most notable followers killed or scattered. Yet worse was to come.
In early July 1306 Bruce sought refuge in Drumalban, the mountainous country between Perthshire and Argyll but, at a place near Tyndrum, Bruce’s remaining detachment was again defeated, this time by the Comyn supporter, John MacDougall of Argyll. At this he sent off his womenfolk, including the queen and his daughter Marjorie, on the party’s few remaining horses through the mountains towards Kildrummy Castle on Donside. Bruce appointed the Earl of Atholl, Neil Bruce (his brother), Alexander Lindsay and Robert Boyd as escorts to the party but on their way they learned the English were bringing up siege engines to invest the castle and decided therefore to move further north in the hope of taking ship to Orkney. It appeared to be a sensible decision for, although Kildrummy was an immensely strong fortress capable of withstanding a protracted siege, in early September 1306 the castle’s blacksmith, Osborne, set fire to the grain store in its main hall, thus guaranteeing its early surrender. For his treachery the English subsequently rewarded him in gold – molten gold which was poured down his throat5 – but with the fall of the castle Neil Bruce, Robert’s younger brother was captured to be subsequently hanged and beheaded.
However, the women and their escorts fared little better, for they were captured at Tain on the Dornoch Firth while they were staying at St Duthac’s shrine. At this time it must have seemed there was no escaping the English king for the Earl of Ross, who favoured the Comyns, broke the rules of sanctuary when he took them and handed them over to Valence.6 Most of the men were hanged and beheaded at Berwick while the women were sent south to Edward I under escort. There they met his full anger and the Countess of Buchan and Bruce’s sister, Mary, were confined in wooden cages jutting from the battlements of Berwick and Roxburgh castles, their only concession being the use of privies within the walls.7 There they were to stay in solitary confinement for the next four years. A similar cage was prepared at the Tower of London for Bruce’s twelve-year-old daughter, Marjorie, but the order was revoked and she was sent to a nunnery. Christina Bruce, whose husband Christopher Seton was hanged, drawn and quartered after being captured, was similarly lodged in a convent and Queen Elizabeth, wife of Robert Bruce but also daughter of Edward’s powerful supporter the Earl of Ulster, was placed under house arrest in spartan conditions where she was to remain for the next eight years.
In the meanwhile Robert Bruce and his small group of fugitives made their way via Loch Lomond to Dunaverty Castle near the Mull of Kintyre, where they were welcomed by Bruce’s friend, Angus Og (‘the young’) MacDonald of the Isles.8 From Dunaverty it is likely Bruce and his companions went to the Isle of Rathlin off the coast of Ireland or alternatively to Islay, the centre of MacDonald territory. More improbably he could have continued to Ulster itself. Although Rathlin was just six and a half miles long by one and a half miles wide and there were enemies all around him he would certainly have been able to use Angus Og MacDonald’s galleys to call on his estates for men and money in order to rebuild his strength. Wherever his winter base, by the spring of 1307 he had gathered enough strength to undertake a two-pronged attack on the mainland. Bruce himself with thirty-three small galleys went to Arran prior to making landfall on the Ayrshire coast while his two younger brothers, Thomas and Alexander, accompanied by Sir Reginald Crawford along with several hundred northern Irish recruits, made for Galloway, with the intention of creating a diversion to cover Bruce’s more northerly attack. On landing, Crawford’s party was ambushed and Crawford himself, together with Thomas and Alexander Bruce, were taken to Carlisle and hanged, drawn and quartered. The fact that Thomas Bruce had received serious wounds in the encounter did not save him from being spread-eagled on a hurdle and drawn by horses through the streets of Carlisle before being executed.
Meanwhile, Robert Bruce had arranged for a fire to be lit on the mainland coast if the local people were willing to join him. Seeing a fire his small band landed only to find it was not the work of his messenger, who appeared in a near frenzy telling them the nearby castle of Turnberry was garrisoned by 100 English under their commander, Henry Percy, while a further 200 were garrisoned in the adjoining village, and that Carrick was so thick with English soldiers no locals dared rise to assist Bruce. With so little to lose Bruce and his men opted to take the offensive. They surrounded the village and surprised its soldiers, killing them all except one man who alerted Henry Percy. Uncertain about the size of Bruce’s force Percy remained in the castle while Bruce captured much-needed supplies, including war horses, before moving into the Carrick hills.9
With his limited strength Bruce had little choice of tactics. Faced with such massively superior English garrisons and with the majority of Scottish nobles and their followers either continuing to support the Comyns or regarding Bruce as nothing better than a usurper following a lost cause, he had to remain in the rugged hill country and use the classic guerrilla methods of speed, surprise and elusiveness. Yet as Bruce’s handful of followers continued to avoid capture, small numbers of men started to join him, including one sizeable party of forty men commanded by Bruce’s former mistress, Christiana of Carrick. It was Christian who told Bruce about the fate of his womenfolk and the men who had been captured with them.
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