Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/80

 attempt was shortly afterwards made to gain possession of Carlisle, but it was defeated by the vigorous efforts of the inhabitants. A scheme to carry Berwick by surprise also failed. This year was remarkable for an act of the estates settling the succession to the crown; and the marriage of the king's daughter, Marjory, to Walter the Stewart of Scotland, from whom afterwards descended the royal family of the Stuarts.

The Irish of Ulster, who had long been discontented with the rule of England, now implored the assistance of the Scottish king, offering, that should they be relieved from the subjugation under which they laboured, to elect Edward Bruce as their sovereign. The king accepted of their proposals; and his brother, on the 25th May, 1315, landed at Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland with an army of six thousand men. He was accompanied in the expedition by the Earl of Moray, Sir Philip Mowbray, Sir John Soulis, Fergus of Ardrossan, and Ramsay of Ochterhouse. With the aid of the Irish chieftains who flocked to his standard, he committed great ravages on the possessions of the English settlers in the north; and over-ran great part of the country. Edward Bruce met, however, with considerable difficulties in the prosecution of his enterprise, and had several times to send for reinforcements from Scotland, notwithstanding which, he was solemnly crowned king of Ireland on the 2nd May, 1316. King Robert, hearing of his difficulties, magnanimously resolved, with what succours he could afford, to go to the relief of his brother in person. Intrusting, therefore, the government of the kingdom, in his absence, to the Stewart and Douglas, he embarked at Lochryan, in Galloway, and landed at Carrickfergus. The castle of that place was, at the time, besieged by the forces of Edward Bruce, and was soon brought to surrender after his junction with his brother. The united armies then entered, by forced marches, the province of Leinster, with intent to seize upon Dublin, on the fate of which the existence of the English government in Ireland depended; but the hostile spirit and intrepidity of the inhabitants of that city rendered this effort abortive. Thence they marched to Cullen in Kilkenny, and continued their devastating progress as far as Limerick; but being there threatened with the greatly superior forces collected by the English under Roger, Lord Mortimer, and experiencing great extremities from want, they were forced to terminate the expedition by a retreat into the province of Ulster, in the spring of 1317.

The particular history of the two Bruce's campaigns in Ireland, seems to have been imperfectly known, and is very obscurely treated of by most contemporary writers. Barbour, however, to whom the historians who treat of this period are so much indebted, has given the relation with much circumstantiality and apparent correctness. We cannot omit quoting one exploit, which this author has recorded in a manner at once lively and characteristical. The Scottish army, in its march into the province of Leinster, was marshalled into two divisions, one of which, the van, was commanded by Edward Bruce; while the rear was led by Robert in person, assisted by the Earl of Moray. The Earl of Ulster, on the alert to oppose their progress, had collected an army of forty thousand men, which he posted in an extensive forest through which the Scottish line of march led, proposing from this concealment, to attack the rear division of the enemy, after the van should have passed the defile. Edward, naturally impetuous and unguarded, hurried onward in his march, neglecting even the ordinary precautions of keeping up a communication with the rear body, or of reconnoitring the ground through which he passed. Robert advanced more slowly and with circumspection, at some distance in the rear, with his division, which amounted in all to no more than five thousand men. As he approached the ambushment of the enemy, small parties of archers appeared from among the thickets, who