The Battle of Methven in June 1306 was a devastating defeat for Robert the Bruce, the newly crowned King of Scots, when his army was ambushed by Aymer de Valence's English forces in the early morning hours. Despite having chosen a strategically advantageous campsite on high ground near the River Almond, Bruce's forces were caught unprepared and scattered, resulting in the capture of key commanders including Sir Simon Fraser and Alexander Scrymgeour, and forcing Bruce and his loyal retinue, including young James Douglas, to flee into the Scottish wilderness as outlaws. This defeat represented the worst possible start for Bruce as king, with his army decimated and enemies closing in from all sides, yet it would not be the end of his cause.
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The Douglas Chronicles [4] Robert the Bruce Defeated at Battle of MethvenAdded:
Now I see that he who trusts his enemy will have cause to regret it.
The king also had in his company James Douglas, who was bold, wise, and prudent.
Sir Gilbert de la Haye, also Sir Neil Campbell, and others as well whose names I can't give.
They spent many days as outlaws, suffering hardship in the mountains between the Tay and the Dee, eating flesh and drinking water.
Hello once again, folks.
In the last film of the Douglas Chronicles, we saw how Robert the Bruce approached the city of Perth, St. John's town, and in that town were holed up Sir Aymer de Valence, many of the in opposition to Robert Bruce and the retinue of English with orders to raise the dragon and bring down this outlaw king.
De Valence declined to do battle with Bruce that very day, but he said he would meet him on the morrow.
So, Bruce has retired 6 mi away here in Methven Woods.
This is quite an episode in the time of Robert the Bruce and then the time of the young James Douglas.
Douglas has thrown his lot in with Robert the Bruce in the hope that through his loyalty that Bruce will be a victor in his quest and that Douglas will regain the lands that he lost, the lands that were handed over to Robert Clifford.
So, Bruce has retired here to Methven Woods.
A thick wood, a wood that would have been perfect just for that night camp back in the day.
And I can only think that his plans were to move out of here in the morning, break camp, and meet De Valence somewhere around halfway between here and the walled town of Perth.
Aymer de Valence's orders from King Edward the 1st are very specific.
No quarter is to be shown to Bruce.
On the side of Aymer de Valance in English is Ingram de Umfraville. He who held lands at Dunipace, just outside Stirling.
Much of the common support the family of John Comyn are obviously with the English and the anti-Bruce Scots.
But a showdown is beckoning. This would be Douglas' first to our knowledge encounter in battle.
But it would not go the way in his wildest dreams he thought it would.
It's reckoned that King Robert the Bruce had somewhere in the region of 4 and 1/2 thousand men under him at this point.
That's likely an inflated number. It may well have been between 2 to 3,000 men.
But in any case, to make camp first and foremost, what's needed is water.
Water for the horses, water for the men.
And rather than go into the wood into the depths of the forest, near the River Almond Bruce has gone to take the high ground here because it can accommodate his troops.
There's a really good feeling I get when I come here. Last time I was here, it was absolutely hammering with rain and I got drenched. And it was only a short film that I made so I'm glad to be doing this one now.
Rather than going to the depths of the forest in the woodland where it would be unsteady for the horses, it makes complete sense that Bruce takes the higher ground here.
And as they arrive and relieve their horses of their saddles and blankets take them down to the water they would get to work making fires trapping or hunting game and working out.
I'm sure the only talk of the day was working out what they were going to do with de Valence and his force the very next day.
I am a bit vague or a bit critical with what some of the chroniclers tell us here.
They told us that Bruce failed to put pickets out when he broke camp.
And the rationale is that he trusted Aymer de Valence at his word.
That chivalry played a part here.
He knew Aymer de Valence. He knew him well.
And so he took him on his word and he failed to put pickets out.
And that that would be his undoing.
Robert the Bruce was no fool.
He wasn't a stupid man. Yes, he was inexperienced in managing a large force. He was inexperienced in battle, but he wasn't stupid.
He knew after committing sacrilege at the altar of a holy place that excommunication was well on its way.
He knew that that was intolerable, that he was safe from no hands in the entire country, and that King Edward the First incensed that taking his royal castle in Dumfries and crowning himself King of Scots would have raised the dragon against him. Bruce was, if anything, not a stupid man. But he was inexperienced at this point as to military affairs.
I personally don't believe that he took de Valence at his word, meaning chivalry.
The Earl of Pembroke declined to fight.
What could Bruce do but retire in front of the gates?
Some say it was Ingram de Umfraville.
John Barbour says that.
Who persuaded de Valence not to fight that day outside Perth, but to challenge Bruce in the morning.
Umfraville plays quite a part in Barbour's history in persuading and counseling his leaders to do something different. He also did that at the Battle of Bannockburn with King Edward the Second. He invited King Edward the Second to the proposal that if the English retreat, the Scots will go to plunder, then they can regroup and charge. Then King Edward the Second replied, "I will not do that. I will not back off from the Scots."
But in any case, they say Bruce didn't put pickets out.
Even then, it's never truly dark in Scotland in June.
But, somehow somehow de Valence and his force have come up on Bruce's camp in the early hours of the morning.
The camp would likely have scattered over a larger area.
Not so much staying close together.
And it's said that don't young Douglas exerted himself well.
He was a keen young man.
That he'd be off fetching fire with making fires hunting and preparing food and he played a very active part in that as well as being at the king's side. Remember how young James Douglas is here.
He's a young man and he's not yet the stuff of legend.
This is the high ground. Very close to the water.
And it makes for good camping ground.
And you think of how close Bruce's army would have to be to the water.
I mean, we we forget just how vital that is.
They're not going to trek a long distance for water.
Horses need water.
And this is the immediate ground.
Which is perfectly suitable for Bruce's camp.
It's so peaceful out here.
And even although there is some modern development, it's scattered.
So, it gives you a really good sense of place.
Of what the place would have been like all those centuries ago.
This was one heck of a gamble for Robert the Bruce. He knew the English would come north. He knew Edward would send his very best.
And he did that with Aymer de Valence and his force.
He knew the hatred of the anti-Bruce Scots that were against him.
The Commons.
They want blood revenge.
They are determined that blood will flow for blood.
The Commons have powerful family ties.
The MacDougalls for one. And you will hear not the last about the MacDougalls in this film.
But this is great just to be here in the area back in the month of June 1306.
Where Bruce and his followers set up camp. I wonder how easy felt.
They must have felt reasonably secure.
For argument's sake, let's say they did have 2 and 1/2 to 3,000 men.
They'll feel quite secure with that number as long as they've chosen a good campsite.
They would have looked They're maybe inexperienced, but they're not stupid.
They would have looked for possible uh uh ambush sites, anything like that.
They would have considered the ground.
That is what I'm getting at.
Maybe they did fail to put pickets out.
Maybe they didn't.
But one thing is for sure, once they settled down to eat and gather around the campfire that night, that would have been the only conversation that was going on amongst everyone.
And the young James Douglas, in his first true dangerous adventure, would have been soaking all of that in.
So, just to give you an idea, the vantage point from here, as far as a camp goes, is very good.
I don't think Bruce made a bad choice of camp.
He found these water source.
Camps up here on the high ground and the slope.
He has a good view uh over this way, which is the road to Perth.
Why wouldn't he bed down for the night in relative peace and security?
There is also open meadow on the far side of those trees there.
How wooded this was back then, we don't know.
How wide these meadows were, we don't know.
But if Robert Bruce is 2,000 strong, he needs room for those horses to move.
He needs room for his men to move.
We're not going to have a fire on a slope. It's so It's a This is ideal up here. It is an ideal location for Bruce's camp. And likewise at the other side of those trees, which you saw when I made the walk through.
Bruce was a great knight.
He was His martial skills were impeccable.
He is one of the three best knights in Christendom.
And number number of men at arms and his company would have known just how good he was.
But this is not a tournament.
This is something very, very different.
You have to use the land, the terrain.
You have to use your wits because a smart thing being tactical and devising a real strategy with a counter strategy is very important when you're commanding a large force of men.
And you have their lives to account for.
King Edward's force was more than capable of doing the business.
He had variable commanders, very experienced, veterans of campaigns.
And their army were confident.
If Aymer de Valence had, as they say, 3,000 3,000 experienced, good, battle-hardened men, they're a lot more effective than a force double that strength who are inexperienced.
Bruce would be under no illusions as to the quality of opposition that faced him.
If it's true that Bruce placed no pickets in the camp, then we have to assume that there was no reason to put the campfires out, either.
Maybe some would have been put out.
Some would have been left on, left to burn out on their own.
In any case, if any of those flames were still flickering once the early hours came and Bruce and his men had bedded down for the night, it'd have been a clear signal to the English force of what lay ahead of them and where.
Well, it rained heavy last time I was here, and it's not let me down this time, either.
Although it's just a shower.
But for me, the rain gives it some sort of atmosphere.
Surprise.
Surprise was the strategy of Aymer de Valence as he was about to fall upon the Bruce camp.
The English force left Perth anytime after 2:30 3:00 a.m.
It wouldn't have taken them long to travel the 6 miles to get to here.
It was vital that they got close to the camp undetected. I think with with that amount of a force, yes, generally they would have stuck together.
But I think the camp may have scattered a bit as well.
But if they did, those who were at the very perimeter, on the very outskirts of that camp, de Valence would have sent a quiet patrol ahead of archers or foot soldiers.
Then they would have slit their throats while they slept.
I don't believe that the Scots were so much taken by surprise as much as taken unprepared.
Who sleeps the night before a battle in the morning? Who sleeps soundly?
When we speak about experience, Bruce wasn't alone. He did have experience all around him.
Simon Fraser was with him, the veteran of all the Scottish Wars of Independence.
He also had Alexander Scrymgeour, the standard-bearer.
Neil Campbell, David Inchmartin, James Douglas, his nephew Thomas Randolph, Hugh and Gilbert de la Haye, Bruce had a faithful following here at this point.
I think they were just unprepared, not in a deep sleep.
But I don't think any of them contemplated what was about to happen.
I can imagine as the last of those flames flickered in the fires that there was an uncanny silence over the land.
Then all of a sudden, without warning, the first of the arrows came into the camp. Volley after volley penetrating the camp. The first of the screams went up as those wounded cried out in pain, which roused the rest of them to be awake. "To arms! To arms!" they would call.
But after the archers would come the foot soldiers or the archers themselves with their short daggers and swords.
And not far behind them, in full force, upon the high ground would come de Valence and his horsemen, his light cavalry, cutting through the unprepared camp of the Scots, swating and scattering them as they went.
Until many of them just ran for cover to the closest place at hand.
I believe young James Douglas, just for reasons of security and seeing Bruce as an older brother type figure, would have stuck close to him and he would have been raised along with Robert Bruce.
Bruce, all of a sudden, was under enormous pressure coming from all sides, from all around him.
Philip de Mowbray actually got a hold of Robert the Bruce, and he was known to shout out, "I HAVE THE KING! I HAVE THE KING!"
TO HIS RESCUE CAME brother-in-law Christopher Seton, who managed to pry his Bruce loose to fight again.
Bruce would mount. Three times he would mount. Three times he would be unhorsed while the screams of his camp and the rampage of the English ran all around him.
This was no pitched battle. This was not in Robert the Bruce's plans.
This was not even an even fight.
This was a massacre, a rout, and the king was on the run.
I have visions in my head of men escaping from the high ground, being half prepared, half dressed, and making for the sanctuary of the woods and beyond.
Some of the commanders are trying to gather those by their sides because they're more effective in groups.
Bruce is shouting, "To arms! To arms!
With me! With me!"
But the rest scatter.
And those that scatter on their lonesome are easy pickings.
Douglas's first taste of battle would be on him before he knew it.
And with the king being such a target, men would have been drawn to him like flies.
So, Douglas would have his first experience in dispatching his enemies.
This is an all-out route.
It's bloody.
King Edward wants the trophy that is Robert the Bruce.
He may have not have cared whether Bruce was killed in this battle or not.
But, he'd have wanted his head, for sure.
But, Bruce is alive.
So much the better.
This is the ancestors of the old woodland and invariably rivers are surrounded by woodland.
Lots of steep embankments. Lots of escape routes.
Very dense with trees.
No place to camp out with horses.
They have come very close to here on the sloping and high ground.
It is said that Sir Simon Fraser helped Bruce onto his horse on at least one of those occasions.
But, for Bruce to be on horse three times and successfully mount later shows just how close to the brink he came to being captured and his cause would not have gotten off first base.
I like to get off the beaten track. And I'm positive I came up here last time I was here.
But, it just gives you another view of the high ground.
To me, the only sensible place that Bruce would have chosen to make camp.
And here we are, folks. This is us up on the high ground to where I believe is the strongest location for the camp of Robert the Bruce in June 1306 prior to the battle of Methven.
I believe they camped here.
The water just a short way down through the woods.
The camp would have stretched over that way.
As we make our way over here, this is the field I was walking in earlier.
It slopes right down >> [sighs and gasps] >> it to the river.
It is absolutely perfect.
>> [clears throat] [snorts] >> I think it's very strong here that this was Bruce's camp.
And that de Valence would have come that way.
That's if he attacked the camp from one angle.
But here we are.
I believe that this is the site of the battle if you want to call it that, the route of Methven.
And that the route scattered as they always do down the slope, into the woods, into different directions, and off into the hills.
Maybe someone's poor dog.
I don't think the Valence would have sent a heavy force of light cavalry into the woods, but quite a number of archers and foot soldiers followed by the light horse.
Sometimes the more you have, the less effective it can be.
But somehow somehow Bruce and his retinue Douglas included managed to form a phalanx, a narrow head. They managed to get mounted, and they managed to escape this battleground, and disappear into the early hours of the morning.
This, of course, is the worst possible start for Robert the Bruce as new king of Scots.
He has more people against him now with his army in tatters than he ever had.
Not only does he have the might of England, but the Scottish enemies who hold vast territories are all around him.
And the net is closing.
It would be a small army compared to what he had that Bruce left with.
There'd be some notable absences.
Sir Simon Fraser was missing.
What happened to Sir Simon Fraser?
His nephew, Thomas Randolph, captured.
Among the others to be captured would be Alexander Scrymgeour, the standard-bearer.
Scrymgeour, the hereditary standard-bearer, held the standard for Wallace at Falkirk. He'd been friends with Wallace since their days in Dundee.
He is captured.
No quarter was given to any of the Bruce lot.
Except we know that Thomas Randolph, his young nephew, was given opportunity to swear allegiance to King Edward and come into Edward's peace, which he accepted. Bruce had no way of knowing that at this point.
But he still has his brother, Edward Bruce, a great fighter, not the incompetent that people make him out to be.
Young James Douglas escapes this route, and he's at Bruce's side.
Neil Campbell escapes.
Gilbert de la Haye is with him, but Gilbert's brother, Hugo, is taken.
David Danskin Martin is taken.
Bruce's army is in a sorry state.
I have always wondered what the mood of the men in Bruce's company was like as they left this route behind them.
It wasn't an easy path by any means from here on in, and the odds were very much against them. It was a snowball's chance in hell that they had.
Did the men feel cursed?
Did they feel that with excommunication on Bruce looming and the sacrilege committed that the hand of God had turned against them? Did they believe that in a superstitious age?
I'm sure Bruce's mind would recollect the sayings of his wife, Elizabeth, that we will be king and queen but for a summer.
How those thoughts must have echoed around in his mind.
I believe that we are walking in the most plausible location that was the Battle of Methven.
We know it was very near here.
And the stone is but a few yards away in the wood.
I spoke about the mood of the men as Bruce his brother and his comrades, cuz they were all brothers in arms, rode off into the Scottish wilderness. Did they groan?
Did they cry out loud? Did they bicker?
Did they argue?
Or was it a solemn and silent group that rode off into the Scottish wilderness?
Well, I will say something.
If Bruce was silent, then his silence must have been like thunder.
Battle is a terrible thing and in times of war and in times of where you're resisting an invader, there are inevitably there are some losses.
Bruce wouldn't know it, but Sir Simon Fraser, he would be captured and he would be taken to London and there would be as much celebration with his capture as there was with Wallace's.
He'd go through the ritualistic charge of treason where he was hung, drawn, and quartered.
And his head would go on a spike next to William Wallace's.
Alexander Scrymgeour, there's some people would have been executed in Perth, they would have been executed in various towns. We know that some were executed in Newcastle.
Alexander Scrymgeour, the man who raises the banner at King Edward's hands can only expect a traitor's death.
And he suffered the same fate also.
I spoke in a recent video about losing a good man and how that affects your effectiveness, uh your your your tactical skills, uh your your overall command, but to lose several good men is a severe blow to any cause.
Bruce must have had feelings of guilt with Thomas Randolph, his nephew, his young nephew being captured.
Little did he know of their fate.
And little did Randolph know that that time that he would cross paths with a young James Douglas again.
But I like this stone. I like this memorial to the Battle of Methven or the Route of Methven.
Bruce's future at this point looked bleak.
This is where they started to mock him and humiliate him with songs of King Hob of the Moor, King of the Heather.
Bruce would ride off into the Scottish wilds with English, the Comyns, and the MacDougalls, close kin to the Comyns, all in hot pursuit and closing in from all sides.
It wouldn't be long before Robert Bruce and the young James Douglas would see their next piece of action.
>> It says a lot for young James Douglas in coming through this battle. We know Randolph who'd be of similar age was captured.
And even although he's right next to Bruce, I've got no doubts going by the character of Douglas, even as a young man of that age, that he did more than hold his own.
Battle is not the same as sparring.
It's not the same as practice and rehearsal. It's not the same as a tournament. Even although tournaments could be absolutely fatal in some cases, knights were often killed or badly injured.
But battle is something entirely different.
Well, young James has had his first taste of it and it's on the losing side.
Robert Bruce as king, his army is decimated.
It's the worst possible start he could imagine.
And somewhere around this way, Bruce and his retinue, which remember includes his family, make themselves off into the wild.
Hunted men.
Hunted like dogs.
Outlaws.
For the chase would not let up.
It would go on till the very end.
We know Edward Plantagenet was a thorough man And he wanted results.
Bruce on the loose was not an end result for Edward by any means.
The House of Bruce had to come down.
What of young James Douglas?
On the losing side.
Under a king who has got off to a very bleak start.
Would Douglas ever realize his ambition of recovering his lands?
He had to have faith in Robert to some degree.
But I think they all knew that the odds were very much against them. But Bruce had cast in his lot.
He had two options.
Fight back again.
Come back.
Or disappear forever.
But Bruce was also a thorough man.
As Longshanks would find out in the months to come.
And so fleeing from Methven the young James Douglas in the company of the completely disconsolate King Robert the Bruce.
King of the Heather.
Would head off into the distance.
Douglas at the tender young age would not yet be such a known name on English lips.
But in the months and years to come his name would reach legendary status.
And he would strike fear into the heart of his enemies.
So off they rode into the distance.
And unknown to them.
Future trials of the Grama sort.
Thank you for joining me in in this recent film.
I've filmed at Methven before, but I wanted to come back and just highlight it in a bigger way.
It's quite a piece of history.
And Bruce would learn a hard learning curve from this encounter, but it would not be the end of him.
Join me for the next episode in the Douglas Chronicles as we walk in the footsteps of the Outlaws deep into the Scottish wilderness.
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