ST. ANDREW SOCIETY

Evening Star, Issue 23377, 21 September 1939, Page 18

ST. ANDREW SOCIETY

LITERARY SECTION At the meeting on Tuesday the Rev. J. Pringle continued his addresses on Scottish history, taking as his subject, ‘ Wallace and Bruce, and Their Epic Struggle for Scottish Independence.’ The lecturer made reference to tho antecedent history from the days of Kenneth Maculpiu, the first King of all Scotland. Malcolm Canmore, son of Macbeth’s victim, married Margaret, the Saxon heiress of England, and their daughter, Matilda, married the Norman, Henry 1., thus transmitting to our present King the blood of the Celtic Kings of Scotland, the Saxon Kings of England, and of William the Conqueror. William the Lion’s male heirs died out after the reign of Alexander 11. and Alexander 111., and a contest for the throne ensued, about a dozen competitors appearing. Edward I. of England acted as umpire, and adjudicated in favour of John Buliol. But' he claimed feudal superiority, and the Bishop of Bath, addressing the Septs nobles and clergy, • spoke of the unhappy state of the laud, saying in Hitlersque arrogance that Edward in his benignity had come to the rescue. The candidates weakly consented to acknowledge Edward as their Lord Superior, but the humiliations to which Baliol was put provoked deep resentment. William Wallace was also goaded by the indignities under which they suffered, and carried on a warfare of resistance with varying success till he was betrayed and executed. Edward took ayvay the Coronation Stone to London, so anxious was ho to destroy all national and patriotic feeling. But Robert Bruce, Earl of Garrick and Lord of Annandale, became the leader of the patriots. His ancestors had come over with the Conqueror, and received 94 lordships (40,000 acres) in Yorkshire. Naturally the Bruce family had for some generations more contact with England than with Scotland, and the father of the future King Robert I. is said to have fought against Wallace at Falkirk. But young Bruce made a compact with Bishop Lamberton to aid each other against Edward. This secret pact became known at London, and Bruce had hurriedly to depart. Arrived in Scotland he killed the “ Red Comyn,” and began a campaign that was so successful that he was crowned at Scone six months after the execution of Wallace. But he suffered defeats, and had hair-breadth escapes. Perhaps the story is true that the pertinacity of a spider inspired the harassed King to try yet again. He defeated the English general at London Hill (1307), and two months later his furious enemy marched northward, but died on the Borders. Edward 11. was weak and incapable, but there wore mutual invasions till the climax came at Bannockburn (1314). Historians and poets have described the epochal battle which practically restored Scottish independence, though it was not acknowledged till 1328, in the reign of Edward 111. The lecturer quoted Burns’s inspiriting song, ‘ Scots Wha Hae wi’ Wallace Bled.’ and the stirring description by Sir Walter Scott, “ Lord of the Isles.” Ten years ago, on tho occasion of the sexcentenary of the Bruce, the site of tho battle was purchased by subscription. to bo preserved as a national park.