27. This deed was done at Otterburn Earl Douglas was buried at the bracken bush, 12. THE UNRULY BARONS. 1. ROBERT III-Robert II. died in 1390. He had become so feeble, that in the previous year the government had been handed over to his second son, the Earl of Fife. His eldest son bore the name of John; but as that name was thought unlucky, the new King was crowned as Robert III. Changing his name, however, could not change his nature. He was weak in will, and delicate in body; and his younger brother continued to manage public affairs as he had done in the last year of his father's life. The nobles fearlessly claimed a degree of liberty which by-and-by 'threatened the power of the Crown itself. 2. A nine years' truce with England, made in 1389, covered the earlier half of Robert's reign. The chief event of these years was a fight on the North Inch2 of Perth between 1396 two bodies of Highlanders, thirty on each side. At the A.D. end of the day, of the one side only ten 'survived, all wounded; of the other, but one. 3. During the truce, the armed bands, no longer able to invade England, made raids on one another, and on the hardworking southern burghers. The country was in the wildest A.D. disorder; and Parliament found it necessary to inter1398 fere. In 1398 a Parliament held at Perth appointed the King's eldest son regent for three years. At the same time he was created Duke of Rothesay ;3 and his uncle, the Earl of Fife, was made Duke of Albany. These were the first Scottish Dukes. Robert III.] HOMILDON HILL. 107 A.D. 4. England had been fattening during the truce, and as soon as it came to an end the Scots began their raids again. The English returned these, and fire and slaughter once more covered the debatable land. Henry IV. of England resolved to quell these unruly Borderers. He therefore raised an 1400 army, and marched to Leith. With him went the Earl of March, who had quitted Scotland in disgust because the marriage of his daughter with the Duke of Rothesay had been broken off. At Leith, Henry raised the old claim of England to the lordship of Scotland; but as he was short of 'supplies he had to return to England without gaining anything. 5. Not long afterwards, Albany 'persuaded the King that his eldest son, the Duke of Rothesay, whose wicked character was well known, ought to be kept under 're- 1401 straint. He was shut up in Falkland Palace, and A.D. never came out alive. He was starved to death. 5 6. In the following year, the Scots made an inroad into England, and were defeated by Percy and the Earl of March at Homildon Hill." Douglas was taken prisoner. He 1402 joined the Percies in their rebellion against Henry IV. A.D. (1403); and at the Battle of Shrewsbury, in which Hot spur was killed, he was taken prisoner by the King of England. 7. To save his second son, James, from a fate like that of Rothesay, the King sent him to France; but off Flamborough Head' the ship in which he sailed was boarded by an English vessel, and the prince was carried a prisoner to 1405 the Court of Henry IV. King Robert never 'recovered the shock of this new sorrow. One year later he died at Rothesay. His successor was a prisoner, and Albany was now sole master of the kingdom. A.D. 8. JAMES 1.8 The new King spent the first eighteen years of his reign in captivity. During thirteen of these the regency was held by Albany, whose sole aim was to strengthen his own power. He kept on good terms with Henry IV., who might at any time have put an end to his power by 'releasing the captive King. He made the barons his friends by giving them the Crown property. Though they 'oppressed the middle classes, and carried on bloody strifes with one another, he durst not curb their 'excesses. The land was filled with 'violence. 9. The Lord of the Isles was still an 'independent power in the west of Scotland. In 1411 he marched into the heart of the country, and put in peril the authority of the Scot1411 tish Crown. It was a question whether the Celtic or A.D. the English race were to be masters of Scotland. It was settled on the bloody field of Harlaw, where the Islesmen received so severe a check that they had to retreat. 10. The earliest instances of religious persecution in Scotland belong to this reign. In 1409, John Resby, an Englishman, was burned at Perth for Lollardism.10 In 1432, Paul Crawar, a Bohemian physician, was burned at St. Andrews for preaching the same doctrines. cap-tiv-i-ty, state of being a pris- | re-covered, got well from. [oner. re-leasing, setting free. del-i-cate, not strong. or higher. in-ter-fere', step in. re-straint', keeping in; shortening of liberty. in-de-pen-dent, having no one over re-treat', fall back. man-age, guide; carry on. 1 Rob'ert III., son of Robert II. Married Annabella, daughter of Sir John Drummond. Reigned 16 years (1390 to 1406). 2 North Inch, a broad meadow or common by the Tay. A similar green on the south side of Perth is called the South Inch. It is believed that these Inches were at one time islands surrounded by the Tay. Inch means island, and is a common prefix in Celtic names; as, Inch-keith, Inch-colm; and in names of places no longer islands, as Inchture, Inchmartin. 3 Duke of Rothe'say.-This title is now borne by the Prince of Wales, as heir-apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom. The title Duke was brought into England by the Normans. It is the French duc, which is from the Latin dux, and originally meant the leader of an army. 4 Leith, the port of Edinburgh. 5 Falk/land Palace, an ancient royal palace and hunting-seat in Fife, 19 miles north-west of Edinburgh. There James V. was confined by Angus; and there he also died. 6 Hom/ildon Hill, near Wooler, in the north of Northumberland. 7 Flam/borough Head, in the middle of the coast of Yorkshire. 8 James I., son of Robert III. Married Joanna, or Jane, Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset. Reigned 31 years (1406-1437). The University of St. Andrews, the oldest in Scotland, was founded in the reign of this King (1413). 9 Har'law, in Aberdeenshire, near Inverury, in the centre of the county. 10 Lol'lardism.-The followers of Wiclif, the first English reformer (who died in 1384), were called Lollardsthat is, hymn-singers, or, as some say, idle babblers. James I.] RELEASE OF THE KING. 109 QUESTIONS.-1. When did Robert II. die? To whom had the government been handed over? What was the name of his eldest son? By what name was he crowned? Why? What was his nature? Who managed the government? What did the nobles assert very fearlessly?-2. On what terms were the Scots and the English during the earlier half of Robert's reign? What is the most remarkable event of that time?-3. On whom did the Borderers make raids during the truce? What change in the government was made in 1398? Why? Who were the first Scottish Dukes?-4. What followed on the expiry of the truce? How far north did Henry IV. march? What Scottish noble accompanied him? What claim did Henry make? What compelled him to return to England?-5. What was the fate of the Duke of Rothesay?-6. What battle was fought in 1402? Who won? What befell Douglas? In what quarrel did he take part in England?-7. Why did the King send his second son abroad? What happened to him? What effect had the news on the King? When did he die? Who then became master of the kingdom?-8. How many years of his reign did James I. spend in captivity? Who was Regent during most of that time? At what did his policy aim? Why did he keep on good terms with the English King? How did he make friends of the barons? In what state was the land?— 9. When was the Battle of Harlaw fought? What did it decide?-10. Who were the earliest religious martyrs in Scotland? 13. THE POET KING. 1. THE old Duke of Albany died in 1419, and was succeeded in the 'regency by his son Murdoch. Five years later the King, then in his thirtieth year, was set free, on his people promising to pay within six years the sum of £40,000, 1424 to defray the expenses of his living and education in A.D. England. 2. King Henry, to do him justice, had given the young King of Scotland the best education which that age could afford. The Prince, as he grew up, excelled in all manly and knightly exercises. He knew French, and was not ignorant of Latin. But his favourite study was English poetry; and he was a poet himself. His longest poem was written in his 'captivity: it is called "The King's Quhair"—that is, "The King's Book." In this poem the King describes his days of happy boyhood, his setting out for France, his cruel seizure by the English, and his prison life at Windsor. 3. One day, as he tells us, he had risen at dawn to escape from the weary thoughts of a sleepless pillow. Lonely and 'dispirited, he sought a prisoner's 'pastime in looking out at the window. The window looked forth on a garden which lay at the foot of the tower. The garden had a green arbour, haw thorn hedges, and walks thickly shaded with trees, from which the birds made the garden and the tower ring with song. As he looked from his latticed window upon the garden below, the King beheld "the fairest and the freshest young flower that e'er he saw." This was the Lady Jane Beaufort, walking in the garden to enjoy that "fresh May morrow.' Better and happier days came round; and this fair flower, his "milk-white dove," returned to Scotland with him as his Queen. 4. He found the country in a wretched condition. The feudal barons, accustomed to a weak and feeble government almost A.D. ever since the great King Robert closed his eyes, held 1424 the laws in open contempt. They kept the whole country in confusion by their feuds and revenges, their fierce wars on one another, and their cruel 'oppression of the people. Security for life and property was unknown. "If I am spared," said James, "I shall bring in a change such as men little dream of. There is not the wildest spot where the key shall not keep the castle, and the bracken bush1 the cow." 5. In his efforts to curb the power of the barons, James began with the Regent Albany, whose family he chiefly blamed for the state of the country. The Duke himself, two of his sons, and his father-in-law, the Earl of Lennox, were charged with treason, condemned, and beheaded. James was unjustly severe in the measures he took; and he aroused a strong feeling against himself among the nobles, and especially among the friends of Albany. 6. A plot, the history of which cannot now be 'unravelled, was formed against his life. The chief actor in it was Sir Robert Graham, a dark and crafty man. This Graham had the daring once in open Parliament to propose that the King should be seized and put in prison!-so hateful to those fierce men was the iron curb of law which James put upon them. Punished for this offence with 'banishment and the loss of his lands, he longed for revenge. The Earl of Athole, and Stewart, the King's chamberlain, were partners of this reckless conspirator. 7. The Court had gone to hold Christmas at Perth. The King took up his residence in the Monastery of the Dominicans. It was a large building outside the town, standing in |