While these events were taking place in England, one of the great spirits of the time was passing away at Cardross, in Scotland. Robert the Bruce lay on his death-bed, and, calling for his nobles, bade them swear fealty to his infant son, and appointed Randolph, Earl of Moray, as regent for the child; for Sir James Douglas he reserved a yet dearer, closer charge. Long ago, as he lay on his bed at Rachrin, had he vowed to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but before he had given rest to his country, the deadly sickness had seized on him which was cutting him off in his fifty-fifth year. He therefore entreated that Douglas would carry his heart, to fulfil his vow, instead of himself, and that, making his way to Jerusalem, he would lay it finally in the Holy Sepulchre.
Weeping so that he could hardly speak, Sir James thanked his master for the inestimable honor, and vowed, on his faith as a knight, to do his bidding. Robert likewise gave his nobles a set of counsels for the defence of his kingdom, showing how truly he estimated its resources and method of warfare; for it is said that no reverse ever afterward befell the Scots but by their disregard of what they called "Good King Robert's Testament"-precepts he had obeyed all his life, and which stood nearly thus in old Scottish:
"On foot should be all Scottish war,
By hill and moss themselves to ware;
Let woods for walls be; bow and spear
And battle-axe their fighting gear:
That enemies do them na dreir,
In strait places gar keep all store,
And burn the plain land them before:
Then shall they pass away in haste,
When that they find nothing but waste;
With wiles and wakening of the night.
And mickle noise made on height;
Then shall they turn with great affray,
As they were chased with sword away.
This is the counsel and intent
Of Good King Robert's Testament."
With these fierce, though sagacious counsels, the hero of Scotland died on the 7th of June, 1329. He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, after his heart had been extracted and embalmed according to his command; but the dissolution of the convents made sad havoc among the royal tombs of Scotland, and two churches had risen and fallen above his marble tomb before it was discovered among the ruins in 1819, and his remains were found in a winding-sheet of cloth of gold, and the breastbone sawn through. Multitudes were admitted to gaze on them, and there were many tears shed, for, in the simple and beautiful words of Scott, "There was the wasted skull which once was the head that thought so wisely and boldly for his country's deliverance; and there was the dry bone which had once been the sturdy arm that killed Sir Henry de Bohun between the two armies at a single blow, the evening before the battle of Bannockburn."
The Bruce's heart was enclosed in a silver case, and hung round the neck of Douglas, who sailed at once on his pilgrimage, taking with him a retinue befitting the royal treasure that he bore. But on his way he landed in Spain, and esteeming that any war with any Saracen was agreeable to his vow, he offered his aid to King Alfonso, of Castile. But he was ignorant of the Moorish mode of fighting, and, riding too far in advance with his little band, was inclosed and cut off by the wheeling horsemen of the Moors. Still he might have escaped, had he not turned to rescue Sir William St. Clair, of Roslyn; but in doing this he was so entangled, that he saw no escape, and taking from his neck his precious charge, he threw it before him, shouting aloud, "Pass onward as thou wert wont! I follow, or die!" He followed, and died. His corpse was found on the battle-field lying over the heart of Bruce, and his friends, lifting up the body, bore it back again to his own little church of St. Bride of Douglas, where it lies interred; while the crowned and bleeding heart shines emblazoned on the shield of the great Douglas line, a memorial of the time and hearty love that knit together, through adversity and prosperity, the good King Robert and the good Lord James. The heart itself was given into the charge of Sir Simon Locard, of Lee, already the keeper of the curious talisman called the Lee Penny, brought by Earl David of Huntingdon from the East; but he did not deem it needful to carry his burthen to Jerusalem, and it was buried beneath the altar at Melrose Abbey, Sir Simon changed his name to Lockhart, and bore on his shield a heart with a fetterlock, on his crest a hand with a key, and for his motto, "_Corda serrata pando._"
Here, then, we close the first series of Cameos, during which we have seen the Norman conquerors gradually become English, and the kingdom take somewhat of its present form. In another volume we hope to show the long wars of the Middle Ages.
INDEX.
Acre, the siege of,
Prince Edward there,
its final conquest
by the Saracens,
Adela, William the Conqueror's daughter,
married to Stephen of Blois,
Adrian IV., Pope,
Nicholas Brakespeare, an Englishman,
his grant of Ireland to Henry II.,
Aelred, Abbot of Rivaux,
his visit to King David of Scotland,
death,
Agatha, wife of Edward the Etheling,
Alain Fergeant,
married to William the Conqueror's daughter Constance,
Alberic, friend of Robert Courtheuse,
Albigenses, the war against,
led by Simon de Montfort,
Aldred, Archbishop of York,
consecrates Bishop Wulstan,
dies of grief,
Alexander III., Pope,
his support of Becket,
Alexander III., of Scotland,
at the coronation of Edward I.,
his character,
his shocking death,
troubles in Scotland after this,
Alexis Comnenus, Greek Emperor,
his conduct to the crusaders,
Alfonso I. of Castile,
William the Conqueror's daughter Matilda promised to,
Alfred, Archbishop of York, crowns Harold king of England,
Alfred Atheling, son of Ethelred the Unready,
his expedition against Harold Harefoot,
his murder,
Alftrude, tradition of Hereward's love for,
Algar, son of Earl Leofric,
Alice of France, Richard Coeur de Lion bethrothed to,
disputes about this,
Alice of Louvain, second wife of Henry I.
married secondly to William de Albini,
Almayne, Henry of, son of Richard king of the Romans,
joins the last crusade,
his murder by the De Montforts,
punishment of his murderers,
Anjou, history of the Counts of,
loss of, by the English to Philippe Auguste,
Anjou, Charles, Comte d',
joins the crusade of Louis IX,
seizes the crown of the Two Sicilies,
his conduct in the last crusade,
at the death of Louis IX.,
Prince Edward's reply to him,
Anselm, Archbishop: Bishop Wulstan assists at his consecration,
his birth and parentage,
enters the Abbey of Bec,
the Archbishopric of Canterbury forced upon him,
his collision with William Rufus,
banished for life,
returns on the death of Rufus,
disputes with Henry I.,
again banished,
his return, death and character,
Ansgard, Alderman, his conference with William the Conqueror,
Antioch, siege of,
in the first crusade,
Apulia, the Normans in,
Aquitaine, acquired by Henry II's marriage with Eleanor,
account of the duchy of,
Arnulf, Count of Flanders,
the foe of William Longsword,
makes war against Richard the Fearless,
Richard's generosity to him,
Arques, Count d', his conspiracy against William the Conqueror,
Arthur, King: history of his round table at Winchester,
Arthur of Brittany,
the joy at his birth,
Richard I. acknowledges him heir,