The serial: Largie Castle, A Rifled Nest Day 25

To while away the hours, the knights tell stories; home-grown fables like Thomas the Rhymer and the Queen of Elfland

The word, heart in French, ‘le coeur,’ gives rise to the adjective ‘courageous.’ Bruce, undoubtedly, possessed that quality but it would take more than a little courage for these knights to carry his heart to the Holy Land. Nevertheless it had to be done; it was their late king’s dying wish. Douglas’s party included seven knights, comprising Sir Symon Loccard, who had fought for Bruce in the Scottish War of Independence, Sir William St. Clair of Rosslyn, Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, Sir William Keith of Galston, Sir Kenneth Moir, Sir Alan Cathcart, and Sir Robert de Glen, and 26 squires including Walter Logan, John St. Clair, the younger brother of Sir William and William Borthwick.

Douglas took charge of the heart, placing it in ‘ane cas of silver fyn, enamilit throu subtilite’ and hung it around his neck. Sir Symon was the leader’s right hand man and carried the casket’s key. As custodian of Bruce’s heart, Loccard guarded access to the object that embodied Scotland, its identity, existence, and heritage.

Fond farewells

They set off from Montrose. Imagine the scene: the crew’s oaths and laughter as they unfurled the ship’s sails, the fond farewells of wives and children as they wished their men bon voyage, the clatter of well-shod horses’ hoofs, and the sight of their colourful trappings. Remember, it’s 1330, less than a decade before the outbreak of The Hundred Years War, when England’s Plantagenets grabbed France from the house of Valois.

For over 800 years ever since the end of the Roman Empire, the cavalry ruled in battle and Europe still used heavily armed, mounted warriors or knights on horses. But the winds of change were approaching. Decking out a knight for battle wasn’t cheap. A farm horse cost pennies while a war horse was valued in guineas.

This concentration of wealth could be felled by a peasant in cheap, leather armour, armed with a yewtree bow and ash arrow. Only 16 years after Douglas’s pilgrimage, at Crecy in France, this point was proved when Welsh troops with their longbows destroyed the French cavalry.

If not entirely ignorant of the future, Douglas, Loccard, St Clair and the other knights were men of principle, their conduct owing more to the age of chivalry, than to the voice of the common man.

Inspired by Sir Symon, the Lockharts’ belief in service and loyalty to the Crown would continue through the centuries until the present day.

Consider again what’s happening on the Arbroath harbour front. Nervy horses, afraid of the sea, the clamour of the crowds curious to watch the knights and squires’ departure, and music: blasting horns, shrill pipes, crashing cymbals and banging drums. Like a shepherd sending his dog to round up the flock, the music commands Douglas’s party to board ship.

Bands of stevedores have already mounted barrels of salted beef, biscuits unblemished by weavils, and oatmeal into the ships’ hold. More men load wine, armour and weaponry. Fodder for the horses has its place as has the squires’ bedding. Medicines are locked in the captain’s quarters.

The ship’s highway is the sea and it heads for the coast of Flanders, to Sluys. To while away the hours, the knights tell stories; home-grown fables like Thomas the Rhymer and the Queen of Elfland.

Some knew sagas from the north, terrible Viking tales of rape and pillage. Others enjoyed the lives of saints, sinners, and Charlemagne and his court.

Kidnapped

One told the tale of a foreign princess who set sail from a snowy land to marry a Scottish prince, but pirates kidnapped her. Or was her fate more humdrum, and she fell sick at sea and wasted away? A more fanciful version was that a sea monster swallowed her whole.

The well-read Douglas and Loccard enjoyed Chretien de Troyes and Robert de Boron’s scenes of Camelot in which they described how, in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, King Arthur led Britain against the Saxon invaders.

Douglas loved telling his audience about Merlin, the magician and Excalibur, the magic sword, and especially Lancelot, the prize swordsman and jouster, the king’s great friend, until he seduced Queen Guinevere, Arthur’s wife.

Sir Symon drew strength from the story of the Holy Grail. With its special powers, this bowl that held Christ’s blood, was supposedly resting in Britain protected by sacred guardians. As their ship rode the waves of the North Sea, did the less reverent of the party compose rhymes about Loccard’s key?

Loccard was 30 years old and married. Did the others give the key a more earthy emphasis? But Loccard was ‘a parfit gentil knight,’ full of noble sentiments.

After docking at Sluys, the knights rested for 12 days and discovered that King Alfonso XI of Castile planned an attack on the fortress of Teba in southern Spain in his campaign (1327-1333) against Muhammed IV, Sultan.

Alfonso had declared war on the Moorish Emirate of Granada and invited other Christian kings to join him in his crusade.

By 1327, Alfonso had captured the castles of Olvera, Pruna and Torre Alhaquime. His second expedition in 1330 was to attack Teba, 25 miles east of Olvera and a key fortification in the defence of Malaga.

On learning of Alfonso’s plan, Douglas seized the chance to honour another desire of his late king. Robert the Bruce had always wished to join a crusade to fight ‘God’s foes,’ so by carrying the dead monarch’s heart with them into battle against the Moors, Douglas could fulfill Bruce’s other wish.

Mission

While the knights waited in Sluys, Douglas held court on board ‘as if the late king was present,’ commented a contemporary source. He was trying to promote his mission and attract others to his cause.

They set sail on a stormy sea, voyaging south past the Normandy coast and into the Bay of Biscay. Many had misgivings about their decision but it was no use. The dice was cast. They must cross not the Rubicon but a wide, blustery sea.

Many passengers wished they could travel by land in spite of the risk of a horse shedding its shoe, a saddle breaking, or grazing their knees after a fall. But Douglas had made his decision, and they had agreed to follow.

A few horses were on board; their leader’s favourites: his grey mare and bay gelding and those owned by Loccard, Logan and St. Clair. You might ask why. Were Spanish nags no good? More tomorrow