BRECHIN:
SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PAST
Sir
Thomas Maule: Hero of the Castle
Sir
Thomas Maule: Hero of the Castle King Edward now considered
that Scotland was his: there was no longer a puppet king
and Scotland became merely a part of England, 'the land
of the Scots' as he chose to determine it, governed directly
by him. The English armies of occupation, however, met with
immediate resistance. Eventually the great patriots William
Wallace, in the central belt, and Andrew de Moray, in the
north, emerged as the leaders of the uprisings. In 1297
Wallace led his army north via Brechin - where he probably
captured the castle - to join forces with Moray. Under their
joint command, the Scots army marched south to inflict a
crushing defeat on an English force under Earl of Surrey
at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Within the year, however, Edward,
'The Hammer of the Scots', lived up to his pseudonym by
crushing the Scots at Falkirk.
The
English were again to be disappointed in believing that
the Scots were conquered: insurrections continued and Edward
felt it necessary to invade in 1300 and again in 1301. It
was in 1303 that he made his most comprehensive invasion
knowing that he had to conquer the entire country not just
the south, but also in the knowledge that now there was
little threat from France to hinder him. He made rapid progress
meeting with little resistance and using prefabricated pontoon
bridges to enable his 7,000 or more soldiers to cross the
Forth. The only serious opposition to the English advance
was met at Stirling and Brechin.
Sir
Thomas Maule held Brechin Castle in the face of a large
English army of war-experienced troops and siege weapons
including the fearsome 'Warwolf' which could hurtle massive
stones with considerable velocity. Sir Thomas refused to
surrender impressing even the enemy with his courage and
audacity. Matthew of Westminster remarked how he so inspired
his men and mocked the enemy by leisurely walking the battlements
'dusting' with a piece of cloth where they had been damaged
by the missiles. While his daring had been morale boosting
for his men, it was more than commensurately demoralizing
when he was struck by one of the missiles. Mortally injured,
he urged his men not to yield but his exhortations were
ignored and capitulation followed swiftly on his death.
Nevertheless, the garrison had held against the English
for some twenty days.
©
Copyright Brian Mitchell 2000
